INFORMATION HRSR 05-02-2011fNFORMATfON
Rivers Edge Meeting Minutes April 13, 2011
Meeting was called to order at 2:30PM at Edward Jones Conference Room. Members present: Sandi Yeado
(Edward Jones), Fred McCoy (McCoy's Pub), Jim Rudolph(Bank of Elk River), Wendy Simenson (Kemper
Drug) Stephanie Albin (City of ER Park and Rec), Debbi Rydberg (ER Chamber of Commerce), Annie
Deckert (City of ER Marketing and Business Development Administrator) Tanna Anderson (1St National
Bank)
Treasurer's Report: $2,487.87
Secretary's Report: January Minutes were accepted as written.
Park and Rec Update
The first concert of the season will be on June 2"d at RiversEdge Commons Park. Rubber Soul, the Tribute
will be performed. There will be a tie-die theme and everyone is invited to wear tie-died clothing.
Stephanie brought copies of the magnetic calendar for the Downtown Concert Series to the meeting. Also
brochures for the Fallen Oak SK Bike Race on May 22 at Hillside Park. She also let us know that Pinewood
Golf Course has remodeled its Clubhouse and is open for play. Softball will start on Apri125th and will go
until August. A Second Softball Season will start in August and run until October.
The City of Elk River is purchasing the Parking Lot along the River behind the Old First National Bank Site
to provide for additional parking downtown. Park and Rec is looking for grants to purchase the Bailey's
Point Property that is where the Elk River and Mississippi River converge.
Park and Rec Department had 115 applications for the Director position. The city has narrowed it down to
three and we should have a new director soon.
The Elk River Fall Program Guide will be going to press soon. We have the dates of downtown Halloween
celebration as Friday October 28 from 10-5 and Santas visit scheduled for Saturday December 10th from 12
to 3PM. We discussed making Halloween a shorter day and decided to leave it until SPM and businesses that
want to stop earlier can take the "Welcome Trick or Treaters" sign out of their window. We also discussed
sponsoring an ArtCrawl downtown in the fall -and it was agreed that it was a good event and should be
repeated. Wendy will contact the Arts Alliance and see if the artists are interested in doing this again. Deb
recommended that we get a RiversEdge account with Explore Minnesota so that we can get more widespread
publicity for our Downtown Events.
Hwy 169 Bridge Construction
Justin Femrite, The City of Elk River City Engineer, informed us of the planned closing of the Highway 169
southbound bridge over Hwy 10 in June. The work is expected to take about a month. Justin has been in
contact with MnDot to try to make it take the shortest amount of time as feasible and cause the least amount
of disruption. The recommended detours will be posted on the Chamber website or read about it in the Star
News http://erstarnews.com/2011/03/22/summer-construction-will-close-highway-169-bridge/ MnDot is
redoing the Guardrails. The Northbound bridge will have 2 way traffic on it. Southbound 169 to East 10 will
detour to Main Stret. 10 West to South 101 detour will be Main Street to Parrish and through Otsego. 10 East
to North 169 will use Main Street to Hwy 169.
City Update from Annie:
Art Soup can market along the Northstar Corridor if Art soup coordinates transportation from station site to
downtown. Can advertise ArtSoup with painting on O'Reilly building window
Business interested in partnering with Metro Transit to offer incentives to Northstar riders should go to
ridetorewards.com
Elk Park Center is going through the process of updating the facade of the Furniture USA store- it will be
Ashley furniture, an outlet store and JoAnn Fabrics. There is a Pizza Ranch looking at opening in the Old
Movie Gallery. The City has expanded their offerings of Micro loans to businesses to help improve energy
utilization, offer gap financing and commercial property build outs.
The City of Elk River periodically offers programs to help Businesses update their knowledge bases. In the
past they have had programs on energy utilization and recycling efficiencies. They would like to know if
there are business needs that aren't being met that they could address in a future program. Let Annie know if
there is a program you would like to see offered that could help you improve your business.
Citywide Branding: The City of Elk River is currently undertaking a branding process for the City. Chandler
Thinks is the company which was chosen by the EDA to help them with this project. They will be in Elk
River on Apri127, 28 & 29`h~ They will be going on community tours, doing interviews with business
owners, residents, community leaders and stopping into businesses to get a feel for who and what Elk River
is. They will do focus group meetings. Please feel free to share your true feeling about what you think Elk
Rivers strengths and weaknesses are.
Business Expo Summary: Fred manned a booth for Downtown RiversEdge at the Business Expo with Greg
from Old Main Eatery. About 2,500 to 3000 people attended the Exp. The booth was set up with a map of
downtown businesses, pictures of Halloween and Santa Downtown. Several businesses had brochures and
coupons to pass out. Fred had a video playing on his laptop that gave a great view of businesses downtown,
inside and out. Give A HUGE Thank you to Stephanie for creating the video. If you would like to see the
video, it can be seen on you tube http•/lwww.youtube.comlwatch`?v=TDj2jOho3PM .Thank you also to Fred
and Greg to take time out of their busy lives to work at the booth.
ArtSoup Planning: Artsoup will be held downtown on Saturday June 18, 2011. Rather than having
outside vendors come downtown and serve food, local restaurants are being encouraged to set up tables
outside of their businesses and serve. Ads are being sold for the program -the order form is online at
elkriverart.org as well as forms for artists to sign up for booths or put Art in the Juried Art Show. Forms are
also available at the Arts Alliance Gallery. Someone will be coming around to businesses to sell ads also.
There will be performances and a fiber fashion show in the park all day. The Bistodeau Family B1ueGrass
Band will be performing at 7PM.
