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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-14-15 WSCITY OF LAKEVILLE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES December 14, 2015 Mayor Little called the meeting to order at 6:15 p.m. in the Marion Conference Room at City Hall. Members Present: Mayor Little, Council Members Swecker, LaBeau, Anderson and Davis Staff present: Justin Miller, City Administrator; Allyn Kuennen, Assistant City Administrator; David Olson, Community and Economic Development Director; Danny Barth, IS Manager; Sue Palm, Communications Manager; Chris Petree, Public Works Director; Monica Heil, Operations and Maintenance Engineer; Judi Hawkins, Deputy City Clerk 2. Citizen Comments: None 3. Discussion Items: a. Orange Line Update Dave Olson introduced Charles Carlson, a Senior Manager with the Metropolitan Council Transit Division for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)/Small Starts Projects, and Wendy Wulff, local Metropolitan Council representative, who were present to provide an update to Council on the planning and implementation schedule for the METRO Orange Line project. Mr. Carlson stated that the Orange Line BRT along I-35 between downtown Minneapolis and Burnsville consists of 17 miles with 11 stations and includes future expansion plans to Lakeville. Implementation in 2019 will provide a higher level of transit services within the corridor including frequent all -day service in both directions so that riders can access more destinations. Construction is planned for 2017 at a cost of $150M and weekday ridership is expected to grow from 14,000 in 2014 to 26,000 in 2040. The line will utilize recent roadway improvements and bus lanes, existing upgraded transit stations, and park and ride facilities. The Orange Line will provide better access to jobs and support economic development along the corridor. The engineering phase of the project is underway and funding is being secured. The State has a 10% project share, or $15M, of which $3M has been received. The Federal funding request is for 50% of project costs. This is one of MnDOT's major 2017 construction projects. Carlson reviewed several of the station improvements that are being planned along the corridor. The first phase of the Orange Line will end in Burnsville at Hwy. 13 and Nicollet Avenue with a second platform at Burnsville Parkway and I-35 to provide better access to Heart of the City and City Council Work Session December 14, 2015 Page -2 - other destinations. Project planners and engineers are continuing to explore additional options for connections and improvements along the line. Ridership on all lines continues to increase at a comfortable, steady rate. The improvements designed for the Orange Line would also benefit other express (467) buses and transit lines. Federal TAB grants could be available for 2020-21 to assist with the extension into Lakeville. Anderson asked if the Kenrick Avenue Park & Ride facility might be expanded and if the extension into Lakeville could go as far south as County Road 70 to support transportation for the industrial businesses. Carlson stated that the current Kenrick Park & Ride structure has been expanded to its full potential; however, there are nearby properties that could be utilized for additional parking. Metro Transit does not believe that current market demands at CR70 would be adequate to justify an additional station. LaBeau asked how much is actually subsidized for transit compared to the revenue received. Carlson stated that the report reflected costs for express buses. Wulff stated that local service from MVTA exists at the Burnsville transit station which provides opportunities for connections; however, there is no connecting service from the stations south of Burnsville. Swecker believes east/west transportation opportunities should also be investigated. Carlson stated that those needs are also being discussed and will continue to be considered with future projects. Davis believes the Orange Line will provide needed express options and opportunities. Carlson invited Council members to contact him with any questions. b. Fiber Connections to City Facilities Justin Miller stated that the City's fiber connections between City buildings are currently supplied by Charter. Staff has worked with Elert & Associates to design a city-wide fiber network plan which would connect the City of Lakeville's 15 buildings and six water towers. Elert's report provided three possible partnership/city cost options: develop the network with no partnerships, estimated at $2.7M; partner with Dakota County at an estimated cost of $2.3M; or partner with Dakota County and ISD #194 at an estimated cost of $1.4M. The third option would utilize ISD 194's existing fiber on Ipava Avenue and under this proposal the County would provide materials in return for access to fiber. A City -owned network would have several benefits including increased bandwidth, additional options for alternate routes during outages, elimination of the $42,000 annual cost of using Charter Business, remote access to water tower sites; and possible revenue from lease of unused fiber capacity. Staff is requesting authorization to further investigate possible development of a joint fiber infrastructure network with ISD 194 and Dakota County and to prepare an RFP. City Council Work Session December 14, 2015 Page -3 - Little asked if there would be an opportunity for the business community to access the fiber, allowing the City to utilize this as an economic development tool. Danny Barth stated that this idea originally started with the HiPP group which is now the Dakota County Broadband Group. The goal is to build the I -net (institutional) followed by the C -net (commercial) if and when possible. Dakota County and cities will contribute what they can and enter into a Joint Powers agreement for the broadband group. The fiber will not cover all 38 square miles of the City but will encompass all of the water