HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987/01/26 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Joint MINUTES
11111 JOINT CITY COUNCIL/LEGISLATORS MEETING
January 26, 1987
1 . Call to Order
The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6 p.m.
2. Roll Call
The following City Council members were present: Thomas Duffy, Keith Meland,
Larry Mitchell , David Strand and Lyle Hanks.
The City's legislative delegation of Senator Phyllis McQuaid, and Representa-
tives Sally Olsen and Gloria Segal was present. Also present were the
legislative liaison, Assistant City Manager and Administrative Assistant.
3. 1987 legislative program
The Mayor reviewed the City' s legislative priorities with the legislative
delegation. He discussed the importance of securing funding for the Louisiana
Ave./Hwy. 7 intersection.
Representative Segal' said that she had talked with the Commissioner of
Illi°
Transportation regarding the City' s interest in ensuring construction
of this intersection. She said that she was advised by Commissioner Levine
to ask the City to work with Richard Crawford to get the Lousiana Ave./Hwy.
7 project rated as a higher priority by MnDOT.
Representative Olsen told the Council that she has also been in contact
with Commissioner Levine regarding the Louisiana Ave./Hwy. 7 intersection.
Staff was asked to make Commissioner Levine's response to Sally Olsen's
letter available to the City Council .
Senator McQuaid indicated she is serving on the Transportation Committee
and acknowledged her interest in this issue.
Mayor Hanks noted that an issue related to construction of the Louisiana
Ave./Hwy. 7 intersection is the motor vehicle excise tax transfer. The
transfer becomes important in light of the funding needed to cover the
cost of MnDOT's construction program.
Mayor Hanks told the legislators that light rail transit remains a high
priority issue for St. Louis Park. The legislators said that there is
much interest in light rail transit this year. All three of the legislators
are members of the Citizens Transit Action Committee. The City was requested
to provide a resolution stating its support of light rail transit.
Councilman Strand noted that the City should add the issue of the time
111/ transfer station to its 1987 legislative program. He explained the manner
in which the Regional Transit Board has selected the Louisiana Ave. site
in St. Louis Park as its preferred site for a time transfer station.
Councilman Strand noted that there had not been opportunities for neighborhood
input and that the process used by the Regional Transit Board did not
provide for genuine input from the City.
Councilman Mitchell added that the idea of a shared use with the time
41111
transfer station should receive further review.
Senator McQuaid said that she did not believe the City needed to give
in on this siting issue. She agreed that the RTB needs to seek neighborhood
input regarding the siting of a time transfer station. Representative
Olsen suggested that the City adopt a resolution with respect to its position
on the time transfer station. She said that a resolution would aid in
any legislative efforts that could be made on behalf of the City.
Representative Segal said that the City should talk with Allison Fuhr,
who is the City's representative on the Regional Transit Board. She said
that additional information on alternative sites examined by the Regional
Transit Board would be helpful as well as a description of the process
used by the RTB to select a site.
The Mayor noted that property tax reform was another issue of interest
to St. Louis Park. Representative Olsen explained some of the points of the
Governor's plan for tax reform that were expected to be revealed in his
budget address. She also shared a position paper on tax increment financing
adopted by the Metropolitan Intercounty Association. The metropolitan
counties are taking the position that counties should have the authority
to approve the creation of new tax increment financing districts.
With respect to tort liability issues, Senator McQuaid noted that improvements 11111
were made in the area of tort liability during the last legislative session.
She said that representatives Voss and Simoneau are expected to introduce
bills on joint and several liability.
Mayor Hanks discussed some of the problems that are being experienced
by the City due to the elimination of time and distance requirements in
1984. Nearly one-third of the City's firefighters live outside of the 15-minute
response time area that had been in effect prior to 1984.
Councilman Strand noted that the effect of the 1984 legislation has diminished
the City's capacity to respond to emergency situations where off-duty
firefighters are needed. He said that it would be helpful if the City's
legislative delegation sponsored a bill to restore the time and distance
requirements. He requested that the City prepare a resolution stating
its position on the restoration of time and distance requirements.
Funding for a State-wide cancer surveillance study was presented as a
City priority. Representative Segal said that she will be authoring a
bill and that the funding for this study currently appears in the Governor's
proposal .
In discussing fiscal disparities, Senator McQuaid commented that she did
not expect to see much momentum on fiscal disparities this year because
the megamall has ceased to be a legislative issue. She also said that
41/1
the establishment of a metropolitan-wide cab licensing program is not
likely to go forward this year. She noted that there had been a compromise
-2
reached during the last legislative session, but when it came time for
legislative consideration of the bill , the taxicab operators withdrew
their support.
Charitablegamblingwas noted as an issue of interest to the City. Re resenta-
Y P
tive Olsen said that legislation will be introduced to return a 3 percent
fee to the cities for enforcement purposes.
Mayor Hanks introduced Pat Jensen, the City' s legislative liaison, to
the legislators. He explained that she would be working with the legislators
throughout this session.
Senator McQuaid stated that she was surprised to learn that Council had
retained a legislative liaison. She explained that the breakfast meetings
that had been held for many years had been an effective means of communicating
legislative concerns. Senator McQuaid provided a history of how the breakfast
meetings came to be established. Senator McQuaid maintained that the hiring
of a liaison was an unnecessary expense since the City already has lobbying
services available through the League of Minnesota Cities and the Association
of Metropolitan Municipalities.
,
Representative Segal said that the presence of a legislative liaison would
facilitate her representation of St. Louis Park. She said that City staff
has always been very responsive when she has questions about the City's
position on bills. However, she noted that it is difficult to contact
staff after regular hours and that the availability of a lobbyist after
hours is a real advantage.
Mayor Hanks said that he hoped that the presence of a liaison would encourage
the relationship with the legislators. He also stated that the presence
of a liaison should increase the legislators' accessibility to someone
representing the City.
Representative Olsen commented that she also regarded the retaining of
a legislative liaison as an unnecessary City expense. She said that she
had also been diligent in responding to City concerns and that she was
able to provide more information to the City Council about issues being
discussed in the Legislature than the liaison.
IIIIIIIIICIan,lman Strand noted that the retaining of a legislative liaison was
time experiment. He noted that he would be happy to attend breakfast
gs with the legislators if this would be helpful . He noted that
ators have limited time in which to perform their duties and that
the liaison available would help them fulfill their duties.
r McQuaid noted that she will be pursuing breakfast meetings with
s and Minnetonka.
anks thanked the legislators for coming to meet with the City Council .
urnment
- ing adjourned at 7.00 p.m.
! i
Sharon G. Klumpp
Recording Secretary