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11-28-11 CC WS Mtg MinCITY OF SHORE WOOD CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2011 MINUTES CONVENE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION 5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD COUNCIL CHAMBERS 6:00 P.M. Mayor Liz& called the meeting to order at 6:01 P.M. A. Roll Call Present. Mayor Lizke; Councilmembers Hotvct, Siakel, Woodruff and Zerby; Administrator Heck; Finance Director DeJong; Planning Director Nielsen; Director of Public Works Brown; and Engineer Landini Absent: None B. Review Agenda Zerby moved, Hotvet seconded, approving the agenda as presented. Motion passed 5/0. 2. SIGN INVENTORY UPDATE Engineer Landini explained the Federal Highway Administration added minimum nighttime visibility (i.e., retroreflectivity) language to the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices ( MUTCD). The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) adopted the language in the MUTCD in 2008. The MUTCD identified specific milestone due dates which are: adopt a policy on the maintenance method for traffic control signs by January 22, 2012; bring most signs into compliance with the minimum visibility standards by January 22, 2105; and, bring all signs into compliance by January 22, 2108. On August 31, 2077, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) proposed to revise most of the milestone dates. All of the compliance dates are in flux. Landini then explained the City contracted with WSB & Associates to do a traffic control sign inventory and nighttime visibility inspection early in 2011. The City has 1,379 signs in inventory. Of those 851 failed the nighttime visibility inspection. The meeting packet contains a copy of a map showing where all of the poor visibility signs are installed in the City. Of the 851 poor visibility signs: 307 are speed limit signs; 43 are stop signs; 79 are weight restriction signs; and, 133 are no parking signs. The FHWA mandate does exclude no parking signs, but some of the City's no parking signs aren't very visible during the day and they should be replaced. There is an opportunity to reduce the inventory of signs. State Statute does have a 30 miles- per -hour (mph) speed limit for urban district or town roads in a rural residential district. The 30 mph speed limit doesn't have to be marked; only roads that aren't 30 mph have to be marked. Quite a few speed limit signs could be removed. Landini went on to explain the cost to purchase replacement signs for the poorly visible signs is approximately $34,400. It would cost about $60,000 just to purchase the entire inventory. That does not include shipping, labor or hardware. The Capital Improvement Program (CIP) allocates $6,000 annually for sign maintenance. The CIP budgeted amount would purchase the failing signs within a 6 -year period. The rule of thumb for replacing a sign (including all of the hardware) is about $200 per sign. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES November 28, 2011 Page 2 of 6 Landini asked Council if it wants to wait until MnDOT accepts the FHWA's date changes before asking Staff to develop a draft policy for the maintenance method for traffic control signs or does it want Staff to work on that policy now. Mayor Lizee stated she thought it prudent to be prepared because the City can't count on when the compliance dates will be confirmed. She noted she thought replacing the stop signs is most important. She asked Council if it wanted Staff to prioritize the signs that must be replaced. She asked Engineer Landini what he thought the repercussions would be if the City didn't comply with the retroreflectivity standards by the mandated dates. Landini responded that federal officers or police officers will not be checking to see if signs are in compliance. The League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) could decide whether or not it would want to ensure the City or the LMC could increase the City's insurance rate if it doesn't comply. Director Brown stated he agreed that the stop signs are the most critical signs to replace. No parking signs that aren't distinguishable should also be a priority. If signs are that poor the City should be proactive in replacing them. This law will be enforced by litigation. People can sue over traffic accidents. Councilmember Woodruff commented that the retroreflectivity standard is his least favorite unfunded mandate. He stated he is aware of more than one city that is putting this on hold until the FWHA decides what the rules are. He noted that he didn't want to purchase signs that may not meet the standards. He suggested putting this on hold for now. Fie recommended replacing signs that can't be read now. Councilmember Siakel agreed with putting this on hold for now. She stated if there is a public safety issues with signs they should be replaced right away. The City can wait to address the retroreflectivity standard until there is more clarity. Councilmember Zerby suggested the City have a replacement sign policy independent of the retroreflectivity standard mandate. He asked Engineer Landini if it was possible to estimate the age of each sign when the inventory was conducted. Landini responded the majority of the signs are over 10 years old. Landini explained the new sign inventory database will include a purchase date for each sign. In response to a second question from Zerby, Landini explained there is a way to measure the retroreflectivity of each sign. The