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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MINUTES 10091984 Meeting Sheet 11111 VIII 11111 VIII VIII VIII IIII IIII 101872 Box: 21 Folder: CC MINUTES AND AGENDAS 1984 Document: CC MINUTES 10091984 CITY OF ST. ANTHONY COUNCIL MINUTES October 9, 1984 The meeting was opened at 7:30 P.M., with the 'Pledge of Allegiance led by Mayor Pro Tem Ranallo. Present for roll call: Marks, Ranallo, Enrooth, and Makowske. Absent: Sundland. Also present: David Childs, City Manager. The Mayor 'Pro Tem indicated -he wanted a clarification in the September 25th minutes to indicate his- neighbor's complaints aboutnot being able to move his garage had been made two years ago, and not -in response to Mrs. Smith 's reconstruction project. Insertion of "two years ago" after "him" at the end of line 4, paragraph 10, page 2, was accepted. Motion by Councilman Makowske and seconded by Councilman Marks to approve as amended the minutes of the Council meeting held September 25, 1984. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Makowske to grant the follow- ing licenses as listed in the October 9, 1984 Council. agenda: Heating Licenses Comfort Heating and Air Conditioning; Kumar Mechanical , Inc. ; and Commercial Air Conditioning, Inc.- Contractors Licenses Norsk Concrete Construction, Inc. , Minneapolis; and Kdymen Construction, Inc. , Minnetonka. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Enrooth to approve payment of all verified claims listed for September 30 and October 31 , 1984, in the October 9, 1984. Council agenda. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Makowske and seconded by Councilman Marks to approve payment of $1 ,817.29. to Dorsey & Whitney for legal services during August, 1984. • Motion carried unanimously. -2- Before acting on the school district b.illing, the Mayor Pro Tem asked Mr. Childs to extend his compliments to the Public Works Department for the -maintenance of Park View. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Enrooth to approve payment of $6,000 to the. St. Anthony School District for the City's use of the Park View facilities during July, August, and September, 1984. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Marks and- seconded by Councilman Enrooth to approve payment of $350 to LeFevere, .Lefler, Kennedy, O'Brien & Drawz. for legal consultation with Mr. Drawz regarding the New Brighton water contamination litigation and determination of filing of papers necessary to protect the City's rights in a related contamination problem. Motion carried unanimously. Councilman Marks indicated the conflict in meeting night dates made it hard for him to attend meetings of the Chemical Abuse .Information Committee to which he is the Council 's representative. Mr. Childs indicated he had in the past suggested the Committee reschedule their meetings for the first rather than the second Tuesday of the month. In a later discussion of the Committee's September 18th minutes, the Manager indicated he had discussed the Council 's 1985 grant to the Committee with Shelley Freeman and had been trying to contact one of the Committee • members who. had consistently been absent from the Committee meetings to ascertain that member's interest in continuing service on that board. The Mayor Pro Tem questioned just how effective the Committee could be with only three members in attendance for -the meetings and Councilman Marks surmised that the lack of a con- scientious effort to notify members in -advance of meetings might account for non-attendance: The Councilman indicated it was his intention to try to make the Committee meeting scheduled that evening if the Council meeting did not run too long and, at that time, he would reiterate the suggestion that Committee dates be rescheduled not to conflict with Council meeting dates. If he's able to determine how many Committee appointments would be necessary, .Mr. . Childs said, he would publicize the openings in the City Newsletter which goes out the following week. Mayor Pro Tem Ranallo reported the League of Minnesota Cities Federal Legislation Committee on which he serves would be'sending a resolution to the National League of Cities Conference recommending support for. the. amendment of the Anti-trust Law. which would protect cities from monetary damages in anti-trust litigations. The Mayor Pro Tem indicated a resident had recently requested of him that the City refuse to issue a garbage hauling license:, for poor performance by a firm who - serves the City and Mayor Pro Tem Ranallo realized the protection the amendment could provide the City if such action were taken, although he recognized that the revised law would not prevent the firm from filing an injunction against such action. The indication that- the Cable T.V. companies might be reneging on their promise to the League of Cities that control of cable service would remain in the hands of the cities for at least four years, had prompted the Commission he serves7:on to prepare • another resolution urging the National League to work for an .amendment