HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Information Memorandum 09-18-1989r
CITY OF PLYMOUTH
3400 PLYMOUTH BLVD., PLYMOUTH, MINNESOTA 55447
TELEPHONE (612) 559-2800
MEMO
DATE: September 18, 1989
TO: Mayor & City Council
FROM: James G. Willis, City Manager
SUBJECT STATUS REPORT - 1990 CITY COU CIL BUDGET PRIORITIES AND OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this memorandum is to update you on the status of the various
elements of your 1990 Budget Priorities and Objectives. You may wish to
bring this memo to the Budget Study Sessions, although a copy of the
Council's Budget Priorities and Objectives is included in my budget message.
Adopted
8/7/89
1990
CITY COUNCIL BUDGET PRIORITIES AND OBJECTIVES
1. RESPONSIBILITY ACCOUNTABILITY PRODUCTIVITY EFFICIENCY BALANCE AND
Status
9/18/89
CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS
This objective is ongoing.
These six concepts should guide each department in their day-to-day
activities toward accomplishing departmental and city objectives.
II. PUBLIC SAFETY
The City Council believes that the protection of the public health,
welfare and safety is of primary importance. Accordingly, the following
goals are established:
1. Or Awareness Education Efforts. Establish and support the Drug
The Council has indicated its support of the DARE
use esistance ducation (DARE) program effective January 1990.
program. Public Safety Director Carlquist has
This program is to be conducted in elementary schools within the
selected four officers to undergo training for the
community on an invitation basis insofar as our resources permit.
program which will commence in January 1990.
During 1990 the program is anticipated to be offered at four elemen
$10,000 has been set aside for supplies for this
Lary schools.
program within the police budget for 1990; this
amount could be reduced depending upon the success
of Dick Carlquist's fundraising efforts.
2. Fire Station I. The Council has retained the architectural firm of
We have had several meetinqs with the Trossen-
rosse�ight to undertake a study to determine the City's needs
Wright Architects and will present to the Council
with respect to Fire Station I. Once this report has been received
on October 6, their report and recommendations
and reviewed by the Council, a decision will be made to either
with respect to Fire Station 1.
remodel and expand Fire Station I, or demolish it and construct a
new one.
3. Public Safet Personnel. The City Council shall continue to give
The Public Safety Director has recommended that
gh pr ority to personnel requests for police officers in the
two additional sworn personnel be added to his
Public Safety Department. The Council is sensitive to the personnel
staff in 1990. My budget incorporates that recom-
implications associated with the continued development and matura
mendation. The Public Safety Director is also
tion of the community. It is recognized that this process will
working on a longer range project dealing with the
change resident service expectations to include protective inspec
allocation of his manpower based upon the
tion.
geographic area of the community as well as
frequencies of calls of service.
4. Police Accreditation Pro ram. The Council has directed the City
The Police Accreditation Program is underway; the
anager to proceed w th thePolice Accreditation Program on a timely
Public Safety Director believes that during 1990
basis. It projected that the accreditation program will be
good progress will be made towards developing many
completed prior to the end of 1991.
of the policies which are required for ultimate
police accreditation. It is not anticipated that
accreditation will be completed later in 1991,
although this date could "slip" depending upon the
manpower required to develop the various policies
and procedures.
5. Police Reserve Program. This program is beginning to demonstrate
At the current time there are seven police
great potential. Additional reservists need to be recruited and
reservists who have been fully trained. During
trained so as to develop a cadre of persons available to serve the
1990, the Public Safety Director hopes to increase
community in a variety of volunteer capacities.
the reserve force by an additional four personnel.
III. WATER SYSTEM
The continuous availability of safe, potable water is essential to the
development of the community and for public health and safety purposes.
Accordingly, the Council establishes the following objectives.
I. Production of Water - Ensure that future well construction is
The proposed 1990-94 Capital Improvement Program
completed before supply difficulties arise. Consider the acceleration
(CIP) will be recommending the acceleration by one
of the development of Wells 13 and 14 from 1991 and 1993 to 1990 and
year, of Wells 13 and 14 in 1990 and 1992, and the
1992 as part of the 1990-1995 Capital Improvement Program review this
addition of Well 15 in 1994.
fall.
2. Water Towers and Water Distribution S stem. Ensure the timely
The 1990 CIP will recommend substantial extensions
completion o water trunkma ns as contemplated in the current
of trunk watermain primarily for the purposes of
construction season, as well as the five-year capital improvement
strengthening the existing system as well as to
program. The Council has awarded a contract for a new 3 million
open new areas for development. The new 3 million
gallon reservoir which is to be completed and in service by December
gallon reservoir, currently under contract, is
1990.
scheduled for completion p prior to December 1990.
Wells 11 and 12 are currently under construction
and will be in service in June 1990.
1990 CITY COUNCIL BUDGET PRIORITIES AND OBJECTIVES
Page two
CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS
IV. STREETS AND UTILITIES
The
conveyance of people, public safety vehicles and products throughout
the
community is essential for community development and safety. The
City
Council promotes the following objectives in this regard:
1.
Infrastruction Re lacement. The City commenced the infrastructure
The first year of this program is nearing comple-
rep aI cement program n1989. This program shall continue on an
tion. The Council's Assessment Committee will be
annual basis in accordance with the previously approved Short-
meeting shortly to review the costs and make
Elliot -Hendrickson (SEH) study. The Council will review the 1990
recommendations with respect to the special
program as part of its review of the 1990-1994 CIP. The City
assessments. The 1990-94 CIP will include our
Council's Special Assessment Committee is to make specific recommen-
annual recommendations for this ongoing program.
dations regarding financing of the 1990 program prior to March, 31,
1990.
2.
Infrastructure Reserve Fund. Place continuing emphasis upon build-
The proposed budget contemplates the continuance
Ing the funding necessary for infrastructure maintenance and
of the Infrastructure Reserve Fund levy at
replacement through annual levy.
$862,000, this is consistent with the previous
financing plan reviewed by the City Council.
3.
Snow owing. Consider as part of the annual budget review the
In the 1989-90 snowplowing season we will be
posylbty of converting one or more private snowplowing routes to
taking over one additional snowplowing route. The
city crew responsibility to enhance service quality. Also evaluate:
Public Works Director, Public Works Maintenance
1) methods to improve cul-de-sac plowing; 2) appropriateness of
Superintendent, and Street Superintendent are
shifting routes between contractor and city crews; and 3) expanding
collectively reviewing means by which we might
the sidewalk/trail snowplowing program.
improve our snowplowing services on cul-de-sacs.
Because of other budgetary priorities, I have not
recommended that we assume additional snowplowing
routes for the 1990-91 snowplowing season. My
budget does contemplate expanding the existing
program of snowplowing our sidewalks and trails.
Attached as Exhibit A is a map illustrating the
City's sidewalk/trail system and the sidewalks
which we have been plowing this past year. We
also indicated on that map the new trails which we
propose to add. This addition does not contem-
plate new personnel or equipment. Mark Peterson
Is concerned that by undertaking this effort, we
will pushing our equipment utilization, and if we
have any equipment failure, we will fall behind
not only plowing the trails, but also ice rinks.
The manpower utilized for the snowplowing the
additional trails will come from ice rink mainten-
ance and the Council can expect to receive
complaints that ice rinks are not plowed as
rapidly as heretofore. That is the trade-off for
undertaking efforts to plow additional trails.
4.
Caital Im rovement Program. To effectively meet the City's growing
The overall review of the Capital Improvement
popu ation, it is imperative that the City's annual Capital
Program this year has been delayed largely as a
Improvement Program (CIP) be executed in a timely fashion. The
result of the Metropolitan Council's review of our
Council shall be committed to undertaking approved capital improvement
request to expand our Urban Service Area through
projects in a timely fashion, and thereafter, the City staff shall
the decade of the 1990's. The Metropolitan
work to ensure that the projects are promptly undertaken and completed
Council has now approved an expansion which will
in accordance with time schedules reviewed and approved by the
permit the City to open up 1,800 acres during the
Council.
next several years. After 1990 census data are
In, and assuming the census data confirms the
growth of Plymouth is greater than presumed by the
Metropolitan Council, we will again request an
expansion of our development area out to the MUSA
line.
V. ENVIRONMENTAL
The
development of the community should not take place at the expense of
the
environment and the natural amenities of the community. The follow-
ing
objectives must be pursued:
1.
Solid Waste Recycling. The voluntary solid waste recycling program
We project no difficulty in the City's meeting the
must continue and expand through 1990. The monthly recycling
County's goals for recycling 8,658 tons, or in
tonnage goal should average 721 tons (8,658 tons annually) in 1990,
qualifying for the maximum County funding of 8C
representing achievement of a 16 percent reduction in solid wastes
percent of the total expenditures. If we recycle
going to landfills. In 1990 the residential recycling goal shall be
29191 residential tons (183 tons/month) we will
2,191 tons. The City must continue to maximize its participation in
qualify for maximum County funding. At the
the Hennepin County recycling program, particularly working to
current time we are recycling 250 tons monthly.
ensure that we meet or exceed residential recycling goals.
Dick Pouliot and Jerry Sisk have been working with
Hennepin County to ensure that the present 80-2C
funding ratio continues through the year. Our
budget contemplates that continuation.
1990 CITY COUNCIL BUDGET PRIORITIES AND OBJECTIVES
CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS
Page three
2. Environmental Development Standards. The City is to consistently and
This is an ongoing requirement. The budget
aggressively enforce environmental standards for development, includng
proposes an additional engineering technician
erosion control, approved grading plans, landscaping, EIS and EAW
whose work would include working with residents to
criteria, and traffic analysis on a continuing basis.
assist in solving an increasing number of drainage
problems/complaints as well as helping to enforce
the Council's erosion control policy.
3. Wetlands, Ponds and Lakes. Plymouth's storm drainage plan reorganize
The legislature approved our bill to amend the
the environmental value of wetlands, ponds and lakes, and the need to
storm sewer improvement tax district law in order
preserve them. These natural and/or manmade features assist in
that our Capital Improvement Programs would not
reducing urban water run-off rates, filter and trap sediments and
sunset after seven years. We were not successful
nutrients which are detrimental to water quality, provide habitat to
though of reinstating the earlier provision that
wildlife and aesthetically enhance the urban landscape. They are
provided that the levy was outside of levy
resources which must not only be preserved, but maintained. The
limits. Nonetheless, my budget includes S388,870
Council intends to develop and fund programs in 1990 to:
for the purposes of continuing to fund our four
storm sewer Improvement districts. Our compre-
a. Remove silt from water bodies serving as direct receivers of
hensive storm water plan will also be updated in
street and storm drainage.
1990. My budget also includes $5,000 in the Park
Maintenance Budget for the purposes of seeking to
b. Control of Purple Loosestrife, Eurasian Water Milfoil and other
control Purple Loosestrife and Eurasian Water
nuisance vegetation associated with water bodies over which the
Millfoil and other nuisance vegetation on city
City assumes moisture authority/responsibility.
property adjacent to bodies of water.
VI. PARK FACILITIES
The City's park facilities are an important community resource and the
The continued growth of our population is placing
recreation program assists in improving the quality of living in
pressure on our community playfields in parti-
Plymouth. The Council establishes the following objectives with respect
cular. We also need to continue to expand the
to each:
City's trail system particularly linking existing
trail segments together as well as extending new
I. Develo ment of New Facilities. Development of new park facilities
trails along areas where particularly heavy use is
shall cont nue to respond to the needs for those facilities and the
expected. Monies for this work are planned to
capacity of the community to pay for such facilities. Such develop-
come exclusively from the City's Park Dedication
ment must not be at the expense of existing programs and/or mainten-
fund. A task force of several staff members is
ance of existing facilities. Evaluate necessity of park
currently finalizing a report on the needs for
maintenance/storage facility for long-term needs. Provide infor-
additional maintenance/storage facilities. A copy
mation on both of the above topics to the City Council prior to
of that report will be provided to the Council on
budget cycle.
September 22.
2. Plan and Initiate a Long Range Trail Overla /Seal Coatin Program. It
I have included $60,000 within the proposed budget
is deemed important to provide adequate unds to promote and extend
to establish a fund to ensure that our City's
the functional life of the City's trail system. It is also important
parks and trails are not only maintained from a
to maximize the opportunity for the public to safely use these
preventive maintenance basis, but are also
facilities on a year round basis.
reconstructed when necessary. I anticipate this
will be an ongoing fiscal requirement on much the
same basis as the Infrastructure Replacement
Reserve Fund provides funds for the replacement of
our City streets. The Park Maintenance budget
also includes $11,000 for routine trail
maintenance.
3. Commmmit Center. Establish, administer, and monitor a process
I anticipate that the Council will review the
providin or the undertaking of this project in accordance with
Community Center design/development drawings and
approved plans and specifications, construction contracts, and budget,
updated construction costs estimates at the
with construction projected to be completed prior to the end of 1990.
