HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Council - Meeting Date: 4/14/2015 (5) City of Glendale
5850 West Glendale Avenue
Glendale, AZ 85301
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Meeting Minutes - Final
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
9:00 AM
Budget Workshop
Council Chambers - Room B3
City Council Workshop
Mayor Jerry Weiers
Vice Mayor Ian Hugh
Councilmember Jamie Aldama
Councilmember Samuel Chavira
Councilmember Gary Sherwood
Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff
Councilmember Bart Turner
City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes -Final April 14,2015
CALL TO ORDER
Rollcall
Present 6- Mayor Jerry Weiers, Vice Mayor Ian Hugh, Councilmember Jamie Aldama,
Councilmember Gary Sherwood, Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff, and
Councilmember Bart Turner
Absent 1 - Councilmember Samuel Chavira
WORKSHOP SESSION
1. 15-249 FY15-16 BUDGET WORKSHOP
Staff Contact: Tom Duensing, Director, Finance and Technology
Mr. Duensing said he divided up the budget presentation into two parts. He explained he
will go through some of the policies adopted as part of the budget adoption for FY15/16,
and they will review some assumptions that were used and some challenges the city is
still facing. He will also provide some budget highlights, including department summaries
and what services are provided. He provided information for the budget calendar and
upcoming budget events. He said this budget process is geared around the budget
forecast that was done back in December.
Mr. Duensing said financial policies are adopted as part of the tentative and final budget
adoptions and they serve as a foundation for financial stability. He said the fund
balance policy was highlighted in the March 17th Council Workshop. He said those
policies cover fiscal planning and budgeting, expenditure control, capital asset and debt
management and fund reserve structure. Mr. Duensing highlighted a balanced budget
as an important financial policy. He explained for a balanced budget, the financial
resources have to be greater than or equal to operating expenditures. He said staff is
bringing forward and recommending a balanced budget. He said use of fund balance
can be approved by Council for one-time costs, and Council cannot adopt a budget in
which fund balance plus revenues is less than appropriated expenditures. He said staff
is recommending an assigned fund balance target of 25 percent of General Fund ongoing
revenue, which is estimated at$50 million. He said he is also recommending
establishing two reserves, which include a budget stabilization reserve equal to 10
percent, and an operating reserve equal to 15 percent. He said this is to protect the city
against revenue fluctuations.
Councilmember Turner asked if the 10 percent was 10 percent of the assigned fund
balance or 10 percent of the General Fund overall.
Mr. Duensing said the 10 percent is calculated as 10 percent of operating revenue.
Councilmember Turner asked if that was within the fund balance or in addition to the fund
balance.
Mr. Duensing said that is within the fund balance. He said if they reach$50 million,
Council can agree to set aside reserves. He said his recommendation has been to
extend this policy over five years, but once there, funds can be set aside or additional
reserves can be established. Mr. Duensing explained establishing a policy is almost like
establishing an emergency fund. Once that fund is filled to the minimum reserves,
Council can consider its emergency fund established. He said first they will establish a
budget stabilization reserve of 10 percent and then work on building the operating
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reserve of 15 percent. He also explained that the target of 10 percent for the other funds
should be revised and will be recommending some modifications in the future. Mr.
Duensing said the policy regarding the property tax levy is to maintain the levy at the full
amount. He said the policies also recommend a 10 year CIP. He said General Fund
supported debt service shall not exceed 10 percent of the five year average General Fund
ongoing operating revenues, but currently the debt service the city supports does exceed
the 10 percent. He said they want to keep the 10 percent policy in there as a protection
for the city, but the FY15/16 debt service is 12 percent, and that amount is estimated to
approach 20 percent in FY20/21. He said the policies also highlight the capital
replacement and support of technology, vehicles and phones. He said the city needs to
establish a good vehicle replacement plan.
Mr. Duensing provided a benchmark comparison of cities both larger and smaller than
Glendale. He said bond ratings are very important from a borrowing standpoint and from
a perception standpoint. He said he will aggressively address the bond rating. He said
the fund balance and a balanced budget will help the bond rating. He continued two
items of importance are the reclassification of the interfund advance and the
recommended payoff of the capital lease. Mr. Duensing explained FY15/16 budget
objectives and assumptions. These include improving the General Fund financial
position and enhancing operations through advanced technology and innovative projects.
He said there are a lot of technology projects in this budget, including police body
cameras. The budget also absorbs increases in MOU costs, a 2.5 percent
non-represented employee pay increases, increases in PSPRS cost, which includes
additional contributions and consolidating General Fund, sub funds. He said the general
fund request is just over$201 million. Mr. Duensing said payroll benefit costs are based
on current FTEs. He said any salary line items are made up of current salaries plus pay
increases, vacant positions with salaries at the mid-range and requested FTEs with
salaries estimated at mid-range. He said there is also an increase in investment costs,
which include insurance premiums, telephone premiums, workers'compensation
premiums and information technology premiums.
Councilmember Chavira asked why the vacant FTE positions have not been taken out of
the FY16 budget.
Mr. Duensing said vacant FTE positions can be removed from the budget, but they need
to take into consideration how elimination of those positions will affect the city's service
level. He explained they like to minimize the vacancies, but they do occur.
Councilmember Chavira asked about the dollar amount of the vacancies.
Mr. Duensing said he does not have that information right away, but can provide it to the
Council.
Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if all the current vacancies in the budget have been
evaluated and asked if they are all positions that the city intends to fill.
Mr. Duensing said that is correct.
Councilmember Sherwood said the city would never be 100 percent fully staffed just due
to attrition. He said previously, the city was carrying positions that weren't really
necessary and they were counting on the salary savings to even things out.
Mr. Duensing said sometimes carrying vacancies is not a good thing as it equates to
services you cannot deliver.
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Mr. Duensing next discussed PSPRS and said the FY16 budget request includes items
to reduce the unfunded liability. Included in this budget request are items that are
consistent with the League Task Force recommendations even though the ones on
PSPRS have not been issued yet. He explained Council provided direction for a no
phased in approach and advance contributions. He also said Council agreed to budget
DROP contributions and fire insurance premium credit.
Mr. Duensing went on to discuss the city's future challenges. He said the TPT
simplification impact will need to be watched closely and there will be a delay in the city
receiving those revenues. He said other challenges include unanticipated pension
increases, economic slowdown and future legislation. He said there has been discussion
on a mid-decade census.
Mr. Stoddard explained that the distribution of state shared revenue is based on
population. He said state law allows for a mid-decade review of population to update this
figure. After the 2010 census, several cities have decided to proceed with a mid-decade
census and this could result in a loss of$1 to$1.5 million to Glendale. He said they are
currently working to come up with a better population estimate to secure the city's portion
of state shared revenue.
Councilmember Sherwood asked how this works with the cities paying for the mid-decade
census and expending large sums of money in the process. He also asked which cities
are moving ahead with the mid-decade census.
Mr. Stoddard said discussions are held at the League and it comes to an issue of
fairness. He said the numbers produced if just 7 cities are moving forward with a census
are going to be much greater than if the entire state performed a mid-decade census. He
said there has to be fairness and equity between the revenue received by the cities. He
said the cities are Buckeye, Chandler, Gilbert, Goodyear, Peoria, and Queen Creek. He
said Avondale has since decided to wait and see what happens with the formal
discussions between the cities before moving forward.
Councilmember Tolmachoff said those are all cities that have had significant population
growth. She asked if those cities are open to looking at other options or are moving
forward with their plans.
Mr. Stoddard said different cities have different points of view. He explained the share
each city receives might be significantly more for a city doing a mid-decade census
versus waiting for all the cities to do a census as a whole. He said the population is not
growing and the conversation continues. He said the city may see a lower percentage of
the state shared revenue pie for the city over the coming years.
Mr. Duensing said the next item to watch is the 2020 census, which will occur in
FY21-22. He said they need to start thinking about the potential loss in state shared
revenue now. He also said adequate capital funding is necessary for vehicle
replacement and to deal with the city's aging buildings. He said future development
agreement costs will also be important, as well as MPC and excise debt service cost
increases.
Councilmember Sherwood said future development at the Loop 303 and in the sports and
entertainment district will be an offset to some of these challenges.
Mr. Duensing said Councilmember Sherwood was correct.
Mr. Duensing said there will be a number of positions included in the budget and most of
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those are non-General Fund positions. Public Works has a request for four FTEs to
manage the large upcoming pavement management program. Additional positions have
been requested by Information Technology, the Mayor's Office, a previously grant-funded
City Court advocate and Police.
Mayor Weiers asked if there were any grants to fund the City Court position.
