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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07.21.08 Council Minutes 7CL. COUNCIL MINUTES PRE-MEETING July 21, 2008 1. CALL TO 'RDER The meetin was called to order by Acting Mayor Pritzlaff at 6:30 p.m. Members P esent: Members A sent: Also Presen : Pritzlaff, Fogarty, McKnight, Wilson Soderberg Joel Jamnik, City Attorney; Peter Herlofsky, City Administrator; Robin Roland, Finance Director; Brian Lindquist, Police Chief; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Kevin Schorzman, City Engineer; Todd Reiten, Municipal Services Director; Lisa Shadick, Administrative Services Director; Lee Smick, City Planner; Jen Collova, Natural Resources Specialist; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant 2. APPROVE GENDA MOTION Y McKnight, second by Fogarty to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED 3. CITIZEN OMMENTS Mr. Leon 0 , 19161 Echo Lane, spoke to Council regarding the excessive use of illegal fireworks i the northern part of Farmington. It is also a problem in other parts of the City. He h s dealt with this issue for two years. His first e-mail was to Police Chief Siebenaler i February 2004. The first occurrence was on February 12,2004 with a substantial isplay of fireworks. People today do not realize how many people work shift work and h ve certain hours to sleep. Chief Siebenaler always encouraged him to call 911. Instea he would always call the local police station. He lives on top of a hill so many of the fireworks are close to bedroom window level. Mr. Orr stated he would try to find the spe ific location to give the police a specific address. Recently, he has found most displa s are in driveways and even more disturbing in public streets. There are 30- 40 year old dults with kids shooting off fireworks, knowing it is illegal. There is a safety issue as well as a disturbance issue. One occurrence was on Ellington Trail and they were s far into the street, he had to drive to the curb on the other side of the street. They had ~or launchers in the street. A man was in the driveway with a lighter in one hand and a eer in the other hand. He did not like to see this from a safety standpoint. He called t e police, they promptly responded, talked to the people and left. Within 10 minutes the people moved down and across the street so if the police came again it would be to a diffi rent house. Mr. Orr wondered what would happen if someone drove over a launcher an it went off. On another occasion on Embers Avenue, he was driving his car and a lady otioned for him to stop because a launcher had tilted sideways. Mr.Orr wondered hat if he was on a bike or walking. Accidents can happen when they do this on public p operty. It is bad enough on private property. On another occasion on Embers Avenue, he called the police, they promptly responded, talked to the people and left. The people start d up in the same location. Mr. Orr called again and as two squad cars came Council Minutes (Pre-Meeting) July 21, 2008 Page 2 down the hill on 193rd Street to respond to the second call, they launched some large fireworks that exploded in the air. You have adults doing something they know to be illegal in front of kids who know it is illegal, the police tell them to stop, and they start up again, making the police return. This is an interference with having the windows open at night. He heard someone say their husband bought $1,000 worth of fireworks, so we are not talking about minor stuff. Mr. Orr put together some suggestions, which he wants to amend and will e-mail it to Council. They deal with educating the public, urging the public to report violations, enforcement, and consequences. He was not aware if State law provides a variety of levels of fines. St. Paul charges up to a $700 fine. If a party has illegal fireworks, Mr. Orr feels confiscation is the best remedy. If they have $500 worth of fireworks, that would be a deterrent. If you recognize it as a problem, and you want to solve it, it can be done. There has to be a plan that encompasses education through consequences. If you go five miles over the speed limit down Akin Road, you would get a verbal warning. If you go 80 mph you would not get a slap on the wrist. The same is true with fireworks. If you are dealing with small fireworks that is one issue, if you are dealing with major fireworks that is another issue, if it is in the middle of a public street, that is another issue. All these levels need to be considered. He will e-mail Council with his suggestions. 