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2012-07-17 City Council minutesJuly 17, 2012 Mendota Heights City Council Page 1 CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS DAKOTA COUNTY STATE OF MINNESOTA Minutes of the Regular Meeting Held Tuesday, July 17, 2012 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the regular meeting of the City Council, City of Mendota Heights, Minnesota was held at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall, 1101 Victoria Curve, Mendota Heights, Minnesota. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Krebsbach called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The following members were present: Councilmembers Duggan, Povolny, Petschel, and Vitelli. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Council, the audience, and staff recited the Pledge of Allegiance. AGENDA ADOPTION Mayor Krebsbach presented the amended agenda for adoption. Councilmember Duggan moved adoption of the amended agenda. Councilmember Vitelli seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 CONSENT CALENDAR Mayor Krebsbach presented the consent calendar and explained the procedure for discussion and approval. Councilmember Duggan moved approval of the consent calendar as presented and authorization for execution of any necessary documents contained therein; pulling items G) Approval of Completion of Probationary Employment Period for Human Resources Coordinator Tamara Schutta; H) Approval of Building Permit – 1440 Northland Drive; and I) Receipt of June Par 3 Update. a. Acknowledgement of July 3, 2012 City Council Amended Minutes b. Acknowledgement of July 10, 2012 Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes c. Acknowledgement of July 11, 2012 Airport Relations Commission Minutes d. Approval of Sign Permit, 750 Main Street – Be Well e. Approval of Sign Permit, 774 Highway 110 – Sedona Skin Spa f. Approval of Out of State Travel Request g. Approval of Completion of Probationary Employment Period for Human Resources Coordinator Tamara Schutta h. Approval of Building Permit – 1440 Northland Drive i. Receipt of June Par 3 Update July 17, 2012 Mendota Heights City Council Page 2 j. Approval of Cancellation of August Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting k. Approval of Amendment #1 to T-Mobile Cell Tower Lease Agreement l. Approval of Time Change for August 7, 2012 City Council Meeting m. Accept Quotes and Award Contract for 2012 Sanitary Sewer Cleaning and Televising Project n. Approval of Plans and Specifications and Authorization to Advertise for Bids for 2012 Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project o. Approve Massage Therapist Licenses p. Approve Joint Powers Agreement with the MN BCA for Court Data Services Subscriber Amendment (eCharging) q. Receipt of June 2012 Building Activity Report r. Approve the Contractors List s. Approve the Claims List Councilmember Vitelli seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 CONSENT AGENDA TOPICS G) APPROVAL OF COMPLETION OF PROBATIONARY EMPLOYMENT PERIOD FOR HUMAN RESOURCES COORDINATOR TAMARA SCHUTTA Mayor Krebsbach commended Ms. Tamara Schutta for completing her first year with the City of Mendota Heights and stated that when Ms. Schutta joined last year she very quickly took on the search process for the City Administrator. Typically a city would hire a consultant for this kind of search but Mayor Krebsbach knew that Ms. Schutta could handle it and she did so very successfully. Councilmember Duggan moved to Approve the Official Appointment of Tamara Schutta to the Position of Regular, Full-time HR Coordinator Effective July 21, 2012. Councilmember Petschel seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 H) APPROVAL OF BUILDING PERMIT – 1440 NORTHLAND DRIVE Mayor Krebsbach requested City Engineer John Mazzitello explain what is happening in the former Brown College building. City Engineer Mazzitello explained that the request before the Council was a building permit submitted by the contractor on behalf of the new owner of the old Brown College building. Councilmembers received an architectural rendering of the proposed improvement in their meeting packet. They plan to add an entrance to the front of the building, which would require some excavation and construction of retaining walls. The entrance would be for a new tenant space; the owner would not be occupying the entire portion of the building and would bring in a new business to occupy the front portion as a tenant. Therefore, the owner requested a minor modification to put in a dedicated entrance to that portion of the building. July 17, 2012 Mendota Heights City Council Page 3 Councilmember Petschel moved Approval of Building Permit for Exterior Work at 1440 Northland Drive and Grant Staff the Authority to Issue the Requested Building Permit. Councilmember Vitelli seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 I) RECEIPT OF JUNE PAR 3 UPDATE City Administrator Justin Miller stated that June was a good month for the Par 3 Golf Course. When looking at the year-to-date for 2012, the course brought in $78,865 in revenue versus expenses of $69,022, for a positive performance of just under $10,000. Councilmember Duggan moved Acceptance of the June Par 3 Update. Councilmember Vitelli seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 PUBLIC COMMENTS The “Night to Unite” is scheduled to take place on the first Tuesday of August. The Council approved in the Consent Agenda an 8:00 p.m. start to the Council meeting scheduled that same evening so they could participate in the “Night to Unite” events. Sergeant Brian Convery explained that it is not too late to sign up and register a neighborhood and have members of the Police Department, Fire Department, HealthEast Ambulance, and Councilmembers to stop by and visit. The event is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, August 7 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. There are seven neighborhoods already registered but it is expected