12-28-2009 Council Minutes (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION December 28, 2009 APPROVED CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 MINUTES 4 DATE : December 28,2009 5 TIME STARTED : 5:55 p.m. 6 TIME ENDED : 6:35 p.m. 7 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council members Gallup, Reinert, 8 O'Donnell,Roeser and Mayor Bergeson 9 (Council Member Elect Rafferty) 10 MEMBERS ABSENT : none 11 12 13 Staff members present: Acting City Administrator Dan Tesch; Director of Public Safety 14 David Pecchia; Public Services Director Rick DeGardner; City Clerk Julie Bartell. 15 16 A reception honoring outgoing Mayor John Bergeson and Council Dan Stoltz was held at 17 city hall previous to the work session. 18 19 REVIEW REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS 20 21 Items 3A through 3D, regarding Memorandums of Understanding with Local 49 22 (public works employees),AFSCME Local 2454, L.E.L.S (police and police 23 sargeants) -Acting Administrator Tesch remarked that as part of the budget directions 24 given by the council, he has been negotiating and renegotiating some of the city's labor 25 contracts with one specific goal of including the two-week employee furlough 26 arrangement for 2010. Based on discussions and the proposed agreements,the unions 27 have in place plans for their members to vote on the proposals. 28 29 Some council members expressed concern about the language requested by unions that 30 there be no further staff reductions in 2010. Such an agreement could limit the council's 31 flexibility in dealing with the budget. One council member suggested that it doesn't 32 seem inappropriate that the employees are asking for something in return for the 33 concessions the city requests. Mr. Tesch indicated that removal of the non-reduction 34 element from the agreements may in fact be a deal breaker for the unions; it is an item 35 that is being requested by many unions in the area. 36 37 There was discussion about how much the employee concessions represent in the 2010 38 budget and also whether or not the council intends to continue discussion of that budget 39 throughout 2010. 40 41 The council and Mr. Tesch discussed the option of renegotiating the contracts; it would 42 be difficult to get any agreement on a change by the next council meeting. A council 43 member expressed that the unions should realize that losing the furlough concession 44 would mean more lay-offs while another member suggested that the agreements must be 45 dealt with and should be voted up or down at this point. 1