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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11.03.03 Council Minutes COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR November 3, 2003 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Ristow at 7 :00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Ristow led the audience and Council in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL Members Present: Members Absent: Also Present: Audience: Ristow, Cordes, Fitch, Fogarty, Soderberg None Joel Jamnik, City Attorney; Robin Roland, Finance Director; Kevin Carroll, Community Development Director; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Lee Mann, Director of Public Works/City Engineer; Lisa Shadick, Administrative Services Director; Brenda Wendlandt, Human Resources Director; Jim Atkinson, Assistant City Planner; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Harry Brull 4. APPROVE AGENDA MOTION by Soderberg, second by Cordes to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Soderberg, second by Fogarty to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes (10/20/03 Regular) b) Approved Capital Outlay - Finance c) Adopted RESOLUTION RSO-03 Gambling Event Permit - Administration d) Adopted RESOLUTION RSI-03 Approved Submittal of Application for Landfill Abatement Funds from Dakota County - Parks and Recreation e) Approved Bills APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Council Minutes (Regular) November 3, 2003 Page 2 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS a) Approve 2004 License Renewals - Administration A public hearing was held to renew On-Sale Liquor Licenses, On-Sale Sunday Liquor Licenses, On-Sale Wine and Club Licenses, and Saunas and Therapeutic Massage Licenses. Applications were received as follows: On-Sale Liquor - Farmington Lanes Long Branch Saloon and Eatery Gossips La Margarita Restaurant On-Sale Sunday - American Legion Club Eagles Club Farmington Lanes Long Branch Saloon and Eatery VFW Club Gossips La Margarita Restaurant Club Licenses - Eagles Club VFW Club American Legion Club On-Sale Intoxicating Malt Liquor and On-Sale Wine - B&B Pizza The Ugly Mug Sauna and Therapeutic Massage - Rite Touch Therapeutic Massage Sherry Jackson Sharon Munich Insurance information had not yet been received from Gossips, the American Legion, and B&B Pizza. Staff requested approval of the above licenses and approve the licenses for these three businesses contingent upon receiving the insurance information. MOTION by Cordes, second by Soderberg to close the public hearing. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Cordes approving the 2004 On-Sale Liquor, On-Sale Sunday Liquor, On-Sale Intoxicating Malt Liquor, On-Sale Wine, Club, and Therapeutic Massage licenses with the above contingency. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT Council Minutes (Regular) November 3, 2003 Page 3 10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS a) Set Council Workshop -Administration Staff requested Council set a workshop to discuss a Council policy on filling vacant Council seats, pavement management, and the new City Hall. A workshop was set for December 3, 2003 at 6:00 p.m. b) Administrative Policy for Minor MUSA Extensions - Community Development Staff recommended two minor changes to the MUSA policy as follows: - Include a 40-acre limitation on excluded properties. Anything over 40 acres would have to go through the entire MUSA process. - Allow some proj ects under 5 acres to be excluded from the full process. Minor projects consistent with MUSA expansion criteria and determined to promote responsible growth would proceed directly to the Council for consideration. MOTION by Soderberg, second by Fitch to approve the amended MUSA review policy regarding properties excluded from the full MUSA Review Committee process. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. c) Appoint City Council Representatives to MUSA Review Committee- Community Development Staff requested Council appoint two Council representatives to the MUSA Review Committee. There will be 3-4 meetings between the end of November and late March or April. Mayor Ristow and Councilmember Fitch volunteered. Mayor Ristow suggested they have an alternate and Councilmember Soderberg volunteered as an alternate. MOTION by Soderberg, second by Fogarty to appoint Mayor Ristow and Councilmember Fitch to serve as City Council representatives on the MUSA Review Committee. Voting for: Cordes, Fogarty, Soderberg. Abstain: Ristow, Fitch. MOTION CARRIED. d) Gas Franchise Agreement - City Attorney The current gas franchise agreement with Aquila expires November 6,2003. The previous franchise was for a period of25 years. The city proposed a 15-year franchise. The agreement includes a franchise fee option, which reserves Council's right to consider a franchise fee at a future date following a 90 day wait and public hearing process. The agreement also states that as Council deliberates a franchise fee Council should consider the competitive advantage or disadvantage it puts the gas franchise at compared to other energy providers. This does not mean the city is imposing a franchise fee, it just gives them the option. Mayor Ristow asked when electric and cable agreements are due. Attorney Jamnik stated Xcel will be due in 3 or 4 years and will be re-negotiated at that point. That would be an appropriate time to consider any franchise fees. Finance Director Roland stated the electric franchise is a non-exclusive franchise and covers both Xcel and Dakota Electric. The city already collects a fee for the cable franchise. Mayor Ristow stated residents can get along without cable, not gas or Council Minutes (Regular) November 3, 2003 Page 4 electric. That is the users option. He wanted to remind future Councils it is a tax, a users fee that the city is getting and the people pick it up. MOTION by Cordes, second by Fitch adopting ORDINANCE 003-501 granting a non-exclusive natural gas franchise to Aquila for 15 years. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a) City Administrator Search - PDI Consultant Mr. Harry Brull, Personnel Decisions International, discussed the City Administrator hiring process. Council was requested to decide which candidates they would like to interview. There were 34 applicants. Mr. Brnll spoke with Council, department heads, employees, and members of the community. He used the information he obtained to compile a position profile. He distributed the position profile and interview questions to Council. Council can also use their own questions. Interviews will be held with Council on November 12,2003 beginning at 5:30 p.m., and November 13,2003 beginning at 6:00 p.m. Mr. Brull had narrowed the candidate pool to 13 and Council reviewed those applications prior to the Council meeting. The candidates were numbered in order to retain data privacy, and Council was asked to narrow the list to 6 applicants for interviews. He asked each Councilmember to choose their top 4 candidates. Councilmember Fitch stated there has been some discussion already with Councilmembers on a particular candidate that did not meet minimum qualifications. Yet by virtue of discussions with Councilmembers that name was put on the list. He asked if that is still a viable candidate for their purpose tonight. Mr. Brnll stated there are legal and philosophical implications. Philosophically, academic requirements were put out as pre-requisites because having achieved them they mean something in terms of a person's capability. However, as a professional in the field of personnel selection when talking about people in key leadership roles and often talking about academic degrees that were earned in some cases multiple decades ago, that whether or not quite honestly 20-30 years ago someone who got the 4-year degree or did not probably will not translate into much difference in terms of capability today. That was the agreement we went forth with and advertised, but it is something Council could change. There is no legal requirement that a City Administrator have any particular degree or academic background. Because this person had some unique qualifications and because of some private conversations with Council, they thought this was a viable candidate, Mr. Brull included this person in the pool of candidates. Subsequently he has learned there could be some legal ramifications of including someone or changing the rules at this point. City Attorney J amnik replied Mr. Brull is correct that there is no legal requirement to have specified qualifications. Once you have adopted the qualifications if you deviate from them there may be legal liability either from a prospective candidate who did not submit an application because of the Council Minutes (Regular) November 3, 2003 Page 5 advertisement that you would only consider certain candidates meeting a threshold, or any citizen that says you have violated a policy or any of the other candidates. He could not give a level of risk of liability exposure. There has been litigation recently in local governments over employment decisions. If Council wants to open it up and consider candidates other than what was advertised for, he recommended re-opening the position and re-advertise and add to the pool of candidates. This would delay the timeline, but would insulate Council from legal challenge. Otherwise, Attorney Jamnik recommended they adhere to the policy to the extent they can. Councilmember Fogarty stated Council cannot be granted much latitude? Attorney Jamnik replied no. Mayor Ristow stated the bottom line is we asked for a Bachelor's degree and preferred a Master's degree. Attorney J amnik stated that is right, but Council can change that by putting the process on hold, and open it up so other candidates who also don't have degrees that meet the minimum requirement could submit applications. Councilmember Fogarty wanted to make sure none of the 13 candidates have withdrawn their name. Mr. Brull replied that is correct. He stated he informed the candidates of the open meeting law and candidate disclosure requirements, so once they are chosen, their names will become public. He will contact all 13 candidates regardless of their standing. The voting was as follows: Candidate 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Cordes Fogarty Fitch Soderberg Ristow Soderberg Ristow Fitch Soderberg Ristow Fitch Ristow Soderberg Fitch Cordes Cordes Fogarty Fogarty Fogarty Codes Candidate 10 received 5 endorsements Candidate 3 received 4 Candidate 8 received 3 These three received majority vote of Council. Council had agreed to interview 6 candidates. Candidate 11 received 2 endorsements, Council agreed to include this candidate. Councilmember Cordes stated one of the candidates does not meet the minimum qualifications and asked if Council should eliminate him. She considered he was Council Minutes (Regular) November 3, 2003 Page 6 eliminated now. Attorney Jamnik stated it is up to Council whether you want to run the risk or not. Councilmember Soderberg stated for purposes of privacy they should not identify that candidate at all. Attorney Jamnik cautioned Council to refer to candidates by number, because the data practices act provides that personally identifying information other than the name can result in a violation. They have to be extremely cautious to not mention any city or school or wherever the person might be employed that might be an indicator of where the person is from or other characteristics that would allow someone to discern the identity of the individual. Councilmember Cordes stated number 6 would have been her 5th candidate and that would give him 2 votes. Councilmember Fogarty said the same of candidate 12. Councilmember Fitch stated he also chose candidate 6. Council agreed to add candidates 6 and 12. MOTION by Cordes, second by Soderberg designating candidates 3, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12 as candidates for the City Administrator position. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 12. NEW BUSINESS 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember Fogarty: She congratulated the Farmington football team on winning the game Friday. She reminded everyone of the school board elections on November 4. On November 18 the Park and Recreation Task Force will have an open house presenting the draft proposals. She and Mayor Ristow attended the Chamber's Breakfast with Council. They discussed the new City Hall and received a strong impression that people want the City Hall built, they want it downtown, and want Council to move forward. 14. ADJOURN . MOTION by Cordes, second by Soderberg to adjourn at 7:48 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, ,.;;/,"7 /7 -~- )?'7<--<-/:h: <./ lAA_~t~~ /7 G/ Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant