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HomeMy Public PortalAbout02/18/97 CCM39 MEDINA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 18, 1997 The City Council of Medina, Minnesota met in regular session on February 18, 1997, at 7:32 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers. Mayor John Ferris presided. Members present: John Ferris, John Hamilton, Jim Johnson, Ann Thies, and Phil Zietlow. Members absent: None. Also present: Public Works Director Jim Dillman, Police Chief Rick Rabenort, City Engineer Shawn Gustafson, Zoning Administrator Loren Kohnen, City Attorney Ron Batty, and City Clerk -Treasurer Paul Robinson. 1. Adoption of the Agenda Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by Jim Johnson, to adopt the published agenda with the following additions: A. Antenna Lease Revenue. B. City "Clean -Up Day." C. Volunteers of America Week. D. Letter Commending the Public Works Department. Motion passed unanimously. 2. Minutes Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Ann Thies, to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of February 4, 1997, as submitted. Motion passed. John Hamilton abstained since he was not present at the February 4th City Council meeting. PARK COMMISSION - Jim Johnson made an announcement about the Hamel Athletic Club "Medina Masters Snow Golf Tournament" that will be held this coming Saturday, February 22. PLANNING COMMISSION - Loren Kohnen said that a Conditional Use Permit for McDonalds will be on the next City Council agenda and that the discussion on the Spring Hill Golf Club has been extended to the second meeting in March. OLD BUSINESS 3. Antenna Moratorium Extension Ron Batty said that three months ago the City Council imposed a moratorium on transmission and reception facilities of commercial wireless telecommunication services on property not owned by the city. Batty said that the city did not yet have an ordinance in place, and therefore, it would be appropriate for the City Council to extend this moratorium. 40 Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Jim Johnson, to extend the moratorium an additional 90 days. Motion passed unanimously. NEW BUSINESS 4. Planning Commission Appointments John Ferris stated that since there is one more City Council meeting before the next Planning Commission meeting, he would like to table this item until the March 4, 1997 City Council meeting. There was some discussion concerning the two candidates in attendance. The City Council determined that they should table a decision on this issue but allow the candidates in attendance to introduce themselves and state their reasons for wanting to become a Planning Commissioner. Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Ann Thies, to table this issue until the City Council's March 4 meeting with the understanding that the City Council will hear presentations from the two candidates in attendance. Motion passed unanimously. Kathy Cook, 2900 County Road 19, said she has lived in the community since 1981 and has been interested in the activities of both the Park and Planning Commissions. In the past she did not have enough time to commit to these Commissions but now she has both the time and interest. She said she believes in a healthy community that can balance both the old and the new. She said her skills, represented in her letter to the City Council, would be very helpful to the Commission. She also felt it would be important to have a representative on the Commission from the Independence Beach Area. Decker Velie, 2235 County Road 24, said that he was appointed three years ago and that he learned a lot from being on the Planning Commission during that time. He said he understands the system and believes he would be a more effective commissioner in his second term. He said he would not seek reappointment for a third term if appointed to a second term. 5. Bid Results Phil Zietlow said that he would like to table this discussion. The bids for the City Hall expansion were "not in the ball park" and, because of this, the department would like time to come up with other alternatives. 41 Rick Rabenort said that the bids were about 30% higher than proposed. John Hamilton said that he had the opportunity to walk through the police department and put together some remodeling suggestions that he would like to share with the City Council. John Ferris said he would like to have a full blown discussion with the police department and the architect at a later point. John Hamilton asked if it would be O.K. to pass out the information he had put together. The consensus was that it would O.K. but that discussion on these suggestions would happen at a later point. Ron Batty asked what time requirement the City Council was operating under for accepting the bids. Rick Rabenort went to get the bid documents to determine the requirement. In the meantime the City Council dealt with the following issues. 6. Volunteers of America Week Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Ferris to proclaim March 2-9 Volunteers of America Week. Motion passed unanimously. 7. Hiring Summer Help Jim Dillman said that Jeff Weiler, who did an excellent job last year for the City, would like to return. Dillman said he would like to re -hire him and increase his pay to $8 per hour. Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by John Ferris, to approve the re -hiring of Jeff Weiler as summer help and to increase his rate of pay to $8/hr. Motion passed unanimously. 8. City Clean -Up Day Jim Dillman said that the date for the city "Clean -Up Day' was set for April 26th. Dillman said that this year they were planning to sell trees again but he asked the City Council if they should also sell fertilizer and if so, who would organize it. Dillman said that Sandie Larson would not be organizing of it this year. Jim Johnson said that at the next Communities in Collaboration meeting he will see if they want to sell some type of non -phosphorous fertilizer at the "Clean -Up Day." 42 Phil Zietlow expressed an interest in the Boy Scouts handling this as a fund raiser. Dillman said that he was considering working with businesses in the area, such as Midland and Otten Bros., to create a brochures/handout on tree care. 9. Bid Results - continued Rick Rabenort came back with the bid documentation and stated that the City had until March 315t Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Jim Johnson, to table this discussion. Motion passed unanimously. 10. Joe Heyman's Request for Additional 30 Day Option to Return. Phil Zietlow stated that he had not talked with Joe Heyman but that he did receive an unsigned letter from Joe with his request for an additional 30 days. Zeitlow said that he had problems supporting this extension. He felt that the current hiring process had excellent candidates, in fact, the number one candidate had ten years of experience. Zietlow was concerned that offering an additional extension to Joe Heyman could upset the current hiring process. Phil Zietlow said that if the State Patrol does not work out for Joe, he could always reapply for his job with the other applicants. John Hamilton asked if the background investigation was finished on the current candidate. Rick Rabenort said that it was sent out but it has not yet been returned. John Hamilton said that Heyman's requested extension would probably expire before the city was ready to offer the current candidate a position. Hamilton said that offering an additional extension would not cost the city anything. Phil Zietlow said that Joe Heyman should have called him if he was serious about this request. Jim Johnson asked Rick Rabenort what he thought about the extension. Rick Rabenort said he agreed with Phil Zietlow that the 30 day extension was more than fair. 43 Ann Thies said that she had reservations about extending the option to return. Thies said that she would not want to mess up the current process especially if there was potential to get two officers from the current process. Jim Johnson said 30 days did not seem like a big deal but that he would have liked Joe to show up at the meeting. Johnson said he would like to know why Joe was asking for this additional 30 day extension. John Hamilton said that when he talked with Joe it seemed that Joe may not think the grass was as green as he thought on the other side on the fence. John Ferris said that he thought Joe Heyman was a good officer but that his request for an additional extension could have been more informative. Ferris said that the City Council had given Joe a 30 day extension and he felt this was enough. John Ferris asked if there was a motion from the City Council to extend an additional 30 day extension to Joe Heyman. No motion was made. 11. Evergreen Road Proiect Jim Dillman said that the public works department will be very busy this summer and that he would like to postpone the Evergreen Road project until next year. Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Ann Thies, to postpone the Evergreen Road Improvement. Motion passed unanimously. 12. Highway 55 Frontage Road Jim Dillman said that recently he and Loren met with Jim Grube of Hennepin County Public Works, and Tom O'Keefe from MnDot about a frontage road on the north side of TH 55 and east of Arrowhead Drive. Loren Kohnen pointed out the proposed area on an overhead. Jim Dillman said that this road was in the city's comprehensive plan and that it will eventually run all the way from Arrowhead Drive to County Road(CR) 116. Currently the county is upgrading the portion of Truck Highway(TH) 55 between from Arrowhead and CR 116 and they want to purchase the access rights to the properties where the proposed frontage road would be constructed. This would eliminate direct access onto TH 55. Access to TH 55 would then be via the frontage road. 44 Loren Kohnen said that the frontage road would move traffic onto a controlled intersection. Phil Zietlow asked if this property was zoned Rural Commercial(RC). Kohnen said it was. Jim Dillman said that one of the costs of this project to the city was that the city provide 2 acres for wetland mitigation. Reg Pederson, a property owner affected by the frontage road, said that his biggest concern was safety and that of all the options presented so far, this was the best. His ideal plan would probably be something else. Phil Zietlow said it sounds too good to be true. He asked what the negatives were to this proposal. Jim Dillman said that after the county builds the road they will be giving the road back to the city. Phil Zietlow asked where the two acres of wetland would be coming from. Jim Dillman said that they would look for a piece of property nearby. He suggested using a portion of the property the city purchased from Emil Jubert. Ron Batty said that the Jubert property was in the sewer district and may be more valuable if developed. Jim Dillman agreed but said that they were suggesting using an area within the property's set -backs. Shawn Gustafson said that it may be possible to create some additional wetland area at the Hamel Memorial Park. There was some discussion on this issue and other potential properties. Bill Cavanaugh said that he would be willing discuss using some of his nearby property for wetland development and suggested that the City Staff look at this option. Jim Dillman said that Jim Grube believes that it will take $70,000 worth of their staff time for engineering, etc. The county would like to deduct this amount from their sewer assessment. The current assessment would be $ 305,424. Jim Dillman asked the City Council if they had a favorable response to this concept. There was some discussion about construction along other areas of the TH 55 and some of the difficulties that will occur if the frontage road were to go through to CR 116. 45 Phil Zietlow asked what was meant by the lesser Medina spec. Jim Dillman said that this meant there would be no concrete curb and gutter. Jim Dillman said that staff would put together a plan for the City Council to review. There was some discussion about another proposal from MnDot to close off residential access to properties on the south side of Highway 12 between CR 6 and Town Line Road and serve them with a frontage road from Town Line Road. Jim Dillman said that he would keep working with MnDot on this issue and keep the City Council up to date. 13. Loretto -Corcoran Water Line Jim Dillman said that the City of Loretto and Corcoran were proposing to create a joint water system which would be connected by a 12" water main that would run through Medina along CR 19. Dillman said that Shawn Gustafson had put together information for the City of Loretto but that the Medina had never heard back from them. Dillman said that the question here is, does the City want to get involved in this project. Dillman said that the main reasons for this project were that the City of Loretto needs to increase its water pressure and the City of Corcoran wants to have additional water with enough pressure to accommodate sprinkler and fire protection to help develop commercial/industrial sites in the southwest corner of their city. Phil Zietlow said that since this area is zoned Rural Commercial, which according to the comprehensive plan is limited to 100 gallon per acre per day, there would be no need at present for a water system. Zeitlow also said that if there is no sewer system in this area there would also be no need for a water system in this area. Zietlow asked if properties in Medina could use this water. Jim Dillman said that if they paid they probably could. John Hamilton said that Schlosser would like to have water for his property. Phil Zietlow said that he does not know of any plans in this area. John Ferris said that the property in this area would make excellent commercial property but that it is not as valuable without sewer. Jim Johnson said that this area was not in the ultimate sewer district. 46 Dillman said that there are around 100 sewer units available from Independence Beach that could eventually be used to develop this area. John Ferris said that this property is not residential property and the question in his mind was - Is there a benefit to the city to have nothing on this property or is it O.K. to have something there under slow/low growth? Ferris said that the best use of this property is commercial and the City Council may want to consider facilitating that type of growth. There was some discussion about connecting Medina's water system with Loretto's. Jim Johnson asked how much that would cost. Jim Dillman said it would cost around $500,000. Ron Batty said that Loretto wants to do this project and that they were looking for someone to help share the cost. Corcoran expressed interest in this project since it meets some of their plans for development. John Hamilton asked if Corcoran and Loretto created this system could an individual in Medina purchase water from it. Jim Dillman said he thought they could. He said it would be a money maker. Loren Kohnen said that at one point a McDonalds franchise was looking to build in this corner of the City. There was some discussion about if the city would want to encourage development of this corner. There were concerns raised that the city had not encouraged development in other areas. Phil Zietlow said that when there were parties interested in developing this area that would be the time to look into providing additional services. It was the difference between promoting development and facilitating development. 14. Antenna Lease Revenue John Ferris said that unlike taxes and license fees, antenna revenues are not something that the city can count on as an annual revenue source. Technological advancements could make this revenue source go away. Since this is unexpected revenue it has been suggested that the city use these funds for projects that are not reoccurring such as a water treatment plant, as Jim Dillman has suggested, or for park improvements, as Jim Johnson has suggested. 47 Jim Johnson said that a decision does not need to be made on exactly how to spend the money but he would like to see some of the money going towards projects in the parks. He said that since there has been limited development in the city, park dedication fees have diminished. He suggested using revenues from antenna leases for projects in parks throughout the city. Jim Dillman said that the city could use some of the money to purchase property in order to preserve a natural area. There was some discussion about the amount of potential revenue that could be received in the next 20 years. Without interest it was estimated that around $1,062,000 could be raised. There was some discussion about using the revenues in areas that are directly impacted by the towers or whether these revenues should be used throughout the city. Jim Johnson said that he was not interested in having it all dedicated towards the water fund. There was some discussion about where and for what purpose the money should be kept or used. There was agreement on the City Council that the money should be taken out of the general fund's revenue stream. The consensus of the City Council was to set up a fund in which to keep the antenna lease revenues and decide on its exact use(s) at a later date. Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to designate all antenna revenues not budgeted in the general fund for 1997 into an appropriately named fund to be determined by the Mayor and the City -Clerk -Treasurer. After 1997 all antenna revenues will be designated to this fund. Motion passed unanimously. 15. Letter Commending Public Works Department. Jim Johnson said that the public works department got a letter from Dale Johnson, a Medina resident and owner of DMJ Asphalt Contracting, thanking the department for a job well done on constructing the city's roads. Johnson said that the city crew performed the construction of city roads as well as any private contractor that he had been associated with. 48 15. Approval to Pay the Bills Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by John Ferris, to approve order checks numbers 16807-16857 for $37,821.08 and payroll checks 15132-15142 for $10,748.95. Motion passed unanimously. 16. Executive Session Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to close the regular meeting at 9:25 p.m. and go into executive session based upon attorney client privilege. Motion passed unanimously. Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to come out of executive session and reconvene the regular meeting at 9:48 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. 17. Adjourn Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Ferris, to adjourn the meeting at 9.49 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. John B. Ferris, Mayor Atte Paul Robinson, Clerk -Treasurer ORDER CHECKS - FEBRUARY 18, 1997 16807 Air Touch Cellular $ 99.28 16808 Allstar Electric 82.19 16809 Anti -Defamation League 23.85 16810 Brooklyn Park Police 275.00 16811 Budget Printing 158.46 16812 Commissioner of Revenue 859.22 16813 Cliff Fadden & Sons 297.25 16814 Feed Rite Controls 20.00 16815 John Ferris 45.00 16816 Fortin Hardwre 36.49 16817 G.L. Contracting 3,471.70 16818 Genuine Parts 94.87 16819 Glenwood Inglewood 39.55 16820 Great West Life 1,015.00 16821 Hamel Building Center 17.03 16822 Jim Hatch Sales 591.7 16823 Health Partners 2,076.6 16824 Hennepin Co. Treas 237.60 16825 Hennepin Co. Support 565.00 16826 Ronald J. Johnson 1,190.7 16827 Kennedy & Graven 8,599.89 16828 Lake Business 31.24 16829 Lakeshore Weekly News 114.40 16830 Law Enforcement Labor 99.00 16831 League of Minn Cities 30.00 16832 LMCIT 26.00 16833 Long Lake Tractor 114.21 16834 Lucent Technologies 13.30 16835 Lucent Technologies 37.94 16836 Metro West Inspection 7,280.08 16837 Metropolitan Council 1,881.00 16838 Minn Comm 38.03 16839 Minnesota Mutual 193.00 16840 Minnesoota State Retire 117.00 16841 Minnesota's Bookstore 143.87 16842 Mound Medical Clinic 30.00 16843 Municipals 10.00 16844 Nationall Fire Prot. 95.00 16845 Northern States Power 975.30 16846 P.E. R.A. 2,359.29 16847 Public Safety Equipment 120.00 16848 Reynolds Welding 19.81 16849 Paul Robinson 57.68 50 ORDER CHECKS - FEBRUARY 18, 1997 (PAGE 2) 16850 Steven Schmit Plumbing 494.90 16851 St. Joseph's Equipment 64.70 16852 Streicher's 116.93 16853 Tallen & Baertschi 2,111.66 16854 Twin City Water Clinic 20.00 16855 U.S. West Communications 34.60 16856 Wright Hennepin Elect. 1343.46 16857 Wright Hennepin Sec 52.18 $37,821.08 PAYROLL CHECKS - FEBRUARY 18, 1997 15132 Paul A. Robinson $ 800.71 15133 Steven T. Scherer 904.65 15134 Richard R. Rabenort 1,235.05 15135 Michael J. Rouillard 486.03 15136 James D. Dillman 1,140.81 15137 Robert P. Dressel 1,064.95 15138 Edgar J. Belland 1,542.97 15139 Cecilia M. Vieau 666.18 15140 Laura L. Sulanader 890.73 15141 Sandra L. Larson 740.52 15142 Jon D. Priem 1,276.35 $10,748.95