towers, providing the potential for new and expanded technologies including meter reading capabilities. This would also expand data capabilities for the Police Department. Swecker asked if the cost includes operating equipment or if this is for fiber only. Barth stated that the necessary equipment is already in place, with just a few exceptions. The current cost of $42,000 per year to Charter is the lease agreement to access their fiber at 100M. Council discussed bandwidth needs at various city facilities and total needs. Anderson suggested more work needs to be done on specific locations, costs, and revenue opportunities. Little asked if the fiber would provide the opportunity for the City to be the service provider. Barth stated it would be possible but not planned at this time. Miller will check on the fiber revenue model used by Burnsville and Eagan. Davis supports the proposal and asked if Charter might be willing to discuss alternatives. LaBeau asked what the funding sources would be. Miller stated that it would be a variety of funds including utility, communications, and liquor funds. Anderson asked if alternate fiber exists. Barth stated that Frontier has some fiber available to customers but there are concerns with going outside of a private network due to data transmitted by the Police and BCA. Staff will provide Council with additional information regarding fiber connections. c. Website Update Funding for a full redesign of the City's website is included in the 2016 Communications Fund budget. Sue Palm stated that after interviewing several potential firms, staff is recommending CivicPlus, a leading national web design company, to provide the redesign. Staff believes the firm's extensive experience working with municipal government websites and the excellent reviews they have received from previous clients makes them the best candidate. The CivicPlus proposal includes a wide range of valuable components and features. A key item in the proposal includes three days working with staff in each department to determine their interaction with the public and individual service needs. The cost for development is $59,477 plus an annual maintenance fee of $9,648. Those costs would be spread equally over three years with no additional interest charges. The contract has been reviewed and approved by the Finance Department and the City Attorney. Staff recommends proceeding with Option #3. If approved, work could begin in January. City Council Work Session December 14, 2015 Page -4 - Council member Swecker asked who currently hosts the website. Palm stated that CivicPlus would replace LOGIS as the host; CivicPlus will not have access to any other City data. Credit card transactions would continue to be processed by LOGIS through a link. Staff is not recommending a mobile City app at this time. LaBeau asked if the Cable Board has had input or made recommendations. Kuennen stated that the role of Cable Board will be reviewed now that the franchise agreements are completed. LaBeau asked what the need is for the upgrade and what efficiencies would be gained. Palm stated that the current website has all been maintained internally over the past eight years. Although it has been very cost effective the software used has many limitations. Benefits would include improved interconnections and opportunities for residents. Miller stated that this is the face of the organization and visitors should have a positive experience. The improvements will impact staff efficiencies especially in the Liquor stores and Arts Center. Swecker would like the contract to reflect a greater percentage guarantee on the "up" time of the site. Council directed staff to bring the contract to a regular agenda for consideration. d. Legislative Priorities Assistant City Administrator Allyn Kuennen provided Council with the City's redesigned 2016 Draft Legislative Priorities. The "Primary" list focuses on legislative issues that have the greatest impact on City operations and policies. These Priorities will be actively pursued with the legislators during the 2016 legislative session. The "Secondary" list is also vital to the future growth and prosperity of Lakeville and includes ongoing initiatives or policies that can be brought forward by staff as opportunities arise. Transportation issues have been moved to the top of the primary list. Council members appreciated the revised priority format. Council members made the following suggestions: • Send a letter to legislators highlighting support for the I-35 bridge expansion to help relieve traffic to the south. • Revise the attainable housing language to align with statements in the Envision Lakeville documents regarding the need to maintain responsible decision making at the local level. Combine Secondary priorities' Item H with the Primary's Housing section. • Use a description other than "secondary' so as not to minimize those priorities; • Clarify statements regarding levy limits to reflect the current status. • The City's priority regarding deferral of the sales tax law should reflect the LMC's position. • Remove Item E, regarding creation of utility franchise fees as a way to fund projects. • Add improvement of economic development through support from Dakota County. City Council Work Session December 14, 2015 Page -5 - Council members directed staff to revise the 2016 Draft Legislative Priorities as discussed and place it on a future regular Council agenda for consideration. e. 2016 Street Reconstruction Project Update Chris Petree gave a brief overview of issues that were brought up at the November 161 public hearing for the 2016 Street Reconstruction Project. Issues included timing and phasing of the project in the Southfork shopping area and the private driveway accessing the public road off of Jersey Avenue. Monica Heil stated that property owners in the Southfork area were concerned about timing due to the impact the 2015 construction project had on their businesses. Business owners discussed delaying the project until 2017 