Minutes - Council - 05/28/1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Motion carried. Voting Yes: Mayor Hardin, Councilmembers Beahen, Zimmerman, Beyer and Peterson. Voting No: None. Case #6: Metropolitan Livable Communities City Administrator Schroeder stated that legislation was passed a year ago, the Metropolitan Livable Communities, which relegated the Metropolitan Council to promote the signing up of communities in the urban areas to pass upon housing goals. In October, Council adopted a resolution agreeing to participate in this program but expressing reservations. In December, Council passed a resolution setting targets for housing type and affordability. The next action is to prepare a plan for reaching the targets that were set in December. There are no target dates for reaching these goals. He presented a draft plan. It does not amend the targets which Council set in December but instead provides some detail of potentifl activities surrounding these targets. Included are general housing goals, housing affordability, housing diversity and neighborhood quality. Mr. Schroeder summarized these sections and suggested Council pay special attention to the section on neighborhood quality. He perceived this as a little additional narrative to support the resolution City Council passed in December 1995. It does not really change anything. Councilmember Zimmerman pointed out that the Cities of Andover and Anoka voted not to participate. He questioned if it is wise for the City of Ramsey to participate in this. Mr. Schroeder responded that he did not have the figures of how many cities are participating but he thought it was about 95%. He was surprised that Anoka did not participate because they are above the numbers the Metropolitan Council designated for them. He did not know why Andover chose not to participate. He continued that Council set lower goals than the Met Council identified but they have accepted that. He noted the General Housing Goals section - second bullet - and suggested removing the words "racial and ethnic". Motion by Councilmember Beahen and seconded by Councilmember Peterson to adopt the Livable Communities Action Plan, as amended. Further discussion: Mr. Schroeder stated that this can be amended after it has once been adopted. Motion carried. Voting Yes: Mayor Hardin, Councilmembers Beahen and Peterson. Voting No: Councilmembers Beyer and Zimmerman. Case //:7: Report from Personnel Committee 1) AFSCME 1996-1997 Contract Ratification Administrative Services Manager Waite Smith reported that the Personnel Committee reviewed the proposed contract for the AFSCME employees. The contract is for a two year period beginning January 1, 1996 through December 31, 1997. What is proposed is a 2% general wage increase and a 3% pool of dollars to be used for step increases. One different element is the elimination of special pay rate for heavy equipment operators. In exchange for this, there is a 50¢ per hour increase to four people in the Public Works Department. Also, a person on staff who falls below the acceptable limit of points to accrue sick and vacation time will continue to accrue these. This contract is a bit more expensive than the 1997 LELS contract; however, it is a little lower than the 1997 LELS contract. After this contract, AFSCME will be at almost 92% of the class maximum after an average of 7.5 years. The Personnel Con-mfittee recommended, that City Council ratify the contract. City Council/May 28, 1996 Page 8 of 10