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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 11.11.2003 MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP NOVEMBER 11, 2003 6:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS A Council Workshop was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by Mayor Bud Johnson at 6:35 p.m. on November 11, 2003. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: x Lauren Van Roekel x Ken Olson x Gay Easton x Dan Mears x Doug Poehls x Mark Mace x Daniel Dart John Oakes OTHERS PRESENT: Cal Cumin Paul Hutter, AEM Dick Fritzler Public Input (three-minute limit) Citizens may address the Council regarding any item of City business not on the agenda. The duration for an individual speaking under Public Input is limited to three minutes. While all comments are welcome, the Councd will not take action on any item not on the agenda. · None South Fourth Street appraisal - Cai Cumin · Cal distributed information regarding the Rural Business Opportunity Grant (RBOG). · City of Laurel appthlied for the grant to fund the appraisal required to buy the right-of-way to extend South 4 Street eastward to Bernhardt Road. · Steven Repac, The Appraisal Group, will complete the inspection during January 2004. o Will provide two copies of a summary appraisal report for the approximate fee of $2,500 to $3,000. · The next steps in the process are: o To obtain title reports for each property involved; o To send notification to the property owners stating what we are doing; o To stake the centerline of the probable street. · RBOG money was due for expenditure in October. o City of Laurel needs to formally request an extension of time. · RC&D has given the City of Laurel another $2,000 to be added to this project. · Any remaining funds will be used for engineering storm drain and other utilities needed in the area. AEM - Paul Hutter · AEM Report o Paul distributed the HR Partners Tracking information. · The thirty-day report identifies by task what has been done and what needs to be done. Council Workshop Minutes of November 11, 2003 o Example of the Employee File System · Proposed amount for this task was $7,800. · Cost for the completed task was $7,085. o Mayor emphasized the importance of having a way to account for the tasks and the costs. · Proposed total amount for the HR tasks was $20,345, with the Proposed "Not to Exceed" Cost of $27,000. · Cost for Total Proposed Tasks to date (not including training or miscellaneous) is $12,117.16. · Wage Survey Proposal o Paul distributed the Proposal for Classification and Compensation Study. o Paul asked the council to read through the study and highlight what is important to the City of Laurel. o Need to develop a market-hased compensation plan for the City of Laurel. · Past studies have been done on a Montana level only. o Scope of the work includes: · Phase 1 will consist of a total review of all jobs/positions and their descriptions. · Phase 2 will consist of writing job descriptions for all jobs within the city and reviewing the new descriptions with incumbents, supervisors and the staff of human resources. · Phase 3 will consist of identification of benchmark jobs and comparable markets for the salary study and the conduct of the salary survey, if necessary. · Phase 4 will consist of the development of a pay structure and development of a point factor method for all city jobs. · Phase 5 will consist of finalizing the pay structure considering the city's pay philosophy. o Services will include providing all work in both paper and electronic format, and all materials will be in Word or Excel. o At the end of the project, the city will own rights to use the job evaluation system. o HR staff will be trained to use the job evaluation tool so that maintenance can be handled internally, if desired. · Many organizations prefer to outsource evaluations. · Mayor emphasized the value in having an outside organization do the evaluations. o Information concluded with the Estimated Schedule of Activities and the Total Project Estimate of $14,347.50. · Mayor suggested that the package be presented to the department heads for input. · Update on judge's position o Paul distributed information regarding determining wage increases for the position of city judge. o Montana Codes Annotated defines, in part, the duties of the position, how salaries are determined, and the requirements of the position. 2 Council Workshop Minutes of November 11, 2003 o Paul contacted Dr. Ken Weaver, of the Local Government Center in Bozeman, and Rick Harden, HR Manager for the City of Billings. o Dr. Weaver indicated how a wage increase for a City Judge could be accomplished: · By the judge negotiating, discreetly in private, a new wage based upon the workload and the city council's understanding of the performance in the position. · By flexible, annual wage increases similar to what all city employees receive, but determined separately by the council. o Dr. Weaver's opinion is that, due to the issue of separation of powers, the increases should be handled independently of other wages and salaries of other branches of government. o Rick Harden indicated that the one full-time judge in the City of Billings handles wage increases through negotiation with the city council. o In sununary, a wage increase for the judge is at the discretion of the Laurel City Council, based upon the above guidelines. · Salary change should be based on performance as perceived by the city council. · Salary stands for the next elected city judge. · Elected city judge must be a resident of the city. · Individual does not need to be qualified, as an elected city judge is required to attend magistrate school for training. o Council needs to understand the position, be comfortable with what is done, and compensate accordingly. City of Laurel Compliance Proposal o Paul distributed the information to the council. o Information describes the tasks that have been completed, as well as the tasks that remain to be completed. o Mayor has the completed safety manual. o Department heads are currently reviewing the employee manuals. · City council will give final approval to the employee manuals. o Discussion regarding safety training. · Travis will train a liaison to train other employees. · City of Laurel does not have employee to serve as liaison. · Level of safety training needs to be addressed. · Mayor recommended that dollars be expended to have Travis begin to bring the level of safety to an acceptable level. Paul suggested that the City of Laurel could benefit from having a city administrator's position. o From his perspective, the city is a $9 million a year operation with a part-time CEO. o Uniform accountability is needed for department heads. o Paul stated that it is feasible for the City of Laurel to hire a city administrator with a background in human resources and safety. o Position of city administrator would provide a long-term benefit to the City of Laurel. 3 Council Workshop Minutes of November l 1, 2003 MDU resolution to extend Ordinance No. 653 · MDU's legal department is currently reviewing the proposed draft ordinance. · Ken Weaver's input is that the concept makes sense. Planning Board issues · Planning Board reviewed part of the Growth Management Plan at the November 6th meeting. Ordinance No. 003-05: Nuisance ordinance · Revised ordinance was distributed last week. · Discussion regarding the revision, which reflected a change in the area of lumber storage. o The exception allows storage of lttmber up to 1% of the lot area (about 84 square feet) if it is located in the back yard. o Larger lots would have more area and smaller lots would have less. o Should allow for legitimate use of storing lumber but prohibit the excessive use that impacts the community image. · Discussion regarding specification of trailer size. o Dan Mears stated that some trailers are wider than 8 feet. o Change ordinance to read "according to DOT standards." Ci .t-y Attorney update · Elk River Law Firm was first in the evaluation process. · Committee met with two parmers on Monday, November 10th. · Proposed agreement is being drawn up. · Mayor encouraged council to talk with the committee members. · Priorities and resources will be matched together in order to manage the legal dollar resources. · Transition period will begin soon. o Current attorney position ends on December 31 st. Council planning · Council discussion regarding the budget process and the CIP. · Ken recently read several articles on budgeting. o A budget is a tool used by accounting people. o Article suggested that it would be better to find a format to help the layperson understand. o Budget process needs input from the legislative body. · Need focused meeting regarding council priorities. o Council priorities given to the mayor, who presents them to the department heads. o Council needs to set priorities in time for measurable evaluation. · Discussion regarding what council feels is the way to set priorities. · Dan Dart suggested the need to revisit the CIP. · Mayor stated that the CIP is ready for council discussion. o Final ranking/allocation belongs to the council. 4 Council Workshop Minutes of November 11, 2003 o Suggestion to put the CIP on a council agenda. · In the past, some funds have remained at the end of the fiscal year. o Council has not had opportunity to give input. o If the council backs off, the same process will happen again. · Discussion regarding budget timeline. o Books for fiscal year ending 6/30/04 should be closed and a year-end report given to council on 07/27/04. o Set appropriations before July 1st so department heads have final figures. · Department heads will give input. o A coordinated council effort is needed so department heads know the council's priorities. o Suggestion to have someone else facilitate the process. · Mayor clarified council priorities and CIP priorities. o Cannot understand the rest of the priorities without understanding the CIP. · Mayor referred to the 11/04/03 department head minutes: "Projects that are not funded need to be put in the CIP so they are not lost." · Discussion regarding scheduling the council review of the CIP, the budget process, and council planning. o Council will review the CIP at the council workshop on November 25th. o Two meetings will be scheduled with Ken Weaver and Judy Mathre in January 2004. · First meeting will be with the mayor and council. · Second meeting will be with the mayor, council, and department heads. · Ken stated that the budget needs to be in a summary form that would require more accountability from the department heads and quarterly updates are needed. · Mayor stated that the budget document produced should communicate to the public. Resolutions: · Resolution No. R03-__: A resolution extending Ordinance No. 653 for six months. o Extends the MDU franchise ordinance while further review is being completed. Executive review · City Voice will be distributed the last week of November. o Newsletter will be in the same format. o Newsletter will be mailed to utility customers. o Extra copies are available at the water office and public works department. Announcements · Doug Poehls attended a meeting to establish a Laurel Foundation. o Discussion regarding a possible donation of property. o A foundation cannot be started in a short amount of time. o Possible to donate property to the Laurel Development Corporation; property could then be passed on to the Laurel Foundation after it is formed. o Discussion regarding need for a parks plan. o Mayor explained that Cai was instrumental in the establishment of the Laurel Development Corporation. 5 Council Workshop Minutes of November 11, 2003 Meeting with AMR and Laurel Ambulance Service o Scheduled for Wednesday, November 12th, at 1:30 p.m. o Meeting will address a billing situationl Attendance at the November 18th council meeting All council members will be present. The meeting adjourned at 8:21 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Cindy Allen Council Secretary NOTE: This meeting is open to the public. This meeting is for information and discussion of the Council for the listed workshop agenda items. 6 CITY HALL l15W. 1ST ST. PUB WORKS: 6284796 WATER OFC: 628-7431 COURT: 628-1964 FAX: 628-2241 City Of Laurel P.O. Box 10 Laurel, Montana 59044 PLANNING DEPARTMENT SUBJECT: TO: FROM: DATE: RBOG Grant Laurel City Council Cumin, Laurel Planning C al November 11, 2003 As a follow-up to my memorandum of June 24t~ (attached), we have received probably the only bid for appraisal available. I talked to others and they seem to be busy about six months out. I have attached a copy of Mr. Repac's bid; he is only busy until January. The next step is to obtain title reports for each property involved, send form letters to the landowners stating what we are doing, and inviting the landowners to review the properties with the appraiser. Mr. Repac would also like the City to stake the centerline of the probable street. This will take some consideration because it is planned to turn the east end ofthe?ubject roadway to the northeast. Since this RBOG money was due for expenditure in October, the City also needs to formally request an extension of time. I discussed this early on when the lack of appraisal services became obvious. The RC&D through which this money is coming then requested an extension ~om USDA. Tiffs is in position; the City just needs to formally apply for the extension. The RC&D has also given the City another $2000 to be added to this project. After all of the appraisal expenditures are addressed, leitover funds will be used by the City for engineering storm drain and other utilities needed in the area. City Of Laurel is an EEO Employer Equal Housing Opportuaity CITY POst& II5W. IST ST. PUB WORKS: 628-4796 WATER OFC: 628-7431 COURT: 628-1964 FAX: 628-2241 ( ity 0£ Laurel P.O. Box 10 Laurel, Montana 59044 PLANNING DEPARTMENT SUBJECT: TO: FROM: DATE: RBOG Grant Lamel City Council Cal Cumin, Laurel Planning June 24, 2003 In April Laurel received $7000 from the Beartooth Resource Conservation and Development Area Development District under the US Department of Agriculture's Rural Business Opportunity Grant (RBOG). This project funding ends in September. The City applied for the grant to fund the appraisal required to buy the right-of-way to extend South 4t~ Street eastward to Bernhardt Road. The property to the east of Bernhardt Road is currently being resubdivided and the location of farther extension of 4th Street South is not known at this time. City Resolution No. R03-43 authorized the Mayor to sign the agreement for the money as applied for, and the agreement was signed June 6t~, 2003. The next step is to describe the work we want accomplished (appraisal) and obtain some estimates of the cost of preparing a "full narrative appraisal report" from qualified appraisers. I would like authorization to send the request for appraisal to Rutherford and Associates and Steve Repac, select the best bid, and let the contract. Any money left over will be used for preliminary engineering studies needed by the City in extension of storm drain, water, and sewer main in the project area. We would like to be able to proceed with this also. City Of Laurel is an EEO Employer Equal Housing OpporluniW THE APPRAISAL GROUP "A Sound Appraisal is Investment Insurance" Mr. Cai Cumin, AICP, Planning Director City of Laurel, P. O. Box 10 Laurel, Montana 59044 Real Estate Appraisers and Consultants State Certified General Appraisers Steven M. Repac Thomas C. Moss (1951-2003) State Certified Residential Appraiser Jody J. Deines-Pierce 30 Oct 03 Re: Extension of 4th Street South Solberg Enterprises Dear Mr. Cumin: This letter is in response to your request for a bid for an appraisal on the above referenced property. I studied your plat map that you sent along with the request and I offer the following: I would be able to deliver two (2) copies of a summary appraisal report for the approximate fee of $2,500-$3,000. I cannot commit to a timetable that would occur before the end of the year. I would be free to conduct an inspection during the month of January 2004. I would expect that I could finish and deliver the report by the end of January. I would like to know if (1) a title report memo could be developed pdor to the commencement of the appraisal, and also if (2) notification of the property owner could be started as soon as possible. This would aid the appraisal process. Also, if needed, could the City of.Laurel aid theprocess by staking the proposed acquisition? Thank you for your solicitation and I look forward to following up with you. Steven M. Repac MT. Certified General No. 56 Steve Repac Home Office: 1533 Clark Avenue, Billings, MT * (408) 248-3945 · Fax (406) 248-8612