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2011-02-25 Friday NewsFrolda News Mendota Heights Weekly Report on City Activities February 25, 2011 Flood Preparedness Discussion Governor Mark Dayton hosted a meeting in South St. Paul on Wednesday morning to discuss local flood preparedness. Featured speakers included staff from MN Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and the MN National Guard. Several local mayors and state legislators were also in attendance. Mendota Heights has just one property at risk for flooding, but there were some good insights shared for any type of disaster we may face. Our region has a great number of resources available, but it is critical to plan ahead and to use our own resources first —as state and federal aid only starts our resources are exhausted. Specific to residents, Dakota County Sherriff David Bellows had two important messages — it is important that citizens resist the urge to tour flooded areas— it creates new dangers for public safety staff. The same is true for volunteers who show up to help before incident commanders are ready for them. Please leave the disaster where it is, and consider lending a hand when it is called for. VFW Fish Fry If you don't have dinner plans made for the evening, please consider stopping by the South St. Paul VFW for their fundraising fish fry. The VFW, located at 111 South Concord Exchange, is a major contributor to our annual safety camp for youth, providing 50 Mendota Heights youth an education on a variety of safety topics each year. In return, we send volunteers to help one night each year. You will see several faces this evening helping to serve up a tasty meal for a good cause. nA, Snow Plowing It seems that this winter may never come to an end, although most of us have had enough winter wonderland. This week's Pipeline talks a little bit about our most recent snow event, and we are likely to have one or two more major snowfalls before spring comes. Mendota Heights plow routes have been developed over years of experience, with considerable input from citizens. Feedback on snow removal this year has been very positive, but there are always concerns and special requests. Please direct these concerns to City Hall, and we will be happy to respond to your input after the snowfall event. Mendota Heights City Hall 1101 Victoria Curve www.mendota-heights.com (651) 452 -1850 February 25, 2011 Page Two February 25, 2011 State of the City Address The Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce is pleased to host the 2011 State of the City Addresses for the cities of Mendota Heights and West St. Paul on Thursday morning, March 3, 2011. This chamber event is open to all members of the public. The event is held at the Northern Service Center in West St. Paul, starting at 7:30 a.m. Mayor Zanmiller will speak first this year, followed by Mayor Krebsbach. The State of the City Address is a nice opportunity to hear about both cities, as well as to network with citizens, civic and business leaders from both communities. High Performance Partnership Jake Sedlacek attended the Dakota County High Performance Partnership (HiPP) on Friday morning. You may remember that this initiative started in 2004, resulting in the Dakota County Consolidated dispatch center in Empire Township. Dakota County Mayors and Administrators are revisiting the initiative to see if there are other potential opportunities for partnership. The project consultant has stressed that the dispatch center was a major accomplishment and that it may be more appropriate in this go round to consider smaller scale projects. Friday's meeting included hearing feedback from citizen focus groups and brainstorming potential projects to partner on. The meeting was very productive; a draft list of new opportunities will be discussed by the HiPP group in March. Dates to Remember March 1, 2011 7:00 p.m. City Council Meeting March 3, 2011 7:30 a.m. State of the City Address — Dakota County Northern Service Center March 8, 2011 6:30 p.m. Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting March 9, 2011 7:00 p.m. Airport Relations Commission Meeting March 22, 2011 7:00 P.m. Planning Commission Meeting m, Attachments The Pipeline, Just the Facts February 25, 2011 NEWS The Pipeline LETTER �v Public Works Engineering �1 Code Enforcement <c��z� %���� February 25, 2011 Public Works The Parks Crew closed the warming houses for the season. They removed the flooding hoses, fittings, and hydrant wrenches. The hoses were dried out and rolled up for storage. They plowed all cul -de -sacs and parking lots after Sunday and Monday's snow storm and started snow plowing the trails. Rich plowed the middle area of the city. He shoveled out the wet well covers at each lift station and plowed the parking area. He checked out a sewer gas smell on Wagon Wheel Trail and the city's sanitary sewer line was running good. He attended a safety meeting. Rich opened