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interviews and investigations. When the School Liaison Officer was available during the <br />summer to assist in investigations, the clearance rate increased and many more cases received <br />investigative attention. The addition of the Investigator position is the best way to substantially <br />improve responsiveness and customer service. <br />The joint drug task force with Hennepin County, Medina, Mound, and West Hennepin Public <br />Safety requires a full-time narcotics investigator. A current full time patrol officer has been <br />assigned to the narcotics investigator position. Initially, the patrol position will be back-filled by <br />a part-time officer. The tax levy will fund a substantial portion of the narcotics investigator <br />position in 2005. A number of funding options for the remainder of the costs arc cujrentiy being <br />pursued. <br />Finance/Information Tecluiology (I..T.) Staffing <br />As the City has expanded its information technology capabilities, both in terms of the number of <br />computers available and the number of applications available, the workload related to <br />maintaining the computers and the applications has increased. As we continue to expand our <br />information teclmology capabilities, this need will continue to increase. Also, we need to ensure <br />the expansion of our l.T. capabilities occurs in a well-planned man.icr. This requires a <br />coordinated effort to develop a multi-year l.T. plan. <br />The City currently has one staff person who is responsible for the bulk of the l.T. <br />responsibilities. This is the Assistant Finance Director/I.T. Coordinator. As the title indicates, a <br />substantial portion of this position’s time is spent on finance-related tasks. There is not sufficient <br />time to adequately address all of the l.T. needs. It is proposed that a part-time finance clerk be <br />hired to take on a significant portion of the Assistant Finance Director/I.T.Coordinator’s finance- <br />related workload. The Assistant Finance Director would continue to carry out tlic higher level <br />finance tasks, but would have a substantial amount of additional time to handle l.T. tasks. <br />Highway 12 Turnback Consultant <br />The Cities of Long Lake and Orono are working through a joint task force to develop a plan for <br />the design of current highway 12 when it is turned back from Mn/DOT to Hennepin County. <br />The turnback is an opportunity to re-think the function and design of the roadway. The task <br />force has detennined that it needs the assistance of both a transportation planning consultant and <br />a landscape dcsign/urban plamiing consultant. These consultants will first assist the task force in <br />addressing the key issues regarding the design of the roadw ay, and secondly, w ill assist the cities <br />in working with 1 Icnnepin County to ensure the County’s final design of the roadway matches <br />the cities’ desired design as closely as possible. <br />Funding for Street Rehabilitation <br />In order to balance the 2004 budget within the levy limit, the amount budgeted for street <br />rehabilitation was reduced from $97,000 to $30,000. The 2005 budget restores $34,500 of this <br />reduction. 1 his is reflected in the increase in the Infrastructure lev^ from $35,450 to $69,950. <br />The City has a number of local roads, thut are not eligible for State funding, that w ill need major <br />rehabilitation in the coming years. It is important that we increase the funding that is being <br />provided for these types of projects.