The city of Brainerd is turning to newly created citizen committees to come up with solutions to two ongoing issues.
Monday night, the Brainerd City Council created a citizens committee to address issues with the city's facilities, notably city hall.
The temporary committee will consist of one representative selected by each council member, along with one mayoral selection. The Safety and Public Works and Personnel and Finance committees will each appoint one of their own committee members to serve as well, bringing the new committee's membership to 10.
The committee's primary task is to evaluate the facts of the city facilities situation and make a preliminary determination of the condition of city buildings, council member Mary Koep said. The committee will also determine a meeting schedule, recommend priorities, help to seek funding to update the facilities.
The committee doesn't have a timeline, Koep said, but the sooner progress is made on the issue, the better. Koep urged the council members to present their nominees to the full council by the May 16 meeting.
ADVERTISEMENT
The front steps of city hall are badly in need of repairs, Koep said. The building itself has issues with its heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. Repairs will likely be costly, she said, so it's good to have the public involved in the process at its early stages.
"Better to have the public involved on the ground floor, so that we make a decision that is accepted, hopefully, by the majority of the public," Koep said.
In a Personnel and Finance Committee meeting prior to the council meeting, City Administrator Jim Thoreen said bringing citizens into the process will help them see the depth of the facilities issues. Bringing in people outside city hall will put fresh eyes on the issues, he said. The process will require public work, communication and participation, Koep said.
Koep said Council President Gary Scheeler had previously charged the Personnel and Finance Committee, of which Koep is chair, with looking into the issue.
Parking committee
The council also created a planning commission subcommittee tasked with evaluating the parking situation in downtown Brainerd and coming up with solutions to issues the subcommittee may identify.
The subcommittee will consist of two members of the Planning Commission and four downtown stakeholders, one of whom will be Mayor Ed Menk, owner of E.L. Menk Jewelers in downtown Brainerd. The six members will be joined by council member Dave Pritschet, who serves as council liaison to the Planning Commission.
The parking issue has been discussed by the council and Personnel and Finance Committee for several months. The last action taken on the issue was to refer to the topic to the planning commission for review. Koep lamented the ongoing nature of the issue when she introduced the motion to create the subcommittee.
"It's kind of the same song, 54th verse," Koep said. "We've talked about this so many, many times."
ADVERTISEMENT
In a Personnel and Finance Committee meeting prior to the council meeting, City Planner Mark Ostgarden said he was seeking more guidance from the committee on what it wanted the Planning Commission to look into regarding the parking issue. Koep replied the committee had referred the parking issue to the Planning Commission for the commission to come up with a recommendation.
"We discussed it over and over and over and never really came to a resolution," Koep said. "Now it sounds like you're confused too."
The city has talked about the importance of identifying all the problems when it comes to the parking issue, Thoreen said. Other cities may have solved their downtown parking issues, he said, so it would be worthwhile to look at what they've done. The subcommittee could do both those things, he said, and come back to the council with a recommendation by September.
"We certainly need to take a fresh approach, another look at this," Ostgarden said. "The issue is not going to go away."
Koep presented a few issues she'd like to see the subcommittee address. Parking fees should be set so they cover costs, she said. The subcommittee should determine if there's too much parking in downtown and if the city should continue leasing a parking lot from BNSF Railway near the intersection of South Eighth and Front streets. It should also determine if city hall employees should pay for parking in the city hall parking lot.
It might be wise for someone from the northeast Brainerd shopping mall to sit on the subcommittee, Koep said. They take care of their own parking, she said, and would bring a different perspective to the issue.
Downtown Brainerd is a unique zoning area, Menk said, and has its own parking and zoning standards. Malls have different parking requirements, he said, so the parking situation in downtown Brainerd can't be compared to other areas. Menk said he was "willing to get Planning involved," but didn't want to involve representatives from other areas of the city on the issue.
"Let's look at trying to figure out, Mark, myself and a couple others," Menk said. "See if we can come up with a solution that fits the downtown."
ADVERTISEMENT
Letting downtown stakeholders address the issue is probably the best way to go about it, Ostgarden said, along with some Planning Commission members.
SPENSER BICKETT may be reached at 218-855-5859 or spenser.bickett@brainerddispatch.com . Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/spenserbickett .
