Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-03-25 WK ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING – MARCH 25, 2025 MINUTES The Workshop Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Barthel, March 25, 2025, 6:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Rick Engelhardt, Karen Godfrey, Scott Schue, and Jonathan Shafto (remote) Councilmember absent: None Also present: City Administrator, Sarah Cotton Community Development Director, Joe Janish Director of Public Works/City Engineer, David Berkowitz Fire Chief, Dennis Jones Finance Manager, Lee Brezinka Others FIRE SERVICES EVALUATION PRESENTATION (FITCH & ASSOCIATES) City Administrator Cotton reviewed the staff report in regard to the fire services evaluation. She introduced BJ Jungmann and Dave Johnson from Fitch & Associates. Mr. Jungmann and Mr. Johnson reviewed the findings of the fire services evaluation, findings from the employee survey, and their recommendations. Councilmember Schue asked how many firefighters have left the department in the last six months. Fire Chief Jones said only one has left in that time. Councilmember Schue noted one of their recommendations is to evaluate the effectiveness of the current leadership development program. He asked how long this program has been in place. Mr. Jones shared there was not a leadership development program when he started, and they have implemented this in the last five years. Councilmember Schue asked when the OSHA changes are expected to go into place. Mr. Johnson said no one really knows as they were told last year, it would be 18 to 24 months. He stated it could happen at any point. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – March 25, 2025 Page 2 Councilmember Engelhardt asked if there are similar changes coming from the State. Mr. Johnson said the State has to follow the Federal government’s direction as they are an OSHA State. Councilmember Shafto asked if they have the recommendations ranked in priority order. Mr. Johnson noted the order they are listed in the report is their priority order. Councilmember Schue asked about the current records management system and if this is the best system on the market. Mr. Jones said they upgraded the system about a year and a half ago. He noted they went out for an RFP, and the chosen vendor was the best. Mr. Johnson added this vendor is one of the best in the market and is widely used and leads the market in how they approach data. Councilmember Shafto asked if they need permanent staff to manage this system or if it is done through a contracted service. Mr. Johnson shared they can do it either way. He explained the things they are recommending can be done in-house and does not think they are labor intensive enough to need a full-time person dedicated to it. Councilmember Shafto asked if they will have this full report available for them. Mr. Johnson said yes. Mayor Barthel asked if the data can be broken down further, so they know what exactly their average numbers mean. Mr. Jungmann explained the data was not broken down any further than it was just presented, as the full-time firefighters are also the paid on-call firefighters, so they are only in the system as one person. He noted there is no differentiation in the system for which staffing model they are responding from. Mr. Johnson said the data that they are able to produce is only as good as the data entered in. He added they should be cautious of using averages as they are not a true reflection of performance. Councilmember Shafto asked how they should evaluate a good response time. He asked if they have the ability to track response times on a quarterly and annual basis so they can see the trends. Mr. Johnson shared the modern systems allow you to try these response times live and they can evaluate it on any time period. Councilmember Shafto noted the value seems to be in the trend line, and if the response times start trending up, then they need to start asking questions about what is going on. Mr. Jungmann shared he would not suggest just getting locked into this one data point. He added they should also pay attention to reliability, as there is a variable with the paid-on-call response. Councilmember Engelhardt stated he does not see a trend line of activities in the rural areas or the senior living facilities. He noted the County Sheriff has Police Explorers that could maybe help out around the station as Fire Explorers. He said he would like to increase engagement from the community and the Sheriff’s Office. Mr. Jungmann said this would come down to recruitment efforts by a Recruitment Committee. He noted if they start a Fire Explorer Program, then they would need to staff this as well. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – March 25, 2025 Page 3 Councilmember Godfrey said this was very helpful in gaining understanding of what they need to measure and how to formulate better policies. She asked if the newer data system that they are using is capable of coding staff differently based on what role a firefighter is filling for the day, so they can get a more accurate breakdown on how different roles are performing rather than how people individually are performing. Mr. Jones explained each firefighter fills different roles at any given time so they would likely not be able to accurately measure the performance of each role. Councilmember Schue asked how they are currently measuring the duty crew requirements. Mr. Jones said they are measuring this on a monthly basis and he is reluctant to move to measuring it on a quarterly basis as recommended. Mr. Jungmann noted if they measure this on a quarterly basis, people could front-load or back- load their hours, and they could struggle with coverage in the middle of the quarter. He explained the available hours for the duty crew are much more than the minimum requirements for firefighters. He added they could solve this by having people bid for their first 14 hours based on seniority for the quarter or the month to ensure they have coverage. He said they would need to make the available hours and the minimum hours much closer together. Councilmember Godfrey asked if they are currently relying on firefighters to work more hours than the minimum. Mr. Jones said yes. Councilmember Shafto noted managing this will come down to planning, whether they measure on a quarterly basis or a monthly basis. He shared he needs more education on this process. Mayor Barthel said he would like to see the full report as he still has a lot of questions. Councilmember Godfrey shared it is important that they have identified the gap between the available hours and the minimum hours and now they need to figure out how to address this. She asked if the training class that will be fully trained in April will help solve some of these issues. Mr. Jones said it will definitely help. He added they do have a few firefighters who could retire at any time. Councilmember Godfrey asked how long it takes someone to be fully trained. Mr. Jones said anywhere from 12 to 18 months. Mr. Jungmann and Mr. Johnson shared they would send the full report to the Council for further review. 2026 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES DISCUSSION Finance Manager Brezinka reviewed the staff report concerning the 2026 budget development. Mayor Barthel asked if they have to bond for another $1,000,000 for the roads next year. Mr. Brezinka said this is projected for 2027. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – March 25, 2025 Page 4 Mayor Barthel said he would like to keep the 2026 increase as low as possible, given the high increase they had in 2025 and the expected high increase in 2027. Councilmember Shafto agreed and said he would like to see them limit the increases for 2026 due to them having to bond again in 2027. Mayor Barthel added he would not like to see the fund balance go below 45% or above 52%. He explained if the fund balance gets above 52%, he would like to see some of the funds moved to something like an emergency fund or for a specific project. Councilmember Schue noted no one on the Council or Staff wants to raise taxes for the residents, and they all want to be fiscally responsible as they are directly responsible to the taxpayers. He said he has been hearing concerns from residents about the recent tax increases. He stated they need to look long-term at budget planning and be very transparent about what they do. He shared they need to understand what their vision is for the City while complying with the legislature. Mayor Barthel stated when they have extra money in the fund balance, he is not supportive of just keeping it there to use it at some point, and would like to have a designated place for these funds to go. Councilmember Godfrey asked if they will still be able to maintain a fund balance of between 45% and 50% even with the aggressive approach to the roads. Mr. Brezinka noted these street projects are funded through the road and bridge fund. Mayor Barthel asked about the commitment to limit the 2026 debt levy to no more than 25% of the gross levy. Mr. Brezinka shared they are currently at 23.92% for 2025, and he does not see the 25% being an issue in 2026. He added they are planning on issuing an equipment note in 2026. Mayor Barthel said he would like to stay at 25% or below for this. Councilmember Shafto agreed. Councilmember Shafto asked if they are at risk of going above 25% beyond 2026. Mr. Brezinka shared he could run some numbers on this, but he thinks it will still be under 25%. Mayor Barthel added when the first Community Center bond is done, he would like to see it come off of the books rather than be renewed into something else. He added the Council will likely have changed members by then. Councilmember Shafto noted if they are already over 25% and an emergency happens, they would have no choice but to go farther above 25%. Councilmember Godfrey asked if the equipment is replaced based on its condition or age. Mr. Brezinka said it is done by age, and they evaluate each piece of equipment every year. Mayor Barthel said staff has been phenomenal about only requesting equipment to be replaced Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – March 25, 2025 Page 5 when it is truly needed. Public Works Director Berkowitz added when a fire Tahoe has reached its useful age in the Fire Department, it is moved for use in the Public Works Department. Mr. Brezinka asked the Council if they had any items that they would like added to the budget. Mayor Barthel said he does not have anything right now but likely will after they see the first draft of the budget. Ms. Cotton shared the tax capacity value is at an approximate 3% increase based on preliminary property values from the County. She noted that market rates have stabilized. Council consensus was reached to direct staff to continue with 2026 budget development based on this guidance provided by Council to keep the increase as low as possible. DISCUSS TRAIL SEGMENTS ALONG STATION PARKWAY NW Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the staff report in regard to the trail segment on Station Parkway. Councilmember Godfrey asked if they were not to repair the two sections of the trail that gets very minimal use, what would happen to them. Mr. Berkowitz said they would remove the trail and restore the area with grass. Councilmember Shafto asked if the total cost for this project includes replacing some of the trail segments and removing others. Mr. Berkowitz noted it would probably cost two-thirds of the total project cost to just redo the center section. Councilmember Schue asked how this would have a direct impact on the residents who live in this area. He suggested getting rid of the two less-used sections and just fixing up the center section. He said he feels strongly about this as these trails do not lead anywhere or make any connections. Councilmember Godfrey noted they would likely do more for the community by restoring them to grass. Councilmember Shafto stated even if this trail does get extended in the future after they remove these two sections, they could always be built back. He said if they are not using it in the short term, there is no sense in keeping it for the long term. He added they will have to figure out how to communicate this to the residents. Mr. Berkowitz asked if they want to get feedback from the residents before making this decision or to just communicate the decision and reasoning after the decision has already been made. Councilmember Schue said he thinks the second option is more appropriate because if they were to ask the residents for their feedback and the City decides against this feedback, the residents will likely be very upset. He shared he thinks it is a better approach to just tell them the decision made Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – March 25, 2025 Page 6 by the Council and how they came to this decision. He noted these residents can still voice their concerns to the Council if they so choose. He added they could also include the current costs for ongoing maintenance in the communication to the residents. Mr. Berkowitz explained the residents will definitely be asking for a crossing in this area, as they have already been asking for it. He shared he evaluated this and they can do a crossing at an uncontrolled intersection like this that has lower speed limits; however, this can be dangerous on a four lane road. He stated crossing engineers do not recommend this for safety reasons. Councilmember Schue suggested proactively addressing this with the residents before they can even ask for it. Mayor Barthel shared he believes they need to remove both of the less-used trail segments, as keeping them there would imply that they are connecting them somewhere. He added he is not even sure how much the center section is used and would also be in favor of removing this. He asked if they could take out the trails in this whole area and use the money saved to put in a controlled crossing somewhere. Mr. Berkowitz noted controlled crossings cost around $100,000. Mayor Barthel said he thinks all of the trails on the southside need to go. Councilmember Schue agreed and suggested staff send a letter to residents letting them know about this proposal and gauge their reactions. Councilmember Shafto added the communication should just talk about the trails and not the possibility of a crossing. Councilmember Godfrey noted they should also communicate to the residents how they will restore this area to have more greenspace. Council consensus was reached to direct staff to send a letter to the residents in this area letting them know the proposal to remove the trail segment along Station Parkway NW. OTHER TOPICS Councilmember Schue asked when they are planning to have new Councilmember orientations. Ms. Cotton noted the City does not have a formal orientation process, but if any new member would like to meet with staff and learn more about the operations of the City then she can coordinate these meetings. She added City Attorney Baumgartner plans on having training with the Council at a coming Workshop on topics like conflict-of-interest, open meeting laws, and other legal aspects of the Council. Councilmember Shafto said he would like to have a better understanding of what the next steps are for the fire services study as he still has a lot of thoughts, questions, and concerns. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – March 25, 2025 Page 7 ADJOURNMENT Motion by Engelhardt, Seconded by Godfrey, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The workshop meeting adjourned at 8:16 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Ava Major, Recording Secretary