City Council Minutes 01-13-2014 SpecialMINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING — MONTICELLO CITY COUNCIL
Monday, January 13, 2014 — 6:00 p.m.
Academy Room, Monticello Community Center
Present: Clint Herbst, Lloyd Hilgart, Tom Perrault, Glen Posusta, Brian Stumpf
Absent: None
Others: Jeff O'Neill, Tim Hennagir, Rachel Leonard, Kitty Baltos, Tom Moores, Mark
Pultusker, Wayne Oberg
1. Call to Order
Mayor Herbst called the special meeting to order at 6 p.m.
2. Purpose of Meeting: Review of City's organizational meeting matrix
Jeff O'Neill introduced the special meeting explaining that Council is asked to review*
the meeting matrix. He would like Council to look at the various commissions of the
city and the assignments of council members and staff for the committees that are
listed.
Jeff O'Neill mentioned some of the committee changes in recent years such as
merging of the HRA into the EDA and the addition of the Transportation Advisory
Commission. O'Neill requested Council to comment on whether they think other
mergers may be possible.
Jeff O'Neill first went through the list of committees that are established by ordinance
or are required by statute. Jeff O'Neill commented that this group of committees is
supported by a council liaison appointed annually. It is possible that the council
liaison could be dropped from some of those. Brian Stumpf pointed out that
sometimes there are conflicts in attendance due to meetings scheduled on the same
dates. Clint Herbst doesn't feel that the Parks Commission and MCC Advisory Board
would need to be merged at this time as they appear to have a different focus. Clint
Herbst commented that there are a lot of meetings and it might be nice to be able to
streamline and eliminate having to attend so many meetings.
Jeff O'Neill moved on to the next group of committees which are more advisory in
nature and have a specific purpose. The River Crossing Transportation Coalition has
more or less been replaced with the Transportation Advisory Committee. There are
quite a few committees associated with Bertram Chain of Lakes and the purpose of
those were explained, such as the Park Use Committee, which focuses on overall
potential uses at Bertram (and includes representatives from the Parks Commission)
and Athletic Fields Committee, which is working specifically on future athletic fields
at Bertram. Jeff O'Neill talked about the EDA Land Acquisition Committee and feels
that group will be meeting more as development becomes more active. The FiberNet
Financing Study Committee was the group that studied the revenue bonds and has
basically completed its task. The Time Sensitive Acquisitions Committee could be
evolved to look at other capital budget items besides those that need quick review.
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The third group that Jeff O'Neill discussed includes a variety of groups that council
and staff are involved with. Jeff O'Neill mentioned that he would like to see more
involvement with the League of MN Cities from council members. He also
mentioned the Coalition of Utility Cities and their strategies to benefit cities that have
large utilities within their boundaries. Clint Herbst talked about some of the
ramifications with having the nuclear generating plant in Monticello. Jeff O'Neill
mentioned the County Administrator groups and noted that he attends on occasion.
He also pointed out the Monticello Chamber Board and Governmental Affairs
Committee, which city staff occasionally attends. There are a number of economic
development organizations and the City does not participate much at this time.
However, Wayne Elam from Monticello is very active in some of those groups and
John Uphoff of WSB also interacts with some of them. The city also has two groups,
ReSTOREing Downtown and Concierge Team, which were implemented to work
with businesses. The Concierge Team is not active right now but could be restarted at
any time. Jeff O'Neill reviewed a number of trade association groups which are
linked to various staff positions such as engineering, public works, parks, cable
commission, finance, clerk, and building.
Jeff O'Neill provided a handout listing a number of outside organizations and events
where the city may benefit from greater participation. He encouraged council
members to take a look and see if they would consider attendance at some of these
meetings. For example, the League of MN Cities provides a number of opportunities
for involvement such as the annual conference, policy committees, regional meetings,
and training sessions. Jeff O'Neill provided copies of some upcoming LMC events.
Wayne Oberg commented on the number of meetings that he attends during the day
in addition to the ones listed on the matrix. Clint Herbst commented that staff is often
involved in meetings as part of their job.
Lloyd Hilgart suggested that council members may have an interest in certain
committees and could invest their own time to stay involved in those. Clint Herbst
stated that council members could consider dropping some of their liaison
commitments in order to attend some of the outside meetings such as those on the list
that Jeff O'Neill handed out. Council should look over the meeting matrix and decide
if they would prefer to be involved in some other groups.
Jeff O'Neill summarized by asking Council to consider attending some outside
meetings. Clint Herbst also suggested that Jeff O'Neill talk to Steve Bot from St.
Michael to see how their approach to meetings is working.
3. Adjournment
Mayor Herbst adjourned the special meeting at 6:53 p.m.
Recorder: Catherine M. Shuman N—
Approved: January 27, 2014
Attest:
City Administrator
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