HomeMy Public PortalAbout04/21/98 CCM77
MEDINA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF APRIL 21, 1998
The City Council of Medina, Minnesota met in regular session on April 21, 1998 at 7:30 p.m. in
the City Hall Chambers. Mayor John Ferris presided.
Members present: Ferris, Zietlow, Hamilton, Johnson, and Thies.
Members absent: None.
Also present: Police Chief Ed Belland, Attorney Ron Batty, Public Works Director Jim
Dillman, Zoning Administrator Loren Kohnen, City Engineer Glenn Cook, and City Clerk -
Treasurer Paul Robinson.
1. Additions to the Agenda
A. Inn Kahoots, Special Event Permit.
B. Stop Signs at Elm Creek Drive.
C. 3.2 % Liquor License for the Hamel Athletic Club.
D. Charitable Gambling Ordinance.
Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Ann Thies, to approve the agenda as amended.
Motion passed unanimously.
2. Approval of the Minutes of the April 7, 1998 City Council Meeting
A. Page 3, John Hamilton's statement was amended to say "since it would essentially
be a quarter time position" replacing "no matter what".
B. Page 5, added after John Ferris's comment "any process" was "regarding the
development of".
Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the minutes as corrected. Motion
passed unanimously.
3. Consent Agenda
Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the consent agenda as presented.
Motion passed unanimously.
4. Comments from Residents in Attendance on Items Not on the Agenda
Mary Caldwell, a real estate agent working in the Medina area, heard that the city council was
working on the comprehensive plan, and was considering how the Elwell Farm property, in the
north part of Medina, should be developed. She said she was interested in promoting the
development of that area but not as another Plymouth. She would like to see one to two acre
lots that would group the homes, not too close together, preserving the natural characteristics
of the property and of the area. She said that she has a number of buyers that can typically
afford $800,000 to $1,000,000 homes or more who don't want 10 acre parcels but would like
some privacy on a two -acre lot or in a gated type community.
Ms. Caldwell also mentioned that the town of Hamel could be quite a darling town, like a little
Wayzata. She thought that it would be good to encourage that type of development there.
She also said it would be nice to have some type of exclusive retirement type dwellings where
people who would like to continue living in Medina could continue to live in Medina.
John Ferris said that they have no intention to develop Medina like Plymouth.
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Jim Johnson asked if Mary Caldwell lived in Medina.
She said no. She used to live in Medina and her heart is still in Medina.
5. Planning Commission Comments - There were none.
6. Park Commission Comments - There were none.
OLD BUSINESS
7. Tobacco Ordinance
Paul Robinson reviewed his memo and recent changes to the tobacco ordinance. He said
there was a provision in the last draft of the ordinance that called for up to 1,000 hours of
community service as an the alternative penalty for minors. Robinson said that would amount
to 20 hours per week for a year. Robinson said he meant to include 100 hours of community
service instead.
Robinson said there were some comments from area businesses about eliminating all self-
service merchandising of tobacco products. Robinson said he wanted to make sure that the
city council intended to include this section or follow the state statute which only banned self-
service merchandizing of single packs of cigarettes and snuff containers.
Jim Johnson said that when single packs were banned, retailers just taped together more than
one pack. Johnson said he didn't believe that really complied with the intent of the law. He
thought the intent of the law was to eliminate self-service merchandising and that two to three
packs taped together did not really complying with the intent of the law.
There was some discussion about self-service merchandising.
Phil Zietlow said he was not interested in regulating how retailers sell tobacco products. He
said he was interested in putting some teeth into the penalty section of the law so that there is
a sufficient penalty to deter retailers from selling tobacco products to minors.
John Ferris said what's at stake for retailers is a significant amount of revenue from tobacco
companies for self-service merchandising stands. Ferris said that would be difficult to take this
away from the city's retailers, especially if other communities in the area were not requiring the
same.
Dean Barkley, attorney representing Randy Mayer from Mayer Mobil, said he owned a
convenience store and that most owners of stores are aware of the problem and are beating
into their employees the idea that they cannot sell tobacco products to minors. He said
retailers don't want to sell to minors.
Barkley said there was a large discrepancy between the ordinance Medina was currently
looking at compared to Independence, Corcoran, and other communities. He said the only
community in the area that has a similar ordinance is Plymouth, which is a different type of
community.
