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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 02-05-2001 . CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING FEBRUARY 5, 2001 7:30 P.M. - ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, Mayor Dennis Probst called to order the regular City Council meeting at 7:32 p.m. Present: Mayor Dennis Probst, Councilmembers Beverly Aplikowski, David Grant, Gregg Larson, and Lois Rem. Absent: None. Also present were City Administrator, Joe Lynch; Public Works Director, Dwayne Stafford; City Accountant, Terrance Post; City Engineer, Greg Brown, BRW; and Recording Secretary, Kathleen Altman. ADOPT AGENDA MOTION: Councilmember Grant moved and Councilmember Aplikowski seconded a motion to adopt the agenda for the February 5, 2001, regular City Council meeting. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). . SENATOR MADY REITER Senator Mady Reiter handed out the City's Bill to exempt the City Hall from the 6.5% sales tax. She also handed out the Senate Briefly Magazine. She stated she sat on the Transportation Committee, the Taxes Committee, and State and Local Government Operations. Senator Reiter gave a brief overview of what was happening in the Senate currently and what was expected to happen in the future, including what projects were expected to be completed to help ease the transportation issues. Senator Reiter provided her telephone number at the Capital. Mayor Probst asked if Senator Reiter thought the sales tax bill had a reasonable chance of being passed. Senator Reiter replied she believed it had a good chance of being passed. She stated she would know better within the next week or two. She stated if any Councilmembers could come to the Senate when this Bill gets to the floor, it would be helpful. Mayor Probst asked for the status of the HACA/LGA money. Senator Reiter stated the Governor had stated all of the K-12 education would be given at the State level, and he wanted to remove all of the 6.5% sales tax across the board for the local government, as well as redoing the HACAlLGA. It was proposed HACAlLGA would be distributed by need. . Mayor Probst asked how the 35W Corridor Coalition's anticipated request for future projects would be received. Senator Reiter stated she would bring this up to the Transportation . . . ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - FEBRUARY 5, 2001 2 Committee and the Senate. She stated she knew this was an important issue and would reiterate to the Senate how the northern metropolitan area was not getting adequate transportation money to improve the transportation issues in this area. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Claims and Payroll. MOTION: Councilmember Larson moved and Councilmember Aplikowski seconded a motion to approve the Consent Calendar and authorize execution of all necessary documents contained therein. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). PUBLIC COMMENTS Mayor Probst invited those present to come forward and address the Council on any items not already on the agenda. No public comments were made. UNFINISHED AND NEW BUSINESS A. Pay Request #1, 2001 Sanitary Sewer Rehab Mr. Brown explained the City had awarded Gridor Construction, Inc. of Plymouth, MN the 2001 Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project on January 8, 2001 for a total contract amount of $302,484.00. Only the base bid for this project was awarded, bid alternatives 1 and 2 were not accepted. Mr. Brown stated the contractor had begun the testing and sealing of the sanitary sewer mains. Shop drawings had been submitted and approved for the lift station reconstruction work and the contractor anticipated beginning this work within the next few weeks. The City Engineer recommended Council approve Pay Estimate # 1 for Gridor Construction, Inc. of Plymouth, MN in the amount of $1 0,814.66. A retainage of 5% was being held for this project. MOTION: Councilmember Grant moved and Councilmember Aplikowski seconded a motion to approve Gridor Construction, Inc's Pay Request #1,2001 Sanitary Sewer Rehab in the amount of$10,814.66. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). B. Security System Recommendations and Requests for City Hall Mr. Stafford explained that members of the new City Hall Security and Maintenance Committee had recently toured the Guidant Corporation facility, the Medtronic headquarters and the Shoreview City Hall and Community Center, with their respective Security Managers. The Committee was looking for ideas and recommendations for access control and alarm systems for the new City Hall. Each of the facilities visited used and recommended a proximity card type entry system. These cards, could be programmed in-house to allow access into any single door, all doors, or any combination of doors setup with proximity technology. Users would only need to hold their cards in front of a sensor and the door would automatically unlatch for six to eight ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - FEBRUARY 5, 2001 3 seconds, allowing access. The proximity system than automatically records who entered and at . what time. Mr. Stafford stated each Security Manager also endorsed the following: . A closed circuit TV camera focused on the main City Hall entryway, as neither the receptionist nor any City Hall office had the entryway, restrooms, or the Council's door to the Council Chambers, in view from their work station. A television monitor would be placed at the reception desk. . A motion detector near the main entrance, which would provide a subtle alert to the receptionist of people approaching the main door. . Motion detectors strategically placed within the building. . Two-distress alarm switches, one at the Council dais and one at the receptionist's desk. . One TV camera focused on the City Hall parking lot, also monitored at the receptionist's desk. (One split screen monitor) . Mr. Stafford stated a ballpark estimate for the access and alarm system was $35,000.00 to $45,000.00, including software, product and installation. Monitoring costs for the alarm system were estimated to be $25.00 to $30.00 per month. Mr. Stafford stated the Security and Maintenance Committee supported a proximity card access control system and recommended Council authorize staff to contract with the vendor staff believed provided the best value for the project to provide access control and alarm installation. Mr. Stafford indicated Council would need to approve this tonight if they were interested in the proximity card access because the wiring had already been started and doors had already been ordered. Councilmember Rem asked how much was budgeted for a security and monitoring system. Mr. Post replied the current budget assumed the same system as the City Hall had now, which was a lock and key system. There is nothing in the construction contract for a security system. Mayor Probst suggested at least putting in the conduit and boxes at this time, in the event the City wanted to add this type of a security system in the future. Councilmember Grant stated the proximity card system allowed for a lot of flexibility and had advantages over the traditional key and lock system. . Councilmember Larson stated he also agreed the proximity card system allowed for a lot of flexibility. He asked if that kind of security system could be justified with the number of staff the City had. He stated he believed the lock and key system would be sufficient. However, he was in favor of putting in the conduit boxes at this time in the event the proximity card system . . . ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - FEBRUARY 5, 2001 4 would be put in place in the future. He stated he was not certain about the camera in the parking lot and the camera in the lobby area. He indicated though he did understand the concern with the receptionist not having a direct line of vision to the main door. Councilmember Rem expressed surprise this issue had not been thought of before. She stated because it would be a public building, it would make sense to have the proximity card system. She stated her only objection was the cost of the system and that this issue had not been brought up before now. Councilmember Aplikowski asked ifthe main lobby doors would be glass or wood. Mr. Stafford replied they would be glass. Councilmember Aplikowski stated she was hesitant to approve the whole security system, but did possibly see the need for this type of a system in the future. Mr. Lynch stated if the City Hall would be open after hours, a flexible security system would be the best type of system to obtain. Councilmember Rem stated with a proximity card, there would be no issue of setting off the building alarm system, which would reduce false alarms. Councilmember Grant stated an advantage would be knowing who accessed the door at what time and a regular-keyed system would not allow that. He also stated the doors could be coded to be locked at certain times, so nobody could access the building after certain hours. Councilmember Larson asked how many direct doors gain access to the City offices. Mr. Stafford replied there would be three doors. Councilmember Larson stated he believed they should wire for the system, but was hesitant to approve the system at this time. Councilmember Aplikowski asked how the City would pay for this if they decided to approve the system. Mr. Lynch replied this would be an issue they would need to discuss. He stated another cost not originally in the estimate was the charge for an emergency back-up generator, as well other charges that had come up recently. Mr. Post stated in the absence of a proximity card system, the same access and security system the City Hall currently has in its leased offices would be the system that would be in the new City Hall when it opened. Mayor Probst suggested staff to deal with whatever needed to get done with respect to conduit and wire at this time and Council would decide in the future as to the rest of the security system. Councilmember Larson agreed and stated once the City was in the building for a few months, they may see the need for a proximity system at that time. . . . ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - FEBRUARY 5, 2001 5 MOTION: Councilmember Aplikowski moved and Councilmember Larson seconded a motion to authorize staff to proceed with the conduit and wiring to the doors, reception desk, and Council dais. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). ADMINISTRATOR COMMENTS Mr. Lynch stated Representative McCollum wanted to attend workshop on February 20,2001. Mr. Lynch indicated the Army National Guard was still in an on-going discussion with the City regarding the size and specifications of their space. Mr. Lynch stated Mike Fix would be in attendance at February 12,2001 meeting to turn over the Deed to the new City Hall. Mr. Lynch asked Council's input if they were opposed or in favor ofliquor sales in grocery stores. Councilmember Aplikowski stated she opposed that proposal because many small business owners owned liquor stores and this would be taking business away from the small business owner. Councilmember Grant stated he was also opposed. Mayor Probst stated he was opposed to this also. Councilmember Larson stated he was not opposed to this proposal. He stated it might create competition to the small liquor storeowner, but the business world was constantly changing and there was not a good reason why the sale of wine should not be allowed in grocery stores. Councilmember Rem stated she was also opposed to this proposal. Mr. Lynch stated at the League of City's group, all of the cities had opposed this proposal. Councilmember Aplikowski asked staff to prepare a proposal regarding this issue for the next Council meeting. Mr. Lynch stated the anticipated generator cost would be $25,000 to $50,000. The Technology Group was recommending this generator to protect the computer equipment in the new City Hall in the event of a power failure or some other emergency. He stated the issue would be where to place the generator because it ran on diesel fuel. Mayor Probst requested staff look into the possibility of using this generator in other areas of the City as well and not just for the new City Hall. . . . ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - FEBRUARY 5, 2001 6 COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Grant noted the Operations and Finance Committee would meet on February 15, 2001. Councilmember Larson had no comments. Councilmember Aplikowski stated the Planning Commission meets Wednesday. She stated she did receive a performance review from Councilmember Larson, as well as her own and reminded the other Councilmembers to fill out their performance reviews. Councilmember Rem stated she had a couple of corrections to the Parks questionnaire. She stated the Newsletter Committee met last week, and there was some discussion of meeting with the website task force. She stated the Northwest Youth and Family Services retreat was last weekend and gave a brief summary of what was discussed at that retreat. Mayor Probst stated the 6:00 p.m. start time on February 12,2001 would open with the Council meeting. He asked if Council wanted to take formal action on February 12,2001, or if they wanted to take formal action this week. Mr. Lynch stated the official document would already have their signatures on it. MOTION: Councilmember Aplikowski moved and Councilmember Grant seconded a motion to approve the Proclamation and 50th Anniversary Celebration. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). Mayor Probst stated he received notice there were openings on the Transportation Advisory Board if any Councilmember had an interest in being on that Board. Mr. Lynch stated March 2,2001 and March 9,2001 would be the dates for the retreat from approximately noon to 6:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. ADJOURN MOTION: Councilmember Aplikowski moved and Councilmember Rem seconded a motion to a oum the meeting at 9:07 p.m. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). NOTICE OF MEETINGS The next Council Meeting will be held Monday, February 12,2001 at 6:00 p.m. at the Holiday Inn, Continental Ballroom, 1201 West County Road E, Arden Hills.