03-07-2011 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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• CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION March 7, 2011 APPROVED 223 6. Strategic Planning Update—Administrator Karlson noted that the council has 224 expressed interest in doing a strategic planning session for the city. He has presented the 225 name of an individual that has experience and can be recommended to lead an effort. The 226 council would need to establish goals for the session. The mayor suggested that a 227 facilitator should draw ideas from the council and help them create a plan from them. A 228 council member suggested that having the results of the organizational study may be 229 helpful in this process. Administrator Karlson suggested it would be at least 4 to 6 230 weeks until the results of the organizational study are ready; the council remarked that 231 such a time frame should fit in to when the planning session will occur. 232 233 Finance Director Rolek added that the city's Five Year Plan fits into the discussion of 234 strategic planning. He noted that while there is a framework for the plan(from past 235 consideration), the city needs to add another year and he's suggesting that be done in 236 April. The council will see the draft plan at their next work session,just for review. 237 With the results of the organizational study, an update should be considered. 238 239 7. Even Year Elections - City Clerk Bartell recalled that the council has discussed 240 the concept of changing from odd to even year municipal elections as a cost savings 241 measure. Since the election is established in the city charter and a change would require a 242 charter amendment, the idea was posed to the charter commission. The commission has 243 sent a response and it appears that they are not supportive of a change at this time. 244 245 The council did not indicate an interest in pursuing a change as a necessity. City 246 Administrator Karlson added that the election costs in the staff report don't include staff 247 time which can be significant. 248 249 8. Liquor License Fees - City Clerk Bartell reported that there are two items being 250 presented: a basic review of the city's license fee and the investigation fee issue. The 251 city's current liquor fees are included in the report. A comparison based on research of 252 fees in other cities of similar size and location was reviewed. It is good to look at the fees 253 regularly; a change in fees would be a council decision. Regarding investigation fees, 254 Police Chief Strege briefly reviewed what his department checks and confirmed that the 255 department performs the same intensive check each year and recommends continuing to 256 do that. A council member has concerns about these type of"extra" charges added each 257 year; one overall fee should suffice and, having spoken to other cities about their process, 258 he's found that the renewal investigation cost is generally included in the license fee. It 259 was clarified that the police department in fact does the same amount of investigation on 260 a renewal as on a new license. The Police Department also indicated that the current cost 261 of$250 or $450 is appropriate in regard to their cost to conduct the investigation. The 262 council reviewed the information included in the report comparing the cities investigation 263 costs with those of other cities. Finance Director Rolek added that there is some benefit 264 to the city in charging a separate fee for the investigation; if a license is denied, the cost 265 of the investigation is still paid. 266 6