City Council

City Hall City of Northfield 801 Washington Street Northfield, MN 55057 ci.northfield.mn.us Meeting Minutes - Final City Council Tuesday, April 12, 2022 6:00 PM Council Chambers Work Session 6:00 PM - REGULAR AGENDA CALL TO ORDER Mayor Pownell called the meeting to order at 6:04PM. Present: 5- Council Member Clarice Grabau, Council Member Brad Ness, Mayor Rhonda Pownell, Council Member Jami Reister, and Council Member George Zuccolotto Absent: 2- Council Member Suzie Nakasian, and Council Member Jessica Peterson White REGULAR AGENDA 1. 22-221 Presentation and Discussion on the Park and Recreation Capital Investment Plan Benchmarking and Comparable City Information. Public Works Director/City Engineer Dave Bennett introduced the item and presenters, which included Pam Anderson with 292 Design Group, Leon Younger with Pros Consulting, and Tom Whitlock with Damon Farber. Anderson explained what they have been doing regarding comparable city comparisons and current park gap analysis. Younger explained the benchmark data assessment/analysis and showed specifics of how Northfield lines up with comparable cities. Whitlock explained other data points for comparison outside of comparison to other cities, such as community opinion/input and current geographic conditions and census data. He presented results from a December 2019 community survey and explained GIS/census analysis of Northfield. Bennett, Anderson, Whitlock, and Younger answered questions from the Council. The Council was given the opportunity to add their thoughts on the current park and recreation areas in the city and what they would like to see evaluated going forward. Bennett discussed the next steps in the process. Anderson added that now that data is collected, more in-depth evaluations and recommendations will follow. Bennett stated that the Park and Recreation Capital Investment Plan will come back to the Council this summer. 2. 22-222 Review and Discuss Land Development Code provisions related to City buildings and facilities including initial potential amendments for clarification. City Administrator Ben Martig gave some background on the agenda item. Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) Chair Barb Evans gave an overview of certificates of appropriateness and the HPC process for issuing certificates. She also discussed the HPC actions regarding proposed Bridge Square changes. HPC Member Alice Thomas provided some background on federal and state authorization, standards, and guidelines regarding historic places. HPC Member Cliff Clark provided some additional information City of Northfield Page 1 Printed on 4/20/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final April 12, 2022 regarding the historical context of the HPC and the commission's role. Martig laid out three options regarding changes to the land development code around certificates of appropriateness and what is next in the process. Council discussed the three options and gave their individual input regarding their preferred option. The options will be presented to the HPC at their meeting Thursday, April 15. Evans, Thomas, Clark, Martig, City Planner Mikayla Schmidt, Assistant City Planner Revee Needham, and City Attorney Chris Hood answered questions from the Council. Recess A recess was taken at 8:14PM. The meeting resumed at 8:20PM. 3. 22-223 Review of the updated City Emergency Operations Plan Police Chief Mark Elliott introduced the agenda item by explaining the details of the policy and the review/revision process. Deputy Police Chief P.T. Haider discussed the current version of the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) and why updates are being done now. Elliott reviewed the nine priorities set out in a previous resolution (Res. 2011-018). Haider discussed the role of the City Council in emergency management and who makes policy decisions in an emergency. Elliott and Haider both stressed the importance of community members utilizing official communications through the City website, the City facebook page, and Everbridge during an emergency. Elliott, Haider, Emergency Management Director Tim Isom, and Interim Fire Department Chief Tom Nelson answered questions from the Council. Council proposed some alterations to the wording related to one of the items. Staff will confer with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and make adjustments, as needed. The updated EOP will come forward to the Council for approval at a later meeting. ADJOURN A motion was made by Council Member Ness, seconded by Council Member Grabau, to adjourn the meeting at 8:54 p.m.. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 5- C. Grabau, C. Ness, Mayor Pownell, C. Reister, and C. Zuccolotto City of Northfield Page 2 Printed on 4/20/2022