09-05-2017 CCM - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Minutes Page 5 September 5, 2017 Council discussed the following: ■ Sale options of existing property. • Safety concerns with Station 1. ■ Current driveway easement needed with adjacent county property as Station 1 to protect city access in the event the county sells the property. ■ Response times from the various station location models. • Population standards for building stations and how much the city is paying for its geographical burden compared to other communities. It was noted the station locations are based on response time to the various geographical areas based on their challenges, such as the railroad. ■ Otsego station and whether they'll want to create their own department. ■ Whether the Cleveland Street site is the best location on the east side of the city due to: • Traffic • Buses/walkers during peak school times • New surrounding development • Ingress/egress of station design • Use of fire station parking lot due to limited parking in school lot • Noise 10.2 2018 Budget Ms. Ziemer presented the staff report. There was discussion regarding property taxes and valuation. Councilmember Westgaard stated valuations are outside of city control and Council should focus on whether a $1 million budget increase is justifiable. He stated the city continues to grow and hasn't been adding any new positions. Mayor Dietz expressed concerns because the amount seems like a large increase in a one-year period. He noted half the increase is due to the public safety portion of the budget and may bring fewer complaints from property owners. He stated vehicles for police and fire ($93,500) for the new employees should come out of the Equipment Replacement Fund and not the General Fund as currently noted in the draft budget. Mr. Portner stated new capital expenditures are initially funded by the general tax levy and the future replacement funds are then allocated from the General Fund to the Equipment Replacement Fund each year over the expected lifespan of the vehicle. He expressed concerns with the depletion of the Equipment Replacement Fund, which has not had a proper allocation from the General Fund in the past due to General Fund budget increase concerns. He stated we need to re-evaluate the replacement schedule of our vehicles. He further stated, we currently replace police vehicles every 4 years, which was based on the wear experienced on the Crown Victoria sedans. Police now use SUVs which are intended to be much more rugged P11'EIIIII NATO L