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HomeMy Public PortalAbout08/19/97 CCM173 MEDINA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF AUGUST 19, 1997 The City Council of Medina, Minnesota met in regular session on August 19, 1997 at 7:36 p.m. in the City Hall Chambers. Mayor John Ferris presided. Members present: Ferris, Hamilton, Johnson, Zietlow, and Thies. Members absent: None. Also present: Interim Police Chief Ed Belland, Attorney Dan Greensweig, Public Works Director Jim Dillman, City Engineer Shawn Gustafson, Zoning Administrator Loren Kohnen, and City Clerk -Treasurer Paul Robinson. 1. Approval and Additions to the Agenda An update on the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District Task Force was added. Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Ann Thies, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion passed unanimously. 2. Approval of the Minutes from August 5, 1997, City Council Meeting One addition, under #14, Planning Commission Resignation, Ann Thies said she also requested that a letter thanking Chris Crosby for his service on the Planning Commission be sent to him. Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Ferris, to approve the minutes of the August 5, 1997 city council meeting as amended. Motion passed unanimously. 3. Park Commission Comments -There were none. 4. Planning Commission Comments - There were none. OLD BUSINESS 5. Police City Hall Garage Postponed until the architect, Del Erickson, would be available for comment. NEW BUSINESS 6. Planning & Zoning - Jeff Pavey, 2230 Chippewa Road, Discussion of Business in Residential Zone Loren Kohnen said that Mr. Pavey was asking for an extension of time to move his business out of the rural residential zone. Kohnen said that he was made aware of this business when he saw that Mr. Pavey was replacing the trusses on a roof. At that time, Kohnen told Mr. Pavey that he could not continue his paving business on his property which is zoned rural residential. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes August 19, 1997 174 After a conversation with Mr. Pavey, Pavey asked if he could have until January 1, 1998 to look for another site for his business. Kohnen recommended to the council that the city work with Mr. Pavey and give him until January 1, 1998 to relocate his business. The consensus of the city council was that this would be acceptable. 7. City Hall Addition Del Erickson said that two proposals were before the council with the proposed costs of the garage, remodeling, and management fee. Erickson said that the building costs are estimated and are not final numbers. Erickson said that there were two management companies, one was Hunnerberg Construction and the other was American Liberty Construction. He checked Hunnerberg Construction's references which included calling St. Francis. He said their official comment was no comment. The planner for St. Francis did indicate that there was a problem with the masonry sub and the construction project had not yet been completed. Hunnerberg's Construction's estimated cost was $98,200 and their fee was $15,000. American Liberty's, estimated cost $100,000 and their fee was $19,500. There was some discussion on the reference checks for both companies. Del Erickson asked the council if it was appropriate to move forward with the project at this point. Phil Zietlow said that he had a third alternative which would be to use city staff as the general contractor and have city staff bid out each portion of the project. Ann Thies asked if we had talked about this before. Phil Zietlow said that he had not directly mentioned this before. There was some discussion about this issue. John Ferris thought that it would be a diversion of staff time and said he would like to hold a management company accountable for this project rather than city staff. Phil Zietlow said that the security system had not yet been added to this proposal. He said the system would cost around $10,000. Ann Thies asked what the difference was between the $15,000 and $19,000 management fee from the two companies. Del Erickson said that the companies' proposals were basically the same. Howard Jacobson from American Liberty said that they get the projects right the first time. He said they spend a more time up -front working to get good bids from good contractors. Therefore, they put more time into the project and give the customer a better outcome. Ann Thies asked who the partner was that qualified American Liberty as a minority owned business and what percentage was owned by that partner. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes August 19, 1997 175 Howard Jacobson said that Joy Rundquist was the president of the company and that she owned 55% of the company. He said she had an American Indian heritage which qualifies them as a minority owned contractor. Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Ann Thies, to accept American Liberty as the management as the general contractor for the city hall garage/remodeling project. Motion passed unanimously. 