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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/17/2009 04A Draft Minutes 11-03-2009 Special Meeting - Study SessionSPECIAL MEETING — STUDY SESSION NOVEMBER 3, 2009 —8:00-11:30 A.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS —YAKIMA CITY HALL 1: Roll Call Present: Council: Mayor Dave Edler, presiding, Assistant Mayor Micah, Cawley, Council Members Maureen Adkison, Kathy Coffey, Rick Ensey, Bill Lover, and Sonia Rodriguez Staff: City Manager Zais, Budget and Finance Director Debord, and City Clerk Kloster 2. Review of 2010 General Government Budget Expenditure Reduction Proposals per the Priorities of Government model as follows: • Resource Management (continued) City Management — City Manager Zais spoke briefly about the functions and reductions in the various divisions. He addressed the workload in the Records Division with Council packet preparation and especially the increase in public disclosure requests. In many cases, the public disclosure process is being used as a substitute for discovery in all types of litigation. This is burdensome to many areas, especially with the need for legal review. He noted that travel and training have been reduced by 7.5% across the board. Community and Economic Development — Deputy Director Michael Morales described their department function and how monies expended come back into the community. He pointed out that, although the value of permits may have decreased, the volume is very near the same as the previous year. There are more small jobs versus major jobs and the small jobs require more assistance. Mr. Morales reviewed positions that have been frozen. Total reductions are over $600,000, the majority of which are salaries. He then discussed the proposed reduction of an animal control officer explaining why that elimination, -----dn—d-tr—ain—siti--o'-n-ihg—tKe-6m—plo—yee to a—code compliance --offi&r —posib6n—,is— eligible for CDBG funding. They are exploring using the Humane Society for some animal control activities within the city. There is a proposal to contract with them for coverage west of 4& Avenue, which would allow for the reduction of one officer. In their analysis, they have determined that the call volumes have not increased relative to the increase in size of the city. Mr. Morales said a number of their services are heading toward strategic partnerships. Public Works — Director Chris Waarvick said the Street budget has been reduced by nearly $900,000 in 2010. They have made reductions by improving efficiency with LED lighting and reducing staff in Traffic Control and Traffic Engineering. One of the impacts of the reductions is that the planned ten-to- twelve year cycle for chip sealing neighborhood streets will not be possible. In November 3, 2009 lieu of doing chip sealing, they will now be doing crack filling. There continues to be a problem of not performing grind and overlay and rebuilding where necessary. The available resources are not adequate for the need, City Manager Zais mentioned that The legislature is looking into renewing a street utility. -, Upon questioning, Joe Rosenlund, Streets & Traffic Operations Manager, estimated street failures at about 30% and are continuing to rise. Economic Development A general discussion was held on Outside Agency requests. It has been recommended that the Yakima County Development Association (YCDA) be moved to the Economic Development fund because there are additional resources from the state that can be used for them. The rest of the outside agencies are in the budget at 50% reduction per the Budget Committee's recommendation, but there has been a further recommendation to eliminate all outside agency funding. The outside agencies have been invited to speak at the public hearing on November 17. Council will not take action on the suggestion to eliminate funding until after that time. City Manager Zais spoke about the expense for and revenues from on-street parking enforcement which is under the City's Police Department. There is a legal opinion clarifying that it is not something that can be contracted out to the Parking Commission established for enforcement inside the City lots. Quality of Life Diversity Promotion - There is a recommendation from Council Member Lover to eliminate this from the Human Resource budget Parks - Ken Wilkinson gave an overview of the impacts of the 2010 budget reduction on the Parks & Recreation Division. The three areas impacted are staffing, programs, and services. Since 1991, staffing has been reduced from -------20-FTEs10-1 1-75, -althtfugh the areasarved­has increased—.Mr.-Wilkinson also listed mid-year 2009 reductions and their impacts, mainly in the area of services to children. Other impacts are a reduction in tree maintenance, slower response time to graffiti and vandalism, decreased cleanliness of restroorns, and reduced repairs. Council Member Adkison expressed distress about cutting programs for children while we wring our hands over gang violence and how to keep our younger children from joining gangs. Mayor Edler suggested we again look into forming a Parks District. Customer Service and Communications Mrs. DeBord said a proposed budget reduction in the Copy Center is the deferral of replacing an offset printer that is approximately 20 ye a*rs old. It is used to print forms and envelopes and could give out at any time. PEI November 3, 2009 Strategic Partnerships Purchasing — Although there are no reductions, there is the consolidation with the County's purchasing function. As a result, County revenue is contributing to positions and upgrades in the City Purchasing Division. 3. Audience Comments - None 1. Municipal Court (including Probation) Judge Olwell described the workload, staffing, and the impact of mid-year cuts, one of which is having reduced cashier hours for the public. The cashier position has been added to the list for reconsideration. Offsetting funds must be identified in order to support that restoration. 2. Police Department (including Law and Justice Capital) It was noted that the General Fund is being is being supplemented from grants and earmarks. Chief Granato said they are recommending reducing the purchase of police vehicles from ten to fourjn 2010. Chief Granato offered a suggestion for funding of the prosecutor position that is slated to be cut. He said forfeiture funds are now going into the department's drug fund. That money is constant and can be used for salaries of prosecutors and police officers. City Manager Zais said they are proposing amending the budget with an allocation from the Narcotics Division toward the potential restoration of the prosecutor position. 3. Fire Department Chief Hines gave a brief summary of the Fire Department. They are facing an increasing demand for services. Lack of funding has caused the department to reduce service levels. Elimination of the apparatus replacement fund saves $200,000 a year, but operational overtime has ' dramatically increased, In their attempt to increase efficiency, they have become inefficient. Mayor Edler asked about a Fire Authority. Chief Hines responded that when fire departments pool their resources, they become more efficient and economical. The state allows the creation of a fire authority. They will be looking into that next year. In response to a question regarding inefficiencies he had mentioned, Chief Hines said they are unable to achieve the standards - for - response -time goal adopted by the City Council in 2006. Yakima has the poorest Washington Survey and Rating Bureau grade of any full-time, paid professional department in the state. As a result, citizens and business owners are paying higher fire insurance premiums. In addition, YFD has the fewest firefighters per capita than any city its size in the state. The result of that is an increased reliance on surrounding volunteer fire 3 Budget Reduction Study Session November 3, 2009 districts with a consequence of slower response times. In 1990 the City Council commissioned Burkelll and Associates to do an organizational analysis of the fire department. It stated, "777e consultant found an extremely lean, if not under staffed, organization," and recommended the minimum staffing standard be increased to 21 firefighters on duty each day. In 1990, the population. was 49,000; our emergency responses were 3,400. Today our population is 85,000 with nearly 10,000 responses per year and we have 19 firefighters on duty daily. City Manager Zais advised that they had discovered that BEET 1 dollars cannot be used for apparatus but only for facilities and equipment. This needs to be addressed at the Public Safety Committee level. The policy issue is to refer this to the Public Safety Committee for in-depth study and recommendations on options. 4. Public Safety Communications Wayne Wantland, Public Safety Communications Manager, pointed out that when the number of officers increases, dispatching increases. If you decrease the number of officers, 911 calls go up. 5. City Administration Human Resources - Assistant City Manager Zabell described the different funds; unemployment compensation, workers compensation, and health benefit funds. The City self-insures all three. The health fund at $10 million is the largest The Health Insurance Board with representatives from all employee groups is responsible for making suggestions about what is covered and how to share costs of the program with the bargaining groups. The Board has just embarked on determining what benefit changes will be necessary to sustain the program. City Council — Council Member Lover suggested further reductions in Council travel in addition to what was already done. -General City-Management.—_ Travel has been. reduced.- City Manager Zais offered ICMA membership at .$5,000 as a potential reduction. City Clerk — Debbie Kloster noted the cuts, the latest one being a $5,000 reduction in the codification of ordinances. Purchasing — Sue Ownby, Purchasing Manager, spoke about the combining of the City and County purchasing functions. CAWLEY MOVED AND COFFEY SECONDED TO ADJOURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION AT 5:00 P.M. FOLLOWED BY THE BUSINES MEETING AT 6:00 P.M. rd Budget Reduction Study Session November 3, 2009 , IN COUNCIL CHAMBERS. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 11:04 a.m. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY • EMPT31,51 COUNCIL MEMBER DATE ATTEST: CITY CLERK DAVID EDLER, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. A CD and DVD of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office L 5