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Friday News 02 03 2012 February 3, 2012 February 3, 2012 Precinct Caucuses The Minnesota Precinct Caucuses, to be held on February 7, 2012 will have a national impact in the upcoming presidential election. A caucus is a meeting organized by Minnesota's political parties where citizens can engage each other in a conversation about which candidates to support in the next general election and what public policy positions should be adopted as part of the party's platform. Anyone can attend a Precinct Caucus: they are open to the public and participation is encouraged by the political parties. If you would like to know more, you can use the Precinct Caucus Finder on the Secretary of State’s website at: www.sos.state.mn.us. Electronic Records Management We have been making great strides in electronic records management. Since the city council approval of the project in late 2011, the server has been installed and the workstation set up. The scanner is set to be installed today. Beyond getting the hardware in place, we are adopting naming conventions and cleaning up the files in the shared drive in preparation for transferring to Laserfiche. We will start with city council documents, and will broaden the scope of the project as we get more comfortable with the program. Laserfiche software will allow the city to store all city records electronically. This will reduce the number of paper files stored around city hall, and will make access to public documents much more efficient. Friday News Mendota Heights Weekly Report on City Activities Mendota Heights City Hall 1101 Victoria Curve www.mendota-heights.com (651) 452-1850 Fire Department Awards Dinner The Mendota Heights Fire Department will be holding their annual awards dinner this Satur- day evening at Mendakota Country Club. The dinner is a chance to recognize the con- tributions our volunteers make to keep our community safe. New firefighters will be rec- ognized, retiring firefighters will be thanked and all firefighters will be honored. Heights Highlights The latest edition of Heights Highlights is set to be sent out this week. Make sure to check out the latest stories, and a preview of summer recreation opportunities! February 3, 2012 Attachments The Pipeline, Just the Facts, Hayley Bester Benefit Flyer February 3, 2012 Dates to Remember February 7, 2012 Minnesota Caucus February 8, 2012 City Council February 9, 2012 City Council Goals Work Session February 14, 2012 Parks and Recreation Commission February 21, 2012 City Council February 28, 2012 Planning Commission Page Two Fundraiser for Hayley Bester Attached you will find a flyer for a fund- raising event for firefighter Hayley Bester. You can find out more by visit- ing: www.caringbridge.org/visit/hayleybester. The fundraiser for Hayley will be Satur- day, February 25, 2012 at the Mendota VFW. An event page can be found at www.facebook.com/events/206932012732078. Outdoor Skating Outdoor rinks are effectively closed, unless we see a turnaround in the recent weather pattern. We hope to find a safe patch of ice for learn to skate programs Saturday morning, but will not be able to reopen warm- ing houses until we have a string of days with highs below the freezing mark. This is quite the contrast to last winter, when we were able to open rinks early, and keep them open late with great ice conditions. Public Works The Parks Crew closed the rinks for the week. They plowed all the pedways. The repairing of picnic tables continues. They visited the Dakota County shop to demo a John Deere 1445. The machine has a broom for cleaning skating rinks and is in this year’s budget. The Streets Crew were called in last Friday to salt the slippery streets. They were called back again Saturday evening and Sunday morning to salt the streets. Construction materials were picked up that were dumped on Valencour Circle. The 2010 Mack was brought to Mack for a rear end exchange. The plow trucks were washed and the sanders greased. There was a possible sanitary sewer back up on Warrior Drive. The homeowner’s service was blocked with roots. Lilydale has had an increase of about 40% in waste water that is treated by the Met Council. Lilydale’s lift station check valves were checked and found to be good. It was discovered that River Point Apartments had a broken water pipe that leaked into the joints of the sanitary sewer line. Engineering Lemay Lake Road Reconstruction – Staff is designing the project. A second informational meeting for residents and property owners in anticipated around the third week in February. Marie Avenue Rehabilitation – Staff is preparing the MnDOT initial submittal. We anticipate that submittal to be made early next week. Diane Road Neighborhood/Mendota Heights Road Rehabilitation – Staff is preparing plans and specifications, and working out the details of the intersection modification at Mendota Heights Road and Dodd Road to accommodate the new right turn lane. Initial submittal for MnDOT review is anticipated by the end of next week. MnDOT review is only required for the Mendota Heights Road portion of the project. City Hall Carpet Installation – Carpet installation is nearing completion. Staff will have all offices reassembled on Monday February 6th. The Pipeline N E W S L E T T E R Public Works Engineering Code Enforcement February 3, 2012 Dakota County Joint Right-of-Way Permitting Meeting –City staff is not committing to any type of participation in the program unless there will be an advantage to do so. If the program moves forward, and Council chooses to participate, a Joint Powers Agreement would be needed. MnDOT & Dakota County Projects The following projects are under the management and supervision of MnDOT and Dakota County. They are presented as information only. For more information on MnDOT projects contact J.P. Gillach at MnDOT (651- 234-7503, james.gillach@state.mn.us). Highway 13 Resurfacing (MnDOT) – A project for resurfacing, drainage improvements and ADA upgrades to Highway 13 between I-35W and Annapolis Street (Burnsville to West St. Paul) is scheduled for 2012. Construction should be anticipated from May 2012 to October 2012. MnDOT plans to contact impacted Mendota Heights’ residents with construction news and road closure information. Detours around the construction areas will be provided. Highway 110 Resurfacing (MnDOT) - A small portion of Highway 110 will be resurfaced in 2012. The section from Lexington Avenue east to the I -35E bridge, along with spot repairs between Lexington and Highway 13 will be addressed as part of this project. MnDOT is working with Dakota County to minimize conflicts with their Lexington Avenue project (see below), also scheduled for the summer of 2012. Turnback of Old Sibley Memorial Highway (MnDOT) – MnDOT has stated their intent to vacate the Right-of-Way for the Old Sibley Memorial Highway. Concept plans are being developed for the land use once it is vacated. Meetings are being scheduled for the end of March timeframe to go over the concept plans. Meetings will be held at Mendota Heights City Hall. Lexington Avenue Resurfacing (County) - Dakota County will be resurfacing Lexington Avenue from Highway 110 south to Mendota Heights Road in 2012. This is strictly a pavement replacement project and will not modify the road section or expand the width of the roadway. Dakota County is working with MnDOT to minimize conflicts with their Highway 110 project, also scheduled for the summer of 2012. For more information contact the Dakota County Transportation Department at 952 -891-7100. 1/27/2011 The Mendota Heights Police Department Support Staff Kim Henning Sandie Ristine Susan Donovan Becky Pentel Police Officers Jerry Murphy Scott Patrick John Larrive Bobby Lambert Tanner Spicer Todd Rosse Chad Willson Jeff VonFeldt Steven Meyer Denise Urmann Michael Shepard Peyton Fleming School Resource Officer Jennifer Fordham Investigations Mario Reyes Tanner Spicer Sergeants Neil Garlock Brian Convery Eric Petersen Reserves Randy Pentel Jesse Mettner Jarrod Spicer Jim Knox Jeff Parker George Castillo Chaplains John Snider Lynn Liberman Frances Colon Alberto Vargas Butch Millett David Wick Chief Mike Aschenbrener Stop Arm Violation Tuesday 1420 hours Officer Scott Patrick was dispatched to a third party report of a car that had driven around a school bus with the stop arm extended. When he arrived at the scene, the car’s path was quite visible: it had driven onto the shoulder, into the ditch, around the bus and back up onto the road. Officer Patrick next went to the bus garage for more information and then began the process of tracking down the suspect vehicle. The car registers to an address in Burnsville known to have transient clientele. Investigations will attempt to locate the driver. Overnight Parking Wednesday 2320 hours While on patrol, Officer Meyer observed a car that had not moved in days and had been plowed around. As he prepared to issue a parking ticket he learned the vehicle had two previous citations. The tires were marked for overtime parking; the next evening he returned to find the car in exactly the same spot. A citation was written and a tow was ordered. When the tow arrived, a woman limped out of the house with a cam walker on her foot and inquired about what was going on. After a brief conversation, Officer Meyer learned the woman was staying with mom while she was recovering from surgery. She was aware of the parking ordinance and she knew she was receiving tickets, she simply hoped that by leaving them on the car she wouldn’t get any more. Officer Meyer asked her to move the car into the driveway and the tow driver left without the car. The citations remained with the owner. Warrant Arrest Thursday 0126 hours Officer Peyton Fleming observed a not-so-young man riding a bike with a backpack and stopped him for not having the statutory required lights. The man was cooperative; unfortunately, he had an active warrant for his arrest. The man’s bike was brought to MHPD where it was released to a family member while the man was brought to the Dakota County Jail. Suspicious Activity Friday 0730 hours A 13 YOA female called to report text harassment on her smart phone. The young lady reported the messages were not from someone she knew. The messages were saved and forwarded to investigations for follow up. Crisis Friday 1306 hours Officers John Larrive, Bobby Lambert and Scott Patrick responded to the report of a suicidal man. Upon arrival they met with the man who at first denied having any issues. After a short conversation with the complainant and allowing the man to make some phone calls things still didn’t seem quite right with him. The man was transported to the hospital for