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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11.01.10 Council Minutes 7Cl- COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR November 1,2010 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Larson at 7:00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Boy Scout Troop led the audience and Council in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL Members Present: Members Absent: Also Present: Audience: Larson, Fogarty, May, Wilson Donnelly Andrea Poehler, City Attorney; Peter Herlofsky, City Administrator; Teresa Walters, Finance Director; Todd Reiten, Municipal Services Director; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Beve Preece, Jerry Ristow, David Pritzlaff, Colin Garvey, Elsworth & Kay Hoeppner 4. APPROVE AGENDA Councilmember Wilson pulled item 7d) Approve 2010 City Audit Engagement for discussion. Finance Director Walters wanted to give an update on the Fire Relief Association under Roundtable. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS a) Introduce Steve Arndt, Streets and Utilities Supervisor Municipal Services Director Reiten introduced Steve Arndt as the Streets and Utilities Supervisor. 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS Ms. Annette Kuyper, 20530 Dyers Pass, gave an update on Warrior to Citizen activities. Patriotic Day will be held November 4, to honor and recognize military service with a free meal and a program. On November 11, there will be two showings ofa documentary "To Iraq and Back." It follows five Minnesota families and soldiers during deployment. The monthly veteran dinners have started and will be held the fIrst Monday of every month at various churches in Farmington. Elsworth & Kay Hoeppner, 27 Walnut Street, had three concerns. The fIrst is regarding safety on Walnut Street in front of Base Specialites Company. He asked if this company has a conditional use permit for unloading and loading his product on a public street. He also asked if they have a permit for off-street parking. Ifthe company does not have these permits, this activity should be stopped immediately for safety reasons. They showed Council pictures of the area with trucks parked on the street. Cars cannot see 4 Council Minutes (Regular) November 1, 2010 Page 2 approaching traffic, or the forklift coming from the driveway. You also cannot see traffic coming around the corner or pedestrians. This is dangerous for people coming from the daycare center down the street. The forklift backs out of the driveway with a load 14 ft. wide and cars come from both directions. The forklift operator is using the street for loading and cars have to stop and wait. People have to walk in the street. The workers are also cutting aluminum in the driveway all afternoon. Also, the street light does not light up the intersection. It needs to be extended over the intersection. They also have a concern with the humming noise coming from the elevator at night. Mr. David Pritzlaff, 20255 Akin Road, wanted to address some accusations from the Mayor and Councilmember Wilson at a previous meeting. The accusations went to the newspaper regarding Mr. Pritzlaffusing the podium as a campaign tactic. He stated he is not doing this and never has. As he has been at several Council meetings within the last two years, and every budget workshop, that shows he is not using the podium as a campaign tactic. What was said was that he asks the same questions and does not receive answers. Mr. Pritzlaff stated Councilmember Wilson voiced a concern at the last meeting towards staff because two residents did not receive answers to their questions. Mr. Pritzlaff stated the answers he receives are unclear and very short. Now, Council voices a concern about not receiving answers. That has been a concern for two years. Mr. Pritzlaff stated Councilmembers also said when he asks questions, he does not give input for solutions. He begged to differ. He has attended Council workshops and given his input. At Council meetings he gives input and receives a remark, ''that is your opinion." Those are remarks he is giving Council for dialogue or consideration. To make an accusation that he does not give input to solutions, he has. He has attended all the budget workshops for two years and several meetings. To throw those accusations at a taxpayer, is totally unfair. When you talk about campaign tactics, when you go to the newspaper after a Council meeting, that is a campaign tactic. To have that in the newspaper is totally unjustified. He stated two years ago, Councilmember Wilson voted no for a Council pay raise, but accepted the pay raise anyway. Mayor Larson stated that will not be discussed the night before an election. Mr. Pritzlaff stated the five minute rule should be acknowledged. The person before him went three minutes over. He is against cutting people off at five minutes. When people have an issue whether it is one or more, or talk slower, to be cut off at a meeting is disrespectful. Councilmember Wilson stated with regard to the newspaper article, a reporter contacted all members of the Council and he provided a response. As Mr. Pritzlaff is aware, when serving on the Council you receive calls from reporters and he provided his opinion. Mr. Pritzlaff stated in an interview the reporter said Councilmember Wilson and Mayor Larson are the ones that accused him and another person of using the podium as a campaign tactic that night. Mr. Pritzlaff stated he has not done this, because he has