HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-04-27 Council MinutesCity of Corcoran Council Minutes – April 27, 2000
Page 1 of 4 – Approved 5/11/00
CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL
Mayor Guenthner called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.
• Members Present: Mayor Kenneth Guenthner, Councilors Ronald Thomas, George Gmach and John
Bucher.
• Excused: Councilor Dixie Lindsley
• Staff Attending: City Administrator Roberta Colotti, Police Chief Paul Schutte, Planner Cindy Sherman,
• Also Attending: Pat Puhle, Greg Ebert, Dennis Stieg, Ken Kluck, Lora Bullert, Stephanie Diepholz, Andrea
Nies, Kristen Anderson, Cyrus Smythe, Shaun Irwin, Ordell Hansen, Jane Stangler, Jim Bullert, DeDe
Bullert, Susan Poulsen, John Spaeth, Ben Nies, Lee Cornelius
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Mayor Guenthner opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
• Motion: JB/RT; all in favor – to adopt the agenda with the following additions:
Open Forum
- Kristen Anderson, Rockford School District Superintendent – Bond Referendum
Administrator’s Report
- Resolution No. 2000-23 – Designating Official Newspaper
Council & Mayor’s Report
- Home Free Shelter – State Ombudsman Investigation
- Jerry Burke – Consumer Complaint
OPEN FORUM
• Lora Bullert, Stephanie Diepholz and Andrea Nies presented a request for a stop sign and stop ahead
sign to be located at the intersection of County Road 10 & County Road 50 in Corcoran. They
presented a petition signed by 86 people requesting the stop sign. They presented data gathered in the
field at the site, which indicated that 4,950 car trips are made at this intersection per day.
The Council requested that city staff refer this issue to Hennepin County for their consideration, as it
is a county road. It is requested that the county report back to the city by May 25 for inclusion on that
council meetings agenda.
• Ordell Hanson’s request for the city to return property identified as PID #23-119-23 23 0011 back to
the state for public auction was tabled by the council until information on whether the site is buildable
or not is obtained.
• Kristen Anderson, Superintendent of the Rockford Schools, provided the council with an overview of
their May 23, 2000 bond referendum for the construction of a new elementary school at a cost of
$29.7 million. The school will be located next to the existing Rockford High School. They are also
holding a bond referendum on the issue of building a community center with a fitness center
component. The existing elementary school will be sold to a senior assisted living apartment complex.
Of interest to the City of Corcoran, Ms. Anderson stated that they intend to keep the school district
land in Corcoran for future development.
CONSENT AGENDA
• Motion: RT/JB; all in favor – to approve the consent agenda with the following items pulled for
discussion:
City of Corcoran Council Minutes – April 27, 2000
Page 2 of 4 – Approved 5/11/00
Approved as Consent Agenda
• First Quarter Investment Report
Pulled for Discussion & Approved Separately
• Motion: RT/JB; all in favor – to approve the minutes of 4/13/00 Board of Review meeting as
presented and to approve the 4/13/00 Regular Council Meeting minutes as revised.
• Motion: GG/JB; all in favor – to approve payment of claims pending #318-350 totaling $25,468.42
and claims pending payment #DW-05, DW09PAY totaling $16,335.09 for a combined total of
$41,803.51.
Councilor Thomas stated that the city should try to collect as much of the escrow amount as possible. In an
effort to re-coup past escrow project fees, city staff reviewed the books and sent collection notices to past due
accounts, from the past three years. All consultants detail their work, by project, in order to charge the
appropriate escrow account. The city starts a record for a project upon initial contact for future billing to its
escrow account.
POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT
• Motion: RT/GG; all in favor – to approve the City of Corcoran and Teamsters Local #320 contract
as revised with typo’s and section 17.5 amendment, contingent on approval by the union.
• Police Chief Paul Schutte reviewed the options for meeting staffing needs, including hiring a
police officer under the COPS grant program and hiring a part-time Community Service Officer
(CSO) and part-time secretary. The Council was most interested in the CSO function, recognizing
the need for additional code enforcement activities. Councilor Gmach is to prepare copies of job
descriptions for a Code Enforcement Officer for comparison to the CSO position functions. The
council was in favor of keeping this discussion open for further consideration as part of the budget
discussion.
• Council accepted the March police call report as presented.
WATERSHED COMMITTEE
• HCCD Engineer, Ali Durgunoglu, submitted additional written information regarding the
proposed storm water management rules. In order to allow the council time to review his
comments the council tabled this discussion until a future meeting. It was requested that Ali
prepare a comparison report, detailing the changes between the existing and proposed rules.
WASTEWATER COMMISSION REPORT
• The Wastewater Commission approved the request of Judy & Clark Kolstad, 21300 Meadow Lane
for an “Other Septic System”.
• Commission reviewed the city code draft and expects to have it back to the council for review in
June of this year.
• The Commission will be reviewing its mission in June. Councilor Bucher suggested they consider
reviewing storm water issues.
PLANNER’S REPORT
• Correspondence was received from Greg Ebert regarding the Hennepin County property
immediately west of Ebert Construction. Mr. Ebert’s letter claimed that there are drainage
problems with the property and that it is noncompliant with Corcoran Resolution No. 1999-30.
Council directed staff to issue a formal statement to the county requesting that they meet the
conditions outlined in Resolution No. 2000-30 prior to the sale of the property. The matter of
parking on Mr. Ebert’s property is a private matter between the County & Mr. Ebert.
City of Corcoran Council Minutes – April 27, 2000
Page 3 of 4 – Approved 5/11/00
• The City Council reviewed the draft “Home Occupation” ordinance prepared by the Planning
Commission. The code is based on a hierarchy of permit requirements based on intensity of use.
To speed up review time the City Council is to provide the Planner with their marked up copies of
the draft, the copies are to be part of the formal council action, to be summarized and presented to
the Planning Commission for further review.
Planning Commissioner Sue Poulsen reviewed several points regarding the home occupation code.
1. By state law amortization is no longer legal as it relates to permitted uses. However, as it is proposed in
the code, amortization is legal because the use was not permitted in the first place. A two-year amortization
schedule for non-compliant business is proposed because of the lack of staff to do code enforcement.
Councilor Thomas is concerned that the language requires us to catch the illegal home occupation before
the two-year amortization begins.
2. The issue of employees was heavily debated by the Planning Commission. Which is why they made it a
permit requiring council approval. Under this system the council can decide if the proposed number of
employees will have a negative impact on the neighborhood or not.
3.Exclusions were not listed in an effort to keep the code simple.
4. Councilor Gmach stated that home occupations should be allowed to operate a computer in any building
on the property, not only the principle structure.
5. Council suggested that those uses permitted in the Commercial/Industrial District might not be
appropriate for home occupations.
• Council reviewed the planning consultant position. Originally the city budgeted for four (4) hours
of service. The city is currently using eight (8) hours of service. The City Administrator reported
that $18,026.78 would be transferred to the general fund from the TIF fund, interest earned, to
cover additional planning expenses. The council directed the planning consultant to detail all time
that can be billed to planning escrow fees. Unemployment expenses for the previous city planner
will be taken from the general fund reserve account, as this was a non-budget item. The Council
stated that they are pleased with the quality of work provided by the Planning Consultant and
needed to discuss the issue of money based on the overall budget constraints faced by the city.
• Motion: RT/JB; all in favor – to appoint David Gross to the position of Planning Intern for the summer
term. (Note: This is an unpaid position unless grant funding can be secured.)
ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
• City Insurance Agent Shaun Irwin addressed the issue of liability for liquor being served as part of
a rental event at the civic center. If the city wants to permit alcohol at private parties it should
require the server to provide proof of dram shop liability insurance in the amount required by state
law. The renter and server not the city has liability for any violations or problems that occur as a
result of liquor being served. The Council indicated that it would like to require the part to hire a
police officer to patrol the event if alcohol is to be permitted. Mr. Irwin stated that the city does
not assume any additional liability for liquor violations or incidents because of the officer’s
presence.
Based on requests for permission to serve alcohol at wedding receptions and similar events the
council directed staff to review this issue further and report back at the second meeting in May.
• Motion: GG/RT; all in favor to adopt Resolution No. 2000-21 “Modifying the Year 2000 Fee
Schedule”. Items changed include:
- Event Security Charge: Police Officer $42 Hour / Reserve Donation $13 Hour $12 Hour
(Minutes Amended May 25, 2000) / 15% Corcoran Service Club Discount.
City of Corcoran Council Minutes – April 27, 2000
Page 4 of 4 – Approved 5/11/00
- Dust Control: $170 for 300’ (w/300’ minimum)
- Building Permit Fees: 1997 Fee Schedule (Fee breakdown is 30% Building Inspector & 70%
City)
• Motion: GG/JB; all in favor – to grant the Hamel Rodeo a 15% discount on Event Security
Charges, as a local service club.
• Council reviewed sample code of ethics provided by the League of Minnesota Cities. Mayor
Guenther stated that the City of Two Harbor’s code was closest to what the City of Corcoran was
looking for in a code of ethics. A key issue for the council is disclosure of any conflict of interest.
Nepotism is another area of concern. A prohibition on holding conflicting positions should be
reviewed. As well as a process for dealing with violations or accusations of violations of the code
of ethics, once adopted. The council tabled this issue to allow additional time for review of the
sample codes provided.
• Council directed the City Administrator to prepare an application to the Hometown Leadership
Award program for Councilor Gmach, based on his work with the City Park playground project.
• Motion: JB/RT; all in favor – to adopt Resolution No. 2000-23 “Setting the Star Tribune as an
Official Newspaper for the City of Corcoran.” (Note: This was done to aid in meeting legal notice
requirements, as the Star Tribune is a daily paper and the Crow River news is a weekly paper.)
COUNCIL & MAYOR’S REPORT
• Councilor Gmach requested the council review the draft sign ordinance section 152.03-B-3, which
states that only one area identification sign is permitted for a residential subdivision. He suggested
that the council change the draft to allow for two signs. Also the sign(s) should be by permit vs.
CUP application. The maximum height could be reduced from 12’ to 6’ tall. The Council directed
him to draft said changes for presentation at a future council meeting.
• Mayor Guenther entered into the record a letter received from the State of Minnesota Office of
Crime Victims Ombudsman involving mistreatment by Home Free, a victim services provider.
The letter is submitted for informational purposes only.
• Mayor Guenther entered into the record a consumer complaint against the city of Corcoran filed
with Channel 9 News by Jerry Burke of 21 234 Meadow Circle regarding his drainage problem. In
his letter he states that he would like the City to clean the 350’ ditch. This issue has been reviewed
and denied by the city in the past. Mayor stated that a news organization holding itself out as
mediator is flawed because they implicitly hold out the threat of making the case a news story.
ADJOURNMENT
• Motion: RT/GG; all in favor – to adjourn at 10:10 PM
Submitted by:
City Administrator