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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12.03.03 Work Session Minutes COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES December 3, 2003 Mayor Ristow called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Members Present: Ristow, Fitch, Fogarty, Soderberg Members Absent: Cordes Also Present: Dan Siebenaler, Interim City Administrator/Police Chief; Robin Roland, Finance Director; Kevin Carroll, Community Development Director; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Lee Mann, City Engineer/Public Works Director; Lisa Shadick, Administrative Services Director; Brenda Wendlandt, Human Resources Director; Ken Kuchera, Fire Chief; Jim Atkinson, Assistant City Planner; Tim Gross, Assistant City Engineer; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Interim City Administrator Siebenaler added two items to the agenda, Office Hours for City Hall for December 26, and Pre-Meeting Workshop with Mr. Harry Brull on December 15. MOTION by Fitch, second by Soderberg to approve the agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. New City Hall Council had asked staff to put together costs associated with the various sites. Each option shows the estimated costs of the various sites and the acquisition of various businesses. There will be acquisition costs, relocation costs, and demolition costs. Option A is 3rd and Spruce Street, the Blaha site. City Hall would be a two-story new structure. Adjacent space would provide for 49 parking spaces. Staffhas contacted Dakota County about using the library parking lot for overflow farking which would be an additional 56 parking spaces. There are also 43 spaces at the 2D Street parking lot. An option agreement has been provided to Mr. Blaha and he is on the verge of signing it. The acquisition cost is $257,500. There would be no relocation expenses as there are no existing businesses there. The demolition cost would be $34,620. Moving costs are estimated at $14,792. The total cost for the Blaha site would be $306,912. If this option is used, the existing City Hall site becomes available for purchase. The estimated sale value of City Hall is $533,000. Community Development Director Carroll stated this is $92,000 less than anticipated because of the well. There is state legislation that requires the city maintain a 50 foot radius around a well. This could be done through an easement. There are two bathrooms located in Engineering that are within the 50 foot radius and it may be necessary to close them as there is potential contamination within the 50 foot radius. The $92,000 is a partial reduction in the value of the building and the land, and they added $25,000 for an estimated cost of relocating the bathrooms to another location in the building. A separate parcel would have to be carved off for the city to maintain ownership of that 50 foot radius. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated this is a conservative estimate of the value of City Hall. It is comprised of 4 lots and does not include the two lots west of the building that are the City Hall parking lot. Staff felt it would be important to maintain the municipal parking area. Other options would be compared against this option. The net total cost would be $226,088, making it the least expensive option. (Councilmember Fogarty arrived at 6:14 p.m.). Council W orksbop December 3, 2003 Page 2 Mayor Ristow noted on the demolition estimate it is stated no street or walk restoration, no hazardous abatement. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated that is a disclaimer for all of the buildings. Mayor Ristow then noted the Blaha building is located in historical downtown and asked if it would need to be run past the HPC. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated the HPC has asked to be advised of the process. As a courtesy that would be done, but the Blaha building has not been identified as having any historical significance. Mayor Ristow stated the building has a lot of heritage and started out as a machinery building which built Farmington. It was International Harvester that was owned by the Fischer brothers. Farmington Printing was the initial Centel office. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated those things would have to be explored before anything could happen. Option B is the same as Option A except it adds on the potential for future expansion at the Feely site. Mr. Feely has stated he is not immediately interested in selling his property and plans on being in business for at least ten years. Option C looks at the existing City Hall site. This describes an expansion of the existing City Hall to the north. This option slightly reduces the parking on the west side and would therefore require additional parking spaces. An expansion to the north would add 40 spaces and would require the acquisition of Farmington Printing and their parking lot and the residential lot. Mayor Ristow asked what it would do to the well as it is within the corridor for the expansion to the west. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated the well site would have to be preserved. We would have to build around it. We would be faced with preserving the well site and the 50 foot radius or abandon the well site and relocate it to a different area of the city. Each option contains roughly the same amount of square footage. The acquisition of Farmington Printing would be two lots and the residential property. The appraised value is not the amount we would be able to purchase it for. For Farmington Printing the appraised value is $350,000. Based on previous discussions that is not an acceptable number to the current owner and she is not anxious to sell. It could be a much larger expense to acquire that property. As far as the residential property, the same family has owned it for a very long time and the same party has always rented it. The owner is not a motivated seller. Relocation costs would be involved for the business and the resident. State laws mandate how you do relocation expenses. Since relocation is a very technical procedure, we would have to contract with a consulting firm to do the relocation services. Relocation for Farmington Printing is estimated at $61,000, for the residential property $9,800, and for relocation services $12,000. Demolition costs for Farmington Printing are estimated at $30,800 and residential property at $7,400. The total net cost would be $517,792. This is $743,880 more than 3rd and Spruce Street. The cost of the building is not included in any of these estimates. Councilmember Fitch stated the difference of building a two-story building versus a single story may be considerably different. Finance Director Roland stated the task force looked at an addition to the existing building, or a new building on the existing site, or a new building at 3rd and Spruce, the cost for renovation and addition, Option C would be $5.492 million, Options E & F were $5.589 million, and 3rd and Spruce Street was $5.589 million. Option D would involve abandoning a portion of 4th Street between City Hall and the businesses to the east. The existing City Hall would expand to the north and east, building out into 4th Street. It would have the existing 36 parking spaces on the west side and the acquisition and demolition of the Motor Parts building would add 51 spaces. The owner of the building has been Council Workshop December 3, 2003 Page 3 contacted and was not opposed to the idea, but wanted time to think about it. There are no major utilities along 4th Street that would have to be relocated. Acquisition cost is $345,000. Four businesses would have to be relocated. The Motor Parts, Chamber of Commerce, the chiropractor, and the dance studio. Regardless of the current use, they are the tenants and are entitled to relocation costs, even if on a month-by-month rental. As the Blaha tenant did, if they move out prior to acquisition there is no cost, but if they are in the building at the time negotiations begin they are entitled to relocation expenses. Mayor Ristow asked why we did not have to do that with Blaha. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated Blaha's tenant was gone before negotiations started. Community Development Director Carroll stated the City Attorney was concerned that if we got into negotiations with them at any time the tenant was there, we would be obligated to pay. Mayor Ristow stated the tenant never left and was told he could stay there until next September. Community Development Director Carroll stated they may be using the space but he had a conversation with the tenant a couple months ago and he said he found space near the intersection ofHwy 50 and 3 that he had moved into. Mayor Ristow stated Castle Rock would not approve it, so the tenant rented space from Mayor Ristow for two months and he is back in the Blaha building until September. Councilmember Fitch stated he has more cars there now than he ever had. This was news to staff as they were told he was out. Staffwill research the situation. Given the case of the residential property, the city would be required to pay any difference in rent between the current house and a comparable size rental unit for a period of time. The owners could take that as a cash upfront payment and use it as a down payment on property of their own. The total net cost is $488,592 or $714,680 in excess of the 3rd and Spruce Street site. Mayor Ristow wanted to offer his thoughts on the present location. It brings back a historical site that has been here 130 years and the heritage is what you want to look at in a city. The city was built on the fire hall, the city hall, and the jail. That means more than relocating to another spot. We have the time capsule and the old fire bell. That would be his major concern of taking City Hall off a landmark that has been here for 130 years and built by our forefathers. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated staff is not making any recommendations. Option E is the most expansive of all options. It would include acquisition of all properties around City Hall to the north and east. There would be an estimated 82 parking spaces over what is available now. Acquisition cost, relocation cost, and demolition cost would be a combination of Options C and D. This is a very expensive option at $994,592. These costs do not include construction, only acquisition, demolition, and relocation. The values are appraised values, not actual values. Option F involves demolition of the existing City Hall and acquiring the properties to the north. This would be a new 2-story City Hall on the existing location, maintaining the 47 parking spaces to the west and 40 spaces to the north. This would also require a relocation of City Hall to an alternate site, and then a second relocation back to the new building. The acquisition, relocation, and demolition costs for the properties to the north would be the same. The net total cost would be $591,193 which includes demolition of City Hall. Option G includes a 2-story City Hall and acquiring the property to the east and abandoning 4th Street between the existing City Hall and the Motor Parts building. The costs for acquisition, demolition and relocation remain the same plus the cost of demolishing City Hall and moving expenses for moving twice. The net total cost is $531,993. Council Workshop December 3, 2003 Page 4 Option H is acquiring all the properties to the north and east, abandoning 4th Street, demolishing City Hall and building a new 2-story structure on the existing site. Costs for acquisition, relocation, demolition and moving for City Hall remain the same. This is the most expensive at $1,067,993. This does preserve the most expansion capability for the future. There is the possibility if there is an unwilling seller, the city would have to look at a condemnation procedure. Staff has presented as many options as possible and this has involved a tremendous amount of staff time. Councilmember Fitch stated our ace in the hole is that we own property and if businesses want to relocate we could assist them in ways that could reduce the cost of acquiring their properties. Regarding future expansion, we have to preserve as much as we can for future expansion. Unless the city stops growing within its borders we are going to have to continue to expand City Hall to provide the necessary services. He would not be in favor ofthe 3rd and Spruce Street site unless the Feely property is acquired right away. He was referring to Option B. Councilmember Fogarty stated she was thinking along the same lines. The cost for acquiring the Feely lot was minimal for parking space compared to buying parking space on the existing site. Councilmember Fitch stated if we decide on that option, we have to be prepared to condemn it if they will not sell it. Mayor Ristow noted on Option B Feely does have a building that holds trucks and asked if that would be included in the relocation. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated that is part of his own business and included in the $13,500. Mayor Ristow asked where that would be relocated. Mr. Feely would want that close by. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated that would have to be negotiated. Councilmember Fogarty asked if we could acquire the property and lease it back to him until it is needed. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated that is always an option. Councilmember Soderberg stated he agreed with Councilmember Fitch that the acquisition of the Feely parcel is important to do right away. As far as expansion, the Met Council has identified that vertical is better than horizontal. While a parking ramp is expensive, it is still an option. In one of the presentations by Wold Architects a parking ramp was included. Councilmember Fitch stated the building would have to be designed to go up. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated the architect talked about building in extra space. Finance Director Roland stated the downtown liquor store is cramped. More floor space could be good and it might increase sales and would help offset the cost of the building. The option of adding 4,000 sq. ft. was presented to the Task Force for a liquor store. When that space is needed, a new liquor store would be built in the downtown area. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated when the Maintenance Facility and Police department were completed 1 ~ years ago, it was built for a population of 27,000 estimated for 2020. Today, estimates are submitted to the Met Council for a population of 27,000 to 2010. Any option for City Hall needs to be kept open for future expansion or build in expansion space into the existing structure. Councilmember Fogarty felt a ramp and a 3-story City Hall should be considered. This would answer the space question. Councilmember Soderberg added with footings substantial enough to go higher. Councilmember Fogarty stated ~arking ramp might be advantageous for downtown. Councilmember Fitch stated the corner of 3 and Spruce could be used for a parking ramp as a connection to the Spruce Street corridor and expand the current City Hall location. Council Workshop December 3,2003 Page 5 Staff had hoped Council would give staff direction on which site they should be looking at. Once a site is identified, staff would have to prepare an RFP for architectural services and begin the design of the building. That will be a 6-8 month process. At the same time, staff would contract with an acquisition firm and begin condemnation procedures if necessary. If a decision can be made soon staffhas looked at one alternate location for the relocation of City Hall services. Staffhas contacted the owners of the hospital regarding temporarily relocating City Hall to that location at a very favorable rent. All of these things need to begin, but they cannot begin until a decision is made. Mayor Ristow stated with Option D, adding onto City Hall you would not need to relocate. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated certain parts of the operation might be disrupted at certain times. The whole building would need to be revamped for HV AC and a sprinkler system. Any modification to the hospital would be at the city's expense. The Tl1ines for connecting computers to various sites would not be available as there are no fiber optic lines running from the school to the hospital. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler asked Council to rlease make a decision or give staff further direction. Councilmember Soderberg favored 31' and Spruce Street. That is the most fiscally responsible site. Councilmember Fogarty supported Option B. She would very much like to look at a parking ramp and a 3-story City Hall at 3Td and Spruce Street. This would address expansion and parking concerns. Councilmember Fitch stated he had questions on financing and what it will cost taxpayers, each individual household. Finance Director Roland stated it is spread evenly between residential and commercial. If it goes to referendum the G.O. Revenue Bond is based on market value and leans more toward residential properties. Councilmember Fitch stated we took a lot of heat for a $60,000-$70,000 expense, and by the time you put in a parking ramp and a 3-story building you are talking $10 - $11 million. The school's recent referendum was turned down. Taxpayers are very aware of how schools and cities are spending their money. He would work with this, but would want substantial public input. Mayor Ristow stated we need to make a decision, but not tonight. Once we have the site, we need to decide how to pay for it. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated there are some steps in between that. We need to figure out the actual cost and preliminary design. Then include acquisitions, look at bonding and financing costs. Mayor Ristow stated if we decide on Options A, C, or D can we get more concrete figures, including the cost of the land on Option A, a cost for the ramp, and a cost for the Motor Parts building. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated we can put together a contract with an appraisal company. All of the landowners have been blind to this until today. The owners have not been contacted as to their own estimate of the value of the buildings and no walkthroughs have been done. Staff could hire a consultant to contact the owners or staff could contact them. The owners have only been informed this is being considered as an option. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler suggested contracting with a consultant to obtain the estimates. Finance Director Roland stated the Task Force had asked staff to contact Farmington Printing to find out her willingness to sell. At that time, she was not a willing seller and her value of the property was significantly different than the appraised value. Mayor Ristow stated Option D does not include Farmington Printing. If future expansion is necessary, that could be reviewed plus the Park and Rec building and the Frontier building. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated at this point, Council is looking at comparing actual acquisition costs for Options B and D. Councilmember Fogarty stated she is not interested in hiring a consultant. It would not change $714,000 to O. That is a huge gap to pay for parking. Existing City Hall options are terribly expensive. Mayor Ristow suggested putting this to a vote on the January 5, 2004 Council meeting, either the current location or 3rd and Spruce Street. Council agreed. Council Workshop December 3, 2003 Page 6 Pavement Manal!ement During the past two years Engineering staffhas been reviewing the pavement condition and giving it a condition rating. All the streets are given an OCI (Overall Condition Index) from 0 to 100, with 0 being impassible. Category 1 contained streets from 0-35 and were classified as failing pavement, Category 2 was ratings 35-55 and were poor to moderate pavement, Category 3 was 55-95, streets that would need crack sealing, patching or sealcoat, and Category 4 was rated 95 and above. 5% of the streets were in Category 1,4% in Category 2,52% in Category 3, and 39% in Category 4. A typical pavement section will last 30 years. Sewer and water lines should last in excess of 50 years. The life of pavement can be extended 3 times by doing lower cost maintenance over a period of time than doing a major reconstruct once or twice. The average maintenance cost is $4,960/year/mile on streets. Staff presented a reconstruction timeframe estimate showing the amount of streets that are deteriorating. Staff developed a chart to see if there was a way to come up with additional funding that would make maintenance costs easier to handle. The chart showed keeping up with deteriorating streets is much less costly with additional funding. This does not take into consideration special assessments. The $250,OOO/year would come from the permanent revolving fund. There is also additional money coming back to the city as MSA money from the Pilot Knob project. City Engineer Mann stated the city needs to find funding sources. Staff asked for Council direction to put together a CIF. Staff proposed the CIP process be completed in June of each year. Council agreed with staff's recommendation. Policv on Fillinl! Vacant Council Seats According to the City Attorney, the Council can enact a policy on filling vacant Council seats, but it is not binding on any future Councils. The Attorney recommended the Council enact a policy that says it will abide by state law, which is a matter of accepting applications and making a selection. Staff asked Council for direction on where they want to go with this policy. If Council does nothing, the city reverts to state law and assumes it will be done on a case by case basis. If Council decides it would like staff to develop a policy, staff will prepare a policy and present it for Council action. State law allows for applications, as well as other options, such as offering it to someone with a majority vote. Councilmember Fogarty stated she does not have a problem with applications but sitting as this Council sits, if this were to come up again, she would like to see the city's policy state the appointment needs to be a majority vote of Council so it cannot be gridlocked again. If a majority cannot agree she would vote for a Special Election. She stated what happened last year was inappropriate, it was deliberately gridlocked so a decision could be made without part of the Council's opinion. She felt they could have come to a decision. Councilmember Fitch stated it could have been resolved very simply if when Councilmember Strachan decided to run for State Representative he turned in his resignation to the Council effective the beginning of the following year. If we ask our own Councilmembers that if you decide and you have the faith and confidence to run for another office, that you will relinquish the one office at the end of the year. That way the people can speak and they could have voted for 3 Councilmembers. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated regarding a policy where the appointment would be done by majority, you can agree to do that among yourselves, but it does not supercede state law that authorizes the Mayor to make a final appointment. It does not bind a future Council from Council Workshop December 3, 2003 Page 7 making any changes. Regarding the request for a resignation upon seeking higher office, state law says when you are elected, you are elected for the entire term. It does not prohibit anyone from running for a higher office while in an existing one. If one member of Council decided to run for Mayor during an existing term, you could do that without being required to resign your seat. You can ask for it, but you may not require it. Mayor Ristow stated it sounds like no matter what you do, state law overrides it. If we say if you are running for a higher seat at this time, majority says you have to give up your seat, state law does not allow it. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated it allows you to ask, it does not allow you to require. Councilmember Fogarty stated you can design a policy that says if you cannot come to a majority vote, then you can go to special election. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated the City Attorney recommended not going that direction in that way. Mayor Ristow stated last time it was the cost of$II,OOO for one year. Councilmember Fogarty stated $11,000 for two years and a lot less controversy in the city and lot of bad feelings on the Council. Mayor Ristow addressed Councilmember Fogarty saying you met with me and there was more to this than what you said. There were people that you did not want on the Council either. Do you want me to bring out the tape and remind you of that? You sat in my office one day and said if you put so and so on there. .. Are you going to deny you told me that? Councilmember Fogarty stated she does not recall that, it is not her nature to threaten people. Mayor Ristow replied that one particular one, you don't recall that? How quick you forget. Now all of a sudden it was wrong. He did everything by state statute. We went by experience that is the way it was. Councilmember Fogarty stated we also could have taken the third highest vote getter, but you chose your way. Mayor Ristow replied I could go back to that again, and you and I discussed that. Mayor Ristow felt it should be left as is, it is under state statute and that is what will hold water. Councilmember Fogarty stated as this Council sits, it will be irrelevant anyway. Because we will have a whole new Council before we need to make any kind of decision like that again. Mayor Ristow asked what that is based on. Councilmember Fogarty stated Councilmembers Cordes and Fitch have told her they are not running again. Councilmember Fitch stated it is problematic because you can only make requests and not enforce anything. Councilmember Soderberg stated in the last process he thought we had an agreement to come to a consensus, but a gridlock was forced, and the proposal that was made was tossed out the window. Staff is looking for some sort of agreement where we have a process in place if we do have applications and interviews. Out ofthe nine candidates we had there was more than one person all of us could have worked with, just like we did with the City Administrator process. Two candidates clearly came to the top. If there is a policy it makes it more difficult to go against it. Councilmember Fogarty stated a policy puts a little more weight to it. She would like to see a Special Election. If Council feels they can make a selection without it, they can always repeal it. Put the decision back in the proper decision making hands. Councilmember Soderberg stated in talking with the City Attorney about Special Elections, that is something that needs to be changed by voter referendum. In order for us to do a Special Election, we have to have authorization from the voters to do a Special Election. It would have to be on the ballot next year. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler asked if Council wanted it left status quo and follow state law or are you interested in a specific policy. Councilmember Fogarty would like to look into a Special Election. Mayor Ristow wanted to stay with state statute. Councilmember Fitch stated state statute does provide for that. Councilmember Soderberg wanted to see what the City Council Workshop December 3, 2003 Page 8 Attorney had to say about a Special Election. Staff will check with Attorney Jamnik regarding a referendum. Office Hours for City Hall December 26. 2003 The typical holidays for Christmas are December 24 and 25. This year it falls on a Wednesday and Thursday. The office would reopen on Friday with a skeleton staff. Staff proposed also closing December 26 and asking employees to take paid leave for that day. The building would not need heat, lights, computers for five days in a row. It is a budget consideration. If employees take paid leave, it is not a holiday or an additional benefit. Everyone would have to use leave that would sit on the books at the end of the year and is required to be expensed out. Liquor stores and the arena would be open. Police would be working as well as solid waste, as the garbage schedule has been distributed. This would be a mandatory leave. For areas in City Hall that need to have coverage, this would allow both people to be gone. Employees will have the opportunity between now and the end of the year to accrue comp time if needed. Part-time employees would be allowed to work a flex schedule to make up the time. Council agreed to close City Hall December 26. Pre-MeetiD2 Workshop with Mr. Harry Broil December IS. 2003 Mr. Brull has asked for some time to meet with Council prior to the Council Meeting to discuss the candidate background packets. Packets will be sent to Council at the beginning of next week. Staff recommended starting at 6:00 p.m. MOTION by Soderberg, second by Fogarty to adjourn at 8:19 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, YL~/Yl~@~ c:7 Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant