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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 04/18/2017 - Workshop APPROVED MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP & OPEN PODIUM TUESDAY,APRIL 18, 2017 CITY CENTER 5:00—6:25 PM, HERITAGE ROOMS 6:30—7:00 PM, COUNCIL CHAMBER CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens, Council Members Brad Aho, Sherry Butcher Wickstrom, Ron Case and Kathy Nelson CITY STAFF: City Manager Rick Getschow, Police Chief James DeMann, Fire Chief George Esbensen, Public Works Director Robert Ellis, Community Development Director Janet Jeremiah, Parks and Recreation Director Jay Lotthammer, City Attorney Ric Rosow, and Recorder Jan Curielli Workshop - Heritage Room H I. COUNCIL GOALS Mayor Tyra-Lukens opened the workshop meeting at 5:15 p.m. She said the Council will be doing strategic planning tonight. Getschow said we are starting early this evening because we may need more than an hour for the discussions. Review of 2016 Work Plan and Work Plan for 2017 Getschow gave a PowerPoint overview of the department work plans. He noted the Directors and he worked with the departments and employee work groups to provide a list of department and division strategic items and to determine their unique objectives. He reviewed the accomplishments during 2016 and the goals/priorities in the 2017 work plan for several departments within the Community Development Division. He noted the Public Works Department received a Local Government Innovation Award in 2016 for the vacuum dredge box. He reviewed other accomplishments made by Public Works including the innovative street rehabilitation program. They plan to start the update of the utility rate and franchise fee in 2017, in part because there has been some legislation at the State level to limit aspects of a city's ability to impose such fees. Ellis described the proposed legislation regarding franchise fees. They expect the legislation to be adopted after August 1 of this year. Getschow reviewed the 2016 accomplishments for the Parks & Recreation Department, including the grand opening of the Aquatics Center expansion. He said they will be reviewing their fitness offerings in 2017 and will work on events and programs at the Community Center. They also plan to assess turf areas on City property to convert some of those to be pollinator- friendly plantings. In addition, Riley Lake Park will be redeveloped, and there will be a Grand Opening of Cedar Hills Park. They expect to continue efforts to revitalize community events in Eden Prairie. Getschow said the Police Department spent a lot of effort in 2016 on human trafficking. They plan to continue to do diversified recruitment for the police force and are looking for an all-in- City Council Workshop Minutes April 18, 2017 Page 2 one communication device to replace the need for police officers to carry several such devices. In 2016 the Fire Department implemented online inspection scheduling and brought in 11 recruits. In 2017 the Fire Department will celebrate their 50th anniversary. They also want to implement electronic review of plans and permit submittal. Getschow said the Administration Department will be looking at multi-year health and dental contracts. The Finance Department will begin work on the 2018/2019 budget process. He noted there was an 85% voter turnout in Eden Prairie for the 2016 election, including 12,000 absentee or early voters. He reviewed several projects planned by the Facilities Department for 2017. Getschow said other topics for discussion tonight are an overview of the Council's 2016 goals, the watershed districts, and the Council's 2017 goals. Tyra-Lukens asked to start with discussion of the watershed districts. Watershed Districts Ellis said two years ago the subject came up about exerting more influence on the Watershed Districts. In 2016 Peter Iverson ran for the Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District Board but was not appointed. This year they have tried to find more people, and thus far five residents have submitted letters of interest to serve on the Board. In addition, Mr. Getschow has spoken with Perry Forester, and he is planning to run again. Ellis said if the City were to adopt a resolution with at least three names of Eden Prairie residents, the County will be obligated to choose someone from that list if they choose someone from our community. Candidates are interviewed in July and August for the five-person Board. He noted Mr. Forester's term is expiring this year. Getschow said staff has talked to our two Hennepin County Commissioners and providing a list of candidates is not common. The only risk for providing a list would be if someone wanted to be on the Board but didn't reach out to the City. That would mean the individual's name would not be on the City's list. He said we plan to treat this like a commission appointment. The letters from the candidates will be available at the next Council meeting, and the Council could select the names to include on the list. Getschow said staff talked with each of the applicants and discussed everything the Council has talked about the last few years regarding watershed district issues. Ellis said the State statute says the resolution must list names for each opening, but the two lists could be identical. Aho asked if there are term limits. Getschow said there are none. Nelson noted we have requirements for the Commissions and should follow the same type of term-limit rules for the watershed district boards. Case commented we should honor the practice we have internally. Getschow said there will be at least six letters for the Council to consider, and the Council can then pick the names to put on the list. City Council Compensation: Getschow distributed a memo with information about Council salaries in other metropolitan cities. Tyra-Lukens said she has heard rumors that some cities are starting to do City Council salary adjustments to tie to the cost of living adjustment(COLA). We last updated the Council City Council Workshop Minutes April 18, 2017 Page 3 salaries in 2012. Getschow said the Council salaries would be scheduled for an update in 2018; however, the Council can take action any time between now and next year, to be effective in January of 2019. Tyra-Lukens noted Bloomington and Maple Grove have a per diem in addition to the existing salary. They also have the highest salaries in the group. She asked if the law has changed regarding auto adjustments because the handout indicates Woodbury and others do. Rosow replied several communities have done that, and he thought it is allowable under the State statute. We would have to adopt an ordinance that sets forth the auto adjustment amount. He reviewed the provision that Edina uses for the auto adjustment. Tyra-Lukens asked if the adjustment is an average of the previous two years cost of living increases. Rosow replied it doesn't say how they compute it. Nelson asked if we have been doing an adjustment every ten years. Aho replied there was no period set. Tyra-Lukens said we would have to make a larger adjustment if the time period is longer. Butcher Wickstrom commented she didn't get any feedback after the last increase. Aho commented he was surprised we are so close to average. Case said he did not think it is our goal that Eden Prairie is just average, and he was okay with the COLA increases. Aho said he was not seeing a real need to change; however, we might want to evaluate what it