03-25-13 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSIO N March 4, 2013 DRAFT 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 1 MINUTES 2 3 DATE : March 4, 2013 4 TIME STARTED : 5:30 p.m. 5 TIME ENDED : 9:10 p.m. 6 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council M ember Stoesz , O’Donnell, 7 Rafferty , Roeser and Mayor Reinert 8 MEMBERS ABSENT : No ne 9 10 11 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Community Development 12 Director Michael Grochala, Public Safety Director John Swenson; Public Services 13 Director Ric k DeGardner; Finance Director Al Rolek; City Engineer Jason Wedel; 14 Utilities Supervisor Tim Hillesheim; City Clerk Julie Bartell 15 16 1. Bret Weiss, President, WSB & Associates, Inc. –Mr. Weiss gave a PowerPoint 17 presentation on WSB activities in 2013. He hig hlighted a number of new and traditional 18 services offered by the organi zation including: municipal resources, speaker services, 19 planning, economic development, leadership, social media, IT, landscape architecture, 20 water resources, structural services, env ironmental planning, transportation, pavement 21 management and inflow and infiltration services. Mr. Weiss stated that his organization 22 is proud to provide engineering services to the City and he hopes the city will be open to 23 contacting them on any questio ns that arise. The mayor thanked Mr. Weiss for the 24 information, indicated that he is happy with the services that have been provided to the 25 city and recognized city engineer Jason Wedel. Council Member Roeser said he likes the 26 idea of WSB assisting the city in seekin g grants , such as state Legacy funding. WSB 27 representative Brian Bourassa noted the “lunch and learn” series that WSB has produced, 28 including one on grant funding. 29 30 2. Utility Rate Discussion (continued from February 4 work session) - Pu blic 31 Services Director DeGardner noted that the council previously received a utility rate 32 report and asked staff to come back with additional information to assist wit h their 33 discussion of rates. He reviewed h is report that includes a follow up repor t f rom 34 Springsted with comparison information, a spreads heet directly comparing the cities of 35 Blaine and Lino Lakes , and funding analyses for chemicals, utilities, and water/sewer 36 operations. 37 38 Utilities Supervisor Hillesheim reviewed the funding analysis in formation. In the water 39 fund, the highest expenditure is for chemicals (the water supply is fairly hard). 40 Polyphosphate (C -5) is by far the biggest expense. Some of the use of chemicals is 41 driven by customer complaint (look of water). He noted that the city of Blaine (at the 42 lowest position in comparisons) has three treatment facilities and that lowers the need for 43 chemicals. Mr. DeGardner pointed out that each city has a different situati on for such 44 things as resources and needs. 45