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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6.b. Minutes of October 15, 2003 Committee of the WholeIMM # 6 B ROSEMOUNT CITY PROCEEDINGS COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE OCTOBER 15, 2003 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof the Committee of the Whole Work Session was held on Wednesday, October 15, 2003 at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Mayor Droste and Council Members Riley, Shoe- Corrigan, and Strayton were present. Council Member DeBettignies was out of town, but had presented some questions to the Mayor for tonight's discussions. Also in attendance were City Administrator Verbrugge, Police Chief Kalstabakken, Community Development Director Lindquist, Human Resource /Communications Coordinator Weitzel, Finance Director May, City Planner Pearson, and Parks & Recreation Director Schultz. Consultant Bret Weiss attended on behalf of WSB & Associates. Mayor Droste suggested rearranging the agenda to accommodate the audience. Consensus was to move items regarding WSB Engineering Contract, 2004 Employee Insurance Renewal, and SKB Trust Fund to the top of the agenda. WSB Engineering Contract City Administrator Verbrugge reported that the contract term for the city engineer was expiring. The City has used WSB & Associates, Inc. for engineering projects for many years and finds them professional and thorough. WSB provides two full -time engineers to the City at an annual, cost of $30,000 plus project engineering costs. City Engineer Andrew Brotzler and Project Engineer Anthony Aderhold currently hold those positions. Bret Weiss stated that WSB was very committed to the City of Rosemount. WSB started with just development projects but now it involves more management issues. Weiss asked for a three year contract with a rate schedule increase on an annual basis to a maximum of 4% per year through the length of the contract extension. The proposed contract would keep the annual retainer at $30,000 per year. If something changes in the economy or a different goal surfaces during this contract, WSB is willing to work with the City to find what is best for it. Weiss expressed appreciation for the relationship with the City of Rosemount. Finance Director May reported that the Utility Funds pays for 60% of the engineering contract and 40% is paid from the General Fund. May also said that Brortler's responsibilities have changed significantly in the last two years. Brotzler said that Project Engineer Aderhold does the day to day management on projects which is necessary. Mayor Droste directed discussion from City Council Council Member Strayton asked about the retainer and encouraged staff and WSB to continue discussions about the cost of the retainer, considering the difficult financial position of the City in 2004. 2004 Employee Insurance Renewal City Administrator Verbrugge reviewed the proposed 2004 insurance benefits package. The current health insurance, Blue Cross Blue Shield's Double Gold was increased 20.9 %. For that reason, program options that are within the Council directed cost structure are being reviewed. Three options were discussed, with the preferred option being a VEBA deductible plan. VEBA acts as a post retirement health savings account and can include a city contribution. This fund would build in an account when medical expenses are low and then it could be drawn from for medical expenses when an employee leaves the employment of the City. An employee can have additional funds withdrawn from their paycheck if anticipating medical expenses within the FLEX Plan. This gives an employee more responsibility to manage their health. care expenses. 1 ROSEMOUNT CITY PROCEEDINGS COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE OCTOBER 15, 2003 This is a dramatic shift on insurance coverage which gives more control of health management to the employee and provides a long -term strategic approach for the City to control future escalating health premium costs. Council Member Shoe - Corrigan asked for the out -of- pocket expenses for employees. Finance Director May said the City now pays full premiums for single and $671 for family per month. Employees currently pay zero for single coverage and $207 for family coverage, and there is currently a co -pay of $15. The City Council has agreed to increase contributions up to a 10% increase. The preferred option, VEBA, would continue zero cost for single coverage employee premiums and would decrease family coverage premiums paid by the employee to $203 per month. The VEBA would encourage employees to use the flexible spending account to pay out - of- pocket expenses up to the deductible of $1100 for single and $2200 for family. May said only about a -third of the employees are using the FLEX Plan now, so employees will have to plan ahead and this may take more education for employees to understand their total health costs. Mayor Droste asked about the 20.9% increase and about other plans. City Administrator Verbrugge said that all of the other plans had an increase. May said the total amount budgeted for insurance costs was $469,000 per year. The new plan expects utilization by employees to go down; total funding includes premiums and VEBA contributions, so the City is staying within the 10% cost structure agreed to by Council. Shoe- Corrigan noted this health care crisis is standard for the times, both the private sector and government. Mayor Droste said change is difficult, but this is apossible solution. SKB Trust Fund City Administrator Verbrugge introduced this item relating to the SKB Trust Fund. Council had asked for it to be discussed at a workshop following an earlier SKB request to increase the annual distributions by the Trust Fund from $75,000 to $100,000. Finance Director May said the City does not have control over these funds and it is not audited by the City. Neighboring communities have landfills that have been able to utilize the use tax fee to lower their taxes; Rosemount does not have that option ,due to the original establishment contract of the SKB Trust Fund.. May noted that this is not a guaranteed revenue and debt could not be issued against it. Mayor Droste noted that a use fee is paid to the City of $3.75 per ton for ash and $2.75 per ton for other materials. The County fee is $3.25 per ton of ash. The amount