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--""',1 ill I I I . . ' . I. '~~II I'l, ' Council Meeting Minutes January 12, 1988 Williams stated the Commission has a letter from Mr. McKenna that, in fact, suggests consolidation (one unit of government in all of Ramsey County); he will furnish Sinda with copies of McKenna's letter. Sinda suggested Stan Peskar, attorney for the League of Minnesota Cities, speak to the League when the Commission is present on citiesl viewpoints to explain ramifications. Recalling the problems city council has keeping track of what is happening in New Brighton, Benke wondered how the county would consolidate all land use, planning controls, etc. (in trying to attempt to apply a consistent code through the county); and stated New Brighton needs to stay on top of it and be very active in the process. Brandt indicated the Commission is beginning to meet weekly and the next meeting is at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 19, 1988, at the County Courthouse. Regarding the user fees feedback, Benke stated the Funeral Direct- ors' Association is excited about our imposition of a fee for es- corting funeral processions and they say we have applied a "death tax". Benke suggested it be explained as a "fee for service" which is applied relatively to all types of businesses in the city for services from the city; funeral directors donlt provide their services for free; we have to approach it from a business-like perspective; we have suggested if they feel our fee is unfair, we are willing to sit down and discuss the issue; but expects there may be newspapers articles and phone calls. K~lley discussed the fee with the Funeral Directors Association's Executive Director, explaining it is a fee for an escort and if his industry wishes to use it they can; however, there is nothing in the state statutes that requires a funeral procession. Kelley further stated that other communities handle escorts in a variety of ways. In questioning the legality of the escort services used by funeral directors for processions, Kelley found citiesl traffic codes do have the ability to regulate processions in their communities, that they cannot prohibit motorcycles equipped with flashing red lights to lead funeral processions (New Brighton's ordinance does not state that). In talking to both staff at the command level of the State Patrol and staff at the Minnesota Peace Officers Stan- dard Training Board, a number of issues are coming up regarding the escort services employees stopping traffic and dressing up and appearing to be police officers; that may be highly illegal under the Powers of Duties Act and Unauthorized Practices Act; under- stood a law enforcement agency has been giving tags citing escort services for not adhering to the letter of the law. Page 18 Funeral Procession Fee