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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09.08.09 Council Minutes 7ez-. COUNCIL MINUTES REG~ULAR September 8, 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: Audience: Larson, May, Wilson Donnelly, FogaJiy Andrea Poehler, City Attorney; Peter Herlofsky, City Administrator; Robin Roland, Finance Director; Brian Lindquist, Police Chief; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Kevin Schorzman, City Engineer; Lisa Shadick, Administrative Services Director; Brenda Wendlandt, Human Resources Director; Tony Wippler, Assistant City Planner; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Jerry & Denise Ristow, Cathy Bisser, William Stiles, Ed Samuelson, David Pritzlaff 4. APPROVE A GENDA City Administrator Herlofsky pulled the Executive Session as it has been rescheduled to September 21,2009. MOTION by Wilson, second by May to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS a) Safe and Sober Campaign - lllob O'Brian Mr. O'Brian is the Law Enforcement Liaison for the Department of Public Safety and assists with administering the Safe and Sober Program. During the July speed enforcement program Farmington was selected for a prize. The Police Department chose two light bars for squad cars amounting to $3,000. The purpose of the program is to inform residents and schools on safety. Police Chief Lindquist presented Mr. O'Brian with a challenge coin for his law enforcement work. 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS Ms. Annette Kuyper, 20530 Dyers Pass, gave an update on the Farmington Warrior to Citizen Campaign. This campaign started one year ago to support and recognize military families. Due to their efforts, Farmington became the first Yellow Ribbon City and Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 2 remains the only one in Minnesota. The committee is comprised of 22 people and represents all areas ofthe community. There are also 140 volunteers who participate in activities and provide service to military families. So far the campaign has assisted 30 military families. Upcoming events include a First Anniversary celebration on September 22, Support Our Troops Haunted House October 9 and 10, and a community training event on October 20. Ms. Kuyper thanked Council and community leaders for supporting their mission. Mayor Larson thanked Ms. Kuyper and the committee for their work. Mr. David Pritzlaff, 20255 Akin Road, read a portion of the June 23, 2008, EDA minutes regarding the Exchange Bank building status. At the time Mr. Pritzlaffwas frustrated with the process in getting the building completed. He asked why the warranty deed is part of the current lawsuit. Regarding Dew Days and the shortfall of $25,000, Mr. Pritzlaff did not believe the City should be paying the money. He noted putting it under the EDA was covering it up, as residents want to know about it. One or two people making decisions over the past year for Dew Days are going to be bailed out by the taxpayers of Farmington if the City pays the $25,000 to pay the bills. Some people have been paid in full, so fees cannot be re- negotiated and others have not been paid at all. Mr. William Stiles, 421 Main Street, spoke regarding the seal coat assessment. He stated the assessment is wrong and is no different than putting salt and sand on the streets or sweeping the streets. He has been hit the last three years with assessments; one for constructing Main Street, then CSAH 50. He wanted to submit his objection to the assessment. 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Wilson, second by May to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes (8/17/09 Regular) (8/24/09 Special) (8/26/09 Workshop) b) Adopted RESOLUTION R34-09 Approving Participation in the Dakota County Traffic Safety Group - Police Department Councilmember Wilson was pleased Farmington is again participating in the Traffic Safety Group. Anytime we can collaborate with other entities on DWI's, warrants, etc. it is a good thing. Police Chief Lindquist explained what the Traffic Safety Group does. c) Received Information School and Conference - Police Department Councilmember May reminded staff to include specific costs for conferences. Police Chief Lindquist noted the costs were not available at the time, but will provide them to Council. d) Received Information School and Conference - Police Department e) Approved Joint Powers Agreement with State of Minnesota - Municipal Services f) Acknowledged Retirement Fire Department - Human Resources g) Acknowledged Retirement Fire Department - Human Resources h) Acknowledged Retirement Fire Department - Human Resources Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 3 i) Approved School and Conference - Human Resources j) Approved Appointment Recommendation Parks and Recreation - Human Resources k) Adopted RESOLUTION R35-09 Approving Distribution ofDCC Undesignated Fund Balance - Finance I) Approved School and Conference - Fire Department m) Approved Temporary On-Sale Liquor License - Administration n) Adopted RESOLUTION R36-09 Approving Gambling Event Permit- Administration 0) Approved Bills Councilmember May had previously asked about a bill for machinery and equipment for $5400. Staff explained it was for smart boards for City Hall. Finance Director Roland noted this was in the new City Hall budget. Human Resources Director Wendlandt explained it is similar to a white board, where notes can be made and sent directly to a printer. There are also many other uses. Councilmember May asked to look at leases for the liquor stores in future budget discussions. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS a) Sealcoat Assessment Hearing - Engineering The amount of the assessment is $127.43 per residential equivalent unit. The estimated cost was $132.90. Councilmember Wilson stated Main Street was done in 2004-2005 and asked about the seal coat following a project. City Engineer Schorzman stated a seal coat is done three years after a project. Councilmember Wilson recalled they had discussed exclusion of certain roads associated with other construction. Staff clarified the discussion was to remove some of the streets that will be in need of heavier maintenance and those streets were removed. Councilmember Wilson asked if a seal coat done three years after a project is included in the original project funding. Staff replied it is not as you cannot assess for something that has not been done yet. Councilmember May understood the cycle and recalled an earlier discussion was to forego the assessment process and put this event in the budget. She asked about the status of that. City Administrator Herlofsky stated that was part of a discussion on how to handle seal coats in the future. There was the issue of making it part of the general fund levy or as part of a utility franchise. No decision was made by the Council to change anything. City Engineer Schorzman has been working on that and will bring it to Council this fall during budget discussions. Councilmember May felt it makes sense to not have the assessment process due to the amount of paper and time involved. Councilmember May noted it is clearly more money for those in the seal coat group this year than last year. She had an issue with that. One of staff s proposals addresses that. Councilmember May stated it is necessary to have a seal coat done and realizes Main Street in particular really got hit hard. Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 4 Mr. Stiles, 421 Main Street, stated he is a retired person with a limited income. To be hit with assessments for three years, even though this is a small assessment, it hits the pockets hard. They are paying out a large amount of money with assessments. He felt seal coating should be part of the regular maintenance program and not be assessed separately. He asked if the City will be assessing for salting streets because the cost of salt has gone up. He asked if they will be assessing for sweeping streets. Mayor Larson stated they are in the process of changing the assessment process and they are going by the rules set by previous Councils. Council realizes it is not fair this year compared to last year and they are working on it. Mr. Jerry Ristow, 516 Lower Heritage Way, stated he was on the Council when they set these policies and procedures on seal coating. He wanted Mr. Stiles to be aware there is a lot of tax exempt property that is not on the assessment rolls and the residents are paying for that. Someone has to pay it. The City does not have the money and these projects are necessary. Mr. David Pritzlaff, 20255 Akin Road, asked why all of Akin Road was not done. There are 10-11 properties north of 195th Street. Akin Road was turned back to the City as one section and now it is done in two sections. He wondered if the cost would have gone down if those other properties had been included. The big part of the assessment is the grouping of people. There are not as many multi- family units in this group. That is why this group is paying $50 more this year than the last four years. City Engineer Schorzman stated the addition of the properties north of 195th Street would have had little impact on the assessment as many are single family residences. As far as why the line was drawn at 195th Street, the road characteristic changes at 195th Street as far as the amount of traffic and the type of traffic. Mr. Pritzlaff asked how the prices compare this year per square foot to the last two years. The last two years oil prices were higher. City Engineer Schorzman stated the price per square yard was 10% higher than last year. Mr. Pritzlaff stated over the last four years the assessments were $75 - $80. He asked how staff warrants he received $127 more property value for this project. City Engineer Schorzman stated property values have been declining. It is not always a measure of the increase in value, but the benefit is equal if it reduces the amount of decline over similar properties that have not been seal coated. Mr. Pritzlaffstated his property value did not go up $127. He agreed they have to do maintenance, but for the past four years it has been $75-80 and now this year the group will pay $50 more. Mayor Larson explained the seal coat possibly kept his value from dropping $127. Councilmember May stated the issue is that there is not enough multi-family units in this group and Akin Road is a culprit of the formula because there are fewer homes and it has to be seal coated. Councilmember Wilson understood prior to proposing a seal coat that an analysis is done of the benefit to the affected properties. That is analyzed before we receive the information every spring before we go out for bid. If we cannot show value, then we cannot take action. Finance Director Roland stated we are Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 5 not allowed to assess in excess of the value that is added to the property. We have spoken with appraisers and they have indicated it is not only the increase in value of the individual property, but the lack of loss of value to the property compared to other properties. She noted if Mr. Pritzlaff is making a formal objection to his assessment he needs to state that and it will be analyzed at a separate meeting. Mr. Pritzlaff stated he received the notice last Tuesday and was working out of town. On Friday City Hall was closed in the afternoon, therefore, he was unable to talk to someone about the seal coat. When saying summer hours helps residents, in this situation it did not help him. Finance Director Roland noted the notice says he only needs to appear at this meeting. The statements were mailed in the appropriate amount of time. Mr. Pritzlaff noted Council is looking at changing the assessment process. If it was done on the wrong year where five of the seven groups paid the assessment and it was changed a year later, that would not be fair to the previous groups. It should be done after the seven years. Mr. Pritzlaffwas not making a formal objection. MOTION by Wilson, second by May to close the public hearing. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Councilmember Wilson noted this has been the most challenging seal coat year. He noted Mr. Pritzlaff made a comment about rebundling the mix. Councilmember Wilson noted anytime you change a policy you are going to positively impact one group and negatively impact another. He believed there is a tremendous value for the seal coat project. MOTION by Wilson, second by May to adopt RESOLUTION R37-09 adopting the assessment roll for the 2009 seal coat project. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. b) Vacate Drainage and Utility Easement Parkview Ponds - Planning Staff received a petition to vacate the rear portion of a drainage and utility easement at 19790 Dover Drive, Lot 26 Block 2, of Parkview Ponds. When the original drainage plan and final plat were approved for Parkview Ponds the property contained a 25 ft. drainage easement on the rear of the property. The three lots directly north had 30 ft. wide drainage and utility easements on the rear of the lots for the purpose of a drainage swale. Due to the construction of Mystic Meadows to the east as well as the construction of Diamond Path, the swale was moved into the right-of-way of Diamond Path. Therefore, the necessity for that wide of an easement is no longer there. The property owner is requesting 15 ft. of the 25 ft. wide easement be vacated. This leaves a 10ft wide drainage and utility easement which is the standard size. Councilmember Wilson asked if it was necessary for a resident to petition for this to be vacated as opposed to staff bringing this to Council. Assistant City Planner Wippler stated it would be preferable to have a petition. City Attorney Poehler stated it is not required, but it can come by petition or Council action. Councilmember Wilson asked how we were made aware of this. Staff noted it was through a petition. Mayor Larson asked if there was a fee for this and staff replied the resident did pay a fee. Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 6 Councilmember May asked why don't we vacate all of those easements. Staff replied we probably should have. When we receive a future petition we will look at that. Two of the three lots directly north are bank-owned and the other one is owned by Keyland Homes. They are both vacant at this time. If a petition is received in the future, staff will look at getting those easements reduced as well. Councilmember May asked if we do not need a specific petition why don't we just do it. Staff replied we needed a public hearing notice and it was only noticed for this particular property. Councilmember May suggested staff put this on their calendar as there is no reason for us to wait and it seems very evident we should grant this. Councilmember Wilson asked the amount of the fee. Staff replied it was $150- $200. Councilmember Wilson and Mayor Larson had a difficult time with this. Councilmember Wilson stated we are providing a benefit to four properties as a result of this. It seems this could have been managed better. Staff noted the developer did have an opportunity to revise the plat, but it never happened. City Engineer Schorzman stated he asked these same questions. The information indicated the reason these easements were put in place to begin with was that the developer of Parkview Ponds was not confident that the developer of Mystic Meadows would be on the same timetable. Instead of waiting for Diamond Path to go in, they chose to plat these easements. Mystic Meadows moved quicker than expected and they were able to move the easement out. To not slow down the development of Parkview Ponds, they chose not to re-plat those lots with the standard 10ft. easement and left it for this process to sort out. Mr. Steve Duro, 19790 Dover Drive, stated the reason they asked for the vacation was for planting purposes. They did not know how busy Diamond Path would be and wanted to plant some trees in the back. MOTION by Wilson, second by May to close the public hearing. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Councilmember May did not understand why they are not doing all the lots. She was struggling with the fee which the City already collected. Mayor Larson stated it was the developer's option to leave the easement in. That is why it has to be vacated. City Engineer Schorzman stated there are costs associated with the City doing this that could have been avoided had the developer chosen to re-plat the easements versus leaving it for this process. Councilmember Wilson stated based on that, it would seem there could be work unfinished between the City and the developer with regard to this area. He understood how this easement was created, but if there is a hardship created by a developer in the platting of an area, it seems like there is some control missing. City Engineer Schorzman stated it was a timing issue and the developer of Parkview Ponds choice not to re-plat those because he wanted to move forward with his development. Drainage easements of this size when necessary are not uncommon. Councilmember Wilson stated Parkview Ponds and Mystic Meadow were approved in 2005-2006 when there was a lot of rapid development. It would seem that the Development Contracts would point out how easements are going to Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 7 be identified on the plat and contingencies of roads. City Engineer Schorzman stated the issue with the timing is that if Mystic Meadows would not have happened and Diamond Path had been constructed on the timeframe it was constructed, these easements would have been necessary to create a swale in that area to handle the drainage until such time Diamond Path was constructed. From the Parkview Ponds developer's standpoint it made sense to plat the lots even if there was a chance the easements were not needed, depending on the timing of Mystic Meadows. MOTION by Wilson, second by May to adopt RESOLUTION R38-09 vacating 15 ft. of an existing 25-ft. wide drainage and utility easement located on Lot 26, Block 2 of the Parkview Ponds plat. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 9. A WARD OF CONTRACT a) Award Dushane Parkway Project - Engineering Six bids were received for this project. The low bid was for $844,174.20 from Ryan Contracting. When bids were reviewed that amount is beyond the funding available for the project, therefore, staff is recommending the contract be awarded based on the base bid minus section 5 of the base bid which means the contract amount would be $697,329.20. The project is funded by an escrow that is being held on the City's behalf. Mayor Larson asked what was included in section five. City Engineer Schorzman replied it includes streetscaping on the northeast quadrant of the Dushane Parkway, Knutsen Drive intersection near McDonalds, as well as streetscaping in the medians from CSAH 50 to Spruce Street. Councilmember Wilson stated the amount is over the allowable amount in escrow. Staff stated it is not over the amount in escrow, but you have to account for potential change orders as well as engineering costs. We estimate those percentages and then we arrive at a number for the actual construction cost budget. The $844,000 was over that. Alternate 1 was the remainder of the streetscape for the portion south of Knutsen Drive on the east and west sides of Dushane. There is a trail along the Northern Natural Gas easement from CSAH 50 to Spruce Street. Alternate 2 was a connection from where it makes the turn to the intersection of Denmark and CSAH 50. Staff is not recommending awarding either of the alternates. Councilmember Wilson asked if any streetscaping will be done at this time. City Engineer Schorzman stated the plan would be to tone down the intensity of the streetscaping to a point where we would have sidewalks similar to downtown with the pavers outlining the concrete versus exposed aggregate walkways in the middle. The part of the project staff is asking Council to approve includes the curb and gutter construction, roadway construction, sanitary sewer and storm sewer construction, the second layer of the road already in place, and the trails as proposed. Street lights are not included at this time. Staff is recommending finishing this portion of the project, get a better handle on the available funds and look at street lighting possibilities. The more standard items included in the base bid for the utilities and the road work are very good Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 8 prices. We have funds set aside and the longer we wait, the more potential there is for higher prices. City Administrator Herlofsky stated if Council approves this there would be pre-construction at the end of this week with construction starting as soon as next week. Councilmember Wilson clarified we are having a segment of paved road with no street lights. This was a concern to him. Staff noted there are other areas of town without street lights and the amount of traffic would not be adversely impacted by waiting until next year. Staff cannot recommend doing both, because the project has to stay within budget to keep the City from spending City funds to finish it. Councilmember May asked if we are foregoing part of an original requirement for the streetscaping. City Engineer Schorzman stated the streetscaping portion was added by the developer after the Development Contract was approved. City Administrator Herlofsky noted the developer is no longer part of this and staff met with the property owner and his financial adviser to outline the current issue. Mayor Larson asked when will the streetscaping, trails and street lights be installed; when development occurs? City Engineer Schorzman stated the trails, outside of alternate 2 which is the stub connection to Denmark and CSAH 50, will be constructed as part of this from Pederson Drive near the county shop down CSAH 50 to the gas easement, and tie into the trail system on Spruce Street. That is included in the base bid. Mayor Larson asked about alternate 2. Staff will be bringing options to Council in the near future. The reason staff is not