Prior Lake City Council talks initiatives, 2019 budget

Prior Lake American

The Prior Lake City Council met for a combined four hours Monday night during a work session and regular meeting where it followed up on initiatives from last year and began working on the 2019 budget.

2017 Initiatives

In March 2017, the city council members were able to submit initiatives they would have liked to see the city take on. Councilman Kevin Burkart submitted the "Kid's Don't Float" initiative, which would have put life jackets at points near bodies of water in the city for public use.

Several council members expressed concern that providing life jackets could open the city up to lawsuits or that the cost of maintaining the structures would be a burden on the city.

"I do feel like the council is overthinking this and missing the big picture," Burkart said.

A motion to conduct a pilot program was voted down. Burkart had received a $2,000 donation for the program from the Prior Lake Optimist Club. He said the check would be returned.

Another initiative was to do improvements to Candy Cove Dam which would consist of cleaning up the area as well as marking the dam with buoys for boaters. The estimated cost would be $80,000 to $100,000.

The council voted to talk to the Scott County Sheriff's Office about implementing the improvements.

Work session

The council also began work on the 2019 budget. With the budget as is, property owners would be looking at an up to 7 percent tax levy increase.

The board looked at ways to reduce that amount including:

• Delaying replacing the city's phone system

• Shifting a 2018 street project to the future

• Reducing or eliminating trail funding

• Reducing equipment funding

• Delaying 2019 full-time employees or staffing additions

• Adjusting annual plan of replacing two miles of street annually

• Council members were not generally in favor of completely eliminating trail funding, as the funding for trails has been eliminated for the last several years.

In 2017, revenues exceeded expenditures by $190,000.

In other action at the April 2 meeting, the council:

• Heard a presentation on a transition plan for the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires access to all public facilities including sidewalks and crossings. Within five years, city staff has a goal to have all items identified in the Capital Improvement Plan be compliant with the act. In 20 years, city staff wants to have 80 percent of accessibility throughout the city.

• Went into a closed session to discuss the base salary for City Manager Frank Boyles. Boyles started as city manager in 1993. In 2018, his salary is $131,838. The council approved a 3 percent increase, on par with other city employees.

• Failed a motion to change council meeting times from 7 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. A survey of 128 respondents was done that found about 63 percent preferred 6:30 p.m. while nearly 37 percent preferred 7 p.m. The meetings are currently at 7 p.m.

• Held an investiture ceremony for new police officer Adam Zapata. Zapata grew up in Burnsville and graduated from Minnesota State University in Mankato. He most recently worked as the security supervisor for Mystic Lake Casino Hotel. Zapata started March 19 and will spend 12 weeks in field training before transferring to patrol.

• "I know I'm going to serve the citizens of Prior Lake very well and to the best of my ability," Zapata said.