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04-11-00 WSNIINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION -APRIL 11, 2000 A work session of the Hopkins City Council was held at 6:00 p.m. on April 10, 2000, at the City Hall. Council members present were Mayor Maxwell and Council members Brausen, Hesch, Jensen and Johnson. City personnel present were City Manager Mielke, Assistant City Manager Genellie, Economic Development Director Kerrigan, Public Works Director Stadler, Finance Director Yager, Recreation Director Johnson, Police Chief Reid and Jim Parsons. Also present was Tom Allen. City Manager Evaluation The Council met in closed session from 6:00 to 7:30 and reconvened again at 10:10. Design Team Meeting Evaluation, Tom Allen In opening remarks there was a general feeling that the attending staff felt the last meeting went well and that staff in general were excited and wanting to get involved. Some had heard concerns about diversity becoming too important. Concern about how to get the staff really involved and committed was mentioned. Mr. Mielke updated the group on recruitment for the design team. He commented all those suggested as "recruiters" had helped get people. Some people still needed follow-up: Fran Hesch will contact Ros Foley; Rick Brausen will contact Mary Beth Hays, Hillary Federer, Erik Falkman; Karen Jensen will contact Paul Bengston; Gene Maxwell will contact Roy Wirth and Erik Falkman. The following were suggested to fill vacancies: Butch should contact LaShawn Hankton; Rick Brausen will check with Donna for people in education; Jim Parsons will check on the daytime Lions and Diane Johnson will check on evening Lions and the Jaycees; Steve Mielke will get 2 more staff and will recruit two youth. It was noted Fred Jensen and Nila Neumiller have not responded. Mr. Mielke will be sending a letter with a summary and proposed agenda to all who have agreed to be on the design team. In response to suggestions at the last meeting, Mr. Allen said each team member would be given a time to speak, with staff and Council to be last in each small group. At the first session Council members may ask to not speak, but he thinks the small groups will want them to. People will be assigned to small groups randomly. Each session will start with an exercise to help team members connect as individuals before addressing the vision. Small groups will have 6 instead of 8 members (to help give each a chance to speak) and will stay the same throughout the process to build personal connections. He suggested that staff involvement could be through staff interviewing multi-family residents and diverse groups; May 9-15 a group of 50 staff will meet between team sessions 3 and 4 to give feed-back to design team; they will meet again two evenings in the fall. Mr. Allen asked for feedback on the proposals. There was general discussion about the staff interviewing; general consensus was it would help keep the interest alive over summer and would be a way to survey the community. Tom Allen commented "interviewing" had included the idea of on-site group meetings; Police Chief Reid noted on-site meetings on police issues had had little success. Some felt acity-wide survey of some time should also be implemented. Fran Hesch noted that those with limited English would not return mail-in surveys and would require interviews. Karen Jensen suggested National Night Out might be a good time to utilize in the process. General consensus was that both mail surveying and interviewing should be utilized. There was consensus that the general rules and agenda were good. Karen Jensen suggested that team members might like to see the "group designations" and say how they each overlap those designations; Mayor Maxwell said they might want to first guess which one they were chosen as. Jim Kerrigan noted that the members need to "buy into" the ground rules at the first meeting through discussion, etc. Dave Johnson and Jim Kerrigan suggested a "social hour" would give team members a chance to mix. After discussion it was decided to start the first meeting ahalf-hour early with refreshments to allow that for those who wished to do so. The first meeting will be in the Raspberry Room. Arts Funding, Jim Parsons Mr. Parsons announced he had resigned, effective April 24~'. There were general comments wishing him well at his new job and appreciation for his work at Hopkins. He opened his presentation by saying the first issue to be decided is "Do we want to support only local artists" or is this "Let's have the best, no matter where they come from"? He said there are three general mechanisms to generate funding: percentage of city capital spending earmarked for art, which requires ordinance passing; charter amendments to permit use of parkland dedication fees; state legislation to permit tax for the arts on new construction (most cities don't charge handicapped access costs or residential construction). He noted a couple years ago Hopkins had looked at a utility bill check-off for the arts; he and Mr. Mielke thought that might be possible now. Mr. Mielke noted that the park fund change would not generate much in the future. Mr. Mielke asked the Council what their chief goal was. All agreed it is to retire the Art Center debt. Mr. Parsons noted that while the construction tax must have a set purpose, that purpose could change once the debt was retired; however, the legislature may require a referendum. Karen Jensen mentioned she had seen a special credit card, would there be a way to utilize that? That may be brought up with the new bank coming in. Fran suggested park dedication fees might be adjusted with only the increase going to arts. There was general discussion on fund-raising events and possible ticket fees for the Center; since this would not be part of the "ticket cost" it would not affect performer fees. Mr. Mielke noted Mankato had a $25/vehicle fee earmarked for airport expansion. Consensus: Staff shall obtain more information for the Council on utility bill check-off and possibility of commercial park dedication fee changes; and explore a ticket tax with Jay. Steve Mielke will talk to the state legislators. Board and Commission Training Mr. Mielke indicated the options were annual/semi-annual joint training sessions; attending meeting prior to term start; using government training services; chairman training; staff doing training by individual board or commission. The last method is used now, but is not as comprehensive as it should be. Mr. Brausen said he felt it was important for non-staff to do the training, though people who have been staff members would be good, as would past board/commission members. He feels present members should be offered the training. Mayor Maxwell commented the Citizens Academy will help, and Mr. Mielke noted the Board reports at the Council meetings are helping. Mr. Mielke suggested staff training on how to work with the Boards might be needed. Fran Hesch suggested joint meetings with Boards/Commissions might be "piggybacked" with training. Karen Jensen said present members should be asked what they wish they had gotten; Fran agreed they should help plan the training for their new members. General Consensus: One major annual training is very important, and must happen in May or June before members start their terms. The Council will need to make sure Board/ Commission appointments are made in time to allow this. Mr. Mielke should look into costs and get more detail on training options, such as workshops, government programs, chairmanship training, etc. Board and Commission members should be kept up-to-date on their issues. Rick Brausen moved continuance to the closed session, Karen Jensen seconded. Meeting went to closed session at 10:10 p.m. Kasey Kester, recording secretary ATTEST: COUNCIL MEMBERS: