Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.05.09 Council Minutes 7Q, COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR October 5, 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, Donnelly, Fogarty, May, Wilson None Joel Jamnik, City Attorney; Peter Herlofsky, City Administrator; Robin Roland, Finance Director; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Kevin Schorzman, City Engineer; Todd Reiten, Municipal Services Director; Lisa Shadick, Administrative Services Director; Lee Smick, City Planner; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Jim Bell, Ed Samuelson, Amy Pellicci 4. APPROVE A GENDA Councilmember May pulled item 7h) Bills for questions. Mayor Larson moved items lOa) Fairhills and Prairieview Parks Master Plan and lOb) Walnut Street Feasibility Report, Authorize Plans and Specifications and Set Public Hearing to the Consent Agenda. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS a) Proclaim October National Planning Month - Planning Council proclaimed October as National Planning Month. b) Fire Prevention Week Fire Prevention Week is October 4-10,2009. Station 2 will have an open house on Thursday. 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS a) Elsworth & Kay Hoeppner Response - Administration Staff responded to their concerns regarding noise issues at 517 1 st Street. 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Wilson, second by Fogarty to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes (9/21/09 Regular) (9/28/09 Special) b) Approved School and Conference - Building Inspections Council Minutes (Regular) October 5, 2009 Page 2 c) Approved Training Reimbursement Grant - Fire Department d) Approved Metropolitan Emergency Services Grant - Municipal Services e) Adopted RESOLUTION R42-09 Approving Gambling Premises Permit- Administration 1) Adopted RESOLUTION R43-09 Approving Gambling Event Permit - Administration g) Approved Assignment Assumption and Amendment Agreement Lexington Standard Capital Industrial Development Revenue Bonds - Finance i) Approved Fairhills and Prairieview Parks Master Plan - Parks and Recreation j) Adopted RESOLUTION R45-09 Approving Walnut Street Feasibility Report, Authorizing Plans and Specifications and Setting Public Hearing - Engineering APIF, MOTION CARRIED. h) Approve Bills Councilmember May noted the format of the list of bills has been changed. Finance Director Roland noted it will change again next time and be sorted differently. Council liked the new format. Councilmember May did question the leather sofa for the Police Department for $1100. Finance Director Roland spoke with Police Chief Lindquist and the problem is the sofa is in a room that requires a heavy-duty piece of furniture. The sofa is used by Police Officers in full gear. The current sofa only lasted seven years. They chose a leather sofa so it would be more sturdy and cost effective. There is money in the Police Department budget for replacement furniture for the building as there is in every budget. MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to approve the bills. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS a) Spruce Street / 2nd Street Assessment Hearing - Engineering There are five affected property owners. The assessment amounts are large compared to residential assessments, but are consistent with other projects. The total project cost is $890,000 so the assessments represent 10% of the project cost. The remaining costs will be paid from the utility fund and the road and bridge fund. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to close the public hearing. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Councilmember Wilson asked if there was a difference between the proposed assessment and the final assessment. City Engineer Schorzman replied the final is identical to the proposed assessment. Councilmember May asked why the assessment for Feely & Son is so low in relation to the others. Staff replied the street is the only assessment placed on that parcel because their utilities come from Oak Street unlike the rest of the properties in the project. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Donnelly to adopt RESOLUTION R44-09 adopting the assessment roll for the Spruce Street / 2nd Street Reconstruction project. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS Council Minutes (Regular) October 5, 2009 Page 3 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a) CEEF Financial Issues - Council (verbal) Council held a workshop prior to the Council meeting to discuss this issue. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Donnelly to instruct City Administrator Herlofsky and City Attorney Jamnik to draft an agreement to issue a loan to CEEF to be brought back to the next Council meeting for review and refer to the EDA. Councilmember Wilson stated he can appreciate the perspective of a lot of residents feeling the City is bailing out CEEF. He spoke with a number of businesses, and the delay in taking action has created a negative perspective from the businesses towards the City. The City has worked hard to develop a stronger relationship with the business community. He liked the idea of a structured loan as opposed to a grant or disbursement. There is a larger issue that needs to be determined and that is the financial structure of CEEF. As a group they contributed towards the success of the event and unfortunately the financial piece did not work out as well as expected. Weare taking a step towards making the businesses whole that contributed in good faith. Voting for: Larson, Donnelly, Fogarty, Wilson. Voting against: May. MOTION CARRIED. b) Nixie Update - Human Resources City Administrator Herlofsky stated the enrollment process is on the City's web site for residents to sign up. Mayor Larson noted he received a Nixie alert today regarding the Town Hall meeting October 12. Councilmember Fogarty noted one problem was being able to track the responses and comments from the City and that is why we went with Nixie so residents cannot respond. She asked if there was any limitations for Councilmembers who use twitter and send out a City announcement. City Attorney Jamnik noted if you are sending out announcements in your official capacity it should be treated as government data. 12. NEW BUSINESS a) Ice Arena - Administration City Administrator Herlofsky noted the arena is fixed for this year, but staff is concerned for next year. Engineers have provided staff with an estimate of $1.3 million for upgrades. He provided Council with an estimate of payments over ten years. There would be $90,000 in liquor store funds transferred to the ice arena rather than some going to the pool. Staff is recommending the Hockey Association provide $30,000 and the school district provide $40,000. This would be over and above rental fees for ice time. The reason is any capital costs that the City has to acquire end up being assessed only to the residents of Farmington. The arena is used by the hockey association, which encompasses the same boundaries as the school district, and the school district itself. This way Empire, Eureka, Castle Rock and part of Lakeville do not participate in the capital cost of Council Minutes (Regular) October 5, 2009 Page 4 the ice arena. Staff would like to finalize this by the first of the year as it is also a budget issue, and take action to replace the floor in the ice arena in 2010. There are no other amenities included. This is just the ice and the mechanical equipment. The cost for the recent repairs to the floor amounted to $30,000. Councilmember Fogarty commented on the liquor store funds and noted there is no way she will support any closure of the pool. Residents have become very nervous and calling Council. She wanted to make it clear we are not talking about closing the pool, we are talking about capital investment and some repairs that need to be done at the pool will have to be delayed because repairs need to be done at the ice arena. She spoke with the Hockey Association president and expected he will attend the budget workshop. Councilmember Fogarty suggested setting a meeting with the Hockey Association and the school district to discuss the finances. Councilmember Wilson clarified the $90,000 would be taken away from the pool. City Administrator Herlofsky stated it will have to come from a reduction in some other expense, some additional tax levy, or from another revenue source. Councilmember Wilson noted the liquor store also funds park improvements. Finance Director Roland stated recently no. The amount of profit allowable towards park improvements was diverted in 2009 to support the pool, which was $75,000. Ifthe amount required to support the pool is less than $75,000, Council would have the choice of where that money could go in 2009. If the transfer was $60,000, the remaining $15,000 would be available for park improvements. However, in 2009 the only amount of money out of the liquor store was $75,000 towards the pool in the adopted and revised budgets. City Administrator Herlofsky stated if we use liquor store money for something it means we are not using those funds for something else. Councilmember Wilson stated he would not support $90,000 going to one venue which does not have as broad a use as the pool. There have been arena issues as long as he has been on the Council. At some point we will need to make a larger decision. Unless this is a 10-15 year solution, we should decide if we want to add a sheet and brand new building and do it the way it needs to be done for the long-term or not do it at all. Mayor Larson noted the building is structurally sound. There are some issues with the bathrooms, concession stand and locker rooms. Councilmember Fogarty noted that will not keep the building from functioning. This $1.3 million will keep the building functioning for 15-20 years plus. The building is 35 years old. Councilmember Wilson stated they need to decide if they want to make one fix or look at the broader issues and fix everything at once. Counci1member Donnelly felt it was difficult to discuss a long term solution in this environment. If this is all we can do, it is better than nothing. It is a good place to start discussions with the other parties. City Administrator Herlofsky suggested starting an equipment replacement fund with $10,000. Council directed City Administrator Herlofsky to talk with Council Minutes (Regular) October 5, 2009 Page 5 Superintendent Meeks and Councilmember Fogarty will talk with the Hockey Association. b) Rambling River Center Building Discussion - Council Councilmember May wanted to start discussions regarding what the plan is for the old Rambling River Center building. She asked if staff had any ideas and wanted to keep communication open. Parks and Recreation Director Distad stated today was the first day in the new building. At the end of October CAP dining will be vacating the building and at that point there will be no use for the building. Councilmember Wilson was not sure of the structural condition of the building, but suggested exploring Met Council grants for revitalization. Councilmember May did not want the City to compete with other businesses as a landlord and wanted to sell the building as is. Councilmembers agreed it should be sold and some cosmetics could go a long way. Staff will bring recommendations to the next Council meeting. 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember May: Thanked the President of the Farmington Rotary for leading the members in the Rocktoberfest event. It was a good turnout and she thanked those who attended and sponsored the event. They will be discussing how to give the money back to the community. Councilmember Fogarty: Invited residents to the Support Our Troops Haunted House at the 4H building on Friday and Saturday. Councilmember Wilson: Noted this is Fire Prevention Week and thanked the Fire Department for their service. City Administrator Herlo/sky: There is a change in traffic management at the new high school. Traffic is no longer directed north after school and can go any direction they want. Finance Director Roland: On October 12, there will be a Budget Town Hall meeting at 5:30 p.m. At 7:00 p.m. there will be a Council Budget Workshop. Residents are invited to speak at the Town Hall meeting regarding the budget. Regarding the Town Hall meeting, Councilmember Wilson requested staff provide basic information for residents regarding where their money goes, graphs, a summary of the proposed budget, and some challenges the City faces with the loss of state aid. Finance Director Roland noted the budget is on the website and staff will add some charts and graphs along with the announcement of the meeting. Council Minutes (Regular) October 5, 2009 Page 6 Parks and Recreation Director Distad: The doors opened today at the new Rambling River Center at 325 Oak Street. A lot of people stopped to see the building. On October 19, there will be an open house at 5:30 p.m. and ribbon cutting at 6:00 p.m. City Engineer Schorzman: Thanked Council for the special meeting last Monday. There is a contract in place and work will start in Mystic Meadows as soon as the weather clears up. Mayor Larson: Thanked the VFW for the invitation to their membership dinner. Their membership is declining due to younger vets not joining the VFW or the American Legion. He encouraged everyone to sign up for Code Red through the DCC. It is an emergency notification through e-mail, phone, text message, etc. Thanked the Red Cross and the fire fighters for the blood drive. 14. ADJOURN MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to adjourn at 7:45 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, ~~~ ;rVJ~ ~nthia Muller Executive Assistant