2012-10-10 CC WS Minutes - (Approved)

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City Council 2012-10-10 p.m. Minutes of Work Session Present were Mayor Tom Wilharber, Council members D Love, Jeff Paar, Steve King, and Ben Fehrenbacher. Also present were Mark Statz of Bonestroo & Assoc., City Attorney Kurt Glaser, Public Works Director Paul Palzer and Finance Director Mike Jeziorski. The purpose of the work session was to cover a variety of agenda items: 1. Street Program for 2013. Dallas Larson reviewed the comments received at the project open house held on October 3, 2012. The majority of those commenting seemed open to the street reconstruction but are concerned over the construction of watermain and the mandatory connection policy that is now in effect. Property owners are concerned that they may have to pay connection charges and hook on to watermain by 2017. Mark Statz reviewed his draft feasibility report for the 2013 Project. He noted a total project cost of approximately $1.5 million including the watermain construction on Center Street. That number does not include the cost of abandoning the lift station on Center Street nor the costs of connecting homes to the watermain. Those items would add approximately $250,000 to the total. It was noted that the estimated special assessments would be between $246,000 and $310,000, or roughly 20%. Council members discussed the deadline for connection date of 2017 and whether it should be pushed back to ease the impact of the project and give property owners more time to prepare. At the same time the consensus was that the city should include in the bid, connecting homes to water for those that would like to hook up. Council member Fehrenbacher questioned again the justification for abandoning the lift station in favor of a new gravity line. He felt the cost is too high, and the potential impact of digging that deep could create unstable soil conditions under the street. Council member Fehrenbacher left the meeting at 8:20 p.m. The Council discussed whether sidewalks would be needed. Consensus was that sidewalks should not be installed at this time. The council discussed the benefits of replacing all of the, curb rather than only the minimum needed to construct the street and utility services. Design of the project would easier and would allow better handling of stormwater if all of the curb could be replaced. The comment sheets filled out following the open house indicated that residents were split on the matter. Consensus seemed to be to follow the original plan of replacing only the minimum necessary.