4. COUNCIL REVIEW OF AGENDA Councilmember McKnight pulled the Marigold land purchase for discussion at the regular meeting. He also suggested moving l2d) Contractual Services Website Redesign to the consent agenda. Councilmember Wilson commented about the Recycling Contract extension and that five years was a long period of time. City Administrator Herlofsky stated it depends on what expense the person providing the service is investing in to make it worthwhile. Sometimes with a longer contract you get a better value. Municipal Services Director Reiten noted they originally wanted 10 years and staff said no. Dick's Sanitation has to purchase a new vehicle and equipment and felt it would take that long to recoup the money. Councilmember Wilson asked if they brought up residential garbage collection at the same time. Staff noted it is strictly recycling. Councilmember Wilson asked what prompted the website redesign contract now. Within the last 1-2 years with the new Communications Specialist he has seen a 180 in the presentation and content and the amount of information on the website. Previously, it did not do as good a job of serving the public as it could. Administrative Services Director Shadick noted some of the improvements are attributed to the fact that position is now full time and is able to spend more time on it. The Frontpage software is being phased out and will no longer be supported by Microsoft or LOGIS. The product is outdated and cumbersome. The Dreamweaver software will be easier to use. She gave credit to Danielle Cahlander for initiating this. In working with the website she found problems with the Frontpage software and suggested getting some help. City Administrator Herlofsky noted Council can take credit for supporting it as there have been more comments from Council. Council Minutes (Pre- July 21, 2008 Page 3 Acting May r Pritzlaff asked about the liquor license amendment for the Eagle's Club and noted t ey have been working with Building Inspections. He asked at what point in time would he Inspections department instruct them to come to Council first because they alread have the patio poured. If the license is not approved, the patio would have been poure at their expense. At what point do we tell them to stop? City Administrator Herlofsky sated you can separate the patio from the liquor license. They can have a patio witho t a liquor license. Administrative Services Director Shadick explained when they came t Building Inspections and Planning about the patio, the liquor license was always in th conversation from the start. They knew what they had to do as far as the liquor licen e. The Eagle's is not unfamiliar with the process as they have had to get an addendum t their liquor license for a beer tent for Rambling River Days. Councilme ber Pritzlaff asked about the annual review of Planned Unit Developments and why we would initiate any rezoning on PUD's. If we have a development that has lots, roads d sewer, how can it be rezoned to something different? City Planner Smick explained t e purpose of the memo is to follow the code for an annual review. This has not been do e in the past because the City has done so well with PUD's. It was to make Council aw e they have the opportunity in some cases if they do not like the way a PUD is working r lots are not selling, except for economic times, Council could do an annual review and ay this is not working and go back to the original zoning. Sunrise Ponds is the only on with different lot sizes than code. Middle Creek and Riverbend meet their original zo ing. They were done as a PUD because the developer wanted more flexibility, hich the developer did not utilize. If economic times were better, Council could have eviewed Sunrise Ponds. ber Pritzlaffwanted to pull 7m) Voice Over IP Lease Agreement for Councilme be Pritzlaff asked about the payment to 3rd Lair Skatepark. Finance Director Roland repl. ed during the summer the City does a program with them. Parks and Recreation irector Distad stated it is a skateboard camp offered with the City of Lakeville. 5, 6, ADJOU MOTION Y Fogarty, second by McKnight to adjourn at 6:53 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED Respectfully subm'tted, ~ nthia Muller Executive Assistan COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR July 21, 2008 1, CALL TO 'RDER The meetin was called to order by Acting Mayor Pritzlaff at 7:00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE F ALLEGIANCE Acting May r Pritzlaff led the audience and Council in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CAL Members P esent: Members A sent: Also Presen : Audience: Pritzlaff, Fogarty, McKnight, Wilson Soderberg Joel Jamnik, City Attorney; Peter Herlofsky, City Administrator; Robin Roland, Finance Director; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Kevin Schorzman, City Engineer; Todd Reiten, Municipal Services Director; Lisa Shadick, Administrative Services Director; Jen Collova, Natural Resources Specialist; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant 4, APPROVE GENDA Councilme ber Fogarty pulled the July 7, 2008 regular Council minutes to abstain. Councilme ber McKnight pulled item 7c) Approve Purchase of Land for Park Purposes from Marig ld Kemps for discussion and moved item 12d) Approve Contractual Services Website Re esign to the consent agenda. Councilmember Wilson pulled the July 14, 2008 speci Council minutes to abstain. Acting Mayor Prizlaff pulled item 7m) Approve Voice Over IP Lease Agreement for discussion. MOTION y McKnight, second by Fogarty to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED 5. ANNOUN 'EMENTS a) Pre ent MRPA Award of Excellence for Party on the Knoll Part on the Knoll 2007 received the MRPA Award of Excellence. Mr. Dan Sch ltz, from the MRP A presented the award to the Parks and Recreation Dep ment. Patti Norman accepted the award on behalf of the Parks and Rec eation Department. There were 40 projects submitted and almost half rece ved recognition. b) Disfnguished Budget Presentation Award Fin ce Director Roland received the Distinguished Budget award from the OF A. 6. CITIZEN Council Minutes (Regular) July 21, 2008 Page 2 7, d) e) t) g) h) i) j) k) CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by McKnight, second by Wilson to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: b) Adopted RESOLUTION R56-08 Accepting Donation to the Park Improvement Fund - Parks and Recreation Received Information School and Conference - Finance Received Information School and Conference - Administration Approved Amendment Liquor License Eagle's Club -Administration Accepted Resignation Parks and Recreation Commission - Administration Approved T -Mobile Site Lease Agreement Daisy Knoll - Engineering Received Information Annual Review of Planned Unit Developments - Planning Received Information June 2008 Financial Report - Finance Acknowledged Retirement Administration - Human Resources Acting Mayor Pritzlaff noted Ms. Joy Rowen is retiring from her position as Administrative Support Technician effective July 31, 2008. He thanked her for her services to the City and wished her well in the future. 1) Approved School and Conference - Fire Department n) Approved Bills 0) Approved Contractual Services Web site Redesign - Administration APIF, MOTION CARRIED. a) Approve Council Minutes (7/7/08 Regular) (7/14/08 Special) MOTION by Wilson, second by McKnight to approve the 7/7/08 Regular Council minutes. Voting for: McKnight, Wilson, Pritzlaff. Abstain: Fogarty. MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by McKnight, second by Fogarty to approve the 7/14/08 Special Council minutes. Voting for: Fogarty, McKnight, Pritzlaff. Abstain: Wilson. MOTION CARRIED. c) Approve Purchase of Land for Park Purposes from Marigold Kemps - Parks and Recreation Council was asked to consider the purchase of two parcels of land owned by Marigold Kemps adjacent to Kuchera's entrance. Staff has been working with Kemps since 2007 negotiating a purchase. Environmental borings have been done and data has been submitted by Engineering for testing for a storm water pond. There were some materials identified under the site. The purchase would be completed on the contingency of a satisfactory completion of an appraisal, environmental review, and a title review. Councilmember McKnight asked about the intended purpose for the additional land. Parks and Recreation Director Distad stated the master planning for Rambling River Park will occur Thursday night. A key strategy is how can we enhance the park by acquiring through purchase or easements, parcels that are adjacent to the river or adjacent to Rambling River Park. The purchase of the parcels would be to enlarge Kuchera's entrance so additional features can be added. That area is currently underutilized and becomes a place for vandalism. Staff would like to enhance the area, make it more user friendly, and get more people in there to deter the vandalism. The area is relatively flat so there could be Council Minutes (Regu ar) July 21, 2008 Page 3 the pportunity for a small parking lot so people can park and access the trail fro this site. Much of the site is in the flood plain. The flat areas are above the floo plain. Councilmember McKnight noted the parcels would be paid for thro gh the park improvement fund. This is the same fund we ran short on for othe park projects in the past. Parks and Recreation Director Distad explained the oney from the park improvement fund is utilized to pay for improvements to othe parks. Councilmember McKnight noted some of the park revisions have not bee finished over the past 2-3 years because of money issues. Staff agreed they hav taken a conservative approach to trying to get as much done as possible thro ghout all the parks. Councilmember McKnight stated his concern is that we wou d be adding another piece of park to spend money on when we haven't finis ed previous parks. Staff noted if the parcels are purchased, they could leave the sit and not do anything with them and they would become open space. Co cilmember McKnight stated his concern is that we still have to pay for them. cilmember Fogarty asked when the land was actually appraised. She noted this s going by what the County appraises the property at. With knowing what is und r there is the property that valuable? Are we paying too much? Staff replied the urrent owner is proposing $58,500. The City Attorney has suggested doing an a tual appraisal to determine if it is worth that amount. Councilmember Fog y felt having green open space and park structures that sit on top of the land is 0 e of the best uses for it. Her concern was that we do not pay too much for the land Acti g Mayor Pritzlaffhad a concern with the use from the start. The land cannot be s ld to build a house, it is in the flood plain, etc. He cannot see purchasing it now It will be there ten years from now. He might consider purchasing it in the fut e when times are better. He cannot see spending $58,500 for a parking lot. He i also concerned with the building under the ground. He asked about the cost of appraisal. Staff replied in the past the owner has paid the cost of the app aisal. Staff was aware the owner to the south has had discussions with Ke ps to expand his business to the north and onto that parcel. When land bec mes available, the Parks and Rec Commission want to consider it. Acting Ma or Pritzlaff asked if the parking lot would even be an option so close to the rive. Staff replied the parking lot was just a suggestion. An environmental revi w would have to be done. Acting Mayor Pritzlaff stated he does not want to pur hase something without knowing what will be done with it. There are other par improvements the money can be spent on. Staff stated the purchase would pres rve land along the river which is a trout stream, and is in keeping with the com rehensive plan. Acting Mayor Pritzlaff felt the land will be there in the futu e. Anyone buying the land will be limited as to what they can do with it. Cou cilmember Wilson stated the fact we will be doing the master planning for R bling River Park on Thursday, maybe this is something to keep out there as to h w this could be a benefit to the park. The $58,000 is not a tremendous dent in t e fund, but it does add up. Council Minutes (Regular) July 21, 2008 Page 4 Councilmember Fogarty stated this is a long-term goal ofthe Park and Rec Commission. She asked Council to consider that just as we are always transportation planning, such as purchasing and burning down the house on Akin Road for the purpose of a future transportation corridor, nothing will be done for a very long time. It is that kind of future planning that will save us money in the future. To not follow what the Park and Rec Commission has set out for themselves, this is where they get frustrated. Council gives them the message that we want them on this board, we appreciate the work you are doing, but when something is brought to us that follows the plan they have set for themselves, we are not going to approve it because we do not have an immediate use for it. Yet we do it in other areas of planning. If we say no, then this cannot even be discussed on Thursday. City Administrator Herlofsky asked if staff should at least get the appraisal for a dollar amount. This may answer some questions. Council agreed as long as the property owner pays for the appraisal. MOTION by Fogarty, second by McKnight to table this item for more information. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. m) Approve Voice Over IP Lease Agreement - Human Resources Acting Mayor Pritzlaff noted the budget impact is $168,000 and the cost to lease is $117,000. If this is in the 2008 budget, he asked if in 2009 there would be $50,000 less that has to be in the budget. Finance Director Roland replied no. This item was budgeted as part of the capital outlay for the City Hall project. The $168,000 budgeted was a purchase, one-time cost that would have been an upfront cost during this year. It would have come out of the City Hall funds and there is a provision in the internal service fund to repay that fund over 3-5 years so that we do not use money that we are paying for over 20 years for a 5-year project. The alternative presented is a 5-year lease instead of a purchase. This lease will take place over the next five years and will be incorporated into the cost of our telephone and technology services budget. Instead of taking a hit in one year, we will take it over five years. At the end of that time, the City will own the equipment and we will only need to upgrade it over time. There is a significant difference between the cost of purchase and the cost of lease because we used a vendor to put the estimate together of $168,000 for the purchase and they used the highest priced equipment they could find in order to give us the most conservative estimate. Weare looking at a savings over the 5-year period of $50,000 and also a savings in the cost of the lines we need to have from the telephone company. We will be able to eliminate our reliance on the local telephone company as calls will go over the internet. We will show a savings in the overall cost of phones in the Police Department and the communications budget of around $40,000 a year. City Administrator Herlofsky stated this will put all the phones on the computers. We will be able to make changes and upgrades to the system using software more than equipment. This is a long term investment that will payoff in day-to-day operating costs. Council Minutes (Reg lar) July 21, 2008 Page 5 cilmember McKnight asked if the $50,000 savings goes to pay other parts of roject or to repay the bonds. Finance Director Roland replied at this point the 50,000 is in the operating budget in the general fund. Without spending it, it wou d go into the fund balance. It could go towards paying the bonds. Cou cilmember McKnight asked if this is in the bond project or in the regular bud et. Staff replied the $168,000 was originally in the bonded City Hall project. As lease it would come out as an operating cost. The reduction of the operating bud et for the Frontier bill would be offset by the operating lease. We do not nee to use bonded funds. It will be used in the operating costs and will be offset by n t paying for phone service from Frontier. Councilmember McKnight clari led there is $168,000 of unspent bonded dollars and asked what happens to thos . Staff replied it can go back to the bonds to pay them off. Acti g Mayor Pritzlaff asked if this will come back as a change order for $16 ,000 less. City Administrator Herlofsky replied it will not come back as a ch ge order because it is not part ofthe construction budget. MOTION by Fog y, second by Wilson to approve the lease to purchase agreement with Targa Fin cial Inc. for the ShoreTel VolP telephone system. APIF, MOTION CA ED. 8, PUBLIC 9. 10. PETITIO , REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS a) Loc I Surface Water Management Plan -Natural Resources Nat ral Resources Specialist Collova presented the final draft of the Local Sur ce Water Management Plan. Comments have been received from the Ve illion River Watershed and Metropolitan Council, both approving the plan. The next step is to amend local ordinances to meet the Vermillion River stan ards. Staff outlined some modifications to ordinances dealing with floo plain overlay district, wetland standards, shoreland management regulations, eros on control, and storm drainage. MOTION by McKnight, second by Wilson to a prove the Local Surface Water Management Plan. APIF, MOTION CA ED. 11. UNFINIS ED BUSINESS a) Wa er Meter Installation Procedure - Municipal Services At t e June 16, 2008 Council meeting, staff provided information regarding upg ading the water meters to radio read meters. Municipal Services Director Reit n gave Council a follow-up on how the installation will occur. The work will be done by SL-serco. Residents will receive a letter from SL-serco asking the to call SL-serco to set up an appointment for the water meter installation. If Council Minutes (Regular) July 21, 2008 Page 6 SL-serco does not receive a call from the resident within two weeks, a postcard will be sent with a pre-set appointment time for the installation. If that appointment will not work, the resident can call to schedule a different time. If the second attempt is unsuccessful, the resident will receive a final notice to schedule an appointment within 30 days of the letter. If the resident fails to make an appointment, there will be a $150 surcharge added to their utility bill every month until receiving notice to schedule an installation. SL-serco will do a test run for 100 homes to ensure they are doing what the City expects. From then, they plan to have all the meters done by the end of the year. This is at no expense to the homeowner. Councilmember Wilson was concerned with the $150 charge. He asked if they need to come inside the house for this work. Staff confirmed they do. They will be working Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. City Administrator Herlofsky noted at the workshop they discussed being very careful about moving into the $150 charge. We will be calling the residents and do everything possible to make contact with them. The $150 charge will be the exception rather than the rule. Councilmember McKnight asked about the time frame from the first letter to the $150 fine. Staff replied after receiving the first letter they will have two weeks to respond. A postcard will be sent within the next week or two. Before receiving the third letter it would be a month. So there would be two months. Councilmember Fogarty asked when the original letters will go out. Staff expected the letters to go out to the first 100 homes in the downtown area the end of this week. She was also concerned about the surcharge and encouraged people to call right away upon receiving the letter. Acting Mayor Pritzlaff asked how long it will take to do the work. Municipal Services Director Reiten replied it should take 20 minutes. If a time is set on the postcard they will give a one hour timeframe. However, if they run into problems with a previous appointment, it could be longer than an hour. Acting Mayor Pritzlaff asked about the time frame after the 100 homes are done. He noted in his business if they will be late, they call the resident to advise they will be late and wondered if an hour time frame is too short. Councilmember Fogarty felt the resident could call SL-serco if they do not come on time. Councilmember Wilson asked if it was too late to change the letter to a two-hour window. Staff replied that is why they are trying 100 homes first, to see about the timeframe. b) City Hall Budget Update - Administration City Administrator Herlofsky provided Council with an update on the new City Hall budget through the end of June. There is 25% - 30% left of the budget. The Council Minutes (Reg lar) July 21, 2008 Page 7 proj ct is wrapping up and there will be a lot of activity over the next couple wee s. 12. NEW BUS ESS a) Ci Hall Change Orders -Administration City Administrator Herlofsky stated there are eight more change orders. The total amo t of change orders is $45,000. This is a small percentage of a $9 million proj ct. cilmember McKnight asked for an explanation on change orders 13, 16, and r. John McNamara, Wold Architects, explained 13 is additional power in the ffice areas and Council Chambers as a result of coordinating with the furn ture purchase. Some additional receptacles were added in certain areas and for t e audio visual in the Council Chambers. Councilmember McKnight noted num er 16 is the rough-in for the CCTV and was a City request. Mr. McNamara stat d it was for additional security measures for the building such as cameras. N ber 18 was for additional card reader locations. Councilmember McKnight note there are eight changes, five the City requested, two contractor reductions and he additional framing required. He asked about number 19 which was addi ional framing required where fin tube radiation shown. Mr. McNamara expl ined there was an area over the windows at the main entry that in order to kee the windows from fogging up they typically put heat in that area. It was deci ed that was not needed so the fin tube radiation was not there and required addi ional cover for that area. Acti g Mayor Pritzlaffasked about. 12, 13, 14, City requested changes, if som one planning the building should have made sure they were in there rather than the customer coming back to request it. Mr. McNamara explained a lot of that as covered in the design phase, but as things get further developed and it is dete ined how spaces will be utilized, things are added. City Administrator Herlofsky stated there are some ongoing discussions between the chitect, contractor, and owner. The issue is if it is not in, that means it was not' cluded in the bid. There are some items that will be an additional cost. The e are still a variety of change orders being negotiated. Acting Mayor Pritzlaff stat d if items are not included in the beginning, the bid comes in lower than som one else and with the change orders it could be a higher bid. City Ad inistrator Herlofsky stated the project is $9 million; 10% of that is $900,000; $90, 00 is 1 % and we are below 1 % when it comes to change orders. g Mayor Pritzlaff asked about change order 15 to revise the curtain wall. cN amara stated there are some things in the shop drawings that as they got ore details with the supplier for the curtain wall, there were things they reduce scope on, which resulted in a credit. Council Minutes (Regular) July 21, 2008 Page 8 Mr. McNamara stated they are moving into the final stages of the project and have one month left. They are on track to have the project completed on time. Acting Mayor Pritzlaff noted in the Council Chambers and entryway there appears to be a lot of work left. Mr. McNamara stated they are saving those areas until the end. The millwork will be installed in the Council Chambers in the next couple weeks. The reception desk is on site and ready to be installed when the electrical is complete. Flooring and material finishes will be done in the next couple weeks. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to approve change orders 12-19 for a totalof$34,237.00. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. b) Consider Recycling Contract Extension -Municipal Services The contract for recycling with Dick's Sanitation will expire at the end of2008. Dick's Sanitation has proposed re-negotiating the existing agreement with some changes. They propose to go to a single stream recycling, compared to the present dual, and an every other week pick up compared to the current every week pick up. Staff was requesting to begin negotiations for single stream recycling and every other week pick up. Council agreed to begin negotiations. Acting Mayor Pritzlaffwanted to look at the bigger picture. If Dick's Sanitation did the recycling, he asked what the cost is for the City to have its own solid waste, and look at Dick's Sanitation to take on solid waste collection also. He asked if there would be better negotiations for recycling. As far as the cost to the City he wanted to look at trucks, maintenance, replacement, the maintenance facility, everything we do has a dollar amount. Municipal Services Director Reiten explained the City used to do the recycling. But the revenue fluctuates so that the City was losing money so Dick's took it over. There has been no problem with revenue for solid waste collection. We are creating jobs for the City. Finance Director Roland clarified Acting Mayor Pritzlaff wanted to examine the overall solid waste concept. Rather than the City providing the service, it would become a contracted service for the residents through the City. Acting Mayor Pritzlaff agreed; it would be through the City so we do not have three different companies out there. We would contract the company and the City would get out of the solid waste business. Finance Director Roland stated we can look at that as part of the budget process, but cautioned that as a contracted service over $100,000 a year it would need to go out for bids. City Attorney Jamnik stated you would have to do an RFP. Finance Director Roland stated it would not be a matter of asking one carrier for their fees. It can be addressed as part of the budget process and give Council comparables if the City contracted entirely versus the City providing the service. City Administrator Herlofsky noted there are also intangibles with the City providing the service such as having extra people for plowing snow, etc. All those have to be considered. Council Minutes (Reg lar) July 21, 2008 Page 9 Act'ng Mayor Pritzlaffasked when we have a contract that is one aspect, the rec cling, does that give us more power to say we do not want to open it to other co anies as we already have a company doing part of the service and want to exp d rather than go out for RFP. City Attorney Jamnik stated you end up putt ng the recycling as part of the RFP