Loading...
04/26/2004 - 00026543CITY OF FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING AP RI L 26, 2004 The regular meeting of the Fridley City Council was called to order by Mayor Lund at 7:30 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Lund led the Council and audience in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. ROLL CALL: MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Lund, Councilmember Barnette, Councilmember Billings, Councilmember Wolfe, and Councilmember Bolkcom. MEMBERS ABSENT: PROCLAMATION: None. Mayor Lund presented a proclamation declaring May 14 and May 15, 2004, as Veterans' Buddy Poppy Days. Ms. Katie LaSota was present and accepted the proclamation on behalf of the VFW. APPROVAL OF THE PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Fridley Board of Review Meeting of April 12, 2004 Fridley City Council Meeting of April 12, 2004 APPROVED NEW BUSINESS: 1. 2. Receive the minutes from the Planning Commission meeting of March 17, 2004. RECEIVED. Receive bids and award the Woodside Court Improvement Project No. ST. 2004-2. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF APRIL 26, 2004 PAGE 2 Dr. Burns, City Manager, stated bids were received on April 21, 2004. The bid from Magnum Company, LLC, one of ten bidders, was the low bid at $65,364.60. Staff recommends the bid be awarded to Magnum Company, LLC. All the costs will be charged back to the developer. RECEIVED BIDS AND AWARDED BID FOR THE WOODSIDE COURT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT NO. ST. 2004-2 TO MAGNUM COMPANY, LLC, IN THE AMOUNT OF $65,364.60. 3. Award contract for design and construction services for the replacement of the Marion Hills Standpipe. Dr. Burns, City Manager, stated that after interviewing several consultants, staff recommends the contract be awarded to Bolton & Menk, Inc., for engineering, construction and administrative services. The cost of these services is $75,000. The project should be designed this summer and demolition work on the existing tank should begin in September. An article on this subject was published in the April City newsletter. The project has been budgeted as a part of the 2004 Capital Improvements Plan. AWARDED CONTRACT FOR DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION SERVICES FOR THE REPLACEMENT OF THE MARION HILLS STANDPIPE TO BOLTON & MENK, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $75,000. 4. Appointment to Parks and Recreation Commission. Dr. Burns, City Manager, stated Council interviewed and recommended the appointment of Edward R. McDonald to the Parks and Recreation Commission. APPOINTED EDWARD R. McDONALD TO THE PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION. 5. Appointment — City Employees. Dr. Burns, City Manager, stated staff recommended the appointment of Kevin Mensch to the position of Public Services Worker-Streets. The position was vacated by Jeffrey Jensen who was promoted to street supervisor. Dr. Burns stated staff recommended the appointment of Robert Rewitzer to Captain in the Police Department, the position vacated by Don Abbott. Dr. Burns stated staff recommended the promotion of James Mork to Sergeant in the Police Department, the position vacated by Robert Rewitzer. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF APRIL 26, 2004 PAGE 3 APPROVED THE APPOINTMENT OF KEVIN MENSCH AS PUBLIC SERVICES WORKER-STREETS; ROBERT REWITZER AS CAPTAIN IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT AND JAMES MORK AS SERGEANT IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. 6. Claims. APPROVED CLAIM NOS. 116150 THROUGH 116322. 7. Licenses. APPROVED THE LICENSES AS SUBMITTED AND AS ON FILE. Councilmember Bolkcom requested the following changes in the April 12, 2004 Council minutes: On Page 8, second paragraph, correct the spelling for AI Stalberg to AI Stahlberg. On Page 9, the fifth paragraph should include her statement that other cities actually assess the whole street improvement back to the residents who live on that street and Fridley only assesses the concrete curb and gutter and was trying to keep it that way. APPROVAL OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Barnette, seconded by Councilmember Wolfe, to approve the proposed consent agenda with the corrections requested by Councilmember Bolkcom. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. ADOPTION OF AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Billings, seconded by Councilmember Barnette, to adopt the agenda. MOTION by Councilmember Billings, seconded by Councilmember Wolfe, to delete Item 10 and substitute the appointment of an Appeals Commission member. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION TO DELETE ITEM 10 CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION TO ADOPT THE AGENDA DECLARED UNANIMOUSLY. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF APRIL 26, 2004 PAGE 4 OPEN FORUM (VISITORS): There was no response for the audience under this item of business. PUBLIC HEARING: 8. Consideration of an Ordinance Amending Section 7.02, Power of Taxation of the Fridley City Charter (Continued April 12, 2004). MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom, seconded by Councilmember Wolfe, to reopen the public hearing. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION TO REOPEN THE PUBLIC HEARING DECLARED UNANIMOUSLY. Nancy Jorgenson, 5730 Polk Street N.E., stated the correct notice for this hearing was in the April 22 issue of the Sun Focus, but it did not appear previously, so there is still one more week of notification required. Mr. Knaak, City Attorney, recommended that Council continue the public hearing. Mayor Lund stated that those present who wish to speak on this matter will be welcome to do so, even though the matter will be continued. Councilmember Bolkcom suggested the comments from the audience be limited to new information only. Francis Van Dan, 6342 Baker Avenue N.E., stated he fully supports the Charter amendment increase in sewer and water charges. There is a paragraph in Section 7.02 which should be rewritten or deleted because it is insulting. Many people gathered signatures for the referendum to place this on the ballot. A tax is a tax and a fee is a non-recurring payment which should cover the actual cost of the service. Peter Eisenzimmer, 6535 Oakley Drive, questioned why gas and electric franchise fees have been included in the amendment. This has to go back to the voters. One way or the other, he stated, this will go back to the voters if he has to go out and gather signatures. He does not think it is fair for the Council to make these changes. Councilmember Bolkcom asked if Council asked to have this matter on the agenda. Mr. Burns stated the proposal came from the Charter Commission. Mayor Lund explained that any change in the language of the amendment would have to come from the Charter Commission. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF APRIL 26, 2004 PAGE 5 Don Findell, 6850 Siverts Lane, stated the proposed language is not doing anything with the gas and electric franchise fees. All that is being done is to remove water, sanitary sewer and storm water from Subsection 7.02.3A and moving it to 702.3B. Mr. Eisenzimmer asked what the change was not written in the paper correctly so that people knew what was being done. He feels that Council should be able to pay the City's bills with the funds they have and should not continue adding taxes and fees. Any new fees or taxes should be handled as the Charter states. Greg Peterson, stated he is disappointed that the language was being changed. The City Charter has a provision to make up for any situation when fees need to be increased; there are five paragraphs in the City Charter explaining how the citizens of Fridley would like the City Council to proceed with raising fees. It appears that the City wishes to remove the reasonable constraints put in place by reasonable, rational people, after extreme deliberation and with collaboration including City staff and Council. He stated this is an egregious breach of the public trust and shows no respect for the constituents. The first step the Council should take is to follow what the City Charter says, to simply ask for a one-time increase in the fees where needed and give the people a chance to say yes or no. He thinks Council would be very surprised to find that the taxpayers are reasonable, rational people who know how to add. If the charges are necessary, they can figure that out. He also pointed out how successful school referendums have been. Mayor Lund stated Council and City staff are complying with the Charter as it now stands. He explained this item was brought to the Council by the Charter Commission. Mr. Peterson stated the Charter Commission brought forth what was requested of them by the City Manager. This is a perfectly legal procedure, he added, but it circumvents the provision of the Charter that the voters put in. He recommended Council send an increase question to the voters in November. Bill Holm, 7424 Melody Drive N.E., Charter Commission member, explained that the City Manager did come before the Charter Commission but was turned down in July. Mr. Holm stated he then brought up the issue again in October, and suggested that an open forum be held and the information provided to citizens. The adhoc committee fine tuned the language and a majority of that committee favored excluding utilities from the Charter amendment that was approved by the voters in 2000. However, that adhoc committee also agreed they would not change the language unless there was a consensus and since a consensus was determined to be a unanimous decision, utility charges were included. This was not something passed by the voters in 2000. The main focus in 2000 was on taxes and franchise fees. It is important that water and sewer be handled like a business. We do not expect Xcel Energy or Minnegasco to provide utilities at less than cost, nor should we expect the City to provide a utility at less than cost and incur a$500,000 burden. As the Charter now stands, if we go before the voters to increase fees, it requires a super majority. That is not like a school levy increase. It requires 51 % of everyone who votes in the election. There is about a 15% FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF APRIL 26, 2004 PAGE 6 fall-out from the top of the ballot to items on the bottom where the Charter amendment would be. Ms. Jorgenson stated it is her understanding there is going to be an item on the ballot this fall for the Springbrook Nature Center. She added that she believes the Nature Center Foundation board members offered to assist the Council with getting the word to the voters about the utility increases. Mr. Peterson stated if the contention is the super majority vote required to increase the sewer and water fees, then that is the language that should have been forwarded to the Council. Mayor Lund stated any change in language has to come from the Charter Commission. Mr. Peterson stated he would encourage the Council to reject what the Charter Commission has submitted and ask them to address those specific concerns. Mr. Holm stated the information provided in the Charter amendment approved by the voters in 2000 included the reference to the super majority requirement. Therefore, the Charter Commission did not want to overrule what the voters had approved so they did not bring that matter to the Council. Mr. Findell stated when this amendment first came before the Charter Commission in 2000, he was opposed to it. He did not like the language at that time and he still does not. The reason he believes Council should be able to raise the water and sewer rates without going to the voters is because Subsection 7.02.3B includes water. The Charter Commission wanted to make sure it was perfectly clear, thus the amendment moving water, sanitary and storm water to Section B. Mr. Eisenzimmer commented that the recycling fees have continued to increase over the years and recommended that the City reduce the recycling pickups to every other week rather than every week. He also stated Medtronic has its own well and he questioned who is paying for their water that is going through the City sewer. Councilmember Billings stated if Medtronic does have a well, it is only used for irrigation. Mr. Pribyl explained that for any water that is sold or metered through the system there is a sewer charge that goes along with it. There is one commercial well in the City and that well has a meter on it. One of the things that Engineering and Finance has been concerned about is making sure that any users, commercial or residential, who are depositing water into the sewer system are actually paying for it. MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom, seconded by Councilmember Wolfe, to continue the public hearing until the May 24, 2004, City Council meeting. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF APRIL 26, 2004 PAGE 7 Mayor Lund asked if this timeframe affects the ballot consideration. Mr. Pribyl stated he would have to take a look at that. Councilmember Bolkcom stated she would like to see the two public hearing notices. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. NEW BUSINESS: 9. First reading of an ordinance amending Section 7.02, Power of Taxation, of the Fridley City Charter. MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom, seconded by Councilmember Wolfe, to table the first reading of an ordinance amending Section 7.02 to May 24, 2004. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 10. Appointment to Appeals Commission. Dr. Burns explained Council directed staff to contact Brad Sielaff regarding the Appeals Commission vacancy. Mr. Sielaff said he was interested and would be honored to be a member. MOTION by Councilmember Billings, seconded by Councilmember Bolkcom, to appoint Brad Sielaff to the Appeals Commission. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 11. Informal Status Reports There were no informal status reports. ADJOURNMENT: MOTION by Councilmember Barnette, seconded by Councilmember Wolfe, to adjourn the City Council meeting. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF APRIL 26, 2004 PAGE 8 UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:30 PM. Respectfully submitted, Rebecca Brazys Recording Secretary ������ Scott J. Lund Mayor