07/08/1998 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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• CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION JULY 8,1998 easement over the former street easement. In the meantime, the public continued to use the former trail as access around the lake. Recently, the Reshanau Lake Estates homeowners association began exploring the installation of a fence around the two (2) outlots and cutting off public access to the trail. The homeowners association was concerned about liability in the event that someone was injured on their property. This proposal has caused great public concern. John invited Mark Walmsley and Mary Cox of the Reshanau Lake Estates Homeowners Association to meet with the City Council this evening to discuss the matter. He noted that Rick DeGardner has had preliminary discussions with the homeowners association about this matter and asked the Council to authorize Rick to continue discussions as a representative of the City. Mr. Walmsley explained that the homeowners association is open to having a discussion with the City on this matter and would like someone to attend a homeowners association board meeting. Kim indicated that she supported John on this matter. John asked Ms. Cox and Mr. Walmsley if there was any upland on the east side of the Reshanau Lake Estates subdivision on which to relocate the trail. Mr. Walmsley said he thought that there was. John asked Rick to explore this idea with the Anoka County Parks Department. • Rick will meet with the Reshanau Lake Estates Homeowners Association board and keep the City Council updated on how these discussions are progressing. • REVIEW OF THE CITY AUDIT, ROB TAUTGES Mr. Tautges used the overhead projector and presented highlights of the 1997 City Audit. The audit consists of four (4) required reports. They are the 1997 Annual Financial Report, the Financial Analysis and Management Consideration, the Independent Auditor's Report n Compliance and the Independent Auditor's Report on Compliance and on Internal Control. Mr. Tautges explained that the format of the reports have been changed to make the reports more readable. John noted that each year the City Council plans for a specific surplus. This year there was an additional surplus due to several factors and the Council was told that the surplus beyond the target surplus had to be designated. This put the Council in a position of identifying designated uses on a crisis mode. If these items had gone through the normal budget process, they may not have been funded. John asked how could the Council avoid this situation. Mr. Tautges explained that designation of surpluses has merit because in the past, the State could actually reduce state aid in the same amount of the surpluses. Some cities transfer the fund balances to another fund. He explained that the Council can carry over the additional surplus balance to the next budget time and include the surplus in the next budget. There is no actual requirement to spend the surplus as designated. How the Council handles this situation is a matter of philosophy. PAGE 3