City of St. Mary’s Point
City Council Meeting – October 2, 2007
St. Mary’s Point Web address:  http://stmaryspoint.org

PRESENT:  Mayor Jones, Councilmembers Farnham, Jacobson, Williams, and Theede
ABSENT:  None

CALL TO ORDER.
Mayor Jones called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.  The City Clerk took roll call.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE.
The Pledge was recited by everyone in attendance.

APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA.
Mayor Jones suggested that item #8- youth curfew law, be moved up on the agenda to accommodate the Deputy.  Motion by Councilmember Jacobson, seconded by Councilmember Williams to approve the Consent agenda.  Motion passed 5-0.

PUBLIC CONCERNS.
Beth and Todd Berry appeared before the Council and reported they are going forward with hiring an attorney to deal with issues related to their house.  They believe the previous owner did not properly disclose to them that there was water in the basement of that home.  She is requesting assistance from the City or FEMA.  Mayor Jones commented that the City’s primary experience with FEMA during the last flooding was to deal with public infrastructure issues, such as roads, or temporary dikes.  They didn’t get involved with homeowners in terms of reimbursement for damage.  Mrs. Berry said they are concerned the previous owner put more money into the house than what they received permits for.  Cameron Kelly, the City Attorney, suggested the Berry’s do a data practices request to see what records the City has on file.  

SHERIFF’S REPORT.
Deputy Stoffel reported that there were 8 calls for service for the month of September.  

YOUTH CURFEW LAW.
Deputy Stoffel reported that the curfew for this city for kids under the age of 15 is 10pm on weekdays & 11pm on weekends.  For kids ages 15 and 16, the curfew is 11pm on weekdays and 12am on weekends.

Following the discussion on youth in the Park after dark, Deputy Stoffel reminded the Council that if there are problems at the City Park or Beach, the non-emergency number for the Sheriff is 651-439-9381.

PLANNING COMMISSION / PLANNING.
Comp Plan Update
Mayor Jones reported that the Comp Plan team met tonight and went over the outline format that they will follow.  He did attend a meeting at Washington County where about 20 communities working on their updates shared information.   

Mayor Jones informed the Council that Sherry Broecker is their new district representative from the Met Council.  He will invite her to a future meeting.

PLANS FOR CITY IMPROVEMENTS.
City Dike
Councilmember Williams reported that on October 20th at 9am, Sentence-to-Serve will be down here to help out clear out the brush on the dike near the park.

B.)    City Hall
        Mayor Jones signed off on the painting project for the exterior of City Hall.  
        
Councilmember Williams reported that he found some tables online that look suitable to replace the current tables in the Council chambers.  He would like the other Councilmembers to look at them and decide if they like them as well.  Councilmember Theede will work with Councilmember Williams on ordering the tables.

STANDING COMMITTEES – UPDATES.
Fire District
Councilmember Willams reported that there is a bylaws change that is being made in the Joint Powers Agreement.  
 
He informed the Council that the 800 mhz system is still having problems with the City of Afton.  The City has not given approval for Washington County to build a tower that is required to make the system work down there.

The 3rd issue that Councilmember Williams reported on is that this City has the ability to have 2 members on the Fire District Board and Councilmember Williams is currently the only one.

Cable Commission
Councilmember Jacobson was unable to attend the last meeting.  They are meeting tomorrow night.

Middle St. Croix WMO
Councilmember Jacobson also attended this meeting.  

CITY STAFF REPORTS.
Building Inspector
Duane Stensland reported on the status of the current projects in the City.  

Mr. Stensland informed the Council that they need to update the code book.  He will work with the City Attorney to draft a resolution for the next meeting.

City Engineer
John Parotti reported the street patching work has been completed.


City Attorney
Cameron Kelly, informed the Council that there was a recent decision on the Haslund/DNR variance certification issue.  The DNR prevailed and the recommendation is the Commissioner of Natural Resources affirms the DNR’s decision to deny the variance.  That decision can be appealed by the Haslunds.  

The City Treasurer, Tom Niedzwiecki reported, that the City has incurred $7,000 in expenses at this time on this action.  Mayor Jones suggested they look further at the bills.  Councilmember Farnham asked that the City Attorney look over the bills and determine where the variance process ended, and where the Haslund involvement with the DNR started.  Perhaps that is where the bill could be itemized.

Mr Kelly reported that there was a question at the last meeting regarding lawns.  He informed the Council that there is a section in the City ordinances under the nuisance section on weeds and lawns higher than 1 foot in height.  If a yard is not in compliance, the City can take action to enforce it by getting it mowed and assessing the costs to the homeowner.

Mr. Kelly asked about the status of the Baglio project.  His file is closed and there is no bill outstanding.  He is unsure if the conditions were met though.  The City Clerk will review the file and see if the conditions were met.  

Mr. Kelly updated the Council regarding the issue of code enforcement for the trailer parked across from City Hall.  There was another letter sent to the owners, and they did call back to discuss it.  They agreed to stop the occupancy and Mr. Kelly informed them if there are further problems, then the next step is to have citations issued.

City Treasurer
Tom Niedzwiecki gave his financial report for the month of September, 2007.

Motion by Councilmember Williams, seconded by Councilmember Farnham to pay the bills with checks numbered 2945 through 2970, and the 8 electronic payments for a total of $14,872.21.  Motion passed 5-0.

E.)    City Clerk
        The City Clerk reported that there will be no office hours on Thursday of this week.

COUNCIL REPORTS.
Mayor
He had nothing additional to report.

Councilmembers
Councilmember Farnham
He had spoken to Rose Feehan, who recently went to the County to get her separate parcels combined.  She said it was easy to do and she brought back some of the forms that are needed to do that.  


2.    Councilmember Jacobson
She had nothing additional to report

Councilmember Williams
He reported that the Elected Officials dinner for Washington County is October 29th.
He informed the Council that Dawn Beedle, the former Mayor of St. Croix Beach, passed away.  
He also reported that Jerry Uland passed away last week and the funeral was today.

Councilmember Theede
He had nothing additional to report.

ADJOURNMENT.
Motion by Councilmember Farnham to adjourn the Council meeting at 9:01p.m.  Motion passed.



Respectfully submitted,


                                
    Donald R. Jones, Mayor                Holly A. Morley, City Clerk



St. Mary’s Point web address:  http://stmaryspoint.org