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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03.04.13 Council Minutes Z._ COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR March 4, 2013 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, Bonar, Donnelly(arrived 7:03 p.m.), Fogarty Members Absent: None Also Present: Joel Jamnik, City Attorney;David McKnight, City Administrator; Robin Hanson, Finance Director;Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director;Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Audience: John Kimmel, Debra Kosh 4. APPROVE AGENDA MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bartholomay to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS a) Response to Mr.Dick Orndorff A response was sent to Mr. Orndorff regarding his comments at the previous Council meeting. 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bonar to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes(2/19/13 Regular)(2/25/13 Workshop) b) Approved Temporary On-Sale Liquor Licenses VFW-Administration c) Adopted RESOLUTION R14-13 Approving Gambling Event Permit Vermillion River Longbeards-Administration d) Approved Agreement for Portable Toilet Services—Parks and Recreation e) Adopted Facility Rental Fee Waiver Policy—Parks and Recreation 1) Received 2012 Annual Report—Fire Department g) Adopted RESOLUTION R15-13 Approving Advertisement and Sale of Rescue Truck—Fire Department h) Approved Bills APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS 8 Council Minutes(Regular) March 4,2013 Page 2 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS,REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS a) Approve CDBG Agreement Triton Properties,LLC-Planning Mr. Sam Haque, owner of Triton Properties, LLC, is planning to open a business at 705 8th Street,the former Oasis Market. Mr. Haque is requesting a Commercial Rehabilitation Grant. He is required to take care of any code deficiencies before opening a business on this site. Three existing fuel tanks need to be removed and three bids have been received to do this work. At the February 25, 2012,EDA meeting staff noted Mr. Haque was requesting approval of funds for half the bid amount of$14,640, which was not the lowest bid. The EDA recommended approving a grant amount of$6,520 based on half of the lowest bid. Staff researched this further and the low bidder did not include all the work required. Therefore,the$14,640 is the lowest bid, so staff is recommending awarding a grant amount of$7,320. Councilmember Fogarty asked how this program meets the requirements. City Planner Smick replied it is Davis-Bacon wages for this contractor. City Administrator McKnight noted this grant program provides assistance to property owners to prevent deterioration of structures and correct code violations. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bartholomay to award a Commercial Rehabilitation Grant to Triton Properties, LLC and execute the grant agreement, funding$7,320 in Federal CDBG funds for the purpose of removing three underground tanks from the property at 705 8th Street. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. b) Approve Agreement Rambling River Center Acoustic Improvement Project —Parks and Recreation An issue with echoing has been identified in the banquet room at the Rambling River Center. The current rate of reverberation in the room is 4.9 seconds, with the project it would be reduced to 1.7 seconds. Three bids have been received and the low bid was$5,459 from Midwest Acoustics. They will install 42 sound absorption panels. Additional funds from fundraising programs are available in the Rambling River Center Improvement Fund to cover the cost. After this project there would be$2,500 remaining in the fund. Additional fundraising will be done throughout the year to replenish the fund for any additional projects. Councilmember Bonar asked if they have a working draft of a capital improvement plan. Parks and Recreation Director Distad noted they do have a five-year CIP for the Rambling River Center and will do fundraising for all CIP projects. Mayor Larson thanked the members for their fundraising efforts. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bartholomay to approve the agreement with Midwest Acoustics for the purchase and installation of the acoustic sound panels in Rambling River Center's Banquet Room and approve paying for this project from the Rambling River Center's Capital Improvement Fund. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 9 Council Minutes(Regular) March 4,2013 Page 3 c) Presentation 2012 Parks and Recreation Department's Annual Report— Parks and Recreation Parks and Recreation Director Distad presented accomplishments in 2012 for the Parks and Recreation Department. There are currently 10 full time staff and a number of part time seasonal staff. Several projects were accomplished by staff this year rather than contracting out for the work such as building maintenance, parks improvements,trail maintenance and the Veteran's Memorial in Rambling River Park. Staff reviewed recreation registration programs and the Rambling River Center membership. Members of the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Rambling River Center Advisory Board,volunteers and staff were recognized. 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a) Amend Ordinance—Modifying Billing Requirements for Utility Bills and Establishment of Rates and Charges for Utility Systems-Finance Utility bills are issued quarterly. In most rental situations the City invoices the tenant for utilities and provides the property owner with a copy of the statement. The City has one staff person responsible for 6,000 utility accounts. This includes 486 rental accounts, 130 of which are in the owner's name, and the remaining 357 are in the tenant's name. Staff spends 30%of their time on rental accounts that are in the tenant's name. There are also additional fmance and public works staff servicing these accounts. Staff is proposing to change rental accounts to the owner's name. Letters were sent to owners in January, and 29 comments were received. In addition,three people commented at the February 19, 2013, Council meeting. The main concern was not providing final meter readings when a tenant moves. In response to those concerns, staff is proposing a self-read option,which is free. The owner,tenant, or both would be able to look at the meter to determine the amount of water used. Another option is for the City to read the meter and there would be a$30 charge. In either case,the owner would be responsible for determining the final billing for their tenant. Detailed information for rates is available on the City's website. Utility accounts would be carried in the owner's name and the fee schedule would be amended to include a$30 charge for meter reading when ownership is not changing. This would be effective April 1, 2013. After that date, any new accounts or an account that becomes delinquent would be carried in the owner's name according to the new code. Mayor Larson noted we have cut a lot of staff and have asked them to become more efficient. This is an example of that. Councilmember Fogarty asked for an explanation on the$30 charge. Finance Director Hanson explained the call comes in, staff schedules the meter reading, staff goes out to read the meter, communicates that to utility billing, who in turn has to communicate that in writing to the property owner and put the $30 charge on the account. The process takes about 20—30 minutes of staff time. Councilmember Donnelly asked if staff has obtained information on how other owners currently handle this situation. Staff was concerned with reaching out to owners for this specific situation in case owners would feel the government was checking for non-compliance. Staff does not often have the opportunity to talk to the property owners. Finance Director Hanson has provided follow-up 10 Council Minutes(Regular) March 4,2013 Page 4 information to requests. Both options are in response to those concerns. Councilmember Donnelly noted the fee and instructions are on the website. Mr. John Kimmel, Lakeville, noted if you are already going out to read the meter and doing the other work, why not go the rest of the way and send the fmal bill. Ms. Debra Kosh, 19973 Dover Ct,owns a rental property. After the last meeting, there was a lot of discrepancy over what the City was doing and what landlords felt was needed. She requested the list of the ten cities that have made this change. Ms. Kosh called all of them and only two out of the ten do not provide fmal meter readings or bills. Only 3%of the cities in the metro are not providing fmal meter readings or bills. All cities provide duplicate bills to the tenant. If you want to bill us as landlords and not tenants,that's fine as that will save a lot of time with billing. However, she felt the City should provide final meter readings and bills. We pay taxes on every house whether it is rental or homestead. It sets a precedent that we are going to treat different groups within the City differently. At some point are we going to start charging more for the homes that have trails, as we have maintenance for them, or City services for bad neighborhoods because the police patrol more,or if emergency services are called, are we going to start charging houses? As a community, if we pay taxes across the board,we should not segment rental properties differently. This proposed change will not have a budget impact, but it will cause a hardship for tenants and landlords. Now the tenants will have to pay an extra$30. The median income for rental tenants in Dakota County is only$38,000/year. They do not have extra income to pay these fees. If we make the change, we are streamlining the process, billing the landlord and not have anymore tenant accounts,why have extra fees charged by the City for a service we already have? There are 60 cities in the metro and only ten have gone to this new billing. She did not have a problem with that, but a duplicate bill does need to be sent to the tenant. Since no other city is not taking a meter reading and not providing a fmal bill, Farmington should not adopt that either. Mr. John Kimmel, Lakeville, owns two rental properties in Farmington affected by this. He is paying $400/property more in taxes because they are not homesteaded. Farmington is getting more money from landlords already. The letter sent out was vague and states there is no budget impact, and there is a time saving to better utilize other accounts. He asked if something was wrong with the other accounts that more time is needed to service them. Finance Director Hanson replied it would provide more time to do more timely communication, fmal billings, and account changes. Mr.Kimmel stated when he calls now with a tenant change, someone reads the meter within a few days. He felt staff has everything in place and did not see where the savings is realized. Mr.Kimmel stated they are being asked to estimate water, sewer, storm water, street lights, garbage non-tax, garbage taxable, etc. We are supposed to figure out when one tenant moves out and another moves in and still be fair to the tenant. As far as the$30,you are already going out there, doing the meter reading,what is another two minutes to put it on a piece of paper and put a stamp on it. Tenants are used to having utilities in their name and when they move,transfer utilities out 11 Council Minutes(Regular) March 4,2013 Page 5 of their name. Having a weird bill through e-mail sent four times a year, and the month they move in,there is a magic calculation, does not feel right. We should stick with what we have. Any fees will be passed on to the tenant. Councilmember Bonar stated we do not have any authority over the homesteading of property. Secondly, you purchased the properties with the intent to make a profit in renting them to tenants. Mr.Kimmel stated he did and in selecting the type of properties, he makes sure he can put all the utilities in the tenant's name. He has never been interested in a bigger building with a common area where he has to pay the heat. He would never buy a property where the electricity is one common meter. The tenant should be responsible for what they use. If they want to save money,they will use less; if they don't care,they will use more. Councilmember Bonar asked if a duplicate bill to the tenant resolves most of his concerns. Mr.Kimmel asked if the tenant moves in mid-quarter will you take a meter reading? Mayor Larson stated that defeats the purpose. Councilmember Fogarty asked how time-consuming sending a fmal bill would be. Finance Director Hanson stated sending a fmal bill requires staff to open and close the account which is the time consuming part. Mayor Larson stated there was a sample property where there were 11 — 12 changes. Staff stated over seven years there were 11 changes and nine or ten of those were certified. Mayor Larson noted that is what we are trying to streamline. Councilmember Donnelly asked what is the purpose of the bill to the tenant? These ten cities bill the property owner. He did not think the tenant will pay it. Ms.Kosh stated it helps the cities because the tenant gets the bill faster than if we receive it and have to send it on. It saves the landlord from having to re-mail the bill to the tenant. The ten cities have the account with the owner so they do not open and close accounts. The name on the bill would be Current Resident. The lease stipulates the tenant is responsible for the bill. These ten cities currently do this. The landlord calls that someone moved out,the City reads the meter and prepares the bill. Some forward the bill to the tenant's new address and some send the bill to the landlord. Councilmember Donnelly noted staff has said our system does not allow that. Finance Director Hanson noted staff has spent a lot of time with LOGIS on this, and unless you close and open the account you cannot do a final bill. These other cities may be doing estimates on the side. It is not consistent with information we have received from other cities. Some cities charge to send a copy to Current Resident. If we do that,we are not saving any time. Councilmember Fogarty asked if they send out bills electronically. Staff noted that is on the list to research. Not everyone wants e-bills, some want a paper copy and pay online. Mr.Kimmel stated the landlord is always responsible for the bill, otherwise it goes on our taxes. Finance Director Hanson noted we are part of the LOGIS consortium and those are the cities we surveyed. 12 Council Minutes(Regular) March 4,2013 Page 6 Councilmember Bartholomay asked if Hopkins is on the list? Ms.Kosh stated Hopkins is not on the list. Her list contains Hutchinson, Bloomington,New Hope, S. St. Paul, Richfield, Woodbury, Crystal, Coon Rapids, Eden Prairie, and Brooklyn Center. She also called Apple Valley, Rosemount and Lakeville and they are also on the same system. Councilmember Bartholomay noted Hopkins and Prior Lake do what we are proposing. They do not do final bills and send bills to the property owner. Ms. Kosh noted if you call they will do a final meter reading and a bill. Mr. Kimmel stated he has a rental property in Prior Lake and they bill the tenant directly. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bonar to adopt ORDINANCE 013-659 amending the City Code related to billing regulations and sewer and water rental charges and amend the fee schedule to provide for a$30 water meter reading fee when property ownership is not changing. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. Councilmember Bonar appreciated the debate on this topic, he envisioned this to be the first of a two-step process. He agreed we should be aspiring to electronic billing and looked forward to an update to Council in six months. 12. NEW BUSINESS 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember Fogarty: Congratulated Taylor Venz, a sophomore at Farmington High School for winning the State Championship in Wresting. She wished good luck to the girls U12A who are headed to state this weekend;they are both district and regional champions in hockey. She urged residents to adopt a fire hydrant. Mayor Larson: Encouraged residents to shop local and support Farmington businesses. 14. ADJOURN MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bartholomay to adjourn at 8:10 p.m. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant 13