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Home My WebLink About1993 [09] Sep 15 Page 2328 September 15, 1993 Pursuant to due call and notice thereo:f , the City Council :tor- the City I of St. J-oseph met jointly, in Special Session with the Town Board for St. Joseph Township, on Wednesday, September 15, 1'393 at 8:00 p. H1. in the Town Hall. 11EN BI::RS PRESENT: CITY COUNCIL- Mayor Donald Bud Reber; Nembers of the Council Bob Loso, Stephanie Hazen, Ken Hiemenz. Clerk/Administrator Hachel Stapleton. TOWN BOAHD SUPERVISORS - Jerome Salzer, Bernie Schloemer, Joe Bechtold. Town Clerk Anna Heischl at 8:52 p. m. PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: CITY PLANNING COMMISSION MEI'IBERS - Chair Hub Klein, S. Kathleen Kalinowski, Linda Sniezek, Narge Lesnick, Dan Nierengarten, Andy Brixius, Kurt Schneider. TOWN PLANNING COMIHSSION 11ENBERS - Ralph Eiynck, Natt Symalla, Fred Heber, David Thralow, John Schroeder. OTHI::RS PRESI::NT: Robert Pogatshnik, Dale Haug, Stuart Goldschen Chair Jerome Salzer called the meeting to order and introduced Robert Pogatshnik, Mayor of Sartell. Mayor Pogatshnik discussed with the group, the issues that the City o:f Sartell and Town o:f Le Sauk dealt with and methods used during their study and negotiations on a p:coposed merger which was negotiated to an orderly annexation agreement. I 11 a yo r Pogatshnik stated that the Boards met :for about three months to discuss the issues and then held an informational meeting. He stated -Lhat they kept the City and Town residents in:for'med with a newsletter. The Township residents were concerned with increased taxes, and had a fear' of the tosts of water and sewer assessments. The Boards each appr-oved a Joint powers agreemen't and which gave them authority to act as one Board. I::d Tschida was hired to do a comprehensive study and Bill Hansen of APO was the :facilitator at the meetings. The Joint Boar-d contains all the members o:f both boards. Issues addressed were transportation, governmental services, environmental, pollution, and wetlands, tax rates, and :fiscal status. They looked at a full merger and a plan to merge over a period o:f time. Areas of agriculture preservation was an issue. Fire protection service was a current shared service and the two boards had a good working relationship through this past experience. Sartell and Le Sauk agreed on orderly annexation that established when t.Jl ï. of the remaining Township residents petitioned the City :for annexation the Municipal Board may review and comment but must allow -Lhe annexation oí the remaining area. The annexation process is completed in about sixty days. I John Schroder asked if more negotiation was necessary with St. Cloud, to provide sewer to mo:ce areas. Mayor Pogatshnik stated that Sartell's agreement with St. Cloud provided capacity :for growth £or about twenty years. The increase of sewer use by extending service to the Township area, after it is annexed, would shorten the projected growth capacity. - Page 2329 September 15, 1993 The agreement allows an annual review oÍ costs with st. Cloud. St. Cloud intends also to do a study in by the spring oÍ 1994, to inc:cease the sewer plant capaci-ty. Bernie Schloemer asked if there was any area in the initial discussion to pr-ohibi t development such as in the Íringe area. Bob stated that -there was some discussion if the Íringe areas would like to go to other enti ties, such as St. Wendel or Brockway Township, to me:r-ge with them. Bob stated that some development concepts are changing in the agricultural areas. Some rural parcels of land that are passed down to '-he sons are developed rather than fal~med. Hazen asked what the response was from the residents. Bob stated that there was much more interest -:from the Township r-esidents than the City residents. The meetings were well attended by Township residents, with very few City residents attending. Heber- asked if Sartell would need to provide for mare sewer c.apaci ty, and what effect the -:future growth has on it. Bob stated that Sal~tell ' s agreement for futur"e capacity is shortened by about eight years on a -Lwenty year window, by this agreement if Sartell took in all of Le Sauk Township. Hob stated that an earlier study was done on water quality in parts of -Lhe Township and other earlier studies were included in Ed Tschida's study. Heber stated that St. Joseph Township does not have the high density residential developments that Le Sa uk has. Heber asked Bob if there were problems that he could share that might help us get over them easier. Bob stated that it is important to get '-he issues out on the table. Also he stated to keep the residents informed before misinformation gets distributed. Sartell and Le Sauk kept the r-esidents informed through a newsletter and informational meetings. Meetings \'lere held in the school to provide enough room -:for -Lhe interested persons. The Urderly Annexation agreement provides for methods and procedures for annexation of areas of the Township so that annexation may occur with study and forethought. The Agreement does not provide a time line for when annexation must occur. Bernie Schloemer asked if our Boards could use their study and infor-mation out of it for our purposes. He said he is happy to share what is successful in it and that the Boards may use it as a guideline. Bernie Schloemer asked what would be done differently on hindsight. Bob stated that he would encourage the Boards to take enough time and be patient with each other. Hazen asked if the Urderly Annexation Agreement was worked out with consolidation in mind. Bob Stated that the Urderly Annexation ag:ceemen-L enuompassed the whole Township, and they proceed with annexations as they get requests. Hazen then asked how Sartell would Page 2330 Septembe:c 15, 1993 - handle petitions for an area larger than they could accommodate. Bob stated that the agreement was worked out so they could accommodate all the petitions. She then asked how growth greater than anticipated when the agl~eement was worked out would be handled. Bob Btated that it would shorten the life of the capacity at the sewel~ plant. LOBO asked if it would be financially more feasible for the fringe areas to go to adjacent municipalities. Bob Pogatshnik stated that initially that was looked at but the agreement allowed the whole township to come into Sartell. Joe Bechtold stated that service to areas in st. Joseph Township beyond the physical barriers might be accomplished best by adjacent municipalities. Jerome Salzer asked how Sartell handles persons in annexed areas that express a financial hardship. Bob stated that the developer pays for sewer extensions across undeveloped land through an agreement between the developer and the property owner. LOBO asked who pays for sewer e}~tensions through farm land. Bob stated that when the farm land is developed the developer pays those costs through an agreement with the farmer. The city levies assessments against the farmer. Jerome Salzer asked what happens when there is not 100 percent in favor of annexing in a specific area. Bob stated that is one of the ha:cd decisions, but all property owners must be treated fairly with the assessments. Bob also stated that Sal-tell ' s assessment policies have provisions for hardship and age. The current policy is that interest is not charged on deferred assessments. ThE> 80ards discussed Bartell-Le Sauk's relationship with Ed Tschida. Bob stated that he felt Mr. Tschida served the community well. Bob stated that Sartell - Le Sauk currently have one Planning Commission. They handle all the Planning issues for both municipalities. They report to both Boards and the appropriate Board acts on their recommendations. The Joint Planning Board is composed of all the members o±: both o:ciginal Planning Commission Boards. The membel~ship will be reduced to a more worl<able number through attrition. The Town Boal~d and City Council exchange agendas and minutes. Bob stated that political subdivisions were an issue when merger was being discussed. Concerns wel~e for manageable distl- icts for appl~opriate representation. Currently Sartell has all at large representation. Joe Bechtold asked who was involved in the study. Bob stated that the -Lwo Boards signed a joint powers agreement, and met monthly with Bill Hansen as moderator. The Planning Commissions were invited to attend but were not part of the working group. Ed Tschida worked for about eight months for a fee of about $15,000. The meeting r'ecessed at 9:45 p. m. Chair reconvened the meeting at 10:00 p. m. Loso stated felt that a meeting should be set for next month with both Page 2331 September 15, 1993 I boards bringing their concerns. Joe Bechtold felt that it is time to bring in a L::onsultant. The Boards generally agreed to call Ed Tschida to meet with them on October 12 or October 26, and to invite the Planning Commissions to the meeting. R. Stapleton agreed to call Ed Tschida to invite him to a meeting. Rachel also will have copies made of the study and joint powers agreement. Of concern was the voting power of each member on the joint board, with different representative number o:f members from each municipality. Margie Kalla asked i:f the meetings would be open to the public. The Boards stated that all Board meetings are open to the public. The meeting was adjourned at 10:20 p. m. ~~ Rachel Stapleton, MCMC Clerk/Administrator I I