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HomeMy Public PortalAbout09/02/97 CCM183 MEDINA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 2, 1997 The City Council of Medina, Minnesota met in regular session on September 2, 1997 at 7:32 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 Be!land, City Attorney Ron Batty, Zoning Administrator Loren Kohnen, and City Clerk -Treasurer Paul Robinson. 1. Approval and Additions to the Agenda Item number 11 on the agenda, comments from residents in attendance, was moved to a discussion item under new business. Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Ann Thies, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion passed unanimously. 2. Approval of the Minutes from August 19, 1997, City Council Meeting One correction, under #9, Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, in the third sentence, the word should be "litany" instead of "lottery". Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the minutes of the August 19, 1997 city council meeting as amended. Motion passed unanimously. 3. Consent Agenda Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow to approve the consent agenda. A. Resolution 97-37 Granting a Permit to Northern States Power Co. for Installation of Electrical Cable and Equipment and Street Lights along Foxberry Drive. B. Resolution 97-38 Granting a Permit to U.S. West for the Installation of Buried Cable along Foxberry Drive. C. Resolution 97-39 Granting a Permit to Minnegasco for Gas Main Installation in the Momingside Area. D. Resolution 97-40 Granting a Permit to Minnegasco for Gas Main Installation along Chippewa Road. E. Resolution 97-41 Granting a Permit to Minnegasco for Gas Main Installation along Foxberry Drive. F. Approval to File U.S West Settlement Claim Motion passed unanimously. 4. Park Commission Comments Jim Johnson said a lot of dirt was recently hauled into the park and that final grading was being done on the ball fields. He said he wanted to bring to the city staff's attention that there was a lot of dust and dirt accumulating on the roads and wanted to make sure that the haulers would take care of this. 5. Planning Commission Comments - There were none. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes September 2, 1997 184 6. Presentation by Jim Daniels on Lake Minnetonka Cable Commission 1998 Budget Jim Daniels said he wanted to update the city council on a few issues. He said the commission was recently notified by the FCC that they won their challenge to a rate increase on the basic level of service, this meant that Triax Cable would need to refund subscribers in the amount of $150,000 for the basic level of service. He said that this would also mean the basic level of service cost would be reduced. He said Triax can appeal this decision, but their only appeal is to the FCC who made the initial determination. The second issue was about local control of the right of way. Jim Daniels was pleased with the recent legislation passed. He said that not 100% of the legislation went in the city's direction, but now it clearly states that local jurisdictions have control over the right of way. Daniels said the next issue came from the needs assessment committee. He said because of the changing technology, they are looking to install a new fiber optic cable. Daniels said this would provide a more reliable and decentralized system. He said this would also improve picture quality. Jim Daniels said he sent a reminder to city staff asking for the future cable needs of cities within the commission's jurisdiction. Jim Daniels said the City of Independence would like to join the Lake Minnetonka Cable Commission. Daniels said there was strength in numbers and they would welcome Independence as the 15th city to the commission. He said this was a good deal for all. Jim Daniels said there were no significant changes in the 1998 budget. He said he would be happy to answer any, qH�Sj9fl1 council had. There was some discussion abQW# p c;$crepancy in lb? income versus expenditures. Jim Daniels explained that this ornount showed up in the 99nOpyr9y d I r amount. Moved by Ann Thies, g9gnOed by Jim Johnson to approve the 1998 Lake Minnetonka Cable Commission Budge. jtfQtion passed unanimously. 7. Police Department Cara Addition Phil Zietlow said at the last me I the city council authorized American Liberty to be the contractor for the police garage addition. Zietlow said this American Liberty's bid was based on initial drawings for the garage. He said the final plans are available and he would like the city council to approve them and authorize the mayor and clerk to sign a contract with American Liberty. There was a lot of discussion on various details of the plans. After some discussion on various details, Del Erickson, the architect, went through and outlined some of the changes that he had made to the contract since the last time the city council saw the contract. He touched very briefly on a number of the sections. He said that it was basically a standard American Institute of Architects(AIA) contract. There was some discussion about what type of involvement the city council wanted in approving bids for each part of the garage addition. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes September 2, 1997 185 Phil Zietlow said that any part of the project that cost over $25,000 the city council would be required to approve. Ron Batty said that competitive bids would need to be sought for portions of the project that were over $25,000. There was some discussion about who would be the contact person for American Liberty. Howard Jacobson said that this would consist of a weekly or biweekly meeting with the contractor to discuss various elements of the project. This contact person would not need to meet with him on a regular or daily basis. After some discussion it was decided that Interim Police Chief Ed Belland and the Police Commissioner Phil Zietlow would be the contacts for American Liberty. There was some additional discussion on approval of the bids. Howard Jacobson said they would present the bids for the project at the next city council meeting in two weeks. Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow to approve the final plans for the city hall garage addition with the changes made this evening. Motion passed unanimously. Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Ann Thies to authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to sign the contract with American Liberty pending approval of the contract by the city attorney. Motion passed unanimously. 8. Garbage & Recycling John Ferris said Jim Dillman wanted to set up a committee, as stated in his memo, of citizens, council members, and staff to meet with the city's current garbage haulers to discuss their proposals for providing garbage service and recycling to the city. There was general consensus on the city council to go ahead and set up this committee to work on this issue. NEW BUSINESS 9. Comments from Residents in Attendance Robinson said that the Legislative Procedure's section of the city's ordinance outlines generally what is to be included on the city council agenda. Robinson said that the city has never followed this agenda in the ordinance verbatim but that every aspect of the ordinance was included in their current agenda, except for comments from citizens in attendance. Robinson said, therefore, he had added this to the agenda, and was now seeking input from the city council on this item. Ann Thies said that at one point this was on the agenda, then it went away. She said she was not sure what had happened. She believed that residents have been able to address the city council without having it as an agenda item. John Ferris said that it has always been his style and the style of the council to allow any resident in attendance to discuss or respond on an issue being discussed. Ann Thies said that if it were added to the agenda she would like it to be towards the beginning of the agenda rather than at the end. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes September 2, 1997 186 Ron Batty said that typically this item is not for general comments on items on the agenda but for comments on matters not on the agenda. Jim Johnson said he thinks it would be a nice gesture to have this item on the agenda. The consensus of the city council was to add this item to the agenda, but for comments on issues not on the agenda, and that it be added to the beginning of the agenda, rather than to the end of the agenda. 10. Planning & Zoning Comprehensive Plan/Planning Commission Loren Kohnen said the planning commission wanted to know what their involvement in updating the comprehensive plan would be. Kohnen said he recommended that committees be set up to work on specific parts of the plan and that each of these committees would have planning commission members as well as others. He said that first he would like to set up a meeting with the major players: the city engineer, attorney, staff members, the planning commissioner, and representatives of the Metropolitan Council to have a meeting to determine what steps needed to be taken to update the comprehensive plan. After that Kohnen said he would like to assign duties to small committees and have them work on different sections of the plan. There was some discussion on this. The city council agreed a meeting should be set up. 11. Vacation of Beechnut