Minutes - Council Work Session - 08/25/2015

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Councilmember Riley asked if two or three smaller cities could pool together to share a task force member. Police Chief Katers stated that has not been done, explaining that it could be difficult to share that resource because the staff member would be reporting under two or three Police Chiefs. Councilmember Johns stated that while rotating the position would provide additional opportunity to members of the department would also provide additional training and knowledge to the officers that rotate through the position. Councilmember Kuzma asked if a patrol car would be needed for this position. Police Chief Katers noted that there are forfeiture funds that would be available, noting that the funds are very specific as to what they can be used for. He noted that there are also some forfeiture vehicles that could possibly be used, as the position would not use a marked patrol car. Finance Director Lund provided additional information regarding capital equipment and five- year budget document. Councilmember Riley stated that he agrees with almost everything he has heard tonight except that the 11 percent increase is acceptable. He noted that inflation has been very low over the past few years, sometimes even negative, and believed the City to be out of sync with the general economy and income of the residents. He did not believe that, as proposed, the budget would be responsible to the residents. Councilmember Kuzma agreed to some degree but noted that the City is also growing as there have been 13 miles of new roads added and new homes, which require additional staff and services. He stated that it would be counterproductive if the City were not to manage resources adequately for its growth. Councilmember Riley stated that the population has not grown 20 percent in the past two years. Mayor Strommen stated that two years ago there was an extensive discussion regarding payment for roads and the City chose not to look at the franchise fee and instead use property taxes. She stated that the road reconstruction projects cannot be paid in the existing budget. She noted that the budget had been artificially low for many years because the road problem was not being dealt with and stated that the core functions, such as road, need to be funded. She stated that the Strategic Plan goals will need to be prioritized in order to match with the growth of the City and that is why the five-year budget is important. Councilmember LeTourneau agreed that the City has a responsibility to the residents, but noted that costs in only one portion of that as commitments were made regarding the artificially low budget that was in place. He stated that roads, investment in the community, adequate growth and management of resources are also important and; therefore, cost is not the only aspect of the budget. He stated that because of the way this has been set up, he believes that this is being handled appropriately and would be difficult to simply cut items from the budget to reduce costs. City Council Work Session / August 25, 2015 Page 4 of 6