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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06.01.10 Work Session Minutes Council Workshop Minutes June 1,2010 Mayor Larson called the workshop to order at 5 :31 p.m. Present: Absent: Also Present: Larson, Fogarty, May, Donnelly (arrived 6:38 p.m.) Wilson Peter Herlofsky, City Administrator; Teresa Walters, Finance Director; Brian Lindquist, Police Chief; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Kevin Schorzman, City Engineer; Todd Reiten, Municipal Services Director; Lisa Shadick, Administrative Services Director; Brenda Wendlandt, Human Resources Director; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to approve the agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Walnut Street Reconstruction Proiect Trees Currently the City ordinance does not provide for the replacement of boulevard trees except on boulevard tree routes. The ordinance was changed three years ago. City Engineer Schorzman stated when the plans were made he thought Walnut Street was a boulevard tree route, but it is not; Spruce Street is. The current plan calls for the replacement of trees on Walnut Street. Staff asked for direction from Council on three options: 1. Follow the ordinance and not replace any trees. 2. Follow the plan and replace trees according to the plan. 3. Look at optional locations for tree replacement shown on the maps. If trees were also replaced on the side streets, the budget impact would be $6,500. Mayor Larson clarified the trees could go back in the boulevard, but they would be the homeowners responsibility, or the trees can be placed in their yard. Councilmember Fogarty stated 66 trees were removed, 42 were planned to be replaced, and there are an additional 39 tree replacement locations. That is more than 66. City Engineer Schorzman stated the area around the kindergarten center is all cement. This project is putting boulevards back in so there was additional spacing along the boulevard tree route to put trees in. Councilmember Fogarty confirmed the contracted price of $167 /tree includes installation. She asked what if trees were provided to residents who were interested in placing them in their own yard. The trees are balled and burlapped so there would be extensive work to plant them. Councilmember May asked since the ordinance was changed, have there been projects that have not received trees. City Administrator Herlofsky stated the ordinance was changed because we were behind in the replacement of trees from storms that occurred prior to his arrival. We were doing a lot of trimming and causing a lot of expense with boulevard trees. An option was to not replace boulevard trees and if you want to replace trees, place them in your yard. This way the Council Workshop Minutes June 1,2010 Page 2 City did not have to trim the trees, which helped with garbage pickup, and it made the homeowners responsible for the trees not the City. Councilmember May asked if there were construction projects affected by the ordinance change or was it for maintenance. City Administrator Herlofsky stated since the ordinance change we have not had any new plats. City Engineer Schorzman stated the only project that has been affected was Spruce Street between 4th and 2nd Streets. They did not receive trees. This area included two senior apartment buildings, the Feely Elevator, City Hall, and the Library. Councilmember May asked why are we not just replacing trees that were removed? This is due to spacing. Councilmember May noted the optional trees are no where near any trees that were removed so why would we do that? City Engineer Schorzman stated in the optional locations, he looked at where services are located and placed trees in the gaps between utilities. A lot of the trees removed were located near services. Councilmember May asked ifwe are talking about replacement during a major reconstruction project. That is staff's recommendation. If the trees die, the City would remove them, but the homeowners would have to replace them according to the boulevard tree policy. The warranty is for two years. If Council desires to modify the ordinance, it could be modified to add language directly affecting reconstruction projects. It could be changed to read on reconstruction projects trees will be replaced during the project. Mayor Larson was in favor of that but in new developments boulevard trees would not be required. In new developments the trees are placed in the yards. Councilmember Fogarty recalled when the ordinance was changed, Council was looking at the long term cost to the City and we were facing a lot of cost. Sometimes we have to be a Council that takes the tough hits to make sure the City has good economic viability long term. It was a huge amount of money to trim trees. She was willing to replace the trees as part of the ordinance, but was not sure about placing them back in the boulevard because it would be the City's responsibility to maintain them and that creates an expense we were trying to eliminate. That is why we designated boulevard tree routes because we recognized it is important in some areas. You cannot make every street a boulevard route. These routes were chosen because they are main thoroughfares, traffic calming areas, etc. Replacing the trees would be the right thing to do, she was not sure about placing them in the boulevard. Mr. Tom Jensen, 701 5th Street, asked how much it costs to take the trees down. For the amount it costs to remove the trees, the City could have trimmed them for the next 40 years. You took them out because of the services. At his house the service was 23 ft. away and the next tree is 45 ft. away. Most ofthe trees were not close to service lines. The City should replace them in the boulevard and take care ofthem. The residents can water them. Let's budget this stuff correctly. We have to take care of the trees on the boulevard routes, why can't we take care of the trees on secondary streets. I guess we are secondary people; we are not a boulevard area. Staff has to take care of the trees in the parks. The City plants some every year and the City pays for that. Mr. Jensen asked what it cost to take the trees down; the residents had to pay for it. He understood on new developments the boulevards are very narrow. On the old part of town, the trees should be replaced. These trees make the City look beautiful. We have to change the ordinance so the residents get what they should have. Ms. Sherri Speckan, 708 5th Street, stated as for placing a tree in her yard, she is not interested in that as that is where her kids play. She would like the trees replaced on the boulevard where they 14 Council Workshop Minutes June 1, 2010 Page 3 were. They do not have garbage pick up in front, they have alley pick up. They have lived in their home for nine years and their trees were never trimmed. She found it hard to believe that trimming could have that big an impact on the budget. In regards to the policy, she feels they have a different situation than what the policy covers. Ms. Barbara Mack, 620 6th Street, she built her house there because of the large trees and now they are gone. She had the service connections done at that time so she knows the trees were not in the way of service lines. Mr. Dave Pritzlaff, 20255 Akin Road, stated we have been discussing a tree ordinance after a project is done, what about a tree ordinance before a project is done. When the full reconstruction was done in Hill Dee we did not have these problems. On the Elm Street project, the trees were replaced. Council noted that was before the ordinance and residents were informed as to which trees would be removed. Those are boulevard tree routes. Mr. Pritzlaff asked how many services were affected, just water and sewer? How far down are the pipes? We place trees over the pipes now. Staff stated the gas lines were also relocated. Mr. Pritzlaff felt residents should not accept the tree size as on Elm Street. Where there were huge trees, it should at least be a size to replace the value in a person's lifetime. Mr. Jensen asked what classifies a boulevard tree route. Mayor Larson stated they are collector streets or through streets. Councilmember Fogarty stated Spruce Street was included because it is envisioned to go from Pilot Knob Road across TH3. You cannot make every street a boulevard route. Mr. Jensen asked why not? A tree on the boulevard is a boulevard tree. Because they are not a boulevard route, they are not a boulevard tree? City Engineer Schorzman stated boulevard routes were determined by their connection to larger roads such as TH3, Denmark, Akin Road, Pilot Knob, Flagstaff. Mr. Jensen stated that makes it look beautiful; but we need to look beautiful too. Ms. Speckan stated some communities require boulevard trees. City Administrator Herlofsky stated we needed to determine where is the best place to put the trees long term. These trees were older because it has been 50-60 years since utilities were put in. Utilities have a limited life. If you go on 203rd Street between Akin Road and Pilot Knob, on the south side there are boulevard trees because there are sidewalks there. On the north side of 203rd Street, there is a trail. Those trees are in the yard. Looking at the best way to take care of trees long term, in new developments and in replacing trees, we would place them outside of the boulevard and place them on the homeowner's property. Ms. Speckan stated you decided to save money; you were not looking at aesthetics. City Administrator Herlofsky stated the aesthetics are not lost. Ms. Speckan stated they are lost when her yard is taken up by a tree where her kids play, where before her yard was free and clear for them to play and they had the shade from the boulevard tree. Councilmember May asked what the ordinance changed. Councilmember Fogarty replied we do not pay for replacement of trees unless it is on a boulevard tree route. The trimming was a catalyst that made us change the ordinance because it was costing tens of thousands of dollars annually to trim them. Mr. Jensen stated the same people pay to trim trees no matter where they are. Councilmember May stated we are talking about the downtown area and thought every street is on the map for a reconstruct sometime in the future. These trees will not need trimming for quite some time. She felt they should encourage future Councils though a CIP plan and the 15 Council Workshop Minutes June 1,2010 Page 4 budget to make sure there is money set aside for the trimming. We often talk about how great downtown Farmington is and the downtown is not just two blocks. She felt we need to replace the trees and keep the trimming in consideration. Councilmember Fogarty asked if she was talking about creating an ordinance specific to the downtown area. The northern developments could claim favoritism. Mayor Larson suggested looking at an ordinance for reconstruction projects and we are also supposed to have a Tree Board. We should put that together so for the next reconstruction project, they can look at the trees and make suggestions with other commISSIOns. Councilmember May asked where the money would come from to replace the trees. City Engineer Schorzman stated there is a 10% contingency of$190,000. There should be money available to cover the $6,500. It would be a change order. Mr. Pritzlaff felt changing the ordinance was not urgent. If one or