1988-06-06 CC Minutes
CITY OF ALBERTVILLE
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POBOX 131
ALBERTVILLE, MINNESOTA 55301
PHONE (612) 497-3384
COUNCIL MEETIOO MINUTES
JUNE 6. 1988
The regular meetrng of the Albertvllle Cl ty Councll was called. to order
by Mayor Loretta Roden Councll members present mcluded. Bob Braun, lhn
Cornelius, lhnatus Vetsch and Gary Schwenzfeler Others present mcluded
Maureen Andrews, Brad Fcunham, Thore Meyer. Ken Lmdsay and Lorle Vlllareal
The agenda for the evening's meetrng was revlewed by the Councll
lhnatus Vetsch made a motion to approve the agenda and lhn Comellus seconded
it All were m favor and the motion carried.
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The mmutes of the May 16th Council meetmg were revlewed fun Comel1us
made a motion to approve the mmutes Bob Braun seconded thls motlon All were
in favor and the motion carried
Brad Farnham next presented to the Councl1 some background mformatlon
regardrng the issue of the City doing an advance refundmg of some eXlsting
bonds Before he went mto detail on the posslble candldateS for the
refmancing. he gave a brief background of what lS entalled. m undertakmg a
fmancing of this type
Brad explained to the Council that an advance refundrng lS much lIke the
refmancmg of a mortgage on a home when interest rates are down substantlally
enough to create a coat savrngs large enough to Justl:fy the eXPenses mcurred
m the refinancrng Brad stated that m the case of advanced refundmg, the
bonds bemg refinanced need to show a reductlon m the the debt servlce and/or
reduce the total life of the bond
In an effort for the Council to better understand how the new bond would
be st:roctured. Brad demonstrated on the blackboard what happens to the
existmg bonda when the new 1Ssue is completed and how thlS results m a long
term cost saving to the City
J
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Make our Otv Your 011
We inVIte Home Industrv BUSiness
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<XlUOCIL MINm'ES
PAGE 2
((BOND A + BOND B + BOND C)
=
ESCR(ltl Aoo:xJNT)
=
NEW BOND
(funds are generated.
from the proceeds of
the new bond sale)
---------------------~ DATE (at this time the balance-----------------
is applied to the orJ.ginal
bond and the debt is gone)
$0021
$0.021
$0.021
* $0 021
NEW BALANCE
* Brad pointed out that if at the tl.lDe the ear11er bonds are paid off there
is any surplus in the escrow account that these ftmds are applied to the new
bond to the payment of debt service
.
The question was raised why the C1 ty would get involved W1 th an advance
refunding and Brad explained that even though the long term savings generated.
from the reduction in debt service charges is the most cormnon reason a C1 ty
would enter into this financing. he pointed. out that. another advantage 1S that
even if the City holds the original debt (held m the escrow fund) that th1S
debt is no longer technically a debt of the City and does not show up in the
lccal records. therefore reducing the City's obligat10n of debt. thus lowermg
the City's exposure to risk
Brad went on to discuss the actual bonds that had been determmed to be
candidates for refunding The three bonds include the G 0 IMPROvm-fENT
0CIND--82. G 0 S&WER :ooNtG--84. and G 0 REVENUE CLINIC 0CIND--82 It was
explamed that these three bonds were found to be candidates because of h1gh
interest rates and the fact that they are relat1vely new bonds It was
pointed. out that if these bonds were refunded. the new bond would generate a
net annual reduction of $266.894 79 over the old bond payment schedule
Other issues discussed included items such as Escrow Verif1cat10n.
Government Sureties replacing the non-rated. bonds (that 1S the bonds bemg
refunded). what types of issuance costs were involved m th1s tyPe of
transaction, and what interest rates need to be to generate enough savmgs to
justify the costs involved in the transaction
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The Council was informed that Juran and Moody would like to watch the
interest rates to see if they are stab11izing before they start the
transact 1011 Brad said that he would hke to see Refundmg done W1th another
bond sale if possible 60 that the City would not have to pay 1SSuance cost on
more than one bond The minutes should note that this advance refundmg came
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COUNCIL MINtn'ES
PAGE 3
up just as the bond for the 1988 iDu;>rovements went to Bond Councl.I prior to
sale and l. t was decided that the City could not delay the sale m order to get
the next transaction into place because the City needs the money to pay the
contractors
There was discussion regarding whether or not the City wanted to have a
public sale or a negotiated sale. Brad stated that it was his preference
that, when worlnng with new clients, to sell bonds at a publl.c sale until
there is a long term relationship established, rot sal.d that l.f interest rates
began to move away (move ~ard) that the City would have an opportunity to
sell the bonds through a negotiated sale
A question was asked regarding when and why a bond would be negotl.ated
l.n6tead of selling at a p.lblic sale Brad informed the Councl.I that l.f a bond
is less than $1 2 million dollars J that a sale can be negotiated He then
went on to explain that the advantage of selling the bond through a negotl.ated
sale is that there is no need to advertise the sale 60 that if need be, the
sale can be done in hours
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The Council agreed that the Advanced RefundUlg makes sense and the City
would be wise to consider it There was no other dl.scussl.on at this t:une 60
it was agreed that Brad would watch the interest rates and would generate a
new schedule for the next Council meeting It was agreed that if other actl.on
needed to be taken prior to that, a special meetmg would be called
At this t:une the Public Hearing for the Poull.ot Lot Subdl. V1.6l.on was
called to order on a motion made by Don Cornell.us and a second by Bob Braun
All were in favor and the motion carried Because there was not anyone
present for the hearing it was agreed to complete the di6CU6sl.on Wl.th Brad so
that he could leave before the hearmg proceeded So the Publl.c Hearl.Ilg was
tabled until after the fiscal dl.scussl.on was completed
The next l.ssue dl.6CU6sed by the Councl.l was the City's TAX INCREMENT
GUIDELINES which Maureen and Brad had been directed to prepare for the
Councl.I's review Brad briefly revl.ewed with the Council what had been
mcluded l.n the gul.delines and the ml. tial dePOBl. t that staff was recommendmg
that the Council adopt As discussed m ear ll.er work meetl.Ilgs the Cl. ty l.S
establishl.Ilg these guidelmes as a support tool for determml.Ilg whether or not
a project qualifl.es for tax increment financl.Ilg
.
The Council discussed the merit of the ml.tl.al dePOBl.t It was questioned
whether or not this fee would discourage the developnent that the Cl. ty l.S
working at attracting and it was pomted out that the dePOBl.t fee tends to
weed out 1tPe not 60 serious developer who is Just "shopping" for the best
deal I t was also pomted out that local government does not work for free
and the general tax payer should not have to share the rorden of developnent J
that is, the cost of attorneys . consultants and staff tl.me which should J in
fact. be born by the project.
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COUNCIL MINm'ES
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Staff informed the Council that they were reccmnending that the mi tl.al
deposit be in the amount of $~ W which would accompany the Preliminary
Agreement form suboi tted to the City Administrator TIus amount when compared
to the S1.ze of the b::>nd issued for Tax Increment Fmancrng 1.S mmor.
considering that a b::>nd typically runs between $2f20.tc:m t20 and 3t20.t20 021 If.
in the event that a proposal would not be undertaken. any unexpended moneys
would be returned to the developer
There was no other discussion regarchng the guidelmes A mot1.on to
approve the TAX INCRmfENT GUIDELINES was made by Gary Schwenzfe1.er and
seconded by Don Cornelius All were in favor and the motion carried
Brad next briefly updated the Council on the upcom:mg bond sale He
mformed them that Bond Counsel was reviewing the information and that the
Official Statements were being prepared He thanked the Counc1.l and said he
would see them in two weeks at the time of the bond sale
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The Council next reconvened the p.lblic hearrng on the Poul1.ot Var1.ance
and waiver of Subdivision regulations Maureen Andrews then read the Public
Not1.ce on the Joint Planning Conmiasion and City Council p.lbhc hear:mg The
members of the Planning Ccmnission and Counc1.l were informed that the lot
under d1.scussion was a long narrow lot which had orl.ginally been platted under
the old requirements of a 50 foot frontage instead of the reqU1.red 90 feet
which is now the norm It was explamed that at the tl.me the Psyk' s 4th
Addition was platted and the improvements were installed and the effected
propert1.es were assessed that the City agreed to allow the subd1.v1.sion of the
Pouliot lot through a variance of the Zonrng Ordinance. at which time the City
would activate the Deferred Assessments The reason that the subdivision
regulat1.ons are being waived 1.S that the area being subd1v1ded is one lot in
width and that a Certificate of Survey would serve the p.rrpose needed
A mot1on was needed from the Planning Conm1ssion to reccmnend to the
Council that such action be taken '!he Planning Coumios1on on hearing staff
recommendation made a motion to reccmnend to the Council that the var1ance and
waiver of the subd1vision orchnance be approved fuane Sweep made the mot1on
and Kevin Mealhouse seconded it All were in favor and the mot1on carried
On hearrng the Planning Coumiss1on's recorrmendat1on. the C1ty Counc11
took action on the same A motion from the Counc1l was made by Ibn Cornel1U6
and seconded by Gary 5chwenzfeier to approve the Poul1ot request All were m
favor and the motion carried
Bob Braun made a motion to adjourn the Public Hearing Ibn Cornelius
seconded th~ motion All were in favor and the motl.on carr1ed
.
The Jomt Publ1c Hearing on the Sav1tski Lot Subd1v1s1on was cancelled.
bec-..ause the property owner has dec1ded to delay the development of the
property until next year
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COUNCIL MINUTES
PAGE 5
The Council next heard that a request from Lisa and Bill Valerl.us had
been made to set a Plblic hearing on lot sul:xhvision fun Cornell.us made a
motion to set a Public Hearing on the Valerius Lot Su1::xhvisl.on for July 5th at
7 30 p m Ihnatus Vetsch secx>nded th1.6 motion All were in favor and the
motion carried
John Darkenwald, George Yankoupe and Wally O:lell were present to request
from the Colm.cil that a variance for an on-prelDl.6e sign which would allow the
constro.ction of a double faced sign advert1.6ing the Gardner Brothers homes be
installed in WESTWIND '!he sign will be 12 x 36 (the typl.cal SJ.gn l.S 12 x 60)
and wl.ll stand 30 feet high It will be done in red letters and wl.ll say
GARDNER BROO HCt1ES FR<l1 $69,9120 The location will be on the berm bemg
installed The sign will be 't.eq:lorary in nature, with its duration being one
year, Wl. th an option for renewal upon the request of the developer
fun Cornell.us made a motion to allow the SJ.gn for one year with the
optl.on of renewal Donatus Vetsch secx>nded this motion All were in favor and
the rootl.on carried
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Wally Odell brought to the Council's attention that there was some
dl.ssatisfaction with the amendment to the SJg.n ordman.ce regardmg pylon
signs It is the developers feelmg that some of the language should be
elimmated in the amendment or that an amendment to their Developer's
Agreement be allowed The developers feel that they had negotiated the
Developers Agreement in good faith with the understanding that they would ~
allowed to install pylon signs in thel.r ccmnercl.al developnent
Mr O:lell revl.ewed facts about pylon signs from the Developer's Agreement
and from the Albertville City Chuncil meetmg minutes of APril 18, 1988 After
sane further discussion, it was agreed to get together Wl.th the Westwmd
people and discuss the amendment language
Thore Meyer updated the Colm.cl.l on County Dl. tch #9 The Council was
mformed that the County had a concern regarding the dl.scharge of water from
Phase I of the Westwind develoIUellt into County Dl.t.ch #9 In revl.ewing the
sl.tuatl.on, the engineers have found that the dramage generated from Phase I
will stop 1/3 mile from the ditch and Wl.ll not l.DJpact the dl.tch at all It l.S
po5sl.ble that Phase 2 and 3 may have some impact and will need to be dealt
Wl.th at the time of developnent
John Darkenwald and George Yankoupe pomted out that l.t was thel.r
I.mPression that the County does not want to clean County Dl.tch #9 rot wants
them to pay the fees associated with the discharge into the County Dl. tch No
action has been taken on this issue, rot the Council wl.ll be kept informed to
as to what is finally agreed upon
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OOUNCIL MlNUI'ES
PAGE 6
The Albertville Lions are requesting a 11ml.ted 3 2 beer l1.cense for
Fr1endly City Days, J\me 17, 18 and 19 They have provided a copy of thel.r
dram shop insurance and their indemrll.ficat1on and hold harmless agreement
Gary Sc-...hwenzfel.er made a motion and Bob Brawl seconded l.t to allow the Lions
to have a 11mi ted 3 2 beer license for Friendly Cl. ty Days All were m favor
and the mot1on carried
The l.ssue of the blilding fund was tabled until the next meetJ..ng
Gary Schwenzfe1er and D::m Cornelius will be meetJ..ng Wl. th Maxme from the
Jomt Power's Board al:x:>ut the approval of resolutl.OnB pertamJ..ng to the WAC
fees Thel.r ccmoents will be available at the next meetJ..ng
The Counc11 next heard from the Maintenance Department Ken informed the
Council that he did not attend the NO SURFACE School on May 26th as he was too
blsy with other things
.
The dumping is still occurring on Beaudry's property The area is
scheduled to be leveled off just prior to Frl.endly Cl.ty Days Dennis Fehn
will be doJ..ng the work at $85 f20 per hour Once l. t l.S leveled off, the posts
and cable will be p.lt up and the "NO DUMPItG ALJ:.aOoHID" signs wl.ll be reposted
Kevm Zachman and LeRoy BemUlS of the Jaycees Snowmobl.le Club wl.ll be
reinstalling the barricade that was removed durl.llg the season that the
snowmobl.le tral.l was active.
The grate on the catch basin down at the park near the volleyball court
was broken, blt on It has now been repaired
The manhole on Large Avenue had just a little lip on l.t, not enough to
damage any tires It will be repaired by filling in with a little hot mix.
Dennis Fehn went ahead on his own and barrl.caded off both ends of that
portion of Barthel Industrial Drive that is not fml.6hed The mcreasing
amount of traffic through that area was causing problems as that road is not
considered a dr1veable road since the work is not yet completed on l.t
The Barthel Constl'UCtion sign on the comer of 54th Street and Mam
Avenue has now been repainted The sign Sl.ts on the school property and l.t was
felt that there should be some sort of agreement between Ken Barthel and the
elementary school to allow the sign to s1 t on that locatl.on
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I t was brought to the Council's attentl.on that the Creamery Ant1ques sign
and the 3-2-1- Video sign also sit on property other then their own Doug
Psyk' 6 s1.gl}; is on his own property It was the general consensus that l.f one
sign was taken down. then all of the signs should be taken down It was felt
that all should be treated alike
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COUNCIL MINUTES
PAGE 7
Ken brought up the fact that these signs have weeds growl.llg' up al'Ol.m.d
them and it is difficult to row around them in the sl.1ll'mer or plow al'Ol.m.d them
in the winter It was felt that each sign. owner should keep up the mamtenance
around their sign themselves
A job estimate was received from Dennis Fehn for the work that would have
to be done on the street near the park by the ral.lroad tracks The Ll.on' s dl.d
gravel Dome of the area for parking wt it is being tom up by seml.S and by
the tusinesses l~ted in that area
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The estunate given was extremely experu31.ve and the Councl.l did not feel
that the City oould Justify spending that kind of money to fl.X up property
that belongs to the railroad It was suggested that perhaps the area could
finish being graveled and used for a parking area
Ken informed the Colmcil that the old plant and ll.ft statl.on needs to be
filled m The old wilding will be tom down and the tanks filled with sugar
sand Dennis Fehn bid the job at $3 50 a yard, dell.vered., for approximately
420 yards The whole Job will cost between $1503 and $am Fehn wl.ll be
flexl.ble enough in order to keep the cost down and agreed that he may be way
hIgh on hl.s estimate of 420 yards The City wl.ll also have to get a loader (at
$55 e0 per hour) to do the work since our tractor 1.6 not bIg enough
The PCA requires that the old plant be fl.lled in The cost will come out
of the sewer:fund The lOOney from the sale of the mower and the fhght p;tIIlp6
wl.ll also be used to oover the costs
The next l.tem dl.6CU6sed. was that of the Wastewater Treatment Facl.lity
Ken told the Council that the alum did not do l.ts Job The results, after
treating with 450 gallons of alum, were at 1 32 whl.ch dl.d not meet liull. ts It
was ment10ned that some other towns m the area were ex;perl.enclong the same
lnnd of problem Some reasons given for the unsatl.sfactory results were that
the algae was too high, the weather conditions have had some effect, or that
the alum was bad (Feed-Rite says that alum doesn't go bad)
Ken will treat with new alum on Tuesday (6-7-88) and dl.scharge next week
Ken also coumented that the ponds were down 4 to 6 mches Wl. th out any
dl.scharge due to evaporation
The issue of getting a SUJrJDer helper l.S stl.ll belong worked on There 1.6
work that needs to be done for Friendly Cl.ty Days and help l.S needed The
Council 1S meeting Tuesday nl.ght in the Fl.re Hall at 7 e0 p m with Ken and
M1.ke to try and settle the issue at hand
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There J,s the problem of an open d1 tch on the Colmty right of way and 60th
Street that needs to be looked into There 1S st1ll some concem about the 30
m p h Sl.gD. on 50th Street and the YIELD SJ.gn. Follow-up on these 1ssues wl.ll
be discussed at a later meeting
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PAGE 8
The resolution pertaining to the City of Albertv1.lle' s SAC/WAC charges
w1.11 be approved at the next meeting
Thore Meyer brought to the Cotmc1.I's attent1.on that there 1.S a
discrepancy in the Latour Construction contract It seems that Mr Latour made
a mmor error when bidchng Class 5 gravel He 1.S maldng a request to the
Council to change his bid to $1 (20 more than what was orJ..gmally b1.d,
resulting in a ~, 360 difference
Thore told the Council that unknowns during construct1.on do, from tl.lDe to
time, occur and that there is contingency bll.lt into projects Thore went on
to explain that he had requested that laTour bring his concern to the
Council's attention by verifying his error m writmg for the Counc1.l
There was some discussion concem..l.11g the fact that a S1. tuat1.on like th1.s
doesn't usually happen and an error should be treated as an indi v1.dual
happening on its own merit This would be the least Mr Latour would expect
It was decided to leave things the way they are and to wa1. t and see how
the proJect goes before making any decisions
.
