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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-03-77 CITY OF LAKEVILLE SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING. MAY 3,, 1977 The meeting was called to order by Mayor-Mako at 7:30 P.M. Roll call was t~[ken, Present:. Mayor Mako, Councilmembers Emond, Curry, Clarkson and Zaun. Also present: Patrick McGarvey, City Administrator; Patrick Farrell, City Attar- ney; James Robinette, Public Works Director. Mayor Mako opened the meeting with the following comments: "If there are questions o£ the Public Works Director's presentation or questions of the Council, we will receive those questions and we will.. answer. Following .that, if there are any further questions from the Council they will be heard and Jim will:. answer-them as best he .can ,and then if the Council has any;deci- sion to make regarding either the Engineering position or the Publie Works _position this evening then at that time the Council will have a motion if one 3s to be made and acted upon.... If, at any time, this meeting should ;reach a point where the presentation or the conducting. of business is interruped I will call it to order and if I cannot bring it to order I will adjourn the meeting and. we will have it at another time. Further; the .purpose. of this meeting is to deal with the questions of the Public Works position and`the questonxof the possible City Engineer.. It is not to deal. with any other questions and not o deal with the engineering firms that have worked for this City. We have gone hrough numbers of hearings=conc~ernin~ those. We have made adjustments in our consulting program. 'There is only. one purpose for this meet- ing and that is the question of the Public Works position: and as i said, the City Engineer, which are'kind of one and the same. Further, this meeting... is_not a meeting to evaluate Mr. Robinette as an employee. This is a meeting to evaluate the position of Public Works Director and our questions in our Council-discussions will direct .itself to that area. finny other discussion or any other direction will be out of order and will be so designated by the. chair. Those are the xules of the meeting. Jim, whenever you are ready, you're on." At this time,. Mr. Norsi introduced himself to the Council: as follows: "Mr. Mayor, I am Glenn Nerd, legally representing Mr. Robinette throughout this -meeting. It is imperative to Mr. Robinette that we'be specific in our foals for this evening and I am looking, at the presemt time, in the minutes of the ; Apr~.~..4, 1917 Lakeville Council meeting and I want.<to make certain that as that minute 3,s worded ~p~rtaining to , this.heating this evening, that ` this meet.- ing is; limited to the three items "that 'are referred to in that particular. minute.. As you have stated in your own words, the. purpose of this meeting, and I'thi~tk _that we, oa behalf of Mr. Robinette. must have definitenes that this meeting is limited to reviewing ,the Public-Works Director position, number 1. Review- ing the job descri~tion,.number,ZS~~.nd reviewing.. the job. function. as it snow being done. Perhapa'`somecomment fraim y~,urself that .those three roles and none other are to be conducted at this meeting so that we feel quite:: comfort- able S. you would indicate ~raur; approval as I; have just read. It was my under- standing that this meeting, had developed." Mrs . Curry " questioned, "W€~s't is the first, ;item,. Mr . Nord?" Mr. Nord replied, "To review the Public Works Director's position."'" Mayor Mako stated, "And the second; was reviewing of--the job description..." Mr. Nord: "as written." Mayor Mako: "Okay, as originally written, or the only time it was read, and the job function as it is now done?" Mr. Nord:- "Correct." .Mayor Mako: "One of the items that I included'in my statement .was from the information-that the Council receives from a statement, ,thus-they would be in a,positon to make a motion or hey would be in a positon to' deal with` he question of the-Public Works position, the Public Works Director!s,postion., or the City Engineer. Is `it your understanding that that would not be in order at this. meeting?" Mr. Nord.: '.That is correct." _ is CITY OF`LAKEVILLE SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MAY 3, 1977 Mayor Mako: "Then it would be your understanding that there would be no motion being really forthcoming from this 'Council after its questions.. and discussion other han to adjourn the;meetng., Mr. Nord: "That's correct." Mayor Makoc "I guess I:have no-quarrel with that you are quoting -would you read that statement as it written on the April...:" Mr. Nord: "Certainly. The Council discus ed the public hearing on the Public. .Works Director's position amongst .the members n an effort to find a date con- venient to all members. It was decided that the Meeting taould be set.for Tues- day, May 3, 1977 at 7;30 PM.'to review the Fublic Works Director position, j'ob description as written; 'and Sob function as it is now being done." Mayor Makot""Okay, Fine. 'We will limit it to those `three areas." Mr. Nord: "I guess it would also be in .order to have some sort of a discussion as to how qou prefer this particular meeting to be, conducted so ;that we can all have some gs~ cif agreement there. It is my understanding-tha:,t from your earlier scat t you would like Mr. Robinette to give his statement and `that then he Council-is to ask questions of Mr. Robinette, that :then themembers. of the. public are to-ask Questions and at that point, I assume Mr. Robinette would have additional time to make any additional comments that he would de- sire to make, would'be a fair statement." .Mayor Mako: "Than would be my .understanding. I-don't want to eliminate any o~pertunity for anything to be said that may have been forgotten..or-not thought of -Mr. Nord: "Well-, I think that Mr. Robinette has decoded .that he prefers to make the opening comments on his own behalf since, I should qualify: that, since he is not being attacked persooly-with-comments pertaining relati~ia to his position. Mr. Robinette has agreed with me that if I have additional questions that:I feel are relative I would like to perhaps ask Mr. Robinette a few ques- tions at the completionof his opening comments ,perhaps to include a few com- manta he maq have overlooked or to explain a few of hose comments-on more de- tail I assumethat you have no objections?" Mayor-Mako: "No, none." At this point,:. Mr. Robinette addressed the Council as folaows: "I want to thank the Council for the :opportunity to discuss my'job in detail .and make somefacts known 'to you,~perhaps if you have not had an opportunity to make known.,. ^ , You have had `a propasal,to eliminate ,my j,ob. Now in. order to evaluate any job it is necessary to know certain facts. I will just review a little bit but it is necessary to know the. real-job. °What-were`the conditions. when.: the job was erected is-very important. What has been accomp~lished'by the job as it s3 What has been the cost benefit of this job as it has been,done2 What are.~thenonditions now. and what are`the condi~~ons_ forecast for tie future? And then I' think after you know those things you would want to address some` details: These details :are specific. None of these, I believe, had been Laid before you in any staff memorandum or at°Ieast.to my knowledge angthing ike that has never. been addressed: Who was going to take over individual duties of the. job proposed to be:eli~inated? What are the actual cost benefits documented? Is there a schedule or change ` , in implementation of the new job? And the, of course, you must or should con- alder the retention .of valuable personnel,.. not only me but anybodywho-happens to be ill-effected. And in„indusfixy,_government, wherever, people are consid- eyed assets.. I will clearly address these details"tonight and`then before going. into the job.~.:~,t is~,~.~aecesaery°A~er~~you. to k~row some of my background. I know we all have memories that sometimes fade and it does affect how I'do my job and how I have done it and how I c©uld do it in the future.. Thad 20 years experience iu the U. S. Army with formal training, and I say formal. school training in the fo lowing categories. Supervision, personnel management, production control, safety,.administration, and I also had two-years of college level credits 'at that time:' NOw immediately before taking the job in this City, `I attended .Inver Hills Community College, specifically to take--a course `in business management and accounting. In the two years, my grade point. average -2- V ~ ~ • GITY OF LAKEVILLE.SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING ..MAY 3, 1977 was 3.:58 on a scale of 4.0. .Specific studies' in addition to .business manage ment_and accounting courses were data processing, modern business corres}~on- dence,`busness law, personal relations, personnel relations .and management. I have. found uses for all of these skills in this Sob. Now I-think we should address the Sob itself, the background of my Sob. What were the problems ex- pressed when I was hired? These prob ems were explained to me by the Council. At that time it was the Commit ee that hired me. .The work in the City was 3ust .not getting done. The day to day work, the condition of the equipment, sup- posedly there were unfavorable comments concerning the condition of the equip- went and the way it looked. The Council was NOT being kept informed, and they decided to desire some planning. These. specific things were mentioned to me ; by Council members. .The interview for this Sob; was-very detailed. `In addition to-Council members, there was a registered engineer by the name of Brad Lemberg wh'o sat and exam3.ned -me quite closely on some technical questions. They also-expressed a desire for economies in operation and that was-.being able to do some things within. the City with. the people in the departments.. Now I entered the scene .with the.... philosophy that Iexpressed at-that-time. That phlosophy,was that.I had a deep:belief.in democracy. I believe the government can be of service to the people. T was hired. with a Sob descript on. The Sob description is something I wrote and Somethings the Council wrote on `their own. This is that Sob description. .This Sob descri~ti®n was attached to the minutes of the meeting at which`I was hired. It has,~not been. updated. I will address these .questions and also inform. you-of the additional duties that have been given me. First; I want to say that I take my hat off o the rest of the Cityworkers, people thaw work for this City; It is proven that`I have directed-and coot-: dinated some things within the departments, that they have done the work and I think they deserve a big pat on the b8ck'and I give it to them.- I want to go over, this not all inclusive because_~'d be standinghere a long, long'_time but I want to go over alist of soffie things that-have been done with coordination between .the .City departments>that,,:we_nave-accomplished. Antlers Park -Initially,-we had no Park Director, of course.' The tearing down of the building`andthe initial wore that was done in; that park were citizens committee and other, supposedly professional planners said it would take $50,©00 of - he City's money 3ust to opt that parka As~ I'recall'' 'less :~.han $5,000 was spent in the first year and wa god the_~ob.dcne.~- The boat landing - I think Councilman Emond~mentianed the intiative about the problems of parking in :that area. The idea. Hof' how that'.could ,die done eras my idea. I drew it out on a sketch padand I thinks-in the space': of three or four days after the Council okayedYit it was don~'.at a eos~ of $250. 'The City Hall renovations - I have, we have,.renovated City Hall, put up walls, taken walls down, rearranged things, all within ''the .City 'departments. .This is the Streets,_Sewer and Water, Park Department, for two different Administrators on about three or four differeru'r oc,cssions. , The Valley Park hockey rinks and High School hockey rinks -These were done -with~City personnel. Before that time, hockey .rinks were supposedly been put up by the Hockey Club:. because there waB no City personnel .:available to do it.° ..Yet we did it with the same number of personnel as there were before within the Citq Departments and"still got the. day today work done. 'This list is losig ,and I won't go into detail.. Drainage of the lots in Lakeville Hills, and L.am sure .the Council will re- member where the people had water prob ems. The Council ended up buying`>two lots, and with 3ust a scr€~p~ of ..paper"and 'with the able help of the Street De- partment under the direction of.Bil1 Hoffbeck and with the rental`of some equipment for a cost of .about $250, we solved that problem internally. The_ZQ8th Street paving pro3ect -all internal again. The Valley Park-swimming pools. -They deserve.,. I think, special mention be- cause at the t me, aid this is within the last year, you.'had a propasal:.from an engineering company that it would 'take.$16,004.3ust to put. them back into service without-even making all of`the nice for meeting all the. nice re- quirements`-- we want it-to look real nice. We did-that Sob internally and I think .that the Council will remember that it was delayed because the pools -3- 1 ~ CITY"'(~ IF%IE~_:SPEC~`AL CO~TNCIZ MEETING MAY 3, 1977 had not been officially .given to the City. up until amost the lst of Maq last year before we could: go to work on them. They still were opened the first week in June and the. other one. the second :week in June. Bassett's Addition high water.. The resolution of that problem was done n- ternally by me . Equipment renovation-and trucks -There is the. case of a GMC truck it s still:.in uee today. It is now used'bq the. Tree Inspector hauling Lumber all the time and suppasedlq it couldn't be kept running before I, got here. I recommended safety programs :for the Citq. .The City did not'have a safety .program. In fact, I,had been told 'that I was the Safetp-Offic~r for the whole City. I-.administered OSHA, which is no small set of regulations. That' includes for all the City Departments, sot just the ones under'mq control. I conduct-active safety program-and I think they have paid off. 'The City's .insurance inspector was around and confirmed that, qes, our accident rate is Low for a City<of this size. This has a direct dollar and cents effect in that the City .pays for insurance andoxt W~rkmert's Compensation `plans. I have: made. many recommendations approved by the Council. concerning the aeon- omical uses of manpower and equipment. I have just gone over a few for you. I haves briefcase full of pagers that Lam .sure qou donut have time to read tonight of the d fferent projects ~~that I ~.ave ~propnsed and have -been acc.omp= fished. The emphasis has always b,ee~n, on_r~ff3ciency and on tm3tAttary savings and doing things within our-own budge:tec~'amounts. I have and I still consolidate purchase requests and this is an important func- tion. First of all, you have to make: sure that what. they purchase is reallp needed, not just because -somebody-ordered it. Of course; it's nice'to check and„make sure it'is authorized. We have an accounting agent 'that 'when people are dealing on a day`to day basis with equipment and, parts and things Tike that pr whether theq.are the best buq.. T+o consider whether it is the proper time to purchase. You know there are cert,~n times of the year o purchase certain things and they're cheaper, `and they're esPeciallq cheaper if they .are consolidated. I think the-record~re€lects I have done a good job on this . I checked the quotes, and I het same ~~ates myself and when I do that , T make sure `that local businesses have had a chance to quote. An then, I a~ke-the distribution of costs and kings that are between departments. up at the City Hall. 'The day_to day things that have to do with the operation of City build.- ings, because the accounting department has no waq of knowing what costs get allocated exactlq where, andthe Administrator: would notkztow'that. I: review the preliminary budgets with an eye for preventing the shopping list approach. I think the Council knows that the budgets that have been presented by the departments that are under my 'control are not shopping lists. That. requires an intimate knowledge of equipment, and personnel, and their cape bilit;tes. That can't'be done by someone who does not have a vast knowledge ` in that area. I write the justifications. The supervisors of the depart- manta are out working. Therein lies' some of our efficienc3rs,`a lot of our efficienc~s We have'excellent.'supervisors of the .departments `and they're out working and supervising their men and not tied down orith administrative details. I attend Council meetings. Of course, hat's another part of my job dascrip,-~- tian.as written and'I'm very proud of mq record: I,was on vacation and missed bne meeting last gear'and in two years prior to that-, I missed one meeting for a-total: of 'two meetings and going on fouryears.. I answer .questions rarelq a meeting goes by that I do not have to answer' some ;question arpresent a report. That prevents a tabling of .items by the ,Council making more work while they go find an answer to something that„-qou know, is back on the agenda next week.. And, I'm always to work the next morning, usually b~* 8 o'clock. I don't take four hours or three hours off he, next morninffi. J_ I confer with suppliers and salesmen almost on a daily basis to keep abreast of what's available, and what can do the best job and again you have to ..have the knowledge of hardware :and ..equipment. We had the mechanic at work and as I think the Council will recall, if I remind you, that we purchased tools for that mechanic and we purchased that'set of tools almost a year after he -4- • • CITY OF LAKEWILLE!.SPECIAL COUNCIL_MEETING MAY <3 , 1977 went to work, but ---and the reason.€or that delay. was-.:for him tv find out him- self.,exactly what he needed, what he could best do ,and not purchase a bunch of tools than we weren't going to use." Mr. Nords "Excuse me, Mr.` Mayor." Mayor:.Mako; "Yes?" Mr. Nord: "I'think turn off the machine on Mr. Robinette's behalf--and I think .that we should`explaun that Mr. Robinette is taking ;the fourteenth."assugned duties from the day. when he .was intiilly hired and is taking. these items one by ane and explaini~ag how. he has implemented each of those particular 14 items. At the: present time, he on, I believe, item six. And Mr. Robinette, perhaps, to make it a little clearer, if you `would start reading .the. particular item .that you are referring to 'and continue with. your explanation, it might help - all members: present in clarity." Mayor`Makoz `okay. As Long as'we have an interruption, why don't you folks' `move along, come on in and move'. along the wall there so you're not standing out in thecvld. We have room in here, come on, ---it's kind of like in the bus... .okay..." Intermission. Mayon Makot "Jim, are you going to use that opaque: again? Could we put that on the floor, please, as. long:. as you're near it. Thank you.." Jim Robinette: "I 'an cons aptly evaluating work. I've changed some companies. I think the Council can recall as examples how I:monitorrado expenses and -what the work being done on those radios. and I have'..presented written matter Qn that.. Item number 8. Recommendations concerning hiring of personnel: I think every- one in Lakeville is proud: of our Park Director. I initially recruited Mr. Michaud.. I contacted the Professor of the University of Minnesota,` as you recall, the first year~:w~ie~. we started the operation at Antlers Fark to find someone who could work ~©r ,quite some.. time in this City in that capacity and then was :hired fulS tuna... With the mechanic, I wrote the job description and I was in.wuth the inter- view along with-the Street Department Superintendentand we jointly recommen~#e~ to the City l~an~ager he be h~3.red. We Nava... an excellent mechanic. I recently`wrote..a Sob description for a 'federally funded team to inspect manholes,`which I understand-wi21 be funded,. which will enable this City to pursue the repair of ;manholes and perhaps stop more .infiltration in our sewers. Item. number 9,~is perhaps;.the one that I-have spent. most of my. time: in, par- ticularly'un thelast'year.~ Because I have responsibility tonsure the pro- jects were planned and cam}aleted as directed by the City `Council, when I am told that pings: are ready for acceptance by the City and they. are-.nit up to the standards that I think a reasonable person and a taxpayer would expect to get for his mosey then, obviously he responsiblity is'on my shoulders to say omethung.- I have done that. 