City Council

MANTORVILLE CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORKSHOP MEETING AGENDA MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2020 6:00 PM 1. Call to Order – Mayor Bradford called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm. Members Present: Chuck Bradford, Henry Blair, Sharon Davern, Don Hofstad, and Luke Nash. Others Present: Jim Potter, DCSO Steph French, City Staff Shelly Jensen-Germundson, Joe Adams, and Cami Reber. 2. Pledge of Allegiance - Done 3. Workshop Discussion Items a) 9th Street Traffic Member Blair handed out a spreadsheet summarizing the previous data collected on the speed studies. He noted that he doesn’t see anything that is out of line with other roads in the City. It seems pretty consistent over quite a long period of time. Member Davern noted that she would like to see the study done from the other end of 9th Street so that she can share this with the citizens, no matter what the outcome is on it. She noted that there may be nothing more to do with this but she wants to be able to have the documentation to explain this with them. Council Members continued discussion. Member Nash noted that he has a meeting with Scott Rose on Friday on this topic. City Engineer Tim Hruska noted that we want to set things up for success, which ever way we go. He thinks that adding the striping did help out as the reports indicate the number of speeders went down. Member Nash noted that if the focus of enforcement doesn’t do anything, then we may want to look at our traffic needs in town. He will talk to Scott about having the other study done and request more enforcement. Once we have that data, we can continue the discussion. b) Fryer’s Mobile Home Park Cami provided an update to the Council on the Mobile Home Park. She gave an update on the MDH inspection report as well as the City communication with the Park owner. She requested that the MDH enforce their inspection reports. Her communication with the trailer park was similar to the MDH report regarding debris and clean up. As of earlier today, they have fixed the pot holes, ordered a custom sign which will display the license and contact information for the park, taken out multiple loads of debris/furniture/tires/brush. All trailers are numbered and they are putting up speed limit signs. As of this morning, the City did receive 2 building permits for 2 used trailers to be brought in. The trailers have to pass manufactured home inspections and compliance certifications. Member Davern noted that the same items keep coming up on the inspection reports, over and over again. Things get cleaned up and then it all comes back again. Cami explained the process they take when complaints come in. The do go and take pictures to confirm before any letter is sent. There was discussion on citations and when do those come into play. Cami noted that she has sent a request to MDH for an updated inspection to take place. On the City side of things, we can further note dates/times that things need to be cleaned up or citations will be issued. The park owner has requested to bring the trailers in at the end of the week and have noted a lot of the work being done as requested. Member Davern asked why it is taking 5 years to complete the items noted in the inspection report. Member Blair replied that many of the items noted have been cleaned up in the individual years, it just comes back. Member Davern noted these things should not keep coming up and they need to keep things cleaned up on a regular basis. Member Nash noted to stick with our plan and have them address the items before we issue any of the permits. She is planning to attend the Monday, October 26 meeting. Cami will take a site visit and see what has been done and let Council know. c) CARES Funds – City Portion Mayor Bradford and Member Nash gave an update on the Cares COVID-19 funds and the disbursement of Round 1 and Round 2 that has been awarded to date. There is an opportunity for the City to use some of the remaining funds for our COVID related expenses. Member Nash noted some additional items to fund being discussed are adding wi-fi hotspots in town – at City Hall for the campground and one for Riverside Park; buying more picnic tables for city events and for resident use in and around the parks. They could also be loaned out to business that want to expand their outdoor seating. Remodel updates to the City Hall office to help separate staff from residents. Member Davern noted that she wants to make sure that the City attorney approves everything so we don’t get caught paying things back. Member Nash brought up that a time extension was given that allows us to actually spend dollars extended beyond the November 15 date. Mayor Bradford noted purchasing a more secure hand sanitizer station that is portable or can be put in the parks permanently. The Fire Department noted purchasing additional PPE in a bulk order. Member Nash noted we can use cares act dollars for initial installs of items but future expenses related would be on us and we would check with the appropriateness of the purchase. Member Nash noted to send he and Mayor Bradford any suggestions for discussion at the next meeting. d) 2021 Projects Proposal • Street Projects Joe presented the recommendation for the 2021 Street project of Walnut Street from 4th street to 7th Street. From 6th to 7th will need new water main. It is one of our worst sections in town. The remaining main they haven’t had any issues with so they weren’t looking at replacing it all. The project would tie into the 3rd Street loop project. Member Blair asked why not repair it all down to 4th. Tim noted the main is in the boulevard and hasn’t been causing us problems so we could hold off on. If it was under the pavement, he would recommend it but because it isn’t, it can get pushed down the road further. It won’t cost us more in the future because it’s not under the road. This is the project that is the driver for the large projects for 2021. Everything for 2020 did get done. There are still some spot repairs that will come up in 2021. They discussed Zumbro Ridge repairs and the estimated cost at $87,000. The Walnut with water main is estimated at $200,000. • Highway 57 Planning Tim explained the letter of intent that MN DOT is putting together which should be coming to the City in the next month. Once that comes to the Council, Tim recommends a technical advisory committee be put together that is comprised of a couple of council members, a couple of business people, a couple of residents, and representatives of the MRA. The committee would act as a sounding board prior to us laying it all out to the public. 2021 will be a busy year for coming together with the preliminary plan. A year from now we will know the street width, sidewalk width, any storm sewer, etc. The aesthetics piece will be continued to work on such as lights, bump outs at the intersection, etc. This is a 2023 project – originally slated for 2022 but extended out to 2023. Member Nash noted a great concern is on how traffic is going to be rerouted. Tim noted we will talk about all the scenarios and a lot of discussion will be done on this. It is always a challenge but we will work through this. Discussion on infrastructure. Tim noted there is quite a bit of storm sewer and not much in the way of water/sewer infrastructure. This will help with the construction piece and staging of traffic. Tim explained that with us in the driver’s seat of planning we hope to be able to fix the design standards and construction done in the 80’s/90’s. Part of the plan is also finishing up the last piece of 5th Street East. We will need to decide if we will or wont tie it with the MN Dot project and what the pros and cons are. Doing a project on our own separates out the need to pay state wage rates and having more control over the contractor we hire for it.  e) 2021 Budget Cami explained that what the Council has before them is the final preliminary budget that the Council discussed in passing the preliminary levy. Also included are the wish list items from the EDA and Park Board that are included in the budget before them. Joe also has some bigger ticket items he wants to present. Cami asked the Council where they want to be and how they want to do this. From a tax rate standpoint, the budget set at the preliminary is a couple of percentage points higher than 2020. Council discussed. Cami noted that the salaries included in the budget are shown at a max increase of 4% for all employees and all departments. The Council has not approved any salary increases for 2021. Discussion and clarification on the budget. Member Davern discussed the EDA position and why we are paying CEDA and what are we getting out of it. Take the CARES things out of it. Can we pay CEDA based on grant writing only instead of paying for a full employee. Cami noted a yearly review/summary will be coming to Council in November outlining what has been done. Discussion continued. Member Nash noted that last year we kept the budget the same last year and we did a benefit analysis. I think we do it again this year and make that determination. Member Davern noted that if the EDA wants to use their own money on this, then that’s ok. Member Nash asked about the Parks budget and the tree portion. Joe explained that $20,000 is budgeted for trees; $10,000 for boulevard trees and $10,000 for park trees. Cami explained that the Park Board is the City Tree Board and most tree items do go through them. It is easier to keep this all in one area of the budget. A lot of the dollars were budgeted in light of the EAB infestation. Member Nash asked if there is room to scale back on their wish list. Is there anything in here we can use with the CARES money. Member Nash noted he feels we can fine tune this budget down to a 4% levy increase. Additional discussion on EDA financials. Send out the EDA financial reports and 3 years of the City Audits. Council agreed to shoot for a 4% budget increase. 4. Adjourn – With the agenda completed, Mayor Bradford noted the meeting adjourned at 8:12 pm.