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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09.06.05 Council Minutes COUNCIL MINUTES PRE-MEETING September 6, 2005 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Soderberg at 6:30 p.m. Members Present: Members Absent: Also Present: Soderberg, Fogarty, McKnight, Pritzlaff, Wilson None Joel J amnik, City Attorney; Robin Roland, Finance Director; Kevin Carroll, Community Development Director; Dan Siebenaler, Police Chief; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Lee Mann, Director of Public Works/City Engineer; Lisa Shadick, Administrative Services Director; Brenda Wendlandt, Human Resources Director; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant 2. APPROVE AGENDA MOTION by McKnight, second by Wilson to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 3. CITIZEN COMMENTS Ms. Ann Manthey, 104 Spruce Street, a member of the School Board stated she has a feeling some comments will be coming forth tonight from others and this is a very heated issue about the high school property. Personally, she feels both sides have been at fault and could have done things differently and that is where we are today. She hoped everyone would be respectful tonight of every other person's opinions, actions and reasonings and try to remember that we cannot take back the words that we say tonight. She wanted everyone to be respectful of each other. 4. COUNCIL REVIEW OF AGENDA Councilmember McKnight asked about the capital outlay purchase and asked Finance Director Roland to explain the capital acquisition fund. Finance Director Roland replied the capital acquisition fund is a budgeted fund wherein the money is taken in off the property tax levy for the payment of debt on the bonds issued out of that fund. The Certificates of Indebtedness are the bonds issued out of that fund to purchase in the last two years any piece of equipment in the City and prior to that and subsequent to that, any piece of equipment with a life span longer than the bonds are for. In most cases bonds are issued for five years. This would be equipment such as a snow plow, a grader, or a larger fire truck. Council Minutes (Pre-Meeting) September 6, 2005 Page 2 Councilmember McKnight then asked about the new fire department rescue truck pre- paint inspection and noted this was for four people for three days. Finance Director Roland replied the bid specifications identified up to four persons at the City's expense. The original plan was for it to be for a single day, but it did not work out that way. The money is available as it is part ofthe bond and part ofthe Fire Department's operational expenses. Councilmember McKnight felt it seemed a little excessive, but as it is part of a bond we cannot save any money. Finance Director Roland stated perhaps in the future they will encourage fewer individuals be included in the bid specs. Councilmember McKnight stated Council can also require this. Councilmember McKnight then asked if the new Kwik Trip LED sign is out of compliance. Community Development Director Carroll replied the LED component is. Staff told them they would be coming to the Council with a recommendation for LED signs, but the timing was such that K wik Trip wanted it on for the opening and staff did not tell them they could or could not. Councilmember Pritzlaff asked about the supplemental item regarding the two parcels in the Farmington Business Park. City Attorney Jamnik replied the Farmington Business Park annexation proposal petition that was processed a year ago differed from the final plat legal description and omitted two five-acre parcels that were to be included in the plat. The County Recorder's office identified the error and brought it to staff. The map was correct, but the legal description was in error. The state processes it with the legal description. The resolution needs to be redone and re-submitted to the state. Ifthe matter is returned to the state by September 13,2005 the annexation should be finalized at their meeting on September 15, 2005. S. STAFF COMMENTS 6. ADJOURN MOTION by McKnight, second by Pritzlaffto adjourn at 6:41 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, ~~~ ;-r7~ Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR September 6, 2005 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Soderberg at 7:00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Soderberg led the audience and Council in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL Members Present: Members Absent: Also Present: Audience: Soderberg, Fogarty, McKnight, Pritzlaff, Wilson None Joel Jamnik, City Attorney; Robin Roland, Acting City AdministratorlFinance Director; Kevin Carroll, Community Development Director; Dan Siebenaler, Police Chief; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Lee Mann, Director of Public Works/City Engineer; Lisa Shadick, Administrative Services Director; Brenda Wendlandt, Human Resources Director; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Melody Martagon-Geiger, Jill & Scott Schoening, Dale Cummings, Cheryl Haan, Kris Dunn, Peter & Cindy Faerber, Jared & Theresa Agerter, Ryan Bums, Dale & Cyndy Wetterstrom, Mike & Lisa Lawrence, Jenny Hickey, Bryce & Kim Malone, Tina Weierke, Tracy Weierke, Paul Sand, Terri Uline, Jeff Carpenter, Renee Meyers, Ann Young, Lynda Cavanaugh, Randy Oswald, Ruthe Batulis, Leon Orr, Ann Manthey, Scott & Robin Hansen, Tiffany Nork" Angie Bramer, Kristen Goodreau, Mark Grubb, Mark Looman, Lawry Benson, Patty Stebo, Joel & Sue Baskerville, Victoria Jakubak, Melissa Grebel, Jeff Schrafft, John Gilbertson, Glen Hansmann, Bill Toninato 4. APPROVE AGENDA MOTION by McKnight, second by Pritzlaffto approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS a) Swearing-In Ceremony - Police Officer Cassie Johnson was sworn-in as a new Police Officer. b) Introduce New Employee - Community Development Ms. Lisa Dargis was introduced as the new Administrative Support Technician in Community Development. Council Minutes (Regular) September 6,2005 Page 2 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS a) Mr. Bill Fitch - Response Staff sent a response to Mr. Fitch. Mr. Bryce Malone, 18893 Excalibur Trail, stated a lot of things have happened over the last ten months. The message that their organization developed was to get the voice that seemed to not be heard, heard. There are a lot of upset and hurt people in Farmington. It has been difficult for a lot of parents and as members ofthe community to sit back and see things unfold as they have. As public officials, they hold the Council responsible in a lot of instances. The responsibility does not lie only in the Council's hands, but as elected officials ofthis community, they hold Council responsible for a lot ofthe actions that have taken place in the last ten months. They had a very large statement prepared for tonight. Based on it being put on the agenda, they cannot talk about that, but he does want to make it clear they are very disappointed the City can now make available the issues that have been posted on the City's website in the last 48 hours, only after the public formed a group and created a campaign to make sure the people of Farmington were heard again. It is the City's responsibility to make known the facts as to why they oppose such a volatile issue. The school district made their position very well known throughout this campaign by sending out e-mails, sending out mailers and other correspondence. Regardless of the validity no efforts were made to contradict or make truths of these statements. Perception is reality. If the City wishes to avoid such a mess in the future, he advised them to make every effort to educate the public, every effort. Excuses are not acceptable and they will hold Council accountable for every action and every item you are either for or against. In lieu of the new information provided only today and in the last 48 hours, they believe there is enough common ground for both the City and the School Board to reach some form of an agreement. He strongly urged the Council to put their best foot forward and do what is best for the children and the future of the community. They also suggest that the City makes it clear in a Memorandum of Understanding the expectations in order to approve the site. Keep the people and the constituents that voted for this referendum informed. They are not going to go away. They wanted to make that clear. There is support in this room and there is support outside. This has not gone down right and he felt the Council would agree with that. It is time to be leaders and not politicians. Councilmember Wilson noted Mr. Malone referenced 48 hours and asked what he was referring to. Mr. Malone stated the documentation on the City website. He was referring to the documents referencing the high school site back to November 2004. Mr. Malone encouraged everyone to go to the website as well as the School Board's website. Councilmember Pritzlaff asked Mr. Malone ifhe was going to give this presentation to the School Board at their meeting as there are two parties involved and Councilmember Pritzlaff stated he believed the second party was more to blame in this. There have been time frame issues, etc. The City has been dealing with the School Board and when it comes down to the kids, had it been an ag preserve issue when that came out the school Council Minutes (Regular) September 6, 2005 Page 3 district played with your kids. He has never played with the kids. He voted for this. His request to Mr. Malone was to take this to the School Board at their next meeting. Councilmember Pritzlaffwill be there to make sure it happens. He will take some responsibility, but not a whole lot. This has to be shared with the second party too. Mr. Malone stated we are a group based on fact as we know it. The facts as we have known them place blame in areas he would disagree with. He is not here to point fingers. He fully expects to be at the School Board meeting to let them know how the people feel. There is no winner here. He does not feel like he will win if this school is built like it should be. There has been a wrong that needs to be corrected. If Council feels they are so right and there is nothing they could have done to prevent this mess, then we are done, but Mr. Malone has a hard time believing that. Regardless of how this unfolds, you know how the majority of the City feels, and if you want to go against that, by all means do so. Ms. Lacelle Cordes, 1405 Lower Heritage Way, noted under the Consent Agenda is the Separation Agreement and resignation of the City Administrator and asked what the final numbers are that he will be receiving financially and benefits. Finance Director Roland stated they can be made available after the meeting. Ms. Cordes stated so you do not know the numbers you are approving tonight? Finance Director Roland stated we do know the numbers that are involved in the contract, it is in the agenda item. Ms. Cordes asked if Mayor Soderberg could read them off the agenda item. Finance Director Roland replied according to the contract that was signed when the City Administrator was hired, he receives six months salary amounting to $45,000 which is in the budget, there is a $5,000 transition expense and a $500 legal fee. He receives insurance at the current level for 12 months. Ms. Cordes noted it says resignation and asked if this was normal to give a Separation Agreement at such high amounts if the person just resigns. Mayor Soderberg stated the Separation Agreement was worked out between the attorneys. Ms. Cordes stated it is more that he was asked to leave. Mayor Soderberg stated it was a mutual understanding. Ms. Cordes stated he was asked to leave. 