League of Women Voters of Northfield

Jane McWilliams, LWV Observer

Jon Denison was absent.

A half-inch thick packet  (http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/assets/p/Packet162.pdf) accompanied the agenda containing 4 items for this evening’s discussion, which lasted a little over three hours.  In addition to the council, the city administrator and other staff  – which came and went, depending on the agenda item  -  City Attorney Chris Hood was at the table with the council throughout the meeting.

Work sessions provide an opportunity for the council to receive reports from the staff and to conduct discussions in preparation for taking up issues at regular meetings.  City staff keeps no minutes. However, the meetings are recorded for later broadcast on NTV.  Recordings are available to borrow for 48 hours from the City Administrator Office on 24 hours notice. Presently, radio station KYMN streams the meetings live ( http://kymnradio.net/) and one can view archived versions of meetings.  It is uncertain whether this service will continue, as the city has yet to decide whether to fund it.

It is in the nature of a work session for the discussion to be informal. Usually, staff is asking for direction on issues so that they can bring a draft resolution at a subsequent meeting.  For example, the first item at this meeting was a discussion of Community Gardens.

Last spring the Northfield Community Gardeners had sought support from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and the Environmental Quality Commission for creating additional community gardens in Northfield. In March 2009, the council discussed the matter and directed the PRAB to create a process for establishing new gardens.  Tonight, they had before them a process for their consideration and to give direction to the staff.  In the packet was an outline of steps in applying for a community garden and a draft of the application form.  During the rather brief discussion, Councilor Rhonda Pownell, referring to the section which “strongly recommended that all cultivating practices be organic,” asked whether it is possible to have a non-organic garden. Public Works Operations Engineer Brian Erickson noted that the city has an organic pest management policy for city property.  Councilor Jim Pokorney said this has the potential to redefine our parks and there may need to be some boundaries. He said perhaps there should be a small fee.  Erickson noted that this will be on the council agenda next week, and that he expects to begin receiving applications the next day, suggesting that the policy will be in place for the coming gardening season.

Community Event In-Kind Program:  In the 2010 Budget, there is a line item of $31,000 to cover staff time used to the cost to the city in supporting community events.  The staff has proposed setting up an “in-kind” policy for making decisions on funding the city’s cost during community events. (Staff said this would be similar to the Grace Whittier Fund, established in 1988 with a gift from her estate to support the recreational opportunities for Northfield Youth.)  Organizations would need to apply for city support (for renting the show mobile, traffic control, clean-up, etc.) by a certain deadline.  Staff would review the applications, using criteria established by council. A small work group would make recommendations which would be submitted to the council.  There would be a fee, possibly $100.00, to help cover costs which the city might waive.

Councilor Betsey Buckheit said that there are competing values in the matter:  community building and managing finances.  She was skeptical about using the Defeat of Jesse James Days as a model, because this wouldn’t apply to small events. Councilor Erica Zwifel agreed that we should encourage community events, that the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation should be consulted.  Walinski reminded the council that the city needs to cut over $700,000 from the budget, and we need to review all costs. Councilor Pownell and others said it would be important to consult organizations about this.  Walinski will invite organizations to a workshop to review the draft which will be revised and brought back later.  April 30 is the deadline they hope to meet for receiving applications for this year.

Fire Department – Finances and Operations:  Finance Director Kathleen McBride and Fire Chief Gary Franek came to the table to talk about the pay and benefit structure the city has with the members of the Fire Department. A significant issue is the increase of the city’s contribution to the Fire Relief Association from $49,665 in 2009 to $98,000 in 2010. This is necessary to keep the fund sufficient for anticipated retirements.  State law governs firefighter pensions and relief associations.  Pension funds come from the city’s annual contribution, State Fire Aid, a Rural Fire Association contribution and investment earnings.  The city’s contribution is calculated each year according to regulations filed with the State Auditor.  Benefit level is set by the city annually (currently it is $7,500/year of service, paid in a lump sum at retirement.)  The very comprehensive report provided by the Fire Department will serve as background for future discussions about the department, including annual costs, equipment replacement and conversations about cost sharing with the Rural Fire Department.

