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HomeMy WebLinkAbout[04a] Minutes - May 15 May 15, 2017 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 Monday, May 15, 2017 at 6:00 PM at the St. Joseph Government Center, opening with the pledge of allegiance. Members Present: Mayor Rick Schultz, Councilors Dale Wick, Bob Loso, Troy Goracke, Matt Killam. Administrator Judy Weyrens. Others Present: Joseph Mueller, John Huebsch, Frank Osendorf, Dennis Dunphy, Craig Vaughn, Sam Markman, Murray Mack City Representatives Present: City Engineer Randy Sabart, Police Chief Joel Klein, Finance Director Lori Bartlett, Public Works Director Terry Thene, Community Development Director Therese Haffner. Public Comments: Approve Agenda: Wick made a motion to approve the agenda with the deletion of item 4a and addition of Joint Planning Board under Mayor Reports.The motion was seconded by Killam and passed unanimously. Consent Agenda: Loso made a motion to approve the consent agenda as follows; seconded by Wick and passed unanimously. a. Bills Payable—Approved check numbers 052054-052053, Payroll EFT#001349-001355 and Accounts Payables EFT#001781-001783. b. Treasurer's Report—Accepted the April 2017 Treasurer's Report as presented. c. Donations—Accepted the donations and their purposes as presented. d. School Resource Officer—Authorized the Mayor and Police Chief to execute the Joint Powers Agreement between the City of St. Joseph and ISD 742 for providing the Cooperative Funding of the School Resource Officer Program. e. Annual Report—Accepted the 2016 Annual Administration Report as presented. f. Premise Permit—Authorized the Mayor and Administrator to execute Resolution 2017-019, approving the Premise Permit Application of the Granite City Lumberjacks to allow lawful gambling at Sal's Bar and Grill. Community Center Update, Murray Mack, HMA: Schultz stated over the past few months the Community Center Committee has gathered input from residents about what they would like to see in a community center through an open house and joint meeting with the City Council. After reviewing the final concept plans for the repurposing of the former colts facility, the Committee is recommending that the Council divide the project into two phases with the first phase including the construction of a recreation center including three gyms with a second level walking track. The second phase would consist of remodeling the former colts space for the food shelf, historical society and senior/youth space. Murray Mack, HMA Architects approached the Council to review the concept plans as recommended by the Community Center Committee. Mack showed the council the model developed for the community center starting with the focus groups over a year ago and slowly narrowing the ideas down to come up with the present day model. Mack added the design is schematic only. Plans include remodeling of the current Colts Academy building, incorporating the Historical Society, food shelf, and Little Saints Academy. The existing gym would become a multi-purpose space available to rent out. Other existing areas of the building will be turned into senior/youth meeting spaces with the specific uses to be determined. The expansion to the east of the current building would include three gyms with an elevated walking track. Additional options would be a kid's zone and a climbing wall. The proposed name of the recreation center is The Jacob Wetterling Recreation Center. Along the South side of the recreation center shows a plaza with the number 11 as well as the traits listed that Jacob lived by. In the elevator tower, a lantern would be lit 24 hours a day. As part of obtaining the funds to construct May 15, 2017 Page 2 of 4 the facility, donations will be sought in Jacob's name. Mack added that designs are visionary only and not set in stone. The parking lot has approximately 135 spaces with room to expand for an additional 50 spaces. Estimated costs for the facility show it around $13 million. Project alternatives include the third gym, climbing wall, kid's zone, and additional parking. The alternatives are estimated at$2.6 million. The base budget included renovations to the community rooms, food shelf, and historical society. The historical society alone is estimated to cost almost$600.000. Schultz stated there isn't much more HMA can do in regards to the new recreation center. The committee decided to do the project in phases in order to allow for additional time to decide the intent of the current building. Weyrens presented the Council with a financial synopsis illustrating the use of sales tax as the primary revenue source. Based on the sales tax collection and existing fund balance, approximately 50%of the facility will have to be funded through private donations. Weyrens also presented an illustration if a small levy were used to supplement the construction. Loso stated his main concern is the operational costs and his second concern is how the building will be funded in the future. Loso added he has not seen the need for the building in the community. Neighboring towns are building similar facilities and doesn't believe it will be utilized to its full potential. Loso believes it is overbuilt for the community. Schultz agreed that the operational costs are of concern and they are not yet determined. Loso again stated there is not a big enough market in St. Joseph to utilize the facility to its full potential. Loso stated he would be willing to dedicate %of the project costs from sales tax and 1/2 from fundraising efforts. Schultz stated he would like to allocate$6 million of sales tax money towards the facility. Jane Conrad, East Central Labor Council: Conrad approached the Council as the head of the fundraising efforts for the Jacob Wetterling Recreation Center. Conrad stated that this is a time for people to come together and the Recreation Center would be a great tribute. Wick stated the Council needs to allocate some sales tax towards the project in order for the fundraising to begin. Goracke questioned who is going to take over the marketing for the facility. Schultz stated as of right now, staff is responsible for the marketing. Weyrens stated in order to keep the process going, the Council needs to decide how to move forward. Mack stated HMA was retained in order to develop a vision for what the Community Center group wanted the Community Center to be. Goracke stated he would like a pool in the facility. Schultz stated he would like to focus on phase one of the project. Weyrens stated the concept needs to be decided upon in order for the fundraising to begin. Wick made a motion to continue the Community Center Project, allocating a $12 million budget with $6 million from sales tax and a minimum of$6 million raised through donations with a sunset date of May 2019; authorizing staff to enter into an agreement for architectural design services to be brought back to the Council at a later date for the conceptual drawings presented to the Council.The motion was seconded by Schultz and passed unanimously. Weyrens added the fundraising efforts will begin tomorrow. City Engineer Reports: Wick questioned when the final lift on Minnesota Street is taking place to which Thene stated that according to Knife River the final lift will take place the week of May 22nd weather permitting. Loso stated he would like to see what phases 2 and 3 would be for the alley improvements in the downtown for upcoming budget. May 15, 2017 Page 3 of 4 Administrator Reports: Weyrens stated the Intergovernmental meeting will take place on May 30th. The appliance and electronic drop off will take place off of Baker Street to the north of the Government Center with a limit of two per household. Mayor Reports: • Joint Planning Board—Loso reported the Joint Planning Board met to consider two public hearings. One CUP request was approved to construct a solar garden. The construction on the farms will begin in June. Schultz added the board had been waiting for almost a year for Innovative Power Systems to come back with their request. • YMCA Opening—Schultz stated the Council is invited to tour the new YMCA on May 18th 4:30 PM —6:30 PM. A community open house is on May 20th at 9AM. • June 4th Sister Susan Rudolph will be installed at the gathering place from 2PM—4PM. Pedestrian Crossing Workshop: Craig Vaughn, SRF:Vaughn shared with the Council the County Road 75 Pedestrian Crossing Study. Vaughn stated the purpose of the workshop is to provide an overview of study to date and obtain feedback from the Council moving forward. Locations for the pedestrian crossing include: College Avenue, 4th Avenue, 12th Avenue, 20th Avenue, and Grade Separated Location. Vaughn stated the purpose of the study was to understand existing conditions, evaluate the feasibility of ways to improve safe pedestrian and bicycle crossing of CSAH 75, and to consider enhance at-grade crossing treatments and grade separate concepts. An open house was held on March 23, 2017 where feedback was received from residents. Some comments included interest in a grade separated crossing, CSAH 75 is a barrier between the residential neighborhoods to the north and south of the highway, removal of sand off the major corridors to help the bike community. A pop-up event was held at the College of Saint Benedict on April 18th. Comments received at the event included having more bike lanes and sidewalks, the pedestrian signal on College Avenue is not long enough for people crossing CSAH 75. Vaughn highlighted all potential crossing as identified below: College Ave& CSAH 75 Crossing: The intersection of CSAH 75 and College Avenue has been updated with the new ADA regulations. Potential mitigation options for this intersection include a no right on red sign, accessible pedestrian signals, and an increased pedestrian walk time. Wick questioned if the County would be receiving the same information as the Council. Vaughn responded that the County is a partner in the study and SRF would work with them and the MnDOT on changing anything at the intersection. Schultz questioned where the sidewalk connectivity issues are along College Avenue. Sam Markman, SRF stated the feedback received was about the lack of sidewalk north of the Wobegon trail for those accessing the farmer's market. People are having to use the road shoulder. 4th Avenue Crossing: There is a lack of sidewalk to the north of CSAH 75. Also, the Cedar Street intersection creates unsafe pedestrian conditions. Those on bicycles have a greater difficulty of pushing the pedestrian crossings as they are attached to the light pole. Potential mitigation options include marking crosswalks, push button activators on separate poles, truncated domes, median refuge island, stop bar for traffic, no right on red sign, and sidewalk connectivity.