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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-07-27 - Council Minutes - Part 1CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSHOP July 27, 2006 The Corcoran City Council met on July 27, 2006, at city hall in Corcoran, Minnesota. Present were Mayor Cossette, Councilor Grabowski, Councilor Jacobs, Call to Order Councilor Lymangood, and Councilor Thomas. Also present were Administrator Vergin, and Police Chief Gormley. Mayor Cossette opened the meeting to order at Roll Call 5:33 p.m. Agenda Approval MOTION by Lymangood, seconded by Thomas, to approve the agenda with the addition of Councilor Lymangood under item 4.e. Other Revenue Sources. Voting Aye: Cossette, Grabowski, Jacobs, Lymangood, and Thomas. (Motion carried 5:0) Status Report of Staff Progress on 2007 Budget Administrator Vergin informed the council that she had met with Planner Lindahl and Engineer Vander Top to address budgets as defined at the July 13 budget workshop. Those will be presented to the Council on August 15. Have begun background work on an in -house planner, obtaining job descriptions and salary ranges. Also, have a meeting scheduled with Planner Lindahl on 8/9 to address further. Have received Hamel Fire Dept budget and will coordinate with Medina to get fmal budget numbers. Currently waiting for budget information from the Long Term Planning Committees. The Parks & Trails Commission have identified some tasks that they want to undertake in 2007, budgets for those are currently being worked on. The Commission is also reviewing fees, but tabled that matter to their August meeting. Continuing to work on personnel matters. Looking into options to reduce the liability of the city for time owed off to employees. Also, looking at benefits — health insurance premiums are going up 16% for 2007. Have received Attorney fee schedule for 2007. Engineering and Planning fee schedules should be available in next few weeks. Have received information from Waste Management on recycling — they are looking at a 10% increase. Based on a survey of other communities and other vendors, this increase will still keep us in line with the going rate. It was noted that a deadline of August 15 was set for the both the Long Term Committee and Parks & Trails Commission budget information. Revenues Reviewed the revenue trends and per capita information prepared by Administrator Vergin. General discussion ensued regarding revenues, what is impacting the 2006 budget, and how we can address those concerns for 2007. Concern that perhaps the Open Space Preservation Plat ordinance was modified making it less appealing for developers. City should focus on being development friendly. Find ways to reduce expenditures, be creative. Noted that the Street Department's budget was the one most impacted to reduce expenditures for 2006, but that is the area where the City receives most complaints. Agenda Approval Staff ff Report Revenues Page -1- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSHOP July 27, 2006 Chief Gormley and Administrator Vergin will look into establishing Administrative Fines. Administrator Vergin received a favorable response from the Council on whether they would be interested in establishing a Registrars Office. This will be looked into further. If the City were to simplify processes it may help to reduce costs. Council should identify what they are willing to utilize TIF funds for and bonding. Encourage rural residential development, to deter the ability to provide sewer and water in the future. Be sure that the downtown area and the Burschville are not competing. Should see what amenities the City should be providing in the Burschville area. Discussion regarding TIF was expanded. The Council addressed the preparation of TIF Survey a survey to identify if the downtown business owners are interested in the extension of sewer and water to the area. It was suggested that an open house be held to get feed back from the property owners. The Council needs to outline their goals and objectives to determine the information that they need from the businesses. It was the consensus of the Council that the comp plan sewer phasing should be amended with the next comp plan amendment to direct development to occur from east to west, should also look at accelerating development in the northeast district. Administrator Vergin will check to see if TIF monies can be utilized for a survey. Reviewed the fee schedule. Administrator Vergin noted that staff would be Fee Schedule reviewing and modifying the schedules based on actual expenses being incurred. But before staff does spend time on the fee schedule she requested comments from the Council regarding the use of user fees, as some councilors have indicated in the past concern with the fees that are charged to residents. It was the consensus of the council that the fee process would remain status quo, continue with user fees. It was noted that an error was on the building code sheet regarding fines, it will be corrected, and under the septic fees it should be noted that Hennepin County would assume authority in 2007. It was suggested that the city create another building rights incentive, not tied to the OSP, but some other incentive. Could also consider tweaking the OSP. Councilor Lymangood raised the issue of the city providing Wireless Internet services. The Council agreed that this should be looked into further. Staff will follow up with cities that are presently providing it. Next Workshop The next workshop is scheduled for August 10, 2007 at 5:30 p.m. This meeting will be to address Administration and Personnel. Wireless Internet Next Workshop Page -2- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSHOP July 27, 2006 Adjournment MOTION by, Jacobs, seconded by Grabowski to adjourn the workshop, 6:48 p.m. Voting Aye: Cossette, Grabowski, Jacobs, Lymangood, and Thomas. (Motion Carried 5:0) Susan Vergin, City inistrator Adjournment