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08-12-08 CM Minutes Council/Manager Meeting Minutes August 12, 2008 Present: Mayor Loomis and Council Members Freiberg, Pentel, Scanlon and Shaffer. City Manager Tom Burt, Public Works Director Jeannine Clancy, Police Chief Stacy Altonen, Director of Fire and Inspections Mark Kuhnly, Finance Director Sue Virnig, Park and Recreation Director Rick Jacobson and Assistant City Manager Jeanne Andre. The meeting began at 6:35 pm in the Council Conference Room. 2007 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report Bill Lauer of the auditing firm of Malloy Montague Karnowski Radosevich and Company, presented the 2007 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and Management Report. He noted that the City's report of it's financial position has an unqualified, "clean" opinion. He reviewed highlights from the Management Report noted two comments 1) limited segregation of duties in Administrative Services and a redesignation of an asset recorded in a revenue fund that should be in the general fund. He noted that the new auditing standards required that in 2007 the City must allocate all assets on record going back to 1980, which has modified the Statement of Net Assets, first required in 2004. 2009 General Fund Proposed Budget The Council asked questions about the proposed 2009 budget for Building Operations, Public Works Administration, Engineering Streets, Park Maintenance, Park and Recreation Administration, Recreation Programs, the Community Center, Police, Fire and Inspections. Capital items to be acquired in 2009 were also reviewed. Questions raised which were not addressed at the meeting include: the aggregate cost of fuel for all departments, the aggregate cost of safety training, the park mowing schedule, proposed generator purchase for 2009, when the MnPass Contract for enforcement services is up, the number of bridges the City inspects and an itemized list of park projects undertaken with funds designated for ADA improvements. Sue Virnig circulated the most recent budget summary pages which reflect an increase in the City's base levy limit, which was expanded from 3.9 to 4.2 percent because of growth in the city's commercial/industrial tax base. The budget will be formally presented to the Council for determination of the maximum 2009 levy at the September 2 meeting. Verizon Wireless Antenna and Building Request Jeannine Clancy reported that the Joint Water Commission has been approached by Verizon with a request to lease space for an antenna on the Golden Valley water tower. Since the antenna request was accompanied by a request to place a structure below the water tower for the antenna controls, it was referred to the Golden Valley City Council to determine if it would entertain this request on its civic center property. The Council indicated it would not support placing a Verizon building on the civic center grounds. Council/Manager Meeting Minutes August 12, 2008 - Page 2 Xerxes Avenue Rehabilitation Project Jeannine Clancy reported that she has been working with the City of Minneapolis to cooperatively mill and overlay Xerxes Avenue North, which lies partly in Golden Valley and partly in Golden Valley. The initial issue was to provide Minneapolis enough time to undertake a 429 assessment process for its portion of the project. During this process, a number of Minneapolis residents requested traffic calming to address speeding in the area. Minneapolis Public Works staff did traffic counts and speed assessments, establishing average daily traffic counts ranging from 247 to 359 daily trips with 85th percentile speeds of 23-28 miles per hour. Based on these numbers, the Golden Valley traffic consultant would not recommend speed bumps or humps. Ms. Clancy noted that staff could support painted lane markings to calm traffic. Minneapolis Council Member Don Samuels participated in the discussion. He noted that some Xerxes Avenue residents had requested the installation of speed humps or bumps and Minneapolis would consider installing them if the cost could be assessed along with the mill and overlay assessment. He explained that the mill and overlay could go forward with the traffic calming measures installed later. Minneapolis staff is in the process of surveying Xerxes residents (both from Minneapolis and Golden Valley) from Plymouth Avenue to McNair Drive to determine if a majority favor speed humps or bumps, to be installed as an assessment to Minneapolis residents on Xerxes. After some discussion, it was determined that it would be difficult to proceed with the mill and overlay process in 2008, but both cities would proceed with a cooperative agreement as soon as possible for a project to be bid this fall for construction in 2009. The Council agreed that if Minneapolis proceeds with a resident survey, the Council would revisit the idea of speed humps or bumps on this street if installed by Minneapolis and paid for by assessments to Minneapolis residents. Some discussion occurred on whether installation of these traffic calming options would be consistent with past Golden Valley policy, whether Golden Valley would continue to plow the street if speed humps or bumps are installed and the possible location of and design of such measures. 2009 Pavement Management Program Jeannine Clancy explained that the feasibility report and Capital Improvement Program cited a cost for the 2009 Pavement Management Project of $6.7 million. Given recent cost increases the City's consultant, SEH, estimated the costs could increase to $7,969,000. Twenty percent of the program cost is paid by the City from its General Fund, with the rest secured from property assessments. To keep the project budget in line with available funds, staff developed options to reduce the total cost. Savings were secured by refining the estimates for subgrade corrections, reducing the City's indirect costs, listing mill and overlay projects anticipated to be combined with this project as alternates (to be dropped if the bids are too high) and reducing the street width to 26 feet for nine streets with a current width of 28 feet (with the exception of Regent Avenue). The Council agreed with this approach, but expressed concern with changing the design (street width) from that which had previously been presented to residents. The Council asked that a letter of explanation be sent to residents. Council/Manager Meeting Minutes August 12, 2008 - Page 3 Board/Commission Unexcused Absences The Human Services Foundation has submitted a request to the Council to amend its minutes, to move from noting all absences to noting only unexcused absences. The Council discussed how an excused absence would be defined and who would grant them. They decided that all absences should be noted and the Council would make a determination at the time of reappointment whether some absences should be excused. The meeting adjourned at 9:07 pm. Jeanne Andre Assistant City Manager