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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWK July 22, 2008 0 1685 CROSSTOWN BOULEVARD N.W. . ANDOVER, MINNESOTA 55304 . (763) 755-5100 FAX (763) 755-8923 . WWW.CI.ANDOVER.MN.US City Council Workshop Tuesday, July 22, 2008 Conference Rooms A & B 1. Call to Order- 6:00 p.m. 2. Joint Meeting with Park & Recreation Commission a) Status of Skate Park (Existing & Proposed)/Hupp & Kowalewski b) 2009-2013 Parks Capital Improvement Plan c) Discuss Possibility of Non-Resident Fee for Use of City Facilities d) Discuss Future of Irrigation of City Parks/Fields 3. Assessment Policy Discussion - Engineering 0 4. Discuss Oak Wilt Grant Guidelines - Engineeri ng 5. 2009 Budget Development & 2009-2013 CIP Development Progress Report 6. City of Anoka Comprehensive Plan Update 7. City of Ham Lake Comprehensive Plan Update 8. Other Business 9. Adjourn 0 0 ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP - JULY 22,2008 MINUTES The Andover City Council Workshop was called to order by Mayor Mike Gamache, July 22, 2008, 6:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Don Jacobson, Mike Knight, Ken Orttel (arrived at 6:05 p.m.), Julie Trude Councilmember absent: None Park Commissioners present: Chair Dan Masloski, Jeremy Boyer, Ted Butler, Bill Hupp, Tony Kowalewski, Vice Chair Jim Lindahl, and Peggy Scott. Park Commissioner absent: None Also present: Director of Public Works/City Engineer, Dave Berkowitz City Administrator, Jim Dickinson Community Development Director, Will Neumeister Assistant Public Works Director, Todd Haas 0 Fire Chief, Dan Winkel Others JOINT MEETING WITH PARK & RECREATION COMMISSION a. Status of Skate Park (Existing & Proposed)/Hupp & Kowalewski Chairperson Masloski thanked the Council for having a joint meeting with the Park Commission. Commissioner Kowalewski reviewed the fund raising efforts for the Skate Park with the CounciL Councilmember Orttel arrived at 6:05 p.m. Commissioner Hupp stated the top priority is to go after the larger businesses. He thought they should offer up some type of a buy in, to name the park after a corporation for a certain amount of time or to go after a multi-faceted tier. He explained they would have to know right off the bat if there are donators large enough to name a park after and the Commission would like to have the Council's input in regard to this. Commissioner Hupp wondered how the Council would want this structured. Mr. Dickinson 0 explained the City has different donation tiers for plaque, etc. Mayor Gamache thought the fIrst thing the Commission needed to do is to set a fundraising goal to try to reach and then sit down with the different companies to indicate what different amounts of money will get them for advertising. 0 Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 22, 2008 Page 2 Mr. Dickinson noted if the Commission were to go after grants they would need to be a SOl(c) in order to apply because cities cannot apply for certain grants. They can accept donations on behalf of the Commission. Councilmember Trude thought this is a good approach but the Commission should talk to staff regarding the rules when collecting donations. Commissioner Kowalewski thought there could be information put into a monthly flyer along with how much they have received in donations and how far they are from reaching their goal. They also thought by 2009 if they feel there is not enough funding they would have a plan b in place. That plan would be to possibly sit down with the Anoka, Blaine and Coon Rapids City Councils and Park and Recreation Board with Anoka County to see if they could go into a main park and get sixty thousand from the other cities. Councilmember Trude stated they tried that with the Community Center and she did not know if that would work because each City is large enough to stand alone. She stated she was the Chair 0 of the Community Education Advisory Council and all the park directors from those communities are actively involved each month at those meetings and she cannot imagine them contributing. Councilmember Knight wondered if they could go to Riverdale and make the rounds there for donations because a lot of their clientele is from Andover. Commissioner Kowalewski stated he talked to Mr. Haas to get a listing of all the businesses in the city so he could contact them for a donation. Commissioner Hupp indicated they are planning on prioritizing the businesses and work their way down from the big box companies. Councilmember Trude stated what they learned while fundraising for the Community Center was that the local businesses are hit up by every little group that want some funds. She stated the little businesses in Andover are hit up so much that it is hard for them to donate. She thought what they had in mind was a good idea. Councilmember Jacobson stated his concern was naming the park after a donor corporation. Councilmember Knight indicated they could give the business credit for their donation other than naming the park after them. They could have signs, etc. for them. Commissioner Kowalewski stated there have been minor issues with litter and graffiti but these are not skateboard kids, they are other kids not involved in skateboarding and the kids who do use the park seem to try to clean it up and try to have pride in the park. 0 Commissioner Hupp thought it was a lot of perception and the kids feel like they are part of the group. 0 Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 22, 2008 Page 3 b. 2009 - 2013 Parks Capital Improvement Plan C~erson Masloski explained with the budget constraints and the economy they have pushed all of their items out through 2010 to balance their budget. They are operating within the bare minimum and most cities are operating between $750,000 and a million dollars in their park reserve and Andover has $75,000. Councilmember Trude stated based on the park study they have more capacity than residents. Chairperson Masloski stated they are going to get to a point where some of the infrastructure they have will need to be replaced. He stated that over a course of time they need to look at the long term plan on their park reserve plans. Councilmember Trude stated there are things in the overall budget and not the park budget that will cover some of the larger items. Chairperson Masloski thought it is commendable that the Council stepped up and took over the financing to finish the baseball complex concession building. Commissioner Hupp thought that was important and a big step for the Council to take since parks are usually run on park dedication funds. The City is getting so big that it sometimes needs help from other resources. 0 Mayor Gamache stated they have an estimated $139,700 as the anticipated park dedication fee from now until 2015. Mr. Dickinson indicated that is if they get fifty platted units each year. Councilmember Trude stated she has seen the Park Commission's role as dealing with issues of growth in the parks and policy recommendations. The revenue/expense issues are with finance and the CounciL Every park that is added to the community is a burden on the tax side~and they have to be aware of what is happening with that. She does not like that when the commission is talking on tv, people at home are getting confused by commission discussion. She does not want there to be confusion about their role because if the community has a building with concessions in it that is owned by the community and if they award a contract out on that it is really up to the Council to allocate those revenues. Commissioner Hupp stated they have to discipline themselves relative to cash flow or project savings. Chairperson Masloski thought all government agencies are looking at ways to increase revenues to offset expenditures. He stated that whatever the fees might be, politicians are there to try to figure out how to pay for things. Knowing what their balance is and having people approach them wondering where their park is and why it is not done. How are they going to pay for those things and through that conversation the commission has come up with user fees, non-resident fees, revenue streams coming from concession stands and advertising. He stated when they get into user fees they need to make sure the Council understands what the Commission is talking about. 0 The Council and Commission discussed past parks that took a while to develop and present parks that need to be developed and what should be told to the residents asking for the parks to be built in their neighborhoods. 0 Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 22, 2008 Page 4 Mayor Gamache stated there are large areas that have been developed for a number of years where they do not have a neighborhood park and people have to walk a distance to one. He stated the philosophy has been to use park dedication fees from the development of the new homes you are a growing city and developing more your need for new parks will be there and will have the money to take care of that but when there is a slow down there should not be need for more parks. He thought they will probably see three to five years where their park dedication fee will be reduced because of the fact that they are not platting new units. He thought they needed to look more towards how they are going to maintain the parks they have and not toward building new parks in developments that do not have them. Councilmember Trude stated there was a whole philosophy shift about ten years ago, there were not neighborhood parks, there were cluster regional community parks because the neighborhood parks were too hard to maintain and now they have gone back to the neighborhood parks. Chairperson Masloski stated there is no doubt within the last six years what they have done in the city has taken a toll on the park reserve funds. 0 The Council and Commission discussed with staff the budget and how the Commission can work within the budget they have. Councilmember Jacobson indicated they may need to push items back until they get the money to do the improvements to the parks. Commissioner Kowalewski thought it was important to offer individual sports for residents besides group sports. Some kids have a hard time bonding and making friends and do better individually than in groups. Councilmember Orttel thought they would want to have all of the money before they start building a skate park. c. Discuss Possibility of Non-Resident Fee for Use of City Facilities Chairperson Masloski brought this back to see if there is any interest by the Council to charge a fee to non-residents for use of the cities park facilities. He wanted to make sure the Council is aware that this is the direction that other cities are going. Champlin has been doing this for seventeen years successfully and there have not been any issues with charging those fees. Councilmember Trude wondered if it impacted any city elections in Champlin. She knew there was quite a bit of turnover in Champlin when they moved forward with the Community Center 0 project Chairperson Masloski indicated the ice forum was a controversial issue. Mayor Gamache asked what the difference was between usage and non-resident fees. Chairperson Masloski explained how the two different fees worked. 0 Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 22, 2008 Page 5 Councilmember Jacobson asked how they would determine who is a resident. He thought someone could get around the fees by having a resident of Andover come and reserve a pavilion and the rest of the people at the event would be from outside of Andover so they would not have to pay any non-resident fees. Chairperson Masloski stated ill Champlin the resident who is soliciting the opportunity to use a pavilion is getting charged the resident rate. He knows there are people that go around this to avoid a fee. Councilmember Trude stated as chair of the Anoka-Hennepin Community Education Advisory Council all the communities that share facilities ill the school district do not charge fees. She stated she is concerned about this positive relationship they have built up over time being severed. Commissioner Butler stated there are a few reasons why they should not charge the fees. He explained how Andover has residents in four different high schools. The associations in the city also have children from other cities participate in them so he did not want to upset the associations by charging these types of fees. Commissioner Kowalewski stated the associations need to step up and help maintain the fields. 0 He suggested the individual associations allocate funds to the city for maintaining them. He also thought the schools need to allow the associations to use their fields. Commissioner Butler sees this as openirig the door to increasing fees and he did not want to see the community go this way. He thought if Andover started to do this other cities would do it and then they would be havirig their kids paying each others' park systems and he did not know how much sense that made. Councilmember Trude does not think it is a problem that should be addressed with money at this level. There might be things that could happen at a higher level between communities to try to solve the problem. Chairperson Masloski stated from his standpoint he is putting it into a philosophy with the Council. They are the ones that ultimately make the decision and have to feel comfortable with it. Commissioner Scott stated the associations are stepping up and donating money towards the field maintenance. Councilmember Trude stated Mr. Dickinson has worked out a joint powers agreement with the school district to get some of their kids onto the fields. 0 d. Discuss Future of Irrigation of City Parks/Fields Chairperson Masloski stated the Council is requested by the Park and Recreation Commission to discuss the future of irrigating city parks/fields and what potential fundirig options are available 0 Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 22, 2008 Page 6 to do this. Commissioner Butler reviewed the information with the Council. He wondered if it was possible to recapture some or all of the funds saved with irrigation at Sunshine Park to irrigate other fields. Mayor Gamache stated what he would like to see done is to look at all the parks they currently have irrigated that are on city water and the cost of movirig all of those to wells. Then the cost of irrigating the key parks. He thought it might be a good idea that some of the money could go back into the fund to get to the next park so they can expand field use of the bad fields. He asked what the budget ramifications would be. Mr. Dickinson stated they would have to index the costs. He stated one concern in migrating out into parks thatdo not have irrigation systems is they cannot commit one hundred percent of the dollars to continue to do irrigation improvements because as grass grows, more maintenance is required. He stated their major focus is to alleviate some of the issues. Where they see the immediate payback is in the urban areas, as they expand to rural areas they know they will need other fundirig in order to do that. He stated to pull it out of the operational budget is tough because they have initiated this conversion to cover some of 0 the inflationary parks maintenance expenses. Commissioner Jim Lindahl left the meeting at 7 :25 p.m. Councilmember Orttel stated they have discussed using the savings to bond and he wondered if that would be a solution. Mr. Dickinson explained what they need to do in order to bond for this type of improvement. Commissioner Hupp thought they have to focus on the urban areas but they cannot forget about the rural parks. Mayor Gamache thought prioritizing fields makes sense. e. Consider 2008 Fall Softbal1/Baseball/ Football Schedule Motion by Commissioner Butler, seconded by Commissioner Scott, to approve the 2008 Fall softbal1/baseba1l/football schedule. Motion carried on a six ayes, no nays, 1 absent (Lindahl). The meeting adjourned at 7:31 p.m. The City Council Workshop began at 7:38 pm. 0 ASSESSMENT POLICY DISCUSSION Mr. Berkowitz stated the City Council is requested to discuss current assessment policy items and direct staff on how to proceed with updating the assessment manual. -- 0 Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 22, 2008 Page 7 Councilmember Jacobson asked if there was a reason why they need to look at this again because they reviewed it last year. Mr. Berkowitz explained that it was a Council goal to review the assessment policy. Councilmember Orttel stated they do have significant costs that the city pays for on county roads. Mr. Berkowitz stated they pay for a percentage of the storm sewer and a percentage of curb and gutter. Councilmember Orttel stated there are a lot of negatives to the improvements on a county road. He would prefer these be left up to the Council to decide since improvements are not always the same. - Mr. Berkowitz reviewed item one "Should assessments continue to include multiunit assessments to parcels that have a potential to have many potential lots that could be subdivided within the large parcel that meet the current zonirig designation?" Councilmember Trude thought this was the same thing as what other cities are doing with the per frontage foot. If a property has a lot of land a higher assessment should be paid since the owner is getting a lot more subsidized road along the property. Mr. Dickinson indicated that is not always true. The property can be assessed but the question comes to if the assessment will be deferred. 0 Councilmember Orttel asked if they can post assess. Mr. Berkowitz stated it all has to be identified. Mr. Dickinson stated they have to do a supplemental assessment and the costs have to be contained within the original project amount. The Council discussed agricultural property assessment with staff. Councilmember Jacobson asked if there is anything in the current policy that the Council wants to change. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed item two "Do we want to consider assessing properties for County Road improvements? This would include single family parcels and large non-developed parcels." The Council agreed that this should be a no. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed item three "Does the City Council agree with the current assessment policy to assess Municipal State Aid roadways for a standard street and the City pay for the extra width and additional pavement section? Or should the developer pay the entire cost?" The Council agreed item three should be left as is. 0 Mr. Berkowitz reviewed item four "Should unimproved properties be allowed deferred assessments or should the policy be more opened to say deferred assessment on unimproved properties would be at the discretion of the City Council?" The Council thought staff should leave this at Council's discretion. 0 Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 22, 2008 Page 8 Mr. Berkowitz reviewed item five "Should deferred assessments for Green Acres and active agriculture properties be allowed a 15 year time table with no interest and be cancelled after that time if a property does not subdivide? Or should this be left opened to the City Council's determiriation depending on the situation?" Staff discussed some of the properties in the city and the time table in regard to green acres. Councilmember Trude thought they should table this until they can have it looked at better. Mr. Winslow Holasek discussed his interpretation of green acres and assessments on them with the Council and staff. DISCUSS OAK WILT GRANT GUIDELINES Mr. Berkowitz explained in 2007 the City received a grant for Oak Wilt treatment in the amount of $25,000 from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Division of Forestry. To date, the City has used approximately $9,000 of that money. The City has until December 2008 to 0 use the remainirig funds for contractual services. The state does allow grantees (the City of Andover) to be reimbursed for staff time. The City has not yet requested reimbursement for this. Motion by Jacobson, seconded by Knight, to allow staff to reimburse property owners for treatment and tree removal of Oak Wilt up to the cap limits. Motion withdrawn. Mayor Gamache stated he would like them to spend the $25,000 to residents to eradicate the problem and not be as concerned about collecting money for staff time. The Council concurred. The Council discussed with staff what they would like to see the money go for and they discussed what the cap would be. 2009 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT & 2009-2013 CIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS REPORT Mr. Dickirison reviewed the 2009 Budget progress report with the Council. He explained he would recommend levying to the state imposed max this year because they do not know