City Council Workshop

10801 Town Square Drive 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, April 2, 2015 6:30 PM Cloverleaf Farm Room A NOTICE OF WORKSHOP MEETING 1 Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Mayor Ryan at 6:30 p.m. 2 Roll Call Quorum Present. ALSO PRESENT: City Manager Clark Arneson; Planning and Community Development Director Bryan Schafer; Finance Director Joe Huss; Police Chief/Safety Services Manager Chris Olson; SBM Fire Chief Nyle Zikmund; Communications Technician Roark Haver; Senior Engineering Technician Al Thorp; City Clerk Catherine Sorensen; and Recording Secretary Linda Dahlquist. Present: 7 - Mayor Ryan, Councilmember Hovland, Councilmember Swanson, Councilmember Clark, Councilmember Bourke, Councilmember Herbst, and Councilmember King 3 New Business 3.1 Discussion Item - City Attorney Interviews City Manager Arneson stated that on March 18, 2015, Council interviewed five law firms for City Attorney: Sweeney, Murphy & Sweeney; Kelly & Lemmons, P.A.; Campbell Knutson; Berglund & Berglund, Ltd.; and Eckberg & Lammers. He noted this is a professional services contract and therefore does not need to be awarded to the lowest bidder. After discussion, Council consensus was to direct the City Manager to propose the City’s civil work be presented to Sweeney, Murphy & Sweeney and the prosecution work be presented to Berglund & Berglund, Ltd. with Michael Scott as lead attorney and to negotiate contracts based on that direction. Discussion was held regarding transition costs and that possibility of a 60-90 day extension with Sweeney, Murphy & Sweeney. Further direction was that should this proposal not be acceptable to either firm staff would schedule an additional City of Blaine Page 1 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final April 2, 2015 workshop for further discussion. Discussed. OTHER BUSINESS Reconstruction of 105th Avenue City Manager Arneson stated an open house was held for residents to view the proposed plan on the reconstruction of 105th and that 15 people attended. He stated staff is proposing an additional roundabout on 105th to slow down traffic, adding access to businesses will remain. Councilmember Hovland asked about the cost increase for a second roundabout and said two roundabouts may cause an inconvenience to drivers resulting in people using 109th Avenue instead of 105th Avenue. Council discussion was held on how the roundabouts would lead to driveways. Crestview Finance Director Huss stated Crestview is requesting a bond increase from $40 million to $55 million in order to combine two projects together Blaine and Columbia Heights and that approval of this amended amount will come before the Council in April. SBM Fire Department SBM Fire Chief Zikmund shared how cancer is on the rise with firefighters due to exposure to carcinogens in materials they encounter in fires and said one way to help protect firefighters is to have two to three sets of gear for firefighters so they can be washed after each use. Discussed. ADJOURN The Workshop adjourned at 7:30 p.m. City of Blaine Page 2