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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes i� ��tJV� �ri°t � y � ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ���� �ri e ar�d PC�� t MINUTES COTTAGE GROVE CITY COUNCIL October 5, 2016 COUNCIL CHAMBER 12800 RAVINE PARKWAY SOUTH REGULAR MEETING - 7:00 P.M. 1. CALL TO ORDER The City Council of the City of Cottage Grove, Washington County, Minnesota, held a regular meeting on October 5, 2016 at Cottage Grove City Hall, 12800 Ravine Parkway. Mayor Bailey called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The audience, staff, and Mayor and City Council Members recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL The following were present: Mayor Myron Bailey, Council Member Steve Dennis, Council Member Justin Olsen, Council Member Jen Peterson, Council Member Dave Thiede. Also present were: Charlene Stevens, City Administrator; Korine Land, City Attorney- LeVander, Gillen & Miller, PA; Ryan Burfeind, Project Engineer; Les Burshten, Public Works Director; Joe Fischbach, HR Manager/City Clerk; Jennifer Levitt, Community Development Director/City Engineer; Rick Redenius, Fire Chief; Robin Roland, Finance Director; Craig Woolery, Public Safety Director. 4. OPEN FORUM Mayor Bailey asked if anyone in the audience wished to address the Council on any item that was not on the agenda. As no one wished to address the Council, Mayor Bailey closed the Open Forum. 5. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Motion by Council Member Olsen, second by Council Member Thiede, to adopt the agenda. Motion carried: 5-0. CITY OF COTTAGE GROVE • 12800 Ravine Parkway • Cottage Grove, Minnesota 55016 www.cottage-grove.org • 651-458-2800 • Fax 651-458-2897 • Equal Opportunity Employer City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2016 Page 2 6. PRESENTATIONS A. Presentation of K9 Vest from Operation Thank an Officer Public Safety Director Woolery stated the Police Department received a ballistic vest for Gunnar, our K9, whose handler is Officer Nils Torning. Officer Shaver's wife, Linda, came across a social media post about Operation Thank an Officer; they were looking to donate a K9 vest. Connections were made, a vest was purchased, and Gunnar is currently in service with his vest. Director Woolery stated it was very unique and special that they've had such good support from the community. He gave the background of Operation Thank an Officer, an organization started by Liz Gerads (the spouse of a Wright County Deputy). He introduced Ms. Gerads and she gave the history of Operation Thank an Officer, their scholarship program, which launched in November, and also a memorial program for officers here in Minnesota and their families. Ms. Gerads had been contacted by an anonymous donor, who said they felt very strongly about having K9s protected and knew that wasn't always in the budget of a municipality, so wanted to donate the vest; they started searching for somebody who needed the vest and heard about Officer Torning and Gunnar, who had just graduated, and thought that would be a perfect fit. She stated they were honored to present Gunnar with his vest. Director Woolery stated the donation had been accepted by the Council; Mayor Bailey also thanked Ms. Gerads and Operation Thank an Officer for the K9 vest. B. Central Fire Station Update by Wold Architects and Engineers John McNamara stated they had an update on the design process for the new Central Fire Station. They are about 2/3 of the way through design and development on the project, so are right on track. Mr. McNamara stated they were continuing to work on the siting of the building; they've had several meetings with Chief Redenius, the City Engineer, and their civil engineers to come up with some solutions regarding the location of the building. There is a slightly adjusted site plan and schematic design. They've been focusing on orientation of the building regarding sight lines coming down 80th Street and the location of the building relative to topography (the hill) in that area. The new station will be over the top of or slightly over where the existing fire station is; they've been working with Chief Redenius and the City Engineer regarding cost savings related to potentially taking down Fire Station 2 first, prior to actually starting construction, which will allow them to minimize some grading in that area and would potentially shorten some of the construction timeline. They are separating the apparatus driveway from the visitor parking area and providing some parking on the back of the building for firefighter vehicles and for the training room itself. Floor plan development is moving toward a higher level of detail; there is still a generous public lobby, which will have some historical displays. He reviewed the open office area for the firefighters, the training room with an adjacent conference room, the gear room, and orientation of sleeping areas and dayroom space for the upper level residential area. City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2016 Page 3 Mr. McNamara stated the exterior facility will be stone and brick; he reviewed the details on the color choices. He showed diagrams and sketches of the new station's appearance from 80th Street, including many windows that will allow daylight into the facility. The rear of the building, the residential area, and outdoor living space will have an upper deck area and will be nicely screened. The building will also be well lit at night. They will continue to work on design and schematics through October and November, and they expect to be in front of the Council on December 21, looking for approval to issue bid documents, etc. Mayor Bailey asked if the building will be in the exact same spot as the current fire station or if it would be set back further; Mr. McNamara stated it will be set back a little bit further, as they don't want the driveway to be too steep and also to get the slopes to work well on the site. Council Member Dennis asked if the roof over the apparatus bay was going to be flat across the top; Mr. McNamara stated it would be flat but sloped. The structure will be flat, but they're planning on about '/4 inch foot slope on the roof to give thicker insulation and to increase water flow to the roof drains. Council Member Dennis stated they might be relocating solar panels from the current BEC building onto the new fire station facility. Mr. McNamara stated they'd be happy to look into that possibility. C. Presentation by Minnesota Department of Transportation on I-494 Improvements Adam Josephson stated there will be a project in 2018 regarding I-494, just to the west of the Wakota Bridge. He stated in the mornings, particularly in the Newport area, traffic can get congested as it starts to back up across the Wakota Bridge, down that road, and toward the Glen Road interchange. They hope to alleviate the bottleneck that's taking place over in the South St. Paul area. Mr. Josephson introduced Mohammed Dehdashti. Mr. Dehdashti spoke of the backup that occurs from I-494 onto Highway 61 during morning peak hours. They did some studies, and there are five lanes going westbound across the Wakota Bridge; one drops off at Hardman Avenue, another drops off at Concord Avenue, and it becomes three lanes to Highway 52. This project will continue the lane that currently drops off at Concord and it will hook up to Highway 52. The study shows if that is done, it will turn to a free-flow situation once that connection is made. It will be widening going westbound with some pavement rehab work for a stretch; they will evaluate noise. The Concord bridge will have some widening on the west side. Construction will take place in 2018; final design will start in a month or two. They anticipate the project will take approximately one year to complete. Council Members asked about the difficulty getting onto I-494 in the morning and wondered if this solution would help alleviate that problem, and also mentioned a problem with terrible pooling of water on the Hardman Avenue ramp, which gets icy in winter, right at the base of the ramp going up onto the Wakota Bridge off of Bailey- Maxwell. There's a lot of semi-truck traffic in that area also and asked if there were any plans for an additional lane for those. Mr. Josephson replied that the start of the City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2016 Page 4 problem was the lane drops on the west side of the bridge so once the traffic becomes free flowing, the ramp traffic will also break up and flow fairly freely. He felt once traffic was allowed to flow freely onto Highway 52 that would help all the way around. Mr. Josephson said when this project is in place and breaks up that back up, you won't be encouraged to take the alternate routes and should be able to stay on the north, westbound ramp. He understands people tend to take alternate routes to miss the heavy traffic, but once the ramp is working the way it should, drivers shouldn't have to mix with the commercial traffic. Over 50% of the traffic in that area is semi-trucks. He will look into the drainage issue, but they're currently not planning to add any lanes in that area. Mayor Bailey asked what would happen if it didn't work like they had hoped; how much time would there be before they could have a conversation about what they need to do on the east side of the Wakota Bridge. Mr. Josephson stated that all of the studies show it will work the way they're planning; once you free up one bottleneck, another one seems to occur somewhere else. This is a very logical spot to add a lane between the Wakota Bridge and Highway 52, as a lot of traffic is lost at Highway 52, going into St. Paul. He stated they're always chasing the bottleneck and congestion; they're doing less and less capacity improvements, and this might be one of the few that they see in the foreseeable future. They're focused now on simply preserving the system that they have. Mayor Bailey thanked the speakers for the information. 7. CONSENT AGENDA A. Approve the September 7, 2016 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes. B. Authorize issuance of a massage therapist license to Maria Bongers. C. Authorize issuance of a temporary 3.2% liquor license to the Cottage Grove Lions for an event at Hope Glen Farms on October 16, 2016. D. Receive response to Open Forum request regarding the 80th Street and Hadley Avenue Improvement Project. E. Adopt Resolution No. 2016-156 approving the final payment for the 2016 Seal Coat Project to Allied Blacktop Company in the amount $16,358.50. F. Authorize staff to accept grant contract with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in the amount of$100,000 to be used towards the construction of an inclusive playground at Woodridge Park. G. Execute the agreement relating to landowner improvements on a portion of Cattail Avenue. H. Receive information regarding the temporary concrete mixing facility used for casting concrete bridge components on Lower Grey Cloud Island. I. Authorize service agreement with YTS Tree Service to remove 76 Ash trees for the price of$23,594. J. Authorize application for the MN Fire Department Turnout Gear Washer/Extractor 2017 Award Program through the MN Department of Public Safety Fire Marshal's Division to assist the fire department in the purchase of a commercial turnout gear washer/extractor. City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2016 Page 5 K. 1. Adopt Resolution 2016-157 approving the final plat called New Oltman Middle School. 2. Approve nine easement agreements for various storm sewer, sanitary sewer, and water main improvements. L. Authorize acceptance of the donation from Afton Apple fundraising activity, at the end of the fall season, which will be earmarked for public safety education. M. Adopt Resolution No. 2016-158 awarding the quote for the Hy-Vee Public Utilities & 2017 Pavement Management Valve Bolt Review to the lowest accepted quote supplied by Didion Contracting in the amount of $68,059.10. Council Member Olsen wished to pull Items F and L for further discussion and/or comment. He stated Item F was to authorize staff to accept a grant contract with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in the amount of$100,000, to be used toward the construction of an inclusive playground at Woodridge Park. He stated at the last Council Meeting they had spoken about their fundraising efforts regarding the inclusive playground, and he knew staff was very pleased with the efforts that had been made. He wanted to point out that this type of grant was extremely rare, especially with the amount. He thought the City staff deserved a huge amount of credit and pat on the back for working extremely hard to get this grant. Staff is constantly on the lookout for these opportunities and is why we're rated so well regarding our fiscal responsibility. If people want to donate to the inclusive playground, the City's website has a link for the inclusive playground; if residents give just $5, they'd be fully funded for the playground. He thanked those who had already contributed. Council Member Olsen spoke about Item L, fundraising activity and future donation from Afton Apple; he indicated Afton Apple provided the strawberries for the strawberry fest. Afton Apple will make a donation toward the end of fall, which will be earmarked for public safety education. On behalf of the City, he wanted to thank Afton Apple; he encouraged residents to frequent their orchards and also personally thank them. Motion by Council Member Thiede to approve the Consent Agenda, second by Council Member Dennis. Motion carried: 5-0. 8. APPROVE DISBURSEMENTS A. Approve payment of check numbers 198037 to 198223 in the amount of $706,139.13 and EFT Payment of$848,650.10. Motion to approve disbursements by Council Member Olsen, second by Council Member Thiede. Motion carried: 5-0. 9. PUBLIC HEARINGS City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2016 Page 6 A. 2016 Pavement Management Project Public Hearing and Adoption of Assessments 1. Conduct the public hearing for the 2016 Pavement Management Project. 2. Adopt Resolution 2016-155 adopting the assessment roll for the 2016 Pavement Management Project. Project Engineer Ryan Burfeind reviewed the three various pavement management projects: Districts F3 and F5, spot curb replacement and/or full curb replacement; 80th Street, spot curb replacement and full pavement replacement from Ideal Avenue to Jamaica Avenue; District D2, full curb replacement and full pavement replacement. He reviewed before and after photos for Districts F3 and F5. The actual proposed assessment based on the final project cost is $2,618 per single-family home, which compares to the estimated assessment (at the time of the public hearing) of$3,620. The benefit appraisal supported $5,000, so this figure supports the proposed assessment. Regarding District D2, the full curb and full pavement replacement area, it also had replacement of the streetlight wiring and conduit. He reviewed before and after photos of that area. He also spoke about timelines in this area that the contractor did not meet regarding seeding, which allowed a barnyard grass to invade; there were damages assessed to the contractor for not meeting the deadlines. The City continued to work with the contractor and subcontractor and mitigated the issue and completed the seeding. After that, Public Works took over the watering component just to make sure it would be done on a daily basis to get the seed established. The grass is establishing and there is an inspection planned for next week. The proposed assessment is $3,982 per single-family home; the estimated assessment at the public hearing had been $4,060. The benefit appraisal supported $5,100. 80th Street had full pavement replacement and spot curb repair, trail resurfacing, and some minor utility repairs from Jamaica Avenue to Ideal Avenue. He reviewed before and after photos in that area. The proposed assessment for 80th Street includes the home at 8726-80th Street; the City policy is not to assess at a greater amount because a residential property is on a larger roadway. The assessment for that property is $2,618, which compares to the estimated assessment of$3,620 and the benefit appraisal completed for that home was $6,100. For the Church of St. Rita, the special assessment policy shows it was assessed 75% of the adjacent project cost, which was an estimated assessment of just over $107,000; the benefit appraisal completed, however, supported $36,700. The City caps the assessment amount at the benefit appraisal amount if it's lower, so the actual assessment for the Church of St. Rita is $36,700. Final funding breakdown is as follows: Total project cost $4,758,000; Sanitary Sewer $497,000; Water Utility $111,000; Storm Water Utility $227,000; Streetlight Enterprise City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2016 Page 7 Fund $79,000; General Levies $1,546,000; Municipal State Aid Funds used on 80th Street $875,000; Assessment Total is $1,420,567. Assessment terms: May be paid within 30 days of adoption to avoid any interest charges; however, any amount that's not paid will roll to the taxes, payable over 15 years. Per the City policy, the interest rate is 1.5% above the bond rate; based on the policy, the assessment rate would be 3.1%. Partial payment is allowed with a minimum of$500. Deferral is available for disability, military, and 65 years of age or over. Proof is needed for the deferrals and interest still accrues during that period. Engineer Burfeind asked if the Council had any questions. Council Member Olsen stated it seemed like over the course of the last couple years, we'd had some instances where we'd been very disappointed with the restoration element of these projects. He asked if there was going to be a workshop with the Council to address some of those issues. Engineer Burfeind stated as they came up with some different ideas and options, they would plan to have a workshop with the City Council to look at the options and see what direction the City would like to take. Council Member Olsen asked Engineer Burfeind to explain what tools there were to hold contractors/subcontractors accountable when they failed to perform. Engineer Burfeind explained liquidated damages within the contract was one of the main components they used to make sure the work gets done; there are very specific timelines set. If they are not met, liquidated damages are assessed at $1,000 per day, which is a significant amount of money. They try to work through it and have a subcontractor complete it, all the while knowing the liquidated damages are being enforced. Council Member Thiede stated the D2 area was assessed almost $1,300 more than the F3 and F5 areas; he asked for an explanation why there was such a big difference between the two. Engineer Burfeind stated F3 and F5 were spot curb areas; in general, the curb was in good condition so there was very little curb repair needed. The D2 area had too much curb damage, with different types of damage, so they had to do a full curb replacement; thus, there were increased costs associated with that. Council Member Dennis stated he felt they needed to have a dialogue about this issue with the poor results this year. He also stated in the past he'd watched how the contractors were watering and felt they had actually washed some dirt and seed away with the force of the water they'd been using, as opposed to the Public Works truck, which had done a better job. Mayor Bailey stated it would be good to know if they bid a job if they could bid it both ways. Mayor Bailey stated they had no issues last year and wanted to know if they could create a list of preferred vendors, as those used last year were amazing; unfortunately, this year they had a different situation. He stated they'd figure out a solution and it would be fixed, one way or another. Council Member Olsen stated Engineer Burfeind had mentioned streetlight issues in places; however, he wanted to make it clear that that was not part of the assessment and the assessment was strictly for the road work. Engineer Burfeind stated for this City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2016 Page 8 year's project they assessed a portion of the streetlight work; they look at the age of the system and other issues, they make sure that it is work that's needed, but that amount is just a portion of the assessment. Council Member Olsen confirmed if there was an improvement to the neighborhood, that was included as part of the assessment; Engineer Burfeind stated that was correct. Mayor Bailey opened the public hearing and invited anyone who wished to address the Council on this issue to do so. Bill Winters, 7048-92nd Street South, addressed the City Council. He stated this restoration had really irritated him. He stated the representative from the company tried to make him believe that she worked for the City when she did not; it wasn't until sometime in August when he finally asked her if she worked for the City of Cottage Grove and she'd stated that no, she worked for a construction company. Every time he had spoken with her and asked her for whom she worked, she stated, "I work