12/03/2007 - 29208CITY COUNCIL MEETING
CITY OF FRIDLEY
DECEMBER 3, 2007
The City Council meeting for the City of Fridley was called to order by Mayor Lund at 7:30 p.m.
ROLL CALL:
MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Lund
Councilmember-at-Large Barnette
Councilmember Saefke
Councilmember Varichak
Councilmember Bolkcom
OTHERS PRESENT: William Burns, City Manager
Fritz Knaak, City Attorney
Scott Hickok, Community Development Director
James Kosluchar, Public Works Director
Richard Pribyl, Finance Director
John Berg, Fire Chief
APPROVAL OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA:
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
City Council Meeting of November 19, 2007.
Councilmember Saefke pointed out a typographical error on Page 7, Paragraph 10. "Ashland"
should be "Ashton."
APPROVED AS CORRECTED.
Board of Canvass Meeting of November 26, 2007.
APPROVED.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Second Reading of an Ordinance Amending the Fridley City Code, Chapter 603,
Intoxicating Liquor, to Allow the Sale of Intoxicating Malt Liquor with 3.2% Malt
Liquor and Wine Licenses.
William Burns, City Manager, stated the amendment allows the sale of strong beer in
restaurants holding a wine license. They also are required to have a 60/40 food to liquor ratio.
FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3, 2007 PAGE 2
Council approved the first reading of the ordinance on November 19, 2007. Staff recommends
Council's approval of the second and final reading.
WAIVED THE READING OF THE ORDINANCE AND ADOPTED THE ORDINANCE
ON SECOND READING AND ORDERED PUBLICATION.
NEW BUSINESS:
2. Receive the Minutes from the Planning Commission Meeting of October 17.
RECEIVED.
3. Variance Request, VAR #07-06, by Barry Hoosline, to Increase the Fence Height
Requirement from 8 Feet to 10 Feet for the Purpose of Screening the Storage of
Vehicles and Equipment Related to a Junkyard Operation in an Industrial District,
Generally Located at 7340 Central Avenue, 1240 — 73 1/2 Avenue and 1230 - 73rd
Avenue (Ward 2).
William Burns, City Manager, stated Mr. Hoosline operates a salva�ue yard on four parcels
located at 7340 Central Avenue, 1240 — 73 '/z Avenue, and 1230 - 73r Avenue. The property
was rezoned from G1 to M-1 earlier this year. A special use permit to operate a salvage yard in
an M-1 District was also approved subject to stipulations, one of which was screening. The
action tonight allows the screening fence to officially be 10 feet tall. Staff recommends approval
of the change.
APPROVED.
4. Approve 2008 Sixty-Day Agency Action Application Action Deadlines for the
Planning Commission and the Appeals Commission Meetings.
William Burns, City Manager, stated staff recommends Council's approval.
APPROVED.
5. Resolution Abating an Assessment for Property within Street Improvement Project
No. ST. 2007 — 1.
William Burns, City Manager, stated this is legislation abating an assessment that was
erroneously included in the 2007 street reconstruction program. The property is 369 - 57th Place.
The amount to be removed from the assessment is $2,723.20. Staff recommends Council's
approval.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2007-70.
6. Approve 2008 Consulting Services Agreement Between the City of Fridley and 3M
Company for GIS Services.
FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3, 2007 PAGE 3
William Burns, City Manager, stated the contract provides GIS mapping services for all City
departments. The service is jointly contracted by the cities of Columbia Heights, Andover, and
Fridley. The 2008 contract fee for Fridley is $32,640, or 5 percent more than the cost for this
service in 2007. Staff has been very pleased with the quality of services received through this
contract and recommends Council's approval.
APPROVED.
7. Approve Change Order No. 3 for 2007 Neighborhood Street Improvement Project
No. ST. 2007 — 1.
William Burns, City Manager, stated staff is recommending Council's approval of Change
Order No. 3 for the 2007 Neighborhood Street Improvement Project. These changes total
$19,659.28 and bring the total cost of the project to $2,441,316.53, or .8 percent over the original
contract amount. The changes in contract costs are to be paid to our contractor, Forest Lake
Contracting, Inc.
THIS ITEM WAS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AND PLACED ON
THE REGULAR AGENDA.
8. Approve Change Orders and Final Payment for Two Rescue Trucks for the Fire
Department.
William Burns, City Manager, stated staff recommends Council's approval of the four change
orders for the two rescue trucks for the Fire Department. One of the change orders was approved
earlier this year in the amount of $790. The total of change for the two rescue trucks is $4,894.
This brings the cost of the two rescue vehicles to $130,084, or 3.9 percent greater than the
original contract amount. Staff recommends Council's approval of the final change order and
payment to General Safety Equipment, LLC.
THIS ITEM WAS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AND PLACED ON
THE REGULAR AGENDA.
9. Claims (134394-134654).
APPROVED.
10. Licenses.
APPROVED THE LICENSES AS SUBMITTED AND AS ON FILE.
FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3, 2007 PAGE 4
11. Estimates.
Standard Sidewalk
10841 Mankato St. NE
Blaine, NIN 5534
2007 Misc. Concrete Repairs No
FINAL ESTIMATE ..................
Forest Lake Contracting
14777 Lake Drive
Forest Lake, MN 55025
370
2007-1 Street Improvement Proj ect
Estimate No. 8 ........................................
APPROVAL OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA:
$ 4,729.95
..$161,551.40
Councilmember Bolkcom asked that Items 7 and 8 be removed.
MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to approve the consent agenda as presented with the
removal of Items 7 and 8. Seconded by Councilmember Bolkcom.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA:
MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to approve the agenda with the addition of Items 7 and
8. Seconded by Councilmember Barnette.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
OPEN FORUM:
Pete Eisenzimmer, 6535 Oakley Drive, stated he is being charged for storm sewer on his street
which he does not have. Is there anything that can be done with that?
Mayor Lund asked if he was talking about his quarterly utility billing.
Mr. Eisenzimmer said he was.
Mayor Lund replied they would have staff get back to him.
Councilmember Bolkcom asked if everyone got charged for storm sewer.
FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3, 2007 PAGE 5
Richard Pribyl, Finance Director, said they do. It is an overall policy the City Council adopted
some years ago regarding storm water that impacts all properties in the City of Fridley regardless
of the types of infrastructure located in each specific street. It is a uniform assessment that goes
property by property throughout the City.
Mr. Eisenzimmer stated something should be done about all the contaminated water coming
down Mississippi Drive and onto Oakley Drive.
Jerry Bahls, 7514 Alden Way, invited all persons to attend National Audubon's 108th Christmas
Bird Count which will be at the Springbrook Nature Center on December 15 at 7:30 a.m. They
are having a pot luck lunch, so bring something to share.
PUBLIC HEARING:
12. Consideration of the 2008 City of Fridley Budget.
MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to waive the reading of the public hearing notice and
open the public hearing. Seconded by Councilmember Saefke.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE
PUBLIC HEARING OPENED AT 7:43 P.M.
William Burns, City Manager, stated this year, there was a legislative session characterized by
deadlock There was not a lot of anything that happened. Good things included we did not get
wine in grocery stores or levy limits. There was legislation that requires our Police Chief and
other public safety directors to require people running scrapyards to do video surveillance and
get identification of people selling scrap metal.
Dr. Burns stated there were not too many bad things. We did have some special legislation we
hoped would pass. It got as far as the omnibus tax bill. This was legislation for both the
Northstar Rail station as well as the Springbrook Nature Center. The Governor vetoed the bill.
We hope we can get back the momentum as we get into the 2008 session. Another thing we
have been pushing for is a bill that would allow administrative fines for minor traffic offenses.
So far, the State of Minnesota does not want to lose the revenues associated with those offenses.
Dr. Burns said there was no additional transportation money coming out of this year's
legislation.
Dr. Burns stated as we go forward into 2008, our very top priority is going to be local
government aid. Fridley, along with other suburban cities, really gets short-circuited. The two
core cities and out-state cities control the process. They hold the committee chairs, and they
pretty much divide it up, and what happens is both the core cities and the greater Minnesota
cities get about 20 times more money than other suburban communities get. He said he thought
we could demonstrate that we need it as much as they do.
FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3, 2007 PAGE 6
Dr. Burns stated they want to bring back the Northstar legislation. They want to get special
legislation that will help the City acquire land for the site. There was some legislation last year
that would eliminate our pawnshop program, including our pawn detective position in the Police
Department. He said they would fight this wholeheartedly. Our ally on this issue is the City of
Minneapolis, because it is their pawn program the City subscribes too.
Dr. Burns stated wine in grocery stores is again going to be a major legislative emphasis for the
City.
Dr. Burns stated the budget sessions were not characterized by strong divisive issues. He thinks
the biggest thing Council faced and discussed were budget projections for both the general fund
and utility fund. They started the budget work sessions with the Finance Director talking about
budget projects. The fact is the general fund is pulling down about $1 million in fund balance.
The fund balances are not going to last forever, so they are very concerned about those
projections for the general fund. They were also concerned about the decline of balances for our
utility fund. Thank to the Fridley voters we are now able to move forward without that worry.
Dr. Burns stated they included an additional $36,000 for paid on-call firefighters. More and
more we need to assign firefighters to specific shifts as opposed to having them come whenever
they can make it. As we do this, we need to have more money to pay for the shift work.
Dr. Burns stated they discussed summer code enforcement interns. The original budget did not
have any money in it for code enforcement. They actually added a second code enforcement
intern, and they both will cost the City $7,500 a year. The second intern will be used for
enforcement of what they expect to be new legislation that will give the City some leverage to
use for structural problems in homes such as rotting soffits, missing garage doors, peeling paint,
etc.
Dr. Burns stated they also talked about funding external organizations, such as the Alexandra
House, Southern Anoka County Community Consortium and Mediation Services of Anoka
County. Ultimately, the City came up with some reductions in spending for those organizations.
Dr. Burns stated the enterprise funds (which include water, sewer, storm water, and liquor) are
funded and recognized as businesses that are supposed to be operating with their own sources of
revenue, so they are treated differently. The total expenditures under these funds is $19,186,359,
about 7'/z percent higher than what was budgeted last year. The biggest part is the additional
money we are putting into street reconstruction in 2008.
Dr. Burns stated the other area of increase is the general fund, with an increase of $640,837 or
4.7 percent. Most of that is for personal services. The amount of $516,747 represents staff costs.
The personal service costs include a 3 percent cost of living adjustment. State-mandated public
retirement assistance is $76,856 more than what we paid this year. There were merit step
increases for employees equating to $61,700. There was an increase of $119,077 for a wide
range of temporary employees we have been using for both seasonal recreation programs,
summer street maintenance, parks maintenance, and work at the Springbrook Nature Center.
Workers' compensation costs are up by $23,000. Market rate adjustments that are used to make
FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3, 2007 PAGE 7
sure our salaries are in line with other communities are up by $80,192. Health insurance costs
were down by about $11,500.
Dr. Burns stated in the supply area for the second straight year in a row, there are maj or
increases in costs for vehicle fuel in the amount of $44,432. There are also increased utility costs
in the amount of $46,148, and other contractual services in the amount of $48,312.
Dr. Burns stated it seems like every year we spend a little less money for cars and trucks and
other equipment. They have reduced the projected amount for 2008 by $117,520. This includes
$114,340 for four police squads, $25,000 for the replacement of street maintenance equipment
and another $50,000 for replacement of parks maintenance equipment.
Dr. Burns stated on the revenue side, the City has had to transfer $1.6 million out of non-
general, non-operating, fund resources to balance the budget. The biggest amount is $861,543
from the general fund reserve which is money that is not really being replaced. Another
$500,000 was taken from the liquor fund and $250,000 was taken from the closed bond fund.
The total fund transfers are $1,611,453.
Dr. Burns stated the second category of funding is special revenue funds. These are funds that
have to be accounted for separately. The biggest change is we no longer have the police activity
fund. There is a small reduction in the cable television fund. The City is going to replace the
lighting in the Council chambers which will cost around $30,000.
Dr. Burns stated regarding the solid waste abatement fund, there are two things that account for
the $24,000 increase: the 5 percent contract increase for the solid waste abatement hauler, and
the additional cost for the pickups the City does. All in all, the City is down in special revenue
fund expenditures for next year.
Dr. Burns said capital improvements fund expenditures are up $866,000 because of the street
reconstruction program which shows a big increase over last year. General capital improvements
are down by $34,300. Some specific improvements are: recoating the floors in the fire
apparatus bays, $23,000; replacing fuel pumps at the City garage, $14,000; and maintenance on
one of the entry monument, $3,700.
Dr. Burns stated the street reconstruction project will cost around $3,583,000. The City will
also do another mill and overlay project and another seal coat program next year. He said there
are several items included in parks such as court overlays, replacement of the Community Park
scoreboard, and continued work on the Community Park irrigation system.
Dr. Burns said the enterprise funds include the water fund, sewer fund, storm water fund, and
municipal liquor fund. They are up by a grand total of 1.8 percent. Water is up by 4.2 percent,
and sewer is up 4.7 percent (73 percent of the sewer fund project is dictated by Met Council for
treatment services). The storm water fund is down a little bit, and municipal liquor has a very
small change.
Dr. Burns stated with respect to debt service, Fridley has never had a lot of debt. We have been
a pay-as-you-go group. There is some debt on water system improvements in the amount of
FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3, 2007 PAGE 8
$401,942 and there is some TIF debt of about $1.8 or $1.9 million. All of that is paid for out of
normal budgeting revenues. The City also has some street improvement debt amounting to
$595,325.
Dr. Burns said the total levy is $9,527,433 or 3.6 percent more than the total levy for 2006. The
League of Minnesota Cities tells us that cities are up by 9.2 percent on average. The levy
includes $138,665 allowed by the City Charter for the general fund levy. It also includes $4,600
allowed by the City Charter for an increase in the Springbrook Nature Center levy and $182,142
for debt retirement on the street improvement fund. These levies, together with changes in
property valuation will reduce the City's portion of the property tax bill as it applies to the
average value Fridley home ($216,500). Our share of the taxes is about 30 percent total, and the
rest belongs to the school districts and the County. The City's share of the bill goes from $644 to
$625 for the average Fridley home.
Dr. Burns stated total property taxes will increase or decrease, depending on the school district
in which the home is located. They will increase by $228 in the Anoka Hennepin School District,
and decrease by $4 in the Columbia Heights School District. In between these extremes, they
will increase by $99 in the Spring Lake Park School District and by $111 in the Fridley School
District.
Dr. Burns said with respect to the financial health of the City, the general fund reserve is going
down considerably as is the unreserved amount we have available to us to meet our deficit issues
that we are facing. We will still have $16.2 million at the end of next year but it will not last
forever, and we need to be thinking of how we can balance the budget or we will find ourselves
in a bankrupt position. Since 2003, we have racked up pretty substantial deficits for our general
fund expenditures. In 2003 when we totally lost our LGA, we moved up to almost $2 million in
deficits. The 2008 deficitis $1.6 million.
Dr. Burns stated at one point the intergovernmental portion of the budget was well over a third.
It was reduced to 20.7 percent in 2003, and this year it was 7.3 percent. Next year the City is
proj ecting 9.4 percent. As the LGA has gown down, our property tax portion of the budget has
gone up to the point where it is over 60 percent this year and next year.
Dr. Burns stated it is interesting to look at Fridley's spending pattern in terms of the overall
external environment in which Fridley operates. New construction was terribly low last year at
$20.9 million. It jumped to $36.7 million this year. Unemployment is up from 4.2 percent to 4.8
percent for the first nine months of this year. For September, our unemployment rate was
actually 5.1 percent. He said for the first time since he has been in Fridley, the rates for Fridley
are higher than the unemployment rates for the metropolitan area, the state, and the nation as a
whole. It is something that we should be a little concerned about.
Dr. Burns stated we had a small increase in the overall number of jobs in Fridley this past year.
We still have a marked decrease, however, we still have marked decrease in the number of
service sector jobs. Retail jobs which typically suffer in Fridley, are up a little bit; and
manufacturing jobs are up a little bit. The overall number of jobs is up to almost 24,000 jobs.
FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3, 2007 PAGE 9
Dr. Burns stated property values are up by 3.3 percent. Last year they were up 6.4 percent.
Looking at some of the categories of property value, we are seeing a 1.2 percent increase in
residential area, whereas last year we saw a 5.5 percent increase in residential value. He said
people need to keep in mind that estimated market values on properties are about two years old
by the time the tax bill reaches their doorstop. That is because the appraisals of property lag
behind the actual levying process.
Dr. Burns stated that Part II crimes (more serious) are up by 11.2 percent during the first nine
months of 2006. There were 95 more thefts, 14 more robberies, and 7 more arson cases in 2007
compared to 2006.
Dr. Burns stated the cash assistance provided by Anoka County to Fridley residents is up by
2.7 present, but surprisingly the students receiving free and reduced meals for District 14 is down
by about the same amount. Either way there is not a lot of increased or decreased reliance on
welfare.
Dr. Burns stated the 2008 budget is 7.5 percent greater than the budget that was prepared in
2007. Most of the increase is due to the street project and to the general fund. When you look at
the general fund, most of that has to do with the cost of employees, which is very much in
keeping with the cost of employees metro wide. While we have added $36,000 to the Fire
Department's budget for paid-on-call firefighters and $15,000 for code enforcement interns, the
2008 budget provides for the same scope of services as was provided in 2007. Once again,
General Fund expenditures must be supported by transfers from other funds. The 2008 transfers
amount to more than $1.6 million. While $500,000 of this amount comes from the Liquor Fund,
the remainder of the transfer comes from cash balances.
Dr. Burns said that while we have some time to address the General Fund imbalance, we do not
have time to ignore it. We will continue to make our quest for a fairer portion of LGA funding a
high priority. Without new LGA money, we will soon arrive at a fork in the road where we must
choose between higher property taxes through additional levy and substantial reductions in
services. Until November 20, Fridley was also struggling to balance its utility fund budgets.
Thanks to our voters, we can now focus on catching up with some of the utility system
improvements that were put on hold in 2007. As we move toward the beginning of a new year,
we look forward to addressing our funding challenges as well as toward continuing to provide
top quality services to Fridley residents.
Mayor Lund asked about deficit in the solid waste abatement fund which will be covered by the
City's closed bond fund. He asked if the City could pay that down to break even. He said he is
concerned about the City's reductions in its closed bond funds each year.
Dr. Burns replied the County will not let us use the revenue sharing money to offset those
deficits for the salary of the one employee.
Mayor Lund asked whether the City still gets money for solid waste abatement.
FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3, 2007 PAGE 10
Dr. Burns said we get about $60,000 a year in SCORE funding. The City is not able to use our
revenue sharing money to offset the employee's salary. Whatever we get from sales of
recyclables, the City has to channel into new recycling programs as opposed to existing
outpaying costs.
Pete Eisenzimmer asked how much money was really spent for the irrigation system at
Community Park.
Dr. Burns replied about $75,000 a year for a two or three-phase project. They had to take out a
lot of fill in that area that caused a drainage problem. They do it in conjunction with the street
improvement project. It is something that needed to be done bad in order to accommodate
drainage problems on the six fields at Community Park.
Mr. Eisenzimmer asked whether we are just spending $75,000 on the sprinkler system just at
Community Park or if it is for all the City's sprinkler systems.
Dr. Burns replied it is about a$225,000 proj ect total.
Mayor Lund said the improvements were definitely needed in the park because it was not
usable because of the lack of drainage and the ensuing problems. One of the reasons for
spending that money on those ball fields is because the City derives a substantial amount of
money from the tournaments that are held there. The fees help offset the costs.
Councilmember Bolkcom asked Dr. Burns what happens next with the proposed budget.
Dr. Burns replied both the budget resolution and the final tax levy resolution will be on the
agenda for the City Council meeting on December 10.
MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to close the public hearing. Seconded by
Councilmember Barnette.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE
PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED AT 8:25 P.M.
13. Consideration of a Resolution Ordering the Removal or Repair of a Hazardous
Building Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Section 463, Located within the City of
Fridley, Minnesota (1465 Garden Avenue N.E.) (Ward 2) (Continued September 10,
2007).
MOTION by Councilmember Varichak to reopen the public hearing. Seconded by
Councilmember Bolkcom.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE
PUBLIC HEARING REOPENED AT 7:25 P.M.
FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3, 2007 PAGE 11
Scott Hickok, Community Development Director, stated there was a garage on the site and they
did move to the point of deeming that hazardous and asked Council to consider the resolution
which they passed, allowing the City to remove the garage if the owner did not remove it. At
that July meeting, Council agreed to allow the property owner until August 31, 2007, to remove
the building. The owner did pull a demolition permit and agreed to have the building down by
August 31. The building was completely demolished by the first week in September. There is
some concern about outdoor storage on this site relative to the garage being gone. City Code
does require that a garage be placed on a single-family lot, and that the garage be no less than
two stalls.
Mr. Hickok stated staff recommends that Council hold the public hearing to receive any
additional comments and information and then close the public hearing. Staff discussed the
matter with the owner who stated he could not decide where to place the garage. Code requires
him to have a garage. It is now the winter season and construction is expensive. If the owner
had acted last February or March, the garage would have been down and a new garage could
have been built this summer. He said if Council felt it was appropriate, they could close the
public hearing and staff will pursue other remedies with non-compliance with garage
requirements in an R-1 District, outdoor storage violations, and the illegal parking matters on the
site that exist through the court.
Mayor Lund asked if they need a resolution before the property owner's December 14 court
date.
Mr. Hickok replied, no, they do not. They had a resolution ready in case they needed to abate
this action on the property. The hazard is gone. They have never actually built a garage through
an abatement process.
MOTION by Councilmember Varichak to close the public hearing. Seconded by
Councilmember Bolkcom.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE
PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED AT 8:30 P.M.
NEW BUSINESS:
7. Approve Change Order No. 3 for 2007 Neighborhood Street Improvement Project
No. ST. 2007 — 1.
Councilmember Bolkcom asked who would pay for the two driveways that were incorrectly
built.
James Kosluchar, Public Works Director, stated this was actually a carryover from the 2006
street project. He believed those driveways were approved by City staff and they were unaware
of the problem and were advised of a problem in the spring, after the project was certified as
complete and correct. To expedite the repair and allow these two residents access to their
property they had the contractor this year repair those driveways immediately. He said they
FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3, 2007 PAGE 12
have discussed this among staff and will use better scrutiny on the certification. They also hope
to let the residents on the proj ect know that if they do see a problem with the improvements, they
should not hesitate to contact them.
Councilmember Bolkcom asked if there were any other outstanding issues.
Mr. Kosluchar replied they still have outstanding warranty work that was identified in the
spring, but they are working with the contractor on getting those issues resolved.
MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to approve Change Order No. 3 for the 2007
Neighborhood Street Improvement Proj ect No. 2007 — 1. Seconded by Councilmember Saefke.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
8. Approve Change Orders and Final Payment for Two Rescue Trucks for the Fire
Department.
Councilmember Bolkcom asked if the changes are normal and if any of them could have been
caught before they trucks were built.
William Burns, City Manager, replied they are talking about four changes per vehicle and he
did not think it was an incredible amount of change orders.
John Berg, Fire Chief, said there are actually seven total change orders on each vehicle. They
asked for approval of three in August, and the four they are asking for tonight. The unfortunate
part of buying fire apparatus is they do not have the ability to go out and pick one off the lot.
They are custom made. It is difficult to write the specifications.
Mayor Lund asked for more information on the $62,595 amount for "General Safety Mini-
Rescue Per Contract."
Chief Berg stated in the description on the invoice from General Safety, we contracted with
them to build the box portion of the truck The City purchased the chassis and they are putting
the box on it. The Fire Department did the pre-production changes. These were basically the
differences between the Fire Department's specifications and the specifications accepted from
General Safety. Regarding Job No. 27, Change No. 2, they deleted some electrical items they
decided they did not need. Regarding Change Order No. 3 there was a reduction of $1,700
which appears to be some backup lights and issues on the rear bumpers. Change Order No. 4
was approved in August for $1,082. It was a change from the manufacturer's specified diamond
plate on the rear surface of the truck to a smooth painted surface. They also deducted $200 from
each vehicle because they can mount the computers a lot cheaper with their mechanics.
Regarding Change Order No. 7, the $1,100 was for panels which they assumed the trucks came
with.
FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3, 2007 PAGE 13
MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to approve the change orders and final payment for two
rescue trucks for the Fire Department. Seconded by Councilmember Saefke.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
14. Informal Status Reports
None.
ADJOURN.
MOTION by Councilmember Barnette, seconded by Varichak, to adjourn.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:43 P.M.
Respectfully submitted by,
Denise M. Johnson Scott J. Lund
Recording Secretary Mayor