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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP October 27, 1977 · CITY of ANDOVER SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING - OCTOBER 27, 1977 MINUTES A Special Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Hayor Jerry Windschitl on October 27, 1977, 7:32 p,m,. at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard my, Anoka, Minnesota, Councilpersons present: Lachinski, HcClure, Orttel, VanderLaan Councilpersons absent: lIone Also present: Midwest Planning and Research architect, Tim Erkkila; City Clerk, P, K, Lindquist; and interested residents, A~enda ~mTIOII by VanderLaan, Seconded by McClure, that the Agenda be established as follows: Item 1) Tennis Court Construction at the City Hall Site; Item 2) Supplementary Staff Employment; Item 3) Junkyard Licensing; Item 4) Ordinance Enforcement; and Item 5) Personnel Committee Report, Motion carried unanimously, ~ennis Court Construction at the City Hall Site ~~, Tim Erkkila, Hidwest Planning and Research Architect, presented the Council conceptual drawings with two alternatives as to the placement of the tennis court and presented a Hemo dated October 27, 1977, on the findings on the utility easement and City Hall location plus his findings on the tennis court location, Alternative Site 1 was north of the hockey rink and ~~, Erkkila estimated an additional cost of ~4,400 for site leveling, fill, fill hauling, grading and compaction, After discussion, it was determined that fill could be used from the surrounding area, thereby eliminating that cost plus lowering the cost of hauling, The Council estimated the additional cost would be $1,900, Alternative Site 2 was located north and west of the City Hall at an estimated additional cost of $1,800, Again, the Council determined that fill could be used from the surrounding area~ lowering the cost of this site to approximately $800, Both plans allowed for municipal building expansion to the west of the City Hall; Alternative 1 had room for this double court with a possibility of expansion to 4 èourts; Alternative 2 had no room for adding more courts, The Clerk asked if the peat rock from the sealcoating project in the City could be used as fill for the tennis court to save on the cost. }~, Erkkila stated that it should be something that can be packed, more angular-type pieces rather than round peat rock, Councft- person VanderLaan stated that the Clerk, ~, Erkkila, and Mr, Stockwell can work this out with the contractor, I Discussion was ~n the pros and cons of both alternatives, Glen Rogers, Park Commission, explained that the park road should not be used for the public works road, He then suggested a slight revision on Alternative Site 2, moving the tennis courts due west, the , hockey rink more east, and the free skating area further to the west, He also commented that the City o~ Columbia Heights has been using their tennis courts as hockey rinks in the winter by putting white poly over the paving and flooding it, This possibility should , be examined tb get maximum use of the facilities, I Discussion was on the elevations in the three areas proRosed for the courts and how much , 1 fill, grading, etc" would be required for each area, r, Erkkila felt the cost for the , . third alternative would be the highest since it ~s the most rolling terrain and the most , fill would be needed -- he estimated $3,800, Other points noted were: !1r, Rogers stated , that the hockey fink should be in a north-south direction for the least amount of ice meltage; possible future expansion of municipal-public works buildings and where they could be located; possibilities of moving the park road to accommodate recreational facilities; not wanting to place these tennis courts further than 100 yards from the existing parking lot to avoid having to walk a great distance or having it look as if it is stuck in the - --- -...-- Spècial City Council Meeting October 27, 1977 - Hinutes Page 2 middle of the field; if Alternative Site 2 is chosen, the other recreational facilities could still be altered if need be; the Mayor and Clerk have not yet signed the paving contract; the site preparation for the tennis court should be addressed as a separate issue and quotes should be received from >mH and from Burton Kraabel for doing this; and Hr, Erkkila is to inform the contractor that th~e is a change in the site location of the tennis court, HOTIO'r by VanderLaan, Seconded by Lachinski, that the City Council accept the correction from !1idwest Planning, note previously agreed with Tim Erkkila at no cost to the City; that the City Council authorize the !1ayor and Clerk to enter into an agreement with NDH for the construction of a tennis court on Hidwest Planning's Alternative Site Number 2, referenced north and west of the City Hall, in the sum of $9,875; and to direct Tim Erkkila to inform NDH of a change in the proposed site for the tennis court, Motion carried unanimously, MOTION by Lachinski, Seconded by Orttel, to direct the City Clerk to solicite quotes for leveling and filling the proposed site for tennis courts to the highest elevation within the area and to further direct the awarding a contract to the lowest bidder with the amount not to exceed $1,000, Discussion: Who is going to control where the dirt comes from? Councilperson Lachinski ADDED TO !IDTION: Any required fill shall come from on site, Second still stands, Motion carried unanimously, MOTION by 17indsohitl, Seconded by HcClure, that the tennis COtTt we are going to construct is going to be lighted, Motion carried unanimously, I Discussion was on preparing the lighting plans a third time, Mr, Erkkila requested $100 in additional fees for this third set of electrical bid documents explaining the first was bid too high to be accepted, the second was suspended prior to rebidding because of , Ii the location is~ue, e also stated we can ask for a price that would be good until a specific date, IHe expected the work to be done next spring, The paving still could be done this year unless the weather does not cooperate, the color coat couldn't be done , until next spring as it needs warm weather, The ideal procedure for constructing the tennË court would be to put in the paving, then the fencing, the lighting next which goes outside the fencing, then the color coat, I MOTION by Windschitl, Seconded by Lachinski, that Midwest Planning be allowed to solicite proposals for lighting on the tennis court with the proposal to be good through April 30, 1978, Motion carried unanimously, Discussion was 06 the request for $100 for the electrical plans, Mr, Erkkila again explained why this is the third set of electrical plans, The fee is for the correction of the , drawings to reflect the new site for electrical only; !~, Erkkila stated he will handle the corrections on referencing the tennis court site, the paving and fencing contractor, at no charge, I MOTIO~ by Lachinski, Seconded by Orttel, to authorize Hidwest Planning to prepare plans and specifications for the lighting for the proposed tennis court at a cost not to exceed $100, Discussion: Mayor Windschitl felt that the question of the easement should have been investigated before the site was laid out; and he felt it is a part of what we have already paid for! Councilperson Lachinski felt that there was a great deal of misunder- standing on the part of the City in the entire matter, Mayor Windschitl stated that the Park Board minutes very clearly state that the site location would be chosen by the planner and the Council, He felt that if there had not been a changeover in personnel at Midwest Planning, the misunderstanding would not have occurred, ~æ, Rogers stated the -. Special City Council Meeting October 27, 1977 - Minutes Page 3 reason for the motion is that the Park Board had no idea what the plans for the Community Center were and felt that the Council had more information as to where municipal buildings were to go, etc, Councilperson Orttel stated, and Mr, Erkkila agreed, that as it turned out, the tennis court could have actually been placed to the east of the parking lot with- out having to go into the easement, !~, Erkkila felt that that is not what the majority of the Council preferred; that he had been in continual contact with the City and was aware of the situation regardless of the change in personnel, VOTE ON MOTION: YSS-Lachinski, McClure, Orttel; NO-VanderLaan, Windschitl Motion carried, Councilperson VanderLaan: I feel that the fact that Midwest's representative did visit the original site does indicate some responsibility on their part to incur some additional cost as site correcting was necessary because the easement problem had not been checked into, niscussion was then on the matter of the fencing contract. Mr. Erkkila stated the fencing contractor has requested permission to prefabricate gates, fabric and posts during the winter for which the Council would pay for at the time it is done, This would have to be done on site, The costs are fixed and won't change, M~, Pogers felt that everything could get done this year except the color coating; and if there is a delay, it is up to the contractor to come back to the Council for an extension of the contract, Pecess at 9:04. Supplementary Staff Employment Mayor Windschitl explained that the situation with Mr, Clough does not seem to be a confliæ of interest; however, the Council must still address the activities of !~, Thurston as to his doing VA inspections within the City of Andover and his receiving numerous phone calls at the City Hall during the working day, Mayor Windschitl explained that it is défficult for residents to understand how our inspector can be working for another governmental agency within the same City, He suggested possibly some policy be set as to some charge be made for the phone calls coming into the City as it utilizes secretarial time, restricting the phone calls,' or restricting these activities to be outside of Andover, The Clerk informed the Council that Mr, Thurston did have an answering device installed at his home last Friday and ¡the calls coming into the City Hall this past week have dropped in half, Councilperson VanderLaan stated t~ City~~uReil <all'L do ftötrt±ttg, that by not resolving the item either ¡in the action of a reprimand or with approval, we are in essence damaging the reputation of those people we have quized, Secondly, she felt that it injures the relationship between the Council and the employees unless the Council says, as in Dave Clough's case, we are accepting the fact that he did not inform us, She is hoping the Council will address the situation in this light, She also stated the Council needs to look at;is the VA inspections a conflict of interest? does inspecti~residen~in the City , . of Andover conflict with the building Rf~cJal's duties? and does inspecting resident84/ even outside of ~he City conflict wit~ ;é~igents? She felt this was difficult to determine without a job de~cription of a VA Compliance Officer, She requested the Council to direct the Clerk to contact the office that Mr, Thurston works with so that we can obtain a jOb description to take an objective look at the situation and compare it to the building official's job description and make a decision from that as to is it a conflict, what has been done, what yiolations of an unethical nature haV~occurred, and what is the City going to do about it if it feels it is incorrect, Mayor Windschitllstated he has talked with a person at the VA who stated they would be willing to provide the City with any information with regard to what ~~, Thurston does, the number of inspections he has done, frequency of inspections, job description, etc" as these are public records. The only problem is that their filing system is by case number, A determination must be made as to how much information the Council would like, Discussion ~ Sþécial City Council Meeting October 27, 1977 - llinutes Page 4 was on the agreement I~, Thurston had with the previous Council not to perform any inspection in the City of Andover, The Clerk noted that she didn't have the tapes and nothing about this was mentioned in the minutes, Mr, Thurston's resumé did state that he did VA inspec- tions and the Council did question him about it, Councilperson McClure stated it has been noted that there are not enough hours during the day for the building official to perform all of his duties, He wondered if there was in- formation available stating our building official performs a similiar function for another employer and it shows a significant number of inspections in a few hours; he felt this would be valuable information in terms of reprimand for not adequately performing official duties for the City, Councilþerson VanderLaan questioned if we are violating I~, Thurston's rights or if it is improper to ask for that particular information and comparing it with our work records. She felt asking for the VA job description was not improper, Hs, Lindquist felt a legal opinion was needed before obtaining other information, Mayor Windsch1tl understood these records from the VA only note when an inspection was done, what phase of the inspection it is, etc" and did not deal with a personnel-type filing, Councilperson Lachinski felt the Council has to set a policy for the future on outside employment; that the Council must approve outside employment prior to their accepting it and that no work for outside employment purposes should be performed during City of Andover working hours, Councilperson VanderLaan stated that after procuring the VA job description that it then becomes the responsibility of each Council member to examine it as to whether or not this jOb is a public or private one, MOTION by VanderLaan, Seconded by McClure, that the City Council direct the City Clerk to secure the job description of the position of VA Compliance Inspector so that the City Council can determine if holding the position of VA Compliance Officer and Andover Building Official presents a conflict of interest, Motion carried unanimously, I MOTTO~ by Lachinski, Seconded by Orttel, requesting all employees to place in writing that any suþplementary employment will not be performed during City work hours and that any future outside emþloyment must be approved in ad~nce/bY the City Council, I /j.; ~...t ', Discussion: Councilperson VanderLaan felt the~reque~t is very harsh and felt a much more tactful way ~handling the situation is simply to ad~ess in a motion because Hr, Clough's outside activities do not interfere with his work duties and that no services in the City are being used, Ithe Council accepts his supplementary employment, possibly indicating that the Council regrets that there was a lack of communication between the Council and the I employees, She ¡felt the e"ployees are aware that the City Council did not approve of what was done; and they were offended by the way the Council handled it, A code of conduct , based on common ,sense and a well developed sense of fair play on outside activities similiar to that established by the State can then be established to indicate to the staff what goals we want th'em to follow in the future, Ms, Lindquist suggested that from this point on, prior to accepting outside employment, an employee is to notify the City Council, I Councilpersons Orttel and Lachinsk1 withdrew the Second and the Motion, I MOTIO~ by Windschitl, Seconded by Orttel, that after having reviewed the facts of Mr, I Clough's employment with the Township of Oak Grove, the Council finds that the employment of ¡~, Clough islnot in conflict with the City employment and no City services were used; therefore, the employment seems to be proper and all activities are performed outside of the normal City work hours, Motion carried unanimously, Special City Council Meeting October 27, 1977 - Minutes Pa~e 5 MOTION by VanderLaan, Seconded by HcClure, that the City Council, City of Andover, adopt the following policy dealing with supplementary employment by the City Staff: Codes of conduct are generally based upon common sense, and, especially in the case of organizations such as Andover which serve the public, a well developed sense of fair play, The City's ¡Jos1t1on is as follows: 1) Outside activities must not conflict with your service to the City, 2) Depending on the circumstances, it may be perfectly proper for you to hold a second job, but the City Council should be notified in advance of your intentions to secure the supplementary employment, and 3) City equipment and time should not be used for personal purposes. After discussion, Councilperson VanderLaan CORRECT THE MOTION TO READ: Change the word "you" wherever used to "an employee". Second still stands, Motion carried unanimously. General consensus was that the issue with Mr, Thurston be discussed all at once when all the information is gathered and the Council has compared the job descriptions, Junkyards Mayor Windschitl suggested that since nothing seems to be getting accomplished on the issu~ that the Council assign the ¡Jrocess of the enforcement and the required on-site inspections to be ¡Jlaced under the direction of the City Clerk, give her enough authority, and have her re¡Jort back with a regular program of inspections, On September 16, I~, Thurston wrote a memo to the Council stating he had not finished investigating the junkyards and would do so when he had the time, Councilperson Lachinski felt the directive should be issued to !~, Thurston himself and that he be told this issue is to receive priority until it is completed, Councilperson ~~Clure questioned whether giving the Clerk the authority would create a problem within the staff as opposed to giving }~, Thurston the directive, /Is, Lindquist noted that Mr, Thurston is doing assessing at the present time, which would be sacrificed if the junkyards were given priority at this time, Discussion was also that the Attorney could be directed to do the investigation himself, the Ordinance gives the City Council the authority to make those inspections also, that outside help could be hired to do the investigation, or whether the building inspector could do the inv~stigation (it was noted he is qualified to do the assessing), It was also felt that the inspecting should be able to be competed within three or four days, that !~, Thurston should have the time to do it, and it should be completed by a specified date, I HOTION by VanderLaan, Seconded by Lachinski, that the City Council direct the City Clerk to convey to Jim 1 Thurston the following: As the City Council notes that on August 7, 1977, violations of Ordinance 9 were to have been given to the City Attorney for prosecution, and on September 116 a memo was forewarded to the Council indicating a lack of time for the necessary inspec~ions, the Council now indicates after a lapse of approximately 6 weeks the necessary inspections have not been performed and as the Council is particularly , concerned about ~llowing the violations of Ordinance Number 9 to continue, the Council, therefore, directs Jim Thurston to forward to the City Attorney the necessary data for prosecution no later than November 4, 1977, /lotion carried unanimously, I Councilperson 11cClure: It grieves me to agree with the vote in favor of this only because I believe the dat'e given allows much more than adequate time, \ Ordinance ~nforcement Council¡Jerson Lachinski felt this item should be postponed as we have already directed . , I~, Thurston to do one major thing and action should be taken on one item at a time, Discussion was on the policy used in the office for the reporting of zoning violations, as I~, Thurston was of the opinion these violations were incorrectly reported to the City, Special City Council Meeting October 27, 1977 - Minutes Page 6 Ms, Lindquist explained her memo of April 25 was issued so that people reporting violations would identify themselves so it could be determined that a legitimate complaint was received and to avoid getting involved in neighborhood quarrels, Councilperson VanderLaan stated this has just been a bookkeeping policy and not a policy established by the Council, It was generally agreed upon thæanyone can report zoning violations, including staff members, Commissioners and Councilpersons; and the Ordinance Cites that the Building Official is to enforce it, Councilperson Orttel stated that yes, there are hundreds and hundreds of Ordinance violations and our intent is not to start a harrassment campaign; but some of these things are so obvious that they can't be ignored, MOTION by VanderLaan, Seconded by Lachinski, that the City Council direct the City Clerk to inform the Building Official, Jim Thurston, that the City Council accepts the Planning and Zoning as proper sponsors of zoning complaints and direct the Building Official to conclude the processing of the following zoning complaints contained in a memo dated August 1, 1977, by November 15, 1977: 1) The Old Colony Property on Andover Boulevard; 2) l1etal hazardous buildings in Barnes First Addition; 3) Carl Erickson buildings; and 4) Junk cars located at 13526 C~ooked Lake Boulevard, Discussion: Councilperson Lachinski requested the motion be changed to direct the Zoning Official rather than going through the City Clerk as he doe"n't want to create any undue hardships or problems within the office, Councilperson VanderLaan accepts his statement but rejects the request as the motion is only directing the City Clerk to inform him of the Council's desire since ¡~, Thurston is notlpresent at this meeting, !lotion carried unanimously, HOTIO~ by Lachinski, Seconded by Orttel, to extend the meeting until 11 p.m, Motion carried unanimously, I Personnel Committee Reuort Councilperson L~chinski stated the Personnel Committee had the challenging job of City reorganization, :and the Committee feels extremely confident in its analysis of the needs and projected goals of the City, The recommendation provides for the long term needs of the expansion of road improvement and maintenance as well as public works activities, The , recommended solution is not only cost justifiable, but also provides the City with pro- , fessional knowledge in engineering matters where Andover residents are most concerned, Councilperson L~chinski continued, realizing that any solution to reorganization will be unpopular 1vith s'ome, the Committee respectfully requests that all involved pull together and support this' common goal, It is important that the Committee's recommendation does not become a matter bf agrument if we are to provide the City Administrator with the necessary support to succe~d, He felt that an Administrator would help relieve some of the problems , discussed this evening simply by changing a few resolutions and Ordinances, That would allow the actual Administrator to possibly give some short-term suggestions to problems that exist here that could be acted on swiftly, I~yor ~indschitllreferred to the Personnel Committee Report on Personnel Reorganization, October, 1977, p~ge 2, 1st paragraph, and stated that the delegation of authority is from the Ordinance and it is very clear, lIT, Thurston is assigned responsibility for the Building Inspector and the zoning, and we have a normal chain of command, Councilperson Lachinski commented that Hr, Thurston has. been somewhat reluctant to assign other than building inspections to lIT, Clough, I~, Clough is of the nature if it is not in his jOb d~scription, it is not his duty; however, he has indicated that he has handled some zoning matters and he does some assessing, Mayor Windschitl suggested possibly just a change in , job description would allow the City to run more property, to which Councilperson Lachinski commented the pay would also have to be changed, - Spécial City Council I-Ieeting October 27, 1977 - Hinutes Page 7 Mayor Windschitl referred to Page 3, Item 5, and questioned .. the wording of administrative secretary, He felt it would be unreasonable to have someone paid at the high salary level of a Clerk/Treasurer to be devoting her time to secretarial duties -- the cost per hour is not reasonable, Councilperson Lachinski stated the idea was not to take duties and responsibilities away from Ms, Lindquist, He felt it was a very positive thing for her to be acting administrator, He also felt the title was of little significance, but one should look at the duties of a Clerk/Treasurer, He also felt an adequate salary range has been recommended. Council person VanderLaan questioned if there is enough time to perform the duties of secretary to an Administrator, She felt that after reviewing what has happened in the past, it is totally unfeasible to add secretarial duties to that of a Cler¥ Treasurer. Councilperson Orttel understood that at the present time the City is function- in~ fairly well with the exception of some personnel direction, which is not a big job, Other than that, the duties that are being done now would be done by another pETson with the addition of an engineer, If administrative duties are now being handled by office staff, and then are assigned to someone else, this would leave more time for secretarial work to be done, Councilperson Lachinski again stated the intent was not to take duties away from the Clerk/Treasurer and didn't feel the volume of work needed to be addressed at this time, The problem of needing additional secretarial help can be looked at when the time comes. The Committee felt each alternative would eventually require additional help by the City and that did help justify bringing in a new body in the first place, The Clerk/Treasurer would become an acting administrative position with some secretarial duties involved, Councilperson VanderLaan stated the question to be considered is is the City business faultering that much that we can justify an additional $30,000 for more personnà. I-Iayor Windschitl stated the economics of the situation will be addressed later, Mayor Windschitl referred to page 4, Section III, Item 1, M~, Thurston has too many responsibilities at the present time, }hyor Windschftl totally disagreed with that state- !'!ent because hevras given 5800 more a year for this specific purpose and the report continually discuses reducing the duties of !1r, Thurston, The only duties he would have left is that of assessing, Councilperson Lachinski stated it is apparent he has too much work to do as he can't get it done, Also, that has no impact on the entire situation, He continued, !1r', Thurston would be responsible for public works; no salary range has been considered at this time as the administrative position must be established first, That position will then help establish what othæpositions are needed within the City, Council- person VanderLaan stated the City Council must make a determination as to does this City want more "Chiefs1l Dr more "Indians", which are less costly_ Councilperson Orttel interepted the report to say we create a position of "Chief''' because of the fact that any group with- out a leader is not as efficient as it might be, He continued, it bothers him that the City of Ham Lake is not that much different than Andover in size other than we do our own assessing, and they get along with one building inspector and two part-time office workers, I Councilperson Lachinski stated the Personnel Committee has not recommended a salary range , for those jobs because they didn't feel it is their job to determine this until the rest of the reorganization is established because there could be valuable input by the administrator, I Discussion conti~ued on what the additional monies for an administrator would gain for the City and the work that would be done, 11ayor Windschitl felt that this alternative did not eliminate the problem within the City; Councilperson VanderLaan questioned is the City faultering that much to justify the maximum added dollars to get these public works activities done or is there :some other alternative, The questioned is it necessary to bring in extra dollars from an already straining budget as there is a lot of demands for these dollars, \There is the City going to save the dollars? She noted that because there is no Capital Special City Council Heeting October 27, 1977 - Hinutes Page 8 Improvements Program for the City, the Council must determine specifically where to put those dollars, Hayor ~indschitl commented that the Capital Improvements Committee has not met because we don't kn~# what dollars are availalble for them to work with, !1ayor ~indschitl also commented on the alternative of hiring an attorney-administrator, as he felt it would be more economical and he has been told there are a number of people available which meet these qualifications, Councilperson Lachinski felt the difference in cost would not justify the difficulty the Committee felt there would be ingetting qualified people that have experience in both administration and can practice law, Discussion continued on the pros and cons of an attorney-administrator position as to the future goals of the applicant and the number of qualified people available, Councilperson Lachinski felt it is common practice for an engineer to go into administration because they go into the public works department; whereas attorneys do not commonly go into administration, and he felt extremely confident that we can hire a capable employee at the bottom of the salary range, MOTION by VanderLaan, Seconded by Orttel, to adjourn the meeting to continue the discussion of the Personnel structure to November l~ 1977, at 7:30 p,m" Andover City Hall, Motion carried unanimously, Meeting adjourned at 11:22 p,m, Pespectfully submitted, "\\~~~~L Marcella A, Peach Pecording Secretary ,/;/'1 Þ ,,' cdIt If, ..-tJ: !oj -