Loading...
City Council Minutes 02-10-1992MINUTES REGULAR MEETING - MONTICELLO CITY COUNCIL Monday, February 10, 1992 - 7:00 p.m. Members Present: Shirley Anderson, Clint Herbst, Brad Fyle, Dan Blonigen Members Absent: Ken Maus Acting Mayor: Dan Blonigen 2. Approval of minutes. After discussion, a motion was made by Brad Fyle and seconded by Clint Herbst to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held January 27, 1992, as submitted. Motion carried unanimously. 3. Citizens comments/petitions, requests, and complaints. Tom Holthaus and Steve Holker, developers of the Cardinal Hills residential subdivision, reviewed a sketch plan of phase II of the development area. Special attention was paid to the proposed park area along with a review of the proposed interconnecting pedestrian walkways. It was the consensus of the Council that there were no major problems with the sketch plan. Assistant Administrator O'Neill noted that the sketch plan will be refined and placed before the Planning Commission and Parks Commission in the form of a preliminary plat. After the preliminary plat has been prepared, City staff will be conducting a detailed site plan review to determine if the plat is consistent with City ordinances regulating residential subdivision development. 4. Consideration of revised concept plan for warming house/ community building/restrooms in West Bridge Park. John Simola, Public Works Director, informed Council that the public works department has revised the concept plan for the building in an effort to reduce the cost of the original proposal as previously requested by Council. Under the new concept plan, the following changes have been made: The loft and gable and windows have been deleted. The wood stove and chimney have been deleted. The interior finishes on the exterior walls in the restroom have been deleted by extending the burnished block to the ceiling. The two exterior doors to the main area have been deleted. The heating system has been changed from a gas-fired boiler system to forced air. The Page 1 Council Minutes - 2/10/92 windows have been changed in the main area to economical sliding units. The roof pitch has been lowered to lessen the amount of materials. Simola went on to note that the changes are expected to save $10,000 on the original price of $60,000, bringing the cost of the structure to approximately $50,000. Simola went on to note that the Parks Commission met on February 5 and recommended that the roof pitch be raised to give it some aesthetic appeal to the public eye, as the warming house is the last thing you see going out of town, or it's the first thing you see coming into town. The Parks Commission felt that with the lower pitched roof, it would look more like a garage than a park building. It is worth the added cost of $2,000 to raise the roof line to give the structure more eye appeal. Council then reviewed the design of the structure in more detail. Clint Herbst noted that he did not believe development of a new warming house was necessary at this site. He noted that as far as he's concerned, it's a big waste of money. Brad Fyle noted that the present facility is substandard, and the park does need some kind of warming house. Dan Blonigen stated that for the usage the park gets, the proposal to spend $60,000 is too much money. John Simola noted that simply adding on bathrooms to the existing building would cost almost $30,000 if it was practical. The cost is high because bathroom fixtures in a public building must be vandal -proof and the building itself must be vandal -proof. Shirley Anderson stated that she could go along with the new proposal. Jane Phelps was in attendance. She noted that the City should put up something that is not going to need to be rebuilt. The City should be looking at the long term when developing a facility of this nature. After discussion, a motion was made by Brad Fyle and seconded by Shirley Anderson to approve the concept of developing a warming house as noted and include a 5/12 roof pitch in the Page 2 Council Minutes - 2/10/92 design standard and authorize staff to have TKDA prepare plans and specifications for further review at a future Council meeting. Voting in favor: Dan Blonigen, Shirley Anderson, Brad Fyle. Opposed: Clint Herbst. 5. Consideration of adopting revised job evaluation results/ comparable study appeals. Rick Wolfsteller reported that when the City Council adopted the comparable worth study completed by the League of Minnesota Cities in December 1991, an appeals process was allowed whereby individual employees were given the opportunity to request a review of their job points. Wolfsteller reported that 11 appeals were submitted and processed. Sherrie Le, personnel advisor for the League, was the primary consultant who initially prepared our new comparable worth study. She also reviewed each appeal and made a judgment on each appeal's merit accordingly. As a result of the appeal process, two positions, including the Building and Zoning Inspector position and the Water and Sewer Collection Superintendent position, were upgraded to a higher grade resulting in a change in pay structure. The remaining appeals resulted in adjustments to points without any grade changes. Wolfsteller went on to note that all employees who appealed their job evaluation results did receive a change in points assigned with one individual actually losing one point upon review. He noted that no process is perfect, and many employees are still unsatisfied with the results; but nonetheless, Council should adopt the recommendations of Sherrie Le. Wolfsteller went on to say that the consultant prepared the original study and as such, it is assumed that Council would want to accept the consultant's recommendations pertaining to each appeal. While the Council could certainly allow additional appeals to be made on the original appeals, the process could go on forever, which may not be feasible. Dan Blonigen stated that the study was flawed because 11 employees appealed. Shirley Anderson noted that she does not blame people for appealing their points. She stated that she would do the same thing if she felt that there was a chance that points could be increased. Page 3 Council Minutes - 2/10/92 Clint Herbst concurred that he too would have taken the initiative to appeal points awarded. The number of appeals does not necessarily mean the system was flawed. 011ie Koropchak noted that her appeal was submitted in time to meet the deadline; however, the Economic Development Director's appeal was submitted after completion by the League of all other individual appeals. She also noted that of the appeals submitted, her position was the only position in which administration appealed point values not addressed by the employee in his or her appeal. Koropchak noted that Sherri Le of the League of Minnesota Cities informed Koropchak that she talked to Administration about this fact and suggested that Koropchak note the fact to Council. Koropchak said it was how the process was handled and not the point factors. Rick Wolfsteller noted that when the appeals process was established, it was understood that anyone that appealed the points awarded for their position opened up the door for administration appealing points that could result in the loss of points. Wolfsteller noted that the position of Economic Development Director included points for working conditions that did not appear to be justified. He, therefore, appealed points for those conditions whereupon the League of Minnesota Cities agreed with his appeal, and the Economic Development Director's points were reduced in these areas accordingly. 011ie Koropchak reiterated that the position of Economic Development Director was the only one that was subject to an appeal by the City Administrator. Clint Herbst wondered how often the City must review each position in terms of pay equity and how often is the point system adjusted. Rick Wolfsteller responded by saying that adjusting points occurs only when there is a major change to the job description. Ideally, there should be no need for wholesale updates to the pay equity program. After discussion, a motion was made by Clint Herbst and seconded by Shirley Anderson to accept the recommendations of the League of Minnesota Cities' Sherrie Le adjusting the point values for each of the job classes as noted along with pay adjustments to the Building and Zoning Inspector and the Water/Sewer Collection Superintendent positions that resulted from the appeals process. Page 4 Council Minutes - 2/10/92 During discussion, John Simola noted that it was his view that the procedure for establishing the point system was flawed. He stated that he did not believe the consultant had a good understanding of the position because the questionnaire was not comprehensive, and his 20 -minute interview with the consultant regarding his position did not provide ample opportunity to outline and describe his position. In addition, it was Simola's view that the appeals process was flawed, as it was of short duration, and he had no opportunity to discuss his appeal with the consultant face to face. Simola was concerned, as the appeal had to be made to the same individual who set the original job values, and this person may not have been totally objective about the appeal. It was his view that the League salary structure was affected by the existing salary structure in the City, and the outcome of the study would have been different had the League not known the individual salaries of each employee beforehand. Simola requested that he be provided the opportunity to sit down with his supervisor, Sherrie Le, and her supervisor and openly discuss the appeal. Simola went on to note that the education requirement associated with his position is insufficient. He stated that his position is very diverse and requires an experience level or education that exceeds the minimum noted in the job description in order to perform the duties effectively. Dan Blonigen suggested that at some point the appeals process must be completed. It was the consensus of Council to end the appeal process. After discussion, a vote on the motion was taken and carried unanimously. 6. Consideration of annual maintenance agreement for county state aid highways in the city of Monticello. John Simola reviewed the maintenance agreement for snow and ice removal for County Road 75 from Willow Street near Pinewood Elementary School to County Road 118 near Riverroad Plaza. He noted that the agreement covers 25% of snow and ice removal on County State Aid Highway 39 from the City public works building to County Road 75. Simola reminded the Council that the cost paid to the City is based on Wright County's average annual cost per mile for routine maintenance the previous year. Page 5 Council Minutes - 2/10/92 Simola went on to recommend that the Council approve the maintenance agreement as enclosed. This maintenance agreement will result in a better level of service to the community for snow and ice removal than if performed solely by the county. After discussion, a motion was made by Shirley Anderson and seconded by Brad Fyle to approve the maintenance agreement with Wright County as presented. Motion carried unanimously. 7. _Consideration of adopting an ordinance amendment to Section 12-2 of the City of Monticello Zoning Ordinance which would allow a convenience store to operate as a permitted use in a B-2 zone. Applicant, City of Monticello. Assistant Administrator O'Neill informed Council that a few months ago the City adopted a zoning ordinance amendment that moved convenience store use from the permitted use category in the B-1 zone to the conditional use category. This change had the inadvertent effect of eliminating convenience stores as a permitted use in the B-2, B-3, and B-4 zones. This occurred because in the B-2 zone regulation, it states that all uses permitted in the B-1 zone are also permitted in the B-2 zone; therefore, when Council took the action to remove convenience stores from the list of permitted uses in the B-1 zone, convenience stores could no longer roll into the B-2, B-3, and B-4 zones. After discussion, a motion was made by Shirley Anderson and seconded by Clint Herbst to adopt an ordinance amendment to Section 12-2 of the City of Monticello Zoning Ordinance which would allow a convenience store to operate as a permitted use in a B-2 zone. The zoning ordinance amendment is approved based on the finding that previous City action to remove convenience stores from the B-1 list of permitted uses did not intend to eliminate convenience store use from the B-2 through B-4 zones. Motion carried unanimously. SEE ORDINANCE AMENDMENT NO. 220. 8. Review of 1991 liquor store financial report. Rick Wolfsteller provided the liquor store financial report and noted that the liquor store operations appear to be very favorable and that total operating income for 1991 is over $18,000, a 13% increase over 1990. When including other income consisting primarily of interest income on investments, the total liquor store revenue amounts to $215,192. This is $26,000 higher than last year. Gross profit from operations also showed an increase in 1991 to $331,689 compared to $295,696 in 1990. Gross profit margins are at 23.49% of total Page 6 Council Minutes - 2/10/92 sales, which appear to be in line with our expectations. The overall net operating income of 10.8% is also satisfactory and is meeting our goals. After discussion, it was the consensus of Council that Joe Hartman is doing a good job, and he was commended for maintaining excellent sales during the recession. It was also the consensus of Council to advertise in a responsible manner and to reduce the annual advertising budget from $7,500 to $6,000. 9. Other matters. Economic Development Director, 011ie Koropchak, provided Council with a summary of the results of the business retention survey. Council reviewed the information. No action was taken. There being no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned. Jelf 'f 'O' Neill Assistant Administrator Page 7