06-23-2008 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, June 23, 2008 7:00 o'clock p.m. • *7. #08 -3360 BOB RITTER WITH BERKSEURE PARTNERS, LLP, 2745 KELLEY PARKWAY — GENERAL CONCEPT PLAN APPROVAL — RESOLUTION NO. 5755 Bremer moved, McMillan seconded, to adopt RESOLUTION NO. 5755, a Resolution Granting General Concept Plan Approval for Planned Unit Development No. 3B, Orono Professional Center H. VOTE: Ayes 5, Nays 0. *8. #08 -3362 VERIZON, 2345 BLAINE AVENUE — CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT — RESOLUTION NO. 5756 Bremer moved, McMillan seconded, to adopt RESOLUTION NO. 5756, a Resohition Granting a Conditional Use Permit and Granting a Variance to Municipal Zoning Code Section 78 -1404, for the property located at 2345 Blaine Avenue. VOTE: Ayes 5, Nays 0. MAYOR/COUNCIL REPORT Murphy stated while he was in Grand Island, Nebraska, he watched the local city council proceedings down there and that the setup for the council chambers was that each of the council members had their own separate screens and that their votes were all registered electronically. Murphy stated the unfortunate part of the meeting was that the council members had very little eye contact with the audience. CITY ENGINEER'S INEER S REPORT • City Engineer Kellogg had nothing to report. CITY ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT 9. POLICE OFFICER CONTRACT FOR 2008 -2009 Kiedrowski noted the City entered into new discussions with the police officers in late May and that the parties were able to agree on a number of items. The items in dispute were wages and health insurance costs. The police officers stated they are underpaid in relation to similar communities. As it relates to health insurance costs, the police officers believed that the costs are rising too rapidly, with the City indicating they have little control over what is happening in the health insurance market. Kiedrowski reported they were able to reach an agreement with the police officers on the wages by agreeing to a three percent increase on January 1, 2008 and a three percent increase on January 1, 2009, as well as a market adjustment of .5% on July 1, 2008 and July 1, 2009. The police officers had requested that they be allowed to discuss the health insurance issue further with the new city administrator. Kiedrowski noted the police officers have approved the proposal and that in his opinion the agreement is a fair one. Murphy complimented interim City Administrator Kiedrowski for handling the negotiations. Murphy noted he is on the joint fire commission and that periodically the commission compares the wages and PAGE 4 of 6