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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 06/19/2012 - Workshop APPROVED MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP TUESDAY,JUNE 19, 2012 CITY CENTER 6:00 PM, COUNCIL CHAMBER CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens, Council Members Brad Aho, Sherry Butcher Wickstrom, Kathy Nelson, and Ron Case CITY STAFF: City Manager Rick Getschow, Police Chief Rob Reynolds, Fire Chief George Esbensen, Public Works Director Robert Ellis, Community Development Director Janet Jeremiah, Parks and Recreation Director Jay Lotthammer, Communications Manager Joyce Lorenz, City Attorney Ric Rosow, and Council Recorder Jan Curielli I. 2013-2022 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN (CIP) Finance Director Sue Kotchevar gave a PowerPoint review of the 2013-2022 CIP and Debt Update. City Attorney Rosow said State statute requires capital improvements to be run by the Planning Commission to check for compliance with the Comprehensive Plan. Kotchevar reviewed the purpose, objective, outcomes, sources of funding and projects proposed in the CIP. Kotchevar said the Pavement Management Fund is a new fund for income received from franchise fees. Council Member Aho asked if we will spend as much as we take in so that we will not build a reserve in that fund. Kotchevar replied $2-3,000,000 is needed each year, so she didn't anticipate a big balance developing. Kotchevar reviewed the significant projects planned for 2015-2017. Council Member Nelson asked if it is necessary to replace the playground equipment at Staring Lake in 2016 when we are also completing Phase II of Round Lake. Parks and Recreation Director Lotthammer said the building at Staring was built before some of the ADA requirements were in place, the playground equipment is deteriorating, and the surfacing has been pulling apart. Council Member Case asked if all of the cities along the LRT route are chipping in $2,000,000. Public Works Director Ellis said he was not sure what other cities are doing,but the model provided for the LRT is a basic one. City Manager Getschow said other cities will do station and area improvements beyond what the Federal and State government provides. There are still possibilities for obtaining some grant funding for the improvements. Aho asked what is included in the Round Lake Phase II project. Lotthammer said that will include cutting back from four fields to three, completion of the parking lot plan, and upgrading the irrigation system and fencing. Aho noted the water in Round Lake is up, and he would like to see it open now the weather is heating up. Mayor Tyra-Lukens asked about the proposed public safety projects. Fire Chief Esbensen said the 2016 item is for replacement of the handheld and portables which cost about$5,000 apiece. CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES June 19, 2012 Page 2 Aho asked about the Public Works cold storage building. Ellis said that is a multipurpose building that will allow Public Works, Parks, and Water and Sewer to store everything indoors. Nelson asked where it will be located. Ellis said it will be located behind berms on Flying Cloud Drive and will have an exterior that meets our standards. Kotchevar reviewed the funding strategies. She noted we don't have a lot of new debt in the CIP, so we could issue more debt or move some funds into the CIP to help pay for some projects. Aho noted one advantage to moving funds into the CIP would be that we would not have to pay interest on new debt. Kotchevar said there is a potential for$400,000 in rental income each year for the City Center that had been going to make debt payments. There will need to be about$870,000 set aside for tenant improvements for the building. Aho asked when we would actively pursue other tenants. Getschow said staff is waiting for the forthcoming BAC report on potential options for City Center. Tyra-Lukens suggested further discussion of the various options for City Center be postponed. Kotchevar reviewed the projects planned for the Facilities Internal Service and Park Improvement Funds. Nelson noted there has been discussion that the pool is not adequate for our needs and asked how the project to replace the pool roof for 2015 would fit into that discussion. Lotthammer replied the amount for the pool roof project in 2015 assumes that would be the time to replace the roof. However, staff is in the process of interviewing firms to complete a feasibility study on alternatives for the pool. Kotchevar noted there is no revenue coming into the Economic Development Fund, and the balance will be stable at$1,250,000 in 2017 and beyond. Community Development Director Jeremiah said the fund is for non-capital uses such as business retention and various studies and programs. Aho asked if there is no intent to add revenue sources up through 2022. Jeremiah said there are no additional known revenue sources at this time. She noted we try to protect that fund because it is flexible money. Nelson commented at some point we need to look at selling small outlots to the neighborhoods in which they are located. Kotchevar noted we will need to look at the IT Internal Service Fund as it has a negative balance going forward. Aho asked if there are any potential cost reductions. Kotchevar said we are trying to identify some one time money to put in the fund. Getschow said we saved $20,000 per year by taking GIS on our own, and we may be able to capture some of our fiber costs through our cable franchise. Kotchevar said there are large expenses in 2013 and 2018 for Storage Area Networks (SANs). Kotchevar reviewed the summary of debt outstanding, noting that it decreases substantially between 2013 and 2014 and continues going down gradually after 2015. Tyra-Lukens noted it is wonderful to see our debt outstanding go down; however, she was concerned that may be an indication we are not reinvesting in our amenities to keep the City apace of our peer cities. Kotchevar said we could issue more debt,but she was not aware that we are ignoring anything we should be doing. Jeremiah noted this is the first time we have done a ten year CIP, and it is difficult to forecast that far in the future. CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES June 19, 2012 Page 3 Tyra-Lukens asked staff for their evaluation of the process for the ten year plan. Kotchevar said it was an outstanding experience from her perspective even though it was a lot of work for staff to complete the first time around. Tyra-Lukens noted in previous years the Council received a list of capital projects that were prioritized and asked if this plan includes all of those projects. Kotchevar said these are the high priority projects. Nelson asked how projects such as having more public art or more benches for seniors would fit into the plan. Getschow said a lot of what the Council has discussed has been put into this plan or will be included in future updates of the plan. There may be some items that may fall into the operating budget as well. Butcher Wickstrom commented that this is a really great plan and gives a more comprehensive picture. II. OPEN PODIUM III. ADJOURNMENT