Loading...
04/10/2006 - 00027458CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY OF FRIDLEY APRIL 10, 2006 The City Council meeting for the City of Fridley was called to order by Mayor Lund at 8:14 p.m. ROLL CALL: MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Lund Councilmember-at-Large Barnette Councilmember Billings Councilmember Wolfe Councilmember Bolkcom OTHERS PRESENT: William Burns, City Manager Fritz Knaak, City Attorney Jon Haukaas, Director of Public Works Donovan Abbott, Director of Public Safety APPROVAL OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: APPROVAL OF MINUTES: City Council Meeting of March 27, 2006 APPROVED. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Approve Change Order No. 1 to Locke Park Water Treatment Plant Improvements. William Burns, City Manager, stated the changes recommended by our contractor, Maertens- Brenny. They include the following: prefinished metal flashing, $1,265; cleaning brick, $1,533; filling holes in the building, $3,237; and caulking vertical joints, $1,816. The total cost of these items is $7,751. Staff recommends Council's approval of the change order. APPROVED. 2. Resolution in Support of an Application for a Minnesota Lawful Gambling Premise Permit for Blaine Jaycees at the Fridley Crab House Music Cafe, Located at 6161 Highway 65 N.E. (Ward 2). Dr. Burns, City Manager, stated this is a two-year permit that would run between July 1, 2006, and June 30, 2008. Staff recommends Council's approval. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 10, 2006 PAGE 2 ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2006-23. 3. Resolution in Support of an Application for a Minnesota Lawful Gambling Premise Permit for the Church of the Immaculate Conception Located at the Knights of Columbus, 6831 Highway 65 N.E. (Ward 2). Dr. Burns, City Manager, stated this is a renewal that runs from July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2008. Staff recommends Council's approval. ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2006-24. 4. Award Proposal for the Design, Installation and Purchase of Digital Video Equipment for the City Council Chambers and Control Room. Dr. Burns, City Manager, stated they advertised proposals on February 2, 2006. Six companies made site visits, and two companies submitted proposals. Since both the proposals are very similar, they are recommending the company that submitted the lowest quote. The company is Alpha Video of Edina, Minnesota, in the amount of $137,751.48. The new digital switching, recording, and editing equipment replaces analog equipment that is at least 8 years old and, in most cases, more than 15 years old. The funding for this equipment is an equipment grant that was made available by Time Warner through the negotiation of our cable franchise agreement last year. Installation of the equipment will take about one week and will occur in late May or early June. The amount of $155,000 has been budgeted for this purpose. Staff recommends Council's approval. Staff is also asking Council's approval to purchase a digital waveform vector scope for an additional $4,020. This item is used to provide technical studies for cameras and other equipment. AWARDED PROPOSAL TO ALPHA VIDEO. 5. Approve Liquor License Renewals. Dr. Burns, City Manager, stated the liquor license renewals have been reviewed for compliance with the City's food-to-liquor ratio. The Fridley Police Department has also provided data on police calls to these establishments. Having conducted these reviews, they are asking them to take a separate look at the application by Arden Properties, d/b/a Sharx. Also, since the owners of the Fridley Crab House and Music Cafe have not had their food-to-liquor ratio verified by a CPA, they are recommending their license renewal be tabled pending the submittal of the appropriate documentation. They are recommending approval of the liquor licenses of the other businesses. THIS ITEM WAS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AND PLACED ON THE REGULAR AGENDA. 6. Appointment - City Employee FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 10, 2006 PAGE 3 Dr. Burns, City Manager, staff recommends the appointment of Daniel Belair to the position of Engineering Technician II. The City is reinstating this position after going several years with a contract construction inspector. At the same time, the City is combining the operations analyst position formerly held by Bob Nordahl and the secretarial position formerly held by Char Zimmerman. APPROVED. 7. Claims (126047 - 126240). APPROVED. 8. Licenses. APPROVED. 9. Estimates. APPROVED THE FOLLOWING ESTIMATES: Shank Constructors, Inc. 3501 — 85th Avenue North Brooklyn Park, MN 55443 Commons Park Water Treatment Plant Upgrade Project No. 357 Estimate No. 6 ........................................ $175,336.00 Maertens-Brenny Construction Company 8251 Main Street N.E. Fridley, MN 55432 Locke Park Water Treatment Plant Improvements Estimate No. 1 ........................................ $ 12,350.00 ADOPTION OF AGENDA: Councilmember Bolkcom asked that Item 5 be removed. MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to approve the consent agenda as presented with the removal of Item 5. Seconded by Councilmember Wolfe. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 10, 2006 PAGE 4 ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to approve the agenda with the addition of Item 5. Seconded by Councilmember Billings. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 5. Approve Liquor License Renewals. MOTION by Councilmember Billings to approve the liquor licenses with the exception of Fridley Crab House & Music Cafe. Seconded by Councilmember Bolkcom. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. OPEN FORM (VISITORS): No items presented. PUBLIC HEARING: 1. Public Hearing on the Revocation of the On-Sale Intoxicating Liquor License and Subordinate Licenses for R.D. Properties, Inc., dba Sharx Sports Bar and Nightclub, Located at 3720 East River Road N.E. (Ward 3). MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to waive the reading of the public hearing notice and open the public hearing. Seconded by Councilmember Wolfe. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE PUBLIC HEARING OPENED AT 8:27 P.M. Brad Martinson, attorney for Sharx Sports Bar and Nightclub, approached and stated on behalf of the licensee, they have reviewed the presentation and the licensee is prepared to close the nightclub. The licensee would like to be permitted to retain the license for the sports bar and be allowed to operate the sports bar. The presentation that staff has put together is very compelling. Public safety is certainly an issue here and Mr. DeFoe has no interest in taking an adversarial role with staff, the City, or Council. He suggested that rather than go ahead with the public hearing on the revocation, the revocation hearing be continued for period of time to allow the licensee to operate the sports bar and determine whether it satisfies the concerns of the Police Department and staff. Mayor Lund said he thought they have to put into the public record the reasons for putting restrictions on the license. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 10, 2006 PAGE 5 Mr. Martinson said they were asking that the public hearing be continued for an agreed upon period of time to allow licensee to run the sports bar. If the operation of a sports bar is still not in conformity with what the City desires, then they would be back for the public hearing. They are not really asking for any additional conditions. They are simply asking that they be allowed to voluntarily close the nightclub and not open it until Mr. DeFoe has had an agreement with staff. Councilmember Billings stated he does not have a lot of background information. That is the reason for the public hearing. The fact of the matter is, however, after being on the City Council for 19 years, he has a little idea how of how City staff works. They would not be here today if there had not been what staff considers to be some serious problems. Before they respond to that and actually get into the documentation portion of the presentation, he would just like to ask the City's Public Safety Director if he thinks licensee's proposal is an acceptable alternative to the public hearing. Donovan Abbott, Director of Public Safety, stated he would not support that type of arrangement at this time, because it would be difficult for the City to monitor any type of compliance or adherence to the agreement. Councilmember Bolkcom asked if he had discussed this beforehand with Mr. Martinson. Mr. Abbott stated this is the not the first time he has heard of this. Attorney Martinson communicated similar thoughts to City Attorney Knaak on Friday. He said he had a telephone conversation with Mr. DeFoe and they discussed this option. He said the notice went out ten days prior to tonight's hearing. William Burns, City Manager, stated this is not the first time they have dealt with Sharx ownership regarding problems. There have been meetings and opportunities to propose different solutions. Resolution of the problems has not occurred. Director Abbott said they have had several communications and meetings during the past year. Fritz Knaak, City Attorney, said the City Council has considerable discretion in conducting hearings like this and they could in fact continue it. The question he has was whether they could impose an additional condition or modify the existing restrictions on a license without a hearing. He is not sure they could do that and just follow a gentleman's agreement. They have some exposure based on the fact that, although a record has not yet been opened on the public hearing, there are some public safety issues that Attorney Martinson referenced and understood from their own review of the Council packet. Knowing that and allowing the conditions to continue without some kind of restriction or reassurance or something concrete from the owner might be problematic if something happened there. Those are issues they need to be aware of. He believed that unless there is some kind of informal agreement, technically they cannot impose those conditions without some kind of a hearing. Attorney Martinson replied that if the concern is part of a record, one of the things they could do is stipulate to the admission of staff's packet. They could open the record, submit the written presentation that appears on the website and, as part of the record, he would have a written FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 10, 2006 PAGE 6 response to that. He thinks they could stipulate in public that it is doable with the licensee to impose the restrictions, and they would agree to abide by them if the restrictions are valid and they would agree that they do not have to start all over with the public hearing. They already have the record here. They are prepared to enter into a stipulation on the record. This is a public hearing, that means it is an open record, it would have the same force as a stipulation in court, as far as he can tell under the APA (Administrative Procedure Act). They can certainly stipulate in the findings and so forth and this hearing is being conducted under the APA. He did not see any reason legally why they could not create a binding, enforceable agreement. Attorney Knaak stated he has had the benefit of review of much of the information that would be presented at the public hearing tonight. Mr. Martinson is arguing that they should be stipulating original responses sight unseen. He is assuming that those responses are expressing disagreement with some of what is being said and what he expects will be stated as fact by the Public Safety Department. That might be problematic. Attorney Martinson replied it really would not make any difference if the agreement was that if they violate the terms of the stipulation, that the license gets revoked. They are proposing to stay open as a sports bar and if they continue to have the same problems, the license is revoked. Mayor Lund asked Attorney Knaak asked if this would be a problem. Attorney Knaak stated they are agreeing to stipulate to the testimony that they know is coming in. They are asking the Council to also accept into the record, their written response. Council could do that, but there might be some information that the City might wish to rebut and not want to have on the record. Mayor Lund stated he is concerned that if there is a public safety problem, there might be come liability on the City's part for not taking action. The City wants compliance, but also, a certain amount of time has to be given to them to attempt that. Councilmember Bolkcom stated she is concerned because this is not a new problem. What she has seen so far is a lot of police time and City expense already put into it, and it seems to her they would still have to continue that. She does not know if just closing the night club is enough. She could not say anything without having any discussion with the Police Department that she is okay with just closing the night club at this point. If this had happened two weeks ago and the Police Department had more time to meet with Mr. DeFoe, she would be okay with it. Attorney Martinson responded and stated Mr. Defoe and his staff did meet with the Police Department three weeks ago. The response from the City at that time was the notice of revocation which they got ten days ago. He did not mean in any way, shape or form to minimize the concerns of the Police Department. Mr. DeFoe is equally as concerned. He does not want to run a nightclub that has police scrutiny and the problems that have existed there. The sports bar is a whole different story. He would guess that hardly any of the police calls have anything to do with the sports bar. The sports bar has a charitable gambling operation that has donated approximately $1 million to Totino-Grace scholarship funds over the course of time. They donate funds to youth groups. There is a cribbage group that means there. It certainly is not the FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 10, 2006 PAGE 7 same element that appears on weekend nights at the night club. He does not think it is a stretch to say the sports bar is not going to create the issues that the nightclub does. He does not think it is a huge risk for the City to let them keep this and see how it works. Mr. DeFoe has been in this community for 12 years and it has not been without controversy, he will agree on that, but it seems that an ongoing business operation like he has there is better than having it go dark That is what they are hoping for. They do not want to run the nightclub anymore. They do not want the problems that go with the nightclub. They just want a chance to run the sports bar and, if they cannot do that to their satisfaction, then they are at their mercy. Mayor Lund asked Council how they would like to proceed. Dr. Burns stated he did not think it is a foregone conclusion that that a sports bar is going to make the big public safety problems at Sha� Nightclub go away. He thinks they need to have this hearing in order to establish whether that is true and he