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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009/03/23 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session I/I St. Louis Park OFFICIAL MINUTES MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA MARCH 23, 2009 The meeting convened at 6:20 p.m. Councilmembers present: Mayor Jeff Jacobs, John Basill, Paul Omodt, Loran Paprocki and Sue Sanger. Councilmembers absent: C. Paul Carver and Phil Finkelstein Staff present: City Manager (Mr. Harmening), Finance Director (Mr. DeJong), City Assessor (Mr. Bultema), Parks & Recreation Director (Ms. Walsh), Community Development Director (Mr. Locke), Chief Information Officer (Mr. Pires), Civic TV Coordinator (Mr. Dunlap), Communications Coordinator (Mr. Zwilling) and Recording Secretary (Ms. Hughes). 1. Future Study Session Agenda Planning—April 6 and April 13, 2009 Mr. Harmening presented the proposed study session agendas for April 6 and April 13, 2009. He stated the April 6 agenda will include an update on the MSC project and the Wooddale Pointe Redevelopment Contract. Mr. Harmening stated the April 13 study session agenda will consist of an extended workshop to discuss the 2010 budget process, as well as the Local Board of Appeal and Equalization organizational meeting. Councilmember Sanger requested the Council discuss the light rail project and the possibility of scheduling a meeting for this purpose. She felt it was important to host a community meeting open to all residents, particularly those residents living near the freight rail tracks, to discuss the light rail project and to provide an opportunity for the community to give their input on the project. She noted the County is currently conducting a separate study on the freight rails to determine the cost to upgrade them to useable status, resulting in potential rail relocation for the community. She indicated it would be important that Gail Dorfman and Katie Walker are in attendance at this meeting. Mayor Jacobs and Councilmember Basill concurred. Councilmember Sanger stated the City may also wish to take a position regarding the project and submit a recommendation to the County. She stated that Benilde-St. Margaret's High School has offered the use of its auditorium for the community meeting. Councilmember Paprocki requested the Council discuss the fire station and the need to honor firefighters who have passed away in service to the City. Mr. Harmening stated that staff has not forgotten about the need to provide some type of memorial for its fallen firefighters. Mr. Harmening stated staff is working on possible dates for a community meeting in early May and will check with Ms. Dorfman regarding her availability. Study Session Minutes -2- March 23,2009 2. Telecommunications Advisory Commission (TAC) Annual Report and Work Plan Bruce Browning, 2008 TAC Chair, presented the Commission's Annual Report and Work Plan. He stated the Commission focused its efforts on School District operations and equipment; initiating a due diligence audit of Comcast; digital television transition;, and forming a WiFi subcommittee to determine where WiFi hot spots could be installed. He indicated WiFi hot spots had been installed at City Hall and the Rec Center. Toby Keeler, 2009 TAC Chair, stated for 2009 the Commission proposes to continue to develop and encourage broadband use by residents; consider working on fiber service to schools; and the development of a possible fiber optic ordinance. He explained that Benilde-St. Margaret's and St. Louis Park Schools have expressed interest in having the City provide internet bandwidth as the City and St. Louis Park Schools already share the existing fiber optic network. Staff is currently researching the costs and benefits of providing this service. Councilmember Sanger asked what the net cost would be to the City after portioning out this service to the schools, and what the benefit would be to the City. She also requested clarification regarding the current contract which is set to expire. Mr. Pires explained that the City currently purchases internet bandwidth from an internet provider. That contract is ending with wireless service. He stated that even though the current contract is expiring, the physical connection this company provides the City is still there. Staff is researching whether it would make sense to renew the service through a new contract. He added staff will be meeting tomorrow with the School District and Benilde St. Margaret's to determine what the City would need to charge them to cover the City's costs, and whether the School District and Benilde would be interested in the service. He stated there is a potential to make further use of the fiber that the City received from the legal settlement, and the City may want to look at reselling this, possibly to other commercial enterprises. He noted staff is looking to cover the cost of purchasing bandwidth and covering the City's needs as well. He stated the Commission is asking the question of whether the City is still interested in pursuing fiber service to schools and, if so, should the Commission continue to gather information, including potential revenues, for this project. Mr. Harmening stated it will be important for the City to consider how it can use the fiber that is in place in a way that benefits the community, pays the City's costs, and promotes redevelopment and business development. Councilmember Paprocki requested further information regarding the public educational government access channels, and asked if the City is able to track viewership on the various channels. Mr. Pires stated viewership is increasing and is as high as 7%, which is more than double of other communities. Mr. McHugh summarized the programming shown on the channels operated by the City and said the survey results prove residents value the unique St. Louis Park channels. Council discussed the Video on Demand service available to residents. Study Session Minutes -3- March 23,2009 Councilmember Sanger requested an update regarding the Comcast audit as well as the fiber optic ordinance. Mr. Dunlap stated that staff is waiting for information on franchise fees from Comcast. He indicated the auditor is unsatisfied with Comcast's responses to date, and noted a conference call has been scheduled for March 25, 2009 to discuss the audit. He added that staff has been meeting with Comcast customer service representatives in an effort to improve service and remedy complaints received. With respect to the fiber optic ordinance, Mr. Keeler indicated the Commission was at a point where more expertise was needed, stating the budget included $50,000 for a feasibility study. Mayor Jacobs stated he felt it was important to have a general discussion about the ordinance. Councilmember Sanger concurred, adding it may be better to do this project in steps rather than authorizing the entire $50,000 at this time. Councilmember Paprocki expressed caution on spending that amount of money and stated he would have a hard time justifying this expenditure. Councilmember Basill concurred and stated the City should be aware of what other cities are doing with regard to a fiber optic ordinance which can be done without spending money. Mr. Pires indicated staff can do an environmental scan and bring it back to the Council for further consideration. 3. Park Perspective Newsletter Mr. Zwilling presented the staff report regarding the Park Perspective newsletter. He explained that staff proposes to combine the Park Perspective with the Park & Rec brochure published three times annually, and eliminate three issues of Park Perspective. He distributed a sample that Apple Valley uses noting that combining the two publications would save the City more than $40,000 annually. He noted the budget situation has gotten increasingly challenging and one of the goals ought to be to save money where appropriate. Councilmember Paprocki stated it will be important to have information available in a printer- friendly format for easier public access. Mr. Zwilling stated staff is fairly confident some people will still ask for a paper copy and the City will be able to deliver that option to residents. Councilmember Sanger asked if staff should give consideration to sending the community education brochure and the Lenox newsletter at the same time and/or sending them electronically. She also asked if residents could be given the option of providing their email address and state their preference for receiving information (hard copy versus electronic copy). Study Session Minutes -4- March 23,2009 Mr. Zwilling stated the goal is to end up with more direct marketing via email in order to save costs as well as reduce the amount of environmental waste. Mr. Pires stated there would be an opportunity to look at this again in the future and staff would like to see how it goes with the combined Park Perspective and Park & Rec brochure without discounting further collaboration on other publications. Councilmember Omodt stated he was in favor of combining the publications and noted the goal should be to provide a publication that helps build the community. He added the primary motivation should be whether the City's communications are hitting all residents and doing all it can to build a strong community, and not necessarily be to save money. Councilmember Sanger suggested placing hard copies of the publications at various distribution locations throughout the City. Mayor Jacobs stated it is important to remember that people still want hard copies of some things and the City should be able to provide options for people so they can select the medium they are most comfortable with to get the information they want. Councilmember Paprocki asked about the additional workload and its impact on the IT staff Mr. Pires stated most of the electronic subscription effort is already hosted by GovDelivery, so there is little impact to the IT staff He stated he understood that, while saving money may not be the primary goal of this proposal, saving money would likely occur while also finding more effective and efficient ways of communicating with the City's residents and businesses. Mr. Zwilling indicated that the next Park Perspective is scheduled for release in May/June and staff will announce the proposed changes in that issue. He stated the July issue of Park Perspective would not be published, and the first combined publication would be sent to residents in August. He added in the meantime, staff will work on an electronic newsletter. 4. Excess Land Sale Proceeds Mr. Locke presented the staff report and requested Council direction regarding the best options to consider for the use of the proceeds ($565,526) from the sale of excess land and how to involve the community in the decision making process. Councilmember Basill agreed with staffs recommendation to share the ideas with the public and solicit their comments and suggestions. He stated it is important to make sure the Council honors the process by having a mechanism in place that encourages public input. Councilmember Sanger stated when the Council initially discussed this there was some discussion of using this money for purposes that would benefit entire neighborhoods, and it will be important to give people some framework for what those uses might be. Study Session Minutes -5- March 23,2009 Mr. Locke shared the criteria that staff used to come up with ideas, including providing a noticeable and lasting impact, not diluting the funds by spreading them too thin, using the funds for actions consistent with the City's vision, and filling unmet needs. Councilmember Basill stated it may be useful to have the boards and commissions involved in this process as well. Councilmember Sanger reiterated that her recollection of the discussion surrounding use of the money had to do with things that would be considered beneficial to neighborhoods as a whole; and rain gardens would be considered individual projects as opposed to community projects. She stated it appears most residents would favor the idea of planning for a possible community center, and this is something that would be beneficial to the public as a whole. Mr. Locke stated that staff will publicize the ideas proposed so far, encourage public comments, publicize an open comment period with the goal of receiving comments by the end June, and staff will then come back to the City Council with the results. 5. Property Valuation Update Mr. Bultema presented an overview of the assessment process in preparation for the Local Board of Appeal and Equalization meetings in April. He stated the 2009 taxable valuation notices were mailed March 13, 2009; these notices will be used for calculation of taxes payable in 2010. He indicated that call volume is down a little from last year. Mr. Bultema noted that state statutes require valuation at full value with an acceptable performance in the range of 90-105%; a ratio of 95% is the defined target level, and statistically speaking there is only about a four percent chance of a value being over 100% of true market. He explained the City currently has 17,239 parcels of record; and each tax valuation notice includes the 2008 and 2009 information for property classification, market value, exclusion value, improvement value, this old house and taxable value. He indicated that service-related 100% disabled veterans have been given a State mandated exclusion up to $300,000 of their value for property taxes and 70% disabled veterans will be given an exclusion up to $150,000. Mr. Bultema reviewed market values and stated total valuations are down 1.3% for a total valuation of $5,566,976,300. He stated single family homes are down 2.3%, condos are down 3.0%, townhomes are down 0.2%, apartments are up 1.0%, and commercial/industrial are up 0.7%. He noted these figures are exceptionally good compared to other metro areas. Mr. Bultema presented comparative residential 2008 sales, median sale price, average sale price, days on market, sale price % of list, and finished square footage for St. Louis Park, Golden Valley, Edina, Hopkins and Minnetonka, and noted the City's list to sale price ratio is very good. He then presented historical median sale prices from 2002 through 2008 for the City and neighboring communities and stated for the entire period, the City is up 22.7%. Study Session Minutes -6- March 23,2009 Mr. Bultema discussed assessed market values for residential homes and noted significant sale variations at market price points, i.e., below $175,000 (5% of parcels): -5% to -30%; $175,000 to $500,000 (90% of parcels): -4% to +2%; and over $500,000 (5% of parcels): -2% to +8%. He stated that they are seeing the market slowly return to normal and underwriting also appears to be returning to normal. Mr. Bultema stated that 76.4% of single family parcels will see a decrease in value, 19.6% of parcels will see no change in value, and 4% of parcels will see an increase in value. Mr. Bultema provided data regarding lender mediated transactions for 2008 for St. Louis Park, Golden Valley, Edina, Hopkins and Minnetonka, including median, % change from 2007, share mediated, normal market, % change from 2007, lender mediated and % change from 2007. He stated these statistics indicate that 32% of all residential transactions in the metro area were lender mediated. He noted that the City is in the bottom one-fifth, which means the City is doing better than 80% of the metro in terms of lender mediated transactions. Councilmember Sanger asked if the foreclosed properties in the City were included in the overall statistics. Mr. Bultema responded the statistics did included the foreclosed properties. Councilmember Omodt stated it would be helpful to have the information presented this evening at the Local Board of Appeal and Equalization meetings. Councilmember Sanger stated she has heard residents question why their taxes are going up when their values have gone down. She requested that staff prepare a bullet point response to that question. 6. Planning Commission 2008 Annual Report and 2009 Work Plan Mr. Harmening presented the Planning Commission's 2008 Annual Report and 2009 Work Plan. Mayor Jacobs stated he did not believe the City Council needed to meet with the Planning Commission unless they express an interest in meeting with the Council. Councilmember Sanger stated she received a request from one of the Planning Commissioners for more and better training as it appears not all of the Planning Commissioners are aware of the parameters within which they operate. Mr. Harmening stated the City has a budget for training that allows Commissioners to attend courses relevant to their work. He stated it may be helpful to have more of an in-house type training session with the City Attorney to talk about various rezoning issues, etc. It was the consensus of Council to direct Mr. Harmening to follow up with the Planning Commission regarding further in-house training, to express agreement with the Commission's 2008 annual report and 2009 work plan; and to indicate that the City Council does not believe it is necessary to hold a meeting with the Planning Commission. Study Session Minutes -7- March 23,2009 7. Communications (verbal) Mr. Harmening stated he authorized the Fire Chief to send Mark Windschitl to the Red River Valley area to assist the command staff with sandbagging operations. Mr. Harmening stated the Council previously discussed appointing someone to the STEP Board and asked if the Council was interested in doing this. Mr. Harmening agreed to send information regarding STEP Board meeting dates to the Council. The meeting adjourned at 9:01 p.m. Written Reports provided and documented for recording purposes only: 8. Wind Turbines 9. February 2009 Monthly Financial Report 10. Requested Extension of Redevelopment Contract with Oak Hill 7100 LLC (Anderson Builders) 11. 2009 Community Open House 12. West End Public Art Update Nancy Stroth, tty Clerk Jeff Jac •s, ayor