Approved Minutes 9-17-2003Page 1 of 7
SUMMARY MINUTES
OF THE SAINT PAUL CITY COUNCIL
Wednesday, September 17, 2003 - 3:30 p.m.
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 3RD FLOOR
City Hall and Court House
15 West Kellogg Boulevard
Web Index
• Consent Agenda
• Communications and Administrative Orders
• For Action
• Suspension Items
• For Discussion
• Ordinances
The meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m. by Council President Bostrom.
Present - 4 - Benanav, Bostrom, Harris, Lantry
Absent - 3 - Blakey, Coleman (arrived after roll call); Reiter (excused)
CONSENT AGENDA (Items I -15)
NOTE: ALL ITEMS LISTED UNDER CONSENT AGENDA WILL BE ENACTED BY ONE
MOTION. THERE WILL BE NO SEPARATE DISCUSSION OF THESE ITEMS. IF DISCUSSION IS
DESIRED BY A COUNCIL,MEMBER, THAT ITEM WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT
AGENDA AND CONSIDERED SEPARATELY.
Councilmember Benanav requested Item 5 be removed for discussion.
Councilmember Lantry moved approval of the consent agenda as amended.
Adopted as amended Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
COMMUNICATIONS AND ADMINISTRATIVE ORDERS
1. Claims of Cynthia Bell, Akina Boayla, JoAnn Harris, Tammy Hatter (for Georgetown Park
Townhouses), William Kramlinger, Alice Miller, Carl Pierret, Jennifer Rouse, Jordan To, USAA
Casualty Insurance Company (for Nancy Joseph - Goldfarb), and Rebecca Willaert.
Referred to the Risk Management Division
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2. Administrative Order:
D002327 Amending the budget for STAR funds awarded through the Neighborhood Investment
Initiative Program.
Noted as on file in the City Clerk's Office
FOR ACTION
3. Approval of minutes of September 3, 2003.
Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
4. Resolution - 03 -823 - Approving the Memorandum of Agreement between the City of Saint Paul and
the Lakes and Plains Regional Council of Carpenters and Joiners for the 2003 Wage and Fringe
Adjustment. (Laid over from September 10 for adoption)
Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
5. Resolution - 03 -836 - (Discussed after the consent agenda)
6. Resolution - 03 -837 - Scheduling a policy session and public hearing on October 8, 2003, to review
the City of Saint Paul's efforts to promote equal access to City contracts. Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
7. Resolution - 03 -838 - Scheduling a public hearing for October 1, 2003, for ratification of 2003 Right -
of -Way Maintenance Assessment Program charges to be assessed against benefitted properties.
Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
8. Resolution - 03 -839 - Scheduling a public hearing for November 5, 2003, for proposal of 2004 Right -
of -Way Maintenance Assessment Program charges against benefitted properties.
Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
9. Resolution - 03 -840 - Approving the appointment of Mike DeTomaso and the reappointments of Paul
Finsness and Robert Nardi by Mayor Kelly, to the Truth in Sale of Housing Board of Evaluators.
Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
10. Resolution - 03 -841 - Accepting and implementing an Operation Nightcap grant from the Minnesota
Department of Public Safety for the Police Department.
Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
11. Resolution - 03 -842 - Approving the renewal of the City's contract with Saint Paul Neighborhood
Network (SPNN) for the provision of Public and Educational access services and community
programming.
Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
12. Resolution - 03 -843 - Memorializing City Council action taken August 27, 2003 granting the
application of Dayton's Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services for a preliminary and final plat for
Neighborhood Housing Payne Avenue Townhomes, First Addition.
Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
13. Resolution - 03 -844 - Adopting the Amended Saint Paul Grand Round Master Plan which provides
the framework for continued implementation of a 30 mile greenway which connects City neighborhoods
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with regional parks and the Mississippi River through a system of parkways, boulevards and trail
facilities for bicycling, walking running and in -line skating. Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
14. Resolution - 03 -845 - Accepting and implementing a grant agreement with the Recreation to include
a donation of $5,000 from the Friends of Saint Paul and Ramsey County Parks and Trails.
Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
15. Resolution - 03 -847 - Referring the license application of Yer Mua, K's Auto Sales and Service,
1445 Arcade Street, to an Administrative Law Judge.
Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
5. Resolution - 03 -836 - Honoring the Ziegler and Sullivan Children for their youthful entrepreneurial
initiative and proclaiming Wednesday, September 17, 2003, to be Mikaela and Annika Ziegler and
Patrick and Maggie Sullivan Day in the City of Saint Paul.
Councilmember Benanav recognized the Ziegler and Sullivan children who "fought City Hall and won"
when their soft drink stand on Como Avenue during the State Fair was closed down by Licensing staff
for operating without a license.
Councilmember Benanav moved approval.
Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
(Benanav left the meeting)
FOR DISCUSSION
16. Resolution - 03 -799 - Authorizing the City of Saint Paul, Division of Parks and Recreation, to accept
a monument from the Hamm's Club, Inc. to be placed in Como Park. (Laid over from September 3)
Council President Bostrom stated a request was received to lay this item over for four weeks.
Councilmember Blakey moved to lay over four weeks.
Laid over to October 15 Yeas - 5 Nays - 0 (Benanav not present for vote)
17. Report from the Department of Public Works on the projects that may be eliminated or postponed
due to using $350,000 of MSA funds for the Environmental Impact Statement for Ayd Mill Road and
also identify the financing plan for the 2003 paving overlay. (Report requested by Council on September
3; C.F. 03 -806)
There was no staff present at the meeting to give a report.
Councilmember Blakey moved to lay over one week.
Laid over to September 24 Yeas - 5 Nays - 0 (Benanav not present for vote)
(Benanav returned)
17a. Status report from the City Attorney's Office regarding: City's and Interveners' Proposed Post -Trial
Stipulation and Order regarding Gopher State Ethanol.
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Eric Larsen, Assistant City Attorney, the lead attorney on the Gopher State Ethanol (GSE) matter,
appeared. Mr. Larsen was also the trial attorney who tried the case against GSE which commenced on
May 12, 2003. That trial was to attempt to bring about an elimination of the odor nuisance caused by
GSE's operations. Judge Lindman is the presiding judge in this matter and he had an advisory jury as
part of the trial process. Mr. Larsen noted he was under a gag order as far as what the particulars of the
advisory jury are but he could tell the Council that the results of the advisory jury were ambiguous at
best. As a result, Judge Lindman ordered the parties to engage in further negotiations and discussions
rather than he issuing a decision at that time. This was done and during a process of over two months of
very arduous negotiations, they came to a document which is a stipulation and order. Mr. Larsen said he
would not bring the document to the Council's attention if it were not for the fact that the experts the
city has retained have recommended the agreement. These people are some of the best experts in the
field dealing with odor nuisance, the understanding of ethanol operations, and very sophisticated and
complex operations of such facilities.
The document is very detailed, Larsen said, because of some of the complexities. The ethanol operation
and facility is not a simple one. They are dealing with over 13 emission points. In order to insure
accountability and stringency, the document attempts to also contain some of those details. In the near
three years of litigation and the six hearings that have been held before the court, the sixth of which was
the May 12th trial they have been able to obtain the imposition of a clear objective that Gopher State
Ethanol has to meet. That standard in scientific terms is called an 80/50 no dilutions. It means that each
one of the emissions as to be brought down to a significant odor unit reduction. If they are taken
individually and together, the impact on the community will be such that it is the hope and expectation
of the experts with this very stringent standard that the odor problems will be eliminated. However, as
the document indicates, there are some limitations given the complexity of the operation, the complexity
of the terrain, and some difficult climatology data. Therefore, there is no guarantee that absolute odor
elimination will occur once these objectives are met. Mr. Larsen said the guarantees under the
stipulation order that he can provide to the Council and to the residents of the West Seventh Street
neighborhood are that by achievement of the 80/50 no dilutions, there will be significant improvement
in their environment and in their living conditions and that there will be significant reduction in the odor
emissions. He said he could not guarantee that the odor problem will be eliminated but the city's experts
have indicated that it is a very probable and possible result. The document allows them to revisit the
issue in detail such as through another trial in May if necessary to impose further enforcement action
and further measures upon GSE if needed.
Mr. Larsen said the reason the document was brought before the Council was that they were left with a
choice which was either to put the matter in the hands of a third party, in this case the court, as far as
what would be the resolution of the odor problem or trying to come up with a resolution that the city can
have confidence in. It was very important that the neighborhood had some involvement. There is a body
of residents who have committed a significant amount of time and effort in this matter and have hired
attorney Mike Unger. These residents have been involved in the process of communicating on a regular
basis with the experts and have also been involved in the negotiations. This group also recommends
adoption of the Stipulation and Order.
Rather than leave this matter in the hands of Judge Lindman and not know what he's going to do, Larsen
said they have certainty with the Stipulation and Order and the confidence of the experts. It is due to
their expertise that it was uncovered that ethanol facilities have been emitting volatile organic
compounds and other emission levels far in excess of what the EPA and the MPCA had ever presumed
in the past which lead to the enforcement action within Region 5 and within the State of Minnesota as
far as additional penalties. These experts have brought about changes in the study and analysis of how
the USEPA and the MPCA is dealing with the ethanol facilities now and in the future and also looking
at developing a lot of the methodology and criteria as contained within the document.
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The experts the City of St. Paul has hired have been frontiers and ground breakers throughout this whole
process and those measures have been to the benefit of not only the residents of the city but also the
state and the nation, Larsen said. The document is a very constructive step toward the goal of odor
elimination within and for that neighborhood.
Councilmember Blakey asked if the city was under any time line to accept or reject the document. Mr.
Larsen responded that the sooner the document can be adopted the sooner it can be enforced. Any party
can back out at any time before it's actually signed and executed and ask the court to issue a decision.
