Ramsey Resident - 2001 - January/February

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CITY NEWSLETTER JAN/FEB 2001, VOLUME 16, NO. 1 CITY COUNCIL REVIEWS STORM DRAINAGE UTILITY CREDITS The credits that are available for the storm drainage utility were established by City Council Resolution back in July of 2000. The intent of the credit system is to reward local businesses for handling their own storm runoff and also provide incentive for existing businesses to improve on drainage facilities on their property. The businesses that have developed over recent years were required by the Lower Rum River Watershed Management Organization to construct "structures" on their property that decrease the rate of runoff from their property. These "structures" consist primarily of stormwater detention ponds. These ponds are quite expensive to construct and provide flood protection for their buildings along with neighboring properties. Since the residential charge is the same for each property and was determined using a 1 /4 acre lot, there are not any credits available for residential property. The existing credit system does not require local businesses to hire an engineer to apply for each respective credit, however, since the application form requires runoff calculations to be submitted this is very often the case. Due to the amount of discussion over the last few months regarding the storm drainage utility rates for commercial & industrial properties, the Ramsey City Council decided on 12/19/00 to make the credit application process easier. To apply for a credit, simply call City Hall and ask for Tara Olson. She will send out a pre- application form that will ask the property owner a series of questions that require either a yes or no answer. Once the property owner completes and has returned the pre- application form, the City Engineer will make an on -site inspection of the "structure" to see if it is obviously eligible for the credits available for the storm drainage utility. If it is not obvious or the property owner disagrees with the findings of the City Engineer, they may complete the formal application to provide the necessary information to justify the credits. Currently, the Ordinance and resolutions do not make it possible for a property owner to apply for a credit and have it applied to their previous bills. Therefore, once the City receives the credit application form and approves the credit, the adjustment is made on the next utility bill. Although this will continue to be the case, the City Council decided on December 19, 2000, to allow the property owner a grace period. If the pre- application form is returned to the City of Ramsey by February 28, 2001, then the property will be eligible for retroactivity. If the credit is approved, the new rate will be effective as of the implementation of the storm drainage utility. If there are questions regarding the action that was taken at the December 19, 2000, City Council meeting, please contact Brian Olson in the Engineering Department. Continued on Page 4 PUBLIC HEARING SCHEDULED: QUAD CITIES CABLE COMMUNICATIONS FRANCHISE AGREEMENT The City has scheduled a public hearing on January 23, 2001 at 7:00 p.m. to review a proposed ordinance that renews the franchise agreement between the Quad Cities Cable Commission and AT &T Broadband. The City of Ramsey is one of four cities that make up the joint powers agreement that forms the Quad Cities Cable Commission. The other cities include Andover, Champlin and Anoka. REC PLUS SOCCER NEWS Good News! We have expanded our Rec Plus program to include not only U10 and U12 Boys and Girls teams, but we are adding a U14 age group. Also, the Rec Plus program will be administered by the Traveling Soccer program which will give the Rec Plus players a better opportunity to be guest players on traveling teams for games and tournaments. Another benefit to this change is the Rec Plus teams will be able to play in MYSA sanctioned tournaments. Call the RYAA hotline (763) 422 -9555 or visit our website at http: / /www.ryaa.org for registration information.