June 6, 2016, Council Minutes

CITY OF SPRING PARK
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
JUNE 6, 2016 – 7:30 PM
SPRING PARK CITY HALL
Commissioners Mason and Palen.
1. CALL TO ORDER – Mayor Williamson called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
2. ROLL CALL – Pavot, Hughes, Bren, Horton, Williamson.
3. INTRODUCTIONS – Williamson introduced the council and staff to the public. Administrator Tolsma, Clerk Lewin.
4. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
5. ADOPT AGENDA – Horton makes a motion and Hughes seconds to adopt the agenda. All votes ayes, motion carries.
6. ADOPT CONSENT AGENDA – Williamson explained there was a dropped sentence in the pagination of the work session minutes and it’s been discussed with the clerk and there is no substantive differences in the draft to the corrected. Hughes makes a motion and Bren seconds to adopt the consent agenda. All votes ayes, motion carries.
a. City Council Regular Meeting Minutes from May 16, 2016
b. City Council Work Session Minutes from May 23, 2016
7. PUBLIC FORUM - None
8. PRESENTATIONS & GUEST SPEAKERS – None.
9. PETITIONS, REQUESTS & APPLICATIONS –
a. 2016-2017 Liquor Licenses
Williamson said liquor licenses need to be reviewed each year and they are submitted to the state for signature. He said unless there are questions or comments, a motion to accept is in order. Bren makes the motion to accept the liquor license approval for Lord Fletcher’s, MGM and Tonka Grille and Pavot seconds. All votes ayes, motion carries.
10. ORDINANCES & RESOLUTIONS – None.
11. REPORTS OF OFFICERS & COMMITTEES
a. Mayor and Council
• Williamson said under item 12 on the agenda, the June 9th meeting has been changed and the meeting has already been held. He said they are engaged in auditing themselves. He said usually errors are discovered and it is time consuming. He said Spring Park’s audio has been upgraded and there are other cities in place for upgrades as well. He said they are going to publish a brochure and they are working with the League of Women Voters for local candidate interviews for the upcoming election.
• Hughes – He said the report from the last LMCD the Water Patrol gave a summary of activities. He said what’s important is Thursday thru Sunday they will 7-8 full time deputies on the water. He said Labor Day weekend the HC Sheriff said he will send out at least three more deputies to add to the staff. He said there is a emergency staging dock being constructed and they hope to have it finished by Labor Day. Pavot asked if the staging area is ready and Hughes said the staging area has been identified. Mason asked about where air care would be able to land. Hughes said he doesn’t know for sure right now.

Hughes said the budget was placed in the council’s packet. He said in 2015 when putting the 2016 budget together they reduced it by 10%. He said in 2017 they’ve increased the budget by 6%. He said in looking at the court fines in terms of revenue, the fines have been going down. He said they did not get a county grant from the county so it can fluctuate. He said notations have been added to the budget in order to understand it better. He said a concern for 2017 is the new executive director will have some monies available for projects. He said the difference for Spring Park is an additional $263.

Horton said regarding the court fines for revenue, she wonders why it is less. Bren said probably BWI’s are down. Williamson asked if the enforcement philosophy has changed. Hughes said a BWI arrest takes two-three deputies off the lake in order to process. He said they’re going to do more preventative at Big Island. He said there has been an announcement put out to several hundred agencies regarding the upcoming executive director position. He said the work group is putting out a news release to the local newspapers.

Williamson said for Spring Park, fines don’t contribute significantly to the revenue budget but, for the LMCD it’s about 20% of their budget so it can have an impact. Williamson asked about the $30K reduction based upon a grant they used to get and they didn’t get it for 2017. Williamson said he also noticed a decrease in the harvesting. Hughes said they do a good job with the two harvesters because one is a new harvester. Williamson said Spring Park’s role is very small as a percentage of the whole. He said it’s one percent. He said Spring Park has a lot of properties affected by the lake and it’s important what the LMCD does. He said Spring Park is getting a very good deal and he encourages an investment in the lake.

Hughes said the use of the lake is changing. He said there are more requests for events, more requests for vendors to sell their product on the lake. Williamson said Lake Minnetonka is really a park. Mason said Spring Park Bay has a lot of milfoil washing up. He said he spoke to a fishing guide and there is a sunken island in Spring Park Bay and the milfoil grows there. He said it drifts in and he can’t remember seeing it this early.

Williamson said the LMCD has yet to formally adopt this budget. Hughes said this has to be adopted by July 1st. Williamson said he has no problem supporting the budget as presented. His only concern is it may not be big enough. Pavot questions the efficacy of invasive species and would like to see more dollars go to milfoil harvesting. Horton agrees with Pavot as she would like less weeds. Hughes said he will bring this back to the work group. Williamson makes a motion to support the proposed budget as presented and Bren seconds. Four votes ayes, Pavot votes nay.
1. LMCD Draft Budget
b. City Administrator
1. City Clerk Finalists Interview Schedule
Tolsma said as an update, there were ten semi finalists that the interview panel met with. He said there were ten outstanding applicants. He said they did narrow it down to three for final council interviews and it was a difficult process. He said their availability to meet with the council has been discussed and June 15th seems to work the best. He proposes to start at 6 p.m. He wants to contact the applicants tomorrow so would like any council member to get back with him if there is a conflict. Pavot mentioned that nine out of 23 applicants were interviewed as one was unable to make it. Williamson said of the choices that were narrowed down to he feels the rest of the council will find them experienced, intelligent and a good fit with current staff.
c. City Engineer
d. City Planner
e. City Attorney
f. Public Works Superintendent
12. UPCOMING MEETINGS & TRAINING
a. June 8 – Police Commission – 8:00 AM
b. June 8 – LMCD – 6:00 PM
c. June 8 – Planning Commission – 7:00 PM
d. June 9 – LMCC – 7:00 PM
e. June 14 – Administration Committee – 12:00 PM
f. June 20 – City Council Regular Meeting – 7:30 PM
13. UNFINISHED BUSINESS – Catherine Palen of 4352 West Arm Road said she has some questions as a new commissioner. She said on May 23rd there was a council work session regarding Wilkes Park fence proposal. She said there is a problem with a code violation with a property. Williamson said there is not a formal complaint on file. She asked if there have been other people who have complained about this property. Tolsma said there is not a current complaint on this property but there have been previous complaints on this property. He said there was a formal complaint about four years ago and some action was taken but it stopped at an impasse. She asked if the price of the fence has been decided and Williamson said no, it’s been given back to the staff in order to explore more pricing. Tolsma said there has been an additional estimate for about $4500 but they are still waiting for another estimate come in. Palen asked if the decision is made at a council meeting and Williamson said if they’ve gotten enough research in order to make a decision but it all takes place at the council meeting. Palen appreciates that and she said if there is a problem property and a fence is an answer, she feels the offending property owner should share in the cost of this fence. Palen wonders if this will come up at the next work session. Tolsma said potentially depending upon what else is on the agenda and if proper research has been performed. He said staff will do the research, get the options, he’ll bring it to a work session and if there is a consensus, it will come back to the council during a regular meeting. Williamson asks Palen to ask to be added to the agenda if she knows she has something she wants to discuss.
14. NEW BUSINESS & COMMUNICATION
a. Bills & Payroll – Hughes makes a motion and Horton seconds to pay the bills. All votes ayes, motion carries.
b. Purchase Order 16-01 (No Action Needed) – Williamson said this is for information purposes. He said this is a dehumidifier for the Water Plant. There is no objection.
c. Purchase Order 16-02 (No Action Needed) – Williamson said this needs further work and more investigation.
15. MISCELLANEOUS (Information Only)


16. ADJOURNMENT – Horton makes a motion and Hughes seconds to adjourn the meeting at 8:22 p.m. All votes ayes, motion carries.


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Wendy Lewin, City Clerk

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Dan Tolsma, City Administrator