MAPLEWOOD CITY COUNCIL
7:00 P.M. Monday, March 26, 2007
Council Chambers, City Hall
Especially Unofficial (and Incomplete) Notes by JN

All of the council was present. After the usual preliminaries...

D. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Several council presentations were added to the agenda:

M1 Juenemann – environmental activities
M2 Juenemann – dispatch policy update
M3 Rossbach – report on Rush Line corridor
M4 Rossbach – task force meeting
M5 Hjelle – property taxes

Longrie made a motion to approve the agenda, Cave seconded. Rossbach voted first, all ayes.

E. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Yawn. Wasn't paying attention.

F. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS

The room pretty crowded, so it came as no surprise that some visitors came to speak.

A City Councillor from Landfall came to report on the recent tragedy in their community, and praised Chief Lukin for the fabulous job done by the Maplewood fire department. He invited the city council to come and attend an event. Cave asked about putting notice of the event into the city newsletter.

Ron Cockriel came with news of an event at the state fairground to send off an activated brigade of the Minnesota National Guard. Also he updated the council with information on the national event coming to the Bruentruep Farm and the Poor Farm Barn as part of a convention in St Paul.

Dave Schelling synopsized a passage from the City Pages. He opined that Maplewood has only lost “twenty years of corruption.”

Christeen Stone expressed disappointment that the TSE contract for the Maplewood Community Center has been concelled, and wished to know why this happened. She also commented on a letter received from Erik Hjelle and related articles.

Dave Hafner shared his thoughts.

Bill Kayser spoke about Applewood Park.

Nancy Lazaryan spoke on the same topic. After she stated that she was attorney in fact for her mother. The mayor asked if she could produce a copy of her power of attorney if she is not just speaking on her own behalf. Lazaryan said she did not have a copy with her, so she would speak only for herself. She also said that the woman on the recent cover of City Pages represents angry citizens, and she provided sound effects.

Jamie Jensen, developer, prefaced his comments with a welcome to Mr. Mittet, the city's new finance director, whom he knows socially. He then spoke about the south leg moratorium, with a list of items he thought should be removed from consideration in the moratorium study and reasons to do so.

Dale Trippler read a statement into the record, to address remarks made by Councilmember Hjelle at the previous council meeting, in which Hjelle stated that he voted against Mr. Trippler for the Environmental Commission due to his membership in the Porsche Club. The audience seemed entertained by some of his comments.

Bob Zick spoke about the City Pages article and other matters.

Mike Kline delivered a written statement and read it into the record. It concerned the DeSoto-Skillman area street improvements project, asking for this item to be pulled from the consent agenda for discussion, so that a number of his concerns (about the landscape and trees along a particular road segment) could be addressed.

At 8:00 the mayor called a close to the visitor presentations, but Bob Zick wanted to speak again, to ask for discussion of item 5 on the consent agenda (about tort liability coverage).

G. APPOINTMENTS/PRESENTATIONS

1. Resolution of Appreciation – Joel Schurke

Mr. Schurke resigned from the Community Design Review Board, and this resolution thanked and praised him for his service. Rossbach moved the resolution, Juenemann seconded. Longrie voted first, all ayes.

2. 2006 Community Design Review Board Annual Report – Linda Olson, Chair

Ms. Olson gave a review of the last year of this citizen board's efforts. She called particular attention to draft revisions to the city's sign code, a topic that the CDRB is very concerned about but that the council has not yet taken action on.

3. Presentation – Highway 36 closure – Chuck Ahl, Director of Public Works

Mr. Ahl gave everyone an update on this project, and suggested that such updates may occur several times in the course of the year as the project unfolds.

H. PUBLIC HEARINGS

1. Brookview Area Street Improvements, City Project 07-01

The mayor clarified that this public hearing could not start before 7 PM, not that it would start at 7 PM.

Several citizens came up to speak. One wished to understand how the driveway program works. Another also had questions about driveways. A third came forward to praise the professionalism and competence of city staff handling this process. Another described herself as “excited,” given the potholes and other hazards that currently grace her street.

A citizen asked about a segment of road (Hudson Place) that he felt should get a sidwalk; city staff said it was something they could investigate. This spurred another citizen to talk about walkways and improving park access as long as the improvements are being done.

The next citizen to speak reported that he and his wife are very much in favor of the project and its accelerated time table, and had a question about a westbound lane on Hudson Place and whether it was included in the project.

A woman asked about school buses and whether that would be an issue. City staff replied that they work closely with the schools and the contractor doing the work on the streets to make sure the kids' transportation needs are accomodated.

The public hearing was closed at 8:45.

Hjelle observed that at the public meeting about this plan there was a noticeable lack of complaint about the assesments that will be levied for the project.

