Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout02.09.09 Work Session Minutes Council Workshop Minutes Strategic Planning February 9,2009 Mayor Larson called the workshop to order at 7:08 p.m. Present: Larson, Donnelly, Fogarty, May, Wilson Also Present: Peter Herlofsky, City Administrator; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to approve the agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. City Administrator Herlofsky asked Council to list five objectives that are important to them. The Council's top priorities were: - Maximize existing land for commercial/industrial - Improve economic development - Commercial/industrial development - Budget - Eliminate crisis management and have short and long-range plan Second priorities: - Market City owned properties - Budget 2009-2010 with reduced revenues - Parks and Recreation - ice arena / pool/parks / senior center - Economic development - Economic development - City Sales Executive / staff capacity Third priorities: - Budget - no surprises - Privatize waste management - Improve parks and recreation with new development or re-development - Bond rating improvement - Transportation Fourth priorities: - Engineering - Improve communication with residents and economic growth - Improve communication with public - ongoing issue - Street maintenance - dry pavement policy ($$) - School partnerships Fifth priorities: - Park facilities - Veteran's Park - Economic development - promote new school with ISD 192 - Develop senior community center - City image - Renting City space 1-11 Council Workshop Minutes February 9, 2009 Page 2 City Administrator Herlofsky asked what economic development means to everyone. Some felt it was marketing and promoting the City. They don't expect a Target, but to start small, such as a hotel chain. It could be identified by the percentage of the tax base that is non-residential. This would be a long-term measurement. It was noted the public has an unrealistic expectation of what is going to happen. The market is the dictator. The foundation is the comprehensive plan. Economic development is a lot of planning, setting the table, laying the ground work. They asked who is doing that; who is selling the City? City Administrator Herlofsky stated on a day-to-day basis it is not anyone individual. It is the entire organization from the reception desk, to utility billing to maintenance workers. He felt we have enough people to do what needs to be done as far as contacting and meeting with people. Staff met with Lakeville staff to compare notes and Farmington is doing more than Lakeville. They are closer to 35W and have a larger population which gives them an advantage in the short run. Our market study showed we are in a good position to capture the next group of industrial because of the price of land. That process is underway with the EDA. Council member Wilson felt the previous Council had a number of great ideas, but never formulated a big picture that resonated down to staff. City . Administrator Herlofsky noted within three years the economic development effort has changed in title and 100% in participants. The comprehensive plan lists three issues we should be working on: - Promoting downtown - Industrial - Promoting outside of downtown - commercial development This was based on the market study. Council agreed with the above list. Councilmember Fogarty felt when we have completed the next phase of the industrial park, the EDA should consider an EDA levy. Ifwe want to consider marketing, we cannot expect it to be done with nothing. She felt randomly calling miscellaneous businesses is not the approach to take. Mayor Larson felt we need to come up with a plan and put that plan in motion. They were willing to invest in the economic development department. Mayor Larson noted rail service is huge in industrial. He asked staff to look at the land south of St. Michael's Church. He spoke with Progressive Rail and they liked the area and are exploring it. Mayor Larson wants staff to explore everything. The area would have to be re-zoned. Councilmember Wilson asked staff to check with Lakeville regarding a business that closed in the Airlake Industrial Park. City Administrator Herlofsky noted in the last year successes have been some grants given to Buds and Bytes, the upstairs of the Exchange Bank building, Anna's Banana's, and staff has a meeting scheduled with the CDA. The visits to the businesses by the Economic Development department have worked well, as well as the Economic Update. Vinge Tile will be receiving a grant to expand his business in the industrial park. A marketing plan will be coming to the EDA. The plan is to meet with existing businesses once every three years. The number of grants we have received is also something that can be measured. Mayor Larson suggested cold calling outside businesses to let them know land is available. Councilmember Fogarty would like to know how many businesses have come, how many have closed and why, was there anything we could have done, and job creation especially head of household jobs. City Administrator Herlofsky asked about budget issues. The State has cut $170,000 that affects the 2008 budget, we had additional snow in December, and we will be short for 2009. Staffwill 1-12 Council Workshop Minutes February 9, 2009 Page 3 be coming back with not just ways to reduce the budget, as we have cut as much as we can, but ways to generate other revenue. Staff is looking at a street light utility, and franchise fees for utilities. Franchise fees would be related to use, but they are another way of taxing. Staff will be bringing this to Council in the next 30-60 days. Councilmember Fogarty noted it is tough to wait until March to hear how we are going to fix this. She felt waiting 60 days is too long. City Administrator Herlofsky noted we will not be putting market value homestead money in the general operating budget. That will go in the capital improvement fund. Councilmember Wilson was not interested in passing franchise fees onto customers in this economic environment. The biggest category he would like to look at is the salary information Council received suggesting salaries employees received are different than the stated amounts. He agreed with the Governor that we need to reduce merit pay. The only other option is to eliminate positions, which we do not want to do. He would not be opposed to a salary freeze. City Administrator Herlofsky noted Council can talk about wage freezes and shut down departments for a week in the summer. Councilmember Fogarty was open to mandatory unpaid time off during the right time of year. This would apply to salary and hourly. Councilmember Wilson noted Farmington is not competitive in the tax environment. City Administrator Herlofsky stated with a salary freeze it keeps us less competitive with other areas. If you do a layoff, you leave the salary rates the same, but get some percentage difference. There is no right or wrong way, there just needs to be some discussion about which way we are going to do it. Mayor Larson felt this is why it is so important to push economic development now. City Administrator Herlofsky noted the shopping centers along Pilot Knob and Tamarack are struggling to keep the spaces filled. Businesses are rolling back rather than expanding. The environment does not allow economic development to be a success. Mayor Larson noted we have to come up with a plan and execute it. It will require cold calling whether it be real estate agents, hotel chains, etc. to get people talking about Farmington. City Administrator Herlofsky stated in the next couple years we have to pay attention to the businesses that are here. We want to retain the people we have so we do not lose them. You do not want to lose your existing customers. You want to make sure they are happy. In the short run we should put emphasis on keeping track of our local people and making sure there are grants to help them expand their business such as Vinge Tile or Anna's Banana's, and that encourage businesses like Buds and Bytes. The best people we have to get people to come to the community are the current businesses. If they are having a good experience they will tell others. Back to the budget, City Administrator Herlofsky assumed Council still would like to increase the fund balance. It will take a small hit in 2008. Staff will need Council consensus as quickly as possible on franchise fees, personnel, or other issues in the next couple Council meetings. We can use the fund balance to get us through the short term, but we need to be very careful with that. The bond rating has not gone down. Major improvements have been made in transportation the last couple years. Staff is close to getting street lights at the intersection of CSAH 50 and Flagstaff Avenue. City Administrator Herlofsky suggested we not privatize waste management because it is an enterprise fund. It covers its own cost with the fees we currently have. The fees are very competitive and a portion of the overhead goes to the general fund. Farmington is one of the few cities that still do this, but it is efficient and very effective in the community. Councilmember Fogarty recalled there was a comparison done showing it would cost the residents more to privatize it. She asked this be updated for Council's information to make sure it is still a true statement. She recalled it was a significant increase to the residents. City Administrator 1-13 Council Workshop Minutes February 9, 2009 Page 4 Herlofsky urged if it is not done by the City, that it be franchised to one or two companies that would do different areas of the City. If left to individuals, some will have garbage service and some won't. Also there would be garbage trucks up and down the streets every day which is not efficient. If we need something cleaned up downtown, we currently ask our employees to do it. We have reduced the staffing in that area by one person and have still maintained service. Councilmember May felt there was a huge amount of equipment and a lot of hidden costs where we could save a tremendous amount of money. There has to be something if we are one of three cities that are doing this. City Administrator Herlofsky stated a company still has to provide equipment and training, everything we are doing, and on top of it they would have a profit. We can compare the prices we are charged with companies and our prices are more reasonable. There is only one hauler, employees do a good job of picking it up, and we do the billing in one place. There are no hidden costs as we keep all activities for solid waste separate and they pay for their own portion ofthe Maintenance Facility and their costs come from their own fees. Staff will provide an update of the comparisons. Mayor Larson stated one of the biggest complaints he has received over the years is when a developer comes in with a plan and they have to keep changing it. He would like to see them bring in a plan, it is reviewed with staff and changes are made together and in 30-45 days they are ready to start digging. City Administrator Herlofsky replied we have tried to make the information distributed more understandable and staff is continuing to work on the process. With good developers, that should be easy to accomplish. Mayor Larson agreed and realized some developers may need more hands on. He wanted developers to walk out the door saying they had a great experience with the City. Councilmember Wilson also felt staff should set an expectation of fees. Council then went through a list of discussion items as follows: East Farmington - Staff has met with the residents. There was a civil settlement between the homeowner's association and the residents. The City Attorney has not been able to obtain any information. It is still an issue. Staff will tell them the City is not interested in taking over management ofthe parks and streets. YMCA - They have been looking at coming to the community for the last 1 'h years. City Administrator Herlofsky has received a proposal for the pool and for summer programs. He has been doing this because Council gave the impression they were interested in having the YMCA have a presence in Farmington, which may eventually lead to a facility. He wanted to make sure Council wants a YMCA in the community before going further. If the YMCA wants to have a presence, the pool is a good option and they will be offering programs for middle school kids which both Community Ed and the Parks & Recreation Department says is not one of their strengths. Mayor Larson stated he needs more information on the YMCA, what they are offering for the pool, what programming they are talking about, etc. before he can make a decision. Councilmember May asked what the negatives are. City Administrator Herlofsky explained right now there are programs run by Community Ed and by Parks & Recreation. People are afraid oflosing their jobs if things change. There are currently two agencies in Farmington that are providing youth activities and also private ones such as the Farmington Youth Association. If the community has programs available that the taxpayers do not have to pay for, where is the down side? The corporate limits of the City of Farmington are different than the school district. When you throw in a YMCA, their activities go regional rather than just the community. Sharing of programs is not taking place like he would like. Councilmember Fogarty stated she 1-14 Council Workshop Minutes February 9, 2009 Page 5 does not care who does the programming for residents of the community as long as it is quality, affordable, and has great access. The YMCA has a great national name recognition, it would be good for our community. She wants what is best for the residents, which is good programming. If someone else can provide it better, cheaper and more efficient than we can, then they can do it better. Councilmember May stated if someone were worried about their job, maybe they could work for the other organization. We do not want to purposefully eliminate positions, but sometimes that happens in a competitive environment. City Administrator Herlofsky stated he has been aggressively encouraging the YMCA to create a presence in the community based on what the previous Council wanted. He wanted to make sure this Council was aware of it and he will continue to pursue it if Council is comfortable with it. Councilmember Donnelly stated the market will determine which service the residents find is the best. Mayor Larson stated he has asked residents how they would feel about the YMCA coming, and they say the City and Community Ed do such a great job, why bring in another entity. That is why he wants as much information as possible from staff. He wants to be able to show them the cost. Councilmember Wilson noted the YMCA is in Burnsville, Hastings, Eagan, Andover, etc. He did not think we should be turning over the City to figure out every possible avenue for the YMCA. They are also going through financial challenges. Their initial 3-5 year plan for going into a community could now be 7-10 years. City Administrator Herlofsky stated if he was not working to invite the YMCA in, they would not be here. He did not want to spend time doing something and then have Council ask why. Mayor Larson stated it does not matter whether they are here or not, he wants to make sure it is the right decision for the community. Mayor Larson asked for Council to be provided with as much information as possible. Councilmember May noted this is an opportunity for a business down the road that could build in our community. Mayor Larson stated he would rather have a business build that pays taxes. City Administrator Herlofsky stated he can give all kinds of information, but it will not help in making a determination whether to have a YMCA here or not, because it is just paper. Unless you are familiar with the programs, it creates a different situation. Here is an opportunity for some identity in the community. The YMCA map stops in Eagan. If a map shows Farmington, that creates some branding, and some marketing ability. Going to the community for a community center would be very difficult. The idea of bringing in money from a third area, a regional YMCA with cooperation from the school district and the City might offer some opportunities in the future. He will provide an update to Council on their proposal, but we need to make a decision within 30 days. They are offering to run the pool at almost the same price it would cost us to operate it. He would like them to try it out. It eliminates payroll and a lot of extra work for our Parks & Recreation Department. They can then spend their time doing other things. Councilmember Fogarty felt the majority of Council would like him to continue to pursue it. Senior Center - Council was given a copy of the report sent to Council in September 2008 which contains the map of the layout and reports showing estimates from a construction manager and Wold Architects. Councilmember Fogarty noted the food shelf has been discussed. City Administrator Herlofsky stated the food shelf is currently located in a church where there is a stairway to access it. At a previous Council meeting, they suggested moving into the old senior center building. They are looking for free space where they can load and unload items from vehicles easily. He cautioned this is not the only organization in the City that is looking for free space. Once you give free space, it would be difficult to have them move out. Councilmember Fogarty understood the concerns, but not every City has its own food shelf. This is run by one volunteer. She would like consideration given to include them in the old City Hall building. Councilmember Fogarty noted the issue of mold in the current senior center building has been brought up. She wanted to know if there was really mold in the building and what that means. 1-15 Council Workshop Minutes February 9, 2009 Page 6 Staff will also have someone check on the structure of the building. Mayor Larson also wanted information on the rentals, how often, how much we are charging, how many members are there, what the dues are, how many members are from the townships. He wanted all the information so they do not have to table it again. Council was provided with information on the cost of utilities for the old City Hall. Councilmember Fogarty felt they were high. City Administrator Herlofsky noted it costs about $ 1500/year for utilities. This information was based on previous use. It would be less with the heat turned down. Council had asked for the difference in cost for running the building between the old City Hall and the current senior center. The costs provided are when it was being used. They are lower with the building being vacant. Councilmember May noted the use of the existing senior center building will be a concern for her next week. Councilmember Wilson stated he has noticed time and time again we are in crisis management mode with the senior center. He is not beating up on the seniors, but is trying to do due diligence to the taxpayers. He recalled in September/October we were discussing this, and then all of a sudden we are doing it. This is a great option for the seniors, but it feels like we are in panic mode. There are a lot of questions that need to be brought up, not the least of which is the budget part. Councilmember Fogarty stated that is residents putting pressure on us and they have a right to do that. Councilmember Wilson felt we do not have to put this on the agenda for the next meeting. City Administrator Herlofsky stated we can see what information we have ready for the next meeting. Councilmember Donnelly stated it sounds like a decision was made, people were expecting it to be followed, and now it is not. Councilmember Fogarty stated the decision was made that it would be converted to a senior center. City Administrator Herlofsky stated staff has been wrapping up the budget from last year and now we are bringing this back for funding. He reminded Council to not use this to subtract from taxes. The previous Council did not raise City taxes in 2009. Staff has come up with a proposal to work out the options. Councilmember Fogarty stated the senior center wanted an inclination if Council was willing to let them move to the old City Hall. How to fund it and how to move forward was to be discussed later. Councilmember Donnelly stated he was trying to determine if the City was going back on a promise. Personalities change, but the City is the City. If the people got that impression, even though the personalities change, the City has to be consistent. Mayor Larson again asked for all the information so we do not drag this out and make a decision yes or no. Councilmember May was asking for a more well-rounded plan that includes what will happen to the old space, more detail on the fund raising such as this is what is planned for the fall 2009 with this goal. She was concerned with the levy issue. Staff is still working on obtaining information. Development Fees - Staff is working on this. Councilmember May noted we have to be competitive. Engineering Consultant - This will be discussed at an upcoming workshop. Ice Arena - Councilmember Fogarty stated she and City Administrator Herlofsky will be meeting with the hockey board regarding options, what they are looking for, what they think they need and what they really need. Weare working hard on trying to establish the real need and educating the hockey board as to what our costs are, what our challenges are, the fact the hockey arena does not make any money, but is getting closer to breaking even. They do not understand why we would not build a second sheet of ice. They will be laying down some ground work and looking to future partnerships with the fairgrounds and the school board. If the hockey board wants a second sheet of ice it will have to be a multi-jurisdictional partnership. The ice arena may be in Farmington but it is the residents of the school district that use it. We need to have a plan in place because if the arena