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11-12-13 CC Reg Mtg MinCITY OF SHOREWOOD 5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING COUNCIL CHAMBERS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013 5:30 P.M. MINUTES 1. CONVENE CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING Mayor Zerby called the meeting to order at 5:30 P.M. A. Roll Call Present. Mayor Zerby; Councilmembers Hotvet, Siakel, Sundberg, and Woodruff; Attorney Keane; City Administrator Joynes; City Clerk Panchyshyn; Finance Director DeJong; Director of Public Works Brown; and City Engineer Hornby Absent: None. B. Review Agenda Administrator Joynes requested Item 9.A Apple Road Funding Agreement be removed from the agenda. Staff was going to recommend Council not approve the Agreement. But, because of Mayor Zerby's efforts staff is going to reopen discussions with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District in the near future and it's anticipated a better outcome can be reached. Director DeJong noted that he had left a copy of an additional delinquent charge that needed to be added to the list for Item 10.13 at the dais. The City of Chanhassen has asked the charge be added for water services received from Chanhassen. Woodruff moved, Hotvet seconded, approving the agenda as amended. Motion passed 5/0. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. City Council Work Session Minutes, October 28, 2013 Woodruff moved, Siakel seconded, Approving the City Council Work Session Minutes of October 28, 2013, as presented. Motion passed 5/0. B. City Council Regular Meeting Minutes, October 28, 2013 Woodruff moved, Sundberg seconded, Approving the City Council Regular Meeting Minutes of October 28, 2013, as presented. Motion passed 510. 3. CONSENT AGENDA Mayor Zerby reviewed the items on the Consent Agenda. Sundberg moved, Woodruff seconded, Approving the Motions Contained on the Consent Agenda. A. Approval of the Verified Claims List CITY OF SHOREWOOD REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES November 12, 2013 Page 2 of 8 B. City Hall December Holiday Schedule Motion passed 510. a. MATTERS FROM THE FLOOR There were no matters from the floor presented this evening. 5. PUBLIC HEARING None. 6. REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS None. 7. PARKS 8. PLANNING A. Report on the November 5, 2013 Planning Commission Meeting Commissioner Davis reported on matters considered and actions taken at the November 5, 2013, Planning Commission meeting (as detailed in the minutes of that meeting). She noted that she received a call from one of the residents and they complimented her and Commissioner Labadie for both coming to the meeting early and for being prepared for the meeting. 9. ENGINEERING /PUBLIC WORKS A. Apple Road Funding Agreement This item was removed from the agenda. 10. GENERAL /NEW BUSINESS A. Lake Minnetonka Regional Scenic Byway Designation Administrator Joynes explained in May of this year Wayzata Mayor Wilcox sent a letter to the mayors of the Lake Minnetonka communities asking them if their communities would be interested in participating in a Lake Minnetonka Regional Scenic Byway initiative. Last week he sent another letter to the mayors asking them to designate a representative to attend an informational meeting with the other representatives and the Minnesota Department of Transportation Scenic Byway Program Coordinator. He noted Zerby had asked the Council to designate a representative. (A copy of both letters was included in the meeting packet.) Mayor Zerby noted he thinks the initiative is a great idea. He stated he has spoken with a representative of Lake Minnetonka Historical Society and that organization is interested in becoming involved. He noted that Councilmember Hotvet has an office next to the Historical Society and he recommended she appointed as the representative. She would be a great candidate. CITY OF SHOREWOOD REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES November 12, 2013 Page 3 of S Councilmember Woodruff stated he thought the idea is fine. He then stated from his vantage point the Park Commission should ultimately become involved with this. He noted that he spoke with Park Commissioner Justin Mangold about being the City's representative and Mangold would be willing to do that. Mayor Zerby stated as far as he knows the City could send two representatives. Councilmember Sandberg noted she strongly supports having Councilmember Hotvet as the representative. She thought it prudent to have a Councilmember be active in this. She stated she could support Park Commissioner Mangold be involved. Mayor Zerby stated Mangold could be involved in a "shadow role ". Sandberg moved, appointing Councilmember Hotvet as the City's representative to participate in an initial informational meeting about the Lake Minnetonka Regional Scenic Byways initiative. Councilmember Woodruff asked if Park Commissioner Mangold is going to be added to that motion. Councilmember Sandberg stated she would leave that up to Mayor Zerby. Zerby stated he could be an alternate. Without objection from the maker of the motion, the motion was amended to appoint Park Commissioner Mangold as an alternate. Siakel seconded. Motion passed 510. B. Certification of Delinquent Charges Director DeJong explained it is standard practice for the City to certify delinquent, unpaid charges to Hennepin County to be levied against the respective properties for collection the next year. The meeting packet contains a list of the delinquent charges. The dollar amounts for this year are fairly typical with those the past several years. People have been provided with notice of this meeting. The delinquent charges have to be certified to Hennepin County by the end of this month. If customers pay their delinquent charges off prior to the end of the year their charges can be removed from the certification files with Hennepin County. Those certified to the County will be collected as other taxes and assessments along with the other 2014 taxes. He recommended certification of the delinquent charges including the one requested by the City of Chanhassen. Councilmember Hotvet asked if Hennepin County or the City provide any support to the delinquent customers. Director DeJong explained the City will allow customers to pay their bills more frequently than quarterly for a lesser amount. There is no support other than that. The City does not have a way to go after delinquent accounts other than through certification. The City has chosen not to shut the service off because of the impact on living conditions. Councilmember Sandberg noted there is a problem with how the resolution is worded and cited where it needs to be changed. Siakel moved, Woodruff seconded, Adopting RESOLUTION NO 13 -074, "A Resolution Directing Delinquent Charges be Placed on the 2013 Property Tax Rolls Payable in 2014" subject to the addition of the City of Chanhassen's request to certify one delinquent charge, and correcting the resolution by moving the paragraph beginning with, "That the Hennepin County Special Assessment Division..." after the paragraph beginning with, "NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED... ". Motion passed 5/0. CITY OF SHOREWOOD REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES November 12, 2013 Page 4 of 8 C. Special Assessment Policy Director DeJong explained the City has received a request from the owners of the property located at 27010 Edgewood Road about the possibility of assessing their water connection fee. The connection was done on November 11, 2013. The City does not have a policy on assessing water connection fees. He researched what a number of neighboring communities do and determined there are a variety of practices that are being followed. He noted that for the two most recent projects that were assessed, one was for five years at an interest rate of 7 percent and the other was for 15 years at an interest rate of 6.5 percent. He could not find any supporting detail as to why those interest rates were chosen. Some cities use an interest rate amount above the AAA bond rate or the Treasury bill rate; in essence whatever the City could bond for projects. Cities also determine the length of the assessment based on the dollar amount. For example, for an assessment less than $5,000, the term length would be up to five years; for an assessment equal to $5,000 to $10,000, the length would be up to ten years; and for an assessment more than $10,000, the length would be up to fifteen years. He noted staff is proposing this property be assessed for a period not to exceed ten years at an interest rate of 2 percent above the current 10 -year Treasury bill rate. Councilmember Woodruff stated he thought it would be good to have a policy. He noted that the City has not done this type of thing during his almost six -year tenure on the Council. He stated he likes Option 2 which is for staff to bring each individual request to Council. He suggested cleaning up the language related to length and clarify the Treasury bill rate referenced is the ten -year rate. Councilmember Hotvet stated she supports Option I which states a policy will be established that allows staff to proceed with these assessments based on the policy. She suggested unique situations be brought before Council. Councilmember Siakel stated she is leaning toward Option 2 because there are so few requests Councilmember Woodruff clarified that he thought both Option 1 and 2 should both be done. A policy should be created and the individual requests should be brought before Council. Administrator Joynes stated it would be prudent to have a policy so that a property owner has some idea of what the policy is. Being there are so few requests, staff can bring each of them before Council. Director DeJong noted the assessment policy for the property at 27010 Edgewood Road will brought back to Council for consideration. 11. OLD BUSINESS 12. STAFF AND COUNCIL REPORTS A. Administrator and Staff 1. Monthly Financial Report Director DeJong noted Council had been provided with a copy of the September 2013 General Fund Monthly Budget Report. CITY OF SHOREWOOD REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES November 12, 2013 Page 5 of 8 2. Quarterly Investment Report Director DeJong noted Council had been provided with a copy of the 2013 Quarterly Investment Report. 3. Construction Update on Trail Projects Engineer Hornby explained that over the last few weeks there has been a lot of progress made on Smithtown Road west sidewalk project. The contractor needs to finish paving the wear course at the intersections. The driveways are complete with the exception of one. All of the concrete work is in. Temporary sidewalk was poured around a pole that is in the way; the utility has to relocate the pole. The intent is to finely grade the site over the next two weeks and if weather permits it will be seeded. The project is approaching completion. The punch fist (i.e.; a to do fist for the contractor) will be prepared in the spring and the contractor will have to address the items on the list. He noted that he has seen a few people using the sidewalk. Councilmember Woodruff asked what the City's policy is for clearing the trails of snow. Director Brown responded the current policy is for Public Works personnel to clear the trails and that is the plan for the Smithtown Road sidewalk. Woodruff then asked what the time and snowfall parameters are for clearing them. Brown explained the City's policy for roadways is to plow them after a