CC 2016 04 25
CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
APRIL 25, 2016
Mayor Laufenburger called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. The meeting was opened
with the Pledge to the Flag.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT:
Mayor Laufenburger, Councilman McDonald,
Councilwoman Tjornhom, Councilwoman Ryan, and Councilman Campion
STAFF PRESENT:
Todd Gerhardt, Chelsea Petersen, Paul Oehme, Kate Aanenson, Todd
Hoffman, Greg Sticha, Jill Sinclair, and Roger Knutson
PUBLIC PRESENT:
Glenn Kaufmann 6870 Redwing Lane
Kathy Bognanni Chanhassen Library
Nicole Nejezchleba 2851 No. Manor Road
Heidi Hoks 651 Ravencroft Road, Waconia
Mark Nelson 3230 Dartmouth Drive
Amy Omann 800 Fox Court
Mayor Laufenburger: Well welcome this evening to those of you that are in the council
chambers. Happy to have you here and also to those of you that are watching on cable channel 8
or 107.2 Mediacom cable channel at home. For the record all members of the council are present
this evening. Thank you for being here. First thing let’s just discuss the agenda. We have an
agenda printed in front of us. Is there any modification to the agenda council? Alright we will
proceed with the agenda as printed.
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS:
ARBOR DAY, MAY 7: INVITATION TO ARBOR DAY CELEBRATION.
Mayor Laufenburger: We have a number of public announcements that I’d like to make tonight
and I think I’m going to come around front for those so let me do so at this time. This is my
favorite time because we’re giving people awards. First of all I want to extend an invitation to
our Arbor Day celebration. In 1876 Minnesota became the fourth state to adopt Arbor Day as an
annual celebration. Today Chanhassen celebrates Arbor Day each year in order to set aside a
time to consider what trees do for us and our community. Planting trees adds beauty and
character to our neighborhoods, reduces energy costs, increases property values, reduces
pollution and replaces trees that we’ve lost in our community. Perhaps Elton Trueblood said it
best when he wrote a man has finally begun to discover the meaning of life when he plants a tree
under which he knows full well he will never sit. So let us plant today the trees of tomorrow. I
Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
invite all area residents, their families, friends to Chanhassen’s Arbor Day. This event will be
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conducted on Saturday, May 7 at Roundhouse Park on Minnewashta Parkway in the western
part of Chanhassen. We will gather at 9:00 a.m. at the playground for a welcome from Deputy
Mayor Jerry McDonald and other city commissioners will be present as well. Volunteers will
help plant 30 trees around the park. Refreshments and tree related information will be available
before and after the plantings and the event will be held rain or shine. I’m sure the sun will shine
so be sure to dress for the weather and the work. Please bring a shovel if you can. I encourage
everyone to come to this absolutely free event and help plant a tree for Arbor Day. I’ve done,
been involved with Arbor Day now I think 4 different years and it’s always fun to see kids come
out. Families come out. Put a little dirt on that balled and burlap tree that’s already in the hole
so you don’t have to move the tree folks. All you have to do is throw the dirt on there and it’s
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just a fun event so I encourage you to come out for that so Arbor Day, May 7. Deputy Mayor
Jerry McDonald will be officiating.
Councilman McDonald: My pleasure.
PRESENTATION OF ARBOR DAY POSTER CONTEST AWARDS.
Mayor Laufenburger: Now I would like to announce some Arbor Day contest winners and I
have members of the Environmental Commission here with me tonight. Matthew Myers is here
and also David Hess and I think you’re prepared to give the certificates out. So let me just read a
little bit. On behalf of the City Council and the Environmental Commission of Chanhassen I
would like to congratulate all the winners of this year’s Arbor Day Poster Contest. The City has
been sponsoring this contest for 17 years in order to express our commitment to trees in our
community. Every year local fifth graders are invited to submit their drawings based on an
annual theme. The theme for 2016 was Trees are Terrific in All Shapes and Sizes. So the City
would like to thank all the fifth graders from Chapel Hill Academy and St. Hubert’s School for
their wonderful drawings. The City would also like to thank The Garden here in Chanhassen, a
business for their generous donation of a gift card for the grand prize winner. The framed
winning picture will hang in City Hall along with the past winners and do you have that with you
Jill. We’ll show that a little bit later? Okay, good. Alright. So I would ask that you please
come forward as I call your name. The runners up in this year’s poster contest, first of Olivia
Wilson is not here tonight. Another runner up is Vivian Larson. Another one is Genevieve
Larson also not here. They’re all from Chapel Hill Academy but with us tonight is Garrett Lyles.
Garrett are you here? Come on up here. Congratulations Garrett.
Garrett Lyles: Thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: I think they have something for you. Because this gentleman over here
wants to make sure he gets a picture of you.
Audience: When everybody.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Mayor Laufenburger: Oh when everybody comes up here, okay. Alright. So you stay right
here. Alright. Now from St. Hubert’s School I would like to invite Libby Witcombe up here.
Libby can you join us? Congratulations Libby. I guess you’re going to have to move a little
closer here, is that alright? Also our last runner up from St. Hubert’s School is Melanie Stewart-
Hester. Melanie are you here? Now our grand prize winner from St. Hubert’s School, would
Ava Casey please come forward. Ava. Congratulations Ava. A certificate and then Ava why
don’t you come over and stand right next to me right here. Is that okay? And here’s her poster.
My oh my. Trees are Terrific in All Shapes and Sizes. Beautiful. So for your effort Ava I’m
very pleased to present you with a gift card from The Garden. Please help me show Ava our
appreciation for her excellent poster. Congratulations. Nice job and remember trees are terrific
in all shapes or sizes. Thank you very much.
PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION TO COMMISSIONERS.
Mayor Laufenburger: I’m going to stay here for just a moment because we have some
Certificates of Appreciation and awards to be given to people in our community who have served
in volunteer capacity on a couple of our commissions and we have some of them with us today.
So first of all I would like to invite Amy Omann up here. Amy would you come up here? Amy
Omann is receiving a Certificate of Appreciation for her role on the Environmental Commission.
Amy Omann was appointed to the commission in 2013 and brought creativity, passion and
knowledge to the commission. In 2014 she was elected to be Vice Chair of the commission and
in 2015 she became commission Chair. While serving on the commission she contributed to the
following accomplishments. She created the onboarding packet for new commissioners that
compiled administration, activities and resources to help people coming in as new
commissioners. She also assisted with the annual investigation, organization and update of the
Sustainability Report. She also donated her time and talent to create tree tags and other
educational pieces for the City’s Arbor Day event so please join me in congratulating Amy
Omann. Here’s your certificate Amy. Come on kids, proud moment to be with mom. Very
good. Alright thank you. Thanks Amy. Now member of the Senior Commission, Mark Nelson
would you come forward please. What no family here tonight? Mark Nelson, this is a
presentation of a Certificate of Appreciation to Mark Nelson on the Senior Commission. Mark
Nelson was appointed to the Senior Commission in 2015 and has been an instrumental member
of the commission. His accomplishments include volunteering as an active member of the Triad
which is a partnership between law enforcement, the community and the senior citizen
community all working together to keep our citizens safe. He’s been an active member of the
Act on Alzheimers action team which is a statewide collaboration seeking to address the
personal, social and budgetary impacts of Alzheimers disease and related dementias and Mark
served on the Act on Alzheimers team for Chanhassen which is a pilot city in Carver County so
that’s an important first step that Chanhassen has done with Mark’s help. He continues to give
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of himself and volunteers at numerous functions such as Arbor Day tree planting. May 7 folks.
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The 4 of July fundraising for the Wounded Warrior and many other social and service
programs. He was always advocating to insure seniors can grow old and remain comfortable in
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
this community. The seniors in Chanhassen have been very fortunate and honored to have you
Mark on their team. Congratulations. There you go.
Mark Nelson: Very nice.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thanks Mark. Good to see you.
PRESENTATION OF MAPLE LEAF AWARD TO GLENN KAUFMANN,
ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION.
Mayor Laufenburger: Now I would like Glenn Kaufmann to come up please. This is a
presentation of a Maple Leaf Award to Glenn Kaufmann of the Environmental Commission.
Glenn was appointed to the Environmental Commission in 2011. He brought leadership and
commitment to all of the commission’s endeavors. In 2013 he served as Vice Chair to the
commission and was elected Chair in 2014. While serving on the commission he contributed to
the following areas. He championed the commission’s partnership with the Minnesota
Department of Natural Resources to assist with the restoration of the Seminary Fen in the
southern portion of Chanhassen. He helped to revitalize the annual Arbor Day celebration with
tree plantings to honor the spirit of the day.
Glenn Kaufmann: What day is that?
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Mayor Laufenburger: May 7 is, thank you Glenn. Donated his time and his talent to provide
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public education at the very important July 3 Business Expo which is held in conjunction with
Taste of Chanhassen. Glenn was a dedicated member of the commission and his involvement
will be missed. In addition Glenn is also very involved in Lions Club here in the community. A
vital member to our community. We thank you for your contributions Glenn. Do I have
anything else Jill? Am I done here?
Jill Sinclair: You’re done.
Mayor Laufenburger: Glenn here. I forgot to give you this. Did I mention Arbor Day is May
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7. Thanks to all of you, especially to the young people who helped with the poster contest.
Congratulations to all of you.
CONSENT AGENDA: Councilman McDonald moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom
seconded to approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City Manager’s
recommendations:
1. Approve City Council Minutes dated April 11, 2016
2. Receive Park and Recreation Commission Minutes dated March 22, 2016
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Resolution #2016-32:
3. Approve Resolution Proclaiming May 7 as Arbor Day in
Chanhassen.
4. Approve Temporary On-Sale Intoxicating Liquor License, Priest Ordination Celebration,
May 28, 2016 St. Hubert Catholic Community.
5. Approve Bid for Roof Replacement at Fire Station 1.
6. Approve Park and Recreation Department Annual Report.
Resolution #2016-33:
7. Approve Resolution Authorizing Decertification of TIF #5 (North
Bay) and TIF #9 (Gateway Place).
8. Approve Transfer of On-Sale 3.2 Beer and Wine License for Kai’s Sushi & Grill.
9. Approve Joint Powers Agreement with Carver County for Recreation Programs and
Events.
Resolution #2016-34:
10. Approve Resolution Authorizing Participation in Solar
Subscription Agreement with U.S. Solar.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
VISITOR PRESENTATIONS.
Mayor Laufenburger: We do have a couple, a few scheduled visitor presentations. I’d like to
bring Senator David Osmek in front of us at this time. I think he’s coming in. I think he may be
greeting some folks. Senator Dave Osmek is the senator from Senate District 33. I think he’s
out talking.
Kate Aanenson: Here he is.
David Osmek: I’ll tell you why in just a second.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, that will be fine. Let’s do this. We also have two people from the
Carver County Library so let’s do this first. Heidi Hoks and Kathy Bognanni, would you like to
come forward please. And this is called the State of the Library.
Heidi Hoks: Thank you so much for having us again this year. I’m Heidi Hoks, the Director of
the Carver County System and with me is you branch manager Kathy Bognanni.
Mayor Laufenburger: Yeah, we love Kathy.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Heidi Hoks: Now you’ll notice what Kathy is handing out to you is our Annual Report and
you’ll notice how slim it is and that’s because if you flip it over to the back you’ll see all our
information is contained there in info graphics so a picture with just a couple of words tells so
much. After all a picture is worth a thousand words right.
Mayor Laufenburger: Absolutely.
Heidi Hoks: So we’re doing that to make it a lot easier for people to get their information
quickly and we hope that it will stay with you longer than a big lengthy report. We’re very
proud to have the Chanhassen Library as one of our libraries in the Carver County system. The
Carver County system is made up with 6 full service libraries and 4 express libraries and we
cover the entire county of Carver in that manner and because the Chanhassen Library is a
member of the Carver County Library they get such advantages as group purchases so their
money goes further. Our money goes further. Also group programming that goes throughout the
county and much, much more so, but we’re very proud of each of our individual libraries and
they each have individual programs and services that make them unique. As a county in the
metro area we are also a member of the MLSA or Metropolitan Library Services Agency which
is a regional library system. There are 12 in the state and so 7 counties and 1 city band together
and again we get group purchases and e-resources and databases that are available to you at no
additional charge because we are a member of that system. Also our delivery system between
the libraries and between all of the libraries in the state of Minnesota so you can, you can
actually request a book that is only available up in little Baudette, Minnesota and it will come
down to you within 2 weeks usually.
Mayor Laufenburger: Wonderful, wow.
Heidi Hoks: We base our planning on a strategic plan that is based on the county’s plan and we
have 4 directions. First of all is enhancing access to content and technology. Secondly
optimizing staff resources. For example getting our staff the best training we can get them so
they can provide the best service for you. Third is expanding our community presence. Going to
activities and having booths at certain activities and making sure the public knows that we are
around and what services we provide free of charge to them and of course transforming spaces
and experiences and we work with each of our libraries and in fact the Chanhassen Library has
had many things that have changed over the past couple years but this year the Children’s Room
is going to get an update in, for the juvenile area. A juvenile reading section so that’s going to be
exciting for us. In 2015 we did so much. We couldn’t put it all on one page so I just took a few
highlights. We opened the new Victoria Library which is your sister library. The Victoria
Library as well as the Chanhassen Library are managed by Kathy and they do a great job doing
things together. Sharing staff, etcetera. We also opened a new express library in the city of
Carver and they love it. They’re already getting many, many people coming to it. More than
came to the Victoria and Cologne libraries when they first opened so we’re very excited about
that. We migrated to a new system for circulation and that is called Sierra which offers us many
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
more options for the public and many more work options for our staff. We will be implementing
some of those this year.
Mayor Laufenburger: Sierra is, you don’t have to change library cards though do you?
Heidi Hoks: No you don’t.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, okay.
Heidi Hoks: Not at all.
Mayor Laufenburger: Use the same library card that you’ve always used.
Heidi Hoks: You use the same library card and remember your library card is good in all the
libraries in the MLSA area and you know that little Baudette library? If you went up there to go
fishing, you know what?
Mayor Laufenburger: Who told her?
Heidi Hoks: You would be able to bring your library card out and they would scan it into their
circulation system. Just enter your information and you could check out books. You have been
pre-verified according to them. We also added Lynda.com. For those of you that take a lot of
training courses you probably heard of Lynda.com. We’ve had several people in our county who
have been thrilled because now they no longer have their own personal subscription to
Lynda.com and pay for it. They just use the library’s subscription free of charge to them. And
we’ve increased our technology classes. We find a lot of people need training on various types
of technology. We’ve increased those so people can have their training free of charge and we’ve
also introduced many new innovative programs including programs using green screen. Mind
craft. How to festival which is a do it yourself or maker space kind of festival. All kinds of
exciting new programs. If you look you will notice that we’ve got a little, a few of our library
activity measures across the county. For example we have 74,962 library card users. Now most
libraries if they have 60 percent of their population they are thrilled. You’ll notice we have over
77 percent of the Carver County population that has library cards and because after so many
years we make sure the library cards that are not being used are taken off our books. You know
that these are fairly current users. You’ll also notice, if you go to the third, second, third one
down. I’m sorry. Third block down on the left hand side you have the print media circulation at
998,688 and across from that the e-circulation at 65,805. That adds up to over a million
circulations or over a million checkouts. We are a busy little library system. And besides that, if
you go down a little further on the left we have reference questions that we still answer. Over
57,000. Almost 58,000 reference questions each year. But going over to the right we still are
assisting the public 23,712 times last year and if you look on the left hand side for Wi-Fi
sessions, that is based on a week that twice a year that we go around our library and see who’s
using the Wi-Fi and then multiple it but that doesn’t take into account all those cars that are
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
parked out in all of our parking lots before we open with a lot of business people. Many sales
people using our Wi-Fi printing and one of the things that they have asked for, and that we are
putting into place this next year. We tested it at Victoria is mobile printing so they can do their
work as they’re waiting to go to their business appointment. Then suddenly the doors open.
