---

Citizens in the city of Wyoming will be voting at Maranatha Church come November. The city council designated the church as the city voting site for the fall elections because current polling sites aren't capable of handling general election crowds.

Wyoming City Administrator Craig Mattson said the old township hall and community center locations don't provide enough parking. Mattson said it should be okay to hold the primary election in August at the existing polling places because generally there's not a huge turnout for primary balloting. Also, state law requires a 90-day notice to change polling places, so this council action missed the deadline for the August 10 balloting.

For November balloting, the church is located between Forest Lake and downtown Wyoming, on old Hwy. 61 (County Road 30).

The city council last week was advised by city attorney Mark Vierling that the developers of a housing plat that had not been finalized in the one-year timeframe allowed, are now working with him on a development agreement and subordination agreement to protect the city's interests. The developers' earlier request to extend the viability of the housing plat was brought again before the council.

Vierling said council could act on the requested extension allowing the layout to be filed with the county as a final plat; or council could not act and the 2009 approved layout would expire.

Delmonico Park got its extension on a unanimous vote; contingent on developers complying with city attorney and city engineer comments, and there must be an acceptable development agreement and assessments will be paid upon the filing of a final plat.

Council approved the 2010 crack seal and fill needs for quotes. City Engineer Mark Erichson said the projects that lacked funding for 2008 have been rolled into this year's work and because it's expected to be less than the bid limit, he'll get some quotes for the work.

Wyoming usually does crack seal every two years, he said. Erichson also responded to Council member Linda Nanko-Yeager's question about how streets are chosen to be sealed/filled. The city tries to group needy sites close to each other for efficiencies in using the equipment, Erichson said. (See map.)

The Chief of Police got permission to list three impounded/forfeited vehicles on the crashedtoys.com site for sale. The city pays $200 per vehicle for the service.

Also, Chief Hoppe was authorized to use a city vehicle while attending FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Hoppe's training this summer is not a city expense; but he would need to rent ground transport if he didn't take the unmarked vehicle. He figures the costs of driving are comparable to flying and renting a car while there.

In the chief's council report he advised the city elected officials the activity levels the department is handling have grown to the point the city needs to consider increasing patrol staffing for 2011. Since consolidating township areas with the city Hoppe says "service needs" have increased 35 to 40 percent.

Wyoming finished its new zoning codebook with unanimous council adoption of the final chapters last week. The merging of the old township zoning codes with the city laws was a laborious undertaking the planning commission was commended for. Council applauded the lengthy process of holding hearings and reviewing how the two sets of rules can be brought together.

The ordinances are official upon publication in the Forest Lake Times.

The August City Council meeting was changed to 5 p.m. August 3 so it won't conflict with National Night Out activities taking place later in the evening.

---