League of Minnesota Cities Board of Directors Meeting June 24, 2015 MINUTES

Transcription

1 League of Minnesota Cities Board of Directors Meeting June 24, 2015 MINUTES Members Present: Dave Osberg (Eagan), Steve Nasby (Windom), Rhonda Pownell (Northfield), Tim Busse (Bloomington), Jo Emerson (White Bear Lake), Ron Johnson (Bemidji), Shaunna Johnson (Waite Park), Mike Mornson (Hopkins), Carol Mueller (Mounds View), Heidi Omerza (Ely), Brian Scholin (Pine City), Jonathan Smith (Frazee) and Brad Wiersum (Minnetonka) Members Absent: Elizabeth Glidden (Minneapolis), Chris Tolbert (St. Paul) and Randy Wilson (Glencoe) Guests Present: Moira Edwards (Ellipsis Partners) (via conference call) and Dave Unmacht Staff Present: Jim Miller, Tom Grundhoefer, Kellie Sundheim, Pete Tritz, Don Reeder, Laura Kushner, Laura Zenz, Laura Harris, Marky Engler, Gary Carlson, Dan Greensweig and Ross Jansick 1. Call to Order & Pledge of Allegiance President Osberg called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance. President Osberg 2. Approval of the Agenda Emerson made a motion to approve the agenda, seconded by Nasby. Motion carried. 3. Presentation/General Communications 3.1 Comments or questions relating to the Executive Director s Interim Report Nothing to report. 3.2 Recognition of Outgoing Board Members 1 St Vice President Nasby presented a gift to outgoing President Osberg and thanked him for his time and dedication to serving the League. Osberg thanked the board for the gift and presented the League with an artist s rendition of Eagan s Old Town Hall. Nasby presented Omerza and R. Johnson with plaques honoring them for their service to the League.

2 Page 2 4. Approval of Consent Items S. Johnson made a motion to approve the consent agenda, seconded by Emerson. Motion carried. 5. Discussion Items 5.1 Presentation of Ellipsis Partner s Technology Assessment Miller stated that the need for this technology assessment was identified by the board at their retreat in September In January, the board entered into a consulting relationship with Ellipsis to conduct their Part I assessment. Ellipsis presented their initial draft findings in April. Since then staff have worked with Ellipsis to refine the recommendations described in the accompanying report and summary. Moira Edwards, Ellipsis President presented her findings to the board. Some of their key findings are: Creating or retaining the services of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) position Establish an internal technology work group Procure document management software Recommend improving and refining the Aptify association management software After Moira s presentation Grundhoefer mentioned that the FY2016 budget does include $200,000 for the hiring of a CIO. Grundhoefer asked if the board members had any questions regarding the findings. Goettel noted that network security is important and should be considered. Grundhoefer agreed and commented that the League is currently doing a good job in this area. Wiersum remarked that the hiring of a CIO is essential to the success of this ongoing project. Mueller would like to see a job description for the CIO position. Grundhoefer said that a job description will be worked on and brought before the board in time. Scholin noted that being more efficient does not always save money or equal less staff time. Grundhoefer confirmed that board members seem to be comfortable with the findings and how Ellipsis Partners is managing the process, so it seems to be beneficial to keep moving forward at this time.

3 Page 3 6. Action Items Legislators of Distinction Carlson introduced the proposed list of legislators to the Board. The League has been handing out these awards since 1999 and the program continues to be successful. Mueller made a motion to accept the list of legislators for recognition as the 2015 LMC Legislators of Distinction, seconded by Mornson. Motion carried. 6.2 Website Content Strategy Project Proposal Miller spoke about how the current website is getting to the end of its useful life in the near future. He indicated that before we make a recommendation about how to rebuild the website it will be important to have a better understanding of how the content is used, what is important and who uses it. Although not specifically mentioned in the Ellipsis presentation this item and the recommendations from Ellipsis are very much intertwined. Zenz continued by stating that the League creates a lot of content for our members and it takes a lot of time and resources to do that. We would like to take the time to look at what is out there and what people are using and where the value is. If information is not being used we need to look at why. Staff felt it was important to bring in a consultant to help with this content strategy process and have reached out to Brain Traffic. Brain Traffic will provide us with a quantitative audit of our website. The proposal outlines a 10-week timeline of activities and deliverables that will help guide us in the rebuild of the website. Busse asked if the work with Brain Traffic will get deep enough to answer the how, what and why questions we have or if it will just be scratching the surface. Zenz noted that the information will help to guide us so that we can do it on our own. Wiersum is impressed with Brain Traffic s report and commented that the League is known for its website. Mueller made a motion to approve a proposal to work with Brain Traffic on analyzing website content in an amount not to exceed $33,000, seconded by S. Johnson. Motion carried. 6.3 Administrative Services Agreement between LMC and LMCIT Miller commented that this is more of a housekeeping matter. Our LMCIT auditors suggested that that terms of the agreement between LMC and LMCIT be clarified and memorialized in a single document. Grundhoefer noted that LMC and LMCIT have had an agreement since 1981 whereby the League provides services to the Trust. The Insurance Trust has no employees of their own so they contract with the League to provide services.

4 Page 4 The Administrative Services agreement was approved by the Trust Board at their last meeting. S. Johnson made a motion to approve the proposed Administrative Services Agreement between the LMC and the LMCIT, seconded by Nasby. Motion carried. 7. Updates 7.1 Conference Update (oral) Frazell and Laura Harris provided a quick conference update to the Board. Registration has gone smoothly and numbers are just shy of 500. Harris spoke about some of the new features for this year s conference including a new app that lists all attendees, maps of the venue and increases in social media. There is a new badge-on-demand software program and it will the help to track attendance at all sessions. There will also be daily updates including a weather forecast. Frazell and Harris thanked Mike Mornson for doing a wonderful job as this year s Conference Planning Committee Chair. 7.2 Legislative Update (oral) Carlson provided the Board with a quick update. The Governor vetoed three major budget bills this year. At this time there is no tax bill and the transportation bill is modest at best. The Law Summaries are finished and is a good repository of what happened during the 2015 Legislative Session. 8. Affiliate Organization Updates 8.1 Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities Omerza noted that their summer conference is in four weeks back in Duluth. 8.2 Minnesota Association of Small Cities Smith reported that the association just held their annual membership meeting and he was reelected to serve another term as President and will also be representing MAOSC as their League Board representative. 8.3 Metro Cities Wiersum noted that Metro Cities just had their June board meeting which is their final meeting of the year. They passed their 2016 budget. They are looking to hire a lobbyist soon. The new representative on the League will be Mark Casey from St. Anthony Village. 8. Announcements and Adjournment Respectfully submitted,

5 Page 5 James F. Miller Executive Director