Here is my Friday Report for the City Council for today, Friday, September 18, 2004:
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Office of the City Manager
Memorandum #2004-058
DATE: September 17, 2004
TO: Mayor and City Councilmembers
FROM: Scott H. Neal, City Manager
RE: Friday Report for September 17, 2004
1. Employee News � We are welcoming the addition of Mary Zilka to our staff. Mary is the new Administrative Assistant to Community Development Director Janet Jeremiah. Congratulations to Andy Allman on his promotion in the Outside Utilities division taking over Kevin Cassady�s old job. Tanya Whitsitt has moved. Tanya is now the Administrative Assistant for the Communications Division.
2. Purgatory Creek Recreation Area � The dedication event for the new park and recreation area is tomorrow (Saturday, September 18th) starting at 1:00 p.m. Just a reminder that the Jean Harris Gathering Bridge dedication event will be held in October. More on that later.
3. Free Woodchips � The City will distribute free woodchips this year on two upcoming Saturday mornings: September 25th and October 2nd. The gates open at 8:00 a.m. and close at noon both days. The location is on Spring Road just east of Grace Church�s Spring Road entry drive.
4. New Cameras � The new video cameras for the Council Chamber will be installed November 2-5. The Chambers will not be available for outside use while the installation is in progress.
5. EPTV � One of our Communications Division�s key goals for 2005 is the launch of Eden Prairie TV (EPTV) � Channel 16. We want to greatly expand the City�s use of Channel 16, including the production of more original programming.
6. NAIOP 2004 City Study � The Minnesota Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties conducted a broad study of 78 Minnesota cities to compare their individual development costs and timelines to a hypothetical office building construction project. The study will be released to the media next week. We have obtained an advance copy of the study�s results. We are reviewing the result to enable us to characterize Eden Prairie�s development costs for you if you receive questions on this topic from the media.
7. Students on Commissions � Each spring when our students complete their board and commission assignments we host a dinner debriefing with them gather information about their experience and to seek their input on how we could make the experience more valuable to future students. In 2002 the students told us that we should make students aware of the opportunity to serve on our boards and commissions in the spring for the following fall. Previously, we did a concentrated recruiting effort in the fall only. It was good advice. We did a spring recruitment earlier this year and a short concentrated recruitment after school started this fall. We had 33 applicants for our 12 positions. That isthe highest number of applicants we�ve ever had. The Council is scheduled to appoint the student commissioners at the September 21st Council meeting.
8. 2005 MLC Regional Breakfasts � Just a reminder to put this date on your calendar: our 2005 MLC regional legislative breakfast will be Friday, January 21, 2005, at the Radisson Hotel in Plymouth from 7:30-9:00 a.m.
9. Riley-Jacques Farmstead Dedication � The event is planned for Sunday, September 26th, from 1:00-4:00 p.m. We had been trying to get Governor Pawlenty to attend this event, but his schedule could not accommodate it. Sandy Werts has a great afternoon of activities planned. It will be a lot of fun.
10. Education: It�s Your Business � Is the title of an upcoming event being sponsored by the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce. The event will present a panel of speakers discussing Minnesota�s school finance system. The City has reserved a table of ten for the event. Please check in with Lorene (at your earliest convenience) if you desire to attend. The event is Wednesday, September 22nd, from 7:30-9:30 a.m. Registration starts at 7:00 a.m. at the Bloomington Sheraton.
11. Paperless Packet � In addition to the benefits of providing you a paperless Council Packet, the public is benefiting from this innovation as well. We now post our entire Council Packet online at our website. It is totally accessible for anyone who wants it at their convenience and at no expense.
12. Rink #1 Progress Report � We met with the construction contractor last week to discuss options for speeding up the completion date for the project. The contractor had an additional crew available if we were willing to pay for them. We agreed to pay the contractor an additional $1,500/day to bring an additional crew to the project. This should get the completed the project completed at least one week ahead of our most recent scheduled due date. We now believe the project can be completed before the end of October. This will allow the City to begin selling ice earlier than previously planned, which creates additional revenue to justify the extra expense. This is good news.
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