03-09-2016 Workshop Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MARCH 9, 2016 doing the visits and surveys since he is out at the businesses anyway. He stated that a year-end report summary will be done. The City Administrator stated that the next goal is to evaluate options for the organized collection contract renewal that will be done this year. He stated that City Staff had met with Ramsey County who wants the cities to put more effort into getting multi -family housing buildings to provide more recycling options for their tenants. He noted that he has talked to Vadnais Heights a few times about coordinating the organized collection programs to see if by using the same haulers, the cities would be able to get better rates. He noted that Vadnais Heights has not been interested in working together in the past, and they do not want to do the billing for trash like we do. The City Administrator stated that an option to consider is to add townhomes and some multi -housing into the organized collection program to limit the garbage truck traffic, particularly in neighborhoods that are a mix of single family and multi -family housing. He stated that the Council could discuss going back to holding clean-up days, or continue to keep the $1.00 monthly fee on the trash bills for large item pick-ups in lieu of clean-up days. He noted that there could also be discussion about the number of haulers in the city. He stated that we could keep the three current haulers, or look into going to one hauler and see if they would offer better rates by servicing the whole city. The City Administrator stated that the next goal is to develop an integrated communications plan to improve communications with residents. He noted that there are several items that are part of communications including the website and social media. Discussion ensued about the city website. Fischer stated we need to figure out what we want the website to do and create a master plan for communications. He noted that the City could look at taking credit cards, but who would pay the fee. Keis suggested bringing in a consultant to help with a communications plan. Torkelson stated he would work on a plan to help give direction to what the Council wants to do, and he has a friend who could help give the city some direction. He stated will prepare a report for the Council's consideration. The City Administrator stated the next goal is to investigate the process for regionalization of fire department services. He stated any initiative to do this will need to come from within the Fire Department so others within the department see the benefits. Montour stated this should be discussed by the Fire Department long range planning committee. The City Administrator stated this isn't something that is going to happen in the next couple of years. McGraw questioned if the city can really afford all the equipment and staff that the Fire Department is likely going to be asking for in the next several years. The City Administrator noted that V