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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007/11/26 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session CITY OF T. LOUIS OFFICIAL MINUTES PARK CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION NOVEMBER 26,2007 The meeting convened at 6:35 p.m. Councilmembers present: Mayor Jeff Jacobs, Loran Paprocki and Susan Sanger. C. Paul Carver arrived at 6:40 p.m. Phil Finkelstein present via phone. Councilmembers absent: John Basill, Paul Omodt. Staff present: City Manager (Mr. Harmening), City Attorney (Mr. Scott), Communications Coordinator (Mr. Zwilling), Economic Development Coordinator (Mr. Hunt), Director of Public Works (Mr. Rardin), Chief Information Officer (Mr. Pires), Community Development Director (Mr. Locke), Planning & Zoning Supervisor (Ms. McMonigal), Senior Planner (Mr. Walther), Finance Director(Mr. DeJong) and Recording Secretary(Ms. Schmidt). Guest: JR Anderson, Pat Mascia, Duke Realty team; Tom Asp, Consultant, Boy Scout Troop 307 1. Future Study Session Agenda Planning Mr. Harmening and Council discussed study session agenda planning. 2. Housing Authority Report& Work Plan Mr. Harmening explained the Housing Authority work plan outline. He stated they wanted to ensure that the Housing Authority's (HA) work supports the strategic direction and vision of the City. Councilmember Paprocki asked if the soft housing market had any ramifications on the Housing Authority purchasing homes and inquired what was projected for next year. He also inquired as to what was happening with the excess land sale funding. Mayor Jacobs stated he felt the funding should be a community issue, not just a Housing Authority issue. Councilmember Paprocki also stated that while providing funding for those whom could not afford to buy, they also need to make sure that they can maintain the home. Councilmember Sanger asked if the Housing Authority would have any involvement in the Duplex program and suggested they should budget a larger amount for move up activity. Mr. Harmening stated the Commission and staff would be present December 10th to answer those questions. Council complimented the Housing Authority staff and members for the great report. 3. Duke"West End" Development Update Mr. Harmening dialed Councilmember Finkelstein via phone to join in the discussion. Ms. McMonigal updated Council on the"West End"development project. Mr. Mascia provided Council an update on the overall site plan, stating he hoped they could go vertical with the project in April and complete it by September 2009. He stated the master plan had basically remained the same, with both office buildings being approximately 277,500 square feet and hoped the new buildings would blend with what was already there. He further noted Study Session Minutes -2- November 26, 2007 that they were working with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District to incorporate water features between the office towers. Mr. Anderson updated Council on the retail portion as well as arcade area of the site. He stated they had revamped the parking ramp,placing it underground to bring retail out to the street and allow interaction with Park Place, making it more inviting. He also stated the ramp now focused on pedestrian traffic rather than automobile traffic. Councilmember Paprocki asked if the grocer would have a nice facade on all sides. Mr. Anderson stated it would be treated for 360-degree views. Councilmember Paprocki asked if they had any traffic concerns with delivery trucks turning into the development. Ms. McMonigal stated trucks would have limited delivery hours between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. and because deliveries would vary, it should not cause any concerns during rush hours. Councilmember Sanger asked the difference between greenscape versus hardscape. Mr. Anderson stated the area in question would feel like one big plaza area, stating it would be paved and not green. Mr. Mascia stated the plaza area would be approximately 60 — 80 feet from building face to building face and would tie the retail and parking structure together. Councilmember Sanger asked if the project still included a hotel. Mr. Mascia stated they are currently working on closing a deal with a hotel chain. She further asked if there would be parking immediately east of the theater. Mr. Anderson stated there would be two entrances as well as service lane into the structure. Councilmember Sanger asked if there would still be a skyway entrance to the retail. Mr. Mascia stated they eliminated that option because they felt it wouldn't be a smart expenditure of money, stating they would still have a driveable access from the existing ramp to the new parking garage. Mr. Harmening asked how refuse and delivery trucks would service the structure. Mr. Anderson stated the majority of the retail uses FedEx and UPS type trucks, and illustrated the entrances that would be available for access. Mr. Harmening inquired about the public restroom areas. Mr. Anderson stated they would be located in the theater lobby, which would be close to the police sub-station. Mr. Locke explained they were currently negotiating a redevelopment contract with Duke for approximately $27 million dollars. The revised assistance package calls for the city to provide the Redeveloper with $22 million in assistance and city construction of up to $5 million worth in public improvements. In order to offset the extraordinary costs associated with redeveloping the Duke Property, it is proposed that the EDA/City provide the Redeveloper with $21.1 million in tax increment (TIF) Notes and a reduction of $900,000 in Parkland Dedication fees (approximately half the required amount). He stated this would simplify things and allow the City to gain control of the off site public improvements and fund projects with increment notes from this project. $21.1 million would take about 21 years of tax increment. Mayor Jacobs stated he was impressed with the design and was happy it met his expectations. Councilmember Paprocki stated concern with the tax increment changes. Mr. Locke stated it's actually following the terms of the structure. Councilmember Sanger stated she was happy with the new plan and also stated concern with the 21 years of TIF. She further asked if Duke had secured any tenants. Mr. Anderson stated deals were in the process of getting finalized, stating they have letters of intent for over 50 percent. Study Session Minutes -3- November 26, 2007 Councilmember Carver stated the project looked good and asked if the TIF length was a result of anything project specific. Mr. Hunt stated it is because of the updated new statewide fiscal disparity rates set. There was Council consensus to have staff proceed ahead with the development plans. Mr. Mascia thanked City staff for their organization and process provided at their meetings. 4. 2008 Budget Mr. DeJong presented the staff report, stating Council had previously established the preliminary tax increase at 6 percent, but using revenue changes suggested by staff, they could reduce the tax levy down to 5.6 percent. Mr. DeJong suggested cutting the amount budgeted for election judges and relocating marketing and branding to the development fund. He also suggested increasing the budget by adding worker's compensation back into the fund for the paid-on-call firefighters and reducing police and fire dispatch pension fund transfers by$50,000. Councilmember Sanger stated concern with cutting the election judge fees since 2008 was an election year. Mr. Harmening stated they were actually budgeting $8,000 more than was spent for the 2004 presidential election. She also asked why the Golden Valley contribution appeared to be going down. Mr. DeJong stated they moved the fiber path connection from the dispatch center fund to the equipment replacement fund and because of that Golden Valley's share would be going down. Councilmember Carver asked why the City would be taking on 100 percent of the shared burden, suggesting Golden Valley still continue to pay for their portion. Mr. DeJong stated Councilmember Carver had a good point. Mr. Harmening stated he would have staff look into it again. Councilmember Carver suggested adding the two potential budget increases. Councilmember Sanger agreed and asked where the money for the worker's compensation had been taken from before. Mr. DeJong stated they had been taken it out of the employee flexible fund, which has gone into deficit the past couple years. Councilmember Paprocki asked if by adding the $50,000 for police and fire dispatch, would they get out of spending down the principal. Mr. DeJong stated it would reduce the annual transfer out from $384,000 to $334,000. Councilmember Paprocki asked what the amount of funds generated were. Mr. DeJong stated about $280,000 a year. Mr. Harmening stated the idea was to slowly work their reliance off on that fund, since it was really set up more for capital purposes versus cost operations. Councilmember Sanger asked if there were any other circumstances where there was this type of financial reliance, and if so, suggested they should think about moving it onto the general fund. Mr. Harmening stated there has also been a transfer from the housing rehab fund for about $80,000 a year. He further stated that was another example of where they took from a non-general fund source to fund a general fund problem and stated the goal was to get away from this type of ongoing operation. Councilmember Sanger stated she would like to have everything put into the proper funds prior to any future levy limits being set. Mr. Harmening suggested that with the work staff is doing on the strategic direction, they should put some funds aside as a placeholder for unforeseen expenditures. Councilmember Sanger stated concern with things getting put into the development fund and suggested they plan a study session discussion on what the purposes of the development fund is and set some perimeters. Councilmember Paprocki suggested discussing it at the retreat. Mr. DeJong stated he was optimistic they could come close in Study Session Minutes -4- November 26, 2007 balancing. Councilmember Paprocki stated concern for the amount budgeted for WiFi cameras for graffiti purposes, stating the money could be a better value spent elsewhere. Mr. Rardin presented the staff report on sidewalk snow removal practice and options. Council and staff had discussion on who should maintain the snow removal on sidewalks and the costs involved. Councilmember Sanger stated the inconsistencies are historical and asked what it would cost to do all the sidewalks. She stated the discrepancies were only going to get more pronounced and suggested if they didn't take it on citywide they may have to create stricter enforcement. Councilmember Carver suggested staff look into how much it would cost to do all the sidewalks, no sidewalks, and cost and equipment implications, and bring it back for a future study session. Councilmember Paprocki asked if a snow removal package could be included in the parks and trails fees. Mr. Hanmening suggesting leaving the 2008 budget as is and ask for public input in the community survey for the 2009 budget. Mr. Harmening asked Council if they had any questions for Mr. Locke on the housing rehab fund. Councilmember Sanger asked if the budget amounts were sufficient. Mr. DeJong stated he thought the question asked at the last study session was why was there so much variability in other expenditures, clarifying that it was dependent on the usage of rehab loan products available. Councilmember Sanger clarified that given that more people are finding housing in smaller houses and electing to stay put, would that dictate the need for having a greater amount of money available. Mr. DeJong stated the money was included in the budget for 2008 and if it were all to be used, they would take from the housing rehab fund. Mr. Locke stated it is based on the market and its demand. There was Council consensus to proceed with the proposed budget, including the recommended cuts and increases by staff. 5. Wireless Update Mr. Pires updated Council on the wireless project. Mr. Harmening stated ARINC had been optimizing the system and getting the radios to talk to one another to make them work. He further stated at this point it would be best to see how ARINC performs and where they are on November 30th and at that point they could access what the City's options would be on AR1NC's ability to delivery the project. Councilmember Carver agreed and suggested the options be laid out by the City Attorney in a letter format. He also asked Mr. Pires why the pilot has been available and working for him since April 2006, but yet there are difficulties with it citywide. Mr. Pires stated that citywide has had some issues with installation and radio brands and specifications not being done the same way, but fundamentally they were expecting the same performance. Mr. Asp reminded everyone that the core technology was same. Councilmember Sanger asked if there were any significant changes in ARINC's rollout since the update on November 19t. Mr. Harmening stated no. Mayor Jacobs clarified that the issue wasn't about power; the problems were with the radios. It was the consensus of Council to have the City Attorney outline options if ARINC does not meet the November 30th deadline. Study Session Minutes -5- November 26, 2007 6. Communications (verbal) Mr. Harmening explained the recent memo he sent out for manager evaluations, suggesting an informal process by an outside person to perform them. It was the consensus of Council to have staff craft an informal manager evaluation. The meeting adjourned at 8:41 p.m. Written Reports provided and documented for recording purposes only: 7. October Financial Reports 8. Vision Update 9. Tobacco Penalties 10. Marketing and Branding Update / l____ 0 9A Nancy Stroth ity Clerk Jet Ja s,Mayor