'There is a Long list of problems associated with certain prm~ects_and Itll ,dust name them briefly. Lake Marion. North project. I think there are some'pevple in the audience that know of certain problems concerned with ahem.. Jackson 1st paving prob- gems, Clays Acres paving problems dating. back. to 19:73, the recent Orchard Lake project, the booster station, the sewer line fram this plant up towards the'main City: which the City is now in the process of accepting with same miniature renovations, the Valley Park West sewer lines which approval ways held up for over a-year while repairs were supposedly made, drainage prob- lems,-.troubleswith citizens concerning Highview Avenue. This is by no means a complete list of every project that I have raised--pulilic.eoncern over. The. problems with Orchard Lgke on"the recent sewer project;.. yes, ..there have been operational failures. There were three grind~ex pumps installed in various areas 3n North Lake Marion. These. grinder pumps cou d serve s total of seven houses if they were ,:all developed. They're not sll developed, right paw they are serving three houses. Since December, this is roughly four myths -5- ~ ` ~x CITY OF LAKEVILLE.SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MAY 3, 1977 January, Febx'1~tilti~~ ~.rch~, April; 'it has cost this City $3,000 in labor and pump replacl~t§:and at that rate, those, you know that's dust a completely inefficient, operation.. `Tle Edwaxd Co . the companq that repairs these pumps and"they say that there is.,~d such-thing as a, grinder pump that yourean ex- pect to ga for very Gong, without have some repair,. but yet I recall sitting in a; public hearing in which the people: were<told you put grinder pumps in the ground and forget about"then in they're maintenance free. That kind of maintenance.freedom can break our sewer budget and I am concerned. We have had .problems with sewage spills that .citizens-have called the Pollution Control Agency, they'be been in`the paper, it's a matter of record that it has happened five times since .last October, there are.. pumps of higher capa- city in the::` lif t _ station at North Lake Marion than there are further down the stream. Now. as long as everything works exactly right, they come om and pump a very small amount of sewage supposedly if everything works .all right. But no piece of-equipment, no mechanical piece of equipment invented by-man at this point-works contirnsausly without malfunctions. When that hapgens, it over.- loads the system..and forces the manhole off the wet weld and it may go into ` somebody's yard or into Lake Marion as it has. There have been no solutions forthcoming since last October, 'as to how we are going to prevent that in the future: No engineering solutions.. We have had a problem, as you know in the past,_as the large cities have a problem with vandalism. ;One time they drain-- ed, they turned on the fire hydrants and 'they literally drained all the .water out of thee. water..reservoir out. here. Nobody .knew it until the.:polce called me at 4:00 o'clock in the morning and said. they didn't have any water pressure. That could be a"dangerous'`situation if there is a fire at that time. i want to ..tell you a little bit o~ same of what I have done, and.some of what .I do. I have in my hand, and I :.:have .not presented this to the .Council, I`would normally under normal circumstances be :presenting it to the 'Public Works Commit ee of the Council. However, it's far enough along., I felt it was proper for me to discuss .it tonight. It is a proposal from a>company called Trailmark and for the sum of an ins illation cost of-about $2,500 they will- nstall electronic monit©rs on-all of ourlift'statons and on ail of our towers.. There would be a•little box in the Ptalice'Department and if there is a'malfunction of any one of these lift stations, f the. water would s art ` to go down' below the safe -level in the .tank, the light would come ond: telling; someone there was a problem. Now, we don't have 24'-hour dispatch so supposedly that wouldn't heap: at night. I have discussed this with"the telephone company. They can very easily put a-switch on a little box so we don`t have police or dispatchers in the Police Department they could dust flip this<awitch and auto- maticatily a recordedmessage wouldgo perhaps over. My home phone number and " perhaps the'Wader Superintendent's telephone number. I would propose they would-be so involved anc we would not know what exactly was wrong, but-we would, at any. time of the: day 'or night get telephone .calls saying there is a..problem in your.. water and sewer-system, and then of course. you can ..come down and get right on- t, right away. Tn this way, we. might very well solve two problems at a relatively ,small cost to prevent these constant sewage hpills. We also. eliminate. the possibility of a large loss. of water and the nice thing .about .this, system is that we can eliminate the overtime of having to go around on a Saturday night and Sundae to check>each one of these individual installations to make sure that there is nothing: wrong ::with them. There: are cties...that are ,on these systems and they are verq reliable. This ystem will, pay for itself: in approximately one `year. That's some of-:what I do. None bf these proposals :have come from professional engineers. The Valley Park ennis courts. When:.I.hadto raise a public cry and Ithink-the Council was well .aware and,.I think they were-also. aware that there was some more repair work. to be-.done. on they -t#aatt `cads to tlb~ie this spring, -and yet .:they had received it knowing-whether whenthat work was going to start-or when t was to be .completed. Yau know, at this point I think all I'm going to sy is-that all my qualifications have been; questioned. I have had people say, "'You can't fudge , the work of a pro~eseaa;$ -engueer,, because you're no a professional engineer.' Well,- I wand[ t4-;gi~~. you alittle- anatctgy' that I think is appropriate. When you go to bu,p gturself new automobiles and the engine doesn't run right, maybe the radio is. missing.,: it's not there,: the automatic transmission doesn't run right, the enders don't match and the painti is chipped. Does anyone tell you " that you can't, 3udge-your automobile':because. you're not -an dl~itamotive engineer? Of course :nat. Ip~s 'ridiculous, .mod= when y~su take it to- get it fixed, you don't take -;it to fan automotive `engin:e+~r. I ~~think I :want to point out that no -6- • i_ • CITY .OE LAKEVILLE SPECI:~: CQUNCIL MEETING MAY. 3 1977. allegations have ever been made to ice or I believe o the_Cty Council, that any d screpancies that I wrote existed in the City„:did not exist at no time. There have-been lengthy lists that I think clot of people are aware of that I say ..:here.-are descrepances. At no tithe has anyone come back and said, Mr. Robinette, these don't exist. Eventually, hopefully, over a long enough period of-time ..'they , ;may .:get resolved . Item number 10 is, "How do I confer and assist Committees.' -I have canferxed on numerous occasions, when asked, and also made myself. available for the Planning Commission. I've spent a lot of time with the Planning Commission and we went over a Capital Improvements Program, a: Capital Improvements 'Pro- gram that finally never got officially adopted but I would like to point out that most of -thaw items in that Capital Improvements Program that pertained to the Departments under my control, have been purchased and are here and they`'ve been .done with the nars~al budgeted money available in those Depart- menu. I. spent.. innumerable hours before the Sewer and Water Committe before it was disbanded. I have one meteber last week ell me that as a former mem- ber of the "Sewer_and.~Water:Committee, and is now a member of the Natural Re- sources Committe, he said, 'You know, I never realized until I, went.: and: baked personally and now that Itm on the Natural Resources Committee, that everything you were telling us was right:.' I was discussing various problems n the sewer system at the time. But, the Park .Department, before :Steve was hired, h°~ade myself available all the time and I still do, if requested. I had:.. a cotttatent from a member of the Natural Resources Conmtittee that I chink is fair to bring up onight because it shows some of mY dedication,. I present- ed myself at a Natural Resources Committee meeting shortly after that body was formed. I toldahem who I was:, volunteered my services and told them I would be happy-to help-them. in any way I could.` I was informed that I was the only member of-the City staff-that has .done so to this point. And this was quite some ..time ago. Item number 11 is Special~k'unctians. ,fin this: Bart of my job description, theseare-.things. that..haVe t~hanged,.things that are obviously given me direct- ly by , he City Coutrc~l ~or by the City Administrator -which I now perform, 'supposedly ha't nob,Qdy else in this City can perform, but yet they 'can do away with'my~~ob a~id;who is going to perform these 'functions. I am by ac- tion of the Council; ~ the City ~'arester ~ 'When `I wrote the firs diseased ;tree greventon control plan .for this. City shortlyafter I was hired, it wasn't required on Gestate-.wide basis at the. time I did it. When the State got into it, .and said everybody had to.:have a tree inspector;, I got myself q~ali- fied, and I perforated that funct~.on along with all of my other functions'. We now haveanothet" tree inspector'- ftkl-time. He does nothing in the summer .but tree inspection=-and hattl3.ng down and carrying away of elms and. their pro-'' :.per disposal and I work with him when I'm out here. Many times if I'm going to see a citizen or inspecting a street, or I'm going to meet somebody on street lighting, I'm looking at trees and making notes at the'same time and seeing peop a and making sure that ou>' fob' is-`getting done. You knave, a lot of my dab has to do with public contact and I make a point to speak honestly to citizens, tell them what I can do and then do it. I pride my- self in that matter.... I have been given alr the grave pit inspections and when the City Council e~cpressed the desire to update .the gravel`Qrdinance, I took the ordinance, did the leg. woxk, found out what all other. communities: were doing, met with graver. operators to try and take the `ordinance up and find out what: they `could live with and what they couldn'"t live with. I presented by findings to the Ctp Council, gave 'the ordinance and what we wanted to the Attorney to rewrite and the night'...., Tage ended. The new tape startsa This involves ,making recommendations .concerning street lighting onnew plats. It means receiving citizen complaints from lights that are out and see thet they get repaired. It means making ,sure that we don't get billed for the streetligh s we don''t have, and it means ;working on new. street lighting plans. I think everybody in this room is probably aware that the. State energy laws .are. going to urn gas lights off in September. Now we have some _7~ ! ~ CITY OF LAKEVILLE SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MAY 3, 1977. areas in this City are lit bq gas Lights d I am working an street light- ing..plans and,I havebeenstudyng other;`peoples street lighting plans trying to figure out what would work here. I'll show qvu how detailed this gets be- cause I"think its worth pointing out.. This is the street lighting plan for Valley Parka It shows the li ~ita~ and the proposed locations of those lights.- Now, again .this is somethingil~as been before, partiallq'~'before, the;Public Works Committee in the: pas and is waiting for 'me to cotapletee at. Then ,we'll, go back there and some recommendations will come to the C®unc 1. I,approach it tonight because I want to show you the'deta.il involved with doing some of these things. The lighting itself., will .run through a co~puter to make'sure than it would be adequate. General Electric does this as a service at no cost for the lighting. But, of course, the lighting companies, they don't want anything to do with easements. It is up to the City.to'tell them where: ease- ments exist and what could be used. So you have to sit down with each and every plat map .and decide and..copy exactly where these easements are. This I have donee. The reason I haven't finished this section is because the City' doesn't have a file..of the plat .map in their :vault .and I.have to go to Hastings to finish them. But it shows the detail involved, it's not some- thing you sit down and do `in five minutes: Weed Inspections. We have that being taken care of between the Tree Inspector and myself. I work with the. County Weed`.Tnspector,`I take calls, L make visits to people,.and I get a lot of complaints about.. people that have a next..door neighbor that has `weeds. I previously mentioned I administer.all of the safety and QSHA laws`and I want to expand on these a little bit; because,there`is a lot,of paper work involved.. in that. There has to be;xecords, Workmen's Comp, records are not. good 'enough for OSHA. You have, to have specia~;i~ed f:orms~ and records, I keep those` re~ cords. I mentioned 'before. that I haave been `ve~y~concerned for- the safety of the people in this City. 'And I think that that matter since I've been here, I have worked, I.think you could,~sagF.diiYgently, to `make sure that they have-safe equipment"and they have. the equipment that th~q need to do an effective Sob. I have recently been given the ~,ob of collecting delinquent water bills. I get a long list of water bills that are quite high and maybe have been not collected in a year or so and I'm supposed to personally 'contact all heee people. Apparently-nobody else in the City has time to do that. I.did. And I'm happy to do it if I have the time. I want to talk about grant: applications for a minute. I'~:r~n't know whether the Council is aware of it, but I've worked'in conjunction with the-~oliEe some year ago, yearend a'half ago, which the Police dvicl an unusually fine Sob, and we did a survey of everything in Lakeville: Mr Hoffbeck is now working installing signs because he had a grant for $5,©00 from .:State money.' Now take these signs. It has. to be done. by .Tune 1 and was supposed to have been done before .December lst and a delay was requested because of weather and. it was extended. to June 1. The City will be paid: by the.°State. When the official notificationcame rx~t during the last go around whey the people had this `Public Works money coming from-Washington, Lakeville didn't apply for anything.. and they didn't: get anything. Some cities did. I imme- diately wrote to Chicago and procured all of the farms that were necessary. I gave some ideas.., I had one idea but at, that time you were building a fire :station in Valley Park. We had a set of plan~ahichwere necessary. For .that money you had to have a set of plans ready to go. ;You just couldn`t start., planning something; The Planning Commission and the City Council had said "Well you .know we're going to-have-to.buld a fire station somewhere in the .Orchard Lake area fairly soon. Mp idea :was use the same plans for the Valley Park station, apply for the money .which was a-300% Federal grant and if they :give"it to you, you have a fire station. If they don't, then obviously you haven't los any time except for filling out the farms. I know the;Admip,is- trator was too busy at the time to fill them out himself personally. T:.did indicate: that possibly I could`fill it out: myself,abutnothng ever eamerbaek. I think I would have gone out and tried to identify the .sources and availability of funds,: plus item number 12 `is one of my duties to ;try and identify, it doesn't say we'd get those we identify, but I've worked stringently with the Civil De- fense 3n the procurement of we have a generator worth several: thousand :dollars. It is tow being mn,dified at a cost of about $250 as approved by the Council. It will. possibly 'run .our lift stations:and.enable us to pump. some sewage in the case of power outages, or enable us to set up a large number of lights if we have a natural disaster o~ some sort... This. was pror i ~ CI~.'`4' 'OF 'L9KEVIL~.E SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING.. r.. - - y MAq 3, 1977 .doted `between myself and. the foner `Civil Defense Drectox' and it was ob= tamed from"the U. S:. Weather Service through. the contact of and the performance of~ the' 1?e~ease $ireetor had., .Thad. given him a list of things that I had ~ar~anted to try" and get. CETA workers are ~srimethng I Tiave taketit an interest `in. CETA is a program in which the Federal S,tBte goverut usuallq pays. fox ypa~ng people to get' some. work experien e;. Maybe they~don't~have "any:'background in .work, ::.sometimes they are untrained or they. may even be someone that is in trouble with the law. I have talked with the Ch,~.ef of police and various people around here and again these are".fully funded programs at no cost. to the Gity. We currently have a girl coming in for two hours a day., Now::.you say that's not much, but she cleans. the Council Chambers.., and. she cleans the floor out'=Where:,. and she answers my phone and she does some light typing. This is .at no cost to the City. `And they want her trained, at` east to have some work experience. That goes on right now. We have been commended by the"Manpower services people, we have been commended on how we have our people organized and. how we supervise them and we have mean- " ingful work, for ahem, and: we have been told time and<_time again,"We love to 'send people to Lakeville because you guys;do a good fob of supervising and having work'for them to'do." 'Steve has done a lot o further that. Recently, -he has been working on (unable to hear due to ::people coughing),. .During the high water on Orchard Lake, we had all kinds of proposals from regis eyed engineers,. on :everything... from building retaining .walls,-terrifically expensive things, and..then Iwent and, T think`as you recall,,I got the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers down here, again, some certified engineers, but I gvt them down here in shout three days notice. They identified the outputs-of Lake. Marion to the satisfaction of the City At ooney. And then I was able to .procure sandbags for them, now many people in this room may not know this. The sandbags at that time costa38~ to 48~ each. Theq're probably, undoubtedly, more:. expensive than that now. I procured between ten and fifteen thousand- sandbags at`absolutely,.no cost..: But I'm sure the people down in Bassett`~s Addition, theq know theq were happy to get. their hands on it and they were happy to ge it done so fast.:_But yet supposedly, even identifying the outlet " and..having a culvert gut in, did"the Council approve, that. could be`done before a big drainage turfy was done we were told prior to that.',:.but yet some other people can come in and say, ~Yes,.here it is and here's what you can do. You ordered the culvert put in and it didn't have to be used, it `was there, and if- we had: to go one'step further..,.... it could have bean used. We have obtained tools, we have obtained first aid supplies, such things as grader blades, ~'at almost no cost, very'Iittle cost, I mean dust individually; ma1T. Yes, I have eboperated with item x'13 and L have consulted with the engiaeer;t,o keep abreast of_the subjects and I think that item speaks for itself because` I have had to many. times inform the Co~[neil of things that they thought were being done and were done or not being done. Somebody is going to have to do that in the future. The. talk about when wells are going `to have to be .drilled, talk to the developers is `not all engineering if you.. will recall all the things I have. talked about, iron removal, I drew the budget up for the water and `sewer department,. .there is :money: in there for a; study for an iron removal plant. Hopefully,' c~mebod:y can make out."some forms to get some Federal funds. And, I be worked tirelessly on. Item ~~`14 to upgrade the Management Skills for people who'work-under me. I want to tell you, 3've encouraged'them, I've encouraged them from the workers and I've encouraged them from the supervisors, to upgrade their eduction. We have ;people who did not have an education, that is, a high school education, that got a high school education, I Tike to think because I offered. hem encouragement. We have people who have procured licenses -this is like Class , C ,water a~pera.tars Licenses because I think I've given them en- couragement 'an~'seeing that 'they"were able to; go to seminars: Tn fact, I think everybody in the Wa"ter Department-has upgraded their licenses and T've encouraged that and I'm proud of these people. That helps their performance.: I think if you ~.rea3.ly `want `to take look at `what's happened around here ;use your sewer. syst~Cmc ~ Do you realize tI~`at~ everything in that sewer system has .been ..put in -everything I h~td'Marked, in the sewer 'and water system. Think `care-" fully there. They have been. pub in use in the'Iast three. years. The only system you dad was this and this,." The lift stations have gone from about 2 to 11. The system has more than doubled, yet 3a:~s being operated with the same number of 'peop~e~ who ,,were here when 'I c`am :to work here. I'm`pxou.d of their 'work. I 'oa.1y `give them direction. You look at the streets. You know the amount of development and the :population increase we've had in that time. -9- . ~ • CITY (~F ~VILLL~: SPECIAL COUI~TCIL MEETING MAY 3, 1977 Highview Avenue,: all the.way'~from here 'up to. County 46 has been installed. Dakota Heights had likes ,al~iost no houses` in 'it,` I think it really shad. two houses in the whole place. All!~of t~ioee streets have.be put in and are "now being taken care of. All of Woodbury, none of that was here. Those streets are in. People are living there require care of those streets.' Lakeridge,'a11 of that has .been put tn.