HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-14-2009 Council Minutes CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION May 14, 2009
APPROVED
1 CITY OF LINO LAKES
2 MINUTES
3 SPECIAL WORK SESSION
4
5 DATE : May 14, 2009
6 TIME STARTED : 1:00 p.m.
7 TIME ENDED : 4:20 p.m.
8 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Member Gallup, O'Donnell,
9 Stoltz and Mayor Bergeson
10 MEMBERS ABSENT : Council Member Reinert
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12 Also Present: Acting Administrator, Dan Tesch; Community Development Director,
13 Michael Grochala; Public Safety Director, Dave Pecchia; Public Services Director, Rick
14 DeGardner, Finance Director, Al Rolek
15 Others present: Facilitator Lisa Lynn of Lynn and Associates
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17 STRATEGIC PLANNING SESSION
18 Ms. Lynn recalled that the council had met the previous Saturday in a special work session
19 on the matter of strategic planning. A document outlining the strategic profile discussion
20 of the council was distributed (on file). The document is intended to guide the city as
21 budget and other policy decisions are made. The council would now like to discuss the
22 profile with key staff and coordinate ideas to move ahead.
23 The council's views on the city's core culture and value proposition were reviewed. The
24 three core values identified by the council are operational excellence,program/service
25 leader and customer intimacy. These are values that should drive future decisions. Ms.
26 Lynn pointed out some of the desired outcomes from these strategy sessions including:
27 how to deal with the economic crisis, values as leaders, collaborative relationship with
28 staff, and how to manage spending, and desired city administrator characteristics. The
29 vision statements developed by the council will also be reviewed. It was noted that the
30 statement"Lino Lakes—a city with a vision" is on the city's Web site but what vision does
31 that represent? Staff responded to the draft vision statements of the council: life cycle
32 housing is not a reality right now; the idea that Lino Lakes is rural isn't really accurate
33 anymore; rural isn't accurate but perhaps the idea is more toward conservation of
34 amenities; have to walk the talk about development of different types of housing. Those
35 present broke up into small groups (staff with a council member) to talk further about
36 vision statement ideas. Groups reported that they discussed how housing variety could be
37 achieved—adopt the comp plan, bring in amenities that would help bring in affordable but
38 not necessarily subsidized housing, can a vision statement be too specific because there are
39 a lot of words that trigger bad feelings, generally the idea is "a great place to live", safety
40 should be an aspect also. "Lino Lakes—a safe place to live, work and play-for life" was
41 the generally accepted vision statement.
42 The group discussed organizational values and staff was asked if there were any values
43 missing from the list that the council developed. A staff member suggested that leadership
44 is of great importance in reaching goals; also teamwork is vital. Staff and council
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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION May 14, 2009
APPROVED
45 discussed the value of respect and how it translates into working together. The consultant
46 pointed out that when there are clear goals and everyone is working toward the same end, it
47 makes the work along the way better. When looking at the idea of independence (from
48 other communities around the city), a staff member pointed out that there is
49 interdependence—in areas such as economic development,jobs, and infrastructure. The
50 council and staff discussed recreation aspects of the city also. When it was noted that
51 economics may be an item missing from the discussion, a staff member suggested that the
52 economic situation that the city faces could be a good opportunity to reinvent city services
53 perhaps through volunteerism or collaboration with other jurisdictions/organizations. The
54 consultant recognized that type of value as creativity.
55 The council and staff discussed strategic objectives and the following statement was
56 developed: Enhance our quality through effective leadership by balancing the needs of our
57 citizens with the responsible use of resources.
58 The consultant reviewed some strengths and weaknesses recognized by the council. They
59 had also discussed opportunities and threats that could impact the city. Staff noted that
60 they do not agree that water bills are three times higher in Lino Lakes and that taxes are
61 higher than everywhere else. In the area of funds received from the state, council and staff
62 recognized that many cities are taking an approach of no longer relying on receipt of any
63 such funds.
64 The consultant then noted that the council completed a"balanced scorecard" exercise-
65 using four perspectives of finances, customers, internal processes, and learning and growth.
66 Four goals were developed from those areas. In the area of finances, staff spoke about
67 upcoming budget process and suggested the more perspective on goals, service priorities
68 and community values as seen by the council the better for staff in presenting a budget. A
69 council member suggested that he was hoping that the council could set values and goals
70 but collaboration with staff on details will be required because the council doesn't know
71 the inner workings and also needs professional advice on such things as the projected
72 length on the real estate value drop. The council will also be looking to staff to provide
73 information on revenue possibilities, beneficial organizational changes, etc. The council
74 and staff discussed the importance of maintaining a working relationship with the city's
75 advisory boards and also the Charter Commission. A staff member noted the importance
76 staff of hearing one voice from the council as a body. The council, in turn, suggested that
77 all levels of the staff organization should be involved and encouraged to make
78 improvement suggestions for the organization.
79 The council will have a work session in the future to further discussion of the budget with
80 the information gained in this session.
81 The meeting was adjourned at 4:20 p.m.
82 These minutes were considered, corrected and approved at the regular Council meeting held on
83 August 24, 2009.
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85 •
86
87 Julianne Aartell, City erk Ah4nl'igeson, ayor
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