Report from Public Works Committee
The Public Works Committee held its regular meeting on December 18, 2018 and discussed the following cases:
1. Highway 47 Landscaping Project: Ratify the recommendation of the Public Works Committee to approve the staff recommendation and forward Resolution #19-011 to the full Council for consideration.
2. Consider Recommendation to City Council to Accept Petition Opposing Improvement Project #19-02, Brookview Estates Street Reconstructions: Ratify the recommendation of the Public Works Committee to accept the petition as valid and direct staff to mail letters to all benefiting property owners to clearly define the project, ramifications of signing the petition and options to withdraw their signature if desired.
3. Review Drainage Concerns at 17290 Germanium Street NW: Ratify the concensus of the Committee and Mr. Aberle for Mr. Thomsen to complete the driveway improvements including grading and two eight-inch culverts, and for Staff to collect topographic data along Mr. Aberle's west property line and around and adjacent to his garage and driveway.
4. Consider Request to Modify Traffic Control at Bunker Lake Boulevard, Puma Street and Rabbit Street Intersection:  Ratify the  consensus of the Committee to leave the stop signs as is for the time being.           

Staff Updates on Improvement Projects and Items of Interest:  City Engineer Westby noted that the January Public Works Committee meeting has been canceled as there is a conflict with the road funding open house on January 15, 2019.  

1. Highway 47 Landscaping Project: to improve the landscaping along Highway 47 from roughly Xkimo Street to the south and Barium Street to the north.  The project falls under MnDOT’s Community Roadside Landscape Partnership Program.  MnDOT’s Office of Environmental Stewardship provides technical and financial support to communities to install and maintain landscape plantings on eligible state highway rights of way.  MnDOT would partner with the City of Ramsey by providing the service of their landscape architect to design the landscaping for the project and also provide financial assistance to buy plant materials.  The City of Ramsey would provide the manpower to install the plantings and would also be responsible for ongoing maintenance, such as weeding of the plan beds and watering.  MnDOT provided a design plan for the project that was included in the case.  The next step in the process is to pass a resolution stating that the City of Ramsey is willing to enter into a Cooperative Agreement with MnDOT to execute the project. Motion ratify the recommendation of the Public Works Committee  to approve the staff recommendation and forward Resolution #19-011 to the full Council for consideration. 
2. Consider Recommendation to City Council to Accept Petition Opposing Improvement Project #19-02, Brookview Estates Street Reconstructions: City Engineer Westby stated that City Improvement Project No. 19-02 proposes to reconstruct streets within the Brookview Estates neighborhood including 173rd Avenue and Germanium Street.  Per the Feasibility Report, twenty-one (21) properties are considered to benefit from the improvements and Staff recommended applying 25-percent of eligible project costs equally across the 21 assessable properties using the “per lot” assessment method. Eligible project costs include everything except subgrade corrections and guardrail modification costs.  This resulted in a proposed preliminary assessment rate of $4,418.30 per assessable parcel.  City Engineer Westby stated that following the Public Hearing on November 13th, the property owner at 17230 Germanium Street requested a petition template to use in gathering signatures in opposition to this Council initiated improvement project as provided by Section 8.4.5 of the City Charter,  City Engineer Westby stated that on December 3rd, the property owner delivered a petition with 15 signatures on it to City Staff but Staff rejected it noting that the top of the petition had no clarifying language on it leading to concerns that the petitioners might not have understood what they were signing.  Based on comments Staff received from several property owners while the petition was being circulated, Staff had concerns that this might indeed be the case. On December 10th, the property owner submitted a revised petition to City Staff. This petition had a page attached to it with clarifying language noting that the property owners objected to the cost of the project.  Staff has since verified that all property owners who signed the petition are indeed benefiting property owners per the preliminary assessment roll contained within the Feasibility Report. Staff recommended mailing letters to all benefiting property owners, to clearly define that the petition can kill the project for one year or more if 60 percent or more of the benefiting properties sign the petition, and to inform them of the option to withdraw their signature from the petition per City Charter Section 8.4.6, including the deadline for doing so.   Motion to ratify the recommendation of the Public Works Committee to accept the petition as valid and direct staff to mail letters to all benefiting property owners to clearly define the project, ramifications of signing the petition and options to withdraw their signature if desired.
3. Review Drainage Concerns at 17290 Germanium Street NW:  City Engineer Westby provided background information noting that the property owner at 17290 Germanium Street NW built their home in 1992.  They built a garage in the southwest corner of the property in 1998, which was rebuilt in 2005 after the first garage burned down.  The garage was constructed in a low area of the lot and was not elevated.  The garage door faced a private property which was used to access Germanium Street approximately 300-feet to the west.  In 2017, construction began on the Covenant Meadows residential development, which included construction of a new public street (172nd Lane NW) abutting the south property line of 17290 Germanium Street NW.  During construction of this development, the property owner contacted City Staff and the developer on numerous occasions to request modifications to the new driveway installed between his garage and 172nd Lane NW.  He also requested grading modifications to prevent drainage from entering his property from the north and west, noting he had issues with standing water on his property.  Motion to ratify the Consenus of the Committee and Mr. Aberle for Mr. Thomsen to complete the driveway improvements including grading and two eight-inch culverts, and for Staff to collect topographic data along Mr. Aberle's west property line and around and adjacent to his garage and driveway.
4. Consider Request to Modify Traffic Control at Bunker Lake Boulevard, Puma Street and Rabbit Street Intersection: City Engineer Westby stated that during the November 27^th City Council meeting, a resident living at 14942 Quintana Street NW in the Riverstone residential development questioned the value of the all-way STOP intersection control recently installed at the intersection of Bunker Lake Boulevard, Puma Street and Rabbit Street, and requested that the City consider modifying the traffic control at this intersection. City Engineer Westby stated that the cost to remove a stop sign is approximately $200 per sign.  The cost for City Staff to fabricate and install a new sign is approximately $300 per sign.  Staff proposed to pay for all costs to study and/or modify the traffic control at this intersection as part of City Improvement Project #18-05.  He stated that staff recommends completing the traffic study proposed by Bolton and Menk in January of 2019, and to present the findings to the Public Works Committee in February of 2019 for further discussion and direction.  Motion to ratify the consensus of the Committee to leave the all-way STOP intersection controls as is.

