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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11.19.12 Council Minutes Zcz COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR November 19, 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; Robin Hanson, Finance Director;Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director;Kevin Schorzman, City Engineer;Tony Wippler,Assistant City Planner;Cynthia Muller,Executive Assistant Audience: Jim and Tobe Bell, Mark and Amy Pellicci, Julie McKnight, Randy Oswald, Pam and Vern Schoolmeester 4. APPROVE AGENDA City Administrator McKnight added item 14b) Consider Offer for 431 Third Street MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to approve the Agenda. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS a) Introduce Blair Peterson—Liquor Operations Manager City Administrator McKnight introduced Blair Peterson as the new Liquor Operations Manager. b) 360 Communities—Sal Mondelli Mr. Sal Mondelli gave a presentation on 360 Communities and the services they offer. 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Fogarty, second by Donnelly to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes(10/15/12 Regular)(11/5/12 Workshop)(11/9/12 Special) b) Adopted RESOLUTION R43-12 Approving Gambling Event Permit Southern Dakota County Sportsman Club-Administration c) Adopted RESOLUTION R44-12 Accepting Donation from Mike and Sara Rausch—Fire Department 4 Council Minutes(Regular) November 19,2012 Page 2 d) Adopted RESOLUTION R45-12 Accepting Donation from Robert and Bonnie Howard—Fire Department e) Adopted RESOLUTION R46-12 Accepting Tree Donation from Kristen Goedert —Parks and Recreation f) Adopted RESOLUTION R47-12 Approving Submittal of Application for Landfill Abatement Funds from Dakota County—Municipal Services g) Approved Replacement of Existing Credit Card Program-Finance h) Approved Updated Schedule of 2012 Interfund Transfers-Finance i) Approved Early Redemption of Remaining Series 2004D Bonds-Finance j) Approved Early Redemption of Remaining Series 2005A Bonds-Finance k) Approved Telephone Service Contract—Human Resources 1) Approved School and Conference—Building Inspections m) Approved Request from Yellow Ribbon Committee to Waive Rambling River Center Rental Fee—Parks and Recreation n) Approved Settlement Agreement—City Attorney o) Approved Bills APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS,REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS a) Approve the Name Jim Bell Park and Preserve for the Park and Open Space Areas in Autumn Glen,Fairhill and Meadow Creek Third Addition Developments—Parks and Recreation The Parks and Recreation Commission and staff recommended naming the park and open space areas that are contiguous in the Autumn Glen,Fairhill and Meadow Creek Third Addition Developments, as Jim Bell Park and Preserve. This area is 135 acres in size. They felt this was appropriate because of Mr. Bell's 27 years of service as Farmington's first Parks and Recreation Director. Staff recommended purchasing five entrance signs in the amount of$13,840 which will come from the 2013 park improvement fund. Mr. Bell was honored and humbled and thanked Council,the Parks and Recreation Commission and staff. Councilmember May was in favor of the honor. Her concern was with the sign cost as funds are limited. She suggested getting a couple of signs now and purchase the rest later as the area develops. Parks and Recreation Director Distad explained they have identified five entrances to the park. The signs along 195th Street could be combined for now. Councilmember Fogarty thanked Mr. Bell for everything he has done for this area. It is incredibly appropriate that the man who worked so hard to get a great 5 Council Minutes(Regular) November 19,2012 Page 3 trail system is now having an area with a great network of trails, named in his honor. Councilmember Donnelly stated it is a well-deserved honor and thanked Mr. Bell for his service. Mayor Larson stated the parks system would look nothing like it does now without Mr.Bell's vision. Recently a survey was done and what people wanted the most was to keep up the trail system and have the necessary connections. Residents comment how nice the trail system is and allows them to get anywhere. As far as the signs, he will take the recommendation from the Park and Rec Commission. We appointed them to make recommendations. If they feel five signs are necessary and can justify spending the money,he was fine with that. Councilmember Fogarty noted three of the entrances are trailheads. Councilmember Bartholomay agreed with getting all the signs now and doing justice to Mr.Bell to have the park look nice. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Donnelly to approve naming the park and open space area identified as Jim Bell Park and Preserve based on the unanimous recommendation made by the Park and Rec Commission and to approve the purchase of five park entrance signs in 2013 from the Park Improvement Fund. Voting for: Larson, Bartholomay, Donnelly, Fogarty. Voting against: May. MOTION CARRIED. b) Adopt Resolution—Approving the 2030 Comprehensive Plan 2011 Amendment and Adopt Ordinance Amending Section 10-5-1 of the City Code Adopting a New Official Zoning Map-Planning Council approved the 2011 Comp Plan Amendment in July 2012. The Met Council did not require any modifications to the plan. Most of the changes deal with population, census data, and household information. The maps and text regarding ag preserve have been updated. A number of properties re-enrolled in the ag preserve program. The 2009 Transportation Study has been included as well as added language regarding the construction of the 195th Street extension. The sustainability chapter is now included in the comp plan. The economic development chapter was revised to include the economic development strategic plan. There are two land use issues with this amendment. The first deals with eight fringe properties along Elm and First Streets, and Fourth and Oak Streets. These have been revised from a commercial designation to low-medium density residential. The second deals with 25 acres at the northeast intersection of CR50 and Flagstaff Avenue. This has been revised from agricultural to industrial and MUSA will be granted to that area if approved. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bartholomay to adopt RESOLUTION R48-12 adopting the 2030 Comprehensive Plan 2011 Amendment and adopt ORDINANCE 012-653 amending Section 10- 5-1 of the City Code adopting a new official zoning map. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 6 Council Minutes(Regular) November 19,2012 Page 4 c) Adopt Resolution—Approving the Master Plan and Authorizing the Signing of the Master PUD Agreement for Farmington Health Services and Adopt an Ordinance Rezoning the Property Located at 3410 213th Street W to R-5 PUD—Planning Last year the Planning Commission approved a CUP for a ten unit group home for memory care at the Trinity Campus on 213th Street. The PUD removes the requirement of having one principal structure on a single platted lot and allows development of a master plan for future development. Staff recommended rezoning the property from R-5 high density residential to R-5 PUD. The master plan includes the Trinity Care Center,Trinity Suites for memory care, Trinity Terrace for assisted and independent living, and a partially abandoned hospital. The plan contains an additional ten bed group home for memory care, demolition of the remaining hospital and construction of a utility addition to the existing skilled nursing care center, and construction of two additional senior living facilities where the old hospital once stood. Councilmember May noted there is a provision requiring a recordation plan and asked for an explanation and the purpose of that. Assistant City Planner Wippler explained that request came from the Heritage Preservation Commission. While demolition is best for the condition of the hospital,they requested a written history of the building and to also provide plans of the building. Councilmember May did not think it served any purpose and would like to leave that out. Councilmember Fogarty was extremely excited Trinity is continuing to expand. It is nice to know our residents can continue to stay in their community. Mayor Larson asked if the drive from Elm Street to Ace Hardware will remain. Staff noted in the long term plans it may not. Mayor Larson stated as hwy 3 gets busier it may be important to use the signal light. In future site reviews, he wanted staff to think long term. We have lost some crossings we could have utilized lights for and we regret it. If there is a way to work that out,we should look at it. Exiting that area at the signal light is much safer. Councilmember Bartholomay was fine with leaving the recordation requirement out. Councilmember Fogarty was comfortable with leaving it as a recommendation rather than a requirement. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bartholomay to adopt RESOLUTION R49-12 approving the PUD Master Plan and Authorizing the Singing of the Master PUD Agreement, changing the recordation language to a recommendation rather than a requirement, and adopt ORDINANCE 012-654 rezoning the property from R-5 high-density residential to R-5 PUD. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. d) Adopt Ordinance—Modifying Billing Requirements for Utility Billing- Finance Currently the City invoices for utility services quarterly. With rental properties, in most cases the tenant is invoiced and the owner is provided with a copy of the 7 Council Minutes(Regular) November 19,2012 Page 5 bill. Staff spends a significant amount of time updating records and billings for tenant changes. In addition, public works staff has to obtain final readings and solid waste staff has to change out garbage containers. If the City is not advised of a change in tenants,then the City's ability to collect is limited. Finance staff fields a high number of calls from owners inquiring if tenants have paid the bill. Staff has learned the City could make the property owner the billing owner of record. We have 6,371 utility accounts, of that 456 are rental accounts. Of the accounts certified this fall, 14%were rental. One staff person spends 30%of their time managing just rental accounts. Finance Director Hanson recommended an ordinance amendment which would make property owners responsible for tenant charges to ensure timely payment and reduce the amount of staff time spent on the accounts. The City would invoice the property owner, who would be responsible for payment. The owner would have to collect from the tenants. Over the last several months, staff has mentioned this possible change to owners, and only one complaint has been received. Councilmember May was not happy with this change. She owns several rental properties and it is not an easy business. She does have the properties in her name for simplicity, but no one is telling her she has to do that. With the elimination of