Minutes - Council Work Session - 10/21/2008

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Councilmember Elvig stated that his notion is that everyone gets the same price tag because they are all residents and they all use the roads. Public Warks Director Olson stated that the argument will be that the people that live in urban areas have already paid for their curb. Councilmember Elvig stated that he thinks the City needs to stop being so parochial about this. City Engineer Jankowski stated that the differences in the proposed assessments for these projects is because it is based on the amount of assessable properties. Councilmember Elvig stated that he would like to spread out the costs to people. Councilmember Look asked how much money the City would need, in addition to the annual amount from MSA, to meet the upgrade requirements. Councilmember Elvig stated that he thinks it is around $450,000 a year. City Engineer Jankowski stated that some of that is earmarked for paving dirt streets. Councilmember Look stated that $450,000 divided by 7,000 residents puts it at $64.28. Councilmember Elvig stated that he would much rather pay $64 a year rather than take a risk that he will be asked to pay $6,000 in a few years for his road. Public Works Director Olson stated that the City could not legally charge annually as a utility. He stated that there is something called a Transportation Improvement District and the whole City could be identified in the district. He stated that this is something that could be explored if the Council has interest. He stated that there were significant battles with the storm water utility because people saw it as another tax. City Engineer Jankowski stated that the City needs to do something with the petition it has far Andrie Street. Councilmember Look asked why the feasibility study couldn't just be presented to residents. Councilmember Elvig stated that they will not like the wording, but the City didn't realize how expensive a full blown MSA would be. Public Works Director Olson stated that he thought the City proposed a project that would allow a sidewalk on one side with curb and gutter and assess them the same amount as an overlay and then they petitioned us for the same project without the sidewalk. He stated that there have been state aid projects that the City hasn't assessed anything, for example, Alpine Drive between Variolite and Armstrong. He stated that it is up to the Council as to whether the City wants to move forward with the project as shown and start a new policy for state aid roads. City Council Work Session / October 21,2008 Page 8 of 11