Minutes - Council Work Session - 11/27/2018

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Councilmember Riley referenced the issue of Andover contracting for services with Anoka County for police services and stated that his point was simply to investigate further to determine the difference in costs compared to the services received. He stated that the proposed increase for Ramsey is much higher than the increase for Andover for their contracted police services and simply asked staff to determine the reason for that difference in increase. City Administrator Ulrich stated that another element would be to consider whether Anoka County is fully recovering the amounts required to fund the program from the cities served or whether additional costs are spread across the County tax base. Fire Chief Kohner noted that the City of Andover fire services costs are significantly higher than the fire services costs for Ramsey. Mayor LeTourneau stated that the expectation would be that there will be a discussion at the regular Council meeting on December 11th at which time the decision would need to be made to adopt the budget for 2019. Councilmember Riley stated that the Council has reviewed the five-year budget, which balloons in the future, and the decisions made today impact the rate at which that budget will balloon. He believed that the Council would be making a mistake in allowing the budget to grow at this rate. He stated that in reviewing the five-year staffing plan, he views that more as a wish list. Mayor LeTourneau noted that the plan simply provides an idea, and nothing is committed to at this point. He stated that it is hard to predict the rate of growth at which Ramsey will continue to grow and the staff that will be needed to support that growth. Councilmember Shryock suggested that a tighter discussion occur tonight, if there are potential changes to be made, as this will be the last discussion prior to the regular meeting on December 11. She stated that her concern is the long-term commitment for staffing. She believed that the Council should review the positions to determine what is really needed at this point. She stated that the first priority should be to properly compensate the staff members that already are employed with the City, as some of those positions are not equal to the market rate and therefore those employees should be fairly compensated to ensure longevity. She noted that the next priority would be whether to add staff. Mayor LeTourneau stated that in the past number of months during the budget discussion there has been a discussion of priorities and retention has been discussed and has been resolved with the COLA that has been agreed upon. He stated that the positions proposed at this time seem to align with the priorities which have been rated as public safety, public works and then parks and trails. He felt that the staffing has been balanced out without going too far. Councilmember Riley stated that overall, he would like to see the City at a rate that factors in the growth plus cost of living. He believed that the proposed budget is probably double where he would like to be. City Council Work Session /November 27, 2018 Page 2 of 7