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Winter The TSE6q ON THE GREAT RIVER RO, I Newsletter of the city of Otsego Volume 11, February 2000 a _ I 2000 Cirf BUDGET WI by Mike Robertson, City Administrator $100,000 due to growth, and Cable Franchise fees, Tax Levy - Otsego's tax levy for 2000 is $838,883, which are also rising due to growth. which is $11,270 or 1.4% higher than in 1999. Expenditures - The City's budget for 2000 includes However, because property values have grown over $1,473,068 in expenditures, which is an increase of 9%, the City's tax rate has decreased for the fifth $187,146 or 15% over 1999. The City Council is straight year. That means if your property value did increasing the contract with the Wright County not increase, the City portion of your taxes will Sheriff from 10 hours a day to 12 hours a day, at a decrease. cost increase of$27,923. The City is increasing Revenues - City revenues are projected at expenditures on Street Maintenance by $107,123. $1,473,068, which is $191,646 or 15% higher than Decreased expenditures are projected for Legal, 1999. The largest increases in revenue come from Engineering, and Planning departments. Building Permits, which are estimated to increase wr in .. m iiph .' The City Council has approved 135 lots for the construction of single family homes. These lots, located just to the west and north of Otsego Elementary School, are the first homes in Otsego that will be connected to the new sewer and water system. There are three different developments that will constructed in this area. Crimson Ponds - Owned by Dennis Backes Construction, is located on the former Fabian Sadowski property. When fully developed this property will consist of 180 single family home lots averaging just under 1/2 of an acre in size. Dennis Backes is shown in the pic- ture to the right paying over $300,000 in Sewer & Water and other development fees to the City. I This is the first payment of Sewer &Water con- nection fees the City has received. Model homes = _ " : 4.... 4,6 are currently under construction in this develop- . / 0 ment and will be shown at the 2000 Spring s , Preview. Prairie Creek - Owned by Dennis Ulmer, is locat- � ,,,_-„: 1 . \'• ,. ' ed on the former Eddie Lefebvre property. The �: a _ , lots average under 1/2 acre in size, and when fully g - _.� ` developed there will be 118 single family homes. `. Construction on model homes for the Spring - •Preview will begin in February. Pheasant Ridge - Owned by Arcon Development, ,r',� , is located on property formerly owned by Russ '� — Martie and Lawrence Verdebruggen. The lots vary Dennis Backes presents a check of over$300,000 to the in size from 1/3 of an acre to 2/3 of an acre. City of Otsego for sewer, water and other development fees. When fully developed there will be 180 homes. Shown are Mike Robertson, City Administrator; Dennis Construction is planned to begin this summer. Backes, developer; and Elaine Beatty, City Clerk. Page 2 Newsletter of the city of Otsego 1 CITY MEETINGS MEETING DAYS TIME City Council 2nd & 4th Mondays 6:30 p.m. Planning & Zoning Commission 1st & 3rd Mondays 8:00 p.m. Parks & Rec Commission 2nd Wednesday 7:00 p.m. EDA Advisory Commission 3rd Monday 6:30 p.m. Heritage Preservation Commission 4th Thursday 7:00 p.m. • Submit City Council agenda items seven working days prior to meetings. • To be placed on the Planning Commission agenda, submit completed forms & information 15 working days prior to meetings. • Official meeting notices are published in the Elk River Star News and posted at City Hall • Please call City Hall to confirm times if you plan to attend. Us 41 ek,,, , , 7 ), , A .4( I, As you have perhaps heard through media reports, consumers and communities throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area will be impacted on February 27, 2000, when the region served by Minnesota's 612 area code is split into three different area codes: 612, 763 and 320 952. Since your community will be impacted, we are writing on behalf of Minnesota's telecommunications industry and the Area Code Customer Education Committee to pro- vide additional information. Attached to this letter is 763651 an area code map and answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding the area code change. Additional information, including a preliminary list show- MINNEAPOLIS ing which prefixes will be working in each area code, is available on the following websites: • Minnesota Telephone Association: www.mnta.org i. ' • U S WEST: www.uswest.com/areacodes PPLE VALLEY If you have questions or require additional information, 952 ---- . please contact one of us or your local telecommunica- tions provider. George Blackwell, US WEST, 612-663- 8272 Terry Kucera, Minnesota Telephone Association, 651-291-7311 Minnesota Area Code Customer Education Committee Newsletter of the city of Otsego Page 3 Answers ToaFrQaently�'`� Nosh Asked A Code Questions Q:Why are these new area codes necessary? A: Minnesota is running out of telephone numbers in the region served by the 612 area code due to unprecedented demand for new numbers for services such as fax machines,pagers,wireless telephones,additional telephone lines and other competitive services. Q.Who will have the new area codes? A. Effective February 27,2000,the region served by the 612 area code will be split into three different area codes: 612,763 and 952. •The 612 area code will be kept by Minneapolis,Richfield, St.Anthony and the Fort Snelling area. *The boundary line separating the 763 area code from the 952 area code approximately follows Interstate 394.For the most part,communities located north of I-394 and to the north and northwest of Minneapolis will be served by the 763 area code. Communities south of I-394 and to the south and southwest of Minneapolis will have the 952 area code. •The 763 area code will serve Blaine,Brooklyn Center,Circle Pines,Columbia Heights,Delano,East Bethel,Fridley, Golden Valley,Ham Lake,Isanti,Lexington,Medicine Lake,Medina,Montrose,Mounds View,Plymouth,Robbinsdale, Waverly and other communities to the north and northwest. •The 952 area code will serve Apple Valley,Bloomington,Burnsville,Eden Prairie,Edina,Hopkins,Lakeville, Minnetrista,Minnetonka,Mound, Orono,St.Louis Park,Watertown,Wayzata and other communities to the south and southwest. Q.When will this change take place? A.The area code change will be effective on February 27,2000.During a transition period that will last over ten months,you will be able to use either the new or old area code and local dialing pattern to complete a call.Mandatory use of the new area codes and ten- digit dialing for local calls between area codes will begin on January 14,2001. Ten-digit local dialing between area codes Q.How does this change the way I make local calls? Your local calling area is not changing.If a call was a local call before this area code change,it is still a local call. If a call was long distance before,it is still a long distance call.However,to make a local phone call between area codes you will need to dial ten digits(the three-digit area code plus the seven digit phone number).You may be familiar with this ten-digit dialing pattern since it is the same way local calls are made today between the 612 and 651 area codes.Do not dial a"1"or a "0"before the ten digit local number.Mandatory use of ten-digit dialing for local calls between area codes begins on January 14,2001. Q.Do long distance charges apply if I dial ten digits to make a call? A.No. If a call was a local call(without a long distance charge)before this area code change,it is still a local call.Your local calling area is not changing.Long distance charges do not apply on ten-digit dialed local calls. Q.How will the new area code impact my home telephone service? A. If you have a new area code,notify those who call you and make plans to change your area code on such things as stationery and checks.Also,you may need to reprogram automatic-dialers,fax machines or computer modems before January 14,2001. Q.How are businesses impacted? A.All businesses should verify that their telephone equipment is capable of completing calls to the new 763 and 952 area codes. Also,in the Twin Cities local calling area, some telephone equipment may need to be reprogrammed or upgraded before it is able to complete a ten-digit local call. Beginning February 27,2000,businesses should test their telephone equipment to determine if it recognizes the new 763 and 952 area codes by calling the following test numbers: •Within Minneapolis/St.Paul area: 763-571-1599 or 952-895-5000 •Outside Minneapolis/St.Paul area: 1-763-571-1599 or 1-952-895-5000 If a call to the test number does not go through,contact your equipment provider.If your equipment is not the cause of your prob- lem,please contact your telecommunications service provider. Q.What if my business has a new area code? A.You will need to change your area code on such things as stationery,business cards,and advertisements.Ask your employees to always include your area code whenever they give out the phone number for your business.Notify your local,national and interna- tional customers and clients that your area code is changing.Tell them you can be reached through either your new or old area code until January 14,2001.However,advise your customers that beginning January 14,2001,they can only reach you by using your new area code.To ensure you don't miss any calls,remind your customers of the possible need to make changes to their equipment. Encourage them to ask their operator for assistance if they have trouble calling you. Newsletter of the city of Otsego Volume 11, February 2000 CITY OF OTSEGO . ®� P S ° / I/ AL l A %A , i, 'o, I ;; 8899 Nashua Ave.NE 1 . Otsego,MN 55330 (612) 441-4414 Fax (612) 441-8823 STATE OF OUR CITY 2000 OFFICE HOURS: Monday through Thursday 8:00 a.m.to 6:00 p.m. As we begin a new century, our mercial, and industrial development. Closed Fridays City is well positioned to take advan- CITY COUNCIL: tage of broadening our tax base by Our sewer and water projects have Mayor attracting a wide variety of business- gone much better than I had ever Larry Fournier es. With our new sewer and water hoped for. At this point they are half Councilmembers systems, we now have the ability to a million dollars under budget. As Suzanne M.S.Ackerman compete with other communities for developers want to develop in our Mark Berning new businesses which want to locate City they must reserve capacity in our Vern Heidner Virginia Wendel in the area. Otsego's City tax rate is sewer and water systems. They do CITY STAFF lower than any of our adjacent neigh- this by paying many of the required Elaine Beatty, bors, which means businesses pay less fees up front before any project work City Clerk/Zoning Administrator City taxes in Otsego. A healthy busi- begins. The result is the City has Mike Robertson, City Administrator ness community in Otsego will help received enough funds so that we are Judy Hudson, ensure our City will continue to be an several years ahead on our bond pay- Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Carol Olson,Secretary affordable place to live and work. ments. Dave Chase, Maintenance Supervisor Rick Knutson,Maintenance Our City budget is in excellent In the past few years, decisions , PLANNING&ZONING shape. Your City Council has done an were made which will help ensure Carl Swenson,chair excellent job spending our tax dollars Otsego will continue to be a great Jim Kolles wisely. Our bonded indebtedness has place to live and a City we can all be Patrick Moonen Arleen Nagel increased due to construction of the proud of. Richard Nichols sewer and water system, but our bond Steve Schuck Christian Mbanefo debt is about average for a City our The State of our City is very good! Ken Fry,alternate size. The sewer and water bonds will Eugene Goenner,alternate be paid for by new residential, com- Larry Fournier, Mayor PARKS&RECREATION Jeff Bartheld,chair Thomas Baillargeon Tom Constant Michael Day Tony Faust Sue Kroll EDA ADVISORY REMINDER LeRoy Lindenfelser,chair Steve Ackerman s Gabriel Davis Rudy incent Peterson C L EA lq P Vincent Peterson 0.-HERITAGE PRESERVATION ��Ron Black,chair �� Arlene Nolen Frieda Lobeck Joan Nichols SATURDAY Elaine Norin 1�, for Norman Schwanbeck Joy Swenson MAY 6, 2000 Janet Bridgland,alternate i TSEGO OY TIII GNh'A'f/NvIVNR OR� 9:00 A.MI , The Otsego View is a community T . the city ofOg �1 t , Correspondence should be sent to Otsego City Hall. Contains 50%recycled pre-consumer material. 1