05-24-05 Worksession
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
Richfield, Minnesota
Special Worksession
May 24, 2005
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Kirsch at 5:32 p.m.
Members Present:
Martin Kirsch, Mayor; Bill Kilian; Susan Rosenberg; and Sue Sandahl.
Members
Not Present:
Staff Present:
Fred Wroge.
Steven Devich, City Manager; Bruce Palmborg, Community Development
Director; Mike Eastling, Public Works Director; Brad Sveum, Acting Fire
Services Director; Pam Dmytrenko, Assistant to City Manager; Betsy Osborn,
Health Administrator; Cheryl Krumholz, Recording Secretary; and Corrine
Thomson, City Attorney.
Item#1
City Manager Devich stated the Human Rights Commission (HRC) requested the City Council
consider revising the City's bereavement leave policy to make it more inclusive. The HRC provided
the City Council with proposed language to include domestic partners in the policy.
Jamie Van Nostrand, HRC representative, reviewed the City's current and proposed language
of the bereavement policy. The HRC suggested the City's policy be more closely aligned with
Hennepin County and State policies by including domestic partners. This would make the policy
more inclusive of different lifestyles and family situations.
Council Member Sandahl suggested the HRC work with the City Attorney to make the
language more understandable; it appears unclear as proposed.
Council Member Rosenberg stated the wording could be "immediate household" to make it
more clear.
Ms. Van Nostrand said the HRC decided to be more concise with domestic partner wording.
Council Member Kilian asked about the City's current leave policies.
City Manager Devich explained the City's vacation; personal and bereavement leave policies.
He added the City's benefit leave policies differ from the County and State. Bereavement leave is an
extra leave given for specific family members and is a City ordinance which affects only General
Services and Management employees. Other employees are union and have the leave as part of
their labor agreement, so it could be negotiated.
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May 24, 2005
Mark Olson, HRC Chair, arrived at 5:40 p.m.
City Manager Devich explained vacation and personal leave accrual rates, how the leave can
be used and the maximum limit on accrual hours.
Council Member Kilian suggested bereavement leave be made part of personal leave so the
employee could use the leave as needed.
City Manager Devich expressed concern that paid bereavement leave is an additional benefit,
some employees could view that type of change as a taking away of a benefit.
Council Member Sandahl stated the bereavement leave is not a bankable leave like vacation
and personal leaves.
Council Member Kilian asked about how much bereavement leave was used last year. He
added that the current and proposed policy does not include some people who may be closer to the
employee. Different situations may exist since bereavement is in the eye of the beholder.
City Manager Devich stated guidelines are needed, otherwise administration would be difficult
because the City could be opened to discrimination. If the bereavement leave is included in personal
leave, no reason for use of the leave would be needed.
Council Member Kilian suggested canceling the bereavement leave and increasing the
personal leave based upon the 3-year average annual use of bereavement leave hours.
Council Member Rosenberg stated support for bereavement leave because 24 hours is
necessary. She added that vague concepts don't work so regulations are needed.
Council Member Sandahl stated the bereavement leave and personal leave policies could be
reviewed again since it would not be settled tonight.
Council Member Rosenberg stated she wanted to make sure the policy was inclusive of all
types of households.
Council Member Kilian expressed support for inclusiveness.
City Manager Devich stated he preferred to not manage by exception and believes most
people would prefer guidelines.
Ms. Van Nostrand stated the HRC wanted to keep some parameters in the policy but add in
language to make it more inclusive.
Ms. Van Nostrand said if the language is broadened too much, it could cause discriminatory
feelings because grieving is such a personal issue.
City Manager Devich explained that if people manage their own leave time, the use reason is
not his concern. Richfield's leave policy is competitive but not the most generous compared to some
other metro cities. He stated he does not want to judge who qualifies for bereavement leave so
preferred guidelines.
Mayor Kirsch stated that Council Member Wroge submitted a statement to him and requested
it be read into the record at the Worksession to express his comments that the City Council should
not be addressing this issue but rather that it is the role of the City Manager to administer (Clerk's File
No. C-409).
Council Member Sandahl stated she saw the benefit of determining the average use of
bereavement leave for the past couple years and increasing personal leave accrual appropriately and
eliminating bereavement leave. However, this would result in administering two different policies for
union and non-union employees.
City Manager Devich said he wasn't sure how union employees would view the elimination of
bereavement leave, but it could be negotiated.
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May 24, 2005
Council Member Kilian said the change for General Services and Management would be by
ordinance.
City Manager Devich said if the bereavement leave is included in personal leave, it becomes
inclusive and eliminates specifics.
The City Council consensus was to have Human Resources conduct a survey of employees to
get feedback on eliminating bereavement leave and increasing personal leave; and have staff
determine the average hours of bereavement leave used over the past three years and provide this
information to the City Council for discussion.
Council Member Rosenberg stated she will continue discussions with the HRC.
Item # 2
City Manager Devich stated the City Council recently approved an ordinance amendment for
new regulations for private driveways. This was one phase in an incremental process to address
issues that the City Council has raised in regards to parking and storage of vehicles on Richfield
properties.
Community Development Director Palmborg explained the remaining identified issues in their
order of importance beginning with most important. Some are complex issues and staff estimates it
may require 10 to 12 months to complete the list. Each phase will need to be researched and then
presented to the City Council.
1. Outside storage of vehicles including recreational and commercial vehicles
2. Consideration of maximum impervious surface requirements for entire lot
3. Enforcement provisions of parking and vehicle regulation
Council Member Kilian stated the review of on-street parking needs to be added as Number 4
to the list. He suggested Number 2 be considered first.
Council Member Sandahl agreed. She said if the front-yard is paved, the property could be
taxed more if they won't change the surface because stormwater runoff is increased.
The City Council consensus was that Number 2 was the biggest priority because it impacts
the other issues.
Council Member Rosenberg stated having no on-street parking or placing restrictions in her
area of Richfield would not work because of alleys. She did not consider this a priority.
Council Member Kilian agreed that there are different parking issues in different parts of the
City. He asked about the enforcement regulations for vehicles parked in the street that do not move
regularly.
The City Council asked staff to provide them with information on this enforcement.
The City Council consensus was to consider the remaining parking and vehicle regulations in
this order: Number 2, 1, 3 and 4.
Item # 3
City Manager Devich clarified the recruitment process for the second phase of the City Hall
Task Force, including:
. The original core of members should serve again, if interested
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. Include approximate time commitment
. Place ad in Richfield Sun Current
. City Council conduct interview of applicants
City Manager Devich stated Council Member Wroge indicated to him that he wanted to be on
the task force. However, he said he believes the City Council should make that decision. The City
Council may want to have the membership consist of the general public first and current advisory
commission members as ad hoc.
Mayor Kirsch stated no staff or City Council served on the original task force.
The City Council consensus was that Council Member Wroge should serve as City Council
liaison on the second phase task force but have no vote.
The City Council consensus was to have a representative from the Community Services
Commission and Planning Commission as full voting members.
Council Member Kilian suggested the recruitment also include the milestones of what the task
force is to accomplish.
City Manager Devich stated the previous task force chair could provide feedback on the next
milestones.
The meeting was adjourned by unanimous consent at 6:22 p.m.
Date Approved: June 14, 2005
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Cheryl Kr mhol
Recording Secretary