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Police Chief Katers stated that the cost for equipment would be approximately $9,000 per <br /> officer. He stated that initially there was a vehicle request for the two officers but there has since <br /> been a forfeiture that will offset that cost. <br /> Councilmember Riley stated that two officers are requested this year and asked if zero officers <br /> would be requested next year. <br /> Police Chief Katers stated that he would need to review the community information before <br /> making that decision. He stated that the community is continuing to grow, and the additional <br /> elementary school will most likely bring additional residents as well. He explained that he will <br /> receive calls for service on day one and does not like to be behind, noting that the department has <br /> already received calls since construction began. <br /> Public Works Superintendent Reimer stated that calls for service continue to increase in all <br /> departments as the population continues to grow. He stated that in example the calls for pothole <br /> repair in 2016 were 19 and then in 2018 that increased to 29, and so far, this year there have been <br /> 57 calls for pothole repair. He reviewed some of the public works duties that the department <br /> provides during the different seasons and stated that all of those duties take time and people to <br /> complete. He stated that the department is falling behind on the duties to the community and one <br /> additional employee would help the department to respond to the department needs. He stated <br /> that street sweeping takes three of the four employees to complete and therefore he does not have <br /> additional employees to respond to calls for service. He stated that there was only one employee <br /> added to the department in the past ten years. <br /> Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood stated that any public works <br /> employee is added to the on-call responders. He stated that someone is available 24/7 to respond <br /> to public works needs. <br /> City Administrator Ulrich noted that the start date for this position would be March Pt and <br /> therefore the impact to the future budgets would be higher. <br /> City Engineer Westby stated that his request falls in the same category as the other departments, <br /> noting that the additional employee would help the department meet the needs of the community. <br /> He reviewed some of the department duties and responsibilities and stated that there is a lot of <br /> demand for staff He stated that he has been acting as the project manager for the City <br /> improvement projects, working to develop the projects and move them through the City Council <br /> and then administer and supervise as the projects are in the field. He stated that the department <br /> is struggling to keep up with the requests and needs of the residents and to meet deadlines. He <br /> reviewed upcoming projects that the department is involved in and stated that he is concerned <br /> with the Ramsey Highway 10 plan that the Bolton & Menk consultants are involved with. He <br /> stated that he has concerns with his ability to assist with phase one and to be involved with phase <br /> two. He stated that his goal would be to transition his project manager duties to the engineer <br /> technician but in order to do that, they would need to push some of the technician's duties to the <br /> administrative assistant. He stated that increasing the hours of the administrative assistant from <br /> 20 to 40 hours per week would allow for the transference of duties. <br /> City Council Work Session/August 6, 2018 <br /> Page 5 of 9 <br />