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Home My WebLink About12/09/1980 Adjourned Meeting (2) 21 0 4.„ DECEMBER 9, 1980 ADJOURNED MEETING -- BUDGET REVIEW The City Council met in session on this date at 9:00 A.M. in the Council Chambers of City Hall, Yakima, Washington. Council members present were Mayor Betty L. Edmondson, Lynn Buchanan, Lynn Carmichael, Shirley Doty, and Don Hinman. Council member Henry Beauchamp present after 9:30 A.M. and Council member Bruce Crest present after 10:00 A.M. Mayor Edmondson announced that this meeting was scheduled for the pur- pose of studying the budget. 1. GENERAL ADMINISTRATION City Council City Manager Zais and Assistant City Manager Wittenberg re- viewed the budget for the City Council for 1981. City Manager II/ Zais explained that there are quite few cable television costs that have not been reimbursed yet, which are not reflected in this year's expenditures. He stated that Council expenditures for 1980 have exceeded the $53,000 budget by about $25,000 due to cable television costs and Council travel. Council members expressed concern that the budget does not reflect the cable television costs; nor does it reflect receipt of the reim- bursement from the cable television companies. City Manager Zais stated that information can be explained in narrative form in the budget. In response to Council's inquiry City Manager Zais stated that staff will report on the amount of money that needs to be reimbursed by the cable television companies. Concern was expressed about the amount allowed for travel, however, following discussion, it was the general consensus of the Council to leave the travel budget as it is. Discussion also followed on the memberships, the City has in various organizations, i.e., AWC, Chamber of Commerce, COG. Council members requested a list of organizations the City belongs to. Council member Catill ichael questioned the need for the City to belong to the Chamber of Commerce in light of the fact that several Council members belong to the Chamber and the Mayor is an Ex-Officio member. She inquired about the benefits derived from this membership. Council member Car- michael suggested using the money earmarked for the Chamber of Commerce membership for membership in the Conference of Mayors. (Council member Hinman temporarily absent.) (Council member Bruce Crest present after 10:00 A.M.) Following dis- cussion it was MOVED by Carmichael, seconded by Doty to appro- priate $1,000 to join the U.S. Conference of Mayors in lieu of membership in the Chamber of Commerce. Carried by 5/2 voice vote. Beauchamp voting nay. Hinman absent. City Manager, Assistant City Manager Wittenberg expounded on the narrative given in the preliminary budget regarding the hiring of an intern to do special research, cost analysis, and organiza- tional reviews to improve equipment and manpower effective- ness. A couple of the sample projects that Mr. Wittenberg mentioned were e]mployee handbooks, and Boards and Commission • information handbooks. He commented that $3,000 has been budgeted for summer help at the rate of $5.15 per hour. Legal Fred Andrews, City Attorney, briefly reviewed his budget by service unit number and stated that a 10% factor has been added to his budget for inflation. He mentioned that funds for professional services have not been budgeted because it is unknown how many lawsuits there will be that need outside professional services. The funds for professional services are taken from the Contingency Fund. Following discussion on this, Council member Carmichael requested information on the number of cases and the costs for the last few years. DECEMBER 9, 1980 211 ADJOURNED MEETING -- BUDGET REVIEW Records Iris Litzenberger, City Clerk, reviewed the budget for her division, referring to various charts on personnel and budget comparisons for the past few years. She reported that she was able to cut $10,000 from the miscellaneous budget as the election expenses are not expected to be as high as originally anticipated. Mayor Edmondson inquired if an additional staff member is needed in this office to assist with the variety of functions this office provides or is it better to pay for overtime. Assistant City Manager Wittenberg stated that there is only $1,000 budgeted for overtime and the restructuring of the workload in the office helped. He commented that the City Clerk's Office is used as a personnel pool for covering other offices in his division, however, he felt that the job could be done this year with the same number of staff. He stated that he may look for additional clerical help next year. (Council member Doty absent after 11:00 P.M.) Purchasing Larry Wittenberg stated that the attempt to raise the bid limit amount failed, and we would like to bring this to a vote of the public in the fall, trying to get more information out to the public. Jean Shipman, Purchasing Agent, distributed information on the functions of her division and then briefly reviewed a chart on the bid process. She referred to a chart on the method of procurement and the method which would be adopted following the passage of the raising of the bid limit. She commented that of the 70 bids processed in 1979, 27% were between $2,000 and $5,000 and in 1980 there are 71 bids to date and 45% of them are between $2,000 and $5,000. She commented on the difference between using State bids and local vendors, reporting that the service and delivery of material is better with local vendors. She then referred to a chart on the processing of Central Supply items. Ms. Shipman spoke about the staffing in her division and explained the need for additional clerical help in her - division. She requested a 3/4 Department Assistant II who would only work for Purchasing. Currently, Purchasing and Personnel share a Department Assis- tant III, and if the Department Assistant II is approved for Purchasing, then Purchasing would not employ any of the De- partment Assistant III's time. City Hall Assistant City Manager Wittenberg reported that he has recom- mended that custodial services for all City facilities be transferred' to the supervision of the Code Administration Division. In an attempt to consolidate custodial services, some basic work has been done to structure for a building maintenance supervisor to maintain City Hall with roving custodial crews performing the custodial services. The Build- ing Maintenance Supervisor will make a survey of the custodial needs for the entire City. Discussion followed regarding the energy audit for the City and Mr. Wittenberg commented that he would like to keep the funds budgeted for the audit, even if it is performed free of charge by Pacific Power and Light. Those funds could then be used towards implementation of recommendations. He stated that the custodial services divi- sion is understaffed and some of the work has to wait until it gets really bad before it gets done. He reported that the electric chest freezer in the jail facilities may need to be replaced in 1981. Personnel Bob Weaver, Personnel Director, referred to a chart and brief- ly reviewed the responsibilities-,of his division. He stated that there is a 17.9% increase from last year mainly due to the addition of one -half time Personnel Technician for imple- 219 DECEMBER 9, 1980 ADJOURNED MEETING -- BUDGET REVIEW menting the Payroll /Personnel Management System. He reviewed the flow chart for filling vacant positions, giving the amount of time it takes to fill a position. He stated that one of the reasons for the time lag is that the Department Assistant III is shared with Purchasing and that means that testing for positions can only be held on the two days that Personnel has the assistance of the Department Assistant. (Carmichael absent after 12:00 Noon.) He commented that $2,000 has been budgeted to assist in labor negotiations and $1,300 has been budgeted for transportation. Mayor Edmondson announced that the discussion on the Personnel and Information Systems budgets will be continued to Thursday, December 11, 1980, at 1 :30 P.M. It was MOVED by Crest, se— conded by Hinman that this meeting be adjourned at the hour of 12 :15 P.M. Unanimously carried by ice vote. Carmichael and Doty absent. 1 READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY \ f,, A .7! , , ! 4,L:.41 DATE 1 Z. -23 -' COUNCIL I :ER • AM'' DATEg) r COUNCIL EMBER ATTES : App •► . , , I!/ • ii ii /_i 101 . CITY CLE' J / / 'YOR •