that there would be a larger number of neighborhoods participating this year than last year. There were fifteen registered neighborhoods last year. Mayor Krebsbach requested a schedule and list of neighborhoods that Councilmembers have been requested to visit so that they can be sure to participate in as many as possible before their council meeting scheduled that same evening. In response to Mayor Krebsbach’s request for an update of what is happening in the area, Sergeant Convery explained that the Police Department has been very busy. They currently have seven people in custody for residential burglaries that have occurred over the past six months in the City of Mendota Heights. They have already cleared in excess of ten cases as a result of that and they anticipate clearing more. The information has also led to some cooperative efforts with surrounding agencies. One of the arrests came from the tip of a watchful neighbor who actually saw people who did not belong at a neighbor’s house and called 911. Officers responded and they took three people into custody. Gretchen Becherer, a resident of Mendota Heights, stated that she has been a resident since 1967 and her occupation is a special needs teacher. She presented her desire to see proper lighting and outdoor security cameras installed in the Mendota Plaza and requested that the walls surrounding the dumpsters be removed and the dumpsters be relocated away from the building. She requested these actions take July 17, 2012 Mendota Heights City Council Page 4 place because of the recent break-ins that have taken place and the fear and anxiety this has caused the business owners. Businesses have claimed that their insurance companies are threatening to drop them when they call to make a claim on lost inventory due to burglaries or attempted burglaries. Gretchen believes it would be a shame for Mendota Heights to lose these businesses because of these fearful situations. She requested that the community be updated regularly on the progress and efforts made to make the shopping area safer. She hopes the Council will respond as promptly to this request as they did to the request for boats with motors be used on Rogers Lake. Mayor Krebsbach stated that the City is very much aware of the break-ins that have taken place, the Mendota Heights Police are investigating, and City Administrator Justin Miller has a meeting with Mendota Plaza owners on July 18, 2012. Ms. Mai Vu, partial owner of Mendota Liquor, stated there have been three break-ins at Mendota Liquor within a three-month period resulting in a large amount of damage. They have spoken to their business neighbors to petition Paster Enterprises, Mendota Plaza managers, to install outdoor cameras in the shopping plaza for the safety of the businesses and customers. She expressed her desire to have the Council support the business owner’s efforts and perhaps persuade Paster Enterprises to install the cameras. Mayor Krebsbach replied that they certainly want everyone to be safe and they know that the police have been making every effort to provide assistance, which Ms. Vu confirmed. As she stated before, the Mayor said that the City has a very good record of pursuing, arresting, and prosecuting burglaries; and there is a meeting with the Plaza owners on July 18. UNFINISHED AND NEW BUSINESS A) ORDINANCE AMENDMENT REQUEST TO ALLOW ELECTRIC MOTORS ON ROGERS LAKE Mayor Krebsbach mentioned that there was a Council Workshop on this topic. City Administrator Justin Miller reviewed the proposed ordinance. This request was brought to the City by the Rogers Lake Property Owners Association (RLPOA) and was discussed at the last Council meeting. Currently, no motors, electric or otherwise, are allowed on lakes in Mendota Heights. The RLPOA proposed this be amended to allow electric motors on the part of Rogers Lake south of Wagon Wheel Trail. At the last council meeting, Councilmembers discussed several conditions that might be suitable if they were to allow this. Afterwards, City Administrator Miller spoke with Mr. Tim Carlson from the association, who then presented some ideas he thought the association would be acceptable with. This was presented to the Council in the form of a draft ordinance at the workshop. The proposed changes that would be allowed would state that “Electric Motorboats Allowed on Rogers Lake: Electric motorboats shall be permitted on that part of Rogers Lake that is south of Wagon Wheel Trail subject to the following conditions: a. Boats shall be restricted to a maximum length of 18’; b. Motors shall not exceed the maximum equivalent of 10HP; c. No motors shall be used outside of the posted Rogers Park hours; and d. Any boat using an electric motor shall be required to have oars on board July 17, 2012 Mendota Heights City Council Page 5 Mayor Krebsbach explained that there was an extensive discussion among the Council, staff, and the neighborhood and everyone believes the topic was fully vetted. Councilmember Duggan moved to Table the Approval of “AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 6, CHAPTER 6 OF THE CITY CODE” until such time as the Council has received answers to the questions raised. Councilmember Povolny seconded the motion. Mayor Krebsbach opened the floor for comments and discussion. Councilmember Vitelli stated that he would be voting no on the motion to table. He believes this should be denied instead of wasting more time. Mayor Krebsbach also stated she would not be in support of tabling the item and called for the vote. Ayes: 2 (Duggan, Povolny) Nays: 3 (Petschel, Vitelli, Krebsbach) Councilmember Duggan moved Denial of ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 6, CHAPTER 6 OF THE CITY CODE. Councilmember Vitelli seconded the motion. Mayor Krebsbach stated the main reason for denial is the City’s lack of capacity for enforcement and the local Police do not have watercraft to get on the water and are not trained in this type of enforcement. Councilmember Petschel stated that initially she was leaning towards approval but nowhas concerns that were raised not only by herself, but from other citizens; i.e. informal launching of boats, cross contamination or invasive species from other lakes, damage to the park area, lack of capacity to do inspections, lack of capacity for enforcement, etc. Councilmember Povolny explained that he voted for tabling because he is still undecided on this issue. He believes the ordinance is too evasive the way it is written, but he is open to looking at it in more detail. Councilmember Vitelli expressed his thoughts that Rogers Lake is not large enough to introduce electric motors or any other type of motors. Also, he believes approval would open the City up to requests from other lakes. Councilmember Duggan asked if the ordinance that Council was asked to discuss and consider at the Workshop had been published. City Attorney Tami Diehm replied that ordinances are published after they have been adopted so this proposed ordinance had not been published. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 July 17, 2012 Mendota Heights City Council Page 6 B) REVISED TUITION REIMBURSEMENT POLICY City Administrator Justin Miller explained that this was one of the goals established by the City Council during their work session in February 2012. Staff has been working on this since that time. Human Resources Coordinator Tamara Schutta stated that in 1985 the Council adopted the personnel code and part of that code was Section 23 – Education Incentive Tuition Reimbursement policy. Ms. Schutta explained that this benefit is an important part of the city’s benefits program and helps to attract, develop, retain, and most importantly, invest in staff. The current policy provides tuition reimbursement to all permanent and full-time city employees and reimburses the cost of tuition equal to the charge of the University of Minnesota; that current rate being $448 per credit for undergraduate work and $1,167 per credit for graduate work. During the 2012 budget and goal setting session, the City Council asked staff to review and amend the policy. Presented to the Council was the revised Tuition Reimbursement policy and Ms. Schutta highlighted the three major changes: 1. Employees may be eligible for reimbursement up to $5,250 maximum per calendar year, which meets the guidelines of the qualified plan under IRS Code Section 127. 2. For budgeting purposes, employees will be asked to submit a Tuition Reimbursement Application Approval Form to their department head during the budget cycle. 3. An employee who receives tuition reimbursement under this program and who later leaves employment within one (1) year must repay the City 100% of the amount the City reimbursed the employee for all tuition, books and fees related to the course(s). All city staff as well as Labor Attorney Kevin Rupp have reviewed the revised Tuition Reimbursement policy. Mayor Krebsbach stated she did not believe the Council desired an open-ended budget amount. City Administrator Miller replied that, if this policy were adopted, the department directors would incorporate the request for next year into their budget request. So the request for 2013 Tuition Reimbursement would be considered by the department director and included in their budget submitted to the Council for consideration. Then within the training budget for each department there would be money set aside as recommended by the director. Mayor Krebsbach asked if, even though this policy says “employees may be eligible for reimbursement up to $5,250 maximum per calendar year”, is there a limit to the budget in terms of how many people could get reimbursed. Administrator Miller replied that would go to the City Council as a budget decision. Councilmember Duggan commented on some language challenges in the proposed Section 23 After discussion by Councilmembers and staff, it was determined that, since the proposal had been drafted and reviewed by Labor Attorney Kevin Rupp, the council did not want to alter the language, since that could result in a different meaning other than what was originally intended. July 17, 2012 Mendota Heights City Council Page 7 Councilmember Vitelli stated that he believes the city would not get enough benefit from an employee’s education if they leave within one year. He believes that if an employee leaves within two years of tuition reimbursement, they should be required to repay the city. Councilmember Petschel said that she has seen other tuition reimbursement programs that require repayment of one hundred percent if an employee leaves within one year and a repayment of fifty percent if they were to leave within two years. She stated that she was surprised there was not something like that in this program. Administrator Miller stated that staff would be in agreement to change the policy if the council wishes. Councilmember Vitelli moved Approval to Amend Section 23 - Tuition Reimbursement, of the Mendota Heights Personnel Code with an effective date of January 1, 2013, adding the requirement of one hundred percent repayment if an employee leaves within two years of the reimbursement. Councilmember Duggan seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 C) BUILDING PERMIT FOR 745 SOUTH PLAZA DRIVE, WHITE PINES SENIOR LIVING FACILITY City Engineer John Mazzitello explained that staff is requesting a provisional building permit for 745 South Plaza Drive, White Pines Senior Living Facility. A building permit application has been received and typically staff would wait for every item to be submitted before bringing it before the council. However, with three weeks until the next council meeting and with the rapidly shortening construction season, staff felt they could present a provisional permit to council. When the final few items are received, staff would then be able to issue the final permit. Staff received all of the plans, which were reviewed and found to be compliant with the Fourth Amendment to the Planned Unit Development plans, which were approved as part of the settlement agreement. What remains to be submitted to city staff is the determination of the number of Sewer Availability Charge (SAC) units; the fees associated with those SAC units, a landscape letter of credit, and other building permit fees. Once staff receives this information from the contractor, they would then issue the building permit. There would be no alteration in the plans already received. Mayor Krebsbach asked if the council were to approve this request, could the request be denied or revoked if staff does not receive the items needed or something is found to not be in compliance. Engineer Mazzitello replied that if the contractor fails to produce any of the items listed, then the building permit could not be issued because what the council would be approving is provisional on the receipt of these items. Councilmember Duggan inquired as to the timeline of the receipt of the listed items. Engineer Mazzitello replied that based on the way this provisional permit is written there is no timeline. They cannot get their permit until the information is received; and they cannot build their facility without the permit. Councilmember Duggan asked what happens if the contractor enters into a dispute with the Met Council over the number of SAC units. Engineer Mazzitello answered that they would not receive their July 17, 2012 Mendota Heights City Council Page 8 permit until that issue had been resolved. Councilmember Duggan asked if staff believes the permit would be issued by the end of July. Engineer Mazzitello stated that based on his conversations and knowing that the contractor is currently speaking with the Met Council, and the fact that staff has received all of the plans for review and found to be in compliance – staff is comfortable proceeding in this manner because the plans are not going to change without an amendment to the building permit. The plans are the biggest component of a building permit. Mayor Krebsbach asked when White Pines plans on breaking ground. Engineer Mazzitello answered that they have already applied for their grading permit, which would allow them to start excavation and soil corrections. They may actually be in the ground within a week. Councilmember Povolny moved Approval of the Provisional Building Permit for 745 South Plaza Drive, White Pines Senior Living Facility. Councilmember Vitelli seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Petschel attended the Airport Relations Commission meeting with Senator Metzen and Representative Atkins, which she found to be a wonderful meeting. She believed they were both impressed with the quality of the work that the ARC does. In September, the Noise Oversight Committee will receive from the MAC, Delta, and the FAA, the new RNAV headings off of the end of runway 12L. She reassured everyone that the committee is on top of this and there would be many opportunities for the public to inform themselves on this new procedure and how it might impact the City of Mendota Heights. In regards to the recent highway repair project on 35E and Highway 110, it was Councilmember Petschel’s understanding that, once pavement was removed, issues were discovered that turned out to be worse than was anticipated and so the process took longer than expected. However, based on her observation and comments received by other residents, this project had the worst traffic control that she has ever seen. The project even made the “Tainted” section in the Pioneer Press. Also, ramp impact notifications to the City were not done in a timely way. She expressed her desire to see a letter sent from the Council to MnDOT about this particular contractor; even though the end product might be good, the process was not. Also, she expressed her displeasure in the condition of the cement pavement on the overpass and the noise it generates inside vehicles because of the scoring. City Engineer John Mazzitello stated that he would be happy to draft a letter for council review should they desire to send comments to the Department of Transportation. He has had several conversations with the area engineer specific to that project so she is fully aware that Mendota Heights is engaged with how that project’s process was executed. Councilmember Duggan applauded the citizens that came forward to encourage the City Council and Police Department to work with the businesses in improving security at Mendota Plaza. He also mentioned that Connie Evingson would be performing at the Music At Market Square in The Village on July 18, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Residents are encouraged to arrive early for dinner and wine and then to find a good seat for the performance. Councilmember Duggan mentioned that what the city and residents have done in clean up after the storm damage was outstanding. Also, the city made the news again for an outstanding young artist by the name of Jimmy Reagan. Art has given Jimmy Reagan, who has autism, a communication outlet and he is very talented. Councilmember Duggan also mentioned that he represents the city, in part, in the HPP Program and handed out information in that regard. Mayor Krebsbach expressed her appreciation to City Administrator Justin Miller for revising his plans several times in terms of removing the large amount of debris from the storm so that it was safe over the 4"' of July. She also acknowledged Mr. Richard Goodspeed for being inducted into the President's Club at Mendakota. City Administrator Justin Miller informed the residents that Council approved moving the start time of the August 7, 2012 City Council Meeting to 8:00 p.m. so staff and Councilmembers could enjoy the "Night to Unite ". City Engineer John Mazzitello reported that the storm debris pile at Mendalota Park has been removed. The tub grinder and equipment will be removed the morning of July 18, 2012. Mayor Krebsbach adjourned the meeting at 8:14 p.m. .Sand4Krebsbach,� Mayor ATT Lorri Smith City Cleric July 17, 2012 Mendota Heights City Council Page 9