needs millions of dollars in repair, a Council will not write a 1-16 Council Workshop Minutes February 9, 2009 Page 7 check to fix it if in two years we are going to partner with someone else and build two sheets of Ice. Deputy Registrar - Mayor Larson noted he would like to see the expansion space used for this. City Administrator Herlofsky explained it needs special legislation. Senator Pariseau is willing to carry this and is waiting to hear from the City Attorney. Legislative Issues - City Administrator Herlofsky has not spent a lot of time on legislative issues and asked if Council wanted more time spent on this or leave it as is. Mayor Larson stated if the stimulus package does pass, he wants to stay ahead of the game and not miss out on any funds that could come our way. The City is working with the league on this. Senior Center - Mayor Larson stated he would like to receive the information requested and set a meeting or workshop. City Administrator Herlofsky stated with the information requested it may be better to bring this to the March 2 meeting. We can provide information that is already available sooner. Councilmember May would like more specific information on the fund raising because we are asking for an increase in taxes. Councilmember Donnelly noted staff mentioned they would raise $85,000 from fund raising. Does Council think that is too little or unrealistic? They can come up with all kinds of scenarios. Councilmember May would like to see that for 2009, they have this specific fund raiser in mind. City Administrator Herlofsky noted all the seniors can provide is their best estimate and that is what they have already provided. Rambling River Center Board members noted there is no guarantee with what they can raise. Their hands are tied with fund raising because they are tied to the City and cannot get non-profit grants, etc. Councilmember Fogarty suggested they get a church to sponsor them to get non-profit money. Members noted it is not just a senior center it is a community center. All the responsibility is being put on the seniors to do something. Councilmember Fogarty suggested they contact the school before school is out to form a teen board to work with the seniors. Councilmember Wilson asked if what was proposed is needed now such as flooring. Can some things be planned out for 2-3 years? City Administrator Herlofsky noted what was proposed was reasonable. Council has been given an estimate and it is up to Council to decide. Councilmember May would like to see the seniors move to the old City Hall. Because there is a tax levy, we owe it to the taxpayers to have more details on the plan. Breakfast with Bunny, Rambling River Days, Community Expo - The last Council wanted staff to work with these events for whatever they needed. Unless Council wants to change, staffwill continue to cooperate with these events. Some of the activities such as Breakfast with Bunny, Party on the Knoll, etc. that do not generate revenue, but do create an expense need to be looked at for the budget. Staff did participate with the Expo and we will be cooperating with Dew Days. Mayor Larson confirmed that the senior center will be brought back to the March 2 meeting. Council agreed. Councilmember May asked to meet with City Administrator Herlofsky and Finance Director Roland to review the Business Subsidy Policy. She asked if the policy had anything to do with how the property was purchased in the first place. Councilmember Fogarty would like to have the Parks garage building back on the tax rolls, but it is a great location and do we want someone to just use it for storage. None of the bids received were interested in improving the aesthetics of the building. City Administrator Herlofsky noted the comprehensive plan states it is important to improve downtown's attractiveness to the retail stores and services. The Parks garage is not 1-17 Council Workshop Minutes February 9, 2009 Page 8 attractive. Looking long-term, getting rid of the building and having something else there is much more positive. Councilmember Wilson noted the property is being offered according to the value set by Dakota County. City Administrator Herlofsky stated staff contacted the County to confirm the number, but they would not send someone out to look at the property as there is a 3-year rotation when this is done. If someone came with an appraiser and wanted to buy it for that amount, we would sit down with them. But if someone comes in with a low price with the idea to sell it in a couple years, why shouldn't we get the profit and why should they? Unless there is some business issue they would meet to take care of us based on our own plan. Councilmember May stated we cannot take the stand we will hang onto everything until things turn around because we want to make all the profit. Maybe someone else will make the profit, as long as we move forward on the priorities we set. City Administrator Herlofsky stated the objective is to improve the appearance and the value of the whole downtown area. Selling it as bare land is a better opportunity for something to be built there than having the old building stay. The two offers received were for storage. Mayor Larson asked staff to call Frontier to determine the cost for them to abandon that building and see how marketable that property is. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to adjourn at 9:35 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, {{ .~ ;h?d~ 7 Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant 1-18