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Barkley said there was a large discrepancy between the fine for an employee, $50, versus the
licensee, $500, and a license suspension.
Barkley said that Mayer Mobil has never been cited for selling to minors.
There was some discussion about tobacco and the tobacco habit. Barkley said that taking
away all self-service merchandising would significantly impact Randy Mayer's business.
John Hamilton cited a number of statistics from recent research. He said that 80% of all
tobacco users began using tobacco before the age 18. Hamilton said that 25% of all high
school students report regular tobacco use. He also said that they obtained tobacco products
at stores near their homes and schools. Hamilton said that Mayor Mobil and other business
along TH 55 are very close to one of the state's largest high schools. Hamilton also mentioned
that 256 million packs are illegally sold each year, resulting in $500 million dollars in sales each
year.
There was some discussion about the amount of the penalty for the clerk. Most council
members agreed that they should look into whether or not that penalty was adequate.
John Hamilton said that in addition to a civil penalty, there is also a gross misdemeanor
criminal penalty.
Judy Stehler of Olson's Mercantile discussed some of the issues that she had with the
ordinance. She was concerned about eliminating self-service merchandising since it was a
good source of revenue for her store. Stehler was also concerned about the amount of
penalties proposed for the licensee and the potential license suspension.
There was some discussion about enforcement of the policy and about some of the drawbacks
of tobacco use.
Jim Johnson said he was concerned about the amount of tobacco products that were available
and aggressively marketed to people, especially to minors. He said he was concerned not
only for other kids, but for his own.
Judy Stehler said that it's a choice for people to use or not use tobacco products, and that it's
up to the parents not to use tobacco products and make sure their kids are not using the
products. She said it should not be up to the store owners and store owners should not
prohibited from selling tobacco products.
There was some additional discussion about the clerk penalty, and how that did not seem
adequate.
John Ferris said that since other municipalities in the area were allowing self-service displays it
would put these stores at a competitive disadvantage if Medina were to prohibit self-service
merchandizing.
Phil Ziet►ow thought that was too strict.
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John Ferris thought that was too restrictive. He explained that he used to smoke cigarettes
when he was younger and explained the difficulty he had quitting the habit. He said he was
not a fan of smoking cigarettes, but because of his experience working for Super Value he was
also a strong advocate for the rights of retailers.
Ann Thies said that it's a difficult subject since tobacco companies make it so lucrative. They
pay retailers up front to have displays for self-service merchandising.
Phil Zietlow said that he wanted to have this ordinance deal with selling tobacco to minors but
not interfere with how retailers sell their product.
John Ferris said the city will be committed to enforcing this ordinance.
Staff was to put together options for stricter penalties for clerks, put together a less restrictive
option for self-service merchandising that follows the state statute, and other information as
necessary.
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Ann Thies, to table this discussion until next meeting.
Motion passed unanimously.
8. Garage Addition
Paul Robinson said the addition was done and there was $6,000 in retainage to take care of
any last minute details.
9. Set Date for Joint City Council/Planning Commission Meeting
Tuesday, May 26, at 6 p.m. was chosen as the date for a joint meeting between the planning
commission and city council.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow to approve a joint city council/planning
commission meeting for May 26 at 6 p.m. Motion passed unanimously.
10. Special Event Permit for Inn Kahoots
Loren Kohnen said last year Inn Kahoots requested a permit for a special event somewhat
late. This year they're coming to the city council much earlier. He said they would like to have
a bike wash on June 7 to raise money for muscular sclerosis.
Phil Zietlow asked how much money they raised last year.
Marilyn Larson said that they raised $5,000 over the two days last year. She said they raised
$14,000 total throughout the year for muscular sclerosis and won an award for their efforts.
Loren Kohnen said he had no problems with this administrative permit to the CUP.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by John Hamilton, to approve the special events permit for
a bike wash at Inn Kahoots on June 7'h, 1998. Motion passed unanimously.
11. Road Material Bids
Jim Dillman said this year some of the road material costs went up slightly.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded Ann Thies, to approve the road material bids. Motion
passed unanimously.
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12. 1998 Seal Coating Project
Jim Dillman said the city will need to seal coat Medina Road. He said he would like to use
Bonestroo's specifications this year. Dillman said Glenn Cook would create the specifications
and do the inspections for a cost not to exceed $2,500.
Jim Dillman said there had been some problems with seal coating in the past. Everyone is
trying to do the minimum possible. So, in order to have consistency, he would like to have
Bonestroo put together specifications.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve Bonestroo to put together the
specifications and inspect the 1998 Medina Road seal coating project. Motion passed
unanimously.
13. Hamel Road Paving
Jim Dillman said the city and the county have been discussing problems with the maintenance
of Hamel Road. Dillman said Hennepin County has been putting a lot of money into Hamel
Road for gravel to try to keep the road in good condition. He said that the road is better than it
was, however, the county would like to pave the road. Dillman said that they have also had
requests from residents to pave the road. He said there are pros and cons for paving the road,
some residents like the idea, some don't.
Ann Thies said the city council needs to find out what the residents along that road want to do,
especially since it's only one year after the city said it would be done in 5-7 years.
There was some discussion about the project.
Phil Zietlow said he thought the pavement was delayed to accommodate horseback riding.
Ann Thies said there was also some discussion about maintaining the rural character.
There was discussion about whether or not a wide shoulder would accommodate horseback
riding and about the problems caused by speeding in the area.
John Hamilton said that driving 50 mph on tar is much safer than driving 50 mph on gravel.
Ted Smith of 2752 Hamel Road said this was one of the few dirt roads remaining in Medina.
He said that the dust conditions created by road inhibited the rural flavor of the area.
He said the combination of people driving fast and the poor road condition made it difficult for
those who live on the road.
John Ferris said that speed is a separate issue.
Ted Smith said if the city paved Hamel Road, he recommended that a 3-way stop sign be
placed at Willow and Hamel Road.
Dan Strand of 1985 Hamel Road, said people just drive too fast, it's not a matter of cars going
faster or slower.
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Wayne Popham of 2725 Hamel Road, agreed with Ted Smith that the safety and speed on the
road was not a safe atmosphere. He said that Hennepin County made a commitment to the
council that there would be a wide shoulder. He agreed that a stop sign at Willow and Hamel
would be a good idea. He said that he does not want Hamel Road to turn into another County
Road 24, but he also doesn't want to live and suffer with the dust created by the dirt road. He
said that speed is one of the main issues on that road.
Jim Lane of 2605 Hamel Road said that a majority of the horseback riders that use the road
come from stables in the area.
Dennis Orke of 2562 Hamel Road said he had mixed feelings about paving the road. He was
concerned that his evergreen trees would be taken if a wide shoulder was created to
accommodate horses.
Jim Dillman said he thinks they can get through without taking the evergreen trees.
John Ferris said a number of speeding issues has been mentioned tonight and at the recent
Saturday morning meetings. He said the police department intends to enforce the city's
speeding rules. However, when residents are ticketed they do not seem as happy about
speeding enforcement.
There was some discussion about salt usage on the roads in the winter and how that might
affect the ponds in the area.
There was some discussion about who was contacted about the Hamel Road paving issue.
The city council wanted the remaining residents to be contacted and to continue the discussion
at the next council meeting. This would allow all residents who live on the road to share their
concerns and issues with the city council.
Carolyn Smith of 2752 Hamel Road said as a part of the comprehensive plan update they had
discussed the need for trails throughout the city. She said hopefully a wide shoulder will
accommodate a trail so that people can ride their horse from anywhere in Medina to Baker
Park.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to table this discussion to the next city
council meeting. Motion passed unanimously.
14. Engineering Standards
Jim Dillman said that engineering standards have been revised according to the city council's
recommendations from the previous review.
Glenn Cook said only the state requirements for wetlands were included in the engineering
standards. The standards do not include the rules from the overlapping watershed districts.
There was some discussion about how maps would be stored. Currently map records were
kept at Bonestroo. There was some discussion about getting a readable format to be stored at
the city.
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Paul Robinson said that they had pretty good access to the engineering records at Bonestroo
when needed.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the engineering standards.
Motion passed unanimously.
15. Elm Creek Drive Stop Signs
Jim Dillman said that Jim Johnson raised some concerns about people driving rapidly along
Elm Creek Drive. Dillman said he would like to put in a three way stop signs at each of the
intersections at Elm Creek Drive and Ridge View Circle.
Jim Johnson said a number of the residents in the area have had concerns about people
speeding down Elm Creek Drive. He said there are a lot of kids playing on the hill and they
believe that stop signs would help to make this area much safer.
Phil Zietlow asked if stop signs would be more effective than a speed limit.
The consensus was that yes, it would be.
John Hamilton asked if the neighbors wanted the three way stop signs.
Jim Johnson said that yes, they did.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve creating three way stop signs at
the intersections of Elm Creek Drive and Ridge View Circle. Motion passed unanimously.
16. Ballfield Fencing
Jim Dillman said that the original low bidder missed a portion of the specifications and
therefore, his bid was lower than others. He has since withdrawn his bid making Mid Metro the
next lowest bidder. Jim Dillman said he checked out Mid Metro's references and recommends
the city council approve their bid including alternate #1, but not alternate #2.
Ann Thies asked why the contractor misread the bid.
Jim Dillman said he missed an item that was not on the bid sheet but was a part of the bid
specifications.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Ann Thies, to approve the Mid Metro's bid including
alternative one for $82,491. Motion passed unanimously.
17. Liquor License for Hamel Athletic Club
Jim Johnson said that this is basically the same license as was approved in the previous years.
Moved John Ferris, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the 3.2 Liquor Beer/Liquor License
for the Hamel Athletic Association. Motion passed unanimously.
18. Tax Increment Finance Policy
Ron Batty said that it has been a while since the city has had a tax increment financing issue
before them. Because of this and a number of changes to the TIF laws staff thought that it
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would be fruitful to discuss, preliminarily, the broader issues of tax increment financing in order
to update the city council and gauge the council's interest in TIF with regard to the new laws.
Batty said this was also on the agenda because the city had received a request for TIF by the
Flagship Company. This proposal is scheduled for the May 5 council agenda.
Ron Batty said currently the city has received $5,000 with the application from Flagship. This
means that, so far, the city has been spending the applicant's money and not the city's.
However, staff does not want to spend any more of this money if the city is no longer
interested in moving forward with tax increment financing.
Phil Zietlow said that it will always come down to what are the benefits to the city.
Jim Johnson asked what city's policy was towards tax increment financing.
Batty said the broader issue was whether or not the city council believes that any project
meets the "but for test" criteria.
Batty said for future tax increment financing projects, the city will be required to match a
portion of city tax dollars from the general fund towards a part of the project or suffer a loss of
HACA aid. The HACA aid loss would be around 35% of the TIF and the local contribution
would be around 10%. If the city council were interested in proceeding, the 10% local
contribution would be a much better alternative than the 35% loss in HACA.
John Ferris said if somebody wants to come and build a commercial structure in Medina, that's
great. The city will welcome that. However, the city has never been willing to spend city tax
dollars on a commercial project.
Ron Batty said the law was changed to make it hurt cities that develop tax increment financing
districts.
John Hamilton was not sure how development along TH55 would pass the "but for test".
There was some additional discussion about the Flagship proposal.
Ron Batty asked if staff should continue to pursue working on the tax increment financing
request from Flagship. He said the next step was to seek a financial analysis of the tax
increment flow and of the companies pro -forma numbers. That part would be done by
Springstead. Batty said he would continue to work on the legal analysis. However, if the city
council is hesitant to approve any kind of TIF at this point, thean maybe the city council would
prefer staff wait before pursuing this matter any further.
Consensus of the council was to direct staff to stop work on the TIF application until Flagship
came before the council at the next meeting for their conditional use permit and zoning
application. At that time they could discuss the council's position on tax increment financing.
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April 21, 1998
85
19. Continued Membership in the Suburban Rate Authority
There was some discussion about continuing the membership in the Suburban Rate Authority.
It was believed that a number of agencies such as the League of Minnesota Cities were
working on similar issues.
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Ann Thies, not to rejoin the Suburban Rate Authority.
Motion passed unanimously.
20. League of Minnesota Cities Policy Committees
Paul Robinson said that every year the League of Minnesota Cities creates policy committees
to develop the LMC legislative agenda. Robinson said if the city of Medina would like to have
more influence in this process, participation on one of these committees would be very
important.
Phil Zietlow said each year the city votes on which legislative issues the LMC should pursue.
