Agenda - Council - 09/12/2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Administrator Ulrich reviewed how the personnel positions proposed are linked to Strategic Plan goals and service to the community. Councilmember Kuzma stated that the City spent a lot of money on the new software for planning which was supposed to be more efficient for the planning depaitinent. Mayor Strommen noted that permitting is separate from community development and noted that the position proposed is a senior planner. Councilmember Kuzma stated that he does not think there is a need for all of these positions and the City should be sensitive to the level of growth that will continue. Councilmember Johns stated that she agrees with the two high priority positions and those should not be a topic of discussion further. Councilmember Riley stated that scenario number one still has a 6.4 percent increase with no new positions added. He stated that all the additional scenarios simply ask how much larger the City is willing to go. He stated that the positions have been prioritized, which he appreciates, and noted that he does favor scenario two which focuses on the highest priority positions. He stated that he is not in support of the 6.4 increase to begin with in scenario one. Finance Director Lund stated that in scenario one the 6.4 percent takes into account the increases to personnel and the City's debt. Mayor Strommen stated that she is thinking not only about the growth the City has experienced but the growth that is anticipated. She noted that the Council meetings have been full of community development cases for development and the City has not seen this type of growth since pre-2008, if ever. She stated that positions are prioritized but the Council also needs to consider the workload of staff and what will occur if sufficient staff is not available. She stated that if there is not community development staff available to respond to developers, those developers may go elsewhere. She stated that if the parks are not cleaned and maintained, residents and visitors will notice. She stated that those positions should be considered needed. She stated that the engineering assistance should also be considered a need because engineering is needed to review these development cases and noted that she was shocked at the amount of time City Engineer Westby is spending on administrative work as that is poor use of his valuable time. She stated that something also needs to be done to backfill the City Clerk position. She noted that while the other positions would be nice, they are not necessarily needs at this time. She proposed to add the senior planner, parks and maintenance worker, engineering administrative assistant, and the backfill of the City Clerk position. She stated that if there is additional room in the levy, the Council will need to consider if they want to leave that or think about roads and the public works facility. Councilmember Kuzma stated that the Ramsey Foundation is not going to handle the summer concert series and therefore that events position may be important. City Council Work Session / August 22, 2017 Page 4 of 9