Rossbach moved approval of the resolution. Hjelle and Juenemann (I think) raced to second. Juenemann voted first, all ayes. The audience applauded, and most of them left.

2. Proposed Right of Way Ordinance – Second reading – Adoption of Right of Way Ordinance

Duwayne Konewko introduced the topic. He provided letters of comment from some affected utilities and mentioned some utilities whose representatives were present in the audience.

The Board of Water Commissioners is on board with the changes, apparently, but wished to see their joint powers agreement with the city updated to reflect the new code's spirit. Staff was looking for direction from the council to sit down and work out a revised agreement with them. Staff was also looking at detailed questions received from other utilities, some of which were requiring additional research (such as a pipeline company affected by agreements made with Ramsey County decades before Maplewood existed as a city).

Rossbach commented on the Water Commission and its relationship to the process. Longrie wondered if the legal issues that the staff and Kantrud were looking into necessitated tabling the ordinance for now. Kantrud said that he did not think it was necessary; that the changes being considered were “tweaks,” not major revisions, and the council would have a chance to approve all the final changes at the next meeting.

At 8:58 the public hearing was opened. The one person signed up for comments was Colette Jurek, community relations manager of Xcel Energy. She said that the utility had provided written comments to the city on Friday, which she characterized as “minor editorial comments” suggested to bring the ordinance into closer conformity with Minnesota law and other communities.

Bill Flynn, representing the aforementioned pipeline company, came forward to say he looks forward to working with Kantrud and Konewko to iron out the small concerns. He said that his company found all their agreements, going back as far as 1931, and had provided them to the city along with their comments.

Hearing was closed at 9:02. Juenemann moved the ordinance second reading, Hjelle seconded. All voted aye.

I. CONSENT AGENDA

As usual, City Manager Copeland gave a rundown of the items on the consent agenda.

1. Approval of Claims
2. Resolution for Washington County Bank as Designated Depository
6. Approval of Payment of Contract – Peter Frank – Youth Basketball League
8. Donation to Landfall Cops’N Kids Fishing Clinic
10. Rainbow/Mapleridge Driveway Improvements, City Project 07-03, Resolution receiving preliminary report and calling public hearing for April 23, 2007.
13. Purchase of Bituminous Materials
14. Authorization to Pay Invoice for K-9 Car Set Up

The above items were not pulled for discussion by any council member, and were moved by Hjelle and approved unanimously.

3. Update U.S. Bank Treasury Management Service Agreement – pulled by Juenemann
4. Update U.S. Bank Depository Services Resolution for Governmental Entities – pulled by Juenemann
5. Updating Resolution Regarding Tort Liability Coverage Limits – pulled by Juenemann, Rossbach

Juenemann asked for a quick explanation of these three items from the city attorney, who answered to her satisfaction. Juenemann moved all three. Rossbach wanted to comment on item 5, to explain it, since there had been a question in visitor presentation. He explained that this is to set our insurance limits at the minimum required by law. Kantrud provided further explanation. All votes were ayes.

7. Authorization to purchase new pick up truck for Code Enforcement – pulled by Hjelle

Hjelle wanted to comment that he had received an e-mail today about a code enforcement issue in Gladstone, and said he hopes Mr. Fisher has kept a list of the items to set the code enforcement officer working on when someone is hired.

All ayes.

9. Adoption Rush Line Joint Powers Agreement – pulled by Rossbach

Rossbach wanted to discuss media reports about passenger rail from Duluth to the Twin Cities being considered by the legislature. The Rush Line corridor would be commuter rail that would run from Hinckley to the Twin Cities (with frequent stops), through Maplewood, and the competing proposal discussed in the media is basically trying to get the same funding that the Rush Line group has been working on.

Rossbach moved this item, Hjelle seconded. Juenemann voted first, all ayes.

11. Approval of 2006 Annual Recycling Report – pulled by Juenemann

Juenemann wished to compliment how well the new program with Eureka Recycling has been going and offered praise to staff and the Environmental Commission as well for their work. She spoke more about the program and then offered a motion to approve this item. Longrie seconded. Hjelle voted first, all ayes.

12. Desoto Skillman Area Streets, City Project 06-16 – pulled by Cave

Cave wanted to discuss the concerns raised earlier by Mr. Kline in the visitor presentations, particularly with regard to trees along that stretch of road. She moved tabling this item, with respect to this small section of DeSoto, for questions to be answered and to form a citizens' committee to study the matter.

Ahl said that he is not aware of trees being removed, and is aware of a lot of specific planning to protect and retain oaks along that stretch of the road in particular. However, he was concerned about the apparent disconnect of information between the planners and the citizens, so he supports the idea of the citizens' committee to involve them in the process, and said he “absolutely” shares Mr. Kline's concerns about preserving the trees and such.

