City Council Meetings

Watertown City Council Mayor Steve Washburn Lindsay Guetzkow Adam Pawelk Michael Walters Dan Schuette 4/13/2021 - Minutes 1. Call To Order And Roll Call Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the regular meeting of the Watertown City Council was called to order in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 6:31 p.m. Tuesday, April 13, 2021 by Mayor Steve Washburn. Council Members present: Washburn, Adam Pawelk, Mike Walters, Lindsay Guetzkow. City Staff present: City Administrator Shane Fineran, Administrative Services Director Lynn Tschudi, and Public Services Director Mike Dressel. Guests present: Brad Falteysek with Abdo Eick & Meyers Those who signed in: John Weinzierl and Terri Glen 2. Adopt Agenda WALTERS MOVED, GUETZKOW SECONDED A MOTION TO ADOPT THE AGENDA AS PRESENTED. MOTION CARRIED 4-0. 3. Consent Agenda Discussion And Approval GUETZKOW MOVED, PAWELK SECONDED A MOTION TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS AMENDED. MOTION CARRIED 4-0. 3.A. Approve City Council Regular Meeting Minutes From March 23, 2021 3.B. Approve City Council Work Session Meeting Minutes Of March 23, 2021 3.C. Tour De Tonka Use Of Streets 3.D. Accept Donation And Direct Use 3.E. Community Programming Disbursements 3.F. Declaring Surplus Equipment And Authorizing Sale 3.G. Watertown-Mayer High School Use Of Streets 3.H. Lions Temporary 3.2 Liquor License  3.F. Declaring Surplus Equipment And Authorizing Sale 3.G. Watertown-Mayer High School Use Of Streets 3.H. Lions Temporary 3.2 Liquor License 4. Open Forum 5. New/Old Business 5.A. Accept 2020 Audited Financial Statements Audit discussion was postponed due to audio difficulties. 5.B. 2021 Pavement Maintenance Project Public Services Superintendent Mike Dressel reviewed the pavement maintenance plans for 2021 for council. He reviewed the quotes and vendors. Dressel also explained why certain areas are getting omitted from the crack seal and seal coating process. GUETZKOW MOVED TO CONSOLIDATE AND APPROVE RESOLUTIONS 2021- 43,44,45,46 PAWELK SECONDED, MOTION CARRIED 4-0. 5.C. Community Center & City Hall Re-Open City Administrator Fineran said with staff being able to access COVID-19 vaccines if interested, the community center use could be considered for rentals during the day. The Watertown Pharmacy is would still like to reserve Saturdays through May for possible vaccine clinics but Sundays would be available for civic groups or private rentals. Fineran said state guidance has not changed on capacity or multiple groups use, so there will not be rentals during standing meetings of the City. Fineran said there have been concerns from civic users on the liability insurance requirements. They see the acquisition of this type of insurance a burden. In review of the matter with the City’s insurance agent and city attorney, the City could consider dropping this requirement for civic group meetings and private rentals that are not serving alcohol. John Weinzierl approached council on behalf of the American Legion. He said the group meets for one hour a month and does not want to purchase liability insurance. TriCounty Toastmasters representative Terri Glen approached council to ask if they could continue to meet on Friday mornings so they can include everyone who does not have access to technology. Toastmasters is a nonprofit and would not be able to purchase insurance. Council Member Pawelk is in favor of the proposed hours and reserving the May Saturdays for the COVID vaccine clinics. Guetzkow, Walters and Washburn agreed with Pawelk. Council discussed the set-up and take-down of tables and chairs. Guetzkow suggested posting instructions and expectations so the renters of the rooms are aware of what is required for clean-up. Mayor Washburn addressed the insurance liability requirements. Pawelk agreed that it makes sense to require insurance for those serving alcohol, and or those charging a fee for entrance and reducing the amount to $1,000,000. Council agreed. 5.D. Capital Project #CI113 - Community Center Carpet City Administrative Services Director Tschudi explained that the carpet in the community center is in need of replacement. Tschudi said the community center currently has carpet tiles however the vendors are recommending roll carpet due to the ease of install and reduction in price. Tschudi received two quotes; one from Waverly Flooring and one from Yetzers Flooring. The low quote was Waverly Flooring in the amount of $10,326.40 for a 28-ounce carpet including installation. Pawelk asked for clarification on the RFA wording. Tschudi explained the only reason for a price increase would be a color option. Tschudi also said she is concerned about the labor to remove the glue from the existing flooring, therefore asking to spend up to what has been budgeted for the project. Guetzkow supports moving forward with this project and thinks it is way overdue. Mayor Washburn asked Tschudi why there would be any reason to spend over the quoted price.  Pawelk asked for clarification on the RFA wording. Tschudi explained the only reason for a price increase would be a color option. Tschudi also said she is concerned about the labor to remove the glue from the existing flooring, therefore asking to spend up to what has been budgeted for the project. Guetzkow supports moving forward with this project and thinks it is way overdue. Mayor Washburn asked Tschudi why there would be any reason to spend over the quoted price. Tschudi explained that there should not be a reason to go over the quote. Washburn asked to clarify the cost of the carpet. Tschudi said it is $10,326.40 with a possible color change increasing the price. Washburn asked why Tschudi does not go back and get the exact price for the color choice and come back to Council. Tschudi explained the backlog of carpet inventory and installer scheduling. Washburn expressed his disappointment in the request and explained how he expects staff to bring forward contracts in the future. Pawelk asked if Tschudi has an idea of what the increase in price will be for the color choice. Tschudi said the carpet order and install is out over two months and she does not expect the cost to increase more than $1,000 from the original quote. The Mayor suggested adding a $1,000 allowing rather than allowing the spend of $16,000. GUETZKOW MOVED, PAWELK SECONDED A MOTION TO ADOPT RESOLUTION 2021-38 AS AMENDED, APPROVING LOW QUOTE FOR COMMUNITY CENTER CARPET REPLACEMENT WITH $1,000 ALLOWANCE. MOTION CARRIED 4-0. 5.E. Capital Project - Accounting Software Administrative Services Director Tschudi explained that the current City software, Banyon, has proven to be very unreliable over the past couple years. The City has narrowed their choice for a new solution to Tyler Technology’s Incode 10 for financial management, utility billing, payroll, human resource, and budgeting software. Tschudi covered the total cost of the upfront fees for the software and the annual fees. Upfront costs will be $69,640 with annual costs of $23,322. Tschudi said the City could lock in the current rate of $23,322 if they paid for five years up front and would guarantee no more than a 5% increase in annual costs for years six through eight. A second option would be to pay year to year not knowing if there would be an increase in cost. Tschudi said a second solution if council was not comfortable with choosing Tyler Technology is a program called Asyst. She said Asyst would cost around $20,000 upfront and $6,000 per year. Asyst would operate in the cloud like Incode 10 but does not have as many features. Council Member Pawelk asked for the cost savings between scenario 1 and scenario 2 for upfront costs. Tschudi said the upfront costs are the same, but the future costs are where you may see savings. Guetzkow asked if we know how much Tyler Technology prices have increased over the last 5 years. Fineran said no. Mayor Washburn asked for clarity on the Scenario 1. Tschudi walked Washburn through the two scenarios. Washburn asked if there is a state or national purchasing contract for this software. Fineran said there is only one for municipal software called Logis. Fineran noted that Tyler Technologies has discounted the pricing of the implementation on their quote. Mayor Washburn asked for the highlights on Tyler Technology versus Asyst. Tschudi spoke of the reporting, detailed information, budgeting, and integration. Washburn asked what Abdo Eick & Myers history is with Tyler Technology. Tschudi said they have some exposure. Pawelk asked Tschudi to explain the time savings between Incode 10 and Asyst. Tschudi said budgeting would be a huge time savings for the City Administrator during the budgeting process. She also explained how Incode 10 would save time during the payroll process. Fineran talked about the expandability of Incode 10 for the future growth of Watertown. Guetzkow asked what was budgeted for the software. Fineran said $80,000 for the implementation but the annual costs would be paid for out of the operating expenses so those have not been budgeted. Pawelk expressed that he would rather see staff save time on tasks with a new software than continue down the road we are on. Guetzkow agreed. GUETZKOW MOVED, PAWELK SECONDED A MOTION TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 2021-40, APPROVING TYLER TECHNOLOGY CONTRACT.  Pawelk expressed that he would rather see staff save time on tasks with a new software than continue down the road we are on. Guetzkow agreed. GUETZKOW MOVED, PAWELK SECONDED A MOTION TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 2021-40, APPROVING TYLER TECHNOLOGY CONTRACT. Walters is in favor of purchasing a new software. He would rather go with the cheaper of the two options, however he understands a change needs to be made. Washburn said he does not like Tyler Technology software and feels it is being hosted in the basement of someone’s house. He said it is not hosted in a major cloud provider. He expressed his irritation that Tyler Technology is not giving the City any deal on prepaying the contract. Washburn is concerned about the security and feels like Tyler is too new to the cloud practice to spend that large amount of money on a solution. He feels like it is a one sided agreement that is good for Tyler and not the City of Watertown. Council discussed security issues and municipal software. Mayor Washburn asked if Loffler could review the contract from Tyler Technologies. City Administrator Fineran supported that as well as having the City Attorney review the contract. WALTERS MOVED TO TABLE THE ITEM TO GATHER MORE INFORMATION, WASHBURN SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED 3-0, GUETZKOW NOT PRESENT. 5.F. Staffing And Compensation Study City Administrator Fineran reviewed the proposed staff compensation proposal that was originally brought forward January 14, 2020. A formal wage study has not been prepared for over ten years. Fineran feels it is important to pay employees at market. David Drown & Associates will complete the study for $9,000. Walters said he wishes this study would have been addressed back in 2020. He said it is important for staff to be paid fairly, especially since they wear many hats. Guetzkow and Pawelk agreed. Council discussed the team development process for both the fire department and staff. Washburn appreciates councils consistency in supporting staff in wage increases. WALTERS MOVED, GUETZKOW SECONDED A MOTION TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THE 2021-48 STAFFING AND COMPENSATION PROPOSAL. MOTION CARRIED 4-0. WALTERS MOVED, GUETZKOW SECONDED A MOTION TO TABLE 2021-49 TO THE SOONEST AVAILABLE SPECIAL MEETING. MOTION CARRIED 4-0. 6. Other Reports City Administrator Fineran updated that the Community Clean-up day will be happening on April 24 at a new location – Oak Grove Community Park from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. The Highway 25 construction has begun and the detour for residential traffic is through downtown Watertown. Fineran encouraged residents to sign up for the MnDOT updates. Council Member Pawelk said if residents see a commercial vehicle driving through a residential area, they should report it. Council Member Guetzkow said the Community Ed board will meet on Thursday, April 15. Rails to Trails dates are July 30 and July 31. Mayor Washburn said Carver County Cycles has opened downtown Watertown. He said the House released their bonding bill language which did not include a lot of funding for wastewater. 7. Claims PAWELK MOVED, GUETZKOW SECONDED A MOTION TO APPROVE THE 2021 CLAIMS. MOTION CARRIED 4-0. 7.A. 4-13-21 Claims  7. Claims PAWELK MOVED, GUETZKOW SECONDED A MOTION TO APPROVE THE 2021 CLAIMS. MOTION CARRIED 4-0. 7.A. 4-13-21 Claims 8. Adjournment PAWELK MOVED, WALTERS SECONDED A MOTION TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 8:48 PM. MOTION CARRIED 4-0. 309 Lewis Avenue South; P.O. Box 279, Watertown, MN 55388