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12-04-96 Special Meeting MinutesSpecial Meeting of the City Council December 4, 1996 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a special meeting of the City Council of the City of Golden Valley, Hennepin County, Minnesota was held at 7800 Golden Valley Road in said City on December 4, 1996 at 7:00 PM. The following members were present: Anderson, Johnson, LeSuer, Micks and Russell. Also present were: William Joynes, City Manager; Fred Salsbury, Director of Public Works; Don Taylor, Finance Director; and Judy Nally, Administrative Secretary. Public Hearing Mayor Anderson reviewed the process conducting the public hearing. William Joynes presented the 1997 Recommended Budget, outlining the budget schedule, budget assumptions before the workshops and after the budget workshops; general fund tax levy; total city tax levy; allocation of city tax base; 1997 property tax breakdown for school district #281 and school district #270; breakdown of increase on average home of $130,685; the last four years general fund increase; proposed pavement management program; new items included in the 1997 recommended budget; Brookview Golf Course; 1997 budget in perspective; what services you get; how they compare; services financed from user fees; and consolidated cooperative efforts. Don Taylor, reviewed the financing for the pavement management program. The Mayor opened the meeting for public input and persons present to do so were afforded the opportunity to express their view thereon. Rosemary Marrs, 4840 Markay Ridge; wants good streets, wants adequate maintenance done on street, wants the consideration of the citizen pavement plan which can provide good streets at a fraction of the cost without a 30 year debt, doesn't feel reconstruction is needed, feels the streets were well built, feels concrete curb and gutter is not the only way to get water off the streets, feels reconstruction is too costly and unnecessary. Herm Held, 5400 Circle Down, feels a maintenance program should be instituted, feels the streets were built good 35 years ago, read affidavit from Harold Beckman, Manager, Anderson Aggregate, about the materials his company supplied the City, requested the Council appoint a task force for individual street inspections, feels reconstruction is too expensive, feels the streets that are cracking should be sealed and patched, and/or replace some with new asphalt, they should be swept, tacked and overlaid and install granite seal coat, the streets should be reviewed yearly, adjoining property owners should be assessed, feels an escape clause should be considered for the maintenance program should be included because of any emergencies, feels some of the utility contractors are to blame for some of the conditions of the streets and a fund should be set up for just the street program. Special Meeting of the City Council December 4, 1996 Page 2 Public Hearing - Continued Doug Spauding, 1030 Tyrol Trail; feels the City needs to invest in the streets, the investment needs to be based on a sound economic evaluation of all alternatives, feels the evaluations done so far have not considered all alternatives, reviewed costs for patching and reconstruction method; feels a advisory committee should be formed to over see the evaluation of alternatives and a independent consultant be hired to provide a sound technical and economic evaluation of alternatives. Martin Allen, 4620 Bassett Creek Lane, related experiences with last years street construction, problems such as sporadic construction, street torn up and left in terrible state for months on end, dust, difficult to get cars in and out of garages, project above the cost is $2,4000, feels the cost exceeds what is needed for the street, expressed concern that the property taxes have more than doubled and people are living on fixed incomes, asked about cost for street levy and assessment payments, feels there should be a citizens committee. Bob Marrs, 4840 Markay Ridge, oppose $62 million bond issue proposal for street reconstruction, will drive people out of the City because of high taxes, feels the withholding of maintenance of streets is not acceptable, feels annual detailed accounting of each streets maintenance and/or reconstruction project, wants the Council to disapprove the bond proposal in its present form. Carol Arneson, 1551 West Constance Drive, asked questions about levy, if her street is on the plan and what will she pay for the next 30 years, and asked about special assessment costs. Helen Parker, 4920 Sorell Avenue, expressed her concern over the financial burden of the street program and increase in taxes. Mike Janzen, 3328 Scott Avenue North, moved into City because of low taxes now is concerned over street program and costs, asked about the digging into the street and removal of 4 feet of soil, why not only 2 feet, could the soil be recycled, asked why curb and gutter and feels it is a waste of money, asked how the Council individually feels about the $2,400 assessment. Richard Peet, 3245 Noble Avenue North, feels the pavement management plan has flaws, and requested a one year moratorium on the plan, feels the storm water runoff plan should be finished first. Nancy Azzam, 2300 Noble Avenue North, thanked the Council for supporting her quest to get citizen input into the BCWMC, requested the Council withhold the dues to the BCWMC as long as they are not interested in having citizen involvement in their deliberations. Special Meeting of the City Council December 4, 1996 Page 3 Public Hearing - Continued Maxine Heiniz, 108 Natchez Avenue South; last year her street was on the reconstruction schedule and was defeated and feels the projects are very expensive, type of curbing was more expensive, the street was going to be wider, feels the citizens should have some input as to what the construction should be and they buy into it at that point and then look at the cost. And some people want to look like "country" not like Minneapolis. Jim Marrs, lives in Minneapolis, and wants to live in first ring suburb and want to know why some street alternatives were not looked at, feels the financial analysis should be more thorough, and asked what is the life of the street when completed reconstruction. Bill Shragg, 1305 Unity Avenue North, feels his street is in good condition and doesn't need reconstruction, don't need any curbs and don't need sidewalks. And asked if sidewalks are included in the reconstruction project. Cynthia Malinowski, 2405 Regent Avenue North, would like some alternatives looked at, feels its an expensive plan, feels the citizens should have a say in what they want, feels other plans and alternatives should be looked at, look at how the utility and cable lines are installed and how this affects the patching of the streets, asked about Highway 100 reconstruction, how it will impact the program, expressed concern over heavy equipment and traffic on local streets, and asked what the total cost of the street construction program. Allen Greenstein, 505 Clover Lane, asked about the amount of the annual bond issues, and asked about the special assessment amount if they sell their house, and what is the special assessment amount? Harry Peterson, 6674 South Cortlawn, asked what is the maintenance program once the street is reconstructed. Jack Rosholt, 4115 Glencrest Road, opposed the street reconstruction program 7 to 8 years ago, and the street was not reconstructed and still doesn't need a new street. Cheryl Golden, Colorado Circle; business owner, has been on that street a number of years and has not seen any street maintenance done, no sweeping, tractor tire in the street, expressed concern over the flooding of Colorado and Laurel Avenue and asked about the reconstruction of Laurel Avenue. Special Meeting of the City Council December 4, 1996 Page 4 Public Hearing -Continued Marilyn Weisberg, 6800 Kingston Circle, feels Laurel Avenue has a peat problem and doesn't think it will every be corrected completely, because it has a water problem, asked questions about financing of the bonds, feels that any bond issue funds should be able to be used for reconstruction or maintenance, feels we should be thinking about the people who will be moving in and fixing up older homes. Duke Hamilton, 6401 Westchester Circle North, stated taxes have doubled in the last 15 years and is opposed to the bond issue, endorses the previous speakers to look very prudently at all expenditures impacting the taxes for the City and reexamine the staff recommendation and endorses a citizen committee. Lloyd Lobash, 2131 Windsor Way, feels some streets were built to good standards but those streets that are not should be fixed by the contractor and why they haven't had to fix the streets if they didn't do it right the first time, also feels concrete streets, curbs and gutters are not proper streets for part of the country, feels they will be taxing seniors and those on fixed incomes out of the City. Kenneth Wofford, 1610 Winnetka Avenue, asked when the homeowner sells the home why must the homeowner pay the total assessment and why not pay prorate and annually. Dennis Wyszynski, 7200 Glenwood Avenue, feels we should have a pavement plan that is better financially for the residents than better quality roads. Kathy Jensen, 2136 Orchard Avenue North, stated she has not one thing positive about the program, likes the City and wants to know what this project will do for the property values. Gary Malinowski, 2405 Regent Avenue North, stated his real estate agent stated that an assessment applied to his home would have to be paid before closing, what is the guaranty that a new road with gutters will improve the property values, what is the maintenance that will be applied to the street when Noble Avenue reconstruction was routed on their street, are the utility lines going to be maintained and/or repaired during reconstruction or can they do that whenever they want. Elaine Johnson, 4021 Bassett Creek Drive, the street was repaired a number of years ago and asked if they will have to pay for another bond issue tax and a special assessment. Dale Gerdean, 300 Berkshire Drive, stated his street was done a number of years ago, but other side streets are still in good condition and asked if some of the curb and gutter could be saved if these street are reconstructed. Special Meeting of the City Council December 4, 1996 Page 5 Public Hearina - Continued Blair Tremere, 2305 Lee Avenue North, feels the Council is elected to represent the entire City, the streets are the responsibility of the residents and stated there is factual data to support that the streets are in need of repair, at some point the infrastructure of the City will have to be rebuilt or the newer residents who move in will eventually pay, residents should also pay more attention to all the programs in the budget not just one specific project. John Zieska, 2631 Lee Avenue, moved to the City because the taxes were so low, feels that the program could be considered but not with such a high cost. The Mayor closed the public hearing. The Council and staff answered the questions raised during the hearing. The Council discussed and decided a reconvened public hearing was not necessary. The Council will formally adopt the 1997 budget at the December 16, 1996 at a Special Council Meeting at 7:00 p.m. Mayor Anderson suggested the Council and residents have a series of meetings to review the pavement management program and the citizens pavement program in order to have a better understanding of both programs with the possibility of amending the City's plan to incorporate suggestions from the citizens program. The series of meeting would begin sometime in February and suggested that anyone interested in being put on the mailing list to attend these meeting contact the City Manager's office and/or leave their name with staff. Adjournment MOVED by Johnson, seconded by Russell and motion carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 10:05 p.m. Mary E. nderson, Mayor ATTEST: Ju Nally, dministrativ Secretary