After Ahl's discussion, Cave pulled her motion and offered an alternative motion of the staff recommendation plus the addition of a citizen's committee and an observation that change orders could come as a result of the committee and staff's conversations.

Hjelle suggested that the planners should go out and mark with stakes and whatnot the actual areas where the road widening would occur, so citizens could see the plants affected.

I'm not sure if there was a second, but Rossbach voted first and it was all ayes.

K. UNFINISHED BUSINESS

1. Approve increase in pension benefit for Maplewood Fire Fighters Relief Association, Inc.

Ed Fitzgerald of the firefighters' relief association addressed the council and their questions. Rossbach raised concerns about some cautionary language of the auditors in their report on the Relief Association's financials from last year.

Cave motioned the staff recommendation, Longrie seconded. Juenemann was first to vote, but passed. Hjelle abstained. Rossbach, Cave, Longrie voted aye. Juenemann then voted aye, as her “procedural question answered itself.” (Presumably it would have been on the appropriateness of Hjelle voting on his own benefits as a city pay-per-call firefighter. The question of the appropriateness of Cave voting on her husband's benefits remained unasked.)

A 10 minute recess was called at 10:00 PM. The meeting resumed at 10:13.

L. NEW BUSINESS

1. Resolution of City Support for HUD Grant – NHHI, Inc.

A firm is going to apply for a Housing and Urban Development grant for senior housing, and would like the city to make a resolution of support.

Hjelle had a question for the fire chief, to ask about progress on a model for figuring the cost in terms of emergency services for developments like this (i.e., senior housing). Lukin responded that he had worked on a matrix of 5-year data from 10 locations. 1,146 units, on average 1.2 residents per unit, and thus about 1,303 residents total. There have been a grand total of 1,603 calls over the five years; so on average 320 calls per year, and 1.4 calls per unit over the past five years.

He also found that specialty care units (such as memory care) did not have higher numbers of calls than other senior housing units.

For comparison, this number of residents (around 1300) is comparable to about 478 homes, based on an analysis of ten neighborhoods. Basically, there are almost 9 times as many calls in senior housing, compared to average housing. Every 50 units amounts to about 14 calls per year.

Lukin also talked about the continuing increases in the number of emergency calls, and how often all the officers are out answering calls at the same time.

Juenemann asked about the impact of concentration. Lukin presented two edges to the sword — on the one hand, the stress on pay per call firefighters at a given station near to a facility; on the other hand, the problem of back-to-back calls in different and distant parts of the city when everyone is out on a call.

Mike Bierkestaad ? Of the National Handicapped Housing? came forth to address the council. He observed that their experience with these projects is that most of the people who live in them come from the communities in which they are located. He also talked about the facilities being easier for fire/paramedics to get into when there are emergencies. Section 202 is the HUD program that they are applying to, so he provided some background on it. They want to apply for a $6.4 million grant to build 54 units on this site. The housing will be designed for people with incomes of $25,000 or less — basically, people living on social security and modest pensions.

The application process is competitive. They like to get some support from cities to help with the applications, so they can include it with the application; this is not a request for a commitment today.

Hjelle wanted to clarify his remarks and explain the context as not being this project in specific, but an ongoing concern about calculating the need for city services when developers propose projects such as senior housing, to make sure the city maintains its high level of services.

Rossbach moved the staff rec with an additional clause saying that this does not bind the council to supporting a specific plan, which Longrie seconded; all ayes.

2. Ramsey County Correctional Facility (297 Century Avenue South)

The county is building an added 56,500 square feet to add to the existing 131,000.

Hjelle made a motion for the Condition Use Permit. Cave seconded. All ayes.

Hjelle then made a motion to accept the design approval. Longrie seconded. Rossbach voted first, all ayes.

As the time was 10:57 PM and the 11:00 curfew approached, Longrie moved to waive the curfew and finish the meeting. Cave voted first; Juenemann voted nay, the rest were ayes.

As you can tell by the scantiness of my notes on the correctional facility (I remember that there was a lot of discussion about issues like staffing, security, types of offenders, but I didn't actually type anything), I was at this point getting very tired, after a long day at work lugging heavy boxes around the warehouse. So, not that long after 11:00, I threw in the towel and went home (you never know how long these things might go once they waive the curfew, and I was already having trouble being attentive), missing the rest of the meeting. What follows are just the agenda items I missed:

3. Gladstone Area Redevelopment, City Project 04-21, Review of Alternative Area Urban Review (AUAR) Mitigation Plan Comments and Approval of Resolution Authorizing Distribution for the purpose of considering final adoption of AUAR

4. Gladstone Area Redevelopment, City Project 04-21, Consider approval of grant request to Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for Investigation of Savanna Contamination

M. COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS

N. ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS

1. Action by City Attorney to Abate a Public Nuisance at 1799 Edgerton Street

O. ADJOURNMENT