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HomeMy Public PortalAbout07/20/99 CCM123 MEDINA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF JULY 20, 1999 The City Council of Medina, Minnesota met in regular session on July 20, 1999 at 7:30 p.m. in the City Hall Chambers. Mayor John Ferris presided. Members present: Ferris, Zietlow, Hamilton, Johnson, and Smith. Members absent: None. Also present: Police Chief Ed Belland, Attorney Ron Batty, Public Works Director Jim Dillman, Planning & Zoning Administrator Loren Kohnen, and City Clerk -Treasurer Paul Robinson. 1. Pledge of Allegiance 2. Additions to the Agenda A. Update on the generator for City Hall. B. Update on the Rolling Green Country Club. Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion passed unanimously. 3. Approval of the Minutes from July 6, 1999 Page 1, item number 7, change east to west and west to east after Mohawk Drive. Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve the minutes as amended. Motion passed unanimously. 4. Consent Agenda A. Gambling License and 3.2% Malt Liquor License for Church of St. Anne. B. Set Up License for American Legion Post #394. Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Jim Johnson, to approve the consent agenda as presented. Motion passed unanimously. 5. Park Commission Comments Jim Dillman said that Nick Perry started his Eagle Scout project, installing the volleyball court at Hamel Legion Park. 6. Planning Commission Comments There were none. 7. Comments from Residents in Attendance on Items Not on the Agenda There were none. 8. Presentation of a Check from the Hamel Lions Mark Schering, gambling manager, and Liz Jungels, president of the Hamel Lions, presented a check to the City for $60,000. Schering said this money came from profits from their pull tab operation. They said $50,000 was for the Hamel Legion Park and $10,000 was for the Hamel Fire Department for SCBA masks. The City Council thanked the Hamel Lions for their generous donation. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes July 20, 1999 124 9. Variance Request for Setback Variances for Aleta Mathieson 4635 Brook Street Loren Kohnen said the Mathieson family was requesting 3 setback variances, two side yard and one front yard, so that they would be able to add an addition to their house. Kohnen said their garage would be 20 feet from the property line and the house and the garage would be centered on the lot. The front yard variance requested was 10 feet and the side yard variances requested were for one foot, two inches, one on each side of the house. He said staff recommended approval of the variances. Kohnen showed an overhead of the existing home and the proposed home. Kohnen said the planning commission recommended approval with the following hardships: the size of the lot; that adjacent property was not available for purchase; and, similar variances had been given in the area. One condition was also added. That the shed in the back be removed within 30 days after the permit was finalized. Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by John Hamilton, to authorize the City Attorney to draft a resolution approving the variances with two hardships, the size of the lot and that similar variances had been given in this area. Johnson also included the condition that the shed be removed within 30 day after issuance of the building permit. Motion passed unanimously. 10. Hennepin County Property John Ferris said he received a letter addressed to him from the county requesting that the City guarantee, immediately, 120 sewer units for the Elwell property. There was some discussion about this. The City continues to keep that property under a moratorium. Once the comprehensive plan is completed sewer units will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis, except for those who have already paid for sewer units, of which the county has paid for 65. There was some discussion about confusion that certain developers had concerning the potential for additional sewer units above the 120 units currently guided for in the working draft of the Comprehensive Plan. Loren Kohnen said that in his discussion with developers he said it may be possible to add a few additional units if they were to meet certain criteria. He said he has told developers that this would not be significantly more than the 120 units currently allocated in the Comprehensive Plan draft. The consensus of the City Council was to allocate the 65 units that were currently available and if the current draft of the Comprehensive Plan is adopted, an additional 55 units would be available on a first come, first serve basis. 11. Request for Comprehensive Plan Extension Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve Resolution 99-51 requesting a comprehensive plan deadline extension to December 31, 1999. Motion passed unanimously. 12. Request to Hire a Planner Consultant to Review the Comprehensive Plan Paul Robinson said a draft of the Comprehensive Plan will be completed by the end of next week. He said that the Planning Commission and staff would like to have an outside consultant Medina City Council Meeting Minutes July 20, 1999 125 review through the plan to check for compliance with the Metropolitan Council requirements and to look for inconsistencies in the plan. He said that this would be a very limited review but would add some confidence for him and for the Planning Commission that they have completed their ask sufficiently. Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve up to $800 for a consultant review of the Comprehensive Plan. Motion passed unanimously. 13. Rolling Green Country Club Loren Kohnen said he received some complaints about lighting at the country club. He said according to the conditional use permit a shoebox style downcast lighting was required. He said the country club installed a different type of lighting that does not comply with the ordinance. He has met with representatives of the country club to discuss this and he will also be sending them a letter notifying them that their lighting is not in compliance and will need to be changed. 14. Tax Increment Financing Reports — Presentation by Shelly Eldridge of Ehlers & Associates Shelly Eldridge said she has been working on this project with the City Clerk -Treasurer for the past several months. She said one of the problems that they have had during this project was the layers of information required, once you uncover one layer, then you see that there are many others below it. She said that it has taken quite a long time and they have had to rebuild a lot the financial history of these districts which needed to occur first before we were able to complete the reports. She said in 1995 the State Legislature gave the State Auditor oversight over the tax increment financing districts. When that occurred the State Auditor decided to add additional reporting requirements and interpret the statute differently than what had been done before. All of this required a higher level of detail on the reporting forms on a district by district basis. She said this caused all cities throughout the state to dig through old records and recreate and restate history in a different way than had been required in the past. She said recreating this history was the first step in completing these forms. The second step was making sure that all the required documentation was on file, and the third was to tracking expenditures not only within the districts, but also outside of the districts within the geographical boundary of the tax increment development area. She said we have completed all three of those tasks. However, there are additional tasks that need to be completed once the reports are done. One is to make sure that all documentation is segregated in a separate area and maintained for 10 years after the TIF district has expired. She said that through this process the City has found a great deal of its documents in good order, however, there are a few outstanding issues that may need some additional research. She said the last step will be determining if the City has enough increment (money from tax increment financing) and outstanding special assessments to cover its bond obligations. She said that the good news is that there were no egregious errors or funds that were misspent and all of the money has been accounted for and spent within the tax increment financing budgets as outlined in the plans for each district. John Ferris said it was unfortunate that the City had to spend so much time and effort on this project. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes July 20, 1999 126 Shelly Eldridge said the State Auditor is saying that they will eventually audit all cities. Eldridge said this is not a typical audit where they take a sampling of the data, this is an audit where they review all of the records. Ron Batty said that it is very possible the City will get audited by the State Auditor and it sounds like many of the City's financial matters are in compliance. Nonetheless, there will likely be issues of noncompliance. John Ferris thanked Shelly Eldridge for her hard work and professional approach to this process. He was thankful that the reports would be completed. 15. Water Usage Jim Dillman said in his memo he raised two separate issues, one was requiring the use of sprinkler heads with rain sensors. Ron Batty said that this could easily be added to the ordinance. Jim Johnson said that it is annoying to see sprinklers watering lawns in the middle of a rainstorm. He thought it was a good idea and that the City should move forward with it. The consensus of the Council was to move forward with modifying the City's ordinance to include requiring sprinkler heads within the next two years. Jim Dillman said the second issue regarded rates for water usage. He said he recommended creating a rate that would promote water conservation. This would be done by setting a base rate of water usage in the first quarter of the year and then in following quarters any usage 5,000 over the base rate would be charged at a higher rate. He said that this would hopefully instill the idea of water conservation since the usage over the base rate would be more expensive. He said the base rate would be set on a household basis so that it would not necessarily penalize a larger family using more water throughout the year. Phil Zietlow said that he thought it would be easier to use bracketed rates that would charge one rate per bracket such as one rate from 5,000 to 10,000 and another from 10,000 to 20,000 and so on. John Hamilton said if the goal was to conserve water, he is not sure that most people know what their rates are. He said he did not think changing the rates would significantly change the habits of the people, but it may raise more funds for the water fund. Phil Zietlow said it seemed like one of the main concerns was to conserve water so the City would not have to drill another well, which would be very costly. Jim Dillman said that he was looking for some general direction from the City Council whether or not he should move forward looking into ways of adjusting the rates and to foster water conservation. The consensus of the Council was to have Jim Dillman work on this issue and to come back with some additional alternatives for promoting water conservation. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes July 20, 1999 127 16. Generator for City HaII Ed Belland said he, Ben Meinhart of Allstar Electric, and Jim Dillman met concerning the generator. He said that they talked about two items. One was an option that would allow all of City Hall to be powered up, and another was just the essentials would be powered up. The options that they looked at were fairly expensive. He said the cost of the generator alone would be around $25,000, but would also provide an additional backup for lift stations and water pumps if needed. There was a significant amount of discussion about whether or not it would be feasible or worthwhile. Right now the consensus of the Council was to have Ed Belland check on the cost of wiring City Hall for a generator and look into the possibility of renting a generator in case of a storm or disaster that would require backup power. Additionally the Council discussed purchasing a backup generator for the sewer and water department. This purchase was still planned for the beginning of next year when it is thought that more generators will be available. Jim Dillman said that this generator would be 150,000 kWh generator in comparison to their current generator, which is 60,000 kWh. 17. Pay the Bills Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the bills, order check numbers 19891-19957 for $234,418.85 and payroll check numbers 16192-16206 for $15,220.81. Motion passed unanimously. 18. Executive Session Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to close the meeting for matters of attorney/client privilege concerning Chippewa Road. Motion passed unanimously. Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by John Ferris, to close the executive session and re -open the regular meeting. Motion passed unanimously. 19. Adjournment Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by John Ferris, to adjourn the meeting at 9:35 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. B. Ferris, Mayor Paul Robinson itty Clerk -Treasurer Medina City Council Meeting Minutes July 20, 1999 128 (THIS PAGE LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY) Medina City Council Meeting Minutes July 20, 1999 129 ORDER CHECKS - JULY 20, 1999 19891 Air Touch Cellular 66.79 19892 American Express 25.56 19893 AmeriPride Linen & Apparel 47.19 19894 Batteries Plus 108.61 19895 Bryan Rock 5,896.16 19896 Buffalo Bituminous 43,106.00 19897 Communities in Collaboration 295.00 19898 Convergent Communications 282.25 19899 Cy's Uniforms 627.83 19900 Department of Public Safety 270.00 19901 Ditter, Inc 105.00 19902 Elk River Concrete 293.41 19903 Fortin Hardware 47.23 19904 G. L. Contracting. 9,594.69 19905 Genuine Parts 371.55 19906 Glenwood Inglewood 42.70 19907 Gopher State One Call 203.00 19908 Grainger. 601.79 19909 Gregor Farm 120.35 19910 Hamel Building Center 221.67 19911 Hamel Fire 10,000.00 19912 Hennepin Cooperative Seed Exch. 498.42 19913 Infratech 1,400.00 19914 International City/Co.Mgmt. Assn 196.56 19915 Jordan Automotive. 1,582.16 19916 Kath Companies 134.96 19917 Kern, DeWenter & Viere 2,325.90 19918 L & R Grading 920.16 19919 Larson Publications 122.40 19920 Sandra Larson 58.13 19921 Law Enforcement Labor Services 165.00 19922 Law Enforcement Targets 85.06 19923 Lawson Products 132.79 19924 City of Long Lake 3,313.25 19925 Mayer Mobil 133.13 19926 Medica 196.70 19927 Metro Utilities 64,562.00 19928 Metro West Inspection 10,348.75 19929 Metro Council Environmental Svcs. (Treatment Chgs.) .... 9,721.98 19930 Metro Council Wastewater Svcs. (SAC Charges). 10,395.00 19931 Pioneer -Sarah Creek 548.33 19932 Minn Comm 30.69 19933 Minnesota Child Support Pyt. Center 595.00 19934 Minnesota Poster Compliance Ctr. 42.25 Medina City Council Meeting Minutes July 20, 1999 130 ORDER CHECKS — JULY 20, 1999 (CONT'D) 19935 Minnesota State Treasurer 7,451.45 19936 Mothers Motors/Loretto Towing 20.00 19937 Northern States Power 1,762.46 19938 Orchard Trust Co. 1,312.00 19939 Otten Brothers Nursery 59.65 19940 P.E.R.A. 3,070.11 19941 Parr Emergency Products 212.14 19942 Joseph G. Pollard 215.70 19943 Jon Priem 62.57 19944 Reynolds Welding 19.17 19945 Tallen & Baertschi 4,759.81 19946 Thorpe Distributing 21,347.93 19947 Twin City Water Clinic 20.00 19948 Twinco Automotive Warehouse 7,053.12 19949 U.S. Filter/Waterpro 131.99 19950 U.S. West Communications 33.72 19951 Viking Industrial Center 669.54 19952 Visu-Sewer Clean & Seal 3,605.00 19953 Warning Lites 123.36 19954 Westside Maintenance 2,480.00 19955 Westside Wholesale Tire 20.00 19956 Wright -Hennepin Electric 74.69 19957 Zep Manufacturing 80.14 $234,418.85 PAYROLL CHECKS — JULY 20, 1999 16192 Paul A. Robinson $ 940.03 16193 Steven T. Scherer 990.25 16194 Christopher R. McGill 991.68 16195 Michael J. Rouillard 932.97 16196 Scott W. Kroeger 1,083.32 16197 James D. Dillman 1,281.86 16198 Robert P. Dressel 934.10 16199 Edgar J. Belland 1,702.26 16200 Martha C. Lundell 400.13 16201 Cecilia M. Vieau 839.48 16202 Laura L. Sulander 987.03 16203 Sandra L. Larson 792.18 16204 Jon D. Priem 1,269.89 16205 Jeremy L. Christenson 956.57 16206 James Nystrom 1,119.06 $15,220.81 Medina City Council Meeting Minutes July 20, 1999