thinks the Public Safety Director needs to have more time to explain why that might be true. Councilmembers Wolfe and Bolkcom agreed. Councilmember Billings stated he agrees that they need to proceed. If the Chief had indicated that he thought it was an acceptable alternative, he would have given it the credence that it warranted. He does think the problems are not isolated to the nightclub and that they need to proceed. Attorney Martinson asked how they wanted him to proceed with the cross-examination. Attorney Knaak stated it was their expectation that the Public Safety Director would do his presentation and his testimony would be part of and integrated into that. Attorney Martinson would have full opportunity to cross examine. Public Safety Director ponovan Abbott was sworn in by Mayor Lund. Director Abbott began his presentation. He stated the primary concern they have is public safety. They find threats to public safety in the manner of violence, code violations, and an overall climate of disorder existing on the premises. There has been a necessity for direct police intervention to create a safe zone. This requires intensive patrols and implementation of zero tolerance enforcement efforts. Starting with their most serious concern, numerous violent incidents have occurred at Sha� over the past 15 months. Four of these incidents involved shots fired at or toward the club, staff, or patrons. Firearm-related incidents counted for 11 incidents. Assaults involving glass bottles or barware counted for 12. There were 11 assaults involving fists or hands and 2 assaults involving other weapons. There were 16 non-weapon related disturbance calls and 3 other incidents for a total of 55 criminal incidents. Again, this is over the past 15 months. For example, one incident that occurred at 2:19 a.m. on October 23, 2005, involved an assault rifle that was reported to them believed to be an AK-47 and a handgun which the unknown suspects utilized to fire towards persons in the parking lot from their position on the south side of 37th Avenue N.E. in the City of Minneapolis. There were 12 incidents of assault with glass barware--beer bottles and one wine glass. There were several felony-level assaults. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 10, 2006 PAGE 8 What determines the difference between a felony and misdemeanor-level assault in this case is basically the severity of the injury. In fact, a review of all felony-level assaults occurring or reported to Fridley Police as occurring in the City in 2005, 12.5 percent of these, or 8 out of the 64 felony-level assaults occurred at Sha�. In another specific incident they believe that Fridley police acting on information provided by the Metro Gang Strike Force on March 15, 2006, prevented a gang shooting intended to kill two rival gang members at Sha�. Police learned that Sharx staff was aware of more than 15 gang members in the establishment that evening and reported to our officers they had broken up three squirmishes between the rival gangs that evening. Minneapolis police are currently investigating the homicide of a 21-year old female shot and killed by her 19-year old male companion minutes after both left Sha� in the early morning hours of January 22, 2006. Minneapolis Police also have the case of two males shot at the corner of Marshall and Lowry four days after that, January 26, again moments after they reportedly left Sharx. Basically Sharx is a stand-alone among all of licensees in the City as far as liquor licenses in regard to violent crime. In fact they can find no other properties that would compare to the level and severity of this type of crime anywhere in the City. The Police Department is convinced that there are some fatal injuries that were only narrowly avoided on the licensed premise and in a couple of cases they believe they were by chance. The rounds have been fired--they just did not have people hit. It is their feeling it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed at Sha�. Attorney Knaak stated it is his understanding that the license holder is going to be proposing to withdraw the application and presume to cease doing business in the City. He asked Attorney Martinson if that was correct? Attorney Martinson replied, correct. Mr. Defoe is prepared to withdraw his application for renewal of the license and terminate the public hearing. Mayor Lund asked if they should continue with the public hearing. Attorney Knaak replied if in fact the effect is to result in a termination or cessation of the business of the licensee, there would be no other reason to continue the public hearing. Attorney Martinson stated Mr. DeFoe's intent is to cease doing business under the current license and not reapply. Attorney Knaak stated the effect being sought by staff would be accomplished and there would be no further reason for a public hearing. Councilmember Billings asked Attorney Martinson if his client will close the doors as of the end of business tonight and will not operate until Apri130 on the license that exists and will not be applying for renewal of the license effective May 1. Attorney Martinson replied, correct. Councilmember Billings stated should he find a buyer, he is looking to retain that opportunity to sell it. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 10, 2006 PAGE 9 Attorney Martinson replied he is certain Mr. DeFoe is not going to board the place up and let it sit there for the duration. He does not know what his current plans. He said a lot of the problems there are related to the demographics. He is just as much a victim of this as anybody else. There is an element that has taken over the operation there that does not seem to be able to be controlled, and that is not the business that he intends to run. Councilmember Billings asked Attorney Knaak if it would be appropriate to close the public hearing or continue the public hearing until the Apri124 meeting to allow them an opportunity to make sure that the actions described actually take place. Attorney Knaak said he thinks the appropriate action on the part of the City would be to continue the hearing. He would suggest that they continue the hearing until Apri124. Mayor Lund commented they have it on record that Mr. Martinson represents Mr. DeFoe and Sharx Nightclub and Sports Bar and what he is saying is Mr. DeFoe's wishes. Attorney Martinson stated he does represent Mr. DeFoe and he is authorized to make the offer on behalf of Mr. DeFoe and he swears the information he has given Council is true and accurate. MOTION by Councilmember Billings to continue the public hearing until the April 24, 2006, council meeting with a view towards reopening this hearing and immediately closing it without taking any more testimony assuming the offer is as they all understand it to be. Seconded by Councilmember Bolkcom. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to close the public hearing. Seconded by Councilmember Barnette. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, AT 9:02 P.M. MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE PUBLIC HEARING CONTINUED TO THE NEXT MEETING. OLD BUSINESS: 11. Receive Bids and Award Contract for the 2006 Miscellaneous Concrete Repair Project No. 365 (Tabled March 27, 2006) MOTION by Councilmember Wolfe to remove this item from the table. Seconded by Councilmember Barnette. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Councilmember Billings stated he just wanted to make sure the contractor was fully aware of the situation. He knew that the second low bidder has come in and rescued them in the past. It is FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 10, 2006 PAGE 10 his understanding that staff has actually had a preconstruction conference with the low bidder, and the low bidder does understand that this is not a come in one time, mobilize once and get it all done. It is his understanding that staff is confident that this person is the most qualified and is the low bidder and, therefore, they are making this recommendation. MOTION by Councilmember Billings to award the bid to Concrete Idea, Inc., for $76,000. Seconded by Councilmember Wolfe. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. NEW BUSINESS: 12. Resolution of the City of Fridley, Minnesota, Providing for the Revocation of the Liquor License for R.D. Properties, Inc. d/b/a Sharx Sports Bar & Nightclub. MOTION by Councilmember Billings to table this resolution. Seconded by Councilmember Wolfe. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 13. Informal Status Reports. Mark Schwartz, 59th Avenue and 6th Street, approached and stated he was there on the Sharx matter. He has lived in Fridley since 1991 and after the last snowstorm, a lot of the curbing had been torn up around his house. Councilmember Billings stated crews will be out this spring and be doing the work on it. The curbing gets drier and drier and it takes less of a bump to knock it out. This is something that is scheduled for reconstruction this summer. Mr. Schwartz asked how he could find out when his area will be done. Jon Haukaas, Director of Public Works, stated he believed that is in either the 2007 or 2008 project because those are the last years they would need to install concrete curb. Mayor Lund stated in the interim they do some repairs. Mr. Haukaas said they will be going out later this spring and repairing the curbs. Councilmember Bolkcom stated Anoka County Safe Kids is doing a helmet fitting in Fridley on May 2 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Police Department. Also April 28 and 29 is the City's tree planting. They only have about 12 trees left. There has been a huge response, so they will be looking at it to see if they can do it again in the fall. They are still accepting money to pay for replacing the trees in the parks that were lost to the storm. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 10, 2006 PAGE 11 ADJOURN: MOTION by Councilmember Barnette, seconded by Councilmember Wolfe, to adjourn. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:09 P.M. Respectfully submitted by, Denise M. Johnson Scott J. Lund Recording Secretary Mayor