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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010 [03] Mar 04March 4, 2010 Page 1 of 4 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the City Council for the City of St. Joseph met in regular session on Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 7:00 PM in the St. Joseph City Hall, opening the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. Members Present: Mayor Al Rassier, Councilors Dale Wick, Renee Symanietz, Steve Frank, Bob Loso and City Administrator Judy Weyrens City Representatives Present: City Engineer Randy Sabart, Finance Director Lori Bartlett, Public Works Director Terry Thene and Police Chief Pete Jansky Others Present: Tom Klein, Katherine Kraft PUBLIC COMMENTS — No one present wished to speak. Approval of the Agenda: Symanietz made a motion to approve the agenda with the following addition: Add 7(b) Application to Secretary of State requesting funding for Handicap Accessibility for polling places The motion was seconded by Wick and passed unanimously. Consent Agenda: Symanietz made a motion to approve the consent agenda as follows: a. Minutes — Approve the City Council minutes of February 18, 2010 (Regular and Closed Meeting). b. Bills Payable — Approve check numbers 042549 - 042607 and EFT numbers 000381 -000385. c. Transfers — Authorize the 2009 operating, residual and inter -fund transfers. d. Equity Designations — 2009 Approve General Fund Equity Designation. e. Donations — Accept the donations and their purposes. The motion was seconded by Loso and passed unanimously. CITY ENGINEER REPORTS County Road 2 Realignment: Loso questioned Sabart as to the proposed County Road 2 realignment. Rassier advised the Council that he spoke to one of the County Commissioners as well as the County Engineer, Mitch Anderson, and he was advised that they are in the process of contracting properties owners to purchase the required right -of -way; however, there are no design plans at this time. Based on Rassier's conversations, he stated that he was left with the impression that at best the right -of -way may be purchased in 2010. The right -of -way costs are higher than anticipated and with declining revenues the County is reviewing the project as well. W Minnesota Street Update: Frank questioned Sabart as to what will happen with West Minnesota Street over the next couple years as the road is deteriorating. Sabart responded that the repairs that are being completed at this time are short term fixes only. Filing potholes is reactionary and they will continue to erode requiring maintenance. Rassier added that he would like to speak to Anderson about this as well. He stated that if the County Road 2 Realignment is not going to happen, then the current County Road 2 needs to be repaired. Frank questioned whether or not there are any other areas in town like this. Thene stated that 16th Avenue is in similar condition. Sabart stated that he and Thene would be following up with the County Engineer to discuss long term solutions. Thene advised the Council that Stearns County is contemplating seal coating County Road 121 this summer and the City may incur some costs. Sabart added that those costs would be determined based on the maintenance agreement with the County. Thene concluded by stating that W Minnesota and County Road 121 are the only County projects in the near future and County Road 133 is on the County's 5 year plan. POLICE CHIEF REPORTS Frank questioned Jansky as to whether or not he has been paying attention to issues that St. Cloud has been addressing as far as bars and hosting. Jansky replied that the City of St. Joseph has Ordinances to cover most of those items. March 4, 2010 Page 2 of 4 PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR REPORTS Miscellaneous Update: Thene reported that the maintenance staff is using the weather to its advantage to get a lot of little things done around the City. Frank stated that he was happy to see that Maintenance was cleaning around the fire hydrants. ADMINISTRATOR REPORTS Equipment Certificate: Weyrens presented the Council with a revised draft equipment list to be financed by the issuance of an Equipment Certificate. At the time the 2010 budget was approved one of the components was the issuance of an equipment certificate of approximately $ 250,000. The staff has reviewed the list and removed equipment to reduce the certificate to approximately $190,000. The impact of reducing the certificate results in an approximate 1 % decrease in the tax rate for 2011. The Council has already approved the purchase of two pieces of equipment, adopting a refunding resolution. This resolution allows for the equipment to be purchased before the issuance of the bonds. Weyrens spoke on behalf of Administration and presented the following items: • AD -1006 - Computer Equipment — Server: Weyrens stated that there are four work stations that are still working on Windows 98 and so she would like to have all of those updated. She also added that we need to replace the main server as well as the terminal server. Weyrens advised the Council that there has been some talk with the area cities about a joint server. This would still result in some capital costs for the City. She added that she plans to meet with Waite Park to discuss this further and regardless of which option is chosen, funding will be needed. AD -1007 — Computer Software: Weyrens advised the Council that, in 2004, the City converted to an electronic filing system entitled "Laserfiche ". This program has a document capacity of 1,000,000 and the City already has stored 750,000 images. When the City purchased the system the thought was to start with administration and expand to other departments. At this time the Administration and Police are converted to LF and the Fire Department has just started. The program is efficient and works well. At the current time the City is also limited to 7 users, including access through the website. There are many days that staff cannot access the system when they need to because of the use, which is a positive. In order to expand the users additional licenses would be required, which can be purchased. However, purchasing additional licenses would not resolve the maximum storage which will become a problem. The vendor is willing to credit the City 100% for the current software and sell the new version called Avante, which can store unlimited documents. This is the highest level of the software and will add users, both internally and externally. The website will have dedicated 10 users and the City will have 18 dedicated users. The vendor is also discounting the new version of Web link and adding workflow and audit trail. The City has previously looked at workflow and it was cost prohibitive. The vendor would like a customer in this area to use the program so they feature. In addition they will add audit trail which adds additional security features. Since Avante is a different version that we currently use, we are required to pay the first year License and support upfront; however, they will credit the City for the license fee we paid for 2010. Frank then questioned what kind of support the City receives. Weyrens stated that they are very good to us and they have the ability to tap into our system to fix issues that arise. Rassier stated that a few of the area cities are looking to share a common server. Wick stated that speed will be affected if there is a common server. Weyrens agreed and stated that each of the cities is at a different level with their information. Bartlett spoke to the Council regarding a work station for her office. • AD -1004 — Work Station: Bartlett advised the Council that she could certainly use more work space. Based on how her office is set up, she cannot add anymore in there to make it work and all of the other offices have been upgraded except that one. March 4, 2010 Page 3 of 4 Thene spoke to the Council regarding the equipment requests for the Public Works Department. • PW -1024 — Used Dump Truck: Thene reported that this item was already purchased. They purchased a 2006 dump truck, brand new, off the lot. They still need to add a backup alarm, strobe lights and a box vibrator as well as the City Logo. • PW -1021 — Plasma Cutter: Thene stated that he would like to purchase a plasma cutter for the maintenance department to allow them to make better cuts when they are patching the steel on some of the older equipment. He added that a local company allowed them to use their cutter in the past. • PW -1028 — Power Inverter: Thene reported that this would be used for the sewer truck to allow for the ability to use power tools when they are out in the field. • PW -1027 — Rough Cut Mower: According to Thene, the existing mower is 7 years old and the metal on the mower is fatigued. They have been welding the mower, but it is now starting to crack. This mower is used throughout the entire City to mow the ditches and tall weeds. • PW -1015 —1545 Lawn Tractor: In the past, this item was traded in on a yearly or bi- yearly basis. The current tractor is 5 years old and is used year round for cleaning sidewalks and mowing the grass in the parks. • PW -1006 — Used Plow Truck: Thene stated that this item was already purchased last fall. • PWA 008 — Sanders: Thene advised the Council that he would like to replace the worst sander that they have as there isn't much left. • PW — Alley Grader Attachment: An alley grader attachment would be fit to the skid loader and used for grading alleys. The width of the attachment is the perfect fit for the City alleys. They have used one in the past and when using that type of equipment, most of the calls went away. In the past, they have used the loader; however, that digs into the surface and mixes the fines with the gravel. Loso stated that, in the past, there was an attachment that was pulled through the alleys and he questioned whether or not that could be traded in since it is not being used. Thene replied that he will look into that. Finally, Jansky spoke to the Council about the equipment for the Police Department. • PDA 007 — Light Bar — squad car equipment: Jansky stated that, due to budget cuts, their department can forgo some equipment; however, this is needed for the new Tahoe. The old light bar is 8 years old and will be coming off. He advised the Council that the new LED light bars use very little battery power. He added that he will try to find a use for the old one. Frank questioned Thene as to whether or not he has checked with local dealers for prices on some of these items. Thene replied that they have shopped around at some of the local dealers and they are not comparable. Wick questioned whether some of these items were already included in the CIP to which Weyrens stated they were. She stated that they would like to withhold some of that capital to re- allocate for bigger projects such as seal coating. Wick stated he is concerned about this as taxpayers have already been taxed for some of these costs. Rassier advised Wick that, by issuing an equipment certificate, they will have extra funds to make other projects work and the equipment certificate allows for those items to be put into use sooner. Wick would like to see the equipment certificate revised with what has been previously budgeted. Rassier questioned the need for a plasma cutter and how often it would be used. He then questioned whether it would make more sense to rent one, when needed, rather than purchase one. Thene responded that he did not look into the possibility of renting one, but stated he would do so. Weyrens stated that staff only looked at items that they felt were necessary at this time. She added that she is looking for Council approval of the list so staff can move forward with getting quotes, etc. Frank made a motion to approve the 2010 Equipment Certificate List pending final costs. The motion was seconded by Symanietz. Discussion: Rassier re- stated that he would like Thene to check on the plasma cutter and the difference between renting and purchasing. Wick stated that he would like to have information brought back at the next meeting as to how the funds were allocated. March 4, 2010 Page 4 of 4 The motion passed unanimously. Funding for Handicap Accessibility: Weyrens stated that the Secretary of State's Office is accepting grant applications to equip polling places with automatic door openers. Funding is available through a Federal Grant Program entitled "Help America Vote Act ". Staff would like to authorization to apply for the grant to add push button controls at the Fire Hall for Handicap Accessibility. The cost of installing such is $4,600. Weyrens stated that this is a 100% grant, there is no local match required. The improvements will only be completed if the City receives funding. Loso made a motion to approve Resolution 2010 -005 Authorizing Grant Submittal to the Office of Secretary of State requesting funding under Title II, Section 261 of the Help America Vote Act. The motion was seconded by Symanietz and passed unanimously. Council Workshop: Weyrens reminded the Council that the Council Workshop will be held on March 10 from 8:30 — 2. MAYOR REPORTS — No Report COUNCIL REPORTS SYMAN I ETZ Park Board: Symanietz reported that the Park Board met and they did introductions of the three new members and she feels that they will work well on the board. She also added that they finalized the design for the playground equipment and she will leave that information with Weyrens. WICK Google: Wick stated Google is looking for communities that might be interested in being a test area for a 1 gigabyte into the network. Google is accepting applications through March 26. Wick stated that he has passed this information to Weyrens who in turn will discuss at the Administrators meeting on March 8. 109KC Winter Parking Restrictions: Loso reported that, for the month of February, he does not recall any plowable days. He advised the Council that he will be requesting that they look at a new winter parking ordinance. Loso made a motion to lift the winter parking ban at this time. Motion failed due to lack of a second. Discussion: Wick questioned whether it would be best to have this on the next agenda as he is not ready for this. Weyrens stated that only the City Council can relieve the ordinance requirements. Frank questioned whether or not it needed to be posted or whether a public hearing needed to be held. Weyrens advised him that they are not changing the ordinance, just not enforcing. FRANK — No Report Adjourn: Frank made a motion to adjourn at 7:45 PM; seconded by Symanietz and passed unanimously. Judy eyrerSs 491r-_�4 Ad i strator