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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Packets - 2008/06/02 CITY OF MOUNDS VIEW CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION AGENDA MOUNDS VIEW CITY HALL Monday, June 2, 2008 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL: Marty, Stigney, Flaherty, Hull, Mueller PUBLIC COMMENT Citizens may speak to issues not on tonight’s agenda. Before speaking, please give your full name and address for the minutes. Also, please limit your comments to three minutes. Agenda Items Discussed by Consensus __________ 1. City Budget Priorities __________ 2. Fire Department Budget Draft __________ 3. Vacation Policy __________ 4. Set a Date for a City Council/Staff Retreat Next Work Session: Monday, July 7, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. Next City Council Meeting: Monday, June 9, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. Item No: 2 Meeting Date: June 2, 2008 Type of Business: Worksession Administrator Review: ___ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, Clerk-Administrator Item Title/Subject: Review Proposed 2009 Fire Department Budget Introduction: Assistant Fire Chief Harlan Lundstrom will be present to review the proposed 2009 Fire Department budget with the City Council. Discussion: Due to growth in the City’s tax base, the City’s share of the fire department budget will increase insignificantly from 2008 to 2009. In 2008, Mounds View’s share of the budget was 15.35%. In 2009, the share will be 15.36%. Recommendation: Review the proposed 2009 Fire department budget and let me know if you have any questions that should be addressed prior to the meeting. Otherwise, Assistant Chief Lundstrom will plan on answering any questions you may have at the worksession. Respectfully submitted, ________________________ Clerk-Administrator Item No: 3 Meeting Date: June 2, 2008 Type of Business: Worksession Administrator Review : ___ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, Clerk-Administrator Item Title/Subject: Discussion Regarding the Establishment of a Vacation Policy Introduction: At the May 27, 2008 City Council meeting and in consultation with previous Administrator Kurt Ulrich and present Administrator Ericson, Mayor Marty expressed a desire to initiate a discussion regarding the City’s vacation policy after hearing of concerns expressed by residents who had encountered limited staff on certain Fridays during summer months. Discussion: The City’s vacation policy is articulated in Section 3.40 of the City’s Personnel Manual. It states in part: “Each department shall establish a vacation schedule to ensure the needs of the department will be met while allowing employees to use accrued vacation time. Requests for time off shall be made in advance, with the length of the notice to be determined by the Department Head. All vacation time must be approved by the employee’s Supervisor or Department Head. The City encourages employees to use their full amount of vacation each year. If this is not possible, an employee is permitted to carry over no more than ten days vacation time plus the amount accrued up to December 31 of the present year. In most circumstances, if an employee is entitled to more than one week of vacation, it is recommended that the employee combine vacation weeks consecutively. The rate of vacation pay is the employee’s normal base straight-time rate of pay.” It has been discussed with department heads that vacations should be approved so as to not compromise each department’s ability to serve the public and to ensure that each department maintains a reasonable staffing presence. That said, given limited staffing in departments and the unavoidable segregation of certain duties despite substantial cross training, it may be the case that a resident will visit City Hall with a request or an issue that cannot be readily addressed if someone is on vacation. The other factor used when reviewing vacation requests is the impact on front counter coverage. Except in the case of extraordinary circumstance, there will always be someone to answer the phones or greet residents when they visit City Hall. No different than any work place, taking a Friday off to create a three-day weekend is common during the summer months. But not unlike any other day, such time off requests are granted so long as adequate coverage by department is maintained. With the exception of one instance last year, I am not personally aware that any resident has been unreasonably inconvenienced by a staff member being on vacation. Vacation Policy Report June 2, 2008 Page 2 Recommendation: After discussing the vacation policy and our internal procedures for approving time-off requests, please provide direction to the Clerk-Administrator if a revision is deemed necessary to address departmental staffing issues relating to vacations and other time-off requests. It is the opinion of your management staff however that the policy and its application are functioning as best as can be expected given our limited staffing and segregation of duties. Respectfully submitted, ________________________ James Ericson Clerk-Administrator Item No: 4 Meeting Date: June 2, 2008 Type of Business: Worksession Administrator Review : ___ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, Clerk-Administrator Item Title/Subject: Set a Date for a “Mini” City Council/Staff Retreat Introduction: On March 14 and 15 of this year, the City Council and department heads attended a leadership retreat at the Random Park recreation building. The retreat was facilitated by Don Salverda, a consultant who specializes in municipal strategic planning and team building among the City’s key elected and appointed officials. At the retreat, the Council and department heads discussed the past, present and future, and responded with a revised framework of strategic organizational goals and an action plan to respond to the challenges and opportunities facing the City of Mounds View over the next two years. One of the actions decided was to get back together after six months or so to assess the progress being made toward attaining said strategic goals. Discussion: Six months from March is September, which may or may not be the best month to gather for a half-day special retreat. August may be too early to have made significant progress and yet waiting until October may be too late in the year to be assessing progress. As for the location, the Random Park shelter building worked well, however the Council could just as easily meet in the Community Center. As for a particular day, since Mondays would work well with everyone’s schedules, one option would be the fifth Monday of September (Sept 29th). Other options could include a Saturday morning or afternoon or an evening during the week. Recommendation: Take a look at your calendar and come up with a couple options as to when we can schedule the mini retreat and consider what, if anything, in addition to review of goals, might be topics of discussion at the mini retreat beyond review of goals. Respectfully submitted, ________________________ Clerk-Administrator