City Council Minutes 12-17-1990
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MINUTE
SPECIAL MEETING - MONTI ELLO CITY COUNCIL
Monday, December 17, 990 - 3:30 p.m.
Members Present:
Ken Maus, Fran Fair, Warren Smith, Shirley
Anderson, Dan B onigen
Members Absent:
None
2.
consideration of
dial-a-ride bus s
Monticello Heartland Ex ress
for 1991 and 1992.
Assistant Administrator reviewed the staff and
Monticello Transportation Advisory Committee analysis of the
two bids submitted to the i ty of Monticello. 0 I Neill
summarized the analysis by sa ing that the bid submitted by
Hoglund coach Lines and the b d submitted by Medavan over a
four-year time period would r suIt in approximately the same
cost. In terms of performance Hoglund Coach Lines has shown
throughout the first year of s rvice that the organization is
capable of providing excellent transportation service. It is
not likely that Medavan will be able to improve upon the
service provided by Hoglund Co ch Lines; therefore, given the
fact that the costs are reI ti vely equal, the Monticello
Transportation Advisory Co ittee, along with staff,
recommends that the City sel ct Hoglund Coach Lines as the
transportation service provid r for 1991 and 1992.
Warren smith remarked that e is happy with the way the
transportation system has oper ted. He stated that the system
is still relatively new and b ilding its ridership.
Fran Fair agreed that the tr nsportation system is good for
the city.
After discussion, motion was made by Fran Fair, seconded by
Warren Smith, to award the 1991/1992 Monticello Heartland
Express contract to Hoglund Co ch Lines of Monticello. Motion
carried unanimously.
3. Consideration of establishin an assessment formula for the
Sandberq East, 90-4 pro;ect.
City Administrator, Rick Wolf teller, reported that the 1990-4
improvement project servicing the Sandberg East development is
nearing completion with prima ily restoration work left to do
in the spring. Staff has bee accumulating costs involved in
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Special Council Minutes - 12/17/90
this project and has compiled a total project cost, including
change orders and all indirec costs. Total project cost for
construction only will total 172,230. To this figure we must
add indirect costs such as e gineering, legal fees, bonding
costs, etc., to arrive at to al project cost. With indirect
costs, the total project c st has amounted to $223,400.
Wolfsteller then reviewed two methods by which the costs could
be allocated to benefiting property owners. Wolfsteller
reviewed option A which ess ntially called for the entire
project cost to be assessed to benefiting property owners
except for the City assuming 285 feet of side frontage along
Gillard and also would include the City paying for the
oversizing expenses associat d with future extension of the
utilities. Wolfsteller note that utilizing this option may
result in a proposed assesse amount for each lot that might
be excessive. The reason why it is excessive is because only
one side of the roadway can e developed, and there are not
enough property owners to sp ead the total cost to.
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Wolfsteller remarked that u der Exhibit B the City would
assume 25% of the lateral ewer and water cost, with the
remaining amount to be assess d to benefiting property owners
on a front footage basis plus service connections.
Wolfsteller noted that und r this option, the individual
assessment amounts will not be excessive. In this situation,
a precedent for the City payi g 25% of the cost of the lateral
sewer and water cost is not bing set because the City is, to
some extent, forced to prov de sewer and water to the area
that was annexed as platted land. In addition, the only path
available to get to the annex d property had limited access to
the sewer and water lines f om one side of the improvement.
Finally, Wolfsteller noted hat although the City will be
paying for a portion of th lateral sewer and water costs
associated with this project in the long run, the City will
be able to recover a major po tion of that expense through the
application of an area asses ment to be applied against those
properties that utilize this water and sewer service line at
some point in the future.
Ken Maus noted that Council decided to go ahead with this
project for environmental reasons. Extending the utilities to
Sandberg East was the right way to do it but not the least
expensive.
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Fran Fair asked if staff fee s costs can be picked up with
area assessments associated w th future projects in the area.
Rick Wolfsteller responded by saying that the area assessment
could be applied to pick up a major portion of the City's
contribution to the project.
Ken Maus asked if the cost per foot being charged to the
benefiting property owners under option B is similar to that
charged to properties improve as part of other City projects.
John Simola reported that the cost per foot under Option B is
nearly the same as that whic was charged to property owners
that received benefit from te Highway 39 project done a few
years earlier; therefore, th cost per foot being charged is
consistent with what other p operty owners have paid. Under
Option B, the cost per foot is quite higher than what the
normal improvement cost per f ot would be, essentially because
only one side of the roadway is being assessed.
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Dan Blonigen remarked that Ci y payment of 25% of the project
cost amounts to a City subsi y. He asked why we are dipping
into the taxpayers bag. Ke Maus responded by saying that
this is a unique situation wh re it was important to the City
future considerations that ut Ii ties be extended to this area.
At the same time, however, t e project costs have to be at a
level that the property owners can live with. At some point,
the assessments become too arge which could result in the
City ultimately obtaining th property.
Motion was made by Fran Fair 0 select Exhibit B as a program
for assessing benefiting property owners, which includes City
absorbing 25% of the lateral sewer and water expenses due to
the unique situation whereby only one side of the improvement
can be assessed. This al ernati ve was chosen with the
understanding that a portion of all of the amount absorbed by
the City may be recapture in the future through area
assessments when additiona properties are developed or
annexed.
Dan Blonigen noted that he might support a compromise between
option A and Option B. Shir ey Anderson was concerned that a
precedent might be set here. Wolfsteller reiterated that the
precedent is diminished beca se of the unique situation.
Ken Maus seconded the motion and expressed support for moving
ahead with Option B. Votin in favor of the motion:
Fair, Ken Maus, Shirley Ande son, Warren Smith. Opposed:
Blonigen.
Fran
Dan
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Spec"al Council Minutes - 12/17/90
Rick wolfsteller noted that J hn Sandberg requested that the
assessment be placed agains four lots. Council did not
oppose placing assessments ag inst 4 of the 13 lots owned by
Sandberg so long as there is sufficient security that in the
event the assessments are not paid, the City will be able to
obtain a property without going through the tax forfeiture
process.
4.
Ratification of salar
City Administrator Wolfstel
outline of proposed salary
employees. Ken Maus reviewe
called for providing the
flexibility to provide staff
pool.
er presented Council with an
adjustments for all non-union
previous Council action which
City Administrator with the
increases utilizing a $26,000
Marlene Hellman expressed her concern that the method by which
the overall employee increase were distributed was not fair.
She complained that the evalu tion system was not consistent,
and the method by which the money was distributed was not
fair.
Rick Wolfsteller noted that h would be happy to sit down with
Marlene and discuss the spe ific reasons behind her salary
adjustment.
Shirley Anderson noted that f Rick can support the increase
proposed for each employee, s e can support the overall plan.
Rick Wolfsteller described i stances where individual salary
adjustments could be readjust d in a manner that would improve
comparable worth relationshi s.
Ken Maus noted that he would
Administrator an additiona;
increase certain individuals
Administrator.
ot be against providing the City
sum to provide latitude to
s deemed appropriate by the City
After discussion, motion made by Shirley Anderson,
seconded by Warren smith, to adopt the salary schedule as
proposed with the addition of $500 to be used to correct
inequities in the proposed s hedule as deemed appropriate by
the City Administrator. vot"ng in favor of the motion: Ken
Maus, Warren Smith, Fran Fair, Shirley Anderson. Absent: Dan
Blonigen.
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Special Council Minutes - 12/10/90
Rick Wolfsteller stated that it is certainly a good idea to
begin implementation of a fo mal evaluation system. We have
the forms already, and we sho Id be evaluating each person at
their anniversary date.
o~
Jeff O'Neill
Assistant Administrator
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