Mr. Duensing said the Judge and Court are looking for grant funds to support this
position and if they are successful in locating a grant, there will be savings, but it is
included in the budget at this time.
Mayor Weiers said he knew that they have been searching for other funding sources.
Mr. Duensing also said there was a Police position for management of the information
once police body cameras were up and functioning. He also said Human Resources is
requesting a Classification and Compensation Study, and one additional position in Risk
Management. Development Services also has funding for an anticipated abatement and
continuation of the General Plan update.
Councilmember Aldama asked about the diversity funding in the budget and asked if the
Hispanic Network was available to employees.
Mr. Brown said they were requesting$5,000 for diversity enhancement, which includes
speakers they might be able to bring in. He said they had a very robust Diversity
Committee in the past, but are asking for some funding to do recognition, events and
outreach for recruitments.
CouncilmemberAldama said$5,000 was not much, but it was a start. He said without
funding, there was no way to get those programs started. He said he supports this and
he would like to see some of those diversity organizations in the city.
Mayor Weiers said when he got to the city, the diversity program was ineffective. He
asked if the$5,000 was going back to the departments to pay the diversity members for
their time.
Mr. Brown said those employees were volunteering their time and were working with
employees to engage in a diversity group. He said the$5,000 was going to be used to
provide some events to encourage diversity. He said they have brought sponsorships in
for other events the city has held in the past and they would continue to look at those
options.
Mayor Weiers said he would like to see the program be successful. He said the
Councilmembers would also like to help and hoped that team would reach out to the
Council as well.
CouncilmemberAldama requested they add more than$5,000 to that fund as this is
important to the organization and community.
Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the Diversity Committee is inclusive with the
community or if it was just made up of employees.
Mr. Brown said this is an internal focus at this point and previously they did have more
outreach into the community.
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Councilmember Tolmachoff said if they are going to use the Diversity Committee for
recruitment, it should be more of a Board and Commission, rather than just an internal
organization.
Councilmember Sherwood said there will be future discussions on this issue. He said
they are moving slowly in the right direction.
Mr. Brown said the three things of note are the$5,000 budget request to bring awareness
internally to the organization, the city has engaged Slavin in its search for a new city
manager and have addressed the diversity issue with them, and he said they will be
reaching out to the community for the anti-discrimination ordinance to get feedback
during that process. He said they are just focusing internally for the time being.
Councilmember Aldama said it will take more than$5,000 to have significant results in
diversity awareness. He will leave his request for more funding on the table at this time.
Mr. Duensing said the current budget request is$560 million and he broke down the
numbers by fund, with the General Fund at$201.5 million. He recommended one
sub-fund which is the Vehicle Replacement Fund. In this budget, there will be one
General Fund and one General Fund sub-fund. He discussed Special Revenue Funds,
Debt Service Funds, Capital Project Funds, Permanent Fund, Enterprise Funds and
Internal Services Funds.
Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if they are changing or updating the vehicle
replacement policy.
Mr. Duensing said they are not at this time. He anticipated that will be a project in the
upcoming year. He mentioned several variables that they needed to look at to complete
this project. He said they needed a good vehicle replacement plan for the General Fund
supported activities, such as code inspection vehicles and certain police vehicles.
Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if this was something they were going to take a look
at,just not in this budget.
Mr. Duensing said it is a necessity that needs to be done next year.
Councilmember Sherwood asked why that is being separated out.
Mr. Duensing said the City Code calls for a separate Vehicle Replacement Fund to be
established and it made the most sense to keep it a General Fund sub-fund.
Councilmember Sherwood asked if that was the only fund required by the Code to
operate that way.
Mr. Duensing said there are other funds throughout the Code that are separate and they
are included in the Internal Service Fund and Enterprise Funds.
Mr. Duensing said the capital outlay does not include the carryforward appropriations. He
said staff is working to determine which projects are appropriated in the current fiscal
year, how much funding needs to be carried forward to FY15/16 for these projects. He
said to be as accurate as possible;they will wait until closer to the end of the budget
process before coming up with their final numbers.
Mr. Duensing discussed expenditures from the General Fund and said Police and Fire
total about 60 percent of expenditures. He said a good portion is funded directly from the
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Public Safety Sales Tax. He explained one of the requests in this budget was$5 million
in contingency funding for unforeseen emergency purchases. He said they were able to
add that in and still achieve a balanced budget. He said that funding can only be utilized
with Council approval. Mr. Duensing said they anticipate with this budget an increase in
total fund balance of$3.3 million. He explained that same figure last year was-$2.1
million. He said the FY16 is$5 million better than last year, and it includes$5 million in
contingency funding,paying more minimum amounts to PSPRS. He said there will be an
impact of PSPRS to FY17.
Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if it was a coincidence that the$3.3 million figure was
the same amount as the lease payment.
Mr. Duensing said it is not a coincidence. Mr. Duensing went on to Special Revenue
Funds and identified the transfer for the Police and Fire Special Revenue Funds. He
went over the expenditures for the Transportation Sales Tax, HURF and grants. He said
the majority of the funds transferred out of HURF are for the CIP fund for the pavement
management project. He explained that they have to appropriate the funds for the grants,
but they are not able to spend those funds unless they are awarded to the city. He said
the largest part of the Special Revenue Funds is the grants. He broke down the Debt
Service Funds, which included MPC, excise tax debt, general obligation bonds,
transportation and HURF. He explained there is also$20 million funded in debt service
payments in water/sewer revenue bonds.
Councilmember Sherwood said on pavement management where they were going to
accelerate that over three to four years, he asked if that was all pay as you go. He said
he thought they were bonding.
Mr. Duensing said over the next year or two, the intent is to pay as you go to the greatest
extent they can.
Councilmember Sherwood said they are tripling the expenses over the next three years
and he asked if they are able to do that on just the city's own revenues.
Mr. Friedline said they need to take a look at their HURF funding, but they are
programming over$7 million in pavement management. He hoped to come before
Council in June with the new program. He said they will take a look at projected HURF
funding over the next five years and the street segments that need reconstruction.
Councilmember Sherwood clarified that the city has been at about a$3 million per year
level for the past several years in pavement management.
Mr. Friedline said he is not sure of the number in the past, but they have increased that
dramatically with about$10 to 12 million in projects over the next 18 months.
Councilmember Sherwood said this is greatly accelerated over what they have spent over
the last few years.
Mr. Duensing next discussed capital projects funds and explained these do not include
carry forward appropriations. He said the request they eventually bring forward will include
carry forward appropriations. He went over the total expenditure requests for various
capital projects funds, which include DIF, street construction, HURF bonds, public
safety, flood control bonds and transportation. Mr. Duensing said Internal Service Funds
support the expenditure budget and are primarily from premiums charged to departments,
employee contributions and retiree contributions. New Internal Services Funds, formerly
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General Fund sub-funds include fleet maintenance, information technology and
information technology projects. The internal service funds include the Benefits Program
Fund, Risk Management Trust Fund, Workers'Compensation Trust Fund, Fleet
Maintenance and Information Technology.
Mr. Duensing then went over departmental summaries. He said the City Attorney ensures
citywide compliance with laws and regulations, and continues to advocate on behalf of
the city. The attorney's office prosecutes misdemeanors and code enforcement matters
and acts as an advisory in the policy direction of the Council. The Attorney's Office also
represents the city in the negotiation and drafting of contractual instruments. The City
Auditor conducts citywide audits of departments,programs and contracts to assess
efficiency, effectiveness and reliability of financial data and compliance. The Auditor
also posts audit reports online to enhance transparency and accountability of public
funds. The Auditor also assesses organizational risk and evaluates the effectiveness of
internal controls. The Auditor also monitors the ethics hotline and investigates alleged
fraud, waste and abuse. The City Clerk plans and manages petition, nomination, political
committee and financial disclosure processes in preparation for the 2016 municipal
elections assuring compliance with the federal and state law and City Charter provisions.
The Clerk continues to improve public, media and commercial record request process
while facilitating timely compliance with statute. The Clerk's Office also plans and
teaches classes to all departments on City Clerk services and records management.
The Clerk continues to improve 2016 record purge day organizational participation,
assuring compliance with statutes and city departments'retention schedules.
The City Court resolves criminal traffic and misdemeanors and some civil offenses
committed in Glendale. The Court operates specialty courts providing judge based
monitoring for defendants who are diagnosed with major mental illnesses or convicted of
DUI or domestic violence offenses. The Court also issues protective orders in cases of
domestic violence or harassment, provides public defender representation to all indigent
defendants and language interpretation services for defendants and victims. The Court
collects revenue for the city and state as required by law and provides a safe facility for
all those who enter the courthouse.
The City Manager provides leadership to staff for implementation of Council policy
direction, and manages the agenda process for workshops and voting meetings. The
City Manager also maintains current service levels with reduced staffing and leads efforts
for fiscal sustainability. The Communication's Department continues to produce award
winning events that increase attendance and downtown economic activity, as well as
managing the city's 20,000 pages across 5 websites, implements hardware and software
for improved web content management system. The Communication's Department also
increases positive exposure through public information and growing social media
engagement. Glendale's You Tube channel is now viewed 135,000 times annually. The
Communication's Department also advances the CVB with national and international
trade and media outreach and a national sales group division. They also manage
communication and media efforts for the 2016 national college football championship.
The Community Services Department provides services and programs to about 1.1
million patrons at libraries,parks and recreation centers in the city, as well as
maintaining 119 different parks and recreation facilities. Community Services also
partners with non-profits to operate four community centers for summer youth and after
school programming, which is free of charge to the city and participants. They also
maintain a number 1 ranking by Ranking Arizona: The Best of Arizona Business.
Community services also administers over$17 million in federal grants to over 50,000
persons for housing, CDBG and direct self-assistance programs and provides volunteer
program services for 200 registered neighborhood and volunteers. Community Services
also implements and operates the Glendale youth sports league, coordinated
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improvements for Rose Lane Aquatic Center and increased library book purchases by
$300,000 from development impact fees. The Community Services Department also
implemented over$192,000 in CDBG for ADA improvements at eight city parks and three
community centers.
The Development Services Department coordinates the General Plan update, ensures
compliance with zoning ordinance, building safety, backflow prevention and
cross-connection control as well as other city codes. Development Services also
provides a variety of building and related services for commercial and residential
development and remodeling, including plan intake, plan reviews, development
consultation, code explanation and issuance of building permits. Development Services
also provides community and neighborhood information and education and supports
economic development efforts by meeting the city's contractual obligations identified in
development agreements. Development Services also manages the cross connection
control and backflow prevention program to protect the city's potable water supply. Other
services include coordinating GIS and mapping services to assist residents, businesses
and staff with accessing important information by hosting and maintaining the city's
web-based GIS portal and provides direct staff support to the Board of Adjustment,
General Plan Steering Committee, Historic Preservation Commission and Planning
Commission.
Councilmember Aldama asked about increasing service to include homeless prevention.
Mr. Strunk said the county had to shut down their overflow shelter. He explained the CAP
office has gone out to several sites and have reached out to citizens. He said they are
currently working on a major five year consolidated plan and homelessness will
specifically be addressed. This plan will come before Council in May. He said the
funding for this comes from the CDBG funds and ESG funds. He also said funds for
these types of services are budgeted in the Community Revitalization Budget. He said
Glendale contracts with nonprofits to provide direct level services. He also said Council
has an opportunity to provide thoughts on what their priorities will be.
Councilmember Aldama said funding for homelessness has gone down to zero since last
year and he said this has become more challenging for other departments, such as Code
Compliance.
Mr. Strunk said that these documents were completed before the department completed
their CDBG review process, which will be concluded in May. He said those figures will be
addressed once that review is completed.
Councilmember Aldama asked if the department hasn't requested any funding for
homelessness specifically, but they have through the CDBG grants.
Mr. Strunk said that was correct.
Councilmember Aldama said he was happy to hear that, but would also like staff to take
a look at that and bring those figures back to Council. Councilmember Aldama said he
didn't see any increases in funding for library hours.
Mr. Strunk said it costs money to increase library hours, and they will take their lead from
Council wishes. He said they can explore opportunities to increase library hours over the
coming months.
Councilmember Aldama said even a one hour increase would be significant and he would
like staff to look at that.
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Councilmember Sherwood said it might be helpful to know what the parameters were in
setting this budget. He said there was an assumption of no decrease in service levels
during budget discussions.
Mr. Duensing said the main goal was financial stability and they were going to look at
doing anything the city could do to reach the$50 million. He said staff received direction
to bring forward a balanced budget.
Councilmember Sherwood said each department probably had a wish list to add if they
were able. He said once they reached economic stability, then they can look at restoring
service, but they are going to hold the line and look where they can invest for the time
being.
Mr. Duensing said the pieces of the budget can move, and that can be done if Council
desires.
CouncilmemberAldama said he supports a balanced budget and an increase in the fund
balance. He said he made a promise to ask the questions about increases in service.
He said it is challenging. He also said Code Compliance is another service department
that they need to look at, especially for the needs of his district.
Councilmember Turner said they would all like to bring service levels back to where they
were in the past. He said the long term financial stability of the city is the biggest
concern. He suggested using volunteers to expand services where possible. He
mentioned several service items the city is putting into the budget, including a youth
program and police body cameras.
Mr. Duensing said one of the inclusions in this budget is electronic permitting. He said
this directly impacts how quickly a business owner can get a business up and running.
Mr. McAllen said they are very excited to look at electronic plans review and permitting
processes. This will modernize and enhance the way the city does business with
developers. He said they are in the fact finding phase and multiple departments are
involved in this process.
Economic Development continues to be focused on business attraction, retention,
expansion, assistance, redevelopment, special projects and events. They work with
community stakeholder groups locally and regionally to promote economic development
efforts in Glendale. Economic Development also engages in relevant professional
economic development organizations and utilizes industry data to analyze development
trends, vacancy rates and economic impacts.
Finance and Technology will implement priority technology projects, including PeopleSoft
HCM and financial system upgrades, business intelligence and electronic plan review.
They will continue procurement support to all city departments and maintain uptime of all
core business applications and infrastructure. Staff also ensures compliance with laws
and regulations and continues to maintain timely payroll and accounts payable
processing. The Fire Department provides progressive service delivery, innovations and
creative partnerships through 12 emergency units dispatched from 9 strategically located
stations. Fire provides the full spectrum of fire services, including fire suppression,
emergency medical, crisis response, emergency management and special operations
services. Fire also provides supplement fire services, which include wildland firefighting;
terrorism response and grant funded mass casualty disaster response capabilities. The
Fire Department supports the valley-wide automatic aid consortium, which responds
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without regard to political boundaries, as well as public-private partnerships like Airvac
Services with HALO 151. Fire also provides non-emergency programs including fire
prevention and inspections, safety education, emergency preparedness, emergency
management and internal support services. Human Resources and Risk Management
ensures city departments have the resources to effectively serve the citizens and ensure
the fair and equitable management of the city's compensation and benefits plans,
including the health, dental and vision self-insurance plans. They manage the property
and liability and workers'compensation programs and manage the recruitment/selection,
employee performance management and employee relations processes. Human
Resources and Risk Management also manages the city's safety programs and training
and development programs, including ethics, anti-harassment and safety training. They
also manage public safety retirement, personnel, risk management, workers'
compensation and judicial selection advisory boards. They ensure policies and
procedures are current and are practiced fairly and equitably, and manage personnel data
and process all personnel actions.
Intergovernmental Programs(IG)coordinates legislative and related external activities of
the city and ensures the Council adopted state and federal legislative agendas are carried
out. They research and revise state and federal legislation impacting the city and
represent the city on those issues in an official capacity. IG protects the city's interests
in various stakeholder processes and works to resolve city issues with external partners
and assists and coordinates with other city departments who serve on state and regional
technical committees. IG also supports the Mayor and Council on various federal, state
and regional policy committees, identify and work to secure local, regional, state and
federal funding opportunities and oversee staff in the Mayor and Council Offices.
Mr. Duensing said Miscellaneous Grants is funding appropriation for$150,000, which can
only utilize that funding if the city is in receipt of the grants. He said these grants are not
usually identified with a specific department. He also said the non-departmental where
the General Fund support of information technology is budgeted. He said this also
includes any sales tax rebates, mandatory department of revenue funding and the From
the Heart program.
The Police Department maintains levels of support for preventing crime, maintaining
order and providing support to numerous events held within the city. The police utilize
progressive and innovative techniques and emerging technologies. The police continue
to partner with citizens and engage the community to formulate policing strategies, and
relocated the Glendale Family Advocacy Center to a city owned facility across from the
Police Department.
Public works coordinates the north cell development at the landfill, with a 2017
operational start date. This budget maintains services with no increases in fees for
sanitation, landfill or dial-a-ride customers and manages$13.6 million in planned
pavement management street repairs. Public works also established the Pavement
Management Program design and construction administrative division. Further, Public
Works continues development of Northern Parkway and facilitated traffic operations plan
for the National College Football Championship on January 11, 2016.
Water Services delivers safe, reliable and sustainable water services and collects and
treats wastewater to an A plus effluent standard. Water Services continues to maintain
service levels with no increase to water or sewer service fees and maintains operational
capacity for the current and future needs of the city. They will continue replacement and
rehabilitation of system infrastructure and manage city-wide programs to ensure public
health and safety, storm water management and environmental protection.
Mr. Duensing asked Council for feedback or any presentations they would like to see.
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Mayor Weiers said he liked the idea that the city has a balanced budget. He asked
about the storm last year and the flooding that occurred last year at 83rd Avenue. He
said there is an area where the water cannot get out. Mayor Weiers asked if there were
plans to correct that to avoid future flooding.
Mr. Friedline said a consultant contract would be presented at an upcoming meeting to
address these issues. He said they may have funding for a construction contract to
solve those problems.
Councilmember Sherwood asked about the funding for the salary for the interim city
manager.
Mr. Duensing said they are budgeting an amount for a permanent city manager. He
said if Mr. Bowers'time with the city runs over a significant portion of the year and if it fits
within the current city manager salary budget, they will request the salary budget will be
moved to professional/contractual to pay the agreed upon amount. If the cost is more
than what was budgeted for city manager, they will come before Council and request
some contingency funding.
Councilmember Sherwood said he was fine with the figures presented for Community
Services. He mentioned the City Council Budget went down 12 percent as they are down
one person. He said he had no problem with the FTE increase for the grants
administrator position. He mentioned Mayor Weiers is gaining an employee. He said he
would like to see a little explanation on that.
Mr. Duensing said he would like to address the 9 additional FTE positions for the Police
Department. He said 7 of those positions are school resource officers. He said those
positions are not funded through the General Fund. He said one of the other 2 positions
is RICO funded and the last position will be funded by operating budget savings.
Mayor Weiers said he is the ceremonial head of the city and hasn't been able to perform
many of those duties because he hasn't had the budget for it. He said they have tried to
make it work with the staff he has, even bringing in unpaid interns, but it is not working.
He said it makes it difficult to serve the citizens and is trying to restore the three staff
members that historically the office has had.
Councilmember Aldama said he would also like to bring service levels to what they were
in the past. He wanted to know more specifically about what position and roles this new
person would play. He said that amount of money could potentially be used to support
other programs, such as homelessness. He said they expect all departments to do more
with less and they should be expected to do the same. He would like to see specifics on
that position.
Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if they were going to wait to fill the vacating assistant
city manager position until the new city manager is hired.
Mr. Bowers said they will be discussing that over the next few weeks.
Mr. Duensing said he can bring back more information about the number of vacancies in
the budget. He asked Council for direction on whether or not they needed a budget
workshop on April 21st.
CouncilmemberAldama has no problem with reporting those questions just to him, but
would leave it to Council discretion.
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City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes -Final April 14,2015
Mayor Weiers asked if Mr. Duensing would still be available for any questions.
Mr. Duensing said he was.
Mr. Duensing said they will bring back the tentative budget adoption and this will include
the CIP carry-forward appropriation. He said the Resolution will include policies,
sub-funds,property tax levy dates. He said June 9th was the public hearing and final
budget adoption and June 23rd is the final property tax adoption.
Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the 2.5 percent salary increases for was built into
the budget as it stands.
Mr. Duensing said they were and they will take another look at the payroll forecast as
close to budget adoption as they can.
Councilmember Turner said they don't know what the 3rd quarter revenues are for this
year and it makes it difficult for tracking purposes. He said he was not sure Council had
come to a consensus on what to do with the CIP and other issues.
Mayor Weiers said they can call for a budget meeting if they need to.
Councilmember Turner said he wasn't sure all the Councilmembers have had a chance to
formulate all the questions they are going to have if they have a meeting on April 21st.
Mr. Duensing said this is the appropriation. They have time to further discuss any large
projects. He explained they are under a strict timeline to get a budget adopted. He
spoke about changes and when those changes can be made.
Councilmember Turner asked how the budget will be determined.
Mr. Duensing said they are determining how big the budget will be now. What makes up
the budget and can be done during the fiscal year. He said substantial changes require
a more strategic approach.
Mayor Weiers asked Mr. Duensing if he needed a consensus.
Mr. Duensing said he did not and would get back to Councilmember Aldama with the
answers to his questions.
Mr. Bowers thanked Mr. Duensing and city staff for their work on bringing forward a
balanced budget
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 11:21 a.m.
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