The next item discussed was the possible expenditures of the $25, e02l 02J
Tax Increment Financmg Bond Proceeds There was some dl.6cuss10n as to how the
money was to be allocated, and that perhaps it would be nec"'-e&sary to go back
1.nto the ong1.nal agreement of the bond issue These proceeds must be spent on
lcx:al proJect improvements The two proJects suggested were the PPM t1e m
with the water system at between $5f2B2l and $10,020, or, to close m the d1tch
on Barthel Industrial Drive at between $20, e02l and $25, e02l There were no
further comments 60 the issue was tabled until the next meetmg
The PPM water issue was discussed next Thore Meyer told the Counc1.1 that
?PM has two kinds of water - the normal coolJ.ng water and a1r cond1.t1.onJ.ng
water The normal cooling water is okay as far as the PCA 1S concerned The
air condit10ning water, of which PPM is pumping 1Q0 gallons per day, should
not be gomg into the storm sewer It IWSt go mto a dram f1.eld and then mto
a pond
The PCA has agreed to 16sue a permit if PPM takes care of that port10n of
adding chemicals to treat their drainage water At this point, the City is not
free to act and the PCA could possibly shut PPM down 1f requesto are not
compl1ed with
Ken brought to the Cotmcil's attention that the alarm system at the
Wastewater Treatment Facility is now on line He has tested 1. t out and the
system does }Work
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COUNCIL MINUTES
PAGE 9
The income received and the bills to be paid were reviewed by the
Counc1l The Felm Gravel bill was questioned and it was dec1ded that the b1ll
for the lime rock needed to go to the Park 8:::lard and the b111 for the sand to
the Jaycees HearJ.ng no other questions or comments. Don Cornelius made a
motion and Gary Schwenzfeier seconded it to approve the bills All were in
favor and checks 8729 through 8780 were paid
The grinding stump for Gary Barthel was d1scussed Mr Barthel has two
stumps that need to be ground out and S1nce they are on the C1 ty' s r1ght of
way, he wants to know if the City will pay for one stump reIOOval and he w1l1
pay for the other The Council decided that they would like a chance to look
around the City before making any decisions The 1ssue was tabled unt1l the
next meetmg
The poplar trees by Mrs Menzel's property on 57th Street was also a
toP1c of discussion It was questioned whether they should just be topped or
if they should be taken out COIQPletely It was suggested that we check with
NSP to see 1f they could do the work No action was taken on the matter
.
St Albert's Par16h Center is requestmg the approval of the wa1 ver of a
30 day notice on their gambling license for brngo Don Cornel1us made a mot10n
to wa1 ve the 30 day not1ce on the gambling l1cen6e Bob Braun seconded the
mot10n All were in favor and the motion carried
The matter of junk cars S1 ttmg on the property of several res1dents m
the City was d1scussed br1efly Th1S has been an area of concern for qU1 te
some t1D'le I t was decided that a survey should be made around the C1 ty and
then a 5 day notice letter sent to those people who need to do somethrng about
cleaning up their property
The Park 8:::lard minutes were available in the Council packet for the
Council's rev1ew
There was some discussion about having a garbage contract in the C1ty It
1S a matter that needs to get resolved, so a daytime meetrng w111 be scheduled
after Friendly C1ty Days
Polka Dot recycling has decided to g1ve Albertv1lle another try for two
months at HackenJll.leller's store. They w111 be there the f1rst 'fuesday of the
months of July and August from 2 to 6 p m It was thought that flyers should
be made up promoting the recyclmg program
.
An approval for wri tmg checks for Albertv1lle Fr1endly C1 ty Days was
needed from the Council Don Cornelius made a motion and Donatus Vetsch
seconded i 1:- to approve the writing of checks for Fr1endly C1 ty Days All were
in favor and the motion carried
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COUNCIL MINUI'ES
PAGE 10
The Sheriff's report was ava~1able for the Counc~l' s rev~ew
There was some mlnOr d~sCU6sion about the C~ty lookl.Ilg mto gettl.Ilg a
City owned cemetery No action was taken on the matter
There was no other b..1siness or couments so a motion to adjourn was made
by Gary Schwenzfeier and seconded by Don Cornelius to adJourn the meetl.Ilg All
were m favor and the meeting adjourned
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