07-13-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, June 22, 2020 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 9 of 13 The City Council Members stated it looks like a good plan. MAYOR/COUNCIL REPORT Johnson said Edwards spent more time with Golden Valley and South St. Paul with respect to the time-of- sale inspection. He noted he was the only one who opposed it. He is still adamantly against that vehicle but is 100% for dealing with the problem. They have tightened up some loose ends. One unintended consequence of the process is a new term, “illicit discharge,” which is Public Works’ way of saying you have a sewer line that is completely disconnected and the sewer is going in the ground. He learned that Edwards will be responsible for conveying to Orono’s citizens that the purpose of the ordinance is the intrusion-of-water issue. It is not to find damaged or broken existing sewer lines. However, it will be an unintended consequence, because when they start looking at the videos, they are going to find dips, breaks, and tree roots. Seals asked how the City was going to address some of those things. She said during a certain time period when people were building houses, the sump pump, etc., was actually routed into the sewer. Johnson noted the intended consequence is to identify some of the stuff that is not supposed to be happening. Seals indicated there are probably more of those situations than what the City knows about. Johnson said one thing that will happen is the City is going to attempt to do this and will not be able to get their cameras down because there are going to be so many roots, etc. They will have to tell homeowners that they need to get a Roto-Rooter type of company to clean the line and then reschedule for them to come back. He noted in the real estate business, time is often of the essence. As time goes on, people will get used to it. He is trying to provide input for the first roll-out, where people are not going to know. He said he asked Edwards what happens when a title company closes it because they do not know about the new ordinance, as it was not communicated to everyone. He stated there is a lot to learn and that other cities told him it is harder to roll out than they ever thought. The theory is good and the cities think it is the right thing to do and it has saved taxpayer money. The City and Rief’s responsibility is the communication component, which includes the realtors, residents, and title companies. It is not an easy process and he heard that there is not a lot of cooperation from the Minnesota Board of Realtors, because it does not support the time-of-sale inspections. He noted there were a lot of pitfalls coming. Seals asked if there was any way to avoid any of the pitfalls. Walsh commented that this is getting in the way of somebody’s business, and there will be problems when closings are impacted. There may be no silver bullet, but the City should get the best system possible and move it forward until everyone gets used to it. Johnson stated one of his concerns about what they are rolling out is the consequence of non-compliance: the surcharge on a bill. If it gets scoped out and there is a $10,000 problem, an owner can choose to pay the surcharge. Also, the City is giving 90 days for compliance. If there is illicit discharge, which is a sewer line that is broken, the City cannot give people 90 days to fix an illicit surcharge. He was told it would fall into another area of the code. He indicated that it needs to state in the ordinance that it’s a reference point, because the City would red-tag that house and they cannot run water in any capacity through that house until it is fixed. The City, in doing the inspection, has to advertise what the timeline will be for the City to do them, because people will start to rely on that process. Orono’s certificate is