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estimated that there has been a minimum of 40 hours of staff time spent thus far bringing those <br /> interns up and running. He stated that the process of using interns is not efficient because of the <br /> staff time spent bringing those interns up to speed and the short time the City has access to those <br /> interns, as they only stay for eight to ten weeks. He reviewed some of the tasks that the department <br /> has but is not able to complete in a timely manner because of a lack of staff He stated that if the <br /> recreation specialist is not added, he would recommend scaling back dramatically on the park <br /> programming to allow him to focus on the other higher priority tasks for the parks department. <br /> Police Chief Katers stated that there has been an increase in calls for service based on the actual <br /> growth with an anticipated continued growth of the community. He stated that he is asking for <br /> two full-time patrol officers to allow the department to continue to provide a high level of service <br /> to the community. He stated that if the positions are not approved, he would need to reallocate <br /> staff that currently participate in community programming and other tasks. He stated that there <br /> has been growth in all areas of the community and all of those different areas make calls for police <br /> service. He stated that the department runs very efficiently and are good stewards of the tax payer <br /> dollars but noted that makes it difficult when an employee is on leave for military duty or illness. <br /> He stated that Ramsey has the lowest police operating cost of any community in Anoka County. <br /> Public Works Superintendent Riemer stated that 2016 was the last time a staffing request was <br /> made. He stated that in 2016 there were 510 requests for service and currently,year to date,in the <br /> past six months there have already been 523 requests. He stated that the department is running <br /> behind, and the community continues to grow. He stated that his department is running out of <br /> employees to respond to calls and requests and continues to fall behind. He stated that his other <br /> request would be to move a parks maintenance worker to parks lead, which would be a position <br /> reclassification. He stated that this person would handle the part-time seasonal employees and <br /> rink attendants. He noted that the reclassification would free up the parks supervisor to focus on <br /> larger tasks for the department. <br /> City Administrator Ulrich reviewed some of the options that are available to contain costs. <br /> Councilmember Riley asked if the health insurance rate has been given to the City or whether that <br /> is estimated. <br /> Human Resources Director Lasher stated that the health insurance rate has been given to the City. <br /> City Administrator Ulrich noted that the negotiable part of that element would be the amount the <br /> City contributes. <br /> Councilmember Kuzma stated that every year that he has been on the Council there has been <br /> increases to every employee for salary. He stated that while he acknowledges that the requests <br /> from the departments for staffing are needed and accurate, he would ask that the City negotiate <br /> through the contracts in 2019. He suggested that perhaps the COLA increase not be given in 2019 <br /> in return for approving the additional staff positions. He stated that the workforce has not <br /> participated in supporting the additional positions and perhaps this is the time to ask for that help. <br /> City Council Work Session/July 10,2018 <br /> Page 3 of 8 <br />