Loading...
2002-07-16 City Council minutesPage No. 1 July 16, 2002 CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS DAKOTA COUNTY STATE OF MINNESOTA Minutes of the Regular Meeting Held Tuesday, July 16,2002 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the regular meeting of the City Council, City of Mendota Heights, Minnesota was held at 7:30 o'clock p.m. at City Hall, 1101 Victoria Curve, Mendota Heights, Minnesota. The following members were present:, Acting Mayor Dwyer, Councilmembers Krebsbach, Schneeman and Vitelli. Mayor Mertensotto had notified Council that he would be out of town. AGENDA ADOPTION Councihnember Vitelli moved adoption of the revised agenda for the meeting. Councilmember Schneeman seconded the motion. Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 CONSENT CALENDAR Councilmember Vitelli moved approval of the consent calendar for the meeting, revised to move item 5a, Police Department structure, to the regular agenda, along with authorization for execution of any necessary documents contained therein. a. Approval of a variance to the recreational fire hours (Ordinance No. 270) to allow a Sacred Fire for the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community Pow Wow from 10:00 p.m. Friday, August 2, 2002 to 10:00 p.m. Sunday, August 4, 2002. b. Approval of the probationary appointment of Judy Wonick as Administrative Secretary/Utility Billing Clerk, effective July 17, 2002 at $34,579, Step C, Level IX of the city's pay matrix, and authorization for staff to begin the process of recruiting for the Receptionist/Clerk position. c. Authorization for the issuance of a purchase order to Dell Computer Corporation for the purchase of a computer system for the Fire Department, for a cost not to exceed $1,900. d. Authorization for the Fire Chief and Assistant Chief to attend the International Association of Fire Chiefs Conference from August 23 through August 26. e. Approval of the list of contractor licenses dated July 16, 2002. f. Approval of the List of Claims dated July 16, 2002 and totaling $1,072,498.88. Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 3] I • Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 Page No. 2 July 16, 2002 Councilmember Schneeman seconded the motion. Council acknowledged a memo from Police Chief Piotraschke regarding a police department organizational structure change and promotion. Chief Piotraschke explained that when Scott Johnson was the chief, he created a captain's position from a sergeant's position for various reasons, including administrative support for the department. He stated that since he was appointed chief, there has been a vacancy in a supervisory position, and it makes sense with the current personnel to take the captain's position back to sergeant and promote one of the patrol officers to the position. No new personnel will be added to the department, and funding has been allocated in the budget for the sergeant's position. It is important for the department to fill the position. Councilmember Schneeman moved to authorize the alteration of the police department's supervisory structure and the promotion of a patrol officer to the rank of sergeant. Councilmember Krebsbach seconded the motion. VOICE STREAM ANTENNA Council acknowledged a memo from Public Works Director UPGRADE Danielson regarding a request from Voice Stream to install a GPS antenna and one or two small antenna on the water tower to comply with FCC requirements for 911 capabilities. Acting Mayor Dwyer stated that the memo indicates that Voice Stream already has a least with the city for 12 slots on the tower and is using nine slots now. He asked if the additional three antennae will fill out the 12 slots already agreed upon in the lease. Mr. Danielson responded that the twelve antennae are already specifically called out in the agreement and these are different types of antennae. Council must decide if they can be allowed. City Attorney Dan Schleck stated that he has reviewed the lease and has dealt with others who rent space to Voice Stream. The city could argue that the city should be compensated for these antennae and that they max out the lease. It is not inappropriate for the city to take that position. The city currently receives $1,700 for nine antennae. Page No. 3 July 16, 2002 Acting Mayor Dwyer stated that the city should let Voice Stream know that this fills out their lease and they can continue to pay $1,700 or if they wish to lease another three antennae they will need to renegotiate their lease. The city should tell Voice Stream that the lease is for 12 antennae and this fills out the lease maximum. If they wish to have more they must pay an increase in the rent. Attorney Schleck stated that if Voice Stream wants to reserve the additional three slots, they need to come back and renegotiate the lease. They should be told that either these three antennae use up the twelve slots or if they want to reserve three more slots they must renegotiate the lease. Councilmember Vitelli moved to direct the Public Works Director, on the advice of the City Attorney, to notify Voice Stream that the twelve slots authorized in the lease agreement have been maximized and they must renegotiate the contact if they wish to reserve three additional slots. Councilmember Schneeman seconded the motion. Ayes: 4 Nays:O GENERAL PUMP Council acknowledged a request from General Pump to install a cardboard box compactor behind their building for recycling pickup. Council also acknowledged an associated memo from Assistant Hollister. Mr. Anthony Franciscus was present on behalf of General Pump. Acting Mayor Dwyer stated that it appears in the photographs submitted with the request that the apparatus is quite large. Mr. Franciscus responded that the apparatus will be confined within. a 10 by 40 foot slab. General Pump has increased its cardboard recycling substantially and it is taking up too much staff time and space to bale the cardboard inside, blocking the aisles too much. Acting Mayor Dwyer stated that Council encourages recycling but is concerned about aesthetics. Council likes things like this enclosed. Mr. Franciscus responded that he will take that concern back to his manager and General Pump will do something affirmative. BFI has checked and said they can get at the compactor in the proposed location. Councilmember Krebsbach stated that she would want General Pump to agree to always keep an evergreen border around the Page No. 4 July 16, 2002 compactor site. Council approved a tank in another area of the business district and it is very visible. Mr. Franciscus responded that the company's owner is very apprehensive about anything that would protrude from the building. Acting Mayor Dwyer informed Mr. Franciscus that Council will also be concerned about noise. Mr. Franciscus responded that that from what BFI told him, the compactor makes no louder noise than if the company were to use a baler in doors. It takes about ten to fifteen seconds to compact each bale. BFI will probably pick up once or twice a month. The earliest anyone would be crushing cardboard would be 7:00 a.m. Councihnember Krebsbach noted that the compactor would be located in the Industrial District and that it would not be viewed from the street. Councilmember Krebsbach moved to approve the request on the basis that General Pump agrees to keep an evergreen barrier around the compactor and restrict the noise to reasonable hours. Councilmember Vitelli seconded the motion. Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 TOWN CENTER AGREEMENT Council acknowledged a memo from Administrator Lindberg regarding a proposed developer's agreement with Ross Feffercorn for Town Center development. Acting Mayor Dwyer informed the audience that Council met in workshop earlier this evening with the city's legal counsel and Mr. Feffercorn and he believes Council is at the point where the city can enter into a final developer's agreement with the developer for redevelopment of the T.H. 110/Dodd Road intersection. Administrator Lindberg stated that it was brought to her attention that the city attorney would like Ehlers and Associates to review the cost agreement. The city budgeted $5,000 for Ehlers' services and that budget should be increased by about $1,000 to have Ehlers review the project cost statement as part of the developer's agreement. Councilmember Krebsbach asked why it needs further review. Attorney Schleck responded that the document that would be reviewed is the extension of the financial pro forma. Ehlers must Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 Page No. 5 July 16, 2002 review it to determine that it is a reasonable extension of that pro forma. It would become part of the developers agreement and would be a legal document. Councilmember Schneeman moved to approve an additional $1,000 for review of the cost agreement by Ehlers and Associates. Councihnember Krebsbach seconded the motion. Attorney Schleck reviewed highlights of the developer's agreement for Council and the audience. He stated that the agreement is a contract between the city and the developer of a piece of property that sets forth the promises between the two and the responsibilities of the city and the developer with regard to completion of the project. It deals with city improvements and also deals with the improvements that will be constructed by the developer, including buildings, units, etc. In this case, the agreement is with RMF Entities and details the development of Town Center. The agreement does not talk about the building or the work that will be done by Dakota County. Mr. Feffercorn will be responsible for constructing for sale residential units and for the sale of the retail property and construction of parking to accommodate the retails spaces. The city is responsible for the public infrastructure. He also briefly reviewed the financial aspects included in the agreement.. Acting Mayor Dwyer asked when the public can expect grounding to be broken for any improvements. Attorney Schleck responded that according to the schedule, the city will start installing the streets, curb and gutter, etc., about September 1, 2002 and expects the street, sewer and water to be in by June 1, 2003. The city is committing $1.5 million to those improvements. Acting Mayor Dwyer stated that the city will also do landscaping and lighting, etc., and has committed $400,000 to that. If this land is transferred to the developer, the city has agreed that he will pay 5% cash up front. He asked if the city has a document on file that shows what the towhhouses will look like. Attorney Schleck responded that Council approved preliminary plans and design guidelines on April 16. Councilmember Krebsbach asked if the representative from Ehlers and Associates would like to comment. Page No. 6 July 16, 2002 Mr. Sid Inmann, from Ehlers, responded that his firm was retained to look at this in terms of risk to the city and has found that the agreement protects the city. Councilmember Vitelli moved to approve the developer's agreement between RAF Entities and the city for development of Town Center and to authorize Acting Mayor Dwyer to execute the agreement on behalf of the city. Councilmember Schneeman seconded the motion. Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 EXCEL LAWSUIT Administrator Lindberg informed Council that the Appeals Court has ruled on the Excel lawsuit and the City Attorney is reviewing the document and will likely request an audience before Council at the next Council meeting. Acting Mayor Dwyer stated that the Court of Appeals today decided that Excel's lawsuit against the city, which had been dismissed by trial court in Dakota County, should not have been dismissed. The Court of Appeals said that the city did not act quickly enough and the conditional use permit that Excel requested is automatically issued. What that means is up in the air. The other lawsuit against the city by Excel has not yet been assigned to a judge, and he does not know what today's decision means for that suit. ADJOURN There being no further business to come before Council, Councilmember Vitelli moved that the meeting be adjourned. Councilmember Schneeman seconded the motion. Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 TIME OF ADJOURNMENT: 8:13 p.m. City Clerk ATTES Michael DAvyer, Xctit Mayor