2004-11-12 Friday News
The Friday News
November 12, 2004
HiPP
High Performance Partnership Project (HiPP) is a joint City/County effort to evaluate a broad range of
potential partnerships that could offer a more effective/efficient way for local governments to provide
programs and service. The HiPP process identified twenty potential partnerships and narrowed those down
to a top six for further study:
1. Joint non-felony prosecution service.
2. Law enforcement support service center.
3. Joint purchasing of employee health care.
4. Combining IT operations training and purchasing.
5. Specialized public equipment sharing
6. Centralized PSAP and 911 Dispatching Service.
On Wednesday of this week the HiPP Leadership held a Staff Forum in Rosemount to inform City and
County Staff about the HiPP project and to solicit feed-back regarding the top six HiPP Partnerships
proposed.
Kathy Swanson attended the IT Session, Emmy Foster attended the Health Care Session, John Maczko and
Mike Aschenbrener attended the PSAP (Dispatching) Session.
Don Anderson and Neil Garlock attended the Public Safety Equipment Sharing and Law Enforcement
Support/Service Center Sessions and Bill Bernard attended the Joint Non-Felony Prosecution Service Center
Session.
Because the City Staff recently received notice that our health insurance costs are going up over 25% for
next year, I attended the Joint Health Care Session. I have not talked to everyone who attended the sessions,
but those that I have talked to said they were interesting sessions. Each session selected volunteers to form
project study teams that are now to meet and report back to the Steering Committee in February 2005 with a
problem statement and possible options for their topic areas.
Park Commission Approves 3 Projects for 2005
The Parks and Recreation Commission voted 7-0 to approve three Capital Improvement Projects for
completion in 2005. The Commission discussed plans and proposals for rehabilitation of playground
equipment, including border edging and surfacing material, at Wentworth and Marie Parks with a
representative from local vendor Earl F. Anderson, Inc. which installs play components supplied by
Landscape Structures, a firm located in Buffalo, MN. The third project considered was for installation of
additional ramps and components at the skate park located in Roger's Lake Park.
The Commission has made a recommendation to the City Council to authorize expenditures totaling
$110,000.00 from the Special Park Fund for the three projects. Prior to last Tuesday's meeting, in an attempt
to increase residents involvement in park planning issues, the Commission asked staff to include an article in
the October issue of the "Heights Highlites" inviting residents to attend the November meeting to discuss
planned upgrades of the City's eleven playgrounds during the next several years. Residents were also
encouraged to contact City offices if they were unable to attend regular Parks Commission meeting. A front
page article in the "South West Review", shortly followed delivery of the "Heights Highlites", also
encouraging residents to become involved with this effort. No residents were in attendance at the
Commission meeting and suggestions from four residents, by phone, were summarized and provided to the
Commission in the agenda packet.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jim Danielson
City Administrator
Attachments: Just the Facts, Pipeline, City Council Meeting Agenda, Planning Commission
Agenda Synopsis, Pre-Application Meeting Synopsis, Twincities.com (Pioneer Press) Article
“Tender of soles closing his shop”, Villager Article MAC postpones vote on new airport
soundproofing plan”, Sun-Current Calendar Photo “A blazin’ good time”, Sun Current Article
“Airport noise committee frustrated, may pack up”.