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<br />City Attorney Goodrich added that the Charter could be amended to retain that right. He stated <br />the City Manager has the authority to hire and fire staff, and he recited the language in the statute <br />regarding this provision; likewise, the City Council may not give orders to subordinates of the <br />City Manager and the City Manager is the chief purchasing agent for the City on amounts under <br />$20,000, unless the City Council sets a lower limit. He indicated there are other duties set forth <br />in the statute and in resolutions or ordinances by the City Council. He added that most <br />importantly, a City Manager is appointed and removed by the City Council. He also provided <br />some historical background regarding the issue of hiring and firing staff and whether the City <br />Council should have the ability to make personnel decisions based on political issues. <br /> <br />City Administrator Ulrich stated that this ordinance is an attempt to set up a structure that works <br />better and is ultimately a decision that the City Council will have to decide what is best in terms <br />of governing the City. <br /> <br />Councilmember McGlone stated he was in favor of looking at this to see if there is a different <br />and/or better way to govern the City. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig stated there were problems with the past City Councils and the <br />atmosphere was politically charged. He stated he has never seen a business run where the Board <br />gets to influence staff and at the same time remain a reasonably well-managed company. He <br />stated when Ramsey gets to a certain size, it needs to be run like a company and not by politics. <br />He indicated it takes ongoing consistency to let a City grow and nurture, and a strong City <br />Manager and City Council will drive that. He stated he was in favor of this and felt it was <br />worthwhile to pursue. <br /> <br />Mayor Ramsey stated if the ordinance is passed and the Charter Commission is in favor of the <br />proposed revision, the question will be placed on the general election ballot. <br /> <br />2) Discuss CGI Communications' Video Tour Book <br /> <br />Management Intern Hendricks stated the City has been approached by CGI Communications, <br />Inc. offering streaming video tour books provided at no cost to the City. She stated the program <br />offers enhancements to the City's website that are paid for by sponsorship from local businesses. <br />She explained that visitors who click on a business logo would then be taken to a separate video <br />tour of that business and those videos are hosted on outside websites; the City would only be <br />required to provide the HTML code. She stated the City would be expected to provide a letter of <br />introduction to local businesses. She contacted a number of Minnesota cities for feedback on the <br />service and that feedback was mixed. She indicated that some cities expressed concern about the <br />sales tactics of CGI and another city expressed frustration with the length of time it took to create <br />the video tour book because the city was expected to post a "coming soon" link that was in effect <br />a dead link. for a significant amount of time. She stated the City also learned it will not retain <br />control of the HTML code on its website and this allowed CGI in one case to change the size of <br />the video icon, which overshadowed the city's website. She added that an additional concern <br />raised by staff is that without control of the HTML code, the City's website may become <br />susceptible to viruses, similar to the banner virus that attacked the Star Tribune's website. <br /> <br />City Council Work Session I March 9, 2010 <br />Page 3 of 7 <br />