Discuss Council Organization

Purpose:  The purpose of this report is to determine which committees, boards, or authorities Councilmembers will be appointed to.  Also to be determined are the appointments for the official newspaper and the approval of the annual contract with TimeSavers Off Site Secretarial Service.  The purpose is to also discuss possible elimination of Personnel and Finance Committees.

Background:  Each year, Councilmembers are appointed to serve on different committees, authorities and boards.  Councilmembers will be asked their preference for appointment, and a resolution with the final selections will be placed on the Consent Agenda for approval at the January 14, 2014 regular City Council meeting.  The Chair and Vice-Chair positions for each committee will be handled at that committee level.  The resolution showing the committees and boards is attached to this report for discussion.

During the Strategic Planning Sessions, government efficiency was discussed at length as well as items that would aide in becoming more efficient, such as eliminating certain committees.  Another time saver could be two year appointments - in a non-election year.  Since 2014 is an election year, the appointments being discussed this evening are for one year. 

With regard to Committee elimination, staff is suggesting eliminating both the Personnel and Finance Committees.  Generally, the finance items are discussed at a work session with the entire Council.  Being discussed this evening, in a separate case, is a request to grant more personnel authority to the City Administrator.  That would eliminate the need for a separate Personnel Committee.  Staff polled the Metro Area and found that about 70 percent of responding cities operating with a City Administrator form of government (not City Manager) do not have Personnel Committees.  Staff feels that the Committee meetings create extra work as well as require added Mayor and Council time.  Staff briefly discussed elimination of the Public Works Committee as well, but decided that it serves as a sounding board for residents for issues like stop sign requests, storm water  issues, and street improvement projects, and will recommend that this Committee remain in tact.

There has been discussion relating to combining the HRA and the EDA; however, that may be discussion for a later date.

It should be noted the resolution also includes declaring the City's official newspaper.  At the time of this writing, staff had received only one proposal - the Anoka County Union.  The rate of $10.75 per column inch and $10/25 per column inch submitted electronically remains unchanged from prior years.   Staff anticipates receiving a proposal from the Anoka County Record as one was submitted last year.  Staff voiced a concern last year about the Record being a bi-weekly paper versus a weekly paper.  For year 2013, the cities of Oak Grove and Ham Lake both contracted with the Record for their publications.  In conversation with these cities, both cited the bi-weekly publication being a real adjustment - having to plan so far in advance for the publications - or having to push a project out a month because a public hearing notice could not be published in time.  Both also expressed concern relating to this being an election year and all the publication requirements may be very challenging.  They expressed a concern about the small distribution numbers of the paper as well.  They both realized a cost savings. Staff is requesting to remain with the Anoka County Union as its official newspaper.  They have served us well

Staff is recommending that Council approve the Addendum to the Recording Secretary Service Agreement that extends the expiration date to December 31, 2014.  There is no rate increase to the hourly or page rates and less than a 1.6 percent increase to the base rate.  This approval is part of the resolution as well.

Appointing legal services is also a part of the Organization Resolution.  The current contract, new as of July 1, 2013, is for a three year period with Joseph Langel of the firm of Ratwik, Roszak & Maloney for General Legal and with Joe VanThome of Randall, Goodrich & Haag for Prosecution.

Approximately 30 minutes.

City Administrator
City Clerk

To receive clear direction from the Council with regard to filling in the blanks on the Organizational Resolution - regarding appointments to committees, boards and authorities, direction with regard to eliminating - or not eliminating - certain committees, designation of the official newspaper, approving the addendum to the Recording Secretary Service Agreement, and appointment of legal services.