Minutes - 2002/01/28 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council January 28, 2002 Regular Meeting Page 7 • David Jahnke of 8428 Eastwood Road indicated he sympathized with the employees but explained he used to work for Sysco that employs over 800 people and the company started taking health insurance out of employees' checks. He then commented that nobody wants to lose a benefit but it is happening in all positions in all companies. He further commented that insurance rates are ridiculously high. Mayor Sonterre indicated that the dollar amount would be set by Resolution and, if the change to health insurance in the coming year is exorbitant, Council could change the dollar amount by Resolution. He then commented that Council will be as fair as it can but noted the 80/20 split was binding and provided no ability for budgeting. Gary Kardell from public works commented that he feels this City is different from other cities because it is a very small group. He then commented that there have been no middle of the night sewer emergencies and overtime has been kept to a minimum which points to an excellent group of employees doing a good job for the City. He further commented that public works is always attempting to keep costs down. Mr. Cardell indicated that they had gotten out of the union because they wanted to be able to work more upfront with Council on employment issues but said, if necessary, he would be willing to get back in the union. • Council Member Thomas stated no one ever questions the work or amount of dollars saved by the public works staff. She then explained that the City needs to be able to forecast the insurance expense and cannot do that with a percentage. She further commented that the per capita tax amount for this City is quite a bit higher than any other city this size. Council Member Marty commented that there appears to be things going on that are leading to the loss of experienced Staff within the City. He commented the City has lost all of the department heads and more employees. He commented that he is concerned with the lack of communication that has been brought up tonight because there have been limits and restrictions put on communication. He then commented that, if one department does not know something, then Council may not know, and citizens may not know which is of concern to him. He further commented that, in speaking with the public works staff, he has found they are always working together to get the job done regardless of whose job it is. He ended his comment by stating that he feels the issues raised should be looked into before anything gets any farther out of hand. William Werner commented that the topic of communication is interesting because that is exactly what the provision in the charter that requires department heads to provide a report quarterly is intended to take care of. He then commented, "I do not know why you insist on not following the charter." Mayor Sonterre asked that all subsequent debate be directly related to the Resolution that is under consideration.