Agenda - Council - 04/23/1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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OPTIONS FOR COMMISSION MINUTE TAKING Linda Waite Smith, Administrative Services Manager April 22, 1996 In March we advertised for two part-time clerical positions that are funded in the 1996 City budget. The part-time Police transcriber position received a great deal of interest and we had a number of highly qualified applicants. To our surprise, we received only four applications for the part-time secretary position that would take minutes at City commission meetings. None of the four had any minute taking experience, so none of them were asked to interview. We have explored the following options to fill this position. Contract Minute Taking Service Timesaver Off Site Secretarial provides minute taking services for a number of cities, including Anoka, Blaine, Brooklyn Center, Champlin, Coon Rapids, East Bethel, St. Anthony, and Shorewood. According to their references, they are very professional and accurate, with great turnaround time. They base their charges on an hourly rate of $21.00 for meeting time, plus one-half hour; in addition to a per page charge of $9.00 if we make corrections; $9.50 if they make corrections. To understand what those rates would mean for us, I analyzed all the 1995 commission minutes to determine the average number of pages, the average meeting time and the average number of meetings. Based on that analysis, if Timesaver had done the minutes, including corrections, and given us an official hard copy, the charges would have been: Economic Development - $ 72.50 per meeting or $ 870.00 per year Park & Recreation - $118.59 per meeting or $1,423.10 per year Planning - $172.77 per meeting or $2,937.15 per year Charter - $101.50 per meeting or $ 507.50 per year We could stay within our budget ($4,675 without benefits) for part-time secretarial help if we had Timesaver do only the Park & Recreation and Planning minutes (a cost of $4,360 per year). The staff members who do the Charter and Economic Development minutes are willing to continue doing them. The disadvantage of this option is that we don't get the additional Clerical help we were hoping to get in addition to minute taking. Minute taking is, however, the primary concern of our current clerical staff. They are willing to absorb the othor duties if we can cover the minute taking. Timesaver is willing to have us try them on a trial basis with a contract that would expire the end of 1996. Employee from Temporary Employment Agency I contacted a temporary employment agency. In a week's time they have been unable to find anyone on their roster who can take minutes. If they do find someone, the charge to us will be between $15.25 and $16.50 per hour. The person I spoke with said it would probably be at the high end of the range because minute taking requires a higher level of skill than straight typing.