process as well. Acting Mayor Pritzlaff ask d what kind of timeframe staff needs to start the negotiation process where we ay want to try to put a bigger picture together to see if the price comes down. M icipal Services Director Reiten stated we need to have something negotiated wit in a month so Dick's can start purchasing the carts and new vehicle to pick up this ea. Acting Mayor Pritzlaff felt if we put more to the package the price wo d be better. Cou cilmember Fogarty recalled several years ago we looked at solid waste and com ared it to contracting it out and the City could do it much cheaper than havi g a company do it. She suggested staff review that information. Acting Ma or Pritzlaff wanted to look at everything; the purchase of a truck, square foot ge of the maintenance facility for storing the vehicles, etc. If we did not hav this, could the expansion of the maintenance facility be delayed. Cou cilmember McKnight asked to have that information provided to Council whe it is available and confirmed this would be effective January 1,2009. Co cilmember Wilson agreed with Acting Mayor Pritzlaff s thoughts and wan ed to see the numbers so they have options. Not having to store the vehicles at t e maintenance facility should be taken into account and also the price of gas gOI g up. MO ION by Wilson, second by McKnight to direct staff to negotiate a five-year exte sion of the recycling contract with DSI/LSI and bring the negotiated contract for view and approval by the City Council. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. c) Spr ce Street Project Parking Lot Addition - Administration City Administrator Herlofsky has discussed improving the area owned by the City alon 2nd Street and putting in a parking lot in conjunction with the Spruce Stre t/2nd Street reconstruction project. The cost is $125,000 to black top the area and nstall curb. Funding would come from the road and bridge fund. Cou cilmember McKnight noted once the City Hall project is done, that lot will be a ailable, the library, the current street parking, Spruce Street expanded par . ng and the north 2nd Street lot for downtown issues. He asked if staff anti ipated that much more need for downtown parking on a regular basis, not just hea y day usage. City Administrator Herlofsky explained since he has been here ther has always been questions regarding whether there is enough parking do town. Moving the City Hall operations to Spruce Street will free up the CUff nt parking area. Since the City owns the property on 2nd Street, this is one way to dress it up a little. It will allow for overflow for activities that will occur in t new City Hall. Once City Hall is open, the Council Chambers, which is larg r for bigger meetings and there are conference rooms, there may be more Council Minutes (Regular) July 21, 2008 Page 10 activity. One thing that has discouraged us from having events in Farmington as opposed to Lakeville or Apple Valley is we do not have facilities big enough. If we have events to invite Finance Directors, Engineering, City Administrators, we would have a place for employees to park so others could park closer. The post office has some parking issues and also the senior center. It is a way of expanding the parking. We can wait, but this would be a good time with the current project costs and have everything done at once. To do it later would be more expensive. Councilmember McKnight appreciated the insight and opportunity, but did not feel now is a good time to spend the money. Councilmember Fogarty stated during the debate of whether to put City Hall downtown, the number one concern is there will not be enough parking for the size of City Hall. There has always been talk of turning this area into overflow parking since the decision to put City Hall downtown. If now is the most cost effective time to install it, she felt we will need it sooner rather than later. Councilmember Wilson asked if$125,000 was high. City Engineer Schorzman stated it is a conservative estimate. Finance Director Roland noted the 2nd Street parking lot was built nine years ago. The cost of that lot was in excess of $175,000 at that time. This is a comparable lot for a conservative estimate of $125,000. She felt the cost was significantly less than if we did the project on its own. City Administrator Herlofsky added the contractor is already here. As it is City property, we would do our best to make it look nicer. Councilmember Wilson stated at an EDA meeting they discussed demolishing the building on Elm Street for rarking, but feels that would not be a good location for parking. The area on 2n Street makes sense for parking and would support it. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to include the parking lot improvements as part ofthe Spruce Street project. Voting for: Fogarty, Wilson. Voting against: McKnight, Pritzlaff. MOTION FAILED. 