HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009/04/27 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session I/f St. Louis Park OFFICIAL MINUTES
MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION
ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA
APRIL 27, 2009
The meeting convened at 8:45 p.m.
Councilmembers present: Mayor Jeff Jacobs, Phil Finkelstein, Paul Omodt, Loran Paprocki, and
Sue Sanger.
Councilmembers absent: John Basill and C. Paul Carver.
Staff present: City Manager (Mr. Harmening), Finance Director (Mr. DeJong), Police Chief(Mr.
Luse), Deputy Chief(Mr. DiLorenzo), Patrol Operations Lieutenant (Mr. Kraayenbrink), Support
Services Operations Lieutenant (Mr. Harcey), Information Management Lieutenant (Ms. Dreier),
Office Manager (Ms. Reamer) and Recording Secretary (Ms. Hughes).
1. Future Study Session Agenda Planning— May 4 and May 11, 2009
Due to the late hour, this item was not discussed.
2. Police Department Annual Community Report
Deputy Chief DiLorenzo discussed "Operation Oriole," the functional exercise conducted on July
28, 2008 at St. Louis Park High School intended to evaluate the City's ability to use the incident
command system and response protocol. He also presented information regarding the drug task
force, 2008 cases, and 2008 case defendant overview.
Lieutenant Kraayenbrink presented an overview of patrol operations. He stated the Police
Department will begin bike patrol hours in May with sixteen officers participating in bike patrol
activities with most coverage from 9:00 p.m. to 2:00-3:00 a.m. He indicated the bike patrol has
been effective riding in the trails and in areas where squad cars cannot reach. He noted that all bike
patrol hours are included in the normal patrol schedule using regular staffing. He stated they have
received positive feedback from residents regarding the bike patrol.
Lieutenant Kraayenbrink stated the City has utilized four portable speed signs which have been an
effective tool to address speeding concerns in neighborhoods throughout the City. He then
provided an overview of the Request Partner software.
Mr. Harmening stated the City will be moving the Request Partner software into all areas of the City
with the goal of having a single source of information and database to deal with property issues in
the community.
Study Session Minutes -2- April 27, 2009
Lieutenant Harcey presented an overview of the support services division and stated 538 cases were
assigned for investigation in 2008; this number trends closely with previous years. He stated the
support services division performs alcohol/tobacco compliance checks, pre-license background
investigations, as well as predatory offender checks. He noted that the Police Department performs
quarterly checks on predatory offenders even though state law only requires annual checks. He
reviewed the 2008 trends for burglaries, metal/scrap thefts, phone scams and internet crimes and
noted that theft from autos throughout the City is down significantly.
Lieutenant Dreier presented a communications overview and stated the Police Department is
transitioning to the next generation 911/PBX system. She stated the dispatch center answered
68,000+ calls during 2008.
Discussion ensued regarding the ongoing partnership with Golden Valley.
Lieutenant Dreier discussed the Community Outreach program, which includes Neighborhood
Watch and National Night Out. She presented a summary of the Crime Free Ordinance and the
procedures in place for enforcing this ordinance. She noted the vast majority are noise complaints
with the top nine apartment properties accounting for 52% of all violations. She discussed city wide
graffiti and indicated graffiti had decreased by 51% in 2008, and is down 44% from this time last
year.
The Council discussed the Crime Free Ordinance and its positive impact on the community.
Ms. Reamer presented the Council with the monthly trend report for March 2009 and asked the
Council for feedback on the report.
Councilmember Omodt stated it is helpful to see the trends contained in the report, and that the
valuable information can be shared with residents.
Discussion ensued regarding the availability of real time data for the Council which would include
trending information for comparative purposes.
Mr. Harmening requested the Council recognize Lieutenant Kraayenbrink for his efforts as incident
commander at the recent Raleigh Avenue incident. He also requested the Council commend the
Police Department staff for their hard work.
The Council discussed Blake Road and the City's work with Hopkins on curbing gang activity.
Mayor Jacobs expressed the City Council's thanks and appreciation to the Police Department for
their dedicated efforts on behalf of all residents of the City.
3. Communications (verbal)
Mr. Harmening stated the financial report appears to show a significant reduction in revenue for
parks and recreation. He explained that staff has investigated this item further and learned that some
Study Session Minutes -3- April 27, 2009
revenues needed to be reclassified. He stated that additionally, due to the new point of sale system,
revenue from the softball teams was recorded as deferred income versus income. That item has been
fixed and the budget for parks and recreation is on target. He added staff continues to closely
monitor all revenues and expenditures.
The meeting adjourned at 10:06 p.m.
Written Reports provided and documented for recording purposes only:
4. March 2009 Financial Reports
5. Comprehensive Plan Update
6. Amendment to Section 3-101 of Alcoholic Beverages Ordinance
7. Ellipse on Excelsior Public Art Project
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