08/05/2003 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 8/5/03 road. As to the issue of pipes being done in front of houses, the present policy is that the city covers the cost of the installation of the pipe. The previous city engineer, Mr. Deichmann, recognized that, with the new storm water permit issue, doing each individual pipe is not a good policy. We should be constructing storm sewers that have a viable plan to them so that we just don't go from one pipe to another and try to fill in the ditches. Water stands in those pipes. We need to design storm sewers so water can get away slowly so it doesn't wash out everything. Eventually it all drains out. Law Director Dubelko: 1) Welcome back Council. The vacation gave him the opportunity to work on projects that had been on hold. One of those was the issue of comp time for all non-bargaining unit positions. He did provide a very thorough analysis of that issue on July21 along with recommended legislation. It does address all of the non-bargaining unit positions in the city. He would recommend that Council take it into committee. 2) He worked on Civil Service Commission issues. The Civil Service Commission fulfills an important function in our Charter, and he is doing his best to advise the commission on what it's jurisdiction is and what duties it has. That is why he issued a legal opinion earlier this year and second one this month specifically indicating the duties and jurisdiction. He has assigned the Assistant Law Director to attend all the commission meetings in the near future so they can get on track. Issues before the commission include who is and is not a classified employee and what positions do and do not need to be tested. The Civil Service Commission has been the bedrock of non- partisan employment in government all the way back to the 1880's. 3) The third major issue he spent time on was the city's organizational chart and the possibility of codification. The Clerk of Council is scheduled to meet with a representative from Walter Drane Company, our codification service; he will attend that meeting to talk to the lawyer from Walter Drane as to some reasons why we may or may not want to codify. Shortly after the meeting, he will make recommendations regarding fulfilling Council's duty for providing for all the positions in the city. 4) In early July, he provided generalized legal advice to the Recreation Commission regarding exercise of First Amendment activities at the Rec Center. 5) In July, he met with the Finance Director and City Engineer regarding Ordinance 2002-149, the library package ordinance. He is satisfied that ordinance, as amended, is in proper legal form for Council's consideration. 6) During July, he reviewed and approved a contract for Floyd Browne & Associates for Phase II of the sanitary sewer master plan. 7) He attended various Board of Control meetings. 8) He met with a representative from West Law to discuss renewal of the Law Department's contract for computerized legal research services. That legislation is before Council tonight. Finance Director Copfer: 1) Welcome back to Council. Though Council was missed, it's a good and productive time to catch up on various matters. 2) We have received two certificates from the county. One that said the local government funding was cut by $110,000 for the rest of this year. Today the second was received which was revised saying we are only losing $86,100. Regarding estate taxes, we have 4