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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-05-14 Budget Committee Minutes Administration, Administrative Services, City Recorder Minutes May 14, 2001, 3:00pm City Council Chambers, 1175 East Main Street ROLL CALL Present: Alan DeBoer, Don Laws, Marty Levine, Jim Moore, Russ Silbiger, David Williams Absent: David Fine, Cate Hartzell, Susan Reid, Regina Stepahin Staff: Greg Scoles, Dick Wandersheid, Paul Nolte, Lee Tuneberg, Barbara Christensen, Sharon Laws, Kirsten Bakke CALL TO ORDER Levine called the meeting to order at 3:05pm. Motion to change agenda to City Recorder presenting first. ALL AYES. PRESENTATIONS City Recorder Page 3-25 Barbara Christensen, City Recorder presented for the City Recorder Department. She gave a brief overview and talked about the current focus of creating a records management program. She described the changes in banking services including increased charges. Currently they are looking at becoming more cost efficient by purchasing the visa equipment used by utility billing. She explained the request for the Clerk II position to increase from .5 FTE, the previous year budgeted, to the proposed .75 FTE to 1.0 FTE. The Subcommittee discussed the proposed budget. Levine asked if there was any public input. There was none. Williams motioned to recommend the City Recorder budget to the Full Budget Committee as proposed. Laws seconded. Silbiger requested that the motion be amended to include the increased staff position to 1.0 FTE. Williams amended the motion to include funds for the fulltime clerk II position. Silbiger seconded. Levine asked if there was discussion on the motion. DISCUSSION Moore asked how much it would cost to increase the position from .75 to 1.0 FTE. Tuneberg said it would cost an additional $5,000 for a total of $15,000 to fund the increased staff position. Levine asked how the increased position would be funded. Tuneberg said revenue would come from the Central Service Charges. DeBoer said in discussion he would vote no. Williams agreed and withdrew motion. Scoles recommendation was to propose fulltime next year position. Williams proposed the original motion to recommend the City Recorder budget to the Full Budget Committee as proposed. Laws seconded. Silbiger opposed. All others ayes. Vote 6 to 1 Administration, Administrative Services, City Recorder 5-14-01 - Budget Subcommittee Page 1 of 3 Administration and Legal page 3-3 Legal Paul Nolte, City Attorney presented for the Legal Department. He spoke about the primary changes of requesting to fund the part-time prosecutor in municipal court and an attorney to pursue debt collection of food and beverage taxes. Most charges remain the same. Levine confirmed that the additional attorney was contracted and a flat fee per case. Laws asked if the additional work on debt collection would pay for itself. Nolte said it would be cost effective. There was a discussion of the proposed budget and the collection of the food and beverage tax. Levine asked if there was any public input. There was none. Moore moved to recommend the Legal Services Division budget to the Full Budget Committee as proposed. Silbiger seconded. ALL AYES. Unanimously passed. Administration Greg Scoles, City Administrator presented for the Administration Department. He gave an overview of the Administration Department, which included Legal, Administration, Mayor and Council Division, Administrative and Human Resources. He described the elimination of the Assistant City Administrator and other modifications. On page 3-6 he gave an overview of the budget. He explained that the Wellness Program moved from the insurance fund for insurance purposes, which reflected a $30,000, transfer. He said the $58,000 for Contractual Services includes the utility billing newsletter, postage and copies at $16,000, $12,000 for consultation services or updating policies. There was a continued discussion about policies, human resources, and the proposed budget. Levine asked if there was any public input. There was none. Laws moved to recommend the Administration Division budget to the Full Budget Committee as proposed. Moore seconded. ALL AYES. Administrative Services Page 3-11 Dick Wandersheid, Administrative Services Director presented for the Administrative Services Department. He talked about his newly assumed duties including managing the Senior Program, which increased the baseline budget. If the Senior Program of $110,000 is subtracted from the baseline budget that brings the baseline budget down for 2002 to $924,000. We are below the baseline budget for 2002, the difference being that we have the Senior Program. On page 3-11 there is an error on the Energy analyst position in 2002 baseline should read 2.2 FTE, there was no increase. Conservation Wandersheid explained that the program budget for the Conservation Division increased. Last year the Solar Pioneer program was a one-time expenditure. He referred to page 3-17 under the Electric Fund in Conservation on the bottom item 610 was shown in the baseline budget as $179,000, that was an inflationary increase from last years budget which included the Solar Pioneer but only included $175,000 for conservation. They are increasing the budget to $200,000 reflecting the need and the request from Bonneville to increase our conservation efforts in the City and the region. He explained that they have also increased the Water conservation budget to reflect the fact that we will have short water supplies this year. Also proposing to implement a rebate program for solar electric that was directly related to the Council's Strategic Plan to have an incentive plan for customer generated electricity. BPA would cover at least half. Program estimates for conservation they add up to $200,000. He described the Conservation Augmentation program and BPA to fund projects. He spoke of the energy supply situation and the need for conservation. He explained that three things were driving our rate increases: 1) BPA has new contracts in October. BPA in a critical water year has 8,000 megawatts of energy right now they have demand for 11,000. 2) Wholesale power markets expensive and power that was $30 a megawatt two years ago is now $550. 3) The biggest impact is that this is the second driest year on record in the Columbia basin. He said that the Northwest is constrained by energy not by capacity, and California is constrained by capacity. Some opportunity to buy energy in exchange for capacity. He said that the significant rate increases would drive Administration, Administrative Services, City Recorder 5-14-01 - Budget Subcommittee Page 2 of 3 demand for conservation programs. They may be coming back with a supplemental budget to get Bonneville to pay for some additional conservation on project basis or program budgets. Right now this was their best-guessed estimate as to what's going on. The Subcommittee discussed rebates and lighting in North Mountain Park. Laws said he had prepared a draft resolution to delay implementation of lights until stable. Administrative Services Wandersheid said that this year the Budget was down on page 3-14 line item 604 for contracted services. Last year they did a random sample citizens telephone survey that was budgeted at $21,500, the baseline was $23,000, but because we don't have a citizens survey this year its only $9,000. Williams asked what the Marketing Manager position contributes. Wandersheid said that this was the third year of the Marketing Manager position and 50% was funded by AFN. That position produces the City newsletter, works on special projects, fire forum, brochure for conservation, provides technical assistance for various activities, etc. Moore asked what percentage of the Marketing positions time will be given back to AFN. Wandersheid said that the way its envisioned now under central services is 10% to AFN, 10% to the Electric Utility and 10% to the Conservation Division. Wandersheid said he had been named the interim Director of the Electric Department. The Marketing Manager will be making a big marketing push on AFN. Levine asked if there was any public input. There was none. Senior Program Sharon Laws was present to answer any questions about the Senior Program. There were none. Williams motioned to recommend the Administrative Services budget to the Full Budget Committee as proposed. Moore seconded. ALL AYES. Laws declined to vote since his wife is the Senior Program Director. Silbiger opposed not convinced that the Marketing Manager position was being utilized to the level we are funding it. ADJOURNMENT Levine motioned to adjourn the meeting. ALL AYES. None opposed. Motion passed. Meeting ended at 5:05pm. Administration, Administrative Services, City Recorder 5-14-01 - Budget Subcommittee Page 3 of 3