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Home My WebLink About02/24/2009 04A Draft Minutes 11-04-2008 Adjourned Meeting - Budget ReviewYAKIMA CITY COUNCIL ADJOURNED MEETING - BUDGET REVIEW NOVEMBER 4, 2008 – 8:30 A.M. –12:00 NOON COUNCIL CHAMBERS – CITY HALL 1. Roll Call Present: Council: Assistant Mayor Micah Cawley presiding, Council Members Kathy Coffey, Rick Ensey, Norm Johnson, Bill Lover and Neil McClure Staff: City Manager Zais, Finance and Budget Director DeBord, and City Clerk ,Moore.. Also available were Cindy Epperson, Accounting Manager, and Tim Jensen, Treasury Services Officer Absent: Mayor Dave Edler (excused) City Manager Zais gave opening comments. 2. City Administration - Part 1 - General (See 2009 Preliminary Budget document) ® City Council Council Member Ensey suggested the travel budget be reduced back to last.year's amount. Council agreed with the reduction. ® -City Manager - No discussion a Indigent Defense , This item, is under City Adm�nistralJOn for contract management. Dave Zabell. Assistant City Manager, advised that we'have applied for a $200,000 grant to increase coverage. ® Legal City Manager Zais advised that they hope to fill the vacant city attorney position by year -end. Assistant City Attorney Cutter noted the significant decrease in outside counsel costs. Assistant City Attorney Martinez said they hoped to be able to implement the case management system by the end of 2009. Assistant City Attomey Harvey. described the policy issue to increase a half time legal assistant II to full time. If the position is made full time they could bring more work in- house, a further step in bringing outside counsel expenses down. e Risk Management — No discussion . ® City Clerk and Records City Manager Zais advised that the cost of elections will be reflected in this budget. The EMS election cost in February will be assigned to the EMS budget. There is a policy issue that is combined with Information Systems to provide archiving data storage of the official records in the City Clerk's office. Last year was the policy issue for capturing and storing electronic mail, this is the next step in the phase -in process. This issue will be discussed in detail during Information Systems presentation. Council Member Lover requested cost information on the presidential election with a comparison to the last one. ADJOURNED MEETING — BUDGET REVIEW NOVEMBER 4, 2008 = 8: 30 A.M. • Human Resources Assistant City Manager Zabell advised that there are currently two contracts being negotiated, Police and the newly organized Lieutenants and Captains. Human Resource Director Smith gave an overview of the division's functions. • Employee Insurance Benefits City Manager Zais answered questions about the discrepancies in employee payments for insurance; the Management Group carries the largest cost. • Purchasing The potential merger with Yakima County's purchasing was discussed. When it is accomplished, it will be one of the very first combinations in the northwest; currently there are only four in the country. • Community Relations Randy Beehler, Community Relations Manager gave a brief overview of departmental functions. They are in the process of some significant equipment changes. They will soon be.able,to post all of YPAC programming online. He explained that the current 15 =year franchise with Charter Communications expires in 2009. Although it will more than likely be extended for another five years,.we would not be receiving grant money during the extension. 2. Public Works Department — Part 1 ® Administration — No discussion • & Traffic The policy issue for the 40th Avenue Corridor Traffic Improvement Study vvas. _ discussed highlighting the need as traffic continues to increase. .Coun'cil Member Coffey suggested there be a. policy issue for an overarching study':froma =82 5f- Yakima Resource to Union Gap. Street lights were discussed arid it was'noted that they are looking into solar powered LED street lights. Chris Waarvick, Public Works Director, concurred -that lighting LIDs may be a possibility as requests out number funding. Joan Davenport gave an update on the Barge Chestnut traffic calming project. a Transit Transit Manager Ken Mehin noted that ridership is up 14 %. Mr. Waarvick advised that they are looking into a grant that would expand service hours. It was questioned why the purchase of one bus was submitted as a policy issue. City Manager Zais advised that bus purchases typically are not, but due to the high cost, this one did in order to keep Council aware. • Refuse Nancy Fortier, Refuse Manager, addressed their two policy issues. The request to upgrade a solid waste maintenance worker to a code compliance position was the result of the declining need for maintenance workers due to automation. For years they have only been able to deal with the litter problem on a complaint basis. They are hoping to take a proactive approach on illegal dumping with this position. The other policy issue is to change a maintenance position to crew leader. They have approximately 2,600 new accounts coming in from the 72nd Avenue annexation. Also discussed was the misnomer of,-the title crew leader when they are actually driving. A title change will require going through the Civil Service process to have the•position 2 ADJOURNED MEETING — BUDGET REVIEW NOVEMBER 4, 2008 — 8: 30 A.M. renamed. It was noted that there will be some equipment replacements that have been budgeted. 0 • Equipment Rental Council Member McClure said that he did research in response to a comment made .on the radio about the City.having a parking lot full of new vehicles. On average 16% of the fleet are 3 -years old or newer. If police vehicles are not considered, the percentage goes down drastically. The Equipment Rental department does a great job of keeping the equipment maintained so it lasts. Mr. Waarvick advised that approximately 50% of the City's vehicles are at, or beyond, their financial replacement life. • Environmental Fund City Manager Zais explained that the fund has been in existence for a number of years and is from a surcharge on fuel 4. Adjournment McCLURE MOVED AND JOHNSON SECONDED TO ADJOURN. The motion carried by unanimous voice•vote; Edler absent. The meeting adjourned at 10:44 a.m. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY COUNCIL MEMBER DATE COUNCIL MEMBER DATE ATTEST: CITY CLERK DAVID EDLER, MAYOR 1 Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. A CD and DVD of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office r, u 3