Robinson said that the issues the city council votes on each year are developed in the policy
committees, so what the council actually votes on comes out of these committees.
Phil Zietlow said that he would be interested in the committee that dealt with environmental
mandates.
Ann Thies said that she would be interested in the committee that dealt with
telecommunications issues and information systems.
21. Charitable Gambling Ordinance
Jim Johnson said he was concerned that the city council did not have an ordinance that would
keep money generated from pull tabs from being used outside of the city. He said he had a
copy of the Long Lake's charitable gambling ordinance where they require 50% of the money
raised by pull tabs be used to fund charitable organizations within the city. He said that this
would be helpful to protect the city from national organizations and others coming in and
providing pull tabs at places in the city but, then not providing any benefit to places in the city.
He said that he'd like to have this on the next agenda.
22. Approval to Pay the Bills
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to pay the bills, order check #18297-18343
for $64, 512.39 and payroll check 315596-15614 for $13, 760.14. Motion passed
unanimously.
23. Adjournment
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Ann Thies, to adjourn the meeting at 9:50 p.m. Motion
passed unanimously.
John B. Ferris, Mayor
Att
Paul Robinson, City Clerk -Treasurer
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April 21, 1998
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Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
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ORDER CHECKS -APRIL 21, 1998
18297 Great West Life 875.00
18298 Minnesota State Retirement 130.00
18299 Minnesota Mutual 205.00
18300 Air Touch Cellular $21.62
18301 American Express 121.42
18302 American Liberty Construction 28,410.14
18303 AWWA 103.00
18304 BCA Training & Development 40.00
18305 Bonestroo, Rosene, Anderlik 7,284.27
18306 Budget Printing 563.88
18307 Candlelight Floral 47.07
18308 CompUSA 125.78
18309 Culligan 131.65
18310 Cy's Uniforms 98.96
18311 Department of Public Safety 270.00
18312 Firstar Bank 422.00
18313 Fortin Hardware 159.36
18314 Gary's Diesel Service 86.07
18315 Genuine Parts 615.32
18316 Glenwood Inglewood 73.05
18317 Goodin Co 13.27
18318 Gopher State One Call 84.00
18319 Hamel Building Center 31.18
18320 Hamel TV, Inc. 11.72
18321 Hawkins Water Treatment 40.00
18322 Healthpartners 2,260.87
18323 Hennepin County 50.00
18324 Hennepin County Support 565.00
18325 Lake Business Supply 60.67
18326 Law Enforcement Labor Service 66.00
18327 League of Minnesota Cities Ins. Trust 500.00
18328 McCollister & Co. 1.30 ,
18329 Metropolitan Council Wastewater 9,900.00
18330 Midwest Automotive 836.14
18331 Minn Comm 46.60
18332 Minnesota State Treasurer 2,580.58
18333 Northern States Power 944.6
18334 P. E. R.A. 2,824.1
18335 P.O.S.T. Board 90.00.
18336 Perry's Truck Repair 224.72\a
18337 Jon Priem 41.45
18338 Schoell & Madson, Inc. 802.50
18339 Streicher's 393.67
18340 Tallen & Baertschi 2,266.40
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
April21, 1998
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ORDER CHECKS — APRIL 21, 1998 (CONT'D)
18341 Twin City Water Clinic 20.00
18342 U.S. West Communications 34.60
18343 Vaughan Display & Flag 39.30
$64, 512.39
PAYROLL CHECKS —APRIL 13, 1998
15596 John A. Hamilton $ 138.52
15597 Ann C. Thies 138.52
15598 John B. Ferris 207.79
15599 Philip K. Zietlow 138.52
15600 James R. Johnson 138.52
15601 Paul A. Robinson 935.17
15602 Steven T. Scherer 961.06
15603 Christopher R. McGill 868.82
15604 Michael J. Rouillard 1,138.20
15605 Scott W. Kroeger 876.38
15606 James D. Dillman 1,115.60
15607 Robert P. Dressel 965.76
15608 Edgar J. Belland 1,493.29
15609 Martha C. Lundell 286.05
15610 Cecilia M. Vieau 717.32
15611 Laura L. Sulander 930.97
15612 Sandra L. Larson 768.46
15613 Jon D. Priem 1,054.44
15614 Jeremy L. Christenson 886.75
$13, 760.14
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
April 21, 1998