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Rental Housing. The Water’s Edge neighborhood has requested the City look at <br />adopting a rental housing ordinance similar to what is done in many other cities. The goal is to <br />evaluate whether such regulations will be effective in enhancing neighborhood safety and <br />reducing crime. Council directed staff to lead a discussion on this topic at a Council workshop in <br />early 2025. <br /> <br />Solar. The City has imposed a moratorium on solar farms, which expires in May. The <br />Ordinance Review Committee is currently reviewing revisions to the solar farm ordinance, and <br />we expect revisions to be ready for consideration prior to the expiration of the moratorium. <br /> <br />Administration and Finance: <br /> <br /> Staffing. The City budget includes a vacant position for Deputy Clerk or something <br />similar that could fulfill needs in a variety of areas including improved coordination of City-wide <br />communications, website management, social media efforts, and room rental coordination. <br />Management also intends to review the staffing structure related to the Community Development <br />and Building Departments to better serve the city in the future. The staff is anticipating a <br />retirement in the building department. This discussion also ties into the Fire Chief’s evaluation <br />of the Fire Marshal’s job duties. <br /> <br /> City website. A new website was launched in 2024, and is still being updated. <br /> <br /> Personnel Policies. The State has made substantial changes to many laws concerning <br />employment. The City has implemented an Earned Safe and Sick Time program to comply with <br />new State Laws and is now beginning to prepare for the State’s new Paid Family Medical Leave <br />program, which formally begins in 2026. These efforts are burdensome and require substantial <br />staff time to prepare for, and to continually administer on an ongoing basis. City Administration <br />believes it is necessary to perform a review and analysis of employment benefits. In some <br />cases, it is possible that Hugo has fallen behind typical offerings from other cities, and with the <br />new Paid Family Medical Leave program, the time is right to do a comparison. The City’s <br />personnel policy has become out-of-date due to changes to state law, and for other reasons. <br />Staff has begun a review of the personnel policy and will be recommending changes. Related to <br />all of this, staff is making modifications to human resources practices, and payroll processes. <br /> <br /> Tax Rates. The City has both an “Urban” and a “Rural” tax rate. Council has had some <br />discussion about whether to combine these into a single tax rate. If Council would like to pursue <br />this in 2025, it could then become effective for the 2026 tax year, and it should be included as a <br />City Goal. We will need to outline a process for consideration and public input. <br /> <br /> Fiscal Policies and Bond Rating. These policies have served the City well. Over the <br />next year or two, the Finance staff will consider supplementing these policies with new measures <br />that could improve the City’s bond rating. <br /> <br /> Software & Technology. The City uses some admittedly archaic, but effective <br />software packages that help manage all Finance and Building Department operations. These old <br />platforms will not be supported by the software vendors beyond 2026. The City needs to <br />upgrade these software packages, which will involve major time investments. Funding for these <br />changes is not yet budgeted. <br />