CITY OF ST CROIX FALLS

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR COMMON COUNCIL MEETING

MAY 14, 2007, 7:00 P.M.

CITY HALL, 710 HWY 35 SOUTH

CALL TO ORDER

Mayor Brad Foss called a regular meeting of the City of St. Croix Falls Common Council to order on May 14, 2007 at 7:08 p.m. Roll call: Councilpersons Darrell Anderson, Lori Erickson, Arnie Carlson and Brian Blesi were present. Also present: Administrator Ed Emerson, Clerk Bonita Leggitt, Jeff Nussbaum of Cedar Corp, the public and the press. All joined in the salute to the flag.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Lori Erickson moved to approve the Minutes of the April 30, 2007 Regular Council Meeting, second by Darrell Anderson, voice vote, motion passed.

Lori Erickson moved to approve the Minutes of the April 30, 2007 Closed Council Meeting, second by Brian Blesi, voice vote, motion passed.

REPORTS OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS

The April 2007 Fire Dept Report was presented for Council’s information.

Police Chief Jack Rydeen presented the April 2007 Police Report.

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES

Lori Erickson: Library is starting summer reading program. Cemetery Board requests use of City’s front end loader for Cemetery clean up on Saturday.

APPROVAL OF CLAIMS

General Fund $74,165.15, Library Fund $912.97, TIF $455.21, Park & Rec $14,095.08, Water $6,729.19, Sewer $51,510.65, Debt Service $120,027.95

Lori Erickson moved to approve claims, second by Darrell Anderson, roll call vote, 4 ayes, passed.

OLD BUSINESS

Mayor Foss: spoke to Warren White, Skate Park is moving forward, trying to coordinate unloading of blocks for Skate Park with unloading of Sculpture so can use same equipment.

NEW BUSINESS

Arnie Carlson moved to take Agenda Item 8k, Discussion Regarding Barking Dogs and Wild Cats in City to the beginning of New Business, second by Lori Erickson, voice vote, motion passed.

Discussion Regarding Barking Dogs & Wild Cats in the City

The City has received complaints on barking dogs. Council discussed if, when an excessive number of complaints about a dog barking are received, can we give the dog owner the option of getting a citation or could the owner utilize an electronic bark-reducing collar to train the dog to bark less, and could the City establish a “Loan Program” for such collars. It was also noted by Mayor Foss that there are a number of wild cats running around his neighborhood, the cost to spay and/or neuter these wild cats is high, would local vets be willing to spay or neuter two wild cats for free per year?

Consider City Goals & Objectives

Councilperson noted their Goals & Objectives as follows:

Lori Erickson: Library Facility, Master Road Plan, water for the Cemetery, locating water and maintaining infrastructure for the City, WWTP membrane technology, Festival Theatre, Arts District.

Brian Blesi: Committee/Council collaboration, park improvements, establishment of Historic District.

Arnie Carlson: City web-site upgrade, attracting high-tech industry, City/Town boundary agreement and Hwy 8 growth plan, WWTP, water well, water tower, water maintenance plan, extension of Riverwalk to Interstate Park, bi-annually update of property assessments, ½% City sales tax, Library Facility, Auditorium Theatre maintenance, additional Police Officer, City Marketing Fund, green building design incentives, simplifying of City’s Alternative Energy Code.

Darrell Anderson: Water, WWTP, establishing a time frame/limit of empty buildings, completion of Louisiana Street project.

Mayor Foss: live/work development on River St, Riverwalk access to shoreline, sales tax, road plan, design standards, community forums. Next step is to consolidate goals and post in Council Room.

Consider Committee Appointments

Mayor Foss: the decision of having only city residents appointed to committees has generated a lot of comments from people who don’t think we should restrict membership to residents only.

Lori Erickson moved to rescind motion that barred non-residents from serving on the Library Board, second by Brian Blesi, voice vote, Arnie Carlson abstained, motion passed.

Lori Erickson moved to re-appoint Mary Nichols and Virginia Zoncki-Bunker to the Library Board, second by Darrell Anderson, voice vote, Arnie Carlson abstained, motion passed.

Mayor Foss recommended establishing a Water Supply Group for the purpose of monitoring, maintaining, and developing the City’s water supply and recommended the appointments of: Arnie Carlson as Council Rep, Ed Emerson, Scott Brust, Mike Bryant, and one Plan Commissioner.

Arnie Carlson moved to establish a Water Supply Group and to confirm the appointments of Arnie Carlson, Ed Emerson, Scott Brust, and Mike Bryant, with a six month review, second by Lori Erickson, roll call vote, Arnie Carlson and Lori Erickson voted aye, Brian Blesi and Darrell Anderson voted nay, tie vote, Mayor Foss vote aye to break the tie, motion passed.

Darrell Anderson moved to confirm the appointments of Sue Nelson, Karen Osterbaur, Kathy Cross, and Jeff Halverson to the Business Improvement District Board, second by Arnie Carlson, voice vote, motion passed.

Lori Erickson moved to confirm the appointment of Steve Johnson as an alternate member of the Board of Review, second by Arnie Carlson, voice vote, motion passed.

Consider Allowing for Weekly Farmers Market at Overlook Deck Area

Angie Sulivan, Leif Rona, and George Meixner, represent a group of people working to establish a Producers’ only Farmers’ Market at the Overlook Deck starting June 15^th through Oct 13^th, to be open Friday afternoons from 3pm to 6:30pm and Saturday Mornings, 9am to noon. Intent is to use wide area of sidewalk and lawn area at Overlook Park for the market, leaving most of parking lot available for customers. We are in the process of setting up by-laws for members of the market.

Lori Erickson moved to allow the Farmers’ Market on a weekly basis June through Oct with a season ending report following the close of Market, second by Brian Blesi, voice vote, motion passed.

Consider Request for Amateur Psychologist Convention on June 30^th at Overlook Deck

Woody McBride proposes to hold a third Annual Amateur Psychologist Convention at the Overlook Deck on June 30^th, there would be rock bands, folk music, and poetry from noon to 12:30 am followed by low volume/quiet performances and films from 12:30am to 2am.

Lori Erickson moved to approve the Amateur Psychologist Convention music event to be held at the Overlook Deck from noon to 12:30am and low volume events to 2am, second by Arnie Carlson, voice vote, motion passed.

Consider Request for Music at Overlook Deck June 15, 7:00pm to 9:30pm, Russ P & Jordan

Russ Peterson requested authorization to hold an amplified music event at the Overlook Deck on June 15^th from 7pm to 9:30pm. The Chamber of Commerce will schedule their music around this event.

Darrell Anderson moved to approve a music event for June 15^th from 7pm to 9:30pm, second by Arnie Carlson, voice vote, motion passed.

Consider Request for Constructing Retaining Wall on North Washington St

Neil Briggs, 316 N Washington St: retaining walls on Washington St were replaced as part of the street reconstruction project, but wall in front of my residence was not. My wall is deteriorating and looks bad in comparison to other walls. I request that the City replace may wall, I’m paying an equal amount of special assessments for the project without a new wall as my neighbors are with new walls.

It was noted that the wall at 316 N Washington St was not replaced as the previous owner was opposed to having the wall replaced during planning due to its historic nature; cost to replace now is not known.

Darrell Anderson moved to table the Request for Replacing the Retaining Wall at 316 N Washington St, second by Brian Blesi, voice vote, motion passed.

Consider Update on Louisiana St Project, Gaylord Nelson Riverwalk, and River Spirit Sculpture

Sanitary sewer has been installed up to Madison St, water lines almost up to Jefferson St. Pember will start duct work on Tuesday. There will be some additional cost for the additional erosion control required by the DNR and for replacement of faulty valves. There have been complaints about tree removal and some questions about location of a fire hydrant at the intersection of Louisiana St and Madison St. Work has begun on the Riverwalk, Trail and Sculpture will be unveiled at 5pm on July 20 during Wannigan Days.

Darrell Anderson moved to take a break, second by Lori Erickson, voice vote, motion passed.

Arnie Carlson moved to reconvene, second by Lori Erickson, voice vote, motion passed.

Consider Presentation on Destination Marketing Plan to Promote the City of St Croix Falls & River Valley

Melanie Nelson, Festival Theatre Marketing Director: new shared ads are being published in the “Rake” magazine and will be featured in the “St Croix Valley in the Summer” publication. We are creating package deals to sell on line that could potentially raise $10,000 to offset cost of advertising.

Consider Committee Recommendation for Funding the Festival Theatre Master Planning Process

Meg Luhrs and Dannette Olson, Festival Theatre: in 10 years it will be the Auditorium’s 100^th anniversary, our goal is for 300 days of programming a year by then. The Festival Theatre received 4 proposals for Master Planning and decided to go with Claybaugh Preservation Architecture. We are also investigating Kresge Foundation’s Green Building Planning Grant. Scenario A for Master Planning is based upon no outside funding and covers the basics needed for planning at a cost of $51,760. Scenario B for Master Planning is based upon receiving Kresge support for Green Building Initiative and includes additional research for sustainable building, the cost to the City in this scenario would by $46,260. The application for the Kresge Grant requires that funding sources be listed, we request that the City commit funds to the planning process.

Darrell Anderson moved to approve funding Master Planning for the Theatre building for a cost not to exceed $55,000 utilizing interest income, second by Brian Blesi, roll call vote, 4 ayes, motion passed.

Consider Awarding BID for Painting City Crosswalks

The bid for coloring the imprinted brick design crosswalks came in higher than budgeted for.

Lori Erickson moved to approve the bid of $9,780 for painting of crosswalks, second by Brian Blesi, roll call vote, 4ayes, motion passed.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Arnie Carlson: people want to have Comments at beginning of agenda so they don’t have to sit through entire meeting. Discussion time for agenda items is limited, can we discuss at one meeting and take action at the next?

Ed Emerson: Public Comments is at end of agenda so that Council can attend to business first. Business item are generally discussed at Committee level before forwarding to Council, and can be tabled and referred back to Committee.

Brian Blesi requested report on values of property at intersection of Washington and Louisiana St.

ADJOURNMENT

Lori Erickson moved to adjourn, second by Darrell Anderson, voice vote, motion passed. 10:45 pm.

Brad Foss, Mayor Bonita Leggitt, City Clerk