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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCP 12-22-2006 Administrator's Update .'~~ -1 I .--- . ~ Mayor -AI~~J:-IILLS Beverly Aplikowski Michelle Wolfe Arden Hills City Council City Administrator Council Members 1245 West Highway 96 David Grant Administrator's Update Arden Hills MN 55112 Brenda Holden 651.634.5120 Gregg Larson For the week ending December 22, \\,\!.~ .ci.anl~ll-hills.lllll.lIS Vincent Pellegrin 2006 Happy Holidays! We had a busy week at City l1all as we preparc for the long holiday weekcnd. Next week will he quiet. City Hall is closed Monday and Tuesday. I will be out of town Wednesday and Thursday but Scbawn will be here. I will be in on Friday. Staff is dealing with an issue in the town home developmcnt west of Hamline and south of Highway 96. Xccl did some work therc last fall, and some lateral sanitary lines were hit. When the original work was done hy Xeel (and its subcontractors) the City conducted the usual locate for the main lines. Some repairs were made immediately, some arc underway. But in the process we learned that the City docs not have records as to the location of the lateral lines. New . state law changes how locates for the lateral lines are handled and who is responsible for the locates. In addition, the experience led to us discovering that apparently the town home association does not have any records either. For safety purposes, at this time we believe it critical to televise the laterals to (1) make sure no other damage was done and (2) develop a record of the location of these lines. The issues we arc dealing with include: informing the neighborhood (Xcel did one mailing already, cautioning that anyone who has a backup should call the City or Xccl first before hiring a private contractor); how to get the tclevising work done as quickly as possible (and any nceded repairs); and determining responsibility for cost. City stafT is focused on getting the work done quickly. Our City Attorney and the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust are both involved and representing us in this matter. If you would like more infonnation, feci free to call Greg, Schawn , or me. Public Works had a very busy week. Saturday December 1 () oLlr crew spent 16 hours repairing a water main break on County Road E. Sunday night we resumed our night flooding of ice rinks. We were able to flood every night except Thursday. The night crew spent Thursday night with ice control due to the rain and snow. Wednesday December 20 crews discovered a water main hreak on Round Lake Road. While attempting to shut off a valve to isolate the break for repairs the valve brokc. This will cause a second repair to be done in thc area. Most likely these repairs will take place all Saturday Decemher 23 to cause the least amount of disruption to the area businesses. Staffre-evaluated our cell phone rate plan and found that we are able to be a part of the State's contract. By switching to the Statc contract we will save approximatcly $375.00 per year. . 0 Non-Agenda for Week Ending Friday, December 22,2006 , Mayor and City Council Page 2 . City staff has begun recruitment for a new Accounting Analyst. The deadline f()r submitting a job application to the City is January 19th. City staff has narrowed the candidate field for the Finance Director position to two candidates. Schawn completed background checks and they were vcry good. Management assessments were completed. On December 29th, the second interviews will be conducted. Schawn and Greg attended an instructor class through the Minnesota Department of Homeland Security to become certified as Minnesota-National Incident Management System (Mn-NIMS) instructors for the State of Minnesota. Preparations have begun for the January 16th City of Arden I-lills Town Hall meeting. Letters were sent out to potential community groups that may be interested in setting-up an inf()rnlational booth at this year's event on December 21 st. The City is still seeking volunteers for the City's various committees and commissions. If you knO\v of someone that may be interested in serving on a committce or commission, please have them contact Schmvn (651-634-5125) orvisit thc City's web sitc for application materials. The deadline for submitting application materials is December 22nd, but the City \vill accept applications unti I all open positions are filled. Tuesday afternoon Kris and Deb met with Mark Gieseke, Mn/DOT State Aid Engineer. Mark . tries to visit with each City once every 12-18 months to check in and find out any new news or concerns. Staff gave him a brief summary ofTCAAP, and briefly discussed the 1-694/1-35/96 discussions that have been ongoing. City Hall Arbitration: There will be a hearing and a conference call in early January. Staff anticipates a briefing for Council in a closed session on January 8. Northwestern College is moving forward with a new Mastcr Plan for their campus. They were hoping to hold a community meeting in mid-December to go ovcr the details of the plan with their neighbors; however, that meeting has been pushed back to mid-January. Invitations will be sent to the City Council and Planning Commission, but as soon as the date is set, we will send out the information. The Master Plan is likely to have a first review with the Planning Commission in February, and it will probably rcquire at least one more meeting with the Planning Commission in March. Staff is working with Clear Channel Communications regarding recent changes to their billboard on Hwy 694 near the 35W interchange. Clear Channel has changed the face of the billboard to an LED (lighted) message-board t~lce. The City's sign ordinance docs not permit message boards. Clear Channel will need to either remove the message hoard t~lce or apply for a site plan review. . . , Non-Agenda for Week Ending friday. December 12. 20(J(J Mayor and City Council Page 3 . Bethel College anticipates bringing a Master Plan update to the Planning Commission in February. TCAAP: . Staff anticipates bringing the PDA to Council ror re\.ie\\. in early January. prior to a request for approval. . Congressional appro\.al of the Offer to Purchase is anticipated within the next \veek. Upon receiving Congressional appn)\aL the next ealllest money payment of$(j25,OOO will be due to the GSA within 5 days. . The Army has finished providing documentation/access to documentation as required by the Ofter to Purchase. The City and CRR \vill haH' elO days to review all documentation. At the end of the review period, the City/CRR can rescind the olTer or will be required to make the final earnest money payment or S()25.000. . CRR is \vorking with the Army to secure an Access Agreement to complete sampling on the TCAAP property. . CRR has submitted a proposed surety ror the clean-up to the Army/GSA. as it relates to the credit mechanism to the purchase price. The City:'('RR and Army/GSA will be meeting on January <), 2()()7 to discuss the credit mechanism. . eRR hired Westwood Engineering to conduct a sunT)' or the excess TCAAP property. Westwood [()Und a number of discrepancies hetween the Army's survey and their survey. . Army is reviewing Westwood's comments. . Staffmct with Nick Temali from Mounds View School District to update him regarding TCAAP, specifically as it relates to the athletic fields. We determined that it would be best to meet with the various interested citizens and stakeholders to update them as to where the process is, most importantly so they understand the timing of the master planning process and the land transfer process. Stall is also planning to meet with School District management in the near future to update them on the status. . SuncJa\' Monday ~--.--- TU8Sd,]j ------,-----.--. Wednesday Thllrsd~y i Fr,day : SaturdaY' i 4 :5 .6 Foundation Committee 5pm . i I i 1 ~-- 8 9 10 ----rf1---~-:-i2~----l13 ! i Council Mtg. 7pm PTRC Mtg. 7pm Planning Comm. 7pm ! Employee Recognition : ~, I Luncheon 11 :30am ; I Iii Northwest Youth and : Family Services Mtg - : , 7am . I 14 16 .---.----~7-----. 118 19 -.--.----- 20 Town Hall Meeting 6pm j Econo[lJic Dev. Comm. I I - 9pm ~ 7:30am :J ' . I Minneapolis North Board ! Mtg .-.. .._.._._____....u_____...__.._. _.._._.... .____......_.....___ ..... .......__.._._.._._.. ....J..____ , 21 122 231 ~ 24 ' 25 i 26 I 27 I I Work Session 5pm ;. I 'I . I . I i : I I,! I" ~ 28 --.-----t29 ..-.-!.30------------~31---..--.- __.____n.. -J . -- ---- .u_._______._+-_. ..---.--.--..-...-. i ; I . Council Mtg. 7pm . Communications ! 'I. I Committee Mtg - ' I ~ 5:30pm ; . . I I i ! I I I I ICity meetin9 Calendar la/ldalessah;eNloell<1l1ge) January 10071 .-"..- ...........-----.... -.. ..' ..'..-.' -..... .._.._.._.___.__. . .._..._..-J .," f\ klr{)-iI1L'r.tiS'~HdL'nhllb :\d1llin' cl)llll...~il Ca ~L'Jldar .20(\7.\ bstl.'r ( 'akndar .::!(H)"7 dOL' . . . .' . . . '. Sunday r-..1onday TJesday \/VednescJay Thursday Friday Sa~urday 1 ! 2 3 : I I ! .. . 1 l! I 4 5 ----- ...----i 6 7 - --s i 9--------------------110 I. , ! Planning COrnm::-7pm Northwest Youth and i I Family Services Mtg - I _"_._',.._ 7am . , C.-~' / I.,: ../.: r-- r . ~-;-12--------- 13 . i'14 15-y:------------ 16 17 I I I ! .,+ Council Mtg. 7pm i r ~o: Session 5pm - ~~~Ilom~c De~comm 22 J23--------~ . .1d, 'M 7:30am I i j 25 27 I 28---- ----- ---j---------------..--tm-----.--u.1 Council Mtg, 7pm PTRC Mtg. 7pm Communications Comm. ! 'I 5pm ! i i I ICity meetin9 Calendar (alldatessl/hjecltoclwlIgd rebruary 1007 I I \\1\ l~tr(l-inl'l.lIs\ard~11 hi 11s\!\dlllin'.collncll\Calcndar\2007\Maslcr C3 lendar 2(1( 17 .dN' , ..--... . ,..:....~...... , www.mnSun.com - Thursday, Dec. 21. 2006 Ramsey County Sun-Focus 7 -.-.-.,....-. ----".---.--...------------ 2007 bUdget approved for Arden Hills . Approving the 2007 budget was the BY At BUCZKOWSKI · SUN FOCUS last order of business for council mem- bers Larson and Pellegrin and Mayor At the final City Council meeting for Aplikowski, as new mayor Stan outgoing Mayor Beverly Aplikowski and Harpstead and council members Dave council members Gregg Larson and McClung and Fran Holmes will be Vincent Pellegrin, the Arden Hills coun- sworn in at the next council meeting cil approved the budget and levies for Jan. a. the upcoming fiscal year_ Aplikowski and Larson have a com- The final levy for taxes payable in bined 2:1 years of council experience, 2007 was set for $2,675,161, representing and Pellegrin has served for one after a 6-percent increase over 2006, and now being appointed to fill the vacancy left needs to be certified with Ramsey after Lois Hem stepped down from the County before the end of the year_ council in December 2005. Total projected expenditures in 2007 Aplikowski, Larson and Pellegrin for the City were approved 4-1 by council each took a moment toward the end of in the budgeted amount of $8,846,a04, last week's meeting to express their with 40 percent ($a,473,9a4) going to the appreciation toward residents, staff and general fund, which includes budgeting council members. for costs such as street maintenance ($459,a61) and public safety expenses "To my colleagues, I want to say that ($1,076,972, or a2 percent of departmen- I respect your opinions and I value you tal general fund expenditures). as friends, and it has been my privilege to serve with you for Ulis past year," said A majority of the general fund (77 Pellegrin, who is also the chief operat- percent, $2,689,661) is generated through ing officer of Metro Transit in addition . revenue collected via property taxes. to being a firefighter for the City of New Brighton. Council also unanimously approved a special levy for the Karth Lake District "It has been a very distinct pleasure in the amount of $1a,782.67. That levy is to serve whether as a Council member part of a three-year program to finance or Mayor," said Aplikowski, who has the initial costs of a pumping system served as mayor of Arden Hills for the that helps monitor and control water last four years_ "I will miss all of you... levels in Karth Lake. It's been a pleasure and I can only wish the new council the best of luck." .