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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION December 6, 2010 <br /> APPROVED <br /> CITY OF LINO LAKES <br /> 2 MINUTES <br /> 3 <br /> 4 DATE : December 6, 2010 <br /> 5 TIME STARTED : 5:35 p.m. <br /> 6 TIME ENDED : 7:35 p.m. <br /> 7 MEMBERS PRESENT : Councilmember Gallup, O'Donnell, <br /> 8 Rafferty,Roeser and Mayor Reinert <br /> 9 MEMBERS ABSENT : None <br /> 10 <br /> 11 <br /> 12 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Director of Administration Dan <br /> 13 Tesch; Community Development Director Mike Grochala; Director of Public Safety Kent <br /> 14 Strege; City Engineer Jim Studenski; Director of Finance Al Rolek; City Planner Jeff <br /> 15 Smyser; City Clerk Julie Bartell <br /> 16 <br /> 17 Special Legislative Guests- State Senator Roger Chamberlain (District 53) and State <br /> 18 Representative-Elect Linda Runbeck (District 53A) addressed the council. <br /> 19 <br /> 20 Senator Chamberlain remarked that he has been involved in the organizing and training <br /> 21 that is going on for the upcoming legislative session. He is asking the council about their <br /> 22 thoughts in regard to what he can do that will benefit the city of Lino Lakes. He's heard <br /> 23 concern from the council already about state mandates. The state is looking at a large <br /> 24 budgetary deficit and he recognizes that it will take leadership to face that challenge. The <br /> 25 Republican caucus is working to reduce the number of committees and that could save up <br /> 26 to $750,000. That's an example of the new direction; budget reform is a goal along with <br /> 27 growing the state's economy. He encourages council members to contact him at any time <br /> 28 with ideas or questions and would welcome their visits to the capitol. <br /> 29 <br /> 30 Representative-Elect Linda Runbeck noted her experience in the area of property taxes <br /> 31 and that she will chair the property tax committee in the House. There are issues out <br /> 32 there such as local government aid(LGA)that perhaps need to be challenged. She has <br /> 33 been encouraged with news that cities are working toward sharing service functions <br /> 34 (police as example), allowing them to do things better for less; an important move since <br /> 35 funding is not likely to be increasing. She is also anticipating discussion of tax increment <br /> 36 financing and green acres legislation. The area of property taxation needs a hard look. <br /> 37 She thanked the council for their work in keeping the city budget down. <br /> 38 <br /> 39 The mayor remarked that he'll be watching with interest how the legislature deals with <br /> 40 the state deficit. A council member suggested that the hope is that the legislators will be <br /> 41 able to work together to get things done. The council thanked Mr. Chamberlain and Ms. <br /> 42 Runbeck for coming. <br /> 43 <br /> 44 1. Weekly Progress Report—the council received the report in their packet. <br /> 1 <br />