1999-03-23MINUTE8 - MOUND CITY COUNCIL - MARCH 2& 1999
The City Council of the City of Mound, Hennepin County, Minnesota, met in special session
on Tuesday, March 23, 1999, at 7:30 PM, in the Council Chambers at 5341 Maywood
Road, in said City.
Those present were: Mayor Pat Meisel, Councilmembers Mark Hanus, and Leah Weycker.
Councilmembers Andrea Ahrens and Bob Brown were absent and excused. Also in
attendance were: City Manager Edward J. Shulde, Jr., City Attorney John Dean, City
Clerk Fran Clark, Assistant City Planner Loren Gorden and the following interested
citizens: Cathy Bailey and Leona Peterson.
The Mayor opened the meeting and welcomed the people in attendance. The Pledge of
Allegiance was recited.
*Consent Agenda: All items listed under the Consent Agenda are considered to be routine by
the Council and will be enacted by a roll call vote. There will be no separate discussion of
these items unless a Councilmember or Citizen so requests, in which event the item will be
removed from the Consent Agenda and considered in normal sequence.
Councilmember Weycker asked that item *D be removed from the Consent Agenda because
there was no name inserted for Assistant Weed Inspector.
Councilmmber Hanus asked that item *E be pulled from the Consent Agenda for a
clarification.
The City Manager stated that there is one Add-On item for the Consent Agenda. This is to
set a date for a Public Hearing.
APPROVE AGENDA. At this time items can be added to the Agenda that are
not listed and/or items can be removed from the Consent Agenda and voted upon
after the Consent Agenda has been approved.
MOTION made by Hanus, seconded by Weycker to approve the Consent Agenda, as
amended above. The vote was unanimously in favor. Motion carried.
*CONSENT AGENDA
*1.0
APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 10, 1999, SPECIAL MEETING.
MOTION
Hanus, Weycker, unanimously.
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*1.5
MINUTES MOUND CITY COUNCIL - MARCH 23, 1999
APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE MARCH 9, 1999 REGULAR MEETING.
MOTION
Hanus, Weycker, unanimously.
SET SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING FOR TUESDAY. MARCH 30. 1999.
FOR PURPOSES QF CONDUCTING AN EXECUTIVE SESSION ON THE
WOODLAND POINT MATTER, SUGGESTED START TIME IS 7:30 P,M.
MOTION
Hanus, Weycker, unanimously.
APPROVE ENDORSEMENT OF SCOTT THOMAS TO FILL VACANCY ON
MINNEHAHA CREEK WATERSHED DISTRICT BOARD,
MOTION
Hanus, Weycker, unanimously.
PAYMENT OF BILLS.
MOTION
Hanus, Weycker, unanimously.
ADD-ON; SET APRIL 1;3, 1999, FOR A PUBLIC HEARING TO REVIEW A
CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT TQ ALLOW FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A
TWINHOME LOCATED WITHIN THE R-2 SINGLE OR TWO FAMILY ZONING
DISTRICT AT 2541 WEXFORD LANE, LOTS 1, 2, 3,14 & 15, BLOCK 7, SETON,
PID//24-117-24 11 0019. P & Z CASE g99-07.
MOTION
Hanus, Weycker, unanimously.
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MINUTES MOUND CITY COUNCIL - MARCH 25, 1999
1.6 APPQINT1MENT OF ASSISTANT WEED INSPECTOR.
The City Manager advised that the Park Director Jim Fackler's name should have been inserted as
the Assistant Weed Inspector.
Weycker moved and Hanus seconded the following resolution:
RESOLUTION//99-25 RESOLUTION APPOINTING PARK DIRECTOR, JIM
FACKLER AS THE ASSISTANT WEED INSPECTOR
FOR 1999
Motion carried.
The vote was unanimously in favor.
1.7 PUBLIC LANDS PERMIT FOR WILLIAM DAHLEN, 4555 ISLAND VIEW DRIVE.
Councilmember Hanus pointed out that this item needs a 4/5's vote and there are only 3
Councilmembers present.
MOTION by Hanus, seconded by Weycker to take this up at the Special City
Council Meeting on March 30, 1999. The vote was unanimously in favor.
Motion carried.
1.8
CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARING: CASE 99-03: RESOLUTION TO APPROVE A
HARDCOVER VARIANCE AND TO VACATE A UTILITY EASEMENT IN ORDER
TO ALLOW FOR CONSTRUCTION TO CONVERT a 1 ~A STORY DWELLING
INTO A 2 STORY AND ADD AN ADDITION WITH AN ATTACHED GARAGE, AT
4544 ISLAND VIEW DRIVE, LOT l&2, BLOCK 5, DEVON PIDS 25-117-24 11 0047
& 25-11%24 11 0046.
MOTION made by Hanus, seconded by Weycker to continue this item to the
April 13, 1999, Regular City Council Meeting because a vacation requires a
4/5's vote and only 3 Councilmembers are present tonight. The vote was
unanimously in favor. Motion carried.
1.9
REPORT ON DISCUSSIONS WITH WESTONKA SCHOOL DISTRICT RE:
CONTINUED USE OF WESTONKA COMMUNITY CENTER FOR COMMUNITY
TENANTS.
The City Manager reported that since the last Council Meeting he has had some discussions with
the School District regarding the continuation of leasing the Westonka Community Center
property. He asked if they would consider leasing it to us so the community tenants could stay in
the building until a community center is built and the tenants had another place to go. He asked
for a two year lease. The School Board considered this request and have responded in a letter
234
MINUTE8 MOUND CITY COUNCIL - MARCH ~$,
dated, March 15, 1999, as follows:
~TO: Ed Shukle, Jr., City Manager, City of Mound
FROM: Pamela J. Myers, Ph.D., Superintendent, 612-491-8001
RE: Westonka School Board's plans for the Lynwood site
At its retreat on Saturday, March 13, the Westonka School Board discussed at length its facility
goals, needs, and plans. The School Board's goal is to provide adequate space for school district
programs and offices.
After examining the pros and cons of lease arrangements, the School Board members determined
that they need to sell this site as soon as possible, in order to have funds to provide space to house
the district offices, which are temporarily moving into classroom space in three school buildings.
Therefore, the School Board is not interested in developing a lease with the City of Mound for the
Lynwood site.
The School Board is ready to sell the Lynwood site, and is willing to offer it for sale first to the
City of Mound. I've asked Kevin to research whether the school district can offer the property to
one buyer, without putting the property up for public sale to all possible buyers. The asking price
is the 1996 appraised value plus the percentage increase in commercial property value In the City
of Mound since that date, which you researched from the County Auditors office, at 6%. This
amount is $1,180,840.
In addition, the School Board is ready to sell the ball field property. The Board is willing to offer
it, also for sale first to the City of Mound, if we are allowed to do this. The Board is proceeding
to call for appraisals of this site.
The School Board is proceeding to call for bids for demolition of the Lynwood site in preparation
for sale of the property as a buildable site, in order to receive the highest possible value for this
property.
If the Mound City Council is interested purchase of the Lynwood site, the School Board has
authorized me to negotiate a purchase agreement., with you, on their behalf, with a deadline of
April 24,1999, for a signed purchase agreement and receipt of earnest money.
Please respond at your earliest convenience.
C. Bill Pinegar, Chair, Westonka School BoardM
The City Manager reported that since this letter he has spoken with Dr. Myers and she has been
authorized to negotiate a purchase agreement if the City wishes to purchase the property. There is
also the possibility that the City could consider an option to purchase the property over a period of
time. As stated in the memo the answer to leasing the property is a definite Mno".
The City Manager asked for direction from the Council on what the City would like to do now.
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MINUI~8 MOUND CITY COUN¢I~ - MARCH Z$, 1999
Hanus asked if the priCe quoted is cleared or as is.'? ~The City Manager stated the priCe quoted is
including the demolition of the building. He further explained that in 1996 the School District had
two appraisals done by two different firms. These came in about the same. The purchase
agreement the School District had with the developer was for $600,000 and then they had about
$500,000 for demolition of the building.
Hanus stated he thought the demolition numbers from a couple of years ago were more like
$800,000.
The City Manager suggested that the City get their oWn appraisal of the property.
Hanus asked about the new telecommunications .tower at the football field. He is under the
impression from what he was able to ascertain from documents at that time, that if the School
District sells the property and the tower cannot stay, they would have to pay back all the money
U.S. West spent on the lights that were put up. He asked if the School District is aware of that?
The City Manager did not know.
The Council discussed the cost of an appraisal. The City Manager estimated $3,000 to $5,000
depending upon what properties are included and whether the building is left there or gone.
The Council discussed wanting just land value because the building would have to go.
The City Attorney stated there is an appraisal approach that can be used, called a development
cost approach which would assume that the building is a negative value, so they would come up
with a figure that a prudent buyer would spend to buy the property for an anticipated development,
bearing in mind the .costs to tear down the building. They can come up with a net number using
this approach. The Council discussed the fact that this could come up zero or negative.
The Council again expressed concern regarding what the current tenants future is and where they
will go.
The Council discussed having an appraisal on the entire parcel including the ball fields and the
extra lot. The Mayor stated she would like separate appraisals on each of the pieces of property.
The Council also discussed the fact that the ball fields are very low. An appraiser would have to
be aware of the poor soil conditions of the property.
The Council decided they would like to have a current appraisal of the property before going
further.
MOTION made by Weycker, seconded by Hanus to authorize the City Manager to
secure current appraisals on the Community Center property, the ball field property,
and the house property, not to exceed $5,000 for the appraisals. If the appraisals are
going to exceed $5,000, the City Manager will come back to the Council for approval.
The vote was unanimously in favor. Motion carried.
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MINUTES MOUND CITY COUNCIL - MARCH 23, 1999
COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS FROM CITIZENS PRESENT
There were none.
1.10
REOUEST FROM HENNEPIN COIyNTY DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND
DEVELOPMENT RE; PROPOSED CHANGE TO COOPERATION AGREEMENT
BETWEEN HENNEPIN COUNTY AND THE CITY OF MOUND FOR THE PERIOD
BEGINNING JANUARY 1. 2000 AND DECEMBER 31, 2002.
The City Manager explained that he has been contacted by Mark Hendrickson of the Hennepin
County Department of Planning and Development regarding the. feasibility of raising the threshold
on consolidated pool money for Hennepin County for CDBG funds to $75,000. It is currently at
$50,000. There are 27 cities in Hennepin County that receive less than $50,000 in CDBG
allocation. These cities have a consolidation pool where they share in the resources for funding all
their programs. He explained that most of the cities that are involved in this do put it toward
public service programming, i.e.: senior center, etc., and they also devote funds to single family
home rehabilitation. He stated that Mr. Hendrickson is trying to sell us on the benefits of joining
the consolidated pool.
The City Manager stated his first reaction was negative. However, after talking with Mr.
Hendrickson and understanding that the current public service programs would continue to get
funded as well as the single family home rehabilitation programs, he became more interested. In
addition, the opportunity to apply for other project funds seemed attractive. The purpose of the
consolidated pool is to utilize the resources of 27 cities which provides more opportunity.
The Council asked if joining in this would give us more flexibility as to what we can use the funds
for or will it.be the same? The City Manager stated that it would give the City the same
opportunity that we have, plus some flexibility. The City of Mound is currently at $64,646 and
that is strictly .for rehab and the public service programs. If we go into the pool, we would be
able to do all of those things plus some other things like the project funding he refers to in his
letter of March 17, 1999, as follows:
The Joint CooPeration Agreement for the CDBG program is up for renewal. The new agreement
is for a three year Period beginning in FY 2000. At direction of the County Board a series of
meetihgs were held recently with ail participating cities to discuss alternatives to the current
method of allocating CDBG funds. One alternative would increase the Consolidated Pool
threshold, to $75,000. Under this alternative cities with a planning allocation of $75,000 or less
have their allocation contributed to the Consolidated Pool. Only cities contributing to the pool can
apply for this funding. This proposed change would affect Mound and Chanhassen.
The Consolidated Pool was established in the current Cooperation Agreement that, was executed in
1997.. Under this agreement planning allocations for cities that would receive $50,000 or less are
placed in the COnsolidated Pool. For the 1999 program., a total of $330,889 is available to the 27
cities COntriButing to the P°°l.
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MINIJTE,~ MOUND CITY COtlNCI7., - MARCH 25, 1999
Selection Committee ~
A selection committee, most of whom arc administrators of participating cities, facilitates
the annual application prOCess. An attempt is made to balance the make-up of the
committee to reflect'the nature and geographic diversity of the Consolidated Pool area.
The committee reviews competitive proposals from cities and public service agencies and
prepares a funding recommendation. The City. of Mound could appoint a representative to
the committee.
Funding Set-asides
To simplify the application process the selection committee established set-asides for public
services and single family rehabilitation. There is a 20% set-asidc for public services.
Public service agencies submit competitive applications for priority services. In 1999 the
public service set-asidc was $65,000. The following agencies serving western Hennepin ~
County receive Consolidated Pool funding: Senior Community Services(Wcstonka Senior
Center), WECAN, Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners and Sojourner Project.
A second set-aside is for single family rehabilitation. For this set-aside a dollar amount has
been designated that approximates the annual average amount allocated by cities for this
activity prior to their participation in the Consolidated Pool. In 1999 the rehab set-aside
was $90,000. The rehab funding pool is administered by Hennepin County. Clients are
currently being served in all cities that had previously allocated funding to rehabilitation.
Project Funding
The 1999 funding for competitive CDBG projects, excluding the set-asides for public
services and single family rehab, was $175.889. In the two years in which the Consolidated
Pool approach has been in operation, most of the successful city-initiated projects were
funded at levels that exceeded the annual amount they would have received under the old
formula approach. These include a scattered site acquisition/home buyer assistance project
- $110,000, a new multi-community housing program in cooperation with Habitat for
Humanity - $70,000, .funding for multi-community affordable housing planning - $40,000
and a housing rehabilitation project in targeted areas of Orono and Spring Park - $128,000.
Hennepin County is looking for our input. They are looking at increasing the threshold to
$75,000 for a three year period beginning in funding year 2000. We need to let Mr. Hendrickson
know if we are interested or not in joining the consolidated pool so that he can let the County
Board know on March 24, 1999.
If the City wishes to participate, we would have to sign a cooperation agreement to raise that
threshold so that we would be included in the consolidated pool. He recommended joining the
consolidated pool.
The Council voiced concern that the City might lose some control of where the money goes.
They were in favor of more. flexibility.
No action was taken at this time.
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MINUTES MOUND CITY COUNCIL - MARCH 23, 1999
INFORMATION/MISCELLANEOUS
A.
B.
C.
Financial Report for February 1~9~, as Prepared by Gino Businaro; Finance Direct°r.
Park and Open Space Commission Minutes of March 11, 1999. . .
Information from WECAN, CASH and Senior Community Services regarding b~Jdget
questions asked of them at the CDBG Public Hearing.
D
Memo from the City of Orono to Mayor Pat Meisel regarding an invitation to attend a
meeting on March 24, 1999, 8 a.m., Lafayette Club with other area Mayors. Agenda for
the meeting is to discuss the future of the Rail America (Dakota Rail) line between
Hutchinson and Wayzata. To my knowledge, the line is not being abandoned. However,
there is interest from some of the area cities regarding what could be done should the line
ever be abandoned.
E. Water quality report cards from Minnehaha Creek Watershed District.
F. LMCD update on the overhaul of Eurasian Water Milfoil (EWM) equipment.
Strategic Planning Retreat: I have tentatively arranged for a facilitator to hold the strategic
planning retreat that we discussed previously. The information about the facilitator, Peter
Cotton, is enclosed. We have tentatively scheduled it for Saturday, April 10, 1999.
Location is still to be determined. Department Heads are clear for that day.
Councilmember Ahrens indicated her calendar is el,ar for that day. How about everybody
else? Councilmember Hanus stated he will be out of town on the 10th. The City Manager
will check with the remainder of the Council to see if April 17th or 24th would work.
REMINDER;
Joint Planning Commission m .eeting with Minnetrista is scheduled for
Monday, Marc. h 29, 1999, 7:30 p.m., Minnetrista City Hall. The
purpose of the meeting is to discuss the proposed redevelopment of
the mobile home park.
Gayle Bethke, an employee in the Finance Department for many years, has resigned. She
has been replaced by Collette Roberts, a previous applicant for a position in Finance.
MOTION made by Hanus, seconded by Weycker to adjourn at 8:20 P.M. The vote
was unanimously in favor. Motion carried.
Attest:
City Clerk'
Edward J. Shukle, Jr., City Manager
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BILLS
March 23, 1999
Batch 9030
128,842.86
TOTAL
$ 128,842.86
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