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08-28-01 WSAugust 28, 2001 Page 1 MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION -AUGUST 28, 2001 A work session of the Hopkins City Council was held at 6:30 p.m. on August 28, 2001, at the City Hall. Council members present were Mayor Maxwell and Council members Brausen, Jensen and Johnson. City personnel present were City Manager Mielke, Finance Director Yager, Public Works Director Stadler, Police Chief Reid, Captain James Liddy, Tom Laurentz, City Manager Assistant Stahmer, and Publications Director Hartfiel. Tuttle's Bowl Parking Lot Reconstruction City Manager Mielke said last Friday staff found out no permit had been issued for Tuttle's Bowl parking lot reconstruction as required by both the Watershed District and Hopkins. Work was halted. The owner asked the city to help. City staff proposes a grading plan be submitted by the contractor which the city would sign with the conditions that when Shady Oak Road work is done the lot will be brought up to code. The Watershed official will probably be willing to make that compromise since future development is planned for that area. The city attorney has written a memo what the agreement would need to include. Mr. Stadler said he feels this was a reasonable accommodation for the property owner, as otherwise it would take at least a month for the normal process. He suggested that all building permits might have a check-off as to whether any outside work would be done to prevent future problems. Action: Ms. Johnson moved that the mayor and city manager be authorized to sign the agreement as set forth in the city attorney's memo. Ms. Jensen seconded. Carried 4-0. Public Facilities Discussion Mr. Mielke said his and Ms. Hartfiel's concern is if their communication plan is what the Council wants. Ms. Johnson said she is concerned that the option of moving to Alliant Tech was added at the end, and asked if City Hall needed to be in the mix. Ms. Jensen feels City Hall has been covered and said that even though the school referendum had been postponed, it is still being talked about and it would still be school vs. city if the city did a referendum. Mr. Mielke said the staff idea is to move toward the present concept, but the public will ask if other options were considered and so included Alliant Tech. Chief Reid added Alliant Tech is out of the fire department's response area. Mr. Brausen said what the Council is "selling" is public safety., which doesn't include City Hall. Mayor Maxwell said the issue is public health, safety and welfare. Mr. Mielke asked for discussion of communication tactics. Mr. Brausen said visual aids and demonstrations were essential, adding 2 feet beside a fire truck is not adequate. Ms. Jensen said she'd like photos of a fireman in full gear in the present 2 feet of space. Ms. Johnson suggested OSHA requirements should be checked on adequate space around the trucks. Mr. Mielke asked if the Council is included where it wants to be. Mr. Brausen said he likes the Council as part of the Speakers' Bureau. Ms. Johnson agreed if the Council member is paired with a staff person. Ms. Jensen said she feels the main push has to come from the departments and other staff people as well as community citizens; she later said her concern was to reach those not already convinced, that the Speakers' Bureau not be "preaching to the choir. " Mayor Maxwell said he sees the Council as going to each department and getting them fired up to go out. The involved departments have over 100 people. His concern is that each department is really behind the idea and will push for it. Mr. Stadler noted not all his people are convinced Plan C will work for them as they are actually losing square footage. Mr. Laurentz said everyone agrees something is needed, but not all the department people involved agree what is needed. August 28, 2001 Page 2 Ms. Jensen asked if Central Park could be used to expand into. Mr. Mielke said if Public Works is not happy, it and other sites to the north will have to be looked at; one drawback is Central Park is largely landfill. Mr. Laurentz said he had just learned that the anticipated second floor cannot be built in the fire engine space as it is two feet too low, which cuts their space 3-4,000 sq. ft. Chief Reid said the architect should have rough drawings of layouts by their meeting next week. Mr. Mielke said he had learned the Council does have the option of a special referendum not tied to any other election. The cost would be about $10,000. Staff is hoping that by the end of September they will know if Plan C will work for the departments. General Consensus First the space needs to be worked out. Then the Council will meet with the departments, hopefully at the end of September. Ms. Johnson suggested also meeting with City Hall employees. Then the Council will meet with the "Let's Talk" group to get them informed and excited. After that, written information will be sent to the public. Lodging Tax Discussion Mr. Stahmer said it is legal to use an existing department with a current employee to run the tourist bureau required by the lodging tax; however, he had contacted twenty other cities, and Fergus Falls is the only one who uses a city employee. The rest do it by consultant or the Chamber of Commerce. He contacted Hopkins House and has not received a reply; one option they are considering is closing. Therefore, current implementation may not bring revenue, but he feels putting it in place is still a good idea in case a future hotel is built. He has talked to three city employees about heading the tourist bureau; Susan Hanna-Bibus feels she is handling all she can doing HCA, but Bobbie Hartfiel and Jay Strachota are open to the idea if other work can be shifted elsewhere. He said while it could not be used just for the HCA as originally hoped, it could defray some of their promotion costs and would not deter any hotel from coming. Mr. Mielke added putting the tax in place would cost the city nothing if no revenue was brought in. Mr. Brausen complimented Mr. Stahmer on his report. Ms. Jensen noted the legislature had given Hopkins $50,000 per year in lieu of allowing a food and beverage tax, and that money could be used as the Council wishes. Ms. Johnson said she likes the idea, but feels a city employee would not have the expertise needed. General Consensus: There was general agreement with Mayor Maxwell's suggestion to see if rooming houses came under the lodging definition. Mr. Stahmer should draft the ordinance and bring it to a work session after approval by the city attorney. 2002 Budget & Levy Finance Director Yager said the current levy limit is higher than what Hopkins needs; no matter what budget the Council chooses as a preliminary budget, there could be hundreds of thousands added to it before the limit is reached. By this year's legislation, if the extra levy is not used now, it can be used next year. The legislature gave $50,000 for HCA but the city lost $40,000 for its general fund. She would like HCA to become a special revenue fund and eliminate its debt this year through park dedication fees, economic development money, etc. The HRA authority levy would offset the loss in TIF, bringing in $100,000 and adding 90C a month per average household. She recommended passing a 9.8 % increase in levy, which is 4 % under the levy limit. The preliminary levy limit has a September 22 deadline. She recommended Preliminary Budget Option 3, noting the Council could downgrade it later if they felt it necessary. She said the Salaries and Benefits amount was held to a 3 % increase because the insurance commission found equivalent insurance with Health Partners and saved a current $30,000 and $100,000 August 28, 2001 Page 3 compared to next year's premiums. She added city employees still could keep their present doctors, etc. Two salaries have been moved into the Economic Development fund. She increased the usual contingency amount by $100,000. Shady Oak should be paid off through Capital Improvement reserves. Mr. Strachota's budget asks for an extra $93,000. . Answering Ms. Jensen as how to explain the increase, Ms. Yager noted all first string suburbs are in the same position. The state decreased the cities' tax capacity, so tax rates have to go up. Even with no change at all in the budget, taxes would have to go up 10% due to state actions. General Consensus: All agreed with Mayor Maxwell's suggestion that a list be drawn up showing what the public would lose if the levy were not raised. Suggestions included 911, the senior activity center, the metro drug task force, HCA, parks programs. All agreed that it should be stressed the Council had stayed 4% under the levy limit, even though state aid was cut by $40,000. Ms. Yager should try to find out what the overall tax reduction will be by the next Council meeting and try to find out what other cities are doing. All agreed Budget Option 3 should be used and that the levy limit should be 9.8 % . Other Miscellaneous Ms. Jensen asked that the problems caused by car transporters parking on both sides of 17`" be looked into. Ms. Johnson said the Highlights had included nothing about the city election, although it covered other elections. Ms. Jensen noted the phone numbers, names of city people to contact, etc. had been omitted. Mr. Mielke talked about the Dow Towers problems. Mr. Brausen suggested calling Passageways. Ms. Johnson moved adjournment; Mr. Brausen seconded. Meeting adjourned at 10:05 p.m. Kasey Kester, Secretary ATTEST: r r Eugene J Maxwell, Mayor