2011-02-09 CC WS Minutes - Approved

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City Council 2010-02-09 7:40 p.m. Minutes of Work Session Present were Mayor Pro-tem Fehrenbacher, Council members Jeff Paar, Steve King, D Love, and Ben Fehrenbacher. Also present were Mark Statz of Bonestroo & Assoc., City Attorney Kurt Glaser, Finance Director Mike Jeziorski and Public Works Director Paul Palzer. 1)Economic Development . Paul McDowell of Northern Forest Products was present to discuss tax abatement. Mr. McDowell shared an abatement calculation schedule that was used for planning his building project in 2000. The schedule does not match what was implemented in the development agreement. He believes a mistake was made in the agreement. He indicated the reason he is coming so late to discuss this is that the abatement issue did not show up until about 2007 and after that, he had unsuccessfully tried to resolve this with former finance director, John Meyer. City Attorney Glaser pointed out the Council would be under no obligation to do anything other than what is in the agreement. The Council requested that staff do more research to determine if a mistake was made. 2)Financial Update . Finance Director Mike Jeziorski presented financial reports indicating anticipated results for 2010 and year-to-date activity for 2011. 2010 is projected to end with a deficit (use of fund balance) of about $160,000. This was mostly anticipated as the seal coating project used funds accumulated during the two prior years, the skid loader purchase was moved up from 2011, and building permits were substantially lower than originally planned. 3)2011 Goals . The Council reviewed a draft of possible goals for 2011. Item I.B. Council reviewed a staff report for pavement management planning. The report compiled costs for street maintenance and reconstruction over the next 20 plus years. A street reconstruction project would be done in 2015, to bring the remaining streets up to the desired design standard and to install watermain where it isn’t presently available. Beginning in 2020, mill and overlay projects would be scheduled about every five years with advance levies generating most of the costs of the projects. The resulting tax impact would be about a 4% increase in taxes in 2012, followed by about 9% in 2013, with relatively stable levies following that. Engineer Mark Statz suggested that the overlay cycle of 35 years may be too optimistic, rather it might be needed closer to 20 years. The possibility of specially assessing a flat rate of about $500 per property was considered. A predictable and manageable number may be palatable to homeowners. Council was concerned about the large tax increases this plan would generate, even though the levy increases would fund a program that benefits every taxpayer. Item II.A. The Council agreed on the need to reactivate the EDA and then identify areas where its involvement could facilitate community development. Item II.B. Downtown Redevelopment. Everyone agreed that the downtown redevelopment will likely not materialize until substantial improvement is seen in the economy. At the same time, no one wishes to abandon the goal.