CarteGraph software does have a way to estimate the remaining life of a sign using a degradation curve. The 851 signs that 'failed the nighttime visibility inspections will show up as failed in the software. Landini noted the visibility of the current signs was rated by a 60 -year old person driving around. Zerby asked if there are obsolete signs up in the City. Engineer Landini responded watch for children and deaf child signs are more than likely obsolete because children have grown up and moved away. Director Nielsen noted that in the 1970s the City took down all slow children type signs. If there are any up they were not put up by the City. Zerby stated based on his experience signs are put up and left there even if there is no longer a need. Zerby agreed that traffic control signs are a priority. He noted he does not support taking the 30 mph speed limit signs down unless they are obsolete. Residents convey they want more speed signs not less. He suggested any sign policy should factor in age replacement criteria as well as retroreflectivity criteria. Director Brown clarified that any reference made to signs that are no long distinguishable is about no parking signs. He noted that he receives around 6 requests per month for additional speed signs. Mayor Lizee stated it's her understanding Council wants to prioritize the signs for replacement and to wait on developing a draft policy for the maintenance method for traffic control signs until the FHWA has finalized its mandates. She recommended keeping the $6000 annual budget for sign maintenance. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES November 28, 2011 Page 3 of 6 Administrator Heck noted Staff knows enough to be able to draft a policy on short notice. He also noted the replacement signs will have a 10 -year warranty. He expressed his agreement with waiting until the FHWA has 'Finalized its mandates. 3. 2012 — 2021 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM Director DeJong highlighted the draft 2012 — 2021 Capital Improvement Program (CIP). A copy was included in the meeting packet. The highlights are as follows. ➢ Fund 402 Park Improvements — The focus on this has changed based on previous discussions. The Park Commission merged its separate project lists (the CIP projects, maintenance items and wish list items) into this CIP. It includes everything the Commission has contemplated over the last several years. The projects beyond 2012 are very speculative in nature. The Commission needs to prioritize the park projects. The 2013 budget includes many projects related to Badger Park for a total cost of $462,000. One of those items is $245,000 for resurfacing the Badger Park tennis courts. If those were removed and the Financial Management Plan (FMP) was updated accordingly there would be approximately $200,000 above the existing funding for park improvements. ➢ Fund 403 Equipment Replacement — It now includes the previous Municipal Buildings and Technology Funds. The next 10 years of equipment purchases averages about $185,000 per year. The FMP for this Fund reflects that the transfer into the Equipment Replacement Fund is increased by $15,000 annually starting in 2012 and out through 2018 to fully fund the equipment needs. ➢ Fund 404 Street Reconstruction Fund and Fund 405 Minnesota State Aid (MSA) Road Reconstruction Fund — The City has become fully eligible for MSA construction allocations starting in 2012. All MSA designated roads must connect to another MSA road in order to be eligible. Eureka Road South is already designated an MSA road. Engineer Landini calculated that the City has sufficient MSA mileage available to adjust the City's MSA routes to eliminate Grant Lorenz from the MSA program and add Birch Bluff Road and Eureka Road North down to Smithtown Road. Doing this allows the Street Reconstruction Fund to remain solvent with an annual $700,000 transfer into the fund with a 2 percent inflationary increase starting in 2013. It will allow the City to fully find the reconstruction of Eureka Road North and it will only require the City to borrow less than 2 years of its MSA allocation (all of 2020's and little of 2021's) in order to cover that entire project. It allows the City to fund the general road maintenance items with the existing fund including the 2 percent inflationary increase. MSA funding can only be used for full reconstruction; not maintenance. ➢ Fund 406 Trails —This is a new CI'P. The Trail Plan recently adopted included a minimal direct construction cost based on approximately $16 per lineal foot for a 6 -foot -wide trail. After reviewing trail cost projections for neighboring communities they are in the $50 — $60 per lineal foot range. The CIP reflects that increase. The total trail costs have been increase from $477,000 to approximately $1.8 million. The Trail FMP reflects an annual transfer in from the Community Infrastructure Fund starting in 2012. By the end of the 10 years the Community Infrastructure Fund would be in a deficit state. With the exception of $54,000 in 2012, grants have not been factored into this CIP. That grant is to help fund the $72,000 cost of constructing 1200 linear feet of paved trail from the LRT Trail on County Road 19 Tonka Bay /Shorewood border to Smithtown Road. ➢ Fund 601 Water — The Water Fund is tied to the reconstruction of roads to some extent. The meeting packet contains a copy of a map depicting where all of the watermain in the City is as well as those roads that are planned for reconstruction over the 10 years. There are 1420 households connected to City water. There are 272 that could connect to City CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES November 28, 2011 Page 4 of 6 water. For roads scheduled to be reconstructed that are close to watermain the CIP includes the costs for extending watermain. The roads scheduled for reconstruction early in the 10 -year period abut the existing water system. If Council wants to extend watermain into other areas the Water FMP indicates there will be quite a bit of money available to do that. The FMP shows there should be approximately $5 million in the Fund in 2021. ➢ Fund 611 Sanitary Sewer — The sewer related projects are pretty basic. ➢ Fuld 631 Stormwater Management — The projects included in the CIP are those identified in the Analysis of Drainage Problem Areas Report produced by WSB & Associates in 2006 as well as projects associated with road reconstruction. Councilmember Woodruff commented that the last time Council discussed the CIP he asked for additional information about equipment replacement needs. Council has not been provided with that information. He stated from a philosophical perspective Council needs to decide if it wants to approve the 2012 CIP this evening. With regard to equipment replacement, he explained Staff is advocating that projects included in the CIP at the time of adoption with an estimated cost of less than $100,000 be approved for Staff to complete as long as the total cost is at or below the amount budgeted for in the CIP. He noted he is a little troubled by that but is willing to go along with that recommendation. The only replacement item in the 2012 CIP that is above that threshold is the dump truck. He asked Council what it thinks about not seeing an expense authorization for anything other than the dump truck. He stated he doesn't know why any of the items in that CIP are recommended for replacement, including the dump truck. He then stated he supports the MSA reclassification recommendations made by Staff. Woodruff stated he is astounded by the $1.8 million dollar figure for trails. He then stated that spending $72,000 for a 400 linear feet of trail in 2012 blows him away. If the City does get a $54,000 grant to help fund part of the $72,000 cost he is willing to move forward with it. He expressed his unwillingness to accept anything other that some future discussion about trails. Councilmember Siakel stated the original discussion about trails was about prioritizing the trail projects. Her assumption is there would be a lot of discussion about trails projects in the future. She then stated if the City can get grants to help fund trail projects she thought it important to seriously consider the projects. Administrator Heck explained the City was going to apply for a grant to help fund the cost of constructing 9500 linear feet of paved trail along Smithtown Road from the city borders of Shorewood and Victoria to the LRT Trail but that grant opportunity was only for greater Minnesota. He anticipates the City will hear about its grant application to help fund the $72,000 cost of constructing 1200 linear feet of paved trail from the L,RT Trail on County Road 19 Tonka Bay /Shorewood border to Smithtown Road in January 2012. Councilmember Siakel asked how Staff decided on a $100,000 threshold for CIP approved projects so they would not require additional Council authorization. Director DeJong explained the State Statutes bid limit is $100,000. If a purchase doesn't require a bid Staff would not necessarily have to get further authorization from Council. DeJong stated if Council wants Staff to come back for authorization for each item approved in the CIP he questioned what the purpose of approving the CIP is. He explained that if Council approves the CIP and the cost is at or below the amount budgeted for in the CIP Staff would expect that Council delegated some authority with the approval of the CIP for Staff to move forward with a project or make a purchase. Staff s intent is to have Council set policy and have Staff implement the policy. That would minimize the amount of detail Council needs to be involved in. Bringing every thing back for additional authorization generates more work for Staff. He stated Council can lower the threshold if it wants. He then stated CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES November 28, 2011 Page 5 of 6 Council can be provided additional detail on why certain equipment needs to be replaced, noting most of the equipment has reached the end of its useful life. He noted the City's loader replacement was pushed out a few years because it was in serviceable condition and it broke beyond repair this summer. More of that type of thing will begin to happen in the future. Mayor Liz& stated she thought Staff has submitted a responsible CIP. She noted Council has heard about the dump truck replacement for a number of years in earlier CIPs. The items in the CIP are not new. She expressed hope that Council did not want to micromanage the quality Staff the City has. She stated the purchases are needed to continue to provide the level of service residents expect. With regard to the $1.8 million figure for trails, she stated it's good to have that included in the CIP to show the City is committed to it. She explained it would be prudent to pursue a safe routes to school grant as well as grants with the Minnetonka and Westonka School Districts. The results of the recent resident survey should help Council determine what is important to City's residents and how high of a priority trails /safe sidewalks are to them. She recommended the money remain as a placeholder in the CIP. Couneilmember Zerby stated that he thought it important to leave the trails placeholder in the CIP especially because Council created an Ad Hock Committee to develop a trail plan for the City which was adopted into the City's Comprehensive Plan. With regard to the $100,000 threshold, he stated he has some discomfort with that threshold amount. He clarified he doesn't want to micromanage Staff. He suggested reducing the threshold amount to possibly $50,000 or establishing an over - budget percent amount for requiring further Council authorization. Zerby then stated the City jointly owns the Southshore Community Center (SSCC) with four other cities. Any capital improvements should be funded by all five cities. He commented that resurfacing tennis courts has always concerned him a little. It's basically costing the City about $20,000 a year to do that. He questioned if there are enough residents in the City who use the tennis courts to warrant that expense. Mayor Liz6e stated the resurfacing of the Badger Park tennis courts is just one component of a larger plan for the Park that needs to be revisited. She recommended Council meet with the Park Commission to discuss the Parks Master Plan. Administrator Heck explained it's been past practice for Staff to evaluate the maintenance history of equipment and its remaining projected useful life when equipment is scheduled to be replaced before it's recommended for purchase. When appropriate, Staff considers the purchase of used replacement equipment. The dump truck scheduled for replacement in 2012 was purchased in 1988 and it was scheduled to be replaced a few years ago. Staff does its due diligence. He stated from his vantage point he doesn't consider Council to be micromanaging if it wants to authorize a purchase. He has no problem if Council wants to lower the threshold amount. He then stated he supports the need for the Park Commission to itemize and prioritize Badger Park improvements. Director DeJong stated Staff will bring the 2012 CIP back for Council approval during its December 12, 2012, meeting along with additional supporting detail. 4. 2012 BUDGET Director DeJong reviewed the major changes made to the preliminary 2012 General Fund Operating Budget adopted during Council's August 22, 2011, meeting. The part-time web coordinator position was eliminated. The contract with Community Ree Resources for managing recreation programs will not be renewed starting 2012. There was a $5000 reduction in the contribution required for the police public CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES November 28, 2011 Page 6 of 6 safety facility bonds. Those changes save over $78,000. Unfortunately, it still leaves the General Fund with a budget deficit of approximately $87,400. DeJong explained during the pre adoption preliminary budget discussion Council and Staff discussed that with the general under- spending of individual line items it will be entirely possible that the City will end 2012 with a close to balanced budget. The role of the Southshore Community Center coordinator is undergoing changes. Preliminary changes have been made to allow for higher compensation for the coordinator due to increased rentals and more hours of compensation. Based on estimates provided by Administrator Heck he raised the amount from $35,000 to about $60,000. Revenues were increased to offset that. The SSCC budget includes a transfer in to the SSCC Enterprise Fund from the General Fund of $13,600 to subsidize SSCC operations. He clarified that is an estimate. DeJong then explained the Recycling Budget reflects an increase of $0.50 per quarter for recycling rates in order to try and balance this budget. With regard to the Water Enterprise Budget the revenues from water assessment and hookup fees is estimated to be approximately $36,000, noting that amount may be unrealistic. DeJong stated Staff has tried to put tools in place to lay the foundation for priority based budgeting for the 2013 budget process. Councilmember Woodruff stated Director DeJong and Staff have prepared the most comprehensive budget picture he has ever been provided during his tenure as a council member. He then stated he can support the proposed 2012 budgets. He noted lie is not prepared to agree to spend $60,000 on contractual services for the SSCC. He suggested Council needs to have a detailed discussion about what that means, noting he's okay having that as a placeholder. Councilmember Zerby stated he also appreciates Director DeJong's efforts. He and Staff have done a good job preparing the budgets. With regard to the SSCC budget, lie thought it was detailed nicely. Increased revenues are proposed to offset the increase in costs for the SSCC coordinator contractual costs. Director DeJong asked Council to adopt the changes to the 2012 budget on a preliminary basis during the Council meeting that follows this meeting. Mayor Liz& stated it will be placed on the consent agenda. Councilmember Woodruff suggested it be placed further down on agenda to allow Council an opportunity to comment on it. 5. ADJOURN Zerby moved, Woodruff seconded, Adjourning the City Council Work Session of November 28, 2011, at 7:00 P.M. Motion passed 510. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED Christine Freeman, Recorder Christine Lizee, Mayor ATTEST r ,,_, flj an °Ileck k ,Ce administrator /Clerk