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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MINUTES 12091986 Meeting Sheet IIIIII VIII VIII VIII VIII VIII IIII IIII iovoa - ,'i Box: 21 Folder. CC MINUTES AND AGENDAS 1986 Document: CC MINUTES 12091986 CITY OF ST. ANTHONY COUNCIL MINUTES December 9, 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, Makowske. Also present: David Childs, City Manager. NOVEMBER 25 , 1986 COUNCIL MINUTES_ Motion by Ranallo, seconded by Makowske to approve with the following change: Page 3 , para. 6: Substitute "Councilmember Enrooth" for "the : . r=; Cou=aclmember":'_in line 1. Motion carried unanimously. CLAIMS • Motion by Marks, seconded by Makowske to approve payment of all verified claims listed for December 9th in the Council' s agenda packet of the same date. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Makowske, seconded by Marks to approve payment of $25, 108. 11 to the Metropolitan Waste Control Commission for sewer services provided in November, 1986. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Enrooth, seconded by Marks to approve payments of $520. 00 and $1,174.79 to Short-Elliott-Hendrickson, Inc. for inspections of the St. Anthony Boulevard Reconstruction Project in September and October, 1986. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Marks, seconded by Sundland to approve payment of $1,890. 73 to Bruce A. Liesch Associates as the City' s share of the legal costs incurred November 25, 1986 in connection with the lawsuit against the U.S. Army et al related to the water contamination problem. Motion carried unanimously. • -2- REPORTS COUNCIL REPORTS Participants Discuss National League of Cities Convention in San Antonio Sundland - reported that, in anticipation of the discussions he would be leading on natural disasters at the Minnesota Mayor ' s Association meeting December 12th, he had made a point of attending the seminars on emergency preparedness and natural disasters. realized after listening to the Mayor of Galveston talk about hurricanes that the experiences St. Anthony faced with the 1984 tornado were not unique. He said the actions the City officials had taken must have been right because they weren' t that much different from those taken by the Texas officials who have a back- ground of experience with hurricanes. . - indicated he had also found the discussion of toxic spills very enlightening in view of the City' s own water contamination problems. Makowske - agreed the conference had been extremely worthwhile and a good learning experience. - intends to report further on the meeting later on and brought back pieces of information which might be help- ful to various department heads. - said, however, she had been very disappointed to see how few delegates remained to vote on the issue which the League would be promoting for legislation. The Councilmember said she questioned how meaningful Con- gress would find recommendations which came from so few participants. - added that she had been "very proud" of the Minnesota delegation who had stayed until the end of the agenda. - agreed with Councilmember Ranallo that the Minnesotans had come well prepared for the conference and to work on the agenda. • • -3- Enrooth - speculated that this had been one of the largest con- ventions the League had ever undertaken. -- indicated San Antonio had gone out of its way to be not only receptive but to entertain its visitors. - said he found the 178,000 square feet of convention space accessible to League members very impressive and saw no comparison with what Minneapolis has. - thought the conference was well worth the time, although perhaps a little too ambitious in terms of the number of seminars. There were too many scheduled for the same _ time. slots to allow him to take in all those he would have=-.piked -to. RCLLG Board Makes Final Preparations for Holiday Banquet December 17th Councilmember Makowske noted the December 8th Board meeting had been her last since she had requested not to be considered for reappointment to that body in 1987. She indicated, that just as he had been unable to attend the San Antonio League conference, Senator Durenberger would not be able to attend the banquet, as planned. The Councilmember said the Senator' s involvement in the hearings on the Iranian/Contra connectin had prevented him from leaving Washington, D.C. Resident Reaction to Proposed Ordinance Changes- _- _=' ..._ From the calls he had gotten related to recent newspaper articles about the changes the City is contemplating, Councilmember Ranallo said he had no doubts St. Anthony residents are reading the Bulletin and the Northeaster. The Councilmember said there were even reports of new businesses in homes which the City had not even been aware of. He had gotten six or seven calls in favor of having the ordinance tightened up with respect to the number of vehicles which can be parked in front of residential property. Only one caller, a person who had been previously cited for parking on the grass, opposed the changes, and in fact, another resident said she thought that even four was too many vehicles to have parked in front of a home. One person had even proposed the City adopt a "beautification ordinance" which would control how yards would be kept up, which, Councilmember Ranallo had advised, would be too hard to administer. The Councilmember said he expected the January 20th hearing on the changes would be a very interesting one. He said he would like to • -4- . see further publicizing of the hearing before it is held so the Council would have the benefit of receiving all the pro' s and con' s about the issues involved before taking final action on the ordinance amendments. Mayor Sundland said he had also gotten several calls about the changes, with most of the callers indicating they were in favor of limiting the number of unrelated persons who live in a single family unit. Three persons had called the Mayor about the Council' s proposal to restrict the number of vehicles parked in front of residential property. One person thought four vehicles were too many. Another said restricting the parking to that extent would impose a hardship on her family of six, all of whom drive cars. The Mayor said :another call he had received had been from a woman who said she had considered buying one of the Hertog or Johnson lots but had decided to live in another suburb because of the number of "junk cars" and "trashy front yards" she had observed while driving around the community. Commissioner Marks Reports Further on Planning Institute Seminars • The Councilmember reported he had served as the moderator of the panel discussion at the Rochester seminar, December 5th. When he was at Bay Lake near Brainerd, someone approached him and said "Oh, you' re from St. Anthony which has that great band! " Computer Use Studied by Councilmember Councilmember Marks then reported he was in the process of attending a conference on computer application for cities being held in St. Cloud and had been particularly impressed with the way various police departments use computer delivered crime statistics. DEPARTMENT AND COMMITTEE REPORTS The following were ordered filed after brief consideration: * City Prosecutor' s report on matters conducted at the Hennepin County Court, November 19, 1986 * October Financial Report * November Liquor Operations Sales Summary. In reference to the latter, Councilmember Ranallo observed that the November sales at the new Apache off-sale operation had surpassed • those for the SAV #1 warehouse. • -5- CITY MANAGER REPORTS Consultants Authorized to Proceed with Litigation Against Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant A Council work session with the Briggs and Morgan law firm, the attorneys who are handling St. Anthony' s law suit, was held November 18th and resulted in the following action which would not be officially taken at a work session. Council Action Motion by Marks, seconded by Ranallo to authorize Briggs and -Morgan to attempt to include St. Anthony in the joint class action suit against the U.S. Army et al and Bruce A. Liesch Associates to prepare documentation to trace the plume from New Brighton to St. Anthony and to generate the expert testimony and information required to proceed with the litigation. Motion carried unanimously. MPCA Board to Act on Carbon Filtration System for City Wells December 16th Councilmembers had been provided copies of the December 5th letter from the MPCA which indicated the above. The letter informed the City that the MPCA Board would be requested to place St. Anthony on the state ' s Superfund priority list to match $1 ,100,000 in federal Superfunds with $110,000 of state dollars to be used for the construction of a carbon filtration system the EPA would be installing on City wells. The City would be required to pick up 10% of the operation and maintenance costs for the first ten years and 100% of the operation and maintenance costs thereafter. Mr. Childs said he and the attorneys planned to attend this meeting and, if it was determined that the Council presence would also be helpful, he would notify them in time for them to arrange to be there. Council Adopts Second Certificate of Indebtedness Resolution Copies of the second resolution the financial consultant had advised at the last meeting would be required were accepted as an addendum to the agenda. Mr. Childs said the City Attorney had prepared the document. He also indicated the certificates to pay for the new road grader had already been sold at "excellent" maturity rates of 4.25% for the first maturity, 4. 5% for the second and third, and 5% for the final maturities of the issue. Council Action Motion by Marks, seconded by Ranallo to adopt Resolution 86-041. RESOLUTION 86-041 A RESOLUTION RELATING TO $125,000 GENERAL OBLIGATION CERTIFICATES OF INDEBTEDNESS; FIXING THE FORM AND DETAILS, AND PROVIDING FOR THE EXECUTION AND DELIVERY THEREOF AND SECURITY THEREFOR Motion carried unanimously. NEW BUSINESS RESOLUTION ADOPTED TO SPLIT ASSESSMENTS ON ST. ANTHONY NURSING HOME CHANDLER PLACE PROPERTIES Mr. Childs advised that Ramsey County requires a resolution to split. special assessments. Council Action Motion by Enrooth, seconded by Makowske to adopt Resolution 86-039. • RESOLUTION 86-039 A RESOLUTION RELATING TO THE APPORTIONMENT OF SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS FOR LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS Motion carried unanimously. MANAGER INDICATES ENGINEERING PROPOSALS BEING SOUGHT FOR LIFT STATION Staff is working with a second engineering firm to develop their proposal which should be completed by the Council' s first meeting in January, Mr. Childs told Councilmember Enrooth. BONNIWELL RETAINED FOR THE 1986 CITY AUDIT Staff Input - advised that this year' s quote was higher due to the dramatic increase in liability insurance being faced by CPA firms. - pointed out that the 1985 cost of approximately $9,985 was about $500 less than the "not to exceed" quote from Mr. Bonniwell. - assured the Council that, if audit costs run less than $11, 200 , the City would be billed for the lesser amount. - recommended City engage Mr. Bonniwell for a fee not to exceed that amount. - agreed with Councilmember Ranallo that, although Mr. Bonniwell' s quote "certainly appeared to be in line with other firms ' charges" , the City should at least look at bids from other CPA' s next year. Council - Motion by Ranallo, seconded by Makowske to engage action Stuart A. Bonniwell, CPA, to do the 1986 City and liquor audits for a fee not to exceed $11,200. Motion carried unanimously. COUNCIL AUTHORIZES EXECUTION OF EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT WITH MR. CHILDS Motion by Ranallo, seconded by Marks to adopt the resolution which retains and employs David M. Childs as City Manager. RESOLUTION 86-040 , • 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. COUNCIL' S DECEMBER 23rd MEETING CANCELLED Motion by Marks, seconded by Ranallo to cancel the Council' s December 23rd meeting because of its proximity to Christmas Day. Staff is also directed to schedule another meeting before the end of the year if matters arise which require Council action before January 13th. Motion carried unanimously. PLANNING COMMISSION INTERVIEWS SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 5, 1987 Mr. Childs will notify the Councilmembers about the time : the above work session is to begin based on the number of applicants to be interviewed. • • -8- PUBLIC HEARING ASSESSMENTS ADOPTED FOR ST. ANTHONY BOULEVARD RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT Mayor Sundland opened the hearing at 8:01 P.M. by reading aloud the notice of the hearing which had been published in the Bulletin and mailed to all affected property owners of record. Each of these was also sent an individual notice advising the assessment amount and giving the options for paying those amounts. Hearing - to consider and adopt the assessment roll for the re- purpose construction of the roadway between Stinson Boulevard and Silver Lake Road. The project included new curb and gutters, bituminous roadbed and associated sewer con- struction. Total - $309,827.00 project cost Assessed - $30 , 169.65 amount • Assess- - $10. 50 per front foot as required by the City Assessment ment rate Policy Excepted - 7 corner properties with short sides on St. Anthony lots Boulevard, including #2615 which initially had errone- ously been included for assessment. Four of the affected property owners were present and reiterated questions and concerns which had previously been explored during the March 25th and April 8th preliminary hearings on the project, as follows: Brunis Smoka, 2513 St. Anthony Boulevard: - requested his assessment be restated; - thought a "beautiful, well supervised job had been done, which had increased the value of the homes on the Boulevard, but - questioned why the City was now detracting from that value by allowing trucks. Charles F. Kausel, 2525 St. Anthony Boulebard: requested an interpretation of paragraph 3 in the notice he had gotten. Specifically, he wanted to know whether the -9- City' s Assessment Policy should require Boulevard property owners to pay for the improvements because St. Anthony had gotten the street under an "easement grant" from the Minneapolis Park Board; - contended the purpose of the easement grant had been to prov �:e�-`3c�^'easy'aid='egress oto-'�3�SW; - said the grant was "from tree to tree" and stipulated that the "City of St. Anthony had to maintain all the distance between" ; - said he thought a "different situation" existed for St. Anthony Boulevard residents who have no driveways and now suffer an increase in traffic which "could cause some of the homes to have lost some of their value" ; - indicated he believed it was because the home owners had fought to keep the road 32 feet wide that "we now have a beautiful, well done Boulevard" ; - recalled that the first residents on that street had planted all the trees in the boulevards. • Muriel Bochnak, 2600 St. Anthony Boulevard: - registered a complaint about the "corner houses not being assessed. " - wanted to know when the assessment policy which stipulated this treatment had been passed; - wanted to know when the side streets, particularly the storm sewers, would be reconstructed, saying she under- stood this would eliminate some of the flooding problems on the Boulevard; - questioned whether taxpayers would have to pay for "trees which will probably not make it through the winter after the contractor dug too close to them. " ; - reported her flagstone sidewalk had to be replaced after mistakenly