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HomeMy Public PortalAbout11/06/96 CCM169 MEDINA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 6, 1996 The City Council of Medina, Minnesota met in regular session on November 6, 1996, at 7:30 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers. Mayor Anne Theis presided. Members present: John Ferris, Jim Johnson, Ann Thies, and Mayor Theis. Members absent: Phil Zietlow. 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. Before the meeting began Mayor Anne E. Theis presented the Mayor Elect John Ferris with the honorary wienie roasting tongs. Mayor Theis stated that the Mayor has the actual and ceremonial duty to roast the wienies at the City's annual clean-up day and wished John Ferris the best of luck. 1. Adoption of the Agenda Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by Jim Johnson, to adopt the published agenda with the following additions: 1. Snowmobile Trail at Hamel Park. 2. Executive Session - Police Investigative Matter. 3. Letter of Credit Reduction Update - Foxberry Farms. Motion passed unanimously. 2. Minutes A. Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by Mayor Theis, to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of October 15 , 1996, with the following corrections: Page 1 item # 3 change approval to request for approval, Page 3 item # 11 add capital in front of revolving fund, Page 6 # 11 add sentence - ...This will be discussed at the upcoming Northwest Hennepin League of Municipalities meeting. Motion passed unanimously. B. Moved by Johnson, seconded by Thies, to approve the minutes of the special meeting of October 17, 1996, as submitted. Motion passed unanimously. C. Moved by Johnson, seconded by Mayor Theis, to approve the minutes of the special meeting of October 23, 1996, with the following corrections: Page 2, 5t paragraph from bottom change Theis to Thies. Motion passed unanimously. 3. Consent Agenda Moved by Johnson, seconded by Thies, to approve the consent agenda, as follows: A. Approve City Assessor 1996-97 Contract. B. Approve City Auditor 1997 Contract. C. Resolution Authorizing Publication by Title and Summary the Pool Ordinance Amendment. Motion passed unanimously. 170 4. Approve Hiring and Advertising for a Police Officer and Community Service Officer. Jim Johnson asked if this was to approve hiring or to approve beginning the hiring process. Rick Rabenort answered that this was to approve the hiring process. Moved by Johnson, seconded by Ferris, to approve the beginning of the hiring process for a police officer and a community service officer. Motion passed unanimously. PRESENTATIONS 5. Tom Caswell(Metropolitan Council) - Council Update. Tom Caswell introduced himself as Medina's representative from the staff of the Metropolitan Council. He stated that the Metropolitan Council was beginning a new program to get out into the cities. The Metropolitan Council used to do more outreach into the cities but recently they have gotten away from being more present and available in the local communities. Tom Caswell stated that this program is an attempt to give cities a place for "One Stop Shop" for answers. It may be that he cannot answer all questions but he can put cities in touch with the right people. Recently there have been problems with Comprehensive Plan Amendments going back and forth between the Metropolitan Council and the Communities. This program will also attempt to minimize or stop this from happening. Tom Caswell then updated the City Council on several issues that the Metropolitan Council is working on. Among these he showed the City Council a map of the Metropolitan Council's current 2020 and 2040 Municipal Urban Service Area(MUSA). There was some discussion between Tom Caswell and the City Council about the Metropolitan Council's current MUSA line projections. The map showed the MUSA line encompassing a large portion of Medina. Tom Caswell stated that these projections are intended to be adjusted by the communities. Jim Johnson asked why the Metropolitan Council did not just use the City's Comprehensive Plan. Tom Caswell replied that the current Comprehensive Plan needed to be updated soon and the Metropolitan Council was trying to accommodate growth in this area. Mayor Theis asked Mr. Caswell if he really believed that the Elm Creek Interceptor would be coming to Medina. 171 Tom Caswell said that yes he believed it was coming but he was not sure of the exact time. He believed the interceptor was projected for around 2000 to 2001 unless the City said it did not want it. There was some additional discussion about the problems that Medina will have increasing the density of its development based on the extent of the City's wetlands and soil types. Tom Caswell could not answer directly several questions and stated that he will get back to the City Council on those issues. He thanked the City Council for their time. 6. Tom O'Keefe(MnDOT) - Highway 12 Update. Tom O'Keefe said that he was at the meeting to update the City Council on the progress with Highway 12 reconstruction. There had been a number of changes to the plan since his previous presentation. MnDot eliminated all 4 lane alternatives and they eliminated the interchange at Ferndale Road and at Watertown Road. Another noteworthy change was the elimination of a 14 million dollar tunnel alternative. MnDot decided to move the railroad instead of the tunnel which will eliminate 3 at grade crossings. Tom O'Keefe stated that there were a number of municipalities that will need to approve to this concept. They included Long Lake, Wayzata, and Orono. Mr. O'Keefe stated that there will be a public hearing on the current alternatives at the Orono Public High School on November 21. Ann Thies asked what the next steps were in the approval process. Tom O'Keefe stated that after the comment period of 120 days they were going to proceed with an Environmental Impact Statement(EIS) and if all goes well they would proceed to design a preliminary layout. He said that they project that construction would begin sometime in 2001 and go through 2003. Ann Thies asked what the likelihood would be that this plan would change. Tom O'Keefe responded that it was possible but that they are farther ahead with this plan than any other plan to date. Ann Thies asked what MnDot wanted from the City since the portion of Highway 12 that goes through Medina is not part of this improvement. Tom O'Keefe stated that they would like a resolution approving the report. There was some additional discussion on the details of the plan. 172 Shawn Gustafson asked what was the projected service level for this road. Tom O'Keefe stated that it was projected for twenty years of service and that the current 2 lane proposal had a greater carrying capacity than the proposal for a four lane highway using the current alignment. Tom O'Keefe thanked the City Council for there time and questions. PARK COMMISSION COMMENTS 7. Snowmobile Trail in and Around Hamel Park. Tom Gregor updated the City Council on where the proposed snowmobile trail was to go. He, representatives of the snowmobile club, and the City Council discussed the current proposal. The City Council raised a number of concerns about the need for good signage and the need for strict enforcement in order to keep the snowmobiles out of the park, especially off the sledding hill. The City Council then discussed how the trail was to be designated and other liability issues. The City Council directed the City Attorney to look into the legality of designating a trail and bring this issue back to the next City Council meeting. PLANNING COMMISSION COMMENTS - There were none OLD BUSINESS 8. Summary of Department Head Evaluations Ron Batty stated that the City Council held evaluations of the three department heads in a closed meeting. According to state law the City Council needs to summarize the evaluations. The summary was moved to between item 9D1 and 9D2. 9. Experimental Septic Systems Loren Kohnen stated that in 1994 a bill passed that changed rule 7080. This change made mound septic systems the standard system and any other system would be classified as experimental. This rule also made it difficult to approve existing systems since there are now only two designations, Conforming and Failing. 173 John Ferris asked what were the implications of this rule. Loren Kohnen stated that there were none except that if you were to sell a house with a failing system it may reduce the value of the home. However, no corrective action is being required. Ann Thies asked if there were any changes coming. Loren Kohnen stated that yes he thought there may be a change in the designations to Conforming and Non -Conforming. This would cause fewer problems than requiring the non -mound systems or non -conforming mound systems as failing. Since most systems that don't meet the current standards are working fine. Loren Kohnen stated that rule 7080 allows experimental septic systems where no other options will work, such as on a small lot or on a property with a steep slope. The issue here is that experimental systems require monitoring. Loren Kohnen asked who would be the one to monitor the system. John Ferris asked if experimental systems work. Loren Kohnen stated that yes they do work but no one will sign off on them. Loren Kohnen said that there was an existing home that wanted to develop an experimental system. The problem this raises is who will police it and should the City Council approve it. Ron Batty asked if the City's current ordinance allows this type of septic system and if the City can use the existing ordinance or if the City was going to need to amend its ordinance. There was some additional discussion which ended by the City Council directing Ron Batty and Loren Kohnen to work on this issue. 