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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/16/2010 04A Draft Minutes 10-26-2010 Adjourned Meeting/ n YAKIMA CITY COUNCIL ADJOURNED MEETING OCTOBER 26, 2010 9 00 A.M —12 00 NOON COUNCIL CHAMBERS — YAKIMA CITY HALL Roll Call Present: Council Mayor Micah Cawley, presiding, Assistant Mayor Kathy Coffey, Council Members Dave Edler, Rick Ensey, Dave Ettl and Bill Lover Staff- City Manager Zais, Finance and Budget Director DeBord, Deputy Director Finance and Budget Epperson, Acting City Clerk Claar -Tee Absent: Council Member Adkison 2. Council Budget Review by Priority /Department/Service Unit Assistant Mayor Coffey asked to consider changing the reserve dependency from 8 5% to 7% She said the City Manager recommended it be 7 5% which would put an additional $568,000 into the budget. 7% would add $800,000 She is suggesting this to help work through emergency circumstances, especially if the initiative on liquor passes Mayor Cawley suggested it be added to the November 16th meeting while Council Member Lover suggested the question be answered at the next budget meeting (November 2 "d) City Manager Zais gave opening statements and noted that policy issues mainly focus on budget reductions In keeping with the Priorities of Government model, the presentations will follow the priority headers, starting with Quality of Life Qualitv of Life • City Manager — Diversity Promotion City Manager Zais explained there is only one $500 line item It helps promote the Martin Luther King, Jr celebration Public Works — Parks (all service units) Parks and Recreation Manager Wilkinson noted that there has been a total of 15 FTEs lost since 2008 in the Parks and Recreation division He listed many accomplishments for this last year as well as grant funding received They have four goals for 2011 1) continue improvements at Kiwanis Park;. 2) create a comprehensive renovation plan for Randall Park; 3) complete the 2012 -2016 Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Plan, and 4) acquire grants and donations for current and future programs Although they shortened Fisher Park's season to reduce costs, the number of golfers increased, and attendance also increased at both Lions and Franklin pools He noted that the Parks budget overall has been reduced $200,000 since 2009 There have been impacts due to reductions, especially with graffiti and limited restroom cleaning Mr Wilkinson then outlined proposed Tier 1 and Tier 2 cuts • OCTOBER 26, 2010 BUDGET REVIEW Tier 1 is Cut temporary employees in maintenance, e g restrooms and park repairs Reducing $10,000 in park maintenance will result in restrooms not getting cleaned and trash not getting picked up as quickly Summer movies will be impacted The Harman Center will not be open on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturdays Eliminate the youth baseball program Reduce the adult sports program Reduction in advertising and marketing dollars City Manager Zais pointed out that departments were given targets and came back with proposals to balance their budgets Council may disagree with the proposals and will be given other options but they will probably be worse These cuts are-what the manager feels they can manage with the least impact. During discussion, Council members gave a few suggestions, e g selling sponsorships, underwriting, and charging admission fees Tier 2 Martin Luther King and Miller spray parks - don't operate Free summer playground program at Southeast Community Center — don't operate Eliminate the summer concert series Delay hiring Park Administrative Assistant, although this is the person who pursues funding A discussion was held on budget impacts if the liquor initiatives were to pass The annualized impact would be $1 1 million reduction in the General Fund Because of phasing in, the 2011 impact would be approximately $400,000 Assistant Mayor Coffey commented on the impacts on community crisis areas if these reductions become necessary She suggested it may be time to look at the bigger picture and think about reducing the City from being a full service city and perhaps look into the potential of another entity taking over Parks and Recreation because we can no longer afford it A discussion among Council members ensued Public Works Director Waarvick recapped efforts that were taken last year per Council direction, 1) looking into a metropolitan parks district concept for pools and 2) the potential of privatizing or having non - profits run some areas RFPs were sought for the operation of Fisher Park but we received no proposals The discussion noted that decisions will need to be made on how much service the government should be providing and the union issue that would arise when trying to privatize services Mr Wilkinson advised that the parks and recreation profession is changing and they are looking for new ways to provide services The discussion became more philosophical and could potentially lead to a future study session With regard to the cemetery, Mr Wilkinson said there is a policy issue to increase fees across the board by 7% bringing the City in line with other cemetery providers The fees have not been raised since 2008 City Manager Zais explained there is a cemetery endowment fund of over $560,000 but only the interest earnings can be used to help support the cemetery He suggested at some point we need to have one of our state representatives work on changing state law to give more flexibility on this fund 2 OCTOBER 26, 2010 BUDGET REVIEW • Public Works — Streets — Pedestrian -& Bikeways Joe Rosenlund spoke about accomplishments and pointed out that there is no longer any 50/50 sidewalk money When weeds are out of control, street crews will be sent to take care of them Sidewalk repairs will probably not be done unless property owners can be urged to take responsibility or it is paid from the Risk Management fund Mr Rosenlund advised that weed spraying was being reduced from $10,000 to $3,000 and the number of passes cut from three to one throughout the year Council Member Ettl suggested trying to encourage community pride with spray companies to see if they would donate their services City Manager Zais reported on a recent presentation by the director of the National League of Cities in which he advised that local government is only in the middle of the recession There is a delayed effect with more impact coming on all aspects of government. This forces the questions of whether we can afford to continue doing what we are doing today Major economists do not see a recovery back to what we had, it has to be something radically different because it could take 10 -15 years to cycle back. As we work through the budget, that is a larger discussion that requires fundamental decisions Can we afford to sustain what we have or do we need to do something radically different with regard to services provided by our communities? It is going to take major change, maybe even the possibility of a city /county consolidation within a decade Council continued the discussion emphasizing the need to start thinking differently and the need to start now Major points of the discussion were. ® What do we do to start turning around? If a parks district isn't the best suggestion, what is? The same question applies to a fire authority or a street authority Non - profits — are we duplicating efforts? There is a need for a discussion as a group on how to tackle the problems The need to refer back to the strategic directions was suggested 3 Adjournment E_ ENSEY MOVED AND ETTL SECONDED TO ADJOURN TO OCTOBER 26, 2010 AT 6.00 P.M. FOR A JOINT CITY /COUNTY PUBLIC MEETING AT THE YAKIMA CONVENTION CENTER TO REVIEW AND CONSIDER THE WEST VALLEY NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote The meeting adjourned at 11 00 a m READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY ATTEST CITY CLERK COUNCIL MEMBER DATE COUNCIL MEMBER DATE MICAH CAWLEY, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. A CD and DVD of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office. 3