been to so many meetings and workshops. It has also been stated Council will not take any more public comment at the budget workshops because all comments from the public have been received. Mr. Pritzlaff told the reporter that new information comes to Council weekly on the budget, so all comments have not been received from the public. New information warrants new comments. Councilmember Wilson stated the Council has been very amenable to residents to provide their input and feedback. Regarding the five 5 Council Minutes (Regular) November 1, 2010 Page 3 minute rule, the Mayor made an executive decision saying we have a lot of issues that Council needs to work through. Councilmember Wilson did not take the Mayor's comments as disrespectful to anyone. We have to figure out some critical issues facing the City. Mr. Pritzlaff stated you have been elected by the taxpayers and if it takes a longer meeting to listen to the taxpayers and then make your decision so be it. At the last budget workshop it was stated right away, there will be no public comment. It was also stated we will not take anymore comments at budget workshops because we have received public comment. Council does not have all the public comments, because you keep receiving new information. Mayor Larson said the article read, we will not take anymore public comment at the workshops. If someone has a suggestion, we will take it during Citizen Comments or they can come to City Hall, call, or e-mail. We have a lot of workto do and we are hearing the same thing over and over again. Mr. Pritzlaffsaid when new information comes out at the budget workshops, that is what can generate new comments and questions from the residents and you are shutting that out. a) Response to Mr. Colin Garvey Mr. Garvey was disappointed in the answers he received to his questions at the last meeting. We all understood that the money left over from the Pilot Knob project had been paying the City's portion of the seal coat. We were assessed on that project. Staffhad stated the money left over has been paying for the City's portion of the seal coating. The answer he received was that no one was over- assessed. Mr. Garvey stated ifwe were not over-assessed, how can we have money left over after 12 years. The math does not add up. City Administrator Herlofsky stated staff is still working on that portion. There have been two City Administrators, two Finance Directors and a couple of engineers during that time. We are talking about a bond from 1998. We also had a different fmancial advisor. We are looking at the numbers and need to clarify a few things. We have not stopped looking and will continue to get an answer for Council and Mr. Garvey. We are going back in history to determine exactly how this was handled. Mr. Garvey has been assured that any money left over goes to pay the bonds. There was a bond on the Pilot Knob project. Why wasn't the money allocated to pay off the bond? Finance Director Walters stated it is and that is part of what we will bring back. You will see from the beginning where the money went, how it went towards the project, and how the remaining balance was used. We are going through every activity and every project in the road and bridge fund. There are a lot of projects and a couple have bonds. Our system does not go back to 1999, so it is very time consuming. The bond for Pilot Knob is not paid off. Mr. Garvey stated he has been paying for this for 12 years. Finance Director Walters stated staff wants to make sure we have the right answer and everything is thoroughlyfresearched. Mr. Garvey noted the answer he received states Empire Township contributed to the Pilot Knob project. Finance Director Walters clarified the question was what revenue sources are in the road and bridge fund. The road and bridge fund is not only for that project, it is for several projects. 6 Council Minutes (Regular) November 1, 2010 Page 4 Mr. Garvey was confused by 195th Street. On May 3,2010, he was told the county gave $1,980,807.59 to the 195th Street project. Now he has been told the county is giving $4.5 million. Taking MSA funds for 195th Street, he comes up with $5.933 million then add that to the $4.5 million he comes up with $14.4 million on a project that was just over $8.5 million. City Administrator Herlofsky asked that Mr. Garvey come to his office so staff can see how he obtains his figures. The City bonded for $12 million. Mr. Garvey stated the minutes from June 2, 2008, state that the City did go out for bonds for $12,175,000. Staff's answer was the bonds were $8.5 million. He asked which is the real answer. Finance Director Walters stated there were two bonds associated with that project. It is also part of the road and bridge fund. Staff is looking at every project in the road and bridge fund and 195th Street is part of that fund. That project did not come in under budget. Mr. Garvey stated the answer he received was that the City bonded $8.5 million. When you add the MSA funds, county contribution you get $14.4 million. Friedges bid was $8.3 million plus some change orders. Staff noted there is also interest on the bond. All these numbers will be provided, how much we are receiving, how much we anticipate receiving, and how much the project costs. Mr. Garvey asked about the documentation from June 2, 2008, that the City went out for $12,175,000 in G.O. bonds. Finance Director Walters stated there are two bonds. One was for 195th Street, and the other was for Elm Street. There are two projects that