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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP March 23, 2000 ~ Q..D ~ CITY of ANDOVER SPECIAL ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL MEETING - MARCH 23, 2000 MINUTES A Special Meeting of the Andover City Council and Public Works Department was called to order by Mayor Jack McKelvey on March 23, 2000, 7:05 p.m., at the Andover Public Works Building, 1785 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Don Jacobson, Mike Knight, Ken Orttel Councilmember absent: Julie Johnson Also present: Public Works Superintendent, Frank Stone Parks Department, Kevin Starr Utilities, Brian Kraabel Streets, Irwin Russell Vehicle Maintenance, John Wallace City Administrator, Richard Fursman Others VEHICLE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT UPDATE Mr. Wallace explained the need for additional maintenance personnel due to an increase in the number of vehicles, because of more work kept in-house and an increase in administrative duties. They have come up with good ideas in the shop, and other people are starting to use those ideas. They are also starting to be more pro-active in maintenance rather than reactive. They are falling behind, and more help is needed. The current part-time mechanic, who also works part-time for recycling, is qualified and has experience. Mr. Wallace recommended that person be hired full time in the shop. Mr. Stone stated if that is done, someone else would have to be hired part-time for recycling. He hasn't discussed the financing of the position with the Finance Department yet. He wanted this item brought up tonight to let the Council know the need is there. The Council discussed the duties of another full-time mechanic, the demands being placed on the Vehicle Maintenance Department and the cost savings to do the work in-house and to do preventive maintenance. They suggested the Finance Department research a funding source for another full-time mechanic to hire this year if possible. RECYCLING UPDATE - RECYCLING DA YS Mr. Stone reported the spring recycling date is set for April 29, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. There are free seedlings from the DNR that will be given to the residents, plus they wi!! have tree sales from various vendors. The security camera has been very helpful, though the quality is not that good. .-.. - Special City Council/Public Works Meeting Minutes - March 23, 2000 Page 2 (Recycling Update, Continued) Possibly a better one can be budgeted in the future. Recycling is also considering using a different scrap metal dealer. Schwartzman Company may be willing to pay for some of the scrap meta!. STREETS AND HIGHWAYS DEPARTMENT UPDATE Mr. Russell reviewed the following items with the Council: · The new plow truck purchased in 1999 is now in operation. · Two new trucks are being built to replace the 1980 and 1983 trucks and should be in service soon. They are equipped with rear wings. · The shouldering machine is being replaced with a universal sanding/shouldering machine combination. So far prices for the patching tar have been about the same. Bids for seal coating and crack sealing have already been received. Fuel has going through the roof! · The Case loader has been replaced with a new John Deer loader. · Mr. Stone also explained the Department went to straight salt on the streets this year except in certain conditions with 20 percent sand and 80 percent salt are used. Salt is more expensive than the sand mixture, but not as much is used and less trips are needed. Within three years, he expects to see a big savings in street sweeping costs. Council noted some concern with the salt killing the road plantings. · Repair work will be done on the guard rails of the bridges plus trimming trees and fixing the washouts with fabric and rip rap. · This year the Department is using its own sweepers plus has contracted sweepers. Next year they anticipate doing their own sweeping, eliminating the cost for the contract sweepers. Mr. Stone stated the City of Anoka Parks Department has bids on some signs, plus they want to sell signs to District 11 for their school in Ramsey. The Signs Department is growing. Mr. Irwin stated they want to replace the six-inch signs with nine-inch ones where required. Council expressed some concern with filling up the vehicle garages and then needing more space. Mr. Stone stated the building was full the day they moved in. They are rejuvenating old vehicles for summer help; he is now driving the old Fire Department station wagon. Many items are stored outside now because of the lack of space. PARKS DEPARTMENT UPDATE Mr. Starr briefly reviewed the packet on the activities of the Parks Department this past year plus correspondence with the Park and Recreation Commission. He advised the City start looking for another building for equipment. With the development of the new park complex off Hanson Boulevard, there may be a good opportunity to construct one in that area. The City should be looking further down the road and be prepared. A lot of equipment is stored outside all winter now. .-~_...- - Special City Council/Public Works Meeting Minutes - March 23, 2000 Page 3 (Parks Department Update, Continued) In two to three years, the building will be maxed out. Sunshine Park is where most of their time is spent. The upgrading of playground equipment is his greatest concern. The City has been fortunate with only one claim on the ice this year. The League of Minnesota insurance denied the claim. They document all maintenance. Mr. Starr asked about the future footprint of the City Hall complex. The tennis court needs resurfacing, but he does not want to do it if the court will be removed within a few years. The Council felt that the tennis court is heavily used and that it would be a good investment to have it resurfaced. There was some discussion on the lack of revenue coming into the City from youth leagues. A concern is not getting any financial help with the maintenance of the fields. Sports clinics are, in effect, businesses which should be contributing toward maintenance. Mr. Starr felt the City is at the point where a full-time Parks Coordinator is needed. Councilmember Knight stated with the new school coming in, he would like to see a coordinated effort to jointly share the costs and benefits with the school and sports organizations. Mr. Stone stated talks have already begun with the school district regarding the joint use of facilities. Public Works is asking that the school district maintain their fields to match what the City does. Currently there is little to no maintenance of the school facilities during the summer. The school district has not answered that request. Mr. Start pointed out the fields will be heavily used, so it will be difficult to get time to maintain them. He was also concerned with having to do maintenance on the median plantings along Bunker Lake Boulevard. Councilmember Orttel noted if the plantings don't survive or it is not possible to maintain, an option would be to brick or pave over the median. Mr. Starr also suggested adopting a philosophy of fewer tot lots. From a maintenance standpoint, it is difficult to maintain them if there is one in every neighborhood. The Parks Department cannot maintain the standard of service needed now with the existing personnel much less be able to handle new parks unless more personnel is added. He also felt that mowing around other City buildings such as the Fire Department should be budgeted for that department, not in Parks maintenance. Mr. Stone didn't think that could be separated out. Dollars are put in that budget each year to cover the mowing around City buildings. Mr. Starr stated three years ago there was one-half mile of trails in the City. Now there is 13.5 miles, and it is one of the nicest things Andover has done. But the maintenance requires one person every day. The question is how much is trails and how much is transportation. More funding is needed to maintain the trails. He asks for more funding each year, but it gets cut. This year it came out of the snow and ice budget. What level of service does the Council want them to provide? The Council noted they do not see the line items that are requested. Mr. Stone felt they should get a chance to look at the breakdown of those items. The Council recessed to tour the Public Works facilities, 8:33; reconvened at 9:00 p.m. Special City Council/Public Works Meeting Minutes - March 23, 2000 Page -I UTILITIES DEPARTMENT UPDATE Mr. Kraabel reported: · They pumped less water in 1999 than in 1998, but they had about 50,000,000 gallons of unaccounted water. This was due primarily to the reconstruction of Bunker Lake Boulevard and all of the other developments where they had to continuously flush the new systems. lfit is a dry year, it might put a strain on the water system. · They installed over 400 new water meters and changed out over 100 older meters. He would like to have the commercial properties read out on radio. · The new Vactor sewer cleaning truck will make their job easier. It can do about 500 feet a day on the main lines. · They are scheduling to clean all the residential sanitary sewer main lines to the trunk lines this year and at least half the storm sewer lines throughout the City. Many culverts and storm sewers in the rural area have not been touched for years, and they hope to do many of them this year. · Water quality continues to be an issue. New regulations may change how the City's system operates. If the radium level is dropped to 5pCilL, three of the City wells will not be in compliance. Another issue is arsenic. Currently the maximum level of arsenic is 50 ppb, but the EPA is looking at dropping this to 5 ppb, which would put the City out of compliance. Mr. Kraabel stated he is expecting the RFP on the water quality study back tomorrow on how to treat the arsenic, radium, iron and manganese. They will then interview several firms and recommend one to do the study. · If wells 1,2 and 3 are lost because of radium, they will need to be replaced as soon as possible. Hopefully the study will provide some direction. Council discussed the possibility of temporarily connecting to the Cities of Anoka or Coon Rapids. Mr. Stone felt that may not be possible. Council briefly discussed possible solutions to the water issues, noting if the regulations change, other cities will also be affected. Possibly then there will be federal funds available to resolve the problems. · Well 7 will be on line by the end of July, which will help considerably. · They will be working on the second Consumer Confidence Report to be out in June, 2000. OTHER BUSINESS Mr. Stone stated Ken Slyzuk has given his word that the City would get first right of refusal on the 15 acres he owns west of Public Works. He anticipated Mr. Slyzuk would not want to sell for another two to three years. Motion by Orttel, Seconded by Knight, to adjoum. Motion carried on a 4- Yes, I-Absent (Johnson) vote. The meeting adjourned at 9:38 p.m. ~ \~~pe~itted,~ \\ (j ~ , \ ' Marcdla A. Peach, Reèording Secretary