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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04.19.04 Council Minutes COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR April 19, 2004 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: Ristow, Cordes, Fitch, Fogarty, Soderberg None Joel Jamnik, City Attorney; David Urbia, City Administrator; Robin Roland, Finance 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; Tina Schwanz, Planning Intern; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Randy Oswald, Jon Einess Audience: 4. APPROv.EAGENDA City Administrator Urbia added item 5b) Proclaim Arbor Day April 23, 2004. MOTION by Soderberg, second by Fogarty to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS a) MOTION by Cordes, second by Soderberg proclaiming Volunteer Recognition Day April 22, 2004. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. b) MOTION by Fogarty, second by Cordes proclaiming Arbor Day April 23, 2004. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Fitch, second by Soderberg to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes (4/5/04 Regular) (4/6/04 Special) b) Received Information Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes - Parks and Recreation c) Approved Temporary 3.2 On-Sale Liquor License - Administration d) Set May 3, 2004 Public Hearing Heritage Landmark Designation - Administration e) Adopted RESOLUTION R31-04 Gambling Premises Permit - Administration Council Minutes (Regular) April 19, 2004 Page 2 f) Adopted RESOLUTION R32-04 Regarding U.S. Senate Telecommunications Bills - Administration g) Adopted RESOLUTION R33-04 Authorizing Use of Eminent Domain - Main Street Project - Engineering h) Approved Bills APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS a) ALF Annual Report - ALF Ambulance Mr. Tom Kelly, ALF Ambulance Administrator, presented the ALF 2003 Annual Report. The ambulance service has been in operation for 18 years. There are 29 employees. ALF has a Joint Powers Agreement between Apple Valley, Lakeville and Farmington. They also serve Castle Rock, Empire and Eureka. Council commended ALF for the great job they do. b) Approve Park Planning and Park Development Schedule - Parks and Recreation Staff presented a park planning and park development schedule for Council approval. Staff has taken the 20 parks and put them into a five year schedule to develop a Master Plan. The parks were divided by sections of the community and each year a park in each section would be reviewed or developed. Costs for development of each park and potential park development items were presented. The schedule would cover the next 18 years. Staff requested approval of the master plan and park development schedule and sending a Request for Proposal for a consultant for a 5-year agreement to develop park master plans. Councilmember Cordes was concerned with using one consultant that the parks would tend to look the same. She suggested doing a 1-2 year agreement with one consultant and then using another consultant. Staff stated there would be a cost savings with a 5-year agreement, but a 2-year agreement would also be a savings. The cost for the Meadowview Park plan was $5,650. Staff assumed by doing three parks at once the cost would come down. Councilmember Cordes asked if the money would come out of park dedication costs or would it have to be included in the budget. Staff replied under the park dedication ordinance, the developer pays $15,000 out of a $30,000/acre cost. That money would be applied toward developing a park master plan. Councilmember Fitch stated the cost is beyond a CIP dollar amount, at what point will it have to be placed on a referendum? Staff proposed to identify potential funding sources in the CIP such as grants, public/private partnerships, donations, Council Minutes (Regular) April 19,2004 Page 3 fund a portion through the capital improvement program and a portion from voters. Within the neighborhood parks, the costs are doable out ofthe park improvement fund. With athletic facilities, that may have to come back to the voters. Councilmember Fitch was concerned if we are getting ahead of ourselves. Staff stated in 2004 there is $300,000 to develop Tamarack and Meadowview Parks. Meadowview Park has a letter of credit to draw from and for Tamarack there is money available in the park improvement fund to cover the cost. Some improvements may have to be delayed a year, or just do part of the improvements. When the agreement is drafted it could include a 30-day notification after 2 years. City Attorney Jamnik suggested having the agreement for up to five years. MOTION by Soderberg, second by Fogarty to approve the Master Plan Park Development Schedule and Request for Proposal for consultants for up to a five- year agreement to develop the Park Master Plans. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. c) Liquor Operations Update - Finance The lease on the Pilot Knob liquor store will expire on July 1, 2004. Staff is looking for an opportunity to relocate the store and expand. Staffhas received a proposal from Jon and Del Einess to relocate to a new building. The building is 10,000 sq. ft and will be located across from the current location. The city would get 4,633 sq. ft. of retail liquor space. The remainder ofthe building would be for 1 or 2 other tenants. Because of the size ofthe current store, merchandise has to be brought in case by case rather than by the pallet. A new building would allow for an expansion of merchandising and increased sales. The Pilot Knob store now provides 55% of liquor revenues. Staff asked for Council consensus to continue to secure the new and expanded lease space for the Pilot Knob liquor store. Mayor Ristow was concerned with the month-to-month lease ifthe new building construction was not completed in time. Staffhas spoken with the current landlord and he is dealing with some offers on his building. He did not have any concern with a six to nine month, month-by-month lease. Councilmember Fitch noted through March 2004 even though the liquor operations increased sales by $60,000 their profitability is offby $27,000 and wondered if there was some kind of trend. Staff replied the first quarter is notably the lowest quarter with regard to sales, but the highest with regard to expenditures. The biggest sales are the summer months and then again over the holidays. Councilmember Fitch noted there should have been that same ratio last year for the first quarter. Staff replied the insurance numbers were not in until April last year, so it was not included in the first quarter. Council reached a consensus for staff to move ahead. The project will be brought to Council in May. Council Minutes (Regular) April 19, 2004 Page 4 d) March 2004 Financial Report - Finance Licenses and permits are at 19.75%. Building permits for the first quarter are on track for 444 residential units, which is what was budgeted for. The HRA operating fund has a significant increase in revenue due to the sale of the daycare lot and Vinge Tile lot. Under expenses police administration is at 30% of expenditures due to the purchase of new software. GIS is at 43% due to