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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MINUTES 05131980 i Meeting Sheet IIIIIIVIIIVIIIVIIIVIIIVIIIIIIIIIII 102129 BOX: M. Folder: CC MINUTES AND AGENDAS 1980 Document: CC MINUTES 05131980 CITY OF ST. ANTHONY COUNCIL MINUTES i May 13, 1980 The meeting was called to order. by Mayor Haik at 7 :30 P.M. ! i Present for roll call: Letourneau, Ranallo, Haik, Sundland and Marks. i Also .present: Jim Fornell, City Manager; William Soth, City Attorney; Carol Johnson, Clerk/Treasurer and Police j Chief Don -Hickerson..- The onHickerson.-The following additions and corrections to the April 22nd minutes were made by Councilman Marks : Page 2 , para. 4 : The anticipated timetable for submission of the City' s Comprehensive Plan' to the Metropo- litan Council in July includes its anticipated approval by the Planning Commission either May 20th or June 17th and informal approval by the City Council thereafter. Page S, para. 2 : The closed meeting with the City Special Counsel �! in the Johnson Florist litigation was to be held at 9 :00 A.M. instead of 10 :00 A.M. which was the time set aside for the decision by the Council regarding the Supreme' Court Appeal to be made with public participation. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Sundland to approve as amended- the. ,Minutes for the Council meeting. held April 22 , 1980. . I Motion carried unanimously. I Motion by Councilman Letourneau and seconded by Councilman Ranallo to approve as submitted the minutes for the Special Council meeting held May 3, 1980. j� Motion carried unanimously. The minutes for the April 21, 1980, meeting of the Cable T.V. Advisory Committee were accepted as informational and the following action taken regarding the work session May 6th. Motion by Councilman Ranallo and seconded by Councilman Letourneau to approve as submitted the minutes for .the work session with the Council and the Cable T.V. Advisory Committee which was held May 6 ,1980. .r -Motion carried unanimously. 9 -2- • Accepted as agenda addendum were a report from the Mayor regarding further developments regarding the 'Kenzie Terrace. senior housing- as well as the Ames townhouse development proposals. and a request for another bus shelter to be considered. The interview with a representative of the BRW, Inc. listed as 8A in the agenda was dropped because of the inability of the community development consultant to appear. The Council then took up the second reading of the ordinance which calls for a sewer rate charge at a flat rate of $16 .00 with half that amount charged senior citizens. Opposition to the flat rate was represented by R. J. Kleinman,_Jr. of Kleinman Realty Company who manages the Diamond 8 Apartments; Betty Jo Points, President of the Mirror Lake Condominium Association; Hilly Getman, spokesperson for the Fosston Townhouse residents; Norbert Verduyn, a -toTmhouse resident- and two single family residence property owners, E-. O. Hoff, 3408 Maplewood Drive and Berhard Pruessner of 3209 Skycroft Drive. All denied the fairness -of the flat charge to one and two member families as contrasted to higher consuming larger families and were in agreement that the flat rate would encourage waste and tend to discourage conservation. Several told the Council that most of the residents in their complexes are of either -one or two- member families and now only pay a $5. 00 sewer charge and the new- rate will represent a 300 percent raise for them. This will translate into a raise in rentals of between $1. 00 and $3.00 per quarter for their tenants who . are sure to express their opposition once it is made known, 14r. Kleinman warned. Mr. Hoff said he "was appalled to learn the. raise is necessitated by 10 percent of the homeowners understating their water consumption" and felt the public awareness should be raised regarding the reason insisting "there must be abetter way to put fair use into the system. " He agreed with 'the Manager that remote readings- or those done by the Public Works -Department will result in .further costs against the system and didn't have "any magical solution for getting accurate figures" , but with a "now empty nest" he and his wife "resent carrying the load for other people" . A petition against the flat rate signed by 31 residents of the Mirror Lake and Fosston complexes was presented to the Mayor by Ms. .Getman who said she had. personally alerted each of the signers as to the proposed raise. She saw the newsletter from the City which accompanied the water and sewer billing as "deceptive" in that the senior citizens might conclude they would be paying only half. of the $5 .00 they now pay rather than half of the new flat rate of $16 . 00 which will cost them $8 . 00. She contended St. Anthony is now comprised mostly of one, two or at the most, three member families and the flat rate is .discrimatory for multiple dwelling residents whose readings are always accurate because they are read by the City Public Works employees. The Mirror Lake Manor representative said the residents of her condominium -3- never see the billings nor the newsletters since they are sent to the Eberhardt Company and .most of these residents have never heard of the City' s official paper, -the St. AnthonyBulletin, who the Council says gives such good coverage to City business. Since the City has always found' a way of communicating with the condominium residents - regarding other matters she urged any future newsletters be- directed to the condominium address, 4000 Foss Road as well as the building managers so the Association can alert the -residents as to information they might feel was pertinent. Mr. Preussner suggested now that the billings are on the computer, the staff should be better. able to detect false readings of water consumption -on which the sewer rate is based. He .also questioned what amount of the sewer charge to the City from the Metropolitan Waste Commission represents residential drain tile infiltration of the sewer system and the manager estimated this figure would run as high as twenty-five percent. As an alternative to -a community wide flat rate to make up for "fudged" readings, the manager then suggested that in the case of the City's inability to gain access to residents where such false readings are suspect, it might be better -.to automatically charge the property owner with the flat rate where the City is refused access to read • the meters. Another means of lowering the rate suggested by the opponents was for the City to follow the example of other utility vendors and demand immediate payment rather than allowing the exist-- ing 45 - days for payment after the billing is received. Councilman Sundland commented that he had personally felt the flat rate was unfair from the start, but felt he was alone. in. his opposition. -He was happy to see the extent of the resident input which he saw as possibly reversing the Council decision on the rate. Council members agreed it had been a welcome change to have such interest from the citizenry demonstrated where apathy towards City proposals was the rule rather than the exception. Those present were urged to .avail themselves of the excellent reporting of City affairs in the Bulletin since other larger metropolitan publications normally ignore City news. Motion by Councilman Ranallo and seconded by Mayor Haik to delay action on the sewer ordinance until further .information is provided by the Manager as to an alternative to the flat rate for dealing with the problem of inaccurate readings. ORDINANCE 1980-003 AN ORDINANCE "RELATING TO SEWER RATES AND CHARGES AMENDING SECTION 540 :00 OF THE -1973 CODE OF ORDINANCES Motion carried unanimously. -4^ • In observance of National Police Week, Police Chief Don Hickerson had brought with him the -newest. member of the Police Department, Patrolman Jeffrey Luther who he introduced to the Council. The Chief told the ' Council Patrolman Luther has paramedic training and has attended the SKILLS courses. The Mayor extended the Council 's welcome to Patrolman Luther. Following an extensive discussion of the data furnished them by the Manager, Public Works Director Larry Hamer and Chief Hickerson regarding the City's fuel consumption, the proposed energy analyzer, fuel storage tank purchase and smaller vehicles on which quotes had been taken, the -Council followed the Manager' s recommendation to purchase equipment to fine tune City vehicles and the addition of a Ford Fairmont for a replacement investigative squad car. They also concurred with his recommendation that a 10,000 gallon gasoline storage tank purchase did not seem necessary at this time. Motion by Councilman Sundland and seconded by Councilman Marks to adopt the resolution which provides a transfer of funds for the recommended Public Works Department diagnostic equipment purchases and authorizes the purchase. RESOLUTION 80-033 A RESOLUTION TERMINATING FUND 15 • AND MODIFYING THE 1980 BUDGET Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Mayor Haik to approve the purchase of a Ford. Fairmont for the Police Department as re- commended by the City Manager. Motion carried unanimously. Mr. Soth confirmed that .the City' s participation in the $780,0.00 Commercial- Development Revenue Note only allowed the City' s name to be used as a vehicle for tax exemption for the Stafford building project in the St. Anthony Office Park and would not in any way result in the City becoming liable for the indebtedness or responsible for any expenses incurred for the project. Motion by Councilman Sundland and seconded by Councilman Letourneau to approve Resolution 80-034 . RESOLUTION 80-034 A RESOLUTION RELATION TO A $780 ,000 COMME:.RCIAL DEVELOPMENT REVENUE NOTE; AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE THEREOF PURSUANT TO MINNESOTA STATUTES, CHAPTER 474 • Motion carried unanimously. i I ! } I • -5- ,I Councilman Sundland left at 8: 40 P.M. The meeting was recessed at 8:45 P.M. and when it resumed -Gary Ashley of .Ashley Engineering appeared to discuss his proposal for a supplemental inspection of - the Parkview building to determine the condition of the -building and estimate repair costs. Agreement was reached on specific energy conservation measures which should be taken including determination -of the structural soundness of the building as well' as the efficiency of the boilers and investigation of the temperature control system. The Public Works Department should be able to verify the insulation quality of the building, Mr. Fornell . suggested. " Mr. Ames emphasized the necessity for cooperation with - the school district to obtain the funding available only to them for the energy improvements. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Ranallo to approve the specific scope .of work agreed to with Mr. Ames subject to an agreement between the engineering firm and the City staff regarding modification of the costs. Motion carried unanimously. I _ I Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Ranallo to approve acceptance of the. Ashley proposal for a supplemental in- spection of the Parkview building at a cost not to exceed $4,500.00. i Motion carried unanimously. i Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Mayor Haik to. approve the committee which will be set up to study and make recommendations on possible improvements to the "Mirror Lake" area or levels of main- tenance service if improvements are not desired as indicated in the i Manager's May 2nd recommendation. i Motic.-i carried unanimously. I Mr. Fornell ' s April 29th assessment and recommendations regarding further action as to the general revenue sharing program as well as supporting data were accepted and filed. His recommendations were also followed in the actions taken regarding i the installation of street lighting for which petitions have been received. � i Motion by Councilman Ranallo and .seconded by Councilman Letourneau to install the conventional street light requested for Roosevelt Court because -that 'wasa site- given priorityin the comprehensive street lighting plan for the City but to reject any request for decorative lighting at Crestview. and East Gate Road since such lighting is viewed •" as impractical by the Manager. Motion carried unanimously. -6- Because Mr. Fornell had recently learned Columbia Heights might not be in favor of the railroad crossing signal proposed by the Depart- ment of epartment .of Transportation for the crossing at 37th Avenue N.E. and Stinson Boulevard,' the proposal will be tabled until he has explored the question with Columbia Heights and returned .to the Council with further recommendations . The Fire Department report for April was accepted and filed. Mayor Haik .and Mr. Fornell informed the Council of further developments regarding the Ames townhouse and senior housing proposals. Mr. Ames will appear before the 'Planning Commission May -20th regarding the 22 unit townhouse development proposed for the undeveloped' western portion -of the- Hedlund- property excluding the existing residence. It does ' not appear tax increment financing will be necessary for the . project since Mr. Ames is seeking FHA financing for the eight 235 assisted and fourteen conventional mortgage funded units. Mr. Fornell is contacting HUD for verification. Although the Omnibus Tax Bill developed this session by the Minnesota Legislature seems to permit senior housing similar to that originally proposed for Kenzie Terrace to pay taxes, some inconsistencies in this regard in the bill will have to be sent back to the Legislature • for clarification according to Mr. Soth who advised "An Attorney General' s opinion would not be law" . It was noted that the co- operative-subsidized senior housing which is similar to the second proposal has been cleared and started in Golden Valley. In ref- erence to the proponents' question of whether the City had retained expertise in this particular phase of community development, the Manager advised the Council another interview with such a consultant will be scheduled soon. Florence Iverson, 2.812 Highway- 8, appeared to request the City' s . cooperation' in 1 having a bus . shelter located near the point where she takes the bus to work every day by .the Stonehouse. She contended there are more riders who embark from that site than at the inter-. section of- 29th Avenue N.E. and Silver Lake Road which has been approved for such a shelter. Staff will contact the MTC to determine how they select the sites on which they locate the bus shelters . Betty Jo Points said she felt the MTC stop on St. Anthony Boulevard at the same location should be eliminated because it creats a hazardous traffic congestion at that point. Motion by Councilman Letourneau and seconded by Councilman Marks to grant a service station license to the Sroga St. Anthony ".76" station. Motion carried ananimously. • -7- Motion by Councilman Marks and- seconded by Mayor Haik to approve payment of all verified claims listed .in May 13 ,- 1980 agenda. Motion carried unanimously. Councilman Ranallo noted the downturn in liquor store receipts for Store No. 1 and asked -what the administration planned to turnthe picture around. Motion by Councilman Ranallo and seconded by Councilman Marks to adjourn the meeting at 10: 10 P.M. Motion- carried unanimously. GzG� ayor ATTEST: Clerk/Trea r r