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i 4 A.RDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—MARCH 15, 2010 5 1.A 2010 Engineering Work.Flan Mayor Harpstead indicated he would be in favor of the City hiring a P.E. consultant for the next 12 months or for a determined amount of hours to assist the City with engineering projects while still maintaining the joint powers agreement with Roseville. This would allow the City to complete the 2010 projects while reducing the outsourced engineering expenses. City Engineer Bloom explained this would be an option and the only concern would be if the hired consultant would be reporting to Ms. Giga or to the Public Works Director. Councilmember Holden suggested the P.E. consultant be hired for 18 months to get the City - through the 2010 and 2011 work plans. Mayor Harpstead requested the City increase the engineering capacity to enable the City to complete the items on the work plan. He questioned if the Council was in favor of this recommendation. Councilmember Grant was in favor of hiring a consultant as well, while still maintaining the joint powers agreement. Councilmember McClung indicated the hiring of a consultant would be a short term band-aid. The issue would be to restructure the design projects. He felt the City should go in a new direction or make a decision to renegotiate a new joint powers agreement for the future. Councilmember Holden questioned if the City would have a large engineering capacity need once the major projects were dealt with in 2010-2011. Mayor Harpstead stated this was a valid point. He reiterated that the joint powers agreement with Roseville was ideal as it allowed for access to skill sets that were not afforded within the City of Arden Hills. The long term big picture for the City would have a Public Works Director that has an engineering background to allow for joint capabilities. However, in the short term, the City should hire a consultant to meet the engineering capacity needs for the City. Councilmember McClung stated he would be in favor of clearing up the engineering capacity concerns sooner than later. The City has been dealing with these issues through outsourcing and if the capacity were taken on in-house it would enable the City to better maintain future projects while reducing overall expenses. Councilmember Holden agreed to hire a consultant to assist the City in completing the 2010 work plan. She added there was a need to change the staffing within the public works department as well. Councilmember Grant indicated that in order to complete the 2010 work plan, the City needed an increased engineering capacity, and did not have a preference on where this capacity came from. He was in favor of the public works department assuming engineering capabilities.