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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWK November 13, 2001 ~ CW-J ~ a ~ LJ ~C\ CITY OF ANDOVER 1685 CROSSTOWN BOULEVARD N.W. . ANDOVER, MINNESOTA 55304. (763) 755-5100 FAX (763) 755-8923. WWW.C1.ANDOVER.MN.US Special City Council Workshop, Tuesday, November 13, 2001 Conference Room A Call to Order -7:00 PM I. Strategic Planning, Continued 2. Adjournment ~ D...Q....J ~ Iéj.-<-I-OI CITY of ANDOVER DOVER SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP - NOVEMBER 13, 1001 MINUTES A Special Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Mike Gamache on November 13,2001,7:06 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Don Jacobson, Mike Knight, Ken Orttel, Julie Trude Councilmembers absent: None Also present: City Administrator, John Erar AGENDA APPROVAL Mr. Erar asked that Item la, Code Enforcement Procedure/Inoperable Vehicles, be added to the Agenda. Motion by Orttel, Seconded by Jacobson, to approve the Agenda as amended. Motion carried unanimously. STRATEGIC PLANNING Mayor Gamache noted the June 13,2001, meeting where the Council discussed six external goals and their priority as well as four internal goals. Councilmember Jacobson stated in reviewing the goals, he found that some were already done, some were being done and some are on-going. He then combined and condensed them into four major goals and suggested Action Plans under each goal. After the Council has reviewed them and agrees with them, he felt the Staffwould then study them and come up with sub-points as to how to carry out the action plan. This is an open ended document, but he felt deadlines are needed. The other document did not indicate deadlines. Councilmember Jacobson also pointed out the last page indicates his personal idea regarding mission and value statements. The Council then reviewed the four major points of the Strategic Plan, Goals and Action Plans as proposed by Councilmember Jacobson and made the following comments and/or recommendations: #1 Prudently manage Andover's growth: . Develop policy guidelines to limit development each year to a manageable level which can be handled by staff: Mr. Erar felt the policies and guidelines are already in place. It is a matter of reviewing them. The Council discussion noted the existing policies have inclusionary housing through the use of Planned Unit Developments. It would be difficult to put a limit on building. The Council generally agreed, and suggested the item be modified to "Develop and review policy guidelines..." .....-- , Andover Special City Council Workshop Minutes - November 13, 2001 Page 2 (Strategic Planning, Continued) · Hold yearly developer meetings to review guidelines and time frames: Council acknowledged this is already being done. Nö change was made. · Gain approval of Comprehensive Plan by Met Council: Council discussion was on what happens if the Plan is not approved and what still needs to be done to gain approval. It was noted that for the time being, the lack of approval is not an issue. It does become a problem when the City will want to extend the sewer line, which requires Metropolitan Council approval. The Metropolitan Council will require Comp Plan approval before granting approval to extend the urban service boundary for sewer. Mr. Erar stated there has been agreement ofthe City's Plan up to 2020. Without approval, development would be halted at 200S. Regarding the issue of the additional 1,000 acres available for urban development, the Staff has identified those acres. That item will be placed on the next City Council workshop. The Metropolitan Council is looking for the City to determine whether or not the 1,000 acres is available. Based on that, the City can perform a pilot study on the area beyond the proposed 2020 MUSA line as to can this area be serviced and is this a logical direction for the City to expand in. However, the City is not committing to anything beyond 2020 at this point. Councilmember Orttel felt a City the size of Andover has to have an approved Plan, and he felt that could be accomplished without giving up their concept of Andover. No change was made. · Broaden the tax base through increased commercial development: Councilmember Orttel felt the items under this action plan would be looking at the larger issue of controlling what happens and aggressively develop those commercial areas in southern Andover. He recognized the City is captive to its transportation system and economic conditions. No change was made. · Councilmember Trude felt the Council needs to respond to the resident survey recently done on park and recreational services in the City. She also felt the City needs to look at the final product of development for quality, noting existing problems with nuisance issues, lack of enforcement of covenants, forestation, etc. These especially become issues when people only have 30-foot back yards. Councilmember Orttel also felt the City has to have good ordinances to protect the housing stock so it won't deteriorate. Mr. Erar noted the zoning and building codes are really the tools that ensure that final product. Those ordinances are already in place. The Council then agreed to add the following action plan: "Review quality of life factors affecting community growth." #2 Enhance communication with the public: . Upgrade monthly newsletter: Council generally felt the City is doing a good job. Councilmember Trude asked if a summary of Council action or meeting highlights should be included in the newsletter. Council generally agreed it would be worthwhile but also discussed the use of the website. . Utilize City website: Mr. Erar stated the website could be utilized much more, but the problem is the work load. The City only has a part-time person working on it right now. . ,- .. Andover Special Cily Council Workshop Minutes - November 13, 2001 Page 3 (Strategic Planning, Continued) · More fully utilize/upgrade cable television public access: Councilmember Orttel felt the City is doing a good job meeting the expectations of the public, but he also thought they should get more of the youth groups involved with cable TV. Possibly a committee should be formed to look at that entire subject. Councilmember Trude suggested the possibility of establishing a local cable commission to do local programming. · Form sub-committee to study additional communication areas and report back to the Council: Councilmember Jacobson suggested either Staff or a subcommittee look at ideas and come back with recommendations. Councilmember Orttel felt that representatives of the various community groups should be on that subcommittee. He also suggested that on the Council updates, they could answer some questions that have bèen generated by the public to get more information to the residents. Mr. Erar stated he has been working on that. He is developing a plan that involves citizen input. · Survey to determine views of residents on a variety of City issues: Mr. Erar felt this can be done, but not on a monthly basis. Further discussion suggested a short survey could be done monthly as a part of the newsletter or on-line through the City's website. #3 Internal City improvements: · Develop Capital Improvements Program: Council noted this has been completed and will be reviewed shortly. It is ongoing, as the Plan needs to be updated annually. It is also tied to the budget. · Develop/adopt formal finance policies: Mr. Erar stated he has asked the Finance Director to prepare quarterly finance reports for revenues and expenditures for the departments. The Council should expect to see those reports starting in March 2002. The quarterly budget progress report will be a subsection of this item. Mr. Erar also explained the Council will see the General Funds, the Enterprise Funds, and the Debt Service Funds within the next two to three weeks. As a part of balancing the fund, the City's liability relating to employees must be reported. Those liabilities will start to be funded incrementally over time. · Consider reorganization/realignment of Staff functions: Mr. Erar stated there may be opportunities to do things in a better way, which may mean consolidation of positions, not necessarily hiring more people. They will continue to look at evolving expectations of the organization and make adjustments that are appropriate. · Develop guidelines to analyze when to use non-governmental firms to deliver goods and services to citizens: It was noted this is already being done. It was agreed the City should continue to look at this item. · Plan and construct water treatment plant: Council noted this is in progress. · Develop long-term transportation plan: Council noted this is in progress. · Develop City annual budget schedule and criteria each year and hold Council workshop annually to clarify budgeting issues: Council noted this item was discussed during the performance evaluation of the City Administrator and that this is an ongoing issue that is being addressed. - -+- Andover Special City Council Workshop Minutes - November 13, 2001 Page 4 (Strategic Planning, Continued) · Develop policies which will assure users of specific City services will be paying for the service and not be underwritten through general tax levies: Councilmember Trude was concerned with this item as written. She did not feel the youth should be charged a fee to use the ball fields. There are some things that should be underwritten by the City, such as youth activities, senior citizen use of the Senior Center, etc. Mr. Erar noted this is a philosophical issue. Councilmember Jacobson stated the idea was that Staffwould come back with the pros and cons of the specific user fees, and the Council would then make the decision. In further discussion, it was agreed to reword the action plan to: "Develop policies of how or what users of specific City services will be paying for the service..." It was also agreed this item must be monitored. · Present plan to both recognize and more fully utilize City commissions and committees: Councilmember Jacobson noted there has been some discussion on providing more training. Can they be used more than they are now? Mr. Erar stated there are dollars proposed in the 2002 budget for this item. · Review and upgrade City personnel policies: Council noted this is ongoing. #4 CounciVStaff issues: · Provide weekly management report to Council: Council noted the reports are weekly at this time. A concern was of not knowing what is going on in the City. They asked for more detail about rezoning signs, for instance, what is going on in the commercial projects, etc. Mr. Erar relayed the Staffs position that there is a lot of benefit in communicating with the Council. He stated Staff will try to do a better job of advising the Council in more depth on those items. · Schedule annual goal-setting workshop with Council: Council generally agreed that workshop should be scheduled every February or March. · Develop formal plan to recruit, develop and retain quality employees: Mr, Erar stated he intends to develop a guideline to insure that both the Council and Staff are fairly compensated for their respective jobs and responsibilities. He is also developing an ongoing program to challenge employees and compensation benefits. · Hold quarterly update/team building meetings for all City employees: Mr. Erar stated they already hold all-Staff monthly meetings to review what is happening in the departments. They are also talking about having semi-annual team-building sessions for the management team. This item is ongoing. · Develop legislative action plan: Councilmember Trude stated she is trying to get cities within the school district to have a relationship with the school board. She felt the City needs the school district to have more long-term planning. Mr. Erar noted this action item entails city- to-city, city-to-school, city-to-county, and city-to-state. Council discussion was that possibly a liaison should be appointed from the Council to these agencies. There was concern with the --. . -~--... - - ---- Andover Special City Council Workshop Minutes - November 13, 2001 Page 5 (Strategic Planning, Continued) relationship with the county and the concern that with redistricting there could be as many as three commissioners representing the City. Mr. Erar agreed to develop a plan and formulate guidelines on this issue for the council to consider. Mission Statement or Value Statements: Councilmember Jacobson stated he personally did not see the value of a Mission Statement. Mr. Erar argued an organization has to have a mission. There is uniqueness to each community that should be reflected in its mission statement. He asked the Council to allow him to work with the management team to come up with a mission statement for their consideration. The Council agreed. Implementation: Councilmember Jacobson noted as Staff goes through an issue on the Strategic Plan, it should be brought to the Council for consideration. Mr. Erar stated with the resignation of the Community Development Director and the other items that need to be addressed, he asked about the time frame in which the Council wanted these items to be finalized. Much of it is ongoing. Some of it he would like to include the new Community Development Director. After discussion, it was agreed this should be done within the next four to six months, with some of the ongoing and simpler items to come back earlier. CODE ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES - INOPERABLE VEHICLES Mr. Erar reviewed the Staff report regarding the proposal for administrative action prior to legal action regarding inoperable vehicle complaints. The ordinance now requires a hearing by the Council. The change in the ordinance can be done after a public hearing by the City Council. The Council agreed the intent was to have the complaints handled administratively as it has been done with very successfully over the years. This is a technical correction. They agreed to hold the public hearing as soon as possible. OTHER BUSINESS Holidays - Mr. Erar noted December 24 falls on a Monday. Tuesday is a scheduled holiday. He asked if the Council would be receptive to closing City Hall on Monday. Staff would either come to work if they chose, or could take it off using either compensation time or vacation time. This would not give them an extra holiday. He felt very few services would be needed on that Monday. The Council agreed. Andover Special City Council Workshop Minutes - November 13, 2001 Page 6 ADJOURNMENT Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Orttel, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~~è0(;uuL Marcella A. Peach Recording Secretary -~_.... - .