Agenda - Council - 02/08/2021 - Laserfiche WebLink

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official immunity to medical directors in the course of ambulance service activities. SD-15. Fees for Service Issue: While general services such as permitting, inspections or enforcement are typically funded out of a city's general fund, cities often impose fees to cover the cost of providing certain services, permits, and licenses. The Legislature and interest groups often seek to mandate or preserve fee limitations for city services. Over the last several years, the Legislature has enacted a number of new laws designed to rigorously control local fee -setting authority. Examples of such mandates include placing limits on coin - operated amusement machine license fees, on -sale and off -sale liquor license fees, license fees for retailers selling fireworks, deputy registrar fees and planning and zoning fees. The state also requires cities that collect more than $5,000 in development -related fees each year to annually report all construction and development fees to the Department of Labor and Industry. Response: While the state has a role in providing a general, statewide funding policy, the state should not interfere in the decision -making functions performed by cities when setting city budgets to provide city services. The League of Minnesota Cities seeks authority for cities to charge fees that are reasonably related to the cost of providing the service, permit or license. The League opposes legislation that would require specific methods to pay for city services or would place caps on city fees. 23 SD-16. Improving and Increasing Citizen Access to Information Issue: State law requires that cities publish certain types of information in a "qualified" newspaper designated by the city. While the requirements vary based on city population size, most cities must publish: ordinances before they can take effect; advertisements for bids; various financial reports; meeting and hearing notices; notices of elections; dates for filing affidavits of candidacy; and sample ballots. Collectively, these items are referred to as "official notices," legal notices" and "public notices" in state statute. There are several requirements in statute for a newspaper to be a "qualified" or "official" newspaper for the city. For instance, there can only be one newspaper chosen for the city; it must be printed in English in a newspaper format; if it is a daily newspaper, it must be distributed at least five days each week; if not a daily paper, it may be distributed twice a month with respect to the publishing of government public notices; it must be circulated in the city which it purports to serve, and either have at least 400 copies regularly delivered to paying subscribers or have at least 400 copies distributed without charge to local residents. As technology has evolved, citizens have become more accustomed to the instantaneous availability of online information. Because cities are committed to providing information to citizens and responding to this demand, they have invested heavily in their websites and in growing a robust online presence. They survey citizens about what method of communication is preferred and based on this, cities update, reform, evolve, and advance communication tools and often, they do so with limited means and resources to ensure citizens have access to information about their city.