City Council Workshop

Blaine City Hall City of Blaine 10801 Town Sq Dr NE Blaine, MN 55449 Anoka County, Minnesota Minutes - Final City Council Workshop Thursday, January 12, 2017 6:45 PM Cloverleaf Farm Room A NOTICE OF WORKSHOP MEETING 1 Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Mayor Ryan at 6:45 p.m. 2 Roll Call Quorum Present. ALSO PRESENT: City Manager Clark Arneson; Public Services Manager Bob Therres; Planning and Community Development Director Bryan Schafer; Finance Director Joe Huss; Police Chief/Safety Services Manager Chris Olson; City Engineer Jean Keely; City Attorneys Pat Sweeney and Mark Berglund; Communications Technician Roark Haver; and Senior Engineering Technician Al Thorp. Present: 5 - Councilmember Clark, Councilmember King, Councilmember Garvais, Councilmember Jeppson, and Mayor Ryan Absent: 2 - Councilmember Hovland, and Councilmember Swanson 3 New Business 3-1 WS 17-04 VETERANS COURT Police Chief Olson stated Veterans Court is an opportunity to address a veteran as a whole, not just addressing the criminal offense. He explained this program is not a “free pass” for veterans but it may actually be viewed as more intense than the average criminal justice system sentencing and probation program. He reported Assistant Anoka County Attorney Blair Buccicone was present to provide the Council with information about the current program, explain the expectations and responsibilities related to the City of Blaine’s participation, and answer questions. He requested the Council provide Staff and the City prosecutor direction as to the City of Blaine’s participation in this program. Assistant Anoka County Attorney Blair Buccicone thanked the Council for their time. He discussed the Veterans Court program in further detail and commented on the post-traumatic stress issues many veterans suffer from after City of Blaine Page 1 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final January 12, 2017 being deployed. He indicated Veterans are under employed in Anoka County and throughout the country and further described the numerous values of Veterans Court noting the main goal would be to get a veteran the help they need. He described the differences between Veterans Court and traditional court. He reported Veterans Court would meet on the first and third Fridays of each month. The type of cases heard in Veterans Court, along with the court structure was discussed in detail. He said he believed that Blaine veterans would benefit by being a part of this program and encouraged the City Council to offer their support of Veterans Court. Councilmember King asked if there were other local jurisdictions adopting this court model. Assistant Anoka County Attorney Buccicone stated Hennepin County was the first court system to adopt this model. He believed this model was exploding across the country because of the VA’s growing needs. Councilmember King questioned how quickly a veteran would learn if they were eligible for Veterans Court after being arrested. Assistant Anoka County Attorney Buccicone explained if everything was done correctly, a determination could be made the very next day. Councilmember Clark inquired what the “ask” was from the City of Blaine. City Attorney Mark Berglund explained the courts have been offering Veterans Court for the past 4 ½ years and Blaine was being asked to participate. He stated Veterans Court services would be conducted outside of the existing contractual services and asked that he be compensated his hourly rate for any work done to assist veterans. He said he anticipated he would spend five to ten hours per month on this. Councilmember King asked if there would be any other costs to the Police Department to participate on Veterans Court. Police Chief Olson reported there would be no additional costs to the Police Department. Councilmember Clark questioned if the costs would be flexible. Mr. Berglund said costs would vary each month depending on the number of cases he was to address. City Manager Arneson explained this was a non-budgeted item for 2017 and if the Council was supportive of this program, staff would have to review the budget and readdress this matter at a future meeting. Councilmember Clark said he supported the City looking further into this program. Mayor Ryan stated this was the first he heard of this program and was interested in the Council offering this type of assistance to veterans. City of Blaine Page 2 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final January 12, 2017 Council consensus was to direct staff to further investigate the Veterans Court program for the City of Blaine. Discussed 3-2 WS 17-05 LEVER STREET (NORTH OF 125TH AVE) Planning and Community Development Director Schafer reported the City Council initiated a project in 2016 that placed sewer and water utilities under and to the north side of 125th Avenue at Lever Street. The utility extensions were for the benefit of the development area and property along the Lever Street spine north of 125th Avenue. Over the last several months three separate developers have come forward for the parcels they have under contract and intend to purchase. The three entities and their parcels are as follows, from North to South: · Lennar Homes/John Peterson- 37 acres with potential for 75-85 lots · Excelsior Group- 100-110 acres with potential for 300 lots · Anoka-Hennepin Schools- 40 acres for future school (likely elementary K- 5) Planning and Community Development Director Schafer indicated staff has met with these groups over the last month to determine their interests, timing and approach to completing the reconstruction of Lever Street with utilities from the 125th Avenue intersection to the north edge of the existing Lever Street boundary (just over ¾ of a mile). As a result of those discussions the development groups has asked if the City would consider building those needed improvements as a public petition process and levying the costs accordingly. Councilmember Clark inquired if the road would dead-end or have a cul-de-sac. Planning and Community Development Director Schafer proposed the roadway having a cul-de-sac at this time. Councilmember Clark asked what percentage of street frontage the three parties owned. Planning and Community Development Director Schafer explained the three parties had over 50% ownership. He stated if a petition was pursued one or two more properties may express interest in development. Further discussion ensued regarding the existing right-of-way. Mayor Ryan said he supported the public improvement of this roadway in order for the project to be completed. Councilmember King questioned how the improvement project would be funded and how much of the expense the City would recoup. Finance Director Huss discussed the financing of this project and stated at least 20% of the project would have to be assessed if the City were to pursue bonds. Councilmember Clark commented on the Northeast Area Assessment Policy City of Blaine Page 3 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final January 12, 2017 and asked when the Council would have to commit to this project. City Manager Arneson indicated staff was looking for the Council to commit to the project at this time. Council consensus was to direct staff to begin the Lever Street road improvement hearing process. Discussed 3-3 WS 17-06 PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE Public Services Director Therres stated in October of 2010, the City initiated a Pavement Management Program (PMP) for the purpose of perpetually maintaining and rehabilitating city streets to maximize their lifespan in a cost-efficient manner. Funding for this program was a combination of PMP tax levy funds, assessments and Municipal State Aid. As a part of this program a condition rating system was developed and all the streets were rated. This rating system aids in selecting each year’s street projects. Staff reviewed the construction spending and miles of projects for the first six years of the program. Public Services Director Therres explained that during the first five years of the PMP, there was a heavy focus on getting overlays done on the backlog of streets that were in immediate need of an overlay. By doing this, the City was able to save both the residents of the affected streets and the city taxpayers the additional money that would have been spent reconstructing these streets if they had been allowed to deteriorate for a few more years. Going forward, there will still be streets that fall into a condition needing an overlay and staff will bring forward an overlay project when necessary, but the number of overlays needed in the next five years is anticipated to be smaller than seen in the first five years of the program. Public Services Director Therres reported the focus for the next five years of the PMP will be on selecting reconstruction projects from streets generally built in the 1960’s through 1980’s that are at the end of their useful life. These reconstruction projects will be more complex, costly and time intensive than many of the projects that have been done under the PMP, especially when involving the nearly 30 miles of residential streets in older neighborhoods that do not have curb and gutter and have inadequate storm sewer. Staff reviewed the roadways included in the 2017 PMP in detail with the Council. Mayor Ryan asked if the 2017 streets were all reconstructions. Public Services Director Therres reported this was the case. Councilmember Clark questioned if the City was holding its ground on the overlays. Public Services Director Therres said he believed this to be the case City of Blaine Page 4 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final January 12, 2017 but explained the reconstruction projects were costlier and took more time. Discussed 3-4 WS 17-07 TRAFFIC STUDY FOR RICE CREEK PARKWAY Council consensus was to address this item at the January 19, 2017 workshop meeting. Postponed Other Business The Council discussed the water towers dual warning backup system recently put in place. The Council requested a debrief regarding the January 8 water utility communication failure in one month. Councilmember Clark requested the City’s emergency response policy be reviewed in one month as well. ADJOURN The Workshop was adjourned at 8:13 p.m. City of Blaine Page 5