Thanks to Blue Sky Bookkeeping and Zak’s Auto Service for their support.
A potential community center will be the big topic of conversation at the West St. Paul City Council meeting on Monday, February 12, along with interviews for committee appointments and a closed session for the purchase of Faith United Methodist Church.
Potential Community Center
The big item on the agenda is the results of a community center survey and a market study conducted at the end of last year. The community center survey is part of the city’s Park and Recreation System Plan, and while that project is still in process and these results are a draft, a time sensitive opportunity necessitated discussing these results now.
Short version: There is wide-spread support for a community center, including willingness to pay membership fees and increased property taxes, as well as a market to support a community center.
Long version:
- Amenities: Popular amenities included a fitness room, walking track, multi-purpose gym, indoor lap pool, indoor play pool, and community meeting space (all rated by at least 50% of respondents).
- Property taxes: About three-quarters supported some type of property tax increase to support the project, ranging from no more than $200 per year (25%) to “I support it no matter the cost” (17%).
- Membership fees: 38% were willing to pay $40 per month for an individual membership.
- Market support: The 51-page market study concluded “there is market potential to support a community center to serve the cities of Mendota Heights and West St. Paul,” looking at a proposed location next to the Dakota County Northern Service Center.
- Malfeasance: Of the 883 total responses, 34 appeared to be “ballot stuffing” giving multiple responses in an attempt to sway the results. The city shared the results with and without these responses for full transparency. They said this behavior had a “small but relatively insignificant impact” on the results,” though it does muddy the conversation.
- Detail: The 73-page survey results include about 20 pages of summary and 50 pages of comments.
Next: During Monday’s meeting staff will present the results and share some potential concept ideas for Council to consider.
Closed Session
Council will also meet in a closed session to discuss the potential purchase of 1530 Oakdale Avenue, which is Faith United Methodist Church. It’s rare that such a large property becomes available in a fully developed city, so this is an intriguing new development.
At this point we don’t have any details and likely won’t get any due to the closed session. If it’s something Council wants to pursue, we’ll learn more in the coming months. It’s also possible this is related to the community center discussion (the “time sensitive opportunity”).
Committee Appointment Interviews
During the Open Council Work Session (OCWS), Council will interview eight residents for various committees and commissions. Those residents include: Nolan Cornell (Ward 3), Leah Foxhill (Ward 2), James Heaney (Ward 3), Ashley Khondakar (Ward 1), Troy LaFaye (Ward 2), Emily Lefholz (Ward 3), Angela Rizo Rosales (Ward 1), Caleb Paulson (Ward 1), Brooklyn Petrich (Ward 2), and Susie Toohey (Ward 2).
Other Items on the Agenda
- Voting: Council will discuss how to handle absentee voting visits to healthcare facilities. In the past the city included more facilities than the state now requires, which could lead to charges of arbitrarily picking some locations and not others. Staff is recommending going with what the state requires and sending resources by mail to the facilities who received visits in the past but don’t meet state requirements.
Engage
Watch: The public can watch the meeting live on Town Square TV or cable TV starting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday (5 p.m. for the OCWS).
Learn more: Guide to West St. Paul City Council.
We believe in government transparency and provide these West St. Paul City Council previews with the support of our members.
