City Council Workshop

WORKSHOP OAKDALE CITY COUNCIL April 26, 2022 The City Council held a workshop on Tuesday, April 26, 2022 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 Colleen Swedberg Kevin Zabel Susan Olson Also Present: Christina Volkers, City Administrator Katie Robinson, Deputy City Clerk Nick Newton, Police Chief Jason Zimmerman, Finance Director Jim Romanik, Public Works Manager Andrew Gitzlaff, Community Development Director Lori Pulkrabek, Communications Manager Kyle Stasica, Accounting Manager Jim Thompson, City Attorney Erin Perdu – Interim City Planner Brian Bachmeier – Interim Engineer Public Present: Members of Iglesias Rios De Aqua Via Church IGLESIA RIOS DE AQUA VIA SITE PLAN REVIEW DISCUSSION Community Development Director Andy Gitzlaff, Erin Perdu, interim city planner and City Attorney Jim Thompson are seeking feedback from Council on a parking variance for the future Iglesia Rios De Aqua Church to be located at 7287 Stillwater Blvd. North. The variance request is to allow off-site parking that is more than 300ft. from the Church site. The Planning Commission provided feedback to the applicant that they were not in favor of the original variance request for parking at Canvas Health that would be handled via a valet service due to the concern that valets would have to cross Stillwater Blvd. on foot. Iglesia Rios De Aqua subsequently applied for a variance for reduced parking on the Church site with some shared parking with the Xfinity site just across Hamlet Avenue (245 spaces are required and 230 spaces including the spaces at Xfinity were proposed). At the April 7, 2022 Planning Commission meeting, the applicant informed the commission that the deal with Xfinity fell through. The applicant has requested the Planning Commission reconsider the original variance request for off-site parking at Canvas Health with the Church shuttling people to and from the parking lot with a bus they already own. The Commission expressed support for this option. Mr. Gitlaff asked Ms. Perdu to clarify for Council the ‘ownership’ clause in the ordinance that requires off-site parking be owned by the same entity, which in this case the church would not own WORKSHOP MINUTES APRIL 26, 2022 PAGE TWO the off-site parking, therefore the variance would have to include the condition that the church does not own said parking. Currently the church needs 28 more parking spots to accommodate its planned capacity. Mayor Reinke asked if there could be adjustments to the layout of the site plan to accommodate for more parking stalls. Ms. Perdu confirmed that the applicant did revise the site plan and was able to include 9 more spaces. However, is still short of what is required by Oakdale city code. Mayor Reinke asked for feedback from Council in which all members generally indicated that they are not comfortable with approving a variance from the conditions of the off-site parking and would rather have the applicant provide an updated site plan using a portion of their green space for additional parking and then request a smaller onsite parking variance. The applicants will consider council feedback and if appropriate, this item will be back before the Council for consideration at the May 10, 2022 Council meeting. COMP PLAN DISCUSSION – TRANSPORTATION & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CHAPTERS Community Development Director Gitzlaff, gave a quick background on this topic noting that staff has been providing a chapter by chapter overview of the plan and facilitating discussions with the City Council on each chapter at recent workshops. Mr. Gitlaff began by sharing the comment tracking which is a document that tracks all comments from previous workshops on the Comprehensive Plan and recommended changes or topics needing further discussion. He then walked through the goals for the transportation chapter and obtained feedback and addressed questions from Council on burying power lines, jurisdictional transfers, roles of the City versus other entities such as the County and MnDOT and the Highway 120 project. Mr. Gitzlaff began reviewing the goals of the Economic Development Chapter with Council. There was much discussion in regard to the language that was used for Goal 1 related to living wage jobs and City roles, Mr. Gitzlaff will come back with some alternative language that does not use the word “shall”. Mayor Reinke suggested the economic development chapter discussion be tabled to another workshop due to time constraints today. CHARITABLE GAMBLING FUND REVIEW Accounting Manager, Kyle Stasica reviewed the gambling fund with the Council. Currently there are four licensed gambling organizations operating in the City of Oakdale. The City receives 10% of the organization’s profit which results to approximately $50K – $110K annually. Every gambling organization is required to report funds monthly to the City of Oakdale. We need to be more assertive in requesting that information. WORKSHOP MINUTES APRIL 26, 2022 PAGE THREE The use of the money in the gambling fund is highly restricted. Originally the 2022 budget calls for a transfer of $30,000 to the park capital and $7,500 to Summerfest. However, transferring money between funds does not comply with the corresponding State statutes yet we are able to spend the money directly from the gambling fund for parks projects. Mayor Reinke pointed out that since the park fund is currently decreasing this Charitable Gambling fund could be a nice temporary solution. Mayor Reinke then asked if there was a long-term plan in place on how to spend the monies. City Administrator Volkers replied, not at this time, however their will be a conversation enduring the 2023 budgt planning to discuss this topic. Council Member Zabel asked for clarification on charitable gambling reporting specifically when the license is going to an outside entity, but the charitable gambling fees were going to in-city endeavors and asked if this is included in the reporting process. Ms. Volkers replied, yes that is a part of the report, however, the entities are not diligently filling this information in on the report. Accounting Manager Stasica offered to follow up on the level of reporting that we are receiving from gambling entities and bring back to council at a later date. Council Member Zabel pointed out that this the level of detail are all requirements under statute, so if someone is not following the it, then the City should pull their license. Council Member Zabel would also like to have a defined report on what this fund can be spent on. That detailed information is outlined in the budget document. Council Member Olson, asked if there will be a conversation on how the monies will be spent. Ms. Volkers replied that Mr. Stasica is suggesting is that we use the parks project that is already in the budget for 2022 and charge it direct and if any expense is above $30K, it should come to Council for approval. Mr. Stasica will follow-up on the budget information and a provide a priority list of suggestions on how the money can be used. PLANNING COMMISSION VACANCY – INTERVIEW CANDIDATE Mayor Reinke welcomed planning commission candidate Mike McCauley. Mr. McCauley has been a resident of the City of Oakdale since 1987. His skills and experience include; sheet metal trade labor, project management, Chief Financial Officer and has also previously serviced on the Oakdale Planning Commission. Council Member Olson asked Mr. McCauley if there was anything specific about the work that was done while he served on the committee in the past that stood out to him or that he wanted to discuss. Mr. McCauley explained that there were subcommittees created for projects and at that time, a large project they were working on was for the electronic billboards. Council Member Swedberg asked Mr. McCauley if there were any ‘hot’ topics that the Council should be aware of or that the commission should be working on from his knowledge of being on the WORKSHOP MINUTES APRIL 26, 2022 PAGE FOUR commission in the past. Mr. McCauley answered that there were no specific issues and that he is very interested in being a part of the commission again. Council Member Ingebrigtson asked Mr. McCauley if he has been following what has been going on with the commission within the last couple years. Mr. McCauley responded that although he was not following the Planning Commission directly, he has always been interested and been following the City’s updates and projects. Council Member Zabel had no questions for Mr. McCauley but did state he believes Mr. McCauley would be a wonderful addition to the Planning Commission due to his knowledge and experience. Mayor Reinke spoke to Mr. McCauley saying that with Mr. McCauley’s involvement in the Planning Commission would be invaluable. Mayor Reinke referred to past meetings and stated Mr. McCauley is very insightful and has a way of helping people explain what’s going on to get something positive done and believes Mr. McCauley would be a great compliment to the Commission. Council had a brief conversation upon the candidate’s exit whereas all members agreed he would be a valuable addition to the Planning Commission. The final decision will be made at the May 10th City Council meeting. COUNCIL TOPICS Council Member Swedberg brought up the Eder Schoolhouse. The intent of who owns the schoolhouse is clear as there are previous minutes and interviews from the different committees state the City is the owner of the Schoolhouse, in her opinion. Council Member Swedberg mentioned what she thinks may have happened to cause the confusion of the ownership is that the proper paperwork was not filed. Also, Council Member Swedberg stated that the City is waiting on an estimated dollar amount in regard to the lead paint issue and what it would cost to fix it. Council Member Zabel brought up the topic of the City’s fee schedule. There was much discussion as to how to properly adjust the fee schedule, a comparison would have to be as to what a service costs vs what the service fee is. Council Member Olson expressed her concern about charging the residents a levy and a fee stating that if an employee’s salary is being paid via the levy, is the same salary being paid through fees and if so, why. Council Member Zabel mentioned that it would be beneficial to know the actual cost of a service vs. the cost of the service fee. City Administrator Volkers replied this may not seem like a large undertaking, but there are hundreds of fee and staff cannot take on this work as a new project right now. She is researching a possible financial consultant to be hired to review all service fees as a cost of service. WORKSHOP MINUTES APRIL 26, 2022 PAGE FIVE The discussion continued among the Council members in regard to fees vs. levy. Council Member. Zabel pointed out if there are no fees, the City would have to recoup those monies elsewhere. Mayor Reinke, expressed to Council if the City took away service fees, the levy would in turn have to be raised significantly all at once. Council Member Ingebrigtson agreed that is the fees were removed, the City would have to raise taxes for all residents significantly and that is not a favorable option. Due to time constraints the topic was tabled and will be brought back to a future workshop. Mayor Reinke shared that he was invited to a webinar on car charging stations and that there is a program available at no cost to an entity that installs such stations and they make their profit by putting a small surcharge on the cost of the electricity for the convenience of a plug in. Mayor Reinke will send staff the information he has in regard to this. ADJOURNMENT The workshop was adjourned for the Regular City Council meeting at 6:47p.m. Respectfully submitted, Katie Robinson Deputy City Clerk