Regular/Organizational Meeting Of s6

CITY OF NOWTHEN REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2011 @ 7:30 PM (Meeting will be taped for transcribing purposes only.)

Present: Bill Schulz Jeff Pilon Harlan Meyer Laurie Olmon Orval Leistico

Others: Barry Olson, Bldg Off. Bob Ruppe, Attorney Shane Nelson, Engineer

Approve/amend the meeting agenda – Leistico added complaint about 18170 Erkium Street as Item No. 11.h. Ruppe added Compensation Consultant as Item No. 1.c. Pilon made a motion to approve the amended agenda; Meyer seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

1). Attorney: a). Economic Development Authority (Resolution 2011-16) – Enabling resolution establishing Economic Authority. Leistico said that he has been approached by several individuals that said that they did not want an EDA. Schulz said that he talked to someone as well that was not in agreement with establishing an EDA. Olmon said that she spoke to several residents and they are in favor of it. Most of the residents that were not in favor of an EDA have a fear of taxes being raised. The opportunity exists that is consistent with our Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan does not say that the City intends to become developers or landlord of vacant buildings. It is not an investment tool to be making speculative purchases. Meyer made a motion to adopt Resolution 2011-16, An Enabling Resolution Establishing the Nowthen Economic Development Authority and to adopt the Bylaws of the Nowthen Economic Development Authority; Olmon seconded. Four in favor; Leistico opposed. Motion carried.

b). Banquet Center Purchase Agreement (Closed meeting to discuss purchase offer). – The City Council went into closed session in the lunch room. The Council adjourned the closed meeting. Pilon made a motion not to proceed with a purchase agreement pending further investigation of the costs associated with the renovation of the building and table this until we get the numbers in; Meyer seconded. All in favor; motion carried. Pilon stated that in order to establish the true costs in renovating and inhabiting the building he would like to make a motion to increase the previously approved $2,500 to $3,000 for mechanical inspection and architectural design work. City of Nowthen Regular City Council Meeting October 11, 2011 Page 2

The previously approved $2,500 from last month has not been spent. Olmon seconded Pilon’s motion. All in favor; motion carried. Olmon made a motion to direct staff to schedule a special meeting time to view the banquet facility with the City Council; Pilon seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

c). Compensation Consultant – Olmon made a motion to approve hiring a compensation consultant in an amount not to exceed $3,750; Meyer seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

2). Floor Items:

Sue Sovia of 20360 Basalt Street thanked the Council for allowing her the time. She has been taking minutes on the fire calls and she has notice some inconsistencies after reviewing the tapes. She wanted the Council to be aware that there are a lot of inconsistencies of how things are billed and who is billed and who is not billed. Sovia doesn’t know what the City of Nowthen considers as a legal or an illegal business. She said that many years ago they started their business and went through all the paperwork with the state when they were certified as a minority owned (woman) business. They had a business and moved to Nowthen over 30 years ago. They went through the CUP procedure at Burns Township and went to meetings. Back then the Town Board was concerned about traffic so a CUP was required if there was going to be traffic coming and going from the property. They were asked if they had outside employees and Sovia did not. Their business is offsite so there are no employees. The Town Board also wanted to know if there was any material delivered to the business and Sovia does not. She said that there were leftovers so they did store a little bit of paint after that. For the most part they never had to have a CUP so she doesn’t understand how the City can consider it an illegal business. Sovia said that about a year before their fire, construction took a downturn. So she and her husband decided to move on. She took on two other jobs and her husband retired. Then a year after that they had a fire. The day before the fire she got a call from a relative to help out the family to paint so they could put the house up for sale. They mixed up some stored paint and went to the relative’s property to paint and the next day they had the fire. Helping out relatives should not constitute a business. This was a year after they dissolved the business. There was a statement given to the Fire Chief about a business, but she doesn’t think helping out relatives constitutes as a business. Sovia asked if the Council ever considered using square footage of the business when charging for fire calls in businesses. She said that this has been a learning experience for everyone. For the Council to classify this as an illegal business is very inaccurate and very wrong. City of Nowthen Regular City Council Meeting October 11, 2011 Page 3

Sue Pilon of 18959 Nowthen Blvd. is here to represent the Nowthen Heritage Festival Committee. She wanted to thank the City Council for their support and time that each one of them gave to help make the festival this year a great success. They had a wrap up meeting last night and the feedback and comments they received was that this was the best festival ever. It was very hard to keep track of the numbers. They had over 400 people attend the pancake breakfast. They had to open the children’s activities 2 hours early. There were 808 tickets sold for the giant slide and 320 kids go into the bouncy. One business owner gave out 500 small notebooks as prizes. They were very pleased with the turnout this year. There was also a Frisbee disc golf contest and that was a great promotion and great success. Most of the people that came and tried the Frisbee disc golf had tried it for the first time and didn’t even know we had it at our park. They feel that the festival was a true City celebration. It was a wonderful way to support Nowthen businesses, parks, talent, churches, civic organization and heritage. She presented the City with a plaque in honor of our continued platinum support. Meyer thanked the Heritage Festival Committee and their staff.

Dan Williams of 7967 191st Lane said that the tether ball is not getting vandalized it is just that the balls are getting damaged because the balls are getting used. He is recommending that the City purchase more expensive balls with more internal strength.

3). Delinquent Fire/other service fees – Adopt Resolution 2011-17 – Sue Sovia of 20360 Basalt Street NW said that she already stated her case. Roger Lee from East Bethel Minnesota said that he was involved in a car accident a year ago on CR 22. It was a 3 car accident and it was not his fault and he said that he did not need fire services and did not ask for the services. Nothing was done on his behalf with the fire dept. He called the City Offices and asked why he received a bill. He was told that to protect the residents in the City from paying for services of people outside of the community. He thought that is why residents pay taxes; so they can have these kinds of services. He was also told that anyone that is involved in an accident gets a portion of the bill. It was divided three ways. If you like in Anoka County you get them assessed to your taxes. If the Council feels the necessity to bill for accidents, shouldn’t the Council be billing the person that caused the accident? Lee thinks this is an unfair bill. The person that did need the services has received them.

Leistico would like to separate Sue Sovia’s outstanding bill from the others because he has concerns about her fire call bill. He would like to vote on all the others then discuss Sovia’s bill. City of Nowthen Regular City Council Meeting October 11, 2011 Page 4

Pilon made a motion to waive Mr. Lee’s outstanding fire call bill; Schulz seconded. All in favor; motion carried. Leistico made a motion to remove Sue Sovia’s fire call bill off the list and consider it separately. Leistico would hate to vote no on every other bill, but if the Council doesn’t go along with him then he is going to vote no to all of them. Motion failed for lack of second. Olmon made a motion to adopt Resolution 2011-17, A Resolution Certifying Delinquent Fire Service Fees and Related Attorney’s Fees and Interest; Meyer seconded. All in favor; Leistico opposed. Motion carried.

4). Fire Department a). Quotes to upgrade 4th Stall of Fire Station – Bart Hayft said that there is a fourth bay in the fire station that they want to upgrade. There were 3 quotes received and a couple of the quotes were missing items needed. Meyer made a motion to approve the proposal from Reshetar Systems, Inc. with the alternative option of changing out the existing lights to a 6-lamp reflective high bay fluorescent in the 4th bay and obtain quotes to change out the rest of the lights. If there is a credit with the recommended changes, Pilon would like it added to the upgrading of the lights; Schulz seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

5). Planning and Zoning: a). Zoning Ordinance #3 Amendments – Pilon made a motion to approve Ordinance #38, An Ordinance Amending the City Code of the City of Nowthen to Establish Commercial and Industrial Zoning Districts, changing all of Hollenbeck’s property to the Industrial District; Meyer seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

b). Building Setback – Olmon made a motion to leave the building setbacks as is; Meyer seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

c). Rural Clustering – Meyer made a motion to recommend that the P & Z continue researching rural clustering; Schulz seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

d). Codification – Meyer made a motion to table this until November so that the P & Z has a chance to review it; Schulz seconded. All in favor; motion carried. City of Nowthen Regular City Council Meeting October 11, 2011 Page 5

