WS 1999 07 19CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES
MONDAY, JULY 19, 1999
MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Mancino, Council members Labatt, Senn, Jansen.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Councilman Engel
STAFF PRESENT: Scott Botcher, City Manager; Charles Folch, Public Works Director
BEDDOR ENTRY MONUMENT: Councilman Senn gave a presentation indicating that Mr.
Beddor is still interested in donating a lot at the intersection of Highway 5 and Powers Boulevard
to the City of Chanhassen for use as some public purpose, preferably one involving a green space
or public use. Councilman Senn indicated that Mr. Beddor has an interest in a right of review
over what is put there in consultation with city staff. Following a discussion of what may go
there, staff was instructed to check on a few things:
1. Buildability of the lot--is the lot currently a buildable lot?
Special assessments--it is understood that there are special assessments against the
property at the current time. If so, what is the outstanding balance of this assessment? If
donated, what happens to this assessment?
The City Manager is to communicate to the Community Development Department to
begin putting together some alternatives for the use of this property, perhaps focusing on
the establishment of a community bulletin board/signage integrated in an aesthetically
tasteful way into a landscaped effort on the corner.
PILLSBURY SEWER CHARGES: Mr. Jim Costello, agent for Pillsbury, was present at the
work session and gave a brief description of the internal engineering Pillsbury has undertaken
allowing the city to bill Pillsbury for actual sanitary sewer services consumed, not water
consumed. City ordinance and MCES administrative guidelines both allow and candidly prefer
this methodology for the building. The council discussed this briefly and this issue will appear on
the July 26, 1999 council meeting on the consent agenda.
PUBLIC WORKS EXPANSION: City Manager, Scott Botcher, opened the discussion with a
brief introduction and stated that the main purpose for this worksession item was to clarify and
confirm what additional information or issues the Council would like to have addressed prior to
making a decision on moving forward with an expansion project. Councilwoman Jansen stated
that she would like to see a more specific and detailed analysis of the immediate and future space
needs of the Public Works operations, i.e. more numbers, statistics, and directly tied correlations.
Mayor Mancino stated that she would like to have the space needs and proposed phasing plan
developed based on the capital equipment replacement schedule. The Mayor also indicated a
desire to obtain information on the lifecycle cost comparison of storing some equipment outside
versus inside, if that type of information is available. The Mayor also stated that the overall cost
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES
JULY 19, 1999
PAGE 2
and plan for the expansion should include the phone system and computer system upgrades
needed, along with information on the replacement and relocation plan for the Lake Ann park
maintenance storage buildings (i.e. space needed, timing, and location). Councilman Senn
indicated that it is his opinion, this issue boils down to two fundamental questions. The first is
"what do we want to do", and the second is "when do we want to do it." Councilman Labatt also
echoed a desire to see the space needs defined on more specific growth projections. City
Manager Botcher then closed by concluding that he was not certain the City received full bang for
the buck with the consultant pre-design work which had been prepared by Amcon. Manager
Botcher also felt that staff could provide a report based on a rationale of needs using the vehicle
and equipment capital replacement schedule, etc. rather than hiring a consultant to perform this
work. Public Works Director Folch expressed concern as to whether or not staff efforts would be
perceived as being unbiased or impartial in preparing the desired update to the needs study, or
whether it should be conducted by an outside independent consultant. The City Council did not
foresee a problem with staff performing the work and concluded by directing City Manager
Botcher to work with staff to prepare the update to the needs report in-house.
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES MEMBERSHIP: City Manager Botcher asked if the city
council wanted to remain members of the National League of Cities. The annual membership
costs approximately $1,100. The consensus of council members was that the educational
opportunities present at the National League of Cities may well behoove the city to maintain
membership in the National League of Cities. The City Manager indicated that he will have the
bill coded and paid.
ESTABLISH CRITERIA FOR SIX MONTH CITY MANAGER REVIEW: City Manager
Botcher indicated that he wished council to establish criteria for a six month City Manager review
consistent with discussions he held during interviews and with notation within the employment
agreement. City Manager Botcher indicated that he wished to have identified what was going to
be measured, how it was going to be measured, and when it was going to be measured. The
consensus of the council was in agreement with that. To that end, Mr. Bob Benson of Sathe &
Associates will be contacted to work with the council to help identify these issues in the process
to follow at the six month review mark. Mr. Benson was recommended as Sathe & Associates
was involved in the interview process and has a good grasp of the issues in Chanhassen as well as
the demands of the position.
POTENTIAL CANCELLATION OF THE AUGUST 2N~ WORK SESSION: The consensus
of the group was to cancel the August 2nd work session.
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS:
1. Mayor Mancino requested that Dave MacGillivrary come to a work session and make a
presentation regarding his CIP/Debt Service calculations.
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES
JULY 19, 1999
PAGE 3
Staff will re-establish the bid list for the six services provided to the city that should be
RFP'd. It was communicated to the manager that the council had established a process by
which independent contractors/consultants each year would be subject to an RFP process.
The City Manager indicated that he has never seen such a list and the Mayor indicated that
such a written document may not exist and that the Manager may wish to re-establish this
list and cycle for future communication and usage.
Respectfully submitted,
Scott A. Botcher
City Manager
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