Loading...
08-09-10 CC WS MinCITY OF SHOREWOOD CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 2010 MINUTES 1. CONVENE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Mayor Liz6e called the meeting to order at 5:33 P.M 5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD COUNCIL CHAMBERS 5:30 P.M. A. Roll Call Present. Mayor Liz6e; Couneilmembers Bailey (arrived at 6:03 P.M.), Turgeon (arrived at 5:46 P.M.), Woodruff and Zerby; Planning Director Nielsen; Director of Public Works Brown; and Engineer Landini Absent: Administrator Heck B. Review Agenda Zerby moved, Woodruff seconded, approving the agenda as presented. Motion passed 310. 2. SOUTH LAKE MINNETONKA POLICE DEPARTMENT 2011 BUDGET, CHIEF BRYAN LITSEY Mayor Liz6e welcomed South Lake Minnetonka Police Department (SLMPD) Chief Litsey who was present this evening to discuss the proposed SLMPD 2011 budget. Chief Litsey noted that on July 15, 2010, the SLMPD held a swearing in ceremony for two new police officers. Christina Chapman started on June 15 "' and Justin Kuipers started on June 28 "'. Both of the officers are currently in field training and he anticipated that both of them should be on patrol duty alone sometime during the next two to four weeks. Chief Litsey stated it's his understanding that the Shorewood Council would be considering the 2011 SLMPD budget during its August 23, 2010, regular meeting and he would be attending that meeting as well. Mayor Liz6e confirmed that. Chief Litsey gave a presentation about the proposed 2011 SLMPD budget which was endorsed by the SLMPD Coordinating Committee during its July 21, 2010, meeting. The highlights are as follows. Chief Litsey explained that this is his twelfth consecutive year of preparing and presenting a budget as the administrator for the SLMPD. Each time his primary objective has been to develop a realistic, yet lean and efficient budget proposal that adequately provides for the mission of the organization with an eye toward the future. Due to the economic conditions the focus for the last few years has been primarily on the short term; long term considerations have been put off. It was particularly challenging to develop an acceptable budget for 2011 due to a number of nondiscretionary expense obligations, declining revenues, and some unrealistic budget expectations. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES August 9, 2010 Page 2 of 11 During the past several months the budget has been reworked numerous times based upon input that has been received and in consideration of the intense pressure to keep operations as lean as possible while maintaining services. The budget process has been very transparent. A great deal of information has been produced and made available to interested parties. He held individual preliminary budget meetings with city representatives on June 16` and June 17` to provide them an opportunity to review and discuss significant budget considerations for the coming year. Prior to these meeting he prepared a comprehensive document which highlighted key elements of the budget along with two budget scenarios based on differing assumptions. This budget material was also provided to members of the Coordinating Committee. A budget work session was held with Coordinating Committee members on July I". During the work session he presented a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation consisting of eighty slides. A copy of the presentation was attached to an email disseminated to the member city councils. A revised budget scenario was also presented during the work session. The revised budget was a hybrid of the two earlier scenarios used as templates during preliminary budget discussions with city representatives; the hybrid appeared to be the most doable. The input received during this work session was incorporated into a revised budget proposal. A brief PowerPoint presentation and the revised budget proposal were presented to the Coordinating Committee during its July 21' meeting. The line item spreadsheets for expenses and revenues were modified slightly to reflect the direction received during the work session. General and reimbursed overtime were differentiated. A new category was created for outstanding liabilities that have not been determined for 2011. The liabilities had always been included in past budgets. Painstaking measures were taken to ensure the latest budget proposal provided a detailed explanation of each line item. The same was done for each of the designated funds in support of operations so that no stone was left unturned when it comes to operational transparency. Per a previous request made by Councilmember Bailey, the 2011 budget package contains a separate spreadsheet which shows what line items the transfers to the designated funds come from, and which designated funds the transfers go to. Both the PowerPoint presentation and budget documents provided for this meeting were attached to an email disseminated to city council members so they had access to the same information being presented to the Coordinating Committee. After considerable discussion, the majority of Coordinating Committee members present voted to endorse the budget proposal as presented and send it to the member city councils for funding consideration. The proposed 2011 SLMPD budget before the Shorewood Council this evening has been squeezed to the point that a measure of good fortune will be needed to end 2011 with a balanced budget. The 2011 revenue projections are somewhat optimistic. The amount of state peace officer aid received has continued to decline. The SLMPD will not know until the fall of 2010 how much it will receive in 2010. The proposed budget is intended to sustain current operations in the