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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02.10.14 Work Session Minutes Council Workshop Minutes February 10,2014 Present: Larson, Bartholomay (arrived 6:35 p.m.),Bonar, Donnelly Absent: Fogarty Also Present: Kevin Schorzman, City Engineer; Robin Hanson, Finance Director; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Blair Peterson, Liquor Operations Manager;Jeremy Pire,Parks and Facilities Supervisor; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Mayor Larson called the workshop to order at 6:31 p.m. City Engineer Schorzman added a discussion on the 195th Street project to the agenda. MOTION by Bonar, second by Donnelly to approve the agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Ice Arena Discussion The purpose of this discussion was whether or not Council wanted the City to offer summer ice in 2014. Parks and Recreation Director Distad noted the arena did see a profit of approximately $15,000 in 2013, and$5,000 in 2012. Staff has been approached by the high school coaches regarding renting summer ice from the City. The past two years the City has not offered summer ice because of the dehumidification system. In the summer of 2013, a new dehumidification system was installed. Mayor Larson believed we put the dehumidification system in for summer ice. He did not feel we could compare our costs to Lakeville's, and it would not cost$6,000. He was most upset about trying to send people to other cities. He was tired of people leaving the City for things. He heard a couple youth hockey coaches also wanted to hold clinics which would add to the hours. Mayor Larson wanted to try offering summer ice. We put the dehumidification system in for a reason; for summer ice. Councilmember Bonar agreed, except for the dehumidification system being installed for summer ice. He had suggested the system installation for humidity control. That does help us when it comes to summer ice. Summer ice is an ancillary part of it; not a core part. Councilmember Bonar did agree that the estimate of$6,000 for natural gas was high. Parks and Recreation Director Distad stated the manufacturing representative has said it is very difficult to come up with a cost estimate because there are so many varying factors. The representative did provide some numbers and information to estimate the cost. Councilmember Bonar asked if there is a chance to increase our revenue with the clinics. Parks and Recreation Director Distad noted if the direction is to have summer ice, staff will contact the coaches and youth hockey to maximize the hours rented. His point regarding the competition from cities to the north is that any outside groups coming south will go to the closest outside area 7 Council Workshop Minutes February 10,2014 Page 2 which is Rosemount, Apple Valley and Lakeville. They will not come south to Farmington unless they cannot get their desired ice times. Mayor Larson asked about advertising. Parks and Recreation Director Distad stated they will advertise in various hockey publications and our website. Parks and Facilities Supervisor Pire stated it will be hard in July to get people to come to Farmington for three weeks. Most groups want to skate in August and September before tryouts. Three weeks is a short window. We can try it, but we need to be realistic. Parks and Recreation Director Distad stated staff has tried to supplement the rentals by holding skating lessons and open skate and they do not generate much revenue. The coaches feel there is a need to secure more hours. They are trying to grow their programs. Parks and Facilities Supervisor Pire noted the 82 hours used last time during summer ice were kids from squirt to high school. If the coaches and Youth Hockey were to run clinics, he did not know if there would be many additional hours when they are targeting the same age group. Parks and Recreation Director Distad stated it will be important to meet with the two groups and make it clear if we are going to offer summer ice we need to maximize the hours as best we can. We also have to look to them to generate more rental hours through their contacts. Mayor Larson would like to see that happen. This is community building. He realized we put in the system for dehumidification year round,but we put it in for summer ice. For us to not try offering summer ice is a mistake. Parks and Recreation Director Distad stated the intent with the budget was to make sure we were conservative. We will need to fill 35 hours to cover costs. If the costs are not$6,000 then those hours are made up by saving the cost of gas. Parks and Facilities Supervisor Pire noted even if the cost was$4,000 we would still be short 22 hours. His experience is you do not sell many hours on the weekends;it is mostly during the week. We would have to get a few groups to meet that. Parks and Recreation Director Distad noted staff will work on offering summer ice and see what we can get for additional users. Parks and Recreation Director Distad noted we do have other things going on in the summer with the pool and getting the arena ready for the upcoming ice season. That doesn't prohibit us from • offering summer ice, but it does press us on our time. Councilmember Bonar felt summer ice is worth a reasonable risk. He would regret not offering it more than offering it. By not doing it we have closed the opportunity. Our arena is different than it was last time. If it is more of a deficit than is palatable, then we can look at what to do in the future. Councilmember Donnelly stated the wages are not additional. Parks and Recreation Director Distad agreed they are not additional hours. Time would be charged to the arena rather than the pool. Parks and Facilities Supervisor Pire stated there may be some overtime. A lot of the current seasonal staff have summer jobs, so if there are evening hours we may need full time staff to work overtime. Finance Director Hanson stated when looking at the arena and pool, we will have to keep in mind if one is over,the other may be less. Councilmember Donnelly asked if this will affect any big projects at the arena. Parks and Recreation Director Distad replied no, it would be preparing for the ice season with painting the. 8 Council Workshop Minutes February 10,2014 Page 3 floor,time for it to dry, and flooding. He noted Parks and Facilities Supervisor Pire has done a great job watching the numbers and making a profit. Staff wanted to make sure Council is aware we may be operating in a deficit with this. Councilmember Bartholomay felt we do need to try summer ice. It is a good time to see if the Ice for Tigers group will step up to fill some of the hours. We also offer skate rental now which could bring in some revenue. Councilmember Donnelly noted it would be different if the cost was $50,000,but he does not believe it will be more than$5,000. Parks and Recreation Director Distad stated with the profit from previous years,this year we may break even. Councilmember Fogarty had informed staff that she is in favor of summer ice. Council consensus was to offer summer ice for 2014. Trail Maintenance CIP Staff has looked at a plan for trail maintenance where an area of trails would be addressed every five years for maintenance. Parks and Recreation Director Distad presented a map showing trails within the same area would have maintenance done to save costs. In the years where there is less work to be done, the trail maintenance fund can be built up. The City would continue to provide an annual levy of$30,000 to fund the fog sealing and crack sealing of trails starting in 2015 through 2035. In 2021 there would be additional dollars transferred to the fund in addition to the tax levy for overlaying and reconstruction of older trails. Trails in the Prairie Waterway and Rambling River Park are in need of an overlay. With the 195th Street project,there will be more trails between Pilot Knob Road and Akin Road. Council agreed with addressing trails every five years. Councilmember Fogarty informed staff that she wanted to see the plan continue past 2035. She asked that staff not ignore urgent needs and staff should bring them to Council. Staff should continue to explore options for trails in low lying areas. Sunday Liquor Sales Bill Liquor Operations Manager Peterson gave his opinion of Sunday liquor sales which mirrors other municipal operations in MN and what the Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association (MMBA) has stood for for a long time. There is no evidence of being open an extra day would provide more revenue for the City. It will spread the sales from six days to seven days. We would incur the costs of utilities and personnel to be open an extra day. Council can decide if they want to take a stand on this issue or remain neutral. Other states that allow Sunday liquor sales have seen an increase in traffic accidents and no increase in revenue. If this bill passes, it would not be an option for us to remain closed on Sundays; there is too much competition around us. It would not work out to close another day of the week. 9 Council Workshop Minutes February 10,2014 Page 4 Mayor Larson spoke with our state representative and he felt we needed to be open on Sundays. Mayor Larson does not see the benefit in being open. We are trying to make the liquor stores profitable and this would not help. Councilmember Donnelly felt the legislature should not tell us when to be open. Staff noted the push is not so much around Sunday sales, but beer in grocery stores. Having Sunday sales would make 3.2 beers obsolete. There would be no need for them because you could go to a liquor store to purchase beer. Grocery stores would then want to be allowed to sell strong beer. This would push smaller stores out of business. Currently, 808 grocery stores in MN that sell beer have to abide by the same laws we have to. Liquor Operations Manager Peterson stated Sunday sales are not a good idea because it will not make us more money, and we may lose money. It will open the door to worse things for us. The City does not gain anything by this. If Council wants to take a stand, you could write to the legislators. Some cities have drafted resolutions against Sunday sales, which do not change the law,but it puts out a statement we are against this. Being open seven days instead of six would have a negative fiscal impact on the City. Law enforcement in most cities have said no to this option. Councilmember Bonar stated in his research he read the Distilled Spirits Council is in favor of this change. Liquor Operations Manager Peterson was not sure on their position. There is a movement in Minnesota with this organization. This organization is made up of liquor distributors. Councilmember Bonar wanted to present a counterpoint, because the presentation bears a particular slant. He noted 38 states permit Sunday sales; 12 states do not and we are one of the 12. There is no state that borders us that prohibits Sunday sales. Staff felt we need to ask ourselves what is the cost to our City and residents as far as allowing sales on Sunday. Is it worth it to be in a status quo if it will hurt sales for buying local, for small shops, for the safety of the public, for not providing any additional revenue to anyone? Councilmember Bonar asked if we have data for the 12 states that allow this, on their success or failure. Staff noted there is some provided in the packet. There is no benefit to their allowing Sunday sales because no one profited more. Councilmember Bartholomay noted Edina has said they would have to increase their annual gross sales by over 15%. Finance Director Hanson stated sales would have to increase by 1/7 for us in order to break even. Councilmember Bonar noted even if we pass a resolution, the decision will be made by others. Liquor Operations Manager Peterson noted it is up to Council if they would like to support,not support, get involved, or not get involved. Councilmember Bartholomay was against Sunday sales. Councilmember Bonar did not want to take a position. The information received is somewhat slanted and he sought other information to have a balanced approach. Councilmember Donnelly felt we should stay out of it. Mayor Larson asked if we should draft a letter or take a step back. Councilmember Donnelly felt we should step back. It may be the wrong thing for the City, but we will have to live with whatever the legislature decides. Mayor Larson was against it. He wants the liquor stores to be as profitable as possible to help the taxpayers. He would not 10 Council Workshop Minutes February 10,2014 Page 5 like to see the profit go away just because we are open on Sundays. Councilmember Fogarty informed staff she was indifferent to it. Liquor Operations Manager Peterson noted this has come up every year for the last 12— 15 years. It usually does not get to the floor in the legislature. Last time it was voted down. Each year it is supported by the big box stores. His concern is that without educating and speaking to the legislature we are not taking a neutral stance as much as we are taking a stance that someone else gets to put in their influence and we don't. City Engineer Schorzman asked if the MMBA is taking a stance. Liquor Operations Manager Peterson stated by not saying anything we are still a part of MMBA and support what they do. He was asking if Council wanted to do something independently. Mayor Larson stated right now, Council will not take a stand. Councilmember Bartholomay asked how much we could lose if this is passed. Finance Director Hanson noted the legislature will hear from other people. So by not hearing from us they are coming to their own conclusion. You are leaving our fate in their hands. Councilmember Bartholomay stated we will lose money and impact the City negatively. Finance Director Hanson stated payroll and utilities would increase. City Engineer Schorzman was hearing that Council wanted to step back and see what happens. He asked if Council would be interested in receiving updates as bills move through the legislature. Mayor Larson felt they will hear the updates as they move along. Finance Director Hanson will provide Council with information on the potential cost of staying open. Utility Bill Inserts There have been more frequent requests from third parties to insert information into the utility bills. So far the City has not allowed this. Finance Director Hanson noted if we open this to one entity we do not have discretion who we do or do not say yes to. Other cities do not allow this. Council consensus was to not allow third party inserts in utility bills. Staff asked if we should continue to say no or develop a policy. Councilmember Donnelly noted a policy would take the burden off staff. Finance Director Hanson will develop a short policy. Staff noted Councilmember Fogarty was also not in favor of this. Akin Park Estates Update City Engineer Schorzman noted the bid opening was held today and we received very favorable bids. At a previous Council meeting, it was discussed to do the evaluation of the two alternates anonymously. However, the rankings for both alternates are the same. The low bidder was Valley Paving. Alternate A was to replace all curbing on the east side and spot curbing on the west side. Alternate B was to completely replace the curbing in both areas. To install curbing on the west side it would cost$141,000. The estimate for the project was $1.4 million. The low bid is $500,000 under that for Alternate A. Staff felt the $141,000 could be better used in other areas and that it was not necessary to replace curbing on the west side. Council consensus was to go with Alternate A and leverage the dollars to do as much road improvement as we can with the balance. This will be brought to the February 18, 2014, Council meeting for approval. 11 Council Workshop Minutes February 10,2014 Page 6 195th Street Project After looking at the intersection of Pilot Knob Road and 195th Street, regardless if a roundabout • or a traffic signal is chosen,there will be a need to have a four-lane section approaching that area from the north. This will expand the scope of the project to include Pilot Knob Road from 195th Street to 190th Street. Our cost would be $400,000 - $500,000 for the Pilot Knob piece. City Engineer Schorzman asked if Council wanted to do this in 2015 or 2016. Council agreed to do this in 2015. We would need to have an open house on this soon. The county would like to hold it the first part of March. Council would like to meet with the county prior to the open house. Staff will ask the county to meet with the Council prior to the Council meeting on March 3, 2014. City Engineer Schorzivan noted the storm sewer budget has money to do the design work for the storm sewer piece of 195th Street. We need to start that soon. He asked if staff can contact Stantec to work with the county on that or go out for RFP. Council noted Stantec has the history. Staff recommended using Stantec has they formulated our surface water management plan and they are familiar with our systems. We have a better chance of success with them. Council consensus was to use Stantec. The county will pay 55%of the bills. MOTION by Bartholomay, second by Bonar to adjourn at 7:53 p.m. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant • 12