HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/26/2010 Adjourned Meeting 348
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• YAKIMA CITY COUNCIL
ADJOURNED MEETING
OCTOBER 26, 2010
9:00 A.M. — 12:00 NOON
COUNCIL CHAMBERS — YAKIMA CITY HALL
1. 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 16 meeting while Council Member Lover
suggested the question be answered at the next budget meeting (November 2nd)
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.
Quality 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:
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OCTOBER 26, 2010
BUDGET REVIEW
Tier 1:
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.
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350 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
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 / -- Z //
•OU■ . IL MEMBER DATE
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•OUN IL EMB: DATE
ATTEST:
0 CITY CL' RK MICAH AWLEY, MA R
Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. A CD and DVD of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office.
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