City Council Minutes 08-25-1986 SpecialSPECIAL MEETING -
Monday, August
MINUTES
MONTICELLO CITY
25, 1986 - 5:45
COUNCIL
p.m.
A special meeting of the Monticello City Council was duly held at
5:45 p.m. in the City Hall Conference Room for the express purpose
of interviewing computer consultants. Members Present: Arve A.
Grimsmo, Fran Fair, Bill Fair, Jack Maxwell, Dan Blonigen. Absent:
None.
The Mayor called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. Ms. Anne Carroll,
representing Carroll, Franck & Associates, was present. Ms. Carroll
provided a brief background of her company and a list of previous
clients she has served. She then provided a brief summary and presentation
addressing the in-depth proposal that had been presented in response
to the City's request for proposals (RFP). Upon completion of her
presentation, Ms. Carroll responded to questions. City Administrator
Eidem inquired as to why Phase IB, System Analysis, was scheduled
to only take one week. Ms. Carroll responded that the one week time
line indicated when that phase would be completed after the completion
of the previous phase. She noted that Phase IB would be happening
concurrently with Phase IA. She also stated that based on her history
and experience, systems analysis was occurring virtually at all times.
Mayor Grimsmo asked Ms. Carroll whether or not she would be looking
to install state of the art systems or pre -established systems which
might be limited in use in the near future. Ms. Carroll indicated
that, at this point, it was impossible to say, since the evaluation
had not been done. She noted that the objective was to find a system
that performed the tasks the City desired, and not just buy a system
that could do many tasks. Dan Blonigen indicated his preference
that she evaluate a system that would be expandable so that the City
could stay close to the state of the art technology. Blonigen also
expressed concern that any system the City acquire be well proven
in a government setting. Councilmember Fran Fair asked what role
Anne Carroll would play once the system was selected and installed.
Ms. Carroll responded that part of her proposal indicated that she
would be available for a full year to assist with implementation
and assimilation. She went on to note that her objective is to phase
herself out gradually, not suddenly terminate the contract and leave
the City to its own devices. At the end of the questions, Mayor
Grimsmo gave Ms. Carroll an opportunity to sum up her proposal. Upon
completion of the summary statement, Ms. Carroll was excused, and
the Mayor recessed the meeting for approximately five minutes.
Upon reconvening, the Council invited Mr. Bob Carlson of Gruys Johnson
and Associates and Mr. Jim Snyder of Management Advisors, Inc., into
the Conference Room. Mr. Carlson made the opening presentation on
the Gruys Johnson proposal. He noted that Gruys Johnson wished to
expand their capabilities in the computer field and had established
an affiliation with Management Advisors, Inc. He noted that Management
Advisors, Inc., would be the computer consultants, but Gruys Johnson,
on
Special Council Minutes - 8/25/86
as the City Auditors, would lend their financial expertise into evaluating
the needs assessment and the final RFP for a system. Mr. Snyder
provided some brief background on Management Advisors, Inc., noting
that they had worked for cities both in Minnesota and in Colorado.
He went on to indicate that MAI was not exclusively a computer consultant,
but also offered the expertise of performing management audits, management
evaluation, and team building.
Mr. Snyder was asked if his home office was located in Colorado,
and he indicated it was. All Council members expressed a concern
about being able to respond promptly in times of need. Mr. Snyder
indicated that the personnel at Gruys Johnson would respond if he
were not in Minnesota. The question was then raised as to who would
handle a problem if the personnel at Gruys Johnson were not able.
Mr. Carlson responded that he would simply call Colorado to discuss
the issue.
The Council inquired as to whether or not in staff interviews any
departments were identified as perhaps being more troublesome than
others. Mr. Snyder responded that he felt the assessing department
might be problematical since the County Assessor's Office was not
fully computerized as yet. He also noted that the deputy registrar's
department might be a problem since he had not seen any municipal
packages that tied directly in with the State system. Mr. Snyder
also indicated that there might be some training problems with respect
to staff reluctance to learn the system. Mr. Carlson and Mr. Snyder
were given a brief opportunity to summarize their position, and the
interview was then ended.
During deliberation, Mr. Eidem responded that reference checks on
both firms indicated a high level of excellence and expertise. He
noted that all cities checked were extremely satisfied with performance.
He noted that the proposals submitted in response to the RFP were,
in his judgement, relatively equal. It was noted that the Carroll,
Franck & Associates proposal was $3,025.00 less than the Gruys Johnson
proposal. Some concern was expressed with respect to the Colorado
location of MAI, even though Gruys Johnson is located both in Monticello
and Buffalo.
Motion by Blonigen, second by Fran Fair, and carried unanimously
to award the contract for computer consulting services to Carroll,
Franck & Associates for the stipulated price of $8,975.00.
There being no other business for the special meeting, the meeting
was adjourned.
4L=
Thomas A. Eidem
City Administrator
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