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MINUTES/FINANCE COMMITTEE
Tuesday, January 10, 1995 - 7:00 p.m.

Members present: Carpenter, Geller, McCabe.

1. Matter of snow removal assessments on 2226 Highland Court.
Gene Behr stated that when he purchased his house January 27 specials for snow removal were not disclosed to realtor, only specials he knew about were for storm sewer, and questioned why this wasn't brought to their realtor's attention. Mr. Swanson, city attorney, stated that it is up to the realtor or property owner or purchaser to investigate, and if they had inquired as to whether there were specials in the process of being certified, that information would have been available. He stated this is a lien against the property and not the individual and is authorized by both State law and City code, and that finance committee has had previous requests and held firm to the statutes. Mr. Schmisek reported that in both snow removal and weed assessments have this problem where levied against home owner, when house is sold, new owner unaware; that his office goes far in excess of what State Code requires (publication of snow removal assessments in summer and weed cutting assessments in fall), that in the month following the work having been done, send notification to the home owner of record, and are trying to get as much information out as possibly can. He stated they sometimes have same problem in rental units, where landlord has made tenant responsible for removing snow). He stated they send out notification of date work done, and amount, and property owner has opportunity to pay or have assessed. Mr. Behr noted that the charge is for $90.00, with billing dates of January 5, 10, and 21.

After further discussion re. special assessment process, Mr. Swanson stated their options would be to deny appeal, or to grant appeal and cancel that assessment, and that may have other implications for other people, and in his years there's never been appeal on assessments upheld. It was moved by Geller and McCabe to deny the appeal.

Mr. Behr asked how they could preclude this from happening to someone in the future; Mr. Swanson noted assessment can't appear of record until certified - notice given to property owners. The committee suggested making realtors aware of this problem; Mr. Schmisek stated his office would inform realtors assn. to call his office and check.

Motion carried.

2. Matter of offer by BEKO Partnership to purchase property
presently under lease.
Howard Swanson, city attorney, reported that City issued bonds number of years ago, broadly defined as MIDA bonds which allowed BEKO Partnership to build office building just north of Community National Bank building at 17th and S. Washington; those MINUTES/FINANCE COMMITTEE
January 10, 1995 - Page 2

bonds are about to be fully retired and under terms of the agreement for the bonds BEKO Partnership can acquire that property presently owned by the City upon retirement of the bonds and upon notice. He reported that those bonds are about to be fully retired, that he met with Mr. Kuchar, all matters are in place. It was moved by McCabe and Geller to authorize the City of Grand Forks and its officials to convey by warranty deed to BEKO Partnership the building as of March 1, 1995. Motion carried.

3. Matter of purchase of land for fire station.
Fire Chief Aulich distributed copies of letter and proposed purchase agreement, that $1.59 sq.ft. is about market price, and that offer to purchase is fairly standard with couple of minor exceptions: paragraph 8 on page 2: Seller's option to repurchase, that this is a disadvantage as far as City is concerned and his recommendation would be to offer seller right of first refusal if and when the City would ever decide to sell without any reference to price; paragraph 10 on page 3: that buyer agrees to postpone any site improvement that would require removal of the clay/dirt currently piled on the site until April 1, 1997 (piled near site, not on it), and that he seriously doubts that the City would improve that property before April 1, 1997, if then; that the 1997 CIP has money for a fire station, so didn't see any reason to force seller to remove. He stated that another item that should be included assuming the agreement is amended, is that there is a piece of property north of this lot which Greenberg retained and which is outside the city limits and that it might be advantageous to put in section or paragraph that seller would not protest annexation of Lot 1 so we could annex Lot 2 if it's still sitting there unimproved, as Lot 2 is the property City interested in. He noted that utilities are available. He stated that there is copy of letter that went out year ago to committee explaining why they were looking at this property, and those reasons still valid, and maps showing stations and protection districts. He stated they would relocate station 3 to this new location which is south of 36th Avenue South and Columbia Road, and see no major disadvantages to this location, and would look at development in 1997. He also reported that they would keep existing southside fire station to house auxiliary equipment and to use as training site - collaborate with Tech and University and develop some good training courses and possibly make some money; (they presently house City/Co. emergency mgmt. command post, safety house, water rescue unit, ambulance owned by Hospital for mass casualty incidents supply van). He stated his recommendation would be to keep station.

The committee discussed the terms of the agreement.

Moved by Geller and McCabe to approve purchase of Lot 2, Block 1, Columbia Park 24th Addition, for the sum of $68,000 from Arthur
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Greenberg, Jr. and to authorize proper City officials to enter into the purchase agreement with changes as recommended by the committee. Motion carried.

4. Matter of sale of City property at 40th Avenue South and
South Washington Street.
Mr. Schmisek asked that this matter be held as Mr. Hollifield reported his Board was to meet today. Held until next meeting.

5. Matter of reducing City charges for lots that would be
devoted for homes costing less than $100,000.
6. Matter of reducing 50% upfront cost for special assessments
for lower cost housing.
7. Matter of extending or increasing new home tax abatements for
modestly priced spec. homes to encourage more developers to
look at this market.
Mr. Beach reported these items were referred from urban development committee and stemmed from making housing more affordable in Grand Forks. He noted that there are couple perceptions out there: first one from Air Force re. concern about housing, that in recent months they have been advising personnel not to bring families - that's how Air Force views problem; another one is that Grand Forks is tough place for builders, investors to make real estate deals, and are asking committee to look at issues and see if can improve; need to take hard look at with open mind to see if anything can be done to improve availability of housing in Grand Forks.

Mr. Carpenter reported it had been suggested by public service committee that they have joint meeting with finance to discuss these issues - Monday, January 23.

Mr. Beach stated that lot of things make up housing costs and some we can't control, i.e., interest rates, material costs, labor costs, but these items are things that council does control, can change or adjust.

The question of whether there is disparity between other cities in state was raised, and Mr. Beach stated that contractors say they can build in Fargo and Bismarck for less. Mr. Schmisek stated he would contact other cities re. upfront costs, etc.

Committee stated that when considering these items (all three items) at joint meeting, would like to hear from developers, what impact to home owners, etc. Mr. Beach stated that public service also requested this information.

There was some discussion re. history of the 50% upfront money policy; extension of two-year tax abatement policy, etc.

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The committee held these items, which are to be considered at joint public service/finance meeting on January 23 at 7:00 p.m.
and directed that developers, realtors, etc. be invited to the meeting.

8. Matter of meeting time.
The committee noted that the urban development committee has temporarily changed their meeting time to Saturday through March and possibly April; and discussed changing their meeting time back to a late afternoon meeting rather than evening. The committee scheduled their meeting time as 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday on temporary basis until they hear from urban development committee to work out a schedule. The committee also scheduled their next meeting as Tuesday, January 31 at 3:30 p.m.

9. Matter of City's investments.
Mr. Schmisek reported they have never had written investment policy and that Springsted asked us to consider this, and submitted a policy draft. Mr. Schmisek reported that he oversees and finance analyst does day to day work, and briefly reviewed portions of the draft with the committee. Mr. Carpenter stated he has lot of comments, etc. and that he could review with John and bring back to committee. Mr. Geller stated he would want to know what proposed/suggested changes are. Mr. Carpenter questioned how much of finance analyst's time is spent on investments; Mr. Schmisek est. 50-60% and noted other areas of work that she does, budget control, departmental budgets, etc. Mr. Carpenter stated this is another question he is going to have once this in place, should we be doing it or contracting out with third party who provides this service on full time basis; that this would depend on what they put in policy and if objectives are accomplished; this would be way of freeing up more time in the finance department for some of the other things they have talked about being able to do. Held in committee.

10. Application by Grand Forks Historic Preservation Commission
for historic preservation fund grant.
The committee reviewed application requesting federal grant funds of $16,800, with $11,200 match coming from Grand Forks Historical Preservation Commission through donated funds (sales tax funds allocated to the Commission through council action, etc.) for total project cost of $28,000. It was noted that this year Commission putting together survey of area from DeMers to 13th Avenue South for National Register nomination on that area (in an effort to establish a historic district).

Moved by Geller and McCabe to approve grant application and authorize proper City officials to sign said application. Motion carried.

11. Matter of Civil Service Code.
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Mr. Swanson reported that as of January 1 new Civil Service Code will be implemented, and they have found number of items that need amendment, some language changes, but there are two policy issues that were not addressed in the Code which deal with employees classified as permanent part-time employees: that under the new Code they were proposing to give an additional benefit to part-time employees in the form of pro-rated benefits, those benefits were going to be pro-rated holiday pay, pro-rated sick leave, pro-rated vacation, and pro-rated health insurance (they do not qualify for pension so that was not included); that the Study Committee was told that at the present time, 1994, that part-time employees who worked 1,000 hours were eligible to buy health insurance, at that time they were told that the City was not contributing any funds towards the purchase of health insurance for part-time employees, but now find out that not only do part-time employees right now, if they've reached 1,000 hours, have opportunity to ask for health insurance they get it fully paid by the City, not only do they get an individual plan, they can get a fully paid family plan, and that there are a number of employees who have taken advantage of that. Time frame would basically be 20 hours/week for a year, and once you have met that threshold you would be eligible for benefits, you wouldn't have to reestablish eligibility annually. He stated that's going to be a policy decision that council's going to have to address, what do we do for health insurance for part-time employees and what do we do for those presently under our plan, and what do we do for future part-time employees. He reported that he had discussed with the mayor and his initial premonition was to continue to provide whatever insurance exists for those part-time employees but any employee seeking insurance after that date will only have pro-rated benefits. It was noted that there are probably less than 15 part-time employees receiving this benefit. He stated this is contrary to all evidence and testimony the Study Committee received from personnel office. Mr. Swanson stated that he didn't think the City was obligated to continue for the indefinite future to say that every part-time employee is entitled to free family-health care coverage.

Carpenter stated that everybody needs to be made aware that this is being provided, and the cost that the City is paying wasn't a council approved policy, so all employees know what is going on, and that City needs to review whole policy on part-time employees. It was noted that applications for health insurance are made through the personnel office.

Moved by Carpenter and McCabe that effective January 17, 1995, the City will no longer contribute 100% of the premium for health care for part-time employees. Motion carried.

Mr. Swanson stated that the other item that relates to this is, how do you establish the base of 1,000 hours, that it was his
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intention to utilize 1994, the study year, as the base year - so for 1995 look to the prior year to determine did that position/employee reach 1,000 hours for pro-ration efforts. It was noted that to be eligible for these benefits, individual would have to be permanent part-time employee; that there are also seasonal employees who do not qualify. Mr. Swanson stated that their definition of permanent part-time is "an employee occupying a position which requires part-time employment of one person for at least 20 but less than 40 hours per week for a continuous period throughout the year". He stated he wants committee to determine for 1995 what base year will be and is suggesting 1994. He will come back with other technical corrections.

Moved by Geller and McCabe to utilize 1994 as basis for determination of benefits for permanent part-time employees. Motion carried.

12. Matter of legislative bills.
Mr. Swanson also informed committee that he had received report from local representatives on introduction of 4 or 5 bills he had identified earlier - one dealing with law requiring cities to withhold $1,000 on every contract until Labor Dept. releases; another re. special assessments to annexed property; tax exemption for remodeling of commercial/residential buildings to provide City discretion whether or not to allow after adoption of guidelines; reduction of employee salaries (municipal officers) bill to clarify; and clarification of veterans preference law whether applies to ND residents or all veterans. Mr. Schmisek stated they have two services on legislative bills - on-line service and being sent copies of bills. It was noted that on-line service available at public library also.

Meeting adjourned.

Alice Fontaine
City Clerk

Dated: 1/11/95.