with the City of Cottage Grove." So, he felt that this woman had lied to him every time he spoke with her. He stated there was never any topsoil put in front of his yard; he stated they had put some really poor material in his yard, as it's full of rocks, etc. The water truck had blasted his yard with water. He stated the street and the curb were awesome, but the restoration was terrible. It irritates him that he's paying full price for a subparjob. As no one else wished to address the Council, Mayor Bailey closed the public hearing. Council Member Dennis commented he was sorry for any inconvenience that residents had experienced, and Council Member Olsen concurred. Mayor Bailey stated he was sure that City staff would update the Council on the status after they walked the neighborhoods. Mayor Bailey stated the concerns would be addressed and fixed. Motion by Council Member Olsen to Adopt Resolution 2016-155 adopting the assessment roll for the 2016 Pavement Management Project, second by Council Member Peterson. Motion carried: 5-0. B. Tall Weed Assessments Hold the public hearing and adopt Resolution 2016-153 assessing charges for removal of noxious weeds and plants from private property. Finance Director Robin Roland stated over the course of the last year, 101 letters were issued to property owners who had noxious weeds, grass, or brush on their property, in excess of eight (8) inches. All but 10 property owners had responded and corrected the situation. In the remaining 10 instances, the property owners did not abate those conditions. Currently, all but four (4) of these properties are vacant. When the owners do not take action, the City sends out a contractor who mows, takes care of the problem, and then bills the property owner for those services. If those invoices are not paid, the City has the opportunity to certify them to the property taxes to make sure that City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2016 Page 9 the money is collected and other residents are not responsible for the payment of those bills. The Council has the list of the 10 properties that did not pay their bills; they're asking the Council to certify a one-year assessment. Notices were mailed to all of the property owners, as well as the notice of the assessment was published in the newspaper on September 28, 2016. Once the costs are assessed, they reimburse the expenses plus fees and interest. After the public hearing, Director Roland asked the Council to Adopt Resolution 2016-153, which would assess charges for removal of noxious weeds and plants from private property. Council Member Dennis asked if any of the addresses were assigned rental licenses within the City; Director Roland stated most of the properties on the list were vacant properties and they'd been in contact with the bank and/or the real estate company that owned those properties. They are not renting the properties; they're vacant. As far as the other four, the address for the property owner is the same as the property itself, so she would say that no, there are probably not rental licenses for these properties. Mayor Bailey opened the public hearing and invited anyone who wished to address the Council on this issue to do so. As no one wished to address the Council, Mayor Bailey closed the public hearing. Motion by Council Member Peterson to Adopt Resolution 2016-153 assessing charges for removal of noxious weeds and plants from private property, second by Council Member Dennis. Motion carried: 5-0. C. Hazardous Property Assessments Hold the public hearing and adopt Resolution 2016-154 assessing charges for the removal of public safety hazards from private properties. Director Roland stated these are charges for removing hazardous conditions on private property. There were two properties in question where debris had been removed and charged to the property owner; however, the property owner had not paid the invoice. These assessments would be a one-year assessment, with inclusion of the published notice as well as the assessment fee; the total is $3,885, to be assessed against the two properties. They are listed on the Resolution, and they were noticed, as well as an advertisement in the newspaper. Once the open hearing is finished, she asked the Council to Adopt Resolution 2016-154, which would assess the charges for removal of public safety hazards from private properties. Council Member Dennis asked if either of the two properties had rental licenses attached to them. Director Roland stated one is owned by a bank; the other is owned by a person, so it's not a rental. City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2016 Page 10 Mayor Bailey opened the public hearing and invited anyone who wished to address the Council on this issue to do so. As no one wished to address the Council, Mayor Bailey closed the public hearing. Motion by Council Member Dennis to adopt Resolution 2016-154 assessing charges for the removal of public safety hazards from private properties, second by Council Member Thiede. Council Member Olsen stated 8542 Greystone Avenue was listed on both of the assessment lists, so he assumed this is a problem property and only brought it up so they could keep an eye on it. Director Roland stated that the property was on the Code Enforcement register and is being watched by the Code Enforcement Officer. Motion carried: 5-0. 10. BID AWARDS — None. 11. REGULAR AGENDA A. Mayor and City Council Member Salary Pass Ordinance 970 increasing the salary of Mayor from $9,216 to $10,848 per year and the salaries of Council Members from $6,780 to $8,172 per year, effective January 1, 2017. City Clerk Joe Fischbach stated staff looked at wages for the City Council. Wages are dictated by Minnesota Statute 415.11 and any increase that is approved by the City Council cannot take effect until after the next election; therefore, anything that would be approved today or at a future meeting would have to be approved by the November election for it to take effect in January. Otherwise, they would have to wait another two years for any increase. They looked at peer communities, cities with a population of 10,000 up to, but not including Bloomington, in the Twin Cities metro area. He reviewed current stipends for those communities. It's been a few years since they've looked at an increase; 2006 was the last time the Council increased the stipends. Before that, it was 1995, so if there was an increase approved tonight, it would be the second time in 20 years. They're recommending the Council stipends be increased to 100% of average, which is consistent with what they're doing with staff salaries, and they would become effective in January, 2017. Council Member Olsen asked Clerk Fischbach to confirm that the increase in salaries for the Mayor and Council would not break the budget; Clerk Fischbach replied that they would not. Mayor Bailey stated whenever you deal with pay increases for elected officials, it's difficult. He felt none of them served for the pay, but he felt there comes a point where you need to say we should at least be at the average. Mayor Bailey did not have a problem supporting this. Council Member Thiede stated he personally didn't feel the increase was warranted; he also stated he was very big on pay for performance. He asked if there was some way to attach a pay increase to a resident satisfaction measurement or something like that; if City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2016 Page 11 it was good, they'd get compensated for that, if not, they wouldn't. They could take the extra money and put it in a fund. The Commissioners also do a lot of work for the City and they don't get compensated for it; he felt there should be some way to compensate them. He personally didn't feel he could support the increase as it was currently written. Council Member Dennis stated if they looked at what's happening within the City regarding performance, the numbers bear out that we are in the period of greatest economic development, growth, and success in the history of our community. As a team, we've all shared in that, along with our staff. He thought that spoke very highly to the work that has been done. Secondly, the accolade from United States Common Sense, a nonprofit group out of Stanford University, where Cottage Grove was rated in the top 1% of all cities in the United States for fiscal management and fiscal sustainability was very notable. He felt they'd been hired by the community to do a job; many of the residents appreciate the good work that's being done here. He felt this would be acceptable to do as they're only looking at two increases in the last 21 years. Council Member Peterson stated she had a couple issues with this, as this wasn't something that was embraced by the Task Force to really look at and make their recommendations. She's disappointed that the process didn't go as had been anticipated with the Task Force making a recommendation on the proposed increase for Council and Mayor. She was also bothered that it had been 10 years since it had been looked at, and previously it again had been 10 years. She didn't understand why it wasn't something that got reviewed on a regular basis, every two years. It weighs unfairly on this sitting Council to make this decision for the future, as some of them won't even be here after this election, after their terms end. She just felt it should be reviewed every couple of years, but she didn't know if that was possible. She felt a 15% to 17% jump was significant, and it would be $116 per month more for Council Members. She said she'd be voting against this increase for those issues. Council Member Olsen stated he talks to people about his role on the City Council and the perceptions people have about what the Council does and what Council Members get paid. He hears the Mayor's got a big office at City Hall, when there is no office whatsoever for the Mayor at City Hall. When people find out what they get paid annually for being on the City Council, they're very surprised at how low the salary is. When you look at pay for State Senators or State Representatives, for all of the time and effort they put in, he felt it was appalling how little they received. He stated none of them did this because they're in it for any kind of compensation. Mayor Bailey stated the stipend percentage looks very large only because there hasn't been an increase in so long. He agreed with Council Member Peterson that it should be looked at every two years to have a structure in place. City Administrator Charlene Stevens stated they certainly could do that. They tried very hard to get the Advisory Commission in place and find a way to do that better and get a third-party recommendation. Administrator Stevens stated one of the challenges is the law and it must be done with the election cycle, every two years. It doesn't allow an annual review City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2016 Page 12 or every three years, etc. as it would with a typical employee, when trying to make an adjustment that hasn't been made for a number of years. If you forego it, it catches up over time. Council Member Thiede asked what the basis was for Council pay and what it depended on. If the population gets bigger, are there more demands? What demands our level of services? If it could potentially be tied to something like that, it would not just be an average but a calculation could be shown to the public. He thought perhaps they should look at that. Motion by Council Member Olsen to pass Ordinance 970 increasing the salaries, as above, second by Council Member Dennis. Motion carried: 3-2. (Nays by Council Member Thiede and Council Member Peterson). 12. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND REQUESTS Council Member Dennis announced that today was the soft open at The Eagles at River Oaks. He had dinner there tonight with his wife and some friends, and he had the best French Dip sandwich he'd ever had. Chef James was in the kitchen, and he was very proud of the team because of their pride, passion, and hard work. He hopes the community will support the River Oaks Golf Course and The Eagles because it's a community-owned operation. The Eagles will be open Wednesdays through Sundays, generally from 4:00 to 10:00 p.m. Council Member Olsen announced that the annual Fire Department open house will be on October 15, at Fire Station 2, on 80th Street. McGruff will be there, there will be food, all of the fire trucks and gear will be there for the public to see and climb on, and all of the firefighters will be there so you'll be able to meet them. He encouraged everyone to attend and learn about the new fire station that will be built on that site. Council Member Peterson reminded everyone that the next Fare For All discount grocery-buying opportunity will take place on Thursday, October 13, at All Saints Lutheran Church; it's open to the public. Council Member Thiede stated Saturday, October 29 is the Monster Bash parade, so encouraged everyone to mark their calendars so they wouldn't miss it. Council Member Thiede stated they need a logo for the 2017 Strawberry Fest; entries are due on December 5, which isn't that far away. Mayor Bailey stated October 16 will be the Oktoberfest, a fundraiser for the Friends in Need Food Shelf; that will be held at Hope Glen Farms. He encouraged everyone to stop down as all of the proceeds will go to the Friends in Need Food Shelf, specifically as part of the Holiday Train. There's also a new tree house there that's amazing. He and the Mayors from St. Paul Park and Newport will be the emcees. City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2016 Page 13 Mayor Bailey stated there will be a town hall meeting on October 11 at the District Service Center; the idea is to show up, get involved, and share your ideas as it relates to the future of Cottage Grove, not for just the next couple of years but for the next 20 to 40 years. They want to hear from everybody so they'd like a huge crowd. Mayor Bailey stated there are large chalkboards throughout the City, one at the Farmers' Market, at the Ice Arena, City Hall, and the chalkboard is there for you to answer a question. They want you to write your thoughts on those so they can gather your thoughts and information. Mayor Bailey asked where they'd be next; Administrator Stevens stated there'd be one at the fire station open house and at the Oktoberfest. One is currently at the Ice Arena. They've been at the River Oaks Golf Course, and one is here at City Hall. There will be one soon at the District Program Center and at the library. There will also be a chalkboard at Fare For All, so they're easy to find. Mayor Bailey asked the public to get involved for the future of Cottage Grove. Mayor Bailey stated the rail yard will be going in St. Paul Park; the Mayor of St. Paul Park is not very happy about it but the City of St. Paul Park and the City of Cottage Grove didn't really have a say in that, nor did Grey Cloud Island. He stated St. Paul Park's concern was with the amount of truck traffic that will be generated and moving through the main street in St. Paul Park. Mayor Bailey stated at one point there was going to be housing in that area, and Cottage Grove had talked about extending 95th Street into St. Paul Park; Mayor Bailey stated now that will not take place, as it would involve putting truck traffic into a residential area. Administrator Stevens stated the staff had the same concerns and would certainly make those concerns clear to the parties. County Commissioner Bigham and Mayor Franke both agree with that. 13. WORKSHOPS — OPEN TO PUBLIC — None. 14. WORKSHOPS — CLOSED TO PUBLIC — None. 15. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Council Member Thiede, second by Council Member Dennis, to adjourn the meeting at 8:46 p.m. Motion carried: 5-0. Minutes prepared by Judy Graf and reviewed by Joe Fischbach, HR Manager/City Clerk.