08-23-21 Special City Council MinutesCITY OF OTSEGO
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 2021
5:30 PM
OTSEGO PRAIRIE CENTER
Call to Order.
Mayor Jessica Stockamp called the Special Meeting to order at 5:32 PM.
Mayor Jessica Stockamp; Councilmembers: Jeff Dahl, Tom Darkenwald, Tina Goede, and
Brittany Moores. City Staff: City Administrator/Finance Director Adam Flaherty; Human
Resources/Assistant City Administrator Sabrina Hille; and City Clerk Audra Etzel.
1. 2022 Budget, Tax Levy and Capital Improvement Plan Review.
City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty reviewed the budget meeting #5 materials which
included a brief memo, department budgets as outlined in the packet, and tax levy summary.
Staff is seeking Council input during these budget review meetings in order to effectively and
efficiently move the budgeting process forward.
City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty reviewed the City Administrator budget. Mayor
Stockamp asked about the decrease in training. City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty
said the budgets for supervisor and leadership training were decreased across all departments
to align with need. CM Darkenwald asked if Covid is a factor? City Administrator/Finance
Director Flaherty agreed there has been less in person training. The City Council concurred as
presented.
City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty reviewed the Assessing budget. CM Darkenwald
asked when the assessing contract would expire? City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty
said the current contract covers the 2022 and 2023 assessments. CM Darkenwald is interested
in considering an in-house assessor in the future. The City Council concurred as presented.
City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty reviewed the Finance budget. The increase is
mainly driven by the additional part-time position and training. Mayor Stockamp asked what is
the plan if staff is unable to recruit a part-time position? City Administrator/Finance Director
Flaherty said he doesn't have a set plan if the recruitment process is not successful. The City
Council concurred as presented.
City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty reviewed the Information Technology budget.
Staff is seeing increases in software, technology supplies, additional email accounts, Zoom,
contracted hours, increased cyber security, and computer and iPad replacements. Mayor
Stockamp asked about security. City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty said staff would
be consulting with an IT security firm to analyze the City's systems and identify risks. The City
Council concurred as presented.
Human Resources/Assistant City Administrator Hille reviewed the Human Resources budget and
how it aligns with the strategic plan including: employee training, communications internal and
external, focus groups, business outreach, and the community survey. Staff is looking at a
communications specialist as an intern position, which could be partially paid for with a grant
through MCMA. Another future position would be a payroll specialist, eliminating Paychex Flex
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and freeing up the Human Resources/Assistant City Administrator's time. CM Darkenwald asked
how much is paid currently for the payroll services. Human Resources/Assistant City
Administrator Hille said the cost is about $300 per pay period / $7,000-$10,000 annually with
additional reports. CM Darkenwald asked would this position is would be full-time and if so,
what else would the person be responsible for? Human Resources/Assistant City Administrator
Hille said there are other tasks and they would still need to look at based on future needs. City
Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty said this was to start the conversation for future budget
considerations.
Human Resources/Assistant City Administrator Hille discussed the staff focus groups. Mayor
Stockamp asked how the focus group updates will be presented to the City Council. City
Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty said the evaluation of the current strategic plan and
future strategic plan ideas will be presented to the City Council for consideration at the
facilitation meeting next winter.
CM Darkenwald asked about the employee recognition. City Administrator/Finance Director
Flaherty said the City Attorney has been reviewed and agrees with the policy. The City Council
concurred as presented.
Mayor Stockamp at 6:53 PM motioned to table this special meeting following the 7
PM City Council meeting, seconded by CM Moores. Roll Call: In favor; Goede,
Stockamp, Darkenwald, Moores and Dahl. Against: none. Motion carried 5-0.
Mayor Stockamp reconvened the special meeting at 8:18 PM
City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty reviewed the Police Services Budget. At this time
Mayor Stockamp asked staff to reach out to the Wright County Sheriff's office to verify they will
not be asking for more hours, City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty will contact the
Wright County Sheriff's office. The City Council concurred as presented.
City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty reviewed the Public Safety Commission, which has
no significant changes. The City Council concurred as presented.
City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty reviewed the Fire Safety Budget. The Albertville
contract ends in 2022, the cost going into 2022 is $463,439. Elk River is up for renewal this
year and negotiations are on-going. Elk River is requesting to switch the formula to match
Albertville's model, $263,920 under the old formula and the new formula would be $360,375 for
a difference of approximately $97,000; currently a contingency item. City
Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty has asked for Elk River to spread out over two years.
CM Darkenwald asked about the fire safety contracts being staggered. City
Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty said there is no significant benefit to having the
contracts on the same term.
City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty stated the 2018 fire study recommended shifting
the industrial/commercial section on Highway 101 from Elk River to Rogers, which was not done
at the time because of financial implications. However, now with the contract terms changing,
the financial benefit is no longer there, and that the boundary changes should be based on
response time.
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Mayor Stockamp motioned to direct staff to write a letter to the Elk River Fire
Department by September 1St to shift the industrial/commercial district on Highway
101 as discussed to the Rogers Fire Department, seconded by CM Darkenwald Roll
Call: In favor; Goede, Stockamp, Darkenwald, Moores and Dahl. Against: none.
Motion carried 5-0.
City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty noted that any boundary changes would not go
into effect until January 1, 2022. The City Council concurred with Fire Safety budget as
presented.
City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty reviewed the Building Safety Budget. Staff has
adding Zoning Administration Fees, as they are putting in more time to review zoning issues.
The contracted services for Metro West have increased due to new construction and inspections
required. The City Council concurred as presented.
The final budget and property tax levy will not be adopted by the City Council until December,
so changes to the budget can still be made between now and then. Noted, the property tax
levy can be decreased, but the levy cannot be increased after preliminary levy adoption. The
City Council concurred as presented.
Future budget meetings are scheduled for August 30tH
CM Goede noted that she will not be present at the next meeting.
2 City Administrator/ Finance Director Review.
Mayor Stockamp said this portion of the meeting will be closed per MN Statute 13D.01 and
13D.05 Subdivision 3, for a performance evaluation of the City Administrator.
CM Darkenwald motioned to close this portion of the meeting at 8:48 PM, seconded
by CM Moores. Roll Call: In favor; Goede, Stockamp, Darkenwald, Moores and Dahl.
Against: none. Motion carried 5-0.
City Clerk Etzel and Human Resource/Assistant City Administrator left the meeting at 8:50 PM.
CM Darkenwald motioned to end the closed session at 9:25 PM, seconded by CM
Goede. Roll Call: In favor; Goede, Stockamp, Darkenwald, Moores and Dahl.
Against: none. Motion carried 5-0.
Mayor Stockamp motioned to reopen the special meeting at 9:26 PM, seconded by
CM Moores. Roll Call: In favor; Goede, Stockamp, Darkenwald, Moores and Dahl.
Against: none. Motion carried 5-0.
Mayor Stockamp motioned to approve a step increase for the City
Administrator/ Finance Director, effective as of August 19th, the employee's
anniversary date, to Step 8, Grade 21, seconded by CM Darkenwald. Roll Call: In
favor; Goede, Stockamp, Darkenwald, Moores and Dahl. Against: none. Motion
carried 5-0.
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3. Adjourn.
CM Darkenwald motioned to adjourn the meeting at 9:29 PM, seconded by CM
Goede. Roll Call: In favor; Dahl, Darkenwald, Goede, Stockamp and Moores.
Against: none. Motion carried 5-0.
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Ma48r Jessica Stockamp
ATTEST: Uij� �4nl
Audra Etzel, City Clerk
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