Mayor Beyer called the Regular Meeting of the Rockford City Council to order at 7:00 p.m.  The meeting was held in the Council Chambers of City Hall 6031 Main Street, Rockford, MN.

 

ROLL CALL

Roll call was taken, the following members were present: Beyer, Altringer, Graner, Nichols, and Seymour.  Also in attendance was: Attorney Kyle Hartnet, Administrator Carswell, Engineer Mark Statz and Public Works Street Employee John Quirk.

 

The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

 

*CONSENT AGENDA

MOTION was made by Graner, seconded by Seymour to approve all items on the Consent Agenda.

 

MOTION CARRIED-VOTING IN FAVOR: BEYER, ALTRINGER, GRANER, NICHOLS, AND SEYMOUR.

 

*Approve Minutes/February 26, 2008 Special Meeting

MOTION was made by Graner, seconded by Seymour to approve the minutes of the February 26, 2008 special meeting.

 

MOTION CARRIED-VOTING IN FAVOR: BEYER, ALTRINGER, GRANER, NICHOLS, AND SEYMOUR.

 

*Approve Minutes/February 26, 2008 Regular Council Meeting

MOTION was made by Graner, seconded by Seymour to approve the minutes of the February 26, 2008 regular council meeting.

 

MOTION CARRIED-VOTING IN FAVOR: BEYER, ALTRINGER, GRANER, NICHOLS, AND SEYMOUR.

 

*Approve Payment of Claims

MOTION was made by Graner, seconded by Seymour to approve the payment of claims #14529 to #14592 in the amount of $103,343.35.

 

MOTION CARRIED-VOTING IN FAVOR: BEYER, ALTRINGER, GRANER, NICHOLS, AND SEYMOUR.

 

*Approve Building Permits

MOTION was made by Graner, seconded by Seymour to approve building permits #08-09 through #08-15.

 

MOTION CARRIED-VOTING IN FAVOR: BEYER, ALTRINGER, GRANER, NICHOLS, AND SEYMOUR.

 

*Resolution 08-17 Approve DNR Grant Submittal/Flood Control Project

MOTION was made by Graner, seconded by Seymour to adopt Resolution 08-17 Approve DNR Grant Submittal/Flood Control Project.

 

MOTION CARRIED-VOTING IN FAVOR: BEYER, ALTRINGER, GRANER, NICHOLS, AND SEYMOUR.

 

*Reduce Letter of Credit/Parkwood 1st Addition

MOTION was made by Graner, seconded by Seymour to approve the Letter of Credit obligation from $150,000 to $5,000 for City Administrative fees.  This extends the expiration date of the Letter of Credit to January 8, 2010.

 

MOTION CARRIED-VOTING IN FAVOR: BEYER, ALTRINGER, GRANER, NICHOLS, AND SEYMOUR.

 

Planning Commission Member Review

Staff informed the city council that Planning Commission member Young has missed the last three meetings.  Commission member Young’s work schedule has changed and requires her to travel which has made it difficult to attend the planning commission meetings.  Young agrees that she can no longer serve on the commission and staff recommends that the city seek a new member to complete Young’s term.

 

MOTION was made by Seymour, seconded by Altringer to remove Commission Member Young from the Planning Commission and seek a replacement to complete the term remaining.

 

MOTION CARRIED-VOTING IN FAVOR: BEYER, ALTRINGER, GRANER, NICHOLS, AND SEYMOUR.

 

Open Forum/Rockford School Goal Setting Meeting

Council member Seymour attended a recent Rockford School Board meeting along with other elected officials in the school district.  The school board discussed adding more college classes to the curriculum at the High School and additional language classes.

 

Council member Graner informed the council that the Rockford 5th Grade Girls Basketball team won the State Championship last week.

 

Approve Plans & Specifications 2008 Seal Coat Project

John Quirk was present and stated that he provided a cost estimate for the proposed 2008 seal coat project this year.  The estimated cost of the project is $23,692 which will be funded by the Street CIP Fund 401.  The plans and specifications for the project were submitted for council review.  The project includes the seal coating of the Maplewood Manor neighborhood and the trail way along County Road 33. 

 

MOTION was made by Nichols, seconded by Altringer to approve the plans and specifications for the 2008 seal coat project and to authorize the street department to obtain quotes for the project.

