Minutes - Council Work Session - 08/17/1998

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need to be mitigated and maintained. Street inspections for maintenance issues (sealcoating and overlays) should be taken on by the Street Department as they have the most opportunity to view on a daily basis. The demand for new and ongoing services for the public continue to increase yearly. As the City continues to grow, the level of service expected will not only increase by population but also the individual needs will increase for Public Works. Certainly Public Works can offset some of the new demands by utilizing part-time and contracted services, however, to maintain quality service delivery, the City will need additional personnel in the Public Works Department. A proposed new position would be cross-trained in all areas of Public Works to maximize effectiveness and efficiency. Administr'a t~ e-As sis t a n t (Internship) As the City Council has increased the number of projects and initiatives they would like to see accomplished, the work load on Administration has correspondingly increased. A number of those projects do not avail themselves to be assigned to a specific department and, therefore, are left in the hands of the City Administrator. These projects would eventually be addressed, however, on a less than timely basis. Current projects being discussed include community center, city hall expansion, 25-year anniversary, and additional economic development staff support needed due to the accelerated pace of development inquiries. City Council has discussed the idea of an administrative internship program, which would allow an individual to perform administrative assistance through a period of time to be determined at a later date. The internship programs of Hamline University and Mankato State University have been contacted to request notification be given to internship candidates. Building Inspection (Contracted) ,~4~~ Since it is difficult to determine the economic vitality in 1999, it is difficult for all building code agencies to assess future personnel needs. Application of the State Building Code does not provide guidance as to how to determine personnel needs nor does it state that inspections may be waived if an agency is understaffed. In recent discussions with the Insurance Service Office (ISO) representative, it was learned that the staffing in the City of Ramsey was a concern and could be a factor in determining homeowners insurance rates for the City. The moratorium has been lifted for a great deal of residential development and it is anticipated that the moratorium will be completely lifted in 1999, which, therefore, would signal that increase in activity would be anticipated. Generally, permit revenue is designed to cover the building code agency financial expenditure needs, in other words, the more activity, the more revenue. In the past few years, revenues have exceeded building inspections budget at a ratio of three to one. The