League of Women Voters of Northfield

Kiffi Summa, LWV Observer

All six seated members present.
Joel Walinski, Public Services Director, sitting in for Administrator Roder, who was absent.

There were several adjustments to the Agenda; a greensheet at the beginning of the meeting noted two: 1. A bingo license was added to the Consent Agenda, 2. Public hearing item # 8c - First reading of ordinance 882, Regarding Amendments to the Northfield Zoning Ordinance, was removed because it must first go through the Planning Commission. This is a result of the recent MN Supreme Court decision against portions of the new Rental Code language pertaining to rental occupancy limitations, and definitions for family. These are being moved from the Rental Code to the Zoning ordinance.

Other amendments to the Agenda: Public Hearing item 6b - Action Related to Capital Improvement Bonds. Action will be deferred to the August 4th meeting.
On the regular Agenda: Item # 10 - Approve Board/Commission Appointments; this was postponed to the July 28th meeting, Item # 11 - Interim Administrator, was changed from a motion to discussion only, and Item # 12 - Consider Proposal for Separation Agreement, was also moved to the special meeting on July 28, as C. Vohs said their negotiations with Mr. Roder were not yet completed.

After approval of the minutes of 7/2 and 7/7, a presentation was given by the Waste Management representative on the new single-sort recycling program being put in place by Rice County. This has been announced in the “Rice County Report” and residents will be receiving more information about the new system in the mail. New blue/yellow large carts will be delivered to each household for all co-mingled recycling.

Open Mic Comments:
Three citizens, as well as a group from the Skateboard Coalition, spoke at Open Mic. The subjects ranged from liquor store site concerns, to a detailed report of materials obtained through data practices requests, regarding the overpayment of City Administrator Roder’s legal fees; and on to an update from the skateboarders relating their current projects and fundraisers.

Consent Agenda:
The five items on the Consent Agenda were read, and approved unanimously.

Public Hearings:
Next on the Agenda were three Public hearings. Item #6 - Items related to Capital Improvement Plan Bonds:
6a - Public Hearing on CIP bonds, and 6b - Action (resolution 2008 - 076) related to CIP bonds which was deferred for action to the August 4th meeting.
Item 6a was not entirely clear as to its specific content for the public’s information. The newspaper notice of the Public Hearing declared the issuance of 16 Million dollars worth of General Obligation Bonds, to support the CIP. However, the item 6b staff report stated that Resolution 2008 - 076 ” adopts the CIP and gives preliminary approval for the issuance of $880,000 . The bond amount is only the total for the first year of the 5-year plan. The project for which the bonds would be issued is for the renovation of City Hall.”
(*** NOTE: As the “specific” of $880,000 was contained within the “general” issuance of 16 Million dollars of bonds to support the full 5 - Year CIP, but the specific information was not pointed out in the newspaper notice, LWV felt it was appropriate to draw attention to this matter. The LWV President approved a comment being made regarding citizens’ interest in dollars spent for City hall renovation, and that information needing to be more specific in order to make the public hearing meaningful as a citizen input-gathering tool.)
Action on this item, 6b, was delayed to August 4th,  allowing for more citizen input.
Kathleen MacBride, Finance Director, and Bruce Kimmel of Ehlers Assoc., spoke to the wide dissemination of the CIP, in general; Ms. Mac Bride has worked diligently to bring the general understanding of the 5 - Year Capital Improvement Plan to a much higher level, for both Council and public.
* Vote - Item 6a - all aye.

Public Hearing items 7a and 7b - Items related to Street Reconstruction Plan.
Ms. MacBride has explained to the Council, and advocated for, the use of 2002 MN legislation which “generally exempts city bonds issued under a street reconstruction program from the referendum requirements usually required for bonding expenditures”.
Ms. MacBride believes that responsible fiscal management needs to anticipate and coordinate major capital expenditures such as street reconstruction to minimize potentially adverse financial impacts caused by timing, and the magnitude of capital outlays. This plan will be updated every year.
The Council was supportive; action (resolution 2008 - 077) to be deferred to the August 4th meeting.

