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, May 14, 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; City Attorney Patrick Sweeney; Planning and Community Development Director Bryan Schafer; Finance Director Joe Huss; Police Chief/Safety Services Manager Chris Olson; Police Lieutenant Todd Olson; GIS Coordinator Jeremy Johnson; Communications Technician Roark Haver; Senior Engineering Technician Al Thorp; City Clerk Catherine Sorensen; and Recording Secretary Linda Dahlquist. Present: 6 - Mayor Ryan, Councilmember Hovland, Councilmember Swanson, Councilmember Bourke, Councilmember Herbst, and Councilmember King Absent: 1 - Councilmember Clark 3 New Business 3-1 WS 15-20 CRIME ANALYSIS/MAPPING Police Lieutenant Todd Olson gave an overview of a proposed new Crime Analyst position in the Police Department. He stated the Crime Analyst would use various data sources to compile reports on trends/incidents. He noted current staff does not have enough time to do analysis. He stated the types of analysis would be tactical, strategic, intelligence and administrative. He stated during the recent fugitive search, Lieutenant Olson and Chief Olson spent time searching databases to develop leads in the apprehension of the offender. GIS Coordinator Jeremy Johnson gave an overview of the printed handouts, City of Blaine Page 1 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final May 14, 2015 which included Crime Bulletin, Traffic Analysis, and CompStat. City Manager Arneson asked if new software would be needed. Lieutenant Olson replied yes new software and hardware would need to be purchased. Councilmember Bourke asked if a vehicle would be needed. Chief/Safety Services Manager Olson replied no, a staff car would be used. Councilmember Bourke asked about the salary for the position. Lieutenant Olson replied the average salary range $24-$36 per hour and the person does not have to be an officer. Councilmember Bourke asked if the County can do the analysis for the City. Lieutenant Olson replied Anoka County has one part time analyst. He stated a full time analyst would be able to tie data to the surrounding cities and counties. Councilmember Herbst asked about the City’s radios being tied with the Anoka County Sherriff’s Department. Lieutenant Olson replied the City has a split dispatch from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. with the north half of the County on Channel 7 and the south half of the County on Channel 1. He noted that currently data is not shared with other counties (i.e., Hennepin County or Ramsey County). Councilmember King asked for the monthly costs for the new software. GIS Coordinator Johnson replied the yearly cost would be approximately $5,000. Chief/Safety Services Manager Olson commented the PSDS program is currently used in the Police Department. Councilmember Bourke stated he would be in favor of a countywide analyst. Discussed 3-2 WS 15-21 EDA/POOLED TIF CAPITAL PROJECTS Finance Director Huss stated Council has given conceptual approval to appropriate funding from pooled TIF funds for four projects: Oak Park Plaza Redevelopment; ACCAP Housing Project; Infinite Campus, and 105th Avenue Reconstruction. Finance Director Huss gave an overview of the Oak Park Plaza Redevelopment project. Councilmember Swanson asked how many years for the Paygo TIF dollars to be repaid. Finance Director Huss replied up to 20 years. Finance Director Huss gave an overview of the ACCAP Housing project. City of Blaine Page 2 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final May 14, 2015 Planning and Community Development Director Schafer stated the impact will be the improvement of the area and not the taxes the new development would generate. He noted the five multi-family buildings will have 30 rental units. Finance Director Huss gave an overview of the Infinite Campus project. Finance Director Huss gave an overview of the 105th Avenue Reconstruction. City Manager Arneson noted the City does not expect to get any funds from the State this year for this project. He noted that if the City moves forward with the project, no State funds will be received. He suggested repairing the east end of the road and postponing the reconstruction project until after the 2016 legislative session. Finance Director Huss stated that with the sale of the two senior buildings there will be $3 million in the EDA fund to use for other projects. Councilmember Bourke asked for a break out of the funds from the sale of the senior buildings. Finance Director Huss replied the sales will generate $9 million dollars and will close on May 27, 2015 and the City will receive the funds on May 28, 2015. Councilmember King asked for a status on the EDA Director position and if there are projects waiting for EDA funds. Planning and Community Development Director Schafer replied there are placeholders, but no actual projects. He stated the director position is on hold until the sale of the senior buildings. Councilmember Hovland asked if funds could be used on the service road on the west side of Highway 65. Planning and Community Development Director Schafer replied yes. Councilmember Swanson asked if 105th is delayed, can the Ball Road project be moved up on the project list. City Manager Arneson replied 105th would only be delayed by one year. He noted that the City assessed the Sports Center and it is on their property tax bill. Discussed 3-3 WS 15-22 2016 BUDGET - DISCUSSION ON TAX BASE AND ESTABLISHING PRELIMINARY PROPERTY TAX LEVY GUIDELINES Finance Director Huss stated the initial valuation estimates from the Anoka County Assessor’s office for properties appraised the last quarter of 2014 show Blaine’s tax base increased just over 3% from 2013 with residential City of Blaine Page 3 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final May 14, 2015 having the highest growth of 3.7%. He gave an overview of the market value estimates with the tax base for 2016 at the same rate of 35.824%. He noted that 2015 is a good year for building and growth in commercial. He gave an overview of wage increase of 3% for police sergeants and public works, and a 1% increase for all employees. He stated there is a possibility that PERA may mandate a wage increase of .25% and $30 per month to insurance. He gave an overview of other committed contracts and noted the fuel contract is locked in November. Finance Director Huss gave an overview of the general fund budgeting schedule. Councilmember Herbst requested estimates for an average $200,000 home at the tax rate of 35.824% and 36.824% and show how much money the 1% increase would bring to the City. Council discussion on property assessments and Pavement Management Program. Councilmember Bourke asked if the EDA will be levied again. Finance Director Huss replied yes. Discussed 4 Other Business 4-1 WS 15-23 PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENTS City Clerk Sorensen stated the Charter Commission met to discuss two Charter amendments of Section 6.05 and Section 12.06 to increase the City Manager’s expenditure limit to $25,000 and allow approval of vacation of streets to be done by resolution and that these proposed amendments will be coming before the Council for consideration very soon. City Manager Arneson said the Metropolitan Council released their 2014 population estimate for Blaine as 62,066, adding unless the Council wished to consider a code amendment the population estimate would not allow for an additional off-sale liquor license. Council discussion on liquor licenses. Discussed ADJOURN The Workshop adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Adjourned City of Blaine Page 4