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08/25/1998 - City Council Special Minutes of the Special Council Meeting August 25, 1998 page 1 MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE EAGAN CITY COUNCIL EAGAN, MINNESOTA AUGUST 25,1998 00298 Present: Mayor Tom Egan, Council member Pat Awada, Councilmember Bea Blomquist, Council member Sandy Masin, Councilmember Ted Wachter, City Administrator Hedges, Finance Director VanOverbeke, Assistant Finance Director Pepper, Director of Parks and Recreation Vraa, Director of Public Works Colbert, Senior Planner Ridley, Chief of Police Geagan, Fire Chief Jensen, Chief Building Official Reid, Intern to the City Administrator Hertel. Mayor Egan called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. REVIEW PRELIMINARY 1999 GENERAL FUND BUDGET City Administrator Hedges gave an overview of the General Fund Budget. He highlighted the key issues of the budget as described in the Executive Summary. He stated that according to the proposed budget, the Council would levy the maximum under State imposed levy limits. He stated that in spite of the tax classification rate changes, the estimated City tax capacity rate is decreased by 4.4% from 22.434 to 21.457 excluding the MVT A levy. He stated that the recommended budget incorporates the expanded trail and sidewalk maintenance program at a cost of$180,000, representing 1.1 % of the proposed 4.7% increase in the entire budget. He further stated that the recommended budget is a combination of the various budget scenarios submitted by the individual departments and does not fully incorporate a specific scenario across the budget. He informed the Council that the budget incorporates three new "Clinton Cops" in the Police Department. He discussed the other proposed personnel additions totaling 3.15 Full Time positions. He pointed out that the contingency account is proposed as a flat 2.0% of the budget. He stated that the proposed levy includes an increase to the Equipment Revolving Fund which combined with the 1997 transfer from the General Fund 'lllows for the discontinuance of the use of Equipment Certificates. He commented that the proposed levy includes an .lcrease to the Major Street Fund allowing for increasing flexibility to address at least some street maintenance, repair and replacement issues. He explained that the defeasance of the tax supported general obligation bonds eliminated the need for a debt service levy. He directed the Council's attention to the institution of the General Facilities Renewal and Replacement Fund to be used to maintain facilities and infrastructure into the future. He explained the preliminary levy certification for the Cedarvale Special Services District and asked the Council to consider possible dates for the Truth-In- Taxation hearings in November and December and to take action to reschedule any affected December council meetings. Finance Director VanOverbeke gave a presentation on expected revenues. He commented that the most significant change in taxation occurred for CommerciallIndustrial properties. He further stated that the Education Credit would have a substantial effect on property-owners, but that it would not be present in the City's projected tax liability for its residents. He further discussed the maximum levy limit and how debt service levy has been eliminated. He stated that for Eagan residents whose property values remained the same, their taxes payable would decrease by 4.4%, but that homes with increased market values would possibly experience an increase in City taxes. Mayor Egan commented that the tax system is very complex and that the classification systems and language pose challenges for those who don't work with the system regularly. He praised Finance Director VanOverbeke and Assistant Finance Director Pepper for their outstanding work in presenting the best budget in 20 years. City Administrator Hedges suggested the Council consider rescheduling their first December meeting to November 30, 1998 and hold the initial Truth-In-Taxation hearing on that date. The continuation date and the budget and levy adoption date would be the regular meeting on December 15, 1998. Mayor Egan confirmed that there was consensus by the Council to hold the December Regular Council meetings on November 30 and December 15. City Administrator Hedges briefly reviewed the process preceding this budget presentation. Mayor Egan stated that he was willing to support the 1.06 police officers per thousand residents due to his strong belief in community policing and the other efforts by the police department. City b..dministrator Hedges commented that any increases that would have been made in next year's budget may be one fewer Minutes of the Special Council Meeting August 25, 1998 page 2 002951 if the Council chooses to accept all three Clinton cops. Mayor Egan and Councilmembers Awada and Wachter all ;Qmmented that they favored accepting all three Clinton cops. Councilmember A wada asked about the MIS department and what additional needs they may have. City Administrator Hedges commented that the City is still working toward many of its technology goals and highlighted ideas like a 24-hour City Hall through the internet. He commented that the Police need a substantial amount of support from MIS. He added that MIS Coordinator Peterson is on-call virtually around the clock and that he has been working with MIS staff to develop a work plan regarding technology. Council member Awada stated that the option should remain open to reduce the contingency fund and add personnel and/or resources to the MIS department. She commented that an investment in MIS may mean a reduction in need in other departments. City Administrator Hedges commented on his work as a member of the Board of Directors at LOGIS and mentioned the extremely competitive market for MIS services, stating how fortunate the City of Eagan is to have talent like MIS Coordinator Petersen and Information Systems Technician Pojman. Mayor Egan stated that the City should be forward-thinking and do more in terms of technology and the MIS department. Councilmember Blomquist stated that the City should look at cutting staff costs elsewhere to accommodate the increased personnel needs in MIS. Councilmember Awada discouraged that approach at this time, commenting that she expected the department would need to grow to 4 or 5 full-time persons in the near future to catch up to where the City should be, given its technology-adept population and their demands for service and information through the internet. Councilmember Awada recognized that the MIS personnel at the City are currently overworked. City Administrator Hedges commented that 5,200+ persons had used the City's website. Councilmember Awada stated that the City should look into changing the URL to something more familiar like www.eagan.org. City Administrator Hedges suggested an extended discussion of technology at a special work session in the future. He further commented that the MIS personnel had done a fabulous job making City Hall more computer-literate internally, but that the Council should consider further efforts to be more accessible to the community through technology. Mayor Egan questioned any changes in tax capacity made by the County. Finance Director VanOverbeke stated lmt the County will have more accurate information by the Truth in Taxation hearings, but that final tax liabilities will only be available when the tax statements are sent to residents. Councilmember Blomquist stated that she did not consider the change from 1.0 to 1.06 police officers per thousand residents a significant change. Mayor Egan inquired about the status of the Cairns IRIS helmets for the Fire Department. City Administrator Hedges stated that the proposal would be considered as part of the 5-year CIP. Councilmember Blomquist stated that she thought the expenditures made for conferences for Council and staff were excessive and suggested limiting the number of persons able to attend conferences. Continued participation was recommended after a discussion of the benefits by Council members Wachter, Awada, Masin and Mayor Egan. Councilmember Blomquist remained opposed to the appropriations as presented in the draft budget. Councilmember Wachter stated that the half-time intern in MIS should be a full-time position. There was consensus by the Council. Councilmember Masin stated that the City's attention to its cable resources was lacking. She inquired about what kind of resources it would take to obtain some quality programming. City Administrator Hedges responded that the situation with cable as a means of communication was similar to the situation with the MIS department. He stated that there are limited resources available and that most work is done through volunteerism. He commented that there has. been discussion of bringing the Eagan Report back. Councilmember Masin re-stated her concern about channel 16 and stated that the City should do whatever it takes to get a first-class cable operation. City Administrator Hedges higWighted three points for potential improvement, including improved equipment for the Council chambers, an upgrade for the Fire Administration Building and more active and interesting programming. He cited the recent airtime given to a video featuring Director of Parks and Recreation Vraa for an informative segment on the progress of the Aquatic Facility. Councilmember Awada expressed support for the Aquatic Facility segment. Councilmember Masin stated that more ~oney should be spent on cable and that it should be used more effectively. Mayor Egan commented that cable is _Jmething people should be able to count on being there for community information. Minutes of the Special Council Meeting August 25,1998 page 3 00300 Councilmember Wachter commented that in past years, there have always been requests for radios. He commented that other technologies may be reducing this need in the City. Mayor Egan inquired about the new position in the Parks and Recreation Department. Dir~or of Parks and Recreation Vraa described the changing job responsibilities process that had occurred since February and the departure of Jon Oyanagi. He described the restructuring of Parks Superintendent Peterson's position, removing the hands-on aspects of the job and replacing them with the administrative responsibilities. He clarified that the Events and Programs position would work on programming at HoIz Farm and on the Winter programs. He commented that the changed registration times to Spring instead of registration at various times of the year had made the residents satisfied, but had made the processing of those registrations challenging from a staff perspective, due to the lack of temporary and seasonal help in March and April. He further commented that the Parks and Recreation Department had recently received two additional resignations. City Administrator Hedges commented that the City of Eagan attracts talented individuals, mentors them and then they move on to continue to grow. Councilmember Wachter asked what causes this seeming "loss" of talented persons, citing wages and growth opportunities as potential factors. City Administrator Hedges commented that a combination of those factors caused the departures of many persons in key middle management positions. City Administrator Hedges gave an overview of the potential teen center locations/proposals for Eagan. He reminded the Council that they had asked for this information to be prepared in conjunction with the budget process, but that the costs of a teen center had not been included in the General Fund Budget. Councilmember Wachter stated that he was opposed to the idea of having a teen center in the mezzanine area of the Civic Arena. He stated that once this project is undertaken, there is no going back and that this is a particularly bad time to be making these choices considering the still developing needs of the Civic Arena. Councilmember Awada and Mayor Egan expressed support for Councilmember Wachter's comments. Council member Blomquist stated that the Council should hear from the Hockey Boosters about their needs in that area. Councilmember Wachter inquired about the tree conservation budget. City Administrator Hedges commented that the City-Wide Tree Planting Program Advisory Committee's recommendation had not been included in the preliminary budget process. Councilmember Wachter returned to the issue of talent retention, commenting that the across the board 3% salary increase was probably not the best policy choice in terms of personnel. He expressed concern about the loss of key personnel and expressed interest in retaining valuable employees. Councilmember Awada stated that it is always the second highest ranking personnel who are leaving, possibly because there is no room to move up until department heads retire. City Administrator Hedges stated that the Council should look at this in a positive light, citing the success of former City of Eagan employee Jon Hohenstein. He commented that the Council had previously prided itself on its internal pay-equity criteria. He stated that it may be time to look at the external market. He suggested that staff do a study about how other organizations handle compensation, including performance pay options and competitive salary ranges in comparable markets. He stated that a more detailed study would be appropriate. Councilmember Blomquist stated that the City needs more people in middle management positions and commented on the way unions tend to set the tone for all employees. Councilmember Wachter suggested considering performance bonuses as in the private sector. Councilmember Blomquist suggested instituting a wide-range performance scale. Councilmember Wachter stated that employee performance may be improved if employees stop expecting a 3% raise regardless of performance. Councilmember A wada stated that the Council should empower City Administrator Hedges to review this matter and bring it to a future special council meeting. City Administrator Hedges commented that benchmarking in the public sector is more challenging than in the private sector when there are gauges like sales, etc. Councilmember Blomquist stated that one of the obstacles to performance pay is that the City must publish its salaries as public information. City Administrator Hedges concurred, stating that the only options available in the public sector are salary increases, whereas private employers have incentives like promotions and stock options as compensation tools. Minutes of the Special Council Meeting August 25, 1998 page 4 00301 Mayor Egan asked about the consequences of not levying to the maximum levy limit. Finance Director VanOverbeke stat(:d that there is no penalty for levying or not levying the maximum under the current law. Mayor Egan commented that the budget didn't appear to be padded at all in order to reach the levy limit, but that the increase was legitimate. He stated that he had no objections to the proposed budget. Councilmember Wachter stated that the budget reflects well on City Administrator Hedges as an accurate reflection of the policies of the Council. City Administrator Hedges was quick to give credit to the entire management team who made the budget a successful proposal. Councilmember Masin commented that the public perception of the Council is that they are fiscally conservative. Mayor Egan stated that the Council had reached consensus and is prepared to consider this formally at the September 14, 1998 Regular Council Meeting. PRESENTATION OF MVTA STRATEGIC PLAN City Administrator Hedges gave an overview of this item; he stated that this review was an effort by the MVT A to reach out to its member cities. Council member Masin led a forty-five minute review of the strategic plan, asking the Council to consult her if they had questions or feedback. The Council had generally positive feedback and minimal questions of clarification. OTHER BUSINESS Council member Wachter introduced the issues pertaining to the Carl Case property. He stated that Mr. Case's neighbors had complained about his property and that he had been given until September 15 to clean up his yard. He mentioned that he had heard that Mr. Case had fallen into ill health and that the City should perhaps look for creative solutions to this problem, including having volunteers help him with his yard or at least extend the deadline to accommodate his health. The Council was in consensus that inquiries should be made and the deadline should be modified. Councilmember Awada brought up the issue of the City Administrator's performance review, clarifying that the Council had decided to handle the performance review in the same manner as in the past. Councilmember Masin stated that she thought the review process was poor and that the Council as a whole should have been able to review all the comments before they were forwarded to the City Administrator. Councilmember Awada stated that the same process had been followed as before and that maybe the Council should take an opportunity to review his performance during a workshop in the future. Councilmember Masin stated that the City should bring in a consultant to handle this review process. She objected to the process because of the lack of criteria by which to judge his performance; she stated that there are no goals or objectives for the City Administrator's role. She restated that the Council as a whole should have met to discuss his review. Councilmember Blomquist stated that she didn't approve of the process from the start and that she didn't participate for that reason. Councilmember Awada stated that all the comments received on the forms were shared with the City Administrator in a meeting that morning. Councilmember Masin asked what was discussed for two hours and where the goals and objectives were listed by which they evaluated his performance. Councilmember Awada stated that the personnel committee had found 3 consistent areas in his performance that needed improvement and that the process followed had been at the direction of the Council as a whole. Councilmember Masin expressed concern that her only involvement was to fill out a form. She restated that the City should have hired a consultant. Councilmember Awada stated that the process itself is acceptable, but should be done annually. Councilmember Blomquist restated that she didn't approve of the process because it should involve all five members of the Council. Mayor Egan stated that the purpose of the personnel committee was to collect and synthesize the information and bring recommendations to the Council as a whole, like many other processes for recommendations. Councilmember Wachter commented that this process is what was directed by the City Council and that changes can only be made for future performance reviews. Councilmember A wada stated that the format used by the Council is a standard format used by other cities, according to Assistant City Administrator Duffy. City Administrator Hedges commented that Assistant City Administrator Duffy had reviewed other forms and considered this one the best alternative. Councilmember Wachter suggested that the Council '~ave future decisions about the City Administrator's Performance Review Process to the next Council. Council member ~ wada stated that a key reason the process includes a personnel committee is so two members of the Council can review Minutes of the Special Council Meeting August 25, 1998 page 5 00302 the comments with the City Administrator without having to make his review public, according to public meeting laws. ~ouncilmember Blomquist asked if the performance review would be an exception to public meeting laws, considering it is a personnel issue. Mayor Egan stated that Assistant City Administrator Duffy had already informed them that this would not be an exception to the public meeting law. Councilmember Blomquist asked that the City seeks a legal opinion on the matter. Councilmember Masin restated that all five members of the Council should be included in the review process. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8: 11 p.m. August 25, 1998 Date