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04-09-01 Worksession CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Richfield, Minnesota Special Study Session April 9, 2001 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Kirsch at 5:30 p.m. ROLL CALL Members Present:Martin Kirsch, Mayor; Susan Rosenberg; Gertrude Ulrich; John Enger; and Sue Sandahl. Staff Present:Samantha Orduno, City Manager; Bruce Palmborg, Community Development Director; Dan Scott, Public Safety Director; Betsy Christensen, Health Administrator; Cheryl Krumholz, Recording Secretary; and Corrine Thomson, City Attorney. Item # IANNUAL MEETING WITH ADVISORY BOARD OF HEALTH Advisory Board of Health members present: Sally Parsons, Katherine Breeggman and Earnestine Collins. Sally Parsons stated the Advisory Board of Health was supportive of the alcohol and tobacco compliance checks conducted by the Public Safety Department. She also discussed the following activities of the Advisory Board of Health: x Together We Stand Campaign x Tobacco Action Group x Tri-City Partners Youth Risk Behavior Work Plan x Advocacy Activities including Creating a Voice quarterly newsletter x Physical Activity and Nutrition Action Group Special Study Session Minutes-2-April 9, 2001 Council Member Ulrich suggested that local restaurants be included in the activities of the various Advisory Board of Health groups. Ms. Parsons reviewed the following 2001 goals: x Risk Behavior Endowment x Faith community participation x Increased parent involvement Council Member Enger asked what the Advisory Board of Health’s position was regarding pop machines in the schools. Ms. Parsons said the Legislature decided this was legal. The Advisory Board of Health’s Nutrition and Activity Committee is reviewing this issue as it relates to nutrition. Council Member Rosenberg asked about the level of domestic violence work. Ms. Collins said there is an emerging group to look at this issue along with Healthy Youth efforts. Health Administrator Christensen said that a City survey indicated an increase in the concern for drug and alcohol use issues and a decreased concern for domestic violence issues. Ms. Breeggman said there are currently 25 non-smoking restaurants in Richfield. Each new establishment now receives a certificate regarding being smoke-free that can be displayed. Council Member Rosenberg suggested the Advisory Board of Health be made aware of the work of the Livable Communities Team in the area of apartment issues. Ms. Parsons said she would bring this before the board. The City Council thanked the Advisory Board of Health for all their work and efforts. Item # IIMEETING WITH RICHFIELD COMMUNITY HUMAN SERVICES PLANNING COUNCIL IS CANCELED AT THEIR REQUEST City Manager Orduno said the Richfield Community Human Services Planning Council canceled their presentation because the requested amount of time to address the Council was not available tonight. Special Study Session Minutes-3-April 9, 2001 Item # IIIDISCUSSION OF CHAMPP’S COMPLIANCE ISSUES Public Safety Director Scott reviewed the status of maintenance issues in the loading dock area shared by Drug Emporium and Champps. He said he met with Lance Gray, Wood Lake Point Condominiums, on March 30 regarding their concerns. Mr. Gray said they were very satisfied with the changes. Public Safety Director Scott said the effort to monitor this area and address maintenance issues will continue. Item # IVDISCUSSION OF ORDINANCE CODE ENFORCEMENT POLICIES Health Administrator Christensen reviewed the current status of the enforcement of ordinances related to inoperable vehicles, signs on utility posts/poles, parking issues and multiple vehicles parked in front yard areas. Ms. Christensen said the sign issue is being handled by reprioritizing staff duties and partnering with the Public Works Department. Ms. Christensen said the shopping cart abandonment problem does not appear widespread and can be handled with a proactive approach. Ms. Christensen said the parking of cars in front yards may need further review and an ordinance change. She reviewed how other cities handle this issue. She reported that two specific properties on Portland Avenue that have several vehicles parked in the front of the house were checked and they are in compliance. Council Member Rosenberg asked if restrictions were for two-wheel as well as four- wheel vehicles. Council Member Enger said something needs to be done about the number of cars parked in front yards. He suggested a car cover, not a tarp, to cover collector cars. Council Member Rosenberg said we need to be careful in limiting collector cars. Public Safety Director Scott stated that if a car cover is used on a collector, it will need to be monitored so it is properly maintained and not in disrepair. Council Member Enger said collector cars could be restricted the same as utility trailers but on an appropriate surface. He said the collector car could be stored inside, too. Public Safety Director Scott said the neighbors may not like the storage of collector cars on the side or back yard. Special Study Session Minutes-4-April 9, 2001 Health Administrator Christensen said that the problem isn’t specific to collector cars, but rather just numerous cars in general. Council Member Ulrich commented on the storage of recreational vehicles. Health Administrator Christensen said there is a recreational vehicle ordinance in place but this type of storage doesn’t receive the same complaints as cars. City Manager Orduno said it is difficult to eliminate outside storage of recreational vehicles. Council Member Enger said the entire ordinance regarding storage of recreational vehicles (motor homes) should be rewritten. City Manager Orduno suggested informal neighborhood meetings to hear