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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 10-22-1990 ~ MINUTES OF THE ARDEN HILLS WORKSESSION COUNCIL MEETING MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1990 - 4:30 P.M., CITY HALL CALL TO ORDER Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, Mayor Sather called the meeting to order at 4:30 PM_ . ROLL CALL The roll being called, the following members were present: Mayor Thomas Sather, Councilmembers JoAnn Growe, Nancy Hansen, Thomas Mahowald and Paul Malone. Also present: City Engineer Terry Maurer, city Attorney Jerry Filla, Public Works Supervisor Dan winkel, Park Director John Buckley, city Treasurer Frank Green, City Administrator Gary Berger, and Administrative Secretary Mary Ann Hillyer. Mr. and Mrs. Mark Magers and their attorney Carol Ryden were also in attendance for the Keithson Pond discussion. INVESTMENT POLICY Treasurer Frank Green was present to review his proposed investment policy. He stated that it may be time to formalize investing and felt that staff and the Finance Committee should review the policy to address all areas and agree on wording for a reasonable objective and come forward with recommendations for the City council. Councilmember Hansen commented that an investment policy is very timely and needed and this appears to be a good way to start and has her support. Treasurer Green, in response to a question from Administrator Berger, noted that the proposed policy is modeled from the Municipal Treasurer's Association. council concensus was to pass the policy to the Finance Committee for recommendations which will be available in January, 1991- . COMMITTEES Mayor Sather commented that perhaps now would be a good time to consider putting the various committees together as an Ad-Hoc committee on an "as needed" basis. He expressed disappointment with the Planning commission and Board of Appeals and their recent lack of a quorum to conduct business, as this holds up applicants and does not reflect positively on the city. Since these are statutory committees, they should be sure to have a quorum at all times to conduct business. The "convenient" committees (Public Safety/Works, Finance, city Hall, Human Rights, Park & Rec, Economic Development Committee, etc.) could be combined to form an ad-hoc committee which could serve as needed, rather than on a monthly basis. Councilmember Hansen suggested increasing the number of alternates to the Board of Appeals. It was felt that having the same. people on the Planning commission as on the Board of Appeals was not fair to the applicants if their case was denied by the Board of Appeals. Mayor Sather suggested that a stipend be paid to the Planning commission members if they miss no more than two meetings per year and also if they take some formal training sponsored by the League of Minnesota cities or Government Training Service, which . the city will pay for, and that they will be able to attend , on-going training as it becomes available in the future. , October 22, 1990 Worksession Minutes, Page Two . Staff was directed to research training materials and times available. Committee liaisons are to ask their members what they would like to become more active in. Hansen noted that the Public Safety/Works Committee should fold and be an ad-hoc committee. Mahowald felt that the Park and Recreation Committee could hold quarterly meetings, rather than monthly. Mayor Sather suggested that department heads construct things that need to be done for Council and present these items to the various committees. Liaisons should poll their committees to see what the major focuses are for 1991 and advise council in late November or early December, before Committee lists are prepared for the first meeting in January, 1991- ASSESSMENT MANUAL City Engineer Maurer was present for dis- cussion on the draft assessment manual his firm had prepared for council review. Councilmember Malone noted that everything that had been asked for previously was included in this policy. Malone reviewed his comments and concerns on several pages in the manual, noting a typo in the fourth line of the first paragraph on page 1. Malone suggested the following changes: . Page 8 - last sentence of (m) should read "other than" instead of "less than" two times the standard rate. Page 11 - 5. Corner Lots, there should be a comma in the fourth line after the first long side. In the last sentence of the first paragraph under 5, the "l5" year period should be corrected to read "5" year period. Page 14 (2a) , the last sentence should be eliminated. On page 29, Malone noted that the Finance Committee recommended the following under VIII, l, e, 2 for Street Lighting: They call for assessing installation costs and billing operating expenses. In general, we should assess the installation costs of all ornamental lights and of any other lights beyond those shown in our street lighting plan. Operating costs of lights of any type beyond our plan should be billed, but this should be a separate policy. Page 30 (g) recycling should be added per Ramsey County. Page 32 - the percentages assessed should be 50% residential and 70% commercial. . Councilmember Hansen commented on the good job Engineer Maurer had done on the manual and Maurer was directed to make the above minor changes and come back with a final draft for the November 13 Council meeting. . . - , October 22, 1990 Worksession Minutes, Page Three WATER TOWER Engineer Maurer reviewed the water tower study STUDY noting that only two or three issues were . significant. He noted that the system is actually in pretty good shape, but that the report ignored the Arsenal property. Maurer noted three areas in the line that are short of pressure. They are Round Lake, the area around Mounds View High School, and part of the Roseville connection on Hamline Avenue. There is 800 feet of 12 inch section in this area. Maurer suggested three ways to fill the water tower to capacity: l. Build a booster station at the Arden HillsjRoseville border. This would be very expensive. 2. Build a booster station at County Road E. Maurer felt this would not accomplish much. 3. The most reasonable method would be to remodel the existing lift station and expand the building. He proposed one pump, not two, and upgrade the controls at the existing station and replace the pumps. Mayor Sather noted that Maurer should formulate a list of chronological order and come back to Council with this information. Hansen thanked Maurer for the good job he did with the water tower study. . KEITH SON POND Engineer Maurer reviewed the drawing of Keithson Pond. Attorney Filla noted that the pond was reconfigured in October, 1987, and there was no great discussion on an outlet for the pond. Maurer noted the pond is presently not doing the job. The question is what needs to be done to the pond to make it work. Maurer suggested pumping it from time to time, with a long term solution being a positive outlet to the southwest as part of a City drainage plan. Mayor Sather asked what a short-term solution would be. Maurer responded that the pond would need to be shaped and expanded in the easement area and to dig the hole deeper. Attorney Filla stated in order to obtain an easement from George Reiling, the City must: l. Establish that this is a public improvement. 2. Council must authorize a portion of Reiling's property for condemnation_ 3. City must construct the project and outlet. From start to finish, Filla estimated a six month or longer time frame. . . , - ---..... October 22, 1990 Worksession Minutes, Page Four KEITHSON con'd Mauer is to get the numbers on the water run- . off for storage and will try to get soil boring numbers from SEH. Filla is to investigate the possibility of obtaining an easement from Reiling for an outlet. Councilmember Mahowald suggested that a separate account should be established for these costs. Mr. Mark Magers, 4521 Keithson Drive, owner of Lot 4 of this plat, stated he has waited a long time to have this matter resolved and he is now hearing the same things he heard in July. He stated he does not want to lose any more trees on his property due to the pond water. Staff was directed to obtain copies of the bond release and the date the project was completed from SEH, as well as the date of closing and the purchase agreement from Mr. Magers. Engineer Maurer will obtain numbers on the percolation of the soil. Carol Ryden, attorney for the Magers family, requested that all parties be notified when the Keithson Pond topic will be discussed again. city Administrator Berger stated he will notify her in writing when this will take place again, noting that this was scheduled for discussion on October 29, at 6:30 PM, but that after this evening's discussion, there will not be any definite answers available on the 29th. Therefore, the October 29 Council . meeting will begin at 7:30 PM. MISCELLANEOUS Councilmember Mahowald advised the council that he will not be able to attend the October 29 Council meeting, since he will be out of town. ADJOURN councilmember Growe moved, seconded by Councilmember Mahowald, to adjourn the meeting at 6:55 PM. Motion carried unanimously (5-0) . Gary R. Berger Thomas R. Sather city Administrator Mayor NOTICE OF MEETING The next regular Council meeting will be held on Monday, October 29, 1990, at 7:30 P.M. at city Hall. . .