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11-09-04 WSNovember 9, 2004 Page 1 MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION -November 9, 2004 A work session of the Hopkins City Council was called to order by Mayor Gene Maxwell at 6:35 p.m. on November 9, 2004, at the City Hall. Council members Brausen, Johnson, Rowan and Thompson were present. City personnel present were: Acting City Manager Jim Genellie; Public Works Director Steve Stadler; Chief Craig Reid, Katherine Magdal and Tony Hanlin of the Police Dept.; and Finance Director Christine Harkess. Also present were Robin Cooley and Carolyn Muchow of Friends of the Library and Jim Brimeyer. Friends of the Library Friends President Cooley said the Friends of the Library raise funds mostly through book sales, and use it mostly for funding children's programming. They are now trying to raise money to complete two windows in the children's area at a cost of $10,000. Ms. Muchow showed a drawing of Michael Pilla's designs. The windows now in place were paid for by the 1 % of public project money designated for art when the library was updated. These windows would basically complete the art windows. The Friends have raised a couple thousand so far towards the new windows. They would like to purchase them within a year. Over 300 people go through the library each day. Mr. Brausen wondered if park dedication money could be used. Mayor Maxwell said he did not think so. Mr. Genellie said he will check on the language. Mr. Thompson suggested that if present language forbids it, it might be good to change the language to cover art work in the city. Mr. Brausen said that covering future requests for helping buildings that "benefit the community" could possibly be extended to cover such things as carpeting for the Art Center. Mayor Maxwell suggested a matching funds funding -Hopkins will provide $5,000 if the Friends can raise the other $5,000. General Consensus was to go with the matching funds, but no source was designated for the city. Mayor Maxwell asked that an official letter be sent by the Friends of the Library to the Council. Mr. Genellie suggested requests for donations could be put in the city newsletter and city web site. 2005 Budget Ms. Harkess went through the printouts for the proposed 2005 general fund income and expenditures. Total income is estimated at $8,999,822, with $7,351,136 from property taxes. It was noted the franchise fees "sunset" at the end of 2005 and bring in $290,000. Mayor Maxwell asked about fire department inspections income. Ms. Harkess will check on that. Ms. Harkess noted one major change is that Informational Services will now all be under the Administrative Services budget, rather than split between Administration and Police. This will allow better tracking of IS costs. $5000 is estimated for conversion of space for IS. Increases for the municipal building (including police department), fire department and public works were estimated for utility and heating costs because of the new construction. Mr. Stadler noted the new person would be to cover the maintenance in all the new areas; the $45,000 includes benefit costs. He added Bob Irrgang will not be on staff too much longer and feels someone needs to get trained November 9, 2004 Page 2 in. Currently regular maintenance items are taken care of "catch as catch can" and this cannot continue indefinitely. Under City Clerk $6500 is listed for digitalizing records. However, Mr. Genellie noted, at present that work is being done free to the city through the work program required for welfare through the county. Chief Reid said he felt the $50,000 for squad car cameras could save the city very large sums in case of lawsuits due to police actions. The City Attorney is very much in favor of them. The system automatically records squad car speed, siren, flashing lights, application of brakes as well as what is said and done. When officers go into a house for a domestic, their microphones still feed into the system. All the records are court admissible. Units would be put in all the marked squad cars. He has become convinced the digital systems are better and would require less maintenance after the 3-year warranty period. The units would be able to be moved to new cars as needed. He does not know if the purchase of such units would affect the city's liability insurance premiums or lower legal costs for the city. Several years ago grants were available but he knows of none now. He did point out they do become public records. Mr. Genellie noted that if the Council decided to use reserve funds for some budget items, aone-time expenditure like this would be one place to do it. Mr. Hanlin said the HEAT van would be a new but bare cube van gotten at the state contract price of $20,000. The department configures the interior; if a configured one was purchased it would be double the price, $40,000. Mr. Stadler noted the floor scrubber and floor sweeper in the fire department budget would also be used by public works. The asphalt tack emulsion applicator would save man-hours. The $10,000 for part time help under parks is for the Excelsior Blvd. and downtown area. Mayor Maxwell said he thought one full-time had been added for that earlier; Mr. Stadler said that position was cut during the budget cuts process. Mr. Thompson asked details be provided for the fire prevention and zoning activities numbers. Mayor Maxwell asked Mr. Stadler to provide more detail on what the new full-time employee would do. Mr. Thompson asked about the assessing salaries as that is now contracted out; Ms. Harkess will check how that was figured. Mr. Genellie noted the figure is $75,000 less than the year before. Mr. Thompson said fire prevention was a big jump; Mr. Genellie will get the reasons for that. Ms. Harkess said the reason the levy set did not result in a 0 increase is because the market value homestead credit is figured after the levies are set, and then affects the actual levy amounts. As the levy is lowered, so is the credit. Mr. Genellie noted the County cannot calculate the MVHC until all the levies are in. Ms. Harkess noted the net result is only a $12-14 increase for the average homeowner. General discussion on the amount needed for the contingency fund followed. General Consensus was to set it at $150,000. Ms. Harkess noted that this decrease from the suggested $209,640 would mean a smaller increase for the average homeowner. She said that the city basically needs to keep $4.2 million in liquid assets to carry the city the six months between property tax receipts. At the presentation next Tuesday she will present general figures. She • showed the Council a diagram showing how property tax dollars are divided and what Hopkins provides with their share. All agreed this would be a good thing to include. November 9, 2004 Page 3 Chief Reid said current parking hours downtown are 6 am to 8 pm. Council had previously indicated they wanted enforcement Sam to 8pm Monday-Friday. That alone takes 25 hours for each part-time employee. In reality they actually start at 7 am, getting equipment ready, etc. One reason complaints are down is that sergeants and he field 4-5 complaints each week. Besides enforcement, the employees enter $3,700 worth of parking tickets a month into the system; of this Hopkins gets $2,300 back from the County. They are trying to keep visible enforcement in the Cornerstone area. Council did not reach consensus on adding the requested extra hours. Mr. Brausen and Mr. Rowan felt they should be added; Ms. Johnson and Mr. Thompson did not. Chief Reid said some businesses have asked for overnight parking for their cube vans. This may need discussion later. Ms. Harkess said she hopes to have the budget basically done by November 30 and will have a list of issues to be decided then. Liquor Ordinance Ms. Magdal said there are really two options: to put mandatory ID checking (1) into the Best Practices Program or (2) into ordinance form. Chemical Health prefers the former. Chief Reid noted that would be consistent with surrounding communities. Answering questions, he said the requirement that 75 % of staff be trained does not require a trained person on duty at all times; 4 staff members are qualified to do training; the ID card scanner is worth more points simply to show he feels it is very important; they would like to have the program in play the first of the year. The new program would take the city manager out of the loop. There are set penalties, with the chief having no leeway. Businesses would like it because it would settle issues much quicker. General Consensus was to go with Option 1, the Best Practices option. Vacating Unimproved Right of Ways Mr. Stadler went through the ROWS that he has had requests on and that staff feels could be vacated. General discussion followed. Mr. Stadler said the city would not need to survey the property before turning it over, just provide a description to the county auditor. Mr. Thompson said he thinks it is handled much like a combination of lots under one property ID. Mr. Stadler added the city attorney has said property owners cannot refuse to take vacated right of ways. Ms. Johnson noted that some property owners might well feel the city needs to clean up any ROWs before they are handed over. She feels all of the ROWS should be handled at one time rather than by neighborhoods. Mayor Maxwell feared doing only some ROWs could lead to lawsuits. Mr. Stadler will send a letter to property owners that would be affected saying the city is thinking they might vacate some ROW's and see what the initial response is. Then the Council could make a decision if they want to go ahead at all or not. Mr. Rowan noted he would sit out on all discussions as they affect his property. Ms. Johnson and Mr. Thompson agreed the idea seems sound if they are all handled at one time. Mayor Maxwell said he wants to look at the issues more. November 9, 2004 Page 4 City Manager Position Mr. Brimeyer sent out 220 profiles, received 30-35 responses, and has narrowed it to 12 to interview, with a few on hold. Most prospects are from Minnesota, although one is from Vermont. Two said they have been waiting for an opening in Hopkins. He will present a summary on November 23. The Council will narrow the choices and then he will have background checks done. He handed out summary sheets, saying the interview process will be discussed on the 23'd Basically there are 4 components to it: orientation to the community (including meeting department heads, real estate people, etc.); an informal get-together; one-on-one interviews; then Council interviewing as a group. Employee interviews could be incorporated in either the first or third steps. Other Mr. Thompson asked about the meeting with Zoning & Planning. Mayor Maxwell asked Council to get back to him on what they want to discuss. Ms. Johnson said this would be a good time to explain why Council decided something different from their recommendations, such as Goodwill. Mr. Thompson wants history on the Goodrich ROW, why it is 80 feet, which is much wider than usual. Ms. Johnson noted Caring Youth will be on March 8, 2005 in Minnetonka. Mayor Maxwell said Steve Simon had called him. Mr. Genellie said he would be having lunch with him Wednesday; Mr. Rowan said he would also do that. Mayor Maxwell said he felt it would be good to have him and Mr. Kelly attend a Council meeting in January. Mayor Maxwell suggested there be a Jim Rhodes Day in December. General Consensus was in favor of this. Mayor Maxwell will call him for possible dates. Mr. Genellie said the school district has a proposal about the Depot. They would take over all personnel and ordering of supplies. A billing process would need to be worked out. The Board would stay responsible for the Teen Center. The City would be responsible for the building and grounds and the Teen Coordinator. He will get more details. Mr. Genellie said the owner of the house that burned down in Interlachen wants to build on the old foundation. However it does not meet current setbacks. It will go to Z&P for a variance November 30 and come before Council Dec. 7. Ms. Johnson noted the dates in the letter from the Fire Dept. on the fitness center do not work for her. Mr. Genellie will talk to them. Mr. Thompson moved adjournment. Ms. Johnson seconded. On a 5-0 vote, the meeting adjourned at 10:15 p.m. November 9, 2004 Page 5 Kasey Kester, Secretary ATTEST: Eug a J. axwell, Mayor