to the cable law which would oppose the transfer of control , the Mayor Pro Tem reported, and he said he had submitted the name of Mayor Sundland to be considered for appointment -3- to the National League Cable T.V. Committee whenever a vacancy opens up on that body. Councilman Marks commented that he perceived it might be too late for such action since the League had initially failed to get behind legislation which might have prevented the transfer of control . The September Fire Department Report and Liquor Sales Summary were ordered filed following a report by the Manager that the bottle shop at Apache was open and Ray Nelson anticipates the Apache on-sale facility could open the following week. Mr. Childs said, because of the economies involved, the decision had been made to carpet the bar rather than to convert it into a peanut bar. As an addendum to the October 1st staff notes ' reference to the Police Chief's attendance at a three day training session on law enforcement, .the Manager said Chief Hickerson had reported there had also been a very helpful session on how cities could determine their manpower needs. Councilman Marks indicated he would certainly appreciate -hearing any new suggestions which might aid the City in making such determinations in the future. According to Mr.. . Childs the League of Minnesota Cities had developed a resolution urging the state legislature to take a close look at what's going on in the Public Employees Retirement Association -where eight Association members are being sued by other members for appointing,' during a closed meeting, the P.E.R.A. union member to serve as the Association's counsel for a combined salary of $113,000 and a potential $70,000 a year pension for Mr. Allers within five years. A resolution supporting the League's position would be provided for Council consideration during • their next meeting, Mr. Childs indicated. The September' 27th meeting summary of actions taken by the Citizens Advisory Com- mittee to the Urb.an. Hennepin County CDBG program had reported the designation of the City to receive $6,500 from the 1-983 Jobs Bill additional appropriations as . assistance in clearing the Mimosa Restaurant site for the erection of the senior housing project. The Manager surmised the City might have -gotten this grant because he had personally appeared before the County Commissioners to protest the City 's being left off previous funding and had :been assured by the Commissioners that St. Anthony wouldn't be overlooked in the next round of fundings. Mr. Childs pointed out that these additional revenues would relieve some of the pressure on the 19.85 budget. The Council members had also been furnished a copy of the October 3rd letter from the Coordinating Engineer on the County Road D project which the Manager said he perceived to be a positive indication that, .unless all federal funds for such project were cut off for some reason or another, the City would- at last be getting a new road starting in the spring of 1985. In the Ramsey County League of' Local Government October newsletter, which the Manager had distributed, it was reported that several Metropolitan Council rep- resentatives would be present at the -October 17th RCLLG to answer some of the concerns about the role and effectiveness of the Metro Council . The newsletter gave a more detailed report on the insight given the organization related to the Minnesota taxes and tax structure at their September 19th meeting as reported by • Councilman Makowske at th-e last Council meeting. -4- Motion'-,by Councilman Makowske and seconded by Councilman Marks to adopt the reso- lution which authorizes the signing of the agreement with Ramsey County under which the City would provide winter road maintenance on Silver Lane between Stinson Boulevard and Silver Lake Road. RESOLUTION 84-043 A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN RAMSEY COUNTY AND THE CITY OF ST. ANTHONY FOR 1984-85 WINTER ROAD MAINTENANCE SERVICES Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded .by Mayor .Pro Tem Ranallo to approve the October '5th listing of the election judges for the November, 6th General Election which had been submitted by the Finance Director in the October 9th Council agenda. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by. Councilman Makowske to approve the third and final reading and adopt the ordinance amendment which brings the City Ordinance into conformance with the new state legislation regarding gambling. ORDINANCE 1984-005 • AN ORDINANCE REPEALING SECTIONS 445:00 THROUGH 445:35 (.BINGO) AND SECTIONS 905:00 AND 905:05 (_BETTING) .OF THE 1973 CODE OF ORDINANCES, AS AMENDED Motion carried unanimously. Because the public hearing m the 1985 Revenue Sharing allocation had been scheduled for 8:00 P.M. , the, meeting was recessed from 7:49 P.-M. to that time, with the Mayor Pro Tem opening the .hearing by reading the notice of the hearing which had been published September 25th in the Bulletin., The Manager reported receiving no written comments on this budget and there were no residents present to give the Council the benefit of their thinking related to the use of these funds. Mr. Childs indicated the funding amounts had not changed appreciably overthe years. The Mayor Pro Tem said the League of Cities had remained dedicated to those .funds and at the last National Conference had resisted any amendments which might affect the funding for cities who practice energy savings. The hearing was closed at 8:03 P.M. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Enrooth to adopt the resolution which authorizes the use of $44,000: in Revenue_ Sharing funds in 1985 for. capital equip- ment purchases and "repairs to City buildings. RESOLUTION 84-044 • A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE 1985 REVENUE SHARING BUDGET Motion carried unanimously. -5- At 8:05 P.M. , the Mayor Pro Tem opened the public hearing on the 1985 City budget by reading the notice of the hearing which had been published in the September 25th Bulletin. Mr. Childs indicated he had received.no written comments on the budget except the October 3rd letter from Chris Clausen, the Executive Director of the Northwest Suburban Youth Service, related to the level of funding for his organi- zation, which had been included in the agenda packet. Mr. Childs had attached to his October 5th memorandum summarizing the $1 ,609,330. 1985 budget, charts illustrating the monetary effects the proposed tax levy of 12.674 mills would have on the average $80,000 home in St. Anthony as well as one whose market value is $100,000, and documenting the- primary reasons for increasing the taxes beyond the corresponding 4% budget increase, as being the 17.9% decrease in budgeted revenues from the liquor operation and a 9% drop in state aids since the 1983 allocation. As a point of reference for a discussion of Mr. -.Clausen's letter, a copy of the Council 's April 10th minutes reporting on previous Council action related to the `Youth Bureau funding had been included in the agenda packet. The minutes indicated the Council had at that time authorized City sponsorship of a federal grant under which youth intervention services were to continue to be provided in the City by the Youth Service Bureau at the same time the Council had agreed to give considera- tion at budget time- to participation in a joint powers agreement with nine other suburban communities under which that service would be continued in 1985 at a cost to the City of $6,883, - to be assessed on a per capita basis. No formal request had been received in the interim and the funding was overlooked in the budget process and not included in the tax levy. When this omission was brought to the • Council 's attention September 25th, the decision had been to fund the service at a $1 ,500 level from the Council Contingency Fund, the general consensus being that the project should not automatically be funded each year, but rather treated like the Chemical Abuse Information 'Committee support and considered on an annual basis at budget time. When the head of the Youth Service 'Bureau had learned of the Council decision not to participate in the joint powers agreement, he wrote to the City officials indicat- ing the $1 ,500 level of funding would force his organization todiscontinue their services to the City at the end of. 1984. Mr. Clausen was present and amended his statement by saying that, rather than. to force a hasty decision by the Council that evening, which he perceived could have .an adverse effect on the City's .young people, and taking full responsibility for not making a .formal proposal as he had in the nine other suburban communities, the Bureau was prepared to "live with the amount you have allocated for 1.985, with some adjustments in the level of service, as long as we don't perceive a strong flavor on the Council against signing the joint powers agreement later on, in which case the service could not be provided in 1985 for only a funding of $1 ,500. Mr. Clausen indicated St. Anthony is the only community in either Ramsey or Hennepin counties which hasn't funded youth intervention services and he said all the other communities consider that expenditure to be money well spent to keep their young people out of health care, juvenile court, and welfare systems. The Youth Bureau official pointed out that, as indicated in his October 3rd letter, the ' Bureau had budgeted $21 ,000 for services they -propose to. provide the City for the • $6,883 investment, with the difference being made up from other funding sources. In addition to the youth intervention services the City has now, St. Anthony would also be the beneficiary of three other programs extended to the other nine com- munities. These would be a. youth employment service, a training program for school per to help troubled young people; and a unique program where the skills of the youths are utilized to aid senior citizens with their home chores. -6- Mr. Clausen gave statistics on 'the number of people helped with each of these pro- grams in other communities and said '18 young people had been counselled in St. Anthony. Although he could not specifically identify those