City Council

ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING – NOVEMBER 28, 2023 MINUTES The Workshop Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Bukkila, November 28, 2023, 6:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Ted Butler, Rick Engelhardt, and Randy Nelson Councilmember absent: Jamie Barthel Also present: City Administrator, Jim Dickinson Director of Public Works/City, Engineer David Berkowitz Human Resources Manager, Dana Makinen COON CREEK WATERSHED DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION PRESENTATION Director of Public Works/City Engineer Berkowitz introduced the Coon Creek Watershed District Administrator Tim Kelly. Mr. Kelly reviewed his report concerning funding requests for future projects to meet requirements set by the Federal EPA for 2045. He discussed the impairment of Coon Creek and noted the legitimacy of the public need for this. Councilmember Nelson asked if the $100,000,000 in identified projects over 20 years will qualify for some State aid or if the cities break down this cost proportionally. Mr. Kelly stated the current State and Federal funds that will go into this is less than 4%. Councilmember Nelson asked if funding for this would come from each city within the watershed and if it would be proportional to how much of the watershed is in the city. Mr. Kelly said yes and explained it is divided up by contributing areas. He shared that the district will pay half and the remaining half will be funded by the municipalities. Mr. Berkowitz explained this will add up to be millions of dollars over the next 20 years from the City. Councilmember Butler asked if the numbers that are being thrown around are entirely for restoration projects or if it also includes future prevention projects. Mr. Kelly explained the prevention is already a part of the required NPDS program so the other things that the City and the watershed district administer are already given and are already a part of everyone’s workloads. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – November 28, 2023 Page 2 Councilmember Nelson asked what they will be doing for prevention in the future. Mr. Kelly explained there are two elements to the prevention program. He stated one part of it is to prevent more bad things from happening and the other is to protect the investments that have already been made. Councilmember Butler asked for examples of projects that they would be doing. Mr. Kelly explained there will be a variety of projects due to the nature of the impairments. He noted when there are biotic impairments, they have previously restored two sections of Sand Creek in Coon Rapids which is adjacent to Sand Creek Park. He shared that in a year of this project they have had a return of fish and birds species. Councilmember Butler asked what they are doing during a project like this. Mr. Kelly stated that they are reconstructing new channels. He added that they also do selective forestation. He noted that another partial project that they have done was done on Coon Creek in Andover. Mr. Kelly explained for the water quality portion of these projects they use a water treatment device. He added with the Anoka sand plain they have the largest water enhanced sand filter in the world. He noted it will be difficult to deal with altered hydrology, which is a watershed-wide problem. Councilmember Nelson asked about Pleasure Creek in Coon Rapids which is beyond repair. He asked what will be done with this. Mr. Kelly stated this is essentially an open channel storm sewer. He noted they have to treat this to make sure they are treating the minimum requirements that are going into the Mississippi River but they do not do anything to restore the biotic issues. Councilmember Nelson shared that in previous years they had limited the amount of fish people could catch out of the Mississippi River due to the contamination levels. He asked if this is still in effect. Mr. Kelly said yes. Mayor Bukkila noted when infrastructure projects were done they were done at a different scale which will cause an imbalance in different areas. She asked how this is being factored into the costs. Mr. Kelly explained the State Statues start from the time of impairment so however anyone did projects in the past, there is still a situation that needs to be corrected. He noted the solution is sometimes not in the location that the impairment occurs. He stated they have done many projects in the past that are between multiple cities that benefit one city, but the work is being done in another. He explained they break this up between sub-watersheds which is then prorated by the contribution of the city. He stated the amount owed by each city is prorated by the amount of runoff from each city. Mayor Bukkila asked if there is a tangible nexus in order for a city to contribute. Mr. Kelly said yes and explained they are never asking for a blank check, and they figure out the numbers on a project-to-project basis. Mayor Bukkila asked how far the watershed’s outlook is. She asked if it is only on an annual basis Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – November 28, 2023 Page 3 or another timeline. Mr. Kelly stated the State requires them to have a ten-year outlook. Mr. Berkowitz shared there is an estimate of what each city will pay for this project. He noted it would be frontloaded higher to be more aggressive up front and to be less in the distant future. He explained this is a big thing with big dollars involved. He stated this is not realistic for a City such as Andover to be able to come up with the kind of money that will be needed. He shared that they will need to go to the State and the City’s representatives saying that this is not realistic to meet the goals and the State needs to come up with more money for this. Mayor Bukkila shared her concern with there seeming to be an urgency to go out and solve all of the problems at once that have been created over time. Mr. Kelly explained some of the politics behind this issue is the history of the natural resource and water resource management. He added they have already factored in the infrastructure issues. Mayor Bukkila stated she believes the 20-year timeframe is an unrealistic expectation. Mr. Berkowitz added 80 years of ignoring something cannot be resolved in 20 years. Mayor Bukkila noted there are issues across all infrastructure systems, not just water. Mr. Kelly stated the information that he brought forward was something that the city engineers and Councils had to know. Councilmember Butler asked if the 2045 date is a State or Federal date. Mr. Kelly stated the 2045 date is a Federal date. He explained last year the State extended this to 2050; however, this is a Federally mandated program which is why they are sticking with the 2045 date. Councilmember Butler stated this is something that should be discussed more during the budget. He asked how they can position themselves for grants and to make realistic progress. Mr. Kelly explained they have been pretty good at getting grants in the past. He shared that if a project is in the watershed capital improvement plan as well as the municipal capital improvement plan then it is almost guaranteed to get funding. Mr. Berkowitz explained they look to the watershed to determine where the most need is. He suggested putting a treatment on the creek that would treat everything that is coming from other cities and before it reaches the Mississippi River. Councilmember Engelhardt asked what kind of programs the watershed is looking at for public engagement and involvement. Mr. Kelly stated they just reorganized to have a dedicated public engagement specialist and a dedicated public information person as well. He added they also have redone their website. He stated they have moved away from handing out brochures as the rate of change that was needed was not occurring at all. He added the Anoka Conservation District is also available for helping landowners. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – November 28, 2023 Page 4 Councilmember Engelhardt suggested focusing on newsletter efforts to increase awareness of this for the residents. Mr. Kelly reiterated they have run out of all of the easy and quick solutions to fix the problems that are going on. The Council thanked Mr. Kelly for coming forward and sharing this information. DISCUSS MEDIAN LANDSCAPE/23-18, NIGHTINGALE ST. NW & CROSSTOWN BLVD. NW ROUNDABOUT & 23-19, NIGHTINGALE ST. NW & VETERANS MEMORIAL BLVD. NW ROUNDABOUT Mr. Berkowitz presented the Staff report and reviewed the updated median landscape designs for the two new roundabouts. Councilmember Butler suggested putting a Christmas tree in the middle of one of the roundabouts like Anoka does. Mr. Berkowitz noted the roundabout where they put the Christmas tree in Anoka is right in front of the City Hall. Mr. Berkowitz added they could put a smaller artificial tree in the middle of the roundabouts during Christmas time. Councilmember Nelson asked if the Andover ‘A’ will be in both roundabouts. Mr. Berkowitz said yes and explained this will just be a stamp so there is not a lot of cost involved with this. Councilmember Butler stated he likes the plant selection and landscaping design as it will not require a lot of maintenance. Councilmember Nelson agreed and added that it will help the City by this area being low maintenance. Mr. Berkowitz shared that the park workers reviewed this plan to make sure that the plants were easier to maintain than some of the other options. Mayor Bukkila noted they will need irrigation in this area to keep the plants growing. Mr. Berkowitz stated they will have irrigation. Mayor Bukkila asked if the maintenance trucks will be able to drive on the platform or if they will have to close the roundabout for maintenance. Mr. Berkowitz stated because of the road speed, they will be able to work within the platform. He noted they may have some traffic control devices that will be put out but they will be able to do this with their own staff and equipment. He stated they would not have to hire a traffic control company for this. Mr. Berkowitz explained a roundabout is designed to slow someone down to 20 miles per hour Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – November 28, 2023 Page 5 and Crosstown Boulevard is a 55 mile per hour road. Councilmember Nelson asked what the truck apron is for. Mr. Berkowitz explained a truck apron is for semi-trucks that need the extra clearance area. Councilmember Nelson asked if the apron is wide enough for a semi-truck. Mr. Berkowitz said yes and added the apron is part of the design so that these larger vehicles can get by. He added snow has to be removed from the apron at every event. Councilmember Nelson asked if the apron is elevated. Mr. Berkowitz explained it is slightly elevated but not by a lot. Mayor Bukkila stated as long as Staff is comfortable with this design then she is comfortable moving forward. Mr. Berkowitz shared that the maintenance division was very pleased with this design and they also had a lot of input and say in the design. Mayor Bukkila asked if there will be an annual cost associated with supporting this. Mr. Berkowitz noted there will be some maintenance and planting replacement that will take place. Mayor Bukkila asked if there was an estimated yearly cost for this maintenance. Mr. Berkowitz estimated around $5,000 a year. Council consensus was reached to direct Staff to continue to move forward with the presented design. 2024 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT AND PROPOSED PROPERTY TAX LEVY REVIEW Mr. Dickinson presented the Staff report concerning the updates that have been made to the budget. He noted statements are out to the public. He added the total budget for 2024 is $54,000,000. Mayor Bukkila asked how much of the $54,000,000 goes to debt. Mr. Dickinson said that over $4,400,000 goes to debt. Mayor Bukkila stated she would like to discuss the ten year outlook on debt in a future workshop meeting. Mr. Dickinson explained the current plan for streets is a $2,000,000 levy. Mayor Bukkila asked if the $2,000,000 will get them to the goal with prices increasing. She noted they are focusing on a dollar amount rather than a number of miles. Mr. Dickinson stated on an annual basis getting to $2,000,000 is a good goal. He said what he thinks they need to do is infuse another bond. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – November 28, 2023 Page 6 Mayor Bukkila stated she would like to get to a point where they are not bonding for this. Mr. Dickinson said they can watch the market and go for it when money is cheap. Mayor Bukkila shared her concerns when she thinks of fire related issues and the roads. She stated she does not want it to come down to a decision between public safety and transportation and she wants to be able to prepare the budget to handle the increases that both need as they are both vital services that the City provides. Mr. Dickinson stated they can review the proforma before they get into the budget next year. Councilmember Butler added for the first few months of 2024 they can look at what the 2024- 2030 preparation looks like in case there is something that they need to respond to sooner. Mr. Dickinson explained they already have their Strategic Plan and goals set and now it is time to figure out how these things will be accomplished and set a timeframe for them. He added there are also many things in the Strategic Plan that have already been accomplished while there are others that have not been addressed. He continued to review the overall budget and added they are not looking to add any full-time staff next year. He noted they are currently down an employee; the Planning Department is going without a secretary. He added the Planning Department had intern help over the summer last year which they will need to do again in 2024. He discussed staffing, market competition, and succession planning in finance and administration. He added healthcare spending was down this year. Councilmember Butler asked if the City’s contribution is still based on the open access plan. Mr. Dickinson said yes. Mayor Bukkila asked which properties saw market value increase, as many property values decreased. Mr. Dickinson stated it was primarily commercial properties and apartment buildings that had increases. Mr. Dickinson added that values are likely to take a drop next year. He stated the County said this year there were still increases; however, he is not hearing this looking ahead to next year as the numbers are starting to level out. He stated he will do a baseline presentation of the budget at the Council meeting and will address questions from the residents. Council consensus was to direct staff to present the budget at the next Council meeting. COMMUNITY CENTER UPDATE Mr. Dickinson presented the Staff report and gave an update on the Community Center. He stated things are getting busy at the Community Center as they move into winter. He added there is a big amount of money that was going to be spent in capital outlay; however, the equipment that was ordered did not arrive in time to be put in place for the season. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – November 28, 2023 Page 7 Councilmember Engelhardt asked if the behavioral issues that had been occurring at the Community Center had been addressed. Human Resources Manager Makinen stated this ebbs and flows; however, they were able to identify some of the problems and take care of them. She added they also have Staff who are more engaged which has helped and they also have Sheriff’s Deputies watching through the Community Center. Mr. Dickinson added this comes down to staff and staff training as well as the Sheriff’s Office coming in to help. He noted Youth First is applying for a grant that would help them initiate a more intense program at the Community Center which would focus on at-risk youths and their parents. OTHER TOPICS Mr. Berkowitz shared there is an informational meeting next Tuesday for the street reconstruction project plan for 2024. He noted there are two areas that they will be focusing on for this, in the Dean’s Addition to the south and a development of Oakmount Terrace to the north. He reviewed these project areas and the different assessment amounts. He noted they could either do a front footage assessment or a unit assessment. Mayor Bukkila noted she is in support of the unit assessment on the project to the north and the front footage assessment on the project to the south. Mr. Berkowitz stated this could be an issue as it is one project so there will only be one informational meeting. He noted they can talk to the development to the south and let them know that they will be assessed on a unit basis and the development to the north would be assessed on a front footage basis. He added they will have the question about what the difference would be between the two. Councilmember Nelson asked if both projects are full reconstructions. Mr. Berkowitz said yes and explained the difference is that the area to the north has no concrete curb and gutter as there are already ditches. Mr. Berkowitz noted most of the assessments would be in the $6,000-$7,000 range with a few outliers. Mayor Bukkila stated she would be okay with doing front footage assessments for both projects. Councilmember Nelson agreed. Councilmember Butler stated he was okay with front footage assessments; however, he would like them to think about a way to come up with a standard for this. Mr. Berkowitz explained there is so much variation in properties within the City so it would be difficult to do this. He added Anoka and Coon Rapids have a base rate for everyone; however, they cannot do this because of variations. Mayor Bukkila added no one has been able to come up with the perfect assessment rate. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – November 28, 2023 Page 8 Councilmember Nelson asked if they were to subdivide this, how many lots would be created. Mr. Berkowitz stated this cannot be subdivided as it would not meet the two and a half acre standard. Councilmember Butler stated if they did the front footage assessment they would not have to worry about the subdividable lots. He added that he would be in favor of assessing both projects based off of front footage. Mayor Bukkila noted one of the properties will be assessed substantially more than the others. She stated it would be reasonable to allow this property owner to have a longer payback period. Mr. Berkowitz noted these can be eight-year paybacks and if the Council wants to do more time they can also do that. Mayor Bukkila asked how this impacts finance if they were to give people with larger assessments more time to pay this back. Mr. Berkowitz explained people will never argue with having more years to pay this back. He added that people can always pay this off early. Mr. Dickinson explained if they have multiple different resolutions accepting different payback terms then this could be done. Mayor Bukkila stated an extended period of time seems reasonable for the people who will be assessed $8,000 and above; however, she would not want the same extended period of time for the $3,000 assessments. She asked if they would be able to go beyond eight to ten years for these much larger assessments. Mr. Berkowitz stated they can use this in the public hearing to see if there is concern, then they can present this option. He noted the time to do this would be up front so the residents know the direction. Councilmember Nelson asked where the City’s portion of this will be coming from. Mr. Berkowitz explained it is coming from the road and bridge fund as well as State aid. Council consensus was reached to direct staff to do these assessments based off of front footages and if anyone would like a longer than eight-year payback time then they would have to request this from the Council. Mr. Dickinson explained the Clean Indoor Air Act does not prohibit the lighting, heating, or activation of tobacco in a tobacco products shop by a customer or potential customer for the specific purpose of sampling tobacco products. He stated in these tobacco shops, some people want to create sampling rooms. He noted by statute this would be allowed. He asked if the Council has an opinion on this. He stated if they jump in on this one it would require a moratorium. Councilmember Butler asked if this only applies to dedicated tobacco shops and not any other retail establishments that happen to sell tobacco products. Mr. Dickinson said yes. Councilmember Nelson stated this is done quite frequently for cigar sales. Mr. Dickinson noted Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – November 28, 2023 Page 9 that is what he is hearing being proposed that this would be similar to cigar shops. Mayor Bukkila asked who brought this forward. Mr. Dickinson said it was the Planning Department that asked him about this. He explained the thought process and how there are certain provisions for clubs to be able to do special things with alcohol. Councilmember Butler stated he has no interest in getting involved in this. Councilmember Engelhardt added they already have regulations in place with all of the licensing and inspections. Council consensus was to not get involved with allowing smoking of tobacco products inside of tobacco shops. Mr. Dickinson shared the Council will need to complete the legal compliance form requested by the auditors. Councilmember Nelson shared that he received an email from a concerned resident about children who are crossing Hanson Boulevard without using the two crosswalks. He stated this resident shared that she had seen some near misses with children running across the street in traffic. He added he also received a phone call from a resident today whose daughter is in band at Andover High School and saw students smoking marijuana in the school. He shared that he told the resident to call the non-emergency police line. Mayor Bukkila reiterated that these people should be calling 911 for situations like this and added that it provides statistics for the department. Councilmember Nelson suggested putting a sign on Hanson Boulevard that encouraged people to use the crosswalk rather than just crossing the street anywhere. Mayor Bukkila noted that signs do not work with children and the only thing that would actually do some good would be to put up barriers to keep the children from crossing. Mr. Dickinson explained this topic has been broached with the County as Hanson Boulevard is a county road. He stated they have discussed having law enforcement out there to stop this. He noted they cannot park law enforcement for long periods of time here as there is too much going on in the community. Mayor Bukkila reiterated the only thing that could be done to prevent this would be to put a physical barrier in place so that pedestrians cannot cross. Councilmember Nelson stated he can contact this concerned resident. He asked if they could put a statement out to parents about this concern. Mr. Dickinson noted that part of this would involve a conversation with the school as they need to send messages like this one. He added he can talk with the representative that goes to the school with the Sheriff’s Office about this to see if they can get some initiative. Councilmember Nelson added on Tuesday evening there were two Sheriff’s Deputies that went Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – November 28, 2023 Page 10 through the YMCA. CLOSED SESSION - CITY ADMINISTRATOR PERFORMANCE REVIEW RECESS & RECONVENE Mayor Bukkila recessed the City Council Workshop meeting at 8:10 p.m. to a Closed Session of the City Council to discuss the City Administrator performance review. The City Council Workshop meeting reconvened at 8:53 p.m. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Nelson, Seconded by Engelhardt, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The workshop meeting adjourned at 8:58 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Ava Rokosz, Recording Secretary