 

MOTION CARRIED-VOTING IN FAVOR: BEYER, ALTRINGER, GRANER, NICHOLS, AND SEYMOUR.

 

On Going Directives

Council reviewed the ongoing directives.

 

City Hall

During review of the ongoing directives Council Member Altringer suggested that the city move forward with the construction of a new city hall.  Altringer stated that he was in the city hall office prior to the meeting and noticed that the work stations are very crowded and the space is overcrowded. Altringer feels that since the interest rates are at an all time low this would be a good time to borrow the money and move forward with this project that was put on hold.  Altringer also feels that contractors are looking for more work and the city will probably get a low bid for the project.  A special meeting was scheduled for April 1, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall to determine whether the city should construct the event center and if so, the capacity of the structure.

 

Staff will send the architect’s plans to all council members for review prior to the meeting.

 

Flood levee/River Bank Stabilization Project

Mayor Beyer discussed the cities difficulty in receiving funding through the state and Army Corps of Engineers for the projects that are planned to rehab the levee and to stabilize the Crow River Bank.

 

Mayor Beyer suggested that the city try to finance the project with a local sales tax.  The city would educate the public prior to listing the question on the ballot in November 2008.  If the voters approve the local sales tax of one half of one percent the city would then request approval from the state to authorize the city to charge a one half of one percent tax to fund the project.  When the city put this on the ballot in last election it was done hastily and without a lot of information to the voters on what the tax would be used for.  The city could record a movie and place it on the government channel in addition to holding open houses prior to the election.  This item will be placed on the next council agenda for further discussion.

 

Administrator’s Report

Council reviewed the Administrator’s Report including the following items: Parkwood, United Properties, business summit March 13, 2008, RFP’s for Engineering Services, Board of Appeals and Equalization, Hennepin County boundary adjustment, City of Greenfield-fire billing, Rockford City Center, PJ’s Rockford House Bar and Restaurant, Water main break, water leak at the intersection of Maple Hurst Drive and Little Creek Ln, demolition of the old parks building at 6240 Mechanic Street, and the new Public Works Maintenance building.

 

Mayor Beyer updated the council on what was discussed at the meeting with Lennar and Brian Wagner and their attorney’s today in regards to the Parkwood Development.  Lennar and Wagner’s have come to an agreement and they are requesting the city revise the development agreement to reflect the agreement between Wagner’s and US Homes (Lennar). The Wagner’s will maintain part of the Parkwood property and be responsible for a portion of the financial security for the western access that they want the city to defer.  US Homes is willing to submit a letter of credit to the city as financial security in the amount of $870,000 for their share of the western access prior to approval of the next final plat.  The two are also requesting the deadline for constructing the western access of November 15, 2009 be extended to November 15, 2013.  The western access will probably be constructed as a public improvement using the MS 429 process.

 

Council discussed the western access and engineer Statz stated that the cost of $1,460,000 was his estimate for the project a few years ago.  Statz noted that about $600,000 of those west access costs include correcting the elevation on County Road 32 where the access will connect.

 

Council asked that the access for the Miske/Walters property north on Gabler Avenue SE should be planned, so that when a developer comes in with plans the city can show them the access plans.

 

Mayor Beyer discussed the costly repairs for winter water main breaks and recommended that a plan be drafted that will include replacing the old water mains in the summer months to save the city money.  Engineer Statz stated that water mains are usually replaced during pavement management (street reconstruction or overlays).  The replacement of water mains was not discussed when the city did all of the street repairs in the past few years, so the plan to replace water mains will have to coincide with the next round of pavement maintenance.

 

Engineer’s Report

Council reviewed the Engineer’s Report including the following items: The Meadows, Levee Improvements, River Run, 0.5 Million Gallon Industrial Park Elevated Tank, Parkwood 3rd Addition, Well No. 7 Trunk Water Main, Parkwood 4th addition, Hurst Woods 3rd addition, Southwest Industrial Park, and Miscellaneous items.

 

Adjournment

Motion to adjourn was made by Altringer, seconded by Seymour.

 

Mayor Beyer adjourned the meeting at ­8:25 p.m.

 

 

 

                                                                                    _______________________________

                                                                                    Michael Beyer, Mayor

ATTEST:

 

 

______________________________________       

Nancy Carswell, Administrator