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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05.03.10 Council Minutes COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR May 3, 2010 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Larson at 7:00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Boy Scout Troop 119 led the audience and Council in the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Larson called for a moment of silence to honor a fallen Maplewood Police Officer. 3. ROLL CALL Members Present: Members Absent: Also Present: Audience: Larson, Donnelly, Fogarty, May, Wilson None Joel Jamnik, City Attorney; Peter Herlofsky, City Administrator; Teresa Walters, Finance Director; Brian Lindquist, Police Chief; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Kevin Schorzman, City Engineer; Lisa Shadick, Administrative Services Director; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Troy Corrigan, Beve Preece, Robert Wilson, Gabe Collins, Derek Collins, Logan Ansen, Joy Lauterbach, Kevin Collins, Dain Anson, Jamie Thompson, Ann Manthey, David Pritzlaff 4. APPROVE AGENDA City Administrator Herlofsky added item 5c) Proclaim National Day of Prayer and pulled item 13b) Farmington Heart Restart Program. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS a) Acknowledge Retirement - Ted Dan Officer Dau served as a Patrol Officer, Field Training Officer, Investigator, and for the last 16 years he was the School Resource Officer. Council and the Police Department acknowledged Officer Dau's retirement after 27 years of service. b) Proclaim Historic Preservation Month Council proclaimed Mayas Historic Preservation Month. Heritage Preservation Commission members Beve Preece and John Franceschelli displayed posters that will be used to recognize this event. The theme this year is "Old is the New Green. " c) Proclaim National Day of Prayer Ms. Ann Manthey explained an event that will be held on May 6, at Rambling River Park recognizing this day. 6 Council Minutes (Regular) May 3,2010 Page 2 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS Ms. Joy Lauterbach, Trinity Care Center and Trinity Terrace, thanked the City for supporting their facility and all the volunteers for their help. Events coming up include a hanging basket sale this Thursday - Saturday. Proceeds go to the Care Center to support activities, etc. There will also be a garage sale June 9 - 12 at Lynn Nordeen's house, 3478 209th Street W. Trinity is always looking for volunteers for gardening, help with special events, bingo, exercise, etc. Trinity is now a true campus with the Care Center, Independent Living and they are now offering Assisted Living. Memory Care will be coming in the near future. The Grand Opening for Assisted Living will be coming soon. Ms. Annette Kuyper, Warrior to Citizen, stated this Saturday is the Military Mother, Grandmother luncheon. The Military Family Picnic will be held at the fairgrounds on May 22. They hope to double attendance. Last year over 200 military families attended. Many events will take place during the picnic. Ms. Michelle Leonard, 727 Tamarack Trail, President of the Farmington American Legion, Ladies Auxiliary Unit 189, read a statement about the history of Poppy Day. Military families benefIt from the proceeds of the poppy distribution. Poppy Days for the VFW will be Friday, May 14. The American Legion will distribute poppies on Friday, May 21, at Econo Foods, Kwik Trip, the Post Office, and Farmington Bakery. So far the Legion has raised $500. Last year Farmington's Auxiliary raised $1,383.75 from poppy distribution. Every penny donated goes towards veterans. Some donations are also given to the Warrior to Citizen campaign. Poppies are distributed to remind Americans of the price of war and the sacrifice of millions of lives. Council and the community were asked to support the Legion and VFW Poppy Days. Mr. David Pritzlaft: 20255 Akin Road, addressed Council on a couple issues. First on the agenda under Citizen Comments, he read the guidelines for Citizen Comments. He stated Mayor Larson runs the meetings and has the discretion to deviate from the five minute time limit. Mr. Pritzlaff stated in some cases Mayor Larson adheres to the time limit when people have complaints or questions for the Council and is quick to cut them off and not give the tax payers time for their comments. On the other hand, if it is a good or rewarding issue, residents are allowed to speak as long as they want. It has to be one way or the other. It is rude not to give some their time, and since it cannot be fair across the board, enough time needs to be allowed on the issues that residents have. He stated Mayor Larson has shown not to be consistent with the time allowed so tax payers can expect whatever time they need to get their point across. Secondly, on the change for regular agenda items, he read those guidelines regarding addressing Council and a three minute time limit with additional time granted to speakers representing two or more people. Mr. Pritzlaff asked who put this on the agenda and is it a Council request. This is not in the Council by-laws. This is Council or staff wanting to shut out the tax payers. This would be a policy Council should act on, not the staff. Mr. Pritzlaffwanted Council to agree that no three minute limit would be put on any future agendas. Three minutes does not give enough time to talk about a full reconstruction of a road and sewer project and/or discussions on what amount of money Council is asking from the tax payers. Mr. 7 Council Minutes (Regular) May 3,2010 Page 3 Pritzlaff stated Mayor Larson campaigned for a more friendly government. How is that working by doing this? Comments at the last meeting about trees on the Walnut Street project and what Councilmember Fogarty said about how she watched the Ash Street and Elm Street projects to make sure trees were not taken down. On the Ash Street project, sod was laid when it was snowing, so that project was not watched very well. On the Elm Street project, Mr. Pritzlaffwas the Council representative to give feedback, so someone else was watching that project more than Councilmember Fogarty. It was brought to his attention at the last meeting when an audience member discussed how bad Council and staff mangled the trees on the Walnut Street project, Mayor Larson and Councilmember Fogarty were not listening to the residents. In fact, there were notes written and passed to each other. Mr. Pritzlaffwould like to have those notes made public and put into the minutes ofthe next meeting as a quorum ofthe Council was present. If you don't have time for the tax payers to be here and hear them out on their concerns with the increased taxes and street light utility fee Council put on us, you should consider resigning. Being elected you give up time. The second issue is regarding money being spent. $1.2 million was spent on the ice arena. Mr. Pritzlaff agreed something had to be done, but to what extent. $7500 for soil borings is wasted money. They are not needed until a decision is made on a second sheet ofice. Parks and Rec stated a second sheet could be 15 years away. $12,000 spent on a community survey question that has been done before and we cannot afford higher taxes at this time. $125,000 spent for a path extension on Pilot Knob Road, this one he laughed at when Council acted on it. There was not one question on the money except for how are we paying for this. Staff said through the road and bridge fund. There was no discussion with Wilson motioning and Fogarty seconding with a 4-0 approval. The money was spent like you picked it off a tree. The road and bridge fund is tax payer money. Although it would be nice to have the trail, we cannot afford it. Just $125,000 itself, let alone the maintenance of the trail which is left to the City; some of the money could be spent on trees to regain property values on the Walnut Street project versus a trail. He has said at workshops and Council meetings we have more trails than we can afford to maintain and we are going for another two miles. Why staff and Councilmembers did not agree with that when he was on the Council- Councilmember Fogarty stated at a recent meeting that no other Council set money aside for maintenance of the ice arena. With the amount oftimes he mentioned trails, you would think it would have sunk in and looked at for other areas. Two former Councilmembers from a previous Council wanted to raise ice time fees to increase revenue for maintenance or a break even point, but there was no support, especially from Councilmember Fogarty. She would have to pay more as her kids are in the hockey program. Now with Mayor Larson in the same boat, where does the spending stop. Maybe Council could join a 12-step program for spend-a-holics. Mr. Pritzlaffasked for a copy of the Council budget goals before the City says what they want. We need to make some real cuts and hard decisions this year. 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes (4/19/10 Regular) 8 Council Minutes (Regular) May 3,2010 Page 4 Councilmember May noted in the minutes regarding the discussion on liquor store revenues and expenses, she had asked for further detail and explanation and was still waiting for that. Regarding the tree replacement policy, she asked when there would be further discussion on that and also a Tree Board. Administrative Services Director Shadick stated regarding the liquor store explanation, staffwill be bringing a report to the next Council meeting with first quarter sales and questions will be answered at that meeting. Councilmember May asked for City Administrator Herlofsky to follow up regarding a Tree Board. Mayor Larson also wanted to discuss having a Tree Board. b) Adopted RESOLUTION R29-10 Approving Gambling Premises Permit- Administration c) Adopted ORDINANCE 010-623 Repealing Ordinance 010-622 Concerning the Floodplain - Planning Councilmember Fogarty asked about the legal error that caused the repeal. City Attorney Jamnik stated there was an error in adopting the maps. City Administrator Herlofsky explained the issue was with Apple Valley, but FEMA rescinded everything. Councilmember May noted they had discussed contacting residents about the change. Even though it has been rescinded she asked that residents still be contacted to give them more notice. Staff explained it will be a 12-15 month process so residents will be contacted in the fall. d) Accepted Firefighters Assistance Grant - Fire Department e) Adopted RESOLUTION R30-10 Establishing Polling Locations- Administration :t) Approved Temporary On-Sale Liquor License - Administration g) Approved Bills APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS a) Amend 2010 Fee Schedule to Include Development Fees - Engineering The 2010 fee schedule was adopted