They walk in. They get their papers and they walk out the door again and I can’t even begin to
say all the numbers that are up there for programming. We’re more about what we offer and
what we can do for people than just what you can take out and check out. But speaking of
checking out, if we don’t have something we can go up to Baudette or Duluth or wherever.
You’ll see that under all activity. Last year we had 6,623 items that came into us. But because
of how carefully our selectors select materials most of our requests from our patrons really are
satisfied by the selectors. 113,250 items were put on request within the library system itself. We
are busy and we are proud of what we’re doing. We have a great staff and you can be especially
proud of your branch library in Chanhassen and with that I’m going to turn it over to Kathy
who’s going to be telling you about some of the wonderful things this last year in Chanhassen.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Heidi.
Kathy Bognanni: Thanks.
Mayor Laufenburger: Welcome Kathy. Nice to see you here.
Kathy Bognanni: Thank you so much. I would especially like to thank all of you here in the
room for the great support ongoingly that all of you give to the Chanhassen Library. We truly
appreciate it. The Chanhassen Library is becoming an increasingly busy place. The library itself
offers many programs each and every year and this last year we had almost 13,000 citizens
coming to the library for library sponsored programs. But in addition to that we had 872
community groups that held meetings and programs in our library so our total library visits for
the year in just Chanhassen library were 223,770. Of those of course many people are coming to
actually check out materials in the library but more and more we see people coming to the library
to study at tables where they are using our Wi-Fi connection or having the office away from
home that they kind of set up in the library to do their work using the library’s Wi-Fi so Wi-Fi is
becoming a really increasingly important service that we offer at the library. Part of those
programs that we offer for children and teens are really very critical programs to the
development of our children. We offer storytimes 5 times a week at Chanhassen Library and at
those storytimes we’re concentrating on pre-literacy skills that our children need when they’re
going off to our school system to be ready to learn how to read at school. We also have summer
reading programs for both children and teens and those summer reading programs are valuable in
and of themselves but they’re also valuable in that they attract children to the library and many
of those children walk out of the library with a big stack of books that they’re going to read or
our teenagers decide that this might be a neat place for them to come and do some volunteer
work over the summer. Or they might participate as teens in some of our esteem programs that
we find have enticed a few of our teenagers through robotics programming and others to develop
an interest in something that might even lead to a career for them. So our teen and children
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
programs are an important part of what we do. Our programs for adults, we had 146 of those this
last year that the library sponsored and they kind of run the gamut. Some are music and art and
history programs that people might come to for enjoyment. For entertainment. Author talks.
But we also partnered quite often and in the case of the program on the recent Emerald Ash
Borer program was partnered with the City of Chanhassen and also the master gardener program
so we are constantly looking for programs that meet the needs of our community and many of
those are very well attended. Our library collections are growing and growing. As one of our
selectors says we just keep adding formats. At first it was just books and then books and
magazines and books and magazines in large print. And then music CDs. Books on CDs and
DVDs but now we’re growing into e-resources with e-books, e-audio books and e-magazines.
Many of those are supported by our participation in our MLSA system but others are items that
we purchase ourselves in our Chanhassen and Carver County library systems but I do have to say
in spite of all the growing formats print materials are still the favorite for every age group so far.
Besides just having those materials we want to help people use them and as with the e-reader on
the right we have staff who know how to help people learn to use those e-readers. We also have
displays and staff who are good at helping people find something good to read whether they’re
adults or whether they’re children or teens.
Mayor Laufenburger: And Kathy just, do you also, can people check out an e-reader? Can they
do that at this time?
Kathy Bognanni: We haven’t tried that yet. I wouldn’t say we’ll never do that.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay.
Kathy Bognanni: But we do have some iPads at one of our branches that we’ve been kind of
thinking about maybe whether we might want to do something like that.
Mayor Laufenburger: But if somebody, clearly if somebody has an e-reader of some sort you’re
going to help them check out that e-reader. Check out that item. Download it into their e-reader
so that they can read it, is that correct?
Kathy Bognanni: Yes.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, wonderful. Thank you.
Kathy Bognanni: Our Chanhassen Library which opened in 2003 is now believe it or not almost
13 years old and the City does a wonderful job of maintaining our physical building and our
Carver County Library is also trying to maintain that building by purchasing new pieces of
furnishings for our building so this year some of what we focused on were buying new tables and
chairs for our Lewis Study Room and we deliberately purchased 3 separate tables rather than 1
so that we can spread those out for our teenagers when they are doing computer related
programs. The reading chair in the middle there, we see more people coming in with laptops and
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
cell phones and e-readers and so they kind of like that swing out top that they can sit in a
comfortable chair and yet use that kind of furniture. We bought all new computer chairs this
year. It’s kind of hard to see in the lower left Maren, the County is wanting us all to be
increasingly healthy so we’re experimenting for those of us who were willing to try it with stand
up work stations at our desks in the back and they can be at multiple heights. We also bought a
scanner for the public to use because the public was telling us that more and more of their
insurance company, their tax provider, or someone they are applying to for a job wanted them to
scan in something that they attached and sent off to them so we make that easy for them. And
last of all one of the things that is most important to the library is continuing to connect with our
community and one of the ways we do that is with our wonderful Friends of the Library group.
They’re over there busily tonight setting up for their book sale that is running Thursday through
Sunday this week so if you’re interested in a bargain you’ll want to stop by and see what they
have to offer but our Friends of the Library and others have given us over 1,500 volunteer hours
this year in addition to the items they purchase and the programs they support and we truly do
appreciate that citizen input. We also try to partner with schools, organizations and government
and Denny mentioned the Act on Alzheimers and we held a community event for that
organization at the library this last Saturday.
Mayor Laufenburger: I understand Councilman McDonald was there, is that correct?
Councilman McDonald: Yeah.
Mayor Laufenburger: Yeah.
Kathy Bognanni: So I think that’s about all that I have to say. I just want to assure you that our
library is trying our best to make the library an important part of our community that helps and
serves our citizens every day and we appreciate your support. Thank you so much.
Mayor Laufenburger: Kathy before you go, we’ll do that in just a second. Are there any
questions for the council? Questions or comments. Alright. Now on behalf of the community
the council, the community, the city staff I want to thank both of you Heidi and Kathy for
making it important that our communities have the resources available in the library for
education for kids. Kids of all ages and I’m pleased to see that you’re vital part of this
community. Part of the goodness that makes Chanhassen a great community so thank you
Kathy. Thank you Heidi. Now we can clap okay. Senator Osmek, can you join us up here?
Welcome to Chanhassen Senator. Nice to have you here.
Senator David Osmek: Thank you Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Laufenburger: Nice to have you here again.
Senator David Osmek: For the fourth time.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Mayor Laufenburger: Exactly.
Senator David Osmek: For this cycle. The last time for this cycle unless you call me in. Sorry I
was out in the back. I’m involved in a program called the Arts of the Capitol initiative with a
number of senators and I have been neglectful in getting some art to fill up my space. Well the
second individuals are going to the Capitol.
Mayor Laufenburger: The posters that were not framed and on the wall at Chanhassen are going
to the Capitol.
Senator David Osmek: Yes, they’re going to the Capitol for a few weeks.
Mayor Laufenburger: You shared that with them so that they.
Senator David Osmek: Yep, before I took them away.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay.
Senator David Osmek: They all agreed. They all agreed that they wanted to do it and I was
more than happy to do that so it alleviates a couple of different issues so and I love doing it.
Mayor Laufenburger: Good. Solves a problem for you and also for their parents I would guess
for right now.
Senator David Osmek: It does. It does and I said come on down to the Capitol. We’re in the
State Office Building. As soon as you walk in our suite you’ll see them right there. We’ve got
my place is the wall right as you’re walking in the suite and your City Manager was just down
there so he knows exactly what I’m talking about. There’s a big white space that I had reserved
and I haven’t filled it so.
Mayor Laufenburger: Good.
Senator David Osmek: But good to see you. Just here to give you a little legislative update.
Some things that are going on at the Capitol. Let’s see here. First off the top priority this session
for me has been dealing with Highway 12 corridor. The Highway 12 area is, has an inordinate
number of accidents. A lot of head-on collisions. I believe it’s about 22 people over the last 60
months have died in fatalities just in fatalities. That doesn’t include all of the injury accidents
that have taken place so that has been my priority. We are, we did not get into the general
appropriations bill. That bill had only a $30 million dollar increase above base. At least the
current bill that we’re working on. There’s another transportation bill that’s sitting in conference
committee right now but that bill only had $30 million above base and I needed $15 million so I
didn’t think I was going to be very successful under general appropriation. However we are
optimistic in getting these into the trunk highway bonds that we do here in the State of
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Minnesota. Another couple things I’ve been working on, the JPA’s and I don’t believe you have
any joint power agreements right now in the City of Chanhassen.
Mayor Laufenburger: We have joint powers with Eden Prairie and Chaska regarding Southwest
Transit.
Senator David Osmek: Okay.
Mayor Laufenburger: And Mr. Gerhardt do we have any others that are with other cities?
Todd Gerhardt: Those are the significant one.
Mayor Laufenburger: Yeah that’s a significant one and it’s been in place for a number of years
since well, long time.
Senator David Osmek: So this may have an impact. We, as part of the, the strangest thing. Part
of the education bill last session the joint powers agreement tax exemption because cities began a
tax exempt status last year. Within the last two years, we suspended the joint powers agreement
tax exemptions and pushed it back from 1116 over to 1117. We’re trying to get that replaced
back to 1116 retroactively as well as giving all that money back as far as tax exempt, whatever
was tax exempt. Not sure where it’s going to go. The tax bill is also in conference committee so
there’s a lot of things in conference committee and as of right now today, at this point in time we
have 4 weeks left so we’re not quite sure what’s going to come out. We did hear some things on
the floor today. Speaking of which on the floor today I actually had, I had a success which, you
know when you hit these successes in the minority you really are happy about it. We, I was on
what’s called the claims committee and the claims committee saw bills regarding exoneration.
We had 3 exonerations. These are the first of their kind in Minnesota where we were going to be
begin writing checks for people who had their convictions completely overturned that they were
found to be innocent. Problem is is there was some questions that I had regarding the process
that we took. One of them if you remember was the Toyota case in downtown St. Paul where
there was a linkage issue. He was convicted. He was put, I think he was in jail for 3 years. That
was exonerated, overturned and exonerated and the judge panel was going to give him a half
million dollars. Well the problem I have with that is the taxpayers are going to be on the hook
for a defect that was in the Toyota. Not necessarily something that the judges did wrong. Not
necessarily something the juries did wrong. The prosecutor. There was nothing wrong with the
system itself. It was wrong with the car itself so we’re actually remanding that back to our
claims committee. There’s about a total of $1.5 million. We want to look at this again to make
sure we’re doing what’s right. I think we need to be, we need to be fair but we also have to be
fair with the taxpayer because if we start down this path there can be a lot of dollar figures
flowing out of the state of Minnesota, well into these cases. We’re hoping, we’ve been told
there’s only about 9 more of these possible left but still we need to get it right the first time so
getting Senator Latz to remand it back was somewhat of a success so we’re going to look at that
again. I was very glad and of course being a supporter of Southwest Transit I was glad and sad
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
because your, the Southwest Transit people came into my office and told me that they were
suspending the suburb to suburb.
Mayor Laufenburger: S to S.
Senator David Osmek: Transit option but I told them you should be, actually you shouldn’t be
sad. You should be glad because you’re doing something that no other government agency
seems to do which is realize quickly that something isn’t quite working and look for a better
alternative rather than continuing to pour money into a hole. Or pouring money into something
that obviously isn’t going to work so I was happy to hear that and I would defend them 7 days a
week as far as what they did because it made sense to not put money if they know it’s not
working to find something better and that’s what we should be doing in government.
Mayor Laufenburger: We’ll make sure that the Southwest Transit Commission hears your
reflection on that Senator.
Senator David Osmek: Yep. I understand there’s a speed change happening on Highway 7. Just
as with Highway 12 we’re having you know our incidents up there. I’ll be keeping an eye on
that to make sure that if they are changing the speed limits, MnDOT does things based on studies
and based on their position. Sometimes that can be right. It can be wrong so if you do have
residents with a change in that speed on Highway 7 let me know because I certainly, if we’ve
got, if we change something and it doesn’t work we certainly need to change it back. With that
I’m open to any questions or comments that you have. I am seeking re-election God willing this
fall that if I’m re-elected I’ll be in front of you next year. I missed one city last year. I’m very
diligent of seeing every one, every city in my district. There’s 20 of them but we just ran out of
time. One city I missed so.
Mayor Laufenburger: Will you stand for questions just for a moment or two?
Senator David Osmek: I will answer any question you have.
Mayor Laufenburger: Any questions or comments from the council? Councilwoman Ryan.
Councilwoman Ryan: What is the speed change along Highway 7 and where along Highway 7 is
that?
Senator David Osmek: My understanding is, is it may, and I haven’t asked MnDOT. I just
found out about this relatively recently. I think it is in, it starts at Highway 41 going west so it
has an impact of your residents. I could check into that for you and get back to you.
Councilwoman Ryan: Great.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Senator David Osmek: I get the exact, because I was just made aware of that and with
everything that’s happening this session we didn’t, I didn’t get back to MnDOT on that one but
I’ll let you know.
Councilwoman Ryan: Great, thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Any other questions or comment? Well Senator you serve us very well.
Let me just make a couple comments. First of all we know that you’re a strong friend of
transportation for us here. You were recognized as such by Southwest Transit Commission and
you continue to support our activities here in Chanhassen. Also please extend to our friends at
the Senate that we were pleased to see that the Senate had a moment of remembrance of our
good neighbor Prince today and that was worthwhile. Let’s see. I would also, oh. You’ve also
been very instrumental in helping us deliver the message of the importance of 101 up the bluff.
We want to finish that segment from Pioneer Trail south to Highway 61 and I know you’ve been
on our dance card so to speak and we appreciate your support in that so.
Senator David Osmek: Absolutely. Even though it’s not in my district. That section as well as
the 212 section going west that is, that’s in Senator Ortman’s district. Very supportive of that as
long as we can fit it in with the rest of the priorities. As long as we get Highway 12 done first.
Mayor Laufenburger: Yeah we understand the safety issue that you have on Highway 12 and
you’re an advocate for that. We appreciate that. Mr. Gerhardt did you want to say anything?
Todd Gerhardt: I just wanted to thank you for your time last week. I know you had a busy
schedule and you allowed us time to come into your office and tell our story about 101 and we
just appreciate you listening to us.
Senator David Osmek: Oh my pleasure and actually last week was an actually pretty, relatively
sane week around the legislature as much as sanity can be found but we are revving up now.
One of the bills that I’m hopefully getting to the floor soon is a digital assets bill. When you
pass away your, and conveniently you might actually have a case right here with Prince.
Probably not but when you pass away your digital assets, if you are storing them in a cloud
environment or even inside of a cell phone can be, are protected and if you want to, my piece of
legislation actually allows you to put it in your will or there is more and more an online system
where you can bequeath it and tell exactly what you want to give to whom in an online location
which means if you store music. If you’re a photographer. Graphic art designer and you’re
storing this in a cloud environment or in a different location, that that can be accessed and that is
your private property that needs to be available to your estate. That bill did move out of the
judiciary. It’s moving, it’s on the senate floor. It’s coming up. It will be coming up sometime
hopefully in the next 2 weeks but I’m optimistic we can get that in. It sounds very, relatively
small but for parents in Orono where their kid, and their kid died under a cloudy circumstance.
They wanted to get access to that data but there was no way to get it. This doesn’t help them but
it helps parents in the future.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Mayor Laufenburger: Very well. Well Senator Osmek thank you and we’ll, hopefully we’ll see
you next year alright.
Senator David Osmek: Thank you. I hope too. Thank you so much.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Senator.
Senator David Osmek: And again thank you to the parents who gave me the art. I’m looking
forward to putting it up tomorrow.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alrighty.
Senator David Osmek: Thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you. We’re still in visitor presentations and if there are any visitors
present tonight that would like to address the council on any matter that is not on the agenda
you’re welcome to step forward at this time. Would you like to?
Nicole Nejezchleba: I would love to if I may.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright, I’ll ask that you state your name and address for the record.
Nicole Nejezchleba: My name is Nicole Nejezchleba and I live at 2851 North Manor Road.
Right off of Highway 7 so kind of interested to hear the speed change. I’m not sure if it’s a
reduction or an increase so I’ll be watching for that.
Mayor Laufenburger: Could you just, would you spell your last name Nicole.
Nicole Nejezchleba: You didn’t get that? It’s so simple. I’m just kidding. It’s N-e-j-e-z-c-h-l—
e-b-a.
Mayor Laufenburger: Nice to have you with us Nicole.
Nicole Nejezchleba: Thank you. Thank you so much. I was actually not planning to ask a
question to the City Council but you Mayor kind of spurred it on. We all know that Prince
recently died and the international media is all over our city and we’re getting a lot of attention
and I haven’t heard of anything that the City’s doing in terms of maybe a memorial service for
him that would put us on the map.
Mayor Laufenburger: Well Nicole thank you for recognizing that yes, a spotlight has been
placed on Chanhassen and while we were on the map before Prince’s departure for a number of
things. At this time the City has no plans but we also defer to the family. We want to be very
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
respectful of Prince’s family and members of his inner circle and of course we at the City will
cooperate the best we can to whatever the City would like to do in terms of a memorial service. I
know there’s a lot of speculation about what might happen and our job here at the City is just to
pay attention to what’s going on and listen to the family and the representatives with whom we
are in touch and we will respond accordingly but I certainly would encourage you to keep an
active interest because no doubt the last 4 days have certainly changed not only the people in
Chanhassen and all of Minnesota but it has changed to a certain extent the trajectory that
Chanhassen will take in some of our decisions in the future so keep your eyes on us okay.
Nicole Nejezchleba: And I just want to share just quickly with you just, I have a lot of friends in
Austria and one of my friends asked me about the bells in City Hall in Minneapolis playing the
Prince song so it was very surprising to me that it went all the way across the pond. You know
Minneapolis is certainly a big city but in terms of international fame it’s not New York so I was
just hoping that the City would use this as an opportunity to showcase that he was a resident of
our city and that we all certainly appreciated him as a resident. And I’m not a huge Prince fan so
please don’t think this is because I’m a fan but it’s more because I feel like he’s a resident and
you know this is an opportunity for us as a city to showcase that.
Mayor Laufenburger: Well I think if you look real closely at Chanhassen’s city logo which is
just to your left.
Nicole Nejezchleba: The purple.
Mayor Laufenburger: Just on the table. You’ll see that there’s appropriate purpleness to reflect
our respect and our joy of having had Prince in our community for over 30 years. Thank you
Nicole very much.
Nicole Nejezchleba: Thank you very much. Thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Any other visitors present? Alright, let’s move to our next item on the
agenda.
LAW ENFORCEMENT/FIRE DEPARTMENT UPDATE.
Mayor Laufenburger: Lieutenant Kittelson, have to have you with us this evening.
Lt. Eric Kittelson: Good evening Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Laufenburger: Pretty quiet week I bet hasn’t it?
Lt. Eric Kittelson: Not quite. So I have the law enforcement update for you for March. We had
121 citations for traffic and parking violations, 348 total warnings for violations and calls for
service we had 15 Part I crimes and 59 Part II crimes, miscellaneous non-criminal and traffic was
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
1,032. Those numbers are in general pretty average. However I looked at the year to date stats
so far at the end of the first quarter. Crime is down 18 percent year to date from this time in
2015 which is always a good thing.
Mayor Laufenburger: Very good thing. The trend is good.
Lt. Eric Kittelson: I promised you a personnel update. Deputy Barrack completed her field
training and officially joined the team full time on solo patrol on Tuesday and then we
immediately put her to work throughout the weekend and I saw her in action a number of times
and she’s a great asset to the team.
Mayor Laufenburger: Well congratulate her on her success.
Lt. Eric Kittelson: People will see her out and about in the community. We had our Towards
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Zero Death distracted driving enhanced enforcement education from April 11 to 17. We
joined 300 agencies statewide in this endeavor and we had 21 citations for texting and driving in
the county and 10 of those were in Chanhassen and just a reminder in Minnesota it’s illegal for
drivers to read, compose or send texts and emails and that includes accessing the internet even at
a stop light or stop sign. This wasn’t on the agenda but I had promised an update as soon as I
knew anything so NIBRS or the National Incident Based Reporting System, I did find out that
st
we are officially transitioning to NIBRS on June 1 so that means all of our data and our records
management system will start being collected under that format which means your July council
packet will reflect that change and I have not seen that yet. What that looks like but, so and folks
that access that online will see that that’s different and so when that comes out we’ll talk about
that and how that, what that all means and I have been told that the UCR, the Uniform Crime
Report which is kind of a nationwide standard when we’re looking for benchmarks that that will
still be fairly consistent because although we’re collecting the data differently it will still be
reported into that system similarly.
Mayor Laufenburger: So you’re saying comparative stats between the new system on NIBRS
and prior to NIBRS, those comparison stats will be still acceptable?
Lt. Eric Kittelson: I believe so, yes.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay.
Lt. Eric Kittelson: Yep and so basically that measures the number of crimes per 100,000 people
and then you get a crime rate and then you can compare yourselves to other cities of similar size
in the state and the states in the nation so.
Mayor Laufenburger: Good.
Lt. Eric Kittelson: That concludes my report. I’ll stand for questions.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright, thank you. Any questions or comment from the council?
Councilwoman Ryan: I have one.
Mayor Laufenburger: Councilman McDonald? Okay, Councilwoman Ryan.
Councilwoman Ryan: I just would like to share a couple thoughts. About a week and a half ago
Mayor Laufenburger and I attended a Tonka Cares meeting where Lieutenant Kittelson spoke on
an important matter affecting Chanhassen or surrounding community and really the nation at
large. The focus of the presentation was on the current use of illegal substances being abused by
people in the age range of 15 to 25 years old. Lieutenant Kittelson was joined by a Carver
County agent who is also part of the Southwest Metro Drug Task Force and for clarification
Tonka Cares is a community coalition that works to reduce substance abuse among youth in the
Minnetonka school district. I wanted to publicly acknowledge and thank Lieutenant Kittelson
for speaking on this important topic. The amount of information that you shared that day was
staggering and I just wanted to highlight 3 important statistics that I think really emphasize the
significance of what some are calling an epidemic and these were 3 things that you pointed out in
your presentation. There has been a 588 percent increase in the last 6 years of opiate and heroin
use. The second was since 2014 there have been 317 Minnesota deaths because of drug
overdose. And number 3, heroin is the number drug threat in the Twin Cities today. Lieutenant
Kittelson, his team of law enforcement and the drug task force are determined to understand the
causes of this threat and continue to educate our youth and adults through forums like, that you
had and we attended. I felt that it was very important to share this because similarly to the
successful cooperation between the agencies this past weekend for the events surrounding
Prince’s death and the thousands of visitors to Paisley Park it is equally important that the
collaboration continues between cities, counties and our school districts as well as members of
this community to continue to work diligently to address what is happening as it relates to drug
use so as a council member and a family with children in the Minnetonka school district and
most importantly as a parent I just wanted to thank you for your leadership and your time on
presenting on such an important topic so thank you for your hard work.
Lt. Eric Kittelson: Well thank you and thank you for those kind words and it was our pleasure to
present to the group.
Councilwoman Ryan: Thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Councilwoman Ryan. Councilman McDonald did you have
something?
Councilman McDonald: Well all I was going to ask is I know usually whenever you give these
reports when you get done you leave. I would ask that you stay until after Chief Johnson is done
and then I will comment at that point.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Thank you Lieutenant.
Lt. Eric Kittelson: Thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Chief Johnson, monthly fire department update. Welcome Chief.
Chief Don Johnson: Good evening Mayor, Council. Tonight is my report for February. We are
at staffing of 39 of 45. Actually last week that number changed to 37. I did lose another person
to another state and I had another person retire so.
Mayor Laufenburger: Just for the record could we clarify. This is your report for February or
for March?
Chief Don Johnson: March.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. I think Nann got that.
Chief Don Johnson: I think it says March. It says March.
Mayor Laufenburger: Yeah I thought I heard you say February and I was thinking I was in
Brigadoon for a month or something so.
th
Chief Don Johnson: No problem. We are, on April 12 we met with 14 potential candidates and
their families. It was a good evening. We didn’t scare anyone off so 14 candidates did sign up
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for the next phase of our hiring process which will be on May 14. At that point we’ll be doing
a round of interviews as well as they’ll be doing some pre-placement physical agility testing so
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we hope to be successful with those candidates and our potential hiring date will be June 20. In
March the Chanhassen fire department responded to 53 calls for service. Duty crew responded
to 11 of those calls on scheduled shifts. There were no significant calls to report on. 29 being
EMS and 2 being motor vehicle incidents. Motor vehicle accidents with injuries. Training this
month has not been on Monday nights. It’s been scheduled on Saturdays and we’ve had
everybody participate with the combined training with Carver County sheriff’s office and the
regional active shooter response training so all of the fire fighters have taken a Saturday from
either through March, or I’m sorry April and into May for active shooter training with other first
responders in Carver County. We’ve also done some online training with ground ladders. We
did host the Carver County Joint Fire Department meeting which is quarterly in every year and
about every 3 years it comes around so it’s a big dinner and we hosted it here in Chanhassen last
week so that was a great event. The one small fire to report on that we did have in March was
caused by some workers working on our water tower during a day that they probably shouldn’t
have been welding on so luckily it was a non-incident. It was up on Lake Lucy and it went out
rather quickly so. That is all for my report if I can stand for questions.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Any questions of Chief Johnson or comments? Okay.
Councilman McDonald: If I could Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Laufenburger: Councilman McDonald, sure.
Councilman McDonald: Actually I want to address this to both Lieutenant Kittelson and Chief
Johnson.
Mayor Laufenburger: Would you mind joining there?
Councilman McDonald: I’ve been on City Council for a number of years. We’ve been through
incidents before and we don’t always in the past we’ve had our hiccups. I have to say that you
know your departments were outstanding. The way you handled Prince’s death and the way the
national media came in. The way that people flocked to our city. The way you handled
everything. There was not one complaint that was lodged against the City. On Thursday most
the national media was still having trouble pronouncing Chanhassen but by Friday that had been
cleared up and there was nothing but positive comments about both departments and also the
City and why I wanted both of you here is that you are a reflection of our community. You’re
the ones that are out there at the forefront when things happen. When things go bad it’s
generally the two of you or one of you or both of you that are there explaining what’s happening
within our community and I just want to say that I think you, your staff, every individual
performed flawlessly and I think with great honor and I really do appreciate that because as I’ve
said I’ve seen incidences before where the City became part of the story and we really don’t need
to be part of the story of this tragedy. I think everyone needs to be able to you know mourn
Prince and to not have to worry about the City and we’ve been very transparent. And my
comments as council presentation I do want to express my gratitude to the City staff because it is
a team effort but the two of you are currently here and I just wanted to let you know I really
appreciate it. I think everybody acted very professionally and I think to the highest honor so
thank you very much.
Chief Don Johnson: Councilman McDonald, council from our standpoint I think that it goes to
say that we’ve got a lot of support with us. I know from the City standpoint the public works
and streets department. The parks department. There’s a lot of people that are standing behind
us. I appreciate the thank you’s but I think from our standpoint there’s a lot of folks that made
this happen that probably aren’t here in this room and may never hear thank you so I hope that
they hear what you’re saying as well. We couldn’t do this without a little bit of professionalism
but without a lot of dedication and a lot of work on people that as I said in a letter to my
department that we’re not used to things that last for days and when you take that and try to put
that into an everyday life that’s hard for people to understand and I think the City both in all of
our departments in the City as well as you know city administration and support we worked as a
team and that’s the reason it went off as well as it did so.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Mayor Laufenburger: Good. Lieutenant.
Lt. Eric Kittelson: And I just wanted to add the fire service, the community service officers in
the city and the sheriff’s office as your law enforcement entity comprise your public safety
department and the most important thing for any public safety department is to continue to add
and build on a level of trust that the community has with them to insure their safety and I think
we have a really good level of trust with the community and if we added to that over the
weekend then we’re glad and we’re going to continue to do that and Councilwoman Ryan
mentioned relationships and partnerships with other entities and communities and we could
never thank everybody that assisted in this endeavor but I do want to pay particular thanks to
South Lake Minnetonka Police Department and Eden Prairie Police Department because their
efforts were above and beyond even what some of the other agencies were and that was a really
important relationship that we maintain with them and they came to our aid when we needed it.
Mayor Laufenburger: Very good.
Chief Don Johnson: MnDOT as well.
Mayor Laufenburger: Well thanks to both of you for the leadership that you provide this
community. It’s reflected in what people are seeing in this community so thank you very much.
APPROVE APPOINTMENT TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION.
Mayor Laufenburger: Earlier this week we learned that a member of the Planning Commission
Lisa Hokkanen is going to be moving out of the community and we will need to replace her.
Now members of the community may recall that we recently filled vacancies on the Planning
Commission that resulted from end of terms and this is a mid-term vacancy so the council has
considered the candidates that we interviewed just within the last 2 months and at this time we
would like to, I’d like to make a recommendation in the form of a nomination that Mark Randall,
a member of the Chanhassen community be appointed to complete the remainder of Lisa
Hokkanen’s term and that goes through 2018. Is that correct? Through April of 2018.
Kate Aanenson: Correct and I believe her termination letter was the end of May.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay so she will continue.
Kate Aanenson: Yep but we would like to, he will you know appoint and shadow. He would
actually be sworn in that first meeting in May for the Planning Commission.
Mayor Laufenburger: So this action is really approving the appointment and that appointment
will take place when Lisa Hokkanen, when her, as a result of her resignation. Her time on the
Planning Commission expires, is that right?
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Kate Aanenson: That’s correct, end of May. She’ll move out of the community correct.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, alright. I make that in the form of a motion. Is there a second?
Councilman Campion: Second.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Councilman Campion. Any discussion?
Mayor Laufenburger moved, Councilman Campion seconded to appoint Mark Randall to
finish out the term of Lisa Hokkanen on the Planning Commission. All voted in favor and
the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
2016 STREET IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT 16-01: REJECT BID.
Mayor Laufenburger: Do we have a staff report Mr. Oehme?
Paul Oehme: Yes Mayor. I’d like to discuss the bid that we received for the Minnewashta
Manor’s street improvement project for 2016. As you know Minnewashta Manor is located just
off of Highway 7, north of Minnewashta. Lake Minnewashta. It was scheduled for
reconstruction in 2016. The summer of 2016. It’s about a mile long. 1.1 miles of streets we
were considering to reconstruct. Streets include North Manor Drive, Washta Bay, Sandpiper
Trail, Orchard Lane, Minnewashta Woods Drive and Tanagers Lane as well. The bids were
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scheduled to be opened on March 24 and they were opened on March 24 at 2:00. We did have
a good list of contractors we thought would be bidding on the project. Actually we had 13 prime
contractors that potentially could bid the project. Unfortunately we only received one bid that
day and the bidder is shown here before you. Overall or if you total everything up we’re about
10 percent over budget what was over which was identified in the feasibility study. We did do
some research, talk to some contractors about why they didn’t put in a bid.
Mayor Laufenburger: Just for clarification Mr. Oehme, how many contractors would we
normally see on a bid process like this?
Paul Oehme: On this size of project for reconstruction we would typically between 5 and 6 or so
in that range. We’ve had up to 8 and 9 in some instances too.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, just for comparison.
Paul Oehme: Sure.
Mayor Laufenburger: And we received one this time.
Paul Oehme: And we received one this time and you know historically we’ve always opened
reconstruction projects right you know, the last half of March so there really isn’t any difference
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
in terms of when we bid the project out and the scope of the project. It’s been pretty consistent
for the last say 8 years. The process that we use and we’ve been successful up to this point. But
we did contact some contractors that did not put in a bid and there was several reasons why they
didn’t put in the bid. Many cities are also in need of contractors for reconstruction projects as
well and we just, this year for whatever reason and I think it’s due to oil prices. A lot of cities
had put out bigger projects then they have recently and in year’s past. Larger projects and more
projects so we were kind of caught up in some of the bidding wars basically between other cities.
Some of the contractors had already filled up some of their work load for MnDOT projects or
county projects already and some city projects as well so some of those contractors that would
typically bid our projects we did not receive a bid from them. Some other comments that we
received from contractors were that some of the subcontractors they use for utilities, the
installation of the storm sewer, the sanitary work, the storm sewer, they were just tough to find
utility contractors to even give them a price just because of the volume of work that those
subcontractors already had at that point in time. One other comment that we received, the export
spoils, the clay material that we truck off the site for the roadway beds, it’s becoming harder and
harder to find a spoils site in the Chanhassen, in the western metro area. And then also
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specifically on March 24 there was over $40 million dollars worth of work that was bid out in
that one particular day too so a lot of the contractors you know were interested in some of the
bigger projects. Maybe a little cleaner projects. Little easier projects than the one we’re trying
to bid out and they did pull the plan sets. Looked at them and kind of moved on and looked at
harder some of those other bigger more maybe potentially lucrative projects. So with that staff
would recommend that we rebid the project and consider the project in 2017. If this project
would be, go back in the capital improvement project. Capital improvement plan for 2017 we
did discuss internally and with our consultant to rebid the project this year. However with the
bidding laws that we had and the advertisement criteria requirements that we have it would take
approximately 2 months to turn that process around so we’d be basically in July before we’d
actually start the project. That would really push us back into fall and it’s just difficult to finish
up those projects and potentially we would not be able to finish up this project this year anymore.
And then plus you know even if we would bid out the project we don’t even know if we’d get a
contractor who’d be able or available to give us a price and bid it out. Price for it. So with that
if the project were to move, to rebid it again we’d potentially wait to rebid it earlier than we did
last year so plans and specs are virtually done. We’d like to ask for advertisements, authorize
advertisement for bids in December. Open the bids in January and have a neighborhood meeting
in January as well and then have the approvals end of January, maybe into February. Start
construction as we had planned for this year starting in June and try to have the project wrapped
up by the end of August weather permitting. And with that if there’s any questions I’d be more
than happy to try to answer them.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright Mr. Oehme, thank you very much. Any questions or comments
from council?
Todd Gerhardt: Mayor, council. I’d just like to add Paul and his staff did a great job of
advertising. We got a little delayed in the market in getting our bids awarded. That’s
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
unfortunate. In re-advertising next year from a work load standpoint it’s going to work well for
us. We do not have a reconstruction project next year planned. We do have mill and overlay
projects planned for 2017. Similar to what we have this year so it’s going to be a similar work
load that we would have had this year for next year. So I’m not worried about re-advertising this
project along with the projects we have planned for next year.
Mayor Laufenburger: Mr. Oehme I just have a couple questions. First of all have you
communicated with the citizens in the neighborhood?
Paul Oehme: We’ve had communications with several neighbors, or property owners,
neighbors, citizens in this construction area and their comments were you know we’re looking
for the best bang for the buck. You know a portion of the project would be potentially assessed
to the benefiting property owners so they want to get the best value they can for the
improvements that are being made so. I think we’ve talked to approximately 6, half a dozen
property owners out there and they all said you know come back next year and we’ll talk then.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay.
Paul Oehme: So if this were to move forward the plan is to send a notice out, a letter out
tomorrow to all the neighbors just letting them know what we had talked about tonight and with
a proposed new schedule.
Mayor Laufenburger: So they would then see the proposed schedule that you have, is that right?
Paul Oehme: Correct.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, and I think Mr. Gerhardt might have answered this but you have the
capacity to do this along with the other mill and overlays for next year?
Paul Oehme: Yeah we should. We’ll have on site staff for this project and we have an overlay
project that we partner with staff and then we might have a consultant come in ever so often just
to help us out when we have some time to fill in there but we can definitely do the overlay
project, the design in-house for next year and then we’ll do at least a portion of the inspection for
next year in-house as well.
Mayor Laufenburger: You mentioned you don’t anticipate or you said you have the plans and
specs already in place. What would change the plans and specs between now and next year,
anything?
Paul Oehme: I don’t think so. I mean we went through the bid tabulations and the line items and
one thing that did come across, there’s a quantity, I don’t want to get into too specifics but
there’s a quantity in there for rock aggregate for when it gets wet outside and rainy and we have
a lot of softer areas we bring in larger, bigger rocks for the property owners to drive over.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Mayor Laufenburger: This is while the project is under construction.
Paul Oehme: This is while the project is going on. It’s basically a temporary rock. Temporary
road material we bring in. One of the comments from the contractor that we’ve talked to said
that quantity was a little bit higher than he had anticipated so we might knock that number down
a little bit but overall I think you know the design was good and I think we’d like to move
forward with that same project.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Just one last question and this Mr. Gerhardt is for you. Is there any
budget action? If we were to reject this is there any budget action that we would need to take in
order for this to occur, do you know?
Todd Gerhardt: No.
Mayor Laufenburger: We’re just shifting the spending or the anticipated spending of dollars
from this year into next year, is that correct?
Todd Gerhardt: Correct. That is correct. So no budgetary increase or decrease. Just shifting of
dollars to next year.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. So I think it’s important to recognize that citizens would think well,
if you were for whatever reason the services capacity to satisfy our need, if that was all used up
in, you know by the time our project got there, why don’t you bid it right now for next year.
Why wouldn’t you do that Mr. Oehme?
Paul Oehme: Well so commodity prices fluctuate from year to year so the contractor right now
does not know what his oil prices are going to be. His asphalt prices. You know what the diesel
prices are going to be. What his labor prices might be next year so there’s some risk there that
the contractor might add to the price if we would bid it out next year.
Mayor Laufenburger: Yeah he would add contingency now in anticipation of something that he
doesn’t know is going to happen in December and January.
Paul Oehme: Yeah he’s just trying to cover his costs.
Mayor Laufenburger: Whereas if you advertise for the bids in what was it December?
Paul Oehme: December, right.
Mayor Laufenburger: So hopefully that December is enough ahead of other communities like
Chanhassen that want to reconstruct roads and therefore will be part of the early asking, is that
right?
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
Paul Oehme: That’s correct.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, very good. Alright. Let’s see, so council is any comment or
anybody would like to make a motion.
Todd Gerhardt: Mayor you do have one resident here that is a part of the project.
Mayor Laufenburger: Oh.
Todd Gerhardt: Don’t know if they want to comment but.
Nicole Nejezchleba: Sure.
Mayor Laufenburger: Sure, excuse me. Thank you Mr. Gerhardt. Nicole.
Nicole Nejezchleba: Yes, thank you Mr. Mayor. This is actually why I came so I want to thank
Mr. Oehme. They’ve been doing a great job with this project communicating with the citizens
and I’m one of the citizens that has called and from what I know from the neighborhood we’re
all in support of waiting and getting a better bid. When contract, even with private contractors
timing is everything and getting stuff in the winter I think will be helpful so we’re all in support
of it waiting til next year. We’ve waiting a while. 43 years I think is the last time it was done.
We can wait one more year so thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you very much Nicole. Appreciate your support for this.
Councilman McDonald: Mr. Mayor?
Mayor Laufenburger: Councilman McDonald.
Councilman McDonald: I have a question Mr. Oehme. The past couple years we’ve been
enjoying you know decreased prices because there just hasn’t been that much competition for
projects out there. Are we entering into a new phase where now there is going to be more
competition? I know that your engineering estimate you know based somewhat upon a history
and like that. Is it possible that you’re going to have to revise your engineering estimate also?
Paul Oehme: That’s something we always look at. At the end of the year and we compare prices
from the projects that we get in and then we also talk to other cities in our area and MnDOT
actually has a list of projects and they have average prices for these type of projects. You know
unit prices for asphalt, rock and aggregate so we always look at those commodity prices as well
and you know we’ll have to tweak. We typically you know or look at those prices and adjust our
prices based upon those for next year as well and just kind of look at what the market potentially
has to offer like oil prices are a big potential factor in driving some of these prices for these
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
projects so we’ll, we’re going to look at it in the fall again and see if we need to make some
adjustments but I think if we would have a more competitive bid this year I think our prices
would have been at least better in line with what our estimates were.
Councilman McDonald: Okay, thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Mr. McDonald. Councilman Campion, yes.
Councilman Campion: Oh I was just going to propose a motion.
Mayor Laufenburger: Perfect.
Councilman Campion: Alright. The City Council rejects the bid for the Minnewashta Manor
reconstruction project number 16-01.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright, we have a valid motion. Is there a second?
Councilwoman Ryan: Second.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Councilwoman Ryan. Any further discussion?
Resolution #2016-35: Councilman Campion moved, Councilwoman Ryan seconded that
the Chanhassen City Council rejects the bid for the Minnewashta Manor Reconstruction
Project 16-01. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS.
Mayor Laufenburger: Mr. Gerhardt, quiet week.
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah kind of a quiet week. I think Jerry said it best that thank you’s to
everybody that participated in Prince’s memorial services and the logistics in organizing it but I
can’t tell you how proud I am of my staff. I don’t think they’re, I know there isn’t a single
department that wasn’t involved in some aspect of this planning of this memorial event. Even
Roger’s office got involved. He had to dust off his books and double check his copy write laws
and I think may have even learned something in the process.
Mayor Laufenburger: What? Mr. Knutson learned something.
Roger Knutson: It’s a long story. There’s, someone changed their mind and it wasn’t me.
Todd Gerhardt: But you know having Roger there, Kate, Paul, Todd, Chelsea unbelievable job
and the whole Carver County sheriff’s office and the fire department. Don and his leadership. I
think Don was out there almost during the whole event. He even brought his wife and daughter
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
out there to show them what he was experiencing and it’s very somber out there but you know
what makes me so proud of being in local government is when other cities, other government
agencies work together. South Lake PD had an officer out there from the start to the end. Our
communities in Victoria and Carver have one law enforcement officer on duty. They gave us
their officers for a period of time. We also had Eden Prairie PD help. Eden Prairie Fire
assistance. The list goes on. MnDOT played a big role in the barricades that you see along
Highway 5 in coordinating that. Every Todd and his park. I teased him a little bit today, it’s not
going to be called Lake Ann Park anymore. It’s going to be called Prince Memorial Parking so.
Mayor Laufenburger: Do you need council action on that Mr. Gerhardt?
Todd Gerhardt: No I think we should stick with Lake Ann Park.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright.
Todd Gerhardt: But you know my team does an unbelievable job when you put more pressure
on them and we just do a better job as the pressure gets greater and greater and this event shows
that so I always sign some of my emails Proud City Manager but I emphasized the word proud in
everybody’s efforts in this. And one person that really stood out and shined in this whole event
during the last 4 days, 90 hours has been our Mayor Denny Laufenburger. And Denny handled
all our press needs and did a great job on CNN. All the different TV stations and so I can’t thank
you enough for taking on that responsibility. Talking to the family. Talking to the officers.
Giving encouragement to everybody was really gave us energy to work harder and to do a better
job so thank you very much for everything that you did during that process so.
Mayor Laufenburger: You’re welcome. You’re welcome. Any other, thank you Todd.
Todd Gerhardt: You’re welcome.
Mayor Laufenburger: Any other council members want to make any comment?
Councilman McDonald: I need to make one.
Mayor Laufenburger: Councilman McDonald, yeah.
Councilman McDonald: This is just my second half but I did want to thank the Chief and the
Lieutenant while they were here because I know they always leave but I hadn’t forgotten about
you guys. I think I did send you an email today and I did say, recognize the staff but I think all
of you have done a really outstanding job. As I said what makes it so outstanding is the fact that
Chanhassen was not the story. That’s important that we were there. Everything ran seamlessly.
We did a really good job so for that I want to thank you and I think a lot of it comes back, it’s the
training and it’s all the stuff that we’ve been through. We’ve trained over the years for
catastrophes. Didn’t quite plan on it being Prince but it all worked out that the training played in
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
place for all of that and that things ran very good. I went out there for the first time today and I
can see where MnDOT with the barriers and the cement blocks and stuff to help as far as control
traffic and things so you really did a great job. I mean you set it up so that people could get to
the memorial site. We had the park pieces in place. You set up the roadway so that the roads out
there were safe so it’s just, I think you did a really good job and you made the City of
Chanhassen very proud. I’m proud to live in this community so thank you for all of that.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Councilman McDonald. Anybody else?
Councilman McDonald: Oh and I do want to thank the Mayor Denny Laufenburger because
yeah I did see you on TV quite a bit. You looked good.
Mayor Laufenburger: I credit my wife for that. Anybody else? Councilwoman Ryan.
Councilwoman Ryan: I don’t want to repeat. I think Councilman McDonald did a very eloquent
job of you know addressing you and thanking you and the City. The one key piece that stood out
so much to me was the effective communication coming from the City. In a news cycle where
people need information immediately I think the different ways that you communicated,
Facebook, website, Twitter was really important for people that were unfamiliar with our city.
How to get in and get around and do so effectively so I really appreciate the quick
communication coming from the City to make it easy for the thousands of visitors here so job
well done.
Todd Gerhardt: Thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Good. Councilwoman Tjornhom.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Of course it’s all been said except I think I also want to recognize
Sheriff Olson for the stand up job he really did. I was watching him on Fox News and you know
it wasn’t an easy position to be in with 50 microphones right there and the world watching and
all the questions that were being asked and I was very impressed with his emphasize on
respecting the privacy of the family and just the honor of Prince and he just, you know you
sometimes watch other communities and press releases from the sheriff, local authorities and this
was I think he just did a stellar job of representing Carver County and the city of Chanhassen in
the way he handled all of his communication. We have a good sheriff.
Mayor Laufenburger: We have a great sheriff, thank you Councilwoman Tjornhom. Anybody
else? Thanks.
Councilman Campion: Well said.
Mayor Laufenburger: I just have two things that I want to say. First of all I will be, the Mayor’s
been invited to the Buy Chanhassen luncheon tomorrow at 11:30 at Chanhassen Legion and I
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Chanhassen City Council – April 25, 2016
will be talking about a city update but I’ve also, will reserve just a few minutes to talk about
some of my perspectives over what I’ve observed over the last 4 days and I look forward to
sharing that with all those that are in attendance and if you’re interested in attending just,
probably the best thing would be to go to either Facebook or Twitter or connect with Vernelle
Clayton and those of you that would want to go you know who she is. She’s a pillar in the
community. The other thing I wanted to say is echoing the things that have been said. I’ve had a
chance to interact with many other mayors from other cities during this time and they, one of the
questions they ask is you know how do you do this and I would just say this very briefly.
Though when something like this, you know as a community you’re never ready for a tragedy
like this but we are always prepared. We know what to do. We rely on the processes and the
sequences of steps that we’ve practiced in smaller events and when you add all of them together,
whether it’s a smaller event or a majestic, magnanimous event like the death of one of citizens
that is, who is revered by the entire world, you figure out a way to get prepared and like good
boy scouts and girl scouts this city got prepared. Thank you Mr. Gerhardt.
Todd Gerhardt: You’re welcome Mayor Laufenburger.
Mayor Laufenburger: Any questions on the correspondence packet? Is there a motion to
adjourn?
Councilwoman Tjornhom moved, Councilman McDonald 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 8:35 p.m.
th
Mayor Laufenburger: On this April 25, 2016, five days after Prince’s death we are adjourning.
Submitted by Todd Gerhardt
City Manager
Prepared by Nann Opheim
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