Agenda Packets - 1996/06/10 - Laserfiche WebLink

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June 6, 1996 To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Chuck Whiting, City Administrator C S'.% Re: June 10, 1996 City Council Meeting The agenda appears fairly light for Monday evening, which may not be a bad thing. I realize there was some stress this past Monday evening, particularly regarding the Bel Rae. While I certainly expect that concerns and some stress will continue, I would like to remind the Council that this stuff is not the stuff of life and limbs, at least I don't intend to take it that way. Having now talked to each of you since Monday night, I feel I can say that you all feel progress was made, and for that I am appreciative. Your opinions still will need some reconciling and I hope that the options as they get developed will facilitate that. The concerns expressed so far are that the figures appears too expensive, that we should still consider the eight court option, and that the more minimal the project the better. So there are concerns to be addressed, and as I said, I expect the proforma development to take those into consideration. Cathy and I will be meeting with the architect on Monday, VB Diggs next Friday, and Bob Thistle sometime soon as well. A suggestion was made that another work session be scheduled some time, and I will consider that when it appears we have our facts and figures ready for you. That will help with the decision making on this. I hope to have something ready by the June 24 Council meeting and will stay in touch with you as this comes up. One item I touched on in This Is It is that I may be ready to request approval of a community development director. At this time, I still need to decide on which candidate fits best and how their references do. What I may want to do, and I would appreciate you calling me if you disagree, is ask for tentative approval of a hire on Monday evening pending the background and related information needed for a formal hire. This will shave two weeks off getting someone here. Depending on how fast I can get to the finance director position, I may even request the same thing there. Having not hired someone here yet myself, I am not accustomed to your expectations, so if you see problems with this approach, please forewarn me. If I am ready to may a request, I will present you with the application and resume submitted and give my opinion of their interview performance. Last month after the Bel Rae purchase was made, comments went around that the EDC was left wondering what their role is or should be in some of the economic development or TIF related issues. Council members may recall that this led to a request to have the EDA attend an EDC meeting. Opinions differed amongst Council members as to whether this was appropriate. Considering the political shroud enveloping these Bel Rae decisions, it was probably less than politically sensitive on my part as staff to give the go ahead for asking the EDA to attend an EDC meeting. As it happened, few EDA members could attend anyway and no joint meeting was held. As I now understand, the Council should anticipate the chair of the EDC attending the meeting on Monday and asking to address the Council, probably under the public comments or Council member reports. I do not bring to the Council's attention to give warning or take a side in someone else's argument. However, my experience with councils and city boards is one where some tension over designated roles and expectations usually exists. While this Council gets minutes from its boards and has some