HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002/07/22 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session OF
ST.CITY LOUIS OFFICIAL MINUTES
PARK CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION
July 22, 2002
The meeting convened at 7.00 p.m.
Present at the meeting were Councilmembers Jim Bnmeyer, Chns Nelson, Sally Velick, Susan
Santa and Mayor Jeff Jacobs.
Staff present: City Manager(Mr. Meyer), Finance Director(Ms. McGann); Community
Development Director(Mr. Harmening), Housing Supervisor(Ms. Schnitker), Economic
Development Coordinator(Mr. Hunt); and City Clerk (Ms Reichert)
1. Update on 2401 Edgewood Ave S
Mr. Hunt presented an overview of the issue stating that staff has learned that the site may have
contamination issues related to the previous owners. He also stated that adjacent city property
and other privately owned property may be contaminated as well. He introduced Mr. Bob
Lindall of Kennedy and Graven and Mr Tom Mialow of Angel Environmental Management
Mr. Mialow explained to the council the nature of the suspected contamination and also
indicated that the current property owner the MPCA and the EPA had received a privately
prepared report which, in Mr. Mialow's opinion, was not based upon sound scientific testing
procedures.
Mr. Harmemng suggested that in light of the poor information that report had provided to the
MCPA and the EPA, it would be in the city's best interest to conduct additional testing and
provide more detailed information to the parties involved. He also siggested that the city join the
MPCA's Voluntary Investigation and Cleanup Program (VIC).
After discussion council directed staff to proceed with appropriate testing and discussion with
other potentially affected property owners. Council also directed staff to proceed with the steps
necessary to participate in the MPCA VIC Program.
2. Joint Housing Meeting
Mr. Harmeining presented a brief overview of the recent history of council discussions about a
proposed joint meeting of the Planning Commission, Housing Authority and City Council
regarding housing issues
Councilmember Santa indicated that she did not want discussions to be too broad as it would be
difficult to establish meaningful policies without focused discussion on the various aspects of
SLP's housing programs
Mr. Meyer agreed that the purpose of the discussions should be to produce specific policies to
guide council in future decision making processes.
` Councilmember Santa also felt is was most appropriate to establish definitions early in the
process before discussions take place. She pointed out the difficulty in effectively
communicating ideas if terms have different meanings for different persons engaged in the
discussion.
Study Session Minutes -2- July 22, 2002
Councilmember Bnmeyer felt it was important to include information from the 2000 census data.
He also suggested that Council should involve other stakeholders in the community such as
representatives of the Business Council. He felt that a series of discussions would be most
helpful and encouraged staff to also build time for casual discussion and social time into the
agendas. This would provide for greater interaction with parties that may feel intimidated by the
more outspoken members in the formal discussions. He suggested a process similar to that used
by the Vision SLP groups.
Mr. Meyer stated that the council's current Strategic Plan for Housing is too general for practical
use and a series of discussions would be helpful to create a new strategic plan that could better
serve the council.
Ms. Schnitker informed the council that the Metropolitan council is currently running programs
to raise awaremenss about housing issues and to integrate findings from the 2000 census into the
Met Council's projections and other date The SLP Council discussions would be a suitable
complement to that process
Mr Harmening indicated that staff would move forward with designing a process and format for
the discussions and would bring their plan back to the council at a future date.
3. 2003 Budget Update
Ms. McGann was present at the meeting to provide information about the 2003 proposed budget,
tax levy and the proposed HRA levy.
Council directed staff to keep the prposed levely increase at 3% and to continue the HRA levy
implemented in 2002 for fiscal year 2003.
Councilmembers also expressed their support for the addition of positions in Information
Technologies.
4. City Council Retreat/Development
Council discussed implementing an on-going organizational development program that would
replace their annual Council retreat Discussions regarding vanous topics would be held on a
quarterly basis in lieu of the council's regularly study session Some sessions would be led by
the City's Organizational Development Coordcinator, Bridget Gothberg, and others would be led
by consultants, depending on the topic
After some discussion council directed the City Manager to proceed with planning for the
program.
5. Railroad Crossings
Councilmember Nelson raised the issue of the poor condition of railroad crossings in the city and
the apparent lack of interest in maintaining them displayed by railroad companies that are
responsible for their maintenance.
Mr. Meyer suggested that the repair process may be facilitated if the city were to agree to
particpate in funding the repairs.
Study Session Minutes -3- July 22, 2002
After discussion council agreed that it was in the best interest of city to partipate in funding the
repairs.
6. Communications
Ms. Reichert informed the council that there may be changes to the format of the agenda for the
upcoming meeting.
Councilmember Velick requested that the ward numbers which had been missing from new
residents lists for the past several months be reinstated into the format of the list.
6. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9.32 p.m.
•
itrLit_a Jr— /1_‘
Ci y Clerk May. / '�I