SO1C3 Tax Exempt Status for RiversEdge: Sandi has researched our status and found our tax exempt
registration number and our Articles of Incorporation. It was listed under Rivers Edge Downtown Business
Development Association. She will renew our Tax Exempt Status and see about changing the name to Rivers
Edge Downtown Business Association. She will give McCoys Pub's address for mailing address. The
RiversEdge Vice President will be designated as the person who is responsible for getting the forms mailed
in the future.
Chamber of Commerce: The Chamber of commerce has started managing their website in house. This will
make it easier for them to put ads on the website http:%iwww.elkriverchan~ber.or~/ and update information.
Let Debbi know if you are interested in advertising on the Chamber website.
New Business:
Downtown Video: Fred asked Stephanie if we could make copies of the video and use them to market
downtown and also to encourage people to join so that they could be included in the video. She will be
making some modifications to the video.
Fireworks in Elk River: Jim Boyle has requested a representative from RiversEdge to come to their
advisory meeting on Tuesday April 19th at 4PM at Caldwell Banker. If you are interested please call or Email
him at editor.erstarnew-s(ciecm-inc.com
Flower Pots Downtown: Robin from Don's Bakery has agreed to put flowers in the pots downtown again.
She will be collecting a portion of the cost ($20) from businesses who agree to water and weed the pot by
their businesses. We will be moving the pot from in front of Uniquely Yours to down towards the Bluffs
Building.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:SSPM Respectfully submitted by Wendy Simenson Acting Secretary
Keep Your Composure over Foreclosures
By Alexis Stangl
hen it comes to dealing with
foreclosed properties, you can
never be sure what problems
might come up.
In some cases, there might
be no problems. In other cases, particu-
larly where the property is vacant, there
might be so many problems it is dif-
ficult to know where to start. There are
a variety of things a city can do to help
keep its composure when dealing with
foreclosed properties.
Securing vacant or unoccupied prop-
erties. In some cases, a foreclosed house
is abandoned, left vacant, and often not
secured.This can give rise to problems
like people "squatting" in the house,
theft, vandalism, trespassing, etc.
If the vacant or unoccupied building
is hazardous because it is open to tres-
pass and has not been secured, state law
provides a process for a city to secure
the building. The basic idea is that once
the city council determines the build-
ing is hazardous, the council adopts an
order to secure the building.
The owner is given an opportunity
to comply with the order or request a
hearing. Ultimately, if the owner does
not secure the building and the city
does, the city may charge its costs against
the property as a special assessment.
A city may also adopt an ordinance
that would allow the city to secure
the building in an emergency situa-
tion when a vacant building presents
an immediate danger to the health and
safety of persons in the community.
Utility issues. Unpaid utility bills
and frozen water pipes are two com-
mon utility-related issues that often
come up when dealing with foreclosed
properties.The city can (and should)
treat unpaid utility bills like it does
for the other properties in the city.
This means that, depending on what
ordinances are in place, the city could
~,; learn more at the
''~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 20ll Safety &
' Loss Control Workshops
[Public Works Track)
www.lmc.org/LCW20ll
potentially certify unpaid charges or
shut off utility services.
When there is a concern about
freezing and bursting water pipes, espe-
cially when the heat source has been
shut off, it might make sense to shut
off the water to the property regard-
less of whether there are unpaid bills.
The city may request notice from util-
ity companies when a customer's gas
or electric service is shut off. Once a
utility company gets a written request
from a city, the utility must, on Oct. 15
and Nov. 1, make a report available
that includes the address of properties
currently disconnected along with the
date of disconnection.
Also, upon written request from a
city, the utility must make daily reports
available between Oct. 15 and April 15.
While simply receiving this notice
does not authorize the city to shut
off water to the property, the city can
adopt an ordinance that would allow
the water to be shut off when the
heat source is disconnected.
Nuisances and hazardous buildings.
Foreclosed properties, especially when
they are vacant, can pose a wide range
of livability issues for neighbors and
the city in general. On the less severe
end of the spectrum are things like tall
grass or unshoveled snow. On the more
severe end of the spectrum are things
like hazardous buildings that are in
danger of collapse.
One way to tackle some of the less
serious problems, like tall grass or piled
up trash, is to adopt and enforce a nui-
sance ordinance. (Nuisances are things
that negatively impact a community's
livability and include a wide range
of things.)
The city may already have a nui-
sance ordinance in place that may
address some of the current concerns.
If not, the city could amend or adopt
an ordinance that would address nui-
sance concerns in the city. Pursuant to
the city ordinance, the city may abate
the nuisance and then recover the costs
from the property owner by special
assessments or other means.
In more severe situations, the city
might be able to use the statutory haz-
ardous building process. A hazardous
building is a building that constitutes a
fire hazard or a hazard to public safety
or health because of inadequate main-
tenance, dilapidation, physical damage,
unsanitary condition, or abandonment.
The statutory process allows the city
to order a property owner to repair or
remove a hazardous condition or, in
extreme cases, to tear down the build-
ing. If the owner does not do the work,
the city may do so and charge the costs
against the property as a special assess-
ment.The process provided by law is
somewhat lengthy and detailed, and the
law requires that the court oversee or
be involved during most of the process.
As such, it is very important to work
with the city attorney.-
More information. For more infor-
mation, see the League of Minnesota
Cities (LMC) information memos,
Securing Payment of Utility Charges, Public
Nuisances, and Dangerous Properties. To
access the memos online, visit www
Imc.org/page/1/resource-library jsp
and type the name of the memo in
the Keyword field.
Alexis Stangl is a staff attorney with
the League of Minnesota Cities. Phone:
(651) 281.-1200.
MARCH -APRIL 2 0 I I
MINNESOTA C I T I E S
13