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Home My WebLink About06-11-07 WS__ _ i~11E`ir ~~~,~ 1 ~~ ~!T Minutes City of Lakeville City Council Work Session Monday, June ii, 200 @ 5;0o p.m. Marion Conference Room, Lakeville City Hall In attendance: Mayor Holly Dahl and Council Members David Luick, Laurie Rieb, Wendy Wulff, and Mark Bellows. Also in attendance: City Administrator Steve Mielke, Assistant to City Administrator Brian Anderson, Finance Director Dennis Feller, Parks & Recreation Director Steve Michaud, Operations & Maintenance Director Don Volk, Community and Economic Development Director David Olson and Decision Resources Representatives Dr Bill Morris and Peter Leatherman. . i. Decision Resources -Community Survey Review Dr. Bill Morris presented to the City. Council the results of the 200 Community Survey. Overall, Lakeville residents rated the City with very high marks in most areas including quality of life, community identity, value of City services, and planning and development.. Dr. Morris classified the resident's response to Lakeville's property taxes as a moderate tax hostility climate, which is normal across the metro due to the current housing and market conditions. Dr. Morris then went into detail regarding some of the more specific issues regarding transit, environmental emphasis, preserving natural open space, and property maintenance code issues. After a brief discussion, the City Council thanked Dr. Morris for his presentation and directed staff to schedule Dr. Morris to present at that July 2nd City Council Meeting. 2. Debt Financing - 200 Mr. Feller informed the City Council that the Capital Improvement Plan for 20o~-2oii anticipated the issuance of approximately $32 m of debt in the coming year in order to finance various improvement projects. Based on favorable bids received for the various projects in recent months, the bond issues can be reduced. Mr. Feller then outlined a summary of the debt financing structure as outlined in the packet. Mr. Feller also outlined various options and how they would impact the tax levy and property taxes in the coming years. After much discussion, the City Council chose Option A which would reduce the bond terms on various projects through 2oii and increase the tax levy by 6.3%, 4z%, and 3.6% for the years 2009-o2oii. • . 3. Oak Wilt Grant Program Mr. Michaud informed the City Council that on July 6, 1981, City Council approved Ordinance number 188 which adopted by reference Minnesota statutes section 18.023 and 18.o2q. regarding shade tree disease control. Since 1993, the City of Lakeville has been participating in an Oak Wilt Suppression Grant Program through a MN Releaf Forest Health Grant. 2006 was the 14tH consecutive year of administrating oak wilt control programs in the City of Lakeville. The purpose of this program is to assist homeowners financially to combat the spread of oak wilt. During the 2005-2006 control season, 37 oak wilt sites were treated under this program. A total of 45 potential spore-producing red oaks were removed and 1,825 feet of vibratory plow lines were installed to stem the overland spread of oak wilt. Also residents injected 62 red oaks with fungicides as precautionary measures to inoculate these at-risk trees from oak wilt. During the early years of the grant program, participants received a maximum of $50o as a cost share program for the treatment of oak wilt on their properties. Currently, the maximum is $~50. City staff has found the participation in the Minnesota Releaf Oak Wilt Suppression Grant program to be a very time-consuming, administrative process. New guidelines for 200-2008 are becoming more and more demanding. City staffs opinion is that this program is moving towards another unfunded mandate. At the present time, ordinances require residents to remove diseased trees from sites within established guidelines. However, previous City Council direction has been through voluntary compliance whereby residents work with the City Forester who diagnosed, analyzed, and established plans (including grant funding opportunities) to effectively treat the sites. Staff has not aggressively pursued known "hot spots" of oak wilt stands throughout the community; unless a homeowner made a direct phone call to the City Forester concerning a neighbor who had diseased trees in close proximity to his/her property. One other exception is that developers are required to treat and remove diseased trees as part of their development contracts. A new State of Minnesota criterion to being awarded grant funds involves agreeing to treat. entire infected centers that may involve multiple properties beyond the single applicant requesting grant assistance. This would require the city to force several adjacent residents to effectively treat their areas. City Council agreed that Lakeville should opt out of the program and directed staff to create a program that would provide financial assistance to qualifying residents. Staff will develop a program and bring it back to City Council for further discussion. 4. Radio Read Water Meters Mr. Volk presented to the City Council a fixed base system for reading water meters that relies on data transmission from the meters directly to the utility database through a centralized radio network. The recent development of a transmitter with a 20-year service life can be mounted on the exterior of the house and has fundamentally changed the way in which installation and implementation of a fixed base system can be approached. Since the new transmitter attaches to the touch pad, installation requires no appointment to enter the residence and can be done by Utility Department staff. The greatest cost in implementing a fined base system is associated with the transmitters. Each • transmitter costs approximately $113.00 and there are approximately 16,699 existing meters in the City for a total of $l.g million with the payback being close to even after 20 years. ~~ge 2 cif 3 f To operate, the system requires one base station, a networked computer to act as the regional network interface, and hand-held devices to test the installation of each transmitter. With a fixed base radio .frequency system; all of the processes from meter data collection to billing reside with the Utility Billing Clerk, eliminating the contract meter reader. This facilitates efficient gathering of information for reporting and billing purposes, enables better monitoring of summer peak water use and trends, eliminates the need to put staff on the road to read or reread meters,. and reduces data collection errors. City Council directed staff to bring forth a proposal for purchasing the fixed base system at an up coming City Council meeting. 5. 200 Downtown Action Plan Mr. Olson addressed the City Council by stating the Development Guide suggests that the Annual Action Plan be prepared with the input of Downtown stakeholders. Staff has- attempted to obtain input in a number of ways including individual meetings and other communications with key stakeholder groups such as-the Downtown Lakeville Business Association (DLBA), Art Center Board and Friends of the Art Center and the Lake Marion Association. Staff has also attempted to solicit input through publicizing possible action items for the coming year through the use of the City's Web site and distributing the information via the list serve that was established during the preparation of the Development Guide. Downtown area residents also had the opportunity to provide input on land use and transportation planning. issues during the first round of neighborhood meetings that were held earlier this spring in conjunction with the 2008 Comprehensive Plan Update process. Based on the stakeholder input that has been received, staff would recommend the items outlined in the document be included in the 200 Annual Action Plan for the City Council's consideration. City Council agreed with the development guide and directed staff to bring it forth at an upcoming Council Meeting for consideration. 6. Proposed Downtown Retail Building and "Market Park" Project Mr. Olson informed City Council that staff has met with Mark Hotzler several times over the past several months regarding a proposed retail building on the vacant lot he owns located south of the former Enggrens Mall at Holyoke and 208th Street. The concept plan that has been prepared by Mr. Hotzler's architect, with input from City staff, for the development of this parcel have attempted to incorporate elements of the 208th Street Plaza concept that was included in the approved Downtown Development Guide. City Council directed staff to continue to work with Mr. Hotzler to incorporate the retail businesses into the downtown development guide as presented. Respectfully submitted, ~v~as,. ~. ar~.a~an. Brian J. Anderson Assistant to City Administrator • t'age ;3 caf