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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDraft 11 25 13 City Council Minutes O � PRip� � � v � 4646 Dakota Street SE Prior Lake, MN 55372 `�INNES��� REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES November 25, 2013 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Present were Mayor Hedberg, Councilors Keen- ey, McGuire, Morton and Soukup, City Manager Boyles, City Attorney Rosow, City Engineer / Inspections Director Poppler, Public Works / Natural Resources Director Gehler, Economic and Development Director Rogness, Finance Director Erickson, Fire Chief Hartman, Assistant City Manager Kansier, Assistant City Manager Meyer and Administrative Assistant Green. 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 and each presenter will have no more than ten (10) minutes to speak. Topics of discussion are restricted to City gov- ernmental topics rather than private or political agendas. Topics may be addressed at the Pub- lic Forum that are on the agenda except those topics that have been or are the subject of a scheduled public hearing or public information hearing before the City Council, the Economic Development Authority (EDA), Planning Commission, or any other City Advisory Committee. The City Council may discuss but will not take formal action on Public Forum presentations. Matters that are the subject of pending litigation are not appropriate for the Forum. I Comments: Alexandra Matyja, 5417 Ambtewood Drive, commented on inflationary impacts. Stated that her proposed City property taxes increased 9% this year. Believes the City should have to live within its means as residents do. APPROVALOFAGENDA MOTION BY KEENEY, SECOND BY MCGUIRE TO APPROVE THE AGENDA AS PRESENT- ED. VOTE: Ayes by Hedberg, Keeney, McGuire, Morton and Soukup. The motion carried. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES MOTION BY SOUKUP, SECOND BY MORTON TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE NO- VEMBER 12, 2013 CITY COUNCIL MEETING. VOTE: Ayes by Hedberg, Keeney, McGuire, Morton and Soukup. The motion carried. CONSENT AGENDA City Manager Boyles reviewed the items on the consent agenda. A. Consider Approval of Claims Listing B. Consider Approval of Treasurers Report C. Consider Approval of Building Permit Summary Report D. Consider Approval of Animal Control Services Report E. Consider Approval of Fire Department Report F. Consider Approval of Police Department Report Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 / www.cityofpriorlake.com G. Consider Approval of Resolution 13-172 Entering into the City's Standardized Contract for Electrical Contractor Services and Authorizing the Mayor and City Manager to Execute the Document on Behalf of the City H. Consider Approval of Resolution 13-173 Entering into the City's Standardized Agreement for Contracted Tree Services and Authorizing the Mayor and City Manager to Execute the Document on Behalf of the City I. Consider Approval of Resolution 13-174 Approving a Transit Policy Manual for the City of Prior Lake Laker Lines Transit J. Consider Approval of Resolution 13-175 Approving an Extension to an Interim Use Permit for an Alternative School Councilor Keeney requested that item 5F be removed from the Consent Agenda for discus- sion. Mayor Hedberg requested that item 5J be removed from the Consent Agenda for discussion. MOTION BY MCGUIRE, SECOND BY SOUKUP TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS MODIFIED. VOTE: Ayes by Hedberg, Keeney, McGuire, Morton and Soukup. The motion carried. Consider Approval of Police Department Report MOTION BY KEENEY, SECOND BY MCGUIRE TO APPROVE THE POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT. Keeney: Stated he reviewed the YTD statistics noting this is the first time there has been enough data presented to have year-over-year comparisons. Feels some alarm about DWI in- creases and whether or not that is a trend. Stated the report is not clear if increases are be- i cause there are more incidents, or more effort targeted towards DWI enforcement. I Hedberg: Commented that SMSC has offered liquor at its establishments since late 2012 and ' queried whether that is impacting the statistics. Morton: Noted that disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct statistics are up as well and the report noted that those calls are coming from the casino. VOTE: Ayes by Hedberg, Keeney, McGuire, Morton and Soukup. The motion carried. Consider Approval of Resolution 13-175 Approving an Extension to an Interim Use Per- mit for an Alternative School MOTION BY HEDBERG, SECOND BY MORTON TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 13-175 AP- PROVING AN EXTENSION TO AN INTERIM USE PERMIT FOR AN ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL. Hedberg: Recalled that this IUP was first approved five years ago with an option to extend it for an additional five year period. Would like this to be studied to be able to address the use on a long-term basis in order to consider whether the agreement should expire in five years; or whether ordinance should allow this school as a C-2 business use and the conditions that would go along with that. Stated he has heard many positive comments and would like to support it, but would like due consideration given to the options. Keeney: Stated that concerns at the time were related to limiting other nearby uses as schools have distance requirements for some businesses, such as liquor licenses. Wants to have a good location for the schools and also wants no arbitrary areas that have might have limitations for use. Would like to see that conflict resolved. Recalled that Aspen Academy wanted to lo- cate here but there were issues with school placements. Hedberg: Would like to give staff direction to review now to allow the school district plenty of years to adjust to whatever policy decisions are made. McGuire: Will support such direction to staff. DRAFT il 25 13 City Council Meeting Minutes 2 VOTE: Ayes by Hedberg, Keeney, McGuire, Morton and Soukup. The motion carried. MOTION BY HEDBERG, SECOND BY KEENEY TO DIRECT STAFF TO LOOK AT ALTERNA- TIVE SCHOOL USE IN THE GENERAL BUSINESS C-2 USE DISTRICT AND BRING A RE- PORT TO THE COUNCIL WITHIN THE NEXT SIX MONTHS ON HOW TO ADDRESS THE IS- SUES ASSOCIATED WITH IT ON A PERMANENT BASIS. VOTE: Ayes by Hedberg, Keeney, McGuire, Morton and Soukup. The motion carried. PRESENTATIONS Jane Kansier Recognition City Manager Boyles cited Kansier's services to the City during her 17-year tenure and ex- pressed appreciation for the contributions she made. Mayor Hedberg presented a plaque. Kansier made comments regarding changes over the past 17 years and staff she has worked with. PUBLIC HEARINGS Public Hearing for Proposed 2014 City Budgets and Property Tax Levies City Manager Boyles presented the proposed budget noting that he is required to address the sales tax exemption being implemented in 2014. Staffing, proposed expenditures and expendi- ture comparisons to previous years were addressed. Reviewed the items that make up the General Fund including public safety, public works, debt service, etc. Discussed the goal to re- duce General Funds Reserves to 45% by 2015. Reviewed the factors that impact property tax- es and the impact on an average valued home. Reviewed the City's ten standard measures. , Morton: Asked about the staffing changes expressing her understanding that only one position I was proposed for addition. Erickson: Responded that the 5.06 FTE shown in the graphic referred to is a comparison to 2008 when layoffs were experienced. This year's increase is proposed to be just less than 2.0 FTE. Keeney: Asked what the 2013 amendments to the budgets were. Erickson: Replied they included establishing the Technology Village Incubator, the CR 42 study and the ERP software consultant for a total of approximately $140,000. Keeney: Commented on materials handed out that compare to the original budget and amend- � ed budgets. Erickson: Replied that the purpose is to be able to have accurate comparisons. Some items would skew the comparisons so items that were one-time in nature were removed in order to be able to compare expenditures. Keeney: Queried about the sample property tax bill that reflects an EDA levy of $100. Erickson: Replied that is a combination of multiple special taxing districts. Hedberg: Asked if the Watershed district is also in that line. Erickson: Yes. Keeney: Stated that the EDA budget is actually creating a levy of approximately $15-$16 per household. Erickson: Noted that tax statements don't provide that level of detail, but it was desired to show that at this meeting so people to know that EDA is included in that line. Mayor Hedberg declared the public hearing open at 8:07 p.m. Ken Boyles, 15358 Breezy Point Road, stated his proposed City tax is an 8.9% increase; County increase is 5.8% and School increase is 10%. Questioned why taxes go up that much in one year when his property has not changed. Stated that taxes are made up of levy and val- DRAFT 1125 13 City Council Meeting Minutes 3 uation and those two processes are separated by time and people. Commented on City's relin- quishing of the Local Board of Appeal and Equalization (LBAE) to the County believing that causes the Council to be disconnected. Believes there is a significant issue with the way that valuations are done by the county. Mayor Hedberg closed the public hearing at 8:16 p.m. Hedberg: Replied that a maximum levy with a 3.3% increase was approved in September, but now a final levy with a 0.37% is proposed. Analysis of debt service and increased revenue re- sulted in a 3% proposed decrease from September, so there will be significant adjustment based on that. Noted that some property values increased more than the rest of the community , which is likely related to sale of comparable properties during the related timeframe. Stated that assessors have to assess properties at 90 —105% of market value. Noted the assessment � calculations have always been done by the County Assessor's office and reported to the Coun- cil. Erickson: Added that two factors that may impact are the possible