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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017 08-28 CCM Studay SessionMINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND THE STATE OF MINNESOTA STUDY SESSION AUGUST 28, 2017 CITY HALL - COUNCIL CHAMBERS [' U - Kill] i I] The Brooklyn Center City Council met in Study Session called to order by Mayor Tim Willson at 6:00 p.m. ItO] U Mayor Tim Willson and Councilmembers Marquita Butler, Kris Lawrence-Anderson, and Dan Ryan. Councilmember April Graves was absent and excused. Also present were City Manager Curt Boganey, Deputy City Manager Reggie Edwards, Finance Director Nate Reinhardt, Acting Director of Public Works Mike Marsh, Director of Business and Development Gary Eitel, Director of Community Activities, Recreation and Services Jim Glasoe, City Attorney Troy Gilchrist, and Carla Wirth, TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. CITY COUNCIL MEDIA TRAINING City Manager Curt Boganey announced that CCX was not available tonight so media training will be deferred to the next Council meeting. CITY COUNCIL DISCUSSION OF AGENDA ITEMS AND QUESTIONS Councilmember Ryan requested discussion on Item 6c, a Resolution Authorizing the Issuance of Special Permits for Extended Sales Hours for the 2018 Super Bowl. He noted staff recommends the adoption of this resolution and asked where the request comes from. Councilmember Ryan stated his concern is the recommendation to extend sale hours until 4 a.m. City Manager Curt Boganey stated an Earle Brown Heritage Center (EBHC) user would like to host a Super Bowl party and made the request. Councilmember Ryan asked if another user comes forward with a similar request, would the City Council have to consider approval. Mr. Boganey answered in the affirmative if it is a qualified applicant. Councilmember Ryan asked if the Police Department had reviewed this request or had concerns. Mr. Boganey stated the Police Department reviewed this request and had no objections. MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION REGARDING AGGRESSIVE PANHANDLING ORDINANCE Mayor Willson referenced his e-mail dated August 18, 2017, related to a Wikipedia definition of 08/28/17 -1- aggressive panhandling, noting he had not found similar panhandling ordinance language in the City's ordinance. He noted the Police Department considers it to be a nuisance and he thinks this language would provide a guideline of sorts. Mayor Willson stated he supports direction to the City Attorney to review this language to determine whether it is applicable, would hold up in court, and render a legal opinion. Councilmember Butler stated the City Council had discussed signs and asked if that will be pursued. Mayor Willson stated the signs are being manufactured but not yet installed and he does not yet know whether the State and County will allow signs to be posted along their roadways. Councilmember Butler raised the issue of a bicycle and other items sitting within the median and asked if police officers can address that issue since it may be considered littering or a nuisance. Mayor Willson explained the thinking was that those items may be a safety issue but the signage would not remove the person. He commented on a woman's picture that had been posted to Facebook this week showing her one lane into traffic soliciting money, which is a clear violation. Councilmember Butler stated her support for a panhandling ordinance. Mr. Boganey stated the Police Chief is researching how to address items within the median that may fall into the roadway, creating a traffic hazard, and a recommendation will be presented to the Council at a future date. He advised the next step, if there is City Council consensus to consider an ordinance to address aggressive panhandling, would be to direct the City Attorney to review this language and other ordinances that address the issue of aggressive panhandling and provide the City Council with a report or ordinance draft he determines to be supportable by court decisions that have been approved. Councilmember Ryan stated his support for that recommendation. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson stated she also supports moving the item to City Attorney review, noting it is the prerogative of people to give panhandlers money but it is quite dangerous. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson asked, with regard to the woman shown on Facebook, whether she can be ticketed. Mayor Willson answered that is a clear violation and the woman can be ticketed if witnessed by a police officer. Mr. Boganey agreed that is correct or there would have to be a person who observed the action and was willing to testify in court. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson asked whether officers could patrol the corner of Brooklyn Boulevard and Bass Lake Road a little more frequently without spending too much money. Mr. Boganey explained that officers have defined areas of patrol so it is difficult to concentrate on a given area without neglecting the areas they are to be patrolling. He stated they do concentrate patrolling when a systemic issue is identified that needs to be addressed that has immediate benefit but that cannot be sustained for weeks or months at a time. Mr. Boganey noted in some cases, the issue returns when the patrol officers leave the area. The City Council reached consensus to direct staff to further research ordinance language and return with a recommendation. 08/28/17 -2- Mayor Willson stated he did an interview with local cable about the bus hub and heard back from the police union president that they would need seven more officers to do a 24/7 rotation to address issues with the busses. Mayor Willson stated if there are that many officers at the bus hub, the intersection mentioned by Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson is not too far from the bus hub so maybe it can be patrolled more often. Mayor Willson stated he and City Manager Boganey met with mayors that have stops on the Blue Line along with Commissioner Opat and the prevailing thinking is rather than having the same lobbyist as the Southwest rail line, we should consider our own lobbyists and pay the dollars from each city along the line. If supported by the City Council, Brooklyn Center's portion would be about $500 per month to support this lobbyist. He stated if the Blue Line comes to Brooklyn Center at a cost of $500 per month for ten months, that would be a good deal to get the needed transportation to jobs. In addition, it will bring more businesses and jobs to Brooklyn Center. Mayor Willson recommended placing this topic on a future agenda if City Council action is needed. The City Council voiced no objection to the Mayor's recommendation. Mr. Boganey stated he, as the City Manager, has the authority to expend that level of funds if there is no City Council objection. Mayor Willson stated if the City Council does take formal action, that may be of benefit as well. Mr. Boganey stated he will place this topic on a future agenda. Mayor Willson announced Commissioner Opat has asked mayors to present thoughts on the Blue Line during his meeting tomorrow. Mayor Willson explained that Councilmember Ryan will be attending tomorrow's presentation on the Legacy Award through the National Football League associated with next year's Super Bowl to eligible recipients. He invited all Councilmembers to attend that meeting. Councilmember Butler explained that the only date for the CEAP food distribution, other than this Friday, would be Friday, September 15, from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Mayor Willson and Councilmembers Ryan and Lawrence-Anderson stated that date works for them as well. Councilmember Ryan referenced a letter from Karen Anderson of Emerson Avenue, relating to issues with the City sanitary sewer lines. He thanked Interim Director of Public Works Mike Marsh for visiting with those residents and agreeing to notify them the next time that type of work is done so they don't suffer any consequences. Mr. Boganey stated his appreciation for the letter and indicated in the past, the City has always notified those residents. Councilmember Ryan thanked staff for being focused on customer service. ADJOURN STUDY SESSION TO INFORMAL OPEN FORUM WITH CITY COUNCIL Councilmember Ryan moved and Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson seconded to close the Study Session at 6:24 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. 08/28/17 -3- OA DI D&VLSii t41 ai [IAI Councilmember Ryan moved and Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson seconded to convene the Work Session at 6:50 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. &I(] FlU DI I U Mr. Boganey stated this topic was considered by the City Council several months ago and now staff has conducted further analysis and negotiated with the vendor. Finance Director Nate Reinhardt introduced the item, explaining there have been 3,688 Meter Interface Unit (MIU) failures to date out of approximately 9,000 total MIUs. The current water meter system has an outstanding bond payment of $1,488,062 over the next eight years on the original investment of current water meters, or average annual payment of $186,000. Mr. Reinhardt described the four primary challenges and concerns with these failed MIUs as detailed in the staff report. Mr. Reinhardt stated the City's consultant, TKDA, completed a water meter feasibility study to evaluate different scenarios, multiple solutions, and iterations of those options. He presented the three primary options to replace MIUs as they fail, replace the remaining MIUs with newer version MIUs ($880,000), or competitively bid 9,000 new meters for a complete new system ($1,935,000). Mr. Reinhardt explained that since then, Ferguson/Neptune met with staff in an effort to address these issues and return to a positive working relationship. He described those discussion points and stated during those meetings, challenges and potential solutions to overcome those challenges were identified including: 1. Ferguson providing the labor to schedule/replace defective meters through the end of the current full meter replacement coverage period (through 2019 at no cost to the City). The transmitter will be wall mounted to provide better transmission and a 2020 and 2021 contracted rate will be provided to the City for consideration. The estimated cost savings to the City is $130,000 over a two-year period. 2. Neptune will extend the full meter replacement warranty for a period of two years from 2019 to 2021. The estimated cost savings to the City is $150,000. 3. Ferguson/Neptune will install three gateways at no charge, which would be placed on City water towers that would allow for the capture of meter readings. It is estimated that about 60% of the meter reads could be captured through these three gateways. The estimated cost savings would be $20,000 per gateway or $60,000 total. The digital meters would be wall mounted to assist with meter reads. Mr. Reinhardt stated the City would purchase and install the new software necessary to obtain fixed reads at an estimated cost of $5,000. This would allow Public Works and Utility Billing staff access to real time data on usage for meters read by the fixed system. In addition, remote access of the software would be provided to Ferguson to allow quicker response time for the replacement of failed meters. 08/28/17 -4- Mr. Reinhardt stated staff recommends the City formalize and agree to these proposals as it will reduce the amount of staff time currently dedicated to meter replacements, reduce the potential exposure with defective meters by extending the warranty, and provide significant benefits by moving the City in the direction of a fixed read system. Mr. Reinhardt asked whether the City Council deems the planned approach to be acceptable or if the City needs a change in direction. Councilmember Butler asked whether Ferguson would cover the cost of the gateway at $60,000. Mr. Reinhardt answered in the affirmative and reviewed the anticipated timing to install the three gateways. Councilmember Ryan asked whether the City would pay for the remote units on the water towers. Mr. Reinhardt stated that would also be covered by the vendor, both equipment and installation. The City would pay for the software and maintenance. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson asked for an explanation of how a gateway reads individual property meters. Mr. Reinhardt stated currently, staff drives through each neighborhood and reads the meter through software in the truck. With the gateway, most of the reading will go directly to the water tower. He explained that if this was a new system, the wire would be run to the outside of the house but Ferguson is confident that most of the readings will be captured with the gateway. Staff will then map the areas where readings are not captured and those areas will be driven. Mayor Willson stated in his opinion, he thinks given the current meter situation, work with the vendor, and high cost to replace the entire system, the best solution is to replace failed meters and eventually the system will have new meters. He voiced support for staffs recommendation, noting it is the best financially for the City. Councilmember Ryan agreed and stated it is making the best of a bad situation. Councilmembers Lawrence-Anderson and Butler concurred. The City Council reached consensus to direct staff to formalize and agree to these proposals as it will reduce the amount of staff time currently dedicated to meter replacements, reduce the potential exposure with defective meters by extending the warranty, and provide significant benefits by moving the City in direction of a fixed read system. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Willson adjourned the meeting at 7:00 p.m. 08/28/17 -5- STATE OF MINNESOTA) COUNTY OF FIENNEPIN) ss. Certification of Minutes CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER) The undersigned, being the duly qualified and appointed City Clerk of the City of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, certifies: 1.That attached hereto is a full, true, and complete transcript of the minutes of a Study Session of the City Council of the City of Brooklyn Center held on August 28, 2017. 2.That said meeting was held pursuant to due call and notice thereof and was duly held at Brooklyn Center City Hall. 3. That the City Council adopted said minutes at its September 11, 2017, Regular Session. City Clerk Mayor 08/28/17 -6-