10. Equipment Purchase - Truck. Jim Dillman stated that the truck purchase he was requesting for next year was going to cost $20,000 more than what he had originally budgeted. He stated that he was asking the City Council for two things. One was to spend $20,000 more than originally budgeted and the second was to purchase the truck this year. This would save the City $5,000 since next year's model will cost that much more. Ann Thies stated for clarification that if the truck was purchased now it would cost $5,000 less than if it were purchased in January of next year. Paul Robinson stated that the funding for this truck was coming out of the Revolving Capital Improvement Fund. 174 There was some discussion and the overall opinion was that if the City needed the truck it would be better to purchase it now. Moved by Johnson, seconded by Ferris, to approve the purchase of a truck and necessary attachments up to $100,000 from the Revolving Capital Fund and authorize the City Clerk -Treasurer to make out a check for $ 60,591 for the truck purchase. Motion passed unanimously. 11. Discussion with Nextel Representative. This was a long discussion about the conceptual and technical aspects of the current telecommunication industry with a focus on the wireless cellular phone. Jim Dillman introduced the speaker and told the City Council that this group would like to build a stand alone tower next to the Hamel water tower. Bill Buell, a representative of the Nextel Company, described some of the phenomenon's that are currently going on in the industry. He said that in 1982 there were 2,000,000 users of cellular phones and today there are 40,000,000 and it is predicted that in another year there will be an additional 10,000,000 users. He stated that nobody can predict where this is industry is going and that long term thinking is about four years in this industry. He then presented the difference between the current wireless technologies. There are basically three main areas for wireless technology: Cellular - Personal Communication Services(PCS) and Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio(ESMR) Each of these systems work on the some principal of combining cells via antennas to link together a service area. Cellular is doing this using two different technologies: one is analog and the other in digital. Digital is the latest technology and allows for a better signal, increases the amount of information that can be transmitted on each signal and allows phones to have more features. PCS is not much different from cellular but they operate on a higher frequency which allows them to transmit even more information on each signal and they the analog stage and went directly to using digital. Since they are using a higher frequency they need to have their towers or antennas closer together than cellular which uses a lower frequency. 175 The final technology is ESMR which uses digital technology at the same frequency as digital but has the capability to allow conferencing. These phone combine the capability of two way radios, cellular phone and pagers into one. After some additional discussion the presentation ended with the point being stressed was that the demand for wireless phones is increasing and that wire line phones will soon be a thing of the past. The catch is you need antennas for this to become a reality. 12. Sprint/Spectrum - Antenna Site Lease Agreement. Ron Batty stated that a copy of the lease agreement was in the packet and that this agreement was similar to the current agreement on the Hamel water tower. If the proposed lease agreement was acceptable to the City Council it could be approved this evening. The applicant is in attendance and is ready to sign the agreement. Moved by Ferris, seconded by Johnson, to approve the Antenna Site Lease Agreement on Willow Drive Water Tower with the Sprint/Spectrum company. Motion passed unanimously. 13. Antenna Moratorium. Ron Batty stated that a copy of a moratorium ordinance was included in the information the City had in their packets. This issue was raised at the last regular City Council meeting and the information in the packet was prepared by Daniel Greensweig. Ron Batty stated that this issue is a land use concept and according to Minnesota State Statutes the City Council is allowed to declare a moratorium on this type of activity. Batty stated that he believed a 90 day moratorium would allow enough time for the City to put in place a way to regulate this activity. Jim Johnson stated that there were a number of organizations working on ordinances for regulating antennas and other telecommunication issues. Because of this felt the City may not need to do as much to create this ordinance if the City decides to wait. Ron Batty confirmed that there were a lot of efforts on -going and that it will be worth it for the City to wait. By waiting the City will be able to get 100% of the product at 5% of the cost. Bill Buell the representative of Nextell stated that a moratorium would lock their proposal. He asked the City Council if they would consider exempting City owned sites. 176 Bill Buell also noted that the current five players for antennas were already in the City and that a for awhile there would be no more requests. Moved by Johnson, seconded by Ferris, to approve a moratorium on transmission and reception facilities of commercial wireless telecommunications services exempting city owned sites. Motion passed unanimously. 14. Canvas 1996 Municipal Election Results Moved by Mayor Theis, seconded by Ferris, to approve the 1996 Municipal Election canvas as follows: Mayor Tom Anderson 1 Mike Fegers 1 John B. Ferris 1037 Dan Iverson 1 Charles E. Pangier 1 Matt Smaciarz 1 Mike Sime 1 David Usset 1 Bruce Workman 785 City Council (2 seats) Tom Cartier 1 Don DesLauries 1 Robert Franklyn 2 Debra Jambrogevitz 1 James R. Johnson 990 John Hamilton 931 Avis Laurent 1 Frank Mignone 761 Robert Miller 1 Bullwinkle J. Moose 1 Charles E. Pangier 1 Matt Smaciarz 1 Susan Tarnowski 1 Phill Zeitlow 1 Bruce Workman 1 Motion passed unanimously. 177 15. 1997 General Fund Budget Paul Robinson began by highlighting the main issues in the memo giving to the City Council. He stated that the current draft of the General Fund Budget would keep the City's Tax rate at the same level as in 1996. He then talked about two areas of the budget that were changed to better reflect the relationship between the revenues and expenditures. The first area Robinson described was the relationship between permits and plan review revenues and the expenditures for the Building Inspector. Robinson stated that the expenditures were increased to more accurately reflect the amount of expenditure crested by the permit and plan review revenues. The next area that Robinson described was the relationship between the zoning and subdivision fees and the costs in the planning department for the Zoning Administrator, City Engineer and City Attorney. Robinson stated that it was difficult to determine how much the City was spending for the Zoning Administrator, City Engineer, and City Attorney and how much is being reimbursed by developers through zoning and subdivision fees. For the 1997 budget three additional objects have been added to allow the City Staff to keep these two issues separate. Robinson stated that there was no revenue budgeted in the line item for Community Development Block Grant(CDBG). There was some discussion about this and the City Council directed City Clerk -Treasurer to look into this issue further. Robinson then described the changes in the Homestead and Agricultural Aid(HACA) that the City receives and mentioned that 1 % of this money or approximately $3,900 is coming to the City in the form of Local Performance Aid. Robinson mentioned that if the City did not create a performance budget they would not be eligible for this aid in the future. The consensus of the City Council additional of $ 3,900 in aid would not warrant the time involved in creating a performance budget. Robinson then stated that the number of outstanding assessments was decreasing and therefore the amount of revenue coming in to the general fund for special assessments was decreasing significantly. Robinson stated that due to a change in the way LOGIS bid its health care costs, the rates for 1997 will drop for the second year in a row from $449.32/mo. to $ 417.43/mo. which equals a 7% decrease in cost from 1996. He also stated that worker's compensation insurance rates declined significantly. There was some discussion about budgeting for contributions to the Suburban Alliance. The consensus of the City Council was not to budget for it. 178 Robinson stated that he increased the amount of contingency dollars budgeted by $10,750 to give the City Council and Staff more flexibility when coding unexpected expenditures. He stated that this amounted to less than 1 % of the total General Fund expenditures. 16. Summary of Department Head Evaluations Mayor Theis stated that the City Council had a conversation with each department head and discussed with them concerns about the City and the operation of their departments. 17. 1997 Salary Increases John Ferris stated that a few years back the City had the League of Minnesota Cities(LMC) create job descriptions and pay ranges etc. for each employee and that this information presented in spreadsheet included in their information. He stated that the was purely meant as a reference and that the City Council had a bad experience trying to follow this step program verbatim. The scale presented included a 3% cost of living increase and the proposed pay increase and approximate location on the step spreadsheet for each employee was highlighted. Jim Johnson asked why the officers got such large pay increases. Rick Rabenort stated that it was a part of the contract. Jim Johnson asked why Rick Rabenort was proposing a 8.9% increase for the Police Assistant. Rick Rabenort stated that this position had an increasing responsibility and was on the low end when compared with similar jobs. John Ferris stated that this would also bring Cec closer to Sandie and Laura. John Ferris stated that the City Council needs to look at the department heads in light of their performance evaluations. Ann Thies stated that Jim Dillman did an excellent job building Pioneer Trail this year and that Rick Rabenort kept the police department running smoothly while being short handed. After some discussion the consensus of the City Council was to give the Police Chief and the Public Works Director each a 5% increase for 1997. Moved by Johnson, seconded by Thies, to approve a 5% increase for the Police Chief and the Public Works Director Motion passed unanimously 179 18. Foxberry Farms Shawn Gustafson stated that he was going to authorize a letter of credit reduction for the Foxberry Farms addition for up to 85%. He stated that the remainder of the project was to be completed this spring. The Final reduction will be brought to the City Council for approval in June. 19. Joining the Suburban Rate Authority Moved by Thies, seconded by Johnson, to approve a free trial membership to the SRA. Motion passed unanimously Moved by Mayor Theis, seconded by Ferris, to Jim Dillman and Jim Johnson as the City's representatives to the SRA. Motion passed unanimously 20. Suburban Alliance After some discussion the City Council decided to wait before acting on this issue. 21. APPROVAL TO PAY THE BILLS Moved by Mayor Theis, seconded by Thies, to approve payment of the bills. Motion passed unanimously 22. EXECUTIVE SESSION At 11:15 p.m. the City Council closed the meeting at to discuss the following: Police Contract Negotiations, Update on Roach Litigation, and Police Investigative Matters. At 11:58 p.m. the City Council came out of closed session. 23. Adjourn Moved by Thies, seconded by Johnson, to adjourn the meeting at 12:01 a.m.. Motion passed unanimously. Anne E. Theis, Mayor Attest: Paul Robinson, Clerk -Treasurer 180 I (THIS PAGE LEFT BLANK INTENSIONALLY) ORDER CHECKS - NOVEMBER 6, 1996 16431 Air Touch Cellular 16432 AWWA 16433 Bonestroo, Rosene, Anderlik 5,138. 16434 Brock White 4,153.5 16435 Bryan Rock Products 36,154.00 16436 Classic Cleaning 191.70 16437 Commercial Life 16438 Commissioner of Revenue 16439 Delta Dental 16440 Ditter, Inc. 16441 E-Z-Recycling 16442 Egan Oil 16443 Rolf Erickson Ent.,Inc.,Southwest Assessing 16444 Farmers State Bank of Hamel 16445 Fortin Hardware 16446 Gary's Diesel 16447 Glenwood Inglewood 16448 Gopher State One Call 16449 Jim Hatch Sales 16450 HealthPartners 16451 HealthPartners 16452 Hennepin Co. 16453 Hennepin Co. Treas., Acctg. Svcs 16454 Humane Society of Wright Co. 16455 Kustom Signals 16456 Sandra Larson 16457 Lucent Technologies 16458 M.E.M.A. 16459 Mayer Mobil 16460 Medica 16461 Metro.Council Wastewater Svcs.(Treatment Chgs 16462 Metro.Council Wastewater Svcs.(SAC Charges) 16463 Midwest Asphalt 16464 Minnegasco 16465 State of Minnesota - BCA 16466 N.W. Chapter, FBINAA 16467 Northern States Power 16468 Northwest Suburban Chamber 16469 Office Max 16470 P.E.R.A. 16471 Postmaster 16472 Prolawns Assn. on the Lake 16473 Quill Corp 16474 Randy's Sanitation 16475 Reynolds Welding 16476 Schoening Exc. 16477 Specialty Radio 16478 Streicher's 16479 superior Ford 16480 U.S. West 16481 Uniforms Unlimited 16482 University of Minnesota 16483 Warning Lites 16484 Waterpro Supplies 16485 Wright -Hennepin Electric 16486 Wright -Hennepin Security Svcs 16487 Zep Manufacturing 16488 Ziegler, Inc lea $ 100.62 45.00 71.60 1,538.10 765.60 107.50 2,132.58 300.57 2,473.46 6,372.40 64.56 1,177.76 51.65' 119.00 85.03 1,706.09 1,329.96 50.00 1,861.04 127.50 1,039.64 93.81 13.30 25.00 18.00 2,881.46 7,803.00 2,673.00 87.36 85.08 270.00 20.00 2,654.75 79.00 295.91 4,297.35 532.00 1,635.00 25.38 80.83 73.26 8,977.50 48.00 153.36 17.07 339.05 88.95 155.00 120.94 2,344.45 1,019.77 52.18 47.77 70.40 $104,235.65 C PAYROLL CHECKS - NOVEMBER 6, 1996 14982 Paul A. Robinson $ 933.34 14983 Steven T. Scherer 948.00 14984 Richard R. Rabenort 1.416.60 14985 Michael J. Rouillard 1,037.79 14986 James D. Dillman* 1,315.78 14987 Robert P. Dressel 1,120.76 14988 Edgar J. Belland 1,159.45 14989 Cecilia M. Vieau 723.94 14990 Laura L. Sulander 885.78 14991 Sandra L. Larson 819.34 14992 Joseph R. Heyman 899.95 14993 Jon D. Priem 851.36 14994 Anne E. Theis 207.79 14995 Ann C. Thies 138.52 14996 John B. Ferris 138.52 14997 Philip K. Zietlow 138.52 14998 James R. Johnson 138.52 14999 Paul A. Robinson 773.34 15000 Steven T. Scherer 448.33 15001 Richard R. Rabenort 1,191.60 15002 Michael J. Rouillard 1,049.17 15003 James D. Dillman 1,141.28 15004 Robert P. Dressel 574.13 15005 Edgar J. Belland 1,200.78 15006 Cecilia M. Vieau 304.63 15007 Laura L. Sulander 473.74 15008 Sandra L. Larson 396.14 15009 Joseph R. Heyman 861.95 15010 Jon D. Priem 799.66 $22,088.71