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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 08/06/2009 6497 e CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING Port Angeles, Washington City Town Meeting - August 6, 2009 Councilmembers present: Mayor Braun, Deputy Mayor Wharton, Councilmembers Kidd, Perry, and Di Guilio. Councilmembers absent: Councilmember Rogers and Williams. Staff in Attendance: City Manager Myers, Director Ziomkowski, Chief McKeen, Director West; and T. Pierce, B. Horton, J. Hurd, R. Bonine, City Engineer Sperr. Public Present: Approximately 30 members of the public were in attendance. City Manager Myers opened the meeting at 6:00 p.m.with a general welcome and introduction of City Councilmembers in attendance. He described the general outline of the meeting, and introduced Finance Director Ziomkowski. Director Ziomkowski made her presentation. This presentation include explanation of structure of budget, budget process, policies that guide the budget, with specifics on General Fund revenue sources, Street Fund, the challenges in balancing the budget, voter initiatives, new services, mandates, economic conditions, sales tax, utility tax, property tax and gasoline tax. Director Ziomkowski explained how the General Fund is balanced and the use of Reserves. City Manager Myers then opened the meeting up to questions and comments. 1. Darlene Schanfeld asked for an explanation of the Economic Development Fund. Manager Myers responded that it is used for job creation and economic development. Majority of the funding is from the Tse-wit-zen settlement and interest on investments. Current balance is approximately $6 million and cannot be used for funding such things as police or parks as it is designated only for capital improvement projects and job creation jobs 2. One citizen commented that she tightens her belt for her own budget. Flower baskets are an example of something that might not be really necessary. Don't want to cut jobs - but flowers are just thrown away. e Page 1 of3 6498 CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING Town Meeting - August 6, 2009 3. Dick Goodman. Often see two people with shovels and five people around the hole. What are the ways to cut the fat? Manager Myers responded that reductions had been made in supplies, travel and training. Staff is working to be the most efficient as possible while trying to avoid cuts to staffing. . 4. Health & Human Services cuts. Family Planning uses City support to leverage federal grants and other outside resources and Family Planning brings the school district into the process by providing education. It might be just a little bit of money but it does have a huge impact. Even keeping $10,000 in the budget would be helpful. Need to keep something in the budget so that item does not disappear. 5. Peter Ripley. How much is spent on unfunded mandates? Director Ziomkowski responded that it is very different in each department. Most are in Utilities with CSOs being approximately $40 million. Even the Accounting Dept has federal mandates to also comply with. Total is many millions of dollars. 6. Priorities related to economic development and tourism. Painting is wonderful, but then what do the tourists do when they get here. Question about how the Avenue of the People was funded. Funding was through the Lodging Tax Committee. N. West explained the process for applications, awarding and the requirement that they be for tourism related projects. 7. Comment and compliment-regarding how Manager Myers returns emai1s and letters, and appreciation for him,conducting this meeting. Manager Myers stated his appreciation for the support of City staff in making this possible. 8. Alan Bernard. As revenues decline, the use of volunteers is even more important. V olunteers pick up the gap through committees and boards for the short term until things get better. City should take care of core services necessary for public safety. 9. Are there any plans to Step up Recycling? S. Sperr - no significant changes coming up. Please stop by the City's booth at County Fair for more information. Question was asked if more products would become available to be recycled. Deputy Mayor Wharton explained the contract with Waste Connections and the type of products accepted are structured by that contract and market demand. 10. Will expenses related to the clean up of the Rayonier Site affect City budget? Manager Myers responded that City funds will not be used for clean up activities. Harbor- Works is the entity handling that with no cleanup costs anticipated this year. 11. More people need to take pride in the City. But there is a lot of broken glass and graffiti. Why can't police stop that? Is there a way to address the problem? This is not good for tourists to see that come into the area. How do we take care of the litter? Manager Myers responded that we have a code enforcement program, however it has just one part time person. Public education is important. Counci1member Kidd appreciated e Page 2 of3 6499 CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING Town Meeting - August 6, 2009 e comment and explained the PA Forward Committee and how the committee works for what can be done for the community and how to make town look better and clean it up. She referred to the "Pick Up P A" project and the AlA Grant assessment and how the Paint the Town sprouted out of the AlA visit. She encouraged the public to join PA Forward in this effort. 12. Cuts last year were made in the budget for pool, Fine Arts Center, etc. Public was told how bad 2008 was and then there was a suddenly an $800k surplus. Explanation came weeks later and that led people to draw incorrect conclusions. Director Ziomkowski explained the savings came from reduced expenditures and that a detailed budget newsletter that was distributed in early February 2009. Manager Myers noted that it is important to continually keep the community informed and that the City will do a better job. Councilmember Perry - announced Heritage Weekend. Being no more comments at 7:08 p.m., City Manager Myers reviewed the budget calendar for the remainder of the year, including dates for public hearings. Manager Myers invited the public to attend upcoming meetings and noted that the preliminary budget will be available on the web site in early November. One last question was offered on how to submit information to City Council regarding the impact of human services. City Manager Myers offered his office as the contact point for submitting comments or information and that all comments will be forwarded to the City Council. Manager Myers thanked everyone for attending. Meeting concluded at approximately 7:12 p.m. Meeting notes provided by Teresa Pierce. /:-/. . r~~ Gary~or e Page 3 of3