10/21/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes 10-21-2008 AUDIENCE PARTICIP,,~TION 1) Dennis Lambert, 25057 Carey Lane, spoke about postings on an Internet website regarding the city. He thought some of the anonymous postings were from members of Council. He noted that the Mayor and Mr. Ryan had posted items, with Mr. Ryan expressing concern about. the city's financial condition and suggesting that Council not receive any further pay and the Law Director position be eliminated and contracted out. He noted Mr. Ryan was passionate about a cause, but he did not agree that the Law Director's position should be contracted out. Also as a former councilman in another city, he did not agree that Council should not be paid. Mr. Lambert proposal that the terms of Council be changed to two-year terms and asked the Mayor and Councilman Ryan if they would sponsor such a Charter change. Mr. Ryan said his posting was extreme and he does not think Couneil is overpaid, but he did it to bring attention to a serious financial situation. Mayor O'Grady said it would not be his desire to introduce legislation to change the terms of Council, but he would welcome a discussion; to the extent possible, the administration would be there to facilitate if Council would choose to take that up. 2) Donald Pangrac, 23470 Sharon Drive, asked if the dates for Resolution 2008-129 were correct for the period of January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2008. He does not understand why the bazgaining contracts are not done on a timely basis. He thinks it would be very difficult to plan a budget not having current information. He asked if there are any plans to bring these negotiations of these contracts into real time so that they're current. Councilman Gareau answered that it is a very drawn out process. It's highly adversarial, and Mr. Dubelko regulazly reports on the status of the fire fighter negotiations which at times can end up in court. It takes a very long period of time. He hopes, as some of the more difficult issues begin to fall away, that the process becomes shorter. Mayor O'Grady agreed with Mr. Pangrac, but he noted that it is an adversarial process and it is that way by design. We are still in court with issues that go back to the previous contract. However, it is the intent of the administration that we get back to real time. As some of these mare heavyweight questions have now been answered, it is his expectation that we will move much more quickly and much more efficiently. The city is about to begin negotiations for the contract year that starts January 1. LEGISLATION Ordinance No. 2008-118 introduced by Mayor O'Grady and Council Members Dailey Jones and Barker was given its third reading. An ordinance authorizing the Director of Public Service to request proposals for professional consulting engineering services for the city's Division of Engineering; further authorizing the Mayor, subject to approval of the Board of Control, to enter into an agreement with the firm selected in the RFP process; and declaring an emergency. Council Member Dailey Jones moved for adoption, and the motion was seconded by Councilman Barker. Roll call: Jones, yes; Barker, yes; Mahoney, no; Orlowski, no; Ryan, yes; Kearney, no; Gareau, yes. The motion passed with four yes votes and three no votes. Ordinance No. 2008-118 adopted. 8