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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-09-08-R ~ ~ILLS Approved: June 30, 2008 CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING JUNE 9, 2008 7:00 P.M. - ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, Mayor Stan Harpstead called to order the regular City Council meeting at 7:00 p.m. Present: Mayor Stan Harpstead; Council Members David Grant, David McClung and Fran Holmes. Absent: Brenda Holden (excused). Also present: City Administrator Ronald Moorse; Assistant City Administrator Noah Simon; Public Works Director Gregory Hoag; Civil Engineer Kristine Giga; Finance Director Susan Iverson; Steve Fenlon ofMHC; and Recording Secretary, Tina Borg. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Councilmember Holmes requested items 4D and 4E be pulled from the consent calendar. MOTION: Councilmember Grant moved and Councilmember McClung seconded a motion to approve the meeting agenda as amended. The motion carried unallimously (4-0). 2. PUBLIC INQUIRIES/INFORMATIONAL A. TCAAP Update City Administrator Ronald Moorse stated that Michael Comodeca, the City's Environmental Attorney for the TCAAP Project, is getting him up to speed regarding the TCAAP Project. He also stated that lle had a conference call with the Ryan Companies on Monday, June 9, 2008, to prepare for the meeting with the Army and GSA on Tuesday, June 10, 2008. At this meeting they are expecting to discuss the costs information related to the credits on the demolition and hazardous material, and when the next face to face meeting can be scheduled. Councilmember Holmes asked what the City was doing to meet the short timelines that the City has to work with. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - June 9,2008 2 City Administrator Moorse stated that this was going to be discussed with the Army and GSA at the Tuesday, June 10, 2008, meeting. Mayor Harpstead stated that a schedule had been made regarding meeting dates. City Administrator Moorse stated that in regard to the City Council and work sessions the special work sessions have been scheduled in order to get them on the calendar. The special work sessions are scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on the second Monday of each month, 5:00 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month and when there are five Mondays in the month a special work session is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on the fourth Monday of the month. City Administrator Moorse stated that the final open house for the Comprehensive Plan Update is Thursday June 19,2008 from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. City Administrator Moorse stated that the next meeting for the 82 Small Area Plan Steering Committee is scheduled for Tuesday., June 10, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. There will be someone available from Maxell Research to talk about information from the Market Study, and there will also be a Traffic Engineer available. Mayor Harpstead opened the public inquiries/informational at 7: 10 p.m. Public Mr. Steve Fenlon, of MHC on behalf of Presbyterian Homes, located at 2845 Hamline A venue North, stated that Presbyterian Homes is proposing to build a $4.9 million expansion at this location. He stated that he had approached the City of Roseville and they are issuing more than $10 million in bonds in calendar year 2008 and as a result this financing could not be issued by the City of Roseville as barIk qualified. He also stated that because Arden Hiils has a lighter bonding schedule this year he would like to request the Council t() direct Staff to work on a request that Presbyterian Homes could bring before the Council as an initial resolution at the next Council meeting followed by a public hearing a month later, then have the Council consider approving the issuance of the tax exempt note. He clarified that this \vould be a note that was issued as a conduit finance and there would be no legal or moral obligation for the City of Arden Hills to repay these funds and this would be clearly stated throughout the documents. Councilmember Grant asked for clarification regarding the location for the project. Mr. Fenlon stated that it is located in Roseville and they \vould have jurisdiction. Roseville is holding a public hearing and at the conclusion of the public hearing they \vill consider a resolution directing the City of Arden Hills to issue the bond even though Presbyterian Homes is located in Roseville. Councilmember Grant stated that the Council should discuss this and determille if a fee for this financing should be assessed. Mr. Fenlon stated that Presbyterian Homes has authorized a fee of $10,000. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - June 9, 2008 3 Mayor Harpstead asked if it would be appropriate to have this item come to the Council through a work session or to have Staff do some preliminary work first. He asked for clarification regarding the timeline that Presbyterian Homes has. Mr. Fenlon stated that because they were before the City of Arden Hills requesting a favor they would defer to the schedule of the City. Councilmember Holmes stated that Northwestern College was going to be coming before the Council with a similar request. Finance Director Susan Iverson stated that Northwestern College's request would not be conduit financing and would not be issued by the City. She stated that the City would be having a public hearing for Northwestern College. Councilmember Grant asked for clarification regarding the limit of the City~s bank bonding and the amount that Presbyterian Homes is requesting. Finance Director Iverson stated that the City" s bank qualified bonding was limited to $10 million per year. Mr. Fenlon stated that Presbyterian Homes was requesting $4.9 million. Councilmember McClung stated that it would be appropriate for Staff to do some research regarding this request and bring it to the Council at a work session. It was the consensus of the Council to direct Staff to research the request from Presbyterian I-Iomes and bring it to the Council at a future work session. Mr. Fenlon requested that the City agree to hold a public hearing and to keep in mind that there would be a month wait in order to have the public hearing. Mayor Harpstead closed the public inquiries/information at 7: 18 p.m. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Mav 19~ 2008., City Council Worksession B. Mav 27 ~ 2008., City Council Re2ular Meetinf! MOTION: Councilmember McClung moved and Mayor Harpstead seconded a motion to approve the May 19, 2008, City Council Worksession Minutes and the May 27, 2008, City Council Regular Meeting Minutes as presented. The motion carried unanimously (4-0). 4. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Claims and Payroll B. A Motion to Approve the Agreement Between the City of New Brighton and the City of Arden Hills for Cable Services ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - June 9, 2008 4 c. Motion to Approve Resolution 2008-019 Adjusting the Special Assessment Role for Tax Parcels 27-30-23-43-0001,27-30-23-43-0009 and 27-30-23-43-0010 D. l\10tion to l^"pprovc the Reconfiguration of the Front Entry' Door Lock S)'stem for $2,830.00 E. ~10tion to /\. ~vvard Additional Landscaping '.,ll ark in the 2006 P!\1P (Ridge'vvood Neighborhood) to ~1argolis Company' in the i\mount of $10,221.50 (l^"rden Hills portion $9,591.25) MOTION: Councilmember Grant moved and Councilmember McClung seconded a motion to approve the Consent Calendar as amended and to authorize execution of all necessary documents contained therein. The motion carried unanimously (4-0). 5. PULLED CONSENT ITEMS A. Motion to Approve the Reconfi2uration of the Front Entrv Door Lock System for $2..830.00 Public Works Director Gregory Hoag stated the handicap power door button does not operate after regular business hours. The standard install is a magnetic door lock that operates the right side door from the exterior. The placement of the handicap power access door is on the left side from the exterior~ causing the door to remain locked after regular business hours. In order to maintain the building security and save cost, the magnetic lock could be relocated from the right side door to the left side door. This would allow for handicap access after regular business hours only with a magnetic card. A keyed bypass switch would also be installed located near the security panel, which would manually disable the front entry magnetic lock enabling the handicap access button to work without a card after hours. Councilmember Holmes asked if this change eouid be roade through a progranl change rather than changing the mechanics of the door. Public Works Director Hoag stated that the concern \vould be that this would have to be manually overridden for every meeting and one of two people on staff would have to be present at the meeting in order to override the system. If other members of Staff are given this capability it would defeat the purpose of having a security system. Councilmember Holmes asked if the handicap doors would have to be open until after the meeting was over or ifhaving them open the first hour or so would be sufficient. Public Works Director Hoag stated that the Council Meetings are public meetings from the time they start to the time they end, and Staff does not know when someone will come to join these meetings. Councilmember Grant asked for clarification regarding the amount being requested. Finance Director Iverson stated that the amount would not be over the budgeted amount for building maintenance. Mayor Harpstead stated that the correct amount being requested is $2,830.00. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - June 9, 2008 5 MOTION: Councilmember McClung moved and Mayor Harpstead seconded a Motion to Approve the Reconfiguring of the Front Entry Door Lock System for an Amount not to exceed $2,830.00. The motion carried unanimously (4-0). B. Motion to Award Additional Landscapin2 Work in the 2006 PMP (Rid2ewood Nei1!hborhood) to Mar20lis Company in the Amount of $10..221.50 (Arden Hills portion $9..591.25) Civil Engineer Kristine Giga stated that, based on resident concerns and comments from the Ridgewood neighborhood, additional landscaping was requested after the work that was completed in 2006. On November 13, 2006, Council had approved this additional landscaping for an amount not to exceed $15,000. The bids came in less than this amount and Staff is requesting approval to have this work completed. Councilmember Holmes asked for clarification regarding the neighborhood involved. Civil Engineer Giga clarified the neighborhood that the additional landscaping was requested for was the 2006 PMP project of Ridgewood Rooad, Siems Court, Arden Place and Skiles Lane. Councilmember Holmes asked if this was for the rain gardens or if any of this was for anything other than aesthetic purposes. Civil Engineer Giga stated that the request was not for rain gardens, not to replace the large number of trees that had to be removed in order to reconstruct the road, curb and gutter. Councilmember Holmes asked for clarification regarding the amount budgeted and that it had already been approved. Civil Engineer Giga stated that this amount had been approved and included in the 2008 budget. Councilmember McClung asked why the quote included trees that were going to be planted in RosevilIe. Civil Engineer Giga stated that Rosevil1e also had additional landscaping that needed to be done and a more favorable quote could be obtained by grouping the projects together. She also stated that RoseviIle would be paying for these trees, not the City of Arden Hills. MOTION: Councilmember McClung moved and Mayor Harpstead seconded a Motion to Award Additional Landscaping Work in the 2006 PMP (Ridgewood Neighborhood) to Margolis Company in the Amount of $10,221.50 (Arden Hills portion $9,591.25). The motion carried unanimously (4-0). 6. PUBLIC HEARINGS None. 7. NEW BUSINESS ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - June 9, 2008 6 None. 8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. 1&1 Update Public Works Director Hoag stated that the memo contained progress to date in each of the categories that Staff was working on. Mayor Harpstead asked for additional comments regarding the smoke testing being moved into a future year and Staff focusing more on the manhole repair. Public Works Director Hoag stated that the memo and documents represent a first working draft of a gant chart or overall schedule and this would be changed over time based on the data that was being collected. He also stated that work plans are based on the data that is available at that time. He stated that this year's manhole inspections were completed and that data needed to be compiled in order to bring a manhole rehabilitation project to the Council for approval. The costs for the manhole rehabilitation project are not known at this time and it may be necessary to move the smoke testing project into next year in order to stay within budget He stated that staff would be meeting with Mr. Janski from Bonestroo to evaluate the data collected from the manhole inspections in order to put together a rehabilitation project. Mayor Harpstead stated that the temporary flow meters were installed and asked if there was any data available from the last series of rains. Public Works Director Hoag stated that there was no data available at this time but this information may be available by Thursday. Councilmember McClung asked for clarification regarding the focus on manhole rehabilitation over doing smoke testing. He stated that it was the Council~s understanding that the smoke testing would help in finding and identifying the larger areas where 1&1 was occurring. Public Works Director Hoag stated that Staff was working to systematically identify where the City will be able to do the most good in eliminating 1&1. He also stated that there may not be one large thing that is creating the 1&1 but rather several smaller areas that need to be addressed and fi x ed. Councilmember McClung asked if the data was available to tell Council and Staff that the 1&1 problems were the result of several smaller problems versus fewer larger issues. Public Works Director Hoag stated that at this time Staff is not suggesting that smoke testing will not take place but rather utilizing the budget to fix an identified problem that will work towards reducing 1&1 and if funds are still available, continuing with the smoke testing. City Administrator Moorse clarified that the data collected from the manhole inspections may show that there are a significant number of manholes that have a significant amount of 1&1 and that these should be fixed. These fixes may use a large portion of the budget thus precluding the ability to do smoke testing for this year. But, if there are funds still available, then smoke testing could still be done this year. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - June 9, 2008 7 Councilmember McClung clarified that since the data still needs to be collected and analyzed it could not be stated for certain that smoke testing would or would not be done this year. Mayor Harpstead stated that this update was to take a look at things that were in the early stages of being accomplished that the Council had approved. Councilmember Grant stated that all the manholes in the City should be inspected in 2008. He also asked for clarification regarding the number of manholes the City has and the number that have been inspected. Public Works Director Hoag stated that the City has approximately 1,050 manholes but that the inspections have concentrated on those areas that have been accessed with a surcharge from the Met CounciL He also stated that overall about 60% of the City~s manholes have been inspected and will be evaluated as part of a rehabilitation project. . Councilmember Grant stated that Staff could feasibly complete the remaInIng number of manholes throughout the City. in approximately a month based on Staff completing 25 per day. He asked how this data was being collected and stored. He also asked if Bonestroo recommended the inspection being completed on the entire City. Public Works Director Hoag stated that he would be discussing the data with Mr. Janski of Bonestroo on Thursday including the compiling and storage of this data. He also stated that Bonestroo recommends inspecting all the manholes in the City but with the amount of manholes completed it would be appropriate to put together a rehabilitation and repair program and complete the remaining portions of the City over the next couple of years. He also stated that priorities could change based on the findings of additional study. Councilmember Grant stated dlat tile Council had authorized Staff to hire an additionai summer employee to assist with the 1&1 Project and that this person could help Staff in inspecting the remaining manholes in the City in order to include them in the manhole rehabilitation project as well. He also stated that Bonestroo had told the Council previously that smoke testing would be very important in helping to identify problems and would like to see this done in 2008. Mayor Harpstead stated that Staff had discovered an opportunity where they could implement some fixes and Staff could bring to Council a repair bill that could be funded by the amount budgeted for the year. These fixes are things that the City will have to do anyway and the smoke testing mayor may not identify large problems that need to be addressed. He also stated that Bonestroo had informed the Council that the 1&1 issues seemed to be several small problems versus less larger problems. Staff has stated that they would like to move on to manholes and get them fixed. Public Works Director Hoag stated that there has not been one area that stands out as the problem and with the progress in the manhole inspections this would be an opportunity to address one of the areas that we know needs to be fixed. He also stated that fixing these manholes mayor may not prevent the smoke testing from happening this year. He also stated that the meters are being moved and the data is being analyzed in order to determine where the smoke testing should take place because this is an expensive process. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - June 9, 2008 8 Councilmember McClung stated that, because the data had not all been analyzed yet, the smoke testing may be able to provide the information that the City needed in order to identify the larger problem areas. Councilmember Grant asked for clarification on the expense of smoke testing and how the summer employee would be utilized. Public Works Director Hoag stated that he would get the figures from Mr. Janski on Thursday. He also stated that the summer employee would be used to inspect manholes and also to work on the cleaning and televising of sewer lines. Councilmember Grant asked about the quality of records that were used in the sump pump program. Public Works Director Hoag stated that the City's Staff has done some follow up with this data and found that the records we have show more compliant properties than non compliant. However, we have only located approximately one-third of the records from the 2000 inspection program. He also stated that staff had done some visual inspections throughout the City and found that there maybe less sump pumps being drained improperly than the staff was led to believe. Councilmember Grant asked for clarification regarding the implementation of the sump pump inspection program. Public Works Director Hoag stated that the sump pump inspection would be done at the same time as the water meter battery replacements. He also stated that the City would need to look at some ordinance changes over the next few weeks. The timetable is expected to be that during July and August tIle ordinances would be revievved and changed as needed, during September and October Staff would do an ad campaign to let the residents know what would be happening and then doing the inspections and battery replacements in November and December. Councilmember Grant asked what the cost was for the batteries and if this was a budgeted item. Public Works Director Hoag stated that the batteries cost $35.00 each and Staff was looking to find a less expensive supplier. He also stated that one third of the total was budgeted each year over the next three years. Councilmember McClung asked for clarification regarding the number of years the City will receive credit from Met council in addressing and fixing the 1&1 issues. Mayor Harpstead stated that the City was currently in year two of a five year cycle. Councilmember McClung stated that the current approach the City is taking is to look at all sources in the entire City with some of the areas substantially worse than others. He asked if Staff had considered a focused approach in one or two areas and looking at each area where 1&1 could be occurring and address those items, then applying this approach to other areas within the City. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - June 9, 2008 9 Public Works Director Hoag stated that Meter Area 59 was the primary focus but that Staff did want to do some analysis in other areas. Staff is ready to start some projects in Meter Area 59 and continue the analysis of other areas. Mayor Harpstead requested a full summary of Meter Area 59 and where Staff would focus their priorities. This would give Council a better view of the progress in one meter shed. Public Works Director Hoag stated that he would request this information from Bonestroo. Mayor Harpstead thanked Public Works Director Hoag for the report and update. 9. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND REQUESTS Councilmember Grant reminded the Council and Staff that he would be on vacation starting Thursday, June 12, 2008. Councilmember Holmes asked if there had been a meeting scheduled with Jim Willis for the Council. Mayor Harpstead stated that he would work on this with Staff Council member Holmes asked if the Roseville IT Department could get involved and design a scheduling software program that would work better for Council and Staff in scheduling meetings. City Administrator Moorse stated that he would figure out the best solution or type of program that would work for the City. Councilmember Grant requested an update on the Black Bear Software. He stated that the software had been purchased by the City but to date has not been received. The projected delivery date was in mid June. Finance Director Iverson stated that she would check into the purchase of the software as she was not sure that the software had been paid for by the City. City Administrator Moorse stated that the final open house for the Comprehensive Plan Update is Thursday June 19, 2008 from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. City Administrator Moorse stated that the next meeting for the B2 Small Area Plan Steering Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, June 10, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. at City HaIL There will be someone available from Maxell Research to talk about information from the Market Study, and there will also be a Traffic Engineer available. ADJOURN MOTION: Councilmember Grant moved and Mayor Harpstead seconded a Motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried unanimously (4-0). Mayor Harpstead adjourned the Regular City Council Meeting at 8:27 p.m. 10 ~"".,_"~onald J. Moorse City Administrator