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11-12-02 WSNovember 12, 2002 Page 1 MIllTUTES CIT Y CuUNCIL WuRI~ SESSIuIV - November i2, 2002 A work session of the Hopkins City Council was held at 6:30 p.m. on November 12, 2002, at the City Hall. Council members present were Mayor Maxwell and Council members Brausen, Jensen, Johnson and Rowers. City personnel present were: City Manager Mielke; Assistant City Manager Genellie; Assistant to City Manager Stahmer; ChiefBuilding Inspector Davidson; Economic Director Kerrigan; and Finance Director Yager. Building Permit Construction Time Limit Inspector Davidson said that an ongoing, although infrequent, problem is that of building projects that never seem to end. There are two in Hopkins at present. The only present recourses are penalties based on property maintenance and fire codes, which help with outside problems but not interior problems. State law allows building permits to be reinstated at the holder's option. Bonding would be another enforcement mechanism, but would hurt those who can hardly afford their projects. The owner of the 19~' Ave. N. property is trying to comply but has said if he gets a citation, he gets a citation; he can't do any more. General discussion followed. Ms. Jensen said she hated to see ordinance changes for such an infrequent problem. Mr. Genellie suggested that a citation be issued as has been done, but that the fine be held for a certain amount of time to allow compliance. Mr. Mielke said the city loan program from CDBG funds is based on income and may have code issues; he will check on this. He suggested brochures with requirements be given with permits. Mr. Brausen suggested insurance companies be required on permit applications. General Consensus: Ordinance changes are not the answer. Mr. Genellie's suggestion should be studied. The brochure is a good idea, especially for additions, garages and fire damage. Junk Car Definition Mr. Genellie asked if the Council wanted to change the definition of "junk car" in the City Code, in particular the part that says it must have a current license. Discussion followed. Answering Mr. Rowan, Mr. Mielke said staff was unsure how to proceed as an unlicensed car had not been fined. Ms. Johnson raised the issue of race cars on the street. General Consensus: Current licensure should be retained in the definition. The additional criteria are good. Race car parking should be looked into by staff. Public Purpose Expenditures Mr. Genellie said the proposed policy was drafted due to the state audit of Brooklyn Park. General discussion followed. General Consensus: The policy is a good idea. Training and conference spending should include Council members. When the city manager is specified "or designee" should be added. When this is brought to the Council, it should not be a consent agenda item. Update on Hopkins Rail Station Area Study Mr. Stahmer said there were no major changes in the new draft. The circulator trolley was added. A resolution in support of the study will be before the Council Tuesday, but changes can be November 12, 2002 Page 2 made later if needed. Hopkins is not obligated financially in any way as the study is paid by federal monies throughllennepin C ouniy. Discussion followed. Pvls. Johnson asked that downtown Hopkins as a station location be included, especially if Hopkins is the line end. Mr. Mielke mentioned the alternative rail going north on Ninth talked of previously. Mr. Mielke noted that CSI on Blake and EDCO property north of the distribution center of SuperValu should be in the map of the study area. Budget Discussions Mr. Kerrigan noted Ms. Anderson is the only personnel largely funded from the general fund. Staffwill be looking at raising permit fees. Mr. Mielke noted Hopkins subsidizes variance costs. Mr. Kerrigan said the 2.7% reduction short term would have to come from reducing training and professional services; long-term would mean reducing secretarial hours. He then moved on to the special funds under his direction. The Economic and Community Development program had a Livable Communities grant of $620,000 for 2002. $61,000 will be taken out for 10 years for the HCA mortgage. The fund balance is going down, and government decisions may reduce it further. He explained the TIF districts and their term lengths. Para-Transit has 13,000 ridership. Met Council helps fund and thinks the bid very reasonable. Lowering costs would be by effected by eliminating the peak period second bus; staff will check statistics to see what the impact would be. Parking Fund is continuing to diminish. He will check with Vetty on the parking ramp maintenance. The budget and actual figures discrepancy for utilities/maintenance and supplies will be checked. Staff is looking into increasing permit fees. Interest in Housing Rehabilitation is growing. Salaries are down as Mr. Hartshorn has not been replaced. Public Housing is funded by HUD and has 86 units and a 6 month average waiting period. Section 8 Housing cannot meet the demand and has a 10,000 waiting list, not counting separate programs such as Raspberry Ridge. This is under contract with Met Council. He listed accomplishments for 2002 and objectives for next year. Mr. Mielke said that he and Ms. Yager are working on contingency budgets, in cooperation with department heads, and asked for feedback. This will enable Hopkins to be ready if government makes cuts mid-year; he feels the state election results put pressure on city budgets. Short term options include freezing capital expenditures, holding off on a new police officer, cutting travel budgets. Discussion followed. Mr. Brausen and Ms. Johnson said they hate the idea of cutting positions, but realize it maybe necessary. General consensus was that this is a good idea. Council liked that the options would be larger than the foreseen cuts so that program cut options are available. Other Ms. Jensen asked about the tickets issued for parking behind Big 10. Mr. Brausen and Mr. Rowers noted that is a fire lane. Mr. Mielke said he will check out the facts. Mr. Brausen said he is very upset about Marketplace Lofts trying to get Lommens to pay on the transformer. Ms. Johnson and Mr. Bowen said they would not be present next week. November 12, 2002 Page 3 Mr. Mielke said he has had only 8 responses far the board/commissions session, but expects more to come in. Mr. Maxwell will talk to Mr. Miller about facilitating. Mr. Brausen suggested Ms. Hesch as an alternate. Consensus was 15-20 is the minimum to make the session worthwhile. Mr. Mielke said the parking situation at LakeBlake continues to be problematic. The owner has bought a residential lot across the street for parking, which is illegal. Staff continues to work on the problem. Mr. Brausen moved adjournment; Ms. Johnson seconded. Meeting adjourned at 10:35 p.m. Kasey Kester, Secretary ATTEST: Euge J. Maxwell, Mayor