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HRA Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, June 16, 2015 Page 4 1 look at such issues seriously to seek the assistance of owners in preventing or forestalling 2 further issues. 3 4 Member Masche opined this was a good report providing valuable information for the HRA. 5 From a pure resource standpoint, Member Masche noted that the amount of time the Roseville 6 Police Department spent protecting residents of hotels, or addressing those problems, the more 7 it took away that resource from other citizens, whether they be residents, commercial or 8 business owners, or other stakeholders in Roseville. Member Masche admitted his lack of 9 awareness in the amount of time involved until these statistics were compiled as part of this 10 study. 11 12 Member Etten thanked Mr. Foutz and students for this report; and asked that a version as 13 provided in the presentation versus the version included in meeting materials be provided to 14 staff for dissemination to the HRA and City Council, and publically going forward, since it 15 appeared to provide more detailed information. Member Etten thanked the study group for 16 reaching out to the Ramsey County Attorney’s office, noting the active involvement of County 17 Attorney John Choi in addressing these issues. Member Etten opined that some of these items 18 could easily be translated into existing City ordinance. Member Etten agreed that the owners 19 needed to become involved since they had a financial stake rather than managers or part-time 20 employees. Member Etten suggested the City apply sufficient heat within its boundaries to get 21 the attention of motel/hotel owners in addressing these issues now rather than later, but 22 suggested meeting informally with those owners and get them around the table seeking their 23 willing cooperation as the first step. 24 25 Chair Maschka noted this may involve a role for the RVA as a stakeholder as well; with 26 Member Etten concurring that they served as a tremendous asset to the community. Chair 27 Maschka also noted the potential of using travel advisory sites via the internet as a potential 28 tool for grading motels. 29 30 Chair Maschka recognized Police Chief Mathwig and Mr. Yunke for their comment regarding 31 the study and hotel/motel situation in Roseville. 32 33 During his twenty-five years with the Roseville Police Department, Chief Mathwig reported 34 that the situation with problem motels in the community was not much different than he’d 35 initially found, but was now just more well-known. Chief Mathwig clarified that this situation 36 did not involve the majority of the motels/hotels in the community, noting the cooperation of 37 owners of the Motel 6 and Radisson establishments. Unfortunately, Chief Mathwig noted that 38 the Radisson got spillover from other unseemly establishments. 39 40 However, Chief Mathwig advised that the City of Roseville had continued to deal with 41 extremely unresponsive management at the Red Roof and Day’s Inn. Chief Mathwig noted 42 that the owner of the Red Roof owned another establishment in a neighboring community, and 43 in his consultations with their Police Chief, they had found the owner equally unresponsive. 44 Chief Mathwig noted it was unfortunate that an ordinance was needed to deal with the few 45 problem businesses, but asked that the HRA pursue making such a recommendation that he 46 found necessary for enforcement with at least one of the owners. Chief Mathwig advised that 47 he had made repeated attempts to get the attention and cooperation of the Red Roof owner to 48 no avail; and while he typically does not attend search warrants, he made it a point to do so at 49 these two problem hotels, since he could not trust what was going on there. Chief Mathwig 50 asked that the HRA provide for, and stresses the importance of, a hammer to deal with these 51 two establishments and their owners. 52 53 At the request of Member Wall as to the form of that hammer, Chief Mathwig responded that it 54 needed to be a licensing hammer, opining that when you are unable to rent out a room because 55 you can’t get your license approved, it served to prompt compliance. Chief Mathwig