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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCMin_05May25CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS MINUTES May 25, 2005 Mayor Gehrz convened the regular City Council meeting at 7:00 PM. PRESENT: Mayor Sue Gehrz, Council members Laura Kuettel, Robert Lamb, Peter Lindstrom and Richard Talbot Also present: City Administrator Heather Worthington, Finance Director Roland Olson, Accounting Intern Mark Hansmeier and Deputy Clerk Mary Shea Kodluboy COMMUNITY FORUM: There was no commentary from the audience. PRESENTATIONS: Recognition of Kimberly Kuhens, recipient of the Girl Scout Gold Award Mayor Gehrz introduced Kimberly Kuhens and said that Kimberly has received the highest award in scouting for girls 15-18 years of age, the Girl Scout Gold Award. There is an extensive process that they go through and they must complete fifty hours of community service over a period of four months. Kimberly also serves the City as a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission. Kimberly said that one of her projects was a two-hour workshop at City Hall for girls, grades 6-12, and they learned about subjects such as self-defense, nutrition, fitness, and media influence on young women. Mayor Gehrz introduced Jackie Fritsche, the new reporter for the Roseville Review, and welcomed Eric Hagen, reporter for the SunFocus. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes dated May 11, 2005 were unanimously approved as submitted. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None Scheduled CONSENT AGENDA: Mayor Gehrz said that Consent Agenda Item 4 was an addition this evening. Initially, Debbie Tretsven submitted an application for an appointment to the Parks and Recreation Commission, but after discussions with Mayor Gehrz, she decided the Environment Commission would be a better fit for her because of her teaching background. Kuettel moved approval of the Consent Agenda, as outlined below. The motion was unanimously approved. General Disbursements through May 19, 2005: $104,561.44 Payroll (5/01/05 – 5/15/05) $ 12,855.86 FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -2- May 25, 2005 CONSENT AGENDA (continued) 2. Appointment of Laura Kwong, 1700 Fry Street, to the Neighborhood Commission 3. Appointment of Richard Rodich, 1341 Idaho Avenue, to the Planning Commission 4. Appointment of Debbie Tretsven, 1775 Hamline Avenue, to the Environment Commission POLICY AGENDA: Presentation of the City’s Comprehensive Audited Financial Report for 2004 and presentation of the 2003 GFOA Award for Excellence Finance Director Olson introduced Mark Hansmeier, a graduating senior from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, who has been an accounting intern with the City for over a year. He said Mark is an absolute whiz and has been a terrific intern for the City. The City was able to get a partial scholarship from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) to help pay for Mark’s internship. Finance Director Olson introduced Mr. Matthew Mayer, partner in the accounting firm of Kern DeWenter Viere, Ltd., the City Auditors. Mr. Mayer commented that Finance Director Olson always does advance preparation for the audit, is always well prepared and is very efficient. Mr. Mayer presented the City’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for 2004 (CAFR) and the Memorandum on Financial Analysis, Accounting Policies and Procedures, and Internal Control. He said that every year the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) reviews the comprehensive annual financial reports for governmental units and public employee retirement systems, and issues certificates of achievement for excellence in financial reporting if they determine the highest standards in government accounting and financial reporting have been achieved. The City of Falcon Heights has been awarded the GFOA Certificate of Achievement for its 2003 CAFR, the fourteenth year the City has received this prestigious national award. Council member Talbot commented that Mr. Mayer indicates the City is moving in the right direction. What does he tell cities that aren’t moving in the right direction? Mr. Mayer said they try to train and educate them. Council member Lindstrom said the reportable condition about segregation of duties comes up every year. Short of hiring five to six more people, are there some things the City can do for checks and balances? Is the City doing them? FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -3- May 25, 2005 Presentation of the City’s Comprehensive Audited Financial Report for 2004 and presentation of the 2003 GFOA Award for Excellence (continued) Mr. Mayer said there are three major cycles: Cash receipts, cash disbursements and payroll. It is difficult to adequately get that segregation. Based upon their experience, there is not much more the City can do. Mayor Gehrz said that mayors from communities that are considerably larger have told her they get that same reportable condition in their annual audits. Council member Lamb said the CAFR is the most important thing that the City does to manage and account for taxpayers’ money. This is the report card for the number one responsibility. It is very good and reassuring to get a good report. Mayor Gehrz said that later on the agenda, the City Council will be talking about conduit bonding and conduit bonding authority. Where will that fit into the City’s financial statements? Mr. Mayer said the debt won’t be presented on the City’s financial statements. The administrative fees will go into the general fund to help with operations. Mayor Gehrz presented Finance Director Olson with the GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the City’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2003. Lindstrom moved acceptance of the City’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for 2004. The motion was unanimously approved. Notice of intent to hold a public hearing regarding the issuance of multifamily housing revenue bonds to finance a housing program under Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 462C Administrator Worthington said the City Council, at their February workshop, discussed the issue of conduit bonding as an alternate revenue source for Falcon Heights. The City has the authority to conduit issue up to $10 million in bank-qualified, tax-exempt 501(c)3 bonds each year. The City lends its authority to a qualified non-profit, tax-exempt entity, and can take an administrative fee in return for lending this authority. Maplewood Senior Housing has agreed to a fee of $25,000, or slightly less than .5% of the total issue of $5,500,000. There is no financial risk to the City, and this conduit bonding does not affect the City’s bond rating. The City of Hutchinson, Minnesota, is asking Falcon Heights to utilize its conduit bonding authority in order to help with the issuance of housing bonds for Maplewood Senior Housing, Inc., a Minnesota non-profit corporation and tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization. These bonds will be utilized to construct a 50-unit independent senior housing facility in Hutchinson. The City of Hutchinson has agreed to lend host approval to this transaction, due to their inability to act as a conduit for these bonds because they are near their bank-qualified limit for 2005. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -4- May 25, 2005 Notice of intent to hold a public hearing regarding the issuance of multifamily housing revenue bonds to finance a housing program under Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 462C (continued) Administrator Worthington said the Council is not voting on this tonight. This evening the Council is being asked to adopt a resolution authorizing the publication of a notice of a public hearing on June 8, 2005, regarding the issuance of multifamily housing revenue bonds to finance a housing program under Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 462C. Council member Talbot said this seems like a good deal for Falcon Heights and its residents. This could create a $50,000 a year cash stream. In response to a question, Administrator Worthington said the initial contact about this came from Mary Ippel, the City’s Bond Counsel with Briggs and Morgan. Council member Lamb said the City Council had extensive discussions about this at its Council workshops. The City can engage in this at no cost or liability to the City. The City is just agreeing to hold a public hearing about this. The City will get $25,000 on the revenue side. Because of the City’s financial situation and how little the City uses its bonding authority, the City can lend that ability to other municipalities. He thinks there will be more municipalities in this market. This is very much a winner. Everyone should be very pleased at the outcome of our work sessions. RESOLUTION 2005-06 Talbot moved adoption of Resolution 2005-06, outlined below, calling for a public hearing on a proposal for financing elderly housing facilities and authorizing publication of a notice of the hearing. The motion was unanimously approved. WHEREAS, Minnesota Statutes, Section 462C, as amended (the “Act”), authorizes municipalities to finance the acquisition and construction of multifamily housing developments under the circumstances and within the limitations set forth in the Act. Section 462C.07 of the Act provides that such programs for multifamily housing developments may be financed through the issuance of revenue obligations payable exclusively from the revenues of the program or developments; and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Falcon Heights, Minnesota (the “City”), has received from Pines of Hutchinson, LLC, a Minnesota limited liability company (the “Borrower”), a proposal that the City assist in financing a project hereinafter described, through the issuance of revenue bonds (the “Bonds”) by the City pursuant to a Joint Powers Agreement between the City and the City of Hutchinson, Minnesota ("Hutchinson"); and The Borrower or a related entity proposes to acquire a 50-unit independent senior housing facility located at 1015 Century Avenue SW in Hutchinson; and FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -5- May 25, 2005 Notice of intent to hold a public hearing regarding the issuance of multifamily housing revenue bonds to finance a housing program under Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 462C (continued) RESOLUTION 2005-06 Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Section 471.59, as amended, the City and Hutchinson will enter into a joint powers agreement authorizing the City to issue revenue bonds to finance acquisition of the facilities; and WHEREAS, before proceeding with consideration of the request of the Borrower, it is necessary for the City to hold a public hearing on the proposal. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Falcon Heights, Minnesota, as follows: A public hearing on the proposal of the Borrower will be held at the time and place set forth in the Notice of Public Hearing hereto attached. The general nature of the proposal and an estimate of the principal amount of Bonds to be issued to finance the proposal are described in the attached form of Notice of Public Hearing. Drafts of documents including the housing program related to the Bonds are on file in the office of the City Administrator. The actions of City staff in publishing notice of the hearing for one publication in the official newspaper of the City, not less than 15 days prior to the date fixed for the hearing, substantially in the form of the attached Notice of Public Hearing, are hereby ratified. Adopted by the City Council of the City of Falcon Heights, Minnesota, this 25th day of May, 2005. Mayor Gehrz was highly complimentary of Administrator Worthington’s ingenuity, creativity and persistence in finding alternative sources of revenue for the City. Update on recodification costs related to electronic search and retrieval Administrator Worthington said the City Council, at its regular meeting on May 11, reviewed and approved a contract with Municipal Code to recodify the City code. Council member Lamb asked staff to look at options and costs regarding electronic search and retrieval, and location of the code on the internet, keeping in mind cost, efficiency, timeliness, and accuracy, and report back to the Council on May 25. The contract with Municipal Code has two components: 1) Recodification of the “paper” code, and quarterly updates of the code, prepared by Municipal; and 2) Electronic updates of the code, and web-hosting on their website, with a link to the code from our City website, or an internal hosting of the code. Staff prepared an analysis of the options regarding the electronic copy of the code. The overall goal is to establish an accurate, consistent code, both in paper form, and electronically (web-based). FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -6- May 25, 2005 Update on recodification costs related to electronic search and retrieval (continued) Administrator Worthington said that, in addition, the web-based code is consistent with the Council’s goal of improving citizen to city online transactions. Staff strongly recommends that the City Council approve web hosting by Municipal Code for the following reasons: Accuracy with updated or revised code sections will be better if one entity does all of the revisions—online and in the paper copy. Municipal Code is highly qualified to do this work. Municipal’s cost is extremely competitive with the projected staff costs of doing the work in-house—it is $517 less than having staff do the work. With a small staff, it is advisable to look for cost-effective solutions that also maximize the efficiency of city operations. The Municipal provision fulfills that goal. A brief discussion followed. Kuettel moved that staff be authorized to enter into an agreement with Municipal Code that includes online hosting of the code, and quarterly updates of the code electronically. The motion was unanimously approved. REPORTS FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS: Council member Lindstrom said that Richard Rodich, the new appointee to the Planning Commission, attended the Planning Commission on May 24, and is hitting the ground running. INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: Council members Kuettel and Talbot reminded everyone to make use of the City’s parks. Mayor Gehrz said the City has a contract with Housing Resource Center to provide consultations to residents about a wide range of housing issues, i.e. scopes of work, repair projects, help with reviewing bids, etc. They offer a variety of services that are free. Use the Housing Resource Center. Call City Hall to get their phone number. She mentioned there was an excellent article and pictures about the CERT training program, in the May 24 edition of the Minneapolis paper. She thanked Administrator Worthington for giving up part of her Saturday on May 21 to host a tour of the SE Corner. The Mayor, City Council and staff from Champlin were quite impressed with the project. The City Council workshop on June 1 is the kickoff workshop for the 2006 budget cycle. The workshop, which begins at 6 PM, will focus on goal setting. There are four goal areas which create work plan direction for the staff. She invited residents to come and sit in. If residents have ideas they would like to share with the City Council, feel free to contact anyone on the Council to talk about those ideas. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -7- May 25, 2005 INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS (continued) Council member Talbot commented that the Housing Resource Center is a great resource. The housing stock in Falcon Heights is 50 years old and needs help. The HRC can help with home remodeling contracts and negotiations, and can tell you if you aren’t getting an honest deal. The regular City Council meeting was adjourned at 8:10 PM. Respectfully submitted, Mary Shea Kodluboy Deputy Clerk