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Home My WebLink About12/02/2003 Adjourned Meeting 54 CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL DECEMBER 2, 2003 - 8:30 A.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS - CITY HALL 1. Roll Call Present: Council: Mayor Mary Place, presiding, Council Members Clarence Barnett, Ron Bonlender, Paul George, John Puccinelli, Bernard Sims, and Susan Whitman Staff: City Manager Zais, Budget/Finance Director Anson, and City Clerk Roberts 2. Community and Economic Development (Continued from 11/25/03) Bill Cook, Director of Community and Economic Development, K. Wendell Adams, City Engineer, and Cindy Epperson, Financial Services Manager, were available for questions. Engineering - Budget (Policy Issue Page 22; Budget Page E - 66) Mr. Adams explained that the Arterial Street Capital Fund is where the gas tax money is put and it is used aggressively to obtain grants. They intend to do $7 to $8 million dollars worth of projects in 2004. There was a discussion on the problems on 16 Avenue and what will be done to mitigate them. Also discussed was the area of 40 Avenue and Fruitvale Boulevard as well as the need for an additional north -south thoroughfare. Contingency Plan (Page PI 148) Mr. Cook clarified that neither Telecommunications nor ONDS receive any general funds, therefore, the contingency reduction mainly affects Code Enforcement and Planning with a small hit to Engineering. Doug Maples, Planning and Code Enforcement Manager, explained that the $9,000 reduction is a restructure of how overtime is handled in Animal Control. This prompted a discussion on Council packet preparation and delivery. Council Member Sims suggested that since the contingency budget contains a lot of overtime reduction, it might be prudent to start reducing the overtime before we get to a point that we'll need to put the contingency plan into effect. Mr. Maples explained the second contingency tier is a drastic cutback in custodial services, and described the attempt to lower heating costs in the building. 3. City Management Department (Contingency Reduction Pages PI 151) City Council (Budget Page B -1) — No discussion City Manager (Budget Page B -4) — No discussion 55 DECEMBER 2, 2003 - BUDGET MEETING • Legal (Budget Page B -7) Ray Paolella, City Attorney, Helen Harvey, Senior Assistant City Attorney, Jeff West, Senior Assistant Attorney,. and Linda Kuntz, Legal Assistant, were available for questions. Policy Issues -Add Land Use Attorney position and a Legal Assistant position. Mr. Paolella gave the rationale for the addition of these two positions noting that by consolidating the work that is being done outside the City's Legal Department, the City could save a significant amount of money. Mr. West spoke about the request to increase the Public Defender budget due to the increased criminal caseload. Risk Management (out of order, Finance D40 -D -42) Mr. Zais answered questions and explained that the City is self insured up to a retention level of $1.5 million and then has an umbrella protection policy above that figure. The City has had to reduce the umbrella coverage amount, due to cost, from $10 million to $7.5. Council Member Sims pursued a question a citizen had asked at a previous meeting with Mr. Rice; why is Purchasing not under Accounting and why does he have line responsibility when he is the Assistant City. Manager. City Manager Zais explained it was a decision he made when structuring City Administration. He said Purchasing was a division of Finance in the past until the State Auditors gave a report that they didn't agree it should be and requested it be transferred to another,division. We did so to comply. He then went on to explain the management responsibilities assigned to the Assistant City Manager as a budgetary savings. Also discussed were Human Resource responsibilities, Civil Service, and the multitude of different bargaining units. Records (City Clerk) (Budget Page B -13) Glenn Rice, Assistant City Manager, and Karen Roberts, City Clerk, were available for questions. Mrs. Roberts noted the budget increases are election costs and the publication of the City Council agendas in the legal section of the newspaper. Council Member Puccinelli commented about the unfairness of City residents having to pay County taxes and yet still the City is billed for elections. He noted that County residents don't pay any extra tax for their share of the elections. Human Resources (Budget Page B -17) There was discussion on the amount of hours included in the budget for labor negotiations. Also discussed were the medical benefits and the fact that City employees are paying a larger portion for their insurance than other organizations across the state. The City's self insurance on Workman's Compensation was also discussed. 2 5 6 DECEMBER 2, 2003 - BUDGET MEETING Purchasing (Budget Page B -37) Sue Ownby, Purchasing Manager, described intergovernmental purchasing with the County and other agencies. Mrs. Ownby was requested to supply a copy of the Purchasing manual to the new City Council Members. Water (Budget Page B -74) & Irrigation (Budget Page B -99) Dave Brown, Acting Water Manager, was available for discussion on the following items: • Improved customer service system • Staffing • Adding Tri- County Dues from the Yakima River Basin Joint Board to the budget • Design and construction plans for the 308 System • Citizen hook ups to the new pipes • Water Rights, Water Pressure, Filtration The Council took a ten - minute recess and resumed the meeting at 10:40 a.m. Wastewater (Budget Page B -40) Doug Mayo, Wastewater Manager, Max Linden, Utility Engineer, and Scott Schafer, Environmental Analyst were available for questions. It was noted that the policy issue referenced in the budget had been withdrawn and will be resubmitted next year. Budget items discussed were: • Expenses versus revenues • Grouting Program • Connection charge issues • Impacts of bond retirements and public perception • Pretreatment Program • Wastewater Capital, Capital improvement plans • Reduction in staffing • Wastewater odor bond status City Manager Zais described the contingency tiers. He spoke about the various issues that may cause the need to implement contingencies; items such as sales tax streamlining, collective bargaining, and state initiatives. If these items trigger a reliance on the reserves that exceeds 5% or more on ongoing operating expenses, we will impose cost reduction measures. Mayor Place advised that Glenn Rice will be attending a Department of Revenue meeting on streamlining, as well as she, City Manager Zais, and Council Member George will be meeting with the Governor and his staff on the issue. 3