two trees were removed you could replace it with a smaller tree and no one would notice. Mayor Larson stated all the trees on the project were not removed. Mr. Pritzlaff stated if we do a project like this, we should at least put it back the way it was. Councilmember Fogarty stated we need to decide if we want to change the ordinance that if we remove trees due to a reconstruction project, that we would replace them. She felt that was the right thing to do. The other thing to consider is if we replace them on a reconstruction project, and five years later a storm comes in and some are lost are we going to stick with this policy or have some type of overlay that makes certain neighborhoods different than other neighborhoods. If we replace the trees, she would like to give residents the option of where to place them. If it falls down in a storm, she would like the City to follow the policy of the homeowner replacing it. Mayor Larson would like to have a Tree Board put together before the next reconstruction project. Councilmember Fogarty stated that could be done when we advertise for Boards and Commissions at the end of the year. Mayor Larson asked ifthere was any interest in increasing the size of the tree. The cost would be enormous. City Engineer Schorzman stated his concern would be the size of the hole required because there are parallel utilities and fiber optic lines. You have to stay 2 ft. away so we may be bound by utilities. Mayor Larson noted the bigger the tree, the harder it is to keep alive. Councilmember Fogarty stated we have never gone with a larger diameter tree for replacements. Mayor Larson stated we should stay with the current size of 2 12 - 3 inches in diameter. Give the homeowners the option of planting them in the boulevard or front yard. Add a reconstruction ordinance, and put a Tree Board together. Councilmember Fogarty would like to adopt the language at the same meeting as the change order. Staff stated a tree change order would be one of the last ones to come in. Council agreed with this option. City Engineer Schorzman would like the latitude to place the trees where they would create the least resistance in the future. Some lots that had two trees may get only one tree. There will be individual discussions with the homeowners on replacement location. (Council recessed at 6:25 p.m. and reconvened at 6:30 p.rn.) Council Workshop Minutes June 1,2010 Page 5 2011 Budeet City Administrator Herlofsky stated the three main issues staff is working with, unless Council wants to change them, are: - Maintain service levels - Maintain staff levels - No increase in non-personnel costs There are some exceptions such as an increase in PERA, hospitalization, etc. which are personnel related, and some contract increases. Non-personnel costs in the 2010 budget will be the same for 2011 and 2012. If Council does not want these used as a basis for putting the budget together, we need to get to a resolution soon to put the numbers together. Councilmember Wilson's priorities were distributed. Mayor Larson read off the priorities: - Everything should be on the table. - Have fmancial priorities towards economic development goals. _ Consider privatizing liquor stores in a way that a portion oftheir revenues might be diverted back to the City. _ Consider privatizing garbage service which continues high quality service to residents. _ Even though the City has new expenses, the overall goal should be to reduce the tax burden on residents. _ Programs need to be prioritized and if they are adding little value to the residents they need to be eliminated. Mayor Larson's priorities were: - No increase in the levy. - Can the front desk take care of liquor, gambling, solicitor, transient merchant permits. - How many people use At- Your-Service and can we do without it to eliminate some things people do to free them up for other things. _ Single person health care - can we look at them getting a check at the end of the year, because that is ridiculous. City Administrator Herlofsky stated no one gets a check at the end of the year. Councilmember May clarified getting paid more than the cost of the insurance. - Can liquor operations go back to Finance where the numbers can be analyzed each month. - Would we be money ahead ifwe hired the consultant engineer as an Assistant City Engineer. _ Can IT be on its own rather than under Human Resources to free up some time and be more efficient. - See where we can cost save with other communities or the school district with maintenance equipment and personnel. _ We try hard to get commercial/industrial business in the City, but we need to change the strategy as other communities are getting commercial business. - Look for more efficiencies within the enterprise funds; streamline. Councilmember Fogarty stated regarding staff's list, we did a survey a few years ago which said residents would be willing to take a reduction in services to maintain or reduce taxes. She would not want anyone going into a budget assuming we could not reduce services and personnel if 17 Council Workshop Minutes June 1,2010 Page 6 warranted, with the exception of public safety. She would never do anything to reduce public safety in the City of Farmington. That is the number one role of government and number two is transportation. Those are things she considers to be extremely high priorities. You will not get economic growth if you do not have good transportation and public safety. Those go hand in hand. To say flat out we will not change personnel or service levels, she does not necessarily agree with that. She wants to keep options open department wide. (Councilmember Donnelly arrived). Councilmember Fogarty has become very concerned with the liquor stores and she never has been over the years. She does not understand how the part-time employees are in the union and receive union benefits. She felt that is one of the things that is hurting the liquor store is the amount the employees cost compared to other cities. Human Resources Director Wendlandt replied it is and it isn't a negotiation thing. She gave the background on how the AFSCME unit was formed. It was determined the liquor clerks are part of the clerical, technical, professional staff. Under State laws there isn't any way for the City to pull them out of the union. The exception is under that law to be considered a public employee you have to work an average of 14 hours/week. Some of the liquor clerks work 10-12 hours/week or an occasional 14 hours/week. The full-time liquor clerks are in the collective bargaining unit. The part-time liquor clerks mayor may not be. Last year, salaries were reduced for anyone starting employment. We are recommending two part-time employees to replace the full-time employee that resigned. They will come in at the new lower salary scale. Councilmember Fogarty stated for the amount of work that goes into the liquor stores and the small amount of profit, she is beginning to wonder if it is worth it. This is an optional operation, other positions may not be. Staff noted part-time does not receive vacation or sick time. Councilmember Fogarty would like to see a cost comparison of what we are paying at the lower rate compared to other communities. City Administrator Herlofsky stated Administrative Services Director Shadick is taking a great deal of responsibility in trying to resolve this. A change occurred just after the first of the year when she was asked to be responsible for liquor operations and take a close look at it. We have been transferring money into the general fund from the liquor store. It does offset some administrative costs, but there is room for improvement. Councilmember Fogarty felt it is not giving Park and Rec a lot of benefit anymore and if we are not receiving a benefit, why not let some competition come in and generate some tax dollars and more economic development. City Administrator Herlofsky stated the economy is not helping any retail establishment do as well as before. We have had an analysis of our operations take place and we are trying to make further improvements. Mayor Larson stated in the private world the fIrst thing they do is look at their overhead and make adjustments. He does not think we have looked at our overhead enough and made enough adjustments. Labor and the lease have to be huge. City Administrator Herlofsky stated the locations of the stores were determined a few years ago. It is great one is downtown, but unless someone knows where it is, you have to look for it. There have been ongoing discussions about whether we should look at different locations, whether we should have our own place rather than leasing, etc. We have two years left on both leases. Things are not bad, but not as good as we would like them to be. Councilmember Fogarty stated not being as good is not giving it the scrutiny it deserves. Maybe it was easy to not look at it as hard as we should have because it was doing quite well. 18 Council Workshop Minutes June 1,2010 Page 7 Councilmember Fogarty stated as far as privatizing garbage, she would never object to looking at that. She suspected we will find that others cannot beat us. City Administrator Herlofsky noted if we relied on everyone in the City to obtain garbage service, some may not and drop their garbage off somewhere. You can always contract out the service, but you cannot contract out the responsibility. Councilmember Fogarty felt comparing the service is a worthwhile exercise, but felt we would still be cheaper. Councilmember May felt we may have a hard time putting a number to the cost for staff, benefIts and equipment. City Administrator Herlofsky explained all our costs are in one fund and the revenue is in one fund. If our rates are comparable to anyone else's that covers everything. It is not a general fund operation; it is a solid waste fund operation. They pay the general fund for accounting services, their share of the building, and any overhead associated with oversight. Councilmember May stated last year she felt like she was supposed to throw out a number that meant nothing. It had no relevance to anything. Once a number appeared, there were ways to fit things into that box. She wants more of a point of reference. She liked the specifIc ideas from other Councilmembers. It is similar to the school district where they will present to the board show me what a 5% reduction looks like, what status quo looks like, and what 2%-5% increase looks like. We cannot say every department has similar needs or can cut in similar ways like the Police Department. Mayor Larson clarifIed for each department. Councilmember May stated for each department she needs to see what a reduction, a status quo, and an increase looks like. That is when the talking points can come out for those specifIc departments. These ideas are good, but they should be coming from the staff in regards to their department. Then Council can look at them individually and maybe some can have a boost and some can be cut. She cannot randomly through out say to maintain service levels or staffmg; what does that mean? She would agree with no increase in the levy, but what does that mean to the individual departments. She was throwing it back to staff to show her what that looks like. City Administrator Herlofsky stated that has given staff a very good idea. You would like to see the affects of a 2%-5% adjustment and we will have to make the levy clear. Councilmember May felt it would spur more meaningful dialogue. City Administrator Herlofsky stated at the next Council meeting the auditors will show us how 2009 turned out. We ended up with a fund balance increase of $120,000. Employees will ask why did we give up the furlough which was $100,000. They are right and they are also wrong. Through all the people working together we ended up on a plus side. In order to watch the levy this year, we already have the ice arena, the Walnut Street project, and issues with Vermillion River Crossing. He noted the Police and Fire wrap up about 60% of the budget. Councilmember May stated in lean times she believes you need to shrink the size of the business to get through the tough times. Looking at the liquor store, staffmg and services, it is a common practice to shrink so we can grow in the future. PERA can be a death note for cities. It can be diffIcult for those not in the union to be sympathetic to some ofthe things going on. It is getting a little lopsided. You have to take that into consideration and how we can move forward so it does not cut us off at the knees in the future. Councilmember Donnelly stated everything is in play. Even ifwe do those things, there are certain increases in costs with bond funds and the ice arena. We have additional commitments even ifwe don't do anything next year. In order to keep the levy where it is we have to cut something. The liquor store has always made money. Our neighbors have two choice locations next to us; we haven't and the economy is down. Our choices are limited with leases, etc. It 19 Council Workshop Minutes June 1,2010 Page 8 does put money in the general fund, but it also takes money off the tax role. Finance Director Walters stated in 2009 the liquor store broke even. It lost because of the transfer out. City Administrator Herlofsky noted it is not only the economy, but Lakeville built a new liquor store and the Apple Valley store is on Pilot Knob. We have been talking about how to do things better and we are working on it. We are as concerned as you are. We feel keeping the liquor store and solid waste are ways of keeping the taxes down. They do not cause the taxes to go up. Operate them efficiently and we can offset tax money with revenue from those concerns. Staff is looking at every opportunity to change things. In looking at departments, people are shared between funds. We have a general fund, but we have a solid waste fund, a liquor fund, storm water utility fund, sewer utility fund, and water utility fund. Those all pay for different portions of people. We have to look at all of our costs and all of our fees. Mayor Larson noted we also have to put money away for the DMV office. City Administrator Herlofsky stated it will not be a money maker for the fIrst couple years. Mayor Larson stated we also have to look at the overhead for that. Just like the liquor stores, with the economy change we should have been making some changes. City Administrator Herlofsky noted this will not be a County DMV. This has been designated as a City office. It is our responsibility. The County will help us in getting it organized. We are not expecting to have anything going until the end of the year. Councilmember Donnelly stated when he was on the School Board we had choices with enhancements and reductions. You have to balance that. Last year a number was thrown out. That is not a way to make cho ices and provide services. It is not a way to set a budget. You want to provide these services and it costs this much money - who is willing to pay it. He would like to see something like that. He is not a fan ofprivatizing garbage or the liquor store. The liquor store is more of an economic effect. The lease is coming up and location bears watching. Something is being done about personnel costs and it is being looked at. It contributed last year and will probably contribute this year to the general fund. He would like to see some choices and where are the priorities. It will be hard because we already have increased expenses in personnel costs to overcome if you want to maintain the levy where it is. Finance Director Walters stated the debt service fund has also increased because they are on a structure where they started slow, but now the interest payments are higher. City Administrator Herlofsky stated that is for Vermillion River Crossing. It will be 2011 before the CDA builds the senior housing there. Councilmember May felt Council would like to see more of a process and there have been some specific ideas. She would like to see the specific ideas come from staff and the departments with the cuts, status quo, or increases and what that means. Councilmember Donnelly stated it would be interesting to see a budget that did not increase taxes, what it would do to services and what it would cut. Mayor Larson asked for an estimate for the Fire relief fund. City Administrator Herlofsky estimated it to be around $100,000. Their financial condition had improved greatly. Councilmember Fogarty stated that means it is still underfunded and it will be higher than the $70,000 we have budgeted in the past. Finance Director Walters stated last year we levied $195,000, but it was actually $275,000. The difference was taken from the operational levy. 20 Council Workshop Minutes June 1,2010 Page 9 City Administrator Herlofsky stated the reason we levied that amount is it was required from the State. Finance Director Walters stated she can bring to Council what maintaining service levels, staff levels and no increase in non-personnel costs looks like and then Council can determine if they wants to go with that or see reductions. Councilmember Fogarty replied no; she