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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-21-10-WS EN]HILLS Approved: July 26, 2010 CITY OF ARDEN HILLS,MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MEETING JUNE 21,2010 5:00 P.M.-ARDEN HILLS CITY COCJNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, Mayor Stan Harpstead called to order the City Council work Session meeting at 5:07 p.m. Present: Mayor Stan Harpstead; Council Members Fran Holmes, and David McClung. Absent: Council Members David Grant and Brenda Holden. Also present: City Administrator, Patrick Klaers; Finance Director, Sue Iverson,- Community Development Director, James Lehnhoff; Park and Recreation Manager, Michelle Olson; Civil Engineer, Kristine Giga; Deputy Clerk, Becky Brazys; and Rave Hammernik,National Guard. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Councilmember McClung moved and Councilmember Holmes seconded a motion to al2vrove the meeting agenda as presented. The motion carried unanimously L3-0). 2. AGENDA ITEMS A. TCAAP Public Auction Process Update and Discussion Mayor Harpstead phoned Mike Comodeca to provide an update to the Council on his discussion with the Attorney General's Office and his review of the draft IFB language for the upcoming TCAAP public auction process. Community Development Director Lehnhoff reported he spoke with Kevin Legare earlier today and Kevin anticipates distributing a draft IFB at the TCAAP Bidders' Conference on June 24th. p g Mr. Legare sent the City a partial draft of the environmental remediation requirements that may be used for the IFB. The GSA anticipates the auction would be held approximately four weeks after the Bidder's Conference. AIR-` HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JUNE 21, 2010 2 2.A TCAAP Public Auction Process Update and Discussion (continued) Mr. Comodeca reviewed the email he received from Mr. Legare in detail with the Council. The GSA is proposing to have three successive closings on the property. The first closing will involve 200 acres in Fee Simple, restricted to Industrial. The first two hundred acres are about the southern one-third of the property. A condition listed within the email was an executed response action agreement, giving the purchaser 90 days to clean up the site, which the MPCA was reluctant to provide a pre-approved agreement. Community Development Director Lehnhoff stated the cleanup of the first 200 acres would take longer than 90 days, especially taking into consideration the City's zoning requirements. After speaking with Mr. Legare he informed him 12 to 18 months would be a more realistic timeline depending on the level of detail needed by the MPCA. He recommended the GSA speak with the MPCA to establish a more specific timeline. Mr. Comodeca explained the purchaser would be required to sign a response action agreement making them responsible for the remediation before the property can be transferred. He recommended the purchaser entering in an agreement with the EPA as well. Mayor Harpstead questioned if the Council could establish language for Thursday's meeting, that it would be the City's hope that the deed restrictions be lifted after a response action agreement has been completed that included full understanding of the contamination on the property and how it overlays with the potential uses and meshes with the City's zoning. If the City could make this general statement, the expectation could be set that more than 90 days would be needed for the remediation timeline. Community Development Director Lehnhoff expressed concern that an escrow account was not being required of the purchaser to assure that the remediation was complete on the entire parcel, and not just the first 200 acres. Mr. Comodeca stated he spoke with Carmen Netton regarding the financial assurance issues and the voluntary cleanup program does not require any financial assurances. The MPCA does not have any requirements, but the EPA would have to work through this issue with the Army. Councilmember McClung stated the yellow portion of the property, the first 200 acres, required much more of the cleanup effort than the remainder of the parcel. He questioned how a transfer would occur if core samples were worse than anticipated. Mr. Comodeca explained provisions would be written into the agreement but this would involve delays in who was responsible for the cleanup and for the funding of the cleanup. He indicated the City would want to have a process in the agreement, which was proposed during the negotiated sale. Councilmember McClung asked how the bidder's conference would proceed if the IFB language was not complete and little or no marketing efforts have taken place on the Army's behalf. He felt the whole process was just set up for failure. AIR-DEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JUNE 21, 2010 3 2.A TCAAP Public Auction Process Update and Discussion (continued) Mr. Comodeca stated this was concerning. His biggest concern was with how the remediation agreement would be executed in a timely manner with the MPCA and EPA to get the property developed. Community Development Director Lehnhoff indicated he would attend the Bidder's Conference on behalf of the City and would gather further information for the City. Mr. Comodeca indicated bidders would need further information at the conference regarding the remediation before seriously considering taking on the development. He explained Carmen Netton spoke with the GSA's attorney and at the end of the call she referred him to the EPA for comment. Community Development Director Lehnhoff stated the City will provide comments to the GSA outlining the City's concerns. Councilmember Holmes indicated it would be difficult for the City to respond with so little information being provided from the GSA to date. She suggested a general statement be drafted. She also requested the 90 day time limit be brought up as the City finds this to be an unrealistic timeline. Councilmember McClung encouraged the City to be properly prepared for this redevelopment as he did not want to see the remediation stall or cease as the property would then remain undeveloped. Councilmember Holmes questioned how the deposit process worked. Mr. Comodeca explained the purchaser would be paying 50% at the first closing. This 50% would be a deposit for the cleanup. He indicated the IFB did not explain what the ramifications would be if the cleanup was not completed. Mayor Harpstead reviewed the process used at the first bidder's conference. He anticipated the City providing comment at the second bidder's conference as the City wanted to remain transparent and that the end result would be a completed development on the TCAAP site. In addition, the City would be interested in completing a response action agreement before the land is transferred. The response action agreement should allow for additional testing and the schedule should allow for the development of appropriate land use plans and allow for preparation of appropriate remediation plans. He noted the City was concerned about a process that could be interrupted and not fully cleaned or developed. Councilmember McClung suggested the bidder's be provided with the City's current zoning regulations. He indicated he would be attending the bidder's conference. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JUNE 219 2010 4 2.A TCAAP Public Auction Process Update and Discussion (continued) Community Development Director Lehnhoff then reviewed the latest revisions made to the zoning regulations for TCAAP regarding the environmental sustainability section. He questioned r if the Council would like to hold a work session meeting prior to next week's meeting Mayor Harpstead did not feel the work session meeting was necessary. The Council was in agreement. He encouraged staff to consider placing language within the zoning regulations to assure the land transfer occurs with Ramsey County parks and if not, that additional park dedication be required. Community Development Director Lehnhoff stated he would consider how to phrase this within the regulations or create a chart based on the land sold or transferred. Councilmember McClung expressed concern about the discussion at the last meeting regarding tax exempt and institutional property. He did not feel any schools were necessary on the TCAAP site. He questioned if the items omitted would be challenged in the future and if further information could be provided to the Council. Community Development Director Lehnhoff explained he would speak with the consulting attorney further on this issue and report back to the Council. B. 2011 Prelimina , Budget Discussion Finance Director Iverson indicated the 2011 budgets had been sent to department heads for review. The City was under current levy limits and the current estimate was 1.68%, however this would not be set until early July. The City did not levy to the full limit for the 2010 budget cycle. She stated the fire and police budgets were expected to increase for 2011. Finance Director Iverson requested direction from the Council on how to proceed with the 2011 budget at this time. She indicated the park fund was running with a negative balance and questioned how this issue should be addressed. Mayor Harpstead suggested the staff budget for park maintenance from the general fund. He did feel the City would need a tax levy change or increase for 2011, however, this could not go above the statutory limit. Councilmember McClung stated he would support a 0% increase in the tax levy. He stated fire and police increases should be offset by revenues and not fund balances. Given the current economic environment the residents are not receiving wage increases and the State has a poor fiscal outlook. He requested the City remain ultra conservative. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JUNE 215 2010 5 2.B 2011 Preliminary Budget Discussion (continued) Councilmember Holmes believed the costs should be covered by revenues based on the City's needs. She indicated she would like to work with the department heads' recommendations. She felt the maximum levy limit was so small. However, she was not happy with the Sheriffs Department and felt the City was paying more than its fair share for services. She felt the fees charged should be based on population and not per officer serving the City. Councilmember McClung felt this was a valid point. City Administrator Klaers noted he attended a police meeting last week and of the seven communities involved, the City of Arden Hills does have the smallest projected increase for 2011. Mayor Harpstead agreed the Sheriffs Department needed to attempt to make cuts in their budget, however the City did not have a cheaper alternative to policing services. He stated he would put pressure on the Sheriffs Department during the budget cycle. He suggested the ratios be further evaluated by number of events within each City and by the size each City as well. Finance Director Iverson asked if Council would like to see salaries increased or kept even for 2011. She noted she could also run furlough days again as was done with the 2011 budget. Mayor Harpstead requested staff evaluate the market rate for salaries and provide this information with the budget. Councilmember McClung did not feel step increases or COLA were necessary given the state of the economy. He stated several of the residents on his street have lost their jobs or have been laid off in the past year. City Administrator Klaers stated that if the City did not continue to evaluate the pay scales it would be difficult to attract quality candidates to the City for future employment needs. In addition, if union contracts call for 3% increases, the City would have to comply. Councilmember Holmes stated the recession has not hit the City as hard as others from a revenue perspective. She felt it was important for the City to remain competitive and wanted the employees to be well taken care of. If the furlough kept the salaries comparable to market averages this should be looked at further. She indicated she did not have a problem with the COLA or step increases. Mayor Harpstead agreed with these comments. He felt the City was well run and wanted to compare the current salaries to neighboring communities before finalizing the 2011 budget. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION--JUNE 215 2010 6 C. 2011-2015 Capital Improvement Plan(CIP) Finance Director Iverson presented the City Council with the 2011-2015 CIP. She provided comments from the discussion held in January. She noted if all projects were viable she would begin seeking funding sources within future budgets to assure they are completed. However, if items were going to be moved around, the Council would need to make this determination. Mayor Harpstead suggested the Council review which items could be pushed out and which would need to remain on schedule. These comments would provide staff direction and assist with the 2011 budget. Councilmember McClung requested the computer equipment fund allocation be better defined within the budget to show the 2011 projected expenses. Mayor Harpstead questioned if additional analysis of Valentine Park was needed. Park and Recreation Manager Olson stated the PTRC has requested additional analysis as the park was still wet. The drainage within the park may need to be improved. Councilmember Holmes indicated the Council could take over this issue before further funds were spent on additional engineering and analysis. Mayor Harpstead explained Valentine Park needed improvements and would benefit from re- grading and repurposing of the current park configuration. This would increase the value of the park to all residents using this park. Councilmember McClung suggested a hydrologist with WSB Engineering review the information submitted by Todd Hubmer to provide the City with further comment. Park and Recreation Manager Olson requested the information be reviewed by an independent hydrologist and not by another employee at WSB Engineering. This would provide the City with an unbiased opinion on the plans. She explained the CIP did have $50,000 set aside for engineering of future improvements to the park. The drainage report could be reviewed along with suggested improvements. Mayor Harpstead agreed stating he did not see the need for the City to seek out a new plan for the park and was in favor with staff s suggestion. He understood that Valentine Park has had a drainage problem since its creation. He wanted to assure that the solution addressed all water problems at the site and felt the park was still a priority. Councilmember McClung agreed that Valentine Park should remain a priority for 2011. The Council further discussed the proposed park improvements within the CIP. A DEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JLTNE 215 2010 7 2.C. 2011-2015 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) (continued) Mayor Harpstead requested the Snelling Avenue Regional Trail be pushed out to 2015. He then questioned where the number for Hazelnut Park came from and asked if the City wanted all the land. City Administrator HIaers stated this number came based on a square foot rate from the County assessor's records for residential land. He indicated he was not sure if the City was interested in the entire parcel at this time. Further conversations would be held with the church and information would be brought back to the Council at the July work session. Park and Recreation Manager Olson indicated the PTRC has discussed this issue in detail and does recommend the City Council pursue purchasing a portion of the property if feasible. Mayor Harpstead was in favor of constructing the County Road E Bridge, especially if the County were willing to reimburse the City in 2015. The Council was in agreement with pursuing this item further. - Mayor Harpstead indicated he would not provide comment on the Nursery Hill project as it directly impacted him. He was not opposed to this item being assessed. Councilmember McClung noted he was fine with leaving the project in 2011. Councilmember Holmes suggested the City complete street improvement projects every other year. Further discussion ensued regarding the City's upcoming street improvement projects. Civil Engineer Giga noted two lift stations were budgeted for 2011 and two for 2014. The design for all four is already completed. In 2006, bids to reconstruct all four at once were unfavorable and the City did not move forward with construction. Mayor Harpstead suggested bidding one lift station at a time to try to get a low bid from contractors looking for smaller projects to fill out their construction season. Finance Director Inverson referred the Committee to page 68 of the Capital Improvement Program,purchase of a replacement skidster. Public Works Superintendent Mooney indicated they are looking at replacement of their current skidster which is mainly used for jobs in confined or restricted spaces, too small for the tractor to access. Public Works also currently uses the skidster for sidewalk snow removal as a snowblower can be attached. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JUNE 215 2010 8 2.C 2011-201 S Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) (continued) Park and Recreation Manager Olson indicated that she and Superintendent Mooney have been looking at purchase/lease options for a new skidster. One option that is popular with other cities is one whereby you purchase the initial skidster which then is replaced every year with a new model for an additional cost of$2,500. This includes a warranty so there would be no expense for repairs. Public Works Superintendent Mooney stated they did a financial analysis and with the cost the unit would replace itself within 17 years. Ms. Olson indicated it did not make an impact financially one way or another but with this option you would be getting a new model every year and you would not have any down time. Mayor Harpstead questioned how much down time they were having. Public Works Superintendent Mooney indicated they had small amounts of down time every once in a while but not for one long extended period. Councilmember Holmes stated she felt the lease option a good idea since they would ultimately end up with a new model even after 17 years. Park and Recreation Manager Olson indicated the advantage of the wheels on the current skidster is that it can push snow where the tractor cannot. She indicated the cost for the new skidster would be $50,000 and this includes an adapter setup for tracks. This would also save money since they would not have to rent a track machine for surface water drainage. Councilmember Holmes asked if this was to be voted on at the meeting. Mayor Harpstead pointed out the discussion was merely on whether to leave this in the budget for next year or not. Mayor Harpstead indicated he was under the understanding the fetter and vactor machine were not used at the same time and did not see any benefit of having them combined on the same chassis. Public Works Superintendent Mooney stated the fetter/vac combo machine required less manpower. Mayor Harpstead questioned if jetting was not done from one end and backing from the other. Public Works Superintendent Mooney informed that they actually both go in the same hole so it makes everything tight with having two pieces around a 27-inch hole. He informed on occasion they would run the fetter in one place and the vactor in another. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JUNE 21, 2010 9 2.C 2011-201 S Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) (continued) Park and Recreation Manager Olson indicated the cost for the two would be roughly around $275,000 to a little over$300,000. Councilmember McClung indicated he believed that at last month's meeting the question came up as to whether they had sufficient space to store a combination unit. Public Works Superintendent Mooney stated the unit that they had measured was an exceptionally long unit because it had an extra 4 foot toolbox on the back. He stated that without that toolbox, the unit will fit in our work storage area. He indicated that some of the other cities do have combination units and the brands are either Vactor or Flexible Tool. Councilmember McClung asked about the history of Arden Hills'jetter and vactor. Public Works Superintendent Mooney indicated the jetter is in poor shape but that the vactor is also beginning to have high cost repairs. Councilmember McClung asked if this was due to age or some other factor. Park and Recreation Manger Olson indicated the vactor is currently in the shop and the cost for repairs will be roughly$15,000. She informed that the current value of the vactor is only$25,000. Public Works Superintendent Mooney indicated there is some economy of scale, with having the combo unit, in terms of operation in how the crew works. Councilmember McClung recapped that assuming there is no serious down time, as the unit would be under warranty, there should be some improvement on how Public Works is able to run the crew because the unit is a combo unit. Public Works Superintendent Mooney agreed. He said running two full-time units would require two employees plus a part-time employee in the summer where with the combo unit they would only need one full-time employee and one part-time employee in the summer. Discussion ensued regarding whether it might be beneficial to keep one of the old units, either vactor or j etter, even after purchasing a new combo unit. Public Works Superintendent Mooney mentioned there was talk that in the future cities may also be responsible for cleaning their storm sewer lines, which this equipment would assist with. Discussion ensued regarding the size of the unit and if it would be able to get to all areas of the city. Mayor Harpstead was in favor of leaving this piece of equipment in the 2011 CIP. The Council was in agreement. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION--JUNE 215 2010 10 C 1. Gatewa Signs Community Development Director Lehnhoff presented the City Council with information on the Gateway Sign as recommended by the EDC. Funding was within the CIP for 2010 and he questioned if the City still wanted to pursue these signs. He questioned if the City wanted to allocate additional funds for the sign design. Mayor Harpstead stated it was clear the $10,000 was not going to be sufficient to complete the original sign and indicated he was still interested in seeing several signs in the City. He suggested $15,000 be set aside for three years for gateway signs and that this be discussed further with the 2011 budget. Councilmember McClung indicated he was not interested in allocating funds into gateway signs and felt the funds should instead go to park capital improvements. Councilmember Holmes stated she would like to hear from the EDC further on the benefits of the gateway signs. The consensus of the City Council was to include $15,000 in the CIP for the next three years for gateway signs. C2. Mounds View High School Sidewalk Park and Recreation Manager Olson presented the City Council with information on the Mounds View High School Sidewalk and the signed petition. Councilmember Holmes indicated this was a very dangerous roadway for the students to walk along. She suggested the Council review this issue further. Councilmember McClung thanked the residents and students for getting involved and for presenting the City with a petition. However, at this time, he did not see this trail connection as a priority. Mayor Harpstead indicated the slope along the trail will require retaining walls and railings. The sidewalk would not be a quick and simple fix. He stated he did not see this becoming a 2011 project. Finance Director Iverson questioned if the sidewalk could be assessed to the property owners. Park and Recreation Manager Olson stated the benefit for the sidewalk would be to the Mounds View High School and its students. She indicated the school district could be assessed for the expense. She added that she could speak with Ramsey County or New Brighton about a potential partnership as this location was slated for a trail connection. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JLTNE 219 2010 11 C2. Mounds View High School Sidewalk(continued) Councilmember McClung suggested the item be pushed out several years on the CIP. Mayor Harpstead requested staff look into further partnerships for the trail connection and that the item be moved to 2012. Councilmember Holmes noted she would be in favor of exploring the issue further in 2011 and suggested New Brighton be addressed to assist with the expense as the majority of walkers would be coming from New Brighton. 1, COUNCIL COMMENTS AND REQUESTS Councilmember Holmes questioned if there was any further information on the progress of the Elmer L. Andersen Memorial Trail Connections Project. Park and Recreation Manager Olson stated the rain has delayed the trail's progress along with Xcel pole relocation. Mayor Harpstead requested staff draft any additional comments for him to present at the Bidders' Conference on Thursday morning. He suggested this be brought to City Attorney Filla as well for comment. City Administrator Klaers commented on a letter received from the Library Board. The Council further discussed potential options for the Library. ADJOURN Mayor Harpstead adjourned the City Council Work Session meeting at 7:43 p.m. Patrick Klaers AnH4 tea City Administrator Mayor