Agenda Packets - 2010/02/01 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item No: 4B Meeting Date: February 1, 2010 Type of Business: Work Session Administrator Review: ____ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Nick DeBar, Public Works Director Item Title/Subject: Discuss the Rehiring of the Public Works Intern Position Background: An engineering intern for the Public Works (PW) Department was first approved by the City Council in June 2006 in lieu of a seasonal maintenance worker to assist with the administrative/engineering staff. This minor shift in staffing was proposed to better enable PW to administer activities associated with the many upcoming public improvement projects planned at that time. Due to a rather heavy class load and college campus transfer, the Engineering Intern (Ryan Johnson) recently resigned and his last day of employment with Mounds View was September 4, 2009. Discussion: The minor shift in PW staffing in 2006 with the creation of the PW internship has made a big difference in allowing PW to achieve some much-needed long-term goals and objectives. In addition to assisting with the diverse daily activities and public inquiries, the intern position was instrumental in helping PW achieve good advances with project development, traffic count analysis, and activities associated with increased capital improvement projects. However, the biggest gain occurred in archiving closed project files through utilization of the City’s Laserfiche software program. These activities have provided a stable, long-term records management system that will serve the City into the future. The PW intern is a temporary, part-time position geared toward current or recent college students. The temporary nature of the position allows PW to identify areas where extra help is needed between internships. PW staff has identified Geographical Information Systems (GIS) base mapping as a high priority where extra help is needed. The timing for this task is critical since much of the topographic surveying performed for the Streets and Utilities Improvement Projects will be utilized in building the GIS date/base map. In addition, the City already owns this software (ArcGIS). For current need and long-term flexibility reasons, the PW intern position has been revised from an “Engineering Intern” position title to an Engineering/GIS Intern” position title. The position description has been revised to reflect this change and enhanced to accommodate some shortcomings of the previous version. The proposed position description and the current position description are attached to this report. It is proposed that the PW Intern position be hired at the same $11.75 hourly rate as the last PW Intern. Work hours would remain the same, with full-time hours during summer and holiday breaks, and part-time employment (10-15 hours per week) the remainder of the year. If authorized, the position will be posted on the Mounds View and League of Minnesota Cities websites, and notices will be distributed to Metro-area universities and technical colleges that have programs in Civil Engineering, GIS, or other closely related fields.