wanted to see what no increase looks like, a 2% reduction and a 2% increase; a 5% reduction and a 5% increase. Finance Director Walters stated no increase would mean we would have to cut quite a bit because of the debt service. Councilmember May stated it is easy for us to say no increase in taxes, but what would it cut. Councilmember Fogarty stated is it a 5% decrease in stafImg and services; we do not know what that means. Mr. David Pritzlaffasked for a copy of Council' s goals. He asked ifpayroll is outsourced. It is not. He asked if building permit fees are included in the budget. They are in the budget and permit fees are going up, but there are so many revenue sources that are going down. Long term investments are coming due and the interest rate will be much lower. Councilmember May stated in the past we have boosted the building permit number up too much. She would like to have a cushion. Councilmember Fogarty stated we have to be careful with making that number too low because we have to justify the fees. Mr. Pritzlaff stated in the past we have not used the building permit revenue because we do not know what we will get. Mayor Larson explained we have to justify the permit fees. Mr. Pritzlaff asked if there is City property we are making payments on and if we sell the property we would not have the interest and the payments. Mayor Larson stated the City Hall, 1 st Street Garage, Fire Stations. Mr. Pritzlaff asked about the property on Akin Road for $195,000 for future development. Councilmember Fogarty stated that is for a road. Mr. Pritzlaff stated we bought property we will not use for 20 years. Mayor Larson stated we have to keep the easements necessary for the thoroughfare plan. Mr. Pritzlaff asked ifwe will get that money back when we sell it to a developer because development puts in the streets. Councilmember Fogarty stated there is no interest on it; it is paid for. City Engineer Schorzman stated that was an individual parcel that would not be incorporated into a development. It is where we want the intersection and we saw an opportunity to preserve that without having to condemn it if the development goes in north of there. We saved money by acquiring it when it was on the market versus letting someone take ownership and then we have to condemn it. Mr. Pritzlaff stated if development does not occur, we will not put that street in. At that point when we sell the land to the developer, do we get $195,000 back out of it or do we sell it today and get that money back in the general fund. Councilmember Fogarty stated that is impossible to predict. As of now we have a thoroughfare plan that shows that to be a street in the future. Mayor Larson stated the payment would be worked out in the Development Contract. Mr. Pritzlaff also asked if there is a dollar amount for a loss or break even point on garbage service and liquor operations. Mayor Larson replied no. City Administrator Herlofsky stated if we lose money three years in a row in the liquor business, the State will take it away from us. Councilmember Donnelly stated there is no benefit from saying an amount. Mr. Pritzlaff stated if something bad happens it is a risk we are taking. He felt we are not in the business to break even. Councilmember May stated that is why it has been brought up. We are seeing a trend that does not look good. Mr. Pritzlaff stated as far as garbage costs he has asked for a list of all costs - equipment and everything. There are provisions for one service to pick up recycling and garbage. Mayor Larson stated we just discussed that. Mr. Pritzlaff stated there was $112,000 21 Council Workshop Minutes June 1, 2010 Page 10 transferred to the general fund from the solid waste fund, so the solid waste fund made $112,000. So aren't the residents paying $112,000 too much? Mayor Larson stated we will be looking at that. Municipal Services Director Reiten stated that money does not go into the general fund. Solid Waste has its own fund. The only thing that is transferred is certain operating costs. Ifwe were to get rid of Solid Waste, we would have to levy at least $125,000 more to cover the funds we would be short in operational funds. Finance Director Walters stated if you do not have the extra fees in the garbage, then you have to increase the levy to pay for the things the solid waste fund pays for. Mr. Pritzlaff stated the taxpayer would not be paying for the trucks and equipment. Staff stated you would have a garbage bill from someone else and you would need another plow operator. Mr. Pritzlaffstated we might make money on Solid Waste, but we could be charging the taxpayers too much ifwe are making $112,000 profit. Mr. Pritzlaffasked how much was paid in overtime for plowing trails. Mayor Larson stated staffwill make sure that does not happen. Mr. Pritzlaff stated we do not have to plow trails four and five times and on weekends. Parks and Recreation Director Distad stated the trail along Akin Road is plowed so much because they are taking the equipment from the Maintenance Facility to the ice rinks and rather than leaving the plow up they go down the trail and on the way back they sweep it again. As Akin Road is plowed, the snow gets pushed back on the trail, so staffwill coordinate that. Mr. Pritzlaffwould like to see a dollar amount for overtime this past winter in plowing any trails. Regarding the DMV office, he asked about the setup cost and is it worth it and worth another City employee. Mayor Larson stated no fmal decision has been made on how to staff it and we are looking at the most efficient way to do this. MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to adjourn at 7:39 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant 22