01/07/2008 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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• CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION January 7, 2008 APPROVED 225 activities and would be counter to the intent of the regulations. One of the requests 226 related to use of a county road and that would not require an exemption since the city 227 ordinance doesn't apply to county roads. 228 229 Police Department Administrative Staffing — Chief Pecchia explained that with the 230 opening of the Office Manager position within the police department, he see an 231 opportunity to make some positive staffing changes. The department currently has a 3/4 232 time volunteer coordinator and that person has worked to coordinate many hours of 233 volunteer services from the community. The department would like to continue to 234 enhance volunteer activities, a practice that can free officers for more direct service duty 235 and less time on such things as paperwork. The department is proposing that the 236 volunteer coordinator position be advanced to a command position and that all volunteer 237 administration duties be moved to that area. The chief is also interested in enhancing 238 one clerical position to a technical level to handle some of the duties of the former office 239 manager position. He would also like to add two additional community service officers 240 — college students who are working on degrees in the area of law enforcement; a program 241 that also serves as an area of recruitment for the department. Staff anticipates this overall 242 change will be a budget reduction. The proposal is being presented in theory to the 243 council; human resource staff would be responsible for actual position establishment, etc. 244 The department needs to position itself for growth in the future and to deliver the highest 245 level of services for the least cost. The volunteer coordinator position is currently filled 246 by Karen Anderson, an active member of the community and experienced coordinator. 247 248 A council member requested that the proposal be put into writing (Chief Pecchia's 249 presentation was oral). 250 251 A council member noted experience in volunteer coordination and lauded the benefit of 252 having a good program in place. 253 254 Administrator Heitke noted that this would be a departure from the norm, with movement 255 of a civilian position into the command side of the department. There should perhaps be 256 a review of what that change looks like. The council will be anticipating a new job 257 description that they can review. 258 259 Chief Pecchia explained that if neither he nor the department captain were available, this 260 position would be third in line for a communications role but not operational. The goal is 261 for that situation to never occur since the chief and captain do not schedule time away at 262 the same time. He does not anticipate a problem with authority since the department 263 members are well accustomed to working hand in hand with the volunteer elements 264 already included in the department. 265 266 The council will receive a written proposal including a projected budget impact. 267 268 Process, Timeline for Reviewing Substitute Charter Amendment — City Clerk Bartell 269 gave a brief history of the amendment process to date. The council received a report from