November 17, 2014 Council Meeting
CITY OF SPRING PARK CITY COUNCIL MINUTES NOVEMBER 17, 2014 – 7:30 PM SPRING PARK CITY HALL |
- CALL TO ORDER – Mayor Reinhardt called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
- ROLL CALL – Sippel, Williamson, Bren, Hughes, Reinhardt
- INTRODUCTIONS – Reinhardt introduced the council and staff to the public. Administrator Tolsma, Clerk Lewin, Attorney Beck, Chief Correy Farniok.
- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
- ADOPT AGENDA – Williamson makes a motion and Hughes seconds to adopt the agenda. All votes ayes, motion carries.
- ADOPT CONSENT AGENDA – Sippel makes a motion and Bren seconds to adopt the consent agenda. All votes ayes, motion carries.
- City Council Regular Meeting Minutes From November 10, 2014
- Administration Committee Minutes From November 12, 2014
- PUBLIC FORUM – No one.
- PRESENTATIONS & GUEST SPEAKERS - None.
- PETITIONS, REQUESTS & APPLICATIONS None.
- ORDINANCES & RESOLUTIONS -
- Ordinance 14-03: Social Host Ordinance –
Reinhardt said the council has discussed this at previous work sessions and the police chief will give a summary. Farniok said police commissions have been proposing this social host ordinance to the various communities. He said this would target individuals hosting a party knowingly supplying alcohol to underage. Farniok said charges are difficult to prove without a host ordinance regarding who purchased the alcohol. He said the ordinance would target those individuals allowing a party knowing underage individuals are consuming alcohol on the premises.
Reinhardt said there is a redline and clean copy. Sippel said there seem to be a lot more changes than what was previously discussed. Beck said the redline copy incorporates the changes discussed a year ago, plus the more recent discussion. Williamson said he’s glad to see an ordinance that has two parts, one being findings and purposes and the other specific. He said under findings and purposes on the top of page two, the last clause, "…regardless of the person hosting the …or was present. He said he is reluctant to hold responsible a home owner when they’re not present and had no idea what was going on. Farniok said an investigation is done to determine and to go after criminally those that knowingly provided and took no actions to prevent under-aged alcohol from being consumed. Hughes asked about number 7, the term dock, boat moored at a dock and he wonders about saying watercraft as there might be other types, such as a sailboat. Farniok said he has no problem with labeling this as watercraft.
Reinhardt asked if other communities are looking at this and Farniok said Minnetonka Beach is looking at this as well. Reinhardt asked the council their feelings. Hughes said he is all for this and thinks it could be adopted and changes could be made later, if necessary. Williamson said he also likes considering and adopting this now when there aren’t flagrant violations weighing on the PD. He said he thinks it’s best to pass an ordinance when things are calm and thoughtfully weighed. Hughes said under the word “parent” he wonders about natural and adopted, biological or adopted. Hughes suggests biological should be changed from natural. Williamson thinks natural is a little broader.
Beck said the council should look at the prohibitive act as the person hosting a party. She said they are not looking to regulate what goes on in anyone’s home and she added there is an exception for religious observances.
Sippel said he would like to look for a future effective date so there is time for this to be announced. He wonders about welcoming public comments and feedback prior to implementation. Beck said this can be done. Bren makes a motion to pass Resolution 14- 03 Social Host Ordinance with an effective date of January 1, 2015. Williamson seconds. Beck said regarding the effective date and covering the New Year’s Eve’s celebration, it should maybe become effective sooner. Bren amends the motion to show an effective date of Monday, December 29th, 2014 and Williamson agrees as the seconder. All votes ayes, motion carries. Hughes asked if this will be published and Tolsma confirmed. Hughes wondered about asking for public comments or feedback as well. Tolsma said he’ll talk with Laurie at The Laker and something will be posted on the website. Sippel asked about the full text being published and Tolsma said a summary can be done but the council has to approve a summary ordinance thereby delaying this. Williamson said he thinks it’s short enough where it could be published in its entirety. Reinhardt thinks the ordinance should be on the website too.
Farniok has a Police year-end report too. He said when looking at response times, priority one calls are lights and sirens to medicals, crimes in progress, etc. Farniok said it’s broken out into minutes. He said for Spring Park there have been 324 with response times under 3.5 minutes. Farniok shows a y-t-d with the prior year and it is consistent. He said there was a slight increase on response time. He said they have assigned cars to patrol certain areas in order to have coverage. Farniok said in January through May, there is a snapshot of what happened in the first part of the year and its typically a slower time of the year. He said as far as thefts, it’s theft from vehicles and some thefts of vehicles. He said medicals are illustrated and it’s a lot from Pres Homes. He said they have a lot of traffic related calls and have issued over 2000 citations.
Farniok said there is a Facebook page and the social host ordinance can be posted there as well. He said they’ve hosted two child seat safety events. He said child safety seats inspections can also be scheduled by appointment too. Orono PD has two resource officers in the schools. He said Orono PD are mentors to high school students and they are members of the Orono Rotary and the Westonka Chamber and Commerce. Farniok said they have two officers on the drug task force and there was $1.7 million in street value seized. Williamson asks for a printed copy of Farniok’s presentation.
- REPORTS OF OFFICERS & COMMITTEES
- Mayor and Council –
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Reinhardt said she wants to let the public know the council is considering bonding sometime in January and it will be mostly for projects already passed such as streetlights, lift stations, stormwater and potential road projects.
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Williamson said the LMCC meeting has started to organize the new structure under the new JPA, establishing new by-laws and dealing with changes in personnel and future high definition. Williamson said Sippel could still be appointed as a resident representative on the high definition committee. Williamson thinks Sippel is a key, valuable asset. Williamson said he has an accurate schedule as in the past there have been some inaccuracies to the meeting schedule.
- City Administrator - nothing.
- City Engineer - nothing
- City Attorney
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Anticipated Council Vacancy –
Beck said because of Williamson’s recent win of the mayoral seat, she has prepared a memo answering some questions regarding his replacement. Reinhardt asked for a brief summary. Beck said there cannot be one person that holds both seats as council member and mayor. She said Williamson will have to resign his seat as council member, typically in January. Beck said a written resignation has to be submitted and the council accepts the resignation and designates the vacancy be filled. She said the resignation hinges on when the resignation is submitted. She said if it’s less than two years, a special election does not need to be held and the vacancy can be filled by appointment. She said if there is a tie vote, the mayor can choose. Reinhardt said she is looking for direction to staff. Sippel asked Williamson if he’s submitted an official resignation yet and Williamson said he questions whether the resignation is necessary as the very act of taking an oath of office is a constructive resignation. He said people secede succeed to higher offices all the time. He said there will be a vacancy on the council and it’s perfectly fine to ask people who would be interested to get information out about the availability of an office for council member.
Utility Superintendent
- UPCOMING MEETINGS & TRAINING – Hughes said there is a fire commission meeting on Wednesday the 19th.
- November 24 – City Council Work Session – 7:00 PM (Tree Lighting @ 6:30 PM)
- November 26 – LMCD – 7:00 PM
- December 1 – City Council Regular Meeting – 7:30 PM
- UNFINISHED BUSINESS – None.
- NEW BUSINESS & COMMUNICATION
- Bills & Payroll – Sippel moves to pay the bills and Hughes seconds. All votes ayes, motion carries. Reinhardt said she wants to publically recognize the election judges and thank them for all their hard work.
- MISCELLANEOUS (Information Only)
- Mound Fire Department Press Release
- October Fire Department Report
- ADJOURNMENT – Hughes makes a motion and Bren seconds to adjourn the meeting at 8:18 p.m. All votes ayes, motion carries.
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Wendy Lewin, City Clerk
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Dan Tolsma, Administrator