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1990-01-16 CC Minutes . . . COUNCIL MINUTES JANUARY 16, 1990 The regular meeting of the Albertville City Council was called to order by Mayor Gary Schwenzfeier. Members present included Bob Braun. Don Cornelius. Donatus Vetsch and Jim Krystosek. Others present included Maureen Andrews. Lorie Villareal. Bob Miller and Kevin Mealhouse. The agenda for the evening's meeting was reviewed by the Council. Donatus Vetsch made a motion and Don Cornelius seconded it to approve the agenda. All were in favor and the motion carried. The minutes of the January 2nd Council meeting were reviewed by the Council. There were no corrections or additions. so a motion was made by Jim Krystosek to approve the minutes of January 2nd. Don Cornelius seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried. The representative from the Roger's Area Chamber of Commerce was not present at the meeting. Kevin Mealhouse was present for a discussion with the Council concerning the status of the current and past building permits. He indicated that there would not be any problems with taking over the inspections. A question was asked about the fees on inspection jobs. Kevin commented that Loren can only charge for the inspections that he actually did. He went on to say that some inspections can be combined if several inspections are needed at one location and that he will charge only for the inspection work that he does. He is responsible only for what he signs off on on the inspection card. During their discussion. the Council felt that if the City pulls in one permit, then they need to pull in all of the permits. They felt that only so much time should be given to finalize those permits that only need a final inspection. Don Cornelius made a motion stating that outstanding building permits. those that only a need a final inspection be done by Loren and the permits then turned over to the CitI by the Council meetin~ on Februarf 5. 1990. Don amended his mot on to have these f1nal inspect10ns done by February 1st after hearing that it was the general consensus of the Council that this was enough time to ~et the work completed. Bob Braun then seconded the motion. All were 1n favor and the motion carried. The Council also agreed that Loren should be contacted to turn over all permits that have not been completed and that all outstanding bills be brought up to date and turned over to the City by February 1st. . . . A motion was made by Jim Krystosek and seconded by Donatus Vetsch to contact Loren to bring all outstanding bills up to date and to turn over all permits that have not been completed by February 1st. All were in favor and the motion carried. The Council also agreed that at least a copy of the records needs to be brought in by Monday. January 22nd and turned over to Kevin at that time. Sheriff Donald Hozempa was present at the meeting. After introducing himself, Sheriff Hozempa told the Council that he would be glad to answer any questions that the City or the Council might have. Sheriff Hozem~a stated that he was 45 years old and started as a deputy with the Gounty in 1973. In 1979 he was promoted to Sergeant and 1n 1985 to Lieutenant. In August. 1989 he was appointed bi the County Board to position of Sheriff after the death of Darrell Wo ff. Sheriff Hozempa assured the Council that the level of service received when Sheriff Wolff was in office would continue as long as he is in charge. He also assured the Council that the level of communications would remain as open as they are now. A question from a Council member asked whether or not it was possible to have more Saturday and Sunday patrol, especially during the summer months? Sheriff Hozempa answered that anythi~ is possible - some things may need to be rearra~ed but that would not be too difficult. The Sheriff stated that calls for Albertville for 1989 were up by more than 100 calls. Also, being that Ostego Township now has its own hours it frees up a car for some available hours elsewhere. It is possible to combine with other communities for extra coverage. Ostego Township is on a 40 hour contract per week but a car is run all seven days. Sheriff Hozempa commented that twenty-six thousand calls come into dispatch a year and that twenty-five thousand other calls come in to be filtered out to other areas. There are three consoles in the communications center. He went on to comment that criminal damage is up allover the County. For instancel 79 break ins have occurred on lakes with fish houses being broken nto. That is up considerably. Also, littering on lakes has become a big problem. Another question asked was what about the problems out at the Wastewater Treatment Facility? Sheriff Hozempa told the Council that the deputies are now logging whenever they patrol by the facility. He agreed that it is very annoying when driving on the dikes keeps occurri~. He stated that the C1ty may indeed have to move the fence but that it may