but since there would likely be cost increases they were comfortable moving forward with the project in 2016 as proposed. Staff will ensure that the area receives sufficient signage and the owners receive ongoing information. At the terminus of Jersey Avenue near Lake Marion six properties share a private driveway which accesses their homes. The six were assessed as individual properties for the street improvements on Jersey Avenue. Heil pointed out similar situations in previous roadway assessment situations where properties were in close proximity to reconstruction projects, including 12 townhome units off of 1881' Street which are part of the 2016 Street Reconstruction Project. Those townhome units will each be assessed one-half of one unit, per City policy. Heil presented three possible assessment options for Jersey Avenue: Option #1) Assess each property as one single-family unit as proposed in the feasibility report. Staff recommends this option as it is consistent with the City's assessment policy and past practices. The proposed assessment for the six units is $4,029 each. Option #2) Considering that if the property were to develop today, only one home would be allowed due to the narrow driveway. Using this scenario, Option 2 proposes each property be assessed 1/6 of a single family unit. This option would result in five less units on the assessment role and create a funding gap of $20,145.70. Option #3) Since properties are sharing a driveway similar to the townhomes off of 18811 St., for assessment purposes each home could be considered a townhome unit and assessed as such (1/2 of one single family unit). This option would result in three less units on the assessment role and create a funding gap of $12,000. This calculation method has not been used previously. General City taxes could be used for the funding gaps or shortages could be redistributed amongst the other properties in Area F. Option #2 would increase the single family unit rate by $141 and Option #3 would increase each single family unit by $82.94. If an alternate method for calculating assessments is used for the Jersey Avenue properties, a similar method should be used for the townhomes on 18811 Street, which would increase the City Council Work Session December 14, 2015 Page -6 - funding gap to $64,000 for Option 2 or $36,000 for Option #3 to be funded through the general fund or spread across other single family units in Area F. Staff recommends utilizing Option #I in order to remain consistent with the City's assessment policy. Petree stated that the driveway is not built to the City's standards so cannot be taken over by the City. Council members discussed the options and agreed that since the six homes all access Jersey Avenue and benefit from the improvements, Option #I is most equitable. Anderson stated that making an exception to City policy which has been followed in previous situations would set a new precedent. Council members directed staff to proceed with the assessments as proposed in Option # 1. f. City Council Meeting/Department Report Schedule To encourage efficient use of Council meeting time, staff is proposing changes to the monthly department reports of the Police, Public Works, and Parks and Recreation Departments to quarterly presentations, to match up with the Fire Department schedule. Liquor Department reports would continue to be presented semiannually and the Community and Economic Development, Lakeville Arenas and DLBA would continue to present annually. Staff is also proposing to reinstate the practice of introducing all new employees (not just Police and Fire) to Council on a quarterly basis as well as an Envision Lakeville update. Special presentations could be added if issues arise. Council members supported the concept. Anderson asked if a brief financial report could be included in the quarterly or semi-annual schedule. LaBeau asked if Spotlight on Business could be resumed and if Public Works could provide a regular brief status report of road projects during construction season. LaBeau stated that she receives the most comments and feedback about the Police update and would like that to stay in the schedule more often. Davis suggested a brief monthly Police update with a more in-depth quarterly report. Council felt that more and more people will receive updates through the improved City website and social media outlets. Little also stated that this will save staff time in preparing reports. Council believes the updated website will provide additional information for residents and directed staff to begin the new schedule for department reports in January 2016. g. 2016 Council Committees/Inter-Agency Appointments Council received a list of current committee and inter -agency appointments and discussed which committees they would like to serve on in 2016. Changes to appointments will include: the appointment to the DCC Board of Directors is now a two-year term which will run through 2017; the alternate position on the Black Dog Watershed Management Association, which has been vacant for some time, is now open to be filled by a Council member; and the Lakeville City Council Work Session December 14, 2015 Page -7 - Arenas Advisory Committee assignments will be filled by staff and have therefore been removed from the list of Council appointments. Council members are willing to continue to serve on their current committees with a few exceptions. Little stated that beginning in May it will be difficult for him to attend Mayor/Manager and MLC meetings. Anderson is currently the alternate and volunteered to take the assignments. Swecker is willing to accept the two-year DCC Board assignment. Anderson will be the alternate on Black Dog Watershed Management. Council members directed staff to prepare a resolution establishing 2016 Council Committees and Inter -Agency appointments for consideration at the January 4, 2016 meeting. 4. Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, J! . Hawkins, Deputy City Clerk Matt Little, Mayor