~ Over here, in North .Lake 'Marion, we've taker'over old County Rd. 64 and, of curse, we've had all kinds of people' move into bhe fith and $th Adrt ions ire- Valley` Park, now that that'- developed after the~.,bankruptcy'was taken care off for Verxt Donnay Cv: We take care of-those streetg. Do you realize that all of those streets are being :taken care of°~by the'same Street Department with the same number of people that I~ca~ to work here.. But get, supposing that work didn't get done before I caulhere. I`m presud of those people, they,;do an outstanding fob. I think sae talk about personal management, there is no grievances ever filed: from anyone under my c®ntrol on anything that'I've.done'. I want to tell you about a couple other things`_that I am currently working on. Ism sure some of the Council is`aware or maybe all of you , ate because, you-know I don' get a chance, I haven't been able to ~iref you a1I on these things.. We''ve had problems with street names, Police have had problems .because on the radio certain streets sound relatively the same, like Hollins and Howland Avenue. ,..Now they have had cases actually where emergency vehicles went_to the wrong places. I arranged-the- meeting between the Public Works Committee and the County and had the County come up here to specifically.: identify where the problems exist. _That's in the hands right now of some members of the Public Works Committee who are working on same certain streets in their area and I will have to get'back-with the County. Some staff person' has to do .this. They have: to give completed staff work. I am prepared-~a do, that as I have been in the past: The outlook is, you know there is a mat~age- ment structure`in this City. That structure is that everything is present ins- this>Cityrightnow to take care of the growth that's going to come,`that' we 'have to have. We have to have growth along `our sewer wines', you laok at our sewer lines and'let me compare it with Apple Valley.-; Our ystem is roughly twice as long as Apple Valley and has roughly one-half `the number of customers. We have to get development and we have to have~a water and sewer system. We can take care of the .people moving in to this City and we can see that the snow gets piled up. The Street Department Sup~:ntettdent's here.` I know he's always happy to hear talk about'snow plowing because he's .the best. `But the point is, he can do it because he has`time'to be out. there working. and not burdened down°~aith many of these administrative details. Our superintendents are working superintendents: They are out with their people and they're out seeing some day to day :work So, the outlook is, if you replace me, ure, you say give this ~ob,'gve.&im all these duties ,that I've mentioned, give them-to the supervisor who: is qua13- fled, which they, are not in alI of these areas. But if you do, what are you "going to dc+? Then hire another man for each department. so the supervisor can- sit in the office and.. do that little bit-that pertains to him? That doesn't make 'much sense to me. And surely, that's whatwih happen. That's the way bureaucracies get started and 'that's why there is so much wash in govern- meat. I wear a lot`of hats and T've put in a lot of hours and I happen to believe very strongly in working for the people of-Lakeville. I thnkyou should Look at the audit reports. This is the audit reports 'that".your audi- for gives you every year. Look'at the 1975 audit report. $9,000 approximatelq left in the Street Department budget.. That's $9,.000'below budget because I dontt'believe in spending`moneyif you don't have'to`just because it's budgeted: .The 2976 audit..was given to the Council, the prelminary..audit by the Finance Director ~c~ the 'City. Again it shows a~~out:..$9,000:'below the budget fox the .operation of the departments under my direction. I think it's clear. You know,_~ou eliminate my, job, you're going to make things awful-expensive fa.r this City. If~;you-hire an engineer, and I've looked into this.' I have discussed„this with other engineers. What do you need if you really, if he's .~ea~.1.y g€~ing tD he an. engineer.,,:.- what's he going to do, just take-over my ,job? Maybe he' not, he's not, an engineer supposedly... may not be-that qualified in .maintenance management, I have in my hand a book~~n~tt~'is maintenance management .program for this City that I designed for the City as a result of per'~ap~s twai9ty years of work and experience. p ~ Vie. truck. This, we. have .as:log .for every vehicle. :This art is carried No secretary is requireg:' The mechanic gets the=vehicle and gets the first papers to make out the sheet that gives .the vehicle data, who it was pur- chased from, what it cost, wh; is helpful for a permanent record all the -10- ~ & • • CITY dF'LAKEVILLE SPECIAL :COUNCIL MEETING w..MAY 3, 1977 time, the serial` n~ttnbers~,.`spacial, ei~~t that's installed, `it comes i~a and you have .what is,kn~wa as 'Delayed Di~crepanci.es record. Things .happen with vehicles. Maybe, the mechanic,'yon,.know, it's convenient to let something go until the next maintenance. ~ It '3, "also convenient for those things to be forgotten. So of he'doesn_'t do sarc~ethng immediately he merely enters it on the Delayed Discrepancy Record. Then,... of course, as a matter of record, and he has to get it off there,. it makes it easy<for me if I come around to some 53 mayor pieces of equipmentA in the City ,that I'm ,responsible for, I can tell whether he is keepi~ig up with his work or note. He'has the man- tenance record right.. here when he .enters. the parts cost and the labor hours. The reason I had them enter the labor hours is because it's much easier for` me. I know the hour y rates and the mechanic doesa't know the dollars that its cost the City and his fringe benefits and. so forth. Normally. that would take care of a whole year of history,;: if i doesn''t you have two histories. When he has worked on a vehicle;youhave a record of`it. At the end of the montK, you notice ahese lines line up. You dust copy down the total cost of the repairs and labor .already .entered: and you have'a monthly record. At the end of the year, you can either throw this away or put in a,filing cabinet and put. in the .ending mil~ge and the -total dollar cost of that i~ehicle' and the average miles per gallon and there it is in the. record right there. No secretary help involved. You can double the sate of ~e Citp and a ..mechanic can take care of that.; I suggest you wih not £nd an engineer as qualfed in maintenance management' as I am. If you hire an engineer, it's already been told, okay, now we gotta' have a secretary. I dott'.t have a sec atary, and Idon't-need one. I have nothing against secretaries. I'have a little phone answering'~hing on my phone now and there has not been any complaints- to,the Council that. Robinette' does not ge called or he does not call people batik. Nobody 'has :ever said to me, 'Why don't you a~ wer your calls?' And Ideal with an awful lot: of citi- zens. And I don't think in the future that I'm going to need a secretary. Yq~~ know, I eould' drag out a lot of documents here and I'm not going to read- these..to you, I'd just take up your time, but you'll notice '.that I have..a vast amount of notes myself anci'I.have a vast amount of material that you .could go'batik tp my filing cal~iaet andyou'll see that the reason L don't take ug a whole ]got of secretarial.: time. is because I so dome writing and I, you know, why should I have something yped if I don't have to. It's cer- tain y' no more legal because it's typed `than if it's written and signed _by me, And if you have an engineer,. then you can. have a'secretary. I think it's 'been proposed; you get 2 of a secretary to work. with the engineer in-` ' tially, and-you know how long .that would last. No engineer does engineer- ng. and he needs a draftsman if he's really going to do some engineering, and then he also needs a surveyor -you've got to have a survey crew. You :need inspectors i€ you're going to have the sewer pipe and be responsible for putting it in the ground yourself, you've got to have inspectors there, or else, the truth of the matter is your going to do an engineering -you're going; to hire an engineer,,.. he's not going to do any actual engineering. If you're going to do an in-house job you're going to need those-things. I .think if you dig into it you'll find that out. I've been a watchdog, yes I have, I have been"demanding that the taxpayer gets his, money's worth. You know, I hear people. say, to .poll the public :officials. Well, why didn't they do something. I tell. you, I wou~d~_rather not have a job than not do something... I think the Council should, from what I told you tonight~.and I think it''s fa-dual; I've gone through this. I could stand up here'for another seven hours and go :through more details and drag out more reports that I havegiven you. The lawsfo-r the operation„of the swimming pools. in the State. of Minnesota. Steve"operates the swimming pools.•..And w~ have the water department taking :care of the_watet chemistry, but ,a~ho makns' out the :reports? Who's there on Satnrdaymorning and Sunday when everybody is off somewhere? Who's there to see that they really are.opetating within 'the conformance of the laws of the State of Minnesota. I'have`the only set of laws for those: swimming .pools.... in this City. An I cooperate with 'Steve-in that. Don't I Steve? Legal procedures far the, control ®t noxious weeds in Minnesota.. Yes, I think it's clear the way for this City to go is `to allow me to be effective and deal -:with .people and deal° w~.th them ho,~estly. .And I `think you should re=- affirm my job and if' an updating, o=f-:the job description is needed, then, I -11- • • i_ ' CITY OF LAKEVILLE SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MAY 3 1977 then I think that should be done. That revision is always good in anyth3:ng I think it's clear even when .the time comes to hire an engineer, you're still going to need somebody to do all these other things I've.:just told you about. Unless. you `re going to hire a whole bunch of :other people far any of. these >depar means. But for now,-I think you just need to reaffirm my_job. Let me deal with the consultants 'and be effective. I dealt with anew'consulting engineer and told me personally he looked forward'to being able to .work with me. Lf an updating of`the job description is needed, fine, then_let me submit what I think the'updating,should;be. I've given a lot,of things that I do that aren't in there now. You '.know, let the Administrator provide'what'he, ideas he has, and I'm sure he has some. And, let that work the. normal way then if 'the - through, perhaps the Public Works Committee that the set-up because every member of this Council cannot know everythingthat is going on in ahis City which is the reason you :set. up Committees: I hadeven been, for heaven's sakes, criticized. because I gave Commission - I gave information, Public Works .information, ;to a member of the Public Works Committee. As a matter of fact:, I've got a letter of reprimand. Highly ..irregular, You need those Committees. You have a Police Committee. Nobody screams .when the Chief of Police deals on the Police Committee. I really .think. that what you need to do is reaffirm my job for now.