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08-10-99 WSCITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION -AUGUST 10,1999 A work session of the Hopkins City Council was Leld at 6:30 p.m. on August 10, 1999, at the City Ha11. Co~mcil members present were Mayor R~edept~m*ig and Conseil Members Hesch, Jensen, Johnson and Maxwell. City ~ p were ~Y Mantes MieUoe, Finance Dn~ IAri Yager. Also pnseat were Jm~ Parsons and Kathleen Tabor i~ the Depot; Bobbie HartSiel for city publications; Brim Lamb, Stuart Krahn and Steve for the Metro Transit; Capt. James Liddy and Sgt. C~or+don W~org of the City Police; and Fire (~tief Don Beclcering and Assis~mt C2tief eve Klooek. Depot Outlook, Jim Plvr~n=, pe~eseeo~' Mr. Parsons sand that the Depot opened its doors 9/2!'98. The Coffee House Las lost money every moth. However, the school district Les monies that may be focthoo®i~ng that would balance that out. KA+h~et~ Tabor, preaertit manager, said that wLea one looks at the original financial plan and tapes into eo ' n that two fiords that were in that projecxion never matiert~>;~, the Coffee Howe is actually at the point that was forecast. Mr. Parsons noted that the unpaved parking lot Las been a d~~c,.d do ca...•.~~ti ~ business, and that a teen ~ t--~ ~ ooor+diaator Las just started work. Fran Hesch noted that the situation is analogo~ua do the Senior Center, which always loses moey and would need to ctiose witho~rt the city sabsi~i~:.y; it. Steve MieUoe said Le Las talloed do the other partners and they Lave agreed do Delp art for sot least the short berm. The main question is "What are we subai~t~ng'1" ~Ve do not wanot do subsidise a business, bax a place for tieeos do gather is arorthwlsile. Further, haw do we know when we Lave succeeded? Karen Jensen noroed that the two parts - tieea ~t--~ ~ and catfi,~ Lauae - cannot be sepataobed in reality. Fran Hesch said that when the prajecx started, rt was assumed oo~.....-...~y vnTM•~fir ~~ would be ~rtitim~; instead paid personal Lea done the work. Also m greats Lave been applied for in the past year as far as she kaoa-s. The schools Lave doge nothing to pro®ate it as a chemical-free emu~„~~eat for teens. The school district applied finr a X374,000 great for chemical use ro~tion among teens. Minnet~~ Pier, which is a Ai*~>>A* set-up inside the Minn~etr,*~~ school, went to Health SyrssbGems for a great with a projection of t~~~,r 5 years tD bTealc even, and they Lave no neat do pay. Ks~rhl~n Tabor noted more tieGas Lave dtardd do eo®e. She think the fu~~, is actually brighter than the preset forecastm~dicaobes. In answer do Mr. Maxardl's question, Lori Y~er said anj- cstY subsidy wanld Dome from the ~~•~:•~~cy fund. oral Cooseoa~s: Mr. Mielloe shoutid go do the partnaa ~ get ideas. The ~ oo~uncil is willing to sabs~dize the project as a whole for the shorn berm. Marketing PioliCy, Bobble Hsnt~, preseotar Ms. Hsrtfiel presented a draft policy for promotional itien~s in cdty-sponsored ~~;~.d matter. She summarized the guideline as "We will do press releases, but no advertising." Mr. Mielloe suggeatiod that 2.01 be changed do "cooperative agru~.~yenot" rather than "joint power 1 agreement." Lori Yager said the policy should not state the city will never advertise in its ~;~.1 matter as in the future that may bocome a way do earn in~co®e for the city. Gene~rai Covseusus: The policy shall be called "Marloeting Practices." Section 2.03 should be looted at further, then the policy can eo®e to the council for aeon. Trandit wady, Phase II City Msmager Miel]oe introduced Brim Iamb, Stuart Krohn and S'tCVe of the Transit service. Stuart Krabn said city trait needs tD ch~mge bam~se of • congestion, needed '*npl~-ee transporh~*t~!ns and cbanging travel patterns. The transit aGrvviee needs do ;move micas service, reverse s~.......dc service, a~r..•.4..~ry eonnec;tions and fadlitiea. Stieve Mahowald noted the proposed changed would increase Hopkins area service 37~. Several new routies are planned; Route 614 has already beta t*npt~~enled, and increases have beta made is Ro~rte 12 and 64. Mr. Iamb said a draft repozt should be ready by mid~eplember, and a final draft by the end of September. Once the does have aeeep~tod the reports, public hearings can be held in the fourth quarter of 1999, probably in November. Hopefully nnple*nenta*tc~*~ ptnnni~ can start is January 2000, with actual t*npl~*ion starting is September ?A00. Funding is an issue. 1~ere are basically three so~urees: (1) Federal Government: T21, a foderal allocation for congestion m~ig~+ion, which has a 9/20/'99 application deadline, ccm be applyed for; (2) Transit ineo®e. At present fares are 3S'X~ of income, property tax gives 45-50~, and state appmopr~ations cover the real. The static ~ ' cam be approached for iamrases; (3) - taloe frmn other low usage areas do increase elsewhRxe, the beast advisable source. The major obstacle right now is that the cites waulld need do soQport the T21 grant applu~tion before they see the final draft. In answer to Mr. Maxwell's questions, he sand the TZi grant is good for up do 3 years and has a ~S.S milli~r~t cap. Each sector, however, can be applied for separatiely. If the new plan has not suecoeded in three years, the transit system woutid ~~.~r~t to its preseoot state; in other words, the c~ea would not be worse off than they are now. In answer do Ms. Reach's questions, he said the public hearings are advertised is papers, on the buses, and by worl-ivg throtigh city gover~ts and following their suggestions. The jasti5cation for T21 cannot be "welfare to work" but only "co~gestioa mt+ig~*~m'_" As to the transit way, fa~~'h11njr is still being looped at. If it seems poss~le, the titles will be approached in the fa-uclh quarter of 1999. Mr. Mondale has said he is willing to support the ~~. General eoaeeosas: Coal concern was ..cased about officially backing the T 21 application until 1VIr. Lamb ~,pt~t*~ed it could be put in very general terms: "We support the ~ro~r~ent of transit is our ca..•..-...pry and are aware of the proposal of the Metro 1'~osit." (He will seed exact language, tint it would be this geo~eral.) He added a formal resolution is the most helpful, but eves a letter would help. The Cauacil felt this would be acceptable language. The Council also felt that at this point a joint meeting with the other cities was not needed. P+olioe Dlapatch Dl~on, James Liddy and Gord~oa W~borg, p~erartera Captain I-iddY said the upgrading of the dispatch rt -~h-- impa~s not only the police, but also the fire department and public works. The aim of the presentation was not do "sell" a c~r.ctaiu 2 package, but to male the Council aware of its options. Sergesmot W~org headed a task forcx cp~^~~sed of people from all three departments that wurkcl from April S do August 10. He presented a slide progcrm~ ~>>;*~ their fi~t~. High points included: The last major upgrade was in 1988 for X562,000. Egrip~neout is rated fora 12-15 year life span, a~eept for the , which is 30 years. It was originally sche~~t~ for replaeemeat is 2001 at $47'7,000; but bas been moved back to 2003. The dispaobch ee~er maloes at least 67,000 co~acts per year. Far ~ of the public, these oo~acta are their o®ly di~r.ct oo~act with the city. A„~n~~t cost is ap~uely X289,000, which includes ~ costs. At present there is 24~ho~ur-away walk-in aad tietephone service. `r~~., main radio frequencies are owned by the city, with public worlra having as 800 mhz frequency. The most critical present problem is that the fire ~ has a repeated main. Chief Becloering added this means that fire departmeoot messages are not always tram~ttr~ as a repeatxr increases message range. So far it has not happened in a critical situation, but it ooulld cost lives. Other concerns are there is no CAD Man~gemenot, and the radio infias~re is aged (so old it is Y2K ooa~patible as it ~ Hat have the "new" cc~.~~ chips that can be i~~,atible). The City has three options: maintain the replacement plan as it is; w,d~~ct with rn~+~i~e ~~ciea (such as Hennepin County Sheriff Dept. or other ); consolidate with another city dispatch. If the Council looepa to the present plan it will main its fsequenRR:y licenses; maintain the presentt quick response time; beep col over personnel and service; be able to ]Deep its jail. Tf it does not it will save in personnel and equipment costs. If the Cauacil chooses to contract with Hennepin Covaty Sherit'fs Dept. there are financial savings, newer trc~logy, and fewer personnel problems. A big push is made by the Sherifi'a Deparmse~nt about "na user fees"; but there used to be n~o foes for jail use, and there now is a fee of X117 per day per booking. The disadvaa~es are that all radio frequ would have do be ~.--, ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ _ ~ ~ ~ -~ turned over do Hennepin County (each license is nth a ...i..i........ of X80,000), there would be a •..i•.:..~...• 7-year ct,......i~~t; X300,000 in equip®enut would beoo®e the Caunty'a; transition costs (movutg e ,etc.) would be about X80,000; calla are on a sector-wide priority so so®e Hopkins calls may have low priority; city ~vl would be r~mt*rial as there are only 3 7 members f+or ~ users to the Users Board which meets every 2 years; the jail may not be able do be maintained, which would add a cost of about ~i80,000 a year to use the Hennepin County ~~1tty; loss of the VARDA alarm (noise activated alarm for businesses). Basically the same issues would apply to cry.-~ng with other cities, but there are no d~Fmi~, coats or loss lists for those scenarios. Captain Liddy noted most systems are in the process of upgmdi~g so rn,*~~ers simply aren't available. Both Eaea Prairie and ~ have indicated they would be i~~..l in eonsoli~~nB, but both cities say the oon~1~~ force would have to be in their ~~itdi~. He said Hennepin County eo~acxing would give the moat savings wcl~.dly; however, that moult be weighed against losing the licenses (especially public works' 800 mhz license), the ~mkoawn coats that may arise when Heaaep~ County beoor~nes the country's first 800 mhz tnmk system, and Loss of ~,l~ul. Mayor Redapd~na asked haw Brooklyn ~'e*~e* gat its frequency license back. Mr. W~org noted that was 25 years ago; Haw it could not happe~a as the Met Council has put a moratorium on new frequencies for Heaaepia Co~unoty. Mr. Mielloe Hated that the equipme~ issues 3 have a titi.,© year period do be ~rorl~,.l on; what is driving this issue now is mampoNVer issues. In answer do Mr. 1V[axwell, Mr. wiborg said a transition do Heon~epin County would take 9-10 months. The ~a~l lass ~ ~ '~ .r'n~o~md the the law requues fn'~haur-a-day Wg; w~o~rt the dispatch tt -~i,~ m~,~iuu;~g system, that would mean hu~i~g someone do monitor. In answer t0 Mayor Red~epemm~g, Shane of the fire dep®rtmaot Said a npeaoteer a~onld be ~?A,000-X30,000. Chief Liddy noted an~otblGr option is to go ahead with ~...rtuipping as planned, and in 12-15 years the Couauty's 800 mhz system would be a reality so ~~~ making would have a better foundation. Diane JohnSan asloed about c~a' opinions of using Hena~epin Cauno~r; Sgt. wig said the city pereonael are usually positive, hot the fireaaMa and police on duty are concerned abort officer safety becaouse of the way the systiem work8. Since this was an iafnr~i~on-only preeGO~ti~on, tha+e was n~o oo~osus ~ action. 1~rre was general consensus that the fire need is im~nt. . ~;~ Steve Mt't~• said the Civil Service ~'-~.....•~asion sets up the process for the replaeeme~. Their job is to set job descriptions, hiring and firing, and implementing the appeal procxss. The new law changes now make it poss~le to eliminate the ~'~issian if the Council fecla it is not Wended; that d~r-+ muust be made within 30 days if the Council, not the ~'~*~+~asion, is to replace the Chief. Co~nseoss~s:lbere should be s joint meeting with the Civil Service r~~~sian do discuss the process of s~1~~n and the issue of whether the Cwuu~iSSion should ~-¢.~:...~e do exist. This should happen after the me~*~ of August 17. Motion do adjaua was made by Fr'm Heech and eeoand~ed by Diane Johnson. It passed ' sly. M~+*yl adjaatned at 10:25 p.m. Kasay K~es~r, aaading s.xa~~~ CovNC~ ,~ _~ 1 `. - ~ - ~~ >~,~.~ Clurles D. _ ,Maya ~ L' 4