Annexation Community:  Development Director Brian O’Connell led the discussion which focused on:  General and overarching policies related to annexation and infrastructure extension;  Annexation expectations with Waterford Township; Annexation agreement strategies in Bridgewater Township relative to the Prawer/Gill request.  O’Connell said the city needs a policy on infill development.  Councilors Zweifel and Buckheit agreed, saying they’d be happier if this were in place before the city discusses further annexation.  On the topic of the financial arrangements in annexation agreements, the consensus was that there should be recognition not only of tax replacement, but other fixed costs as had been done in the recent agreement with Greenvale Township.

Later this month, the council will meet with the Waterford Township Board.  While no one envisions annexation happening in the short term, it possible that businesses and landowners in the area along Highway 3 may desire to come into the city to connect with city services on a case by case basis.  O’Connell suggested at the meeting that the conversation start with asking Waterford what is on their mind and discussing what things the two bodies can agree to.  Pokorney noted that we don’t have an offensive position, rather what we wonder is why we’re still paying the tax replacement after 25 years. The meeting is scheduled for the April 13 work session.

The protection of Rice Creek is important to both the city and Bridgewater Township.  Just how this can be achieved will be a matter for discussion during annexation negotiations.  In addition, road maintenance issues need to be considered as well as the matter of tax compensation.

For this observer, recording concrete responses to the questions raised in the preparatory material O’Connell provided the council was impossible.  I recommend viewing the meeting on either of our local media as suggested above to learn more about the council’s views.

The meeting adjourned at 10:40 p.m.

Jane McWilliams, LWV Observer

All councilors were present.

Performance review: The council met in closed session at 6:00 to conduct the city administrator’s performance review.  At the beginning of the regular meeting, Mayor Mary Rossing summarized the conclusions of the evaluation. City Administrator Joel Walinski has met or exceeded the council’s expectations, and has shown solid leadership and management. He has become involved in the community. The council said he needed additional work: on public relations; on providing for concise information to the council in a timely fashion. They asked him to bring a plan for professional training for himself to the council for approval. There was no written report distributed at the time of the report.

Google broadband opportunity: The council approved seven items on the consent agenda. Of interest is approval of expression to Google, Inc. of the city’s interest in being involved in building a fiber network. Google is planning to build and test high-speed broadband networks a small number of locations in the US. According to their web site, Google will offer the service “at a competitive price” to at least between 50,000 and 500,000 people. Interested communities are invited to submit information through a form provided by the company.  A short explanatory video is available at:  http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi
According to Melissa Reeder, the city’s IT Director, this is a continuation of the council’s direction to explore opportunities in the development of high speed broadband network in the Northfield.

Waterford Township: The administration asked for direction from the council on how to proceed with the Waterford Township discussions. One issue is the disparity between the legal opinions of the city’s and the township’s attorneys on the validity of the “joint resolution for orderly annexation,” the 1980 agreement between the two jurisdictions.  Community Development Director Brian O’Connell recommended that they find a time when “the council and township supervisors can talk about where they’ve been and where they should go.” Rossing asked whether the council should come with a council position, or whether it should be open-ended. O’Connell said it would be wise to review the history of the agreement, the advice of Chris Hood, City Attorney, and develop some “ideas about what the city wants to accomplish prior to the meeting with the township.”

Walinski said that he planned for the council to have a discussion on next week’s work session, which would allow for an April meeting with the township board. Asked by Councilor Rhonda Pownell whether the staff could meet with the township board instead, O’Connell said that the relationship is between the elected officials, and ‘it changes the dynamics when elected officials meet together rather than staff and elected officials.” Councilor Erica Zweifel asked who would facilitate the discussion, and Rossing replied that she would do so.  The council approved a motion to invite the Waterford Township Supervisors to a city council work session to discuss the annexation relations between the two groups.  This meant they would take no further action on a resolution dissolving the annexation agreement on which they had deferred action at their January 19, 2010 meeting.

Architectural services committee: The council appointed Pownell and Zweifel to the architectural selection group which will screen and interview candidates for doing the design and construction of the police and fire facilities.  Other members of the group:  Steven Schmidt, Schmidt Construction; Brian Erickson; the city Public Works Operation Engineer; Mark Taylor, Chief of Police; Walinski; Steve Spehn, Carleton Director of Facilities and Capital Planning.  The closing date for proposal submissions is March 10, 2010.

Fourth Street enhancement: Several advisory groups had reviewed the design for amenities between Division and Washington Streets as part of  the 4th Street reconstruction. The Streetscape Task Force had agreed on a design which was then taken to the Historic Preservation Commission for their review,  because part of the area is included in the Historic Preservation District.  That group removed some of the elements in the design which they deemed not historical, and problematic in other ways. (For drawings and more detail on the elements:   http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/assets/p/Packet161.pdf, scroll down to # 12. )  The council approved the design recommended by the HPC: small planters along 4th street curb line, hanging baskets on decorative light poles, but no “bump-outs or large-scale planters” as recommended by the Task Force. Streetscape funds would be used for purchase of planters, light poles and brackets. Walinski noted that there is no funding for plantings in the hanging baskets or planters. Currently the city plants the baskets downtown, but this will be “on our list when we talk about budget reductions,” Walinski warned.

Northwest utilities extension: There was no action requested or taken on the whether Northfield should take advantage of two federal funding opportunities. According to city staff, each source could be appropriate for extending public utilities to the eastern boundary of the Sorum property in the newly annexed Northwest Territory west of the hospital. (To see map:  http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/assets/p/Packet161.pdf, Item 13.)  Staff reports that this would significantly “increase the attractiveness of this area of this area for economic development” and would fit in with the timing of the master development process.  The city has received quotes for engineering design of the utilities from the existing location of the hospital to the Sorum property. The design cost (estimated at $65,000)  will likely be covered by the water and wastewater enterprise funds. Even if the city receives no federal funding, the design would be good for a number of years, according to City Engineer Katy Gehler.  In public comments, Don McGee wondered how we would know where to put the utilities until the EDA planning process is completed. Gehler said they would run along North Avenue. Councilor Betsey Buckheit  and Zweifel were concerned about how this fits into planning and how the city would match funds from the government, if required.

Rate Search investigation: The firm Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ceresi has conducted a forensic investigation to determine whether the losses the city experienced as a result the city’s audit firm HLB Tauges Redpath’s failure to detect mismanagement of the city’s funds invested by Rate Search might be recaptured through litigation.  RKM&C concluded that there would be difficulty in building a case, partially because the city couldn’t provide documentation that Redpath had been notified of any problems with Ratesearch.  Rossing stated that “this is the last chapter in a very unfortunate story.”

EPA initiative: At the suggestion of Zeifel, the council discussed participating in the US Environmental Protection Agency’s initiative to address climate change and clean energy.  She said it is free and we can participate any way we want. It could be an important part in marketing the city. She has some students researching whether there are federal resources to assist the city toward becoming even more “green.”

Council goals: Staff distributed the preliminary results of the tally the council created of the results of their goal setting retreat.  Councilor Jim Pokorney, along with Buckheit and Walinski will refine the charts and report at the March 16 council meeting.

Announcements: Walinski reported that although there is some improvement in the state’s budget estimates, the city must anticipate cutting $740,000 this year. He explained that he had asked department heads to come up with 8 to 10% cuts, and he anticipates there will be internal changes in the organization in order to get things done.  He will report to the council in late March or early April.

Rossing displayed a handful of communications she has received from a number of citizens “thanking us for our service.  Remember – there is a whole community that wants us to do well.”

The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m.

Jane B McWilliams, LWV Observer

All members of the council were present.

Surface Water Protection. At the February 10 meeting, City Engineer Katy Gehler presented information about the work the city is planning in order to create a surface water management ordinance.  Tonight, the council approved the agreement for engineering services with Barr Engineering at a cost not to exceed $65,000. Previously, water protection policies were scattered throughout the city code. The plan now is to consolidate them in one chapter.  The new ordinance will address these goals: continue to preserve Northfield’s rural heritage; be a good steward of the natural environment, develop and approve a city-wide sustainability plan; protect and enhance environmentally significant areas, protect and enhance water quality. A Technical Steering Committee composed of two St. Olaf faculty (Paul Jackson, John D Schade), DNR representative Hugh Valient, Cannon River Watershed Partnership Executive Director Beth Kallestad, Northfield GIS Technician Brian Welch, and the city engineer, will guide the development of the ordinance with input from the council boards and commissions, other advisory groups and the general public.

Because of the regional nature of this issue, many groups are interested in being informed. Last Saturday’s well-attended session at the Bridgewater Township Hall, to review the work of a volunteer committee’s work on protecting Rice Creek, is a case in point. Gehler said she planned to set up a mailing list for people interested in this issue.

To see the staff report and steering committee plan, go to:  http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/assets/p/Packet160.pdf and scroll down to #8a and 8b. To get on the mailing list for future information:  http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/projects/worksengineering/2010/01/01/2010_stormwater_ordinance_development

Other action during the regular meeting included adoption of the Safe Routes to School Plan ( http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/projects/worksengineering/2009/01/01/safe_routes_to_schools); and adoption of the Trunk Highway 3/Trunk Highway19 Modal Integration Study prepared by Bolton and Menk. Of interest in the Consent Agenda was approval of gifts and donations to the city in 2009, comprising seven pages and totaling $428,757.33.  Finance Director noted that the list doesn’t include donations of time, supplies or materials.  To see the list:  http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/assets/2/2009ccr013-Gifts-Attch-A.pdf

Councilor Jon Denison requested that approval of second reading of the building Code Board of appeals for one more year be placed in the regular agenda so that he could again vote against the measure.

Mayor Mary Rossing adjourned the regular meeting at 8:07.

WORK SESSION

Annexation and Joint Annexation Agreements. City Attorney Chris Hood and Community Development Director Brian O’Connell joined the council and City Administrator Joel Walinski at the table to review the state policies on annexation and some common practices for preparing for and negotiating annexations.  Hood provided an information piece for the council:   http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/assets/b/Basics-of-annexation-Attachment-No.-1.pdf. The document explained three basic forms:  Automatic Annexation by Ordinance; Negotiated/Orderly Annexation: and Contested-Case Annexation. Drawing from his experience working on annexations on behalf of cities, Hood provided examples of agreements and challenges he had encountered. He noted that there may be pitfalls in an orderly annexation agreement, and that contested cases often come from poorly drafted documents. “You need to avoid ambiguity,” he cautioned. Success really depends on what is going to work best for the city and the township, which requires a lot of give and take.

The conversation became focused on land use planning. Hood noted there might be not only competing values between jurisdictions, there may be competing policies. Counties may have one set of land use policies, townships another and cities still a third.  Hood admitted that annexation could be a “lousy process.”  At some point, if it wants to keep taxes down, protect ag land and the environment, the state may have to take over planning. Now, however, “you must work together as local units of government to do what the state can’t do”.

Council Betsey Buckheit said that annexing a lot of land without a vision for what you want to do with it doesn’t make sense. How can we assure that we preserve ag land, for example?  She said she’d like to know the range of controls that exist, not just what is in law, but what other places are doing. Hood said there is an advantage to having a joint planning process which could result in consistency of development – but this depends on the working relationships of the governmental units.

Rossing said that the next step would be looking at guiding principles and Walinski said this would be on the March 9 agenda in order to finish the conversation.

Council Goals 2010. The packet contained a summary report from the council’s January 23 planning session ( http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/assets/g/Goals-Summary-Report.pdf). Walinski supplemented this with his own analysis and a format for the council to use to provide guidance for accomplishing three of the council’s  four goals. (The council lacked time to get to Goal #4 at their planning session.)  He asked that the council review the action steps, verify the priorities, assign the action steps to staff or boards and commissions and get the information back to him by February 26 in order to prepare for the March 2 council meeting. He will schedule an additional session with the facilitators (Richard and Irina Fursman of the Global Synergy Group) to work on Goal 4: “The council will implement a systematic approach to problem solving and decision-making.”

