CC 2017 10 23
CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
OCTOBER 23, 2017
Mayor Laufenburger called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm. The meeting was opened with
the Pledge to the Flag.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Laufenburger, Councilwoman Tjornhom,
Councilman McDonald, Councilwoman Ryan, and Councilman Campion
STAFF PRESENT: Kate Aanenson, Paul Oehme, Todd Hoffman, Greg Sticha and Roger
Knutson
PUBLIC PRESENT:
Nicole Nejezchleba 2851 North Manor Road
Randy & Lita Cantin 6694 Nez Perce
Karen & Trevor Klinsing 8090 Hidden Court
Scott and Nathan Jesse 8198 Stone Creek Drive
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Tim Mulcrone 7365 154 Street West, Prior Lake
Janet Stanzak 724 Lake Point
Frank & Vicki Ernst 840 Cree Drive
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you and I see we have some scouts with us tonight. Nice to have
you with us this evening. Welcome to this council meeting. Those of you that are here in the
chambers as well as those of you watching on Mediacom cable channel 8 or 107.2 at home and
also those watching via the website streaming, livestream that we have. For the record please
note that all the council members are present this evening. City Manager Todd Gerhardt and
Assistant City Manager Chelsea Petersen are attending an ICMA meeting in warm and sunny
San Antonio, Texas so, and Mr. Gerhardt you may even be watching tonight. Nice to see you.
Let me first begin with, I have a series of public announcements that I would like to make.
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS:
PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION TO PLANNING
COMMISSIONER MARYAM YUSUF.
Mayor Laufenburger: First of all I would like to present a Certificate of Appreciation to Maryam
Yusuf. Maryam are you here? Would you join me please? Maryam was appointed to the
Planning Commission on April 1, 2013 and she served until August 25, 2017. Maryam has
brought a unique perspective to the Planning Commission and her passion for the city was
evident in the decisions that she made. While serving on the Planning Commission Maryam
continued her education by adding a second masters degree from the University of Chicago
Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
while working and raising a young family. During her tenure on Planning Commission a number
of projects were accomplished including the Great Plains Center, the Dakota Retail, Total Wine,
Mission Hills Senior Living, Children’s Learning Adventure, Chick-fil-A, Arbor Glen and of
course the ongoing development of Avienda. Maryam on behalf of the community and more
importantly on behalf of the City Council I’m pleased to present you this Certificate of
Appreciation. We’re going to get a picture of this right here between us. Now you have a new
member of your family don’t you?
Maryam Yusuf: I do. I have a baby girl 2 weeks old.
Mayor Laufenburger: Oh my, my. The rest of her family is here. Well Maryam thank you very
much for your service and we wish you the very best.
INVITATION TO HALLOWEEN PARTY, OCTOBER 28.
Mayor Laufenburger: Next item on our public announcement is, I have an invitation to a
Halloween Party. The City of Chanhassen with the support of our local community event
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sponsors is proud to announce this the fourth and final community event in 2017. Our 33
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Annual Halloween Party. Join us on Saturday, October 28 for an evening of fun. Children 13
and under are invited to participate in a wide variety of activities including trick or treating, live
music from Will Hale and the Tadpole Parade. A hit amongst the community. There’ll be
games, hayrides and much more. I invite all area residents, their families and friends to join me
at the Chanhassen Recreation Center from 5:30 to 7:30. That’s Friday. Excuse me, that’s on
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Saturday, October 28 but pre-registration deadline is Friday, October 27 and you can do that
either at City Hall or at the Chanhassen Recreation Center. The fee is $5 per child. Get this,
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adults are free. And that $5 covers all activities so I encourage you to come out to our 33
Annual Halloween Party. My oh my. How time flies Mr. Hoffman, right?
PROCLAMATION DECLARING OCTOBER 24 WORLD POLIO DAY.
Mayor Laufenburger: Lastly I want to read a proclamation, and following this proclamation I’m
going to invite Janet Stanzak to address the council if you don’t mind so you should be thinking
about that and start getting nervous right now Janet okay? Okay.
Janet Stanzak: Can I bring a couple of my friends…?
Mayor Laufenburger: You certainly can do that as well. This is the proclamation, and I have a
copy of that proclamation that I will present to Rotary as well. Whereas, Rotary International
founded on February 23, 1905 in Chicago, Illinois, USA is the world’s first and one of the largest
non-profit service organizations, and Whereas, there are over 1.2 million Rotary Club members
comprised of professional and business leaders in over 35,000 clubs in 200 countries and
geographic areas, and Whereas, the Rotary motto “Service Above Self” inspires members to
provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards and promote good will and peace
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
in the world, and Whereas, Rotary in 1985, 32 years ago, in 1985 Rotary launched Polio Plus and
spearheaded the global eradication initiative which today includes the World Health
Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, and the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation to immunize the children of the world against polio, and Whereas,
polio cases have dropped by 99.9 percent since 1988 and the world stands on the threshold of
eradicating the disease, and Whereas, to date Rotary has contributed more than $1.7 billion
dollars and countless volunteer hours to the protection of more than 2 billion children in 122
countries, and Whereas, Rotary is currently working to raise an additional $150 million, which if
realized will be tripled by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a total of up to $450 million
over the next 3 years, and Whereas, these efforts are providing much needed operational support,
medical personnel, laboratory equipment and educational materials for health workers and
parents, and Whereas, in addition Rotary has played a major role in decisions by donor
governments to contribute more than $8 billion dollars to the effort. Now Therefore, I, Denny
Laufenburger, Mayor of the City of Chanhassen of the State of Minnesota do hereby proclaim
October 24, 2017, that’s tomorrow, as World Polio Day in Chanhassen and I encourage all
citizens to join myself and Rotary International in the fight for a polio free world. Proclamation
concluded. Janet would you like to come up here? And some of your friends if you’d like.