short-term. But, it leaves future budgets vulnerable to a number of variables that could have significant financial implications. Any further budget reductions will intensify these vulnerabilities and erode current operations resulting in a reduction of services. This would be disheartening after having demonstrated through an exhaustive budget process why this budget proposal is worthy of support from the member cities. Every reasonable step has been taken to lean out operations as much as possible without altering current staffing levels, which are already below the average and saves nearly $400,000 annually in police officer costs alone. If SLMPD police officer staffing was in the norm for the lake area police departments it would cost the member cities roughly $400,000 more. This is in addition to the tremendous value member cities already receive by virtue of being part of this cooperative policing arrangement. It CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES August 9, 2010 Page 3 of 11 provides an economical way to increase the availability of police personnel and resources over what each city could realistically support on its own. Inadequate staffing levels in some critical areas continue to be the major drawback with this budget proposal. It's not only isolated to police officer staffing, but other divisions as well. The SLMPD has one person to handle all of the financial responsibilities that a separate unit of government has to handle in addition to that person having other responsibilities. The staffing deficiencies are countered to some extent by having extremely dedicated, professional and prideful personnel who regularly go above and beyond the call of duty in carrying out their mission. This has been demonstrated in a number of high profile cases the SLMPD has been involved with recently. Because of this some truly amazing results are achieved in spite of being understaffed. Councilmember Turgeon arrived at 5:46 P.M. These factors are all the more reason why SLMPD personnel deserve to be recognized for their efforts both in terms of compensation and a show of appreciation. The additional compensation included in this budget proposal for both union and non -union employees is by no means excessive as clearly shown through the previously presented salary survey. Chief Litsey used the salary survey from the League of Minnesota Cities and determined the SLMPD full-time staff was either in the average or below average range in terms of base salaries. It might be tempting to others in Chief Litsey's position to take the easy way out and propose an artificially low budget. Litsey finds this totally unacceptable and he believes it's inappropriate to deviate from sound fiscal practices in order to meet an arbitrary budget number. Chief Litsey stated he will continue to be an advocate for budgets that are in the best interest of officer and public safety. He thanked Council for listening to his presentation. Litsey stated he would now entertain questions. Mayor Lizee stated the Councilmembers had an opportunity to look at the revised budgeted that had been sent to them. She asked the Councilmembers, as a group, if they had any questions. There was no response. Mayor Lizee asked Councilmember Woodruff if he had any questions about the budget. Woodruff responded none. Mayor Lizee asked Councilmember Turgeon if she had any questions. Turgeon responded nothing. Mayor Lizee asked Councilmember Zerby if he had any questions. Councilmember Zerby stated he thought SLMPD Chief Litsey, the SLMPD staff and the SLMPD Coordinating Committee had done a great job in developing the 2011 SLMPD budget. The information contained in the large PowerPoint presentation given during the July Is` Coordinating Committee budget work session was informative and impressive. He finds the number of people served per full -time officer to be incredible. He's impressed by the SLMPD's clearance rate of 72% for 2009 for Part 1 and Part 2 crimes combined. It's higher than any other police department in the Lake Minnetonka area and higher than the Hennepin County average of 45 %. He congratulated the SLMPD personnel and Chief Litsey for the tremendous job they do. He stated the need to have two officers on patrol at anytime for backup purposes has been discussed for years. He finds it disappointing that has not been achieved. He expressed his support for what the SLMPD does. He stated he thought the budget was fair, if not challenging. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES August 9, 2010 Page 4 of 11 Chief Litsey stated he appreciated Councilmember Zerby's comments. He then stated the staffing level has been an issue for quite some time. An effort was made to address that during the SLMPD strategic planning process. The SLMPD came close to being able to add another officer. Unfortunately, the economic downturn has prevented that from happening. He noted that while other agencies are not filling positions or possibly cutting positions to get to a lower staffing level the SLMPD has been in that lower staffing level position for years. He stated the strategic planning process was helpful in showing member city councils and the community that SLMPD staffing cannot go any lower. Councilmember Zerby stated personnel costs are the lion's share of the budget. The budget information provided indicates that full. -time salaries will have increased only 1.6% between 2008 and the amount proposed for 2011. He thought that is a testament to what the SLMPD officers are doing. Chief Litsey stated that has been a challenge but everyone worked together. He thought it showed a spirit of cooperation between the management and labor and the respect labor has for the Coordinating Committee. He noted the Coordinating Committee made a decision last year with a heavy heart that it would like a wage freeze for 2010. Through open negotiations with the labor union that was accomplished. Labor understood it was one way it would be able to help out a little. Chief Litsey explained that for the 2010 /2011 contract, the labor negotiations process was changed somewhat. Ile was at the bargaining table for the first time and Excelsior City Manager Luger was also at the bargaining table. The two of them worked together as a team in negotiating with union representatives. 