05-26-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, May 11, 2020 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 9 of 22 time, in need of support. There are 17 cities involved in the route, down from last year due to the Narrows Bridge being out of commission. He displayed the names of Fire and Police Departments involved in the event. There are ride distances from 16 to 100 miles available this year, and the 62-, 71-, and 100-mile rides will go through Orono. He displayed the 2020 map of the route and the communities and rest areas, and also displayed a list of sponsors involved. The group did a survey asking people if they would participate if Tour de Tonka took place; 67% said yes and 33% said no. They also asked how the riders felt about COVID-19 as it related to the event; most people indicated they would still participate, trusting event leaders would keep them safe. He also discussed survey responses, some of which included holding the event no matter what and encouraging lobbying efforts. They will hold the event August 1, fingers crossed. Walsh said Tour de Tonka is a great yearly event and it is fun to see everyone cruising through Orono. The City appreciates the work done to keep the event rolling and moving forward. Mr. Litfin stated Orono has a great City Staff and asked the Council to give them a high-five while maintaining social-distancing. CITY ENGINEER/PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR REPORT 15. PUBLIC WORKS SUPPORT AND UTILITY BILLING SPECIALIST Edwards said No. 15 is a request to begin the hiring process to fill a vacancy with outlined changes to the existing position. The Utility Billing and Payroll Specialist retired last fall and the position has gone unfilled since then. There have been some opportunities to outsource some responsibilities. As far as Public Works, that presented an opportunity with this position. One of the longstanding issues in Public Works is the lack of a unified Administrative support position/system for the department. Although they get Administrative support, it is spread out as a secondary duty to Administrative Staff from other departments. He proposed to the Administrator and Organizational Committee to consider the consolidation of the administrative tasks into one position, which would take about 50% of the position’s time, and the other 50% is the traditional Utility Billing Specialist role. The position changed somewhat. It used to be the Payroll and Utility Billing Clerk, which was a Grade 6 position that reported to the Finance Director. The new position would be a Grade 5 and would report to him, although also supporting the Finance Director. The position would work at the front desk and back up the other front- desk position and centralize the other Public Works/Administrative support. There are impacts to the other Administrative positions. In particular, the Management Assistant position that provided some support to the department would shift to providing some Finance/Admin support, the HR benefits liaison for the items the City is outsourcing could fill some of the Public Affairs/Communication roles, and also outsourcing other tasks. As presented, the position is a Grade 5, and with the outsourcing and other things, represents a cost-savings of about $14,500 a year. Similar to the old position, the new position would be funded by the General and Utility Funds. He reiterated that the position replaces an existing position; it does not equate to an increase in full-time Staff at the City. He has a timeline to advertise and seek to fill the position. Johnson noted the $14,500 savings is from what the position was previously coded as, the City outsourced what the position was doing with Paychex, so the savings does not represent the capturing of the new expenses the City incurred with using the outside source. Edwards stated that it does.