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CC 2007 12 10 CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING DECEMBER 10, 2007 Mayor Furlong called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m.. The meeting was opened with the Pledge to the Flag. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Furlong, Councilman Litsey, Councilwoman Ernst, Councilwoman Tjornhom, and Councilman Peterson STAFF PRESENT: Todd Gerhardt, Roger Knutson, Laurie Hokkanen, Kate Aanenson, Paul Oehme, Todd Hoffman, Greg Sticha, and Jill Sinclair PUBLIC PRESENT: Dwight Koning 7361 Longview Circle Kurt Papke Planning Commission Debbie Lloyd 7302 Laredo Drive Janet & Jerry Paulsen 7305 Laredo Drive Laura Wondra 9390 Foxford Road Madison Miller 8500 Allegheny Circle Erin Schliesman 843 Ramsey Avenue Quinlyn Mullaney 2251 Stone Creek Lane Kristine Kubisiak 1461 Heron Drive Ally Jagodzinski 18370 Nicklaus Way PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mayor Furlong: Thank you and welcome to everybody here joining us in the council chambers as well as those watching at home. We're glad that you joined us. I'd like to start this meeting, unless there's any, first of I want to ask if there's no changes or modifications to the agenda from members of the council, we'll proceed with the agenda that was published without objection. We'll start this evening with some award presentations. PRESENTATION OF 2007 ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS. Mayor Furlong: Each year our Environmental Commission's recommendation and City Council approves Environmental Excellence Awards and this evening we're going to give out three awards to some very well deserving individuals and groups so I'm going to come down in front and ask Jim Sommers who's a member of our Environmental Commission to please come forward and join me. The Environmental Excellence Awards as I mentioned are presented each year by the City of Chanhassen to recognize environmental improvements and stewardship throughout our city. The awards are designed not only to recognize the achievements of individuals and other groups, but also to communicate new ideas and encourage other members of our city to take similar actions if they are able. As I said, Jim Sommers is here with the Environmental Commission. We have a number of individuals on that commission. Volunteers City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 that are residents that give of their time and energy to help educate all of us on ways that we can be better environmental stewards. At this time I'd like to invite Dale Rusch to come forward and join us. The behind the scenes efforts of a number of our volunteers in the city really make our city a special place to be. It helps our natural environment look very much different. From nameless people who pick up trash on their daily walks to someone like Dale Rusch who voluntarily takes an annual blue bird nest box monitoring program for our city parks and at his home. These people make a different. Dale in particular has monitored 11 nest boxes throughout the season and has watched 37 blue bird fledglings emerge as well as 11 tree swallow babies and 6 chickadees. He's counted eggs in each nest. Recorded the species that nested. Kept track of the hatchlings. Thanks to Dale Chanhassen residents are able to catch glimpse of these stunning birds in the air and around our city parks. Dale, I know you've been doing this for a number of years and we really appreciate your efforts and are happy today to present you with this Environmental Excellence Award. Dale Rusch: I have something for each of the council members and so you can see what I do and why I do it. I have a picture of blue birds and I have one for the Mayor and we'd better have one for this gentleman also. And I'm a member of what we call the Blue Bird Recovery Program and there's a Minnesota Chapter and there's a national chapter and for anybody who wants to raise blue birds or monitor boxes, this is the really the bible of how to do it and what to do and so forth and so that's what this cover is from the directory and so anybody who is interested in blue birds and they want to know what to do, they just have to get a hold of this recovery program and they'll tell them what to do. Mayor Furlong: Sounds great. We'll make sure, I know that Todd Hoffman, who is our Park and Rec Director, works with you and we'll make sure Jill and others at City Hall have. Dale Rusch: And I'm going to give one to Jill too. Mayor Furlong: If anybody's interested, please contact City Hall. We'll put you in touch with Dale. Thank you Dale. Dale Rusch: And one for Todd too so you can take it and cut it out and you can frame it and you can put it on your desk or hang it on the wall or wherever. Mayor Furlong: Now I'd like to invite some representatives from Eckankar to come forward. Peter Skelskey and Jack Heyl. Passing Eckankar's property along Powers Boulevard and West th 78 Street is a relaxing experience as one gazes over the rolling prairie and back into the Big Woods forest on the far side. Creating this environment is an ongoing project and one that requires tenacity and commitment. Eckankar currently manages many acres of native prairie along a large area of sugar maples, basswoods, and oak forest. The building and grounds staff there have consistently addressed invasive species issues, tree diseases, prairie burns and woodland maintenance for many years. Managing these areas appropriate requires a substantial investment of time and money, but the pay off is a site beautiful and inspiration for the Chanhassen community and our residents, so on behalf of the City of Chanhassen Peter and Jack, thank you very much to you and Eckankar for all you do. 2 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 Jack Heyl: We want to thank all the help that we've received from the city staff over the years and we have thousands and thousands of people who come from around the world just to walk the trails and so forth and an awful lot of people in the community that like the green space that we provide and we welcome you there. Thank you so much. Mayor Furlong: Tonight we have some representatives from General Mills. I'd like to invite them to come forward as well. We have Neida Cardona, Steven Pasami, Kathy Halverson, Siad… Do we have everybody up here? Good evening everyone. One bright Saturday morning this last May nearly 70 volunteers from General Mills showed up at Lake Ann Park to get a little dirty and to plant some plants and things. The General Mills employees and their families were celebrating Earth Day in a significant way. They were going to plant hundreds of grasses, sedges, shrubs, trees, flowers in the newly constructed Lake Ann rain gardens. The volunteers spent the morning digging holes, planting flowers, native species, mulching gardens and in the end the three rain gardens were functional, eye catchy and will help improve water quality in one of the city's important parks and one right near Lake Ann itself. So on behalf of the City of Chanhassen, to all of you and for all those who helped you that spring morning, we thank you very much. We'd like to present you with this plaque in recognition of your service. Neida Cardona: Thank you. I just want to say thank you on behalf of General Mills…that worked with us that day…so thank you so much. CONSENT AGENDA: Councilman Litsey moved, Councilman Peterson seconded to approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City Manager's recommendations: a. Approval of Minutes: -City Council Work Session Minutes dated November 26, 2007 -City Council Verbatim & Summary Minutes dated November 26, 2007 -City Council Work Session Minutes dated December 3, 2007 -Truth in Taxation Hearing Minutes dated December 3, 2007 Receive Commission Minutes: -Planning Commission Verbatim & Summary Minutes dated November 20, 2007 Resolution #2007-73: b. 2008 Street Reconstruction Project 08-1, Laredo Drive: Approve Feasibility Study and Call for Public Hearing. c. Lyman Boulevard Project 06-03: Approval of Agreement. Resolution #2007-74: d. Wells 12 & 13, Project Nos. 08-04 & 08-05: Approve Plans and Specifications; Authorize Advertising for Bids. nd Resolution #2007-75: e. Frontier 2 Addition, Project 04-16: Accept Pond Improvements. 3 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 Resolution #2007-76: g. Approve Resolution Authorizing Early Retirement of 1998C GO Water Revenue Bonds, 1999A GO Bonds, and 2001B GO Improvement Bonds. h. Approval of City Code Amendment to Chapter 20 re: Interim Use Permits for Antennas on Rooftops over 15 Feet in Height. i. Rosemount, 8200 Market Boulevard: Approval of Interim Use Permit to Allow a Temporary Antenna on Top of their Building. j. Approval of Temporary On-Sale Liquor License, St. Hubert's Catholic Community, 8201 Main Street. k. Award of Consultant Contract to Barr Engineering for Design Services for School Well Improvements (New Well 14), Project 08-08. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS: Tom Devine: Tom Devine, 7640 South Shore Drive. I just wanted to comment on the adoption of the article on the well heads just a moment ago, and I want to express my appreciation of the city working with the neighborhood association, the feedback and the constructive, what we felt was constructive criticism that went into the process of planning where that wellhead was going to be and minimizing what was originally part of the plan to build a long driveway and a long retaining wall and scale it back from what it was initially and they were very cooperative and we look forward to working and finishing the process of doing that. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Anyone else for visitor presentations this evening? Seeing nobody, we'll move on then. CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE 2008 BUDGET AND LEVY AND THE 2008-2012 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. Greg Sticha: Good evening Mayor and members of council. Well this is the final step in the budget process that seems like it's taken quite a while. It takes a lot of our time between August and December, but the final step in the budget process. Just to give kind of some people an idea of where we've come from, we set a preliminary levy in September. That preliminary levy was set at $9,854,000. After that we had work session discussions in October and November to discuss the department's budgets in detail. We held a Truth in Taxation hearing last Monday that was based on the original preliminary levy in September. The Truth in Taxation statements sent out by the county in November went out based on the preliminary levy that was set in September. We held that hearing last week, and tonight we are here for final adoption of the budget and CIP for 2008. The budget and levy then need to be certified to the county by th December 28 of this year. With that I'm going to go over a power point presentation, a brief one similar to the presentation that I made last week. If we could switch. Thank you. First part of the power point that I'm going to go through is the general fund expenditures and revenues 4 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 that are currently in the budget for 2008 as presented to you tonight. This slide breaks out the expenditures by category and shows the increase from the prior year. The two items I guess to note are of most largest change from this year and the last year would be under law enforcement. We have 100,000 more than last year's budget, plus we have increases for a contract increase of 5% in the law enforcement contract for 2008. Plus one additional officer for $100,000. That makes up the 3.6% increase in the law enforcement budget for next year. And the other item of note is based on some of the work session discussions and budget discussions that we've had over the last couple meetings. We have included a transfer for streets for $150,000 in the general fund budget. Revenues for 2008 compared to 2007. License and permit revenues, one of the areas that should be highlighted or of note, we are anticipating a decrease in permit revenues for 2007. About $100,000 less than, or 2008. About $100,000 less than 2007. No other items changed in large dollar proportions. There were some significant percentage increases but did not amount to many dollars within the general fund itself. The largest decrease was in license, or for the permits which then had to be made up for with other revenue sources such as property taxes. Here's a look at the general fund expenditure history. This is expenditures in the general fund. The increase in expenditures from 2008, 2007 is 2.8%. Keep in mind that of that 2.8%, $150,000 of it includes the transfers for streets. If you exclude that transfer, the general fund expenditures are only increasing 1.1%. What factors changed the budget for 2008? Generally, mostly the operating expenditures in the general fund remain flat from the previous year. Total fund expenditures increased 2.8%, or like I said a minute ago, of that includes the transfer for streets of $150,000. The largest or really the one factor driving the increase in the general fund would be the police contract which had the largest impact on the general fund as far as expenditures go for 2008 compared to 2007. This is a look at our levies needed to pay our debts and the levy needed in the general fund for 2008 as compared to 2007 is 4.2% increase in the levy for the general fund. You'll note the capital replacement fund levy we kept the same for 2008. There was a slight increase in the sealcoating levy. This is the last year of that increase. The schedule going forward has that remaining flat. You'll notice that we no longer have any special assessment debt levies. We did have one $100,000 special assessment debt levy on the books. Because of the fund balance in that fund, it was decided that we would not need to make that levy. Therefore that $100,000 has been reallocated to street improvements. Two lines down you can see that on the slide. General obligation debt levies increased by about $200,000. The entire increase was for levying for the 212 payments which we'll begin, we'll need to begin making next August. Our first payment to the State for the State bonds on the 212/312 project is next August so that was the increase in the general obligation debt levies. The market value levy changes. These are the voter approved levies that the city has. You'll notice that the park referendum levy is substantially lower than the previous year. This is due to using cash reserves to buy down our levies in total of just over $260,000. That brings that debt levy down to $425,000 and the library referendum is essentially the same as last year. At this point I just want to go over one other item and that's the CIP. The CIP that's presented to you tonight has $85 million worth of capital improvements in it. This is our 5 year capital improvement program, and as we've discussed in our work session, the $85 million is not $85 million that the city is responsible for in actual dollars over the next 5 years. A large part of that is contributions from other agencies and has funding sources other than city tax levy dollars, i.e. especially our enterprise funds make up a large portion of that. A very small portion of the CIP itself actually makes up tax levy dollars, and that is a part of the resolution tonight is approving that $85 million CIP program. The other item of note on the CIP is that just because you're approving the 5 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 CIP document itself tonight, any purchase over $15,000 will still be coming in front of council over the next year so if there isn't an item over $15,000 in there, that does not mean you're approving that purchase this evening. With that staff would recommend that City Council approve the 2008 budget and CIP as presented. The 2008 total levy is $20,000 less than the preliminary levy. The preliminary levy was $9,854,965. Based on our work session discussions of the last couple meetings, staff was directed to lower that levy by $20,000 and that's what is presented to you this evening, and with that I will take any questions about the budget, the levy or the CIP. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any questions for Mr. Sticha? Councilwoman Ernst. Councilwoman Ernst: One question. So are these going to be made, all three in one motion? Mayor Furlong: We can. That's typical. If we'd like to break it out, we can do that. Councilwoman Ernst: I would like to break the CIP out from the budget and tax levy. Mayor Furlong: From the budget and levy? Councilwoman Ernst: Yeah. Mayor Furlong: That's fine if there's no objection from council. Okay. Any other questions at this point for staff? If not, thoughts and comments. We had the public hearing last week so any thoughts or comments, discussion on what's being presented this evening? Thank you. Councilwoman Ernst. Councilwoman Ernst: One quick question here on the tax levy. Obviously we know that the market has decreased in, for the housing market, but our revenues have remained the same. I mean they've not decreased. They've increased. Is that correct? Greg Sticha: There was a slight increase. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. Greg Sticha: In building permit revenues comparing 2007 versus 2006, yes. 2006 was a down year. 2007, we're projecting that we're going to be fairly close to budget actually. Mid-year we were not quite so confident that we would make budget on our permits. The last report that I had seen, I think we're going to end up really close to budget for permits this year. Permit revenues. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. Well originally I voted for Scenario #3 a month or so ago when we voted on this originally, which was a 0% increase of property owners versus Scenario #1 which was, if I remember correctly 1.10% increase. Greg Sticha: Right. Those numbers were. Councilwoman Ernst: I know they're estimates, right? 6 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 Greg Sticha: Those percentages are based on my estimates done in September. Now the County has a much more complicated evaluation system when they send out the property tax statements and they're much more accurate than the estimates that I take, just taking tax capacity into account. What we saw in a number of tax statements that we looked at is, based on your preliminary levy, most homes in value of $300,000 to approximately $600,000 saw either moderate or average increases in their property value, will either see no increase or a decrease in their property taxes. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. So again that affect on the existing property owners is .77 versus that estimate number, and these are all estimates which are probably higher than the county, right? Greg Sticha: Correct. Councilwoman Ernst: Versus the 1.10 percent. Greg Sticha: The .77 was a mid-year, we adjusted that levy schedule for some decreases in expenses that we know about in October and November. Since then we've rolled that into our new calculations which we presented to you last week, and that's how we came up with the levy of $9,834,000 versus the preliminary levy of $9,854,000. Councilwoman Ernst: And this was a result of the 100, was it the $100,000 that we had in for bonding and health insurance? Greg Sticha: Right. We had approximately $171,000 across from the general fund that we identified from the preliminary levy to now that could be potentially reallocated or used for another purpose. Of that $100,000 was some costs within the general fund such as health care savings cost, some employee retirement savings cost, plus we identified the position of the building inspector position that could potentially be reallocated or used for something else. Based on our discussions last week that entire $171,000 was used for, in essence $150,000 of it was used for a transfer to our roads and the other $20,000 was used to reduce the general fund levy. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. So the end result is like a .3 reduction then? From what we originally started at. Greg Sticha: Yeah, from the preliminary levy it's probably even a little less than that because we're only lowering the levy $20,000 on $9.8 million dollars so. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. And just to clarify we will not be filling the building inspector vacant position, is that correct for 2008? Greg Sticha: That's, under the current budget scenario that's what would happen, correct. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. Thank you. 7 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 Mayor Furlong: Any other questions? If not, thoughts and comments regarding the budget process or where we are tonight in terms of what's being presented for us. Councilman Peterson: Mr. Mayor, I think it's a wonderful budget and I think that we were able to expand services and once again either lower or maintain taxes on the majority of the residents. I think that's a tremendous accomplishment that staff is creatively found ways to save money in a variety of ways and we're also building a, building up the funds for some of the road construction projects that need to be funded, that will be funded by allowing this budget to go through as it is today. So you know I'm proud to be able to say we're building a stronger infrastructure, adding services and still maintaining taxes pretty much the status quo which is wonderful. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Councilwoman Tjornhom. Councilwoman Tjornhom: Did you say the budget, you thought it was wonderful? Councilman Peterson: Yes. Councilwoman Tjornhom: Okay. Just wanted to clarify that. I think it's responsible actually. I look at the budget as fiscally responsible and I say that because I write my checks to the State and the County for taxes and with that money I expect that it will go for my roads. It will go for water. And it will go for parks and trails and it will go for public safety, and those are all the things that this budget is investing in and I think it's fiscally responsible to take care of those needs in our town and so I'm excited about the budget. And I look forward to the things we'll be able to do with this in this coming year to make our city an even better place, in delivering those high quality services that we all expect to have and so I'm all for it. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Councilwoman Ernst. Councilwoman Ernst: I am going to comment on that (f) part of the consent agenda later, and I say, first of all I want to thank Todd and Greg for spending the time with me to help me understand the budget better. I mean you have a great deal of knowledge and I really appreciate everything that you've given me on that. Unfortunately I won't be able to support the budget tonight because of reasons that I'll speak to on the (f) part of the consent agenda. Mayor Furlong: And that's the police contracting services? Councilwoman Ernst: Yes. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Anything else? Okay. Councilman Litsey. Thoughts, comments? Councilman Litsey: Sure, I'd be happy to comment. This is my first time through this process as a council member. I was very impressed with the way staff handled the budget process with the information that was provided and I was impressed with how the council worked through the budget. My fellow council members and their due diligence in evaluating the different needs of the city and obviously there's a limited amount of money that we can allocate towards different 8 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 areas of that budget, and prioritizing that, and two key areas were addressed. One was law enforcement and the other was roads. Some other areas were also addressed but for basic services that the city needs to maintain and provide for, the residents and the entire community so basically I think somebody else had used before so this isn't my phrase but we addressed cops and roads. We need in both those areas to increase funds allocated by the city towards that and that was accomplished but like I said, my first time through this and I was very pleased with the process. It takes a lot of work. Like I said due diligence and both on the part of the staff and the council and I think this is a very reasonable yet fiscally responsible budget. Everybody has their viewpoints on maybe you could put a little bit more there, little less there, whatever, but overall I think we came to a very reasonable budget. Wonderful, reasonable, whatever you want to refer to it as but so I agree with those comments that were made so, thank you. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. This budget, the 2008 budget I think in addition to the comments made continues the fiscal management practices that we've established over the last few years. We continue to work with long term budgeting tools and planning tools, not only for our operating expenses in the general fund but that we look at for next year and the years beyond, but also we look at what our expectation and needs are going to be in terms of service levels as we continue to grow as a city. We look at our CIP, our long term CIP which is the capital improvement plan. Basically managing the assets, the public assets of our city as well. Earlier this year the City Council and staff met in a work session to talk about setting goals and we set a lot of strategic initiatives. One of the things that we agreed to there for a mission is that it was our duty to provide for today's needs while planning for tomorrow's, and that's what this budget represents is providing for today's needs. Providing those services that we need and expect while also planning for tomorrow needs. …projected levy increase of 2.7% is less than the overall, overall increase in our tax base both through inflationary growth but it will result as such in the average taxpayer seeing no increase or even a decrease in their property taxes. That is a achievement that we have continued to achieve time after time over the last few years. The general fund operating expenditures are budgeted to go up 1.7%. That's less than the rate of inflation and a majority of this is attributable to the increase in the number of our public safety personnel that we're going to be talking about here in a minute. Still we're maintaining current service levels and really prioritizing the money that we do spend in our operating expenses to those areas that we see as the priority. Portion of the levy is going to prepare for funding sources for major collector roads and reconstruction and improvement. As our city continues to grow, we need to keep pace with our transportation system and plan for these major capital investments for our major collector roads. This budget does that and we're taking great steps to not only set aside some one time money towards that end but also to set aside money that can be sustainable. Overall our city property tax rate, which has declined annually from over 39% back in 2003 to below 24% this year, we expect it to decline again next year and that to me is the measure of fiscal responsibility that really we're looking at and that staff and council are working together. We said it before, I want to again point out to Mr. Gerhardt and Mr. Sticha, all the department heads that are here this evening and the entire staff, we really appreciate their efforts, not only through the budget process, which has been tremendous, but also just on the daily need of watching where the dollars are spent. That's something that you do just in the normal course of your work and we appreciate that. As representatives of all the citizens, that our money is spent wisely and appropriately. This budget helps us, council reach our collective goals of keeping the city in a strong, fiscal position. Meets our priorities and minimizes property taxes and for all 9 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 those reasons, whatever adjective I want to take from somebody else, this is a good budget, and it was a long process. There were some up's and down's, as usually it is, but the process has led us to a very, very good ending and one that is fair I believe for all concerned. So I will, will be supporting that. Unless there is additional comments, what I would ask is for staff, we have one resolution in our packet but there's a request to separate those. I think the first resolution would be to, as I'm looking at it, and if there's a better way to do this, it would be to remove the second, Be It Further Resolved, the City Council adopts a CIP for 2008-12 in a total amount of $85,536,300. I think the Whereas's will continue and all, if council's okay, so we can move forward, I'll defer to staff to re-write and separate the two resolutions. Councilwoman Ernst: Before I, to do that, can I just one more question on that. For the capital improvement plan, is the public safety piece in, stated the same way in the capital improvement plan? Greg Sticha: The public safety position is not in that CIP. That's where the capital improvements. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay, I didn't think… Greg Sticha: That is in the general fund budget so it's in essence would be included in the general fund levy, and general fund budget in the resolution. That's where that position would lie. Councilwoman Ernst: So it is appropriate then to, to separate the capital improvement plan from the budget if I am going to vote nay on the budget due to the public safety needs. Mayor Furlong: Part of the levy includes funding for the CIP in terms of the $824,000. Greg Sticha: Yep, that is true. The $85 million is approving the amount for that document but one of the levies is a capital improvement program levy. Capital replacement fund levy of $824,000 so I'm not sure. Councilwoman Ernst: So it sounds like it should be voted on together then. Mayor Furlong: Well one is adopting the CIP and the other one is establishing the levy and the budget. Do you think that it's reasonable to separate it or? The second from. Todd Gerhardt: I don't. You can separate them. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Why don't we do that then. Why don't we consider a first motion excluding this resolution in the packet excluding the second, Be It Further Resolved that the City Council, City of Chanhassen adopts the CIP for 2008-01 in the amount of $85,536,300. We'll pull that out of the resolution. Is that fair? Everything else I think remains intact. Second resolution would be the same Whereas is, and that item excluded would be the single resolved. Is there a motion on the first resolution, if that makes sense to anybody? 10 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 Councilman Peterson: I'll move that. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there a second? Councilman Litsey: I'll second. Mayor Furlong: Made and seconded. Any further discussion on the resolution to adopt the levy and the budget? Resolution #2007-77: Councilman Peterson moved, Councilman Litsey seconded that the City Council approve a resolution adopting the 2008 budget and establishing tax levies for 2007, collectible in 2008. All voted in favor, except Councilwoman Ernst who opposed and the motion carried with a vote of 4 to 1. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. That motion prevails. Now I'll accept a second resolution to adopt the CIP plan as stated earlier. Is there a motion to approve? Councilman Peterson: So moved. Mayor Furlong: Is there a second? Councilman Litsey: Second. Mayor Furlong: Any discussion on that motion? Resolution #2007-78: Councilman Peterson moved, Councilman Litsey seconded that the City Council approve a resolution adopting the CIP for years 2008-2012 in the total amount of $85,536,300.00. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Todd Gerhardt: Mayor I'd just like to be on record thanking the City Council. We started this budget process back in June and I just want the public to understand that you know, when we established the annual levy for this budget that there's numerous hours that the council and city staff put in to get to this final product and there's numerous discussions and alternatives that we looked at and I challenged my staff to look for opportunities and when they find one they're the employee of the day. So a lot of hard work goes into this and we appreciate your efforts and direction when we started this in June and here we are in December finishing it up so a lot of hours go into this and I just want the public to understand that we take our finances very seriously here at the City of Chanhassen and we definitely look under each stone so thank you. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. APPROVAL OF CITY CODE AMENDMENT TO CHAPTER 4 RE: FEES. 11 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 Greg Sticha: Good evening again Mayor and council members. As we do every year at this time, we look at the possibility of amending Chapter 4 of our ordinance for any fee changes for the upcoming year. The ordinance that you see in front of you this evening does have some changes to it. There are no increases in the ordinance for permits, licenses, or administrative fees. The only increases in the ordinance this year are for utility rates or items. And I will get into those in just a second. Within the utility rate discussion, every year the City Council and staff go through a process with our financial advisors to study our utility rates extensively to make sure that our utility funds have the proper funds available in them to provide for the infrastructure that is needed for those items, i.e. streets, storm sewers and sanitary sewer systems within the city. The utility rate discussion this year took into account a number of items and presentations that were made to you in previous work sessions included a utility rate study that had no additional increases for any of the connection charges or storm water fees more than what was in previous years utility rate study. Those amounts stayed the same from the previous year's utility rate study. One item that we did begin to discuss in the work sessions that did change and had an impact on some people and some of the fees that some residents and/or commercial, or townhouse accounts, townhouse irrigation accounts that would have in regards to our utility rate study were when we decided that it was a good idea to add a tier to our water rate structure. As you guys, as council is aware in 2007 we had some significant water usage events that caused us to consider adding tiers to our current water rates. We also had recommendations from the DNR and our financial advisors to consider adding these tiers to promote water conservation and help pay for infrastructure improvements needed because of these water usage events from the last summer. After a couple of work sessions, staff and council decided that it was best to add one additional tier to our current water rate structure. In our initial discussion we had discussed the idea of adding two tiers to our current water rate structure. Currently our water rate structure has rates for amounts consumed between 0 and 25,000 gallons per quarter and 25,000 and 50,000 per quarter. The initial study asked for additional tiers for consumption between 50,000 and 75,000 gallons a quarter and plus, and over 75,000 gallons per quarter. After discussion with some affected users and City Council and other city staff, City Council was presented with a number of alternatives in last week's work session and gave the direction to go ahead and add one tier for 2008 rather than two tiers as in the initial proposal. The adding of the third tier would be for amounts consumed over 50,000 gallons per quarter. That alternative would require a 5% increase in water consumption rates in the first two tiers and a 22% increase for water consumption in the third tier for gallons over 50,000 per quarter. This proposal would treat all accounts the same. Residential, commercial and irrigation accounts would all be treated the same. Based on those alternatives and the recommendation made by council at last week's work session meeting, what is presented to you in the ordinance tonight is that proposal. An increase in first and second tiers of 5% and then 22% increase in the third tier of water consumed over 50,000 gallons. We believe that adding this third tier will promote some water conservation as well as provide for the infrastructure needs that have been either moved up in the last couple years due to some of the events of the summer, or the needs for additional wells or capacity for water for the city. With that, I don't have any other comments to make on the actual ordinance itself so I will take any questions that you may have. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Sticha? 12 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 Councilwoman Ernst: I don't have any questions. I just have a comment. I think it's important for our, those that are watching this evening to know that this was something that was allocated in the budget that we're going to have to pay for, was it 2010? 2010? 2009? I don't recall what that year was. Todd Gerhardt: Well each year we establish a rate study and when we originally started with the water treatment plan in putting a schedule together to pay for that, it called for similar rates for the first two tiers with the proposed rates that you're seeing tonight. Councilwoman Ernst: So it's just that we're spending it a little sooner rather than later? Todd Gerhardt: As the improvements for the wells? Councilwoman Ernst: Right. Todd Gerhardt: Yes. Councilwoman Ernst: Yeah. I just think that it's important for those to know that because basically we're looking at a 10 cent increase for those that are using up to 25,000 gallons of water. Todd Gerhardt: Correct. Greg Sticha: The first 25,000 gallons would be a 10% increase per 1,000 gallons consumed. Councilwoman Ernst: Right. Mayor Furlong: 5%. Greg Sticha: 5%. 10 cents a gallon. Mayor Furlong: 5%. 10 cents. Greg Sticha: 10 cents per 1,000 gallons or 5%, correct. Councilwoman Ernst: Greg, can you expand a little more on the DNR requirement? Greg Sticha: Not really. Paul certainly could… Paul Oehme: Thank you Mayor, City Council members. Councilwoman Ernst. The DNR is the regulatory agency that governs appropriations for water pumped out of aquifers here in the State of Minnesota. We are allocated X number of gallons per year for our city to use and we also, they also look at individual wells capacity for each individual well and some other regulatory requirements required by the DNR, so they pretty much set the guidelines for us to follow in terms of how much water we can pump. What conservation items we have in our ordinance? How enforceable are they? They have over the years, in just the last couple years are really 13 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 starting to encourage cities to conserve more and really try to manage the per capita usage in the metropolitan area here so. We are working with the DNR. We already have preliminary discussions with them on two new wells that we are proposing. I'm trying to set up another meeting with them next week again to discuss this tiered system that we're, that council's considering adopting tonight so, that's where we're at. Councilwoman Ernst: So the DNR really prefers that we have the three tier system that we're talking about today versus, was it two? Paul Oehme: Right. Yeah, from their standpoint the more tiers, the more onerous it is you know in terms of higher usage for residential use the better in their minds so, I mean it's a tool that they think helps reduce consumption and that's the ultimate goal. Councilwoman Ernst: Right, thank you. Todd Gerhardt: Paul just to kind of educate the public right now, there's a ratio of per household usage. What are we at right now? Paul Oehme: Right now we're at about 91 gallons per person per household. Todd Gerhardt: Per person per household. Paul Oehme: Yeah, and what the DNR's been telling us is the average over the metropolitan area is about 75 which is a goal that is very, how should I say it, hard to attain right now I think so. For suburban type of communities so it's something that you know we need to strive towards but it's something that other suburban communities are also struggling with too so we're not in the same, we're not alone in this issue. Todd Gerhardt: Mayor and council, this is, going to this third tier is kind of our first step in trying to educate the public on conservation. We're going to work with our Environmental Commission and staff and trying other educational measures to ask the public to look at conservation when watering their lawn or you know filling pools or whatever, washing cars, whatever it might be. It's a responsibility that the City has to do to try to educate the public. As we continue to grow we're going to have to put on additional wells and that's going to be a criteria that the DNR's going to put on us to get that future well 5-6 years down the line when the need is there so we'll be putting educational material out on our web site, newsletter and working with the Environmental Commission to do that. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other questions? We'll slide into comments I guess, if there are no other questions at this point. Thoughts or comments on what's being proposed this evening? Councilman Litsey: I think it's important to point out, which we have hopefully but that you know this is, these rate structures are set up to support the infrastructure of the water system and to pay as you go I guess, would that be a good way to put it? So it's realistically what we need to sustain the water system in the city. The other thing I think for people to understand is these tiers 14 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 is everyone pays the same in each tier. It's as you advance to the next tier it goes up so you know everyone's paying the same in the first tier and then if you use a bit more, you only pay for the amount you use in that second or third tier. I don't know if I'm explaining that as well as I could but perhaps Paul you could just expound on that a little bit so people don't think well if I go up to the next tier, then all the water I used in the lower tier becomes that higher rate. I just want people to realize that's not the case. Paul Oehme: Yeah, you said it very accurately. I think anything, any gallons above say 25,000, you're just paying that increased cost for that, in that rate structure. The previous amount of water that you consumed is at the lower tier and that's the rate that you'd be billed at. Mayor Furlong: Other thoughts or comments on this? I think to clarify a couple things. As I think Councilman Litsey started to address it and that is, is the change from where we were last year with these rates. We had, and again our long term projection we had investment into our municipal water system and matching the cost for the rates to cover those costs would have, they're projected to include a 5% increase for both of the tiers. Because of the acceleration of some of the wells in there because of the challenges that we ran into last year, both a combination of drought and we had some mechanical failures, we found out that we simple don't have some wells that in the past have been reliable, are simply unreliable anymore and that's why earlier tonight we approved a resolution to drill two new wells and to look at expanding a third and getting a third one on line. We're doing that to meet the demand as we see it and as we've looked at these rates as well by adding this third tier, we are as best as possible, trying to match the cost for those, the increased cost that we're trying to pay for those with the people demanding that level of need. That level of service from the water supply. And that to me makes sense. Will there be some conservation with that? I think there will be. From an economic standpoint. As Mr. Gerhardt mentioned, having, increasing education and letting people know where they can go and find out, I think the awareness was increased this last summer in August when people weren't allowed to water their lawns for a 2 week period. The awareness is there and I think for some people it's a matter of well, do I need to water every other day. Just because I can, do I need to do that or can I water every fourth day and thing about the change in demand that would be if you just set your irrigation system to every fourth day rather than to every other day. Would reduce your water usage for your lawn in half, and that will make a difference. As water usage changes over the years, as people tend to conserve more, our current projection when we need to add new wells in the future will probably be changed and pushed out and we will all see the benefit of that in our rates so, I think it's a responsible way to move forward to match those creating the demand with the cost for supplying that service and at the same time looking for ways for all of us to become better educated in terms of how we use and hopefully not abuse this nature resources like any other natural resource we have. So I think if there's any other, if there are no more comments, there's a motion to adopt a resolution I believe to adopt the various changes. Only those items that are being changed for fees and cost are included in the resolution again. If I heard correctly, none of the licenses, administrative fees or other types of fees other than these few are being adjusted. So if there's no other comments, is there a motion to adopt the resolution for this item? Councilman Litsey: So moved. 15 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there a second? Councilman Peterson: Second. Mayor Furlong: Made and seconded. Any discussion on the motion? Councilman Litsey moved, Councilman Peterson seconded that the City Council adopt the attached ordinance amending Chapter 4 of the Chanhassen City Code as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. 1(f). APPROVAL OF 2008 POLICE CONTRACT. Councilwoman Ernst: I have to say that I really have struggled with this. Bryan knows. I've had conversations with him and trying to understand the justification and I want to thank you Bryan for helping me understand public safety in general. But again like I said, I've really struggled with this and from what I see from the information in the packet that we received…and the data that I've been able to collect I, I mean basically we've seen an increase in property damage as well as theft and I believe that we could minimize these occurrences by having more public safety in our neighborhood versus out on the highway. I would like to see more public safety in our neighborhoods. And I do believe that if we had this, that we would see less occurrences and quite frankly we had quite an increase since citations, excuse me. I believe that it was 756 or something in that number, that are being issued, and again I'm not sure where these citations are being issued. I'm not seeing them in the neighborhood. At least as I drive around Chanhassen. And the Part I and II crimes overall for population has decreased from 21 to 18 for officers, which is a decrease in crimes per residents. So the contract indicates that the increase is 12.9% over the 2007 contract, and our crime rate is one of the lowest in the state and for these reasons it doesn't seem like this is the time to really add patrol officers. And having said this, I believe that at the end of 2008 would be more appropriate to re-evaluate our need for public safety. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Is there any discussion or thoughts or comments? Councilman Litsey. Councilman Litsey: You know I'm comfortable with what's been proposed. Actually I think we actually originally I wanted to be on a little more aggressive schedule in terms of adding law enforcement personnel and I still think that that would be prudent to do so. I also understand that we've talked about this in work sessions and so forth and that you know there's the financial reality that goes along with this and so I think Mr. Gerhardt and staff have come up with a very fiscally sound but much needed program or maybe not program so much but a schedule for increasing our compliment of law enforcement personnel in the city over the next 3 years. It addresses some key areas. One area is investigations. Right now the sheriff's department is pretty overwhelmed, which is investigating what we call Part I crimes, which are the more, well actually the State and the FBI classify as more serious crimes but I hesitate to call them the more serious crimes because if you're a victim of any crime, it's serious to you so I'm not trying to minimize but the Part II crimes are the ones that are apt to be victims of the property damage and some of the other things. They're pretty much overwhelming right now. They can't, they don't really have the ability or the resources to address all those and I think from a, not only safety 16 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 standpoint but a customer service standpoint for the residents, that if you're a victim of one of those crimes, you'd like to know that at least it's being looked at and there's follow-up. You can't really do as a patrol officer a lot of times the follow-up on the investigations. It takes you outside of the city. If you're a patrol officer, you obviously can't leave your district unprotected and so forth so, I think that's being addressed. I think we can also add another patrol officer over this 3 year span, which will help with the proactive nature of law enforcement. Certainly yeah, if you want, if you're fine with the level we have, could you? Yeah. Is that really what the community should have? I don't think so. I think that the residents would like to, the sheriff's department and the Chan compliment of officers should be able to have more of a proactive role in law enforcement. Trying to head off things at the pass so to speak before they happen. Also that will increase presence. And then we're going to have a school coming on board and we need to address that and having a liaison officer in there, actually the school district will help fund some of that. Having a partnership with the school district I think will be very helpful too so you know there's a lot of different ways to measure how many officers that you should have in a community. Probably one of the most acceptable ones is a ratio of residents to officers. 1 per 1,000. This gets us up to, the schedule gets us up to an acceptable level. We're certainly by no means over doing it. Certainly could always use more but I think this will handle the majority of the law enforcement needs in the community over the next several years. And by doing that I think we're doing good diligence to the residents in moving forward with this plan. We don't want to, what will happen is if you don't keep pace, because all of a sudden if we hold the line and 3 or 4 years from now when things change within the community even more, we're going to be faced with an even greater challenge of trying to play catch up. I think that this does a good job of keeping pace with the needs of the community. It doesn't by any means over do it. Like I said before, I prefer actually more aggressive level of increasing our level of staffing but I think this is prudent from a financial standpoint. I think it will meet the needs and I'm very much, in respect and I understand. I've had some good conversations with Vicki about it and you know we disagree but that's okay. You know we're both looking at it perhaps from a little different viewpoint. I think statistically, I've sat down and looked at all the numbers that have been put together and this is also my other job is looking at this kind of data and in looking at staffing levels and so forth and I think the sheriff has advanced along with Mr. Gerhardt a very, like I said, reasonable proposal and I trust the sheriff's recommendation. I think he's not overly… Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Councilman Litsey: That was rather winded. I'm sorry. Mayor Furlong: That's fine. It's an important issue. Councilwoman Ernst. Councilwoman Ernst: I'm sorry. The high school is going to open when? Fall of 2009? Todd Gerhardt: Correct. Councilwoman Ernst: So, and that was my reason for saying maybe doing it, a revaluation at the end of 2008. Would make perfect sense. Mayor Furlong: Any other discussion? Comments? Questions? 17 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 Councilwoman Tjornhom: I think have a few comments. This is a healthy discussion I think for all of us because we…because we are unique in the fact that we don't have our own police force. We've been working really well with the sheriff's department for years. I think it's been a good partnership. It's been healthy for both the Carver County Sheriff's Department and Chanhassen. But we still struggle with this issue of what is the ratio and what makes sense. What works? What doesn’t work? Because this is a public hearing, I kind of am sorry that we don't have any, they couldn't know but a representative from the Carver County Sheriff's Department here to answer specific questions that council could have and the public could also hear their response. For years Sheriff Olson has been asking us for this extra resource when it comes to investigators and we've put it off and we've put it off and so really there comes a time where I have to listen to what he's saying. He is the sheriff and law enforcement is his life. He, I think he wouldn't, I think he's a reasonable sheriff so I don't think he would be asking for something that wasn't reasonable and I know that, as I said in the budget, we all write our checks for certain things and this is one of those areas that we write our checks for which is public safety. And I value public safety and it's high on my list of those things that a taxpayer should get their most bang for the buck on. I'm not seeing that we're adding another patrol officer in the streets necessarily. I think it's an investigator to aid those patrol people on the streets. I agree with Councilwoman Ernst that I think Councilman Peterson at a work session commented that you know we did add extra law enforcement 2-3 years ago and that was for policing neighborhoods and I think I would like to see more of that so our residents do see a police presence in the neighborhoods and not just on the major roads. I think Councilwoman Ernst has a point on that. That you know it would be, I would like to see more local communications with the residents that come to the sheriff's department. But at the end of the day for me it comes down to Sheriff Olson and his recommendation and I am going to agree with his recommendation as presented. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any thoughts or discussion, Councilman Peterson anything to add? No? Thank you. Yeah, I think just to comment on this. My comments would be very consistent with Councilwoman Tjornhom and Councilman Litsey. This is an issue that is of primary importance. One of those basic functions of government is to provide for the public safety, and as Councilwoman Tjornhom mentioned a few years ago we added, we added I think 2 to our contract with the sheriff's office and some people said we shouldn't have added anything and some people said we should have added more. You know. We continue to find a balance. I think we're doing okay. It's been a while but we've continue to grow as a city and we are very fortunate, as Councilwoman Ernst points out. To have a very low crime rate and I think that's one of the reasons why when we look at some of the statistics, it looks like we have a much lower policing service than other cities of similar population, but I think there are other factors besides just population. I know that's a good point. Some cities focus on just, they pick a population number and they want 1 officer per 1,000 or they want .8 or 1.2, and I think that puts government on autopilot and to your point Councilwoman Tjornhom, this is a discussion and it should be a discussion with are we meeting the needs and what are we doing and I fully agree. If we sit around and wait until there is bigger problems, we're, then we run the risk of government swinging the pendulum too far and it's the wrong way and create more problems and it's just a mess so, from a planning standpoint. From listening to Mr. Gerhardt, Sheriff Olson, others on this, I think we've got a good plan in place and I think it's one that we can, that we can continue with not only the new high school coming on in 2009. We just opened up a new freeway and 18 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 there will be issues there from a public safety standpoint in our city. This does add an investigator. One of the things that we talked about earlier was bringing both the investigator and a patrol deputy on mid-year and we talked about as a council and said you know what, we want to accelerate that investigator and get them on sooner rather than later because that is something that is right now they're not providing any service. The deputies will come on later in the year and then we'll look again over the next 3 years. Each year of are we tracking where we want to be and we'll continue to review it so that we're not on autopilot but we're making reasonable, thoughtful consideration on all these so I think it makes sense to go forward here with this and, unless there's any other discussion, is there a motion to adopt item 1(f)? Councilman Litsey: So moved. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there a second? Councilman Peterson: Second. Mayor Furlong: Made and seconded. Any discussion on the motion? Councilman Litsey moved, Councilman Peterson seconded that the City Council approve the 2008 police contract as presented. All voted in favor, except Councilwoman Ernst who opposed, and the motion carried with a vote of 4 to 1. ANNOUNCE THE RESULTS OF THE CITY MANAGER'S PERFORMANCE EVALUATION. rd Mayor Furlong: The City Council met in executive session on December 3 and again this evening discussing Mr. Gerhardt's performance and compensation as our city manager. In summary Mr. Gerhardt has completed another year of excellent work for our city. He accomplished many of his personal goals and those of the City Council and together with the City Council and staff coordinated and executed a number of our strategic initiatives for the city. In consideration of his performance and other factors, the City Council discussed increasing Mr. Gerhardt's compensation 2008 above that which he received 2007. Therefore I move that the City Council approve a 3.75% increase in Mr. Gerhardt's compensation for 2008 as we discussed in our executive session and I ask for a second. Councilman Peterson: Second. Mayor Furlong: And seconded. Is there any discussion on that motion? Mayor Furlong moved, Councilman Peterson seconded that the City Council approve a 3.75% increase in the City Manager's compensation for 2008. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. Mayor Furlong: Mr. Gerhardt, City of Chanhassen, our residents, businesses, thank you for your service. We appreciate and we're proud to have you as our city manager and we look forward to many years to come. 19 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 Todd Gerhardt: Thank you. I really appreciate the council's support this past year. When we started back in January and created our list of goals, I was a little overwhelmed. It seemed like everything that we put on the list was going to be a goal but it was a good list. I think we accomplished 99% of everything on there and you can see the benefits throughout the city and I appreciate your support. We have a great staff here. I have a great staff and they're very supportive. They're passionate about working for this city and they care very much about it so thank you for your support and the pay raise. Appreciate it. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other comments on this item? Councilman Litsey: I just wanted to say that, you know being the first year on the council, I've been very impressed by staff. Mr. Gerhardt's performance…and it's made my job a whole lot easier so I appreciate that. And working with very professional people that have the best interest of the city in mind so thanks. COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS: Mayor Furlong: Typically we have council presentations at this point, followed by administrative presentations so I'll move to council presentations. Thoughts and comments. Councilman Peterson: Mr. Mayor one thing. Southwest Transit should reach a milestone in all likelihood this week. We will have the one million trips reached for the first time in our history for the year so we're excited about that and continue to grow and things are looking up. With gas prices going up, ridership goes up accordingly which is a good thing. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Any thoughts? Comments? Councilman Litsey: I think the…make a comment that in my other job one of our new employees who came on board actually from out of state had heard about the good transit system from people they know in the area. Taking that into account in terms of where they're going to relocate when they come up so it's a good work on I know a couple people on council have worked hard on that. Well the whole council but a couple that represent us on that commission so thank you. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Other comments? Councilwoman Ernst: I would just like to say this morning when I took the bus from the Chanhassen Park and Ride lot, I'm so excited about this. It typically takes anywhere from 35 to 45 minutes to get downtown from Chanhassen but with the new 312 opening, it took us 20 minutes and I was very excited. Very excited. Councilman Peterson: Did you go 312 or did you go 5? Councilwoman Ernst: 5. But all the traffic did move… 20 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 Todd Gerhardt: Just for those businesses along Highway 5, the traffic hasn't decreased that much. Mayor Furlong: Yeah I guess, Councilwoman Ernst alluded to one of my comments and that is, we opened up a new freeway last week. We were at the ribbon cutting last Monday. It was a very memorable, memorable event. In part because of the weather, but also just because of why we were all there and it really was a milestone with a number of people. Too many to name have worked for a very long time so it was a lot of fun and if you haven't had a chance to drive the new freeway, do so. You get a, it's a wonderful feeling when you're coming west from Dell Road and you see the sign that says Carver County, City of Chanhassen. As I mentioned in my remarks we're the gateway to Carver County from the Twin Cities and that's a nice role to have. And when you see that maple leaf on the bridge over Highway 101, that's a nice welcoming sign to know you're in a special place so very, a lot of fun. We also, I should comment two days before that we had the tree lighting ceremony. The city Christmas tree in City Center Park lights. If you haven't been downtown to see the lights at night, please do because it's very beautiful. A lot of fun. We had, for those of you that recall, we had a little snow storm that day and yet we still had over 100 people come out and greet Santa and count down to turning the lights and everybody was having a real good time so. Councilwoman Ernst: The fire was great. Mayor Furlong: Yes, Councilwoman Ernst was there with me and the fire was well used. It was a lot of fun. It was good to see you there and it was good to see so many families come out with their children and just enjoy being part of the community here so. Thank you to Mr. Hoffman and if you can extend our thanks to everyone at the park department that coordinated that too. Any other council presentations? Mr. Gerhardt, administrative presentations. ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS. Todd Gerhardt: A couple items. Talked about goals last year. Strategic strategies. We've th selected January 5, that's a Saturday. That would be our first meeting, if you could put that on th your calendar. January 5. Usually we start about 8:30 in the Courtyard Conference, or in the Fountain Conference Room. Sorry. Wrong conference room. Mayor Furlong: You're dating yourself. Todd Gerhardt: Yeah. I don't know if I've been in the Courtyard for a while, but look forward to having my staff establish some recommended 2008 strategies for the council to consider. So if you could come to that meeting with any goals or strategies that you'd like to see for 2008 that we can work on, start thinking about those over the holidays here and we'll reconvene on January th 5. As the snow's falling, I think the guys did another great job, and I should say guys and gals. Carol takes a lot of the calls. Very few mailboxes that we did hit and those that we did hit, we apologized for and our guys will be back there to put them back up or replace them if they're damaged to no return but they did a great job. And you know when you get snows like that, they come and go. It's a timing thing and they did a wonderful job in getting out there and making 21 City Council Meeting - December 10, 2007 sure people can get around the city so I just wanted to thank them and let you know that we had minimal calls on that one. Mayor Furlong: Extend our thanks to them too. I know they get up around 2:00 in the morning this last Wednesday to clear the streets so we can all get on our normal routines so we appreciate all their efforts. Todd Gerhardt: And I know you thanked a few of them personally when you ran into them out there and they do appreciate that so. Councilman Litsey: You didn't actually run into them? Todd Gerhardt: Having breakfast. Mayor Furlong: A well deserved break after a long, early morning of plowing. With that, is there anything else to come before the council on our regular agenda this evening? If not, we will adjourn to our first meeting in January and wish everybody a happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Anything else to come before us this evening council? If not, is there a motion to adjourn, Councilman Peterson? Councilman Peterson moved, Councilwoman Ernst seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. The City Council meeting was adjourned at 8:25 p.m.. Submitted by Todd Gerhardt City Manager Prepared by Nann Opheim 22