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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06.10.13 Work Session Minutes Council/Planning Commission Workshop Minutes June 10,2013 Mayor Larson called the workshop to order at 6:30 p.m. Present: Larson, Bonar, Donnelly, Bartholomay(arrived 6:35 p.m.) Rotty, Bjorge, Franceschelli, Kuyper, Primmer Absent: Fogarty Also Present: David McKnight, City Administrator;Robin Hanson, Finance Director;Brenda Wendlandt, Human Resources Director;Tony Wippler, Assistant City Planner; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Audience: James&Kim Dralle, 413 Spruce Street MOTION by Donnelly, second by Bonar to approve the agenda. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. Housing Maintenance Ordinance Discussion Assistant City Planner Wippler presented a draft housing maintenance ordinance for discussion. The main components are: -All protective treatments must be kept and maintained in good condition. - Walls must be kept free from holes, breaks, loose or rotting materials;and the structure must be adequately weather proofed to prevent deterioration. -All exterior building structure projects that require a building permit must be completed within six months of building permit issuance. -Outlines the duties and power of the City's Building Official or designee in regards to the enforcement of this ordinance. -Establishes a procedural process for notifying the owner of the non-compliant structure. -Establishes a violation for non-compliance. The ordinance deals strictly with residential properties. Chair Rotty summarized the concerns of the Planning Commission. The commission felt this is the right step for the community. They wanted to know Council's expectations on the extent of the ordinance. Is it certain homes that fall into an area of being run down and taking a long time to repair or is it regarding chipping paint and curling shingles. Is it high level or everything? Mayor Larson stated his thought with this ordinance is to avoid having homes in disrepair for prolonged periods of time. Councilmember Donnelly felt it was unfortunate we have to consider this. This would target poorly maintained homes over a long period of time. Many cases are owners that have not pulled a permit to make repairs;they just let the house go. The ordinance is not for broken windows or rotten siding, or shingles. Chair Rotty stated they need to look at triggers and consequences for violations. Communication will be key when this is effective. The process will start when a complaint is received or there is a life safety issue. A level of decay needs to be determined. The commission also had an enforcement question. It needs some teeth so it cannot go on for 20 years. We also need to 24 Council/Planning Commission Workshop June 10,2013 Page 2 communicate what the ordinance is for. A lot of residents could take this the wrong way. This is for homes in disrepair over several years. Councilmember Bonar suggested using the wording, "chronic, nuisance property"to narrow it down to neglected properties. We should also include an appeals process for those who feel the City has gone too far,to either the Planning Commission or City Council. The process would be a complaint is received and it would go to the Building Official. He would inspect the property and so we need to determine a trigger for the level of disrepair. Lakeville does a percentage of a wall. In other cities, the inspector will make the determination and write it up on the spot. The Planning Commission will discuss trigger points, and then it needs to be reviewed by the City Attorney. After that,the Council and Planning Commission should meet again. It will be discussed at the July Planning Commission meeting. (Planning Commission members left at 7:05 p.m) Cable Franchise Update/Discussion Human Resources Director Wendlandt asked for Council direction on PEG fees that cover public, education, government access channels. PEG fees have remained at $.50 for 15 years even though the agreement allows for increases. The Cable Commission recommended a cap for PEG fees at $1.90 and to give Councils the opportunity to increase PEG fees over the life of the franchise. The commission has started the cable franchise renewal process and when they go into negotiations with Charter,PEG fees will be one of the items discussed. Councilmember Bartholomay asked if we can negotiate to utilize an app to watch meetings. Staff noted right now we negotiate access channels and we are on a lower level number. Franchise fees applying to the internet has not been discussed. Councilmember Bonar stated if the cable provider has TV on the go, is this the opportunity to talk about the future. Staff stated Video on Demand will be part of the discussion. Franchise fees are on the TV portion, not on the rest of the bundle package. In the last two years, franchise fees received from Charter have gone up$17,000. The needs ascertainment showed there is an interest in maintaining the public access channels and adding more programming to those channels. The term for the franchise would be ten years. The current PEG fee is $.50/subscriber/month. It could go up to$1.90. Councilmember Donnelly noted it costs us $19,000/year to broadcast meetings. Staff noted we are paying the cable commission$44,000 for Council, Planning Commission, State of the City, equipment, etc. Right now, meetings cannot be viewed on Ipads. Apple only allows QuickTime. We do not run on those formats and part of that is our equipment, our abilities,the software we have that runs our programming. Mark Moore has been looking into QuickTime, but some of it is lack of time and lack of ability to do the programming. Farmington, Apple Valley and Rosemount will be replacing equipment, so we should have more capabilities. Some of that will depend on staff time and those that have the expertise. Mayor Larson asked if we can put recordings on a UTube channel to watch meetings on an Apple device. Staff noted Mark Moore would have that information. Part of the struggle is the equipment we use to broadcast; it is not like a video 25 Council/Planning Commission Workshop June 10,2013 Page 3 camera. We are still using analog to record meetings. Charter is digital, but is also still operating some analog channels and we are also dependent on their technology. Bids for Farmington equipment are expected to come in at$250,000. Leaving the PEG fees at $.50, you will not have questions from residents. The con is you will be using more franchise fees to fund cable operations. In the past the first $75,000 of franchise fees goes to the general fund and the remaining has been put into the cable communications fund so we have the money to buy equipment or pay attorneys as we look at cable franchise agreements. If more things are run on mobile devices and TV goes away, you will lose the PEG fees and franchise fees. If PEG fees go to $1.90, we have more to spend on equipment. Our franchise agreement does allow us to spend some on operating expenses. The City Attorney feels it would be difficult to use them on operating costs, but Apple Valley's attorney has a different opinion because it is in the franchise agreement. If we can keep that language in the agreement,we could use PEG fees to fund operations. One thing discussed was if Farmington wanted to run programming,we would have to add staff. We have 2.5 people trying to run all three cities cable programming. Right now that would come out of the franchise fees. With raising PEG fees, there would be less money that the City would have to commit from other funds, such as franchise fees. Last year we collected$218,471.94 in franchise fees. Of that, $75,000 went to the general fund. We subsidize meeting broadcasts from the franchise fees, not the general fund. There is a formula to determine the amount of franchise fees, which is 5%of revenues. The only ability we have is to change the amount of PEG fees every year. With inflation,the cap is$1.90. Councilmember Bonar found it unique that we set a rate and kept it for 15 years. Each City can set their own PEG fees. If we increase PEG fees, Charter could increase their fee. The commission's recommendation is set the cap at $1.90. Raising the PEG fee is a smart move because we can move more of the franchise fees to the general fund. Then we can use those funds for anything. In 1999 the cap was$1.25. That was increased annually by the CPA, or 3% whichever was less. Applying that formula,the fee cap for 2014 is projected to be$1.90. Council agreed to set the cap at$1.90 with inflationary increases. City Administrator McKnight suggested raising the fee $.25 and put it towards Farmington programming. We could make a video highlighting Farmington and the next day it is outdated. He suggested doing a quarterly program. It is past time Farmington had programming. Staff noted Apple Valley does pay an additional fee to the cable commission to have their programming. They do not have the staff to create and produce a program. We would have to add staff hours to do a quarterly program. The franchise is up mid-2014, so an agreement will be brought to Council in the spring 2014. Credit Card Payment Options—Utility Bills Finance Director Hanson asked if the City should charge a convenience fee for making electronic payment options available or absorb the fee. The user would pay$4 - $5 for each transaction up to $600. The majority of cities absorb the convenience fee in their charges. The industry standard is 15% -20%of people pay electronically. The City would put this into practice after November 1,2013, after certifications. If we do this, residents could pay online, call us or a dedicated 800 number. Park and Rec programming already uses a different network. This system is through LOGIS and is designed to work with our system. The liquor store is on yet another system. 26 Council/Planning Commission Workshop June 10,2013 Page 4 Councilmember Bonar asked if we are behind the curve in considering this. Finance Director Hanson agreed, and if we did what other cities did we would be playing catch up. By offering the voice response system,that will get us a little ahead. LOGIS is working on a mobile app and that has a new host of security issues. We take credit cards at the liquor store now, and for park and rec. Because we would be going through LOGIS and their PCI compliance, that would increase the levels we need to do. Staff would be more comfortable if we looked at the liquor stores and how we are doing the park and rec programs. Staff would like to work with LOGIS to do a PCI review. Credit card companies require a merchant account and being PCI compliant. Councilmember Bartholomay agreed with absorbing the fees for the first year. We should have the ability to pay online, through the phone, and internally. Council agreed with absorbing fees. This will be brought to the June 17, 2013,Council meeting. City Administrator Update City Administrator McKnight stated a Facebook message was sent out last Friday regarding a door knocking scam. It had 8,400 views on Facebook. MOTION by Bartholomay, second by Donnelly to adjourn at 7:55 p.m. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant 27