further evaluation. “Just the Facts” The latest news from the Mendota Heights Police Department 1/27/2011 Theft from Vehicle Friday 1336 hours Caller waited until they returned home to report that at 0730 hours that morning they had found a car door ajar. Closer inspection revealed both cars in the driveway had been rummaged through. One was missing multiple items including some checks. By the time Sergeant Petersen arrived on scene there were multiple sets of foot prints in the driveway and it was snowing. The victim was provided information on the steps necessary to prevent future fraud and theft as a result of this theft. Synthetic Marijuana Friday 2345 hours Officer Steve Meyer stopped a car for speeding and a headlight out; upon making contact with the driver he smelled marijuana coming from inside the car. A brief conversation with the young man revealed he had no idea he was speeding and was planning on junking the car because of a recent crash. The young man was asked to step from the car and complete SFST’s and a couple of other tests to see if he had recently smoked marijuana. Officer Rosse arrived on scene during this time, allowing the Officers to make contact with the passengers. A large knife was immediately taken into custody along with their two packages of synthetic marijuana. It was determined the two passengers were juveniles so their parents were contacted. After determining it was safe to allow them to leave citations were issued, the drugs and paraphernalia were taken into custody. Crisis Sunday 0132 hours Officer Jeff VonFeldt along with Officer Shepard and Sergeant Convery responded to a 911 call for help. The call came from an intoxicated adult female who was going to kill herself. HealthEast ambulance was called to the scene and with a small amount of coaxing the woman agreed to go the hospital for help. A 72 hour health and welfare hold was filled out, the ambulance transported. DUI Sunday 0222 hours Officer Denise Urmann and Sergeant Brian Convery stopped a car on the side of Hwy 110 that had fresh damage. In making contact with the driver she was obviously under the influence. When asked what happened to her car she told them she thought she might of hit the median back on Hwy 62 somewhere. The driver did give the SFST’s a valiant effort in her high fashion heels but was not successful. The last test was the PBT which took three tries to manually capture a weak breath, showing a BAC of .157. The driver was arrested, her car was towed. At MHPD she was read the MN Implied Consent Advisory and attempted to contact an attorney. After trying that for some time she called her boyfriend and became quite emotional. Eventually she agreed to test and but when she couldn’t she accepted to and provided a blood test. The woman was transported to the Dakota County Jail to be booked and released. Illegal Door to Door sales Monday 1346 hours Caller report a man had come to her door offering to sell her steaks at $2 each. The man did not have any paperwork and he fled when challenged. Officer Bobby Lambert spotted the van on Pagel Road a short distance from the caller. The man was aware of the ordinance in the city as he stated he must have accidentally knocked on doors of non-customers. The van did not have current registration. The man was cited for the solicitation violation and released. Found Property Tuesday 1452 hours Officer John Larrive was contacted about a backpack found on Lilydale Road. Using the paperwork found inside the pack he eventually made contact with the owner. It turns out the pack was taken approximately 30 minutes before from a park in St Paul. The pack was turned over to the owner at Crosby Park. No further actions. Crash Thursday 0909 hours Caller reported that a vehicle had driven through their yard, running over some shrubs. Sergeant Neil Garlock arrived viewed the damage, confirmed that someone had driven through the shrubs and drove away. Unfortunately no evidence was left on scene. Have a great weekend! Mike Sponsored by the Mendota Heights Firefighters Firefighter Hayley Bester Benefit Saturday, February 25th 3-8:00 pm Mendota VFW 1323 Sibley Memorial Highway Mendota, Minnesota 55150 Mendota Heights Firefighter Hayley Bester was on her honeymoon when she encountered a parasite called the Acanthamoeba. This parasite got behind a contact lens and caused severe damage, pain and loss of vision. You most likely have never heard of this before as it’s somewhat rare and unusual. Hayley and her husband, Roy, have been battling this disease for over five months now including having to travel to Toronto, Canada for medical procedures not approved yet in the USA. This benefit is being held to help cover costs of treatment and other related expenses. To read the whole story please follow the link to Hayley’s Caring Bridge site http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/hayleybester $10Spaghetti D i n n e r Silent Auct i o n Music by Sandy & t h e H i t m e n For any questions or for further information please contact: John Mendez : (651) 269-1539 johnmmendez@yahoo.com Ken Weisenburger: (651) 303-3220 ken.weisenburger@state.mn.us Donations can be mailed to :c/o Gateway Bank 745 Market Street Mendota Heights, MN 55118 Please make check payable to “Hayley Bester Benefit”  For more information about the Fundraiser event on Facebook IUUQTXXXGBDFCPPLDPNFWFOUT