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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 12-12-2005 , . ~ "7'\.~HILLS Approved: January 9, 2006 CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 12, 2005, 7:00 PM CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 1245 WEST HIGHWAY 96 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, Mayor Beverly Aplikowski called to order the regular City Council meeting at 7:06 p.m. Present: Mayor Beverly Aplikowski, Councilmembers David Grant, Gregg Larson, Lois Rem, and Brenda Holden. Absent: None. Also present were City Administrator, Michelle Wolfe; Director of Operations & e Maintenance, Thomas Moore; Finance Director/Treasurer, Murtuza Siddiqui; Community Development Director, Karen Barton; and Recording Secretary, Kathleen Altman. 1. APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA MOTION: Councilmember Grant moved and Councilmember Rem seconded a motion to approve the revised meeting agenda as presented. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. November 28, 2005 City Council Minutes B. November 21, 2005 City Council Work Session Minutes Councilmember Holden requested the following changes: November 21, 2005 Council Work Session, Page 1, first paragraph under 2006 Budget and CIP Discussion, last sentence should read: The proposed 2006 budget does include the proposed Ridgewood PMP project, replacement lift stations, and capital equipment purchases. Councilmember Grant requested the following changes: None. Councilmember Rem requested the following changes: None. e Councilmember Larson requested the following changes: None. Mayor Aplikowski requested the following changes: None. \ IMetro- inet. us \ardenhillslAdmin\CouncillMinuteslRegu1ar\2005\ 12-12-05 Draft. doc ARDEN HILLS REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES DECEMBER 12,2005 2 . Ms. Wolfe requested the following changes: None, MOTION: Councilmember Larson moved and Councilmcmber Holden seconded a motion to approve the November 28, 2005 City Council Meeting Minutes as presented and the November 21, 2005 Council Work Session Minutes as amended. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). 3. CONSENT CALENDAR a. Claims and Payroll b. Resolution No. 05-67: Certifying Delinquent Utilitics c. Approval of Resolution 05-66: Resolution Revising Utility Rates d. Ordinance No. 367: Approval of2006 Fee Schedule e, Payment #5 to Amt Construction for the 2005 PMP Project in the amount of $128,956.66 f. Motion to Approve the Elected Official Out-of-State Travel Policy g. Motion to Approve Rccording Sccretary Service Agreement with TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial Inc. h. 2005 Budget Amendments . MOTION: Councilmcmbcr Larson moved and Councilmember Grant seconded a motion to approve the Consent Calendar and to authorize execution of all necessary documents contained therein. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). 4. PUBLIC INQUIRIES/INFORMATIONAL None. 5. PUBLIC HEARINGS None. 6. NEW BUSINESS A. Approve the Appointment of James Lehnhoff as City Planner for the City of Arden Hills Ms. Barton stated the position of City Planner became vacant when Peter Hellegers accepted a new position in October. The City received 25 applications for the open position. The e recommended candidate is James Lehnhoff. Mr. Lehnhoffhas a solid background in the Planning and GIS field and has indicated a strong interest in this position with the City of Arden Hills, Reference checks have been completed and the responses from his previous employers have been very positi ve. ARDEN HILLS REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES DECEMBER 12,2005 3 . MOTION: Councilmember Grant moved and Councilmember Rem scconded a motion to approve the appointment of James Lehnhoff as City Planner for the City of Arden Hills, with a tentative start date of January 9, 2006. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). 7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. Approve 2006 City Budl!et 1. Resolution No. 05-68: Adopting the 2006 Budget 2. Resolution No. 05-69; Setting the Final Levy for Taxes Payable in 2006 3. Resolution No. 05-70; Setting the Special Levy for the Karth Lake District 4. Resolution No. 05-71: Approving the 2006 Employee Compensation Plan 5. Resolution No. 04-72; Approving the 2006 City Contribution to the Non-Bargaining e Unit Employee Monthly Benefits Mr. Siddiqui summarized thc proposed 2006 budget, thc final levy for taxes payable in 2006, the special levy for the Karth Lake District, the 2006 cmployee compensation plan, and the 2006 City contribution to the non-bargaining unit employee monthly benefits. Councilmember Holden asked if once they added the staff engineer, would this reduce the budget amount tl1at they have paid the consulting engineer. Ms. Wolfe stated there might be some cost savings, but in reality, the savings would bc minimal. MOTION: Mayor Aplikowski moved and Councilmember Holden seconded a motion to approvc Resolution No. 05-68, Adopting the 2006 Budgct in the amount of $8, 180,66]. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). MOTION: Councilmember Holden moved and Councilmcmber Grant seconded a motion to approve Rcsolution No, 05-69: Setting the Final Levy for Taxes Payablc in 2006 in the amount of $2,523,737. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). MOTION: Councilmember Larson moved and Councilmember Holden seconded a motion to approve Resolution No. 05-70: Setting the Special Levy for e Karth Lake District in the amount of$13,782.67. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). . ARDEN HILLS REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES DECEMBER 12,2005 4 . MOTION: Councilmember Grant moved and Councilmember Larson seconded a motion to approve Resolution No. 05-71: Approving the 2006 Employee Compensation Plan. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). MOTION: Councilmember Rem moved and Councilmember Grant seconded a motion to approve Resolution No. 05-72: Revise the City's Contribution amount toward the Insurance premiums to $586 per month per employee. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). B. TCAAP Update Ms. Wolfe updated Council on recent TCAAP developments. CITY COUNCIL REPORTS Council member Grant - Stated the Planning Commission did not meet in December, but would meet again in January. e Councilmember Rem - Stated she recently attended the last Northwest Area Task Force Library meeting and updated the Council on the library options being discussed. Councilmember Larson - Stated although they acted and approved on the proposed fees for 2006, he requested a review at a future meeting on the false alarm fees. He stated he believed they needed to take another look at these fees and consider changing them. He noted they also acted on a Compensation plan for the employees and requested regular updates as regarding the payroll schedule for the employees. He stated there have been artieles in the newspaper about the alleged embezzlement that took place in the City and while he had not received any calls regarding this, he requested the Council communicate more directly with the residents regarding this and a letter be put in the next newslettcr that explained what happened, how it happened, and what if any measures would be taken to protect against something like tl1is occurring again in the future. Ms. Wolfe - Read a prepared statement and stated the City Council and staff were profoundly disappointed and dismayed regarding the alleged embezzlement that occurred by a former employee. She noted the City was insured against the losses, so the impact on the City budget would be minimal. She indicated that additional safeguards are now in place to try to prevent ttaud in the future. Councilmember Holden - Stated it was also important that the residents were told the reason e they heard about this in the newspaper was because the City and Council were not allowed to discuss this in public while the investigation was taking place. She noted the next newsletter would not go out until the end of January, so if they wanted a separate letter regarding this, they would need to decide if it went out sooner. . ARDEN HILLS REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES DECEMBER 12, 2005 5 e Mayor Aplikowski - Stated she too was extremely disappointed with the alleged embezzlement that occurred and has been assured by staff that additional checks and balances have now been put into place. However, she noted that creative people could still get around checks and balances. CounciImember Holden - Thanked staff, particularly Mr. Siddiqui, for his hard work and efforts regarding the theft investigation. CounciImember Larson - Stated he wanted the City to respond quickly and send a letter out as soon as possible to the residents. He requested staff put togetber a draft letter to be reviewed by Council at their next work session. CounciImember Grant - Stated he wanted to communicate with the residents also, but urged caution and noted this matter was still pending litigation and while they might want to make public statements, they needed to do that in the context that this was under litigation and under the advice oflegal counsel. CounciImember Larson - Stated this was an opportunity to communicate with the residents and now that everything was public he believed they needed to inform the residents, while still being e careful as suggested by Councilmember Grant. He stated it was not a good situation to have residents relying on media reports that did not tell the whole story. Mayor Aplikowski - Stated staff could put a draft letter together, but she suggested staff bring facts and figures to the next work session for Council discussion instead of a draft letter. She noted she had not been asked by any residents about the specifics about this. CounciImemb~'r Holden - Stated she agreed and she wanted staff to have the opportunity to check with legal counsel first about this proposed draft letter. CounciImemb~'r Larson - Stated the items he believed were important to be put in the letter did not relate to th(~ specifics of the case, but it related to the fact that they conducted an audit every year and the audit did not catch the theft, and there were checks and balances in place now, etc. He stated he did not want the charges filed against the fonner employee addressed in this letter. Ms. Wolfe - Stated she believed staff could have a draft letter for the work session, but the letter would not be done by the time the Council packets went out. Mayor Aplikowski - Stated they needed more time to think about this and while they would communicate with the residents, it was a matter of when this communication would go out. She stated she wanted to discuss this further at the work session. e . ARDEN HILLS REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES DECEMBER 12,2005 6 e Mayor ApIikowski - Congratulated Schawn Johnson, Assistant to the City Administrator, on the recent birth of his son. Mayor Aplikowski adjourned the Regular City Council Meeting at 8: 16 p.m. hf'~= ((?M~~' rrtiM uJo!Jr Beverly Apli wski Michelle Wolfe Mayor City Administrator NOTICE OF MEETINGS The next Council Meeting will be held Monday, January 9, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. at the Arden Hills Council Chambers, e e