08-20-2012 Council Special Work Session Minutes

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CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION August 20, 2012 APPROVED CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 MINUTES 3 4 DATE : August 20, 2012 5 TIME STARTED : 6:00 p.m. 6 TIME ENDED : 9:00 p.m. 7 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Member Stoesz, O'Donnell, 8 Rafferty, Roeser and Mayor Reinert 9 MEMBERS ABSENT : none 10 11 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Community Development 12 Director Michael Grochala; Public Services Director Rick DeGardner; Finance Director 13 Al-Rolek; Public Safety Director John Swenson; City Clerk Julie Bartell 14 15 The special meeting was called for the purpose of discussing the 2013 Budget. 16 17 1. Consider Options for Reducing Budget—Administrator Karlson distributed a sheet 18 entitled "Budget Gap Options" and noted that staff is presenting over$1 million in 19 options for council consideration. Each item was reviewed by Mr. Karlson. Public 20 Services Director DeGardner explained the job functions of the Public Works Department 21 and the Parks and Recreation Division and distributed written information. Council 22 members offered some suggestions including: a)not filling the vacant Planner position; 23 b)outsourcing in some areas where it makes sense such as electrical inspections; c) using 24 volunteers for some community functions; d) getting vendor control so that the city gets 25 the best rates for professional services; e) look at where the city gets its audit services 26 and make sure that's a best buy. 27 28 The council heard about the Public Safety Department budget from Chief Swenson who 29 noted that the 2013 proposed department budget is $63,000 down from last year. The 30 department is inline for the capital purchase of some new police vehicles and, with six 31 cars in the current fleet over 100,000 miles,he thinks the purchase is important as there 32 are some safety concerns when ears get too old. 33 34 The council discussed the Centennial Fire District Budget. The mayor noted that he 35 serves on the District Steering Committee and is well aware of the good value and 36 services that the district offers to the city. He is suggesting however that the city has 37 faced budget reductions for the last few years but the District budget, of which Lino 38 Lakes pays about 70%, has not gone down. He is suggesting a reduction to that budget of 39 $25,000 to $50,000, a lesser percentage than the city has taken. 40 41 The council discussed the city's capital program and whether it makes sense to finance 42 equipment at this time of extremely low interest(Mr. Rolek suggested that interest on 43 debt is under one percent). It was pointed out that financing also makes sense because 44 the cost is spread over time in case people move in and out. Mr. Rolek concurred that it 1