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Home My WebLink About12-17-07-WS ~ ~HILLS Approved: January 14, 2008 CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION DECEMBER 17, 2007; 5:00 PM ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, Mayor Harpstead called to order the City Council Worksession meeting at 5:28 p.m. Present: Mayor Stan Harpstead, Councilmembers David Grant (left at 8:26 p.m.), Brenda Holden, and David McClung Absent: Councilmember Holmes Also present: City Administrator Michelle Wolfe; Assistant City Administrator Noah Simon; Public Works Director Gregory Hoag; Finance Director Susan Iverson; Planner I Meagan Beekman; Civil Engineer Kristine Giga; Roseville City Engineer Deb Bloom; and Recording Secretary Dianna Wise. 2. APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA MOTION: Mayor Harpstead moved and Councilmember Holden seconded a motion to approve the meeting agenda as presented. The motion carried unanimously (4-0). 3. AGENDA ITEMS A. Sign Code Discussion Planner Beekman presented the background on the one year moratorium related to the construction of new and the modification of existing electronic changeable copy signs, electronic graphic display signs, video display signs, flashing signs, and multi-vision signs in all sign districts. She requested Council provide guidance to staff on moving forward with developing dynamic sign regulations. She stated the moratorium expires on January 29,2008. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION - December 17, 2007 2 Discussion ensued with each Councilmember stating their preference regarding signage, the duration of flashing/moving signs, and code enforcement. Mayor Harpstead read the options provided in the memo to Council regarding the sign code which referenced the Metropolitan Council's definition of signs. Councilmember Holden requested the definition of commercial as used in this context. Mayor Harpstead replied Commercial Zones would be B or I. Consensus reached to put a simple and brief ordinance in place that would ban electronic signs with the understanding that the ban may be lifted or adjusted as the Small Area Plans for each district are completed. B. Administrative FinesIRental Licensing Discussion Planner Beekman reported that over the past several months, concerns have been raised from residents regarding the number and condition of homes in the City kept as rental properties. She stated Council directed staff to research rental licensing programs in order to find a solution to the issue of monitoring rental properties for code compliance. Councilmember Holden commented that residents would like to know how to contact a property owner if renters are trashing the property. She asked if the fee could be equal the cost of administering the program. Planner Beekman explained this would be researched as would other options. City Administrator Wolfe mentioned Code Enforcement Officers were discussed as an outsourcing option. Assistant City Administrator Simon mentioned staff could attempt to work with the schools on education as a first step approach if college students renting single family homes were the source of most of the problems. Councilmember Grant mentioned there are 285 non-homesteaded properties and it would be interesting to see where these are located. Councilmember Holden requested the names of students living in housing be made available to ensure only the legal number is residing in a property. Assistant City Administrator Simon stated this would be difficult to verify. Consensus reached by Council to direct staff to research rental licenses first and administrative fines second. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION - December 17, 2007 3 Mayor Harpstead stated he would like to know if Administrative fines would open the City up to legal liability. Secondly, he suggested citizens be part of a panel to discuss the fines and enforcement for the administrative fines. C. Discussion of Utili tv Rates and Utilitv Rate Studv Finance Director Iverson reported on the utility rates and utility rate study. She referenced the memos provided to Council on policy issues that need discussion. She provided information on the senior citizen's rates. She explained the deficits in water, sewer, and storm water funds. She stated a great deal of time has been spent researching the accounts with Public Works on how billing is done. She explained that the largest discrepancy is in the surface water management fund and how this will be resolved. Finance Director Iverson requested Council provide feedback and direction on policy considerations for the City's water and sewer enterprise funds. Mayor Harpstead inquired as to whether retroactive bills would be sent. Finance Director Iverson replied that these changes will occur going forward; the City will not bill retroactively as she was not sure they could legally do this. Mr. Mark Ruff, Ehlers & Associates, shared insight on how cities bill sewer and water utilities relative to residential and commercial. He stated the question for Council is whether it wants to consider tiered rates and conservation issues. He stated another question is how enterprise funds and general funds would be managed. Discussion ensued on each bullet point presented in the Ehlers memo. Consensus reached by Council was to direct staff to explore a residential tiered rate and a commercial versus non-profit tiered rate based upon usage for Council consideration. Councilmember Holden questioned whether TCAAP would fund a portion of the rate study. City Administrator Wolfe replied a portion would be eligible to charge back to TCAAP. Finance Director Iverson stated the rate study cost is budgeted for. Mark Ruff stated that Ehlers will prepare a quote for the study and identify which portion could be allocated to TCAAP . D. CIP/PMP Discussion City Administrator Wolfe recommended that a CIP/PMP strategy or plan be developed, drafted, approved and consistently followed moving forward. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION - December 17, 2007 4 Civil Engineer Giga and Roseville City Engineer Bloom presented historical information on the CIP/PMP. The discussed the need to break the CIP development into three stages- -system analysis, financial analysis, and annual review/update for the CIP. They also presented information on new scenarios that were analyzed. Staff expressed concern that the current approach to pavement management will result in higher costs for future residents and is not proceeding at a pace that manages the backlog. Civil Engineer Giga stated staff recommends the use of Scenario F (PCI 75 in ten years with CIP) to develop the five year CIP as it takes into account additional factors and results in the lowest average annual spending. She stated the next steps include a financial analysis discussion on January 14, 2008 with Council direction on proposed funding and an annual review/update on January 28,2008 with Council adoption of the proposed five year CIP. Discussion ensued. Consensus reached by Council to direct staff to develop a strategy and implementation plan using Scenario D or F. This plan should incorporate priority projects identified by staff in the firstlO-15 years, followed by setting an average PCI goal of70. Mayor Harpstead requested staff include how the City could pre-purchase land relative to the Highway 10 and County Road 96 proj ect. City Administrator Wolfe questioned whether there were other items to include relative to the CIP. Civil Engineer Giga pointed out that a place holder was added in 2008 relative to the City Hall parking lot expansion of approximately 30 parking spaces at $3,000 per space. Consensus reached by Council to direct staff to add the City Hall parking lot expansion to a work session early in 2008 to discuss implementing it by the next voting event. Mayor Harpstead stated he would like to see the total revenue and transfers from other sources in the totals by year. E. Town Hall Meeting Discussion City Administrator Wolfe requested direction from Council as to when it would like the next Town Hall meeting held. Consensus reached by Council to hold the next Town Hall Meeting after the new City Administrator is hired with the format similar to 2007. Council directed staff to forward a list oflast year's format to members for review. Councilmember Grant left at 8:26 p.m. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION - December 17, 2007 5 F. Commissions and Committees Assistant City Administrator Simon reported that in June 2007, City Council discussed and approved a new policy for recruitment, appointment, and term limits relative to Commission and Committees. He proposed steps to move the June policy forward and requested comments and questions from Council. Discussion ensued. The consensus reached by the City Council is that they will accept and approve the recommendation in the staff report which states that all terms are effective January 1, 2008 (one-year terms are January 1, 2008 until December 31 s" 2008). 4. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND REQUESTS None 5. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Councilmember Holden moved and Councilmember McClung seconded a U ,~illC" ~dj""m <he ill";;;;;: illO""" """icd (3-0). /// ~:;;J.~~ NoahA. Simon Mayor . Deputy Clerk