City Council Workshop

10801 Town Square Dr. City of Blaine Blaine MN 55449 Anoka County, Minnesota Minutes - Final City Council Workshop *While this is a public meeting where interested persons are welcome to attend, it is a work session for Council and staff to discuss issues before them. It is not for the purpose of receiving public input. Thursday, August 8, 2013 6:30 PM Cloverleaf Farm Room A Meeting Number 13-38 NOTICE OF WORKSHOP MEETING The meeting was called to order by Mayor Ryan at 7:00 p.m. Quorum Present. ALSO PRESENT: Clark Arneson, City Manager; Tom Sweeney, City Attorney; Pat Sweeney, City Attorney; Bryan Schafer, Planning Director; Bob Therres, Public Services Manager; Joe Huss, Finance Director; Ward Brown, Financial Analyst; Chris Olson, Safety Services Manager/Police Chief; Nyle Zikmund, Fire Chief; Roark Haver, Communications Technician; and Recording Secretary Linda Dahlquist. Present: 7 - Councilmember Clark, Councilmember Kolb, Councilmember Bourke, Councilmember Herbst, Mayor Ryan, Councilmember Hovland, and Councilmember Swanson 1. WS 13-47 SIGNAGE IN THE PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY Sponsors: City Manager Arneson City Manager Arneson stated Fogerty received approval from MnDOT for a blue way finding sign on Highway 65 and a brown way finding sign for public attractions at 93rd and Cloverleaf Parkway. He stated it was discussed that if Fogerty received approval from MnDOT the signage could be installed by the City. He stated the signage states Fogerty Arena, Four Seasons Curling Club, Gabe’s Rinkside Bar and Grill. He stated the issue is with having "bar and grill" on the sign which is not fair to other restaurants/bars in Blaine. Mark Clasen has requested an opportunity to discuss with the Council the issue of signage in the right-of-way for the Four Seasons Curling Club/Gabe’s Rinkside Bar and Grill. He stated the issue is the facility is non-profit corporation and directional signage like the Sports Center is requested. He noted the restaurant is part of the non-profit and is a revenue generating operation. He noted the entities in the Sports Center are revenue making as City of Blaine Page 1 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final August 8, 2013 well. He stated MnDOT gave approval for the signage in the right-of-way and we need approval for the logo signage on Cloverleaf or we do not get the rest of the signage. Councilmember Bourke asked if Gabe’s rents from the Curling facility. Mr. Clasen replied no, Gabe’s manages the restaurant. Councilmember Swanson commented he used to administer the State’s signage program and he will check with the State on policy. Councilmember Swanson stated he is concerned about fairness with the other restaurants in the city. Councilmember Hovland stated any establishment can have signage along the freeway and the other restaurants can do the same. Councilmember Kolb commented there seems to be a double standard for signage for profit and non-profit businesses. Councilmember Bourke asked for the non-profit and for profit rules on signage. Tom Sweeney replied he is not familiar with signage. Councilmember Clark arrived at 7:07 p.m. Councilmember Kolb commented the building has visibility from the freeway. Councilmember Clark replied one way there is visibility and the three other ways do not have visibility. Mayor Ryan commented the Council had settled the signage issue long ago with a policy and ordinance. Councilmember Herbst suggested talking to the Chamber about signage and also the City should critique all of its signage. Councilmember Bourke stated all business should have signage and suggested reviewing the signage in the City. Councilmember Swanson agreed with involving the Chamber. Mr. Clasen stated the facility is looking for directional signage on Cloverleaf to go down Lincoln Street. Councilmember Hovland suggested looking at what other cities do for signage. He stated criteria needs to be set and reviewed case by case. Mr. Clasen stated the sign states Fogerty Arena, Four Seasons Curling Club, and Gabe’s Rinkside (is currently covered). City of Blaine Page 2 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final August 8, 2013 Councilmember Swanson requested staff get MnDOT’s current rules for signage and the location of where the Sports Center has signs in the right-of-way. Mr. Clasen stated Fogerty Arena is non-profit and self-supporting, and Fogerty should be treated the same as the National Sports Center. Mr. Clasen requested the cover be taken off the signage. He stated Fogerty needs the Council’s permission for directional signage on Cloverleaf to go down Lincoln Street. Councilmember Bourke suggested engaging the Chamber on signage and if the signage is warranted the sign should be approved. Councilmember Kolb suggested tabling the issue until January 2014. Discussed 2. WS 13-49 HANS HAGEN HOMES Sponsors: Schafer Hans Hagen stated he was one of the 14 investors in The Lakes development. He stated he