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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4th Q 09 City �~���y .~� Oak Park Heights Inside this issue: City Hall Facility Update ................ Progress has been steady on the construc- 7 Washington County 2 tion of the New City Hall Facility. The Environment Center final shape and layout of the building are � ~-- now evident. Interior finishes are being 2010 Budget 3 uu^uz,« as are the lv r,l^,,« to "h, actual act of moving from the current fa- cility to the new building without a dis- Winter Reminders 3 ' for March/April ' ---- -- - is in — -- — The construction of the GEOTHERMAL Summer Park 4 system is anticipated to begin in September. Due to possible installation conflicts related Programming to the high-voltage transmission lines, k relocated the well-field 6r location I lying entirely north of the new building to a split location lying both east of the facility What imIncluded in 4 1 and southwardly under the x` mr These new locations wix require the City to Trash Pickup I temporarily reduce the 6 load in h lower level of the City Hall Facility I summer while the project is being completed and balanced. This split system was se- Arbohmt 5 | -------v----- east building. — News As part of the transition from the current building, the City did secure a full asbestos (and lead) investigation survey and which indicated that there are very limited amounts Oak Park Heights 6 of such Police Files ' - - remediation and removal prior to any demolition activities. 2010 Census 7 While the City is hoping to re-use many items in the new building there will likely be some surplus property such as old tables, desks, chairs, bookcases, etc. It is anticipated that these items will not need to be immediately discarded, but perhaps can find a re-use Winter Parking 7 Restrictions tion or other methods to avoid disposal. Similarly, prior to the demolition of the current building, a salvage contractor may find use of old steel doors, iambs and other mecha- FmUC|enn-up 8 nisms. The City will be i Request for Proposals for x services to be iu u Reminder by reputable firms with the goal being to reduce the amount of waste from the old build- The City's website contains updated photos of the construction process, www.cityofoakparkheights.com. Construction site tours are available for any interested parties. Contact the City Administrator, Eric Johnson at 6SI-439-4439 for questions or to schedule a tour. • ® Washington County Environmental Center now open City Meetings The Washington County Environ- bles including paper, cardboard, mental Center, at 4039 Cottage bottles, and cans. This service will Grove Drive in Woodbury, is now be available during service hours Citv Council: open. only. 2nd and 4th Tues- days at 7:00 p.m. The center replaces the county's The Environmental Center will fea- Household Hazardous Waste Col- ture a large Free Product Room lection Site which closed in Oak- where useable household prod - Plannimz Commis- dale at the end of June. It is at the ucts, such as paints, automotive sion corner Bailey Road and Cottage products, and cleaners will be 2nd Thursday at Grove, four miles south of Inter- available for residents to take for 7:00 p.m. state 94 and south of the county's free. public works building. For additional information on the Parks Commission: The Environmental Center will be Environmental Center, call 651 -430 3rd Monday at open the same hours as the former -6655 or visit the website: 6:30 P.m. site, noon to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and www.co.washington.mn.us / 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays and envirocenter. City meetings are Saturdays. The county lost its lease broadcast live on at the former site in the Oakdale The county will also have two re- cable channel 16. Public Works Garage earlier in the mote hazardous waste collection year when the city of Oakdale de- programs this fall. The first will be termined it needed the space for 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. Agendas and Min- its own needs. 19, at the Forest Lake Transit Cen- utes are posted on ter, Washington County Headwater the City's website: The new facility will continue to Service Center, 19955 Forest Road www.cityofoakpark accept household hazardous waste N. The second will be 8 a.m. to heights.com and electronics. A drop -off service noon Saturday, Oct. 3, at City of for residents and small businesses Hugo Public Works Building, 6900 will be added for common recycla- 137th St. North. Oakgreen Avenue Practice Burns—Bayport Fire Department In late June, the Bayport Fire Department held six practice burns of the homes along the west side of Oakgreen Avenue. The City and the Bayport Fire Depart -' ment do appreciate the opportunity to have such a valuable training available ' locally. Despite small disruptions, the training was generally an overall success and offered many other local fire departments, involving over one - hundred vol- unteer staff, live training. Many people came to watch the events and can now visualize how quickly a small fire can become a significant, life- threatening epi- sode. Additional thanks go out to Buffalo Wild Wings and Kowalski's for their dona- tions of lunches and refreshments to the volunteers who took part in the train- ing. 2010 City Budget At this time, the City is in the process of establishing the 2010 City Budget. The 2010 budget will be ad- ditionally challenging as the City