05-14-2018 Council Meeting Packet

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