The Becker City Council met Tuesday to discuss streets and trails, body cameras, finance software, a master plan, alcohol licensing and agreements for phase one of the business park.
Streets and Trails
The City of Becker has been working with S.E.H. on the 2019 Street and Trail Improvements Project, which includes the reconstruction of Parkview Drive from Sherburne Avenue to Forrest Drive, Northway Circle, Park Manor Circle, Frontier Circle, Julia Lane and improvements to the Third Street Trail.
Bill Zidon from S.E.H. was present to go over the plans and specifications for the work and authorize the advertisement for bids.
This project would have a bid opening day of September 16 at Becker City Hall with council accepting the lowest bid during the September 17 city council meeting.
Body Cameras
The Becker Police Dept. was authorized to use Body Worn Camera’s (BWC’s) in the Fall of 2017 and started on or around Oct. 1 of that year. As part of the allowance to do so, city council and the BPD agreed to the statutory terms indicating that an independent audit would be completed every two years to ensure compliance with the state statue.
In April of this year, city council authorized the Chief of Police, Brent Baloun, to enter into an agreement for the Minnesota Office of the State Auditor to perform an audit on the system and processes utilized by the BPD to ensure statutory compliance. The completed report was then received by Baloun and City Administrator Greg Pruszinske July 9.
Overall, the report demonstrated that the BPD is in compliance with the state statute. Two things were noted in the report:
• The BWC Policy on the Police Dept. website needed to be changed to reflect the most recent policy. Baloun noted he had already had that completed.
• It was the opinion of the state auditor that written policies be in place to ensure that access to data be authorized “in writing” by the agency head for a specific law enforcement purpose.
Baloun said he took issue with the second request based on the fact that he believes the way the BPD’s policy is written (based on the wording from the League of MN Cities and reviewed by the Becker City Attorney when implemented) that they are in fact in compliance.
Finance Software
Connie Robinson said that in 2016, the finance department had budgeted for new accounting software. With changes in leadership at that time, it was decided to wait with software conversion.
Proposals have been received from two software system providers for software conversion of the city’s general ledger and accounting system. Robinson said city staff has included several management staff members and Rob Zils in their product demonstrations so they can see the possibilities as well, including budget reporting and drill down capability.
Looking at the options and the capabilities of these new systems, Robinson says, “it has been exciting to see the potential we have to enhance our processes for efficiency and to have more effective and customizable reporting.”
Robinson said staff has examined Springbrook and Civic Systems. Following the demonstrations, it was determined that Civic Systems best provides the needs of the City.
A portion of the project will be capital expenditure and a portion will be expense both of which are currently budgeted in 2020. It is likely that approximately 50 percent of the cost for the conversion will need to be paid in 2019, based on the potential contract structure.
Master Plan
Josh Kuha said in 2018, the City of Becker engaged HKGI to partner with city and school stakeholders to develop a comprehensive park systems plan for the city. Major components were to assess the city’s current assets and to identify needs moving forward.
Through many meetings with stakeholders, two community surveys and an open house; the process was able to identify a roadmap for future planning and development. The finished product is a robust 118 page “Master Plan for Becker Parks, Recreation and Athletic Facilities”.
This master plan encompasses the feedback from Becker citizens on what they value within the recreation and leisure areas. The plan has been thoroughly reviewed by city staff and the parks & recreation commission. All involved find the master plan to be well developed and valuable for our future planning in this area.
Acceptance of the master plan Tuesday by council does not bind city council to any specific actions. Any improvements or projects highlighted within the plan will come before council on a case-by-case basis.
Business Park
CA Pruszinske said in order to meet the needs for business growth in the Becker Business Park, the City of Becker proposes the new construction of extended municipal utilities to serve additional business park property.
The PER (Preliminary Engineering Report) and NEPA (Environmental Narrative Services) contains information that will build off of the feasibility report that was completed earlier this year. The PER and NEPA documents are required as supporting documentation for the Federal EDA grant opportunities that staff is pursuing.
Crack Seal Project
Phil Knutson gave a recap of the city’s crack sealing projects that were done in-house.
He said the city budgeted $115,000 for 2019 and spent a total of $86,695.69. The original material quote was 21,000 pounds and the city put down 34,000 pounds. Historically, the cost from previous years was around $3.26 per pound and this year with the melter, it was around $2.55 per pound.
Knutson said, going forward, the investment of the crack sealer melter will allow the city to get to the goal of prolonging road lifecycles by getting to the initial phase of maintenance quicker and more cost effective than in years past.
Up Next
The next Becker City Councilmeeting is Sept. 3 at 6 p.m.