in the long run cause more expense by having to repair the fence each time the incident occurs. A Council member problem to enforce? Individual Councils have Department copies of their enforcing the law. asked if there were any ordinances that are a been asked to give the Sheriff's ordinances to be used as a "tool" in One last question asked was that when the Fire Department is called out on a call and the Sheriff's Department is also involved. should not both departments try to work together? PAGE 2 . . . Sheriff Hozempa stated that it would help if deputies would take the initiative to pitch in and help wherever they are needed. If they are not doing their jobs. then call Sheriff Hozempa immediately. He stressed that, please. do not let the problem get old but address it immediately. At this point there were no more questions and Sheriff Hozempa thanked the Council for the opportunity to address their meeting. There was no update from the Maintenance Department. There was no update from the Engineering Department. Mr. Marv Vetsch owner of the Albertville Bar and Mrs. Arlene Woods. owner of the 1~2 Club, were present to discuss the increase in liquor license fees. Mr. Vetsch stated that he felt the business owners should have been notified beforehand of the upcoming increase in the fees. He questioned whether or not the City felt that this was a common courtesy. To this. Bob Miller commented that no public hearing would need to be involved in order to allow these increases. Maureen also commented that the issue of increasing the liquor license fees was discussed at bu~et meetings and due to the lateness of the time element. the Counc1l did not even have time to think about what effect this increase would have on the business owners or that the business owners would like to be informed of the forthcoming increase. Mr. Vetsch stated that raisi~ the on sale liquor license from $1500 to $2000 was a 33% increase. He questioned why the increase all at once - why could not it have been negotiated over a 3 to 5 year span. Then it would have been put into some kind of perspective. He went on to say that being a bar owner is a tough competitive business. The City has lost one license this year already with the closing of Ronay's. The business owners were told that the license has not increased for at least eight years and it was time to review the fee. Maureen pointed out to the business owners some of the fees that other surrounding cities are charging and that Albertville was just getting themselves current. The business owners again stated that they felt that they should have been notified first of the upcoming increase so that they could have allowed for some cushion in their own budgets. A Council member argued the point that the businesses do not notify their customers when they raise their prices. To that, Mr. Vetsch said that he does not need to justify his increases and they are not as dramatic as a 33% increase and would not cause major complaints from customers. Mr. Vetsch stated that a $500 increase in one year is not reasonable and he would like to have some kind of justification. He felt that instead of seeing the 33% increaset the fee could have been raised according to what the current rate of 1nflation is. Maureen then commented that the Council had been considering a $1000 increase but then knocked it down to $500 because they felt that that was too substantial of an increase. It was then the general consensus of the Council that notifying the business owners would present no problem if the City was foreseeing a substantial increase in the liquor license fees. PAGE 3 . . . The business owners then challenged the increase in the gaming license. They felt that the increase from $30 per machine to $50 per machine is a pretty steep jump. Maureen commented that the gaming license was raised in 1986 to $30 per machine and that it was basically a Council decision to raise the fee to $50 per machine. At this point. Mr. Vetsch passed out to the members of the Council some information on court cases that involved the gaming fee. He requested that the Council read the information and then respond by giving him some kind of justification for the increase. A member of the Council asked Mr. Vetsch where did the information that was presented to the Council come from? Mr. Vetsch answered that the information came from the gaming people but that he thought it was really irrelevant to the issue. Mr. Vetsch and Mrs. Woods commented that the cities of St. Michael and Monticello do not assess a charge for having gaming machines. Why does the City of Albertville? What is reasonable and what are the guidelines used 1n determining this license and its fee? Bob Miller responded by saying that there was no disagreement with what is being said in the information. It correctly states the law. He said that cities are not required to license gam1ng machines but it is generally a good idea. A lot of cities do char~e the fees. There are, of course, those that do not. The justificat10n in this is that the potential is there for problems - especially with young people. Mr. Vetsch commented that if the license fee stays where it is now at, then he and Mrs. Woods would like to see justification for that in black and white. Mrs. Woods pointed out that some of the gaming machines are rotated every 3 to 6 months because people get burned out on the same machines and want something new. They only pay for "x" amount of locations (each bar has 5 machines). Council member Donatus Vetsch was asked who pays for the license? To this. Mr. Vetsch stated that the fee is split 50/50 with the bar owner and the gaming ~eople but it really does not matter who is paying the fee. That eart1cular fact is not the issue and is not the business of the Council s. Bob Miller commented that there are some administrative costs involved with issuing this license and probably some policing costs. too. Basically. it is a Council decision and the courts would refer to their judgement in determining whether or not the license for gaming machines can be charged. To this, Mr. Vetsch commented that he could understand some administrative costs but as far as the policing goes. he has not been seeing this done - not anytime duri~ the time that he has been a business owner in Albertville. There still needs to be some reasonable justification. A comment from Mrs. Woods concerning minors stated that. with the law change minors under the age of 18 can come into a bar without their parents to eat or to plat the ~aming machines. They just can not drink. They do not recommend m nors 1n the bar late at n1ght. however. Bob said that the costs can be combined - some administrative. some policing. He felt that a $50 fee would be sustainable in court. He cautioned the Council. however. that the City can not raise revenue this way - they can only reimburse their expenses. page 4: . . . The other alternative the Council has is if they want to reconsider the license fee. The Council agreed that they would check out some fee charges from other cities for themselves and have this information available for the next meeting. No further action was taken at this point. There was no update from the Legal Department. The income received and the bills to be paid were reviewed by the Council. Other than a question about the engineering bills, there were no other questions or corrections. Don Cornelius made a motion to approve the income received and the bills to be paid. Before there was a second to the motion. the issue of clarifying the overtime came up. The Council would like to see the Maintenance Department write down their reasons for the overtime. It was discussed and ~reed upon that Ken and Ray's overtime up to the first of the year be paid off and their overtime from the first be held until the next pay period. Lorie's overtime can be taken in time off since she does not accumulate much time other than Council meetings. Don Cornelius then amended his motion to approve the income received and the bills to be paid to include the fact that Ken and Ray's overtime be paid off up to the first of the fear and the overtime from the first be held until the next pay per1od. Lorie's overtime can be taken in time off. Donatus Vetsch seconded the motion. All were in favor and checks 10141 through 10185 were paid. Approval of the Personnel Policy was tabled until the next meeting. The Council approved the 1990 Budget next. Don Cornelius made the motion and Bob Braun seconded it to approve the 1990 Budget. All were in favor and the motion carried. A motion to approve the salaries for 1990 per the 1990 Annual Budget was made by Don Cornelius. Jim Krystosek seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried. Work meetings will be held on Tuesday. January 16th at 7:00 p.m. and on Tuesday. January 23rd at 7:00 p.m. A joint meeting with the Council and the Plannine Commission will be held on Thursday, January 18th to discuss a condit1onal use permit for NSP to relocate a power line for the MN/DOT cold weather regional test facility. A seminar of newly elected officials will be held in Bloomington on Januarf 26th. More information is available if anyone is interested in attend1ng. Gary and Maureen are scheduled to meet with the City of Hanover next Monday regarding the recycling issue. It was decided that a meeting with the garbage haulers should be done in a work meeting. Maureen gave the Council a brief update on what was happening with the storm water drainage issue. The Compilation of Statements for the months of March through October 1989 were included in the packet for the Council~s review. PAGE 5 . . . The Minnesota Association of Small Cities newsletter was included in the packet for the Council's review. There was no other business 60 a moti.on to adjourn the meeting was made by Bob Braun and seconded by Don Cornelius. All were in favor and the meeting adjourned. ~Y\CUJJillLJ~{ QvdncL"':J PAGE 6