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CCM 04/24/2017 CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY OF FRIDLEY APRIL 24, 2017 The City Council meeting for the City of Fridley was called to order by Mayor Lund at 7:02 p.m. ROLL CALL: MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Lund Councilmember Barnette Councilmember Varichak Councilmember Saefke Councilmember Bolkcom OTHERS PRESENT: Wally Wysopal, City Manager Darcy Erickson, City Attorney Scott Hickok, Community Development Director James Kosluchar, Public Works Director Shelly Peterson, Finance Director Ellie Skelton, Touchstone Mental Health Dr. Khu Tou, Touchstone Mental Health Kathy Smith, 7350 Melody Drive Ken McConkey, Fridley resident Amy Denz, Wenck PROCLAMATION: Poppy Month – May, 2017 PRESENTATION: Touchstone Mental Health: New Residential Program on Unity Campus Ellie Skelton, Executive Director, and Dr. Khu Tou, made a presentation on Touchstone Mental Health Services. Councilmember Barnette asked if they dealt with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Ms. Skelton replied not often. They do some consulting with nursing homes because a lot of times the symptoms are similar in terms of some thought disorder pieces. There are some differences in terms of aging related to dementia and thought disorders related to schizophrenia. They typically work with care providers of Minnesota and the aging community. If they have someone experiencing dementia they typically work with one of their partners for those services. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 2 Councilmember Saefke stated he thinks one of the main concerns citizens would have is they do not accept people with a violent history or psychopaths or anybody who would create problems for neighbors. Everyone has had problems or has known someone who has needed help psychiatrically. There has always been a stigma with that and there really should not be. Ms. Skelton stated sometimes symptoms do come out in agitation and irritability. Those are common symptoms that they see, and they certainly work with people around those symptoms; but typically, it is more uncomfortable for the individual experiencing those symptoms than for the people around them. Mayor Lund asked if there are any restrictions on if the person has a criminal background or a tendency for violence that has resulted in criminal activity. Ms. Skelton replied, what the State of Minnesota has done for folks who have received sentences based on activity related to their mental illness, is they actually get categorized as “MI and D (Mentally Ill and Dangerous)” and they have a forensic team. Folks who have that classification are actually very highly monitored. A lot of folks are at St. Peter or, if they are in the community, they are monitored in terms of where they are at, who they are working with. They typically do not accept folks who meet that classification. There are some specialized programs in town with people having that diagnosis. Mayor Lund asked City staff, in going into this endeavor has there been any action by the Council or the need for action for Touchstone to be able to do this, such as a special use permit, a zoning restriction or anything like that. Scott Hickok, Community Development Director, replied they have had a number of discussions with the folks at Touchstone. They are very comfortable this fits within the spectrum of care that is provided at the hospital. There is a special use permit for the campus where this would be considered under that umbrella. Mayor Lund asked so that special use permit always carries with the property and it can change with the renter, in this case, Touchstone. Mr. Hickok replied that is correct. Ms. Skelton stated they are also very fortunate that many of their current Touchstone employees actually live in Fridley. They are opening these opportunities up currently for their internal employees first. Mayor Lund asked who people could contact if they were interested. Ms. Skelton replied they have their e-mails and addresses, Dr. Tou and her are both available to talk or come out. They are going to be having a community meeting on May 16 that is for anyone in the neighborhood who would like to come and talk to them. She believed it was at 7 p.m. at the Unity campus. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 3 Councilmember Bolkcom asked how they were reaching out to the neighborhood. She knows there have been some concerns expressed and some letters. A lot of times this stuff happens after the fact. Ms. Skelton replied they did send out letters within four miles to every residential address and did publish the date and time of the community meeting. They will be having open houses, and job fairs. It is a community partnership moving forward. They want to be part of the community. They are also going to reach out to some of the local churches. In Bloomington the nearby church has been very supportive in both welcoming their tenants to be parishioners and local AA and NA groups have been really great as well and welcoming Touchstone clients and really being there for their clients. They will be continuing the community build from now and for the next ten years and hopefully on. They never plan to close communication. If something happens in four months they could have another community meeting. They are always welcome to address any problem that may come up. Councilmember Bolkcom asked whether Touchstone does any training for the community itself to deal with mental health issues. Do they have any training for police officers? Ms. Skelton replied they partner with the Crisis Prevention Institute in Minnesota. It is also called the Barbara Schneider Foundation, and they have a really great training for police. She did forward some information, and they are going to connect on that as well. The other training that they find very helpful is a suicide prevention training called QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer). They would be happy to bring any of those resources and do them in partnership with the City or County. Part of their mission is to make sure there is public engagement around mental health awareness and how they all respond individually. Dr. Tou stated she would also add that at their other facilities they have relationships with the police and fire departments because they do want to keep everybody safe, not just the community but their residents as well. They have relationships with them so if they have a missing person, or need to transport someone to the hospital, they are aware. They plan on doing the same thing in Fridley--develop a relationship with the Fridley Police and Fire Department. Councilmember Bolkcom asked if they could share their address in Minneapolis. th Ms. Skelton replied, yes, it is in the Steward Neighborhood, 2516 East 25 Street. They have been there about 25 years. Councilmember Barnette asked if a person is a resident in their program, do they have the freedom to come and go as they wish or are they locked in. Dr. Tou replied, they are not a locked facility; but they do keep their doors locked and they are residents. It is their home and they have a key where they can go in and out because they want them to go to their appointments, have family members and case managers come and meet them. They do have that because it is a voluntary program. However, they do have 24-hour staff there. They are required to have at minimum two staff members present at any given time. So they have a curfew and, when people enter the program, they ask them to not leave the facility within FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 4 the first 24 hours so they can fully assess them and develop a good plan. Then they earn passes, i.e., a two hour-pass where they can go and do things. It gradually goes up from there. Councilmember Bolkcom asked had to sign out when they left and when they were expected to be back. Dr. Tou replied, yes. It is very structured. They have to sign out. As soon as they come in, Touchstone collects emergency information as to how they can reach them if they do not see them at a certain time and who else they can call if they cannot reach them. Councilmember Saefke asked if they had volunteer opportunities. Ms. Skelton replied they do. They have many opportunities for folks. Kathy Smith , 7350 Melody Drive, stated she lives very close to Unity Hospital which has changed and is now a mental health campus--very similar to replacing the old Anoka State Hospital. It is no longer a community hospital. They received a notice on Saturday and she was very surprised because she had put a ton of money into her house, she is doing landscaping, and now she finds out that the old nursing home (and there is probably more need for nursing home and elder care than there is for mental health) is being turned into this center. According to their website it is for adults with a serious mental health diagnosis who will be struggling with substance abuse disorders. Ms. Smith stated she has no problem with doing some kind of residential treatment center, but they are plopping it right into the community. Her property value will probably go down as Unity Hospital turns into a mental health facility, and now they have this facility. Ms. Smith stated she is not happy. She was just notified of this on Saturday, and she is sure her neighbors will not be happy because they are so close to that. If anyone goes out and they have substance abuse problems, and they decide they want to use again, they can walk right into the neighborhood, they can do anything they want to do. It is not a lock down; and the representative made a comment there are two staff members and if something happens they can revisit it. Ms. Smith stated whoever signed the special use permit, they did not talk to the residents. She is not happy. Mayor Lund said they did not address her concern adequately. He suggested she attend Touchstone’s meeting on May 12. Ms. Smith asked what she could do. She tried to find out what her rights are as a citizen who is supporting Unity Hospital through her tax dollars. What rights do they have for Allina to decide what they are going to do with their buildings? She is trying to find that out. It appears they have no rights, and Allina can do whatever they want, like leasing this building out for ten years, not informing anyone in the community, including the City, that they are choosing to do this. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 5 Mayor Lund replied, well, their rights as citizens and the Council is to, if they find there is a reason not to issue a change in zoning for which there has not been one. He asked how long the special use permit has been in place. Scott Hickok, Community Development Director, replied he believed the 1970s. Mayor Lund said it is zoned correctly. Their business is a legal business. They are not doing anything illegal. They have rights, too, as to having a business; and he thinks the need is quite great. Ms. Smith stated she thinks there is a need to support the elderly people in the community, too. The question is has the Council looked at the crime rate since Unity Hospital has changed their campus to be more mental health? Last Tuesday she went to a Health Partners meeting at the Unity Educational Building, and the presenter from Health Partners said the police with the dogs were there, and they put someone in handcuffs. Is crime going up in the area because of how the hospital is operating? Ms. Smith stated she just put a ton of money into her house, and she should have just sold and moved into another community that was not as close to an Allina system that can do whatever they want to do. Mayor Lund stated she still has the very nice benefit of having a full hospital. The only thing they have taken away from Unity Hospital is the baby unit. Ms. Smith stated she supports a team of nurse anesthetists. They are going to have a very small emergency room. Their same day surgery center is minimizing and is moving to Mercy. It is going to have a mental health focus. Councilmember Barnette read for Ms. Smith, “Unity campus will remain committed to working closely with the community it serves to provide the healthcare needs of the area well into the future. The hospital and staff will continue to provide a variety of health services on the campus, including emergency services, inpatient, outpatient medical and surgical care and outpatient services, such as labs, therapy, and radiology.” Ms. Smith stated they are making it smaller. The campus is changing. Councilmember Barnette stated as one of the largest hospitals in the Twin Cities area, the Unity campus serves more than 150,000 patients yearly. Ms. Smith stated if you go into Unity Hospital right now you will see that it has definitely changed. Councilmember Saefke said the building he is talking about, half of it was for addiction and the other half was for mental illness; and it had been for quite a while, at least 12, 15 years - ever since it was an old folks home. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 6 Ms. Smith replied, but before then it was an old folks home and Unity ran it. She knows all about Unity as her dad was on the Unity board for years and years. He was one of the founders of the hospital. What bothers her as a citizen is this was just dumped on them. It was not Unity saying we are going to lease this building to someone with severe mental illnesses. They are right; everyone has a family member that has a severe mental illness. She gets that but this was just dropped on them, and she probably would not have put the money into her home knowing this. Councilmember Saefke stated to Ms. Smith, if her next door neighbor rented out their home, she would not have a say in who they rented it to, would she? Ms. Smith replied, she would have to look at the laws about renting a house and what her rights were to have a renter next to her; and she thinks there are some rules around that. Councilmember Saefke replied, he does not think so. Mayor Lund replied they would have to have a license to rent. Councilmember Saefke said Fridley is home to the largest Alcoholics Anonymous group in the entire state. He lives in that neighborhood and it has not influenced his property values one bit. Ms. Smith replied,the AA group is one group and they have moved buildings, and she is aware of that. She has lived in Fridley a long time. Her great-grandfather was one of the first residents. Mayor Lund stated it is a little soon but he is going to ask the Police Department about crime rates in that neighborhood. Councilmember Bolkcom suggested to Ms. Smith she go out to one of Touchstone’s other facilities and see what it is like. APPROVAL OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: APPROVAL OF MINUTES: City Council Meeting of March 27, 2017 APPROVED. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Resolution Requesting a Variance from State-Aid Rule 8820.280, Subpart 2A, for Project ST2016-01 (MnDOT SAP 127-050-021). Wally Wysopal , City Manager, stated this is to allow for a retroactive project start date for the 2016 Street Reconstruction Project. This allows the City to go backwards to get the funding for that project from State Aid. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 7 THIS ITEM WAS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AND PLACED ON THE REGULAR AGENDA. st 2. Receive Bids and Award Contract for 71 Avenue Water Main Project No. 513 (Ward 1). Mr. Wysopal stated this is to award the contract to Land Pride Construction in the amount $243,026.50. APPROVED. 3. Approve Joint Powers Agreement between the City of Fridley and Anoka County for a Traffic Signal Reconstruction at County State Aid Highway 1 (East River Road) and County State Aid Highway 6 (Mississippi Street) (Ward 3). Mr. Wysopal stated the City’s proportional share is projected to be $193,000 based on the engineer’s estimate; and it is determined by State Aid policy as a formula. The County is the lead on this project and will know the City’s contribution following those bids. THIS ITEM WAS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AND PLACED ON THE REGULAR AGENDA. 4. Approve 2017-2018 Liquor License Renewals. APPROVED. 5. Licenses. APPROVED. 6. Claims (176150 – 176460). Councilmember Bolkcom asked what the $19,000 sign for Springbrook was for. Mr. Wysopal replied that is the sign at Springbrook. The donations were provided by Financial One Credit Union. That covers the cost of the sign and then some. Councilmember Bolkcom asked as to office/warehouse lease deposit what did they lease for $3,225. The vendor is Ellis SPE. Mr. Wysopal replied that is for temporary storage of Public Works equipment as a part of the City’s reconstruction project. James Kosluchar , Public Works Director, replied the City has a lease for 4,200 square feet of interior space for material storage to be moved out as part of the demolition for the Municipal Center. They had to put a deposit down to secure the location. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 8 Councilmember Bolkcom asked what the canine agility equipment for $11,000 was for. Mr. Wysopal replied his best guess would be it is for the supply and equipment they use to train the new canine the City just purchased. He said he would verify that with Chief Weierke. APPROVED. ADOPTION OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: Councilmember Bolkcom requested that Item Nos. 1 and 3 be removed and placed on the regular agenda. MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to adopt the proposed consent agenda with the removal of Item Nos. 1 and 3. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. OPEN FORUM, VISITORS: Ken McConkey, Fridley resident, said he was there to be a statistic. It is getting to be some difficult times out there. He lives really close to the dog shooting that occurred last Friday. The block he lives on is infested with little kids. You shoot a gun, bullets bounce. He said he was a ranger in Vietnam. The way things are politically and nationally, it is going to be a long hot summer. People are thinking they are going to take things into their own hands. Mr. McConkey stated regardless of what laws are on the books, it always comes down to this capricious word, policy. What is Fridley’s policy about when somebody gets stopped? Are the police allowed to ask them where they are from? Let me see your ID? Are you here legally? Do you have gang tattoos all up and down your body and, if so, we are going to kind of check you out. Or, is it, well, we cannot do that? Mayor Lund replied his first discussion should be with the Police Department and the Chief in particular. He does not know without looking at a policy manual exactly what is the policy. Every situation is different. Fridley’s Police Department for the last year and a half has been on a really good track to be more engaged with the public. The police officers have really engaged the public in a number of different ways. In fact, they were sitting in their conference meeting earlier tonight getting an update from the Chief of Police. Mr. McConkey stated to Mayor Lund his opinion is the Police are serious about it and are on the right track. Mayor Lund replied there is no doubt about it. Our officers are excellent and they are very serious. They talk about de-escalation and other use of force equipment that is newer technology rather than using an actual gun. Every time they touch a person they have to complete a Use of FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 9 Force form so everything is documented very heavily. He asked Mr. McConkey if he wanted to know if the police could ask if someone was an illegal alien. Mr. McConkey asked if they are allowed to ask that in Fridley? Mayor Lund replied they do not ask that by policy. There is a lot of discussion at the State Legislature right now. Mr. McConkey said so Fridley is a sanctuary city. Mayor Lund replied, no, it was not. There was a lot of discussion about Real ID and one of the reasons why Minnesota has been a hold-out state, and there have been 46 or 48 states who have already accepted Real ID, is because there have a been a number of illegal people here who do not have the green card and they do not want to exclude those people all the time with ID. They do require they have ID to find out who they are dealing with. They will ask if you are an illegal alien only if it is appropriate for the situation. Mr. McConkey asked what an appropriate situation would be. Mayor Lund replied his first conversation should be with the Police Department. Attorney Erickson stated because it is a policy-driven type question and they do not have a manual in front of them, it is a conversation that is probably appropriate with Chief Weierke who has current policies. Mr. McConkey asked if the City Council controlled the attitude. He is fully aware that nowadays you cannot say anything about anybody because, if they belong to any group, if you point out the attitude of one person, you are indicting the entire group. Mr. Wysopal asked Mr. McConkey he could leave his name and number with Mr. Hickok and they can have Chief Weierke in touch with him. ADOPTION OF AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to approve the agenda with the addition of Item Nos. 1 and 3. Seconded by Councilmember Saefke. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. NEW BUSINESS: 7. Receive Bids and Award Contract for the 2017 Street Improvement Project No. ST2017-01. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 10 Jim Kosluchar , Public Works Director,stated this includes 1.9 centerline miles of street rehabilitation. About a quarter of a mile is full reconstruction, and the remainder is largely mill and overlay because of some very thick pavements. Mr. Kosluchar stated this is just north of 694, east of Highway 65, and west of Matterhorn. The mill and overlay is a 2-inch section and 6-8 inches of reclaim with 3.5 inches of asphalt. That is typical with the City’s street projects. Watermain is on Hackmann, Fillmore, and Regis. They will have area-wide hydrant replacement as part of this project. Utility manhole and valve adjustment, storm sewer catch basin replacement, CenterPoint gas main replacement in certain segments, and a construction completion date of September 30. Mr. Kosluchar stated the project budget was $1.39 million. The final engineer’s estimate was $1.037 million. They had a bid letting on April 19. They received four bids, and all four were below the estimate. The low bid was provided by Northwest Asphalt for $809,277. They did a back calculation on the assessment, and they are estimating a reduction of roughly $300 per single-family residential assessment or about 15 percent below their projections. Mr. Kosluchar stated Northwest Asphalt in Shakopee, Minnesota, has performed well as the general contractor on several recent street projects, including the 2016 street rehabilitation project in the Plymouth neighborhood. They did very well and finished on time even with some inclement weather that slowed them down a little bit. Mr. Kosluchar stated the sewer main and manhole spot repairs will be performed by City staff. In addition to the contractor’s work, they will have some storm water quality upgrades that the City will be investigating and working on into the future. There is a treatment system in the middle of the project, and the City has begun a feasibility analysis with some Rice Creek Watershed District funding. They may have some ash tree removal under the EAB plan. They want to do that prior to the last pavement going down where they can. They will not include the Safe Routes to School improvements although they have laid those out and planned for them. Mr. Kosluchar stated staff recommends Council move to receive the bids for the street project and award it to Northwest Asphalt of Shakopee. If approved, staff will secure contracts with Northwest Asphalt after signature and obtain the necessary paperwork, hold a pre-construction meeting, and the property owners in the project area will be notified of the intended schedule. Some work was begun by CenterPoint this morning. Staff will be mailing out notice tomorrow with their initial notice of award on the project. Mayor Lund asked if this is the contractor from about five or six years ago the City had problems with. Mr. Kosluchar replied, no, it is not. MOTION by Councilmember Varichak to receive bids and award contract for the 2017 Street Improvement Project No. ST2017-01 to Northwest Asphalt, Shakopee, Minnesota, in the amount of $809,277.39. Seconded by Councilmember Barnette. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 11 UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 8. Resolution Ordering a Negative Declaration on the Columbia Arena Area Redevelopment Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW). Scott Hickok , Community Development Director,the resolution is a decision of record on the EAW. The EAW is an Environmental Worksheet the City has prepared on the Locke Park Pointe development or the former Columbia Arena site. Through the analysis, a determination was made that the Environmental Worksheet would be adequate and that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) would not be required. Mr. Hickok stated the City is the responsible governmental unit and is responsible that the environmental elements of this project have been thoroughly considered, that they follow the State rules, and that it makes sure that if there is any sort of environmental impact on this development, the City does what is necessary to mitigate the impact. Mr. Hickok stated the City has had help from Amy Denz, from Wenck. With the City being the RGU, they wanted to bring on other experts to provide an objective view of the environmental issues on this site, and Ms. Denz has done that for the City. Mr. Hickok stated Council received a complete summary of the questions that were asked and also the answers the City provided which essentially draws to the conclusion that the environmental impacts on this site were not great enough to cause an EIS to move forward. Mr. Hickok stated originally they were talking about 1,142 residential units and maybe having units and selling air space above City Hall and Public Works and having a much more dense development. With that would come more trips. Traffic would have a different picture. Once the City had scaled back and understood better what the site would be in terms of an ultimate development layout, staff went back and revisited the EAW, giving the public another opportunity to make comments. Through that process, they contacted the EPA, the MPCA, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Historical Society. They advertised and encouraged residents to respond and certainly answer any questions they have. Mr. Hickok stated there is a letter in the Council’s packet from the Minnesota Historical Society that had asked about the City doing a survey. Jon Lennander, Assistant Public Works Director, did a phenomenal job of shepherding this EAW through the process and working closely with Ms. Denz. He wrote a letter in response to the Minnesota Historical Society’s letter. Today Mr. Lennander received a letter from the Minnesota Historical Society, which should be received into the record. The letter says that after further analysis, they determined that a historical survey is not necessary. The ground was disturbed not once, but twice, since its origin, so artifacts that might have been there likely would not exist today. Mr. Hickok stated the Resolution essentially says that the EAW and findings of fact related to this documentation and process point to the fact that the findings, based on the Rules 4410.1700, the City of Fridley finds that the proposed Columbia Arena redevelopment does not have the FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 12 potential for significant environmental impacts; consequently, the City of Fridley issues a negative declaration on the Environmental Assessment Worksheet and does not require preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement for the Columbia Arena Area Redevelopment Project. Attached also they have comment letters, the City’s responses back, Council meeting minutes, and the resolution for their consideration. Amy Denz , Wenck Associates, stated she has enjoyed working with the City staff. They did a thorough job because of the exchange of information. They were able to update the first EAW with traffic studies and new information and put it back out for public review and address comments they received the first time around in the second EAW. That helped minimize comments from the public the second time around. Councilmember Bolkcom said in the third paragraph of the Historical Society’s letter, it says “Please note this comment letter does not address the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation.” The City is not asking for any federal financial assistance, so this is not an issue. Mr. Hickok replied that is correct. MOTION by Councilmember Saefke to receive the letter from the Minnesota Historical Society dated April 20, 2017. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Councilmember Bolkcom asked, as to page 81, the City is continuing to look at transportation facilities. They are addressing things here but know there is still a lot up in the air. Mr. Kosluchar replied there are a number of things to be addressed but they can all be addressed through permitting and then coordination. For example, transportation with the Met Council comment about bus service. How that works out depends entirely on what the private development is going to be and will really drive the need for Met Council coordination. Ms. Denz stated the EAW is essentially kind of the City’s first step. It is an informative document to provide information to the decision makers. Once they have decided this is adequate with the resolution presented tonight, the next step would be working with the agencies on all the permitting. That is where all of the specific items are going to be sorted out. Councilmember Bolkcom asked once this resolution is passed, is there anyone who would come back and say, no, you guys are wrong and you need to do more? Mr. Hickok replied, from here what happens is the City will notify the Environmental Quality Board that Council has acted with this declaration and that they would publish. Somebody could upon publication, come back and ask questions on the EAW; but the point of this whole process was to enable the public to come in to speak and get their comments not only on record but have a solid response to it and recognition that, as they have said, this is a start to the process. After FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 13 this declaration has been published, that puts an end to the environmental study in terms of the study itself and then allows them to move forward with some of the other land use actions that are pending. According to State law, the City cannot move ahead with something like the plat until they have done the declaration and until Council has made a decision on the EIS. MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to adopt Resolution No. 2017-14. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 9. Resolution Regarding the Acceptance of Property from the Fridley Housing and Redevelopment Authority. Scott Hickok, Community Development Director,stated this is also related to Locke Park Pointe. It is the approval of the land transfer from the Fridley HRA to the City Council. It is the intention of the HRA through this action to give the City’s portion to the City. The new city hall will be built on property that the City currently owns and land will accommodate private development as well. Mr. Hickok stated in order to facilitate new construction and allow the future transfer of property, the City is going to replat the property into seven parcels. The new plat will carve out the lot needed for the municipal campus, the storm pond amenity, parkway, and areas to accommodate private development. Mr. Hickok stated it is staff’s recommendation to have Council adopt the resolution accepting the parcel from the HRA. It facilitates platting to create lots needed by the HRA for development, and allows the City to break ground in May. MOTION by Councilmember Saefke Adopting Resolution No. 2017-15. Seconded by Councilmember Bolkcom. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 1. Resolution Requesting a Variance from State-Aid Rule 8820.280, Subpart 2A, for Project ST2016-01 (MnDOT SAP 127-050-021). Councilmember Bolkcom asked if there was any chance MnDOT would not approve this resolution and, if so, what happens? Walter Wysopal, City Manager,replied this is MnDOT’s proposal so he would assume this is moving forward based on their policies. Jim Kosluchar, Public Works Director, said this was requested by MnDOT and the language was already submitted to them in draft form. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 14 MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to adopt Resolution No. 2017-13. Seconded by Councilmember Saefke. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3. Approve Joint Powers Agreement between the City of Fridley and Anoka County for a Traffic Signal Reconstruction at County State Aid Highway 1 (East River Road) and County State Aid Highway 6 (Mississippi Street) (Ward 3). Councilmember Bolkcom asked if there will be a flashing left turn. Mr. Kosluchar replied he believed so. He anticipated her question but he was unable to reach someone who reads the electrical blueprints better than he can. He does see something in there that indicates it. He will get back to Council and let them know. Councilmember Bolkcom said this is an ongoing question people have. When they look at the number of cars that can get through there going both directions, it is one thing, she knows they always want to move the traffic on East River Road, but there still is that backlog of people. They have talked to the County engineers about stacking there and like two cars can get through and then two or three others go through after its red. Maybe they could also look at a traffic count when they are doing this. Councilmember Bolkcom referred to page 16. As to the second paragraph from the bottom, she asked whether this could go higher than $208,430? Mr. Kosluchar replied, yes, the project will be bid. They are hoping it will be bid below estimate and, in that case, their capital improvement allocation would be whole. The contingency there is our piece of the improvements is State Aid eligible. If it came in at $300,000 staff would have enough concern for rebidding and would encourage the County to do that and probably come back to Council for some recommendation or resolution to compel that. However, if it is a few thousand dollars over $200,000, the City can allocate State Aid allotment for the excess. Councilmember Bolkcom asked when this would happen and how long will it take. Mr. Kosluchar replied he thought it would take ten weeks, and they would start around June 1 or mid-June. Councilmember Bolkcom asked if there would be lane closures. Mayor Lund stated this is a county road north and south, and it is a county road, Mississippi, to the east. He assumed that is a city street to the west of that intersection. He said the City cost share is almost 50 percent. He asked why it was not less. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 15 Mr. Kosluchar replied, it is actually a County policy, a County cost-share agreement. This is a long-standing policy, and he can tell him this has not been revamped in his tenure with the exception of maybe some language to clarify; but it is basically the same as it has been. He cannot tell him when it absolutely originated. He does not think it is atypical. He knows other cities have to abide with this policy as well. Mayor Lund stated unless the policy gets changed it is not really fair. Mr. Kosluchar replied, correct. One of the confusing things is if you have an intersection, 25 percent, it makes sense; but he reverts back to the County’s policy where the local pays half the cost of each leg of the intersection regardless of whose jurisdiction it is and then the full cost of its own. He believed the reason for that is the County Road can survive without intersections, without the cross streets. Generally those are initiated by the cities. He kind of understands it but he likens it to a driveway. The driveway is the cost of the property owner, not the cost of the City; and the driveway apron and the curb cut and everything else that goes into creating a driveway that is an off-street access. Mr. Wysopal stated the formula for concrete curb and gutter is 50/50 between the County and the City and probably the majority of County roadways are rural. We, in southern part of Anoka County need to pay for curb and gutter that is not our road. However, because we are more of an urban environment that requires storm sewers, we have to pay for that curb and gutter. You can question that policy at the County level he believed. MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to approve the Joint Powers Agreement between the City of Fridley and Anoka County for a Traffic Signal Reconstruction at County State Aid Highway 1 (East River Road) and County State Aid Highway 6 (Mississippi Street) (Ward 3). Seconded by Councilmember Saefke. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 9. Informal Status Reports. st Councilmember Saefke stated on 41 Avenue and East River Road going south someone is laying pipe. He asked whose pipe it was? Mr. Kosluchar replied that is CenterPoint doing work. They must lay new pipe to get out of the way for new Met Council pipe. They will have a fourth Met Council project in fewer than four years and in probably two years that will be running a new 96-inch interceptor in front of Minneapolis Waterworks and along East River Road. Councilmember Bolkcom asked Mr. Kosluchar to update them on the project with Met Council. Mr. Kosluchar replied the NEI5 project is the one over at Community Park, and the contractor should be mobilizing right now to get the final grading/seeding down. Basically clean up the FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2017 PAGE 16 fencing, take down temporary traffic control, and pave the Anoka County pathway around the pond. th Mr. Kosluchar stated as to the project on 69 Avenue, that is wrapping up as well. They have a little more final repair work to do and take down their bypass piping, etc. Mr. Kosluchar stated largely the Springbrook project is done in Fridley. The majority of that project is in Coon Rapids and he does not know their status. Mr. Kosluchar stated the work on I-94 is also associated with the Community Park project. They will be bypassing for a while there. That piece probably will not be completed until mid- summer. Mr. Kosluchar stated people can go to the Met Council website for more current updates. Councilmember Saefke stated he sees they have started to build the bridge on I-694 and Main Street. He asked Mr. Kosluchar if he had a timetable for when that will be complete? Mr. Kosluchar replied they had a lane reduction on westbound 694. They expect that to flip over to the eastbound lanes next week. They need to do that for their crane to drive piles. The piles should be completed on the north side as of today. There is some additional work they have to do with pouring, etc. but the noisiest work on that north side will be done. The bridge setting itself is scheduled for approximately mid-July; and there will likely be an overnight, over the weekend, closure that will be a small portion of a day. It will be coordinated with the I-94 project which was not necessarily contemplated with this project. MnDOT is aware of it. Mr. Kosluchar stated he did get word Anoka County will be doing some paving on East River Road, north of Fridley, generally. It actually will encroach Fridley a little bit. You can also get construction updates from Anoka County’s website. They will also try and post something on Fridley’s website. ADJOURN: MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to adjourn. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:47 P.M. Respectfully submitted by, Denise M. Johnson Scott J. Lund Recording Secretary Mayor