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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-09-13 Budget Process Ad-Hoc Committee Minutes• • r APPROVED MINUTES Budget Process ad -hoc Committee Minutes September 13, 2017 6:00 p.m. Community Development Building, Siskiyou Room 51 Winburn Way Call to Order/Opening Remarks: 5:58 p.m. Roll Call Present: Garrett Furuichi Paula Hyatt Dennis Slattery Rich Rosenthal Adam Hanks Mark Welch Dave Lohman Approval of Minutes from August 30, 2017 Committee Member Furuichi asked that the approval of the minutes be tabled until the next meeting as he had notes with the review of audio from the last meeting and the possibility of adding a chart presented at the last meeting. Chairman Slattery agreed they would be tabled until the next meeting. Public Form: No Public Present Special Presentations Presentation by David Lohman, City of Ashland Attorney to discuss Oregon Budget Law. Lohman stated that he understood that his role was to answer questions. He referred to the list of questions regarding Oregon Budget Law that was sent prior to the meeting. a. Chairman Slattery noted that this information could be used in the future when assembling a packet for future budget members as agreement of what the role of a budget member is b. Committee discussion on Section 1 E and the discussion of time. Lohman noted that it is clear that there is no official action that the budget committee has to take in the off season. i. Committee Member Hyatt noted that there are two questions to look at in regards to the supplemental questions: The current budget and the current state or are we looking at the future and the second question being are you actually discussing the upcoming biennium or are you looking at it procedurally so that you can establish efficiently and effectiveness when that time comes. ii. Chairman Slattery stated that these questions can help during the 18-month period study sessions. iii. Hanks noted that we need to understand who's meeting it is and how it labeled, which would help define who would be at these meetings. iv. Chairman Slattery noted that he sees everyone at the table for these meetings, as they are there to inform not for decision making. He also noted that the study sessions will be moving to council chambers. Page 1 of 4 • • r c. Committee Member Furuichi asked that the committee to begin looking at the list of definitions that need to be made. These include he stated include budget season. He also asked for clarification on when the official budget season begins and when deliberations on the current budget can take place in relation to the budget message. i. Lohman noted that there is be no discussion on the ensuing budget until the budget document is presented. ii. Committee Member Furuichi also noted that this could be defined as the time for training, study sessions, discussions, policies and practices and that the committee needs to be aware of the public meeting rule when it comes to deliberations. iii. Chairman Slattery went on to comment that there is a difference in that we start the budget process in January because staff goes to work on the budget. Before that he noted council may have a session celebration on items such as the priorities. iv. Lohman noted that number six address this and that there are some items that need to be done by council before the budget message is presented and that this cannot be a study session because of who specific it would be for the budget committee to meet. d. Lohman stated that it is alright that procedures are discussed for being used for the next season and that the decision the budget committee to solely that of the council. i. Hyatt noted that that by reviewing the current budget that many questions could be answered and that it would be easier for everyone when you know what roles and policy and producers are. She also noted the confusion with what is an add in package and what is a strategy discussion. e. Committee Member Furuichi discussed understanding priorities and the advantages to zero based budgeting. He also noted that we could get a handle on the process by looking at the current budget during a study session in relation to this. f. Councilor Rosenthal commented that he liked the idea of definitions, what the deliverables for this would be and how he would like to see everyone understand what best practices are for being a budget committee member and how it fits for city of Ashland. The committee discussed the idea of budget methodology and how it relates to a council decision. g. Committee Member Hyatt discussed the confusion that might be created in the name of the budget committee if is meeting during the off season she questioned should it still be called a budget committee as it is really only a budget committee in the four months during the process. h. The committee discussed the role of council in budget committee meetings and when the budget committee can be called back into session. Lohman stated that according to the material it would be for training and developing procedures. He also clarified that you can bring the budget committee back into session but you cannot discuss specifics of the upcoming budget, but for the discussion of items listed on supplementary question nine. If you called a meeting of council and didn't have a quorum of the council but you had invited the budget committee and had a quorum of the budget committee that would have been a meeting but it would have not have been noticed the meeting will then have to be adjourned, he explained. i. The committee discussed the form of which budget committee meetings will take place. The discussion concluded that the best format for the meetings would be in a study session format as if seemed best suited to what the team is trying to accomplish. Hyatt suggested that based on efficiency if these meetings are noticed as budget committee Page 2 of 4 k. ill • • r meetings and the council has other business to conduct and call the meeting the study session earlier and regular business then be conduct after that. Hanks noted that supplementary question 7 This he noted was the explicit ability of the committee as whole asking for additional information from staff. He noted that there needs to be a process or definition for this. He noted that the goal would be for the committee to present items to staff, but what would be done if an individual member came in and asked questions. i. Councilor Rosenthal commented on two-hour rule for staff time and that there are rules for the commission and that we are in the municipal code and that under state statue. He asked if this could be put under municipal code for the budget committee. He also asked if the work was identified to take more than two hours could it then go to council. ii. Committee Member Hyatt noted the importance of understanding the questions that are being presented to staff. iii. Lohman commented that it was appropriate of staff to ask why budget committee members would need this information and if it is not for preparation of the budget it would be alright for staff to question if it was in preparation of the budget. iv. Chairman Slattery noted that the 18-month process will help to answer many questions beforehand. v. Committee Member Furuichi stated that he would resist any restriction to any reasonable question to a two-hour limit while the committee is within budget season. He underscored the need for tie-in's in relation to the budget. vi. Committee Member Hyatt suggested that if not restricted in time if it is brought back to the group vii. Committee Member Furuichi noted that he thought this would be part of the code that says the request has to have a two-hour limit that he would resist it. Lohman responded by saying that an individual committee member cannot come to staff and request information that would take longer. At this point he noted that you would need to council and the council would make the decision form there. viii. Lohman noted the difference between questions come inside a meeting and outside a meeting. Committee Member Hyatt noted that this ensures that everyone has the same basis of information. ix. Councilor Rosenthal noted what is a reasonable question and what happens with there is a question about it being reasonable. He stated that there needs to be a protocol. He questioned what happens and what the role of the chair is. x. Chairman Slattery noted that it would need to be worked out within the group. Councilor Rosenthal asked how this would be worked out within the team. The committee thought there could be able to have someone in the middle arbitrating perhaps the mayor, as suggested by Rosenthal. Lohman noted that it takes the majority of the budget committee, to take action. He also noted that council could make a decision on this at its meeting. Chairman Slattery asked if it would a violation to discuss the approved budget toward the end of the year one. i. Lohman noted that the committee is to oversee the budget. Committee Member Hyatt asked regarding supplementary question 7c. She stated that it is hard to understand the budget without the pictures of total salaries over time. She wanted to know what is allowed to be provided and to set the expectation up front of the definition, as these are huge parts of the budget. Chairman Slattery referred to the same and stated that it does not allow for salaries to be set by the budget committee. Page 3 of 4 • • r n. Chairman Slattery reiterated that these are public documents to be questioned with exception of items prohibited by law. He then noted that within the values of the budget process that this will need to be stated. o. Hanks noted that this is 7a is an item that needs to be defined as it has to do with personnel. He questioned what authority would the budget committee have in this to recommend. p. Lohman noted statute 294.388. Lohman noted that it gives Welch the ability not to give names. q. Committee Member Furuichi gave some details of items that he would like to see included in the next budget, such as department FTE's as well as salary schedules by department. He also noted that Welch's prior work had done a great job in showing these details, as it is public information. r. Chairman Slattery noted that much of that information is already in the budget book. i. Welch noted that the budget book presentation could be changed and this information could be shown better. ii. Hanks noted that this is in the pre -budget assumptions and that is part of the process of this committee to think about the budget book. He also noted that Salary information is on the City's website. Adiournment/Wrap Up i. The committee decided that Lohman would not be needed at the next meeting. a. Lohman would create a document of definitions to be distributed before the next committee meeting. b. Committee Member Furuichi noted it as budget season, off season, study sessions, zero based budgeting. c. Lohman noted the need for protocol for what happens in between meetings. d. Chairman Slattery noted that zero based budgeting be a discussion of the committee and that they would take Committee Member Furuichi's definition as a starting point. e. Councilor Rosenthal noted what his key definitions that a citizen with no background in budget would need defined. f. Chairman Slattery also noted that important how the budget book will be changed and that this would be a good study session. g. Committee Member Furuichi asked when the OpenGov personation would be Welch noted that a soft launch will be with the 8t" quarter financials. h. Chairman Slattery noted the next meeting with begin the process of looking at the calendar for the 18- months and the beginning creation of a Gnatt Chart. Meeting Adjourned at 7:41 p.m. Next Meeting Next meeting scheduled for September 27, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. Respectfully Submitted By: Natalie Thomason Page 4 of 4