Committee Minutes

MINUTES/PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
Monday, August 22, 1994 - 3:45 p.m.

Members present: Hoeppner, Johnson, Sande.

1. Requests for refund of temporary restaurant license fees:
a) Y Family Center
b) Red River Valley Gymnastics
c) Boy Scout Troop 21
Moved by Johnson and Sande that the requests be approved. Motion carried. (committee only)

2. Request from Diabetes Assn. to hold "ride and stride" event
on September 10.
Scott Parkers, 1852 B Beach, GFAFB, co-chairman for the event, presented request for approval of event and route, similar to route used last year; and stated they had talked with the police department. Moved by Johnson and Sande to approve, contingent upon coordinating event with the police department. Motion carried.

3. Request for neighborhood block party on E.Elmwood and
barricading of street on September 17.
Mary Lien, 3107 E. Elmwood Dr., and Wendy Soule, 3119 West
Elmwood Drive, were present and asked to be able to barricade street starting at 6:00 p.m. with radio/music. Chief Paschke stated they would have no problem with request, and informed Mrs. Lien and Mrs. Soule that they would have to make arrangement for street barricades, and also with understanding that if emergency occurred barricades would be moved. Moved by Sande and Johnson to approve request as presented. Motion carried. (committee only)

4. Matter of traffic problem at corner of S. 9th street and 7th
Avenue South.
Jerald Notbohm, 702 South 9th Street, reported that since left turn onto S. 12th Street from DeMers removed, has increased neighborhood traffic with 4 to 5 accidents a year on that corner, with lot of speeding on 7th Ave. John Thompson, traffic engineer, requested the matter be held until next meeting in order to obtain additional information from DOT. Mr. Notbohm stated they were looking for stop sign, stopping traffic on 7th Ave. The committee asked the police department to monitor traffic on 7th Avenue between Cherry and 12th Streets. Held for 3 weeks.

5. Request for handicapped parking space at 1624 S. 14th St. #1.
John Thompson, traffic engineer, recommended approval of the request. Moved by Sande and Johnson to recommend handicapped parking space as requested. Motion carried.

6. Request by GF Public Schools for blocking streets (2nd Ave.
N. and N. 6th St.) for band practice.

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August 22, 1994 - Page 2

Dale Koppelman, 3306 Chestnut Street, band director, Gordon Opstad, 2501 26th Ave.S., principal, were present and stated that request is the same as last year, street would be blocked for approx. an hour during the weeks of September 12-16 and 19-23 from 8:00 a.m. to 9;00 a.m. each day. Moved by Sande and Johnson to approve request. Motion carried.

7. Request for "no parking" signs on streets in Industrial Park.
Mr. Thompson reported that he had discussed with person who originally requested and they will forward a letter from Industrial Park Tenants Association. Moved by Johnson and Sande to approve request for installation of no parking signs on November 1 contingent upon receipt of letter from the Industrial Park Tenants Association. Motion carried.

8. Matter of taxi service to airport.
Mrs. Sande reported that this matter came to her attention at a Dial-a-Ride Committee meeting three weeks ago, that she was surprised to discover that the Airport Authority has a specific contract for limo service, taxi service and delivery service businesses to sign for 10% off the top, that the taxi owners were unhappy with the limo service that is serving the airport and brought in a number of phone books with pages for taxi service missing, that there is a sticker advertising the limo service in the limo area, and in the business section another sticker for limo service above Nodak Radio Cab and Airport Limousine Service, and the page for Grand Forks Taxi is missing. She stated that there are two issues here: 1) contract between Airport and any limousine or taxi or delivery service who want to sign or do not want to sign, don't know if we have any authority over that, but is concerned about the stickers in the phone books and who is responsible for that she doesn't know, and don't know what steps we can take. Kevin Erickson, attorney's office, stated that he has discussed this with the city attorney and as far as the Airport's contracts with providers, whether limousine or taxi, that is wholly outside of the City's jurisdiction, we have delegated all of the operating authority for airport affairs to the Airport Authority. He stated that the City's only recourse, if that was something the City wanted to do, would be to amend the ordinance giving the Airport Authority their power and take back some of the power that has been given to them; the other thing would be to call the Airport Authority and raise "heck" with them about this, whether that would do any good or not. He also noted that this was a fairly common way for airports to license cabs, taxi service, etc. in airports around the country, that generally there is a percentage of the gross and is done on that type of basis. He stated that as far as the phone book issue, the only recourse is that we have the ability to repeal the licenses of cabs or limo service upon showing of cause, so if you could establish that one of the operations had for certain done these things and you felt that was cause for hearings and MINUTES/PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
August 22, 1994 - Page 3

administrative process for repealing their licenses, that is something you could do; but whether that something you want to do is question (hearings, show cause, etc.)

Clyde Varnson and Orval Varnson, Nodak Radio Cab Company, were present and Clyde Varnson asked why is it that only the airport limousine services are being targeted as commercial carriers in and out of the airport when he is leaving everyone else alone; that his attorney stated it was a clear-cut case of discrimina-tion, that right now he is addressing airport limousine service and at some point down the road will be addressing other issues.
There was some discussion re. rates charged - flat rate or meters; however can charge flat rate.

Don Olson, attorney for the Airport Authority, stated that altering the U.S. West phone book is not sanctioned by the Airport Authority, and they will replace the phone book and will take steps to check to see if it is changed again, and if it is, will ask appropriate questions will be asked, and will take steps necessary to prevent that from happening again. He stated that with regard to limo and taxi service there are proposed rules and regulations that he is working on and they want to make rules and regulations reasonable and to apply to everybody; part of the duties of the Airport Authority is to run the airport as profitably as possible under the circumstances, and should be run to the benefit of all citizens of the city of Grand Forks. He stated they don't want there to be a conflict between what the City would want and what the Airport Authority is doing because they should be doing the same thing. He stated that with the rules and regulations being proposed there will be a public comment and public hearing, and you will be notified and will have a right to input into that and the right to inquire on whether all classes of commercial operation at the airport are treated on a fair and equal basis. He also stated that he didn't hear all the comments in regard to the suggestion that something was being done in a discriminatory way and that he would be very interested to talk to Mr. Varnson or his attorney at their convenience. He also stated that rules and regulations will be done by end of the year.

Kraig Kuhl, 1st Class Limo., stated he is ultimately responsible for the stickers in the phone books, person was to put placards above the phone, and that the first he heard of it was in a letter from the Airport Authority about week ago. He stated that in the future it would be supervised. He stated that as far as his experience with limo service, it was competitive situation.

After further discussion it was moved by Sande and Johnson to receive and file. Motion carried.


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9. Applications for gaming permits:
a) Prairie Harvest Human Services, Inc. - raffle Oct. 5
b) Easter Seal Society of ND - raffle Dec. 22
c) Red River Snowmobile Club, Inc. - raffle Oct. 30
d) Ladies Aux. to VFW Post 1874 - bingo on Oct. 13, 20, 27.
e) Grand Forks Catholic Schools Association - site auth.
f) Grand Forks Senior Citizens Assn., Inc. - bingo and
raffle for period ending June 30, 1995.
g) ND Conf. of Social Welfare, Inc. - raffle on Sept. 23.
h) Redeemer Lutheran Church - raffle Oct. 15.

g) Sande and Johnson moved to recognize the ND Conference of Social Welfare, Inc. as a public-spirited organization eligible to conduct games of chance and to approve the application. Motion carried.

Mr. Erickson reported that all applications had been reviewed and approved by the city attorney, with exception of h) Redeemer Lutheran Church. Sande and Johnson moved to approve applications listed under a) through f) Motion carried. (committee only)

Moved by Sande and Johnson to approve application by Redeemer Lutheran Church, contingent upon review and approval by the city attorney. Motion carried. (comm. only)

10. Temporary and overtime statement for July, 1994.
The committee reviewed statement, and moved by Sande and Johnson to approve. Motion carried. (committee only)

11. Request from Westward Ho to hold Folkfest on August 28.
Mr. Erickson presented request to the committee; Chief Paschke stated he thought that it was only information, and that his department was notified. Mr. Erickson stated he would check further with Mr. Swanson for future reference. Moved by Johnson and Sande that if a special permit needed would grant. Motion carried.

Meeting adjourned.

Alice Fontaine
City Clerk

Dated: 8/31/94