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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-10-28 WK ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING – OCTOBER 28, 2025 MINUTES The Workshop Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Barthel, Tuesday, October 28, 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 Community Development Director, Joe Janish Director of Public Works/City Engineer, David Berkowitz Finance Manager, Lee Brezinka Fire Chief, Dennis Jones Others MET COUNCIL 2025 SYSTEM STATEMENT DISCUSSION Community Development Director Janish reviewed the Staff report and the Met Council 2025 System Statement with the Council. Councilmember Godfrey asked how the Met Council is justifying a projected decrease in households and population, but an increase in employment. Mr. Janish explained they have shared with the Met Council that they are limited in their growth in the City. He noted the job market is changing, and it comes down to the square footage of commercial space that the City has. He said the Met Council wants to see Andover provide more commercial and industrial space in the City. Councilmember Schue noted with the change in employment, the future of robots and AI makes this employment data questionable. Mr. Janish explained cities will be required by law to follow climate policies that will help with climate mitigation. Councilmember Godfrey asked if they have a stated goal that they must meet or if they are just reducing their climate impacts. Mr. Janish explained the Met Council wants to see cities drop this amount; however, it was not specified to what amount they should drop it. He noted their plan does not have to get this to 0. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 28, 2025 Page 2 Councilmember Godfrey shared she receives questions from residents on the Met Council's impact on Andover. She explained the residents seem to think that the only place that the Met Council has jurisdiction over is the MUSA. She asked how they could better explain the Met Council's actual impact on the City to the residents. Mr. Janish explained the Met Council has jurisdiction over everything he just reviewed through the Metropolitan Land Act. He noted cities have tried to fight the Met Council before, but it comes at a large cost. Councilmember Godfrey said she would like to start any future discussions pertaining to the Met Council by explaining where they get their authority and jurisdiction for better awareness for the residents. Councilmember Schue added he has had residents reach out to him and say the City should just not comply with the requirements of the Met Council since they do not understand the individual complexities of Andover. Mr. Janish explained they are under the Met Council's jurisdiction because they are a part of Anoka County, and they also accepted the Met Council's sewer lines. Council consensus was reached to direct Staff to respond to the Met Council with concerns and feedback on the employment projections in the 2025 System Statement. DISCUSS POTENTIAL CELL TOWER IN FOX MEADOWS PARK Mr. Janish reviewed the Staff report in regard to a potential cell tower in Fox Meadows Park. Mayor Barthel asked what the rent would be for the City for this cell tower. Director of Public Works/City Engineer Berkowitz said this would be a part of the negotiation to determine the rent amount. Councilmember Godfrey asked if this would provide sufficient coverage for the City or if they would still expect an additional request for another cell tower in the rural reserve area. Mr. Berkowitz said this would be a question they would have to ask the cell carrier. Councilmember Godfrey asked if they would be able to make this a co-location for a storm siren. Mr. Berkowitz said they had already asked this question and were told that they did not need a storm siren in this location. Councilmember Shafto asked where the revenue for this would go. Mr. Berkowitz said the Council can designate where the revenue goes. Councilmember Godfrey noted the cell tower in Rose Park has half of the revenue going to Rose Park directly, and the other half goes towards maintenance. Councilmember Shafto asked if these generate a lot of light at night. Mr. Berkowitz said he does Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 28, 2025 Page 3 not think so. Councilmember Shafto asked if they had discussed any plans at this park that the cell tower would interfere with. Mr. Berkowitz said no; however, they would make sure that this cell tower is located outside of any usable area. st Mayor Barthel asked if they could add their cell antennas to the tower on 161 Avenue and Round Lake Boulevard. Mr. Berkowitz said he believes that tower is already full. Councilmember Shafto asked if there are any other maintenance costs other than mowing that would have to be covered by the City. Mr. Berkowitz said no. He said this would have to go through the CUP process. Councilmember Godfrey asked how this would benefit the residents. Mr. Berkowitz shared this would benefit the residents who use this cell carrier, as it will increase their coverage. Mayor Barthel asked if the Rose Park tower is already at capacity. Mr. Berkowitz shared they have not had any interest from cell carriers for this location. Council consensus was reached in support of exploring a cell tower in this park. 2026 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS UPDATE/DISCUSSION Finance Manager Brezinka reviewed the Staff report concerning the 2026 budget development and provided updates from the last discussion. Councilmember Schue asked why there is a 50% increase in their workers’ compensation insurance. Mr. Brezinka said it is due to claims that have been filed. He added these claims will fall off in three years. City Administrator Cotton asked about the estimated cost for an additional vehicle for the Building Department interns. Mr. Brezinka said they would be looking at purchasing a small pick-up truck that would likely cost around $40,000. Councilmember Godfrey asked if adding this vehicle would improve their efficiency and ability to complete inspections in a more timely manner. Mr. Brezinka said yes. Councilmember Schue asked if this new vehicle would improve their efficiency over the currently used floater vehicle. Mr. Brezinka said the floater vehicle is not as reliable, and this new vehicle would be dedicated to the Building Department. Councilmember Godfrey shared she has heard from contractors who work in the City that Andover is better than surrounding cities at giving out permits; however, they are lagging when it comes to completing inspections, so she is supportive of this additional vehicle. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 28, 2025 Page 4 Councilmember Shafto said this vehicle is something that will have to be purchased this year or next year, and it will likely be cheaper to purchase it now rather than later. Mayor Barthel shared he recently talked to two surrounding cities that are smaller than Andover, which have their own Police Departments, and shared that these cities have higher police budgets than Andover, who use the Anoka County Sheriff's Office. Ms. Cotton shared there are going to be impacts that they will see with the new Minnesota paid leave program. She added she attended an Anoka-Hennepin School District meeting earlier today, and they are also concerned with the impacts of this program. Councilmember Shafto asked if there are any departments that they are more concerned about this affecting. Ms. Cotton noted they do not have substitute plow truck drivers. Councilmember Godfrey asked if they have contingency plans for this. Mr. Berkowitz explained they currently have a policy that states they cannot have more than four plow truck drivers unavailable at any given time. He shared that Ramsey contracted out some of their snow plowing in the past, and it was not done to the same standard as City employees would have done. He said if they had to, they would have to contract out this service; however, they would like to avoid it if possible. Ms. Cotton added there are a lot of roles in the City that are also filled by one person, so if that person were to take paid leave, then it would leave their position vacant until their return. Councilmember Godfrey suggested looking at cross-training programs and ensuring they have procedures documented if someone in an individual role were to take paid leave, so that others could fill in until their return. Ms. Cotton shared they already have these types of processes in place; however, they only do this cross-training to provide back up for that position for a short amount of time, whereas this paid leave could have someone away for a longer period of time. Council consensus was reached to direct Staff to move forward with the 2026 budget development, including a new vehicle for the Building Department. CONTINUE FIRE DEPARTMENT STAFFING MODEL DISCUSSION Fire Chief Jones reviewed the Staff report in regard to the Fire Department staffing model. Councilmember Schue thanked Mr. Jones for working to develop this plan. He asked if bringing on the two new firefighters for 2026 in Option B would be effective January 1, 2026, and how this would affect future levies. Ms. Cotton shared it is highly unlikely that they would be able to hire and onboard two new firefighters by January 1, 2026. She said they would be utilizing reserve funds to cover the first year of the second position, then would levy for the position in 2027. Councilmember Godfrey asked if they have already identified two individuals who may be Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 28, 2025 Page 5 interested in going full-time to fill these new roles. Mr. Jones shared he believes this would be a competitive hiring process. He said if they were to start this process in January, it would likely be a minimum of 90 days before they were able to get someone on board. He stated he would like to have these two full-time employees on by the middle of 2026 at the latest. Councilmember Schue asked how much is currently in reserves. Mr. Brezinka said they currently have around $1,700,000 in reserves for 2026. Councilmember Schue asked about the projected costs for this position. Mr. Brezinka said it would be a little over $100,000. Mayor Barthel shared he is supportive of bringing a full-time firefighter on board. He said he would prefer to see the two positions hired separately and hire one new employee first, get them onboarded, then start the hiring process for the second role. Councilmember Shafto asked if there would be any cost savings to hiring both firefighters at the same time rather than going through two separate hiring and training processes. Mr. Jones explained they are requiring prerequisites for these roles, and whoever is chosen should already be fully trained, so their training would be minimal, as it would just involve how the City handles calls and processes. He said he is not sure if there would be any cost savings to hiring both at the same time; however, it would likely