recommending the alternate is that the pipe required to be installed at that corner is expensive. Mayor Larson asked what if we did not install any of the trails and used the money for street lights and put the trails in later as development occurs. City Engineer Schorzman stated that would save cost on the project. We would have to change order that out of the existing project and re-bid the street lights because they are part of alternate 1 which is not included in the resolution. Staff estimated that is a $40,000 - $50,000 item. The bids for the street lighting were five times that much. Councilmember Wilson did not like voting no on this because we need the road to go through. There seems to be a lot of uncertainties as to what we are actually building. Council had to ask about section five. He did not know about the street lights. He did not feel he was fully informed as to what we are doing. This is a fair amount of money and a significant connection. He would like to have more information for the September 21, Council meeting. This is a two week delay, but we have been talking about this road for two years. Mayor Larson understood there are missing pieces, but a two week delay could mean the project does not get done this year because we are coming to the end of the construction season. Councilmember Wilson stated we are talking about trails or no trails, street lights or no street lights, change orders, and a basic road. He did not feel he knows enough about what we are proposing to vote on it. Mayor Larson asked if we are talking about a standard street minus the street lights. City Engineer Schorzman stated the road as it was proposed is two lanes each direction, separated by a 9 ft. Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 9 median. It is similar to the piece of road already in from CSAH 50 to Knutsen Drive with the median in the middle. The look of that would be similar to medians on CSAH 50. They would be capped with concrete. Section 5 included 4" concrete sidewalk, 4" concrete sidewalk with exposed aggregate, 4" concrete sidewalk with integral color which is colored concrete originally planned to go in the medians, tree grates, one monument sign, trees and an irrigation system. The total for this section was $146,845. The price of the concrete for the exposed aggregate as well as the colored concrete is double the cost of normal concrete. The tree grates were $2,000/each and the plan was to have 18 trees in the median. Putting this off will affect even the ability to get the wear course on the portion already installed. The contractor has agreed to this and was low on the base bid, even with section five removed from all the bids. Council needs to determine if they want the road in this year, or wait and package a different contract and re-bid in January or February. City Administrator Herlofsky noted the amenities look very nice as long as there is someone there taking care of them. Without the development there, there will be a gap where someone will have to take care of what is there. Our staff is already stretched and it would be better to be done with development. Mayor Larson stated the sidewalks will be constructed when development occurs. City Administrator Herlofsky stated the sidewalks will be in, it is just the trees. City Engineer Schorzman stated section five did include some of the sidewalks. What we concluded was by removing section five, toning down the exposed aggregate concrete, there will be money left to do a more standard sidewalk like we have downtown. The intent would be to construct that on the side of McDonald's. If funds are available after the construction of this, we will have a better handle on the remaining money. City Engineer Schorzman stated conduit will be placed in the boulevards so street lights can be placed without disruption of this work. Councilmember Wilson asked if we are looking at those other components being covered through development and not money from the City being spent. That is staff s recommendation, to do what we can with the funds available without spending City funds. Councilmember Wilson asked for an explanation of the current source of funds. Finance Director Roland replied the funds are in escrow being held by Dougherty Funding. This escrow has been there for several years. The City agreed to this escrow as part of the development agreement and its addendums. After the Pederson's left the project, the escrow is there to ensure if the developer were not able to build the road, that the City could do so. It is different from a standard letter of credit because at the time Council agreed to the development contract, the developer was not able to secure a letter of credit in addition to their construction loan. They were able to put aside this amount of escrow for any future work. The current escrow balance is approximately $1 million. However, staff has already spent funds for the engineering on this project. The developer's engineers did the plans. The original engineer who had done the work on the plans to begin with completed the plans and those were used for the bids. Those plans have been paid for for that portion of the engineering. There are other minor expenses, but the majority of the funding is remaining in Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 10 the escrow. Councilmember Wilson confirmed going back to the original bid of $844,174.20 when we factored in the 10% contingency and other components we were pushing the point where we felt the City could be liable for overages that we did not expose taxpayers to. That is why the project is being reduced to keep it within the escrow balance and still allow for overages. Mayor Larson asked how different this will look from the original plan. City Engineer Schorzman stated as far as the streetscape design from 2005-2006, it will look substantially different from that. You would see the sidewalk similar to the downtown separated from the curb by a boulevard. He encouraged having developers do plantings such as trees as part of the individual lot development that would bring it more into a parkway look. However, we will not have the trees down the middle, the different colors in the median, or the trellises, raised planters, etc. Those items were included in alternate 1. Mayor Larson stated those are things that cannot be added as development occurs. City Engineer Schorzman stated if we do sidewalks in the manner we are describing, he would not recommend that. Mayor Larson asked if it was just this stretch of street or everything. Finance Director Roland stated historically when the original development agreement was done, the idea at Vermillion River Crossings was that all of the properties would be owned by one developer and they would be rented or leased with land leases to the various businesses that would build on those properties. Several years later and four development agreement addendums later, the entire idea of the Vermillion River Crossings area has changed. The developers have come and gone, the owner of the property is attempting to sell all of the properties. As those are sold, individual development agreements will be arrived at with individual developers. Instead of the unified vision for that project which would have occurred with one developer leasing out all the properties, all that streetscaping would have been terrific and there would have been