City Council Minutes 08-17-1987
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MIN TES
SPECIAL MEETING - MO TICELLO CITY COUNCIL
Monday, August 17, 1987 - 6:30 p.m.
Members Present: Arve Grimsmo, Fra Fair, Bill Fair, Dan Blonigen.
Members Absent:
Warren smith
1. Review of Goals and Objectives for he 1988 Budget.
Mayor Grimsmo opened the meeting no ing that the primary purpose
was to review any goals and objecti es the Council was interested
in seeing implemented in the upcoming year to enable staff to obtain
input for the preparation of the 1 88 Budget. The Council was presented
with a possible list of capital ou lay items the Public Works Department
and staff felt might be necessary 0 consider for the year 1988.
The capital outlay items included ajor improvements such as the
water tower and additional well pr viously discussed and equipment
needs along with street improvemen s planned within the city. It
was noted that many of the items m Y require the sale of bonds to
finance and would not necessarily e part of the tax levy for 1988
but were presented for comments fr m the Council. In addition, it
was the consensus of the council t at the City staff continue negotiations
with MN/DOT and the contractor for the new Highway 25 river crossing
bridge to determine if it would be feasible for the City to pursue
the idea of salvaging the existing river bridge for use as part of
our park system.
Councilmember Bill Fair suggested that the City should consider receiving
public input on what types of ser ices or needs the public would
like the City to pursue. He felt there may be many issues or services
that the public in general were i terested in seeing implemented but
staff may not be aware of.
It was noted by the Administrator that most cities are under stringent
levy limitations, including Monti ello, which would limit the City
to approximately an 8 percent inc ease over last year's levy. Because
of the levy limitation, many impr vement projects may have to be
financed by other methods than th ough tax levy, such as the sale
of bonds, etc. The staff was dir cted to prepare the preliminary
budget using the information rece"ved at the meeting where appropriate.
2. Discussion on Senior Citizen
r Human Rights Complaint.
The Council members discussed a 1 tter received from the Minnesota
Department of Human Rights regarding a complaint filed by Senior
Citizen Center employee, Karen Hanson, regarding alleged unfair,
discriminatory practice regardin compensation. The letter received
indicates that the Department ha made a determination that probable
cause existed to credit the alle ation that an unfair discriminatory
practice has been committed by t e City. Council members discussed
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special Council Minutes - 8/17/87
what options were available to the ity regarding an appeal and were
informed by the City Administrator hat initially the City had the
option of requesting the Commission r of the Human Rights Department
review the file and information pre ented by the City for a possible
reconsideration of their findings. Another alternative available
at the present time was for the Cit to indicate a willingness to
attempt resolution of the problem b agreeing to conciliate the matter
with the Department and Karen Hanso. Because the Council felt the
Human Rights Department's decision hat Karen Hanson was actually
a full-time employee was incorrect ased on the information supplied,
a motion was made by Fran Fair, see nded by Bill Fair, and unanimously
carried to authorize the city Admin"strator to request the Commissioner
reconsider its findings through an ppeal process.
3.
Review of Joint Meeting Between Mun"cipal Board Staff and Township
Officials.
Mayor Grimsmo and Councilmember Fra Fair reviewed the outcome of
the joint meeting held between the xecutive Director of the Municipal
Board and Township and City Officia s regarding a possible solution
to the annexation question Thursday, August 13. Councilmember Fair
summarized that the City's position was made known to the Township
and Municipal Board OfficialS in that the City'S previOUS proposal
regarding immediate annexation of pproximately 2,200 acres out of
the total 5,700 acres in the OAA a ea would be the least that the
City could accept under a joint ag eement without Municipal Board
action. It was noted that Townshi OfficialS were reluctant to commit
to any agreement on annexation at his time, and the Executive Director
of the Municipal Board requested t at both parties review the matter
for 30 days at which time another eeting will be scheduled to see
if any solutions can be arrived at. The Executive Director of the
Municipal Board set September 15 a the deadline for reaChing any
joint agreements; and thereafter i a resolution is not obtained
by both parties, the Municipal Boa d would proceed with its deliberation
~Il.__t)nnexation question.
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