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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.04.21 Work Session Minutes City of Farmington City Council Work Session Minutes October 4, 2021 1. Call to Order Mayor Hoyt called the work session to order at 4:45 p.m. Present: Hoyt, Bernhjelm, Pearson, Porter, Wilson Also Present: Lynn Gorski,Assistant City Administrator;Chris Regis, Finance Director;Jim Constantineau, Deputy Police Chief;Justin Elvestad, Fire Chief;Samantha DiMaggio, Community Development Director; Kellee Omlid, Parks and Recreation Director; Katy Gehler, City Engineer/Public Works Director;Cynthia Muller,Administrative Assistant 2. Approve Agenda MOTION by Wilson, second by Porter to approve the agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 3. Discussion Items a. CDA Presentation on Workforce Housing Dakota County Commissioner Mike Slavik and CDA Executive Director Tony Schertler gave a presentation on how the CDA could help with providing workforce housing. The CDA has a high level 10—15-year housing plan. They plan to develop 1,000 housing units over the next 10 years. The units will be developed directly by the CDA. They asked if Farmington would like help in developing workforce housing. There are two qualifications for CDA housing, income qualified and rent restricted. The CDA is looking for existing sites for workforce housing. This is not Section 8 housing. The CDA currently owns the Adelmann property along Denmark Avenue, south of St. Michael's Church. The CDA housing currently in Farmington consists of Vermillion River Crossing, 66 units;Twin Ponds, 51 units; public housing Section 18, 7 units. Councilmember Wilson noted the city does not receive tax revenue from CDA properties. He asked if all cities in the county are playing equal to being receptive to CDA housing. Mr. Schertler stated the CDA housing looks nice because of the funding the CDA puts in. Farmington has the least workforce housing of other cities the same size. Community Development Director DiMaggio is working with the CDA to get townhomes and apartments. Councilmember Porter wants the city to look at the school district when choosing sites and the growth that will happen in the schools. She would like another work session on this topic before proceeding with the Adelmann property. Mayor Hoyt noted we do not have public transportation here for those residents to get to work, etc. Councilmembers seemed to have a consensus to discuss this further at another work session. Page 2 b. Solid Waste Operations Discussion The city has three contracts for garbage and recycling. There is a recycling contract with Dick's, a transfer contract with Dick's and a contract with Red Wing to process the waste. Staff is working on an option for the three contracts to come together and bring that back to the November 1 work session. The proposal is that all city services use Dick's Sanitation. There will be no change in trash service and residents will keep their current cart. Commercial accounts will have to use a different cart. The waste will continue to be transferred to Lakeville then to Red Wing. The contract would be between Dick's and Red Wing. Recycling will be every week for residential. Billing will transfer to Dick's directly. Regarding revenue sharing,there is a fixed fee paid by the city, if there is revenue on the commodity a portion comes back to the city. It will need to be determined how to work the revenue sharing into the bill. Councilmember Bernhjelm suggested giving it back to the residents. An organics drop-off site has recently been established in Farmington. There will be an option in the contract to pursue residential organics. The city currently assesses for non-payment of accounts. This process will continue. Dick's can stop picking up for non-payment, but then it becomes a code enforcement issue. Mayor Hoyt asked how many residents and the dollar amount payable to Dick's for customers that consistently don't pay. Councilmember Pearson asked about the city solid waste drivers. Mr. Weast stated they would hire city staff at the same wages and benefits. Councilmember Pearson noted our employees will have to be paid out their PTO balance as they are going to a new employer. We need to determine the cost of that. There needs to be good communication with residents for a seamless transition. Mr.Weast stated they have a Recollect app that every resident should have to receive alerts. The collection schedule will remain the same. The city has 11 holidays where the schedule would change; Dick's has six holidays and garbage pickup is always a day later. Council asked that this be brought back to the November 1 work session with information on how many residents and the dollar amount for accounts that are consistently delinquent and the PTO balance for solid waste drivers. c. Review of 2022 Special Revenue, Capital Projects and Enterprise Fund Budgets Special Revenue Funds consist of the EDA, ice arena and park improvement fund. For 2022 the EDA will receive a $50,000 transfer from the general fund. The ice arena had a slight surplus in 2021. Minimal fee increases are being considered for 2022 prior to final budget approval. The park improvement fund has budgeted costs of$157,500 for 2022, with a transfer in from liquor operation proceeds of$75,000 and revenues of$36,600. The Capital Projects Fund consists of the cable commission fund which is used to fund the meeting broadcasts. The general capital equipment fund includes transfers in from the General Fund for police equipment ($110,000), fire equipment ($25,000), police vehicles ($176,000) and general fund vehicles ($199,000).The Page 3 maintenance fund includes transfers in from the General Fund of$650,000 for pavement management, $135,000 for trail maintenance, $50,587 for building maintenance, $10,000 for EAB and $9,000 for township road maintenance. The enterprise fund includes the liquor stores fund. The 2022 budget reflects improved sales figures for both locations. The liquor fund will make a $63,466 transfer to the general fund for administrative costs that cover payroll, human resources, finance and administration. The fund will also transfer$75,000 into the Park Improvement Special Revenue Fund. Expenses associated with all street lights are budgeted in the Street Light Fund with revenues generated from a quarterly fee paid with other utilities. Long term plans for the sanitary sewer, solid waste, storm water and water funds will be brought to the November 1 work session. Councilmember Pearson recalled there was a township road that needed maintenance, but the maintenance wasn't done so the city had to take care of it. That was with Eureka Township. She asked if the funding had been worked out. Staff will look into it. Councilmember Wilson asked if$50,000 for the EDA was enough and do we need to look at that differently. Community Development Director DiMaggio stated next year the EDA will cancel programs that have not been applied for and reshuffle funds. Councilmember Bernhjelm stated for the 2023 budget we definitely need to focus on more funding. Staff suggested an EDA levy which can bring in a lot of money, but it does take a few years to build up funding. City Engineer Gehler stated staff will look at the collection of garbage in parks and bring back cost information. Any transition costs will come out of the solid waste fund. Staff will obtain a proforma of value for the garbage trucks. d. Amendment to Parking Ordinance The city currently has several ordinances dealing with winter parking restrictions which have been confusing and contradictory to each other. Those ordinances have been streamlined. The major revisions are: - Eliminate the downtown business district language from the ordinance, making the winter parking restrictions the same citywide. - Permitting exemptions to the winter parking ordinance by city-posted signs. - Adding a 24-hour parking limitation in all city-owned parking lots. To accommodate resident parking downtown and help with snow removal, a section of the parking lot to the west of the Rambling River Center will be posted with signs permitting overnight parking. Additional signage will also be posted downtown to highlight the winter parking restrictions. The current "No Parking 2:30 am—5:30 am" downtown will be removed. Councilmember Bernhjelm asked if the Rambling River Center lot will be designated only for snow emergencies. Deputy Police Chief Constantineau stated it will be from Page 4 November 15 to April 1 because residents will not be able to park on the street in the winter. There will only be about eight units affected that are located above businesses on Third and Oak Streets. Councilmembers had no concerns with the ordinance. 4. City Administrator Update Councilmember Wilson suggested having a dedicated night for longer work sessions that have meaty topics. Councilmember Pearson preferred three-hour sessions. Councilmember Bernhjelm noted the purpose of limiting the time for work sessions was to get more concise. Councilmember Porter recalled it was also to have less contact during Covid. She found it easier to come two nights a month. Mayor Hoyt noted there is more importance on preparation of the packet. The key is to have a fluid start time. If staff continues to put together a lot of information on a lot of topics, Council needs to come with questions. Councilmember Pearson stated staff will summarize the presentation with bullet points at the meeting. That was done very well tonight. Assistant Administrator Gorski stated the USDA project was put on hold, but is back on now. The city will be adding a building inspector by the end of this year. There are staff positions that were not filled in 2021 and the increased cost will be covered with increased permit revenue. 5. Adjourn MOTION by Bernhjelm, second by Wilson to adjourn at 6:41 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia .duller Cynthia Muller Administrative Assistant