Janet Stanzak: We have several Rotarians in the room. So first of all thank you Mayor
Laufenburger for the awesome proclamation. You know it’s amazing all over the world we’re
celebrating World Polio Day as you noted in 200 and some countries.
Mayor Laufenburger: 220 I think is what it said.
Janet Stanzak: And here in Chanhassen we have around 70 Rotarians represented with the,
Haley Pemrick is the President.
Mayor Laufenburger: Haley, nice to see you.
Janet Stanzak: Of the evening Rotary Club and Tim Mulcrone is our 6 year, this is his sixth year
as our District Polio Chair and he’s going to be leading an awesome forum tomorrow evening
that if we could we’d like to just share what that looks like.
Mayor Laufenburger: Sure please do. Will that be open to the public?
Janet Stanzak: Yes.
Tim Mulcrone: Yes it is, yeah. Tomorrow so 6:30 to 8:00 at the American Legion and we’re
going to have two authors of books about polio and then we have 2 polio survivors and we’re
just going to have an open forum and just keep the energy going til we’re a completely polio free
world.
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
Mayor Laufenburger: I understand Tim you shared with me recently, how many cases, how
many recorded case remain in the world of polio?
Tim Mulcrone: To give it a little context. In 1985 there were 387,000 cases in 125 countries.
This year, today we have 11 cases this year in 2 countries.
Mayor Laufenburger: Isn’t that amazing?
Janet Stanzak: And what do we say?
Tim Mulcrone: We’re this close.
Mayor Laufenburger: Everybody together. We’re this close. So this forum tomorrow night is at
the American Legion. Begins at 6:30 to 8:00.
Tim Mulcrone: Right.
Mayor Laufenburger: It will be open to the public. Is there a charge?
Tim Mulcrone: No, it’s free and we’ve got some appetizers for them and a cash bar.
Mayor Laufenburger: Fantastic. Welcome.
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Janet Stanzak: I’ve got one more thing. This is a celebration this year as of November 12 of 30
years of Rotary in Chanhassen and Haley and I, as Presidents of our club, our combined clubs,
we both have charter members that go back 30 years in celebrating Rotary in this community and
we’re so grateful to the City for our relationship.
Mayor Laufenburger: Well Rotary Club, not only Rotary Club of Chanhassen, the morning club
but also the evening club represents service to this community which I believe contributes to the
goodness that makes Chanhassen the community it is so on behalf of the community, here’s your
proclamation and oh, Ann wants to get a picture here.
Janet Stanzak: Thank you all.
Mayor Laufenburger: So let’s hear it for Rotary. Thanks Janet.
Janet Stanzak: Thanks Denny.
Mayor Laufenburger: Let’s see, I got so excited about those announcements I forgot to ask
about our agenda. Are there any modifications to the agenda tonight council? If not we will
proceed with the agenda as printed.
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
CONSENT AGENDA: Councilman McDonald moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom
seconded to approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City Manager’s
recommendations:
1. Approve City Council Minutes dated October 9, 2017
2. Receive Planning Commission Minutes dated October 3, 2017
3. Receive Park and Recreation Commission Minutes dated September 26, 2017
4. Approve Termination of Joint Agreement with the City of Shorewood for the Operation
and Maintenance of Cathcart Park.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
VISITOR PRESENTATIONS.
Mayor Laufenburger: Is there anybody that would like to, actually we have one scheduled
visitor presentation this evening. Mr. Rick Ford with District 112 Foundation wants to make a
presentation. Welcome Mr. Ford.
Rick Ford: Thank you Mayor.
Mayor Laufenburger: Just state your name and address please if you wouldn’t.
Rick Ford: Rick Ford and I’m living in Minneapolis now but I am now the Advancement
Director for the Eastern Carver County Schools and the Executive Director of the District 112
Foundation.
Mayor Laufenburger: Welcome.
Rick Ford: Also I should mention I’m a Rotarian and I’ve been a Rotarian with the Chaska, I’m
sorry. The Chaska Rotary for 24 years.
Mayor Laufenburger: You don’t have to apologize.
Rick Ford: And a past president.
Mayor Laufenburger: You don’t have to apologize for being part of Chaska. We welcome
Chaska people to our community all the time.
Rick Ford: We appreciate that. I drive through your community every day.
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
Mayor Laufenburger: You should stop more often.
Rick Ford: The District 112 Foundation is a non-profit organization, separate from the school
district with an independent Board of Directors who reside in all 4 cities including Chanhassen
within the district. Now is there anyone in this room who attended District 112? Went to public
schools.
Mayor Laufenburger: That’d be Chanhassen, Chaska, Victoria, or Carver right?
Rick Ford: Chanhassen, Chaska, Victoria, Carver.
Mayor Laufenburger: Show of hands anybody?
Rick Ford: Show of hands anyone that went? Okay. How about your kids? Any of your kids
go?
Audience: Preschool.
Rick Ford: Preschool counts. Okay. Any grandchildren? Any great, no, no, no, I won’t go
there. Alright.
Mayor Laufenburger: That’s a pretty personal question.
