04-23-2018 Council Work Session Minutes

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION April 23, 2018 APPROVED 1 CITY "r LINO LAKES 2 MINUTES 3 4 DATE April 23, 2018 5 TIME STARTED 5:30 p.m. 6 TIME ENDED 6:10 p.m. 7 MEMBERS PRESENT Council Member Maher, Manthey, Stoesz, 8 Rafferty (arr. 6:47 pm) and Mayor Reinert 9 MEMBERS ABSENT None 10 11 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Public Safety Director John 12 Swenson; Community Development Director Michael Grochala; Finance Director Sarah 13 Cotton; City Engineer Diane Hankee; City Clerk Julie Bartell 14 15 1. Update -Accounting Clerk/iJtility Billing Position -Finance Director Cotton 16 explained that her staff report provides additional information on this position and 17 proposed duties, as requested by the council at the previous work session. She noted 18 information included on the suggestion of outsourcing certain elements of the functions. 19 She has found that some cities are outsourcing certain functions such as mailing. She 20 noted the minimal time spent by this person for those duties and that new equipment for 21 the work was purchased in 2016. Ms. Cotton also explained the part of the utility billing 22 process that is performed by the Finance Department Office Specialist. She has spoken 23 with Springbrook (the city's finance system) seeking additional information on system 24 service elements that could be applied. She also met with representatives of US Bank to 25 get a better understanding of options that may be out there to further automate the city's 26 payment process. Staff also reviewed a system used in the City of Shoreview which 27 supports water conservation by providing information through a portal; the system does 28 have information updated on a monthly rather than quarterly basis and that is possible 29 through a different meter reading technique. 30 31 Mayor Reinert recalled the installation of reading equipment in city homes a few years 32 ago. He suggested that generally technology calls for its replacement about every twenty 33 years; if the city has just replaced technology in the area of meter reading it probably 34 doesn't make a lot of sense to change that right away. 35 36 Council Member Stoesz asked if there are any security concerns using older equipment. 37 Ms. Cotton said she hasn't investigated that element. 38 39 Director Cotton said she is still recommending that the Utility Billing/Accounting Clerk 40 position be filled and she feels the information presented in her report supports that. 41 42 Council Member Stoesz suggested that he sees this as an opportunity to look at 43 automation. He thinks it's worth going for an RFP for automation but doesn't want to 44 slow staff because of that. Is temporary help available in the meantime? 45 1