HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-28-2011 Council Minutes (2) CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION March 28, 2011
APPROVED
CITY OF LINO LAKES
2 MINUTES
3
4 DATE : March 28, 2010
5 TIME STARTED : 5:30 p.m.
6 TIME ENDED : 6:25 p.m.
7 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Member O'Donnell,
8 Rafferty, Roeser and Mayor Reinert
9 MEMBERS ABSENT : Council Member Gallup
10
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12 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Community Development
13 Director Mike Grochala; Environmental Coordinator Marty Asleson; Centennial Fire
14 Chief Jerry Streich; Director of Public Safety Kent Strege; City Clerk Julie Bartell
15
16 A) Anoka County Public Safety Records System - Present for the discussion were:
17 Tony Palumbo, Anoka County Attorney and Chair of the Anoka County Joint Law
18 Enforcement Council; James Stewart, Anoka County Sheriff; Kate McPherson, Anoka
19 County Attorney's Office; Chris Olson; Jerry Streich, Centennial Fire District Chief.
20 Lino Lakes Police Chief Kent Strege noted that the idea the council will be reviewing is
21 to move forward with a needed project that will allow public safety data sharing across
22 Anoka County.
23
24 Sheriff Stewart noted that his office looks forward to partnering with the city at any time
25 and specifically he is excited about the prospect of this project that will improve public
26 safety communications and records management.
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28 Fire Chief Streich added that he supports the proposed system that would be a
29 collaborative effort between police and fire operations. Currently there is no records
30 management sharing system for fire departments within the county, a problem that would
31 be addressed through this project.
32
33 Mr. Palumbo noted the collaborative work of the joint law enforcement council over the
34 past forty plus years. He explained collaboration that occurs through the communications
35 center operation that the county runs. The joint council has worked to coordinate records
36 systems, training and investigation work throughout the county. The joint council is
37 seeking a resolution of support for the funding mechanism that Anoka County and the
38 joint council would put forth to fund this project. The proposal is to amend the current
39 800 mhz funding authority to sell bonds for this effort; the 800 mhz funding would be
40 complete when this comes forward and this effort would be less costly. He noted several
41 state legislators that have signed onto the bill in a bipartisan effort to accomplish the
42 funding proposed.
43
44 The council viewed a seven minute video explaining the project.
45
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION March 28, 2011
APPROVED
46 The council heard from the Chris Olson, Police Chief of the City of Blaine, who voiced
47 the need for a new system to eliminate redundancies in the system, as well as the need to
48 get all information and connections where they are needed.
49
50 When the Mayor asked if other counties in the state are involved or have similar efforts,
51 Mr. Palumbo said that this is currently an exclusive effort of Anoka County, possibly
52 because it is the only county with the collaborative structure of a joint council in place.
53 When a council member asked if the program is expected to save costs, Police Chief
54 Olson remarked that past collaborative efforts have allowed cities to minimize their
55 records personnel. In response to a question about maintaining the privacy of records, it
56 was clarified that all necessary protections will remain in place.
57
58 The council will consider the resolution supporting an Anoka County Joint Public Safety
59 Data System and Associated Bonding.
60
61 B) Anoka County Connect Fiber Project—Administrator Karlson introduced those
62 present to discuss the project: Anoka County Commissioner Robin West, Assistant
63 Anoka County Attorney Kathryn Timm, and from AGL Consulting, Fazil Bhimani. Mr.
64 Karlson briefly explained that the Connect Anoka County project would establish a fiber
65 network that would link 145 institutions through a 286 mile fiber backbone. The idea of
66 the project began as a joint national grant application of Anoka County and Zayo
67 Bandwidth Administration. The grant was approved and would fund 70 percent of the
68 fiber construction and initial equipment costs.
69
70 Mr. Bhimani presented an overview of the project using a PowerPoint presentation(on
71 file). It included a summary of the project, an explanation of the obligations of Zayo
72 under the grant and as owner and operator of the system,the obligations of Anoka County
73 to the city(if the city were to sign on) and the obligations of the city as a member of the
74 network. The council received a map indicating the core ring of fiber network(one of
75 three)that would serve the city.
76
77 A council member confirmed that this would be an all new fiber network. There was also
78 an explanation of the day-to-day management planned for the system: the actual physical
79 monitoring of the system would be done by Zayo and there would also likely be an Anoka
80 County center for management. Ms. Timm noted that the County anticipates and has
81 included in the legal documents, the establishment of an advisory board that would deal
82 with management matters. The benefits to the city would be increased capacity, increased
83 bandwidth to facilities and redundancy, as well as cheaper service that what the city
84 currently receives.
85
86 Administrator Karlson then explained that, as noted in his staff report,there have been
87 many questions brought up over the past weeks on this proposal and telecommunications
88 attorney Steve Guzzetta(North Metro Cable Commission) has reviewed the agreement.
89 Mr. Karlson pointed out Mr. Guzzetta's concerns (included in the information provided
90 to the council). Ms. Timm had not seen Mr. Guzzetta's letter but she did receive a
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION March 28, 2011
APPROVED
91 "template agreement" and other information from him and she has worked with that
'.. 92 information in forming the agreement. Ms. Timm distributed a document that included
93 her answers to Mr. Guzzetta's concerns. She indicated that the county is at a point where
94 they will not be negotiating the agreement any longer even though she knows he has some
95 concerns remaining. She did note that the proposed agreement was very recently changed
96 to correct two errors, to Exhibit E and to Section 2C (a corrected agreement was
97 distributed). She also explained that Mr. Guzzetta's concern about the corporate
98 structure and presence of subsidiaries of Zayo has been addressed by the attorney.
99
100 Mr. Karlson stated his recommendation that a decision on entering the agreement be
101 delayed pending satisfaction of the outstanding questions. Ms. Timm indicated that the
102 county is open to allowing more time (until the next regular council meeting). The
103 council will receive more information at their work session on April 4.
104
105 C) Review Regular Agenda
106
107 The mayor noted, regarding Item 6c, regarding the Birch Street Corridor Study, that he'd
108 like to change the proposed action to accepting the report but not the recommendations.
109
110 Regarding Item 3A, an employment offer to John Swenson for the Public Safety Director
111 position, Administrator Karlson noted the background work on Mr. Swenson has been
112 completed and came through very well. His appointment is recommended.
113
114 There were no changes to the regular council agenda.
115
116 The meeting was adjourned at 6:25 p.m.
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118 These minutes were considered, corrected and approved at the regular Council meeting held on
119 April 11, 2011.
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