Rick Ford: Now did you know the first graduating class from Chaska High School was 1906 so
why is this significant? Because our public school district 112 is 112 years old. So for the first
time in the district’s 112 years the Foundation will sponsor a charitable direct mail giving
campaign. When you get your mail the second week of November it will be the first time in 112
years that every household in Victoria, Carver, Chaska and Chanhassen will have received a
direct mail request from the District 112 Foundation to support our students. We have a lot of
time to make up for don’t you think? So the Foundation’s goals include supporting student
activities, reducing student economic insecurities, building an alumni association and creating an
endowment fund. I went before the Chaska council last week and I brought Bob Roepke with
me. Bob Roepke had been mayor for eons. Okay long, long time and he’s now heading up the
alumni association so I said Bob, this is the best alumni association we’ve had in 112 years and
Bob goes, it’s the only alumni association we’ve had in 112 years. So if you look at, there were
cards that were part of your packet and you’ll see that current gifts are helping students in food,
fees, supplies, and robotics. The other things that the foundation has been known for is the
Teacher of the Year and also teacher grants so grants that go to teachers who have innovative
programs. If you look at the public school foundations surrounding the district, so Minnetonka
being one of them. You’ll see that they’re raising somewhere between $100,000 and $800,000
per year. So I have one request of you, $112. If you’re financially able please make a gift of
$112 this November to the District 112 Foundation. It’s easy to remember. $112 for 112 so
watch your mailboxes this November for more information on how to support the District 112
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
Foundation. This is what you’re going to get in the mail so when you pull your mail out, this is
what’s going to come pulling. You’ll pull that out. It’s a newsletter. It’s a 4 page newsletter. It
talks about Teacher of the Year. It talks about teacher grants. All of the various school buildings
where teacher grants have been given. We have the different funding’s so we have the food. We
have backpacks that we give to children who do not have food for the weekend and on Friday
they can pick up their backpack. Go home with that full of food. We then have student
opportunities where we have fees. We will pay for fees. We’ll pay for travel. For kids who are
involved in different competitions so it could be speech, debate, whatever and we’ve had it
where they’ve been a part of the team. They now are looking to move onto the next level and
they don’t have the fees or the money to pay for travel and funding of their housing so we will
come with those monies. Robotics. Big thing these days. Chanhassen has their own robotics
group. Chaska has their robotics. There was one individual who started. He started to fund all
of the robotics competitions for Chanhassen and Chaska so that they could go to the
competitions and participate and now we’re picking up that as well. And then building
tomorrows schools. Staples is phenomenal. They’re helping us to create new, let me ask a
question. When was the last time you guys went to the school? High school. Chanhassen. Any
of the elementary or the middle schools. I walked in the other day and I was going on a tour
because they have personalized learning and the door opens up and there’s all this noise and I’m
thinking this doesn’t sound like school to me. I remember when I went to school you had rows
of chairs. You had tables. The teacher was in front and when the teacher said be quiet
everything quieted down. Well you walk in now and it’s like there’s noise all over the place.
You’re thinking how can education, how can learning be going on now? It’s changed. It’s
completely changed how education is working. The kids now are controlling how, the types of
classes that they have. They work with their teachers. They’re moving at a pace so that they can
make sure that they meet all of the demands. All of the needs that are made of them so testing
and everything else but they are now more in control and that’s one of the things that the teachers
were saying that they missed. They missed when they went to personalized learning was to be
able to tell kids to sit down and shut up and they can’t do that anymore. Now the kids are in
control of their destiny if you will so I took tours of Chanhassen. I took a tour of the middle
school and I took a tour of Bluff Creek in Carver. Phenomenal. The kids give the tours so it’s
really great. You guys should check it out if you can. Just go and check that out. It’s really, it’s
a whole different world out there. Anyways so I just want to thank you for your time. Check
your mailboxes the second week of November. $112 for 112. Thank you. Any questions?
Mayor Laufenburger: Happy birthday.
Rick Ford: Thank you much.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you very much Mr. Ford. As I said this is a time for anyone
wishing to address the council on a matter not on the agenda. You may step to the podium and
state your name and your address and make your presentation. Anybody present? Good evening,
your name and your address.
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
Nicole Nejezchleba: Good evening Mr. Mayor. Good evening City Council members, city staff.
My name is Nicole Nejezchleba and I’m at 2851 North Manor Road.
Mayor Laufenburger: You’re still at 2851 North Manor Road right? Okay.
Nicole Nejezchleba: Yeah I think you know it by heart now Mr. Mayor. Today I’m here on a
more individual issue so I didn’t bring it up when I was here on behalf of the neighborhood. I
like to keep things crisp and not comingle things so much. It does have to do with the road
construction. As part of the road construction in front of my house in the ditch there were
several trees that were removed. We have a berm in front of our house and it protected North
Manor Road from Highway 7. Just to refresh everybody’s recollection I’m going to put up a
map. Okay, this isn’t terribly big. I did draw in my property which is right here and North
Manor Road as you can see sort of almost like a frontage road to Highway 7. And on this map
you can see all these little, looks like bushes but they were actually trees. As part of the road
construction the city sort of last minute decided to remove those trees and widen the road. As
Murphy’s Law would have it the road in front of my house is the most narrow so I’m actually the
only house that had trees removed that impacted the house and the look of the house itself.
Here’s a little bit better map in terms of just the tree coverage in the berm. And I’m here today,
I’ve talked to Mr. Steve Ferraro and he’s been kind enough to listen to me about replanting trees
in that ditch area. He said that he would look at the situation once the road construction was
complete to figure out what there would be room for and what could be planted so he’s been
really cooperative in lending me his ear. The reason I want to talk to City Council is because I
feel this is a city safety issue. I’ve lived on this road now since 2005 and as I’ve talked before
when we talked about the surmountable curb and gutter, North Manor Road is used as a
connecting road. Not just for the neighborhood but a lot of people come from Minnewashta
Park. Go into Herman Field Park. Cut across our neighborhood and there’s a bike path right
here that connects going north onto parks and other bike paths so people use North Manor Road
all the time when they bike. Walk with strollers because it connects directly to the bike path. So
the road gets a lot more traffic than one would think for there only being 3 houses on there.
Through the years I’ve seen kids go off the road into the ditch. Being stopped by the trees. I’ve
seen cars slide off the road going into the trees. Being stopped by the trees. I’ve seen the snow
get collected by the trees and not fly into Highway 7. And I’m kind of old school so I printed
out, my husband was laughing. Print out? I’m like yeah, I want to print it out. If the City would
be okay I printed some handouts with pictures.
Mayor Laufenburger: You’re welcomed to bring those and perhaps give them to Mr. Oehme so
that they can be distributed to the council.
Nicole Nejezchleba: So the first picture in the packet that I handed out is a view of my house
which you can barely see because it is covered by trees. Across from Highway 7. So the City
has removed all these trees here and also this big silver maple is gone now as well. So if you
turn the page you will see what it looks like now. And again this big silver maple that is still on
your picture right here, is also gone. As you can see the ditch is bare. There’s no protection for
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
people on North Manor Road as it pertains to Highway 7. The next page is a picture of North
Manor Road when you’re driving west. These trees on the side of the road is what was the
barrier between North Manor Road and Highway 7. After the city cut it, as you can see there’s
absolutely no barrier. The next picture is east facing on North Manor Road. Again you can see
all these trees that provide a nice barrier both visually as well as for safely. After the removal
there’s absolutely no barrier.
Mayor Laufenburger: Is this, I’m looking at Photo number 7. Is this, is that for sale sign, is that
on your property or is that on an adjacent property?
Nicole Nejezchleba: That is on my property, yes.
Mayor Laufenburger: That is on your property, okay. Alright.
Nicole Nejezchleba: We were trying to sell the house this year. No surprise because of the road
construction that’s the only negative feedback we got but no worries we’re moving to
Chanhassen so.
Mayor Laufenburger: You mean from Chanhassen to Chanhassen.
Nicole Nejezchleba: From Chanhassen to Chanhassen, yes. Exactly right. And quite frankly
whether I would be selling the house or living there my argument would be no different, yeah.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay.
Nicole Nejezchleba: And last and final picture is a view from, when you’re standing in the ditch
or when you were standing in the ditch looking at Highway 7 prior to the tree removal to after.
So there’s a few issues that I think are important for the City to consider. Though clearly I have
a vested interest personally because I don’t like how it looks but more importantly for the City is
the safety issue. These trees provided a very important barrier for anyone that used North Manor
Road. Drivers, bikers, walkers, skateboarders, and it’s not there anymore. And as your city
attorney knows people are tremendously litigious especially when it comes to cities so when the
city decided to remove all that brush and have this open area I couldn’t really imagine what
happens when one kid goes off that ditch into Highway 7 and there’s a serious injury or one car
goes off and there’s a serious injury. Mr. Ferraro talked to me and said well maybe a fence
would be appropriate. I don’t believe a fence is as useful as trees because when people see trees
and they don’t see beyond they’re very aware of where the border is and these trees have
stopped, like I said, many a bikers and walkers and skateboarders from going out to Highway 7.
The other issue I have is that because there’s no barrier when the snowplow goes down North
Manor Road, that snow is going to fly. Might not be an issue on most calm days. When we have
a windy day you can have a situation where that snow flies onto a driver on Highway 7 who gets
in an accident who will then sue the city. I’ve also told Mr. Ferraro that I’m willing to donate
trees. I have trees that grow wild in my yard. Maple, ash. I have pine trees. I said I’ll gladly
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
transplant those and plant them in the ditch. And like I said Mr. Ferraro has been really helpful
but I think it’s a much more serious issue than just making the area look pretty and though I
know city staff is really competent nobody knows how much that road is used more than I do
because I’ve lived there day in and day out. I stand for questions.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright is there anything else that you wanted to present this evening?
Nicole Nejezchleba: Nope, I just wanted to put a bug in everybody’s ear as much as I can.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, thank you very much.
Nicole Nejezchleba: Thank you so much.
Mayor Laufenburger: Mr. Oehme, are you familiar with this situation?
Paul Oehme: Mayor, City Council members. I’m aware of the brush that was removed and the
sugar maple also that was removed.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, well I’m not looking for council action on this tonight but I
certainly would like to get a summary perspective from your perspective to the council and
determine whether or not this is something the City Council would like to weigh in or not so
we’re looking for some, I would direct staff to review the situation and see if there’s anything,
any obligation or responsibility the City would have either from a legal standpoint or from even a
good intent standpoint. Could you take that as an action?
Paul Oehme: Absolutely.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright, thank you Mr. Oehme. Any questions from council on that?
You’re okay with that? Okay. Good evening, state your name and address please.
Scott Jesse: Good evening Mr. Mayor and City Council members and city staff. My name is
Scott Jesse. I reside at 8198 Stone Creek Drive here in Chanhassen. I’m the Scoutmaster of the
local boy scout troop. Troop 330. We meet at Chan Elementary every week and I also happen
to be the citizenship in the community merit badge counselor which is the reason that we have a
couple of scouts with us here this evening. They want to witness the proceedings of a city
council meeting. How the process goes. The agenda. How it’s followed and things like that. If
there’s issues that are brought before the City Council how they’re handled so that’s the reason
that we’re here this evening. Just wanted to share that with you and also if you have any
questions you’re welcome to ask them at this time.
Mayor Laufenburger: Is it appropriate for us to be introduced to the scouts that are here this
evening?
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
Scott Jesse: It’s probably most important or best if they did it themselves.
Mayor Laufenburger: That’s what I was thinking so why don’t you invite them up and they can
introduce themselves. Thank you Mr. Jesse. If you’re going to earn a merit badge you’ve got to
do something to earn it. Why don’t you state your name and where you are in school, okay?
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Trevor Klinsing: I’m Trevor Klinsing and I go to the Chan High School in 9 grade.
Mayor Laufenburger: Trevor?
Trevor Klinsing: Yep.
Mayor Laufenburger: Nice to have you here.
Trevor Klinsing: Nice to meet you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Next. Don’t go away. I may have a question for you.
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Nathan Jesse: I’m Nathan Jesse and I go to Chanhassen High School and I’m in 9 grade.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright. So this is, you’re going after is the official title, Nathan I’ll
address this to you first. Is the official title of this merit badge is what?
Nathan Jesse: Citizenship in the Community.
Mayor Laufenburger: Citizenship in the Community. How many merit badges can you earn as a
scout?
Nathan Jesse: 120 I think.
Mayor Laufenburger: And where are you in that spectrum of 120 Nathan?
Nathan Jesse: Ten, give or take.
Scott Jesse: Why don’t you get closer to the microphone.
Mayor Laufenburger: Yeah, yeah. Ten give or take. Wonderful. Wonderful.
Nathan Jesse: I don’t know.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Trevor why don’t you step to the microphone. I have a question
for you. What are the merit badges that you already have?
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
Trevor Klinsing: I have first aid, emergency preparedness, cooking, fire safety, finger printing,
photography, and some other ones I can’t really remember.
Mayor Laufenburger: Good. Alright. How long have you been a scout Trevor?
Trevor Klinsing: Since, you start after fifth grade so you start at the beginning of sixth grade.
Mayor Laufenburger: Very cool. Very cool. Well Trevor and Nathan, we wish you the best of
luck as you complete your journey towards 120 merit badges or however many you need. Best
of luck to you and we hope to see you in front of this council again. Perhaps when you’re going
for an Eagle Scout okay. Alright. Thanks Trevor. Thanks Nathan. Thank you Mr. Jesse.
Scouting is very active in Chanhassen. Is there anybody else who would like to address the
council this evening? State your name and address please.
Frank Ernst: Frank Ernst, E-r-n-s-t. 840 Cree, C-r-e-e Drive. That’s in Chanhassen. At the
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October 9 meeting before visitor presentations were allowed there was a monologue about rules
for visitor presentation. Perhaps for my benefit. If so, thanks for the personal attention. In part
rule 5 states comments of a personal nature directed at an individual either by name or inference
will not be allowed. Interesting to note that was part of the reason I spoke at the last council
meeting and speaking again tonight at this meeting is because during the 9-11-17 meeting a
visitor, a citizen was specifically called out and referred to by name. These actions and words
are documented on the recording of that minute and can be viewed and heard on the video. In
addition at the October 9, 2017 meeting near the end of the meeting comments were made
addressing my comments and my name personally. I was not able to review these comments
because although there are 44 minutes of that meeting recorded, there is a 45 second span of that
recording that only has video. No audio. The comments addressing me were not able to be
heard. I turned my volume to 100 percent and all I have is video. No audio. I asked others to
try. They had the same result. This is the only missing audio in the 44 minute recording.
Coincidence? During that meeting one of our respected, courageous council members had the
courage to ask the same question I do. Do council members have standards or ethics or behavior
they are expected to adhere to? Do they have rules to abide by that citizens can see so they know
what they are getting themselves into when they address this body? Although the answer was a
little longer I will summarize it. I think the answer is, no. The rules are just for visitors. Not for
council members. Although I did find this on the council website. Elected officials and staff are
dedicated to openness, ethics and fiscal responsibility. I recommend council members have a
look for themselves. At one point during discussion it was stated that the person in charge of
running the meeting tries to keep conduct during the meeting appropriate but has no control over
actions or comments outside of the meeting that are not council business. I would like to state
that when you get assaulted with emails from a council member referencing council meeting
activities the person being assaulted may consider that council business. It was also asked of
legal counsel if there’s a process in place to remove entry level politicians from office. Again a
lengthy discussion but I think the answer was simply no. So we do not have a process to remove
a member from the council. Can we still ask a member to step down when we believe they are
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
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no longer qualified to serve? I renew my request from September 25 meeting for a council
member to resign. It is also clear that visitor presentations have rules but there are no rules of
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conduct for council. Again I renew my request from the October 9 meeting. Can the matter be
added to future agenda? Establish rules of proper conduct similar to those mandated to visitors
after they are established post them on the council website and perhaps after doing so make it
required reading for the members. I ask this take place soon.
Mayor Laufenburger: Is there anyone else who would like to address the council this evening?
At this time I will close visitor presentations and move to the next agenda item.
FIRE DEPARTMENT/LAW ENFORCEMENT UPDATE.
Mayor Laufenburger: Chief Johnson, welcome.
Chief Don Johnson: Thank you Mayor, council. Good evening. This is my report for the
statistics of September of 2017. Our staffing remains at 39. Proud to say that we still have our
recruit academy going on in the Southwest Academy and just for your knowledge that includes
Bloomington, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, St. Louis Park, and Hopkins. There’s 36 students
including 7 of our’s that will be in class for nearly 8 months. The other piece that I’d like to
address council with, with that is we’ve got 4 of our fire department instructors on there as well
so not only do we have 7 folks going to school Monday and Wednesday nights but 4 of our own
staff are assisting with that academy. During the month of September we went on 59 calls for
service. 31 of those were EMS calls including 3 motor vehicle accidents with injuries. We did
attend one structure fire response at Pleasant View which was luckily a smaller fire in an
attached garage. Training for the month included fire behavior for training officers in
preparation for the last 2 Monday nights we’ve spent at Scale in Jordan doing live burn exercises
with our firefighters. I attended a 40 hour emergency management course put on by FEMA in
St. Paul, which the interesting thing for that is in Chanhassen we have an emergency operation
center you’re all familiar with in case of emergency here. Most of that course work developed
around the incident command system and the interface with the emergency operations center for
the city. So quite a bit of information and quite a bit of things that I’ve learned that we can, and
how we’ll use our emergency operation center if we have to open that anywhere in the near
future. We filled several requests in September. The Chanhassen football games have always
been a long standing responsibility for us. We enjoy doing it. We filled all of our home games
as well as the homecoming with the fireworks. We had several details including Chapel Hill and
St. Hubert’s and our ladder committee visited 2 trucks vendors and I’m happy to say that we did
choose a vendor to deal with so very soon I hope to be bringing you a spec to review for the
selection of the replacement for Ladder 11. The final piece is we did break up our open house.
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That actually took place on September 11. We had a great turnout. It was in the evening. We
did have our fire prevention week which we finished up last week so 500 students from
Chanhassen Elementary, Bluff Creek Elementary, Chapel Hill and St. Hubert’s visited the fire
station. I’m extremely proud of my staff because it puts on, it’s a lot of folks that are giving up
some time and taking vacation and some of our retirees coming back to make sure that the kids
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
that are visiting the school have a good time so that would conclude my report for this month. I
can stand for questions.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Chief. Council, any questions of Chief Johnson? Nice job.
Chief Don Johnson: Thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you very much. We have with us Lieutenant Kittelson is not with
us this evening so we have Sergeant Jason Breunig with the Carver County Sheriff’s Office here
to present the monthly law enforcement update. Sergeant welcome.
Sergeant Jason Breunig: Thank you. Good evening Mr. Mayor, council members. I have the
monthly law enforcement summary for you. In the month of September we dealt with 40 Group
A crimes, 17 Group B crimes, 415 miscellaneous non-criminal, 392 for total traffic, 16
administrative for a total of 880. That compares to the month of August with 59 Group A
crimes, 20 Group B crimes, 428 miscellaneous non-criminal, 411 traffic, 29 administrative for a
total of 947. 30 individuals were arrested in 23 incidents and charged with 44 crimes. In
comparison in August 57 were arrested in 33 incidents and charged with 81 crimes. There were
80 citations in the month of September. Most of those were for speed, no proof of insurance, and
driving after suspension and driving after revocation. 207 verbal warnings in September. 179 of
those were on traffic stops. For training all of staff attended the in-house training at the sheriff’s
office this month. The training agenda consisted of cultural diversity, preserving electronic
evidence and recreational vehicle enforcement that was presented by a DNR Conservation
Officer. For community relations Lieutenant Kittelson and Agent Amanda Grundeman
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participated in facilitator training at the Minnetonka School District offices on October 5.
Minnetonka School District is implementing a pilot program designed by the FBI Community
Outreach Division for Opioid Awareness. I attended the Act on Alzheimer’s meeting in the
month of October. Lieutenant Kittelson, Sergeant Pufahl and I along with other staff from the
sheriff’s office assisted with traffic control for the Chanhassen homecoming parade on October
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13. Deputies Adam Hastings and Paul Lynch visited the kids at Children’s Learning Adventure
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child care on October 13 as a part of their Neighborhood Helpers program. And then Deputies
Adam Hastings and Paul Lynch will be visiting the Bluff Creek Elementary School on October
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26 to read a book to a class and then discuss the book. Also I would like to offer some
Halloween safety reminders since Halloween is right around the corner. Some of those include
agree on a time when children should return home from Trick or Treating. Young children
should be accompanied by a parent, other adult or older sibling. Go to homes with the front light
on and never enter a home or car for a trick or treat. Go trick or treating with a group and don’t
stray off. Go trick or treating in familiar well lit areas. Be careful when crossing the street and
try to cross at well lit intersections. Stay visible by carrying a flashlight or attaching reflective
tape to costumes or bags. And lastly drivers should be extra cautious and watch for children in
the street, especially in residential neighborhoods. And that concludes my report for this
evening. I’ll stand for questions.
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright, any questions or comments for Sergeant Breunig? Do we have a
curfew in Chanhassen?
Sergeant Jason Breunig: We enforce the county curfew.
Mayor Laufenburger: Which is?
Sergeant Jason Breunig: I would have to look it up Mr. Mayor because it’s broken down by age
group. There is, and it’s also broken out by days of the week so.
Mayor Laufenburger: I’m thinking of Halloween.
Sergeant Jason Breunig: So for Sunday through Thursday there’s a certain set time and then also
for Friday’s and Saturday’s there’s a time. Kind of like I say it’s broken down by 3 different age
groups.
Mayor Laufenburger: Trick or treat responsibly is what we’re looking for right?
Sergeant Jason Breunig: Exactly.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alrighty.
Sergeant Jason Breunig: And we can also be maybe a little bit more lenient on the curfew for
Halloween so.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Thank you Sergeant.
Sergeant Jason Breunig: Thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Appreciate your help.
UPDATE ON WEST WATER TREATMENT PLANT.
Mayor Laufenburger: The next item on our agenda is an update on the west water treatment
plant. I’ve driven by there several times. I thought it’d be worthwhile for the council to get an
update from you Mr. Oehme on how things are progressing.
Paul Oehme: Thank you Mayor, City Council members. This is just a brief update on the
progress we’ve made on the west water treatment plant. As you recall this project was awarded
last year and it’s about an 18 month construction process so long process so we just thought we’d
give you an update on it. Just a little background though on the project itself. The project is
again to treat, remove the iron and manganese that naturally occurs in our water from our water
distribution. This is the source of the iron, of the rusty water calls that we have, especially on the
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
west side of town. The plant is designed at a capacity of 8.64 million gallons per day and is real
similar in process to what we have at the east plant, but we did add a detention tank as well to
make this plant a little more efficient just based upon the chemistry of the water that we have on
the west side of town. The plant will pump both from the low zone and to the high zone so the
high zone is the higher elevated areas within town. Just basically between 41 and Galpin and
north of Highway 5 say so and then this plant can pump the, down to the low zone area which is
the rest of the, most of the rest of the community. And it is designed for the ultimate build out of
the community as well so we’re, we’re not looking at adding any additions to the building in the
future. Since it is in a residential area. So the project kicked off in January of last year with the
removal of about 35,000 cubic yards of soil from the site. Most of the, since then the contractor
has been working on the back wash tank and the filter cells and clear water storage facility.
Pouring those footings and the poured walls. Happy to report we’re almost done with that
process. By the end of November we think that all the big pours, the walls and the structure will
be completed at that time. After that work is completed we’re moving onto the roof. Getting the
building water proofed so we can actually start making, constructing the internal systems in the
plant itself including the electrical, the plumbing, HVAC and those type of things so right now
we are right at about halfway done with the project in terms of the construction cost. We are, we
have picked out the finishes for the exterior of the building and basically the building itself will
be mainly brick. There will be a slab of different type of material that looks like limestone to
kind of break up the brick itself in some of those larger areas. We are looking at a cultured stone
in the gray shown here. We did look at a lighter tan color limestone but the group gravitated
towards more of the darker colors. The selection committee consisted of mainly planning staff,
engineering and then we also did bring in a representative from the Lake Harrison Homeowners
Association as well too and he was kind of the representative for the neighborhood and he helped
also pick out some of the finishes as well.
Mayor Laufenburger: Was that Mr. Klein?
Paul Oehme: It was. So this is just a rendering again of what the building ultimately will look
like. Again we’re still working on the walls and some of the structure of the building. And also
associated with the facility we’ll be extending or constructing a cul-de-sac on the north side of
the property, the water treatment plant property for Manchester Drive as well and then also we’ll
be constructing a trail along the, in the park and along the east side of the water treatment plant
and the parks department is planning to construct the play facility in 2018 as well, after the water
treatment plant is completed and all the restoration is done on the site. The watermain
improvements associated with the project are mostly completed and we did install about, it was
9,200 linear feet of pipe to connect all the west wells in town to the water treatment plant which
is shown here. And then also we had the distribution, we had to put in some distribution main
along Galpin too for the treated water to service the high and low zones so Well number 15’s up
here so we did extend the watermain along Lake Lucy Road out to Whitetail Drive. Whitetail
Ridge Court I should say and then down Galpin and then all the way down to Well number 3 as
well. The fiber optic associated with the plant, about 50 percent of that has been installed at this
time. That’s the communication link that we have for the west water treatment plant and some
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
other facilities as well. That fiber optic was installed along Lake Harrison Drive. The benefit for
installing the fiber optic in through the neighborhood is that actually some of the residents can
hook up to that fiber optic too for high speed internet services so Carver Link and Jaguar
Communications are sponsoring that or heading up that initiative so I think they’ve talked to
most the residents in that area to see if they’re interested in that service. Here’s a photo of, a
drone picture actually. The contractor, Rice Lake has a drone and flies at some of their project
sites randomly and this just happened to be taken last week and this is the process. The progress
to date on the plant so most of the concrete wall, or the poured concrete walls are up. This is
filter cells are shown over here. The detention tank is back here. This is the backwash tank is
kind of shown in the background here. I should say north is to the back of the photo. This is
Galpin Boulevard over here. This will be the office areas and some of the processing areas of
the facility. Just another picture of the facility looking north to the detention tank areas and the
pipe gallery area is here. And then also the filter cells and some of the piping that has already
been installed recently. So with that the schedule moving forward, like I had mentioned. Most
of the concrete pour is going to be completed by November. The brick and stone work we’re
still anticipating that to start this year and most of that should be installed this year, weather
dependent. The interior work, the electrical, the plumbing, HVAC, those type of things, that’s
going to start we anticipate in December and that will ramp up real quickly in January and until
the project’s completed. The Manchester Drive cul-de-sac that I mentioned next to the park on
the north side of the property, that won’t start until September. Grading will take place shortly
thereafter. Restoration obviously will be one of the last things that will take place. Lake
Harrison Road will have to be closed the rest of this year and into next. The contractor is using
Lake Harrison Road as a staging area and we just don’t think it’s a safe environment right now to
open up that road for the public until most of the construction is completed. And then per the
contract, substantial completion is in May and we anticipate the plant to be fully operational end
of June or July so with that, if there’s any questions I’d be more than happy to answer them.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Mr. Oehme. Any questions for Mr. Oehme on this?
Councilmember Ryan, you have one?
Councilwoman Ryan: Just a quick one in terms of the Lake Harrison Road. When was it
scheduled to open? Was it always spring?
Paul Oehme: It was always spring. We had talked to the residents about potentially opening it
up end of this year but with the construction and the staging that is, the contractor requested he
would prefer that the road be closed until next spring just from a safety perspective. Also the
watermain that has to be extended from Galpin to the plant itself has not been put in yet. That
short piece so Lake Harrison Road’s got to be dug up yet for those extensions to be put in yet and
we didn’t want to close the road down and reopen it again so.
Councilwoman Ryan: That makes sense. And one more question.
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
Mayor Laufenburger: Sure. The flooding on Lake Lucy Lane, did that have anything to do with
this project or not?
Paul Oehme: We couldn’t determine it. Actually there’s an old, there was an old farm tile that
drained from the north side of Lake Harrison. The wetland on the north side to the south side
and we jetted that pipe and then televised it and it looked like there’s a rock right where it’s
plugging it so we couldn’t determine if that was the cause of it. It might have had something to
do with it and when we directional bored that pipe we might have moved a rock or two or
something around and caused that old pipe to fail.
Councilwoman Ryan: Okay.
Paul Oehme: So that might have been the cause of it but indirectly.
Councilwoman Ryan: Okay, but it’s since been fixed or restored?
Paul Oehme: Well we’re working on it. We’re going through the permitting process right now
and we hope to have some quotes for you to consider this year yet to get that fixed.
