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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MINUTES 09091986 i Meeting Sheet IIIIII VIII VIII VIII III II VIII IIII IIII iovu Box: 21 Folder: CC MINUTES AND AGENDAS 1986 Document: CC MINUTES 09091986 CITY OF ST _ ANTHONY • COUNCIL MINUTES September 9, 1986 The meeting was called to order with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mayor Sundland at 8:00 P.M. , having been delayed one-half hour until the primary election polls closed. Present for roll call : Marks, Ranallo, Sundland, and Enrooth. Absent: Makowske (arrived at 8:03 P.M. ) . Also present: David Childs, City Manager. Motion by Councilmember Ranallo and seconded by Councilmember Marks to approve as submitted the minutes of the Council meeting held August 26, 1986. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Ranallo to grant a heating license to Centraire, Inc. , Eden Prairie, MN, as listed in the September 9, 1986 Council agenda packet. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Ranallo to approve • payment of all verified claims listed for August 31 and September 9, 1986 in the Septmeber 9th Council agenda packet. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Enrooth to approve payment of $25,108. 11 to the Metropolitan Waste Control Commission for sewer services during August, 1986. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Enrooth to approve payment of $1 ,738.45 from the liquor operations fund to Twin City Testing for test borings, lab tests, and a geotechnical engineering. report related to the proposed addition to the Stonehouse liquor store and municipal lounge. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember' Enrooth 'to approve payment of $765 to the Dorsey & Whitney law firm for legal services during July, 1986. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Ranallo to approve,• payment of $19,503.75 to the Hennepin County Assessors Office for services rendered • under the September, 1986 contract. Motion carried unanimously. Councilmember Makowske arrived at 8:03 P.M. 1 � -2- Motion by Councilmember Enrooth and seconded by Councilmember Marks to approve payment of $1 ,392.40 to Short-Elliott-Hendrickson,Inc. for engineering services related to the St. Anthony Boulevard reconstruction project through July 26, 1986. Motion carried unanimously. The Manager gave a brief update on the project and the Mayor said he anticipated the final wearing surface might be installed by the middle of September, earlier than was required by the contractor's agreement. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Makowske to approve payment of $111 ,834 to Bituminous Roadway, Inc. , for which the City will be reimbursed from its Municipal State Aid -allocation. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Enrooth to approve. payment of $1 ,825 to the Edward J. Hance law firm for services rendered in connection with St. Anthony prosecutions from July 3 through August 6, 1986. Motion carried unanimously. Jim Werner, Chairman of the 1986 St. Anthony Peanut Day, presented his organization's request to conduct the annual fund raiser in the City, September 26th, and accepted donations from staff and Councilmembers, while Larry Jones, the Bulletin news • writer, took pictures. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded* by Councilmember Ranallo to authorize the annual Kiwanis Peanut Day fundraiser to be conducted on St. Anthony streets, September 26, 1986. Motion carried unanimously. Copies of the billing for the walk-in cooler, doors, track, and mechanical for the •Apache SAV Liquor Warehouse #2 had been distributed by the Manager who indicated the Liquor Manager would be submitting another bill from this vendor for add-ons, including checkout counter tops, as well as for cooler door handles which were estimated would cost a few hundred dollars more than originally bid. Mr. Childs announced the store would be open the following Monday. Councilmember Ranallo said he had already received a couple of complaints related to the proxAmity of the liquor store entrance to the Country Store exit door and said some of the grocery store patrons were concerned that the liquor store customers might use up too many of the parking spaces in front of the stores. The Manager indicated he perceived part of those spaces belonged to the City store and he expected there would be time limits imposed for the parking spaces directly in front of the liquor store. Motion by Councilmember Ranallo and seconded by Councilmember Enrooth to approve payment of $44,200 to National Store Fixtures for equipment for the Apache SAV • Liquor Warehouse #2. Motion carried unanimously. The Mayor briefly touched on his fishing trip to Lake Superior the past weekend before reporting he had been invited by Dave Pleasant, Assistant Director of -3- Safety for the City of St. Paul Fire Department, to participate in an emergency preparedness seminar September 4th and to give the St. Paul firefighters the benefit of St. Anthony. elected officials' experience with the April , 1984, tornado. Mayor Sundland said he received many favorable comments on the manner in which the City officials had handled that d,i;saster :from ,the �S,tate nand ;Countycemergen,cy ,personnel who had worked with the City during that emergency. Counci°l;member�-Makowske -pai-nted Bout ,that-�ther.e;:woul d be :_a ,: conf 1 i et .,in ,dates fcr the Ramsey County League of Local Government to be held September 17th in MoundsView and the Community Services dinner at the Salvation Army Camp the same evening and indicated she thought she would be attending the latter. Mr. Childs reported the ' League of Minnesota Cities regional conference and the North Suburban Cable Commission training sessions for cable users were also scheduled to be held the same evening. Mayor Sundland reported the St. Anthony Chamber of Commerce, National Bank of St. Anthony and the Tri Metro American Legion Post would be sponsoring a luncheon in the Legion Club rooms, September 16th, at which Astronaut Major Bob Cabana who is scheduled to make the next NASA space shuttle trip, would be guest speaker. The Mayor said he anticipated there would be a number of state officials, including the Lieutenant Governor, in attendance and urged the other Council members- to -get their tickets from Mr. Childs that evening. Major Cabana, who is a Washburn High School graduate, would be speaking to the St. Anthony High School students that morning and Mayor Sundland said he perceived the Bank should be commended for making his visit possible by underwriting the costs of bringing the astronaut • to St. Anthony. Councilmember Makowske continued her report on the RCLLG by indicating that, as a Board°;merriber she was looking for suggestions for the October meeting and asking which the Council members would prefer to hear;.thattzeveni;ng, a:di;scussi:on -.with some of the lesser state office candidates like Arne Carlson, the State Auditor, of the services they offered from the perspective of their impact on the cities, or a report from the Metropolitan Council . The general perception was that the former would be very timely and that the latter report could be scheduled later in the year. Councilmember Makowske indicated she had found the Council 's tour of the St. Louis ParK carbon filtration plant the previous Thursday well worthwhile and said she had benefited a great deal from getting the St. Anthony Public Works director's perspective on the techniques employed in the plant. The Councilmember said she agreed with Mr. Hamer that St. Anthony could learn a lot from St. Louis Park's mistakes related to failure to provide for humidity on the pipes, etc. After learning the process was 100 percent effective in removing the type of contaminants St. Louis Park had to get rid of, Councilmember Makowske said she was convinced this would be the best method St. Anthony could employ to remove the TCE's from the City's water supply. Mr. Childs added that the carbon filtration was even more effective in the removal of volatile materials as in St. Anthony wells as opposed to those found in St. Louis Park. Councilmember Enrooth said he had been convinced that this technique would be • especially effective for removing the lower level of contaminants found in the -4- St. Anthony wells at this time and was convinced the "pin drop silence" associated with carbon filtration would certainly be superior to a noisy operation like air- stripping in such close proximity to housing and schools in St. Anthony. Because several of the Council members would be out of the City for the next few weeks and because it appeared the most pressing matter before the City now was to get the carbon filtration system funded, there was a general concurrence that an executive session with Briggs and Morgan could be put off a little longer. The Mayor reminded the other Council members that their budget work session was scheduled to start at 6:30 P.M. the following evening. Councilmember Ranallo said he would not be able to attend the Community Services dinner the 17th because he would be attending the Leaguer•of-,,?M_innesota,,C-ities;-reg,ional meeting that evening. He reported participating in two LMC Board legislative planning sessions where, at the urging of the St. Anthony and New Brighton Board members, the decision had been made to support both the state and national Superfund bills. Copies of the preliminary by-laws (lacking only fiscal year identification) which would establish an ".appointing Board of Directors" for the St. Anthony Chemical Abuse Information Committee were distributed by Councilmember Marks who indicated the Board would be comprised of two persons, each appointed by the St. Anthony Council and the District #282 School Board; two New Brighton representatives, if that Council decides to adopt the program; and two members-at-large, if that is the decision of the other Board members. The Councilmember said, as one whose • deeply involved in the planning, he perceived the purpose of the Board would be "to establish a very strong central organization to make the Committee more effective in terms of getting information about chemical abuse out to the community". He said the -Planning Committee had expected the members of the appointing bodies to regularly attend Board meetings; interest in terms of keeping track of what the Committee is doing and evaluating its programs, and finally, financial support. Councilmember Marks indicated he was only seeking the Council 's initial reaction to the concept that evening and would place consideration of a joint powers agreement on the next Council agenda after the other Council members had time to look over the document he had provided them that evening. Councilmember Makowske. asked whether the intense effort, expertise, and time which the program seemed to demand of Board members would not automatically preclude membership by either Council-or School Board-members whose- time is already limited. Councilmember Marks affirmed that the planners had expected someone on the Council to serve on the appointing body, recognizing at the same time, that "a fairly intense kind of effort in addition to his or her Council duties would be necessary." He said the fact that the drug problems in the community "are getting so much worse" would seem to justify that dedication although no Councilmember would be expected to serve a long time because of those conflicting duties. The Councilmember indicated two members of the planning committee were appearing before the New Brighton Council to try to persuade them to join the effort and, he added, a good deal of support for the program is perceived on that Council . However, the program would not be delayed for their decision, according to Mr. • Childs, who indicated he had also become involved in the planning process, and the next seminar to be sponsored by the restructured. committee would be held November 6th. -5- When Councilmember Marks told Councilmember Ranallo no more monetary support was expected from the City than in the past, the latter responded by saying he had not perceived there had ever been a Council commitment to permanent support of the committee, but rather, there had been some expressions of hesitancy about , continuing that support each -year -the request came before the Council . Council- member Ranallo indicated he perceived from looking over the by-laws, that the Committee would be_ uridertaking}some.Add itional-cexpensesilJke,,r:e:taiin ngr4aC.C,PA�,tto look over the books, etc. Councilmember Marks said that was true but the Board would be doing some of its own fundraising which would involve various civic organizations and not limiting its support from just the two cities and the School Board. When Councilmember Ranallo questioned why St. Charles, one of the largest school systems in the City, with almost 500 students, as compared to 1 ,050 in the St. Anthony system, had not been represented on the Board, Councilmember Marks indicated that because the schools tend to have their own programs in this area, the goal had been to have a community based rather than school based, program. Councilmember Enrooth indicated that he had "had a problem with this program from its inception" because of his own personal philosophy that "municipalities should not be involved in providing social services" and the Councilmember said he was "even more concerned about a greater involvement at this time". Before the next meeting, Councilmember Enrooth said, he would be seeking additional input related to other municipalities involvement in similar programs from the Manager. Councilmember Ranallo said he also perceived the City Attorney's opinion should • be sought about the extent of liability the Council might be incurrin by appointing persons to the Board who later might start giving out erroneous information, etc. Councilmember Marks responded by saying the planning committee had also been concerned about the liability question and for that very reason had tried to redefine the role of the Committee members, recognizing that they are not counselors. In response toGounci l:member. Enr._o_oth;'s .comments,,concgr.n ng the _role -_;the_,kCi,ty„wou_ld be playing in providing social services, the Councilmember said that in the past 'that type of aid would have been funded by the counay b.ut .because ;of.-. the-_redu.c�ti,on in federal funding of this type of program, that type of help had lbeencdr•.ying 'up the past few years. However, Councilmember Marks said, the perception now was that in the long run it might be more effective to have community based programs where there could be more direct control over the way a drug program is handled and information made available to the parents on how to handle the problem and where to look for professional counseling if that is what they need. Councilmember Enrooth stated that he had peceived all along that the City had onl.y-t been: prov;i.d'i,ng :seed money 'to .give ';th=i si�rorganizati on ;time ,to:,crystall i zeA a �war.kabl e program and he suggested that "might have already happened with the business-like program Councilmember Marks had presented that evening". Mayor Sundland said he was inclined to agree with Councilmember Enrooth, especially having heard Councilmember Marks say the Committee would no longer be relying on only Council and School Board support but would be seeking funding from other sources. The Mayor questioned whether the ultimate goal might be to fund raise to the point where the Committee is self-sufficient. • Council-member,"Maks indicated he did. not percei've ..that 'nas the way- to go but believed instead the organization could be made stronger by having to report back to both -6- • City Councils .and .the School Board. Councilmember Enrooth said he perceived that would be "a complete turn-around from past practice.when. the Council -was never able to find out just what the Committee- was doing".; Councilmember Marks indicated that he perceived that if the program is set up .to require accounting to the..Council , Councilmember Ranallo would no longer be able to say he "had no idea -what the Committee had actually done in the last five years the City has supported them". Mayor Sundland said he was convinced there would be even more accountability required by outside organizations who agreed to help fund the programs who would probably demand each year to know just what the Committee had accomplished to justify its existence and their further involvement, He later commented that one way to- guarantee production from the Committee would be the knowledge that "the sure money wouldn't be there if they didn't produce". Councilmember Makowske indicated she could see where having the City directly associated with the program would give it greater credibility when seeking funds from other organizations but said she had to concur with Councilmember Enrooth that, although it might be necessary for the City to fund the program until the Committee hs started its own fund raising efforts, eventually the organization should be able to carry on under its own name and the Council should no longer have to be the "main push"- for the program. Mayor Sundland said he thought the credibility should still be there whether the City "donates one dollar or a hundred dollars". Councilmember Ranallo said he perceived that by appointing two people to the Board the Council would be automatically be providing the credibility and he suggested • the City' s funding could even come from the Community Services. Mr. Childs commented that he understood one of the initial arguments for supporting the drug awareness program had been that "the City, as a purveyor of chemicals (alcohol ) , could be said to have a certain role in the process that supporting the work of the Committee was sort of a way of balancing off thatr.esporzsi=bili;ty by providing information about the responsible use of those chemicals." Mayor Sundland questioned whether, if that was true, the $1 ,200 shouldn't come out of the liquor revenues which "would make its credibility even stronger". The Manager said that might not be a bad .idea but "the expenditure would still have to 'be approved by the Council". Councilmember Marks thanked the Mayor and other Council members for the candor of their response to the by-laws. Councilmember Enrooth told him "the direction we' re seeing the program take under your guidance the last two years is certainly different than what we've seen in the last six years." Mayor Sundland agreed, saying he had always felt rather uncomfortable voting to support a program about which he knew so little and some of what he knew he disagreed with because he questioned whether some of the pamphlets which were being distributed around town weren't just duplications of efforts from other agencies. Councilmember Marks said he had experienced the same sense of frustration when he had served on the City's Human Relations Committee and had never been able to "get a handle on" just what the high school counselor was doing about the drug problem in the school that year when there was a fatal traffic accident during school hours which was perceived to have been drug-related. He agreed that although he hadn't wanted to be provided confidential information concerning that case, he had wanted "some sense of whether something useful was being done or not." The purpose of restructuring the Committee, the Councilmember said, had been to assure that the Committee's future pronrams would be both useful and effective. He would be content to wait until they had .the,.,opporturLi ty to study the proposed changes carefully before asking for a Council decision, Councilmember Marks said. -7- There was a brief discussion of...some of the incidents reported in the• August Fire Department report beforethat. document.was ordered filed. Before.•the City Prosecutor's report on various matters conducted at the-. Hennepin County Municipal Court, August 6th was. ordered filed, Counci1member -Makowske expressed her concern at the number of DWI fines which had been stayed by the judge, from which she indicated she perceived. "he could have at least made them pay a part of the court costs". In reply to the Councilmember's inquiry about the proposed traffic light on Kenzie Terrace, Mr. Childs said Hennepin County had agreed to let the City put in the pedestrian signal at its own expense and -he would be coming to the Council for authorization to have the signs designed, but in the meantime, would be trying to find another source of funding to supplement the $20,000 in CDBG available for the project. The August liquor operation sales summary was ordered filed as informational without comment. During consideration of the September 2nd staff meeting notes, the Manager indicated the employee safety program the Risk Manaer was initiating was a smaller model of the one Mr. Flaten had just set up in Apple Valley. Mr. Childs' announcement that Dominic Cotroneo, a former St. Anthony Police Department Reserve would be taking the patrolman position in the Department..wasigreeted • with great enthusiasm, the perception being that he might provide the additional impetus to get the Reseve program working. The Manager alerted the Councilmembers to the fact that they would probably be involved in the Cancer Society "Jail and Bail " fund raiser at Apache Plaza in November. The June 30th study and evaluation of the City's internal accounting system by Stuart J. Bonniwell was discussed briefly with concurrence with the Manager's statement that he was quite comfortable with Mr. Bonniwell as the City's CPA and appreciated his rendering of the study in language which was easily understood. Mr. Childs indicated he perceived there had been nothing of a serious problem nature in the report and said staff had already instituted most of Mr. Bonniwell 's suggestions related to reimbursement of the City for administrative services by the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, combining of utility funds and operations, and the establishment of separate budgets for each special revenue fund. The Manager next reported receiving an application for a conditional use permit to operate a bingo facility in approximately 9,000 square feet of the former LaBelle store at Apache from four charitable organizations: the March of Dimes; Disabled Veterans; Arrigoni 's House for Alcoholics;.. and Sister Giovanni 's Guadelupe Area Project.. Mr. Childs said because the request falls under the "assembly halls" category of permitted- uses in a commercial zone in the City Zoning Ordinance, the request would be first submitted to the Planning Commission for their recommendations September .16th, with possible return for Council approval , September 23rd. • The Council has a short time in which to respond to several portions of the application, including the request to operate seven nights per week until about 10:00 P.M. and one matinee each on Saturday on Sunday where state law requires a variance to operate more than four bingo occasions a week at one location. However, the Manager said, he had been told those variances are easily obtained, with variances for fourteen occasions not uncommon. -8- • Mr. Childs indicated the operation itself could not be prohibited except by Ordinance change, but the City is allowed to put "reasonable" conditions on the conditional use related to lighting, signage, parking, etc. , and, he added, the City may comment to the state related to the frequency of the occasions bingo would be held in St. Anthony. The Council members agreed that the precedent for allowing this type of fund raiser in the City had already been established for regular bingo games at the American Legion Club and several events each year at St. Charles Borromeo .Church. The,:-1tght'ing for.-the facility, which is located in an isolated commercial area at least a block from res ident ial.-homes,r'didhi't,.appear�-to be'::an,°i!s`su6',and'-Wthe•.per,2eptridi4Fuv4s that there would certainly be enough parking in front of the building. Councilmember Ranallo said he understood the state controls the operation of all bingo parlors and would oversee the division of profits between the sponsoring charities. The councilmember said he had learned the entire operation would be run by a St. Cloud firm, Fund Raisers Incorporated, who were also considering opening a similar facility in the shopping center at 40th and Central in Minneapolis. Councilmember Ranallo said he perceived all the applicants represented deserving charities and he couldn't see too much wrong with the concept as long as the facility wasn't operated twice a day, seven days a week. However, he perceived it would be quite "reasonable" to require a uniformed, bona fide police officer to be on duty any time the facility i.s open. The Mayor indicated he was "somewhat indifferent to the idea" as long as the City had some control over the operation. Councilmember Enrooth said he wasn't "too happy about it", but didn't see how • the City could prevent it. Mr. Childs said he perceived the positives of the request were that there would be no alcohol served, the building is not too close to any residential area and there would be ample parking available in the center. When Larry Jones, the Bulletin news writer indicated he would be writing -an article on the request, the Council members said they perceived that would be a good way of getting community input before the request is returned for Council approval . Mr. Jones also agreed to publicize the City's ­ne:e.d�_for.. an :alter.nate_�repres'entative to the North Suburban Cable Commission now that Dave Mikkelson had taken over the representative's position vacated by Alan Kaeding's move from St. Anthony. A long range goal setting session of Councilmembers and department heads was scheduled to be held at the Riverwood Inn in Monticello, November 7th and 8th, with the Manager making arrangements to have a facilitator from the Government Training Servi`ce_'p`resent :for the di=s c`us`si'ons. Councilmember Ranallo indicated he would be attending a similar planning session for the League of Minnesota Cities Board members in Brainerd, September'.,25 =_V th and would appreciate any suggestions the Council cared to provide. In his September 4th memorandum, Mr. Childs had discussed the combined word processor/ typewriter equipment he was recommending the City purchase for the office, as anticipated in the 1986 budget. Councilmember Marks commented that he had been a strong advocate of the City adding some word processing capability and suggested • the City spend a few hundred dollars more to provide colored monitors which are so much easier on the operator's eyes. The Manager agreed to investigate the capability of connecting the character generator to Cable T.V. , as requested by Councilmember Makowske. -9- Motion by Councilmember Ranallo and seconded by Councilmember Enrooth to accept the bids of $3,367 from Moore Business Center and $1 ,139 from Calc-Type Office Equipment for the much needed combination word processor/typewriter equipment which can later be connected to a computer system and to include colored monitors in the purchase if their cost doesn't exceed two hundred dollars. Motion carried unanimously. The first draft of the proposed Personnel Ordinance included in the agenda packet represented trade-offs of interest on the part of all the negotiating parties, Mr. Childs indicated, and he said the changes in wording suggested by Council members would be made before the second reading. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Makowske to approve the first reading of Ordinance 1986-007, which amends the Personnel Ordinance. ORDINANCE 1986-007 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 135 - PERSONNEL POLICY, OF THE 1973 CODE OF ORDINANCES Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Ranallo to adjourn . the meeting at 9:30 P.M. Motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Helen Crowe, Secretary a or ATTEST: City Clerk