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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 08.14.2012 MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP AUGUST 14, 2012 6:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS A Council Workshop was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by Mayor Ken Olson at 6:30 p.m. on August 14, 2012. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: _x Emelie Eaton _x_ Doug Poehls x Bruce McGee _x_ Mark Mace _x_ Scot Stokes _ Chuck Dickerson Tom Nelson x Bill Mountsier OTHERS PRESENT: Heidi Jensen Jean Kerr Sam Painter Kat Stokes Monica Plecker Hunter Stokes Public Input (three - minute limit): Citizens may address the Council regarding any item of City business not on the agenda. The duration for an individual speaking under Public Input is limited to three minutes. While all comments are welcome, the Council will not take action on any item not on the agenda. There was no public input. General items: • Appointment: Laurel Ambulance Service — Georgia Gerber as a Reserve Attendant The appointment will be on the August 21 council agenda. Executive Review: • Resolution — Create SID No. 114 City Planner Monica Plecker stated that the resolution is to create SID No. 114. The council previously passed a resolution of intent to create the SID, which was followed by a protest period that ended on August 9 Within that protest period, a property owner had to actually write a letter explaining their protest and the city did not receive any written protests. The next step is to pass the resolution to create the Special Improvement District. • Resolution — Levy maintenance assessments for SID No. 114 (Special meeting on August 28, 2012) Monica explained the resolution to levy the SID for the maintenance assessment. The council already passed a resolution of intent to levy the maintenance assessments for SID No. 114, so this would be the final step. Monica prepared a flow chart of "Where Are We Now ?" to show the multi -step process. On August 21 s`, the council will consider the resolution to create the SID, and because there were no protests, none will be read aloud. Monica stated that this would be her last opportunity to speak to the council before the special meeting on August 28 so she explained some things regarding the maintenance assessment, as per a memo she prepared. Monica stated that it was determined that $20,000 was the appropriate amount Council Workshop Minutes of August 14, 2012 for the first year's maintenance, which amounts to $210.53 per lot for 95 lots. The maintenance activities include summer help to do the mowing, weeding, fertilizing, sprinkler maintenance and repair, winterizing of the sprinkler system, as well as the purchase of a new lawnmower. Monica reiterated that according to legislation, the council must set the annual maintenance assessment by resolution by the first Monday of September, which is the reason for the special meeting on August 28 She asked the council to consider waiving the two -week rule and to vote on the resolution on August 28 in order to meet the legislation requirements to assess and to have funds to maintain the park next summer. Emelie asked regarding notification to the property owners in Elena Subdivision. Monica explained that, once the resolution of intent to create the district was passed, a certified mailing went out to all property owners in Elena Subdivision. Also, after the council passed the resolution of intent to levy the maintenance assessment, another certified mailing went out. Two certified letters were returned with no forwarding address. The purpose of the letters was notification that the City of Laurel intended to create the SID and notification that the City of Laurel intended to maintain the SID through special assessment. Protests relating to the creation of the SID had to be submitted by August 9 at 5:00 p.m., and no protests were received. The public hearing on August 28 will be for the maintenance assessment. If someone has an issue with the $20,000 maintenance assessment, that would be the issue heard at the public hearing, not the actual SID. There was a question regarding the legislature's changes for special districts and maintenance assessments. Monica explained that park maintenance districts are now considered special districts. The best way to achieve the same goal as a park maintenance district would be to do the special assessment as it relates to the SID. She emphasized the importance that the council set the maintenance assessment by resolution by the first Monday of September. For the first year, $20,000 for maintenance might seem steep, but the city wants to make sure the newly - seeded grass grows successfully. The city does not want to spend the residents' $80,000 and then not maintain the parks and let the grass die. There are some upfront and increased maintenance costs with the new grass, including the fact that our lawnmowers in our city fleet right now are too heavy duty and aggressive and would actually do damage to the new grass. A new lawnmower will not be needed next year. Once the grass is more established next year, there might not be so much involved upfront, and the council would look at significantly lower maintenance costs. The maintenance costs will be based on what is needed every year, as recommended by the Public Works Department. Mayor Olson stated that the special meeting set for August 28 is needed to allow for the passage of resolution for maintenance costs prior to the September deadline. • Resolution — Wage increase request from Judge Kerr CAO Heidi Jensen explained the $17,000 wage increase request from Judge Kerr and the requirement for the council to vote on the request. All non -union employees with the city will receive a 3 percent increase, if the council chooses to approve the budget as presented, and that offer was made to Judge Kerr. There was discussion regarding the Building Department Official's cut from full -time to half -time, the challenges in the General Fund, the function of the Laurel City Court, and the Preliminary Budget. The proposed budget is at 22 percent of reserves, which is improved from last year's 19 percent on the reserves. The Preliminary Budget was distributed tonight and will be presented on August 2P . 2 Council Workshop Minutes of August 14, 2012 There was further lengthy discussion regarding comparison of last year's budget with the proposed Preliminary Budget, including the changes in itemizing line items more specifically than in past budgets. The 2012 -2013 Final Budget will be on the September 4 council agenda. Mayor Olson stated that staff and management do not have the authority to raise the judge's salary. An elected official's wage can be increased only through a resolution or ordinance of the council. Sam explained that state law says an ordinance, but the city council adopted an ordinance providing that the judge's salary be set by resolution. There was a question regarding how a wage increase would impact the budget. Heidi explained that it would affect the General Fund and decrease the amount available to every department. There was further discussion regarding the use of $487,000 of reserves in the budget, the ongoing negotiations with Local 303 Police Union, the cause of the $487,000 deficit, and appropriations and expenditures. Discussion regarding the judge's salary continued. Judge Jean Kerr distributed a handout to the council. The information highlighted her current wage at $15.25/hour, which is less than the court clerks' hourly wage. Judge Kerr provided statistics regarding costs to run the court and surplus court revenues that were given to the General Fund. She spoke regarding the court's higher docket numbers, the increased workload, the timeframe in which the court has been without a second clerk, the differences between a city court and a municipal court, a survey of judges' wages in Montana, and the median wage of $19.20 for Montana judges. There was a proposal to present a resolution for a $17.00/hour wage for the judge's salary. After further discussion, it was proposed to present a resolution for an hourly wage of $18.50 for the city judge. The resolution will be on the August 21s council agenda. • Ordinance — Home occupation business licenses (LMC 17.52.030) The item was removed from this council workshop agenda. • Discussion — Neptune water meters Sam Painter presented a brief history of the Energy Performance Contract that the City of Laurel entered with Johnson Controls in October 2006. He then updated the council on the ongoing issues with the Neptune water meters since the project was completed. Sam spoke regarding the meter failures and the staff time required to deal with the issues, inspect and replace meters and to calculate reasonable water charges for failed meters. Currently, 826 out of 2,600 meters have failed and needed replacement, which is a 31.7 percent failure rate. Sam asked the council for direction regarding litigation, which is costly, and suggested the possibility that CAO Heidi Jensen contact Neptune for discussion and negotiations regarding the ongoing issues. After further discussion, the council recommended that Heidi contact Neptune and report back to the council in the near future. • Discussion — Revisions to LMC 2.10.080 Public hearing/vote on same agenda 3 Council Workshop Minutes of August 14, 2012 Heidi stated that the proposed revisions to LMC 2.10.080 were included on the draft ordinance. It would delete the part requiring the council to wait a full week before voting on an issue following a public hearing. As per LMC, the council could still continue a public hearing if needed. Emelie asked regarding the notification process for the public. There would be no changes to the notification process, as the advertisement of public hearings is statutory and has to be followed. The only change would be to the timeframe for the council's decision following a public hearing. The council could also choose to continue a public hearing to a date certain or close the public hearing and make a motion to vote on the issue at the next regularly scheduled meeting. A majority vote of the council would be needed to do so. The ordinance will be on the August 21s council agenda. • Discussion — Skate park proposal (Mark Mace) Mark Mace explained that the Park Board designated a steering committee to look into the feasibility for a skate park and a location. There is some interest regarding funding and construction. The Park Board decided to have a public meeting on September 6 in the council chambers at city hall. Some members of the steering committee attended tonight's meeting. Hunter Stokes, 1135 9 Avenue, has been in contact with the Tony Hawk Foundation since the beginning of July. Peter Whitley, the program director, has given him great information for the potential skate park. The location chosen is in Kiwanis Park at the west end. Hunter passed around a concept drawing of a locomotive for the proposed skate park. Kat Stokes, 1135 9 Avenue, stated that Peter Whitley has actually stated that the Tony Hawk Foundation is definitely on board for anything needed to go forward. They have never seen anybody this young log in the number of hours that Hunter has put into it, which is over 100 hours of personal time. They are more than willing to go forward and hook us up with other companies with other recommendations of how to present it. There was a lengthy discussion regarding the proposed skate park, the process required to build on public lands, the process used for design and construction of Kids Kingdom in Kiwanis Park, MMIA's