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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007 09-21 CC MINUTESCITY OF GEM LAKE 4707 Hwy 61 ##253 White Bear Lake, MN 55110-3227 Yard &wag .(a ar Minutes of.Gem Lake City Council Meeting 18 September 2007 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Gem Lake was called to order. by Mayor Emeott on Tuesday, September 18, 2007.at 7:05 pm in the first floor meeting room of Tousiey Ford. Mayor Emeott, Councilors Rasmussen, Shilling, Artig-Swornley, and Watson were present. Also present was City Attorney Trevor Oliver. Other members of the public were alsoin attendance per thesign in sheetsent around the room. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND MEETING MINUTES City Council Agenda for this meeting: Mayor Emeott called for additions, deletions and corrections to the agenda. Changes were made to the agenda as follows: 1) Under Approval of City Council Minutes and Agenda,. add C) Minutes of Public Hearing of August 21, 2007; and 2) Under New Business, add discussion about City Newsletter. Minutes of City .Council meetingand. Public Hearing of August 2007: Minutes from. the August 2007 City Council meeting and Public Hearingwere discussed. Unknown name in: attendance list: is Huck and spelling for Hutch will be corrected. Motion by Rasmussen, Second by Artig-Swomley to approve City Council Agenda for September meeting and August 2007 City Council and Public Hearing minutes and with additions and corrections noted: above was unanimously approved. PUBLIC NOTICES A) White:. Bear Lake — State Demographers Presentation: Mayor Emeott announced that the state demographer will be present at the WBL City Hall on Monday, September 24`h at 7:30 p.m. to discuss pulling together details that all surrounding cities will need for their Comprehensive plans. Al]: are welcome to come. B) Gem Lake residents voting. location — White Bear School Levy. (South. Shore Lutheran Church): Mayor Emeott announced that the location for the November 2007 voting location.. for. the White Bear School levy referendum will be the South Shore Lutheran Church. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR City Attorney Trevor Oliver suggested the. Council include review: and discussion of City Ordinances in upcoming meetings. Attorney Oliver advised the Council that a public hearing is needed prior to voting on these and suggested that the next city council meeting include this topic. Discussionfrom the Council was that theywanted to review the Housing Codes, Business Licensing, and Home Occupation Ordinances. Councilor Schilling suggested the City workshop also be used to review some of the other. outstanding Ordinances. The council asked Attorney Oliver tocreate ..a short summary description of the ordinances for publishing in the White Bear Press, Councilor Schilling asked if could have the hearing at the November City workshop. Attorney Oliver advised that no vote could be taken at a workshop but that a workshop could be used to work through these_ Mayor Emeott indicated he would like to see junk cars addressed in an ordinance.. Attorney. Oliver indicated he would include this in the Nuisance ordinance. Look for uson the World Wide Web at gemlakemn.org COMMITTEE REPORTS Planning Commission report: Jim Lindner was not present. Mayor Emeott presented theminutes submitted by the planning commission. The. Council was concernedabout the statement made by the planning commission about the City deciding if they want to grow ornot;as this seems to be an editorial.: Councilor Artig-Swomley stated she would like to see the Iast statementin the 3'd paragraph removed from the minutes or it should be attributed to the person who made it: Resident Bob Uzpen statedthat at the last planning commission meeting there was much debate about the city sewer plan that hadsewer going to all and the fact that many residents don't want sewer. There is concern from residents that anything put in the Comprehensive plan would be what the Met Councilwould plan on. our City doing, and thus should not be included.. Councilor Schilling statedthat without solid plans like this,the city is missing out on potential 'government money. Mayor Emeott stated that the city is also requiring city andwater be included inall new developments in the city. Councilor Schilling asked if Jim Lindner should be taking minutes and chairing the meeting. Mayor Emeott stated that past chairs of the planning commission tooktheir own minutes. Attorney. Oliver stated that minutes should reflect what was discussed or debated and what was decided. Motion by Schilling to send the Planning Commission report back for revisionand to ask Lindner if he needs a recording secretary. The Council unanimously decided to table acceptance of the report until next meeting. Building Committee (City Hall) report: Mayor Emeott reported that work continues onthe new City Hall. The schedule is on track for November 1st. completion. Windows should be delivered this week. Mayor Emeott asked for a volunteer to be on a furniture committee. Councilor Artig-Swomley volunteered. Councilor Artig- Swornley suggested the city consider purchase of an AED (artificial defibrillation) machine for the City Hall. The Councilwould consider a donation for an AED. Mayor Emeott announced the next contractors meeting would be this Thursday at 8:30 a.m. on -site if anyone was interested. OLD BUSINESS A) RFP (Request for Proposal) - City Audit process for. next 4 years: Mayor Emeott report the RFP resulted in two bids. A committee isbeing pulled -together by Mayor Emeott to review these proposals: If neither is acceptable, the council may go back and send out: another RFP. NEW BUSINESS A) Approval of payment of claims for August -September 2007: Mayor Emeott referred the Council to the listing of payments requiring approval. Motion by Rasmussen,. Seconded by Schilling for approval of payment of claims for August -September 2007.was unanimously approved by voice. vote. B) City Hall Building Financial Report: Mayor Emeott referred the Council to the balance sheet for: the City Hall, He noted. that everything seemed on track, and that the City was able to re-investsome of the money ithad planned to spend up to this pointfor anothermonth as the bills have not yet come in. C) Gem Lake Newsletter: Councilor::Artig-Swomley presented a draft of the October Gem Lake Newsletter. Thenewsletter includesinformation about next planning meeting, informationabout storm water, section on Crime fighting, info on City Hall, feature on new residents, business highlight, etc. Anyone with comments or suggestions should get them to. Artig-Swoniley by Friday. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR Resident Bob Uzpen asked if the payment claim report could be more itemized with what the contracted services for the building of the city hall included. Mayor Emeott stated that it would be difficult to customize this report. There was discussion about ensuring that information about where residents could vote on the White Bear Lake School District Levy be included in the City Newsletter. Councilor Artig-Swomley stated that would be a good idea. Next, discussion centered aroundif advanced copies of the ordinances could be sent out to residents as they are Look for us on the World Wide Web at gemlakemn;org cumbersome and detailed. Not enough timeto review them at the City workshops or council. meetings. Council Artig-Swornley suggested that city use the list of email addresses obtained for the newsletter to send out thiskind of correspondence. The topicof the legalities around mailing listswas discussed. In summary, if the City i's:soliciting information for mailing lists or for emergency contacts for the cityhall, the City should include a statement about what itwill be used for and that such information will not be sold. Mayor Emeott stated thatthe City is budgeting for 2008 a part time position for a receptionist and that a job description was currently being written. Suggestionsof what that person's job should include are welcome. Resident Bob Uzpen brought up the, fact that when a call is made to the City Clerk, it goes to the City voicemail. Most residents, when they call. the. Clerk would like to talk to a person. The suggestion was made to change the. website to provide a direct number to someone in White Bear Township. Attorney .Oliver stated that the website has an incorrect date for the next City Council meeting.. This will need to be corrected. Resident Kimberly Anderson-Uzpen asked if Gem Lake had considered going toonegarbage hauler: This would ensure trash day was the same for everyone and cans weren't on the streetall the time.: Mayor Emeott stated that in other small cities that have tried this (like White Bear Township) is hasn't been successful as residents then aren't all. happy with the service they receive; It was suggested that different neighborhoods could all go together and agree upon one hauler if they desire. Resident Beth Herzolt broughtup the topic of fire control in the City, Discussion centered about the factthat the City doesn't have enough fire hydrants throughout the City to put everyone within 1000 feet of. one. The City has a contract withneighboring cities toprovide aide in a fire. However, the concern is that many of the neighboring cities don't havea tanker for hauling water. Mayor Emeott stated thata hydrant will be added at the new City Hall, Herzolt asked if the City had considered purchasing a tanker. Mayor Emeott replied that they are several hundred thousand dollars, Councilor Artig-Swomley suggested this topic be looked at. further, FUTURE CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS: Budget discuSsioni are planned for the December City workshop and the December City Council meeting as the City'will.not have very accurate prices. on contracted services until then. Next City Council Workshop —Monday, October 1,.2007 at 7:00 p.m. in the first floor meeting room of Tousley Ford. Included in the agenda will be a presentation by the. City. Planner. Next City Council Meeting Tuesday,October 16, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. in the firstfloor meeting room of Tousley Ford. ADJOURN: The August 2007 regular meeting of the City Council was adjourned at 8:37 p.m. AUTHORIZED: September 20,.2007 APPROVED: October 16, 2007 ATTEST: ATTEST: J(2-- Teresa Tice, Recording Secretary Paul R. Emeott, Mayor Certified. Copy Lookfor us on the World Wide Web at gentlakemn.org Attendance.List-for Gem.Lake.Citjy Counci] Meeting: August 21, 2007 Teresa Tice Trevor Oliver Robert Uzpen Kim Anderson-Uzpen Beth. Herzog Secretary City Attorney Big Fox Road Big Fox Road Goose Lake Road Look for us on the World Wide Web at geni]akenui.org