Centerville Tidbits
Ordinance Review Moves Forward
Ultimate fighting, swimming in Centerville Lake from a public park, fishing and boat launching are all set to be prohibited in Centerville.
They were just four new potential entries in the city’s code of ordinances, which has been under review by the city attorney and council committees. The revisions to the city’s code are now being examined by the Centerville City Council.
Attorney Kurt Glaser presented chapters 10-90 to the council during a work session on July 23.
One significant change requested by the council members was the alteration of a deadline by which citizens must hook up to city water and sewer.
Currently, under Ordinance 51.08, residents are expected to connect to municipal supplies by the end of 2012.
At the July 23 meeting, members agreed to push that back to 2020.
Other language in the sections on residents’ private wells was altered to bring it in line with Minnesota statutes, although attorney Glaser pointed out there were still gaps in the system of monitoring well activity.
“The legislature has not acted to fix the gap between requiring [the city] to have wellhead protection plans and protecting our water supply, and being able to monitor our water supply,” he explained, adding that city officials would have to check records with the Department of Health on a regular basis to see which residents had performed work on their wells before taking action on any potential ordinance violation.
City council members will review additional chapters of the code at future meetings.
In action during the regular city council meeting, the council:
• Noted the successful performance reviews of public works technician Allen Anderson and the account clerk/utility billing clerk Kris Sweeney.
• Tabled until August 27 an appeal by Mr. and Mrs. Mike Carter on the subject of their dog Hunter’s designation as a potentially dangerous animal.
• Resolved to adopt the schedule of special assessments in the Old Mill Road improvement project, which assesses five residents sums ranging between $16,000 and $187,000.
• Postponed until the next meeting discussion with Old Mill Road resident Cathy Fruth on the subject of her complaint about the steepness of her driveway, following the street improvement project.
• Noted a request to Anoka County to install a guard rail along CSAH21 near Center Street had been declined on the grounds that the location did not have a high crash incidence.
• Approved a request to postpone the deadline by which the 2008 seal coating project must be finished, in light of the additional number of contractor vehicles currently in the city due to the hail damage, making completion of the seal coating more problematic. City staff confirmed that 650 roofi ng permits had been issued following the hail in May.
• Noted the North Metro Telecommunications Commission budget for 2009, which amounts to $1,241,763, an increase of 5.1 percent over the 2008 budget.
• Approved a proposal to upgrade city Well No. 2 by increasing pump capacity, at a cost of $35,501.
• Gave the green light to City Engineer Mark Statz to begin preliminary work on the city’s downtown storm water drainage project, at a cost of $35,600.