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REPORT OF THE "PRESENT AND ALTERNATIV1! LOCAL GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION" <br /> SUBCOMMITTEE 1/28/79 <br /> The assignment of this subcommittee was to loos into the follow- <br /> ing questions: <br /> 1. What kind of city government is presently in effect. <br /> 2. What are the various departments and officers, and what are <br /> their functions. <br /> 3. How much does the present government cost the people. <br /> 4. How do our costs compare to neighbouring cities. <br /> 5. What are the defects and strengths of our present system of <br /> city government. <br /> 6. What are the defects and strengths of alternative forms of <br /> government presently in effect in other cities in Minnesota. <br /> question #1 : The form of city government is given under 5.03 of the <br /> Mounds View Municipal Code as Optional Plan. A. <br /> Questions h2 through 4: An item that should be of immediate concern to <br /> the Charter Commission is the present practice of public funding of pre- <br /> liminary engineering, legal and other costs for development, followed <br /> by special assessment to recover these costs. This practice has result- <br /> ed in some $0,000 of outstanding charges from cancelled Projects 1978-1 <br /> and 1978-3. These charges may be difficult, if not impossible , to re- <br /> cover. A more acceptable approach is to require that all ;"front end" costs <br /> be paid out of an escrow fund provided by the developer. <br /> Secondly, it should be realized that general or special assessments <br /> for improvement pro4ects can greatly increase the "out of pocket" cost <br /> of local government. It is therefore recommended that a committee of the <br /> Charter Commission be established to look into what restrictions, addi- <br /> tional-to <br /> ddi- <br /> tionalto those norov provided by raw, should-and-can be-placed-on the <br /> authorization and financing on improvement projects. <br /> Mayor McCarty will be able to provide input on any further changes <br /> that may be needed under these questions as he gets further into his job. <br /> Question #6: Among the recognized and tested statu*tory and charter <br /> forms of city government in Minnesota,the strong mayor-council type seems <br /> best fitted to large cities which can afford a full time political lead- <br /> er in additional to professional staff. As indicated by Mr. Peskar from <br /> the League of Minnesota Cities , the commission form is most appropiate <br /> for small cities which lack professional staff. Of the three weax mayor- <br /> council types, as previously indicated, Mounds View is technically under <br />