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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07.02.12 Council Minutes 2c:2_, COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR July 2, 2012 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Larson at 7:00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OFALLEGL4NCE Mayor Larson led the audience and Council in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL Members Present: Larson, Bartholomay, Donnelly, Fogarty, May Members Absent: None Also Present: Joel Jamnik, City Attorney;David McKnight, City Administrator; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director;Kevin Schorzman, City Engineer;Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Audience: Randy Turgeon,Annette Kuyper, David Hartnett, Kirk Zeaman, Kari Cistera,Zachary Stensland, Kyle Hemming, Todd Glass, Joy Lauterbach, Kyle Snesrude 4. APPROVE AGENDA MOTION by Fogarty, second by Donnelly to approve the Agenda. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS Ms.Joy Lauterbach, Trinity Senior Campus of Farmington, announced they have opened their memory care unit. On July 13 and 14, 2012,there will be an open house. Ms. Kari Cistera introduced herself as the new Director for the memory care unit. They are always looking for new residents and volunteers. Mr.Dave Hartnett, Dunn Bros. Coffee and member of the Farmington Business Association, stated a block party will be held July 19, 2012, at Tamarack Ridge Shopping Center and July 21, 2012,there will be a downtown block party. Ms.Annette Kuyper, Farmington Yellow Ribbon Network, read a statement from the network to address a problem in the community. Since 9/11 65,000 Minnesotans have been deployed overseas. There is a transition period when they return. There are physical and psychological wounds that need to heal. For service members loud fireworks can be a cause of reliving traumatic experiences. This continues to be a struggle for veterans for many years. Currently the Yellow Ribbon Network is supporting several veterans in the community who are having a difficult transition. She asked Farmington residents to take a stand for them. Ms. Kuyper listed the fireworks that are illegal. As the first Yellow Ribbon community in MN they have set a high standard. 4 Council Minutes(Regular) July 2,2012 Page 2 We all support our veterans in numerous ways. The network is asking Farmington residents to please obey the law this holiday season or call 911 if your neighbors need a friendly reminder. The veterans can stay away from large fireworks displays, but when it is happening in their own neighborhoods,they cannot get away. It has already become a problem for struggling veterans. She asked everyone to be respectful of our veteran neighbors throughout the City. We want to be the community that openly shows support for our veterans. By doing so we create a community in which we welcome them all the way home. 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes(6/18/12 Regular) b) Adopted RESOLUTION R25-12 Appointing 2012 Primary Election Judges- Administration c) Acknowledged Resignation Parks and Recreation Commission-Administration d) Approved Appointment Parks and Recreation Commission-Administration e) Adopted RESOLUTION R26-12 Approving Gambling Premise Permit Farmington Wrestling-Administration fl Received Information Water Restriction Enforcement Worker-Engineering g) Approved School and Conference—Parks and Recreation h) Adopted RESOLUTION R27-12 Amending Minnesota Task Force One Joint Powers Agreement—Fire Department i) Approved Bills APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS a) Approve Therapeutic Massage License Jackie Klanchnik-Administration Ms. Jackie Klanchnik has applied for a therapeutic massage license to practice at HealthPro Chiropractic, 19685 Pilot Knob Road. MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to close the public hearing. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to approve a Therapeutic Massage License for Jackie Klanchnik at HealthPro Chiropractic, 19685 Pilot Knob Road. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. b) Adopt Enabling Resolution and Ordinance EDA Composition Revision (cont'd.)-Administration This public hearing was continued from the June 18, 2012, Council meeting. Currently the EDA is comprised of five Councilmembers and two residents holding ex-officio seats. The EDA has requested this be changed effective February 1, 2013,to two Councilmembers and three residents holding official, undesignated seats. The EDA would not have taxing authority, but would make budget recommendations to the City Council for Council approval. MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to close the public hearing. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 5 Council Minutes(Regular) July 2,2012 Page 3 Councilmember Bartholomay suggested changing the name from an EDA to an EDC as we have stripped the authority away from the EDA. City Attorney Jamnik felt the change is not that significant. An EDA has a wide range of authority. The statute considers it an economic development authority regardless of the level of authority that you vest in it. He recommended staying with the statutory frame. Councilmember May asked if we need to be more specific as far as what authority we give the EDA? City Attorney Jamnik replied no,the enabling resolution contains the authority you grant or take away. Councilmembers agreed to leave the name as an EDA. Councilmember Fogarty attended the LMC Annual Convention and spent the majority of the time on economic development sessions. They said the City Council should not sit as the EDA and that the business owners in the community are the best source of economic development. Most cities have seven members versus five members. She felt we should continue to have a seven member board and work hard to get business owners involved in the EDA. Council needs to encourage them to apply when the time comes. Councilmember Bartholomay agreed with having seven members as two would be Councilmembers. Councilmember May wanted five members as it is a good place to start as we transition. Over the last year, as openings have come up,there has been a high caliber of candidates that apply. Councilmember Donnelly agreed with five members as the majority of the new EDA will not be Councilmembers. He agreed it is hard to get people to volunteer for boards and commissions. Mayor Larson asked if we do go to seven members and we cannot find qualified members, what do we do. Staff stated you will continue to have vacant seats until filled and we will continue to look for residents. We would have to go through this process again to change the number required. Mayor Larson had preferred to leave the EDA as is until he spoke with Councilmember Fogarty about the LMC conference. He agreed it should be seven members to get more opinions and ideas. Councilmember Fogarty wanted to be careful about dissuading business owners from applying who are not residents of the City. They have a vested interest in economic development despite the fact their homes may not reside in Farmington. It is one thing she would like to change in the enabling resolution is that you could be a resident or business owner and that should mean you do not need to own the building your business is in. Who would want economic development to succeed more than a business owner? City Attorney Jamnik stated when the statute was passed, the EDA did not specify the composition had to be City residents. The previous statute for HRA's did require members to be residents of the City. The statute also authorizes the EDA to be granted powers of an HRA so there is some ambiguity whether that restriction on membership carries over. He noted 80%of the cities have allowed non-residents, but 20%still say you should not do that. It depends on the primary focus of the group. If it is business,then allow business owners; if housing is the focus then why have a non-resident advising on housing issues. The statute is set up to give Council final flexibility. 6 Council Minutes(Regular) July 2,2012 Page 4 MOTION by May, second by Donnelly to approve a five-member EDA with two Councilmembers and three residents. Councilmember Donnelly noted we have talked about this at great length prior to this and this is what we agreed to have staff draw up. Voting for: Larson, Donnelly, May. Voting against: Bartholomay, Fogarty. MOTION CARRIED. 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS,REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS a) Approve Downtown Liquor Store Lease-Administration Current lease for the downtown liquor store expires on July 31, 2012. Options for the location of the downtown store include staying at City Center or moving to Tamarack Ridge. The Tamarack rent is$9.50/sq. ft. for the first year for 5,000 sq. ft. The City Center rate is$13.50/sq. ft for the first year for 6,000 sq. ft. At the June 11, 2012,workshop Council directed staff to work out a lease agreement with Tamarack Ridge. Both options include a savings in rent. The Tamarack lease included the possibility of new signage and an opt-out clause if we were to get out of the liquor business. Councilmember May has advocated we should not be in the liquor business,but the majority of Council does not agree. She was in favor of Tamarack and stated her reasons for that decision. She noted we are looking at options because we are not making money at the current downtown location. Mayor Larson preferred to stay at City Center. In the meeting with MMBA,they noted downsizing the store was not the best move. The nearby grocery store has changed, and is bringing more business to the area. The grocery store would be willing to cross-promote with the liquor store. He wanted to find something unique to do with the extra space. Councilmember Fogarty has struggled with this decision. There is an election this fall that could change the make-up of this Council. If that Council's decision is to get out of