112000 CC WS Min
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CITY OF SHOREWOOD
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2000
5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
7:00 P.M.
MINUTES
1. CONVENE WORK SESSION MEETING
Mayor Love called the meeting to order at 7:04 P.M.
A.
Roll Call
Present:
Mayor Love; Councilmembers Garfunkel, Lizee, Stover, and Zerby; Engineer Brown;
Finance Director Burton; and Planning Director Nielsen
Absent:
None
B.
Review Agenda
Mayor Love read the agenda. Engineer Brown suggested moving Item 3 to Item 2 thus, allowing Chief
Litsey to leave after his presentation.
Lizee moved, Zerby seconded, approving the Agenda as amended. Motion passed 5/0.
2.
DISCUSSION ON POLICE FORMULA (This item was moved from Item 3.)
Mayor Love explained the South Lake Minnetonka Police Coordinating Committee had asked Police
Chief Bryan Litsey to examine the Police funding formula statistics from the past twenty-eight years.
This was done in an effort to examine options available for simplifying the "demand formula" currently
being used by the South Lake communities. Mayor Love also explained issues of concern with the
demand formula to be the amount of time being taken daily to log time spent in each of the communities,
and the incident reports pose clerical problems when reporting sensitive information protected under the
Data Privacy Act.
Councilmember Stover stated she believed all South Shore residents should pay the same rate for police
funding. Mayor Love stated the Police Department serves one area as a community, and he believed it
was time to examine this issue for simplicity in determining funding amounts for the future.
Police Chief Litsey then presented the findings of a report on a Funding Formula Study prepared for the
South Lake communities. He noted the difficulties encountered in trying to prepare an annual budget
utilizing the "demand formula" which included dealing with a cumulative percentage increase in the
budget in certain years for certain cities and not others. Also, he reported the possibility of a city to try to
manipulate costs by requesting less time be spent in a city rather than letting the determination be based
on public safety. In addition, he explained this method of funding to be extremely labor intensive for the
officers, noting that it would be possible for an officer to travel through each municipality in the course
of a few minutes while responding to a call. That time, under the current formula, must be accounted for
to the quarter hour for each officer on each shift, thus, detracting from other more pressing duties. Over
the course of a year a weekly average of forty-eight shifts would calculate into 832 hours spent filling out
log sheets as part of this funding. Chief Litsey also explained he did not want to revisit the "equity
issue", rather he would like to see a fair formula based on a historical rate of funding for cities.
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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES - November 20, 2000
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Councilmember Stover stated the historical concerns regarding the formula funding to be equity issues
surrounding the amount of time spent by officers in Excelsior versus the surrounding suburban areas.
She also stated in thinking of all these areas as one community, it would be important to spread funding
as equally as possible among all residents.
Councilmember Zerby commented he liked the idea of reducing the clerical time for officers allowing
them to be more productive in other duties, but questioned how to encourage police to have time in
Shorewood. Chief Litsey responded residents should notify the Police Department directly about needs
of an area. He noted he tried to address issues directly with citizens and shared any follow-up measures
taken as a result of their request.
Chief Litsey thanked the Council for consideration of this matter and hoped the information presented
was informational. Mayor Love thanked Chief Litsey for his time related to this matter and noted it had
taken a lot of work to present this matter.
3. BUDGET DISCUSSION ON ENTERPRISE FUNDS (This item was moved from Item 2.)
Finance Director Burton explained Enterprise Funds were like city businesses operating on services
being sold. Further, she stated she would be pointing out highlights found in the Liquor Operations,
Water Operations, Sanitary Sewer Fund, Stormwater Management, and Recycling budgets for the
upcoming year.
A. Liquor
Finance Director Burton explained Liquor Operations Manager Don Swandby was present this evening
as well to answer any questions from Council regarding the Liquor budget and other related concerns.
1. Budget Document
Director Burton stated the Liquor Operations Budget would assume an increase in sales for the entire
operation of approximately 9.5%. Gross profit was projected to increase approximately 16%, while net
income was expected to increase substantially. Certain capital improvements were being contemplated
for the Shorewood Plaza store.
Mayor Love expressed his gratitude to Liquor Operations Manager Swandby, Finance Director Burton,
and Liquor Committee members Zerby and Garfunkel for time spent in dealing with issues surrounding
the liquor operations in the past year.
2. Waterford Downsizing Discussion
Councilmember Stover questioned Liquor Operations Manager Swandby about disadvantages to
downsizing this store. While he noted there were a few disadvantages to doing so, he believed the
advantages were fiscally intelligent.
Much discussion ensued regarding the Tonka Bay Liquor store. Mayor Love stated all options should be
examined, and he would like to take an equal and balanced approach in determining which option would
prove most beneficial to the City. Councilmembers agreed it was important to discuss all potential
options, including a continuation of the current partnership with representatives of Tonka Bay prior to a
final determination on which option would best benefit the City.
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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES - November 20, 2000
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Councilmember Zerby expressed concern regarding the potential traffic increase on Smith town Road,
should Council decide to pursue moving the liquor operations in that area to a different site.
B. Water Budget
The City had approximately 1,590 connections to the City Water System in the Year 2000. While, the
2001 budget projections show this fund operating at a deficit due to the absence of monies derived from a
previous contract with the City of Victoria, alternate sources of revenue were being considered for future
budgets. Annual review of the water rates and other funding sources were being investigated as possible
alternatives for those future funding sources.
Engineer Brown noted it would be important to be proactive in conducting a rate structure study to
determine the long-term outlook for rates related to this fund.
C. Sewer Budget
This fund appeared to be in good position financially. Engineer Brown reported new cell phones with
autodialers would become part of the lift station enhancements for the upcoming year. In addition, he
recommended entering into an agreement with the cities of Excelsior and Tonka Bay to share the
expenses of a vacuum truck used for sanitary sewer cleaning. He noted the risks encountered by city
workers in the past when utilizing current procedures. He further explained that the $45,000 cost incurred
in sharing the vacuum truck would seem well worth it should a human be injured during these cleaning
procedures.
Finance Director Burton noted the budget would need to be changed to reflect this potential amount of
expenditure for this fund.
D. Storm water Management and Recycling Budget
These funds were not anticipated to experience substantial change in the upcoming year. Finance
Director Burton reported the City would continue to receive approximately $21,000 from the Hennepin
County Grant Funds through 2004.
4. ADJOURN
Stover moved, Zerby seconded, adjourning the November 20, 2000, City Co~i1 Work Session
Meeting at 9:38 P.M. Motion passed 5/0. /// 1
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
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Woody Love, Mayor
Sally Keefe,
Recording Secretary