persons, the Executive Director said the counselling involved help with peer problems; incor- rigible and abusive behavior at home; runaways; drinking problems; and one, case involving suicidal behavior. John Sullivan, who had replaced Ron Taylor as the Bureau counselor in St. Anthony, was introduced to the Council and told them his office was .in space donated by the school district in the same building as -City Hall . Mr. Clausen indicated Mr. Sullivan might not be able to continue to serve as counselor but would be replaced with two other staff people, one a woman, who might bring a different perspective to the service. Mayor Pro Tem Ranallo told Mr. Clausen he had been on the Council for seven years and perceives it to be a very conservative body, which sees itself as accountable to the taxpayers for every cent that is spent and goes to great lengths to prove to the citizenry that every service provided is essential . The Mayor Pro Tem said he respected the need for confidentiality, but perceived this service would have to become more visible to the residents and the people who work with the community's young people than it has been in the past.. Councilman Makowske indicated she perceived providing this type of social service would involve a type of policy decision and commitment by the Council than had ever been made before, since all- social service funding in the past had been • provided either through the school or county. She agreed with the Mayor Pro Tem that $7,000 would be a substantial amount for the Council to account for to the residents. The Mayor Pro Tem asked Mr. Clausen whether he was saying that, if the City didn't commit that evening to pay *the assessed amount in 1986, services would be cut off for 1985, and if so, indicated that was a commitment he was not prepared to make on the little information he had on the actual cost of the services which had already been provided. Mr. Clausen responded by saying that was not what he meant but, rather, he was only asking whether the Council would be open to considering participation in the joint powers agreement in 1986 after he had satisfactorily answered their concerns about the program. _Councilman Enrooth warned Mr. Clausen that at the time of that decision he would have to have an awful lot of information which would justify committing the City. to paying out $70,000 over ten years for the service. The Councilman agreed with Councilman Makowske's assessment that this program involved a "whole new ball game for the City" since it meant providing social services which had 'not been the practice in the past. Councilman Marks disagreed,that signing the joint powers agreement would be.a long time commitment, perceiving the expenditure wou.ld come up every year at budget time for Council approval . However, it was his personal belief that St. Anthony would be just like the other communities who once they are in the program, perceive it to be so valuable they want to continue participation. He wondered if a vote on the budget could be delayed long enough for the City to conduct a special work session • with the Youth Service Bureau representatives. Mr. Childs told him that, although the budget did ,not have to be passed that evening, the tax levy did, and if the City decides to go with the program in 1985, there would probably have to be a special levy for the $6,883. -7- The Mayor Pro Tem said he perceived the Bureau Director was willing to leave the funding at the level set by the Council for the time being and suggested a work session could be scheduled sometime long before the next budget is set, where Mr. Clausen could provide the necessary information the Council would need to answer to their constituencies for expending almost $7,000 on a program like this. Mayor Pro Tem Ranallo said he perceived at this time the Council had been provided with only intangibles and he foresaw the residents would. demand more tangible evidence of the worth* of the service. Mr. Clausen requested that before the. work' s ession is -held, the Council members talk to League of Cities members who are participating in the program to find out first hand how- they see the programiis worth to their communities. Mr. Childs told Councilman Marks he would not anticipate the City Attorney would.find much fault with a documentwhich had already. been passed by nine other city attorneys. There was no one else present to provide input towards the budget decision and the hearing was closed at 8:42 P.M. Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Ranallo and seconded by Councilman Enrooth to adopt the resolution which approves the 1984 tax levy of $817,500, collectible in 1985, and adopt.,; the 1985 City budget as proposed. RESOLUTION 84-045 A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE 1984 TAX LEVY COLLECTIBLE IN 1985 AND THE 1985 CITY BUDGET • Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Enrooth to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 P.M. Motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, He rowe, Secretary Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk