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2013-02-04 CC Minutes WorkshopA�Ib,Ertvillc ALBERTVILLE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP Monday, February 4 2013 APPROVED MINUTES ALBERTVILLE CITY HALL 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Hendrickson called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m. 6:00 P.M. Present: Mayor Jillian Hendrickson and Council members Rob Olson, Larry Sorensen, John Vetsch and Dan Wagner Absent: None Others Present: City Administrator /Public Works Director /City Engineer Adam Nafstad, City Attorney Michael Couri, City Planner Alan Brixius, Finance Director Tina Lannes, City Clerk Kimberly Olson and Wright County Commissioner Michael Potter 2. PRIORITIES FOR WRIGHT COUNTY Nafstad welcomed Commissioner Potter and thanked him for attending the meeting. He stated the City appreciates past partnerships with Wright County as well as the contracted services the City receives. The City has been served well. Nafstad stated he would like to see someone from the County take the lead role on emergency management. Potter responded that each district has a point person that is trained for emergency response. Nafstad stated the City will continue to support the County as much as possible. Potter discussed the funding policy for street improvements. He stated he is working on discussions with cities and townships to development a funding policy that is more equitable. Hendrickson inquired if the City should submit a letter of support of these efforts to the County Board. Potter explained that Wright County is one of two communities to have the largest estimates is population growth in the coming years. There are several main corridors within the County that will see growth such as I -94, Highway 12 and Highway 55. MAPublic Data \City Council \Council Minutes\2013 Minutes \M 02 04 2013 Workshop.doc City of Albertville Page 2 of 4 City Council Workshop Minutes February 4, 2013 Brixius stated that the county roads in Albertville serve more than just Albertville residents as many residents from other communities use them in their work commutes. Potter stated there was quite a bit of turnover on the County Board and four of the five members are new. Sorensen and Vetsch several concerns regarding signals, turn lanes, bypass lanes and road shoulders. Council discussed the need for a trail to be completed leading to the high school. Nafstad stated they had tried to get grant money previously but the project is not a good candidate for grant funds. He suggested a formal letter to the County asking for support for the trail. 3. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT / SALEABLE CITY OWNED PROPERTY Brixius stated the Vision Study identified economic development as a high priority for the City. He stated a contact group should be identified and suggest it include the City Administrator, City Planner and one Council member to represent the City's interests when meeting with prospective businesses. Staff will need to assemble information for the businesses such as community strengths, inventory of lots available, utility availability, tax rate, incentives and a review of the application process. Nafstad stated the biggest problem for prospective businesses and developers are the upfront costs and there are ways to help spread out the costs with assessments and abatements. Brixius stated that another issue is park dedication versus economic development. Motioned by Sorensen, seconded by Olson, to suspend the workshop until after the regular Council meeting. Ayes: Hendrickson, Olson, Sorensen, Vetsch and Wagner. Nays: None. Absent. None. MOTIONDECLARED CARRIED. Hendrickson called the meeting back to order at 7:54 p.m. Brixius identified several city owned lots that are ideal for expansion of current industrial businesses. Nafstad stated he did not want to limit expansion options for the businesses, so they may market other city owned properties first. Brixius identified several marketing strategies they could pursue. A meeting with local developers would be set to discuss opportunities for development in Albertville as well as to see what would be an incentive for developers to come to Albertville. They would also meet with local industries to see if they have future expansion ideas. Staff must develop sale prices and identify financial incentives for developers. Brixius stated the goal was to reduce city land holdings and debt, grow local industries, and provide livable wage jobs. They also need to balance private investment with city investment while limiting the City's financial risk. MAPublic Data \City Council \Council Minutes\2013 Minutes\M 02 04 2013 Workshop.doc City of Albertville Page 3 of 4 City Council Workshop Minutes February 4, 2013 Brixius stated they are moving forward with an appraisal on one of the City's properties and that will help determine lot prices. Council felt a meeting with the developers is a good idea and directed staff to move forward with the marketing strategies outlined. 4. RECYCLING PROGRAM Sorensen stated that when the recycling program was set up the intent was to give back to the community if funds are available. This could be a credit or rewards program. Nafstad stated that Allied Waste indicated they would be supportive of any program or event. He stated they no longer have the rewards program, but are working on developing something new. Vetsch would like to see more commercial involvement in recycling and would like to see some help or education offered to businesses. Couri stated they cannot mandate businesses use a certain vendor. Vetsch thought the City could work with recycling vendors to get better pricing for businesses. He stated educational pieces could be put in utility bills. Sorensen stated they were due for an annual update on recycling soon and would like to have the recycling representative come to a meeting this spring. Sorensen asked if the recycling funds could be given back to the residents in the form of a rebate on their utility bill. Lannes replied it would be an extremely difficult and time consuming effort on the part of the Finance Department. She suggested that the funds be used to offset an increase in recycling fees in the years to come, so residents would not see an increase in their bills. Olson stated he was not aware that additional recycle bins could be delivered to the residents. Hendrickson suggested Clerk Olson put that information on the website. 5. CITY COMMUNICATIONS Clerk Olson informed the Council the website redevelopment is in Phase 2. Phase 2 includes uploading and managing content to the site and this is the most time consuming portion of the redevelopment. The anticipated completion date of the site is the end of March and will include online forms. Hendrickson inquired if the forms can still be downloaded and completed. Clerk Olson replied the forms would have an online version that can be submitted directly to staff as well as a PDF version of the form. Nafstad stated they are looking for feedback on newsletter communications. Clerk Olson stated they have several options to look at. They can continue to create the newsletter in house. They have a local advertising company take over the newsletter. They could also supplement the newsletter with utility bill inserts. Nafstad stated they had met with a local advertising company that could take over newsletter including creating a new look for the newsletter, prepress design and printing. They had quality work and the cost was in line with the City's cost to do it in house. Hendrickson and Wagner thought if they could have a better newsletter for the same price, staff should continue to look into it. Clerk Olson stated the only thing the City need to do MAPublic Data \City Council \Council Minutes\2013 Minutes\M 02 04 2013 Workshop.doc City of Albertville Page 4 of 4 City Council Workshop Minutes February 4, 2013 is supply the articles. Nafstad stated there was an option to include business advertisements that could help offset the City's cost of the newsletter. He wanted residents to know they would be getting a newsletter on a regular basis and suggested starting out with two newsletters a year, either winter and summer or spring and fall with the option of utility bill inserts for events that don't coincide with the timing of the newsletter. Sorensen stated that when he was running for office one of the biggest complaints from residents is they are not aware of what is going on in the City. Hendrickson agreed and stated she had received those comments as well. Vetsch suggested they attend the City Council meetings. Council discussed electronic versus paper newsletters. Nafstad felt the goal is to have a defined schedule for residents to know when they get their newsletter. Council directed staff to come up with a schedule and costs for publication. Nafstad stated there have been some inquiries into televising the Council meetings. He stated they would have two channels available from the cable company. They have never used the channels but they are part of the franchise agreement. The estimated cost for basic recording and televising equipment would be approximately $10,000 and per the franchise agreement, they may be able to have that cost covered by the cable company. Lannes emphasized the need for personnel to run the equipment during the meetings and it would be difficult for anyone participating in the meeting to be in charge of the cameras. Nafstad stated there is a portion of each resident's cable bill that is a fee coming to the City. Sorensen felt if that is the case, Council should be providing something to the residents for their money. Hendrickson had concerns about costs for staff and quality of the work. Nafstad agreed that quality is key for production and they want it to look professional. Council directed staff to contact the cable company and look into the opportunities available. 6. ADJOURNMENT Motioned by Vetsch, seconded by Olson, to adjourn the meeting at 9:55p.m. Ayes: Hendrickson, Olson, Sorensen, Vetsch and Wagner. Nays: None. Absent., None. MOTION DECLARED CARRIED. Respect ly submitted,, ti-t- Kimberl Olson, City Clerk MAPublic Data \City Council \Council Minutes\2013 Minutes\M 02 04 2013 Workshop.doc