HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-06-28 MINUTES. ,
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CALL TO ORDER
The City Council of the City of Cottage Grove, Washington County, Minnesota heid a special
meeting on Wednesday, June 28, 2000, at the Cottage Grove City Hall, 7518 80 Street South.
Mayor Denzer called the meeting to order at 7:00 p:m. Council Member Kohis arrived at 7:35
p. m.
RO�L CALL
Present: Mayor John Denzer
Council Member Cheryl Kohls
Council Member Pat Rice
Council Member Sandy Shiely
Council Member Jim Woicott
Absent: None
Also Present: Ryan Schroeder, Gity Administrator
Michelle Wolfe, Assistant City Administrator
Elizabeth Johnson, Finance Director
Mayor Denzer presided over the meeting.
WORKSHOP SESSIONS
Presentation of 1999 Financial Statements
A presentation was received from the firm of Tautges Redpa#h, Ltd, on the 1999 audit. Their
findings were that there were no instances of noncompliance according to Government Auditing
Standards.
2001 Budqet Direction
Debtlssues
Economic Development Trust Fund
Council was requested to review preliminary budget requests for the 2009 fiscal year. Concerns
and direction offered by Council were as follow:
1. Need information on Police Department Community oriented programming from a
cost/benefit perspective;
2. Need to closely monitor the Ice Arena operations and come up with ways to resoive the
current fiscal concerns;
3. Need to monitor future school district Ievy projections in an attempt to ensure stability in
the totai governmental levy;
4. Need to have a workshop reviewing future pavement management scheduling, perhaps
delaying initiation of the Grove side district or splitting the current schedule into four or
five years rather than the current projected three years. It was suggested that if we delay
Special Meeting — June 28, 2000
Cottage Grove City Council
Page 2
the next phase we should bank the savings to assure thaYthe debt issuance is smailer
than it otherwise would be.
5. There were concerns expressed for the various staffing requests. Council needs mare
information on each of them prior to going forward with any additional staffing.
6. Concerns were expressed regarding the City WEB site in that Council is not mentioned
anywhere on the site and some portions, such as "City major empioyers" need updating.
7. There were questions regarding all of the vehicle and equipment requests. Some
specific concerns included: the fire division tanker is too much money and can probably
just be rehabbed; concern for the expenditure of a new trailer when these do not
typicaily wear out; need to assure that like equipment, such as skidsteers and tractors be
of the same make so that attachments are interchangeable; concern that the ice buster
in the streets division will scar road surfaces if the operator is not careful; concern for the
sign machined request when we wiil be considering outsourcing a portion of this task
perhaps.
8. It was noted that we should expect to see efficiencies out of public works generally, and
the shop specificaliy, now that the $2 miliion building is in place. It was expressed that
with these new facilities and improved staffing we should expect to receive longer Iife
from our equipment.
9. It was expressed that with Council concerns for the debt levy we need to react
accordingly by not aliowing our operating expenses to increase:
10. Council suggested that in order to react to the declining fund balance in the insura�ce
fund due to debt repayment for the fire stations that we should proceed with identifying
revenue and repayment options with the least cost impact upon the general taxpayer: It
was also noted that closure of an existing station wasn't a reasonabie option given that
future growth east of CR19 wili create a larger demand for that station along with a
larger staffing pool.
11. It was noted that while the marketing plan was a good effort the creation of a marketing
manager position perhaps is premature.
12: It was requested that the staff recommended budget later in the year should inciude
between $100,000 and $200,000 in a Council contingency.
13. It was requested that we have a workshop at some point in this process with the Shop
foreman and Director Burshten to discuss efficiency improvements at the shop.
ADJOURNMENT
Wolcott moved to adjourn. Shiely seconded. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Ryan Schroeder, City Administrator
Caron Stransky, City Cierk