City Council Worksession

Watertown City Council T Work Session Mayor Steve Washburn Lindsay Guetzkow F Adam Pawelk Michael Walters Dan Schuette A 6/14/2022 - Minutes 1. Call To Order And Roll Call Mayor Steve Washburn called the Watertown City Council work session to order at 5:30 p.m. on June 14, R 2022 in the council chambers of City Hall. Council Members Present: Steve Washburn, Dan Schuette, Adam Pawelk, Lindsay Guetzkow and Michael Walters. Staff Present: City Administrator Jake Foster, Administrative Services Director Maggie Reisdorf, City D Planner Mark Kaltsas, Administrative Assistant Nancy Pysick and Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Christine Dammann. 2. New Business 2.I. Continuation Of Personnel Discussion City Administrator, Jake Foster, introduced this item for review and discussion. He informed that staff has identified a need for additional support for planning/zoning, building/permitting, and code enforcement services. Forster provided background information on previous discussions between the City Council and staff on the topic. There was discussion on the current administrative assistant’s impending retirement tentatively scheduled for September 23, 2022. There was a recommendation to keep the administrative assistant on in a part-time capacity in a different role. The city would find a replacement for the administrative assistant position. Foster also stated that the current Deputy Clerk/Treasurer expressed interest in reducing their hours from 40 hours to 32 hours per week. Foster reviewed financial findings related to these proposed changes. Pawelk liked the idea of the administrative assistant staying with the city stating that their history, knowledge and experience is an asset to the city. He asked for clarification on the hours the administrative assistant would work in their new role. He also asked for clarification of when the Deputy Clerk/Treasurer would reduce their hours.  Foster reviewed financial findings related to these proposed changes. Pawelk liked the idea of the administrative assistant staying with the city stating that their history, knowledge and experience is an asset to the city. He asked for clarification on the hours the administrative assistant would work in their new role. He also asked for clarification of when the Deputy Clerk/Treasurer would reduce their hours. Foster stated that the City Council is being asked to accept the administrative assistant’s resignation at the June 14, 2022 regular city council meeting. He informed that the job would then be posted as soon as possible to get in applicants. Foster explained that there would be a little overlap between the current and future administrative assistant for training purposes. Foster said that when the replacement is trained in, the administrative assistant would move into their part-time role and the Deputy Clerk would likely reduce hours then. T Walters said that it was a good idea and like the idea of being flexible. He stated that as city responsibilities grow, the city will have to keep look at added staff. He said though that this plan fills a needed gap for the moment. F Washburn stated that he liked the collaborative nature on creating this recommendation. He said he’d like a little more information on budget impact. He felt that the structure and timing was good. The Council had no concerns with the presented job descriptions. A Foster said that this provided staff with good direction. 2.II. As-Built Foundation Surveys City Administrator, Jake Foster, introduced this item to the City Council. He explained that in 2007, the R City Council adopted an ordinance change that required an intermediate inspection of the foundation of a new building once poured. He explained that the inspection at this point in the building process is done via an as-built survey. Foster explained that the city has not been doing these inspections/requiring these surveys for a little over 10 years. D Foster explained that staff is looking for the City Council’s direction on how to handle this in the future. He asked if the city should start requiring these as-built foundation surveys moving forward, or if the requirement should be removed from city code. Kaltsas entered the meeting at 6:00 pm Guetzkow entered the meeting at 6:00 pm Walters stated that the city needs to follow its city code. Schuette said that the code should stay as is and the city should start requiring these inspections/surveys moving forward. Kaltsas explained that the provision allows for the city to make sure setbacks and grading standards are being met per the plans and specifications. He said that it allows the city to ask for corrections before any additional construction work is completed. Guetzkow asked if the city did find something wrong, would it be enforced. Kaltsas said that the city would ask for a change in grading. He said that other inspection items would depend on how off the work is. Schuette expressed concern about the impact to other properties. He said that quality control is important and this needs to be done. Pawelk stated that if the city leaves it in place that the city needs to document and apply the code consistently.  Schuette expressed concern about the impact to other properties. He said that quality control is important and this needs to be done. Pawelk stated that if the city leaves it in place that the city needs to document and apply the code consistently. Guetzkow agreed that there needs to be consistency. Washburn stated that per this discussion that additional research should be done to clarify what other cities are doing as well. 3. Adjournment T The meeting was adjourned at 6:25 pm. 309 Lewis Avenue South; P.O. Box 279, Watertown, MN 55388 F __________________________________________________________ Washburn, Mayor A ATTEST:__________________________________________ Steve R Margaret Reisdorf, Admin. Services Director D