2009 SLMPD Chair Kind acted as the liaison for the SLMPD Coordinating Committee. He thought that process was a good way to took at all of the data from different points of view; the police administration perspective, the city administrators /manager perspective, and the elected official's business perspective. Through the whole process comparative data was considered as was what's needed to get and retain good officers. He thought the contract was good and fair. He also thought there were a couple of things in the contract that were unique. One is the goal to try and get percentage based incentives to a fixed dollar amount. For example, the educational incentive has always been a percent of the officer's base wage. By adding a little bit up front the negotiating team was able to convert the percentage incentive to a fixed amount. Down the road that will be an easier cost to control. A lot of those types of factors were looked into in order to provide the ability for better cost control moving forward. He thought the negotiating team did a good job of doing what is fair. Mayor Lizee thanked Chief Litsey for conning. She stated she echoed Councilmember Zerby's sentiments. She acknowledged that SLMPD Lieutenant Pierson and SLMPD Office Administrator Swanson were also in attendance. Mayor Liz& stated the proposed 2011 SLMPD budget was arrived at through an evolving process. She believes there is a great partnership between the member cities and the SLMPD. She expressed her pleasure about there being a joint powers agreement in place. She noted SLMPD Chief Litsey wears many hats; as the chief of police, as the SLMPD's administrator, and as the emergency management director. Mayor Lizee then stated she hoped the Shorewood Council and the other member city councils will pass the budget. She explained there have been a lot of scrutiny and many questions. She noted that Chief Litsey has afforded member city council members who have questions about the budget the opportunity to meet with him. She stated she hoped the Shorewood Councilmembers have done that if they have questions. She expressed her hopefulness that the Councilmembers will respond in a positive way when they consider approving the budget during the August 23 council meeting. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES August 9, 2010 Page 5 of 11 Chief Litsey stated the Greenwood City Council passed the budget on a 3/2 vote the previous week and he is scheduled to appear before the Tonka Bay City Council this evening. He noted that Minnesota State Senator Gen Olson swore in SLMPD Lieutenant Pierson as an officer for the City of Minnetrista a number of years ago. He explained that last year the deputy chief position was changed to a lieutenant position before Pierson was hired in part to have that position fill in on the street. Pierson, a salaried employee, has been wonderful about filling in where needed. Pierson has also done on nice job of fulfilling his administrative responsibilities. Mayor Liz& stated Chief Litsey has a huge job to perform and the SLMPD officers and staff are great. She expressed her pleasure with the hiring of two new officers. She then expressed her concern that the SLMPD is understaffed with patrol officers. She went on to express her appreciation for what they do every day, noting the SLMPD coverage area is quite spread out from a patrol perspective. She stated she thought the SLMPD deserves Council's support. Chief Litsey stated the geography alone creates some unique issues. He explained that through the Community Service Officer program the SLMPD has been able to provide some additional patrol services out on Shady and Enchanted Islands. The CSOs make that trip on a regular basis. He noted that he attended a Nite to Unite gathering out on the Islands where several attendees expressed their appreciation for the added SLMPD visibility and the reduction in vandalism. 3. CONVERSATION WITH STATE SENATOR GEN OLSON Mayor Lizee introduced Minnesota State Senator Gen Olson. She stated Senator Olson had a list of things she wanted to discuss and to solicit input on. Senator Olson stated she wanted to have a conversation this evening. She did not want the interaction to be too formal. She indicated she is pleased that the city councils in her district have been willing to take time to discuss some of the issues at hand. Councilmember Bailey arrived at 6:03 P.M Senator Olson explained that the last state legislative session ended in an unusual way with regard to the district she represents. The day before the session ended a Senator from another district introduced a bill to abolish the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District (LMCD). She noted the bill did not pass but it's somewhat likely to be raised during the 2011 session. She stated she had been aware that an intern working for the Senator raised some concerns presented to him by the Minnesota Bass Federation. She recommended the intern meet with one of the very knowledgeable marina operators on Lake Minnetonka to gain some insight from the operator. The other senator asked her what she was going to do about the LMCD and she informed him she