12-11-12 CM Minutes Council/Manager Meeting Minutes
December 11, 2012
Present: Mayor Harris and Council Members, Clausen, Freiberg, Pentel and Scanlon, City
Manager Tom Burt, Assistant City Manager Chantell Knauss, Finance Director Sue Virnig,
Director of Public Works Jeannine Clancy, Police Chief Stacy Carlson, Commander Mike
Meehan, Director of Planning and Development Mark Grimes, and City Planner Joe
Hogeboom and Administrative Assistant Lisa Wittman. Also present Vice�Chair, Envision
Connection Project Executive Board, Blair Tremere.
The meeting began at 6:30 pm in the Council Conference Room.
J-HAP Supportive Housing Development
Tom Burt added this item to the agenda. He explained that Jewish Housing and
Programming (J-HAP) is applying for a grant through Hennepin County to facilitate
development of supportive housing at 9310 and 930� Golden Valley Road. Burt stated
that the properties will need to be reguided and rezoned so he is looking for direction from
the Council on whether they would consider reguiding the properties, accepting a
simultaneous request to rezone them and authorizing him to sign the Hennepin County
grant forms to allow them to move forward with their grant application.
The Council consensus was to sign the Hennepin County grant forms and consider
reguiding the properties at a future date.
Hennepin County 9-1-1 Dispatch
Mayor Harris added this item to the agenda. He updated the Council regarding a County
Board meeting he attended where the Board considered adding Golden Valley to their
9-1-1 dispatch system. He said the vote was 7 to 0 in favor of allowing Golden Valley to be
on the County dispatch system however, questions remain about the costs involved and
the timing of the transition. He added that a new dispatch center is proposed to be built in
late 2014 and that the costs to Golden Valley would be determined three months prior to
the transition.
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Receipt of Envision Connection Project Executive Board Report
Vice-Chair, Envision Connection Project Executive Board, Blair Tremere was in
attendance to discuss the Board's Report and recommendations requested by the Council
in April 2012. He referred to the report and discussed some af the items in it including:
background information, several of the group's accomplishments, membership and
recruitment of new members. He stated that the Board finds that the Connection Project
and the Envision Board should continue and they feel it is important to have Council
liaison on the Board.
The Council discussed whether the Council liaison should be the Mayor as stated in the
founding resolution or whether any Council Member could serve as a liaison. They also
discussed budget issues and the level of staff involvement. After discussion the
consensus of the Council was that they would like to see the Envision Connection Project
continue. They directed staff to prepare an ordinance and updated by-laws that don't
include a specific time frame for completion of its charge and would allow any Council
Member to serve as a liaison.
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December 11, 2012 — Page 2
Bottineau Transitway Locally Preferred Alternative
Joe Hogeboom reviewed the language in the draft resolution of support of the Bottineau
Transitway that will be considered by the Council at their next meeting.
� The Council discussed some of their concerns including the effect on open space and
parks, traffic congestion, parking options, station locations, Golden Valley ridership,
community outreach going forward, the effect on Golden Valley Road, whether vegetative
screening or buffering could be provided between the tracks and the road, and if
approving the resolution of support would make it difficult to say no during the municipal
consent phase.
After discussion, the Council directed staff to make the suggested changes to the
resolution for consideration at the December 18 regular Council meeting and to work with
the County on a communications plan.
Hennepin County Wa#ershed Reorganization Plan
Jeannine Clancy explained that Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson is
proposing a watershed reorganization plan what will eliminate the 11 existing watershed
management organizations within the County and organize the drainage areas into three
districts. She stated that there are a number of concerns including the loss of local control,
the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the new districts and an increase in the complexity
of an already difficult regulatory environment. She referred to a draft letter written by staff
expressing the concerns and stated that if the Council finds the letter acceptable, it will be
placed on the December 18 regular Council meeting for consideration.
The Council was in support of staff sending a letter to Commissioner Johnson and the
consensus was to consider it at the December 18 Council meeting.
Police Department Complaint Process
Mayor Harris stated that he requested a summary of the procedure for handling
complaints against police department employees as a result of the Human Rights
Commission Task Force report.
Stacy Carlson stated that Golden Valley's complaint process is similar to several ather
communities and that they follow the requirements in the Police Officer Bill of Rights. She
explained that the process starts with a signed complaint. A sergeant or commander
investigates and provides a summary of the complaint to her to determine if it is
unfounded, exonerated, unsustained or sustained. Only cases that are sustained are
disciplined. She added that the Police Department has received 14 external complaints in
the last five years which averages out to be 2.8 complaints per year. She discussed many
of the positive things the Police Department has implemented including 24/7 supervision,
a use of force tracking database, the Citizen's Academy, the Police Summit and a use of
force seminar.
The Council asked whether the complaint form is on the City's website and how
complaints in other departments are handled. Carlson stated that she would make sure
the form is on the web site and Tom Burt explained that the complaint process is the same
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December 11, 2012 — Page 3
throughout the City. After discussion the Council thanked the Police Department for their
hard work and positive interaction with the community.
Human Rights Commission
Council Member Pentel handed out a brochure created by the City of St. Louis Park's
Human Rights Commission. She stated that she would like to work with them to
incorporate Golden Valley's HRC Task Force Report and the existing By-laws into similar
types of goals and responsibilities for the Golden Valley Human Rights Commission.
The Council discussed the Task Force recommendations, the staff recommendations, the
Task Force feedback process and the language in the By-Laws. The consensus of the
Council was that they want to move forward with re-establishing a Human Rights
Commission however they would like to have the Commission's charge more clearly
defined. Council Members Pentel and Scanlon volunteered to reorganize existing
documents, using St. Louis Park's Human Rights Commission as a model, and bring
something back to the Council for further discussion. Burt added that Chantell Knauss will
be the staff liaison to the Human Rights Commission.
Council Member Vacancy Interview Process
Council Member Freiberg left the meeting. Out of 20 candidates each Council Member
submitted their top four choices in order to decide which candidafies to interview. Based on
the tally of their submissions, the Council will interview Steve Schmidgall, Rich Baker,
Larry Fonnest, Brad Kadue and John Kluchka. The interviews will take place on
December 17 at 5:30 pm and a candidate will be appointed in January 2013.
The meeting adjourned to an Executive Session for the City Manager's performance
evaluation at 9:40 pm.
Lisa Wittman
Administrative Assistant