what future years will be. He stated if they do not use the levy limit capacity they will be penalized next year. He stated the issue is a three year levy limit and 2010 will probably be a worse year as far as market value perspective and they are currently lookirig at zero market value growth for 2009. He thought the levy limit increase would be a 4.9% increase to the gross levy. Levy dollars that are within levy limits are general fund levy, capital project levy, parks projects, road and bridge levy, pedestrian trail 0 maintenance and their contribution to the Lower Rum River Watershed District. He stated those items within the levy limits will be subject to the 4.9%. Outside of the levy limits are debt service commitments. Mr. Dickinson thought based on the comparisons with other cities in the Metropolitan area Andover 0 Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 22, 2008 Page 9 is much better than many of the others. He stated normally he would recommend following the Council imposed guideline, but this year he thought they should levy to the max. Councilmember Jacobson asked about decertifying the TIP Districts early. Mr. Dickinson stated there are a couple of reasons why they may not want to be decertified early because that is dependent on the Bruggeman development. If the Bruggeman note gets paid off in 2010 they will have enough money to pay everything off at that time. If it does not get paid off they may need one or two more years tax increment to cover that note. Councilmember Trude thought it would be good to take more time at a workshop to talk about some of the TIP issues and how they tie into everything else. Mr. Dickinson indicated they did not need to make a decision on decertification for the 2009 budget, but this is something they should watch. Mayor Gamache asked if they went to the maximum of 4.9% this year and then things turn around and get better in 2010, would they be able to pull back. Mr. Dickinson stated they could. There are some other options they could look at within the Legislation if they get into too much of a jam. He knew the Council wanted to be conscientious about how much the taxes are. Mr. Dickinson indicated there are some expense increases that will exceed inflation. Fire Department wages and benefits and wages and benefits associated with the law enforcement contract. They could pull those 0 outside oflevy limits and apply for the exemption, but they do not need to apply for them this year. If they decide to do it next year they have the latitude to do so. Councilmember Trude thought in two years ifbuildirig picks up they are kirid of short on city staff. They have retrenched and not filled those positions. What if their community starts to grow, there is a two year tax lay before they get the money off the new homes from development and they could end up in that type of situation. Mr. Dickinson stated on page three, second paragraph down, in preparing the budget, the general fund balance is at 37.5% and the budget guidelines say 35%, they want to create a reserve over and above what they feel is the minimum to cover those situations where they would need to hire staff, they would be able to address that mid year. Worst case scenario if they cannot balance the budget he could go back and take the 2.5% out in order to balance the budget. Mr. Dickinson reviewed other budget changes, proposed salary rate increases and the proposed health insurance budget for 2009 with the Council. He expected the health insurance increase to be lower than the proposal he was given by the broker. Councilmember Trude asked how people are feeling about the Health Savirigs Accounts. Mr. Dickinson stated he loved it and so did Mr. Neumeister. Mr. Dickinson stated based on their statistics they had total fewer claims but some high dollar payouts. He noted that the City has also contributed a portion of the savings at the beginning of this year to all the H.S.A. funds instead of 0 having to pay the higher premiums. Councilmember Trude thought at some point it would be a good idea to get an informal survey of how the employees feel about the current insurance coverage. 0 Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 22, 2008 Page 10 Councilmember Trude thought staff should survey other cities to see what they-are doing for Council salaries and increases. CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN Mr. Dickinson stated in early April, Administration/Finance started the 2009-2013 ClP process with a meeting with department heads. Discussion in April centered on the 2009-2013 ClP development calendar and the need for other committees and commissions to start their work. During the June ClP progress report to the Council, staff sought the Councils first review of the projects and equipment proposed. Council direction was also sought on whether or not the Council's priorities were being met with the current 2009-2013 ClP. Staffhas taken the comments from that meeting and incorporated them into the July progress report for the 2009-2013 ClP. Mr. Dickinson reviewed the Capital Improvement Plan update with the Council. Councilmember Jacobson stated while lookirig at the list he noticed a replacement for Fire Engine # 1 and thought the cost was very high. Councilmember Trude noted this was a two year expenditure. 