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, July 9, 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 Attorney Patrick Sweeney; Planning and Community Development Director Bryan Schafer; Public Services Manager Bob Therres; Finance Director Joe Huss; Financial Analyst Ward Brown; Police Chief/Safety Services Manager Chris Olson; City Engineer Jean Keely; Accounting Supervisor Bonnie Friedrich; Communications Technician Roark Haver; Senior Engineering Technician Jason Sundeen; 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 15-33 2014 CAFR/AUDIT REVIEW Finance Director Huss introduced Peggy Moeller, Redpath & Company. Ms. Moeller gave an overview of four reports: Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), State Legal Compliance Report, Report on Internal Control, and Communication with Those Charged with Governance. She noted the City’s 2014 audit of financial statements received a clean opinion and the City received the 2013 GFOA Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. Ms. Moeller gave an overview of the Report on Internal Control and noted the City of Blaine Page 1 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final July 9, 2015 City had no internal control findings for 2014. Ms. Moeller gave an overview of the State Legal Compliance Report and noted the City had no compliance findings for 2014 Ms. Moeller gave an overview of the Communication with Those Charged with Governance Report and noted the City had no findings for 2014. Ms. Moeller stated the City will be required to implement GASB Statement No. 68, Financial Reporting for Pensions - an amendment of GASB Statement No. 27for the year ended December 31, 2015. She stated the City will record a liability for its proportionate share of the net pension liability of PERA. She noted Redpath is developing templates for their clients to use for this reporting. Councilmember Swanson stated with the change in GASB, there will be fake negatives. Ms. Moeller replied the reporting will be in the government wide statement and will not affect the general fund. Discussed 3-2 WS 15-32 UTILITY EXTENSION TO LEVER STREET AND 125TH AVENUE Councilmember Herbst stated he is abstaining from all discussion on this project due to his living in the area, which is a conflict of interest. Public Services Manager Therres stated Council had previously discussed accelerating the extension of the trunk utilities associated with the Parkside North plat within the Lever Street alignment to the north side of 125th Avenue. He stated staff prepared two options: Council initiates project and defines the scope or Council receives a petition from property owners with a requested project scope and initiates a project. He noted both options would install trunk utilities from 123rd Circle to the north side of 125th Avenue along the Lever Street alignment. He stated the cost of the project initially would be covered by the City’s Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Utility funds, and as each property develops, they would pay their share of the project cost through a connection charge or assessment allocated to each property. Councilmember Bourke requested a breakdown of project costs and asked if the cost of Paxmar’s work is included in the total cost. Public Services Manager Therres replied Paxmar’s work was excluded in the total cost. Councilmember Swanson asked for the cost of the oversizing. City Engineer Keely stated costs were listed in the first report that was reviewed in February. She stated the trunk oversizing cost estimate is just under $300,000, and $571,500 is estimated to be collected as connection charges or assessed. City of Blaine Page 2 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final July 9, 2015 Councilmember Swanson asked if the road has been determined. Public Services Manager Therres replied yes and that the plat shows the road. Councilmember Hovland stated he would be in favor of Option One. He asked if the road would need to be deeded over. Public Services Manager Therres replied after the final plat, the road can be deeded over. He stated the project would be planned for 2016. Planning and Community Development Director Schafer stated the plat is on the Council’s agenda tonight to approve. Councilmember Bourke stated he is in favor of Option One. Councilmember King clarified that the plat takes the road to 125th. Planning and Community Development Director Schafer replied yes, the plat provides the road to 125th. He noted the east side of Lever is on the adjacent property and the development is obligated to obtain the 30 feet to complete the road. Councilmember Hovland asked if the City will need to increase the utility fund. Public Services Manager Therres replied a rate increase would be expected within the next five years. Councilmember Hovland asked if the City could supplement from the EDA or create a TIF District. Finance Director Huss replied TIF would not be available for this type of project. He stated using the Sewer and Utility funds for this project will not initiate an increase in fee sooner rather than later. He stated this is a housing project and EDA funds could not be used on this type of project. Mayor Ryan stated he supports Option Two with the residents petitioning. He noted that the project will cost $800,000 of the taxpayers’ money. He commented the project that has stalled out. Planning and Community Development Director Schafer commented the developer plans to utilize the builders that built homes in Woodland Village. Councilmember King stated he would be in favor of Option One and he would like to see homes and open the commercial in that area. Councilmember Hovland stated by the City initiating the work, the faster the builders can build homes. Councilmember Swanson asked if a signal would be installed at 125th. Planning and Community Development Director Schafer replied that intersection is not anticipated to meet warrants right away. City Engineer Keely stated to move the project forward would require Council’s super-majority vote of six out of seven votes. City of Blaine Page 3 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final July 9, 2015 Public Services Manager Therres stated staff will prepare this item for a Council-initiated project and if approved it would be planned for 2016. Councilmember Clark entered at 7:06 p.m. Discussed OTHER BUSINESS Councilmember Swanson stated the cable franchise will take a few more months before an agreement will be ready for review with CenturyLink. ADJOURN The Workshop adjourned at 7:10 p.m. City of Blaine Page 4