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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-02-12 WS & CC Minutes - Approved CITY OF CENTERVILLE WORK SESSION AND CITY COUNCIL MEETING February 12, 2025 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the City of Centerville held their Work Session prior to their Regularly Scheduled Council Meeting of February 12, 2025, commencing at 5:00 p.m. The Council held their regularly scheduled City Council Meeting at 6:30 p.m., in Council Chambers. The regularly scheduled meeting (6:30 p.m.) was live streamed by North Metro TV. WORK SESSION (5:00 PM) I. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Love called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. 1. Roll Call PRESENT: Mayor D. Golden Council Member Russ Koski Approved Council Member Darrin Mosher Council Member Anita Rios Council Member David Kubat Junior Council Member Sofie Wynn (Non-Voting) ABSENT: None STAFF: City Administrator, Mark Statz Interim City Administrator, Athanasia Lewis II. DISCUSSION ITEMS 1. City Administrator Search Administrator Statz reviewed the information contained in Council’s packet. Discussion ensued as to hiring a firm to complete a search for filling the City Administrator vacancy or hiring within. Five firms submitted proposals and three were interviewed. Council would be reviewing the firms and forwarding a recommendation to staff. Council also discussed the merits of the firms. A lengthy discussion ensued. 2. City Planner Administrator Statz reviewed the information contained in Council’s packet. City of Centerville City Council Work Session & Meeting Minutes February 12, 2025 Discussion ensued regarding the City’s planner impending retirement in June, appropriate time to obtain RFPs for services and that it would align with commencing work on the Comprehensive Plan update for 2050. It was anticipated that RFPs would be forwarded to firms in April with evaluation in May. 3. Interim Public Works Organization Chart Administrator Statz reviewed the information contained in Council’s packet. Discussion ensued regarding the proposed Interim City Organizational Chart, reflection of the redistribution of retired Public Works Director Palzer, and placing a higher responsibility on Mr. Tedd Peterson, who will be action as Interim Public Works Director and Mr. Dan Schmitz will continue his role as both Public Works and the Building Official. III. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Golden adjourned the meeting at 6:25 p.m. allowing for a five (5) minute break prior to the starting of the regular Council meeting. COUNCIL MEETING I. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Golden called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. 1. Roll Call PRESENT: Mayor D. Golden Council Member Russ Koski Council Member Darrin Mosher Approved Council Member Anita Rios Council Member David Kubat Junior Council Member Sofie Wynn (Non-Voting) ABSENT: None STAFF: City Administrator, Mark Statz Assistant City Administrator, Athanasia Lewis City Attorney, Kurt Glaser II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Golden stated that she would ask the audience if they were present to speak, as each agenda allows for an open forum – an opportunity for the public to speak to Council prior to the starting of each meeting. She stated that she would like Council to be aware that several residents have concerns regarding the following: Page 2 of 10 City of Centerville City Council Work Session & Meeting Minutes February 12, 2025  A strip of land by Heritage Street, Block 7 – requesting to rezone back to R-2 (Single-Family, Residential)  Snow removal from trail along Main Street near St. Gen’s Cemetery – to show caution for headstones and new fencing  Proposed 2025 Thin Mill & Overlay – residents had concerns with the 2022 Overlay project as they feel it was not completed affectively as it could have been III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Mayor Golden provided an opportunity for Council to make modifications to the agenda, if needed. Motion by Council Member Koski, seconded by Council Member Kubat to Approve the Set Agenda as presented. All in favor. Motion carried. IV. APPOINTMENTS & PRESENTATIONS 1. None. IV. PUBLIC HEARING 1. None. VI. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES 1. January 8, 2025, City Council Minutes Mayor Golden provided an opportunity for Council to make modifications if needed. Motion by Council Member Mosher, seconded by Council Member Rios, to Approve the City Council Minutes, as presented. All in favor. Motion carried. 2. January 11, 2025, Work Session Minutes Motion by Council Member Rios, seconded by Council Member Kubat to Approve the City Council Work Session Minutes, as presented. All in favor. Motion carried. VII. CONSENT AGENDA 1. City of Centerville Claims through February 12, 2025 (Checks #37357-37402, E2364-E2372 & Voided Check #37263) 2. Centennial Lakes Police Department Claims through February 6, 2025 (Checks #15564- 15598, E2025007-2025009. Payroll Checks #15579- 15584 & 15561-15563 & Voided Check #15504) 3. Centennial Fire District Claims through February 11, 2025 (Checks #9843-9859, E2025001- E2025002, Payroll Check #9843-9844 & Voided Check #9842) Page 3 of 10 City of Centerville City Council Work Session & Meeting Minutes February 12, 2025 4. Special Event Application – Private Property (Centerville Elem. Spring Festival) 5. Res. #24-0XX Calling for a Public Hearing on a Proposed Inflow and Infiltration Grant Program 6. Res. #25-0XX - Amending the 2025 List of Appointments 7. Ordinance #XXX, Second Series - Comcast Franchise Extension Agreement 8. Resolution #25-0XX – Supporting MACTA’s Efforts for PEG/Public Access Funding 9. Connect Anoka County (Broadband Service) 10. Parks & Recreation Committee Recommendation to Approve Running Ventures (Nissa Larson) Contract for Race Coordination (5/8K Run & Kids Fun Run) 11. Parks & Recreation Committee Recommendation to Approve Park Facility Usage, LaMotte Park by Centennial Community Education Mayor Golden provided an opportunity for members to pull items for additional discussion. Council Member Kubat requested additional discussion for Item #9, Council Member Rios requested additional discussion contained in Item #1 and Mayor Golden requested additional discussion on Item #5. Council Member Rios asked about Check #37377 – Jeff’s Tree and Landscape Services. She commented on the costs of removing 25 Ash trees that the city had removed. She stated that they had just removed six trees and paid $4,500. She also stated that she had contacted the city to ascertain whether the city could recommend a vendor, and she was told that was something the city did not do. Council Member Rios felt that the city had received a great rate and was wondering if residents could receive similar rates from the vendor. Administrator Statz stated that the city does not have a preferred vendor’s listing and does not endorse any given vendor. He stated that a resident that abutted city owned property hired Jeff’s Tree and Landscape Services to remove trees on their private property but gave thought to completing a joint project with the city to also remove dead trees located on city owned property (drainage area). Administrator Statz stated that the total removal costs was $6,000 with the city paying half. Mayor Golden stated that she was concerned about the proposed public hearing date of the proposed I & I Program Guidelines as Spring Break was approaching and she requested that the date be moved to March 26, 2025. Council Member Koski asked Administrator Statz to explain what the public hearing was about. Administrator Statz explained that the grant funding was to be utilized for private property owners to improve their sanitary sewer lines to ensure that they are only carrying sewer versus sewer and ground water. He stated that each individual sewer line should be sealed and only take sanitary sewer to the MCES for treatment. He stated when it rains, there is spike in the inflow into the MCES sanitary sewer system which seems to be infiltration of ground water. He stated that the city would need to draft guidelines for the program, and they would be available for review at the public hearing, fund received from MCES was $41,000 and the program would be on a first-come, first-serve basis. Page 4 of 10 City of Centerville City Council Work Session & Meeting Minutes February 12, 2025 Discussion ensued. Motion by Council Member Kubat, seconded by Council Member Koski to adopt the resolution and to change the date of the Public Hearing, Item #5, to March 26, 2025, as presented. All in favor. Motion carried. Council Member Kubat asked about the Anoka County broadband and whether the city was keeping the current connection speed of 100 megabytes and if the city had two connections – one for city hall and one for public works at $75 for each line. Assistant City Administrator stated yes – so total will be $150 for both. Administrator Statz clarified that the bill is for one connection at city hall, and it is being split two ways (city hall and the fire station). Motion by Council Member Koski, seconded by Council Member Mosher, to approve the Consent Agenda Items#1 through 4 and Items #6 through 11, as presented. All in favor. Motion carried. VIII. OLD BUSINESS 1. Solar Project Administrator Statz stated that the solar project is being brought forward as there has not been much clarity coming from the White House as to what is in and what is not. He stated that the city spoke with the contractor as to what the savings are, what are expected revenue is to be meaning how much power are we going to save and how much it is going to save us on our electricity bill. He stated that with the tax credit it was a 2–3-year payback but without it, it would be an 8–9-year payback. He stated that the contract is signed and if we did not go through with the project, the city would be out the $11,000-$12,000 with nothing to show for it. He stated that the city should move forward with the project, hope for the best on the tax credit and if we don’t get it, it's still a decent project at 8–9-year payback. He stated that this was a conservative approach, depending on how much Xcel raises their rates with a potential for saving more. He stated the other option was to pause the project, risk the price of solar panels and labor going up if you make that decision to do this later. He stated that staff recommendation is to go forward with this project. A discussion ensued as to the savings, the life expectancy of the solar panels, and the warranties. Motion by Council Member Rios, seconded by Council Member Kubat approve to proceed with the Solar Project, as presented, All in favor. Motion carried. 2. City Administrator Search Administrator Statz stated that they had some time to discuss at the workshop the various proposals they received from search firms regarding hiring a search firm or hiring within. Council Member Mosher stated that he would be in favor of moving forward with the search firm under the conditions that we are agreeable between our committee of personnel as to what we are looking for in a City Administrator and share that at a meeting but not voted on - shared what the results were. He asked council if they are looking for two motions – one being moving forward to hiring a search firm or we are looking for the firm that we are going to use? Administrator Statz stated that you could do both. If you want to make a motion to use a search firm or to accept that proposal with any contingencies you want. Page 5 of 10 City of Centerville City Council Work Session & Meeting Minutes February 12, 2025 Council Member Mosher, seconded by Council Member Koski, to approve the use the GMP group to do the search and with the contingencies knowing what we want with the personnel group and sharing what our needs are. Council Member Koski stated he wanted more clarification on that motion. He stated, so we are going to make a motion in the request for action to approve the proposal from GMP to authorize and execute a contract to perform a search. He asked do we need to add any additional conditions to the motion or is that going to be in the proposal itself. Administrator Statz stated he thinks what Council Member Mosher was asking is the proposal itself. He stated what we discussed in the work session was perhaps adding contingency to ask a question about social media scrubbing and to define that with satisfaction of the City Attorney. Attorney Glaser asked if their motion is contingent on that, he did not hear that in the motion, but Administrator Statz just brought up what you were talking about at the workshop. Council Member Mosher stated that he wanted to make sure that there was designated time to go into, defining what the city was looking for before we hire the group. Council Member Mosher stated he retracts his statement and just going forward with the motion with GMP. Administrator Statz stated to just to clarify, Council Member Mosher would like to entertain the contingency to ask them to clarify to the satisfaction of the city engineer, the social media scrubbing question first. Council Member Mosher concurred. Motion by Council Member Mosher, seconded by Council Member Koski with the friendly amendment for clarification, to approve with the City Administrator search with the contingency plan going forward to hire the GMP group, as presented, All in favor. Motion carried. Attorney Glaser stated in the work session is was discussed that the personnel committee might be the liaison instead of staff. He stated typically this would be a function of the City Administrator or the Interim City Administration. He stated that the current Interim Administrator was a potential candidate for this position. Do you want to give directions to that staff member, himself or the personnel board on who should basically be the liaison and run that search? It might be a recommendation since you have an internal candidate, you have me complete the task or the personnel board. If you want the personnel board, that could be a function of the board. Do you want to discuss that? Council Member Rios stated that she thinks it was a reasonable expectation that the personnel board would serve in the capacity of the liaison with the search firm. Mayor Golden concurred. Administrator Statz asked Attorney Glaser whether a motion was needed or was it staff direction and Attorney Glaser stated there might be a motion that is appropriately given as normally the task would be given to staff. The personnel board is really built in a way that it is supposed to be an advisory committee versus a working committee. He explained that this would be expanding their role slightly; however, was reasonable. He explained that it might be wise to have a motion for council consideration, discussion and a vote. Discussion ensued and Administrator Statz suggested a motion to appoint the committee as the point of contact for the consultant. Page 6 of 10 City of Centerville City Council Work Session & Meeting Minutes February 12, 2025 Motion by Mayor Golden, seconded by Council Member Koski to appoint the contact for the search firm to be the personnel committee. All in favor, Motion carried. 3. Res #25-0XX Receiving the Feasibility Report, Ordering the Plans and Specifications and Calling for the Public Improvement Hearing on the 2025 Thin Overlay Project Administrator Statz stated that Ms. Schlegel is here to present the feasibility study and go through the presentation as contained in council’s packet. Ms. Schlegel reviewed the general process of State Statute, Chapter 429 and its processes. Discussion ensued regarding costs, assessment and streets covered by the project. Motion by Council Member Koski, seconded by Council Member Rios approve Res #25-009 Receiving the Feasibility Report, Ordering the Plans and Specification and Calling for the Public th Improvement Hearing on the 2025 Thin Overlay Project on March 26 for this project, as presented, Council Member Kubat stated that for the record, he was skeptical of the benefits of the Old Mill portion of this project at this time with surveying and such being completed with the Lino Lakes project. All in favor. Motion carried. 4. Interim Public Works Director Position Administrator Statz stated that it was discussed at the work session that it was staff recommendation to move forward with Mr. Peterson as the Interim Public Works Director which would assume some of the duties that the City Administrator position contained until such time as the position is filled and the hired employee will consider retaining those duties or determining if a Public Works Director was needed. He stated that it sounded as though council felt highly of Mr. Peterson’s abilities to perform the duties. He stated that the motion should be contingent on the labor union agreeing to the job description. Motion by Mayor Golden, seconded by Council Member Kubat to appoint Mr. Tedd Peterson as the Interim Public Works Director Position pending approval of the job description by the union, as presented, All in favor. Motion carried. IX. NEW BUSINESS 1. Brian Drive Bridge Evaluation Administrator Statz reviewed the proposal from Stantec regarding the Brian Drive bridge. He stated that the culverts under Brian Drive, are large enough to be classified as a “bridge”, under the MNDOT rules. Every two years the bridge (set of two culverts) is inspected and, from time to time, minor maintenance is recommended and completed. An inspection from a few years ago found the bridge to be under- designed for heavier loads; something which had never been pointed out before. The immediate solution was to put up "restricted bridge" signs, limiting the loads that can travel across it. For most traffic, this is fine, but there are an issue with heavy loads. Unfortunately, one of those heavy loads is a fire engine. Page 7 of 10 City of Centerville City Council Work Session & Meeting Minutes February 12, 2025 The city should work to evaluate what would needs to be completed to bring the bridge up to code for these larger loads. It may be as simple as adding some thickness to the pavement, or as complicated as replacing the culverts. He stated that there was an attached proposal to complete that evaluation. Motion by Council Member Kubat, seconded by Council Member Rios, approve a proposal from Stantec for the Brian Drive bridge evaluation, as presented, All in favor. Motion carried. 2. Escrow Closures Administrator Statz stated that his position oversees all the development in the community and the decision was made to expedite some of these closures. He stated that contained in council’s packet was memorandum defining the various projects that needed to be closed out. He stated that he has reviewed all the escrows and approves of their releases. Discussion ensued regarding Amazon’s $650,000 escrow. Motion by Mayor Golden, seconded by Council Member Mosher to approve the Escrow Closures, as presented. All in favor. Motion carried. X. COUNCIL/ADMINISTRATOR ANNOUNCEMETS 1. Administrator’s Report – Interim City Administrator, Ms. Lewis reviewed the Administrator’s Report which was contained in council’s packet. She thanked Mr. Statz for his years of service as well as outgoing Council Members and Jr. Council Member Sauber. 2. Council Report a. Kubat - (i) Parks & Recreation Committee – Council Member Kubat stated that the Parks & Recreation meeting went well. He stated some of the items had been covered in the Administrator’s Report. He reported items that would be coming to the council’ would be the finalizing of installation of a disc golf course proposal of approximately in the $10,000 range, pickleball courts and a draft policy for staff to approve Park Facility Permits. (ii) Centennial Fire District Steering Committee – Council Member Kubat gave no report. b. Koski – Council Member Koski reported that he attended a recent meeting of the Anoka County Local Public Officials where Mayor Golden and City Clerk Bender were also in attendance. He reported that discussions included use of Poll Pads during elections and a recent Opioid Program being run by the County. (i) Planning & Zoning Commission – Council Member Koski stated that the meeting was rd held on February 4 where a concept plan review was considered for Old Mill Estates 3 Addition and proposed amendments to Chapter 156 regarding the M-2 District and the Table of Allowed Uses. (ii) Centennial Fire District Steering Committee – Council Member Koski gave no report. Page 8 of 10 City of Centerville City Council Work Session & Meeting Minutes February 12, 2025 (iii) Anoka County Fire Protection Council – Council Member Koski reported that the fee to be member of the Anoka County Fire Protection was going up from $700 to $900 annually He stated that Anoka County has been working on creating a fire training center and that they were anticipating it to be opening in 2025 and that it would not happen. He stated that they would be voting on a budget at their next meeting. c. Rios - (i) Economic Development Authority - Council Member Rios stated that EDA Member Ms. Swenson, herself and Ms. Lewis all attended the Hugo Business Association. She reviewed some of the highlights of the meeting such as growth in Hugo, the number of permits they issued for single-family and multi-family homes, their street projects among other statistics. She stated that the City of Hugo was also experiencing the shortage of fire fighters. She noted that the next EDA meeting was cancelled due to lack of quorum. d. Mosher – (i) Economic Development Authority – Council Member Mosher gave no report. (ii) Centennial Lakes Police Department Governing Board – Council Member Mosher reported that Mr. Jacob Marin was sworn in as a Community Service Officer and Officer Brock Baker was sworn in as a Peace Officer. th e. Golden – Mayor Golden reminded the audience that the Centerville Lions 40 Annual Ice Fishing Contest was on Saturday. (i) Centennial Lakes Police Department Governing Board – Mayor Golden stated that Council Member Mosher reviewed the Centennial Lake Police Department Governing Board earlier. (ii) North Metro Telecommunications Commission – Mayor Golden stated that the commission’s executive committee meeting was upcoming. (iii) Other Mayoral Reports – Mayor Golden stated that Jr. Council Member Wynn had a discussion on her participation and importance of being on council. She stated that they would be work together to complete a special project that Ms. Wynn would be working on throughout the year and present in December. Mayor Golden stated that she may invite a member of the Alternative School to come before the council. f. Jr. Council Member Wynn – Jr. Council Member Wynn updated council on events that were happening at the high school. She stated that girls’ flag football started as a club, and they are hoping the sport will become a varsity program. She said that the girls’ hockey team was doing exceptionally well. She reported that over the last month, the school has inducted new members into the NHS (National Honor Society) and mentioned that Centennial will host a culture fair at the high school and that she believed it would be around Memorial Day. Mayor Golden congratulated Jr. Council Member Wynn on being on the National Honor Society. g. Attorney Glaser - stated that they have a new person at their firm, Ms. Natalia Bronchova. He stated that she is a Russian and that she was a law student. He stated that she would be working with the CLPD and at the Anoka Law Library. He stated that her duties include drafting memorandums and research for prosecution cases. XI. ADJOURNMENT Page 9 of 10 City of Centerville City Council Work Session & Meeting Minutes February 12, 2025 Motion by Council Member Koski, seconded by Council Member Rios to adjourn the meeting of February 12, 2025, at 9:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted by City Clerk, Teresa Bender. Page 10 of 10