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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION – OCTOBER 19, 2020 5 full-time employee could potentially manage the recreation program during the winter season. Projecting demand for future programs is also difficult as there have been changes in recreation over the last ten years. For example, softball has declined in some communities and held steady in others. Arden Hills staff, along with other communities, are trying to forecast how much recreation demand there will be in the future. Finance Director Bauman explained that anytime Public Works staff was working in the parks it was coded to Parks Maintenance, not Recreation. Councilmember Holden thought they should possibly look at this again in the spring because of the uncertainty of COVID-19. Councilmember McClung felt he wasn’t sure they can come up with an answer now because of unknow variables. He thought it was probably not the best thing to have a full two FTEs in this area but he wasn’t sure what the right mix is. Councilmember Holmes said they have always struggled with whether they need two people. Regardless of what happens with COVID they probably need two people in the summer but not in the winter. She felt there are other issues that could be looked at prior to the ending of COVID. Mayor Grant agreed in general with the comments and the idea of putting it back to the Personnel Committee to look at. He asked if the 95-105% range recommended for FPAC was an acceptable level of coverage of direct costs by program revenue. After further discussion, Council agreed that 95-105% was acceptable. Mayor Grant asked if they wanted to look at coordinating with other cities for any of the adult programs. Council agreed they would like to continue coordinating with other cities. Mayor Grant directed staff to add Parks and Recreation staffing to the January or February Personnel Committee meeting. D. Purchasing Policy Update Finance Director Bauman stated the City’s Purchasing Policy was last updated in 2014. Updates are needed because Minnesota Statute contract limits have increased and are also requiring local governments to have a policy on electronic funds transfers. Also needed is information related to Cooperative Purchasing and Environmental Purchasing. An original draft of the policy was distributed to FPAC members earlier this year for any comments they might have on the proposed changes. The committee members didn’t have much experience with this type of policy but felt it was more comprehensive and flowed better than the current policy in place. A comment was made regarding the spending limits on page 3. FPAC felt the limits were a little low. Staff concurs with this assessment and would recommend increasing the $7,500 amount throughout the policy to $10,000 and replacing the tables on pages 3 and 11 highlighted in yellow, with the new tables written in red.