without the section for Permits - Subdivisions and Developments. There were workshops held in January and March 2010 to discuss those fees. Based on the results of the workshops, staff was asked to develop two options for a phased in approach for the storm water fees. Option 1 is phasing in all of the fees in 2010; Option 2 is phasing in the residential in 2010 and the commercial/industrial three years later. Staff provided a schedule of fees out to 2040. Depending on the rate of development, staff will revisit the fees every three to five years. Councilmember May was more in favor of option 2 because she would like to see more commercial development and this wouid delay much higher fees. These fees would pertain to any new developments in 2010. Councilmember Wilson asked if the City has sent a notice to residential and commercial developers notifying them of the change. Staff has not because many of those who developed within the last five years may not be doing business. This 9 Council Minutes (Regular) May 3,2010 Page 5 is posted on the City's website for them to see. Councilmember Wilson noted the higher fees were discussed at a workshop and that they were attributed to the Vermillion River Watershed area. He asked what communication is planned with the Met Council to make them aware of the disparity Farmington has with regard to development and the negative impact this will have. Staffhas not discussed this with the Met Council. There have been internal discussions with other cities. Councilmember Wilson would like to leave this item open until the May 17, 2010, Council meeting to give developers an opportunity to comment on this. MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to close the public hearing. Voting for: Larson, Donnelly, Fogarty, May. Voting against: Wilson. MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to table until the May 17, 2010, Council meeting and have staff bring any comments they receive. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a) Officer Hiring/Officer Retirement - Police Department With the retirement of Officer Dau, the Police Department is back in the same position as earlier in the year when staff asked for another Police Officer. The third School Resource Officer position was filled with the school district in March. There is a candidate in process and the Police Chief is ready to move forward. Moving forward now allows the person to be trained before August when the three officers will go back into the schools. The patrol unit has already been short an officer for 2.5 years. Hiring another officer would keep the unit at 25 officers. Councilmember Wilson asked if there were guidelines as to the number of officers for a City. Farmington's population has not changed that much. Police Chief Lindquist stated it used to be 1 officer per 1,000 was the accepted rate. Within the last ten years that has changed to 1 officer for every 750 people. Farmington has 22,000 people at 1 for every 1,000 we are over; at 1 for every 750 we are under. Rosemount is similar in size and they have 30 officers. It is more the case load and what is needed to protect the City. In the last four or five years the Investigations Department has been increased because they were overwhelmed with the amount of work. A fulltime Drug Task Force Agent was added. A third School Resource Officer was added. A position was made for an Administrative Sergeant because of the amount of information flowing through the department. Technology has required a person to keep up with those changes. Patrol has sacrificed when it came to fulfilling other needs knowing we would try to backfill that position. 10 Council Minutes (Regular) May 3,2010 Page 6 City Administrator Herlofsky stated the main issue is in 2008 we requested an additional patrol officer to make up for the fact the school district requested a third School Resource Officer at the high school. The additional person is being paid for by the school district for ten months and the City gets an additional staff person for the summer at the cost of two months. The City is generating additional revenue through the SRO. The school district can go anywhere to obtain the SRO's. They chose to use our Police Department. We are not adding an additional officer at additional cost. We are responding to the school district as we put someone into the school and filling what we lost in patrol. Councilmember May stated we are adding costs. We have discussed this before with the school wanting another SRO. She was all for safety, but was also here to respect the tax payer dollar. She felt we can achieve the main mission of safety and wellbeing with what we have. You are all professionals and very good at what you do. All departments are affected by the recession. Perhaps we have to tell the school they can only have two SRO's. She asked if they are putting an SRO in the elementary schools. Police Chief Lindquist replied there is an SRO at the high school and one at each middle school. Councilmember May asked if a CSO could cover some of that role. Staff replied no, it has to be a licensed police officer. City Administrator Herlofsky stated ifwe told the school district we can only supply two and they want three, they can go to any other public safety agency. Councilmember May stated they have their needs and we have our needs. She was all for working together with the schoo~ but ifwe want to discuss this for 2011, we can. There is still cost with uniforms, vehicles, benefits; we cannot say there is no additional cost to the City. City Administrator Herlofsky stated there is a revenue stream associated with hiring an officer. We get reimbursed from the school district for ten months. It will be a cost for two months. This gives us the best opportunity during the summer when other officers are taking vacation. It allows us to keep a constant level of protection with a minimum use of overtime. Councilmember May stated she has brought up her concerns with the revenue number in the Police Department budget. That is overstated and we may run into some budget issues there. She was very concerned with the safety issue, but we have to look at every department when we look at the overall budget. It is not just safety for the residents; it is also their fmancial wellbeing. We would all like to have extra people on staff. Police Chief Lindquist stated Officer Dau, who is leaving, is a 30-year veteran at top pay. The officer we bring in will be coming in at entry wages. The difference in the annual salary will be considerably less for the remainder of the year. Councilmember Donnelly stated we are not adding an officer, we are replacing Officer Dau. We are not adding to the size of the force. It would be a cost savings, not an increase in cost. The Police budget will be less because of the lower salary. Police Chief Lindquist stated the Council increased the size of the force in January. This would keep it at that level. City Administrator Herlofsky stated it is an increase of one officer from 2008. That was approved in January. 11 Council Minutes (Regular) May 3,2010 Page 7 Councilmember Donnelly stated ifwe do not replace Officer Dau, you will remove the two SRO's and put them back on patrol and the school district would do what they want. Councilmember Fogarty stated this comes from a comment she made at the last meeting. The fmes revenue is behind budget. It was only a suggestion to delay hiring to help balance the budget. She did not mean to suggest not replacing the officer. Delaying hiring for two or three months can help offset a deficit in the budget. It is the Police budget, so if you need to hire a person and make cuts elsewhere, do what you need to do within your budget. Police Chief Lindquist stated fines revenue is difficult to gauge month to month. There is not a lot of activity in January - March. Judges are aware of the economy and may reduce fmes a little. Also people are becoming more aware. City Administrator Herlofsky noted fines may be low, but building permits have increased substantially. We started working on the budget with revenue estimates made in the summer of2009. The revenues and expenditures are estimates and there will be discrepancies. Councilmember Wilson felt hiring an officer is a win-win for everyone. lithe school wants to use their money from the taxpayers to hire three SRO's, that is their call. He would rather see it be three City of Farmington officers for continuity. The additional benefit is for a couple months during the summer the students see the same officers they see in the school. Mayor Larson agreed, but also trusted Police Chief Lindquist that he will do what is best for the City in budgeting for law enforcement. He will rely on the Police Chief to staffhis department the way he sees fit to keep Farmington safe and the officers safe. It is a win-win with the school picking up ten months and the City gets to use the officer during the summer. Mr. David Pritzlaff, 20255 Akin Road, stated the three minute limit to speak should be taken off the books. The residents pay taxes and for Council to not give more than three minutes time is not worth him being here. The issue of hiring a police officer is more important than three minutes. When he was on the Council he spoke with the SRO's at the school and those are a critical area to have an officer. He also attended the Police Academy and knows what these officers do to a certain extent. How can we question public safety and keeping people safe even ifwe had to pay 12 months of salary? We question this type of money for public safety, but we will spend $125,000 on a trail. It does not make sense. The Council consensus was to move forward with the hiring process. b) Approve Community Survey Questions - Parks and Recreation The Parks and Recreation Commission and City staff compiled a list of questions for the community survey. The survey contains 28 questions which is the 12 Council Minutes (Regular) May 3,2010 Page 8 maximum number allowed. It asks questions related to a referendum and whether or not there is support for an increase in property taxes. It also determines the level of increased taxes the community would be willing to spend in order to support new parks, trails, and recreational facilities they would like to see developed. It determines the types of facilities residents are currently using and how they feel about the facilities they are using. It asks what action residents would support to improve the existing park and rec system. It rates the satisfaction level residents have with services that are provided. It determines what the community perceives as facility needs and how well the needs are currently being met. It asks demographic questions so there is a good cross representation from the community. The survey asked for input