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09/19/2000 - City Council Special Special City Council Minutes September 19,2000 Page] of I 00255 MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE EAGAN CITY COUNCIL EAGAN, MINNESOTA September 19,2000 A special meeting of the Eagan City Council was held on Tuesday, September 19,2000, at 5:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers of the Eagan Municipal Center Building. Present were Mayor Awada and Councilmembers Blomquist, Carlson, Bakken and Masin. Also present were City Administrator Hedges, Director of Parks and Recreation Vraa, Administrative Specialist Wielde and Administrative Specialist Hertel. VISITORS TO BE HEARD Mayor Awada acknowledged visitors to be heard. There were no visitors present interested in speaking on items not listed on the agenda. APPOINTMENT OF COMMUNITY CENTER FOCUS GROUPS City Administrator Hedges gave an overview of the progression and process with the Community Center task force, highlighting that citizen involvement is the next step forward. City Administrator Hedges pointed out to the Council that they may want to reconsider the appointment of teens, noting that the teens whose names appeared as candidates were not aware of the process and had been nominated by a teacher at Eagan High School. He further noted that Paula Nowariak in the Parks and Recreation Department works with a group called YELP (Youth of Eagan Leaders and Planners) that may also have interested teens. Councilmember Masin asked if the city had done anything different in its recruiting attempts than previous attempts to involve teens and asked if the teens from the Youth Summit held in Rosemount had been contacted. City Administrator Hedges clarified that the YELP list had come almost entirely from the Youth Summit meeting and mentioned that letters had been sent to the principals of each middle school and high school that served Eagan students. Councilmember Bakken stated that the Council should either decide what to do about the teens or decide to decide later, expressing no preference between the two. Mayor Awada proposed appointing adults to the focus group and involving teens in an advisory capacity. Councilmember Masin objected, stating that "buy in" from the teens would be the only way the center would be successful; she counter-proposed a 50-50 split of adults and teens or an all-teen focus group. She further specified that there should be a representative from each major high school. Director of Parks and Recreation Vraa stated that it was his opinion and the consensus of the staff that achieving age diversity among the teens, including especially the middle school age students, is more important than achieving geographic diversity. Councilmember Masin stated that different schools have different programs. Councilmember Bakken suggested adding six teen spots to the focus group in addition to the six adult spots; he proposed soliciting a representative from each grade to obtain age 00256 Special City Council Minutes September 19,2000 Page 2 of2 diversity. Councilmember Blomquist stated that there were no ages listed on the focus group applications, but noted that Preston Dean was a middle school student and listed individually. City Administrator Hedges clarified that Preston Dean submitted his own application and was not part of the groups of teens recommended to the City. Councilmember Carlson stated that staff should go to the groups of teens first and gauge their interest before appointing them; she proposed considering this at the next meeting. City Administrator Hedges stated that staff would prepare a letter and recruit teens for the kick-off meeting on October 2. Councilmember Masin asked that the Youth Summit teens be included. City Administrator Hedges stated that the Youth Summit students were part of the list of YELP participants. City Administrator Hedges gave an overview of the balloting process and asked the Council to determine if they wanted to vote for focus groups individually or all at once. Councilmember Carlson stated that she was comfortable voting on them all at once; her sentiments were echoed by the rest of the Council. Mayor A wada asked the Council if it was an option to put one person on more than one focus group. Councilmember Carlson responded by saying that one focus group was enough per person; her sentiments were echoed by other Councilmembers. Councilmember Masin noted that there was not an unmanageable number of applicants and asked the Council if they would be interested in giving everyone a spot. Councilmember Carlson stated that the balloting had begun and that changing the structure of the focus groups was not necessary. Councilmember Masin expressed displeasure regarding the spouses and relatives of Councilmembers on the list and commented that their input would be included via the Council and suggested choosing alternate members for a variety of perspectives. Councilmember Carlson stated that it was too late to eliminate candidates. As the first round of ballot tallying began, the Council continued discussion about the composition of the design teams. Councilmembers Carlson and Bakken stated that the appointments were fine "as is." Mayor Awada moved, Councilmember Bakken seconded, a motion to approve the design teams with Mayor Awada and Councilmember Carlson on the Site Design Team, Mayor Awada and Councilmember Masin on the Partnerships/Operations Team, and Councilmembers Bakken, Blomquist and Carlson on the Facility Design Team. Aye: 5 Nay: 0 City Administrator Hedges stated that the architects (TKDA) and the park planner (Damon Farber) would be together for three days in early October and suggested scheduling the first focus group meeting for Monday, October 2. Councilmember Blomquist noted a potential conflict in her schedule. The Council concurred that they would meet at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, October 2, 2000 at the Eagan Municipal Center and noted that they would officially vote on the meeting at the Regular City Council meeting scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. REVIEW 2001 CIVIC ARENA BUDGET City Administrator Hedges gave an overview. Mayor Awada stated that unless there were serious extenuating circumstances, the budget should be balanced as it has been in years past. Councilmember Carlson asked if the Replacement and Renewal fund earned interest. City Administrator Hedges answered in the affirmative. Councilmember Carlson asked what the Civic Center Fund was and inquired about the current balance. Director of Parks and Recreation 0025'7 Special City Council Minutes September 19, 2000 Page3 of 3 Vraa stated that there are two funds: the Capital Replacement Fund, which has a balance of $115,000 and the excess revenues from the operations of the civic center, which totaled $235,000 at the close of 1999. Mayor Awada asked if the City had increased the rates for ice time in 1999. Councilmember Carlson stated that the rates were increased to match Apple Valley's rates, noting that the Eagan Hockey Association contributes $50,000 per year to the city on top of their fees. Mayor Awada asked if Eastview paid $140 per hour. Director of Parks and Recreation Vraa stated that the base rate is $135 per hour, but that there is a surcharge of$5 per hour as an agreement with the E.H.A. on the East Arena. Mayor Awada inquired about the balance of accumulated budget surpluses. Director of Parks and Recreation Vraa stated that the gross accrued earnings with interest since 1995 totaled $235,000. Councilmember Carlson expressed displeasure with the profits that would be realized in twenty years at the expense of the people curr.ently paying to use the facility. Councilmember Blomquist stated that she was satisfied with taking the $19,855 outstanding balance from the budget out of the past revenues. Mayor A wada stated that she supported the option of increasing the base rental rate to $145 per hour to match Apple Valley's rate and take the remaining balance from the budget surplus. Mayor A wada moved, Councilmember Bakken seconded, a motion to increase the base ice rental rate to $145 per hour for the school district to offset the budget imbalance and to further withdraw funds to cover the remaining balance from past budget surpluses. Aye: 5 Nay: 0 APPOINTMENT OF COMMUNITY CENTER FOCUS GROUPS Administrative Specialists Hertel and Wielde reported the results of the first round of balloting. The Council began a second round of balloting and submitted ballots for tallying. RECESS The City Council recessed at 6:20 p.m. and continued all items of business until reconvening following the Regular City Council Meeting. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Awada called the Special City Council meeting back to order at 8:20 p.m. APPOINTMENT OF COMMUNITY CENTER FOCUS GROUPS City Administrator Hedges gave an overview of the balloting progress. He noted that Mr. Clyde Thurston, who had been appointed to the Bandshell focus group, had indicated in his letter that he was more interested in a role working with the design teams. He stated that the Council could either leave his appointment as it stood or remove him and re-open the matter for additional balloting. Councilmember Carlson stated that there were no places for participation on the design teams and that there were no designations for floaters. City Administrator Hedges Special City Council Minutes September ]9,2000 Page 4 of 4 clarified Mr. Thurston's general interest, citing both his letter and a recent conversation with Director of Parks and Recreation Vraa. The Council chose to re-open the balloting for the Bandshell focus group and include Mr. Thurston's name in the candidate group for the remaining focus groups. 0025B At the conclusion of four rounds of balloting, City Administrator Hedges reported the results to the Council. By ballot, the City Council appointed the following focus groups: Gyms. Health and Fitness Behnke, Keith Crary, Amy Dean, Michael Hamling, Patty Klekner, Dan Rudolph, John Swenson, Scott Banquet/ComputerslMeetinglConferencel Plav~round/Child Components Carlon, Ann Gieseke, Lynae Gustafson, Kay Heffner, Douglas James Johnson, Cindy Miller, Cathy Pickrell, Catherine Seniors Bari, Joseph Carlson, Gloria Johnson, Barbara Lawrence, Shirley Lawrence, Wally Nardi, Joseph J ulv 4IFestivals Clark, Don Danner, Margo Marko, Jerry Seelig, Raleigh Stewart, Judy Thomas, Pat Wachter, Ted Teens Bakken, Alison Elsenheimer, Don Stackhouse, Julie Staley, Tim Thurston, Clyde Wagner, John Bandshell Curlee, John Felling, Dennis Hutson, Quinn Peterson, Dorothy Seitz, Jim Wilson, Tom ADJOURNMENT The City Council adjourned at 9:00 p.m. SEPTEMBER 19, 2000 Date If you need these minutes in an alternative form such as large print, Braille, audio tapes, etc., please contact the City of Eagan, 3830 Pilot Knob Road, Eagan, MN 55122, 651-681-4600, (TDD phone: 65]-454-8535). The City of Eagan is committed to the policy that all persons have equal access to its programs, services, activities, facilities and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, marital status or status with regard to public assistance.