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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MINUTES 03121985 ;i Meeting Sheet 101829 a Box: 21 Folder: CC MINUTES AND AGENDAS 1985 Document: CC MINUTES 03121985 . CITY OF ST. ANTHONY COUNCIL MINUTES March 12, 1985 The meeting was opened at 7:30 P.M. with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mayor Sundland. Present for roll call : Sundland, Marks, Ranallo, Enrooth, and Makowske. Also present: David Childs, City Manager;. and Larry Hamer, Public Works Director. The following changes were made in the minutes of the February 24th Council meeting: Page 7, para. 4: Insert "not" between'-"would" and "be" in l,ine._7. ,. Page 10, para. 4: Substitute "pleased" for "excited" in line 6. Page 10, para. 5: Correct the spelling of the Youth Bureau Director's name to "WiImis". Motion by Councilman Makowske and seconded by Mayor Sundland to approve as amended the minutes of the Council meeting held February 26, 1985. • Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Ranallo to grant the follow- ing licenses as listed in the March 12th Council agenda: Service Station Rapid Oil Change, Inc. Speedy Market Cigarette Theisen Vending (Scarpelli 's) Twin City Vending (Berger Transfer & Storage) Twin City Vending (-American Monarch) Contractors Rein Builders, Inc. W. F. Bauer Construction Co. Allweather Roofing Company Hegblom Construction, Golden Valley On-Sale 3.2 Beer & Vending Minneapolis Bowl-O-Mat, Inc. Juke Box Slick's Alternative -2- Off-Sale 3.2 Beer Speedy Market Laundry Vending B-Kleen, Apache Plaza Amusement Devices St. Anthony Fun Center Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Makowske to approve payment of all verified claims listed for February '28, and March .1.2, 1.985, in the. March 12, 1985 Council agenda as wel•1 as $26,813. 15 to the Metropolitan Waste Control Commission for their February, 1985 billing for sewer charges. Motion carried unanimously. The Mayor reported the Sister City Selection Committee had received background data on the four cities in England, Fin Iand, Guatemala, and Costa Rica from which a Sister City for St. Anthony would be selected during a meeting of. the Com- mittee scheduled to be held in the Council Chambers at 4:30 P.M. , March 14th. The Mayor agreed with the City Manager that there was still a lot of community enthusiasm for the program even though attendance at the Committee meetings had • dwindled somewhat. The Committee's selection would be reported to the Council at one of their next meetings. Councilman Marks reported on a meeting on Ethics in Government which he had attended at Augsburg College March 2nd, at which Common Cause's criticism of Political Action Committees because of their effect onelection campaigns had been expressed as well as the opinions of a University professor who was not quite as concerned about the issue. Another issue which was explored, the Councilman said, was the intergenerational responsibilities of governments for future problems for which they could no longer be held accountable. Mayor Sundland responded to the comments about P.A.C. 's by indicating he perceived how some P.A.C. 's could be harmful but said his own company permitted each employee who contributed to designate the campaign for which the funds would be spent. Councilman Marks said that was not the case for his company and Councilman Enrooth indicated he perceived that was also not the case for a majority of companies who make P.A.C. contributions. Councilman Ranallo reported attendance at the federal legislative meeting of the League of Minnesota Cities where great concern had been expressed about the proposed cutbacks in Revenue Sharing, especially by the larger municipalities who may lose millions of dollars, ascompared to the $70,000 Mr. Childs estimates would be lost to St. Anthony. The Councilman said the question would be brought, up at the National Conference of Cities in Washington, D.C. , at the end of March', which he, Mr. Childs, and the Mayor would be attending and the Minnesota League would hold a special meeting March 24th at 5:00 P.M. to decide what the state members wanted to do in this regard. Councilman Ranallo indicated he perceived • the National League would be proposing an overall freeze on federal spending to cut the national deficit. The Mayor agreed with this assessment and said he -3- believed the freeze would be the most likely response from Congress to the efforts to curtail the deficit and he said he continued to believe, as stated in the • Council resolution, that aid to the cities would have to be phased out to avoid disaster for the cities who had relied so heavily on them in the past. ' Councilman Enrooth reported that :on a recent trip to Tucson, he had noticed- some very attention-getting signs identifying certain areas as Crime Watch neighborhoods. Mr. Childs asked him to take pictures on his next trip since the Manager perceived some of the proposed signage for City designation might not be quite as effective. Seventeen members of the City Kiwanis Club had told the Manager they would be will- ing to serve as block captains in their own areas and Mayor Sundland reiterated that the St. Anthony National Bank was actively promoting the program and had indicated some interest in helping to defray the costs for the signs. Councilman Ranallo said he would anticipate it would not be long before an area in the southern quadrant could be so designated since there were twenty couples who came out on a Sunday to demonstrate interest in setting up a Crime Watch program for their neighborhood and one couple is working very hard with Chief Hickerson to get that done. Councilman Makowske reported she had attended the March lst meeting of the Ramsey County League of Local Governments Board and she reminded the other Council members of the League's legislative banquet March 20th. The Councilman asked whether she should request the RCLLG to track the wine in grocery stores legislation as a Ramsey County issue, which she was instructed to do. The Councilman distributed advance copies of the League newsletter which she said she had put out for them this time. The Mayor indicated he was glad the City had joined the RCLLG because they seemed to be quite active. Councilman Enrooth noted the reference in the February Fire Department Report to the department 's continued testing of gasoline vapors around the home at 3645 Roosevelt Street N.E. , which are suspected to have originated from the Mico gas station. Mr. Childs reiterated, as reported in the March 6th staff notes, that the environmental exploration company, Bay West, was performing soil 'borings in th-e_ ;, area and would be setting up a meeting with the homeowner, station owner, the MPCA, and the Fire Chief to discuss the exploration company's proposals to xectify the situation. The Manager noted that most of the borings had produced unleaded gas and told Councilman MakoWske the City would not be involved in the boring costs but would be responsible for assuring that City regulations are followed. The Fire Department and January Financial reports were ordered filed as was the Liquor Sales Summary for February, after a short discussion of the January and February sales figures which Councilman Makowske indicated were of some concern to her. She was told those figures were typical for the two "deadest" sales months of the year and the Manager indicated he saw no need for alarm since the 1985 liquor sales are very close to those for 1984, in spite of the tornado and its effect on the Apache operation. He said he would be happy if the 1985 figures for the entire year matched 1984 and Mr. Childs reiterated, as he had in the past, that he perceived the liquor industry would no longer be a big money maker in the future and would probably be a less reliable source of revenue for the' City from now on. Mr. Childs said the only action the City can take in response to normally low sales months is to keep labor costs at a minimum, as the Liquor Manager has tried to do. • The March 26th meeting was cancelled, as recommended by the Manager in his March 8th memorandum, because he and some of the Council members would be in Washington, D.C. or just returning from the National Conference of Cities that date. Mr. Childs had 1 -4- also recommended that the next Council meeting be scheduled for April 2nd. • Councilman Makowske indicated she would be unable to be in attendance that evening and suggested instead that the next meeting be held April 9th as set up in the annual calendar. It was finally agreed that the Council would schedule a short special meeting for April 2nd to take up several issues which the Manager stated would require immediate attention and the other matters would be deferred to April 9th when Councilman Makowske could be present. Mr. Childs reported meeting with Neil Hamlin of Garment Graphics within the last few weeks after the Manager had -learned the firm was considering moving out of their building at 3819 .Chandler Drive to New Brighton where they could find expan- sion space for 50 employees within the next four or five years and where there was a possibility New Brighton could get them Industrial Development Bonds for their expansion. Mr. Childs said Mr. Hamlin had also learned the Keebler Company would be moving away from their building in the office park based on the fact that the larger building would be available and he asked -whether it would -_be possible the City could get the IDB funds for the expansion at that location. The Manager also told the Council members that the Garment Graphics could be making as much as a two million dollar expansion and the City would certainly want to keep them here. He said with the restriction on IDB's, the funding pools are very competitive and the application must be made as soon as possible. Motion by Councilman Ranallo and seconded by Councilman Marks to authorize the City Manager to advertise that a public hearing on the preliminary resolution pertaining to the Industrial Development Bonds for Garment Graphics would be held by the City Council April 9, 1985. • Motion carried unanimously. Councilman Ranallo complimented the Manager on his quick action to prevent the loss of a growing firm from the village. Mr. Childs said it had been Wally Parkins, a local resident and bond counsel , who had moved quickly to investigate the possibility of IDB's for the project. He was instructed to express the Council 's gratitude to Mr. Parkins. The Mayor said another person who was spending a lot of time on the City's behalf was Dean Tollefson of the St. Anthony National Bank, with whom the Mayor had been working to find a high tech, low traffic/density purchaser of the Medtronics building. The Manager then reported the Springsted Company had advised him that the time might be right to call for the sale of tax increment bonds for the Kenzie Terrace and Walbon projects and Mr. Childs said if the bids for the bonds are advertised for the first week in April they could be let in early May. The deadline for a public hearing to approve the application Year XI Community Development Block Grant funds is April 5, 1985, according to the Manager. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Enrooth to schedule a Special Council meeting for 7:00 P.M. , April 2, 1985, where the Council would con- sider the Year XI allocation for Community Development Block Grant funds and would call for bids for approximately $600,000 in Tax Increment Bonds for the Old Highway 8 Redevelopment Project and Phase 2A of the Kenzie Terrace Redevelopment Project (senior housing building). • Motion carried unanimously. -5- The Council was next requested to set a date for the St. Anthony Village Community • Update so the community meeting of City officials, staff, with- residents and the business community could be announced during the April 13th Biennial Ball and in the Chamber newsletter, which would be put out that week. The meeting was scheduled to be held in the cafeteria of the St. Anthony Village Community Center at 7:00 P.M. ,' Wednesday, May lst, with the invitations sent to business, school and religious representatives as well as service organizations in St. Anthony. The Manager indicated the residents would. be informed about the event through the media and special notices posted around the Village. Mr. Childs reported Brighton Development Corporation had held a meeting March 2nd with the neighbors who might be affected the most by the townhome project they are constructing on the Walbon property and the developers had accepted the neighbors' input into the selection of the type of architecture which would be adopted for the townhomes. The final plans would be presented to the Planning Commission March 19th and then brought to. the Council at their April 9th meeting, he said. Larry Hamer was present. to report on the proposed Joint Powers Agreement to establish- a surface water management program for Falcon Heights, Lauderdale, Minneapolis, St. Anthony and St. Paul , as well as the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the University of Minnesota. The Public Works Director indicated he had served for the last six months on the committee which had drawn up the agreement and perceived that, if the Middle Mississippi River Watershed Management Organization is not established, the mandated water management program would be turned over to the County, which Mr. Hamer said he believes would probably cost the City taxpayers a good deal more than the initial St. Anthony budget of $700 which would also be a lot less than the City has already paid out to support the Rice Creek Watershed • District. One of the reasons the costs would be less is that the new organization would not be utilizing consulting engineers, he said. If accepted by all parties, the agreement would have to be approved by the Metro- politan Council , which would set up the watershed district. Each entity, no matter what its size, would have a vote on any project proposed by another municipality or agency and the Public Works Director. said, if Minneapolis should decide to over- haul its system, the City would have some say in whether or not the costs could be allocated to the City taxpayers. Mr. Hamer said, surprisingly, St. Anthony is second only to Minneapolis as the largest land area in this proposed watershed district. Under the agreement, the redeveloper would have to construct a ,..re,tention.,basin for the Kenzie Terrace project, which the City representative indicated, he perceived would be a good thing, since the basin would alleviate some of the existing water problems in the south side of the City. The City would have to develop a Comprehensive Sewer Plan by 1987, which Mr. Hamer said he has almost completed for St. Anthony and is only waiting for direction from the Rice Creek Watershed District related to the north side where that District has jurisdiction. He has served on -the technical task force for the Rice Creek District and the Public Works Director anticipates no problems with this input since there is very little potential development planned for that area. However, Mr. Hamer said, he would like to see Councilman Enrooth, who serves as a Com- missioner on the Rice Creek District, insist the water quality of Silver Lake be • tested if that organization ever holds another meeting. The Councilman said he had been waiting for a notice that the commissioners would meet in March which was long overdue, and. he agreed to serve in the same capacity on the new organization, if appointed by the Council . -6- Motion by Councilman Ranallo and seconded by Mayor Sundland to adopt Resolution 85-018 and to designate Richard Enrooth to serve as the City's Commissioner and • Larry Hamer to serve as Alternate on the Middle Mississippi River Watershed Management Organization. RESOLUTION 85-018 A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AGREMENT FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A WATERSHED MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION Voting on the motion: Aye: Ranallo, Sundland, Enrooth, and Makowske. Nay: Marks. Motion carried. There was a brief discussion of the letter from State Representative Anthony Bennet in which the legislator questioned the' City's resolution opposing the sale of wine in grocery stores. Councilman Marks agreed to discuss the appointment, rather than election of Minneapolis Park Board Commissioners with Commissioner Sivanich and said he would report back at a later date. The Councilman indicated he would hate to have the Commissioner's name added to an already overwhelming list of officials to be elected. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Makowske to adopt Resolution 85-019. RESOLUTION 85-019 A RESOLUTION RATIFYING THE 1985 AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY AND AFSCME LOCAL 57, REPRESENTING THE ST. ANTHONY POLICE DEPARTMENT AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE . AGREEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE CITY Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Ranallo and seconded by Councilman Marks to adjourn the meeting at 8:40 P.M. Motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Helen Crowe, Secretary . Mayor ATTEST`: City Clerk