Maplewood City Council Meeting • January 8, 2007
Totally Unofficial Notes by JN
As the preceding workshop on street improvements came to a close, a fairly large attendance filtered into the council chambers. As the meeting was called to order, I counted a total of 48 people in the audience.
After the usual opening formalities, we went ahead to...
D. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Rossbach: Adds “Recording of Meetings” under council presentations.
Copeland: adds a resolution on behalf of the Historical Preservation Commission, under New Business; and have Mr. Kantrud report on “incompatibility of office” (if I heard that right) under item M., Administrative Presentations.
Hjelle additions to council presentations:
Mound City public works superintendent
elections ?
council rules on ? commissions?
Notification of special meetings
I think there were problems with the microphones, because I had trouble making out what was being said.
Copeland suggested that one of these items might be covered under the Kantrud matter he already added.
Longrie moves agenda as amended, Cave seconds, Longrie votes first and all vote aye.
E. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Nothing exciting here.
F. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS
Longrie prefaced this section by saying that visitors are limited to 5 minutes, and that she may direct staff to answer visitor questions, or simply let them know that their concerns have been noted.
Bill Kayser: Providing an update on litigation between him and the city.
Nancy Lazaryan: Had more to say on the same topic. She accuses Maplewood of “kidnapping and false imprisonment,” “assault and battery,” and “grand theft” (for impounding her car), for her arrest over posting signs on the land in south Maplewood that she and her family claim belongs to them and not the city.
Longrie, after Lazaryan was done, stated that the property at issue is Applewood Park.
Bob Schmidt: Began by saying he has “nothing but the utmost respect for our fire and police department.” However, he continued, “I've never seen as much corruption as I've seen with this council.” He breaks it down to “corruption, vindictive actions, and the budget.” He pointed out that his son worked 12 years for the Maplewood Community Center, was in line for the director position, but could not get it because he did not have a college degree. He observes that Mr. Copeland's lack of an appropriate degree did not stop him from being awarded a much higher position.
Criticizes Copeland's budget for reorganizing the city structure in response to the management bargaining unit. He reports that he has heard that Ms. Guilfoyle will get one of the top new management positions, and Ms. Cave's husband will get another.
He addressed some specific issues about the community center, and returned to question the entire reorganization plan. Also, he hopes the council won't give the new city manager the opportunity to modify the city employee handbook as he sees fit, without council approval, specifically the matters of grievances and nepotism.
Longrie replied that many things in the employee handbook were changed across previous years (I guess that means there's no way to know what changes Mr. Copeland made?). Mr. Schmidt returned briefly to challenge that assertion, and say he was speaking about specific changes dated December 7th.
Longrie asked Cave if her husband was getting a city job, and she said no he was not, and they wished “to dispel that rumor.”
G. APPOINTMENTS/PRESENTATIONS
None.
H. PUBLIC HEARINGS
As city staff began discussing this, the tech folks figured out a way to improve the sound.
1. Desoto Skillman Area Street Improvements, City Project 06-16
I honestly didn't pay close attention to all this, sorry, as staff explained the project and answered council questions.
At 8:10 the public hearing was opened, and I tuned back in.
First speaker had specific questions about his property, which already has a small yard, and how much of it could be eaten by street widening. He was also concerned about the effect of the curb on his parking space. Mr. Ahl reassured him on the latter, and expressed interest in speaking more with him about the planning, and shared his desire not to take away any more of his yard.
Second speaker expressed concerns about the need for the project and the cost effectiveness of options, and how the project will affect the “look and feel” of his neighborhood, especially older trees on or near the boulevard.
Third speaker is concerned that it's moving “pretty fast,” and is worried about not getting enough information of what is specifically being done on one street and another. Also says neighbors are not in favor of a sidewalk addition.
Rossbach stepped in at this point, wanting to make “a pitch for sidewalks.” When his street was done, he explained, nobody wanted them. Now, he says, “every single one of the people who objected” now loves the new sidewalk.
Hjelle suggested that the citizens would have the opportunity to vote on them, if they want them or not, which apparently has been standard procedure in the past.
Another citizen spoke in favor of sidewalks, and said that if you actually pay attention you see quite a lot of people walking on DeSoto. “I've almost hit people on DeSoto, and I've almost been hit on DeSoto, walking down that street.”
A Mr. Whitcomb from County B E pointed out inconsistencies about the sewer, and apparent differences between reality and documents he's looked at that purport to say how it runs by his house. He also asked general questions about the phases and how the proceed from now through completion of the project, and had a list of specific questions. Mr. Ahl answered them patiently and in detail, and also invited Mr. Whitcomb to come in to city hall for more details on certain topics. Mr. Ahl also suggested that his office could help figure out the sewer things, including the possibility of using dyes or cameras to trace the sewer locations.
Another resident who lives on Pryce Avenue, who moved to Maplewood just two years ago, was on the planning commission in her previous city of residence. She likes the home she bought because of its privacy, quiet, and old trees that go even as far back as the Civil War. She is also a realtor, and is concerned about stagnating property values in the current market environment and the impact of assessments on sales of houses, since she says that buyers will typically require that the seller pay such assessments.
Mr. Ahl said “the one issue” he really wants people to be sure about is their concern about trees. “We leave every project with more trees on it than when we started.” There are times they have to be cut down, but the city always replaces them. He also responded on the issue of assessments and payment periods of 15 years. He also mentioned how the council has been able to deal with hardship situations, when someone is unable to pay an assessment, and procedures for helping low income, elderly, etc.
Ms. Juenemann suggested that people can come over to Skillman, in her neighborhood, to see how trees in that neighborhood were handled and preserved in the course of recent street improvements.
The next speaker, from the corner of DeSoto and County Road B, also voiced concerns about lilacs and trees, and hopes not to see a sidewalk that would require them to be torn out. Also, she put an offer on a house elsewhere, and wonders what she should tell people looking to buy her Maplewood house about the sidewalk and so forth.
Mr. Ahl said he hoped the sidewalk decision would be done by the council meeting on Feb. 12th.
Another speaker from a townhouse association asked how they would be assessed, compared to single family property residents. City staff said that rather than assessing on residential rates, they would be on the basis of front footage, which would be a lot smaller. Mr. Ahl said the estimated cost is $1702, if I heard him right.
The next resident asked if there was any plan to connect the Hmong Church's parking lot to DeSoto, which he would prefer not happen, because of its impact on traffic. Mr. Ahl said that there were no such plans, but the church would be able to make plans to do it if they wished – the city can't tell people that they can't access the road from their property. He also noted that the church is subject to a conditional use permit, which gives the city council some influence over them.
A long-time resident asked, if the road specifics haven't been decided yet, how the letter to residents can give them specific cost figures. Mr. Ahl clarified that at this time the information in the letter is what the staff is presently recommending, but additional design has to go into the final decisions, and there could be changes, but any such changes would result in lower costs than the figures in the notices that went out to people.
Another resident of DeSoto came forward. Brings up the topic of safety and welfare in city code, and guidelines, “and at times it seems to me that the guidelines are often overlooked.” He's specifically concerned about how it's hard to see people at night walking on the street, and wonders if the different sides of the street could decide separately about whether to get sidewalks.
Another speaker: “In my opinion, it's strictly a safety decision,” so the sidewalk issue should be decided by the governing body rather than a vote of the residents nearby. Also wished to commend the city engineer for the idea that residents could opt to have driveways done at the same time.
Mayor Longrie asked if Mr. Ahl could provide accident statistics for the area where sidewalks are being contemplated.
Public hearing closed at 8:57.
Juenemann had a question: If the project is voted to go ahead tonight, what kind of notification goes to neighborhood?
Mr. Ahl replied that starting Friday people will start receiving info in the mail, asking lots of questions about sewer, drainage problems, driveway issues, trees, etc. If something is not on it, there will be contact numbers for Erin and Steve. (Steve stood up and waved.) The second issue will be the sidewalk survey, which will come up after the next council meeting (since the council will have to make decisions about how to set the survey up, who to survey, etc.). In February they will look at any design changes, examining the individual neighborhoods. Mr. Ahl points out that the website now offers automatic e-mail updates for projects like this, which people can subscribe to. Finally, the cost will be determined and people will receive notice of the exact amount of the assessment and terms, in mid- to late April, for the assessment public hearings. Those hearings in April would be when deferment and hardship issues could be brought up. In May the construction itself will begin.
Ahl noted that there will be a separate notice specifically about the assessment hearings.
Rossbach had questions about wording in the resolution, which Mr. Ahl answered.
Rossbach moved the staff recommended resolution, and that the residents in DeSoto and those within 300 feet of DeSoto be polled on the sidewalk issue, splitting the issue between north and south of Roselawn. (In other words, people on either side could choose differently.)
Ms. Juenemann strongly recommended that people attend the open house meeting for specific questions about their individual properties.
Longrie wanted to mention the importance of understanding the financial issues, and that we are “approving that project budget.” Wishes she had the information to understand “which of these streets, how are they rated,” and wonders if he has sufficient information to “know for sure” what needs to be done, at what level. Is concerned about “the value of money,” and says some of the streets are “low traffic” or even “dead-end.” Wonders if we might do other things to spend the money more effectively, since she is concerned about increasing net debt in the long run and wants to understand the financial issues. At this point, doesn't feel she has “sufficient information to say that number is the right number.”
Juenemann observes that neither she nor the mayor are engineers, and they need to put some faith in the expertise of the city staff to be telling them the best thing to do in the circumstances. “I'm really being distracted, to be polite, about the lack of trust” in what staff is telling the council.
Cave wanted to “approach this differently.” Asked Mr. Ahl, “What we're doing is we're approving a $5.6 million budget, but if you come back” and see that some streets don't need full reconstruction, then the budget will be adjusted downward. “Absolutely,” answers Mr. Ahl. At each stage after tonight there will be more votes. The city needs to notify people of the amount recommended at this point in time, but recognize that there may be changes. What is before the council represents the best professional judgement of the staff at the present time.
Mr. Copeland asked if any language should be included in terms of ratings, quality, traffic counts, and the rest of the topics the mayor raised. Mr. Ahl says that he doesn't think it is necessary, but suggests that the mayor could e-mail him her specific concerns and he could try to provide additional information to increase her comfort with it.
Longrie said she “likes to have the information before I vote.”
All but Longrie voted aye, with Rossbach voting first I believe.
Rossbach moved to ask for staff information on the possibility of accelerating a couple of other projects (Brookview), as had been discussed in the preceding workshop. Cave seconded.
Hjelle, perhaps with a touch of whimsical irony, complained that Rossbach's motion was not on the agenda. Mayor Longrie decided to entertain the motion nonetheless. All voted aye.
A break was called, and much of the audience (which had been here for the public hearing) departed. My count after the break: 15 left in the audience.
I. CONSENT AGENDA
At Longrie's request, Copeland ran down the list of consent items.
These items were approved en masse (if two items can still qualify as a “masse”):
4. Annual Gambling License Resolution — Hill Murray Mother's Club
5. Approve Emergency Repair of Sanitary Sewer Main
These were pulled for discussion:
1. Approval of Claims
Pulled by Hjelle, who wonders we have so many different cell phone carriers and contracts, and how expensive some of them are.
Ms. Bauman said there are many plans out there, with multiple phones on the same plan.
Hjelle asked if there's a reason to have multiple carriers. Rossbach has said that what he has heard that when people get phones at different times they get set up on different plans according to the lowest prevailing rates at the time. Staff agreed with this.
Hjelle moved to approve the item, Juenemann seconded. All ayes.
2. Approval of 2007 Animal Control Contract
Cave pulled. She wondered where it's located. Chief Thomalla responded that their main office is in White Bear Township, but they have multiple offices around the metro area, so who is available may vary between one call and another.
Cave motioned approval, Juenemann seconded.
Mr. Kantrud had a quick question, to do with increased fees. Chief Thomalla answered that it was a rate increase in case gas goes over $3 per gallon (or was it $3.50?), and the other increases were some boarding charges, which would be paid by an animal owner. Kantrud is also concerned that they would keep a dead animal and the owner would not pay for it, so the city would have to.
Rossbach voted first. All ayes.
3. Temporary Gambling Permit — Carver Elementary
Cave pulled. “They're asking to waive a permit fee,” and she is looking at denying that, being concerned that other people will want such fee waivers as well. Ms. Guilfoyle clarified that the fee waiver was for the carnival license and food license, but not the gambling permit, which state law does not allow to be waived.
In response to the mayor's question, Guilfoyle said that the fees waived were around $72. She also answered Cave's question, saying such a waiver done for almost all non-profits.
Cave moved, Hjelle seconds, Longrie offers friendly amendment to clarify that it is just food and carnival. Cave votes first, all vote aye.
6. Approve Purchase of Bobcat 5600 Turbo Work Machine/Tool Cat
Longrie pulled, to ask Mr. Ahl “about this tool you want to buy.” Mr. Ahl provided some details about its features and importance. Maplewood has hundreds of locations where the city needs to get through yards to clean city-owned ponds, and the tracks on this equipment allow them to get across yards without damaging them. Also, “it's basically a very, very large lawnmower,” for boulevards that have to be mowed. The current mower is a side discharge, which throws grass into streets (which residents are told they should not do), and thus requires a street sweeper to come by after and clean. This one is rear discharge. Finally this is usable for sidewalk plowing. If we were to rent it, we'd be spending $12k-$16k per year, so it's a 2-3 year recovery of the investment in terms of buying instead. In most cases, the pond cleaning is something we haven't done much of, but now we need to do it for part of our storm water permit. Further discussion about relevant fund balances. Longrie voiced her wish to wait until there is a positive balance in the environmental utility fund, which ended 2006 with a deficit, and rent the equipment in the meantime.
Juenemann moves approval, Rossbach seconds. Longrie votes first, nay; the rest are ayes.
7. Approve Arbor Day Proclamation
Juenemann pulled. She wanted simply to point out that it's just a proclamation here, and Maplewood has qualified for it for a while. She also mentioned someone important in this area. Then she moved approval of the proclamation. All vote aye.
8. Gladstone North Area Streets, City Project 04-15, Approve Settlement with Gene Shursen at 1816 Kennard Street for Flooding Damage
Cave pulled for a “quick question,” if Mr. Shursen is in agreement with the settlement. Answer is yes, “and he'd like his money soon,” so she moves the item and all voted aye.
J. AWARD OF BIDS
None tonight.
K. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
1. North St. Paul Electric Franchise Tax Ordinance — 2nd Reading
City attorney Kantrud presented it, basically “as a matter of housekeeping,” because when it was previously read the rates had not been finalized. The ordinance is required to bring North St Paul customers into the same electric franchise tax rates as all the Xcel customers in Maplewood.
Quickly passed with all ayes.
L. NEW BUSINESS
1. Liquor License Application — Kenneth Stidfole, Cub Discount Liquor Store — 100 W. County Road B
Proposed off-sale liquor store at the Cub Foods store. Ms. Guilfoyle reports that the applicant's background check was A-OK, and discussed his experience as a store manager. Chief Thomalla has also met with the applicant and spoken with him about concerns about sales to minors, etc.
The applicant was present and came forward to answer questions from the council.
Ms. Juenemann stressed the importance of not selling alcohol to minors, and how serious the city is about making miserable the lives of people who do it.
Cave motioned approval, Hjelle seconded.
Rossbach commented on seeing a much higher frequency of being required to show ID in liquor stores across the metro in the past year. Juenemann also wanted to bring up some past failures, and the idea of having a seller have an ID-swiping mechanism at the point of purchase to avoid mistakes. In any case, they both recommend that everyone be carded.
Cave votes first. Only Juenemann votes nay, because of her previously expressed concerns about the store's proximity to schools.
2. Liquor License Application — Edward Bremer, Heritage Liquor — 1347 Frost Avenue
Ms. Guilfoyle presented the report, concerning a liquor store that got a new owner in June 2006. He had failed to obtain a license in a timely manner. He has been charged with a gross misdemeanor for operating without a license.
Mr. Bremer has also had other police contacts, by successfully passing a police check of his carding underaged buyers, and he also reported a hit and run accident that happened in his parking lot. His references are good (a “spotless record,” in Mr. Kantrud's words).
Chief Thomalla was available for questions about the court case, in which Mr. Bremer pled guilty and was given a two-year stay of adjudication and a $500 fine. Mr. Kantrud noted that Mr. Bremer's attorney was in the audience. He added that Mr. Bremer took the charges very seriously and was willing to plead guilty, but the city asked the state not to accept the plea (hence the adjudication).
Juenemann asked if a similar situation had ever arisen, and Ms. Guilfoyle could recall nothing like it. She added that there are sometimes situations with liquor license holders, and she can't urge enough that any individual who applies with the city for any license know what the rules are.
Following up, Ms. Juenemann asked David Fischer about fees when someone builds without a permit, and Mr. Fischer said that indeed the city typically charges twice the usual fee for the permit. Mr. Kantrud suggested that statute sets the fee for a liquor license, so it can't be doubled; plus Mr. Bremer had the $500 fine; and in addition, he was shut down right away on November 3rd, and so has lost sales from then until now, more than two months later.
Hjelle asked Guilfoyle to clarify if staff is recommending approval. Ms. Guilfoyle hedged, and said she is reluctant when she brings things to the council to specifically recommend approval.
Cave voiced support of Mr. Bremer, since he admitted his mistake and has been quite forthright.
Mr. Bremer then came forward.
Rossbach voiced agreement with Cave's thinking (he's paid for his mistake), but he also suggested that perhaps they could double his fine if he violates liquor compliance checks.
Juenemann wondered how someone could fail to know to get a license.
Mr. Bremer explained that the person who sold him the business had two dumpsters of trash in the basement, no records, and was a mess. His understanding going into the transaction was that he would for six months be operating the store, but not owning it, using the previous owner's license, and discovering any issues that could arise (such as unpaid bills). He discovered he was in error, and has done his best to fix it.
Cave motioned the change of manager for the license, Rossbach (?) seconded. Longrie voted first, and all but Juenemann voted aye.
3. Annual Renewal of Liquor Licenses Off-sale, On-sale, Wine and Club
“Just a matter of annual business,” explains city clerk Guilfoyle, covering the licenses of all the people who have such licenses in the city.
Also says there were some compliance check failures. All except one were first-time failures (one was a second offense since 2004). They'll be brought to the council, but none are egregious enough to bring to their attention in terms of this evening's renewals.
Cave motioned approval of the one-year renewals. Hjelle seconded. Juenemann votes first, all vote aye.
4. Annual City Council Appointments
This is something that happens at the first meeting of each year.
Official newspaper is going to be tabled, pending additional information.
Cave mentioned that she feels the city commissions don't need a council liason, since there is already a staff liason and everything is going to be on TV now.
Mr. Rossbach agreed.
Ms. Juenemann disagreed, saying the liason had been established because of commissions requesting joint meetings and whatnot, and she thinks it's “a show of interest and communication” on the part of the council toward those commissions.
Rossbach said, “I agree with that too, however...” he thinks someone who wants to talk to someone probably has someone they already want to go to to talk to.
Both Juenemann and Longrie wanted the Municipal Legislative Commission. Cave was interested in being the alternate. I'm not exactly sure who got it in the end.
Longrie motioned appointment of the staff liasons as recommended for 2007. Cave seconded. Hjelle votes first. All vote aye.
Next, Longrie moved to table the newspaper decision until the next council meeting. Cave seconded. Hjelle asked why wait, Copeland said they're waiting for the Lillie Papers to get them rate information, and clarified that he's looking for the best price. Rossbach voted first. All ayes.
Finally, Longrie motioned the council representatives as discussed. Cave seconded.
Hjelle wanted to talk about the cable commission. He's concerned that the elected officials receive complimentary Comcast service when they are in charge of regulating that service. Thinks that they also shouldn't pay for it themselves, but instead that the city should reimburse the council member on the cable commission for the cost of cable service, which they need to have access to in order to do their job, because it's unseemly for the company they regulate to give them the service free of charge.
Rossbach suggested the same should apply to non-elected officials under that theory, and he just doesn't see a big difference between having the city pay it or having Comcast pay it, except that one case costs the city money.
Rossbach and Hjelle got into it over whether their representative, Kim Facile, takes orders from Hjelle or votes as she thinks is appropriate and just consults with Hjelle.
Diana spends some time saying how she can see it both ways.
After further discussion, Hjelle's idea turns into a friendly amendment that the councilperson on the cable commission not get free cable; Longrie rejects the amendment. Then Cave votes aye first; Juenemann and Hjelle vote nay.
Longrie moves to extend the curfew to finish the meeting. Hjelle seconds. Longrie votes first. Only Juenemann votes nay. A short break is called.
5. Rules of Procedure for Public Hearings
Another annual housekeeping issue. Unanimously passed.
6. Discontinuation of Pre-Agenda
Requiring staff to be present at that one particular time, Mr. Copeland suggests, is not really needed; staff should be able to get together with staff on a sort of as-needed basis to ask questions and raise concerns.
Cave motioned the staff rec, Hjelle seconded.
Juenemann says she used to find them very valuable, but thinks the whole purpose of pre-agenda meetings has been “warped.” They were used to give staff a heads up about the kind of information they would need to have on hand at the Monday night council meetings.
Rossbach told a funny story, about a past council member who thought a “bobcat” being purchased by the city was actually an animal.
Hjelle voted first. All ayes.
7. Purchase of ATM Machines for City Hall and the Community Center
People need cash in city hall all the time, and have to get sent far and wide to get it. Getting cash machines on site means the city can provide service, keep customers here (when they might wind up going somewhere else for some services they can pay for from the city), and get a piece of the ATM fee action.
In the future there might be waiver of fees for City-County Credit Union accounts, but that would not happen until after the cost of the machines are recovered.
Hjelle motions staff rec, Cave seconds. Rossbach votes first. All ayes.
8. Saint Clair Hills (Carver Avenue, east of I-494)
Staff recommended that the city not approve a variance on the south Maplewood moratorium, and without that there could be no zoning change, which the developer is also requesting.
Dale Trippler of the planning commission showed up just in time for the discussion of this matter.
Juenemann asked questions. Staff answered. Something about sewers and utilities. I was reading the citizen comments in the council packet, so I missed it.
Trippler got up to speak. Says the commission felt the applicant didn't present anything that would change their mind to think the moratorium was inappropriate.
Juenemann asked for clarification. Was the debate not so much about the applicant's proposal as the validity of the moratorium itself? Was it that the applicant didn't provide a sufficient reason, or that the moratorium just shouldn't have variances? Trippler said he felt the applicant didn't make his case that the moratorium shouldn't be in place, and didn't make the case for a variance. The mayor asked him some questions.
Mr. Jensen then came forward to make his case. He says he's interested in his specific property, really, not the moratorium as a whole in some way. Two things he wanted to bring up were (1) asking for the change in zoning, “which is pretty standard for a developer”; (2) the sewer services are between 150 and 200 feet from the property border, and he has found that recent developments have been done with developer-paid improvements at even 1,000-foot distances. Plus, he would certainly pay himself to have it extended.
Hjelle asked questions about the proposed street layout in the development, which Mr. Jensen answered. The mayor talked with him about what he thinks “semi-rural residential” means. Mr. Jensen says there is a lack of clear definition for what exactly it means.
Rossbach suggested the mayor was being deceptive in saying that previous councils wanted “semi-rural lifestyles,” and says that what he really sees are issues about sewer service, in terms of the R-1(R) zoning classification. He moved on to the question of special circumstances to justify the zoning change. Says that it's impossible to know “existing or proposed land use” since the moratorium just started.
Cave asked questions. Again with me distracted reading resident e-mails. Cave asks, “Why would we lift a moratorium that we just put on?”
In Jensen's opinion, the answer is because it's not going to be anything else – sewer and water come within feet of the property, clearly because the plan is to ultimately run it up further. So basically, this is going to happen in the long run, so why not just let it get going now.
Cave makes it clear that she's not going to vote for a variance from the moratorium.
Juenemann points out that the Jensen came before the council before, and did not ask about getting exemptions because the mayor/council encouraged him simply to apply for a variance rather than looking for an exemption from the moratorium in advance.
Kantrud, responding to Juenemann, confirmed that a variance, such as being contemplated, would not be lifting the moratorium. Then Kantrud seemed to go back and say it could be called a “lifting” for the property. The point, though, was that doing this for one guy doesn't change it for everyone else, even while they debated the semantics.
Rossbach: “I don't see how we can grant your request...because there are findings we have to make,” such as “unique hardship,” that it can't be put to a “reasonable use” under the zoning or moratorium or whatever. Says he agrees with Jensen that his property will develop as he says, but that doesn't mean the other possible uses are unreasonable. Quotes, “economic considerations alone shall not constitute an undue hardship.” Jensen says he wasn't offering that as an issue, and Rossbach wanted to clarify that it was not possible for the council to base their findings on that.
As Rossbach was talking, Mr. Jensen gathered his things and left, since the sentiment of the council was pretty clear.
Rossbach moves denial of the variance request. Cave and Hjelle race to second it. Rossbach provides further explanation for this motion, in terms of the reasons that could be used to support a variance and the failure to achieve it. Cave votes first. All vote aye.
They then discuss whether they need to deny the requested zoning change (which is dependent on the variance). Longrie goes ahead and moves this, Hjelle seconds, all vote aye.
They then have a vote about some additional paperwork in terms of formally writing up the findings.
9. 2007 Membership Due Payments to Municipal Legislative Commission and Association of
Metropolitan Municipalities (Metro Cities) (Item added 01.05.07)
This exceeds the $5000 limit for spending that can be done without council approval, so it was put on the agenda for a vote. Hjelle asked what we get for our money, and Copeland talked about the value of the organizations to Maplewood in terms of influencing legislation and so forth.
Hjelle motioned the spending, Cave seconded. Juenemann offered some thoughts on the organizations, their function, and how they have changed in recent years to redefine and refine their roles. Copeland offered additional thoughts. Hjelle voted first. All voted aye.
10. Citizen Advisory Boards and Commissions Policies (Item added 01.05.07)
Copeland explains stuff, including a likely change of time for the environmental commission, because Thursdays don't work for a bunch of them. So it seems like they may be on Tuesdays at 5 PM, which gives them two hours before another meeting is in the council chambers.
Rossbach says that in most cases he knows of, that ordinances establishing commissions specifically empower them to set their own meeting times. So first he wonders if there's a problem of conflicting with city ordinance; and second he wonders if it would be better to tell the commissions the times when broadcasting is available and then ask them to decide for themselves when they can meet.
Copeland clarified that the intent was to achieve the council's goal of making all the meetings more public by means of broadcast to the citizens.
Diana suggested that council meetings could begin at 3 PM and run until 7 to allow another commission to meet then. This idea did not seem to elicit enthusiasm from the rest of the council.
Rossbach raised a question about the schedule having 3 “regular” council meetings in February, which struck him as unusual.
Hjelle said he's not in favor of the idea of 3 PM meetings, and expressed concern about council discussions going “on and on” without content, basically.
Hjelle motions to table this item, since most of the commissions haven't had a chance to meet. Cave and Rossbach race to second.
Juenemann raised question about the sudden appearance of meetings every Monday for the Council, and that it should be discussed and not simply implemented. Discussion ensues about trying to make meetings take less time than they have lately, as opposed to adding even more meeting time. Longrie said she will still ask all the questions she has to ask because that's what she feels she was elected to do.
Rossbach votes first, all vote aye on tabling the item.
Finally, Copeland brought forward the proclamation for the historical commission, which he had added to the agenda at the start of the meeting. It passes unanimously.
M. COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS
1. Rossbach – Recording of Meetings
Mr. Rossbach wanted to ask Mr. Kantrud about recording at the mayor's forum and south leg meetings, which has led to unpleasantness at the meetings (people not wanting to be recorded, and the mayor refusing to let a citizen record the event). So his question is, is the mayor's forum considered to be a public meeting? Kantrud suggests that, it being called a mayor's forum, it's a public meeting and at first blush anyone should be able to video or audio tape it.
There was back and forth. Longrie seemed to decide that Kantrud's opinion wasn't a real opinion, and she doggedly tried to justify her refusal to allow the taping. Apparently an attending resident wanted to insist on a release form in order to allow the recording. Rossbach pointed out that by this logic, visitors speaking at city council meetings would all have to sign release forms since the meetings are recorded and broadcast.
2. Hjelle #1
Issue with Mound City public works superintendent. Discusses an article in the Star Tribune that says a public works employee can still serve on the city council. The attorney general left it up to the Mound city attorney, who decided it was not a conflict of interest.
3. Hjelle #2
He received notice of the emergency Police Civil Service Commission after the meeting had occurred.
N. ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS
Copeland passed out research and a memo from Mr. Kantrud on the topic of conflict of interest, similar to the items Hjelle brought up vis à vis Mound. Mr. Copeland suggests the opinion/research should be added to the personnel files of Mr. Hjelle and Ms. Cave's husband.
Finally, he showed proposed letterhead for Maplewood's 50th anniversary.
O. ADJOURNMENT
All done. Whew. I think it was about a quarter to one, but I was intent on getting my tired self home and to sleep.