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7.f May Administrator's ReportPage 1 of 1 City of Scandia 14727 209 th St. N. PO Box 128, Scandia, Minnesota 55073 Phone (651) 433 -2274 Fax (651) 433 -5112 http://www.ci.scandia.mn.us DATE: May 19, 2020 FROM: Ken Cammilleri, City Administrator TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members RE: May 2020 City Administrator’s Report Upgrades to Information Technology Staff has completed 50% of the network upgrades. This includes the replacement of equipment, partial setup of the new domain server, and implementation of improved public Wi-Fi. Visitors to the Community Center’s parking lot or grounds can now access reliable internet. The network name is Scandia-Guest and the user name is “dalahorse”. My goal is to potentially set up a splash screen setup so that a password will not be needed. This means that there will be a welcome page laying out the rules for using the service and a possible time expiration. Staff will start much needed records and data achieving at the Fire Department and Public Works. This project is expected to take a much longer timeframe. Covid-19 Response and Emergency Declaration Fire Chief Hinz and I remain concerned about how Covid-19 rule changes in Wisconsin, and particularly the resulting lax attitudes towards preventing Covid-19 exposure will have on our community. The next two weeks will likely give us a better idea about these implications. In the meantime, we recommend that the City Hall access be by appointment only, so staff can maintain precautions and social distancing. In addition, we recommend the continuation of the cancelation of events at the Community Center. Should we open earlier, staff will need to prepare a Covid-19 Response Plan similar to what businesses have been required to do during the current reopening process. We would like to have the Council revisit its emergency declaration status at its June 16th meeting, when it may be possible to have a better understanding of infection rate trends. Worker’s Compensation Leave Right now the City currently has a staff member who is on worker’s compensation leave. As many of you know, worker’s compensation insurance only provides employees with 2/3 their normal compensation. As a result many employers offer employees the opportunity to draw on their existing paid leave banks to offset the difference. I request that the City Council authorize this policy change in order to better accommodate this and future employees who may find themselves on worker’s compensation leave in the future. Spring Code Enforcement One of the most common misconceptions regarding City ordinance enforcement is that our enforcement activities are strictly complaint based. Each season city-wide enforcement efforts will be launched to address nuisance and other code compliance issues throughout the City. We will not catch every violation, but the hope is that this process will educate the Page 1 of 1 City of Scandia 14727 209 th St. N. PO Box 128, Scandia, Minnesota 55073 Phone (651) 433 -2274 Fax (651) 433 -5112 http://www.ci.scandia.mn.us community about requirements and result in less compliance issues overall. This week the City will be issuing around a dozen code compliance notices. Each notice provides property owners or other responsible parties with 28 days to resolve their violations or to make contact with the City to commit to a reasonable and amicable solution to their issues. Citations will follow for those who do not respond to these requests, but to be clear the City only wants compliance. The sooner letter recipients come forward, the better. Property Tax Settlements As of two weeks ago, Washington County reported that it had received 46% of this year’s property tax payments. This means that they anticipate that property tax settlements will be on track for what was originally expected for this settlement period. It is unclear if the County will have the same success rate for the 2nd and final installment in December, but the City’s current cash position remains strong to weather any potential deferred payments. New Building Official and City Planner Update The City of Hugo has narrowed their selection of a new Assistant Building Official to two candidates. The plan is that the current Building Official Chuck Preisler will remain on the job to train and settle in the new inspector before he eventually finalizes his retirement. TKDA has recently hired Evan Monson to replace Merritt Clapp-Smith as our point planner. Evan recently worked for the City of Marshfield, Wisconsin since August of 2018 providing both planning and zoning administration. Although Evan's experience is not as long as that of our outgoing planner, I recommend we give Evan a shot to show us how zoning administration is done! Merritt will remain for a period of transition to assist Evan with acclimating to his new role. Please let me know if you have any questions.