October 2 meeting.
VII. STAFFING
The business of the City is to deliver services. This is accomplished
by people for people. Accordingly, the City Council has adopted the
following positions:
I. Staffing. Ensure the best value for the personnel dollar by compen-
My proposed budget requests eight additional new
sating employees appropriately relative to the market. Ensure that
personnel for the City, six of whom are within the
temporary, part-time or seasonal personnel arrangements are
General Fund. One of these positions is a
periodically analyzed to determine that such arrangements are more
personnel coordinator. With the advent of
cost effective than adding full-time employees.
comparable worth, we have made diligent and good
faith efforts to comply with the spirit as well as
the intent of the new state law. It has created
some difficulties, particularly because of the
current conflict between comparable worth and the
existing market rates for some positions. During
this year, we have had to make some adjustments in
our compensation rates (not the compensation plan)
due to market factors in several positions most
notably building inspectors and appraisers. With
regard to seasonal, temporary and part time
positions, we seek to maintain good data on the
market. It is getting particularly difficult to
hire longer term "temporary" or "seasonal"
workers, largely because so few people look for
such employment.
1990 CITY COUNCIL BUDGET PRIORITIES AND OBJECTIVES
Page four
CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS
2. Recruitment. Efforts to hire personnel required to accomplish City
Recruitment of new employees takes longer than any
responsibilities are to be promptly undertaken and swiftly concluded
of us desire. The new personnel position will
so as to minimize position vacancies.
assist us in reducing the time this requires.
However, in recruiting new personnel, we do seek
•
to take a very deliberate approach to ensure that
the person ultimately selected is best suited for
his/her position. The costs and problems assoc-
iated with "dehiring" a person are becoming very
substantial.
3. Service Priorities. As the community matures, different service
Increasing personnel responsibilities, which are
levels and priorities can be expected which may require redirection of
spelled out in more detail in my budget message,
staff resources to ensure that the new service is effectively
clearly indicate the time has come to add a
delivered. The addition of a Human Resources Specialist is to be
personnel professional to our staff. I recognize
investigated for addition in 1990.
this is a "overhead" position in the sense it is
not directed to deliver service to the citizens
but is, I believe, essential to ensure that we
have the staffing necessary to deliver those
VIII. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
services.
The Comprehensive Plan for Plymouth has been adopted to provide the
framework for ongoing development within the community. The continuing
implementation of the various planning elements is a high priority of
this Council.
1. Developer Interface. The City staff is expected to work effectively
The City staff has continued to meet periodically
and cooperatively with all persons seeking to develop in Plymouth.
with the Development Council as well as special
The Development Review Committee (DRC) has been established to
committees of the Development Council to facili-
coordinate the various city departments as the main interface with
tate better working relationships and procedures.
developers. The Planning Division shall inform all developers of
I believe the process continues to be beneficial
city development requirements and status of applications, and shall
for all parties and participants. The Community
process applications in an expeditious manner.
Development staff has also developed and continues
to update handouts and data to persons seeking to
develop in the community in order that they may be
more fully informed of our requirements.
2. Interface With Homeowners. The Building Inspection Division is
The 1990 budget also includes a plans examiner for
increasingly called upon to provide advice and assistance to home-
the Community Development Department. This
owners seeking information regarding construction procedures, design
position will provide additional resources
criteria, and code requirements for building modifications and addi-
necessary to assist in the review of homeowner
tions. These contacts create a significant demand on available time
submitted building/planning applications which
of personnel within the division and especially upon non-technical
continue to increase.
personnel in the office since technical staff are often in the
field. Reasonable assistance to citizens 13 deemed to be a service
to be provided, and it will be within the capabilities of available
resources.
3. Marketin of P1 mouth Downtown Area - Consider strategies the City
Ongoing. There have been some indications that
could take to encourage deve opment of downtown Plymouth, recogniz-
Super Valu and Trammel Crow have interest in
ing that the property is privately owned and controlled.
developing within the downtown Plymouth area. I
have also had a contact from a real estate broker
who is seeking to incorporate the Cavanaugh parcel
Into a development which could also include the
Super Valu and other parcels south of 36th and
west of Plymouth Boulevard. The Super Valu
parcel, in my view, is the key piece in the
development of downtown Plymouth.
4. Senior Housin . In 1990 the City Council will resolve the Senior
I plan to have a report to the City Council at the
using ssue either to develop market rate and/or subsidized housing
October 16 meeting dealing with senior housing.
and to dispose or use the senior site accordingly.
At that time, I anticipate having a recommendation
prepared on a means for proceeding with one or
more developers to provide for the development of
senior housing on the site currently owned by the
City.
1990 CITY COUNCIL BUDGET PRIORITIES AND OBJECTIVES
' Page five
CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS
5. CJprehensive Plan Update. The City staff and Council are presently
The Metropolitan Council has ,fust approved an
working to update t eity's Comprehensive Plans. One element of this
amendment to the City's Comprehensive Plan provid-
involves the resolution of the current MUSA dipute with the
Ing for the addition of 1,800 acres for develop -
Metropolitan Council. Other features deal with the adjustment of the
ment. This step was required in order that we can
City's Land Use Guide Plan and the reconciliation of that plan to the
move forward to continue the further updating of
other Comprehensive Plan elements. These efforts are to be a major
our City's comprehensive plans. The Council has
priority to meet the anticipated growth of the 1990's.
already spent a considerable amount of time
reviewing Planning Commission's recommendation on
the Land Use Guide Plan, and these taken in
conjunction with the other elements of the Compre-
hensive Plan, will provide us with the tools to
develop strategies for development through the
early 19901s.
IX. CITY FACILITIES
City facilities, including parks, buildings and equipment, represent an
investment of public funds. The city, as steward of such assets, must
continually maintain satisfactory maintenance levels to extend the
useful life of such investments, maximize usability for the purpose for
which intended and minimize liability exposure. To accomplish this
objective the staff will:
1. Facilities Magna emenntt. The City has a growing number of buildings
My proposed budget contemplates the hiring of a
o�hich itresponsible. These facilities represent a substan-
property management coordinator. This person will
tial public investment and the maintenance and preservation of these
be responsible for all duties associated with the
assets requires focused attention. A single individual should be
physical maintenance and preservation of our
considered whose responsibility will be to oversee the physical
buildings.
maintenance and preservation of all City buildings.
2. Annual Inspection Efforts -- Utilize the services available through
The City's Safety Committee has previously
city insurance companies/administrators to inspect all city -owned
organized Inspections on an annual basis for all
parks, buildings and installations at least once per year to Iden-
city owned properties and facilities. These
tify appropriate repairs or steps to minimize liability exposure.
inspections involve the appropriate City staff and
maintenance personnel, risk management
professionals, as well as our risk manager.
3. Ongoing Efforts. At least monthly, high usage areas such as parks
City maintenance staff personnel, particularly
N22be inspected to identify and correct deficiencies. A record
within the Parks Department, record on a monthly
shall be maintained of such repairs and inspections. The community
basis the results of their inspections all parks.
improvement reminder card program will supplement these efforts.
These inspections also provide the division with a
better means to forecast maintenance requirements
which are reflected in their operating budget
requests. Community reminder cards which are
submitted by other city personnel as well as
Council members provide us with an ongoing means
of trying to correct and keep on top of potential
safety problems throughout the community. These
efforts will be ongoing.
4. Community Safety Efforts. Develop a means to ensure that all
Our new risk manager is currently becoming
identified community safety issues are systematically considered and
acquainted with our operations as well as the
appropriately resolved. The existing Safety Committee shall serve as
scope of all our activities. He will be meeting
the primary body to achieve this objective. The issue shall be
with the Safety Committee and becoming familiar
studied to determine if new members should be added to the existing
with its work. To date no progress has been made
committee or if another committee should be established.
as to whether or not additional members should be
added to the existing Safety Committee or whether
or not another committee should be established.
X. PROPERTY TAXES
The City Council is responsible for about 15 percent of local residents'
The proposed 1990 City budgets project that the
property tax bill. For taxes payable in 1989, the City Council was able
City's tax capacity rate will decrease for the
to adopt property tax levies which resulted in a very modest decrease in
second year in a row. While these decreases have
residential property taxes used for city purposes. The City o- unc�T is
been modest, they do recognize the fact that the
committed to developing a budget resulting In 1990 residental property
City's tax capacity has increased more rapidly
taxes which will not increase taxes for city purposes on Individual
than the combination of both growth and Infla-
property taxpayers; providing the legislature does not alter presently
tionary pressures on the budget.
existing tax laws. The City Council has no voice in establishing the
property taxes collected by other governmental units such as school
districts and Hennepin County.