Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024/07/08 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study SessionOfficial minutes City council study session St. Louis Park, Minnesota July 8, 2024 The meeting convened at 6:49 p.m. Council members present: Mayor Nadia Mohamed, Paul Baudhuin, Tim Brausen, Sue Budd, Yolanda Farris, Lynette Dumalag, Margaret Rog Council members absent: none Staff present: City manager (Ms. Keller), deputy city manager (Ms. Walsh), city attorney (Mr. Mattick), community development director (Ms. Barton), administrative services director (Ms. Brodeen), finance director (Ms. Cruver), recreation superintendent (Ms. Friederich), public works director (Mr. Hall), engineering director (Ms. Heiser), city clerk (Ms. Kennedy), fire chief Koering, police chief Kruelle, housing supervisor (Ms. Olson), property maintenance and licensing manager (Mr. Pivec), sustainability specialist (Ms. Pottorff), chief building official (Mr. Skallet), communications and technology director (Ms. Smith), park superintendent (Mr. Umphrey), HR director (Ms. Vorpahl), parks and recreation director (Mr. West), sustainability manager (Ms. Ziring) Guests: Molly Jansen and Chas Anderson of Park Street Public, Melissa Reed on behalf of Park Street Public Discussion items 1. 2024 state legislative recap. Ms. Pottorff introduced Park Street Public staff who presented the staff report covering 2024 state legislative session highlights. Council Member Rog asked if geothermal planning grants were in our legislative priorities for the city. Ms. Reed stated she was not sure but noted exploring geothermal energy is part of the city’s 2040 climate goals. Council Member Rog stated the cost savings with geothermal would be significant and she is hoping this type of energy work will be done in St. Louis Park. She also asked if there are updates regarding when the grant money for the small outdoor electrical equipment grant program will be available. Ms. Jansen stated that $1 million was just appropriated and the program is now being designed to include environmental justice areas within communities. Council Member Rog asked if equity candidates will be included in the first round of cannabis licensing. Ms. Reed stated she would check on this and report back. Council Member Rog asked about the local government bonding project replacement fund and if the city has a Capitol Investment Plan, why should the city be concerned? Ms. Reed stated there was no exemption originally for communities with CIP plans, thus the concern, but she is confident it will remain. Docusign Envelope ID: D2637EFC-BBBC-427A-BC6B-9F2108785D23 Study session minutes -2- July 8, 2024 Council Member Rog asked whether those communities who got ahead of the local tax moratorium are able to keep their local tax revenue. Ms. Keller confirmed communities that who have imposed a general local sales tax in the past few years are able to keep those tax rates. Council Member Rog observed that in the past, Rep. Kraft suggested that city priorities need to be presented earlier in the year. Ms. Keller shared that staff wants to work on priority planning as early as possible, but noted there is also work being done on policy development by the League of Minnesota Cities and Metro Cities Association. She added staff aims to identify issues as early as possible to work with legislators, while recognizing the time it takes for policy development at these organizations. The city can continue to reach out directly to legislators on specific issues as they come up. Council Member Dumalag asked about the review process for comprehensive plans. She explained she asked because the city will make comprehensive plan updates. Ms. Reed confirmed that comprehensive plans are now exempt from the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act. Council Member Dumalag referenced cannabis licenses and noted she wants to be sure there is a priority remaining that includes both large and small operators. She asked how an operator could obtain a license before securing a site. Ms. Reed stated that this potential piece of the licensing has been eliminated, to avoid the issue of an operator not being able to receive financing before securing a site, but not being able to secure a site before receiving financing. Council Member Dumalag noted the Extended Producer Responsibility bill and asked if this will decrease the amount of waste in the city, or otherwise impact the city. Ms. Jansen stated that extended producer responsibility regulation is a complicated piece of legislation which has not been implemented as yet in any other state. She stated there are steps the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has to complete before any sort of prohibition on certain plastic packaging takes effect. Ms. Reed observed that there will be impacts in the city, but it will be several years from now. Council Member Budd asked if Colorado has passed their proposed extended producer responsibility legislation yet. Ms. Jansen stated that in Colorado, it is not yet fully implemented but added Washington and Oregon have passed the measure. Council Member Budd asked about the small electric outdoor equipment grant program. Ms. Reed stated the census drives the environmental justice aspect. Council Member Budd asked how St. Louis Park compares to other communities on this and how likely the city might obtain funds. Ms. Jansen stated she cannot comment as there is significant appetite for this and $1 million is a relatively small amount of funding. She added the purpose was to get the program started, keep funding it over time, and future funds may trickle down to St. Louis Park. Council Member Budd asked about smart salting and compost use requirement priorities. Ms. Reed stated smart salting did not pass and compost use was not included in the environmental bill, adding these have not been successful over the years. Docusign Envelope ID: D2637EFC-BBBC-427A-BC6B-9F2108785D23 Study session minutes -3- July 8, 2024 Council Member Rog asked which entity will handle lawsuits under the Minnesota Voting Right Act. Ms. Reed stated her assumption is that the Attorney General or the Department of Human Rights will manage these cases. Council Member Dumalag referenced railroad safety and asked for clarification where state law is compatible with federal law. Ms. Reed stated that staff is working to bring this information to council when more data becomes available. Council Member Rog asked if the Highway 100 loop bike trail was moved out because of Minnetonka Boulevard improvements taking