Judge Lindman does have to issue a decision, an extension has been given but Mr. Larsen has to
communicate with the opposing counsel to Judge Lindman if there would be a need for a further
extension and GSE's attorney would have to agree to any such request.
Mike Unger, attorney for the West Seventh Street neighborhood, appeared. He said his clients and many
of the people in the neighborhood appreciate that this lawsuit was commenced and conducted in the
excellent way it was and he extended appreciation to the city on their behalf for its efforts and support.
Mr. Unger said his clients support the stipulation. They have come to that view in a way that is
committed but not exactly enthusiastic because what they would have liked to see achieved is a much
quicker and more definitive elimination of the nuisance problem. However, they did not intervene in the
current odor lawsuit because the city did an excellent job. Eric Larsen proved the case that the ethanol
plant created a public nuisance with the odor and anyone who sat in on the trial and saw the evidence
would be convinced of that. Mr. Larsen had the better experts and he had all the witnesses in support of
his central contention. In spite of all the bluster that has been heard over the years from the ethanol
plant's lawyers denying that there was an odor problem, Mr. Unger said it was interesting to note that
not a single person could be called as a witness from the neighborhood to support the ethanol plant on
the central issue of whether the odor problem existed.
Mr. Unger said his clients lack confidence in the commitment of Judge Lindman to take definitive,
effective, and prompt action. The take on both on sides is that the Stipulation and Order is a very
substantive accomplishment in terms of addressing the odor problem.
Councilmember Blakey asked if there would be a vote from the community on the agreement at the
meeting on September 18. Mr. Unger responded that was not planned but he expected that people will
express their opinion if they have the opportunity. The meeting is largely designed to give the residents
an opportunity to have their questions answered
Tom Fabel, attorney for Gopher State Ethanol, appeared. He said GSE has always wanted to be a good
neighbor and has deeply regretted the fact that there have been unanticipated problems from the
generation of ethanol. The company has spent millions of dollars in efforts to remediate the problems
and there has been substantial progress over the last 2 -1/2 years in dealing with the situation. He
acknowledged that the experts hired by the city were the ones who came up with the solution and there
is no question that as the agreement is implemented, the circumstances will become even better than
they are at this time. The company and the experts are confident that increasingly there will not be a
basis for a grievance based upon the operation of the company. GSE is prepared to embrace the
agreement and go forward with its commitments.
Councilmember Coleman said it's important that people have a chance to digest the contents of the
document and be involved in the public discussion on September 18. The public also can contact the
Council with their thoughts on this matter.
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Councilmember Coleman said he has concerns with the document. He is concerned that there are no
admissions or findings with respect to the history of nuisance, that there is no clear deadline or clear
standard that the mandates must be completed by a certain date or GSE will be shut down or fined.
Councilmember Coleman moved a one week layover for final action on a proposed settlement.
Laid over to September 24 Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
ORDINANCES
NOTE: AN ORDINANCE IS A CITY LA W ENACTED BY THE CITY CO UNCIL. IT IS READ AT FO UR
SEPARATE COUNCIL MEETINGS AND BECOMES EFFECTIVE AFTER PASSAGE BY THE
COUNCIL AND 30 DAYS AFTER PUBLICATION IN THE SAINT PAUL LEGAL LEDGER.
18. Final Adoption - 03 -778 - An ordinance memorializing City Council action taken July 23, 2003,
amending Chapter 60 of the Saint Paul Legislative Code pertaining to zoning for the City of Saint and
the zoning maps thereof for Mary Morelli and the East Side Neighborhood Development Company to
rezone property at 565 and 573 Payne Avenue.
Councilmember Lantry moved approval.
Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
19. Second Reading - 03 -832 - An ordinance amending interim ordinance Council File 01 -648, adopted
November 20, 2000, which imposed a moratorium on the use of property in the area presently under
study for the Arcade Street Area Study pending completion of the study and any possible amendments
to the City's Comprehensive Plan or Zoning Ordinance deemed necessary to give effect to the study.
(Dollar Tree Store)
Laid over to September 24 for Third Reading /Public Hearing
Recalled Item
Councilmember Coleman moved to recall the following resolution and lay over one week.
Resolution - 03 -675 - Memorializing City Council action taken January 8, 2003, upholding a decision of
the TISH Board concerning adverse action against the TISH license held by Ronald Staeheli. (Laid over
from August 6)
Recalled and laid over to September 24 Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
Suspension Item
Councilmember Blakey moved suspension and approval of the following resolution:
Resolution 03 -848 - Honoring former Governor Al Qui on his 80th birthday and proclaiming September
18, 2003, as Albert H. Quie Day in the City of Saint Paul.
Adopted Yeas - 6 Nays - 0
Councilmember Blakey moved to adjourn the meting.
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ADJOURNED AT 4:15 P.M.
Daniel Bostrom, Council President
ATTEST:
Minutes approved by Council
Mary Erickson September 24, 2003
Assistant Council Secretary
mce
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