someone to take care of it. As we go forward the whole demeanor of the development has changed and you could require during the course of development of those individual properties that whatever amenities are put in by those developers, they be consist with what is already existing in the public spaces. At the time the development was originally envisioned, the streetscape items did not come into the picture until six months after the original development agreement was signed. They did not have a plan for it when they signed the original development agreement. City Administrator Herlofsky stated the discussion today with the developer is that they were originally planning to keep them as private streets and they would plow them. Even the current streets there with the trees in the median have fallen to the City for maintenance, not the project itself. Staff is working out how the owner would hand over the streets to the City so we can plow them. The whole concept of what they were going to do, and what very little the City would do, has changed substantially. For us to put that in, would require the City to be the maintenance person for that project. From a City perspective, this is a better situation for us. Mayor Larson stated this information would have been really handy to have in the beginning because that cleared it up. He was on the Planning Commission and sat through the visioning sessions and all the changes and saw Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 11 the final project. He had that in mind, not knowing all the information. City Administrator Herlofsky stated the information only became available over the last 2-3 days and staff was hoping to do everything with the money available. Mayor Larson felt this was doable and as development occurs, we should keep a close eye on it and get some of the amenities in as the project moves forward. Councilmember Wilson stated a new issue was just identified he was not aware of. We are talking about building roads with escrow dollars the City will be doing the maintenance on thus incurring new expenses with the limited budget we currently have. Finance Director Roland stated Dushane Parkway has always been intended to be a public road which connected CSAH 50 to Spruce Street. The private road is Knutsen Drive, which is the cross street south of CSAH 50. The developer is in discussions with staff to turn it over to the City as a public road. The City has been plowing it and charging it back to the developer because they have ask ed staff to plow the road. Once the plow is out there, it is not a significant ex pense to add on those two streets. Weare not talking about a significant increase in maintenance dollars. There were roads in this development that were envisioned as private roads that would be maintained by the developer in the form of an association and that is not coming to fruition. The estimate for plowing is included in the maintenance budget for 2010. It is not specifically identified in the budget. Councilmember Wilson was concerned we will have a road that does not fully meet City standards to be maintained and other issues will come along that will require taxpayers to put in street lights, etc. Councilmember May stated we received a very abbreviated summary and it would have been nice to have a drawing. She felt we should move forward and use the funds now while we have a decent bid. Mr. David Pritzlaff, 20255 Akin Road, stated he sat through this while on the Council for four years. He asked how different this road will be from Spruce Street for which we had a $900,000 grant plus $1.1 million to extend Spruce Street out with a bridge. Taxpayers paid for a nice looking road and streets cape on Spruce Street only to make a turn onto another road and make it less attractive. Why not build it compatible with Spruce Street where we have already invested money and as far as the lights and the trees, we could do without those for now. We could have done without the lights turned on for the last four years on Spruce Street and saved a lot of money. We could save money by delaying the lights as we have enough on Spruce Street. He asked how much different the road will be when turning off Spruce Street. Mayor Larson stated it will be the same width and design without some amenities. City Engineer Schorzman stated the sidewalks will look similar to the sidewalks along Spruce Street without the trees in the boulevard. The median will look totally different. It will look similar to CSAH 50. The median is created by two curbs, back to back, with a cap of concrete between them. Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 12 MOTION by May, second by Wilson to adopt RESOLUTION R39-09 awarding the bid to Ryan Contracting minus section 5. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS a) Old City Hall Parking Lot - Administration Paving the parking lot and alleys around the old City Hall was brought up at the August 17, 2009 Council meeting. Council had asked about the available funding sources. Staff received a low bid from Bituminous Roadways for $61,175. Staff has determined $22,000 of that cost could be covered by the road and bridge fund and the remaining $39,000 would have to come from other sources. Councilmembers May and Wilson would not support more funding at this time. Mayor Larson understood the parking lot needs to be redone, but wanted to wait another year and suggested including it with the Walnut Street project. b) Approve Agreements Room Naming Rights Rambling River Center - Parks and Recreation As a fundraiser to cover construction costs for the new Rambling River Center, the committee has offered room naming rights to the public. The prices range from $50,000 to name the entire building to $1,500 for a small conference room. Four parties have agreed to commit money to the project in exchange for room naming rights. Those parties include: Empire Township contributed $10,000 spread out over four years; $2500 per year to name the former classroom as the Empire Room. The McKnight family has agreed to contribute $5,000 in payments of $2,000 in 2009, $1,000 in 2010, $1,000 in 2011, $1,000 in 2012. The family would like to name the fitness room in memory of their parents - Jack & Bev McKnight Fitness Center. Charlie and Joanne Weber have agreed to contribute $1,500 spread out over three years; $500 each year in 2009 - 2011 for naming a small conference room the Weber Room. Jerry Ristow has agreed to contribute $3,000 upfront to rename the organ/library room the Jerry Ristow Library. This will contribute $19,500 towards the project. So far the committee has raised $37,000. Parks and Recreation Director Distad commended the Fund Raising Committee and Missie Kohlbeck, Senior Center Coordinator. Ms. Kohlbeck informed Council of upcoming fundraising events. DMC cards will be in this week, the Sons of the American Legion and the American Legion will donate proceeds from the September 13 omelet breakfast to the fundraising project, on September 19 there will be a garage sale at the Rambling River Center, and there will be a Belgian waffle breakfast at the new location on October 25. Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 13 Councilmember May noted the spreadsheet shows a balance from previous fund raising events at over $10,000 and asked ifthis has been accumulating in a designated account. Staff explained that has been in an account and used to buy some capital items for the Rambling River Center rather than using tax dollars. The goal was to spend the money on flooring in the existing building. Mr. Jerry Ristow stated it is a great place and Missie Kohlbeck and the volunteers should be commended for their work. It says a lot about our community for the seniors. It will show our heritage and he appreciated all the people that have worked hard on this project. He hoped Council and staff continues to work with these people. Parks and Recreation Director Distad stated the open house will be October 19 with a ribbon cutting. MOTION by Wilson, second by May to approve agreements with Empire Township, the McKnight family, Jerry Ristow and Charlie and Joanne Weber for the naming rights to certain rooms in the new Rambling River Center building. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a) Twitter Update - Human Resources Human Resources Director Wendlandt stated as they were looking at Twitter and Facebook, staff found a new product, Nixie. This is specific to public agencies. There is no spam, no advertising, and messages can be sent to residents that are specific to Farmington. Police Chief Lindquist demonstrated how Nixie works. Staff would like to put a link on the City's website directly to Nixie. Once in the link, residents can register to be a Nixie user. Nixie will verify your location by your primary address. This service is also available to schools. This site is very secure and it is a one-way communication, responses cannot be sent. The Police Department has been set up and staff will be working on setting up the Fire Department and the City accounts. Next staff will begin telling residents to subscribe. b) CEEF Events - Administration As a way of trying to resolve the financial issue with Dew Days, City Administrator Herlofsky recommended if there is agreement by the Council that CEEF is to continue, the best option would be to provide a loan to CEEF. Staff would meet with the CEEF Board to develop a repayment plan. If CEEF were to no longer exist, we would have a more serious issue as to who would be responsible for the debt. There is approximately $25,000 in bills by local businesses yet to be paid. There are many community activities tied to CEEF where revenue can be generated during the year. If Council wants to continue these events, staff needs to start planning for next year's Dew Days as well as other CEEF events. The most reasonable outcome is for CEEF to continue and in order for them to continue, we need to pay some bills and work out a payment plan to repay the City. Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 14 Mayor Larson liked the loan idea better than the grant. He believed Dew Days is an important activity for the City and would like to see it continue with some management. Councilmember Wilson asked if we have a current list of debts owed. City Administrator Herlofsky noted the list Council was given is substantially what they are looking at. City Administrator Herlofsky asked for authorization to write a check to CEEF for approximately $25,000. Staffwill obtain an accurate amount based on information from the treasurer and monitor it. A re-payment plan will be prepared. Mayor Larson asked about Empire Township. Staff noted Empire is still willing to give 10% and staff will continue talking with the other townships. Councilmember Wilson asked about the source of money. Finance Director Roland replied there is an escrow account the City would provide the loan from and it would be repaid through that account. - Councilmember May stated with due respect to everyone who has done a lot of work for Dew Days and all those involved with CEEF, she was not convinced Council has statutory authorization to either give or loan CEEF money. She noted City Attorney Jamnik had stated we need to contract for services and mentioned there is statutory authorization. She questioned why he is concluding that fact. CEEF is a separate entity. There is some mixed use of the word "official representation." Although the Mayor and City Administrator Herlofsky are on the board, they do not officially represent the City. They are just members on the CEEF Board. The City Council is not taking a vote and making decisions and going back to the CEEF Board. She had a hard time saying the taxpayers are supposed to foot the bill for an independent 501 c3 organization. She noted staff mentioned if CEEF is to continue, so we are almost making two decisions. If we grant the loan, how do we know what future commitment they will have? How does this impact the budget? We have already contributed about $10,000 in services to Dew Days. From a taxpayer's viewpoint, there is a precedent set if we do move forward with a vote. From a legal viewpoint, she did not think Council was able to do that. Administrative Services Director Shadick noted during the annual organizational matters, a Councilmember is appointed to represent the City on the CEEF Board. As far as a Councilmember or a staff person, we do represent the City. Councilmember May asked if that holds the City legally liable for activities involved in that organization. If there are other City employees that are members of other organizations, voting members, does that also hold the City liable for any loses they may have? City Attorney Poehler replied no. Council needs to look at whether they want to participate in this situation as a City. For certain purposes the City would have the ability to provide the necessary funding. It depends on what the funding is for. This is a recreational situation and there is statutory support for recreational activities. Councilmember May clarified because this is a recreational activity we are able to donate or loan money. Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 15 City Administrator Herlofsky stated no one is happy with the situation. We are looking for the best way to move on. There are a number of local vendors who in good faith provided services and there is a cost associated with that. The City has contributed in many ways to help this Dew Days activity. If it will continue, there will have to be more coordination by the City. Mr. David Pritzlaff, 20255 Akin Road, stated during his four years on the Council, he participated in Dew Days. To keep it going is crucial to the City. A loan would be better than bailing them out. Unfortunately, in the last two years, there were one or two people making bad decisions on locations and money spent on locations and electrical services. If the bills were to be paid for with City dollars he would not stand for it, because we are bailing out a couple people who made some bad decisions. A lot of people volunteered and he commended them for their hard work. If it is a loan, what is the interest rate as $25,000 in the bank would be drawing interest? Mayor Larson stated that will be part of the negotiations. Mr. Pritzlaff stated if this happens and there was representation by the Mayor, he was not part of the decision to have it at the Fairgrounds. Board members did not have a say to have it at the Fairgrounds. It is not in the City. It could be an economic tool if the event was held in the City. Before we bail them out, wouldn't it be prudent to figure out who will be running this. He did not think the City should take this on. It should be business people or other volunteers that want to make up a group. Mayor Larson noted that is being worked out. Mayor Larson asked what was worked out at the last meeting as to who was going to oversee certain events. City Administrator Herlofsky stated a coordinator from either the City or the school has been assigned to various events. Staff was looking to get the debt situation resolved so they can move forward. If the debt situation is not taken care of, he was not sure what the CEEF position would be. MOTION by Larson that the City loan CEEF not more than $25,000, determine the exact amount, determine the townships portion, negotiate the interest rate and payment schedule with CEEF. MOTION FAILED for lack of a second. This will be brought back to the next CEEF meeting. 