City Council - Regular Meeting

And the father-son team that was running bingo between every ball would tell, or between every round, not every ball, every round would tell dad jokes. And that was like the between round reset entertainment was dad jokes. Dad jokes. I considered writing some of them down for future pauses in the city council meeting.

My brother-in-law for Father's Day this year got like a deck of cards that has stamp checks. I was like, I might need those. There you go.

No, I always have to play bingo at the church festival because when I was growing up, it was a requirement of all altar servers to spend at least two hours selling bingo cards at the parish festival. So... So, I spent, I spent many hours in a hot tent, helping out with big. It does. All right, Eric, do we got, yeah.

Yep. All right. It is 7 o'clock. I'm going to call this meeting order. Please join me for the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right. Let's see. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda, please? I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. Motion by Pascoe. Second by Pershmann. Can I get a roll call vote, please?

Aye. Motion passes. All right. I don't believe we have anyone here for community comment. Unless, David, you wanted to share some dad jokes? No? Pass. Okay. Okay, great. We have no presentations and reports, nor do we have any public hearings. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda, please?

I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda.

I'm going to give that to Eric only because you backed down. I'll second. Okay. I got a motion by Council Member Pershman and a second by Council Member Conrad. Can I get a roll call vote, please?

Aye. Motion passes. All right. Moving right along to business items. 8.1, we have the District 112 Transportation Center. We're going to be looking at the concept plan. Ms. Smith?

Good. Um, I know who you are, David, but do you want to introduce yourself for my friends up here?

So that's a little bit about the background.

Welcome. So tonight we have two council members who are participating remotely. So just when you hear the voice of God, it's either Christy or Eric.

So who wants to go first? I just want to start out by saying that this is not my first time seeing this. It was at Planning Commission. So you may have seen me sneaking around in the back back then. So I got a lot of my questions answered at Planning Commission because they had a lot of the same questions that I did. But you did mention that you're anticipating a enrollment increase. It's my understanding that the enrollment at Eastern Carver County Schools has been decreasing. And I'm wondering why. where you win and where you see that trend reversing?

And does that include the fact that the kind of projected home prices in both Carver and Victoria are generally higher than most young families are able to afford? So you might not see as many kids as you do houses?

And then Kayla, just in the interest of time, I'm done. I just want to make sure that we're focusing on the transportation center.

And the reason why I'm asking is because I wanted to talk about when are we anticipating phase two, knowing that these demographic, all of these demographic things play into that.

Um, I was looking at the packet and there's, um, comments on what the building will be and I realize this is very, like, early concept, but 2 things, um, solar panels and then also, um, gates. Um, what and this is a new term for me, so it was on the, um, in our packet the 1st page of the letter from walled, um. So the side of the building facing the road would incorporate glazed openings to enhance its appearance.

That's a fancy word for windows. Is that faux windows? Kind of like what we see on...

Okay. And then would the solar panels be visible from the road?

Right. And then I do have questions that I'll probably bring up later because I need to do some more research on electric vehicle, like how what is needed and what we're set up to approve of. And I'm sure Aaron's already gone down this route, but.

Yeah, so this might be a question for Aaron. You know, my first concern was a four-time-a-day parade of buses and what that does for JCP. Can you elaborate a little bit? You said we were fortunate that we were going to get another access. And it sounds like Planning Commission asked questions about traffic flow. Just elaborate a little bit more on that.

There's no visual representation of this or?

Sorry, my screen's cut off. That's okay. Yeah. All right. I think you did.

um so when we're talking about the in and out i i understand aaron when you say it's pretty much set in stone i wouldn't hate to have it a little bit farther north so that the buses have a little more run time to get up to speed getting on to 11 if the there's a green light um if that can't happen that can't happen um is that one or two lanes in that southbound where the in and out is is that one lane

Okay. Because north of that, though, where it says demo, again, I might be just fighting a losing fight here, but has it been considered to have it go up on that section rather than on, you know, north of it by that demo area? Have it coming in and out there rather than farther south?

Okay. So the undeveloped Wickenhauser property of the north is not owned by the school district?

