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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06.30.14 Work Session Minutes City Council Work Session Minutes June 30,2014 Mayor Larson called the work session to order at 6:30 p.m. Present: Larson, Bartholomay (arrived 6:34 p.m.), Bonar, Fogarty Absent: Donnelly Also Present: David McKnight, City Administrator; Robin Hanson,Finance Director; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Cynthia Muller,Executive Assistant Parks and Recreation Commission—Dave McMillen, Mike Haley, Gene Spars MOTION by Fogarty, second by Bonar to approve the agenda. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. Capital Projects,Equipment and Debt Discussion At the June 11, 2014, City Council/Parks and Recreation Commission work session the topic of a possible aquatic facility was discussed. The pool committee recommended option five which calls for a new aquatic facility at Jim Bell Park and Preserve. The base project cost is $7.25 million and a plus alternatives cost of$9.4 million. The completion of this park including baseball, soccer and lacrosse fields was also discussed. The purpose of this work session was for Council to consider this request along with other capital requests,the general fund/debt fund tax levy and the cost associated with economic development of Vermillion River Crossings. Other capital requests include a request for a ladder truck at a cost of$1 million, the Ice for Tigers request for a second sheet of ice in partnership with the school district and youth hockey with the city's cost being$1.2 million. Council is also aware of financial planning that has taken place regarding Vermillion River Crossings that we may have to assist in the future. The cost of the aquatic facility is $7 million, so the cost of development of the Jim Bell Park could be a similar amount. Staff also provided operational costs from surrounding aquatic facilities. There are CIP increases coming in 2014 to 2019 to pay back the debt we issued. The debt levy will increase almost$550,000 from$2.94 million in 2014 to $3.5 million in 2019. Mayor Larson noted there is a lot of money spent on outdoor hockey rinks. We have three outdoor rinks. If a referendum should pass and the park is developed, we should not take on additional debt for the park. There is too much money spent on hockey rinks in that four acre parcel. That is one place to cut costs. Mayor Larson stated most people are for development of Jim Bell Park because we do have a huge shortage of fields. One caller asked why do an aquatic center that other cities already have? He suggested having a man-made lake with a beach, large enough to divide into swimming areas 6 Council Work Session Minutes June 30,2014 Page 2 and canoeing, etc. Natural plants could be used as filters. It is all sand in that area and could be feasible. This is a unique idea rather than an aquatic center. Councilmember Bonar noted the 2010 needs assessment survey ranked the pool as last. Now four years later it is at the top of the list. Dave McMillen stated the survey was four years ago, the pool is older and there are new residents coming in. Mike Haley stated the condition of the pool continues to worsen,the attendance and revenue is down and expenses are up. It is costing us$70,000 per year to keep the pool open. The$7 million for the aquatic facility started with wants and came down to a balance of needs. It started at$11 million. Mayor Larson stated at the time of the survey residents may not have known about the condition of the pool. Councilmember Fogarty stated Council asked for options because of the condition of the pool so we could determine what direction to go. Councilmember Bonar asked if there was a quantified economic analysis for this type of facility. Parks and Recreation Director Distad stated the economic impact for recreational facilities is hard to quantify. If it is built,will it bring more people, more homes,more commercial property? Will it keep more people in the community? Mike Haley stated there is an estimated economic impact in the study which is low. Councilmember Fogarty noted these facilities do not break even in other communities, so it was difficult to understand how it will make money in Farmington. Gene Spars stated USAquatics spent a lot of time showing how we could cover the expenses and have some profit with the pool on a yearly basis. They reviewed it by census,by attendance, and demographics of who would be using the pool. They used a low estimate for the annual pool use and based it on the amount of concessions. The operating expense of lifeguards, chemicals, etc. would be covered by the fees. USAquatics used a 20 mile radius of where we would draw people in because of the uniqueness. They suggested having one defined feature to draw people in that other cities do not have. Councilmember Bonar stated regarding the CIP, in the next five years we will see a total increase of$500,000. City Administrator McKnight stated that is to pay back the CIP bond over six years that was issued last year to start the street projects. This is already included in the 2015 draft budget. Councilmember Bonar stated this year's potential levy impact we are considering is 5% which comes to $49 for the average home. Councilmember Fogarty stated if the pool were to close tomorrow, she would be interested in converting it to a free splash pad and come up with some long term planning for Jim Bell Park that would allow the voters an opportunity to vote on it. This is a large amount of money for something that is used three months out of the year by a limited number of people. She cannot envision Farmington with a big water park. She realized the pool committee cut back, but was not sure the public wanted something this grand. A lot of people have said it is time to develop that park and they want ball fields. They want a pool,but she does not hear aquatics facility. Mayor Larson has heard if we do the aquatics facility, let's plan the whole park. Councilmember Bartholomay mentioned the community survey is in the budget for 2015. He suggested putting this aquatic facility question in the survey as the price tag is huge. 7 Council Work Session Minutes June 30,2014 Page 3 Mayor Larson was not interested in spending$7 million on any one thing, but he would consider something less expensive. He is interested in developing the Jim Bell Park because the fields are something the city is lacking and would have an economic impact on the city. He was unsure if the aquatic facility would work. There are a lot of other expenses in the future including a fire truck and Ice for Tigers. He would be in favor of a referendum for some of the things we do need such as developing the Jim Bell Park and money for Ice for Tigers. This would have to happen in the 2016 election cycle because there is a lot of work to do. Even if we said yes to the aquatic center now, there is not enough time to do a successful campaign. Councilmembers Fogarty and Bonar met with the school board and community education and a lot of fields have opened up. With ice reservations, everyone wants ice at the same time. Is it the same with fields? Is there creative scheduling that can alleviate that? Are we dealing with more kids than ten years ago? Is it increasing past the point where we do need more fields than we have? When the high school opened, a significant number of soccer and lacrosse fields opened up. Soccer is not as big as in the past so is it balancing off? We need to keep a dialogue with the school district. If we develop the park,maybe it is a joint venture. They have some financing options that are not available to us. Councilmember Bonar would support a broad based, grass roots, public-private venture in 2016. While the study was comprehensive and provided objectives,to be successful in a bond campaign between now and November would be a serious challenge for the best prepared individual. We have a master plan for Jim Bell Park that is well thought out. If there is going to be a public vote for something of this scale it should represent the widest variety of stakeholders. He agreed converting the current pool to a splash pad is the best option for now. We have a wide variety of obligations; most of which are core to our mission of providing adequate public services. Councilmember Bartholomay stated people that called him in support of the aquatic facility lived in Empire Township. If we do something with an aquatic facility it would be nice to have a partnership with surrounding townships. He agreed with a referendum on using$7 million to develop Jim Bell Park and other items such as Ice for Tigers. We do have obligations we need to take care of. Mayor Larson asked if Council would be in favor of a$10 million cap to go towards some type of water feature, development of Jim Bell Park and Ice for Tigers. He suggested creating a plan with that type of budget. Councilmember Fogarty agreed. Councilmember Fogarty would like to see a splash pad in place of the current pool, but it doesn't seem that option was considered. Mayor Larson clarified demolish the current pool and build a splash pad. What about future pool needs? Councilmember Fogarty stated it is too big of an issue to be considered individually when we are looking at these numbers and now we have to look at something more comprehensive. Regardless of what we do, she would like to see the current pool turned into a free splash pad. She would like to see Council committed to that. 8 Council Work Session Minutes June 30,2014 Page 4 Councilmember Bonar agreed with Councilmember Fogarty. The most prudent expense is to convert the pool into a splash pad. If the variations we see in 2014 are of viable interest so the residents want to vote on it in 2016, hopefully there will be enough public input in the next 24 months if they want to tax themselves. During that time,he hoped the Seed family will come in and want development north of 195th Street. That may open an avenue for a public/private partnership. The first thing for Council to address is the decline of the pool and what its future will be. Councilmember Fogarty asked if Council was directing staff to look at converting the pool into a splash pad in 2015. Mayor Larson asked if we make 2015 the last year for the pool or this year. Finance Director Hanson stated to convert the pool to a splash pad the city would have to find $600,000 - $700,000. To continue the existing pool,the operating subsidy is $60,000 per year. If we do something later at Jim Bell Park, the subsidy dollars are already used. Councilmember Fogarty asked if there was a financial advantage to doing this in 2014 or 2015. Finance Director Hanson stated we will have to figure out how to borrow for it. Mayor Larson felt if we do a splash pad, it should be part of the referendum. He doesn't want to spend$70,000 for a splash pad. If the pool has to close before then,we would fill it in. Councilmember Bonar stated option four is not taking on bond debt but a loan. Finance Director Hanson stated it would be similar to what we did with the fire truck. It would have to have an interfund loan agreement and levy dollars behind it. It would save cost of issuance and the interest rate would be the same as borrowing. City Administrator McKnight stated it would very likely not be Water Board funds. Councilmember Bonar was in favor of doing the splash pad. We have a park in that area that we should support. It would be a minor increase to our levy. Councilmember Bartholomay agreed. City Administrator McKnight asked if Council wants 2015 to be the last year of the pool to allow for public feedback. Mayor Larson was in favor of 2015 being the last year. Councilmember Bonar stated this provides three areas of opportunity. It extends public outreach, an opportunity to see a potential change in an existing facility and the future for a new one. Parks and Recreation Director Distad noted we could ask on the survey how much of a tax increase people are willing to support. Mayor Larson stated the second question is do we say to the athletic groups figure out what you can do with$X amount of dollars for Jim Bell Park. Councilmember Bonar suggested putting out three options with tax impacts. Then the public decides what they want. This could be a community survey question. Councilmember Fogarty stated there has to be some motivation by the clubs to do some fundraising on their own and that should play into the equation. Ice for Tigers has done a lot of work and she does not want to discourage that. 9 Council Work Session Minutes June 30,2014 Page 5 Mayor Larson stated we have directed staff to replace the pool with the splash pad. He asked if the next step is to come up with survey questions and discuss this again when they are developed. Councilmember Fogarty felt we need to start talking to the organizations and make them understand. One of the survey questions needs to address the piece of whether it is fair to have a percentage of referendum dollars. We need to know how much the groups are willing to raise. Mayor Larson would like to know residents' opinion of the pool once they know it is closing. Their perspective may be totally different from the last survey. City Administrator McKnight stated the direction to staff is 2015 will be the last year for the pool and potentially build a splash pad in that location for 2016. The 2015 community survey questions should look at the appetite for a tax increase and priorities. Investment by athletic groups is necessary and discussion with these groups on money and leadership in this process is needed. Parks and Recreation Director Distad suggested doing the survey early in 2015 to allow time for organizing a referendum. Staff will have to provide the information to the organizations. Mayor Larson recommended informing the organizations so they can be organized for the 2015 and 2016 Community Expo's. Finance Director Hanson stated her concern is for a referendum to pass it will need broad appeal. If one group does a fabulous job, another does a mediocre job and another doesn't step up,the referendum will not have enough broad appeal. Mayor Larson stated all the organizations have to step up and work together. Finance Director Hanson stated that has to be the message to the organizations—this has to have as broad appeal as possible. MOTION by Fogarty,second by Bonar to adjourn at 7:34 p.m. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant 10