08-11-2014 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Monday, July 28, 2014 5:00 p.m. Present: Mayor Lili McMillan, Council Members Cynthia Bremer, Lizz Levang and Aaron Printup; representing Staff were City Administrator Jessica Loftus, Police Chief Correy Farniok, City Attorney Soren Mattick, Senior Planner Mike Gaffron, Community Development Director Andrew Mack and Finance Director Ron Olson. Orono resident Lizz Hawn provided the City Council with information regarding East Long Lake Road including her concerns for parking and erosion. Police Chief Farniok had no objection to the installation of No Parking signs along the road and recommended directional signs to direct visitors to park at Summit Park. Mayor McMillan requested a layout with the locations of the signs and also options for the color/design to minimize visual clutter. Andrew Mack introduced the topic of site grading and erosion control. He reported a meeting was just held with the MCWD regarding better coordination of overlapping duties and efforts to improve efficiencies between the two agencies. The consensus of the Council was to have the MCWD take the lead where they have greater authority regarding erosion control violations. Council also requested the planning department draft a letter to the MCWD affirming this position. Mack presented information on a couple of uncompleted building projects. He also indicated that the City Attorney has suggested that the code provisions which are currently on the books regarding completion of the building exterior are inconsistent with State Statutes and case law precedent. Soren Mattick provided greater background on this subject. Mack then requested direction on minor code changes. It was the consensus of the council to consider the subject further. Mattick then discussed the zoning enforcement procedures and the amount of work that occurs at the staff level long before a matter is ever turned over to the attorney for initiation of a complaint with the court. Mattick discussed the idea of a clean‐up fund or establishing an additional day per year in the fall for a city wide clean up campaign to help residents. The consensus of council was that such efforts may warrant further consideration. Finance Director Ron Olson presented revenue and expenditure factors for consideration in the 2015 budget. He requested the Council’s input in the areas of the tax levy and spending priorities. Discussion ensued regarding specific spending items and the consensus of the Council was to pursue a flat levy as a base line budget then look at ‘add options’ for goals such as patching roads and parks. The Council directed the City Administrator to meet with Wayzata to negotiate down the cost of the fire contract to make it more comparable with the costs of the Long Lake Fire Department. Discussion ensued about the Human Services budget and direction was given include community education funds in this budget instead of the Park budget. Council also requested cost information for adding a fall cleanup for residents to dispose of brush and logs. The draft budget will be presented to the Council again at the August work session. Item #02 - CC Agenda - 08/11/2014 Approval of Council Work Session Minutes 08/11/2014 [Page 1 of 2]