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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes • March 10, 1998 Page 4 1 Cavanaugh stated he was surprised at the "open-endedness" of parts of the Plan. He asked if 2 there would be more opportunity to tighten certain aspects of the Plan. He cited the housing 3 rehabilitation section where it states what the City "could do" rather than what they "will do". 4 Mr. Weber explained the Plan is intended to be a long term guide and reflects the desires of how 5 far the members of the community want to go at this time. Currently the City is not conducting 6 many if any housing programs. The City relies on Hennepin County and the Metropolitan 7 Council to supply funds for housing rehabilitation. 8 Faust stated the Comprehensive Plan is meant to be an evolving living document which is used 9 as an overall blueprint. It is more of a philosophical approach. 10 Mr. Weber noted the Comprehensive Plan he prepared for the City in 1980 was even more 11 general than the current update. The Chairman of the Planning Commission and others who used 12 that Plan were very happy with it. They felt it provided good guidelines and it was a viable 13 document for fifteen years. 14 Faust stated the Plan provides guidelines so that as events occur and circumstances change, the 15 Council can use the Plan to make decisions. It provides the Council with a "menu" to chose 0 from. 17 Mr. Weber stated he sympathized with Cavanaugh's points. He noted the "open endedness" in 18 some cases was due to the funds not being available for implementation and in some cases there 19 was not being a consensus. He urged Councilmembers to tighten up areas of the Plan as they are 20 able. 21 Marks noted that when he served on the Planning Commission the Plan was viewed as a set of 22 goals. 23 Mr. Weber stated he would be willing to work with the City to tighten up areas of the Plan. He 24 suggested that the Plan be reviewed every year with a more specific review occurring every five 25 years. 26 Thuesen stated the Plan was meant as a basic outline. The "mays" in the Plan are good because 27 over time situations in the City do change and they allow flexibility. 28 29 C. Discuss Proposal from Business Records,re: Information Technology. 30 Alaine Aysta, Business Records Corporation, stated she has been the City of St. Anthony's sales 31 representative since 1990. Her company has provided the financial software and was involved in 32 the preparation and the move to the new City Hall. She noted the current IBM System 36 will meet it's demise at the year 2000. Her company is prepared to recommend an upgrade to a new system prior to that time.