01/13/04 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Motion by Councihnember Strommen, seconded by Councilmember Elvig, to recommend that the City Council adopt the resolution approving the City of Ramsey's 2005 budget calendar as amended. Motion can'ied. Voting Yes: Chairperson Elvig, and Councilmember Strommen. Voting No: None. Absent: Councilmember Zimmerman. Mayor Gamec arrived at 6:20 p.m. Case #2: Authorize Various 2004 Capital Purchases Finance Officer Lund stated that included in the Adopted 2004 General Fund Budget were several capital purchase items, which the Committee received a list of. Minnesota bid laws require different levels of competitive bidding based on dollar amounts of the item to be purchased. All of these items will be funded via the Capital Equipment Certificates that were issued December 30, 2003, and the Equipment Replacement Fund. Cot. ncihnember Elvig inquired if the items that are placed out for bid will come back before the Council for final approval. Finance Officer Lund replied that if an item goes out for bid the Council has to authorize the bids. She noted that a lot of the items fall into the $50,000 or over category and those would not have to come back to the Council because the State handles the bidding process for those bigger items. Councilmember Elvig requested that staff explain the rationale for purchasing a tree spade. Assistant Director of Public Works Olson explained that Ramsey is developing very quickly and there are opportunities at every turn to salvage trees that otherwise would be cut down by a developer. The City could use the tree spade to save some of those trees and locate them within the parks as well as establish a nursery to grow more mature trees. The best time to move a tree is April through early June and during that time it is very difficult to get a tree spade. With all the development that is occurring the City has a very small window to try and salvage some of those trees. Parks/Utilities Supervisor Riverblood explained that staff is looking to correctly outfit the tree spade so that it can work with the front end loader, which will allow the City to access trees that they typically would not be able to. As it relates to Elmcrest Park, the City is looking at having to spcnd approximately $217,000 dollars for balled and burlapped trees if they were to hire it out, but with the tree spade they will be able to pull a lot of the trees from within the City and bring in a bigger stock of trees. City Administrator Norman stated that a purchase like this can open questions such as isn't it a private sector issue, but the same argument could be said for snow removal etc. Finance Committee/January 13, 2004 Page 2 of 4