increase of valuation of a home of more than 3.5% and the timeframe valuated against which was two years ago. Noted the decision made by the Council to transfer the LBAE responsibilities to the County was made after discussion of whether the LBAE added value to the property owners. County staff are ap- praisers by trade and the City relies on their expertise. Valuation is guided by the State regard- ing the time frame to use for market sales as well as remaining in a range of the percentage of comparable sales. Keeney: Stated that the transfer of oversight is not irrevocable and he would be interested to learn if there are systematic problems with the County's appraisals. Erickson: Replied that the City must notify the County by December 1 about the transfer and there is a period of three assessment years before the County could consider turning that back to the City. Hedberg: Noted these concerns are about valuations of properties and those issues are not the purview of this meeting. All taxing districts rely on market valuation. Other districts, such as the school and County, have a larger segment of the total tax bill. Experience has been that when people bring data to the County, they often reach agreement on adjustments and if not, it can be appealed. Keeney: Stated he is happy to see the changes that are bringing down the reserve numbers. Concerned about the spending increase of 6% noting that a large portion of that is for the ERP system. Erickson: Stated that $285,000 is for the ERP system; $75,000 for election equipment and there is also the cost associated for an additional building inspector. Keeney: Ongoing sustained capital needs have been studied and put into a plan and the fund- ing of those plans continues to be reviewed. Every time there are one-time costs, he is remind- ed that the City is not something run for a one year at a time, but rather for a long time. Wants to assure that one-time items are not a reason to ratchet up spending and become used to that amount. That process is concerning because the City has been run at about the same level of service and number of residents. Calculations of inflation and population growth result in a number lower than the 6.5% increase in spending. Would prefer to reduce spending more. Morton: Echoed Keeney's comments. If one-time adjustments were taken out of the budget, the increase would still be 5%. Asked for more clarification on the increased FTE and what po- sition is proposed in addition to a building inspector. Erickson: Replied that a water operator position is proposed and would be funded by the water fund budget. Morton: Recalled discussion of the building inspector position and that there is work to sustain the position. DRAFT 11 25 13 City Council Meeting Minutes 4 Erickson: Recalled that the emphasis from the Council was to assure there are revenue sources for the position. Noted that the water treatment facility is valued at $14 million and the City has a single trained person to run it. An additional position is needed to have another trained person to run it. Added that employees have more than a single responsibility so the additional person would also have traditional responsibilities such as snow plowing, etc. McGuire: Agreed there is need to be fiscally prudent, but expressed concerned about decreas- ing the levy per household and still maintaining the same level of service. Hedberg: Replied that the original proposed budget was to have the levy equal to 2007, and now we are proposing less. Need to be concerned about level of service we provide to citizens. Steps were taken to reduce the levy during the economic downturn which was done with re- duced staffing and there was also increased service by adding the water treatment facility. In other areas tried to hold service the same. Concerned over the long haul that we are not providing the basis for maintaining service. Supports the budget as proposed. Keeney: Stated he favors a modest level of service in some areas and believes some capital projects may have been greater than we could afford. He would like to trend lower in those are- as. Stated he does not want to be in a situation where the City cannot sustain itself. Hedberg: Commented on his willingness to hear others say what the level of service should be and is willing to be open to those debates. Over the past few years, the City has been increas- ing funding set aside for capital purposes such as maintenance and replacement of significant systems. There are many long-range plans and setting aside larger portions of our budget for long term care of assets and infrastructure has put a squeeze on the operational budget. MOTION BY SOUKUP, SECOND BY KEENEY TO DIRECT STAFF TO PLACE THE 2014 BUDGET AND PROPERTY TAX LEVY ON THE DECEMBER 9, 2013 AGENDA FOR FINAL ACTION. VOTE: Ayes by Hedberg, Keeney, McGuire, Morton and Soukup. The motion carried. Public Hearing for Proposed 2014 Official Fee Schedule Finance Director Erickson reviewed the proposed adjustments to fees. Noted that the pro- posed increases in utility billing rates reflect the decision to increase rates incrementally. Keeney: Asked if the water rates are combined with sewer charges. Erickson: Replied this is for water rates only. Sewer rates are not being recommended for change. Keeney: Clarified the amount someone would pay for the sewer. Soukup: Asked if the Water Tower Access permit is tied to building permit fees. Erickson: Replied that does not affect utility rates. When access is needed for towers, it re- quires staff time and assurances of payment for any damage that may occur. Soukup: Asked if there are any changes to building permit fees. Erickson: None, other than the SAC fee that is charged by the Metropolitan Council. Soukup: Asked about the amount of building permits year to date. Poppler: Responded that with what is now issued and anticipated for issue before the end of the year, the total is 185. Erickson: Noted that the budget was calculated using 175 permits. Morton: Asked whether the second tier of water rates is retroactive to the entire amount if wa- ter usage exceeds 25,000 gallons. Erickson: Replied billing would be at the two different rates. Mayor Hedberg declared the public hearing open at 8:49 p.m. No person stepped forward to speak. DRAFT 1125 13 City Council Meeting Minutes 5 Mayor Hedberg declared the public hearing closed at 8:50 p.m. MOTION BY SOUKUP, SECOND BY MCGUIRE TO DIRECT STAFF TO PLACE THIS ITEM ON THE DECEMBER 9, 2013 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA FOR FINAL ACTION. VOTE: Ayes by Hedberg, Keeney, McGuire, Morton and Soukup. The motion carried. OLD BUSINESS Consider Approval of a Resolution Entering into a Contract for an Enterprise Resource Planning Software System Finance Director Erickson stated that items were built into the contract that were identified as necessary. The City Attorney has reviewed the contract. MOTION BY SOUKUP, SECOND BY MCGUIRE TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 13-176 AU- THORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE CITY'S STANDARDIZED PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CONTRACT FOR AN ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) SYSTEM. Morton: Asked for clarification on the contract reference to optional data conversion for $42, 000. Erickson: Replied it involves optional modules the City can consider in the future and was in- cluded to lock in a price for 12 months. The City is not obligated to purchase them. Morton: Asked how far back in time data will be converted. Erickson: Replied that is undecided and those discussions will be held when meeting with the vendor. Morton: Asked if one project manager will be enough. Erickson: Replied that there will be one project manager, but multiple people will be allocated as trainers. Morton: Asked for clarification on the total number of days allocated for implementation. Erickson: Replied that two days are allocated for project management, and the other days are for implementation and training. Morton: Asked if penalties will be incurred by the vendor if deadlines are not achieved. Erickson: Replied that no penalties are built in, but the City will not pay until go-live. Morton: Asked if staff is comfortable with the time being allocated. Erickson: Replied that some flexibility is built into the contract and if all the days allocated are not used, there is no requirement to pay for them. If more time is needed, a daily rate will be charged. Keeney: Asked about the conclusions reached regarding solvency queries. Erickson: Replied that the City received three years of financial reports and the Dun and Brad- street report, which was favorable. An escrow for the source code was built into the contract. Keeney: Noted that there were no provisions for verification that the escrow is sufficient to build and repair the software; and no damages if the City has to go through the process of fixing the software or hiring people to do that. Sometimes there are contractual assurances that would entitle an entity to damages if the escrow is exercised. Rosow: Commented that it is difficult to protect yourself in a bankruptcy situation with a general debt and the City would be considered a general creditor. Stated that if the City tried to protect itself in unique ways, it would likely be viewed as a preference that would be disallowed. The remedies built in are those in any commercial transaction that assumes there is an existing enti- ty to seek damages from. Remedies are typical and sufficient. If we do get into a bankruptcy situation, there is no sufficient remedy. Keeney: Commented there are typically parts of a system that we don't realize to build the software and those omissions can be hard to cure if you don't have access to the source code. DRAFT 1125 13 City Council Meeting Minutes 6 Rosow: Stated the Council could authorize staff to seek additional assurances along those lines if possible. VOTE: Ayes by Hedberg, Keeney, McGuire, Morton and Soukup. The motion carried. NEW BUSINESS Consider Approval of a Report Seeking Direction Regarding the Marina Task Force City Manager Boyles reviewed potential members for a marina task force. Queried whether the Council wanted to provide a charge for the task force. Proposed a schedule of ineetings. Morton: Believes a 15-member task force or greater would be appropriate. Supports the meet- ing structure as proposed. Soukup: Concurred. McGuire: Believes 15 members is a large committee, but concurs with starting with the pro- posed list to see if people accept the appointment. If not, the committee could be smaller. Keeney: Suggested that a core group of people come up with proposals and a larger group review the proposals to provide suggestions. A small group to lead with staff help will get more done. Suggested they organize themselves. Suggested that residents adjoining marinas or homeowners associations should be represented. Hedberg: Concurs with Keeney comments about adjoining residents being part of the group. Agreed that 15 members is a large group. Should be at least one public informational meeting so all can have input, but not necessarily participate in a meeting that has to hone in on recom- mendations. Commented that there are many homeowner's associations on the lake so re- cruitment can continue until two or three representatives are participating. Open to a broad charge/purview rather than a specific one. Believes part of the charge should be whether more complete regulations are needed and associated costs. I McGuire: Likes the idea of a focus group and believes it should include a representative from the Planning Commission, Lakes Advisory Committee and the Prior Lake Spring Lake Water- shed. Keeney: Asked which staff person would lead the effort. Likes the idea of a core group of es- tablished advisory committees driving this and then having residents, HOAs, marinas, etc. as ', constituents. There will be public meetings and some formal public input, but it likely will be dif- ficult to get everyone to attend all of the meetings. Morton: Believes receiving acceptance to the invitations to join will solidify the membership. Asked if the Council should have a participating member. McGuire: Stated he would prefer not to have a Council member to avoid influencing the out- come. Morton: Commented it could be as a liaison, rather than an active member. Soukup: Commented that having a staff member rather than a Council person will avoid the appearance of influence. Agreed it would be good to have a bigger group to get dialogue going and a core group to lead it. Cannot leave out the marina owners. Keeney: If the Council charges the Planning Commission and Lakes Advisory Commission with responsibility of making this happen, it is delegating from the Council. Stated he would be hap- py if the Planning Commission would own the process and the Council would not need a liaison. Boyles: Stated that Council Bylaws provide for the Council to appoint a committee for the pur- pose of researching. Might be best to make invitations to the task force, then bring them back for appointment. Asked the City Attorney if there is a short way to accomplish the same. Rosow: McGuire suggested appointing a small number of individuals or groups as the key component to be the task force and that task force would use the process of ineetings to solicit other inputs; and Keeney suggested the Planning Commission be charged with undertaking this review and including in the process the other interest groups that need to be heard. Either sug- gestion in order to get a good study and get proper citizen and business input would be appro- DRAFT 11 25 13 City Council Meeting Minutes 7 priate action the Council could take tonight rather than coming back to another meeting with ac- tual names. Hedberg: Clarified that Keeney had suggested representation from both the Planning Commis- sion and Lakes Advisory Committee. Keeney: Suggested that the Community Safety Advisory Committee (CSAC) also be involved. Soukup: Noted that Woody Spitzmueller serves on both the CSAC and the Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed. Keeney: Supports the membership of Spitzmueller. Believes this then turns into a task force comprised of people selected from those three bodies along with a staff person, and then ac- cepting input from all of the others. MOTION BY KEENEY, SECOND BY SOUKUP DIRECTING STAFF TO FORM A TASK FORCE COMPRISED OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE PLANNING COMMISSION, LAKES ADVISORY COMMITTEE, COMMUNITY SAFETY ADVISORY COMMITTEE AS WELL AS STAFF TO FORM A CORE GROUP THAT WILL THEN ACCEPT INPUT FROM A BROAD- ER GROUP OF STAKEHOLDERS REGARDING MARINA ORDINANCE. VOTE: Ayes by Hedberg, Keeney, McGuire, Morton and Soukup. The motion carried. OTHER BUSINESS Morton: Reminded everyone that the Downtown Dazzle event will be on December 6 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. ADJOURNMENT With no further business brought before the Council, a motion to adjourn was made by Keeney and seconded by Soukup. The motion carried and the meeting adjourned at 9:28 p.m. � Frank Boyles, City Manager Charlotte Green, Administrative Assistant DRAFT 11 25 13 City Council Meeting Minutes $