City Council Meeting 4-10-19

Well, after a brief vacation I am back in town trying to catch up.

Thank you to the other Councilors and Councilor Moody for running the previous meeting in a shockingly efficient manner. If you have any questions about what happened in that meeting, you can watch the entire meeting in 19 minutes HERE.

This meeting can be watched HERE. Please note the work that Communications Director Knight has put into making sure that the recordings contain presented materials so that they are more complete. Thank you Patrick!

Starting from the top of the Agenda, the meeting was called to order at 6:30pm with all councilors present and ready to go!

There were a number of people who spoke during the Open Forum of the meeting:

-Andrea Orest, coordinator of the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic's Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP), came before the Council to ask for the Council's support for a grant for Arrowhead Regional Development Commission (ARDC) to work to revision the mission of the Active Living Steering Committee, a group that has done a great deal of work to improve active transportation around the community in the past 8 years. After a brief discussion of the virtues of the Active Living Steering Committee, the Council moved to write a letter of support for this grant. It passed unanimously.

-Community member Micki Brazell came before the Council to bring up some items of concern for him. He started by expressing concern for the safety issues that arise due to the lack of adequate sidewalks. He spoke of different locations around the City where pedestrians are forced to walk in the street, disrupting traffic flow and endangering people. He also pointed out that overgrowth and other obstructions at corners in the City causes vehicles to pull out much farther than the actual corner, potentially causing safety issues for people driving and pedestrians. *The Council pointed Mr. Brazell to the Pedestrian Plan that is available on the City website, which should address most of his concerns regarding sidewalks and pedestrians. His concerns about corner visibility is something that each and every one of us should check out and do our part to make sure that our hedges, trees, etc, aren't blocking sight lines. Maybe some trimming is in order!
The last thing that Micki wanted to talk about was seagulls. It is his observation that the number of seagulls in the downtown area has increased dramatically over the past several years and asked if there was anything that could be done. *I have actually done some research into this and found that our "American Herring Gulls" are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 which was put in place because of the crash of bird populations due to overhunting caused by the popularity of bird feathers for clothing decoration and other uses. The Act was obviously very successful and the protections still stand. The only way that the City can get permission to interfere with gulls in any way is to prove that frightening and mechanical exclusion techniques have failed and that the concern could be addressed with other methods. I will be doing some research to see if the City could get a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allow property owners to remove nests from their properties if they do not contain eggs. We'll see what comes of that.

-Our last visitor was Kimber Wraalstad, the Administrator of North Shore Health. She informed the Council that North Shore Health's strategic planning included a desire to become more visible to the elected officials in the area, so she came to the Council meeting to inform the Council about some of the goings-on at the hospital. She reported that the hospital now has chemotherapy services available and that a handful of local residents are taking advantage of that. She also stated that she would be glad to field any questions that the Council may have for her or North Shore Health.

On to the Agenda!

The Consent Agenda had the typical three things on it and was passed unanimously after Councilor Swearingen asked for clarification about the order of "motion/second" for one of the motions recorded in the meeting minutes for the last Council meeting. The record would be checked and corrected if necessary.

The first item on the agenda was from the PUC requesting that the Council adopt a resolution in favor of a piece of legislation recently entered into the House of Representatives called the "Energy Innovation and Carbon Divident Act." This piece of legislation explains and puts into action a fee on the source of carbon intensive fuels/energy that is then given directly to citizens of the United States to defray the added cost of energy. PUC Commissioner George Wilkes then presented a slideshow to explain how the legislation would function and how the proposed "Carbon Fee and Dividend" program would play out.
*It is important to remember that the Council already approved a resolution in favor of such a carbon dividend program back in 2017, and that this would simply be a re-iteration of that resolution pointed more directly toward the actual piece of proposed legislation.
Councilors Swearingen and Schulte requested that there be some time given for them to do some additional research into the program and the Council agreed to revisit this topic in a future meeting.

The next item on the agenda was the Planning and Zoning Commission's results for the Request for Proposals put out for a housing inventory and for analysis of the City's Zoning Ordinance. The purpose of putting out this RFP was to answer the question about what the City could do to remove barriers to housing development in the City while preserving the environment of the residential zone.

The P&Z Commission received 4 responses to the RFP, all of which were found to be organizations that would be capable of doing the work. The Price range stretched from $12,660 to $19,500, and the P&Z Commission recommended the hiring of the lowest responsible bidder HKGI (Hoisington Koegler Group Inc.) to do the work. They proposed the $12,660 budget and provided a timeline of completing the work by roughly October of this year. There were a few questions from the Council on hiring this group since the Council didn't have a chance to see the proposal itself before the meeting, but the rigorous research done by the P&Z Commission suited the Council's concerns and the motion was made to hire HKGI for the work.

*You may wonder why the City is hiring out this work instead of doing it in-house. This was brought up at the City Strategic Planning retreat when housing concerns were identified as one of the top 6 priorities that the City needed to address. If the City was to do this in-house, it would require a great deal of staff time, pulling staff away from other work that still needs to be done, and it would require the City contracting with the County staff to get information anyway, so the incurred costs and staff time that we would invest into the project would likely add up to more than the amount bid by HKGI. This way the City can rely on planning professionals to gather the information, process it, and get the City useful suggestions/feedback in a timely manner so the Council can focus on taking action on their suggestions this fall/winter.

The next item on the Agenda was also an RFP, but an RFP for the City Hall/Liquor Store site. You may remember that the City put this RFP out to see if any developers would be interested in redeveloping the City Hall/Liquor Store site for commercial activity etc. The City was hoping to learn the suitability of the property for commercial development or the challenges to such.

It is fair to say that the City learned a lot. There were a number of developers that declined to provide a proposal due to concerns about: lot size (not big enough to work financially), density (some developers would need 4-5 floors to make the numbers work), flood concerns and other environmentals (such as foundation concerns--it is just beach gravel under that site), traffic and parking, but the main concern was about the financials. It seemed that it wasn't big enough to cashflow.

One developer DID submit a proposal with a few caveats. One of the caveats would be, due to the nature of the development, that the City sell the property to the developer for a "nominal amount." That amount isn't clarified and would have to be explored, but that is a bit of a bummer to hear, but the designs deserve to have a look because they provide insight into what would be financially feasible and under what conditions.

The developer provided two designs:

The first design showed a first floor that consisted of a new liquor store along broadway and office space/commercial space along 1st St. on the ground floor. The second floor would have 25 units of Workforce Housing (think studio apartments) and a lounge area with laundry. The third floor would have 14 units of lodging rental. There would be 28 parking spots included as well as a loading area for deliveries to the liquor store.

The second design showed the liquor store in its current location along 1st St. and office space along Broadway. Also on Broadway there was a pocket park (small grassy space). The second floor in this design had 18 units of workforce housing with 2 lounge areas and laundry. The third floor had 13 units of lodging with a laundry room. This plan came with 33 parking spots and a dedicated delivery area for the liquor store.

The Council had some discussion about these designs, but largely discussed what this taught the City about the property and options. A few Councilors were not too impressed with the designs, a few wondered if our RFP wasn't realistically written, a few were interested in more information about these designs.

In the end the Council decided to invite this developer to a meeting to discuss their thoughts further. The Council also suggested that the former Tomteboda property be discussed at the same time to see if there is a clear priority for where these different activities could/should be taking place. There was also a brief question about whether or not the City should re-open the RFP period for this project to see if there are more interested developers, but that was not explored.

After these conversations there was a quick piece of business: hiring a new firefighter! Thank you to Justin Rexrode for applying to be on the fire department! Your service is much appreciated. If you are thinking of being a part of the Fire Department, please speak with Fire Chief Ben Silence or stop by City Hall for more information!

Ok, after that the Council dealt with a request from a party seeking to lease the TIP portion of the City Hall building. This 640 sq. ft. section of the City Hall building is also known as the old visitor's center and the Office Outpost. The Council has had a standing offer up since the Office Outpost closed to entertain ideas for business pop-up or retail space in that part of the building and this group is the first to step forward and ask about a lease. The lease that was prepared by the City Attorney is a draft, but it holds the City responsible for very little of the operations or maintenance of the space during the lease. The estimated value for the space is $750/month, utilities included (because there is no way to meter them separately). The lessee is responsible for paying property tax on that piece of the property as well because it will be used for commercial activity.

After some questions about what the business will be selling, the Council agreed to move forward with the lease and work out some of the details that remain to be set.

It would be the hope of the Council that this serves as an effective business incubator spot while the City Hall building is still in its current state.

The final item on the agenda was a request for a license to use a public right of way on 8th Ave W. The owners have already received a variance to build a home on a substandard lot (just a little bit shy of a standard lot, but was plotted that way), but would need to use the right of way to access their property. Since this right of way, alley, has not been developed and there are no plans to develop it, the granting of a license to use the right of way isn't very controversial. The license stated clearly that the land remains public, that the owners of the license can't exclude people from using it, that the owners of the license will pay for the improvements that they make, and that if the City ever wants to make that into an alley or develop it formally, the license will expire because it will be unnecessary at that point. After asking questions about if this was handled in this manner for other properties in town (it was) and some clarification questions, the Council moved and approved the license to use the right of way.

Time for Council/Staff Reports:

Councilor Schulte reported on some positive work happening at the Park Board with Golf rates/promos being finalized. The new Course Superintendent also attended the meeting to meet people and discuss the upcoming season. There were also concerns at the Park Board level about the schedule for removing the Dog Pound and the old City Garage buildings from the Rec Park area. The Council will begin scheduling this soon. He also reported that reservations at the Rec Park are currently up 17% over last year, which points toward a likely very busy season.

Councilor Moody reported that the EDA has been discussing the County Vacation Rental Ordinance, which had its hearing the same time as the Council meeting. The Lutsen rental property is nearing completion and all of the units are rented out that are available. The homes being developed in Grand Marais continue to sell well and there will be requests going out soon to local contractors for the job of building 2 more in that area.

Councilor Kennedy reported that the PUC awarded its scholarships just before the Council meeting started. Congratulations to Reilly Wahlers, Will Surbaugh, and Greta Roth on their scholarships!

Councilor Swearingen reported on a concern from a citizen about out of order fire hydrants around town. Administrator Roth clarified that all of the hydrants can be opened, but the ones that are marked may not be able to be closed. It was brought up as a priority for the Water/Wastewater Department to look into replacing these as soon as possible.

I had several noise complaints from residents saying that there are a handful of very loud vehicles around town that tend to cruise around and, well, be very loud. This is against City ordinance and tickets can be given for this behavior. I will be following up with the sheriff to make sure that this is being enforced.
I also attended a Creative Economy Collaborative where the group reviewed the Cultural Plan that was written a few years ago through leadership from the Art Colony. The group looked through and updated things that have been done and things that have yet to be done and also things that are not on our priority list to accomplish.
Public Health and Human Services is performing a strategic planning process right now and I was able to attend their last meeting. In it they created goal areas for the department that focus on: Supporting families with young children, supporting aging adults and elders, supporting those who need behavioral care/assistance, making sure that people with substance abuse histories can get the care they need, making sure that people with needs for special services don't have obstacles to receiving the care they need, and housing. It was a very encouraging meeting and I look forward to seeing how this plays out in the future.

After that there was no more business, so the Council adjourned.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.