CC_Minutes_2016_0516 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday, May 16, 2016 Page 15 Councilmember Willmus cautioned that one thing the City Council needed to be cognizant of was that labor was the city's biggest cost. Therefore, Councilmem- ber Willmus opined that a balance was needed between retaining good employees while not crossing over the threshold. Councilmember Willmus noted there would always be some level of turnover, and while the city wanted to remain competitive and provide value to Roseville taxpayers, some employees would still choose to move on. Councilmember Willmus opined he didn't necessarily see that as a bad thing; and the City needed to realize it may not be able to cornpete with cities such as St. Louis Park or Edina. Strategic TechnologV Initiative New Permitting and Licensing Software While more conversation was needed, City Manager Trudgeon noted there was a definite need to discuss how the city delivered services moving forward. With multiple and diverse hardware and software currently being used, Mr. Trudgeon noted that communication between those systems wasn't always easy or even possible, and needed serious review. As far as the 2017 organizational priorities, Mr. Trudgeon advised that staff didn't feel comfortable proposing to the City Council a definite plan of action until they had done further due diligence. How- ever, Mr. Trudgeon alerted Councilmembers to watch for additional information in the future, including an expansive Volgistics database program as one option. Interim Community Development Director Kari Collins advised that during her short tenure in the departinent, she saw an obvious need to upgrade the current Community Development Department permitting software to streamline process- es versus hiring additional staff to do so. Ms. Collins noted that the City's finan- cial software, Springbrook, had been purchased by EXCELLA and was now of- fering packages that were fully engaged and ready to be merged. When reviewing these initiatives, Interim Community Development Director Collins reported that city staff had been collaborating more than ever between departments, but had not yet clearly identified software packages that were inter-relational for all departments. As to integration, as Springbrook does upgrades down the road, Ms. Collins noted the city would see the effects; making permitting and transactions by contractors and residents easier. Ms. Collins reported that her past experience in another city set- ting had shown a 60% increase in electronic permitting applications. As the vari- ous modules were coordinated and able to talk among and between all depart- ments, Ms. Collins noted it would finally allow communication with each other form one platform with each application. For example, Ms. Collins noted the verbal communication between staff in various departments as they reviewed pro- jects and applications as the Development Review Committee (DRC) could be handled electronically under one platform to see where an application or devel- opment was at in the process.