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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWK - July 23, 2013X ND OVE 1685 CROSSTOWN BOULEVARD N.W. • ANDOVER, MINNESOIA 55304 • (763) 755 -5100 FAX (763) 755 -8923 • WWW.ANDOVERMN.GOV City Council Workshop Tuesday, July 23, 2013 Conference Rooms A & B 1. Call to Order — 6:00 p.m. 2. Presentation of 2014 Anoka County Sheriffs Contract - Administration 3. Discuss CIP with Park & Recreation Commission — Engineering 4. Discuss Veterans Memorial Boulevard NW Memorial —Engineering 5. Update of Joint Powers Agreement/Lower Rum River WMO — Engineering © 6. Discuss Hanson Boulevard NW & 161 sc Avenue NW Traffic Signal /12 -30 —Engineering 7. Discuss CIP Annual Street Reconstruction Projects - Engineering 8. 2014 Budget Development Discussion - Administration 9. Update on 2013 Budget Progress — June2013 - Administration 10. Investment Review - June 2013 - Administration 11. Other Topics 12. Adjournment �J 0 ANLb 6 q A ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING —JULY 23, 2013 MINUTES The Workshop Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Mike Gamache, July 23, 2013, 6:05 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Mike Knight, Sheri Bukkila, Julie Trude and Tony Howard Councilmember absent: None Also present: City Administrator, Jim Dickinson Public Works Director /City Engineer, David Berkowitz City Attorney, Scott Baumgartner Others Motion by Trude, Seconded by Bukkila to amend the agenda to include the addition of Approving Appointment of Fire Administrative Assistant. Motion carried unanimously. APPROVE APPOINTMENT— FIRE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Mr. Dickinson explained due to the recent retirement of Jane Peterson, Administrative Assistant, the Fire Department has the position of Administrative Assistant available. The Human Resource Department has completed the interview and selection process to fill this position. Motion by Trude, Seconded by Knight, to approve the appointment of Nanci Libor as the new Fire Administrative Assistant. Motion carried unanimously. PRESENTATION OF 2014 ANOKA COUNTY SHERIFFS CONTRACT Mr. Dickinson introduced Sheriff Stuart and Commander Halweg who made a presentation to the Council. Sheriff Stuart stated they are proposing no increase of staffing for Andover. The increases incorporated into the contract proposal are real life PERA and salary increases which were the first in three years. Mr. Dickinson stated regarding health insurance, there was an increase there but that goes back to the last contract. Commander Halweg stated there are always at least two deputies on duty at all hours of the day in Andover. He stated the LSO's patrol the parks in the City during the day and evening. E © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes —July 23, 2013 Page 2 Councilmember Trude asked how long the shifts are. Commander Halweg stated the deputies are working twelve hour days. The deputies have every other weekend off including Fridays along with two consecutive days off during the week. Sheriff Stuart stated by having twelve hour shifts they have reduced their overtime expenses and the Sheriff likes this schedule because it gives them more consecutive time off to spend with their families. He noted they are able to save hundreds of thousands of dollars by better scheduling. Councilmember Trude asked how the day is broken up for the deputies. Commander Halweg stated the deputies are encouraged to get out of their vehicles and make contact with people in the community during their shift so they are not driving twelve hours straight. Councilmember Trude encouraged the Sheriff's Department to make the deputies known throughout the community because that really helps people to feel safe and seems to cut down on crime. Mayor Gamache asked if the Sheriff's Department gets updated to changes within the school © system. Sheriff Stuart stated they do and continually go to school district meetings and participate with the school district staff. Mayor Gamache asked if the Sheriff's Department has a good relationship and communication with Andover businesses. Sheriff Stuart stated some businesses encourage a relationship, but some do not. Councilmember Knight stated in regard to the Community Center, the Community Center Advisory Commission would like to have a Deputy frequently go into the center to meet and greet the kids and make a presence there particularly after school. Councilmember Bukkila thought as far as the Community Center and YMCA, it would be a good idea to install cameras in the parking lot which would be a deterrent or apprehension tool. She wondered if this was something the Sheriff's Department would think of as being valuable. Commander Halweg stated cameras would be great for a deterrent. Councilmember Bukkila stated she got an email from the Community Center for a class on self - defense for women and wondered if the Sheriff's Department could have Laura Landis post this for the community. Commander Halweg indicated that would be possible. Councilmember Bukkila also asked to have the supplements for the monthly statistical report so the Council knows what types of crimes and drug arrests are going on in Andover. Sheriff Stuart © stated their current system does not handle that but their new system may be able to do that. There was discussion regarding illegal drugs in Anoka County and how the community can be notified. Councilmember Trude thought there could be a community learning program for U A © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes —July 23, 2013 Page 3 parents. She also thought maybe they could do more during their QCTV programming. Social media is also a good idea to post education videos. Councilmember Bukkila thought they should also start some type of community activism in emergency situations. She noted she has already talked to Fire Chief Winkel about this. She would like to start some type of community education and wondered what the Sheriffs Department could do to help with that. Sheriff Stuart stated within the Sheriff's Department they are looking at what is called the "Care Program" for public education and he would be glad to help inform and teach residents what to do in an emergency situation. Councilmember Trude stated when the deputies have down time, Round Lake Boulevard is very busy and maybe they could sit at the Round Lake boat landing or in the parking area to be seen and deter speeding. Councilmember Howard stated the Sheriffs Department is very passionate about helping homeless youth and he would like to see about getting a program together to help out some way. Sheriff Stuart indicated there are a lot of homeless youth in Anoka County and residents do not realize the extent this and any program to bring this forward and public would be great. © The Council thanked the Sheriffs Department for taking time to talk to the Council. DISCUSS CIP WITH PARK & RECREATION COMMISSION Park and Recreation Commission Chairperson Ted Butler stated the Commission has spent a lot time working on the CIP this year and deciding what the Commission wants to do within the park system of the City. He stated the Commission is projecting some park dedication fees coming in for the next couple of years. He noted residential projects are being projected for 20 units per year for the first three years and 10 units per year after that. Chairperson Butler stated over the next several years, the Commission is planning to put aside $200,000 for a renovation of Rose Park. He noted the Commission talked about improving the park into a slightly more active park with two ball fields, this would accommodate the removal of a ball field at Green Acres Park. The proposed fields will be irrigated and new fencing will be used for the infield but not the outfield. Councilmember Bukkila asked what the neighborhood had to say about this. Chairperson Butler stated the neighbors were concerned about a hockey rink going in there and they would prefer to have two ball fields versus a hockey rink. Mayor Gamache asked if the Commission went with the layout shown at the meeting, would © trees be planted to try to prohibit balls from going out of the park. Chairperson Butler stated the fencing would stop most foul balls, the fields will be for six and seven year old players. Mayor Gamache wanted to be sure that if older kids end up using the fields, they need to have ❑i MW © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — July 23, 2013 Page 4 something to block the foul balls. Councilmember Bukkila stated her concern would be the traffic going through the neighborhood to get to the park. Chairperson Butler stated "Way Finding" signs along trails is something they put into their CIP a couple of years ago and is appealing to all ages within the City. Councilmember Trude thought it was a good idea to have mileage on the signs but she would like to discourage people crossing into Bunker Lake Park by the railroad crossing because it is dangerous there and vehicles cannot see the crossing that close to the tracks. Mr. Haas stated the signs in that area will be expanded as they go along. Councilmember Bukkila thought they could have a kiosk or map on the start of the trails to show people how to get to different places using the trails. Chairperson Butler stated they have some small parks that need irrigation systems and have slowly been putting systems in the parks. Chairperson Butler stated the Commission has concluded that high use parks in the City need to © have paved parking lots in order to utilize the parking appropriately. Prairie Knoll Park needs to be paved and the cost is $100,000 for one parking lot. Councilmember Bukkila wondered if they could get association participation on this. Chairperson Butler stated they could try but the associations are also putting money into other parks in the City. Chairperson Butler thought if they are doing a street project, they could see about tacking these parking lots on to get a better price. He thought this would improve the park significantly. Chairperson Butler noted the Commission will roll over $290,000 from 2013 to 2014 and at the end of 2014 they will still be over the $50,000 minimum reserve and then after that they will still have $15,000 each year for miscellaneous projects. 2017 will be for a large project at Fox Meadows Park. Commissioner Miskowiec did not think they should label more land in the City as dedicated park land because he thought they had plenty of small parks and if it is labeled as dedicated park land, the City can never sell the land or change the land from anything besides park. Mr. Haas stated there was a neighborhood meeting held for Fox Meadows Park and there were a lot of good responses to the reconstruction of the park. The neighborhood was in favor of having a hockey rink within the park also. He stated Verizon is also looking at the park for a cell tower site. © Chairperson Butler stated in 2018 they have $30,000 for paving a hockey rink, they will likely use it for concrete so the rink can be used for rollerblading also. Councilmember Trude wondered why there is not any money in the plan for additional © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes —July 23, 2013 Page 5 equipment for the skate park. Commissioner Van Vark stated there was talk about some smaller equipment for younger children. Chairperson Butler stated they can pull the money out of the miscellaneous projects fund for equipment for the skate park if needed. Mayor Gamache thought this looked like a good plan and they are addressing some issues that need correction. Councilmember Trade stated she has had residents call her regarding Red Oaks East Park and wondered if anything could be done to improve it. She noted the park looks terrible with dead trees and garbage in it. Mayor Gamache stated his issue with this is that Red Oaks West is within two blocks of another park. Red Oaks West is a fairly new park. Councilmember Howard wondered if they could look at unused park land for community gardens. Mr. Haas stated they could do a community survey to see if the neighborhood is interested in doing something like that. Mr. Berkowitz stated the City could do a controlled burn at Red Oaks East to get the weeds out of the park and then plant some grass. ® Councilmember Howard wondered if the City could start a memorial program where they can plant a tree in the parks. Mr. Haas stated they already have a program like this in place. Commissioner Lindahl stated they have been struggling with the Crooked Lake Elementary hockey rink and wondered if the old golf course may be an appropriate place for a hockey rink. There was discussion about where, in the southern part of the City, a hockey rink could be installed. The Council recessed at 7:47 p.m. The Council reconvened at 7:54 p.m. DISCUSS VETERANS MEMORIAL BOULEVARD NW MEMORIAL Mr. Berkowitz explained it appears from the edge of the road to the right -of -way, they have twenty -five feet where a memorial could be placed. Councilmember Trade thought they put this in the CIP for a place marker so it was not forgotten. Mayor Gamache stated he liked the idea of putting something on the east side of the road that © will lead into a future park once the Public Works campus is complete. Councilmember Trade thought they could have a large entrance sign with some type of veteran motif on it. © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — July 23, 2013 Page 6 Councilmember Knight thought they should set aside some land on the northwest corner and contact the Legion and VFW to see what they would suggest and do something in the future. The Council suggested putting this off for a couple of years but keep it in the CIP as a placeholder and revisit it again. UPDATE OF JOINT POWERS AGREEMENT/LOWER R UM RIVER WMO Mr. Haas explained the Lower Rum River Watershed Management Organization ( LRRWMO) Board has been trying to get its joint powers agreement review done. He stated Ramsey had some comments and that letter was attached in the packet. Coon Rapids is going to move to the Coon Creek Watershed District and Ramsey felt the assessment formula should be equaled out so all the cities pay the same amount of money. He noted Mr. Dickinson has reviewed the letter. Councilmember Trade asked if a lot of the developable land in Ramsey would be in the LRRWMO, she thought it would favor Ramsey. Mr. Haas noted all of Ramsey and most of Anoka is in the LRRWMO District. Mr. Dickinson stated the current JPA covers how this is to be allocated. It is currently showing 50% valuation on total area acres and also puts 50% weight ® on valuation. So when you put the two weighted averages together, Andover is at 28 %, Anoka at 22 %, and Ramsey at 50 %. Ramsey's suggestion is to make it equal between the three cities. Councilmember Trade felt that change would really favor Ramsey. Councilmember Bukkila stated the concern she has is the problems that have gone on in Ramsey and she would not want the Andover money to pay for their problems. Mr. Dickinson stated this likely all comes down to voting. Mr. Haas stated if the funding percent stays the same, Ramsey may want more than one vote on the Board because they would pay the most. Councilmember Trade asked if the organization incurs expenses that are not reimbursed by looking at projects. Mr. Haas indicated that those costs are covered by escrow accounts funded by applicants. Mr. Dickinson stated there is a second part to the memo from Ramsey that has to do with large capital improvement project funding but he feels the JPA already covers this. Councilmember Trade thought they should stay with what they have. The Council requested Mr. Dickinson draft a letter summarizing the discussion for the LRRWMO board and present it to the LRRWMO at their next meeting. DISCUSS HANSONBOULEVARD NW & 161"A VENUE NW TRAFFICSIGNAL112 -30 Mr. Berkowitz explained there will be an open house on July 24`h in the Council Chambers regarding this project. He reviewed the project with the Council. Councilmember Trade wanted to make sure there will be adequate access to Prairie Oak Community Church because this is an election site and they will want to be able to make a left © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes —July 23, 2013 Page 7 turn into the parking lot. Mr. Berkowitz noted the road will either be striped or left open for access. Mr. Berkowitz noted there will not be a left turn lane proposed at 155th Lane. It was noted there will not be any trail on the road. Councilmember Bukkila stated if a resident wanted to take a trail through the subdivision, they should have trail signs directing people through the neighborhood. DISCUSS CIPANNUAL STREET RECONSTRUCTIONPROJECTS Mr. Berkowitz showed a map to the Council of all the street reconstruction projects done within the City since 1997. He stated an analysis was done on the roads that need to be reconstructed and in the direction they are going, the percentage will increase. He stated the Council may need to increase the funding to keep up. Mr. Berkowitz stated one option maybe instead of a 25% assessment they could increase it to 35 %. Assessments would increase from $4,000 46,000 to $6,000 - $8,000. © Mayor Gamache stated LGA was coming back and thought they should use that money to cover these costs. If they get the money, they could keep the costs to 25% for a while. He thought that if they raise the percentage now, they will not be able to lower them again. Councilmember Knight asked if there is a difference in price between lot sizes if they raise the percentage rate. Mr. Berkowitz believed paying a percentage of the total costs and assessing per unit is the way to go in Andover because all the developments and lots are so different in size. Mr. Dickinson stated the proposed road and bridge property tax levy is increasing approximately $72,000 which is very close to what LGA will be. Councilmember Trude stated if they increase the percentage rate they will not know how much the assessment will be because it will depend on the project price. Councilmember Trude asked what the impact would be on the timeline. Councilmember Bukkila stated she would prefer that staff try to work this out within the budget rather than increase the percentage rate. She stated she is open to more discussion on this subject. Mr. Berkowitz stated as we revise the assessment policy, the Council needs to discuss how much they are going to charge for road overlays. Councilmember Bukkila stated if they can prolong the life of the road by doing road overlays, she is okay with that and would be willing to review an Qassessment policy amendment for this. Councilmember Knight stated if the City does an overlay for roads and charges the resident for it, how long it will be before the resident is charged for a road reconstruction. Mr. Berkowitz © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes —July 23, 2013 Page 8 stated that was a good question, he stated he will put together some numbers to bring back to another meeting to discuss in more detail with the Council. There was discussion between the Council and Staff on possible funding for the road improvements such as LGA, raising the assessment percentage rate, franchise fees, and /or tax levies. Councilmember Bukkila stated it is important to know the facts in order to make a correct decision. Martin Project Mr. Berkowitz stated the CIP includes replacing the Andover Station street lights with LED's. He noted it will cost $111,000 to get the lights done. He stated the current acorn lamps are in bad shape and need to be replaced or they are going to continue to have major problems with these lights for years to come. Councilmember Trude asked if this would be an authorized EDA project. Mr. Dickinson thought the area it was in the TIF Project District so he thought it could work. Councilmember Trude asked if there is any public hazard. Mr. Berkowitz stated there is not. Mr. Dickinson stated the money they thought about attributing to the three- quarter intersection could be used here, that budget was close to the light replacement estimate. Mr. Berkowitz stated he will try to get a light to bring to an EDA meeting for review. Mr. Berkowitz stated seal coat starts on Thursday so any questions can be referred to him. 2014 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT DISCUSSION Mr. Dickinson reviewed the budget guidelines. He stated the City is looking at a 2.9% decrease in the total taxable market value which is a realistic number. They do have levy limits this year, which they get a 3% increase above their base level for 2012 or 2013, whichever is higher. He noted they will be using their 2012 levy plus 3% to make their computation because it is higher than 2013. Councilmember Trude asked if they will see a negative value for the City next year as well. Mr. Dickinson stated he did not think so because they have new commercial construction going in this year. © Mr. Dickinson reviewed the 2014 budget points with the Council. Councilmember Trude asked if they could move people around internally to fill voids, if needed. Mr. Dickinson stated they could do this as long as the employee gets adequate training. ® Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes —July 23, 2013 Page 9 Mr. Dickinson reviewed the proposed insurance costs for 2014. He noted the proposed increase should be as high as 40 %. He explained their current total premium is below average and they have great rates right now but may become closer to the average with the projected increase. He stated they are still going to market the group and hope to be within the twenty percent range. Councilmember Trade wondered if they should try to negotiate a multi -year plan. Mr. Dickinson stated most insurance companies will not do that and often times the future year limits are hedged to benefit the insurance companies. Mr. Dickinson reviewed the membership and donation items for 2014 with the Council. Councilmember Trade wondered if the County pulls out of the Youth First Program, will the City have enough funds to contribute to keep their after school program going. Mr. Dickinson indicated the Youth First Finance Committee is currently working through that. Mr. Dickinson stated they will be paying for the ladder truck over five years, the first year's levy is proposed at $260,000. Q Mr. Dickinson stated they could increase their preliminary levy to the levy limits but he would like to have the Council give input on what he should do. Councilmember Trade asked what is happening with the CIP projects and if there are any large projects being proposed. Mr. Dickinson stated the next big project they could do is not until 2016 -2017. Mr. Dickinson thought they needed to set the preliminary levy at the levy limit, there are a lot of significant estimates in the budget that need further research. UPDATE ON2013 BUDGET PROGRESS Mr. Dickinson briefly reviewed the 2013 budget progress report with the Council. INVESTMENT REVIEW — JUNE 2013 Mr. Dickinson briefly reviewed the 2013 investments with the Council. OTHER TOPICS There were none. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Knight, Seconded by Howard, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:55 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — July 23, 2013 Page 10 Sue Osbeck, Recording Secretary H C &I