up a frozen storm drain at the intersection of Walsh Lane and Oxford Court. The Street Crew plowed all city streets two to three times with the 18+ inch snow fall Sunday and Monday. Two Mack plow trucks broke down due to rear end problems. George used the city's grader to help out with plowing. The plows were taken off the two trucks, the salt was dumped and they were washed up. Mack then towed them out to Roseville for repair. They attended a safety meeting in South Saint Paul. Mailboxes were fixed and other snow plow issues were addressed. Engineering Wagon Wheel Trail Reconstruction - Staff is putting the finishing touches on the final plans for this project. Input and cooperation have both been tremendous as staff discovered issues and worked through them with the area residents. It is anticipated the final plans will be before Council with a request to accept the plans and authorize advertisement for bids at the March 15th Council meeting. This project is anticipated to be under construction in early summer 2011 with substantial completion by the end of September 2011. Delaware Avenue Reconstruction - Dakota County has finished the final plan set for the project and they are anticipating a bid date of April 5th. This would put the project on schedule for a summer 2011 construction. Dakota County is working on acquiring the last few pieces of right -of -way for the project. One piece of right -of -way needed is owned by the City, and staff has prepared a resolution that will be presented at the March 1St Council meeting to address the turnover of this small area for the fair market value of the land. The reconstruction project will create a 3 -lane roadway from Highway 110 to Marie Avenue. Construction will extend approximately 500 feet north of Marie Avenue in order to tie back into the 2 -lane roadway to the north. Construction is anticipated to be substantially complete by the opening of school on September 6th Lilydale Road (County Road 45) Turn Back - Staff met with representatives from the City of Lilydale and Dakota County on Wednesday to discuss the potential for the County to turn back Lilydale Road (County Road 45) to the cities of Lilydale, Mendota Heights, and Saint Paul (it runs through a Saint Paul park that is inside the corporate limits of Lilydale). The turn back is not final, but the County is asking the cities to look at the impacts of accepting this right -of -way form the County. The City of Mendota Heights would receive the ramp from Highway 13 to the north side of the Highway 13 bridge as the only portion within the City corporate limits. There will be more to come on this issue in the near future. Lower Mississippi River Watershed Management Organization (LMRWMO) - The LMRWMO will be hosting an interactive workshop on the morning of April 30th from 9:30 to noon at the Science Museum of Minnesota. This workshop builds on last fall's program "Connecting Land and River" held on the Mississippi River with a boat tour of the river bluff area. The April workshop is free, but registration will be required. Invitations will be going out soon. The workshop is focused on stormwater issues, and the intent of the workshop is to have participants: • Increase knowledge of stormwater issues related to street reconstruction and commercial redevelopments. • Participate in case studies examining stormwater issues & opportunities. • Enhance ability to ask the right questions when redevelopment proposals come to them as a local leader. • Collaborate with leaders on water resource issues in a relaxed setting. Invitations will be sent out soon, and space is limited, so prompt RSVPs are requested. More information to come in the following weeks. Tie latest hews frv� t6�e /�tenr{'at�t �feiy�its,f'olite �eyartlneht 2/25/2011 tf The OFP Violation Thursday 1955 hours Mendota Officer Willson responded to a local school on report of a violation of Heights restraining order. The respondent informed the officer that although his mother was to pick up the kids, she had a flat tire. Therefore the Police respondent appeared at the school with his mother to pick up the Department children; his mother attempted to inform the petitioner of the Support situation, who refused to speak with either party, so the respondent Staff informed his children of the situation. An order had been in place Kim Henning but appeared to have expired. Officers advised the parents to keep Sandie Ristine the peace for the children and they both agreed and handled the Susan Donovan situation peacefully. The next morning, officers were able to confirm Cathy Ransom Becky Pentel an order was in place. Case sent to city attorney for possible Police Officers charges. Jerry Murphy Scott Patrick DOC Saturday 2345 hours John Larrive Officers were requested at a local bar to assist with disorderly party Bobby Lambert who refused to leave. Upon arrival, they found the manager holding Tanner Spicer the man down, as he