Police Advisory Commission Minutes 04-20-2005
MINUTES
QUARTERLY MEETING - MONTICELLO POLICE COMMISSION
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 - 7 p.m
Members Present:
Dick Slais, Jon Hoff, Brad Fyle and Wayne Mayer.
Members Absent:
Dave Gerads
Others Present:
City Administrator, Rick Wolfsteller, Patrol Division Lieutenant, Dan
Anselment, Sergeant Mike Evan and Deputy Joe Hagerty
1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 7 p.m. and a quorum was present.
2. Annroval of minutes of Anril14. 2004 Police Commission meetine:.
MOTION WAS MAY BY BRAD FYLE AND SECONDED BY DICK SLAIS TO APPROVE
THE MINUTES OF THE APRIL 14,2004 POLICE COMMISSION MEETING. MOTION
CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
3. Discussion on School Boulevard sneed li.yits and oedestrian crosswalk locations.
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Thc City Administrator noted that concerns regarding traffic volumes and apparent speeding
along School Boulevard near the schools has been brought to the Council's attention and
questions have been raised regarding the 45 mph speed limit. In addition, Commission
members discussed the 30 mph along Chelsea Road and reviewed how speed limits are
established.
In rcgards to School Boulevard speeds, Sheriffs Deputies noted that they have not received
many complaints regarding speeding along School Boulevard and were not aware that this
might be a problem in this area. They will instruct deputies to monitor this area more
frequently and also suggested that they will put a speed and traffic counter before school is out
in the next six weeks and come back to the Police Commission with their report on what traffic
is actually doing along this route. Once the Commission has this information, they would be
better informed as to whether an additional speed study should be conducted by MnDOT and/or
it will provide the Sheriffs Department with more information as to when speeding occurs, if
any. It was also suggested that a second speed study might be appropriate after some of the
commercial developments, including Wal-Mart, are opened to the public to see if additional
traffic volumes or speeds change at that time.
In regards to the speed limit along Chelsea Road, again it was a speed limit set by MnDOT
study and does take into account the fact that there are a number of driveways that are allowed
to access Chelsea Road in the industrial park whereas the City designed School Boulevard to
have limited access which would allow for higher traffic speed limits.
Police Commission Minutes - 4/20/05
4. Review of City's snowbird ordinance enforcement
The Sheriffs Department noted they were aware of the City's snowbird parking ordinance
which limits parking on city streets from November through April and have attempted to apply
the ordinance uniformly, but do allow for some consideration of current conditions rather than
just issuing tickets for the sake of citing violators. Sheriffs Department patrol officers will be
informed to make sure if snowplowing is likely to occur that enforcement of the "No Parking"
rule will be adhered to. When they find obvious violators, they have attempted to provide
warning citations so that individuals are aware that they will likely be cited during a snow
emergency event. At this time, no other action seems to be necessary and SheritT s Department
will continue with its present enforcement activities.
5. Update bv Sheriff's Department on Activities for last Quarter.
Sheriffs Department representatives provided Commission members with an annual report for
the year 2004 and a quarterly report for the first quarter of 2005. The reports compared various
types of service calls for thc past five years and compared the number of calls during this time
frame. It was noted that traffic related complaints and citations have increased substantially,
largely due to more officers being on duty it?- Monticello with the 48 hours per day coverage. In
addition questions were asked about how M~mticello compared to other communities in the
area regarding drug and related crime activities which showed that crimes related to narcotics
have tripled during the first quarter of 2005 compared to the first quarter of 2004. This doesn't
mean necessarily that much drug activity is taking place in Monticello than in other areas of the
County, only that there are more officers available to make various types of traffic stops where
a lot of the drug activity is found compared to other areas of the County. Drug paraphernalia is
usually found in motor vehicles and due to the large number of officers in this area of the
County, more traffic stops are occurring and thus more narcotics violations are being caught.
After further discussion of the reports, they}Vere accepted by the Commission members as
presented. !
The Commission members briefly discussed the projected increase in townhouse developments
and even apartments that are proposed for the Monticello area and sought feedback from the
Sheriffs Department representatives on how this might affect crime activity. The general
consensus provided was that townhouses by themselves if they are owner occupied, typically
have not been shown to be a major concern for increased crime activity, but if they turn into
rental properties, there is a tendency to see crime in these areas increase.
Commission members also briefly discussed whether the City COlmcil should be looking at
increasing the hours of coverage for next year and it was noted that this issue will be discussed
during the budget process in early August and a recommendation and input from the Sheriff s
Department will be sought for the next Police Commission meeting.
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6. Adiourn
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
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Recording Secretary
Police Commission Minutes - 4/20/05
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