City Council Minutes 02-15-1983
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MINOT S
SPECIAL MEETING - MONT CELLO CITY COUNCIL
February 15, 1 83 - 7:00 A.M.
Members Present: Arve Grimsmo, J ck Maxwell, Dan Blonigen, Ken
Maus, Fran Fair.
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Members Absent: None.
A special meeting was duly held a 7:00 A.M. Tuesday, Feb-
ruary 15th, 1983 for the express urpose of conducting evalua-
tion sessions of the City Adminis, rator, the City Attorney, the
City Planner and the City Enginee' .
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Administrator Eidem began the n:ee
sultant evaluations should be hel
perimeters of the working relatio
that at salary negotiation time,
evaluated and while the salary in
general satisfaction with his per
cluded in the evaluation so that
improve upon, he would be alerted
on improvement. Council members
issue that Eidem seemed to react
recommendation was not accepted b
He stated that he would continue
his recommendations, but if those
accepted by Council action, he wo
bother him.
ing stating that he felt con-
on periodic basis to keep the
ship clearly defined. He noted
e himself was not formally
rease granted seemed to express
ormance, he wished to be in-
ere there areas that he could
to them and could begin work
aus and Fair both raised the
personally when a professional
the Council. Eidem concurred.
o defend and debate strongly
recommendations were not
Id do his best not to let it
City Attorney, Gary pringle, came before the Council next. Eidem
requested that Pringle prepare qu rterly reports for him that
stipulate, among other things, th current status or disposition
on all city cases and in the even cases were pending a proposed
plan of action. pringle said he hought this would be a good
idea and he would be happy to do 't. Pringle noted that his new
rates would be $50.00 per hour, w ich is $10.00 per hour less
than his usual rate. Eidem addressed comments that were made
earlier about pringle's accessibi ity and it was agreed that all
legal business, whether initiated by the Public Works Director
or Council Member, Finance Direct r or any other city official
would be channeled through Eidem, since he meets with Pringle
on a weekly basis. pringle also ave a brief explanation to the
members of the Council about why, in some cases, he must remove
himself from a particular case a recommend different counsel.
Mayor Grimsmo raised the questions concerning pringle's success
ratio in handling city cases; pringle noted that he had never
lost a city case at this time.
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Council Minutes - 2/15/83
John Badalich, representing consulting engineers, Orr-Schelen-
Mayeron, & Associates, was prese t to discuss their performance
as well as a proposed new contrac. Eidem suggested that the
actual contract negotiation be p stponed and discussed between
this meeting and the next regular meeting and if agreed upon
would be ratified at that next meeting. Eidem did raise a
question concerning hourly fees n smaller construction pro-
jects and whether or not language of this sort "not to exceed"
could be inserted when dealing with hourly fee projects.
Badalich indicated that would be acceptable. Eidem also asked
the question as to whether or not there could be alternative
types of feasibility studies that the City could request rang-
ing from the very general one t three page type report to
the more complex and detailed. gain Badalich said there
would be no problem. Badalich raised the question as to who
was to authorize work done by the engineering firm. The issue
of work authorized by the former oning administrator with
respect to property exchange near Dundas Road was raised.
The Council stipulated that all engineering authorization must
be done through the administrator's office. Eidem noted that
in particular cases, the authorization may be of a nature of
specifying another person to wor with the engineering firm.
Eidem stated that since his knowledge would be limited in the
engineering field, it would not e efficient to have to get
separate authorization on every iece of detail that the
public works director could more efficiently handle. Public
Works Director, John Simola, als raised a question about
how soon after completion of a project the City could expect
to receive their "as builts". T is issue is to be worked
out between the engineer and Sim la on their own time. Before
leaving, Badalich noted that it ight be wise in the near
future to investigate the possib'lity of updating the compre-
hensive plan.
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John Uban, representing Howard D hlgren & Associates, the
City's Consulting Planner, was t e last person to come before
the Council for evaluation. As with the OSM evaluation, the
question of authorization was raised. Again, the Council
directed Uban that any work should be authorized expressly
through the administrator's office unless such authorization
i.s given by the Council to work directly with some other
member of the City Staff. Uban oted that work with City of
Monticello projects was occasion lly more time consuming
since his firm was used on an as needed basis rather than
on an on going basis that would llow them to stay familiar
with all the developments. Uban noted that some cities paid
a basic retainer fee that accomm ated the on going review
of all city occurrences. He sai' that the City may wish to
investigate that matter.
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C uncil Minutes - 2/15/83
In concluding the meeting the Concil noted that, in .general,
the consultants all were performi g acceptably, but that
periodic evaluations could be eff ctive in keeping the working
relationship efficient and produc ive.
Before adjournment, Eidem raised
of Council meeting minutes publis
of the proceedings. He noted tha
lication of summaries, and by doi
$1500 or more. The Council gave
this procedure. Eidem said he wo
the change.
There being no other bussines, th
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Thomas Eidem
City Administrator
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he issue of having summaries
ed rather than the entire text
legislation allows for pub-
g so the City could save
heir unanimous support to
ld talk to the publisher about
meeting was adjourned.