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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 01/13/1988 - Special Meeting APPROVED MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING Wednesday, January 13, 1988 7:00 PM, CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS 7600 Executive Drive COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Gary Peterson, Richard Anderson, George Bentley, Jean Harris, and Patricia Pidcock CITY STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Carl J. Jullie and Assistant to the City Manager Craig W. Dawson ROLL CALL: All Councilmembers were present. I . APPROVAL OF AGENDA Councilmember Bentley moved and Councilmember Pidcock seconded to approve the agenda. Motion passed 5 - 0. II . DISCUSS'ON OF RECOMMENDATIONS OF CITIZENS REPORT ON NEW CITY HALL Mayor Peterson acknowledged the presence of eight persons in the audience who were members of the Residents Advisory Committee on City Administrative Offices. City Manager Jullie introduced the subject. Bentley wished to discuss first the issue of having a City Hall built ? with bonds approved by referendum or by establishment of a building fund as recommended by the Committee. He was not totally convinced that the concept for a referendum should be abandoned yet. Longer-term bonds approved by referendum would spread out payments in smaller annual amounts. He also said it would be difficult to convince residents that a building fund was proper after previously offering a referendum. He t wished to have one more opportunity for a referendum. Peterson said that based on the survey of residents, the community realized that a City Hall was needed. Issues important on the referendum were location and the perception of a grandiose building. x Councilmember Harris thought that a proactive approach was necessary. A forward-looking, dedicated fund would be well-received. She supported this concept. Councilmember Pidcock agreed with Harris. She believed that the Council would be derelict in its duties if it did not provide adequate space for governing the City. Peterson believed that having space for city administration is required of a city government. Such things as ballfields and enclosed sheets of ice are not required and thus more appropriate for referenda. Counciimember Anderson stated that the crisis situation about space is over. Now the Council needs to start planning for 1993. Acquiring a site is extremely important because land is not getting cheaper. Bentley said that because there is a public perception that a City Hall is needed, then having a successful referendum should not be difficult. City Council Minutes - Z - Wed. ,January 13 , 1988 Harris said that residents responded negatively because they were having many referenda put in front of them in a short period of time. She suggested that smaller incremental sums could be accumulated and a smaller bond authorization needed from a referendum. Anderson said that either financing alternative is acceptable to him. He wished that the site be secured this year. Peterson mentioned that there have been several conversations in the past few months about a special downtown in Eden Prairie, and that several persons had mentioned that a City Hall might fit within it. This idea was not available to the Committee during its deliberations. He asked if the Committee should be reconvened to look at this idea. Bentley mentioned the possibility of a lease-purchase of a building in the downtown. This is another alternative which may diminish the capital cost to the City because the City may not have to own the land. Peterson wondered how long it would be before the Council knew if a downtown would happen. He did not wish to delay Council action on the City Hall matter if the downtown were to remain a speculative possibility for a long period of time. Anderson asked how large the City' s general fund reserve was and how much of it could be used for land purchase. The City Manager responded that the balance was $1 .8 million, and he would recommend that not much of the reserve be used (primarily for purposes of maintaining the City' s bond rating) . A land purchase could be accomplished over five years. Harris said that City Halls tend to define downtown. The sites recommended by the Committee are centrally located; that is, near downtown or the center of the City that the Council is trying to identify. The old City Hall site should be a fallback site only - it is too far from the center. Bentley believed that an appropriate site t would be along the southwest quadrant of Prairie Center Drive and would be a cornerstone for any downtown development. Pidcock said that a r decision to locate downtown would let the City know how quickly the downtown development concept would fall into place. She noted that the three sites recommended are close to other City facilities, and from her view point this was important for administrative efficiency. Anderson did not want a site perceived to be on a swamp or marsh if there were a } referendum involved. Any site needed to have salability. The Council had more flexibility with a non-referendum approach. Bentley asked the Committee members if they would reconvene and look at including a downtown site evaluation. Committee Co-Chair Marty Jessen explained the site evaluation and scoring process used on the sites the Committee had reviewed. While cost was an important consideration, the idea of the value of a City Hall site was also discussed. Committee members were sensitive to a loss of tax base by having a public site on a choice piece of property. However, a City Hall might also be a spur s to development which would result in overall tax base gain. He did not believe that the Committee needed to do the analysis. Rather, the City should look at the costs and multiplier effects involved with a downtown location. Peterson believed that the community would be well-served if the Committee could review the proposal and report to the Council . Jessen believed that the Committee could do this in a short period of time. City Council Minutes - 3 - Wed. ,January 33, 1988 Committee Co-Chair Rich Anderson related that the Committee did consider the downtown area before there was an idea of the downtown. He underscored the importance of acquiring the property soon. Based on the residents survey, cost was identified as the most important factor and this criterian led to the three sites the Committee recommended. Bentley said that having the City Hall as a spur to development (a "lass leader") could result in a lower price for the City. Assistant to the City Manager Dawson said that the Committee had evaluated all sites without speculating about the deal that the City could get through negotiations for different pieces of property. MOTION: Harris moved and Pidcock seconded to request that the Committee look at sites in the nearly-defined downtown and report to the Council by mid-March, 1988. Motion passed 5 - O. Anderson asked that the Committee look at the issue such that if a downtown were developed, should a City Hall be there. Peterson asked that the Finance Director run a variety of financing alternatives. Bentley said that public/private partnerships should not be totally ignored. He was concerned about dipping into the reserve fund for the purchase of land. He said that the reserve fund could be used to secure an option on property in 1988, and that major payments could begin in 1989 or some later year. He wanted to save the reserve funds for "true emergencies". MOTION: Bentley moved and Anderson seconded that Staff prepare financing alternatives for site acquisition and building construction. 2 Motion passed 5 - 0. Jessen suggested that the City consider an inter-fund loan in order to take advantage of an attractive cash deal. ` MOTION: Bentley moved and Harris seconded to adopt recommendation No. 4 from the Committee with the exception of the two-story site and construction cost figures. Motion passed 5 - 0. MOTION : Bentley moved and Anderson seconded that the March 1993 date for occupancy be adopted as the Councils goal . Motion passed 5 - 0. i Pidcock thanked the Committee for its thorough work. Committee member Jim Rannow thought there might be difficulty in defining a City Hall as a "keystone" for a downtown. The Committee did not believe that this was important. Peterson thought that the keystone concept was not a necessary one. III . OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. IV. ADJOURNMENT MOTION : Harris moved and Pidcock seconded to adjourn the meeting at 8:22 PM. Motion passed 5 - 0. k Y