Lakeville City Council Forms Financial Advisory Committee

The Lakeville City Council, at its meeting Monday, approved a resolution for the creation of a new Financial Advisory Committee. The formation of the committee had been discussed during previous work sessions and has been shaped during those discussions from a nine-member task-force to a current form that will include a seven-member committee of volunteer citizens.

The measure passed on a 4-1 vote with first-term adamantly dissenting.

After being pulled from the consent agenda by Mayor Mark Bellows for some fine-tuning of the language, the newly created committee will be allowed to have one non-resident serve so as not to preclude possible participation from any Lakeville business owners that don’t reside in the city or other qualified individuals with a specialized interest the city may find valuable.

According to a brief by City Administrator Steve Mielke, the committee will be tasked with helping the city in short and long-term financial planning issues including offering advice on policy. The citizen committee will also be asked to help the city keep abreast of current municipal financial trends and provide assistance with public education programs relative to the city’s finances.

The passage of the measure means the city will now begin advertising for citizens with varied financial backgrounds interested in serving on the committee. The council hopes to be able to begin reviewing candidates in June.

Little objected to the creation of the committee by saying he saw no reason to create another “layer” of government deal with an issue that wasn’t a dire current concern.

“There’s no essential reason to create another permanent structure of government for this,” said Little. “We’re creating a committee to advise the best finance director (Dennis Feller) in the state of Minnesota. Look at a lot of other cities, they’re scrambling. Here in Lakeville we are not in a dire situation… If the light is still shining, don’t change the bulb."

“There will be a cost for additional time and resources with this,” Little continued. “I’d take that figure and put that into fixing potholes. This is a political mirage. This is not useful.”

But Bellows, who has been encouraging a Financial Advisory Committee since , disagreed.

“I am under the belief that this will bring greater accountability to the financial process,” said Bellows.

Council member Colleen Ratzlaff-Labeau clarified that the formation of an advisory committee had nothing to do with Feller’s performance.

“This was not put together because Mr. Feller has not done an outstanding job,” said Labeau. “This is to help lighten the load, not increase it. It never hurts to have more than one opinion, but I agree with Mr. Little that his (Feller’s) name is echoed pretty loudly” among peers for doing an outstanding job.

Council member Kerrin Swecker weighed in saying she wanted to see what could come from getting financial input from many sources. “I do see there are some benefits here. I’m willing to give it a shot at least for the next year.”

Council member Laurie Rieb agreed with Swecker. “I think we also need to keep a close watch on it to ensure it is not putting undue burdens on the staff,” she said. “This will be a trial. I think it will be a good process and we can learn and adapt as we go.”

Other news:

In other business, the council also approved the 2011 street improvement project after conducting a public hearing. The $2.4 million project will provide new or spot curb and gutter installation, storm drainage and sewer improvements, and road reconstruction to several Lakeville neighborhoods. That figure is down from a previous estimate of $2.8 million when the council first heard the proposal in January.

Affected properties will be assessed from $925 to $5,337 for the improvements on their property tax bills over the next 20 years. Those figures are also down from a previous estimated high cost of $6,650 per unit.

Areas slated for improvements include the Glenn, Four Star, Floyd Bentson, Park Terrace, South Creek, Gilb Fitzpatrick, Overland, Lake Vale, Lidco, Lakeville Family Housing, McNearney and Playfield additions and neighborhoods.

Work is scheduled to run from June through October.