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2007-05-04 Friday NewsPAR 3 UPDATE Last Saturday the Mayor's Par 3 "Tee Off' event was attended by fifteen to twenty well wishers and golfers. After some photos, many of the attendees played a round of golf. At Last Tuesday's meeting, the City Council listened to Mark Ruff from Ehlers, the City's financial consultants explain the process and time table to market and sell the bonds to acquire the funds to purchase the course. At this time, it looks likely that the City will be able to lock in on an interest rate at or below what was anticipated at the start of the referendum process. The bonds will be sold in time to close on the course the last week of June. Last meeting the City Council also authorized the formation of a task force to look into a number of business, operational and marketing issues. The group will research the issues and make recommendations for the remainder of this year and for years to come. Team members will include Jerry Murphy - long time General Manager of Somerset Country Club, Dave Bergen, Manager of Par 3, Paul Portz Park & Recreation Commissioner and Jake Sedlacek. The team needs to convene quickly and do their work, as the City will take possession of the course at the end of June. 27 DAYS! Sgt. Donn Anderson has 27 calendar days or 15 work days or 142.5 hours (not that he's counting) of work before he retires. This Wednesday when he entered the McDonald's to investigate the goings on with some other old retiree's from the PD, found that McDonalds had decorated their store, made a cake, and had gotten him a Mickey D's sweatshirt and coffee cup. Even hard hearted "old" Donn said that he was "almost" moved to tears. We are gall saying .99- s.. 1^ 4 �;se Y�..99 t- 9 L!l(i �D C" t9� '92nd .7 + 9 P700 d�T? <2 at rife biro atiaii goodbye o Donn here al CIty IIaii ala vv ASAaU on the 2 an aL a i aAaav Hall in South St. Paul on June 1St. If you want to say good bye or good -riddance, be sure and come to one or both of these events. SPRING CLEAN-UP Spring Clean -Up is this Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. behind Mendota Plaza, rain or shine. Please remind your friends and neighbors to take advantage of this opportunity. Entrance to the clean up will be from South Plaza Drive, a current MN ID with a Mendota Heights address is required! Respectfully submitted, James Danielson City Administrator Attachments: Pipeline, Just the Facts, Parks and Recreation Commission Agenda, Airport Relations Commission Agenda, Southwest Review Article `Burlars strike MH homes, businesses", Sun Newspaper Articles "Thanks to MH voters" and "Thanks to Anderson", and Friday Fax. N E W S LETTER Public Works Engineering Code Enforcement Public Works The Pipelin May 4, 2007 The Parks Crew finished working at the Civic Center ball field by leveling out the rec rock. The irrigation system was started up at Kensington and Mendakota Parks and repairs were made as needed. The Lacrosse field was set up at Kensington Park. The field at Mendakota Park was striped for the youth lacrosse team. The volleyball net was installed at Rogers Lake Park. Rich sprayed for broadleaf weeds at City Hall, Mendakota Park, Rogers Lake Park, the Fire Hall, Friendly Hills Park and Kensington Parks North and South. He did a sanitary sewer and storm sewer inspection on Centre Pointe Blvd. He cleaned out the sump pit at the Public Works Garage. StreetThe • to make mail box repairs.weep - signshauled to Soulbergs Aggregate in Rosemount. Graffiti was removed from sto�t on • i a and Marie,andVictoria and Caren. i I inew truck was brought to 3 -Craft to be outfitted for the dump body, hydraulics and other The driveway at 2400Pilot Knob Road(slope remediation • • paved on - • .y. Landscaping will be completed by the • of • Ryan and Sam completed the second round of water quality monitoring on LeMay Lake. Sue met with WSB & Associates regarding the status of the Mendota Heights Road traffic study. The report will be complete in a few weeks. The first two signal bases at Pilot Knob Road and Mendota Heights Road were poured today. The conduit has been installed on the base locations. The crack sealing in the Kingsley neighborhood was completed on Monday. 05-04-07 -1- 05-04-07 friend was allowed to drive the car from the scene. DAR / Warrant 04-24-07 0451 hours Officer Steve Meyer stopped a car for speeding 16 mph over the limit. The driver had only an instruction permit that unfortunately was revoked. The license check also showed he had an active warrant for his arrest out of Big Stone County. Officer Meyer dropped the suspect off at his place of employment along with two citations. The man promised to take care of the warrant immediately. Theft of Purse 04-24-07 2142 hours Officer Mike Shepard responded to the SA on a theft of a purse. The caller reported that approximately'/2 hour earlier she pumped gas and went in to pay. When she returned to her car she didn't notice her purse was missing until she was almost to Lakeville. She returned the gas station to see if it was there. It was not. When she went in to pay for her gas someone entered her vehicle and took her purse. No suspects, no video. Victim was advised on what security steps to take and who to notify. Vandalism 04-26-07 0925 hours Officer Brian Convery received a call of vandalism at the Mendota Elementary school. The school again fell victim to a senseless act of vandalism. Someone spray painted the side of the building with very amateurish gang graffiti. The case has been referred to investigations. The investigators began working with the Mendota Heights Community Criminal Apprehension Fund to expand the previously offered reward for information leading to the arrest and charging of the culprits. Suspicious Activity 04-27-07 1407 hours Officers received a call of a tent just off of Hwy 13. After checking the Ivy Falls area, Sgt Donn Anderson and Officer LJ 1-;--Conevery located a tent just off of Hwy 13, NW of Sylvandale. It appeared that someone had been living there for quite some time. The area was checked and St Paul Parks was notified to clean up the trash and remove the tent. Several items were brnnouggfhtAA to the PD to compare against recent theft reports. Found ®roperty° 04=294=07 -® 0369 hours Caller stopped at MHPD to return a wallet she had found laying in the street. When Officer Petersen arrived at the PD he learned that the victim thought the wallet fell off of or out of a white Cadillac that was last seen on Abbey Way. The wallet contained ID, cash and several cards. Officer Petersen made multiple attempts to contact the owner with no success to date. Vandalism / Burglary 04-30-07 0012 hours Officers Meyer and Spicer responded to a call of kids possibly spray painting cars. Upon arrival the suspects were located and very quickly taken into custody. They had an open container of alcohol in the car and a bunch of property. The suspects were transported to the PD and interviewed under Miranda. The suspects initially denied stealing anything but a short time later confessed that they had been "garage shopping" for alcohol and the rest of the items were just there. They were returned to their parents and the case has been forwarded for charging. /favc a pwe w 4*,(.�/*4 -2- CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA AGENDA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION Tuesday, May 8, 2007 - 6:30 P.M. City Council Chambers 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of April 10 2007, Minutes 4. April Parks & Recreation Report (Available Tuesday) 5. Par 3 Update 6. Park Project Updates - Comments from Residents 7 Valley Park Tennis Courts S. Select Projects for New Five Year Capital Improvement Plan 9. Commission Comments 10. Adjourn Auxiliary aids for persons with disabilities are available at least 120 hours in advance. If a notice of less than 120 hours is received, the City of Mendota Heights will make every attempt to provide the aids. This may not, however, be possible on short notice. Please contact City Administration at 651-452-1850. CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS AIRPORT RELATIONS COMMISSION AGENDA May 9, 2007 — City Council Chambers 1. Call to Order - 7:00 p.m. 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of the Minutes from the April 11, 2007 Airport Relations Commission Meetings. 4. Unfinished and New Business: a. Update Plan of Action b. Edit Thank You Letters c. Guy Heide Letter Discussion d. Updates for Introduction Book 5. Acknowledge Receipt of Various Reports/Correspondence: a. March 2007 ANOM Technical Advisor's Report b. March 2007 ANOM Eagan/Mendota Heights Departure Corridor Analysis C. Airport Noise Report, April 6, 2007. d. Airport Noise Report, April 13, 2007. e. Airport Noise Report, April 20, 2007. £ Airport Noise Report, April 27, 2007. 6. Other Commissioner Comments or Concerns 7. Upcoming Meetings City Council Meeting NOC Meeting MAC Meeting 8. Public Comments 9. Adjourn 5-15-07 - 7:30 5-16-07 - 1:30 5-21-07 - 1:00 Auxiliary aids for persons with disabilities are available upon request at least 120 hours in advance. If a notice of less than 120 hours is received, the City of Mendota Heights will make every attempt to provide the aids. This may not, however, be possible on short notice. Please contact City Administration at (651) 452-1850 with requests. t5urglars strike 1VHhomes, businesses Seth Loy news editor Mendota Heights Police are inves- tigating a string of residential and business burglaries the past couple months. Investigator Scott Patrick said the residential burglaries happened dur- ing spring break, the night of April 2, along Wagon Wheel Avenue. "For the'most part, they were entering unsecured residences, and they were also breaking into locked autos," Patrick said. "They targeted unsecured' areas or easily available areas, such as service doors to garages." The burglars struck -approxi- mately five houses and three locked autos, taking a bicycle, a camera, stereo equipment, a four-wheel ATV and other items. Mendota Heights Police Chief Mike Asclienorener said the b-ur- glars dropped several items during their getaway and hid others in the woods. Police later recovered most of the items. On March 7, burglars sneaked into several buildings in the busi- ness park along Mendota Heights Road and Pilot Knob in search of computers. At this point, police do not believe the two incidents are related. They have a suspect in the March 7 crime, but Patrick wouldn't release any details. "We remind residents to secure their belongings," he said. — Seth- Loy can be reached at slob@lillienews.com or 748-7815. ire your views un -Current welcomes com- um its readers, rs are encouraged to write the editor on topics of -local Letters to the editor should �d 250 words. Short letters lost likely to be read. All let - editor must bear the signature and complete Telephone numbers (home e) where the writer can be during business and lours must be included for on purposes. ce are multiple signatures. .tter we request that each clude their telephone num- .s helpful when there are' signatures that.each signer our office to verify the let - will not publish any letter ignature has not been veri- submissions must be no later than 5 p.m: for possible publication Ing Thursday. wspaper reserves the right submissions and to reject 's or columns that contain )r offensive material. We the frequency of letters from an individual writer. write to: Sun -Current, 10917 W Road, Eden Prairie, MN also may fax your informa- t 952-392-6868. You may e-mail d suncurrentsouth@ com. Please do not forward is with your e-mails. For nation, call us at 952-829-0797. LETTERS TO THE EDIT®Ib Thanks to MH voters r lways felt sorry for y - it seems like a B -list F ®�p� exist around the same time of year. National Anxiety' while in the. service of General Dad, I brewer waiting behind a p��dCvl Disorders Screening Day (May can appreciate the simple feel%ng of pride that comes from t ropes as the bouncers s i ; Lakeville Sun -Current 3). Windmill Day (May 12). and - planting something and watch - enol alleatment to `y Community Editor last but not least, National Sea ' ing it grow. Over the years, the s ween.t Mendota, Heights. Police Department will.. Monkey Day (May -.16). tree grows and sprouts roots, Day, which has its own some well-trained and highly skilled subor- In. short, I guess that there much like the people who plant - at www arbordayorg, Don't getme wrong - I like _ isn't any shortage of holiday ed it in the first place. 1874 after a journalist trees..I like the crunch of leaves : themes for this yeas but think' A tree planted.by a child can Sterling Morton advo-, under my feet in the fall,: and I about this: Do any of those hol- .: almost serve as an. intertwined. t both individuals and love the tingle I get when I real-. idays . I listed involve trees? I : -metaphor. for the lives that lant trees on a tree- holiday. It is. estimated. ize that . the world is going . 'didn't green again after a long, cold thinkso Nothing says` erazy-fun-excitement like grow with each passing season. Despite differences in -complex-. ly 1 million trees were winter. If _anything deserves a appreciating a tree. ty trees.and people have a 10 t, n Nebraska on that holiday, why not a tree? Better' There is a small consolation ..: in common, destiny -wise. Some ir Day. trees ., , han, say, - toasters: that Arbor. Day may take in the - - are cut down in their prime,,*: a lot of trees - and the "National Should -Have- fact that, of all holidays cele- some grow to a ripe old age and ?eople seemed to take Checked The -Setting -Before .brated April 27, it is the undis some ,eventually split. and fall � to it is a reminder of Charring -My -Bread. Day" just puted king: Arbor`Day's compe : - on cars.when their insides have time; before the elec- doesn't have the same sort of. tition? National Hairball been hollowed out by squirrels:: versions that wetake noble ring td. it, does it?- A Awareness Day, and Mantanzas - Personally, .I' Hope to avoid ted today. Perhaps Perhaps. there should,' be. Mule Day Yes, I think its safe that last one. these holidays were. some . sort of government to say that Arbor Day, for once; r to give people things "Holiday Audit Office" . that: is the king of the hill. (You are invited to comment" ward to. I mean, how should take care of overseeing While I poke fun in jest, I about this story on our website an a place be if a hol- the holidays. we celebrate. -For think` Arbor. Day is an under- at . www.mnsun.com and/or. ent planting nearly 1 example, Here are some other, appreciated holiday. As a veteran write a letter to the editor at sun- aes? more eclectic ;holidays _that of many landscape wars fought' currentsouth@acnpapers.com) ire your views un -Current welcomes com- um its readers, rs are encouraged to write the editor on topics of -local Letters to the editor should �d 250 words. Short letters lost likely to be read. All let - editor must bear the signature and complete Telephone numbers (home e) where the writer can be during business and lours must be included for on purposes. ce are multiple signatures. .tter we request that each clude their telephone num- .s helpful when there are' signatures that.each signer our office to verify the let - will not publish any letter ignature has not been veri- submissions must be no later than 5 p.m: for possible publication Ing Thursday. wspaper reserves the right submissions and to reject 's or columns that contain )r offensive material. We the frequency of letters from an individual writer. write to: Sun -Current, 10917 W Road, Eden Prairie, MN also may fax your informa- t 952-392-6868. You may e-mail d suncurrentsouth@ com. Please do not forward is with your e-mails. For nation, call us at 952-829-0797. LETTERS TO THE EDIT®Ib Thanks to MH voters community with honesty _and dedication; He would stop by the`.dispatch center dur= To the editor= ing his shift and personally visit with his Thank you to the residents of Mendota dispatchers day or night. We shared many . Heights for caring so deeply about our com cups of coffee and. some behind the scene runty. The turnout for the single -issue refer- stories. 'My parents live in Mendota: endum vote was tremendous. We clearly have Heights and proclaim Sgt. Anderson to be: engaged citizens who pay 'close attention to . "one of the nicest police officers ever, to . civic events. Voters have made thechoice andserve them :when they needed help. The. set the course for the property foryearsto Mendota, Heights. Police Department will.. come. It is now time for all of us to come back lose a valuable asset: But he leaves behind. together and work to ensurer Mendota some well-trained and highly skilled subor- Heights' continued strength and vitality, . dinates. I wish him well in his retirement. We: extend our personal thanks. to the John Morson many;-residients who cared enough about West St. Paul _ Saving Par 3 to write so many letters to edi tors, host lawn signs, allow their names to be ` Pas aha tvansnort bill used in campaign literature, contribute to the campaign, and distribute literature'door .. To the editor: to door. Your gift.of tine, money -and For most of my life, I have taken transit personal involvement: demonstrates your to work. I appreciate that it's less stressful,, commitment to our community saves money, and contributes less to global . With much gratitude to our new and old warming. friends, However, our current transit system Sally Lorberbaum` doest t k f Robin Ehrlich Co-chairs of the Save the Par 3 Committee Thanks to Anderson To the editor: I- had the distinct pleasure of working with Donn Anderson for most of his career. I recently retired from the West St. Paul 911 Center where he received his calls for serv- ice. Donn never hesitated to respond to a trivial or high stressful call. He served his no a e me vin my home in Burnsville to my job in Golden Valley, so I need to drive. I think it is time we invest in a world-class transit system, with a bigger bus system and a network of rail lines. The transportation omnibus finance bill before our legislators and governor that will accomplish this, and I ask that they pass it. I do not think we can build enough roads to get us out of the transportation quagmire without paying dearly for envi- ronmental degradation and much more. Godan Nambudiripad . Burnsville IOU Z Col .lett C icoolr 952 Pegg. sunec 952-3 Mega suncu 952-8 John; suncui 952-3 Bonnh suncui 952-81 Jana l iberen. 952-3i Pam N prnillei 952-3< Dan M dmiller `952-3£ Herb H hhesse 952-39 To piac 952-39 For cin 952-39 Send n letters' Sun -Cu 10917? Eden •Pi Phone: Fax: 95; suncurr, For wec anniver photos-: Sandy c ss karst( 952-39e For leg, and obil Mary Ar sunlegal sunobit: 952-392 Sun New: 8 a.m. to phones u 9 p.m. on © 2007, Pi by SUN NE 10917 Valli Eden Praid q aORII GVW lay r; ,rr r t940 Administrator Page 001 of 005 L:j MC J,...�...nY�r !'iEwa -rich ax- A weekly legislative update from the League of Minnesota Cities Much done but much to do Monday marks the beginning of the final two weeks of the 2007 regular legislative session. As of today, conference committees have completed the work on all but four of the major omnibus budget bills. The completed bills include the Capital Investment bill, the Jobs and Economic Development bill, the State Government Finance bill, the Environment, Natural Resources and Energy bill, the Agriculture and Veterans bill and the Public Safety, Judiciary and Corrections bill. Earlier this week, the governor vetoed the omnibus capital projects bill due in large part to the size of the final conference committee compromise. The House bill contained 5290 million in projects while the Senate bill included 5320 million. The final compromise included a total of $334 million. As of today, it is unclear if the House and Senate will attempt an override of the veto or if they will go back to the drawing board and try to recraft a bill that the governor will sign. One of the most publicized provisions in the vetoed capital investments bill was an appropriation to the city of Browns Valley to address the damage due to their March flood_ In the wake of the veto, the House and Senate moved quickly on, Wednesday and Thursday to process a separate bill for Browns Valley: During an emotional 1 -louse :1" finance Committee hearing on Thursday, Jo - ce .Ile. x .ain (R -Rogers) unsuccessfully tried to amend the bill to include an appropriation to address the damage caused by a tornado in Rogers last September. However, during the Thursday evening debate on the bill, the chief author, ja.€;1k' at._"vl;t_e: Jji,,j .1:, (DFL -Dilworth) agreed to an amendment jointly offered by Rep. Joyce Peppin and Rep. Dave Glin (DFL -Thief River Falls) to include funding for the Rogers tornado and the Warroad tornado. The conference committee report on the Public Safety bill included a controversial provision May 4, 2007 Page 1 related to the insurance industry that would have required insurance companies to exercise "good faith" in processing insurance claims by requiring a reasonable basis for denying a claim. Based on concerns from the governor that may have resulted in a veto, the bill was sent back to conference committee yesterday and the "good faith" provisions were removed with the understanding that a standalone "good faith" bill would be developed with the involvement of the governor. The major conference committees that have yet to complete their omnibus bill work are Health and Human Services, Higher Education, E-12 Education Finance, II'rans kortatlon and l..'axes. These conference committees have been holding meetings but only the Human Services committee has an appropriations "target" which will allow the committee members to resolve the differences between the House and Senate bills. The Transportation conference committee will not meet until Monday but the Tax conference committee is scheduled to convene later this afternoon to continue their review of the House and Senate omnibus tax bills. The committee will likely continue the `walk-through" on Saturday. We expect House and Senate leadership to announce budget spending targets for the remaining four committees in the near future and that will trigger the final phase of the negotiation process on those four bills. If you have any questions about any of the major omnibus bills, please contact any member of the League's IGR staff We will summarize these bills in future editions of the Cities Bulletin. First veto On Monday, the governor issued his first veto of the 2007 session by rejecting Via:£ :10:17, a bill authored by (DFL -New Hope) and :R ).. C',ix.�at.���xl:=.._I_._<1ue (DFL -Columbia Heights). The bill would have increased the charter commission expense reimbursement limit in MS 410.06 for non - Four more information on city legislative issues, contact any member of the League of Minnesota Cities Intergovernmental Relations team. 651.281.1200 or 800.925.1122 MdY i' Z007 65145ZB94H AdmiMiStrdtUr PdgE 88Z of ii LLMC r. .,t, , ,rP Ah'',—. fir I�I �Vb.,,a K4 1 Y -Frida x® yF a A weekly legislative update from the League ofMinnesota Cities first class cities from $1,500 to $5,000. The first class city cap, which applies to Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth, would have remained at 510,000 under the bill. Although the statutory limits on "reasonable and necessary" charter expenses have not been modified since 1961, the bill had generated some controversy among legislators and some cities. The governor's veto letter cited the fact that under current law, charter commissions can spend more if authorized by the city council. It is not clear if the authors will attempt an override of the governor's veto. The bill was approved by the Senate on a 56-0 vote while the House approved the bill 106-26. Questions? Contact Gary Carlson at 651.251.1255 orgcarlson@lmnc.org. Election Government Finance Conference Committee Report Today, the House and Senate are expected to take up S'I :1.997, the report of the conference committee on state government finance. For cities, an important feature of that report is the inclusion of major legislation making important changes to state election law. Among those changes are local authority to appoint election judge applicants who are not affiliated with major political parties to serve at polling places on Election Day. Other important election policy changes also included in SF 1997 are: Measures to increase efficiency of military voting procedures to increase the likelihood that persons serving in the military will obtain and return their ballots by election day; Automatic voter registration at the time citizens apply for or renew their state driver's license; Clarifying the distance from polling places that persons must remain if they are not at the polls to cast a ballot; May 4, 2007 Page 2 Requiring challengers to prove residence in the same manner as those who vouch for persons registering to vote on election day; Making changes to absentee voting requirements to make access to voting by absentee ballot easier. While there are indications that the governor may veto SF 1997 for reasons unrelated to the election provisions of the bill, efforts are underway to bring the election items to final vote. In that regard, it is important for city officials to point out to local legislators the importance of making improvements to the election process this session in preparation for the 2008 election cycle. There are important details that need to be finalized this year to give voters and local election officials the time to learn about and put changes into effect for the heavy 2008 federal, state and local election schedule. Questions? ContactAnn Higgins at 651.281.1257 or ahiggins@lmnc.org. Town hail meetings Town hall meetings are a great chance to meet with your legislators and tell your city story close to home. Upcoming meetings in a city near you include: May 6 in Eagan (Eagan Community Center, 1501 Central Parkway, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.) with Rep. Sandra Masin May 12 in Rochester (Dunn Bros Coffee, 120 Elton Hills Lane NW, 8:30-9:30 a.m.) with Rep. Kim Norton Check your local newspaper or radio station for additional dates. For move information on city legislative issues, contact any member of the League of Minnesota Cities Intergovernmental Relations team. 651.281.1200 or 800.925.1122