Loading...
HomeMy Public PortalAbout03.07.2023 City Council MinutesMedina City Council Meeting Minutes March 7, 2023 1 MEDINA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF MARCH 7, 2023 The City Council of Medina, Minnesota met in regular session on March 7, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. in the City Hall Chambers. Mayor Martin presided. I. ROLL CALL Members present: Albers, Cavanaugh, DesLauriers, Martin, and Reid. Members absent: None. Also present: City Administrator Scott Johnson, City Clerk Caitlyn Walker, Attorney Dave Anderson, Finance Director Erin Barnhart, City Engineer Jim Stremel, City Planning Director Dusty Finke, Public Works Director Steve Scherer, and Chief of Police Jason Nelson. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (7:00 p.m.) III. ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA (7:00 p.m.) The agenda was approved as presented. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (7:00 p.m.) A. Approval of the February 21, 2023 Work Session City Council Meeting Minutes Moved by Cavanaugh, seconded by Reid, to approve the February 21, 2023 work session City Council meeting minutes as presented. Motion passed unanimously. B. Approval of the February 21, 2023 Regular City Council Meeting Minutes Moved by Cavanaugh, seconded by Albers, to approve the February 21, 2023 regular City Council meeting minutes as presented. Motion passed unanimously. V. CONSENT AGENDA (7:01 p.m.) A. Approve Hackamore Right of Way Easement Acquisitions B. Approve Resolution 2023-24 Supporting Housing and Local Decision- Making Authority C. Approve Ordinance 702 Adopting an Amended Fee Schedule for Clean-Up Day D. Approve Resolution 2023-25 Authorizing Publication of Ordinance Adopting an Amended Fee Schedule by Title and Summary E. Approve Resolution 2023-26 Accepting the Resignation of Part-Time Administrative Assistant to the Police Department Nicole Jacobson F. Approve Garden Maintenance Services Agreement with Designing Nature G. Approve Hiring of Accounting Technician H. Approve Agreement for Elevate Hennepin Programming I. Approve Amendment to Construction Cooperative Agreement with Hennepin County for Highway 55/County Road 116 Albers referenced Item B and asked for more details from staff. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes March 7, 2023 2 Johnson provided more details noting that the state is attempting to limit local authority over zoning. He stated that this action is in support of ensuring local government units continue to have authority over local zoning decisions. Albers referenced Item H and asked if the City is being asked to pay $3,200 for the time of the contract in order for Hennepin County to provide services to small businesses within Medina. He asked the number of small businesses that would benefit from the program before approving the expenditure. Finke stated that this is a new program, but the City has participated in the Open to Business program in the past. He stated that he could provide participation numbers for that program, estimating a handful of businesses that participate. He noted that the cost for the first year would be $1,250 and would provide more services than City staff could during that length of time for that cost. He stated that historically the program has not been heavily used and the County has increased its marketing to encourage businesses to participate as well as increasing the scope of services provided to businesses. He believed that the County would be asking for larger partnerships in the future and the City can monitor usage of the program before committing to future participation. Martin agreed that participation should be monitored closely in the first year to guide future decision making. Albers commented that Hennepin County has a pot of money for the program and therefore it seems counter intuitive to ask the cities to contribute as well. Finke stated that Hennepin County is asking for buy-in from the cities as the thinking would be that cities that are contributing would be more likely to promote the program as well. Albers asked what would happen once the pot of money the County has is gone and whether the City would have an obligation or expectation to contribute more money. Finke confirmed that the indication would be that the contribution would go up after those funds are expended. He confirmed that entering into this contract would not obligate the City to participate in future years. Martin stated that perhaps this should come back to the Council in August of 2024 for review of the program and in order to better make a decision on whether Medina would like to continue to participate. DesLauriers echoed the comments of Albers. He noted the comment that Finke made that if a business from Medina were to approach the County and the City had chosen not to participate, he did not think the business would be turned away. He asked why the City would choose to participate if the businesses would still have access to the program. Albers requested to pull Item H from the Consent Agenda to allow separate voting. Moved by Albers, seconded by DesLauriers, to remove Item H from the consent agenda. Motion passed unanimously. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes March 7, 2023 3 Moved by Albers, seconded by Martin, to approve the consent agenda as amended. Motion passed unanimously. H. Approve Agreement for Elevate Hennepin Programming Finke noted that this item is not time sensitive and therefore perhaps the best choice would be to delay action on this item. He noted that staff could then provide more data to the Council to help guide the decision. Martin agreed that it would be helpful to have the participation numbers from the Open to Business program and also to find out if businesses in Medina would still be able to use the program if the City were to choose not to participate. Cavanaugh asked if the City could evaluate the participation rates after 12 months to determine if the City should continue participation. Martin agreed that it would also be helpful to know if the City could choose to discontinue participation in the program after 12 months if the data did not support continuing. Staff was directed to bring back the requested information with the proposed agreement to a future meeting. VI. COMMENTS (7:13 p.m.) A. Comments from Citizens on Items not on the Agenda There were none. B. Park Commission Scherer reported that the Park Commission has not met since the last update. He noted that the new scoreboard has arrived for Hamel Legion Park and would most likely be installed once the weight restrictions are lifted. C. Planning Commission Finke reported that the Planning Commission will meet the following week to hold a public hearing for preliminary plat and site plan review for Cates Industrial Park. VII. PRESENTATIONS A. State Senator Warren Limmer (7:15 p.m.) Senator Limmer introduced himself noting that he now represents Medina as a result of the redistricting. He noted the communities that he previously represented and recognized the growth that this area of the metro has experienced. He stated that he now represents seven cities and six school districts. He stated that he supports smaller, localized government control recognizing that as the control moves to a larger scale it removes those that have intimate knowledge of the local issues. He summarized the topics that he spoke with Martin about the previous week related to Medina. He reviewed the committee assignments that he holds. He recognized the value and importance of public safety as well as civil rights. He noted the needs and desires of Medina and other communities in this area related to shared fire services and recognized some of the challenges, noting that he is working cooperatively with other state representatives towards that goal within the legislature. He noted his experience Medina City Council Meeting Minutes March 7, 2023 4 on the 94 coalition and stated that he is excited to begin work on the Highway 55 coalition as well. He stated that he looks forward to working with Medina as they move forward. Cavanaugh asked for an update on the legislation regarding the sale of THC products. Limmer stated that legislation has not moved to the Senate but expects that to come forward in the next week as it was passed in the House. He stated that in the past he has opposed the recreational use of marijuana and will continue to do so but did not believe his colleagues would be voting the same. He noted that in Colorado when that type of legislation was adopted, the counties were allowed to make the decision as to whether it would be allowed but the Minnesota bill as proposed would make that legal statewide. He stated that he would prefer to have the decision made by the cities if it were allowed. He also noted the low fee proposed for a sales license of $200 and stated that does not compare to the price for liquor or tobacco licensing. He believed that if recreational marijuana use were legalized it would have impacts on vehicle crashes, marriage dissolutions, quality of work, as well as impacts on the labor force. Cavanaugh asked about the guidance that will be given to cities about the regulation of these products. Limmer stated that regulation authority would not be provided to cities. He encouraged the City to participate and engage in lobbying. Albers clarified that he believes the question was more related to the legalization in the last year of edible THC products and the lack of regulation guidance by the legislature. He noted that Medina has a moratorium in place that would not allow the sale of those products. Martin confirmed that the Council was waiting to see if there was an amendment to that adopted legislation that would have guided the regulation. Albers asked how the financial end of THC sales would be dealt with, as federal regulations do not allow for sales of an illicit drug. Limmer commented that he does not know that answer but noted that other states seemed to have addressed that but recognized the conflict of law. Martin stated that another one of her pet peeves is related to internet service. She stated that currently the City residents have the option of a service provided through a phone provider and service through a cable company. She recognized the challenges that Medina has because of the cost of infrastructure. She stated that the phone companies are taking the revenue generated in Medina to invest in infrastructure in other communities but not reinvesting to upgrade service to Medina residents, which is an issue. She also recognized the importance of reliable internet service in this day and age and the cost for homeowners to run the connection to the homes. Johnson stated that the City received a broadband grant through DEED for Mediacom to run services in Medina. He noted a grant that has now become available for last mile connections to homes also through DEED. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes March 7, 2023 5 Limmer recognized that cable companies cherry pick areas with more density and go around the less dense areas. Martin stated that she would like to see the broadband/cable companies required to reinvest their fee income into infrastructure within the community to bring those services up to the current standard. Cavanaugh added there is no incentive for broadband/cable companies to reinvest the fees spent by Medina residents to improve the local infrastructure. Martin noted that this issue is not singular to Medina as the other more rural communities in this area have the same issue. VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. Hackamore Road Improvement Project (7:45 p.m.) Johnson noted the different intentions of this project and stated that Corcoran and Medina authorized the final design development in 2022 and the project is now ready to go to bid. Stremel stated that they have been working on this joint project for several years to address shared goals between the two communities. He identified the project area and proposed improvements. He noted that they have also been working with different developments to finalize those connections through this project. He stated that the cities are working on a Joint Powers Agreement that would be finalized in the near future for the project. He stated that at one point, CR 101 was included in the project but has since been removed and will be included in a Plymouth project. He stated that water treatment and stormwater management would be provided on adjacent properties as part of this project. He stated that this project would widen the roadway, add turn lanes, and include a trail along with paved shoulders. He stated that there is a mix of rural and urban street sections throughout the project and provided graphics of what those different road sections would look like. He reviewed the estimated project cost and proposed funding sources as well as the proposed project schedule. Cavanaugh referenced the 21 percent for engineering and asked for more details. Stremel replied that as the project costs have increased over time, they have tried to keep the overhead the same. He noted that the engineering costs have decreased from 24 percent to 21 percent. He reviewed the different elements that are included in the project cost. Cavanaugh asked if this is a flat fee rather than a negotiated amount and asked how that is set. Stremel explained how the different project costs are determined for the soft costs. He confirmed that they do estimate the number of hours and use the negotiated contract rate for engineering services. Martin commented that she was not struck by the engineering costs because this project seemed appropriate and believed the soft costs to be nominal. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes March 7, 2023 6 Anderson commented that if anything that would be slightly lower than usual, as typically soft costs are about 25 percent of the project cost. Stremel stated that the 21 percent would not be of the total project cost but of the construction cost. DesLauriers referenced the $8,000,000 cost, noting that a majority of those costs would be covered. He asked the portion of that cost that Medina would be responsible for. Barnhart stated that they are still waiting to finalize the split with Corcoran before providing that number. She stated that Medina should be able to finance its portion of the cost through its available MSA funding. 1. Resolution 2023-27 Approving Plans/Specifications and Authorize the Advertisement for Bids Moved by DesLauriers, seconded by Martin, to adopt Resolution 2023-27 approving plans/specifications and authorizing the advertisement for bids. Further discussion: Martin commented that she has witnessed this process and commended staff for their cooperation with Corcoran to find solutions to the issues that have arisen. She believed that this would benefit the relationship between the cities and could lead to further collaboration. Johnson commented that Finke, Scherer, and Barnhart have and continue to do a fantastic job on the proposed project. Cavanaugh referenced the traffic light at 116 and asked if that were approved on a temporary basis and whether that would become more formalized. Scherer replied that the residents of Foxberry lobbied for that, and it was installed quickly. He stated that moving forward this would be a new signal light and Hennepin County would be cost-sharing that improvement. Motion passed unanimously. B. Townline Road South Pavement Rehabilitation Project (8:02 p.m.) Johnson stated that this is a 2023 CIP street improvement project. He stated that the feasibility report was included in the packet along with the JPA. Scherer stated that the City is working with Orono and Independence on this project and provided brief background on the project process. He identified the project location and provided an overview of the scope of the project. He stated that the feasibility report included a cost analysis for the street and trail. He noted that Orono has approved the project and JPA, and Independence is still reviewing. He provided details on the proposed cost estimate and noted that Medina would also be including Juniper Curve in the project. Martin commented that the report was well done. She noted the potholes that surface this time of year on the roads and noted that rarely does that occur in Medina. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes March 7, 2023 7 Scherer noted that maintaining the roads actually saves staff time and saves costs long term because staff is not filling potholes. 1. Resolution 2023-28 Approving the Feasibility Report and Joint Powers Agreement and Ordering the Project Moved by DesLauriers, seconded by Albers, to adopt Resolution 2023-28 receiving the Townline Road South feasibility report. Motion passed unanimously. 2. Joint Powers Agreement Between the City of Orono, the City of Independence and the City of Medina Moved by DesLauriers, seconded by Albers, to adopt resolution approving the Townline Road South JPA including the cities of Medina, Orono and Independence. Motion passed unanimously. C. Pioneer Highlands (8:12 p.m.) Johnson noted that preliminary plat approval for this project was granted in October of 2022 and the applicant is now requesting final plat approval. Finke stated that the purpose of final plat review is to ensure the proposed plat to be recorded is consistent with the preliminary plat approval and that the conditions have been addressed or will be addressed through this approval. He stated that the majority of the conditions will go forward into the final plat approval and will be formalized in the Development Agreement. He stated that the City already held a public hearing related to the establishment of a stormwater improvement tax district, as is common practice and provides the City another tool if the owners were not to maintain those stormwater elements. He stated that the final plat is similar and consistent with the preliminary plat, noting that additional drainage and utility easements are shown on the plat as required. He stated that the applicant proposes a filtration basin to provide volume control for stormwater management, rather than the enlarged upland buffers and native preservation originally shown. 1. Resolution 2023-29 Granting Final Plat Approval Moved by DesLauriers, seconded by Albers, to adopt Resolution 2023-29 granting final plat approval for Pioneer Highlands. Motion passed unanimously. 2. Ordinance 703 Establishing the Pioneer Highlands Storm Sewer Improvement Tax District Moved by DesLauriers, seconded by Albers, to adopt Ordinance 703 establishing the Pioneer Highlands Storm Sewer Improvement Tax District. Motion passed unanimously. 3. Resolution 2023-30 Authorizing Publication by Title and Summary Moved by DesLauriers, seconded by Albers, to adopt Resolution 2023-30 authorizing publication by title and summary. Motion passed unanimously. 4. Development Agreement Moved by DesLauriers, seconded by Albers, to approve the Development Agreement by and between the City of Medina and Onyx Performance Investments, LLC. Motion passed unanimously. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes March 7, 2023 8 IX. CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT (8:18 p.m.) Johnson stated that the staff member that has previously coordinated Celebration Day has resigned. He stated that department heads will meet the following day to discuss how the planning could be accomplished, noting that it would require overtime pay. He stated that staff will also look to reformat the vacated position. Albers asked if there would be an opportunity to have more citizen involvement in the planning for that event. Johnson commented that there have been discussions with local businesses about trying to do that. Nelson explained staff have met with local community members and businesses about their ideas but there has not been interest from them to participate in the planning. Martin suggested perhaps the City look into the option of hiring an event coordinator. She stated that perhaps the cost for that service would be offset by the interim savings resulting from the staff vacancy. Nelson reiterated the importance of getting the vacant position filled as the department will be short staffed. Martin acknowledged the cost of overtime for staff as well and suggested that staff look into the option of an event coordinator. She stated that she would prefer to cover the other duties of that vacant position with current staff resources and look outside for event planning services. X. MAYOR & CITY COUNCIL REPORTS (8:25 p.m.) Nelson provided an update on the most recent fire services meeting. Martin commented that the previous day the City received a lengthy memorandum from the Common Bond developer which identified some of the hurdles for that project. She noted that staff will be reviewing that document and will follow up with a discussion with that developer. She also commented on the recent discussion with Senator Limmer, which was similar to the topics she covered with Representative Robbins. She noted that Limmer mentioned a potential funding source through the Department of Agriculture that could be available for that concept. Johnson stated that he did have discussions on that funding source with the State Fire Marshal’s Office and was told the population cap was for the entire fire service area, which would not make them eligible. Martin noted that Limmer had thought the population cap was for the city in which the fire station is located and confirmed that staff would look into that further. Cavanaugh noted that they had a good discussion about the internet today. He stated that he uses T-Mobile for high-speed internet and stated that perhaps there is an opportunity to do high speed internet with those providers. Johnson confirmed that those 5G options (T-Mobile and Verizon) are providing services in Medina. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes March 7, 2023 9 Barnhart stated that Medina has two lease contracts with those companies, and it would be interesting to see their coverage maps. Cavanaugh provided more information on how the T-Mobile service is provided with a piece of equipment that also incorporates a router. He noted that he is only paying $50 per month for that service. XI. APPROVAL TO PAY THE BILLS (8:39 p.m.) Moved by Cavanaugh, seconded by Martin, to approve the bills, EFT 006735E-006752E for $80,062.75, order check numbers 054035-054082 for $907,632.02, and payroll EFT 0512537-0512572 for $69,331.48. Motion passed unanimously. XII. ADJOURN Moved by Albers, seconded by Cavanaugh to adjourn the meeting at 8:40 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. __________________________________ Kathleen Martin, Mayor Attest: ____________________________________ Caitlyn Walker, City Clerk