0 Councilmember Jacobson wondered if Chief Winkel ever looked at a rebuild versus new. Chief Winkel indicated he could look into this but sometimes a rebuild is not what is needed. He stated the engines have a lot of time put on them, not necessarily mileage but workirig time and rebuilds are not always the answer. Mayor Gamache asked if they are going to get rid of the Taurus. They are lookirig at other types of vehicles such as the Toyota Prius. Mr. Dickinson stated they will be lookirig for something more fuel efficient, not necessarily a hybrid. Councilmember Trude wondered if they could put acoustical tiles ill the Council Chambers for sound improvement. Mr. Dickinson reviewed with the Council the possibility of using the funds they have at QCTV for a new acoustical system in the Council Chambers. He noted they have over $25,000 saved up in their QCTV account, which could be used for this. CITY OF ANOKA COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE Mr. Neumeister reviewed the Anoka Comprehensive Plan Update with the Council. The Council thought staff should discuss with Anoka possible connections to their proposed transit hub. 0 CITY OF HAM LAKE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE Mr. Neumeister reviewed the Ham Lake Comprehensive Plan Update with the Council. The Council did not have any comments. 0 Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 22, 2008 Page 11 OTHER BUSINESS . Crooked Lake Association Mr. Berkowitz explained the Crooked Lake Association is requesting Andover budget $3,000 in 2009 to assist them with water quality. Mr. Berkowitz stated staffhas discussed this and would recommend they request from them what their Capital Improvement Plan is. They are workirig with the Coon Creek Watershed District right now to determine what water quality improvements they can make. Councilmember Trude indicated the Watershed District has a levy authority and they do not have any limits on them by the State. Mr. Berkowitz stated it is indicated they will contribute either in-kirid services or some dollars to assist. Councilmember Jacobson thought they should find out what Coon Rapids will be contributing because they have two-thirds of the lake. Councilmember Orttel wondered why this would not be handled through the DNR. Mr. Berkowitz indicated the DNR is listed as a contributor. He 0 stated the Coon Creek Watershed has taken the lead on this and put together a plan for non- degradation and to improve water quality. They have been workirig on it for the past eight months. Councilmember Trude recommended they ask for them to levy for it because it is the watershed that will benefit from it, not just the lake homes. Councilmember Orttel thought the association did get a fair amount of revenue from the lake homes and the City has participated in this before. Councilmember Jacobson thought they should give the City a plan on what is going to be done along with the costs and share allocations. . Parkirig Lot at Sunshine Park Mr. Berkowitz noted in the area where the house will be moved. They have hauled dirt in for free and once the house is moved out they can top it off with class 5 and use it for overflow parkirig in there until they have funds to pave it. . Identifying Areas as Low Maintenance Areas ill Parks Mr. Berkowitz indicated they will be workirig with Keviri Starr in the next few months identifying areas that they can classify as low maintenance areas in parks to try to reduce the amount of mowing. ,0 . Survey from Erik and Toni Kohnke Mr. Dickinson stated the Kohnkes are workirig on a plan for an addition on their home. He showed the Council a survey of the property. He stated one of the issues for the Kohnkes to go 0 Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 22, 2008 Page 12 forward is the need to have the addition to the size they want and in the location they want. The issue is the distance of the side yard setback for the addition is 37.6 feet and 34.2 feet and the side yard setback is 40. Mr. Dickinson indicated this is more complicated than a side yard variance; he has a non- conforming structure. Mr. Berkowitz stated Mr. Kohnke does not meet the setback and the second issue is the low floor is below the back to back hundred year flood zone. Both stated the existing structure is grandfathered in and while the existing structure is non-conforming, the addition is what would be in question. Councilmember Trude wondered if Mr. Kohnke met the one foot above hundred year flood zone. Mr. Berkowitz believed he had to go up three feet to meet the current standards on the addition. Mr. Dickinson stated Mr. Kohnke does not want to invest more in this proposal until he has gotten a general idea of what the Council may think. Council consensus is that Mr. Kohnke should come in and go through the variance process. Mr. Dickinson stated he could indicate to Mr. Kohnke that this was reviewed and it appeared that 0 a variance request would be a reasonable request. Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Gamache, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Osbeck, Recording Secretary 0