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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/03/2009 04A Draft Minutes 10-13-2009 Study SessionYAKIMA CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION OCTOBER 13, 2009 — 8:00 — 9:30 A.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS — YAKIMA CITY HALL- 1. Roll Call Present: Council: Assistant Mayor Micah Cawley, presiding, Council Members Maureen Adkison (after 8:15 a.m.) Kathy Coffey, Rick Ensey, Bill Lover, and Sonia Rodriguez Staff: City Manager Zais, Finance and Budget Director DeBord Absent: Mayor Dave Edler (excused) 2. Review of 2010 General Government Budget Expenditure Reduction Proposals for Public Health and Safety Priorities of Government category. The Public Health & Safety Group includes the following department and/or divisions within these departments- • Police Department • Fire Department • City Management — City Prosecution, Indigent Defense • Municipal Court ® Finance & Budget • Community & Economic Development • - Public Works Police Department - Chief Granato and Deputy Chief Rosenow Record Management System - They are working to merge the City and County's record management systems within the next six months. Without that they will have difficulty getting reports entered with the proposed reduction in personnel. In 2010 they will experience a reduction in non -sworn, law enforcement positions, especially in the telephone reporting unit (TRU). The records. management system implementation has been time consuming; they have spent six years in the process already. It will be implemented in phases, but once fully functional, there should be a reduction in staff hours required to enter reports. Inmate Housing - The proposal is to reduce jail days to offset the. increase in County jail rates. The Budget Forecast lists alternatives that are being researched to accomplish this proposal. Cops Hiring Grant - $78,000 allows for funding of positions scheduled for elimination. Non sworn personnel reductions Elimination of two Police Services Supervisor. positions, two Specialist I positions and all temporary positions. These reductions are in addition to the one Specialist position eliminated in mid -2009. As a result, the Service. Division hours were reduced to Monday -Friday from B a.m. to 6 p.m. BUDGET REDUCTION PROPOSALS — STUDY SESSION PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY PRIORITY OCTOBER 13, 2009 It was noted that the YPPA is the only labor bargaining unit scheduled to receive a salary increase in 2010. The settlement is approximately $360,000. Fire Department - Chief Hines and Deputy Chief Stewart Chief Hines noted that the lack of funding has placed the Fire Department into the position of having to reduce service levels. The proposed reductions will further erode services and increase workload of the remaining personnel. . Personnel Reduction - Deputy Chief Stewart said the proposal is to eliminate a Secretary II position that currently provides administrative support for the two Deputy Fire Chiefs, as well as the Training and Investigation Divisions. Office hours will be reduced and the responsibilities of handling phone service, public disclosures and arson investigation reports will shift to the Deputy Chiefs and the Chief's Administrative Assistant. Canine Program - The proposal is to eliminate, the program. The effect of this elimination is a reduction. in efficiency in the Arson Investigation Division and a loss of our link with the ATF and assistance we receive from them. It is also a loss of a positive public relations program. Chief Hines advised that the City of Yakima has the distinction of being number one on the survey of residential arson incidences in the nation for performance measurement on the. International City and County Managers Association Center. • Council requested a flip chart be started where they can list proposed reductions that they would like to consider retaining if other funds could be found. It was the consensus of Council to add the Canine program to the flip chart for further consideration. City Manager Zais noted that they are still in negotiations with the firefighters' union and have recommended a 0% increase for 2010. Fourth of July Committee — it is proposed to reduce the annual contribution by 50 %. Council Member Ensey recommended cutting all funding to outside agencies Public Works — Director Waarvick and Streets/Traffic Operations Manager Rosenlund Director Waarvick advised that one of the eliminated positions is the Supervising Traffic. Engineer. Joe Rosenlund is handling those duties as well as responsibilities of his current position. Mr. Waarvick described the revenue sources for Streets. Under the Public Health and Safety Priority of Government Heading is public area lighting, traffic control, traffic engineering, traffic administration, snow and ice removal, and street cleaning. Street maintenance will not be covered today as it is 2 BUDGET REDUCTION PROPOSALS — STUDY SESSION PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY PRIORITY OCTOBER 13, 2009 under the Economic Development priority, although the same FTEs perform the functions under both priorities. Mr. Rosenlund gave an overview of material submitted. Because of the reduction in the chip - sealing program, they were able to do more street sweeping this year. With regard to snow and ice removal, it should be adequate unless there is a significant event. Bringing in contractors to plow residential streets in the event of a significant storm will not be possible with the current budget. Council Member Lover commented that he thinks there should be stormwater budget funding to support street maintenance. Traffic Operations Street Lighting — cutting $20,000 in the utility bill by reducing the wattage in lamps on the arterial roads. They have also identified approximately 500 street fights (mid -block lights along arterials) that could be turned off if further reductions are necessary. Signals, Signs and Striping —A supervisory position has been eliminated to allow for additional striping positions. Traffic Engineering — as noted earlier, the position of Supervising Traffic Engineer ® has been eliminated. Finance — Finance and Budget Director Rita DeBord and Information Systems Manager Rick Pettyjohn Information Systems - Mr. Pettyjohn said the proposed reduction for 2010 is to cut $30,000 in temporary salaries related to supporting the mobile fleet. He explained the significance of this reduction. Outside Agencies - Mrs. DeBord noted that the Clean Air Authority is one that is required by the State. District Court — This is a slow phase out of the cost from the time prior to having a municipal court. These dollars are an in-out accounting function. Police Pension — required by state law. Dollars are for pension, disability, and medical benefits for officers hired prior to. March 1970 and LEOFF 1 benefits for members hired before 1977. County Emergency Management — the funding is a percentage of an interlocal agreement that we have to provide emergency management services in this area. Alcohol prevention — a state program for which we received state - shared revenues; 2% of what we receive we are required to forward to the County for an alcohol ® prevention program. 3 BUDGET REDUCTION PROPOSALS — STUDY SESSION PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY PRIORITY OCTOBER 13, 2009 Public Safety Dispatch — transfers funding from the general fund to cover our dispatch services. Municipal Court — Judge Olwell and Linda Hagert Judge Olwell noted that the reduction of a Court Cashier will impact the public by creating longer lines when operation to the public is reduced to four hours per day. She noted that the attorneys will be impacted as well. Assistant Mayor Cawley asked for and received consensus to put this position on the flip chart to look into the potential of keeping it or at least keeping it at a part-time level. Community and Economic Development - Director Bill Cook and Deputy Director Michael Morales Mr. Cook explained that, of the nearly $622,000 in reductions; $484,000 are staff reductions and shifts. Everything in the Public Safety component of the budget is in the Codes Division. They are looking to transfer a portion of our Dangerous Building fund over to the Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG) because it is an eligible activity, although it is limited to housing. There is a vacant permit technician position that is proposed for elimination. There is a vacant fire code inspector also being eliminated, as well as a code compliance position. There is a planned reduction in the Deputy Director position as a result of a planned retirement of the Director. Also, an Animal Control position will be eliminated. Mr. Morales explained the opportunity of using CBDG and federal sources of funds for certain eligible activities. With regard to the code compliance officer vacancyy that had been frozen in 2009, we will be able to fill that position using CDBG funds. Animal control is not eligible. It is planned to have the individual in the Animal Control Officer position make a lateral move to the Code Compliance position. But that still leaves one position less in Animal Control. The operational impact is there are only two officers covering the entire city with only one being available for after -hours calls. This will impact response times. They are looking for potential efficiencies. It was the consensus of Council to put the Animal Control Officer position on the flip chart for reconsideration. Mr. Morales also referred to the issue of having only one Fire Code Inspector. There are approximately 3,000 buildings that need to be inspected annually. They will look into doing the inspections in coordination with the Fire Department. The remaining items, City Management — City Prosecution, Indigent Defense, were deferred to the October 27th Study Session. 3. Audience Comments (9:15 — 9:30 a.m.) No one came forward to speak. 4. Adjournment 4 • • BUDGET REDUCTION PROPOSALS — STUDY SESSION PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY PRIORITY OCTOBER 13, 2009 Council Member Coffey advised that she will be unable to attend the next meeting. She also commented on the YPAC interviews of Council candidates and wanted to go on record saying she is tired of the candidates being asked about Council integrity. She said she is also tired of having this Council labeled as dysfunctional. She wanted it said that she thinks "they get along very very well." ENSEY MOVED AND COFFEY SECONDED TO ADJOURN TO OCTOBER 20, 2009, AT 5:00 P.M. IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS FOR AN EXECUTIVE SESSION AND TO 5:30 P.M. FOR A COUNCIL BUSINESS MEETING. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote. The. meeting adjourned at READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY ATTEST: CITY CLERK COUNCIL MEMBER DATE COUNCIL MEMBER DATE MICAH CAWLEY, ASSISTANT MAYOR Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. A CD and DVD of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office 5