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City Council Committee of the Whole Auto captions

Monday, September 30, 2024

7:00 PM · Council Chambers, 135 E. Sunset Way, Issaquah WA
Topic tracked across meetings:
Public Safety Facilities Follow-Up: Leasing, Next Steps COM 0074 2/2
3. AGENDA ITEMS
3a
Public Safety Facilities Follow-Up: Leasing, Next Steps COM 0074
Director · 45 min · Autumn Monahan, Administrative Services · packet pp.5–21
Topics: Public Safety
Staff report:
Administration recommends: • Finalizing lease negotiations with King County District Court to relocate Issaquah Municipal Court in early 2025. • Research and finalize relocation options (including leasing) for City Council Chambers for a move in 2025. • Proceed with consultant selection and contracting to support plan refinement, task force facilitation, and community outreach.
3b
2025-26 Budget: Transmittal of Preliminary Budget COM 0075
10 min · Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator · packet pp.23–27
Topics: Budget
Staff report:
Pursuant to RCW 35.33.051 which requires cities to transmit a list of estimated expenditures and revenues for the next budget year, attached is the preliminary budget. The preliminary budget differs from the proposed budget, which the Administration anticipates transmitting to City Council by October 28, and includes a high level (by fund)
0:07 okay welcome everyone I council
0:10 president Walsh call the September 30th
0:13 special Committee of the whole meeting
0:15 to order at 7:15 p.m. as a reminder we
0:19 continue to have a remote aspect to our
0:21 meetings and both staff and members of
0:23 the public may be participating in
0:26 tonight's meeting remotely via WebEx
0:30 and on
0:32 tonight's um
0:35 meeting we are going to start with
0:38 public
0:39 comment and so if you
0:43 are um members of the public May address
0:45 council at this time in person or
0:47 virtually those who signed up in advance
0:49 to make comments will be called on first
0:50 if you're joining us virtually and would
0:53 like to make a comment please raise your
0:55 virtual hand if you're on the phone
0:58 you're going to press star three if if
1:00 you're on a computer or smart device
1:02 look for the hand icon or you can send
1:04 the host a chat message um I would say
1:07 if you're in the room and did not sign
1:09 up I'll ask for speakers but there's
1:11 nobody in the room so so far that's not
1:14 happening um but I will wait a moment
1:16 just to see if anyone online wishes to
1:20 raise their hand and in doing so I will
1:23 check with Clerk and see if anyone has
1:25 signed up to speak or indicated a desire
1:28 speak coun president no one has signed
1:31 up previously to speak and among our
1:33 online attendees I do not see any
1:35 virtual hands raised at this time okay
1:38 well as a reminder written comments
1:41 always can be submitted at any time by
1:43 emailing city council isqua
1:48 w.gov okay so looking at our agenda then
1:53 after public comment we've got two
1:55 agenda items Comm 0074 Public Safety
1:59 facility followup leasing in next steps
2:02 and then we'll have Comm 0075 the 2025
2:06 2026 budget transmitt of preliminary
2:09 budget so we will start with the public
2:11 safety facilities follow-up presented by
2:13 otum Manan the administrative Services
2:26 director good evening Council again my
2:28 name is autum manahan I'm the
2:29 ministrative Services director for the
2:31 city and our department includes
2:33 facilities I also have two folks online
2:36 with me as well tonight our court
2:38 administrator Christy sha and our
2:40 administrative services manager Genie
2:43 justice so the purpose of tonight's
2:45 presentation is to provide information
2:47 regarding court and Council chamber
2:49 relocation provide proposed next steps
2:51 for Public Safety facilities work and
2:53 receive your
2:56 feedback direction that we're looking
2:58 for this evening is should admin
2:59 Administration proceed with lease
3:01 negotiations and relocation for the
3:03 isqua municipal court and for city
3:05 council chambers and should
3:07 Administration proceeded with a
3:08 consultant selection to support plan
3:10 refinement task force facilitation and
3:12 community
3:15 outreach so starting with Municipal
3:17 Court uh earlier this year
3:19 Administration proposed moving our first
3:22 puzzle piece in our very large puzzle of
3:25 moving isqua uh uh Municipal Court to
3:29 the King County district court office
3:30 which is across town uh amazingly they
3:33 have space and they are willing and
3:36 excited to lease uh that space to us um
3:39 this will help in um several ways one is
3:41 addressing our space function and best
3:43 practice issues that we've talked about
3:45 uh previously around operating a
3:47 municipal court in this building as well
3:49 as this building's
3:50 deficiencies uh it will greatly improve
3:53 customer service and operations by
3:54 collocating these two courts in one
3:57 building um first off the building was
3:59 built to be a court so that's great uh
4:01 secondly uh we do have customers that
4:03 come here looking for district court or
4:05 go across town and are looking for
4:06 municipal court so collocating them is
4:09 something that's exciting to both courts
4:10 that we would have um one
4:12 place uh this option also enhances
4:15 physical safety and accessibility they
4:17 have a full-time Security on site they
4:19 also have holding cells uh provides
4:22 secure meeting rooms for confidential
4:24 Council and provides flexibility for
4:26 service growth
4:32 so uh we are not able to proceed any
4:35 further with lease negotiations with
4:36 King County until we get uh some form of
4:39 commitment from the council uh the
4:41 county is starting to um spend money as
4:43 they're working toward developing a
4:45 proposed lease for us and are looking
4:46 for uh some form of commitment which is
4:48 why we're here tonight of whether we can
4:50 proceed with negotiations on a
4:52 lease uh you'll see here there's uh
4:55 one-time costs for tenant improvements
4:57 that includes Furniture um equipping the
4:59 new courtroom with our it equipment
5:02 signage uh and if we do move council
5:04 chambers you'll need a new dis so we've
5:07 uh estimated that at
5:10 $750,000 there's also um annual costs so
5:14 the proposed rent for the space at King
5:16 County District Court is $200,000 a year
5:19 that includes the security uh also uh
5:22 council chambers that is still TBD I
5:25 think there's you know a few options we
5:27 can pursue if you're interested in us
5:28 looking at that whether it's
5:30 uh looking at our own facilities for a
5:32 place for council chambers or partnering
5:34 perhaps with another agency in town um
5:37 so we have we are still researching that
5:39 and there's more to come internet
5:41 service would cost a bit of money for
5:44 two new locations and then we put on
5:46 here an estimate of how much uh it costs
5:48 to currently operate this building along
5:50 with the security cost for court at
5:54 $135,000 so in total uh you know we'd be
5:57 spending another
5:58 $95,000 per year year on court um pretty
6:02 similar as far as the costs except as of
6:05 course we've got the operational and
6:06 Security benefits of moving to King
6:08 County I also did want to mention um
6:12 when we first looked at perhaps building
6:14 a new court back in 2023 the estimated
6:17 cost for construction would be4 to $18
6:21 million if we proceed with this option
6:24 the building would essentially be
6:25 shuttered um for the time being the next
6:28 step is we'd have to move a lot of it
6:29 infrastructure out of this building and
6:31 then also demolish it at some point um
6:34 that could be the next phase of this
6:35 project and that could also be funded
6:36 with a potential Bond measure which
6:38 we'll talk about later in the
6:42 presentation so the cost of status quo
6:46 uh this building needs some immediate uh
6:49 near-term improvements uh we have a lot
6:52 of issues with moisture in this building
6:54 so it needs a new roof it needs a
6:56 complete envelope uh replacement for the
6:58 building it needs new HVAC new doors and
7:02 flooring uh it also has some Ada needs
7:04 that we should start making some
7:05 progress on if this is going to be a
7:07 public facility in the long term so
7:09 we've estimated those costs at about a
7:10 million
7:11 dollars uh and then again I put on here
7:13 the annual costs of
7:15 $135,000 again status quo means no
7:18 enhancements as far as the functional
7:19 needs that you've heard from court or
7:21 for us to ensure the provision of
7:25 Justice uh another quick item to mention
7:27 is that um during the first big rainfall
7:29 fall we had about a month ago we started
7:32 seeing some leaking outside of this room
7:34 here and so we are making some um
7:37 temporary improvements and uh just
7:40 really a Band-Aid for the situation it's
7:42 going to cost about
7:43 $55,000 those will continue as we are
7:45 kind of banding this building and kind
7:47 of limping along with it so um that's
7:49 what you've seen out here if you've seen
7:50 some work happening for this building
7:52 it's just for some uh Patchwork just to
7:54 ensure that we're not having some leaks
7:56 come through
8:02 so we have been discussing space
8:04 planning um with the council for um a
8:07 couple years now and uh we had a few
8:09 tours this summer an Administration came
8:12 uh to council with a proposal the
8:14 feedback we've summarized here so uh
8:16 police space and functional needs are
8:18 the highest priority most uh seem
8:20 supportive of relocating the court there
8:23 were some mixed thoughts on the best
8:24 location for a new fire station
8:26 71 uh desire for a Clear Vision for City
8:29 Hall uh heard some support for an
8:32 Oldtown campus using our city-owned
8:34 property um there was some discussion
8:37 around Leasing and a preference that it
8:40 would be shortterm if any for City Hall
8:42 space uh an interest in expansion of a
8:44 potential bond package to include City
8:46 Hall Andor other facility needs a need
8:49 for input from a diverse task force on
8:52 plans and potential Bond packages as
8:54 well as broad Community engagement
8:56 support for improved maintenance of
8:58 existing facilities and addressing the
9:00 facility condition assessment
9:01 deficiencies and then more discussion
9:03 desired in overall facility
9:12 planning so uh jeie justice and I have
9:15 been meeting with a few uh Consultants
9:18 who have experience in facilitating task
9:22 force or uh you know agencies through uh
9:25 Bond
9:26 conversations as well as kind of that
9:28 next level of work that we need for the
9:30 police department so we've given you
9:32 very rough order of magnitude estimates
9:34 for what we think would be needed for
9:36 that building but it's time to now
9:38 actually dive into what that scope is um
9:40 and learn a bit more about best
9:42 practices um what's the latest and
9:44 greatest on safety for police um what
9:47 are those Trends and also accommodating
9:48 any future growth and so uh we're
9:51 looking for that next kind of diving a
9:53 bit more into the details so we have a
9:54 better idea of the cost of that and we
9:57 found a few Consultants who can do both
9:59 which would be preferred that we've got
10:00 one consultant team that can help us
10:02 with some of that engagement as well as
10:04 diving into really further scoping uh
10:06 the police department so we're proposing
10:09 to develop a task force that would be
10:10 appointed by the mayor estimating seven
10:12 members three alternates uh this group
10:15 would research and look at our work to
10:17 date on the city's facility needs they
10:19 would review other potential locations
10:21 for fire station 71 and City Hall
10:24 evaluate options for a potential bond
10:26 package and then provide feedback on a
10:28 community Eng engagement plan along with
10:30 a survey and then deliver a
10:31 recommendation back to the city
10:39 council so as a recap the timeline would
10:42 include us engaging with the consultant
10:44 now and recruiting for the task force uh
10:47 as well as negotiating and further
10:48 negotiating the uh lease terms with King
10:51 County for court then in the winter we
10:54 would refine those police renovation
10:56 that plan what it looks like hold the
10:58 task force meeting and relocate a court
11:01 and potentially council chambers
11:02 depending on what we find for space in
11:04 the spring we would have Broad and
11:06 Community engagement and a
11:07 recommendation to the council and uh if
11:09 we want to put something on the ballot
11:11 uh decision would have to be made for uh
11:15 November of 2025 it would have to be
11:17 made in the
11:21 summer with that I'm here to answer any
11:24 questions
11:30 is that
11:31 up okay fantastic we'll start with
11:34 council member hunt and then Deputy
11:35 council president thank you council
11:38 president um firstly on the Municipal
11:42 Court uh relocation you mentioned one of
11:45 the benefits being future service
11:47 flexibility could you explain a little
11:50 bit more about what you mean by
11:52 that uh we're pretty packed in this
11:55 current facility and so if we ever
11:56 wanted expand our court services to
11:58 other agencies there be more flexibility
12:00 in that facility versus this
12:03 one okay and then I'm wondering either
12:06 now if you have this or um if you could
12:09 provide this separately if you could
12:11 provide a breakdown of the
12:13 $750,000 cost for furniture um the cost
12:17 of doing the HVAC and the the um
12:21 near-term renovation to this building is
12:24 a million um and so it seems like I was
12:29 also interested when you said that
12:31 there's the dis or the facility
12:34 furniture for the court or for the
12:36 council chambers rather because that
12:38 isn't actually part of the plan to
12:41 relocate those Services there and $
12:44 750,000 for furniture and signage sure
12:47 seems like a lot relative to how much it
12:49 would cost to renovate this building um
12:52 so I would really like uh a uh breakdown
12:55 of that it it
12:58 seems and I'm I'm also interested if
13:00 there's any way to cut down those costs
13:02 um I agree that the cost of the ongoing
13:06 Services is similar between the two
13:07 options but that does seem like a lot
13:09 especially for furniture and signage
13:11 sure um okay and then lastly I I did
13:16 have a question around the plan for um
13:19 the community survey part of the uh of
13:24 the community outreach we will form a
13:26 task force is there any consideration of
13:29 are have you done any planning as far as
13:31 where a community survey might fit into
13:34 that
13:36 timeline not yet I'd like to really
13:38 engage with our community task force to
13:40 think through that engagement plan I
13:42 would definitely want to get through
13:44 most of the meetings with the task force
13:45 so that they could help with crafting
13:47 some of those questions um but I think
13:50 that's something we'd work out with the
13:51 task force as far as the timing of
13:53 that okay thank you
13:56 MH Deputy council president Follow by
13:58 council member Hall
14:01 uh thanks so a couple of questions about
14:04 the task force um it says review other
14:07 potential locations is that other
14:09 potential locations that haven't been
14:12 presented to us already uh what does it
14:15 mean other potential location for the
14:17 fire station yeah and uh fire station
14:19 and City Hall it says yeah it's we we
14:23 have identified a few locations whether
14:25 it's this building whether it's the one
14:28 where it's currently located um there
14:30 have been a few others that have been
14:32 assessed you know like the um State Park
14:34 location so there's a few others there
14:36 there isn't a whole lot of new uh
14:39 locations but there are a few and so I
14:41 think what we heard from Council too was
14:43 um wanting a bit more due diligence and
14:46 and thought behind the location as far
14:49 as a recommendation of where to
14:51 go and then it says evaluate options for
14:54 a potential bond package but it sounds
14:56 like the task force is not actually
14:58 going to to make the bond package is
15:01 that right sounds like they're going to
15:03 sort of evaluate it and then so is it
15:06 the council that will fin put the bond
15:08 package together or who's going to put
15:09 the bond P package together the task
15:11 force would recommend a bond package so
15:13 they will recommend so it isn't okay so
15:16 evaluate options for a bond package yes
15:19 okay all right and
15:21 [Music]
15:23 um um so this is just a quibble but but
15:28 if it's appointed by the mayor wouldn't
15:29 the recommendation come back to the
15:31 mayor it just I mean I've always heard
15:33 that if it's a mayor appointed sure the
15:36 they report to the mayor if it's a Count
15:38 Council appointed that they report to
15:40 the council so just a quibble there on
15:43 how that recommendation ends up and then
15:45 I think the mayor would present it to us
15:46 as part of the package that of
15:49 information that finally comes to us so
15:51 sounds good okay so those are just uh my
15:54 thoughts there so um I don't have any
15:57 questions about moving the um Court over
16:00 to the courthouse at this point Thank
16:04 You council member
16:06 Hall thank you a couple questions one I
16:09 hadn't um thought of until just now to
16:10 ask before so if we were to move council
16:13 chambers that would inherently mean
16:15 moving ictv right so is would they
16:18 follow Council or would they follow
16:19 General government wherever we decide to
16:21 lease what's the plan there uh so we
16:24 would need they would follow Council as
16:26 far as some equipment that would have to
16:27 be on site for covering Council meetings
16:30 uh we also have a like a podcast Studio
16:33 or where we've also filmed and so that
16:35 could align better with City Hall okay
16:38 understood so a little of both little of
16:41 both okay that makes sense um and then
16:43 for clarity you know one of the benefits
16:46 that was reiterated to us frequently was
16:49 that this site is so close to the jail
16:51 and so there's a lot of efficiencies
16:53 there
16:55 the but that's the there's the same
16:57 benefit of having the hold cell at King
16:59 County District Court is that right did
17:00 I hear that right on our tour think of
17:03 that the same way yes exactly there's
17:05 not as much urgency because we have a
17:06 holding cell for uh for police to arrive
17:09 right away for
17:12 transport uh okay thank you and then U
17:14 my last question was um kind of around
17:17 timing for investments in this
17:20 property along the lines of what I
17:22 emailed you earlier today and thank you
17:23 for the response I was wondering if you
17:25 can kind of walk us through that a
17:27 little bit I guess I'm
17:29 is the
17:32 um I had asked what happens
17:35 if I'm seeing some nods maybe you read
17:37 the email so I guess the question for
17:39 you then is is the skinny of that really
17:41 just
17:43 if we decide to use this space in any
17:45 way let's say council chambers keeps
17:47 using it there could be un unexpected
17:50 repairs in addition to
17:53 whatever million dollar whatever large
17:56 amount of Investments we need to make in
17:57 the property is that right or is it that
17:59 for delaying that there could be un
18:01 unexpected repairs yes if we were to
18:04 delay and just keep council chambers
18:05 here we'd probably could Band-Aid it for
18:08 a bit we don't know how long until the
18:10 HVAC may break or we may have
18:13 further uh damage due to due to the roof
18:16 or due to water damage and so it's it's
18:18 just kind of it's um it's a bit of a
18:23 risk but but we you know we could
18:25 bandaid it for a while what about the
18:26 Ada improvements is there a timeline to
18:29 Implement that or is that something be
18:31 delayed I mean what are the what are the
18:33 regulations around that from my
18:35 understanding I I believe it can be
18:37 delayed it's just we we have a really
18:39 long Ada plan right and I know the
18:42 priorities are facilities that are open
18:44 to the community for accessibility and
18:46 so it was important to us to include
18:48 that if this was going to be a long-term
18:50 facility that the community needed to
18:52 access whether for court or for council
18:53 chambers those upgrades need to be made
18:56 all right makes sense thank you
19:00 um council member
19:03 Mars couple couple of questions um how
19:06 are we going to constitute the community
19:08 task
19:10 force what do you mean as far as select
19:13 the members there going to be seven
19:15 people with three alternates how are we
19:17 going to figure out I mean I think about
19:20 um all the constituencies in the city
19:23 sure and I've been lucky enough to be
19:25 involved in task forces on the school
19:27 district side
19:29 and they represent every Elementary
19:31 School and every middle school and every
19:33 high school and the sports people and so
19:36 on and so forth I mean just to think off
19:38 the top of my head Mobility Advocates
19:40 Transit Advocates Equity Advocates and
19:44 you could probably come up with
19:46 15 um constituencies in the city um that
19:50 would have a potential interest in uh in
19:54 this task force work so uh how are we
19:58 going to how going to figure out 7 plus
20:01 3 I would love your feedback that we can
20:04 um also share with the mayor as far as
20:06 what you'd like to see as far as
20:08 representation um and any feedback too
20:11 on the size this was this was just a um
20:14 taking from some of Dale's work recently
20:16 with the Strategic plan task force um
20:18 ensuring that it doesn't get too big
20:20 right but that you also have enough
20:21 voices and and perspectives in the room
20:24 so sure I I will tell you that the
20:27 reason that the school district has a
20:31 sterling reputation in getting bonds
20:33 passed is they have something for
20:36 everyone and the reason that they have
20:38 something for everyone is they bring
20:40 everyone to the table and and they don't
20:43 leave until everyone at the table it
20:45 says okay yeah I got something here
20:47 right so uh you know previous Capital
20:53 efforts that we have put forward there
20:55 have been concerns about whether those
20:58 uh the projects that we put forward were
21:01 reflective of the community interest so
21:03 you know my general advice would be to
21:05 air on the side of larger more than
21:07 smaller I know that too many cooks spoil
21:10 the broth but I I really do feel like
21:13 the district um my experience with the
21:15 district
21:17 having I I hate to say everything but
21:19 the kitchen you know everything in the
21:20 kitchen sink but really more is more in
21:24 in that situation the other question I
21:26 had for you is why fall 2025 your your
21:29 model presupposes that if there's going
21:31 to be a bond it would be fall of 2025 do
21:34 we particularly like the November
21:35 election of 20125 because it's the it's
21:38 the municipal election right we have we
21:39 have municipal election we have federal
21:41 and state elections a year off of that
21:44 and then we could run on a different
21:46 date that is neither of those right and
21:48 those all have strengths and weaknesses
21:50 associated with them so have we looked
21:52 at fall of 2025 and we like fall of 2025
21:55 for some reason so I selected that date
21:57 for this dra timeline just the way get
21:59 the work going with some flexibility
22:02 that it could be you could pick a
22:04 different date that would be in
22:06 2026 but I that's probably the soonest
22:08 that we can do this work engage a task
22:10 force in the community better Define the
22:12 scope and and be ready I I would look
22:15 carefully at at the history of bonds and
22:19 levies both at Municipal elections and
22:23 at the federal state elections and in
22:25 off cycle and see uh
22:29 what that looks like in terms of voter
22:31 turnout and whether you get as broad of
22:33 a cross-section um in each of those as
22:35 as others I I think you will find
22:37 differences between them
22:41 thanks council member Ray one real
22:43 simple question can you talk a little
22:45 bit more about the relocation of council
22:47 chambers because that one kind of threw
22:49 me a little bit and I'm kind quite sure
22:51 what what we're thinking or where we're
22:53 thinking of going or what the drivers
22:54 are y y y sure so our goal is if we're
22:58 success moving court and if we are able
23:00 to reduce the other uses of this
23:01 building we can shutter it and not spend
23:03 more money on this building uh the key
23:06 is finding an adequate spot for council
23:08 chambers and so you know one option
23:10 could be that we renovate Tibbits and
23:12 make that a council chambers uh another
23:15 is looking to maybe other agencies or
23:17 places that may have something similar
23:18 to this setup to see if there's
23:20 flexibility um in in finding space so
23:24 for example uh the school district has
23:26 its old boardroom that's now at a uh
23:29 preschool that's not used in the evening
23:31 so is that an option so we're we're
23:33 looking at all options right now I don't
23:36 have a recommendation yet of which one
23:37 is the best uh but we can continue that
23:39 work if if council is interested great
23:42 um I I think it's worth exploring but so
23:45 it is uh dis integrated from the move of
23:50 the Court those are two separate and
23:53 discret decisions two puzzle pieces yes
