HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/11/2008 Council MinutesAPPROVED
1 CITY OF LINO LAKES
• 2 MINUTES
3 CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION
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5 DATE : August 11, 2008
6 TIME STARTED : 7:00 p.m.
7 TIME ENDED : 9:00 p.m.
8 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Members O'Donnell, Reinert, Gallup,
9 Stoltz and Mayor Bergeson
10 MEMBERS ABSENT
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13 Staff members present: City Administrator, Gordon Heitke; Economic Development
14 Coordinator, Mary Alice Divine.
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16 Law Firm Interview — The council continued the process of interviewing selected law
17 firms who responded to the city's request for proposals for civil legal services.
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19 Attorney Scott Baumgartner of Hawkins & Baumgartner P.A. was interviewed; Mr.
20 Baumgartner was asked the same questions that were posed to the previous interviewees
21 on August 4.
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23 Discussion related to election information and public communications — Economic
• 24 Development Coordinator Divine noted that the Lino Lakes Charter Commission
25 submitted an article that they would like included in the city newsletter. Ms. Divine
26 recommended a different article that she prepared to inform readers about current city
27 topics. The Charter Commission chair has rejected Ms. Divine's proposal but did ask if
28 there was room for compromise. She is requesting council guidance.
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30 The council concurred that it isn't appropriate to put a web site in a newsletter article that
31 isn't functional and whose content is unknown. Beyond that, the charter commission may
32 appreciate an attempt by the city to work with them.
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34 The council directed that there should be communication with the charter commission to
35 see if there is some clarification that could make an article acceptable, otherwise the
36 council concurred that there will be no article in the newsletter. If the council does put an
37 item on the ballot, there will have to be communication with the citizens.
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39 Communication Plan Proposal — Administrator Heitke recalled that at the last work
40 session the council received a proposal from Terri Heaton of Springsted, Inc., relative to a
41 communication and citizen awareness plan for a fall referendum. Ms. Heaton has
42 approached the city with some amendments to her proposal including some parameters; an
43 updated version has been distributed to the council. He believes Ms. Heaton is attempting
44 to address a concern that there could be multiple going back and forth between involved
45 groups with little progress and success and a resulting large bill. She would be open to
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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION -2- August 11, 2008
APPROVED
46 soliciting input from others but the plan would include meeting formally only with city
47 staff or the city council.
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49 The council confirmed that Administrator Heitke has communicated to the charter
50 commission the council's goal of developing a communication plan of both the council and
51 the commission and that the commission could expect to be contacted about that in the
52 future. It was suggested that the commission's input should be requested in writing so that
53 it will be clear and part of the record. It will be important to keep the focus on informing
54 the public although there could be differing opinions on the information.
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56 The council concurred that the communication plan should move forward, there should be
57 a single point of contact/direction and that the meetings held to discuss the plan should be
58 fully open to all including the charter commission. It will be vital to focus on facts and not
59 opinions and draft a plan that will inform the citizens.
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61 The council discussed a schedule for further discussion of the communication plan; the
62 administrator will look for a date in September.
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64 The mayor informed the administrator also that the council has inferred to the city attorney
65 candidates that they (the council) will be looking more at the matter at the September work
66 session. That discussion isn't driven by a deadline, however, so it may be more than one
67 meeting.
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69 The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
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71 These minutes were considered, corrected and approved at the regular Council meeting
72 held on August 25, 2008.
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76 u 1 e Bartell, City ler o"4.1'hn Bergeson, Mayor
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