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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05.02.22 Work Session Minutes City of Farmington City Council Work Session Minutes May 2, 2022 1. Call to Order Mayor Hoyt called the work session to order at 5:17 p.m. Present: Hoyt, Lien, Porter, Wilson Absent: Bernhjelm Also Present: Lynn Gorski,City Administrator; Chris Regis, Finance Director;Gary Rutherford, Police Chief;Jim Constantineau, Deputy Police Chief;Justin Elvestad, Fire Chief; Samantha DiMaggio, Community Development Director; Kellee Omlid, Parks and Recreation Director; Peter Gilbertson, IT 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. American Rescue Plan Act Funds The city was allocated $2,523,436 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The funds can be used for: - Road building and maintenance and other infrastructure - General government administration, staff and administration facilities - Provision of police, fire and other public safety services Government services is the most flexible eligible use category. City staff has reviewed the guidelines and developed a list of projects to be funded by ARPA funds totaling$2,935,865. Staff presented each of the projects and asked that council decide which projects they would like to pursue. Staff included items from the 2017 facilities analysis as well. Director Gilbertson presented the city's fiber projects. Council previously approved an internal fiber audit of all city buildings for$35,000. Fiber—Audit Project (External) -$65,000. Staff would also like LOGIS to do an external audit which would discover any dead segments and lead to a more accurate count of what is available for future project build outs. For example, there is a section on Walnut Street where the fiber is dead. An audit will find those issues. Fiber—New Liquor Store Farmington Mall to City Hall -$60,593. Staff would like to run fiber from city hall to the new liquor store in the Farmington Mall to allow us to connect the new store to the city's network. It would also create a backbone that opens opportunities for fiber to parks in the area and future ISP collaboration. Fiber—Along 195th Street from Akin Road to Hwy 3 -$117,878. This would create a middle-mile backbone for future collaboration, park projects and buildout of our water tower project. This cost is with a 50/50 split with the county. Council Work Session Minutes May 2,2022 Page 2 Fiber—Along Hwy 3 from 195th Street to Spruce Street—Backbone-$171,230. This creates a redundant loop in our backbone along with opportunities for fiber to parks and ISP partnerships. There is currently only one fiber provider in Farmington. This puts in fiber the city could lease to providers. Fiber—Parks Project-$327,834. Staff would like to extend fiber and power to city parks to provide residents with free WiFi, cameras to discourage vandalism, and provide extra lighting. This would allow internet service providers to easily extend their reach into neighborhoods by utilizing our fiber backbone. IT and Parks have identified priority sites for these projects: - Rambling River Park$33,817.87 - Lake Julia $54,160.86 - Dodge Middle School Warming House $27,664.74 - Daisy Knoll Park$49,102.70 - Distad Park$40,010.30 - Dakota Estates Park$44,000 - Hill Dee Park$31,214 - Fair Hills Park$27,374 Director Omlid presented Parks and Recreation projects. All-Inclusive Playground at Rambling River Park-$350,000. Playground equipment was removed in 2021 as it failed the safety test. New equipment would be installed in a different location in the park due to flooding. The castle in Rambling River Park would be moved to Meadowview Park.The price includes turf which is ADA accessible and lower maintenance. Providing this equipment in the gateway park to downtown would be a destination for residents and visitors to the community. Minnesota Energy Resources made a $5,400 donation through their charitable giving grants to this project. Replacement of Two Boilers at City Hall -$250,000. The two boilers were installed in 2009, but are constantly breaking down and have led to costly repairs. One boiler hasn't worked for the last six months. The two pulse boilers would be replaced with two high efficient compensating boilers. This quote has a two-year warranty and life expectancy of 20 years. We have to do this now or put it in the 2023 budget. Demolition of Bathhouse -$27,600. Although the bathhouse has two restrooms, it serves no other purpose than storage of some materials and the restrooms are not used regularly. It is a target for vandalism, an eyesore, and a safety concern as we can't see what is happening behind the building. Recreation Scheduling Software (RecTrac) - $34,730. RecTrac is a fully integrated parks and recreation management software that would provide the department with a centralized solution that is more customer and user friendly. We currently have different platforms for program registrations, shelter reservations, ice scheduling, memberships, etc. RecTrac is a LOGIS solution, so support and training Council Work Session Minutes May 2,2022 Page 3 for end users would be local. The $34,730 is the implementation cost; the city will incur approximately$25,000 in annual costs which will need to be budgeted. Tennis Court Improvements at Rambling River Park -$325,000. The courts have major cracking throughout and are a safety issue. One court would be converted into two pickle ball courts and the other would remain a tennis court. The cost includes changing the playing surface to post-tension concrete instead of asphalt, painting the courts, installation of posts and nets, and replacing the fencing. LED Message Display- $60,000. Park and Rec has a message board located at Spruce and Denmark that is from the 1980's. Lettering has to be manually changed and it isn't visible to much of the community. Staff would like to replace this sign with an LED message display on Pilot Knob Road near the Police Station or Hill Dee Park. It would be used to promote parks and recreation programs and for city information and events. There may be a potential sponsor to help with the cost. There was a discussion about placing it near the roundabout by the police station could be a distraction for drivers. There was a suggestion to locate the sign within the police fencing and move it further south. Deputy Police Chief Constantineau presented the police projects. Fencing Entire Police Department Property-$869,500. There are many very important items stored at the police department. If this building was breached, the trickledown of negative results would be substantial. Installing temporary fencing during an incident takes 24-48 hours and is both expensive and dangerous. No grants have been located. Administrator Gorski noted the police station is totally out of room and an expansion needs to be discussed. Mayor Hoyt agreed as population is growing and eventually staff. He would like to look at the cost to expand and determine when. Councilmember Porter would like this to be well in the works before Police Chief Rutherford and Deputy Police Chief Constantineau retire. Councilmember Wilson asked that we not assume we would go to the same architects and contractors. If doing a concept plan is under$10,000, it is worthwhile. Councilmember Lien suggested the fencing not be part of ARPA, but include it with the building expansion. Police Chief Rutherford stated it looks like an extravagant expense and he would agree, but to defend the police station we need to put it up now not after something happens. If we lose the evidence room, we lose resolution to crimes for the victims. Councilmember Porter agreed as it only takes one event for the entire city to go down. Police Chief Rutherford was ok with pausing and including it with the building expansion, but the fence has to get built. Councilmember Wilson supported the fence, but not the use of ARPA funds. He would like to see it done with the building expansion. He asked staff to see if in two to three months we could have a concept plan of what a buildout looks like. EOC Trailer and Cones-$16,500 This would cover the cost of materials for recently built barricades, 100 traffic cones and a trailer to house and transport them. The trailer would have emergency Council Work Session Minutes May 2,2022 Page 4 lighting, including scene lights, and would be used for multiple scenarios. The city does not currently have this capability. Director DiMaggio presented the Community Development projects. Comprehensive Plan Update -$85,000. The plan was last updated in 2019/2020 and there have been several changes since then. We need to tell property owners what their future land use would be and our current pian does not reflect this. Land designations also need to follow property lines. Also, local roads are not currently shown and the county has made some modifications to their future roads. Water and Sewer Capacity Study- $20,000. There is the possibility for development at CR66 and Biscayne Avenue. This is in Empire Township. The city council was not interested in helping Empire develop. Mayor Hoyt asked if we could include the Flagstaff study with the Comp Plan update. Staff agreed that could be done. HKGi is working on the Rambling River Park plan. Mayor Hoyt stated we just need the raw data for now. Councilmember Lien noted we could cut down the amount of the referendum if we use ARPA funds for parks. Councilmember Wilson wanted to see the big picture for parks. It was discussed at the last work session to complete the master plans for the parks. Mayor Hoyt didn't see a way we could not address Rambling River Park before next May. We could earmark the money for Rambling River Park until HKGi comes back with a cost and then pull those dollars out of the referendum. Director Omlid will check with the playground company to see if we can get all-inclusive playground equipment yet this year and inform councilmembers. Councilmembers agreed on using ARPA funds for the following projects: - City Hall boiler replacement - All-inclusive playground at Rambling River Park - Comp Plan update with the Flagstaff study - Police Department Building Expansion - City fiber audit external and internal - Parks and Recreation software - EOC trailer and cones - Demolition of bathhouse Administrator Gorski will send this list to Councilmember Bernhjelm. 4. Adjourn MOTION by Wilson, second by Porter to adjourn at 6:56 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia .duller Cynthia Muller Administrative Assistant