being torn up by the contractor; - told about a workman who urinated right in front of her front window; - was concerned that her dinner guests the next week might be tagged for parking in front of her home. • • -10- Joseph J. Brinkman, 2529 St. Anthony Boulevard: - was also concerned about the number of trucks using the street now that it' s opened; - wanted to know why the City didn't post the streets against truck traffic. These comments prompted the following responses from the City Manager and Councilmembers: Childs - indicated the Assessment Policy had been adopted that spring before the hearings were held on the project; - said under the Policy, all abutting property owners, whether or not they live on MSA streets, have to pay the costs of a 5 ton residential street; - gave the theory on which the Policy is based as being that homeownes derive direct benefit from the first eight feet of roadway and the middle section, which is used by .the general public, should be paid for from general taxation; • - pointed out that if Silver Lake Road, another MSA road, ever had to be redone, the abutting property owners would also have to pay $10. 50 per front foot based on the current cost of constructing aL5 ton residential street; added that, if construction costs are higher, the rates paid by those property owners would also rise; - pointed out that the City' s policy of only assessing 10% of an MSA street to the abutting property owners was much more generous than other suburbs where the same owners might have to pay up to half of the costs of reconstructing an MSA street; - assured Ms. Bochnak that the contractor would have to replace any trees he had injured and others would be replaced from the City' s stock of trees, not charged to the property owners; - told the Councilmembers that the contractor had to cover the costs of replacing the flagstone in front of the Bochnak property. Sundland told Mr. Kausel "all streets are considered to be easements and have to be maintained by the City, which is you and me. " • . -11- - said most of the trees in the Village boulevards had been planted there by the homeowners; - requested the City Attorney review the documents Mr. Kausel has in relation to the City' s acquisition of the Boulevard to determine their relevance to the City Assessment Policy; - said, based on their refusal to pay for any of the costs of maintaining the road in front of the Gross Golf Coub, he had strong doubts about the Park Board' s ever taking St. Anthony Boulevard back just because the City wasn' t maintaining it; - informed Ms. Bochnak that no proposals to reconstruct either Wilson or Roosevelt Streets were on the Council' s agenda at this time, but - said he was afraid that would probably have to be done "sooner than we would like with current economic condi- tions. " - reminded the property owners that this project had been completed in less than two months as compared to County Road D, which the County had taken over two years to • complete. Ranallo - told Mr. Kausel the City would have to amend its assessment policy ordinance before it could make an exception for St. Anthony Boulevard assessments; - drew a parallel between Mr. Kausel' s having to pay for a street which is primarily used for general traffic and the property owners on his street being assessed for a new storm sewer the City reconstructed a few years ago close to St. Anthony Boulevard, saying his neighbors were hard pressed to see the benefit of that improvement to their own tproperties; - reiterated that future projects like this one might be assessed at rates higher or lower than the St. Anthony Boulevard homeowners had to pay; - pointed out that St. Charles Church hs to pay 100% of the costs of reconstructing not only St. Anthony Boulevard, but also Stinson Boulevard because its property is assessed on a commercial basis. -12- Makowske - told Mr. Kausel property owners on Highway 8 were not allowed to have driveways with the exception of those whose properties were "grandfathered in" with the Zoning Ordinance. She said those abutting property owners had also been required to pay for any improvements to their streets. Enrooth - explained to Ms. Bochnak that she would probably be assessed at a rate lower than her neighbors on corner lots who were not assessed this time because construction costs would most likely be higher by the time the other streets were rebuilt; - recalled that the engineers had been cautioned against coming too close to the boulevard trees so the contractors would be responsible for repairing any damage; - perceived that because the contractor had been so con- scientious about other aspects of the project, he would probably have been glad to be told about the urinating incident. The Council also responded to questions from the property owners present relating to the no parking signs placed on the Boulevard as • provided by MSA guidelines. Council Action Motion by Ranallo, seconded by Marks to adopt Resolution 86-038. RESOLUTION 86-038 A RESOLUTION ADOPTING SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS RELATING TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF ST. ANTHONY BOULEVARD BETWEEN STINSON BOULEVARD AND SILVER LAKE ROAD Motion carried unanimously. RECESS The Mayor called a short recess at 8: 45 P.M. and reconvened the meeting at 8 : 52 P.M. when the agenda was resumed for consideration of matters remaining under NEW BUSINESS. Action Deferred on Optical Scan Voting Equipment Purchase Proposal - that the City purchase four voting units and participate in the county-wide implementation of new technology proposed by Hennepin County to provide more reliable and secure methods of voting and tabulating future • elections. • -13- Staff input Finance - suggested how the machine purchases could be handled. Director City - described the scanning features of the machines; Manager - said St. Anthony would be one of the only municipal- ities outside the system in Hennepin County if the Council decided against it; - added, however, that if they were not comfortable with making a decision that evening, he perceives no major problem with waiting until the January meeting. Council Response Enrooth - didn' t want to be "pressured" into spending $25,000 for equipment he knew so little about. Makowske - agreed she would like to know whether the voters in the test cities, ,especially the senior citizens, had • problems which would require an education program before the equipment is utilized; - also wanted a better understanding of how the confi- dentiality of the vote was preserved with the scanning system. Council Action Motion by Ranallo, seconded by Marks to table the purchase of the Optical Scan Voting Equipment until questions related to its usage in other cities had been provided. The Council directs the City Manager to call a special Council meeting at the end of December if action at that time is considered imperative. Motion carried unanimously. Engineer Presents Preliminary Traffic Study on Kenzie Terrace Glen Van Wormer of the Short-Elliott-Hendrickson, Inc. engineering firm discussed the above study his firm had been requested to do prior to the City undertaking a beautification program in that area. He reported the study had indicated no "life threatening" but rather a lot of little "nuisance conflicts" in the existing road and median configuration. • • -14- Surveys of the road systems in that area showed the following: * traffic volumes on Highway 8 had -only increased about 800 cars a day between 1962 and 1984 when the road became Highway 88. * even traffic increases on connecting freeways were not expected to cause much damage in these numbers. * traffic counts on the Lowry/Kenzie Terrace connection with Stinson Boulevard had been pretty stable, actually decreasing from 10,000 cars a day in 1976 to 8,000 in 1984 . * Kenzie Terrace is a commercial street with the highest traffic count in the late afternoon. * most of the traffic is local to the businesses in the area and not through traffic like Silver Lake Road and Stinson. * because the traffic is spread out so evenly over the day, the engineer said Kenzie Terrace had a capacity for carrying up to 15,000 cars a day without widening the roadway. * the addition of 300 housing units would not change these • projections. * average speeds of 33 m.p.h. were not fast enough to warrant Hennepin County paying for a traffic light in front of the Kenzington. Based on what these studies told him and his own close observance of traffic patterns in the area, Mr. Van Worme presented the pro' s and con' s of a number of alternatives he thought St. Anthony should pursue before any beautification program is begun. The engineer' s final recommendations were: * to- retain the medians which are good methods of channelizing traffic. * try to get the business owners to realign their driveways with the medians. * let the developers of the medical building know in advance Aust how the City wants the -traffic on their property circu- lated. Mr. Childs ' reaction: * perceived the City had one of the most cooperative group of 40 property owners to work with. • -15- • said staff would invite them all in to talk about what can be done to eliminate the traffic conflicts in the area. * indicated that, although the County would allow the City to install the pedestrian crossing light in front of the Kenzington, it would be up to the City to pay between $70 , 000 and $80 ,000 for the light. * agreed with Councilmember Enrooth that clearly marking the points of egress and access would be essential to providing safe traffic patterns. In reference to the architect' s suggestions for plantings in the area, the engineer indicated they would be fine on the side of the road but experience had shown would be a hindrance to drivers in the medians. Lack of Landscaping at Apache Cited Several Councilmembers expressed the opinion that having traffic and parking patterns more clearly delineated with plantings might have made driving around that shopping complex a lot easier. Mr. Childs said one problem there was that the driving habits had already been established for 20 years before the revamping program Mr. Van Wormer' s firm undertook was attempted. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Ranallo, seconded by Enrooth to adjourn the meeting at 10: 32 P.M. Motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Hel rowe, Secretary Mayor r ' ATTEST: 04L&4_11p, i City Clerk