two inch snowfall. But, 90 percent of the time the conditions dictate they get plowed before two inches has fallen. Roadway snowfall removal is the top priority. After a four to six inch snowfall it will take the crews eight to ten hours to clear the roadways. He does not think it is prudent for the crews to be out there longer to clear the trails and sidewalks and ice rinks. Those will be cleared on day two after that size snowfall. If ten to twelve inches of snow has fallen roadways are cleared on day one. A path is made through cul -de -sacs but generally they are not cleared until it has stopped snowing. After all of that is cleared one crew goes to clear walkways and another goes to clear ice rinks. The exception to that has been clearing the LRT Trail (the highest use trail) earlier in the snow removal process. Councilmember Sandberg stated she has heard from some residents that there is a section of the LRT Trail between Shorewood and the City of Excelsior that does not get plowed. She asked Director Brown to comment on that. Director Brown explained the City of Tonka Bay has chosen not to plow its section of the Trail (approximately 400 feet tong) east of County Road 19. Sundberg noted that is a major problem for the City's residents who are trying to use the Trail. She questioned if the City should plow that section also. Brown asked that be pursued at the Council level. Brown explained that Shorewood has cleared the Tonka Bay section either accidently or intentionally and at the City staff level received negative feedback from the Tonka Bay staff for doing that. He had been told there had been a business that relied on that section having snow on it for snowmobiles, noting there are not supposed to be snowmobiles on the trail. Administrator Joynes stated if the City is going to clear Tonka Bay's section of the Trail there needs to be an agreement in place for insurance reasons and because there would be expenditure of City funds outside of the City limits (which requires Council directive). Councilmember Sundberg stated she would like the City to see if something can be worked out with Tonka Bay. Councilmember Woodruff suggested Mayor Zerby meet with the Mayor of Tonka Bay to talk about Tonka Bay clearing its section of the Trail. He explained that earlier this fall Council approved an agreement with the Three Rivers Park District laying out the rules for the City to clear the portion of the Trail located in Shorewood. That did not allow the City to clear the section Located in Tonka Bay. CITY OF SHOREWOOD REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES November 12, 2013 Page 6 of 8 Therefore, there would need to be some type of formal agreement if the City were to get involved. Tonka Bay would also need an agreement. Councilmember Siakel asked what the minimum expectation is for clearing the Smithtown Road west sidewalk. Is it optional? Director Brown stated the City's practice has been to clear all of the walkways of snow. He noted some cities (e.g., the Cities of Minneapolis and Excelsior) make residents responsible for clearing sidewalks. Siakel noted the City added two more sidewalk/trail segments this year. She asked if the City has the appropriate equipment and resources to clear the walkways safely and effectively. Brown noted the City purchased a new blower attachment for its skid steer for clearing sidewalks /trails. Brown explained there is a boulevard separation, albeit quite small in some areas, between the roadway and most of the trails. That is not the case for the Smithtown Road west sidewalk. The snowplows will push roadway snow up onto the sidewalk. Then, another machine will be used to clear the walkways. Brown noted the City added 10,000 lineal feet of sidewalks /trails. This winter will be a test of the adequacy of the existing equipment for clearing the sidewalks /trails. A new piece of equipment could potentially be needed; it would be a costly piece of equipment. Siakel stated there has been communication about having a Council and staff retreat on February 8. She expressed concern that there may not be adequate equipment and Public Works staff to keep up with the trails /sidewalks being added in the City and the landscaping on City -owned properties (e.g., parks and the City Hall campus. She requested that be on the agenda for the retreat and that staff come prepared to talk about that. Director Brown stated the blower attachment he referenced earlier is for clearing the sidewalks /trails. But, when it comes to longer distances additional equipment may be needed. Administrator Joynes stated staff talked about this topic two weeks ago. He suggested the City have a policy as a guideline regarding the priorities for snow removal. That would give residents some idea of what the maintenance level and timeline objectives are. He noted some cities do not do any winter maintenance of their trails. Others do a limited amount. He stated there is an increasing amount of pressure from residents in various cities to maintain trails all year round. He then stated equipment for plowing sidewalks /trails is quite expensive and the wear and tear on the equipment is extensive. Councilmember Woodruff stated the City of Mound has a number of sidewalks and it appears to him that it does a decent job of clearing them. He suggested contacting someone on the Mound staff about their policy and equipment. Mayor Zerby stated he agrees that Council needs to create a snow removal policy in order to set the correct expectations for the residents. He noted that during the trail open house meetings snow removal was discussed with residents. They were assured that the City would do that. Councilmember Hower recommended the snow removal priorities should be listed on the City's website. Director Brown invited all Councilmembers to go on a short snowplow ride to gain an appreciation of what that effort entails. Other CITY OF SHOREWOOD REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES November 12, 2013 Page 7 of 8 Director Brown stated there has been a lot of communication about the ditch at 27010 Edgewood Road. The infamous ditch to drain that area down the lot line has been carved in place. Staff will continue to monitor it for a while this fall and then again next spring. He anticipates final grading in that area will be done next spring. Councilmember Woodruff asked how staff is doing getting data from the speed awareness display signs. Director Brown noted the north bound sign on Country Club Road is faulty; he is working with the vendor on that. B. Mayor and City Council 1. Metro Cities Draft Policies Administrator 7oynes stated he sent out copies of the Metro Cities draft policies to Council. Staff communicated the feedback it received to Councilmember Woodruff. He noted that he does not disagree with any of the policy changes. Councilmember Woodruff explained he will vote on the draft policies for Shorewood at the Metro Cities meeting next week. To modify apolicy as it is currently written during that meeting requires five cities to propose the change. He is not aware of any other cities having issues. He noted that Mayor Zerby had two comments both of which involved the Metropolitan (Met) Council's ability to dictate housing requirements. He stated he understands why they are the way they are. He asked if he should try and garner support from four other cities to make a change based on those comments. Mayor Zerby explained from his vantage point Met Council looks at each city as an island and establishes housing requirements for each island. Yet, the South Lake area is a bigger community made up of smaller cities. The Met Council does not take that into consideration. He suggested the Met Council take a broader view of the area. Councilmember Woodruff asked Mayor Zerby to frame his comments so he can forward them to Metro Cities' staff. Councilmember Siakel stated she agrees with Mayor Zerby's comments. Councilmember Woodruff stated the Met Council has statutory authority to do certain things and "occasionally they like to wander off the reservation ". Some of the larger cities are concerned about the scope creep. Other Mayor Zerby explained he and Director Brown attended a program that morning held by the University of Minnesota Extension Services and learned that phosphorous comes from more than what is put down on the ground. It also comes from leaves and debris that falls onto the street. The University conducted a study in the City of Prior Lake to assess how much phosphorous was on the streets in that organic debris and to determine what is the most cost effective way to gather it up off the streets. Many cities have an approved total maximum daily load (TMDL) limit which is basically the maximum amount of pollutants a city is allowed to let flow into nearby water bodies. A city can get phosphorous credit by cleaning up the organic pollutants on their streets. As part of the study an Excel spreadsheet was created to project how much phosphorous will end up on the streets based on the actual tree canopy above, the amount of CITY OF SHOREWOOD REGULAR COUNCIL. MEETING MINUTES November 12, 2013 Page 8 of 8 street pavement and the time of year. For the study the spreadsheet calculations were within 5 percent. He noted he thought it was a worthwhile program. Councilmember Woodruff stated he read something from the League of Minnesota Cities noting that the State of Minnesota finally passed a bill banning the use of coal -tar based sealants effective January 1, 2014. But, cities can only enforce that if they have their own ordinance banning the use. The Council approved an ordinance banning the sale and use of the sealants the beginning of this year. Mayor Zerby stated he heard from some residents living along Smithtown Road that they did not get noticed at various points during the Smithtown Road west sidewalk project. He suggested writing a letter to residents along Smithtown Road summarizing the status of the project and what needs to be finished next spring. Besides being a calming gesture it would be an opportunity to solicit feedback from residents about what they think still needs to be done. Engineer IIomby stated he often goes on a walk to find out what needs to be done in the spring. He explained that flaws will usually flow up after a freeze -thaw cycle. He stated staff will get a notice out to those residents to update them on the status. Zerby suggested the letter also thank the residents for their patience. Councilmember Woodruff suggested posting that same letter on the City's website. Zerby noted that the City of Tonka Bay rescinded its notice to withdraw from the Lake Minnetonka Communications Commission (LMCC) joint powers organization. There are now nine cities that have committed to remaining part of the organization; that is the minimum number of cities needed to keep the organization viable. He also noted that the LMCC's attorney reviewed the City of OYOno's proposed resolution that would split the LMCC's accumulated fund reserves among the current LMCC member cities and found that request is not legally viable. He went on to note that there is a meeting of the South Lake Minnetonka Police Department Coordinating Committee tomorrow, November 13, at 5:30 P.M. that he will attend. 13. ADJOURN Woodruff moved, Sundberg seconded, Adjourning the City Council Regular Meeting of November 12, 2013, at 6:20 P.M. Motion passed 5/0. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Christine Freeman, Recorder ATTEST: Scot kerby, May Y Om"Y-L L- Jead Panchyshyn, City IMerk