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE a) August 11 Workshop City Administrator Herlofsky suggested announcing the August 11 workshop as an opportunity for the public to make suggestions for the use of the current City Hall after we move and to leave the discussion at that. Following that meeting, there can be additional discussions after accumulating all the different thoughts, rather than make it a discussion on options. Council agreed. Councilmember Fogarty: She thanked staff for working on the V oiceover IP system. This Thursday in the Council Chambers from 5-7 p.m. is a meeting on Rambling River Park. This is a huge community park and encouraged anyone who has any interest in how the park will be redesigned to give staff some feedback. Council Minutes (Reg lar) July 21, 2008 Page 11 She thanke the school district for the tour of the new high school. The building is coming tog ther really well. Anyone in the community can have a tour by contacting the school. There are a couple of fundraisers that are coming up for Andrew Kippling, a middle school stud nt who is battling cancer. His classmates have been organizing fundraisers for him. 0 e is August 7, a Back to School Bash at the pool, and August 9 there will be a car wash at Econo Foods. They are hoping to raise $1200 to offset medical costs. She congra ulated the boys U12 C3 soccer team. They are the only team in Farmington Club Socce to earn a spot at the state tournament this weekend. Councilme her McKnight: He received some calls regarding Elm Street and the lack of sod which as lead to weeds. City Engineer Schorzman stated the contractor was spraying weds this afternoon and will continue tomorrow. When the residual effects are done, they ill seed within the next couple weeks. The contractor will water for 30 days. It would be helpful if the residents would also assist with watering. The product was not defective, i was salt kill from the winter. Depending on the kind of winter we have, it could happ n again. City Administrator Herlofsky suggested the City send notices to the homeowne s encouraging them to take care of the boulevard. The boulevard is usually not maintai ed by the City and should be maintained by the homeowner. The seeding on the side str ets has not experienced the same problem as Elm Street. Acting Mayor Pritzlaff as ed if the seed was put down too late and did not take hold. If it is established will it happ n every year? City Engineer Schorzman stated it is very hard to predict how much snow we will get and how much salt the county will use. It is a county road and the City do s not have control over the county's snow removal operations. By looking at the side str ets, it was not a planting issue, it was more a volume of salt issue. Acting Mayor Prit lafffelt the boulevard is an extension ofpeople's front yards and encouraged them to wa er and cut the grass to increase the aesthetics of their property. Councilme ber McKnight stated he has received some calls regarding the church that will be goi g into the former Dueber's building and where the parishioners will park. City Admi istrator Herlofsky stated one of the things staff hears from the downtown businesses . s there is not a lot of foot traffic. He encouraged the businesses to find out when the c urch services are and open their doors those days to get some attention. Once Spruce Stre t is completed, all of the parking will be open. The parking on Spruce Street will be diag nal. It is a small church where there would be 20-30 cars. Services are usually on aturday or Sunday or evenings and he does not see it conflicting with too many issue . There is also the library parking lot and City Hall parking lot in the evenings. ouncilmember McKnight stated that was a concern from the callers was that the City is uilding them a parking lot with City Hall being next door. There is no room to build a p king lot for anyone in that building. City Administrator Herlofsky stated by moving the City Hall operations to the new City Hall, parking will open up in the current lot as there ill not be 30 employees parking here. This should have an effect all over. This will 0 er additional walking traffic for downtown. Council Minutes (Regular) July 21,2008 Page 12 Councilmemher Wilson: He also received information on fundraisers for Andrew Kippling. It is a very energetic group to help out a classmate. Acting Mayor Pritzlaf/: He was at the State Capitol today for the GEARS Committee. Councilmember Ruth Grendahl from Apple Valley is the Dakota County GEARS member. He noted there is tall grass on the corner of Elm Street and TH3 and asked who is responsible for cutting the grass in that area. City Engineer Schorzman stated it would depend on the specific location and he will review the area. Acting Mayor Pritzlaff asked for an update on the house at Elm Street and 6th Street. City Administrator Herlofsky stated staff has tried a variety of options in trying to assist the owner in doing something with the property. They are still working on it. On July 26 the American Legion is having a beer bash to help them raise money to rebuild the building. City Administrator Herlofsky: He appreciated Councilmember Fogarty's comments on the V oiceover IP and noted Brenda, Rob and Lisa have done most ofthe work on that. City Engineer Schorzman: TH3 will be closed at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning for the roundabout project until the end of September. The detour is Elm Street to Pilot Knob to highway 46. 14. ADJOURN MOTION by Fogarty, second by McKnight to adjourn at 8:35 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, 4~}-v;~ ~~nthia Muller Executive Assistant