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MINUTES - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
Monday, December 23, 2002 - 7:00 p.m.

The city council met as the Committee of the Whole on Monday, December 23, 2002, at 7:00 p.m. in the council chambers in City Hall with Mayor Brown presiding. Present at roll call were: Council Members Brooks, Hamerlik, Glassheim, Gershman, Christensen, Kerian, Kreun - 7; absent: none.

Mayor Brown announced that when addressing the committee to please come forward to use the microphone for the record, and advised that the meeting is being televised live and taped for later broadcast.

Mayor Brown also commented on the following issues:

1) City calendars were citizens should have received their calendars this week and if need extra copies to call the Info Center.

He stated it is with regret that he recently accepted the resignation of the interim director of Urban Development, Terry Hanson; he will be leaving his post effective December 30 and has accepted the position of the Housing Authority director, and that today he appointed Keith Lund as the interim director for the Urban Development Office until such time as a permanent director can be named, and wished Terry good luck in the future and good luck to Keith as he leads the Office of Urban Development.

He thanked the organizers of the Sox for Kids, that this past Saturday over 500 children had the special opportunity to buy gifts for their families, and in all about $45,000 was raised with every penny going to the kids. He also thanked all the volunteers and K-Mart.

He stated at year's end the City will be losing several employees through attrition and cuts, and thanked all those employees who have put in years of dedicated service and wish them the best in the future.

He stated this year they will see the close of long career of James Odegaard, Grand Forks County States Attorney, his long-term service to the County and its residents is greatly appreciated.

He thanked all the staff that worked so hard on the wage study and to the city council, that it's an historic event and very important as we continue to place the City and its resources in position to best serve the citizens.

He reminded everyone that First Night is just around the corner, this will be the 9th Annual First Night in our community and will feature 14 venues, 40 artists and an ice carving. Thanks to all the volunteers and organizers who are making it happen this year.

He stated that City Hall will be closed on Wednesday, December 25 and next Wednesday, January 1, and to please be safe during the holidays, drive carefully, don't drink and drive, and Happy Holidays to all - Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy New Year.

3.1 2003 Special Events Program.
Council Member Hamerlik stated at the last meeting there was some concern and that the council should continue for one more year, that he was advocating to give it to CVB and ended up asking Urban Development to come in with a new schedule; that they allocated $25,000 from 2163 to Marketplace, and that since it has been advertised in the paper there isn't any use to discuss it - it's pretty rigorous and would be prepared at the next meeting to compromise on it to have the same committee and include the CVB executive director and executive of the Alerus Commission, that he has been in contact with them and they would be willing to serve, and that may be an alternative and would be prepared to make that motion at the next meeting. He stated he was concerned about applications coming in over the holidays. Council Member Gershman asked if he was suggesting a 5-member committee (3 council and executive directors of Alerus Commission and CVB).

Council Member Brooks stated that $100,000 is coming from the city budget and asked what funding source is. Keith Lund stated that allocation is from the General Fund, not CDBG dollars. Council Member Brooks asked if some of the applicants do their own fund raising. Mr. Lund stated it is not a requirement to be a 501C3 or that they do fund raising in any particular way but is a requirement of the program that they have a dollar for dollar match (cash match - encouraged to have in-kind contributions but must match dollar for dollar). Mayor Brown stated that the fund source is sales tax economic development money).

Mr. Lund stated that regarding the proposed schedule, the applications are already out and had been notified of application deadline of December 26; that they re-issued letters that at a minimum they would be given until January 8, however the council may extend that dead- line if they so choose and they would notify the applicants.

3.2 Phase IV/IA Flood Response Rental Program/City-owned homes.
Council Member Christensen asked Mr. Lund if he could give council a report as to the number of homes they still have with tenants, when expect to have the homes available for sale, and what inventory is. Mr. Lund stated the staff report summarizes that; and their position is as soon as the homes are available for sale they list them, they require a 60-day notice. Council Member Christensen stated it might behoove us to be putting a lot of these homes on sale. Mr. Lund reported 3 are ready for sale in January and if replats associated with the flood protection project are completed in a timely manner in the spring, will have additional homes up for sale. Council Member Christensen asked that they make sure the council knows about those homes and the replats so that they move along.

Council Member Kerian stated that in the staff report, that due to the uncertainty of the ultimate flood protection line, they believe it is prudent to wait until the Corps of Engineers provides the alignment certificate and the replat is complete to offer each home for sale, and what does that pertain to in relation to the spread sheet some are shown to be listed in March, 2003 and others in July, 2003. Mr. Lund stated the paragraph refers to the fact that until the alignment is certified and the replat is filed, premature to sell the home. He stated that the home on Northridge Hills might be good example as they were told a year ago that they were done with the taking in the Sunbeam Addition and that the Corps of Engineers through additional study determined that 5 homes will need to be taken for the project, and had they sold those homes, they would be buying them back; and that paragraph means that we should wait until officially to sell the homes and applies to all the properties. Council Member Kerian stated that the 6 homes listed as after construction - Mr. Lund stated that the 6 homes he has summarized should wait until after construction, they are in Sunbeam Addn. and levee construction will occur in close proximity to the home and important to wait until levee construction is complete, not just the replat filed. Mr. Lund stated in discussing with engineering when they anticipate replats, that's when Urban would anticipate listing the homes for sale. He also noted for the 6 homes listed regardless of when the replats are filed, levee construction will happen 75 ft. to 100 ft. away from the homes and if possible to just sell the home and then disclose that to the potential buyer. Council Member Kreun stated they are all very temporary and if the Corps of Engineers changes any of the alignments as the design takes place, these timelines can change as well - a tentative date.

Council Member Christensen stated the 6 houses after construction, that it is his understanding that the homes will remain after the dike is constructed, and further that it would be possible to sell the homes subject to the owner agreeing in advance to sign a plat so that when the time came for the replatting, wouldn't it be possible for the person to give a conditional approval to a plat to be prepared that locates the footprint of the dike so that the City could at least begin thinking about selling them, otherwise these homes probably won't get sold for 2 years. Mr. Swanson stated one of the concerns with some of these homes that construction will occur, not permanent levee, but construction equipment will be so close to the home that they are concerned with interfering with the occupant's use of the home as well as any potential damage to the items around the home, not sure that applies to all 6 but at least 2 where that comes into play, and that's why they were acquired by the City.

Council Member Kreun stated they've had several indications of what was suggested and these people are fearful of damage to foundations and even if we go in good faith and sign an agreement ahead of time, they would still be able to come back and be reconsidered -they've had several people come to their relocation appeals committee and to engineering department concerned with that, and in order to alleviate that should wait with these particular ones, even if it is 2 years - want to sell as quick as we can and get on the tax rolls but could cost us more if have to go through litigation and that process - have had several requests to have signatures and guarantees that will repair any damage to foundations that would take place because of the construction of the dike, and those are the reasons for putting this on the list to wait until the dike is actually constructed.

3.3 Request from STEP Home to lease City-owned home.
Mayor Brown stated this item had been pulled. Council Member Gershman asked for explanation of why it was pulled. Dennis Potter, city planner, stated this item pulled because the proponents proposing to buy a building and put a use into it that at this point in time does not fit within our zoning code, the same group of people were in discussion with the Planning Office about how to resolve that issue and have been talking about doing a fitting and compatibility determination by the Planning Commission at their January meeting; they withdrew from that and said they did not want to proceed with a determination that would actually operate in the zoning district and Planning had no knowledge that they were seeking to acquire property from the City and he asked that not go forward until they resolve the issue of doing the fitting and compatibility determination so they can meet the Land Development Code or zoning ordinance. Council Member Gershman asked if they have pulled their request for this particular home (701 South 5th Street) or if they will want to do this in this neighborhood. Mr. Potter stated he didn't know as they stopped discussing with Planning which would have required an establishment of where it was going to be, and when he saw this item on the council agenda, he asked to have it stopped because if they buy the property they will probably assume they can go in there, which at the moment they cannot. Council Member Gershman stated he understood they were going to lease the property but that would preclude the City from selling it and he knows the home and 12 people in that home is not agreeable use in the neighborhood, that home has been used as a foster home and there haven't been problems with that but to put 12 people in a home not large enough for 12 people on an interim basis when hopefully they could get the replat of this home so they could get this house sold and back on the tax rolls and let the neighborhood go back to being a neighborhood - and was giving notice and will oppose that. Mr. Potter stated that if they do not come back in and discuss with Planning Office and take something to the Commission for an action, they cannot go there.

Council Member Christensen stated this home was leased for 6 months, and asked what current status. Mr. Lund stated Prairie Harvest is leasing the home and council extended the lease but not sure of date of extension. Christensen stated they were going to have this parcel of property replatted once the footprint of the dike had been established, and asked what the status of the replatting of this property. Mr. Potter stated it has not been started and have not received a replat application. Council Member Kreun stated that as soon as the permanent dike alignment comes into play from the Corps of Engineers then the City will be able to replat it. Christensen stated he hoped the mayor would ask engineering department before the next meeting as to the status of the alignment and then initiate the replatting of it; and concurs with Mr. Gershman and should this come for deviation from R-1 would join his colleague.

Council Member Glassheim stated rather than pulling this, they should receive and file so that should it come back again it would come back new or if it doesn't come back, then put to rest permanently. Mr. Lund stated they were aware that they were on the agenda, and Urban became aware that they were working with Planning and Zoning department for this determination of use, and his office informed them that the item was pulled so they would have to re-initiate discussion to have it come back again.

Mr. Swanson stated that if the item is going to be pulled, that means it's being removed from the agenda and the council is not in a position to act one way or the other; this was put on the agenda by the Office of Urban Development and doesn't think Mr. Potter has any authority to withdraw it from the agenda but the Office of Urban Development would, and if it appears on your agenda the motion to receive and file is appropriate, and if not on the agenda it's not a matter you're taking any action on. Mr. Lund stated the item is pulled (and won't be on the agenda at the next meeting.

3.4 Employee contract approval.
Council Member Brooks questioned item 7. exempt/non-exempt status, that when he read the sentence and if exempt you don't collect overtime but almost sounded like it would be paid on an hourly basis over 40 hours. Mr. Duquette stated they need to clarify that and will look at that.

Council Member Hamerlik stated this is a one-year contract and retroactive to November, and they will be receiving the other individuals under contract before the first of the year because of salaries. Mr. Swanson stated the majority of the department head contracts were revised when Mr. Warne was here to remove any terms, and it was with objection from his office that these contracts were approved without a term, are non-term contracts and do not come back to the council - this one is different and set up on an annual contract basis. Council Member Hamerlik asked if the council does not have any authority on salaries; Mr. Duquette stated that the council approves the budget so would have authority on the salaries. Mr. Duquette stated this contract is for one year, that this is not department head contract but senior executive position.

3.5 Bids for purchase of marked police vehicles.
Council Member Brooks stated we received one bid from Hansen Ford, none from Chevrolet and if they don't meet specs.; and also in Salt Lake City at National League of Cities most of the police cars were medium-sized vehicles and asked if we look at that. Capt. Kirby stated difficult to state why other dealers did not bid, they would have met the specs. as they would have vehicles that would have fit qualifications. Council Member Hamerlik stated he understands that Ford is the only one that makes this heavy vehicle, that a year or two ago he asked the question of GM and they said they couldn't bid because they couldn't meet specs.; and recently been reading that many cities are going to smaller vehicles, not only for savings, but cutting back chases, and if we're doing that and if we have a policy re. chases. Capt. Kirby stated they do have a policy and is enforced by the on-duty supervisors.

3.6 Appointment of council member to the Gateway Drive Design Review Corridor Study
Group.___________________________________________________________________
Council Member Gershman asked if they were looking for volunteers, and volunteered.

3.7 Appointment to the Alerus Commission.
There were no comments.

INFORMATION ITEMS

4.1 2003 Affordable In-fill Housing Program.
There were no comments.

4.2 Cable TV franchise renewal - executive summary of needs assessment report.
Council Member Kerian asked what previous length of agreement and percentage of franchise fees, and where does money go. Mr. Swanson stated the length of the franchise agreement presently has been on an 8-year basis, prior to that 10-year, and anticipate that the renewal will be somewhere in neighborhood of 5 to 10 years; fee or rate is set by federal law at a max. of 5% which is where the City of Grand Forks is at; and those funds are all general fund dollars.

Council Member Christensen stated that the 5% increase based on what the federal law allows it to go up; Mr. Swanson stated the agreement will be written and options of windows for the City to examine that, however, the 5% has not changed since 1984 under the current FCC regulation. Council Member Christensen stated that 10 years is a long time and wondering if shouldn't go with 5 with an option to renew but have windows and have conditions so that if things aren't getting done within a certain period of time, we have the option to give them adequate notice where the franchise would be revoked, otherwise we get locked into a standard of service that in 10 years may not be the type of service we want in light of the changes that are going on in industries, and would be very careful about a 10-year contract. Mr. Swanson stated that the proposed franchise agreement has not set a term, and he does not anticipate that they would accept a 10-year, the industry would likely not accept anything in the 5 or less range, and is a matter of negotiation and do have proposals which would have windows open. Christensen asked if we couldn't come to terms; Mr. Swanson stated they would force us under the 1984 Cable TV Act into what a formal process is and which could end up with FCC ruling. Christensen asked if we are in a position where we would have to buy out their infrastructure or do they lose it; Mr. Swanson stated council could exercise rights of eminent domain but doesn't see that as being in the cards, they do not lose that infrastructure, they have an investment there. Mr. Swanson stated he would encourage them not to jump to any conclusions until they know what the contract proposal is, and that we're not at that stage, this is a potential 3-year negotiation period starting last spring and not a short term matter that will be on your desk in the near future, please keep an open mind and they have utilized a firm out of Washington, DC and Minneapolis to do a majority of the work and has great deal of confidence in their ability so will come back with a very good product.

Council Member Brooks stated one thing that came up when they started televising was the agreement with the cable company relating to channel 3 and if that was part of the agreement and something we wanted to look at. Mr. Swanson stated we are proposing that the City receive an additional channel for government, educational purposes, that we have been in contact with the Park District, the County and the School District on utilizing a channel of that nature for primarily government purposes; the School has some interest in using it for further information and that would allow one of the channels to be dedicated for University use and the other more within the control of the local government. Brooks stated that would allow those entities to broadcast their meetings. Mr. Swanson stated that has been one of the items discussed and other in that regard is to have a scrolling feature for the different entities to put on whatever information they might be able to place on a scroll.

Council Member Glassheim asked if we should be discussing some of these things now or wait for further negotiations; Mr. Swanson stated they've not had any negotiations yet, and what council has before it is information that summarizes a need for assessment study that was done by two of the consulting firms; and if there are items they have questions about, he can try to respond to them but not before you for any action.

Glassheim asked what is an institutional network; Mr. Swanson stated one of the things they have on the drawing board to have discussions with the cable company is whether or not they can provide capacity through their fiber optic cable to allow the city to do more things, including security systems for some of the City's infrastructure or plants or facilities; presently they have various forms of security, including wireless types of security, phone line security, etc. but want to address whether we can use fiber optic and investigate whether the cable company's fiber optic can be used to provide different services among the city buildings or facilities as far as computer networks; and are looking at whether or not the City can take advantage of capacity that the cable company has for facilities that we either don't have or are otherwise paying higher price for. Mr. Swanson stated there are standards developing by negotiations regionally and nationally.

ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR COMMENTS

Rick Duquette, administrative coordinator, stated he wanted to enter into the record in 2002 to thank the employees of the city of Grand Forks, the department heads for their hard work, and to thank the city council and the mayor for what they have done this year, but moreover the folks moving out the middle of the night and means something to know that they are out there - thanks to them.

MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS

1) Council Member Brooks wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, to be with their families and friends and enjoy the season and the reason for it.

2) Council Member Christensen stated as they start the new year appreciate the schedule as to when the CIP committee will begin meeting; that as they have had some issues regarding some things in the greenway, had a de facto greenway committee consisting of Kerian, Gershman and himself, and would hope they could reactivate that committee as they have some issues on location of boat ramps, parking lots, etc. and has come to his attention that they are not keeping the citizens as informed as should have re. proposed location of a boat ramps. 2) He stated he would like a report from Mr. Potter and Mr. Haugen as to the status of the changes in the Planning and Zoning ordinances that deal with the interplay between the MPO and the Planning and Zoning Commission as the same relates to buses, bus routes, fares, etc. and would like that by the next Committee of the Whole meeting because that ordinance has to get drafted and have to discuss it. Mayor Brown stated those requests are supposed to go through his office to the appropriate people and would take care of that. 3) Christensen stated that on the council planning process they are going to start on the 16th and asked if they want agenda items from the council members - Mr. Duquette stated it might be well to be prepared to have some potential agenda items and that council will be getting some materials from facilitators in prepara-tion for that meeting. Christensen stated Merry Christmas and good night.

3) Council Member Hamerlik also stated Merry Christmas and good night.

4) Council Member Kerian stated she was not at the entire meeting on storm water discussions and appreciates City staff presenting that information and it began discussion that is important to have - some other storm water changes that need to be done across the city; some citizens are concerned about the price and not intention to go ahead and move on this, intention is to start talking about the problem and seeing what possible solutions there may be out there and to start planning for that - not realistic to think the problem is going to go away by itself and not realistic to assume we know all the answers - the point is to have discussion and to start looking at how can we solve problems.

She stated she was putting together her Code book tonight and that they had talked about doing something to allow electronic communication so that they might not be doing this in paper anymore, and does take some thinking and planning and if that hasn't been on anybody's list would be interested in getting it on somebody's list rather having this delivered every week and if some way having that done electronically. Mayor Brown stated that is being looked at.

5) Council Member Glassheim stated to respond to Kerian's plea for continuing the discussion on the storm water, had someone speak to him today who had been away from
Grand Forks for several years and in their home city had a water problem and basements getting wet and after awhile it became clear that it was worth it to the residents in terms of ability to sell their homes and their property valuations to pay a little bit in special assessments and that never came up in the discussion, just negative part of having to pay the assessment and if a concern for an area of town being wet, it could impact housing sales, etc. and to be part of the on-going discussions.

He asked if the Relocation Appeal Committee was going to meet as they have items pending and if follow through on them.

He asked if they were going to do something with the Urban Development director position, advertising and the job description. Mayor Brown stated they are moving ahead on recruiting the urban development director. Mr. Duquette stated there have been some recent discussions about the economic development piece with that position, that the finance committee has been meeting with urban development staff and Economic Development Corporation staff, that HR is constructing a matrix outlining what some of those functions are; and thinks we need to get that resolved and move forward on this process. Mayor Brown stated it was their intent to move quickly. Glassheim stated they had talked about having a matrix that came out of the finance standby committee but not sure we actually need that anymore, and almost no sides of the discussion had any input in the past month and maybe something they thought was important at one time and maybe the finance committee and administrative coordinator's office can look at it soon and move ahead. Council Member Christensen stated he would envision that the finance standby committee can convene a meeting after the first of the year to review where they left off and as part of the planning process they are going to engage in now, one of the issues might be is what role do they envision the Housing Authority as the same pertains to the Urban Development Office, there was a lot of duplication and shared employees and what transpired a year ago when there was a restructuring of the urban development office the GF Housing Authority has chosen to have a fulltime executive director and implementing a study they got, and would be wise for finance standby committee to reconvene to have Mr. Duquette there, Mr. Lund, and mayor's assistant and begin discussing these issues because it's going to play into our planning process that they are going to be engaged in January and February, and that a wag once said "if a position remains unfilled for 6 or 8 months, should ask yourself if you really need the position", and this position has been unfilled for about 18 months, and do we really need to fill something which has been vacant for that long, but would be wise to reconvene and will get that going after the first of the year. Glassheim stated not vacant for the last 18 months, but has interim who has functioned to all intents and purposes as the permanent fulltime functioning excellent head. Christensen stated that there was someone who wasn't functioning in his position, and if had two and one was doing the work of two.

6) Council Member Kreun stated the background information portion for the in-fill housing program is going quite well, they have sold the lots that were available and houses being built on them and houses being sold almost prior to building them, and that's part of the reason for asking for the next group of lots to be put on the market so they can follow through.

He stated there are two other potential projects being looked at in town that they could develop larger volumes of affordable homes in Grand Forks, and that in the Herald yesterday the realtors were making some of the comparisons between Fargo and Grand Forks, and Bismarck and Minot and we were third on the list as far as home-starts for new construction, but we were $10,000 less than homes in Bismarck-Mandan and $15,000 less than homes in Fargo (not sure if new home starts or existing homes that were being resold) and comment wanted to bring out - we are being very competitive in Grand Forks and have entry-level homes coming to Grand Forks, and if hadn't read it ,suggested going back to read it.

7) Council Member Gershman stated that he and his wife went through the Festival of Lights and encouraged those who haven't done it, really quite nice for the first year, and will get better. He stated that we have tax-exempt programs in Grand Forks, some state-driven and others the City having to do with property owners (senior citizens, disabled veterans, blind and people in wheelchairs and immobile), and would like Mayor to see if they could have a discussion with Mr. Carsen and perhaps could advertise those programs in our announcements so that people who could use the help know about it - we can only go retroactive two years and these programs are put in place to help those that are less fortunate. Mayor Brown stated that was the process that he asked him and this is the way things are supposed to happen.

Christensen stated he thought that would be great help to have that in the mailing in January because the people have to pay their taxes by February 15 or March 1. Gershman stated the more information we get out about it, but right now some of the programs are put on the back of the water bills and some people who do not do their own bills and not aware of it, and the more we can do to notify those people. He questioned Mr. Kreun's comments about the price of homes in Grand Forks, is higher and need to have that discussion as that's what he hears in the market from people who are buying homes, and put press on entry-level homes next year and thinks entire council will be involved in that and the mayor.

Mayor Brown reviewed his earlier comments and announcements, and Happy Holidays, will be closed Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Council Member Gershman and seconded by Council Member Kreun that we adjourn. Carried 7 votes affirmative.

Respectfully submitted,



Candi Stjern