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Wilson, second by McKnight to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes (8/15/05 Regular) b) Received Information Capital Outlay Park Improvements - Parks and Recreation c) Authorized Capital Outlay - Police d) Received Information July 2005 Financial Report - Finance e) Scheduled September 13, 2005 Workshop - Cataract Fire Relief Pension - Administration f) Accepted Resignation and Approved Separation Agreement - Administration g) Approved Removing Special Assessment 195th Street Assessment Roll - Finance h) Approved Beer License - Administration i) Adopted RESOLUTIONS RI05-05 and RI06-05 Accepting Donations - Parks and Recreation Mayor Soderberg thanked Aquila and Dakota Electric for their donations for Pollution Prevention Day. j) Approved Pre-Paint Inspection Trip - Fire Department Council Minutes (Regular) September 6, 2005 Page 4 k) Approved School and Conference - Fire Department I) Approved Soil Testing Proposal- Parks and Recreation m) Received Information Customer Service Response Report - Administration Mayor Soderberg noted staff received high marks for their good work. n) Approved CLG Scholarship Grant - Administration 0) Accepted Quote Sidewalk Replacement - Engineering (Supplemental) p) Approved Bills q) Adopted Joint RESOLUTION RI07-05 Farmington Business Park Parcels in Castle Rock Township - Community Development APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS a) Adopt Ordinance - LED (Lighted) Signs - Community Development Currently the City Code does not address LED signs so it is currently prohibited. Christian Life Church and K wik Trip have requested permission to install LED signs. Other cities have placed restrictions on LED signs. The Planning Commission did not have an interest in imposing any regulations. The draft ordinance includes the definition of an LED sign, that they can be used by civic, education, non-profit, charitable, religious, commercial or industrial purposes. There are some height and sign area requirements that are consistent with other non- LED signs. There are no restrictions. Staff asked if Council was in favor of LED signs, and if so are they interested in placing any restrictions on them. Councilmember McKnight stated he was concerned with allowing flashing signs and suggested removing that from the ordinance. Councilmember Wilson agreed with having some limitations. Councilmember Pritzlaff asked if something that is flashing is less distracting than something that is scrolling. Staff felt the least problematic would be something where the letters would fade in and out gradually so they would not be flashing. Staffwas concerned with longer messages scrolling across the screen as people have to watch them longer to see what they say. These signs are intended to distract people, but not to create a hazard. Councilmember Fogarty stated she would not want to see something flashing, but felt K wik Trip's sign is appropriate. It is hard to anticipate everything that could be put on an LED sign and felt as things are discovered that are too distracting the ordinance would have to be amended. City Attorney Jamnik suggested adding a sentence stating the LED sign permitted under this section shall comply with 1 0-6-3(C)(1) and omit the except as allowed in Section 10-6-3(B)(1)(v). MOTION by McKnight, second by Wilson adopting ORDINANCE 005-542 amending Section 10-2-1 defining LED message signs Council Minutes (Regular) September 6, 2005 Page 5 and Section 10-6-3(B)(1) and 10-6-3 (C)(1) allowing LED message signs with adjustments as recommended by the City Attorney. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. b) Discussion of High School Site Mayor Soderberg stated he received two requests from Councilmembers to place this item on the agenda. The question is to reconsider the vote for the high school. The question for reconsideration can only be moved from a member of the prevailing side of the issue which would be Mayor Soderberg, Councilmembers Fogarty or Pritzlaff. Mayor Soderberg asked ifthere was a motion to reconsider the high school comp plan request. There was no motion so the issue stands as voted on three weeks ago. Mayor Soderberg stated this does not mean the City is against the high school. As Mr. Malone said there is a lot of information that is available and that people do not have. He submitted a letter saying he failed the residents in telling them his issues. He will talk with Council later in the meeting about establishing a communications policy or some way of communicating information better to the public. The issue regarding the site selection for the school started with a flawed process. The school said they did not want to deal with developers. Sometimes you have to deal with developers. They wanted only to deal with single land owners. For a site that size it paints you into a box because most of the land owners that have parcels that size are developers. The school publicly stated they would not use eminent domain, throwing away the tools the state has given them to make site selections. They do not have to use it, but do not through it off the table. You do not start a building project and throwaway half your tools. There was no City involvement in that process. Staff tried to speak to Council about the issue, tried to get information from district staff, tried to convey concerns along the way and for whatever reason was shut out. Mayor Soderberg stated he was advised to speak out publicly about his concerns with the process and the flaws in it. He was advised to do this last fall. The problem with that is that it had the potential to put the referendum at risk and he did not want to do that. He did choose to speak to the superintendent and board members in November so his concerns with the site were no secret to them. There are problems with the site. Leap frog development is poor planning and goes against all of the regional planning practices for most communities. The Met Council does not approve of leap frog development. It is contrary to the comp plan and zoning. The school district is willing to give a $10 million business subsidy to future developers for that area. Does anyone here think that when developers start building that out that their product will be less in price because they got a road and infrastructure at no cost to them? There is no legal recourse at this time for the school district to reclaim any of that money as that property develops. There are significant additional hurdles such as an EA W, special waters consideration, unknown ponding requirements, whether the requirements would make the site unusable and the Met Council approval is still a question because of the distance from existing development. It creates a host of policy questions that need to be addressed. Council Minutes (Regular) September 6, 2005 Page 6 Last February there were issues identified and concerns about the site from Council. There were verbal promises made by the School Board. There has been no action from the School Board regarding that. There was talk about a Memorandum of Understanding which puts those promises on paper. As recently as today there was balking at the promises. Mr. Malone stated he holds Council