Minutes - Council - 03/23/2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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e. Request for Authorization to Issue an RFP for an Agent of Record for Health and Dental Insurance and COBRA Administration -ratify the recommendation of the Personnel Committee and adopt Resolution #10-03-070 and authorize staff to issue an RFP for benefits broker for health and dental insurance f Discussion Regarding Labor Negotiations Strategy -based upon discussion Motion carried. Voting Yes: Mayor Ramsey, Councilmembers Wise, Look, Dehen, Elvig, Jeffrey, and McGlone.. Voting No: None. 6. PUBLIC HEARING None. 7. COUNCIL BUSINESS 7.01: Consider Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) with Anoka County for the Reconstruction of County State Aid Highway 116 (Bunker Lake Boulevard) from Germanium to Basalt Streets in the City of Ramsey City Engineer Himmer reviewed the staff report. Motion by Councilmember McGlone, seconded by Councilmember Jeffrey, to approve the JPA with Anoka County for the reconstruction of CSAH 116 between Basalt and Germanium Streets, authorize staff to sign the final construction plan set if no significant changes are proposed and to authorize the City Administrator to sign the JPA once the City Attorney has reviewed and accepted it as it relates to legal matters. Further discussion: Councilmember Jeffrey stated it was important that this not only worked for the County system, but also the City system. He expressed concern about timing of the project and the impact on the businesses. Councilmember Dehen stated he wanted to keep Unity Street open for access to the business and he did not like paying to have an engineer to tell the City that this would benefit the County system. He stated he would not approve this without answers to all of their questions. Councilmember Elvig stated he did not like U-turns on roads with 50 mph. speed limits. He indicated projections for this roadway were high. He stated the Unity access was important to him also. He stated he was against the hard channeling and did not want to see this in the City again. He noted there were other alternatives that worked well that other Counties in the Twin Cities had used and he asked Council to support him in the future to look at these alternatives. Mayor Ramsey stated the reality was that the County felt it was in the County's best interest to go after Federal funds to offset maintaining County roads, which he agreed with, but when the County went after the funds, the County pitched to the system and the Federal government and County did not factor in everything as far as local road traffic and the neighborhoods. He stated he would be voting no on this at tonight's meeting. Councilmember Look stated he did not know that the Federal government required the design standards, which had been put forth for approval. He believed the accident numbers were suspect. He stated as a community, the community paid the County tax share and are now paying a wheel tax and the roads should be budgeted for in a CIP plan and residents should expect the County to be doing the same. He stated he disagreed that hard channelization would be safer. He believed there City Council /March 23, 2010 Page 4 of 13