were bonded with one bond. The $8,545,000 was the bond for 195t1i Street. Mr. Garvey stated once again, using your figures of $8.5 million, MSA funds and county contribution you collected $14.4 million on the project. Staff stated all of this information will be brought back. Mr. Garvey wanted to clarify that 195th Street and Elm Street were put together on a bond. Staff stated they are on one bond. Everything will be broken out as to what happened in each ofthose projects. City Administrator Herlofsky stated we are more concerned than you with the road and bridge fund. The different projects need to be pulled apart to make sure we have the revenue stream and expenses properly allocated. Staff is working on it. Mr. Garvey stated it seems with your own numbers and documentation you are severely over-bonding on these projects. Finance Director Walters stated we do not have all of the information right now and to give partial answers leads to more questions. We want to go through everything so we can also understand the entire project. Mr. Garvey appreciated that because he and other residents would like to know how much we are over-bonding on these projects. (Mayor Larson left the meeting at 7:35 p.m.) Councilmember Wilson suggested Council should do a periodic review of our bonds. He would like to review the information staff obtains at a workshop. 7 Council Minutes (Regular) November 1, 2010 Page 5 b) Response to Mr. Jerry Ristow. A response was sent to Mr. Ristow. 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes (10/18/10 Regular) b) Approved Explorer Post 9470 - Fire Department c) Adopted RESOLUTION R61-10 Approving Submittal of Waste Abatement Funding Application - Municipal Services e) Approved Bills APIF, MOTION CARRIED. d) Approve 2010 City Audit Engagement - Finance Councilmember Wilson noted last year it seemed like a comprehensive process. He asked if staff was comfortable with this auditor and if they were charging a fair price. Finance Director Walters agreed with the price and is comfortable with them. As she is new and they prepared a portion of the financial statements, when she prepares them herself this year, she may have questions for them. City Administrator Herlofsky stated normally we change auditors every four or five years. We would like one more year with this frrm and will send this out for bid next year. Councilmember May stated she made it clear previously that the services we contract for need to be sent out for bids. She understood the situation staff is in and it is a fair request to retain the same company. There were some questions with the HRAlEDA fund that raised some doubt in her mind, but understood the request. Next year we need to send this out for bid. MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to approve retaining KDV for the audit services related to the 2010 audit. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 12. NEW BUSINESS a) Approve Listing Agreement 431 Third Street - Economic Development Staff is requesting approval of a Listing Agreement with KW Commercial to market the old Rambling River Center building. Councilmember Wilson asked why we have an exclusion list, but we also have a $1,000 reimbursement if this individual buys it. City Administrator Herlofsky stated the realtor is taking a risk with us having a potential buyer. They could have some expense knowing there 8 Council Minutes (Regular) November 1,2010 Page 6 is no return. City Attorney Poehler stated it is to cover their costs. MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to approve the Listing Agreement authorizing Becky Leebens with KW Commercial to assist the City of Farmington with the sale of the property located at 431 3rd Street. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember May: Reminded everyone tomorrow is election day. There are a lot of good resources on the candidates. The candidate forum can be found on the City website. She urged people to be informed and to vote. Councilmember Fogarty: Reminded everyone today is November 1, and winter parking restrictions have gone into effect. There is no overnight parking on City streets. On Saturday, November 6, Celts is hosting a bingo fundraiser benefitting the Farmington High School Dance Team. Toys for Town will start November 12, through December 17. There are various drop-off locations throughout town. She asked staff to provide a final punch list for the ice arena on items that need to be done. Councilmember Wilson: The Patriotic Day celebration will be a neat event. It will be held at the high school and so far 600 people have registered. He encouraged everyone to attend. Cub Scouts can volunteer to help at this event. The latest copy of "The Bridge" has been sent to residents. There is a lot of good information on the budget and where your tax dollars go. He thanked Danielle Cahlander for putting this publication together. City Administrator Herlo/sky: Anyone who wants information on the veterans activities, should contact his office. Council has received a HiPP Survey regarding collaboration with the county, and he asked Council to complete the survey. Finance Director Walters: She attended the Fire Relief Association meeting. Their investments are doing well and are up 8.25%. The Relief Association will be having Turkey Bingo on November 13, at 7 p.m. at Fire Station 1. 14. ADJOURN MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to adjourn at 7:48 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia MullerExecutive Assistant 9