Communication. Staff asked for direction for improving community communication as identified at the planning session:  update city website; establish process for citizens and advisory group to bring ideas forward; and complete Laserfiche Electronic Document, Management (which would need to be accomplished before web updates). Radio station KYMN has made a proposal to the city to continue the live streaming of council and commission meetings. Walinski circulated information comparing the services and costs of having meetings streamed by KYMN with similar services by Granicus, a system used by a number of other cities in Minnesota. In addition, he distributed information about Laserfiche. He noted that the city is several years behind many cities in implementing this latter resource, which would make information more accessible to the public; assist sharing of information between departments; and would assure preservation of records in the event of a local disaster.

Money from the city’s Cable TV Fund is available for both these services. The anticipated annual revenue from that source is  $204,681, with expenditures of $153,066, leaving an operating surplus of $51,615.  None of the documents Walinski distributed are available on line at the moment. It was not clear to this observer what direction the council provided in respect to the streaming issue. There seemed to be concern about how valuable this is to the community, as well as about spending diminishing recourses on it. The operating surplus from this fund may also be used for the general fund. It should be noted that Walinski said the staff calculated a local government aid reduction of $739,000 in the governor’s proposed budget for the city! At this point, every penny counts.

The mayor adjourned the work session at 10:30 p.m.

Jane McWilliams, LWV Observer
5:00 p.m., Northfield Hospital Board Room

In addition to all city council, staff members Joel Walinski (City Administrator) and  Jennifer Nash (his Administrative Assistant) were present. Citizens Randy Jennings, Griff Wigley, Alice Thomas, and the League observer were present for some or all of the meeting.

Irena and Richard Fursman served as facilitators for this session which resulted in identification of the areas where the council wants to focus during 2010: completion of the Land Development Code, working on the Police and Fire Department facilities, creating sustainable land use policies, and attending to many aspects of communication. *

Early in the session, the facilitators asked the councilors to fold a piece of paper in half and on one side record (draw, write) something in the first half of their life which they think informs the kind of person they are now. On the other side, record something from the second half which also has influenced them. This exercise was intended not only for councilors to learn more about one another (many came from large families, for example), but also to identify other things they had in common.  Some common traits Fursman gleaned from this process:  self-reliance, work ethic, care for others, community involvement, leadership.

Walinski had provided the council a list of accomplishments in the areas of the 2009 goals which are:
*Council will implement effective methods of communication with citizen advisory groups and community.
*Council will build a foundation for a vibrant community where resources are carefully managed and preserved and which integrates economic, environmental and community values for long term objectives.
*Council will improve city facilities to ensure excellent service to our citizens within the financial limitations of the city.
The 4th goal, “The council will implement a systematic approach to problem solving and decision-making”, was not discussed this evening although Walinski had provided a similar analysis of it. This will be taken up at a later meeting. (Goals and Initiatives may be found at: http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/assets/2/2009-Goals-and-Initiatives.pdf)

As is often done in this kind of group process, the council (with Walinski participating) listed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of the accomplishments. They were then asked to select the most important components of these. The list they generated was: land development, clarifying and managing priorities, unpredictable local government aid, transparency, process for bringing ideas forward, action steps for boards and commissions, CIP priorities and financial strategies, communication with public, green cities, and methods for council to bring forward proposals.

Richard Fursman asked what the council wanted to complete this year. “You’ve got an incredibly full plate.” The next step was to determine what the council wants to accomplish in the next 11 months, based on the above list.  Pairing up, councilors wrote down their top 5 action steps which they pasted below each goal displayed on the wall.  Finally, using the ubiquitous dot system, they ranked their action steps.  There was a dizzying array of possible steps which they boiled down to the four mentioned above.*

The facilitators said they would capture the information the council had generated and present it to them for their review and verification. This will then be used to provide direction to the boards and commissions. Council Erica Zweifel suggested that the council needs assistance with tracking their progress over time.

The group disbanded shortly after 10:00.

[This is a difficult sort of event to record, as much of what is important is the interchange between councilors as they went through the process.  Several primary themes emerged:  sincere desire to be in touch with the public in order to make good decisions, and a sense that the public isn’t aware of much of the progress the city has accomplished. This helps explains the large number of action steps pasted under Goal 1.  Although on Walinski’s list there were 10 accomplishments under that goal, he also mentioned the need for better communication and transparency in decision-making, and continued complaints of access to information on the city’s website as ongoing concerns.]