April 15, 2013 Council Meeting

  1. CALL TO ORDER – Mayor Reinhardt called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
  2. ROLL CALL – Sippel, Williamson, Bren, Hughes, Reinhardt
  3. INTRODUCTIONS – Mayor Reinhardt introduced the council and staff to the public.  Administrator Tolsma, Clerk Lewin, Attorney Beck, Auditor Jim Eichten, Tim Litfin of Cure de Tonka
  4. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
  5. ADOPT AGENDAWilliamson made a motion and Sippel seconded to adopt the agenda.  All votes ayes, motion carries.
  6. ADOPT CONSENT AGENDASippel makes a motion and Bren seconds to adopt the consent agenda.  All votes ayes, motion carries.
    1. City Council Regular Meeting Minutes from April 1, 2013
    2. Accept Administration Committee Minutes from April 10, 2013
    3. Accept Planning Commission Minutes from April 10, 2012
    4. Garbage Hauler Licenses
  7. PUBLIC FORUM – No one.  
  8. PRESENTATIONS & GUEST SPEAKERS
  9. Tim Litfin – Tour de Tonka – Reinhardt explained Litfin has a brief presentation about the upcoming Tour.  Litfin said the event will happen Saturday, August 3rd.  Litfin said the event has continued to grow in participants and he said it is being promoted as Minnesota’s Ride.  Litfin said he’s pleased to have Spring Park be part of this event.  Hughes asked about the new 50 mile ride and, with approximately 900 riders, he wondered about the total number coming through Spring Park. Litfin said some riders doing the 43 mile ride might bump up to the 51 mile.  He said he thinks the 43 mile will suffer.  He said total number of riders could add 10-20%.  Hughes said his only concern is the width of the riders because our trail is narrow.  He wondered at what point they might outgrow the trail.  Litfin said it’s followed quite closely but because the riders spread out, they don’t get the pack riders that pushes the limit of the trail.  Reinhardt said she feels the event was much better last year than the year previous to that.  She said last year the weather wasn’t good so the regular trail users weren’t out.  Tolsma said they’ve requested contact information for the day of the event and Litfin said it can be provided.  Litfin said it was a safe event last year.  He said riders are commonly paired up on the trail and they’ll try to pass the message to ride single file when meeting others
  10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS & APPLICATIONS

a.    Tour de Tonka Permit Application - .  Williamson makes a motion and Hughes seconds to approve the Tour de Tonka bike event on August 3rd subject to the conditions attached to the application.  All votes ayes, motion carries.

  1. ORDINANCES & RESOLUTIONS -
  2. REPORTS OF OFFICERS & COMMITTEES
    1. Mayor and Council

2012 Audit Report – Jim Eichten (See Provided Financial Statements & Management Reports) – Eichten said the council has received the financial report and the management report and he’ll go through the management report.  He said the State requires this.  He said right now it’s in draft form.  Eichten said this report gets submitted to the State Auditor.  Eichten said an "Unqualified Opinion" was issued and it’s considered a clean opinion.  He said inadequate separation of duties was found and this relates to the size of the city’s office.  He also said a new finding was found.  He said account payable is a liability that the city had at year end.  He said this was a small amount but it raised the finding and the response to the finding is to eliminate it in the future with a corrective action plan. 

 

Eichten said there were two accounting standards required this year and it changed the financial report.  One was the city is no longer allowed to amortize costs or discounts on old debt.  The requirement is to expense it.  Eichten said as a result they were wrote off.  Williamson asked about the amounts and Eichten said $27,714 was expensed out.  Eichten said the second part of the audit is how the city is doing financially.  He said the governmental funds exclude the water and sewer funds.  He said for 2011 data, the funds increased.  He said this is managed by a fund balance policy.  Eichten said on a per capita basis property taxes is $571 per resident in 2012.  He said the majority of revenues comes from property taxes.  He said in general the city has lower than average expenses.  Eichten said revenues were slightly higher last year.  He said city’s expenditures were below budget so it reflects good fiscal management.  The city’s enterprise funds declined roughly $51,000 but it’s not a significant portion of those funds. 

 

Williamson said a well project is required to be done about every ten years.  He said regarding the bond and the amortization,  he wonders if this expense which is anticipated every ten years can be amortized instead of expensed.  Eichten said money can be set aside for restricted capital to fund the item.  Williamson said this ten year blip is an anomaly and he wonders if there are ways around this.  Sippel asked about depreciation being taken.  Eichten said setting rates for city, some cities set rates to cover future capital items.  He said other cities will build their rates to not cover future capital rates and when they come around they tend to issue debt.  Sippel wonders if the city is charging enough to cover costs plus depreciation. Eichten said the indicator is net income.  Eichten said the statement of activities includes all funds and accounts and at the end of 2012 the change in equity is plus $125K.  He said there’s been a dramatic improvement. 

 

Williamson said every audit there is always a comment about segregation of duties and he wonders about why it’s always mentioned.  He wonders if there should be some recognition in accounting standards so this deficiency isn’t always noted every year.  Eichten said it is going to be addressed and is on an the GasB agenda. 

 

Mayor Reinhardt said a thank you note was received from Wendy and Sharon for the Clerk’s Conference.  Reinhardt said she met with the Historical Society and it was the first conversation about cities’ participating in assisting with funding this endeavor.  She said the total dollar amount from five cities is $16-18,000.  She said she asked how the allocation would take place and wondered if a ratio would be used like the Gillespie Center uses.  Williamson said there are other formulas for cooperative services.  He said it’s usually population based or call for service based.  Williamson suggests a consensus motion about  being open to Historical Society support and if there are votes to support.  He said it should also be in keeping with the fire department apportionment and ends up being about 11% of their total budget.  He said at minimum they should be willing to look at a level consummate with that amount.  Hughes wondered if other cities had any ideas.  Reinhardt said everyone was supportive but there was a city that balked at the population formula.  Reinhardt is looking for a fair share based on some concrete formula.  Reinhardt said Mound Mayor asked about using a formula or does each city just want to do their own thing.  She doesn’t know how complicated this will be.  Williamson said he believes if they are putting together a budget they need to be able to have dependable fund sources.  Williamson makes a motion and Hughes seconds that the Spring Park City Council is interested in participating in the Westonka Historical Society and funding to be determined on a fair and proportional basis.  Sippel suggests a percentage of the overall budget versus a percentage of the revenues.  Reinhardt said this is a good point because they are still doing some fund raising of their own.  All votes ayes, motion carries.

 

Hughes said regarding the LMCD bow fishing ordinance had the first official reading.  He said some tweaks were being made and a second reading will be coming up shortly

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    1. City Administrator – Tolsma said advertising for summer parks maintenance has been advertised and a couple of applications have already been dropped off.  He said the first preconstruction meeting for the street lights is coming up.   He said there is a draft AIS plan received from the Watershed District and there is a 60 day comment period.  Williamson asked about the pay range for the part-time parks person and Tolsma said it’s between $10-11/hour.  Williamson wondered what was budgeted and paid out.  Williamson said he's concerned about the unemployment element and when the city was required to pay out some monies.  He said he wonders if this will be avoided in the future.  Reinhardt said the difference also is that the position is terminated at the end of the season and not keeping the part-time person employed throughout the year.  Williamson said regarding the streetlights, the project has been authorized and parameters were declared but he hasn’t seen the contract.  Williamson said in previous contracts there was a failure to add the payment provisions for subcontractors and clauses were inserted and he wonders if they were inserted in this contract.  Tolsma said the contract was presented to the council and it’s available.  He said what was signed is a one page signature page.  Williamson asked about load limits.  He said they usually come off around the middle of May.  He said this year there is about three weeks behind the average in terms of temperatures and he wonders if there is any thought about extending the load limits.  Tolsma said the city typically follows the state guidelines on load restrictions. 
    2. City Engineer -
    3. City Attorney -
    4. Utility Superintendent -
  1. UPCOMING MEETINGS & TRAINING
    1. April 16, 2013 – LMCC – 5:00 PM
    2. April 18, 2013 – Spring Park Police Commission – 10:00 AM
    3. April 22, 2013 – Work Session – 7:00 PM
    4. April 24, 2013 – LMCD – 7:00 PM
    5. May 6, 2013 – City Council – 7:30 PM
  2. UNFINISHED BUSINESS -
  3. NEW BUSINESS & COMMUNICATION
    1. Bills & Payroll – Bren makes a motion to approve the claims.  Sippel seconds.  All votes ayes. 
  4. MISCELLANEOUS (Information Only)
    1. February Financial Report
    2. March Fire Department Report
    3. Music In The Park Update – Reinhardt said a grant was received so they might not be looking for funding from the city. 
    4. 2012 Orono Police Department Report – Reinhardt said the response times for priority one calls for Spring Park  has gone down and it was a dramatic decrease.  Williamson asked about claims for payment and booking charges.  He wondered if this was asked about at the police commission meeting and Reinhardt said she will bring this up at the next police commission meeting.  Tolsma said the open book meeting is this Wednesday the 17th at city hall from 6-7:30 p.m.

 

  1. ADJOURNMENT – Bren makes a motion and Sippel seconds to adjourn at 9:07 p.m.  All votes ayes, motion carries.