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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008 11-18 CC MINUTESCITY OF GEM LAKE 4200 Otter Lake Road White Bear Lake, MN 55110 ..9.4rat &Meg Mayer Minutes of Gem Lake City Council Meeting 18 November 2008 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City. of Gem Lakewas called to order by Mayor Emeott on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 7:05 pm in the. Gem Lake. City Hall meeting room. The following members were present: Mayor Paul Emeott; Council members Gretchen Artig-Swomley, Tom Rasmussen, Chuck Watson, and Hutch Schilling: Alsopresent were Attorney Pat Kelly, City Treasurer Jessie Hart and Teresa Tice, Recorder. Other members of thepublic were also in attendance per the sign in sheet sent around the room. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND MEETING MINUTES A) Minutes of City Council meeting of October 2008: Upon motion by Schilling, seconded by Artig-Swomley, the council approved the minutes of the October 2008 Council meeting. Ayes-5 Nays- 0. B) City Council Agenda: Mayor Emeott called foradditions, deletions and corrections to the. agenda.. Council member Artig-Swomley requested a New Business item L) Thank you to outgoing mayor/council member: and welcome to incoming. Upon motion by Watson, seconded by Schilling, the council approved the agenda for. the November 18, 2008, Council meeting, Ayes -- 5 Nays -0 COMMITTEE REPORTS PIanning Commission November meeting report (Jim Lindner): Jim Lindner summarized the last planning. commission meeting. Lindner stated that the planned goals for this committee in 2009 include Zoning ordinance, Comp Plan completion, and chair and: membership of Planning Commission as Jim Lindner has beenelected onto the City Council. Upon motion by Artig-Swomley,>seconded by Schilling, thecouncil approved the November 2008 Planning Commission meeting report with minor typo corrections. Ayes - 5 Nays - 0 PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR Mayor Emeott opened the floor to the public: at 7:14 p.m. There being no speakers, .Mayor .Emeott closed thefloor to thepublic at 7:14. OLD BUSINESS A) City. Newsletter (Artig-Swomley): Topics proposed for future editions of the city newsletter to include incoming and outgoing members of.the .City Council, Updates from. the. Comp Plan,. Zoning ordinances, information about the fox species found in. Gem Lake area, concerns about the economy and the .re -assurances about the impact for the City, possible comment regarding abandoned houses in the city. B) City MS4 report for 2007 (Watson): Justin Gesewill address this topic under new business. C) Award Lawful Gambling proceeds. from 2007-8 (Jessie Hart): Check has been sent to the White Bear Lake Food. Shelf and Lake Area Transit as approved at last city council meeting. At December City Council meeting, more information will be gathered regarding a Defibrillator purchase recommendation. Training will be in 2009. Also plan to give money to Willow Lane Elementary after obtaining more information about their needs. D) Shall the City of Gem Lake establish a Storm Water utility to help pay for stormwater projects? Mayor Emcott suggested that Gem. Lakeuse the same method of charging for Storm Water utility as VALAMO. Their plan is simple andeasy to understand. Residential is charged l unit,commercial another, and acreage is figured in. It would be billed same as sewer/water. The City of Gem Lake .has .some sewers that need cleaning out. The fine can be $10,000/dayloccurance if they start to fail.. These :.types .of projects wouldbe funded by this utility charge in the future, No votewas taken. NEW BUSINESS A) Approval of payment of claims for October -November 2008: Mayor Emeott referred the Council members to the listing of payments requiring approval. Discussion occurred around payment of a claim for the addition of pavementan a resident's driveway so water doesn't continue to run down it. This was done after review of the property by the City Engineer. Resident Bob Uzpen stated that two other properties also had issues with water and. that the city did not pay for the corrections.. Mayor Emeott stated that the proper way to determine when the city should pay for items like this wasto have the. City Engineer review it and make a judgment. Also a policy should be written for handling such. cases. City Attorney Kelly stated that consistency isimportant. Having the. City Engineer review it is fair and partial. Motion by .Rasmussen, Seconded by Artig-Swomley that the City Engineer willreview the two old claimsas well to determine if the city should reimburse the home owner for their costs was approved by voice vote, Ayes -- 5 Nays -- 0 Payment of claims for time period above was unanimously approved as indicated by Council:meinber's signatures on this document. B) Financial Report-- Sept-N.ovember.2008: Upon motion by. Schilling, seconded by Artig-Swomiey, the council approved the acceptance of the September -November 2008 Financial;RePoit, Ayes-- 5 Nays — 0 C) Citybudget suggestions (Jessie Hart): Jessie Hartpresented a memorandum to the City Council outlining a recommended 2009: budget and Levy. The certified preliminary tax levy of $473,289 which would have resulted in a tax capacity rate of 38.0604%,. hasbeen decreasedwith adjustments to the 2009.budget, to a projected tax rate of $35.5.78.8% which is a reduction of 7.816% from 2008 rate. This final budget and. Levy willbe votedan at the December16, 2.008. City Council meeting. Jessie asked that if anyone hadanychanges they wished to seeprior to. that presentation, to pleaselet her know. Council member Watson asked how we stacked up toother cities. Jessie. Hart answered this question by referring the council to page eight of her memorandum entitled Ramsey. County Local Tax Rates. Gem Lake is third behind St. Anthony and Spring Lake Park. However, North Oaks' rate is much lower as they have a homeowners association that pays for street maintenance and other services. Council member Schilling asked if the city could survive if any of the major business in the city shut down. Hart indicated that the city has about a six month reserve. D) Meeting of Canvassing Board — Elections 2008:.Mayor Emeott indicated that the City of Gem Lake had zero rejected absentee ballots. All of theballots have been brought to Ramsey County who is now in charge of all required recounts. E) Metro Council coriiments.on 2008 Comp plan — preliminary review: Mayor Emeott stated that comments have not but are expected yetthiis.week. F) City Engineer contract for 2009 (Justin Gese, SEH): Justin Gese presented a document with the updated fees for city engineer work by SEH. This contract has not been updated since.2006, Rate range willdepend on the qualifications andexperienceof the person needed to do the job. Upon motion by Schilling, seconded. by Rasmussen, thecouncil approved the acceptance of the City Engineer contract for 2009 by voice vote. Ayes — 5 Nays -- 0 G&H) City Engineer comments on 2007 (and upcoming 2008) MS4 report and Mapping of Stormwater outfalls from the:city (Justin Gese): The city of Gem Lake has asked SEH to help with. the MS4 report and mapping of stormwater outfalls as additional resources are needed to get this completed. Council member Watson 3 indicated that only about 40% of the last MS4 report is useful information for completion of 2007 and 2008's report. Justin Gese is proposing that SEH works with the city instead of doing it for them, obtaining online software that will assist in this. Watson indicated that he has been working closely with the point person for this and the city can notignore this any longer; Attorney. Kelly stated that it is good that the city has been working in good faith and keeping in contact with the point person,but that the city needs to get this done. Jessie. Hart stated thatthere is $10,0.00 .in the 2008'budget that could be used for this purpose. Upon motion by Schilling, seconded by Artig- Swomley, the council approved to hire SEH to help with the .MS4 reports to a price range up to but not exceeding $10,000 by voice vote. Ayes -- 5 Nays — 0 I) City Engineer report of possiblegrants for "public improvements" Economic Stimulus from Federal Government (Justin Gese): Jessie Gese indicated that the Federal Government is looking atproviding grants to cover infrastructure improvements to cities includingrail, transit, environmental, sewer, water, etc. The city should be looking at whal they might wish to apply for if this is approved. It was discussed that the city looks for money available to fix failing sewers. SEH has alreadyperformed a feasibility study that could be used to apply for grant money. J) Snow plowing contract 2008-9 —Schifsky: Mayor Emeott provided a copy of the snowplowing contract for 2008-9 submitted by T.A. Schifsky & Sons, .Inc. Upon motion by Rasmussen, seconded by Schilling, the council approved the acceptance of the 2009. Snow plowing contract from T.A. Schifsky & Sons, Inc by voice vote. Ayes-5 Nays--0. K) ISTS system inspection report: An inspection was made of all 108 septic systems in Gem Lake as this is required every even year. Seven were found to need maintenance pumping,two need new manhole covers, none werefound in need of immediate repair. Council member Watson: asked what is the process if they found a failed systent..Mayor Emeott indicated that the city would need to go after the owner tohave it. repaired. L) Thankyou to council/mayor (Artig-SwomIey):Council member Artig-Swomley asked if the city should do anythingas a thank you to outgoing mayor and city council member and to welcome new mayor and council member. Possibly doing something at next city council meeting or at a private party? Attorney Kelly indicated that the city needs to be careful if public funds were going to bespenton a party. Must be open to everyone, not private. Not that this cannot be celebratedbut it must be done properly, It was decided that this would be looked into for January 2009.meeting rather than in 2008. L) List of tasks the Mayor currently does: Mayor .Emeott passed out a list of additional task that hedoes above and beyond his job duty so that the council can be aware of things that will need to be delegated after he leaves. office. These are tasks that areneeded to keep the city running between city council meetings as there currently is. no full time. City .Administrator, •PRES.ENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR Mayor Emeott opened thefloor to the public at 9:29. There being no speakers, Mayor Emeott closed the floor to .the. public at 9:29. FUTURE CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS: Next City Council Workshop Workshop scheduled for Monday, December I, 2008. Agenda item — Goals 2009 Next City Council Meeting — Tuesday, December 16, 2008. at 7:00p.m. in the Gem Lake City Hall. ADJOURN: The November 2008 regular mectirig: of the City Council was adjourned at 9:29 p.m. AUTHORIZED: Novernber, 2008: APPROVED: December, 2008 ATTEST: A 1"1EST: Teresa Tice, Recording Secretary Paul R. Emeott, Mayor Certified Copy. Attendance List for Gem Lake City Council. Meeting: November18, 2008 Justin..Gese Ken Lorenz Jim Lindner Steve and Beth Herzolt Bob Uzpen SEH-City :Engineer Planning Commission Goose Lake. Road Big Fax Road 6