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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04B - Draft June 29 Meeting Minutes ~o.J, \ f.-. '..... \ 4646 Dakota Street S.E. U O~ PRJO';;~ Prio' Lake, MN 55372-1714 ~JNNESO~!:/' City Council Meeting Minutes June 29, 2009 DRAFT REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Present were Mayor Haugen, Councilors Erickson, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar, City Manager Boyles, City Attorney Pace, Community DevelopmenUNatural Resources Director Parr, Finance Director Erickson, Ad- ministrative Assistant Green and Communications Coordinator Peterson. PUBLIC FORUM The Public Forum is intended to afford the public an opportunity to address concerns to the City Council on any subject that is of community interest, provides information required by the Council to complete its du- ties or is provided by agencies representing citizens of Prior Lake. The Public Forum will be no longer than 30 minutes in length and each speaker will have no more than ten minutes to speak. The City Council will not take formal action on Public Forum presentations. City Manager Boyles explained the concept of the public forum. Comments: No person stepped forward to speak. CONSENT AGENDA City Manager Boyles reviewed the items on the Consent Agenda. A. Consider Approval of Invoices to be Paid. MOTION BY LEMAIR, SECONDED BY MILLAR TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS PRESENTED. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Erickson, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried, NEW BUSINESS Consider Approval of Ordinance Amending Section 1101 and 1102 of the City Code Community Development/Natural Resources Director Parr explained the proposed revisions describing the purpose and intent of allowing interim uses in a district. Suggested the Council would want to consider if there is a public need for the amendments, whether the amendments will accomplish purposes of the or- dinance and the Comprehensive Plan and whether the adoption of the amendments is consistent with state and/or federal requirements. Comments: LeMair: Will support. Believes this fills a need in the community. Stated he is aware of a situation where allowing by ordinance a particular interim use in a commercial district would provide an opportunity to cre- ate rental opportunities for vacant space in commercial buildings. Commented on the school district need- ing additional space now, but being without resources now to build another building. Erickson: Concurred. Millar: Concurred. www.cityofpriorlake.com 1 Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 City Council Meeting Minutes June 29, 2009 DRAFT Hedberg: Liked how the interim use ordinance is structured and the fact that an amendment to the zoning ordinance (and the procedure that involves) is required in order to create an allowable interim use in a par- ticular zoning process. Agreed he is aware of how this ordinance may be the solution to assisting the school district in its "interim" space shortage needs. Stated he likes that it creates a legal framework so there is a process for establishing an interim temporary use and criteria for determining duration. Will sup- port. Haugen: Concurred with setting legal parameters for the future and the win-win situation for business and school. MOTION BY HEDBERG, SECONDED BY LEMAIR TO APPROVE ORDINANCE 109.11 AMENDING SECTION 1101.1000 AND SECTION 1102.1104 OF THE CITY OF PRIOR LAKE CITY CODE. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Erickson, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried. Consider Approval of a Request to Reconsider June 15, 2009 Action to Issue a Cable Television Franchise to Integra Telecom City Manager Boyles informed the Council that a letter was received on June 24, 2009, from Mediacom requesting the Council reconsider its decision to grant Integra a cable television franchise. Provided a his- tory of the request for a cable franchise by Integra and subsequent actions up to this point. Explained the process outlined in the City Council bylaws for reconsidering a motion as well as the process for waiving bylaws. The bylaws allow reconsideration of an issue at the next regular meeting of the City Council. To- night's meeting is a special, as opposed to a regular, meeting and, therefore, the Council would have to waive its bylaws to permit reconsideration at this meeting. Stated he has consulted with City Attorney re- garding procedure. Pace stated that proper procedure would involve three motions and votes: waiving the bylaws, whether to reconsider and actual reconsideration. In this situation, since all Councilors are present and all Councilors voted in the affirmative at the June 15,2009, meeting, the motion and vote to waive bylaws should also be considered authorization to reconsider the franchise issue. If a motion is made and passed, the next mo- tion would be the actual reconsideration. Mayor Haugen introduced John Baker from Green Espel explaining that Baker is present to consult with the City Attorney on this issue. Haugen stated that he does not favor waiving the bylaws to reconsider the franchise matter, commenting that he does not feel qualified to debate legal issues and must rely on the information provided by the City Attorney. He is aware that Integra and Mediacom have offered the City completely different interpretations of the state and federal cable laws and the interplay between them. Reviewed comments made at the last Council meeting that stated competition between cable providers is in the best interest of City residents. Competition creates product and pricing choices. Competition can be a motive for any provider to excel in the area of customer service. Mediacom offers cable service to all properties in the City as authorized in its franchise and FCC license. As a cable provider it has operated in the City as a monopoly. The triple play service it offers allows it to bundle cable, data and telephone and provide it throughout the City. Mediacom argues it is being treated unfairly because the City has granted Integra an initial five-year franchise and postponed the service area issue until Integra's franchise renewal in five years. What Mediacom chose to ignore is that the Integra franchise also has the result of allowing Mediacom to continue its monopoly during Integra's initial franchise term. Mediacom's triple play product also gives it the opportunity to deliver telecommunication service to one third of the City that Integra is not licensed to serve. Does not understand how Mediacom can claim that it is being treated less favorably than Integra was treated. The Council has expressed its view that competition in programming and product 2 City Council Meeting Minutes June 29, 2009 DRAFT offerings and service is important and the City Council has not ignored the area of the City where Integra is not licensed. Qwest has a license to provide telephone and data service in this area and Qwest has a co- operative arrangement where it partners with a satellite provider to provide television programming; thus residents in that area have had a choice of enhanced television programming and subscription services. All properties in the City should have a choice among providers. Asked if any Council member wished to make a motion to waive the bylaws in order to have further discussion. Comments: Hedberg: Stated that after reviewing information provided, believes the matter should die for lack of mo- tion and will not make or second a motion to suspend the bylaws to allow reconsideration of the franchise decision. Haugen: With no person making a motion, this item dies for lack of a motion and the decision made two weeks ago is the final decision on this matter. ADJOURNMENT With no further comments from Council members, a motion to adjourn was made by LeMair and seconded by Millar. With all in favor, the meeting adjourned at 5:20 p.m. Frank Boyles, City Manager Charlotte Green, Administrative Asst. 3