the market value homestead credit,the non-homestead properties are paying a larger portion of the taxes because they no longer get the exclusion like homesteaded properties. The non-homesteaded properties are paying a higher proportion of taxes against the value of the homes. If it wasn't for the investment owners,we would have a lot more vacant homes in the community. She understood the transient population may be more difficult to collect from, but if you want to be in the garbage business and collect a street light utility fee, part of that is collecting the money. The City will get paid, because the homeowner will eventually get the bill. If that individual property owner does not want the bill in their name,that is the choice they make. If someone owns a lot of properties that could be a large bill to pay and then collect. This says staff wants to take the easiest route. We talk about wanting to be open to businesses and investment property owners are small business owners in our community. They are already paying a higher tax, our fees are going up, and now we are going to tell them how to run their business. It is not a very welcoming ordinance to put out there at this time. Finance Director Hanson stated several cities have changed to this recently due to the time demands. Councilmember May questioned if those communities also had garbage service. It is a cash flow issue. She would not recommend this. We want investment owners to buy up properties. We have a high foreclosure rate and this is not good timing. Councilmember Bartholomay suggested staff look at how Hastings handles collections as they shut off service. Finance Director Hanson stated that was past practice,but due to potential legal issues,that was changed and it was also extremely time consuming. 8 Council Minutes(Regular) November 19,2012 Page 6 City Attorney Jamnik stated many cities did have shut off policies, but you have the cold weather rule. You also have to implement a payment plan mechanism and that eats up a lot of staff time. The certification through the county system works as a payment plan. That is a separate issue from whether or not to bill the property owner. The certification treats everyone the same. The courts have said we cannot hold a new tenant responsible for a past tenant's bills. It falls to the landlord. Councilmember Fogarty felt this would also help the cash flow. Staff agreed there would be fewer delinquent accounts. Councilmember May stated you are already certifying sooner than in the past. Councilmember Fogarty stated ultimately the property owner is responsible. In some cases there is lack of communication to the property owner until it is too late. She had no problem with this if it makes things more streamlined. Councilmember Donnelly understood there is no burden to the landlord, but it should be a wash with the tenant as it will cost them the same. The landlord would put the utility costs in the rent. Councilmember May stated the utility amount fluctuates depending on the number of people in the house and the size garbage they need. There was a comment made that it would be easier for staff. We are here to represent the taxpayer and these investment property owners are taxpayers. They are paying a bigger portion of the tax since last year. We are taking away some of their rights by telling them how they need to run their business. Councilmember Fogarty was not talking about it being easier for staff. She was talking about taxpayer dollars that pay staff and utilizing their time better is protecting the taxpayer. Councilmember May stated the investment property owners are paying a bigger portion of the taxes now. We already made the change we are going to certify the delinquent bills sooner than we have in the past, so let's let that sink in first. Finance Director Hanson stated there are many aspects to utility billing. We need to make sure we address all customers' needs in a timely manner and that gets difficult because it takes up a larger share of time. It is a matter of looking at how we are spending utility billing staff time and how we are addressing those needs. Councilmember Donnelly asked how this would be implemented. Will it start January 1, or phased in, and there are lease contracts. Finance Director Hanson stated it would be effective January 1,but would be implemented with the quarterly billing cycles. The next step if approved, would be to draft a letter to owners and tenants about the change. The first week of January we would have to get meter readings, close out tenant accounts and put them in the owner's name. Councilmember May felt it would be a nice gesture to send out the letters saying Council is considering this, instead of saying this is the way it will be. These are small business owners. If you are going to consider this, at least give the owners a chance to review what you are proposing and give them a chance to come to 9 Council Minutes(Regular) November 19,2012 Page 7 Council to see how they feel. We have to be business friendly and let them know what we are proposing because this does have an affect on cash flow. There are some that own a lot of properties and this is a big deal. Councilmember Donnelly stated they would have 1.5 months notice before the end of the year. They would have to change their lease contracts. Finance Director Hanson stated they have a sample letter with a particular date to go forward. Councilmember Donnelly had a concern that a public hearing wasn't required to receive comments. City Administrator McKnight proposed sending out letters to the property owners in January/February that we will be accepting public comments on a certain date, and then Council can make a decision. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bartholomay to table a decision to a date to be determined by the City Administrator to hear public comment after letters are sent. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. e) September and October 2012 Financial Report-Finance Through the end of October revenues and expenses should be at 83%of budget. The general fund revenues total 57%of budget because second half property taxes will be received until December. Expenditures total 79%of budget. Finance Director Hanson reviewed various funds and budgets. At the end of October the fund balance is positive at$9,724. A year ago at this time the ending fund balance was$99,196. f) Adopt Resolution—Approve Debt Post-Issuance Compliance Policy- Finance Each time a tax-exempt bond issue is sold,the City is required to file an IRS form. This form has been modified to indicate whether a debt post-issuance compliance policy is in place. This is being required since the City's last bond issue. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bartholomay to adopt RESOLUTION R50-12 approving the Post Issuance Debt Compliance Policy. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. g) Adopt Resolution—Authorizing 2013A Bond Sale to Refund 2005B and 2006A Bonds-Finance The City has an opportunity to refund the 2005B and 2006A bonds. The 2005B bonds were issued to finance the Ash Street project and the 2006 bonds were for the Spruce Street extension and Hill Dee projects. Refunding the 2005B bonds now will cost$18,000. If we were to wait until next year, it would cost between $40,000-$50,000. In conjunction with refinancing,we also have an opportunity to look at the structure of principal and interest payments. The first principal payment has been changed from February 1, 2014,to February 1, 2015. This will allow us to levy in one year, collect taxes the following year and pay the principal the year after that. Staff also incorporated the remaining special assessments that are outstanding into this structure. The principal payments have changed, but the fmal maturity date did not change. This is an estimated savings of$660,000. The fmal interest rate and savings will not be known until the sale occurs in December. The proposed refmancing will reduce the City's interest costs,the 10 Council Minutes(Regular) November 19,2012 Page 8 costs of issuance, and restore the timing of cash receipts and payments and will strengthen the City's overall cash flow. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bartholomay to adopt RESOLUTION R51-12 providing for the sale of $5,565,000 General Obligation Improvement Refunding Bonds, Series 2013A which replaces General Obligation Improvement Bonds 2005B and 2006A. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. h) Set Public Hearing—Refinancing of a Project by St. Francis Health Services of Morris,Inc.-Finance St. Francis Health Services of Morris obtained some taxable financing over the last couple years, which was used to make improvements at the Trinity Campus. They would like to refinance$10 million of the taxable financing with tax exempt bonds. Because the City's project is included in the refinancing we need to provide an opportunity for a public hearing even though the improvements have been made and completed. Staff requested a public hearing be held on December 17, 2012. There will also be a joint powers agreement at that time. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Donnelly to adopt RESOLUTION R52-12 calling for a public hearing on December 17, 2012. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 12. NEW BUSINESS 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember Donnelly: Wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Councilmember Fogarty: Congratulated Councilmember Donnelly, Mayor Larson and Councilmember-elect Doug Bonar on winning the election. Winter parking restrictions are in effect. There are several events throughout the community to raise money for Toys for Town. Drop boxes are everywhere. She encouraged members to attend the LMC conference for elected officials. Councilmember Bartholomay: Congratulations to Mayor Larson and Councilmember Donnelly on their re-election and to Councilmember-elect Doug Bonar. He has also attended the LMC conferences for elected officials and they are very helpful. Councilmember May: Happy Thanksgiving Mayor Larson: Encouraged residents to shop local and support our businesses. Shop local logos have been placed throughout town. The liquor stores are open this holiday week from 10:00 a.m.— 10:00 p.m. There is also a coupon in the City calendar. 11 Council Minutes(Regular) November 19,2012 Page 9 14. EXECUTIVE SESSION a) AFSCME Union Negotiations b) Consider Purchase Offer for 431 Third Street Council recessed into executive session for labor negotiations discussion and a consideration of an offer to purchase City property. No official action will be taken. The sale of the property will be ratified at a public meeting. Council recessed at 8:35 p.m. and the Executive Session started at 8:40 p.m. Present: Larson, Bartholomay, Donnelly, Fogarty, May, Councilmember- elect Bonar Joel Jamnik, City Attorney;David McKnight, City Administrator; Janie Tutewohl(for property discussion only) 14. ADJOURN Meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant 12