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Minutes/Committee of the Whole
Monday, June 26, 2004 - 7:00 p.m.

The city council met as the Committee of the Whole on Monday, June 26, 2004 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 commented on various events held during the past week and upcoming events:
1 ) that we have a celebration for our community this weekend, July 4, and thanked Sertoma and sponsors of this event and are excited about the events moving back downtown.
2) that with warmer weather will be seeing more mosquitoes and are taking extra steps because of the health risk and spraying tonight and possibly Thursday, also spraying downtown in the greenway area for the 4th of July festivities.
3) this week has been designated Canadian Appreciation Week and that the CVB and local businesses are taking special steps to make sure our Canadian friends feel welcome in our community and encouraged everyone to do the same.
4) Farmers Market continues to be a success and welcomes everyone to attend that event

He noted that at the last council meeting they were unable to present Eliot Glassheim with a plaque stating appreciation for his years of dedicated service as a member of the Grand Forks city council June 2002 - June 2004, and also presented to Dyan Glassheim and to Agnes Hamerlik for their "behind the scenes" contribution to the city of Grand Forks.

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE DISCUSSION ITEMS

2.1 The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report of the City of Grand Forks for the
year ended December 31, 2003, and the Independent Auditor's Report.________
The city auditor reported that the recommendation is to refer the matter to the audit com- mittee (finance standby committee) and then have an interim time for the audit committee to review the report. Mayor Brown stated on the cover of the report is our Meditation Garden, a gift from our sister-city Awano, Japan.

2.2 Application for property tax exemption for expanding business by Gowan Con-
struction, Inc. at 2572 N. 43rd St. (Public hearing to be held on July 6, 2004.
Council Member Gershman stated that Gowan Construction Company is a very good company and as he reviewed this, doesn't believe that this is a primary sector business and not meeting the usual criteria that we have used of a new business coming into town, would be competing with existing construction companies and his concern is that if we approve this and set precedent for those that want to expand their business. He stated he reviewed the tax abatement for the entertainment complex at the Alerus Center and was different in the sense that the scope of the project and that it is attached to the Alerus Center was what made it evolve into a tax abatement and that some of them struggled with that concept but the State had defined tourism as a primary sector business and that the Alerus Center is the largest investment that the citizens have in Grand Forks and was important to solidify that. He stated that he surveyed several construction companies, that they had good things to say about Gowan Construction Co. but were uncomfortable with the idea of having a tax abatement for a business that would compete with them, that he will not be supporting this but happy they are considering coming to Grand Forks.

Council Member Hamerlik asked what constitutes the line between the primary and service function, and if it is possible for them to be in the primary sector - if it is the number of employees, that the competition will still be there wherever they locate. Council Member Gershman stated that a primary sector business is a business that produces goods that are shipped out and new money coming in; that Gowan and other contractors do that.

Klaus Thiessen of Grand Forks Regional Development Foundation stated that he would like to provide council with a number of definitions on what that is because definitions change, that the State has their definitions, various regions have their definition but Council Member Gershman is right that it is the company that has a market outside the region and that has been a challenge the region and State have had.

Council Member Brooks stated we don't want to stray from what we have used as our policy in terms of this but would not use competition as a basis for turning down this request, the town is not going to grow unless we get additional businesses coming in.

Council Member Christensen stated that he has operated under the assumption that the primary section is an industry that produces goods which are sold outside the area (primarily 50 miles) and noted that the policy was adopted in 1988 and there is no definition other than primary sector, they tried to define primary sector and that in the last 16 years there has been a change in the concept of primary sector and production of goods, that the intent of the policy was someone coming into the city that has a need for a break in the taxes because of debt service that they have and that the policy stated that each application will be reviewed by the council on a case by case basis and that the applicant should address the following criteria, the need for inordinate development costs, inadequate cash flow, insufficient financing and didn't see that in the application if this is needed to make this deal work. He suggested that perhaps the time has come for us to review our policy as to when, how and why we would grant a tax abatement and what are consequences if they don't meet the projections; that he agreed with Mr. Gershman on this issue and can't support it because he doesn't believe this is primary sector business , and council needs to make decision rather than have their competitors complain.

2.3 Revised Urban and Regional Program Project request to NDDoT.
There were no comments.

2.4 Plans and specifications for Project No. 5402, North End Boat Ramp.
There were no comments.

2.5 Consideration of bids for Project No. 5282, Phase IV, Landfill Closure.
There were no comments.

2.6 Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc. - relocation of pedestrian bridge, permanent
flood protection project._______________________________________________
There were no comments.

2.7 Greenway Adopt A Trail Program.
Council Member Kerian stated this is an opportunity for people to clean up sections of the greenway and asked if this is modeled after the street cleanup that we have in place. Melanie Parvey-Biby, greenway coordinator, stated they have looked at a number of programs including the city adopt a street program, and have talked to Urban Development staff on that program and they have a fairly success rate but does take effort of staff to coordinate with volunteer organiza-tions. She stated they would ask for a two-year commitment and clean-up of the areas at least 3 times each year, have established May, July and October where normally have debris to clean up.

2.8 Street Department purchase of real property and budget amendment.
There were no comments.

2.9 Lease extension for Technology Applications Group.
Bill Elmquist, 2615 Chestnut Street, vice president of Technology Applications Group, Inc., stated they have been a tenant in the Industrial Park for approx. 15 years and asked for approval on the lease extension, that after unsuccessfully trying to engage in negotiations for a longer period of time for that space, a one-year period remaining after this extension goes through, would put their business under tremendous stress as moving would be very expensive.

Council Member Kerian stated that in looking at the original agreement it called for a request for a one-year extension and that seems appropriate and would hope that additional alternatives or opportunities are explored during that time and hope this is not the end of those discussions.

Council Member Glassheim stated it is his understanding that TAG is kind of company we have been committing ourselves to and hope that we will be working with them to make sure that years from now they are an important company in Grand Forks.

ADMINISTRATOR COORDINATOR COMMENTS

Rick Duquette, Administrative Coordinator, updated the council on the matter of the HR director search, that they have concluded phone interviews, started with 160 applicants and trimmed that down to 5 and they will be coming in on July 22 for interviewing process; that they have 1 candidate from Minnesota, 1 from Montana, 2 from Colorado and 1 from North Dakota.

MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS

1) Council Member Brooks that on Saturday he went to event in Tabor and judged the parade and suggested if have opportunity to go out to the surrounding communities and celebrations, not to pass them up, fun event and enjoyable to get out to the surrounding areas where want the people to come in and shop in Grand Forks.

2) Council Member Christensen stated last week when they approved the right turn lane on 32nd Avenue South perhaps overlooked what was in the June 11 letter from the NDDoT which said, "the City will need to reimburse the State of North Dakota for the value of the access." and that he intends to bring this back at next meeting; and would like to know what it is going to cost the City for the reimbursement of that access, as we may have to pay for it if don't tell the developer to whom we have granted the access that he should pay for it.
He asked for a status report as to where Canad Inns development is and would like that report by the committee of the whole meeting after the 4th of July (July 12 meeting), should have information when citizens ask.

He stated that when he was knocking on doors before election he talked to some City employees and some of them suggested that they weren't happy with how the pay for performance part of our pay package had been implemented, and suggested that the council get a report from Human Resources as to how the pay for performance portion of the wage was implemented - that they can get a list of the scoring that everybody received and would like that to be presented as part of the report. He stated it also appears that there maybe some dissatisfac-tion in the rank and file as to how the pay for performance portion was administrated and asked that they convene a committee or task force or group where they can have these issues vented and as they move forward in the second and third seasons of this wage program that it is implemented so that those being evaluated and may get a bump in their salary because of their performance, feel that the review has been fair.

He stated that we have to know what it is going to cost us to maintain the greenway, and that as part of the budgeting and administration process that we implement a review of what it costs to maintain the current greenway from Kennedy Bridge to Lincoln Park, recognizing that it is not complete but have to know cost for mowing, cleaning, etc.

He stated he hopes the council wants to get its arms around the pay for performance portion of the compensation of our employees. Mayor Brown asked that staff get information requested, and that as far as pay for performance goes, can't let four people decide, and okay that we look at this to see if there is a problem but thought it was working well and is good program.

3) Council Member Kerian questioned when the MPO bike plan meeting is, and thinks there has been great progress on the bike planning and encouraged people to give their input. Mayor Brown stated they would e-mail that info to council. She welcomed Council Member Hamerlik back.

7) Council Member Kreun stated they had a request from Grand Forks Taxi asking for an increase in rates that was referred to committee and should get that scheduled and put on agenda - that fuel prices have gone up and rates have not increased, and that we should set down guidelines we want to address with him and address what his concerns are. Todd Feland, director of public works, stated that dial-a-ride is fixed to the taxi rate and indirectly public works is affected, and will arrange a meeting.
He also noted that at the public works garage have dumpsters and facilities - dumpsters for card-board, trees, appliances, used oil and grass which are being used to quite an extent and are free of charge for citizens to get rid of those items.
He stated he visited with rep. of Canad Inns and they are working on their plans, they are looking at this fall or winter as starting, that was the urgency of getting this done as they did not have a pre-design building and everything is being designed individually for that site. Mr. Christensen stated reps. from Canad Inns don't have to come here and if Mr. Duquette could give a status report so that the public knows how it is moving along.

9) Council Member Gershman stated the City runs some ads on the radio and asked if those were public service announcements or if charged for and what the price of those is.
He stated that on Friday he did a city welcome for the American Legion convention in Grand Forks, quite moving, and stories by the two gentlemen that represented the State of North Dakota at the World War II Memorial dedication was extremely moving and had opportunity to thank their generation for what they have given us.

ADJOURNMENT

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

Respectfully submitted,
John M. Schmisek, City Auditor