6). Engineer Update: a). Milestone Ponds drainage/erosion control – Nelson prepared specifications to repair the drainage and erosion control issues and he received two quotes. Meyer made the motion to accept the quotation from Zak Industries, Inc., doing business as Erosion Works for an amount not to exceed $8,465.00; Schulz seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

b). 187th Ave / 188th Ave (Bailey Estates) Pay Estimate – Meyer made a motion of final payment to North Valley Inc. in the amount of $6,974.60 for work completed on 187th Ave/188th Ave in Bailey Estates; Schulz seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

c). 187th cul-de-sac / Iman Street cul-de-sac (Bailey Estates) Pay Estimate – Leistico made a motion of final payment to North Valley Inc. in the amount of $6,871.00 for work completed on the 187th cul- de-sac/Iman Street cul-de-sac in Bailey Estates; Olmon seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

7). Road & Bridge: a). Road Grader update & approval to pay invoice – Olmon made a motion to approve paying the invoice of $238,299.19 to Ziegler for motor grader; Pilon seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

8). Park and Rec. a). Trail maintenance needs (wood chips, etc) – It was discussed about possibly using Schulz’s spreader to spread wood chips on the trails.

b). Mama Delucas sponsored disc golf tournament – Cory Deluca was not present.

c). Relocate tether ball – Olmon made a motion to have Meyer research different tether balls and purchase a better one; Meyer seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

d). State Grants – Will be discussed at a future date. Olmon will do some more research. City of Nowthen Regular City Council Meeting October 11, 2011 Page 6

9). Building Department: - Barry Olson gave his official resignation notice and will be retiring November 30, 2011. Olmon made a motion to contract for planning services and hire a part time Building Official; Meyer seconded. All in favor; motion carried. City Council recessed this until October 17th at 8:30 am.

10). Consent Agenda: 1.1 Approve the September 13th, 2011, City Council Meeting Minutes 1.2 Approve All Audited Bills Claim #7116 through Claim #7160, plus Net Distribution reports dated August 26th, September 12th, and September 26th, 2011. 1.3 Financial Report 1.4 Adopt Homeless Awareness Month Proclamation

Pilon made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda; Meyer seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

11). Council Items: a). Generator for the City Offices – Schulz made a motion to table this until the November meeting; Meyer seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

b). Schedule Sheriff/Police Open Forum – An Open House has been scheduled for November 3rd, 2011 at 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM. Schulz will be contacting the City of Ramsey and the City of St. Francis to see if they can submit a proposal for services.

c). Recycling Center Signs / upgrades – Recessed until October 17, 2011 at 8:30 am.

d). Folding Chairs for the City Hall – Recessed until October 17, 2011 at 8:30 am.

e). Community Development – Recessed until October 17, 2011 at 8:30 am.

f). November City Council Meeting Date/Time Change – The Changed to November 7th, 2011 at 7:30 PM. City of Nowthen Regular City Council Meeting October 11, 2011 Page 7

g). Joint Fire Dept. (Nowthen, Ramsey, St. Francis, Oak Grove, Bethel) – Schulz informed the Council about the goals of the Western Anoka County Joint Fire Services Study Group. We will continue to meet and come back with findings.

h). Complaint of 18170 Erkium Street – Meyer made a motion to have Olson send a letter to the person making the complaint stating that the matter was addressed by the council and it was determined that this was not in violation of the City Ordinances; Leistico seconded. All in favor; Motion carried.

Harlan made a motion to recess the meeting to October 17, 2011 at 8:30 AM; Schulz seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

Respectively submitted by:

Corrie LaDoucer City Clerk