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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MINUTES 01281986 F J Meeting Sheet .; , 101757 . , BOX: ,21 . , . � '� � � •• � .. . Folder: CC,MINUTES.AND'AGENDAS,1986 Document: CC°M I N UTES 0128.1986 13 .y CITY OF ST. ANTHONY • COUNCIL MINUTES January 28, 1986 The meeting was opened at 7:30 P.M. with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mayor Sundland. Present for roll call : Marks, Ranallo, Sundland, Enrooth, and Makowske. Also present: David Childs, City Manager; and Don Hickerson, Chief of Police. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Enrooth to approve as submitted the minutes of the Council meeting held January 14, 1986. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Makowske and seconded by Councilmenber Marks to grant the following licenses as listed in the January 28, 1986 Council agenda packet: Heating Air Conditioning Association, Inc. Motor Vehicle Starting • Murphy's Service Center Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Makowske to approve payment of the following claims as listed in the January 28, 1986 Council agenda packet: All verified claims listed for December 31 , 1985. $412.81 to the Dorsey & Whitney firm for legal services during December, 1985; and $1 ,825 to the Edward J. Hance firm for prosecutions handled from December 5, 1985 through January 8, 1986. Motion carried unanimously. William Bowerman was present to report the January 21st Planning Commission minutes and the Mayor presented him with a ten year service award in the name of the Council and City residents, thanking the Commissioner for the time and effort he had given to the community through his faithful service. Chief Hickerson then introduced David Carlson, 8216 Beard Road, Bloomington, the newest member of the St. Anthony Police Department. The Chief also presented a five year service award to Paul Olson of the Police Reserves. Five year service awards were then presented by the City Manager to Dave Meyer of the City Liquor Operations and a twenty year award to Patrolman Bill Ferguson. . Mr. Childs then read the names of employees eligible for five year awards who were not present that evening, including Connie Kroeplin of the office staff; Tony Kaczor, ,1 -2- John Mark, Mike Smith, and Ellie Warchol who work in the liquor operation. Four members of the Fire Department and a member of the Police Department were given their awards later in the evening.. These included a five year service award for Patrolman David Johnston, a ten year service award for Tim Mezzenga and fifteen year awards to Rick Lundeen, Dick Johnson, and Bill Myers. Councilmember Ranallo honored the Mayor's service on the Council for eleven -years and his four year service as Mayor by presenting Mayor Sundland with a fifteen year service award. Commissioner Bowerman then proceeded with the January 21st Planning Commission report by indicating that, with the concurrence of the petitioner., Roger Bona, the hearing on the variance and lot split necessary to make the proposed expansion of the Standard-'station on..the corner of Kenzie Terrace. and 27th Avenue N.E. , was continued to the next Planning Commission meeting because several Commissioners wanted a more detailed parking plan which would address the question of how the four- displaced parking spots would be made up for in another location on the site and would demonstrate that the new addition would not further aggravate the flow of traffic between the station and the meat market building . The Commission.:representative then reported an error in siting the newly constructed Jindra home at 3001 Townview had resulted in that structure having an insufficient rear yard setback for which the Commission recommendation was that the interpreta- tion be. made 'that the property's front yard is located on'the Silver Lake Road side for purpose of determining setbacks . Mayor Sundland indicated he agreed with the Planning Commission that it was too late to correct .the error, whoever was responsible, and .Councilmember Ranallo commented that he perceived the same interpretation would have been made in any event. Councilmember Makowske said she concurred with the recommendation that the Commission look at the remaining undeveloped corner lots in the -City-to see if an automatic ordinance interpretation could be made to eliminate the need for hearings with predictable -results when those lots are developed. Mike Jindra, the homeowner, was present but his input was deemed unnecessary. Motion by Councilmember Makows. ke and seconded by Councilmember Marks to interpret that the front of the corner lot at 3001 Hilldale is on Silver Lake Road for 'the purpose of"determining setbacks, finding, as did the Planning Commission, that: 1 . Errors and omissions which occurred when the structure was sited on the lot could, or could not' have been the fault of the-owner; 2. The structure is already in place and it would cause a substantial , if not disastrous, hardship for the owner to require it be moved; 3. There were no neighbor objections to the solution stated in the notice of the hearing; and 4. There have been at least three instances in the last two years where similar requests for the same interpretation for corner lots have been approved. Motion carried unanimously. Commissioner Bowerman reported the Commissioner had concerns about the request from Brighton Development- Corporation for final plat approval for the first six units of the Village Townhomes-r- edevelopment project, perceiving they had been provided _ -3- insufficient documentation since the copies of the plat they had been provided indi- cated they had been "unchecked" and had not been signed by a registered surveyor. As reported in the minutes, the Commissioner said the first inclination had been to table the matter but, after further discussion, the Commissioners had decided not to delay the development but rather, to draw the Council 's attention to their concerns and to request that the City Attorney review all the documents before the plat is filed. Mr. Childs indicated the copies of the plat the Council had before them that evening had been revised from those the Commission had been provided. He said he had checked with the land surveyor and found their policy was not to sign a plat until after it had been approved by the City and the Hennepin County Surveyor. The Manager said he had talked to Bill Soth and the City Attorney had indicated that, although he had no problem with the plat per se, there were a few other items he needed to clear with the developers and therefore agreed the final approval should be made subject to his review, as had been done previously with the platting of the Johnson addition, etc. Motion by Councilmember Enrootn and seconded by Mayor Sundland to approve the final plat for the first six units of the Village Townhome redevelopment project, subject to the final approval of the City Attorney. Motion carried unanimously. Chuck Wiger who represents St. Anthony on the Metropolitan Council . and._Connie Ko-zlak, a staff member who is a City resident, had come to the meeting to give the Council an update on matters pending before the Metro Council , with a special focus on that • organization' s efforts towards airport noise abatement, with which Ms. Kozlak is closely involved. Prior to that discussion, the Metro Councilmember briefly reported on two issues of City interest. He said he was glad to learn from Council minutes that the City was investigating the incentives now being offered communities to encourage their involvement in the state and county waste management efforts and Mr. Wiger offered the City the services of his staff in that endeavor. Metro Councilmember Wiger indicated that he had assumed from the fact that the City was now current in their payment of Metro Waste Control Commission charges, that differences about the City's rates had been resolved, at least to some degree. He also indicated he had assumed that the metro watchdog organizations the City. belongs to had already alerted the Council to the fact that the SAC charge increase from $425.00 to $475.00 had gone into=effect -a'nd-that -new l egi sl ati`on for a. unified-rdte structure for the region was being proposed by the MWCC. Before addressing the City' s concerns about what is perceived to be an increase in flights from International Airport over St. Anthony, Ms. Kozlak said she had a Minneapolis planner tell her recently that he had just moved from the Lake Harriet neighborhood to St. Anthony to "get away from the airport noise". She indicated she perceived the residents here are complaining about the airplane noises now because they just aren't used to them but in fact, compared to the annoyances experienced by persons living closer to the airport, St. Anthony's problems are really minor. The configuration of the runways at International , Ms. Kozlak said, in addition to the fact that the planes have to take off into the wind which forces many of them to turn around right over St. Anthony, as well as the tremendous increase in air traffic since the airline industry has been deregulated, all have resulted in the City residents being bothered more by the airplane noises. -4- The Metro Council is working with the Airport Commission to find a way to. alleviate some of the noise problems and, Ms. Kozlak said, she perceived the preferential • runway system under study. now would help both the southern Minneapolis communities as well as St. Anthony, if adopted, because the :takeoffs would be towards. the less populated southwestern areas. However, the Metro Counci-1 committee member indicated, this would require more spacing between takeoffs which might be difficult with the increase in number of flights into International . The proposal to make more use of reliever airports like Crystal , Anoka, Lake Elmo, and- downtown St. Paul for general non-jet aviation traffic would certainly not hurt St. Anthony, she added. When Councilmember Makowske asked whether the anticipated merger of Northwest and Republic airlines would -cut down on the. number of planes using International , Ms. Kozlak said the number of flights might be decreased somewhat at first but by the time the merger is completed, just the anticipated increase in traffic as a whole, would probably wipe out that decrease within a year or so. Mayor Sundland. said the transition from the noisy.jets to the quieter 757's might - alleviate some of the noise problems, but Ms. Kozlak tol-d. him the FAA has not yet put, a mandatory ban on either the manufacture or operation of the noisy jets like Northwestern's 727's or Republic's DC9's,. which (.since the federal government has pretty much preempted the noise control at the source) the local governments are lobbying they do by 1995. The "hub and spoke" system adopted by both Northwest and Republic had also caused suffering for the Twin Cities residents since even passengers whose destinations are elsewhere, are flown through the Twin Cities so the planes can be filled. • The Mayor told the two Metro Council representatives the Council certainly appreciated their efforts towards keeping them apprised of events which affect the City. They promised to report back on issues of interest to the City or whenever the Council indicated a desire for their assistance. The five staff members who were eligible for .service awards entered at this point and were given the awards they had selected along with the Council congratulations. Mayor Su ndland reported his attendancelat the Suburban Mayors Coalition meeting January 23rd where two working committees, the Transportation and Economic Development committees, were formed to see what could be done to get equal treatment for the. northern metropolitan region. He said he and the Mayor of Shorewood had been appointed to pursue economic development issues but would be working closely with the Tran sportat ion Committee and the Department of Transportation to get better utilization of. the highway..system already i'n pl_ace .,in this region-. . The Mayor also reported he and, his wife; Ardelle, had. skipped_the .Superbowl the previous Sunday to attend the University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble concert where six St. Anthony High School musicians had been named to the All Honor Band, which, -considering the school 's size as compared to other cities in the competition, Mayor Sundland said he believed was quite remarkable. He said he had already arranged to have letters of congratulations from the City sent to those young persons. Councilmember Makowske reported she had been reappointed to the Board of Directors of the Ramsey County League of Local Governments and thanked the other Council- members for their support of her .candidacy. She also said she had attended the RCLLG orientation for newly elected officials which had been very well attended and • which the Councilmember indicated she had found very interesting. She also sug- gested, the City might want to recognize the honor which had been given to Marjorie - Glass, who is in charge of the North Suburban Center for the Arts in Apache Plaza with which so many St. Anthony residents- are so closely associated. -5- Councilmember Enrooth indicated th.at, with the presentation of the final report • and recommendations from the Advisory Committee to the Rice Creek Watershed District in February, his service on that commission would be ended and he would be ready for another community service appointment. The Mayor said he agreed with Councilmember Makowske's assessment of the RCLLG's training seminar and its comparison to the government training sessions which are conducted by Councilmember Marks. And in the same vein, Mayor Sundland reported, his brother-in-law who had run for a Hermantown council seat, had told him he had gotten some very good reports from other councilmembers from his area on Council- member Marks' programs. The Councilmember thanked him for those kind words and then reported his partici- pation in the government training sessions for all elected officials the previous weekend where Arian Lee, a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Alberta, Canada, who is also a professional consultant, conducted a seminar on how those officials could better serve their constituency. The Councilmember indicated Mr. Lee would also be giving training sessions to members of the Minnesota State Legislature this week. Another seminar he had found particularly interesting, Councilmember Marks said, was the talk on preparing budgets given by the Red Wing City Administrator, who had said he does all the line item check and cutting before the budget is presented for adoption. The Councilmember had found the administrator's tips on personnel management very helpful as well , he said. When the October and November Police Department reports came up for consideration, Councilmember Makowske said she was sorry the Police Chief had left because she wanted to see if he could shed a light on why 1985 crime cases in the City were • 147 cases ahead of 1984. Councilmember Marks indicated he perceived every community in the state had experienced a rise in crime. He and Councilmember Enrooth suggested the discussion of the reasons for those increases would make a good topic for the Duluth LMC conference. Councilmember Ranallo said he appreciated the suggestion but the conference agenda was already so tight he had to attend a special meeting of the Planning Committee just to see how the topics already agreed on can be fit into the schedule. Councilmember Makowske indicated she perceived the Minnesota conferences were all much more interesting than the national conferences she had attended and that might account for the fact that the planners were having difficulty finding