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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCMin_03Jul09 CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS COUNCIL MINUTES JULY 9, 2003 Mayor Sue Gehrz convened the regular City Council meeting at 7:00 PM. PRESENT: Mayor Sue Gehrz, Council members Laura Kuettel, Robert Lamb, Peter Lindstrom and Richard Talbot Also present: City Administrator Heather Worthington and Deputy Clerk Mary Shea Kodluboy COMMUNITY FORUM: There was no commentary from the audience. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes for the June 25, 2003 Council meeting will be available at the July 23, 2003 Council meeting. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None Scheduled CONSENT AGENDA: Kuettel moved that the Consent Agenda be approved, as outlined below. The motion was unanimously approved. General Disbursements through June 30, 2003 in the Amount of: $ 24,558.86 Payroll (6/15/03-6/30/03) $ 15,368.31 Licenses – The Council, to encourage residents to patronize local businesses, read aloud the names of the most current businesses renewing their licenses for 2003. 3. Acceptance of Low Bid for Sealcoating from Allied Blacktop in the Amount of $38,622.00 Three bids were received: Allied Blacktop Company $ 38,622.00 Pearson Bros., Inc. 40,036.00 Astech Corp. 60,670.00 4. Acceptance of Partial Payment Request #1 from Jay Bros, Inc., in the Amount of $32,422.50 for the Folwell Avenue Water Main Project FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -2- July 9, 2003 POLICY AGENDA: Consideration of a Joint Powers Agreement with the City of Roseville to Provide Computer Services to the City of Falcon Heights Administrator Worthington said that the City of Falcon Heights has contracted for consultant services to provide network support for the city’s computer network and web site hosting service over the past several years. In 2002, the city’s long-time consultant retired, leaving the city without computer support. In addition, the city does not have adequate staff resources to provide these services in-house. In 2002, as part of the 2003 budgeting process, the Council directed staff to look for cooperative service arrangements with other cities to provide needed services. In the past year, the city has contracted with the City of Little Canada for building inspection services, as well as continued our longstanding contract with Lauderdale for the provision of fire service. This arrangement will allow our city to take advantage of the expertise and staffing of Roseville, while receiving the needed services to keep our computer network running smoothly. Additionally, this will enable Falcon Heights to have computer network redundancy in case of the loss of our internal network. The cost of this joint powers arrangement is $8,700 per annum. In 2001, the city paid 10,721 and in 2002, the city spent $3,807 on outside consultants, for a total of $14,528 over those two years. We budgeted $6,000 for technical support in 2003. In addition, we have one part-time staff person who, on top of her regular duties in the planning and zoning/code enforcement, handles some of our network issues internally. Because of her increased workload over the past year, it makes sense that we transfer the responsibility for network management to Roseville, and enable her to focus more on her duties in planning and zoning and code enforcement. This arrangement will be cost effective and more efficient for our small city. It will meet Budget Goal 4: To provide a responsive and effective city government, and Strategy 5: Effectively manage the city’s consulting and personnel resources. Council member Kuettel asked Administrator Worthington to explain, for the benefit of the cable audience, what IT means, which other communities have contracted with Roseville for IT services, and what protections would be provided for City e-mails and computer files. Administrator Worthington said that IT means Information Technology. Lauderdale, Oakdale, Shoreview, and Arden Hills have contracted with Roseville for IT services. The Falcon Heights e-mail and web site systems will remain confidential and under our control. The web site will continue to be managed by Falcon Heights staff. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -3- July 9, 2003 Consideration of a Joint Powers Agreement with the City of Roseville to Provide Computer Services to the City of Falcon Heights (continued) Council member Talbot asked about telephony. Administrator Worthington said that she and Council member Lamb reviewed that subject earlier in the day. It will also be structured as a contractual arrangement with the City of Roseville, and she is hoping to have that subject on the July 23, 2003 Council agenda. Council member Talbot said that if there were a disaster, would Falcon Heights still be able to access its computer files through Roseville’s computer. Administrator Worthington said everything will be connected on the same network, but there will be no sharing of files. If Falcon Heights goes down, we can go up to Roseville and log in under our own name. Council member Talbot asked if this would require any hardware changes. Administrator Worthington said no, but there will probably need to be some software upgrades to Windows 2000 or XP. Council member Talbot asked about worst case scenarios. Administrator Worthington said that Falcon Heights could withdraw with 90-day notice. We will be upgrading to a different e-mail server with Roseville, but we could fall back on our existing system if we needed to. We will still have the same hardware. Council member Lamb asked about computer maintenance and updates. Are we comfortable with their performance standards? Administrator Worthington said that has been clarified. Council member Lamb said the software will be loaded on the local computers and we will be purchasing it. If we withdraw from the joint powers agreement we will need to find someone else to support the system. Council member Lindstrom asked how the cost was arrived at. Administrator Worthington said that Roseville calculated it. They have three full-time employees in their IT Department and have added part-time staff. This was the set amount they arrived at, based upon the size of our network, number of computers, and the functionality of our network. Council member Lindstrom asked if we have an idea about the number of hours this would take. Is there an understanding? Administrator Worthington said this agreement is reasonable in terms of the number of hours both parties can safely predict will be needed. In the past, the City paid a consultant on an hourly basis. Roseville will provide all of the services we need. Council member Talbot asked when the agreement would take effect and what kind of yearly increases Falcon Heights could expect. Administrator Worthington said the agreement would take effect as soon as it is signed, and expects Falcon Heights to be fully on board by the end of August. The agreement is fairly open-ended and will be reviewed yearly. The City will be getting some added security because this arrangement will put Falcon Heights behind two firewalls. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -4- July 9, 2003 Consideration of a Joint Powers Agreement with the City of Roseville to Provide Computer Services to the City of Falcon Heights (continued) Mayor Gehrz said that Deb Jones takes care of the City’s system right now. She is so busy as it is. How many hours of her time does the City’s current system take? Administrator Worthington said that it takes between 5-10 hours/week, between the web site and the network issues. She is one of the busiest people on staff right now. Mayor Gehrz said that she thinks this is a good idea. She was at a meeting a short time ago and sat next to the Interim Administrator for Arden Hills. He thought it was a really good move on their part when they contracted for IT services from Roseville. Administrator Worthington said that Oakdale just transferred to Roseville. They were using a Novell network like Falcon Heights. Roseville staff worked out the bugs and have no reservations about their ability to take on the work. Attorney Knutson reviewed the proposed agreement, added one sentence, and it now meets with his approval. Council member Lindstrom said that cities working together provides the best bang for the buck. We share building services with Little Canada, provide fire services to Lauderdale, and contract for police services with Saint Anthony. Talbot moved that the City of Falcon Heights enter into a joint powers agreement with the City of Roseville for network services. The motion was unanimously approved. REPORTS FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS: Council member Talbot said the LMC conference was interesting and that he enjoyed it very much. INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Council member Lindstrom said that he was walking his dogs the other day and saw a Falcon Heights fire truck moving slowly down the road. The Fire Department was out recruiting for new firefighters. The Department is down to fourteen firefighters and he invited the cable audience to consider becoming firefighters. One of the criteria is that they live within five minutes of the City. Mayor Gehrz said that if people are interested in becoming a firefighter, they could either call or stop in to City Hall to pick up an application. They can also stop by the Fire Hall on Tuesday evenings when fire drills take place. The Fire Hall is behind City Hall on the Prior Avenue side of the building. Mayor Gehrz reminded the cable audience that the annual City ice cream social will take place at Community Park on July 31, from 6-8 PM. Administrator Worthington said that this year the Parks Commission would be in the dunk tank. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -5- July 9, 2003 Mayor Gehrz said the City would welcome contributions to its Friends of the Parks Fund and/or the Scholarship Fund. The contributions are tax deductible and are used to make improvements to the City’s parks and help youngsters who want to participate in the City’s recreational parks but need financial assistance to do so. Administrator Worthington said that she wanted to give a big “thank you” to the residents in the University Grove area. Rainy weather almost every week has slowed down the water main project in their area, but they have been very patient. The regular City Council meeting was adjourned at 7:30 PM. Respectfully submitted, Mary Shea Kodluboy Deputy Clerk