New Richland City Council
By JESSICA LUTGENS
Staff Writer
A new, all-electronic document management system, discussed briefly at the April 28 meeting, was approved Monday night by the New Richland City Council. In his proposal to the council, City Clerk Wayne Billing said that due to the amount of documents handled by the city each year, switching from a paper system to one that is more efficient in the struggle to keep track of important documents and respond to information requests would be potentially immensely beneficial.
The document management system provides keyword search, document versioning, comparison and collaboration, web publishing, workflow automation and e-mail integration, among other things; software that would, in the long run, simplify the city’s knowledge base. According to Billing, switching to an electronic system would ease the burden on the city created by regulations such as the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act and HIPAA, which require the city to produce more documents and track them more methodically.
Billing also proposed upgrading to a new copier/printer, the Kyocera TASKalfa 3051ci, at a cost of roughly $3,100. The current copier was purchased five years ago for $5,995; most copiers have about five-eight years of usefulness, according to Billing.
The DMS SmartSearch software costs $6,300, plus $885 after the first year, bringing the total for the project to about $9,400. Payment for the copier will be taken from the following: $900, City Admin. office equipment; $450, Police office equipment; $450, Ambulance equipment; $300, Fire; $300, Street reserve; $300, Water; $300, Sewer. Funds for the software: $1,210, City Admin. office equipment reserve; $500, City Admin. computer exp.; $180, Council reserve; $497, Police reserve; $448, Police computer; $945, Ambulance reserve; $630, Fire reserve; $630, Street reserve; $630, Water; $630, Sewer. A motion was passed, approving the upgrades at the cost of $9,400.
A total of $16,000 in grants were presented by Gail Schmidt on behalf of the New Richland Area Foundation. The NRAF has been providing grants to NRHEG Schools and city organizations for seven years. The Grants Committee consists of Kermit Schoenrock, Matt Harrington, Pam Goehring, Jill Schlaak and Gail Schmidt
Five grants were presented: NR Public Library, $1,500 for the Summer Reading program and Lego table, received by Tina Zimmerman; NR Town & Country Garden Club, $1,500 for railroad track cleanup, received by Barb Finseth; NR Sportsmen’s Club, $500 for St. Olaf Lake “History” sign, received by David Dunnette; Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, $500 received by Angela Herzog; NR Area Food Shelf, $3,000 for the NRHEG Elementary Backpack Program, received by Larry Goehring.
Scott Eads presented the police report, which stated the NRPD responded to 101 calls for service and had 46 additional contacts/activities in April. A past-action Criminal Sexual Conduct report was received from MNPrairie human services and is under investigation.
A request for body armor for the two new part-time officers was made and approved at a cost of $2,436. The police report was approved.
The ambulance report, presented by Chris Schlaak, stated there were 22 ambulance runs in April and six so far this month, bringing the total for the year to 78. EMS Week is May 15-21. It was noted that members Chad Neitzel and Jeff Johnson will receive their five-year pins for service.
Construction plans for the ambulance building were approved, having met requirements of the building inspector, and a building permit will be pursued before work begins. The report was approved.
A request from the NR Fire Department was read by City Clerk Wayne Billing for a 911 GPS mapping system at a cost of $400/year, which was approved.
Resolution 16-06, authorizing EDA loan of $35,000 at 3% interest and repaid over five years to John Snow for development of property at 118 S. Ash Ave., was approved.
On Wednesday, May 18 there will be a public hearing at City Hall regarding zoning amendments, particularly for highway commercial property, beginning at 6:30 p.m. New Richland’s citywide spring cleanup will be Saturday, May 21 from 8 a.m.-noon.
The meeting was closed at 7:45 for discussion regarding a city lot. No action was taken, and the meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.