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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCWS 10-11-2005 (2) ~ . ~HILLS Approved: November 14, 2005 eITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA eITY eOUNeIL WORK SESSION MEETING OeTOBER 11, 2005, 8:25 P.M. eITY HALL eOUNeIL eHAMBERS, 1245 WEST HIGHWAY 96 eALL TO ORDER Mayor Aplikowski called the meeting to order at 8:25 p.m. Present: Mayor Aplikowski, Councilmembers Larson, Grant, Rem and Brenda Holden. Absent: None. Staff Present: City Administrator, Michelle Wolfe; Director of Operations & Maintenance, Thomas Moore; and Recording Secretary, Kathleen Altman. . eitv Hall Generator - Potential Upl!rades Mr. Moore stated at the May 13, 2002 City Council meeting, the City Council unanimously approved the purchase of a portable 200kw portable generator for City Hall. The intended purchase of this generator was to supply electrical power to City Hall during a power outage and for pmticipating in the Excel Energy Peak Power Control Program. Currently, the Operations and Maintenance Department has two portable generators to supply backup electrical power to the City's 14 lift station during a weather-related power outage. One of these generators must be permanently stationed at Lift Station #8, which is the largest with three wet wells. That leaves staff with one generator to provide backup electrical power to any number of the remaining 13 lift stations during a major weather related event. This remaining generator must travel to each of the 13 lift stations and provide just enough backup electrical power to pump the water level down to a safe level, then quickly proceed to the next lift station and perform the same task and so on down the line until every lift station is serviced. The cycle then begins again until electrical power is restored by Xcel Energy. In 2005, there have been tluee weather-related events where five or more lift stations, including Lift Station #8, were without electrical power. In addition, there have been two weather-related events where between two and four lift stations were without electrical power, one of which involved Lift Station #8. . In order to have the existing City Hall generator available to assist in lift station operations during a weather-related electrical power outage, upgrades in the amount of $28,670.00. 1 IMetro- inet. us lardenhillslAdrnin ICouncillMinutesl Worksession 12005110-11-05 Approved.doc ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 1"1, 2005 2 . eouncilmember Larson asked if the City Hall generator was the same size as the two portables. Mr. Moore responded it was much larger. eounciImember Larson asked what was the cost of a portable generator which would be roughly equivalent to the generator they had now. Mr. Moore responded he did not have those figures, but he believed it would be in the neighborhood of $21 ,000 to $25,000. Councilmember Larson asked if there was any reason they should not purchase a third generator and not convert the City Hall generator. Mr. Moore responded staff would not be in opposition to that and their main goal was to have another generator in use for cmergency situations. He stated if they did get an additional generator, perhaps they would get a generator with a quiet switch so they could use tbat generator at the Arden Hills Celebration for the bands, as well as other City events as needed. eoullcilmember Holden asked what the life expectancy for the 200 Watt generator was. Mr. Moore responded the lifc expectancy was approximately 25 years. eoullcilmember Holden stated she would like to have a back up plan in place also and suggested they also work with other cities for thc use of their generators. She stated she did not want to . place staff in a situation such as they were in after the last scvere storm. Mr. Moore responded they had contacted other cities, but adaptors in the lift stations were unique to that particular lift station, so sharing of generators was not always practical. Ms. Wolfe stated staff had a discussion today with Ramsey County to inquire about a countywide effort about keeping a list of generators the cities have available in case they are needed for elnergencles. eouncilmember Grant stated adaptors had to be less expensive than an entire generator. He asked staff look into sharing generators with other cities before asking for funds from the general fund for a new generator. He also expressed concern about storage space for the generator. eouncilmember Holden stated she did not believe neighboring cities were a good option because many neighboring cities were hit during the recent storms and they were using their generators. She stated the City should look for more metro-wide generators. Ms. Wolfe noted even with a far reaching inventory of generators, Arden Hills had all of their lift stations down during the last storm and noted they might not have the ability to obtain additional generators if other cities needed the generators for their own emergencies. eouncilmember Grant noted in an emergency, City Hall would need to keep the gencrator it . currently had and he did not believe it was feasible to convert the generator. He stated a new generator was a better suggestion, but he wanted staff to research sharing of generators with other cities also. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES OCTO]3ER 11, 2005 3 . Ms. Wolfe noted Ramsey County had indicted it would be difficult getting a list of generators together and she did not want to let this discussion sit in the event of another emergency. Mayor Aplikowski stated it was her understanding that Council indicated the City should purchase the additional generator, but staff should still research adaptors for generators which could be borrowed from other cities. Councilmember Holden stated she wanted some information on the availability of generators from one or two other cities before they purchased another generator. eouncilmember Larson agreed and stated there was a good rationale to have an additional portable generator and if put on a quiet switch, they could use this for City events, but he agreed they should look at the other avenues also. eouncilmember Grant asked for further information as to how many times in the past year the back up generators were needed and the severity of those instances. Mr. Moore stated he did not have the information, but he would get that to Council. Councilmember Grant questioned the cost of the cords and adaptors. Mr. Moore noted the generator plugs and adaptors were very expensive and he could show Council the City Hall . generator invoice where there was a line item for cords and adaptors and how much they cost. Gatewav Sil!n - Desil!n Discussion Mr. Moore stated at the March 21, 2005 Council Worksession, staff presented a gateway sign update which included possible sign locations, design styles, composition, lighting and landscape options. He indicated certain consensus was reached by the City Council at that time. He presented to Council four sets of diagrams detailing the location, the preferred design style, composition and lighting. The composition will be Kasota Stone for the base and sides, concrete for the top and back and steel for the logo. He indicated the cost for this project will be $24,675. The 2005 CIP Budget for two gateway signs was $30,000.00. He requested Council review tile materials and provide direction to staff. eouncilmember Holden asked if the sign location would have any liability issues for the City considering they were putting a large piece of concrete within the right-of-way. Ms. Wolfe replied she would need to ask the City Attorney, but she had spoken with the City Engineer, Mr. Brown, and he stated there was a 2-foot area requirement and if they put the sign in that 2-foot area, there would be liability issues, but if they put the sign beyond the 2-foot area, there should . not be any liability issues. However, she wanted to verify this interpretation with the City Attorney. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES OCTOflER ll, 2005 4 . CounciImember Rem noted some discrepancies in the plans with respect to spacing in the easements and requested staff verifies the measurements. Ms. Wolfe stated the goal for tonight was to approve the design of the sign and then they will take it to the next step of working with the logistics of the sign and locations. eouncilmember Grant inquired about the cost and how that cost was determined. Mr. Moore responded the person who designed the sign had determined the cost by obtaining an estimate and he would find out who he had obtained the estimate from. Ms. Wolfe stated if the Council liked the design, staff could get better estimates for the construction of the signs. She noted that they already had the Kasota stone. Council agreed that the design of the signs were appropriate. eounciImember Grant asked how much Kasota stone did the City have and how much stone would the signs use. Ms. Wolfe responded once the sign designs were determined, staff would look at how much stone would be needed, and the inventory of stone the City currently had, as well as how much stone would be used for this project. . eounciImember Larson stated he had one small reservation about the back of thc sign being all concrete. He stated if the back of the design was visible, they might want to look at another option or have this be Kasota stone also. eouncilmember Holden questioned the price of the signs. She stated she did not like the estimate in staffs report. Mayor Aplikowski noted when they first stmted talking about signs in 1996, the design had changed due to the new City logo and therefore the cost had increased. Ms. Wolfe noted it probably would be more expensive if they did not use the Kasota Stone. eonnciImember Rem asked how the signs could be so expensive when they had the materials on hand. Mr. Moore noted the stone was not cut. Mayor Aplikowski stated the signs were very labor intensive. Ms. Wolfe noted they needed to gather further information about the cost of the signs and bring this back to Council at a future date, but as long as Council liked the design, staff would work on the munbers. Mr. Moore asked if staff can carry the $25,000 in the 2005 CIP budget over into the 2006 CIP . budget. Ms. Wolfe stated staff would need to determine if it should be carried over or a new budget item added. The meeting adjourned at 9:08 p.m. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 11,2005 5 . ~~h~~~,d' JJj1~ t-Wll1p / Beverly pli owski Michelle Wolfe Mayor City Administrator . .