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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000 [06] Jun 15 Page 3750 .June 15,2000 City of Sl Joseph City council Meeting 6115100, 7:00 PM 1. Call to Order. Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the City Council for the City of St. Joseph met on Thursday, June 15, 2000 at 7:00 p.m. in the St. Joseph City Hall. 1 Members Present: Mayor Kenneth J. Hiemenz, Bob Loso, Cory Ehlert, Ken Twit, Mary Niedenfuer, Clerk-Administrator Cari Schmidt and Deputy Clerk Judy Weyrens. Others Present :Police Chief Gary Will, Mike Deutz, Lorraine Minier, EDA Director Chad Carlson, Mike Deutz, Diane Schneider, Larry Hosch, Fire Chief Dave Theisen, Kevin Dierkhising, Cheryl Jacobs, and Steve and Becky Martinez. 2. Approve Agenda - Schmidt stated that there was one change to the agenda. Mark Vadnais is no longer requesting a variance for his third dog. He has found an a~emate home for it. Niedenfuer made a motion to approve the agenda with the change, seconded by Loso. The motion passed unanimously. 3. Approve Consent Agenda ~ a. Application for Payment - Minnesota Native Landscapes: Spraying: $750 b. Thielen Construcfjon: Dozer Work $480 c. Minnesota Native Landscapes: Seeding and Mulching: $10,965 d. Lot Split for a portion of Railroad Right of way for Freeport Roffer Mills, Inc. Hiemenz asked if the bulldozer work in item b is related to the dirt bikes that have been tearing up that area. Schmidt said she would check on that. Ehlert made a motion to approve the agenda, seconded by Twit. The motion passed unanimously. Twit asked if item d is irrvolved in what the City is looking at for the trail. Hiemenz said no. I 4. Department Head Reports - Chief Will reported that he is working with the Cities of Waite Park and Sauk Rapids on an overtimelsafe and sober grant. Will stated that he is looking for approval to apply for this non-matching grant. Niedenfuer made a motion to authorize staff to apply for this safe and sober grant, seconded by Loso. The motion passed unanimously. Will reported that the City had 11 false alarms last month. This is not only a waste of time, but also a potential for risk when the officers are responding. Will stated that he js drafting a policy for looking at these alarms. He will come back to the Council later with this policy. Niedenfuer asked whether or not there is anything in common between these alarms? Will stated that most of the false alarms are employee error. Twit clarified that they aren't saying they aren't going to respond, there will just be a fee. Will stated the policy would involve a license, permit, and yearly fee with an increasing scale for numbers of false alarms. The license holder would be allowed two false alarms in twelve month period. After a certain number, like six or seven, the license for the alarm would be suspended. Will stated that he also gave the City Council a chart of the officers in the Police Department that shows the additional positions they hold such as alcohol enforcement officer and public information officer. Will reported that he will be attending a conference on missing and exploited children on Uncle Sam's tab. The federal government pays for the entire thing. Will stated that the final üem to discuss is what to do about the Administrative Assistant position. It is a necessary position for the police department. If the position is eliminated, the patrol time is lost and has to be made up somewhere else. The necessary funds to keep the position are $21,000 this year but $40,000 next year. Will stated that the police budget is tight this year and there is really nowhere to take it from there. Will stated that there are really three options: take it out of reserves, eliminate the position or authorize a temporary layoff (which he doesn't recommend). I Page 3751 June 15, 2000 I Weyrens explained that when putting the budget together for 2000, due to levy limits, we ' were phasing in funds for the Administrative Assistant. The 2000 budget included $4,750 for City costs. Therefore, based Oft the amount expended, the City had enough money to run through June 15, 2000. To fund the position for the remainder of 2000, the City will need to subsidiza the budget by $21,302. Further, the budget for 2001 will need to include a total for the position of approximately $40,261.82. Weyrens provided a breakdown of the designated reserve and the general fund budget. Loso stated that this is a hard decision. Whatever the Council decides to do, they will be robbing Peter to pay Paul. Will stated that the Council could take it from operating revenue. Weyrens suggested that the Council could borrow the money from one of the funds and phase it back in over time. , Ehlert stated that there has to be some give and take in this situation. He noticed that the officers are being paid overtime for much of their training time. He asked if this could be done during their regular hours, or if they would be willing to donate some of that time. He reiterated that there has to be some give and take between the City and the department. Chief Will stated that if the training is required we can~ force them to volunteer it. Will stated that they could certainly ask them though. , L{)so stated that if the Council looks at salaries, we ar& at half of the salaries already for the year. We've spent over 50% of the budget already. I Hiemenz asked how a part time position would work through the end of the year? At part time there would be a 50% savings, plus the City wouldn't be required to pay benefits. Will stated that that would be better than nothing, but he can't guarantee that Lorraine would accept that. Weyrens stated that it would take about $10,000-$14,000 to make the position part time. It was suggested that the money could oome out ofthe $250,000 water projects fund. It was also suggested that the Administration budget be examined to see if any money could be ' taken out of salaries there. This pays 100% of the Administrator's budget and 1/3 ofthe administrative assistant budget. Weyrens explained that that is used for paying for overtime for the election and during budget time. Twit stated that maybe there shouldn't be any overtime allowed for this position then. Twit stated that he thinks the position should remain part time at 30 hours for the rest of the year. Lorraine Minier addressed the Council and stated that she thinks that th&position is a great benefit to the community and that 30 hours would be better than nothing at all. Minier stated that she would be willing to work part time for the rest of the year with the idea that the budget would be looked at for next year. TtriF. made a motion to make the Police ~parflI"nt ~d'11~!JIative Assistant a part time poSition, not to exceed thirty hours with the moniy'lD bit:,' '¡>tit aI thl: Wflfer project funds and to be replaced next year. Niedenfuer seconded the motion. I i , Loso stated that this is not a good policy. We are going to have to re-visitthis at budget time and the CitY has a lot of other expensive projects that are coming in the near future. Twit stated that the really only other attemative is to eliminate the position. Ehlert stated that it would be a greater benefit now to maintain the position as part time. He again added that he would like to see a freeze on all unnecessary overtime with some training time being donated by the PoJice Department. Weyrens added that there may be unanticipated revenue that we may be able to pull from by the end of the year. Hiemenz called the question and the motion passed unanimously. Page 3752 June 15, 2000 5. Noise Violation - 125 1d" St. SE, #110- Hiemenz stated that a noise violation was issued from an incident on May 29,2000 at 125 10th Ave SE #110. There was no request for an evidentiary hearing, and as such the hearing is waived. A waiver of this right to a hearing is the equivalent to an admission of the basic allegations alleged herein and reported by the complaining party. Hiemenz stated that according to the police report that they received a complaint and reported to the scene where they heard loud music and voices. A female answered the door and the officer smelled alcohol. The female was arrested for underage consumption and they also issued two other minor consumptions in the residence. Loso made a motion to ñnd that a violation did occur, seconded by Ehlert. The motion passed unanimously. I Cheryl Jacobs of the Steams County HRA addressed the Council. She stated that she had never been involved in this type of hearing before. She stated that this violator was not a resident of the building. The resident is the mother and was not home on this weekend. Her daughter has an alcohol problem and does not have authorized access to the unit. The daughter got into the unit through the apartment window. They have had a long discussion with the mother about the daughter. She actually didn't know about the incident until she received the eviction notice from the HRA office. The eviction process has been started but they don't really want to take that action if they don't have to. They are waiting to see the outcome of this situation first. Jacobs stated that she would hope that this could be a warning rather than any other sanction as this is their first violation. Loso stated for clarification that the CitY does. not evict the tenants and could not force them to do this. . He asked if the daughter was cited for trespassing. Will explained thatthe mother would have to be the one to file those charges and has not done so. Schmidt stated that this is a different situation than other noise violations in the past. The daughter actually broke into her mothers house here. Schmidt stated that the Council also has in front of them a chart of all of the previous violations and dispositions from the past. They range from no fine to $1,000. I Ehlert made a motion to assess administrative costs and fees to the HRA, with no ñne. Niedenfuer seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Jacobs asked ifthere is an appeal process for this, as she thought this was too harsh. Ehlert stated that she must not know about the other decisions the Council has been making in these situations. This is extremely lenient. Jacobs stated that this is just going to come out of the faxpayers pockets. Loso stated that the appeal process would be hiring a lawyer and taking it to the courts. 