would do for people that want to get on the City Council in the future. We should create a positive environment for someone who wants to serve on the City Council, and he would be open to seeing an adjustment. Tyra-Lukens noted we want to attract people who may be busy with families to represent that part of our community. Getschow said the COLA takes away the discomfort of setting your own salary. It keeps the average moving as you see it changes with the COLA. Butcher Wickstrom commented it removes the potential political aspect. Nelson said she could go along with that,but it would still be hard for younger families to consider running because we spend a lot of time on what is essentially community service with just a small stipend. Tyra-Lukens asked staff to find out about the question regarding the calculation of the two- year average and to draft something for the Council to review. Review of Council's 2016 Goals and 2017 Goal Planning Getschow gave an overview of what the City Council discussed at last year's Council goal setting workshop. Tyra-Lukens commented it is amazing how we have changed so much from a City in the early 1990's that was developing so rapidly. Now staff can focus on the things we want to do. She noted a lot of things on her list have been accomplished. Aho reviewed his goals, starting with a goal to complete our conversion to electronic formats for everything possible in order to keep Eden Prairie as a good place to work and a good place City Council Workshop Minutes April 18, 2017 Page 4 to do business. He said we should revisit anything that hasn't been converted to electronic format and see if there is a way to do it in a cost effective way. Another of his goals was a business incubator concept to encourage businesses. He noted Dave Lindahl has been looking into that. It would be good to work with our businesses on ways we can be a catalyst to help find employees with the right skill sets for the right companies. He thought that could be done at a minimum cost and would help to keep our young people living here. He noted we learned about an interesting concept in Boston where the city acted as a facilitator with the business community. Nelson said she always liked the idea of helping businesses update their technology. We have discussed the need for higher than average salaries in order for people to be able to afford our average priced home. She would also like to get an International Festival going again. Getschow noted staff is working on the July 3 and 4 event with the Human Rights & Diversity Commission and the individuals who were interested in serving on the commission but who were not placed. There has also been some talk about having that as a separate event. Nelson said we used to do it that way, and she would like to get back to that format. Another of her goals is to have a specific, measurable energy goal, such as 1-2% of energy saved each year, to keep us looking for all the things we could be doing. Her third goal would be to encourage accessible and walkable areas for the senior communities so that seniors can stay flexible as they age. Getschow said the Parks Department has reported the presence of the emerald ash borer in the City. Lotthammer said it has been found in a couple different areas. Nelson said we need an action plan on how to deal with it because we have a lot of ash trees in our community. Tyra-Lukens would like to see organics recycling, whether we have a central location or an active pickup of organics. Case said he plans to go to the housing forum on Thursday, and it appears that event has become a little controversial. We need to continue telling our story and to be clear what we are doing and what we can do. He thought we have done a fairly decent job of encouraging affordable housing in the City. Part of our discussion is whether we want to continue to look for ways to incentivize affordable housing without additional investment. We have the potential to increase the HRA funding for housing initiatives. Another of his goals was to encourage use of alternative energy sources. During the recent trip to Washington, D.C., the Council Members learned more about rooftop solar. With the Federal government choosing not to be involved in environmental initiatives,he thought cities across the country must become involved. The City of Edina is working on this, and individuals such as Elon Musk have been investing in major solar farms. It is important for the City to do what it can to get on the solar bandwagon. Getschow said we could connect with the company that helped with the popular Solar Power hour. Case said he would also like to see some kind of celebration of diversity with the idea that our immigrant communities are growing and are becoming more comfortable with expressing their culture and background. He agreed that we should have a specific separate event for that. It would help build a sense of community and would show the amazing cultural assets we have in the City. Getschow said we have the survey data we can use to get some data about participation in City events by different groups. City Council Workshop Minutes April 18, 2017 Page 5 Butcher Wickstrom said she wanted to encourage life cycle housing. It is clear to her that we need to attract the age group that is just starting out so our kids have an incentive to come back to Eden Prairie. That might be done by having amenities such as a brewery where dogs are welcome. We need to appeal to a broader age group and may need to look at businesses that will attract certain age groups. She noted at one point we did not have a breakfast restaurant, and Dave Lindahl recruited the Original Pancake House. Tyra-Lukens commented we don't have many unique restaurants in town. Butcher Wickstrom said communication is also very important, especially communications that encourage new people coming into the City to become active community members. Butcher Wickstrom said she wanted to be sure to keep a focus on our unique historic properties. She also sensed people want to do more with community gardens, and we should encourage those, even if only in small areas around the City. Getschow noted he still gets email regarding why we don't have a farmers' market. Nelson said most other metropolitan communities have farmers' markets. Butcher said we are training our children to think about gardens in the schools, and we do have gardens at some schools. Butcher Wickstrom said during the Washington, D.C. trip we discussed thinking differently about how we move people around. We received wonderful information about such ideas as using businesses like Enterprise instead of buses to move people around. She said we need to keep in mind what roles we might play to help define what public transportation will look like in the future, and how we can partner with businesses for that. Aho said the subject of lake water quality is important. Our water resources are a very important community asset. We have done a good job of improving the water quality at Round Lake. The watershed district is working on that,but there may be something else for us to do as a community to focus on the quality of our water resources. Nelson said she has had people ask if they can have solar or wind energy. She thought we need some kind of a basic statement regarding allowing solar or wind energy. Butcher Wickstrom commented we should be proud of ourselves for what we have accomplished. Open Podium - Council Chamber IV. ADJOURNMENT