City Council

City of South St. Paul COUNCIL AGENDA Monday August 20, 2018 7:30 p.m. (If you use the hearing assistance PA system, please remove your hearing aid so it does not cause a feedback problem.) 1. CALL TO ORDER: 2. ROLL CALL: 3. INVOCATION: 4. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: 5. PRESENTATIONS: A. Update for Southview Boulevard – City Engineer 6. CITIZEN’S COMMENTS (Comments are limited to 3 minutes in length.) 7. AGENDA: A. Approval of Agenda Action – Motion to Approve Action – Motion to Approve as Amended 8. CONSENT AGENDA: All items listed on the Consent Agenda are items, which are considered to be routine by the City Council and will be approved by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Council member or citizen so requests, in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered at the end of the Consent Agenda. A. City Council Meeting Minutes of August 6, 2018 B. Accounts Payable C. Approving Land Lease at Fleming Field with Nathan Ruedy (1816 Wiplinger) D. Approving Land Lease at Fleming Field with Blue Sky Capital Group, LLC (1815 Lysdale) E. Approve Assignment of Lease at Airport to Carla Jeanne Chute (257 Delta) F. Approve Assignment of Lease at Airport to HILOW, LLC (257 Delta) G. Approving Land Lease at Fleming Field with Lance E. Leimeux (1810 Lysdale) H. Approving Joint Power Agreement for Pharmaceutical Drug Disposal Program Page 2 City Council Agenda I. Granting Comcast of St. Paul, Inc. a franchise extension to 3/31/19 J. Approve and Sign Contract between the City of South St. Paul and Dahn Construction for the Southgate Road Drainage Improvement Project K. Business License L. Adopt ADA Accessible Residential Street Parking Policy 9. PUBLIC HEARINGS: 10. GENERAL BUSINESS: A. Appointment to the Economic Development Advisory Board B. Selection of Proposal for Property Management Services from CommonBond Communities and Authorization to Negotiate a Property Management Contract C. Accept Communication Audit Findings and Recommendations D. Creation of the Economic Development Department and Related Action Items E. Approval to Request Assistance from Dakota County to Address Impacts Related to Housing Support Facilities 11. MAYOR AND COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS: 12. ADJOURNMENT: This meeting is being taped by Town Square Television (NDC4). Replays can be viewed on Government Channel 19. Replay Times – Friday following Meeting at 1:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. 651-451-7834  City Council Agenda Report Date: August 20, 2018 10-D Department: Administration Administrator: JRH Agenda Item: Creation of the Economic and Community Development Department and Related Action Items Actions to be considered: 1. Approve Revised Organizational Chart to create the Department of Economic and Community Development 2. Promote Ryan Garcia from Economic Development Manager to Director of Economic and Community Development effective September 1, 2018 3. Direct Staff to Meeting with Supervisory Association regarding salary scale adjustments for the new position of Director of Economic and Community Development with the understanding the proposed adjustments will be brought back to the City Council for ratification with a retroactive adjustment to September 1, 2018. 4. Direct Staff to prepare a job description for Housing and Grants Programs Division Manager for future consideration with the goal of starting the hiring process for this position as soon as practical. Overview: At the EDA Worksession of August 13th, the Economic Development Manager provided the attached memo regarding the proposed creation of the Department of Economic and Community Development. Based upon the discussion that evening, staff has modified the proposed organizational chart to remove the Project Coordinator position. While a modification to add this position to the department may make sense in the future, we can allow ourselves some time for further evaluation before making this decision. From my perspective as City Administrator, we need to complete this process as soon as possible. Ryan Garcia has performed exceptionally since his hiring as Economic Development Manager. With the retirement of the Public Housing Manager, he also assumed additional responsibilities associated with our Public Housing complexes and the management of the former Rediscover SSP loan program. The creation of this Department and the promotion of Mr. Garcia to the position of Director of Economic and Community Development will recognize his value to the organization and provide him additional growth opportunities moving forward. I also believe this needs to occur soon to properly recognize his achievements and responsibilities. That is the basis of my recommendation that the change be made effective September 1st of this year. I’m also recommending staff be directed to meet with the Supervisory Association to review the proposed wage scale for this new position pursuant to past practice. Once agreement is reached, we will present a revised wage scale and the recommended salary appropriate for this situation. I believe this adjustment should be retroactive to September 1st in recognition of Mr. Garcia’s performance and because it is the equitable thing to do. Finally, staff is recommending you direct us to finalize a job description for the Housing and Grant Programs Division Manager position. Regardless of the final outcome of the High-Rise management  outsourcing, this position is needed. We have the financial capacity in the 2018 budget given the position vacancies we currently have. By filling this position sooner rather than later, we will also add bench strength to the department that would free up Mr. Garcia to concentrate on economic development activities to a greater degree. We would also have added capacity to deal with other department challenges that may arise. The funding of this position is currently 80% public housing and 20% HRA levy. Source of Funds: EDA & HRA 2018 Budgeted Funds Attachments: Revised Organizational Chart Economic Development Manager’s Memo to EDA on Reorganization dated 8/13/18  South St. Paul Department of Economic and Community Development Department Director Assistant to Department Director Planning and Zoning Economic Development Housing and Grant Division Division Programs Division Division Division Manager Manager Office Specialist 8|16|2018 Proposed Organizational Chart  EDA Worksession Report Date: August 13, 2018 EDA Executive Director: _________ 2 Agenda Item: Presentation/Discussion: Department of Economic and Community Development Proposed Organizational Chart Overview: Beginning in 2016, the Administration and City Council have taken several thoughtful steps to provide the community with a more comprehensive range of services, programs, and policies in the arena of economic development. At the same time the City’s more broadly based Community Development functions, such as building services, code enforcement, long-range planning and zoning, and housing, have continued to evolve and provide a high level of value and service to the community. Finally, as the Economic Development program has gotten off the ground, we’ve weathered the retirement of the long- time HRA Executive Director and proposed shift towards third-party management assistance for the Public Housing facilities owned by the HRA. Considering all of these factors, the Administration feels we are at a critical moment of opportunity to energize and synergize the City’s economic and community development goals and functions within a more well-defined departmental structure. The proposed Department of Economic and Community Development would house three distinct but very much interrelated divisions: Planning & Zoning; Economic Development; and Housing and Grant Programs. Of course, all three of these divisions generally exist already; however, while the City Administrator (past and present) has provided steady leadership for these three divisions, the demands on that position extend far beyond these disciplines and the possibility exists for the three divisions to “drift” from a consistent and well-defined mission and vision. With this in mind, establishing a “Director” level position to coordinate and orchestrate the day-to-day and big-picture work programs of the three divisions would provide a more efficient, focused, and effective continuum of service for both existing and aspiring businesses and residents of the city. To summarize, the following structure is proposed: • Transition current Economic Development Manager to Director of Economic and Community Development. This position would continue to manage the City’s Economic Development Programs and Policies and continue to serve as a senior point-of-contact for new developments and redevelopments within the City as well as business attraction, retention, and assistance. Would develop Department budgets and workplans and oversee all staff, establishing coordinated department-wide goals and targets. Would provide overall guidance for department priorities and strategies to meet mission. Would serve as Executive Director of EDA and HRA, as well as the City Council. • Slightly refine but retain Assistant to Department Director (currently “Assistant to Division Manager”), P&Z Manager, Office Specialist II roles. These roles have been very successfully filled by top-of-the-line professionals for many years, and we are fortunate to have them on the team. With the suggested change in management of the Public Housing buildings to a third- party, the Office Specialist position will see the most change in day-to-day duties as Debbie has done a LOT of heavy-lifting in support of applicants, tenants, and vendors in the JC and NM buildings. The P&Z Manager would continue to serve as the lead administrator of the City’s Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code, and would continue to serve the Plan Commission.  • Refine the “Housing” Division to a “Housing and Grant Programs” Division, including a Division Manager. Primarily driven by the suggested change in management of the Public Housing program, this Division will see the most significant change. The Division Manager would be responsible for contract management with the contracted third-party manager of the Public Housing program, and in coordination with the Finance Department and ECD Director would maintain our reporting, monitoring, and programmatic relationship with HUD. In addition to these critical duties, this position/division will play a key role in researching and developing a new generation of tools, programs, and approaches to support, maintain, and strengthen the City’s diverse residential housing stock. Finally, as we continue to have success not only in obtaining grants related to the Public Housing program but also for redevelopment, environmental cleanup, and planning priorities, this position/division will play a key role in monitoring, applying for, and administering departmental grants. • Establish Project Coordinator Position(s). Finally, we propose creating a new “layer” of professional service that is envisioned to have the capacity and skillset to “float” between divisions based on workload, priority, and departmental needs. This position would be critical in relieving senior staff of some of the (frankly) more routine components of respective positions – processing fence permits, researching and reporting market data, website maintenance for example – as well as in providing additional perspective and support for initiatives such as financial analysis, site plan/zoning review and follow-up, and grant applications. While this position would offer a new dimension to our range of services, the department is not yet in a position to meaningfully fill this role in the near-term, so we suggest deferring any recruitment on this position until sometime in 2020, most likely. We look forward to discussion and feedback on this proposed structure. Significant thought has been invested in how to efficiently prepare for the opportunities that this community has to develop thoughtfully and sustainably, and we believe that this structure is a key step in that direction. In many of our peer communities that have seen significant success with redevelopment, a more well-defined “community development” function and department – such as the one we’re proposing – has proven to be essential from a service delivery standpoint from concept to completion for development projects big and small. We believe that the EDA will agree that the timing is right – given the organizational changes we’ve seen and are seeing in recent months – to move forward with this proposal. Attachments: Proposed Organizational Chart