Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout11.16.09 Council Minutes 7~ COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR NOVEMBER 16,2009 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Larson at 7:00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Farmington Boy Scout Troop 116 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; Lisa Shadick, Administrative Services Director; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Al, Sam, and Ben Kuchera, Vince Donohue, Josh Miller, Joseph Cardinal, Michael Husnik, Zach Shulte, Jordan Lentsh, Cole Olson 4. APPROVE AGENDA Councilmember May pulled items 7e) October 2009 Financial Report, 7f) Approve Inter- fund Loan Tax Increment Financing, 7j) Vermillion River Crossing Knutsen and Pedersen Drive Transition from a Private Road to a Public Road for discussion. City Administrator Herlofsky removed item 7g) Approve Non-Bargaining Agreement. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS a) Acknowledge Retirement Jeff Jacobson - Fire Department Council acknowledged the retirement of Jeff Jacobson from the Fire Department after 23 years of service. 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS Mr. David Pritzlaff, 20255 Akin Road, stated one week ago at the end of the budget workshop, Mayor Larson chose not to take public comment. He asked Mayor Larson to respond in writing as to why he did not take public comment and when public comment will be allowed at public meetings. Mr. Pritzlaff stated if Council is not going to listen to taxpayers, it would be polite to let them know ahead of time. He felt it was rude at the last meeting and there was also a comment by a Councilmember to take public comment on the budget at the first meeting in December and approve the budget at the second meeting so residents can think their comments are taken seriously. He asked if Council valued the taxpayers' thoughts. Council Minutes (Regular) November 16, 2009 Page 2 Issues he wanted to address at the workshop included franchise fees. He asked months ago to have a public hearing on franchise fees and was told Farmington would not have a public hearing. An article in the paper stated Lakeville decided to not implement franchise fees unless they could come to terms on a public hearing, He again asked for Farmington to have a public hearing on franchise fees. At a prior workshop he brought up the issue with apartment buildings and how much they would pay for franchise fees. At the last budget meeting there was no information presented. He went online, found some apartment properties, and tried to determine the number of units in each one. At 18 Walnut there are 27 units; 300 Spruce Street, 61 units; 315 Spruce Street, 37 units; 1020 3rd Street, 17 units; 1337 Centennial, 18 units; 710 Heritage, 32 units; 1320-1340 Centennial, 32 units; 1321 Centennial, 18 units; 515 Elm, 18 units. There are a total of 260 units in these properties just in the downtown area, There are also two buildings on Pilot Knob Road consisting of 80 units per building totaling 160 units. There are 420 households out of 11 properties, At $24/year for a street light utility fee, these properties bring in $10,296 in revenue. If billed as one property this would be $264 in revenue, The City would miss out on $10,000 in revenue if the City bills it per property owner rather than per household. The taxpayer would be asked to subsidize landlords, He asked if there were any other budget workshops scheduled to address this. The next issue was solid waste revenues and expenditures. The budget for 2009 revised solid waste revenue fund summary shows total revenues of $1.8 million plus other permits of $1800. Total expenditures are $1.7 million. There is a difference of $86,000 more revenue in the 2009 solid waste fund than expenditures, The 2010 adopted shows $2 million in revenues, and expenditures are shown as $1.8 million. That is a difference of$125,000. As the garbage fees are being increased, he asked where the $125,000 is going. Mr. Pritzlaff stated at the workshop a 2% increase was discussed, and for a 40 gallon container that would be $.88. He stated the fee is proposed to go from $44 to $45, which is a 2,7% increase. In the newspaper, it was stated the $44 fee would go to $46, which is a 4.54% increase. The sewer fee is $38.50 and would increase to $40.50, which is a 5.19% increase. He asked what number we are actually going to use. Councilmember Wilson recalled this information was requested by the resident in October. Finance Director Roland provided the information to Council and it is very detailed. She explained billing each apartment complex as one is not a feasible option. However, billing for each household in the apartment building is also difficult. The City does not want to discourage apartment buildings by increasing fees significantly just as we do not want to discourage retail, commercial, and industrial properties by charging them a larger amount of money. To reach an equitable medium, staff proposes to use a multiplier for the apartment buildings which amounts to about half of the total number of units within the building. It is not at the low end or the high end of the scale. Townhouses are billed similar to single homes. It will be up to Council to decide on the method of billing when they approve the 2010 Fee Schedule. Staff will verify the number of units in each building. Council Minutes (Regular) November 16,2009 Page 3 Councilmember Fogarty stated regarding the franchise fees, currently the City charges franchise fees for cable service. In the past, Council has not charged franchise fees for electric or gas because those are things people need. This was discussed earlier in the budget process and was eliminated. Mr. Pritzlaff is referring to a street light utility Council has put into the budget, but it is a shift from the general fund to utility fees. To have a public hearing on franchise fees that will not happen would be a waste of Council's time. Mr. David Pritzlaff stated regarding the apartment buildings, he went on the county website and he listed only those in the downtown area. There are still some on the east side ofTH3 and more throughout the City. He looked at the shift of money in the budget for the street light utility fee and he noticed there was $155,000 in the budget, but only $75,000 taken out He will bring this back to the next Council meeting. 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Council Minutes (11/2/09 Regular) (11/9/09 Workshop) b) Approved Various Licenses and Permits - Administration c) Adopted RESOLUTION R56-09 Approving Tax-Exempt Note for St Francis Health Services of Morris - Finance d) Finalized Flagstaff Project with School District - Finance h) Adopted ORDINANCE 009-617 Amending Title 11 of the City Code Regarding Subdivision Ordinance - Planning i) Received Information Greenfield/Rochester Train Route - Administration k) Approved Bills APIF, MOTION CARRIED. e) October 2009 Financial Report - Finance Councilmember May had questions regarding the revenues. She noticed the revenues for licenses, fines, and charges for services are less than 50% of the budgeted amount and asked if that was taken into account for the 2010 budget Finance Director Roland replied they have taken this into account for 2010. The licenses are collected at the end of the year. Fines are low and we will not reach the budgeted amount Fines for 2010 have been adjusted to reflect less income. Charges for services are for billings to the townships for fire contracts, and a billing to the school district for the SRO positions. These amounts will increase in November and December. Councilmember May asked why there was a big jump in miscellaneous in August. This was the first ALF payment for 2009. The balance is in the 2010 budget. f) Approve Inter-fund Loan Tax Increment Financing - Finance Councilmember May asked if it was common to have inter-fund loans. Finance Director Roland explained it is for TIF. Many years ago, the City spent the money upfront The TIF revenues that come in over time repay that fund. In the past the City has carried it as a negative in cash. The auditor does not want that to occur anymore. The City has to recognize them as inter-fund loans. These will Council Minutes (Regular) November 16,2009 Page 4 be repaid as the revenues come in, There are two remaining TIF districts with 5-7 years left. Councilmember Wilson mentioned there are some enterprise funds in the City that operate like a business. He asked if there were guidelines the City has to follow for fund transfers in enterprise funds. A transfer to the general fund is identified as a percentage of salaries and benefits and other overhead costs. Other transfers have to do with debt service for the utility revenue bonds that finance the Central Maintenance Facility. There are also transfers from the sewer and water funds for construction of infrastructure. All of these items are included in the budget. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to adopt RESOLUTION R57- 09 authorizing an inter-fund loan from the Storm Water Trunk Fund to the HRA Capital Projects Fund in the amount of$401,229. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. j) Vermillion River Crossing Knutsen and Pedersen Drive Transition from a Private Road to a Public Road - Planning Councilmember May asked if the streets in the development will be private or public. City Engineer Schorzman explained originally the developer was going to maintain ownership of all the parcels and lease them, He would be the only person involved in the maintenance of the private streets. Dushane Parkway was always intended to be a City street. Pedersen Way and Knutsen Drive were considered private streets, but were constructed to City standards. Now development has shifted and they are selling individual parcels. In an effort to be uniform, staff felt it was best to have all streets as City streets so individual businesses would not be responsible for plowing the street in front of their businesses. There are no other streets planned in the development. The rest will be access drives or parking lots. Anytime there is a street turned over to the City there is additional cost. It would be hard to put a number on the additional cost. The City would have been out there to take care of Dushane anyway, so the additional time to plow two more streets will be minimal. Councilmember Wilson asked if the abatement was set up for the properties and the roads. Staff stated the roads are not included in the abatement agreement. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to accept the dedication of Outlots B & E ofthe Vermillion River Crossings plat via future deed. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS a) G.O. Capital Improvement Plan Bonds - Finance Staff is proposing to refinance the public project revenue bonds issued in 2001 to build the Police Station and Central Maintenance Facility. At the time the option of capital improvement plan bonds was not available, so staff did a lease revenue bond. In order to have funds to call the public project revenue bonds, the City has to issue capital improvement plan bonds in December and the money would be on hand to refinance the bonds in the future. This assumes that the capital Council Minutes (Regular) November 16,2009 Page 5 improvement plan bonds will have a lower interest rate than the current lease revenue bonds. This would reduce the interest cost $50,000/year for 12 years. Boy Scout Troop Member Michael Husnik, 19900 English Avenue, asked what capital improvement will be made with the bonds. Finance Director Roland explained the bonds are being used for the Police Station and the Central Maintenance Facility which have already been built. When the buildings were built, the City could not issue this kind of debt. With this debt we will pay less interest. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Donnelly to close the public hearing. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. The bond rate will be set at the December 21,2009, Council meeting before reviewing the 2010 budget. If Council does not approve the bond sale, staff would have an alternate for the $50,000 reduction in the budget. MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to adopt RESOLUTION R58-09 giving preliminary approval for the issuance of the City's General Obligation Capital Improvement Plan Bonds in an amount not to exceed $4,000,000 and adopting the City's Capital Improvement Plan of2009-2013. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. b) Approve 2010 License Renewals -Administration A public hearing was held for annual license renewals for On-Sale Liquor, On- Sale Sunday Liquor, On-Sale Wine and On-Sale Malt Liquor and Club Licenses and Saunas and Therapeutic Massage licenses for various businesses. The Eagles Club and American Legion Club requested an extension of the public hearing for their license renewals. MOTION by Wilson, second by May to close the public hearing except for the Eagles Club and the American Legion Club. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. The Eagle's Club and the American Legion Club wanted to discuss their license renewals with their respective boards. Councilmember Wilson asked about the fee for new massage licenses. Staff explained all these are renewals and the fee is $50 for renewal of a massage license. When there are new massage licenses there is a one-time investigation fee. There are a couple of massage therapists that did not renew their license. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to approve the On-Sale Liquor, On-Sale Sunday Liquor, On-Sale Intoxicating Malt Liquor and On-Sale Wine, Club, and Therapeutic Massage licenses for the various businesses and to extend the public hearing to the December 7, 2009, City Council meeting to consider applications for the Eagle's Club and the American Legion Club. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 9. A WARD OF CONTRACT Council Minutes (Regular) November 16,2009 Page 6 10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS a) Approve Agreement Room Naming Rights Rambling River Center - Parks and Recreation There are two parties interested in room naming rights for the small conference Room, The Schmidtke family and the Steve and Andrea Wilson family will each provide $750 for the naming rights. The Wilson family will pay $250 each in the years 2010, 2011, and 2012. The Schmidtke family will pay the $750 in a lump sum. The small conference room will be renamed the Red Slipper Room in honor of Dorothy Schmidtke. The fund raising amount is now up to $56,197.26, This represents 62% of the total amount to be raised. MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to approve the agreement forms with the Schmidtke family and the Steve and Andrea Wilson family to rename the small conference room to the Red Slipper Room in the new Rambling River Center building, Voting for: Larson, Donnelly, Fogarty, May. Abstain: Wilson. MOTION CARRIED. 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 12. NEW BUSINESS a) Authorize Plan Preparation - Pilot Knob Trail Extension - Engineering Staff is requesting authorization to prepare plans and sfecifications for a trail along Pilot Knob Road, The trail would run from 200t Street to CSAH 50, The County has indicated funding will be available if the City can complete the trail in 2010, The benefits would be the north-south connection to CSAH 50 and the funding availability. The challenges are crossing the wetland areas. If fill is needed, staff would have to go through the wetland impact process and mitigate those impacts. Staff could use boardwalks which do not impact the wetlands, or place a top on the box culverts to extend them to the trail. The estimated cost is $200,000. The County would have additional funds available on top of the 55% they have already committed. Councilmember Fogarty asked if the City's portion was $200,000 or approximately $90,000. The City's portion would be 45% of the $200,000 or $90,000. She asked where the $90,000 would come from, Staff is finalizing where it will come from and will be presented to Council when the plans and specs are brought to Council for approval. The money is available, it is a matter of how much comes out of the road and bridge fund and how much comes out of the park improvement fund. Councilmember May asked if other projects have been identified for those funds. City Administrator Herlofsky stated nothing is being committed now and the funding source will be clarified before the project moves forward. City Engineer Schorzman stated all the money has not been identified for projects. City Administrator Herlofsky stated staff has been discussing this to make sure money is available, and would not like to miss this opportunity, This would be to design the plans and determine an amount. Councilmember May verified for now it would just be staff time. City Engineer Schorzman stated it would be staff time as well as consultant help. The City does Council Minutes (Regular) November 16,2009 Page 7 not have any wetland delineation experts on staff. Mayor Larson asked if the County could help with that. Staff noted the City has to take the lead on the project. They have the money and not the staff time. Councilmember May stated typically there is a dollar amount even in the planning stage and there are consultant costs. Staff agreed and on construction projects, the design phase costs 6% of the construction which would be $12,000. Finance Director Roland stated when Pilot Knob Road was constructed, the City issued bonds and collected assessments. The assessments are in the road and bridge fund and are available to pay for the project. There is discussion between the road and bridge fund and the park improvement fund because in the past trails have been paid for through the park improvement fund and from grants. The money is there and it has been collected. There needs to be a discussion between Engineering and the Parks and Recreation Department as to who will pay what portion of the $90,000. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to authorize staff to prepare plans and specifications for the Pilot Knob Road Trail Extension Project. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE a) Walnut Street Project - Engineering The original feasibility report indicated discharging some of the storm sewer into the TH3 ditches which would have required jacking pipes underneath them at a cost of $48,000. In reviewing the long term plans it was noticed there is supposed to be a trunk storm sewer that goes from Elm Street to Walnut Street to service that area. It was put in place as part of the Elm Street project and stubbed out to the service road. Staff is proposing to extend that trunk storm sewer which will add $80,000 to the overall cost of the project covered by the trunk storm sewer fund, but it will also save $50,000 for a temporary solution. Council agreed with staff s recommendation. b) Vermillion River Crossings Update - Engineering The trail along CSAH 50 in Vermillion River Crossing will not be completed until next year because of the wet October. The base is not drying out so the project will be done next year. City Attorney Jamnik stated the concept of the developer holding onto the parcels or selling the parcels has changed and they are proposing to sell the individual lots to McDonald's, the Community Development Agency, and other entities located there. The City will be asked to process releases from the Development Agreement for those entities as they go to closing. Council will see some legal documents at upcoming Council meetings as well as looking at the Abatement Agreement. Previously, the abatements were going to go to the developer because they were going to hold onto the property. Now they are selling the lots, so some adjustments may have to be made. The City's concern is to make sure that the potential assessments necessary to finish the project are not lost as a result of those releases from the Development Agreement. Council Minutes (Regular) November 16,2009 Page 8 c) Dew Days Update - Administration Police Chief Lindquist has volunteered to co-chair the Dew Days event Staff is still working on getting a business representative to also be a co-chair. CEEF did receive money from the EDA and Empire Township and the bills from last year's Dew Days have been paid. There will be a CEEF meeting on Thursday for those who would like to participate with Dew Days. In the past week, a new Verizon phone book has been distributed which has the old City Hall phone numbers. The Farmington Independent put out the Community Guide and it also contains a wrong phone number for City Hall. He urged residents to use the City Calendar for correct City phone numbers. Councilmember May stated regarding the comments on Dew Days, it sounds like the City is running that event City Administrator Herlofsky stated we are coordinating and helping out this year to see how things go. Councilmember May asked if that is something Councilor the EDA needs to discuss. She thought the only discussion has been about past bills and now we are moving forward with the City taking more responsibility for that event Mayor Larson explained the Police Chief is volunteering his time to chair the Dew Days Committee which will be 10-20 people. City Administrator Herlofsky stated even if the City does nothing, the Police Chief will have to be involved to know when events occur to have officers available at appropriate times and for street closures. It is the City's attempt to help this activity continue for another year. We are hoping to involve the business community as much as possible, Councilmember May was concerned with staff time and thought there would be a discussion as to whether the City would take a more active role. The dates for Dew Days are June 17-19, 2010. Councilmember May: Noted the budget will be presented at the December 7, 2009, Council meeting and open for public comment The final vote will be at the December 21,2009, Council meeting. If residents want to comment on the budget, they should attend the December 7, Council meeting. Councilmember Fogarty: Reminded residents the parking restrictions are in effect No parking on City streets overnight She thanked Finance Director Roland for her lessons in finance, her patience, her knowledge and she will be sorely missed. Councilmember Wilson: Thanked Troop 116 and Troop 119 for coming tonight He thanked Finance Director Roland for her knowledge and wisdom given to the Council. Councilmemher Donnelly: Finance Director Roland will be missed and he thanked her for her service to the City, City Administrator Herlofsky: Staffwill strive for the bar Finance Director Roland has set The City has been very fortunate to have her here. Staff will try to fill the Council Minutes (Regular) November 16,2009 Page 9 position as soon as possible. The history and dedication she has shown over the last 13 years has been substantial. We will miss her tremendously. Finance Director Roland: Thanked Council for the opportunity to serve. She has worked with wonderful staff and fabulous City Administrators. She has worked with different Councils and enjoyed all of them. Mayor Larson: Thanked the Boy Scouts for coming to the meeting. Thanked the fire fighters for the fantastic job with turkey bingo. He urged residents to sign up for NixIe for City information and announcements. Thanked the liquor store staff for the great wine tasting event. Toys for Town bins are out. The Dew Days Committee is meeting Thursday and urged anyone interested in helping organize Dew Days to attend. Thanked Finance Director Roland for her service. She will be missed. 14. ADJOURN MOTION by Fogarty, second by Wilson to adjourn at 8:34 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, t7~~~ Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant