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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010 02-01 CC WS MINUTESCITY OF GEM LAKE, MN 4200 Otter Lake Road Gem Lake, MN 55110-3227 Telephone 651-747-2790 E-mail . CityA gem lake MN. org Minutes of Gem. Lake City Council Workshop 1 February 2010 The workshop meeting of the City Council of the City of Gem Lake started at 7:05. p.m. on Monday, February 1, 2010.in the Gem Lake City Hall meeting room. The following members were present: Mayor Robert. Uzpen, Council members Gretchen Artig-Swomley, Thomas Rasmussen, and James Lindner. Other members of the public attended per the sign in sheet sent around the room.. The. informal meeting started out with the City Council members introducing themselves the public who attended the workshop. Councilmember Watson Replacement on City Council Board: The first item on the agenda was to fill Councilmember Watson's place on the City Council. Due to the demands of his job, he has resigned from the City Council Board. Interest was mentioned by Dan Maier, from the Planning Commission and Mr. and Mrs. Kuney who are new residents moving in the City of Gem Lake in March, 2010. Mrs. Kuney gave a summary of her background and interest in the position. Also recommended by Councilmember Artig-Swomley was Rick Bozak:. Mayor Uzpen mentioned that after speaking with Gem Lake Attorney Trevor Oliver, it was recommended that there are three (3) options to replacing the position. Step 1 would be placing an ad in the newspaper. Step 2 would be the Mayor appointing someone and step three would be to keep the position open until the fall election. Hoffman Road Sewer Problem: Mayor Uzpen mentioned the situation of the sewer backing up on Hoffman Road. Mayor Uzpen contacted White Bear. Township to unplug the sewer so the residents could use their facilities. The sewer broke by Jerry's Upholstery and Waldock. When the sewer on the north side of County Road E was cleaned out, there was a lot of clay. The actual sewer was put in over 50 years ago. Mayor Uzpen spoke to SEH and Bill Short, from the White Bear Township. Justin is going to create a few different proposals to present to the City of Gem Lake. Councilmember Rasmussen suggested just looking into fixing the one problem spot for now. There is a video tape that the previous Mayor had of the sewer lineand will look for that to present to the City Council. Gem Lake Workshop. Meeting Page 2 of3 Newsletter — Councilmember Artig-Swomley had spoken to. State Representative Bev Scalze asking if she would write up something for the next newsletter regarding about the agenda for the year 2010 and responded with an email inviting people to come to the Town Meeting on February 20, 2010. 2010 Goals for the City of Gem Lake: Councilmember Artig-Swomley suggested coming up with some way for volunteers for short projects, appointing. a task force for the City of Gem Lake. Mayor Uzpen suggested putting an article in the newsletter stating volunteer positions, one being for VLOMO Group. Also mentioned were volunteers for positions of the City of Gem Lake including sitting on other commission committees for the City, Update or create Ordinances for hunting, flood plain, and sub -divisions. Councilmember Rasmussen feels the dog ordinance needs to be looked at and updated. The Comp Plan needs to be approved by the Metropolitan Council and start working on updating with current information. Public Works goals would be the business on business sewer district. First on the agenda will be to take care of Scheuneman Road and McNaulty Road to flush out the sewers and catch up on road repair. The two flagpoles will be available in the next few months. Since the flag will be displayed twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, an electrician will need to install a light to shine on the flag during the evenings. The .MS4 report is due in May and. Gem Lake needs a map of the in flowtout flows locations throughout the city. When obtained, Justin from SEH would make a map for the city.. Councilmember Artig-Swomley suggested another spring clean up in late April. Gem Lake needs to have more events to get the residents together. The CPR class was a good start for the community events and National Night Out. Something else to add would be a history night inviting the older residents to discuss the depression and recession of the 1970s and how Gem Lake has changed. Mayor Uzpen feels the newsletter updates the residents of current events within the community. Also suggested was putting together an information packet making Gem Lake more developer ready. Planning Commissioner Rafferty explained that developers want incentives, roadway variances, parkland and to investigate what the City of Gem Lake can offer. At this time Gem Lake has no money in the budget for incentives of this nature, but has spoken with a bonding company and that company was invited to attend the February 23, 2010 City Council meeting to present options on what Gem Lake can do for developers. Another option would be tax abatement, a special assessment for 30 feet level. The City would create an ordinance and get a bond for cost and the developer would pay the City back with interest. Mayor Uzpen stated that he does not want Look for us on the World Wide. Web at.gemlakenin.org Gem Lake Workshop. Meeting Page3 of 3 to put the City in debt at this time and economy, but these are options to get developers to build in Gem Lake without hurting the residents. Also mentioned was starting a $500 to $1,000 scholarship for a Gem Lake student graduating from high school each year. The money would come out of the gambling fund. The scholarship would be used for any secondary education not just college. A current list of all businesses of the City of Gem Lake needs to be updated so each business can be sent a yearly business license application with a fee for license and fire inspection. Road striping was discussed, as this needs to be restriped every two to three years. This will be looked at in the spring. OPEN DISCUSSION Councilmember Lindner updated the Council on the 17 water kits received from the residents and suggested doing this again in May 2010. A question was raised about the sports center development in Vadnais Heights. Will this affect any development in Gem Lake because of that as traffic will be affected an County Road E. The Hansen land was discussed about any development regarding the Gateway Ordinance 107 project. Trails and parks through Gem Lake were discussed, but at this time, there is no. city or state owned land. ADJOURN The February 1, 2010 informal workshop meeting of the City Council adjourned at 8:35 p.m. APPROVED: ATTEST: ATTEST: Julie Newkirk Recording Secretary Robert Uzpen Mayor Look for us on the World Wide Web at gennlakemn.org