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, I . . I l City of Centerville February 13, 2002 CoWlcll Minutes Mayor Swedberg commented that Council Member Nelson's memo with the comparison infonnation from other cities was helpful in pointing out the issue. Mayor Swedberg commented that he felt Chris Sweeny should remain as the Accountant IT, but the City needs a higher level accountant or finance director. He then commented that he does not see Ms. Bender moving to a d1tnini~hed role because the City hires a treasurer, he feels that doing SQ would free up Ms. Bender for other important projects such as being the liaison between the City and the residents. He further commented that he feels it is time to split t4e position so that Staff is not overworked. Council Member Broussard Vickers indicated she did not disagree that the positions needed to be separated but said she does not feel Council is ready to make the decision without the final recommendation :from the City Administrator and the computer information. She also indicated she would like to have input from the public works director as to how he feels about eliminating the budgeted position in his department. Council Member Capra indicated the public works position was budgeted for a person to work on the instaDment of the Sensus software and, since that is on hold until the computers are upgraded, there is not a need for a public works person. Ms. Moore-Sykes cJarified that Staffhad determined that adding another type of software would only add to the computer issues. Council Member Capra commented that the City bas been working on implementing the Sensus software since 1997. She then commented that by combining the two positions in the budget, which would eliminate one round of benefits, the City could come up with a high enough salary to be able to afford a degreed accounting professional with municipal experience and maybe free up enough funds to upgrade the computers. Ms. Moore-Sykes indicated she would like to keep the position of utility clerk/data entry. Councll Member Capra indicated that sewer funds could be used to update the utility billing software. She then said she did not feel the City bad the time to delay or send Staff out for training. She further commented that, while it would be ideal to have the Staff cross-trained for aU positions, she feels it is important to move forward with hiring an accounting professional for the treasmer position. Mayor Swedberg commented that it would make sense to purchase accounting software that would allow n,anagement to access financial reports. Council Member Nelson indicated that the auditor had based his recommendation on whether Staff could handle the tasks on being in the office a couple of times per year. She then commented that, as a Council Member, she bas made an evaluation on that and feels strongly about having the two positions separate and getting a degreed person in to do the treasurer's job. Page 15 of25