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The City Council work session recessed at 5:25 p.m. to go into a special City Council meeting. <br />The City Council work session was reconvened at 6:10 p.m. <br />Consensus was that staff should work more on this and bring it back to the next City Council <br />meeting. <br />3.3 Review Public Purpose Expenditures <br />City Administrator Ulrich stated this item is on the agenda for discussion and to clarify what our <br />policy is in terms of using City money for dinners, etc. He noted the City's policy was attached <br />to the case as well as the investigative report on the City of Brooklyn Park. He stated this sets <br />the standard because it has the Attorney General and the State Auditor's opinions. Currently, <br />these types of meals (Council dinners for meeting nights) would be allowed because the meeting <br />is beginning at 5:00 p m and extending through the evening. That is consistent with our policy. <br />He expressed concerns about exceeding the budget and recommended we try to adjust a budget <br />and have cheaper meals — cut back as much as possible. He talked about the use of credit cards <br />for lunches. That will be limited to when you are traveling or you are talking with a potential <br />client — that's when this type of expenditure could be allowed. This policy would prohibit when <br />Councilmembers and staff or staff and staff meetings will not be allowed to be a public <br />expenditure. Therefore, we will discontinue that. We will be saving money but not cutting <br />meals completely or other authorized expenditures. <br />Councilmember Tossey stated that it seems to him that the City should not be supplying meals <br />for the Council. This is a service — we asked our public to vote for us — not feed us. <br />Councilmember McGlone stated there is a purpose for this — the object being that a lot of <br />Councilmembers will come directly from their other jobs. <br />Councilmember Tossey stated he works downtown and he eats before he gets here. <br />Mayor Ramsey stated he did not have a problem with the City supplying meals for meeting <br />nights — but he did want to cut back on the amount of spending. <br />Councilmember Elvig stated he wanted to go on record as being against the City providing meals <br />for the Council too. He stated he will go with whatever Council decides but he is not excited <br />about the City paying for Council meals. <br />Mr. Ulrich suggested that maybe staff could do more exact ordering — referring to the number of <br />meals as there are times when there are quite a few extras. <br />City Clerk Thieling responded that she orders 15 meals per meeting for Council and staff. She <br />could cut the amount down but it's difficult to get an exact count as the attendees change from <br />one meeting to the next. <br />City Council Work Session — January 4, 2011 <br />Page 4 of 8 <br />