Regular Saint Michael City Council Meeting

MINUTES REGULAR SAINT MICHAEL CITY COUNCIL MEETING JANUARY 13, 2009 Saint Michael Council Chambers 7:00 p.m. Present: Mayor Jerry Zachman; Council Members Dean Eggert, Joe Hagerty, Kevin Kasel and Cindy Weston; City Engineer Steve Bot; City Attorney Dave Lenhardt; City Administrator Robert Derus; and City Clerk Diana Berning. Community Development Director Weigle was excused. Mayor Zachman called the meeting to order, declaring a quorum present. The Pledge of Allegiance was said, and the mayor welcomed those in the audience. Oath of Office. City Clerk Diana Berning administered the oath of office to Mayor Jerry Zachman and Councilors Dean Eggert and Cindy Weston. Set Agenda. Attorney Dave Lenhardt requested his report be moved to the end of the meeting for a closed session to discuss settlement options for a parcel in eminent domain along the One-Way Pair Project. Council Members Eggert/Weston moved approval of the agenda. All voted aye. Citizen Input. Andrew Tessmer 11263 16th Street NE. He had a few questions regarding his property taxes. He asked what percentage of his property taxes goes to the City of St. Michael. Derus answered about 20-25% of the annual property taxes are paid to the city, the remaining amount goes to either Wright County or a school district. Tessmer asked what steps St. Michael has taken to respond to the current state deficit. Derus said we have cut where we could. The number of staff is down about 20% from the highest point, and there are no proposed staff increases for 2009. Tessmer also questioned where money has been spent in the last few years. Kasel explained there were several major infrastructure projects that needed to be completed to keep up with the level of development. Weston said the council and staff saw a slowdown in growth happening a few years ago and have responded accordingly. Tessmer stated that government should not be immune to cuts or decreases in this economic slowdown. Zachman said staff has done what they could, and noted the amount of services provided by the city are still the same; there are still roads to be plowed, parks to be maintained, and phones to answer. Tessmer thanked the council for it’s time. Consent Agenda. Council Members Kasel/Eggert moved approval of Consent Agenda Items a) through g), as listed below. All voted aye. a) Resolution #01-13-09-01 Approving Minutes of the December 23rd City Council Meeting b) Resolution #01-13-09-02 Approving a Three-year Siren Contract with Ready Watt Electric c) Resolution #01-13-09-03 Declaring Intent to Bond 44th Circle NE Improvement Project d) Resolution #01-13-09-04 Accepting Donations to the Park Fund e) Resolution #01-13-09-05 Accepting Donations to the Fire Department f) Resolution #01-13-09-06 Approving Special Use Permit for Photography Studio g) Resolution #01-13-09-07 Approving Release of Lot 1, Block 1 Town Center East of St. Michael First Addition from Development Agreements Public Hearing – 44 th Circle NE – Public Improvement Hearing. Mayor Zachman opened the public hearing for the 44th Circle NE Improvement Project. City Engineer Bot explained the reason for this project is because a few items in the Development Agreement for the Whispering Woods Subdivision have not been completed yet, and the city is not able to draw on the Letter of Credit for the development. The feasibility study was approved by the council at the December 9 th Council Meeting. The project includes the final lift wear course on 44th Circle NE and two additional street lights at a total cost of $22,770, to be assessed to the six lots in the development. City Council – 01-13-09 – Page 2 The hearing was opened for public comment at 7:19 p.m. There being no public comment, Council Members Weston/Hagerty moved to close the hearing at 7:20 p.m., with all voting aye. Council Members Kasel/Eggert moved to adopt Resolution No. 01-13-09-08, ordering the improvement to 44th Circle NE from MacIver Avenue NE to the Eastern Cul-de-sac. All voted aye. Public Hearing – 44 th Circle NE – Assessment Hearing. Mayor Zachman opened the public assessment hearing for the 44th Circle NE Improvement Project. Bot explained the assessments will be levied over the six lots in the Whispering Woods Subdivision for five years with an interest rate of 6.5%. Eggert asked about the timing of the project. Bot said it is proposed to be completed this summer. There was additional discussion on escrows and letters of credit. The Mayor opened the hearing for public comment. There being none, Council Members Kasel/Weston moved to close the hearing at 7:30 p.m. Council Members Hagerty/Eggert moved to approve Resolution No. 01-13- 09-09, adopting the assessment roll for the 44th Circle NE Improvement project. All voted aye. Annual Appointments. After brief discussion, Council Members Kasel/Eggert moved approval of Resolution No. 01-13-09-10, which set the following annual appointments for 2009: Official Newspaper, Crow River News; Official Depositories, Salomon Smith Barney, Central Bank, Great Northern Bank, Highland Bank, RBC Dain Rauscher, PMA, Wells Fargo; Blanket Public Officials Bond, League of Cities Insurance Trust; and City Auditor MMKR – Malloy, Montague, Karnowski, Radosevich & Co. All voted aye. Discussion turned to council committee assignments. Council Members Zachman/Kasel moved to appoint Dean Eggert as Acting Mayor for 2009. All voted aye. Council Members Eggert/Kasel moved to appoint Joe Hagerty and Jerry Zachman as liaisons to the Joint Water Board, with Eggert as the alternate. All voted aye. Hagerty/Eggert moved appointment of Kasel as liaison to the Planning Commission, with Weston as the alternate. All voted aye. Hagerty/Eggert moved appointment of Weston as liaison to the Park Board, with Kasel as the alternate. All voted aye. Weston/Hagerty moved appointment of Zachman and Eggert to the Joint Hockey Board, and Hagerty as the alternate. All voted aye. Eggert/Hagerty moved appointment of Mayor Zachman and Eggert to the EDA, with Hagerty as the alternate. Eggert/Hagerty moved for Kasel as the liaison to the Fire Department. All voted aye. Hagerty/Kasel moved to appoint Weston as the liaison to FYCC. All voted aye. Hagerty questioned whether it is required for the mayor and one council member to be appointed to the Joint Water Board or if two council members can be appointed. Staff will check on the original agreement. Community Development Report. Town Center Commercial of St. Michael Third Addition – Preliminary Plat. Since Community Development Director Weigle was excused, Engineer Bot reviewed the preliminary plat for Town Center Commercial of St. Michael Third Addition with the council. He explained the biggest change to the infrastructure is a proposed median cut on Edgewood Drive to create a full intersection at Ash Avenue NE. The plat would initially create one lot and two outlot. He reported the Planning Commission reviewed the plat at the January 7th meeting, with discussion regarding future connections to Outlot B and sight distances for the landscaping in the median. A drugstore is planned for Lot 1, Block 1. Ash Avenue to the east of Edgewood Drive will be a private drive. The council discussed internal connections between uses. Bot explained each use will be required to go through the Site Plan process. Ordean Peterson from Alpha Development was present to answer questions. He stated construction on the drug store will begin as soon as possible. Alpha Development is also working on securing additional users for Outlot B. Council Members Kasel/Eggert moved to approve Resolution No. 01-13-09-11, approving the Preliminary Plat for Town Center Commercial of St. Michael Third Addition. All voted aye. Project Updates. Bot reported the senior housing project in Town Center, Legacy of St. Michael, is scheduled to close on the land this week and construction should begin soon on that project. Derus briefly updated the council on discussion with Cinch Systems. Weigle met with the owners of City Council – 01-13-09 – Page 3 Cinch Systems and toured several industrial buildings in St. Michael with them to determine whether St. Michael will work as a location for them. Staff will continue to work with Cinch Systems. Bot informed the council Mn/DOT approved the access plan for the downtown redevelopment project last week, which was necessary to keep that project moving forward. Bot also said the city is still working with Flagship Fitness, who is currently trying to secure financing for the project and it could still be many months before plans are finalized. The city was recently awarded a $400,000 grant for a new library, which requires construction to begin within six months of receiving the grant. The Council will discuss this at the next work session and decide whether to proceed with starting earthwork on the project or other options. City Engineer Report. Discuss Potential Final Lift Street Escrow. As follow-up from discussion at a previous council meeting, Engineer Bot provided the council with information regarding an escrow for street maintenance. He explained a brief history of what has been required in the past for installing the final pavement lift in developments. When development was happening at a faster pace, developers could wait to install the final lift until a majority of lots were built on. With the current slower paced development, it will be more important to have the final lift installed sooner for the structural strength of the roadway. The risk in requiring the final lift be installed sooner is the potential for building construction related damage to the final lift. Bot reviewed the current escrow accounts the city requires. The council discussed potential damage to the final lift and the cost for repairing any damages. It may be difficult to determine who is responsible for the damage, especially if several builders are working in the same development. The consensus of the council was to add repair for street damage as part of the current erosion control escrow that could be used to defray repair costs if determined necessary by staff. 2008 Computer Purchases. Bot reviewed the proposed 2009 Computer purchases with the council. He said in general, St. Michael has been able to exceed the average life of workstations by passing down older computers to less demand users. The average age of the computers proposed for replacement is six years. AdLAN Inc. has recommended replacement of four computer systems and the replacement of the main terminal server switch at a total cost of $5,173.92. The council discussed whether it is necessary to replace these computers at the beginning of the year or wait for a few months. Bot reported one of the computers scheduled for replacement did fail last month, and it would be good to be proactive before another one fails. Kasel said it is important to provide staff with the tools necessary to be efficient and updated computers are important. After additional discussion, Council Members Kasel/Eggert moved to approve the 2009 computer purchases as recommended at a total cost of $5,173.92. All voted aye. City Administrator Report. CGI Communication Video. The council was provided with information regarding CGI Communications, which is a company proposing to create a video for St. Michael to be used on the city’s website as a way to showcase St. Michael and local businesses. Examples from other cities were presented to the council. Kasel expressed concern with the one-year agreement and offered to research CGI Communications and see how the videos work on other city’s websites. The consensus of the council was to have Kasel research the company and report back at a future council meeting. Budget Without Inspections. Derus provided the council with a copy of the general fund budget without the inspections percentage taken from each fund. Kasel said it makes more sense to look at the budget in this format and suggested starting budget discussions earlier in the year next time for better review of the budget. This was for information only. Board Member Accident Policy. Derus noted the City’s Board Member Accident Policy expires at the end of February 2009, and recommended the council renew the insurance. It is not expensive City Council – 01-13-09 – Page 4 coverage, but is good to have. Council Members Eggert/Kasel moved to approve Resolution No. 01-13-09-12, renewing the Board Member Accident Policy through the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust. All voted aye. Approval of Claims. Council Members Kasel/Weston moved to approve Checks #26582 – 26661, Debit Card transactions, and January Dental Premiums in the amount of $906,842.32. All voted aye. Closed Session – One-Way Pair Settlement. Mayor Zachman closed the meeting for the purpose of discussing settlement options for the One-Way Pair project. The meeting was reopened at 9:25 p.m. During the closed session the council discussed settlement options and strategy with the City Attorney for the taking of the Gardas property. The council authorized the City Attorney to continue with negotiations to settle on this property. Adjourn. Council Members Eggert/Kasel moved to adjourn at 9:27 p.m. All voted aye. Attest:

______City Clerk Mayor