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

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Councilmember Specht agreed that it is all great information but he does not have enough information on the Public Works committee to have a true opinion on it. He stated that there should be more of a discussion surrounding this and other boards and committees. He mentioned that when discussing if the EPB could be merged with something else, some people thought it was worth looking into. He suggested an action item of looking at ways to improve the community structure without making a decision this evening. Councilmember Howell agreed with the idea of this being an action item to explore and evaluate the value of each board. Councilmember Musgrove requested Staff’s feedback on how the Council can get all of the information that is discussed at Public Works. She stated that Andover made this decision as they felt their Public Works committee information was relevant to the whole Council. She said her goal was to just gauge the appetite for this. Councilmember Woestehoff noted to also explore other boards and commissions that the City should have but does not. He stated that at one point there was an HRA committee. He stated that other cities have other boards and commissions that he would like to potentially explore other opportunities that residents may be wanting the City to pay attention to. City Administrator Hagen suggested leaving this on as an action item in the interest of time. He stated that Staff can go through this and can bring back information on what each board does. He noted that there was a discussion that the EPB and Planning Commission may be redundant. He added that they can also look at what other cities have that Ramsey is missing and they can have a discussion on this. He stated that it has been a number of years since a broader organizational study has been done. He asked if there was interest in something like this. Councilmember Howell shared her idea of bringing on a consultant to the City. She asked if there was any value in bringing in someone as a consultant to figure out how to make the organization more efficient. She shared that she is more concerned with all of the tax increases and costs that will be going up. Councilmember Specht asked if there has ever been a consultant hired to review these things. City Administrator Hagen stated that this can be approached in two ways, as internally done or externally. He stated that it would depend on the depth that they were interested in. He shared that the City has just under 100 employees which is a lot to look at. He added that there are third party consultants that would look at Ramsey and provide insight on other cities comparable to the City to look at how the City might grow in the next few years. He stated that this would not necessarily look into the operational inefficiencies. He stated that outside organizational study would touch on different components of this. Councilmember Specht stated that he would not be against this and stated that he would not want to spend a large amount of money to find a small amount of savings but if this would be beneficial he would be happy to get outside ideas. City Council Special Work Session /April 24, 2023 Page 18 of 21