Metro briefs: Minnetonka City Council race recount to be held Tuesday

A recount of votes cast Nov. 5 for the Third Ward seat on the Minnetonka City Council will be held this week.

The recount, scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Minnetonka Community Center, was requested by Council Member Mike Happe.

Election night returns showed Happe, a first-term council member, losing to challenger Bradley Schaeppi by three votes, a margin of less than 0.5%.

In other Minnetonka races, voters elected Brian Kirk and Kissy Coakley to the First and Fourth Ward seats, respectively, and incumbent Susan Carter to at-large seat B. They also reelected Rebecca Schack to the Second Ward seat.

Results will be posted at minnetonkamn.gov/news.

Mara Klecker

The Dakota County Fair will offer free admission next summer, thanks to several years of financial success.

The fair will be held Aug. 10-16 in Farmington. Admission this year was $5 for adults and $2 for children, with parking available for $5. Parking next summer will cost $10 for the day and $30 for a week.

Fair officials believe that letting people in free will draw new vendors and more people to grandstand events. The fair was free until about a decade ago, Storlie said.

Erin Adler

Ramsey County has opened offices at Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis' new Dorothy Day Place in downtown St. Paul, providing what officials describe as "coordinated, wraparound services to individuals experiencing homelessness."

Staffers from six county departments are providing help on-site with employment, housing, financial assistance, child support, health care, mental health, veterans services and the justice system.

Shannon Prather

The Coon Rapids City Council last week lifted a moratorium on construction, reconstruction and expansion of self-storage facilities, following recent amendments to city code that will allow both indoor and outdoor self-storage facilities under permitted or conditional use, depending on location.

Within the past year, several self-storage developers have approached city officials to build a newer style of indoor facility rather than the traditional storage facility with outdoor access.

Coon Rapids has seven self-storage facilities, the most recent of which was built about 20 years ago.

"We hadn't seen much in the way of self-storage development in 20 years," said community development director Grant Fernelius. "The market evolved, and this indoor style has become quite popular."