overwhelm them to have to onboard two firefighters at the same time. Mayor Barthel added hiring for these roles separately can help them determine what they would be looking for in a candidate during the second round of hiring. Councilmember Godfrey shared she does not think the Council needs to micromanage this hiring process, and they can just put their trust in Mr. Jones and HR to hire in the best way they see fit. Mayor Barthel said he would feel better about using reserve funds for these roles if they are slightly delayed and not hired at the beginning of 2026. Ms. Cotton asked if the Council has a not-to-exceed amount in mind for using reserves for these roles. Mr. Brezinka added this will also be dependent on when they switch to the new duty crew model. Mayor Barthel suggested a not-to-exceed amount of $60,000 from reserves for these roles. The Council was supportive of this. Ms. Cotton explained this process is going to take some time, but they will begin planning at the Staff level. Councilmember Engelhardt shared that Andover is incredibly lucky to have the Fire Department Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 28, 2025 Page 6 Staff that they have supporting this community. He said he hears so many great comments about the work the Fire Department does, as well as their community outreach. Mr. Jones thanked the Staff and Council for their support. Council consensus was reached to direct Staff to move forward with Option C for the Fire Department. OTHER TOPICS Mr. Berkowitz shared the Tree Lighting Committee has recommended that they do some kind of lighting or decorations on City Hall during the Christmas season. He noted it is a little late in the year to be discussing this; however, they can use existing lights for this year, then start discussions earlier for what they will do next year. Councilmember Godfrey noted that Parks and Streets Operations Manager Baumunk is working with a local nursery to secure wreaths and garland, which could help enhance the current decorations without going overboard. She said she would be supportive of this if it were in the budget and would start these discussions earlier next year. Ms. Cotton shared the Animal Humane Society put the City on notice that they would no longer be able to provide animal control services after December 31, 2025. She noted they went out for an RFP for animal control services, which closed today, and they received no responses. She said there is a company called Companion Animal Care & Control that did not respond to the RFP; however, she had received an email from them in September with options for the City to consider. She said that currently, this is their only option for animal control services, and she plans on reaching out to them tomorrow to see if the offer from September is still on the table. She asked if they want to continue to provide impound services for cats. She noted a lot of other cities do not provide cat impound services. Councilmember Godfrey shared she knows that there are two robust cat care providers in the area. She noted she would be in favor of eliminating cat impound services if these cat care providers could provide similar volunteer services. Councilmember Shafto asked how many cats they impound. Ms. Cotton shared that a lot of the costs associated with impounding are from cats, as they are not often picked up. Ms. Cotton added that residents will still be able to work directly with the Animal Humane Society, but the City will no longer be able to. A resident shared there was recently a volunteer event held at his employer with an organization called The Bond Between for pet adoption services. He recommended that Staff reach out to this organization to see if they could work something out. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 28, 2025 Page 7 The consensus of the Council was supportive of no longer offering impound services for cats and moving forward with discussions with Companion Animal Care & Control. Councilmember Godfrey shared she had previously requested a review of the nuisance and dangerous dog ordinances. She asked if there had been any updates on this. Ms. Cotton explained Staff is already working with the City Attorney on this. Councilmember Schue asked if they are also looking at code enforcement and this process as well. Ms. Cotton said yes and noted that Staff will be meeting with the City Attorney on this, as they have two properties that they have been having repeated code enforcement issues with. Councilmember Schue asked about the process of Councilmembers requesting certain topics and if it would still require a Councilmember to bring it up at a Workshop and gain the support of at least two other Councilmembers. Mayor Barthel said yes and noted they could discuss these items as future topics. Ms. Cotton explained they used to follow a similar process when she worked for Lino Lakes. She said that if a Councilmember had an item that they would like to discuss, then they would fill out a form requesting the topic and have another Councilmember second this request before it would be placed on the agenda. Mayor Barthel suggested not requiring a second Councilmember for Staff to review this before putting it on the agenda as a future topic. The Council was supportive of this. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Shafto, Seconded by Schue, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The workshop meeting adjourned at 7:34 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Ava Major, Recording Secretary