Sure. Okay. Yeah. I don't see them picking an extra, I mean, an extra stoplight to go through, but that's fine. That's fine. The other question I had, so the Commerce Drive stoplight that you were talking about, can you, I can't visualize the length of that because I worry about backups coming in once that's signaled with a red light there and you've got more traffic coming in because of the buses and staff and the Ion Business Park and all that. Is it roughly the same length between Monroe Drive and where the school stoplights are? It just worries me a little bit. It seems like a short run to

Okay. Okay. Those are my only concerns was the backup to the net commerce drive if we have it signalized there, but it probably has to be done. It just worries me a little bit. But other than that, that's all I have.

All right. Thanks, Christy. Let's see. I've just got a little bit of a laundry list for you guys. What kind of fence is it going to be around the facility?

Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. And the black ones tend to blend in with the back a little more. Okay. And tipped means coated or with slats in the chain link?

Oh, dip. Okay. Thank you. Okay. You show where the fueling will take place in this picture. Will there be more fuel islands or options with phase two?

Okay. Erin, in your presentation, you talked a lot about overnight storage, which would be in the garage. What about daytime storage? Will that also be in the garage?

Okay. Let's see. Just a random thought with that stoplight going in at Commerce Drive. Can we give Lakeview a heads up just so that they know? I know that they know it and I know that it was in their documents, but that was six years ago and I can't remember what I have for breakfast most days. So I think we should give them a courtesy heads up. So we're looking at a potential public services building and we're looking in terms of what will meet our 20-year goals what how much space do we need for 50 years looking ahead do you guys did you look at it this project through the same lens and how

Does phase two get all of your current buses in?

Okay. Okay. Cool. Let's see. I was looking. It looks like there aren't any windows to the vehicle storage portion, and maybe that was intentional?

I was just thinking of like creature comforts and being able to see where you're going without having to turn the lights on. Correct. Just like random thoughts. Um, but I appreciate, I'm trying to, let's see. So the, um, West elevation would be what folks see from Jonathan Carver Parkway, right? So, I think the way around the East elevation elevation West elevation of the conversation. Thank you. Okay. So, West elevation. Is what we see from Jonathan Carver Parkway. Correct.

So, when I'm standing on Jonathan cover, our packet label the other way around. Yeah, it is the West elevation, but you're looking West.

Yeah. Um, so just knowing that that's. The street view. I would love to see, and I think it looks nice now, but if there is any opportunity to put, what did you call them, the glazed openings in there, that would be great. I know, I think Steph has probably used the Les Schwab example with you guys a little bit as to kind of what that building looked like. This is going to be kind of how folks enter Carver, and you will be our northernmost user for perhaps some time. And so you'll be one of the first things that folks see when they're coming into the community. And we love to have great lookin

Okay. Great. I think that's it for my comments. Thank you. I think that's that's it. Okay. All right. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Have a good night.

Okay, let's see, we are. Let's see, let's go to some of the items that we did not get to during tonight's work session. So. For the folks who are watching at home, we're going to do flavor change and kind of go back to that kitchen table conversation. And we are going to discuss the 10 year financial plan. So that was something that we spent the entire work session going over. So if anybody's watching this and wondering what we're talking about, go back and watch tonight's work session. Let's see. Christy, do you want to go first?

No, I do not want to go first. If someone else is ready to go, I'm still collecting some of my thoughts getting back into work session mode. Eric, are you ready?

Yeah. You know, I think I had my questions... I think I had my questions answered, so I... You can circle back to me, but I don't have any right now.

I did have a couple things. It was brought up in the presentation that... And I'm sorry, I'm flipping through the slides. One of the earlier slides, how we're going to have a decrease. We're going to lose the... municipal state aid, like 15,000. And it's not a huge amount, but it made me start thinking, are we at risk for a decrease in any other areas? Like if we were to be renting a tower or is there any other areas?

I think I may have called it the wrong thing. Let me just find it on the slide. within like the next 10 years?

Yeah, I feel like every year we're kind of crossing our fingers.

But are there any other... Using that as an example, any other examples of things that we would be at risk of losing? Because we don't get income from like renting towers, cell towers. Or like if we auction off old equipment. Just thinking of like, is there something that in hindsight will be like, oh.

Just kind of where are we at risk for anything else? And it sounds like we've already looked at any other possibilities.

I think LGA is fickle at best. I don't know if you were on the council or not, but one year we were looking at buying a snowplow truck and we would have received enough LGA to cover that. But we didn't know if we were going to get it because it's often a little bit of a political football in budget years in St. Paul. So and. As we grow, we are going to grow out of being able to qualify for LGA.

And that is the correct term, the LGA. Thank you. Also, when we bond to pay for the public services and then for a few years, nothing major, and then once again bond for water treatment. There was a slide where it shows that we wouldn't take on additional debt services for the municipal facilities. So I'm looking at, it's numbered 17. in both the page of and then in the deck. I just wanna make sure that I could answer somebody's question with confidence that saying after 2027, we wouldn't, municipal facilities is not part of our capital improvement plan. Because we've talked about that we want

I might be okay holding off on that information I just want to be able to answer and say with confidence that We're only doing that orange municipal facilities in 2027 and things for later on Would be paid

Okay. No, I had asked my questions as they came up. Okay. Back to you, Christy.

All right, can we go to the comparison of the utility fees from city to city towards the end of the presentation? OK, so you can go back to even the 15,000 gallon one. OK, but OK, these are a little ouchy, right? Like we are at the top here on this. And if you I'm just thinking I was thinking about Victoria, right? Victoria has a ton of growth happening at the southern part of their city for sure. And then they've added a whole lot of multifamily apartment buildings and things like that. Can any of this, their lower fees, be correlated to the fact that they collect franchise fees and can use t

Are we also kind of in a situation where we're paying Down debt on the previous project while saving up for the next 1.

It's kind of a, you're trying to pay down debt and save up at the same time. So you're going to see higher numbers because of that.

OK, thanks for the explanation, Brent. Yes, I agree. Carver was on no one's radar to be the size that it is or and is going to be. One other question about this is, so our stormwater fee, along with Waconia's, is a pretty good chunk on there compared to the other cities. And then Dayton and Corcoran don't have stormwater fees at all. Why is that or how is that?

Okay. All right. That's all my questions.

Thanks. Um, I don't have too many more comments. Jessica did a great job of answering as we were going through, but I just really want to point out and drive home for council that, like, this is the culmination of all of the planning work that we have seen all summer long. We saw the long-term staffing plan. We saw the long-term parks plan. We saw the fire department's plan. We saw the capital improvement plan. Like, you name it. And we've got a plan for that. We could almost be a Geico commercial, right? There's a method to staff's madness in showing us these and teeing it all up and ending i

There was one thing, and I've just defined the slide. I really wish I could just do Control-F. It's 3% for our water. I don't know if anyone has a comment while I'm

well i can continue making mine um so just i just want to make sure that we all understand like that this is like the culmination of all of the work that we've done all year long okay kayla's shaking her head eric christy head shakes okay christy you good okay laura you understand that this is the culmination of all the work that we've seen

Yes, yeah, I do understand that on slide 32, if there was 1 thing that is like, it's not huge fan of it is knowing that we're going to have that 3% annual increase to all water fees. We've already been doing the work and we got to that number, but.

Well, we'd have to increase it. We'd have to increase it for another area. So it isn't. Yeah, I don't have the solution for it, but that is.

Maybe that's a good segue into the draft enterprise budgets. Is that okay to do a harsh left turn here to go to the next item on the agenda?

I could tell that this was new this year.

And even like how much work it is to flush hydrants. Yes. We have almost 500 fire hydrants.

Okay, I have a question here that I have to have before we go any further. Go ahead. Why are the developers not required to put in a size of pipe that we are deemed to be needed now or in the future because of the oversizing?

Okay, so any other any growth area in the state of Minnesota, excuse me is going 1 development is going to lead into the next. Right? So there isn't really like a standalone and then it just ends there. Is this typical to have. Communities pay for this across the state. Like, is this if you were to go to. Victoria, if you were to go to Corcoran or wherever, would they be paying for these oversized too? I mean, is this a typical thing that happens for all new developments that are coming in in any kind of growth area?

Okay. All right. Thanks for your answers.

Before you go to the next, you talked about street maintenance. Can you talk a little bit more? We're not using the street maintenance. we're not using these funds for street maintenance because we have another pot of money to use from for very specific needs that are related to the water system. Can you kind of give examples of that for our, again, for our tens and tens of people who are watching and it doesn't make sense to them.

And it's that same dig once, replace while the ground is open, and there's construction already taking place kind of philosophy on that.

The 10.5% increase from Met Council for the sewer charge, so a double-digit increase. How often do we get increases from Met Council?

And that's fine. It's a double-digit increase, and I was curious. Do we see an annual increase? Is this unusual for this amount?

Well, and for folks watching, this one's out of our control. I'm just trying to get my arms around if that's a double-digit increase from them is usual or not.

Any questions about the Enterprise Fund budget? It's actually a parakeet.

Any thoughts, you guys? I feel like this is a little redundant because we kind of went through this in the long-term financial plan. But, yep, go ahead, Christy. All right.

Can we go back to page or slide, I guess, 9 and 10? I'm just going to get back to where I had it here. So when I'm looking at this, when I'm looking at the storm and we're looking at revenue to expense here, It is almost double on our revenue as compared to what our expenses are. And then if you go to the next slide, if you look at the comparison between 26 and 27, I mean, it's the same. We have a high, high revenue as compared to our expense. Help me understand how we're not overcharging the residents of Carver and that number shouldn't be lowered.

Okay, Lynn, I'm going to, but we've already, okay, so we've already paid what came about the last 10 years, right? So we had to obviously put the stormwater, and I remember when we raised it because of the fact that we hadn't been charging correctly, appropriately for what our expenditures was. At this point, and maybe this is a Brent and a Lynn question, are we flush now? I mean, because we can't really back charge for stuff that's already paid for. So should these stormwater fees be reducing now if we're already, I guess, even in the accounts?

Okay, okay. So it's basically, it's being banked now for some of that bigger stuff that's coming in. Correct. Really easy version. Okay, perfect.

Okay, and then I just have one more question, and it is on slide, I wrote down seven. Yep, it's on slide seven. When we're looking at the sewer for the sewer line cleaning company at $70,000, don't, and maybe this isn't what, maybe they're bringing equipment, I don't understand. Don't we have a jetter truck or something that we already use to clean this? I'm just thinking that the cost is $70,000. is that something city staff can do because we already have, I mean, we have jetter trucks or equipment.

one-fifth of the city so that would be the method to go for next year as well okay yeah if we have the equipment to do this i would like to see our own staff doing it so again however that works in i think that that because we have the capabilities to do it. I realize things get stacked up over the year, but I think that that's something we should look at making sure we can get to on our own. So that was just a comment for that one. I appreciate the explanation, Andrew. And that is all I have. All right. Eric, anything from you?

Additional, so first of all, Lynn, this is probably the easiest to understand report I've seen on this. You did a really good job with that. Thank you. The only variable that we don't really know outside of, you know, Christy's suggestion about doing the jetting ourselves is just the healthcare aspect, right? You budgeted a 15% increase, but we don't know. That's the only variable, right?

Okay. I don't think I have any other questions.

Okay. The sewer jetting, Andrew, so we're not reaching that LMCIT threshold of 20% of our sewer lines per year?

Okay. So... While I appreciate wanting to save money, I would appreciate knowing that nobody has to worry about a sewer backup in our community. I would value that over saving money because I wouldn't wish that on anyone. So I think whatever we need to spend... that's $70,000 less, um, making sure that we can get closer to accomplishing that goal. I would like to see, um, I think, you know, this is the water bill and I bet that every single one of us, um, utility bill. And about every single one of us in this room have heard residents opine on the price of our utilities. I think you can not li

Let's see. I'm a little all over the place. So let's talk about the LMC IT correspondence.

So what do we do with that money? We'll get a difference.

Thank you. All right. Council requests or communications. Laura, you want to go first?

Christy? I'd like to apologize. I think I missed a fireboard meeting last week. I'm not sure why it didn't carry through from my calendar. So, Brent, I don't know if you had anything that you wanted to comment on about that, but...

10% over 10 years instead of 10% in one go? Yeah.

I know they've really appreciated all of the transparency that you guys have given them over the years. I just wanted to make sure that they had light of sight to the fact that a lot of these purchases outside of the ladder trucks are no longer going to be done bonding. So it's going to be bigger payments. At less frequent intervals.

All right. For me, just a few call-outs tonight in our consent agenda. We unanimously approved the fire department compensation study and implementation of the five-year compensation plan, which is going to be our start of the work to get our fire department folks paid a little bit more in line with the market rates for their type of roles. We also appointed our election judges for November 3rd on that same consent agenda. So huge thank you. These are our neighbors and friends. A lot of names on there that we recognize. Appreciate them working some long hours to help us in the democratic proce