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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6.a. Minutes of the August 10th, 2015 Work Session ProceedingsROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 10, 2015 CALL TO ORDER Pursuant to due call and notice thereof a work session of the Rosemount City Council was held on Monday, August 10, 2015, beginning at 6:32 p.m. in the Conference Room at City Hall, 2875 145th Street West, Rosemount. Mayor Droste called the meeting to order with council members Weisensel, DeBettignies, Demuth, and Nelson in attendance. Staff members in attendance included City Administrator Johnson, Director of Public Works Wrase, Parks & Recreation Director Schultz, Fire Chief Schroeder, Community Development Director Lindquist, Police Chief Scott, Finance Director May, and Recording Secretary Roudebush. DISCUSSION 2.A. Noise Ordinance Chief Scott gave a brief background on the need to update the noise ordinance as well as the changes made to the ordinance. Councilmember Weisensel asked for further clarification on the 50 ft. threshold. Chief Scott explained that it only applies to electronic devices. He said the change is in response to a local Business that was playing loud music. Community Development Director Lindquist stated that there have not been a lot of complaints in her tenure, other than the issues with the one business. Chief Scott stated there were no complaints from leprechaun days or night to unite this year. He also stated that once the police department upgrades to smart phones they can get an app to measure decibels. Councilmember Demuth asked for update on gravel mine noise complaint. Community Development Director Lindquist stated they are upgrading the screening on the sorter and will extend berm so the noise is no longer an issue. 2.B. 2016 Draft Budget Johnson gave a brief update of changes since last discussion of the budget. Councilmember Nelson inquired of the need for more than one copier/printer at City Hall. Finance Director May stated is not an efficient use of time to walk from front to back of building. He went on to state in past there was more printing, now we are going paperless so less copies and is more cost efficient to purchase. There was also discussion if there is a need to have a unit at both fire stations, Councilmember brought up that the fire stations are backup disaster stations so need to make sure that a printer/copier is available. May said lots of research has been done and a ten year timeline has been done. There was also discussion on whether or not the council was comfortable with the increase of 2.09% Councilmember Weisensel stated he would like to see if below 2%, but wasn’t sure where to cut. Councilmembers also discussed the fire department budget. Neighboring cities have similar benefits but have higher call and training rates. 6.a. ROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 10, 2015 Fire Chief Schroeder stated that changes proposed would help keep senior staff around longer, there are 6-10 firefighters coming up on 20 year mark. There was also discussion about who should be on the Fire relief Association. City Administrator Johnson does not think a staff member should be on board, as it could be a conflict of interest. Mayor Droste feels there needs to be more city presence than just him, possibly another councilmember. Fire Chief Schroeder stated that the firefighters are ecstatic with $10 per training. He stated that it takes 5 years to get them trained and 10 years is a good number to get vested to start receiving a pension. Councilmember Weisensel inquired how they would determine the need for a day crew. Fire Chief Schroeder stated when calls reach 1000. He also noted that currently Rosemount has a great daytime response, first to be called for mutual aid. Next Councilmembers discussed the Police Department budget and the discussion focused on the need for an additional sergeant. It was determined that current response time is low and when committed time for calls gets close to 50% then need to really look at the need to add another sergeant. Chief Scott stated that many issues are flowing over from Apple Valley. Need to look at many variables to determine if another officer is needed. He thinks the need is more supervision, average 22 hours some weekends don’t have supervision when sick or at training. He feels the department could get another 2-3 years without adding a sergeant. May need to add another patrol officer, really need to read the current atmosphere of the city. Moving target need to adjust as we go along. Need to look over a year to two. Councilmember Nelson inquired why the need to upgrade to smart phones. Chief Scott stated that there are many apps on smart phones that the officers can use to make their job easier, like an app for when there are issues with the trains and using the cameras on the phones to capture evidence. Nelson also inquired if there is a way to avoid using hot spot vs. an air card. Chief Scott stated that officers aren’t always in range and currently there are many dead spots in the city, even in the Police Department Verizon will be the provider when upgrades are made. Next item was the Port Authority Budget. Community Development Director Lindquist stated there is little change from last year. Councilmember Weisensel feels the Port Authority needs direction from City Council what direction the Port Authority should go. Councilmembers discussed if there was a need to raise the Port Authority budget so they would be fiscally set to purchase land when the opportunity arises. Next item was the increase of increase water and sewer rates. Councilmembers discussed the need for a water treatment plant. Councilmember Demuth inquired if there is separate line item for water treatment plant. Finance Director May stated there wasn’t and projected cost to be around $10 million. City Engineer Wrase stated that there are many variables that need to be reviewed before it is determined if a treatment plant is needed. Mayor Droste expressed the need to get the right people in front of council to be able to make an educated decision. ROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 10, 2015 Councilmember Weisensel stated that the council needs to stay on top of this topic and not set it aside until next year. Mayor Droste thought it might be a good idea to have a join meeting with City Council and Utility Commission to get on the same page. Councilmembers also discussed the increase of water and sewer rates for 2016. There was also some discussion about two meters vs. one water meter. Next item Council discussed was presented by Councilmember Weisensel, there were four areas, Engagement, Big Data/Data Analytics, Budget Transparency/ Priorities, and Strategic Planning, that he wants to improve upon and if needed, add to budget. City Administrator Johnson spoke about the website and upgrades available and what items are included in the 2016 budget. Community Development Director Lindquist stated her intern is analyzing data from star communities and RCP and will have that data to present to council in September. City Administrator Johnson stated that council need to determine what the criteria for knowing when new city hall, Public Works building, and Police Departments are needed and the importance of starting that process now. The discussion moved to recreational sport facilities. Councilmember Nelson feels strongly that the budget needs to be increased by a million dollars to have money set aside to address future recreational facility needs for Rosemount youth. He also asked what the current plan is relating to the information they heard earlier in this summer on recreational facilities. Mayor Droste stated that the city needs to work with the school district to know what their plans are and to work together with them when adding more recreation facilities. He also stated there is a grocery list of things to be done in regards to sports facilities. Councilmember Weisensel stated that we are waiting to hear back on a sighting study to see if the proposal will fit the site designated. Park and Recreation Director Schultz stated that there are a handful of questions that need to be answered first, and should have an update in mid-September. City Administrator Johnson referred councilmembers to the email he sent out the previous Friday that detailed the timeline and next steps relating to the proposal heard at the previous work session. Councilmember Nelson feels there is an imbalance between renting a court and ice rink fees. Need to meet in the middle and have a plan. Also need to communicate to the public so they can know the plan and support it, he feels in the past there wasn’t much done to let the community know why we are asking them to vote. Councilmember DeBettignies stated that council need to be fiscally responsible. He doesn’t think the City of Rosemount should charge for grass field as it is part of what the city government supports. Councilmember Demuth inquired if the proposed budget included connection the splash pad to the pond so it can be reused. It was stated that it wouldn’t be in the budget until 2017 or 2018. Councilmember Nelson also feels conserving water at the splash pad is important. ROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 10, 2015 Mayor Droste inquired if Council feels good with the proposed increase of 2.09% or if there needs to be another meeting to discuss the budget further. He also reminded Council that they can decrease the levy but not increase so now is the time to add items if needed. He also encouraged Council to have a united voice when speaking to the public to reduce confusion about the direction the Council is taking. Councilmembers agreed no additional meetings were needed at this time. Steeple Center Sign Update Community Development Director passed out a sample of the sign for the steeple center and explained the difference between the two options. She also warned of the need to be careful that the sign isn’t too big, there is a sidewalk and utilities that need to be taken into account. The sign will be located north of the Steeple Center doors. Councilmembers came to a consensus is that the black lettering design (A2) is a better choice. Park & Recreation Director Schultz is going put up to mockup of the sign to get a better idea of how it will look. Councilmembers Weisensel and Demuth inquired about the end of the sign being blank and asked if something could be added. Councilmember Demuth also asked if it is better to bid out a sign for the community center at the same time as the Steeple Center sign, would there be a possibility of savings. Park and Recreation Director Schultz stated that actual construction of sign will go out to bid, not sure if there could be any savings for both. Councilmember Nelson would like to see City of Rosemount on sign instead of Steeple Center. Community Development Director Lindquist stated that many people don’t know that the Steeple Center is in fact the Steeple Center and feels it is important to have Steeple Center on the sign. Recommendations were to fix brick so that it matches brick on the addition to the Steeple Center and add city name on top of Steeple Center. UPDATES Mayor Droste mentioned a list of recent meetings as well as a handful of upcoming meetings with local businesses. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the City Council and upon a motion by Droste, second by Demuth, the meeting was unanimously adjourned at 11:09 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Amy Roudebush, Recording Secretary