Street Easement John Ferris said Bruce Whitehead had petitioned the city council to vacate a portion of Beechnut Street that ran down to Lake Independence. Ferris said the property has a fairly steep drop off of five to six feet and that Mr Whitehead was concerned about a lack of maintenance of this property. Ferris said there was a drainage easement on Of rperty that the city would need to maintain. Ferris said the question is whether or not the cit�S a reason to maintain this property or if there is no public purpose for keeping the property, whether or not the city would want to vacate the property, except for maintaining the drainage easement. John Hamilton said that this was very steep property that did not seem to have value to the city and was probably a liability for the city to maintain. The last time a portion of Beechnut Street was vacated, the city was not reimbursed for the property. Hamilton said this particular property had some value and the landowners on each side told him they would be willing to purchase the property if the city would vacate it. Hamilton said it looked like past practice was not to charge residents for the vacation of these properties. Ron Batty said if the street was acquired originally by platting, and was not purchased by the city, the city would not be able to sell the land, the property would automatically revert to the adjacent property owners. There was some discussion about replatting the property and the differences between replatting torrens vs abstract properties. After some discussion, Ann Thies stated that she would like staff to look at other easements in the area and make recommendations to the council for vacating any additional easements the city did not currently need. Consensus of the council was to direct staff bring back to the council any additional property to be vacated and how the city acquired the property. Then set a public hearing on this matter. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes September 2, 1997 187 12. Truth in Taxation Hearing Paul Robinson stated that each year the city council needed to pick two dates for truth in taxation hearings. These hearings provide residents with an opportunity to comment on the city's budget and property tax levy. Robinson recommended the initial hearing be set for December 3, and the continuation for December 10. Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Hamilton to set the Truth in Taxation Hearing Dates as recommended. Motion passed unanimously. 13. 1998 Preliminary Levy Robinson stated that the finance committee reviewed the preliminary budget. He said they are recommending a levy of $1,040,600. Since the last city council meeting there were a couple of changes. One was an increase in the medical insurance costs, up 11.9% over 1997. Another was additional funds added for consulting for the comprehensive plan update, and the final one was a $5,000 reduction in Homestead Agricultural Credit Aid. Robinson stated that the proposed levy was under the maximum levy amount set by the legislature. He said that this was a very tight budget without a lot of leeway. Jim Johnson asked what happened to funds that were left over from previous years and if we could use those funds to cover any additional expenditures. Robinson stated that at the previous meeting there was some discussion on transferring revenues in excess of expenditures into a capital improvement fund for equipment replacement to take care of some of the future capital needs of the city. John Ferris reminded the city council that the preliminary levy could be lowered but that the city council cannot raise the levy after it sets the preliminary levy amount. Phil Zietlow said that this levy funds at 4.21 % increase in the net expenditures of the city. There was some discussion about the city's donations that were listed under the city council department. This discussion was deferred until fees and donations were discussed as a part of the budget process. Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow to approve Resolution 97-42 certifying the city's preliminary levy at $1,040,600. Motion passed unanimously. 14. Bonded Indebtedness Resolution Robinson said that each year the city council has chosen to pay off the $870,000 General Obligation Refunding Bond, Series 1992, out of the city's cash reserves. In order to do this the city council has to pass a resolution declaring they have enough money to do this and therefore do not need to levy this amount on the property taxes. Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Ann Thies to approve the Resolution 97-43 declaring that the city has adequate reserves to cover bonded indebtedness for 1998. Motion passed unanimously. 15. City Internet Site Robinson summarized the survey results from residents and others who receive the city's minutes and agendas. Robinson said that he used the survey results to his advantage and Medina City Council Meeting Minutes September 2, 1997 188 that they could be interpreted in many ways. Robinson said that 72% of those who responded have a computer at home, and of that amount, 57% have Internet access. Robinson said that 44% of the total respondents said that they would use the Internet to view, read or copy city council minutes and agendas. Robinson said that while this is not an overwhelming majority, there was a trend towards more and more residents using the Internet to gain information on a variety of services. Jim Johnson was concerned that this project could take more in staff time than it would be worth in value to the city's residents. Phil Zietlow had similar concerns. There was some discussion about whether this would benefit the city's residents. Robinson said the cost of mailing minutes and agendas could be reduced from $20-$60 based on the number of people receiving minutes and agendas that would have minutes and agendas either E-mailed to them or access them via the city's Internet site. John Hamilton suggested the city try having an Internet site for a year and to see what type of response the city gets. Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by John Ferris to authorize the city clerk to set up a web page for the city on a one year trial basis, that it would cost $75 for the setup fee and $25 a month for access. Those voting in favor: John Hamilton, John Ferris, Ann Thies, and Jim Johnson. Those voting against: Phil Zietlow Motion passed. 16. Community Development Block Grant Update Paul Robinson updated the city council on a community development block grant. Robinson said that they were going out for bids from various contractors for this project. He said the project included redoing the city sidewalk, installing a handicapped accessible door and mechanical opener, and removing the interior planters from city hall. There was some discussion on this. Loren Kohnen was concerned about the elevations of the sidewalk. Robinson said that he would look into that issue. 17. Approval to Pay the Bills Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Ann Thies, to pay the bills. Motion passed unanimously. 18. Adjournment Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to adjourn the meeting at 9:15 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. John B. Ferris, Mayor Paul Robinson, City Clerk -Treasurer Medina City Council Meeting Minutes September 2, 1997 189 ORDER CHECKS - SEPTEMBER 2, 1997 17488 Air Touch Cellular $ 26.65 17489 Allstar Electric 3,848.68 17490 American Linen Supply 42.72 17491 Assn. Of Metro Municipalities 25.00 17492 Bryan Rock 1,768.17 17493 Budget Printing 330.91 17494 Connelly Ind. Elect. 542.57 17495 Delta Dental 574.70 17496 E-Z-Recycling 2,132.58 17497 Ehlers & Assoc. 330.00 17498 Rolf Erickson Ent., Inc 2,667.12 17499 ESS Bros. 82.01 17500 Fall Maintenance Expo 20.00 17501 Feed Rite 564.92 17502 Firstar Bank 42,095.00 17503 Ford Construction 5,011.39 17504 Goodyear Auto Service 117.00 17505 Great West Life Assurance 475.00 17506 Hamel Fire Dept 16,447.30 17507 Hwy. 55 Rental 225.78 17508 Lake Business Supply 48.99 17509 League of Minnesota Cities 204.00 17510 Loretto Fire Dept. 8,485.50 17511 Macqueen Equipment 1,628.39 17512 Maple Plain Fire Dept. 798.25 17513 Matrix Laser Care 126.74 17514 Midwest Asphalt 52.19 \ 17515 Minnesota Mutual 193.00 17516 Minnesota State Retirement Sys 117.00 17517 Municipals. 60.00 17518 National League of Cities 13.00 17519 Northern States Power 2,164.48 17520 P.E.R.A. 2,237.28 17521 Postmaster 500.00 17522 Randy's Sanitation. 154.73 17523 Schoell & Madson 274.50 17524 Streichers 15.42 17525 Superior Ford 52.64 17526 Twin City Water Clinic 20.00 17527 U.S. FilteNWaterpro 596.93 17528 U.S. West Communcations 392.70 17529 Unum 48.20 $ 95,511.44 Iv Medina City Council Meeting Minutes September 2, 1997 190 PAYROLL CHECKS - SEPTEMBER 2, 1997 15341 John A. Hamilton $ 138.52 15342 Ann C. Thies 138.52 15343 John B. Ferris 207.79 15344 Philip K. Zietlow 138.52 15345 James R. Johnson 138.52 15346 Paul A. Robinson 800.71 15347 Steven T. Scherer 904.65 15348 Michael J. Rouillard 1,025.46 15349 Scott W. Kroeger 1,313.50 15350 James D. Dillman 1,183.14 15351 Robert P. Dressel 925.54 15352 Edgar J. Belland 1,615.54 15353 Martha C. Lundell 241.80 15354 Cecilia M. Vieau 666.18 15355 Laura L. Sulander 890.73 15356 Sandra L. Larson 733.04 15357 Jon D. Priem 1,088.36 15358 Jeffrey J. Weiler 493.92 $12,644.44 Medina City Council Meeting Minutes September 2, 1997