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City Administrator Ulrich explained that it would help the City to have a permanent part-time <br /> staff person that can coordinate for programming rather than having a constant rotating cast of <br /> interns. <br /> Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood referenced the inefficiency of <br /> using interns. He stated that he would hope that the City would be able to attract someone that <br /> would want to work part-time. <br /> Councilmember Kuzma stated that the conversation began with the statement that the baseline <br /> increase to the budget will be five percent and asked what the increase would be with the staff <br /> positions added. <br /> Councilmember Riley replied that the increase with the staff positions would be 7.93 percent. <br /> City Administrator Ulrich reviewed some of the changes that were made to the proposed baseline <br /> budget following the last worksession discussion on the budget. <br /> Finance Director Lund noted that the 7.93 percent increase would be the total levy increase for <br /> the budget as a whole and confirmed that if the staff positions were removed, the proposed <br /> increase would be about five percent. She stated that the 2018 budget increased by 8.54 percent <br /> from 2017 whereas this proposed budget would be an increase of 7.93 from the previous year. <br /> She reviewed the proposed rate of growth for the community and compared that to the previous <br /> year as well. <br /> City Administrator Ulrich stated that staff has addressed the needs of the community as they see <br /> and experience and hoped that matched what the Council sees as reasonable requests for staffing <br /> as a result of the increased growth and activity the community has experienced. He stated that <br /> there is not a clear line for staffing needs for the police department and the requests are a result <br /> of planning to meet the needs of the community and respond to the calls for service. He stated <br /> that there would be similar needs for the fire and public works departments in order to respond to <br /> the calls for the service in the growing community. <br /> Acting Mayor LeTourneau asked for input from the Council on the proposed increase of 7.93 <br /> with the positions as proposed. <br /> Councilmember Riley stated that two police officers is too much of an ask. <br /> Councilmember Kuzma stated that everyone made compelling asks of what is needed in order to <br /> respond to the needs of the community and maintain the level of service. He stated that he <br /> would be inclined to support the request from Police Chief Katers for two officers. He stated <br /> that his bigger problem is the baseline five percent increase and would like to see that part of the <br /> budget slow down. <br /> Councilmember Johns stated that the baseline budget increase will play into the road financing <br /> discussions as the road funding continues to be impacted by the bonding for road improvement. <br /> City Council Work Session/August 6,2018 <br /> Page 7 of 9 <br />