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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07.20.09 Council Minutes k , COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR JULY 20, 2009 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Larson at 7:00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Larson led the audience and Council in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL Members Present: Members Absent: Also Present: Larson, Donnelly, Fogarty, May, Wilson None Joel Jamnik, City Attorney; Peter Herlofsky, City Administrator; Robin Roland, Finance Director; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Lisa Shadick, Administrative Services Director; Brenda Wendlandt, Human Resources Director; Tony Wippler, Assistant City Planner; Jen Dullum, Natural Resources Specialist; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Audience: 4. APPROVE AGENDA Councilmember May pulled items 7b, c, e, i, n for discussion. Councilmember Fogarty moved item I Oc) Approve Minnesota Green Corps Agreement to the Consent Agenda. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS a) Eagle Scout Project - Jesse Cardinal Mr. Cardinal presented his Eagle Scout project to Council for approval. The project consists of installing help signs along trails to give a point of reference along the trail in case of emergencies. These signs can also be used as mile markers for joggers. The signs will be installed in the Autumn Glen pond area, the Meadow Creek 3rd Addition, and up to the North Creek Park area. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to approve the project. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Wilson, second by Fogarty to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes (7/6/09 Regular) d) Authorized Wetland Health Evaluation Program - Natural Resources Council Minutes (Regular) July 20, 2009 Page 2 f) Approved 20 I 0 ALF Budget - Human Resources g) Approved School and Conference Parks and Recreation Commission - Parks and Recreation h) Adopted ORDINANCE 009-605 Amending Erosion Control Required- Planning j) Acknowledged Parks and Recreation Commission Resignation - Administration k) Approved Settlement Agreement Charter Communications - Administration I) Adopted RESOLUTION R27-09 Approving Consent for Charter Communications Re-organization - Administration m) Received Information School and Conference - Finance 0) Approved Minnesota GreenCorps Agreement - Natural Resources APIF, MOTION CARRIED. b) 2nd Quarter Building Permit Report - Building Inspections Councilmember May noted instead of counting building permits we count Certificates of Occupancy and confirmed that was only with new construction. The same multiplier is used for single family and multi-family. She asked staff to provide the building valuations for 2007 and 2008. c) 2nd Quarter Investment Report - Finance Councilmember May noted there are a number of CD's maturing and asked about current yields. Finance Director Roland replied current rates on a 3-year CD have dropped to 2.5%. Other short term items are less than 3%. There are specific banks the City uses and those are identified at the beginning of the year. Councilmember Wilson noted the current 6-month value shows a 38% decline and asked if that was a result of expenditures of bond proceeds or market decline. Finance Director Roland replied it is from money spent down in proceeds for bonds for 195th Street, final tax settlement for 2008, the balance of the first half tax settlement will be paid in July and that will raise $2 million. There were also a number of debt service payments on February 1,2009. MOTION by Wilson, second by Fogarty accepting the 2nd Quarter Investment Report. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. e) Approve Grant Application - Fire Department Councilmember May asked if there were opportunities for the Fire Department to use the City Hall for some of their needs, and noted there were some water leakage problems in the Fire Station. City Administrator Herlofsky felt any classrooms needed would be better located at the Fire Station. Councilmember May noted if there are water leakage problems, she would like to see some follow-up once that is corrected. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Donnelly to approve the grant application. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. i) Adopt Ordinance - Amending the Zoning Definitions - Planning Councilmember May confirmed that there were no deletions in the ordinance, only additions. Assistant City Planner Wippler explained during the 2002 Comprehensive Plan Update a number of uses were inadvertently missed. With Council Minutes (Regular) July 20, 2009 Page 3 the new update those definitions are being brought up to date to make the code consistent. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to adopt ORDINANCE 009-606 amending the zoning definitions. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. n) Approve Bills Councilmember May noted at the last meeting she asked about a line item for $10,185 which was for laptops for the Fire and Police Departments. Finance Director Roland noted that was part of a $20,000 grant with a $1,400 match approved by Council last fall. Councilmember May would like to review a plan for upgrading equipment during the budget discussions. Councilmember May noted there were a number of developer payments and asked for an explanation. Finance Director Roland stated there are three developer TIF payments. They are required as part of the TIF Agreements on the three remaining TIF districts. B&L Adventures is the Dalsin property in the Industrial Park, the City Center LLC is the downtown EconoFoods area and the strip center, and the Eagle's Club. A certain percentage of the taxes paid by the organization are returned to the organization under the TIF Agreement. This is the last payment to the Dalsin TIF district. The other two districts will retain payments through 2015. Councilmember May asked about a land purchase for the Flagstaff A venue project and asked if there were any more land purchases left. Finance Director Roland stated this is close to the last project payment. This item was in negotiations and this is the amount of the Settlement Agreement. Councilmember Wilson noted there is a payment to Dakota County Financial Services for elections. Administrative Services Director Shadick stated the City just received the bill from the County for ballot printing. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Donnelly to approve the bills. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS a) Approve Flooring Agreement Rambling River Center Construction Project- Parks and Recreation A low quote was received from Linn's Carpet in the amount of$12,643.62 for laminate flooring for the multipurpose room. A low quote was received from Becker Arena Products in the amount of $4,790 for carpet tiles for the fitness room. Council Minutes (Regular) July 20, 2009 Page 4 Councilmember Wilson noted there does not appear to be any major expenses left in the budget. Parks and Recreation Director Distad replied they will bring back the remaining items to the next meeting. Councilmember Wilson noted some of the items are entertainment items totaling $6,000 and would like to see those earmarked for fundraising dollars rather than using taxpayer dollars. Staff noted they have been asked to raise $90,000 in fundraising. Those items would be included and it would be difficult to separate them out. MOTION by Wilson, second by Fogarty to approve the agreements with Linn's Carpet Service. and Becker Arena Products. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. b) Liquor Operations Report - Liquor Operations Liquor Operations Manager Petrofske gave an update on the sales for the second quarter. Comparing 2008 and 2009, sales are relatively flat. c) June 2009 Financial Report - Finance At the end of June 2009, the general fund is at 31 % of revenues because the City will not receive the full tax settlement until July. General fund expenses are at 45% - 46% of annual expenditures. Expenses could be at 50% at mid-year, therefore, expenses are down by a significant margin. To even out expenses, the City now accrues police holiday pay and firefighters are paid on a monthly basis rather than quarterly. Overall the City is under the revised budget for expenditures. Revenues are not as high as expected. Regarding enterprise funds, the appropriate billing has been done and the new water meters are online. There should be a change in the future in water and sewer revenues as there will be a more accurate reading. Councilmember Wilson noted there was an expense under snow removal for June. Finance Director Roland explained that bills for materials are being received and there are expenses for repair of equipment. Councilmember Wilson felt it was hard to track these types of expenses when listed under snow removal. He thanked staff for keeping expenses to 45% - 46%. Councilmember May asked about revenues and if those areas under 50% are due to delinquencies in City bills. Staff explained they are not due to delinquencies. Revenues are recorded at the time the service is provided. Delinquencies are collected through the certification process at year end. Shown in the report are actual billings for water, sewer and garbage. People have cut back on usage of these items. Councilmember May asked if there was a budget versus plan graph by month. She was asking if there was a line item by month as it would be helpful to see if items were higher or lower by month. Staff explained when putting the budget together, they look at historical data on an annual basis. Many of the payments are not even and are one time charges. Councilmember May would like to see what month expenses and revenues come in. Councilmember Donnelly noted the general fund balance in April and May was negative and asked if the City borrowed money during that time. Finance Council Minutes (Regular) July 20, 2009 Page 5 Director Roland explained the City's cash is pooled. So during this time there was internal borrowing so bills are paid out of the total amount of cash. MOTION by Wilson, second by May to accept the June 2009 Financial Report. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a) Twitter and Facebook Report - Human Resources Due to data practices and records retention, the issue with twitter is retaining all the messages. Any data coming through on twitter would need to be retained due to the records retention policy. The League of Minnesota Cities is working on some best practices and ways to retain the data. Currently they are using twitter and each week they are printing out everything on their twitter account to comply with the records retention policy. Regarding facebook, you can prevent people from writing on your facebook wall. The City does not want to prevent anyone from commenting, but that communication does need to be retained. Staff will continue to research these items. 12. NEW BUSINESS a) Boards and Commissions Vacancies Update - Administration There are currently two vacancies on the Parks and Recreation Commission and one vacancy on the Planning Commission. Three applications have been received. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Donnelly to appoint Michael Haley and David McMillen to the Parks and Recreation Commission and Steve Kuyper to the Planning Commission. Councilmember Wilson asked about the length of the terms. Staff noted the Planning Commission term ends January 31, 2010, the Parks and Recreation Commission vacancies end January 31,2011 and 2012. After some discussion, staff was directed to contact David McMillen to determine which term he would like to serve on the Parks and Recreation Commission and Michael Haley will be given the other term. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. b) Dew Days Update -Administration Council received a financial report from CEEF regarding 2009 Dew Days. City Administrator Herlofsky has received additional information and will bring this item back to the next Council meeting. Comments from the City Attorney regarding legal questions will also be available at that time. 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember May: She has received resident comments regarding the project at 4th Street and Spruce Street regarding the sidewalks being new one year ago and now they are being torn up. City Administrator Herlofsky stated this is where one project ended last year and this year's project has started. If you could cut down the street square to start a project, there would not be a problem. There is 20 ft. of new concrete put in last year that was now removed because the project was butting up against it. A hole had to be dug in order for work to be done. Councilmember May could see the concern when something is put in new one year and removed the next year. City Administrator Council Minutes (Regular) July 20, 2009 Page 6 Herlofsky agreed that is critical to staff. The project last year on Spruce Street was not approved until late in the year. If we are going to plan, then the plan has to be 4-5 years out and needs to be followed. Councilmember May noted there have been resident complaints regarding noise from the pool and the fairgrounds. Staff will be talking with the joint committee with Castle Rock and the City. She wanted residents to know it is getting addressed. City Administrator Herlofsky noted there is one more event that could cause some concern and that is a Motocross event Friday night that should be done by 10:00 p.m. Councilmember Fogarty: Noted the Farmer's Market is a fantastic success. She noted an EDA Activities Update has been received as an EDA meeting will not be held next week. Councilmember Wilson: Recreation Commission. Thanked Tim White for serving on the Parks and Regarding noise from events, even though they are authorized by the Police Department, it does not give businesses a right to do what they want and have the music turned up as loud as they want. He has received legitimate concerns regarding noise. City Administrator Herlofsky: Reminded Council of the Strategic Planning session for Wednesday. Council was sent some pre-work that needs to be completed prior to the seSSIOn. Mayor Larson: Regarding the Farmer's Market there were 400-500 people the first two weeks. He encouraged residents to come. This Saturday was Downtown Days and they had a good time. River Church will be hosting two music events on Friday, July 24 and Sunday, July 26. 14. ADJOURN MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to adjourn at 8:36 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, G,.d~ht~-u Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant