HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Minutes 12-10-1997 SpecialAdopted Minutes
Special Council Meeting
December 10, 1997
A special meeting of the Plymouth City Council was called to order by Mayor Tierney at
7:00 PM, in the Public Safety Training Room, 3400 Plymouth Blvd., on December 10,
1997.
COUNCIL PRESENT: Mayor Tierney; Councilmembers Wold, Johnson, Preus, and
Spigner. Councilmember Bildsoe arrived at 7:05 PM; Councilmember Black arrived at
7:30 PM.
ABSENT: None.
STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Johnson, Assistant City Manager Lueckert, Human
Resources Manager Sobania, Public Works Director Moore, Civil Engineer Nummer,
Community Development Director Hurlburt, Park Director Blank, Public Safety Director
Gerdes, Finance Director Hahn, Financial Analyst Kohn, City Attorney Knutson, and
Deputy City Clerk Hoffman.
Motion was made by Councilmember Wold, seconded by Councilmember Preus to
address Agenda Items 2 and 3 in reverse order, in order to accommodate members of the
public at the meeting. Motion carried, four ayes.
Item 1 Street Assessment Policies
Public Works Director Moore explained the three methods of how street
assessments were calculated based on land use. He said that staff has adapted the
formulas used in single family and industrial developments, and is now
recommending application of similar formulas to multiple family housing,
creating a per unit assessment rate.
Public Works Director Moore said that on a per unit basis there was slightly less
traffic at multifamily property. He said staff could not come to any firm
conclusions using federal statistics on traffic in multifamily housing. Staff looked
at overall traffic factors, in an effort to compare street usage to that for single
family housing.
Public Works Director Moore said a public hearing had not yet been held to
obtain public comment on the impact of the assessment policy. He introduced
Mark Milberger and Mitch Rotenberg, citizen members of the City's street
assessment subcommittee.
Mark Milberger said he was concerned that the proposed revisions don't fully
address what the subcommittee was established to do. He said some elements of
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December 10, 1997
Page 2
the street assessment policy have not been addressed accurately and said he was
concerned that the Council may approve the revised street assessment policy
when not all the details are resolved.
Councilmember Preus said the Council should act on the recommendation for
multifamily housing assessment and then consider the bigger issues brought up
for study by the subcommittee.
Motion was made by Councilmember Johnson, seconded by Councilmember
Spigner, to direct staff to prepare a resolution amending the special assessment
policy as it pertains to multifamily parcels.
Councilmember Johnson said staff had done a great job in addressing issues of
assessing multifamily housing. She asked Mitch Rotenberg how the costs of a
larger assessment would be passed down to multifamily housing residents. He
responded that rents are set based on costs and expenses to the property, and
divided and put forth to renters. He said that without further study he could not
say whether a large assessment would raise rent.
Motion carried, six ayes (Black absent).
Councilmembers discussed devoting a study session to the comprehensive study
of the City's assessment policy.
Councilmember Preus supported a study session dedicated to gaining an
explanation of the policy and how it works and a discussion of whether there
should be improvements to it.
Councilmember Wold said while he appreciated the concern that brought it to the
full council, it did not do the issue justice to put it on an agenda with other items.
He said the Council must decide between longer meetings to discuss issues or
more study sessions to focus on an issue.
Mark Milberger said that given the complexity of the issues around the policy, it
was not realistic to tackle in a short session. He said there was a need for citizen
participation in the study, if participants can demonstrate impartiality in any
specific projects.
Councilmember Bildsoe stated he was comfortable with the way assessments
were calculated today. He said if the Council studies the issue further, it should be
in terms of plans for roads over the next ten years. He supported fine tuning the
formula to deal with multifamily housing issues, but not to rework the entire
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December 10, 1997
Page 3
policy. He believed the issue should be addressed by the entire council, rather
than a subcommittee.
Councilmember Johnson suggested that Councilmembers contact staff for
clarifications instead of spending a full session on debating discussed by
subcommittees.
Mark Milberger said he believed Councilmembers would not be able to
adequately grasp the complexities of the policy to enact what's necessary to do it
justice. He said residents complain about the policy every year. He thought part of
the reason for establishing a subcommittee was to study the policy so the Council
would not have to constantly revisit it.
Councilmember Preus said there are three options: to proceed and revisit the
policy as needed; to have a study session and analyze whether changes may be
needed; or to form a subcommittee to analyze the policy and advise the Council.
Councilmember Black arrived at 7:30 PM.
Motion was made by Councilmember Johnson, seconded by Councilmember
Spigner to dedicate a study session before June solely to reviewing the street
assessment policy, and further to invite citizen members of the street assessment
subcommittee to attend to provide pertinent information.
Motion carried, six ayes; Councilmember Black abstained.
Item 3 Status of Labor Negotiations
Manager Johnson reported he had a discussion with the City Attorney on this
topic earlier in the day. He said the City Attorney recommended caution in the
discussion, and that the Council and staff should not have a negotiating session
outside the bargaining team.
Kurt Errickson, representative for the Plymouth Maintenance Workers, AFSCME
Local 3445 said union members are concerned about the use of Sentence to Serve
workers and ICWC workers, two work release programs, and that they have been
unable to reach a meeting of minds with the City labor management team on this
issue. He said the union had concerns that the work release people should not be
assigned where children are playing, such as the Plymouth Ice Arena, hockey
rinks and parks. He said union members are also concerned that some of the work
that has been done is taking away overtime work opportunities for union workers.
He said the failure to come to a resolution regarding the issue is creating a
breakdown in communications between negotiation teams and a breakdown in the
trust and respect between the teams.
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December 10, 1997
Page 4
Mark Milberger asked to address the Council.
Mayor Tierney ruled that Mr. Milberger could make a brief comment, following
which no further comments would be recognized.
Councilmember Spigner asked about the rules of order in allowing public
comment on the issue. She said if the members of the public are permitted to ask
questions and participate in the discussion, some sort of procedure must be
followed. She said she has a number of issues to discuss, but questioned whether
this was the appropriate forum to discuss them.
Motion was made by Councilmember Johnson, seconded by Councilmember
Wold, to appeal the ruling of the chair that would allow public comment. Motion
carried, Councilmembers Spigner, Bildsoe, Wold, and Johnson aye;
Councilmembers Black, Preus, and Mayor Tierney nay.
Mark Milberger again asked to speak. He stated his objection to the Council's
action on the motion.
Councilmember Spigner expressed concern about further discussion of the issues
because negotiations are underway.
Mayor Tierney asked Human Resources Manager Sobania if there is a time when
the union members could come before the council for discussion. Manager
Sobania responded that the appropriateness of discussion would depend on the
issue. Mayor Tierney suggested that the City Attorney should advise on an
appropriate time for discussion.
Motion was made by Councilmember Wold, seconded by Councilmember
Johnson to suspend the rules and move to Agenda Item 2. Motion carried, seven
ayes.
Item 2 "All -Way" Stop Sign Policy
Public Works Director Moore reviewed the moratorium on carrying out the
all -way" stop sign policy. He said staff has created a proposed grading system
for residential stop sign requests based on a point system from the City of
Lakeville. Plymouth staff applied the proposed system to six different
intersections. He recognized Robert Hall in the audience. Director Moore said the
proposed policy would not apply to Gleason Lake Drive, a major collector street,
which was an intersection that concerned Mr. Hall.
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December 10, 1997
Page 5
Public Works Director Moore outlined how the Plymouth intersections scored
under the proposed system. He explained the changes that Plymouth staff
recommended on how grading was done, or to adopt a little different break due to
sight distances. He said of the six intersections analyzed in Plymouth, two would
be recommended for no change with a review in one year, and four would be
justified for placement of "all -way" stop signs.
Councilmembers asked about scoring points for petitioners who live within 500 to
700 feet of the intersection. Public Works Director Moore said this would be
incorporated into the policy by scoring the percentage of residents affected. He
stated that other scoring factors were sight distance determinations, and speed
factors on the intersecting streets. He said these were all scoring considerations,
and would only contribute to the totals on the scoring system, and would not act
as deciding factors.
Public Works Director Moore said exact language in the policy was not needed at
this meeting, simply direction from the Council for staff to proceed to develop a
policy.
Motion by Councilmember Johnson, seconded by Councilmember Black to direct
staff to prepare an "all -way" stop sign policy for the city, based on the Lakeville
City stop sign policy as modified with further consideration given to the influence
of corner residents, pedestrian generated intersection traffic, and telescoped speed
breaks.
Councilmember Bildsoe thanked Councilmember Johnson for getting the
information regarding the Lakeville stop sign policy, and he thanked Public
Works Director Moore for listening to Councilmembers and following their
direction.
Motion carried, seven ayes.
Return to Item 3 Labor Negotiations Update
Motion was made by Councilmember Wold, seconded by Councilmember
Johnson, to close the meeting to the public at 8:25 PM. Motion carried, seven
ayes.
Mayor Tierney reopened the meeting to the public at 9:28 PM.
Item 4 Status of City Reserve Funds
Finance Director Hahn presented Finance Department analysis tracking five of the
city's reserve funds over the next 25 years. He said the City does not have the
cash reserves it had a few years ago, and officials need to pay attention to future
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December 10, 1997
Page 6
equipment repairs, replacement of equipment and demand services and facilities
made by growth in the city.
Item 5 Council Training & Conference Budget
Councilmember Johnson presented a table of 1997 travel conference and
workshop expenditures she said she had asked Finance Director Hahn to prepare.
She asked Councilmembers for a discussion about which 1998 activities they
might be interested in attending and budgeting for those activities.
Motion was made by Councilmember Johnson, seconded by Mayor Tierney to
take $2,500 out of contingency funds to add to the Council travel and conference
budget, creating a line item for 1998 Council travel and conference spending in
the amount of $5,000.
Councilmember Johnson said that $5,000 would be an ample amount for
Councilmembers to take advantage of expenses at conferences and workshops.
She said that if any unused money would go back into unused surplus contingency
accounts.
Mayor Tierney said she strongly encouraged Councilmembers to attend some of
the local and national conferences available to them not only for educational
purposes, but also for the opportunity to lobby state and national legislative
members regarding issues that affect local city operations.
Councilmember Wold stated he thought Councilmembers would examine other
options such as the City payment for meals at functions such as TwinWest
Chamber of Commerce gatherings, as a gesture to groups like TwinWest. He said
2,500 sounds arbitrary, and expressed discomfort with it. He said the Council
should develop in advance plans for what Councilmembers would attend and
participate in.
Councilmember Johnson stated that she was in favor of polling Councilmembers
about what activities they would like to attend ahead of time. She said she did not
get a clear response.
Councilmember Bildsoe said he felt the focus had changed from how much would
be spent on conference attendance and travel to which programs might be
important to the Council.
Councilmember Wold said it was important to get a handle on it before setting a
budget number.
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December 10, 1997
Page 7
Councilmember Black said she knew which conferences she intended to attend.
The qualifying factor for her was the availability of making the time to attend.
Mayor Tierney said she would like Councilmembers reimbursed for expenses in
attending functions such as TwinWest and Municipal Legislative Commission
activities.
Manager Johnson said the proposed policy would allow greater consideration for
what is reimbursable for Councilmembers, as it is already for other City
employees.
Finance Director Hahn said reimbursement for some expenses may need
clarification from the City Attorney's office. He said it may be considered
additional compensation and be taxed as income.
Councilmember Preus said the problem again is not looking ahead to see what
would benefit the City. He said he would like the Council to go back to study the
travel and conference attendance as a policy issue. He said the staff memo lists
conference and meeting items but had no correlation to budgeted amount.
Manager Johnson said attendance at a local conference or meeting would need to
have a clear public benefit. He said if an event came up, Councilmembers would
not need prior Council approval, but could submit for reimbursement after
attending, if they stayed within the one third spending guidelines.
Councilmember Bildsoe said he would like to have a list of what is available for
Council to attend, what the events cost, and allow Councilmembers to state what
programs they are interested in attending, in order to get a better idea of what will
be spent.
Mayor Tierney said that there are so many opportunities all over metro area that it
would be difficult to list in advance. She recommended Councilmembers make
plans to attend a conference or workshop, and then submit requests for
reimbursement of the registration expenses.
Councilmember Black said that she would not submit claims to reimburse her
costs for meeting luncheons and breakfasts, but that she considered conference
registration a different matter.
Motion was made by Councilmember Johnson, seconded by Mayor Tierney to
amend the motion to include in the policy a list of various specific conferences the
Council may consider to attend, and to follow the policy guidelines set for other
city employees.
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December 10, 1997
Page 8
Amendment passed, Mayor Tierney, Councilmembers Johnson and Bildsoe aye;
Councilmember Preus and Wold nay; Councilmembers Spigner and Black
abstained.
Councilmember Spigner said she would vote against the resolution only because
she wanted a further study of what conferences or workshops might merit
attending.
Motion was made by Councilmember Preus, seconded by Councilmember Wold
to call the question. Motion carried, Councilmembers Black, Preus, Spigner, and
Wold aye; Mayor Tierney, Councilmembers Bildsoe and Johnson, nay.
Main Motion failed, Mayor Tierney, Councilmember Johnson aye;
Councilmembers Bildsoe, Black, Preus, Spigner, and Wold nay.
Motion was made by Councilmember Johnson, seconded by Mayor Tierney to set
the Council conference and travel budget at $4,500. Motion failed: Mayor
Tierney and Councilmember Johnson ayes; Councilmembers Bildsoe, Black,
Preus, Spigner, and Wold nays.
Motion was made by Councilmember Wold, seconded by Councilmember Preus, to
adjourn the meeting at 10:25 PM. Motion carried, six ayes, Councilmember Johnson nay.
Kurt Hoff
Deputy City Clerk