Councilwoman Ryan: Okay, great. Thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Anything else? Mr. Oehme you mentioned that you were going to dig up
Lake Harrison Road to put in this connection from Galpin to the plant. Will there be any other
repairs necessary? I know there’s some heavy equipment and stuff on there. Any other repairs
to that road necessary?
Paul Oehme: Yeah, well I mean with the staging that has gone on there and some of the
equipment that they had to bring in. Some of the road is damaged and some of the curb and
some of the sidewalk is damaged so we’re going to have the contractor repair those areas and
then overlay, or reconstruct some of that road as well so there’ll be some extensive repairs that
will take place this spring and that.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Alright, I appreciate the update. Thank you very much.
PUBLIC HEARING: CERTIFICATION OF DELINQUENT SEWER AND WATER
ACCOUNTS TO THE COUNTY AUDITOR.
Mayor Laufenburger: Mr. Sticha is this your’s?
Greg Sticha: Yep.
Mayor Laufenburger: Welcome.
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
Greg Sticha: Good evening Mayor and council. On an annual basis the City Council considers
certification of delinquent water and sewer accounts to the property taxes for those accounts that
are delinquent. This evening I’m presenting a list of 206 accounts that have a delinquent value
of about $119,000. As it compares to last year, 230 accounts with a total dollar amount of
$130,000. Very similar to last year and consistent with previous years. Each of these properties
has been notified at a minimum of twice of the delinquent balances. In many cases the properties
that we’re talking about that are delinquent on this list have not made either minimal or no
payments on their account for the past year so we’ve done just about all we can to communicate
with the property owners of the delinquent balances. State statute, State statute 444 does allow
for local governments to certify those delinquent accounts to the property taxes of each of the
said properties. So with that I will certainly stand for any questions. Otherwise I ask the City
Council to open the public hearing allowing the public the ability to comment on any of the
accounts in question this evening.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright, in just a moment I’ll open that public hearing but before I do that
is there any questions from council of Mr. Sticha? Alright, at this time I would like to open a
public hearing. Anyone who wishes to address the council on a matter related to the certification
of the delinquent sewer and water accounts, would you please step to the podium. State your
name and address for the record. Alright there being none at this time I’m going to close the
public hearing and bring it back to the council for discussion or action.
Councilwoman Ryan: Mr. Mayor I’ll make a motion please.
Mayor Laufenburger: Councilmember Ryan, go ahead.
Councilwoman Ryan: I’d like to make a motion that the City Council adopts resolution 2017-66
certifying delinquent utility accounts to the county auditor.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright, thank you. Is there a second to that motion?
Councilman Campion: Second.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Mr. Campion. We have a valid motion and a second. Any
discussion?
Resolution #2017-66: Councilwoman Ryan moved, Councilman Campion seconded that
the City Council adopts Resolution 2017-66 Certifying Delinquent Utility Accounts to the
County Auditor. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to
0.
Mayor Laufenburger: That motion carries 5-0. Thank you Mr. Sticha. You’ll report that to the
auditor. You did say that some of these will likely be paid before you record them, is that
correct?
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
Greg Sticha: On a typical year about a third of them will still be paid before we certify in
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December. They do have until November 30 to make the payment to the finance department so
we certainly encourage them to do so.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright, thank you very much Mr. Sticha.
COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS. None.
ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS.
Mayor Laufenburger: Ms. Aanenson, do you have anything this evening?
Kate Aanenson: Yes, thank you Mayor, members of the council. I do have two. Commissioner
McDonald and myself both serve on the Airport Zoning Board. We do have a meeting this
Thursday on that and that’s regarding the Eden Prairie airport. We have some jurisdiction that’s
affected by that so that meeting will take place Thursday. Then I also wanted to remind all our
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residents that on this Friday, October 27 that it’s recycling day for our residents at Carver
County so you get a $20 free recycling so I would encourage anybody that’s interested in
participating that they check the City’s website. Then you can go to the Carver County link to
see what the conditions are. ID and etcetera and then what also you can take to recycle so again
that’s Recycling Day this Friday and $20 worth of fees are waived.
Mayor Laufenburger: And that’s for, is that Carver County wide or is that just Chanhassen?
Kate Aanenson: Chanhassen residents. Chanhassen residents, yeah.
Mayor Laufenburger: So this is Chanhassen residents going to either the Peavey Road Recycling
Center or.
Kate Aanenson: That’s correct.
Mayor Laufenburger: Isn’t there also one out in western county?
Kate Aanenson: Maybe. If you check the website. I think it will tell you which ones you can go
to.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright, okay. So $20 free huh?
Kate Aanenson: $20 for recycling.
Mayor Laufenburger: Wow, free money. Alrighty. Any other administrative presentation?
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Chanhassen City Council – October 23, 2017
Kate Aanenson: That’s all I had.
Mayor Laufenburger: Mr. Knutson, do you have any comment?
Roger Knutson: No Mayor I don’t.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright, thank you.
CORRESPONDENCE DISCUSSION. None.
Mayor Laufenburger: I just wanted to make sure that the citizens are aware, thought I’m told
that CenterPoint Energy will make notification of this in the newspaper of record, CenterPoint
Energy has applied to the Public Utility Commission for an interim rate increase and that will be
effective October 1, 2017. Again that’s CenterPoint Energy. That’s a rate increase that they
have asked for. The City of Chanhassen has nothing to do with that rate increase. Motion to
adjourn? Oh before we do that, council will reconvene in the Fountain Conference Room to
conclude the last item on our work session immediately following the council meeting this
evening.
Councilwoman Ryan moved, Councilman Campion seconded to adjourn the meeting. All
voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. The City Council
meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m.
Submitted by Todd Gerhardt
City Manager
Prepared by Nann Opheim
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