will be losing over $440,000 in revenue due to cuts by the State of Min- nesota. Specifically, the MN Dept of Revenue has determined that the City will not receive $361,000 in Utility Transition Aid and as in previous years, the City is anticipating an additional loss of over $80,000 in Market Homestead Credit reimbursements — via further Governor's un- allotment. As a result of this lost revenue, the City will be required to make additional budgetary cuts to ensure that taxes and levies are reasonable and proportional, without impacting core services. Under the statutory budget process, the City must certify a maximum LEVY AMOUNT to Washington County for truth -in- taxation purposes by September 15, 2009. Unfortunately. at this time the City has not received all required data to prepare a final budget as significant information is still needed on final property valuations, including Utility which have maior impacts on final City tax rate and levy amount. Utility property accounts for better than thirty percent of the City's total valuation. With these unknowns, the City Council has set its levy to the maximum amount as allowed by State law and to provide budgetary flexibility, as once the levy is set, it cannot be increased only lowered. This ac- tion will result in initial tax notices from Washington County showing an unusual increase in an average homeowner's property tax levy compared to 2009. However, once general property and utility valua- tions are known, the City Council fully anticipates that there will be significant reductions made in order to maintain a more stable levy. Again, the initial levy amount is elevated to provide budgetary flexibility due to unknown general and utility property valuations, but is likely to be significantly reduced as the budget process concludes late this fall when all property valuations are known. The City will be holding its truth -in- taxation public meeting on December 1. 2009, at 7:00 p.m. at the City Hall where the budget will be discussed in detail. Additionally, the full 2010 City Budget and sum- mary is available online at www.cityofoakDarkheithts.com or at the Oak Park Heights City Hall. Please take the opportunity to contact the City Administrator, 651- 439 -4439 if you have any questions about the city budget process or the proposed budget. Fall Street Sweeping Please help keep hydrants visible Fall street sweeping will occur after the major- To aid the Fire Department in the unfortunate ity of the leaves fall from the trees. We expect case of a fire, it would be extremely helpful to to sweep the streets in approximately mid — the keep the hydrant in your yard visible and clear end of October. of snow piles. Winter Street Plowing Raleigh Trucking is contracted to plow the city owned streets for the upcoming winter season. Please help maintain a safe operation by keeping trash and recycling receptacles off of the street dur- ing a snow event or until curb to curb plowing is complete. Also remember winter parking restric- tions take place in November. Summer Park Programming 2009 saw the initiation of various Oak Park Heights Summer Park Programming activities. Events in- cluded Movies in the Park, various game and craft events, a disc golf tournament, and even a short na- ture program. Many families participated and atten- dance grew throughout the summer. The City looks forward to offering similar program- ming in 2010! For more information on future events or if you have any programming ideas, call City Hall at 15 651-439-4439 or email: gzeuli@q.com. What's included in trash pickup? In addition to the typical garbage and recycling pickup, the City also covers the disposal of yard waste, five foot rolls of used carpeting,Q VIEGLI large household items, and 'white-goods' such as televisions, refrig- EdfqVICR061 0)1111: �11%11"A, erators, couches, chairs, desks, water-heaters, stoves, dishwashers, SERV[GESI dryers, etc. In order to have these items picked up in a timely fashion, please contact Judy Tetzlaff at City Hall, 651-439-4439, at least two days prior to collection day so that the special truck may be dispatched to your home. If you receive a bill from Veolia for these additional services, please call the City Administrator at 651-439-4439 as most, if not all, of these items are covered under the City's contract, and you should not be billed. Some items are not included in your monthly fee are extra bags of garbage not placed in your con- tainer. The City's waste hauler, Veolia, will bill you $1.50 per bag. Some other items that are picked up for a fee are sinks, toilets and construction debris. You will be billed by Veolia at a regulated rate as monitored by the City. REMINDER!! Waste and Recyclable pick-up is every THURSDAY, unless the week contains one of the six holi- days — New Years Day, Memorial Day, 4 th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Dur- ing those weeks, collection will fall on FRIDAY. .m_ Emerald Ash Borer Update Tree rr ! s? At the time of this writing, emerald which will have to be repeated ash borer(EAB) has not yet been every year or two, depending on the If you are an found in Washington County. Some treatment method, or remove and Oak Park residents have asked whether or replace the tree with another spe- H e i g h t s not they should treat their land- cies. If planning a new landscape resident, and scape ash with insecticide to protect project, plant a variety of tree spe- against the borer. This treatment is cies to protect against