Centerville Tidbits
Sheehy’s Backage Road Assessment Reduced At its meeting of June 10, the Centerville City Council took additional testimony on the 21st Avenue/Backage Road Improvement assessments. Th e hearing was continued from May 27.
Sheehy Construction Co. is contesting its assessment of $400,000, saying that it paid municipal utility assessments over a decade ago. Sheehy also argued that the value of the 3.5-acre parcel it now owns is less than the proposed assessment.
City Attorney Kurt Glaser stated that when utilities were previously constructed on 21st Avenue, they were too shallow to serve the small parcel that Sheehy owns now. Instead, Glaser said, they served adjacent land that Sheehy later sold to another party and that was ultimately purchased by the city.
Still, Glaser opined, there could be some benefi t of the original project to Sheehy’s current parcel, and he suggested the council consider crediting the current assessment $20,000— approximately one-quarter of the original $82,000 assessment Sheehy paid years ago—to make the city’s assessment number “better insulated from appeal.”
Attorney Patrick Lee-O’Halloran, who represented Sheehy at the hearing, said that the company “has been trying to settle this assessment since this project was fi rst proposed years ago,” and stated that they felt $154,000 is “more than fair” as a counteroffer.
“The backage road does nothing for Sheehy,” he said.
Council voted unanimously reduce Sheehy’s assessment to $379,000 and accepted the assessment roll.
In other action, the council:
• Extended an offer to Michael Jeziorski to be the city’s new finance director (see story Page 1).
• Voted to accept the 2008 Annual Audit presented by Steve McDonald of ABDO, Eick & Meyers, the city’s auditor. Th e City of Centerville is still in “good shape” with regard to minimum reserve levels, McDonald said. Th e city had $7.8 million in bonds outstanding at the end of 2008, he said, for a debt per capita of $2,045, “less than most” cities.
• Accepted the resignation of Parks and Recreation Committee member Savannah Lee.
• Voted to issue permits to the Centerville Lions Club for the Fête des Lacs celebration including noise, on-sale liquor license, fireworks and raffle solicitation permits subject to proof of liability insurance and any comments from the Centennial Lakes Police Department. Council agreed to waive the application fees for the non-profit organization.
• Voted to issue a new off -sale liquor license and tobacco license to Jedediah G. Marek on behalf of Jed’s Liquor, 7093 20th Avenue S. (formerly Centerville Liquor Barrel), subject to the city’s receipt and cancellation of the licenses previously issued for the property.
• Voted to expend up to $700 for the temporary installation of permanent no-parking signs along the east side of Mill Road to address what council members agreed was “a safety issue.” Th e signs will remain until such time as the council removes them. Final council review of the permanence of sign placement will occur by the end of 2010.
• Discussed a request by Ground Development Corp. for a reduction in its $173,000 letter of credit for Pheasant Marsh, 3rd Addition, for which the developer says all street and utility work has been completed. City staff cited diffi culties with the performance of maintenance of undeveloped lots: city public works employees have occasionally had to cut the grass; the city has billed those costs back to the developer via property taxes. Th e letter is “the only leverage we have,” Attorney Glaser told council. Discussion will continue at a future meeting.
• Tabled discussion on condemnation of easements to build trail extensions within the city. Purchase off ers were sent out last month for a dozen side-yard or rear-line easements, City Administrator Dallas Larson said. Only one of the offers had been signed and returned at the time of the meeting.
• Held a discussion on the Emerald Ash Borer infestation in Minnesota and its implications for Centerville, where over 2,000 ash trees are located.