had become aggressive to him. When he Todd Rosse refused to get up on his own, the officers kindly assisted him up and Chad Willson VonFeldt helped him walk to the squad. He then began resistin g and kicking Jennifer Fordham the officers. He was warned to stop or he would be tazed — he Denise Urmann refused and they followed thru with a taze. He still would not comply Michael Shepard so they assisted him into the squad car. He was issued a citation Peyton Fleming for Disorderly Conduct and taken to jail. School Resource Officer DWI Saturday 0103 hours Steven Meyer While on patrol near the Mendota Bridge, Officer Urmann watched Investigations as the vehicle in front of her crossed over the fog line with both tires Mario Reyes Tanner Spicer several time. Upon seeing the red lights, the vehicle did pull over Sergeants onto the (at that time) grassy area, nearly into the ditch. With the Neil Garlock window rolled down, Officer Urmann quickly smelled the problem. Brian Convery The bleary -eyed driver informed her that he had "a few" glasses of Eric Petersen wine over several hours, but the female passenger reportedly had Reserves Randy Pentel only had soda. The driver agreed to testing, nearly hopping into Gino Messina traffic on one test, ultimately giving a PBT of .108. The female Jesse Mettner passenger again stated she was only drinking the pop in the car, Andrew Quinlan kindly offering Officer Willson a taste. He declined and upon testing Chief her, found she was well over the limit. Must have been some Mike powerful pop! He was arrested and after providing a sample, was Aschenbrener taken to jail. Charges pending lab results. -1- 2/25/2011 Possess Handgun w/o Permit Sunday 0103 hours Sergeant Petersen was contacted by a Dakota County Deputy and informed that upon stopping a vehicle in our jurisdiction, the driver freely admitted he had a loaded handgun in his vehicle. Sergeant Petersen arrived, searched him and asked about the gun and if he a permit to carry. He had an expired, out of state permit (2009), and he did indeed have a loaded weapon in the car. He also had an odor of alcohol on his person. When PBT'd, he was at .087. He was placed under arrest and taken to jail for not only possessing a handgun without a permit but also for being under the influence of alcohol while in possession of a handgun. Neighborhood Heist Saturday to Sunday1031 hours First, on Saturday at 1444 hours, Officer Patrick took a walk -in report of theft from auto when a vehicle was inadvertently left unlocked overnight between Friday and Saturday night and his wallet was stolen. Then, on Sunday at 1205 hours, he took a report of another residence whose unlocked vehicle was entered and had a GPS unit stolen. Next, on Sunday at 1031 hours, he was advised via telephone that the complainant's garage was entered when the door was accidentally left open and his vehicles were ransacked. The only known item taken was loose change. Then, on Sunday at 1429 hours, Officer Lambert heard from another victim, also an unlocked vehicle, also with loose change stolen. Forwarded to investigations. • Can you find the similarities? Don't forget to lock your vehicles or hesitate to report suspicious activity. Suspicious Activity Wednesday 0665 hours Officers were dispatched to an apartment complex on report of suspicious persons literally on their doorstep. They held the door open for a resident coming out, then managed to enter the apartment complex and head for the underground garage. Upon arrival, officers found two parties in a vehicle who reported they had run out of gas and had come here to attempt to get gas and stay warm. Both had pants that were wet from the knees down as if walking in snow. Footprints around the outside of the building were found. Upon running their names, officers found one felony warrant for the female and two felony warrants for the male. A search of the vehicle and their possessions revealed the female's crack/meth pipe. Both were taken into custody on the warrants — formal felony charges pending for the female party. Forgery Wednesday 0816 hours Sergeant Garlock was dispatched to a local business regarding a forgery. They had been contacted by Canterbury Park that a suspect had attempted to cash a company check and they were verifying the check. The account number was correct but the check itself had inconsistencies. Case forwarded to investigations. Advise /Advice Friday 1010 hours Sergeant Garlock took a call from an Edina resident, concerned about his son attending a party reportedly to be held at a "mansion" in our jurisdiction over the weekend. The parent was concerned there would be drinking, that his son's career goals would be jeopardized if he attended said party and wished to inquire on the nature of calls to the address. After being informed by a sergeant that he would need to request the data in person, it was suggested he exercise his parental authority and "just say no." M