04-25-2016 Council Work Session Minutes

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computers, business analysts, legal consulting, and 50 staff which includes 38 certified assessors to address resident concerns. Council Member Printup asked where Orono falls in valuations are after the crash of 2009 as to whether valuations have stabilized. City Administrator Loftus stated that Hennepin County follows the market which means we are re -active and not pro -active. We currently house other community's property files and City Administrator Loftus suggested compensation for that storage. Mr. Atchison said an $8,000 credit for 2015 and a $5,000 credit for 2014 was reimbursed to the City for not using the full contract amount. In conclusion the assessing contract expires July 31, 2016. Loftus stated this discussion was to review Hennepin County process and provide information to Council. Printup would like to poll other communities to learn how they do their assessing. Mr. Atchison reminded Council that this is a full-time 2 person job not a weekend/evening position. Orono takes a tremendous amount of effort to do the proper valuations. Council Member Levang is not interested in looking at doing it differently due to the excellent job the current assessors are providing the City of Orono. Council Members Walsh and Printup would like more information so Council members can answer resident inquiries. Why do communities choose to go with a private assessor? Mr. Atchison relayed that many communities have moved to county services due to growth and retirement of private assessors. 2. Cemetery Road Parking / Ownership City Planner Mike Gaffron provided historical information for Cemetery Road. Cemetery Road provides access to Union Cemetery. Currently employees of the Birch's Restaurant use the road for parking. Concerns have risen regarding the road integrity, maintenance along with who actually owns cemetery road. Gaffron reviewed the conclusions of his research. He believes it is a public road, never dedicated but historically it is a public road. Discussion at this meeting centers on the issues of regulating the parking of Birch's employees, road ownership, and who is responsible for road maintenance. Walsh asked Long Lake Council Member Olson whether Long Lake would want total ownership of the road and she responded no. The road is split, the north side belongs to Orono and the south side belongs to Long Lake. Orono regularly plows the road during the winter and posts weight restrictions in spring. The maintenance should be split 50/50 in the event the road integrity is weakened. The manager of Birch's has been working with the cemetery board and agrees to direct his employees to park on the south side which has solved the parking problem.