April 6, 2015 Council Meeting

1. CALL TO ORDER – Mayor Williamson called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
2. OATH OF OFFICE – MEGAN PAVOT
3. ROLL CALL – Hughes, Pavot, Bren, Horton, Williamson
4. INTRODUCTIONS – Williamson introduced the council and staff to the public. Administrator Tolsma, Clerk Lewin, Attorney Beck, Auditor Jim Eichten, former council members Joanna Widmer and Mary Ann Thurk, Commissioner Mason.
5. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
6. ADOPT AGENDA – Hughes makes a motion and Horton seconds to adopt the agenda. All votes ayes, motion carries.
7. ADOPT CONSENT AGENDA – Bren makes a motion and Hughes seconds to adopt the consent agenda. All votes ayes, motion carries.
a. City Council Regular Meeting Minutes from March 16, 2015
b. City Council Work Session Minutes from March 23, 2015
c. Garbage Hauler Licenses
8. PUBLIC FORUM – Widmer and Thurk address the council. Widmer said they are interested in keeping the name of the local library as Westonka, not changing it to Mound. She said there is a movement to change the name of the library to Mound Library and they would like to see it stay as Westonka library. Thurk said this is a library that is shared by surrounding communities and not just Mound. Widmer said there will be a lot of dollars expended for the changeover if this goes through. Bren asked if it’s a Hennepin County branch library and she wonders if this can happen without going through Hennepin County. Hughes wondered who the driving force is behind this. Widmer said Mound’s city administrator brought this forward and the librarian didn’t even know this was coming. Williamson said in the beginning it was found to use the name Westonka to create an identity that coincided with the schools. Widmer said Mound doesn’t have any financial contribution to the library, the support comes from the county. Hughes thinks the response should be directed to Hennepin County or to request Mound to rescind their request to change the name of the library. Pavot thought it looked as though this was already a pretty solid deal. Hughes moves that Spring Park send an objection to the name change and recommends keeping the multi-community name of Westonka and also to send a second letter to the City of Mound stating Spring Park is not in favor of a name change. Horton seconds. Williamson suggests adding a provision for prior consultation before these things are moved forward. All votes ayes, motion carries by unanimous vote.
9. PRESENTATIONS & GUEST SPEAKERS
a. 2014 Audit Presentation – Jim Eichten –
Jim Eichten is with MMKR CPA’s. He said he’ll provide a brief summary. Eichten said it is a requirement of the city to have an annual audit. He said they test reporting and comply with the State of MN and guided by Federal law if any awards are received of over $500,000. Eichten said two documents were provided, one being a financial report and the other a management report. Eichten said cities of this size don’t have perfect segregation of duties due to the smallness of the office. He said the city has good controls. Eichten said most of the data provided came from the city and is put together by them. He said no action is needed in either of those areas. Eichten said there is nothing to report in terms of compliance. He said it is a perfect report card in that area. Eichten said the second part of the audit is how the city is doing financially. He said they provide comparative tools and trends. Tax rates are discussed and nothing has really changed over the years. Eichten said revenues are on a per capita basis and the city relies on property taxes and is higher than other cities in the state because intergovernmental revenue is non-existent and because the city gets no local government aid.

Eichten said the city is living within its means. He said expenditures are below average per resident so the spending is less on an average basis and there is no debt service. City revenues show a cash flow that is constant due to property taxes being the notable revenue source. He said there are two other funds, the water fund and is in a stable position. He said revenues were slightly down and expenses slightly up which is common. Eichten said the sewer fund is similar or the same.

Eichten said in summary they are able to offer a clean opinion, there were no findings, the enterprise funds are stable and in excellent financial position. Pavot asked when the next financials come out and Tolsma said it typically comes around July when they’re preparing for the budget. Pavot wondered about increased costs being related to repairs and she wondered if there was anything else. Eichten said basically it’s repairs. Williamson said some of it relates to factors beyond control. He said snow plowing can bust budgets and flooding can’t be predicted. He said contingencies have to be built into budgets for flexibility.

Williamson said the division of responsibilities keeps coming up and he wonders if there should be some recognition from an audit standpoint that this is just a fact. Eichten said there is another way by hiring outside staff to come in and prepare reports. Eichten said when he looks at it and the costs of spending the money to do this, it just isn’t worth it. He said there are certain things that can be done such as the council reviewing the financials, having a mayor on staff for long-term because their eyes will catch things that look out of the ordinary. Hughes wonders about population numbers and Eichten said they use what the League puts out. Williamson said there was a higher population and then the redevelopment of Pres Homes there was reduced population while the building was going on. He said the same thing happened with the condos and new units were added it changed the population adding about 300 people. He said that can drive finances for the city. Pavot said the audit was prepared from numbers provided by the city and she wonders if the data should be provided by another party. Eichten said there is another layer of control as a service comes in pre-audit to prepare the numbers to provide for the audit. He said they use a sampling of tested forms of audit.

Williamson wants to commend city staff in running the city, following established policies and achieving goals to keep the budget balanced and manage any unevenness.
10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS & APPLICATIONS – None.
11. ORDINANCES & RESOLUTIONS – None.
12. REPORTS OF OFFICERS & COMMITTEES -
a. Mayor and Council –
• Williamson said now with the full council the committee assignments will be re-examined. He said the session should be held as early as possible. Williamson said there are financials in tonight’s packet but they don’t reflect bond proceeds so he said these numbers will change dramatically, to the better. Williamson said resulting from the changed numbers, the CIP should be reviewed, probably at a work session. He said it’s an ongoing master plan of the city and it needs to be periodically reviewed. He thinks goal setting needs to be done. Williamson said under upcoming meetings there is an establishing of a fire district. He said it includes a lot of territory and it includes staffing the fire departments. He said there are equipment issues. He said this meeting is on April 23rd and there is a request for two members to attend this meeting. Williamson said Gillespie Center’s endowment program requires a financial report be made. He said that meeting is now planned for Thursday, April 30 and they are asking for two council representatives to attend. Williamson said regarding banners from the Westonka Community and Commerce committee tries to stimulate activity to the benefit of the commercial community. He said there have been two rounds of commercial banners with business mentions and it hasn’t been that successful. He said the city has purchased new banners to go along with the new streetlights and they are much better constructed. Westonka Community and Commerce wants to purchase new banners and he said he thinks they need an answer. He suggests Goman be at a meeting where this is decided for his input.
• Hughes wants Tolsma to look up the rules or what was tried to be accomplished when the commerce banners came out. Hughes said Mound Fire is no longer looking to buy an aerial truck. They are looking to replace two trucks and instead of the aerial there will be a similar truck with a water nozzle and that will run around $300K. He said as part of the district wide fire service they’re looking at other departments for mutual aid. Hughes said there is a meeting April 8th for the LMCD to discuss updating the high water declaration rules and regulations. Hughes said ice out was 14 days earlier than the average ice out date. Hughes said the LMCD through Save the Lake is working on a contract for a full time deputy on Lake Minnetonka.
• Bren said regarding the Council directory phone list she has had her land line removed. Horton said the same for her and Pavot asked her primary phone number be switched to her cell number.
b. City Administrator – nothing.
c. City Engineer – nothing.
d. City Attorney – nothing.
e. Public Works Superintendent – Hughes asked about the planning commission meeting and Tolsma said tomorrow night is the neighborhood meeting for the West Arm Rd East residents. Bren wondered if council should attend and Tolsma said it’s their discretion.
13. UPCOMING MEETINGS & TRAINING
a. April 7 – Neighborhood Meeting – West Arm East Road Project – 7:00 PM
b. April 8 – Planning Commission – 7:00 PM
c. April 8 – LMCD – 7:00 PM
d. April 9 – LMCC – 7:00 PM
e. April 14 – Administration Committee – 12:00 PM
f. April 20 – Regular City Council Meeting – 7:30 PM
14. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
15. NEW BUSINESS & COMMUNICATION
a. Bills & Payroll – Horton moves to pay the bills, Pavot seconds. All votes ayes, motion carries.
16. MISCELLANEOUS (Information Only)
a. January 2015 Financial Report
b. February 2015 Financial Report
c. April Channel 8 & 20 Schedules
17. ADJOURNMENT – Hughes makes a motion and Horton seconds to adjourn the meeting at 8:41 p.m. All votes ayes, motion carries.

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Wendy Lewin, City Clerk


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Dan Tolsma, City Administrator