23:56 two discret decisions
24:02 council member Joe thank you Autumn
24:05 thanks for the presentation tonight I
24:07 know you're playing Tetris with giant
24:09 pieces um and giant dollars U the
24:13 question I had also concern the council
24:15 chambers and whether or not um what are
24:18 the minimum requirements that we would
24:20 need do we actually have to have cable
24:23 TV and cameras there or are we able to
24:26 just record the meeting and post it
24:29 later if so can we take a look at a
24:31 skinny down version so to speak of
24:34 council chambers where uh cameras and
24:37 the cable TV are not necessarily all
24:39 traveling with us as one big Caravan
24:41 just a question we can look into that
24:43 further if we do move council chambers
24:46 these cameras come with us and a lot of
24:47 the equipment would come with us so Tim
24:49 has started some of that work with it to
24:51 figure out what that would look like and
24:53 and what those costs are too
24:55 so so if we move to tiot for
24:58 example um would we have to have the
25:02 cameras there with us or could we do a
25:04 skinny down version so that we're not
25:07 having to move all that equipment um you
25:10 know with us as part of the
25:12 move it would be better production value
25:14 if we had the cameras that's maybe my
25:16 communications bias I understand
25:19 production value I know that we all like
25:21 being on TV but I think our citizens
25:24 also understand we're trying to make
25:26 this as costeffective as possible
25:28 possible too so I'll just if you could
25:30 just explore whether or not what the
25:32 minimums are for a meeting so we can
25:34 evaluate that as part of the process I
25:35 think is the underlying question what's
25:37 important to me too is is audio and a
25:40 lot of times being having a good camera
25:41 angle on people as they're speaking is
25:43 helpful too so I would just I would
25:47 caution toward not having cameras for a
25:50 council meeting and for that production
25:51 value just for the clarity for our TV
25:54 channel you know for we do we do get a
25:56 lot of views still on YouTube for
25:58 Council meetings and so having that that
26:00 production value I think is important
26:02 yeah um as part of my work I listen to a
26:05 lot of Council meetings and see some of
26:07 them too and I do agree that the ones
26:09 where there is only audio and no video
26:13 it's a little bit difficult to follow
26:15 but I've gotten really good at
26:16 understanding or hearing the Cadence and
26:19 the particular way that different
26:22 council members speak and so I can know
26:25 who's talking and you know it's just
26:28 something that's acquired over time but
26:31 so I'm just saying that the cameras may
26:32 not be a necessity along the way and
26:34 just ask you look in the into the um
26:37 skinny down version thank you City
26:39 administrator uh yes thank you good
26:41 evening um from the administration
26:43 standpoint the cameras are really
26:44 important we already have lovely cameras
26:47 here um what we are doing here is a
26:49 television show and so we really want to
26:52 make sure that we are as accessible as
26:55 possible because as I think we all know
26:57 we don't see a lot of folks come visit
26:58 but we do see people we see the numbers
27:00 on YouTube uh people are watching the
27:03 meetings and so we want to make sure
27:04 that wherever we go we have that ability
27:07 we can take all these lovely cameras
27:09 with us so there's no additional cost in
27:12 investment in in infrastructure
27:13 obviously the cost of moving and whatnot
27:16 uh but from the administration
27:17 standpoint we would not ever want to
27:18 just go to audio we think that this is a
27:20 much too engaged Community we have great
27:22 presentations I think what we've been
27:24 able to do Post pandemic uh to combine
27:27 both the video speaker and the
27:29 Powerpoints I think has been great um so
27:31 while I appreciate council member Joe's
27:33 concern about cost and skining down from
27:36 the administration standpoint uh we want
27:38 to continue to produce
27:40 a public public meeting that our
27:42 residents can can watch and enjoy and
27:44 hopefully get something out because
27:46 they're certainly not coming and joining
27:48 us in person on Monday evenings very
27:52 often if you could just look into the
27:54 question give us some numbers i' would
27:56 appreciate it thank you
27:59 any other
28:01 questions no okay let me go down my list
28:07 um I'm wondering if we have any other
28:09 information about how other communities
28:12 handled their timelines to me it seems
28:15 like a decision by Council in summer
28:20 2025 to have a ballot measure in
28:24 November of 2025 seems rather late
28:28 um and so I'm wondering if as we go
28:31 through this process we can get that
28:34 information um to better understand
28:38 that
28:42 see and then uh what is the timeline for
28:45 the ipd cost estimates would that be
28:49 available for the task force to review
28:51 or do you think it would be coming
28:55 after gosh I think we'll have to engage
28:58 with a consultant to see what that would
28:59 be as far as a timeline it' be great if
29:01 we could have that in time for the task
29:02 force to review um but definitely in
29:05 time for us going out uh for a bond
29:09 measure
29:10 okay
29:12 okay um those were my questions so
29:16 looking at it uh opening up to public
29:19 comment again again no one in the room
29:21 but if you're online you can hit star
29:24 three on the phone or raise your hand or
29:27 send the host a chat message so we'll
29:29 see if anybody online has an interest in
29:33 making comment on the public safety
29:35 facilities follow-up item lur do we have
29:38 anybody indicating a desire to
29:40 speak not at this time council president
29:43 okay thank you very much okay Council
29:46 Direction time who wants to start us
29:49 off council member Ray you got there
29:52 first thank you I always like to go
29:53 first and then uh know Blaze the trail
29:57 um so two questions should the
29:58 administration proceed with the lease
30:00 negotiations uh and relocate municipal
30:02 court and city council chambers uh I'm
30:05 kind of a split decision on this one I
30:06 think that the argument for relocating
30:10 Municipal Port is pretty compelling and
30:12 the costs are pretty reasonable and I
30:15 think it open up opens up some
30:17 interesting new probabilities in terms
30:19 of new services so I personally am
30:21 supportive of that in terms of
30:23 relocating council chambers I understand
30:25 the desire to move council chambers if
30:28 we are the would be the sole tenant of
30:30 this building but I'd like to see a
30:32 little lot more information about um
30:36 where it would be what it would be how
30:38 it would look um you know this is
30:40 probably one of those uh questions
30:42 actually probably resonates at a very
30:44 personal level with all of us because
30:46 this is where we do our business so that
30:49 um that's kind of my my first thought um
30:51 and then I'm proceeding with the
30:53 consultant selection uh support plan
30:55 refinement task force facilitation and
30:58 community outreach um to me it seems
31:01 like we you know this is the chicken and
31:04 egg from my perspective it don't feel
31:06 like we've got a uh a solid grasp of
31:08 where we're going with the task force
31:11 and um the bond plan if there is one in
31:14 community outreach so I don't know if
31:17 it's too soon to engage with a
31:19 consultant or maybe if what you're
31:21 saying is we need the consultant so we
31:23 can um put some specificity around our
31:26 plan in that case I I think that you
31:28 should probably do that and get moving
31:31 on putting together the structure here
31:34 and I think that based on some of the
31:35 comments I heard from my colleagues
31:37 earlier you know kind of in terms of the
31:39 task force we probably should think long
31:41 and hard about how we want to
31:43 structure thank you
31:47 that's else jumping up council member
31:49 Joe thank you appreciate the hard work
31:52 that's been done on the relocation of
31:54 the esqu municipal court I think moving
31:56 them to the district court it's a great
31:59 idea um the uh facility is great it has
32:05 fantastic jury rooms and facilities for
32:08 all the things that need to be done
32:10 there um city council chambers I believe
32:13 we should um go ahead and um relocate
32:16 the council chambers and my thought
32:19 there is that that we need to you know
32:22 fish or cut bait basically and um with
32:26 the council chambers vacated and us in a
32:31 other location we can then decide how we
32:34 want to put the rest of the pieces
32:35 together keeping one foot in the boat
32:38 and one foot on the dock uh only leads
32:41 to us falling into the water uh if we're
32:43 not careful so my thought is that let's
32:46 let's go ahead and take the definitive
32:48 Act of going going ahead and moving the
32:51 council chambers and our meetings uh so
32:53 this building can be properly taken care
32:56 of and we can um give the consultant a
32:59 clean bill to look at or a clean slate
33:02 to look at and not have Council wavering
33:05 back and forth so thank
33:07 you thank you council member Joe for
33:10 those uh comments and swimming Upstream
33:13 really appreciate it uh we'll go with
33:15 council member marz yeah I love the the
33:18 doc analogy of course uh speaks to my
33:20 heart um proceeding with lease
33:23 negotiations and relocation of Isa
33:25 municipal court and city council
33:26 chambers um no um I've said before I
33:30 don't believe we should start moving the
33:31 chess pieces around until we have a more
33:34 comprehensive plan about what we're
33:36 going to do um I hate the idea of
33:38 leasing anything from anybody when we
33:40 have tons of real estate that we own in
33:42 the city um I I you know I have I have
33:46 for 13 of the last 15 years been talking
33:49 about how to get rid of tibits Valley
33:51 Manor but if by using tibits Valley
33:53 Manor we could uh not lease uh Council
33:56 chamber space some place else you know
33:59 uh our old our old Parks director an
34:03 what was Miguel would be so would be so
34:06 amused that I would be arguing in favor
34:08 of tibits Valley Manor at all but that
34:10 would be a better use than us giving
34:13 money to somebody else when we're when
34:15 we are real estate Rich so um I am a big
34:19 ba humbug on um item number one however
34:22 I am 100% in support of getting going
34:25 with a consultant on uh all the big uh
34:28 questions in front of us um that I think
34:31 that should include size of a task force
34:33 constitution of a task force all those
34:34 kinds of things uh when you want to run
34:36 a bond all that all that kind of stuff
34:38 so I am uh we should we should do that
34:40 tomorrow and
34:42 I'm so no and yes thank
34:46 you uh Deputy council president D
34:48 Michelle uh thank you uh I support the
34:52 idea of going ahead with lease
34:54 negotiations and relocation of the isaaa
34:57 municipal Court uh over to the district
35:00 court um I just think that's a great
35:01 facility and that's going to be a great
35:03 boost to our court um I am in agreement
35:08 with council member Ray uh that I need a
35:10 lot more information about what we are
35:13 going to do about city council
35:15 chambers I do love the idea of going
35:17 over to the school district they have a
35:20 very nice room there and I think it's
35:22 all set up for it and everything uh and
35:25 maybe with the maybe we do a partnership
35:29 instead of a lease so just a thought so
35:33 um but I I need more information about
35:36 that before you know I support us uh
35:39 figuring out where we're going to go in
35:41 terms of the consultant I think we
35:43 should get going with the consultant
35:44 let's get going on this and uh I think a
35:47 consultant will help us refine the plan
35:49 a lot more and tell us where we need to
35:52 go um uh I agree with council member
35:56 Marts that that seven people is not
35:59 nearly enough to be representative of
36:01 our community and uh if we double that
36:05 number we don't need alternates I I
36:08 don't understand why we would have
36:09 alternates on that kind of a task force
36:11 everybody gets a vote and um I don't I
36:15 don't think we need that so uh I also
36:17 think the idea of
36:21 identifying maybe a matrix of some kind
36:24 uh what interest groups or neighborhoods
36:27 or how we want to do it but identifying
36:30 what interest groups and neighborhoods
36:33 we want to include on that task force uh
36:35 so that we really represent the
36:37 diversity of our community um and that
36:40 could be many different could be done
36:42 many different ways so but I do think we
36:46 should be thoughtful about that how that
36:48 is put together and not just you know
36:52 call uh people from our current boards
36:55 and commissions but really look at how
36:57 can we
36:58 um get some Grassroots uh representation
37:01 going so um yeah let's get going on it
37:06 thank
37:09 you okay anybody else uh council member
37:13 Hall um I feel largely the exact same
37:16 way as um council member Rey I thought
37:18 you put it really nicely um I agree that
37:20 the operational benefits of moving Court
37:23 are very compelling um but also don't
37:25 feel necessarily yet the same way about
37:28 um council chambers although I take to
37:30 heart that um having any use in this
37:33 building means there could be unintended
37:36 consequences and at some point we really
37:38 do need to put in the actual investment
37:41 that's needed uh in order for this to be
37:43 a usable um space but I'm really mixed
37:46 largely because of um there's
37:48 consistency for Community who do come
37:50 and engage with the council
37:54 um um but I'm happy to have staff be
37:57 looking into options I agree with what's
37:59 been said in terms of needs more
38:00 information about what's out there tibit
38:02 sounds very interesting to me just
38:03 because I mean not really but it it's
38:06 interesting because we avoid lease
38:09 cost with that um also I don't know I'm
38:13 of I'm the of the kind of council member
38:15 I don't think we need a dis I really
38:17 like how North Bend has it how the East
38:19 Side Fire oh the East Side Fire and
38:20 Rescue boardroom that could potentially
38:22 be space um um how they how you just
38:25 kind of wheel out tables and everyone's
38:27 on equal footing and stuff like that and
38:28 I think that works out nicely and then
38:30 you don't have to make an investment in
38:31 something that seems Grand like this um
38:34 I also think it's fine to proceed with
38:36 consultant to start getting some
38:37 specificity around um our numbers um and
38:42 um I support the idea of a task force um
38:45 considering all of the locations
38:49 um um not just the ones that we really
38:52 Nar narrowed in on here um and then also
38:56 the timing of it I thought that was a
38:57 really good point council member Mars
38:58 around timing on the ballot too because
39:00 we may learn things in this budget cycle
39:03 as the financial landscape starts to
39:04 clear up we may learn things from our
39:06 partner agencies um when they study
39:09 their long-term financing needs as well
39:12 that the timing needs to be adjusted and
39:15 so I think just kind of being open um
39:18 about when we when we would go to the
39:20 ballot on something like this is is
39:22 important um and then the last thing I
39:26 wanted to say was I wonder if it might
39:28 be possible to have a community survey
39:31 before um the task force to be able to
39:33 have some information on um kind of fire
39:37 and police needs um through the lens of
39:40 kind of community members in a survey to
39:42 give to the task force as as helpful
39:44 information and also helpful information
39:46 to us because I would rather know
39:49 earlier that the community is not
39:50 interested whatsoever in a bond then
39:52 later spending all the money and and
39:54 Manpower on it right so I'm wondering if
39:56 that might be POS as well and those are
40:00 comments council member
40:02 hunt thank you on the first question
40:06 about the uh Municipal Court firstly I
40:09 would really like more information about
40:11 that
40:12 $750,000 uh one of the benefits of
40:16 moving to a space that is already a
40:17 court I would I would assume is that a
40:19 lot of the furniture and a lot of the
40:21 setup is there and is built to that
40:23 purpose um and then also I was confused
40:27 by the mention of the council chamber uh
40:30 you know the dis or other furniture that
40:32 would be associated with that move
40:33 because we at least are thinking about
40:35 those separately and they could be taken
40:38 separately um so how much of that is is
40:42 uh associated with council chambers also
40:45 how much of a separate and currently
40:48 unaccounted for cost is there of moving
40:51 the cameras and um ictv to to a
40:54 different location if we were to move
40:56 for example to to tibet's manner as has
40:59 been uh floated so I would really um
41:02 want to see those costs broken out
41:05 similarly with signage it is a municipal
41:07 court and so presumably the signage is
41:08 directing people to a to a court and so
41:11 you know how much of that is on the city
41:12 to to make those changes uh again I
41:15 think my assumption would be that since
41:18 it's already a court we would be able to
41:20 have a savings there and right now
41:21 there's not enough of a difference
41:23 between completely renovating this
41:26 building to continue having it be
41:28 suitable for a court at a million dollar
41:31 um to that 750 one time investment in
41:34 that build um and then on the city
41:37 council chambers uh firstly I do think
41:40 it's very important on to have video
41:44 um I recall during when we first um had
41:48 to do remote meetings um during the
41:50 covid pandemic it was so hard to track
41:53 who was saying um who was saying what
41:56 and I think that now at this point our
41:59 community is really uh is really used to
42:02 and it's really important that we
42:04 maintain that that level of service for
42:06 our meetings where people can see who's
42:08 who's speaking and can see the
42:09 presentations and can see the same
42:11 information that we are presented with
42:13 so would strongly advocate for
42:14 continuing to have that visual component
42:16 to our to our meetings um I think that
42:22 cost is going to be really important
42:24 because we are juggling a lot of
42:26 different costs and so again having the
42:28 cost breakdown of what does it cost to
42:30 move the the equipment versus keeping it
42:34 here um while we're making a decision on
42:37 what we're going out to a bond that
42:39 would be an important piece for me in in
42:41 weighing
42:43 those um on the second
42:46 question I completely agree with uh
42:49 council member Hall on this
42:51 survey I think safety is super important
42:54 to our community um it's absolutely
42:56 something that does come up in
42:57 conversations when I'm talking with
42:59 community members uh at the same time um
43:03 council member Ry and I were just at the
43:05 farmers market and you know also in
43:08 conversations people are really highly
43:10 ranking concerns around affordability
43:12 right now people are are really deeply
43:14 concerned about the costs of housing
43:17 about the cost of living and I in in
43:21 trying to think through how a task force
43:24 would think about this I was kind of
43:26 struggling to think you know how does
43:29 how do how does the community have how
43:31 much of an appetite do they have for an
43:32 additional Bond um versus thinking you
43:36 know now we do there's a more of a
43:39 visual presence of police in our
43:40 communities we we have made a lot of
43:42 progress on that which is Big credit to
43:44 our Police Department so how are they R
43:46 ranking these different priorities and
43:49 how much of an appetite is there for a
43:51 public safety bonds given the
43:53 affordability concerns that we have
43:54 right now so when I was trying to think
43:57 about that from my perspective and
43:59 having you know also heard all of this
44:01 information and presentations it really
44:03 seemed to me like a community group
44:05 that's coming together to weigh all
44:06 these options they would really benefit
44:08 from a statistically valid survey
44:11 showing this is this is where people are
44:14 in terms of how they're thinking about
44:16 cost of living versus Public Safety
44:18 versus you know facilities Improvement
44:21 and service
44:23 improvements um so I would I would
44:24 definitely advocate for that I'm also
44:26 very intrigued by my colleagues thoughts
44:28 on expanding the uh task force I'm I'm
44:32 for a task force I think it's important
44:35 I think they need to be given a lot of
44:36 options um to weigh and I like the idea
44:40 of having more perspectives I was on the
44:43 uh strategic plan task force um just the
44:47 the update task force and for that one
44:50 we had council members as well as um
44:53 community members and I think from my
44:56 perspective
44:57 that was a
44:59 good um that was important because
45:03 sometimes we had experienced different
45:06 conversations or we had a different
45:07 perspective that we could share uh you
45:11 should I would advocate for asking the
45:14 other task force members if they if they
45:16 also felt that that was useful but I do
45:18 think that tends to be useful also
45:20 because then that goes back to council
45:22 ultimately and so Council will have seen
45:25 the process um which could help with the
45:29 end result um so I think those are my
45:32 main comments the big one on that last
45:34 one is I really think we should do a
45:35 survey to help the task force have a
45:39 context for making the decision first
45:41 rather than at the
45:44 end okay I will put in just my two cents
45:49 on a lot of this a lot of things already
45:51 heard um for the first question you know
45:55 I hear what council member Mart says
45:58 about not supporting leasing um
46:01 generally I am not in favor of us
46:04 leasing um as a city I I think it's
46:07 financially irresponsible but the cost
46:10 benefit of this having a facility that
46:13 is already built out where the costs are
46:16 very little in addition to what it would
46:18 cost to run this building let alone
46:21 bring it up to spec um is quite enough
46:25 to uh way me to support that move so I
46:29 support the lease there um Council
46:31 chamber location um I need more
46:35 information on location and cost before
46:37 I would be willing to go down that road
46:40 my priority first and foremost is to not
46:44 put more money into this building and so
46:46 if that means moving us somewhere else
46:52 great if we are having a hard time
46:55 finding a place that would be useful I'd
46:59 rather we stay rather than choose to
47:01 lease elsewhere um so I I agree with
47:06 council member Hall that if you want to
47:08 put us up on tables like they do at East
47:11 Side Fire and Rescue and find a location
47:15 that can have cameras I think that's
47:18 perfectly acceptable I don't want to
47:20 spend extra money to have Council have a
47:25 space um
47:27 so that's the first question um the
47:29 second question I know we've been
47:32 talking about facilities for a long time
47:36 I still don't think we're quite there
47:39 for this task force um I agree with a
47:43 lot of what I have heard we I would love
47:47 to get a community survey ahead of a
47:50 task force I don't think it needs to be
47:52 statistically valid at this point um
47:56 just just
47:57 because I don't necessarily want to
48:00 spend the money and then also spend the
48:03 money on a consultant I think we've done
48:05 pretty good a pretty good job of getting
48:08 online survey and getting enough um
48:11 people involved in that to have a large
48:14 enough number there in P in some of the
48:17 past instances but I think that
48:19 information would be quite useful
48:23 and before we pull together a test Force
48:27 I think we need to hire the consultant
48:29 we need to get their Direction um get
48:32 their advice on task force size on scope
48:35 on the approach um all of those things I
48:39 also agree with um council member hunt
48:42 that having been on the recent task
48:45 force I think Dale will say having the
48:48 council members there was very useful in
48:51 being able to bring people back toward
48:54 you know hey this is what's really
48:56 important
48:57 and not cycle um through and so I would
49:00 definitely Advocate including um council
49:03 members on that I think right now to me
49:08 we've had a lot of conversations on
49:11 facilities and what the needs are there
49:14 I still don't have a clear understanding
49:16 of what the scope and focus of the task
49:20 force would be and given the fact that
49:24 our feedback hasn't been the same
49:27 I don't feel great about starting a task
49:30 force without really having a very clear
49:34 understanding of what that would be um
49:37 I'm very concerned about the fire
49:40 station um I think that could make or
49:44 break a bond
49:47 and limiting I
49:50 know this
49:52 is a good location for many reasons but
49:58 I can see how that would be problematic
50:00 in a voter's eyes um and so I want to
50:03 make sure that we have evaluated a lot
50:06 of options and so really getting a sense
50:11 of okay what are they going to be making
50:15 a recommendation on what are you know
50:21 what's the makeup of the group um I
50:23 think all of that is really important
50:25 and then I think ultimately for us in
50:30 making a decision about a bond having
50:32 polling data would be important um not
50:37 just that initial survey but actual
50:40 polling data so that we can decide
50:42 whether or not putting that on a ballot
50:45 would be good um because I don't think
50:48 we want to face a second
50:50 loss and potentially have to go back on
50:55 that um
50:57 and then given all of this I feel like
51:00 the November 2025 ballot is probably
51:02 going to be very difficult um but I also
51:07 very much agree with the concept of we
51:09 should look over the data and see
51:10 whether it's better to be in alignment
51:12 with the municipal you know obviously we
51:14 have to avoid any other ballot measures
51:17 that are on there um so we would look to
51:21 have more information about what the
51:22 right timeline
51:24 is okay now anybody for round
51:27 two
51:29 no no okay you have what you
51:33 need I do thank you okay
51:37 fantastic well one agenda item down one
51:40 to go I see Andrea getting up there
51:44 we've got Comm 0075 2025 2026 budget
51:48 transmitt of preliminary budget take it
51:52 away
51:53 Andrea thank you council member or
51:55 council president
51:57 um I'm Andrea Snider Deputy City
51:59 administrator and interim CFO in your
52:02 packet this evening uh we have the
52:06 preliminary budget uh so that includes a
52:09 memo and um a budget on a page that
52:12 shows the entire city budget as we
52:15 talked about a couple of weeks ago uh
52:17 this preliminary budget is a little
52:18 different than how we have typically
52:20 done things in the past uh this year
52:23 unfortunately we've had some pretty
52:24 unique staff constraints
52:27 um that have slowed our budget drafting
52:30 process uh in addition we have
52:32 anticipated and forecasted pretty large
52:35 difference between expenditures and
52:37 revenues for 25 and 26 that have um also
52:41 provided some difficulties and
52:42 presenting to you a balanced budget so
52:45 what you see uh in your packet tonight
52:47 is the preliminary budget and includes
52:50 um the uh anticipated expenditures and
52:54 revenues for each of the city funds you
52:57 will also see that um they're not
52:59 necessarily balanced between
53:01 expenditures and
53:03 revenues um what is to follow is a
53:06 proposed budget which will show um a
53:09 better balance across those funds so um
53:13 in this preliminary budget uh to create
53:16 this budget we ask departments to
53:18 provide their budget requests um we also
53:21 asked them to reduce especially
53:23 departments reliant on the general fund
53:26 to reduce their expenditures by
53:29 12% um with some notable exceptions in
53:31 police and a few other smaller
53:33 departments are very urgent priorities
53:35 that we felt like 12% was um something
53:38 we needed to discuss further come back
53:39 to council Etc um and so uh these
53:44 reductions resulted in a $7 million
53:47 decrease in the general fund budget
53:49 expenditure budget over the previous
53:52 bium meanwhile you'll see that the
53:55 entire city budget across all funds is
53:58 expected to increase by about
54:00 15% um over the past bium uh as adopted
54:04 due mainly to increases in capital fund
54:08 and utility
54:10 funds in July at the July City Council
54:14 budget priority setting Retreat the
54:16 administration presented to council some
54:18 of what uh we felt were our urgent
54:21 priorities including facility items like
54:23 the ones that Autumn just presented on
54:26 um as well as some other Public Safety
54:28 needs none of those items are included
54:30 in the preliminary budget that you see
54:32 before you tonight so I wanted to be
54:34 clear that there's a lot of expenditures
54:36 that I think the administration
54:38 anticipates and would um would suggest
54:42 our urgent uh that are not included in
54:44 the preliminary budget that we still
54:46 would like to accommodate within the
54:47 proposed
54:51 budget um while this preliminary budget
54:54 does not include many new expenditures
54:58 for the general fund the preliminary
55:00 budget does include a few new revenues
55:03 um like a proposed increased utility
55:05 taxes for water sewer storm water and
55:08 cable from 3% to 6% that would have our
55:12 utility taxes across the board be at
55:15 6% for the other utilities as well like
55:18 electric for
55:20 example um the preliminary budget also
55:23 includes as part of its new revenues
55:24 adjustments to contract fees for
55:26 services the City offers to other cities
55:29 uh for example for jail services for
55:31 court services those adjustments um to
55:34 the contract fees uh would be um are to
55:38 reflect the rising cost for jail
55:39 services and court services as
55:42 well um as I stated before further
55:45 adjustments are needed uh in order to
55:47 accommodate what the administration
55:49 feels are Urgent priorities and also to
55:52 ensure that uh the budgets the funds are
55:54 balanced and that we preserve an ending
55:57 fund balance in the general fund of 15%
56:00 for those undesignated
56:04 expenditures next steps October 28th uh
56:08 the administration plans on transmitting
56:10 the proposed budget coming before
56:12 Council and having the deliberations
56:14 start then deliberations would then
56:16 continue through the month of November
56:18 and beginning part of December with
56:20 adoption slated for December
56:23 9th are there any questions
56:29 I guess my question to you is what what
56:33 do you need from us at this point is
56:35 there anything you're trying to solidify
56:38 tonight just conveying information yeah
56:41 the the purpose of this evening is
56:43 really to transmit the budget um as is
56:45 our typical practice uh what we
56:48 typically do is transmit the budget
56:50 provide some of that information Council
56:53 may look at it we talk about the process
56:55 and um if there's any immediate
56:58 questions you have I'd love to answer
57:00 those um I know that there's not a lot
57:02 of information included in this
57:04 preliminary budget it's a different
57:05 budget process than what we have uh
57:09 followed in the past and that's again
57:11 due to some of our unique constraints
57:13 this year so in the proposed budget
57:15 there's going to be a lot more
57:16 information we also anticipate some
57:18 Council briefings to occur mid-mon so
57:21 you have more information in advance of
57:23 the proposed budget um but as for
57:26 tonight we don't need any specific
57:29 Direction and council president if I can
57:31 just add um there's a statutory
57:34 requirement that 90 days prior to the
57:36 end of the fiscal year that you would
57:37 get this preliminary budget we have not
57:40 uh taken advantage of that statutory
57:42 requirement in recent past we've gone
57:44 right to the preliminary budget and
57:46 there's a statutory requirement that
57:47 that be 60 days so that the reason that
57:51 we're here really at all tonight is in
57:53 order to satisfy the statutory requ
57:56 enement want to make that
57:59 point council member Hall thank you I'm
58:02 just wondering as as part of the budget
58:04 process if we can learn or get
58:06 information about household impact on
58:09 utility tax uh increases and kind of
58:12 what we can expect that
58:14 to how how we can expect that to impact
58:18 individuals absolutely um and we heard
58:21 that request at the council Retreat that
58:23 is something we'll be planning to bring
58:25 back um for when we're in the council
58:27 deliberations and when we have that
58:29 proposed budget I also know there's
58:30 other information that we've been
58:32 requested um that's been requested of us
58:34 like um cost per capita and Trends over
58:37 time right so we will be we will we've
58:40 been tracking those questions and we'll
58:41 be prepared to bring that information
58:43 back to you thank you thank
58:46 you uh Deputy council president D
58:49 Michelle well you said that the
58:51 Departments have cut their budgets by
58:53 12% is that did they just
58:56 do a cut or do are they working now on
58:59 specifically what is
59:02 what positions unfortunately and what
59:05 what programs are being reduced yes and
59:09 so we will come to you with reductions
59:11 uh there are layoffs expected we have
59:13 told the staff uh between 15 and 20 we
59:17 hope that that number is less than that
59:19 uh we are going to be proposing uh
59:20 programs will be reduced support to
59:22 community organizations will be reduced
59:25 um it's sign ific and quite honestly uh
59:27 when all is said and done there will be
59:29 several departments that will be far in
59:30 excess of 12% because the police
59:33 department will have only increases and
59:36 um with the assistance of our
59:38 Representatives on the East Side Fire
59:39 and Rescue board we are still working on
59:42 uh the proposed budget there which still
59:43 currently stands at a
59:45 177% increase and so uh you will see
59:49 other departments again that will be far
59:51 in excess of 12% their reduction
59:58 I think council member Hull's face right
1:00:00 now uh represents the situation
1:00:04 the yeah the the the stress over all of
1:00:07 that um Andrea I noticed that our
1:00:12 Enterprise funds um even going into 2024
1:00:17 but also 25 and 26 all have
1:00:20 significantly more expenditures than
1:00:24 revenues I thought our Enterprise funds
1:00:26 our water sewer and storm water were
1:00:28 supposed to be balanced by nature is
1:00:32 that not
1:00:36 correct uh yes they they should be
1:00:40 balanced but also we have some
1:00:42 expenditures coming out of water sewer
1:00:45 storm water related to Capital expenses
1:00:48 right and so you also see an increase in
1:00:50 the capital fund uh expenditures by
1:00:52 quite a bit over 24 um included in this
1:00:56 preliminary budget and so there's a lot
1:00:58 more capital projects that are occurring
1:01:00 in the utilities um the other thing I
1:01:03 should note is that we are currently
1:01:06 doing a utility rate study that should
1:01:09 come back to Council in the first
1:01:10 quarter of next year as we um it's part
1:01:13 of our regular review of our utility
1:01:15 rates and what our Capital plans and
1:01:17 operational needs are for our utilities
1:01:19 and so that's something that we'll be
1:01:21 coming back to Council in the first
1:01:23 quarter as we look at um 202 six rates
1:01:26 Council has already adopted utility
1:01:28 rates through 2025 and those are
1:01:30 reflected in this prelim preliminary
1:01:33 budget okay so even outside of the
1:01:36 Enterprise funds I'm seeing very large
1:01:39 decreases in ending fund balance for
1:01:42 2023 compared to
1:01:44 2026 um so when we come back into this I
1:01:48 really want to know are those ending
1:01:50 fund balances sustainable um and
1:01:53 obviously they'll change with what is
1:01:55 proposed
1:01:56 um but really trying to understand are
1:01:59 those ending fund balances sustainable
1:02:02 um and look at kind of what the
1:02:04 percentage decrease or the amount
1:02:07 decrease is um because that is really
1:02:12 the representative of how much more
1:02:15 expenditures are than revenues um that
1:02:17 we're projecting which to me in a
1:02:21 economy like this is concerning
1:02:24 so and and thank you council president
1:02:26 as we were looking to create this
1:02:28 preliminary budget we did look at our
1:02:30 ending fund balances especially in
1:02:32 places like the It fund the fleet fund
1:02:34 Etc and as we are cutting back some of
1:02:38 those funds have collected large
1:02:40 balances while still maintaining the
1:02:43 same contributions from the general fund
1:02:46 or other funds and so what we were
1:02:49 looking at is do some of those very
1:02:51 large ending fund balances actually make
1:02:53 sense um and and how are they affecting
1:02:57 um the rest of the city budget and so um
1:03:00 it is something that was intentional was
1:03:02 to eat into some of those ending fund
1:03:04 balances that we felt were larger than
1:03:07 needed to happen now um more information
1:03:09 can be provided on where those ending
1:03:11 fund balances are that we are concerned
1:03:13 about as we look at future
1:03:15 projections okay and along with that I
1:03:18 know we have a financial policy for our
1:03:20 general fund um but we don't have a fin
1:03:25 cial policy for the other funds I would
1:03:28 assume to to my knowledge we do not okay
1:03:32 that might be something you know for
1:03:34 swaying up and down that we might want
1:03:36 to consider as a council to understand
1:03:40 you know not just do we use this money
1:03:43 in the case of um emergencies but also
1:03:47 should we try and create more steady
1:03:49 expenditures and not um allow something
1:03:53 to go up and down as much um I'm
1:03:56 thinking of things like the Fleet
1:03:58 Services if we're building up such a
1:04:00 fund there and then not maintaining our
1:04:03 Fleet that suggests potential for higher
1:04:07 costs um through lack of Maintenance Etc
1:04:12 so okay any other questions comments
1:04:17 before we end this item no council
1:04:21 member hunt um on on the other fund uh
1:04:27 and other than the general um those
1:04:30 ending fund
1:04:32 balances uh I think it would also be
1:04:34 good to know some of them I think like I
1:04:37 was just looking at the school zone
1:04:39 safety I think that for some of them it
1:04:42 is expected that you would acrew and
1:04:45 then you would have a project and so you
1:04:47 would draw it down and
1:04:49 that's then you would want that
1:04:51 flexibility within your um within your
1:04:55 uh standard for that fund so um I'm
1:04:59 interested in in if there are best
1:05:02 practices for the other funds but I do
1:05:04 think there are some that are um we
1:05:06 would expect to be drawn down quite a
1:05:07 bit because that's the nature of those
1:05:09 those
1:05:10 funds and council president if I could
1:05:12 just elaborate a little bit U there
1:05:14 certainly is a story with each of the
1:05:16 Enterprise funds you know fleet's a
1:05:18 great example um you you know a best
1:05:21 practice for that would be to look at
1:05:23 your Fleet identify the value of each
1:05:25 vehicle in the fleet the uh uh expected
1:05:28 lifespan for that um and then do some
1:05:31 simple division um we've not been very
1:05:34 good at that over time and so that is a
1:05:37 way you would do that so in some cases
1:05:39 you know some years you're replacing a
1:05:41 sedan some years we replacing a heavy
1:05:43 duty truck uh those costs vary but that
1:05:45 we would have a plan so it's not so much
1:05:47 a percentage as it is an adopted 7year
1:05:51 10-year plan based on the vehicles there
1:05:54 the it funds very similar
1:05:56 uh the utility funds again um depending
1:05:59 on the infrastructure if you're going to
1:06:00 replace so much of water line every year
1:06:03 you build that in so the percentage
1:06:05 works well on the general fund and
1:06:07 perhaps some other select funds but
1:06:10 really the others need a plan um and as
1:06:13 we've gone through this Andrea and her
1:06:15 team and I really want to uh you know
1:06:17 they've been under some very difficult
1:06:19 circumstances um with some of our key
1:06:22 staff not being available to us um have
1:06:25 begun to ask those questions and you
1:06:26 know really appreciate Andrew's
1:06:28 leadership um in those other funds and
1:06:31 so while I don't think we'll have great
1:06:34 Solutions over for a long term with this
1:06:36 I think we're laying some really good
1:06:38 groundwork on the other funds and so as
1:06:40 we look at you know what the general
1:06:42 fund is contributing to some of those
1:06:44 funds I think there is some flexibility
1:06:47 uh but over time we want to be very
1:06:48 cautious that we're not uh overextending
1:06:51 that flexibility for short-term gain uh
1:06:54 and again Andrea I think is brought a
1:06:56 very keen eye uh to this and I think one
1:06:58 of the great uh things I can already see
1:07:01 coming out of this is the strengthen
1:07:03 some of the planning that we'll be able
1:07:04 to do for the other funds it's going to
1:07:06 be very difficult to address general
1:07:08 fund issues but I think some of the
1:07:09 other funds are going to come out even
1:07:11 stronger uh through this process so I
1:07:13 want to thank Andrea her team for being
1:07:16 very diligent about
1:07:18 that fantastic that's even better than
1:07:22 suggesting there should be a percentage
1:07:23 rate um I'm glad we're addressing that
1:07:26 so um no more comments on
1:07:31 this so I think we've got announcements
1:07:35 adjournment and then an executive
1:07:38 session
1:07:39 correct
1:07:41 okay and a
1:07:44 what yeah with yeah MH yep okay so any
1:07:51 announcements no okay then I am going to
1:07:55 to adjourn this meeting at
1:07:58 8:23 p.m. thank you

Attendance

Council / Members (7)
Barbara de Michele
Zach Hall
Victoria Hunt
Russell Joe
Tola Marts
Chris Reh
Lindsey Walsh