City Council Committee of the Whole · Saturday, July 27, 2024 · City Council Digest

AGENDA

Welcome

Public Comment

packet pp.5–63

Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

CITY COUNCIL RETREAT: BUDGET PRIORITIES c) JULY 27,2024 | SPECIAL COMMIT TEE OF THE WHOLE ANDREA SNYDER, DEPUTY CITY ADMINISTRATOR & INTERIM CFO

Overview

Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator Andrea Snyder, Interim Chief Financial Officer

Budget Outlook & Priorities

Andrea Snyder, Interim Chief Financial Officer

Topics: Budget

Potential New Funding Options

Andrea Snyder, Interim Chief Financial Officer

Topics: Budget

Lunch & City Council Break Out Sessions Facilitated by: Council President Walsh Deputy Council President de Michele will not be live streamed or recorded. The small break out groups will report a summary of their discussions when the large group reconvenes at 12:30 PM.**

Potential Budget Reductions

Andrea Snyder, Interim Chief Financial Officer

Topics: Budget

Public Safety Facilities Follow-up: Leasing, Next Steps

Director · Andrea Snyder, Interim Chief Financial Officer Autumn Monahan, Administrative Services

Topics: Public Safety

Public Comment

5769 segments .txt ↗

0:02 ↗ there is any reason that we can't be

0:05 ↗ heard but um otherwise I will take this

0:08 ↗ moment to call the meeting to order at

0:11 ↗ 9:08 a.m. um we are meeting as a city

0:15 ↗ council for a budget Retreat and so

0:18 ↗ we're here from 9:00 am to 2 PM

0:21 ↗ everybody's been fed breakfast so that

0:23 ↗ we can have nice good conversations

0:25 ↗ about finances and such um and we will

0:28 ↗ have lunch coming later on what we've

0:31 ↗ got today for an agenda I'm gonna get a

0:35 ↗ little bit of a welcome we've got a next

0:38 ↗ is a budget Outlook um along with

0:41 ↗ questions we've got a section for the

0:44 ↗ administration's priorities um focusing

0:47 ↗ on some potential expenditures then

0:49 ↗ we've got another section for potential

0:51 ↗ new funding options each of those will

0:54 ↗ be followed by a discussion 11:30 we've

0:57 ↗ got lunch um along with some

1:00 ↗ conversation moment for Council um and

1:03 ↗ then we will report back out after that

1:06 ↗ that portion will not be um reported

1:08 ↗ because nobody will be able to hear it

1:10 ↗ believe um and then 12:30 will'll return

1:14 ↗ with potential budget

1:17 ↗ reductions along with Council discussion

1:19 ↗ and then finally the last half an hour

1:21 ↗ on Public Safety facilities followup uh

1:24 ↗ I should mention we will of course have

1:26 ↗ a public comment period at the beginning

1:29 ↗ of the meeting on that as well um and we

1:32 ↗ will be adjourning at

1:34 ↗ 2m so just as a bit of an introduction

1:40 ↗ you know I'm sure everybody has read

1:42 ↗ through the packet and recognizes what a

1:45 ↗ uh situation we are in as we come into

1:49 ↗ the second banal budget we have some

1:53 ↗ tough potentially decisions well not

1:56 ↗ decisions tough feedback to give to the

1:59 ↗ administration

2:00 ↗ so that our feedback can be incorporated

2:03 ↗ into um this next round of budget

2:07 ↗ creation uh this is really early sets of

2:11 ↗ data on Outlook but this has been a

2:14 ↗ strong practice that we've had for the

2:16 ↗ last few budget Cycles um us being able

2:18 ↗ to come in at an early point and provide

2:21 ↗ some priorities provide some feedback on

2:23 ↗ things that we do or don't want to see

2:26 ↗ in the budget so that we can have an

2:29 ↗ easier budget SE later so that the

2:31 ↗ Administration has um our input and

2:34 ↗ understands um some of the scope that we

2:37 ↗ are looking at so a lot of this is going

2:40 ↗ to be getting the information from the

2:42 ↗ administration and then um asking

2:45 ↗ questions having discussion I'm sure

2:47 ↗ Andrea will say it many many times this

2:50 ↗ is July this is very early data uh

2:53 ↗ points to be looking at for the next two

2:56 ↗ years so we're not trying to go down

2:57 ↗ rabbit holes we're not trying to you

3:00 ↗ know question individual points of all

3:02 ↗ of this our goal is to hear what the

3:07 ↗ administration thinks the scope of the

3:08 ↗ problem is and be able to provide

3:11 ↗ feedback using that as a mechanism and

3:13 ↗ then we will get into details um later

3:17 ↗ down the road so if that all sounds good

3:22 ↗ I'm just making sure on

3:25 ↗ [Music]

3:27 ↗ here okay so we've got a moment for a

3:32 ↗ moment we've got time for public comment

3:34 ↗ now um before the next portion the

3:37 ↗ meeting so if anybody is interested in

3:40 ↗ making public comment and is online

3:43 ↗ someone behind we do have someone behind

3:46 ↗ us would like to make public

3:49 ↗ comment listening in fantastic we love

3:52 ↗ that um I do see a hand on there for

3:55 ↗ anyone else because I don't know if

3:56 ↗ there's anyone else um online they could

3:59 ↗ star three so I believe cm is Connie and

4:06 ↗ so and the opportunity to speak honey

4:11 ↗ you should be able to

4:14 ↗ unmute oh wow okay I'm pulling Connie

4:18 ↗ Marsh live on squawk Mountain I'm echoe

4:21 ↗ I'm pulling tax out of the floor at my

4:22 ↗ mom's house so uh I sent you an uh an

4:27 ↗ email because this is the budget

4:30 ↗ decisions are long time in the making

4:32 ↗ and very expected that we would start

4:36 ↗ having this moment so the big question

4:39 ↗ is well what does the community want to

4:42 ↗ have happen and it hearkens back to I

4:46 ↗ believe the last Council Retreat where

4:49 ↗ there was supposed to be more

4:50 ↗ information provided on what was meant

4:53 ↗ by we want more affordability in housing

4:58 ↗ and I never did get to hear the feedback

5:02 ↗ on that because every time you raise

5:05 ↗ utility taxes rates or go out for a bond

5:10 ↗ it makes everyone's home less affordable

5:14 ↗ to live in and so I guess my primary

5:20 ↗ thing here is to create some clarity on

5:23 ↗ the community will for what actually

5:27 ↗ affordable housing or housing afford

5:29 ↗ ability means to them because the city

5:32 ↗ keeps saying we need to build future

5:34 ↗ affordable housing and I think that you

5:38 ↗ will find that what people want is they

5:41 ↗ want to be able to afford the homes they

5:43 ↗ already live in uh as a priority but I

5:47 ↗ don't know how you can make judgment

5:48 ↗ decisions without actually understanding

5:51 ↗ what your community feels on the issue

5:54 ↗ of what to cut and what not to cut and

5:56 ↗ so this is expecting you to use the

5:58 ↗ community survey as a basis but the

6:01 ↗ community survey is too broad and is a

6:03 ↗ poor basis maybe you're going to go

6:05 ↗ another way I don't know but there is my

6:08 ↗ initial comment and I'm going to try

6:09 ↗ watching you while I continue to pull

6:12 ↗ things out of my mother's floor thank

6:15 ↗ you thank you Connie we appreciate your

6:18 ↗ input there

6:20 ↗ and focus of that so I think at this

6:23 ↗ point I'm going to pass it over to

6:26 ↗ interim CFO Andrew Snider to take us to

6:30 ↗ the next C thank you counc president

6:32 ↗ Walsh and actually City administrative

6:34 ↗ bin is gonna take us

6:37 ↗ off well good morning everyone

6:41 ↗ um appreciate you all coming together

6:43 ↗ today as council president have said um

6:47 ↗ this is still uh early days U as we look

6:51 ↗ at uh the next bium but certainly we are

6:55 ↗ in the final quarter of a two-year

6:58 ↗ budget uh we o know things um that we

7:02 ↗ want to share with you on that we have

7:04 ↗ one slide uh at the top of the debt

7:07 ↗ which I want

7:08 ↗ to point out because we certainly don't

7:10 ↗ want to vary the lead uh here with what

7:14 ↗ we think we know uh not only for the

7:17 ↗ current bium but for uh moving forward

7:20 ↗ in the next

7:22 ↗ bium so we are looking at a a deficit um

7:28 ↗ this is in current year year this is

7:30 ↗ next year um but looking at that last

7:33 ↗ year um $7.2 million for 25 8.4 million

7:40 ↗ for 26 11 133% of the budget uh as we

7:45 ↗ look at ending the current bium Andrea I

7:48 ↗ don't know if we have a slide that has

7:51 ↗ that number

7:53 ↗ um so we're looking at um

7:58 ↗ 5.3 uh million deficit without dipping

8:03 ↗ further into ending Fouts you have seen

8:06 ↗ previously as we've talked about future

8:09 ↗ budget deficits the fund balance saving

8:12 ↗ the day uh we are making a policy shift

8:14 ↗ that we're no longer doing that but the

8:16 ↗ idea is that the council has a u 50%

8:21 ↗ undesignated fund balance policy so we

8:24 ↗ will budget accordingly in order to keep

8:27 ↗ that until we are directed otherwise

8:29 ↗ back so that's a little bit of a

8:31 ↗ different uh Viewpoint um we will spend

8:34 ↗ uh much of today talking about uh um you

8:38 ↗ know some of the financial pieces of

8:40 ↗ this but I want to start the day uh

8:42 ↗ talking programmatically because as you

8:44 ↗ look at uh what we are doing what we

8:48 ↗ should be doing in the future what we

8:49 ↗ shouldn't be doing in the future uh it's

8:51 ↗ more than dollars and cents it's the the

8:54 ↗ programs and services that we provide

8:55 ↗ the community um believe it or not I'm

8:58 ↗ coming up on five years as your city

9:00 ↗ administrator and it was about this time

9:03 ↗ five years ago that I started the

9:05 ↗ process um and spent time with mayor

9:08 ↗ paully understanding her vision of what

9:11 ↗ she wanted to see isaa become you know

9:14 ↗ and I could stand here today after five

9:16 ↗ years uh with the mayor's support with

9:18 ↗ the council support a lot of What U you

9:22 ↗ all wanted to see happen has happened um

9:25 ↗ the the issues the priorities the

9:27 ↗ programs um we have been able to address

9:29 ↗ we've been able to implement um and that

9:31 ↗ has been outstanding um one of the main

9:34 ↗ themes of today however is that there

9:37 ↗ are factors that really weren't in those

9:39 ↗ plans that weren't really in the focus

9:41 ↗ of the Strategic plan weren't in some of

9:44 ↗ the long-term issues that the mayor and

9:46 ↗ the city council's had um which really

9:49 ↗ now are coming back um to the Forefront

9:52 ↗ and requiring us to really reposition

9:55 ↗ ourselves with the budget um to deal

9:57 ↗ with and I think if we look at at what

10:00 ↗ the uh what the factors are you know

10:02 ↗ that is certainly a large factor that

10:04 ↗ the cost of Public Safety both police

10:07 ↗ and fire and the cost of Justice

10:09 ↗ Services in the court and the support

10:12 ↗ services for the court um are driving a

10:15 ↗ lot of what we're seeing there's

10:16 ↗ certainly lots of other factors uh costs

10:19 ↗ are increasing more than our Revenue so

10:22 ↗ even if the justice and public safety

10:24 ↗ issues weren't a factor um the ability

10:26 ↗ for us to be pay market rate wages with

10:29 ↗ the revenues that we have are not

10:31 ↗ keeping up and certainly We Are Not

10:32 ↗ Alone um among jurisdictions in

10:35 ↗ Washington state basing that but I want

10:37 ↗ to spend a few minutes um talking about

10:40 ↗ um what we do and some of the issues

10:42 ↗ that I see in the programmatic pieces of

10:45 ↗ what we do um so hopefully that provides

10:48 ↗ a good base Point uh for you one last

10:51 ↗ thought about Community input through

10:54 ↗ this last five years um we've done I

10:57 ↗ think an excellent job of involving

10:59 ↗ dozens and dozens of community members

11:01 ↗ from all walks of B life who had

11:03 ↗ previously not been involved in local

11:06 ↗ government uh from the expansion of our

11:08 ↗ boards and commissions uh from the work

11:10 ↗ we've just done recently on the

11:12 ↗ Strategic plan the work that we did with

11:13 ↗ the capital financing task force many

11:16 ↗ many community members voices we have

11:17 ↗ never heard before who are here living

11:20 ↗ raising their families in this Aqua have

11:22 ↗ been at the table and so as you go into

11:25 ↗ this you've got lots of information you

11:27 ↗ have Citywide plans on everything from

11:30 ↗ sustainability to transportation to

11:32 ↗ housing you have a newly refreshed uh

11:35 ↗ work on the Strategic plan you have the

11:37 ↗ work that the Capital Finance and task

11:38 ↗ force has had so you've got lots and

11:40 ↗ lots and lots of community input so um

11:43 ↗ you have all that we will course

11:45 ↗ provided for you so it's more readily

11:47 ↗ available as we talk about this um but

11:51 ↗ let's start with police I handed out uh

11:54 ↗ the the latest uh June uh report one

11:59 ↗ change that we've had is we now have a

12:00 ↗ crime we have a dedicated staff person

12:03 ↗ who is looking at a crime that is

12:06 ↗ providing information intelligence

12:08 ↗ information back to our police officers

12:09 ↗ on a regular basis uh we're providing

12:11 ↗ more information to the public we're

12:13 ↗ back with a weekly blot um so one

12:17 ↗ Improvement that we've made one

12:18 ↗ additional cost with police has been

12:20 ↗ that and uh and that's great and I think

12:23 ↗ having the information is really good as

12:25 ↗ you look at uh the June report you'll

12:28 ↗ see are really making progress and uh U

12:32 ↗ well I think violent crime is down not

12:34 ↗ only here in this sad but regionally and

12:37 ↗ I think nationally uh property crime is

12:39 ↗ still for us uh those things that are

12:42 ↗ important on quality of life points are

12:44 ↗ really important um you will notice

12:46 ↗ other than Andrea there's only one

12:48 ↗ department head here today that's

12:51 ↗ PR Swan um to to join us um so that we

12:56 ↗ can get from her not only answer

12:58 ↗ straight questions

13:00 ↗ um but also just kind of add to some of

13:03 ↗ the challenges that we continue to face

13:06 ↗ we um a few years ago um had a police

13:09 ↗ department that nearly collapsed uh the

13:12 ↗ number of officers that left the number

13:13 ↗ of dispatchers that left the number of

13:15 ↗ jail Personnel that left were were were

13:18 ↗ incredible um and I think only with a

13:21 ↗ couple of years separation can we really

13:23 ↗ look at U what has happened with the

13:26 ↗ police department um thanks to the good

13:28 ↗ work CH Swan her staff takes the

13:30 ↗ excellent work for our human resources

13:32 ↗ staff thanks to your support financially

13:35 ↗ um we are nearly fully staffed at the

13:37 ↗ police department um we have a full

13:40 ↗ complement of dispatchers um and we are

13:43 ↗ are grappling with what it takes to

13:45 ↗ operate a jail um so in addition to

13:48 ↗ having officers on the street in

13:50 ↗ addition to having U dispatchers uh deal

13:53 ↗ with the day-to-day work we're also

13:55 ↗ bringing people back to do specialty

13:56 ↗ assignments uh we reinforced our detect

13:59 ↗ division you're once again going to have

14:01 ↗ traffic Sergeant um we're going to once

14:03 ↗ again have a community policing officer

14:06 ↗ so that is all great um the other

14:09 ↗ challenge again that was not on

14:10 ↗ anybody's radar years ago was the jail

14:13 ↗ um operating the jail has become much

14:16 ↗ more complicated uh because of Many Many

14:19 ↗ Factors um most of which because of the

14:23 ↗ individuals that were finding

14:24 ↗ incarcerated in

14:27 ↗ the in the jail and so it is required us

14:30 ↗ to make additional expenditures not only

14:31 ↗ on Staffing uh but technology

14:35 ↗ and maintain the jail that work we are

14:39 ↗ finding out certainly any of you who

14:40 ↗ agreed to re press um jails are hard to

14:43 ↗ come by the city of Seattle had come to

14:46 ↗ us uh several weeks ago oneing space in

14:48 ↗ our Jail uh they have gone and looked at

14:51 ↗ score the South King County facility

14:54 ↗ they're talking again with King County

14:57 ↗ uh they pay millions of dollars a year

14:58 ↗ for jail space which they don't have

15:00 ↗ access to currently um so the issues of

15:03 ↗ jail are important um and as we look at

15:06 ↗ why are we even in this business I think

15:08 ↗ that if we operate a department that uh

15:12 ↗ is fully staffed fully properly trained

15:14 ↗ that is good for isapa but it's also

15:16 ↗ good for the the city government in that

15:19 ↗ we can continue to provide services to

15:21 ↗ other communities certainly North V

15:23 ↗ quami we're see dispatch Services uh

15:26 ↗ court services now um there's a market

15:28 ↗ for our jail there will always I think

15:30 ↗ be a market for our jail so if we

15:32 ↗ continue to invest in operating it

15:34 ↗ appropriately um and charge our our

15:37 ↗ neighbor jurisdictions the appropriate

15:39 ↗ fees um that should make sense over time

15:42 ↗ and I think that as we continue to look

15:45 ↗ at the police department and the

15:47 ↗ services it provides I think that there

15:49 ↗ are natural Partnerships uh with other

15:52 ↗ cities in the region that we need to

15:53 ↗ actively explore and I think if that

15:55 ↗ comes to fruition again our doubling

15:58 ↗ down on

15:59 ↗ on the police resources jail resources

16:02 ↗ makes a lot of sense Chief I asked you

16:04 ↗ to come this morning um I don't know if

16:05 ↗ you have any general comment the point

16:08 ↗ about sort of the state of play in the

16:11 ↗ department that you want to add I we

16:14 ↗ have to thing is that we as was

16:17 ↗ mentioned we're almost all staffed in a

16:20 ↗ lot of the different Visions um what it

16:22 ↗ takes to we have two Communications

16:25 ↗ people that are actually in training

16:26 ↗ right now what it takes to get someone

16:28 ↗ up and running was anywhere from three

16:32 ↗ to six or eight months to have been

16:34 ↗ released from training same thing with

16:36 ↗ the officers we have six officers in

16:38 ↗ need relas so it's very new we have

16:42 ↗ someone in in the last two weeks was on

16:44 ↗ off field train field training is what

16:47 ↗ happens after the academy and what

16:49 ↗ happens with the academy is well he is

16:53 ↗ like halfway up in our Rost so we are a

16:55 ↗ very young Department right now what

16:57 ↗ happened over the last

16:59 ↗ multiple years and so it's rebuilding

17:02 ↗ that and when someone someone's hired

17:04 ↗ it's been said before I'm in front of

17:06 ↗ council but it takes about a year to get

17:08 ↗ someone on the road and the wait time to

17:12 ↗ get someone in the academy right now is

17:15 ↗ so um for example even for the

17:17 ↗ Corrections Academy it takes us at least

17:20 ↗ six months and they only build twoy a

17:22 ↗ year so they're oftentimes doing the job

17:25 ↗ before they're actually um have the ex

17:28 ↗ Corrections our own staff train them if

17:30 ↗ they're new if not lateral and then for

17:33 ↗ the the weit time they do a lot of stuff

17:36 ↗ around the office learn the radio and

17:38 ↗ the communications and our different

17:40 ↗ report writing systems before they go to

17:42 ↗ the academy but then they have five and

17:44 ↗ a half months in the academy and then we

17:47 ↗ have the field training officers who

17:49 ↗ their staff it takes a lot of time

17:51 ↗ imagine every day you came to work and

17:54 ↗ someone's sitting next to you all day

17:56 ↗ long every day um and you're grading

17:58 ↗ them 20 different 27 different

18:00 ↗ characteristics and so the pressure also

18:03 ↗ not everybody makes it either because

18:04 ↗ there's so many different personality

18:07 ↗ pieces for that where a lot of people

18:09 ↗ run to

18:10 ↗ it wouldn't say a lot C run to it

18:13 ↗ everybody else might run away yeah so it

18:15 ↗ just varies but then being able to do

18:17 ↗ that with being graded every day on

18:20 ↗ everything you do 27 different things

18:22 ↗ whether you get along with the city

18:23 ↗ members what do you get along with the

18:24 ↗ public what do you get how are your

18:26 ↗ appearance did you dress appropriately

18:28 ↗ are you you did you write your report

18:30 ↗ right did you use your signal did you

18:32 ↗ did you run appropriate code to it fall

18:35 ↗ all of those things matter and it takes

18:37 ↗ a lot of time um I think the other piece

18:39 ↗ that it's very important for people to

18:41 ↗ understand as far as going to the

18:43 ↗ jail the jail piece is as we all know

18:47 ↗ because you all you all are in business

18:49 ↗ and span of control is usually one

18:50 ↗ supervisor to maximum of six is actually

18:54 ↗ optimal and for many many years now

18:58 ↗ we've had one jail manager or sergeant

19:01 ↗ and he was in charge of all 12 to 14 in

19:04 ↗ jail that's been problematic um and so

19:07 ↗ that's hence why we've asked we are

19:10 ↗ implementing and pushing forward with um

19:13 ↗ moving asking for Sergeants and the

19:15 ↗ corkal and the people to be the Sant

19:17 ↗ because then they're one each on Squad

19:20 ↗ which is the exact format that we are

19:21 ↗ using in Patrol so it's bringing them up

19:25 ↗ to where

19:27 ↗ um we've been doing in the other groups

19:30 ↗ in our city and our organization and

19:32 ↗ making them more successful with that

19:34 ↗ span of control another piece to that is

19:37 ↗ in the importance of a jail because a

19:39 ↗ lot of people like the Jail's so

19:40 ↗ expensive why do we have it the quality

19:43 ↗ of life that we have that everybody

19:45 ↗ comes to work and live at can play here

19:47 ↗ right in Isa is aborted because we have

19:51 ↗ the opportunity unlike Seattle Belleview

19:54 ↗ many other jurisdictions to have a jail

19:57 ↗ to where those other jurisdictions that

19:59 ↗ either have to pay and drive miles and

20:02 ↗ miles and take an officer off the street

20:04 ↗ for hours we have the option to where if

20:07 ↗ for

20:09 ↗ example council member Hall committed a

20:12 ↗ crime and he was local business right

20:17 ↗ and so and then I made contact with him

20:20 ↗ because we have our own jail I I don't

20:22 ↗ just give him a piece of paper and say

20:24 ↗ okay we need to go to court on this date

20:26 ↗ and then he gets to go to the next

20:27 ↗ business that committ

20:29 ↗ and so in our city uh they don't get

20:32 ↗ that option instead we like okay come in

20:35 ↗ you know stay at our establishment or

20:38 ↗ however many nights the judge feels is

20:40 ↗ appropriate so that's something that

20:42 ↗ people don't come here for that reason

20:45 ↗ um to commit as many crimes that's super

20:48 ↗ helpful and it also affords the officers

20:51 ↗ to be the ability to do their jobs and

20:53 ↗ want to be here that's one one factor in

20:55 ↗ keeping people as well so but that that

20:57 ↗ is a huge OPP opportunity to where

20:59 ↗ people don't want to commit crimes

21:00 ↗ because they know what that is also all

21:02 ↗ our resources obviously with human

21:04 ↗ services that we're providing for them

21:06 ↗ but the jail is a is a big factor and

21:08 ↗ then we house that we've got people

21:09 ↗ living down there that we have 53 on

21:12 ↗ that average over a year span on a daily

21:15 ↗ basis and the average say is about nine

21:18 ↗ days but once they're sentenced they can

21:20 ↗ if they're not sentenced to a year they

21:22 ↗ can spend 364 days here and that's just

21:25 ↗ post sentencing they may have been in

21:27 ↗ our facility for a couple months prior

21:29 ↗ to that if they didn't get time served

21:32 ↗ so that's the other aspect of that and

21:34 ↗ people have some of the services and the

21:36 ↗ upgrades and things that we we instill

21:38 ↗ down the jail so just a little bit of

21:41 ↗ understanding to What It Takes

21:43 ↗ especially and how important the jail is

21:45 ↗ for the quality and everything that

21:46 ↗ everybody incurs in our city we that the

21:50 ↗ jail is helpful um and a lot of people

21:52 ↗ that live in our city don't even realize

21:54 ↗ that we have the jail um because it is

21:56 ↗ in the basement and so we we really

21:59 ↗ don't like it to be out of sight out of

22:00 ↗ mind but it it is a very integral piece

22:02 ↗ of

22:05 ↗ our could answer any questions

22:08 ↗ about can you also speak to the state of

22:12 ↗ dispatch dispatch three years ago um was

22:16 ↗ down to 37 and we were literally

22:19 ↗ Contracting with another city we are now

22:21 ↗ up to we have a conditional out for an

22:24 ↗ over hire and that makes 13 in this in

22:29 ↗ 14 including the

22:30 ↗ supervisor which

22:33 ↗ is we have two leads now and ultimately

22:37 ↗ longterm I would really like it to be

22:39 ↗ similar to patrol and the jail to where

22:41 ↗ it's one supervisor onage Squad um which

22:45 ↗ would be more like the reden model and

22:47 ↗ we're doing as well as far as the

22:49 ↗ capacity but currently right now we have

22:52 ↗ part-time non regulars that are filling

22:53 ↗ some of those spots uh we do have enough

22:56 ↗ that are we're keeping um the staff is

22:59 ↗ in the schedule very well the problem is

23:02 ↗ right now even with the Staffing is that

23:04 ↗ we have say one person gets sick has a

23:08 ↗ family issue has to go on FMLA or even

23:11 ↗ takes vacation somebody else has to work

23:13 ↗ over time not like there's people

23:16 ↗ covering in it then people can go on

23:18 ↗ vacations with spots that are already

23:20 ↗ covered because there's overlap um but

23:22 ↗ that's why we have the hard

23:23 ↗ [Music]

23:24 ↗ time for that but we are better staff

23:29 ↗ than we've been in three years in fact

23:30 ↗ that used to be only 10 so the fact that

23:32 ↗ we have three in a supervisor or 13 in a

23:34 ↗ supervisor is better staff than it's

23:36 ↗ been in many years is that optimal no

23:39 ↗ but it's way better than we've been and

23:41 ↗ people that have been here for a lot of

23:42 ↗ years well I do appreciate

23:46 ↗ that so police big deal um $16

23:52 ↗ million um sorry can I do one more

23:55 ↗ explain one more thing I we didn't talk

23:56 ↗ about sure we have a 16 ,000 signing

23:59 ↗ bonus which is amazing and I very

24:01 ↗ apprecia that um there's two cities in

24:03 ↗ our area that have a $40,000 bonus for

24:07 ↗ lateral officers California has a

24:09 ↗ $100,000 signing bonus for laterals and

24:13 ↗ $40,000 siging bonus for entry level and

24:16 ↗ we are almost staed so we're doing

24:20 ↗ something right that's huge we're even

24:22 ↗ getting some laterals um and so that's a

24:25 ↗ huge thing that what we offer here and

24:28 ↗ that people are wanting to come and to

24:29 ↗ stay so that's a huge Kudos um but we

24:33 ↗ have to continue doing some of those

24:35 ↗ things um because of the other um

24:38 ↗ factors now for a newer officer $100,000

24:41 ↗ my I'm AOW I've been in two years

24:44 ↗ wow I

24:46 ↗ mean but anyway so but just a little bit

24:49 ↗ of perspective in where we are at and

24:52 ↗ how well we've done which is pretty

24:54 ↗ amazing and I'm super huge kudos to our

24:57 ↗ staff

24:58 ↗ um the hours and energy it takes to get

25:01 ↗ I've done over 200 Chiefs interviews in

25:04 ↗ what

25:05 ↗ years and imagine all that's going on

25:08 ↗ with that meaning holographs sites

25:11 ↗ background investigators all those

25:13 ↗ things that go with that and all the

25:15 ↗ scheduling of all that um and my support

25:18 ↗ service people are the ones doing that

25:19 ↗ and that's over and above their regular

25:21 ↗ dues and so that's that's been huge and

25:23 ↗ they've done a phenomenal job to get us

25:25 ↗ work well can I just plus one something

25:28 ↗ that she said at the picnic I was

25:29 ↗ talking with Commander niece about that

25:31 ↗ just because of the Seattle's push to

25:33 ↗ find 400 officers and he said you know

25:37 ↗ ma'am this is an amazing place to work

25:40 ↗ his team is very solid the attitude is

25:42 ↗ super positive it's not about the

25:45 ↗ signing Bo so he was really happy that

25:50 ↗ was really happy all that you're doing

25:54 ↗ CH so that's police um Court of course

25:59 ↗ is another key component we've talked a

26:01 ↗ little bit uh already through the court

26:04 ↗ the last several months about some

26:05 ↗ issues at the court uh the court

26:08 ↗ Staffing is generally fine uh we'll be

26:10 ↗ recommending um taking a a part-time FTE

26:13 ↗ and making it full time uh but the court

26:15 ↗ Staffing the the city staff that work at

26:18 ↗ the court we we feel comfortable the

26:20 ↗ challenges of the Court are the

26:23 ↗ prosecutor and the public offender um

26:25 ↗ you are I think mostly aware that

26:27 ↗ washingon State the Supreme Court which

26:30 ↗ has jurisdiction over case load for

26:32 ↗ public defenders is considering a

26:34 ↗ initiative that would take down the case

26:37 ↗ load by 2third of what an individual

26:41 ↗ public depender can have um so that is

26:44 ↗ going to have a huge impact on us

26:45 ↗ needless to say uh if that passes us and

26:48 ↗ everyone other municipality that FES

26:50 ↗ Court um so we are looking to be mindful

26:53 ↗ on costs there and we'll talk a little

26:54 ↗ bit more uh throughout the presentation

26:57 ↗ about that um the city prosecutor the

27:01 ↗ mobile a firm who's been with us for

27:03 ↗ number of years excellent job she CH is

27:06 ↗ having challenges of finding uh folks to

27:10 ↗ represent us um and we are going to need

27:12 ↗ to look more dollars there the third

27:15 ↗ piece uh to the court issues are

27:17 ↗ facilities uh we've talked about that as

27:19 ↗ well and we'll talk more about that

27:21 ↗ later on this morning this afternoon uh

27:24 ↗ the final piece of our Public Safety

27:26 ↗ Justice portion of the budget is fire e

27:29 ↗ Side Fire and Rescue 8.5 million of our

27:32 ↗ budget which we pay in Easy monthly

27:35 ↗ payments they uh do an excellent

27:37 ↗ excellent job they are working on their

27:40 ↗ budget process and then let us know

27:42 ↗ they're looking for a 177% increase uh

27:44 ↗ to their um fees that are we are charged

27:48 ↗ for fire service uh that is a lot of

27:51 ↗ money um they too like us have their own

27:55 ↗ Staffing challenges wage challenges

27:57 ↗ equipment facilities challenges uh but

28:00 ↗ they also set a level of service uh that

28:04 ↗ you as the city council do not have

28:06 ↗ direct Authority Representatives on the

28:09 ↗ eer board working with colleagues do but

28:12 ↗ we do not and so one of the things we

28:15 ↗ have to Grapple with is can we afford uh

28:18 ↗ the level of service that e wishes to

28:20 ↗ provide in the community um and what

28:22 ↗ impacts that have on the rest of the

28:24 ↗ city budget uh when you take um that

28:27 ↗ addition increase on top of the already

28:30 ↗ $8 half million that we spent so when

28:32 ↗ you look at 16 million for fire eight uh

28:35 ↗ 6 million for police 8 and a. half

28:37 ↗ million for fire and a court budget

28:40 ↗ that's about $1 A5 million doar um

28:43 ↗ Administration is going to be coming to

28:45 ↗ with a budget that says that's the

28:47 ↗ beginning that's the things we need to

28:49 ↗ do everything else is nice to have um

28:52 ↗ and I want to talk about the long list

28:54 ↗ of nice to have um in our public works

28:57 ↗ department as you know over the last

28:58 ↗ five years we went from having two

29:00 ↗ separate departments to one Department

29:03 ↗ um with the able leadership of Emily

29:04 ↗ Moon we really have been able to uh gel

29:08 ↗ that group together on the engineering

29:10 ↗ side we've been able to staff up to have

29:13 ↗ the people that we need to deliver

29:14 ↗ capital projects one of the things I

29:16 ↗ heard five years ago is why do we have

29:18 ↗ this long list of capital projects they

29:19 ↗ never get done or you promis that

29:21 ↗ they're going to get done and they don't

29:22 ↗ then happen on the time frame that you

29:24 ↗ have so we work very diligently in a

29:26 ↗ very difficult labor market

29:28 ↗ to find staff to do that um now our

29:31 ↗ challenge will be how do we pay for some

29:33 ↗ of those projects many of which are

29:35 ↗ funded through uh internal service funds

29:37 ↗ or outside grants uh but that is going

29:39 ↗ to remain a challenge on the the

29:41 ↗ maintenance side again a lot of

29:43 ↗ frustration from the council why are we

29:46 ↗ investing in infrastructure and not

29:47 ↗ properly maintaining it so we've been

29:49 ↗ able to raise uh uh the budgets over the

29:51 ↗ last several years uh for contracts for

29:54 ↗ pavment management we've been able to

29:56 ↗ bring on and keep staff to do uh the

29:59 ↗ maintenance of our streets of our STM

30:03 ↗ water our water Ur Utility Systems um

30:07 ↗ but all that comes at a cost and so as

30:09 ↗ we look at budget reductions

30:12 ↗ unfortunately looking at the money that

30:14 ↗ we invest on the public work side is

30:16 ↗ going to be among among those issues

30:19 ↗ we're going to need to talk with you

30:20 ↗ about um transportation is also part of

30:23 ↗ that um Community has said

30:26 ↗ transportation is this number one

30:27 ↗ priority we have put together I think a

30:29 ↗ great team on the infrastructure side to

30:32 ↗ look at smart Transportation initiatives

30:35 ↗ we have invested hundreds of thousands

30:38 ↗ of dollars in things like um Transit

30:42 ↗ shared Riot Services uh with great staff

30:45 ↗ to work these issues um all of that is

30:48 ↗ jeopardy um and we will need to decide

30:51 ↗ um where does that fit in C as much of

30:53 ↗ that is paid for

30:54 ↗ with um Community Planning and

30:56 ↗ Development those velopment Services

30:59 ↗ five years ago and uh probably was on

31:01 ↗ the top well absolutely was on the top

31:03 ↗ of Mayor Paulie's list uh and was on the

31:06 ↗ top of many of your lists of things that

31:08 ↗ we just didn't do very well we had land

31:10 ↗ use code uh that didn't make sense um we

31:13 ↗ had processing times that were

31:16 ↗ ridiculous um and change was needed and

31:18 ↗ change was made um and we have an

31:20 ↗ entirely new team managing that

31:22 ↗ department we still have work to do U

31:25 ↗ there but uh as we as you have seen and

31:29 ↗ we will talk more about um development

31:31 ↗ in isqua remains a challenge uh with the

31:34 ↗ national economy construction loans um

31:38 ↗ certainly the creation of Title 18 makes

31:40 ↗ development and isqua continues to make

31:42 ↗ it a challenge and so with that we've

31:45 ↗ had budgeted dollars for permits that

31:48 ↗ are not happening and budgeted dollars

31:51 ↗ for sales tax for construction materials

31:54 ↗ aren't happen so that is all uh an

31:57 ↗ impact there we are committed to

32:00 ↗ continue to make sure that we have staff

32:02 ↗ in place in community Planning and

32:03 ↗ Development to process permits to do

32:06 ↗ proper inspections um so we're committed

32:08 ↗ to continue to do that but the revenue

32:10 ↗ that they're generating and have been

32:12 ↗ budgeted to generate has gone down

32:15 ↗ significantly on the park side um we've

32:18 ↗ uh We've made changes we've took Park

32:20 ↗ maintenance and moved it two parks and I

32:23 ↗ think uh with the Staffing changes we've

32:25 ↗ made there our Parks um and and uh and

32:29 ↗ uh maintenance of our RightWay is just

32:32 ↗ outstanding and so we've been able to

32:33 ↗ hire great people manage them

32:36 ↗ appropriately and that's worked great um

32:38 ↗ also we have added Park Rangers we've

32:41 ↗ added Urban Forest managers uh to really

32:44 ↗ again listening to the community the

32:45 ↗ community saying we live here because we

32:48 ↗ value the Open Spaces we want uh trees

32:51 ↗ planted we want Trails maintained we

32:53 ↗ want nice parks and so we have invested

32:55 ↗ money now some of that is coming out of

32:58 ↗ our storm waterer dollars but not all of

33:00 ↗ that and so as we look at that as we

33:01 ↗ look at we have two Park planners again

33:04 ↗ uh working on a park strategic plan

33:06 ↗ implementing projects um those are all

33:09 ↗ wonderful nice to have things much of is

33:11 ↗ paid for by the general fund and so as

33:13 ↗ we look at that moving forward uh on the

33:16 ↗ recreation side we have people wanting

33:18 ↗ to participate in our programs uh one of

33:21 ↗ the biggest surprises of calendar year

33:23 ↗ 23 budgeting was the sheer amount of

33:26 ↗ money that our parks programs bring in

33:28 ↗ hundreds of thousands of dollars over

33:30 ↗ budget uh in Revenue uh so that is a

33:33 ↗ growth industry and we don't want to cut

33:35 ↗ that off uh but we also have to be

33:37 ↗ mindful how much the general fund uh

33:39 ↗ supports Park recreation programs um

33:43 ↗ then we turn to our internal Services uh

33:46 ↗ the finance department um lots of good

33:48 ↗ talented people um you know we I think

33:51 ↗ had Beth Goldberg's uh time as Finance

33:55 ↗ director really turned around the

33:56 ↗ department that

33:58 ↗ um that needed to be turned around and

34:00 ↗ we have good people doing outstanding

34:02 ↗ work using systems that generally make

34:05 ↗ sense however that is all general fund

34:07 ↗ supported so we're going to need to be

34:09 ↗ mindful of the costs associated uh there

34:13 ↗ same thing with human resources um we

34:16 ↗ have hired hundreds of Staff in the last

34:19 ↗ five years and then all of those require

34:21 ↗ recruitments and onboarding and policies

34:24 ↗ procedures of folks who don't make it

34:26 ↗ have to be offboard

34:28 ↗ um so we have a very substantial human

34:31 ↗ resource uh function right now including

34:33 ↗ a recruitment and retention coordinator

34:36 ↗ uh to help uh us work with our staff to

34:38 ↗ help provide better training all of

34:40 ↗ that's General funded um we're going to

34:42 ↗ have to look very closely at that um on

34:46 ↗ the administrative Services side five

34:47 ↗ years ago we didn't have an

34:48 ↗ administrative Services Department we

34:50 ↗ had a very talented assistant to the

34:51 ↗ city administrator who over time picked

34:53 ↗ up uh additional responsibilities uh we

34:56 ↗ converted that into a department uh that

35:00 ↗ contains information technology

35:02 ↗ Communications um which is what Autumn's

35:04 ↗ portfolio was and then added Fleet uh

35:07 ↗ and and Facilities to that um it we've

35:11 ↗ been so and I hate to say this too loud

35:14 ↗ uh so well served uh by our information

35:17 ↗ technology look at what we were able to

35:19 ↗ do uh pivoting into the pandemic what we

35:22 ↗ were able to do continuing with uh

35:25 ↗ perhaps some of the highest percentage

35:26 ↗ of remote work for office staff of

35:28 ↗ anyone anywhere um a lot of that comes

35:31 ↗ from a very solid it um Foundation all

35:35 ↗ much of which is funded by the general

35:36 ↗ fund so we're going to need to continue

35:38 ↗ to be mindful there our Communications

35:41 ↗ uh staff there is no press as you all

35:43 ↗ well know uh that cover what happens

35:46 ↗ here how do people find out about the

35:48 ↗ good work that we do as a city

35:50 ↗ government let alone the good things

35:52 ↗ that are happening in the community

35:53 ↗ largely falls on our um uh ways we reach

35:57 ↗ out the community um our social media

36:00 ↗ per capita has the highest number of

36:03 ↗ followers of any community in the region

36:07 ↗ um it's truly outstanding um all that is

36:09 ↗ general fund supported um on the fleet

36:12 ↗ side Fleet is an issue we still haven't

36:15 ↗ fixed um we we look to have the

36:18 ↗ Departments and the funding sources of

36:20 ↗ those departments fund lead operations

36:23 ↗ um we continue to work diligently on

36:25 ↗ that it's still not right um add on to

36:28 ↗ that changes in the marketplace

36:30 ↗ especially with police where there is

36:32 ↗ now an expectation that every patrol

36:34 ↗ officer have a vehicle how much does a

36:38 ↗ Cruiser cost these days to one before

36:41 ↗ you even outfit

36:46 ↗ It uped Whatever number you want yeah

36:50 ↗ like

36:52 ↗ $80,000 around for the fully loaded

36:56 ↗ fully loaded so

36:58 ↗ every patrol officer expects to get an

36:59 ↗ $80,000 vehicle to drive home every

37:01 ↗ night um because every other community

37:04 ↗ around us does it so while the the issue

37:08 ↗ of ass signing bonus perhaps has not

37:09 ↗ been as much of an issue certainly I

37:12 ↗ think in please correct me if I'm wrong

37:13 ↗ chief that is an issue that people want

37:16 ↗ that take home be is that a first

37:18 ↗ statement it is it's also a benefit

37:21 ↗ because when we need them to come in and

37:22 ↗ we've had several instances lately we

37:25 ↗ had people have had to come in and

37:27 ↗ respond urg so it's nice having the

37:29 ↗ community but that is something that all

37:31 ↗ the other urgencies have people in down

37:33 ↗ in Pierce County that are have County

37:36 ↗ cars in Seattle cars

37:39 ↗ so but an additional expense one that we

37:41 ↗ did not have uh we still don't again as

37:44 ↗ I say have all of this figured out we're

37:47 ↗ in good company many communities don't

37:49 ↗ uh but uh and then as we look at

37:51 ↗ converting the fleet from internal

37:53 ↗ combustion engines to electric vehicles

37:56 ↗ uh there are costs associated with that

37:58 ↗ there's cost associated with charging um

38:01 ↗ fleet vehicles um all things that uh um

38:04 ↗ we look to the general fund then the

38:06 ↗ final piece of administrative Services

38:08 ↗ um has been facilities um the approach

38:11 ↗ of the city for facilities was

38:13 ↗ facilities fixed the clog toilet when

38:16 ↗ there was a problem and that's what

38:18 ↗ facilities did uh there was very little

38:21 ↗ that was done to be proactive on the

38:22 ↗ maintenance of our facilities

38:26 ↗ um very little done to look at space

38:28 ↗ planning look at Future needs um and we

38:31 ↗ knew this was a problem and so we moved

38:34 ↗ facilities from uh Parks Community

38:36 ↗ Services two administrative Services

38:38 ↗ hired a new manager NG uh justice uh and

38:43 ↗ now have I think an outstanding group

38:46 ↗ dealing with facilities not only dealing

38:47 ↗ with st maintenance but also dealing

38:50 ↗ with what our our you know small medium

38:53 ↗ and long-term needs are uh on facilities

38:56 ↗ much of that is general f costs um and

39:00 ↗ so as we are getting our handle on that

39:02 ↗ we also have to balance how much money

39:04 ↗ do we spend again not only on the big

39:06 ↗ things we've spend a lot of time talking

39:08 ↗ about but just the daytoday uh facility

39:10 ↗ needs of of all of our of our city

39:13 ↗ facilities and then there's the

39:14 ↗ executive uh Administration piece um we

39:18 ↗ changed a couple of years ago City

39:19 ↗ attorney um the uh amount of money that

39:23 ↗ I think Madrona law has saved the city

39:25 ↗ at the time that they've been here has

39:27 ↗ been

39:28 ↗ a lot um the downside is the amount of

39:31 ↗ money we spend on City Attorney Services

39:33 ↗ has increased substantially so in my

39:36 ↗ mind it's a wash rather spend the money

39:38 ↗ up front and be better lawyered uh this

39:41 ↗ organization was not well lawyered um we

39:45 ↗ had an attorney that came to meetings um

39:49 ↗ they were not asked to do anything more

39:50 ↗ they did not offer to do anything more

39:52 ↗ and we have spent millions and millions

39:55 ↗ and millions of dollars over the course

39:57 ↗ of the last certainly five years if not

39:59 ↗ longer dealing with that and we now have

40:02 ↗ a City attorney staff that are

40:04 ↗ integrated into the organization at

40:05 ↗ every level work with all key staff

40:08 ↗ members on everything from land use

40:10 ↗ projects from once an application is

40:13 ↗ file uh to contracts and keos and uh

40:18 ↗ fish colberts and all the other uh

40:21 ↗ things that that come before the city um

40:24 ↗ which is great and we can't do it any

40:26 ↗ other way um but the costs associated

40:28 ↗ with having that Daily City attorney

40:31 ↗ support are more than they were prior

40:34 ↗ the city clerk's office we have the best

40:35 ↗ city clerk operation in the United

40:37 ↗ States I would put us up against any any

40:40 ↗ city clerk operation um and it's three

40:44 ↗ it's three and a little bit FTE um but

40:48 ↗ what we've been able to do uh again with

40:51 ↗ our boards and commissions to make sure

40:53 ↗ that they work seamlessly uh what we've

40:56 ↗ been able to do with the council so it's

40:58 ↗ able to work seamlessly uh public

41:00 ↗ records requests are ridiculous every

41:02 ↗ Community faces it we do it

41:05 ↗ expeditiously and professionally um but

41:08 ↗ there's there are costs associated with

41:11 ↗ that um we when I arrive public records

41:14 ↗ position was vacant because we didn't

41:16 ↗ have money can you imagine what that

41:19 ↗ must been like um so we are so fortunate

41:23 ↗ to have that service um nearly all

41:26 ↗ general fund support that let alone all

41:27 ↗ the records of work that's been done all

41:29 ↗ of that is truly outstanding Economic

41:32 ↗ Development also part of the executive

41:36 ↗ but we're at three FTE that has bounced

41:38 ↗ around with numbers of FTE and location

41:41 ↗ in the organization it's been in the

41:42 ↗ executive office for the last several

41:44 ↗ years um in addition to Economic

41:46 ↗ Development Jen Daves also is our lead

41:49 ↗ housing policy person so as we look at

41:51 ↗ affordable housing uh there's pieces

41:54 ↗ that are in uh Community planning and

41:55 ↗ development but also the pieces

41:57 ↗ uh as far as actually trying to bring

42:00 ↗ housing here do the deals all of that is

42:03 ↗ also an economic development all that

42:05 ↗ general fund supported the office of

42:08 ↗ sustainability huge transformation over

42:11 ↗ the last five years uh great team of uh

42:16 ↗ two two full-time staff plus a Civic

42:19 ↗ spark fellow um that's

42:23 ↗ um it's difficult for me to know exactly

42:26 ↗ how many people

42:29 ↗ clearly we have two and a half now uh

42:32 ↗ supporting a board that didn't exist

42:35 ↗ previously in the environment board we

42:37 ↗ do have a dedicated funding source but

42:39 ↗ that funding source is dedicated by you

42:42 ↗ you could take all of the trash

42:44 ↗ administrative fee and use it to buy

42:45 ↗ police vehicles if you wanted to uh we

42:48 ↗ hear from the community that after

42:51 ↗ Transportation sustainability is is a

42:53 ↗ clear priority um so there is a funding

42:56 ↗ source for that so very work that's

42:59 ↗ there um the last piece on the exec side

43:03 ↗ um all things we really weren't doing on

43:05 ↗ a regular basis before performance

43:06 ↗ measurement Equity um the work with the

43:09 ↗ Strategic plan uh again taking the will

43:12 ↗ of the community uh measuring what we're

43:16 ↗ doing and making the government work

43:18 ↗ better all things that we didn't do five

43:20 ↗ years ago all things funded by the

43:23 ↗ general

43:25 ↗ so that's where we're at um Public

43:29 ↗ Safety justice peace uh the

43:32 ↗ administration is going to propose full

43:34 ↗ funding for that we'll work through

43:37 ↗ epher um I think that there's additional

43:39 ↗ conversations that could be had um the

43:42 ↗ administration is going to need the city

43:43 ↗ council support dealing with your

43:46 ↗ colleagues in other jurisdictions that

43:47 ↗ are part of eer uh to help come up with

43:50 ↗ better Solutions um there there are

43:54 ↗ between esqu samamish 100,000 residents

43:57 ↗ uh covered uh between the residents of

43:59 ↗ our two communities yet there are other

44:01 ↗ smaller communities that sit on the eer

44:03 ↗ board um that also have a voice and I

44:07 ↗ think it's the administration will

44:08 ↗ respectfully request that the council do

44:11 ↗ what you can do to work with your

44:12 ↗ colleagues and samamish U to make sure

44:14 ↗ that the voices of those 100,000

44:16 ↗ residents and the other priorities that

44:18 ↗ are there are appropriately heard um

44:22 ↗ after that is where we really need your

44:25 ↗ help what are the things that most

44:27 ↗ important to you what do you based on

44:29 ↗ everything we hear from the Community

44:31 ↗ Transportation sustainability all

44:34 ↗ important things dealing with the

44:35 ↗ environment trees uh all things we want

44:38 ↗ to do but then we have all the internal

44:40 ↗ Services we have um you know the

44:43 ↗ continued investment uh in our staff

44:47 ↗ Citywide those are all priorities too so

44:49 ↗ I hope that this first half an hour or

44:52 ↗ so at least provide some context and

44:55 ↗ some background

44:57 ↗ um for the additional information that

44:59 ↗ Andrea is going to share here in a

45:00 ↗ moment uh but also for the discussions

45:04 ↗ the percentages we're talking about

45:06 ↗ aren't great but they're not horrible

45:08 ↗ either and I also wantan to you know I

45:10 ↗ guess want to end with sort of the the

45:13 ↗ the aspes the caveats to all this that

45:16 ↗ you know we've tried to come up with

45:18 ↗ what we think is as about worst Cas

45:20 ↗ scenario as possible uh we did get our

45:23 ↗ bill for liability insurance yesterday

45:26 ↗ which went up

45:27 ↗ $45,000 so that's one other one other

45:31 ↗ kick in the teeth um that we're going to

45:33 ↗ have to Grapple with and that's shelter

45:36 ↗ and other things that now are coming

45:39 ↗ home to ro from the Washington City's

45:41 ↗ Insurance Authority but we we'll work on

45:44 ↗ that number as well um but these are

45:47 ↗ still early days the overall percentage

45:49 ↗ even worst case scenario is absolutely

45:51 ↗ doable um but it's going to change how

45:54 ↗ we do business it's going to take away

45:57 ↗ from um I think a some of the good work

45:59 ↗ that we're doing and we're going to have

46:00 ↗ to do less of it in order to fund police

46:03 ↗ fire and

46:05 ↗ Justice that's not in any strategic plan

46:08 ↗ um so thank you for letting me go on for

46:11 ↗ a little while this morning really

46:13 ↗ appreciate it

46:14 ↗ appreciate those of you who are around

46:16 ↗ the table um I've been doing this for 35

46:19 ↗ years um you are among the most

46:22 ↗ thoughtful uh detail oriented council

46:25 ↗ members that I've ever worked with with

46:27 ↗ no one throws chairs no one spits at

46:30 ↗ each other

46:32 ↗ yeah the war still early it's only

46:36 ↗ 955 but but that but that is hugely

46:39 ↗ important because I spent a lot of time

46:41 ↗ working with colleagues around country

46:43 ↗ um who are in Desperate Straits dealing

46:46 ↗ with their elected bodies who do not get

46:49 ↗ long who do not have any commonality in

46:52 ↗ their view of the world their view of

46:54 ↗ the community let alone their view of

46:56 ↗ the world unfortunately the view

46:57 ↗ people's view of the world is now coming

46:59 ↗ home to roost City Halls around America

47:02 ↗ we don't suffer any of that so thank you

47:05 ↗ that have let me take a moment before we

47:08 ↗ get into questions we've got a little

47:10 ↗ bit off agenda here and I just want to

47:13 ↗ take a moment to check in with Andrea

47:16 ↗ we're supposed to do a budget Outlook

47:18 ↗ and have questions on that and

47:19 ↗ administration's priorities and have a

47:22 ↗ discussion about that this went into a

47:24 ↗ lot of the priorities so how do want to

47:27 ↗ kind of approach yeah we have more

47:29 ↗ detail to provide so if there's

47:31 ↗ questions about wanting more detail and

47:33 ↗ information that's really the next

47:35 ↗ segment while I was providing uh an

47:37 ↗ overview of what we're about to go into

47:40 ↗ much more detail over the next hour plus

47:43 ↗ when it comes to our budget Outlook and

47:45 ↗ also more information on those

47:47 ↗ administrative priorities so that next

47:50 ↗ part of the presentation we can go over

47:52 ↗ very quickly because City administrator

47:54 ↗ Bob quitz has already provided a great

47:56 ↗ introduction to this

47:57 ↗ so if possible I'd like to ask to hold

47:59 ↗ questions write them down something like

48:01 ↗ that so that we can get into the Outlook

48:03 ↗ and the priorities being very polite yes

48:07 ↗ yes you were and I am being very much

48:10 ↗ like Hey we're behind our

48:12 ↗ schedule can I just ask an overall

48:15 ↗ question from the budget last year to

48:18 ↗ where we are now um so if we look at the

48:21 ↗ budget from last year it had a forecast

48:23 ↗ of um you know it didn't look like we

48:26 ↗ were going to in deficit for 25 and

48:28 ↗ 26 um but now we're seeing numbers of

48:31 ↗ 4.2 in in the red and 6.3 in the red

48:35 ↗ just from a high level point of view um

48:38 ↗ what changed did the economy crash did

48:40 ↗ we lose a lot of revenue from a source

48:43 ↗ um just the messaging that we can give

48:45 ↗ to yeah let's go expenditures are

48:48 ↗ generally fine it's some of the revenues

48:52 ↗ okay

48:54 ↗ yeah right again thank you

49:01 ↗ and so we'll provide a few more details

49:05 ↗ uh thank you City administrator op for

49:07 ↗ that overview uh wanted to share this

49:12 ↗ slide um just at the top here again we

49:15 ↗ don't want to bury the lead and so um

49:17 ↗ we're going to talk about each of these

49:19 ↗ pieces in a lot more

49:21 ↗ detail uh this this forecast is really

49:25 ↗ looking at our base budget taking

49:29 ↗ 2024 and I'm taking out some of those

49:32 ↗ onetime

49:33 ↗ expenditures adding what we think is

49:35 ↗ going to be inflation CPI is

49:38 ↗ 3.8% uh and then um so looking at those

49:42 ↗ expenditures and then our forecasted

49:45 ↗ revenues which is something that budget

49:47 ↗ manager Susie monel is going to go over

49:49 ↗ in more detail in a little bit so that's

49:52 ↗ what we see here with the deficit

49:53 ↗ numbers um we look at also going to be

49:57 ↗ discussing today potential new revenues

49:59 ↗ to be looking at um we'll discuss that a

50:02 ↗ little bit later in the day um and then

50:04 ↗ these new expenditures the

50:06 ↗ administration's priorities we're going

50:07 ↗ to be talking about that a lot more

50:09 ↗ detail of course City administrator Bob

50:11 ↗ hitz summarized it for us it's Public

50:13 ↗ Safety plus a few other things but

50:15 ↗ really the focus is Public

50:17 ↗ Safety um and so taking all these things

50:20 ↗ together we're looking at okay what is

50:22 ↗ that what does that look like for 2526

50:26 ↗ of course we still have to go through

50:27 ↗ the whole process of budget creation but

50:29 ↗ if we looked at this picture zooming out

50:32 ↗ um what's the general Outlook and so

50:34 ↗ that leaves us with a deficit of 7.2

50:37 ↗ million for to keep that 15% of

50:40 ↗ undesignated fund balance there um and

50:43 ↗ just to give a scale of what 7.2 million

50:46 ↗ means general fund that's 11% of the

50:49 ↗ general fund that's that's a that's a

50:52 ↗ large amount the last time uh that we

50:54 ↗ had to make cuts um it was small on the

50:57 ↗ scale of

50:58 ↗ 5% so and of course as we look into 2026

51:02 ↗ similar similar picture uh so wanted to

51:05 ↗ give you that punchline first we can

51:07 ↗ come back and review this slide once

51:08 ↗ we've talked more about um the the uh

51:11 ↗ forecast of deficit once we've talked

51:13 ↗ more about those potential new revenues

51:15 ↗ and of course the priorities that the

51:17 ↗ administration is going to be proposing

51:19 ↗ today with that I want to bring up

51:21 ↗ Andrea does that include the eeper

51:23 ↗ numbers uh yes this includes the eer

51:26 ↗ numbers

51:27 ↗ this slide includes e numbers yes it

51:29 ↗ does not include WCA since that was late

51:33 ↗ but e numbers it

51:35 ↗ doesn't so just clarification are these

51:39 ↗ compounding numbers or are these we're

51:42 ↗ going to have 7.2 and then we're going

51:44 ↗ to have another 8.4 so so all together

51:48 ↗ we're having like $6 million well so

51:51 ↗ these are these are uh much of the

51:55 ↗ reason for the much of a concern here

51:57 ↗ are ongoing expenditures right and so if

52:01 ↗ we continue spending on certain programs

52:03 ↗ in 25 and keep those programs in 26 um

52:06 ↗ 8.4 then okay so we what we're really

52:11 ↗ looking for as we talk to internally

52:15 ↗ about how to curb expenses for the rest

52:17 ↗ of 2024 um to set us up in a good better

52:21 ↗ position for 25 26 as we look at the

52:23 ↗ drafting of the 2526 budget um is how

52:26 ↗ how we should be addressing those

52:28 ↗ ongoing expenditures to avoid those

52:30 ↗ future uh potential deficits yeah uh so

52:35 ↗ with that Susie you want to come

52:41 ↗ up at some point during this um intro

52:45 ↗ Park could we also whatever your your in

52:48 ↗ terms of how other exper cities

52:50 ↗ experience

52:52 ↗ yeah yeah um so I'm going to go through

52:55 ↗ this slide quickly because well I talked

52:57 ↗ through some of it already but um and

52:59 ↗ there's a lot of details so if you want

53:01 ↗ to look at that in the it might be a

53:03 ↗ little easier to go through each line

53:06 ↗ but the punch line on this line is that

53:08 ↗ Ro highlighted in Red so if we were to

53:12 ↗ uh end each year 2024 five and six at a

53:16 ↗ 15% undesignated uh fundance as a

53:19 ↗ percent of expenditures we would need to

53:21 ↗ reduce in 2024 about 5.3 million 4.2 and

53:26 ↗ 25 and 6.3 to 26 and to your question uh

53:30 ↗ that is cumulative as well so if we were

53:31 ↗ to produce 5.3 million of ongoing

53:34 ↗ expenditures this year that would flow

53:35 ↗ into the next years as

53:37 ↗ well um any questions on this slide

53:41 ↗ before

53:42 ↗ wait so when you I think I didn't

53:46 ↗ understand the last thing you said so if

53:47 ↗ we reduced 5.3 then we would have we

53:51 ↗ wouldn't have to make any additional

53:52 ↗ reductions in the second year because

53:53 ↗ that 5.3 would we would we would have

53:56 ↗ one

53:57 ↗ whatever the okay yeah but then we still

54:00 ↗ need to reduce in 26 so at some point

54:03 ↗ and I'm not expecting today um I would

54:05 ↗ like to understand how we will actually

54:08 ↗ get to a 15% Target I don't think we've

54:11 ↗ ever been below like 22% in the 15 years

54:14 ↗ that have been our counsil and so if

54:16 ↗ we're going to take that 15% Target

54:18 ↗ seriously and if we're going to

54:19 ↗ potentially make uh painful cuts to get

54:22 ↗ to that 15% I really don't want to be at

54:25 ↗ 22 to 25% again in January I'll feel

54:28 ↗ like I've done a disservice to the

54:29 ↗ residents of isqua who are so at some

54:32 ↗ point I want to know how we're going to

54:33 ↗ do things differently such that we

54:35 ↗ aren't going to be in the 20s or even

54:36 ↗ 30s as we have beened

54:39 ↗ abely great um so diving just one layer

54:43 ↗ down into Revenue um so um getting to

54:46 ↗ your question a little bit earlier

54:48 ↗ council member Joe um the primary reason

54:51 ↗ that revenues are coming down are due to

54:54 ↗ sales tax and um Community Planning and

54:57 ↗ Development

54:59 ↗ R um so those two really go hand inand

55:02 ↗ um primarily for sales tax the place

55:05 ↗ where we've seen those continued

55:06 ↗ reductions is in construction related Z

55:08 ↗ STX we've continued to see about 20 to

55:11 ↗ 25% reductions over 23 in which we saw

55:15 ↗ 25 20 to 25% reductions over 22 so that

55:19 ↗ is continuing to decline and that's

55:21 ↗ really why we see it start to come down

55:24 ↗ continuing in 25 and 26 it's primarily

55:27 ↗ that construction related sales tax um

55:30 ↗ the other sales tax sectors have been uh

55:33 ↗ pretty much squill for the most part um

55:35 ↗ over last year so that's good news

55:36 ↗ especially with retail but construction

55:39 ↗ is really having that big impact um and

55:42 ↗ that goes hand inand as I mentioned with

55:44 ↗ the um Community Planning and

55:45 ↗ Development permit revenues as that is

55:47 ↗ highly dependent on new construction as

55:48 ↗ well um or um PR models as well but uh

55:53 ↗ those are the two primary places um as

55:55 ↗ City

55:56 ↗ administrator Bitz mentioned um it is a

56:00 ↗ revenue issue primarily we're not

56:02 ↗ overspending our budget um to your point

56:04 ↗ council member Mars we are very closely

56:06 ↗ watching our expenditures this year um

56:09 ↗ and we'll be working with departments to

56:10 ↗ really forecast where they see UND

56:12 ↗ spense this year to ensure that we can

56:15 ↗ work those into our forecasting and to

56:17 ↗ work those into how we build our 25 26

56:20 ↗ budget Susie if I may I just want to add

56:23 ↗ something about construction sales tax

56:25 ↗ uh it's these are forecasts they are

56:28 ↗ educated estimates but they are still

56:30 ↗ estimates and guesses and with

56:33 ↗ construction sales tax as you all know

56:36 ↗ it's uh very volatile and very volatile

56:38 ↗ for a city of our size so one project

56:42 ↗ can really have a very big impact the

56:45 ↗ problem with construction is it's very

56:47 ↗ hard to figure out exactly when that's

56:49 ↗ going to occur let's take the school

56:51 ↗ district as just an example of a

56:52 ↗ construction project we were on a path

56:55 ↗ for uh building that new Campus of a

56:57 ↗ high school and Elementary School that

56:59 ↗ project's been delayed a couple of years

57:02 ↗ uh they took out part of that project

57:04 ↗ Elementary School it's changed so much

57:06 ↗ over time even though we felt like we

57:08 ↗ were on a pretty steady and predictable

57:10 ↗ trajectory and that's just the example

57:12 ↗ of one project and one such project can

57:15 ↗ have a really big impact on um our sales

57:18 ↗ Tech so as you look at Council has

57:20 ↗ approved this year for example the

57:21 ↗ Lakeside uh we we've talked about the

57:24 ↗ Lakeside development agreement or

57:25 ↗ shelter as well those can be very large

57:27 ↗ projects for the city of isqua exactly

57:29 ↗ when we can expect the the construction

57:32 ↗ to occur permit revenues to occur very

57:35 ↗ difficult to for forecast and so what we

57:37 ↗ try to do is we try to make sure that

57:39 ↗ we're forecasting and estimating

57:40 ↗ responsibly so not always taking into

57:43 ↗ account those large projects and banking

57:46 ↗ on them happening within one year um

57:48 ↗ because they may not and you know

57:50 ↗ interest rates may change whatever may

57:52 ↗ happen that can affect those projects

57:54 ↗ and completely change them so um

57:56 ↗ construction sales tax is very difficult

57:58 ↗ to forecast sales tax itself is also

58:00 ↗ volatile and so this is this is our best

58:03 ↗ estimate trying to be responsible with

58:04 ↗ how we estimate what to expect in the

58:06 ↗ coming

58:08 ↗ years thank you um I'm I'm kind of

58:11 ↗ curious about sales tax and it really

58:13 ↗ reflects our I want to dig into a little

58:15 ↗ bit about what we're thinking inflation

58:17 ↗ is going to do and what's going to

58:18 ↗ happen with CPI because sales tax is one

58:20 ↗ of the few things that naturally

58:22 ↗ occurring adjust to to increases in cost

58:26 ↗ so what are we projecting or what are we

58:28 ↗ thinking is going to happen with

58:29 ↗ inflation over the next um threee period

58:32 ↗ two and a half year period you want to

58:34 ↗ go into your reception sure yeah um so

58:37 ↗ in looking at historical actuals in

58:40 ↗ comparison to where interest rates have

58:42 ↗ been and not interest rates inflation

58:45 ↗ yeah and inflation both um as they both

58:47 ↗ have a strong impact on on sales taxs

58:51 ↗ but um looking at historicals and tied

58:54 ↗ to what we actually received they do

58:56 ↗ have a fair Fairly large impact so we

58:59 ↗ are

59:00 ↗ anticipating the um the CPI built in to

59:04 ↗ those assumptions forward hly CPI for 26

59:08 ↗ is a little bit of a mystery the um CPI

59:11 ↗ numbers have been going up and down a

59:13 ↗ little bit um over the last few years as

59:15 ↗ you may recall in 2021 I believe it was

59:17 ↗ it was above

59:18 ↗ 10% so um we're looking at 3.8 for the

59:22 ↗ June to June um that just came out and

59:25 ↗ that is good news to us we did not think

59:27 ↗ it would be that low um that said um in

59:31 ↗ looking at the actuals it's been

59:33 ↗ interesting to see how revenues have

59:35 ↗ actually stayed fairly flat outside of

59:38 ↗ um construction so that interplay

59:41 ↗ between inflation and where costs have

59:44 ↗ been higher and how consumption plays

59:47 ↗ into that it's been interesting to see

59:49 ↗ that those have stayed relatively flot

59:51 ↗ over the last couple years um

59:54 ↗ primarily um and there's a question

59:56 ↗ earlier about what this looks like

59:58 ↗ regionally um we're seeing the same

1:00:01 ↗ regionally everywhere in hearing from

1:00:02 ↗ other cities um everyone is considering

1:00:05 ↗ fairly large reductions right now um uh

1:00:08 ↗ that's both local and County it's a it's

1:00:12 ↗ not a great economic Outlook at the

1:00:13 ↗ moment and we're not

1:00:15 ↗ alone um so uh that is my uh overview I

1:00:21 ↗ can hand it back to Andrea unless there

1:00:22 ↗ are other questions on

1:00:29 ↗ oh I'm sorry I

1:00:31 ↗ actually sorry so um I looked over the

1:00:35 ↗ February memo Retreat memo that we had

1:00:38 ↗ too this one of the key takeaways from

1:00:41 ↗ that was yeah sales takes sales tax is

1:00:44 ↗ not where we thought it was going to be

1:00:45 ↗ but utility taxes

1:00:47 ↗ over are Returns on some Investments are

1:00:51 ↗ overperforming and so that's kind of

1:00:53 ↗ helped but those are volatile is that

1:00:55 ↗ the same

1:00:56 ↗ are we still tracking that the same way

1:00:58 ↗ now that it's July terms of utility tax

1:01:01 ↗ yes thank you for asking about utility

1:01:03 ↗ tax that is a ray of good news um so uh

1:01:07 ↗ but maybe not for the best reasons so

1:01:09 ↗ utility tax we Contin we're forecasting

1:01:12 ↗ increases primarily due to rate

1:01:14 ↗ increases um and not primarily our own

1:01:17 ↗ so looking at um Natural Gas and

1:01:19 ↗ Electric primarily psse is really

1:01:21 ↗ increasing their rates over the next

1:01:23 ↗ couple years I think I saw natural gases

1:01:25 ↗ going up up by over

1:01:28 ↗ 10% um so that does translate to higher

1:01:32 ↗ utility tax um that also does include

1:01:35 ↗ our projected um our already adopted

1:01:37 ↗ rate increases for our own City run

1:01:39 ↗ Utilities in

1:01:40 ↗ 25 um so there are uh some good news on

1:01:45 ↗ that but probably not the best reasons

1:01:47 ↗ for why it's good news um and on

1:01:50 ↗ investment interest um that's another

1:01:52 ↗ one that continues to perform well the

1:01:54 ↗ last couple years were an outlier on how

1:01:56 ↗ much we got but it's continuing to still

1:01:58 ↗ be fairly High

1:02:02 ↗ um we are expecting uh Investments not

1:02:06 ↗ to perform as well as um we expect

1:02:08 ↗ interest rates to fall and so we have we

1:02:11 ↗ have a number of Investments with the

1:02:13 ↗ state that have been historic highs and

1:02:17 ↗ um all of my peers and other communities

1:02:19 ↗ are expecting that to pretty much tank

1:02:21 ↗ next year back to normal low low returns

1:02:24 ↗ for very stable steady Investments so um

1:02:28 ↗ that's probably not going to be our

1:02:30 ↗ saving gas in 25

1:02:37 ↗ 26 okay so um we can dive right into our

1:02:41 ↗ Administration priorities um despite all

1:02:44 ↗ of these challenges with the budget we

1:02:46 ↗ still have things that we believe are

1:02:47 ↗ very urgent very important things that

1:02:49 ↗ we need to address the 25 and 26 City

1:02:52 ↗ administrator Bob quids gave a nice

1:02:54 ↗ overview of those things um here here's

1:02:56 ↗ here's some round numbers to understand

1:02:58 ↗ the budgetary impacts and we're going to

1:02:59 ↗ go over some of these items in a lot

1:03:01 ↗ more detail uh the items with asteris

1:03:04 ↗ that you see are a one time costs

1:03:07 ↗ everything else on this list are ongoing

1:03:09 ↗ and we'll have ongoing impacts onto the

1:03:11 ↗ budget so we're going to talk more

1:03:12 ↗ specifically about Personnel ads um at a

1:03:15 ↗ time like this we may be facing

1:03:17 ↗ reductions um but we also have some key

1:03:20 ↗ positions that we think are really

1:03:21 ↗ urgent uh for Council to consider adding

1:03:23 ↗ to the budget we're going to go over

1:03:25 ↗ those in more detail

1:03:26 ↗ next uh salary adjustments to market

1:03:28 ↗ we've been doing a market study and

1:03:32 ↗ understanding are the wages we pair we

1:03:34 ↗ pay our staff competitive to other

1:03:36 ↗ cities U while we want to provide high

1:03:39 ↗ quality service to our community we need

1:03:42 ↗ to make sure that we're not losing them

1:03:45 ↗ uh losing our employees who provide the

1:03:46 ↗ service to other communities and that

1:03:48 ↗ we're able to retain staff and that

1:03:50 ↗ remains a priority for the

1:03:50 ↗ administration is to retain staff um so

1:03:54 ↗ we've we've done uh a survey of how our

1:03:57 ↗ wages compare across the market and we

1:04:00 ↗ believe we need to make a few

1:04:02 ↗ adjustments to the tune of about

1:04:03 ↗ $200,000 in the next year and is that so

1:04:07 ↗ that is our current Personnel without

1:04:10 ↗ the Personnel ads that we are you're

1:04:13 ↗ also looking at correct so salary

1:04:16 ↗ adjustments to Market are accounting for

1:04:18 ↗ the current Personnel that we have who

1:04:20 ↗ we feel are underpaid in relation to

1:04:22 ↗ peer cities okay thanks um we also a

1:04:27 ↗ city administrator Bob Co talked about

1:04:29 ↗ leasing costs uh for court and council

1:04:32 ↗ chambers as well um we've talked a lot

1:04:34 ↗ about facilities there's dedicated time

1:04:37 ↗ on this agenda today this afternoon to

1:04:39 ↗ talk more about facilities so we're

1:04:41 ↗ going to be doing that later but

1:04:42 ↗ definitely wanted to account for them um

1:04:45 ↗ here in this chart Fort operating

1:04:47 ↗ expenses we've talked in the past

1:04:49 ↗ there's another slide following this to

1:04:51 ↗ break those out a little bit more but

1:04:53 ↗ we've talked about public defender costs

1:04:56 ↗ prosecutor costs making sure that again

1:04:58 ↗ we're paying competitive um uh

1:05:03 ↗ competitive in our contracts for service

1:05:04 ↗ on that so we don't lose Public Defense

1:05:07 ↗ staff who were critical so we don't lose

1:05:08 ↗ our prosecutor so we anticipate some

1:05:11 ↗ increases to those more detail in a

1:05:13 ↗ little bit um question about the public

1:05:16 ↗ defender um I know we um contract court

1:05:18 ↗ services to a number of other cities do

1:05:21 ↗ we also um contract Public Defender

1:05:23 ↗ Services or in some cases yes yeah yep y

1:05:27 ↗ so we will be looking at our court

1:05:29 ↗ contracts to be able to make sure that

1:05:31 ↗ those cities are paying that is supp and

1:05:34 ↗ providing subsid to other city

1:05:37 ↗ services so I know the safety secur

1:05:40 ↗ safety whatever

1:05:42 ↗ SSP we received a request from uh judge

1:05:47 ↗ Stewart and does its number reflect that

1:05:49 ↗ request or yes okay so this is exactly

1:05:52 ↗ what they were asking for yes and and

1:05:55 ↗ we've done our own research so we'll go

1:05:56 ↗ into it a little bit but we've done our

1:05:58 ↗ own research into what are other cities

1:06:00 ↗ paying um what are other cities doing so

1:06:02 ↗ we're not just necessarily taking the

1:06:04 ↗ information from our judge and just the

1:06:06 ↗ information from our prosecutor for

1:06:07 ↗ example we did um a survey of trying to

1:06:10 ↗ find out again what is the market look

1:06:11 ↗ like how can we stay competitive uh

1:06:14 ↗ giving these Changing Times uh and the

1:06:17 ↗ need for uh judges the need for public

1:06:20 ↗ defenders

1:06:23 ↗ Etc um we've talked about he Side Fire

1:06:26 ↗ and Rescue and they have asked for an

1:06:28 ↗ additional of 1.7 in 202 five and a bit

1:06:33 ↗ more than that in 2026 that's something

1:06:36 ↗ that council member Hall uh and I are

1:06:39 ↗ still trying to sore through um as of

1:06:41 ↗ yesterday the the CFOs and finance

1:06:44 ↗ directors of the member cities um all

1:06:48 ↗ decided to gather together and uh we're

1:06:51 ↗ meeting on Monday to discuss further

1:06:53 ↗ there's lots of questions that we have

1:06:55 ↗ of East Side Fire Rescue so um there

1:06:58 ↗ will be a lot more discussions about

1:06:59 ↗ this yeah I'm I'm sorry I'm just full of

1:07:01 ↗ questions today on the East Side Fire

1:07:03 ↗ and Rescue stuff while you're digging

1:07:05 ↗ into the budget can you see what the

1:07:07 ↗ financial benefit if any to us of having

1:07:10 ↗ lots of contract cities is and enumerate

1:07:13 ↗ that because I'm not 100% sure that

1:07:14 ↗ that's beneficial to us and we've added

1:07:17 ↗ all these contract cities I I just want

1:07:19 ↗ to see the numbers yeah yeah and that's

1:07:21 ↗ yeah part part of that's in the slides

1:07:22 ↗ show okay cool oh yeah by the way if you

1:07:25 ↗ don't find

1:07:26 ↗ just

1:07:28 ↗ say anyone has questions about St I've

1:07:31 ↗ already told

1:07:33 ↗ you I put down a few already so that's

1:07:37 ↗ that's that' be awesome I also think

1:07:39 ↗ that Chief Lane should watch your

1:07:41 ↗ discussion that he should get link to

1:07:42 ↗ the video because you're talking about

1:07:44 ↗ the state of our city and he needs to

1:07:47 ↗ understand that yeah and just a quick

1:07:50 ↗ question uh and I think I asked Council

1:07:52 ↗ B Hall this earlier um is my

1:07:56 ↗ understanding that this is the first

1:07:57 ↗ increase that they've asked for for in

1:08:00 ↗ other words we went several years

1:08:02 ↗ without a request for an

1:08:04 ↗ increase yeah there um yeah so they have

1:08:07 ↗ several funds within their budget just

1:08:09 ↗ like the city does some of those funds

1:08:12 ↗ um the partners have contributed to um

1:08:16 ↗ indirectly through using their ending

1:08:18 ↗ fund balance so they have spent down

1:08:20 ↗ some of their ending fund balance um

1:08:23 ↗ that's kind of essential they've shifted

1:08:24 ↗ a little bit of money around but

1:08:26 ↗ that is true um so we have not been they

1:08:28 ↗ haven't asked for a lot of increases

1:08:30 ↗ from us over the past few years during

1:08:32 ↗ the pandemic we really from what I

1:08:35 ↗ understand the board wanted them to

1:08:37 ↗ control their costs because a lot of the

1:08:38 ↗ Cities needed to control their costs as

1:08:40 ↗ well um that said we're still at a time

1:08:44 ↗ where I think samamish has similar

1:08:45 ↗ budgetary concerns as isqua maybe not

1:08:48 ↗ exactly but they expressed them in the

1:08:50 ↗ meeting that we had earlier this week um

1:08:52 ↗ and so cities are still crunched to

1:08:54 ↗ respond to council member uh Hall's

1:08:56 ↗ question early about how are our peers

1:08:58 ↗ doing um many of the cities are in the

1:09:00 ↗ same boat and are concerned because um

1:09:02 ↗ there's some significant cost increases

1:09:05 ↗ that as FR is asking

1:09:08 ↗ for I want to ask the question a little

1:09:10 ↗ bit differently um for all of our major

1:09:15 ↗ elements um I continue to want to look

1:09:18 ↗ at real at per capita costs in real

1:09:20 ↗ dollars so you know at some point I

1:09:23 ↗ don't know if it's today but want to

1:09:25 ↗ look at epher another way to think about

1:09:27 ↗ the last few years is what's the you

1:09:30 ↗ know long-term trend line of per capita

1:09:33 ↗ cost in real dollars right and the

1:09:34 ↗ reason real dollars is so important is

1:09:37 ↗ as we've seen inflation as we were

1:09:38 ↗ talking about just a few minutes ago you

1:09:40 ↗ can correct your wall somewhat um and

1:09:43 ↗ get to really uh what is that trend line

1:09:47 ↗ right if if we actually saw you know if

1:09:49 ↗ there hadn't been any increases for a

1:09:51 ↗ while you actually see that number come

1:09:52 ↗ down for a while and then start to come

1:09:53 ↗ back up that looks different than uh you

1:09:56 ↗ know costs that are keeping track uh

1:09:58 ↗ keeping Pace with inflation and then all

1:10:00 ↗ of a sudden seeing an increase that's a

1:10:02 ↗ completely different uh uh you know uh

1:10:06 ↗ leadership challenge so that I'm going

1:10:09 ↗ to continue to want to see uh those kind

1:10:11 ↗ of numbers or point me to where I go

1:10:13 ↗ calculate

1:10:16 ↗ them Andrea just a question about uh

1:10:19 ↗ conversation that's been in background

1:10:20 ↗ for a long time for reer but never

1:10:22 ↗ actually made it to the table was that

1:10:24 ↗ the funding for is based on expenses and

1:10:26 ↗ not revenues and is actually generates

1:10:29 ↗ more revenues than other cities but gets

1:10:31 ↗ no credit for that and so is there an

1:10:33 ↗ option to say that this is the year that

1:10:36 ↗ that has to be built into the the

1:10:38 ↗ formula so we pay more uh we also

1:10:42 ↗ generate more Revenue but we don't get

1:10:44 ↗ any credit for them so we're actually

1:10:45 ↗ bearing more of the burden than any of

1:10:47 ↗ the other jurisdictions in the

1:10:49 ↗ membership so it's it's when they

1:10:52 ↗ haven't wanted to talk about well I

1:10:54 ↗ think they need to talk about

1:10:58 ↗ thank you m

1:11:00 ↗ pa

1:11:02 ↗ um we haven't talked about this Equity

1:11:05 ↗ assessment let me take a second to do

1:11:07 ↗ that um it's something that the

1:11:09 ↗ administration would like to propose um

1:11:13 ↗ and uh what we're looking at is we've

1:11:15 ↗ had some and we've heard also some input

1:11:18 ↗ from the equity board that one of the

1:11:20 ↗ difficulties is we try to align our

1:11:21 ↗ budget more according to equity

1:11:23 ↗ principles right we've done this with

1:11:25 ↗ this CIP with different criteria in the

1:11:26 ↗ CIP trying to infuse Equity into

1:11:29 ↗ everything that we do we look at the

1:11:31 ↗ city budget um it's a little more

1:11:33 ↗ difficult for us to do that in this than

1:11:36 ↗ maybe some other cities other cities

1:11:37 ↗ have um areas of of town that maybe have

1:11:41 ↗ had less investment so it makes it more

1:11:43 ↗ obvious okay we need to we need to

1:11:45 ↗ invest more in parks in this part of

1:11:46 ↗ town or we need to invest more in

1:11:48 ↗ sidewalks and other pieces of

1:11:49 ↗ infrastructure in this part of town is

1:11:51 ↗ is not exactly uh like other cities in

1:11:54 ↗ that way and so as we look at trying to

1:11:57 ↗ um better affect Equitable outcomes for

1:12:00 ↗ the community um we need a little bit of

1:12:02 ↗ help in understanding where those gaps

1:12:04 ↗ are so to do an assessment on how we

1:12:07 ↗ deliver service to the community and

1:12:10 ↗ where are those gaps that we need to be

1:12:12 ↗ addressing um so that's really the goal

1:12:14 ↗ of what this Equity assessment is uh the

1:12:16 ↗ intent is for us to talk uh a little bit

1:12:18 ↗ more about it during the budget process

1:12:20 ↗ uh we want to talk more about it with

1:12:22 ↗ the uh Equity board as well but it's

1:12:24 ↗ something that they have recommended and

1:12:25 ↗ it's a new priority that I wanted to

1:12:27 ↗ highlight fre quickly

1:12:29 ↗ today can I gently push back on that um

1:12:33 ↗ I think squawk mountain and South Cove

1:12:37 ↗ and uh what's the one above Fred Meer I

1:12:39 ↗ just that neighood the black nugget area

1:12:42 ↗ no no no the the one

1:12:44 ↗ we over there yeah I think those three

1:12:47 ↗ neighborhoods are

1:12:50 ↗ underinvested they have a inadequate

1:12:52 ↗ sidewalks they have inadequate parks

1:12:55 ↗ um I think that they look very different

1:12:58 ↗ than the more recent developed parts of

1:13:00 ↗ the city and while they are certainly

1:13:03 ↗ they do not have uh you know the housing

1:13:07 ↗ is it's it's fine housing stock and all

1:13:09 ↗ that I think that the residents in those

1:13:11 ↗ three areas have said time and time

1:13:13 ↗ again that they feel under uh under

1:13:16 ↗ impacted by projects that we do that the

1:13:18 ↗ newer parts of town get all the cool

1:13:20 ↗ stuff we don't get and and and Hillside

1:13:23 ↗ Park is a great uh St step in a

1:13:25 ↗ different direction but I do think those

1:13:27 ↗ three neighborhoods are older and um

1:13:29 ↗ have a different profile in terms of uh

1:13:32 ↗ Municipal Investments the other the more

1:13:34 ↗ recent and I think councils what the

1:13:36 ↗ equity board was pushing on was more of

1:13:38 ↗ an access to service than um physical

1:13:41 ↗ assets so where are our poor populations

1:13:45 ↗ and what is their distance to aart Where

1:13:47 ↗ do we need to put our Ada rent so that

1:13:50 ↗ those who are most Mobility impacted so

1:13:53 ↗ there's the infrastructure question

1:13:54 ↗ about when your neighborhood got built

1:13:56 ↗ but I think what they're focusing is on

1:13:58 ↗ is you know language barriers um access

1:14:02 ↗ barriers and that and um the

1:14:05 ↗ infrastructure question probably fits in

1:14:08 ↗ there to a degree and and I get that I'm

1:14:10 ↗ I'm not opposed to doing that but what I

1:14:11 ↗ heard was that you know some some cities

1:14:14 ↗ have you know communities with different

1:14:16 ↗ levels of investment and services and

1:14:19 ↗ thank heavens we're not that way and I'm

1:14:21 ↗ here to tell you living in squat that

1:14:23 ↗ doesn't feel that way but I totally get

1:14:24 ↗ with the board is certain de and I'm not

1:14:26 ↗ opposed to that I just want to point out

1:14:27 ↗ that there are neighborhoods in this

1:14:29 ↗ city that feel that they don't get a lot

1:14:31 ↗ of

1:14:34 ↗ attention um sounds like we're going to

1:14:36 ↗ talk more about the equity assessment

1:14:38 ↗ but I did uh in reading the letter from

1:14:41 ↗ the equity board I think it would also

1:14:43 ↗ be good to reflect on the work that the

1:14:46 ↗ city did with the equity lens I know you

1:14:48 ↗ know from during uh I think around 2020

1:14:51 ↗ and 2021 we talked about wanting to have

1:14:53 ↗ an equity lens over the fight of across

1:14:55 ↗ all the city services and I know there

1:14:56 ↗ was some effort to do that and to do

1:14:58 ↗ trainings and um so I think it would be

1:15:00 ↗ good to reflect on how that went and

1:15:03 ↗ what this would do differently or how

1:15:05 ↗ this would you know interact differently

1:15:07 ↗ with the way that we're providing

1:15:08 ↗ Services then then that work um and and

1:15:12 ↗ then similarly the Human Services report

1:15:14 ↗ did look at a lot of demographics and

1:15:16 ↗ how Services were provided and so like

1:15:18 ↗ what is this uh what is this ad um

1:15:22 ↗ because it is a it is a cost and I

1:15:24 ↗ understand that being advocated for but

1:15:26 ↗ it's also a cost in in a difficult

1:15:27 ↗ budget year so wanting to make sure that

1:15:29 ↗ we are really you know using the

1:15:32 ↗ information in a way that's different

1:15:33 ↗ than those two existing efforts

1:15:38 ↗ great or Deputy Council

1:15:41 ↗ pres okay um and and I will just add

1:15:43 ↗ that this is something that's being

1:15:45 ↗ discussed across the east side as um

1:15:48 ↗ we're seeing uh and I think the equity

1:15:50 ↗ board talked to of that in their letter

1:15:52 ↗ we're seeing people draw back from De I

1:15:56 ↗ uh initiatives all across the country

1:15:58 ↗ but also uh on the east side not so much

1:16:01 ↗ pulling back but struggling with how how

1:16:04 ↗ are we reflecting um Equity throughout

1:16:07 ↗ the organization so I see this as a

1:16:09 ↗ chance for us to actually provide a

1:16:11 ↗ positive um solution to some of those uh

1:16:14 ↗ challenges and again be a leader in the

1:16:18 ↗ region in the area of equity so I think

1:16:21 ↗ this is really a good

1:16:22 ↗ thing thank you another fact factor that

1:16:25 ↗ I um would hope that Equity assessment

1:16:29 ↗ addresses is the potential that isqua

1:16:32 ↗ could have a number of varas that are

1:16:33 ↗ food deserts or areas where grocery

1:16:35 ↗ stores are not within walking distance

1:16:38 ↗ uh we have a a merger of a a big company

1:16:42 ↗ QFC and Safeway in Albertson's and if

1:16:45 ↗ you look at the map while the closures

1:16:47 ↗ or the stores that will be changing um

1:16:49 ↗ it makes it very difficult for some of

1:16:51 ↗ our populations to get to a grocery

1:16:54 ↗ store already Hutchinson house uh you

1:16:56 ↗ know when Front Street Market was just

1:16:59 ↗ down the street it was easy for them to

1:17:00 ↗ get to a store easier now they're

1:17:02 ↗ walking all the way to Safeway which is

1:17:05 ↗ about a mile to that store and back with

1:17:08 ↗ their groceries so just one example of a

1:17:11 ↗ population that we don't often think

1:17:13 ↗ about experiencing a food desert so I

1:17:16 ↗ hope that we would look at that as well

1:17:18 ↗ in um in the equ

1:17:23 ↗ assessment uh

1:17:25 ↗ we've also just recently talked about

1:17:27 ↗ the sustainability initiatives that the

1:17:29 ↗ city has we look at implementing more of

1:17:32 ↗ IAP this climate action plan um waste

1:17:36 ↗ diversion Etc we've talked about that

1:17:38 ↗ with Council recently um and we are

1:17:41 ↗ looking to uh well Council has adopted

1:17:44 ↗ administrative fee increase in order to

1:17:46 ↗ accomplish those objectives I didn't

1:17:48 ↗ want to lose sight of that priority

1:17:51 ↗ getting baked into the 2526 budget as

1:17:53 ↗ that was Council that we've just

1:17:55 ↗ performed recently so that is something

1:17:57 ↗ that's still on our list that we can

1:17:58 ↗ still achieve with the 2526 budget um

1:18:02 ↗ despite some of these other budget

1:18:04 ↗ challenges because uh we have identified

1:18:06 ↗ funding for those initiatives so

1:18:08 ↗ sustainability remains a priority uh for

1:18:12 ↗ the city thanks to council's recent

1:18:14 ↗ support So as we look at all of these um

1:18:17 ↗ priorities and again we're going to talk

1:18:19 ↗ more about them in detail um that's

1:18:21 ↗ about four $4.3 million

1:18:27 ↗ um so I talked about Personnel ads and

1:18:30 ↗ what types of personnel ads the

1:18:31 ↗ administration would like to propose of

1:18:33 ↗ this budget um Chief Schwan already

1:18:36 ↗ talked about sergeants these are for

1:18:38 ↗ Corrections sergeants so they would be

1:18:40 ↗ um specifically assigned to the jail um

1:18:43 ↗ there would be two new positions and

1:18:45 ↗ also that we would reclass corporals to

1:18:47 ↗ Corporal positions into sergeants again

1:18:50 ↗ for the jail and oversite of the jail so

1:18:53 ↗ here are the annual impacts ful loaded

1:18:55 ↗ with Benefits anticipate from the adds

1:18:58 ↗ also to support ipds we talked about

1:19:00 ↗ more P Patrol vehicles um we need

1:19:04 ↗ another Fleet mechanic because uh we've

1:19:07 ↗ been seeing a lot of OT in Fleet um for

1:19:10 ↗ those of you are looking at those

1:19:11 ↗ overtime reports um we have been seeing

1:19:14 ↗ a lot of backups and backlogs with our

1:19:17 ↗ Fleet and maybe maintaining our Fleet

1:19:19 ↗ and how that's been impacting different

1:19:22 ↗ parts of City operations including ipd

1:19:25 ↗ um permit Center coordinator council's

1:19:28 ↗ talked about this recently uh with the

1:19:30 ↗ RIS report and what their

1:19:32 ↗ recommendations are to be able to um

1:19:35 ↗ improve our processes within the permit

1:19:38 ↗ Center that would be a new position for

1:19:40 ↗ the city and then uh Court Clerk an

1:19:43 ↗ additional Court whoer going from

1:19:44 ↗ part-time to full-time um this would be

1:19:47 ↗ a new impact uh for the court as we've

1:19:49 ↗ just seen is the Clause growing the

1:19:52 ↗ regions growing uh they they're they're

1:19:57 ↗ the busiest clerks um per case load in

1:20:00 ↗ King County so we need to um provide a

1:20:02 ↗ little bit more support to the to the

1:20:05 ↗ board and then uh finally this is making

1:20:07 ↗ an existing systems analyst who's um

1:20:10 ↗ limited term employee into a full-time

1:20:12 ↗ employee to support Asset Management uh

1:20:15 ↗ the new software that we have uh that we

1:20:18 ↗ are implementing right now in the city

1:20:20 ↗ that was part of the Strategic plan um

1:20:22 ↗ we need them to stay on board to support

1:20:23 ↗ that effort and other IT projects in the

1:20:26 ↗ city as well we estimate the total

1:20:29 ↗ annual impacts from these position ads

1:20:31 ↗ to be um just under

1:20:33 ↗ million so I'm gonna go to council

1:20:35 ↗ member Ray but just keeping in mind we

1:20:39 ↗ are I'm just curious why we're looking

1:20:42 ↗ at a um increasing Staffing in CPD when

1:20:45 ↗ we're looking at construction and

1:20:48 ↗ permitting going on a decline um and

1:20:52 ↗ can't we repurpose existing staff

1:20:56 ↗ that doesn't mean we would

1:21:05 ↗ reduce uh we have talked a lot about

1:21:07 ↗ court so I just wanted to show a

1:21:09 ↗ breakdown of what these additional court

1:21:10 ↗ operating costs are so we just talked

1:21:12 ↗ about a court Personnel um ad we've

1:21:15 ↗ talked about prosecutor and public

1:21:16 ↗ defender again as we looked across the

1:21:18 ↗ market and what our peer communities are

1:21:21 ↗ providing uh in terms of compensation

1:21:23 ↗ for these types of I and contracts um

1:21:26 ↗ we're looking at really a total of

1:21:28 ↗ $400,000 um also want to highlight

1:21:31 ↗ there's miscellaneous costs outside of

1:21:32 ↗ prosecutor and public spend interpreting

1:21:35 ↗ Services Services the need for these way

1:21:37 ↗ up at is compared to what we've done

1:21:39 ↗ historically so year over year we're

1:21:41 ↗ seeing the need for a lot more

1:21:42 ↗ interpretive Services um security you

1:21:45 ↗ know these These are regular contracts

1:21:48 ↗ that we had but they're all um those

1:21:51 ↗ contract costs are increasing drug

1:21:53 ↗ testing SP

1:21:57 ↗ um so we also have a list so we talked

1:21:59 ↗ about our priorities that we'd like to

1:22:00 ↗ propose and we understand what those

1:22:02 ↗ impacts are that doesn't mean that we're

1:22:04 ↗ done there's a whole month left of this

1:22:06 ↗ budget drafting process and some of

1:22:08 ↗ these things of course are going to be

1:22:09 ↗ informed by the discussions we hear

1:22:10 ↗ today from city council um but here are

1:22:13 ↗ things that we're still looking at um to

1:22:15 ↗ try to understand their impacts on the

1:22:17 ↗ budget so we have jail contracts with

1:22:20 ↗ other municipalities as we increase the

1:22:22 ↗ staff for our jail we're increasing the

1:22:24 ↗ Services we want to make sure that the

1:22:26 ↗ cities that are um we're Contracting

1:22:28 ↗ with that is is not subsidizing them

1:22:31 ↗ that they are paying um for the services

1:22:33 ↗ that we provide on their behalf so we

1:22:35 ↗ need to look at jail contracts and

1:22:37 ↗ increasing the fees that we charge for

1:22:38 ↗ jail contracts that work is really going

1:22:41 ↗ to be done in the month of August we'll

1:22:42 ↗ understand the revenue what the positive

1:22:45 ↗ Revenue impacts would be to that court

1:22:47 ↗ court contracts as well we need to take

1:22:49 ↗ a look at those um we anticipate those

1:22:51 ↗ Revenue impacts to incur in

1:22:53 ↗ 2026 uh Parks and Recreation Revenue

1:22:55 ↗ City administrator bobit said earlier

1:22:57 ↗ that revenue is going up as those demand

1:22:59 ↗ for services continues to rise we want

1:23:01 ↗ to take a look at that

1:23:03 ↗ programming um we also are uh under way

1:23:08 ↗ with the utility rate study we

1:23:10 ↗ anticipate those um the findings of that

1:23:12 ↗ rate study to come back to Council in

1:23:15 ↗ early 2025 so that's something that's

1:23:17 ↗ coming but won be part of um the initial

1:23:20 ↗ proposed

1:23:22 ↗ budget uh also CP we need to replace our

1:23:25 ↗ permitting software it's at that point

1:23:27 ↗ where we need to replace it um it's

1:23:29 ↗ aging it isn't supported um we've had us

1:23:32 ↗ a tech fee to help replace software it's

1:23:35 ↗ not high enough so we need to take a

1:23:37 ↗ look at that as a revenue source to help

1:23:38 ↗ pay for some of the CPD software costs

1:23:41 ↗ because that is a very big expensive

1:23:44 ↗ system um medical Insurance Fund

1:23:46 ↗ allocation this is from when the city

1:23:48 ↗ was uh self-insured and so we have a

1:23:51 ↗ small balance it's a little over a

1:23:53 ↗ million bucks from from what I remember

1:23:55 ↗ um and we have to allocate that and

1:23:58 ↗ figure out how we want to spend that

1:23:59 ↗ million dollars it's it's a one-time

1:24:02 ↗ thing but we can use it for one-time uh

1:24:05 ↗ costs and and projects so that's

1:24:07 ↗ something that um we can use as part of

1:24:10 ↗ this budget process but we haven't quite

1:24:12 ↗ figured out what our recommendations

1:24:13 ↗ would be to spend that

1:24:15 ↗ M um expenditures as well that are

1:24:18 ↗ coming up that we haven't quite

1:24:20 ↗ understood what the impacts are because

1:24:21 ↗ it's a little too soon in the process

1:24:23 ↗ labor agreements be doing bargaining

1:24:25 ↗ agreements we're just trying to extend

1:24:27 ↗ them for one year but there may be

1:24:29 ↗ something that comes out of that

1:24:30 ↗ bargaining process um with our

1:24:32 ↗ bargaining units um that may have an

1:24:34 ↗ impact on expenditures Parks and

1:24:36 ↗ Recreation programs as well so there's

1:24:38 ↗ the revenue side of things and then

1:24:40 ↗ there's the expenditure side of things

1:24:41 ↗ so how do we expand that programming

1:24:44 ↗ what what do we provide but there may be

1:24:45 ↗ some other expenditures that come with

1:24:47 ↗ that programming um so that's something

1:24:49 ↗ that again we need to be taking a look

1:24:51 ↗ at through the next month wanted to

1:24:53 ↗ preview these things for City County

1:24:55 ↗ um Fleet the fleet fund we need to Che

1:24:57 ↗ up we haven't been contributing to the

1:24:59 ↗ fleet fund as we should um and so uh

1:25:03 ↗ again with ipd needing to provide more

1:25:07 ↗ Patrol Vehicles more take-home Vehicles

1:25:09 ↗ having other costs um this is something

1:25:11 ↗ that we expect is going to be an

1:25:13 ↗ additional expenditure that we more uh

1:25:15 ↗ fully investigate in August and then the

1:25:18 ↗ art fund we know that art is underfunded

1:25:20 ↗ we know that we used to have robust

1:25:22 ↗ movie uh ticket sales multiple theaters

1:25:25 ↗ in town that's no longer the case we

1:25:27 ↗ only have one Cinema that pays into this

1:25:29 ↗ fund and we need to figure out other

1:25:31 ↗ sources of funding if we were to keep

1:25:33 ↗ our Arts programming

1:25:36 ↗ up and Andrea um I thought we were going

1:25:39 ↗ to do that this year um that we were

1:25:41 ↗ going to have that study or or at least

1:25:44 ↗ assemble a group of people to talk about

1:25:46 ↗ it and um you know I'm thinking about

1:25:49 ↗ our Jacob two trees and how many

1:25:52 ↗ thousands of people came to isqua

1:25:54 ↗ because of that and how can we recapture

1:25:59 ↗ some of that tourist dollars that were

1:26:02 ↗ uh generated through what was basically

1:26:04 ↗ came out of our our commission so so at

1:26:08 ↗ any rate U very interested in how we

1:26:12 ↗ turn

1:26:13 ↗ that funding source into a more

1:26:15 ↗ productive Source I guess so we've done

1:26:18 ↗ the internal work we think we need

1:26:19 ↗ $300,000 a year well I I like that

1:26:22 ↗ number so we have we have no

1:26:26 ↗ recommended thank you

1:26:28 ↗ OE um before we go to council m Joe is

1:26:32 ↗ this like the last slide of the

1:26:35 ↗ administration priorities okay one more

1:26:38 ↗ then council member Joe just a quick yes

1:26:40 ↗ or no are there any restrictions on use

1:26:43 ↗ of the medical Insurance Fund allocation

1:26:46 ↗ if so I'd like a list

1:26:49 ↗ later thank you

1:26:54 ↗ question for the council president um

1:26:58 ↗ this is the most important thing that we

1:27:00 ↗ do of our entire year and of our entire

1:27:04 ↗ bium so um I'm I'm a little concerned

1:27:08 ↗ about the that if if we have too much

1:27:11 ↗ for five hours today let's schedule more

1:27:15 ↗ time um there's nothing that's more

1:27:17 ↗ important in this and and you know I'll

1:27:20 ↗ I'll I'll skip sailing on a Sunday

1:27:22 ↗ whatever any any day budget there's

1:27:24 ↗ nothing I mean there's nothing more

1:27:26 ↗ important so I just just want to point

1:27:28 ↗ that out like

1:27:29 ↗ I okay okay good uh feedback I think we

1:27:34 ↗ will likely try and stay with our agenda

1:27:37 ↗ for this because there's some things you

1:27:39 ↗ know obviously the administration needs

1:27:41 ↗ feedback as early as possible but if we

1:27:43 ↗ need to schedule something or have

1:27:45 ↗ deeper conversations I appreciate that

1:27:47 ↗ thank you and my REM marks used to tell

1:27:49 ↗ you you guys are so far ahead of every

1:27:51 ↗ other I mean the fact that you're having

1:27:53 ↗ this kind of conversation in this month

1:27:55 ↗ has shocked other cities that I talked

1:27:58 ↗ to so thank you to spend this

1:28:01 ↗ time

1:28:03 ↗ yeah um and so as as council's

1:28:07 ↗ considering budget priorities we're also

1:28:10 ↗ going to be having a discussion later on

1:28:12 ↗ um areas of reductions as well one of

1:28:15 ↗ the things we did want to highlight are

1:28:16 ↗ some Equity considerations so here are

1:28:18 ↗ some of the recommendations we received

1:28:20 ↗ from the equity board guidance for

1:28:21 ↗ Council for your discussions and

1:28:23 ↗ considerations today

1:28:24 ↗ um they really wanted to emphasize and

1:28:27 ↗ wanted to ask you to emphasize Equity

1:28:29 ↗ over equality and that sometimes we

1:28:31 ↗ spread the peanut butter out and we

1:28:32 ↗ think that that's good if it affects it

1:28:34 ↗ serves everybody equally then that's

1:28:36 ↗ good they said really we need to focus

1:28:37 ↗ on more equity and so that means let's

1:28:40 ↗ look at how um how to provide for those

1:28:43 ↗ who are underserved or underresourced

1:28:45 ↗ and prioritize those populations um they

1:28:48 ↗ also uh wanted to endorse the equity

1:28:50 ↗ assessment which we can talk about

1:28:51 ↗ further later uh in this in the budget

1:28:54 ↗ process and then also here are some

1:28:57 ↗ considerations so council member hun had

1:28:59 ↗ mentioned the um Equity framework that

1:29:02 ↗ we had done which was 13 or so questions

1:29:04 ↗ that could guide City decision making at

1:29:06 ↗ a policy level also at a at a staff and

1:29:08 ↗ programmatic level um here are some of

1:29:10 ↗ the questions that were pulled out

1:29:12 ↗ related to that Equity framework and so

1:29:16 ↗ um we can go over this quickly this is

1:29:17 ↗ also in your packet as well so I don't

1:29:19 ↗ and purposes of saving time I don't know

1:29:21 ↗ that I need to read through them but

1:29:23 ↗ basically looking at impact

1:29:25 ↗ understanding who might be impacted by

1:29:26 ↗ those decisions um have we sacrificed

1:29:29 ↗ the experience of marginalized people

1:29:30 ↗ for the comfort and say it was privilege

1:29:32 ↗ who will benefit or be

1:29:35 ↗ bur okay so now on to Direction needed

1:29:39 ↗ of say what are council's thoughts about

1:29:42 ↗ these priorities that we presented for

1:29:43 ↗ you today um are there other priorities

1:29:46 ↗ that Council may have that we haven't

1:29:48 ↗ listed um are there certain priorities

1:29:50 ↗ that rise to the top for you please

1:29:54 ↗ please give us your thoughts let me

1:29:56 ↗ start with one of the reasons I was

1:29:57 ↗ trying to push us through this other

1:29:59 ↗ step so that we have the space to have

1:30:02 ↗ this conversation because this is the

1:30:05 ↗ feedback that the administration needs

1:30:08 ↗ from all of us so who wants to

1:30:11 ↗ start I'll start because I'm kind of

1:30:14 ↗ hung up on priorities right now just as

1:30:16 ↗ a word you know that the word priorities

1:30:18 ↗ wasn't a plural until the early 20th

1:30:20 ↗ century it was a thing it was my

1:30:22 ↗ priority not my priority

1:30:24 ↗ so I think we have to set when we start

1:30:26 ↗ talking about priorities we have to be

1:30:29 ↗ disciplined enough to have a finite

1:30:31 ↗ number of them or everything becomes a

1:30:33 ↗ priority and nothing becomes a priority

1:30:35 ↗ and this is a waste of time so I'm just

1:30:38 ↗ you know kind of want to paint this

1:30:39 ↗ canvas here this says um it's not a wish

1:30:43 ↗ list it's a what are the the five things

1:30:46 ↗ we have to do to be a viable City and um

1:30:50 ↗ if we're going to use the word

1:30:50 ↗ priorities it's not everything so I

1:30:53 ↗ don't really know that I have things

1:30:55 ↗ that I would want to take away or ADD

1:30:57 ↗ but I just want to I want to lecture you

1:31:00 ↗ first on that similar to that one of my

1:31:06 ↗ issues in looking at priorities and

1:31:09 ↗ potential expenditure is how do we do

1:31:12 ↗ that when we're looking at this type of

1:31:14 ↗ a budget deficit how how do we jump so

1:31:19 ↗ quickly over oh my goodness we've got a

1:31:23 ↗ huge huge deficit even in 24 that we

1:31:26 ↗ have to

1:31:28 ↗ overcome and now we're going very

1:31:30 ↗ quickly in my opinion

1:31:32 ↗ toward and we have all of these things

1:31:34 ↗ that the administration thinks we need

1:31:38 ↗ uh I'm not on board for that at this

1:31:40 ↗ point I haven't been convinced that

1:31:42 ↗ these administ these priorities are

1:31:44 ↗ there um Mary you want to put your yeah

1:31:48 ↗ got one up um I'm not convinced that

1:31:52 ↗ these are the community priorities that

1:31:55 ↗ all of them are necessary in this coming

1:31:58 ↗ year or that we should even be looking

1:32:02 ↗ at

1:32:03 ↗ priorities without fully addressing the

1:32:07 ↗ revenue side and I don't I know that's

1:32:09 ↗ coming later but I don't think the

1:32:11 ↗ revenue uh recommendations are covering

1:32:15 ↗ our

1:32:15 ↗ holes so uh mayor ply thanks um I think

1:32:22 ↗ Wally made a really good point when um

1:32:26 ↗ whoever asked the question about how do

1:32:28 ↗ you add a position how do you add a

1:32:29 ↗ position and his answer was because we

1:32:32 ↗ may still be cutting a position so the

1:32:35 ↗ priorities are whatever the final budget

1:32:38 ↗ amount is that you have there will be

1:32:40 ↗ priorities embedded in it and it will

1:32:42 ↗ meet the number and so it's not that you

1:32:45 ↗ know we're set the administration's

1:32:47 ↗ priorities are an ad they are what we do

1:32:51 ↗ within the administration to adjust I

1:32:54 ↗ consider it an adjustment within the

1:32:56 ↗ organization itself we will fit in the

1:32:58 ↗ boundaries and I think Andrea's question

1:33:00 ↗ is this is where we think the

1:33:03 ↗ administration needs to make a shift

1:33:05 ↗ which we do every couple of years make a

1:33:07 ↗ shift in order to provide the service

1:33:09 ↗ the community wants and we will stay

1:33:11 ↗ within the

1:33:13 ↗ budget Deputy council president so maybe

1:33:16 ↗ priorities

1:33:17 ↗ is because um I I totally think that we

1:33:22 ↗ have got to address the uh needs of the

1:33:25 ↗ court and um um at service of safeties

1:33:29 ↗ in in Parks committee we had a

1:33:32 ↗ tremendous uh presentation from Judge

1:33:34 ↗ Stewart and our public defenders and our

1:33:37 ↗ and our attorneys um we are so far

1:33:40 ↗ behind there and you know it's the same

1:33:43 ↗ thing that I was talking about at at an

1:33:44 ↗ earlier council meeting deferred

1:33:46 ↗ maintenance this is something that we

1:33:48 ↗ should have been keeping on top of for a

1:33:51 ↗ long time we have it and we need to

1:33:54 ↗ catch up and so um I I understand where

1:33:57 ↗ you're coming from absolutely but there

1:34:00 ↗ are some things that unfortunately we

1:34:02 ↗ have not been on top of that we really

1:34:05 ↗ really need to address and it's a it's a

1:34:07 ↗ justice issue it's a uh you know an

1:34:11 ↗ equity issue in many ways that our court

1:34:15 ↗ uh that we have public defenders for

1:34:17 ↗ Indigent um individuals that we are able

1:34:20 ↗ to process people in a timely fashion

1:34:23 ↗ that we do all of that uh in uh in a way

1:34:27 ↗ that is uh and also that we're able to

1:34:29 ↗ hire public defenders uh we need the the

1:34:32 ↗ funds to support those salaries and

1:34:34 ↗ contracts so uh maybe priorities is the

1:34:37 ↗ wrong word maybe we say these are the

1:34:40 ↗ things we need to adjust to catch up

1:34:42 ↗ with that we haven't been uh catching up

1:34:44 ↗ with before um so council member Ray

1:34:49 ↗ you remarks um I I think qualitatively

1:34:54 ↗ we need to think about things that we're

1:34:57 ↗ doing to improve functions that we

1:35:00 ↗ already are delivering and things that

1:35:03 ↗ would be new functions and part of the

1:35:06 ↗ reason for that is um if we have to

1:35:09 ↗ think about any reductions in staff I

1:35:13 ↗ think um you have to have a higher bar

1:35:16 ↗ for new functions that you're not

1:35:18 ↗ already doing than you do for

1:35:20 ↗ maintaining the functions that are

1:35:21 ↗ already there so I don't know exact how

1:35:24 ↗ that teases out but it's it's in my

1:35:26 ↗ thinking lurking in the back of my brain

1:35:29 ↗ that if if you know if we reach a point

1:35:32 ↗ where we have to do reductions um which

1:35:34 ↗ the last major ones occurred just before

1:35:36 ↗ I got on Council 15 years ago um we had

1:35:41 ↗ we had a we had a small one since then

1:35:43 ↗ but but we had a big one in 2008 um you

1:35:46 ↗ know those are traumatic and we have to

1:35:47 ↗ make sure that anything that we think

1:35:49 ↗ about doing particularly new functions

1:35:51 ↗ we are sensitive to the fact that it

1:35:52 ↗ could be occurring time when we're when

1:35:54 ↗ we're shrinking the overall size of

1:35:56 ↗ municipal government Mars I thought you

1:35:58 ↗ were part of that we were not part it

1:36:00 ↗ just before me it had just gotten done

1:36:02 ↗ like six months before I got

1:36:04 ↗ there but we R do staff significantly

1:36:08 ↗ during the pandemic but you we did it

1:36:11 ↗ administrative so rather than adjust

1:36:14 ↗ your budget we reduced your expenditures

1:36:17 ↗ so we didn't bring a list to the city

1:36:20 ↗ council and asked you choose we just

1:36:23 ↗ said we're not going to be doing several

1:36:25 ↗ things and so we will repurpose

1:36:27 ↗ positions to do covid projects until

1:36:30 ↗ we're stabilized and then we so I really

1:36:34 ↗ thought we were going to have this

1:36:36 ↗ experience I've lived through this

1:36:37 ↗ before and have some thoughts on it

1:36:39 ↗ council member

1:36:41 ↗ sorry

1:36:45 ↗ okay um yeah thanks first of all I want

1:36:48 ↗ to

1:36:50 ↗ really great start this all say that to

1:36:53 ↗ keep our priorities this tight spum um

1:36:57 ↗ so I don't really want

1:36:59 ↗ to but I I don't know I feel a little

1:37:02 ↗ differently I agree I think that this

1:37:04 ↗ these all really really most basically

1:37:07 ↗ Public Safety Poli which seems like one

1:37:10 ↗ of our major main responsibilities as a

1:37:14 ↗ so I think it makes

1:37:15 ↗ sense top priorities list um and then of

1:37:20 ↗ course you got sustainability climate

1:37:22 ↗ and waste diversion in there

1:37:24 ↗ because we most Rec but I did go back

1:37:26 ↗ through the community survey looked at

1:37:29 ↗ the satisfaction readings to think about

1:37:31 ↗ kind of what are the areas that the

1:37:34 ↗ community most wants to see outside of

1:37:36 ↗ Public Safety um and wanted to at least

1:37:39 ↗ say that there are two that and I'll get

1:37:42 ↗ into a lot more I have lots of potential

1:37:44 ↗ budget reductions so um I'll get into

1:37:47 ↗ more of this later on but the community

1:37:49 ↗ survey results definitely suggest

1:37:51 ↗ continued it in some places long

1:37:53 ↗ emphasis on traffic cing and ease of

1:37:56 ↗ travel by public transportation car

1:37:58 ↗ andite traffic and congestion management

1:38:00 ↗ so that bucket to me is a priority and

1:38:04 ↗ then the other one really is the built

1:38:06 ↗ environment affordable housing and um

1:38:09 ↗ divers types of housing um ease of

1:38:11 ↗ getting a permit is kind of the other

1:38:14 ↗ bucket um outside of Public Safety that

1:38:16 ↗ rises to the talk of the Comm survey

1:38:18 ↗ that I want to bring up

1:38:22 ↗ um I think

1:38:25 ↗ Public Safety is

1:38:26 ↗ probably tier one though and then those

1:38:30 ↗ two would in my mind probably be like

1:38:31 ↗ tier

1:38:32 ↗ two I wouldn't I wouldn't necessarily

1:38:35 ↗ say everything else is tier three those

1:38:37 ↗ are just the ones that I

1:38:41 ↗ want right yeah I want to keep going on

1:38:45 ↗ my uh how do we how do you make good

1:38:47 ↗ decisions and um one of the things

1:38:49 ↗ that's uh those who have been around for

1:38:51 ↗ a long time and know stepen cvy and is

1:38:52 ↗ seven hav Highly Effective People one of

1:38:55 ↗ the things that he talks about is no

1:38:57 ↗ don't work on your to-do list work on

1:38:59 ↗ your stop todoing list and so one of the

1:39:02 ↗ things we should probably be having a

1:39:03 ↗ conversation about is what are we

1:39:05 ↗ willing to reduce or re remove from our

1:39:08 ↗ current uh program and government is the

1:39:11 ↗ worst at cutting any program because

1:39:13 ↗ there's always somebody who loves some

1:39:14 ↗ program and it's hard it's it takes real

1:39:16 ↗ political will to do that but I think

1:39:19 ↗ you know if we want to do the things we

1:39:20 ↗ want to do then we got to have some hard

1:39:22 ↗ conversations about the that somebody is

1:39:24 ↗ going to be really really unhappy with

1:39:25 ↗ us but we need to count we need to

1:39:27 ↗ reduce so save that political will for

1:39:30 ↗ this afternoon all right and bring it at

1:39:33 ↗ that point because we have a

1:39:34 ↗ conversation scheduled for that okay

1:39:37 ↗ yeah um council member hunt council

1:39:40 ↗ member Joe haven't heard from you guys

1:39:42 ↗ on this anything you wna throw

1:39:46 ↗ in

1:39:49 ↗ um so uh I think two things that I

1:39:52 ↗ haven't uh that maybe I can add the

1:39:55 ↗ conversation I don't think we've touched

1:39:56 ↗ on one is um I think when we were

1:40:00 ↗ talking about doing the climate isqua

1:40:02 ↗ climate action plan and then also with

1:40:04 ↗ the urban forestry program and green

1:40:06 ↗ isqua those were all things that we

1:40:08 ↗ recognized were important for the

1:40:10 ↗ community they came out in a strategic

1:40:11 ↗ plan taking care of our environment was

1:40:13 ↗ a big part of the original strategic

1:40:14 ↗ plan and is in the Revis updated

1:40:17 ↗ strategic plan as well but also that uh

1:40:21 ↗ we couldn't do it without a lot of

1:40:22 ↗ community support and it was something

1:40:23 ↗ the community wanted to participate in

1:40:25 ↗ so I do think as we as we think about

1:40:28 ↗ things that we want to continue doing I

1:40:30 ↗ would like to also think about how we

1:40:32 ↗ can make sure that we are able to uh

1:40:35 ↗ mobilize community involvements in a for

1:40:38 ↗ things like the urban forestry program

1:40:40 ↗ um so that we can keep those programs

1:40:42 ↗ going but not necessarily through an

1:40:45 ↗ additional cost to the city services or

1:40:47 ↗ City personnel um because I think we

1:40:49 ↗ have a lot of very motivated community

1:40:51 ↗ members that really do want to um

1:40:53 ↗ support and there are ways that we can

1:40:56 ↗ continue to use that um the other thing

1:40:59 ↗ is the court I do see the court um as

1:41:04 ↗ having this Nexus with equity and and

1:41:07 ↗ also um with our Human Services which

1:41:10 ↗ we've really increased um and I think

1:41:12 ↗ has been a huge benefit in terms of

1:41:13 ↗ behavioral health and mental health that

1:41:15 ↗ we've been able to provide and so that

1:41:17 ↗ you know in in the community court and

1:41:19 ↗ the therapeutic Court that's all been

1:41:21 ↗ really beneficial um I don't I think it

1:41:26 ↗ is important though if that's what we're

1:41:28 ↗ as we're thinking about what we're what

1:41:30 ↗ we're focusing and this is a large

1:41:32 ↗ percent of the increase um tying that

1:41:36 ↗ human services and how it's benefiting

1:41:37 ↗ in terms of equity into the court uh to

1:41:42 ↗ to make sure that the community knows

1:41:44 ↗ about about all of that being

1:41:46 ↗ interconnected because I from my

1:41:48 ↗ strategic plan conversations and

1:41:50 ↗ conversations with the community I think

1:41:53 ↗ that sometimes those are seen as sort of

1:41:55 ↗ separate entities and so if we can make

1:41:57 ↗ sure that those are all working together

1:41:58 ↗ but also that the community knows that

1:42:00 ↗ those are the benefits that that those

1:42:02 ↗ are benefits to them even if they aren't

1:42:04 ↗ directly using the court system that our

1:42:07 ↗ community is benefiting I think that's

1:42:09 ↗ that's important um because I do think

1:42:12 ↗ the Community Values you know equity and

1:42:14 ↗ and those Human Services but I think

1:42:16 ↗ there might be a little bit of a

1:42:17 ↗ disconnect if you're not actually

1:42:18 ↗ physically the person going to use the

1:42:21 ↗ cour

1:42:24 ↗ thank you um I haven't certainly

1:42:26 ↗ formulated any final opinions on this

1:42:29 ↗ but the way I look at the administration

1:42:31 ↗ priorities that are on that that slide

1:42:33 ↗ is is um I think about them as

1:42:36 ↗ Investments we're doing a great job

1:42:38 ↗ we've got a 97% response is a great

1:42:40 ↗ place to live in the survey um Public

1:42:42 ↗ Safety is 88% terms of favorable

1:42:45 ↗ favorable responses um the salary

1:42:48 ↗ adjustments how is that investment going

1:42:51 ↗ to pay off for um increase in the

1:42:53 ↗ quality of life for the people in our

1:42:55 ↗ city as council member hunt pointed out

1:42:58 ↗ how does uh Court operations or um you

1:43:01 ↗ know leasing cost for the court Chambers

1:43:03 ↗ increase the quality of life for

1:43:05 ↗ everybody people as they're living in

1:43:07 ↗ their homes are thinking about their

1:43:08 ↗ four walls in their property but we as a

1:43:10 ↗ council have to think about the

1:43:11 ↗ Investments for the entire community so

1:43:14 ↗ that's kind of how I'm putting these uh

1:43:16 ↗ priorities and and framing them as I'm

1:43:18 ↗ looking forward and that's just an

1:43:21 ↗ initial thought as we as we analyze

1:43:22 ↗ these

1:43:25 ↗ I'll add more feedback just after what

1:43:28 ↗ I've heard um I really appreciate what L

1:43:32 ↗ council member marks was saying about if

1:43:34 ↗ we're going to add in a time when we're

1:43:36 ↗ also going to do reductions that's

1:43:38 ↗ pretty high bar and so we really really

1:43:41 ↗ need to prove those pieces out toward

1:43:45 ↗ that idea um I'm not sure and this is

1:43:49 ↗ hard coming for me to say that we're

1:43:51 ↗ ready for a permit coordinator right now

1:43:54 ↗ considering the number of permits are

1:43:56 ↗ down um I really want to get permitting

1:44:01 ↗ addressed so if I'm saying that I you

1:44:04 ↗ know it's coming from a very tough place

1:44:09 ↗ um similarly you know I wasn't in the

1:44:12 ↗ services safety and park so I really

1:44:15 ↗ need to know more about the court

1:44:17 ↗ operating costs and how much they are

1:44:22 ↗ legally required versus how much we are

1:44:26 ↗ acting ahead of what we think is going

1:44:29 ↗ to happen um I've heard from other

1:44:32 ↗ communities that they are thinking that

1:44:34 ↗ might be those requirements might be

1:44:36 ↗ pulled back and so I need to know a

1:44:39 ↗ little bit more about is that a

1:44:42 ↗ certainty do we need to go in that

1:44:44 ↗ direction um

1:44:48 ↗ eeper is a really tough one and I will

1:44:51 ↗ absolutely be in there you know talking

1:44:53 ↗ to other council members from other

1:44:55 ↗ cities because I just don't think we can

1:44:57 ↗ sustain that level of service with that

1:45:02 ↗ kind of an increase at this point um and

1:45:06 ↗ then the equity assessment I not yet

1:45:09 ↗ sold that that is the right expenditure

1:45:12 ↗ if we're also looking at reducing

1:45:16 ↗ personnel and we have a deficit uh so I

1:45:20 ↗ think all of these require

1:45:24 ↗ much more thorough assessment before we

1:45:28 ↗ are really

1:45:32 ↗ there yeah to a little further on the

1:45:35 ↗ epher um point you know there was a time

1:45:39 ↗ before I think almost any of you were on

1:45:41 ↗ the council we spend a lot of time

1:45:43 ↗ talking about eeper funding we to talk a

1:45:45 ↗ lot about uh stations and the fractions

1:45:49 ↗ of uses that were in isqua versus uh

1:45:52 ↗ Savanah

1:45:53 ↗ and those sorts of things and and that

1:45:56 ↗ hasn't happened in a while so I'm really

1:45:58 ↗ eager to find out it wouldn't surprise

1:46:01 ↗ me if epher has just been sort of like

1:46:05 ↗ going along and just not updating their

1:46:07 ↗ costs in a while if if they if they've

1:46:09 ↗ really just been sort of napping and are

1:46:11 ↗ just coming back to it and there's a big

1:46:13 ↗ increase because they haven't been

1:46:15 ↗ keeping Pace with inflation that's so

1:46:18 ↗ different to me than if we've been

1:46:20 ↗ seeing increases in cost um and then now

1:46:23 ↗ all of a sudden they want to jump

1:46:24 ↗ forward because they have a wish list or

1:46:25 ↗ whatever and uh so I think it's really

1:46:27 ↗ important to understand that because we

1:46:30 ↗ used to I mean like I said we just spent

1:46:31 ↗ a lot of time talking about Eep funding

1:46:33 ↗ and I think it's our second largest

1:46:36 ↗ expenditure large I think it's bigger

1:46:38 ↗ than pars but less than police so and

1:46:40 ↗ it's just my sense that we haven't spent

1:46:42 ↗ a lot of time on it in a long time

1:46:43 ↗ because they either because they haven't

1:46:45 ↗ asked us for increases or whatever but

1:46:48 ↗ you know he hearing the mayor talk about

1:46:50 ↗ it does not surprise me that you you

1:46:53 ↗ know the funding mechanisms are have

1:46:55 ↗ have cobwebs on them because we just

1:46:57 ↗ haven't put the the the juice on it that

1:46:59 ↗ we used to so I'm I'm eager to get back

1:47:02 ↗ to doing that because it's such a huge

1:47:03 ↗ fraction of our

1:47:05 ↗ budget Deputy

1:47:08 ↗ Council um I would just first of all I

1:47:10 ↗ would just urge everybody who wasn't on

1:47:13 ↗ safety uh services and parks to watch

1:47:16 ↗ that video of the um presentation of the

1:47:19 ↗ court it's a long presentation but it's

1:47:22 ↗ really impactful a couple we've got it

1:47:26 ↗ linked in the email we sent yeah um the

1:47:30 ↗ our City attorney has served us for over

1:47:32 ↗ 20 years and she's the lowest paid City

1:47:34 ↗ attorney on the east side the prosecutor

1:47:37 ↗ or prosecutor excuse me and then uh and

1:47:40 ↗ uh our uh public defender the person in

1:47:43 ↗ charge of that said that even if they

1:47:46 ↗ don't reduce the obligations he's having

1:47:50 ↗ a really difficult time recruiting uh

1:47:53 ↗ public defenders there that's something

1:47:55 ↗ across the state of Washington they are

1:47:57 ↗ so underpaid uh it's not a easy job to

1:48:00 ↗ do and I think during the pandemic they

1:48:03 ↗ lost 50% of the public defenders and so

1:48:07 ↗ even if the standards stay the same

1:48:10 ↗ which are incredible I think it's 400

1:48:13 ↗ cases per public defender I mean I don't

1:48:16 ↗ know how you would do that under any

1:48:18 ↗ circumstances but even if they remain

1:48:20 ↗ the same we still got an issue so you

1:48:23 ↗ you need to listen to that whole

1:48:25 ↗ presentation yes it's long but you it's

1:48:28 ↗ they really made a really compelling

1:48:30 ↗ case that we have a lot of catchup to do

1:48:33 ↗ there

1:48:36 ↗ so mine is just a comment on what

1:48:38 ↗ council member Mark said and that is you

1:48:41 ↗ know isaa was one of the first

1:48:42 ↗ jurisdictions to push back Onie for

1:48:45 ↗ several years ago uh and have them put a

1:48:48 ↗ pause on things like equipment fund

1:48:50 ↗ contributions and others but and you

1:48:53 ↗ know them not being a city them being an

1:48:56 ↗ organization that gets checks written by

1:48:58 ↗ their members they um are not as

1:49:01 ↗ familiar with if we take a cut in a

1:49:04 ↗ certain year um we don't just jump back

1:49:07 ↗ the next year to where we were it's a

1:49:09 ↗ cut it hurt and it leaves a Mark and I

1:49:13 ↗ think I had a conversation with chlan

1:49:15 ↗ about that that the cities don't have

1:49:18 ↗ the capacity if there was a cut in a few

1:49:20 ↗ years to double up it's a cut C it's

1:49:23 ↗ gone the revenue wasn't there we didn't

1:49:25 ↗ get double the revenue when we did get

1:49:27 ↗ the revenue back and you kind of have to

1:49:29 ↗ have that conversation is that yes we

1:49:32 ↗ understand when you delay equipment

1:49:33 ↗ purchases you're stretching out the

1:49:35 ↗ purchase and that's it you don't get to

1:49:38 ↗ accelerate the purchase because all of a

1:49:41 ↗ sudden there's a little more Revenue we

1:49:42 ↗ never catch up like that and so that was

1:49:44 ↗ a conversation he and I had and I think

1:49:46 ↗ part of it is they get their membership

1:49:48 ↗ organization and um they don't walk

1:49:51 ↗ through what you guys are walking

1:49:52 ↗ through right now on your budget so I

1:49:53 ↗ think a lot of conversations between our

1:49:56 ↗ representatives and the chief and our

1:49:59 ↗ Council and other members cities is

1:50:01 ↗ important because um we've never been

1:50:03 ↗ able to double the work once you know

1:50:06 ↗ the next year it's like you just go back

1:50:08 ↗ with Pace you were at so anyway it's

1:50:10 ↗ going to be an interesting conversation

1:50:11 ↗ a tough conversation um but we support

1:50:15 ↗ that organization and we want to make

1:50:16 ↗ all of this work but we have Financial

1:50:18 ↗ realities that they do not

1:50:23 ↗ oh Council M Melle sorry thank you um

1:50:25 ↗ let me just Echo and support some of the

1:50:27 ↗ comments from my colleague Barbie

1:50:29 ↗ Michelle um as many of you know I've sat

1:50:32 ↗ as the municipal court judge I've uh

1:50:35 ↗ served as prosecutor for some other

1:50:37 ↗ jurisdictions and small cities I've been

1:50:39 ↗ a defense attorney for um clients

1:50:42 ↗ throughout the region um we are very

1:50:45 ↗ lucky to have the prosecutor that we

1:50:47 ↗ have um she's the best in the business

1:50:50 ↗ for uh this type of contract prosecutor

1:50:53 ↗ work they have a contingency plan to

1:50:57 ↗ continue that firm because uh her

1:51:00 ↗ daughter who's a very capable prosecutor

1:51:03 ↗ is now part of that firm so you have the

1:51:05 ↗ continuity that we need as well um

1:51:08 ↗ giving uh the consideration to the

1:51:11 ↗ increase of this prosecutor contract as

1:51:13 ↗ a long-term investment as I mentioned

1:51:15 ↗ before um that I think we need to make

1:51:17 ↗ if we really want to keep our our courts

1:51:19 ↗ in a a high level of service um I the

1:51:22 ↗ public defender personally uh We've uh

1:51:25 ↗ I've been on uh the other side of some

1:51:27 ↗ of the cases he's been working on and

1:51:30 ↗ he's got a quality firm as well and I

1:51:33 ↗ think if we I have seen um the merry go

1:51:38 ↗ round of public defenders in a court and

1:51:41 ↗ what we lose in terms of uh client

1:51:44 ↗ service and the efficiencies of the

1:51:46 ↗ court so I would just uh ask that you do

1:51:49 ↗ look at that uh video that uh my

1:51:52 ↗ colleague reference and if you have

1:51:54 ↗ questions about the coordinates

1:51:55 ↗ operations I think anyone on the

1:51:57 ↗ services committee or my myself from an

1:51:59 ↗ inside baseball point of view we'd be

1:52:00 ↗ happy to um give you any information

1:52:03 ↗ that you might need thank

1:52:05 ↗ you right than you administrator um I

1:52:08 ↗ have two kind of diverse topics one is

1:52:10 ↗ uh Eide fire and rescue in my five years

1:52:12 ↗ on the Eide fire and rescue board I

1:52:13 ↗ worked really diligently and hard to

1:52:16 ↗ have the funding formula looked at and

1:52:18 ↗ have the uh Revenue side of it looked at

1:52:21 ↗ and that was a hard sell it's really

1:52:24 ↗ hard when you have fire districts that

1:52:25 ↗ have a completely different funding

1:52:27 ↗ model than cities and the fire districts

1:52:29 ↗ have nearly the same way on the board

1:52:32 ↗ and so it's going to be a really great

1:52:35 ↗ conversation for you guys to have but we

1:52:38 ↗ we we we've got to get them

1:52:41 ↗ um uh aligned and their their um

1:52:44 ↗ approval rating in the survey is 91%

1:52:46 ↗ which is awesome can we afford 91% is

1:52:49 ↗ the question you know or is 90% okay is

1:52:53 ↗ 85% so I think we it's it's not a

1:52:55 ↗ they're great and we all love them but

1:52:58 ↗ can we afford them I mean because I

1:52:59 ↗ really want that Maserati I really

1:53:00 ↗ really do I just can't afford it so we

1:53:03 ↗ have to make that decision not arguing

1:53:05 ↗ with the conversation about the courts

1:53:07 ↗ and the importance of the courts $1.2

1:53:09 ↗ million up there for courts uh we have a

1:53:11 ↗ $7.2 million shortfall in 2025 so for

1:53:15 ↗ that 1.2 millionar that $1.2 million we

1:53:19 ↗ have to find Cuts someplace else so is

1:53:21 ↗ that going to be Parks is that going to

1:53:22 ↗ be our human services coordinator is

1:53:24 ↗ that going to be um well it's not going

1:53:26 ↗ to be police because that's up there too

1:53:27 ↗ so where are we going to take it so

1:53:28 ↗ that's the question it's the stop what

1:53:30 ↗ are we not gonna do and that is I

1:53:33 ↗ understand the conversation for this

1:53:34 ↗ afternoon so

1:53:35 ↗ I City

1:53:36 ↗ administrator um regarding the

1:53:39 ↗ prosecutor and the public defender we're

1:53:40 ↗ not asking the council to negotiate the

1:53:42 ↗ contract this morning with those two

1:53:44 ↗ entities so we are just trying to put

1:53:46 ↗ money aside at this early stage that we

1:53:49 ↗ think is appropriate all of this is

1:53:51 ↗ subject to negotiation with them uh

1:53:54 ↗ Washington state supreme court is still

1:53:57 ↗ uh considering its policies um every

1:54:00 ↗ indication is that there will be

1:54:02 ↗ reduction in the case though we don't

1:54:04 ↗ know if it be what's currently on the

1:54:05 ↗ table or something else so the purpose

1:54:07 ↗ of the numbers you're seeing today

1:54:09 ↗ really are just to kind of make sure

1:54:11 ↗ it's on the list put that aside um but

1:54:14 ↗ we're not asking to negotiate those

1:54:16 ↗ contracts today okay so looking at the

1:54:20 ↗ schedule the next section we have before

1:54:23 ↗ a lunch is potential potential new

1:54:26 ↗ funding options so are we ready to move

1:54:29 ↗ on to that and if you're not we can the

1:54:35 ↗ the pieces here are not ridiculously

1:54:37 ↗ elaborate so if you want more time

1:54:39 ↗ you'll still be fine for a little just

1:54:41 ↗ sensing that we were maybe at a moment

1:54:45 ↗ so come one more um a couple of things

1:54:50 ↗ we have

1:54:52 ↗ when we talk about so we absolutely have

1:54:56 ↗ a value in having police dispatch police

1:55:01 ↗ uh court and jail right do we have the

1:55:04 ↗ ability to uh hope hopefully that shows

1:55:08 ↗ up in our cost structure and compared

1:55:12 ↗ and that there's there's a challenge you

1:55:13 ↗ have to compare to like like right like

1:55:16 ↗ the the I'm pretty sure that the

1:55:18 ↗ resident satisfaction in samamish with

1:55:21 ↗ having a contract model isn't the same

1:55:23 ↗ as we get in isqua or having police

1:55:25 ↗ department so I wouldn't want to compare

1:55:26 ↗ us to samanage but comparing us to a

1:55:28 ↗ Belleview or Redmond or Kirkland can we

1:55:31 ↗ and again not this afternoon at some

1:55:33 ↗ point it would nice to be it would be

1:55:35 ↗ nice to be able to say those

1:55:36 ↗ efficiencies that we see allow us to be

1:55:38 ↗ competitive from a price point if if if

1:55:41 ↗ we are looking at challenging decisions

1:55:43 ↗ coming up I want to be able to tell the

1:55:45 ↗ community that not only does that allow

1:55:47 ↗ us better Public Safety but it also

1:55:50 ↗ keeps us at a at a good um economic

1:55:53 ↗ position and and the second part of my

1:55:55 ↗ question is really you know it gets

1:55:57 ↗ weird right because we do contract we do

1:55:59 ↗ take people in from you know communities

1:56:02 ↗ further east from here we have revenues

1:56:05 ↗ I think the revenues of the of the speed

1:56:08 ↗ cameras are are are focused right yes so

1:56:13 ↗ so I I the funding model for those four

1:56:15 ↗ pieces that I just mentioned gets

1:56:17 ↗ complicated it's not just general funds

1:56:19 ↗ I again right and we have and we have

1:56:21 ↗ pieces of that that we get benefit from

1:56:23 ↗ elsewhere and may increase as we look to

1:56:26 ↗ increase the number of traffic CES right

1:56:28 ↗ um so anyhow I'm just hoping that at

1:56:30 ↗ some point I want to be able to say when

1:56:32 ↗ the hard decisions come we know how

1:56:34 ↗ important Public Safety is for everybody

1:56:37 ↗ in the community but I also want to be

1:56:39 ↗ able to say and by the way it also puts

1:56:40 ↗ us in a good economic position compared

1:56:43 ↗ to cities that don't have the kind of

1:56:45 ↗ model that we

1:56:47 ↗ have thanks I'd just like to briefly

1:56:50 ↗ touch on the topic of the permanent

1:56:52 ↗ Center coordinator um we had Senate Bill

1:56:55 ↗ 5290 which came out and we received a

1:56:57 ↗ report from our um our director um it

1:57:02 ↗ puts certain obligations on our our

1:57:04 ↗ permitting department and if they're not

1:57:06 ↗ met there certainties and there's a you

1:57:09 ↗ know some type of of rejiggering that

1:57:12 ↗ has to go on in terms of the software

1:57:14 ↗ that's going to be needed and the

1:57:16 ↗ coordination and the knowledge to make

1:57:17 ↗ that software work um so when we're

1:57:20 ↗ talking about are we complying with

1:57:21 ↗ state law the permit Center coordinator

1:57:24 ↗ I think has an element to complying with

1:57:26 ↗ Senate Bill 5290 that I'd like to hear

1:57:29 ↗ more about from the administration um if

1:57:31 ↗ we are going to uh think about fully

1:57:33 ↗ justifying that piece so I'll just put

1:57:35 ↗ that down as a note for for future

1:57:36 ↗ discussion thank you and you can just

1:57:39 ↗ star that anything that has state

1:57:42 ↗ requirements we want to

1:57:48 ↗ know okay how are we feeling now about

1:57:52 ↗ talking about funding

1:57:54 ↗ options once twice three times

1:57:58 ↗ go great um so we have and looking at

1:58:04 ↗ ahead at this budget foring of those

1:58:06 ↗ priorities we just discussed we're also

1:58:08 ↗ looking at other revenues since ongoing

1:58:10 ↗ revenues is um continuing to be a

1:58:13 ↗ challenge for the city we've talked

1:58:14 ↗ about it over a number of years so um

1:58:17 ↗ one of the big sources of revenue for

1:58:19 ↗ the city we call them the big five is

1:58:21 ↗ utility tax

1:58:22 ↗ so we as we um prepared for today looked

1:58:26 ↗ at how we relate to our neighbors what

1:58:28 ↗ is our utility tax that we charge what

1:58:30 ↗ is what are some other potential sources

1:58:32 ↗ of revenue right so if we look at

1:58:34 ↗ utility tax we currently charge 3% for

1:58:37 ↗ water uh sewer and storm water and so

1:58:40 ↗ these are the city provided utilities um

1:58:45 ↗ and an if we were to increase from three

1:58:47 ↗ to

1:58:48 ↗ 6% um which is what we charge for other

1:58:51 ↗ non cities utilities so making it even

1:58:53 ↗ 6% across the board we'll see that in a

1:58:55 ↗ minute um that we estimate should get us

1:58:59 ↗ about 1.2 a little more than $1.2

1:59:01 ↗ million annually so that would be an

1:59:03 ↗ ongoing source of revenue for the city

1:59:05 ↗ as we think about how do we make ongoing

1:59:08 ↗ reductions what are other areas that we

1:59:10 ↗ can look at for increasing revenues on

1:59:12 ↗ an ongoing

1:59:13 ↗ basis um as we look at how our utility

1:59:16 ↗ tax Compares against our neighbors so is

1:59:19 ↗ it was there at the top of this chart we

1:59:21 ↗ see it highlighted in green um So

1:59:24 ↗ currently it's as I said 3% water SE

1:59:27 ↗ storm water but then when we look at the

1:59:29 ↗ non- City Utilities electricity natural

1:59:31 ↗ gas Solid Waste cable TV telephone those

1:59:33 ↗ are about 6% for the city and so what

1:59:36 ↗ the administration is interested in

1:59:37 ↗ hearing from Council is um uh whether

1:59:41 ↗ you would consider through this budget

1:59:43 ↗ process would you would like to consider

1:59:45 ↗ increasing that from 3% to 6% across the

1:59:48 ↗ board for All City

1:59:50 ↗ utility um we look at our neighbors and

1:59:53 ↗ you can see there's various rates Bel

1:59:56 ↗ has 10% for water but 5% for storm water

1:59:58 ↗ for example um and different rates for

2:00:01 ↗ other utilities Federal Way is

2:00:04 ↗ considerably higher across the board um

2:00:06 ↗ isqua kind of an outlier here with 3%

2:00:09 ↗ for City provided utilities uh among the

2:00:12 ↗ lowest of our peers outside of Redmond

2:00:15 ↗ which currently does charge and utility

2:00:16 ↗ tax and so at this point um just want to

2:00:19 ↗ remind Council that there's a difference

2:00:21 ↗ between our utility rates and what we

2:00:23 ↗ charge per unit of use versus utility

2:00:25 ↗ tax general fund Revenue source that can

2:00:27 ↗ be used for any um save purpose Andrea

2:00:31 ↗ before you go on um one piece of

2:00:33 ↗ information I think would be useful as

2:00:35 ↗ we talk about this later is what are the

2:00:37 ↗ maximums that we could charge on each of

2:00:40 ↗ the areas and what would that create in

2:00:44 ↗ Revenue because obviously we're going to

2:00:45 ↗ get less from telephone if we increase

2:00:48 ↗ that to the max versus um water or

2:00:52 ↗ something like that so understanding

2:00:55 ↗ what's possible at a rate level and

2:00:57 ↗ what's possible at a revenue level for

2:01:00 ↗ each of them rather than just looking at

2:01:03 ↗ the three to six% that you've talked

2:01:05 ↗ about yeah I think we can answer that

2:01:07 ↗ question isn't it 9% uh there I believe

2:01:11 ↗ it is 9% is the maximum except for water

2:01:14 ↗ sewer storm and solid waste there is a

2:01:17 ↗ maximum so so state law sets the cap at

2:01:21 ↗ 9% for electricity natural gas Solid

2:01:23 ↗ Waste Etc I'm sorry yeah solid waste and

2:01:26 ↗ then for the others we could charge or

2:01:29 ↗ if we wanted but um 9% we could charge

2:01:31 ↗ higher for with a vote of

2:01:34 ↗ people great and then the information on

2:01:37 ↗ the amounts I think would be useful as

2:01:39 ↗ we have future

2:01:44 ↗ mations yeah um and on utility tax do we

2:01:48 ↗ already have a waiver for low income

2:01:52 ↗ residents on

2:01:54 ↗ that I know that we have programs for

2:01:57 ↗ the utility bills themselves I don't

2:01:59 ↗ know about the utility tax so that would

2:02:01 ↗ be something we could look into thank

2:02:04 ↗ you Joe followed by thank you just said

2:02:07 ↗ a question about the utility taxes is

2:02:09 ↗ the 3% to 6% a straight line estimated

2:02:13 ↗ revenue or is there some accounting for

2:02:16 ↗ um avoidance or

2:02:18 ↗ conservation um I know it might not be a

2:02:20 ↗ big amount but the 5 ,000 change in

2:02:23 ↗ water for example but if we do go to 9%

2:02:25 ↗ we're talking about a million dollars

2:02:26 ↗ potentially in the revenue or you know

2:02:29 ↗ 750 um just is a straight line or is it

2:02:32 ↗ account for people reducing their

2:02:34 ↗ consumption straight line um I think

2:02:37 ↗ what we could expect is as we look at

2:02:38 ↗ our utility rate study which is going to

2:02:40 ↗ come out in the first quarter of next

2:02:41 ↗ year that rate a rate change may affect

2:02:45 ↗ demand a little bit more than a straight

2:02:48 ↗ across tax but it it's not something

2:02:49 ↗ we've accounted for in this test okay

2:02:51 ↗ thank you

2:02:54 ↗ yeah it

2:02:55 ↗ works so uh this is super helpful um I I

2:02:59 ↗ really appreciate this a lot P really

2:03:02 ↗ likes

2:03:03 ↗ 7.7

2:03:05 ↗ 7.75 or

2:03:07 ↗ 17.75 um so if I could wave the magic

2:03:10 ↗ wand and I don't know if it's even

2:03:13 ↗ possible but the way I would the what

2:03:16 ↗ I'd be really curious about is the total

2:03:20 ↗ Municipal uh utility

2:03:22 ↗ and tax load for the average homeowner

2:03:25 ↗ and for the average rent right and and

2:03:28 ↗ maybe you don't do maybe you can't do

2:03:30 ↗ that for 10 communities and and I don't

2:03:32 ↗ know if it's even possible but you know

2:03:34 ↗ my trouble with some of this is I don't

2:03:36 ↗ know the the you know the Baseline what

2:03:38 ↗ this corresponds to for an average you

2:03:40 ↗ know like I said for an average

2:03:41 ↗ homeowner for an average renter uh and I

2:03:45 ↗ think that would be helpful and at least

2:03:47 ↗ and compare at least one or two I was

2:03:49 ↗ like

2:03:50 ↗ because uh uh so anyhow I don't know

2:03:53 ↗ what our ability to do that but like I

2:03:55 ↗ said this is this is helpful but in my

2:03:58 ↗ way of thinking like what would the

2:03:59 ↗ actual bill be for somebody and what's

2:04:02 ↗ the aggregate Municipal

2:04:04 ↗ load

2:04:05 ↗ thanks yeah and even if you can only get

2:04:08 ↗ that I'd be very interested in that at

2:04:10 ↗ our current and at the potential lias

2:04:13 ↗ yeah absolutely plus plus one current

2:04:16 ↗ and proposed yeah yeah I very similar I

2:04:20 ↗ was just wondering if we could get get

2:04:22 ↗ the this is the utility tax but if we

2:04:24 ↗ could get the rates because if some of

2:04:26 ↗ these are very different rates per tax

2:04:29 ↗ very different rate that would also be

2:04:32 ↗ good to

2:04:33 ↗ know we're getting all of these

2:04:35 ↗ questions out early so that we can uh

2:04:37 ↗ have the information

2:04:40 ↗ thanks okay thank you for those uh

2:04:42 ↗ questions um we also looked at business

2:04:45 ↗ and occupation tax um because that's

2:04:47 ↗ another one of our big revenues big

2:04:49 ↗ sources of revenues for the general fund

2:04:51 ↗ as we looked at our business and

2:04:53 ↗ occupation tax um and compared it

2:04:55 ↗ against our peer cities um there's

2:04:58 ↗ there's no clear a trend line but it

2:05:00 ↗ does seem like we are somewhat within

2:05:03 ↗ the range of our other cities um many

2:05:06 ↗ other cities of course don't charge youo

2:05:08 ↗ taxes um and so as you can see here

2:05:12 ↗ maximum tax rate cannot exceed more than

2:05:14 ↗ 0.2% without voter approval so we're

2:05:16 ↗ already

2:05:19 ↗ at% this is of course on grocery gross

2:05:22 ↗ receipts for

2:05:23 ↗ businesses um one thing that might be

2:05:26 ↗ interesting for the city to explore at a

2:05:28 ↗ future date that we welcome council's

2:05:30 ↗ feedback on this is whether the city

2:05:32 ↗ should explore kind of a bellw model

2:05:34 ↗ bellie does two types of business taxes

2:05:37 ↗ one is on gross receipts like most

2:05:39 ↗ cities in Washington state uh the other

2:05:42 ↗ is that they charge a square footage tax

2:05:44 ↗ and the reason for this is that there

2:05:46 ↗ are um a number of businesses that don't

2:05:49 ↗ actually pay bnot tax for um for

2:05:53 ↗ operating so if we look at headquarter

2:05:55 ↗ operations Regional Offices let's say

2:05:58 ↗ maybe payroll functions or HR functions

2:06:01 ↗ none of those are taxable under these

2:06:03 ↗ categories in Washington state we have

2:06:05 ↗ categories of manufacturing extracting

2:06:07 ↗ retailing wholesaling printing Retail

2:06:10 ↗ Services other types of Professional

2:06:13 ↗ Services what we find is we have uh

2:06:17 ↗ several thousand employees uh who are

2:06:20 ↗ working at headquarters in this

2:06:22 ↗ they're using Isa roads on a daily basis

2:06:25 ↗ um other types of Isa services that we

2:06:27 ↗ provide for from the general fund um but

2:06:29 ↗ that business isn't necessarily paying

2:06:32 ↗ in from those headquarter or Regional

2:06:34 ↗ Offices type operations so we have

2:06:36 ↗ people who are benefiting from city

2:06:38 ↗ services but not helping to pay for

2:06:40 ↗ those city services and so that's one of

2:06:42 ↗ the reasons why bie charges a square

2:06:44 ↗ footage tax in addition to a gross

2:06:46 ↗ receipts tax and so um if that's

2:06:48 ↗ something the council would like us to

2:06:49 ↗ look further into future date we can

2:06:52 ↗ certainly do

2:06:55 ↗ that um but at this time we're not

2:06:57 ↗ recommending an increase in bno taxes

2:07:00 ↗ just wanted to know we looked at

2:07:03 ↗ it um also um another thing that we have

2:07:07 ↗ been looking at our school zone in red

2:07:08 ↗ light cameras of course the purpose of

2:07:10 ↗ this would be safety first and trying to

2:07:13 ↗ address pedestrian safety and um roadway

2:07:16 ↗ user safety this presentation has come

2:07:19 ↗ to the mobility and infrastructure

2:07:21 ↗ committee a few weeks ago and looking at

2:07:23 ↗ should the city consider additional

2:07:26 ↗ school zone or red light cameras um to

2:07:28 ↗ bring the rest of the counil up on that

2:07:30 ↗ presentation generally the committee

2:07:31 ↗ said yes take a look into it um so we

2:07:33 ↗ did some analysis on this um and what we

2:07:37 ↗ found is we looked at red light cameras

2:07:40 ↗ um as we looked at uh school zone

2:07:42 ↗ cameras in a couple of locations

2:07:43 ↗ including Talis drive and Discovery and

2:07:46 ↗ Newport we've really only found one one

2:07:49 ↗ type of camera and one location to be

2:07:51 ↗ finan ially feasible and that would be

2:07:54 ↗ um Newport Way and so as we look at

2:07:57 ↗ trying to um improve safety outcomes for

2:08:00 ↗ the community when it comes to reducing

2:08:02 ↗ um uh vehicle motor speeds and enforcing

2:08:05 ↗ our uh our um speed zones um the city

2:08:11 ↗ the administration would like to

2:08:12 ↗ recommend moving forward with that

2:08:14 ↗ schools on safety camera on Newport way

2:08:17 ↗ if we did this then taking out program

2:08:20 ↗ costs for the contractor um and the the

2:08:24 ↗ court staff um and ipd staff that would

2:08:27 ↗ be needed uh to service this camera and

2:08:30 ↗ service the program who would expect a

2:08:33 ↗ net revenue of about a half a million

2:08:35 ↗ dollars per year that could um go

2:08:39 ↗ towards our schools and safety camera

2:08:41 ↗ Revenue fund which is where current uh

2:08:43 ↗ revenues come from uh sorry where

2:08:46 ↗ current revenues go

2:08:48 ↗ towards uh and so um that's another

2:08:52 ↗ potential source of funding as we look

2:08:54 ↗ at for costs or other Transportation

2:08:57 ↗ type funding and this would again be an

2:09:00 ↗ ongoing source of Revenue right I gotta

2:09:03 ↗ tell you I hate this idea I mean I just

2:09:04 ↗ hate it I hate it I hate it I love the

2:09:06 ↗ idea of safety I just hate being that

2:09:08 ↗ town with a speed trap to generate

2:09:10 ↗ revenue and I hate the idea of even

2:09:12 ↗ packaging this in a revenue discussion I

2:09:14 ↗ think it's an appropriate and I just

2:09:17 ↗ can't I mean if this is a safety issue

2:09:19 ↗ let's do it if this is a revenue issue I

2:09:22 ↗ can't get behind

2:09:24 ↗ it uh the enabling legislation makes it

2:09:28 ↗ so that you can only apply it in a

2:09:30 ↗ safety situation um we

2:09:33 ↗ we we have always had members of the

2:09:36 ↗ community who did not like having a

2:09:39 ↗ speed camera by our high school and we

2:09:41 ↗ have been adaman te about uh its need as

2:09:45 ↗ a safety feature um I understand having

2:09:50 ↗ this in the middle of this conversation

2:09:52 ↗ will

2:09:54 ↗ cause some folks to think a weird

2:09:57 ↗ coupling but I'm confident this Council

2:10:00 ↗ will only put speed cameras in where it

2:10:02 ↗ is a potential safety benefit and both

2:10:05 ↗ because we won't put a speed trap in and

2:10:09 ↗ because the legislation doesn't allow us

2:10:13 ↗ to I also just add that the capital

2:10:16 ↗ finance committee task force talked

2:10:17 ↗ about this they recommended moving

2:10:20 ↗ forward about this as soon as possible

2:10:24 ↗ it's the council president yeah just

2:10:27 ↗ someone who travels New Way frequently

2:10:30 ↗ uh I can tell you it's a safety issue

2:10:33 ↗ it's uh and it's someone who's gotten

2:10:35 ↗ kicked over by high school I can tell

2:10:38 ↗ you it's a safety issue yeah so uh yeah

2:10:42 ↗ I as soon as I heard about this I said

2:10:44 ↗ wow we need that on Newport way it's

2:10:47 ↗ people there's lots of kids lots of

2:10:49 ↗ families Lots traffic in out and people

2:10:53 ↗ tend to go zooming through there so um I

2:10:57 ↗ I definitely think it's a safety yeah

2:10:58 ↗ and and and I'm not GNA get recognized I

2:11:01 ↗ I Concur and I've done it too um and I

2:11:04 ↗ think if it's a safety issue yeah more

2:11:06 ↗ power to us and council member Mart's

2:11:08 ↗ Point that's what the law says I just am

2:11:11 ↗ objecting to it being in a budget

2:11:12 ↗ discussion because it the Optics are bad

2:11:15 ↗ it the Optics say oh we're doing this to

2:11:17 ↗ raise revenue because it's in a budget

2:11:19 ↗ discussion about Revenue sources and I

2:11:21 ↗ think that the fact that the revenue or

2:11:23 ↗ the capital financing task force

2:11:25 ↗ recommended as a revenue source is

2:11:27 ↗ inappropriate solear they didn't okay

2:11:30 ↗ yeah no it was like in an addend like

2:11:32 ↗ this came up we didn't want it to be

2:11:34 ↗ part ofation okay but the city should

2:11:36 ↗ look into it yeah it's and it's a great

2:11:38 ↗ idea I mean I'm off for traffic cameras

2:11:40 ↗ like red light cameras to stop blocking

2:11:42 ↗ intersections like traffic cameras to

2:11:43 ↗ stop people from speeding through

2:11:45 ↗ traffic zones I just don't like it as a

2:11:47 ↗ part of a revenue discussion so it's

2:11:49 ↗ just kind of a little bit of a button

2:11:51 ↗ there

2:11:52 ↗ you can put me in that camp I'm not sold

2:11:56 ↗ on this at all

2:11:59 ↗ whatsoever uh same I won't repeat but

2:12:02 ↗ this exact same conversation several

2:12:05 ↗ years ago also in revenue and I also

2:12:07 ↗ feel that it's inappropriate to to frame

2:12:09 ↗ it this way um so

2:12:16 ↗ same can I actually ask a question to

2:12:19 ↗ challenge the safety exception so it's

2:12:21 ↗ definitely a road

2:12:23 ↗ people um it's also definitely road that

2:12:26 ↗ get very backed up during deep traffic

2:12:29 ↗ TOS pass through computers going through

2:12:30 ↗ it but it's also got the flashing Beacon

2:12:33 ↗ crosswalk and the stoplight and pretty

2:12:37 ↗ big rideway ditches that separate the

2:12:41 ↗ sidewalk and the road so is there some

2:12:43 ↗ sort of documented like pedestrian

2:12:45 ↗ safety issue on that road it's not clear

2:12:47 ↗ to me exactly what that I bet you the

2:12:50 ↗ chief has some thoughts on yeah that's

2:12:51 ↗ what that's why I mention we do get

2:12:54 ↗ reports people skaing on report um can't

2:12:59 ↗ give you I have to get more data which

2:13:01 ↗ that's why R um grab that information

2:13:05 ↗ for you and and get that need follow up

2:13:09 ↗ um I know engineering has talked about

2:13:12 ↗ their being

2:13:14 ↗ roundabouts related for going in that

2:13:16 ↗ area as well but I think the the section

2:13:19 ↗ there because people don't realize it's

2:13:21 ↗ all the the housing and the apartment

2:13:22 ↗ complexes and the traffic that also goes

2:13:25 ↗ from you know Target and shopping center

2:13:28 ↗ that's there there's a lot of people

2:13:30 ↗ that do frequent that area um as well as

2:13:34 ↗ the children that are playing there is a

2:13:36 ↗ fence but there's a fence on almost any

2:13:39 ↗ school zone where these cameras are as

2:13:41 ↗ well so I think it's more um it's also

2:13:44 ↗ the people walk for different factors

2:13:47 ↗ today when I was coming here I drove

2:13:49 ↗ down new Hort there's you know people

2:13:51 ↗ walking their dogs and people riding on

2:13:54 ↗ my tail because they don't I'm in car

2:13:58 ↗ so it's a regular thing and then it's

2:14:00 ↗ what when we say speed and safety it's

2:14:03 ↗ the stopping distance Factor that's the

2:14:04 ↗ biggest piece to this it's the stopping

2:14:07 ↗ distance Factor when the people are

2:14:09 ↗ going even that five mile an hour

2:14:11 ↗ changes drastically with the stopping

2:14:13 ↗ distance is and so even though there's

2:14:15 ↗ the beacon I mean there's beacon on

2:14:16 ↗ Front Street ignore it and don't see

2:14:19 ↗ people oh I didn't see the sign because

2:14:21 ↗ they were doing whatever so that being a

2:14:24 ↗ location and it's such a straight

2:14:26 ↗ stretch that's flat and it's um we do

2:14:31 ↗ get complaints about it regularly I have

2:14:32 ↗ option tickets I know on that area um

2:14:36 ↗ and they don't like it because they even

2:14:38 ↗ sit we even have complaints because the

2:14:39 ↗ officer sits in some of those um

2:14:42 ↗ jurisdictions say it's hard for us to

2:14:44 ↗ see if your park there because we're

2:14:46 ↗ trying to be a

2:14:47 ↗ deterent so I can I can speak that that

2:14:50 ↗ is has been an issue as far as those

2:14:53 ↗ factors go and the concerns that um the

2:14:58 ↗ it's the schol zone and it's only 20

2:14:59 ↗ miles an hour during certain times um

2:15:02 ↗ but at the same time if you're looking

2:15:05 ↗ at like the speed camera on second is

2:15:07 ↗ we've dropped it down because it was

2:15:09 ↗ originally like 27 and then they dropped

2:15:11 ↗ it down to 26 um and the point was

2:15:14 ↗ because people were still oh I know that

2:15:16 ↗ I can go so so fast and so that changes

2:15:19 ↗ that stopping distance which you know it

2:15:21 ↗ only takes one right it only takes the

2:15:24 ↗ one that's helpful and then I guess the

2:15:27 ↗ other half plus question

2:15:29 ↗ is has the school or the community that

2:15:33 ↗ lives around this road ever come forward

2:15:35 ↗ and said we' like camera or some sort of

2:15:38 ↗ traffic yes as a as a former uh Ive

2:15:43 ↗ parent and PTA board member 100% to the

2:15:46 ↗ city yes that we need more traffic

2:15:49 ↗ calming in that area to traffic down uh

2:15:52 ↗ to to uh keep the kids safe and also uh

2:15:55 ↗ to help parents uh access that

2:16:03 ↗ be just to put the uh conversation in

2:16:06 ↗ context I have it on good authority that

2:16:08 ↗ in 3 at 3 in the morning you can reach a

2:16:11 ↗ speed of 57 miles hour on that so we

2:16:14 ↗ think of as a small backward country

2:16:16 ↗ road but speeds can get very high there

2:16:20 ↗ uh if we're not watching what we're

2:16:23 ↗ doing yeah are you admitting to personal

2:16:25 ↗ experience or something I can either

2:16:26 ↗ confirm or deny that it

2:16:28 ↗ was yesn't the office pres so it's all

2:16:34 ↗ good C president can I just add to this

2:16:37 ↗ so um it was probably 10 years ago that

2:16:42 ↗ the conversation came up about is this

2:16:44 ↗ for safet years is for funding and I've

2:16:47 ↗ never had an issue hearing about it on

2:16:50 ↗ the revenue side

2:16:51 ↗ because what we learned was that the

2:16:54 ↗ camera goes in um to change Behavior to

2:16:57 ↗ get these speeds lower so that the

2:16:59 ↗ damage if damage occurs is the minimum

2:17:02 ↗ that it can be but what we learned was

2:17:04 ↗ if one of the one is about camera was

2:17:07 ↗ earning Revenue over expenditures and

2:17:10 ↗ that that was just going to the G fund

2:17:12 ↗ and that's typically what many cities do

2:17:15 ↗ is it's not doesn't have a Nexus back to

2:17:18 ↗ safety so council member good man put a

2:17:21 ↗ proposal forward that said if we're

2:17:24 ↗ getting the behavior we and there are

2:17:27 ↗ revenues in excess it can't go to the

2:17:29 ↗ general fund it has to go to the safety

2:17:31 ↗ fund and so I've always viewed this as

2:17:34 ↗ as long as the community and the police

2:17:36 ↗ chief are saying that there is

2:17:38 ↗ definitely going to be an improvement to

2:17:40 ↗ safety if in the event that there is

2:17:43 ↗ revenue over and you can fund Capital

2:17:45 ↗ Improvements engineer a solution um I

2:17:49 ↗ don't think I don't I've never never had

2:17:51 ↗ a problem seeing it as cited as a

2:17:54 ↗ revenue Source especially when the Nexus

2:17:56 ↗ is Public Safety student safety so for I

2:18:00 ↗ know it it it I agree with council

2:18:02 ↗ member Ray it can look like we're trying

2:18:04 ↗ to make money but we're not doing what

2:18:07 ↗ most cities do we don't put that money

2:18:08 ↗ in the general fund we actually do the

2:18:10 ↗ Nexus right back because the goal is if

2:18:13 ↗ you can get them to slow down because of

2:18:15 ↗ the fine if you can get them to slow

2:18:16 ↗ down because you did the blinking

2:18:18 ↗ crosswalk that you paid for with the

2:18:19 ↗ money in that says if whatever you can

2:18:22 ↗ do to get the lower speed if it's

2:18:24 ↗ getting the lower speed then we're

2:18:25 ↗ moving in the right

2:18:28 ↗ direction thank you may PA that's why we

2:18:30 ↗ have see on the minimum range you see a

2:18:33 ↗ declining source of Revenue because we

2:18:35 ↗ do hope that it changes changes behavior

2:18:39 ↗ of course it it also depends on traffic

2:18:41 ↗ patterns and population growth but yeah

2:18:43 ↗ the dream would be that if you've done

2:18:45 ↗ everything correct and the community is

2:18:47 ↗ responding and it is engineered to be as

2:18:51 ↗ safe to get those feeds we've we we're

2:18:53 ↗ done we probably don't need that K

2:18:57 ↗ reading so so that was the presentation

2:19:00 ↗ on potential revenues that the

2:19:02 ↗ administration would love to have

2:19:03 ↗ Council feedback on of course we've

2:19:05 ↗ already had some feedback on those items

2:19:07 ↗ so that's great uh but I think we only

2:19:11 ↗ have a few more minutes uh until I think

2:19:13 ↗ lunch was

2:19:16 ↗ scheduled yes sorry you have a little

2:19:18 ↗ bit more time uh prob will be here

2:19:21 ↗ hopefully around

2:19:22 ↗ 11:40 sound good um this is a question a

2:19:26 ↗ process question um are you interested

2:19:28 ↗ and other thoughts around Revenue at

2:19:30 ↗ this point or is that for uh this

2:19:32 ↗ afternoon we are interested yes all

2:19:35 ↗ right well I've been thinking about this

2:19:37 ↗ as we've had this discussion about

2:19:38 ↗ Contract Services all morning and that

2:19:42 ↗ um and I know that one of the things

2:19:43 ↗ we're looking at right now is

2:19:45 ↗ re-evaluating our cost to our partner

2:19:48 ↗ our customer cities for courts

2:19:51 ↗ um for jail um for dispatch um I want

2:19:55 ↗ you to cons think about considering not

2:19:58 ↗ just the operating cost but the capital

2:20:00 ↗ cost as we look at new buildings um we

2:20:03 ↗ own those buildings we pay for those

2:20:05 ↗ buildings those costs need to be

2:20:06 ↗ reflected in the cost of our services so

2:20:09 ↗ so dispatch and jail and all of those

2:20:12 ↗ things that not only we're cing

2:20:13 ↗ operating cost but we're should also be

2:20:16 ↗ um yeah and and our operating cost in

2:20:19 ↗ those contracts but also the the capital

2:20:22 ↗ cost of the existing infrastructure so

2:20:26 ↗ um something just to

2:20:28 ↗ consider thank you just uh council

2:20:30 ↗ member H reference the uh Capital fund

2:20:34 ↗ uh ad hoc made that he was on have we

2:20:36 ↗ explored all of the revenue sources that

2:20:39 ↗ were discussed in that um you know fine

2:20:43 ↗ work and if they if we have could you

2:20:45 ↗ bring any of those up to the floor we've

2:20:48 ↗ gone through them all unless you want to

2:20:49 ↗ remind us kind of would talked

2:20:52 ↗ about yeah

2:20:54 ↗ distri yeah so they they recommended uh

2:20:58 ↗ TBD sales tax which um the city voted in

2:21:02 ↗ a council medic version of that um they

2:21:06 ↗ also recommended a metropolitan Parks

2:21:08 ↗ district for a Parks District levy um

2:21:11 ↗ that's something in the future uh date

2:21:13 ↗ for us to explore they also recommended

2:21:15 ↗ a ly Li lift considering that um and um

2:21:19 ↗ how to fund the facilities through some

2:21:22 ↗ sort of uh vot uh vot of people so I

2:21:27 ↗ think that's a high Lev summary those

2:21:29 ↗ things and of course we've been talking

2:21:30 ↗ about the possibility of a bond in order

2:21:33 ↗ to fund facilities great thank you I

2:21:35 ↗ just wanted to make sure we had all the

2:21:36 ↗ cards on the table so to

2:21:38 ↗ speak I'm gonna go just because it

2:21:41 ↗ relates back to what council member Ray

2:21:43 ↗ said I want to look at other revenues

2:21:45 ↗ and so looking at what are costs that

2:21:49 ↗ can be passed on to our contracts is

2:21:51 ↗ really important making sure that

2:21:54 ↗ inflationary increases are included in

2:21:58 ↗ areas where we charge fees such as

2:22:00 ↗ Recreation programs and permits and

2:22:03 ↗ things like that that was something that

2:22:04 ↗ we did in our last um Council budget and

2:22:07 ↗ so I really want to make sure those are

2:22:09 ↗ in there um Recreation programs that's

2:22:12 ↗ an area where if we can make a little

2:22:14 ↗ bit of money off of it and provide huge

2:22:18 ↗ benefit to the community

2:22:21 ↗ that should be number like one if we're

2:22:23 ↗ looking at something that raises revenue

2:22:26 ↗ and provides additional quality of life

2:22:29 ↗ and provides

2:22:30 ↗ jobs yes yes yes so um I want to make

2:22:34 ↗ sure that we also look at that I also

2:22:37 ↗ recognize that we are sitting in a

2:22:39 ↗ building that does not have as many uses

2:22:43 ↗ and I would like to make sure we have

2:22:46 ↗ the money whether it's an expenditure or

2:22:49 ↗ just the time to absolutely look at

2:22:51 ↗ property

2:22:53 ↗ cing so I will just add all of that I

2:22:57 ↗ heard a lot of amens Thumbs Up just want

2:22:59 ↗ to recognize that for the record

2:23:02 ↗ um so those are some facts I have others

2:23:06 ↗ on regular Revenue but I'll leave it at

2:23:08 ↗ that um mayor py Deputy so one of the

2:23:11 ↗ things we're we benefited from was that

2:23:15 ↗ not all levels of government uh were

2:23:18 ↗ seeing the kinds of challenges that we

2:23:20 ↗ do we are very very constrained so the

2:23:23 ↗ federal government gave us a lot of

2:23:24 ↗ funding during Co that sort of delayed

2:23:26 ↗ your conversation by two to three years

2:23:29 ↗ um thank goodness that was wonderful our

2:23:31 ↗ state government also has a lot of

2:23:33 ↗ surplus and there is hopefully the

2:23:37 ↗ potential for us to be more successful

2:23:39 ↗ in working with our state legislator and

2:23:41 ↗ our governor to find ways to get more of

2:23:44 ↗ the fees and taxes that are being

2:23:46 ↗ collected back to the local level there

2:23:48 ↗ was a proposal on the wealth tax that if

2:23:51 ↗ the wealth tax was Co collected it could

2:23:53 ↗ be redistributed back to cities in a way

2:23:56 ↗ that would help us cover some of our

2:23:58 ↗ cost to be able to not increase property

2:24:01 ↗ taxes there was also a discussion about

2:24:04 ↗ marijuana taxes which we were proposed

2:24:06 ↗ to get three times the amount of money

2:24:08 ↗ back it could come back to cities to

2:24:11 ↗ work for your Human Services expenses

2:24:13 ↗ your court system your justice system

2:24:17 ↗ and those promises were not kept and so

2:24:20 ↗ um while we are struggling um there are

2:24:24 ↗ the opportunities of us possibly being

2:24:26 ↗ able to use our advocacy to get the

2:24:29 ↗ state to share more revenues with local

2:24:32 ↗ jurisdictions to help in these Human

2:24:34 ↗ Services Public

2:24:35 ↗ Safety um

2:24:40 ↗ Arena so plus one on the idea of I

2:24:43 ↗ talked about this before when we when I

2:24:45 ↗ was talking about deferred maintenance

2:24:48 ↗ uh we need a plan for all of the city fa

2:24:50 ↗ ities we have and uh which ones do we

2:24:53 ↗ want to Surplus now that's a one-time

2:24:55 ↗ income uh but but we are in a position

2:25:00 ↗ where we to look at those kinds of

2:25:01 ↗ Revenue sources so plus one on that um

2:25:04 ↗ the other thing is I I heard that we are

2:25:06 ↗ not looking at a B of tax increase but

2:25:10 ↗ I'll go back to my earlier remarks Arts

2:25:13 ↗ bring a lot of people to the area um

2:25:16 ↗ could we increase the B by one ten of 1%

2:25:21 ↗ or two10 of 1% and dedicate that to the

2:25:24 ↗ Arts fund um I have no idea what kind of

2:25:27 ↗ Revenue that would bring in but I'd

2:25:29 ↗ really like it to look and consider that

2:25:32 ↗ as part of our touret

2:25:34 ↗ Zone um funding and but that funding

2:25:38 ↗ would go to the Arts fund because the

2:25:40 ↗ Arts fund brings in a lot of tourists to

2:25:43 ↗ our area so those are two areas that I

2:25:45 ↗ would like us to explore

2:25:50 ↗ [Music]

2:25:51 ↗ uh thanks so one thing I I wanted to

2:25:54 ↗ recognize that the recreation programs

2:25:56 ↗ you know there is a noticeable increase

2:25:57 ↗ in the capacity of those programs um I

2:26:01 ↗ will say it it still is the case that

2:26:03 ↗ you have to put an alarm clock on and

2:26:06 ↗ your computer and get in but there are

2:26:08 ↗ additional programs if you don't get

2:26:09 ↗ into into the program and so I think

2:26:12 ↗ there is though so firstly I just wanted

2:26:14 ↗ to recognize that you know staff are

2:26:15 ↗ amazing that's why it's they're so

2:26:17 ↗ popular but there is still demand I very

2:26:20 ↗ much believe that I still hear from

2:26:23 ↗ other parents other moms that are you

2:26:25 ↗ know at their computer and not able to

2:26:26 ↗ get into that first program so I I think

2:26:29 ↗ there's a huge potential there it's a

2:26:31 ↗ winwin it's a demand that the community

2:26:34 ↗ that or Community need that we would

2:26:36 ↗ also be able to benefit from and then uh

2:26:39 ↗ on the surplus of of properties we

2:26:42 ↗ several years ago developed the

2:26:43 ↗ framework for when there was a an a a

2:26:47 ↗ request um you know for RightWay or

2:26:49 ↗ thing so that we would go through a

2:26:50 ↗ process of looking at a community

2:26:52 ↗ benefits and making that decision but I

2:26:53 ↗ do think it would be great to kind of

2:26:54 ↗ extend that into it more proactive you

2:26:57 ↗ know these are the the facilities that

2:26:59 ↗ we have and what should we prioritize

2:27:02 ↗ Surplus um and why based on community

2:27:05 ↗ benefit versus benefit of of of not of

2:27:08 ↗ no longer having that property um and

2:27:12 ↗ then lastly on the bno tax um I think

2:27:16 ↗ that the per square footage is

2:27:18 ↗ interesting but I also think that a lot

2:27:21 ↗ of uh you know a lot of the companies

2:27:24 ↗ that have headquarters those sorts of

2:27:27 ↗ positions are uh requiring less office

2:27:30 ↗ space because a lot of that can be done

2:27:32 ↗ remotely especially after Co and more

2:27:35 ↗ remote work so I wondered if those

2:27:38 ↗ places that have that you know

2:27:40 ↗ headquarters and and then based on the

2:27:43 ↗ office if there's any conversation about

2:27:45 ↗ a way to make sure you know as was

2:27:48 ↗ pointed out those folks are

2:27:50 ↗ using um using public services using

2:27:53 ↗ public safety there's there's all kinds

2:27:55 ↗ of impacts and so it seems reasonable to

2:27:59 ↗ to look into how to make sure that that

2:28:02 ↗ they are that those costs are being paid

2:28:05 ↗ into but I'm not sure about the square

2:28:07 ↗ footage because I think a lot of these

2:28:08 ↗ jobs are are going more remote and not

2:28:11 ↗ meeting that square footage so is that

2:28:12 ↗ really the accurate me metric so I

2:28:14 ↗ wondered if other if there's other

2:28:17 ↗ approaches looking into

2:28:19 ↗ that I'll continue on the B route I'm

2:28:22 ↗ interested in that I think it's

2:28:25 ↗ definitely reasonable um but as a

2:28:28 ↗ business owner I would

2:28:33 ↗ be I really think we need to get online

2:28:36 ↗ bot tax payments

2:28:39 ↗ available we look to charge anything

2:28:42 ↗ else to

2:28:44 ↗ businesses um I have to keep a checkbook

2:28:48 ↗ for my business only because of the city

2:28:50 ↗ of

2:28:51 ↗ me uh and so I would like to make sure

2:28:56 ↗ that the businesses are getting the

2:28:59 ↗ benefit um and see that

2:29:02 ↗ benefit if we're going to talk about

2:29:04 ↗ that

2:29:05 ↗ area Rick yeah I'm gonna keep ripping on

2:29:08 ↗ bot tax because um I may be on the other

2:29:10 ↗ side of this equation but I think uh

2:29:13 ↗ economic development is one of the

2:29:14 ↗ things that we really need to push in

2:29:15 ↗ this city and and it is a huge source of

2:29:18 ↗ revenue from property tax and sales tax

2:29:20 ↗ and other taxes and um I don't know that

2:29:24 ↗ if we were to do a minimal square foot

2:29:27 ↗ or a minimal B tax increase that would

2:29:29 ↗ drive anybody out but it is the sort of

2:29:31 ↗ thing that prevent people from coming in

2:29:33 ↗ and so you know we would be across

2:29:35 ↗ purposes to some of our Economic

2:29:37 ↗ Development activities if we say hey we

2:29:39 ↗ we're going to have this new uh square

2:29:41 ↗ foot tax um I know if I was a business

2:29:44 ↗ owner and when I was a business owner

2:29:45 ↗ that is something that I would look at

2:29:46 ↗ and go you know I'm not really

2:29:48 ↗ interested in doing that so um

2:29:50 ↗ so that's just what we just when you

2:29:52 ↗ know I guess when the administration is

2:29:53 ↗ kind of doing some balancing acts here

2:29:55 ↗ looking at okay if we can drive economic

2:29:58 ↗ growth can we generate more through

2:30:00 ↗ making the pie bigger than taking a

2:30:01 ↗ bigger slice on the

2:30:03 ↗ pie so request for more data and

2:30:08 ↗ information so that maybe we have a

2:30:11 ↗ little best conversation it sounds like

2:30:13 ↗ the administration isn't ready to put

2:30:16 ↗ that into the budget this year so is

2:30:19 ↗ this feedback on bno tax more about what

2:30:23 ↗ information we would need in a future

2:30:25 ↗ year

2:30:26 ↗ conversation uh yes yes exactly or if

2:30:30 ↗ Council felt really strongly about it we

2:30:32 ↗ could you know uh change uh we could

2:30:36 ↗ also try to get it for 25 26 but it is

2:30:38 ↗ it's a New Concept for us and we thought

2:30:40 ↗ that community outreach Etc would be

2:30:42 ↗ needed and it's there's not a lot of

2:30:45 ↗ time that's why we're not recommending

2:30:46 ↗ that this cycle but just wanted to take

2:30:48 ↗ this opportunity to gather some of your

2:30:49 ↗ thoughts and feedback if this is

2:30:51 ↗ something worth

2:30:52 ↗ exploring and I think we're going to

2:30:54 ↗ take the second Direction off that um

2:30:58 ↗ we'll we'll pursue a speed camera

2:31:00 ↗ separate from the bud discussion if it

2:31:02 ↗ ends up happening great if it doesn't it

2:31:04 ↗ doesn't um you know we started with five

2:31:07 ↗ other locations through this sort of

2:31:09 ↗ internal review We rejected those five

2:31:12 ↗ locations because they didn't meet the

2:31:13 ↗ safety requirement and so it'll be

2:31:17 ↗ cleaner I we will continue to pursue it

2:31:19 ↗ but we'll take it out great idea it ends

2:31:22 ↗ up happening and we we'll do it co

2:31:26 ↗ terminous we'll do it in the fall so

2:31:28 ↗ that it'll be either up or down

2:31:32 ↗ um it'll be either up or

2:31:37 ↗ down okay um before I go over I got

2:31:43 ↗ stracted I was

2:31:45 ↗ thinking oh on the bno tax if we could

2:31:49 ↗ get of order of magnitude what that

2:31:52 ↗ potential Revenue would be for a square

2:31:55 ↗ footage just so that we have a sense of

2:31:58 ↗ whether it's something we would be

2:32:00 ↗ interested in pursuing that would be

2:32:02 ↗ great I don't want to send the

2:32:03 ↗ administration down a rabbit hole but I

2:32:06 ↗ think having whether 100,000 or two

2:32:10 ↗ million would be

2:32:13 ↗ important and we can apply that

2:32:16 ↗ model yes exactly so I know we got a lot

2:32:20 ↗ going on um I want to get to council

2:32:25 ↗ member Hall um I also want to make sure

2:32:28 ↗ we come back and touch base on utility

2:32:31 ↗ tax before we break into lunch because

2:32:33 ↗ we haven't heard a lot of feedback on

2:32:36 ↗ that

2:32:38 ↗ area uh no go ahead how should we think

2:32:41 ↗ about whether or not to touch

2:32:46 ↗ any so uh city council has adopted a

2:32:49 ↗ policy to try to keep it at

2:32:51 ↗ 15% um that's a generally uh accepted

2:32:55 ↗ best practice in across other cities so

2:32:59 ↗ some say 15 some say 20 others go as

2:33:02 ↗ high as 25 wouldn't recommend that so I

2:33:04 ↗ think that you know as the

2:33:06 ↗ administration we wouldn't recommend

2:33:08 ↗ dipping below that

2:33:09 ↗ 15% at least not on July 26 at least

2:33:13 ↗ not

2:33:16 ↗ so these are these are reserves right

2:33:19 ↗ pandemic has has shown us things happen

2:33:22 ↗ that we can't always forese costs

2:33:24 ↗ increased capital projects um over the

2:33:27 ↗ years sometimes our guest CPR incor so

2:33:31 ↗ having having Reserve support any

2:33:35 ↗ other to is just I know we're going to

2:33:38 ↗ have to do both increasing revenues and

2:33:41 ↗ reducing expenditures but I am very

2:33:44 ↗ veryy inreasing taxes feel like we've

2:33:47 ↗ done it quite a bit we've raised sales

2:33:49 ↗ tax by 2% over the last several years

2:33:52 ↗ for the transportation stuff for housing

2:33:54 ↗ and housing a health stuff raise

2:33:57 ↗ property taxes annually have this

2:33:59 ↗ potential ballot measure coming property

2:34:02 ↗ taxes continue to go up in K County and

2:34:04 ↗ there are M more com the school

2:34:07 ↗ districts so I just feel very wary of

2:34:09 ↗ tax fatigue in general and we have to

2:34:11 ↗ kind of pck our battles support

2:34:13 ↗ priorities moving forward and we've had

2:34:16 ↗ this year and a half twoe conversation

2:34:18 ↗ about the C least um so something we

2:34:22 ↗ should be mindful of I'm very eager to

2:34:24 ↗ have this conversation about where the

2:34:26 ↗ potential Productions we can make right

2:34:31 ↗ sizeing so I do want to make sure we're

2:34:33 ↗ touching on utility tax before we get

2:34:37 ↗ off to lunch so that the Administration

2:34:39 ↗ has their

2:34:40 ↗ feedback uh council member Mars council

2:34:42 ↗ member

2:34:43 ↗ Joe yeah I just uh want to I I it was

2:34:48 ↗ really a comment on the ment about the

2:34:50 ↗ ending fund balance um it just always

2:34:53 ↗ seems like we end really high and so I

2:34:56 ↗ just I want foot stop this idea of if we

2:34:58 ↗ want I think 15% is the right number to

2:35:00 ↗ shoot for I wouldn't want to shoot for

2:35:02 ↗ below 15% but we never ever every

2:35:06 ↗ year every you know three different city

2:35:11 ↗ administrators and Untold number of

2:35:13 ↗ Deputy City administrators have assured

2:35:15 ↗ me that now we will get closer to our

2:35:17 ↗ Target number and we never do we always

2:35:19 ↗ come any anywhere from 7 to 25% over

2:35:22 ↗ that number and so I I really want to

2:35:25 ↗ know later how we get closer to that 15%

2:35:29 ↗ I'll be really really bummed if after

2:35:30 ↗ all these conversations were at

2:35:32 ↗ 25% Andrew too it might be helpful to

2:35:35 ↗ have some other city data because we can

2:35:38 ↗ never go under we can only go over I

2:35:42 ↗ mean there's only one way to do it um

2:35:44 ↗ I'd be curious if other cities where

2:35:47 ↗ they stand in our area

2:35:50 ↗ their ending balance versus their

2:35:53 ↗ budgeted because it may just be the

2:35:56 ↗ nature of the Beast you make a

2:35:58 ↗ conservative budget you make some

2:35:59 ↗ conservative assumptions you're going to

2:36:01 ↗ end up higher but if your assumptions

2:36:03 ↗ all prove out you'll end up you can only

2:36:06 ↗ end up at 50 because you Le we can't go

2:36:08 ↗ can't spend sure but if we always if we

2:36:11 ↗ always claim 10 percentage points High

2:36:13 ↗ you should aim for 5% because we're

2:36:14 ↗ going to get 15% right so whatever

2:36:18 ↗ however however it works but I just I I

2:36:20 ↗ agree with the administration that 15%

2:36:22 ↗ is a it's a healthy number I wouldn't

2:36:23 ↗ want to go below it but I just go above

2:36:26 ↗ it that idea Andre I think one of the

2:36:29 ↗ the earliest slides that showed the 2024

2:36:33 ↗ midby for December

2:36:35 ↗ 2023 showed us at

2:36:38 ↗ 11% so if we could get a little bit more

2:36:42 ↗ of that concept of where we are now and

2:36:47 ↗ where we are as of July so that we have

2:36:51 ↗ a better sense if we are for that 15%

2:36:55 ↗ Target that would be useful okay yep we

2:36:59 ↗ can do that I would refer back to the

2:37:01 ↗ Chart but my computer has decided time

2:37:03 ↗ is not yes fantastic job oh quickly u b

2:37:08 ↗ andot tax um I think that should stay in

2:37:11 ↗ place I would not recommend a footage

2:37:14 ↗ tax for offices I think it puts puts us

2:37:16 ↗ at a disadvantage um the if the state

2:37:20 ↗ were to

2:37:21 ↗ approve an increase in either of those

2:37:23 ↗ taxes then we could consider that our

2:37:25 ↗ own option but I would hope that we

2:37:27 ↗ don't raise tax on small business

2:37:30 ↗ businesses in our community and those

2:37:31 ↗ that have headquarters as they're in a

2:37:33 ↗ very competitive environment on the

2:37:35 ↗ utility tax um I would ask my colleagues

2:37:39 ↗ to consider staying in line with bellw

2:37:42 ↗ and not going to 6% but going to 5%

2:37:44 ↗ instead so we can kind of say we're at

2:37:46 ↗ the rate that our closest neighbor is at

2:37:49 ↗ but not over that amount so just a

2:37:51 ↗ couple of thoughts for a

2:37:54 ↗ consideration okay and I know you did

2:37:57 ↗ hear from some of us earlier about

2:37:59 ↗ utility taxes of wanting more

2:38:03 ↗ information um I don't I don't know if

2:38:06 ↗ I'm hearing from anybody that they want

2:38:08 ↗ to provide specific feedback other than

2:38:12 ↗ we'd like some information on

2:38:16 ↗ that

2:38:17 ↗ great the overall rate and the overall

2:38:21 ↗ cost yeah yeah the cost per bill for a

2:38:26 ↗ an individual the um for a homeowner and

2:38:30 ↗ a renter just more information to

2:38:33 ↗ understand what the impact is not only

2:38:35 ↗ on our budget but on

2:38:37 ↗ households you use

2:38:40 ↗ M yeah yeah there we go volunteer

2:38:44 ↗ [Laughter]

2:38:48 ↗ table okay

2:38:50 ↗ so I think we may be at a point where we

2:38:53 ↗ can do a break for lunch um I know coun

2:38:58 ↗ Deputy council president de Michelle is

2:38:59 ↗ going to kind of lead this so um I will

2:39:03 ↗ just say we've

2:39:06 ↗ got a little bit less than an hour now

2:39:09 ↗ at this point what we would like to do

2:39:12 ↗ is take two groups of four including the

2:39:15 ↗ mayor we're going to set you guys up on

2:39:18 ↗ table

2:39:20 ↗ um and have you grab lunch bring it back

2:39:24 ↗ and then we've got a few questions for

2:39:27 ↗ yall to discuss and then we're going to

2:39:29 ↗ report back um because we are not going

2:39:31 ↗ to record that portion of meeting

2:39:33 ↗ because nobody wants to eat on c um

2:39:42 ↗ so council member and a breast together

2:39:46 ↗ we are not talking about

2:39:51 ↗ Yeah

2:39:53 ↗ question y sorry I had to do a little

2:39:56 ↗ bit of an introduction um do you want to

2:40:01 ↗ talk it over at all um the groups so

2:40:06 ↗ um myself Mary Lou Russell and Chris are

2:40:12 ↗ group a deputy council president TOA

2:40:15 ↗ Zach and Victoria

2:40:18 ↗ are um

2:40:21 ↗ uh Tammy where are you gonna have the

2:40:23 ↗ two tables uh I thought we could

2:40:25 ↗ reconfigure the your shape here okay so

2:40:28 ↗ we'd like at least them separated out

2:40:31 ↗ enough

2:40:32 ↗ that come over here okay great we're

2:40:35 ↗ gonna have one group over there and

2:40:37 ↗ oneou here a here B there great go get

2:40:41 ↗ food and the police chief's GNA leave

2:40:47 ↗ so thank you oh and she's got yeah so um

2:40:52 ↗ just taking a minute after um we had

2:40:55 ↗ finished lunch to kind of provide a

2:40:58 ↗ little bit of a summary we our goal was

2:41:00 ↗ just to have group conversations to get

2:41:03 ↗ everybody communicating um think a big

2:41:06 ↗ picture all of that so um group a which

2:41:09 ↗ was mayor Polly myself council member

2:41:11 ↗ Ray and council member Joe um everybody

2:41:14 ↗ had the same questions um between the

2:41:17 ↗ two groups but the

2:41:20 ↗ we asked what do you think we don't talk

2:41:22 ↗ about enough and we said property we own

2:41:25 ↗ that's under UTI benefit

2:41:28 ↗ landlord um we don't talk enough about

2:41:30 ↗ what we shouldn't do or who should do it

2:41:33 ↗ instead and our Communications to the

2:41:37 ↗ community businesses engagement with um

2:41:40 ↗ under uh reach groups and to highlight

2:41:43 ↗ the work that we do and relate it back

2:41:46 ↗ to

2:41:47 ↗ proclamations um the second question we

2:41:50 ↗ looked at was what are you looking

2:41:52 ↗ forward to in the next year for the city

2:41:54 ↗ we talked about a robust priorities

2:41:56 ↗ discussion how do we use the community

2:41:59 ↗ survey data and recognizing that it's

2:42:02 ↗ different from the board feedback that

2:42:05 ↗ we received different um groups May

2:42:08 ↗ Polly said she was very interested in

2:42:09 ↗ cutting ribbons she was looking forward

2:42:11 ↗ to that um we talked about housing and

2:42:14 ↗ parking study um the facilities

2:42:18 ↗ maintenance and surplus ing

2:42:20 ↗ conversation um IAP and environmental

2:42:23 ↗ resiliency implementation and what that

2:42:26 ↗ looks

2:42:27 ↗ like uh what topics on Council interest

2:42:30 ↗ you most uh here was where we recognized

2:42:33 ↗ that it was really useful to have kind

2:42:34 ↗ of a diverse set of council members who

2:42:37 ↗ all have different interests and areas

2:42:39 ↗ so we had some on the uh permitting and

2:42:43 ↗ housing uh we've got one weird outlier

2:42:46 ↗ over there who's interest in budgets uh

2:42:49 ↗ mayor py red her uh in uh engineering

2:42:53 ↗ background said capital projects um we

2:42:55 ↗ also heard police in

2:42:59 ↗ court to our

2:43:02 ↗ chamber when children come to the

2:43:04 ↗ council chamber yeah yeah um and then we

2:43:09 ↗ had what do you hope uh the city will

2:43:12 ↗ accomplish in the near- term long term

2:43:14 ↗ um a a lot of our stuff here was we hope

2:43:17 ↗ to strategize about something in the

2:43:19 ↗ near term and accomplish it in the long

2:43:21 ↗ term so um we talked about uh our

2:43:24 ↗ Revenue picture so in the short term we

2:43:26 ↗ want to create a strategy for state

2:43:28 ↗ level and federal level shared revenues

2:43:30 ↗ maybe working with SCA and AWC

2:43:34 ↗ strengthen that collaborative

2:43:36 ↗ relationship um and then we also talked

2:43:39 ↗ about kind of creating a developing a

2:43:42 ↗ relationship around a regional approach

2:43:44 ↗ to Public Safety um we already have

2:43:47 ↗ epher but can we look at that for police

2:43:50 ↗ and courts um do we have any neighboring

2:43:53 ↗ cities that would be interested in that

2:43:55 ↗ and then um so that was develop the

2:43:58 ↗ relationship shortterm create the action

2:44:01 ↗ long term and then for facilities we

2:44:04 ↗ thought about you know Surplus and those

2:44:06 ↗ types of things in the near term and

2:44:08 ↗ then potentially how do we deal with our

2:44:11 ↗ new needs um in the short and long term

2:44:14 ↗ and then finally I think the elephant of

2:44:15 ↗ the room is almost always Sound Transit

2:44:18 ↗ and the centralis plan and how we kind

2:44:20 ↗ of develop that as the long term so

2:44:23 ↗ that's just going really quickly through

2:44:26 ↗ um does someone from group be want to

2:44:28 ↗ report out gr B great so the first one

2:44:31 ↗ so we did uh what are you looking

2:44:33 ↗ forward to in the next year for the city

2:44:36 ↗ uh finishing the to OC uh project in

2:44:39 ↗ terms of breaking uh getting ready to

2:44:41 ↗ break ground and also Northwest samamish

2:44:44 ↗ road again getting ready to uh getting

2:44:48 ↗ uh set up to break brand um rebranding

2:44:51 ↗ of the trail system Peaks to Creeks

2:44:54 ↗ Title 18 uh whiteboard items discussion

2:44:58 ↗ of central isqua mfte but basically the

2:45:02 ↗ Central isqua and then um Surplus in

2:45:06 ↗ properties but also just sort of a

2:45:08 ↗ master plan for

2:45:09 ↗ that um what topics on the council

2:45:13 ↗ interest you most uh Public Safety

2:45:16 ↗ Emergency Management and resilience uh

2:45:19 ↗ multimodal uh specifically bikes and

2:45:22 ↗ pedestrian um transportation Light Rail

2:45:26 ↗ position yourselves with sale Transit

2:45:28 ↗ I'm sorry the opposite of what you just

2:45:30 ↗ said okay multimodal specifically buses

2:45:34 ↗ and and like yeah three yeah sorry

2:45:39 ↗ I sorry um Arts fund and again Surplus

2:45:45 ↗ properties have a theme here okay then

2:45:48 ↗ we kind of

2:45:51 ↗ crazy what what do you think we don't

2:45:54 ↗ talk about enough this is what we spent

2:45:55 ↗ the rest of the conversation on so um

2:45:59 ↗ Arts uh emergency

2:46:02 ↗ preparedness uh power grid uh I think

2:46:05 ↗ Lindsay and uh Zach and I uh had a

2:46:09 ↗ presentation or a discussion at the um

2:46:13 ↗ what was

2:46:14 ↗ thata social oh the SE yes about the

2:46:17 ↗ power gr of what PC is thinking about

2:46:20 ↗ doing and we haven't heard anything

2:46:21 ↗ about that at the council level so we

2:46:24 ↗ were saying that would be something that

2:46:27 ↗ we ought to be paying a little bit more

2:46:28 ↗ attention to uh Communications of public

2:46:31 ↗ engagement how do people get information

2:46:33 ↗ about the City Civic engagement

2:46:36 ↗ identifying Future Leaders or

2:46:38 ↗ encouraging Future Leaders or cultivate

2:46:41 ↗ Future Leaders um all those uh items um

2:46:46 ↗ renter protections Regional collabor

2:46:49 ↗ oration I think you mentioned that as

2:46:50 ↗ well we specifically talked about

2:46:52 ↗ Regional collaboration with animal

2:46:54 ↗ control efr Transportation Public Health

2:46:58 ↗ uh all of those need to be uh focused on

2:47:01 ↗ more State advocacy for increased

2:47:04 ↗ Revenue I think the other group talked

2:47:05 ↗ about that too cannabis Public Safety

2:47:08 ↗ fund uh can we get more money out of

2:47:11 ↗ that um then we had quite a discussion

2:47:14 ↗ about the so-called epidemic of

2:47:17 ↗ loneliness um the social Services

2:47:19 ↗ particularly senior services and the

2:47:21 ↗ needs of seniors in our community for um

2:47:25 ↗ not

2:47:26 ↗ only more social activities but also

2:47:29 ↗ just uh Social Services in general as

2:47:32 ↗ and it also impacts Police Department uh

2:47:35 ↗ lak mam State Park youth and drugs and

2:47:40 ↗ drugs and youth so we had quite a good

2:47:42 ↗ discussion we did not get to question

2:47:44 ↗ number four was Lakeside was lak M State

2:47:48 ↗ Park um

2:47:49 ↗ Initiative for the city to take it over

2:47:51 ↗ or just better integration and

2:47:53 ↗ collaboration uh the question is what do

2:47:55 ↗ you think we don't talk enough about

2:47:57 ↗ okay so we thought we haven't really had

2:47:59 ↗ a discussion about what we want to do

2:48:01 ↗ okay got it thank you yeah and I I I

2:48:04 ↗ mentioned that on the sarine covery

2:48:06 ↗ Council I feel like we've and a number

2:48:08 ↗ of times had uh the state parks

2:48:10 ↗ department come and talk about PL and it

2:48:13 ↗ it's very unclear to me you know where

2:48:15 ↗ they are in terms of going with a

2:48:18 ↗ particular

2:48:19 ↗ clear yeah and so you know like how much

2:48:21 ↗ is Recreation how much like how much are

2:48:23 ↗ they thinking about reorienting the main

2:48:26 ↗ the main driveway which they had talked

2:48:27 ↗ about previously but onm there was also

2:48:29 ↗ the Trails program that they had talked

2:48:31 ↗ about and a bike trail which now seems

2:48:33 ↗ like is maybe so there's just there was

2:48:35 ↗ a lot of like trying to understand what

2:48:38 ↗ that plan is and having them come and

2:48:39 ↗ like you know say through the funds that

2:48:41 ↗ we have this is road map like where they

2:48:43 ↗ are with all great they and also liid

2:48:46 ↗ right next empty office

2:48:50 ↗ Space

2:48:52 ↗ Storage this is there's High use land

2:48:56 ↗ that can

2:48:59 ↗ support okay so I think we're gonna take

2:49:01 ↗ these pass them down to Tammy so that

2:49:03 ↗ she has them in the record on that and

2:49:07 ↗ then we've got two topics for the next

2:49:10 ↗ hour and 15 minutes before we adjourn at

2:49:13 ↗ 2m the first is uh potential budget

2:49:17 ↗ reductions so we've got

2:49:19 ↗ time on that and then finally um a

2:49:23 ↗ follow up on the public safety

2:49:25 ↗ facilities so

2:49:28 ↗ Andrea ructions thank you council

2:49:31 ↗ president W um so I'm showing this slide

2:49:38 ↗ again because

2:49:40 ↗ uh I don't have much in the way of

2:49:42 ↗ additional presentations to make I think

2:49:44 ↗ City administrator Bob Kitz uh went over

2:49:47 ↗ a lot of the city's services and things

2:49:49 ↗ that we do at the beginning of the day

2:49:51 ↗ today um we have already had some

2:49:54 ↗ discussion over over reductions and

2:49:56 ↗ priorities to some extent so this is

2:49:58 ↗ really your time what I wanted to point

2:50:00 ↗ out for you uh to help inform this

2:50:02 ↗ discussion is looking back at this chart

2:50:05 ↗ we have talked about our forecasted

2:50:07 ↗ deficit largely due to declining

2:50:09 ↗ revenues we've talked about the

2:50:11 ↗ administration's priorities we talked

2:50:13 ↗ about new revenues um still we're still

2:50:16 ↗ looking for something uh along the of7

2:50:20 ↗ million more depending on what happens

2:50:22 ↗ with priorities and revenues so I wanted

2:50:24 ↗ to give a scale of that as we talk about

2:50:26 ↗ reductions really thinking about ongoing

2:50:29 ↗ reductions so not just a onetime cut um

2:50:33 ↗ that's not really going to get us there

2:50:34 ↗ over the long term right we need to be

2:50:36 ↗ thinking about longterm what do we stop

2:50:38 ↗ doing uh to council member Ra's point

2:50:41 ↗ that he made earlier um along the

2:50:44 ↗ magnitude of of several Millions ofs uh

2:50:48 ↗ so something for you to consider uh I

2:50:50 ↗ know we've had a strategic plan uh

2:50:53 ↗ presentation recently to council for

2:50:54 ↗ that update those recommendations um

2:50:57 ↗ there was Data included in the packet

2:50:59 ↗ the agenda and also the the council

2:51:01 ↗ president speak so many things for you

2:51:04 ↗ to consider as you start your discussion

2:51:06 ↗ today of what are areas that you would

2:51:09 ↗ recommend cutting so we're going to be

2:51:11 ↗ looking at from the administration's

2:51:12 ↗ perspective for 24 is are there some

2:51:15 ↗ immediate Cuts we can make to things

2:51:17 ↗ like Professional Services just for

2:51:19 ↗ 2024 um are there are there also uh

2:51:24 ↗ programmatic cuts that we need to be

2:51:26 ↗ taking to look at do we need to look at

2:51:28 ↗ general fund contributions to capital

2:51:30 ↗ projects as well so there's there's many

2:51:33 ↗ things that we're taking at general

2:51:35 ↗ areas but we'd love feedback from you

2:51:37 ↗ today or if there's program areas Beyond

2:51:40 ↗ those things right so spe diving a

2:51:42 ↗ little bit more specifically what are

2:51:44 ↗ some of the areas that we should be

2:51:45 ↗ considering cutting uh to better

2:51:48 ↗ position us in the

2:51:50 ↗ future okay so starting on that we've

2:51:54 ↗ got a council member Hall by

2:51:57 ↗ councils um so I have some questions and

2:52:01 ↗ then I have several comments should I

2:52:02 ↗ just start questions sure question

2:52:09 ↗ um so

2:52:13 ↗ um thinking that uh director W be here

2:52:17 ↗ but um for I want to ask about the open

2:52:19 ↗ space acquisition program that we have

2:52:22 ↗ um so we currently set aside at least in

2:52:25 ↗ the CIP about

2:52:26 ↗ $700,000 a year I think it worked out in

2:52:30 ↗ the actual budget to be

2:52:33 ↗ like 380,000 for 2023 and 668 for 2024 I

2:52:39 ↗ just wanted to get a sense of like and I

2:52:41 ↗ know this is for what strategic

2:52:43 ↗ opportunities right so we can't always

2:52:44 ↗ predict but I wanted to get a sense of

2:52:46 ↗ like how often we draw down that fund

2:52:49 ↗ and

2:52:50 ↗ uh how optim really using that money and

2:52:54 ↗ and generally if they're think they're

2:52:55 ↗ going to be any timing opportunities in

2:52:57 ↗ the next pandum and that might be a j

2:53:00 ↗ question well I can speak to the last

2:53:03 ↗ part um the staff has identified

2:53:06 ↗ probably half a dozen properties um that

2:53:09 ↗ we're looking at and the park staff's

2:53:12 ↗ going to come to the council probably in

2:53:14 ↗ September with a couple of parcels to

2:53:17 ↗ talk about um you know the reason we

2:53:20 ↗ collect that money is it's for a couple

2:53:23 ↗ different reasons one to have cash on

2:53:25 ↗ hand the other to leverage grant

2:53:29 ↗ opportunities um but we've had internal

2:53:32 ↗ discussions um basically saying let's

2:53:35 ↗ get on with it that we

2:53:38 ↗ can't can't just be collecting money

2:53:40 ↗ collecting money collecting money you

2:53:43 ↗ know there are small medium and large

2:53:44 ↗ everything is not a bur MoDOT uh there

2:53:47 ↗ are strategic parts

2:53:50 ↗ so you'll be hearing a little bit more

2:53:52 ↗ on that in September okay so that will

2:53:55 ↗ be part

2:53:57 ↗ of it'll be separate from budgets

2:53:59 ↗ because really you know Le it's sort of

2:54:02 ↗ a rolling topic so we're going to have

2:54:06 ↗ discussions par s budes but the question

2:54:09 ↗ for the council are you comfortable with

2:54:11 ↗ the with the balance are you comfortable

2:54:14 ↗ with positing additional dollars in and

2:54:16 ↗ the next finum those are

2:54:18 ↗ questions for

2:54:21 ↗ the all right

2:54:25 ↗ um utilities um so we designed our grade

2:54:29 ↗ study to pay

2:54:30 ↗ for utilities but um the do rate dollars

2:54:35 ↗ pay for staff and administration

2:54:37 ↗ associated with that so there's no

2:54:38 ↗ general fund um aspect the

2:54:43 ↗ utilities um thank you and then for art

2:54:47 ↗ fund contribution

2:54:48 ↗ um for some capital

2:54:50 ↗ projects it includes a Contrition the

2:54:53 ↗ Arts fund um some of the revenues

2:54:55 ↗ associated with that are are restricted

2:54:57 ↗ so they're not general purpose but for

2:54:59 ↗ the revenue that is general purpose that

2:55:02 ↗ ends up becoming our exp contribution is

2:55:05 ↗ that well I guess the question is um is

2:55:08 ↗ that some policy that we have that we

2:55:11 ↗ that we make a contribution to Arts

2:55:12 ↗ finder a half a percent for the Arts so

2:55:16 ↗ um that's our that's our program and is

2:55:18 ↗ law um other cities do a full percent uh

2:55:22 ↗ but we do half perc of our project

2:55:24 ↗ Capital project cost goes towards um the

2:55:27 ↗ Arts are is that common I mean any

2:55:29 ↗ cities that don't do that there are

2:55:31 ↗ cities that don't do it so I think what

2:55:33 ↗ we see among peer cities is there some

2:55:36 ↗ that do a percent some do a percent and

2:55:38 ↗ a half some don't do it at

2:55:40 ↗ all so we're but then there's the

2:55:42 ↗ operating piece that we get through the

2:55:44 ↗ amusement tax which is a general purpose

2:55:47 ↗ Revenue so this Council chooses and many

2:55:50 ↗ communities do to put it toward arts or

2:55:54 ↗ something related to that but there's

2:55:55 ↗ nothing

2:55:57 ↗ statutory you could spread it on police

2:55:59 ↗ officers Vehicles right

2:56:02 ↗ okay um let me stick with that idea of

2:56:07 ↗ questions any other questions that come

2:56:10 ↗ up

2:56:12 ↗ with areas of the budget yes that's why

2:56:15 ↗ I have my tag fantastic

2:56:18 ↗ uh two areas are have we closed out the

2:56:21 ↗ benefits liabilities fund that gone and

2:56:24 ↗ done with yes okay good uh second thing

2:56:28 ↗ is just in the area of consultants in

2:56:29 ↗ general both statements of work based

2:56:32 ↗ consultants and you know open-ended type

2:56:35 ↗ Consulting um and I'm and I'm thinking

2:56:37 ↗ about it here when I ask about it but

2:56:40 ↗ really in general um I think that in

2:56:43 ↗ flush years my sense is that we're very

2:56:47 ↗ comfortable uh bringing Consultants

2:56:49 ↗ because we're relatively small community

2:56:51 ↗ and there's areas of expertise we don't

2:56:52 ↗ have but I think in a tough time we

2:56:54 ↗ should review uh what Consultants we

2:56:57 ↗ have uh you know I I continue to wonder

2:57:00 ↗ about Erp software and how much we're

2:57:02 ↗ spending theer on Erp Consultants just

2:57:04 ↗ as a as an example but I I think we

2:57:07 ↗ should really understand in general

2:57:08 ↗ where we use Consulting is um you know

2:57:12 ↗ typically uh at some point you want to

2:57:15 ↗ move that inhouse for

2:57:19 ↗ yes thank you uh we have done some of

2:57:21 ↗ that review since the pandemic using a

2:57:24 ↗ lot of consultants for example in

2:57:25 ↗ engineering for Community Planning

2:57:27 ↗ Development and we brought a lot of that

2:57:29 ↗ expertise in house um I think we

2:57:32 ↗ continue to do that but thank you for

2:57:33 ↗ the question around it as

2:57:39 ↗ well so that's some

2:57:43 ↗ questions um now we get get into as

2:57:47 ↗ council member R says the hard part of

2:57:51 ↗ bringing our political will and

2:57:54 ↗ recognizing that it is difficult to

2:57:58 ↗ manage any kind of a budget um let alone

2:58:01 ↗ sit here and recommend areas for

2:58:05 ↗ reductions so there's two parts of this

2:58:07 ↗ reduction conversation one is what do

2:58:11 ↗ you think we should do less of what do

2:58:13 ↗ you think we should spend less on the

2:58:15 ↗ other is are there areas that you AB

2:58:18 ↗ absolutely think should be protected um

2:58:20 ↗ or areas that you would preferably don't

2:58:25 ↗ get into um so those are the two pieces

2:58:30 ↗ of feedback there that I think we're

2:58:31 ↗ looking

2:58:33 ↗ for

2:58:34 ↗ no I'm sorry I didn't see you up there

2:58:37 ↗ were like twins separated at Birth um

2:58:39 ↗ most people can't tell us apart really

2:58:41 ↗ true so

2:58:43 ↗ uh at a high level I'm still not sure

2:58:48 ↗ whether we are whether we are in a speed

2:58:51 ↗ bump or whether we are in a changed set

2:58:53 ↗ of circumstances right um we have seen a

2:58:57 ↗ Slowdown in new development in the city

2:59:00 ↗ that has had an impact on our economics

2:59:03 ↗ it's not clear to me that that that is

2:59:05 ↗ the new normal right um the entire King

2:59:08 ↗ County area is bonting the fact that

2:59:09 ↗ they're not seeing the development that

2:59:11 ↗ they saw pre-co and so um I want to be

2:59:15 ↗ careful I I'm not yet sure whether we

2:59:18 ↗ think this is the new normal or whether

2:59:19 ↗ we think this is a blip if it's a blip

2:59:21 ↗ we should handle it differently than if

2:59:23 ↗ it's the new normal if it's the new

2:59:24 ↗ normal I think we need to look at right

2:59:27 ↗ sizing the organization and whether you

2:59:30 ↗ know I'm not going to pick on any

2:59:32 ↗ individual uh departments but you know

2:59:35 ↗ if if there's a new normal then we need

2:59:36 ↗ to think about substantive fundamental

2:59:39 ↗ changes if this is a blip and we think

2:59:42 ↗ that the fundamental economics of our

2:59:44 ↗ community is such that we think

2:59:46 ↗ development is going to come back

2:59:48 ↗ and that you know five years from now

2:59:50 ↗ it'll look like two years before covid

2:59:53 ↗ then I think we want to look at more

2:59:54 ↗ shortterm uh Solutions what were the

2:59:56 ↗ other two parts of your question I

2:59:58 ↗ apologize um that was what should we do

3:00:02 ↗ less of and what um should potentially

3:00:05 ↗ be protected from reduction yeah I mean

3:00:07 ↗ I think the things I think you have to

3:00:10 ↗ say you know you go to Mel's hierarch of

3:00:12 ↗ needs right the toilets have to flush

3:00:15 ↗ water has to come out of the tap uh you

3:00:17 ↗ have to be protected from fire and

3:00:19 ↗ assault and everything after that is

3:00:22 ↗ nice to haves some of our nice to haves

3:00:24 ↗ are really important and and are part of

3:00:26 ↗ how we Define ourselves parks are how we

3:00:28 ↗ part of how we Define ourselves right um

3:00:30 ↗ having a beautiful downtown that is

3:00:32 ↗ vibrant as part of how we Define

3:00:33 ↗ ourselves so I don't I don't imply that

3:00:36 ↗ those are not important but you know I

3:00:39 ↗ just look at the what I just said right

3:00:41 ↗ those those are the things that have to

3:00:42 ↗ most be protected and everything else as

3:00:44 ↗ nice thanks so before I move on on that

3:00:48 ↗ sounds like there's I really appreciate

3:00:51 ↗ bringing up the concept of is this a

3:00:54 ↗ speed bump or is this a long-term

3:00:57 ↗ correction um the new the new normal is

3:00:59 ↗ yeah The New Normal so I think that

3:01:02 ↗ would be something to be able to come

3:01:06 ↗ back to us and some of that may be what

3:01:08 ↗ are other communities doing so that we

3:01:10 ↗ don't feel like we're an outlier in that

3:01:13 ↗ um Al although the mayor told us we're

3:01:15 ↗ ahead of everybody else right now on

3:01:17 ↗ this can make a I can make a small

3:01:19 ↗ comment to this effect so if we're

3:01:21 ↗ looking at specifically

3:01:22 ↗ construction we know that we have less

3:01:25 ↗ Green Space we've had before in our in

3:01:28 ↗ our history Isa Highlands years and

3:01:30 ↗ years of construction activity from that

3:01:32 ↗ we received construction sales tax Talis

3:01:35 ↗ as well so as we look at our buildable

3:01:37 ↗ land area we know that it's diminishing

3:01:40 ↗ so then we are going to be shifting as

3:01:43 ↗ as time progresses uh to more

3:01:45 ↗ Redevelopment and Redevelopment is

3:01:48 ↗ harder to achieve economically

3:01:50 ↗ financially um those projects are not as

3:01:52 ↗ big and as sweeping they tend to be

3:01:54 ↗ smaller than say an entire iSell

3:01:57 ↗ Highlands uh area so so we I think what

3:02:00 ↗ we can see is some some cities in King

3:02:04 ↗ County are seeing a construction boom

3:02:07 ↗ relative to us um because they have more

3:02:10 ↗ buildable land that's a little easier to

3:02:12 ↗ build on than what we have in isqua so

3:02:14 ↗ most of the good Parcels are taken we

3:02:16 ↗ know that we can expect construction

3:02:18 ↗ from shelter we know that we can expect

3:02:20 ↗ construction from Lakeside um after that

3:02:23 ↗ it's going to get really tricky so so

3:02:26 ↗ you know when is that really going to

3:02:28 ↗ fall off for us um more than it what

3:02:31 ↗ we're seeing in our forecast I think

3:02:33 ↗ it's probably in somewhat of the near

3:02:35 ↗ future as those other two major projects

3:02:37 ↗ get built out so that's something for us

3:02:39 ↗ to consider is just the Arc of

3:02:41 ↗ development in isqua and how that's a

3:02:44 ↗ factor in our city budget um and you

3:02:47 ↗ know

3:02:48 ↗ so but some of these things might be obl

3:02:50 ↗ related to interest rates as well not

3:02:52 ↗ influencing construction activity so

3:02:55 ↗ that's another thing to think about but

3:02:56 ↗ overall that long Arc as we look 10

3:02:58 ↗ years into the future um I think what

3:03:00 ↗ we're seeing is less buildable lands

3:03:03 ↗ equals less construction sales tax okay

3:03:06 ↗ because like Atlas was a was a re was a

3:03:08 ↗ re re y right to La quickly yeah and

3:03:13 ↗ still and yeah it's big project for us

3:03:17 ↗ but still a small blip when it comes to

3:03:19 ↗ what we had been seeing historically in

3:03:21 ↗ Development and Construction sales tax

3:03:23 ↗ and all the revenue that that was

3:03:25 ↗ bringing in gota you're saying the

3:03:28 ↗ multifam Redevelopment Central one at a

3:03:32 ↗ time that in which is our future is

3:03:34 ↗ going to be much less than scale pirs

3:03:36 ↗ and tops that's

3:03:39 ↗ correct but didn't we have a solid

3:03:41 ↗ decade like what's the what's the

3:03:43 ↗ commercial development forgive me I'm

3:03:45 ↗ blanking on the name the big one right

3:03:47 ↗ there grandidge right didn't we have

3:03:49 ↗ basically a decade after Grand Ridge got

3:03:51 ↗ built where we w we didn't have another

3:03:53 ↗ Grand Ridge be built but we had enough

3:03:55 ↗ onesie twosies everywhere that we were

3:03:57 ↗ still doing a ton of business that

3:03:58 ↗ decade came to a close with covid there

3:04:00 ↗ was still a lot of neighborhood

3:04:02 ↗ development within the Highland so

3:04:04 ↗ different parts of the Highlands that

3:04:05 ↗ were getting built out we saw Town Home

3:04:07 ↗ Development other multif family

3:04:09 ↗ development and single family

3:04:10 ↗ development still occurring so BR Plaza

3:04:13 ↗ big visible from the street but there

3:04:15 ↗ was a lot of other neighborhoods that

3:04:16 ↗ were being um developed veloped uh kind

3:04:19 ↗ of behind that see thank

3:04:23 ↗ you great um it is my belief that this

3:04:27 ↗ is not a a speed bumper a blip that this

3:04:29 ↗ is the new normal and partly for the

3:04:32 ↗ last te years we have been projecting

3:04:34 ↗ the property tax systemic systematic um

3:04:38 ↗ deficit so it's it's it's you know and

3:04:40 ↗ it just got exacerbated by a 10% uh

3:04:43 ↗ inflation rate with a 1% uh property tax

3:04:46 ↗ increase so boom and also so we're also

3:04:48 ↗ falling off this Cliff because we're not

3:04:49 ↗ finding the covid relief money so we've

3:04:52 ↗ had a couple of really nice happy things

3:04:55 ↗ happen to us over the the last couple

3:04:57 ↗ years that have pushed this out but this

3:04:58 ↗ was inevitable so um so it's time to say

3:05:03 ↗ this is I I believe that this is the new

3:05:05 ↗ normal and if it's not hoay but we ought

3:05:07 ↗ to pretend like it is because if if we

3:05:10 ↗ if it's if we think it's a blip and

3:05:11 ↗ we're not going to take action and it's

3:05:13 ↗ the new normal then then it's going to

3:05:15 ↗ be worse next time it comes around if we

3:05:17 ↗ take action now and it's just a blip

3:05:19 ↗ then oh hooray we we're in a better

3:05:20 ↗ position next time we're around um so

3:05:24 ↗ that's that's that's kind of my response

3:05:25 ↗ to that I think there's an interesting

3:05:27 ↗ thing that council member Mars brings up

3:05:28 ↗ that really relates to what do people in

3:05:31 ↗ this town uh really value and what did

3:05:35 ↗ they say they value um so I'm not sure

3:05:37 ↗ that those are always aligned um but I'm

3:05:41 ↗ just looking at the community survey and

3:05:43 ↗ um you

3:05:45 ↗ know there's the things

3:05:49 ↗ that we think are the differentiating

3:05:52 ↗ qualities maybe we under the Community

3:05:54 ↗ survey undervalues them because we do so

3:05:56 ↗ well at them like fire and ambulance

3:05:59 ↗ service isn't viewed as a high priority

3:06:02 ↗ and you know parts are not viewed as a

3:06:04 ↗ high priority um and the you know Barb I

3:06:07 ↗ hate to do this to you but the Arts are

3:06:08 ↗ at the very bottom of the the list of

3:06:10 ↗ things that we care about um but I think

3:06:13 ↗ that the one things the couple things

3:06:16 ↗ that really do kind of stand out to me

3:06:19 ↗ um uh Mobility is huge um and really

3:06:24 ↗ when it when the general population

3:06:26 ↗ talks about Mobility they're talking

3:06:27 ↗ about cars getting around town so I know

3:06:30 ↗ that's hard but that's what people say

3:06:32 ↗ is really important uh land use is

3:06:34 ↗ really important so I think we've done

3:06:35 ↗ some good things there and people want

3:06:36 ↗ to see that we're we're we're not doing

3:06:39 ↗ stupid stuff with land use and then um

3:06:41 ↗ you know but but Street infrastructure

3:06:43 ↗ is big economic development is good um

3:06:46 ↗ are as big so I I think there's some

3:06:49 ↗ really great information in the

3:06:50 ↗ community survey to help inform what we

3:06:52 ↗ should be

3:06:53 ↗ prioritizing um and and it breaks my

3:06:56 ↗ heart because one of the things I love

3:06:57 ↗ about isqua is our Park system but I

3:07:00 ↗ don't think we can say because we gotta

3:07:02 ↗ right say we got to stop doing something

3:07:05 ↗ and I think Parks has got to be on the

3:07:06 ↗ agenda I think we got to talk about

3:07:08 ↗ Parks um um you know it's the hierarchy

3:07:11 ↗ and needs you talked about I I concur I

3:07:13 ↗ think fire and police we need to bring

3:07:15 ↗ as much um efficienc

3:07:18 ↗ as out of those areas as we can but

3:07:21 ↗ those are those are for shures and then

3:07:24 ↗ beyond that I think you know the things

3:07:26 ↗ that

3:07:27 ↗ um that are not necessarily those core

3:07:30 ↗ Public Safety things are got to be on

3:07:32 ↗ the

3:07:34 ↗ table so I'll go next on that is related

3:07:39 ↗ um I know people love our perks

3:07:44 ↗ um but without

3:07:48 ↗ we dedicate a lot more money to Parks

3:07:50 ↗ than other communities do and when we're

3:07:54 ↗ in a situation where we have a

3:07:59 ↗ revenue

3:08:01 ↗ shortfall um until we really truly look

3:08:06 ↗ at and pursue a Parks

3:08:09 ↗ District I think it has to be on the

3:08:12 ↗ line for

3:08:13 ↗ cutting um toward that idea I think

3:08:16 ↗ Parks planners kind of the idea of

3:08:20 ↗ trying to some of those areas where

3:08:22 ↗ we're trying to do more where we're

3:08:24 ↗ looking out into the future may be an

3:08:27 ↗ area um that we need to look at at

3:08:28 ↗ cutting similarly I would want hope that

3:08:31 ↗ we look at all of our capital projects

3:08:35 ↗ um and really just understand what what

3:08:38 ↗ those are whether we're

3:08:41 ↗ getting money from Grants or federal or

3:08:45 ↗ whatever um or if it's all coming from

3:08:48 ↗ us um what our options are there then

3:08:52 ↗ the area that I would like to make sure

3:08:55 ↗ we're not doing as much cutting on is

3:08:59 ↗ the pavement and concrete management I I

3:09:02 ↗ think as much as that is an area that we

3:09:05 ↗ could cut I think it costs us money in

3:09:08 ↗ the future it's very short decited to

3:09:13 ↗ try and take money from that area to

3:09:17 ↗ keep up other operational costs because

3:09:22 ↗ we're going to have to put the money

3:09:23 ↗ back into that and it's going to be more

3:09:26 ↗ expensive to maintain that pavement um

3:09:29 ↗ as mayor Paulie was saying if we make

3:09:32 ↗ Cuts in an area we don't suddenly get

3:09:34 ↗ the money to be able to double down on

3:09:36 ↗ that in the future and we would have to

3:09:39 ↗ more than double down on an area of

3:09:42 ↗ maintenance if we cut that out and don't

3:09:46 ↗ have opportunities uh in the future so

3:09:50 ↗ those are some of the things that I am

3:09:53 ↗ coming through on um I think as's

3:09:57 ↗ hierarchy of needs it's a very good

3:09:59 ↗ concept I don't think for me that means

3:10:03 ↗ that that one like a me that was me yeah

3:10:07 ↗ um I don't think that means that those

3:10:09 ↗ areas are fully like protected

3:10:12 ↗ 100% um because I think we are looking

3:10:16 ↗ at he fire and rescue and are those

3:10:18 ↗ service levels I think we should be

3:10:21 ↗ doing the same thing at pts and police

3:10:26 ↗ and um you know all of those areas is

3:10:29 ↗ let's make sure those are right size to

3:10:31 ↗ our community right size to our Revenue

3:10:34 ↗ picture um we have the right resources

3:10:37 ↗ in place and feel free to shift things

3:10:40 ↗ around as needed um just because they're

3:10:44 ↗ important doesn't mean we're doing all

3:10:46 ↗ of the important things always right

3:10:52 ↗ already oh

3:10:55 ↗ counc yeah I feel like the staff that K

3:10:58 ↗ the under the table yeah

3:11:01 ↗ yes um so I also thought about kind of

3:11:03 ↗ needs for response what what are the

3:11:05 ↗ areas that we can Press PL on um and

3:11:09 ↗ really relied on the community survey

3:11:12 ↗ also Ray has kind of like a guiding

3:11:14 ↗ document for us here um so in I I looked

3:11:17 ↗ at kind of the important satisfaction

3:11:19 ↗ ratings that are there and I thought

3:11:21 ↗ there's some kind of interesting

3:11:23 ↗ takeaways

3:11:25 ↗ um um what are things to maintain what

3:11:27 ↗ are things to increase emphasis on what

3:11:29 ↗ are things that it's not necessary um to

3:11:32 ↗ have emphasis um so I guess first bucket

3:11:36 ↗ areas to avoid first that comes to mind

3:11:39 ↗ of course is Public Safety preventing uh

3:11:43 ↗ particularly crime prevention and police

3:11:44 ↗ response and visibility um

3:11:48 ↗ is it really important in the community

3:11:49 ↗ survey um so we know that some of these

3:11:52 ↗ operational um Investments and capital

3:11:54 ↗ investments in police will help um with

3:11:57 ↗ that so that seems like an area to avoid

3:11:58 ↗ and seems like that's what the

3:11:59 ↗ administration wants to do um also like

3:12:03 ↗ I said earlier traffic calming ease of

3:12:05 ↗ travel by by public transportation Car

3:12:07 ↗ and Bike and traffic and congestion

3:12:09 ↗ management are all very high created in

3:12:11 ↗ the community survey um so trying to do

3:12:14 ↗ our best to maintain um

3:12:17 ↗ Investments there um Metroflex comes to

3:12:20 ↗ mind too because it's also an investment

3:12:23 ↗ in our future to show Metro that we are

3:12:26 ↗ worth additional or continued investment

3:12:29 ↗ of boms so doing our best to maintain

3:12:32 ↗ Metroflex is important me um into to

3:12:35 ↗ maintain our investments and just ease

3:12:36 ↗ of travel around

3:12:38 ↗ town

3:12:40 ↗ um climate action work um seems

3:12:43 ↗ important and it seems like we have at

3:12:45 ↗ least a solution for the coming vium

3:12:49 ↗ with the administration fee increase for

3:12:51 ↗ a solid waste um so that's that's good

3:12:54 ↗ and then also echoing council member Ray

3:12:57 ↗ the buil environment portal housing and

3:12:59 ↗ housing diversity ease of giving a

3:13:01 ↗ permit was in red in the community

3:13:04 ↗ survey for definitely increase Focus um

3:13:07 ↗ now I think our public commentary brings

3:13:10 ↗ up a good point because I remember when

3:13:11 ↗ we first got the survey there asked the

3:13:14 ↗ question about build environment there

3:13:17 ↗ or maybe it was one of the other ones

3:13:18 ↗ like what are they all meeting the same

3:13:20 ↗ thing and they respond to that and we

3:13:22 ↗ never really got into that and there's

3:13:24 ↗ really no way to get into that either so

3:13:26 ↗ um perhaps that's just a lesson to learn

3:13:29 ↗ for the next survey and how we word that

3:13:31 ↗ question or maybe it's maybe we can

3:13:33 ↗ change it to that but anyways that whole

3:13:34 ↗ bucket seems to be something we should

3:13:38 ↗ try to avoid um if possible

3:13:43 ↗ um and then of course the court services

3:13:46 ↗ investment are compelling um I did go

3:13:50 ↗ through the budget and all the

3:13:53 ↗ Departments and highlight things that I

3:13:55 ↗ think are important for us to look at at

3:13:58 ↗ staff so first and foremost asking the

3:14:01 ↗ question um is there any low hanging

3:14:04 ↗ fruit seems like the answer is um but

3:14:08 ↗ and but the properties are there any

3:14:10 ↗ properties that potentially cir it

3:14:11 ↗ sooner around

3:14:13 ↗ later is an important question but that

3:14:15 ↗ also seems to be a question that the

3:14:16 ↗ community be a part of and we need to

3:14:18 ↗ have deliver a compation with Council so

3:14:20 ↗ once again it seems like no no

3:14:23 ↗ load um there are several um programs

3:14:27 ↗ that I think we should look at none of

3:14:28 ↗ which makes me feel good but the first

3:14:30 ↗ one that came to mind for me is the open

3:14:33 ↗ space acquisition program and

3:14:34 ↗ potentially cutting back on how much we

3:14:37 ↗ invest in that annually um but you know

3:14:40 ↗ you look at the cre survey and they

3:14:42 ↗ actually

3:14:43 ↗ suggest an increase emphasis in open

3:14:46 ↗ space acquis position but I I'm not

3:14:48 ↗ convinced that the

3:14:50 ↗ $700,000 is budget that we have every

3:14:53 ↗ year in the CIP is the right amount so

3:14:55 ↗ maybe I just need a little bit more

3:14:56 ↗ information and maybe this conversation

3:14:58 ↗ September will help too

3:15:00 ↗ but I think that's an area worth

3:15:03 ↗ exploring for staff to consider what's

3:15:06 ↗ be appropriate amount

3:15:08 ↗ there um Park and trail planning is

3:15:11 ↗ something I also agree on where can we

3:15:13 ↗ press pause on new Investments it's not

3:15:15 ↗ necessarily clear um to me where those

3:15:18 ↗ would be but there are certainly a

3:15:20 ↗ number of projects slated for 25 26 in

3:15:23 ↗ the capital Improvement plan um could we

3:15:28 ↗ shift to a focus on maintenance creative

3:15:32 ↗ use of space Oh I watched one of the

3:15:34 ↗ recent Services safeties and Parks

3:15:36 ↗ meeting and the IDE of cricket pitch

3:15:38 ↗ again came up from chair Mars which is

3:15:41 ↗ always such an interesting idea and

3:15:43 ↗ director Wy was talking about how

3:15:46 ↗ they've been using C use of space the

3:15:48 ↗ soer fields up in the highlands and

3:15:50 ↗ being able to transform that so maybe we

3:15:52 ↗ shift our Parks focus into maintenance

3:15:55 ↗ creative use of space

3:15:59 ↗ um being strategic about any new

3:16:02 ↗ Investments like there are some things

3:16:03 ↗ that's important to set aside money Turf

3:16:06 ↗ replacement over the years and we don't

3:16:07 ↗ want to get caught five years from now

3:16:10 ↗ with a low balance and you can't the tur

3:16:13 ↗ or um I don't know why that went that's

3:16:17 ↗ just an example um looking at the

3:16:18 ↗ community survey too people are very

3:16:20 ↗ satisfied with Park maintenance with um

3:16:23 ↗ the number of parks in athletic fields

3:16:25 ↗ satisfaction with access to natural

3:16:27 ↗ environment was in the 90s was one of

3:16:29 ↗ the highest things I saw in the survey

3:16:31 ↗ availability of paath walking trails was

3:16:33 ↗ in the 80s and then just ditto about how

3:16:36 ↗ this could help lead us into a

3:16:38 ↗ conversation

3:16:41 ↗ about um the next kind of bucket area is

3:16:45 ↗ economic vitality

3:16:47 ↗ um you know the community survey

3:16:50 ↗ suggests that people are really

3:16:51 ↗ satisfied with economic health in the

3:16:53 ↗ city with the mix of businesses that are

3:16:55 ↗ available um they're satisfied with

3:16:57 ↗ shopping and dining experiences and Etc

3:16:59 ↗ I know there's a lot more that we do in

3:17:02 ↗ this work and we have this new action

3:17:03 ↗ plan and it's great but perhaps

3:17:05 ↗ similarly to Parks there's more of a

3:17:08 ↗ focus on maintenance or cutting back on

3:17:10 ↗ some Investments um and holding off on

3:17:13 ↗ kind of new exciting Investments for the

3:17:15 ↗ time being something for staff to look

3:17:17 ↗ into at least I disagree on pavement and

3:17:20 ↗ concrete Management Programs I think

3:17:23 ↗ back in February our memo even said that

3:17:26 ↗ it's increased by 118% 900,000 to 2

3:17:29 ↗ million which is great we all pushed for

3:17:31 ↗ that because we wanted to see more of an

3:17:33 ↗ effort and it it shows but I'm not

3:17:36 ↗ necessarily convinced that $2 million is

3:17:38 ↗ the right number so maybe that's just

3:17:40 ↗ understanding are we spending all of

3:17:42 ↗ that do we feel like that's the right

3:17:44 ↗ number is there anything that could be

3:17:46 ↗ saved there without risking the

3:17:48 ↗ Integrity of Street sustainability or or

3:17:53 ↗ maybe there is some politic discussion

3:17:55 ↗ to be had about level of service for um

3:17:58 ↗ Street Health something but anyways I

3:18:00 ↗ just think that should be on the table

3:18:02 ↗ it should be talked

3:18:03 ↗ about um this doesn't apply well

3:18:07 ↗ actually it does apply to utility so we

3:18:10 ↗ have the design rate study for very

3:18:13 ↗ dollar of paying

3:18:15 ↗ for these Investments um and staff time

3:18:19 ↗ oh and staff okay so forget utilities um

3:18:23 ↗ but

3:18:24 ↗ it um one thing I've thinking about like

3:18:27 ↗ about it and Technology systems is it's

3:18:29 ↗ so hard for me to know actually what the

3:18:31 ↗ needs are because I no based in that in

3:18:34 ↗ that field so I have to trust that staff

3:18:37 ↗ are saying this is actually what we need

3:18:39 ↗ for this coming by any name from the CIP

3:18:41 ↗ or this is really what we need over the

3:18:42 ↗ next six years

3:18:45 ↗ um and and trust that the Staffing and

3:18:48 ↗ adment costs associated with that too

3:18:50 ↗ are

3:18:51 ↗ are appropriate so I just ask that you

3:18:55 ↗ know staff kind of robust in their

3:18:57 ↗ review of really what do we need to do

3:18:59 ↗ versus what would be nice um to do in

3:19:02 ↗ kind of those like

3:19:05 ↗ it um and then and then finally art fund

3:19:09 ↗ um I do think

3:19:12 ↗ um we should consider scaling back our

3:19:15 ↗ contributions it's really important that

3:19:18 ↗ we that we invest in the Arts but I

3:19:20 ↗ think some of these other things are

3:19:21 ↗ more important um and so I think getting

3:19:24 ↗ a sense of scale of how much the

3:19:28 ↗ investments from Capital to Arts fund is

3:19:32 ↗ because it could be almost and if that's

3:19:34 ↗ the case then I don't want to do that

3:19:36 ↗ but and there are

3:19:39 ↗ certainly lines to be drawn for

3:19:41 ↗ investment in the Arts and Community

3:19:43 ↗ outcomes positive Community outcomes

3:19:44 ↗ Economic Development all that but think

3:19:47 ↗ in my opinion there could potentially be

3:19:49 ↗ better use of

3:19:51 ↗ of spend there um but interested in

3:19:55 ↗ having the conversation so those are

3:19:56 ↗ kind of my initial thoughts of where I

3:19:57 ↗ think staff

3:20:03 ↗ should

3:20:04 ↗ ohy presentation yeah thank you um just

3:20:08 ↗ some observations or thoughts um first

3:20:13 ↗ of all uh the community survey to me was

3:20:15 ↗ done in a very different environment and

3:20:18 ↗ so I think we have to take into account

3:20:20 ↗ the changes that have occurred since

3:20:22 ↗ that survey was done and also we as we

3:20:27 ↗ have the conversation with our community

3:20:28 ↗ about the change environment and the

3:20:30 ↗ change prospects for Revenue um we may

3:20:34 ↗ be hearing very different things from

3:20:36 ↗ them than we heard on the general

3:20:37 ↗ Community which was a satisfaction

3:20:39 ↗ survey not how do you want to spend your

3:20:42 ↗ dollar survey

3:20:44 ↗ exactly um so um just a couple of uh

3:20:49 ↗ general principles I think I think

3:20:51 ↗ everybody takes some kind of hit now in

3:20:55 ↗ my mind I would prior prioritize safety

3:20:59 ↗ police and fire and as uh C Mar says

3:21:03 ↗ flushing the toilets Public Works uh and

3:21:07 ↗ so I would prioritize them but I still

3:21:10 ↗ think that everybody takes some kind of

3:21:12 ↗ hit and uh maybe that's a a small hit

3:21:16 ↗ but we ask every Department to look at

3:21:18 ↗ what they're doing and see if they can

3:21:20 ↗ reduce their their expenses so um I also

3:21:26 ↗ think uh that we should look at that we

3:21:29 ↗ should avoid um our small programs that

3:21:34 ↗ would be the Arts fund and some uh I'm

3:21:36 ↗ sure there's some other things uh I

3:21:38 ↗ don't want us to end up in October

3:21:40 ↗ November arguing over $25,000 or $30,000

3:21:44 ↗ or you know if it's a small program and

3:21:47 ↗ it's

3:21:49 ↗ not uh costing us a lot of uh of money

3:21:54 ↗ and it's relatively small savings for a

3:21:56 ↗ big impact uh I think it should be off

3:21:59 ↗ the off the table or uh again look at

3:22:02 ↗ how they could save some money but not a

3:22:04 ↗ lot uh the Arts fund is dedicated

3:22:07 ↗ funding from ticket sales and that's the

3:22:10 ↗ reason we've been I've been asking that

3:22:12 ↗ we look at how we get a different

3:22:14 ↗ Revenue stream going there um and if uh

3:22:19 ↗ uh I I don't know how much is coming out

3:22:21 ↗ of the general fund to support that

3:22:23 ↗ artstones right now but I can't imagine

3:22:25 ↗ a huge that we're really going to be

3:22:27 ↗ saving a lot of money doing that um one

3:22:30 ↗ of the problems I think we have is that

3:22:32 ↗ everybody in the city is doing a great

3:22:34 ↗ job I you know I love what uh City

3:22:38 ↗ administrator bwoods went over this

3:22:40 ↗ morning we have a great staff I guess I

3:22:43 ↗ would caution us to be very careful in

3:22:45 ↗ our Miss

3:22:47 ↗ uh around this U having gone through

3:22:50 ↗ staff reductions as County Council

3:22:52 ↗ employee you can really cut your staff

3:22:56 ↗ morale by incorrect messaging and the

3:22:59 ↗ other thing is I think we should be

3:23:01 ↗ really clear when to cut something uh

3:23:03 ↗ we're cutting our services this is this

3:23:06 ↗ is how we're reducing the services to

3:23:09 ↗ the community because again you could

3:23:11 ↗ just kill them Mor by reducing personnel

3:23:14 ↗ and leaving the the adjust BL the same

3:23:17 ↗ as it was um and I've I've seen that

3:23:20 ↗ happen so I I would be caution us to be

3:23:23 ↗ really really careful and also very

3:23:25 ↗ direct about what we will no longer be

3:23:28 ↗ doing if we cut this this and

3:23:31 ↗ this

3:23:32 ↗ um I want to I think that I uh agree

3:23:37 ↗ with council president Walsh in terms of

3:23:40 ↗ payment management projects some of

3:23:42 ↗ these longer term uh things I think we

3:23:45 ↗ should be looking at uh how do we

3:23:48 ↗ maintain these programs that if we don't

3:23:52 ↗ do them it's more expensive in the long

3:23:54 ↗ run certainly the pavement Management

3:23:56 ↗ program Falls in that sustainability

3:23:59 ↗ falls into that um as I I said the other

3:24:02 ↗ night at one of the council meetings uh

3:24:05 ↗ sustainability is not going to be cured

3:24:07 ↗ in in a year or two it's going to go on

3:24:09 ↗ and on it's going to get worse and worse

3:24:12 ↗ I think cutting sustainability at this

3:24:14 ↗ point would be just crazy

3:24:18 ↗ um I I wanted to uh also comment on um

3:24:23 ↗ Council Hunt's discussion about how do

3:24:25 ↗ we encourage more volunteerism in in

3:24:28 ↗ some of our programs where it's

3:24:30 ↗ appropriate not where you know we can't

3:24:32 ↗ do that everywhere but certainly in

3:24:34 ↗ sustainability we could encourage a lot

3:24:36 ↗ more volunteer um help and it would

3:24:39 ↗ probably be worth for a while and then

3:24:41 ↗ finally if I was going to prioritize

3:24:43 ↗ things again any pro program that's

3:24:46 ↗ bringing in more money than spending

3:24:48 ↗ such it's Parts I I think we have to be

3:24:51 ↗ very careful again we're getting more

3:24:53 ↗ Revenue than we are expending money

3:24:56 ↗ there so why would we cut into Parks um

3:24:59 ↗ we might cut into areas where in fact

3:25:02 ↗ that isn't uring but we don't want to

3:25:04 ↗ kill the Golden Goose that's giving us

3:25:06 ↗ uh a revenue so those are just some

3:25:09 ↗ general thoughts do you mean Parks or

3:25:11 ↗ Recreation Recreation okay thank

3:25:14 ↗ you mostly take place place in our parks

3:25:17 ↗ and

3:25:24 ↗ park okay council member hunt then right

3:25:28 ↗ then

3:25:32 ↗ Joe um so I wanted to also you know

3:25:37 ↗ emphasize that our Recreation programs

3:25:39 ↗ are one of the areas where I think we

3:25:41 ↗ have both we're increasing Revenue but I

3:25:43 ↗ think there's also a lot of untapped

3:25:45 ↗ capacity

3:25:46 ↗ for additional Revenue there and jobs

3:25:50 ↗ and uh you know and a service that's

3:25:52 ↗ really valued by the community um so I

3:25:55 ↗ think potentially if we're if we're

3:25:57 ↗ thinking about you know Parks as one of

3:26:00 ↗ the the things that isn't public service

3:26:02 ↗ and therefore maybe is lower on the

3:26:04 ↗ hierarchy of needs I think we might also

3:26:07 ↗ I would advocate for using that funding

3:26:10 ↗ to make sure that we are continuing to

3:26:12 ↗ take care of our Parks if we're able to

3:26:14 ↗ generate additional revenue from

3:26:17 ↗ programming then maybe we put a Nexus

3:26:19 ↗ with the maintenance and the taking care

3:26:21 ↗ of the parks making sure that we're up

3:26:23 ↗ to date on the needs of the community in

3:26:24 ↗ terms of the facilities like the cricket

3:26:27 ↗ pitch and those sorts of things so that

3:26:28 ↗ we don't just stop that that's those

3:26:32 ↗ Services because that will be noticed

3:26:35 ↗ it's always the conundrum because they

3:26:37 ↗ are rated highly but that's because

3:26:38 ↗ we're doing a good job they

3:26:40 ↗ will that will not happen if we aren't

3:26:44 ↗ you know taking care of our or perks um

3:26:49 ↗ also I wanted to plus one on not wanting

3:26:54 ↗ to really get into the weeds and talk

3:26:57 ↗ about some of these programs that are

3:26:58 ↗ you know

3:26:59 ↗ $20,000

3:27:01 ↗ I we had earlier many many years ago

3:27:05 ↗ sometimes we would have budget

3:27:06 ↗ discussions where we would kind of look

3:27:08 ↗ at line items that were less than

3:27:11 ↗ $50,000 and um I think uh I think that

3:27:17 ↗ we could cut many many many programs

3:27:20 ↗ there'd be noticed by many people that

3:27:21 ↗ rely on those programs but really I

3:27:23 ↗ think the the big items are you know

3:27:25 ↗ looking at our contract for eper and and

3:27:28 ↗ seeing what you know what how we can

3:27:30 ↗ work with the cities that are in that

3:27:32 ↗ epher contract and you know really

3:27:34 ↗ working on those because those are the

3:27:36 ↗ the real if you look at the tiie of cost

3:27:39 ↗ those are the big costs

3:27:42 ↗ um so you know I I think that spend

3:27:48 ↗ I think that looking at those smaller

3:27:49 ↗ items um yes they there are probably

3:27:52 ↗ some savings but I I also think we need

3:27:55 ↗ to focus our advocacy and our kind of

3:27:58 ↗ policy making at the higher level items

3:28:00 ↗ um which is you know that e contract

3:28:03 ↗ definitely comes to mind I also was

3:28:06 ↗ thinking about the right the the

3:28:07 ↗ pavement management um there is you know

3:28:10 ↗ we don't want to do all of our

3:28:12 ↗ preventative maintenance or all the

3:28:14 ↗ projects across the city at once uh and

3:28:16 ↗ so we've we've really up the maintenance

3:28:20 ↗ fund and I think we might want to look

3:28:24 ↗ at look at that now that we've you know

3:28:27 ↗ adjusted and I think we have some room

3:28:29 ↗ where we could adjust that

3:28:33 ↗ down um let's

3:28:39 ↗ see yeah um yeah I I think my main my

3:28:44 ↗ main point is is around like I think

3:28:47 ↗ that for the parks and for the open

3:28:49 ↗ space I would also say

3:28:52 ↗ that that is not one that I would draw

3:28:55 ↗ down in part because I think we have it

3:28:58 ↗ gives us having that fund gives us the

3:29:00 ↗ opportunity to go for Grants and

3:29:02 ↗ leverage grants and if we don't have

3:29:04 ↗ that we can't be nimble and it's

3:29:06 ↗ ultimately kind of like an insurance

3:29:08 ↗ policy or I think of that way that

3:29:11 ↗ allows us to take advantage of

3:29:12 ↗ opportunities that we won't be able to

3:29:14 ↗ do if we don't have that and relative to

3:29:16 ↗ the whole budget it is small and I think

3:29:19 ↗ has an outsized Community benefit to

3:29:21 ↗ have that

3:29:23 ↗ there I would advocate for not trying

3:29:25 ↗ down

3:29:27 ↗ that okay right thanks um three thoughts

3:29:32 ↗ one is um plus warnings to the park

3:29:36 ↗ programs that actually generate Revenue

3:29:38 ↗ so I think anything that can pay for

3:29:41 ↗ itself you know pays for itself and

3:29:43 ↗ that's great and if we can generate a

3:29:45 ↗ surplus so much the the better so that's

3:29:47 ↗ number one number two is um an emphasis

3:29:50 ↗ on administrative costs that are um it's

3:29:54 ↗ not clear that there's um Community

3:29:56 ↗ value to them and I know there's a

3:29:59 ↗ quality of work life but let's uh let's

3:30:01 ↗ push a little bit on that so you know I

3:30:03 ↗ don't know what our workstation

3:30:05 ↗ replacement um cycle is but maybe we add

3:30:07 ↗ a year to that um you know what can we

3:30:11 ↗ do in terms of driving down some of our

3:30:13 ↗ um other uh discretionary costs you know

3:30:16 ↗ are we can we dve some cost out of

3:30:18 ↗ communications because if you look at

3:30:20 ↗ the survey a lot of people are not I we

3:30:22 ↗ spend a lot on Communications and it's

3:30:23 ↗ not sure I'm not 100% certain that that

3:30:25 ↗ really um reaches people so let's

3:30:28 ↗ evaluate that program and then finally I

3:30:31 ↗ disagree with you Barb on the on the

3:30:33 ↗ community survey it's a year old it's a

3:30:34 ↗ 2023 survey and it does have both a how

3:30:38 ↗ are we doing but it also has where

3:30:40 ↗ should your emphasis be so I I think

3:30:42 ↗ it's valid I think it you know I mean we

3:30:44 ↗ can disagree on this but I think it

3:30:45 ↗ provides us some insights on to where um

3:30:49 ↗ where the community's head is today and

3:30:51 ↗ I don't think it's in a radically

3:30:53 ↗ different place today than it was here

3:30:55 ↗ ago

3:31:00 ↗ good thank you for the conversation it's

3:31:04 ↗ been very interesting for us to hear our

3:31:07 ↗ priorities um we've been my comments

3:31:11 ↗ would probably just nibble around the

3:31:13 ↗ edges like everyone else's and we're

3:31:15 ↗ talking about a budget of 5 million or

3:31:16 ↗ six million depending on the year that

3:31:18 ↗ we're looking at so I appreciate the

3:31:20 ↗ conversation that has been focusing on

3:31:23 ↗ needs versus wants and Public Safety

3:31:26 ↗ Public Works make sure our roads work

3:31:28 ↗ Transportation um certainly are the top

3:31:30 ↗ three for me um but as we look at things

3:31:34 ↗ is it time for us to perhaps look at the

3:31:37 ↗ programs and the uh initiatives that are

3:31:40 ↗ most beneficial to those that live here

3:31:43 ↗ or pay the tax um we are involved in bu

3:31:46 ↗ of different Regional initiatives and

3:31:48 ↗ the council certainly needs to step up

3:31:50 ↗ and support the mayor in those

3:31:51 ↗ initiatives I'm not saying that we draw

3:31:53 ↗ back and um not be involved in the

3:31:56 ↗ region anymore but um

3:31:59 ↗ just a focus on what programs are most

3:32:02 ↗ beneficial to those that live here or

3:32:03 ↗ pay the tax I think helps us kind of um

3:32:07 ↗ put the programs into into a little more

3:32:09 ↗ Focus um and so uh if we look at the

3:32:14 ↗ revenue enhancements we've been talking

3:32:15 ↗ talk about and or the cuts it probably

3:32:18 ↗ still only gets us about halfway there

3:32:19 ↗ and I don't um Envy the administration's

3:32:23 ↗ position as they're trying to sort

3:32:24 ↗ through these Myriad of comments that

3:32:26 ↗ we're making along the way but um I'm

3:32:28 ↗ going to just throw out there that um

3:32:32 ↗ perhaps we need to have a conversation

3:32:34 ↗ about dipping into the ending fund

3:32:36 ↗ balance I know it's not a popular thing

3:32:38 ↗ to look at but we keep that ending fund

3:32:41 ↗ balance for times when times start to

3:32:43 ↗ get tough and after Co we had a lot of

3:32:46 ↗ support from the feds and other

3:32:48 ↗ organizations that kept our budget

3:32:51 ↗ afloat that funding is going away um but

3:32:54 ↗ can we tie a reduction in that fund if

3:32:58 ↗ we decide to do it to a particular

3:33:00 ↗ program or initiative that will improve

3:33:02 ↗ the lives of those that live here and

3:33:04 ↗ that have contributed to that fund over

3:33:07 ↗ time and so I think if we have some

3:33:11 ↗ Revenue enhancements if we do some of

3:33:13 ↗ the cuts that people have been talking

3:33:14 ↗ about keeping a priority on Public

3:33:16 ↗ Safety Public Works and transportation

3:33:19 ↗ but dip into the ending fund balance a

3:33:21 ↗ little bit um Council M March points out

3:33:24 ↗ that oftentimes we set a 15% Target but

3:33:27 ↗ we end up with 17 or 20% at the end of

3:33:30 ↗ the year I don't know that's going to

3:33:32 ↗ happen again this year but we save that

3:33:34 ↗ money on behalf of the community so that

3:33:37 ↗ we can put it toward um uh times when

3:33:41 ↗ it's tight or a specific project that we

3:33:43 ↗ think will improve the lives of those

3:33:45 ↗ who live here in taxes so that's the

3:33:48 ↗ cursory guidance that I would give to

3:33:49 ↗ the administration I know it doesn't get

3:33:51 ↗ us all the way but but those are my

3:33:54 ↗ thoughts and I would love to go a second

3:33:56 ↗ time around on everybody but I'm not

3:33:58 ↗ sure we have the time I'll let you

3:34:01 ↗ finish up and then we've got 30 minutes

3:34:03 ↗ on facilities I take the time we can we

3:34:06 ↗ can come and talk about the last piece

3:34:08 ↗ another time or you're on a roll so okay

3:34:12 ↗ I'm I'm G these are things that I had

3:34:14 ↗ written down and couldn't read my

3:34:17 ↗ so the uh Community Planning Development

3:34:21 ↗ uh we recently had um you know it's a

3:34:24 ↗ study we had analysts come and look at

3:34:26 ↗ the processes and how we can improve

3:34:28 ↗ efficiency and um I think you know that

3:34:31 ↗ combines with the fact that we do have

3:34:33 ↗ this uh new we're entering a new era of

3:34:36 ↗ Redevelopment rather than whole

3:34:38 ↗ neighborhoods being built out I think

3:34:40 ↗ that just looking at how those

3:34:42 ↗ efficiencies uh are playing out and if

3:34:45 ↗ there's if there's any potential cost

3:34:47 ↗ savings there that we could um that we

3:34:50 ↗ could uh adjust for this new reality

3:34:53 ↗ where we're no longer in with large

3:34:56 ↗ development um would be good and then

3:34:59 ↗ the second thing was just again on the

3:35:01 ↗ community uh involvement I think we have

3:35:03 ↗ a lot of really motivated community

3:35:05 ↗ members I think they would you know

3:35:08 ↗ there there are some things that they

3:35:09 ↗ would be able to um assist us with and

3:35:11 ↗ make sure that we're maintaining you

3:35:13 ↗ know and I think that uh Park and our

3:35:16 ↗ sustainability initiatives that's an

3:35:17 ↗ area where we could uh you know continue

3:35:20 ↗ on the good work of Blake green as squa

3:35:22 ↗ and getting people involved and then

3:35:23 ↗ also arts and I think that's another

3:35:25 ↗ area where we could potentially leverage

3:35:27 ↗ Community groups and community members

3:35:29 ↗ and and uh continue to make prod of

3:35:31 ↗ there it is $200,000 that's how much the

3:35:34 ↗ city paid into that fund last budget so

3:35:38 ↗ that's the order of magnitude we're

3:35:39 ↗ talking about but you know while we're

3:35:41 ↗ talking about it I think that's an area

3:35:42 ↗ where we might be able to use Community

3:35:44 ↗ enthusiasm yeah Arts the Arts yeah I

3:35:48 ↗ think that's so we've got 30 minutes to

3:35:51 ↗ go anybody want to continue on this

3:35:55 ↗ conversation it sounds like there're

3:35:57 ↗ okay so I'm gonna say let's continue

3:35:59 ↗ we'll go verb to russle myself okay you

3:36:04 ↗ need to leave I'm slowly getting ready I

3:36:06 ↗ have half but my Uber will be here at

3:36:09 ↗ two so

3:36:11 ↗ okay so uh just I want to say this real

3:36:13 ↗ tedly so nobody throw to at me but uh uh

3:36:18 ↗ there are days like yesterday when there

3:36:21 ↗ was this horrible backup on Front Street

3:36:23 ↗ that went back to back to back I think

3:36:25 ↗ there was an accident on sr900 and all

3:36:28 ↗ the traffic came you know and I have to

3:36:30 ↗ say I was just looking at it in it and

3:36:33 ↗ going what are we really going to be

3:36:35 ↗ able to accomplish in

3:36:37 ↗ transportation um so I guess very

3:36:40 ↗ tentatively and don't throw anything at

3:36:42 ↗ me but maybe we should be looking at the

3:36:45 ↗ trans

3:36:46 ↗ project listed saying which projects

3:36:52 ↗ are you said chair is getting thrown

3:36:55 ↗ apparently it's

3:36:56 ↗ laptops I don't have M to replace it so

3:37:00 ↗ yeah the chairs I could replace more

3:37:05 ↗ eair yeah so just basically what

3:37:08 ↗ projects are are really going to make a

3:37:10 ↗ difference in the in the mobility in

3:37:13 ↗ this area which you know which are uh

3:37:16 ↗ things that uh the community has asked

3:37:18 ↗ for but may not actually get us to our

3:37:20 ↗ goals so I'm just throwing that out

3:37:22 ↗ there that maybe that's something that

3:37:23 ↗ we really need because those are big

3:37:25 ↗ bucks and those are big long projects so

3:37:29 ↗ just something to think about and don't

3:37:32 ↗ throw that

3:37:34 ↗ lapop yeah

3:37:38 ↗ okay two things I'll I'll add to that um

3:37:41 ↗ and the administration will probably

3:37:43 ↗ throw chairs at me you know new Port is

3:37:46 ↗ an immense amount of money for um to me

3:37:49 ↗ not I mean it's we we've done things and

3:37:52 ↗ we've made promises to other

3:37:54 ↗ organizations and that's why we're gonna

3:37:56 ↗ we're going to spend something like $60

3:37:57 ↗ million on Newport it's not at all clear

3:37:59 ↗ to me that that's going to have any

3:38:00 ↗ impact on traffic or quality of life or

3:38:03 ↗ anything like that um I think

3:38:04 ↗ roundabouts might have a might have a

3:38:06 ↗ benefit but the rest of the $60 million

3:38:08 ↗ is so I'm plus wanting the idea that

3:38:11 ↗ maybe we revisit some of these things

3:38:13 ↗ and see how much they they still the

3:38:15 ↗ community's priorities the other thing

3:38:17 ↗ is I I want to respond um council member

3:38:19 ↗ Joe this this question about the ending

3:38:21 ↗ fund balance and uh whether we want to

3:38:25 ↗ uh take a a hit on it this comes back to

3:38:28 ↗ this issue of whether This Is The New

3:38:29 ↗ Normal or whether it's a speed right if

3:38:31 ↗ it's a speed bump I'm absolutely with

3:38:33 ↗ you if it's a new normal I'm more I'm

3:38:35 ↗ more concerned right I think that having

3:38:36 ↗ a healthy any fund balance is is always

3:38:39 ↗ great and uh and it you know and covid

3:38:42 ↗ was the the the test like going into Co

3:38:45 ↗ having healthy ending fund balance you

3:38:47 ↗ know we stressed less than we would have

3:38:48 ↗ if we had been keeping a smaller amount

3:38:51 ↗ so I'm I'm I would be concerned about

3:38:53 ↗ changing or or you know using a

3:38:56 ↗ different bogey if in fact This Is The

3:38:58 ↗ New Normal um I I do I do wonder what

3:39:03 ↗ the world will look like after

3:39:04 ↗ development comes back I had um uh sent

3:39:07 ↗ Wally a note about how the whole King

3:39:10 ↗ County was basically feeling like postco

3:39:13 ↗ the development level was had not return

3:39:15 ↗ to where it had been before because we

3:39:17 ↗ had had this conversation about the

3:39:18 ↗ incentives that we needed to have out in

3:39:19 ↗ the community but it does make me feel

3:39:21 ↗ heartened that there will be a rebound

3:39:24 ↗ eventually if everybody's complaining

3:39:26 ↗ about it right now you know maybe baffle

3:39:28 ↗ is not because baffle and Woodenville

3:39:29 ↗ are special but you know everybody else

3:39:31 ↗ I think is still complaining about it so

3:39:33 ↗ anyhow that was just my other is uh if

3:39:36 ↗ this is the new normal it's uh it's a

3:39:39 ↗ sobering

3:39:43 ↗ conversation thank you would just uh

3:39:46 ↗ plus one some the ear conversation about

3:39:49 ↗ uh parks and recck programs that create

3:39:51 ↗ Revenue they should be um given some

3:39:53 ↗ additional protection uh I'll speak to

3:39:56 ↗ Pavement management just briefly um

3:39:58 ↗ again in my earlier comments I was

3:40:00 ↗ wanting us to focus on programs

3:40:02 ↗ reductions or improvements that'll

3:40:04 ↗ improve the lives of those that live

3:40:06 ↗ here pavment Management in my mind is a

3:40:08 ↗ direct benefit to those that block our

3:40:10 ↗ streets Ada Mobility um is important in

3:40:14 ↗ public safety is important uh component

3:40:17 ↗ to that pavement management uh from my

3:40:19 ↗ point of view um I'd like us to also

3:40:22 ↗ keep in mind uh to not do any any um

3:40:27 ↗ cuts or um program reductions that might

3:40:30 ↗ reduce sales tax um I know the

3:40:33 ↗ construction sales tax is down but we

3:40:35 ↗ still have a robust retail sales tax

3:40:38 ↗ it's um that's here because we're

3:40:40 ↗ Regional Center we're in an EnV enviable

3:40:43 ↗ position of having at least some

3:40:45 ↗ reasonable semblance of a balance

3:40:47 ↗ between property tax and sales tax and

3:40:49 ↗ so um you know as you're looking at a

3:40:51 ↗ program um is it uh creating some

3:40:54 ↗ Revenue bringing in people that are

3:40:56 ↗ spending money here for sales tax that

3:40:58 ↗ helps balance the equation it's not

3:41:00 ↗ going to get us all the way but we

3:41:01 ↗ certainly don't want to um hamper any of

3:41:04 ↗ our efforts on that Revenue side thank

3:41:12 ↗ you um

3:41:15 ↗ I do believe this is the new normal

3:41:17 ↗ given that we are only going to have INF

3:41:19 ↗ F

3:41:20 ↗ development um that impacts construction

3:41:24 ↗ sales tax we also have a issue of

3:41:28 ↗ inflation which developers are slow to

3:41:32 ↗ respond to changes there because they're

3:41:34 ↗ going to have to get through permitting

3:41:36 ↗ before they can get to construction and

3:41:39 ↗ so even if inflation and interest rates

3:41:44 ↗ come down

3:41:45 ↗ we're not going to see the development

3:41:48 ↗ construction happen that will impact our

3:41:50 ↗ sales tax revenue there so E I think

3:41:53 ↗ it's definitely an issue for the next

3:41:55 ↗ two years whether it's an issue for four

3:41:59 ↗ or 10 I don't know um but right now

3:42:02 ↗ we're planning for a two-year budget so

3:42:04 ↗ I think that's pretty important to keep

3:42:06 ↗ in mind um I want to say I do agree with

3:42:09 ↗ Deputy council president D Michelle that

3:42:11 ↗ re-evaluating our transportation

3:42:13 ↗ projects that may not move the needle on

3:42:16 ↗ the issue that the community cares about

3:42:19 ↗ which is

3:42:21 ↗ congestion um is really

3:42:24 ↗ important and so I think looking at our

3:42:28 ↗ capital projects in particular in that

3:42:31 ↗ realm of what is actually G to make a

3:42:33 ↗ difference there is totally valid um and

3:42:37 ↗ then I also agree with counc member hunt

3:42:39 ↗ about looking at our CBD functions with

3:42:43 ↗ this new development pattern and

3:42:45 ↗ understanding how we best serve the

3:42:48 ↗ community in those areas um and whether

3:42:52 ↗ current consultant or engineering or

3:42:55 ↗ Staffing um not just levels but

3:42:57 ↗ positions and what they're doing is um

3:43:00 ↗ the most appropriate and the right um

3:43:03 ↗ functionality there and I obviously

3:43:05 ↗ leave that to staff but I'm saying I

3:43:07 ↗ think that's an open area for

3:43:10 ↗ conversation counil member hun and right

3:43:16 ↗ um one additional thing I was thinking

3:43:19 ↗ about is in the last in the conversation

3:43:21 ↗ we had about the um facilities in City

3:43:24 ↗ Hall it was mentioned that from some of

3:43:27 ↗ the data that was shown um in the school

3:43:29 ↗ bonds considerations was that going for

3:43:32 ↗ going for what you need at in one go uh

3:43:36 ↗ sometimes is better and so I just

3:43:38 ↗ thought that might we have a we have a

3:43:40 ↗ couple casts there but for a city hall

3:43:42 ↗ where we would either need to lease or

3:43:45 ↗ or have a a city hall facility and so um

3:43:49 ↗ I do think I think that like having that

3:43:51 ↗ long-term lease on top of our other um

3:43:55 ↗ budget considerations is also something

3:43:57 ↗ that

3:43:59 ↗ uh could factors into my thinking about

3:44:02 ↗ those two options and also is something

3:44:05 ↗ that I think um I think it was probably

3:44:07 ↗ something we would already go out to the

3:44:09 ↗ community to survey on but I do think

3:44:13 ↗ just getting a sense of if if you know

3:44:15 ↗ asking for what we need at once and then

3:44:17 ↗ avoiding that long-term lease which is

3:44:19 ↗ only going to compound all of our budget

3:44:22 ↗ deficit um would be would be something

3:44:26 ↗ that the community would

3:44:29 ↗ support um two thoughts um one is thank

3:44:33 ↗ you for bringing up the transportation

3:44:34 ↗ stuff we're not throwing stuff out other

3:44:36 ↗ than compliments um because it's right I

3:44:38 ↗ mean the things that we're talking about

3:44:40 ↗ doing are not going to move the needle

3:44:41 ↗ significantly on what the um the

3:44:43 ↗ populace is is concerned about so that

3:44:46 ↗ gives us a little bit of flexibility

3:44:48 ↗ there it's something we might want to do

3:44:50 ↗ but it won't move the needle on things

3:44:51 ↗ that they're most concerned about the se

3:44:53 ↗ but my second comment which is riffing

3:44:56 ↗ on pavment management is as kind of

3:44:58 ↗ guidance to the administration when

3:44:59 ↗ putting together the budget don't kick

3:45:01 ↗ the can down the road because um I I I

3:45:04 ↗ believe that this is the new normal so

3:45:06 ↗ um if we kick things down the road that

3:45:09 ↗ um are going to get more expensive um

3:45:11 ↗ get better with age more expensive with

3:45:13 ↗ age then we should figure figure out how

3:45:15 ↗ how to not defer them because we won't

3:45:18 ↗ have the money you know down the road

3:45:20 ↗ either and then we might as well just

3:45:21 ↗ not do them so it's a kicking the can

3:45:24 ↗ down the

3:45:25 ↗ road is a yes and a no those things that

3:45:29 ↗ can be moved down without significant

3:45:32 ↗ impact or significant costs defer those

3:45:35 ↗ things that are just going to get you

3:45:37 ↗ know worse over time um and suck it up

3:45:40 ↗ and let's do it

3:45:45 ↗ okay so this is where we stand with the

3:45:48 ↗ feedback on reductions you know whenever

3:45:52 ↗ we it gets brought up there's always a

3:45:54 ↗ concern is everybody just G to stay

3:45:56 ↗ silent and not be willing to contribute

3:45:59 ↗ I think you've heard there's some

3:46:01 ↗ political will here maybe not all in the

3:46:03 ↗ same direction but at least

3:46:07 ↗ there's there's a willingness to talk

3:46:09 ↗ about it and I will take that any day um

3:46:14 ↗ about the can you hear a tree fall in

3:46:16 ↗ the forest if no one's there can you

3:46:18 ↗ feel political will if it's all in

3:46:19 ↗ different

3:46:21 ↗ directions yeah because there's words

3:46:23 ↗ coming out we're not all walking away

3:46:25 ↗ from the question so is there anything

3:46:28 ↗ that you want us to keep talking about

3:46:31 ↗ where it

3:46:32 ↗ seems

3:46:33 ↗ clear well I mean the stuff you haven't

3:46:35 ↗ talked about which is I guess largely on

3:46:37 ↗ our shoulders is the internal services

3:46:40 ↗ so

3:46:41 ↗ HR

3:46:43 ↗ it um Finance you know those things that

3:46:47 ↗ we use every day you know what and will

3:46:50 ↗ have to come I mean there's going to be

3:46:52 ↗ no question we're going to have to come

3:46:53 ↗ with reductions in all those areas and

3:46:55 ↗ so then it's just things are

3:46:57 ↗ slower hopefully you know keep an

3:47:01 ↗ infrastructure of capable competent

3:47:03 ↗ people as long as we pay them reasonable

3:47:05 ↗ wage but things are just slower and so

3:47:08 ↗ everything will just get slower so even

3:47:11 ↗ if we're still making progress we're not

3:47:13 ↗ making progress that the speed so I'll

3:47:17 ↗ just put that out there I mean I

3:47:18 ↗ wouldn't expect you to say

3:47:21 ↗ yeah we're all we're all for you know

3:47:25 ↗ less payables being taking longer to pay

3:47:28 ↗ a bill or something but but that's

3:47:30 ↗ that's where we're heading based on this

3:47:33 ↗ conversation is that we're going to have

3:47:34 ↗ to lean in to those internal

3:47:38 ↗ services and then it is the is a couple

3:47:41 ↗ of you were mentioned it's the great big

3:47:43 ↗ question mark is is you want to have I

3:47:47 ↗ mean cyber security is a huge issue

3:47:50 ↗ there are communities All Over America

3:47:52 ↗ that have been brought to their knees

3:47:54 ↗ some of which you read about the

3:47:55 ↗ newspaper most of which you don't um and

3:47:58 ↗ so we don't want to be um you know

3:48:01 ↗ Pennywise there um but we were so

3:48:04 ↗ relyant on city-wide systems for

3:48:06 ↗ everything you know why why don't we

3:48:08 ↗ have B know online I mean there's so

3:48:11 ↗ much time energy and effort behind some

3:48:13 ↗ of this um so I that that's I guess the

3:48:17 ↗ only piece that hasn't been talked about

3:48:18 ↗ today I guess I would expect you to talk

3:48:20 ↗ about it but it's it's going to be a

3:48:23 ↗ piece of the puzzle big de

3:48:25 ↗ things um the other thing I would say on

3:48:28 ↗ that I know you had instituted a Hing

3:48:31 ↗ free and so better understanding what

3:48:35 ↗ our situation is if each of those

3:48:37 ↗ positions remains empty for this period

3:48:42 ↗ of the budget what we are at service

3:48:45 ↗ level what we are at Cost um and

3:48:48 ↗ expenditure level and if there are any

3:48:51 ↗ of those that you'd be looking to fill

3:48:55 ↗ um so it's going to be a soft at this

3:48:57 ↗ point okay um you know we're largely

3:48:59 ↗ fully staffed yeah um you know I think

3:49:03 ↗ as we see positions if it's if it's a

3:49:05 ↗ single position of a multiple position

3:49:07 ↗ one we work one Park maintenance I think

3:49:10 ↗ those will be easier you know we have a

3:49:12 ↗ couple key positions that we we just

3:49:15 ↗ have to fill we're having trouble

3:49:16 ↗ filling so if we can find someone to do

3:49:18 ↗ that we're also looking at expenditures

3:49:21 ↗ over $50,000 so there's additional

3:49:24 ↗ scrutiny Citywide be put to that um you

3:49:27 ↗ know we're we're three quarters through

3:49:29 ↗ a two-year budget so our ability to kind

3:49:32 ↗ of Slam the brakes uh even with six

3:49:34 ↗ months to go isn't a lot so we're going

3:49:37 ↗ to do our best and if there's anything

3:49:38 ↗ significant We'll advise the council

3:49:41 ↗ this we're we're what four days in five

3:49:43 ↗ days in so yet and then I think the

3:49:46 ↗ other thing that would be useful as we

3:49:49 ↗ come into more of these conversations is

3:49:52 ↗ um better understanding what the

3:49:54 ↗ 2024 um impact to General fundas where

3:49:57 ↗ you predict that to be at the end of the

3:49:59 ↗ year and just knowing what our

3:50:03 ↗ checkpoints are on that or getting more

3:50:06 ↗ information so I know there's a future

3:50:09 ↗ budget presentation to us um coming up

3:50:13 ↗ but we could also just include some of

3:50:15 ↗ that

3:50:16 ↗ timetable yeah I think it's going to be

3:50:18 ↗ a

3:50:19 ↗ monthly thing you know uh you know

3:50:22 ↗ Nathan and Susie are here and want to

3:50:24 ↗ publicly thank them both for their good

3:50:27 ↗ work getting ready for today um you know

3:50:30 ↗ they they' had in some cases what three

3:50:33 ↗ or or maybe four months worth of data on

3:50:36 ↗ a 12-month year to come to you and say

3:50:38 ↗ this is how it's going to end um and

3:50:41 ↗ that's really hard and so you know part

3:50:43 ↗ of this will be as as revenues actually

3:50:45 ↗ come in that'll also really give us a

3:50:48 ↗ better idea we wanted to give you if not

3:50:50 ↗ worst case scenario you know certainly

3:50:53 ↗ eyes wide open uh scenarios today but uh

3:50:56 ↗ our hope is is that uh some of these

3:50:59 ↗ revenues continue to perform you know

3:51:01 ↗ Costco buys a new computer system and

3:51:03 ↗ our budet problems are solved so um you

3:51:06 ↗ know we just never know but I want to

3:51:08 ↗ thank them both for their good work uh

3:51:10 ↗ getting us here today and uh I think

3:51:12 ↗ it's just probably just be a monthly

3:51:14 ↗ check in if there's anything significant

3:51:16 ↗ may we put on agenda but otherwise we'll

3:51:18 ↗ just keep your

3:51:20 ↗ posted and certainly we expect to have

3:51:22 ↗ an update to the forecast in October

3:51:24 ↗ like typically du um you know we have

3:51:27 ↗ our preliminary forecast at this point

3:51:29 ↗ as City admin bwood said with very

3:51:31 ↗ little data on the year so one you

3:51:35 ↗ know a couple of dots don't equal a

3:51:38 ↗ trend right I mean we're reading the tea

3:51:40 ↗ leaves as much as we can but um things

3:51:42 ↗ may change and so um we can expect to

3:51:45 ↗ come you can expect to have us come back

3:51:47 ↗ to you in October with more data and

3:51:49 ↗ updated forecast and we're probably

3:51:51 ↗ going to release the budget a little

3:51:52 ↗ later too it's it's been the second or

3:51:54 ↗ third week in September last few years

3:51:57 ↗ we'll probably go into the first part of

3:51:59 ↗ October this year just to make sure

3:52:01 ↗ you've got the best information possible

3:52:03 ↗ we don't want I mean as Council marks

3:52:06 ↗ has said several times today you know to

3:52:08 ↗ say whoops all of a sudden all the

3:52:11 ↗ expanses are much less than we thought

3:52:13 ↗ whatever we want to be as accurate and

3:52:15 ↗ precise as you deliberate as possible so

3:52:17 ↗ we'll probably wait till the first month

3:52:19 ↗ of

3:52:20 ↗ October September this

3:52:23 ↗ year so um given that we are skipping

3:52:27 ↗ for now the public safety facilities

3:52:29 ↗ followup and maybe we could just do a

3:52:31 ↗ little piece of that we mayor Paul would

3:52:33 ↗ like to go forward with uh appointing a

3:52:35 ↗ task force so she's going to start

3:52:37 ↗ soliciting names to do that um you know

3:52:41 ↗ in the month of August and probably come

3:52:44 ↗ back into the council in September with

3:52:46 ↗ that uh we'll also start looking for a

3:52:48 ↗ firm to help us on the survey public

3:52:51 ↗ relations piece of that um the last

3:52:55 ↗ piece which I will in the time today

3:52:57 ↗ we'll bring to you we'll talk figure

3:52:59 ↗ this out over the next several days is

3:53:03 ↗ uh our intentions to move forward with a

3:53:05 ↗ lease with the with the county for uh

3:53:08 ↗ court services that deserves more time

3:53:11 ↗ and attention than you have at this

3:53:13 ↗ point in the day um but we feel strongly

3:53:15 ↗ that that makes sense we feel strongly

3:53:18 ↗ that to not do that there are additional

3:53:20 ↗ costs to invest in a building that we

3:53:22 ↗ have more future potential use for and

3:53:25 ↗ so that's also something that is

3:53:27 ↗ Weighing on us so we'll we'll start the

3:53:30 ↗ task force selection we'll start the

3:53:32 ↗ process looking for a firm uh but we'll

3:53:34 ↗ come back to you Auto Monahan had a

3:53:36 ↗ family issue come up today so she was on

3:53:38 ↗ aable to join us and it'd be really good

3:53:40 ↗ to have her be part of that discussion

3:53:42 ↗ so uh likely not on August 5th but

3:53:46 ↗ perhaps then for in September uh we'll

3:53:48 ↗ just put it on the council's

3:53:53 ↗ agenda would we make would we get a

3:53:56 ↗ better sense of what council chambers by

3:53:59 ↗ that well we're also we're also trying

3:54:01 ↗ to sort through that um you know we've

3:54:03 ↗ we've talked to the school district

3:54:05 ↗ about a couple different options one is

3:54:07 ↗ their former uh board Chambers on their

3:54:11 ↗ hly Street campus uh they also have

3:54:14 ↗ their existing

3:54:15 ↗ Chambers um on the other side well this

3:54:19 ↗ on this side of town that that way um

3:54:22 ↗ and there maybe opportunities to use

3:54:23 ↗ that uh We've also talked about you know

3:54:26 ↗ the council chambers are a TV studio and

3:54:28 ↗ so is there another option either on

3:54:31 ↗ property we own uh or something else so

3:54:34 ↗ we've not quite vetted through all of

3:54:36 ↗ that um so a little bit more time would

3:54:38 ↗ be

3:54:40 ↗ helpful um one more comment and then I

3:54:42 ↗ know we have to get public comment to

3:54:44 ↗ well and I know you have to go um I'm

3:54:47 ↗ fine I'm fine my person's not going to

3:54:48 ↗ be here till a couple minutes after two

3:54:49 ↗ any just letting you know be done well

3:54:53 ↗ so just U question really I guess is is

3:54:57 ↗ I'm not understanding what we're taking

3:54:59 ↗ to this community Tas course what what

3:55:02 ↗ what are we asking them to do what

3:55:04 ↗ proposals are we asking them to bet we

3:55:06 ↗ don't even

3:55:07 ↗ have we haven't really decided

3:55:10 ↗ on have we that what we want on this

3:55:14 ↗ well and I and I and mayor Paulie's not

3:55:16 ↗ here to to add to this but I think we

3:55:19 ↗ want to basically say here's the work

3:55:21 ↗ that's been done so far here's some

3:55:22 ↗ outstanding questions what's your

3:55:24 ↗ feedback and then come back to the

3:55:25 ↗ council so they're not really it's not

3:55:28 ↗ like the school district they're not

3:55:29 ↗ recommending a bond TST I think they

3:55:32 ↗ likely recommend a package based on what

3:55:35 ↗ is before them which will be um City

3:55:38 ↗ Hall being updated uh the fire station

3:55:42 ↗ um and then a new profal City Hall

3:55:45 ↗ facility so let let us we could we'll

3:55:48 ↗ work on a more specific charge and we

3:55:50 ↗ come back to the council in September

3:55:52 ↗ and so if the council wants to talk

3:55:53 ↗ about it we'll put that on agenda so

3:55:56 ↗ you're taking the community temperature

3:55:58 ↗ as to how big of a package or small of

3:56:00 ↗ the package they might be willing to

3:56:02 ↗ support and and talk further about right

3:56:05 ↗ and we'll have and we'll we'll ask the

3:56:07 ↗ council to allocate resources for a

3:56:09 ↗ third party firm to come and do some

3:56:11 ↗ survey work but then we come back to

3:56:12 ↗ that task force as well

3:56:16 ↗ I just

3:56:17 ↗ don't you know I still feel like we

3:56:20 ↗ should be looking at a bigger picture

3:56:21 ↗ that's just why you know I'm not

3:56:24 ↗ speaking for anybody else

3:56:25 ↗ but I just feel like the conversation

3:56:28 ↗ has been way too narrow we not looking

3:56:30 ↗ at enough options and I don't want a

3:56:33 ↗ community task force to just be

3:56:36 ↗ presented with here's what we want you

3:56:37 ↗ to do do you like it or don't you like

3:56:40 ↗ it I want them to be presented with here

3:56:43 ↗ are some there's some several options

3:56:46 ↗ how would you give us feedback on that

3:56:49 ↗ and they'll have the benefit of all the

3:56:50 ↗ work that you all have done last you

3:56:53 ↗ know six seven eight months so let let's

3:56:57 ↗ ra again the hour of the day we'll we'll

3:56:59 ↗ put together a charge when the mayor has

3:57:02 ↗ the group selected um and then the

3:57:04 ↗ council wants to talk further about it

3:57:06 ↗ at that

3:57:10 ↗ point talk about it right

3:57:12 ↗ now sorry sorry we can have this

3:57:15 ↗ conversation offline too bit but I would

3:57:17 ↗ hope that we would do something broader

3:57:19 ↗ than we usually do with tax for uh can

3:57:21 ↗ we have a representative from every

3:57:23 ↗ neighborhood can we make this a a real

3:57:26 ↗ Community task force I know we don't

3:57:28 ↗ want the school district had 60 people

3:57:30 ↗ we don't want to probably do that but

3:57:33 ↗ could we get it to 20 25 people and

3:57:35 ↗ really represent uh not only every

3:57:38 ↗ neighborhood but every demographic and

3:57:40 ↗ isqu we really make this a community

3:57:44 ↗ task force and I'm I'm happy to share

3:57:47 ↗ your thoughts with mayor Paulie I'm

3:57:49 ↗ watch the last this and I can share it

3:57:51 ↗ with her as well you know but I just uh

3:57:54 ↗ I'm

3:57:55 ↗ feeling not real um confirmed that this

3:57:59 ↗ is the time to go forward with this but

3:58:02 ↗ anyway that's and that may be one of the

3:58:04 ↗ outcomes but honestly survey results and

3:58:08 ↗ community board feedback um so that'll

3:58:11 ↗ be two pieces of that remarks so I will

3:58:14 ↗ will give an example to to further I I

3:58:16 ↗ share some some of your concerns I don't

3:58:17 ↗ know about school district size group

3:58:20 ↗ but um any example of the breadth of a

3:58:24 ↗ conversation that I suspect would not be

3:58:26 ↗ in the cards would be I have been told

3:58:28 ↗ Time and Time Again by longstanding

3:58:30 ↗ members of the community that the green

3:58:32 ↗ area to the north of the community

3:58:35 ↗ center was the intended next location

3:58:37 ↗ for a city hall I don't have any

3:58:41 ↗ confidence that that will be part of the

3:58:42 ↗ conversation as to whether we value that

3:58:44 ↗ space as a green space or whether that

3:58:46 ↗ could be a city hall but it's certainly

3:58:47 ↗ enough land um and that's that was how

3:58:51 ↗ the community felt 25 years ago I don't

3:58:54 ↗ know how the community feels today but

3:58:56 ↗ that would be an example of if you're

3:58:57 ↗ gonna have a broad conversation add that

3:59:00 ↗ to the conversation Right add holding on

3:59:02 ↗ to the property at City Hall Northwest

3:59:05 ↗ and figuring out if we want to do

3:59:06 ↗ something with that and I just don't

3:59:08 ↗ know if you if you engage a community

3:59:10 ↗ group right now if those sorts of

3:59:12 ↗ degrees of freedom are going to be

3:59:14 ↗ solution space to use a n so I've heard

3:59:17 ↗ that we will talk about that as

3:59:18 ↗ leadership about how we can incorporate

3:59:21 ↗ a conversation about it so that

3:59:23 ↗ everybody gets okay I just want to give

3:59:25 ↗ some specific examples because I agree

3:59:26 ↗ with you broadly that if you have a

3:59:28 ↗ narrow conversation with the community

3:59:30 ↗ it's not as valuable as a more broad

3:59:32 ↗ conversation those are examples of what

3:59:34 ↗ would be part

3:59:35 ↗ ofation I'm just gonna add that I

3:59:39 ↗ agree options and we have kind of gone

3:59:43 ↗ down a certain PA but I do think opening

3:59:45 ↗ it up like what if they what if the fire

3:59:48 ↗ department um on Sunset was remodeled in

3:59:51 ↗ place yes there are consequences that

3:59:54 ↗ but what if the cost versus moving it to

3:59:56 ↗ the the process relocation so I think

3:59:59 ↗ options is important so wanted to

4:00:03 ↗ us great we will make sure that

4:00:05 ↗ conversation happens um take a moment

4:00:09 ↗ for public comment hey we're right on

4:00:12 ↗ time 155

4:00:15 ↗ um I we don't have anybody in the

4:00:18 ↗ audience here I see a hand up there so

4:00:21 ↗ Tammy if you could facilitate

4:00:24 ↗ that con you should be able to um unmute

4:00:27 ↗ yourself put your camera on if you'd

4:00:31 ↗ like okay well I thought council did

4:00:35 ↗ very well even even uh pushing back on

4:00:39 ↗ the let's be let's just be a little bit

4:00:41 ↗ pregnant on the moving of the fire

4:00:43 ↗ station and I appreciate you're pushing

4:00:45 ↗ toward that conversation so there are a

4:00:48 ↗ few things that are missing to me I

4:00:51 ↗ watched the water rate uh conversation a

4:00:54 ↗ long time ago and it was huge it was

4:00:58 ↗ like 10% 10% 10% year-over-year and now

4:01:01 ↗ you're adding taxes to that and a lot of

4:01:04 ↗ that was because of the whole posos

4:01:07 ↗ thing because we had to build all these

4:01:08 ↗ new facilities in addition to what we

4:01:11 ↗ already needed to do so I'm wondering

4:01:13 ↗ about

4:01:14 ↗ um replacement funding for all the

4:01:16 ↗ Investments that the city has had to do

4:01:18 ↗ to its water structure and if people are

4:01:21 ↗ looking if we think we're going to get

4:01:23 ↗ some of that money to refund some of the

4:01:26 ↗ water rates that the community has had

4:01:29 ↗ to pay uh that was one two is

4:01:39 ↗ you break up I don't know if you walked

4:01:42 ↗ into a different area

4:01:45 ↗ no I'm standing in the exact same spot

4:01:50 ↗ okay try turning

4:01:51 ↗ your and let's see if we can hear you

4:01:55 ↗ better okay video off okay is that gonna

4:01:59 ↗ be any better

4:02:02 ↗ okay I don't know where you lost me um

4:02:05 ↗ posos I was talking about refunding some

4:02:08 ↗ of the money from uh posos by some sort

4:02:11 ↗ of uh reimbursement and whether that was

4:02:15 ↗ going to happen and then I moved on to

4:02:18 ↗ uh Parks recreational revenue and in the

4:02:21 ↗ past whenever I've seen Parks

4:02:23 ↗ recreational Revenue I don't see it

4:02:25 ↗ burdened with capital and you don't it's

4:02:28 ↗ not really uh

4:02:31 ↗ profit profit unless you burden it with

4:02:34 ↗ some share of the capital and the fees

4:02:36 ↗ are reimbursing the capital expenditure

4:02:39 ↗ that you have to have in order to

4:02:41 ↗ provide the facility for your program s

4:02:44 ↗ and so I very rarely see any detailed

4:02:48 ↗ information um from how Parks does their

4:02:51 ↗ books but uh that needs to be added in

4:02:54 ↗ before you decide that this is you're

4:02:56 ↗ actually making money yeah you're

4:02:58 ↗ feeding money into the pot but is it the

4:03:01 ↗ right amount of money I don't know and

4:03:04 ↗ then as a community member who watches

4:03:07 ↗ the over enthusiasm of the city as well

4:03:11 ↗ as the agony of no the is going away uh

4:03:15 ↗ we have wasted more money in

4:03:18 ↗ overenthusiastic duplication of planning

4:03:22 ↗ of varying roads projects we have

4:03:24 ↗ partially done Gilman we've done Newport

4:03:27 ↗ Way like I don't know three times or we

4:03:29 ↗ on our third time uh parks department

4:03:33 ↗ started with planning three different

4:03:35 ↗ Master plans all simultaneously and then

4:03:37 ↗ got whacka mold instead into um Federal

4:03:42 ↗ funding parks and dropped those planning

4:03:45 ↗ processes and it's all a waste so I

4:03:50 ↗ don't know how to pull people back from

4:03:53 ↗ the enthusiasm of look we're getting a

4:03:56 ↗ little bit of money so we need to do a

4:03:58 ↗ whole bunch at once when we don't seem

4:04:00 ↗ to have the capacity to finish it and

4:04:02 ↗ it's millions and millions and millions

4:04:04 ↗ and millions of dollars so where and how

4:04:09 ↗ can y'all restrain yourselves and the

4:04:11 ↗ city restrain itself in their enthusiasm

4:04:16 ↗ and instead think to oneself here's a

4:04:19 ↗ department we're going to give it one

4:04:21 ↗ good Capital project a year that it can

4:04:24 ↗ actually do and complete it and I can

4:04:28 ↗ tell you if you started doing that I

4:04:30 ↗ think the community would be more

4:04:32 ↗ interested in giving money because we're

4:04:35 ↗ really tired of watching the same things

4:04:37 ↗ being planned all over again and never

4:04:39 ↗ getting a result from them and then

4:04:41 ↗ things pop up like wow we needed new

4:04:43 ↗ city administration building instead of

4:04:46 ↗ anything that we really feel like we

4:04:47 ↗ want it's frustrating out here in the

4:04:50 ↗ world of ever increasing taxes it's

4:04:53 ↗ expensive and then we pay money for

4:04:55 ↗ affordable housing when we can't afford

4:04:57 ↗ our own homes because they cost so much

4:04:59 ↗ and you never talk about us and uh so I

4:05:02 ↗ think you start to need to talk about

4:05:04 ↗ the people who live here and the burden

4:05:07 ↗ of the cost that you're looking to add

4:05:09 ↗ on to the people who live here because

4:05:10 ↗ not everybody who lives here is super

4:05:12 ↗ wealthy a lot of them are just getting

4:05:15 ↗ by all right was that enough of a tie

4:05:17 ↗ raade for youall fun but thank you I

4:05:20 ↗ appreciated your uh your meeting it was

4:05:22 ↗ pretty

4:05:23 ↗ entertaining thank you Connie and it

4:05:25 ↗ really did help turning the video off so

4:05:28 ↗ we appreciate that we were able to hear

4:05:30 ↗ all the I appr I appreciate it too I'm

4:05:34 ↗ pretty sweaty but the the nails are

4:05:36 ↗ mainly out in the living

4:05:39 ↗ room by thanks

4:05:41 ↗ Scotty okay I think with that I can

4:05:46 ↗ adourn our meeting at 2 o'clock thank

4:05:50 ↗ you everyone good job well

4:05:56 ↗ done better

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

Open PDF

Attendance

Council / Members (7)

Barbara de Michele

Zach Hall

Victoria Hunt

Russell Joe

Tola Marts

Chris Reh

Lindsey Walsh

Staff (8)

Mary Lou Pauly, Mayor

Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator

Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator

and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Tammy Mueller, Acting City Clerk

Dale Markey-Crimp, Assistant to the City Administrator

Susie Monsell, Budget Manager

Nathan Hatia, Financial Analyst