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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996/03/11 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session MINUTES STUDY SESSION ST. LOUIS PARK CITY COUNCIL Monday, March 11, 1996 Mayor Dorfman called the meeting to order at 7 00 p m Councilmembers present were Sue Sanger, Robert Young Staff present were City Manager (Mr Meyer), Deputy City Manager(Ms' Kutzler), Director of Public Works (Mr Rardin); Superintendent of Engineering (Mr. Moore), Director of Community Development (Mr Harmening), Economic Development Coordinator(Mr Anderson), Housing Coordinator (Ms Quarfot), Planning Coordinator (Ms Erickson), and Personnel Officer(Mr Wysopal) 1 Surface Water Management Plan Mr Moore presented this report He was joined by Mark Angelo from OSM & Assoc , Inc and Pete Willenbring from WSB & Assoc They presented an executive summary of the City's Comprehensive Water Resource Management Plan. The Plan was prepared in accordance with the requirements of the 1990 Surface Water Management Act Focus of the discussion was on existing problem areas, proposed goals and proposed City policies The next step is for the draft plan to be distributed to interested residents, businesses and various agencies for review and comment Thereafter a public meeting will be held to obtain further comment Councilmember Sanger asked if the Plan could even go beyond what is proposed with the intent of protecting wetlands Mr Moore said it could Mr Moore noted approval will be sought from the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and also an ordinance adopting the plan will be before Council in the near future No action required at this time 2 League of Women Voters - One-stop shopping Dorothy Karlson and Barb Person were present to address their report With so many social service agencies in the area, the League would be interested in establishment of a One-Stop Shop office for coordinating family services with the goal of centralizing 111 appropnate services Also they would like to see computerization of services to simplify distnbution of information and eliminate duplication 1 Study session minutes March 11, 1996 Involvement of City staff was briefly touched upon Staffing such a center would probably be a problem because of the hours required to be open plus attendant expenditures A map showing bus routes throughout the City was discussed and it was evident much of the City is not serviced by MTC routes which, in turn, makes a One-Stop-Shop not always accessible Mr Meyer said Park Nicollet & Methodist Hospital have had some discussions about starting a circulator or Hop-A-Ride such as in Hopkins as a supplement to the bus system Councilmember Young suggested this might be a joint City/Community Education Advisory Council venture No action was required at this time Staff will remain open to ideas/suggestions from the League 3 Review of proposals for Community Development Block Grant funding Mr Wysopal reviewed this report Three target areas for use of this year's CDBG program funds were private home rehabilitation, multiple family rehabilitation that improves the quality of the structure or improves the quality of life of its residents, and improvements to the City's Recreation Center such as removal of architectural barriers Vision St. Louis Park recommendations were the basis for identifying the target areas Out of 25 proposals sent to service agencies in the City, 12 were received, 11 of which fit into the target areas Councilmember Young was concerned about how much money on the various proposals goes to administrative costs and would like to see more cost efficient proposals A public hearing will be held on projected use of 1996 CDBG funds on March 18 4 Public Works/Parks and Recreation Management Study Mr Rardin presented this report. Public Works and Parks and.Recreation propose a management study to determine the most efficient cost effective way to provide engineering and maintenance services in both departments At the March 18 Council meeting, they would be seeking Council authorization to proceed with the management study Councilmember Young would hope that any consultants considered would have considerable experience in the public sector and especially are they expenenced with privatization aspects 2 Study session minutes March 11, 1996 Councilmember Sanger wondered about the extent a consultant would interact with the public, can more services be offered and can some be discontinued Councilmember Young hoped the Council would be involved in the consultant selection 5 1996 major equipment purchases Street Superintendent Greg Knutson and Denny Millerbernd, Equipment Superintendent joined Mr Rardin for this discussion The list of major equipment purchases for 1996 had been approved by Council on February 20 with the exception of an asphalt roller and dump truck It had been requested these two items be discussed at a study session in light of the fact a Public Works/Parks and Recreation management study was being proposed, the result of which might impact these two purchases Councilmember Young asked if purchase of the two pieces could wait until the study is completed Mr Rardin said unfortunately they don't know what the study will show and these pieces, 13 and 10 years old respectively, need replacing Mr Millerbernd said downtime for repair/maintenance on the equipment is increasing Mr Knutson and Mr Millerbernd explained what the function of the asphalt roller was It was the consensus to go forward with the purchase and place the item on the March 18 agenda. 6 Neighborhood Revitalization Commission Ms Quarfot and Ms Erickson reviewed this report For 1996 $30,000 has been budgeted for community enhancement activities for City neighborhoods This is proposed by the Neighborhood Revitalization Commission as a PILOT program and the eligibility requirements are somewhat open-ended at this point It was the consensus that instead of first-come, first-serve, a date be chosen for submittal of applications A question was raised about a neighborhood applying for funds for activities other than beautification or physical improvement to the neighborhood 3 Study session minutes March 11, 1996 It was the consensus some aspects of the Revitalization Fund Pilot Program need to be refined and some need to be more specific There was some general discussion of what constitutes a neighborhood, where to townhome complexes fit into the program Staff will continue to work on this proposal The meeting adjourned at 9 35 p m PII ibMA)J7 ,` ecording Secretary 4