04-26-2021 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION DRAFT 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 1 MINUTES 2 3 DATE : April 5, 2021 4 TIME STARTED : 6:00 p.m. 5 TIME ENDED : 6:35 p.m. 6 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Member Stoesz (by phone), 7 Lyden, Ruhland, Cavegn and Mayor Rafferty 8 MEMBERS ABSENT : None 9 Staff members present: City Administrator Sarah Cotton; Finance Director Hannah 10 Lynch; Human Resources Coordinator Meg Sawyer; Director of Public Services Rick 11 DeGardner; City Clerk Julie Bartell 12 13 1. CIP Software – Finance Director Lynch reported that she is revisiting the 14 information provided to the council earlier on new software. This would help the City 15 facilitate and track as well as build a robust reporting system on the capital program. She 16 is reporting back on questions that were posed at the last council review. The suggestion 17 of utilizing Microsoft Project or a free web-based software was investigated and it was 18 found to be not appropriate for the City’s use. In checking with other cities, she found 19 most utilizing Plan-It and in investigating that software, she suggests that it wouldn’t be 20 as good a fit as Easy CIP. She noted page views in the staff report comparing the two 21 programs. She has also provided cost comparisons. Staff is recommending that the City 22 move forward with Easy CIP. 23 24 Mayor Rafferty remarked that the comparison view is helpful. He added that the Easy 25 CIP product is quite new and wonders if there is any city experience with the program. 26 Ms. Lynch noted one city that utilizes it and another that is considering it. The mayor 27 remarked favorably on the type of information that the City could get from the program. 28 29 Councilmember Cavegn asked about the quality of technical support; Ms. Lynch 30 remarked that she has worked with Easy CIP in the trial program and found the support to 31 be very good. 32 33 Councilmember Ruhland asked if Easy CIP will provide information on their clients and 34 Ms. Lynch noted that they are new, are based in California and that could be why they are 35 less seen; Plan-It has been utilized for years by some cities and it is pretty much what was 36 available for some time. 37 38 Administrator Cotton noted that she received information through the finance officers’ 39 group; there is high interest among cities seeking services outside of Plan-It (which has 40 been utilized for quite some time and is an older technology). 41 42 Councilmember Lyden said he supports staff’s recommendation because they will be the 43 ones utilizing the program. 44