Community Council Meeting Minutes
May 19th, 2009
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District 10 Community Council
Community Council Meeting
Historic Streetcar Station
May 19th, 2009 - 7:00 p.m.
Meeting Minutes
Directors present: David Arbeit, Ted Sheu, Lori Klongtruatroke, Scott Baker, Misty Havens,
Matt Schmitt, Ken Kunkle, Mike MacDonald, John Bjork, Chris Martineau, Barbara Frick, Karl
Koch.
Directors absent: Barbara Clark
Directors excused: Marcy Micek, Sehoya Cotner
Staff present: Rhonda DeBough-Insook, Camille Schafer
1. Call to Order
by David Arbeit at 7:05pm
2. Review, Amend, Approve Agenda.
Mike MacDonald motions for approval. Chris seconds. Agenda approved unanimously.
3. Community section
a. Como Pool/Shuttle Update (Don Ganje)
June 1st is the date we will get the draft report from the consultants. It will then be
placed on the Como website (comopark.org).
In September, the pool project will go before the City Council. Construction could
potentially begin as soon as the summer of 2010. The soonest it could be open would
be the summer of 2011.
David Arbeit asked the question regarding CIB and funding in regards to the pool.
There will be a CIB hearing next Tuesday at 6:00pm (it is posted on the Dist. 10 web
site)
Karl Koch asked a question regarding the funding for the road work, the McMurray
fields and the pool. The answer (per Don Ganje) is that each one is funded separately
through different CIB projects. The pool itself will have approximately 100 parking
spaces by itself.
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May 19th, 2009
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David spoke to wanting to have people go to the City of St. Paul web site and search
on Capital Improvement Budget (CIB) to see the rankings final tally.
Don also spoke about the shuttle and that it had a soft launch with about 127 riders
this past weekend. There will be three busses that are low-emission diesel busses
with wraps on them to make them look like zoo animals. The shuttle service will be
available every weekend starting on Memorial Day weekend (no shuttle service July
4th & 5th) through Labor Day. The busses will be operated by Lorenz Bus Service.
There will be press releases and advertising starting this weekend. Signs have been
put on Hwy 36 & 94 directing traffic to the shuttle service as they exit the freeway.
June 4th there will be a public meeting here at the streetcar station regarding traffic
and there will a bus here to view. This will be hosted by the Community Relations
Committee.
b. District Council Collaborative Briefing (Carol Swenson)
Carol spoke about the District Councils Collaborative. She is the Liaison for the
DCC, which is a non-profit organization. The organization’s biggest focus in the
beginning was the LRT and the Central Corridor issues. They also focus in on
communication and community outreach. The DCC puts out an update on
information that the District Councils might not otherwise get in regards to the Light
Rail. The DCC Governing Council is made up of one representative from each
member organization – each organization may also appoint an alternate. Each
organization has one vote in the DCC.
One of the current issues that the DCC is involved with is the Rondo Community and
the impact that the Central Corridor will have on their community. They are asking
for the DCC to help them file a complaint on the community impact that the Central
Corridor and LRT will have on their community.
David Arbeit asked if we could see the document committing Dist. 10 to the DCC
back in 2006, since none of the existing Board members of Dist. 10 were seated on
the board back in 2006.
There is not a deadline for Dist. 10 to decide whether or not commit to the DCC, but
they would like to know within the next one or two months.
c. Lexington/Larpenteur Issues (Sheu)
There is now an ad-hoc committee that will beginning to meet within the next few
weeks dealing with the issues involving the Lexington/Larpenteur area. They will be
meeting twice a month. Barbara Frick and Leah Mesick will be Chairs of the ad-hoc
committee.
d. Pavilion
A member of the community who lives on the East side of the lake spoke to the
Board about an issue he had with the Pavilion a few weekends ago. He and his wife
(who have lived here for 25 years) were woken-up from an afternoon nap because of
an unacceptable amount of loud music coming from the Pavilion – louder than they
Community Council Meeting Minutes
May 19th, 2009
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have ever heard before. The member of the community went down to the pavilion to
ask who was in charge. There was an officer there and he tried to speak to the officer
about the noise level but it was not well received and the resident was made to feel
intimidated with the threat of being arrested for disturbing the peace. He was also
told to get used to the noise.
David Arbeit spoke to ensuring that this individual voice his concern to the City Staff
member for Lee Helgen who was at the meeting. Chris Martineau spoke to making a
complaint to the Police Dept. in regards to the alleged behavior.
e. Lexington Ave. Construction
Ramsey County is going to be looking at doing an overlay on Lexington Ave. in the
upcoming year (per Janice Rettman). It is strictly overlay, not new construction and
the board will be notified before it is to begin.
4. Review, Amend, Approve April Minutes
p.2 CIB reps – outdoor classroom not playground
3 dissenting votes, not 2. 1 abstention.
John Bjork – remove from attending.
5. Board Updates
a. Board Chair report – David Arbeit
Staffing plans have been rearranged so that Camille will continue to be a member of
the staff. Rhonda will be increasing her hours as Community Organizer. Camille
will be filling the role of the Board Administrator; she will not be supporting
committees. We will also be bringing on a former intern, Josh Witte, on June 1st for
about 10 hours per week until Labor Day.
David has signed a work plan and it is now ready for City Council Approval. That
process will take approx. 4 weeks.
The Board all received an email stating that John Bjork has resigned from the Board
as of today. We will need to have a special election at the June meeting to fill his
seat.
David went on to congratulate the Board and their Committees for their amount of
involvement.
b. Treasurer report – Marcy Micek
Marcy was absent. David explained the report she submitted for the Board packet.
Motion to accept the report from Chris. Ted Seconded. Report accepted
unanimously.
c. Staff report
Rhonda spoke about how well the garage sale went. She named all of the individuals
that helped in having the first sale in the Streetcar Station. People had also come to
the streetcar station to talk about the District Council, so perhaps there should be a
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May 19th, 2009
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table next year to help provide the community with that. The sale produced a strong
neighborhood bonding experience and resulted in $300.00 for the District Council.
We are doing a thank-you party on June 5th to acknowledge former Board members.
Paint the Pavement workshop will take place in late June. There will be a discussion
on having a single garbage hauler for neighborhoods. The senior fair is still being
worked on.
d. Committee reports
Mike MacDonald (Environment Committee)
There will be a lake clean-up on Saturday June 13th. He is asking for assistance for
the lake clean up. The History Tour is hosted by the Como Park Alliance. The Tree
Trek and tour of the rain gardens will also have a tour.
Chris Martineau (Community Relations)
Chris spoke about their last meeting and that it focused mainly on the shuttle. He has
also been working on engaging the community businesses and organizations.
Ken Kunkle (Safety)
The Block Leaders is something that falls under the Safety Committee.
Ted Sheu (Land Use)
There is a new owner at the gas station on Dale and Larpenteur. He came before the
Land Use committee to introduce himself.
Matt Schmitt (Communications)
Web site update – they are currently transferring items to the new site. He hopes to
have a new version of the site to show everyone soon. Matt requested articles for the
summer newsletter.
In regards to the newsletter, Matt is thinking of delivering it through the Monitor
newspaper on a monthly basis. It would save money for the council, but it would be
less flexible for things that may need to be addressed on a short-notice basis. It
would allow there to be delivery to the Energy Park area. There would need to be
more copies made by Job Corps for this proposal.
Matt spoke about trying to get GLS Printing on Energy Park Drive to print a four-
color printout describing what the District Council is. They let him know that they
can offer him a discount for that type of project.
Karl Koch spoke about the National Night Out kick-off on June 3rd here in Como
Park.
6. Discussion Items
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May 19th, 2009
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a. Midway Area Plan Update (Sheu)
Ted was able to get Josh Williams the 1997 copy of the SAP with changes made for
review. The goal is to have a neighborhood meeting on the revisions.
b. Fiscal Agenda for grant applications
Is the council able to provide be a fiscal agent as a non-profit for individuals looking
for such a service from the District? Marcy is trying to put together some guidelines
for this if the Council decides to support this.
c. Other
We now have magnets and the Annual Park Citizens Award deadline is June 15th.
David suggests nominating some of the individuals who have been heavily involved
in the Parks from our dist.
7. Action Items
a. Rain barrel Grant (MacDonald)
Requested Action: Approve final report to CRWD
Ted Seconded. Action Item approved.
b. Traffic Calming Grant (Cotner)
Requested Action: Approve grant request and acceptance from Public Art St.
Paul.
Motion from Ted Sheu to table request to see further information in regards to
liability. Karl Koch seconded. Approved to be tabled.
8. Future Agendas
9. Adjourn
Ken motioned to adjourn.
Chris seconded.
Meeting adjourned at 9:07pm
Minutes prepared by Lori Klongtruatroke