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HomeMy WebLinkAbout7. Approval of Minutes: August 19, 2004, August 24, 2004 OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL ADJ. REGULAR SESSION SHAKOPEE,MINNESOTA AUGUST 19,2004 Acting Mayor Helkamp called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. with Council members Menden, Joos and Lehman present. Absent: Mayor Schmitt. Also present: Mark McNeill, City Administrator; Judith S. Cox, City Clerk; Bruce Loney, Public Works/City Engineer; Mike Hullander, Public Works Supervisor; Gregg Voxland, Finance Director and Dan Hughes, Police Chief. Mr. V oxland, Finance Director, gave an overview of where the City was at financially going into the 2005 budget discussions. Mr. Voxland noted the balance in the General Fund (not final figures and based on Council adopting a levy that keeps the tax rate the same as last year [2004]. Mr. Voxland noted that if the Council wanted to reduce the amount of the levy by 5% then the budget figure would need to be decreased by about $400,000. This figure also represented that the State would not cut the market value credit for 2005. The amount the City was cut for the market value credit in 2004 was $560,000. Mr. V oxland stated in the past the City had usually under spent the budget by about 2%. In the past two years the City had under spent the budget by 9% and 8% respectively. The reliance on development fees still needed to be addressed. The City had decreased their reliance on the development fees but more work in this area still needed to be done. He noted last year the reliance was 18% and this budget was built on a 14.2% reliance on development fees. Mr. Voxland noted the function of the Natural Resource was taken out of the General Fund and put into the Recreation Fund (Special Revenue Fund). Mr. V oxland noted the transfer to the Recreation Fund was $897,000 in 2004 compared to $1,200,000 in 2005. Mr. V oxland noted there was no tax levy included for the bonds for the Public Works Department. Mr. Voxland noted that if bond levy were included in the budget it would be approximately $480,000 (these bonds needed a tax levy pledge). The taxable tax capacity numbers the City had available at this point showed an increase of approximately 19%, this included the new construction and appreciation to the existing properties. The revenues for the 2005 General Fund were approximately $12,900,000 and the expenditures were $13,000,000; the transfer in from Shakopee Public Utilities and the transfer out to the Recreation Fund, the Economic Development Authority Fund resulted in a deficit of $279,000 (about 2%) of the expenditures. Cncl. Lehman noted the legislature was talking about slowly phasing the market value credit out over time. He noted he would be more comfortable if the City's budget anticipated this market value credit being phased out. Official Proceedings of the August 19,2004 Shakopee City Council Page -2- Cncl. Lehman stated he would like to try and reduce the tax levy. He would like to be conservative. Mr. Loney reported on four divisions for the Public Works/Engineering Department. Mr. Loney began with the proposed engineering budget for 2005. He noted there was an increase in the engineering budget fo,r2005 because he was proposing personnel increases. He stated the projects that were shaping up for 2005 would require additional personnel. He stated what some of these projects were. He noted much of the engineering budget was wages. He noted the engineering software being requested ($10,500) was much more compatible with other cities and other software. He noted what some of the engineering responsibilities were and some new areas engineering proposed to streamline maintenance to various City operations. He noted the budget showed a 19% increase due mainly to the wages for increased personnel. He noted the operations increase was due to the software change. Cncl. Lehman questioned the office supplies amount in 2005. Mr. Loney stated he would take another look at this amount. Mr. Loney figured he would have to triple the amount of staff if .staffwhere to do everything in house. He felt consultants would be more cost effective but he would look at the cost effectiveness. . Cncl. Lehman questioned the amount of growth in the City opposed to the amount of growth in the engineering budget. Mr. Loney reported onthe Street Division budget for 2005. He noted proposed personnel increases. He stated this division was very weather dependent. He noted the weather could wreck havoc with this budget. He noted the changes in the wages and benefits for this division. He noted this area in this budget also showed a significant increase from 2004 to 2005. He noted why there was an increase in the supplies in the services area and because of the increases what ihebenefits were for the residents. He noted the Street Division would be proposing to do some more sidewalks in the City and $20,000 was included in the budget for 2005 for this purpose. He noted there were many areas in the City that needed sidewalk repair. Mr.Loney also reported on the capital expenditures for the Street Division. Mr. Loney noted the increase to the Street Division budget was 16%. Salaries and benefits mainly caused the increase and include upgrading the records clerk position to full time and a seasonal employee. There was discussion on the new sign machine, which was explained by Mike Hullander. Mr. Hullander noted the sign shop would stay where it was now when the new building was built. He stated the quality of the signs with the new sign machine was significantly better. He noted many residents were complaining about the quality of the old street signs at night. Mr. Loney reported on the Shop Division budget. He noted what personnel he would like to add. TIns addition did not amount to a great deal. He noted new software was also proposed for this Official Proceedings of the August 19, 2004 Shakopee City Council Page -3- division. He noted at some point the City did need to get into a fleet maintenance program and this program included the need for software. He noted the increase in this budget was $30,000, approximately 18%, and this increase was caused mainly from the wages in the temporary Dersonnel.mea. health insurance. sUDDlies and services and capital expenditures. Cncl' Joos stated he would like to see some of the capital expenditures rolled into building the new facility. Acting Mayor Helkamp noted the mezzanine in the new building was dependent on a forklift. Mr. Loney reported there were big changes in the park maintenance division. He noted what these changes were and he recommended some more big changes. Many of these changes were because of the growth in the City (he noted some of the new parks to date) and the more detail work the City was required to be do (mainly for accessibility issues) but because of the limited staff was not getting done. The increase in the budget was also caused by wages and benefits. He noted there was a cost for new parks on an annual basis when a new park was developed. The part-time people being proposed would free up some of the full-time personnel for other tasks that needed to be done and were not getting done. He noted trails were included in the professional services portion of the budget because it was time to improve some of the trails. There were light repairs that needed to be done on specific fields and some irrigation work that needed to be done. He noted there were also capital expenditures that needed to done with the . buildings that were proposed to be constructed. Some of the capital expenditures had previously been cut from other budgets. He noted the park maintenance budget increased by 37%. He noted much of this increase was due to the proposed increase in seasonal personnel. He noted there was a large increase in materials to maintain the park areas also. Cncl. Menden asked ifthe City took on a bigger part in the maintenance ofthe school fields would the City receive some form of compensation. Mr. Loney noted this particular budget did not reflect any compensation from the School District. Cnc1. Menden stated he would like to see the numbers involved with to do maintenance on the School District athletic fields. Mr. McNeill noted some money did need to be budgeted for accessibility issues in the parks. Cncl. Lehman asked Mr. Loney to re-look at the difference in materials, pavement preservation, professional services and other professional services for the park maintenance because of the large increase from 2004-2005. Dan Hughes, Chief of Police, reported on the Police Department budget. He noted he was requesting that additional sergeants be added, a reclassification as well as a records clerk and two outdoor warning sirens. He noted because of the experience of the police department street personnel he needed to provide leadership; therefore, he was requesting two sergeants be added Official Proceedings of the August 19, 2004 Shakopee City Council Page -4- (talented people were hired but they lacked experience). He noted it was important that records be done in a timely and accurate fashion. He stated the Community Service Officer (COS) was 'very importantfor several functions he would like a COS for 30 hours be added. He noted his budget presented today was done consistent with the workload analysis done in 2003 and for the number of officers suggested per thousand. Chief Hughes noted the building rent for the Police Department increased dramatically as well as the utilities increased when they moved into their new building. Chief Hughes noted the Shakopee Police Department responded to many more crimes than any other City in Scott County. This was because of the size and growth of the City as well as some of the recreational venues that the City had. The Police Department remained busy throughout all the months of the year. He noted many of the calls for service, because of the type, required two officers to go to the scene (safety). He notedresponse to items of higher priority were most likely the reason the numbers for traffic violations were down. He noted the Shakopee Police Department was a very busy police department compared to other city police departments. Chief Hughes noted the City was working on getting certain emergency response teams to train for disaster treatment but there was no money in the budget to train units. He noted the Police Department did have the administrative staff to administer the program. This would be an excellent program to collaborate with the Fire Department. Mr..McNeill stated the items the Council wanted looked into would be brought back to the meeting on August 31,2004. Cncl. Joos stated he would like to see a break out of the health insurance dollars for the City personnel (increases and cost sharing). Lehman/Menden moved to adjoumt06:00 p.m. Tuesday August 24, 2004. Motion carried 4-0. The meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m. 1~/JJi j e '-fA } ~~. '1- i J ith S. Cox L ity Clerk Carole Hedlund Recording Secretary OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL ADJ. REGULAR SESSION SHAKOPEE,MINNESOTA AUGUST 24, 2004 Acting Mayor Helkamp called the meeting to order at 6:09 p.m. with Council members Menden, Lehman and Joos- preseJiCAbsent: Mayor Schmitt. Staff also present: Mark McNeill, City Administrator; Judith S. Cox, City Clerk; Gregg V oxland, Finance Director; Mark Themig, Park, Recreation and Facilities Director (6:14) and Terry Stang, Fire Chief. Present for Jackson Township were: Rose Menke, Clerk, Donald Hedlund, Supervisor, Norbert Theis, Chair ofthe Jackson Town Board. Present for Louisville Township were: Jim Theis, Marian Schmit, Susan Moravec and John Weckman, Chair of the Louisville Town Board. It was noted Mayor Schmitt was not present at the meeting because of illness. Jackson and Louisville Townships had been invited to the meeting because the Park and Recreation budget and the Fire Department budget affected the townships. .....L Terry Stang, Fire Chief, noted right now the Fire'Departmentwasaboutseven calls ahead,of last year. He stated the calls were heavier in the daytime opposed to nighttime calls. He stated there was a slight increase in this years budget because he wanted to add two captains to the Fire Department. He noted . right now there were 47 volunteer firemen for Shakopee. With the addition of two more captains there would be more hands on training for the firemen. The increase for the two captains would have a budget impact of about $3,000. .~... Cncl. Joos noted the Council just made some repliirs to the Fire Station downtown because the building was worthless without therepairs.Othersites'for a firestation,were discussed. The consensus was that there should be afire~statiol1ontheeast end o fto Wn lJ<::Iorethe fire station was built on Vierling Drive on the west end of town. Chief Stang explained the difficulty in-getting new fire fighters. He noted daytime training was being explored. There were OSHA requirements that needed to be adhered to. Chief Stang noted there were many false alarms for the Shakopee Fire Department. These false alarms were estimated to be over 50%. Chief Stang noted after three false alarms the party was then charged a fee. Cncl. Joos would like to see the false alarms addressed in some way. Chief Stang noted false alarms were not cleared until a truck went there because the Fire Department was liable when the alarm was triggered; he wanted to make sure everything was okay and then he would clear the call. Chief Stang noted the Shakopee Fire Department did not receive many medical calls. He did note that after 9-11 money became available from the federal government for some operating expenses for HAZ-MAT equipment and/or training. It was noted more money would be available if all requests were from the entire County. He noted there would be a Scott County Haz Mat team shortly. Official Proceedings of the August 24, 2004 Shako pee City Council Page -2- Chief Stang noted for the year 2005 some of the equipment that was being requested is for replacements. He noted a telesquirt truck for approximately $700,000 was being requested. He stated that a deal was being worked out for a Pumper, Telesquirt and a rescue vehicle. This savihgscwould amount to about $100,000. Mr. Norbert Theis wanted to get the billing straightened out on a certain fire in Jackson Township. Chief Stang noted when the fire station opened in the Southbridge area some of the fire departments equipment would be moved to that location. Mr. Voxland explained when and why the firemen's pension was increased. Chief Stang explained how it was determined where a fire station would be needed. Travel time analysis for the townships was discussed; Chief Stang stated the fire station needed to be located where a housing development would "be going. It was noted a report on an annual basis (what equipment was proposed to be replaced and Why) would be sent to the townships. .'ChiefStangnoted probably after the first of the year the City would try to get to up to 50 firefighters fromthe 47 fitefighters they now had. He noted with the change in mileage for response time the numBef"6favliilabh:'l'fireinen increased. ; It was noted the total change in the budget from 2004 to 2005 for the fire department was less than $50,000. Chief Stang noted this budget would be fine for the Fire Department. Mr. Themig,Parks, Recreation and Facilities Director, gave a presentation on Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources: He noted in 2005 park development and natural resources would be coming out of the Recreation Fund rather than the General Fund. The Teen center is also included in the Recreation Ftin&:'Mti'1'lleiriigexplainedsome ofthe changes in the Recreation Fund over the last few years. He iiofedlhe:ReCfeatidIl. Fund showed revenues increased but the expenses increased even more. The three highest expenses were salaries, building rent and utilities. Mr. Themig noted there were eight divisions included inthe Recreation Fund and none of the divisions broke even. He noted the community' center would like to do better but they were a service to the community. Mr. Themig noted the ice arena was the closest to breaking even. It was the lowest subsidized operation and the largest revenue generator of the eight divisions. The most subsidized component of the Recreation Fund was the community center itself. Mr. Themig noted the townships had an agreement in place as to how they helped the township residents with their fees for the City's recreation programs. He noted the General Fund subsidized the Recreation Fund. Mr. Themig explained the Natural Resource's activity. He noted that natural resources needed to be looked at in the townships. He also explained certain revenue areas that were being proposed to be raised so the subsidy from the City's General Fund would be decreased. Mr. Themig did note that it was common for community center operations to be subsidized by all City's to some extent. Official Proceedings of the August 24, 2004 Shakopee City Council Page -3- Cncl. Joos asked if the money the townships were paying the City per the agreement was sufficient to cover the costs of services for township residents or did the townships need to pay more to cover their fair share. Mr. Themig responded the townshipS-were pretty much paying their fair share except for the park maintenance. Mr. Themig noted the Baseball Association was using the Jackson Township ball field and that seemed to be working out well. The use of this ball field met a need that needed to be provided. Cncl. Lehman noted the Townships and the City needed to plan together. It was thought that the County and City thought about parks differently because their goals were different. Cncl. Joos stated as the City looked at a regional trail system the City was really going to need the help of the counties. Mr. Themig noted he surveyed other community centers and the predominant trend for community center carpeting was the use of carpet tiles. He noted hard surface materials were beingJooked atfor celtain areas within the community center also. He stated only one bidcanle back to the City, whereas eight bids had been sent out. He explained why the low number of bids were returned to the City. He noted the bid canle in lower than estimated. There was concernaboutJhe unfotes.eel1condit.ions clause . in the bid but the architect felt overall the bid was satisfactory. . .' "'- ~.'-'-'." ~. -", ".~ , "-::::-.. ',:::' ,"-,"'v.'_v. _ ~ ;.~":!;:.:' ~ Joos/Menden moved to approve the award of the bid to Target Commercial Interiors in the amount of $64,837.66 for the Shakopee Community Center Carpet Replacement Project. Cncl. Lehman was concerned about the unforeseen conditions in the bid. Motion carried 4-0. .~,.."C-'~~u_ ".~. ,_,"... Lehman/Joos moved to adjourn the meeting to Tuesday, August3!, 2QQ4;at 5;3.Q5p.mi Motioll\,carried,c' 4-0. Meeting adjourned at 7:48 p.m. a, ,r,.:Jt. c:!J C ~ --, - ,"--,.. .""i~'\..- \..h:.' .' JudIth S. Cox City Clerk Carole Hedlund Recording Secretary