City Council Workshop

WORKSHOP OAKDALE CITY COUNCIL October 26, 2021 The City Council held a workshop on Tuesday, October 26, 2021, at Oakdale City Hall, 1584 Hadley Avenue North, Oakdale, Minnesota. The meeting began at 5:00 PM. Present: Mayor Paul Reinke Council Members: Jake Ingebrigtson Susan Olson Colleen Swedberg Kevin Zabel Also Present: Christina Volkers, City Administrator Susan Barry, City Clerk Nick Newton, Police Chief Kevin Wold, Fire Chief Jason Zimmerman, Finance Director Holly Wilson, Human Resources Director John Shardlow, Stantec Brian Bachmeier, Public Works Director/City Engineer Susan Vento, Metropolitan Council Member, District 11 Adam Gordon, Manager, Interceptor Engineering Kyle Colvin, Manager, Wastewater Planning, Metropolitan Council John Chlebeck, Project Manager, Metropolitan Council Dallas Pierson, Oakdale Planning Commission LAKE ELMO REGIONAL SEWER EXTENSION PROJECT Susan Vento, Met Council Representative, is part of an environmental services committee through Met Council. Wastewater treatment is a big part of her job. John Chlebeck did a brief introduction of the Lake Elmo Regional Sewer Extension Project. He spoke of the need to extend sewer service, long-term regional sewer improvements, current project scope, expected impacts, and project schedule. There will be coordination involved with Metro Transit and the Gold Line project. ADVISORY BODY INTERVIEW: EMC – ROSEMARK The Council interviewed Sam Rosemark to serve on the Environmental Management Commission (EMC). He applied to replace Karen Jackson who had resigned. Rosemark is a graduate of UM-Morris and a lifelong resident of Oakdale. Sustainability is a really important issue for him. WORKSHOP October 26, 2021 Page Two CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN: STREETS/UTILITIES/DRAINAGE/SIGNALS Finance Director Zimmerman summarized the 2022 Capital Project Budget Summary. Public Works Director/Engineer Bachmeier explained the 2022-2026 Capital Improvement Plan. A list of proposed projects related to Oakdale’s streets, utilities, and signals was presented. A lot of the city streets will be under construction in the next two years. County Road 14 trail from Hadley to LA Fitness went from $25,000 to $60,000 in cost because PFAS was found in the pumped ground water. There is an extra cost for disposal. This was a recent discovery. Doing the pedestrian bridge over I694 and 40th Street is slated for 2025. Between now and then we will pursue other funding sources to finance the project. Utilities: Bachmeier mentioned utility improvements will be driven by the 3M drinking water settlement. Zimmerman is putting together a drinking water settlement fund for the city so theoretically it would act as a pass through. Bachmeier said our water meter battery replacements need a funding source. One out of Five water meters need new batteries, which is 2,000 meters a year. City Administrator Volkers mentioned there may be alternatives for the specific meter replacement Oakdale uses, which is old technology and would improve efficiency and operational management. Council Member Zabel brought up painting the water towers. Bachmeier replied that the Eberle tower is an addition the CIP plan found after the tower was inspected. The Hallmark water tower was thus moved to a later on the schedule to allow Eberle to be done first. There is an increased cost on Hallmark based on current estimates for paint. Council Member Zabel highlighted that $1M more is needed as now outlined in the Capital Improvement Plan. Zimmerman stated that SAC/WAC will need to look at other funding sources. Mayor Reinke supports making improvements when needed rather than delaying. Council Member Zabel’s idea is to add a $3 fee to utility bills to cover water meter battery replacements as an example of a funding source. It was discussed that a separate workshop needs to be scheduled to tackle the issue of funding sources to cover the projects. WORKSHOP October 26, 2021 Page Three XCEL ENERGY’S FLEET ELECTRIFICATION ADVISORY PROGRAM Sr. Community Development Specialist Reidlinger presented the council with the possibility of participating in a no-cost fleet electrification analysis. Xcel will conduct an analysis of a portion of the city’s fleet. The cost of the study, if completed, would be rebated by Xcel. The cost is unknown. It’s a goal of the State of Minnesota’s that cities reduce emissions by 30% by 2025. If the city takes part in the study and it stops early, it would trigger a default. The city would have to agree to complete the study. Mayor Reinke asked that Reidlinger fine tune the analysis of the study and come back to the council. ADJOURNMENT The workshop adjourned at 6:52 pm. RECONVENED The workshop reconvened at 7:16 pm EAST METRO SEX TRAFFICKING TASK FORCE Police Chief Newton discussed a grant opportunity executed through the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Woodbury Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Should the police department accept the grant, the department would request the hiring of an additional licensed police officer in 2022. He will confirm with the county whether it’s a two or three year grant. The Department of Homeland Security has amazing technology and resources that the department can utilize. The cost of another officer was discussed. The council is supportive of our participation in this Task Force and receiving the grant for one officer funding for two years. TIME WITH THE FIRE CHIEF Chief Wold discussed the current state of the fire department. WORKSHOP October 26, 2021 Page Four SAFER Grant Update – Is a national grant for $2M that the City applied for to hire six firefighters. Our application was denied and there was significant competition for the funds – more than ever before in Minnesota. The City may apply again next year, but would only apply to hire three firefighters. The Chief is already planning to hire three firefighters in July 2022. Council instructed him to go ahead and apply for three firefighters next year. Wold is considering hiring a grant writer to assist with the process. Council Member Swedburg asked about the cost to hire a grant writer. Wold estimated a $1,000-2,000. The cities that were awarded the grant hired grant writers. Overview of Current Staff for the Fire Department – There are two command staff, 15 full-time fire fighters and 17 volunteer firefighters. As the department transitions to career firefighters there is a need to hire six more and then the paid on-call, volunteer model concludes. Guidance is needed on when to hire the last three firefighters. The volunteers are asking. Wold recommends no later than January of 2023. One the volunteer model concludes, all the Corporation money comes over to the City and will fund these last three firefighters. The quicker we do it, and we have a plan, the sooner we can shut down the Corporation and get that money transferred over to the City of Oakdale. The contract amount that the city pays the corporation is $552,000 per year. Approximately $300,000 of the $552,000 can be taken out to pay for the final three firefighter’s salaries. The rest of the money goes to pay the bills. Once the Corporation money is shut down the city will get $175,000 that used to go to the Corporation. Wold would like to add three firefighters in October 2022 to get them trained and ready to go by January 2023 so as to shut down the Corporation effective January 2023. With this plan we wouldn’t apply for the SAFER Grant. Otherwise, we could apply for the grant and hire in early 2023. The advantage of getting the grant is that we can put the Corporation monies into reserves. The Council supported the latter option. Additional Staffing Needs – The Chief wants to promote three current firefighters to Captain. This is included in the Class and Comp plan. There is a need for working supervisors; one per shift. This would not add additional staff. General support received from the Council. Facilities – There is a need for a strategic plan on facilities. The South fire station is 25 years old. The North fire station is 20 years old. The stations were built for paid on-call, volunteer firefighters, not a full-time fire department. In the future, it may be possible to go to one station. Firefighters are busy with the majority of calls being medical. In response to a question asked, Chief Wold relayed that during downtime the firefighters are comfortable. WORKSHOP October 26, 2021 Page Five City Administrator Volkers brought up the idea of a shared public safety building with the police department and that is something that should have been discussed years ago. It’s a bigger conversation for the future. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION APPLICANT Council Members discussed and it was decided not to appoint the applicant at this time. ADJOURNMENT The workshop adjourned at 8:30 pm. Respectfully submitted, Kathy Laur, City Clerk