Monday, March 31, 2014

County Board Meeting: March 25, 2014

A part of the OACCT's Public Policy efforts for 2014 is for volunteers from the Public Policy committee attend both City and County meetings and report back on items that are of interest/concern to business.

2 positions have been filled,  1 for Exec. Asst. Director of HR and Project Engineer

The South Central Human Relations Center has updated their renovation plans to remove a parking lot and are working on a refinance option.

They discussed the possibility of collaborating with OPU for some IT needs.

There was also discussions about standardizing some processes across departments to ensure continuity and uniformity across the departments.

They were presented with bids for farmland rental which they will likely approve at a rate of $503.00/acre if I understood it correctly.

Much of the meeting was a presentation on the pay equity/compensation study.  The study and report are not yet complete and they would like to do some tweaking to minimize employee appeals based upon the findings as this could open a can of worms with regard what employees are paid compared to other communities.  

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

City Council Meeting Notes-March 4, 2014

A part of the OACCT's Public Policy efforts for 2014 is for volunteers from the Public Policy committee attend both City and County meetings and report back on items that are of interest/concern to business.

Most of the meeting was a consent agenda but there was a fair amount of discussion on some street and utility improvement projects. A number of citizens expressed their opinion, some for and some against the projects. One was tabled till next meeting and one passed to order bids.

One of the major items of the meeting was the approval of the approval of the Assessment Rate to stay the same at $52.00 per linear foot.


They also approved replacement of the Heat Pump at the Waste Water Treatment Plant as well as a feasibility study for the Lemond Road Project.

Monday, March 3, 2014

City Council Notes-February 18, 2014

A part of the OACCT's Public Policy efforts for 2014 is for volunteers from the Public Policy committee attend both City and County meetings and report back on items that are of interest/concern to business.

John Petersburg, House Representative made a presentation to the Council regarding upcoming session. 
Some issues for this year
Sunday Liquor sales
Minimum wage
Anti -bullying bill

Public hearing bond issuance for South Central Human Relations Center.  Issue of bonds for maximum of 2.5 million

Resolution to support the MoveMN campaign.  Passed, but Councilman Dotson voting no.


Conditional use permit by Panda Express to allow second building on their lot, possible use of Aspen Dental.