CorrespondenceMemo to Todd Gerhardt dated September 4, 2002 regarding Kelly Dock update.
Fire Department report for August 12-August 25, 2002.
Carver County Elected Leadership Program Dates and Topics
Editorial regarding Dutcher's audit of Broo~yn Park
L~tter from Hennepin Co. Department of Transit & Community Works.
Administration
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Building Inspections
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Web Site
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MEMORANDUM
TO:
CC:
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJ:
Todd Gerhardt, City Manager
Kate Aanenson, Planning Director
Soren Mattick, Campbell Knutson
Jason Angell, Planner I
Lori Haak, Water Resources Coordinator
September 4, 2002
Kelly Dock Update
The purpose of this memo is to bring City Council up to
date on a dock issue on Lotus Lake. Council may be
receiving calls from residents and this information should
assist in answering any questions residents may have.
Background
· On April 16, 2002, staff received a complaint from a resident on Lotus
Lake that a dock had been erected on the property located just east of
North Lotus Lake Park (Outlot B, Lotus Lake Estates).
Staff contacted a representative of the developer of Lotus Lake
Estates. He indicated that he was not aware of any land transactions
with regard to Outlot B, Lotus Lake Estates.
· On June 4, 2002, staff sent a letter to Mr. Kenton Kelly (6539 Gray
Fox Curve) regarding the installation of a dock from his property into
Lotus Lake.
· Staff met with Kenton & Julia Kelly to discuss the nature of the
complaint. Mr. Kelly informed staff that he purchased the north half
of Outlot B, Lotus Lake Estates.
After extensive research through the City files and several trips to
Carver County, staff reviewed the information but could not determine
whether the City had approved the subdivision of Outlot B of Lotus
Lake Estates.
· Staff prepared a timeline of all documentation from City and County
files. This timeline was sent over to the City Attorney's office for
their review and assistance.
· On August 7, 2002, staff received a letter from Soren Mattick
(Campbell Knutson) stating his findings based on the documentation
that was provided to him.
' 00',',~[O'~',P ~hr ,~'inn~ businesses. ,,,,,~, ~ ..,
On August 8, 2002, staff sent a letter to the Kelly's giving them ten
(10) days to remove the dock.
The Kelly's legal advisor contacted Soren Mattick requesting a time
extension so that he would have time to review the documentation and
to allow for a meeting to discuss issues. A time extension was granted
until August 31, 2002.
On August 26, 2002, staff met with the Kelly's and their legal advisor
to allow them to ask questions and present any new information.
c> The Kelly's provided staff with documentation that showed
that the City of Chanhassen approved an administrative
subdivision in 1986.
o The Kelly's also provided staff with tax documentation to
demonstrate they purchased the property through tax forfeiture
in 1997.
An addition time extension was granted until September 30, 2002, to
allow staff to review the newly presented information.
Soren Mattick contacted staff on September 3, 2002, and stated that
the new documentation confirms that the Kelly's do own the property.
Staff discussed Mr. Mattick's findings and determined that both
portions of the outlot would meet the requirements to allow both the
homeowners association and the Kelly's to maintain their docks. Staff
also concluded that they would recognize the subdivision and allow for
the dock to remain on the property as long as the following conditions
are met:
· The Kelly's would have to combine the two lots into
one individual lot because under Sec. 20-904 no
accessory structure (including a dock) may be located
on any parcel of land under three (3) acres without a
principal structure. The comb.ination of two lots is
allowed through the administrative subdivision process.
· Lotus Lake Estates Homeowners Association will be
required to apply for an amendment to the Conditional
Use Permit. The amendment of a CLIP requires
Council action.
If you have any questions, or desire more information, please feel free to
contact either Jason (ext. 1132) or Lori (ext. 1135).
CHANHASSEN FIRE DEPARTMENT
FIRE/RESCUE
WEEK OF AUGUST 12- AUGUST 25. 2002
Moll
Mol
Mol
Tues
Tues
Tues
Tues
Weds
Thurs
Thurs
Thurs
Fri
Fri
Fri
Sat
Skill
Sun
MOl
Mol
Mol
MOl
Tues
Tues
Weds
Weds
Thurs
Fri
Fri
Sat
Sun
Sun
Aug 12 5'53 PM
Aug 12 8'48 PM
Aug.12 10'45 PM
Aug 13 6:16 AM
Aug lJ 7:10AM
Aug 13 1:21 PM
Aug 13 4:40 PM
Aug 14 8:14 AM
Aug 15 10:24 AM
Aug 15 2:28 PM
Aug 15 9:21 PM
Aug 16 4:44 PM
Aug 166:t6PM
Aug 16 7:42 PM
Aug 16 t0'03 PM
Aug t7 1:25 AM
Aug 18 9:54 AM
Aug 18 3:25 PM
Aug 19 5:55 AM
,Aug 19 5:56 AM
Aug 19 10:35 AM
Aug 19 10:54 AM
2.00 PM
Auo 20 '""
Aug 20 3:15 PM
Aug21 3'59AM
Aug 21 5:50 PM
Aug 22 1'03 PM
Aug 23 I 1:45 AM
Aug 23 5'49 PM
Aug 24 II'ITPM
Aug 25 12:25 PM
,Aug 25 6:40 PM
Highway 101 & Highway 212
Lake Ann
Lakeviexv Road East
High.way 5 & Highway 41
Highway 5 & Powers Blvd
Monk Court
Quail Crossing
Redwing Lan e
Coulter Boulevard
Monk Court
Highway 5 & Crimson Bay Rd
Lake Drive East
Chan View
Highway 5 & Poxvers Blvd
Chanhassen Road
Conestoga Lane
Highway 101 ch Higtnway 212
Frontier Cou~t
,Arboretum Circle
Laredo Drive
Highxvay 5 ch Highway 41
Teton Lane
Canyon Curve
Lake Susan Hills Drive
Gunflint Trail
Market Boulevard
Audubon Road
Park Road
Cardinal Road
Highway 7 & Fir'Tree Ave
Skate Park
Prairie Flower Drive
Semi in ditch
Medical - head injury
Medical - person fell
Cai' accident with injuries
Car accident with injuries
Gas line break
Medical - trouble breathing
Medical - possible heart attack
Medical - seizures
Gas line leak
Cai' accident with injuries
Medical- head injury
Medical- unknown problem
Cai' accident with injuries
Car accident '~vth injuries, unfounded
Lio_htnin~ strike
Medical- unkno',vn problem
Medical- unknoxvn problem
Cut gas line
Medical - unresponsive person
Cai' accident witln injuries
Medical- possible seizures
Medical - broken leg
Medical - possible heart attack
Fire alarm - false alan-n: no fire
Medical- person fell
Fire alarrn- false alamo, no fire
Medical- unknown problem
Medical - injury from a fall
Car accident with injuries
Medical- head injury
Hot air balloon down, unfounded
UXIVERSITY OF MINNE$OT.&
Extension
'~ OF CHAr'~^SSEN
Carver County Elected Officials
Leadership Program
Fall 2002
August 27, 2002
TO:
FROM:
Scott Botcher, City Manager ,4~~ot~¢35
Nancy Lenhart, Regional Extension Educatord['~V'~'~~
RE: Carver County Elected Leadership Program Dates and Topics
We are in the process of finalizing our Fall Elected Leadership Sessions and would like
to make you aware of Upcoming dates and topics. They are as follows:
Wednesday~ September 25 - "Creating Senior Friendly Communities"
Planning Ideas and Policy Implications for Local Governments (Presented with the
Carver County Health Partnership Senior Commission)
Wednesday~ October 30 - "Tips, Tools and Techniques for Difficult Decisions
Wednesday~ November 13-"Leadership: What Have We Learned/Where Are W6 Going?"
The sessions will be held from 7:00-900 p.m. at the Ridgeview Medical Center
Auditorium in Waconia.
We appreciate your support of this program and your elected leaders. We will continue
session announcements and invite members of your elected boards to attend individual
sessions of interest even though they may not be registered for the entire program series.
If you have any questions or would like copies of the presentation and/or information
from the sessions, feel free to give me a call at 952/442-4496.
S:\Word~LEAD~cityschoolleadlett802.doc
[ne Kersten: Dut
of Brooklyn Park looks like grandstanding Page 1 of 3
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Katherine Kersten' Dutcher's audit of Brooklyn Park
looks like grandstanding
Katherine Kersten
KER28
Published Aug 28, 2002
In July, State Auditor Judi Dutcher released a 104-page report on her
office's special investigative audit of Brooklyn Park. Dutcher charged
Brooklyn Park officials with numerous deeds she deemed contrary to
Minnesota law. She launched the report with a splashy press release, and
gave it top billing on the State Auditor's Web site
(http://x~,~.x,~v.osa.state,mn.us).Then her office forwarded the report to city
and county attorneys to determine whether Brooklyn Park employees'
conduct warrants criminal prosecution.
Shocking stuff. Brooklyn Park officials must have had their hands in the
till, right? Not at all. Dutcher's audit, which took nearly a year, turned up
the folloxving sorts of revelations: City officials sent get well cards to
employees who were ill. Tut, tut! The city helped to pay the costs of an
employee shape-up event. Horrors! One city agency even sponsored a
golf event, and invited businesspeople who were thinking of relocating
to Brooklyn Park. Shameful!
Minnesota law requires that city' expenditures serve a public purpose,
and that cities have authority to make those expenditures. Dutcher takes
a narrow -- even tortured -- view of what this means. According to
Dutcher, only strictly necessary expenditures are permissible. Thus, in
her view, it's not necessary for a city to send a sympathy card to an
employee whose husband has died. (The card amounts to an
impermissible gift.) Likewise, it's not necessary for a city to provide a
cake at a longtime employee's retirement party. In Dutcher's ideal city,
Ebenezer Scrooge would be right at home.
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Dutcher rarely cites laws to justify her conclusions. Instead, she relies on
a handful of attorney general opinions, some many decades old. But
these opinions are merely advisory, and lack the force of law. At the
same time, Dutcher's analysis ignores the vital legal principle of local
control. In Minnesota, city councils -- the people's elected
representatives -- have primary responsibility for determining what
constitutes a public purpose in their municipality. (Obviously, councils
must use common sense here.) Thus, a council can decide that sympathy
cards and retirement cakes serve a public purpose, because they build
employee morale and improve employee retention. (For a detailed
analysis of the audit's errors of law and fact, see Brooklyn Park city
e e
f e C e e o g C e o e
- _
Katherine Kersten: Dutcher's audit of Brooklyn Park looks like grandstanding
Page 2 of 3
attorney's responses at http://www, brooklvnpark.ora.)
The Brooklyn Park audit is the latest example of a troubling
phenomenon. In Minnesota, constitutional offices like those of the State
Auditor (OSA) and the Attorney General (OAG) have traditionally
performed much of their highly technical work out of the public eye. Yet
these offices confer far-reaching powers on their holders. The OSA, for
example, oversees expenditures of about 4,300 units of local
government, ranging from educational districts to fire relief association
funds. Moreover, both the state auditor and the attorney general have
extraordinary investigative powers.
This combination of (relative) obscurity plus power can lead to
considerable political grandstanding. For both the state auditor and the
attorney general can choose to use their powers in ways that are
calculated to grab voters' attention. They can portray themselves as
taxpayers' watchdogs or zealous consumer advocates, and launch
investigations that reinforce this image. Then they can use publicly
funded press releases and Web sites to promote their achievements to the
public. All this -- if done successfully -- can enhance their prospects for
higher office.
But when politicians use their offices for self-promotion, they are likely
to fall prey to double standards. Here's an example. Dutcher's audit
report forbids Brooklyn Park to provide a cake at an employee's
retirement reception, or to cover the costs of the employee's spouse at
such a reception. (Remember? These are unnecessary expenses, and thus
impermissible gifts.) Yet like a number of other state officials, Dutcher
herself gets public funds -- $1,500 a year -- to do precisely these things
for her own employees. Indeed, state guidelines describe expenses like
this as necessary to the state auditor's assigned duties and
responsibilities.
In Dutcher's case, double standards go beyond this. In the BrOoklyn Park
audit, she takes the stance of a scrupulous enforcer of the law --
punctilious about even the smallest details. But in her own campaigns,
Dutcher has been guilty of lapses that went far beyond Brooklyn Park's
foibles.
In 1998, the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board
ruled that Dutcher had taken an illegal $60,000 loan from her father in
her campaign that year. (By law, such loans cannot exceed $500.)
During the investigation, it became clear that this was Dutcher's second
violation :- in 1994, she had taken a similar loan. The board also found
that Dutcher had been lax in itemizing her 1998 campaign expenses. But
you won't find this in a publicly funded press release or Web site.
-- Katherine Kersten is a senior fellow of the Center of the American
Experiment itt Minneapolis.
f e
c e
e g g c e g e e e
RECEIVED
AUG 1 2002
Hennepin County Department of Transit & Community Works CITY OF CHAN
_
417 North Fifth Street, Suite 320 612-348-9260, Phone
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401-1362 612-348-9710, Fax
www. co.hennepin.m ri.us
August 20, 2002
Mayor Linda Jansen
City of Chanhassen
7700 Market Boulevard
PO 147
Chanhassen, MN $S317
Dear Mayor Jansen,
This office has submitted its Joint Cooperation Agreement to the Minnesota State Office of
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), an agreement intended to
qualify Hem~epin County as an Urban County for purposes of receiving Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME funds. A review of the material by HUD
le2al staff noted the absence of documentation that the city of Chanhassen has been notified
that it no longer qualified as a participant in the Urban County. This letter is intended to
remedy that omission.
Census data from 1970 tt~rough 1999 indicated that there were Chantmssen residents living
within Hennepin County, qualifying Chm~hassen as what I-IUD defines as a "split place",
i.e., a city with portions of its population in two counties. There were five cities that
qualified as split places in Hem~epin County: Chanhassen, Dayton, I-Ianover, Rockford and
St. Anthony.
Data from the 2000 Census revealed that Chanhassen would not qualify as a split place
because there were no longer any residents living in Hennepin County. (Because these data
were not available until after Chanhassen had already signed the 2000-2002` Joint
Cooperation Agreement, the city could remain a participant for the duration of that
agreement.) The fact that the city no longer qualifies as a split place serves to terminate the
agreement between the city and county as of the completion of the 2000-2002 agreement
term, September 30, 2,002. Unfortunately, this office did not officially notify the city of this
termination. I apologize for this oversight.
Please note that the above situation makes it possible for Chanhassen to apply directly for
I4-UT) Community Development Block Grant funds tl'u'ough the State. This option was not
4.'; Em;ol D~.):~ortur, ir., Emoio,_'er
Recycled Paper
Mayor Linda Jansen
August 20, 2002
Page 2
possible while Chanhassen was a participant in the Urban County. More information on this
option is available by contacting Louis Jambois at 651/297-.3172.
This office appreciates the participation of Chanhassen in Hennepin County's Urban County
Community Development Block Grant Program and we believe both parties have benefited
from this association. I wish to express my personal appreciation for the cooperation and
professionalism of your staff during this period, particularly Kate Aanenson and Robert
Generous.
If you have any questions about any the above, please feel free to contact me at 612/348-
601 ~
D.
Principal Planning Analyst
CC:
Kate Aanenson
Robert Generous