6. Department Head Reports - Chad Carlson reported that the Central Minnesota Taskforce on Affordable Housing would like to put on an education session for CounCIl members and other City employees and officials on affordable housing. They are requesting two possible lIates. The Council agreed to suggest July 19 and July 26 from 12:00 PM - 1 :00 PM. Judy Weyrens reported that the Council needs to set two dates in Au!gust for budget meetings. The Council agreed on August 9"' and August 23"' at 4:30 PM. Weyrens also reported that staff is looking into a new cell phone pacl.age for the City. The Police department has pagers that it doesn't use and we could probably get cell phones for a better price. Ehlert asked if we might be able to get a good deal from CMS as we let them put their antennae on the water tower. He also suggested looking into Cell 2000. I Fire Chief Dave Theisen gave the fire reporHorthe period of 12-1-99 through 5-31-00. There were 165 total calls during that period. There were 87 city calls, 61 from St. Joseph Township, 13 St. Wendel Township calls, 3 mutual aid calls and one Y2K standby. Of those Page 3753 June 15, 2000 I 165 calls, 123 were medical, 40 were fire calls, one was a weather warning and one Y2K standby. The total expended for the period was $20,620. Theisen also explained that the amount is up because of drill hours. There were 1093 drill hours during this time. They sent two fire fighters through all of the courses. They currently have 29 men and will be interviewing soon-they can have a maximum of 30. Hiemenz stated that he saw on cable that they had hired three new people. Theisen stated that they were brought on in May of 1999. The Council approved their hire at that time. They have two years to finish theirtraining. Twit made a motion to approve the fire report from 12- 1-99 through 5-31-00 and the expenditures of $20, 620, seconded by Loso. The motion passed unanimously. Theisen stated that he neglected to ask the Council's permission to close off the street for the water ball fight on July 3'd. They do it every year between College and 1st from 6:00-9:00 PM. They will get approval from Steams County as well. Ehlert made a motion to approve the closing of the street between College and 1st Avenue on July :i" from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM Twit seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. I Theisen stated that the Fire Department has some extra equipment that they meant to put on the auction. The Fire Board already approved of its dispersal. There is a copier and a computer that are around 15 years old. They would like to donate them to the Lab Scbool. Ehlert made a motion to authorize the Fire Department to dispense with the equipment to an organization they see fit. Niedenfuer seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Twit asked Theisen how disorientation went and if there are any problems they should be looking at. Theisen stated that it seemed to work great to let the officers have more space to work in. Hiemenz stated that it would be nice if they could have access to a copy machine next year. Theisen stated that they could talk about it at a Fire Board meeting. 7. Liquor License Renewals - Chief Will reported that this year the Police Department has prepared a list of complaints and violations that each liquor establishment has received. Because this is the first year that this is being done, the Council may not want to follow all of the department's recommendations. Will recommended that all of the licenses be approved with the exception of Sal's (BIP, Inc.). His recommendation is based on the volume of violations and the lack of checking on patrons. Will stated that if the license is granted,it should be restricted so that if the violations continue the license will be suspended or revoked. Quarter1y reviews should be conducted for compliance. Ehlert asked if the bar owners were given notice of the possibility they might lose their license tonight. Schmidt said yes, that she had been requested by another Council member to send Chief Will's memo to all of the license holders. That day, Diane Schneider came in and Schmidt gave it to her in person. Diane Schneider stated (from the audience) that she came in by accident and not for that reason. Ehlert stated that he thinks there has to be better notice given to the baf owners of these things and nQt just "by accident." He spoke with Mr. Schneider who said he didn't receive any notice of this. These business owners need more specific information so they have time to react. Schmidt stated that staff wanted to make sure the Council had their packets first before the information went out to the public. Ehlert stated again that this has to be better than "by accident." If the information is provided to them in a better format, they can react to it. Will stated that they are given the bar reports at the end of each month. ! I Loso stated that a letter went out to Sal's earlier in the year about their excessive violations. Schmidt corrfirmed that she sent a letter. Ehlert stated that Sal's said they didn~ get a letter. Loso stated that the underage consumption cannot continue. Ehlert argued that these are things that the bar owners need to know about ahead of time so they can work with their employees. He said he knows that it can be hard for the students to deny their fellow Page 3754 June 15, 2000 classmates. Will stated that the department is making changes including assigning an alcohol enforcement officer as well as more detailed reports. I Niedenfuer stated that it isn't as if the bar owners are oblivious to what is going on. They know. Twit stated that we aren't in a position to say that anything oth,er than zero tolerance is the policy. Will stated that is the policy and that is what his recommendation was based on. He realizes the Council may not want to revoke or suspend the license at this time and that is why he made the recommendation about the probationary approval. Will stated however, that that is his professional recommendation that the license renewal be denied. Mike Deutz stated that there should be officers in charge ofthese policies and issues that work with them on a regular basis. Chief Will stated again that there will be a single compliance officer, but that they don't have enough staff to assign each officer to an establishment. Larry Hosch, bartender for Sal's addressed the Council. He stated that the main problem is lack of communication. They want to work with the CitY on the issues and denying the renewal would not be working together. He would like to see more inlformation provided fo the bars so that they can deal with the issues and determine what the real problems are. Twit stated that its unbelievable that there were 16 year aids in the bar. Hosch said they never knew about that. It might have been a dead night when there are no bouncers on duty. Twit said that it's against the law for them to even be in there after 9:00 PM. Diane Schneider said that they aren't the only bar in town with these problems. The students pick a new bar every year. Sal's just happens to be it this year. It may be the La Playette next year. I Ehlert asked if a meeting could be held with the bar owners, bouncers, bartenders and Police. Regardless of what the Council does tonight, the CitY needs to give them more inlformation. Loso made a motion to renew all of the licenses with the exception of Sals' bar which would have a stayed suspension for six months. If there are any violations within six months then the license is automatically suspended. Will stated that the Council could not do that. Schmidt stated that the CitY attorney recommended that if the Council decides at this time to consider non-renewal of any license that an evidentiary hearing be set for a Mure time. Will stated that the,y should approve all of the licenses and state that they want a review done of the establishment done on a monthly or quarterly basis. Otherwise, if they want to not renew it, they need to hold a public hearing. Niedenfuer asked how long it will take to get the compliance program underway. Will explained that some of it has started already. Other portions ofthe program will take time. Twit made a motion fa renew all the licenses and that all of the licenses be reviewed on a monthly basis. In addition, there will be a review criteria that is set at ,a later date. Ehlert seconded the motion. Niedenfuer stated that there should be some ,conditions placed on this license and not the others as they had the high numbers of violations. Twit stated that all of the Ucenses are subject to suspension at any time if they violate the ordinance. Even if they approve it tonight, they can still review the license at any time. f-jfiemenz called the question. The motion was approved 4:1 (Hiemenz, Ehlert, Loso, Twit: yes, Niedenfuer: No) B. Approve Minutes - Loso made a motion fa approve the minutes of May 1£1" and June 1", seconded by Ehlert. The motion passed unanimously (Niedenfuer ab.stained as she was absent on 5/18) I Page 3755 June 15, 2000 1 9. Bills Payable and OvertimelCallouts - Loso made a motion to approve the MIs payable. Twit seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Loso made a motion to approve the callouts, seconded by Ehlert. The motion passed unanimously. 