03 18 2025 City Council Work Session MinutesCITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS
DAKOTA COUNTY
STATE OF MINNESOTA
Minutes of the City Council Work Session
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Pursuant to due call and nonce thereof, a work session of the Mendota Heights City Council was
held at Mendota Heights City Hall, 1101 Victoria Curve, Mendota Heights, Minnesota,
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Levine called the work
session to
order at 5:00
pm. Councilors Lorberbaum, Mazzitello,
and Paper were in attendance.
Councilor
Maczko was
absent.
Others present included: City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson, Assistant City Administrator Kelly
Torkelson, Public Works Director Ryan Ruzek, Finance Director Kristen Schabacker, Park and
Recreation/Assistant Public Works Director Meredith Lawrence, City Attorney Amy Schmidt,
and City Clerk Nancy Bauer.
FIELD AND FACILITY USE FEE SCHEDULE REVIEW
Park and Recreation/Assistant Public Works Director Meredith Lawrence stated that reviewing
the field and facility use fee schedule is an annual process and provided field use data,
information on current field and facility use fees and athletic association fee waiver history. She
highlighted that fees are set to cover the costs to the city for services provided and that fees are
adopted in the fee schedule, which is approved by the City Council each year.
City Attorney Amy Schmidt reported that waiving fees could pose a potential problem given
public purpose expenditure rules. Public purpose expenditure rules apply to spending money or
choosing not to take in money that is owed. She reviewed a three-part legal test for spending
money or collecting fees, including: 1) does it benefit the community, 2) does it directly relate to
a government activity, and 3) does it benefit a private interest. She noted that there could also be
an issue with treating groups differently. She concluded that the best way to avoid these types of
issues is to change the fee schedule to reflect the actual fees to be charged.
Councilor Mazzitello asked that
since fees
are set by the fee
schedule,
waiving the fees
for
groups could open the whole fee
schedule,
beyond field and
facility use fees, to waiver
requests.
City Attorney Amy Schmidt responded that it could.
Councilor Paper asked for clarification on what was being recommended and restated that if the
fees are to be waived this year, the city council should consider revising the 2025 fee schedule
instead of approving waivers.
City Attorney Amy Schmidt responded yes.
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Park and
Recreation/Assistant Public
Works
Director Meredith Lawrence reviewed the 2025
projected
tournament costs and what
the fees
would be based on past reductions.
Regular season fees and tournament fees for Mendota Heights and fees of various other
communities were discussed. Park and Recreation/Assistant Public Works Director Meredith
Lawrence stressed that a comparison of the fees to other cities would not be an apples -to -apples
comparison, as there are different factors considered when cities set their fees.
Park and Recreation/Assistant Public Works Director Meredith Lawrence stated that the Parks
System Master Plan will be presented at the June 3, 2025, city council meeting. The consultants
will be providing recommendations regarding fees and information on typical cost recovery
models.
Councilor Paper stated that TRAA is a group of volunteers led by volunteers to support athletic
programs for the kids in the community. He added that, in the past, the city contributed funds to
the organization. Salvo Soccer Club is an organization run by professionals and helps TRAA.
He would like to see the tournament fees reduced by half from the current fees.
Park and Recreation/Assistant Public Works Director Meredith Lawrence stated that staff would
like the fees to be consistent and equitable as other groups could ask for the fees to be waived.
Councilor Lorberbaum stated that she would like to stop approving the waivers to reduce the
potential risk but did not know what the fee should be.
City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson asked if the prior waiver amount of $498 per weekend
would be an acceptable fee. The council then discussed the budget impact.
City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson explained the process for scheduling permits according to
the priority levels.
Councilor Mazzitello echoed the comments of Councilor Paper regarding the services that
TRAA and Salvo Soccer Club provided to the community. He hopes the Parks Master an
would help simplify the fees charged. He asked if the fees had been paid for the 2025
tournaments.
Park and Recrearion/Assistant Public Works Director Meredith Lawrence responded that permits
have been issued, but they have not yet been invoiced.
Councilor Mazzitello commented that waiving the fees must be fixed. He suggested that the fees
charged for tournaments be lowered from $85 to $60, which would total $498 with rounding for
2025. The 2026 tournament fees could be discussed at a later date.
Park and Recreation/Assistant Public Works Director Meredith Lawrence asked for clarification,
stating that the fees being suggested are $498 for athree-day weekend tournament with four
fields and providing the same level of services. That would then total $41.50 for use and field
preparation fees combined.
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It was the consensus of the Council to change the field use and field preparation fees for 2025 in
the fee schedule, as suggested by Councilor Mazzitello.
Park and Recreauon/Assistant Public Works Director Meredith Lawrence reported that staff will
change the 2025 fee schedule to reflect these new fees and bring it back to a future regular City
Council meeting for formal approval.
Councilor Mazzitello commented that he would also like to see the actual costs for maintaining
fields in a future discussion.
CTI'Y COUNCIL MEETING START TIME
City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson stated that the City Council looks at the start time of City
Council meetings from time to time. The last time this topic was discussed was in January of
2023, when the meeting start time was changed from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. She stated that the
Council is being asked to discuss changing the regular meeting start time to 6:00 pm. She noted
that the time change would be dependent on the availability of NDC4 staff. She also noted that
an earlier meeting time would impact the start time of city council work sessions.
After it was discussed, it was the consensus of the Council that the start time of regular City
Council meetings be moved to 6:00 pm, with work sessions starting at 4:30 pm on the third
Tuesday of the month. The change will be formalized in a city council resolution.
ADJOURNMENT
Councilor Mazzitello moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Councilor Paper.
The meeting adjourned at 6:40 pm.
)eIrIA
Step anie B. Levine, Mayor
ATTEST:
Nahcy Ba zer, City Clerk
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