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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999 [08] Aug 26 I City of 5t. Joseph City Council Meeting 8/26/99 6:30 PM , Page 36011 August 26, 1999! I ! I I 1. Call to Order. Pursuant to due eall and notice thereof, the City Council for the City of St. Joseph met in a special session on Thursday, August 26, 1999816:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph City Hall. Members Present: Mayor Kenneth J. Hiemenz, Bob Loso, Cory Ehlert, Clerk-Administrator Cari Schmidt, and Deputy Clerk Judy Weyrens. Members Absent: Ken Twit and Mary Niedenfuer. Others Present: Paul Ampe, Mark Lambert, Mark Hinnenkamp, Ben Anderson 2. Approved Agenda: Loso made a motion to approve the agenda as présented; seconded by Hiemenz. The motion passed unanimously. I 3. Hinnenkamp Easement Request - Mark Lambert entered into a purchase agreement with Salina Hinnenkamp who owns a tract of real estate in St. Joseph. The City owns tract of land which is burdened by a 50 foot access easement in favor of the tract owned by Ms. Hinnenkamp. In order to obtain title for the property, the easement must be defined. Mr. Lambert commissioned a survey by David Regan to provide a legal description for the loeation ofthe roadway where it is presentlyloeated. Mr. Lambert is asking for the Council's approval of the locetion of the easement. In a letter provided by City Attorney John Scherer, he expressed concern th81 the easement encroached upon City buildings. He advised that if the City is inclined to grant the request, it should be conditioned upon the owner of the property signing an agreement acknowledging th81 none ofthe existing buildings which the City has on its property encroached into the easement area, or if the encroachment exists, th81 the City will be allowed to maintain the buildings at their current location indefinitely. City Engineer Joe Bettendorf also provided a letter expressing concern over the encroachments. He advised to slide the alignment west, leaving the salt shed as the only encroachment, and then move the salt shed so the easement is free and clear. Another option would be to narrow the easement. Hiemenz expressed concern over the encroachments (the fence around the pump station encroaches 9.3 feet into the easement, maintenance building encroaches 1 ft., slat shed encroaches 3.5 ft., and the Boy Scout building encroaches 5.9 feet.) Mark Lambert stated that he was willing to work with the City Attorney to prepare whatever documentation would be necessary to agree to let the City leave their buildings in their present loeations despite the easement encroachments. He is simply trYing to obtain good title to the property. Hiemenz stated that he would like to move the road so it's clear of aU the buildings on the East side and agree th81 the salt shed is the only encroachment. Mark Lambert offered to allow have a new survey done so that the easement does not encroach upon any ofthe buildings, with the understanding that ifthe buildings fall into disrepair and are moved, the easement reverts back to its original 50'. I Loso made a motion to have a new survey drawn up to exclude all of the encroachments with the understanding that if the buildings fallinto disrepair and are moved, the easement reverts back to its original 50'. Hiemenz seconded the motion. 3601 Page 3602 August 26, 1999 Lambert agreed to pay for the costs of having the survey done with the understanding that the City would pick up the attorney's review time costs. Hiemenz st81ed th81 it might be a better idea to move the easement to the left so that it only encroaches upon the salt shed and the BoyScout building, and not the fence or the maintenance shed. I Loso withdrew his original motion. Hiemenz made a motion to move the easement left to exclude the fence and maintenance shed from the easement path, leaving the BoyScout building and the salt shed as the only encroachments. Loso seconded the motion. Schmidt st81ed that either option would work for these purposes. The only question the Council should look at is whether they want to abandon their policy Oif not allowing easement encroachments despite the willingness to allow the City to maintain the buildings in their current 10ca1ions. Hiemenz withdrew his motion. Lose made a motion to have a new survey &awn up to exclude all of the encroachments by moving the Easement to the fÍ9f1t (to exclude the fence and the mwntenance building) and to nanuw the easement between the salt shed and the boy scout building to exclude the encroachments, with the under.;tanrJing that if the buildings fall into disrepair and are moved, the easement reverts back to its orir;inal 50' between the latter two buildings. Ehlert seconded the motion. The motion passer! unanimously. 4. Budget 2000 - Weyrens prepared a sheet for the Council outlining areas th81 could be reduced. . She explained that they were merely suggestions and coukj be placed back into the budget. She indica1ed that there is no requirement that the budget be perfectly balanced. The City is very close to balanced, with only $7,000 remaining.. If the Council is uncomfortable with it being unbalanced they can always wait and cut items at the truth in tax81ion meeting. OthefWÌse, the unbalanced amount can always be made up in the revoMng funds. Weyrens indica1ed that line item 33611- Counly Grants - Road Maintenance changed for next year from $5,300 to $6,457. Weyrens also asked the Council if they would be interested in raising liquor license fees. We raise $1, 700/year now and are significantly lower than St Cloud ($3,200-$4,300), Waite Park ($2,500) and Saulk Rapids ($3,000). She explained that a public hearing is necessary to raise the fees. There are other licenses th81 the Council could impose as well: restaurant, gas stations etc. Weyrens made the assumption th81 the Council would be comfortable raising the fees to $2,000 in the budget. I Loso asked if Weyrens was comfortable with the revenue forecasts for 2000. Weyrens said yes. She expects th81 LPA aid number will increase. Hiemenz asked whether the department heads were comfortable wittl the cuts that Weyrens suggested. She indicated that they are. Hiemenz indic81ed that the slight overage the City has in the budget is acceptable and that the remainder could be taken care of in the rollover Ehlert st81ed that another budgetary consideration came up with the Pa¡1r; Beam meeting. Dave Hideman, the Summer Recreation Coordinator submitted his resign81ion Slating that he wanted to spend more time with his family. He encouraged the Board to re-evafu81e the budget as it hasn't been raised in a long time. As the community is looking for more programs and services, there has to be money in the budget to accommodate these desired I I Page 3603 August 26, 1999 changes. This ultim81ely means more staff, which are hard to retain at such low houriy wages. Weyrens suggested that the City could start charging the other particip81ing jurisdictions. Ehlert indicated that it is unclear whether or not St. Wendel Township will be involved with the program. Loso suggested that the overall program be re-evaluated, commenting that the City can't be expected to provide everything to everyone. People have very diverse interests. Weyrens stated that although th81 point is true, parents like to have a wide variety of activities for their children. Ehlert stated that the standard fee now is $40.00. One possibility might be to re- evaluate the fee structure. Parents could pick and choose individual programs that they want to attend for different prices, instead of having one standard fee for the whole package. Weyrens also suggested asking the school board if they would hold some of their activities in St. Joseph. Ehlert stated th81 he mentioned that already to John Wahl (School Board Member) Weyrens asked if the Council wanted to increase the budgetary item now and see if the City can get commitments from the School District and other participating communities. Loso suggested that the Park Board evaluate this during the winter months when their agendas are lighter and come up with some solutions. Ehlert agreed with this suggestion. Ehlert also indica1ed that one of Dave's assistants expressed interest in taking overthe program. The Park Board is putting together a jOb description for summer program leaders. Ehlert requested that a plaque be prepared for Dave Hiedeman and his assistant in appreci81ion for all of his work over the last five years. Loso stated that he brought the Emergency Operations Plan in to the Administrator. He asked that copies be distributed to the Council members and to department heads for review and suggestions. Loso indicated that it should be fairly comprehensive already as he modeled it after the County Plan. I (Levy issue -) Weyrens asked the Council to make a decision regarding the levy for East Minnesota Street th81 Monte Eastvold raised at the last meeting. Did the Council want to keep the levy and use the funds for other projects or reduce the levy. Loso expressed concern that we may be making ourselves cash poor for the future with all of the big projects the City has coming up (City is purchasing the bank bUilding for the new City hall for $535,000, as well as the costs to refurbish the building.) Weyrens stated that she assumes the City will use public project revenue bonds for those types of projects (lease purchase type bondS). She st81ed th81 both buildings and equipment can be tied into those types of financing bonds. Loso asked where the contract with the architect is at. Hiemenz stated that the City Attorney and architect are working together on the rontract. Hiemenz asked Weyrens to prepare the appropriate resolutions for the September 2 Council meeting reflecting the proposed tax levy. Schmidt thanked Deputy Clerk Weyrens for all of her work on the budget. She stated that it is so helpful to come to budget time and have so much of the work done already. Weyrens has done a gre81 job. Hiemenz, Loso and Ehlert agreed and thanked Weyrens as well. I Weyrens st81ed that the Council should make a decision about what to do regarding the Fire Relief surplus. Ifthare is a surplus in the fund, the city actually loses còntrol ofthe fund. In order to prevent this, the City can increase the pension of the firefighters to eliminate the surplus. Ehlert asked why the City can't just anticipate and plan for a deficit in the budget cycle. Weyrens indica1ed that has been done, however different events will affect the fund each year making it impossible to predict. Weyrens stated that an increase in the pension of $50 would elimin81e the surplus. Hiemenz made a motion to prepare the necessary resolution to increase the retirement contribution for the Fire Relief Association by $50 per year per firefighter. Ehlert seconded and the motion passed unanimously. 5. Public Comments- Ben Anderson, 116 East Ash SI, stated that he heard that the City was Page 3604 August 26, 1999 thinking of building a skateboard park. and wanted to know if this was true. He st81ed that about 45% of the kids here skateboard and that there reany isn't anywhere they can do it now. Ehlert, as the Park Board Liaison, responded that they have budgeted for something for next year, but there are still issues that need to be discussed. He indicated th81 they should work together with the Park Board on this topic. The Park Board meets the fourth Tuesday of the month. Ehlert suggested that Ben and his friends meet with him individually and also attend the Park Board meetings. Hiemenz indicated that the skateboarders have his support and that many other businesses in town might be willing to lend their support as weil, financial or otherwise. I 6. Adjourn - 7:55 P.M. Lose made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Ehlert. The motion passed unanimously. RC::U$ï::"tK Cari Schmidt Clerk/Administrator City of Sl Joseph I I