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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWK April 9, 1998 CITY of ANDOVER 'PECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP- THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1998 MINUTES A Special Joint Planning Session of the Andover City Council and the Public Works Division was called to order by Frank Stone on Thursday, April 9, 1998 at 7:00 p.m., in the Training/Confercnce Room ofthc Public Works Services Division, 1785 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, MN 55304. Councilmembcrs prescnt: Councilmembers: Dchn, Knight, Kunza, Orttel, Mayor McKelvey Councilmcmbcrs absent: None Also present: Cindy DcRuyter - Recycling Coordinator Brian Kraabel - Utility Dept. Supervisor Jeff Okerstrom - Streets Maintenance Dept. Representative Kcvin Starr - Parks Maintenance Dcpt. Supervisor John Wallace - Vehicle Maintenancc Department Others WALK-THROUGH TOUR OF THE NEW PUBLIC WORKS FACILITIES Mr. Stone started the tour by viewing new Public Works offices, copy room; media library, confcrence rooms, lunchroom, Watcr Control Room and etc. The tour proceedcd to the ncw parking garage wherc we saw an array of equipment critical to the upkecp of our City. We were then lead to the existing portion of the Public Works building to view the remarkable remodeling job that is taking shape through the labor of our Public Works Maintenance staff. The former Parking Garage/Repair Shop can now bc used solcly for vehicle repairing, rebuilding and fabricating. The former Control Room has been remodeled into an officc for the City's Lead Mcchanic - John Wallace. Thc formcr lunchroom and office area is now the location of our Sign Departmcnt. The former office of thc Supcrintcndcnt has been walled-off, rcmodeled and turned ovcr the Station III for a meeting place. We also viewed thc ongoing progress of the Andovcr Employee FitnessIWellness Room located on the second level Fire Station III. At 8:05 p.m. we reconvened in the Public Works Conferenceffraining Room. After a brief discussion of the tour and general approval of the remodeling/addition project, the discussion turned towards: SALT STORAGE FACILITY The City should consider future storage arca( s) for salt/sand, Class V, street sweepings and etc. It is getting increasingly expensive to continue purchasing salt/sand from other facilities. We are also running out of storage arcas on campus to store materials and stìll be far enough away from our wel1s and pumphouse. Right now, the only available land is the property to the West of our building. At one time, the County was going to let the City purchase salt from them and store it at their location, but the County decided this wasn't in their best interest. Council asked if there were any state grants for salt storage facilities. At this time, there are no State grants to assist in financing this type of facility. We are checking with surrounding cities to form ajoint venture program, but as of yet we have not reached any favorable conclusions. .~. . ... - - -.. - -~ .. . - Frank received permission to talk to our neighbor regarding the possible purchase of his property by the City. BOND MONEY REMAINING TO PAINT TWO OLDER BUILDINGS There should be money remaining in the bond to re-paint the two older buildings on the Public Works campus, it should cost approximately $20,000 to paint the two buildings. GATE TO CLOSE OFF RECYCLINGIPARKS We wìll install a gate to limit access to the Parks and Recycling Center after hours. We will ask the Community Service Officer to lock the gate at 10:00 PM each night and open the gate Saturday and Sunday morning. Our Public Works staff will open the gate Monday through Friday mornings. REQUISITION/BILLING PROCESS Frank gave Council a brief overview of our requisitionlbìlling process for all Public Works purchases. ACTION NOTICES Frank gave Council a brief overview of how the department handles residential complaints relating to areas that fall under the Public Works Maintenance umbrella. PUBLIC WORKS OFFICE HOURS Frank reconfirmed, that even though Public Works is working their Summer Hours of 6:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the office hours and switchboard hours wìll remain the normal time of7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Which means that calls before or after this time will go directly to voicemail unless you dial your party direct. USE OF FACILITY The issue of employees using the Mechanic's Shop for minor maintenance jobs (i.e., oil changes, washing vehicles, and tire changes/rotation) for themselves and their immediate family was mentioned. The employee would not use any of the City's product (with the exception of water) and be restricted to only using limited City equipment. All work would require prior approval from the Public Works' Superintendent and their immediate Supervisor. Coon Rapids implemented this policy, which has been in force for many years, and have not experienced any problems to date. A copy of their policy is attached. Council stated that on the positive side, this could be an additional source of security because people would see that someone is here and it could also be a morale booster. On the negative side, Council expressed concern from a liability standpoint. They'd like to know how many other cities are offering this ''perk'' and requested the Vehicle Maintenance Department draw up a rough draft for their ilÚtial review prior to submitting it to our City attorney. 2 .. _..._ _o__h__ . _, _~ 0- _0-. NEXTEL TELEPHONES Public Works is looking into the matter of purchasing or leasing a cellular phone/paging/voicemaiI!2-way radio combination from Nextel for our supervisors and superintendent. This unit would provide coverage for the seven-county metropolitan area. Nextel is currentIy renting space in our Tower for their antenna and their coverage area for this unit should prove to be more than adequate. We wìll keep you informed of our progress. LOANING OUT CHAIRS AND TABLES The issue of lending out chairs, tables and etc. to residents was brought up. The City previously had such a policy when we used metal folding chairs, but it was halted due to repeated damage to our property. Now that the City uses non-folding chairs, this type of program would be difficult to implement and would result in a greater replacement cost if City property was damaged. We were approached by several residents suggesting we reinstate. Council expressed concern over the issue of damage of City property. Coon Rapids currently has this program in operation and a copy of their Request Form is attached. Public Works wìll keep Council informed of our progress. CITY CALENDAR Frank Stone would like the City to take a more active part in funding our City calendar. Previously, funds would either come from Anoka County SCORE fund or through direct solicitation of businesses by our Recycling Coordinator, thereby delaying the start/preparation of the calendar until very late in the year As a beneficial City project, costing about SO cents a resident, we would like the Council to set aside funds for it's publication which wìll enable us to begin working on the calendar earlier in the year. All Councilmembers were in agreement to provide more support for the Andover City Calendar, thereby permitting Cindy to begin calendar preparations earlier in the year. OUTLOTS IN NEW DEVELOPMENTS In the past, the Coon Creek Water Shed Board has been pressuring the City to take outIots. Council expressed concern that these outIots are becoming a source of trouble and high maintenance item for the City. Council is in favor of giving the outIots to any adjoining neighbor that wants them and that will maintain them. They also recommended that the Developer takes the whole thing and attach it to someone's lot prior to sellìng. The overall consensus was that the City did not want to take any more outIots in the future and that a policy should be drawn up concerning this issue. 3 ---- ~- ~-_.._- . -~- -~. .~ ~ APPRENTICE PROGRAM The Union is requesting we begin an Apprentice Program whereby new hires would be evaluated and trained during a twelve month period. At the end of twelve months, the City would either permanently hire or dismiss the employee on the basis of their performance. Public Works will keep Council informed of our progress. RECYCLING CENTER UPDATE Cindy DeRuyter, Recycling Coordinator, presented Council with an update on the operations of the Recycling Center. Over 500 tons of recycling materials are brought to the Center each year. Since 1992 the amount of waste motor oil has risen from 10,500 gallons to over 25,000 gallons in 1997. Due to the amount of material being brought to the Center, the following changes were discussed: · installing a fence to control access to the Center · installing a 1,000 oil tank to replace the current 550 gallon tank · installing a Surveìl1ance Camera (estimated camera cost is $2,700) to monitor the Recycling Center activities, installation by Public Works staff and on-going maintenance is extra Cindy is currently trying to get a grant from Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance (MOEA) to assist in the purchase the 1,000 oil tank. At present, Anoka County is currently funding all the recycling operations within the City. Every year Frank tries to include money into the budget for Recycling. However, this money is removed before Council has opportunity to review the budget. Frank believes it is time for Andover to begin assuming some ofthe funding for this beneficial service. He would like Council to determine whether or not the City contributes to the Recycling Program. Although there are some ìl1egal dumpings at the Recycling Center, its existence has sharply decreased the ìl1egal dumping on our City streets. Overall, a review of our Recycling Center documents that the majority of people are using the Recycling Center responsibly. STREETS MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT UPDATE Jeff Okerstrom, Streets Maintenance Department representative, gave Council an update on the operations of the Streets Maintenance Department. The City has approximately 200 miles of blacktopped roads, 17 miles (center line) of dirt roads and 200+ cul- de-sacs that we maintain. During the snowplowing season, nine larger pieces of equipment (a grader, a loader and dump trucks) and several smaller cul-de-sac trucks takes care of the snow removal operation which takes from 8-10 hours to complete depending on the snowfall. While plowing, our crew makes two passes down each street to achieve maximum snow removal which results in over 400 miles of road plowed during a snowfall. This mileage does not include the several passes it takes to clean our many cul-de-sacs. 4 .-.--.-. ----_.-- .-.. - We are in our second week of street sweeping and have contracted out to Asphalt Surface Technologies Corp.(ASTech) of St. Cloud. We estimate that it wìl1 take approximately one more week to complete the project. After the initial sweeping, we will continue sweeping with our City sweeper throughout the remainder of the summer and early fall. After the initial street sweeping operation is concluded, we begin trimming trees that are damaging our trucks and obstructing the view of on-coming traffic and street signs. We also begin patching potholes in our streets the middle of May with a cold mix and begin grading our 17 miles of dirt roads. We grade the roads after each rainfall or at least two times a month. Each grading route takes about a week to complete and as the need arises, we distribute Class-V+ mix to repair damage to our dirt roads while at the same time providing a more stable road base than the washed sand they're mostly comprised of. Beginning June 1, we will start mowing ditches, clearing away debris from the catch basins and repairing the blacktop spìl1ways. Councilmember Knight questioned if we received any complaints from residents regarding damage to driveways due to studded snowmobile tracks. We have not received this type of call to date. SIGN DEPARTMENT UPDATE Jeff Okerstrom, Streets Maintenance Department representative, gave Council an update on the operations of the Sign Department. The Sign Department is in the process of: · finishing and installìng signs for new developments and billing them out · repairing signs in new and old zones · upgrading signs · replacing missing signs · straighten poles and signs from vandalism, accidents and snowplowing PARK DEPARTMENT UPDATE Kevin Starr, Parks Maintenance Supervisor, gave Council an overview of the operations of the Parks Maintenance Department. Much of the information he covered is compiled in his Andover Parks Department 1997-1998 Maintenance Review which he distributed to Council at an earlier rneeting and copies are available upon request. Other topics discussed was the maintenance to our trail system. Currently there is no money in the budget for maintenance of our trail system. Council should consider where the funding for the upkeep of the trail system will come from. There are already several areas of concern on our trail system that require maintenance, finding funding sources for these repairs should be an item of priority. Many decisions to our parks system and landscaping designs are made without Public Works input. Kevin Starr, our Parks Maintenance Supervisor, would like to be involved in the decision making process. We are ending up with high-maintenance designs that will ultimately be turned over to the Parks Maintenance Department for 5 - -- --..- .. -. -- -.-_.._~ . -, --. -,. - - maintaining but without their expertise in the decision making process. Kevin can provide beneficial input in decisions that involve the Andover parks system. Many of our landscaping designs are turned over to interns. The City is utìlìzing interns to perform primary tasks, when in essence interns should be placed under supervision while performing secondary tasks. They should be included in design and decision-making processes, however their authority should be limited since their involvement with the City is clearly short term. Therefore, we request that Kevin or his designated representative be involved in all future decision making processes regarding the park system and grounds. We also recommend the City of Andover adopt a formal Trail Maintenance Policy which includes a clause stating that all future trail systems installed in the City be low-maintenance systems. The Parks and Recreation Commission has been issuing work orders to our staff and/or making calls to their home regarding work requests. The Park Board is an advisory board only and does not dictate policy. All work orders for our Parks Maintenance Department should come through Frank Stone, Dick Fursman or Council. It is recommended that Administration give the Park Board an explanation of what their functions are to establish appropriate boundaries. Council agreed that Kevin's addition in the Parks System decision making process is a step in the right direction and that we are in need of a Trail Maintenance Policy. Regarding tournament and ballfield maintenance, Kevin would like to layout and prepare the fields the morning of the tournament. This preparation would take approximately three hours. The dragging and chalking the fields would be the responsibìlìty of the Athletic Association, a coach or tournament official. For State Tournaments, we would consider the possibìlìty of another crew coming in at noon to prepare the fields again. However, due to budget shortfalls, we are no longer able to operate the way we did in the past. The Association wìll have to assume more responsibility regarding their tournaments and fields within the City. UTILITIES DEPARTMENT UPDATE Brian Kraabel, Utilities Department Supervisor, gave Council an update on concerns relating to the operations of the Utilities Department. Water Quality Issues The issue of radium in our water was discussed. We're not able to discuss this issue with the public because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) won't finalize the ruling regarding the radium issue until 1999. Until then, there are several options the City could review regarding water treatment: I. Water Treatment Plant @ $8,000,000 - $11,000,000 for iron and maganese removal. To remove radium, the water will have to be softened, this will result in added expense. 2. Blending - however if you can't blend to a point where it's to the acceptable level or below it, then the well will have to be abandoned, 3. Aeration - this wìll eliminate radium to a point 4. Lime Softening - this is probably the most expensive method of water treatment plus you would have to find a disposal site for the water products. 6 --~_._-----.. .._-..- -,--,,-- ,.. .-... -~ ~ - - The radium is in the Mt. Simon-Hinkley Aquifer which supplies water to Wells #1 (600 ft. deep) , #2 (S40 ft. deep) and #3. The level of radium is low in Well #3, it seems to be concentrated more on the west side of town. Well #S (330 ft. deep) is our best well and Well #6 should be on line in September. Soon, we wìll begin test operations for Well #7. We will provide more information once we receive the ruling ITOm the DNR. The reason why we have a Watering Ban during the summer months is because the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regulate that before a well is dug, a conservation program must first be established. Every city has to have some type of operational conservation plan before the DNR wìll allow them to dig a new well. In case of drought, our short-term Emergency Plan is to purchase water from Coon Rapids. For long-term planning, the City should look at a Treatment Plant and drilling more wells. It costs about $1,000,000 to dig a new well. Aquifer Restrictions Because the Mt. Simon-Hinkley Aquifer yields the most water but it takes the longest to regenerate, the Minnesota DNR would like to protect it. They intend to limit this aquifer for home use only, with no watering of lawns, gardens, etc. Those previously using this aquifer will be grandfathered in. We are not sure how the DNR wìll impose these restrictions, but they do have the final word on it's usage. Tower #1 Replacement We would like to build another mìllion gallon tower alongside Tower #1 (currently SOO gallons) at the same elevation of Tower #2 (mìllion gallons) and dismantle Tower #1. This would put our whole City water system on the same elevation creating a single system instead of two different elevations and a split system that we currently have. Adding a new mìllion gallon tower would enable us to control our water quality better. The low level on Tower #2 is higher than the high level on Tower #1. If approved, the new tower would be forty feet taller than Tower #1 and equal in height to Tower #2, because of a twenty foot ground elevation difference and a twenty foot height difference. Two (2) one-mìllion gallon towers within our City will furnish adequate water level for many years to come. Radios for the Water System Our current communications for the Water System is on a low-band radio wave (170 megahertz-MHz). The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is ruling that our current ITequency can no longer be used for data but voice only. This means we will have to boost our frequency to 400-900 MHz to continue sending data to our water computer. We recommend funding for this item be added to the 1999 budget. Weare not sure if this is going to happen soon or in a couple of years from now, but it is something that needs our attention. Personnel With the fast growth taking place in Andover and the numerous services the Utilities Department provides, we recommend Council consider adding at least one more person to this Department. This person can help us take care of the growing demand placed upon the Utilities Department. 7 -. - - .-.-- ... _..~- -.- ---. According to Frank Stone, every department within Public Works is understaffed. We recommend Council strongly consider adding additional personnel to the Department. Equipment Our current Jetter and Vac are lacking in power and are in need of repair. We originally budgeted money to replace the cab and chassis for our current Jetter, but it still would be underpowered. We would like to trade in our Jet and Vac machines for a Combination Unit. This Combination Unit has more power, can be operated by one person and by applying the trade-in money, we can have a powerful unit that will meet the City's needs for years to come. We also need an Easement Jetting Machine to get into tight spots that the truck can't. We have many areas where a sanitary or storm sewer manhole is behind a home and it's very hard to get our equipment in there without damaging private property. The Easement Machine can get into these types of areas with little or no damage. These two units would greatly improve the efficiency of the Utilities Department. VEHICLE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT UPDATE John Wallace, lead mechanic of the Vehicle Maintenance Department, gave Council an overview of the operations within the Vehicle Maintenance Department. John Wallace and Scott Hautala currently maintain 141 pieces of City equipment (Public Works, City Hall and the Fire Department fleet) and perform annual inspections on all garbage! recycling trucks that operate within the City. Maintenance covers everything from transmission overhauls, D.O.T. inspections, preventative maintenance, engine overhauls on smaller engines, brake jobs and etc. New Shops Tools to Increase Productivity We would like Council to consider the following improvements to the Shop: l. expanding our overhead lubrication system by putting another system between the hoists 2. adding transmission fluids and IOW-30 oil to the overhead system 3. a pit would be nice, if it's feasible FabricatinglRebuilding of Heavy-Duty Repairs All of our fabricating and rebuilding of heavy-duty repairs are done in-house with the exception of straightening plows. If our plow frames are bent, we can re-build those in-house. Vehicle Purchase Committee This Committee has been in operation since February 1998, the members are John Wallace, Dan Winkel, Scott Erickson, Frank Stone, Jean McGann and Dick Fursman. The goal of this Committee is to see that the City's 8 ._-~ .-. ~.., _.~ . .- monies are used to buy vehicles that are to be used to the maximum efficiency for all departments. The Committee also monitors the cost to maintain each vehicle to determine when it should be replaced. Review Vehicle Service Records All vehicle operators are responsible for greasing their own unit. The vehicle operator is also responsible for reporting any damage done to his/her unit. For all other vehicle repairs, the work order must be filled out by the driver then given to their Supervisor. The Supervisor wìll review the Work Order and give it to Brian Kraabel who is the supervisor over the Vehicle Maintenance Department. Brian will review the work order and forward it to John or Scott. This way we can keep track of all work orders going through the department. Personnel Needs John and Scott are currently able to support the vehicle maintenance demands of the City. However, as the City, the size of the fleet and the age of the fleet continues to grow, it is becoming increasingly difficult to remain current with the maintenance demand. It is recommended that Council entertain the idea of increasing the Vehicle Maintenance staff. Council suggested we add a different classification of mechanics, one capable of doing minor repairs to ITee John and Scott to do the difficult repairs. Public Works is open to this idea, although John thought it would be difficult to find to fill this type of work for $8.00 - $9.00 when they could be an apprentice elsewhere for $11.00 - $12.00. Frank and the Public Works staff thanked Mayor and Council for taking the time to attend this beneficial work session because many important issues were brought to the table. The meeting adjourned at 10:40 p.m. ~IY sUbmittL Œf:,Á{ Rh nda R. McDonald Recording Secretary 9 ..---..- ~-~,,~- ." . ~. -~ ~