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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 01/19/1999 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRATRE CITY COUNCIL TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1999 7:00 PM, CITY CENTER Council Chamber 8080 Mitchell Road CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Jean Harris, Sherry Butcher- Younghans, Ronald Case, Ross Thorfinnson, Jr., and Nancy Tyra- Lukens CITY COUNCIL STAFF: City Manager Chris Enger, Parks & Recreation Services Director Bob Lambert, Public Safety Services Director Jim Clark, Public Works Services Director Eugene Dietz, Community Development and Financial Services Director Don Uram, Management Services Director Natalie Swaggert, City Attorney Roger Pauly, and Council Recorder Jan Nelson I. ROLL CALL/CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER Mayor Harris called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. All members were present. II. COUNCIL FORUM - 7:00 PM- 7:15 PM Harris explained the Council Forum process that will allow any citizen to come before the Council to present issues or concerns provided that person has called City Hall prior to noon on the day of the Council meeting to indicate a desire to present an item at the meeting. Enger said no one had called to sign up for tonight's meeting. A. Harris suggested that the issue regarding the upgrade of Highway 101 be pursued by seeking a joint meeting with the City Council of Chanhassen to discuss issues both cities must address in making a decision on this roadway. She proposed that the Mayors and City Managers of the two cities set the agenda for the meeting. She thought it should include the same kind of presentation from Hennepin County that the Council received at this evening's workshop. She asked Councilmembers to give items for discussion to Mr. Enger to make sure those will be part of the discussion. Enger asked if the proposed meeting would be a workshop or a formal joint Council meeting. Harris thought it might take the form of a workshop, but we would need to discuss that with Chanhassen. Tyra-Lukens liked the idea of a workshop rather than a formal meeting. The consensus was to pursue the joint session. CITY COUNCIL AGENDA January 19, 1999 Page 2 B. Enger said he would like to discuss the issue of formalizing the City's help to residents who have had water problems from sewer blockage. He said we have had situations where the City has helped those residents, but the policy has not been very formal. To date this has not been a large problem, but Staff is concerned about what would happen if there were a larger problem. They would like to provide a fund to self-insure for such occasions and to put some standards to the process. As a small part of their annual sewer bill, residents would pay towards that fund. Tyra-Lukens asked if there would be a cap on the amount one person could receive. Enger said there would be. Harris asked who would administer the fund. Enger said the City would. Case asked how typical it is for insurance companies to cover this type of catastrophe. Enger said some insurance companies do cover this situation. Case thought if 90% of the insurance companies cover it, it is not a problem. Dietz noted he has extended coverage on his own policy, and his department has sent information with the utility bills regarding the need for residents to have their own insurance. Case asked if we could word it that the City would be the last resort. Dietz thought the fund would be the second resort after exhausting the individual's insurance coverage, with a cap on the amount to be paid out from the fund. Pauly was not sure we could structure it such that people would have to exhaust their insurance since everyone should be entitled to the same benefit; however, we could put an overall cap on it. Tyra-Lukens asked if we are talking about situations where the drains back up. Dietz said we aren't talking about surface water, only sanitary sewer backup. Harris asked what the surcharge would be. Dietz said 5 cents per thousand raises about$200,000 per year, so that we could build up a pool with a charge of pennies per thousand. He noted that the Met Council has proposed some rate reduction which might lessen the overall rate increase needed for the surcharge. Case asked if this type of situation sometimes results from negligence. Dietz said the City has an active maintenance program for the system, and occurrences in the past have usually been the result of something other than a deficiency in the City's maintenance of the system. Harris asked how often we can identify the perpetrator of the problem. Dietz said we have taken contractors to court when we discovered they had dumped concrete in the sewer system; however, we didn't win because we did not have an eye witness. The fact that we did take them to court helped to get the message out that we would not tolerate such actions. CITY COUNCEL AGENDA January 19, 1999 Page 3 III. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IV. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND OTHER ITEMS OF BUSINESS Dietz added item XIII.E.1. Award for City. Enger added item XIII.B.2. Award for City. MOTION: Thorfinnson moved, seconded by Tyra-Lukens, to approve the Agenda as published and amended. Motion carried 5-0. V. MINUTES A. CITY COUNCIUSTAFF WORKSHOP HELD TUESDAY, JANUARY 5z 1999 Case said the first sentence of the last paragraph on Page 1 should be changed to "Case recommended...committee to study the issue of Communications and Technology." MOTION: Butcher-Younghans moved, seconded by Thorfinnson, to approve as published and amended the Minutes of the City Council/Staff Workshop held Tuesday, January 5, 1999. Motion carried 5-0. B. CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1999 Tyra-Lukens said Sentence 2, Paragraph 1, Page 4 should be changed to "From one to three...Minneapolis for the six nights that service was offered." MOTION: Case moved, seconded by Tyra-Lukens, to approve as published and amended the Minutes of the City Council Meeting held Tuesday, January 5, 1999. Motion carried 5-0. VI. CONSENT CALENDAR A. CLERK'S LICENSE LIST B. RESOLUTION 99-13 APPROVING FINAL PLAT OF SETTLERS RIDGE 2ND ADDITION C. RESOLUTION 99-14 APPROVING FINAL PLAT OF BEARPATH 8TH ADDITION D. RESOLUTION 99-15 GRANTING AUTHORIZATION TO EXERCISE OPTION TO PURCHASE PARCEL#2 - RICHARD T. ANDERSON CONSERVATION AREA CITY COUNCIL AGENDA January 19, 1999 Page 4 E. AUTHORIZE EXECUTION OF A PURCHASE AGREEMENT ON CITY- OWNED PARCEL - LOT 4 BLOCK 1 MARKET CENTER 2ND ADDITION & GIVE OFFICIAL NOTICE TO JOHN TEMAN AND THE NATIONAL 1031 EXCHANGE CORPORATION TO VACATE AND SURRENDER THE "HOUSE PROPERTY." F. APPROVE APT LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY AT FTRE STATION#2 G. RESOLUTION 99-16 APPROVING LIMITED USE PERMIT AGREEMENT BETWEEN NIINNETONKA, MnDOT AND EDEN PRAIRIE,FOR CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE OF A TRAIL ALONG THE NORTH SIDE OF HIGHWAY 62 BETWEEN I-494 AND CLEARWATER DRIVE H. RESOLUTION 99-17 APPROVING COOPERATIVE CONSTRUCTION AGREEMENT WITH MnDOT FOR SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS TO RAILROAD CROSSING SIGNALS ON VALLEY VIEW ROAD I. RESOLUTION 99-18 APPROVING RECYCLING GRANT J. APPROVE CHANGE ORDER NO. 1 FOR FULLER ROAD STORM SEWER, I.C. 98-5461 K. AWARD PARKS AND RECREATION BROCHURE PRINTING BID TO SHAKOPEE VALLEY PRINTING MOTION: Tyra Lukens moved, seconded by Thorfinnson, to approve items A- K of the Consent Calendar. Motion carried 5-0. VH. PUBLIC HEARINGS/MEETINGS VIH. PAYMENT OF CLAIMS MOTION: Tyra Lukens moved, seconded by Case, to approve the Payment of Claims. Motion carried on a roll-call vote with Butcher-Younghans, Case, Thorfinnson, Tyra-Lukens and Harris voting "aye." IX. ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS X. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS XI. REPORTS OF ADVISORY BOARDS & COMMISSIONS XII. APPOINTMENTS CITY COUNCIL AGENDA January 19, 1999 Page 5 XIII. REPORTS OF OFFICERS A. REPORTS OF COUNCILMEMBERS 1. Boards and Commissions Report (Ross Thorfinnson. Jr. and Sherry Butcher-Younghansl Thorfinnson asked the Council to extend to September 30, 1999 the terms of those members of Boards and Commissions whose terms expire in March so that the review and realignment project can keep moving forward. They have developed the basic structure but will need a couple of months to take the plan to department heads, chairs of the boards and commissions and Staff liaisons. They will then bring forward the realignment proposal for Council review. Harris asked if there is a system in place to determine whether individuals are willing to extend their terms. Thorfinnson said they have discussed approaching those whose terms are expiring and asking them to consider extending through September. If that would be a problem for an individual, they would proceed on a case-by-case basis to see if it presented a particular problem to a Board or Commission. In that case they would consider interim appointments. Case asked if that would mean we would be appointing for a 3-I/a year term in October. Thorfmnson said it would be 2-1/2 years. Case asked if we have a plan to seek out advise from the Commission Chair if the Commission were weakened. Thorfinnson said if two or three people left the Commission, we would have to consider an interim appointment. They are trying to find a place for everybody and that might not be easy. Butcher-Younghans said the realignment process is complex, and there are a lot of things that need to be looked at. Thorfinnson said one of the things they realized is that as we have reorganized and realigned Staff we need to do the same thing with Boards and Commissions. They are trying to develop a process that will work better for us in the future. Swaggert said there are 19 individuals that would be asked to extend. In addition they would need to look more closely at two Commissions that are currently operating down one individual. CITY COUNCIL AGENDA January 19, 1999 Page 6 MOTION: Case moved, seconded by Tyra-Lukens, to extend the terms of current Boards and Commissions through September 30, 1999. Motion carried 5-0. B. REPORT OF CITY MANAGER 1. Presentation of 1999 Strategic Plan Enger said the Council has involved the Boards and Commissions and various parts of the business community in developing a Vision 2001 Strategic Plan. He reviewed the work Staff has done on the Strategic Plan to develop strategies and action plans through the process of conducting a community forum, a business forum, Board and Commission discussion, Staff and Council visioning and Council/Staff workshops. Enger said the four strategic initiatives identified were communication, partnership, diversity, and investment to protect our natural and cultural resources. Within the four initiatives Staff identified strategies for 1999 and 2000 for projects in the five focus areas. He noted that all of the strategies are cross functional in scope. The Service Area directors were involved in developing the priorities, beginning date for the projects and the completion time. They are asking individual Service Areas to develop action plans for supporting the over-all strategic plan, strategic initiatives and the strategies. They believe the strategic plan will lead to the ability to be more responsive to citizen needs. He commended Staff on their job in developing the strategies. Harris asked if there was an error in the strategy on upgrading the current Eden Prairie Mall since the lead Service Area identified was the Public Safety Services. Enger said that strategy would be the City Manager's responsibility with other Service Areas involved. Harris thought this speaks to the integrated approach and helps us face the challenges ahead in the next millennium. 2. Award for City Enger said the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada have given the City their award for outstanding achievement in popular annual financial reporting for the fiscal year ended 1997. C. REPORT OF PARKS AND RECREATION SERVICES DIRECTOR D. REPORT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND FINANCIAL SERVICES DIRECTOR CITY COUNCIL AGENDA January 19, 1999 Page 7 E. REPORT OF PUBLIC WORKS SERVICES DIRECTOR 1. Award for City Dietz displayed the award plaque the City received for the "Project of the Year" award from the Association of City Engineers for the new water plant and environmental learning center. F. REPORT OF PUBLIC SAFETY SERVICES DIRECTOR G. REPORT OF MANAGEMENT SERVICES DIRECTOR H. REPORT OF CITY ATTORNEY XIV. OTHER BUSINESS XV. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Case moved, seconded by Butcher-Younghans, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 5-0. Mayor Harris adjourned the meeting at 7:40 PM.