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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDraft November 2, 2009 Meeting Minutes City Council Meeting Minutes November 2, 2009 DRAFT CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 6 pm. Present were Mayor Haugen, Councilors Erickson, Hedberg, le- Mair and Millar, City Manager Boyles, City Attorney Pace, Public Works Director/City Engineer Albrecht, Finance Director Erickson, Accounting Supervisor Gilb, Community Development and Natural Resources Director Parr, Assistant City Manager Meyer, Communications Coordinator Peterson and Administrative Assistant Green, PUBLIC FORUM The Public Forum is intended to afford the public an opportunity to address concerns to the City Council. It will be no longer than 30 minutes in length and each presenter will have no more than ten (10) minutes to speak. Items to be considered on the agenda may be addressed at the Public Forum unless they have been or will be the subject of a public hearing or public information hearing at the City Council, the Eco- nomic Development Authority (EDA), the Planning Commission, or any other City Advisory Committee within the foreseeable future. Forum items are also restricted to City governmental topics rather than as a platform for private agendas. Matters that are the subject of pending litigation are not appropriate for the Public Forum. 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 MOTION BY MillAR, SECONDED BY HEDBERG TO APPROVE THE AGENDA AS PRESENTED. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Erickson, Hedberg, leMair and Millar. The motion carried. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES MOTION BY HEDBERG, SECONDED BY MillAR TO APPROVE THE OCTOBER 19, 2009, MEETING MINUTES AS PRESENTED. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Erickson, Hedberg and Millar. The motion carried. leMair abstained due to his absence at the meeting. CONSENT AGENDA City Manager Boyles reviewed the items on the consent agenda. A. Consider Approval of Invoices to be Paid B. Consider Approval of Resolution 09.148 Approving an Update of the City's 2030 Vision and Strategic Plan. C. Consider Approval of Resolution 09.149 Authorizing Final Payment for the 2009 CIPP Sanitary Sewer Lining Project. www.cityofpriorlake.com 1 Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 City Council Meeting Minutes November 2, 2009 DRAFT MOTION BY LEMAIR, SECONDED BY MILLAR TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS PRESENTED. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Erickson, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried. PRESENTATION Election Day 2009 Accounting Supervisor Gilb provided information about Election Day 2009 advising of positions to be voted upon for the City and school districts, precinct locations, polling hours, registration guidelines and Kid Voting opportunities. Erickson: Encouraged everyone to vote. Hedberg: Clarified website address that people can use to track the voting results. Millar: Spoke of people who have fought for the privilege to vote and encouraged all to honor them by vot- ing. Haugen: Asked if the City's Website will be updated throughout Election Day. Peterson: Replied that the voting results will be on the City's Website Wednesday morning, the new Face- book and Twitter features on the City's Website will be updated that night, and there will be a link to the County's Website. Presentation on the Status of the Fishing in the Neighborhood Program (FIN) at Little Prior. Parks and Fleet Supervisor Friedges and DNR Park and Natural Resources Fisheries Division, Mark Nemeth, provided a history of FIN program. FIN established in Little Prior Lake in 2003. Prior to the FIN program, Little Prior was used by the DNR to raise walleye as the lake is shallow enough to freeze each winter and thus only have the species that was placed in it by the DNR. With the installation of the board- walk and the aeration system donated by Norex Companies, the lake no longer is allowed to freeze over. Aerated lakes tend to have smaller fish and a recent survey of Little Prior shows an overabundance of small bluegill. Nemeth recommended turning off the aeration system this winter and letting the lake freeze to cull the overstock of small fish followed by restocking the lake in the spring with a variety of species suit- able for the FIN program. Friedges indicated ice fishing might be allowed this winter to harvest any larger fish before they die off. Friedges also warned that there would likely be a few days in spring when the fish degradation would cause odor, but that process would also provide positive ecological benefits. Comments: Hedberg: Asked what proportion of winter kill is expected. Nemeth: Anticipates the oxygen level to go very low and result in an almost total winter kill. Hedberg: Clarified that is the goal. Nemeth: Affirmed. Hedberg: Likes the idea of rejuvenating the stock. Millar: Asked about the size of the bass. Nemeth: Samples show bass at less than 12 inches and a few northern pike of 24-26 inches. Such spe- cies are not as likely to reproduce as the bluegill in that environment. Erickson: Asked how often this action would have to be repeated. Nemeth: Replied that samplings occur every five years or so to get data about the fish. Currently it ap- pears that kill off will be needed every five years. Erickson: Noted that kids like having a bite as soon as they put in a line and asked if there will be the same success for Lakefront Days fishing as there has been in the past. 2 City Council Meeting