space for all the participants. The Police reports were ordered filed as was the Hance report on matters handled by the prosecutors in Hennepin County Municipal Court January 8th. During the consideration of the January 21st staff notes, the Mayor indicated he found the return of Rick Lundeen to active duty after his medical problems to be very remarkable. Mr. Childs said he was pleased with the 98 percent rating the Minnesota Department of Health had given the City water system, perceiving only the hardness of the water and the age of some of the pipes had prevented a 100 percent rating. Of course, as mentioned in the Department's cover letter, the presence of Volatile Organic Hydrocarbons had not been considered in the rating, but only the operation, maintenance and condition of the system had been addressed, the Manager said. • The January 14th letter from the League of Minnesota Cities General Counsel related to the League's Municipal Amicus Program and citing briefs the League had filed -6- for some municipalities had been included in the agenda packet, but there was little interest on the Council for increasing their annual dues to support the • program. Mr. Childs gave a brief overview of the copies of letters, etc. dealing with the actions taken related to the City's water contamination problems which he had included in the agenda packet for the Council 's information. The Council concurred that a short meeting with the City's counsel Briggs and Morgan related to the next legal decision steps to be taken would be appropriate at this time. An Executive Session was scheduled for 7:30 P.M., Monday, February 24th, to meet with Briggs and Morgan. Mr. Childs indicated he expected the draft of the feasibility study recommending engineering alternatives for the City's water supply would be completed by Camp, Dresser, and McKee, Inc. sometime in February. In his January 24th memorandum, the Manager had reported the research he had done at Council direction related to terms of office for other municipality mayors had indicated that four years terms were not uncommon for either statutory or charter cities. A check of state statutes and with the City Attorney had indicated that only a simple ordinance was necessary to make the change from two to four years for the City's Mayor, and Mr. Soth had advised that, if the ordinance were passed in 1986, the change would be effective for the next election in 1987. Councilmembers Ranallo and Makowske indicated they certainly supported the passage of the ordinance this year when no claim could be made that the change promoted the candidacy of any particular person. When Councilmember Marks indicated he had mixed feelings about making the change because he perceived having the Mayor run each time a Councilmember ran for office would assure the same public interest in • each election. Councilmember Makowske said she certainly saw his point but, because she views the Mayor as one member of a five member Council , she could see no justification for treating him or her differently when it came to term of office. Councilmember Enrooth agreed the Mayor should receive equal treatment in that regard. Councilmember Makowske said the fact that the ordinance has to be given three readings should give residents ample opportunity to provide input to the process: Councilmember Marks said that in the face of the usual resident apathy about what happens at Council meetings, he perceived a special effort would have to be made to publicize the change and to generate public debate on the issue. Motion by Councilmember Ranallo and seconded by Councilmember Makowske to request staff to draft an ordinance for Council consideration which would change the Mayor's term of office from two to four years for the next election. Voting on the motion: Aye: Ranallo, Makowske, and Enrooth. Nay: Marks. Abstention: Sundland. Motion carried. • The discussion of public reaction to City issues prompted Councilmember Ranallo to ask Mr. Childs what response there had been to the survey in the last Newsletter -7- which had sought an indication of residents' interest in having the first few feet of their driveways opened up behind the City plows, either on a cost basis or by • promotion of existing programs where students shovel for the residents, with special -subsidies for low income seniors. The Manager said the direction in the approxi- mately 200 surveys which had been returned had been varied with a good number of residents indicating they would be interested in the sdrvice as long as it didn't cost them more than a couple of dollars, but perceiving $10 or $15 would be too high. Councilmember Marks told Larry Jones he perceived his Bulletin article on the issue had certainly been responsible for a good number of those returns because some of the residents he had talked to had overlooked the survey they had been sent but had read his article in the Bulletin. Mr. Childs indicated that the Public Works Director had advised him that his crews had been forced to remove from many driveways the huge chunks of ice which the plows deposit there when they widen the streets in anticipation of another heavy snowfall and. Mr. Hamer was concerned that the residents would think the City intended to clean out all the driveways as they had done years ago and wondered if he should just go ahead and clean out all the driveways after the plows. The Manager said he told the Public Works Director Council direction would be needed before reviving a practice which generated so many complaints about damaged lawns and curbs in the past, especially right in the middle of the survey process. Councilmember Ranallo said what the crews are doing now is completely different than what they do after a normal snowfall and has nothing to do with what the City is surveying the residents on now. Mr. Childs and Councilmember Marks indicated they were concerned that the residents would have difficulty making that distinction. • Councilmember Enrooth said he perceived the crews would have to widen one of the main City streets, 33rd Avenue N.E. , soon because 10 .feet of street has already been lost and with the constant thaws and freezes the snow in the street would keep solidifying if action is not taken immediately. Mayor Sundland said he certainly recognized the need to get this done and indicated he saw why the crews should remove the ice chunks they deposit in people's driveway in the process because he had broken the blade on his snowplow trying to remove one of those chunks from his own driveway. However, he saw the need for making the public understand that what the crews do when they widen the street is not the same as what the survey is asking residents should be done after the ten or fifteen snowfalls the City gets each winter. The Manager said at least the crews would be able to make some kind of an estimate of what it would cost to clear a driveway during the street widening process. He said he would return with those figures and the final results of the survey as soon as they are all returned. As suggested by Mr. Childs, a Council work session was scheduled for 6:30 P.M. , February 4th to give staff further direction regarding the preliminary engineering report on the reconstruction of St. Anthony Boulevard from Stinson Boulevard to Silver Lake Road and the report on alternatives for the City liquor operation. Mr. Childs reported he and the Mayor had been invited to a meeting with the Super- intendent of Schools and School Board Chairman of District #282 the next day where school officials had asked for their input on how to respond to citizen concerns about the raise in the school 's portion of their tax bills. Councilmember Ranallo said the calls he had received about the tax statements had convinced him that residents were finally making the distinction of which government bodies are • responsible for the different portions of their taxes. -8- The notice from the County Assessor setting a date for the City's Board of Review • had been included in the agenda packet and Mr. Childs was requested to inform the Assessor that 6:30 P.M., April 22nd would be a better date for the City since there is a regularly scheduled Council meeting that evening., When Mr. Childs said he would not anticipate a large attendance that evening because with the change in the valuation ratio, . the average $84,000. home in St. Anthony would have a lower assessed valuation this year, Councilmember Ranallo indicated he perceived there might be some complaints from property owners: in his neighborhood whose valuations had been lowered last year because of tornado damage but who were experiencing raises in their valuations higher this year than the year before the tornado. Motion by .Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Makowske to, adopt the resolution which'woul'd -authorize the signing of the contract under which the EPA would reimburse the City for the $26,509.21, in additional costs of the Roseville water connection. RESOLUTION 86-009 A RESOLUTION REGARDING PAYMENT OF ADDITIONAL COSTS FOR THE WATER SUPPLY INTERCONNECTION Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Enrooth to adopt the Resolution 86-010. RESOLUTION 86-010 • A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF-ST.. ANTHONY TO EXECUTE THE EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN. .DAVID M. CHILDS AND THE CITY OF ST'. ANTHONY Motion carried unanimously. Motion 'by. Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Makowske to _approve the. third reading and adopt the ordinance which amends the City Alarm Ordinance. ORDINANCE 1985-004 AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO ALARMS: . AMENDING SECTIONS 450:25b. , .REPEALING SECTIONS 450:-25d.1 , 450:30 AND-450:35a; AND AMENDING SECTION 450:35b Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Makowske and seconded by Councilmember Marks to approve the second reading of the ordinance which changes the zoning of the Blanske.property on the corner of. Silver Lake Road and Silver Lane from R-2,* two family residence district, to R-3, townhome residence district. OROINANCE ,1986-001 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TH.E CITY ZONING MAP Motion carried unanimously, _g_ Motion by Councilmember Ranallo and, seconded by Councilmember Enrooth -to adjourn the meeting at 8:58 P.M. for the St. Anthony Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting which followed immediately. Motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Helen Crowe,: Secretary Ma or ATTEST: be— City Cer •