Council Minutes
Minutes/Committee of the Whole
Monday, November 13, 2006 – 7:00 p.m.
Page 1 of 5
The City Council met as the Committee of the Whole on Monday, November 13, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers in City Hall with Mayor Brown presiding. Present at roll call were: Council Members Brooks, McNamara, Glassheim, Gershman, Christensen, Kreun. Present - 6; Absent: Bakken - 1.
Mayor Brown announced that when addressing the committee to please complete a speaker card and give it to the staff at the control panel and when called upon to come forward to use the microphone for the record, and advised that the meeting is being televised live and taped for later broadcast.
Mayor Brown made the following announcements:
Thank you to St. Vincent de Paul for inviting him to participate in their Empty Bowl project which fights hunger in our community. He expressed thank you to all the organizations and individuals in our community that work to assist those in need in the community. He also offered appreciation for the participation of Council Members Christensen and Gershman for their participation. Mayor Brown also thanked the women in the kitchen at St. Mike’s that assisted him.
Informed community members that flu shots are now available from the Health Department and encouraged all community members to get vaccinated.
Announced that this Thursday, November 16th is the Great American Smoke-out, a national event that encourages people to stop using tobacco for a day and perhaps for good.
Reminded everyone that the Base Realignment Impact Committee will be providing a briefing on the economic impact of the base realignment this Wednesday at 1:30 on the 6th Floor of the County Office Building and encouraged any interested to attend.
Announced that this is Homelessness Awareness Week and that there are several events planned at the Northlands Rescue Mission to bring awareness to this problem in our community and that there are a number of individuals, families and children that do not have a safe, secure home to live in and thanked the organizations in the community that work to assist those in need. He added that the City of Grand Forks is working with the Governor’s Interagency Council on Homelessness and asked Greg Hoover, with the Office of Urban Development to work with other agencies to address this problem.
Announced that he has proclaimed this week as Tukegee Airmen Week in honor of this group of courageous airmen and Shelby Westbrook, one of them who will be visiting UND and our community this week to participate in a panel on Thursday and welcomes him to our community.
Congratulated Dale Lennon and the Fighting Sioux football team on their win this past weekend which earned them the honor of being co-conference champs and wished them luck as they move into the play-offs.
2.1
Cat and Dog Licensing – change in responsible department.
Christensen stated that the ordinance copy included in the packet was an old version and that section 11-0121 had been revised this past summer to include invisible fencing and asked that the City Attorney make sure that was included in the update to the ordinance for the Council Meeting.
2.2 Application for Class 4 (Food and Beverage Establishment) license by Rhombus House of
Pizza, LLC dba Rhombus Guys, 312 Kittson Ave.
Kreun inquired as to how the issuance fee is funded. Jerath responded that the applicant must pay ¼ of the license fee at time of issuance and then pays the remainder in equal annual installments over the rest three years and that they provide a surety to secure the balance of the issuance fee. Kreun stated that in the Service Safety Committee it has come up from members of the Hospitality Industry as to why the City is involved in financing the start of these private businesses and inquired whether this is something that should be discussed. The group discussed that this was initially added to the code to help encourage smaller proprietorships to start up, particularly in the downtown section and that now it has grown and is used by almost all liquor applicants. The group also discussed whether this is something that has served its purpose and could be modified or discontinued.
Kreun stated that the context that it came up in the committee is that by allowing this the City is really assisting those new competing businesses in opening by financing part of their start up cost and that existing businesses that had to fund on their own and question was whether City should be in the business of helping finance a private business venture. McNamara concurred that he has a question if that should be part of the City’s role in encouraging development. Christensen commented that while we are giving a new business owner a break by allowing the payment of this fee over time, we are gaining the business and sales tax that it generates.
McNamara commented that possibly we need to look at if someone can’t open without this assistance if this is the type of business that we want to encourage or if we need to look at more invested individuals as the type that we want to bring into this industry. Gershman commented that perhaps could be rewritten to target a certain type of enterprise and leave out the larger bar or liquor store.
2.3 License agreement with Grand Forks Park District for Lincoln Drive Sledding Hill, Parking
Lot and Lighting, Project No. 5869.
Christensen stated that with the Greenway coming fully on-line in 2007 after completion of the Flood Project that perhaps it would be appropriate to put the overall management and function of the Greenway on an agenda for a work session, as there are a number of groups all involved with this amenity and need to make sure that once it is up and fully running we have good understanding of relationship between all the groups – Friends of the Greenway, Public Works Department, Park District, etc. Mayor Brown asked that Duquette take note of this request.
Kreun commented that the Service Safety Committee and staff have been working on review of the ordinances that govern the operation of the greenway and that should address some of the concerns in this area once completed. Christensen responded that his concern is that will soon start working on 2008 budget and have revenue stream already coming in to fund maintenance and operation of the greenway and wants to make sure that have a good handle on requirements before get too far into the budget process so know what to plan for and can evaluate if that revenue stream is appropriate to meet the needs of the greenway.
Gershman commented that he wanted to give credit and appreciation to those residents in the area of the sledding hill that have been so supportive of the paving and lighting project as it is an impact on their neighborhood and take this opportunity to thank them for their support.
2.4
Greenway ordinance.
Glassheim asked if there was one ordinance or two being considered. Walker responded that there is one ordinance, but there is both a lined out revised copy as well as a clean copy reflecting the revisions. Glassheim noted that one of the items being removed is the definition of a weapon and wondered the reason for that. Warcup responded that a weapon is defined elsewhere in the city code and by eliminating it here the other section takes care of the definition and then all code is consistent. Glassheim made the following comments regarding the proposed changes: that the hours of operation seem a bit early with a 5:00 a.m. opening time and commented as to whether there would be a concern for noise to residents adjacent to the greenway; asked if in section 140406 whether A and B were stating the same and if the attorney could review and change if needed before final vote on approval, and questioned about kegs and glass bottles and reason for listing them as not allowed. Walker stated that at the time the revisions were made were done to make this consistent with the Park District ordinances and section they were looking at did not allow either kegs or glass bottles, but subsequently have found that the Park District did make a change and allow kegs with permit from Park District and could change that in this ordinance if Council desired. Warcup added that the Park District ordinances are contradictory, in that one section they prohibit, but in another they allow with a permit, and could write our ordinance anyway the Council desires. Glassheim stated that he would be in favor of allowing it with a permit.
Glassheim inquired as to the protection of wildlife section and why it deleted feeding deer section. Warcup responded that there was a separate ordinance passed that dealt with feeding wildlife and so it was not necessary to include it in this section.
2.5
Consideration of bids for North Columbia Road Fire Station.
Christensen asked what the budget was for this project. O’Neill stated that there is $500,000 set aside in the Budget Book, but that Finance has informed him there is a total of $620,000 that could be available for the project. He stated that since the bids are all above that, the project has gone back to the architect and will be redesigned and think that the higher bids may be due to parts of the specifications for the roof and will be looking to get it under the budgeted amount.
Christensen inquired about the storage that is being added at the north end station. O’Neill stated that by adding some storage at this site, they were able to reduce the size of the storage needed at the industrial park location and that would rather see the storage here as it will be used for hazmat items some of which are already based at this station. He continued that along with storage, this project involves addition of drive through bays which are necessary due to the future changes that are anticipated with Columbia Road and also to provide a facelift to the outside of the facility to make it blend better into the area in which it is located.
2.6
Transient Merchant license exemption for First Night Greater Grand Forks
Brooks commented that he would like to see the Attorney check into if this could just be changed in code and made an exemption there so did not have to come to Council every year.
2.7
Appointment to the Grand Forks Growth Fund Committee (Terry Smith).
There were no comments.
2.8
Pension and Insurance Committee Appointments.(Mike Flannery & Doug Christensen)
There were no comments.
2.9
Valley Memorial Homes loan restructuring.
There were no comments.
2.10 Request from CPS, Ltd. On behalf of Art Greenberg, Jr. for final approval (fast track) of Replat of Lots D and E, Block 6, Columbia Park 29th Addn. (loc. at 2443 and 2445 Pembrooke
Dr.)
There were no comments.
2.11 Request from Planning Department on behalf of City of Grand Forks for preliminary approval of ordinance relating to Comprehensive Plan, amending Chapter XVIII, Article 8, Comprehensive Plan; Section 18-0802, Elements, of the Grand Forks City Code of 1987, as
amended, pertaining to the Year 2035 Land Use Plan
There were no comments.
2.12 Request from Planning Department on behalf of the City of Grand Forks for preliminary approval of an ordinance amending Ordinance No. 4134, establishing a moratorium on the approval of subdivisions, plats or applications for rezoning in the City of Grand Forks extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction (more specifically the amendment is to extend the
expiration of the moratorium from December 31, 2006 to March 20, 2007).
There were no comments.
2.13 Request for approval of priority list for submittal to MPO for inclusion in their 2007-2008
MPO Work Program.
Gershman inquired whether the traffic signal timing item will be city-wide, and in particular downtown. Grasser stated that the funds will be such that we can designate where in town we want to apply it. He continued that we are presently working with signals in the downtown and that signals in that area are older and are trying some new software to work on the timing problems. He continued that he believes and final decision on where to apply the funds would be brought back to Council. Christensen commented that all of these are proposed and can be changed later.
Glassheim inquired as to what streets in the downtown area are considered arterials. Grasser responded that DeMers and 5th Street are main arterials, and 3rd and 4th he believed are both minor arterials so all could qualify under this study.
3.
Information Items.
There were none.
4.
Citizen Requests.
There were none.
5.
City Administrator Comments.
There were none.
6.
Mayor and Council Member Comments.
Brooks stated that there will be a meeting on the 13th Avenue North development at Lake Agassiz School at 5:30 on November 14 and encouraged all interested to attend. Brooks commented that this past Saturday was Veteran’s Day and wanted to express thanks to all those past and present service personnel for their service.
McNamara concurred with thanks to those troops for their service and noted a special thanks to those that served in Vietnam, as historically the public has not always recognized them for the service that they provided to our country on the same level as they have other veterans.
Glassheim thanked the Flood Protection Project staff for their quick response to the concern about the seeding on North 3rd Street and expressed that they are doing a great job with maintenance on the flood project and the greenway.
Christensen commented that the greenway is already proving to be an incredible amenity and can only see it growing in popularity and contribution to the community in the future. He added a thank you to the Public Works personnel that have done a great job keeping the sidewalks and bike paths clear for those in the community to use.
Kreun shared that he had visited with a community member that moved here to work for UND and had purchased a home close to the downtown area to allow them easier access to the greenway, as they are very active outdoor people and that this shows one example of what this will bring to the community.
Gershman expressed thank you’s to the veteran’s in the community for their service. Gershman stated that this past Thursday he had invited members of the Century Council, a nonprofit funded by the nation’s distillers, to come both to Fargo and Grand Forks to kick off an educational campaign to inform people that 65% of underage drinkers obtain their alcohol from either family or friends. He continued that the Century Council had conducted 60 such events around the country and had commented to him that the events in Grand Forks and Fargo were the best they had seen and were impressed because there were about 10 representatives from the hospitality industry in attendance at the kickoff and usually don’t see that. He added that this program will get information out to parents in an attempt to raise awareness of the problem and curb the access to alcohol from this source. Gershman stated that he is very proud of our community and shows what a concerned community we are.
7.
Adjournment.
Motion to adjourn by Brooks, second by Kreun. Aye: All. Nay: None. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Saroj Jerath
Deputy City Auditor
SLL