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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-06-24 WK ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING – JUNE 24, 2025 MINUTES The Workshop Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Barthel, June 24, 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 Councilmember absent: None Also present: City Administrator, Sarah Cotton Director of Public Works/City Engineer, David Berkowitz Parks and Streets Operation Manager, Jason Baumunk City Planner, Peter Hellegers Fire Chief, Dennis Jones Finance Manager, Lee Brezinka Human Resources Manager, Dana Makinen Park and Recreation Commissioners Others 1. JOINT MEETING WITH PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION A. Discuss 2026-2030 Park Playground Replacement Plan Parks and Streets Operation Manager Baumunk reviewed the Staff report in regard to the 2026- 2030 park playground replacement plan. Mayor Barthel asked if it is difficult to have volunteers install park equipment. Mr. Baumunk said yes and explained when they had done this in the past, they spent more Staff time coordinating the volunteers than it would have taken for Staff to do this themselves. Councilmember Schue asked about the projected costs of replacing these playgrounds in the future. Mr. Baumunk said these playgrounds and equipment have doubled in price over the last few years, and he will need to put some data together. He noted projecting these costs too far out would be very difficult. Park and Recreation Commissioner Lindahl shared over 10 years ago, they would only be looking at a 2% to 3% increase in this equipment on an annual basis, and now it is up to 20% to 50% increases. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – June 24, 2025 Page 2 Park and Recreation Commissioner Stenzel explained the Commission has been talking about minimizing some parks to just a swing and a slide. He noted sometimes opportunities will arise where equipment is discounted, and they are able to take advantage of these sales. Councilmember Schue shared his appreciation for the Commission for looking at these things in depth to decide what will be best for parks. Mr. Baumunk explained they have received the Game Time grant, which provides 50% of the playground costs. He shared they are typically spending around $200,000 a year on park maintenance and carry forward any unspent funds into the next year. Mayor Barthel asked if the Commission is comfortable with having $200,000 for playground maintenance per year. Mr. Lindahl said it is working for now. Mr. Baumunk said they only have two playground replacements scheduled for 2026, as Andover Station North will take a majority of the funding. Councilmember Shafto asked how reliable the Game Time grants are. Mr. Baumunk said they have never been denied the grant. Councilmember Schue asked how long they have been getting this grant. Mr. Baumunk said this is their third year applying. Councilmember Godfrey asked if they ever ask the surrounding residents for feedback or review demographics to see if they have changed before replacing a playground. Mr. Baumunk explained they had been sending out surveys to residents who live within a certain distance of parks. He noted they have gone away from this because no one had responded to one of the last surveys they did, and when the park equipment was removed, a lot of residents had issues with this. The consensus of the Council was in favor of keeping the playground replacement budget at $200,000 per year for the next two years. B. Discuss 2026-2030 Trail Capital Improvement Plan – New Trails Mr. Baumunk reviewed the Staff report concerning the 2026-2030 CIP for new trails. Councilmember Shafto said he could see more of a use for segment #3 if the development in the area moved forward. He asked about the timing for the trail going to Miller’s Woods. Director of Public Works/City Engineer Berkowitz shared they are currently working on the segment from Xeon Street to Prairie Road. He noted they tried to get easements from the property owners going north, but they were unsuccessful, so they will not be able to move forward with this segment until they get these residents on board. Mayor Barthel asked if they have the easements on the Prairie Road portion of segment #1. Mr. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – June 24, 2025 Page 3 Berkowitz said yes and explained they have the easements from the railroad tracks to Prairie Road. He said this segment is currently in the design process. Mayor Barthel said he has never been in favor of segment #3, as he sees this as a project that would cost over $1,000,000 to go nowhere. He asked how many households this would even service. He stated he would rather save this money and use it towards a trail that would serve more residents. Councilmember Shafto agreed there is not currently enough density to justify the cost of this segment right now. He noted there is potential for future density, but that is far into the future. Councilmember Godfrey agreed and noted it does not make sense to keep pushing this segment off another few years, and suggested just removing it from the CIP. Mr. Baumunk asked if they would like to look for other potential trail segments if they remove segment #3. Mayor Barthel said they could look at other segments, but for a few years into the future. He stated he would like them to look for segments that do not currently connect or segments that could serve future developments. Mr. Berkowitz explained they can have the Commission review new potential trail segments over the next few months, and they can bring back another CIP in the future since they do not have any funding for this year. The consensus of the Council was to remove segment #3 from the CIP and look for other areas where they could put new trails. C. Discuss the 2026-2030 CIP for Trail Reconstruction Improvements to Parks Mr. Baumunk reviewed the Staff report in regard to the 2026-2030 CIP for trail reconstruction projects. Mayor Barthel said if they do not get matching grants for these projects, then he would like this to be brought back to the Council for discussion. The consensus of the Council was to move forward with the CIP if they receive matching grants. D. Discuss the 2026-2030 CIP for Parks Mr. Baumunk reviewed the Staff report concerning the 2026-2030 CIP for parks. Mayor Barthel noted they have a healthy fund balance for parks currently. Councilmember Godfrey stated even though they have a healthy fund balance, that does not mean that they can use this money for whatever they please, as there are restrictions on what it can be used for. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – June 24, 2025 Page 4 Councilmember Shafto added the park dedication funding can only be used for new parks and not maintenance, so for maintenance-related items, they will have to use a different funding source. Mayor Barthel asked if they were to turf the fields at Prairie Knoll, if they would save them money in the long term. Mr. Baumunk said it is a huge expense to put turf in, but he can do some research to see if it would be worth it in the long run. Mr. Lindahl noted there are some health concerns with turf fields that are still being studied. Councilmember Shafto asked about the source of all of the park dedication funding. Mr. Baumunk explained they receive $5,256 for every new home that is built in the City or every new commercial development. Councilmember Shafto asked if this fund will essentially go away once the City is fully developed. Mr. Baumunk said yes and explained the park dedication is designed to meet future needs as the City continues to develop. Councilmember Shafto asked if any of these projects have a long-term maintenance impact. Mr. Baumunk said the skate park would have long-term maintenance impacts; however, they are hoping to move away from the wood-framed ramps to concrete ramps that would require less maintenance. Mr. Berkowitz explained pavement is incredibly expensive, and they are looking at paving the parking lot at Hawk Ridge. Mayor Barthel asked if Hawk Ridge is used enough to justify paving the parking lot. Mr. Baumunk said Hawk Ridge and Pine Hills have the most-used soccer fields. He stated they are currently grading the parking lot once a month and doing dust control once a year. Park and Recreation Commissioner Dawson shared he started the Andover Soccer Club, and he is hoping to contest for this park. He said he would love to see Hawk Ridge be a park where they could host a soccer tournament. Mr. Baumunk added when they paved the parking lot at Pine Hills, it changed the whole park. Councilmember Schue asked if these parks were assessed from a timing perspective or a condition perspective. Mr. Baumunk said some of this is based on timing, while others are based on feedback they have received from residents or park staff. Councilmember Shafto noted they have the fund balance now for many of the projects that are scheduled for years in the future. He asked if capacity is an issue when it comes to what they are able to do every year. Mr. Baumunk explained the North Woods parking lot is scheduled for 2028 because that is when the neighborhood will be repaved, and it makes sense to do these projects together. He said they also base these projects’ timelines on what other maintenance would be Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – June 24, 2025 Page 5 going on in the area. Councilmember Shafto asked if there were any projects that they would have the capacity to move forward with. Mr. Baumunk said he is comfortable with the way the plan is laid out as is. Mr. Stenzel shared that pickleball is still a huge trend in parks and recreation. He said there is still an appetite for this one, some sort of scale rather than a full complex that they had discussed in the past. Mayor Barthel explained when they reviewed the possibility of a pickleball complex in the past, it would have cost around $500,000, which is why the Council did not choose to move forward. Councilmember Shafto said the fund balance is healthy, and while he is not in a rush to spend all of the money at once, we should consider the time value of money and that the longer we leave the money just sitting in the account the less purchasing power we have in the long run. Councilmember Godfrey stated she would like more information on the pickleball courts before making a decision. She