04-16-08ITEM 3_1
CITY OF OTSEGO
CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP
April 16, 2008
5:30 p.m.
Roll Call: Otsego City Council: Mayor Larry
Fournier, Councilmembers Mark Thorsted, Tom
Darkenwald, Vern Heidner and Jessica Stockamp.
City Staff: City Administrator Michael Robertson,
City Clerk Judy Hudson, Finance Director Gary Groen,
Building Official Tim Rochel, Public Works
Supervisor Brad Belair, City Planner Dan Licht and
City Engineer Ron Wagner.
Vacant Housing Report
Tim noted that City staff had found approximately
138 vacant housing units. He said that number was
constantly changing, noting that he had heard that
two homes had sold over the weekend and a new
vacancy had been discovered. Vern said that this
was approximately 2.7% of the housing units in the
City. Tim said there had probably been the same
amount of vacant homes at any one time 'since 2004
when the housing market was booming.
Mike said that staff had discovered approximately 13
homes that they observed had suffered water damage
from frozen pipes. He said that currently other
utilities could not provide information to cities
when people have discontinued service due to data
privacy laws. He said there was a bill before the
State legislature right now that would change that
but until that happened the City often did not know
when heat was shut off to a home. Tim said he had
talked to investor -owners of some properties who
lived in Florida who had no idea what "winterizing"
a home meant.
Andy said that the City could file a notice on any
property it thought had suffered water damage. That
would provide diligent potential owners a chance to
find out about what had happened. After discussion,
Council directed staff to prepare a short policy on
dealing with these various issues.
Streetlight Policy
Ron and Dan reviewed a proposed policy to establish
guidelines for where streetlights should be located.
Council directed staff to estimate what it would
cost to bring the City into compliance with the
policy.
Lennar Corp Land Offer
Council reviewed the offer from Lennar Corp to sell
a 6.3 piece of land in their subdivision to the City
for $903,000. Mike was directed to send a letter
rejecting the offer.
Discussion of a Future Fire Station
Gary reviewed the potential costs of constructing,
equipping, and staffing a fire station. The station
would have three bays and would function as a sub-
station. It is not intended to be a central fire
station. Construction and equipment are estimated
to cost just under $3,000,000. Staffing the
facility would cost about $100,000 a year initially.
Mike said that when staff looked at the long term
growth of the city that they thought at least three
fire stations would be needed. One in the east at
this location, one in the center of the city at City
Hall, and one located somewhere on the west side of
the City. Dan said that Lakeville, a city of almost
60,000, has five fire stations.
Council discussed how this would be paid for and the
type of cooperation they would seek with the Elk
River Fire Department to run the fire station.
Everyone was in agreement that the city could not
start a fire department from scratch, that it should
work with Elk River to start up and staff a sub-
station. Gary noted that currently there was an
average of one call per day in the area of Otsego
served by the Elk River fire department. About 75%
of the calls were medical calls. Gary felt that
number would increase when Target and the nearby
commercial properties opened up.
Staff agreed that this station would provide some
benefit to the City of Elk River. Council directed
staff to continue talks with Elk River.
With no other business, the meeting was adjourned at
8:13 p.m.
Michael Robertson
City Administrator