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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 03.12.2013 MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP MARCH 12, 2013 6:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS A Council Workshop was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by Council Vice - President Mark Mace at 6:30 p.m. on March 12, 2013. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: x Emelie Eaton Doug Poehls Bruce McGee _x_ Mark Mace Scot Stokes _x_ Chuck Dickerson x Tom Nelson x Bill Mountsier OTHERS PRESENT: Heidi Jensen Monica Plecker Kurt Markegard Public In (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 none. General items: • Laurel Ambulance Service: Appointment of Samantha Maxwell The appointment will be on the March 19` council agenda. Executive Review: Heidi Jensen stated that the dog ordinance was removed for further review by city staff. After further review, the dog ordinance will return to the Emergency Services Committee for any updates or language changes, then back to the staff with the changes and then presented to the council. The city will keep in contact with those that have shown interest in the proposed changes to the ordinance. • Great West Engineering — Report on the wastewater project Heidi asked Kurt Markegard to give the update on the status of the project. Kurt stated that the contract, bid specs and plans are complete. The city is in the process of getting final DEQ approval. The city submitted a deviation request to the DEQ to allow two trains of treatment instead of three. State law requires that there is a backup system. The city received the deviation request to operate with just two sets of trains or two process treatment flows. The deviation request is needed in case one of the systems needs to go down, as a replacement system would be needed in order to do that. Since this only happens for about a week every five years, allowing the deviation will save the city about $1 million in construction costs for another treatment process. The DEQ granted the deviation request as of last Thursday. DEQ has two small issues with the plan set, but those should be resolved and approved by the end of the week. Once that is approved, the project is ready to go to bid. The plans are essentially complete, and staff will have a final review soon. Council Workshop Minutes of March 12, 2013 With the 2007 TSEP grant, the city completed half of the upgrades for the lift station and the head works building in 2010. This project is the other half of the TSEP Grant. The project is estimated at about $5 million in construction and about $1 million in engineering. About $800,000 in engineering costs has been paid and there will still be some construction engineering. The project will take up to a year and a half for construction of the facility. • Resolution — YMCA contract Heidi explained the resolution for a contract with the YMCA for management of the pool for the 2013 summer season. Contracting with the YMCA will cost approximately $5,000 more than last year's pool operation expenses. However, the YMCA will manage the staff and the pool manager will be older than past managers, which should increase the responsibility of the lifeguards significantly. The YMCA has more stringent requirements for lifeguards, which will increase the safety of the pool. The revenue will be returned to the city every night and the maintenance will be done by city staff. The pool staff will be handled by the YMCA. Kurt stated that city staff and the Park Board are in favor of the contract. Payment will be made to the YMCA in three installments, as attached to the contract. There was discussion regarding the YMCA handling the applications for lifeguard positions, the amount of revenue received from the pool, and the programs for the pool. There were 16,000 visits to the pool last summer. At $2.00 per head, that is roughly $32,000. Some people purchase 20 passes for $30, which would be $1.50 per pass. Tina Postel, YMCA CEO, spoke about the programs that will be offered. Tina brought some copies of the YMCA's winter and spring program guide. She stated that, if the contract is approved, Shawna Herzog, one of the senior staff at the YMCA, would be appointed as the on -site pool manager. Tina said that the YMCA looks forward to providing any aquatic programming in which the community of Laurel is interested, including swim lessons, water exercise classes, adult lap swims and even swim team programs. They are experts in all of those aquatic specialties and look forward to bringing as many aquatic programs to this community as possible. Mark thanked the YMCA for the partnership. • Resolution — Coordination Plan for the Transit Grant Heidi asked Monica Plecker to present the resolution for the Coordination Plan for the Transit Grant. Monica stated that the city submitted a grant for the next funding cycle for the MDT Transit Grant to continue operation of the public transit service. The city council must adopt the Coordination Plan annually, and it has been reviewed by the advisory committee that meets quarterly. Monica highlighted a few things that have changed with the bus over the last year. The Coordination Plan reflects the new Laurel transit schedule. The city partnered with Residential Support Services in November 2012 and has been running Monday through Friday regular service to Billings. Monica is very encouraged by the success of that route, as it averages around eight riders da . That is more per day. the in -town bus averages and in -town service has been available longer. Growth is anticipated with the opening of a new Residential Support Services group home in Laurel. 2 Council Workshop Minutes of March 12, 2013 Under the agencies involved, the city recently started providing vouchers for COR in Billings and a couple of riders go that direction for part-time work. Other than those changes, the Coordination Plan is the same. There was a question regarding the breakeven point on the number of passengers. Monica explained that it is not possible to break even. The fares in town are $1.25 per trip or $2.50 roundtrip and the roundtrip fee is $6.00 for the Billings route. Transit programs for any community are not profitable programs. General Fund monies were used last year for the transit program. • Resolution — Letter of Engagement with Dorsey & Whitney for SID No. 115 Heidi said that the Letter of Engagement with Dorsey & Whitney for the SID is for a small capital project for the sidewalk improvements on Fifth Avenue and Cottonwood Avenue. Monica explained that, in light of new information from Dorsey & Whitney, because the locations of the two projects are not contiguous, two special improvement districts must be created and would be SID No. 115 and SID No. 116. Great West Engineering has provided cost estimates of $195,000 for the combined sidewalk improvement projects. Cost for Dorsey & Whitney to provide bond counsel is estimated at $8,500. The cost is higher than the last SID because two SID's are being created and the bonds will be sold publicly. The wording in the Letter of Engagement refers to the sale of the bonds. The Letter of Engagement is the first step in the long SID creation process, and the resolution of intent would be the next step. Monica stated that the city held an informational meeting regarding the proposed special improvement districts and all of the Fifth Avenue and Cottonwood Avenue residents were notified. Only four people attended the meeting. There was discussion regarding the costs for each SID. The costs were originally estimated in one cost of $195,000, but Dorsey & Whitney said that there are some issues with aggregating the lot owners. Since the improvements being done on Fifth Avenue are not benefitting the property owners on Cottonwood Avenue., the two districts must be separate for purposes of protest and assessment. Further information will be available when the resolution of intent is presented. • Council Issues: o Lease Task Force update Tom stated that the Rod and Gun Club was given a draft lease proposal at last week's Lease Task Force meeting. They were asked to have the club membership review the lease and present proposed changes at the next meeting on Monday, March 18 at 5:30 p.m. At that time, the draft proposal should be ready to forward to the city attorney for review and then to the council. Some issues regarding insurance, signage and the ability to use the Rod and Gun Club building still need to be addressed. There was discussion regarding signage at Riverside Park, the "no unauthorized shooting" signage, the difference between an ordinance and council's rules posted on signs, the need to have enforceable signage, and the enforcement of signage by the Sheriff's Department. o West Railroad Street (Emelie Eaton) Emelie stated that she gathered two summary statements from the minutes she recently reviewed. First, there are only six streets in Laurel that qualify as urban routes: East and West Railroad, East and West Main Street, East and West Maryland East and West 12 Street, First Avenue and Eighth Avenue. The question was whether or not the council wants West Railroad Street as the next urban 3 Council Workshop Minutes of March 12, 2013 street project. She stated that the other streets have been improved to the point where they qualified for repaving, but West Railroad is in such bad condition that it has to be rebuilt. MDT representatives attended a previous council workshop to answer questions, which she did not think had to do with the root question of whether the council wanted West Railroad Street to be the next urban project. Emelie asked if the city still has $2.2 million in the reserve urban funds. Kurt spoke regarding the Eighth Avenue project, which was scheduled to be done with urban funds in 2023. Since ARRA funds became available, they were used for the Eighth Avenue project instead. The city had about $2.2 million in urban funds, the yearly allocation to the city was about $200,000 and the city could borrow up to five years. He spoke about the Federal Department of Transportation, the new Federal Highway Bill, the fact that some funds, including the $2.2 million, may no longer be available, and Federal Aid projects. The city will meet with MDT representatives Gary Neville and Rod Nelson soon. Kurt stated that staff is working on a Transportation Plan that would help give council more direction regarding the use of the funds. There was a lengthy discussion regarding the city's urban funds, the urban streets, the process to put a project on the state's project list, the need for a Transportation Plan, incorporation of the Transportation Plan into the Growth Management Plan, and the process to prioritize streets. City staff will meet with MDT on Tuesday, March 19` at 1:30 p.m. and an update should be available after that meeting. Other items There were none. Review of draft council agenda for March 19, 2013 There were no changes. Attendance at the March 19, 2013 council meeting All council members present will attend. Announcements Emelie asked regarding the vacancy on the City - County Planning Board, as someone contacted her about it recently. Emelie asked about the former asphalt plant site, as it appears that it is being used now. Kurt stated that Schessler Ready Mix might have leased the property but he did not know for sure. Bill mentioned that the speed limit has been changed to 35 mph on East Railroad Street going eastbound but has not been changed going westbound. There was discussion. The city had not been informed that the speed limit was changed so Kurt will check on this. Bill stated that no speed limit signs are posted going westbound starting on West Railroad Street. 4 Council Workshop Minutes of March 12, 2013 Kurt stated that most city streets have 25 mph speed limits, regardless of whether it is posted. Recognition of Employees • Bud Arnold — 20 years of employment on March 22 • Jason Wells —15 years of employment on March 18 • Christopher Erb — 4 years of employment on March 11 The council workshop adjourned at 7:41 p.m. Respectfully submitted, - 1 \ __ e 1 A/ j z 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