Centerville Tidbits
Kindred Cities
The Centerville City Council last week issued formal congratulations to one of Minnesota's newest cities - the former township of Columbus.
Located near Centerville's northern border, Columbus, like its neighbor to the south, will be celebrating its 150th birthday next year, Mayor Mary Capra noted before the council unanimously approved a resolution of "support and congratulations."
"We are also a small city, and we take pride in that identity," Capra added shortly before the council vote.
Noting that Columbus "has been in an ongoing struggle to protect jurisdictional boundaries," the resolution formally congratulates the city "on its recent incorporation and to its City Council . upon taking their oaths of office."
"The City of Centerville pledges its support and cooperation to the City of Columbus as well as its City Council and staff as they transition toward providing full municipal services to its residents," the resolution adds.
Grant Allows Parkland Purchase
A $150,000 state Department of Natural Resources grant will allow Centerville to buy future green space near Laurie LaMotte Park more quickly than had been expected.
Originally, the city was planning to buy the more than one acre of land from the St. Paul Regional Water Resources in three $50,000 installments, Capra noted in an interview after the council's September 27 meeting.
However, the recently-awarded DNR grant will allow the city to buy the property almost immediately, Capra explained.
The council approved the grant agreement and authorized closing on the purchase on a unanimous voice vote, with Capra saying afterward that the city plans to keep the property "as natural as possible."
"The grant agreement will allow us to pay off (the property) as of the end of October," Capra said.
"And it will stay as natural as possible. There might be some kind of improvement on it at some point, but we know there won't be any playfields or anything like that there because they're already right there [across the street] at LaMotte Park. The main thing is that we want anything done over there to be as minimal as possible."
Liquor Ordinance Changes Coming?
The case of a Centerville Road tavern has prompted the council to consider insurance-related amendments to the city's liquor license ordinance.
Although the council renewed the 2 a.m.-closing license renewal requested by the Trio Inn - owned by Mountain Enterprises, Inc. and located at 7082 Centerville Rd. - several council members were critical of the fact that the tavern was in danger of being dropped by its insurance company earlier this year.
That involved an alleged late premium payment that the Trio Inn's owners have said was made on time, according to materials included in the council's agenda packet.
According to a September 15 letter to Centerville City Hall by the state office of Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement, the tavern also failed to renew its 2 a.m. permit by its July expiration date.
That failure has meant that the Trio Inn has since been closing at 1 a.m., the letter indicated.
Several council members advocated rejecting the Trio Inn's license renewal, but City Administrator Dallas Larson said that would be illegal until the tavern's "due process" claims are exhausted.
"We renewed the license because Mountain Enterprises is entitled to due process and there's nothing in our ordinance that specifically addresses this situation," Mayor Mary Capra said.
In the wake of the renewal, however, Larson was directed to research options for ordinance changes that would, among other things, require all Centerville taverns' insurance policies to be renewed at the end of the year.