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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MINUTES 072520231 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 CITY OF ST. ANTHONY CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES JULY 25, 2023 CALL TO ORDER. Mayor Stille called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. Mayor Stille invited the Council and audience to join in the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL. Present: Mayor Stille, Councilmembers Jenson, Randle, and Walker. Absent: Councilmember Webster. Also Present: City Manager Charlie Yunker, City Planner Steve Grittman, VillageFest Representative Julianne Hunter, Police Sergeant James South, and Liquor Operations Manager Mike Larson. CONSIDERATION, DISCUSSION, AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON ALL OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS. I. APPROVAL OF JULY 25, 2023 CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA. Motion by Councilmember Randle, seconded by Councilmember Walker, to approve the City Council Meeting Agenda of July 25, 2023 as presented. Motion carried 4-0. II. PROCLAMATIONS AND RECOGNITION. A. VillageFest Presentation. Ms. Julianne Hunter of VillageFest stated a request has been submitted for a Special Event Permit to hold the annual VillageFest celebration August 4-5, 2023. Being that the request involves City property, amplified music and expects to exceed 100 attendees ; a Special Event Permit is required. VillageFest is a large and long-standing community event that involves a number of events in different areas of the City, and required support from the City's Public Safety and Public Works Departments. On June 27th, 2023 VillageFest representatives met with staff representatives to discuss the needs of City services, primarily focused around road closures and staff support for the parade, n 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes July 25, 2023 Page 2 and support services for events in Central Park. Staff found those requests to be reasonable and consistent with past celebrations. A schedule of events was provided for Council review. Councilmember Walker asked about the date/time for the blood drive. Ms. Hunter stated it is Friday from 9am — 3pm. Mayor Stille thanked Ms. Hunter for her presentation and thanked her for all she does for the community. B. Night to Unite Presentation. Police Sergeant James South provided an overview of Night to Unite. The City has supported Night to Unite for 16 years. Prior to that they supported National Night Out. The date is Tuesday, August 1, 2023. This is a great opportunity for the community to meet the Police Officers. Last year there were 45 block parties. As of today there are 40 parties registered. Cub Foods provides a bucket of vanilla ice cream for free to all registered block parties. Mayor Stille thanked the community for participating. C. Night to Unite Proclamation. Council read the Proclamation in full. 24 III. CONSENT AGENDA. 25 26 A. Approval of July 11, 2023 City Council Meeting Minutes. 27 B. Licenses and Permits. 28 C. Claims. 29 D. Resolution 23 -03 8 Approving a Plan Coordinator for the 457 Deferred Compensation 30 Plan with Mississippi Square. 31 32 Motion by Councilmember Jenson, seconded by Councilmember Walker, to approve the Consent 33 Agenda items. 34 35 Motion carried 4-0. 36 37 IV. PUBLIC HEARING. 38 39 A. Ordinance 2023-04 — Granting CenterPoint Energy Resources Com D/B/A CenterPoint 40 Energy Minnesota Gas ("CenterPoint Energy"), Its Successors and Assigns a 41 Nonexclusive Franchise ("Franchise") to Construct Operate Repair and Maintain 42 Facilities and Equipment for the Transportation Distribution Manufacture and Sale of 43 Gas Euergv for the Public and Private Use and to Use the Public Ways and Grounds of 44 the City of St. Anthonv Minnesota for such PuMoses and Prescribing Certain Terms 45 and Conditions Thereof. 46 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes July 25, 2023 Page 3 Mayor Stille opened the public hearing at 7:15 p.m. City Attorney Jay Lindgren reviewed the City currently has a franchise ordinance allowing CenterPoint Energy a nonexclusive right to use public grounds and rights of way to distribute natural gas to customers within the City. The current ordinance expires soon and requires consideration of a new ordinance for a 20 year period. 8 The proposed franchise ordinance is similar to the current ordinance in that it requires (1) 9 agreement with the City about location of gas utilities, (2) allows the City to charge a franchise 10 fee to be established as part of your annual fee schedule (as long as consistent with Minnesota 11 Public Utilities Commission), (3) allows the City to charge permit fees consistent with an annual 12 schedule, and (4) allows the City to require escrow deposits, prior to disturbing any public 13 ground. 14 15 Based on this, there should be no substantial changes to the way the franchise operates over the 16 next 20 years. 17 18 Mayor Stille asked if this would address should a utility fee be charged in the future. Mr. 19 Lindgren stated that would be a separate action but this would allow you to charge a permit fee 20 to CenterPoint. Mayor Stille noted the City does not do that. Mayor Stille asked about the 21 potential for escrows. There needs to be escrows before they dig. Mr. Lindgren stated that is true. 22 23 Mayor Stille closed the public hearing at 7:19 p.m. 24 25 Motion by Councilmember Walker, seconded by Councilmember Jenson, to approve First 26 Reading of Ordinance 2023-04 — Granting CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp. D/B/A 27 CenterPoint Energy Minnesota Gas ("CenterPoint Energy"), Its Successors and Assigns, a 28 Nonexclusive Franchise ("Franchise") to Construct, Operate, Repair and Maintain Facilities and 29 Equipment for the Transportation, Distribution, Manufacture and Sale of Gas Energy for the 30 Public and Private Use and to Use the Public Ways and Grounds of the City of St. Anthony, 31 Minnesota, for such Purposes and, Prescribing Certain Terms and Conditions Thereof. 32 33 Motion carried 4-0. 34 35 V. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION AND STAFF — NONE. 36 37 VI. GENERAL BUSINESS OF COUNCIL. 38 39 A. Resolution 23-039 — Approving the Use of Central Park for a Special Event on August 4 40 & 5, 2023. 41 42 City Manager Charlie Yunker reviewed Council is requested to approve the Use of Central Park 43 for a Special Event — VillageFest on August 4-5, 2023. 44 45 Motion by Councilmember Randle, seconded by Councilmember Walker, to approve Resolution 46 23-039 — Approving the Use of Central Park for a Special Event on August 4-5, 2023. City Council Regular Meeting Minutes July 25, 2023 Page 4 2 Motion carried 4-0. 3 4 B. Ordinance 2023-03 Regulating the Sale and Distribution of Hemn-Based Cannabinoid 5 Products. 6 7 City Planner Steve Grittman reviewed the proposed ordinance for the regulation of commercial 8 sales of THC/Hemp products (or "cannabinoids"). The information reflect the discussion held by 9 the Council at the first reading. The ordinance is essentially the same as that presented during the 10 first reading, with updates to internal language and references noted by Council. 11 12 The moratorium ordinance related to THC/Hemp products expires on July 26, 2023. Because the 13 moratorium expires a day after the Council's second reading, the Council may wish to exercise 14 its authority to waive the third reading if desired, to avoid a gap between the expiration of the 15 moratorium and adoption of the ordinance. 16 17 Mayor Stille noted the Planning Commission suggested one of the reasons for not providing the 18 license if there was a conviction for illegal selling of cannabis products and they questioned why 19 not expanding that to other illicit drugs. Mr. Grittman stated with discussions with the City 20 Manager they felt the existing language was most appropriate. 21 22 Motion by Councilmember Jenson, seconded by Councilmember Walker, to approve Second 23 Reading of Ordinance 2023-03 Regulating the Sale and Distribution of Hemp -Based 24 Cannabinoid Products, waiving Third Reading and adopting the ordinance. 25 26 Motion carried 4-0. 27 28 Mayor Stille stated at the last meeting the cannabinoid issue was discussed but Council was not 29 able to move forward on a moratorium due to timing. Mr. Grittman clarified it is the cannabis 30 material that the League of Minnesota Cities has advised Cities to adopt a moratorium to avoid 31 the establishment of a cannabis related business that could last until 1-1-2025 but because there 32 is no state office yet, no one can get a license yet. A public hearing would need to be held and it 33 is planned for the first meeting in August. 34 35 C. Resolution 23-040 — Approving Summary Publication of Ordinance 2023-03 36 37 City Manager Charlie Yunker reviewed the resolution before the Council is for approving a 38 Summary Publication for Ordinance 2023-03. 39 40 Motion by Councilmember Randle, seconded by Councilmember Walker, to approve Resolution 41 23-040 — Approving Summary Publication of Ordinance 2023-03. 42 43 Motion carried 4-0. 44 45 D. Liquor Operations Mid -Year Report. 46 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes July 25, 2023 Page 5 Liquor Operations Manager Mike Larson presented a power point summarizing the mid -year report for the St. Anthony Village Liquor Operations. Two other employees Chris Mork and Bill Haugen were also present. Mr. Haugen noted there are two locations — Silver Lake Village 2602 39`h Avenue and Marketplace 2700 Highway 88. He reviewed the Mission and Vision Statements. The profits from the liquor operations are transferred to the General Fund and can be used to provide property tax levy relief, provide funds for equipment purchases for police, fire and public works departments and supplement general fund purchases. 9 Mr. Larson reviewed the conditions through June 2023 and provided a January — June 2023-2022 10 Sales and Profit Comparison chart. Other charts were presented including 2023 Sales 11 Comparison, 2023 Sales Projection, and 2023 Net Income Projection. 12 13 The 2023 Accomplishments included: 14 • City Goal Setting 15 • League of Minnesota Cities Conference 16 • Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association Conference 17 • MMBA/MLBA Legislative Day at the Capital 18 • Students in Government 19 • Social Media Advertising & New Sharing Group 20 • City Council Tour of City Buildings 21 • Collaboration with Distilleries and Breweries. 22 23 The current status of where the liquor operations are now include construction surrounding the 24 stores, supply chain delivery issues, inflationary influence on customers purchasing habits, and 25 cost of products and retail prices stabilizing. 26 27 Liquor Operations will be celebrating 75 years of Public Service in 2023. Plans for the future 28 include implement new on-line ordering and application, continued collaboration products with 29 local distilleries and breweries, holiday sampling events and THC/Cannabis/Hemp products. 30 More liquor operation information can be found at www.savmn.com. 31 32 Councilmember Walker congratulated Mr. Larson for 75 years of service. Mr. Larson stated he 33 has been here for 27 years. Councilmember Walker asked about the north location sales increase. 34 Mr. Larson explained the construction on Highway 88. 35 36 Councilmember Jenson stated the overall business picture presented looks favorable. Liquor 37 Operations are exceeding projections. He thanked Liquor Operations Staff for their contribution 38 to enabling the business plan to be as good as it is. 39 40 Councilmember Randle thanked Mr. Larson for his presentation. He asked if there is an appetite 41 for the hemp based products in the City. Mr. Larson stated they are looking forward to the 42 adoption of the ordinance. Residents have been inquiring about the product being available and 43 the demand is very high. 44 45 Mayor Stille noted the Mission Statement will be outdated as it only addresses alcohol. He 46 thanked Mr. Larson for the presentation. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes July 25, 2023 Page 6 VII. REPORTS FROM CITY MANAGER AND COUNCIL MEMBERS. City Manager Yunker had no report. Councilmember Walker had no report. Councilmember Jenson stated on July 14, the Ramsey County Local League of Governments had a Climate Action Plan Program. On July 19, he attended the Northeast Youth and Family Services had an Open House. Councilmember Randle had no report. Mayor Stille stated on July 18, he attended the St. Anthony Chamber of Commerce Board Kickoff. On July 19, he and Councilmember Randle went to Chandler Place for a fundraiser. VIII. COMMUNITY FORUM — NONE. No one appeared to address the City Council. IX. INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS — NONE. X. ADJOURNMENT. Mayor Stille adjourned the meeting at 7:58 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Debbie Wolfe TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. ATTEST: Ci Clerk —4 Y�q Mayor