City Council - 07/20/2004 - Workshop APPROVED MINUTES
EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP/FORUM
TUESDAY,JULY 20, 2004 CITY CENTER
5:00—6:25 PM,HERITAGE ROOM II
6:30—7:00 PM, COUNCIL CHAMBER
CITY COUNCIL:
Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens, Councilmembers Sherry Butcher,Ron Case, Jan Mosman, and
Philip Young
CITY STAFF:
City Manager Scott Neal,Police Chief Dan Carlson,Fire Chief George Esbensen,Public Works
Director Eugene Dietz,Parks and Recreation Director Bob Lambert, Community Development
Director Janet Jeremiah, Communications Manager Pat Brink, Assistant to the City Manager
Michael Barone, City Attorney Ric Rosow, and Recorder Lorene McWaters
Heritage Room H
Note: Councilmember Butcher was absent.
I. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE WITH SENATOR DAVID HANN,REPRESENTATIVE
ERIK PAULSEN,AND REPRESENTATIVE PETER ADOLPHSON
Legislative Summary
Rep. Paulsen summed up the legislative session by saying"there were a lot of
disappointments and frustrations." He added that many informal deals fell through
because of fractured leadership in the DFL caucus. He said he would still like to see the
LGA fix passed in special session;however there has been no agreement reached on
holding one. He said the answer may be to hold a special session right after the election
in November. Both Paulsen and Senator Hann believe that staggering senate terms
might help alleviate the type of stalemate that was experienced in the legislature during
this session.
Hann said one major accomplishment of the session was passage of education standards.
He said reception of the standards by local schools has generally been good. Hann said
he thinks the legislature will be able to accomplish more during the next session,
especially if there is no special session in the interim.
Hann said in regard to school equity,he believes levy limits should be higher. He
believes schools should have the opportunity to go the public for the funds they need. He
said he believes the same holds true for cities as well. Local government should be able
to decide what to do and go to the public with that.
City Council Workshop Minutes
July 20,2004—Page 2
Representative Adolphson is disappointed that the budget gap was not fixed, and the
bonding bill and legislation on sexual predators were not passed. Although he supported
the .08 legislation,he does not approve of the way in which the federal government
coerced states by threatening to withhold funding for those that do adopt a .08 limit.
Adolphson said he was frustrated by the senate's inability to pass many of the bills the
house passed on to them. He said the democrats publicly stated they"didn't need
anything out of the session."
Discussion
City Manager Neal said in the past,bonding and policy issues were addressed in separate,
alternating sessions of the legislature. However, in recent years there seems to be a
blurring of the two. Paulsen said sessions have gotten longer over the years, even though
in his opinion they"could do the whole thing in 10 minutes." He said last year, the
legislature focused mainly on the budget deficit because it was so large, and other issues
were not addressed.
Mayor Tyra-Lukens asked if the legislators had heard whether or not federal
transportation funding might be in jeopardy because the state transportation bonding bill
was not passed. They said they have not heard anything of this sort.
Councilmember Mosman asked if there is anything in particular the City or the 494
Corridor Commission can do to advocate for their transportation needs. Adolphson said
he is skeptical of light rail in this area. He feels transportation money can be put to better
use. He said there should be"three lanes all around the metro area before you start in on
this exotic stuff."
Hann said funds should be used to improve roadway infrastructure, "then take a look at
transit later." He said he is sure there will be a transportation bonding bill next session.
Councilmember Mosman and Public Works Director Dietz expressed concern over
elimination of access points from the original plan for the 494/169 interchange. They
noted the Federal Highway Administration has taken out two ramps because they"are
philosophically opposed to mixing local and system access." Dietz said this will result in
5.4 miles between access points on 494 in the Eden Prairie area. Adolphson suggested
passing this concern on to Representative Jim Ramstad. He said he would talk to him as
well.
Parks and Recreation Director Lambert said he is working with the DNR on special
legislation for deer and goose management. He said it has proven futile for individual
cities to attempt to manage the goose population on their own, and there should be a
metrowide program. He said someone needs to determine the metro area's carrying
capacity for geese and then develop a program to control the population. He said the
program could be run similarly to the Metropolitan Mosquito Control Agency.
City Council Morkshop Afinutes
July 20,2004—Page 3
Lambert said he is also advocating for the use of gun silencers for deer management.
Paulsen said he would be happy to carry this bill again.
Mayor Tyra-Lukens thanked the legislators for attending the workshop and encouraged
them to keep the Council and City staff in the loop regarding local impacts of state
legislation.
Council Chamber
II. OPEN FORUM
Jacque Fryklund thanked Council and staff for drafting the resolution to MnDOT
requesting a traffic safety study for 212 and Pioneer Trail. She noted there was another
accident at the intersection recently. Public Works Director Gene Dietz said MnDOT is
notoriously slow at addressing requests of this type, but he will be sure that the regional
MnDOT representative for Eden Prairie, Tom O'Keefe, is aware of the request.
III. OPEN PODIUM
No one requested to speak at Open Podium.
IV. ADJOURNMENT