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09-23-24 CC Reg Mtg MinutesCITY OF SHOREWOOD CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 MINUTES 1. CONVENE CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING Mayor Labadie called the meeting to order at 7:01 P.M. A. Pledge of Allegiance B. Roll Call 5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD COUNCIL CHAMBERS 7:00 P.M. Present. Mayor Labadie; Councilmembers Callies, Maddy, Sanschagrin, and Zerby; City Attorney Shepherd; City Administrator Nevinski; City Clerk/HR Director Thone; Planning Director Darling; Director of Public Works Morreim; Park and Recreation Manager Czech; Finance Director Schmuck, Communications/Recycling Coordinator Wilson; and City Engineer Budde Absent: None C. Review Agenda Sanschagrin moved, Callies seconded, approving the agenda as presented. Motion passed. 2. CONSENT AGENDA Mayor Labadie reviewed the items on the Consent Agenda. Callies moved, Maddy seconded, Approving the Motions Contained on the Consent Agenda and Adopting the Resolutions Therein. A. City Council Work Session Minutes of September 9, 2024 B. City Council Regular Meeting Minutes of September 9, 2024 C. Approval of the Verified Claims List D. Approval of Public Works Union Contract, Adopting RESOLUTION NO. 24- 077,"A Resolution Approving a Contract with AFSCME, Council 5, Local 224, Shorewood Public Works Employees for 2025-2027." E. Approval of Personnel Policy Updates, Adopting RESOLUTION NO. 24-075, "A Resolution Approving Shorewood Employee Personnel Policy/Employee Handbook Updates." F. Approve Quote for City Hall Roof Replacement CITY OF SHOREWOOD REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 Page 2of6 Motion passed. 3. MATTERS FROM THE FLOOR 4. REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS 5. PARKS 6. PLANNING A. Report by Commissioner Gorham on September 17, 2024 Planning Commission Meeting Planning Commissioner Gorham gave an overview of the discussion and recommendations from the September 17, 2024 Planning Commission meeting. 7. ENGINEERING/PUBLIC WORKS A. Authorize Final Design and Bidding for SE Area Water Improvements, City Project 24-08 City Engineer Budde explained that through Council discussions last May, it was decided that the available American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds would be used on a project at the SE Area Well Building to repair some issues with the filters. He gave a brief overview of the repairs and other changes that were planned as part of this project and reviewed the timeline for completion of this project. He noted that all the costs could not be covered with ARPA funds, so staff was recommending that the remainder become part of the 2024 CIP and be paid from the Water Fund. Councilmember Callies stated that she wanted to clarify that City Engineer Budde stated that the balance of the work would become part of the 2024 CIP and asked if he meant 2025. City Engineer Budde explained that it would come from the 2024 budget because they had included a different project slated in their plans that they did not end up doing this year, so there would be surplus funds available in 2024 to cover these costs. Finance Director Schmuck noted that if the City would be going through the process of awarding a contract and agreement that would obligate 2024 dollars, so they needed to proceed in doing this as a 2024 CIP item. Councilmember Callies stated that a number of people have had questions about the iron content in the water and asked if the chlorination ahead of the filters should improve that. City Engineer Budde confirmed that it should help with that issue. Councilmember Callies asked if there was some other device that could be added to improve the rust and iron conditions in the water. Public Works Director Morreim noted that this was only for the east side of town but explained that without making a significant investment in the system, they would not be able to get those CITY OF SHOREWOOD REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 Page 3 of 6 elements decreased further. He noted that this plant has been there since sometime in the 1970s, but it still actually removes quite a bit of iron. He reiterated that this was only talking about the east side of the City, so these improvements would not be doing anything for the west side of the City. Councilmember Callies asked where 'west' actually started. Public Works Director Morreim explained that it could be broken off at Christmas Lake. Councilmember Callies stated that would mean that most of the City would be considered to be in the west. Councilmember Sanschagrin asked if the levels would still mean that people would still be seeing brown/yellow water. Public Works Director Morreim stated that point three was the threshold made by the Department of Health but noted that many times they are above that, but much of that settles out within the water tower and the pipes. He explained that this was why they flush their hydrants and noted that these processes can even get those levels lower so by the time it gets to the homes it would most likely be lower than that number, but noted that it can also vary depending on the well being used. Callies moved, Maddy seconded, Adopting RESOLUTION NO. 24-078, "A Resolution to Authorize Final Plan and Specifications for the SE Area Water Improvements Project; City Project 24-08." Motion passed. 8. GENERAL/NEW BUSINESS A. Adopt 2025 Preliminary Tax Levy, Preliminary General Fund Budget, and Truth in Taxation Date Finance Director Schmuck explained that the Preliminary Tax Levy and General Fund budget needed to be certified with Hennepin County by September 30, 2024. She noted that the Preliminary Tax Levy, once it is established and sent to the County, can only be decreased, and cannot increase. She stated that the Council had discussed this information over the past few months at numerous Work Session meetings and gave a brief overview of the proposed Preliminary Tax Levy, Preliminary General Fund Budget, and the proposed Truth in Taxation meeting date on December 9, 2024. Councilmember Callies stated that she felt that the Council has had a lot of opportunities to refine this and expressed her appreciation for the work staff had done. Mayor Labadie pointed out that prior to this meeting the City hosted an open house at City Hall where they had various information boards on display related to the budget and levy. She stated that residents were encouraged to submit questions or comments, but none were submitted. Councilmember Sanschagrin stated that he appreciated the effort that was put into the open house meeting. He noted that much of the discussion ended up being more about the future but CITY OF SHOREWOOD REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 Page 4 of 6 explained that he felt that there were a lot of good ideas brought up on ways to fine-tune things in the future. Councilmember Zerby stated that he had a question on the reserves and the use of five hundred fifty thousand and asked if more could be taken out of the reserves. He noted that the City has a reserve policy and asked where they were in relation to that policy. Finance Director Schmuck explained that at the end of 2023, the City had about one point nine million dollars of excess reserves and explained the City's policy was to have a minimum of sixty percent of the operating expenditures. She explained that the City was at about eighty-nine percent at the end of 2023 and noted that they would be utilizing five -hundred and fifty thousand dollars with the two transfers. She noted that there was discussion at the last meeting of possibly moving one point two million dollars of the reserves into the Street Fund in order to help subsidize some of that, but Council decided to wait until they have a long-term Financial Management Plan in order to have those discussions. Callies moved, Maddy seconded, Adopting RESOLUTION NO. 24-079, "A Resolution Adopting the 2025 Preliminary Tax Levy, Preliminary General Fund Budget, and Establishing the Truth in Taxation Date." Motion passed. 9. STAFF AND COUNCIL REPORTS AND DISCUSSION A. Staff 1. Tree Sale Update Councilmember Sanschagrin asked if the trees identified had matched up with the recommended trees. Communications/Recycling Coordinator Wilson confirmed that they matched up with the recommended tree list. Councilmember Callies noted that she had received a number of comments from residents that they really appreciated the opportunity to buy trees this way and felt it was a good service that the City provided. Councilmember Zerby stated that the report stated that there were sixteen trees not sold but asked if he had read correctly that those trees had been purchased and planted by Public Works. Public Works Director Morreim confirmed that they had planted some of the leftover trees and noted that there were still about five trees that needed to be planted. Other Parks and Recreation Manager Czech reminded the Council that the family -friendly Oktoberfest celebration would be held on September 28, 2024, at Badger Park from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and were still looking for a few more volunteers to help out. He noted that Oktoberfest activities will continue starting at 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the American Legion. CITY OF SHOREWOOD REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 Page 5 of 6 Public Works Director Morreim stated their crews have been out working on valve exercises in addition to working on some stormwater improvements in problem areas. He stated that they have also begun some of the winter preparations for equipment which will continue until the snow flies. He stated that they expect to be doing the fall sweep sometime in the next few weeks which would take about four or five weeks to complete. Finance Director Schmuck stated that the information that was presented at the Budget Open House was available to be viewed on-line. She noted that they have set up a great website page dedicated to budget activities that also included recordings of previous meetings. She stated that staff would also be coming forward with the Enterprise budgets in the near future. She noted that staff were working to pull together a renewal for their property and worker's compensation insurance and project report. She explained that she had put together an RFP for banking services because that has not been done since 2010. City Clerk/HR Director Thone stated that early voting began on September 20, 2024, and noted that they had broken the first day of early voting record by processing forty-one voters. She stated that the City's new Planner, Jake Griffiths, will begin on September 30, 2024. Planning Director Darling stated that the Met Council has released its ten-year regional plan for public comment for what is called Imagine 2050. She stated that the public comment process ends on October 7, 2024, and would anticipate that their regional plan would be adopted at some point in the fourth quarter of 2024 or the first quarter of 2025. She stated that this means that the City can begin its Comprehensive Plan update process most likely in mid -to -late 2025. City Administrator Nevinski stated that he was continuing to work on the Highway 7 Corridor transit management organization as well as the budget. B. Mayor and City Council Councilmember Zerby stated that he wanted to give a shout out to the Planning Commission and staff for staying until 11:45 p.m. at their recent meeting. He stated that they did a lot of heavy lifting that night and he had appreciated their work and how they were able to run the meeting. Councilmember Sanschagrin stated that he wanted to thank staff for the budget event that was held earlier tonight and explained that he really thought it was a good start and a step in the right direction. He noted that there has been discussion about doing this kind of thing earlier in the budget process next year to factor in more resident input as they are forming the budget. He stated that he wanted to summarize a few of the key things that he heard through the discussion with residents to ensure that they were captured. He stated that there were ideas surrounding exploring more possibilities related to shared resources with other cities; possibility of ways to develop economies of scale in purchasing and operations in order to create some efficiencies; discussion around what they could potentially do with their health and safety team to see if there may be opportunities to coordinate better, for example, having uniform laws for things like e-bikes; looking at fire service as EMS, rather than fire; possible efficiencies around using different equipment or just equipping the Fire Department in a different way that would serve their primary purpose, which appeared to be EMS; the possibility of doing a soft update every year for the Comprehensive Plan rather than the huge effort every ten years; and grants and ways to put more of a spotlight on the efforts to get funding from other sources besides taxpayers. CITY OF SHOREWOOD REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 Page 6 of 6 Councilmember Maddy stated that on October 3, 2024, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m., there would be the Excelsior Fire District's fire safety and open house event. He stated that the Excelsior Fire District had hired a new full-time Assistant Chief, so there were now four FTEs at the Excelsior Fire District. Councilmember Callies asked about the microphones at the dais and noted that it seemed like the microphones on the end of the table have a watered-down sound with some of the shared microphones. She stated that she had heard from people that it can be hard to hear when listening online as well as here in the room and asked if there was a plan. City Administrator Nevinski stated that there was not a particular plan at this point, but they can start diving into this more fully to see what their options may be, within their budget. Councilmember Callies stated that she thinks that there had also been discussion in the past about the steps/ledge that were a bit hazardous in the Council chambers near where Park and Recreation Manager Czech and Planning Director Darling were sitting. Councilmember Zerby stated that he would agree that having one microphone for three people was not working very well. Mayor Labadie stated that the City, as well as some of the neighboring cities, have multiple candidates on the ballot for the upcoming election. She stated that numerous people have asked whether they would be having a candidate debate or forum and explained that this was something that was typically run by the League of Women Voters, however, the local chapter has folded due to loss of membership and were merging the remaining members into the Wayzata/Minnetonka chapter. She stated that after reaching out to that chapter, she was told that they do not have the time or staff to be able to hold a forum or debate. She stated that Councilmember Sanschagrin had mentioned the possibility of the area cities having uniform laws for things like a -bikes and noted that typically when they are drafting an ordinance that involves a police enforcement issue, they do try to have the cities mirror each other. She noted that Excelsior and Greenwood have already passed ordinances related to a -bikes and were also under review by City Attorney Shepherd. She agreed that the Police Department would ideally like to have an ordinance that is mirrored in all four of the member cities because it makes enforcement much easier. 10. ADJOURN Sanschagrin moved, Zerby seconded, Adjourning the City Council Regular Meeting of September 23, 2024, at 7:52 P.M. Motion passed. A ST: San ie hone, City Clerk jelffifferlabadie, Mayor