noted the demand is not the same for pickleball as it is for other sports. She asked if there would be an opportunity to offer pickleball with private development. She said she does not think it is the business of the City to provide every possible type of entertainment and recreation to the residents. Councilmember Shafto said if there is a demand for pickleball courts, then he would like to consider this. Councilmember Schue agreed. He said he would have been against the complex that was voted down by the Council in the past, but he thinks there is still an opportunity for pickleball courts on a smaller scale. Mr. Baumunk said pickleball courts are the most requested thing he receives calls about. Councilmember Engelhardt asked if the sports simulator at the Community Center is used for pickleball. Mr. Baumunk said he can find out. The consensus of the Council was to move forward with the parks CIP as discussed and direct Staff to look into the possibility of building pickleball courts in the City. Mayor Barthel asked all Park and Recreation Commissioners to send an email to the Council at some point in the next month about their thoughts on the Nature Preserve Commission and the possibility of combining the two Commissions. 2. PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT/PAVEMENT EVALUATION PRESENTATION Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the Staff report concerning a pavement management evaluation. He Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – June 24, 2025 Page 6 introduced Ryan Robinson from Infrastructure Management Services (IMS). Mr. Robinson reviewed the presentation with the Council on the IMS pavement condition survey, including structural testing, which is data-driven and assists agencies with decision making when it comes to pavement management. Councilmember Godfrey asked if they could do a statistical analysis to identify the probability of failure of roads. Mr. Robinson said yes and explained they do deflection testing and request traffic information, so they are able to make recommendations based on use. Councilmember Godfrey asked if they provide a range of probabilities and recommendations. Mr. Robinson said they are able to make predictions; however, things will happen that they were not anticipating, like water main breaks. Councilmember Schue asked if the cost of this service is based on the size of the City. Mr. Robinson shared Andover may not need everything that he presented today. He explained they charge for this service by the mile. He said they would work with Staff to see what services would be best for what the City is looking for. Mr. Berkowitz shared this service would run around $50,000 to $60,000 every three years. He explained they are aware of the roads that need a full-depth reclamation; however, they struggle to analyze roads from a preservation perspective. He said the deflection testing would be incredibly beneficial for the City. He stated this service would give them the tools to ensure they are spending their money appropriately when it comes to the roads. Councilmember Schue asked if the static costs would be charged yearly or on an as-needed basis, like the rest of the services. Mr. Robinson said they are not a subscription-based service, so these additional costs would only be charged at the time of service. He noted these static costs would likely run around $5,000. Councilmember Schue asked when they would have to decide if they wanted to start using this service in 2026. Mr. Berkowitz explained the 2026 road projects are almost in motion already, so this would not impact any of the projects for next year. He said they would contract with IMS to begin their work sometime in the spring or summer of 2026 for road projects in 2027. He stated he would like to have a decision from the Council during budget discussions. Mayor Barthel asked Mr. Berkowitz to forward the proposal to the Council so they can review what they are getting for the cost of the service. The consensus of the Council was to move forward with discussing IMS services during the budgetary discussions. 3. SONSTEBY PROPERTY DONATION DISCUSSION Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the Staff report in regard to land that Glen Sonsteby would like to donate Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – June 24, 2025 Page 7 to the City. Mr. Sonsteby shared this land has been in his family for a long time, and he and his wife would love this land to be used for generations to come and would like to donate it to the City. He explained they think the City would be able to manage this land better than they can. Mr. Berkowitz noted this land is encumbered by wetlands or floodplains. He said it is not feasible to build on. He stated the whole lot is around 50 to 60 acres. Mayor Barthel asked what kind of costs the City should anticipate incurring by having to manage the property. Mr. Sonsteby shared his idea for the property would be to make it a refuge that would not require a lot of expenses. He said his one request would be to call the property Rosella’s Refuge in honor of his mother. Ms. Sonsteby shared there are also fire concerns with the property, so they think the Fire Department