Minutes - Council Work Session - 09/14/2015 - Joint with Elk River CC

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Elk River City Engineer Femrite stated it is a change in a person's philosophy and there needs to be communication and the City needs to get the information out way ahead of time. Elk River City Engineer Femrite stated this was a team effort from all of the staff and Council in Elk River. Elk River Councilmember Olsen asked what kind of issues the Charter Commission came upon. Ramsey Mayor Strommen stated there was a question about dedicated fees and if the State Law allowed them to do the franchise fee or not. There was also a threat of a special election. Elk River Councilmember Westgaard stated it is a change in philosophy. They can raise the fees at any time and this fee is easier for the City to plan ahead. He stated they had to do a lot of work so it was not looked at as a bait and switch fee. The fee is being set aside strictly for road proj ects. 3.05 Highway 10 Corridor -of -Commerce Efforts Ramsey Mayor Strommen stated Highway 10 has been Ramsey's number one priority in terms of transportation and all of their priorities. The corridor is critical to the public safety perspective and the fact that until the interchange is done on Armstrong Boulevard they have no at -grade separated crossings with BNSF and the big issues are they cannot get workers to and from work efficiently, there is a huge issue for car/train accidents. This was a huge critical need and a big win for Ramsey. She stated one of the ideas they have had and their consultant has been looking at broadening their vision of the corridor and trying to raise the profile and the visibility of the needs of the corridor on a much larger scale. As a region, we can all do better if we are engaged in this process. One of the things Ramsey is working on is the idea of a Highway 10 Summit and we are looking at the corridor from Blaine all the way up to Moorhead. One of the things that has become apparent is that we are at a very critical juncture of the number of highways that serve greater Minnesota. She stated we are at the crossroads of the intersections that get people all over the State. She stated we are far underfunded for the importance of those corridors so we are looking at raising that profile. Elk River Mayor Dietz stated they have approached MN/DOT about trying to coordinate the lights through the City of Elk River and MN/DOT is not interested in helping them out. Their concern is to move traffic along Highway 10. Elk River City Engineer Femrite stated they have been working with Senator Kiffmeyer about trying to get smart lights installed along Highway 10 through Elk River and she has been upfront and very supportive and has been looking for funding for projects. They are looking for some money for adaptive traffic signal controls. Ramsey Mayor Strommen stated they have worked very hard over the last few years with the County of Anoka, which has made it easier with the Legislatures. City Council Work Session / September 14, 2015 Page 6 of 9