Backing out of the ditch, session II

On Thursday (2/28/08) the city council and acting City Manager Chuck Ahl worked through some of the agenda items held-over from phase I of this meeting on Monday (2/25) night.

The staff expenditure limit was raised from $5000 to $10000, half of the statutory limit.

A debt management study was authorized, intended to set a baseline for future financial planning and to identify opportunities for re-funding presented by the current credit climate.

Mr. Rossbach has made a series of proposed changes to the council's rules and procedures, the councilperson article publication schedule for the City News for example, which he says overall are intended to recreate a level playing field for all five council persons. Further discussion was held-over for a future meeting as Mr. Hjelle and Ms. Juenemann had to leave. Ms. Longrie used the discussion as an opportunity to lobby for meeting every Monday.

The extra layer of management - three super-manager positions - introduced by the Copeland Council were eliminated with little fanfare. Reinstatement of the assistant city manager position, modified to include some HR duties, was set aside for further discussion. The main issue is the timing with respect to the city manager search.