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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08.03.20 Council Minutes CITY OF FARMINGTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR MEETING AUGUST 3,2020 1. Call to Order Mayor Larson called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance Mayor Larson led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. Roll Call Present-Larson, Bernhjelm, Craig and Hoyt Absent-Donnelly Staff Present-Community Development Director Kienberger, Finance Director Malecha, Parks and Recreation Director Distad, Police Chief Rutherford and Fire Chief Elvestad. 4. Agenda Motion by Bernhjelm, second by Craig, to approve the agenda as presented. APIF, motion carried. 5. Announcements/Commendations None 6. Citizen Comments a) Response to Mr. William Pelach 7. Consent Agenda Motion by Hoyt, second by Bernhjelm,to approve the consent agenda: a) Approve Minutes of the July 20, 2020 City Special Council Meeting-Administration b) Approve Contract for the 2020 Sidewalk Repairs-Public Works c) Adopt Resolution R33-2020 Establishing the Date of an Assessment Hearing for the Reassessment of the County Road 50 Water and Sewer Utilities-Public Works d) Approve Consent to Assignment Sapphire Lake Development Contracts-Community Development August 3, 2020 Minutes - 1- e) Adopt Resolution R34-2020 Approving a Gambling Premise Permit for Farmington Wrestling-Community Development f) Approve Recommendation for Hire Fire-Human Resources g) Approve Recommendation for Hire Fire-Human Resources h) Approve Recommendation for Hire Fire-Human Resources i) Approve Recommendation for Hire Fire-Human Resources j) Approve Recommendation for Hire Fire-Human Resources k) Approve Recommendation for Hire Fire-Human Resources 1) Approve Recommendation for Hire Liquor-Human Resources m) Approve Bills-Finance APIF, motion carried. 8. Public Hearings None 9. Award of Contract None 10. Petitions, Requests and Communications None 11. Unfinished Business None 12. New Business a) CARES Act Grant Funding and Reimbursement Finance Director Malecha presented an update on CARES Act funding the city has received. The city has received financial assistance under the CARES Act for COVID-19 related expenses. Guidelines and frequently asked questions on the use of these funds has been developed by the United States Treasury Department and continues to be updated. Staff has been working on evaluating expenditures that are reimbursable under the CARES Act. DISCUSSION The city received an allocation of$1,723,785 from the CARES Act.The allocation provides for expense reimbursement, but not revenue replacement for lost revenues. City staff have August 3, 2020 Minutes -2- been evaluating expenditures that are eligible for reimbursement.The CARES Act funding can only be used to cover costs that: • are necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to COVID-19. • were not accounted for in the budget most recently approved as of March 27,2020. • were incurred during the covered period of March 1, 2020 through November 15,2020.Those dates are for cities only. The guidance provided by the United States Treasury is broad and staff continues to utilize the information as it is updated.The expenses that are eligible include: • Medical • Public Heath • Payroll • Public Health Measures • Economic Support The city has expended a vast amount of money in response to COVID-19. Much of it relates to ensuring staff safety and telework to continue city operations. Below is a list of items that are eligible under the CARES Act. Item Cost Cleaning Supplies $4,345.60 Thermometers 407.45 Personal Protective Equipment 7,666.94 Building Materials 2,343.23 IT Equipment 237,376.15 Wages 416,687.86 The cleaning supplies include hand sanitizer, hand soap, disinfectant, bleach, etc.The city has purchased PPE for staff including safety glasses, N95 masks, gloves,face shields, and isolation gowns.The RRC, liquor stores, city hall, and the police department have had plexiglass installed along with other safety measures. The equipment necessary for staff to telework and continue to maintain city operations is extensive.The IT equipment is listed in detail below. Many of the city staff have desktop computers, but are able to telework with the appropriate equipment.This provides those capable with the necessary items.The conference room equipment allows the city to setup conference rooms for remote meetings, trainings, and accommodate social distancing. It includes two at city hall, one at the fire station, one at the RRC, and one at the police department.The wireless access points and mapping allow staff to determine where to best place access points throughout city facilities to accommodate social distancing August 3,2020 Minutes -3- measures. The server and switch upgrades are needed to allow staff telework capabilities similar to working at city facilities. Item Cost Laptops&Peripherals $42,435.34 Professional Services 7,667.87 Conference Room Equipment 19,850.00 Wireless Access Points&Mapping 11,033.00 Switch Upgrade 18,277.35 Server Upgrade 138,112.59 The guidelines for payroll expenses limit what can be reimbursed. Per the Treasury guidance, payroll expenses for public safety, public health, health care, human services, and similar employees are included if they are substantially dedicated to mitigating or responding to COVID-19.The government entity may presume payroll costs for public safety employees are payments for services substantially dedicated to mitigating or responding to COVID-19.Therefore, potentially allowing the entire payroll cost to be covered. Payroll and benefit costs associated with public employees who could have been furloughed or otherwise laid off but were repurposed instead are also covered. Hazard pay for performing hazardous duty or work involving physical hardship due to COVID-19 is eligible.The wages included for reimbursement include employees in the following departments:Administration, Communications, City Hall, Finance, Building Inspections, Planning, Police, Fire, Engineering, Streets, Parks, RRC, Liquor, Solid Waste, and IT. Staff has spoken with the city's auditor, MMKR, for guidance on the reimbursement of expenditures. Per MMKR, the city is currently taking a conservative approach on reimbursement item requests. At this point, it is in the best interest of the city to continue that approach. Currently the city is not requesting reimbursement for all public safety payroll costs. If after all other items have been reimbursed and there are funds remaining, the city can review the possibility of reimbursing for additional public safety wages. In addition to the items above, the city is also able to reimburse additional items for staff safety, COVID-19 mitigation, and telework.Those items include: • HVAC filters at all city buildings. • Water bottle fountains at city hall and the central maintenance facility. • Automated paper towel dispensers, automated soap dispensers, and foot-activated restroom door openers at city facilities. • Restroom cleaning systems for sanitizing and disinfecting at all city buildings. • Additional sink at the police department. • Electrostatic sprayers for sanitizing and disinfecting difficult to clean items such as the fire engines. August 3,2020 Minutes -4- • Fire equipment decontamination washers at each fire station for cleaning and disinfecting equipment and gear after use. • Fingerprint reader at the police station to reduce officer contact by eliminating transportation, booking, and introduction into jail for some individuals. • Cloth face masks for all city staff. • Cube modification for staff that does not currently meet social distancing guidelines. • AC unit for server room housing new server and switches for telework.There is not currently a dedicated unit for the server room leaving equipment open to vulnerabilities. • Enclosing front reception desk at city hall. The cost of those items is roughly$168,670 and covered under the current CARES Act reimbursement guidelines. The city is able to provide small local businesses with grants. Dakota County and the Dakota County CDA have created a Small Business Relief Grant Program to allow temporary financial support to small businesses affected by COVID-19.The city will be working with the Dakota County CDA to distribute $500,000 to local businesses based upon their application submission that can be done through the Dakota County CDA.The guidelines for the program include: • Businesses may apply for a one-time emergency grant up to $10,000 based on economic hardship from COVID-19. • Businesses must have 50 or fewer full-time employees. • It is required to be a locally owned and operated for-profit organization with a physical location in Farmington. • Majority owned by a permanent resident in Minnesota. • In good standing with the Minnesota Secretary of State and the Minnesota Department of Revenue as of March 1, 2020. • In good standing with Dakota County and city of Farmington. • Demonstrate the business was adversely affected by Executive Orders related to COVID-19 business restrictions. • Demonstrate financial hardship because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Ineligible businesses include: • Businesses that do not have a physical address in Dakota County and the city of Farmington. • Home based businesses with the exception of licensed childcare providers. • Non-profit organizations. • Businesses that derive any income from adult-oriented uses. • Businesses in default conditions prior to February 29, 2020. August 3, 2020 Minutes -5- • Businesses that derive income from passive investments without operational ties to operating businesses. • Businesses primarily focusing on speculative activities based on fluctuations in price rather than the normal course of trade. • Businesses earning more than half of its annual net revenue from lending. • Businesses engaging in pyramid dales, where a participant's primary incentive is based on sales of an ever-increasing number of participants. • Businesses engaging in activities prohibited by federal law or applicable law in the local jurisdiction of the business. • Businesses engaging in gambling enterprises, unless the business earns less than 50 percent of its annual revenue from lottery sales. The administration costs of the program will likely be roughly 3.44 percent of the money we dedicate to the program.The grant application is available on the Dakota County CDA's website for submission.The applications will be accepted until 4:30 p.m. on Friday,August 14, 2020. If the applicants exceed the available funding, a randomized selection process will take place. City staff anticipates that this is the first of three rounds of expenditures that the city council will be asked to consider and approve. The next round of expenditures will be city reimbursement related items that we are still gathering costs on for you to review. The third round of expenditures will be any final city reimbursements, any decisions that need to be made in the area of business grants and the potential consideration of funding to other entities that have contacted the city in regards to potential use of our CARES Act dollars. At this point, Fairview Ridges and ISD 192 have contacted the city. Finally, a thank you to city staff members Peter Gilbertson,Jim Constantineau,Jennifer Gabbard,Justin Elvestad, Adam Kienberger and David McKnight for their work on this committee. Councilmember Bernhjelm asked about ineligible businesses, specifically non-profit organizations. Malecha stated we believe we can contribute some of our funds to this type of organization. Bernhjelm asked about the reporting from the county in terms of business assistance applications. Community Development Director Kienberger stated that we would hear from the county in terms of applications after the deadline has passed. We will receive an update at that point. Bernhjelm clarified the deadline date of August 14, 2020 for Farmington businesses to apply for these funds. August 3,2020 Minutes -6- Councilmember Craig asked about business eligibility of those who received funding from previous government assistance COVID programs. Kienberger clarified that the Dakota County CDA has great information on eligibility guidelines that businesses should review. Councilmember Hoyt asked for clarification on the amount of potential city expenditures. Malecha provided this clarification for the city council. Hoyt was trying to determine if there would be any funding available for potential future city reimbursement. Malecha stated she estimated about$292,000 that the city will have to work with on potential reimbursements. Motion by Bernhjelm, Second by Hoyt, to adopt Resolution R35-2020 Approving First Round Reimbursement of City Expenditures Due to COVID-19 and Provide$500,000 in Grant Funding to Local Businesses with the CARES Act Allotment. APIF, motion carried. b) COVID-19 Response Update Parks and Recreation Director Distad, Fire Chief Elvestad and Police Chief Rutherford all provided updates to city activities related to COVID in their respective departments. Parks programs have been operating over the past few months and the Rambling River Center has slowly started to offer a few programs in the facility. Fire Chief Elvestad updated the city council on fire inspections, the success of duty crews and other department related items. Mayor Larson asked about the smaller group trainings. Elvestad stated they are working out very well. Firefighters are getting more hands on training compared to the large group training. Police Chief Rutherford shared that not much has changed in the past month. The department has gone back to the standard schedule recently that is working out. The department has reestablished a good supply of PPE for all city staff as well. All staff is now back in the building and they are still considering options on when to open the police department back open to the public. Councilmembers thanked the department heads for the update. 13. City Council Roundtable Bernhjelm-Thanked Representative Garofalo for the signs thanking the police and fire department. Thought the way that residents communicated with the city council last week in regards to the ice arena was a good example of how we work together. Congratulated all of the new firefighters who graduated last week. Thanked parks staff for opening the Rambling River Center. Hoyt-Congratulated the new firefighters and thanked city staff for their work. August 3, 2020 Minutes -7- Craig-Thanked staff for their work on COVID and the CARES Act. Encouraged residents to contact the city council with concerns they have on our approach to the pandemic. Kien berger-Encouraged businesses to apply for CARES funding and shared that masks are available at city hall for businesses through the State of Minnesota and the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce. Rutherford-Thanked the community for the continued support of the department. Shared that the newest member of the department is doing remarkably well. Larson-Thanked city staff for all of their work related to the pandemic and encouraged residents to shop local. Adjourn Motion by Hoyt, second by Bernhjelm, to adjourn the meeting at 7:41 p.m. APIF, motion carried. Respectfully Submitted 59,0wa g. "C"<n � David McKnight, City Administrator August 3,2020 Minutes -8-