accountable. Mayor Soderberg stated he takes his share of the blame for not communicating his concerns. He made a conscious decision to communicate them directly to the School Board. They chose to ignore him. It does not mean he is opposed to a new high school. Mayor Soderberg met with Dr. Meeks on August 19,2005, five days after Council voted. The purpose ofthe meeting was to get going on finding a site both sides can work on, to get it done in time for the kids to be in a new high school. Mayor Soderberg extended a hand to the school to come to the table and get it done. He has not heard anything back. He does not know what more residents want him to do. This does not mean he is not going to retract that hand. He is still offering assistance to get it done and in a timely manner. Mayor Soderberg called for a 10-minute recess. Council reconvened at 7:55 p.m. Councilmember McKnight stated he has received 35-40 e-mails since Council voted three weeks ago. He gives full credit to everyone who sent their opinions and reactions. Three e-mails said they did the right thing. He has been in favor of the site since February. That has not changed. He needed to speak, ifno one else will be allowed to speak, for these people. He will be respectful and professional because that is the tone he expects to set as a City Councilmember. Addressing Mayor Soderberg he stated he was one of two Councilmembers who asked him to place this item on the agenda for reconsideration and he gave the Mayor full credit for putting it out there. When he is finished, he will ask the three who are eligible to consider one more time to make a motion to approve the site for the high school. He is a little disappointed in this issue. He stays professional and does not take personal shots at people and that is the tone he is trying to set. He only speaks since January when he became a part ofthe Council. When he looks at problems or issues he goes to the core ofthe issue so that is where he knows where to spend his time. He will say a few things that might irritate a few people and might frustrate some, but so be it. They need to be said. We need to put these issues on the table and talk about them so this City can move forward into the future. When he looks at the school issue, back to January, we have an organizational culture problem in Farmington. This is his personal opinion. He is not blaming or pointing fingers. He is part ofthe City of Farmington. This is his City. He has worked in local government for the past 13 years in a number of different cities and counties and this is the worst organizational culture of any of the entities he has seen. He is not taking shots at anybody. This is his town. He is on the City Council. This is his responsibility too with the four others up here and all ofthe staff members. He needs to do something to help fix that. We need Council Minutes (Regular) September 6, 2005 Page 7 to do something to fix that as a City Council. This has been cultivated for a long time. He does not care what the reasons are. He wants to solve these and move forward. He takes his one fifth of the responsibility as a City Councilmember. There are some things we have failed you in when it comes to our organizational culture. By organizational culture he means the following, and he is not taking shots at anyone: We have failed you in our leadership role as a City Council. We have failed to say this is where we are going. Get on board. Here is how we are going to get there. Here is where we will be in three months, three weeks, three years. We have failed to say that and if there are people who do not agree with where we are going, get another team. We have failed you in communication. The Mayor had his example of what he has done recently to try to resolve that and he gives him credit for that. Councilmember McKnight stated he has failed in trying to show the opportunities the Flagstaff site offers for a new high school. He has failed to show all the possibilities that could be out there in western Farmington. He has failed to show how a comp plan, while a very important document, can and does change in local government. He has failed by not making this a more important issue, the review of the comp plan, something we have not done as a Council since the three of us took office. This is an important document. Ifwe do not review it or at least peruse over it, that is not a plan. Ifwe do not review it every year it is just a piece of paper that sits on a shelf. It'is one of our most important documents and if it is that important, he will not disagree with anyone on that, but it can change. The third issue we failed you as a Council. We have not set the right example. We have treated each other with disrespect. We have treated each other in an unprofessional manner. That has to stop from us. We need to be the leaders of this town. We should not be surprised when we perceive we are treated that way by individuals, businesses, school board, whoever. We need to do a better job of that and that starts right now. We have failed in the area of teamwork. This is not a Council of one, two, three, or four, it is a Council of five and we need to act like that. We do not have to agree on every issue. We haven't. He has told people he has lost more votes up here in the last nine months than he lost in his whole life and he is fine with that as long as we are working as a team. We have that opportunity now. We need to start doing it. It needs to start right now. What can he do and what can we do as a Council? We need to grow up as a City Council and he is taking his one fifth of the responsibility. He is not pointing fingers at the other four. We need to do a better job for you. We need to be more professional and that starts right now. We need to change the reputation our City has. There is a reason in some people's minds that we are this backwards town that all of a sudden has 20,000 people living in it. We need to work with developers, the people of the school district, the county, whoever it takes to start to change our reputation. We can't put that in a letter to say we are going to do that, we can't put that on our web page. We need to take action. It will take Council Minutes (Regular) September 6, 2005 Page 8 awhile but we are willing to do it. He stated you may think I am totally off base and that is fine. He truly respects everyone's personal opinion. He may be one of three new or green City Councilmembers up here, but he does have the most experience in government. He has seen different governments operate and he knows what he is talking about. This organizational culture affects everyone. It affects us, the staffwho works here everyday and he wants to work to improve that. Work to improve our communication, work to improve our work with other local government entities. Back to the high school issue, he gave the Mayor credit for putting it on the agenda and asked the Council one more time to make a motion to approve the comp plan amendment to allow the high school to be placed on the Flagstaff site so the school district and the City can work with the Met Council on this issue. This is just the start of his discussion and work and our work on organizational culture. We need to get back to the high school issue tonight and do what is right. Mayor Soderberg asked one more time, is there a motion to reconsider. There was no motion. II. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a) Adopt Resolution - Joint Dispatch Joint Powers Agreement - Police Last May the Council authorized the cooperation and the development of a county-wide dispatch center. This is part of a High Performance Partnership program initiated in Dakota County. A Joint Powers Agreement has been developed. The agreement would commit the City to membership for a minimum of five years. That would allow for a full development of the process and procedure to occur. It would allow for up front costs to be met. After that, the City would be free to explore other dispatching options. During the first year, the City would be committed to assuming 4.83% of the total financial obligation for the dispatch center. This represents Farmington's portion of overall activity, police, fire and ambulance activity. After that costs would be based on actual number of calls. Overall direction, oversight and policy for this Joint Powers Agreement would fall under the authority of a board of directors comprised of elected officials from each member organization. The Dakota County Communications Center would be operated under the direction of an Executive Director. A search is being initiated to find an Executive Director. This person would report to an Executive Committee comprised ofthe Administrator from each jurisdiction. They would meet no less than quarterly. An Operational Committee would look at policy and procedure to look at the overall operations. This would be comprised ofthe Police Chief and Fire Chief along with alternate voting members. Only those people designated would be the voting members. There are no substitutions to these people. During 2006 the City would be obligated to provide $20,000 in funding. The remainder would be provided by other cities and through grant funding obtained by Dakota County. Council Minutes (Regular) September 6, 2005 Page 9 Councilmember Wilson commended Police Chief Siebenaler for his hard work and diligence on this proj ect. Police Chief Siebenaler stated this is the work of a very large and dedicated committee working over many months. Mayor Soderberg stated it has been elected officials as well as staff from all of the member cities and it has taken quite a while to get to this point. Councilmember Pritzlaff thanked Police Chief Siebenaler and the committee for their work. Councilmember McKnight also thanked Police Chief Siebenaler and would like Farmington to take a bigger role in these HiPP projects. He recommended Mayor Soderberg represent the City on the Board of Directors. MOTION by Pritzlaff, second by Wilson to adopt RESOLUTION RI08-05 approving the Joint Powers Agreement establishing the Dakota Communications Center. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by Wilson, second by Fogarty to appoint Mayor Soderberg and Councilmember McKnight as an alternate to the Board of Directors. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by McKnight, second by Pritzlaffto appoint Robin Roland, Acting City Administrator and Finance Director Roland as an alternate to the Executive Committee. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by Pritzlaff, second by Wilson to appoint Police Chief Siebenaler and Marjie Boese as alternate to the Operations Committee for Law Enforcement. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by McKnight, second by Fogarty to appoint Fire Chief Kuchera and Fire Marshal Powers as alternate to the Operations Committee for Fire. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 12. NEWBUSINESS a) Adopt Resolution - 2006 Preliminary Tax Levy and Budget - Finance Finance Director Roland presented the 2006 preliminary budget. The proposed preliminary levy is $6,668,204 which is 14% over the 2005 levy. General fund revenues are estimated at $7,888,457 with 67% from property taxes. There are no levy limits for 2006. Expenditures are proposed to increase by 10.8% over the 2005 adopted budget. These are due to operational cost increase, significant fuel and utility cost increases, existing contractual obligations and additional staffing. The additional staffing is 2% ofthe general fund expenditure increase. The reason for the 14% increase is the City's tax base increased by 14% for pay 2006. If the tax base increases 14% and the levy increases 14% the actual tax rate does not increase. Therefore, the only tax increase a household should see in 2006 under this budget is due to the increase in the market value of their home. Capital Outlay for 2006 has been funded the past couple years entirely by bonds, will be funded this year by $175,000 capital acquisition levy. The City will not be issuing bonds in 2006 for any capital acquisition purchases. Additional staff proposed includes two new patrol officers, a promotion to an administrative sergeant position, an accounting technician, a maintenance worker/mechanic, and an administrative support specialist for the Park and Rec department at mid-year. Finance Director Roland showed a comparison of 2005 adopted revenues versus 2006 proposed and a comparison of 2005 adopted expenditures versus 2006 proposed. The market value of a median value home in 2005 was $196,700. In Council Minutes (Regular) September 6, 2005 Page 10 2006 it will increase to $211,500. This is a market value increase of 7.52%. The City portion of taxes for a median value home in 2005 was $861. In 2006 it will increase to $925. The 14% is comprised of two components. One is the new housing component which is approximately 7%. The other 7.52% is the growth in market value. MOTION by Pritzlaff, second by Fogarty adopting RESOLUTION RI09-05 certifying the 2006 preliminary tax levy to Dakota County and establishing December 5,2005 at 7:00 p.m. as the City of Farmington's Truth in Taxation hearing for Tax Levy collectible in 2006. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. A budget workshop was scheduled for September 28, 2005 at 6:00 p.m. b) Consider Options City Administrator Position Mayor Soderberg stated he has discussed the possibility of having an Interim City Administrator for a period of time. He asked Council if they wanted to go directly into the search process or have an Interim Administrator for a period of time to get things settled down and get some equilibrium. Councilmember McKnight stated he would like to go with an Interim for 1-2 years which seems like a long time, but getting things settled down is important to him. We have a lot of work to do here. As someone who works in this field, he feels it is important that we have someone as an Interim because the potential field of candidates out there is very tight right now. Councilmember Fogarty agreed with Councilmember McKnight and would be comfortable with a long-term Interim. If Council does not agree with that and they decide to move ahead with a permanent placement she was not sure how she felt about using an agency. The last two were not terribly successful. She would like to see Council approach it in a different way. Councilmember Pritzlaff agreed with an Interim. If a quality candidate becomes available do we risk passing that up doing a 1-2 year Interim? However, for the short-term he felt an Interim would be best. Mayor Soderberg asked if there was a way to structure an agreement that allows for that. Attorney J amnik stated Council could specify a duration on the agreement and include that as part of the recruitment. He agreed with having a process for looking at candidates rather than hiring a search firm. Councilmember Wilson also preferred an Interim Administrator. Mayor Soderberg stated he met with Councilmember McKnight and they spoke with search firm individuals, former City Administrators, Mayor Soderberg talked with current City Administrators and other people who have some knowledge of Farmington and how it operates. There are very few names of people that either are available or may have an interest. He asked Council ifthey were comfortable with having himself, the City Attorney and Councilmember McKnight talk to the individuals on the list and bring back a recommendation to Council. Once an Interim is in place, Council can discuss the process for getting a permanent replacement. Councilmember Pritzlaff asked if there would be a provision to make the Interim the regular Administrator if Council liked that individual. Mayor Soderberg stated that would be discussed, but the pressing issue is to get someone in place. He stated Finance Director Roland could do a fine job, but she Council Minutes (Regular) September 6, 2005 Page 11 has a full plate right now. Council agreed with this process. Mayor Soderberg will coordinate with Councilmember McKnight and the City Attorney to proceed. MOTION by Pritzlaff, second by Fogarty to appoint Finance Director Roland as Acting Administrator for the present time with retroactive out-of-class pay. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember Wilson: He e-mailed the Management Team because there are a lot of positive things going on, but there are not a lot of positive things being reported. The school issue has become very absorbing. The City and the Council have become the dumping ground for a lot of things residents are not happy about. He will not fault residents for saying or thinking that, but there are a lot of good things going on in the City. Regarding the high school site, he mentioned in August he was as frustrated as anyone. He made a comment at the joint meeting with the school district that ifthe issue is brought up the following Monday he would definitely vote no. He was not comfortable with that comment and he has never been comfortable with the vote against the comp plan since back in February. Consistent with what Councilmember McKnight pointed out, he does not have any control over what happened in 2004 although he thinks there was significant Council direction on this particular issue that influenced how things came to be. In February he pointed this out. Council did not have to do anything relative to the ag preserve issue, but we did. At a Council Workshop in March we agreed that if some of the significant items were resolved from the school district such as the road issue, this would be a site we would have to continue moving forward on. As an elected official he is disappointed that it has taken so long to get to this point. We have been talking about this issue ongoing. While the site is not the perfect one, action has been taken on this site. With due respect to Councilmember Fogarty and Mayor Soderberg the decisions that matter are the ones we make at the table. Not the meetings and discussions at Coffee with the Councilor other meetings. The decisions we make here we need to honor and stand by. Consider if the school district was Target, 3M, General Mills, Walmart, back in 2004 you indicate that if certain conditions are met we will consider the possibility of MUS A being granted. Even if we had voted on this tonight, MUSA is not granted until the Met Council gives approval. We can only recommend the granting of MUSA. If you take a significant company, give them the indication that we will allow you to build here if certain conditions are satisfied, in this case the high school site being removed from ag preserve status, and then take it away, that is a tough thing for him to swallow as an elected official. You need to have a respectful process. He is not saying the Council is the party at fault. He is 20% of the Council, and he is as much to blame. He would hope the School Board would acknowledge that communication is far from perfect. Council, outside of any pressure from the school district, advanced the issue. It is disappointing. He hoped they can find a way to reach out to the school district, find a way to get this done, and move forward. We have an insanely talented staff from the Finance Director, to Community Development, to Engineering, to our Police Chief, to our Fire Chief. They have all made significant contributions all the time they have been here. He wanted to highlight some Council Minutes (Regular) September 6, 2005 Page 12 ofthe things that are going on now that many people may not be aware of. The action plan he would like to take from this is we have talked about communicating more regularly and he thought we need to look at something where we provide highlights of things that are going on in the City, information that would be useful to residents such as something going on at the Police Department, housing developments, things going on with a local business, etc., that we can produce and send out in electronic format once a week, every other week, or once a month. Finance Director Roland has been compiling the budget. She has toiled over the budget. She refers to it as a very challenging week. It is a challenge because she knows we have to ultimately look the residents in the eye and tell them the taxes we are asking for this year are fair and reasonable. Human Resources Director Wendlandt has worked on the fiber optic cabling to allow the City facilities to operate under its own fiber optic network which is a significant improvement. There will be some things in the future which might allow us to televise our meetings over the internet. Parks and Recreation Director Distad has been working on projects with Hill Dee Park, with Silver Springs Park, Vermillion Grove Park. All along he and his staff and the Park and Rec Commission have been soliciting comments from residents and developing a plan of action to go forward on building these parks. These three parks are planned for completion hopefully this fall. The Police Department has many visible signs. A lot ofthem occurred the morning of our storm and the leadership that Police Chief Siebenaler and his team provided. It is important to make everyone aware that one of our officers has volunteered to serve helping the hurricane victims. A significant accomplishment in our Fire Department is at 1 97th Street and Pilot Knob. Significant progress is being made on a second fire station which includes an extra bay for ALF Ambulance which will be a tremendous benefit for Farmington residents. Engineering has been working diligently to get the Ash Street project done, has eliminated the lift stations at Sunnyside and the fairgrounds, seal coating projects, and projects relating to housing developments. Administrative Services Director Shadick has been working with Mark Moore, the Cable Coordinator on repairing one of the TV cameras. She is also doing work on the Heritage Preservation Commission and trying to identify some properties on Oak Street that would be eligible for qualification for heritage status. Community Development Director Carroll, Tina Schwanz, Lee Smick, everyone in Community Development are doing some great work with respect to various approvals for housing developments, the industrial park, modifying ordinances with regard to signs, new businesses, we had the Vermillion River Crossings groundbreaking tonight. Council Minutes (Regular) September 6,2005 Page 13 He takes a positive view of what is going on in Farmington, and of his fellow Councilmembers. When a resident expresses his or her opinion about individuals on the Council, it is a team. While three individuals are being identified, he is part ofthat team so you might as well put his name up there as well. He did vote one way. It is different than three people having their name splattered across the newspaper, but it takes all five of us and every resident in this town to be on the same page, to approach it with a positive attitude and know we can get it done. He knows we can and it will take all of us and a lot of hard work, but we will do it. Councilmember Pritzlaff: Some of the communication might be solved by having a scheduled workshop once a month. It seems on a monthly schedule there are enough things to deal with in a workshop setting. He asked the Council to consider this. Mayor Soderberg asked Community Development Director Carroll if we would have had workshops of that nature if that would have aided in communicating. Community Development Director Carroll replied yes. Mayor Soderberg stated one of the things we need to learn from where we have been is how to get where we want to go more efficiently. He felt it would be a good idea to schedule workshops once a month to talk about issues. It was agreed to have regular workshops the third Wednesday of the month at 5:00 p.m. Councilmember Wilson suggested looking at eliminating the Pre-Council Meetings. Councilmember McKnight suggested having one or two workshops and see if that eliminates the need for the Pre-Meetings. Finance Director Roland: On September 13,2005 at 5:00 p.m. there will be a workshop to discuss the Cataract Fire Relief Association pension. There is also a budget workshop on September 28,2005 at 6:00 p.m. She suggested the third Wednesday in October at 5:00 p.m. would be the first monthly workshop. Coffee with Council will be Thursday, September 15, 2005 at 7:30 a.m. Councilmembers Fogarty and McKnight are scheduled to attend. As Councilmember Fogarty is unable to attend Mayor Soderberg will attend in her place. Police Chief Siebenaler: Friday afternoon the Dakota County Sheriffs Office received a call from Emergency Management asking for the formation of a 20-member strike force comprised of police officers from Dakota County to respond with ten vehicles to assist with the efforts in the Gulf Coast. Deployment was to have occurred yesterday or today. He authorized Sergeant Brian Lindquist to serve. Deployment has been delayed for up to 14 days. They will receive two days notice to deploy. He asked for Council's consensus for deployment of a police officer to the Gulf Coast to assist in the recovery from the hurricane. Council agreed. Councilmember Pritzlaff stated if our officer is bothered by anything while he is down there he wants him back as soon as possible. Police Chief Siebenaler stated there is a system of debriefing in place. It gives the officers a chance to vent and talk among themselves with a mental health professional facilitating. What the police officers in the Gulf Coast are experiencing is beyond Council Minutes (Regular) September 6, 2005 Page 14 anything a police officer has experienced anywhere in the United States. This is an area of devastation covering 90,000 sq. miles and estimates of 10,000 casualties. If it becomes too much to bear in the form of evacuation we will get him out. Mayor Soderberg: Lakeville had a Fun Shoot which is an opportunity for the officers to practice some skills. It was in fun but a competition. He was invited to watch and participate. All of our officers participated. The time he and Police Chief Siebenaler turned in was better than four police teams. It gave him a new appreciation of what the officers go through. He attended the Cedar Avenue BRT kick-offlast week. Farmington received some recognition as being a participant. Bus transportation will be important to Farmington. In the near future we need to talk with the Met Council and the MVT A about our role in transit. A number of our residents use transit. We should at least talk about whether we should be a participant in the Transit Authority System. The Transit Station at 160th Street and Pilot Knob is under construction. It will be open in late November/early December. Today there was a groundbreaking for Vermillion River Crossing and the Development Contract is signed. They could begin grading within the next week or two. This will be an exciting addition to the City. Regarding a communication policy, we need to do a better job of communicating. We have not communicated our position. Staff has asked Council to communicate our position going back to last summer and it hasn't happened. He is as much to blame as anyone for that. In the interim he took the liberty of posting a letter on the website. If that is something Council would not like him to do, that is fine, but we need to come up with some other way to avail ourselves of the tools we have at our disposal. It was suggested to establish an e-mail list of our residents so we can have the Administrator, or the Mayor or the Council send out a report to residents. We have not availed ourselves of press releases and that is something we should look at doing as well. We have a newsletter that goes out every other month and that just is not enough. People seem to be technologically savvy and they want to go to a website and get the information. How can we improve? How can we do better? Councilmember Pritzlaff felt if someone is going to put a personal letter on the website, the rest of Council should know when it will be there so they are aware of the content. Mayor Soderberg stated in the letter he tried to make it known that it was his position. Everyone has expressed the concern that communication has been lacking and that was the message of the letter that we did not communicate effectively. He apologized ifhe was offbase and we can have the letter removed from the website. Councilmember Wilson suggested including this in the workshop next week. He felt between Lisa, Jeanne and Brenda they might have some good ideas to offer. Finance Director Roland agreed this can be added to the agenda after the Cataract Relief Association. Mayor Soderberg stated it is not so much talking to each other but it is talking to the community. The goal is to be able to get information out to the community. Some of these requests were made from staff early on, but it was not acted on. Councilmember McKnight felt the idea of a communication plan is an excellent idea. If you want immediate communication, you can avail yourself to this media. He did not think anyone on the Council should use the website for personal views. He would support taking the letter off the web site. Councilmember Fogarty stated she is in the process of creating her personal web site. Attorney Jamnik can speak Council Minutes (Regular) September 6,2005 Page 15 to the legality but she would like to have a link to her website from the City's web site. Attorney Jamnik replied he is looking at that. Councilmember Wilson stated some people like to pick up the paper and read what is going on, some like e-mail. The school district does a good job of communicating. The Independent has the Blackboard, there are e-mails from the school, etc. He felt it will be a little bit of everything. This will be placed on the agenda for the September 13 workshop. Councilmember Pritzlaff felt short e-mails from staff would help. There are a few things that have happened recently that he would have liked to have heard from staff. For example, on the phone last night he heard there was an accident on Flagstaff. He would like Council to be kept updated in a timely fashion. Finance Director Roland stated we currently have the Management Report which goes out once a week. Staffhas been looking for ways of putting the information Council wants to know on that report that is already in existence. Administrative Services Director Shadick handles that and we will get that more informative. Mayor Soderberg would like to know what we have available now, what we are doing now and what we can do. We have some talented people here. Jeanne Stanek is very talented, Lisa, Rob, so we have excellent expertise. As a reminder to Council e-mail is an effective tool, but we need to be careful about what we say and how we disseminate. We do not want to get into a situation where we even remotely look like we are violating open meeting laws. Keep in mind anytime you hit the send button on the e-mail that it could find its way to the weekly paper. Councilmember Pritzlaff asked if City staff was back on regular hours and off of summer hours. Mayor Soderberg stated today was the first day City Hall was back to regular hours. Councilmember Pritzlaff suggested that be placed on the website and place it in the newspaper. Mayor Soderberg asked staff to remove his letter from the website. 14. EXECUTIVE SESSION - Labor Negotiations The purpose of the meeting is to receive an update from the Human Resources Director and get some direction from Council. Council recessed into Executive Session at 9:23 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~ ;VY7u_e~:, ynthia Muller Executive Assistant