on the new items that are the highest priority for the City to consider in the Parks and Recreation Department. It also contains a few questions on storm water management which allows the City to meet a best management practice through the MPDES Phase II program. The cost of these questions will come from the storm water fund. Councilmember Fogarty asked about the storm water questions and if the goal was to see if people know the answers. Staff explained the questions were to see if residents understand where their storm water goes to; whether it is treated in a plant, a pond, or somewhere else. This is to help staff with educational outreach. Councilmember Fogarty agreed with putting the questions on the survey, but was irritated that it is another unfunded mandate. Mayor Larson felt those questions would be a waste of time, as most people will not answer them. Councilmember Fogarty stated it will only take a few minutes to complete the survey if received in the mail. To do this over the phone would be extremely time consuming and challenging. Staff explained the survey will be mailed and residents will be called to remind them to return the survey, or if enough surveys are not returned, they will do the survey over the phone. Councilmember Wilson stated his position of spending the money to create the survey and send it out has not changed. With regard to the storm water questions 19 and 20, if the attempt is to fmd out what direction the Parks and Recreation Department should be going, these two questions have no relevance to the survey and he would suggest eliminating them from the survey. Let's fmd two questions that are relevant to the work ofthe Parks and Recreation Department. Councilmember May agreed with Councilmember Wilson on questions 19,20, and 21. She had no idea how she would answer any of them. Regarding question 4, it seems like a repeat because you rate the items in number 2 and choose the top three and then rate them again. Parks and Recreation Director Distad explained you take the three responses in question 3 and rate the overall quality ofthe three facilities you have used most often. Councilmember May felt it was a repeat as they were already rated in number 2. Regarding question 10, we pay taxes semi- annually. When you break it down by month, this is trying to get the smallest number out there. She felt it should be listed as an annual number. Staff could list it as an annual increase if Council wants. Councilmember Fogarty stated most 13 Council Minutes (Regular) May 3,2010 Page 9 people do not pay their taxes twice a year. They pay it as a part of their monthly mortgage payment. Residents have asked her what is the amount per month when given an annual number. Councilmember May felt question 11 is too vague regarding acquisition, improvement and development. Regarding question 12 is it asking if residents would support a levy? Staff explained it is for existing facilities and where to use existing tax dollars to improve facilities. Staff noted the consultant has suggested reordering the questions so they flow better. He has also suggested using headings so similar questions are grouped together. It was suggested to place question 12 before question 10. Councilmember May stated question 15 asks for organizations and facilities residents use for parks and recreation programs and services. She suggested removing the word ''parks.'' You want to know what organizations they use for programs they want, not about the parks system. Councilmember Donnelly agreed with the storm water questions and suggested removing them or explaining their purpose. He suggested question 11 come before question 10; are you in favor of spending money, and if so how much. The wording is different between these two questions. The word "acquisition" should not be in question 11 or include it in question 10, so both questions are consistent. Mayor Larson was concerned with question 1. There has to be a way to just send this to Farmington residents. If it goes to a resident outside the City boundaries, the survey is tainted. The consultant felt it was good to have the residency question, as even the geo-coding is not 100% perfect. Someone can live on the border of the community and this is a safety check. Ifsurveys are received that are not within the City or even on the border, they will not be counted against the guaranteed minimum. If there is a questionable survey, they will look at this question and then check the geo-coding. Staff noted the consultant also recommended deleting question 16, as respondents have already been asked to rate the facility conditions and how well facilities are meeting their needs. This would also include question 17. Council reached a consensus on the following: Question 4 - underline quality. Question 10 - show a monthly amount and an annual amount in parenthesis. Include the word "acquisition" after development. Question 11 - place before question 10. Question 12 - place before the levy question.iQuestion 15 - remove "parks". Questions 16 & 17 - remove. Questions 19,20, & 21-leave in and place under a heading explaining why they are being asked. 14 Council Minutes (Regular) May 3,2010 Page 10 Councilmember Fogarty also suggested explaining why we ask the demographic questions. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Donnelly to approve the fmallist of questions to ask on the community survey. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 12. NEW BUSINESS a) 2011 Budget Workshop - Administration May 10, 2010, is the budget workshop. City Administrator Herlofsky asked Council to bring their 2010 budgets and their City Council Orientation Binder from 2009 which notes the purpose of each department. He noted this is not to be adversarial between staff and Council. Weare all on the same team and will try to get through 2010 with what we have and plan for 2011 how we all perceive it will be. Staff has provided three objectives and would like more. As we proceed through the budget, stafIwould like a consensus from Council as to what they are looking for. It makes it easier for staff and Council to have clear objectives that we can work towards. There will not be a lot from a staff perspective; they are looking for input from Council. Councilmember May would like to have a review with just Council and the City Administrator to have some general discussion about management and direction. She hoped next week is an open discussion and they can throw out ideas. Last year it was uncomfortable trying to bring different topics up. We are in this position for a reason and we have to have open discussion. City Administrator Herlofsky stated department heads have asked if they should come, but he asked that Council decide. Councilmember May would like to start just with the City Administrator, and then move to department heads. City Administrator Herlofsky stated that is the issue; trying to work with a consensus. It is difficult to work with points of view that are mutually exclusive. That is why we are looking for help from Council. If Council wants to have it between himself and Council, that can be done. Councilmember Fogarty recalled last year at the fIrst workshop, Councilmember May had expected department heads to talk about their part ofthe budget. Councilmember Fogarty envisioned the workshop to take a step back, look at the 2010 budget with the department heads and have them give that synopsis Councilmember May was looking for so we can start there and move forward. Councilmember Fogarty felt there were still a lot of questions and direction that can be given by departments. That was not answered very well last year and would be an approach that would give us all some information. Councilmember May liked that idea. In looking at philosophy and what direction we want to go, with a few main points, perhaps starting with a department overview would be better. Councilmember Wilson did not realize they would take a step back and look at 2010. It is an open meeting, so residents and staff can be here. From a staff perspective, they need to understand that Council has a decision to make and it is not meant as a derogatory comment to them. He was not sure how often they 15 Council Minutes (Regular) May 3,2010 Page 11 understand that. If Council is asking how feasible it is to continue something, that is not ripping anyone apart, but it is questions we need to ask. Regarding the information he needs, he needs forecasted numbers from staff as to where we will be short and make policy decisions from that point. To look backward and find out what a department does will not do a lot of good. But if the majority of Council wants to take a step back, we can do that. Finance Director Walters noted staffhas stated they will maintain service levels. So the majority of department heads are putting their budgets together trying to keep it at the same dollar amount as 2010. Department heads may not give a lot of input, except to answer questions because they are not changing much. City Administrator Herlofsky stated last year we used the same principles asking what guidelines Council wanted. Staff suggested to maintain service levels, maintain staff levels, and no increase in non-personnel costs for 2010,2011,2012. Staffis bringing those in again. Over the last couple years, when a person was laid off, there was concern and then another year when no one was laid off, there was concern about that. We are trying to keep it as professional and straight forward as possible. The 2010 budget is very comprehensive. It does not get as much attention as it should. It explains each department's activities, number of people, and what they do. Departments can do their best to give estimates of revenues and expenditures, but the biggest thing is taxes. Last year after raising the levy $200,000, most people's taxes went down even with an increase in the levy. City Administrator Herlofsky would like Council direction to be for staff to give a levy amount that will not increase the City taxes in 2011. Staff can provide that. If Council is willing to increase the levy by $200,000, or let property taxes go up $5/month or $60/year, those items give staff some indication of where to go. Staffwill give estimates and try to squeeze as many services into it as we can. If Council does not want that and cut back on some things, let us know. We are already being pushed with legislation on PERA wanting an addition for the employer and employee looking into 2011, hospitalization costs will be pushing us, etc. Staff is looking for an indication of where Council would like to go. The biggest thing we focus on is the levy and how much it costs each person. Councilmember May noted there are three objectives in the staffmemo. Those are the staff objectives. Council has not had an opportunity to discuss our objectives. She wants to make sure they do have an opportunity to have some good discussion about what Council thinks the objectives should be. She was not in favor of handing out a number. We threw out a number and everything became about the number. She wants to have open discussion about increased productivity and cutting expenses. If all we focus on is a number, then some of the dialogue goes away. She liked Councilmember Fogarty's suggestion because that was missing for her as a new Councilmember. Each department does not have to go through every line, but let's open the page to their budget section and give Council and idea of how it works and how to better understand it; a short synopsis. Council agreed to have department heads at the meeting to give a synopsis on the important things Council needs to know about their department, 16 Council Minutes (Regular) May 3,2010 Page 12 how they function, why their budget is what it is. Mayor Larson stated at the workshop we can talk about these three objectives and whether we agree with these or want our own. Mr. David Pritzlaff, 20255 Akin Road, noted Councilmember Wilson stated the workshop will be open to the public and he hoped every budget workshop and meeting will be open to the public, without time limits so residents can air their concerns. His property taxes did go up last year and his value went down.. When talking about taxes, you also have to look at the value. Regarding maintaining service levels, he felt the service could go down a little in some areas. This winter the trail along Akin Road was plowed more often and better than the road. Sometimes it was on the weekend. He felt we did not need to pay overtime to plow paths even though there might be school on Monday. How many people will use the trail to walk to school or for their daily walk? Ifresidents knew it would save tax dollars and some overtime, we would do the work on the trails on weekdays, not weekends. Regarding maintain staff levels, when it comes to staff levels if any Councilmember wants to do any reorganization or cutting of staff, that it not be said in the meeting it is data privacy. It is not a review on one particular person. You do not name the person, you name the position that you are looking at trying to reorganize or cut. You leave a person out of it. When it becomes the position it becomes the money. You are working with the money. It is the position, not a person. Mr. Pritzlaffwanted to make sure all the meetings will be open to the public and let the people speak. We pay taxes in the City and we have increases in taxes and fees. Residents need to have their voices heard. Cuts need to be made. There have not been a lot of hard decisions in the budget the last two years. Seeing a staff recommendation is premature. Staffhas worked on their budgets and have something in mind. Seeing staff objectives; why didn't Council set objectives first and give staff direction as to what they want. It has been said for two years we want to maintain service levels and staff levels. Other cities made cuts from staffmg to everything else. To give it a rubber stamp that we will keep the people and service levels, does not need to always be there. Mayor Larson stated Council will start with these objectives and see ifwe agree with them.. We will revisit this at the workshop. Mr. Pritzlaff asked if each Councilmember has their goals set. Mayor Larson stated they will be brought to the workshop. Mr. Pritzlaffwanted to make sure there would be harder decisions and more work this year. Taxes went up. A lot of people cannot afford the taxes and losing $20,000 in property values. Some of the service levels can be lowered such as plowing trails. b) Vinge Agreement Update - Economic Development There were some questions at the April 26, 2010, EDA meeting and staff provided the answers. Councilmember May asked if it was common practice to lend funds. City Attorney Jamnik stated many cities do business subsidies, tax increments, etc. It is not uncommon to sell property on a note. 17 Council Minutes (Regular) May 3,2010 Page 13 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE a) LMC Annual Conference and Marketplace -Administration City Administrator Herlofsky provided this for Council's information in case they would like to attend. Councilmember Fogarty asked for the times of the conference. Councilmember May: Noted the street light utility fee is added to the quarterly bill. She asked ifthere was a separate account so only street light activity can access those funds. Finance Director Walters confIrmed it will be a separate fund, similar to sewer and water. City Administrator Herlo/sky: Suggested on May 24, have the regular EDA meeting at 6:00 p.m. and the EDA Strategic Planning at 6:30 p.m. Finance Director Walters: The audit went well and the auditors are finishing up. Mayor Larson: He was invited to a couple high school events which were awesome and encouraged residents to support these events. He thanked the Rambling River Center for their volunteer brunch. The City has some tremendous volunteers. Last Saturday was the parks and pond clean up with 450 volunteers. He encouraged residents to support the local businesses. 14. ADJOURN MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to adjourn. at 9:05 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, r h-7~ ynthia Muller Executive Assistant 18