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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012/08/13 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session Ifl St. Louis Park OFFICIAL MINUTES MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA AUGUST 13, 2012 The meeting convened at 6:30 p.m. Councilmembers present: Mayor Pro Tern Susan Sanger, Steve Hallfin (arrived at 6:34 p.m.), Anne Mavity, Julia Ross, Sue Santa, and Jake Spano. Councilmembers absent: Mayor Jeff Jacobs. Staff present: Deputy City Manager/Director of Human Resources (Ms. Deno), Controller (Mr. Swanson), Finance Supervisor (Mr. Heintz), Director of Inspections (Mr. Hoffinan), Chief Information Officer (Mr. Pires), Director of Community Development (Mr. Locke), Planning/Zoning Supervisor (Ms. McMomgal), Director of Public Works (Mr. Rardin), City Engineer (Mr. Brink), Director of Parks and Recreation (Ms. Walsh), Police Chief(Mr. Luse), Fire Chief (Mr. Stemmer), Engineenng Project Manager (Mr. Olson), Communications Coordinator(Mr. Zwilling), Planner(Mr. Fulton), and Recording Secretary(Ms. Hughes). Guests: Marie Cote and Brian Johnson (SRF Consulting). 1. Future Study Session Agenda Planning— August 27, 2012 Ms. Deno presented the proposed study session agenda for August 27, 2012. Councilmember Mavity questioned whether 30 minutes would be enough time for Council to discuss beekeeping and requested information on the timetable planned for receiving public input. She stated she wanted to make sure residents have an opportunity to provide input and that residents do not feel like it is too late to provide that input. Ms. Deno suggested that Council first consider the staff recommendations on beekeeping regulations and then move forward after that time to obtain resident input. 2. 2013 Budget Discussion Ms. Deno introduced the topic. Mr. Swanson presented the staff report and reviewed the budget analysis snapshot for 2011-2013 and the 2013 assumptions used in prepanng the recommended preliminary levy to be adopted on September 4, 2012. He noted the 2013 budget includes no planned use of fund balance consistent with the last several years as well as no increase in non-personnel expenditures. He stated the 2013 budget includes the elimination of a $99,000 transfer from the Housing Rehab Fund to the General Fund intended to help that fund's position, and a final unwinding of the Police and Fire Pension transfer to the General Fund of$134,000 is proposed. He added that no additional expenditures for environmental programs are planned out of the General Fund, and any expenditures will come out of the Solid Waste Fund. Councilmember Santa urged the City to make sure adequate funding is available for environmental programs given its high priority on Council's agenda. Councilmember Mavity stated she was under the impression that Public Works was requesting an additional staff person to work in the environmental area. She felt additional staffing will be Study Session Minutes -2- August 13, 2012 necessary in the environmental area to deal with increasing demands along with anything that might come out of the work of the environmental task force. Ms. Deno explained if additional staffing is needed it could be done through consulting or adding a staff person. She indicated that money has been earmarked for this under the Solid Waste Fund for environmental programs and acknowledged Councilmember Mavity's statement regarding additional staffing needs. Mr. Swanson reviewed the 2013 preliminary property tax levy allocations showing a change from 2012 final budget to 2013 proposed of approximately $832,000 or a 3.5% levy increase from 2012 and indicated a 3.5% increase would provide discretionary funding of$182,500 to be used for areas Council may wish to pursue and added if the discretionary funding is not sufficient, the City has options available including not unwinding some of the proposed transfers. Ms. Deno stated the 2013 proposed budget will allow the City to continue to provide high quality services and keep current programs intact. She noted the City will likely continue to be a sizable contributor to the fiscal disparities pool and the City has not yet received its fiscal disparities information from Hennepin County. Mayor Pro Tem Sanger stated she did not feel $182,000 provided enough of a cushion given recent history with the fiscal disparities pool and indicated she would rather see the 2013 budget include a larger cushion. Mr. Swanson advised the 2013 budget would have approximately $360,000 of discretionary funds if the City chose not to unwind some of the proposed transfers. He stated the City's fiscal disparities contnbution represents 5% of the City's tax capacity or approximately $3.2 million and if the City's contnbution for 2013 were increased by $500,000, it would not significantly impact the City's tax rate. He added staff feels $182,500 is sufficient to cover any change in the fiscal disparities contribution. Mayor Pro Tern Sanger asked if the 2013 budget includes funding for continued consulting services for a possible community center and if the 2013 budget includes funding for extra election costs if the voter ID amendment is approved. She also asked if the City has started to review implications to the 2014 budget as a result of the health care reform act. Ms. Deno replied the 2013 budget includes funding for consulting services for continued work on a possible recreation facility but does not include funding for extra election costs, noting staff will monitor the budget for any changes as a result of any unexpected mandates. She added staff is working with financial professionals on any budget implications due to the health care reform act. Councilmember Ross stated that residents around Hampshire Park have indicated they would like to see some playground equipment in the park. Ms. Walsh stated that this was not in the CIP and agreed to review this request. Councilmember Ross requested further information regarding how the City will meet changing business needs in the Information Resources area, including security. She asked if the City has considered expanding its keycard access to certain areas within City Hall. Study Session Minutes -3- August 13, 2012 Mr. Pires stated the CIP contemplates cameras on all floors at City Hall and in other City buildings. Mr. Hoffman advised the first floor remodeling at City Hall has been designed to separate staff from the public by utilizing keypads in the staff area. He stated the exterior lots at City Hall will be upgraded to a keyed entrance with only the first floor main entrance and third floor bridge doors open during business hours. He indicated that a fob system would be costly to retrofit and the City does not feel a fob system would add value based on that cost. Councilmember Mavity asked if the City has a long-term strategy for dealing with weather- related issues and what that means in terms of staffing needs and urged the City to remain aware of changing climate patterns. Mr. Stemmer explained the City does not currently budget for emergencies and the City has adequate operational funding to handle initial emergency costs. He stated the City has been doing a lot of mitigation work including flood relief and storm water mitigation; in addition, the Watershed District has done a good job of controlling levels in Minnehaha Creek. He added the City also has extensive mutual aid partners to assist with emergencies. Mr. Swanson continued with the budget discussion and explained the HRA levy is utilized for specific items such as infrastructure and Council has historically set the maximum levy allowed by law, which would be $900,933 for 2013 or approximately $82,000 less than the 2012 final HRA levy. It was the consensus of the City Council to certify the maximum HRA levy amount as allowed by law for 2013. Councilmember Santa stated she was uncertain whether a 3.5% levy increase would be sufficient and did not want the City to come up short especially since it is not yet known what the City's contribution will be to the fiscal disparities pool. She felt Council should consider a 3.75% levy increase. Mr. Swanson stated that a 3.75% levy increase would represent approximately $60,000 in the budget. Councilmember Ross agreed with Councilmember Santa and stated she would be agreeable to a preliminary levy increase of 4% knowing that this amount can be decreased at the time of final levy adoption. Councilmember Hallfin stated he was comfortable with the 3.5% levy increase recommended by staff. Councilmember Mavity stated she was comfortable with staff's recommended levy increase of 3.5% and was less comfortable with going any higher. Mayor Pro Tern Sanger stated she was not comfortable with the recommended 3.5% levy increase and would rather set the levy increase at 4% then wait for the figures from Hennepin County on fiscal disparities to see if an adjustment should be made. She added the amount of tax difference in setting the levy increase at 3.5% versus 4.0% was miniscule for each individual property owner and reminded Council that the levy can be reduced later. Study Session Minutes -4- August 13, 2012 Councilmember Spano agreed with Mayor Pro Tem Sanger. It was the consensus of the majority of the City Council to certify a 4.0% increase as its 2013 preliminary property tax levy. Mayor Pro Tern Sanger thanked staff for all of their efforts in preparing the 2013 budget and 2013 preliminary property tax levy. Mayor Pro Tem Sanger recessed the study session at 7:38 p.m. and reconvened the study session at 7:42 p.m. 3. Beltline LRT Station Area Circulation Planning Ms. McMonigal presented the staff report and introduced Marie Cote and Brian Johnson from SRF Consulting. She stated that circulation issues were reviewed during the Beltline design guideline process and the City is still at the planning/conceptual level and is ready to move to engineering analysis including looking at alternative alignments, property and neighborhood impacts, preliminary cost estimates, and bike/transit options. She suggested the City use the Beltline LRT Station Area Advisory Committee to work through these issues over the next six months then come back to Council before engaging in the public process. Mr. Johnson presented a map showing the Beltline circulation area and stated the goal is to 1.) improve the circulation patterns for pedestrians, bicycles, and transit, recognizing that this is the only north-south route through the City; and, 2.) relieve pressure from Beltline Blvd; and, 3.) provide access to the planned LRT station in this area. He explained that they analyzed transportation improvements in three sub-areas of the Beltline Station Area; sub-areas A, B and C. Three alternative improvements to the street network were reviewed in Area A and each alternative has right of way and cost implications but each could be made to work. He stated that Area B includes Raleigh Avenue where it intersects with CSAH 25. Improvements in Area B, combined with improvements in Area A, could provide north-south routes connecting Minnetonka Blvd via Raleigh all the way to 36th Street. He added that it does not appear feasible to make a north-south connection from Raleigh to 36th due to the challenges associated with that alignment. He indicated that Area C could have a north-south connection using Inglewood as the preferred alignment because it represents the most continuous north-south road in that area. Councilmember Mavity referenced Concept B from the February 13th meeting which included the option of frontage roads on the north side of the tracks then connecting up to Inglewood. Ms. McMonigal stated that the frontage road option from the February 13th concept B has not been rejected. She noted that figuring out what to do with Beltline remains the #1 priority and part of that includes looking at frontage road locations. She indicated that the improvements shown for Area C provide options for the Park Glen area to get north across the SWLRT/Trail and provides relief to Beltline by offering options to local traffic. Mayor Pro Tern Sanger stated it was her clear recollection that Council said there should be no crossing of the tracks east of Beltline otherwise it would turn Inglewood into another France Avenue which is not acceptable to her. She added Council talked about making connections to the frontage road north of the tracks and she felt there was some value in doing that. Study Session Minutes -5- August 13, 2012 Councilmember Mavity stated she understood the importance of getting people from the north to the station areas but was concerned about the Beltline trail crossing and possibly recreating a high traffic situation at another trail crossing again if Inglewood was extended south across the trail and SWLRT/RR tracks. Ms. Cote advised that they intend to proceed in a phased process looking at Inglewood connecting to Park Glen initially. As redevelopment occurs to the south of CSAH 25, the existing frontage road could be replaced by a "backage" road along the SWLRT comdor that connects to Inglewood. Mr. Locke stated that Council does not need to figure out solutions this evening and asked that Council share its thoughts on solutions to the major issues and provide signoff on the proposed process that would have the Beltline LRT Station Area Advisory Committee reviewing these issues before Council makes its final decision. Councilmember Mavity stated she appreciated all of the City's work on this but was concerned that the current focus does not capture her main concern of providing an overall north-south connection in the City. She indicated the focus here seems to be north-south connections over the tracks and while Area A may need work she saw this as less of a priority than the current bottleneck that happens in connecting drivers on the south side to Minnetonka Boulevard or north of Minnetonka Boulevard; connecting that entire area to the rest of the City. She indicated the staff report says that Raleigh will not work because there is not enough traffic and that Ottawa cannot handle traffic unless there was a major redesign of that road. She felt the City has missed the true north-south connection problem and the report does not address that issue at all. She added if this area is designed without thinking about how to move crowds of people from the Beltline station area, the City might be locking itself into a vision that might not accommodate travel needs. She stated she was very disappointed that the City is not exploring Raleigh in more detail and did not agree that Ottawa could handle this. She was also disappointed that the City rejected a frontage road for the Highway 100 reconstruction that could have handled this traffic more smoothly. Councilmember Ross felt that Ottawa might be able to handle the traffic if some changes were made to the current parking along Ottawa. Mayor Pro Tem Sanger agreed with the concerns raised by Councilmember Mavity and felt that Council's earlier discussions regarding north-south connections were ignored by the City. She stated Council has previously talked about needing north-south connections across the Burlington Northern tracks as well as across CSAH 25, and needing a crossing at Peter Hobart and how to connect that area into this area, which has not been addressed. She indicated she would rather review the big picture first and asked that the City address what it would take to get from Raleigh up to 36`h Street or some other combination of roads on the west side. Councilmember Mavity stated it makes sense to look at Ottawa to see if options are available but continued to be concerned that the City was not looking at Raleigh as an option. She added she was not persuaded that Raleigh has been fully vetted as a viable option. Ms. Deno stated that staff would continue to study the issues presented by Council and asked if Council wanted to further discuss this before convening the Beltline LRT Advisory Committee. Study Session Minutes -6- August 13, 2012 Mayor Pro Tern Sanger stated she would like Council to discuss this before convening the Beltline LRT Station Area Advisory Committee. Councilmember Santa stated she would like the Beltline LRT Station Area Advisory Committee to be more involved in the entire process and felt that Council needs to look at this as an evolutionary process rather than trying to solve all problems right now. She added that the Advisory Committee should deal with a greater level of detail than Council and then provide their input to Council. Mayor Pro Tern Sanger felt that if Ottawa is considered, parking should be banned entirely on the east side to help with the flow of traffic. She asked staff to consider what it would take to have Ottawa as a decent connector between Minnetonka Boulevard and CSAH 25. Ms. Deno stated that staff will review Ottawa, will reconsider Raleigh, will review the Park Glen connection, and will look at using backage roads, keeping in mind that Council does not want at- grade crossings. She advised that further information will be provided to Council in a written report before being presented to the Beltline LRT Station Area Advisory Committee. 