Issue 00 - Heights Highlites March 1982As 37 Inches Dump On City
Unsung Winter Heroes—Snowplow Crews -
Usually it's the fire fighters or police officers
whose acts of dedication and triumph over dif-
ficulty gain public praise and heroic headlines.
Recently there was another group of municipal
workers receiving recognition from ap=
preciative residents.
Public Works Department Supervisor Dick
Ploumen and his seven man crew knew they
had a monumental work load ahead on that
Wednesday, January 20 when the big 17 inch
snowfall dumped over the city. By that Friday
when 20 more inches fell and all records were
broken, there was little of precedent for how
much needed doing.
"We had one aim in mind through it all. To
open up and keep one lane open on all of the
city's 51 miles of streets so everybody could
move," according to Ploumen.
With Ploumen checking out city needs in the
four wheel drive truck, the rest of the men for
three days were manning the city's one road
grader, two trucks with plows, and several
smaller vehicles, including a front end loader.
By the Friday night climax four men were
bunking in at the public works garage so to be
sure to get in to man the plows the next morn-
ing ("We moved our cars into the public works
garage and slept inside of them.")
There were special concerns. "We had two
calls from residents, pregnant women. If we
received the call for quick help, we were
ready," Ploumen noted.
The City's police cars all were equipped with
chains. "We took one policeman home after
his duty in the four wheel drive, and would
have been ready for special police
emergencies," he said.
Commented Police Chief Richard Thul
about the snow plow crews, "Had something
serious occurred, it would have been very dif-
ficult to respond without their assistance. Just
knowing they were available helped us feel bet-
ter about doing our job."
Fire Marshall Gene Lange agreed, "Those
guys were working around the clock for three
days keeping the roads open."
The Fire Department itself was on a special
alert and several firemen stayed at the station
during the Friday night storm to assure a quick
response to a fire emergency. There was none.
The snow crews also worked the front end
loader vehicle after the streets were cleared to
open up the city's many fire hydrants.
Ploumen gratefully observed that in some
areas residents themselves shoveled out the fire
hydrants. Lange recommended that other
residents "adopt a fire hydrant" to help in
(Continued on Page 2)
THE CITY'S SNOWPLOW CREW: (left to right) John Neska, Dick Ploumen (Supervisor),
Fred Pfeiffer, Rudy Literski, Terry Blum, Tom Olund, Len Kanitz, and George Noack, Jr.
A Matter of `Real Concern' to Police
Durglaries Nearly Double
Here In One Year
Incidents of burglary of Mendota Heights
homes nearly doubled from 1980 to 1981, ac-
cording to the 1981 Annual Police Department
Report presented to the City Council in
February.
Police Chief Richard Thul says that burglary
in metro suburbs has become a "real
concern." He said that economic conditions
may be part of the cause, and that an energetic
St. Paul police crackdown, including
surveillance of suspected burglars and fences,
has meant movement of burglars into the St.
Paul suburbs.
In 1980 there were 40 reports of burglary,
mostly with forced entry, in Mendota Heights.
The 1981 tally was 76 involving a loss of
$137,000, with a recovery of $24,685.
The Annual Police Report, besides detailing
incidents of felony and misdemeanors, in-
cluding traffic violations and accidents, also
provided the Council with information about
the departments personnel, their ongoing
training, the crime prevention program, and
equipment and facilities.
According to the report, the police were in-
volved with handling 248 offenses during 1981,
of which number, 80 cases were cleared by pro-
secution or other legal resolution.
Except for residential burglaries, there have
been no major increases in crime over 1980.
During last year the police reported no cases of
homicide, or manslaughter and one case of
rape. All forms of robbery, burglary, larceny,
and auto theft totaled 239, for a loss of
$230,714 and $34,532 recovered with 21 cases
cleared.
Among other offenses, criminal damage to
property (vandalism, usually by local youth)
led the listing with 108 cases.
There were 146 police reports on moving
vehicles property damage, with 71 vehicle ac-
cidents involving personal injury. One person
died in a fatal accident in the city last year.
Commenting on the burglary situation, Thul
(Continued on Page 2)
v
Take County Chief Deputy Post
"I've enjoyed my service at Mendota
Heights very much. There is such a sense of
mutual cooperation here. The elected officials
and city staff are easy to work with."
These were the comments of Richard Thul
on February 19, during the last week of his six
year tenure as Heights Police Chief. He is join-
ing the Dakota County Sheriff's office as chief
deputy/administrative assistant.
Thul acknowledged his regret at leaving for
the new post, noting that the excellent chance
to advance his career and "move up" was the
reason for his decision.
While the City Council now continues its ef-
fort to select a new chief from among many ap-
plicants, Police Captain Gene Lange tem-
porarily takes over the administrative respon-
sibilities of the chief's position. Lange, who is
not a candidate for the post, also serves as the
City Fire Marshall.
In a previous similar situation in 1975 before
Thul was selected, Lange handled the ad -
City Sewage
In opening first quarter bills in April, City
residents will notice that the charge for sewage
system use has increased.
The cost of getting rid of sewage is just like
everything else in the U.S. economy, prices are
going up. The overall increase of rates to
residents and commercial users is to be 13.4
percent.
In reporting and recommending increases in
use charge for 1982 to the City Council in
January, Mendota Heights Financial Advisor
Larry Shaughnessy noted that the anticipated
Metropolitan Waste Control Commission bill-
ing to the City is to be $275,000. This
represents a $25,270 (13.4%) increase over
1981. Metro charges are passed on to local
users in quarterly bills sent out. This means
ministrative tasks of police chief for six mon-
ths. The City Council, which began advertising
for applicants early this year, has already
received 40 applications. Six years ago in a
similar search, 110 persons applied for the
Post.
A selection committee of city officials will
review the credentials of all candidates, and
conduct several testing procedures before
selecting five finalist candidates. The selection
committee will meet with these finalists and
make its recommendation to the City Council.
Thul's new post was recently developed by
County Sheriff Rod Boyd. It combines the
responsibilities of undersheriff with further
duties involving budgeting, scheduling and
managing personnel and other activities.
According to Sheriff Boyd, Thul was
selected for the new job because of his educa-
tional background and police experience and
because of his life-long familiarity with Dakota
County, including acquaintance with area
police chiefs and police departments.
Bills Go U
that a minimum quarterly charge of $19 (based
on winter quarter water readings) will be bill-
ed, compared to a $16.75 charge for the same
period in 1981. Also, the increase includes a
new charge of 70¢ (60¢ in 1981) per 100 cubic
feet in excess of the minimum.
Rates for commercial, industrial, and in-
stitutional users will be increased by the same
percentage as those proposed for residential
usage. These users were charged a minimum
rate of 60¢ per 100 cubic feet of water used or a
range of charges from $25 per quarter to $320
per quarter, depending upon water meter size.
Detailed information about new rates as well
as new charges for customers outside the city's
corporate limits may be obtained at the
municipal offices.
March 1982
Burglaries... Cont.
said most of these burglaries occur in the
daytime, and are done by "professionals, peo-
ple who make their living entering homes.
Sometimes they kick in a door or force a win-
dow."
"Usually these persons move through
neighborhoods looking for clues that residents
are not in their homes, such as open garage
doors with both cars gone, or lights not on in
early evening hours."
"They will knock on a door and, if someone
answers, ask for directions. But if no one
answers they burglarize the home."
Thul says that without cooperation by
citizens, especially neighbors, police have no
forewarning to stop burglaries.
He gave an example of "an elderly
gentleman taking a walk on Dodd Road and
noting several suspicious men. He went back
home, called the police, who then caught the
men in process of burglarizing.
"People have a mind set," Thul said. "They
sometimes want to report something
suspicious, but don't want to bother police
because of a possible mistake." Thul said
police are very willing to answer 100 false calls
if it means capturing one burglar. He also urg-
ed all residents to sign up at the police office
for Operation ID, the no -cost means to iden-
tify homes with protective decals and marked
valuables. Presently 635 Heights homes have
enrolled in Operation ID.
The annual report noted that iii 1981 police
members had undertaken 329 hours of training
over a wide range of topics: from SWAT team
operations to child abuse investigation, to
hazardous materials identification, to crash in-
jury management, among 21 areas.
The police department took delivery of three
new 1981 Chevrolet Malibu Sedans in 1981.
The department presently has 12 licensed full-
time officers, 4 reserve/part-time police of-
ficers and a full time clerk/secretary. The
department now has its first female officer,
Ms. Charlotte Gabbert who is a reserve officer
while studying law enforcement at Inver Hills
Community College.
Plowing... Cont.
similar future emergencies.
As the snow melt began in late February and
early March the Public Works Department
crews were looking ahead to the steady pace of
drainage problems, ditch clearance, and street
improvements. The days of the big snow of '82
were over, but certainly not forgotten.
The men who did the work: John Neska,
Len Kanitz, George Noack, Fred Pfeiffer,
Tom Olund, Terry Blum, Rudy Literski, and
Supervisor Dick Ploumen.
Parks/Recreation
Meetings 2nd Tuesdays
Residents interested in attending meetings of
the City's Parks and Recreation Commission
should note that the Commission's meeting
times have been changed to the second Tues-
day of each month, instead of the fourth Tues-
day, as was previous practice. These meetings
are held at the City Hall at 7:30 p.m.
March, 1982 Mendota Heights Highlites
Will Prevent Unknown Location Tragedies
�Plans 'bet for 1 Emergency
The emergency call comes in at the police
department. At the other end a frantic
woman's voice cries, "Police. My baby's
choking and can't breath. Please, come right
now."
But the woman hangs up before giving her
address. Ready and trained just for this
emergency, the police are unable to locate
where the woman lives. There is a tragedy.
This is just one of many life-saving situa-
tions which the new Twin Cities Metro 911
Emergency number will be able to solve when
the new communication system goes into
operation this December.
Recently Mendota Heights completed ar-
rangements with West St. Paul's 24 hour
dispatching center to assure a full-time connec-
tion for Mendota Heights police to the
metropolitan 911 emergency system.
The 911 system is a technological wonder of
instant computerized communications. It ties
together more than one million telephones in
the seven metropolitan counties and 200 plus
cities with the 66 police departments, 104 fire
departments, and 30 ambulance services.
Each emergency call as it is made to the 911
number is instantly and automatically relayed
by phone number and address to the local
police, fire departments or ambulance service
for rapid help. No longer does the frantic
mother need to tell from where she is calling.
Also, it removes the total confusion during an
emergency of trying to locate in the phone
book the number of the nearest police or fire
fighting department.
The 1977 legislature mandated each metro
county to establish the 911 service by
December 15, 1982, and each county outside
the metro area by 1986. The State funds the re-
quired central phone company modifications
and annual recurring costs ($1 million a year).
Costs for local communities' installation is
paid by Dakota County for the six relay centers
in the county: West St. Paul, South St. Paul,
Burnsville, Apple Valley, Lakeville, and the
Dakota County Sheriff's office.
The service is for real emergency use only
and not for other police or fire department
reporting by citizens, not for reports like cat
up a tree, or children making too much noise
in the alley, according to local police.
Four Reappointed
to City Commissions
The City Council recently reappointed four
Parks and Recreation Commission and Plan-
ning Commission members to three year terms
to assure those two governmental advisory
bodies of full strength representation.
Reappointed to the Parks and Recreation
Commission were its Chairperson Thomas
Bayless, 738 Navajo Lane; and Mike Williams,
2357 Rogers Ave. Reappointed to the Planning
Commission were Kevin Howe, 1763 Lansford
Lane; and Sandra Butler, 734 Woodridge
Drive.
Page Three
Residents Invited to Comment
on Community Volunteer Plan
What about a Community Volunteer Program in Mendota Heights, a sort of hometown Peace
Corps? What is your CV IDEA? The suggestion has been made to city staff members as a way of
"helping our community in many positive ways to become a better place to live," according to
City Administrator Orvil Johnson.
With cutbacks in many governmental programs and harder economic times for many people,
the new vision is to recreate volunteerism as a way of serving each other in our local communities.
What do you think?
There are more than 30 volunteer firemen, seven volunteer time on the Planning Commission,
seven on the Park and Recreation Commission, plus many other activities. April 18-24 is Na-
tional Volunteer Week.
Volunteering locally is what this article is all about. Here at City Hall we're inviting public sug-
gestions for voluntary service locally, what needs doing, how to do it.
What is your CV IDEA? Below is a small response form. Send in your recommendation with or
without your name. Or just pick up the phone and call in your CV idea personally.
Here are several starters: CVs to help elderly citizens by maintaining their yards, giving them
shopping rides, or what? CVs to help once a year to clean up our community parks or
playgrounds? Someone suggested Crime Watch CVs to keep an eye on their neighborhood, and
call police if potential burglars are around.
Your CV IDEAS are needed! Call or write today!
— — — — — — – — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Call It In
What Is Your
By Phone 452-1850
CV Or Mail In This Coupon
Here's My CV Idea
Idea?
I I
I I
1 I want to be a community volunteer to do
I 1
Send to:
Hilites, City Hall
750 S. Plaza Drive
Mendota Hts. 55120 My Name (optional)
I Address Phone I
I I
L -----------------Clip or Phone It-----------------'
Page Four Mendota Heights Highlites March, 1982
City Again Lowest In Real Estate Taxes
Mendota Heights again ranked lowest
among Dakota County's communities in com-
parison of the amount of real estate taxes paid
by homeowners.
Though an increase in taxes resulted over the
year's span because of inflation and other fac-
tors, Mendota Heights continues its low posi-
tion based on an estimated market value home.
In 1980 taxes were $425 for this home, in 1981
they were $601.
Here is a tax comparison listing prepared by
the County Auditor by Dakota County com-
munity:
1981 Taxes 1980 Taxes
$60,000 $60,000
Est. MV Est. MV
Mendota Hts. $601 $425
Inver Grove Hts. $659 $459
W. St. Paul $677 $458
Eagan $737 $538
Lakeville $751 $539
Rosemount $786 $593
Farmington $787 $561
Burnsville $806 $551
Apple Valley $842 $655
So. St. Paul $862 $711
Mendota $894 $349
Note: The difference between $60,000 and
$66,000 over the year assumes a 10010 growth in
market value.
7 Communities
Sign Cable
TV Agreement
Mendota Heights has officially joined six
other communities in establishing the Nor-
thern Dakota County Joint Powers Agree-
ment.
Meeting in early March the Northern
Dakota County Cable Communications Com-
mission elected its officers and set in motion
actions which include receiving applications
from and eventually selecting a cable com-
munication company which then will install
and operate a cable TV programming network
in the seven participating communities.
This process includes a needs assessment
from the communities, holding public hearings
on policy decisions; supervising application
procedure, company designation, and fran-
chise procedures; and then administering the
communities control after the system is in
place.
Based on population size, the seven par-
ticipating communities have the following
voting shares on the Commission: Inver Grove
Heights (4), Lilydale (1), Mendota (1), Men-
dota Heights (2), South St. Paul (5), Sunfish
Lake (1), and West St. Paul (4). Start up con-
tributions for the Commission costs are based
on $500 a share. Mendota Heights will provide
$1000 as its contribution.
The Mendota Heights Council approved the
City's participation in the agreement in early
January with the condition that West St. Paul
also participate. This has since occurred.
AT ANNUAL RETIREMENT DINNER in late February — Mayor Robert Lockwood offers
gratitude to retiring Chief Arnie Siebell flanked by Lambert Derks (left), president of the Men-
dota Heights Firemen's Relief Association and by Gene Olsen (right), who also retired after serv-
ing the department for 20 years.
Building construction may have been in a
state of lethargy in many parts of the country
in 1981, but in Mendota Heights it recorded an
overall increase, up in single family dwelling
and home improvement construction, down
only slightly in commercial industrial building.
In 1981 the City issued 760 permits on
$8,391,776 in valuation, and collected $80,552
in fees. This compares with 727 permits,
$4,928,421 in valuation, and $38,828 in fees in
1980, according to report prepared in February
for the City Council by Paul Berg, code en-
forcement officer.
The high rise in fees collected is due in part
to the increase in building permit fees and the
increased valuation of permits issued. Last
year's 254 building permits ranged from a
computer reconditioning center for Sperry -
Univac to permits for minor construction such
as home roofing or re -siding.
Increase in number of permits (34 more) for
1981 was 15 percent. Increase in fees collected
($42,233) was 264 percent.
The City saw the construction of 48 new
single family dwellings in 1981, compared with
41 in 1980, though the valuation decreased
from $84,594 to $82,496 in the one year com-
parison.
In 1981 17 commercial or industrial permits
were issued on a $3,375,810 valuation and
From: City Of Mendota Heights
750 Plaza Drive South
Mendota Heights, Mn. 55120
$192,695 in fees collected. This compares with
21 permits for a $3,468,327 valuation and
$84,593 in collected fees in 1980.
Miscellaneous _permits equaled 189 in 1981
compared with 158 in 1980, an increase of 19
percent, with valuation increasing 60 percent
from $718,259 to $1,156,171 over the two
years. Trade permits (plumbing, water/air
condition, etc.) make up the balance of the
permits issued.
The City code enforcement office also
handles all licenses for construction work in
the City. In 1981 the Council approved 251
contractor's licenses for fees of $6,275, an in-
crease of 17 more licenses (701o) and $487 in
license fees (801o) over 1980.
This all adds up to the City holding its own
in construction work, and because of much
higher valuation totals and fees collected, in-
creasing its revenues significantly between 1980
and 1981.
Apologies from Eagan
Due to a post office meeting error recently,
an Eagan Firemen's Dance solicitation recently
was mailed erroneously to some Mendota
Heights residents. The Eagan Volunteer Fire
Department wishes to apologize for any in-
convenience or misunderstandings this might
have caused.
Bulk Rate
U.S. Postage
PAID
Permit No.6166
St. Paul, Mn. 55120