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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDraft Sept 15, 2008 minutes City Council Meeting Minutes September 15, 2008 DRAFT CAll TO ORDER Present were Mayor Haugen, Councilors Hedberg leMair and Millar, City Manager Boyles, City Attorney Girouard, Public Works Director/City Engineer Albrecht, Finance Director Teschner, Community Develop- ment and Natural Resources Director Walthers, Assistant City Manager Meyer, Communications Coordina- tor Peterson and Administrative Assistant Green. Councilor Erickson was absent. PUBLIC FORUM The Public Forum is intended to afford the public an opportunity to address concerns to the City Council. The Public Forum will be no longer than 30 minutes in length. Speakers receive a maximum of ten minutes; less if there are more than three speakers. Topics of discussion are restricted to City governmental topics rather than private or political agendas. Topics on the agenda may be addressed except those topics that are part of a public hearing or public information hearing. The City Council will not take formal action on Public Forum presentations. City Manager Boyles explained the concept of the public forum. Comments: No person stepped forward to speak. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Councilor Millar requested the addition of agenda item 10C for a discussion about studying the feasibility of using a wind turbine as an energy source for the City. MOTION BY MilLAR, SECONDED BY HEDBERG TO APPROVE THE AGENDA AS MODIFIED. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES MOTION BY HEDBERG, SECONDED BY MILLAR TO APPROVE THE SEPTEMBER 2, 2008, MEETING MINUTES AS PRESENTED. VOTE: Ayes by Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. Haugen abstained from voting due to his absence at the meeting. The motion carried. CONSENT AGENDA City Manager Boyles reviewed the items on the consent agenda. A. Consider Approval of Invoices to be Paid. B. Consider Approval of Treasurer's Report. C. Consider Approval of Building Permit Report. D. Consider Approval of Animal Warden Report. E. Consider Approval of Fire Call Report. F. Consider Approval of Resolution 08-119 Authorizing a Special Hunt. G. Consider Approval of Resolution 08-120 Authorizing Purchase of Appurtenant Equipment for the Tactical Vehicle from the Forfeiture Account. H. Consider Approval of Resolution 08-121 Approving Purchase of Landscaping Materials for the www.cityofpriorlake.com 1 Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 City Council Meeting Minutes September 15, 2008 DRAFT Water Treatment Facility. I. Consider Approval of Resolution 08-122 Ordering the Building Located at 2159 165th Street be Secured. J. Consider Approval of Resolution 08-123 Ordering the Building Located at 15680 Fish Point Road be Secured. K. Consider Approval of Resolution 08-124 Extending the Deadline for Submittal of a Final Plat for Maple Glen 3rd Addition. L. Consider Approval of Resolution 08-125 Extending the Deadline for Recording the Final Plat and Development Contract for Pike Lake Meadows. M. Consider Approval of a Temporary On Sale Intoxicating Liquor License for S1. Michael's Church. Councilor Hedberg requested removal of item H, Consider Approval of Resolution 08-121 Approving Pur- chase of Landscaping Materials for the Water Treatment Facility, from the Consent Agenda. MOTION BY LEMAIR, SECONDED BY MILLAR TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS MODIFIED. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried. Hedberg: Asked what the total budget is for landscaping and how much will be expended this fall. Albrecht: Replied that the total estimate is for $77,000 and this portion will be $41,000, which is mostly for trees. Grass seeding and shrubbery around the building will be placed in the spring. Hedberg: Asked if a contractor will do the installation. Albrecht: Replied that plants are purchased wholesale and City staff will install them. Hedberg: Commented that landscaping at the water treatment facility is an important part of the project because it is placed in a residential community and could otherwise be intrusive. The building is an im- pressive facility and the neighbors appreciate that the City involved them and engaged them in selecting architectural features and landscaping. leMair: Noted that there are many situations where developers or contractors are required to do tree re- placement and asked if there is opportunity to utilize tree replacements that contractors owe the City rather than purchase trees. Albrecht: Replied that there are no trees or materials to utilize on this site that have been donated through the tree restoration program or the fees paid. The majority of the trees from that program are put in parks. There may be an opportunity to redistribute trees with the CR 21 project as there will not be enough room to replace them in the corridor. For this project, it made the most sense to bid them wholesale and install them ourselves. MOTION BY HEDBERG, SECONDED BY LEMAIR TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 08-121 APPROVING PURCHASE OF LANDSCAPING MATERIALS FOR THE WATER TREATMENT FACILITY. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried. PRESENTATION Personnel the Prior lake Way City Manager Boyles referred to the workshop at which the Council discussed budgeting and how person- nel is a large aspect of the resources needed to operate the City. Assistant City Manager Meyer reported that employees are the primary resource for meeting service demands. Gave comparisons of FTEs to other cities in the same geographic and demographic area. Spoke of determining whether needs can be met by outsourcing, through partnerships, or with temporary staff prior to employment of a full-time em- ployee. Described the services provided by seasonal staff. Commented that the City expects to continue using the same tactics moving forward; but believes a ten-year personnel plan should be developed con- 2 City Council Meeting Minutes September 15, 2008 DRAFT sidering that service demands will increase and that Council input would be needed regarding the service priorities and standards desired. Comments: Millar: Asked if most of the seasonal summer jobs are filled with students. Meyer: Replied that many high school students are hired for those positions and they continue to come back for seasonal employment throughout their college careers. Adults are sought for positions such as skate park attendees. Millar: Asked if seasonal employees receive benefits. Meyer: Replied they receive strictly an hourly salary from $8 - $11. Millar: Concurred it is important to nurture our partnerships as it helps with costs. Believes the City Man- ager did a good job of personnel reorganization during the past year and reducing some costs in conjunc- tion with that. Believes the report defines an efficient way of managing personnel and noted the City hopes to add a full-time fire chief position with the new budget. Hedberg: Stated the report is illuminating and it is significant that there has been a 7% increase in staff over the last five years with a corresponding increase of 16% in the City's population. Draws the conclu- sion that there have been productivity improvements, which is an integral part of Prior Lake's way of man- aging personnel. Believes the productivity is due to experienced staff, emphasis on continuous improve- ment of processes and methods, smart investments in up-to-date tools and equipment and a general theme of innovation. LeMair: Stated it is a good report and helps people understand what their tax dollars are going for. Be- lieves the report shows where the City is efficient, but that there may be opportunities in the market and there may be efficiencies in adding people who are able to do multiple things, giving as an example the potential to hire a fire chief who will be able to fulfill many of the functions that several people perform now. Haugen: Added that the City has gained from partnerships with civic and youth organizations that provide cash and labor for different areas around town. Noted that cross training is a significant plus that allows the City to be efficient and fiscally prudent. MOTION BY LEMAIR, SECONDED BY MILLAR TO APPROVE THE REPORT ON PERSONNEL. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried. 2007 Financial Gold Standards Cit}' Manager Boyles explained that residents received the Financial Gold Standards report this weekend in the Prior Lake American. Finance Director Teschner reviewed the highlights of the report stating that its origin came from the 2030 Vision and Strategic Plan which has an element of Strong Financial Man- agement. Benchmarks of performance were established and the report compares results against the benchmarks. Noted that Prior Lake has the lowest tax rank of the cities in Scott County and the Citizens League has ranked Prior Lake as 54 out of 117 in metro area. Comments: leMair: Commented that it is key to be able communicate to citizens and this report is broken down so that everyone can understand it. Hedberg: Noted that one of the standard outcomes is to spend less than our budget each year which would allow overall budget growth. Asked about the 101 % expenditure of budget for 2007 and whether or not it is a trend to worry about. Teschner: Replied there were two uncommon occurrences in 2007: The first was the Pike Lake Park ac- quisition which leveraged federal and state resources and the City appropriated general funds and capital park funds to be able to accomplish it. The second was a planned expenditure for the 800 MHz system, 3 City Council Meeting Minutes September 15, 2008 DRAFT although the City did not know which fiscal year it would hit the budget. All cities in Scott County were re- quired to make the expenditure and the Council decided to use the general fund budget rather than incor- porate the cost into the operating budget. Hedberg: Commented that there is a story behind each of the items on the report that explains what is happening in the budget. Agreed that the two expenditures were very important and the City was able to make them and still stay close to budget. Haugen: Noted that $600,000 for those two expenditures represents about 5% of the budget and without them, the City would have been at 96% of budget. Millar: Complimented Councilor Hedberg on bringing forward the idea to publish a financial report card and complimented staff and Finance Director Teschner for a good job in helping the City achieve its goals. Stated that Finance Director Teschner has been a huge asset to City. Haugen: Stated it is a wonderful communications vehicle to the public and it is critical that people under- stand that this kind of financial result is tied to 2030 Vision and Strategic Plan which includes long-term planning that allows continuity in financial management. MOTION BY LEMAIR, SECONDED BY MILLAR TO APPROVE THE PRESENTATION ON THE 2007 FINANCIAL GOLD STANDARDS. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried. PUBLIC HEARING No public hearing was scheduled. OLD BUSINESS No old business item was scheduled. NEW BUSINESS Consider Approval of a Resolution Approving Amendment No.3 to the Development Contract for Stemmer Ridge. Public Works Director Albrecht explained that the Stemmer Ridge development contract has been ap- proved and fees paid, but the developer does not want to proceed with the second part of the development at this time. Added that this timeline extension allows the City to not have to maintain streets or flush wa- ter mains for streets where no one is living. Comments: leMair: Asked if this project is Arcon's. Albrecht: Replied that Arcon owns the property and Toll Brothers is the developer so Toll Brothers platted the right-of-way and is responsible for the improvements and utilities. Added that the City has no need for the lots at this time. Hedberg: Commented that the Council has reviewed a number of extensions over the past few months and asked if any building permits were granted for this development this year. Albrecht: Replied there are four or five houses under construction at this time and some other develop- ments are seeing activity. Hedberg: Will support. Believes the Council and staff should pay attention to how developers have a maximum shot at being successful. Millar: Will support. Asked how the City is doing overall regarding building permits. Albrecht: Replied the number of building permits is down from last year, but there have been some town- home permits coming in. Haugen: Will support. 4 City Council Meeting Minutes September 15, 2008 DRAFT MOTION BY MilLAR, SECONDED BY HEDBERG TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 08.126 APPROVING AMENDMENT NO.3 TO THE STEMMER RIDGE DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried. Consider Approval of a Resolution Adopting Proposed 2009 City Budgets and Certif}'ing Prelimi. nary 2009 City of Prior lake Property Tax levy to Scott County Department of Taxation. Finance Director Teschner noted that Truth in Taxation statutes require the City to adopt an operating budget and property tax levy for the upcoming year by September 15. Upon conclusion of adopting the levy, staff will file it with the County. Reviewed the executive budget summary. Noted that approval of the tax levy would establish a maximum budget level and reductions to the budget could still be made. Ex- plained that the average homeowners would experience no change in the city portion of their tax from 2008 to 2009, but businesses will incur a property tax increase due to increased valuation. Households off the lake may experience a decrease, households on the lake may experience a slight increase due to valua- tions. Comments: Hedberg: Stated that the proposed total general fund budget is 2.2% higher than 2008 and since a num- ber of costs have gone up significantly and labor contracts are renewing, believes this is a prudent and re- sponsible budget. Believes it is important to be able to demonstrate the ability to deliver a tax decrease and emphasized that it will vary for homeowners on the lake and businesses because those values have gone up. Millar: Commented that while maintaining current service levels, this economic downturn can create greater pressures on staff work loads with new buildings, foreclosures creating pressures for code en- forcements, increased fuel costs, etc. Asked if full-time fire chief costs will be offset by monies paid to the existing part-time fire chief. Teschner: Replied that some of the cost will be made up by contract participation from townships. This year is an opportune time to not burden the City or the Townships by making the transition to a full-time fire chief because Allina will assume the primary medical response responsibility. That will reduce current ex- penditure for first response duties as the fire department will be the first response to fires only. Haugen: Asked the cost for the current part-time fire chief. Teschner: Replied that it is around $7,500 for the fire chief and two assistants and that a $53,000 amount previously mentioned is for the volunteer firefighters. Millar: Asked what the expected increase for business property taxes would be. Teschner: Replied that the business valuations were extreme increases ranging from 30% to 200% based on sales ratio and properties selling in Prior Lake, and the fact that the County had not reevaluated com- mercial property for some time. They were reviewing commercial property to value it fairly from market to market in the County. The businesses are aware that with the valuation jump, there is a property tax in- crease to correspond. Millar: Remarked that that the City budget reflects the belt-tightening times and will support the proposed budget. leMair: Stated that this action is a step in the process and everyone worked hard to get it to this point. Stated there has been much discussion on where the budget should come in and all agreed it should be responsible to provide the necessary services. Believes the City is offering better services than it has in the past citing Club Prior and new City buildings, and the City has offered increased services with the lowest tax rate in Scott County. 5 City Council Meeting Minutes September 15, 2008 DRAFT Haugen: Added that street sweeping and ice control are areas where the City has been innovative. Be- lieves the budget is consistent with the previous seven years of budgeting that has had an average impact to the homeowner of increases less than the rate of inflation. Hedberg: Added that another new service is the compost site which opened in partnership with SMSC. MOTION BY HEDBERG, SECONDED BY LEMAIR TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 08-127 ADOPTING PROPOSED 2009 CITY BUDGETS AND CERTIFYING PRELIMINARY 2009 CITY OF PRIOR LAKE PROPERTY TAX LEVY TO SCOTT COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried. Wind Energy Councilor Millar stated he has been watching the instability of fuel prices and the City's added responsibil- ity of making natural resources a priority. Believes that looking at wind power as an alternate source of energy may provide possibilities to offset energy costs of City buildings and allow the City to stabilize en- ergy costs and not be at the mercy of other fuel sources. Suggested that excess power could be sold to one of the power companies. Also suggested that by taking a leadership role, there may be possibilities of including SCALE or partnerships with SMSC. Comments: Haugen: Commented that there was a presentation at the last SCALE meeting from Rudnicki on what the tribe is doing. They are waiting for delivery of a turbine at a cost of $2.2 million. The SMSC has done a lot of research and suggests that a motion could be made to direct staff to engage with the SMSC and bring a report back. leMair: Commented that what SMSC is doing is on a much larger scale than what the City may want to start with. Stated that Wind Turbine Industries builds and sells turbines and some of the energy that comes off the turbine that is at their facility. Believes such a project could be as large or small as we want to make it and although SMSC can provide a lot of information, staff could learn what else is out there. Believes there are possibilities that we don't know about. Hedberg: Concurred with previous comments and stated that it makes sense to pursue it. Believes that research would have to include what the cost is per kWh and what the total needs are. Supports the re- search and adding such a project to the Capital Improvement Program if it makes sense to do so. Millar: Agreed that the needs to supply the City buildings would not be as great as that of SMSC and sug- gested such needs may be able to be paid for with the off set of the energy costs that we are currently pay- ing for City buildings. MOTION BY MILLAR, SECONDED BY LEMAIR TO DIRECT STAFF TO RESEARCH ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES INCLUDING WIND POWER FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CITIZENS OF PRIOR LAKE. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried. OTHER Executive Session The Council retired to executive session to discuss pending litigation regarding the August 18, 2008 ap- proval of a liquor license for MGM. RECONVENE The meeting reconvened at 9:50 p.m. Mayor Haugen indicated that the Council gave direction to the City Attorney regarding the pending litigation regarding the liquor license for MGM. 6 City Council Meeting Minutes September 15, 2008 DRAFT Community Events LeMair: last weekend was first annual PLAY Fest at the Ponds. Congratulated PLAY Executive Director Geister for putting on a successful event. Millar: Congratulated the Fire Department on its successful chicken dinner and the Chamber on its suc- cessful Ladies Night Out. Hedberg: October 4 will be the annual Autumn Gathering at Lakefront Park. Haugen: October 11 will be the grand opening for Fire Station No.2. ADJOURNMENT With no further comments from Council members, a motion to adjourn was made by LeMair and seconded by Millar. With all in favor, the meeting adjourned at 9:53 p.m. Frank Boyles, City Manager Charlotte Green, Administrative Asst. 7