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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-06-2024 City Council Work Session Minutes CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Mayor Amáda Márquez Simula Councilmembers Connie Buesgens Kt Jacobs Rachel James Justice Spriggs Interim City Manager Kevin Hansen City Hall—Shared Vision Room, 3989 Central Ave NE Monday, May 06, 2024 5:30 PM MINUTES The following are the minutes for the Work Session Meeting of the City Council held at 6:00 pm on Monday, May 6, 2024, in the Shared Vision Room, City Hall, 3989 Central Avenue NE, Columbia Heights, Minnesota. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order by Council President Buesgens at 5:45 pm. Present: Mayor Márquez Simula (arrived at 6:10); Councilmember Buesgens; Councilmember Jacobs; Councilmember James, Councilmember Spriggs (departed at 6:35pm). Also Present: Aaron Chirpich, Assistant City Manager / Community Development Director; Andrew Boucher, City Planner; David Cullen, Interim Public Works Director; Mitch Forney, Community Development Coordinator; Kevin Hansen, Interim City Manager; Sara Ion, City Clerk; Joe Kloiber, Finance Director; Matt Markham, Police Chief; Keith Windschitl, Recreation Director; Kelli Wick, HR Director WORK SESSION ITEMS 1. 8.106 - Chickens. City Planner Andrew Boucher led a presentation on the current status of City Code 8.106 related to keeping chickens in the City. Additionally, Assistant City Manager Aaron Chirpich clarified that the League of MN Cities has stated based on MN law that chickens are not to be considered as livestock. Councilmember Jacobs stated that she is not against chickens, but wants to address concerns from residents. She feels that regulating chickens is the same as regulating the number of pets that are allowed in the home. She wants to have licensing or permitting of the keeping of chickens as it is in line with surrounding communities. She has received over 50 calls related to backyard chickens and feels that the calls are directed towards her because other Councilmembers keep chickens. Councilmember James and Councilmember Spriggs stated that they have not received complaints and do not have a pressing need to move forward on the issue. Councilmember James would like to utilize the existing components of City Code to enforce concerns related to noise, and waste treatment. Councilmember Buesgens asked about the staffing level needed to execute inspections. She indicated that we do not license pets, so why would we license chickens. If we were to City of Columbia Heights MINUTES May 06, 2024 City Council Work Session Page 2 move forward, she would like to refine the ordinance to regulate how complaints are managed and provide education to residents. Assistant City Manager Chirpich stated that this would potentially fall under the City Planner or property maintenance inspections. Interim City Manager Hansen inquired if there are recent concerns related to Chickens that Staff has taken. His concern was related to neighbor-to-neighbor disputes. City Planner Bouche stated that there were a few concerns related to the topic. Assistant Manager Chirpich recommended an amendment to the existing code, and this process would flow through the Planning Commission. This process would take several months and consultation with the City Attorney. Staff will also follow up on nuisance call data related to this issue. 2. Liquor Store 3 Redesign. Finance Director Joe Kloiber led the overall presentation on the options for the Store 3 Redesign to address the addition of a potential municipal marijuana sales space added in the Wold Architecture Design. Councilmember Jacobs was concerned about losing the original intent for the purchase of the building. Councilmember Buesgens would prefer option two, related to the costs of construction. Finance Director Joe Kloiber stated that the situation with the flux in regulatory environment would impact the repayment timeframe related to buildout of a dispensary. He additionally reviewed updates related to the status of this in the MN State Legislature to give information to address the concerns related to the buildout and implementation of the statewide licensing requirements. The City would be able to obtain the space to open a location faster than it would be able to build one out. Mayor Márquez Simula stated that she felt options one and two were very similar, but that option one is the best fit. She would also like to revisit rebranding TopValu and would like to use the funds to refine what we are already doing. Councilmember James prefers options one and two, and inquired if the increase in revenue would cover the costs. Finance Director Kloiber confirmed that recovering the costs and increasing sales is very important, and he stated that the road closure on 37th impacted Store Two immensely. Doing the remodel for store three in advance of the construction on Central Avenue would be critical. City of Columbia Heights MINUTES May 06, 2024 City Council Work Session Page 3 Mayor Márquez Simula would like to follow up with the past conversation related to mini liquor bottles. Finance Director Kloiber stated that it would be best not to restrict the product, but to take the initiative to prevent litter. He stated that it was a profitable product. The consensus of the Council was to move forward with design option one. Added Agenda Item: Information from New Police Chief Markum. Mayor Márquez Simula introduced Police Chief Markum and he gave a few updates related to the updates in the department. Councilmember James clarified that the information that is sent to the Council is generally public data. She would like for Chief Markham to clearly state when things are not public data / information when he emails. Councilmember Buesgens followed up related to concerns for traffic enforcement. Chief Markum clarified that Captain Johnston was following up with the newly appointed Captain in charge of traffic enforcement on Central. 3. Status of Youth Commission. Communication and Engagement Coordinator Will Rotler presented concerns related to the status of the Youth Commission. Additionally, he gave information about the struggles that the commissioners have encountered in attendance because of school and work commitments, and that it might be good to add the members of the Youth Commission to the existing city commissions instead of having a stand-alone Youth Commission. Councilmember Buesgens asked about the continued engagement of the Youth Commission. She is concerned that the Youth Commission did not have a specific task. Rottler clarified that it can be hard to get commitments and quorums. Councilmember James stated that she likes the idea of assigning Youth Commissioners to the existing commissions. Councilmember Jacobs would like to see the youth commissioners become non-voting members of the existing commissions. Mayor Márquez Simula stated that she was glad that the City tried this to get a feel for what works best. The consensus of the Council was to move forward with structuring youth involvement to what the City of Eden Prairie currently does. City of Columbia Heights MINUTES May 06, 2024 City Council Work Session Page 4 4. Community Survey Questions for Murzyn Hall. Interim City Manager Hansen led an overview of the results of the community survey from 2022, and focused on the feedback that the community gave related to wanting more of a community center vs. event space. He proposed putting together questions with the Communications team to gather feedback regarding programing and future use. Councilmember Buesgens inquired about utilizing the kitchen space for food truck rental. Director Windschitl addressed the question by saying that would interfere with the existing rental of the event space. The Council further refined the questions that they would like to move forward and gave direction to Interim City Manager Hansen. Mayor Márquez Simula would like to make sure that there is a disclaimer that this is for future use, not immediate updates when the questions are ready to be directed to the residents. 5. Bituminous Paving of Two City Lots. Interim City Manager Hansen led a presentation of the two lots that need to be paved. These lots are located at the Library as well as the space behind City Hall and the plans to move forward with the process. This item will be placed on an upcoming Council Agenda for approval. 6. Polling Place Locations. Interim City Manager Hansen led the overview of the concerns that the school district addressed to State Election Officials regarding the safety of students and impact to the curriculum when the ISD 13 schools are used as a polling location. The consensus of the Council was to wait until 2026 for updates to polling locations. 7. Council Corner. Updates from council regarding schedules, information sharing and priorities for continued education. Proposed Resolution Urging the Department of Homeland Security to Grant Ecuador Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Councilmember James inquired if the Council would be interested in adding this item as a resolution for the Council’s approval. The council supported the addition of this item to the May 13th City Council Meeting. 8. Old Business. There was no outstanding items to review from the April work session. 9. Review of City Manager Contract Patty Heminover, Baker Tilly Consultant led an overview of the process for pulling together City of Columbia Heights MINUTES May 06, 2024 City Council Work Session Page 5 a contract for current Assistant City Manager Chirpich to take on the position of City Manager. Assistant City Manager Chirpich stated that overall he has been reviewing options for reducing risk for City Managers that had not been provided for in previous contracts. The Council did not have any specific questions for Assistant City Manager Chirpich, and after presenting the proposed contract to Council he left the room. Heminover inquired if the Council was worried about any of the items that were presented and would like additional direction from the Council on what direction the Council wants to take with the contract. Councilmember James inquired if there was anything in the contract that would be an issue or something that has red flags. She was concerned with the 180-day period for removal before and after an election. Heminover clarified for the Council that there was nothing in the contract that would be an issue, or something that is new. Councilmember Buesgens stated that she liked the stability of 180 days before and after. Heminover and HR Director Wick will review and give an update to the proposed language. She will then get final information to the Council, the City Attorney and then finally to the Assistant City Manager Chirpich. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 8:49 Respectfully Submitted, ______________________________________ Sara Ion, City Clerk/Council Secretary