3.6. SR 11-22-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council :Minutes June 14,2004 Page 4 ----------------------------- . Move forward with the establishment and filling of the community development director position (option A) or tl1e public services director position (option B) and; incorporate funds into the 2005 budget for one of these positions. Mayor Klinzing likes ilie structure of ilie City of Blaine but felt it is better for the administrator to be removed from ilie actual hiring and fIring of staff. She felt Safety Service including Code Enforcement was interesting. Councilinember Dietz asked if the city currently is paying more than $8,000 per monili, over and above developer driven projects, for Terry Maurer's services. :Mr. Maurer answered that last year he billed a little over 1000 hours to Elk River. It was felt that it would be more cost effective if he were on staff because ilie city would get double the hours for a flat rate rather than a dollar per hour rate. Howard Green gains by keeping ilie city as a major client. Mr. Dietz felt that adding a whole engineering department would be expensive because it would be adding more than one person. Councilmember Dietz had concerns in hiring ilie additional positions of assistant city administrator and community development director and if there would be suffIcient work for them. Mr. I<laers stated that we could have an internal person doing a dual function such as an engineer and a public works director. These positions would better coordinate the activities of the individual departments and ilieir assignments. The community development director may restructure the department and assume some of the responsibilities that economic development or planning currently have. The community development director is one of the positions iliat came up the strongest in the goal setting sessions mth the council. More communication among boards, commissions, and staff is needed and a community development director can help in this regard. In the role of assistant city administrator, this person would be given some of the work that ilie administrator currently does and iliat he can't delegate to others because tl1eir work load is also full. The assistant position would help in areas when there are vacancies and would offer a great deal of flexibility as the city organization structure evolves. In the future, perhaps this position would supervise human resourceS or the prosecuting attorney. Councilinember Dietz asked why Mr. I<laers would want the city clerk and prosecuting attorney under his supervision. 1v1r. Klaers stated that he wants the position tied to the consulting attorney as we are trying to move some work away from Attorney Beck and also to keep it independent from the oilier department heads. The city clerk's position is tied closely with the city administrator's roles, such as working closely '-Vith packets, agendas, etc. and she supervises the support staff. He also would lose his clerical support help. Council Tveite expressed ilie following: . To have Terry Maurer on retainer; but not having an engineering department; afraid would need to dissolve in 10 years; . Community development director is a necessary position because of the communication required among those departments and in servicing all customers; to be given a high priority; . Establish director of adrrllnistrarive services and we have a talented person on staff to fill that role; . Assistant city administrator--he felt this position was going to be a function of the director of administrative services position; seems more like a luxury at tllls time and may be needed in the future.