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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Services Minutes 1-25-21 Minutes City of Cottage Grove Public Services Commission/Council Meeting January 25, 2021 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a Cottage Grove Public Services Commission Meeting was held on January 25, 2021. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 7:05 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance ROLL CALL Members Present: Campbell, Robert Dornsbach, Robert Griffith, Kent Podoll, Jeff Kath, Ron Members Absent: Steve Ingram Serpico, William Staff Present: Burfeind, Ryan – PE, Public Works Director/City Engineer Redenius, Rick – Fire Chief & Deputy of Public Safety Rinzel, Greg – Deputy Director of Public Safety & Police Captain Orloff, Gary – Street Foreman Others Present: Mills, La Rae – Council member Goebel, Jeremy – Cottage Grove Snowmobile President Udstuen, John – Star Trail President Voligny, Chris – Star Trail Coordinator Approval of Agenda Approval of Agenda – Motion by Kath. Seconded by Griffith. Approval of Minutes None Open Forum None Presentations None New Business Cottage Grove Snowmobile Trail Map and Future Planning Burfeind began the Public Service Commission meeting with a brief overview of the Cottage Grove snowmobile trail map. Burfeind stated it is the intent of the Commission to meet with the club on an annual basis. Burfeind introduced the Star Trail President John Udstuen. Udstuen explained the snowmobile club promotes tourism within the community and encourages people getting outdoors and being active. Costello introduced the concept behind the new Cottage Grove tourism bureau. Costello explained the lodging tax the City collects will help promote tourism within Cottage Grove. Cottage Grove has created a new website to give people ideas for things to do when they visit the City. Costello showed the Commissioners the website and pointed out the star trail link on the page. Costello requested a hard copy of the snowmobile map used by the club. Costello recommended copies of this map be kept at City Hall, VFW, ice arena and local businesses. Costello presented large maps located in the back of the room and invited the Commissioners and snowmobile club to view the maps and make any needed changes. The following changes were discussed and noted by Costello: Add the VFW connection Lamar Park has a designated loading spot Add wooden shack in the valley Add Manning and connection at 100th and 77th Add 61 marine and sport Add Club contact information. Add MN USA snowmobile club Add Shelter on red line The snowmobile club pointed out the DNR has stopped funding individual clubs. Therefore, local riders will find feeder trails that do not show up on the DNR maps. If you add the feeder trails to the trails on the DNR map it is close to 200 miles. Kath thanked the club for their service and stated he grew up in a family that enjoyed snowmobiling. He showed gratitude to the club for all their hard work and shared his disappointment that the community is losing a portion of the trails to development. Kath wants to make sure Cottage Grove keeps some of the trails so future generations can enjoy the sport. Udstuen stated he feels it is a benefit to developers if people have easy access to snowmobile trails. Adding the trails in Cottage Grove get 5 times more traffic than northern communities. Udstuen added that In 2016 the University of Minnesota conducted research that showed 1 person on a snowmobile provides approximately $20 of revenue to the community it visits. Cottage Grove does not spend any money to generate this revenue. The snowmobile club does. Udstuen stated, this is how important this sport is to the community and the message needs to be heard. Kath requested this snowmobile dialog take place annually in the Fall. Costello’s goal is to coordinate with the club maps and trails as they change, and the community grows. Udstuen pointed out a previous issue regarding the walking/snowmobile trail located on 70th Street. Udstuen reminded the Commission that pedestrians and snowmobiles can travel next to each other on a trail. Many trails including the Munger Trail already successfully do that. Udstuen added people should not shy away from sharing the trails. Bicycles drive next to motorized vehicles on the road. The club calls these trails, feeder trails. They are slow moving trails that share with pedestrians. Lots of people buying houses in developments have snowmobiles. As we move ahead the club asked the City to see the benefit of snowmobiles. Voligny added not to be afraid of the few people that complain. Udsuen stated the Star Trail is evolving and it is trying to keep the snowmobilers traveling on the trails safely instead of leaving the trails and going all over. Burfeind stated he would like to meet each year to discuss the map and approve the trails. Staff recommended two meetings a year with the Snowmobile Club. The first meeting would be held in April to address any complaints the Police Department received and discuss new developments within the community with the Engineering Department. The second meeting would be at the September Public Service Commission meeting to approve the snowmobile map. Kath added that snowmobile trails are fluid and the new website can be helpful to direct snowmobilers in real time. Costello said the website can be updated very quickly and be a good reference for snowmobilers. Kath requested staff make sure we are marketing these as groomed trails. Goebel stated when he grooms a trail it is updated at the following website - Www.startrail.org. Voligny added the Club survives on a $42,000 budget. They are always taking donations. Last year the club received a federal grant in the amount of $250,000 that was used to update equipment. Campbell asked how many complaints the Police Department receives about snowmobilers going on private land. Rinzel said they maybe had 2 this year and they were snowmobilers using the 70th street walking path. Campbell stated he sees snowmobilers going across the high school land. Udstuen apologized and added it is unrealistic to not have a single complaint. Voligny shared a story from Hugo about 2 sleds riding through private yards. Members of the snowmobile club followed the tracks back to the snowmobiler’s house. The tracks belonged to 3 teenage boys that needed to reminded to stay on the trails. Dad was happy the club stopped to educate the young men. The club showed the boys the rules and they never had an issue again. Dornsbach thanked everyone for their time and asked the club to meet with Public Safety in April and the Commission in September. Old Business None Response to Previously Raised Commission Requests None Commission Comments and Requests None Council Comments Mills gave the Commission an update regarding the Annual Meeting which involved setting 2021 goals with Council and Staff. Mills praised Costello for the impressive job she has been doing with the new visitor’s bureau. Burfeind extending the term of the Commissioners for one year. Commission Comments Fire Department 8 New staff in December 1 left for boot camp in the Air Force 1 entering the Navy Started interviewing candidates for an open FT position 25 applications with 14 moving into the interview phase Calls EMS – 2995 calls Fire/Rescue – 322 calls Structure Fires – 22 Several mutual aid assist for structure fires in our surrounding cities New 101’ Rosenbauer ariel truck has arrived and is in service The building inspection group had started to get into area businesses prior to COVID. The focus was on auto extrication operations. Several old structures are coming available for training. Processing paperwork to conduct live burns on these locations Submitting an Assistance to Firefighter Grant to FEMA to train 6 staff in fire investigations We are starting to pull information together for the budget meeting for 2022 and 2023 Public Works Streets Treated Salt Cost savings Added it to different trucks and we are monitoring the results Looking at brine system for pre-treating 5 new drivers Tree trimming Utilities Wellhouse maintenance 3M settlement agreement Temporary treatment plans Requested funding from the State to allow us to start the treatment plan early Fleet Lick promoted to Fleet foreman Anderson new lead position Opened a new mechanic position Maintaining equipment Engineering 2021 PM Overlay project Police Kathy Buss retired. Alicia Hill hired Hired 3 new officers St Paul Park requested Cottage Grove help fill shifts at the Refinery. Currently 4 officers will be working at the Refinery to include Washington County, St Paul Park and Cottage Grove 4-day period full activation of squad around the election PD has been very busy. High call volume Types of calls have been increasing 7 chases in Washington County in one day Carjacking’s increasing Trial starts in March and PD has been preparing Neck up Check up Mental health check-up for all officers PD received a set of robots from the Police surplus Added battery operated speed signs. Put the device out in stealth mode and this monitors the times of day the people are speeding. Purchased by the Public Safety Board School board is making cuts and may cut the resource officer at the Middle Schools. Conversations have been made with the school district on the importance of the officers. Adjournment – Meeting was adjourned at 8:39 pm. Motion by Kath. Seconded by Campbell.