the liquor business, we have locked them into a seven-year lease at Tamarack to cover our moving costs. She is in favor of staying in the liquor business because we would have a large hole to fill in the budget with the loss of liquor revenue. She does not see a lot of other liquor stores wanting to come here. Residents want to do their shopping in Farmington. If this was her business, she would build her own building in town. Five-years is a good time period at City Center. Addressing Mr. Wartmann, owner of City Center, she noted how he dealt with the City on this was very disappointing. Until we were prepared to leave, he was unwilling to negotiate a better lease rate. Councilmember Bartholomay chose Tamarack. He asked why we would stay in a location where we continue to lose money. There are 300 more people living around Tamarack. We spent a year trying to work with Mr. Wartmann and a 7 Council Minutes(Regular) July 2,2012 Page 5 good indicator of future behavior is past behavior. He felt the customers at the downtown store would follow us to Tamarack. Councilmember Donnelly stated both locations have pluses and minuses. It has been at City Center for seven years. Tamarack access is difficult when going south. The surrounding businesses in each location would say they are happy where they are. The grocery store was not doing well, but they turned it around by changing the way they operate. The reason our liquor store is doing poorly is that it could be managed better. When times are tough you have to pay attention and run your business better. We should stop talking about this, get on with business and run it right. Give staff time to turn the business around and not distract them with having to move. He wanted some stability. Councilmember May stated we are talking about a retail business and the first thing with running that is visibility. You cannot compare us to the grocery store. You cannot miss that big building. We need visibility and we do not have that at City Center. A year ago when we knew the lease expiration was coming, she mentioned we should not be in the liquor business, so that was the time to make that decision. That discussion will take on a new meaning when you have a new location and a new lease. She cannot imagine a new Council would decide to get out of the business right after making a move and a new lease. It is over$100,000 cheaper over five years if we move to Tamarack rather than stay at City Center. Councilmember Donnelly stated if you take the extra square footage out,they are close. Before we consider moving, we should have done a marketing study. The MMBA has said don't move. Councilmember May stated if we were making money we would be taking a risk, but we are not making money. She noted people have changed their minds since the workshop,which everyone has a right to do. But if I had a change of mind, I would call the Mayor for another meeting to discuss it further. Until a few days ago, she thought Council had agreed to go to Tamarack. Mayor Larson noted after the workshop, it was a 3-2 consensus for Tamarack. Anyone has a right to change their mind. Councilmember May was concerned about the process and not calling another meeting. Councilmember Bartholomay asked if it was a bid,would we have to go with the lowest bidder. City Attorney Jamnik replied if it was a bid, if it was over $100,000, if it wasn't real property, etc. The competitive bid law doesn't apply to real property. Councilmember Bartholomay stated if we are staying at City Center, can we set up benchmarks to make sure we are hitting numbers rather than waiting two years and then look. Councilmember Fogarty felt that could be discussed during the budget process. Councilmember May stated we need an addendum to the lease that allows early termination and that is not in the City Center lease. Mayor Larson stated the MMBA has showed us the work we have to do and we have the ability to become extremely profitable if we do things smarter. We are in the process of doing that. 8 Council Minutes(Regular) July 2,2012 Page 6 MOTION by Fogarty, second by Donnelly to approve a five-year lease at City Center with an amendment to get out of the lease if we decide to get out of the liquor business. City Attorney Jamnik stated we will propose an addendum to the landlord. Voting for: Larson, Donnelly, Fogarty. Voting against: Bartholomay, May. MOTION CARRIED. b) May 2012 Financial Report-Administration We are at 42%of the year. In general fund revenues without taxes we have received 29.8%. Expenditures are at 36.81%of the budget. One budget that is over is emergency management and that is due to upgrading the outdoor warning sirens. Other general fund budgets are at or below budget. Revenues at the Rambling River center are at 44%of the budget and expenditures are at 38%. Pool expenditures are at$9200 and$5300 in revenues. The EDA had a significant expenditure in May associated with the new sidewalk by the dental clinic. The downtown liquor store had a loss of$10,000 in May and the Pilot Knob store had a profit of$24,000 before transfers. Councilmember May appreciated staff paying special attention to the revenue side. Seeing the comp time and overtime that was not included in the budget, she will rely on staff to watch that. She commended City Administrator McKnight for bringing that to Council's attention and wanted to know about any other expenses that are significant. Councilmember Fogarty asked about the pool revenues for June. Staff stated we have sold the most ever family passes this year only two weeks into the season. Councilmember Donnelly asked about the storm clean-up costs. Staff noted they will be included in budgets for streets,parks, and natural resources. 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a) Approve Second Amendment to Disbersing Agreement Vermillion River Crossings-Engineering This amendment states that the developer has completed the requirements in the Development Contract and in exchange the City receives the escrow money of $200,000,to complete the necessary improvements. Staff proposed obtaining quotes to complete a sidewalk between the CDA senior housing and McDonald's. There will be money left for intersection lighting and other sidewalks as needed. Mayor Larson stated right now,the developer is the fmancial group. The money sits in their non-interest account or we can take the money and use it for improvements we see fit for that area. Councilmember May stated the discussion is whether we want to release them of their development obligation. She did not like releasing them because she thought there were supposed to be many landscaping improvements. Are we doing it because there is a CDA building and a McDonald's and they want a sidewalk in between? Mayor Larson explained when we completed Dushane 9 Council Minutes(Regular) July 2,2012 Page 7 Avenue, Council discussed the design standards and decided they were too much and we did not want to spend the money to keep up the center island. Councilmember May stated she will vote in favor of this, because we cannot add more to the assessments. Down the road, Council will have to waive some assessments to get anything done out there. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bartholomay to approve Amendment No. 2 to the Disbursing Agreement related to the Vermillion River Crossings development, and authorize staff to prepare plans and solicit quotes for the completion of the sidewalk on the east side of Dushane Parkway between the CDA project and McDonald's. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 12. NEW BUSINESS 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember Donnelly: Commended staff for their work on the storm clean-up. Councilmember Fogarty: She spent two days at the LMC conference in Duluth. She encouraged Councilmembers to attend these events as you can learn a lot in a short period of time. She focused on economic development sessions. They also discussed what was passed and vetoed at the last legislative session. She also accepted the award for step two of the Green Step Program. Councilmember Bartholomay: Thanked the residents and business owners for coming to the meeting tonight and the Tamarack owners for working with the City on the liquor store issue. There were two ribbon cuttings last week; at Ameriprise Financial and Family Fresh Market. He thanked Parks and Recreation Director Distad and his staff for the recreation program report. Councilmember Bartholomay asked about performing an investigation on past payroll practices. Council directed staff to proceed with investigating this issue. Councilmember May: Thanked Councilmember Fogarty for the LMC notes. She was disappointed in the Council decision regarding the liquor store location. She feels Council did not make the best decision in the interest of the taxpayers. City Administrator McKnight: City offices will be closed on July 4, 2012,but the liquor stores will be open. City Engineer Schorzman: The hot weather stresses our water system. He reminded residents the City has year round odd-even watering restrictions based on their address. There is no watering from noon to 6:00 p.m. The Water Board has hired a person to patrol for violations. He has issued 14 violations so far. City Engineer Schorzman saw five more within 33 minutes tonight. Council Minutes(Regular) July 2,2012 Page 8 Mayor Larson: State Rep. Garofalo offered to come to a Council meeting to give an update on the session this year. Staff will schedule him for the next meeting. He encouraged residents to go to the new Family Fresh Market. It looks very nice and has a Farmington feeling with large historic pictures. Pizza Man has completed his addition with indoor seating and an outdoor patio. Tamarack is having a block party on July 19, 2012. He encouraged residents to shop local and support Farmington liquor stores. 14. ADJOURN MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bartholomay to adjourn at 8:43 p.m. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant