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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.05.15 Council Minutes COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR October 5, 2015 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,Bonar, Donnelly, Pitcher Members Absent: Bartholomay Also Present: James Monge,City Attorney;David McKnight, City Administrator;Robin Hanson,Finance Director;Brian Lindquist, Police Chief;Jim Larsen, Fire Chief;Adam Kienberger, Community Development Director;Randy Distad,Parks and Recreation Director;Kevin Schorzman, City Engineer;Brenda Wendlandt,Human Resources Director;Members of the Farmington Fire Department;Cynthia Muller,Executive Assistant Audience: Jake Cordes,Lacelle Cordes,Bruce and Julie Boettcher 4. APPROVE AGENDA Councilmember Bonar pulled item 7d)Amend Fire Department Capital Improvement Plan for discussion. City Administrator McKnight added item 5a) Swearing-in of Fire Department Officers. MOTION by Donnelly, second by Bonar to approve the agenda. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS a) Swearing-in Fire Department Officers Mark Arens was sworn-in as Captain and Lieutenants are Bob Eibner,Rick Fischer,Brian Hanson,Matt Price and Doug Rowe. b) Minnesota Manufacturing Week October 1 - 10, 2015,was proclaimed as Minnesota Manufacturing Week. c) Proclaim October 2015 as Community Planning Month October 2015 was proclaimed as Community Planning Month. 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS Lacelle Cordes,Farmington resident, stated a month ago Council voted to postpone the hiring of an assistant for the senior center. She found it hard to understand how Council can so easily give$5,000 for a set of eyes to be painted at the arena to promote community pride,but can justify taking away funding for a much needed position that serves the most rapidly growing segment of our population. Not only has this Council Council Minutes(Regular) October 5,2015 Page 2 put the burden on the older generation of this community to keep the building open and operating by having them hold fundraisers to purchase things like chairs,but you are potentially making the decision to take away a staff position that not only helps with the coordination of these fundraisers, but helps with providing social experiences that are greatly needed as our population ages. For eight years she sat on the Council making decisions that would affect this community. Knowing what she knows now, in hind sight there are a few decisions that she would have voted differently on. Let's not make one of those decisions tonight. 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Donnelly, second by Bonar to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes(9/21/15 Regular)-Administration b) Set October 19,2015, Public Hearing on Economic Development Authority Composition-Administration c) Adopted RESOLUTION R47-15 Awarding the Sale of Rescue 1 -Fire d) Approved Amendment Fire Department Capital Improvement Plan-Fire e) Adopted RESOLUTION R48-15 Accepting Monetary Donation to Farmington Fire Department—Fire f) Adopted RESOLUTION R49-15 Accepting Donation from Farmington Lion's Club to the Rambling River Center—Parks and Recreation g) Adopted RESOLUTION R50-15 Accepting Donations to the Rambling River Center—Parks and Recreation h) Adopted RESOLUTION R51-15 Accepting Donations for Sponsorship of the Movie in the Park Event—Parks and Recreation i) Adopted RESOLUTION R52-15 Approving AFSCME Clerical,Technical, Professional Unit Settlement—Human Resources j) Adopted RESOLUTION R53-15 Approving AFSCME Maintenance Unit Settlement—Human Resources k) Acknowledged Resignation Municipal Services—Human Resources 1) Acknowledged Resignation Fire Department—Human Resources m) Approved Appointment Recommendation Fire Department—Human Resources n) Approved Seasonal Hiring—Human Resources o) Approved Bills APIF,MOTION CARRIED. d) Amend the Fire Department Capital Improvement Plan-Fire The fire department capital improvement plan has been discussed at previous meetings and work sessions. The sale of rescue 1 was approved tonight in the amount of$130,000. We have a$90,000 expense,but we have$40,000 as a balance. The proceeds of the sale will be used for upgrading our capability for extrication,to stabilize vehicles that are rolled over and to upgrade the storage of those tools on the apparatus. With the sale of rescue 1 there will be a rescue engine at both sides of town. Engine 22 is already a rescue engine. Retrofitting will be done to rescue 1 to fully outfit it and upgrade the equipment. Engine 2 is a 1993 engine that carries no extrication equipment. The extrication equipment Council Minutes(Regular) October 5,2015 Page 3 from engine 1 will go on engine 2 so all three engines will be outfitted for extrication responses. This will be a significant upgrade of our fleet. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS a) Adopt Resolution Certification of Delinquent Municipal Services to the 2016 Tax Rolls-Finance Property owners with delinquent municipal bills as of July 31,2015,were mailed notices that they could pay their bill before October 1, 2015,to avoid certification to the property taxes. Staff received one appeal asking they be given the opportunity to pay the full amount now and not have the amount certified to their property taxes. Council also received a request from a customer asking to accept payment of the delinquent amount before applying the administrative fee and interest charges. To be consistent with the rules applied to other customers, staff recommended the delinquent amounts be certified. Staff will follow-up with the first appeal that if they pay the full amount including administrative fee and interest charge before the county's December deadline,that amount will not appear on their property taxes. The original amount of delinquent accounts was $466,835.24. The amount to be certified is$292,646.91 representing 483 active accounts. The city will receive this amount with the July and December 2016 property taxes. There were 21 rental accounts which were delinquent and were now put in the property owner's name. There are 82 accounts which remain in the tenant's name. Mr.Bruce Boettcher,407 Main Street, stated they moved here in March and received a notice for Edina Realty for previous utilities. He was not sure if this had been paid. The realty company was going to make payment,but Mr. Boettcher had not received any follow-up. Staff will provide assistance to him. MOTION by Bonar, second by Pitcher to close the public hearing. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by Donnelly, second by Bonar to adopt RESOLUTION R54-15 certifying the delinquent accounts as an addition to the 2016 taxes of the appropriate properties. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. b) Adopt Resolution Municipal Consent 2016 TH-3 Project and 2017 TH-50 Project-Engineering MnDOT requires municipal consent for projects affecting access or acquiring right-of-way. The TH-3 project goes from south of Ash Street to 170th Street. The access implications are along TH-3 at Larch Street,Walnut Street and Main Street. Larch Street will change from a T intersection to 3A access. The median crossover at Walnut Street will be closed. The Main Street access to TH-3 will be closed. This project will be done in 2016. The TH-50 project,to be done in 2017, involves acquiring right-of-way at the Fountain Valley Golf Course entrance for a right turn lane. MOTION by Council Minutes(Regular) October 5,2015 Page 4 Donnelly, second by Pitcher to close the public hearing. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by Bonar, second by Pitcher to adopt RESOLUTION R55-15 granting municipal consent for the 2016 TH-3 and 2017 TH-50 MnDOT projects. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS,REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS a) 2015 Summer Ice Financial Report—Parks and Recreation Parks and Recreation Director Distad presented a financial report on the outcome of summer ice for 2015. There were three primary user groups which followed through on their commitment for summer ice rental. This year there was a profit with summer ice of$6,191. This revenue will stay with the ice arena budget. The dehumidification system worked very well. b) Present New City Logo Options—Human Resources Staff worked with CivicLive, our website design consultant,to develop options for a new logo. The options were presented to Council. These options will be on the city website for the public to vote. There will also be an option to keep the current logo and another option which was not presented. The public can also provide suggestions for a new logo. Council requested staff determine if any hours were available from the previous marketing consultant to work on a logo. Council agreed to put the options out to the public. Council should also provide their ideas to staff within the next couple weeks. 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 12. NEW BUSINESS a) Approve Staffing Changes in the Police Department—Human Resources Currently police administration consists of two part-time and two full-time positions. Two employees will be retiring at the end of 2015. The police department proposes going to thee full-time positions. There is a tremendous amount of training to be done and staff would like that to occur before the employees leave. Therefore, staff proposes moving the part-time employee to full-time and hiring a full-time employee effective November 1,2015. An eligible applicant has been selected and the appointment recommendation would be on the October 19,2015, Council agenda if Council agrees. The financial impact will be budget neutral for 2016. There would be salary and benefit costs for 2015 and would be taken from the police department or the general fund. The cost would be approximately$15,000. Staff requested Council approve the administrative staff level change from two part-time and two full-time positions to three full-time positions. Convert the Council Minutes(Regular) October 5,2015 Page 5 part-time position to full-time effective November 1,2015, and hire a third administrative employee effective November 1,2015. City Administrator McKnight suggested changing the start date to November 2, 2015,to save$2,000 in benefits. Councilmember Bonar was in favor of this without the use of any general fund balance. He understood they wanted to provide cross training to provide coverage in the case of absences. Police Chief Lindquist agreed they are trying to mitigate loss by everyone being able to do everyone's job. There will be a lot of knowledge walking out the door and the jobs have changed significantly. Everything is electronic and very fast. Deadlines have to be met for the court system. When part-time employees come in,there has to be time spent bringing them up to speed each day. Having full- time positions will eliminate that lag time. They do not have funds set aside for emergencies. However,he will look at what can be put off to 2016 to provide funding for this position. Finance Director Hanson has reviewed the police budget and feels the cost can be covered in the police budget and other budgets without using the general fund. Councilmember Donnelly stated the funding is the only missing piece,but it sounds like staff can make it work. It is logical to fill the gaps in staffing it's just a matter of finding the$13,000. City Administrator McKnight stated 50 years of experience will walk out the door in three months. He supports the plan to get a couple employees in at the same time. With the change to November 2,2015,we will save$2,000. They will look at where to find the funds,but the general fund budget at the end of the year will be zero. MOTION by Bonar, second by Donnelly to accept the proposal with November 2, 2015,as the start date and remove use of the general fund budget. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember Pitcher: The Fire Department open house is this Thursday at station two from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. City Engineer Schorzman: Pilot Knob is closed, so residents should use Akin Road to get to the Fire Department open house. The 195th Street project is on track for pouring curb and gutter October 15. The project should be finished the end of November. Mayor Larson: He encouraged residents to shop local. Council Minutes(Regular) October 5,2015 Page 6 14. ADJOURN MOTION by Pitcher, second by Bonar to adjourn at 8:10 p.m. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant