Briefs: Burnsville Chamber needs volunteers for Bite event

The Burnsville Chamber of Commerce is looking for volunteers to help coordinate this year's Bite of Burnsville to be held March 13.

The event is the chamber's largest fundraiser of the year, involving about 20 restaurants serving food, a silent auction and a raffle for the entire community.

The chamber needs people with skills in several areas, including gathering items for the silent auction, planning entertainment, marketing, coordinating ticket sales, and setting up and cleaning up on the day of the event.

A task force will begin meeting over the lunch hour once or twice a month through March as needed. There will be another meeting after the event to discuss details and improvements for the following year.

Contact Chamber President Bill Corby at 952-898-5641 or bill@burnsvillechamber.com for more information or to volunteer.

A telephone community survey was taken in West St. Paul by the research firm Morris Leatherman Co. among 400 randomly selected households between Nov. 11 and 22, asking general questions about perceptions of the city.

Asked about the quality of life in the city, 24 percent of those who answered the survey said it was excellent and 70 percent said it was good.

The survey found that 61 percent of residents own their home and 26 percent of all households are inhabited by senior citizens.

The survey typically took 26 minutes, but some people stayed on the phone talking to the surveyors more than an hour, the company's president, Bill Morris, reported in a presentation to the West St. Paul City Council last week.

Once people understood that the surveyors were not trying to sell them anything, most people were willing to talk, Morris said. But in some cases, finding people at home was a challenge. Some houses had to be called 30 times to connect with the person living there.

Apple Valley is accepting applications from residents interested in serving on the city' s Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee for a three-year term expiring March 1, 2015.

The City Council will fill this vacancy by appointment. This seven-member advisory committee generally meets on the first Thursday in January, March, May, September and November, at 7 p.m. at the Apple Valley Municipal Center.

Application forms can be obtained from the city website, at City Hall, 7100 W. 147th St., or by calling 952-953-2506.

Burnsville is reminding residents that it requires all cats, dogs, ferrets and chickens over four months old to have a pet license every two years.

Pet owners have four options for getting or renewing a pet license: Apply at American Boarding Kennels, 1102 E. Hwy. 13; apply at the Burnsville Police Department, 100 Civic Center Pkwy.; apply at a local veterinary clinic, or download an application from the city website, www. burnsville.org.

Burnsville is seeking a grant from the Dakota County Community Development Agency to expand the parking deck in the Heart of the City.

The city has already received $250,000 for partial expansion of the deck. It is seeking a second grant of $250,000 for full expansion of the deck.