12. NEW BUSINESS a) Adopt Resolution - 2010 Preliminary Tax Levy and Budget - Administration The tax levy needs to be certified to the county by September 15, 2009. Once adopted, the City Council may lower it in December, but it cannot increase it. The preliminary levy is $9,787,532. Thisis $474,117 or 5% over the 2009 levy of$9,313,415. Although the Council levied $9.3 million, the City will actually receive in 2009, $8.9 million as we will not be receiving $300,000 from the State for market value homestead credit. The proposed levy for 2010 includes $2.09 million for debt service and the required contribution for the relief association of $195,584. In addition, this levy provides for the levy back of lost 2008 and 2009 market value homestead credit (MVHC) which is allowed under the levy limit law Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 16 revision for 2010. That $350,000 is comprised of the $173,000 we did not receive at the end of December and half of what we will not receive in 2009. Finance Director Roland compared the 2009 levy with the 2010 levy. There is a 5% increase to the 2010 levy over the 2009 adopted levy of $9.3 million. Finance Director Roland then explained the net tax capacity. 2008 was the last year it was increased. 2010 shows a decline of approximately 8%. Regarding property taxes, in 2009 the property taxes on an average home went down $21 to $1,044. This is before any impact ofMVHC. In 2010, the proposed levy would show an increase to an average home valued at $212,000 of$I,071 in taxes, or a $27 increase over the 2009 taxes. The 2010 preliminary levy supports Council's commitment to the Rambling River Center renovations, Rambling River Center operations increase, 2010 elections, LELS contract salaries and benefits increase, required Fire Relief contribution increase, full year of the School Resources Officer, replacement patrol officer for an SRO promotion, and a statutory PERA rate increase. The other budgets supported by the levy show 0% increases in other categories. There are no other staffing requests, no new positions, no lay-offs, no furloughs, no additional capital outlay other than the $54,000 for two replacement squad cars. This delays over $500,000 worth of capital outlay items and is the second year for this delay. The pool continues with a transfer of liquor store profits, however, any structural improvements for the pool and the arena are postponed to a later year. The property tax levy results in a tax capacity rate of 50.44%, up from 44.16%. The tax rate is a combination of the tax rate going up and the valuations going down. The proposed 2010 preliminary levy is under the City's levy limit by $343,000. Truth-in-taxation hearings are no longer required. Notices will be sent in early November comparing the taxes between the two years from the levy amount set tonight. Council is required to offer a date for a public comment period during the discussion of the tax levy and the budget between November 25 and December 26. The final levy and budget could be adopted at the same meeting; however, staff is recommending holding the public comment period at the first meeting in December and adopting the final levy and budget at the second meeting in December. Councilmember May was concerned as there were only three Councilmembers present and at the budget workshop she made it clear she did not support this tax rate. She was concerned with preliminarily supporting a number knowing she will not support it later. She came with the intention of voting no, but understood this is a process. She wanted to make it clear she is struggling with this tax rate. She felt we need to focus on the real essentials such as Police, Fire, roads, snow removal, trash, clean water; the real basics. These are unprecedented times and it is difficult for a lot of homeowners. She proposed to look at salary freezes and staff reductions as it has been stated labor is 80% of the budget. She will be bringing these up at future budget discussions. This tax rate increase is in addition to the utility franchise fee. Finance Director Roland stated we did not talk about the franchise fee at the previous meeting. We discussed the street light Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 17 utility. Staff has segregated the cost of the City's street lights for 2010 to go into a separate utility, similar to water, sewer and storm water. The cost would be $2/monthlutility account. This would include the non-taxable properties within the City to pay for the cost of street lights. Currently, for a house valued at $221,000 the cost for street lights alone is $20/year. With the utility fee they would pay $24. Non-taxable properties would pay for street lights. Higher valued homes and commercial/industrial properties would pay a lower price because their taxes are higher than the $24 collected by the utility bill. So there is an additional fee for a street light utility, however in an attempt to even the field, it will include exempt properties and lower the cost to commerciallindustrial properties. Regarding franchise fees, staff is still in negotiations with the gas and electric companies. Staff will be bringing scenarios to Council to show what type of revenues we could receive and what they might pay for. At this point, it does not impact this tax levy. If Council does not do franchise fees, but wanted to include the cost of seal coating as a tax levy, we would need to add between $350,000 - $500,000 to the tax levy to encompass the entire cost of the seal coating and make the assessment go away. In doing so, Council would relieve the tax burden from the exempt properties. They would no longer have to pay for the seal coating improvements as part of an assessment because they would not be paying taxes to pay for the seal coating. Councilmember May did not have a problem with that as a church gets their money from the residents. Whether it is exempt or not does not carry as much weight. Councilmember Wilson did not support the current budget. In previous years it has been difficult for Council to agree on priorities as a group. He did not want to take advantage ofthe decrease in property values and capture additional taxes from declining properties. He was looking at a reduction of $225,000 from this current budget which would have a slight reduction in the tax rate amount from 50% to 49.26%. For the average value property of$212,000, their property taxes in 2009 were $1,044 and would be $1,045 for 2010. He felt that was more than fair. Council needed to look at whether to retain staff or release staff. He would prefer to retain staff and look at a furlough option as well as other options where reducing $225,000 would not be painful. Council should discuss what services they want to prioritize. He would never cut services to the Police and Fire departments. He will not support this budget at the end, but realized there will be further discussions, so would support it tonight. He suggested if there is a workshop the second Monday in October to have a Town Hall meeting and invite residents to give us their thoughts on the budget, then have a budget workshop after that. He asked if staff was working with Ehlers to examine the debt services and find ways to re-finance, package or reduce it. Finance Director Roland stated she will be meeting with them to discuss re-structuring the lease revenue bonds for the Police Station and Central Maintenance Facility. This will reduce the debt service required over the remainder of the loan. Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 18 Mayor Larson stated he would support this preliminary levy as a worst case scenario. He is concerned with what else the State could take from us. By no means are we done with this. Finance Director Roland noted staff is already working on ideas to put forward at the first budget workshop regarding what services cost. Mr. David Pritzlaff, 20255 Akin Road, felt sorry for the Council because a month ago he looked at the attendance of the Council and we were at 50% attendance for all the meetings. Tonight will drop it to 50% if not lower. That is the importance of having a full Council. This is an important meeting. There are a couple Councilmembers not here, but for the ones that are here it is their duty to take the action in front of them. He challenged the Council to set a levy amount tonight that they will support in December and have staff and Council make the cuts. No service reduction should be taking place. Furloughs, lay-offs, consolidation of staff and positions. This year we have not filled some vacant positions and last year eliminated a position. This year we are not recommending any staff reductions. In this economy we would be the only one in the State proposing no staff reductions. Mayor Larson reminded him this is preliminary. Mr. Pritzlaff challenged the Council to set a levy amount tonight they will support in December. He noted this year we are not doing anything with positions. His taxes will go up just under $100. He is already paying $127 for the seal coat project. Based on the street light utility fee, the City will get more revenue and still is not cutting. Finance Director Roland read Council's strategic plan and one thing that stood out was a statement that City staff does not have a lot of free time. We run very lean and we are all busy. From the workshop there was a large amount of items we put on the back burner because of reduced hours this summer. We reduced the amount of pay and the amount we were counting on. We are not real flush with people. We have taken the cuts in the past, not that we cannot look at them or talk about them, but we have a good staff and they work really hard. It is them who make the budget cuts work. It is the line staff and the cops and the fire fighters. We have done the cuts in the past; we will look at them again and at consolidations. The existing staff really works hard to make this budget work whether it is at the levy now or the levy set in December. Councilmember Wilson thanked Mr. Pritzlaff and agreed with his comments. When he saw there was 3/5 of the Council here, he could have proposed a $225,000 reduction in the levy and it might pass. In October he will not be at two meetings and will give the rest of Council the benefit of the doubt. He will not take advantage of these circumstances to take a sneak attack to get the levy his way. That is not a team approach. Mr. Pritzlaffwas not asking to take cheap shots at the rest of Council. This is an important meeting and priorities have to be changed. He challenged them to pass tonight what they will support in December. Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 19 Councilmember May also appreciated Mr. Pritzlaffs comments. If she says she will not support the number later, how does she know how the rest will vote later. By supporting it now, she could be supporting it later. Councilmember Wilson stated the previous years we have not done a good job of saying this is the preliminary budget. It becomes the final budget. Over the next couple months he wanted Council to look at the priorities. He was looking out for the taxpayers and they need a break. He trusted the process that the majority will see it that way. Councilmember May asked what if Council does not adopt this. Finance Director Roland stated we are frozen at the 2009 level of $9.3 million less the MVHC and we would have to operate on that in 2010; a levy of$8.9 million. City Administrator Herlofsky stated the amount suggested now provides for options later. We do not know what will happen between now and the end of the year with the State. This is to give a benchmark to work from. Mayor Larson stated Councilmember Wilson's comment to reduce it by $225,000 is not unreasonable. It is something we need to work at in the next couple months. This is the preliminary levy and by no means are we done working with this. MOTION by May second by Wilson to adopt RESOLUTION R40-09 certifying the 2010 preliminary levy to Dakota County and authorizing staff to notify Dakota County of the December 7,2009 Council meeting at which the budget and levy will be discussed. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE a) Council Workshop Schedule - Administration Councilmember Wilson suggested setting October 12 with a Town Hall meeting from 5:30 - 7:00 and the budget workshop at 7:00 p.m. Council agreed to set October 12, November 8, and December 14 as budget workshops and contact Council for other dates. Councilmembers stressed it is very important for all of Council to be there. Mayor Larson asked about the number of workshops needed. Councilmember Wilson felt the members present agree to reduce the budget by $225,000. If the majority of Council wishes to do that and come to priorities it should not be difficult. Co unci/member Wi/son: Wished all the kids a good first day back to school. He attended the Riverview Open House and they did a nice job converting the building. City Administrator Herlofsky: 22, from 3 :30 - 5 :00 p.m. Twin Ponds will have an open house on September The ice arena issue is not totally resolved. Additional issues were found and staff hopes to have them resolved by the end of the week. This could become a budget issue. Council Minutes (Regular) September 8, 2009 Page 20 Mayor Larson: He encouraged residents to visit the local liquor store for events. He also encouraged residents to support the local Farmington businesses whenever possible. If we want to grow the commercial and retail sector it is important we support what we do have. School is open so remember the school bus laws. The DCC is setting up a mass telephone communication system called Code Red. He asked the City to place a link on the website. The Dakota County Technical College is having their summer fest September 12,2009. 14. ADJOURN MOTION by Wilson, second by May to adjourn at 10:23 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, /,.1 "7" //, )?-?, // ~ L.y..vv~~-u ~ .;/ Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant