City Council Workshop

Blaine City Hall City of Blaine 10801 Town Sq Dr NE Blaine, MN 55449 Anoka County, Minnesota Minutes City Council Workshop Thursday, November 2, 2017 6:30 PM Cloverleaf Farm Room A NOTICE OF WORKSHOP MEETING 1 Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Mayor Pro Tem Swanson at 6:30 p.m. 2 Roll Call Quorum Present. ALSO PRESENT: City Manager Clark Arneson; Planning and Community Development Director Bryan Schafer; Public Works Director Jon Haukaas; Interim Police Chief/Safety Services Manager Dan Szykulski; Finance Director Joe Huss; Economic Development Coordinator Erik Thorvig; Public Services Manager/Assistant City Manager Bob Therres; Budget/Fiscal Specialist Ward Brown; Utility Billing Supervisor Kyle Howard; City Attorney Patrick Sweeney; Communications Technician Roark Haver; Senior Engineering Technician Al Thorp; and City Clerk Catherine Sorensen. Present: 5 - Councilmember Hovland, Councilmember King, Councilmember Garvais, Councilmember Jeppson, and Councilmember Swanson Absent: 2 - Councilmember Clark, and Mayor Ryan 3 New Business 3-1 PRESENTATION BY GREAT WOLF SWIM GROUP Public Services Manager/Assistant City Manager Therres stated Great Wolf Swim is looking to build a competition pool in the area to serve the needs of the competitive swim teams and organizations in the metro area. They are currently having discussions with the National Sports Center (NSC) and recently at a joint meeting put together by the NSC have started having some discussion with the basketball group that was before the City Council a couple of months ago. Staff explained representatives from Great Wolf were in attendance to introduce themselves and their concept to the City Council. Dave Bentz, Great Wolf Swim Group, introduced himself to the Council. He stated City of Blaine Page 1 City Council Workshop Minutes November 2, 2017 he was hoping to get a swim facility constructed for swim competitions. He explained he had been in contact with the NSC and provided further comment on the proposed swim facility. He explained the facility would have two pools, one for competition and one for training. He indicated this facility would be unique as it would have stadium seating. He anticipated that national competitions would be held at this facility. He commented on the finances for the facility and stated swimming lessons and parties would be a constant revenue stream along with other fitness classes. He described how swimming was growing in popularity in the state of Minnesota and the Isaac Sports Group would be assisting with the planning of this facility. Duane Proell, Isaac Sports Group, introduced himself to the Council and discussed his findings for the proposed aquatics center. He explained he assisted Mr. Bentz in vetting his business model, program model, financial model and sustainability model. He indicated the proposed aquatic center would offer programs for children through seniors. He commented on the meetings that had been held with the local basketball organization and shared that it was his opinion the site in Blaine would be more profitable than the site in Coon Rapids. Councilmember Hovland asked if the swim facility would be operated as a separate entity from the NSC. Mr. Bentz indicated he was uncertain at this time how operations would be with the NSC. Councilmember Hovland questioned if water polo could be conducted in these pools. Mr. Benz reported this pool would be able to host water polo but noted water polo was not very popular in Minnesota. Councilmember King asked if diving would also take place in the proposed aquatic center. Mr. Bentz stated no diving would occur. Councilmember King indicated he was supportive of the swim facility concept. Councilmember Garvais inquired how many stadium seats the aquatic center would have. Mr. Bentz explained they were proposing to have 1,300 to 1,500 seats. Council consensus was to offer general support for the concept with more information being provided to the Council as this item moves forward. 3-3 PROPOSED 2018 SANITATION UTILITY FUND BUDGET Attachments: Refuse Fund Narrative 2018 Finance Director Huss stated staff has prepared a proposed 2018 Storm Drainage Fund Budget for Council review and discussion. Current projections point to an operating loss of about $30,000 for 2017, indicating that fees are adequate for the City of Blaine Page 2 City Council Workshop Minutes November 2, 2017 short term. The proposed 2018 budget projects an operating loss of nearly $180,000 as additional contractual work is completed. As proposed with the current budget requests, the fund's five-year model projects continued operating losses, indicating a fee increase would be required if Council opts to approve the proposed programmatic changes. Staff reviewed the revenue and expenses for the Sanitation Utility Fund, along with the proposed rate increase and requested direction on how to proceed. Mike Moroz, President/CEO Walters Recycling and Refuse, provided the Council with a summary on the City’s recycling efforts and noted recycling volumes were up. He commented on the bulk item limits and noted overall things have been going very well. Councilmember King stated he would like to see costs for weekly recycling given the fact recycling efforts were increasing. Councilmember Garvais and Councilmember Hovland said they were also interested in learning more about potential weekly recycling rates and to review this topic at an upcoming workshop. Council consensus was to schedule this item for adoption on December 7th. 3-2 PROPOSED 2018 STORM DRAINAGE FUND BUDGET Attachments: 2018 Storm budget write-up Finance Director Huss stated staff has prepared a proposed 2018 Storm Drainage Fund Budget for Council review and discussion. Current projections point to an operating loss of about $30,000 for 2017, indicating that fees are adequate for the short term. The proposed 2018 budget projects an operating loss of nearly $180,000 as additional contractual work is completed. As proposed with the current budget requests, the fund’s five-year model projects continued operating losses, indicating a fee increase would be required if Council opts to approve the proposed programmatic changes. Staff reviewed the revenue and expenses for the Storm Drainage Fund noting no fee increase was proposed for 2018. Councilmember Hovland asked if the City has had to complete more dredging and testing of its ponds. Rebecca Haug, Water Resources Manager, stated not at this time. Councilmember Hovland questioned why the City was proposing to contract out the dredging of its ponds when the City owned equipment that could complete this task. Ms. Haug explained a great deal of material would have to be removed from the ponds when they were dredged and was uncertain where the City would store City of Blaine Page 3 City Council Workshop Minutes November 2, 2017 this material. Public Services Manager/Assistant City Manager Therres clarified that the equipment the City had was to dredge ditches and not ponds. Councilmember Hovland requested staff provide the Council with further information on renting, purchasing and contracting this work out at a future workshop meeting. Councilmember Hovland questioned how much work the watershed district was doing to test and analyze the City’s waterways. Ms. Haug stated the watershed district was constantly monitoring the City’s ditches. She commented on the TMDL (total maximum daily load) and noted the watershed district was responsible for monitoring this as well. Mayor Pro Tem Swanson requested further information on the status of the ditch behind Home Depot near 35W. Ms. Haug provided the Council with an update noting this ditch would be cleaned and the elevation changed in the near future. Council consensus was to schedule this item for adoption on December 7th. ADJOURN The Workshop was adjourned at 7:20 p.m. City of Blaine Page 4