02-16-1999 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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to 65%of total unused sick leave towards future monthly medical insurance. This did two things, one it created an added incentive not to use sick leave once the employee had accumulated enough to gain full severance, and two, it allowed an employee to retire early,particularly when it can be so difficult to get insurance that some will choose to remain employed. This has another practical benefit to the City, it does not have to pay out in one lump sum a large amount of funds for a severance. In Ramacher's case,the City will continue to pay for health insurance monthly as it has been, until either his 65% value runs out or he doesn't take insurance anymore. At the latest, the City's obligation would end when Ramacher turns 65 and is eligible for Medicare. I give this matter this much attention right now because it is the first time that a non-union employee is seeking this. It is also the first time anyone has chosen this as an option and while some Council members may recall this from the collective bargaining sessions,new members may not be aware of it. From may standpoint, it is an acceptable for the City implement in Ramacher's case, but since it has not been extended to non-union employees, it would need authorization from the Council. Hence, we will give you the entire agreement to review. Item 13 -Woodcrest Park Ponding Plan: With the need to mitigate wetlands at the Community Center,an option staff and the prior Council considered was to reinstate wetlands at Woodcrest Park. Rice Creek Watershed was good enough to allow the City to proceed on the parking lot at the Community Center while we consider this option. For those not familiar with Woodcrest Park, it is a park that sits essentially on wet somewhat unstable ground. This limits it useability as a park frankly and some park like features could be maintained and even improved upon if the City returned it to what is likely its more natural wetlands state. Mike can review this option with the Council for how to physically do this. The other consideration for the Council is that some public notice and hearings should probably accompany this process. Staff can review options for this as well with Council Tuesday evening. Item 14-Signal Light at Pleasantview Drive and Highway 10: We touched on this briefly at the last work session with the Ramsey County officials. The City would need to take some action in order for this project to proceed. Mike and I can go over this. There is some past information included in this packet. Item 15 -Propane Vehicles: Mike will cover this one. Item 16-Risk Management and Process Safety Programs: Mike will review these too. A cost is involved in this item, essentially mandated to us to do. There are a few other things going on of course. Some additional information regarding board appointments pertaining to the Planning Commission is in your boxes. Some questions arose on whether staff actually determined the correct expiration of some positions or not. Some research confirmed in my opinion that the right determinations were made. To make it easier to understand, the spreadsheet in your box was created. We will be doing additional ones for others boards and commissions as well. Hopefully that will cut down on the annual effort to restaff these boards. I have not had any new word on our airport legislation, other than things are proceeding well at the capital. In your office at City Hall, we have already taken away your computer, but we intend to give one back, a better one, but we ran out of time this week so you won't see it until next week. We are closed for the Monday holiday, Presidents Day, and it appears Clinton is still president. That's all I know. See you Tuesday.