City Council

ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING – OCTOBER 24, 2017 MINUTES The Workshop Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Julie Trude, October 24, 2017, 6:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Mike Knight, Sheri Bukkila, Valerie Holthus and James Goodrich Councilmember absent: None Park Commissioners present: Chair Shane Stenzel, Jim Lindahl, Angela Marinello, Mark Miskowiec, Dawn Perra, and Ted Butler Park Commissioners absent: John Angell Also present: City Administrator, Jim Dickinson Director of Public Works/City Engineer, David Berkowitz Assistant Public Works Director, Todd Haas Parks Maintenance Supervisor, Jason Grode Others JOINT MEETING WITH THE PARK & RECREATION COMMISSION Mayor Trude reviewed the meeting process with the Commissioners and Council in regard to the Parks Commission CIP. Commissioner Miskowiec stated they need some guidance and feedback from the Council. Chair Stenzel agreed. They are looking for guidance from the City Council on what their priority should be and some Council feedback. Chair Stenzel noted they are not asking for anything, they are only presenting their research tonight. A. Review of the Existing and Future Park Facilities Chart/16-39D Councilmember Holthus thought the regional parks should have a priority. She thought the tot lots in smaller parks are not where the priority should lie. She felt regional parks have more users and need to have the priority. Commissioner Lindahl agreed but thought as far as the sports associations, he thought they were told not to concentrate on those, they were told to diversify. Councilmember Bukkila thought the goal going forward is to figure out how we are going to create that replacement plan and what is practical in establishing priorities. She thought there was the possibility of overbuilding the parks and felt there needed to be more review in order to plan future meetings to review. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 24, 2017 Page 2 Commissioner Butler thought they needed Council feedback on the priorities. Commissioner Perra thought the neighborhood parks are heavily used and is an expectation of the residents. She would like to keep up with the maintenance and adding trails to connect the parks. Commissioner Marinello thought it was important to have good regional parks but noted neighborhood parks do need to have replacement work done. Councilmember Goodrich thought the document presented was excellent. He thought the current park system is a little bit overbuilt. He wants to get to a sustainable plan for the parks and to plan things out for the long-term. Councilmember Knight thought they need to pay close attention to the various age groups because there are very real demands from each age group. Chairperson Stenzel stated they do look at the different age groups and should be looking at that in future build out of parks because he thought in some areas they may have overbuilt. Mayor Trude thought the Park and Recreation Commission was looking to do more meaningful work. Mayor Trude asked if they can review policy to determine how the park money should be spent. Councilmember Bukkila stated she would like to see some kind of brainstorming of the larger parks and smaller parks for consistency. She would like to look at a baseline of amenities to place in a park and from there to look at what would be needed for the future. There was discussion between the Council and Park and Recreation Commission on future park planning. Councilmember Goodrich asked if there was a way to measure park usage. Mr. Haas stated surveys are sent out to the neighborhoods when the neighborhood parks are being updated for feedback and a wish list. Councilmember Bukkila thought as the park development and replacement moves forward they should set a standard based on what the City can afford. Chair Stenzel stated there has to be a standard because park dedication purchases the initial park amenities, so the City needs to provide for the future replacement. Mayor Trude hoped they can come up with some ideas that do not cost a lot that will please the residents. She stated she wants to support creativity. Councilmember Holthus asked if they could do some research on how the parks were being utilized that have irrigation with soccer and football fields to make sure they are on the maintenance schedule frequently, so they can justify the maintenance of those parks. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 24, 2017 Page 3 Further discussion took place on park planning and field usage. Mayor Trude stated they do have a Masterplan for the City Campus and did not realize they had extra acreage for a big park. The last time they did a park dedication study they thought there might be some ballfields to the side along the west, now there is land for a central park. She indicated she would like to see that added in to the plan. She also wanted to make sure the Holasek property was included in plan for future park development. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the future plans of the Holasek property and the area in order to connect the area via a trail system to different developments and parks. Consensus of the Council was to support the increase in the park dedication fee, based on the analysis provided. B. Review of the Park Replacement List for 2018-2022 The City Council is requested to review the Park Replacement List for 2018-2022. Councilmember Holthus asked if certain components of playground equipment have a longer life than other components and is it possible to only buy components that have a long life. She wondered why they have to change out all of the equipment every fifteen years. Chair Stenzel stated equipment is not made like it used to be. Steel is not the same quality as it was years ago. He stated the equipment manufacturers make a cheaper product because they know the replacement is there. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed with the Council the manufacturer’s warranty and replacement of equipment. Mr. Haas reviewed what other cities are doing and how often they are replacing their equipment. Councilmember Holthus asked if it is possible to purchase replacement parts at the time they purchase equipment. Mr. Haas stated that would be done on a case by case basis. Some playgrounds are used a lot, and some are used infrequently. Mr. Berkowitz also noted that new equipment at a park seems to revitalize it because people get tired of the same equipment at the park. Councilmember Goodrich asked what the Park and Recreation Commission felt were the main drivers for park replacement. He felt that the main driver should be the affordability. As they are reviewing replacing things if the parks are not getting used then they should be decommissioned. He wanted affordability to be the biggest factor on what they are reviewing. The Council and Park and Recreation Commission agreed. Commissioner Miskowiec stated the Park and Recreation Commission is also doing code upgrades with each park and there is an ADA compliance cost. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 24, 2017 Page 4 C. Update of the 2018-2022 CIP for Parks Chairperson Stenzel reviewed the 2018-2022 CIP with the Council. Mayor Trude asked if it is sustainable if they finish up the parks that had available land to be added for space for kids to play at the parks. Chair Stenzel asked if these would be open space areas for kids to run around in. D. Update on the 2018-2022 CIP for Playground Equipment Replacement Chairperson Stenzel reviewed the CIP for playground equipment with the Council. Mayor Trude asked if there has been talk about encouraging more recreation on the Rum River. Chair Stenzel stated they look at trends and discuss ideas in their workshops. Part of the holdup is they know they do not have money for all of the ideas they come up with. Commissioner Butler stated they try to do what they can with the resources they have. Commissioner Butler stated the large dollar amounts for parks shown in the CIP is projected out over thirty years at a very conservative inflation rate. RECESS AND RECONVENE The Council recessed at 7:35 p.m. and reconvened at 7:45 p.m. Councilmember Knight left the meeting at 7:45 p.m. 2018 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT DISCUSSIONS Mr. Dickinson explained City Administration/Finance along with the department heads continue to work on the 2018 Annual Operating Budget Development process. Mr. Dickinson reviewed the Fire Department Duty Crew Program and the Community Center hiring need. There was Council discussion with staff about Public Works Union settlement and the City COLA and pay rates for the non-union employees. Mr. Dickinson stated recruitment is becoming more difficult, especially on the part-time side. He noted they are grasping at straws to staff the Community Center. There was continued discussion on staffing. Mr. Dickinson stated they review staffing and pay rates on an annual basis. Mr. Dickinson stated they are receiving a zero increase in 2018 for health insurance for the Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 24, 2017 Page 5 employees. He stated there will be no increase in the contract with the City Attorney. He reviewed the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office contract with the Council. Mr. Dickinson stated he received updated numbers and the tax rate he was forecasting at around 6.5 percent will be over a 7 percent reduction. In 2019 he anticipates the City will get hit in the fiscal disparities allocation and he recommended in their fund balance reservations to start breaking off the economic development transfer number because they are starting to take care of that through the department budget and he suggested putting $150,000 of that towards the fiscal disparity fluctuation so if they do get hit in 2019 they can continue to budget the way they currently are. The Council thought that was a good plan. Mr. Dickinson continued reviewing the 2018 budget development with the Council. 2017 BUDGET PROGRESS REPORTS Mr. Dickinson stated the 2017 General Fund Budget contains total revenues of $10,825,139 and total expenditures of $11,039,719, a decrease in fund balance is planned. 2017 CITY INVESTMENTS REVIEW Mr. Dickinson reviewed the 2017 City Investments with the Council. DISCUSS 2018 COUNCIL MEETING DATES Mr. Dickinson explained as staff is preparing calendars for the upcoming year, Council is requested to discuss meeting date options. He stated he has developers already wondering when the 2018 meeting dates are because they want to plan ahead. Mr. Dickinson stated February 6, 2018 is Precinct Caucus and the Council usually moves that meeting to another night. Councilmember Bukkila stated she could make a decision on February 6th but the rest of the dates she does not know. Mr. Dickinson asked if he should change the date to the Monday before. July 3, 2018 is the day before a holiday. Mayor Trude thought if July 4th falls in the middle of the week then people will be taking the entire week off. Councilmember Holthus indicated she would be available. August 7, 2018 is Night to Unite. Mayor Trude stated they usually wait to make a decision on this date until it gets closer. She wondered if they should bump all of the dates to a Wednesday. November 6, 2018 is Election Day. Mayor Trude thought they should make Night to Unite and Election Day the day after because they usually like to discuss what has gone on. Mr. Dickinson stated he would address the first two dates and bring them all back for future discussion. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 24, 2017 Page 6 Mr. Dickinson stated he anticipated not having a workshop meeting in December and possibly January. Commission interviews usually take place in January. OTHER TOPICS Mr. Dickinson stated he had a couple of additional topics that needed to be discussed. The first is the conveyance of a PIN number. He reviewed two lots with the Council and stated the individuals purchased a home in 2016 and wanted to replace the fence so the property owner went in to get a fence permit and was told he could not because the fence is not on the individual’s property but on City land. He stated the individual with the fence asked if the parcel could be purchased from the City. Staff determined the parcel in question is an outlot with a lot of wetland. Mr. Dickinson stated they are looking to do as little as possible in order to make the property owner compliant and allow him to install a new fence. The Council indicated they are fine with allowing the individual to purchase the property and to pursue the appropriate process. Mr. Berkowitz stated another item that staff needs Council input on, is they have a neighborhood meeting for a street reconstruction coming up November 6, 2017. He reviewed the street reconstruction area with the Council. He noted he wanted to review the details with the Council before the neighborhood meeting and Council meeting in case they receive calls from residents. Mr. Berkowitz stated the challenge with the reconstruction is they are proposing doing all of the widening on the north side and none on the south side because there are multiple issues on the south side with utilities, steep driveways, trees and it gets very difficult to do any widening on the south side. Mayor Trude thought the north side had very shallow front yards. Mr. Berkowitz stated they can be creative and narrow the lane widths down to eleven feet, provide a three-foot shoulder without moving the curb line. This would be around four feet from the face of curb. They could provide an eight-foot shoulder which would allow for parking on the north side by only widening that by three to four feet on the north side. Mayor Trude thought three feet on the north side would be a lot to remove because these are very small lots. Mr. Berkowitz stated they currently have twenty feet of right-of-way. Councilmember Bukkila asked what the total depth of the yards are on the north side. Mr. Berkowitz stated they have fifty feet and they are planning on taking three feet. He stated the standard right of way in an urban area is thirteen and a half feet and these homes have twenty feet from the curb line. Mayor Trude stated she is concerned with the parking on the road and is not sure of the demand for street parking. She liked the idea of a wider street for pedestrian movement. Mr. Berkowitz stated they also have a water loop they need to complete so they are proposing completing the water loop for redundant service. He noted this would be one hundred percent City cost and thought they should put in water stubs for future connection if needed. Mayor Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 24, 2017 Page 7 Trude stated in the past this neighborhood did not want water stubs. Mr. Dickinson stated he would prefer putting the water stubs in now with the reconstruction rather then when the residents want the water stubs because he does not want the street being ripped up in future when not needed. Mr. Berkowitz stated extra pipe would be added only along 143rd Avenue. Councilmember Goodrich wondered if there could be a deferred assessment put on the properties. Mr. Dickinson stated part of how they would pay for this is with public safety levy dollars and some water trunk fund monies. The Council consensus was to move forward with the proposed plan with a deferred assessment. Mr. Berkowitz stated the next item staff is proposing a sidewalk from Round Lake Boulevard to Underclift Street and from there pedestrians can utilize the shoulder for pedestrian safe way. This is a safe alternative. Mayor Trude thought this was a great idea for this area and would allow residents to access multiple areas. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the overlay of the road that involves three homes. He noted they would only assess for the overlay and not a road reconstruction. The Council liked the plan. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Bukkila, Seconded by Goodrich, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Sue Osbeck, Recording Secretary TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc.