City Council

JOINT CITY COUNCIL/FINANCE COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 6, 2018 Finance Commission members in attendance: Chair Greg Maples, Mike Bromelkamp, and Colin Johnson. City Council members in attendance: Mayor Jud Marshall, Richard Brainerd, Jeff Ledermann and Steve Wolgamot, Council member Deans arrived at 6:20 p.m. Also in attendance were City Administrator Scott Neilson, Finance Director Scott Schaefer, Public Works Director Bob Goebel, Fire Chief Terry Fischer, and Accounting Clerk Jerene Rogers. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Upon a motion by Finance Chair Maples, seconded by Mayor Marshall, all members voting in favor, the agenda was adopted as presented. APPROVAL OF THE OCTOBER 17, 2017 JOINT CITY COUNCIL/FINANCE COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Upon a motion by City Council member Brainerd, seconded by Mayor Marshall, all members voting in favor, the October 17, 2017 Joint City Council/Finance Commission meeting minutes were approved as presented. APPOINT CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR OF THE FINANCE COMMISSION Upon a motion by Finance Commission member Bromelkamp, seconded by Finance Chair Maples, all members voting in favor, Finance Commission member Maples was reappointed to Chair of the Finance Commission and Finance Commission member Johnson was reappointed to Vice Chair of the Finance Commission. The motion was unanimously approved. PARK CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN City Administrator Scott Neilson said at the Strategic Planning meeting held earlier this year by the City Council, one of the top planning priorities is to focus on trails and parks and provide a long-term improvement and funding plan. He said the Public Works staff recently inspected and inventoried all the parks for improvements. Public Works Director Goebel stated in the Park Capital Improvement Plan there are four playgrounds that need to be replaced in the amount of approximately $80,000 each. He said for this meeting he would like to focus on the three highest need parks, Pheasant Run Park, Hallam Park and Wedgewood Park. He stated Pheasant Run Park needs the basketball court, trails, picnic tables and benches, barbeque grill and sign all replaced. He indicated the cost might be approximately $140,000 for the first year of improvements. He said Hallam Park would be the next park to improve. Eventually, a total redevelopment will be needed for this park. The current needs for Hallam Park include replacing picnic tables and benches, replace the trail, playground, garbage receptacles, basketball court, sign and fence and install LED lighting. The cost for these repairs may be approximately $250,000 for the second year improvements. This includes costs for a total redevelopment of this park. JOINT CITY COUNCIL/FINANCE COMMISSION -2- AUGUST 6, 2018 MEETING MINUTES Wedgewood Park is the third park and improvements include replacing the signs, picnic tables and benches, basketball court, playground, redevelop the ball field, paint interior of building and add LED lighting. Future needs for this park include trail extension, Ash tree replacement program and possibly a skate park. The approximate cost for these improvements is $150,000. Council member Brainerd asked how we get the money to do all of the improvements on the 5 year Park Capital Improvement Plan. Finance Director Schaefer said we can use the funds that are in the Equipment and Building Replacement Fund to replace existing items out there. He reviewed the Park Fund Balance Policy and asked for comments. Administrator Neilson said the purpose is to outline improvements and to create a Park Capital Improvement Plan and a Parks Fund Balance Policy. He suggested transferring $150,000 annually from the General Fund to the Park Fund going forward. Finance Commission member Bromelkamp said he feels the policy wording needs a little tweaking to better describe what our intentions are with this policy. He volunteered to help with this task. City Council member Brainerd suggested putting something in the policy that allows the city to receive donations for park improvements. Finance Director Schaefer stated he intends to have a new draft policy available for discussion at the next meeting. AMBULANCE STAFFING Fire Chief Fischer explained that it has become more difficult to retain staff. He said the demand for service continues to increase due to additional senior facilities and an aging population. He feels increasing demands on time due to family obligations and outside commitments make it difficult to retain staff. He said White Bear Lake is experiencing the same issue. He said the first option is to hire two full-time Paramedic/Firefighters that would work from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. This shift would cover about 40% of their calls. He explained when the new full-time crew is on duty the paid on-call staff will not respond for the first medical call. The paid on-call staff would be expected to respond for second medical or any fire calls. The cost of adding two full-time staff members would add $190,000 to the ambulance budget. He stated the second option would be to consider an outside private ambulance service that would cover the area 24/7, 365 days a year. With this option, there would be no cost to the city except the cost to cover wages of our staff as first responders. JOINT CITY COUNCIL/FINANCE COMMISSION -3- AUGUST 6, 2018 MEETING MINUTES City Council member Brainerd asked where we get the two people to hire. Our own staff? Finance Commission member Bromelkamp said option one may take care of the current issue, but this will not work in the future. City Administrator Neilson said the plan at this time is to put the money in the preliminary budget because we can always lower this budget after it has been sent to the County, we cannot increase it. The final budget will not be approved until December. City Council member Brainerd stated he has more questions and would like to continue this discussion at the next meeting. NEXT COMMISSION MEETING The next regular meeting of the Mahtomedi Finance Commission will be a joint meeting with the City Council on Tuesday, August 21, 2018 at 5:15 p.m. This meeting will be to discuss the 2019 Budget for the General, Special Revenue, Building & Equipment Replacement and Utility Funds, Parks Fund Balance Policy and Ambulance Staffing. ADOURNMENT Upon a motion by City Council member Brainerd, seconded by Finance Commission member Johnson, all members voting in favor, the August 6, 2018 Joint City Council/ Finance Commission meeting was adjourned at 6:50 p.m. ATTESTED: APPROVED: ___________________________________ _______________________________ JERENE ROGERS, ACCOUNT CLERK GREG MAPLES, CHAIR