10. Amendment to the Zoning Ordinance - Accessory Buildings - Chad Car1son addressed the Council. He stated that the joint public hearing with the City Council and the Planning Commission was scheduled to discuss the Zoning Ordinance. The item inn question was the accessory use section of the R-1 Single Family Residential District and an addition to the definition of accessory use. Due to the lack of a full City Council at that meeting, the Council has to take action to approve it tonight. They made four changes and six additions. They changed the square footage of one or two accessory buildings not to be greater than 1,350 square feet in an area. They eliminated e(ii). They changed the allowable accessory uses to state that it can't exceed 10% ofthe total lot size. They eliminated e(iv). They changed a few things as well: Accessory building side walls shall not exceed 10 feet in height and must have the same pitch and site line as the principal structure; permitted accessory buildings shall not include pole barns or post frame construction buildings; the exterior materials and siding of an accessory building must be homogenous to the principal structure; any property having an accessory building shall not have more than one curb cut and no wider than 24 feet to the property; exclude dog houses an play structures from the number and size limitations and general requirements of this section; and define a comer lot r~ar yard area. I Loso stated that the curb cut requirement seems to be too restrictive for comer lots. Ehlert stated that portion of the ordinance came up quickly and wasn't discussed at length. Twit stated that the idea is to limit access to the street. Niedenfuer stated that they should leave it as those on a comer lot can always apply for a variance. Ehlert stated that without this provision we will have to deal with more curb cuts. Car1son stated that at this time there is no set standard for curb cuts. They are listed, however, on a site plan when a permit is issued. Ehlert asked if we are creating an ordinance that will open up 50' driveways? Loso stated that we should exclude comer lots from this section. Twit made a motion to accept the Planning Commission's recommendations and changes to Ordinance Section 52.17, Subdivision 4{e). Niedenfuer seconded the motion and it passed 4:1. (Loso: No, Hiemenz, Ehlert, Twit and Niedenfuer: Yes) 11. St. Joseph Gas and Bait Vañance Request - Mike Deutz, owner, presented a proposal to construct approximately 306 square feet to the west end of the existing structure. The structure will be constructed on existing footings and foundation. The owner is requesting a variance to the Highway 75 Business District exterior material requirements. The Ordinance states that architecturally approved steel is acceptable provided that 50% of the building consists of brick, stone, tip up concrete panel andlor decorative concrete block. Also, no landscaping is proposed with the project. The Fire Chief and Public Works Director have reviewed the plans and have expressed no concerns. The Planning Commission on June 5'" recommended approval of the variance request due to the hardship imposed by the Ordinance to this property. To comply with the Ordinance, the addition would not be constructed of the same materials as the existing building. In addition, the building is on the property line and the construction of acceptable exterior materials would require the purchase of County Road Right of Way. I Loso made a motion to approve the variance request for st. Joseph Gas and Bait, seconded by Ehlert. Hiemenz stated that this issue tías been battled about. Ifthere is an addition put on the building, it should meet code. Deutz stated that he would have to get permission from the County to put footings on the Norther1y side of the building. He could meet the code without the variance, but it would look different than the rest of the building. Ehlert stated that it wouldn't be as aesthetically pleasing to do that however. Twit argued that if you are changing the existing use, that you have to bring the building up to code. Deutz argued that he isn1 changing the use, he is merely putting a roof over the patio that will encloses it. He is cleaning it up to give it a new modem look. The use isn't changing. The addition will be on Page 3756 June 15, 2000 the northwest comer. Niedenfuer asked what the problem would be with contacting the County, as it would be nice to know what they have to say. Hiemenz stated that the Council has been criticized for some of its decisions like this. Loso asked how this could create a complaint? Where would the negative aspects be? Hiemenz asked what sort of signage Deutz would be adding. 1 Deutz stated that he still needs to contact a number of other agencies before this is final. He just didn't want to do all of the work for nothing. He doesn't need the variance to do this. Hiemenz stated that he isn't opposed to the expansion, he just wants to makes sure the CitY is enforcing the City Code. Deutz argued that the ordinance doesn1 say 50% brick. Hiemenz called the question and the motion to approve the variance failed. (Loso, Ehlert: Yes, Niedenfuer, Twit, Hiemenz: No) Twit stated that the Council needs more answers on this before they could approve it Deutz stated that he didn't think that it would be a problem as long as it matches what he has now. Loso asked why the Council is being so restrictive? Twit said that the entire building has to be 50% brick. Deutz asked how does glass figure into that? Deutz reiterated that he doesn1 need the variance to go ahead with this. Twit said they need more clarification before they can approve it. 12. Knight Builders Variance Request - Kevin Dierkhising, owner, presented a proposal to construct an accessory building on their property at the comer of Ash and College Avenue. They are requesting a 4 foot variance to the rear and side yard setbacks, leaving the accessory building 1 foot from the side and rear property line. The proposed building meets the requirements ofthe B-1 Business District as an accessory use. In addition, none ofthe business's off street parking will be affected. The Fire Chief and the Public Works Director have reviewed the plans and have expressed no concerns. he Planning Commission on June 5th recommended approval of a four foot variance t e side and rear yard setbacks for the property due to the unique size of the property a needed storage. Hiemenz stated that this is near the new CitY HálL Dierkhising stated that the building is mostly office. The building is cedar on two Sides, with metal on one and stucco on the other. It's a prefinished corrugated metal panel. ftiemenz asked if the building meets fire code and Dave Theisen stated that it does. Niedenfuer asked if it could be cedar on the sides that face the new bank? Dierkhising stated that he would, but you wouldn't be able to see it from the bank anyway. He stated that there is one green ash that he needs to limb because it's hanging two_feet off the ground, but other than that, there is no tree removal. The "L" shaped building was questioned and Dierkhising stated it was so that parking would not be affecled. Twit made a motion to approve the variance for Knight Builders, seconded by Loso. The motion passed unanimously. I 13. Roth House - The City received a $40,000 bid from the Martinez's. Schmidt stated that with the assessments, the CitY paid close to $59,000 for the house and property. Loso made a motion to accept the $40,000 bid from the Martinez's, seconded by Hiemenz. Loso stated that it's tíme to cut the losses of the city. If they wait much longer, the house will be worth less. Twit stated that this goes back to the reason the City purchased it in the first place, to enhance the lot next to hit. Hiemenz stated that if the Council isn't satisfied with this bid, that they could advertise for sealed bids. Ehlert stated that this was an investment and he isn't comfortable with losing $19,000 on this purchase. Structurally the house is in good shape, and after the improvements it will be worth more than $80,000. Loso stated that the CitY probably paid too much to begin with. Loso argued that the CitY isn't going to make the improvements though. It would be better to just cut our losses. Ehlert stated that another option would be to make it a habitat for humanitY house. Hiemenz caHed the question and the motion failed 1:4. (Loso: yes, Hiemenz, Twit, Ehlert and Niedenfuer: No). 1 14. Public Comments on the Agenda - There were no public comments on the agenda I I , Page 3757 June 15, 2000 15. Mayor's report - There was no report from the Mayor. I 16. Council Reports - Twit had nothing. Loso had nothing. Ehlert had nothing. Niedenfuer stated that the Farmers Market grand opening is tentatively scheduled for June 30. The Healthy Communities Partners are working on a survey regarding the CommunitY Center. Ernie Dietrich joined recently as well. . Hiemenz added that there is a pig roast at Artington Place on June 20 from 6-8pm. The Council has also been invited by the Lions to the dedication of the Memorial Park concession building on that same night. Hiemenz reported also that the Legion is interested in negotiating a purchase price for the City hall annex. Hiemenz asked for direction on how to proceed and they decided to have the Mayor and Chad Cartson work on the issue and come to the meeting on July 6th. 17. Clerkl Administrator Report - Schmidt reported on a few upcoming meetings. 18. Miscellaneous and Announcement Items - There were none. 19. Adjourn - Loso made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Niedenfuer. The motion passed unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, a: S'm- I Cari Schmidt Clerk/Administrator City of Sl Joseph 1