- It',s by farthe most effective way...to go. Update the job description. Let that updating of the job descrip ion go through`as a nor- mal part of this budgeting process for 1978. I can remember, Mr, Mayor, you saying you know, that maybe we'd all learn something from this. You know, I think, if I'm`being permitted to say so,'that if there are staff realignments on things to be done, the normal time to do that thing is`during the budgeting .process for the next year. Not all of a sudden juste in .the middle 'of the year say, 'Okay, we're going to eliminate a job' and no't go through any of the things that I. have gone through'tonght. ...You know, like."evaluating thatjob and what are the cost benefits'. I showed you-what. the cost benefits are the ' way I do things. You had the audit 'reports to, prove it. I don't know what. more proof there can be., In closing, I just want to say'one more thing. I'm going to 'say, yes, I'm a-public figure and; I'm .proud; of it. I'm very proud that I'm a wadch dog and I'm'very' proud that I try and that I'm available nights and-.that I'm available weekends. And,;I'm a citizen of Lakeville and that I want to work `for Zakeville. I have a letter from the Chief of Pol~ce,Lthat alludes to my availability in what I do. I just want to .give you the letter." Mayor Mako: "I would, like to read this letter that .Jim presented to me It's so often we"tend to, overlook 'those who are helpful.; to our service and only comment on those. who hinder it. Thete have been many instances in which you extend yourself for our people.-and_receave only a simple..thank you' in return. The stuationsrange,fromrassistance during times of severe weather and :your 'constant vigilance o~ the vehicle maintenance and include keeping our ds- patchers appraised in changes of on~calh status of your personnel. Some of , his seems rather trivial; however, it does xrot go°unnoticed, only unmentioned. In short, 'your willingness ta~~ielp'has~resulted in a much smoother operation for our people." Mayor Mako; The next order of business is to ask the questions. Let's...... Yes, .Glenn, go ahead. `Mr. Nord:: I'd like to ask Mr. Robinette a few additional questions. I'd like to make a general comment 'first that I'm certain 'that this matter has been wegh- ng heavily on Mr. Robinette's mind and. it wasn't until just yesterday. that Mr.'Robnette and myself were able to get°together. I think now he talked for the Bette part of an hour, and ouched many of the 'items that ,his ~'ob consists of and many of his responsibilities. I guess,I was personally impressed. just- with the length. of the list. I frankly didn't know what his job consisted of until he sat down with me and we started. taking, notes on some of these items. I think there are a few things that, because this is a public hear- ing, a few more details that should be brought up and I'd like to ask Mr. Robinette to discuss thepeoplethat work for the pity of Lakeville that are under your control, and I.understandyou have alluded previously to a mechan- ic,_I believe, you were :instrumental in hiring this particular mechanic.. Would you p ease explain the functions of the mechanic that works underneath you? Mr. Robinette: It means taking over all maintenance of the whole vehicles, all vehicles of the; City,, all the Polcevehicles, internally. We do all the -12- • CITX OF,hAKEUILLE SPACIAL COUNCIL MEETING. 'MAY 3, 1977 fire vehicles and we do all the vehicles belonging to the Building Inspector,..: Park Director,, my vehicle and all the street vehicles. He takes care of all of our maintenance internally 'and .the o~1y thing we send out is something perhaps-that we do so infreque~.tly that it's not worth buying special tools for, but we do need such thia~gs as.a~gling belts to install transmissions more economical than (cannot hear several sentences). T might add. that, you know, the-City has some 50 major pieces of equipment and that 'is so far 'belowA the pia iona~, average .that (cannot hear several parts) my maintenance record system. " I have the Council, I gave the Administrator - I remember I gave the Council whatever was necessary... I just last ,night pur- e chased a new vehicle for the Fire Department. I wrote a two-page letter about the :condition of the vehicle and why it should. not b!e repaired and I have the documentation-of how 'much work and how much money has been spent on it in the last year, I`have to take a tough stand`- its my j,ob. Sometimes you do it internally and'sometmes externally... Mr. Nordc Do you often have to make decisions due ro the fact that you only` have one mechanic about. what .particular vehicle is to be serviced? Perhaps you could explain that fur her. Mr. Robinette: Well, anytime_,you have a multiple facets of an organization in different departments that you`re dealing with, its only normal and healthy and normal competition that goes on. I think I have, where have been some cases -yes, I have to be firm and put my foot down. Yqu know I have to be sure that-the Police, for instance, get €rst priority and I think it is my decision-and I have talked this over with the Chief, of Police and he knows my feelings on it and agrees that unless it is a big national emergency; your know really (cannot hear) it'-becomes a difference of whether you, need a car for the Building Inspect or whether. you .need-'work done on one of the other 'vehicles, then I have to insure that those police vehicles are out on the road protecting the public. where they belong. Mr. Nord: Does your mechanic under your supervision also handle the daily maintenance or .weekly maintenance ,of all. these vehicles such as oil changes,- spark plug changes, the same as the rest of the citizens? Mr. Robinette: He handles"all of that (cannot hear). Mr. Nord: I understand that there is a tree inspector under your supervision. Mr. Robinette:.That'strue and I do all of the writing 'of `theprograms,. Ideal with the Department of Natural Respurces and'Agriculture Department and I might add on that the tree program in Lakeville. is thought of as one of the finest in the State of Minnesota. And I`think the Council is aware thaw- they do not receive citizen complaints on our tree program.:. It is also one of 'the lowest cost in the .State of Minnesota in dollars. Mr.-Nord: Is this a full time position this tree inspector.? Mr. Robinette: He and I both work on tree inspection in the summer and of course, he works all summer on tree inspection and for obvious rya ons(,cannot hear)... we have him working .for the. Park Department. Again I refer to the job description. This is part of the job description.' Mr. Nord: I suppose if you handle bhis'particular capacity will. you please explain as best you...can what these .tree .inspections duties consist of. Mr Robinette:-Well, the state law concerning tree inspection is .very strip- gent in dealing with oak and elm: and it requires a survey of all wood piles to make sure there. is no elm disease: It requires an early survey (cannot hear several words) sometime in May.,.. Keep in mind t~is is all done at `the same time as we-are hauling away the diseased. wood. Cannot hear) public..pro- perty and as the Lakeville program is written and approved by the Council and --approved by the State of Minnesota.; We supply c~emi~als and put them in. The chemical, Vapam primarily, which prevents the spread of diseased tree root grafts. There is no direct cots to the homeowner. We`send"in a qualified tree inspector to make sure it'is put in-..right: We haul the diseased t~cod, we operate an approved burning: site approved-by the State of Minnesota Pollu- tion Control_Agency..... ht `requires a lat;of my time to write these things and .make.-sure .that they are i~p.lement,ed right. -13- • • CITY OF LAKEVILLE SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MAY 3,.1977 Mr. Nord: You alsohad a function in that; capacity'pertainng to the wood in 'ahe parks? Mr. Robinette': We had the tota responsibility for. the removal and disposal_of the wood in Lakeville and also priva e property and from all public ;'properties and I might add `that I personally worked in the summer time'inspectng roads or `.talking with the citizens about`a complacent. No matter what it is 'they (cannon hear)....trees at the same time (cannot hear). Mr. Nord: Pertaining to a third department which is under your supervision, would you explain the.: Street Superintendent and'his,..people that work under him and your relations with these parties including the Street Superintendents ...themselves. Mr. Robinette: I am'very proud 'of the Street Department and ..all the people in it as I am the Department and: the people-in it. I am proud of he Street'Superintendent-who does, an excellent job and is extremely well .qualified., Cannot hear balance of tape. O'~.her~.tage atarts. Mr. Robinette: :..'.the way. it was described in"dealing with the public maybe; we need somebody: with an operating background. I.mean, the only thing an en- _gneer can do is have the ability to, design things.. It doesn't necessarily mean that maintenance-management or safety or any ofthe gther things that I {cannot hear balance of statement). Mr."Zaun: _ You think that the public works position occupedby a registered: engineer might be desirable? Mr. Robinette: : I~. some places t< depends ,u~aon'how the City is :`set up 'and how -'the job is being done and how you know if you have a registered engineer, then you are probably going to have a superintendent of public service.` I think my position:. is that even if' you ?have 'an engineer you are still going to need somebody to effect~ively.=~a,wh~t;"1 am doing and offer service to the public at a cost they:;c afford. ` '~~n~lmember: We11,_,at this po,~.nt hem' Jim,`how do you assess the statement. about the Gity Engineer at this 'point being valuable or not valuable. I am talking about a s taf f engineer - Mr. RobineC'ze: W"ei~; I. ~$oi't see at his poinf for Lakeville 'a staff engineer being valuable far the following reasons. If you are going to `.have a staff engineer who is wi,l,~.ng .to,~do the engineering...he'll only draw up plans and design things and` you wants him to inspect the, pipe that's going into the.. ground, then obviously he cant ~o'" that'' himself . He's going to have to have awere-; Lary, he,".s-'.going to have'to have a"survey crew;. 