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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,July 18,2011 Page 12 Mayor Roe thanked staff for their presentation. 13. Business Items—Presentations/Discussions b. Discuss Contract with Ramsey County to Administer City Elections Since the meeting was ahead of schedule, and the Consultant for Agenda Item. 10.e had not yet arrived, Mayor Roe amended the agenda to cover some internal items in the interim. City Manager Malinen provided a summary of a potential contract with Ramsey County to provide administrative, logistic, clerical and physical support for elec- tions for the City of Roseville, as detailed in the Request for Council Action (RCA) dated July 18, 2011; and proposed contract (Attachment A) between the City of Roseville and Ramsey County for Election Services for 2012. City Manager Malinen advised that staff was recommending that the City pursue this in 2012; noting the difficulty in obtaining internal back-up support for the one (1) City employee (Caroline Curti) charged with administering elections for the City as needed. City Manager Malinen opined that this would effectively be a neutral cost; but it served to free staff time and eliminate or reduce other miscel- laneous costs such as Public Works employee time, back-up staff support for Ms. Curti, postage, and other costs estimated at an overall savings of approximately $10,000. Mr. Malinen noted that the contract provided that Ramsey County would conduct all elections for the City beginning in 2012 at a cost similar to that of the City and paid on a quarterly basis, as per the agreement. If the City Coun- cil was supportive of this proposal, Mr. Malinen advised that staff intended to bring it forward at a future date for action. Discussion included 2009/10 financial impacts and budget line items; and refe- rencing of City Manager Malinen of a supplemental report on estimated costs provided by Ms. Curti. Councilmember McGehee thanked City Manager Malinen for the clarity of the report; and spoke in support of the proposal, specifically the one week negotiated for citizens to vote at City Hall and run by the City as in the past, and allowing for last minute absentee voting. Councilmember Pust opined that she saw this proposal as a cost increase, some embedded as staff costs,but not line items; and unless City Manager Malinen was proposing a cut in staff, it appeared that an additional $107,000 was being added with this Ramsey County contract; while maintaining current staff costs; and questioned how this was cost-neutral. City Manager Malinen advised that his City Manager-recommended budget pre- sented last week he had reduced the Elections Budget and adjusted the Communi-