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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 09/21/1999 - Workshop APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1999 5:00-6:55 PM CITY CENTER TRAINING ROOM LOWER LEVEL CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Jean Harris, Councilmembers Sherry Butcher-Younghans,Ronald Case,Ross Thorfinnson, Jr., and Nancy Tyra-Lukens CITY STAFF: City Manager Chris Enger,Financial Services Director Don Uram,Public Safety Services Director Jim Clark,Parks &Recreation Services Director Bob Lambert,Public Works Services Director Eugene Dietz,Management Services Director Natalie Swaggert, Commander Gary Therkelsen, Information Technology Coordinator Deb Nelson, Communications Coordinator Steve Nelson, and Recording Secretary Peggy Rasmussen I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER—MAYOR JEAN HARRIS Mayor Harris called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Case moved, seconded by Tyra-Lukens, approval of the agenda. Motion carried 5-0. III. TECHNOLOGY UPDATE A. OVERVIEW Enger stated this is the second technology workshop held to update the Council on the City's technology capability. B. HIGH-SPEED CONNECTIVITY 1. KMC Therkelsen presented information on KMC's contract with the City, whereby a portion of KMC's network is dedicated to the City. Council has recently approved contracts with KMC to provide long-distance telephone services. Phone bills are expected to drop 22 percent, saving the City $250,000 over a five-year period. KMC will connect the City Center, Water Plant and Community Center with a fiber-optic, high-speed cable network. Construction on this work is expected to begin immediately. COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES September 21, 1999 Page 2 2. Paragon Steve Nelson reported that Paragon Cable is currently upgrading subscribers to fiber optic cable. The benefits are a clearer signal, resulting in a better picture. Programs covering City activities has been moved from channel 34 to channel 16. High-speed internet service and video-conferencing capability will be introduced by the end of this year. C. CITY PROJECTS 1. Touch-Tone Registration Deb Nelson said the City will be starting touch-tone phone registration for the Park and Recreation Services' programs, with the exception of swimming and skating classes. Registrations can be made 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is a convenience for the City and is expected to be a cost-saving measure also. It is scheduled to go on-line next March in time for spring registration. It will be tested internally before that time. 2. Public Safety Technology • Mobile Computer System Therkelsen displayed a new mobile computer system previously only used by the military. Over the next six months they will be installed in all squad cars. This system was built by Fieldworks in Eden Prairie. It will contain much more information than is now available to police officers. They will be able to write many of their reports in their cars,which will be transmitted electronically to the central file. The computer is very durable and capable of being upgraded without replacement; however, Enger said a replacement schedule should be considered, as well as leasing versus buying. • Records Management Therkelsen said the old system is being replaced with a new system by the end of the year. A Request for Proposal process was used to determine the best product, and it happened that the best service offered was also the least expensive. • Computer-Aided Dispatch When citizens call,requesting service,the computer-aided dispatch system will automatically process most of the information received. GPS will be added to all of these computers later. COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES September 21, 1999 Page 3 3. edenprairie.org Steve Nelson said the popularity of the Web Site has grown since it was launched in January 1998. The Home Page is the most popular site, with City Hall and Employment being visited most often. In. Phase II the City plans to add more information to the Web Site while maintaining quality. Interactivity between citizens and the City will be encouraged,in order to obtain information from citizens that can be sent out to others. More forms will be put on the Web Site for citizens to download or to send the form back through the Web Site. D. YEAR 2000 PREPAREDNESS Uram said he believes there will be no problems on January 1, 2000. All systems have been tested. Clark said Public Safety has tested all systems, and is doing as much as possible to educate the public through the Web Site and community newspapers. Open houses are planned where his staff will talk to citizens to reassure them. Tabletop exercises have been scheduled to test the emergency plan and demonstrate how to handle any Y2K emergency. Clark said they will double the police staff from 10 p.m. through the night on December 31. At least one fire station will be active, with people on call. E. STAFFING Uram said staff is in the process of putting together a job description for an Information Services Manager to coordinate the City's information system technology. Therkelsen said a Radio Technician candidate has been identified and an offer will be made in the next few days. Between the City and School District there are over 1,000 radios to service. IV. OTHER BUSINESS V. COUNCIL FORUM—6:30-6:55 PM A. GERRY BECKMANN OF PROP, ON HUMAN SERVICES ISSUES Gerry Beckmann, Director of PROP, said she wished to address human service issues they see at PROP. The City government has always been pro-active regarding human services needs. Now, with the restructuring of Boards and Commissions, she said she is confused about the restructuring in relation to handling human service needs and asked if this will become the responsibility of an intergovernmental Board, Program Support, E.P. Familink Advisory Council or the City Staff. She inquired if the E.P. Familink Advisory Council should be COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES September 21, 1999 Page 4 able to allocate grant money for the City of Eden Prairie. She wondered if Hennepin County Public Health should be voting on how and where Eden Prairie money is spent. She questioned how many services Eden Prairie receives from Hennepin County Public Health, or if the City would be better served by linking up with Bloomington Public Health. Ms. Beckmann said she does not have the expertise to prepare a Needs Assessment, and asked when and how this issue can be brought to someone on City Staff. She also questioned the way funding assistance for immigrants to Eden Prairie is handled. She asked the Council to clarify how it is going to address human service needs under the restructuring plan. Mayor Harris responded that City Council and Staff thought that the appropriate resource would be Familink, in terms of funding to deal with human service needs, and with City dollars available to meet the needs not met with Familink Funds. The Familink Advisory Council needs to be clearly redefined and understood by those sending representatives to that council. Responsibility for human services is spread throughout the reorganization of the new Community Planning Board. The population of Eden Prairie is changing, and the City needs to address the problems and needs of immigrants to the community. Enger said SheRPA is the planning and research arm and Familink is the service provider. David Lindahl is the Staff representative for SheRPA. Mayor Harris asked Ms. Beckmann for a copy of her statement so it can be studied further, and thanked her for taking time to prepare it. VI. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Harris adjourned the meeting at 6:55 p.m.