serious in- have a problem currently the only management tool sect and disease problems such as with a tree or for EAB. The recommendation is to EAB. shrub, such as only treat ash which are an impor- an insect or a tant landscape asset to your prop- If you have any ash trees which are disease, have erty, are healthy, with good form dying from the top down, especially and no serious defects or decay. If if they have suckers sprouting from p 1 a n t i n g trees are over 12 in. in diameter, it's the trunk or base, please contact questions, or best to hire a tree service to treat, the city forester to come out and jtist want to either with a soil drench or a trunk take a look. Do not move ash wood have a plant injection. In many cases, it's an from one area to another, as this is identified, call economic decision, and one has to one way that emerald ash borer is D r. Kathy decide whether to treat the tree, easily spread. Ll'idin, the OPH ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________ Arborist, at 439 - Trees & Shrubs for Winter Wildlife Food 4439 Elt. 2,52. She can either When planting new trees and shrubs in your yard, consider species which answer your provide food in the winter for birds and other wildlife. Serviceberry, moun- question over tain ash, crabapples with small, persistent (hangs on tree throughout year) the phone or fruit, are all good small trees which provide food for wildlife during fall and m a k e a n winter. Shrubs such as hazelnut, grey dogwood, highbush cranberry, and appointment for black chokeberry, also provide food for wildlife. a site visit. This --------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------- service is paid for by the City of Prune Trees in Fall or Winter Oak Park To prevent insect and disease prob- sealing wounds require energy in- Heights. lems on trees, such as insect trans- puts from the tree. Fall and winter, mission of the oak wilt fungus, fungal without leaves obscuring the trunk canker diseases and insect borers, and branches, is also a good time to prune shade trees during the dor- check for broken and rubbing mant season, Oct. 1 -March 15. Fruit branches, cracks and decay in trees. and ornamental trees are best If you see a tree structural issue that pruned in late February — early you are concerned about, call the March. Avoid pruning any trees dur- city arborist to come out and take a ing the spring leafing -out period, look. since both putting leaves on and Oak ark Heights Police Files From the desk of Chief Brian DeRosier What happens when you call for help? Should you call 911 or 651- 439 -4723 or 651- 439 -9381? The first thing I would like to address is that you do not hesitate to call for suspicious persons and activ- ity, or if you need assistance. Your call may be the bit of information needed to help solve or catch a sus- I pect in an incident you are not even aware of. I often hear, "I do not want to bother you with this." We are busy, this is true, and at many times there is only one officer on duty; however, your call of informa- tion is important to us. We need your assistance; we cannot be effective without community involve- ment. We also want to assist you if we can. We will respond in person or by phone to all calls for service. The OPH P.D. does not dispatch our officers to emergency or in progress calls. The Washington County Sheriff's Office under law has a Public Safety Answering Point that is required to dispatch police, fire and medical assistance. This is part of what we as citizens of Washington County all pay for in the county portion of your taxes as well as state and federal grants and funding to the county specifically to maintain these PSAP's or 911 centers. So when you call 651- 439 -9381 and you hear the dispatcher answer Wash- ington County Dispatch, you have reached the correct number for OPH P.D. as well. We do take informa- tion and dispatch non emergency and not in progress issues of; neighbor complaints, parking issues, re- quests for the officer to call the complainant back, records requests etc., if you call 651 - 439 -4723 during the hours city hall is open. 911 is intended for emergency situations in progress affecting health and safety of persons or serious property damage and go directly to the WC Dispatch PSAP. Records and ad- ministrative type requests can only be handled by our office during the normal business hours of City Hall. A call taker first takes the information. This information is then passed off to a dispatcher, who then pri- oritizes this call with all other calls within the entire county and all jurisdictions that also need to be dis- patched at that time. This often times creates a time delay before the officer even gets the information on the street. The local officer is given the information of the type of call and the location. The officer then makes a determination on his response dependant on several factors; is the incident in progress or not, is there a risk to persons, is the officer already handling a call. So understand that if you are waiting for an officer to respond there are many factors involved in the possible time delay of an officer arriving at the scene. Many of which we at OPH P.D. cannot control. If you feel you had to wait too long, or were treated rudely, please ask the officer about it and he may be able to explain his response time after re- ceiving the call. It may be something I need to look into administratively why the call may have been de- layed in dispatching or response, or why you were treated that way. You may email me, call me, or post the issue to our TIP line, so I am aware and can look into the situation. 