10-14-03 WSOctober 14, 2003
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MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION -October 14, 2003
A work session of the Hopkins City Council was called to order by Mayor Gene Maxwell
at 6:30 p.m. on October 14, 2003, at the City Hall. Council members Brausen, Jensen and
Johnson were present. City personnel present were: City Manager Steve Mielke; Assistant City
Manager Jim Genellie; Activity Center Coordinator Susan Newville; Facilities Manager Jay
Strachota; Finance Director Lori Yager; and Public Works Dtrector Steve Stadler.
2004 Budget Review
Ms. Yager said on November 12 Council needs to confirm the levy and budget so she can
do the required publishing.
Community Services
Mr. Genellie said assessing services would now be handled by Hennepin County. Kate's
salary will be a wash with the County, as they want her to complete this yeaz and finish residential
assessments. They will officially take over residential assessments in May, but are already doing
the commercial ones. Inspection fees have been $150,000 more than anticipated this year; he hopes
this will not trigger State problems as within a few years the picture will be much different.
Ms. Johnson asked for discussion on health insurance as she meets with Fred Mulvaney
Wednesday. She would like to see a discussion on the City's policies on cafeteria style benefits.
Mr. Mielke said for at least 15 years each employee has had a uniform benefit amount, from
which they can choose benefit options. Some contracts have already negotiated changes in the
way this is handled. Ms. Yager said those who opt out of the medical insurance get a $50 cash
payment each month. This saves the City money. Ms. Jensen felt the benefit was health insurance,
not health insurance or a cash kickback. Mayor Maxwell asked that staff see how other cities aze
handling this situation. Mr. Genellie commented he would need to see how options would work
with the HRA health reimbursement plan.
Activity Center
Mr. Mielke said the last figures given turned out to be too high on savings, as the cutbacks
on nights and weekend hours would also cut revenues. The new proposal would result in $20,000
savings, with the possibility of more savings if rental income increases. The Center is to be open
Monday-Thursday, which would keep most senior activities in place. Otherwise the center would
be open only for rentals.
Ms. Newville said the regular pazt-timers (herself, Debby and Sharon) would cover
Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evening rentals so only other rentals would require other pazt-
time help. Staff would do all maintenance. Friday youth programs aze being dropped unless some
organization comes with a grant to cover the $17,000 costs.
Ms. Jensen said the $213,000 cost is still too much. Mr. Mielke said the only way to cut
costs more is to cut back the hours more and reduce staff. Ms. Newville said the membership fee
is the highest in the area at $24 a year; some users pay $2 a month as they cannot pay the full fee
at once. Mr. Strachota says the facilities aze working together on rentals; he feels the closing three
days may help the Center get weekend show rentals. Ms. Newville said the Center's location
really hurts their rental possibilities. Ms. Johnson asked why the city manager cost number and
Ms. Newville's differed; Ms. Yager said the manager's took revenues into account, which lowered
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the cost figure.
General consensus was the new plan is going in the right direction but no details should be
released until a final budget is adopted.
Public Works
Mr. Mielke said Council requested new organizational plans in August. Mr. Stadler went
over two new proposals in detail, showing the pros and cons for each. He prefers the fast plan;
Mr. Mielke likes the second plan better as the Operations Manager would do more paperwork and
the 3 field supervisors would be on the job sites more. Fewer people reporting to Mr. Stadler
would give him more time to work on high priority items. Mr. Mielke stressed that supervisory
employees cannot be in the same bargaining unit as non-supervisory employees. He noted the
original plan in August resulted in savings of $200,000. Mr. Mielke said reserves could be used to
cover the transition period costs, which would be about $11,000 per employee. Mayor Maxwell
said he felt there were still too tnany supervisors. Mr. Stadler said he feels he cannot cut more
supervisors and have swell-run department. General discussion showed Council members felt
they needed more defmition on what the supervisors would do and how much time they would be
out "on the job." Mr. Brausen said he did not see why job titles were so important. Mr. Stadler
said lowering the wages to a Range 7 would, he felt, cause "real problems" on top of all the other
changes that are going on. Answering Ms. Jensen he said fewer supervisors would be "very un-
standard," that these plans work best for public works departments. Mr. Brausen said his concern
was to get more manpower on the street and saving money. Ms. Jensen said she didn't like adding
an operations manager, but liked the money that the plan saved.
Mr. Stadler asked if the Council was telling him to cut even more money from his budget.
Consensus was that his cuts had been successful. Concern was the "chief to Indian ratio" and
manpower on the streets. Mayor Maxwell asked that other cities be contacted to see how they are
handling their budget cuts in public works departments.
Council
Mr. Mielke summarized the cuts already agreed on.
Administration
Mr. Mielke said Mr. Stahmer is basically taking over Mr. Haztshorn's job.
Communications salary has been moved to the Cable Fund.
Ntinance
Ms. Yager said she is in the process of getting payments moved to the Internet to save
banking charges. She will check changes at other banks.
Legal Services
Mr. Mielke said increases in Court fines and having the attorney at Planning & Zoning
only when needed will help. He has discussed with Attorney Steiner the idea of having most calls
referred by staff before spending hours on resident questions.
Issues to Resolve
Mr. Mielke felt the following issues still need to be resolved:
Public Works: Reorganization; yazd waste program
Police: lead dispatch position
Fire: fire marshal to 30 hours; commercial fire inspections, fire alarm permits; long-range
planning
Recreation: warming house plan
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General: health dental benefits, cafeteria plan; furloughs; revenue issues -taxes, franchise
fees, use of reserves; administrative citations (rather than criminal tickets); cable fund
(communications, HCA, cable casting from council chambers)
Activity Center: finalize changes
Skate Park: no longer an enterprise fund, should it be a regulaz (unattended) park?
Mayor Maxwell added ticket tax ("building facility chazge") for HCA. Mr. Brausen asked
about furlough savings; Ms. Yager said it would be $17,000 per day, about half of that would be
general fund savings.
Mr. Brausen suggested setting an extra meeting. Consensus was Mondays or Thursdays
would work.
Other
Mr. Brausen said the drain at Mainstreet and 5`" was backed up Saturday. His old address is
still being given on some city literature.
Mr. Mielke reminded members of the Cornerstone grand opening October 29 and said a
legal update on the Ugorets lawsuit would be given at 7:00 before the Council meeting.
Mayor Maxwell said he received a complaint that someone in inspections had not provided
good customer service to someone from Hobby Acres, although the complainant added Elizabeth
had taken over and been great.
Ms. Jensen moved adjournment. Ms. Johnson seconded. Meeting adjourned at 10:05 p.m.
Kasey Kester, Secretary
ATTEST:
Gam' -/' ~'~~'~~' % ~ `
Eugen axwell, Mayor