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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-08-10 - Council Minutes - Part 1CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING August 10, 2006 The Corcoran City Council met on August 10, 2006, at city hall in Corcoran, Minnesota. Present were Mayor Cossette, Councilor Grabowski, Councilor Jacobs, Councilor Lymangood, and Councilor Thomas. Also present were Administrator Vergin, City Engineer Vander Top, Chief Gormley, and Clerk Lindberg. Mayor Cossette called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. Agenda Approval MOTION by Thomas, seconded by Grabowski, to approve the agenda as presented. Voting Aye: Cossette, Grabowski, Jacobs, Lymangood, and Thomas. (Motion carried 5:0) Open Forum & Presentations Home Free, Laura Landis Due to the loss of grant funding, Laura Landis representing Home Free, a domestic violence program serving communities in the northwest area of Hennepin County including Corcoran, asked the City of Corcoran to consider contributing to the 2007 financial needs of Home Free. Landis stated the regional community office serves approximately 1,200 people a year providing shelter for women and children, legal advocacy, orders of protection, counseling support, crisis intervention, transportation, and referrals. In 2005 Home Free assisted 14 Corcoran residents by providing a total of 67 services. Lymangood requested comment from the Corcoran police department regarding the services provided. Cossette asked Landis to provide more information to the City staff regarding the anticipated shortfall in funding and what would be Corcoran's fair share. Thomas was very supportive of the program, but not convinced it would be the City's role to fund these services and suggested contacting other organizations in the community for financial support. Landis will work with staff to provide the requested information. Chad Robran — Corcoran Jaycees — Corcoran Country Daze Chad Robran handed out the Corcoran Country Daze poster and announced the third annual event will be held on August 186 and 19th. Grabowski thanked Robran and the Jaycees for the hard work involved to organize and promote the community event. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Hedgestone Development — CR 101 Sewer Easements Administrator Vergin reported staff and Councilor Thomas had met with Terry Forbord and Paul Heuer of Laurent Development Company regarding the development named Hedgestone. This meeting was scheduled following the receipt of a letter dated July 21, 2006, from Laurent regarding roadblocks encountered with the Hedgestone project. Vergin reported it was made very clear Laurent was not asking for any concessions or assistance from the City. Forbord and Heuer told the City staff there were some obstacles that needed to be worked out and that Laurent was still trying to move forward with the Hedgestone project. Although there is no definite timeline, Laurent should be presenting something to the City within a couple of months. Laurent Development Company acknowledged responsibility for any and all costs to this point for the project. Administrator Vergin asked if Council would like to wait or to pursue the Call to Order Roll Call Agenda Approval Open Forum & Presentations Home Free, Laura Landis Chad Robran — Corcoran Jaycees — Corcoran Country Daze Hedgestone Development — CR 101 Sewer Easements Page -1- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING August 10, 2006 purchasing of the CR 101 sewer easements. Engineer Vander Top recommended waiting and informing the impacted residents of the uncertainty of the development status. Staff was directed to inform the impacted residents of the development status via direct mailing, minimize contracted staff time to defray addition costs, and delay easement purchases for the CR 101 sewer project. County Road 19 — Doboszenski Site At the last Council meeting Engineer Vander Top was directed to query Hennepin County for design reasoning and the omission of bypass and acceleration lanes in the County Road 19 / Doboszenski project design. Included in the evening's packet were the response memo and plans from Hennepin County Transportation Department and a summary prepared by Engineer Vander Top regarding the project design. Engineer Vander Top explained that Hennepin County staff felt a south-bound Left-turn lane was not warranted at this time and a north -bound acceleration lane would not be necessary because of the minimal spacing between County Road 10 and County Road 30. If the City of Corcoran wanted to pursue the south -bound left-turn lane, the City would be responsible for the funding of the design and construction. Engineer Vander Top proposed working with Hennepin County to determine if realigning the presently proposed improvements to County Road 19 would be necessary to facilitate future lane improvements. Lymangood suggested asking Doboszenski if he would be interested in cost sharing the expense of a north -bound right -turn lane. Thomas felt the use of MSA and TIF funds would be justified if the improvements would make the area more attractive to future development. Cossette agreed the east side of County Road 19 should be defined for a permanent placement with the curb and gutter design anticipating a future left -turn lane; the west side could be a different kind of project. Engineer Vander Top will complete a design to present to Hennepin County and discuss the cost sharing with Doboszenski. City Newsletter — Final Draft Administrator Vergin said the final draft of the newsletter had been given to the council members and was ready to be sent out unless there were any changes the Council would like to make. She also included in the packet an email from Councilor Jacobs regarding the newsletter. Jacobs' email included several excerpts from the Laurent letter that could replace the HRUA update space in the newsletter. Jacobs felt a sentence on page 3 in the third paragraph explaining a frontage road connecting Pioneer Trail to Rolling Hills Road was incorrect. Councilor Lymangood suggested deleting the sentence to solve the issue. Cossette did not find a problem with the wording. Thomas said the information should stay in the article. Lymangood suggested adding "HRUA has appealed this decision to the MN Supreme Court. The appeal is also available on the City's website." to the end of the HRUA update. Lymangood questioned Jacobs' email to the City from the University of MN email address used by Jacobs as General Manager of HRUA and disseminated at taxpayer's expense to the public. Lymangood said the email contained slanted statements and viewed it as a conflict of interest suggesting the County Road 19 — Doboszenski Site City Newsletter — Final Draft Page -2- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING August 10, 2006 City should get an opinion from the State Auditor. Cossette summarized that the council members were asked for input on the newsletter; the bottom part of the email did that, but the top part had nothing to do with the input on the newsletter and should not have been included in the email. MOTION by Lymangood, seconded by Thomas, to forward the email to the State Auditor for review noting that Councilor Jacobs is participating at the council table in light of his conflicts of interest and obvious financial interest in HRUA. Thomas asked for clarification if the conflict of interest would be the fact that the email came from the HRUA's email address at the University of MN to make comments as a council member of Corcoran and using both titles to push an agenda that is clearly beneficial to HRUA. Lymangood said Jacobs was using the public office in an attempt to benefit a private enterprise and was confusing the public regarding his private enterprise work and his role as a council member; the City should get clarity from the State Auditor whether Jacobs' actions would be considered a conflict of interest. Pat Hank — 9425 Trail Haven Road — asked the council members to put the topic to bed and commented on the time and expense for staff to sit at the meetings while the same arguments are being made every time the topic is mentioned. Cossette called for a role call vote: Lymangood — Aye; Grabowski — Nay, Thomas — Aye, Jacobs — Nay; Cossette — Aye. (Motion carried 3:2) Lymangood added "All costs to date are the responsibility of Laurent." to the end of the development article on page 3. Also added to the end of the development article was "A copy of the developer's letter is available at City Hall." Paul Boehmer - 19104 Gleason Road — said the newsletter should include the basic facts and be mailed out. COUNCIL AND STAFF REPORTS ROW Donation vs. Dedication, Attorney Carson Memo At the previous meeting the Council requested information regarding right -of -way (ROW) dedication of land and whether these ROWs should be considered charitable donations to the City. Administrator Vergin referenced the memo from the City Attorney Carson where he states "I do not believe that one could receive a charitable donation for land that a municipality can legally require as part of a subdivision or development." Thomas said these ROWs are usually given in direct proportion with benefit; therefore, should not be considered a donation. Consensus of the Council was that anyone gifting or donating land to the City that was not required as part of a requirement of the subdivision or development agreement may do so per IRS rules. Planning Commission, Councilor Lymangood Lymangood reported the Business Park application discussion included length and height of the northern facing wall, snow removal, fire exits, screening on north side Planning Commission, of the access road, and project phasing. The right of way issue of the Doboszenski Councilor Lymangood development was also discussed. Lymangood asked to further discuss the Hedgestone project per a previous comment from resident Paul Boehmer. Administrator Vergin said if Laurent does not submit a final plat application for the Hedgestone development before the end Hedgestone Development ROW Donation vs. Dedication, Attorney Carson Memo Page -3- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING August 10, 2006 of 2006, then the development is gone; Laurent would have to start the process all Update over again. Lymangood said if the development does not move forward, the zoning would revert back to the original R -1 land use zoning with a minimum 20,000 square foot single family lot size. Cossette commented he liked the PUD approach as illustrated in the R -1 vs. PUD diagram in the Laurent Development Company packet materials. Thomas suggested a message be sent to Laurent or any developer to help promote the PUD concept. HRUA Files appeal with Supreme Court Administrator Vergin reported HRUA appealed the court decision in the law suit that HRUA initiated against the City of Corcoran to the MN Supreme Court; the League of MN Cities will be handling the case. Administrator Vergin informed the council members of the need for them to complete the ISO 100 and ISO 200 training; the training has been scheduled and will be posted for August 30th at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall. NEW BUSINESS None. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Grabowski, seconded by Thomas to approve the consent agenda with changing "Council" to "council members" in the third paragraph of the Budget Workshop Minutes: a. July 13, 2006 Budget Workshop Minutes b. July 13, 2006 Regular Council Minutes c. Appoint Election Judges, Resolution No. 2006 -44 Voting Aye: Cossette, Grabowski, Jacobs, Lymangood, and Thomas. (Motion Carried 5:0) CLAIMS AS PRESENTED Escrow Claims (Fund #500) $21,595.99 MOTION by Thomas, seconded by Grabowski, to approve Fund #500 Escrow claims as presented. Voting Aye: Cossette, Grabowski, Lymangood, and Thomas. Voting Nay: Jacobs. (Motion carried 4:1) HRUA Related Claims $333.33 MOTION by Thomas, seconded by Grabowski, to approve HRUA claims as presented. Voting Aye: Cossette, Grabowski, Lymangood, and Thomas. Abstained: Jacobs. (Motion carried 4:0 with 1 abstention) All Other Claims/Disbursements as Presented $53,225.73 MOTION by Grabowski, seconded by Thomas, to approve all other claims and disbursements as presented. Voting Aye: Cossette, Grabowski, Lymangood, Jacobs, and Thomas. (Motion carried 5:0) Adjournment MOTION by Thomas, seconded by Grabowski to adjourn the meeting at 8:55 p.m. Voting Aye: Grabowski, Jacobs, Cossette, Lymangood, and Thomas. (Motion HRUA Files appeal with Supreme Court ISO Training CONSENT AGENDA CLAIMS Adjournment Page -4- carried 5:0) - -- .XtL,e Bea Lindberg, City Clerk CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING August 10, 2006