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CC 2013 12 09 CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING DECEMBER 9, 2013 Mayor Furlong called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. The meeting was opened with the Pledge to the Flag. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Furlong, Councilman McDonald, Councilwoman Tjornhom, Councilwoman Ernst, and Councilman Laufenburger STAFF PRESENT: Todd Gerhardt, Laurie Hokkanen, Paul Oehme, Kate Aanenson, Todd Hoffman, Greg Sticha, and Roger Knutson PUBLIC PRESENT: Jim Boettcher 7476 Crocus Court PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENS: Mayor Furlong: Thank you and welcome to everybody here in the council chambers and those watching at home. We’re glad that you joined us this evening. At this time I would ask if there are any changes or modifications to the agenda from members of the council. If not, without objection we’ll proceed with the agenda as published. First items this evening will be part of the consent agenda. CONSENT AGENDA: Councilwoman Ernst: Mayor? Mayor Furlong: Yes Councilwoman Ernst. Councilwoman Ernst: I’d like to pull F(7) out for discussion. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Just quick question or? Councilwoman Ernst: Couple questions. Mayor Furlong: Okay. We can pick that up, let’s go ahead and pick that up right after visitor presentations. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. Mayor Furlong: So it will be the first item under new business. Without objection, any other questions on items F (1) through (6)? If not is there a motion to approve items F (1) through (6). Councilman Laufenburger: So moved. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there a second? Councilman McDonald: Second. Councilwoman Ernst: Second. Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Councilman Laufenburger moved, Councilman McDonald seconded to approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City Manager’s recommendations: 1. Approval of City Council Minutes dated November 25, 2013 and December 2, 2013. 2. Receive Planning Commission Minutes dated November 19, 2013. 3. Receive Park and Recreation Commission Minutes dated November 26, 2013. Resolution #2013-61: 4. 2014 Street Reconstruction Projects: Accept Feasibility Report; Call Public Hearings. 5. TH 101 Improvements: Approve Stipulation of Settlement for Parcel #4. 6. Approve Summary Ordinance 584 for Publication Purposes for Massage Business Licensing. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS: None. CONSENT AGENDA: 7. 8821 SUNSET TRAIL: REQUEST FOR AN INTERIM USE PERMIT TO GRADE PROPERTY FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A SINGLE FAMILY HOME ON PROPERTY ZONED AGRICULTURAL ESTATE DISTRICT (A2) AND LOCATED AT 8821 SUNSET TRAIL. APPLICANT: MARK UNDESTAD, PLANNING CASE 2013-25. Mayor Furlong: Councilwoman Ernst, do you have questions on it or just some background? Councilwoman Ernst: Yeah. As I was going through this, I mean one of the statements in here was that if the City finds that all applicable standards are met, the permit must be approved. So can you define for me Kate what those standards are? I mean I saw some recommendations in here but does everyone know what those standards are and would it pertain the same to everyone? Kate Aanenson: Yes it would. The conditions for the Interim Use Permit. Mayor Furlong: Can you check, is your mic on? Kate Aanenson: Yes it is. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Kate Aanenson: So if you go to the staff report the conditions were regarding how they’re managing storm water and revegetation. Managing the erosion. Re-establishment of seed, disruption of that. So those conditions would apply to like minded, any grading permits so if they would come in, anyone else would come in for a grading permit in a similar situation, the same conditions would apply. Councilwoman Ernst: So I also saw in here where there was something, was it grading that was done in 2005? There was something else that was done in here just quickly. 2012, the City granted an earthwork permit. Kate Aanenson: Correct. 2 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Councilwoman Ernst: So is that, how does that compare to what’s being done? Kate Aanenson: Well typically a grading permit goes with a single family home in general so it’s anticipated when you pull a permit for a single family home that you, a grading permit’s established with it but when it exceeds an amount that is normally associated with that. In this case they exceeded the cubic yards so then it required an interim use permit because they required more than what standard with a single family home permit. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. Kate Aanenson: So then that’s what, typically when you do, put a single family home you don’t need to get a grading permit. That’s just implied with the permit itself but when you use, when you do exceed the amount, 1,000 cubic yards, then you would need to get an interim use permit so therefore this went through that process. In reviewing the conditions then we look at, again as I stated, how we manage where it was being trucked to or how it was being applied on the site. Erosion control. Stormwater management and the like. Councilwoman Ernst: So the stormwater management, I saw that they’re putting a stormwater pond. Kate Aanenson: That’s correct. Councilwoman Ernst: Is that potential or is that something that. Kate Aanenson: These are the conditions of approval because the house will not be done until next spring and so this is typical. Again it’s the same thing that’s happening on Powers Pointe. They’re out there grading right now. There’s some things that can’t be established until next spring so there’s security put in place and then we’ll go back out and do an as-built survey. That’s required of the applicant to show that they’ve met those conditions so it will be inspected again before it can be released and it’s approved. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. And again this would pertain to any applicant that is applying for a permit of a comparable situation? Kate Aanenson: That’s correct. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Any other questions? Is there a motion to approve? Councilwoman Ernst? Councilwoman Ernst: I make a motion, whoops. I’m on the Planning Commission. Was that the same one? Kate Aanenson: You can put the conditions on there, sorry. Councilwoman Ernst: I’m sorry. Mayor Furlong: Do you have a recommended motion? Kate Aanenson: Yeah we have a motion on there. 3 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Councilwoman Ernst: I make a motion that City Council approves the Interim Use Permit to permit site grading at 8821 Sunset Trail subject to the conditions of the staff report and adopts the Findings of Fact. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there a second? Councilman McDonald: Second. Mayor Furlong: Motion’s been made and seconded. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none we’ll proceed with the vote. Councilwoman Ernst moved, Councilman McDonald seconded that the City Council approves an Interim Use Permit to grade property for construction of a single family home on property zoned the following conditions and Agricultural Estate (A2) and located at 8821 Sunset Trail subject to adoption of the attached Findings of Fact and Recommendation: 1.The applicant must submit a revised grading plan which shows the contours from the land survey conducted before construction started and showing the proposed contours. 2.The applicant’s engineer must submit an earthwork estimate based on the existing contours from the land survey. 3.The ditch along the northern property line must be revised to prevent water pooling on the adjacent property. 4.The applicant must coordinate with City staff to find an acceptable alternative secondary septic site. 5.The grading plan must be modified so that slopes are not steeper than 3:1. The current plan shows a steeper slope on the southern berm. 6.Non-paved surface grades shall not be less than 2% to promote proper drainage. 7.The grading plan must show contours or elevation points nearby structures to confirm that water will drain away from existing and proposed structures. 8.A $1,500 escrow to guarantee restoration and erosion control measures will be required with the permit. 9.The applicant must provide a proposed haul route for review and approval. 10.An as-built grading plan is needed at the completion of site grading to ensure compliance with the approved grading plan. 11.The applicant must comply with any applicable local, state or federal permit requirements. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. 4 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 CONSIDER AMENDMENT TO CHAPTER 4 OF CITY CODE CONCERNING FEES. Greg Sticha: Good evening Mayor and council. Part of our annual review process the City Council takes a look at the fees that the City charges for various items at the City, which is Chapter 4 of the City Code. This year staff is recommending a couple changes to Chapter 4 of the Code. First I’m going to review the license fees that staff is recommending. We have amended, have an amended ordinance in front of you which is eliminating the rental license fee which City Council did so in operational effect last year and now we are making that a part of the fee ordinance. In addition to that, based on the discussions the City Council had in regards to massage licensing we are adding the license fee for that to Chapter 4 as well. In addition to that the amended ordinance in front of you this evening, amending ordinance in front of you this evening, has the annual utility rate fee adoptions and based on numerous meetings the City Council had this fall in discussing the City’s utility rates with our financial advisors as well as last, 2 weeks ago on th November 25, staff has prepared the ordinance with the recommended increases that we discussed on th November 25 based on the additional information that we have received since the original meeting with the financial advisors back in October. So the ordinance in front of you this evening includes the th increases to the utility fees as we discussed on November 25. That’s about it in terms of the fees that we’re recommending be amended for 2014. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any questions for staff? Comments. Actions. Councilman Laufenburger: Just, Mr. Mayor? Mayor Furlong: Mr. Laufenburger. Councilman Laufenburger: Greg you did a lot of good work in preparing this and I know one of the things we had talked about was changing the gallon rate at which the highest tier would be added and what you have done is you have, the tiers are remaining in place, is that correct? The way they were a year ago. Greg Sticha: That is correct. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Though the rates for each of those tiers are adjusted slightly. Greg Sticha: Correct. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Alright. And these numbers reflect exactly what we had agreed to in the work session, is that correct? th Greg Sticha: Yep, this is exactly what staff’s recommendation was at the work session on November 25. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay, thank you Mr. Mayor. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any other comments? Questions? Would somebody like to make a motion? Councilman Laufenburger: I’d be happy to do that Mr. Mayor. Mayor Furlong: Councilman Laufenburger. Councilman Laufenburger: I move that the Chanhassen City Council adopts the attached ordinance amending Chapter 4 of the Chanhassen City Code. 5 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there a second? Councilman McDonald: Second. Mayor Furlong: Motion’s been made and seconded. Any discussion on the motion? Councilman Laufenburger moved, Councilman McDonald seconded that the Chanhassen City Council adopts the attached ordinance amending Chapter 4 of the Chanhassen City Code revising the fees for 2014. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. CONSIDER AMENDMENT TO CHAPTER 19 OF CITY CODE CONCERNING HOOKUP AND CONNECTION FEE INTEREST RATE. Greg Sticha: Good evening again Mayor and Council. Chapter 19 of City Code deals with the City’s sewer/water, water and sewer connections. Within that chapter the code allows for any property owner to have assessed water and sewer hookups assessed to their property taxes rather than paid for up front. Within that code there was an interest rate that was included as part of that and at the time that the code was set up it was included at 8% per year for a term of 8 years. Currently the street reconstruction assessment policy is to assess at 2% above the prime rate. Staff feels that that’s more justifiable policy to follow going forward and is looking to amend Chapter 19 in striking the 8% interest rate and replacing it with a similar policy in place for the street reconstruction policy of 2% above the prime rate. Mayor Furlong: And it would still be for a 8 year term? Greg Sticha: Correct, yes. Mayor Furlong: So the assessment would be over 8 years and that’s fairly consistent with our street projects. Sometimes we go to 10. I know sometimes shorter, right? Greg Sticha: Yep. Mayor Furlong: Depending on the nature of it, okay. Alright. Any other questions on this? Councilwoman Ernst. Councilwoman Ernst: So Greg when we do our assessments, don’t we usually assess at the prime, what the going prime rate is rather than going above what the prime rate is? Greg Sticha: Nope. Our practice in assessing for street recon’s is to go 2% above prime. Currently prime rate’s 3.25%. The 2% above prime is to, mostly to help recover administrative costs in setting up the assessments, monitoring the payment of those assessments and other administrative costs that are involved with including fees to the County that we have to pay to have them assessed to the properties. So 2% is an amount that staff has just reviewed and seems reasonable to be above the amount of the prime rate. We’re not looking to become a lending institution but we also want to provide some possibility of relief for a property owner who wants to have their property, street reconstruction assessed rather than paid for up front. Councilwoman Ernst: So hypothetically if the prime rate goes down to 5, they would be charged 7 versus 8 what we’re charging today? Greg Sticha: If the prime rate went up to 5 they would be charged 7%. If the prime rate went down to. 6 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Councilwoman Ernst: I’m sorry, I did have that backwards. Greg Sticha: Down to say 2.25, our interest rate would then switch to 4.25. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. Mayor Furlong: Councilman Laufenburger. Councilman Laufenburger: Greg, can that interest rate change year to year? Or does it, is the interest rate established at the time that the assessment is made? Greg Sticha: It would be at the time that the assessment is made. The final hearing on the assessment is made. Councilman Laufenburger: So if the prime rate at that time is let’s say three and a half, then for the life of the interest it would be 5.50? Greg Sticha: Correct. Councilman Laufenburger: And of course citizens have the opportunity to avoid that interest in total by paying that full assessment right now. Greg Sticha: That’s correct. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Mayor Furlong: And I think those were just a comment, I mean those were two of the factors when we looked at adjusting it to 2 percentage points over prime. One, we didn’t want to compete with the banks or the private sector in terms of borrowing. And two, this is a fixed rate over the period of the loan where prime by it’s very nature is a variable rate and often will change when it’s used in the private sector as a variable or floating rate so since this was fixed, little bit higher rate and again not wanting to compete with the private sector. Councilman Laufenburger: So if somebody, excuse me Mr. Mayor. If somebody anticipates that over the coming 8 years prime is lightly to go up, then paying, you know establishing prime plus 2% for the life, that would be a good thing for the citizen and if they anticipate that it would go down, then maybe they’d pay it all. Mayor Furlong: Yeah. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Mayor Furlong: Any other questions? On this. Comments. Action. Motion. Councilman Laufenburger: Motion? Mayor Furlong: Sure. 7 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Councilman Laufenburger: Mr. Mayor, I move that the City Council approves the attached amendments to Chapter 19 of the City Code pertaining to setting the interest rate for assessed water and sewer connections. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there a second? Councilwoman Tjornhom: Second. Mayor Furlong: Motion’s been made and seconded. Any discussion? Let me just ask a clarifying question as part of the discussion. Are there other sections within that code that refer to a stated interest rate that you’re knowledgeable of? Greg Sticha: That’s I’m knowledgeable. We only changed the ones that had interest rate amounts included in it. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright. Thank you. If there are, if we come across them then maybe we should reconsider those as well. Greg Sticha: We will. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any other discussion on the motion? Hearing none we can proceed with the vote. Councilman Laufenburger moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom seconded that the Chanhassen City Council approves the attached amendments to Chapter 19 of the City Code pertaining to setting the interest rate for assessed water and sewer connections. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. APPROVAL OF FRANCHISE RENEWAL AGREEMENT, MEDIACOM. Greg Sticha: Good evening again Mayor and council. In August of this year the City’s Franchise Agreement with Mediacom Corporation has expired. It was originally a 15 year term agreement with Mediacom Corporation. Over the past year staff, including Laurie and myself, have been working with Brian Grogan, the City’s Cable Franchise Attorney, to negotiate a renewed contract franchise ordinance and before you this evening is a summary of what we’ve been able to negotiate with Mediacom. We’ve had this item on discussion in work session a couple times over the summer and fall so I’m not going to get into a lot of the details that we’ve already previously discussed but I’m just going to highlight a couple of the items that change in the agreement as compared to the previous agreement that was in place, and mainly those changes are the term of the agreement. In this particular instance it’s 10 years versus 15 years, which was what in place last time, and at City Council’s request we also did eliminate the need for collection of a PEG fee. For those who are not familiar with the PEG fee, a PEG fee, which stands for, I hope I get this right again. Program, Public Educational and Governmental programming fee which helps pay for capital equipment expenditures related in publicly broadcasting any public educational or government programming on our Channel 8 in this particular instance. That PEG fee is a 50 cents per subscriber monthly fee that had been collected on behalf of the City through Mediacom and then forwarded to the City. Based on City Council’s request we have negotiated that that item be removed from collection as part of this contract for a minimum of 5 years. Aside from that the franchise fee itself stays at 5% and all other material items within the agreement have not changed from the previous agreement. So if there’s any questions about either the agreement or the negotiation process, myself or Laurie would be happy to answer any of your questions. 8 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Questions? Mr. Laufenburger? Councilman Laufenburger: Thank you Mr. Mayor. 10 years. Does this have an auto renewal? Greg Sticha: It does not have an auto renewal but there’s a 5 year, well you can better answer that question. Laurie Hokkanen: If at the end of 10 years both parties are satisfied with how this agreement is working we can extend it for another 5 years without having to go through. Councilman Laufenburger: Same terms. Laurie Hokkanen: This negotiation process. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay, alright. Mayor Furlong: Excuse me Mr. Laufenburger. And that would have to be mutual agreement for the extension or is it only one party? Laurie Hokkanen: Yes. No, mutual agreement. Mayor Furlong: Mutual agreement, thank you. Sorry for the interruption. Councilman Laufenburger: That’s alright. Let’s see. So we have asked that the PEG fees be eliminated. Do we have assurances from Mediacom that they will not collect the PEG fees from their customers? Greg Sticha: That we don’t have control over. They can’t collect it as a quoted PEG fee. Councilman Laufenburger: They can call it something else. Laurie Hokkanen: They can’t call it out as a line item on their bill. Councilman Laufenburger: Say that again. Laurie Hokkanen: They cannot call it out as a line item on their bill. Right now it shows in the section with the taxes and fees. Councilman Laufenburger: Right. Laurie Hokkanen: And so a resident will be able to look at their bill where today they would see that PEG fee, they will see that line item go away. We don’t have any control over what happens with other areas of their pricing but we have eliminated this specific PEG fee and we’ll rely on all of our Mediacom customers to check their bill for us and make sure that goes through. Councilman Laufenburger: Pay attention customers. Did you want to make a comment Mr. Knutson? Roger Knutson: I was just going to say if they collect the PEG fee it would be in violation of our franchise ordinance. They have no authority to collect a PEG fee since it’s not on the ordinance. Councilman Laufenburger: As a line item. 9 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Roger Knutson: Right. They can raise their rates to whatever they want. Councilman Laufenburger: Whatever they want. Roger Knutson: But it wouldn’t be a PEG fee. Mayor Furlong: But they could do that today. Roger Knutson: Or lower the rates. Mayor Furlong: Or lower the rates. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Todd Gerhardt: And that should also come up when we do our next audit and if they did then they would have to provide a rebate. Mayor Furlong: Any other questions? Councilman Laufenburger: I did have a couple other questions but I defer to Councilwoman Ernst. She has a question on the PEG fees I think. Councilwoman Ernst: Yes. So Roger does that mean then, from what I’m hearing you say, they can raise the rates in place of the PEG fee and just raising the rates? It’s not called a PEG fee or anything else. It’s just raising the rates but that’s to compensate for the PEG fee. Roger Knutson: There will be no PEG fee for 5 years so there’s nothing to compensate for and if they were to collect a PEG fee, they’re supposed to give it to us so it’s not supposed to be any money in their pocket so it’s really from their business perspective, it’s fairly revenue neutral. It’s no money. It’s just a pass through. Now they can raise the rates or lower the rates, we don’t control the rates what they charge their customers for service. Councilwoman Ernst: That’s what I’m saying so they wouldn’t have to call it a PEG fee or even have it related to any kind of a fee but raise their rates that would make up for the PEG fee. Roger Knutson: Yes but there’s no reason for them to make up, but they could. There’s nothing to make up because the PEG fee is a pass through, right. Councilwoman Ernst: Right. Councilman Laufenburger: So related to that Mr. Sticha, I’m sure there are people who are watching Channel 8 right now thinking well wait a second. If Chanhassen’s not going to collect the PEG fee, does that mean we’re not going to broadcast on Channel 8 anymore because that’s what those funds was used for. Can you just clarify that for us please. Greg Sticha: That is not correct. We will still be broadcasting on Channel 8. We will be using our franchise fee to pay for any expenses to broadcast on Channel 8. All of our operational and capital expenses will be paid for with our 5% franchise fee. 10 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. So the PEG fee, when the PEG fee was in place we could use PEG, we could only use PEG fee funds for equipment, programming. Greg Sticha: Correct. Councilman Laufenburger: Is there any restriction on how we use the franchising fee? Greg Sticha: No, and matter of fact you wouldn’t even have to use it for programming. Councilman Laufenburger: So there’s no restrictions on the franchising? Greg Sticha: No, you can use it for any purpose that council wanted. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Alright. If I may continue Mr. Mayor. Mayor Furlong: Yes. Councilman Laufenburger: Mr. Gerhardt, you said something about auditing. So does the contract allow us to review their books and report, get their reports and look inside their bellies once in a while? Greg Sticha: It does. Councilman Laufenburger: Can we do that? Greg Sticha: Yep. Councilman Laufenburger: How often? Greg Sticha: I think, I think we can at our choosing. It’s not, there’s a fee involved with auditing. Councilman Laufenburger: Sure. Greg Sticha: You’ll have to hire a contractor and go through that process. I think we’ve discussed internally every 3 to 4 years we’ll probably be hiring a contractor to review the books. Councilman Laufenburger: Very good. Very good. Laurie Hokkanen: We also included a provision that if we find errors to our favor of more than 10% that Mediacom would be responsible for the cost of that audit. Councilman Laufenburger: Wonderful. How will we monitor customer service standards? I noticed that there’s a section on customer service standards. Answer the phone, things like that. Are we in the enforcement business in that regard? Laurie Hokkanen: Defer to Todd. Todd Gerhardt: Typically the only way we can monitor that is word of mouth. Councilman Laufenburger: Citizens. Todd Gerhardt: Citizens calling us and us following up on that. 11 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Councilman Laufenburger: Good. Okay. So we rely on the citizens to share with us and who should they tell? Call City Hall? Laurie Hokkanen: Yep. They can contact me. The franchise agreement covers cable TV only but if somebody’s having a problem with something else they get from Mediacom, phone system, internet and they want to escalate that, we could try to help them the best we can. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. But specifically this agreement covers delivery of cable television programming. Laurie Hokkanen: Correct. Councilman Laufenburger: Cable programming which includes broadcast over the cable too? Laurie Hokkanen: Right. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay, alright. Thank you very much. Thank you Mr. Mayor. That was all I had. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Other questions? Follow up question on the PEG fee again. It’s been in place since, well it was introduced and part of the current contract that’s just expiring now so that will go away. I think Mr. Sticha you said that they could, it’s for at least 5 years. There’s the option after 5 years that they could be reinstated. Is that, can Mediacom reinstate those fees or does that require a council, who has the authority to reinstate those, if they ever become reinstated? Greg Sticha: City Council has the only authorization to do that. Mayor Furlong: Okay, so it’s at the option of the City Council after 5 years to do that but Mediacom cannot just put those in place. Greg Sticha: No. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright. And then I know there were other considerations and expectations of performance for Mediacom in terms of extending services to new neighborhoods. Making channels available with anticipation of changing. What happened in those regards to the contract? Do we reach agreement that was acceptable to the City in terms of extending services to those areas that needed it? Or that might, that we expect would want it. Laurie Hokkanen: To the best that we were able to do it, yes. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Is it an improvement over what it was before? Laurie Hokkanen: Yes it is. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Discussion. Action. Action item. Anybody like to make a motion? Mr. Laufenburger you’re on tonight. I’m sure somebody else will make a motion at some point. 12 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Councilman Laufenburger: I would hope so. Mr. Mayor, I move that the City Council approves the attached television franchise ordinance and summary ordinance for publication purposes and also an ordinance repealing Chapter 7.5 of the City Code. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there a second? Councilwoman Tjornhom: Second. Mayor Furlong: Motion’s been made and seconded. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none we’ll proceed with the vote. Councilman Laufenburger moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom seconded that the Chanhassen City Council approves the attached Television Franchise Ordinance and summary ordinance for publication purposes and also an Ordinance Repealing Chapter 7.5 of the Chanhassen City Code. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. CONSIDER FINAL ADOPTION OF THE LEVY AND 2014 BUDGET, AND 2014-2018 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. Mayor Furlong: Let’s start with a staff report please. Councilwoman Ernst: Mr. Mayor? Mayor Furlong: Councilwoman Ernst. Councilwoman Ernst: Before we start with a staff report I have a question on this. Mayor Furlong: On what? On this item? Councilwoman Ernst: On the, I’m sorry. On the, yes. It is on this item. Mayor Furlong: On the budget? Councilwoman Ernst: But it is on the resolution. In terms of breaking that out. So can we break the levy, and this may be a question for Roger. Can we break the levy resolution out separate from the CIP resolution rather than doing it together? Mayor Furlong: Yeah we certainly can if that’s the council’s desire. Depends on how the motion reads. Yep. There’s nothing that prohibits that. Roger Knutson: No. You can have as many resolutions as you want. Councilwoman Ernst: Thank you. Mayor Furlong: We can have as many motions as we want I guess, yeah so. That would be something at the time that there’s a resolution so. Staff report again. Greg Sticha: Good evening Mayor, council. This has been part of our annual budget setting process and this is the last step in the process. This evening council will be adopting a 2014 tax levy and budget as well as adopting a 5 year CIP plan, capital improvement program. Just to kind of give those at home a feel for what we’ve been through the last 6 to 7 months, we actually started the budget process back in 13 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 June or July. Department heads submitted their budgets to Todd and myself, City Manager to review before we formalized the budget document that got sent to City Council. We had work session meetings on the 2014 budget already in August. A detailed budget meeting was held the second meeting in August where City Council had the ability to have a department by department breakdown of the 2014 budget. th On September 9 the City Council set a preliminary tax levy which was used to, the number was used to produce the Truth in Taxation statements that residents received about 2 weeks ago. Last week on Monday the City held a public budget meeting to discuss those Truth in Taxation statements and the amount that the preliminary levy was set at back in September. And this evening City Council will adopt a final budget to be used for taxes payable in 2014. Since adopting the preliminary budget in September, staff has been working diligently to look for ways to either reduce the levy or expenditures for 2014. The list in front of you this evening is such list that staff has felt comfortable with recommending as either eliminations or reductions in expenditures or reduction in the levy. The first 5 items are actual expenditure reductions to the general fund. These are items that staff felt that could either be delayed or eliminated temporarily and then be reconsidered again possibly for next year. And then the last item is a reduction in our sealcoat levy which annually has been historically at $200,000 and staff is recommending lowering that amount to $185,000 and replacing that $15,000 in funding by using funds in the revolving assessment construction fund for the remaining $15,000. Still spending $200,000 per year on sealcoating. Just using a different funding source for a small portion of the sealcoating project each year. Total proposed reduction in levy and expenses of $90,250 is what staff’s recommendation is this evening. Taking a look at expenditures, we have three columns in front of you. The 2013 final budget is what was the final adopted budget for 2013. The 2014 preliminary budget is the middle column and the 2014 recommended budget, the staff recommended budget this evening for total expenditures of $9,928,949. A 1.9% increase in expenditures for the general fund as compared to 2013’s final budget. On the revenue side, again presenting a balanced budget. Total revenues of $9,928,949. Again 1.9% increase in total revenues. The only change since the preliminary levy would be the reduction of $75,000 to the property tax line item. The top line. All other revenue sources have remained the same since setting the preliminary levy back in September. Each year staff likes to inform City Council and the residents of how we do on an annual basis in terms of actual spending as compared to budget. This graph shows where the City has finished on actual spending as compared to budget each of the last 9 years, or 8 years. Typically we come in under budget or right around 1 percent, maybe a percent and a half. Staff is very diligent about the expenditures within the general fund. We make accommodations in years that spending is more difficult and so we’re always keeping an eye on the budget. Not just on a quarterly basis but on a monthly basis we’re constantly reviewing our spending that is going on in all of our funds, not just the general fund. We’re estimating spending for 2013 to come in around $9.6 million. Again you know right around 1 percent under budget. Maybe slightly more. On the revenue side, the budgeted revenues versus actual revenues. There’s in particular one item that can fluctuate from year to year and City Council’s well aware of this item and that is permit revenue. Housing permits can be probably the most difficult thing from an annual basis to project each year so where you see the purple line above or below the green bars, typically the reason that they may be above or below those green bars is because of either an upturn or downturn in housing permits that were issued in the city. For 2013 staff’s estimating permit, total revenues to be right around $10 million with the majority of that amount over budget because of permit revenues exceeding budget for 2013. The budget for permit revenues for 2013 is $900,000 and staff is estimating that we should finish closer to $1.15 or $1.2 million in total permit revenues. So what factors change the budget for 2014? What are the things that impacted the budget for 2014? Most of our expenditure line items we kept flat as compared to 2013. The general fund expenditures increased, that number is based on the preliminary levy. That number is now I believe 1.9% rather than 2.6%. I believe it’s $178,000 rather than the $256,000 on that slide. Wage increases were included for the budget of 2013. Again these were merit based salary increases of 3% that were included. Budgeted permit revenue we kept the same as 2013 and initially we had budgeted for a health care cost of 15% with actual contract coming in at 13.07 and again an adjustment was made to the final budget presented to you this evening for the reduction of the 1.93%. So taking a look at all of our levies the City issues, the top portion of this 14 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 graph shows your operational and capital levies. No change in, well this slide is not actually correct. I need to make a change on that. No, that is correct. We have the $185,000 for the sealcoating in there. I’m looking at column 2. Column 3 does have the $185,000 for the sealcoating and the reduction of the $75,000 in the general fund levy for a total operational and capital levies of $8,614,950. That’s a 1.6% increase in those levies as compared to the previous year. As consistent with the practice of City Council in previous years, our total debt levies remain flat as compared to the previous year. When you net all of the levies you then come in with a 1.36% increase in all levies for 2014 as compared to 2013. This graph, we’ve shown each of the last several years to kind of show the picture of what is the new growth within the city of Chanhassen and what has the City set the levy at as compared to new growth each year. As you can see consistently year after year City Council has set a levy that’s either been at or less than the new growth or new construction within the city. Again this would be consistent with what staff’s recommendation is this evening. New growth was 2.24% for taxes payable in 2014 and staff is recommending a total levy increase of 1.36% for 2014. How does this impact homes within the city of Chanhassen? In front of you are 5 actual Truth in Taxation statements of 5 different parcels within the city of Chanhassen and the impacts based on the preliminary levy that was set back in September by the City. This is City property taxes only. This does not include the school or county property tax portion of their bills. The average home in Chanhassen increased in value by 3.8% in 2014 so based on that and knowing that the City Council set a levy at the new growth, set a preliminary levy at new growth, it was anticipated that a home that increased in value somewhere between 3.5-3.8% would see around a zero dollar increase in the city portion of their property taxes, assuming that their home again increased by that same percentage and was approximately the average sized home in Chanhassen which is about $300,000 in taxable market value. A good example of that is parcel 2 which increased 3.4% in taxable market value and saw a zero percent increase in it’s city portion of it’s property tax bill. Based on the staff recommendation this evening, that parcel will see probably a $5 reduction in the city portion of their property tax bill if City Council passes the proposed motion in front of them this evening setting the levy at 1.36% higher than last year. So what does an actual property tax statement look like for proposed 2014 taxes? And this is a home that would be within the 112 school district. About 37% of the property tax bill goes to the school district. 35% to the County and the City having the smallest portion at about 22% with 5% going to other jurisdictions. Watershed and Mosquito Control Districts. One asterisk or note to be noted on this graph is for District 112 they did not include within the tax bill portion of the Truth in Taxation statements, the amount that the new levy that had just been passed into the total tax bill. They did notate it within the tax statement that that change is going to be coming but it was not included in the total tax bill. So taking a look at how the City of Chanhassen compares in budgeted expenditures as compared to our KFS or key financial strategy cities. For budgeted expenditures 2012 as compared to 2013, which is the most current data that’s available on the State Auditor’s website, Chanhassen’s budgeted expenditures increased 1.55% with the average of our KFS cities increasing 2.88%. City Council, the Chanhassen City Council has been fairly consistent with the budgeted expenditure line each year. Some cities at times tend to have sharp increases in one year and then followed by maybe decreases in the next year. The approach that the City Council has taken here in Chanhassen is to keep a relatively flat, small increase from year to year, consistent from year to year rather than larger fluctuations in budgeting your expenditures from year to year. Carver County cities budgeted expenditure comparing how the City of Chanhassen compares from a percentage standpoint as compared to other cities in Carver County. Again Chanhassen is 1.55% increase as compared to the other cities within Carver County at 3.32%. Taking a look at per capita spending. This is taking the expenditure numbers you’ve seen on the previous slides and just breaking it down per capita. Chanhassen has total per capita spending of about $416 per person. Second lowest of our KFS cities. Lino Lakes coming in at $402 with the average being $472 per capita so our’s being $56 below the average. And then comparing per capita spending to cities within Carver County. Chanhassen having the lowest per capita spending within Carver County with the average being $450 per capita. And then comparing tax rates within Carver County, and this is for taxes actually payable in 2013. Chanhassen’s tax rate was 28.428. That’s based on urban tax rates. The only other city with a comparable tax rate would be the City of Chaska’s at 28.075 with the average in Carver 15 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 County being just over 60. Taking a look at and showing the picture of the City of Chanhassen’s tax rate over the last 10 years, with the high point of the city’s tax rate being in 2003 at 39. You can see in the early 2000’s a steady decrease in the tax rate. That was, I guess had two reasons behind that. Number one, increasing taxable market values were going on all throughout the early to the beginning mid 2000’s. In addition the City Council was very effective at keeping overall spending and the levy relatively flat from year to year. 2008 market values started to drop a little bit so then you’re starting to see the tax rates come back up because of that. While that does not indicate immediately that the levy had increased substantially from 2008 to 2012. That’s more of an indication of market values had been declining on homes, not only in Chanhassen. Across the entire state of Minnesota so it’s not, it’s not an anomaly that in pretty much all of the cities across the state of Minnesota the tax rates were increasing from city to city based primarily on the decreasing market values that we were seeing. One item of note that changed our budget process for 2014 as well as we’ve had a discussion with City Council is a legislative change at the State of Minnesota. They exempted cities from paying sales tax on most items for the fiscal year starting January 1 of 2014. With that, part of the legislation included the requirement that cities post on their Truth in Taxation statements how much estimated sales tax they paid in 2012. In 2012 the City of Chanhassen paid an estimated, about $165,000 in sales tax. Of that amount 54% was paid for by enterprise funds or funds supported by user fees with the remaining 46% paid for by funds that were supported more by tax levy dollars. So breaking down the $75,000 that was supported by tax levy dollars, going forward into the future about a third of that funding will be still taxable going forward with about two-thirds not taxable going forward. The legislation carves out provisions for exemption on sales tax. However in any situation where a city is competing with the private sector for providing a service, all of those items will still be taxable in 2014. Examples of those are golf courses, liquor stores, recreation activities going forward into the future will still all be taxable, not exempt from tax. And then this pie chart just shows that pretty much all of our expenditures within our utility funds will be exempt from sales tax going forward and we did take that into account when we set our utility rates previous to this year and we provided the information to City Council on the utility rate study. So with that, staff is recommending setting a tax levy for 2014 of $10,334,140 and total general fund expenditures of $9,928,949. In addition to that staff is recommending adoption of a CIP for years 2014 through 2018 in the amount of $161,787,110. As a note on the CIP item, as City Council is well aware of but just to let people at home know, approving the CIP at that dollar amount does not mean the City will be spending $161 million dollars in addition to the fact that of that $161 million dollars a good portion of it is actually funded by other agencies, not the City of Chanhassen. Adoption of that CIP is a planning document and each of those items will still be coming, each of those items over $20,000 will be coming forward to City Council for approval at some point during 2014. Mayor Furlong: Alright, thank you. Questions, comments, courses of action. Mr. McDonald. Councilman McDonald: Mr. Mayor, I’d like to make a motion that the City Council adopts the resolution establishing the 2014 final levy at $10,334,140 and approves the total general fund expenditures of $9,928,949. I also recommend that we approve the CIP for 2014 through 2018 in the total amount of $161,787,110. Mayor Furlong: Okay, is there a second? Councilwoman Tjornhom: Second. Mayor Furlong: Okay, motion’s been made and seconded. Any discussion on the motion or questions relevant to the motion? Councilwoman Ernst: Yes, I have a question. 16 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Mayor Furlong: Councilwoman Ernst, question. Councilwoman Ernst: Greg, can you tell me the reduction in sealcoating on the additional budget reduction items? Recommended. That $15,000’s not included in the general budget, correct? Greg Sticha: That $15,000 is not a reduced general fund expenditure, correct. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay, thank you. Mayor Furlong: Other questions? Councilman Laufenburger you had some questions? Councilman Laufenburger: Yeah I do. Greg you may not be able to answer this but you showed a pie chart reflecting District 112. Do you know off hand is District 276 substantially different than this? I mean we have several citizens on the north end who are in Minnetonka School District. Is their’s similar to this do you know? Well the City and the County, the City and the County numbers would be the same. Greg Sticha: The total numbers would be the same but depending on the amount the levy is for the school district, that will change the pie. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay, I just ask that question only so people understand that are in the Minnetonka School District, their percentages would not look like this 112, okay? Todd Gerhardt: That’s correct. Councilman Laufenburger: Alright. Second question. This new growth. You did a lot of ways to describe the new growth as a percentage. If I’m not mistaken Mr. Sticha, new growth represents construction in the city of Chanhassen in 2013. Completed in 2013 and they will begin paying taxes in 2014 that they did not pay in 2013, is that correct? Greg Sticha: That is correct. Councilman Laufenburger: So this is new money that’s coming into the City of Chanhassen from new residents coming and living in Chanhassen. And you identified that as a 2.24 percent I think. Can you give me a rough dollar number? How many dollars will be coming into the City Council or to the City of Chanhassen. Yeah, write that check out to, no to the City of Chanhassen as a result of that new construction. Greg Sticha: What you essentially can do, and now this isn’t perfect math but if the County informs us that new growth is 2.24%, it assumes then that if you increase your levy dollars by that amount, the assumption is taxes will remain flat. Councilman Laufenburger: For everybody else. Greg Sticha: For everybody else assuming your home increased in value by the average within the city so our levy’s $10 million dollars approximately so it equates to $224,000. Councilman Laufenburger: So let’s call that $225,000. $225,000. But you also said that we’re increasing the levy by less than $224,000. Greg Sticha: Yep. 17 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Councilman Laufenburger: What amount are we increasing the levy for this year versus last year? Did I, I think it was like $138,000. Greg Sticha: Yep, $138,000. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. So essentially we are taking the difference there, which represents simple math about $88,000. Greg Sticha: $90,000. Councilman Laufenburger: $90,000 and we’re saying we’re using that new dollars and essentially returning them to the rest of the citizens in the form. Mayor Furlong: Reducing? Councilman Laufenburger: By reducing their levy you said about $5 for an average home. Greg Sticha: Yep. Councilman Laufenburger: So why would we not take all of that new growth and put it to the City of Chanhassen to pay for public, you know public services? Public safety programs. Why wouldn’t we do all of that? Greg Sticha: I guess that’s a policy question. Mayor Furlong: That’s a good answer. Greg Sticha: Not a question I don’t know if I can answer but. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Greg Sticha: These were the expenditures and the levy that staff felt were needed to operate the city at the same of service as the previous year. Councilman Laufenburger: Bingo. That’s the answer I was looking for. Todd Gerhardt: And to keep services the same as they were the previous year. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay, thank you Mr. Sticha. Mayor Furlong: Other questions? Councilwoman Ernst: Mr. Mayor? Mayor Furlong: Councilwoman Ernst. Councilwoman Ernst: I’d like to propose an amendment to Councilman McDonald’s motion. And I would like to propose the following. I’d like to make a motion to approve the following. The 2013 general fund levy dollars were $7,467,700. 2014 general fund levy dollars proposed are $7,629,950 18 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 which is a difference of $153,250. However taking the difference of 2013 and 14 actual dollar difference is $181,549. Correct? That was. Greg Sticha: Yeah, the difference in spending is different than the difference in the general fund levy. Councilwoman Ernst: Yep. Therefore in summary to get to a goal of reducing expenses and not exceeding our 2013 general fund dollars of $181,549 I propose that we, rather than have a 3% wage increase, I propose a 1% which equates to $80,000 and move dollars from the revolving assessment fund which was originally a part of surplus monies, which by the way is the taxpayer money, to move up to $101,459. This gives us our total meeting our spend of 2013. Or I’m sorry, general fund budget of $181,549. Mayor Furlong: Okay, that’s your proposed amendment? Councilwoman Ernst: Yes. Mayor Furlong: Is there a second to the amendment. Hearing none, the amendment dies for lack of a second. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. Mayor Furlong: Any other questions or comments? Mr. Sticha, and perhaps this gets back to Mr. Laufenburger’s question. If you could pull up that chart. There you go. The new construction with the preliminary levy in 2014 there that was set at the, at an expected real growth in the tax base so the preliminary levy was assumed to capture all that real growth, as Councilman Laufenburger suggested would be a choice from a policy standpoint. Now the recommendation is to actually capture only a portion of that and looking at this chart it appears consistent that capturing only a portion of that real growth is something that has happened consistently in the past, well based on this chart through 2006, it looks like. Greg Sticha: Only one time we did not. Mayor Furlong: And I think that was 2008 and what happened in 2008? Were there changes in service levels that occurred Mr. Gerhardt? Todd Gerhardt: Yes. There was additional police officer added that year. If it’s the. Greg Sticha: Two of them. Todd Gerhardt: School liaison officer, which we split with the school district and then one additional patrol officer. Mayor Furlong: So it was an increase in services in that particular period. Any other changes in services over that period of time then would have been absorbed in the available funds even though the levy collected, or the change in the levy was less than the change in real growth. Greg Sticha: That is correct. Mayor Furlong: Alright. Thank you. And so what’s the effect with the final levy here relative, being proposed and the current motion we’re considering, and maybe this chart right here, what’s the effect for people who look at their Truth in Taxation statement that they received in November, what will this effect 19 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 if we go forward tonight with the motion, with the recommended budget, what can we say about those numbers for the City portion at least? Greg Sticha: The City portion for all property taxpayers will be lower than what was on their Truth in Taxation statements that they received. Mayor Furlong: Okay. For everybody? Greg Sticha: For everybody. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Greg Sticha: It does not mean that everybody will have a lower city tax bill than the previous year but it will be lower than what was set at the preliminary levy and what was the 2014 Truth in Taxation statements were based on. A majority of homes in the city will see a lower city portion of their property tax bill based on the recommended levy this evening. Mayor Furlong: So you’re saying a majority will actually see less, or see an actual taxes payable in 2014 less than what was payable in 2013? Greg Sticha: That is correct. Mayor Furlong: From the city portion. Greg Sticha: A majority will. Mayor Furlong: The aggregate city portion, okay. Alright, thank you. Any other questions, thoughts or comments? Discussion on the motion. If there’s nothing else, and there’s no other comments or discussion we’ll proceed with the vote on the motion. Resolution #2013-62: Councilman McDonald moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom seconded that the Chanhassen City Council adopts the resolution establishing the 2014 final levy at $10,334,140; approves the total general fund expenditures of $9,928,949; and approve the CIP for 2014 through 2018 in the total amount of $161,787,110. All voted in favor, except Councilwoman Ernst who opposed, and the motion carried with a vote of 4 to 1. Mayor Furlong: And thank you to everybody, Mr. Sticha and Mr. Gerhardt, all the people involved in the staff. I know this is a process that starts, only a few weeks from now it sometimes seems but usually it’s about June-July timeframe that we start working on this and I know that all of us were very familiar with a lot of the numbers here because we’ve been working on it at the council level and at work sessions for a number of years, or a number of months but thank you for everyone’s effort and it’s a lot of work but I think we end up with a good results. Thank you very much for that. That completes our items of new business this evening. COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS: ANNOUNCE RESULTS OF CITY MANAGER’S PERFORMANCE EVALUATION, MAYOR FURLONG. Mayor Furlong: I’d like to start with announcing the results of our City Manager’s performance nd evaluation. The City Council met in Executive Session last Monday, December 2 and again this evening, December 9, 2013 to discuss Mr. Gerhardt’s performance and compensation as our city manager. The following is a summary of those discussions. Mr. Gerhardt’s performance this year was 20 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 ranked exceptional by the City Council again. This rating recognizes that Mr. Gerhardt’s performance during 2013 was one that consistently achieved the highest levels of performance in his duties and often went above and beyond expectations. He accomplished many of his personal goals and those of the City Council . Together with the City Council and his staff he coordinated and executed on a number of strategic initiatives for the City. Some of the major accomplishments and highlights this year include completion of an expanded number of street rehabilitation and construction projects on time and on budget. Coordinating long, effective long range planning activities including a joint session with the City Council, Planning Commission and city staff to discuss strengths and opportunities associated with previous developments and demographic trends. Working effectively with our residents and other governmental organizations such as our school districts 112 and 276, Carver County, MnDOT, DNR, watershed districts, and our neighboring cities to coordinate improvements, investments and other activities with our streets, highways, parks and trail systems, lakes, municipal utilities and other public infrastructure. Expansion of our city’s park and trail system with the completion of a new neighborhood park, the improved pedestrian crossings at Highway 101 and 41 as well as the Rice Marsh Lake trail connection with the city of Eden Prairie. Maintaining the City’s sound financial position through strong management of our city’s budget and confirming the reaffirmation of the City’s AAA credit rating last year by Standard and Poors along with maintaining a stable outlook. Moving forward a number of road projects and infrastructure improvements in the development proposals forward such as upgrading the 101 river crossing and lower Y area, Lyman Boulevard among others that will provide lasting benefits to our city’s residents and businesses. All told the City’s accomplishments in 2012 under Mr. Gerhardt’s management were numerous. Mr. Gerhardt’s service to the City, excuse me in 2013. To the City of Chanhassen over the last 27 years and since 2001 as the City Manager has been positively contributed to our City’s become nationally recognized as a great place for people to live, work and raise their families. This year in 2013 as well Mr. Gerhardt was recognized by the City and County Manager’s Association of Minnesota with their twelfth, with the presentation of the twelfth Dr. Barrett Leadership Excellence Award. We were proud to be there and see him receive this award and we were proud that this association, elected by his peers, or of his peers elected to provide him with this award. Based upon those discussions and at this time I would move that the City Council approve Mr. Gerhardt’s increase in 2013 base salary by 3%, which is an amount consistent with the average increase that was just approved in the budget for next year. I would ask if there’s a second to that motion? Councilwoman Tjornhom: Second. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there any discussion on the motion for adjusting his salary? Councilwoman Ernst: Yes, I have some comments. Mayor Furlong: Councilwoman Ernst. Councilwoman Ernst: So Todd I would like to say first off congratulations on your award of excellence. That’s a pretty big accomplishment and all the other accomplishments that the mayor had indicated. Unfortunately I can’t support the wage increase but I do want to congratulate you on a great year so. Todd Gerhardt: Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. At this time I would certainly provide opportunities for other council members to make comments as well. Councilman Laufenburger: May I? Mayor Furlong: Mr. Laufenburger. 21 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 Councilman Laufenburger: Thank you. Todd, 2013 has really been an exceptional year for you and for the city as well. Our recognition as number 4 in the country. I still think you’ve got to figure out a way to get us either mountains or oceans because that seems to be, that’s required in order to move up in the charts so work on that okay? Todd Gerhardt: Okay. Councilman Laufenburger: This is simply a matter of money I think. But there is a, as good as 2013 was for the city and for you, one would say that you really climbed a mountain but just remember there’s an old proverb that says, what lies beyond the mountains? More mountains. 2014 will be a big challenge for you and for the city with the completion of Highway 101 from Lyman to Pioneer Trail. The Lyman Boulevard re-build. The 101 river crossing. And that’s just the major road construction. There’s also, we’ll have our neighborhood constructions as well so sit on those laurels for maybe a week or so and then remember that 2014 will have it’s own challenges so congratulations on a great year Todd. Todd Gerhardt: Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other comments? Councilwoman Tjornhom. Councilwoman Tjornhom: Yeah, I always kind of chuckle when it comes to this time of year because we do your review and I always, it’s kind of like I write the same things every year about you know your performance and your knowledge and your integrity and your initiative and it’s like I repeat the same things over and over because your consistent every year over and over again so I appreciate that Todd and I appreciate that you are our city manager. We’re very lucky. Congratulations. Todd Gerhardt: Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Mr. McDonald? Councilman McDonald: Sure, I’ll go ahead and chime in. You know I fully supported all of this and I guess one of the things that’s interesting in looking back when I wrote up your performance appraisal, I looked at what I had said in years past and also kind of reflecting back on some of the things since I’ve been on council. We don’t always agree but you know you’ve always been very good about educating me to you know the certain facts and at least giving me another point of view and for that I’ve always been very appreciative and yet at the same time I do feel that you have listened to me because again like I say, we don’t always agree but sometimes I’m able to convince you over to my point of view so I think that that give and take has been very good for the City. For everybody for our growth and all of these things and again just congratulations but I think as Councilman Laufenburger says, don’t sit on your laurels too long. Maybe through Christmas and that’s probably about it. With the new year we get started all over again and there’ll be new challenges and you know it will be interesting. Mayor Furlong: Perhaps Mr. Gerhardt with the accolades you’re receiving, this is the one night you wish we had 42 members of the council but I can assure you the rest of the year you don’t want that. Todd Gerhardt: No. No. Mayor Furlong: No I think as other have said too, I appreciate your professionalism and our association together and I know you’ll be the first to say, and maybe you will be the first to say that it’s not just you. It’s everybody else with the city that works day in and day out and doing a great job and really taking pride in their job and I think while that’s a reflection on you and your service, it’s also a credit to the 22 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 entire staff of the city and everybody that’s associated with the city so thank you for all you do and we know that none of these things couldn’t have gotten done with a lot of other people doing a real good job as well so. Thoughts. Todd Gerhardt: I think I’ve said this a few times but I don’t think there’s anybody in this room that it’s all about them. It’s about the City of Chanhassen and doing what’s best for them. You know I look for that in the people that I hire for the city. I’ve got great department heads. Great mayor and council to work with. We challenge each other. We shouldn’t agree. We need to challenge each other to make good decisions and I think we do that. I’m not going to sit here and say I’ve got all the right answers and that’s why we challenge each other to try to make the best decision for the City of Chanhassen. I’ve got great department heads that have a passion to serve this community and all the employees. I think it reflects in our community survey that this is a great place to live and people like it here and want to stay here and would recommend it to their friends to move here so when you hear that, that means you’re doing a great job and we want to continue it and that’s half the fun of coming in to City Hall every day is because you don’t know what’s going to be coming across that phone or coming across your desk so there’s a lot of diversity. Mayor Furlong: What’s the other half? Todd Gerhardt: Usually if there’s donuts on the kitchen counter, if I can beat Todd Hoffman to the donuts we’re doing good so. But it’s just a great place to work and I’ve got great staff and great mayor and council again so thank you. I appreciate it and no, I don’t do it all on my own. Mayor Furlong: Well and thank you and on behalf of residents, our businesses and all the other organizations, we are proud to have you as our city manager and we congratulate you on another successful year in 2013 so thank you. Councilman Laufenburger: Call the question. Mayor Furlong: Didn’t we vote on it? Councilwoman Ernst: No. Mayor Furlong: I thought we did. Todd Gerhardt: We’re in the comment period. Another half hour would be good. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Any other comments or discussions on the motion? If not we’ll proceed with the vote. Mayor Furlong moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom seconded that the City Council approve the City Manager’s increase in 2013 base salary by 3%, which is an amount consistent with the average increase that was approved in the budget for 2014. All voted in favor, except Councilwoman Ernst who opposed, and the motion carried with a vote of 4 to 1. Mayor Furlong: That motion prevails 4-1. Thank you. Other council presentations? Comments? I’ll just say that I, thank you to Mr. Hoffman and especially Mitch Johnson and others involved with the park department for coordinating the City tree and Christmas Tree and park lighting last Saturday night. We had a great turnout for the weather. It wasn’t as big as usual but that’s understandable but it was certainly a lot of fun. I know that there was also I’ll thank the Rotary Club for their Breakfast with Santa on Sunday out at the Rec Center. I heard they had more people in attendance there than ever before so it 23 Chanhassen City Council – December 9, 2013 was an all time record for that event, which was a lot of fun. Great to see everybody having a good time so a lot of good things going on. I know the Chamber is having a holiday event I think is that this week? Tomorrow perhaps? Todd Gerhardt: Wednesday. Councilman Laufenburger: Wednesday. Mayor Furlong: Wednesday? Buy Chanhassen. Wednesday? Buy Chanhassen and Southwest Chamber are having a joint holiday luncheon at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater Wednesday. I’m sure tickets are still available for people that want to attend so I would encourage you if you’d like to get out and join the chamber on that, you’re certainly welcomed so thank you. Any other council presentations? ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS. rd Todd Gerhardt: This is our last meeting for 2013 so we will not be meeting on December 23. We will th be starting goal session right away in January 4 at our retreat on Saturday so, won’t be sitting on any laurels between now and then and look forward to establishing goals for 2014. Mayor Furlong: Sounds great. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Gerhardt or his staff? No? CORRESPONDENCE DISCUSSION. None. Mayor Furlong: That completes our items for business for this year so thank you everybody. We wish everybody a happy holiday season. Happy New Year. We’ll be back first, or the second. We’ll be th meeting on the 4 in work session. Second Monday of January we’ll be back in our regular City Council meeting. Is there a motion to adjourn? Councilwoman Tjornhom 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 8:10 p.m. Submitted by Todd Gerhardt City Manager Prepared by Nann Opheim 24