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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01.03.11 Council Minutes 7cz- COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR January 3,2011 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Larson at 7:00 p.m. Councilmember Jason Bartholomay was sworn-in by City Administrator Herlofsky. Councilmember Bartholomay thanked the residents for voting and those who have contacted him with ideas and concerns. He thanked those who helped with his campaign and the election judges and other candidates. He thanked staff for spending time with him discussing City issues and thanked his family. His goals for the next four years are to attract commercial development, push for full transparency, work hard for fiscal discipline and budgetary constraints and to align the City's strategic goals with the residents' values. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Larson led the audience and Council in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL Members Present: Members Absent: Also Present: Audience: Larson, Bartholomay, Donnelly, May Fogarty Joel Jamnik, City Attorney; Peter Herlofsky, City Administrator; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Beve Preece, Sonia Fuerstneau, Al Cooper 4. APPROVE AGENDA City Attorney Jamnik added 5b) Update on Prosecution Referral. City Administrator Herlofsky added 13a) High Performance Partnership update. MOTION by Bartholomay, second by May to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS a) Fire Hydrants - Fire Department Fire Chief Pietsch asked the residents for help with shoveling out fire hydrants. He challenged the community to think about their neighbors and their safety. Fire fighters have been digging out hydrants and the Sentence to Serve crew will also be assisting. Residents need to take responsibility for hydrants in their neighborhoods and keeping them shoveled out. If someone needs assistance, they should call the Fire Chief or the Fire Marshal. Notices are on the website, the newsletter and a NixIe message will be sent out. The City also has an adopt-a- hydrant program. b) Update on Prosecution Referral City Attorney Jamnik stated the School Board recently conducted an investigation and forwarded the findings to the County Attorney's office for a prosecution 5 Council Minutes (Regular) January 3, 2011 Page 2 review. The County Attorney determined that because most of the charges would be a gross misdemeanor it should be reviewed by the City Attorney's office. A transmittal letter and a redacted executive summary have been received by the City Attorney. A direct request from the school district has not been received for prosecution. Given the City's history with the school district, the City Attorney is inclined to refer the matter out for a charging determination by an impartial City Attorney not in their office. It is routine to refer these matters out. What is not routine in this case is that the investigative report is several hundred pages long. Getting an outside counsel to review it in a timely fashion could take 2-3 weeks. The City would be billed for the review. City Attorney Jamnik will inform the Council who the matter was referred to, what the decision was and ask the Council for further input. 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS Ms. Sonia Fuerstneau and AI Cooper, 5997 188th Street W, stated they live at the end of the road which snowmobilers use at the primary route to reach the snowmobile trail in the field. They have lived there for ten years and have a safety concern. The second year of living there, they had an issue with snowmobilers cutting through their property and down the driveway. Their driveway and the dead end are the same thing. When backing out you look over your right shoulder and do not expect traffic coming from the left side. They had a near miss with a snowmobiler and contacted the City. The City did post a no snowmobiling sign onto the dead end sign. The sign stayed there until last year. They contacted the City and the Police Department brought out a temporary sign on a stick and posted that at the dead end. There were no more issues after that. Two weeks ago, the temporary signs were removed. They contacted the Police Department and were told they would bring out more temporary signs. Last week a snowmobiler came over the dead end, Mr. Cooper talked with him and the conversation became confrontational. The snowmobiler placed a 911 call which was a waste oftime for a snowmobile discussion. When the Police Department brought out more signs, the Police advised them not to put up the signs, but to work with the City to address their safety concerns. The Police suggested the small stop signs that would require the snowmobilers to stop. Ms. Fuerstneau was not trying to prevent anyone from having fun, but the safety factor is their primarily concern. It is not a matter of if an accident happens, it is a matter of when. Putting up the mini stop signs could send the message that it is part of the trail. Their dead end is 150 yards away from the trail in the field. One street south at 189th Street there is also a dead end access and two blocks down at 190th Street and Everest Path is a free and clear entrance into the field. Their desire is for the Council to support putting up the permanent no snowmobiling sign at the dead end and allowing the Police Department to enforce it. Snowmobilers do not follow the ordinance of staying as far to the right side of the road as possible. Ms. Fuerstneau asked that the ordinance be clarified that a dead end access cannot be used within a certain number of feet ofa driveway. They are also open to other suggestions. Mr. Cooper stated as a Police Officer, he understands the safety of the community. He has been a Police Office for 14 years with another Police Department. The probability of an accident happening is very real. They are trying to take care of it before someone is 6 Council Minutes (Regular) January 3, 2011 Page 3 injured. There is no reactionary time when backing out of their driveway and the snowmobiles come at a very high speed. Mayor Larson stated staffwill respond after reviewing the situation. Mr. Cooper asked that someone come out to visually look at the situation. Ms. Beve Preece, 300 Spruce Street, President of the DV AC, stated the DV AC in cooperation with the Parks and Recreation Commission maintains the Depot Way Arts Park. She thanked the City for the prompt replacement of the bricks with a cement path. There used to be a blue horse in the park. It is having some maintenance work done and will be replaced in the spring. Another sculpture has been damaged and work is also being done to restore it. Some of the fence on the west side has been removed so some paintings will be placed in that area. The VFW is having a Steak Fry on January 15, for the Rambling River Center. Their goal was met for 2010 and they are working on 2011. 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by May, second by Bartholomay to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes (12/20110 Regular) b) Received Information Boards and Commissions Attendance - Administration c) Adopted RESOLUTION R1-11 Approving a Gambling Event Permit- Administration d) Approved Temporary On-Sale Liquor License Corinthian Lodge - Administration e) Approved Temporary On-Sale Liquor License Knights of Columbus - Administration f) Approved School and Conference - Engineering g) Approved Bills APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS a) Annual Organizational Matters MOTION by Bartholomay, second by Mayas follows: 10a(1). That Councilmember May be designated as Acting Mayor from January 4,2011 through December 31, 2011. 10a(2). That the Farmington Independent be designated as the official publication from January 4, 2011 through December 31, 2011. City Attorney Jamnik stated there is now more discretion in appointing an official newspaper. You can go beyond the local office. Both newspapers 7 Council Minutes (Regular) January 3, 2011 Page 4 qualify individually. We are not required to have two official newspapers. City Administrator Herlofsky noted one is located within the City and one is not. Staffwill provide the Council with comparisons of both newspapers. For 2012, staff should provide a form to both papers so identical information is provided. 10a(3). Appoint the frrm of Campbell Knutson, Joel Jamnik as City Attorney from January 4, 2011 through December 31, 2011. City Administrator Herlofsky will obtain a formal review from the City Attorney and bring it to Council. Staffwill also obtain rates from other cities. A policy should be developed for review of legal services every 4-5 years. 10a(4). That the Anchor Bank of Farmington, League of Minnesota Cities 4M Fund, RBC Dain Rauscher, Wells Fargo Investments, Smith Barney Inc., and Roundbank (Farmington) be designated as the Official Depositories from January 4, 2011 through December 31, 2011. Approve by RESOLUTION R2-11 the attached revised investment policy. The intent of the resolution is to give the Finance Director authority to invest money in other depositories as necessary and report to the Council with the quarterly report. 10a(5). That all sworn personnel in the Farmington Police Department be designated as process servers for the calendar year 2011. 10a(6). Approve a $1,000,000 Faithful Performance bond for the City Clerk. 10a(7). ORDINANCE NO. 010-630 Establishing Fees and Charges for licenses and permits for 2011 was adopted December 20,2010. 10a(8). Appointments to Boards and Commissions - Candidates will be interviewed January 10, 2011 and appointments will be made at the January 18, 2011, Council Meeting. As applicants are all incumbents, interviews will not be held and appointments will be made at the January 18, 2011, Council Meeting. 10a(9). Appoint Councilmember Mayas the primary and Councilmember Bartholomay as the alternate representative to the ALF Ambulance Board. 10a(10). Appoint Mayor Larson as the Director and Councilmember Mayas the alternate to the Dakota Communications Center Board of Directors. 10a(1l). Appoint Mayor Larson as the City's representative to the CEEF Committee. 