CITY OF NOWTHEN

CITY COUNCIL MEETING

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2015 @ 7:00 PM

The Nowthen City Council held its Regular City Council Meeting on Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 7:00 PM, at the Nowthen City Hall, 19800 Nowthen Blvd NW, Nowthen, Minnesota.

Present: Mayor Jeff Pilon

Councilmember Jim Scheffler

Councilmember Paul Reighard

Councilmember Randy Bettinger

Councilmember Mary Rainville

Others: Lt. Wayne Heath

Approve/amend the meeting agenda – Pilon added item 7.e. Authorization for advanced action. Pilon made a motion to approve the amended agenda; Bettinger seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

1). Sheriff Update: - Sheriff James Stuart introduced some of the deputies that patrol Nowthen. Lt. Wayne Heath provided an update of calls for Sheriff service for the month of January 2015.

2). Floor Items: - Judy Herrala of 22730 Waco Street NW stated that she has been reading that people are upset that the Special Meeting on December 29, 2014 was not recorded. She has an audio recording to that meeting that she would like to give to the Council.

Clayton Connelly of 9030 184th Ave NW, stated that he was here at the January 13, 2015 meeting and also made a call to the City Clerk to be added to the agenda to discuss the deaf child signage by his house. LaDoucer stated that she did discuss this with Mr. Connelly and the Maintenance Supervisor. The signs have been ordered and will be put up.

Dale Ames of 22176 Sugar Bush Road has come before the City Council tonight regarding the newspaper that they will be voting on tonight. In his opinion, he looked at both papers that are being considered, and the Anoka Record overall is where we could have the most coverage for the City. Not only the coverage, but it is free and on the internet. A number of years ago, they used to have the Elk River Star as the official newspaper.

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He doesn’t know why it was ever changed, because they had a lot better coverage with the Elk River Star. Ames is very disappointed with the Anoka paper; because they hardly ever cover anything about Nowthen, except for the legal section. When you go through all the legal notices, it takes a rocket scientist to find Nowthen, because there are so many legal notices. It is really had to find the legal notices in the Anoka Union. Ames is appealing to the Council and letting them know what he thinks. He spoke to several other people and they told him the same thing, that they are disappointed with the Anoka Union.

3). Engineer’s Report -

a)  MS4 Reporting Requirements – Rainville made a motion to table the MS4 reporting requirements until they can get a full report of costs associated with doing the MS4 reporting; Pilon seconded. Scheffler opposed. Four in favor. Motion carried. Rainville also wanted to know what part of this can be done by internal staff. Rainville made a motion to have internal staff provide information as to if they can prepare any of the report themselves; Pilon seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

b)  Structure Setbacks from Wetlands – Rainville made a motion to have the internal staff do the research of the surrounding communities and obtain their setback from the wetlands; Reighard seconded. Scheffler asked if this could be passed onto P&Z for review and discussion. Rainville said that the initial investigation can be done by internal staff and then it could go to P&Z, then Council, for discussion; All in favor; motion carried.

4). Sugar Hill Regional Trail Master Plan – February 13th Final Date to submit comments.

5). Adopt Resolution 2015-01 – A Resolution Making Council Appointments – Pilon stated that he would like to divide the resolution and go line by line for each appointment.

Acting Mayor – Pilon made a motion to appoint Mary Rainville as acting Mayor; Reighard seconded. Four in favor; Bettinger seconded. Motion carried.

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City Clerk - Pilon made a motion to appoint Corrie LaDoucer as City Clerk; Rainville seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

Building Official – Rainville made a motion to appoint City of St. Francis/Andy Schreder as Building Official; Scheffler seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

City Planner – Rainville made a motion to appoint The Planning Co./ Liz; Stockman as the City Planner; Reighard seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

Planning Commission Liaison - Scheffler made a motion to appoint Randy Bettinger as the liaison for the Planning Commission; Reighard seconded. Rainville stated that for the last couple of years they had two council representatives on the commission and she would ask that the Council continue with the two Council members. She would ask to add Jeff Pilon’s name as a second member. Three in favor of Scheffler’s motion; Rainville and Pilon opposed. Motion carried.

Rainville made a motion to have two City Council representatives on the Planning and Zoning Commission; Pilon seconded. Bettinger thinks this discussion should be part of the discussion of appointments to the Commission and Committees. Rainville withdrew her motion.

Park and Rec. Committee Liaison – Rainville made a motion to appoint Paul Reighard as the Park and Rec. Committee Liaison; Bettinger seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

Road and Bridge Committee Liaison Pilon – Scheffler made a motion to appoint Mary Rainville as Road and Bridge Committee Liaison; Pilon seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

Architectural Review Committee – Rainville made a motion to move this committee under the resolution of Committee Assignments; Pilon seconded. Rainville stated that back in 2004 there were 4 members on this committee. If the Council wants to be consistent with the other committees, they should consider appointing only 5 members. All in favor; motion carried.

Recycling Coordinator – Bettinger made a motion to appoint Jim Scheffler as Recycling Coordinator; Reighard seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

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County Fire Protection Council – Scheffler made a motion to appoint Jeff Pilon and Paul Reighard to the Anoka County Fire Protection Council; Rainville seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

Personnel Committee – Rainville made a motion to table the Personnel Committee until the Council has further discussion about the responsibilities; Pilon seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

Anoka Co. Hwy Dept. Representative – Reighard made a motion to appoint Randy Bettinger as the Anoka Co. Hwy Dept. Representative; Scheffler seconded. Rainville wanted to make sure there was not conflict of interest. LaDoucer stated that there’s no conflict. All in favor; motion carried.