'You know, he's going to ..have to have inspectors. You know,'if you had ahh..,.if he^were to take, over my duties, obviously he co`f:1dn`t 'tre doing much of that. He's going to need' additional.. people too, himself.. Now maybe if .you had an engineer I`could - take over some of the inspection services. Bute on .the coat hard dohar,con- stant benefit you know, you hire. an engineer for $20-$22,000 and, maybe you say you can hire one cheaper and find one for maybe: $1$:;000 that was working (can- not understand) where are you going to be five years down the 'road, you know. What are you going'to be paying that engineer? (Cannot understand):..have so many secretaries and all of the others and I think for a-City he size of Lakeville, the most effective way is`to hire consultants-that we can have confidence `in and, you know, could demand responsibility. We must fix res- ponsbility;for consultants no matter who they are. Naw I have nothing against consultants and believe it or not, I'have-a very high respect for engineers. I do. I think perhaps 'sometimes it's been painted that I don't like engineers. .That is simply not true. I.have a Brest respect for engineers-. As a matter of fact, L have some..good friends who are engineers, believe it or not. Councilman Zaun: One'of the questions that I have, was the job description, Jim, that. you outlined and presented to us ton~;ght and elaborated on limit the-number of people that-could qualify for that position, in your :opinion? Mr. Robinette: I think it does when you look at the ( -14- i ~ • CITY OF LAKEVILLE SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MAY 3, 1.977' my background you know, all departments-going their separate way.' You get -the benefit of my purchasing experience and you get thebeneft of a lot: of things that L havehad a lot of experience in and ah,:there is no need to repeat. them.. When you. look at the growth potential you know, so your going to get more houses and mare people,. our ( } structure is set up in this City right now to handle. that right now:,:.without getting into' a great many more people involved. ( ) secretary for myself and 'for quite some time in the future and then again ( ) secre- tary yesterday. A lot of it has to do with, you know, how you do :the job, how ( ) as'how grou do it :and how you don't do t. When qou hire consultants-obviously-you hire him for a specific engineer project, your costs are going to be dire~tly`apgl$ed somewhere. You see, my salary doesn't <alI come out of General budge a ther. Part of `my glary comes form water and sewer .and part of my`salary, of course, comes out of the tree and even you .know, diseased trees are funded. and, of course,...are subject to levy " limitation. Councilmember: Then if far some reason whatever it might'be, you decide to leave the position and leave it 'vacant, am I right in assuming that. you think it would be difficult to find a person to ( )'as it-is now described and described to pou? Mr. Robinette: I am talking about my position. The.::job.:description Iliad. Councilman. Zaun: Thee one that you presented, that `would be your responsbli- hies. Mr. Robinette: I think this. I think if you would `look in the survey set up $oaae by the Leagge of Minnesota Municipalities, look at the wages paid other .;Public Works Directors who arenon-engineers, you will find.T am on the..bottom of the list and thatts because I have some other priorities in life besides .cold hard dollars. I think if my priorities would have`-been.-cold hard dollars I wouldn't be in puhlic service... To answer your question undoubtedly you . could get somebody who's qualified to fill.. my ;job. I'm not the only person ;who can do'this job. I don't believe that. anybody else is as qualified Councilman $aun: Then do you.agree,:,talking about this position, that there should be same restructuring of it or redefining of it along perhaps with some other positions? Xou do see that being done? Mr. Robinette: T think a part of my closing statement that my job description needs: to be updated and if that:'s what needs to be done, it should:become part of the normal budgeting .process.:{ ) the Administrator; myself or the Public Works Gommitte, k( due complete paragraph' csnnot be ~in~erpreted. Courtcilmember Curry: Mr Robinette, you stated hat the function of the City Engineer as~you understand it is}tc~~~design work. .Precisely ..what kind of de- sign: work.~d you un~ders;tand most C~ty.Engineers do - in Cities of comparable ..size to ours? Mr. Robinette: Well;youu know, { ) to us when Iwent-through a list of.our surrounding communities ( ) and T'm quite well aware, of course, that Cb~slea~ has their ~r~ engineer. ( ) They also operate .a lighting, they do their own street lighting and that's -the reason:that..( }:,-so,.( ) the proposal for the.biddng a-. City Engineer was to do design work, you know, and supervie the nstallation.- Counclmember Gurry~: Design work on,what? Mr. Robinette: On some road projects and sewer projects and things of that nature: And by the-same token, supposedly going to make sure we gat good inspections of our sewer systems. ( ),hire inspectors of your own. I went through what would be necessary to:`do that.' Counclmember Curry: I want to follow up with another question then. Does the staff engineer necessarily eliminate the need for consulting engineers? That is, do:staff engineers design iron filtration;plants,'major sewer and water projects, major:street projects, ordinarily? Mr.Rob nette: No, as a matter of course, they do not -they're dealing:. with cot~ltants . - -15- ~ • ~ CITY OF LAKEVILLE SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MAY 3, 1977 Councilmember Curry: Well, are. you saying then that cities .who do,in fact, have a staff engineer still have to go out and hire consulting engineers for ` mayor projects. Mr. Robinette:. Most definitely.' Councilmember Currys Okay.' I'd like to refer to points ~~9 and 13 `on your fob description. Point ~9 is o insure projects: are properly planned and completed and point X13 is. to~coordinate and consult with.. the City Engineer to keep a- breast'of projectis in progress as proposed.: It has been suggested in the pas that there was, ,or that is-to say,-.it has been suggested an-,the past the con- flicts between you and the consulting engineer are due to,personality conflicts. Would. you explain to its on'what basis you have made your determination that projects are not;-up-to specs. -H;ow da you document that? Mr. Robinettex Each and every time that I have,made_plans, I have made them with detailedand written dscrepancy''.lists. Councilmember Curry: What does that mean discrepancy lasts? Mr. Robinette: Discrepancy, lists are lists of the project things that are wrong. Cou~icilmember Curry: Based on what? Mr. Robinette: Based on inspection. Counclmemher Curry:.. Based on the specification?.... Mr. Robinette: On the specification of my inspections. You know L said before nobody ever questioned any of the lists. Councilmember Curry: Would you explain. to the. audience what specifications are? Mr. Robinette: Well, specifications are the description of what's expected out of the job, you know, in. layman's terms. It tells what.. kind o£ element and how it will be placed. -It even tells how the traffic will flow..' It gets verq de- tailed you .know.. ( ) As a matter of fact, .the one example Iused-was if the specifications says'the street. will be kept .open at all times, you know, it means the street will be-kept open. It's a contraetual document. It's so th~tthe contractor-knows when he bids on a job exactly what he has to do. And of course,. you have to have a knowledge of the English language to read :those things:,..butyou.don't have to be an engineer. Councilmember Curry: So would you: say that you have been trying to bring hese projects into compliance with the specif cations as written in the contracts? Mr. Robinette:. Yes, ma'am, at all times. Councilwoman.. Curry: I have no further questions. .Mayor Mako; Jim, when. you were hired or when this position was estab~.ished, how mapy administrative people-did we have in this City,. do you recall? Mr. Robinette: Well,- you `say .administrative people. We had, qou know of course, a full dime City Clerk at that time but. nothing else. Which we no long eve`, ( ) We have the same building nspec ar, tae. have the same plumbing inspec- tor, we have the .same. superintendents.. We might.. have had 15 aI ogether.` Short- ly thereafter we hired. an administrator. Xou know, you. have no more ;people now than .you had.:. ( ) . Mayor Mako: What do you consider. then the Park<~and Recreational Director as an administrative person? Mr. Robinette: Well, _I gues I consider him more: than just. an_adminstrative person.` Yes, he does administration, but of course he also:. Goes the operating.: for now and scheduling. ( ) I don`t mean to leave him put of the administrative { He's far more than just administration. Mayor Mako: ,But one o£ your first duties that was written in here was that you coordinate the activites,,of the,:Citp'Departments, Road and Street Departments:, Water and Sewer and since that job descr~..ptori'has been written, the Parks De-- partment for all intents and purposes has been under someone else. =16- ~ i CITY OF LAKEVILLE SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MAX .3, 1'977• Mr. Robinette: The Park Department, with the normal running of it has, ;I, mean all of the maintenance management.is:sti~l mine and when we-look at'all of .the. extra duties ( ) since that time, you. know, so, Yes, it's true that i no .longer have the. Parks Department but it' is also truethat I have a heck of a lot of other jobs that I didn't have:. Mayor Mako:` I,?m not 'denying that. You have toFhave something from this list that you ddn'fi have- origi~.ally. There must b some shifts away from this original. Mayor Mako: ,Mr. Robinette: Yes, Sir._~Now, one of the, ~~3 on the list was to consold~.te purchasingrequests. Now since this was taritten, we have hired a Finance Director. Now,' how has'that position affected the role-of the Public Works position? Mr. Robinette:. He ;doesn't. consolidate purchase:: requestia~;r we ;just get the :purchase ordersfrom ~im,,you know, that I used to do myself. I still do he consolidating between the deparrmer~ts and of the determining the company. The new Finance Director has ( )with the. accounting system up to .this.. point and that the ( ) liquor store audits and :everything and he has-for instance, not 'been ab~a9 to get 'to'the ( )water and sewer. So,-you know, he merely, you go to get a purchase order from him ( ) tell him which portion of thebudget. it's coming tiut of. ( ) Mayor Mako Could'-the Finance Director, when. he establishes some of the ,pro- grams you alluded to ( could one of his functions be to sit with`the three-department. heads ( ) and coordinate purchasing requests? Mr. Robinette: 'Well:, you know, I'm sure he doesn't have any :great knowledge of, I'm sure he :can comply"with the legal requirements, but again I'm sure he doesn! have ( ) two more department heads taking their time away from their people, ( ) .Mayor Mako; `Item ~~+'on your original john list-or"the original duties and responsibilities as a Public Works-Director was to review preliminary'bud- gets of the deparment and,the responsibility to present them. to the .Council Budget Officer, who until we had the Admihistrator, was the Mayor. With 'the hiring of the City Administrator and the Finance Director, is item ~~4 still a necessargfunction of the Public Works Director? Mr. Rdobinette: Well, it _certainly is. The Fnance'.Director,- of course, <has no background in the operation ) I could present those bud- gets to the_City Administrator. Again, you know with no knowledge of ( ) operation of the departments,. what's capab a of people and equipment. You know,:. certainly Ishould present-it to the City Administrator. ( Mayor"Makoc Your main point seems to be,;is that their time is better spent. doing'somethix~g other than,. presenting budgets to the Administrator. Mr. Robinette; Their time is better spent doing what they do best: And that's, they do work themselves and they also have to perform it.. -Mayor Mako: Do they not take time to present. the budgets. to you? Mr. Robinette: I sitdown and go ewer it with them and L, in'fact,. put`my ideas and theirs together and then. anybody who's involved ( ) T try and how my side o£ the couch to them which x have been verq successful'in doing in submitting these budgets. ( ) and then I can call and prove from; he audit reports:. that ( all of 'these hinge within the budgets since. I've. beaeu here ( ) Mayor Mako: Item 5 ran thet~`,jol~• description, or responsibilities, was to attend Council meetingsto dispute cotruction ( ) as the hiring pf the City , Administrator, for all practical purposes, did away with the need for that.- Mr. Robinette: Well,, I think..the~ answer to that is tha t you have two Admire- istrators, and neither one of diem ( and hardly meeting-goes by. that po~eple do~i't questions that'( )about something. Last night, you know, I alluded to answering these questions and presenting these reports and- making .the best use .of your time: so insfi2ad of having ( )..many times these questions-come;up particularly ( )when I come to work the next morning. --17- • • ~ CITY OF LAKEVILLE SPECIAL. COUNCIL MEETING :MAY 3, 1977 Mayor Mako; Do you, ,in the original. job. responsibilities were to make recammenda- tions that assist the CounCii in hiring,: faring... and,, disciplining. Since we have hired a City Administrator and at least a`Park and:Recreaiton Director, does not same of ttrat responsibility fall within their"rea]„m? Mr. Robinette:. Possibly some of it doesd, and I think"if you ask gourself,-you know, do they have the eminent knowledge in mechanics that. I do? I havejob descriptions and evergbody that works in this department,of Public Works,. to my knowledge, is the-only department in, this City has-has complete-.job. descriptions. They are job descriptions that I have written,'you know, the Mayor has seen .them I wrote job descriptions for the supervisors. I think obviously there are-some areas where,, yqu know, there's paper'"work.:( .Mayor Mako: The process there now is, then that the department heads come to you with the problem. or in `the case where hiring and..fir~gs are to. take .place. and the process `would be .the department heads would be involved: with you `and -you"would be involved with the ~ Administrator, and 'then the Administrator would be'involved with the Council. Mr. Robinette: I thnkthat I°`wi~l~point'`out, there Yias'never been'a grievance, NEVER, and I use that word vet wisely'and I've been here going on four years. There has never 'been a grievance: that came from the Department of any man ;under. my control., since I have come on here.. Mayor Mako: That has not: gotten to the Council? Mr. Robinette: ( I hapesaid grievances between workers and grievances between ( The Council has neverhad a 'grievance. here far anybody. that has: been working. for me. Mayor Makoz Have you ever taken any. of these problems that you just alluded to, to the Administrator where, your have had differences of opinion... Mr. Robinette: No, these.-.:ere not dfferences..that.I have had.... Mayor Mako: No, no, .with the workers amongst themselves.. or their .supervisors:? Mr. Robinette: That. was;. never necessary. I did that myself`. Mayor Makot Item ~9_ is to-insure projects are praperiy planned and completed- as directed by, the Council, and this:, of course, as well as Item-13 are areas where you have-done`a great deal of workthatpou have referred to`a number of times, and.. you.. have presented'a_great deal of Finds to members of the :Council. or the Council itself. or to the Administrator. Has anyone else in the City's' employees done any inspecting, discovered any discrepancies or carried them on to anyone else? Mr. Robinette; Well, when I:work ( ) I work very closely with Dick NordTing ( ) a lot of them are done. jointly, a lot:.of them I` have, some of them maybe his works ntiallyplanned. Some of them I find myself, you know, I talk to the Street Department people ( Look at what happen~td with: the sewer systems evaluation. You know, obviously 'I didn't go out there and do all of that my myself. In fact,. I wrote a report to the Council commending the individual works in the Water Department. In particular in that report, I mentioned Bob Christiansenand.Ray Zweber. You know., that was the report that I gave:. you. that resulted. in the T.V. inspection and later in the spending of $50,000 in sealing. We did that internally, but we did, yeah, they did the work you know and all I did was set up the situation so that they could do it ( By the way, I.think it's fairethat I mention, Mr. Mayor, that I was-,asked by the Minnesota Pollution Control. Agency and`the.Metropolitan Sewer Board to go .give a presentation to a seminar of Public Works officials. in the 'Metropolitan Arealast year on sewer systems evaluation ( You're right, there. have been-.some changes in some `of these, and some of them ( Mayor Mako: Were not also:~alot of .those discovered discrepancies noticed by the :people.' I would hope: that we paid tremendously inspecting,.. dollars to working 'for the`.Consulting Fires. Mr. Robinette:- I think when you come to a..piace where you ~qve pipes in the pipes in .the ground, ~'S, ? . • • ` CITY OF LAREVILLE SPECIAL C©UNCIL MEETING' MAY 3, 1977 I think they may have had a list.of these. discrepancies on them-that when.: you go out on final inspections and: find ( ) that aren't 'even ( When you run a final 3nsPectian, I, think it is pretty difficult to say ( ~ ) .n Mayor Mako: They have presented,you with .,a list of discrepancies too,.:have they not; the inspectors from the Consulting Finn? - Mr. Robinette: When it came down o final inspections, gupposedly there weren't any or we wouldn't go;out there.` They pras~nted me:witha list of discrepancies or we wouldn't be out there `on ..the final inspections because we would be saying, "Go .fix it,;it's not ready for us to :accept." Mayor Mako: Okay, Item: 10 is to prefer and assist the meetings upon request. .Now, when the Sob of 'the Public Worl¢s Director was established., as I-said a .little bit earlier, there were a number of positions we did nat have. We did'. nothave a Park_and Rec. Director who now meet~~; as I understand, every week with. the Park and Ree_Committee,~ wh~nrwe have the,Water and Sewer .Committee,, Mr. Nording to my knowledge met with the Water acid Sewer Committee every night that they met. At least, frerm the time he was hired and the City Administrator now presently meets every night that::the Planning Commison meets as well asi:the Planner is called on. So that at least in one<functon of`thn original Sob that hasbeen influenced, I would hope bythe hiring ;of them. Mr. Robinette: Well, yes I mean you. know-( ) Mayor Mako: Item`i2 on that original fob description was'that one you spoke about ( ) that are available. Now, are there other people in the. City :who are doing 'this: also or is it only to the Public Works'Director's position to receive it. Mr. Robinette: Oh_no, o£ course the Park Director probably has been. most. active the starting of the CETA thing and increasing that and ( ) and getting, into-the Civil Bef~nse, an important item, I'm into that very deeply now, as a matter offact, I have a set of forms on mg desk right now<to fill out ( ) surplus vehicles far next to nothing. It's taken a long time to actually get the forms and. do this work..: I'm sure., maybe the Adminstrator has worked on this, granted, I don't know. L'm sure alot of people maybe: worked on it. I know the Counc l expressed the opinion { ) I probably should be spending more time in that area ( ) becauge it taken alot of paper work ( ) Mayor.Mako: The_schoo has .discovered that alot sooner than some cities.' The tape terminates. From. here on in, Mr. McGarvey's notes. On final inspection, Engineer 'didn't know or wouldxlt be out there for final inspection. Mr. Robinette: "Could spend 'more time with committees," Council wants more time on grants. Mayor Makos Are you aware of-Engineer contracts set..forthe C.A. as owners representative? ` Mr. Robinette: No, I didn't know that. Mrs.`Curry: Staff analysis would be excellent direction due to changes in staff such as Finance Director, wh3.ch.changes such as Finance Director position. .Mayor Mako: 'Because budget went-under, wag it becauge you didn't ~.y~=someth~.ng? Equipment? Mr. Robinette: No ma3or pieces of equipment. Mayan Mako: Why wouldn't:yau u~,e-a-secretary and save your time ? LTse sgeed letters., -19- a i CITY OF LAREVILLE SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MAY 3, 1977 Mayor Makos Couldn't a staff Eng. use same survey firm, as draftsman,oa consultant basis rather than having a staff? Mayor Makoc What about work at .pools? isn't that Steve's job? Mr. Robinette: I live there and they know it. I help out in m©st ecumenical manner.. May©r Mako: Isn't a Utiltq employee on call? Mr. Robinette.: Yep but casts over-time and do take turns for weekends.` Use them only in emergency. Actual work schedule is made up by Si~perintettdent` Concerned about meter.repairs? Haven't collected Utility bills verp long. Mayor Mako: Water rate schedule screw up in 1976. One .put inoperation wasn't. first choice, but discussed it with Administrator, Maybe would have. worked if wasn'ta drout. Must give council choices and when don't get acceptance, don't feel bad. Motion bg.Emond,`Secondedby Zaun to adjourn. Time 10.30. _ t Rallcall: Ayes-Clarkson, Emond,Mako, Curry,. Zaun. Respectfully submitted ffi , r, , r;:Patrick E. M a ey,.Cle Edward. ,J . ko `yon A , -20-,