training in the first quarter. Councilmember Fitch noted under patrol services it is up 40% over last year. This was also above budget last year and asked if there was a trend. He asked if it would be cheaper to add two personnel in the police department rather than pay overtime. Staff replied yes. Councilmember Fitch asked why we don't do that. Finance Director Roland replied we did not allow for it in the budget because we were under constraints and we did not want to go above the levy amount allowed and did not want to dip any further into the fund balance. Councilmember Fitch stated if we have to continue to pay the extra dollars, it does not make sense. Human Resources Director Wendlandt stated there are increased overtime costs because there are a number of officers using family medical leave in this time period and there are a couple still on leave. To cover their shifts there have been overtime costs. Councilmember Fitch stated if we had more personnel that number would come down. Human Resources Director Wendlandt replied there would still be shift coverage issues, but adding personnel would help. Councilmember Fitch did not see the overriding need to continue to pay those expenses. He would like to track this over the next couple months and perhaps make a mid-year adjustment. Councilmember Fogarty stated we decided to wait to hire until mid-year because we were concerned with what the legislature would do with our levy limits. If we hire them, and have budget constraints, we don't want to lay them off in a couple years. Councilmember Fitch stated if we are paying the money out anyway, why not do it. Councilmember Fogarty agreed it should be re-evaluated. Finance Director Roland stated we are in the process of hiring another police officer who will start July 1. Staff agreed with looking at the situation in a couple months. e) MNPro Site Presentation - Community Development MNPro stands for Minnesota Properties and Community Profiles. It is an economic development tool used to provide detailed profiles of any Minnesota community with information on demographics, work force, transportation, education, and general business information. Planning Intern Tina Schwanz went through the website showing the valuable information it has to offer. The site has over 800 community profiles including 854 cities and 11 Indian reservations. In the future staffwould like to add the MNPro link to Farmington's website, continue listing available property, and devise a mechanism for regularly updating the website. 1) 1 st Quarter Building Report - Community Development The 1 st quarter building report was presented to Council. Council Minutes (Regular) April 19, 2004 Page 5 g) Goal Setting Session - Administration A date of May 8 was discussed at the Council Workshop, however, there are some conflicts with that date. Staff also suggested waiting until the CIP is available. Staff asked if Council still wanted to do a team building workshop or have more of a strategic planning workshop which would not need a facilitator. Councilmember Soderberg did not know how beneficial it would be to do a goal setting workshop with 6 months left in the year. He suggested focusing on a budget and CIP workshop. Councilmember Cordes felt the goals are driven by the budget and suggested having the CIP and budget process earlier in the year next year. Council suggested selecting two evenings for a workshop. Staffwill bring back some dates to the May 17 Council meeting for a budgetlCIP/strategic planning workshop. 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 12. NEW BUSINESS 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember Fogarty: During the April 6 Council Workshop she made a statement she wanted to clarify. She said she wanted to make sure cities do not lose their levy limits. She meant that levy limits are set to retire at the end of the year and does not want that legislation lost. Councilmember Soderberg: He received an e-mail from a resident on Akin Road requesting a crosswalk on Akin Road at Dyers Pass. In the past crosswalks have not been placed at uncontrolled intersections. The resident stated there are other crosswalks at uncontrolled intersections and asked about statistics for those areas. He asked if Council wanted to review this issue. City Engineer Mann stated the State has control of speed limits. As far as crosswalks, it is not recommended to place them in uncontrolled areas. The example of a crosswalk on Hwy 3 by Hickory Street has been in place for many years. At that time, there could have been less traffic on Hwy 3 than there is now. Councilmember Fitch stated there is no controlled access across Akin until you get to 193rd Street. He did not think it would hurt to install a crosswalk, but people and drivers need to be more alert. If we are going to build trails and not give people access to them, it does not make sense to build trails. City Engineer Mann stated the city is very concerned that it presents a false sense of security for pedestrians. Statistics show cars do not stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. The school is an example, traffic knows there are children in the area, and they still are not stopping. Councilmember Soderberg requested staff research the statistics for any incidents at the crosswalk on Hwy 3. Council Minutes (Regular) April 19, 2004 Page 6 Councilmember Soderberg read a quote that said there are no great cities without great culture. He attended the High School play and was impressed with the performance. All of the participants should be commended for ajob well done and we should encourage that cultural development. He has been attending staff meetings as an observer and found it interesting to see the give and take among staff members. He wanted to inform Council he was doing that and unless Council objected he wanted to continue and suggested other Councilmembers do the same. Councilmember Cordes stated a few years ago this issue came up with Councilmembers attending department head meetings and it was decided Council would let staff do their thing on day-to-day operations and bring their decisions to the table and not have Councilmembers sit in on those meetings. Councilmember Soderberg stated he understood that if Councilmembers were trying to direct the meetings, but that has not been the case. Councilmember Cordes understood, but there are things that could come up that could sway staff's decisions. Mayor Ristow stated it is up to City Administrator Urbia as the new Administrator as this is past policy. City Administrator Urbia stated that has been the practice in other cities he has worked in and felt it made sense to continue with past practice. There could be a perception there is some influence. Councilmember Soderberg agreed. Councilmember Fitch: 182nd Street needs its annual maintenance. Mayor Ristow: He received an e-mail from a resident on Embers Avenue requesting a new traffic study. Staffwill discuss the situation. 14. ADJOURN MOTION by Cordes, second by Soderberg to adjourn at 8:27 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, (~~ /V1C-4d6~ c:? Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant