City Council Minutes 01-27-2003 SpecialMINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING - MONTICELLO CITY COUNCIL
Monday, January 27, 2003 - 5 p.m.
Members Present: Roger Carlson, Glen Posusta, Brian Stumpf and Bruce Thielen.
Members Absent: None
1. Call the meeting to order.
Mayor Thielen called the meeting to order at 5 p.m.
2. Consideration of establishing City goals and priorities
Mayor Thielen stated the purpose of the meeting was to continue a process started a number of years
ago which established a vision and governing policy and set a list of goals. This policy was adopted
by the City Council in 1997 and in reviewing it at this time the consensus of the Council was that the
City had followed this policy fairly closely. The relationship between Council and staff was
discussed with the view being that the Council holds staff accountable for how the objectives are
achieved. Bruce Thielen stated that a performance appraisal system which is in place would be way
of measuring accountability of staff.
Jeff O'Neill reviewed the process that was used when the City first established the Community Vision
and Governing Policies. The list of priorities that were established at that time was also reviewed.
The Council felt a similar procedure should be used for establishing the current Council's priorities. In
discussing the procedures to be use, the Council felt that there should be input from the various
commissions and that each commission should come up with their top priorities for Council
consideration. With input from the Fire Department, Library Board, HRA, Parks Commission,
Planning Commission, etc. the Council felt the list of goals would be fairly encompassing. It was also
felt that the Community Vision and Governing Policy document should reviewed each year along with
the list of priorities. Staff was directed to get the various commissions started on reviewing the
governing policies and forming their list of priorities. It is hoped that the Council will get the list of
priorities in March.
The Mayor and Council then discussed some areas of priorities. Brian Stumpf listed: 1) Work more
closely with the schools; 2) acquisition of industrial land 3) extension of 7"' Street (east and west) and
along with that improvements to Elm Street. Bruce Thielen's list also included 7t" Street and he felt
there should be a planning process done, similar to that for Walnut Street to come up with a design
layout for 7" Street. He would like to see re -instituted, in some fashion, the spring tree planting
program. Another area he felt should be looked into was greater use of contractors. There was also
discussion on the City's working relationship with developers and builders. Particularly, Bruce
Thielen wanted clarification from those parties who felt the City was difficult to work as to why their
experience was difficult or what procedure or individual created difficulty for them in their dealings
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with the City. Glen Posusta stated that it would be unlikely that those individuals who incurred
problems would be open with their criticism since they would be concerned about repercussions in
future dealings should it be known they criticized staff. There is concern by the Council that the
perception exists that the City is difficult to deal with. Whether the notion is real or perceived, the
Council felt it was something to be addressed. Jeff O'Neill stated that the previous Mayor had on
occasions acted as kind of a mediator between staff and developers when there were problems. 011ie
Koropchak stated that she had a form from Elk River that they used to measure developer feedback.
Other areas that Bruce Thielen felt should be looked at were code enforcement, which he felt should
focus more on educating the public rather than imposing penalties and developing a transportation
priority list along with development of the street reconstruction program. He felt funds set aside for
street reconstruction could be utilized on other transportation priorities such as interchange, etc. It was
also suggested that the City look at some type of annexation agreement with the Township. Roger
Carlson stated that many of his concerns had already been mentioned but he did emphasize that the
City will in the next few months be dealing with an influx of commercial and industrial development.
He felt it was very important to identify land areas that were suitable for industrial use and make sure
the zoning was in place for that use. Brian Stumpf stated that as the Council addresses these issues it
would be helpful to have current maps. He also felt that Council updates between meetings was very
helpful and he hoped they would continue.
The Council discussed a number of transportation issues such as the interchange at Orchard Road and
the changes for County Road 18. City Engineer, Bret Weiss, stated the Federal Highway
Administration may be considering changing the standards regulating access to freeways which would
increase the access spacing to 5 miles instead of the current 1 mile spacing. Glen Posusta felt an
interchange on the east end of town would help reduce some of the traffic on TH 25. There was
discussion on the time frame for the interchanges and possible design layouts. The Council also
discussed how the layout of the interchanges could impact alignment of City streets such as 7t" Street.
It was also noted in discussion of blights and ordinance enforcement that people perceive there are
inequities in how enforcement is done. Glen Posusta concurred noting that the sign ordinance was a
good example of this and he cited some instances.
City Engineer, Bret Weiss, presented information and a schedule for implementing the City's core
street reconstruction program. Bruce Thielen noted that in implementing the program it was
important that the City inform the public and develop a good process for making the improvements.
Since this would be a long term project establishing good procedures early on would make it easier in
the long term as the program progresses. The City is in the process of preparing a pavement
management plan and based on preliminary information they feel that the southwesterly area of the
City, the Meadow Oaks area and Hillcrest are among some of the areas most in need of repair. Bret
Weiss spent some time explaining the state aid system for street and how state aid monies were
determined. Rick Wolfsteller will get a map showing the state aid streets within the City for the
Council. Further information on the improvement program including state aids and other funding
sources will be presented to the Council at their February 1 Ot" meeting. Bruce Thielen stated that
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there are new regulations in place relating to stormwater runoff and he suggested that the City look at
possibly establishing a stormwater utility fund. John Simola informed the Council that as many as
75% of the catch basins located in the core city area would need repair or replacement so he agreed
that there should be a fund established to handle that need.
Bruce Thielen reported that he has been talking with Kim Sawatzke and Mike Benedetto about
setting a meeting with local legislators to discuss the state budget deficit and how it will impact the
schools and the city. It is tentatively scheduled for March.
Mary Barger representing the IDC expressed her support for the City's acquisition of industrial land.
Bruce Thielen closed the goal setting workshop at 6:3 5 p.m.
( D O.� �� S
Recording Secretary