Emergency Management Director – Rainville made a motion to appoint Bart Hayft, as the Emergency Management Director and Corrie LaDoucer, as an alternate; Scheffler seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

Watershed Representative – Rainville made a motion to continue with Malcom Vinger and table to open position until the Council has an opportunity to discuss the position further; Bettinger seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

Community Development Representative – Rainville made a motion to table the appointment until they have a time to provide roles and responsibility regarding this position; Reighard seconded. Rainville asked that staff continue their search of the role and responsibility and to research what other communities have. All in favor; motion carried.

Fire Board Representatives - Rainville made a motion to appoint Jeff Pilon and Paul Reighard as the Fire Board Representatives; Scheffler seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

Emergency Contacts – Reighard made a motion to appoint Joe Glaze and Jeff Pilon as the Emergency Contacts; Rainville seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

Weed Inspector – Mayor Jeff Pilon appointed by statute

City Prosecuting Attorney - Rainville made a motion to appoint Smith and Glaser as the Prosecuting Attorney; Bettinger seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

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City Civil Attorney – Rainville made a motion to appoint Couri and Ruppe as the City Civil Attorney; Scheffler seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

City Engineer – Rainville made a motion to appoint Hakanson Anderson as the City Engineer; Reighard seconded. All in favor; motion carried.

Animal Control Officer – Scheffler made a motion to appoint Jill Huston of Dover Kennel as the Animal Control Officer; Bettinger seconded. All in favor motion carried.

Official Newspaper – Rainville made a motion to appoint the Anoka Record as the Official Newspaper; Pilon seconded. Rainville said that there is controversy over this. Nowthen has been with the Anoka Union for quite some time. By going with the Anoka County Record, it allows the City to see a cost savings with the initial bid that was submitted by the Record. It allows not only the residents, but the City itself to save money by the difference in the cost of the publications. In her mind, the Council has to separate whether this is a community newspaper vs. another newspaper. We are looking at two newspapers that meet the same criteria.

Rainville stated that this afternoon the City did get an additional updated bid from the Anoka County Record, which they are offering to do the publishing for a year at no cost to the City. There would be a savings of about $3,500. She thinks it is important to look at those savings and go with the Record.

Pilon thinks that the understanding is that there would be no cost with publications; and if the numbers are accurate, of paying approximately $3,500 for publications last year. Of that $2,500 was recoverable and $1,000 was out of the General Fund. Reighard said that there were some costs of publications last year associated with elections. He said that the $3,500 is probably high, based on elections. Pilon said that it is probably based on other activities as well. In some years, there have been several ordinance publications.

Pilon does think that the point made is that they are separating it from a community newspaper and an official publication for legal notices. He stated that at the League of MN Cities Conference, the League and other people are lobbying with State Legislature to make the hard copy of the publications optional and have electronic publications notifications, an option for the future.

We are really talking about getting the information in a legal public paper.

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If the City can do that at no cost to the residents, it does seem like a prudent choice.

Pilon said that the separation of sports and entertainment and a variety of other information, the key thing that they are talking about is the section of the paper that does public notices. Right now the opportunity before us is to have no cost to the Nowthen residents and placing an ad in our newsletters. If they are looking at the benefit of the residents and not the support of one papers opinion or style over another, it would be a reasonable option for the residents of Nowthen. We are not endorsing the editorial content one way or another.

Bettinger stated that he has read many articles, weeks back, from the Anoka Record and he doesn’t like the content that it is there. It is a negative paper. He didn’t even know the paper existed 6 weeks ago. He doesn’t even think that a majority of citizens know to look there for legal publications. There were a couple of articles in the Anoka Record that made Nowthen look like a bunch of hicks. The person who wrote the last article didn’t have their facts straight. It stated that at the last meeting Bettinger handed out a letter, which was not true. The Record doesn’t even do retractions; you have to write an editorial. Bettinger doesn’t think that is the way to do business and it doesn’t reflect very well in our community.

Rainville stated that she understands Bettinger’s reluctance. She herself does not agree with a lot of the editorials that are in the Anoka Record. She was also contacted by several people that said they don’t like the content of the Anoka Record. Rainville stated that her response is not what is being published, but at the fact that they are two official newspapers that fit the legal requirements to put our legal notices in. The City would not be accepting or endorsing anything else that is in the Anoka Record. We would just be publicizing the legal notices. As far as residents having a hard time finding the legal notices, she was hard pressed at even finding residents that look for legal notices. Unless the residents have something in front of the Council, people don’t look for the legal notices. Rainville doesn’t even know what size audience looks at the legal notices where they are published now. She thinks that this is an opportunity to save tax payers dollars by going with the Anoka Record.

Rainville stated that the Anoka Union Herald offered to also place the legal articles in the Elk River Star for free. This would increase the number of residents who would get the notices. If people aren’t looking for the legal notices, it doesn’t make a different that we are getting additional area. Going with the Anoka Record gives us the opportunity to save money.