was not going to do anything now. She also told him she was aware that some issues were raised and she planned on looking into them. In spite of that he introduced the bill even though it did not impact his district. Senator Olson stated she has met with a number of agencies and groups because of the attention the bill received. The LMCD met with some of the fishing groups and she thought that was a healthy exercise. She noted the fishing lobby is very strong with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Minnesota Legislature. Senator Olson explained the LMCD was formed because of the uniqueness of the area. There are some different challenges facing the LMCD today then when it was originally formed. There are overlapping responsibilities between the LMCD and other organizations that are worth exploring. She noted she does CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES August 9, 2010 Page 6 of 11 not have a specific agenda of what she would like to do, but she does want to hear from the elected officials in her district about what they, and their constituents, would like to happen. Senator Olson solicited input on the following: The importance and value of the LMCD. The attention paid to LMCD actions. The expectations of the City's appointed official to the LMCD. The feedback received from residents about the LMCD. Whether or not the cost of the LMCD versus the benefits derived from the LMCD is a good use of taxpayer funds. The LMCD funding formula in State Statute. The level of awareness of overlapping jurisdictions between the LMCD and other government organizations. Whether or not things should remain status quo with regard to the LMCD or should they change. Senator Olson stated she has started to receive emails from constituents expressing their opinions about the LMCD. Mayor Liz6e thanked Senator Olson for bringing these items up and for soliciting comments from Council. She asked Councilmembers if they wanted to comment on anything. Councilmember Zerby stated he is the City's representative to the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) and he thought there is some overlap between agencies. It can be confusing as to what agency is responsible for what part of Lake Minnetonka. He then stated he is not positive about what the LMCD does as a whole in terns of the Lake and how it gets funding and how it's spent. One of the biggest issues that had to be dealt with recently at the Council level is the treatment of Eurasian Water Milfoil. The LMCD doesn't have funding to take care of that. He clarified he wasn't saying that it should or shouldn't. He stated the LMCD is one of the large organizations that seem to be involved with invasive species in the Lake, yet it doesn't have adequate support for dealing with invasive species. Senator Olson explained the MCWD has explored its authority. Because invasive species have an impact on water quality the MCWD believes invasive species are within the purview of its consideration and policies. The MCWD is becoming more proactive about this. MCWD staff has been cooperating with the DNR and helping with some of the searches for zebra mussels. She encouraged the Councilmembers to review State Statute 103b.611 about the composition and powers of the LMCD. The LMCD can regulate the construction and use of mechanical and chemical means of deicing and it can regulate the mechanical and chemical removal of weeds and algae from the Lake. She noted the Statute was written before there was an issue with invasive species. It may be time for an examination of which agency is in the best position to deal with these types of issues. Councilmember Turgeon stated she thought there were about nine different agencies that have some jurisdiction over the waters. Some of them are the DNR, the LMCD, the MCWD, and the Lake Minnetonka Association (LMA). Senator Olson explained the Board of Water and Soil Resources is an umbrella agency over the watershed districts. The Pollution Control Agency has some jurisdiction as does the Department of Agriculture. The LMA is one of many groups that falls under a lake management association that files management plans with the DNR. If a lake is totally within one municipality it's their charge to oversee the surface water use of the lake, if it crosses municipality boundaries it's the county's, and if it crosses county lines it's the state's. A piece of Lake Minnetonka is located in Carver County; therefore it's under the DNB's jurisdiction because it's located in two counties. She related she had asked DNR representatives what would happen if the LMCD went away, and they questioned why anyone would want that to happen. She noted the DNR is not pushing for that because it would have fourteen cities to deal with. She thought the further away you get from the decision making the less effective and more difficult it becomes. It would be good to remain local. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES August 9, 2010 Page 7 of 11 Senator Olson stated she had met with seven of the thirteen cities councils so far and she has not heard them say the LMCD should go away. Those meetings occurred before zebra mussels were found in the Lake. She thought it difficult for the public to figure out what is going on because of the number of agencies. Some things require a permit at the State level and the LMCD level and possibly the city level. Now is the opportunity to address some of that duplication of effort. Mayor Lizee asked Councilmember Bailey if he had any comments to which Bailey responded nothing. Councilmember Woodruff stated he is the City's representative on the LMCD Board and the co -chair of the LMCD hivasive Species Task Force. He commented there are a lot of agencies involved with doing something about Lake Minnetonka. Some of the others are Hennepin County and the Army Corps of Engineers. The City also has some regulations that restrict things even more. The number of agencies creates confusions for residents. He has served on the LMCD Board for about 18 — 19 months and during that time the Board has worked on developing a strategic plan, noting the plan was provided to the member city councils. He provides Council with an update on LMCD each quarter. The LMCD will release its annual report in the near future and lie thinks that will be the first time that is issued. The LMCD Board is aware that it needs to do a betterjob of communicating what it does or plans to do. Senator Olson stated she had been invited to attend the joint meeting of the member cities about zebra mussels two weeks ago and she thought it was well attended by city representatives and LMCD Board members. She has the sense that the LMCD has not always adequately communicated with the residents and she thought the joint meeting was a step in the right direction. Councilmember Zerby asked which agencies will get the funds for initiatives the State may choose to fund. Would it be the DNR or the MCWD or the LMCD or the LMA? Senator Olson stated one of the challenges with aquatic invasive species is having adequate funding to cope with it. She then stated she thought the State has worked with all of the organizations. The LMA has helped raise funds for the five -year pilot program for the three -bay chemical treatment of milfoil and the program falls under the LMCD's umbrella. The water conditions are different in each of the three bays so this program will help in determining the effects of such a program. The DNR has a stake in this program. The DNR is dealing with fishing groups who like milfoil. They need to be educated on the detriments of milfoil in lakes. One of the concerns there is about the chemical treatment of milfoil is the potential negative impact on native plants. She noted Lake Minnetonka is a very premier lake for fishing. Senator Olson then stated the DNR should be the point agency for addressing the zebra mussel issue. The DNR has the most involvement and it has the most information. The DNR has agreed to create a special website for the issue in Lake Minnetonka. One of the big challenges now is to keep from exporting zebra mussels from the Lake to other waters. She thought all the agencies should share in the responsibility for communicating information about zebra mussels. She attended a meeting for LMCD Board members during which the DNR made a presentation where questions were asked about how to mitigate the spread of zebra mussels throughout Lake Minnetonka. Senator Olson went on to state that the MCWD has personnel with expertise on the zebra mussel issue. The MCWD had a commission which completed a study on this before zebra mussels were discovered in Lake Minnetonka. The MCWD has access to a much larger tax base. She noted that many agencies and municipalities have a stake in the zebra mussel issue. She stated it's not known as of yet if there is a need for additional legislation on this issue. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES August 9, 2010 Page 8 of 11 Mayor Liz& stated that she believed the discovery of zebra mussels in Lake Minnetonka has opened the door to new things. It's also amplified the fact that it's time to assess the roles, responsibilities and abilities of all of the different groups and government entities. Having so many organizations is confusing at the council level with elected officials and for the public. The DNR made a presentation at meeting recently hosted by the LMCD which was open to the public. During that meeting there was acknowledgement of the problem and there was agreement that the agencies need to keep working together. But, there wasn't much discussion about what needs to be done now. It's her understanding that the DNR has listed Lake Minnetonka and Mmnehaha Creek as infested waters. There has to be some investment in preventing this from spreading to the other 13,000 lakes in the State. She thought Lake Minnetonka is the nineteenth lake to be infested with zebra mussels. State Statute currently prohibits charging people for putting a boat into Lake Minnetonka or for access to the Lake. It is possible to implement a requirement to inspect boats that are coming out of the Lake to minimize the spread of zebra mussels? Senator Olson stated laws have recently been passed to help minimize the spread of zebra mussels and the enforcement of those laws is the responsibility of the DNR. The laws clearly state that macrophytes cannot be transported on public streets and roadways. It's cost prohibitive to have enough DNR conservation officers to inspect all boats leaving lakes and rivers. She asked if there is a way to give the authority and incentive to local enforcement agencies to issue tickets to violators. Currently the fines received from violators goes to the State and an invasive species fund. She said the idea of giving some of those fines to the enforcing agency has been discussed but it has not advanced. She explained that at some public launch sites, such as the one in Spring Park, it's almost impossible to pull a boat out of Lake Minnetonka without milfoil on it on a day when a strong wind is blowing from the south. If those boats aren't cleaned off before pulling out of the site, they need to be ticketed right away. Mayor Lizae stated the Spring Park launch site has space for cleaning the boat off and there is printed material and signage around explaining what to do and what not to do. She explained the South Lake Minnetonka Police Department ( SLMPD) already has a shortage of officers. She questioned if issuing tickets for this should be a priority. Senator Olson stated she thought there could be some merit to targeting areas where boats are leaving Lake Minnetonka and issuing tickets to violators. Hopefully the word would spread and people would make a concerted effort to clean their boats off before leaving launch sites. Local law enforcement agencies should have the authority to do that. And if the local law enforcement agencies could receive some portion of the fine, so be it. Councilmember Turgeon commented there are no public launch sites for Lake Minnetonka in the City of Shorewood so she is not sure where the SLMPD officers would ticket people. Councilmember Woodruff commented there is a public launch site for Christmas Lake located in Shorewood. Mayor Lizde stated there is access at Howard's Point Marina which is in Shorewood. Turgeon stated the marina operators have a higher responsibility. Senator Olson stated marine operators can't ticket anyone. Turgeon stated the marine operators could report it. Councilmember Turgeon stated barges are launched into Lake Minnetonka to do dredging and to carry material and equipment to rip rap shoreline. She didn't know if they were ever inspected or where they come from. She did not think it was just the recreational boaters who transport invasive species. She thought there needs to be enforcement on the commercial watercraft as well. Councilmember Turgeon then stated it's up to Council to decide who the City's representative to the LMCD should be. She thought it better to have an elected official represent the City because there is a budget involved and a council member would know what the City's budget would be. Some resident CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES August 9, 2010 Page 9 of 11 representatives may not get as involved in the budgeting process. Mayor Liz6e noted it still comes back to Council because it is the group that is accountable. Turgeon stated the last resident representative was more than willing to up the LMCD budget by about 18 percent without asking for input from Council. The representative acted on their own during the LMCD meeting. Turgeon clarified she would never say it has to be a council member. Senator Olson explained that one of the changes made to the LMCD law over the years was to give city councils the authority to remove an appointed representative to the LMCD. Representatives now serve at the whim of a city council. Councilmember Woodruff stated the LMCD's budget is funded from the fourteen member cities and the amount each city pays is based on the community's property value or tax capacity. It's a statutory formula. He explained if the LMCD were to present a budget that maximized the amount of money it could get from member cities it could raise approximately $200,000 more. The LMCD is not going to that capacity right now. The amount of money the LMCD can raise by statute is very small. The total LMCD budget is about $500,000 with about $300,000 of that being funded through contributions from the member cities. The remainder is a combination of revenue from fees and money from the Save the Lake Fund. The Save the Lake Fund is maintained by the LMCD and it's funded through donations. The LMCD Board has been discussing the need to increase the effort to solicit donations. Senator Olson stated she thought the LMCD revenue from permits and licenses is significant. Councilmember Woodruff stated those revenues are no where near the amount the LMCD gets from the member cities, but it's not a small amount. Woodruff commented that the LMCD's ability to raise fundsis much less than other agencies and government entities. Mayor Liz6e stated that Senator Olson has asked about change versus status quo. She explained that because of current economic conditions, the change in science, and the change happening in Lake Minnetonka, she thought it prudent to reassess all of the groups that have some authority over Lake Minnetonka and see what has changed since the 1960s and 1970s when they were established. It's important to determine which organizations are best able to address the new issues that aren't listed in the State statutory declaration. The roles, responsibilities, and abilities need to be reassessed to determine who is best suited to provide the necessary services for the best value to protect Lake Minnetonka. Senator Olson stated that over the past number of years there has been one representative on the LMCD Board who took the time to communicate with her; however, that individual is no longer a representative. He represented a city that is not in her district. That individual had sent her a matrix which depicted what Mayor Liz6c has suggested should be done. He organized research, education, prevention of infestation, monitoring, infestation treatment and so forth. He also identified a number of items within each of those things. The matrix shows which agency has responsibility for things and where the overlap is. It also depicts how effective things were. It was the first brush for that type of exercise. She indicated she would welcome further discussion about this. Senator Olson stated she wanted to plant another seed for thought this evening which has come about because of the district she serves in her capacity as senator; Minnesota Senate District 33. District 33 encompasses virtually the entire Lake Minnetonka area that is within Hennepin County. There are 44 municipalities in Hennepin County with all but one being a city. Eighteen of them are entirely within District 33 and another two, Plymouth and Minnetonka, are partially within District 33. Fifteen Minnesota State senators represent communities that are either all in Hennepin County or the majority of them are in Hennepin County. There are fifteen senators for 44 municipalities and one of them represents twenty of them. She explained a while ago she had been invited to a forum to talk about the sharing of services, noting she thought there is a fair amount of experience with doing that out in the Lake CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES August 9, 2010 Page 10 of 11 Minnetonka area. Some of the representatives of cities in District 33 have indicated an edict from higher level of government may be needed to advance sharing of services. Senator Olson then related that a previous boss of hers used to say "those that create change don't have to adjust to it ". She stated she thought that it would be the healthiest if the people who will be most affected by the change can be part of bringing change about, but it will also be the most difficult. One of the challenges is to be able to protect the ability to preserve some of the historic character and individuality while at the same time being cost effective at delivering the services that are needed. Senator Olson explained the League of Minnesota Cities did a recent study that predicts that all cities will be in the red by 2015. She stated the last issue of the LMC monthly magazine contained an article written by Jim Miller which stated that people shouldn't make assumptions that the outcomes of the November 2010 elections will help cities get things such as local government aid back. That's unrealistic. Incumbents and newly elected officials will encounter some very difficult issues. She noted that she is running for another two -year term because she believes she can represent the area she knows and loves so well in those future difficult debates. Senator Olson stated she would welcome the Councilmembers giving some thought to this topic and providing her some feedback in either another work session or individually. Mayor Lizee stated this topic is very timely. Cities and elected officials need to find ways to provide the needed services in a cost effective manor and partner with other communities. There was a study done by the Humphrey H. Institute at the University of Minnesota which indicates that all Minnesota cities will be broke by 2015 if the current revenue and spending trends continue and no policy changes are made. She thought it prudent for Shorewood to work with its sister cities to find a way to provide the needed services at a lower cost. She noted that she gets many calls from residents asking why there are four city halls for the five member cities in the Excelsior Fire District joint powers organization and three for the four cities in the SLMPD joint powers organization. They ask if Council is the best steward of their money. They ask how council members are going to change the situation in the future. She recommended Council have a dialogue with the community. Although change is hard and scary, the cities won't survive if change doesn't happen. Senator Olson explained there have been three merger attempts that were not successfully voted in. Residents become very protective. She noted that the Metropolitan Council won't take a regional approach when it comes to housing density. There are areas cities may want to preserve because of the character of the area and that's becoming almost impossible to do. She thought it might be worthwhile for the State Legislature to reassess the role of the Met Council, but she wasn't sure that would happen in the near future for a variety of reasons. She explained there was a study that showed there are other ways to get the services provided by the Met Council. She stated the Legislature has given the Met Council some operational powers and she questioned if that was the right thing to do. Councilmember Z,erby stated 53 years ago Shorewood was part of the City of Excelsior as was the City of Greenwood. At that time Shorewood was the farm land for Excelsior and it expanded from that. Excelsior is like the center of Shorewood. One has to drive through Excelsior to get to the other side of Shorewood sometimes. Councilmember Zerby asked Senator Olson why municipalities have to pay a state sales tax. This has been an issue for him for a long time. It seems as if it's a tax upon a tax and that should be unconstitutional. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES August 9, 2010 Pagel] of 11 Senator Olson explained it was a creative solution to solving a budget problem a long time ago. Every attempt to undo that has been unsuccessful because no one wants to give up the revenue. With the current State budget problem the revenue can't be given up. If there ever was some comprehensive tax reform that would be salable that could possibly advance eliminating that. There had been tax reforms proposed that have never made it. Mayor Lizee thanked Senator Olson for attending this evening and she appreciated hearing her comments on the LMCD, the health of Lake Minnetonka, and the need to consolidate providing high quality services. She invited Senator Olson to come back to a future meeting. Senator Olson thanked Mayor Liz6e for the invitation to come back. She stated that things that she has advanced that have been successful have been the ideas from her constituents with the exception of opening up the third lane on Highway 394 at Penn Avenue, which was hers. If people have ideas that she thinks are non starters she will tell them so, but she would still like to hear the ideas. 4. ADJOURN Turgeon moved, Woodruff seconded, Adjourning the City Council Work Session of August 9, 2010, at 6:50 P.M. Motion passed 5/0. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED Christine Freeman, Recorder Christine Lizde, Mayor