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City Council Minutes Page 7 <br /> November 4,2013 <br /> IIIMr. Simon presented the staff report. <br /> Health Insurance <br /> Mr. Portner discussed the city's health insurance costs and trends. <br /> Mr. Simon stated the city received one-time funds of$16,000 from the federal <br /> government for a retiree program that is required to be used to offset employee <br /> benefits. <br /> Mr. Portner requested Council to utilize these funds to offset health insurance costs. <br /> Mr. Portner asked the Council to consider using this money to offset the costs a little <br /> to bring to marginal rate. <br /> Councilmember Motin requested employees be updated to know this is a one-time <br /> increase of 2.5% additional due to the federal funding available. <br /> Council consensus was to use the federal funds for to offset health insurance costs. <br /> Personnel <br /> Mr. Portner asked for clarification regarding two positions: fire department deputy <br /> chief and police drug task force detective. He further stated the other position to be <br /> III considered is the human resources technician,which is undergoing an evaluation that <br /> isn't quite finished yet. <br /> It was suggested to pay for the human resources position from council contingency <br /> if it is needed in 2014. <br /> Mayor Dietz asked for confirmation on how the Council feels about the positions in <br /> the 2014 budget. <br /> Councilmember Motin stated he is okay with the positions that are currently <br /> proposed in the budget. <br /> Councilmember Wilson concurred. <br /> Councilmember Westgaard noted that it is a lot of positions and more than what <br /> we've added in recent years. He stated he understands that we went down on staff in <br /> recent years and understands that as we are starting to grow, the city wants to add <br /> some staffing back. He stated he is concerned about how fast the city and staffing is <br /> growing because it is more difficult to adjust the budget once staffing is onboard. He <br /> stated looking at the numbers and listening to the police chief, he felt the drug task <br /> force detective is a needed position. <br /> Councilmember Motin stated he doesn't disagree that there should be a person on <br /> Illthe drug task force but the question is,is who should be paying for it. He noted that <br /> 1.--- <br /> POIYEii £ d BY <br /> NATURE <br />