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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-22-10 WSMinutes Lakeville City Council Work Session March 22, 2010 In attendance: Mayor Holly Dahl Council Member Mark Bellows Council Member Laurie Rieb Council Member Kerrin Swecker Council Member Kevin Miller Staff: Steve Mielke, City Administrator Char Friedges, City Clerk Dennis Feller, Finance Director Tom Vonhof, Police Chief Brenda Visnovec, Liquor Manager Judi Hawkins, Deputy City Clerk The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by Mayor Holly Dahl. ITEM #1 — Gambling application: Finnegan's / Green Mill Finnegan's Community Fund has submitted an application to conduct lawful gambling at the Green Mill Restaurant in Lakeville. The organization is proposing to apply to the State Gambling Control Board for a lawful gambling premises permit for pull -tabs and bar bingo. To be eligible to conduct lawful gambling in the City of Lakeville an organization must meet at least one of four requirements defined in the ordinance. Although Finnegan's Community Fund is a registered 5010 organization, it does not meet any of the requirements. The city attorney has determined that if the Council wishes to approve this application, an ordinance amendment would be required, since exceptions to this ordinance would not be allowed. The intent of the ordinance is to reserve charitable gaming for local fraternal, religious, veterans', or youth based organizations for fundraising purposes. Modifying the ordinance would open gambling to any organization. Finnegan's is proposing to return 100% of the gambling proceeds back to need -based programs in the community. An additional stipulation could be for all monies to stay in the community; however, the City does not currently regulate how proceeds are to be disbursed and has no system in place to monitor. Council members asked how this change would affect current license holders since this would open the potential to other organizations. An amended ordinance would place greater competition on local non - profit organizations who donate their profits to community -wide causes. Current permit holders include Lakeville Hockey Association, Lions Club, Knights of Columbus and VFW Post 210. The representative from Green Mill stated that they might look at one of those organizations if the ordinance remains as is. City Council Work Session Minutes March 22, 2010 Page -2- Council members directed staff to inform the applicant that they support the current ordinance and do not wish to consider an ordinance amendment at this time. ITEM #2 — Tattoo /Body Piercing Ordinance revisions As part of the current tattoo and body piercing ordinance license holders must comply with health and sanitation requirements. The ordinance further requires the City of Lakeville to conduct a random inspection of each facility each year to insure compliance. The license holder must also have the facility inspected annually by a health professional. Staff is questioning the justification for application and license fees also. Since there is no health professional on staff at the City of Lakeville, the City Clerk is recommending that the portion of the City Code requiring a city- initiated health inspection be removed. The amended ordinance would more clearly define "health professional" and continue to require annual inspections initiated by the licensee, putting the burden of inspections on the operator. Staff is further recommending that the current application fee be deleted from the ordinance to coincide with actual administrative costs. Tattoo and body piercing businesses are currently not regulated by the State or the counties. A bill currently in the legislature would license and regulate these businesses on a state level. If the bill becomes law, the City would no longer have the responsibility of compliance inspections. It is also recommended that the license term would be for one calendar year, January 1 through December 31, to be consistent with other licenses. Council directed staff to express support for the legislation currently being considered that would license and regulate tattoo and body piercing on a state level, and to delay any ordinance amendment until it is determined what decision is made in the legislature. It was also suggested that if the City continues to conduct health and sanitation compliance checks, there might be a possibility for shared services through Dakota County. ITEM #3 — School /Community Chemical Prevention Program At a previous budget work session City Council discussed the value of the Chemical Prevention Program and asked for information on how the funds are used and the success rate of the program. Police Chief Tom Vonhof was present and gave an overview of the School /Community Prevention Specialist position. The City of Lakeville funds one -third of this position, or $18,650 this year, and School District 194 funds the remaining two - thirds. The City of Lakeville's financial support comes entirely from Liquor funds. The program promotes youth education and prevention efforts and focuses on reducing at -risk behaviors with drugs and alcohol. The Lakeville Police Department has experienced success with a three -part approach to dealing with underage drug and alcohol use: education, prevention and enforcement. The annual student survey is one of the tools used to gauge the success of the prevention program. City Council Work Session Minutes March 22, 2010 Page -3- Also in attendance were LPD Sgt. John Kornmann, Liquor Director Brenda Visnovec, School Community Prevention Specialist Judy Johnson, and ISD 194 Curriculum Director Barb Knudsen. The group provided information and a general overview of the program's evolution, accomplishments and success. Since 2006 the community has benefited from the program by realizing a general reversal of the trend of increasing underage alcohol violations. An additional component to that success is the Social Host Ordinance which is now being used as a model in many communities in the state. The mission of Lakeville Liquors is to provide a means to control the sale and distribution of alcohol. There is a positive working relationship between Lakeville Liquors, Lakeville Police Department and the school district on several programs including "sticker shock ", SAAD, Pure Performance, Best Practices, and distribution of educational materials. The efforts have resulted in greater communication between the Police Department and the schools with a consistent message of prevention. Council members thanked the group for their input and asked if they could receive more frequent updates. They also asked to receive the results of the upcoming student survey. ITEM #4 — Program and Service Analysis /Priorities During the budget process Council directed that a prioritization process of services and programs be developed. Finance Director Dennis Feller presented information to assist with future budget preparations. A long term vision was adopted by Council as part of the Strategic Plan in 2008, and short term decisions which are made now will help to maintain that focus and ensure that goals are met. Since the Legislature is still in session, information that will determine what further cuts will be imposed on the City by the state are not available. For this reason specific long -range budgeting is not yet possible; however, long term goals and visions need to be discussed and clarified by the City Council to achieve sustained fiscal health and consistent services. Council is being asked to consider several approaches to the development of future budgets. First, staff is asking that City service priorities be established by preparing tools to identify and develop a valuation and prioritization system. Second, citizen input would be accomplished through surveys of citizens and businesses to determine what services are most important to those who live and work in Lakeville, and satisfaction levels. Third, a long -term approach to developing future budgets can be achieved by using a two -year budget and a five -year capital improvement plan. Department directors will be asked to assist with the internal portion of the assessment. The City Council will be asked to provide policy level guidance. Citizen and business portions of the survey would be conducted by a professional group and will be funded with Cable Dept. funds. City Council Work Session Minutes March 22, 2010 Page -4- Council directed staff to prepare a questionnaire to assist with the development of a ranking system of City services and to work with department directors to assess internal services. Council members asked to receive quarterly updates on the status of the budget. ITEM #5 — Other • State of the City Address: The address is scheduled for April 14th at the Holiday Inn. The Mayor and City Administrator will collaborate on the presentation. • Council Member Rieb will not be available to attend the April 19th Council meeting. Interagency Committee and Board Reports • DCC: Kent Therkelsen has announced his retirement. A search for his replacement has begun. • Lakeville Arenas: Air quality legislation has been proposed that could impact costs at the arenas. • 1 -35 Solutions Alliance: A consultant has been hired to prepare and prioritize a list of needs along the corridor. • Cedar Corridor Improvement Group: The plan is at 95% completion level. Construction easements are being sought. • DLBA: following the resignation of Nancy Smith, the new president of the DLBA is Paul Haglund. • HiPP: The HiPP committee is meeting with Scott County representatives to exchange ideas for shared services. Some community input will be solicited to refresh and rejuvenate the group. ITEM #6 — Adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Hawkins AV' Clerk HoW Dahl Mayor