8. Sathre Bergquist/Michael Kelly - Request for Sewer Units for Development, 1195 Hackamore Road Loren Kohnen said that Mr. & Mrs. Kelly, who live at 1185 Hackamore Road, are working with Rick Sathre of Sathre Bergquist to request sanitary sewer to their property adjoining the Foxberry Farms development. Kohnen said this property is guided for sewer in 2010. Kohnen said that the Kelly's wish to subdivide their 11 acres into 10 suburban residential zoned properties. Kohnen said that the Kelly's would like to development their property in conjunction with the development of Foxberry Farms, which adjoins their east property line. Kohnen said that staff agrees with their request. He said there is sufficient capacity for additional sewer units to this area. He said that completion of the road to Hackamore at this time would constitute good planning and avoid the construction of a temporary cul de sac. He said that emergency vehicles could enter and exit easily and that no additional time for snowplowing would be needed. Kohnen used an overhead to show the proposed lots and area for development. Phil Zietlow asked what the staging was for Foxberry Farms property before it was developed. Shawn Gustafson showed the sewer staging map from the comprehensive plan. He said the Foxberry property was staged to be sewered in 2010. There was some discussion about Foxberry Farms and the number of homes that were scheduled to be built there in the different phases. The ultimate plan included 130 units which dropped from the initial request of 165 units. Phil Zietlow said that the gallons per day per unit was what was important as far as determining the capacity for sewer. Shawn Gustafson said that the flows currently are between .16 and .18 which is the same as the flows from 15 years ago. Phil Zietlow said that the city is still in pretty good shape as far as sewer capacity. Shawn Gustafson said that the planned sewer capacity by the year 2000 was to be between .27 and .26. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes August 19, 1997 176 Loren Kohnen said that they estimated 3,000 gallons per day for the residential properties in Foxberry Farms Development. Shawn Gustafson said that if all the residential properties in Foxberry on this proposed development were developed today, there still would be additional sewer capacity. It's possible that the Wessin and Doerr properties could also be developed without adding additional sewer capacity. The only exception would be if a business, that used a lot of water, were constructed on either of these properties. There was some discussion about the property in question and when the property would be developed. Rick Sathre said that Foxberry Farms is not sure when they will develop the area adjacent to the Kelly property, but when they do, that's when the Kelly's would like to develop their property. Shawn Gustafson said that the property would need to be rezoned. It is currently rural residential and would need to be rezoned to suburban residential. Phil Zietlow asked if by upgrading the staging of this property if that would affect the sale of the Elwell property and the city's position on sewer for that property. Mark Sathre said that the Kelly property is staged for sewer in the comprehensive plan and the majority of the Elwell property is not. Loren Kohnen said that the only area on the Elwell property that is staged for sewer was the southern section. This area is staged for 2005 and that is the section for which 65 sewer units have already been purchased. Phil Zietlow asked if this should go before the planning commission. Loren Kohnen said that it was brought to the city council first because the city council sets the schedule for staging of sewer. Shawn Gustafson said staff was asking the city council to amend the staging plan to stage the Kelly property to coincide with the development of Foxberry Farms. John Ferris said that this was a vote to accelerate the staging but not to approve the rezoning or development plan for the property. Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Ann Thies, to move the staging for the property owned by Mr. & Mrs. Kelly to coincide with the Foxberry Farms Development adjacent to this property. Motion passed unanimously. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes August 19, 1997 177 9. Minnehaha Creek Watershed District Phil Zietlow said that he wanted to give a quick update on the task force that has been representing a number of cities within the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. He said there are 30 to 35 cities within the district, and a majority of them have similar stories about problems with the watershed district. At the first meeting they listened to a litany of horror stories about working with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed district. At the second meeting they discussed what they were going to do in order to change the way that the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District works with cities. The first step they decided to take was to ask cities to adopt a resolution asking the county to undertake an investigation and to increase the accountability of the district. The task force believed this request of the county was a good starting point. Zietlow said if all 30 cities pass this resolution, it would definitely get the attention of the Hennepin County Commissioners. To this point, 17 have indicated that they would pass the resolution as soon as it appears at the council level. The biggest exception may be the city of Minneapolis who happens to receive a lot of money from the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District for projects within their city. Ann Thies asked if Phil Zietlow and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District had contacted Penny Steele about this resolution. Phil Zietlow said that they are in communication with Penny about this issue. He said he'd like Medina to be the first city to pass this resolution. Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Jim Johnson to pass the Resolution 97-36 requesting the Hennepin County Commissioners to investigate the activities of the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. Motion passed unanimously. 10. Independence Beach Survey John Hamilton said this survey started with a request from a number of residents in the Independence Beach area for a street light on the corner of County Road 19 and Maple Street. Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by John Ferris, to direct staff to work with NSP to install a street light at Maple Street and County Road 19 and to charge residents $2.50 a quarter for one year to pay for the cost of this street light. There was a lot of discussion about the responses on the survey regarding the street light. Since the street light would only affect those property owners entering on Maple Street, a number of responses for no street light on that corner may have been from residents not using this entrance. 45% of the people in Independence Beach responded to the survey, of those 24 said yes to a street light on County Road 19 and Maple Street and 36 said no. Responses to the second question "Are you willing to pay for $2.50 a quarter for a street light', 33 responded yes and 31 no. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes August 19, 1997 178 Ann Thies said that the survey responses show that a majority of residents don't want an additional street light. However, a majority of residents are willing to pay for a street light. There was some discussion about where the street light would go, and why, if a street light was placed on County Road 19 and Maple, would the entire Independence Beach area be charged for that street light. John Hamilton said that when he door knocked residents in that area, he felt that a majority of them would like a street light on that corner. He and that there was some confusion between the homeowners and the developer and at the time that the properties were developed about the installation of a street light on that corner. Jim Johnson recommended that if the city were to vote to install a street light on that corner that the city pay for it out of the park fund or general fund, depending on where it was placed. There was some discussion about the $2.50 charge. John Hamilton said that he would rather the city pay for the street light. Phil Zietlow said that the city has never paid for street lights before. He said they have always been a part of the development agreement. Jim Johnson said that he would like to make this into two different issues; 1. Whether or not to put the street light on the corner and 2. How the city was going to paid for it. John Hamilton amended his motion to eliminate the $2.50 charge per quarter for Independence Beach residents. John Ferris said that the light could be a muti-purpose light, one that lit the parking lot, the park, the portable toilet, and also function as a street light. He called for a vote. Those voting in favor: Jim Johnson, John Hamilton. Those voting against: John Ferris, Phil Zietlow and Ann Thies. Motion failed. There was some discussion about comments from the survey on parking. No changes were recommended. Comments regarding question #5 on snowplowing were very favorable towards city staff. Question #6 asked for general comments. There were a number of general comments, one that received the most recognition was a resident's comment about liking the limited involvement that the city has on their lives. John Ferris thanked the city staff for putting the survey together. He found it very helpful. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes August 19, 1997 179 11. Police Vehicle Report Ed Belland said the city council requested an update on the police department's vehicles. He said that the police department has a total of eight squads in inventory, six were marked squads, two were unmarked. The marked squads consisted of two new squads that are not in use, one community service squad, and three patrol squads. The unmarked squads consisted of the Pontiac Grand Prix and a Ford Ranger pickup truck. The Pontiac was previously used as a chiefs vehicle, and the Ford Ranger was used for special details. Ed said that the two new squads have been sitting for over a year. He was concerned that they will deteriorate if they are not used. He said that the oldest squad had 93,000 miles on it and has a frame problem which causes the windshield to crack. They've replaced the windshield twice within the past year. He said the other patrol cars are in good shape and have relatively low miles on them. He said the community service squad was is in good shape but has higher mileage. However, it sees only limited use throughout the year. Belland said that the Pontiac is used on a very limited basis and was not designed for patrol use, it has limited space and visibility. He proposed the city council allow the police department to sell the Pontiac and the oldest squad and to put the two new squads into service. He said that this would reduce the number of squads in the total fleet by two, and save money on repairs and insurance. He asked to set aside the money from the sale of these vehicles for the purchase of future vehicles. Phil Zietlow said that if you buy a car for $25,000 and it goes 120,000 miles, you're spending $.21 a mile on that vehicle and that any mileage over that is basically mileage that is free to the city besides small repair costs. He said he would rather the city continue to use the squads. There was some discussion about the amount of money the city could get for the police cars. There were concerns that previous police squads did not get a very high price. This time the city council wanted staff to look into other ways to sell the vehicles in order to get a higher price. There was some discussion about how this could be done. Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by John Ferris to direct staff to look at the best means to sell squad 109 and the unmarked squad, the Pontiac Grand Prix. Motion passed unanimously. 12. 1998 Preliminary Budget John Ferris said that the state legislature changed the class rates on properties this year which will increase the city's tax rate even if the city's levy does not increase. He said, basically what they've done is work with the numbers to shift some of the property tax burden from businesses to residential properties. Paul Robinson showed an overhead explaining how property taxes are calculated and the changes in class rates. Robinson used an example that demonstrated an increase in the city's tax rate even if the city's property tax levy remained the same. He said this happened Medina City Council Meeting Minutes August 19, 1997 180 because of the diminished tax capacity from the lower class rates on commercial/industrial properties, as well as for residential properties. Robinson said under this year's levy limit, the city council cannot increase the levy by more than 9.6%. He recommended that the city council consider increasing the levy by that amount in order to give the city additional revenue options for now and the future. He said if the city were to increase the levy by 9.6% the total budget expenditure increase would be 5.77%. John Ferris said that a 9.6% levy increase would increase the tax on a $175,000 home by 3.2% and that this increase also includes the extra burden from the shift from business and industrial properties to residential properties. There was some discussion on specific items in the budget. The consensus of the council was to have the finance committee look into the details of the budget and come back with a recommendation for the 1998 preliminary levy. 13. Approval to Pay the Bills Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to pay the bills. Motion passed unanimously. 14.Adiournment Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Ann Thies, to adjourn the meeting at 9:35 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. John B. Ferris, Mayor Atte Paul Robinson, City Clerk -Treasurer Medina City Council Meeting Minutes August 19, 1997 181 ORDER CHECKS - AUGUST 19, 1997 17422 Air Touch Cellular $ 186.06 17423 American Express 1,172.22 17424 American Legion Post 69.75 17425 Earl F. Anderson 35.03 17426 BCA/Forensic Science 120.00 17427 Bin, Inc. 113.56 17428 Bonestroo, Rosene, Anderlik 5,485.51 17429 Bryan Rock Products 1,377.32 17430 Budget Printing 150.77 17431 Buffalo Bituminous 4,758.82 17432 Caliber Development 350.75 17433 Classic Cleaning 191.70 17434 Cooperative Purchasing Venture 350.00 17435 Culligan 64.22 17436 Deko Factory Svc 11.36 17437 Kelly Donaldson 50.00 17438 ESS Bros. & Sons, Inc. 272.65 17439 Feed Rite Controls 430.59 17440 Fireside Corner 25.00 (�, 17441 Fortin Hardware 297.10 I✓' 17442 Gary's Diesel Service 5.26 17443 Genuine Parts 80.9 17444 Glenwood Inglewood 67.80 17445 Goodin Co 29.27 17446 Goodyear Auto Service 672.00 17447 Gopher State One Call 38.50 17448 Grainger 39.56 17449 Great West Life Assurance 475.00 17450 Hamel Building Center 185.34 17451 HealthPartners 2,076.61 17452 Hennepin County Support 565.00 17453 Holiday 35.26 17454 Hwy. 55 Rental 249.90 17455 Kennedy & Graven 7,546.12 17456 Kustom Signals, Inc. 105.64 17457 Lake Business Supply 11.89 17458 Lathrop Paint 4.92 17459 Law Enforcement Labor Services 99.00 17460 Long Lake Power Equipment 18.09 17461 Lucent Technologies 13.30 17462 Randall Mayer 44.83 Medina City Council Meeting Minutes August 19, 1997 182 ORDER CHECKS - AUGUST 19, 1997 (CONT'D) 17463 Metro West Inspection 8,850.10 17464 Metropolitan Council Environment Svcs.(Treatment) 8,806.00 17465 Metropolitan Council Environment Svcs.(SAC Chg.) 1,881.00 17466 Midwest Automotive 257.05 17467 Minn Comm 47.18 17468 Minnegasco 17.48 17469 Minnesota Mutual 193.00 17470 Minnesota State Retirement Syst 117.00 17471 Minnesota Taxpayers Assn 50.00 17472 Northern States Power 873.54 17473 Northern Waterworks Supply 2,399.63 17474 Old Tyme Hennepin Co. Fair 50.00 17475 P.E. R.A. 2,090.90 17476 Reynolds Welding 40.20 17477 Southern Minnesota Const. Co. 775.00 17478 Star Tribune 758.40 17479 Stoffel Sales 180.00 17480 Tallen & Baertschi 1,912.70 17481 U.S. Filter/Waterpro 1,891.76 17482 U.S. West Communications 34.60 17483 United Systems Technology 950.00 17484 City of Wayzata 46.50 17485 Wright -Hennepin Electric 1,607.12 17486 Wright -Hennepin Security Svcs. 237.44 17487 Zep Manufacturing 92.28 $ 62, 035.50 PAYROLL CHECKS - AUGUST 19, 1997 15328 Paul A. Robinson $ 800.71 15329 Steven T. Scherer 904.65 15330 Michael J. Rouillard 460.46 15331 Scott W. Kroeger 880.26 15332 James D. Dillman 1,183.14 15333 Robert P. Dressel 942.28 15334 Edgar J. Belland 1,333.12 15335 Martha C. Lundell 108.37 15294 Cecilia M. Vieau 666.18 15295 Laura L. Sulander 890.73 15296 Sandra L. Larson 733.04 15297 Jon D. Priem 1,156.36 15298 Jeffrey J. Weiler 402.60 $10,461.90 Medina City Council Meeting Minutes August 19, 1997