651 - 439 -4723 = Police Administration and Records 651 - 439 -9381 = Request an Officer to Respond non - emergency 911 = Immediate response needed for life or serious property safety. e 2010 Census In March 2010, more than 130 million addresses across the nation will receive a census questionnaire. One of the shortest census forms in history, the 2010 Census questionnaire asks 10 questions and takes about 10 minutes to complete. Completing your census questionnaire is easy, important and safe, and your participation is essential to ensuring a brighter tomorrow for our community. Required once every 10 years by the U.S. Constitution, the census will count every person living in the United States, both citizens and noncitizens. Census data are used to reapportion the U.S. House of Rep- resentatives, re- district each state and determine the distribution of the Electoral College. Census data also directly affect how more than $400 billion per year in federal funding is distributed to state, local and tribal governments. Most importantly, census data is critical in determining locations for new hospitals, improving schools, building new roads, expanding public transportation options and creating new maps for emergency responders. For those residents who leave the area during the winter months, please be sure to indicate Oak Park Heights as your home address, regardless of where you receive your questionnaire. This is vital for potential local road funding and city population counts. By participating in the census, you can help create a better future for you and those important to you. Complete and return your form when it arrives. To learn more, visit 2010census.gov. Census workers will visit the homes of those who do not return the questionnaire. Please be sure they have appropriate cre- dentials. Protect your o a from frozen meters and pipes You can take easy and inexpensive steps to prevent the damage, expense and inconvenience associated with freezing pipes and meters. Temperatures are colder along the floor and cement block wall of the basement than near the ceiling. Eirculating the warmer air can help prevent frozen meters. In some homes, meters are in separate unheated rooms or boxes; open the doors to rooms or open a me- ter box to allow warmer air to circulate. Simply keeping your home and basement warm enough will help prevent freezing. In addition: • Check along the foundation for areas where cold wind can enter the basement or a crawl space and plug them with insulation. • Elose off crawl space vents and doors. • Replace broken or cracked basement windows or doors. • Install a storm window or cover basement windows with weather insulation kits • Make sure basement doors and windows close tightly. • Seal or caulk cracks in the walls. • Insulate pipes. • Don't forget to turn off the water supply and drain all outdoor faucets! Winter Parldng Restrictions Winter parking restrictions are put in place in an effort to enable snow removal equipment the opportu- nity to do a top quality and efficient job in removing snow from city streets. Please be aware that these parking restrictions are in place AND ENFORCED regardless of whether or not there has been recent snowfall. Please help us by obeying the winter parking restrictions. * *No parking on city streets from November I through March 31 between 1:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. ** ................... City of Oak Park Heights CM= 14168 Oak Park Blvd, N. PO Box 2007 OAK PARK HEIGHTS FALL CLEAN-UP Oak Park Heights, MN 55082 Phone: 651-439-4439 Fax: 651-439-0574 Police non-emergency: 651-439-4723 The City of Oak ParR, Heights will be hosting a Police Emergency: 911 Fall Clean-up on Saturday, October 10,2009 Office Hours: from 7:3o a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. excluding legal holidays The Clean-up will be in the southwest corner of the former St. Croix Mall (Andersen Corporation) parking lot, 14167 59 th Street North in Oak Park Heights. Please enter off of Osgood Avenue. MAYOR David Beaudet: 439-2582 City Clean-up events are an excellent opportunity for residents to dis- COLINCILMEMBERS pose of unwanted items at no cost. Please only bring waste generated Les Abrahamson: 351-0807 Mary McComber: 351-7879 within the City of Oak Park Heights. Bringing in waste generated by Mike Runk: 439-5458 non-residents only drives up cost which could mean higher taxes for Mark Swenson: 439-1479 City of Oak Park Heights residents. Proof of residency such as a utility CITY ADMINISTRATOR bill or driver's license will be required. Common items disposed of in- Eric Johnson elude appliances, brush, construction materials, furniture, cardboard, scrap metal, carpet, CRTs, televisions and computers. Visit our Website! Hazardous waste (such as paints, stains, oil, gas, pesticides, or other chemicals from your home), tires, stumps, and firewood will not be ac- PP' cepted. For information on disposal of hazardous waste, contact The Oak Park Heights Washington County Environment at 65 newsletter is published by the City If you have any questions please call City Hall at 651-439-4439 or of Oak Park Heights. Veolia Environmental Services at 65 Comments are welcome. 651-439-4439 8cc W N *JZ)W-iM9S Givd o.ft)SO'i . S . n Lo()i - D80« NP� - -fJud - -fu() PH Lo()(, x 'N PAW lJud A IL() '() PoIjOsoid Slq 3 1"d 3 1PO JO 1A4K)