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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/11/11 OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MEETING MONDAY, JULY 11, 2011 The following are the minutes for the regular meeting of the City Council held at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, July 11, 2011 in the City Council Chambers, City Hall, 590 40th Avenue N.E., Columbia Heights, MN. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL /INVOCATION Associate Pastor Jeremiah Rice, Oak Hill Baptist Church, gave the invocation. Present: Council President Diehm, Council member Williams, Council member Nawrocki, Council member Schmitt Excused absence: Mayor Peterson PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE - recited ADDITIONS /DELETIONS TO MEETING AGENDA Nawrocki requested to add several items under presentations. He stated that the owner of the McDonalds on Central Avenue was present before the meeting and requested that he announce their building remodel is complete. An open house will be held this Wednesday from 4:00 to 7:00 p.in. Nawrocki stated he attended the Department of Transportation meeting dealing with Central Avenue, which, in 2012, they will repave between East Hennepin and 53' Avenue. The entire area in Columbia Heights will be repaved. He indicated the date of the Jamboree parade, which they noted. Schmitt referred to ADA compliance issues at the 40 Avenue and Central Avenue intersection. If we do changes, we are responsible for the cost. Nawrocki stated he and Schmitt attended the Local Government Officials meeting. The State Demographer was there. There was discussion on the Zale broadband system. Diehm stated that on Wednesday, July 13, and Thursday July 14 there will be a production of "Death by Chocolate" by Columbia Heights youth at Murzyn Hall. The Thursday performance will include a dinner. Diehm thanked all of the community sponsors for their participation. Diehm added a presentation by the Police Department to announce the Community Picnic and National Night Out. PROCLAMATIONS, PRESENTATIONS, RECOGNITION, ANNOUNCEMENTS, GUESTS Police Officer Terry Nightingale informed the community that there will be a free Community Picnic at Huset Park on Tuesday, July 19, 2011 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Residents were happy to see our community picnics return in 2010. Six city departments will be present with displays and information about current events. About 250 residents attended the two picnics last year. Diehm thanked him and encouraged residents to attend. Nightingale stated that National Night Out will be on Monday, August 2 Twelve groups are already signed up. This is a gathering to remember neighborhood safety and to interact with your neighbors. There were 43 parties last year. Nawrocki questioned Council members riding with officers. Nightingale stated they would meet at the police department at 5:00 p.m. Nawrocki requested to remove items A, C, and E from the Consent Agenda for discussion. City Council Minutes Monday, July 11, 2011 Page 2 of 7 CONSENT AGENDA City Manager Walt Fehst took Councilmembers through the remaining Consent Agenda items. A. Approve minutes of the June 27, 2011 City Council meeting - removed B. Accept Board and Commission minutes Motion to accept the June 1, 2011 minutes of the Library Board. C. Approve the receipt of Justice Assistance Grant Fund Monies /Public Comment and Review - removed D. Approve Transfer of Funds for Unique Thrift OT Details and Anoka- Hennepin Drug Task Force (AHDTF) Overtime from General Fund to Police Dept Overtime Line Item #1020 Motion to transfer the following from the General Fund to the Police Department 2011 Budget, Overtime Line Item 1020: $4,810, the amount of money received from Unique Thrift for overtime details and $2,000, the amount of money received from Anoka County as partial reimbursement for the department's AHDTF Officer. E. Adopt Resolution 2011 -55, being a Resolution to adopt the 2011 ten standard performance measures developed by the Council on Local Results and Innovation. - removed F. Approval of attached list of rental housing applications. Motion to approve the items listed for rental housing license applications for July 11, 2011 in that they have met the requirements of the Property Maintenance Code. G. Approve Business License Applications Motion to approve the items as listed on the business license agenda for June 27, 2011 as presented. H. Review payment of the bills Motion that in accordance with MN Statute 412.271, subd. 8 the City Council has received the list of claims paid covering check number 139527 through 139665 in the amount of $2,256,805.27. Motion by Nawrocki, second by Schmitt, to approve the Consent Agenda items with the exception of items A, C, E. Upon vote: All ayes. Motion carried. A. Approve minutes of the June 27, 2011 City Council meeting Motion by Williams, second by Schmitt, to approve the minutes of the June 27, 2011 City Council meeting. Nawrocki corrected his vote on the financial report to "abstain ". Under the levy limit discussion, he requested to include "the authority to levy property tax comes from the State ". Diehm also corrected the vote on the financial report to reflect her absence. Upon vote: All ayes. Motion carried. C. Approve the receipt of Justice Assistance Grant Fund Monies /Public Comment and Review Nawrocki stated that we are required to accept gifts by resolution. Fehst indicated the gifts are grouped together several times a year and approved by resolution. Nawrocki indicated the funds should not be used until accepted by resolution. Schmitt stated this is not a gift, but is a grant. Hoeft agreed. City Council Minutes Monday, July 11, 2011 Page 3 of 7 Motion by Williams, second by Schmitt, to accept the receipt of $11,537 in Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program funds, expenditures to be made as outlined in the Council letter. Diehm commended staff for obtaining funds through grants. Upon vote: Schmitt, aye; Williams, aye; Nawrocki, abstained; Diehm, aye. 3 ayes — 1 abstention. Motion carried. E. Adopt Resolution 2011 -55, being a Resolution to adopt the 2011 ten standard performance measures developed by the Council on Local Results and Innovation. Fehst stated the guidelines were published in May by the State Auditor. At last count, 50 cities have signed up and have sent their resolution to the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) to be part of an overall summary survey. The LMC has stated there would be an official project outline to allow us to piggyback on the LMC's survey. He stated concern that it should be a valid survey. The State allows us up to $2,500 of the cost of the survey. The ten items were put together by a variety of State officials. We should do this, but if we feel it is used incorrectly we can drop this next year. With this, there would be flexibility that would allow us to exceed the levy limits. However, we have never exceeded that amount. Diehm indicated she would not be able to support the survey. She is not against doing a standard survey and is not against performance measures, but does not see how this is tied together. This is an opportunity to do a survey to see how residents feel about our services, but she felt this is tying our hands. Nawrocki stated he made these same comments at the last meeting. He questioned if the $2,500 would be available every year. Fehst indicated that is a reimbursement and we do not know if it will be offered next year. Nawrocki again referred to putting a survey in the utility bills. He stated he would not support this resolution. Schmitt thanked Finance Director Kloiber for answering her questions prior to the meeting. She stated that she does not like the State determining what we can or cannot do. Last year we kept our increase at four percent. We will probably have to increase taxes, just because we don't know what the state will do and to maintain minimum services we may need to have an increase to keep our citizens safe. Schmitt stated that this is just for one year and we should try it. If it does not work, we can say no next year. Schmitt stated she would support the motion. Williams stated he would also support the motion. Diehm asked what would be done with the information from the survey. Fehst stated there is no mandate to use it at this point, but possibly as a standard to compare cities. Kloiber stated the program is not in full flight the first year and will be a fuller program next year. There is a requirement for us to report the data. Dielun stated the belief is that this will exempt us from levy limits, but there is no guarantee. Fehst indicated it will exempt us from levy limits under certain authority. They could change the Statute language or change the number of the Statute. Diehm stated there are currently no levy limits in place, so why do we believe they will do so. Fehst stated they have done so for several years, but there are exceptions that allow leeway. We have been able to live with levy limits. Diehm asked for the estimated cost to participate. Fehst stated it would include the set -up, advertising on the web and cable TV, and availability at the library and city hall. Fehst stated concern that it may be skewed toward the technically inclined. Diehm asked if it could include questions on our library. Fehst stated it not part of the attached benchmarks, but they are flexible. City Council Minutes Monday, July 11, 2011 Page4of7 Nawrocki asked how the results could be distributed. Fehst stated in our newsletter, our web site, and our cable channel. Nawrocki again suggested sending the survey in the utility bills. Fehst described the variations in computer surveys and calling surveys. Diehm questioned if there is a minimum response rate required. Kloiber indicated that has not been included for the first year, but may be required in the second year. Fehst stated that there may be administrative costs that could exceed the $2,500, but this would be good information to have. Diehm asked if we do not participate this year, can we participate in the following years. Kloiber stated yes, it is an annual election. Diehm indicated that as the Mayor is in favor of this program and Council members Schmitt and Williams are in favor of the action, she does not want to stand in the way of approval. Schmitt stated the importance to get citizen feedback and likes the idea of a survey. We do not have to report the statistics until June of next year. She would like to keep the option open. Hoeft indicated that if the data is collected, the information is public data. Nawrocki commented on one of the questions. Kloiber indicated that the intent of the committee that developed this was that it is only a model and not limited to that amount of questions. Nadeau stated that the Police Department uses performance measures and it is a valuable tool. Motion Williams, second Schmitt to waive the reading of Resolution 2011 -55, there being ample copies available to the public. Upon vote: All ayes. Motion carried. Motion Williams, second Schmitt to adopt Resolution 2011 -55, being a Resolution to adopt the 2011 ten standard performance measures developed by the Council on Local Results and Innovation. Motion to amend by Nawrocki to require the cost of services be included in the resolution. Motion died for lack of a second. Diehm requested staff bring the questions to the Council before they are distributed and to keep the cost close to the amount we would be reimbursed. Upon vote: Schmitt, aye; Williams, aye; Nawrocki, nay; Diehm, aye. 3 ayes - 1 nay. Motion carried. PUBLIC HEARINGS — none ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION A. Other Ordinances and Resolutions - none B. Bid Considerations - none C. New Business and Reports Approve loan agreement between the City and CEE for Parking Ramp Improvements (950 40th) Scott Clark, Community Development Director, stated that the impact of this action is to create the ability to retrofit the city owned parking ramp at 950 40 Avenue with new lighting fixtures. Time is of the essence because the bid for lighting expires on July 14 This action would conserve energy with an annual savings of $6,780 in electrical costs. There are three parties involved: the city, Stadium Village LLC (the operator and agent for the city ramp based on 1982agreements), and the Center for Energy and Environment (CEE) (they will be the source for the loan proceeds). The various rules required our involvement as Stadium Village is not the owner of the ramp. Our attorney reviewed the documents and we decided to do this through two different documents so there would be no cost to the city. The first motion is between the city City Council Minutes Monday, July 11, 2011 Page 5 of 7 and CEE and the second is a mirror document between the city and Stadium Village. We will act as a go between of these two parties. We will receive the benefit of the improvements, with no cost to the city. The Facility Manager of Stadium Village is present tonight. This is a positive thing for our asset. It will be paid back in 33 months. Diehm asked the city attorney if he was comfortable with these documents. City Attorney Jim Hoeft stated that he was. Nawrocki questioned if there would be any problems deeding the ramp in 2022, because this ramp was built with federal funds. Clark stated with Federal involvement, there is a term of 40 years before the asset is released. Nawrocki questioned the interest rate, where the money will come from, and what would the impact be on the sale if they default. Clark stated that the interest rate is 3.9 percent and funds will come from the Center for Energy and Environment. They are a private non - profit organization. Hoeft stated that the loan is for three years and the ramp cannot be deeded over until 2022. Because we have mirrored the documents, if they did not pay we would take them to court. Schmitt questioned the customer report which states the offer is only valid 45 days. Clark stated this was extended to July 14 Nawrocki questioned the cost difference of $17,900 and the installed cost is $26,000. Clark stated that is the cost after the $8,700 rebate from Excel. Motion by Nawrocki, second by Williams, to approve loan between the City of Columbia Heights and Center for Energy and Environment for Parking Ramp lighting improvements at 950 40th Ave. Upon vote: All ayes. Motion carried. Motion by Nawrocki, second by Williams, to approve agreement between the City of Columbia and Stadium Village LLC to reimburse the City for the parking ramp lighting improvement loan. Upon vote: All ayes. Motion carried. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS Report of the City Manager Nawrocki asked if there would be an HRA meeting on July 26 • Clark stated yes. Nawrocki requested information on the sale of the high rise. Clark described the process, current meetings, and information exchanges prior to the application process. Clark stated that more information will be available at the July HRA meeting. Nawrocki asked if the Library's copier has been fixed. Fehst stated that there were problems getting it on line, but it has been resolved. Nawrocki suggested scheduling a performance review of the City Manager. Diehm suggested this be added to the August work session. Report of the City Attorney — nothing to report CITIZENS FORUM Bryan Olson, 5092 Roselawn Avenue, Falcon Heights, spoke of how surveys were handled in other communities. He suggested a scientific survey with follow -up calls to participants. Olson commented on items he felt were at issue with the new cable broadcast system including audio, aspect ratio, sync, and use of MMS for on- demand video. City Council Minutes Monday, July 11, 2011 Page 6 of 7 Diehm: As Mayor Peterson always says "Don't forget our service men and women. Don't take yourself too seriously, and do a random act of kindness ". ADJOURNMENT Council President Diehm adjourned the meeting at 8:22 p.m. 01° i, 41, :AT— ..,..- al ...A...._..../..... atricia Muscovi ► CMC Cit lllerk dr RESOLUTION NO. 2011 -55 ADOPT FOR 2011, THE TEN STANDARD PERFORMANCE MEASURES DEVELOPED BY THE COUNCIL ON LOCAL RESULTS AND INNOVATION WHEREAS, the 2010 Minnesota Legislature created the Council on Local Results and Innovation; and WHEREAS, In February 2011, the Council on Local Results and Innovation Council released a standard set of ten performance measures, attached as Exhibit A, for Minnesota cities to voluntarily report to citizens; and WHEREAS, the potential costs to the City of Columbia Heights to collect and compile the data necessary to report these ten standard measures appears reasonable; and WHEREAS, the results of these ten standard measures may be informative for the citizens, City Council, and staff of the City of Columbia Heights; and WHEREAS, by reporting these ten standard measures for 2011, the City of Columbia Heights would be exempted from state- imposed levy limits under MN statutes section 275.70 to 275.74 for taxes payable in 2012, in the event that such levy limits are created by the State of Minnesota for taxes payable in 2012; and WHEREAS, critical decisions by the City Council of the City of Columbia Heights with regard to city service levels and tax levies could potentially be pre - empted by such state - imposed levy limits; BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Columbia Heights, that the City of Columbia Heights adopts for 2011, the ten standard performance measures developed by the Council on Local Results and Innovation. EXHIBIT A Model Performance Measures for Cities The following are the recommended model measures of performance outcomes for cities, with alternatives provided in some cases. Key output measures are also suggested for consideration by local city officials. General: 1. Rating of the overall quality of services provided by your city (Citizen Survey: excellent, good, fair, poor) 2. Percent change in the taxable property market value 3. Citizens' rating of the overall appearance of the city (Citizen Survey: excellent, good, fair, poor) Police Services: 4. Part I and II crime rates (Submit data as reported by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Part I crimes include murder, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Part II crimes include other assaults, forgery /counterfeiting, embezzlement, stolen property, vandalism, weapons, prostitution, other sex offenses, narcotics, gambling, family /children crime, D.U.I., liquor laws, disorderly conduct, and other offenses.) OR Citizens' rating of safety in their community (Citizen Survey: very safe, somewhat safe, neither safe nor unsafe, somewhat unsafe, very unsafe) Output Measure: Police response time (Time it takes on top priority calls from dispatch to the first officer on scene.) Fire Services: 5. Insurance industry rating of fire services (The Insurance Service Office (ISO) issues ratings to Fire Departments throughout the country for the effectiveness of their fire protection services and equipment to protect their community. The ISO rating is a numerical grading system and is one of the primary elements used by the insurance industry to develop premium rates for residential and commercial businesses. ISO analyzes data using a Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) and then assigns a Public Protection Classification from 1 to 10. Class 1 generally represents superior property fire protection and Class 10 indicates that the area's fire suppression program does not meet ISO's minimum criteria.) City Council Minutes Monday, July 11, 2011 Page 7 of 7 OR Citizens' rating of the quality of fire protection services (Citizen Survey: excellent, good, fair, poor) Output Measure: Fire response time (Time it takes from dispatch to apparatus on scene for calls that are dispatched as a possible fire). Emergency Medical Services (EMS) response time (if applicable) (Time it takes from dispatch to arrival of EMS) Streets: 6. Average city street pavement condition rating (Provide average rating and the rating system program/type. Example: 70 rating on the Pavement Condition Index (PCI)) OR Citizens' rating of the road condition in their city (Citizen Survey: good condition, mostly good condition, many bad spots) 7. Citizens' rating the quality of snowplowing on city streets (Citizen Survey: excellent, good, fair, poor) Water: 8. Citizens' rating of the dependability and quality of city water supply (centrally- provided system) (Citizen Survey: excellent, good, fair, poor) Output Measure: Operating cost per 1,000,000 gallons of water pumped /produced (centrally- provided system) (Actual operating expense for water utility / (total gallons pumped /1,000,000)) Sanitary Sewer: 9. Citizens' rating of the dependability and quality of city sanitary sewer service (centrally provided system) (Citizen Survey: excellent, good, fair, poor) Output Measure: Number of sewer blockages on city system per 100 connections (centrally provided system) (Number of sewer blockages on city system reported by sewer utility / (population/100)) Parks and Recreation: 10. Citizens' rating of the quality of city recreational programs and facilities (parks, trails, park buildings) (Citizen Survey: excellent, good, fair, poor)