March 7, 2016, Council Minutes
CITY OF SPRING PARK
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
MARCH 7, 2016 – 7:30 PM
SPRING PARK CITY HALL
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 introduces the staff and council. Administrator Tolsma, Clerk Lewin, Commissioner Mason.
4. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE -
5. ADOPT AGENDA - Hughes makes a motion and Horton seconds to adopt the agenda. All votes ayes, motion carries.
6. ADOPT CONSENT AGENDA – Williamson asked for corrections. Seing none, Pavot makes a motion and Bren seconds to adopt the consent agenda. All votes ayes, motion carries.
a. City Council Regular Meeting Minutes from February 16, 2016
b. City Council Work Session Minutes from February 22, 2016
7. PUBLIC FORUM – No one.
8. PRESENTATIONS & GUEST SPEAKERS – see 10a.
9. PETITIONS, REQUESTS & APPLICATIONS – Williamson said Jim Lundberg said the LMCC budget has been approved by the member cities. He said there is an increase for an expenditure item in the budget, a $80K carryover for five years for funding audio visual support to upgrade cities sound systems. Williamson makes the motion to approve the amendment to the LMCC budget. Hughes seconds. Hughes asked how much of the $80K is spent already. Williamson said he’s not sure but the vast majority is either committed or expended. All votes ayes, motion carries.
a. Request for Approval of Revised 2016 LMCC Budget
10. ORDINANCES & RESOLUTIONS – Williamson said attending the meeting tonight is Michael Kurtz and Carson Merrit. Kurtz said on April 9th they will compete internationally for problem-solving with solutions. He said the problem they have chosen is teen homelessness. He said they’ve interviewed homeless teens for their project. Kurtz said to raise awareness he and Merrit slept in a vehicle at Grandview Middle School. He said they asked for donations and they raised over $2,000. They said they are looking for a resolution to offer support and encouragement and they will use this in their portfolio for their project. Williamson said he thinks this is good because it can be an invisible problem, especially for teens. Williamson said this is an area-wide problem. He thinks it’s commendable to heighten the awareness. He said the parents of the two students are also in attendance this evening. Hughes wants to thank the students for their efforts. Hughes makes a motion and Horton seconds to adopt Resolution 16-09. All votes ayes, motion carries.
a. Resolution 16-09: Declaring April 2016 Teen Homelessness Awareness Month
11. REPORTS OF OFFICERS & COMMITTEES
a. Mayor and Council –
• Hughes said for the LMCD there is a person who has submitted their resignation and they are in the process of filling that position. He said there are staffing replacements needed, updating the strategic plan and overhauling their ordinances. Williamson said there are three upcoming meetings, Save the Lake, Safety issues on the Lake and the upcoming issues with the LMCD. Hughes said the lake is changing and there are more and more requests for entrepreneurs who want to capitalize. Williamson said with these decisions he feels the cities need to be kept informed. Hughes said he has stepped down as treasurer with the LMCD.
• Pavot wants to remind those that are watching that they are accepting applications for the community garden and she encourages those interested in applying for this. Williamson referred to recent article in The Laker and he wants to give credit to Pavot and Tolsma for their research, time and effort put towards this project. Tolsma said so far four applications have been received and there are eight plots remaining. Tolsma said the apartment buildings in Spring Park have been posted with fliers and the website has been updated.
b. City Administrator – Tolsma said the auditors are in for most of the week so the audit report will probably be ready in the next month or so. He said the soccer goals will be delivered towards the end of next week. Tolsma will pass out postcards for an open house being held by We-Can this Thursday.
1. West Arm East Storm Water Easement Agreements – Williamson said this is for a drainage easement for West Arm Road East and temporary easements for construction purposes. Horton thanks Tolsma for his efforts put into this. She said Sambatek’s documents are very small and difficult to follow. Tolsma said the less detailed map for each property shows a visual representation of the legal easement areas being acquired. The detailed plan from Sambatek is of the actual easement being constructed. Tolsma said a while back at a work session several hours were spent going through this with the engineer. He said nothing has changed and it will be constructed as discussed. Horton makes a motion to approve the West Arm Rd East Stormwater agreements. Hughes seconds. Pavot wonders if they should be approved separately. Williamson asked if there is an objection to adopting these as one because if they’re adopted separately, one won’t work without the other. All votes ayes, motion carries.
2. Revised Employment Agreement – Williamson said this is an item affecting the public works superintendent, a subject at the last work session. He said the issue is making a change affecting the fire call response proposition. Williamson is looking for a motion. Hughes said he wants to read a statement composed by him regarding this:
"At our last work session we discussed at length this change on responding to an emergency fire call during the day. It seemed to me that I was the only person that wants to keep the responding to an emergency fire call in-tact. I need to provide a more detailed reasoning for my position.
Most of you know that I was a charter member of the Maple Grove Fire Department but that is only a small part of my fire service background. My total relationship with the fire service will give you a better understanding of my position on allowing somebody to respond to emergency fire calls.
For twenty plus years I was also a fire training instructor for Hennepin Technical College teaching formal courses: Fire Fighter 1, Line Officer and a member of the Burn Team.
The burn team would go to small town fire departments in Minnesota and teach new fire fighters how to extinguish a live structural fire at various levels of burning.
I was a regular instructor at the Minnesota State Fire School; usually one long weekend each year. I did this for at least 15 years.
I also served as a Minnesota State Examiner for Fire Fighters certification.
Currently (now in my 10th year) I have represented Spring Park on the Mound Fire Commission.
All I can say is that my extensive fire career has given me a rich exposure to departments large and small and a deep respect for the many men and women that donate their time and energy to provide service to the people of their area.
DJ has been responding to emergency fire calls for the past 15 years. The city has not suffered any type of loss in work effort as he has taken vacation or comp time for the time he spends at a fire call. If he is working on a major city project and a call comes in he does not leave the city at risk.
This geographic area is currently looking at automatic district response to emergency fire calls; currently we are using a box alarm for multiple departments to respond to different types of emergencies.
The more restrictions placed on their availability during the work-day; the sooner cities will need to have full time firefighters and that will raise the cost significantly for taxpayers.
Another common trend today is the lack of young people wanting to commit the time necessary to become a fire fighter.
Like I said earlier, DJ has been responding to emergency fire calls for the past 15 years why are we changing his long standing ability to serve this area as a fire fighter?"
Williamson said there was an hour long discussion vetting the problems. He said they were substantial and with only one person in the city, when that person is out of the city, it becomes logistically difficult. He said there were substantial, acknowledged inconsistencies. He believes they’ve tried to be diplomatic about this. Williamson said there is a recollection in the minutes that were adopted. Hughes said Goman has not been given a chance to improve or change. He said there is more housing density in this area, typical growth, and emergency response for fire calls and medicals continue to increase. Williamson said Goman participated in the meeting and the documents generated regarding this came from Goman. He said there has been a defective process that was becoming worse over time. Bren said with the employee agreement in front of the council this evening she feels it is vague and would like to suggest this be revisited. She said there is some discussion about the city clerk’s position and to look at the job description with the clerk’s retirement and she thinks this needs to be looked at the same time. She said Goman has been with the city a long time and job descriptions are not specific and not spelled out. Hughes agrees and she likes an employment agreement with a job description. He feels the firm that is being contracted with can help with this. Tolsma said Springsted will be presenting a report on their findings. Tolsma said there are separate job descriptions that go with the employee contracts. Williamson said with the contracted firm, Springsted, they’ve requested this be specifically addressed. Bren said there is a part-time seasonal worker and she believes there should be some guidelines for this position as well. Bren makes a motion to pass the revised employee agreement for the public works superintendent and Horton seconds. Pavot, Bren, Horton and Williamson vote aye, Hughes votes nay.
c. City Engineer
d. City Planner
e. City Attorney
f. Public Works Superintendent
12. UPCOMING MEETINGS & TRAINING
a. March 9 – LMCD – 7:00 PM – Open to the public at 5:30 p.m. is Hennepin County Sheriff and at 7:30 PM is Save the Lake, 7:30 AM
b. March 9 – Planning Commission – 7:00 PM Canceled.
c. March 15 – Administration Committee – 12:00 PM – Williamson wants to move this meeting to 12:30 PM and Hughes requests this change to 3 PM.
d. March 21 – Regular City Council Meeting – 7:30 PM – Williamson said interviews for Planning Commission are intended for the 21st. He said there is a suggestion to meet at 6:30 PM and the council agrees with this.
e. April 20 – LMC Safety & Loss Control Workshop – Brooklyn Park – 8:30 AM – Williamson said this covers a lot of things and he encourages anyone who wants to attend.
13. UNFINISHED BUSINESS – None.
14. NEW BUSINESS & COMMUNICATION – Horton asked about the specialized services for tree maintenance and she feels concern about losing a tree for soccer nets. Tolsma said it will be replaced so this is more of a swap. Bren makes a motion to pay the bills and Pavot seconds. All votes ayes, motion carries.
a. Bills & Payroll
15. MISCELLANEOUS (Information Only)
16. Orono Police Department Training Invitation – Williamson said they have established a study session on March 28th. He said they are inviting the council to attend and it’s at 5 p.m. He said it’s a meeting with the human rights commissioner and it’s on bias and sensitivity training. He said there will be an update on the Hwy 12 corridor. He said if more than two council members want to attend, it should be noticed. Williamson said there might be some absence for the March 28th city work session and he’s wondering if they can cancel and reschedule. Pavot said she will not be able to attend the April work session. (At this point it is decided to keep the originally scheduled meeting.)
17. ADJOURNMENT – Horton makes a motion and Hughes seconds to adjour the meeting at 8:30 p.m. All votes ayes, motion carries.
___________________________________
Wendy Lewin, City Clerk
____________________________________
Dan Tolsma, City Administrator
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
MARCH 7, 2016 – 7:30 PM
SPRING PARK CITY HALL
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 introduces the staff and council. Administrator Tolsma, Clerk Lewin, Commissioner Mason.
4. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE -
5. ADOPT AGENDA - Hughes makes a motion and Horton seconds to adopt the agenda. All votes ayes, motion carries.
6. ADOPT CONSENT AGENDA – Williamson asked for corrections. Seing none, Pavot makes a motion and Bren seconds to adopt the consent agenda. All votes ayes, motion carries.
a. City Council Regular Meeting Minutes from February 16, 2016
b. City Council Work Session Minutes from February 22, 2016
7. PUBLIC FORUM – No one.
8. PRESENTATIONS & GUEST SPEAKERS – see 10a.
9. PETITIONS, REQUESTS & APPLICATIONS – Williamson said Jim Lundberg said the LMCC budget has been approved by the member cities. He said there is an increase for an expenditure item in the budget, a $80K carryover for five years for funding audio visual support to upgrade cities sound systems. Williamson makes the motion to approve the amendment to the LMCC budget. Hughes seconds. Hughes asked how much of the $80K is spent already. Williamson said he’s not sure but the vast majority is either committed or expended. All votes ayes, motion carries.
a. Request for Approval of Revised 2016 LMCC Budget
10. ORDINANCES & RESOLUTIONS – Williamson said attending the meeting tonight is Michael Kurtz and Carson Merrit. Kurtz said on April 9th they will compete internationally for problem-solving with solutions. He said the problem they have chosen is teen homelessness. He said they’ve interviewed homeless teens for their project. Kurtz said to raise awareness he and Merrit slept in a vehicle at Grandview Middle School. He said they asked for donations and they raised over $2,000. They said they are looking for a resolution to offer support and encouragement and they will use this in their portfolio for their project. Williamson said he thinks this is good because it can be an invisible problem, especially for teens. Williamson said this is an area-wide problem. He thinks it’s commendable to heighten the awareness. He said the parents of the two students are also in attendance this evening. Hughes wants to thank the students for their efforts. Hughes makes a motion and Horton seconds to adopt Resolution 16-09. All votes ayes, motion carries.
a. Resolution 16-09: Declaring April 2016 Teen Homelessness Awareness Month
11. REPORTS OF OFFICERS & COMMITTEES
a. Mayor and Council –
• Hughes said for the LMCD there is a person who has submitted their resignation and they are in the process of filling that position. He said there are staffing replacements needed, updating the strategic plan and overhauling their ordinances. Williamson said there are three upcoming meetings, Save the Lake, Safety issues on the Lake and the upcoming issues with the LMCD. Hughes said the lake is changing and there are more and more requests for entrepreneurs who want to capitalize. Williamson said with these decisions he feels the cities need to be kept informed. Hughes said he has stepped down as treasurer with the LMCD.
• Pavot wants to remind those that are watching that they are accepting applications for the community garden and she encourages those interested in applying for this. Williamson referred to recent article in The Laker and he wants to give credit to Pavot and Tolsma for their research, time and effort put towards this project. Tolsma said so far four applications have been received and there are eight plots remaining. Tolsma said the apartment buildings in Spring Park have been posted with fliers and the website has been updated.
b. City Administrator – Tolsma said the auditors are in for most of the week so the audit report will probably be ready in the next month or so. He said the soccer goals will be delivered towards the end of next week. Tolsma will pass out postcards for an open house being held by We-Can this Thursday.
1. West Arm East Storm Water Easement Agreements – Williamson said this is for a drainage easement for West Arm Road East and temporary easements for construction purposes. Horton thanks Tolsma for his efforts put into this. She said Sambatek’s documents are very small and difficult to follow. Tolsma said the less detailed map for each property shows a visual representation of the legal easement areas being acquired. The detailed plan from Sambatek is of the actual easement being constructed. Tolsma said a while back at a work session several hours were spent going through this with the engineer. He said nothing has changed and it will be constructed as discussed. Horton makes a motion to approve the West Arm Rd East Stormwater agreements. Hughes seconds. Pavot wonders if they should be approved separately. Williamson asked if there is an objection to adopting these as one because if they’re adopted separately, one won’t work without the other. All votes ayes, motion carries.
2. Revised Employment Agreement – Williamson said this is an item affecting the public works superintendent, a subject at the last work session. He said the issue is making a change affecting the fire call response proposition. Williamson is looking for a motion. Hughes said he wants to read a statement composed by him regarding this:
"At our last work session we discussed at length this change on responding to an emergency fire call during the day. It seemed to me that I was the only person that wants to keep the responding to an emergency fire call in-tact. I need to provide a more detailed reasoning for my position.
Most of you know that I was a charter member of the Maple Grove Fire Department but that is only a small part of my fire service background. My total relationship with the fire service will give you a better understanding of my position on allowing somebody to respond to emergency fire calls.
For twenty plus years I was also a fire training instructor for Hennepin Technical College teaching formal courses: Fire Fighter 1, Line Officer and a member of the Burn Team.
The burn team would go to small town fire departments in Minnesota and teach new fire fighters how to extinguish a live structural fire at various levels of burning.
I was a regular instructor at the Minnesota State Fire School; usually one long weekend each year. I did this for at least 15 years.
I also served as a Minnesota State Examiner for Fire Fighters certification.
Currently (now in my 10th year) I have represented Spring Park on the Mound Fire Commission.
All I can say is that my extensive fire career has given me a rich exposure to departments large and small and a deep respect for the many men and women that donate their time and energy to provide service to the people of their area.
DJ has been responding to emergency fire calls for the past 15 years. The city has not suffered any type of loss in work effort as he has taken vacation or comp time for the time he spends at a fire call. If he is working on a major city project and a call comes in he does not leave the city at risk.
This geographic area is currently looking at automatic district response to emergency fire calls; currently we are using a box alarm for multiple departments to respond to different types of emergencies.
The more restrictions placed on their availability during the work-day; the sooner cities will need to have full time firefighters and that will raise the cost significantly for taxpayers.
Another common trend today is the lack of young people wanting to commit the time necessary to become a fire fighter.
Like I said earlier, DJ has been responding to emergency fire calls for the past 15 years why are we changing his long standing ability to serve this area as a fire fighter?"
Williamson said there was an hour long discussion vetting the problems. He said they were substantial and with only one person in the city, when that person is out of the city, it becomes logistically difficult. He said there were substantial, acknowledged inconsistencies. He believes they’ve tried to be diplomatic about this. Williamson said there is a recollection in the minutes that were adopted. Hughes said Goman has not been given a chance to improve or change. He said there is more housing density in this area, typical growth, and emergency response for fire calls and medicals continue to increase. Williamson said Goman participated in the meeting and the documents generated regarding this came from Goman. He said there has been a defective process that was becoming worse over time. Bren said with the employee agreement in front of the council this evening she feels it is vague and would like to suggest this be revisited. She said there is some discussion about the city clerk’s position and to look at the job description with the clerk’s retirement and she thinks this needs to be looked at the same time. She said Goman has been with the city a long time and job descriptions are not specific and not spelled out. Hughes agrees and she likes an employment agreement with a job description. He feels the firm that is being contracted with can help with this. Tolsma said Springsted will be presenting a report on their findings. Tolsma said there are separate job descriptions that go with the employee contracts. Williamson said with the contracted firm, Springsted, they’ve requested this be specifically addressed. Bren said there is a part-time seasonal worker and she believes there should be some guidelines for this position as well. Bren makes a motion to pass the revised employee agreement for the public works superintendent and Horton seconds. Pavot, Bren, Horton and Williamson vote aye, Hughes votes nay.
c. City Engineer
d. City Planner
e. City Attorney
f. Public Works Superintendent
12. UPCOMING MEETINGS & TRAINING
a. March 9 – LMCD – 7:00 PM – Open to the public at 5:30 p.m. is Hennepin County Sheriff and at 7:30 PM is Save the Lake, 7:30 AM
b. March 9 – Planning Commission – 7:00 PM Canceled.
c. March 15 – Administration Committee – 12:00 PM – Williamson wants to move this meeting to 12:30 PM and Hughes requests this change to 3 PM.
d. March 21 – Regular City Council Meeting – 7:30 PM – Williamson said interviews for Planning Commission are intended for the 21st. He said there is a suggestion to meet at 6:30 PM and the council agrees with this.
e. April 20 – LMC Safety & Loss Control Workshop – Brooklyn Park – 8:30 AM – Williamson said this covers a lot of things and he encourages anyone who wants to attend.
13. UNFINISHED BUSINESS – None.
14. NEW BUSINESS & COMMUNICATION – Horton asked about the specialized services for tree maintenance and she feels concern about losing a tree for soccer nets. Tolsma said it will be replaced so this is more of a swap. Bren makes a motion to pay the bills and Pavot seconds. All votes ayes, motion carries.
a. Bills & Payroll
15. MISCELLANEOUS (Information Only)
16. Orono Police Department Training Invitation – Williamson said they have established a study session on March 28th. He said they are inviting the council to attend and it’s at 5 p.m. He said it’s a meeting with the human rights commissioner and it’s on bias and sensitivity training. He said there will be an update on the Hwy 12 corridor. He said if more than two council members want to attend, it should be noticed. Williamson said there might be some absence for the March 28th city work session and he’s wondering if they can cancel and reschedule. Pavot said she will not be able to attend the April work session. (At this point it is decided to keep the originally scheduled meeting.)
17. ADJOURNMENT – Horton makes a motion and Hughes seconds to adjour the meeting at 8:30 p.m. All votes ayes, motion carries.
___________________________________
Wendy Lewin, City Clerk
____________________________________
Dan Tolsma, City Administrator