requirements for insurance coverage, the need to have an architectural design for the skate park and to make it certifiable for BMX bikes, the possibility to partner with the Laurel Revitalization League, the average cost of $40 /square foot for cement to build a skate park, the $500,000 cost for the skate park, and the donations that have been promised. • Council Issues: o Discussion — Placing stop signs at Southwest 4 Street and Cedar Avenue and costs and timing if signs are placed (Emelie Eaton) Emelie stated that a resident asked her about placing stop signs along Southwest 4 Street and Cedar Avenue. She explained the issues with traffic from CHS Refinery at shift changes and asked about the process and costs to install an additional stop sign in order to control the traffic better. Heidi explained that by ordinance, stop signs and traffic control devices are handled by the chief of police. He was on vacation last week and she was unable to discuss this with him in detail. Although this intersection is a problem, she does not think it would be in the city's best interest to add a stop sign without doing some sort of traffic study or car count on the streets to see if the intersection 4 Council Workshop Minutes of August 14, 2012 warrants some kind of control device. Heidi will contact the police chief and have more information for Emelie at the next council workshop. o Discussion — Laurel Movie Haus/Riley Cooke (Mark Mace) Mark stated that businesses do not usually approach the council like Riley Cooke did last week and he wondered if anything could be done. Heidi stated that Riley asked her if the city could do some kind of low interest loan or some kind of subsidized amount to get the $160,000 so he could convert to digital. The city does not have any kind of program for that, so she referred him to the Big Sky Economic Development Authority. BSEDA has a Business Expansion and Retention Program that helps small businesses and their services are free. The city does not offer anything but there are resources out there for him. The council authorized the Laurel Urban Renewal Agency (LURA) to cost share $30,000 for the water main replacement for the Laurel Movie Haus. LURA has also helped with a facade improvement and new signage. Other items There were none. Review of draft council agenda for August 21, 2012 A resolution regarding the judge's salary will be added to the agenda. An ordinance with revisions to LMC 2.10.080 will be added to the agenda. Review of draft special council agenda for August 28, 2012 Mayor Olson stated that the public hearing at the special meeting on August 28 is for the maintenance assessments for SID No. 114. The council will need to waive the rule to wait two weeks and unanimously vote to put the resolution on the agenda for council consideration at that meeting. Attendance at the August 21, 2012 council meeting All council members present will attend. Announcements Mark mentioned that the Public Works Committee did not meet last night. The chip seal project on Southeast 4 Street was the only item for discussion. The Montana League of Cities and Towns Annual Conference is scheduled in Kalispell on October 3 to 5` The council workshop adjourned at 8:33 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Cindy Allen Council Secretary NOTE: This meeting is open to the public. This meeting is for information and discussion of the Council for the listed workshop agenda items. 5 Wh ere Are We Now? Resolution of Intent to —) Protests Read at Council Create SID 114 (7/17/12) (8/21/12) Resolution No. R12 -53 *No written protest received Resolution to Create SID r Since < 50% Protested 114 (8/21/12) Resolution No. R12- Resolution Relating to SID 114; ..> public Hearing & Special Resolution to Levy Passes Preliminary Levy of Special Meeting (8/28/12)* (8/28/12) Assessment (8/7/12) Resolution No. R12 -_ * Council should consider waiving Resolution No. R12 - 57 the two week rule and taking action in order to comply with legislation. CITY OF LAUREL 1 PLANNING DEPARTMENT To: City Council From: Monica Plecker CC: Heidi Jensen Date: 8/14/2012 Re: Levy of Special Assessments for SID No. 114 Comments The public hearing scheduled for August 28, 2012 is in regards to the special assessment only. The . protest period for the creation of SID 114 ended on August 9, 2012. On August 7, 2012 City Council passed R12 -57, a resolution relating to SID 114 and the preliminary levy of maintenance assessments. The resolution expressed the City's intent to levy Elena Subdivision, because of the provisions mentioned in the Subdivision Improvements Agreement. The resolution states that a total of $20,000 or $210.53 per lot will be assessed. Please note maintenance costs for the first year are expected to be higher than average because of the increased time and added costs involved in ensuring the success of freshly seeded grass. The below summary explains the costs involved in the first year of maintaining the improvements. Item Cost Summer Help $ 10,000 Daily observation and initial maintenance of freshly seeded park land. Mowing -5 hrs /wk Weeding— 2 applications per year plus cart Fertilizing Sprinkler System Maintenance /Repair — As needed Winterizing Sprinkler System Lawn Mower $ 10,000 Notes: *Currently the City's fleet of lawn mowers only includes lawn mowers that are suited for mature grass and not light duty for new grass. * *If funds remain at the end of the next year they may be rolled over to the next year. Other important things to remember regarding the Special Assessments: • City Council must levy special assessment costs by resolution before the first Monday in September. • If the collected maintenance assessments are not spent, the remaining funds may be rolled over to the next year. Special Improvement District 114 August 14, 2012