Minutes - Council Work Session - 04/24/2023 - Special Strategic Planning

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advisory boards and committees and analyzing operations and develop plans/strategies to eliminate inefficiencies and streamline the organization. Councilmember Musgrove suggested adding these. She shared that Andover has recently done away with their Public Works committee because of redundancy and that there were certain Councilmembers that felt like they were not getting information. She stated that this helped to minimize Staff time. She suggested this idea to City Administrator Hagen and asked for opinions on this. Administrative Services Director Lasher stated that this is the line of thinking when they eliminated the personnel and finance committees. Councilmember Musgrove stated that a lot of the information that the committee discusses, such as the roads, is important information that the Council should be discussing. She acknowledged that Ramsey is a bigger City than Andover. She suggested looking at all committees to see if there are any potential savings in these areas. She stated that Staff does a good job at canceling meetings when there is nothing to discuss. Councilmember Specht agreed and shared that as they were looking at the boards and commissions they also looked at the EPB to see if that could be merged with another board. He stated that this would be a good thing to discuss and review as an action plan. Mayor Kuzma disagreed as he believes that the Public Works committee does a lot to help guide the Public Works department. He stated that there is a lot of stuff that the committee is able to dive in depth into to bring out the areas that need to be focused on, especially when there is a resident that brings an issue forward. He said this is a valuable service that this committee is able to offer. Councilmember Riley stated that he would be concerned that they would add this as another work session item to get the level of information needed. He said that this still needs to be discussed and if all that happens is they add the rest of the Council to these committees then no time has been saved at all. Councilmember Woestehoff agreed that generically the Public Works committee is an interesting committee as it is Councilmembers only who review cases and advise Council on what to do. He stated that the level of detail and opportunity for feedback is something that he appreciates. He gave an example of this on 167th and shared that he thinks there should be a separate pedestrian facility. He stated that the Public Works committee was an opportunity to express that. He agreed with Councilmember Riley that if this goes to the whole Council then it is just taking more time. He wanted to hear City Engineer/Public Works Director Westby’s perspective. He asked him if the committee gives him feedback that is otherwise not heard. City Engineer/Public Works Director Westby shared his perspective that Staff finds great value in the Public Works committee as the committee acts as a sounding board to get perspective on what Council finds value in. He added that when the residents have requests for stop signs or other concerns of operations of the City, they come in and have that discussion that is less intimidating than sharing those concerns in the Council Chambers. City Council Special Work Session /April 24, 2023 Page 17 of 21