A part of the OACCT's Public Policy efforts for 2010 is for volunteers from the Public Policy committee attend both City and County meetings and report back on items that are of interest/concern to business.
There were several people from the public there that spoke during the public comment section. Three from homeowners that live on Maple Drive and have had problems with sewer backup and water seepage and wanted reassurance from the council that they are working on the issue. And that Maple Creek upstream has still not been cleaned up and nothing can be done until that takes place and waiting until spring would be too late to do anything about the runoff from melting snow. The city administrator indicated that there has been grant money applied for that would help pay for stop valves for the septic system and part of the installation of those valves. The city engineer also stated that an RFP will be going out in the next two weeks to hire someone to do a study on all of the lines in the city. They also indicated they would work on cleaning up the debris upstream in Maple Creek.
Snow removal from residential sidewalks was also a topic of discussion.
The consent agenda included
Approval of bills totaling 680,184.09, license renewals (tobacco, garbage hauler, taxi cabs)
Building comparison reports for 2009 and 2010
Fire Department monthly activity report (This report has 2009 in the columns instead of 2010 so I’m not sure if the totals are from 2010 or 2009. This report might be useful if they could tie expenses to the number of calls made or the number of hours each activity takes. They already have the breakdown all they need is the accounting number to track expenses. If the departments were given the authority to review the checks and breakdown the expenses by category rather than vendor you could get that information. )
The minutes of the Planning Commission included the final plat of Mayo Clinic Addition. A 65.44 acre tract of B2 community business district zoned property owned by Owatonna Clinic, Mayo Health Systems and Allina Health. City planner pointed out that the proposed frontage road was moved off from airport property and that the financing of the road has not yet been agreed upon.
West Hills Leases were renewed for Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Owatonna Today and Steele County Transitional Housing, Inc.
Action Items:
Licenses and permits include Auditing Services contract awarded to LarsonAllen, LLP. (Difference in time spent on RFP per Agency that turned in a bid. Hours for audit range from 227 to the bid winners number of hours 310. Almost 8 weeks to perform the audit.)
The changes to the Snow and Ice Control Policies and Procedures was approved. The revised manual contains the updated listing and mapping of new streets and new sections pertaining to snow and ice control on sidewalks and trails. The revised manual will be placed on the City website later this winter for easy access to citizens.
The final plat of the Mayo Clinic Addition north of 26th St NW was approved as recommended by Troy Klecker. “Staff recommends approval of this final plat provided easements are provided as recommended by OPU and City Engineering and title opinion is received and approved by the City Attorney as recommended by the Planning Commission.
Tom Shea spoke to the council regarding the approval of the access road and provided the breakdown of the payments for the access road. The clinic agreed to pay 10%, the Hospital has agreed to 10%, the new nursing facility will pay 16.7%, the county and the SCC will pay 38.7% and asked that the airport pay 24.6%.
The Final Plat of Eden Valley Development was approved along with the personnel policy and procedures manual Update.
They approved the first reading of a revised ordinance regulating peddlers, solicitors and transient merchants. Recently the city was advised that the state of MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension could not provide background checks of applicants for transient merchant’s licenses unless the city ordinance included a provision requiring such a background check and that the applicant sign an informed consent for the same. Although peddlers may be licensed, court decisions have held that a city may ot require a licensure or payment of a license fee by a solicitor who is taking orders for goods shipped from out of state as that would be in violation of the commerce clause. The revised ordinance clarifies the distinction between a peddler and solicitor and that the former is required to obtain a license and the latter is only required to register with the city.
The last item on the agenda was to approve the levy of taxes for 2011, the 2011 budget and the 2011 HRA budget which were all approved. Brad and I did get the opportunity to step forward and speak to the chambers stance on the budget. Brad stressed that we have been watching the budget process this year and we still stand by our find efficiencies and try to keep taxes steady. He also talked about the work of the city efficiency task force and the grant applied for connected directly to the work already done by the task force. He also stressed our desire to have the city increase the use of the accounting system and how important the data collection is. We relayed that we will be looking to the city to try to incorporate other budgeting tools into their process like Budgeting for Outcomes.
We did get a few questions and even one from Rick Wittrock that asked what the chambers position is on the city taking a share of the easements for the new nursing home facility. We expressed to the council that we have received more information now that we are attending county commissioner meetings and the information for the breakdown of the share the city would have to pay recently and we have not had an opportunity to form an official position on the issue yet.
The meeting adjourned with many Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday wishes from everyone.
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