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05/10/1983 - City Council Special 0(: I 2 MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE EAGAN CITY COUNCIL EAGAN, MINNESOTA MAY 10, 1983 A special meeting of the Eagan City Council was held on Tuesday, May 10, 1983 at 7:00 p.m. at the Eagan City Hall. Present were Mayor Blomquist and City Councilmembers Smith, Thomas, Egan and Wachter. Also present were City Administrator Hedges, City Engineer Rosene, Public Works Director Colbert and City Attorney Hauge. Mayor Blomquist convened the meeting and stated the principal purpose of the meeting was to hold the continued public hearing regarding the special assessments proposed to be levied against the James and Arvella Horne and the Horne Development Corporation property, located in the Northeast Quarter of Section 21, lying west of Pilot Knob Road. JAMES HORNE STORM SEWER ASSESSMENT - PROJECT #297R The Mayor convened the continued assessment hearing and Tom Hedges briefly introduced the subject. City Attorney Paul Hauge read a detailed statement into the record being taken by a Court Reporter, and stated that the purpose of the hearing was to attempt to avoid assessment appeals and second, if any appeal is taken, to avoid much of the duplication of the hearing process before the District Court. He noted that the City Council had con- vened the hearing to make a determination as to whether the benefits to the Horne property exceed the total amount of the special assessments. Bruce Malkerson of the firm of Popham, Haik, Schnobrich, Kaufman & Doty appeared on behalf of the property owner and Mr. and Mrs. James Horne were also present. Mr. Malkerson objected to the hearing and indicated that he had again requested a continuance that had been made by a telephone call to the City Attorney's office on May 3, 1983. Councilmembers indicated that because of the many delays in the hearing, which had last been held on November 9, 1982 and continued to December 21, 1982 with four continuances since that date, that the hearing should proceed. Mr. Malkerson asked that the Hornes be permitted to present their appraiser to the City Council at a later date to testify concerning the benefits to the property in relation to the proposed assessments. Mr. Hauge objected to the continuance but stated that the City Council had the right to authorize a continuance for the submission of either a written appraisal or allow the appraiser to personally appear before the City Council at a later date. Councilmembers each expressed their views on the continuance and Council- man Egan referred to a letter dated May 5, 1983 addressed and mailed directly to each of the City Councilmembers from Mr. Malkerson. Councilman Egan re- ferred to several statements in the letter that in effect threatened the Councilmembers with a potential action for punitive damages in the event that 1 0Special Council Minutes May 10, 1983 the Council acted on the assessments which, according to Mr. Malkerson's letter, would deprive the land owners of their constitutional rights. After considerable discussion and following a recess, Mr. Malkerson stated that he intended to withdraw as counsel for the Homes and Horne Development Corpora- tion because of a potential claim of conflict of interest in that his firm is representing two councilmembers and one former councilmember regarding an alleged open meeting law violation matter. Mr. Horne indicated that he would not waive his right to potentially bring an action for punitive damages against the City or the individual councilmemebers. Mr. Malkerson stated that it was his opinion that he should withdraw as counsel for the objecting property owners. Mr. Malkerson further asked for a continuance on behalf of the Hornes. At 8:30 p.m., Smith moved, Wachter seconded the motion to con- tinue the hearing until May 17, 1983 at 7:00 p.m. at the City Hall to again review the assessments and allow the Hornes to acquire new legal counsel if desired. All members voted yes. WATER TREATMENT PLANT Tom Noyes and Bob Rosene of the Bonestroo, Rosene & Anderlik consulting engineering firm appeared as did Tom Colbert regarding the letter from Knutson Construction Co., one of the bidders on the water treatment plant. The Knut- son letter indicated that the bids submitted for the construction were unfair and that one base bid supplier of equipment did not provide mechanical con- tractors with quotations until 17 minutes before the bid opening. Mr. Colbert further went on to state that if there had been enough time, there would have been reductions in the bid by certain bidders. Mr. Colbert stated that the base bids are comparable but that not all bidders had a chance to get sup- pliers bids to bid the alternates. Provisions are laid out in the specifica- tions to allow bids for alternates. Staff recommended the award of the con- tract on the basis of the base bids and that the staff then be instructed to review the proposed deducts and make recommendations to the City Council. It was noted that the City had appeared to follow the proper procedure and that only one equipment supplier was named who did not split out the prices for equipment, and therefore certain bidders cannot review specific bids from the equipment suppliers. It appears however, that all of the prime contractors have an equal opportunity to bid and therefore, the City should not be respon- sible for having to rebid the entire project. Thomas moved, Wachter seconded the motion to accept the recommendation of the staff and award the contract to the low bidder, Barbarossa & Sons, Inc. in the sum of $3,539,500.00 in that the low bidder is a responsible bidder and that there is no showing of irregu- larity on behalf of the City in the bidding process; further, that the City Council will consider proposed deducts to the contract after recommendation by the staff; further, it was noted that all bidders had an equal opportunity to submit timely bids. All members voted in favor. 2 Special Council Minutes May 10, 1983 $6,000,000 G.O. BOND ISSUE RESOLUTION City Administrator Tom Hedges submitted a proposed Resolution amending the Resolution authorizing the sale of the $6,000,000 General Obligation Water Revenue Bonds of 1983 to provide for $5,500,000 in the principal amount of bonds. He stated that the cost of the bid for the water treatment facility being approximately $500,000 less than the estimate, it was not necessary to issue bonds in the amount of $6,000,000. He also stated that one alternate would be for the City to proceed with the issuance of the $6,000,000 bonds and that $500,000 could then be invested or applied toward another project. If invested and not applied toward another non-assessable project, the City could receive no greater rate of interest than received on the bonds, according to arbitrage laws. After discussion, upon motion by Smith, seconded Egan, it was resolved that the Resolution amending Resolution to Issue and Sell $6,000,000 General Obligation Water Revenue Bonds in 1983 shall be amended to provide for $5,500,000 in principal amount of bonds, and that the City Clerk be authorized to execute the necessary documents to implement the amended Resolution and all accompanying bond documents. All voted in favor. SEE BOND FILE STREET MAINTENANCE Tom Colbert explained to the Council that the City streets have incurred excessive break-up, causing many street pothole problems during the spring of 1983. He stated that he does not, at the present time, have sufficient personnel to do the patching and pothole fixing, due to the excessive street break-up and estimated that 15,000 to 20,000 square yards of patching will be required to be done in 1983, which would cost an estimated $64,000.00. He discussed the $9,600.00 quote for the tailgate paver equipment that the Council had reviewed at an earlier time and recommended that the Council authorize the purchase of the paver, which would utilize City crews for the paving, and ultimately should result in considerable savings to the City. He stated two temporary street maintenance persons will be hired approximately June 1. Mr. Colbert also discussed with the Council the recommendation that the Council authorize a professional transportation study be done concerning street needs for the impact of traffic, particularly on County Roads, and the needs for signalization throughout the City due to the extremely rapid in- crease of traffic on roads within the City. Colbert was instructed to acquire estimates for such a study and to report to the Council. There was also discussion concerning the proposed turnback of County Roads by Dakota County to the local cities, for reasons including the roads are not for County purposes, that some roads are located too close to one another, and that the County could then give better maintenance to the more important county roads. 3 0C I25 Special Council Minutes May 10, 1983 There was also discussion concerning the potential for issuing equipment certificates for financing the tailgate paver, and further, the employment of additional temporary street maintenance persons during the summer season of 1983. Smith moved, Wachter seconded the motion to approve the purchase of the tailgate paver in the approximate sum of $9,600.00, through the issuance of equipment certificates. Councilmembers also discussed the possible authoriza- tion of two additional temporary employees to operate the paver and directed Mr. Colbert to return to the Council with a proposal for the additional employees. All voted in favor. CONTRACTORS ORDINANCE Mayor Blomquist and Mr. Hedges indicated that the Mayor and staff members have received complaints from property owners who are required, under the recently adopted Contractor's Ordinance, to submit a $5,000.00 Bond in the event that the homeowner proceeds to make an improvement to his home, with a value in excess of $5,000.00. There was a question as to whether the City should continue to require homeowners to post such a surety bond, and it was noted that the purpose of the bond is to protect the homeowner from unscrupu- lous contractors. Blomquist moved, Thomas seconded the motion to authorize the City Attorney to amend the Contractor's Ordinance at page 161 of the Eagan Code book to provide that private owners will not be required to post the surety bond if the property owner performs his own work and other recommended changes, and further that the revisions be submitted to the City Council at its next regular meeting. All voted in favor. CEDAR GROVE STREET CONSTRUCTION PROJECT The Councilmembers discussed the merits between the installation of concrete curb and gutter as opposed to bituminous curb and gutter which had been reviewed by the Council at earlier meetings. There were no affected property owners present and no action was taken by the City Council. ADJOURNMENT Upon motion duly made and seconded, the meeting adjourned at approxi- mately 10:00 p.m. PHH City erk 4