4. Renewal of Xcel and CenterPoint Energy (CPE) Franchise Agreements Ms. Deno presented the staff report. Mr. Rardin and Mr. Heinz also presented information. Councilmember Santa expressed concern about the way Xcel Energy treats the City and its residents and was frustrated with Xcel's historic non-responsiveness. Councilmember Ross stated that some of the issues with Xcel might be alleviated in the future as the City talks about moving to burying cables. Mayor Pro Tern Sanger requested that Council have a separate discussion regarding underground cables when Mayor Jacobs is present. Councilmember Mavity noted that the City's Long Range Financial Management Plan states that increasing franchise fees in 2013 and again in 2015 will make the Pavement Management Fund sustainable in the long term and asked if the Fund will be sustainable at current rates or whether inflation is factored into those assumptions. Mr. Heintz explained the Pavement Management Fund would be sustainable through ten years of the Long Range Financial Management Plan starting in 2013 and there will likely be increases in future years. He added this also allows the City to eliminate property taxes out of the Pavement Management Fund. Councilmember Santa asked if the agreement with Xcel contains any consequences for permit violations. Mr. Rardin stated that the City Attorney included penalty clauses in the City's version of the franchise agreement but Xcel indicated it wanted to keep performance out of this agreement. It was the consensus of the City Council to direct staff to proceed with the proposed increase in franchise fees. Study Session Minutes -7- August 13, 2012 Mayor Pro Tern Sanger requested that the City website include contact information for Xcel's community liaison as well as the community liaison for CenterPoint Energy. Mr. Heintz presented a comparison of franchise fees to other communities. 5. Project Update—Highway 7/Louisiana Avenue Interchange Project Mr. Rardin presented the staff report and advised the Highway 7/Louisiana Avenue project will require significant oversight and staff feels that Mn/DOT personnel should perform the construction engineering and administration duties on this project. He indicated that he reminded Mn/DOT the City is in charge of this project and Mn/DOT has agreed to sign an agreement outlining roles and responsibilities. He provided an update on activities including the pending completion of a Remedial Action Plan (RAP) that will be approved by the Pollution Control Agency and which will contain provisions dealing with how on-site contamination will be dealt with. Councilmember Ross asked if there is anything that might negate the current agreement the City has in place with respect to the Reilly Tar site once the City begins to disturb the soil on this site. Mr. Rardin responded no; Reilly contamination found on-site will be dealt with in the RAP. He added that staff would like SEH to continue to act as the City's consultant to provide support during construction. He noted the City will also have to hire a consultant to provide RAP oversight. If significant project change orders are needed, staff will bring them to Council. Councilmember Mavity requested an update regarding the right of way acquisition. Mr. Olson stated the City has not yet received the appraisal. He indicated the City Attorney has started communications with Clear Channel and meetings have been held with all parcel owners with the exception of Sam's Club. Mayor Pro Tern Sanger stated she would like to avoid the problems the City had with Mn/DOT on the Wooddale project and asked if the City needs some kind of mechanism in place to make sure the same problems do not occur with this project. Mr. Rardin explained the City will have a cooperative agreement in place with Mn/DOT defining MnDOT's role as agent with limited authority. SEH will be used to provide assistance and advice to the City during construction. He stated that Mr. Olson will be the City's project manager under Mr. Brink and will be the project authority in charge during construction. It was the consensus of the City Council to use Mn/DOT personnel to perform the construction engineering/administration duties on the Highway 7/Louisiana Avenue interchange project. 6. Communications/Meeting Check-In (Verbal) Mayor Pro Tern Sanger stated that a number of residents have called her about the proposed recycling changes stating they are thnlled that the City is adding more recycling categories. Ms. Deno asked Council to encourage residents to do the online survey regarding recycling. The meeting adjourned at 9:19 p.m. Study Session Minutes -8- August 13, 2012 Written Reports provided and documented for recording purposes only: 7. Federal Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) Disbursement 8. 2011 Annual MS4 Meeting Report 9. Re-Conveyance of Vacant Mn/DOT Land at Highway 7 and Blake Road Nancy Stroth, COClerk Susan SangA°‘ AAI-j , o Tem