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Minutes of Grand Forks City Council/Committee of the Whole
Monday, August 25, 2008 - 5:30 p.m._________________ __

The City Council met as the Committee of the Whole on Monday, August 25, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers in City Hall with Mayor Brown presiding. Present at roll call were Council Members Bjerke, Gershman, Bakken, Kreun - 4; absent: Council Member McNamara - 1.

Mayor Brown commented on various items during the past week and upcoming events:
Welcome back to UND students and faculty and proud to be the home of UND.
Special welcome back to Phil Jackson and hopefully those who have the chance to meet him will express our warmest welcome to him and congratulations to UND and people involved in his return.
This week Northwood is commemorating the one year anniversary of the tornado disaster and recognizing their accomplishments and progress, that as neighbors we have been proud to watch their hard work and progress and lend a helping hand once in a while.
This week is Military Communications Community Relations Week and have a very special guest with us, Col. Michel and others who are going to help kick this off, and welcomed Col Michel to the podium and thanks to Danny Holwerde of Military Affairs Comm. and Barry Wilfort from the Chamber for helping sponsor this week.
Col Michel spoke representing team mates and from proclamation have enjoyed a very long standing relationship both in uniform and those that serve in the community. He stated over past years have not had a time that we could celebrate what we contribute to each others lives and that was the purpose of the Military Appreciation Week. Tonight is beginning with proclamation, tomorrow with enjoy veterans ceremony that will honor veterans from the local community; on Wednesday will have a number of people from the community that will be there and will offer some vision as to where the Base is going and Thursday will from gracious offer to join you with UND's first Division I game and first night game against admirable opponent in Texas AM Kingsville. He thanked council for allowing them to be here and he and the Mayor signed the proclamation.

Council Member Christensen reported present.

2.1 Project No. 6329, Sidewalk installation on Chestnut St. (47th to 55th Ave.S.)
Al Grasser, city engineer, presented background information, that this area was
developed as rural subdivision, that Chestnut Street between 47th Avenue South on the north end and 55th Ave.S. on south end and the area does not have sidewalks

Council Member Glassheim reported present.

Mr. Grasser stated that in 1995 the neighborhood went through series of neighborhood meetings and petitions to do the paving and storm sewer where they went from the rural road to the urban road which is curb and gutter, and at that time the council approved the area to be installed without sidewalks or street lighting. The question has come up over that period of time as when it is appropriate to come back and look at neighborhood to see if they should be reconsidering sidewalks; and this item was brought to Service/Safety Comm. on February 5 where it was considered and asked for additional information and have neighborhood input meetings, they hosted a meeting on July 29 to discuss the options of payment, etc. He noted that the staff report contains a listing of properties, cost of installation (either under sidewalk list or under special assessment process); that there was neighborhood input at that time and residents were not in support of the sidewalks and that information was presented to Service/Safety on August 19 and the committee made a recommendation not to proceed with the sidewalks for the neighborhood.

Jon Lee and Jan Lee, Evergreen Drive, stated they have lived there since 2001 and do lot of walking and spoke in favor of sidewalks for the area; that it was a rural development but new houses built at the end of the street. Jan Lee stated she met with the Mayor, Mr. Grasser and another person and discussed when these sidewalks would go in, that sidewalks are a safety item and are not subject to protest; that ordinance requires where new houses being built have to have sidewalk installation within one year - and this is basically a safety issue.

Lee Lindquist, 5317 Chestnut Street, resident at that location since December, 1974, protested installation of sidewalks, that they are concerned about safety issues and noted various reasons for the protest: 1) there is very little traffic on Chestnut from 49th to 55th except for the people that live there (or visitors); 2) many options for people to ride bikes, walk, etc. within the area - bike trail and sidewalk on 47th Ave.S. west of Cherry St., around Optimist Park, on 55th St. from Belmont to Cherry St. and at 52nd Ave.S.; 3) that if this was a newly developed subdivision and sidewalks went in, people would place trees, shrubs, fences, etc. appropriately; and 4) the setback for lots is 85 ft. from front of homes to the street, and most can put 8 to 10 cars in their driveways and very few cars parked on Chestnut unless gathering. They would ask the council to listen to the people within the neighborhood and when time comes and people feel there is a need for sidewalk, they would support it.

Council Member Kreun reported discussion at the Service/Safety Comm. and that it wasn't just trees and aesthetic portion of it, that in 1974/75 when the two-mile jurisdiction went into effect, this area was not subject to many of the planning and zoning regulations required by the City and so set-backs, elevation and drainage system are different, power boxes would have to be moved, and not sure it would be relevant for these people to pay cost for those transactions - elevation difficult because of slope of some driveways - long process for engineering department to go through and adjust for this; and the Committee made a recommendation not to install sidewalks at this time but to review within ten years or if 25% of the people in that area petitioned earlier, will review that in the motion next week.

Council Member Gershman stated that if the issues with utility boxes and fire hydrants and some of these problems were caused by the City in negotiation and raises the cost; and if it can be identified and mitigated by the City, then those costs should be picked up by the City and not assessed to the neighborhood. Council Member Kreun stated at the time that streets installed there were negotiations between engineering department and the type of streets that they needed, elevation, cut back a lot of those already and some of the things we did are causing some of the problems but not all - and this is what happens when don't have the ability to plan far enough ahead. Mr. Grasser stated there will be properties where some unique costs involved, and at some point there will be discussion if can shift the sidewalks but no room for any latitude there, but if shift from planned location can run into problems.

Council Member Gershman stated he feels it is a safety issue, and asked if they could look at a 20 mph speed limit for that section, and would recommend that they ask the traffic engineer to investigate that with signage, etc.

Mrs. Jan Lee stated that when they walk on 55th or the bike trail and come to Chestnut, you are forced to walk in the street, and asked why should she have to move her walking because the sidewalks aren't in, every driveway has a sidewalk in it, and they knew at some point sidewalks were going in and asked Mr. Christensen when.
Council Member Christensen stated that he had talked to Ms. Lee and that she had also brought this issue up to the Mayor and that she has expressed her desire to have sidewalks located in this area; that in Sunbeam Addn. have sidewalks but not until after 10 years, and that she knows that there aren't sidewalks on Chestnut and should think about a different path; thinks Safety Comm. has done quite well in their recommendation and will consider whether there will be a 10 year review of this.

Mayor Brown thanked them for bringing this forward for a safety issue and when see things in our community that are unsafe, it behooves us to discuss it.

2.2 FY2009 Sanitation and Water Enterprise Funds rate changes.
Council Member Bjerke asked for clarification purposes - have example bills and charges for "wastewater minimum charge" and "wastewater". Mr. Feland stated that a typical residential unit has a 5/8" meter and the $5.41 on the 2009 bill will be for minimum charge and have 4,000 gal.water which equals $11.16, and wastewater-minimum charge, $10.34, and all users have to pay the $10.34 and wastewater also has a user fee based upon the 4,000 gal. and that is going to the water meter charge as we don't have a wastewater meter in each home - and for residential users cap at 10,000 gal. as anything over 10,000 is primarily for water usage for residential. Mr. Bjerke stated that on the 5/8" meter should include base charge and on "wastewater" base fee and wastewater based on gal. usage to clarify the language to make the bills a little clearer. Mr. Feland stated that when they do the ordinance change, can discuss with Mr. Warcup and Mr. Swanson to get that modified - as the base fee is based on meter size.

Council Member Gershman stated they have tipping charges when bring items to the landfill and that there is a pickup charge for the City to pick something up - and if there is an advantage to take it to the landfill. Mr. Feland stated minimum fee to pickup at residence is $15.00 and minimum charge is $10.

Council Member Christensen stated that the tipping fees for 2009 - time for council to recognize what we are doing as a "good neighbor" for the region in tipping fees in our landfill - that we are engaged in the development of a regional landfill, and that we should begin thinking about a differentiation in the fees re. dumping things into our landfill, and to charge everybody the same fee - that we have a lot of our capital invested in this but we should address these issues because we have to recoup some of these costs for people that live within the city limits of Grand Forks.

Council Member Kreun stated that we did lose customers because of their fear of not having the opportunity to bring their garbage to a landfill, that the people that stayed with us will continue to maintain this level of service at this cost, but new customers coming back will probably have a higher rate to pay because they aren't helping us pay at this time to get through the process of citing another landfill - will look at that after we open the new landfill.

Council Member Bakken stated another thing to look at is what charging somebody to pick up items at residences - at $15.00 not sure covering fuel - private sector charges $50.00 to bring something to house - should look at that. Mr. Feland stated the value of services and people think $15.00 is a lot of money and doesn't want to promote dumping - try to make it affordable and subsidizing so that people can afford for us to pick something up.

2.3 Bids for Project No. 6312, Lagoon Outfall Repair and Metering.
Council Member Bjerke asked for brief explanation of wastewater metering facility. Mr.
Feland stated that they need a metering system on our outfall so that we can prove how much we are discharging into the river, and the proposal is to move the meter from current location closer to the outfall and putting up a small storage building for security.

2.4 Bids for Project No. 6311, Rehabilitation of Pump Station 36.
There were no comments.

2.5 State of Minnesota cooperative purchase venture for DAR/Senior Rider ADA van.
The question was asked how much MN was paying as this is cooperative purchase. Mr. Feland stated they are asking to use the State of MN bid to buy the vehicle through their purchasing and using our money, and can get vehicle here in 6 to 8 weeks.

2.6 Grand Forks Renaissance Zone Project GF-43.
It was noted that the building is the former bridal shop at corner of North 4th Street and
University Avenue - 224 North 4th Street.

MAYOR AND COUNCIL COMMENTS

1) Council Member Bjerke stated as have agreed to do serious policy discussion - start with
policy of whether we should be televising all our meetings - work sessions, finance and
service/safety committee meetings - and that this is to be cost neutral and asked if Mr. Duquette
could bring something to a committee of the whole meeting for discussion about televising as
many meetings as we can.

2) Council Member Bakken stated that the Convention & Visitors Bureau gets 1-cent tax from
the car rental that goes to the Convention Bureau and is $30,000 to $40,000 year and had
question asked, why isn't some of that used for supporting our airport and rentals at the airport.
Mr. Gershman stated that most of the people that come into town are business rather than tourist
and will bring that up - about $30,000 and they do use that to promote the city.

3) Council Member Kreun commented on the timing on signals for 32nd Ave.S. - our
investment of $71,000 and $46,000 of that was out of our General Fund and balance out of MPO
- return is $1.2 to $1.4 million to the traveling public every year - 600 gal. of gas a day that is
saved and was worth the time and effort, and will, if budget allows, look at some of the other
areas in town to do something similar.

4) Council Member Gershman stated that he likes the way the parking ramp at Central looks,
signage is good and painting, and do further landscaping next year, etc. people will use it; and
asked that after 5:00 p.m. is the public allowed to park in first level - well lit and has security
cameras. Mr. Hoover stated that public is able to access that - and that on the September 3
finance/development committee meeting have discussion item on parking fee structure - and
at this point parking regulated between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. - and after that totally open for
free unless someone reserved for 24-hours. Mr. Gershman asked when they have that discussion
to notify the businesses downtown of that and to put some signage on the outside.

ADJOURN

It was moved by Council Member Bjerke and seconded by Council Member Kreun that we adjourn. Carried 6 votes affirmative.


Respectfully submitted,



John M. Schmisek
City Auditor