10a(12). Appoint Councilmember Fogarty, Staff member Peter Herlofsky and a Planning Commission member to the Farmington/Empire Planning Advisory Committee. 10a(13). Appoint Mayor Larson, Staff member Peter Herlofsky and a Planning Commission member to the Farmington/Castle Rock Discussion Group. 10a(14). Appoint Councilmember May, Staff member Peter Herlofsky, and a Planning Commission member to the Eureka/Farmington Planning Advisory Committee. 8 Council Minutes (Regular) January 3, 2011 Page 5 10a(15). Appoint Councilmembers Donnelly and Bartholomay to the MUSA Review Committee. 10a(16). Appoint Brenda Wendlandt as Director and Jim Constantineau as Alternate to LOGIS for 2011. 10a(17). Appoint by RESOLUTUION R3-11 Peter J. Herlofsky, Jr. as the Responsible Authority for data practices and Brenda Wendlandt as Data Practices Act Compliance Officer and Brian Lindquist as Responsible Authority for law enforcement for 2011. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 12. NEW BUSINESS a) Deputy Registrar Contract Update - Administration City Administrator Herlofsky explained the City is working with two vendors to provide this service to the City. The direction he received from the Council was that recognizing there was a risk in the investment of starting a Deputy Registrar office, the Council was not interested in having much risk. Negotiations with the two vendors have been that they will bear the entire risk, but then they are offering a lesser amount in sharing of the profits. There would be 1-2 years with the City receiving no revenue and the City not charging rent for the use of City property. He hoped to bring something to Council by the end of the month. The City would be able to review the financial information quarterly. Mayor Larson agreed with these terms as it would provide a service to the City and bring traffic downtown. There were no other comments. Staff hoped to start this service during the winter. 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE a) High Performance Partnership Update - Administration For the past year City Administrator Herlofsky has been the Chair of this organization. HiPP is an organization comprised of Dakota County cities and work on how to make government more efficient. Currently the County is doing a resetting for this group which will involve focus groups and a town hall meeting. Letters will be sent to a few residents inviting them to a focus group meeting. Councilmember Donnelly: Welcomed Councilmember Bartholomay to the Council. He hoped the economy would be better in the coming year to ease some of the burdens. He thanked the Public Works department for keeping the roads open. This is his 10th year as an elected official in the community. 9 Council Minutes (Regular) January 3, 2011 Page 6 Councilmember Bartholomay: It is important for residents to participate in the VFW Steak Fry fundraiser for the Rambling River Center on January 15. He thanked Danielle Cahlander and Lena Larson for their work on the City Calendar. Councilmember May: Congratulations to the girls' high school hockey team on winning the tournament. She asked that we start the budget process earlier and would like to see some changes in the whole process. She is still waiting for the road and bridge fund detail. During the campaign, there was a suggestion for a Public Finance Committee. She would like Council to consider that. City Attorney Jamnik: There were two failures in the fall compliance checks for liquor sales. We suspended the civil proceeding to allow the prosecution side to proceed. He will check on the status of the criminal side and Council should be seeing the civil side in the next month or two. City Administrator Herlofsky: Regarding the budget, last year staff tried to have a strategic planning to help with the budget process and there were different views from Councilmembers on how to accomplish that. In order for us to effectively move into a budget process, it would be helpful ifthere was a vision of this organization and priorities associated with that. We could move from there to the numbers. Working on numbers without sufficient consensus and purpose will make the budget process less enjoyable. What would be important is to not talk about numbers, but look at objectives, vision, purpose, and priorities. Those things will give us direction and make it easier for Council and staff as we get into September and October. Ifwe have agreement on the purpose, it will make things clearer. Councilmember May agreed this was a good idea, but we need to block off enough time. Mayor Larson: Welcomed Councilmember Bartholomay to the Council. January 15, is the Steak Fry for the Rambling River Center. Christmas trees will be collected January 10 - 14, 2011. The Farmington Expo will be January 29, at the high school. He urged residents to shop locally. ProfIts from the liquor store go back to the Parks and Recreation programs. Residents should have received The Bridge. It is full of information for residents. 14. ADJOURN MOTION by Bartholomay, second by May to adjourn at 8:12 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant 10