04-270Council File # � 1� a 7�
Green Sheet # 3�� f�^
RESOLUTION
CITY OF SAWT PAUL, MINNESOTA ��1
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Presented bv ��
Resolution Thanking Greg Blees For 36.67625 Years Of City Service
i WFIEREAS, Greg Blees was hired as a Planning Aide in the City Plauning Department on June 26, 1967
2 to draw land use maps at the tender age of 19, and after just a few months of way too many mispiaced ink
s blots on Mylar maps, Greg's supervisor, Roger Ryan, moved him out of the drafting room and into Roger's
a caz to drive every street of Saint Paul to determine current land use conditions for a new modern Zoning
s Code then being prepazed; and
5 WHEREAS, after more than a year of counting mailboxes on residentiai structures to determine the number
� of building units, Roger realized Greg was very good with numbers and assigned him to do Census studies
s and technical surveys; and
9 WHEREAS, Mayor Charles McCarty ordered a City hiring freeze in 1970 just before the City Planner in
�o charge of programming Saint Paul's capital improvement bond monies took a new job; which maxie the
1� Planning Director unable to hire a replacement planner, and provided Greg the opportunity to be temporarily
i2 assigned as a City Planner, and thus, Greg, who had been recently promoted to a Planning Technician
�3 became the Executive Secretary to Saint PauPs Long Range Capital Improvement Budget Committee; and
ia WHEREAS, after the citizens of Saint Paul adopted a new City Charter in 1972 and elected the first strong
is Mayor, Lawrence Cohen, the newly-elected Mayor decided to centralize ail budget functions moving capital
ts budgeting out of City Plauning and into the City Administrator's Office.
i7 WHEREAS, Mayor Cohen, after consulting with the civic leaders serving on the C.].B. Committee,
is transfened Greg out of City Pluuiing and moved him to the 3`� floor of City Hall to help implement the
�9 intent of the new Charter;
zo WHEI2EAS, based on Mayor Cohen's policy direcfion, Greg authored the report "Proposal forA Unified
z 1 Capital lmprovement Pragram and Budget Process for the Cify of Saint Paul" in April 1976 which
z2 resulted in these four major changes broadening and sirengthening citizen participation in Saint Paul:
zs 1) C,T.B. Committee will make priority funding recommendations for al1 capital improvement projects,
za budgering all local, state and federal funding sources, not just the C.I.B bond money;
zs 2) District Councils will have representation on the C.T.B. Committee and iYs three task forces;
26 3) Planning Commission will have a stronger, more strategic role in setting capital budget priorities;
2� and
2s 4) Neighborhood Area Plans will be prepared, as part of the City's Comprehensive Planning process;
z9 and
3o WHEREAS, after successfully implementing a two-year-phase-in plan to make the many policy changes
3 i proposed for the new Unif:ed Process, Greg was promoted to professional status as a Budget Analyst,
3z when Strong Mayor George Latimer moved the City's budgeting function out of the City Administrator's
� �'�.la
� Office and into the Mayor's O�ce; and
2 WI�REAS, the overlapping general obligation bonded debt burden for the Saint Paul School District, the
a City, the County of Ramsey, and the Port Authority was at an all-time high in the mid-1970's; leading both
a Mayor Larimer and the Ciry Council to the provide strong policy d'uection for Greg to author the report
s"General Obligation Debt: its relationship ta the SaintPaul propeKy tax base and the City Council's
s Adopted Goa1s for Reducing Debt" in May of 1979 which resulted in the
1 1) Adoprion oftwo major Debt Reduction Goals by the City Councii, School Boazd, County Board and
s Port Authority; and
s 2) Prepazation and implementation of a ten-year plan to annualiy monitor debt reduction progress.
to WFIEREAS, ten years later, when both debt reduction goals from 1979 were met and even surpassed,
t� elected officials decided to set additional debt management goals for another five-year period which led City
tz staff to submit the new five-yeaz plan and the actual accomplishments of the past decade to the Government
is Finance Officers of America (GFOA) for review and evaluation;
�a WHEREAS, in response to this 1989 submission by staff, GFOA awarded the City of Saint Paul two very
ts special awazds for being the first city in the nation to have a plan and process for managing the Overlapping
�6 General Obligation Debt of four major units of governxnent:
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1) "The 1989 GFOA Award for ExcelLence In Financial Management "— only awazded to one unit
of government annually in the United States and Canada for debt management; and
2) "The 1989 Louisville Award For Innovation In Financia[ Management "— at the time of the
award to Saint Paul, this prestigious award had not been given out during the previous seven years;
and
2s WHEREAS, Mayor Latimer appointed Greg to be the City Budget Director in June of 1981 and during
2a the next nine yeazs — a time when the State of Minnesota and all of its cities were having a severe budget
2s resource crisis — Greg worked with the Mayor and City Council to strengthen all aspects of Saint Paul's
26 budget decision-making process, resulting in some notable City budget process accomplishments, including
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1) the preparation of a councii resolution which made it formal City policy for the City Council to
review, amend, and adopt budgets for all City operating funds, not just the property taac supported
General Fund and General Debt Service Fund;
2) the implementation of Activity Performance Plans — which tried the patience of all department
and office managers — which identified
a) Ongoing Performance Objectives, establishing basic goals for performance;
b) Annual Performance Objectives, identified project objectives for managers, and
c) Performance Indicatars, to measure actual results;
3) the development of the first "Capital Al[ocation Policy" document which identified the Planning
Commission's priorities used in preparing the annual Capital Improvement Budget and Five Year
Progr<un;
4) the preparation of `Budget Goals and Potices" documents which allowed the City Council to adopt
budget preparation guidance in the spring of the year — this early formal policy guidance helped
City mangers, accountants, directors and the Mayor request and propose City budgets that were more
aligned with the ultimate policy positions of the City Council;
5) the active pursuit of budget initiatives that would produce long-term efficiencies, such as
a) purchasing personal computers for departments, when empioyees feared job loss;
O�{-�7D
� b) spending more money to roll chipped rocks into streets needing maintenance — the result of
2 which was sh�eet surfaces lasted for ten years — and the every three-yeaz tarring program was
3 eliminated;
a c) helping to establish the Risk Management Division to put emphasis on controlling "ludden"
5 fringe benefit costs;
6 d) establishing the Civic Organization Partnership Program to foster closing relations with
� nonprofit orgauizations who partnered with the City in meeting the needs of residents;
a e) purchasing a modern street paving machine, so Public Works could reduce annual costs;
9 fl modernizing Public Work's Asphalt Plant, to maintain early spring pothole repair;
�o g) converting high energy use incandescent street lights to low energy use sodium vapor
ii fixtures;
�z 6) help in the prepazation of a long-term financing plan to accelerate the sepazation of Saint Paul's
t3 combined sewers within 10 yeazs, and the pauing of all unpaved residential sireets within 20 years;
i4 7) help in designing a new Storm Area Sewer Service Charge, so that property owners whose properties
ts drained water into storm sewers helped pay for the cost of building new sewers, thus preventing
t6 properiy tax increases for sewer sepazation.
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�s WI�EREAS, in August of 1990, Council President Bill Wilson had Greg appointed to be the City
�9 Council's Fiscal Policy Director, and in the subsequent fourteen years, Greg continued to be an exemplary
2o public servant, adding to his many notable accomplishments by
2t 1) coordinating the City Council's annual budget decision making process with a strong commitment to
z2 open communications and respect for all parricipants;
2s 2) preparing a financing plan and redrafting state law to distribute fine revenues to Saint Paui and
za Ramsey County Courts in order to assist the City Council in creating the neighborhood FORCE
zs Program for the Saint Paul Police Department.
26 3) facilitating a change in pension procedures allowing Saint Pau1 Police Officers and Fire Fighters to
z7 voluntarily move from the local City pension funds into the Minnesota Police and Fire Consolidated
zs Pension Fund. The consolidation plan approved by the City Council resulted in the City property taY
29 payers saving more than $100 million in paying far unfiuided pension liabilities.
so 4) negotiating a 10-yeaz franchise agreement with I�iorthern State Power with three other City
s 1 employees in 1996 — which resuited in the generation of almost $180 million for property tax relief.
3z Notably, the new franchise agreement was thejrst in the nation to move away from collecting
s3 franchise revenue as a percent of the selling prices of energy. Rather the new, more controllable
sa franchise fee structure is based on three predictable combination of chazges: size of ineter, units of
ss energy purchased and demand units.
36 5) analyzing and making financing recommendations for majar Civic projects such as:
s� a) Repurchasing the old Civic Center Arena from private sector owners;
ss b) Constructing the Saint Paul Convention Center and Pazking Ramp;
39 c) Determining STAR Program formulas for distributing the City's one-half percent sales tax to City
ao neighborhood and civic organizations;
ai d) Constructing a new Saint Paul Hockey Arena far the Minnesota Wild;
az e) Constructing a tunnel to connect the RiverCentre Complex with the skyway system;
a3 fl Conshucting a new Ramsey County I,aw Enforcement Center and relocating Saint Paul Police
aa Headquarters to the complex;
a5 g) Legislative proposals for a Minnesota Twins Ballpark;
a6 h) Numerous Tax Increment Financing Plans that provided for the redevelopment of the city;
a� 6) assisting in the development of authorizing legislation and implementation recommendations fox
as creating an independent Saint Paul Public Library Agency to enhance the objectives of the library
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2 7) being proficient and diplomatic in negotiating compromises among elected officiats occupying the
s third floor of the Ciiy Ha11; now, therefore, be it
a RESOLVED, that the Saint Paul City Council does, on behalf of the many elected officials who have had
s the privilege of workiug with Greg, aclmowledge Greg Blees' 36.67625 years of dedicated service to the
5 citizens and taY payers of Saint Paul and does thank Greg for his remarkable accomplishments in budget,
� finance, and respectSul conduction of City bus3ness; and be it
a RESOLVED, that the Saint Paul City Council does, on behalf of past, current and future generations of
9 Saint Paulites who haue benefitted by Greg's financial and common sense — which is manifested in the
io arenas we visit for hockey, the libraries we use with our families and the sewers that separate storm water —
t i hereby declare Tuesday March 16, 2004, the day of Crreg's 56 birthday, to be Greg Blees Day in the City of
iz Saint Paul.
Requested by Departrnent of:
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Form Ap roved by City Attorney
By: �,��i�� �
Approved by Mayor for Submission to Council
Adopfion Certified by Council Secretary
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Appro
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AdoptedbyCouncil: Date /Karc�+ 3�.�bo�
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co -c«m�
!Confact PeBd� & Phone:
Marda Mcemantl
266-8570
Mh�st 88 Grt CWmGiI Ag¢nd2 by
03�AAAR-04
Date initiated:
on-nnaa-oa
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A�ign
Number
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Routing
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Total # of Sig�re Pages _(Clip All Locadons for Signature)
Green Sheet NO: 3012935
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Kecognizing Greg Blees, City Council Fiscal Policy Director, on his retirement aftr 36-plus years
of service to the City of St. Paul and declaiing March 16, 2004 as Greg Blees Day in the City of Saint Paul.
idadons: Apprwe (A) or Reject (R):
Planning Commission
CIB Canmittee
Civil Service Commission
MustAnswerthe
7. Has this personifirtn ever worked under a coMract for this department?
Yes No
2. Has this persohifirtn ever been a ciry employee?
Yes No
3. Does this persoNfirtn possess a skill nat normaAy possessed by any
currerrt city employee?
Yes No
F�cplain a4f yes answe+s on separate sheet a�M attaCh W green sheet
Inkiating Problem, Issu�, Opportunity (Who, What, When, Where, Why):
AdvaMages If Approved:
DisadvaMages IF Approved:
Disadvantages M Not Approved:
oYal Amounf of
Trangaction:
Funding Source:
CostlRevenue Budgeted:
Aetivity Number.
initial/Date
Financial IMOrmation:
(Explain)