City Council - Regular Meeting

So I know the council received an email and then I received a couple more. So I think it's our due diligence to ask. Someone did ask and point out or inquire about maybe not making it a permanent stop because kind of like you said, it stops the flow of traffic on the weekends, but in school having a a portable stop sign. I think there was one, I don't know if on Mary there's a stop sign out there too that's moved in and out. So I received a couple comments asking about that and I know the rest of the council at least received one email regarding that and the pros, cons to that.

Just to be transparent to my team here, I do intend to support the stop signs because it is a safety measure. And just to Councilman Kavanagh's point, the flashing red lights or the red lights are on the stop signs. I do have a lot of experience with those where I work. We use those. And even in the brightest day, they draw attention. They really do. You can see them from a long ways away. However, I do want to point out, even though I will vote to support it there's been some studies and some things that's been presented but phil's not wrong i mean when he brought up these statistics that it

And Phil will keep an eye on it too, like as we go, somebody will, I mean, say we're four months in, somebody will still kind of be paying attention. Is this working? The school system, they'll be logging, making sure we're okay and it's working, correct?

Can you walk me through the need for two? So I understand, well, I'm processing through like how we can use one, but then just help me process through the need for two.

so i know that there's some questions too about it but could we for now would one suffice one vehicle suffice that one vehicle would suffice uh again it's not my preference but yeah I understand that, but I'm also trying, know that there's reservations too. And so just kind of talking through it all too, understanding what that could look like with one vehicle if we have a fire inspector coming in too.

I'm actually okay with them having both. I mean, I'm just going to lay it out there. It's the fire department. I think there's a need. I think that, I mean, I understand if they're using them to send out of town to trainings and different things and, you know, there's trainings coming up and they can use it to haul personnel and equipment. I mean, I do want to be a good steward of taxpayers' money and I kind of wrestle with this in my mind because it is $86,000, but... The ones they do have, 2013, and even though they do have, we talk about miles, there is wear and tear from emergency use as w

So I have one more question. This is probably a process question. So if the vehicle, whether it's two or one, more to like if these additions were to happen and they were the two current vehicles that you're using were to go to not daily drivers, then would it be the fleet committee that would reevaluate their replacement dates?

But that could be extended to a couple more years.

But the thing, I don't know, maybe I think differently than everybody else, but I mean, he did say one thing in there about if there was an emergency, and we can only haul one piece of equipment at a time when we need both of those pieces of equipment. I mean, I know the money seems large now until you have that need and it's one of your loved ones that's in a pond or that needs something. So, I mean, I understand the fiscal part of it,

Does our insurance cover people driving their vehicle to on-scene? Like if they were to go on-scene and something happened on the way to scene?

Not only that, most first responder accidents, whether it be police or fire, are traffic-related scenes due to vehicles on the scene. And it's the highest number of fatalities.

Is that enough? Is that enough time realistically for you in the, um, I'll take all the time you want to give, but I'm just thinking like he, he's going to come in and, He's got a lot on his plate in the beginning. Yeah, and we want to make sure that we're all on the same page. So realistically.

Well, I was the one that kind of brought that up again, and I did talk to Phil about it, so I just want to be transparent about that. And I don't think anything was wrong. I think, I don't know, maybe I presented it wrong last time. Maybe it looked. When I say I want Phil to have half-hour meetings with department heads, and I understand Phil's easy to hold up. You made that clear that you could go talk to him. On a city administrator's eval, you want to put some positive points too. And one of those is, is work with, you know, working with department heads and we've set goals and past years.

Well, like we got Michael coming, so maybe it might be twice a month. Right. But not a I'm training you kind of thing just to sit down and, hey, let's work on these leadership traits. Let's work on these leaders. Sure. Because Bill's got a lot to share. So that's the way I envision it. Not a, hey, I need to communicate this because this happened. That can happen other times. This is just strictly... under the communication, under the training. And I would hope that that would kind of prompt the department heads to maybe, and maybe some of you do it. I think some of you do do it actually is kin

But I think it would help. It would help everybody's growth because every department head has a specialty. All our department heads are smart. They're all great, but they have different specialties. If somehow some of those can be shared, different traits, best practices, or the department heads may have best practices that would help fill. Because I'll share a story. You know, when I worked at Walmart, I mean, in asset protection, I had lots of people that worked for me and I learned a lot from them. When I would meet with them, I would, you would sit down and for a half hour a month and they

Well, and originally, I did. But when, when I come back and rethink it, I don't want it to be something scary, like a formal, you know what I mean? I think there should be a record. Oh yeah. I met with whoever on this date, but you know, the, the, the growth, I don't know, Phil could probably keep a notebook over who he's talking to, went over this leadership tactic, went over this leadership tactic, but that would just be for him personally for, uh, um, um, evaluation and everything.

And, you know, another thing to add on to what she says there, you know, when I was salaried and I met with my boss once a month, it opened it up more for me to admit to him, hey, I think I'm struggling in this area. Can you help me? You know, like you open up a little bit, but it's for everybody's benefit. And I don't want to, you know, that's why I said maybe I presented wrong last time. I want it to happen, but I don't want it to be so formal that it scares people and it just turns into something bad. This is totally for growth and benefit of everybody.

You could even do Zoom. You could do 25-minute Zoom meeting. I mean, because I don't want people to have to drive in, you know, if they live a long ways away. But like she said, when they're here, so.

I just have a couple things. So in relation to the goals, I know we're talking about a specific one, but Administrator Rapp did send out at that last meeting, we had asked him what he needed from us, and he did send out some correspondence regarding what he did need or recommendations on ways to... excuse me, help support them. And so in kind of, I would say parallel to this meeting with department heads, but one of his requests was establishing regular, I'm reading it from here, regular opportunities for city council members, mayor and the city administrator to meet with like with him and dis

It has. I meet with Phil every Monday at nine and I always cut into Dan's time. Dan comes at 9.30, I'm always like 9.35.

I would echo that. I've been doing it for five years and I still think I'm learning something new every time. So I would also say the frequency, maybe not monthly, maybe every other month too might be good. Just again, to make sure that they are beneficial meetings. That would just be my, for the department heads would be my recommendation.

I would just like to ask again, when we are going to speak about e-bikes?