Minutes - Council - 04/13/2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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the City you are an adversary. People do not get involved in City Council meetings because they get bombarded by inspections. Mi'. Hill stated Julie asked who complained and they could not say, they told them about a supposed complaint from their neighbor to the Fire Department. He does not believe Chris received a complaint. Julie told them to talk to the owners of SR Auto so they could answer their questions and defend themselves. SR Auto has a state auto dealer's license and a receipt with a City license. SR Auto did have a building permit, and they used a licensed contractor. According to Chris Anderson, SR Auto did not have any of this. Chris Anderson was threatening to give SR Auto citations and he did not have the facts straight or a business card that identified himself as an employee of the City. Mr. I-Iill stated in the first part of this month Dean Kapler and Jerry Streich were there to inspect the property and stated they did not have permits. Julie told them they sent contractors to the City and none of them returned. When the contractors were telephoned repeatedly one of them finally told him that someone from the City told him the building was condemned. Julie then called the Attorney General's office from the State of Minnesota and they said the building cannot be condenmed unless it is falling over, and they recommended that they contact a lawyer. Julie left a message on Jerry Streich's answering machine that the Attorney General's office stated they did not condemn the building. Jerry Streich returned Julie's call which Julie saved. Thc beginning of the message states "Hi Julie, I am returning your phone call. I guess I can't call it condemned." Julie asked Dean Kapler to listen the message. Jerry listened to it and then told Dean Kapler he did not state the building was condemned. Dean told Julie he thinks she is a twister of the truth and would not listen to the message. The conclusion is that Ramsey wishes to close up SR Auto as punishment for standing up for their rights and speaking their minds. Julie Hill stated they are in need of these rentals. SR Auto has made many improvements and they are trying to comply with the City requests. The economy is bad and it will serve a hardship to try to rent it out again. This is an attempt by the City to try to make them lose their grandfather rights. They were not given enough time to prepare for this City Council meeting; they had all these inspections today and then were told this would be discussed at the Council meeting tonight. Mayor Gamec stated they are discussing whether SR Auto has the authority to operate this business, and according to the code it cannot. Mr. I-Iill stated the only difference between the used cars on their property is that they are cleaner than any other car on a used car lot, because when they are purchased all the fluids are removed. Right now their property is clean. Also, they have a license signed by Sylvia Frolik dated in 1995 and a permitted use for new/used/lessor/wholesale/auction/salvage pool. Their property gets grand fathered automotive. Community Development Director Frolik stated according to the City Code a vehicle wrecking yard is defined as any place with vehicles not in running condition, and/or not licensed and parts thereof are stored in the open, or any land is used for the wrecking or storage of such vehicles or City Council/April 13, 2004 Page 17 of 33