Minutes November 2, 2009 DRAFT Nemeth: Replied that the first year might have larger fish and later years will have frequent hits so there will be a balance between catching the memorable fish vs. many small fish. leMair: Asked if the DNR stocks walleyes. Nemeth: Replied that walleyes are usually not requested for family-oriented areas. Haugen: Commented that the FIN program has six ponds in Scott County and that Little Prior Lake and Crystal Lake both have FIN programs. PUBLIC HEARING Appeal of City Manager Revocation of On.Sale Liquor License for O'Malley's on Main for Non. Payment of Real Estate Taxes. City Manager Boyles provided background of the O'Malley's on Main tax delinquency and the decision of the City Manager to revoke its liquor license. Advised the Council that owner Paul Yeo was informed of the process to appeal the decision to revoke O'Malley's liquor license. Reviewed City Code regarding licen- sures and non-payment of taxes, suggested the public hearing be held and a determination by the Council regarding whether to uphold the revocation. Described the Council's alternatives including revocation, sus- pension, fine up to $2000.00 or any combination thereof. MOTION BY LEMAIR, SECONDED BY HEDBERG FOR THE CITY COUNCIL AS A WHOLE TO CONDUCT THE PUBLIC HEARING. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Erickson, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried. Erickson: Asked if licensure should have been granted last July since taxes were delinquent at that time. Boyles: Replied that the City was advised that O'Malley's taxes were paid when the City contacted Scott County to check on the payment status of taxes at the time of license application renewal. Staff was not aware that the information the County provides to the City for inquiries on the payment status of property taxes is for the current tax period. The County does not routinely provide information regarding whether there are any property tax delinquencies pending for prior periods. Advised the Council that he has already revised the procedure for checking tax payment status of liquor license applicants Hedberg: Asked if there is a mechanism for being informed by the County when they allow someone to pay taxes over time. Boyles: Replied he is not aware of ever receiving such notice. leMair: Asked if the City's liquor license ordinance is based on State statute. Boyles: Replied that it is typical for cities to mirror State statute. leMair: Queried whether the City really has any choices about whether or not the license must be re- voked. Pace: Responded that cities have discretion in administration and granting of licenses and that the sanc- tions available to the Council when there has been a liquor license violation are set out in the City Code. MOTION BY MILLAR, SECONDED BY LEMAIR TO OPEN THE PUBLIC HEARING. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Erickson, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried and the public hearing opened at 6:42 p.m. Comments: Paul Yeo, owner of O'Malley's, (16211 Main Avenue SE) distributed a letter to the Council describing his reasons why his property taxes were delinquent and asked the City Council to accept his offer of a payment plan over several months for paying the delinquent taxes. 3 City Council Meeting Minutes November 2, 2009 DRAFT Haugen: Invited Yeo to read his letter to the City Council so that it could become part of the public record for the Council's decision. Yeo: Read aloud from the letter indicating that he is asking for three months to pay the taxes and urged the Council to consider the clean-up that had been made to the property, the fact that his employees are local residents and that there has been little activity at O'Malley's that has needed police attention. MOTION BY HEDBERG, SECONDED BY LEMAIR TO CLOSE THE PUBLIC HEARING. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Erickson, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried and the public hearing closed at 6:47 p,m. Comments: LeMair: Stated he is empathetic to the state of the current economy and the difficulties in staying in busi- ness. Would like to give them two weeks to pay the taxes that are in arrears. Commented that he did not see the Council option of assessing a penalty for the liquor license violation as an option given that Yeo is financially struggling to pay his taxes. Commented on a statement in Yeo's letter that said his taxes went up from 2008 to 2009. Erickson: Noted that the property taxes for the second half of 2008 were not paid and that is in a year when the taxes were lower. Believes the license should not have been issued due to delinquency of 2008 taxes. Stated that the taxes should be paid and all license holders should be treated consistently. Con- curred with LeMair's suggestion of a two-week period to pay all delinquent taxes in full and that no fine should be assessed. Millar: Stated that in his view this business is important to the community. Noted that the materials distrib- uted with the agenda item indicated the City had previously set up a payment plan, but payments were not made. Indicated that in his letter to the Council Yeo stated that one of the reasons he had not paid his property taxes was that he purchased O'Malley's on a contract for deed and there is the potential of him losing the business, Stated that there are 16 other liquor license holders who are up-to-date on taxes and extending a long-term payment plan to O'Malley's is not fair to the other businesses and the City should not set that precedence. Would agree to a two-week extension for payment of taxes. Hedberg: Asked the City Manager and City Attorney if they could recall any similar circumstances in the past where another business has been delinquent with its taxes. Boyles: Stated he was not aware of any. Pace: Also did not recall any. Hedberg: Agreed the City must be consistent and equitable in administering ordinances, but is empathetic of the difficult economic times. Could support a six- to eight-week time frame for payment, adding that a two-week period might force a transfer of ownership or closing of business. Haugen: Commented that it is natural to be empathetic when someone's business is at risk, but believes a two-week extension for payment of taxes is reasonable since the weekly payment plan already agreed upon was not followed. Stated that the potential for losing the property is between Yeo and the contract for deed holder. Stated the City must be consistent in its treatment of all liquor license holders who are all dealing with the reduced economy, no smoking laws, higher fuel costs, etc. Reiterated that the City has an ordinance is in place that says taxes need to be paid in order to be granted a liquor license and that a pen- alty for delinquent taxes is revocation, suspension, a fine or combination of the three. MOTION BY LEMAIR, SECONDED BY HEDBERG TO ALLOW PAYMENT OF TAXES PRIOR TO NOVEMBER 14, 2009, AT 10 A.M.; AND IF THE CITY HAS NOT RECEIVED A PROOF THAT TAXES HAVE BEEN PAID, THE LIQUOR LICENSE IS REVOKED AS OF THAT TIME. 4 City Council Meeting Minutes November 2, 2009 DRAFT Boyles: Clarified that if proof of payment is not received, the license will be revoked at 10 a.m. on Novem- ber 14. Haugen: Affirmed. Hedberg: Added his agreement that it is a fundamental need of businesses to stay current on their taxes. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Erickson, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried. Staff was asked to prepare a resolution with finding of facts. OLD BUSINESS Consider Approval of a Resolution Making Appointments to the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee. City Manager Boyles presented the recommendations of the interview committee for the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee. Comments: Millar: Thanked people who applied adding that serving on an advisory committee is a good way to get involved in city government and the community. Hedberg: Commented that Woody Spitzmueller has served on this advisory committee for many years and also serves as the Chair of the Community Safety Advisory Committee. Asked if there is any concern with having a person serve on two advisory committees. Boyles: Replied the bylaws have no prohibition from serving on more than one committee. Hedberg: Stated that Spitzmueller is a tremendous contributor to the community and represents a good reason why the City should not prohibit a person from being on more than one committee. leMair: Concurred with Hedberg's comments. Erickson: Will support the recommendations. Added that the Economic Development Advisory Commit- tee is seeking recruits and invited anyone with ideas on how to stimulate new economic development or retain businesses to volunteer to become a member of that committee. Haugen: Asked how many members are on the Economic Development Advisory Committee. Erickson: Nine. MOTION BY LEMAIR, SECONDED BY HEDBERG TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 09-150 APPOINTING MICHEllE REBHOLZ, WOODY SPITZMUELLER AND GREG WILSON TO SERVE ON THE TRAFFIC SAFETY ADVISORY COMMITTEE. VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Erickson, Hedberg, LeMair and Millar. The motion carried. Consider Approval of a Resolution Accepting Bids and Awarding the City's Standardized Construc- tion Contract for Water Quality Pond Maintenance Project (City Project #09-013). Public Works Director Albrecht explained that there are seven ponds that need to be cleaned and that there is a specific amount in the water quality fund for this purpose. Stated the bid documents were struc- tured in a way that the bidder could bid on all seven or some lesser number based on available City funds for this work. Stated that the bids reflect that six of the proposed seven ponds can be cleaned for the amount available in the budget explaining that the project is paid for with water quality funds. Noted that most of the ponds in the project were constructed in the early 1990s and now are filled with sediment or vegetation as part of their natural cycle. Stormwater permits require them to be cleaned and maintained and some of the ponds will have to be cleaned every couple of years for the City to keep up with the main- tenance needs. Comments: 5 City Council Meeting Minutes November 2, 2009 DRAFT Millar: Asked what the process is for cleaning and maintaining a stormwater pond. Albrecht: Replied that the ponds are constructed to remove chemicals and nutrients from stormwater. As they fill up with sediment, they stop functioning and the run off goes into lakes and rivers. Ponds are in- spected to see if they are performing properly. The ponds in this project were determined to be of the high- est priority for needing to be cleaned. Millar: Clarified that Astech is a paving company. Albrecht: Commented there is no specialty of pond cleaning and any company that has excavating equip- ment available in the winter season will bid on such projects. It is excavation of material from pond areas and then restoration of yards. Ponds are usually in back yards and landscaping restoration can add to cost. Millar: Commented that this maintenance is an important part of keeping the lakes clean. Albrecht: Affirmed and added that the City's permit granted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for the stormwater system requires this maintenance, Erickson: Queried about the water quality fund and where it comes from. Albrecht: Replied that the water quality enterprise fund collects $7.25 every two months on utility bills, which was increased from $6 per billing this year. The fund operates at a minimal balance to sustain itself on an annual basis. Fees were raised this year to complete maintenance and to fund water quality projects in neighborhoods. Noted that grants received this year offset the cost of neighborhood projects and al- lowed for a bigger pond cleaning project. Erickson: Asked when the water quality fund was initiated. Albrecht: Replied it was in the early 1990s, but the City did not complete comprehensive studies on the funding mechanisms until the 2000s. Last year the City completed its first 20-year funding program so rates could be stabilized. Erickson: Asked if the runoff affects more than just Prior Lake. Albrecht: The ponds are in the watershed area that feeds the Minnesota River from Prior Lake and the outlet channel. Erickson: Asked if there will be more ponds for the City to maintain as it expands into the annexation area. Albrecht: Affirmed that there will be as ponds are part of the infrastructure. Noted that the ponds are City owned facilities and maintenance of them is done using water quality enterprise funds, Taxes that the Wa- tershed collects are used to complete regional watershed projects. leMair: Commented he would like to see a Prior Lake company get this bid and asked if the City is re- quired to take the lowest bid. Pace: Replied that when a competitive bidding process is started, it must be followed and the City must take the lowest responsible bidder or reject all bids and rebid. Hedberg: Asked if the sediment and pollutants captured in the ponds becomes toxic. Albrecht: Typically the sediment is runoff from yards and a lot of nutrients are tied up in the sediment. The sediment is tested prior to excavation to assure it has no chemicals in it that are toxic. Hedberg: Clarified that soil borings have already been done on these ponds so we know that no special procedures for excavation will have to be done. Albrecht: Responded that boring only tests one area so additional tests are performed as excavation is done to assure nothing is being cleaned out that is not expected. Hedberg: Asked how many ponds there are in the City. Albrecht: Hundreds. Added that during the 1980s and 1990s, wetlands were used and have become stormwater ponds. Hedberg: Asked what the ongoing program is to keep the ponds maintained. Albrecht. Replied that it is the capital improvement program for the water quality fund. The first cleaning usually has to be done early in the life of a pond because much sediment is generated during development; 6 City Council Meeting Minutes November 2, 2009 DRAFT afterwards there is less sediment and c1eanings will last longer than the typical 15 years from initial installa- tion. Hedberg: Asked if the number of ponds needed will change if neighborhood reconstruction projects with narrower streets, rain gardens, etc. for stormwater quality are continued. Albrecht: Ponds will become smaller if there is less impervious surface. More frequent sweepings also help to keep ponds from filling with sediment. Haugen: Commented that pond maintenance is important as it fulfills the 2030 Vision and Strategic Plan about the legacy of what is being left to future generations. Expressed concern about bids received that reflect a range of $70,000 and asked if analysis of bids and the companies involved could be done if the bid is deferred two weeks. Albrecht: Replied he would not bring a bid to Council without analysis and consideration of whether it is a responsible bid. This is a relatively new kind of project which may account for the wide range of bids. It was bid in accordance with the purchasing guidelines. Added that the taxpayer is protected by accepting the lowest responsible bid and maintaining the integrity of the process assures receiving many bidders. leMair: Queried why the City thought it might be able to complete seven ponds for the budgeted amount when bids received will allow for only six to be done. Albrecht: Replied that the bidding climate has been good and staff believed it was worth it to try to get as many done as possible. Recalled that this was let as a base bid for four ponds with the fifth, sixth and sev- enth ponds as alternates. Environments of the different ponds were varied and some contractors may have had apprehensions about their ability to work in some of those environments. MOTION BY HEDBERG, SECONDED BY ERICKSON TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 09.151 ACCEPTING BIDS AND AWARDING THE CITY'S STANDARDIZED CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT FOR THE WATER QUALITY POND MAINTENANCE PROJECT (CITY PROJECT #09-013). VOTE: Ayes by Haugen, Erickson, Hedberg and Millar. LeMair opposed. The motion carried. NEW BUSINESS No new business was scheduled. OTHER Community Events Hedberg: Commented that the level of building permits is within 20% of last year and expressed hope that the economy has bottomed out and will begin building again. Millar: Commented on his campaign and encouraged everyone to vote, 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 7:32 p.m. Frank Boyles, City Manager Charlotte Green, Administrative Asst. 7