Public hearing item #8 - Items related to the Rental Code.
Brian O’Connell, Community Development Director, introduced this Public Hearing, and explained why Section 8c - First reading of Ordinance 882 _ Regarding Amendments to the Northfield Zoning Ordinance, would have to be withdrawn and first submitted to the Planning Commission.
Comments were taken on 8a _ Regarding Amendments to the Zoning Ordinance
* Vote all aye to close this portion of the PH.
Mr. O’Connell then explained the need for 8b - Amendments to the Rental Ordinance, because of the recent MN Supreme Court decision. Public comments were taken, focusing on the 20% limitation (rental properties to a block) and the unintended consequences for homeowners who needed to sell, but could not rent, and might therefore face foreclosure; and the possible adverse effects for all parties, including possible lawsuits against the city.
* Vote: all aye to close this section of the PH.
Public Hearing item 8d - First reading of Ordinance 883 - Regarding Amendments to Northfield Rental Ordinance
Mr. O’Connell again explained the need for amendments because of the MN Supreme Court decision.
The motion was made to approve Ord. 883, but there was no second. The motion died for lack of a second.
Staff looked stunned; this appeared to be an unexpected development. Joel Walinski asked when this item could be brought back; the Mayor replied, at any time. Mr. O’Connell said Staff’s plan would be to bring the item back for action at the August 4th meeting and if voted down at that time, would expect clarity from the council as to direction.

*** 5 Minute Break ***

Regular Agenda:
Item # 9 - This requests a contract amendment between the Comprehensive plan consultant, ACP, and the City.
Mr. Walinski introduced the item and turned it over to Mr. O’Connell for further explanation. Mr. O’Connell said the new Comp Plan was originally to be completed by October, 2007; however, that is when the first draft was received. Neither ACP (consultants) nor the city fully anticipated the time needed for all the Board/Commission involvement. Also the problems of complexity, of “blending” the old “use-based” regulations with the new “form-based” regulations , was far more difficult than anticipated.
Simply stated, the consultants were not willing to spend more time on this complex plan, unless the city is willing to spend more money. The requested amount was an additional $33,500 with a completion date of October, 2008.
Whether or not the City had “options” was discussed. Councilmembers expressed varying opinions. After asking 4 questions, the Mayor said he could not vote to support this additional cost without further negotiation with the consultant, and gave his reasons: more money than specified in a “not to exceed” contract, one full year late, city didn’t get guidance for annexation issues, through new regulations, because of lateness, “problems” should have been addressed earlier, etc. Some Councilmembers were upset by the Mayor’s statement, and questioned his stated “no”position, and asked how to deal with the “repercussions”. The Mayor again suggested revisiting the vendor and renegotiating, feeling the city should have the same rights to renegotiate.
After more Staff and Council discussion …
* Vote: all aye, except Mayor Lansing

Due to the noted changes to the Agenda, only one item was left:
Item # 11 - Interim Administrator
This discussion focused on the process to be used for applicants to be interviewed and a selection made.
Elizabeth Wheeler, Human Resources Director, had called the MN League of Cities, gotten a list of possible candidates, and called them all. With the inclusion of a “walk-in” candidate, and an internal candidate, a total of Nine persons expressed interest. Names are not public until finalists are announced.
The council will look at this list/resumes, and send names of their top three candidates to Ms. Wheeler by 10 A.M. on July 22. She will then set up interview sessions. It was presumed these interviews would be set for 5 P.M., on July 28th, preceding the Council meeting.
Most councilors were interested in having the interim position filled as early as possible after Mr. Roder’s August 1st departure date. If a chosen candidate could not accommodate the August 1st start date, it was suggested that Joel Walinski could function as “interim interim”.
* Vote: all aye

After a few announcements, meeting adjourned at 10:20 P.M.