01/15/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 1/15/2008 17) Regarding legislation, thanks to Council for moving forward with Ordinance Nos. 2007-68 and 2007-72. These important programs will be of great benefit to our citizens. Additionally, thanks for the open mindedness displayed by Council as we go through the very difficult process of reorganizing our city government and making it more efficient. Change is difficult, but without change, there can never be progress. Thank you for the open-minded way we approached our discussions of engineering and for the promise to take action by month's end. Law Director Dubelko: 1) Joins with the Mayor in thanking Council for moving on Ord. Nos. 2007-68 and 2007-72, which in his judgment are good government legislation. 2) As it is mid-month, there are no reports from the Prosecutor and Assistant Law Directors but he does expect to have an update at the next meeting with regard to real property maintenance. 3) Outside counsel in several areas have been chosen: Walter Haverfield was awarded the contract for civil litigation and telecommunication and utilities law; Calfee Halter & Griswold was awarded the contract for environmental law. There was a change with respect to outside counsel for traffic and criminal prosecutions to an individual highly recommended by the Prosecutor. That name along with those chosen for workers' comp and labor/employment law will be available by late January or early February. 4) Since the last meeting, he has reviewed a variety of contracts, bid packages and legislation and attended several committee meetings. 5) On a personal note, not only is today Martin Luther King's birthday, but his daughter Alexandra's 26"' birthday. She was hoping to have a job by this birthday and yesterday started a new job at Stanford University as their program coordinator for their China program. Finance Director Copfer: 1) The Finance Dept. is closing the books on 2007, reconciling the payroll and pension reporting, creating W2's, and working on the budget for 2008. 2) Utilized the IT consultant and OSDBA support in December to upgrade the MUMS system to the 6.2 D version. Except for a few little glitches, it has been good so far. 3) This Saturday, IT consultant Denny Barto, and our Systems Administrator worked all day with MUMS and OSDBA support to delete and reinstall the operating system which had been experiencing delays. This caused problems and inhibited productivity when screens did not move forward. The final solution was to uninstall the operating system and reinstall it, which is a very long and arduous process. The IT consultant came in from 2 p.m. on Friday and made backups and did some clean-up work. Although it was a very cumbersome process, she is happy to report, except for a couple of glitches, there is no delay. 4) Would like to offer a Finance 101 class for new Council members and anyone else who would like to brush up on it before the budget process this year. She will schedule that within the next couple of weeks. Councilman Gareau, chairperson of the Finance Committee: 1) The Finance Committee met on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 7:18 p.m. Present were committee members Gareau, Kearney, and Barker; Council Members Jones, Mahoney, Orlowski, and Council President Kennedy; Law Director Dubelko, Planning Director Wenger, Service Director 3