City Council Recap: June 24, 2019

During the June 24, 2019 West St. Paul city council meeting the city approved a sales tax and proclaimed June to be Pride month.

Pride

For the first time ever, the West St. Paul city council proclaimed June to be LGBTQIA Pride month. The entire council and mayor read the proclamation, which read in part:

“The City of West St. Paul calls upon the community to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity … and calls upon the people of West St. Paul to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.”

During citizen comments, a group from Women of West St. Paul presented a Pride flag to the city. There is also a volunteer-organized Pride in the Park event on Sunday, June 30.

West St. Paul Sales Tax

Last fall the voters of West St. Paul approved a local sales tax to help with road repair. The state legislature passed the sales tax and the city council passed it again (yes, it had to be approved by the city council, the voters, the state legislature, and the city council again).

The half-cent sales tax will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. It’s expected to raise $1.3 million per year and will allow the city to pay for road construction without incurring debt, which will allow the city to pay off the $21.6 million debt from the Robert Street project.

Other Notes

• Junk: “Someone’s junk is someone else’s treasure,” said Mayor Dave Napier, explaining the removal of the word ‘junk’ from the city’s unsheltered storage and inoperable or abandoned motor vehicles ordinance.
• Pet license: The city took the first step toward changing the dog and cat license from an annual license to a lifetime license.

City council meetings are open to the public and generally held on the second and fourth Mondays of each month at 6:30 p.m. You can also watch this meeting online.