08-27-02 WSAugust 27, 2002
Page 1
- MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION -August 27, 2002
A work session of the Hopkins City Council was held at 6:30 p.m. on August 27, 2002, at the
City Hall. Cotuicil members present were Mayor Maxwell and Council members Brausen, Jensen,
Johnson and Rowan. City personnel present were City Manager Miellce; Finance Director Yager;
Public Works Director Stadler; Police Chief Reid; and Connie Kurtz and Bob Scanlon of the police
deparhnent. Also present was Jim Scanlon.
Lake Street Bridge Project Discussion
Mr. Stadler said he wanted to update the Council on his negotiations with Lunda. They are
demanding 15% rather than the usual 5 % contractor's fee, but he thinks they will sign a change order
for 5% that reserves their right to keep that issue open. They are also asking for additional payment
for extended sewage pumping costs and extended office overhead costs. City staff does not agree
with any of the requests. A meeting is plaimed involving City Attorney Steiner, himself, City
Engineer Bot and SRF, the consultants.
A~zswering Councilmembers' questions, he added further information. The breaking of the
gravity sewer was totally the fault of Lunda; city staff asked them to repair the line, they chose to do
a bypass pumping to which city staff finally agreed. He feels the bypass pump was their choice and
they took on all risks involved with that way to deal with their own mistake. The problems with the
force main were due to the inaccuracy of information supplied by MET Council; those problems did
necessitate a longer bypass-pumping period. Extended overhead is a legitimate expense for delayed
projects when the delay is undetermined. This delay had a very definite time period so Lunda could
redirect their work force. While the original problem with the force amain was due to the MET
Council and the extended overhead is due to Qwest, any recourse against them would have to be
taken by Hopkins, not Lunda. He feels the consultant did the j ob he was hired to do and the problems
were outside his control. He does not know if Lunda's insurance will cover any of their costs.
Weighing legal costs versus extra project costs is something to look at if negotiations fail.
Council members were curious how the total pumping costs would compare to the cost of
repairing the line, though general consensus was it was caused by them and was their problem. Mr.
Stadler will keep the Council updated.
Mr. Stadler then updated the Council on a fiu-ther development of the project, saying the
owner of the property just northwest of the bridge has contested the right of way line and is
considei-u1g an inverse condemnation action. City staff feels the property owner's surveyor did not
use accurate enough uifoi-mation; the city surveyor researched records, etc. Amid-SO's court case
ruled that public right of way is not an automatic 66 feet but depends on public use needs. The
owner wants to gain two parking stalls. Mr. Stadler is in the process of seeing if he can obtain those
across the street onCSI Property. Mr. Miellce added the owner had also tallced to him and the mayor.
The city was using the underground area; the owner was using the surface area for parking. There is a
strong possibility it will become a court matter. Ms. Yager added she is not certain if city insurance
covers inverse condemnation cases; Attoriey Miller should laiow by the end of the week.
August 27, 2002
Page 2
2003 Preliminary Levy and Proposed Budget Discussion
Ms. Yager said her major concert is what will happen if the possible 20% tul-allotment in
state aid is made, which would reduce city income $230,000. She also feels it imperative to keep a
contingency fluid in the budget as department heads have ti-innned the budget as much as possible.
She recommends passing the maxiinuin levy. A future consideration is that the limit on market value
for housing goes away in a couple years. Hopkins will reach the $10,000,000 million bond levy this
year as the bond for St. Theresa's is included, even though it is not a city bond. They will repay the
city for any additional costs caused by their bond. The final total increase is 8.92%; this may change
slightly as some final figures are not yet available. This would result in a $10/month increase per
month for the average homeowner, of which $6 would be for the facility construction. Mayor
Maxwell said he feels it is important that residents see the city is trying to find ways to cope with an
tut-allotment; Mr. Miellce said he hopes in December to do such a contingency budget. Ms. Yager
said she would bring a list of mandated services.
Tour of CAD Systems
Police Chief Reid explained how the reporting requirements to state and federal govei7unent
have expanded over the past 30 years. Compliance is a must as all grant moneys; even those for
housing and education, and his own licensure are tied into total compliance. Such records are kept
tluough dispatch. The old system was not Y2K compatible. Vision was obtained in March 2000, but
by itself has been too cumbersome and some calls were not getting properly entered. The county
system now has aten-minute delay for getting information. The new CAD system eliminates those
problems at a cost of $187,000. Ms. Magdal did a superb job in getting grants to cover $133,000 of
that cost. Coimie Kurtz and Bob Scanlon got the system installed and iumling. He said RMS (the
basic system) "tells us what the bad guys do"; CAD "tells us what the good guys do"; and the mobile
computers in the tuiits allow officers to laiow what is going on. Connie Ktu-tz, Bob Scanlon azld Jim
Scanlon then demonstrated how CAD and the mobile computers function. Chief Reid mentioned that
training dispatchers now takes 2 days rather than 2 weeks with the new system.
Vision Process Documentation Review
City Manager Miellce said the next step in the Vision process is to use the results tabulated so
far to decide what the next actions should be and who should be responsible for those steps. He
added he had spoken to various groups aild been disappointed by the lack of response. General
discussion followed. Ms. Jensen commented Shoestring Players had come out of the vision process;
maybe each group needs to be approached about what concerls them and asked what they call do to
help. Concern was expressed as to how the tax situation might affect the process. The importance of
staff/Council conuntulication, of focusing on specific actions, of marketing, of not being limited by
the report but staying open to new ideas were all mentioned.
General Consensus was staff and Council should work together to pick 3-5 specific goals and
figure out action plans for the coming year. Mayor Maxwell suggested October.
Other
Ms. Jensen expressed concern about the Alice Smith sign. Mr. Miellce will provide
information to the Council about the sign request. Ms. Johnson said it is important that the school
August 27, 2002
Page 3
board approves airy wording on the sign.
Ms. Joluison asked that the Council be updated on the facility construction progress. Mr. Mielke
said he would send out meeting inuiutes to Council ineinbers.
Mr. Miellce said the city has received 50 weeklong passes for Solheiin Cup. Anyone interested in
going should call Public Worlcs.
Ms. Johnson moved adjourrunent; Ms. Jensen seconded. Meeting adjourned at 10:07 p.in.
Kasey Kester, Secretary