MINUTES OF HIGHLAND DISTRICT COUNCIL MEETING

August 2, 2007

Members of the Highland District Council Board met at the Hillcrest Recreation Center, 1978 Ford Parkway, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55116, at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 2, 2007. Board members present were: Shawn Bartsh, Georgia Dietz, Bill Driver, Will Jefferson Bill Klein, Steve Lentsch, Joe McCabe, Gary Marx, Dave Pinto, Bill Poulos, and Tim Puffer. The following designated alternates were present: Layne Carver (for Ted Davis) and Claudia Dieter (for Jenny Winkelman). Bill Mahaffey was absent and not excused. Alternates Rick Hugley and Jeff Gravagna were present. Rick Hugley was seated.

1. Road Work on West Seventh Street

Mr. Kiet Ly, a Project Engineer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, discussed road repairs that close West Seventh Street between St. Paul and Davern Avenues from 7:00 a.m. on Monday, August 6, through 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 9. There will be a four way stop at the intersection of West Seventh and Davern, with a police officer stationed there to direct traffic during anticipated rush hours between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. The department will publicize the closures in local newspapers and elsewhere. Metro Transit and residents of Sibley Plaza have been notified of the closure.

2. Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the July 12, 2007, meeting were approved.

3. Treasurer�s Report

Tim Puffer reported that he and Bill Klein met with the IRS during the week of July 16, and discussed the Council situation with IRS Agent Michael Burns, the IRS agent assigned to the Council. They agreed to bring the Council current on filings, and following the meeting all 941 and 990 filings required of the Council were made, so the Council�s IRS filings are presently up to date. Tim indicated that it will take some time for the IRS to process all of these things, and it likely will be autumn before we know more about what the IRS�s position is on some of the matters at issue. At that point the Council will most likely elect to submit an Offer in Compromise, which will take several months to prepare.

Mr. Burns also indicated that the IRS would file a lien notice with the Minnesota Secretary of State to record its lien against Council assets. This occurred on July 30. The agent assured us that the lien and the situation will not affect ordinary operations and spending under contracts with the City so long as lines of communication remain open and the Council operates in the ordinary course. The Council later received a transcript from the Internal Revenue Service regarding its record of amounts of tax, penalty, and interest owned by the Council.

At the request of the Executive Committee, the Treasurer has moved ahead with obtaining a proposal for outside services from Sevenich Butler for a compilation of financial statements and a reconciliation of the Council�s expenses and grant reimbursements under its contract with the City.

The Treasurer�s Report was approved.

4. Public Comment

Bill Poulos opened the meeting to public comment, but no members of the public requested an opportunity to speak.

5. Crime Prevention

Committee Chair Joe McCabe and Vice Chair Patricia Boyd reported on actions of the new crime prevention committee with respect to concerns expressed in previous council meetings about crime in the district. The Committee held an initial meeting on July 25 with City personnel who handle graffiti calls. Graffiti calls have skyrocketed from five to ten per week up to 50 per day recently, most of the problem being attributable to 14-to-16 year old kids. The Committee has scheduled a public meeting on August 22, at 7:00, in the Hillcrest gym to discuss crime issues.

The importance of communication was emphasized, and the Committee wishes to set up a network to disseminate information more quickly into the grids. It also appears that the City police operate under a �squeaky wheel�, where manpower is allocated based on call reports. As a consequence, it is important to encourage district residents to call police whenever there are problems, be it graffiti, curfew, loitering, or something more serious. This will help get police attention and hopefully prevent some of these types of activities from escalating. This is especially important in light of the pending closing of the local police substation when on opens in the near future at Hamline and St. Anthony.

The Committee expressed concerns regarding the kiosk at Cleveland and Ford Parkway. It has not been maintained properly and is now as much a source of problems as anything else. The Committee also has concerns regarding the West Seventh Street area, and intends to encourage Sibley Plaza and Sibley Manor to take more action with respect to crime. For example, the Committee intends to encourage Sibley Plaza, which presently has no security cameras, to install them to help diminish problem activities.

Joe indicated he will distribute a list of Committee members by e-mail. He also promised to take steps to provide greater notification of future meetings. The most recent meeting on July 25 was noted on the website, but Council members were not provided with e-mail notification. They will also try to get this noted in the Highland Villager.

6. City Budget Issues

Nancy Homans, the Mayor�s Policy Director, expanded on her presentation at the July 12 meeting regarding City budget issues. Nancy indicated that the problem was worse than previously indicated. The City�s local government aid monies, as finally determined, are approximately $1.2 million less than earlier estimates, which results in a $17,000,000 structural deficit to be addressed by the City. The City�s options are essentially to take in more revenue, to spend less, and, on a short-term basis, to shift revenues from one area to the other as a temporary patch. Mayor Coleman wants to achieve structural balance by the 2010. As noted earlier, the Mayor will present his budget on August 14, the City Council will establish the maximum levy by the City in early September, and the budget will be finalized in mid-December. Nancy indicated that she and the City welcomes suggestions for ways to deal with these issues.

Nancy pointed out that many of the City departments are not funded from the general fund, which is where the problem is. Many of these are supported by fees. Overall, the general fund constitutes $160 million to $170 million out of the City $488 million budget. City property taxes provide approximately $70 million of these revenues. At present the most likely area for cuts are changes in the operations of recreation centers and libraries.

Several suggestions and questions were discussed, including a proposal by Bill Poulos that the City ask the state to modify the local government aid formula to provide greater fund in consideration of state-owned property in the City of St. Paul. Nancy indicated that the state does make payments in lieu of property taxes under current law, so some additional state funds are provided to the City with respect to this. In response to a question, Nancy indicated that there would be no proposal for across the board cuts. Instead surgical cuts and shifts are being reviewed, generally ones that do not involve reductions in public safety funding. An increased levy is also a distinct possibility.

Nancy also indicated that the fire department will be undergoing restructuring to make operations more efficient, but this will not reduce costs, and the police department will not be asked to make major cuts.

7. Community Services Committee

The Community Services Committee did not meet since its July meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for August 13, at which the Committee will discuss the wrap up of the spring clean up and will plan for the fall clean up scheduled for early October. A Board member suggested that the Committee might also review the effects that changes in fire department organization may have with respect to fire services in the neighborhood once these become better known.

8. Transportation Committee

Chair Brent Van Tassel reported that the Committee met on July 31 with Paul St. Martin from the City�s Public Works Department. The City is moving to a final plan for redoing the Cleveland/St. Paul intersection. The Committee also discussed concerns regarding the West Seventh Street/Lexington Avenue/Montreal Avenue intersection. Mr. St. Martin indicated that he would bring in computer models showing different options to deal with this problem. Brent indicated that the next meeting was scheduled for August 27.

9. Community Development Committee

Committee Chair Steve Lentsch reported that the Committee addressed a request for variance for the Movie Station property on West Seventh Street. Neighbors were fliered. The Committee unanimously supported the request for a variance from certain requirements of the Shepard/Davern plan. The variance that would allow the owner to sell the property to a potential buyer that wished to build and operate a new business on the site. The Zoning Committee of the City Planning Commission, however, refused to grant the variance.

Steve reported that Lifetime Fitness indicated that it would like to obtain a beer/wine license issued for a caf� to be constructed in the basement. Lifetime originally indicated that they would like to meet with the Committee in August, but have pushed this back until December.

Steve indicated that the Committee would be moving its meetings to the third Monday of each month, and that the next meeting is scheduled for August 20.

10. HBA Report

Shawn Bartsh reported that Highland Fest was completed in July and was generally a success. The Saturday night band performance went somewhat late and was a problem.

11. Executive Committee Report; Bylaws

Bill Poulos discussed issues regarding the election of alternates in standing committees, as well as having each standing committee elect a vice chair who might participate in Executive Committee meetings if the committee chair is absent. This led to a discussion about the current Bylaws. It was agreed that a proposal to amend the Bylaws to address these and a few other items would be presented at the September meeting, which would permit the Council to act on the proposal at its October meeting.

There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

William D. Klein

Secretary