place to the west. Ms. Heiser stated that yes, staff recommends moving the loop bike trail project out, due to funding and staff workload. She shared that the city council directed staff to add the Minnetonka boulevard Phase 2 and 3 projects to the 10 year CIP. From a funding perspective, these projects require $15 million in city funds in 2028- 29. She noted timing and opportunity have pushed this project out and added this will be brought to council for additional discussion in the next few months as a part of the budget and general levy. Mayor Mohamed asked about the legislation that was rejected and if some might come back for 2025, especially the statewide prohibition on discrimination in housing. Ms. Reed stated all rejected legislation should come back in 2025, and noted source of income and missing-middle housing will both be returning legislation. Both are very broad topics with diverse coalitions and support has strong momentum. Mayor Mohamed asked if the city would go back to the legislature with the Oxford and Louisiana Avenue project. Ms. Reed confirmed that yes, the city will. 2. Base budget and fee update Ms. Cruver presented the staff report. Council Member Rog asked how the city got to a place where license fees were not fully covering licensing services. Ms. Cruver stated that she was unsure of the history as it started before her time with the city. Mr. Pivec added that the typical practice is for St. Louis Park to maintain licensing fees relative to other cities, which may not always be the best practice when licensing programs vary in service delivery. Most cities are at or slightly below St. Louis Park’s fees. Ms. Cruver pointed out that permit revenue is different than licensing fees, as it is based on the value of a project. With higher interest rates, permits have decreased and staff has projected a $360,000 drop in permit fee revenue into year 2025. Council Member Rog asked what big projects the city anticipates for 2025, such as the Beltline Station Development. Mr. Skallet stated that projects will depend on the interest rates. He described how the Beltline project has been waiting for interest rates to drop before moving forward, as communicated by the developer. Permits have increased year to date, but the projects are smaller. Docusign Envelope ID: D2637EFC-BBBC-427A-BC6B-9F2108785D23 Study session minutes -4- July 8, 2024 Ms. Barton clarified that with the Beltline project, permits could be issued to begin work by the end of this year but the project may go into 2025. The Wooddale Station project could begin in 2025 as well but may go into 2026. Both are larger projects; higher interest rates have affected these projects significantly. Council Member Budd stated it seems the projected increases put the city at the top of the list of surrounding suburbs. Mr. Pivec stated that the cost of inspections staff’s time was the reason for this apparent difference, though it is difficult to compare one city to another because city inspection requirements vary. Increases in fees were derived from costing out total expenses and staff hours for each type of license inspection and specific work involved. Council Member Rog asked about the debt service increase of $300,000. Ms. Cruver stated staff projected this, but in 2025 it will be $160,000, so there will be savings there, but will go away in 2026. Council Member Budd asked about the HRA and EDA levies and stated there is a maximum cap foe those two levy types. Ms. Cruver stated the levy can be held to the same level as it was last year, that it could also be maxed out, and then moved into the general fund. She stated revenues need to increase each year in order to maintain the affordable housing fund, which is a requirement by the state. Council Member Budd stated it would be helpful to have a better understanding of the 4DE impact as that data becomes available. Ms. Cruver confirmed that staff would bring that information to the council. Council Member Rog asked about the historical context of funding staff in both the development and housing funds rather than the general fund. Ms. Cruver stated she is not sure why it was done, but noted staff is now moving staff time with the journal entry into different funds and then invoicing that time to where revenues sit. She stated this method takes up staff time and is less transparent, but, in the past, this practice would help reduce the levy in a difficult year. However, she pointed out that added funds were never readjusted back to their appropriate place. Ms. Cruver recommended that staff would like to streamline and correct these adjustments from years past. Mayor Mohamed read Council Member Brausen’s comments. He stated he agrees with staff recommendations, and supports the fee increases including the increases in licensing fees and permit fees. He added Council Member Brausen supports moving community development staff costs to the general fund for transparency purposes. Council Member Dumalag stated she supports the proposed fee increases also, but noted it is difficult to compare St. Louis Park fees to other cities' fees as the services actually provided may not be comparable. She added she supports the budget development and the focus being on projects vs. staff. Council Member Budd also supported the staff recommendations. Docusign Envelope ID: D2637EFC-BBBC-427A-BC6B-9F2108785D23 Study session minutes -5- July 8, 2024 Council Member Baudhuin stated he supports the staff recommendations to the limited degree that he understood the information, being new on the council. He stated he is confident that as discussions move on, things will become clearer. Council Member Rog stated she also supports the proposed fee increases and noted her rationale is that she supports the higher standards within the city on so many things that matter. She added she is also supportive of moving the community development staff time into the general fund as recommended by staff. Mayor Mohamed stated she is also supportive of the recommendations of staff. She added it makes sense – and a transparent processes - to roll community development staff time into the general fund. Written Reports The council members noted their appreciation for volunteer involvement within environmental stewardship programs. 3. Volunteer involvement in environmental stewardship programs. 4. Environmental Stewardship system wrap-up. The meeting adjourned at 8:37 p.m. ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Melissa Kennedy, city clerk Nadia Mohamed, mayor Docusign Envelope ID: D2637EFC-BBBC-427A-BC6B-9F2108785D23