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Item No. 09 <br />Type of Business: WK <br />Date: April 7, 2008 <br />City Administrator Review: ________ <br /> City of Mounds View Staff Report <br />To: Honorable Mayor and City Council <br />From: Desaree Crane, Assistant City Administrator <br />Item Title/Subject: Mounds View Matters Newsletter <br /> <br />Date of Report: April 7, 2008 <br /> <br /> <br />Background <br />Since the resignation of the Communications Coordinator on November 1, 2006, the <br />Assistant City Administrator has continued to manage the Mounds View Matters newsletter. <br />Although the editions have decreased from 6 to 4, it is becoming more difficult for the <br />Assistant City Administrator to meet the deadlines required for printing and delivery. This <br />will be especially difficult in the Summer and Fall editions because a considerable amount of <br />the Assistant City Administrator’s time would be spent preparing for the 2008 Primary and <br />General Elections. Currently the Assistant City Administrator writes articles for the <br />Administration Department, and also gathers the articles from other departments, performs <br />as editor when necessary, lays out the newsletter and prepares the newsletter for printing <br />and delivery. This is a time consuming process, which can take anywhere between 16 to 18 <br />hours to draft and finalize this newsletter. <br /> <br />Discussion <br />Staff would like to discuss options to the City Council on design and production of the <br />Mounds View Matters. Below are some options to consider. <br /> <br />Option 1 – Use Other Existing Staff <br /> <br />The City Council could consider using other existing staff to draft the <br />newsletter. However, there are few employees who are trained in the <br />newsletter software, Microsoft Publisher. Additionally, most employees <br />have very limited experience in newsletter design. It will take considerable <br />staff time to train another employee in newsletter production. <br /> <br />If the City Council would like to consider using existing staff employees, <br />then the City Council needs to be aware that there may be issues with job <br />quality due to this learning curve. Staff is concerned that there is not <br />enough manpower and time to train an employee effectively. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />