Submitted by Mary Savina LWV Observer
All councilmembers present except Jim Pokorney
There were three big items at Monday's meeting. First, the city adopted four resolutions related to the 2005 budget: the budget itself, the proposed city tax levy payable in 2005, the proposed HRA tax levy payable in 2005 and the proposed 2005-2009 Capital Improvements Program. At earlier meetings and work sessions, the Council had discussed all of these items extensively, so there was little discussion at this meeting. If I understood Susan Hoyt correctly, the net effect of all these resolutions will be an increase in the property tax of about 2.5% on a home that goes up 7.5% in value. A decrease in the regular city budget of about 2% is being offset by a new capital levy which will fund a variety of infrastructure projects, park projects, etc. I believe that this year is the first year for a) a thorough budget adopted as early as September and b) a Capital Improvements Program with a clear funding source prepared and presented at the same time as the budget. The fifth budget item, designating the HRA as administrator for and recommending use of CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds was tabled. Everyone agreed that the HRA is the appropriate agency to handle the CDBG funds, which come from Dakota County and are restricted to projects affecting low-income people. The main issue is the type of direction the Council would want to give to the HRA. Also, Victor Summa commented on his uncertainty whether the policies laid out in the Administrator's memo really fit the HUD guidelines for this program.
Second, the city is moving along with considering re-organizing the Northfield Hospital to a 501 (c) (3). Here, the central issue is the decision-making timeline and the opportunities for public comment. The staff and council hope to reach a decision by late October or early November, so the timeline is a short one. In late September, the council will receive a report from Monty Dube, who has worked with many cities on issues of this sort, and a report on city-specific financial, liability and charter topics. There will be a public information meeting, probably in the first week in October, and then, throughout October, "outreach to other organizations" (service clubs, the Chamber and the Seniors are the three specifically listed in the Administrator's memo and other groups are invited to ask for information), "informal face to face information opportunities" (with council and hospital board members) and "publicized information and responses to questions" (in the News, hospital publication, the City Commons in utility bill mailings, etc.). Presentations to the city council (beginning with the Monty Dube one) will probably be scheduled as special city council meetings.Third, the city council received a report during the work session on two documents prepared by Dahlgren, Shardlow and Oban. One is a "Working Plan for Downtown Northfield" which is a door-stopper three-ring binder containing virtually every report DSO has prepared in the last 3 years for the city (a lot of them), the comp plan, and a summary of earlier city reports on the downtown, parking, transportation, etc. If you want to see all of this stuff in one place, there will be a copy at the library and I'm sure you can borrow one from City Hall. The second is an inventory of downtown public improvements and that's what formed the basis for a powerpoint presentation for the council. This is a 24 p. document with at least 40 pages of appendices. There will be copies at the library; those of us at the meeting were allowed to look at a copy but then asked to hand it back in. The gist of this report is a very comprehensive survey of things like street lights, trash cans, railings, benches, bike racks, etc. in the downtown area - both location, type and condition. We learned, for instance, that there are 8 kinds of street lights in downtown Northfield and that some of them are in bad shape. The consultants suggest that the city might want to standardize a Downtown "look" with maybe only one or two kinds of lights. They also give a variety of options for tackling each of these issues, including small, incremental changes, mid-level changes, and wholesale revamping. Some things discovered through the inventory process will be dealt with almost immediately (there are some safety issues) and for the others, the council had an interesting discussion about how to involve the public and determine what citizens' priorities are. Susan Hoyt said "We want to move beyond just holding a public meeting" and suggested that a version of the presentation might be given with such city partners as the NDDC or other groups that invite it, that walk-throughs of downtown and a table on Bridge Square might be used to reach the public. The timeline is to complete getting public input in October, develop improvement scenarios in November and make decisions in early December.
Two points: First, October will be a busy month for public input on city business. Watch for opportunities to comment and contribute to these discussions. Second, I didn't hear the League of Women Voters mentioned as an organization (and set of indivduals) that might be interested in contributing to them.