needs to have a fire management plan. Councilmember Shafto noted this is something that the Nature Preserve Commission could look at. He said he would be curious to know what it would cost to manage this as a refuge before they make a decision. Mr. Berkowitz explained Staff is not equipped to manage this kind of property. He said there may be other agencies that would be better suited to have this land donated to them, as they would have the resources needed to manage the property. He added they could try to partner with the Anoka Conservation District or a similar agency on this. Ms. Sonsteby said they had discussed this, and they think the property needs to go to a governmental organization rather than a non-profit so that it can be enjoyed by the community. She stated they are not looking for things to be built on this land, but for it to be managed and enjoyed. She added they do not have any expectations of what would happen on this property. Mayor Barthel noted he would like the Council to make a decision sooner rather than later so the Sonsteby’s can have an answer. The consensus of the Council was to move forward with continued discussions on whether they would like this property to be donated to the City. 4. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DISCUSSION City Planner Hellegers reviewed the Staff report concerning the comprehensive plan. Councilmember Schue asked if this is a requirement for the Met Council. Mr. Hellegers said yes. Councilmember Schue asked about the grants available to help pay for this. Mr. Hellegers explained they have to make sure that whatever the planning assistance grant is, it applies to them, Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – June 24, 2025 Page 8 and if so, then they can apply for it. He noted they have to update their comprehensive plan every 10 years, and in the years leading up to it, Staff are working on the updates. He added they will also have to look at the Imagine 2050 plan from the Met Council. Councilmember Schue asked what would happen if they said no to this. Mr. Hellegers shared they are obligated by State Statute to complete this plan, and if they do not, the State could force them to. He said he is not sure of the full ramifications if they were to not complete a comprehensive plan. Councilmember Godfrey asked if they did not want to put $150,000 into the budget to pay for a consultant to prepare this plan, if Staff would have to take on this responsibility. Mr. Hellegers said Staff already does quite a bit of this work, and the cost is associated with how much work Staff does versus how much they seek outside help for. Mr. Berkowitz added there are certain areas of the comprehensive plan that they do not have expertise in and would need to bring in some outside parties. Mayor Barthel explained if they decided not to complete a comprehensive plan, then they would not be able to connect residents to the sewer system in the future. He said there are still a lot of urban areas in the City that are still on private wells and septic systems. Councilmember Schue said he would like to have a better understanding of what their options are in this situation. City Administrator Cotton shared that Lake Elmo had challenged the Met Council in the past, and they were not successful. She encouraged the Council to look into this situation to see what can happen if they try to push back on the Met Council. The consensus of the Council was to move forward with updating the comprehensive plan. 5. FIRE DEPARTMENT DISCUSSION Ms. Cotton reviewed the Staff report in regard to the Fire Department. She asked each Councilmember to present their Fire Department priorities. Councilmember Shafto noted his priorities contained an assumption that they will maintain a hybrid model of full-time and paid-on-call firefighters. He asked if they had considered a paid-on- call EMS only position. Fire Chief Jones said this was tried and failed back in the 1970s and 1980s. He explained there was not enough interest to maintain a rescue squad. He shared if they did want to recreate the rescue squad, there would be different training requirements, and they would need a separate management structure. Councilmember Shafto said his thought was not to create a whole new squad, but rather have a few people with EMS training only who could support firefighters on every call. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – June 24, 2025 Page 9 Councilmember Schue stated he also had this same idea. He said there may be people out there who would want to serve the community in an EMS capacity but do not want to be a firefighter. Mr. Jones shared other cities like Bloomington and White Bear Lake have tried this more recently, and it failed. He said they do have on-call firefighters who only respond to EMS calls. Mayor Barthel asked if firefighters respond to EMS calls in full tactical gear. Mr. Jones said no. Councilmember Schue asked if there are any cities that have tried this model recently and have been successful. Mr. Jones said he does not know of any cities in the metro area that have been successful. Councilmember Shafto stated this may be worth looking into again, given the rise in volume of EMS calls over the last several years. Mayor Barthel shared the EMS response is also something he put on his priorities list. He noted a majority of the increase in calls that they are seeing are for EMS calls. He said there are going to be people passionate about fighting fires, and there are going to be people who are passionate about emergency medical services. Mr. Jones said they need to look at how they can more effectively provide EMS response systematically. Councilmember Shafto said he does not understand the thought that there would be no interest in EMS only on-call individuals. He noted there is currently a significant morale problem in the Fire Department, and they need to look into this. He stated that 70% of the calls they respond to are EMS calls, so there does not seem to be harm in having a few dedicated EMS employees. He explained these individuals would still be supporting the firefighters; however, they would not have to pass the firefighter training in order to be on the squad. He added he knows of people who would be interested in working EMS calls, but they have not applied as they would not want to go through the firefighter training process. Mayor Barthel asked how many firefighters respond to EMS calls. Mr. Jones said it depends on the time of day, day of the week, and the nature of the call. He stated it is an average of three to four firefighters per call. He shared they could have two people respond to the station for a call, or they could have ten. Mayor Barthel asked how they manage situations when too many firefighters respond to one call. Mr. Jones said they have tried to manage this by expanding the duty crew and assigning shifts. Ms. Cotton asked what percentage of EMS calls occur between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Mr. Jones said 80% of the calls happen between 5:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m., which is when they schedule the duty crew. He added they do not staff the duty crew overnight as they receive Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – June 24, 2025 Page 10 very few calls during those hours. Mr. Jones shared he is not sure what is causing the morale issues with the firefighters. He said the morale has increased recently after the issues they had surrounding the recent survey. He explained when the survey went out, they were fighting for drive time pay, Relief Association pay, and additional pension pay that could have contributed to the low morale reported during the survey. Councilmember Shafto noted even though morale has increased, they need to continue to monitor this. He said they currently do not have enough data to assess whether or not there is a true issue with morale. He stated Andover cannot afford a full-time firefighter Staff and they need to rely on the paid-on-call model for the time being. He noted issues reported with morale should not only go to Fire Department leadership, but also through other City Staff and HR, so they can track this data. Mr. Jones explained every complaint they receive goes through HR. He said if there is something that is an obvious issue, he deals with it right then and there before calling HR to loop them in on the situation. He noted if a situation is out of his scope, he immediately hands it off to HR. Councilmember Shafto said he would just like Staff to be aware of issues when they arise and how they are being resolved, so they can gather data on these issues and their resolution. Councilmember Schue shared one of his priorities was around staffing, recruitment, and retention. He noted retention data should play into these metrics. He asked if they have an exit interview process. Ms. Cotton stated they do not force employees leaving the City to participate in exit surveys, but they do collect data from those who provide it. She explained dealing with complaints can be very difficult, as the person who filed the complaint wants to know how it is resolved, and sometimes this data cannot be shared. She said they can work on creating a consistent process for how complaints are handled. Councilmember Shafto stated they have a need for more data and information so they can address the morale issues. Ms. Cotton shared there would be value to applying this citywide rather than just to the Fire Department. She noted there was a suggestion to add additional full-time resources to assist with the daytime responses to alleviate pressure on the on-call resources. Councilmember Shafto said he is not opposed to the idea of adding more full-time firefighters. He noted they have to maintain the hybrid model; however, they can still add additional full-time firefighters. Mayor Barthel noted a lot of the feedback received from the survey has to do with time. He said they are currently short-staffed and heavily relying on a few people to do a lot of the work. He stated there has to be some kind of middle ground. He asked they start looking at this differently to find a few things that would help free up time so they can work on things like response time reports, payroll, or tracking duty crew. He shared he wants them to get to a point where they have Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – June 24, 2025 Page 11 60 paid-on-call firefighters and consistency with how many people are showing up for EMS calls. He added he also wants to have high morale in the department. Ms. Cotton said they are not the only community that is struggling with these issues. Mr. Jones shared a lot of the feedback he has heard is around data. He explained he has been working with vendors who provide data dashboards to look into their offerings. He asked for permission to sit down with the Staff to review these offerings to determine how they will move forward. He added he is very passionate about cancer prevention and health concerns for firefighters. He noted health issues could play a role in retention and recruitment. Councilmember Engelhardt shared he sees an effort to capture all data rather than just the data that the Council needs to see. He said he would like to see a little less overall data and a little more of their performance metrics. He thanked the Fire Department for their involvement with Andover Soccer this past weekend. He said the Council is here to help and support the Fire Department. The consensus of the Council was to direct Mr. Jones to work with the Staff on data vendors and adding more full-time resources, and bringing back information to the Council. 6. 2026 BUDGET SALARY & BENEFITS UPDATE Ms. Cotton reviewed the Staff report concerning salary and benefit requests for 2026. She reviewed the requested staffing adjustments in the engineering and building departments. Mr. Berkowitz shared his concerns about burnout in the engineering department. He said now would be a great time to hire another engineer, as it would take a number of years to get someone hired and fully trained up. He stated they are making changes to reallocate resources where they are needed to be more efficient. Ms. Cotton shared the Public Works union contract is up at the end of this year, and they will need to begin negotiations on this. Councilmember Schue asked if the Council can be provided with retention statistics in the future when they discuss salaries and benefits. Human Resources Manager Makinen shared in the past, they have had high turnover rates due to low market rates for pay; however, they recently made adjustments to all salaries to bring them up within the market rates. Mr. Berkowitz shared the planning department has a lot of turnover due to the lack of growth opportunities within the department. Councilmember Godfrey asked how many full-time employees the City has. Ms. Makinen said they currently have 62 full-time employees. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – June 24, 2025 Page 12 Ms. Cotton added that tenure amongst employees is relatively high. She noted because of this, it may be difficult to recruit when looking at succession planning with their current wages. Councilmember Shafto suggested they look into other ways outside of wage increases to retain employees. Ms. Makinen shared they have done this in the past by giving individuals growth opportunities outside of just their existing role by working with other departments. Mr. Berkowitz shared they find ways to put their best employees in the right position for them to give them growth opportunities. He said he is concerned with promotions or growth within Public Works since all Staff are on the same level. Councilmember Shafto noted having different levels could allow for different growth opportunities without having to fill every position. He encouraged Staff to get creative with finding growth opportunities for existing Staff for those who are interested in moving up in their department. He said they have to be strategic about this since they are lean on full-time Staff. Ms. Cotton said they are likely going to see a double-digit increase in healthcare premiums. She added starting January 1, 2026, Minnesota will officially be launching its new statewide paid leave program. She shared this leave will be funded by premiums on employees’ wages. She stated they are proposing this to be a 50% split between deducting this from employees’ wages and employers paying the other 50%. She said she is concerned with this for the City since they are such a lean organization, and when employees utilize the right to this paid leave, they do not know how this will impact the City’s ability to provide service. She said they will know more when this program is implemented. Councilmember Engelhardt asked if the City pays for continuing education and licensing for Staff. Ms. Makinen said yes and explained they cover all required licensing fees for different positions. She added they also have a tuition reimbursement program. Councilmember Schue asked what percentage of tuition they reimburse. Ms. Makinen said they reimburse up to $5,000 per year, and if someone leaves within two years of receiving this benefit, they recoup this amount. The consensus of the Council was in support of the proposed staffing changes. OTHER TOPICS None. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Schue, Seconded by Shafto, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The workshop meeting adjourned at 10:00 p.m. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – June 24, 2025 Page 13 Respectfully submitted, Ava Major, Recording Secretary