what problems are and to gain public support for changes. She also suggested a postcard survey included in the Your City to get a response to see how big this problem is. Council Member Ulrich mentioned parking of construction equipment vehicles concerns. Council Member Enger said these types of vehicles should be stored at a commercial site. Health Administrator Christensen explained options related to the internal administrative hearing process for handling code violations. She said it appears that in several communities, the hearing officer is a staff person outside of the department issuing the correction orders. In other cities hearing officers are drawn from a pool of qualified attorneys as hearing officers and no city employees are used. Ms. Christensen said staff’s recommendation is using a pool of attorneys as hearing officers so there is no connection with the City and decisions are made on cases in an objective manner. Public Safety Director Scott reported that he discussed the enforcement process with the City’s prosecuting attorney, Martin Costello. Mr. Costello said that an internal administrative hearing process could result in the lack of compliance which would require going to court anyway. He suggested that his office could step up the prosecuting process resulting in a formal complaint. City Manager Orduno said that an administrative hearing process could be used and if it fails, the City can demonstrate to the judge that it has been tried. City Attorney Thomson recommended that the City adopt a Charter amendment authorizing the City Council to establish the administrative hearing process by ordinance. The City Council agreed that the current enforcement process should continue, but the prosecution process should be accelerated. They also agreed that a request for the Charter Commission to consider a Charter amendment to authorize the establishment of the administrative hearing process be prepared and brought before the City Council for Special Study Session Minutes-5-April 9, 2001 their review prior to submission to the Charter Commission. They also agreed that a survey postcard be included in the Your City to get feedback from residents about the parking of vehicles issue. Staff is to prepare multiple drafts of the survey and the drafts are to be reviewed by Council Members Enger and Sandahl. Upon their approval, a final version will be published in the Your City. Community Development Director Palmborg reviewed the code compliance issues related to the seized vehicle impound lot. The parcel is zoned C-2 General Commercial. An impound lot is classified as a ‘car lot’ according to City zoning code, and requires a Conditional Use Permit (CUP). Currently, the impound lot does not have the required CUP and is therefore not in compliance with the City zoning code. However, new circumstances may result in Public Safety not having a need for this lot. Public Safety has indicated that within a four-month period or by the end of July 2001 they will have made that determination. If they terminate their use of this site, the HRA will return to its previous practice of not permitting a use to occupy the open lot area. Item #VDISCUSSION OF ENFORCEMENT OF ON-SALE LIQUOR POLICIES/COMPLIANCE CHECKS Public Safety Director Scott provided an update on the enforcement of on-sale liquor policies/compliance checks. He said a total of 34 establishments were invited to attend a March 1, 2001 meeting with Public Safety staff for the purpose of providing ideas and feedback. Twelve establishments attended that meeting. Feedback was solicited from establishments and ideas were exchanged. Informational packets from the March 1 meeting were sent to all establishments unable to attend, along with the feedback attachment. Health Administrator Christensen reviewed the feedback received from the local establishments and also the research into how other cities generally managed their liquor compliance checks. She also reviewed the track record are in other cities for the same establishments that are in Richfield. Some cities are more aggressive than others and some do little or nothing in this area. Council Member Ulrich asked how time consuming it would be to educate the servers. Public Safety Director Scott said it would need to be a coordinated effort because of the turnover in staff at the establishments. He said the cost of the server license issued by the City could be increased to help offset the additional City staff time expense. Special Study Session Minutes-6-April 9, 2001 Public Safety Director Scott said he thinks the establishments are doing a good job but, unfortunately, some have not. Public Safety Director Scott made the following suggestions on how to proceed for failure of compliance checks: x Increase the server fine x Have the server perform community service hours x The fine for the server is greater if refuse to perform customer service hours x Increase the server license fee x Conduct an educational program for the servers in conjunction with the license establishments, that will include testing at the time of application and the development of server handout information x Shorten the time frame between offenses for establishments x Consider revising the license renewal process for servers Council Member Enger said he was supportive of increasing the fines for servers and shortening the violation time between offenses. The City Council requested that these suggestions be considered for a possible ordinance amendment which should be brought back to the Council for review at a future Study Session. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned by unanimous consent at 6:56 p.m. Date Approved: Martin J. Kirsch Mayor Cheryl KrumholzSamantha Orduno Recording SecretaryCity Manager