of ash received at SKB has doubled in the last year changing the output of the revenues for this site. It is recorded that two million more tons of ash were received last year. What is the city getting out of this? Droste recommends more investments in facilities the public can use, such as senior centers, libraries, and athletic complexes, to benefit everyone. If most of the fee revenue goes to student sports, how much of a percentage of the public is that benefiting? There is an opportunity here to serve the public: Don Chapdelaine, a SKI Trustee, talked about the many benefits the Trust Fund has provided through its distributions. John Domke of SKB talked about host fee arrangements that landfill operators in other communities have and suggested that SKB is providing much more to the community. Mayor Droste spoke about establishing an annuity that gives" an earned interest each year to provide annual distributions. This could be done by setting aside a couple million dollars that 2 r J 7 would be the principal amount which stays there forever. The Trust controls its contributions, but whose money is that principal amount after SKB fills their landfill and discontinues using it? Droste said he wants this in the public light. The City of Burnsville receives $1.00 per ton of recycling for a water conservation program. Something like that could benefit residents for a lifetime. ROSEMOUNT CITY PROCEEDINGS COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE OCTOBER 15 2003 Mayor Droste suggested further communication with the Board of Trustees to negotiate a solution by amendment to the Trust Agreement. 120th Street /City of Eagan Community Development Director Lindquist reported that the City was notified by Eagan city staff that a proposal for a subdivision adjoining 120t Street, Rosemount's northern boarder, has been requested. Eagan asked the City's position on extending the road and expansion-of water, sewer, and sanitary sewer systems.. This area is currently zoned for rural residential, but with the road extended and sanitary sewer available, it may trigger landowners to consider selling to land developers requesting urban development. At this time, staff is requesting direction from the Council regarding the extension of 120 Street and whether they would entertain some urban development in this part of town. Staff indicated that they would expect the developer to pay for the entire road construction consistent with the current policy of the city standards. Council's response was that they may consider the road extension but additional information is necessary. They would also like to understand the extension of sanitary sewer and how that would impact that area of the community; would it be possible to extend service to small lot properties that have had failed systems. City Engineer Brotzler indicated that they will have discussions with Eagan about that matter and will explore that as part of the North Central Sanitary Sewer Study currently being conducted. Initially Eagan had not anticipated that the service area would be as large as was shown in the 1997 Study. Council Member Shoe - Corrigan expressed concern over bringing sewer into rural areas of the community and perhaps forcing rural properties to hook up to city services because of assessments needed to pay for public utility extensions. Staff will continue to talk to Eagan about this issue and will monitor the approval process occurring in Eagan. 2004 Budget Finance Director May presented the 2004 budget. The preliminary budget and levy were approved on September 2, 2003. Staff is continuing to review other revenue options to deal with the State's LGA and MVHC cuts. Staff will bring back a final draft for discussion at the November 12 work session. This will be the final discussion prior to the December 1 Truth -in- Taxation hearing. Amend Animal Control Ordinance Police Chief Kalstabakken reviewed the amendments discussed in the past regarding the Animal Control Ordinance. In August, a resident requested that the Council consider prohibitions on electronic fences as an acceptable means to restrain dogs. The resident referenced Fort Worth, Texas, which has adopted an ordinance that is very restrictive compared to Rosemount's ordinance. Kalstabakken asked for direction from Council on the electronic fence issue and does prohibit electronic fences as an acceptable means of dog restraint. Kalstabakken asked for 3 ROSEMOUNT CITY PROCEEDINGS COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE OCTOBER 15, 2003 direction from Council on the electronic fence issue. After discussion, Council consensus was to address animal control issues through existing language and not to prohibit electronic fences. Discussion was also held regarding an amnesty period to register for prohibited wild animals currently residing in Rosemount. Council consensus was not to include an amnesty period to register prohibited animals. Certain animals have always been prohibited and will continue that need to be prohibited under the proposed ordinance amendments. It was felt that violators of the ordinance should not be allowed to register animals that were prohibited from being registered in the City prior to the amendment. UPDATES Highway 52 /County Road 42 Update City Planner Pearson reported that the highway corridors study for Highway 52, 55, and 42 has developed a strategy that moves traffic safely while reducing traffic conflicts and accommodates future growth. The study suggests a 3 /a clover intersection at County Road 42 and US 52, leaving the northwest quadrant vacant. Courthouse Boulevard would not have access to US 52, but would follow a frontage road down to County Road 42 for access. S.E.H. Engineering is preparing a Environmental Assessment to examine the impact of the clover design. Community Development Director Lindquist noted staff had concerns about the potential local improvements that maybe necessary to carry out the Plan as anticipated by the County and State, particularly as it relates to access and construction of frontage roads. Staff will continue to negotiate with Dakota County and MnDOT to include acquisition and related local street improvements as part of the highway upgrade project. The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, City Administrator Verbrugge The City Council's Agenda Packet is Clerk's File 2003 -38: 4