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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-10-09 - Council MinutesCITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING October 9, 2008 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Call to order The Corcoran City Council met on October 9, 2008, at City Hall in Corcoran, Roll Call Minnesota. Present were Mayor Guenthner, Councilor Jacobs, Councilor Grabowski, Councilor Hudok and Councilor Thomas. Also present were Interim City Administrator Bodem, Police Chief Gormley, Public Works Superintendent Meister, City Planner Gartner, Building Official Qualle and City Engineer Rhein. Mayor Guenthner called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. AGENDA APPROVAL MOTION made by Grabowski, seconded by Thomas to approve the agenda with some discussion on status of business park to coincide with 8c. Voting Aye: Guenthner, Hudok, Jacobs, Grabowski and Thomas (Motion carried 5:0) 4. OPEN FORUM Mary Bechtold discussed documentation requirements about her plat and associated survey and non disclosure agreement without survey consent. If this goes into the public record, how can this be? The survey company treats their survey data as proprietary information. This is in the hands of the city attorney for his opinion. 5. PRESENTATIONS Mike Smith, Superintendent and Gordy Thomas, School Board Member from the Rockford School District provided a PowerPoint presentation to the City Council about of Rockford Area Schools. The district area includes Corcoran, Greenfield, Rockford and Rockford Township. The overview covered the following topic areas: District Aims, Goals, and Measures, priorities, responsible management, resident support, financial challenges, enrollment, School Ballot questions, levy discussion, economy, tax impact, facts, projections and the like. 6. Planning — Norm Gartner a. Wind Turbine Ordinance Discussion Gartner stated that since this Spring, he has fielded three requests to install wind turbines on various properties. Unfortunately, he has been forced to tell them that the City Code does not allow for their installation. Question if correct that city code prevents uses not listed if said use otherwise legal and being utilized historically in city. There was some discussion about turbines in Chaska, Minnesota and their success stories. It was decided to seek model ordinances from the League of Minnesota Cities and seek vendor information about wind turbines. Pledge of Allegicmce Agenda Approval Open Forum Presentations Planning Page -1- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING October 9, 2008 b. Land Application Checklist Gartner also presented materials for land applications recurring questions from the Planning Commission. Copies of state statutes and city attorney memo on 60 and 120 day review period were enclosed. The issues here are when an application is deemed complete and when does the clock start ticking. What type of conditional approval is required and list of items needed and see pros /cons of requiring an appraisal versus per unit to go back to Parks and Trails and the Planning Commission. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Required Annual Bridge Inspections City Engineer Joe Rhein was present to share with Council that the City is required by the State of Minnesota to perform regular safety inspections on the bridges within its jurisdiction. The four bridges under the jurisdiction are the Shannon Land, Schutte Road, Cain Road and Trail Haven Lane Bridges. The cost for these inspections is estimated from $5,000 to $5,500. MOTION made by Grabowski, seconded by Hudok to approve inspections to be undertaken by Bonestroo in the amount from $5,000 to $5,500. Voting Aye: Guenthner, Hudok, Grabowski and Thomas and Jacobs. Motion carried 5:0. b. Heating System Update Mayor Guenthner updated the Council that we are still waiting for a cost estimate proposal from a HVAC company about the broken geo thermo heat system. It should be ready by next meeting time. The system is functioning but is losing fluid. c. Draft Fireworks Ordinance Interim City Administrator provided a draft fireworks ordinance provided by City Attorney Langel. It was decided that the draft was too lengthy and should address an ordinance solely on use of professional fireworks display not consumer sales. Local sales are handled by state law. The proper scope was discussed and it was decided to send this ordinance back pairing it down to an ordinance for professional display of fireworks. If sale of fireworks becomes an issue, then one can look at it later. d. MNSPECT — 3 year contract proposal Scott Qualle, President of MNSPECT contacted presented council with a proposal regarding the tentative nature of his contract. Mr. Qualle provided council with a financial proposal to modify his agreement to run for a longer period in exchange for fee reduction. Mr. Qualle illustrated a reduced rate up front bringing it back to current rates at the end of the 3 year contract. There were five house keeping items on the amended contract that need to be changed within the contract: * make amendment first month upon agreement Unfinished Business Page -2- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING October 9, 2008 * termination agreement as presented * change of name from Waldron to MNSPECT * change in fee share 10, 20, 30 percent fee share * moves fires inspection in the right area with no fee. It was mentioned that there is almost a $20,000 savings and this proposal is good in these uncertain financial times. Other council members reacted in stating that it was less expensive before with the previous building inspector. The Mayor stated he is uncomfortable hand cuffing subsequent council members for the next three years and the unintended consequences. Council mentioned that further policy analysis needs to be made prior to having the City Attorney review. It was decided to discuss this relative to upcoming workshop meeting. e. Set Budget Schedule Council talked about the idea of providing a schedule of city council and work shop meetings to discuss the budget and levy. There was some discussion too about setting up meetings to talk about council budget philosophy. It was also mentioned that staff is working on correcting issue surrounding its accounting system. It is hoped the performance -to -date on Police Department will be presented on October 23 and the following meeting to discuss the other departments in November. f. Set Truth and Taxation Continuation Hearing Date Interim City Administrator asked council to approved setting the Truth In Taxation Continuation hearing for December 18, 2008. MOTION made by Thomas, seconded by Hudok to approve December 18, 2008 for the Truth In Taxation Continuation Hearing. Voting Aye: Guenthner, Hudok, Grabowski and Thomas and Jacobs. Motion carried 5:0. 8. NEW BUSINESS 8a. Letter of Credit Reduction for Corcoran Business Park Kendra Lindahl from Landform provided a memo asking council to reduce the Letter of Credit from United Properties in the Corcoran Business Park. United Properties would like to see a reduction down to $100,000. The developer intends to reapply for a new grading permit in the spring of 2009. The developer did begin tree removal on site, but did not begin any significant grading work when they became aware that the project was being delayed as the City worked to obtain utilities for the site so the intention is not to grade this year and reapply in 2009. MOTION made by Thomas, seconded by Hudok to revoke the existing grading permit for Corcoran Business Park and to reduce the Letter of Credit to $100,000. Voting Aye: Guenthner, Hudok, Grabowski and Thomas and Jacobs. Motion carried 5:0. 8b. Highway 55 Coalition for Use of $100,000 Grant — Fund Acceptance The City heard from the Interim City Administrator about a request from the County explaining that the City of Corcoran received support from the Highway 55 New Business Page -3- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING October 9, 2008 Corridor Coalition for its use of $100,000 of federal funds granted for right of way purchase along Highway 55 between Rolling Hills and Pioneer Trail. Based upon an 80/20 split of cost, Corcoran will have to provide at least $25,000 when funds are accessed. It was the consensus of Council that even though we are in tough economic times, it would behoove us to hold onto the grant so no action was taken to eliminate it. Mayor Guenthner asked that Councilor Thomas be apart of the Corcoran Business Park meetings to discuss agreements between United Properties and the city of Medina. 9. CLAI IVIS AS PRESENTED 9a. Escrow Claims (Fund 500), Claims MOTION made by Grabowski, seconded by Thomas to approve Escrow Claims (Fund 500). Voting Aye: Thomas, Hudok, Grabowski, Jacobs, and Guenthner. (Motion carried 5:0) 9b. Building Inspection There were no building inspection claims presented 9c. All Other Claims as Presented MOTION made by Thomas, seconded by Hudok to approve All Other Claims. Voting Aye: Thomas, Hudok, Grabowski, Jacobs, and Guenthner. (Motion carried 5:0) 10. CONSENT AGENDA 10. a. September 25th City Council Minutes MOTION made by, seconded by to approve the September 25th City Council minutes with the following changes: Councilor Hudok stated that on page 1 under unfinished business with 1000 Friends there was a vote against so it was decided to strike the whole sentence. Also, correct the motion on the planning firm approved showing the motion by Grabowski, seconded by Hudok. On page 2, the Clerk was asked to clarify the September 25 Minutes, 7a. regarding the CUP for Accessory Building for Sara Anderson. The Clerk reviewed the tape and the CUP was approved with the following point being removed: That the City allow for the stabling of horses other than the applicants on the property not to exceed 20 horses, until such time as the City Code is revised to address the issue so point E. shall be removed from the minutes. Voting Aye: Thomas, Hudok, Jacobs, Grabowski and Guenthner. (Motion carried 5:0) 10b. Resolution 2008 -39 — Comp Plan and need for additional time and grant Claims as presented Consent Agenda Page -4- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING October 9, 2008 amendment It was stated that the City will not have enough time to update the 2020 Comprehensive Land Use Plan to 2030 so staff is recommending that Council pass a Resolution for an extension until December 29, 2009 knowing that the request for extension is due to the Met Council on November 1, 2008. The comprehensive plan needs to go through a 6 -month adjacent community review before official submittal to the Met Council. The City needs to keep working on this and touch base with the Met Council when Corcoran anticipates sending the official comp plan for review. At the same time, the existing grant contract shows that the city will receive the 2nd half of the $20,000 upon the completion of the comp plan as it meets the Met Council policy plans. MOTION made by Jacobs, seconded by Thomas to approve Resolution 2008 -39 requesting additional time within to complete comprehensive plan "Decennial" Review Obligations. Additionally, to amend grant agreement submission date and grant's end date by authorizing the Interim Administrator to write the request letter separate from the Resolution. Voting Aye: Thomas, Hudok, Jacobs, Grabowski and Guenthner. (Motion carried 5:0) 11. COUNCIL AND STAFF REPORTS lla. October 2, 2008 Planning Commission Report Councilor Hudok discussed the talked briefly about the Subcommittee meetings and times to meet and posted notices needed. He also talked about the planning firm and need for them to attend the subcommittee meeting. There was some discussion about a trail easement Resolution and use of the 1000 Friends grant to rectify the situation. There was some discussion about Bechtold Family Acres and the Ess Addition that was tabled. Hudok talked about the 2 part ordinance amendment request on the tree ordinance mimicking the open space requirement to determine which type of trees measured by height and diameter. There was further discussion about preliminary and fmal plat check list process. The Big Woods plat was dropped and the animal ordinance is in the city attorney's hands 11b. Paul Jacobs, E -Mail About Downside Risk of City Investment to Support Development There was some discussion about how elected council is responsible but wanted to share with Council his discovery of the City of Mayer and actions taken from consultants that negatively affect the city fiscally. There should be some advice on the best interest of city from its consultants and check made as to veracity of how things are presented to Council. llc. Northern Lights Informational Correspondence Brief discussion stating that council should read the letter from Northern Lights. lld. Lions Donation There was an e-mail expressing that the Lions want to subsidize contract payment to Northwest Human Services and that staff should provide a proclamation in the Council and Staff Reports Page -5- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING October 9, 2008 newspaper. 12. UNSCHEDULED ITEMS Unscheduled Items No unscheduled items 13. ADJOURNMENT Adjournment MOTION made by Thomas, seconded by Grabowski to adjourn at 9:30 p.m. Voting Aye: Guenthner, Jacobs, Hudok, Grabowski and Thomas (Motion carried 5:0) Kim Bachmeier, City Clerk Treasurer Page -6-