has recently purchased 9 acres in The Lakes. He stated the concern Hans Hagen Homes has with the development agreement for Waterside has a clause that states the City may not issue building permits because he believes a letter of credit was not posted. He stated that Judge Smith determined that was not a default. He stated in the original development agreement there was not a successors and assigns clause so a subsequent developer could not be responsible for the default on the part of the first developer. He stated he is asking the Council to authorize building permits. Discussed 3. WS 13-46 2014 BUDGET UPDATE - PRELIMINARY BUDGET Sponsors: Huss City Manager Arneson gave an overview of the City’s per capita revenues and expenditures from past to present on taxable market value, new homes, new homes vs. households, total levy, market value vs. net tax capacity, expenditures (per capita), per capita spending compared to inflation, operating tax levy (per capita), per capita operating levy compared to inflation, operating levy (per capita) vs. population, per capita tax levy compared to inflation, acres of parkland, acres of park per park maintenance personnel, miles of streets, miles of streets vs. street maintenance personnel, personnel City of Blaine Page 3 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final August 8, 2013 vs. households, and population vs. personnel,. Finance Director Huss stated the adoption of a preliminary 2014 budget and tax levy is conducted at the first Council meeting in September. He stated staff has reviewed departmental budget requests using service level assumptions established over the last two years and determined the appropriation requests exceed funding sources. He noted the preliminary tax levy that is set on September 5, 2013 cannot be increased; although the preliminary budget adopted at that same meeting can be either increased or decreased as the Council directs. Finance Director Huss stated the proposed 2014 Tax Levy would be an increase of .02 cents per $1,000 valuation on a property. He noted the Pavement Management Program was increased by $200,000 to restore the program to its original funding. He stated this proposed budget is also restoring three staff positions of Building Inspector, Parks and Recreation Director, and Economic Development Specialist. Councilmember Swanson clarified the Economic Development Specialist position would be funded by the General Fund if the EDA had funding. Public Services Manager Therres stated if the City wants to continue the same level of service a Parks and Recreation Director is necessary. He noted that the current staff is burned out and one staff member left today. Mayor Ryan stated the Council has to decide to cut services or hire. Councilmember Kolb stated the citizens live in Blaine for the services, parks and programs. She stated the City needs to provide services the residents use. Mayor Ryan stated the Parks Director will have a lot of work to do if a community center/sports facility is being considered. Councilmember Bourke suggested reducing the Pavement Management Program by $100,000. Councilmember Hovland questioned the dollar amount listed for the EDA Specialist. Finance Director Huss replied the dollar amount includes salary and benefits. Councilmember Swanson suggested keeping the Pavement Management Program at $229,390. Councilmember Clark suggested review and reduce park programs. He stated the Council may have to consider bringing back an EDA levy. He stated he wants to hold the tax rate to where it is now. City of Blaine Page 4 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final August 8, 2013 Councilmember Kolb suggested levying at the 37.416% rate, then discuss it and then adjust it. Councilmember Herbst stated he does not want to levy for EDA. He stated parks can go one more year without a director. He requested from staff the fund amount for the Unrestricted Fund. He commented that he would like the Pavement Management Program funded to $500,000. Councilmember Hovland stated he will not consider a tax levy increase and he is in favor of funding the Pavement Management Program. Mayor Ryan stated he supports the 2014 proposed tax levy of 37.416%. Councilmember Swanson commented the City needs an EDA Specialist. Councilmember Herbst suggested using a consultant for the EDA and pay a commission. Councilmember Hovland commented there are other ways to pay for the three positions. Councilmember Kolb stated it will be impossible to cut the parks especially with the new large park in development, a park director is necessary. She asked about reserves from 2012 compared to 2013. Finance Director Huss replied funds were distributed to multiple funds and used on capital purchases. He suggested not using reserves for salaries and fund the Pavement Management Program. Discussed OTHER BUSINESS Council discussion on rescheduling a retreat for September 19-20, 2013. ADJOURN The Workshop adjourned at 8:55 p.m. City of Blaine Page 5