1. Motion to ratify the recommendation of the Public Works Committee to approve the staff recommendation and forward Resolution #19-011 to the full Council for consideration. 
2. Motion to ratify the recommendation of the Public Works Committee to accept the petition as valid and direct staff to mail letters to all benefiting property owners to clearly define the project, ramifications of signing the petition and options to withdraw their signature if desired.
3. Motion to ratify the concenus of the Committee and Mr. Aberle for Mr. Thomsen to complete the driveway improvements including grading and two eight-inch culverts, and for Staff to collect topographic data along Mr. Aberle's west property line and around and adjacent to his garage and driveway.
4. Motion to ratify the concensus of the Committee to leave the all-way stop intersection controls as is.           

Motioin for City Council to ratify the recommendation of the Public Works Committee as follows:
1. Motion to ratify the recommendation of the Public Works Committee to approve the staff recommendation and forward Resolution #19-011 to the full Council for consideration. 
2. Motion to ratify the recommendation of the Public Works Committee to accept the petition as valid and direct staff to mail letters to all benefiting property owners to clearly define the project, ramifications of signing the petition and options to withdraw their signature if desired.
3. Motion to ratify the concenus of the Committee and Mr. Aberle for Mr. Thomsen to complete the driveway improvements including grading and two eight-inch culverts, and for Staff to collect topographic data along Mr. Aberle's west property line and around and adjacent to his garage and driveway.
4. Motion to ratify the concensus of the Committee to leave the all-way stop intersection controls as is.