Discuss Council Organization

Purpose: The purpose of this report is to determine the committees, boards, authorities or other groups to which Councilmembers will be appointed. Also to be determined are the appointments for the official newspaper, approval of the annual contract with TimeSavers Off-Site Secretarial Service (TOSS), and appointment of legal services.  

Background: Each year, Councilmembers are appointed to serve on different committees, boards, authorities or other groups. Attached is a list of the committees as well as a description of what they are and when they meet. Staff will make note of the final selections to be adopted by Council at their meeting later this evening.  

The Chair and Vice-Chair positions for each committee will be appointed at the committee level. It should be noted that each board and commission have a staff liaison appointed, as well as Councilmember(s) liaison.

As a reminder, the City's Code states the following with regard to Ex-officio members. The City Council may appoint, by majority vote, a Councilmember or City staff person as ex-officio members of any board or commission privileged to speak on any matter without a vote, and the ex-officio members shall provide a liaison between the board or commission and City Council. The City Council members appointed to the EDA are voting members. 

Attached is the resolution that is on the Agenda this evening for formal adoption. Please note: The highlighted 2024 appointments are open for discussion. The appointments discussed will be incorporated into the resolution before tonight's meeting.  One councilmember has suggested recreating the Happy Days Committee.  In recent years, volunteer involvement at the committee level dwindled and staff largely planned the event.  The recreation of the committee could involve some as-needed meetings to discuss event changes.

*The Anoka County Housing and Redevelopment Authority was listed in previous years under two-year appointments. The Authority was started many years ago, and at that time cities participated in the meetings. Now it is all handled solely by the County, so it has been removed from the Council Organization resolution for 2024.

The organizational resolution includes declaring the City's official newspaper. At the time of this writing, the City has received one proposal from Adams Publishing Group - the Anoka County UnionHerald. Such proposal is attached to this case. The Anoka County UnionHerald has historically served as the City's official newspaper and currently provides the most regular coverage of the City. The proposal from Adams Publishing Group states the rates for 2024 will remain unchanged.  

Also included for Council review and approval is the Addendum to the Recording Secretary Service Agreement between the City of Ramsey and TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial (TOSS) that extends the expiration date to December 31, 2024 (attached). The addendum shows a less than 5.25 percent increase in the rates. Approval of the contract with TOSS is part of the resolution.

Appointing legal services is another part of the Organization Resolution. The most recent agreement with the City's Attorney, Frederic Knaak of Holstad & Knaak, PLC is effective November 1, 2023 through October 31, 2025. The monthly fee is $4,150.00. Any time over the 10 hours included in the monthly fee is billed at a single rate of $150.00 per hour. The firm of Eckberg Lammers was contracted for prosecution services; the current agreement is effective through December 31, 2027.

Approximately 15 minutes

N/A

City Administrator
City Clerk

To receive clear direction from the Council with regard to the appointments to committees, boards, authorities and other groups, designation of the official newspaper, the addendum to the Recording Secretary Service Agreement and appointments for legal services.