06/02/2008 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION -5- June 2, 2008 APPROVED 066 for city records. The fees, including degradation fees for road surface removal, are a revenue 167 source for the city's costs. This would bring all the utilities into a unified process, streamline the 168 process and establish the city's authority. It's really a standard in place already for most cities, 169 including recently by Circle Pines. This is a cost of doing business for the utilities that would be 170 passed along to their customers but not as a direct charge on bills. 171 The council concurred that the ordinance will be considered for first reading at the council 172 meeting on June 9. 173 7. Xcel Electricity, Gas Franchise Agreement — Administrator Heitke recalled that the 174 council was advised at the last work session that the city's franchise agreement with Xcel Energy 175 is expiring in June. The council gave a direction that when new franchise agreements are drafted 176 they should include the ability to establish franchise fees. Administrator Heitke is providing 177 draft gas and electric franchise ordinances as prepared by Attorney James Strommen of Kennedy 178 and Graven. The attachment to the report is a marked up copy of a proposed new Xcel 179 agreement; the changes provide more clarity, especially in the rights of the city. The franchise 180 fee language is included on Page 7, with three different methodologies presented to preserve 181 maximum flexibility for the city. It does provide the possibility of engaging fees on all utility 182 providers. 183 When discussing the specifics of the current arrangement with Centennial Utilities, the council 184 decided to ask the city's representative to that group, Vernon Reinert, to attend the next work mil 85 session so as to participate in this discussion and provide background information. The council W 86 is very interested in the impact on that particular utility that already has a fee in place. It may 187 make sense to not have a specific fee set forth to leave it open for the different utility situations, 188 or not make it an across the board amount. 189 The council directed staff to get an attorney review of their questions and report back at the next 190 regular work session. Administrator Heitke noted that the attorney has advised that there is time 191 to work on the matter and the renewal of the outstanding Xcel agreement can be delayed 192 somewhat. 193 8. Amendment to Liquor Ordinance - Administrator Heitke recalled that the council 194 expressed a desire to review the current liquor ordinance. 195 The council discussed the possibility of developing regulations that don't have things 196 congregating in a two block radius. More review is required and a moratorium on licenses 197 would allow that. 198 The council directed staff to prepare a moratorium ordinance restricting issuance of off -sale for 199 six months. 200 Legal basis for a moratorium is that you're redoing your ordinance. 201 9. Review of Regular Meeting Agenda •02 There were no changes to the regular council agenda.