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HomeMy Public PortalAbout01/21/97 CCM15 MEDINA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF JANUARY 21, 1997 The City Council of Medina, Minnesota met in regular session on January 21, 1997, at 7:30 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers. Mayor John Ferris presided. Members present: John Ferris, Jim Johnson, John Hamilton, Ann Thies, and Phil Zietlow. Members absent: None. Also present: Police Chief Rick Rabenort, City Engineer Shawn Gustafson, City Attorney Ron Batty, and City Clerk -Treasurer Paul Robinson: Public Works Director Jim Dillman arrived after 9:30 p.m. 1. Adoption of the Agenda Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to adopt the published agenda with the following additions: 1. Spring Hill Golf Course Update. 2. Exit Interviews. 3. Update on Police Hiring Process. Motion passed unanimously. 2. Minutes Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Hamilton, to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of January 7, 1997, with the following additions: 1. Add to the first paragraph on page five a sentence that refers to Phil Zietlow's statement, this was not the first occasion that the Minnesota Riders Association had turned in their application late. 2. Add to the third paragraph on page eight six months to a after the word issue and delete the word one. 3. Change odd in the first sentence on page 10 to of. Motion passed unanimously. 3. Oath of Office The City Clerk -Treasurer gave the oath of office to Jim Johnson for City Councilmember. 4. Consent Agenda Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Ann Thies, to approve the consent agenda, as follows: A. Addition of the City Clerk -Treasurer to Finance Committee. Motion passed unanimously. 16 PARK COMMISSION COMMENTS 5. Sledding Hill Jim Johnson said that he had read in the Park Commission minutes that the Commission wanted signs designating Hamel Memorial Park as a City Park and that the signs were to included a list of park regulations. Johnson said he wanted to know if these signs had been posted. Phil Zietlow said that Jim Dillman was taking care of these signs. Phil Zietlow also stated that if snowmobiles did not stay off the sledding hill the agreement with the snowmobile club was that the trail would be closed. Jim Johnson said that it may be hard to stop all snowmobiles until a permanent fence has been installed. Ann Thies asked Rick Rabenort if there were any complaints about snowmobiles in the park. Rick Rabenort said that he had not heard of any. 6. Thank You to Tom Anderson. Jim Johnson asked if a letter had been sent to Tom Anderson thanking him for his generous donation to the Hamel Memorial Park. John Ferris said that a letter had been sent. 7. Request to Join the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association. Paul Robinson said that Jim Dillman had included a memo asking the City Council if the City of Medina should join the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association at a cost of$180. Ann Thies said that she had no objections. Phil Zietlow asked what would be the value to Medina of joining. Ann Thies replied that we may not know until we try. Jim Johnson said that this membership may help in developing Hamel Park. Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Ann Thies, to approve $180 to join the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association. Motion passed unanimously. 17 PLANNING COMMISSION COMMENTS 8. Penny Elsenpeter Anne Heideman reminded the City Council that since Penny Elsenpeter has served for three consecutive terms her term as a Planning Commissioner and Chair was ending as of March 1st. Heideman also added that Penny has been an invaluable member of the Planning Commission. John Ferris thanked Anne for bringing this to the City Council's attention and said that the City Council could recognize Penny's contributions at a City Council meeting in February. NEW BUSINESS 9. Discuss Lakeshore Weekly News Coverage of Medina. John Ferris began the discussion by stating that the Lakeshore Weekly News was on the world wide web (www.weeklynews.com) and that it was a good site and easy to use. Peter May, owner and publisher of the Lakeshore Weekly News, thanked the City Council for designating his paper as the official city paper. He stated that he was working on increasing the paper's distribution within the City of Medina but that there were some problems with delivery in a primarily rural area. One of the potential solutions would be to mail to all households but that has been cost prohibitive for the paper. May stated that he would be willing to provide distribution stands for the Lakeshore Weekly News at Independence Beach and Morningside locations. He talked about the durability of the stands they would use and said they cost around $150 each and hold around 100 papers. There was some discussion about how to anchor the stands and where to place them. The City Council directed May to work with Jim Dillman, the Public Works Director, on these issues. Peter May said he would call Mr. Dillman. Peter May also asked the City Council if they would be willing to help out with the cost of the stands. John Ferris said that they would put that issue on the next City Council meeting agenda. 18 There was some discussion about the number of papers needed at each location. Anne Heideman said that there were only 83 housing units in the Morningside area and over 180 in the Independence Beach area. She suggested that more papers be distributed to Independence Beach than to Morningside. Peter May said that fluctuations in the weather dramatically affect the rate at which papers are picked up. He said that once exact locations were decided on he would make sure to promote the new locations through announcements in their paper. John Ferris thanked May for his time. 10. Planning Commission Appointments Paul Robinson stated that there will be three appointments opening on the Planning Commission and that two of the three incumbents were eligible for reappointment. He asked whether or not the City Council would like to advertise for these positions. Jim Johnson said to advertise for all three positions. John Ferris said that City Councils in the recent past had advertised for all open positions. Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Ferris, to direct the Planning and Zoning Assistant to advertise for the three Planning Commission vacancies and request that applications and letters of interest be submitted by the second City Council meeting in February. Motion passed unanimously. 11. Conditional Use Permit(CUP) for a Communications Tower for Nextel. (Ron Batty presented this issue for Loren Kohnen.) Ron Batty stated that Nextel would like a CUP to build a free standing 180 foot communications tower. This tower would be located on City property next to the Hamel water tower. This issue was heard by the Planning Commission last Tuesday where it received considerable discussion. At that meeting, the Planning Commission recommended approval with 12 conditions as included in the packets. Batty stated that one or two of these conditions deserved the City Council's particular attention. Batty said that there were a few loose ends that needed to be tied up in the lease and that approval of the CUP should be contingent upon completion and approval of the lease. There was some discussion about the liability the city may have and the insurance coverage that the city would require. 19 Batty proposed $1,000,000 coverage since that seemed to be the most common in the examples he had seen. He suggested talking with the city's risk management firm about this issue. There was some discussion with representatives of Nextel about the construction of the tower. Chuck Johnson, a construction expert from Nextel, talked about how towers are overbuilt on the bottom so that they do not fall over onto surrounding buildings but rather bend in half. There was discussion about where towers had been bent in half and other weather conditions that may affect the tower. There was also some discussion about the water tower falling into the tower and the impacts that might have. Chuck Johnson said that Nextel had not considered that scenario. Anne Heideman, the Planning Commission representative, stated that the Planning Commission thought that the water tower would be coming down and suggested that maybe the city needs to look more aggressively at taking the water tower down. Jim Johnson asked if AirTouch cellular, located on the water tower, had been contacted about the proposed antenna. Bill Buell, a Nextel representative, stated that he believed that engineers from the two companies had been in communication with one another. There was some discussion about why this location was chosen for the tower. Ron Batty stated that a few months ago the City Council was concerned about having communication towers everywhere. Staff felt it was an advantage to have several companies co -locate on one tower. This tower will provide locations for several companies and give the city one tower instead of four. There was some discussion about the distance needed between towers. Bill Buell stated that there was no hard and fast rule but that antennas can be from 5 to 8 miles apart. Buell stated that this location was where they needed to locate. There was some discussion about the color of the tower. The color proposed by the Planning Commission was gray. Bill Buell stated that a galvanized metal surface after a few months would have very much the same appearance. After some discussion the recommendation of the City Council was to use a galvanized metal surface. John Ferris asked what was the next step for the City Council. Ron Batty stated that the City Council could adopt the CUP contingent upon approval of the lease agreement. 20 John Ferris said that the City Clerk -Treasurer could address the insurance coverage issues with Tom Rerah, the city's risk management representative, and present this information at the next City Council meeting. Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to direct Ron Batty to prepare a resolution approving the CUP for Nextel for a communication tower, subject to the conditions listed by the Planning Commission and contingent approval of the lease agreement. Motion passed unanimously. 12. Sprinq Hill Golf Club There was discussion about the review of the proposed Spring Hill Golf Club. John Ferris stated that representatives of the golf club were working with a resident whose property would border the course about screening the golf course from his property. Ferris said that he believes these issues will be resolved. There was some discussion about when the Planning Commission should review the proposal. Ann Thies stated that the Planning Commission should go ahead and review the application but make recommendations subject to review of the EAW and the City of Orono's review. There was some discussion about public trails along the golf course property and comparisons of this golf course to others in the area. 13. 1997 Board of Review John Ferris stated that unlike the Truth in Taxation meeting, the Board of Review can take more time. Phil Zietlow suggested starting the meeting at 7:00 p.m.. Moved by John Ferris, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve Wednesday, April 9, at 7:00 p.m. for the 1997 Local Board of Review Meeting. Motion passed unanimously. 14. Stand by Generator for Hamel Well House #1 Jim Dillman was not able to present this issue since he was needed to plow city streets. Therefore, he asked to have this issue tabled. Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by John Ferris, to table this issue. Motion passed unanimously. 21 15. Volunteer Reserve Program. Phil Zietlow introduced this issue by stating that the city's current reserve program includes one active officer and has, in the past, included 3-4 officers. However, in the past, the city has never really looked at the training requirements for these officers. Phil Zietlow stated that there were two main questions to answer. Was the program worthwhile? And, is it worth the additional liability and cost? Zeitlow said that the officers agreed that it had been a worthwhile program and that the positives outweighed the negatives. There was some discussion about the cost to train and equip each reserve. Rick Rabenort said that it would cost between $1,000 and $2,000 for each reserve but that this range depended on a number of factors. There was some discussion about the events and situations where reserves could or could not be used. Rick Rabenort said the more dangerous the situation the more likely the city's liability would increase and the more training reserve officers would need. John Hamilton asked if the city had advertised for the reserve positions. Rick Rabenort said that they had. Phil Zietlow said that first the City Council needed to decide if this was a worthwhile program and then decide what the requirements should be and the timing of when to initiate this program. There was some discussion about the timing. Jim Johnson said he thought the City Council should table this issue for six months. The City Council discussed the activities currently going on in the police department such as the hiring and training of two new officers and a CSO, and the police addition to city hall and the Council that because there was a lot going on it would be good to focus on those activities and postpone implementing the new reserve program. There was some discussion about the training program for which reserve candidates were currently registered. The consensus of the City Council was to let the people who signed up to be reserves go through the training but to tell them that the city would not be ready to start this program until sometime this summer. Phil Zietlow said that the City Council should still move forward with the reserve policy. 22 John Ferris stated that when the City Council takes up this discussion in the future, they would want the following information from the police department: the number of reserves needed, the number of hours each would typically work, and the starting and operating cost of the program. 16. Approval of Firearms Training Rick Rabenort said that included in the City Council packets was an agreement with the City of Plymouth for the Police Department to use Plymouth's firing range. He said that Medina would be charged the actual cost of Medina's usage of the range. Rick Rabenort said the department would still use the site in Delano but that this agreement would give them an additional option. There was some discussion about other locations, such as, the county's range. Ron Batty had some concerns with the liability language in the last sentence of section 4C. He wanted to know why this language was included. Rick Rabenort said he did not know why. Ron Batty said it may be worth exploring if Plymouth would drop this language since it did not seem necessary. Rick Rabenort said that he would talk to Plymouth about the language. Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Hamilton, to approve the agreement with the City of Plymouth to use their firearms training facility subject to a decision on the merit of the last sentence in section 4C. Motion passed unanimously. 17. Update On Police Hiring Process Rick Rabenort said that he had set up oral boards for twelve officers. After the oral boards, the top candidates would meet with the officers to see if the top candidates fit with the current officers in the department. John Ferris said that it is worth spending more time and money on the hiring process now rather than later. Phil Zietlow said that the department plans to hire one officer and then start the process over again to hire a second officer. This way the city can do it right, one at a time. John Hamilton asked if there would be a new list created for the second officer. Rick Rabenort stated that yes there would be. 18. Exit Interviews John Hamilton said that he was looking for an update on the exit interview with officer Heyrnan. He said that exit interviews area grPPt way to increase communication and to better the city. Phil Zietlow was concerned about discussing the entire interview because Joe Heyman was told that the interview would be confidential. There was come discussion about the importance of keeping the interviews confidential. Ron Batty stated that he would like to review the issue of confidentiality so that the city does not make promises can't keep. he would report back issues in a does not make �w promises � ..r �...i it can't � He saidi iv would on this memo. Phil Zietlow said that the exit interview was primarily for the police department and that the City Council should stay out of it. Jim Johnson said that he was not so sure that the City Council should turn its back on the issues raised in these interviews. The City Council is the one ultimately responsible and issues should not be hidden from them. There was some discussion about issues the City Counci! should or should not know about. Phil 7ietlow said that he could share some of the constructive comments but that he did not believe it would be productive to share some of the more personal details. Zeitlow said that Joe thought there could be more and better communication in the department. Since the officers have such differing schedules it was hard to have good and consistent communication. Zeitlow said that the department has now implemented monthly meetings to help improve communications and would install a white board so the officers have a place to communicate with one another and with the chief. Zeitlow stated that Heyman also mentioned that often things would be said but nothing was done, Heyman felt he did not know what was happening in the department, ent, One example was the time -table for the new building addition. Heyman said that he had been accused of spending too much time backing up other cities and wanted more clarification on the city's policy. Zeitlow said that Heyman thought performance evaluations were very negative. Phi! Zietlow said that next time Rick will give the officers an opportunity to fill out their own evaluations. 24 Phil Zietlow said that all of these comments were being used to make a stronger police department and closed by stating that if any City Council members had additional concerns or comments they could talk to him about them. 1 9. Suburban Alliance Ron Batty stated that at the first meeting in December the City Counci! passed a resolution to dissolve the Suburban Alliance. Currently the members working to dissolve the organization and finalize financial matters, would like the city to pass an additional resolution giving the City of St. Louis Park the authority to finish closing the Suburban Alliance. There was some discussion about if the City wishes to continue to discuss this matter or if it should ignore this latest request. Ron Batty said that the ultimate question may be if the city does not pay who does that hurt and is worth angering the cit„'s neighbors over this relatively small amount of E f is it angering the VIES this 1VI 11YV y 111 amount money. Phil Zietlow suggested that we send the check without the resolution. Ron Batty said that if the City Council was prepared to pay then it might as well pass the resolution. Phil Zietlow said that if the city passes this resolution the organization may return and say you owe $3,000. John Ferris said that he would be willing to pay the $ 2,066 but that that would be ail. Phil Zietlow said that the city should send a letter before paying stating that the city would pay the $ 2,066 but that it does not consider itself a member and would like a letter, from the group closing the Suburban Alliance, assuring the city that this payment would be the full and final amount the city's would owe. Once this letter is received the city could then pay the $ 2,066. Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Ann Thies, to pay the amount owed to the Suburban Alliance once the city receives a letter confirming Medina's request not to be further involved in the dissolution of the organization. Motion passed unanimously. 20. Pay the Bills Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Johrr Ferris, to approve order checks numbers 16698-16753 for $ 56, 300.11 and payroll checks 15102-15114 for $ 12, 399. 96. M i o passed unanimously. 25 21. Executive Session Meeting was closed at 9:53 to discuss potential litigation. Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by Jim Johnson to return to regular session. Motion passed unanimously. 22. City Clerk -Treasurer Review John Ferris stated that it has been six months since the City Clerk -Treasurer had been employed by the city and he would like the City Council to acknowledge the end of his probationary period and recognize him as a regular employee. There was some discussion about the City Clerk -Treasurer's performance during the past six months. There were some concerns about mistakes that had been made in the City Council minutes and in other documents and the City Clerk -Treasurer was encouraged to continue to minimize these errors. The City Clerk -Treasurer was also recognized for some newer ideas and the City Council felt that overall the City Clerk -Treasurer had performed satisfactorily. Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by John Ferris, to recognize Paul Robinson as a regular employee and acknowledge the end of his probationary period. Motion passed unanimously. 23. Adjourn Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by John Ferris, to adjourn the meeting at 10.12 p.m.. Motion passed unanimously. Atte� , Paul Robinson, City Clerk -Treasurer . Ferris, Mayor 26 (THIS PAGE LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY) ORDER CHECK '�J �NUARY 21 1997.Eh��� 16698 Air Touch Cellular 203.65 16699 American Express 68.97 16700 American Linen Supply 42.72 16701 Robert Bradley 70.00 16702 Bryan Rock Products 468.59 16703 Casara Computer systems 375.00 16704 Commissioner of Revenue 1,061.90 16705 Christopher Crosby 80.00 16706 Deko Factory Svc. 49.71 16707 James Dillman 75.00 16708 Robert Dressel 75.00 16709 Elm Creek Watershed 1,875.20 16710 Penny Elsenpeter 90.00 16711 Feed Rite Controls 20.00 16712 Fortin Hardware 42.72 16713 G. L. Contracting 2,326.18 16714 Genuine Parts 178.33 16715 Glenwood Inglewood 45.90 16716 Gopher State One Call 38.50 16717 Grainger 129.56 16718 Great West Life Assurance 845.00 16719 H & L Mesabi 216.07 16720 Jim Hatch Sales 195.87 16721 Anne Heideman 100.00 16722 Hennepin County Support 565.00 16723 Intl Inst.l of Mun. Clerks 85.00 16724 Lake Business Supply 642.73 16725 Lake Productivity Training 255.00 16726 Law Enforcement Labor Service 132.00 16727 League of Minn. Cities 145.00 16728 LMCIT w04-K6.-4-1 Cow f 14,183.00 16729 Lucent Technologies 13.30 16730 Susan Mackay 80.00 16731 MAUMA 30.00 16732 Metro West Inspection 11,428.92 16733 Metro Council Wastewater Svcs.(Treatment Chgs.) 7,803.00 16734 Frank Mignone 90.00 16735 Minn Comm 61.45 16736 Minn. Counties Ins. Trust 50.00 16737 Minnesota Mayor Assn. 20.00 16738 Minnesota Mutual 108.00 16739 Minnesota Rec & Park Assn 180.00 16740 Minnesota State Retirement System 82.00 28 ORDER CHECKS - JANUARY 21, 1997 (CONT'D) 16741 MN-GFFOA 15.00 16742 Northern States Power 844.96 16743 City of Orono Ste-7- 4- 4^»0 6,066.01 16744 P.E.R.A 2,884.84 16745 Pioneer -Sarah Creek 777.50 16746 Postmaster 500.00 16747 Reynolds Welding 19.81 16748 Steven Scherer 75.00 16749 Carolyn Smith 80.00 16750 Total Office Prodlucts & Svcs 264.12 16751 Twin City Water Clinic 20.00 16752 U.S. West Communications 34.60 16753 Bruce Workman 90.00 $56, 300.11 PAYROLL CHECKS 15102 Paul A. Robinson $ 800.71 15103 Steven T. Scherer 1,068.83 15104 Richard R. Rabenort 1,285.05 15105 Michael J. Rouillard 935.87 15106 James D. Dillman 1,175.46 15107 Robert P. Dressel 1,133.86 15108 Edgar J. Belland 1,586.84 15109 Cecilia M. Vieau 705.68 15110 Ivan W. Dingman 83.11 15111 Laura L. Sulander 890.73 15112 Sandra L. Larson 752.29 15113 Joseph R. Heyman 897.17 15114 Jon D. Priem 1,084.36 $12, 399.96