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CCM 12/03/2001 THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL OF DECEMBER 3 ,2001 '— The Regular Meeting of the Fridley City Council was called to order by Mayor Lund at 7:34 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 Bolkcom, Councilmember Billings, Councilmember Wolfe. MEMBERS ABSENT: None. APPROVAL OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to approve the Proposed Consent Agenda as amended. Seconded by Councilmember Wolfe. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: City Council Meeting of November 19, 2001. Councilmember Bolkcom stated that on page 1 regarding water discoloration states "Five households had water discoloration and sedimentation problems." She believes it should state "eighteen percent" instead. Mr.Burns stated that it would be changed. Councilmember Bolkcom stated that on Page 4, it states "Councilmember Bolkcom asked if the commuter rail comments included a breakdown in satisfaction or if it was a good idea." She asked if it included a breakdown by ward. Mr.Burns stated that it would be changed. Councilmember Bolkcom stated that on Page 8, Item 13 states that the public hearing was removed from the agenda. It should include why it was removed from the agenda. Mr. Burns stated that it would be changed. Councilmember Bolkcom thanked Dr. Burns. APPROVED AS AMENDED. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3,2001 PAGE 2 OLD BUSINESS: — 1. ORDINANCE NO. 1162 AMENDING CHAPTER 506 OF THE FRIDLEY CITY CODE PERTAINING TO UNATTENDED VEHICLES: Mr. Burns, City Manager, stated that this regards the winter parking ban. The changes include the ending date of the ban from May 1 to April 1. Staff recommended Council's approval. WAIVED THE READING AND ADOPTED ORDINANCE NO. 1162 ON THE SECOND READING AND ORDERED PUBLICATION. NEW BUSINESS: 2. RECEIVE THE MINUTES FROM THE PLANNING COMISSION MEETING OF NOVEMBER 7,2001: Mr. Burns, City Manager, stated that this is a motion to receive the Planning Commission meeting minutes. Staff recommended Council's approval. RECEIVED. 3. VARIANCE REQUEST, VAR #01-03, BY EAST RANCH ESTATES (BOB AND MIKE SCHROER), TO REDUCE THE REQUIRED SETBACK OF A FREE-STANDING SIGN FROM A PROPERTY LINE OR DRIVEWAY FROM 10 FEET TO 1 FOOT TO ALLOW THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW FREE-STANDING SIGN, GENERALLY LOCATED — AT 7610 UNIVERSITY AVENUE N.E. (WARD 3): Mr. Burns, City Manager, stated that this request has to do with a St. Paul Waterworks water main that runs through the property prohibiting the sign from being placed elsewhere. The variance was approved unanimously at the Appeals Commission meeting on November 14 subject to four stipulations. Staff recommended Council's approval. APPROVED VARIANCE REQUEST #01-03 WITH THE FOLLOWING STIPULATIONS: 1. PETITIONER SHALL OBTAIN A SIGN PERMIT BEFORE INSTALLATION OF SIGN; 2. THE SIGN SHALL MEET CODE REQUIREMENTS FOR SIZE; 3. THE SIGN SHALL BE A MINIMUM HEIGHT OF TEN (10) FEET FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE SIGN TO THE FINISHED GROUND GRADE; 4. THE SIGN MUST BE DESIGED SO IT DOES NOT OVERHANG THE PROPERTY LINE. 4. SIGN PLAN REQUEST BY NORTH CENTRAL BUSINESS CENTER, GENERALLY LOCATED AT 452 NORTHCO DRIVE N.E.: Mr. Burns, City Manager, stated that this is to consider approval of the sign plan for Northco Central Business Center. It meets all City criteria for the multi-tenant building. Staff recommended Council's approval. APPROVED SIGN PLAN REQUEST. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3,2001 PAGE 3 5. APPROVE 2002 SIXTY-DAY ACTION APPLICATION DEADLINES FOR THE PLANNING COMMISSION AND APEALS COMMISSION MEETINGS: Mr. Burns, City Manager, stated that this is a motion to approve the sixty-day action deadlines for items that are reviewed by the Planning and Appeals Commissions. Staff recommended Council's approval. APPROVED 2002 SIXTY-DAY ACTION APPLICATION DEADLINES. 6. RESOLUTION NO. 69-2001 IN SUPPORT OF AN APPLICATION FOR A MINNESOTA LAWFUL GAMBLING PREMISE PERMIT FOR CLIMB THEATER (MAPLE LANES, 6310 HIGHWAY 65 N.E.) (WARD 2): Mr. Burns, City Manager, stated that this is a renewal application from CLIMB Theater for a charitable gambling license effective from March 1, 2002, to February 28, 2004. Staff recommended Council's approval. ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.69-2001. 7. RESOLUTION NO. 70-2001 IN SUPPORT OF AN APPLICATION FOR A MINNESOTA LAWFUL GAMBLING PREMISE PERMIT FOR FRIDLEY AMERICAN LEGION, POST 303 (7365 CENTRAL AVENUE N.E.) (WARD 2): Mr. Burns, City Manager, stated that this is a renewal application from the Fridley American Legion, Post 303, for a charitable gambling license effective from March 1, 2002,to February 28, 2004. Staff recommended Council's approval. ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.70-2001. 8. RESOLUTION NO. 71-2001 IN SUPPORT OF AN APPLICATION FOR A MINNESOTA LAWFUL GAMBLING PREMISE PERMIT FOR THE MINNESOTA SPORTS FEDERATION(SPIKERS GRILLE & BEACHCLUB,7651 HIGHWAY 65 N.E.): Mr. Burns, City Manager, stated that this is an application by the Minnesota Sports Federation for a charitable gambling license which would replace the previous license held by Totino-Grace. The license will become effective either February 1 or March 1 for a two-year period depending on the State license. The State requires that our premise permit be approved first. Staff recommended Council's approval. ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 71-2001. 9. APPOINTMENT(CITY EMPLOYEE): Mr. Burns, City Manager, stated that staff recommended the appointment of Todd Desjardin to replace Shannon Coulter. Todd is a Minneapolis resident who graduated from DeLaSalle High School and Minneapolis Community College. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1987 through 1991. He has been employed as a Security officer for Hennepin County since 1994. Staff recommended Council's approval. APPOINTED TODD DESJARDIN AS PATROL OFFICER. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3,2001 PAGE 4 10. CLAIMS: — APPROVED CLAIM NOS. 102636-102761. 11. LICENSES: APPROVED ALL LICENSES AS SUBMITTED. 12. ESTIMATES: APPROVED ESTIMATES AS FOLLOWS: Frederic W. Knaak,Esq. Holstad and Knaak,P.L.C. 1690 Minnesota World Trade Center 30 East Seventh Street St. Paul,MN 55101 Services Rendered as City Attorney For the Month of November,2001 $5,000.00 ADOPTION OF AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to adopt the agenda as presented. Seconded by Councilmember Wolfe. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. OPEN FORUM,VISITORS: No persons in the audience spoke. PUBLIC HEARING: 13. CONSIDERATION OF THE 2002 CITY OF FRIDLEY BUDGET: MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to open the public hearing and waive the reading. Seconded by Councilmember Wolfe. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE PUBLIC HEARING OPENED AT 7:41 P.M. Mr. Burns, City Manager, stated this is a maintenance budget and does not add a lot of new services or programs. It supports the very strong programs we have. He would like to thank the Finance Director Rick Pribyl and Craig Ellestad, the budget Accountant for their work in helping put this budget together. During the legislative session this year, financial responsibility of government services was switched around. The State took on the $900,000,000 in K-12 education, and they paid for that at a cost to local _ cities by eliminating$260,000,000 in HACA statewide. They also changed the tax rate system, providing tax reductions for everybody. The process, however, had undesirable results with respect to FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3,2001 PAGE 5 redevelopment programs and tax increment financing. It will be much harder to use tax increment financing. The City lost over$130,000 in local government aid. "— Mr. Burns stated that in the planning process over the last five years, staff has used a Council/Commission survey to identify issues. Staff develops questions relating to issues they see on their operational horizons. The answers are compiled, meetings held, and cable television shows conducted. There is a very thorough and comprehensive review of City issues through this process. Staff develops goals and objectives and their annual budgets come before the Council in June during budget work sessions. Council sees the proposed budget again in August and December. Expenditure issues identified in this year's survey were hiring a new firefighter, adding new municipal garage facilities including remodeling for better office/restroom facilities for staff. It also included energy efficiency improvements to the garage bays by adding energy efficient doors. Replacing the cast iron water main as part of our street reconstruction project was favored and will be included in the Capital Improvements budget at an addition of $100,000. Not everything was approved, such as winter maintenance of bikeways/walkways. Council and the commissions decided we should not fix the drainage problems at Community Park East and also rejected no-fault sewer back-up insurance. Springbrook Nature Center improvements were rejected. There are revenue issues with rising water and storm sewer rates. There are also concerns about what to do with property taxes. Mr. Burns stated that Table 1 in the budget message described all the funds. The 2002 budget has allocated $14,734,000, a 2.3% change over this year's amount. The General Fund section of the budget shows a $900,000 increase, an increase in spending in that area by 7.5%. Most reflect rising personnel costs including a 4% cost of living adjustment for our employees and an additional cost of health insurance for employees in the amount of$810,000. These numbers have all been rounded up or down. The cost of the police officers whose salaries were previously funded by grants but are no longer, is in the amount of$15,000. The cost of the Fire Captain position is in the amount of$64,000. There are five _ Special Revenue Funds used to account for different types of funding and resources. Altogether we are budgeting $1,100,000 which was reduced by 17.3% from last year. This amount reflects the Housing Revitalization Fund and the reduction of the Grant Management Funds which was caused by moving the cost of two police officers to the General Fund. Mr. Burns stated that the Cable Television Fund is the second of two special revenue funds at $149,000, which is $34,603 more than budgeted for this year. It includes $27,000 for equipment upgrades. The Grant Management Fund budget is $352,504 and is $80,000 less than what was budgeted for this year. It supports one police officer and two other grant-funded police personnel. It is also the source of the City's Section 8 Housing Coordinator's funding, the Handyworks Coordinator out of the Senior Center, and the Community Development Block Grant Housing Rehabilitation Fund. The amount of$125,000 has been budgeted for that. The Housing Revitalization Fund has nothing in it because we have not been spending the $250,000 budgeted for it. Solid Waste Abatement Fund is budgeted at $321,000. That provides funding for the Recycling Coordinator and two part-time yard waste monitors. The bulk of the money is used to pay for our recycling hauler. We have a Police Activity Fund which is listed as a Special Revenue Fund. We were notified by the State that we were getting Police pension turnback money not needed to fund retirement obligations for police officers. We have about $2,100,000 and have been transferring parts of that to the General Fund to pay for police-related costs for previously grant- funded employees and technical improvements. The total transfer is$303,000. Mr. Burns stated that the budget for Capital Project Funds is $1,043,000, $304,600 less than budgeted for 2001. It is allocated among three sub-plans. One is buildings at$788,000,mostly for the garage addition. The amount of $140,000 has been budgeted out of money for streets with another $650,000 for that purpose as well from State Aid. Staff is planning a $600,000 street reconstruction program for various Fridley areas. The amount of$100,000 has been budgeted for street sealing in the west central section of FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3,2001 PAGE 6 Fridley. The Parks Improvements budget is set at $109,800, with $7,000 for Commons Park parking lot — repairs, $30,000 for court resurfacing, $30,000 for resurfacing the trail around Fahr Lake, $20,000 for replacing park signs, and $20,000 in fence repairs. The amount of$10,000 is our local match for the Federal grant established for the pier at Moore Lake. Mr. Burns indicated that the fourth category of funds is labeled Enterprise Funds. Water, Sewer, Storm Water, and Liquor comprise the Enterprise Funds. The budget includes spending of over $11,000,000 in these four areas. There has been a big drop in the liquor operations and a sizable increase in the sewer plans. The Water Fund appropriation is $1,900,000 and is half a percent more than what was budgeted for 2001. There will be a $104,229 reduction in debt service but a $65,000 increase in the transmission and distribution section for contractual service items. This amount also includes a$45,510 increase in the administrative section for the purpose of contracting with an outside carrier for a new billing process. The Sewer Fund is at $3,300,000 and is 9.8% more than what was budgeted for this year. Almost all the increase is accounted for by increase in disposal costs passed on by the Metropolitan Council. Storm Water appropriation is $453,000. The Liquor Fund appropriation is $5,400,000, 18.3% less than this year. The decrease is due to the closing of the Holly Center store. Mr. Burns stated that another category for budgeting is for various debt service funds such as special assessments for street reconstruction, water, sewer, and storm water projects. The amount of$180,000 has been budgeted. Another debt service fund has been set up for water system improvements at $376,000. A third debt service funds has been set up for sanitary and storm sewer at$136,000. Mr. Burns said that there is no long-term general obligation debt and no debt service charge to the General Fund. This helps to maintain an Aal bond rating and keeps taxes low. All of our neighbors have high debt service with high cost. We attempt to take our tax increase and then look at the tax increases for the school districts and other taxing jurisdictions in Fridley and figure out the taxes on the average local home. One of the City's employees owns an average local home. Staff has been using that for an example the last three or four years. It has an average value of$132,600. Local property tax rates were reduced dramatically by the State legislature. The tax changes were accompanied by big reduction in State aid to Cities. Cities were expected to levy back the lost State aid. Fridley has chosen to levy an amount equal to the lost State aid which amounts to about $1,200,000 and have opted to raise last year's property tax base by another$4,200,000. The effect of the changes is to raise the City's property taxes by a little less than 34%. Anoka County has also raised its property taxes substantially. Revenues from State aid with property taxes are only about 1.25%higher than they were for 2001. These need to pay for the General Fund operations. We have not been wasteful in spending habits and taxing practices. The market rate levies approved by the voters for the school districts are included in determining property taxes and market value homestead credit consideration that the State allows for residential property. In 2001, there was tax reform by the State legislators, but it did not make the tax system more simple. The tax break for the average home is only $38 (3.1%) in Spring Lake Park. In School District 14, the tax break is $236, or about 17.2%. In Columbia Heights it is $47 or 3.1%. In School District 11, that tax break is $167, or about 12.1%. Mr. Burns stated that part of the problem is that the average value of property is low and the tax breaks the legislature passed really affected higher value property. A $250,000 home in Fridley will get a 40% tax break. Table 3 contained in the budget message has the most recent calculations for fund balances based on a five-year history. Table 4 shows the amount of General Fund revenue from inside and external forces. Up to 1999, the City was not pulling down internal resources. From 1999,the City was spending at least $600,000 in its fund balances to balance the General Fund. Table 5 depicts changes in various _ sources of General Fund revenue. Property taxes as a source of revenue have risen from 34.8%to 44.3%. Table 6 displays the budget and sources of internal transfers to the General Fund. We are projecting to use $827,028 in General Fund reserves in 2002, and we are using an increasing amount of our liquor fund FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3,2001 PAGE 7 profits to fund the General Fund. Table 7 shows that General Fund expenditures have grown at a rate of inflation and they are not out of line and are less than the constant dollar figure for 1995-1997. New construction has dropped from $20,000,000 for the first ten months of this year and is less than those two —' previous years. The unemployment rate has grown from 2.6% to 3.28%. crime rates appear to be down and burglary rates are at an all-time low. There has been a 7.2% increase in the number of people on public assistance. Mr. Burns stated that while Fridley continues to offer quality governmental services at a lower cost than any of its neighbors there are significant challenges ahead. Taxes are lower but there are substantial pressures to raise those taxes. More of the City's local school districts may be going to the voters for levy increases. The State is projecting deficits for revenues projected for the State for the next budget year. There is a great possibility that the State may want to tamper with local government aid again to find ways to reduce expenditures and stay within annual revenues. That will put more pressure on cities. Approximately 63% of our expenditures for Capital Improvements this year are from fund balances. The City is also going to be challenged to find local funding for previously grant-funded police personnel. That will have a bearing on the youth programs funded out of the Police Department. We are facing a prospect of putting up a local share of$700,000 to fund a county-wide public safety radio replacement system. The budget for 2003 should be cautious particularly in this economy. Mr.Burns presented the 2002 budget for Council's consideration. Councilmember Barnette stated that 3 of the 4 referendums for the school districts failed but they will be back. Do the unemployment figures reflect the citizens of Fridley or the businesses? Mr. Burns stated that he is referring to Fridley residents and the figures come from the State. Councilmember Bolkcom asked if the Water Fund was at.4%or.5%. Mr.Burns stated that it is at .4%. Councilmember Billings stated that we spend about $230,000 for our Prosecuting Attorney. Some residents figure that all the fines they pay for speeding tickets, etc., come back to the City and that is why we do law enforcement on various roads. He asked what portion of the revenue stream was generated from our share of the court fines. Mr. Burns stated that he understands it to be a break-even situation and would refer to Mr. Pribyl for more information. Mr. Pribyl stated that the revenue generated is$190,500. Councilmember Billings stated that speed traps and other things are not things we are doing, but cost us more to prosecute than the small return we get from the courts. Mr.Burns stated that it is by no means a windfall. Councilmember Bolkcom asked what the process is for the next step. Mr. Pribyl stated that this is the public hearing for the 2002 budget. The next step would be to have Council review and approve the resolution for the 2002 budget. There will also be a resolution to certify the property tax levy for Anoka County. This will be before Council at the next meeting. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 3,2001 PAGE 8 MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to close the public hearing. Seconded by Councilmember Wolfe. — UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED AT 8:20 P.M. 14. INFORMAL STATUS REPORTS: Mr. Burns stated that another newsletter is coming out. Councilmember Barnette stated that there is a lot of good information in the newsletters. Mr.Burns stated that his assistant, Jennifer Dunn,has done an excellent job on this edition. Councilmember Wolfe stated that Officer Kurt Morse, is the new Gymnastics Coach for Fridley High School. ADJOURN: MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Councilmember Barnette. UPON A VOICE VOTE,ALL VOTING AYE,MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE DECEMBER 3, 2001,CITY COUNCIL MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:22 P.M. Respectfully submitted, 1/&414 4/61/Y f ;. Signe L.Johnson' Scott Lund Recording Secretary Mayor