2008-11-05 Special Mtg. Minutes - Approved

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The City Council of Centerville, Minnesota met in a special session on Wednesday, November 05, 2008, at 6:00 p.m. in City Hall. Present were Mayor Mary Capra, Council members Michelle Lakso, Linda Broussard-Vickers, Tom Lee and Jeff Paar. Also present were Administrator Dallas Larson, Kurt Glaser, City Attorney and engineer Mark Statz. The purpose of the meeting was to canvass the results of the election and to discuss bids on the 2009 Street Improvement. The Council reviewed the election count provided by the election judges for the city and State General Election held on November 4, 2008. A motion was made by Council member Broussard-Vickers that the Council ceritify the election results as presented, which identified Mary Capra elected Mayor and Jeff Paar and Ben Fehrenbacher elected to the City Council. The motion was seconded by Council member Lee, all present voted in favor of the motion. Motion was declared passed. The Council discussed the 2009 Street Project. It was pointed out that the bids for the project came in about 15% over the estimate for the project. The Council considered the possibility of delaying the award and the benefits of rebidding the work early next year. Mark Statz responded that the prices of asphalt is quite volatile and he cannot predict if better bids would be the result of rebidding. Mark Statz reviewed the rain garden requirements for the project. It is estimated that about $250,000 of costs are in the project as a result of Rice Creek Watershed District requirements. Staff was asked to contact RCWD to see if some of the requirements could be relaxed due to the high costs and also whether any grant funds are available to finance these costs. Staff suggested that the Council consider taking out watermain costs from the project and having those costs paid for by the utility enterprise funds. The costs would then be recouped by connection charges rather than special assessments. The benefit to the homeowners is that the costs would be delayed until a later time or when needed. At the same time, having the work done will make the watermain available so well failures would result in connection to city services, rather than prolonging private water systems. Staff was directed to provide a report for the next meeting that identifies: 1)Hookup charge for the watermain on Peltier Lake Drive and elsewhere where no assessments were levied. 2)Options for extending the drop-dead date for connection to watermain. 3)Proposed assessment amounts for the properties to be assessed on the 2009 Street Project. 4)Administrtive process for handling the hookup fee system for these and other properties that are not currently connected to water.