04-06-2020 Council Work Session Minutes

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION APPROVED 270 including eliminating some hours in other areas. Staff feels this would be an efficient 271 way to centralize communications. He sees this as a weak link in staffing. 272 273 Mayor Rafferty remarked that there are people being laid off across the country and in our 274 own backyard. He thinks the City should be in a holding pattern considering the hard 275 times right now. He is not recommending anything going forward. The information on 276 the website is directly coming from the directors and he doesn't see that changing. 277 278 Councilmember Cavegn agrees that timing isn't good right now. But he sees this as 279 something good for the future. He'd like to see what positions would be impacted. Also 280 he'd like to understand if this is a full time position. Mr. Karlson said the position need 281 has been fully reviewed and he is comfortable with the recommendation; he at least wants 282 to plant the seed before he moves on to retirement. 283 284 Councilmember Stoesz said he is well aware of the position and funding. He sees this as 285 bad timing as well. He thinks this can be handled internally for the current emergency; 286 redirecting some staff could help. 287 288 Councilmember Lyden said he is keeping an open mind about the request. He asked how 289 much revenue goes to the communication fund annually: Mr. Karlson said there was 290 about $64,000 in 2019 (coming from cable fees). Councilmember Lyden said he likes the 291 concept of utilizing those funds to improve communications. 292 293 Councilmember Ruhland remarked that the Public Safety Facebook page is awesome. 294 For this request, he sees moving forward with reassignment and getting by with what is in 295 place. 296 297 Councilmember Cavegn asked about the budget for the newsletter and possibility 298 changing that concept to something more modern. Mr. Karlson didn't have an exact 299 budget for the newsletter but noted that the pages have been reduced and that will be the 300 direction moving forward. 301 302 The council concurred that the matter will not move forward. 303 304 7. Metro I -Net Update — Administrator Karlson recalled that the council has 305 previously discussed the possibility of joining a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) to run 306 Metro iNet rather than the current situation of management by the City of Roseville. He 307 explained that it has become difficult for Roseville to continue their management 308 arrangement. He noted the following options: 309 310 -Stay with Metro iNet (costs could rise by 5%); all -Look at hiring a full time IT position (one or two would be question); work 312 space is available at City facilities; would also have to purchase all computer 313 equipment; 314 - Become independent and outsource services.