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05-30-2018 CC SPECIALMeeting of the Elk River City Council Held at Trott Brook Barn Wednesday, May 30, 2018 Members Present: Mayor Dietz, Councilmembers Olsen, Ovall, Westgaard, and Wagner (7:11 p.m.) Members Absent: None Staff Present: City Clerk Tina Allard and Parks and Recreation Director Michael Hecker Also Present: Members of the Elk River Youth Sports Commission and Dave Williams who is a Youth Sports Commission member and a Parks and Recreation Commissioner I. Call Meeting to Order The meeting of the Elk River City Council came to order at 7:06 p.m. 2. Recreational Facility Improvements Question & Answer Everyone in the room introduced themselves. Mr. Williams noted the three facility improvement concepts being discussed by Council and presented his ideas for recreational improvements as follows: • $2 million: Activity Center repair and improvement. • $2 million: Youth Athletic Complex with lights to the four pinwheel fields, restrooms, concessions. Any extra funds could be used to pave the drive per the master park plan. • $2 million: Oak Knoll, with a school district cooperative agreement, designed as a signature destination athletic complex. ■ Dave Anderson Complex: resurface parking lot. Replace and extend fencing. Lake Orono Park: Resurface parking lot, install modem restrooms, and pickle ball courts. Skatepark could be included with the option to obtain grants for partial funding. ■ $1 million: trail system. Work with the YMCA to develop a larger splash pad. Mr. Williams stated he would like the youth commission members to discuss their needs and develop a consensus by the end of this meeting. A member asked Council how they felt about Mr. Williams improvement ideas. Councilmember Olsen stated he would like to hear how people feel about the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST). City Council Minutes May 30, 2018 Comments received from members: Page 2 • The LOST is a no-brainer and is the fairest way for everyone to pay for facilities. He stated he was impressed to see 45% of the tax revenue would be from outside of Elk River. He stated this option should be an easy sell to "any normal Joe." ■ We are only willing to pay for Mr. Williams plan if the LOST passes. ■ The city has a lot to offer and people love coming to Elk River. People love the location and its offerings for food, restaurants, and gas convenience. • Sherburne County has the lowest sales tax in the metro area and people won't notice the difference with an increase. Mayor Dietz noted Sherburne County is also considering a sale tax which may create a slightly higher tax compared to surrounding communities but he still felt the LOST was a better option. He further stated he doesn't agree 100% with Mr. Williams proposed plan. He stated the approved plan has to encompass more than an arena and believes other amenities need to be included to appeal to a broader audience. Councilmember Wagner stated she doesn't agree completely with Mr. Williams plan. She stated this is an opportunity to effect a larger city population. She stated she would like to see trail connections completed. Councilmember Wagner stated Council still needs to have a discussion about the location of the facility, its economic impact and the build out that could occur around it, such as commercial, etc. Councilmember Westgaard stated the Council has always intended to address the multiple needs of the community. He stated the three facilities (Lions Park Center, Activity Center, and Ice Arena) were never programmed into the city budget for planning and maintenance purposes and needed to be a priority. He stated he likes the LOST option and its specifity requirements. He stated Council needs to develop other amenities that will appeal to a wider audience. He further commented an ice arena is expensive to own and operate but feels it is an asset to a community. He noted Council has been discussing much needed repairs to the arena for 12 years. He stated Council needs to discuss what Plan B will be if there is a referendum failure. Councilmember Olsen questioned what should be done with Lions Park Center and mentioned the opportunity for girls' softball to use the park for fields. A youth sports commission member stated he would like to see a turf facility noting other communities are installing them. He stated there is very little maintenance with turf noting snow is easily removable for use sometimes starting in February. He stated teams will use it and revenue can be generated from them. Mt. Williams noted it is in the Parks and Recreation Master Plan at another site. He noted turf fields only have a 10 -year useful life span so the return on investment for the initial cost may be a factor to consider. Councilmember Wagner stated in order to get buy in from the lacrosse group she wants to make sure there is a multi-surface/use in order to sell it. IAiEAFA AI NATURE City Council Minutes May 30, 2018 Page 3 A youth sports commission member stated he recently spent $1,100 at Adrenaline but he would rather have given the money to the city. A youth sports commission member questioned why improvements haven't been discussed sooner with the youth associations, noting if everything is added together it could be an amazing facility. Mayor Dietz stated most communities with these types of improvements are completed through school districts. He stated communities like St. Michael have a different population because they have younger families while Elk River has an older demographic. He noted St. Michael is now talking about developing a new $5 million park. Councilmember Wagner stated youth groups were involved into the process in 2016 and Council was told at the time there was not a need to add a larger facility with extra indoor courts/space so it was removed from plans. Mr. Williams stated he gets beat up constantly by parents who complain about fundraising and paying for "this or that" items. He also stated school funding by the district is split three ways due to having three high schools, including Rogers and Zimmerman. There was discussion on equity between the schools in regard to new purchases and continual maintenance. Cory Franson, Director of Community Engagement for ISD #728, stated St. Michael was very concerned about losing students and made changes to attract families. He stated youth groups all want the same nights reserved and noted there are many other hours when courts/space sits empty. Mr. Franson stated the new trend now is the construction of performance gyms. He state these are gyms with one focus designed for a unique experience, like a mini Target Center. He stated these gyms are still a multiuse facility and can be broken up into many rooms. Mr. Franson stated the School Board supports any facilities that will be an asset to kids. Councilmember Oval] stated he has more questions and concerns. He stated many of the listening sessions were attended by pro -referendum community members and were biased. He stated Council hasn't addressed what it needs to do to get to the next level. He stated he has heard many more comments from the community about people not wanting a facility and property taxes raised, but has also heard some say the city can't keep kicking the can down the road. He still struggles with Option 2, the multipurpose facility, because it doesn't address other needed maintenance and projects, such as the activity center. NATUR� City Council Minutes May 30, 2018 Page 4 A youth commission member stated Council can't delay the decision and not allow time for messaging to reach the community. He stated he'd like the city to be able to provide them with a message they can blast out to their families/members. Councilmember Wagner questioned if the groups in the audience felt their needs were being served or if Council is missing anything as they take a broad look at the future. A member stated they will not support a referendum if Council goes with fixing the arena. He stated every field needs some type of work. Mayor Dietz expressed concerns with spending over $25 million and getting a referendum to pass. He stated even with add-ons, he is concerned many people will still think this referendum is only for an arena. He stated the budget needs to be manageable so people will vote for it. Mayor Dietz stated he'd like staff to bring a list of items and their associated costs so Council can choose referendum add-ons. Garrett Christianson (currently running for Councilmember Ward 1) stated it is expensive to live in Elk River and he doesn't want to see property taxes increase. He stated a decision is needed without rushing into it and the referendum needs to appeal to a broad base. Councilmember Wagner asked youth commission members if they could support Option 2. A youth commission member suggested Council buy back (or buy out the lease) the YMCA facility. He stated many community members feel they were screwed by the YMCA deal and now they can't use the facility like they expected. He suggested kicking the YMCA out and using the facility to earn revenue for the city. Councilmember Olsen felt the YMCA appeals to a much broader base than Elk River and reaps economic benefit from people utilizing it. It was suggested to add on to the YMCA facility amenities similar to the Andover model. Councilmember Wagner questioned if the city could expand off the YMCA or have discussions with them about its usage or the running of the facility. She stated more conversation is needed in this area. There was discussion about the open gym program at the YMCA. Councilmember Wagner stated she has attended the open gym program and it is not fun. She noted open gym nights are also frustrating to YMCA members. Councilmember Westgaard discussed the long-term notice requirements for the YMCA building. It was suggested if any members had ideas to email them to Mr. Williams. �orteto er NATURE City Council Minutes May 30, 2018 Page 5 Mr. Williams asked for a vote on Option 1 and no one raised their hands. He then asked for a vote on Option 2 and one person raised their hand. There were about 5 votes for Mr. Williams plan presented earlier in the evening. Councihnember Wagner stated a majority of people preferred the larger plan with the field house in addition to other improvements. Mr. Williams noted the youth commission membership would need to push for everyone to vote for the referendum. Someone suggested the budget be scaled back to $30 million in order to make it more palatable. Councilmember Olsen stated this would be more palatable to him and the seniors. A poll was taken and everyone was in favor of the Local Option Sales Tax. The youth commission expressed concerns with waiting until August for their next meeting and not planning enough time to coordinate a plan to get the message out. 3. Adjournment There being no further business, Mayor Dietz adjourned the meeting of the Elk River City Council at 8:49 p.m. J. ietz, yor Tina Allard, City Clerk rIIIIE0 er NATURE