Loading...
2021-12-21 Council Minutes CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS DAKOTA COUNTY STATE OF MINNESOTA Minutes of the Regular Meeting Held Tuesday, December 21, 2021 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof,the regular meeting of the City Council, City of Mendota Heights, Minnesota was held at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, 1101 Victoria Curve, Mendota Heights, Minnesota. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Levine called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Councilors Duggan and Mazzitello were also present. Councilors Miller and Paper were absent. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Council, the audience, and staff recited the Pledge of Allegiance. AGENDA ADOPTION Mayor Levine presented the agenda for adoption. She referenced an amendment to item 5a, stating that the public comments section of the minutes has been amended and the revised version is in front of the Council. She confirmed that if a motion to adopt the agenda is made,it would include the amended minutes for item 5a. Councilor Mazzitello moved adoption of the agenda with the revision to 5a. Councilor Duggan seconded the motion. Ayes: 3 Nays: 0 CONSENT CALENDAR Mayor Levine presented the consent calendar and explained the procedure for discussion and approval. Councilor Duggan moved approval of the consent calendar as presented,pulling items f, g,j, and k. for a separate discussion on each. a. Approval of December 7, 2021 City Council Minutes b. Approval of December 7, 2021 Council Closed Session Minutes c. Approval of December 13, 2021 Council Work Session Minutes d. Acknowledge the November 9, 2021 Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes e. Approve Council Meeting Dates for 2022 f Appreve Reselfffien 2021 99 Somerset Sanitafy Sewer- Realigma4epA Final Paymeflt Aeeeptanee g. Approve Ptffehase Of der for Page! Pond Bridge Deek Rep4aeement h. Approve Resolution 2021-102 Application for FY 2021 Dakota County Community Development Block Grant Funding i. Approve Resolution 2021-101 Memorandum of Agreement and Authorizing Participation in National Opioid ,Settlements j. Avwvewaedge Oe4ebei:2021 Pay 3 Financial ?owo 1. Approve the Designation of a Floating Holiday for Non.-Union Staff m. Approve Resolution 2021-103 Adopting the 2022 Pay Classification Plan for Non-Union Employees n. Approve 2022-2023 Minnesota Public Employees Association Labor Agreement o. Approve 2022 Seasonal Pay Matrix p. Approve the November Building Activity Report q. Approval of Claims List Councilor Mazzitello seconded the motion. Ayes: 3 Nays: 0 PULLED CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS F)APPROVE RESOLUTION 2021-99 SOMERSET SANITARY SEWER REALIGNMENT— FINAL PAYMENT AND ACCEPTANCE Councilor Duggan noticed several things that were not completed and asked staff for clarification. Public Works Director Ryan Ruzek commented that the table in the memorandum includes additional change orders requested for the project due to conditions and things that arose during the project. He noted that staff was able to negotiate no cost or no reimbursement to the contractor for some of the items. Mayor Levine appreciated that city staff negotiated with the contractor on the funding requests. She stated that the contractor requested$56,000 in additional costs and that was reduced to less than$17,000. Councilor Duggan moved to approve RESOLUTION 2021-99 SOMERSET SANITARY SEWER REALIGNMENT—FINAL PAYMENT AND ACCEPTANCE, Councilor Mazzitello seconded the motion. Ayes: 3 Nays: 0 G) APPROVE PURCHASE ORDER FOR PAGEL POND BRIDGE DECK REPLACEMENT Councilor Duggan noticed the expectation for someone to pick up planks and asked if staff could do that to save on the delivery fee of over $500. December 21, 2021 Mendota Heights City Council Page 2 of 9 Public Works Director Ryan Ruzek commented that he is unsure of the location of the planks. He stated that it is possible that staff may not be able to get the material in one load,as the planks would be delivered on a flatbed truck. He noted that the planks would also have to be unbundled in that scenario for loading. He stated that staff could help unload the materials at the site, but staff proposes that the delivery fees remain in the quote as presented. Councilor Duggan moved to approve the PURCHASE ORDER FOR PAGEL POND BRIDGE DECK REPLACEMENT. Councilor Mazzitello seconded the motion. Ayes: 3 Nays: 0 J) ACKNOWLEDGE OCTOBER 2021 PAR 3 FINANCIAL REPORT Mayor Levine commented that this report comes close to the end of the season and commended the Par 3 staff for an excellent season. She stated that this is the healthiest, most profitable season for the Par 3. Councilor Duggan moved to acknowledge OCTOBER 2021 PAR 3 FINANCIAL REPORT. Councilor Mazzitello seconded the motion. Ayes: 3 Nays: 0 K) APPROVE RESOLUTION 2021-100 ACCEPT DONATION FOR PARKS AND RECREATION Mayor Levine commented that the Moms Club has been around for approximately 24 years in Mendota Heights and she was saddened to hear that they are folding. She stated that the club has been generous in donating funds to the city. She thanked the Moms Club and acknowledged the hard work of those volunteers. She stated that if anyone is interested in joining the club and allowing it to continue, she can provide that connection. Councilor Mazzitello moved to approve RESOLUTION 2021-100 ACCEPT DONATION FOR PARKS AND RECREATION. Councilor Duggan seconded the motion. Ayes: 3 Nays: 0 PUBLIC COMMENTS No one from the public wished to be heard. December 21, 2021 Mendota Heights City Council Page 3 of 9 PUBLIC HEARING No items scheduled. NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS A)APPROVE 2022 FIELD AND FACILITY USE FEES Recreation Program Coordinator Meredith Lawrence explained that the City coordinates and issues permits for the use of City fields and facilities. Fields and facilities are often used in a multi-purpose manner and are requested by a variety of sport providers and users. The City Council is being asked to set the Field and Facility Use Fees. Additionally, the City Council must consider the implementation of Dakota County Ordinance 110 which requires solid waste and recycling removal at tournaments and the impact this may have for 2022 and beyond. Councilor Duggan asked for clarification on the charge specified for waste and recycling removal. Public Works Director Ryan Ruzek replied that the City's waste hauler provided an estimate for dropping off containers for waste and recycling on a Friday and picking it up on a Monday. He confirmed that charge would be about $300 for the three days. Mayor Levine commented that the Council is being asked to provide input on tournament fees and user group per player fees. Ms. Lawrence clarified that the Council was being asked to review and approve all of the fees in regards to field and facility use for 2022. She reviewed the existing fees for tournaments and noted that a fee waiver was approved for MHAA in 2021. Councilor Duggan referenced the requested actions, the second bullet point - determine changes to city services in relation to the required waste management at events with more than 300 people attending, and asked what the cost would be to the City for these added services in 2022. Mr. Ruzek stated that during the summer months, it would add $300 per week for an additional waste pickup. He stated that there would also be the cost for a second public works employee to be paid at time and a half as the second staff person is working overtime at large events. Councilor Duggan asked if another staff person could be hired. Mr. Ruzek replied that request has not been made or discussed, but that may be needed in the future. Councilor Duggan asked staff if the public would be comfortable with the recommendations as presented. Mr. Ruzek commented that he would expect a lot of uncomfortableness as we would be asking the user groups to provide their own trash and recycling at tournaments. He noted that the event sponsor would need to have dumpsters onsite and would need to have volunteers emptying the smaller bins. Councilor Duggan commented that it would be difficult to set a fee as a"not to exceed" dollar amount as the cost would be hard to predict. Mr. Ruzek commented that$300 was the quote received from the City's trash hauler. He stated that users would be asked to submit a waste collection plan to the City and noted that the user would be able solicit quotes from multiple collectors. December 21, 2021 Mendota Heights City Council Page 4 of9 Councilor Duggan asked if this charge would occur 24 times per year. Mr. Ruzek clarified that there were four large events in 2021 that would have triggered this requirement. Mayor Levine asked if the in-house MHAA tournaments are under 300 people. Ms.Lawrence commented that MHAA tournaments have more than 300 people, often more than 300 players. She noted that those events would fall into this category, and they would be required to provide the waste and recycling plan. Mayor Levine stated that MHAA is a volunteer run organization and under this proposal would move from no cost for in-house tournaments to at least $300 per tournament for waste removal, plus the player fees, plus the additional tournament fees. She asked for an estimate of how many tournaments MHAA hosts during a summer for all sports. Ms. Lawrence stated that in 2021 MHAA had two in-house tournaments,noting that in 2021 MHAA was not charged any fees for use of the concessions stand or field usage for those tournaments. She stated that if the waste removal becomes the responsibility of the user, it would result in a charge of around$300 for the dumpsters plus the volunteer time to bring the trash to the dumpsters. She stated that in 2021 there were three baseball tournaments and one softball tournament. She stated that without a waiver {that MHAA received in 2021), a three-day tournament would have a charge of$1,020. She stated that if the not to exceed amount of$498 were set, the user would still be responsible for the waste removal, which is estimated to be an additional $300. Mayor Levine stated that she is uncomfortable with organizations handling their own waste,recycling and organics because there is a large learning curve in recycling. She asked for additional information from a recycling coordinator on whether public volunteers would be capable of handling that task. She noted that this would also be a large increase in the cost to MHAA and she would like to hear from that organization. She noted that two members of the Council are also absent and should be part of this discussion. Councilor Duggan commented that there is a quorum present. Mayor Levine commented that she is uncomfortable making these decisions tonight. Councilor Mazzitello commented that he is not comfortable treating organizations differently. He recognized that MHAA is a community sports organization. He stated that there are organizations from other communities that use the City's fields and have no problem paying the fees. He stated that the City needs to provide the facility, regardless of who uses it. He stated that he would want to apply the field use fees equally across the board. He acknowledged that solid waste removal is a big issue and stated that public works staff has the knowledge. He also acknowledged how thin the public works budget is and how much that staff is stretched. He commented that he would like user groups of 300 or more to cover part of the cost of the overtime with public works staff doing the work. Mayor Levine stated that MHAA is inclusive of everyone and offers in-house tournaments in the community neighborhoods. She stated that they are different from a private user group or club sport. She stated that the City used to contribute$10,000 to subsidize MHAA,which is not done anymore. She would be uncomfortable treating MHAA the same as a for-profit organization that does not accept all kids. December 21, 2021 Mendota Heights City Council Page 5 of 9 Councilor Mazzitello asked if the Parks and Recreation Commission provided a recommendation on the tournament fee. Ms. Lawrence reviewed the recommendation of the Commission that the City continue to provide waste removal for the events. She stated that the Commission did not bring forward a recommendation on the three options for fees. Councilor Mazzitello commented that he would be in favor of the tournament fees remaining the same but believed that the event sponsors should also pay for a portion of the waste collection, which could cover part of the cost for public works to continue to provide the waste removal. He confirmed that he would not recommend MHAA be treated differently for tournaments. Mayor Levine commented that she is opposed to that as she feels that MHAA is running on a small budget. She commented that she would suggest continuing the fees from 2021, allowing the waiver for MHAA for one more year. She also believed that the waste removal fee should be tapered over time with a not to exceed amount of$100 for this first year. She acknowledged that it would cost the City money and would like more details on that cost. Councilor Duggan asked if the waste removal is something new. Mr. Ruzek noted that the City adopted this Code language in December 2020. Councilor Duggan asked what comments were received this past year. Mr. Ruzek replied that the duty was not placed on the users in 2021 and staff collected the trash as normal. He stated that any event over 300 people will also need to collect organics and will work with the City to establish a plan for how the organics could be composted, noting that the Dakota County dumpster at Mendakota Park could not be used. He commented that tournaments have gotten larger and there is additional burden placed on staff. Councilor Duggan asked for feedback from staff on managing the waste removal. Mr. Ruzek stated that staff would be happy to defer this to event sponsors but noted that the City would continue to keep the parks clean in typical fashion as needed. Councilor Duggan suggested that staff continue to provide this service in 2022 in cooperation with the event's sponsor,and if there is not good cooperation,the duty would then be passed on to the event sponsor in the future. He stated that the biggest challenge is lack of education on organics and proper recycling. He stated that the City should take on that duty for this next year to gather more information on the costs involved. He stated that if it causes a lot of staff time and expense then it could then be passed onto the organization to cover those costs of at least 50 percent or more. He noted that 2022 could be a trial year and that should be communicated to the user groups. Mayor Levine summarized that Councilor Duggan would propose that the field and facility use for 2022 would remain the same as 2021. She asked if he would support the $498 waiver for MHAA. Councilor Duggan confirmed that he would support that. Mayor Levine stated that she would also support a component of education for the waste, recycling and organics collection at large events. She stated that there may be community members that understand recycling and organics that would be willing to volunteer their time, and suggested that the new Natural December 21, 2021 Mendota Heights City Council Page 6 of 9 Resources Commission be involved. She commented that it would be helpful to have user groups involved in the discussion. She asked if this could be tabled. Councilor Mazzitello agreed and asked if this needed to be set tonight. Mr. Lawrence replied that the fee schedule was approved at the last Council meeting, but could be amended at a future meeting. She stated that based on the fee schedule, she will begin to receive tournament requests on January 3`d. She noted that she would want to inform the user groups of the current fees when the tournament requests are received in January. Mayor Levine asked if MHAA would continue to have the $498 fee if this were tabled. Ms. Lawrence replied that MHAA would be charged the full fee. She stated that in 2021 the Council issued a one year waiver to MHAA that reduced the fee to $498. She stated that if fees are going to continue to be waived, it may be best to amend the fee schedule. Mayor Levine stated that she would prefer to waiver the fees for MHAA. She stated that for the waste and recycling requirements, the city could include the educational component for the user groups and transition slowly to the event sponsor being responsible for those costs and duties. City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson asked for clarification on `back of house' organics collection requirement for the concessions and whether that applies to food scraps from customers. Mr.Ruzek stated that `back of house' refers to the kitchen organics and therefore the required organics collection could be minimal depending on the food being offered. The organics recycling requirement for large events only applies to the kitchen in the concession stand. Mayor Levine asked if the $300 fee was only for trash and recycling and did not apply to organics. Ms. Lawrence confirmed that and explained that if public works staff is collecting the trash and recycling,they are putting that into the back of a truck to dispose of it at the public works facility. Otherwise, the user group would need to contract with a waste hauler to have dumpsters onsite and they would need to use volunteers to collect the trash and recycling to bring to the dumpsters. Mayor Levine stated that there is a difficult element because there is an organics collection at Mendakota Park that cannot be used by events. She stated that staff should reach out to the user groups to alert them that there are free bins available from the County for organics collection. She stated that she would like to focus on the educational component with the event sponsors. Councilor Duggan suggested that a one-page handout be provided to user groups for the different events in order to communicate the appropriate information. Mayor Levine commented that it would seem the organics requirement is quite small. She recognized that staff would like to shift the burden of waste and recycling collection to the event sponsors. She commented that she would support incremental change but would not support placing a burden of$300 on an organization for a tournament. She stated that the City has already been providing this service at the same cost and did not want to pass on that large fee in one year. December 21, 2021 Mendota Heights City Council Page 7 of 9 Councilor Mazzitello stated that the requirements for waste,recycling and organics collection are included in the City Code, which requires the event manager to provide a plan and therefore the City eventually needs to reach that point. He stated that he likes the concept of keeping the waste and recycling collection the same for this year but put the user groups on notice of this new requirement and provide them with the educational components this year. He agreed that progress could be made slowly, but progress needs to be made. Councilor Mazzitello commented that the event sponsors could contract with the Mendota Heights Public Works department to perform the waste and recycling collection duty. He stated that an estimate would need to be provided to the event sponsor for the additional staff time, overtime, and additional dumping costs. He recognized that the event sponsor would not need to pay the entire cost but should be covering a portion of that cost in the future. Mayor Levine commented that she would like to see the waiver provided for MHAA. Councilor Mazzitello received confirmation from staff that the decision on the waiver would not need to be made tonight. He commented that he would prefer to have a discussion with MHAA before making that decision. City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson stated that in the past two years,the City has set the fees and MHAA has submitted a waiver request at a later time. Mayor Levine commented that she dislikes that option because it causes additional action and work. She noted that if the Council supports the waiver of$498, she would suggest doing it now rather than requiring a second discussion and action. Councilor Duggan stated that he would prefer to defer the decision on the waiver as well. Councilor Mazzitello stated that if the City is being requested to waive the fees set in the fee schedule, a request should be made by MHAA, and a decision can be made based on the application. Mayor Levine commented that organizations interested in a reduction of their fees for 2022 should submit the necessary application. Councilor Mazzitello moved to approve THE 2021 FIELD AND FACILITY USE FEES AS THE 2022 FEES WITHOUT IMPLEMENTING A FEE FOR SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT FOR 2022 AND TO IMPLEMENT AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM SO THAT THE FEES COULD BE IMPLEMENTED IN 2023. Councilor Duggan seconded the motion. Ayes: 3 Nays: 0 December 21, 2021 Mendota Heights City Council Page 8 of 9 COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson stated that there is a vacancy on the Parks and Recreation Commission and noted that applications are due by December 30ffi for those interested. Public Works has been flooding the ice rinks and it is anticipated they could be open on December 30"', weather dependent. She reviewed other recreation opportunities and upcoming events. COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilor Duggan commented that he is thankful to residents that continue to volunteer and assist in making Mendota Heights a great community. He thanked public works,fire,and police for the great work they do. He wished everyone happy holidays and encouraged walkers to make themselves visible to drivers. Councilor Mazzitello commented that last week was the first significant snow event of the year and believed that Mendota Heights is the best snowplowed community in the metro.He commended the public works staff for the excellent job they do. He wished everyone the happiest of holidays. Mayor Levine echoed the comments of the Council and wished everyone a happy, safe, and healthy holiday season and new year. ADJOURN Councilor Duggan moved to adjourn. Councilor Mazzitello seconded the motion. Ayes: 3 Nays: 0 Mayor Levine adjourned the meeting at 7:16 p.m. Stephanie evine Mayor ATTEST• Lorri Smith City Clerk December 21,2021 Mendota Heights City Council Page 9 of 9