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<br />City Council Study Session - 05/16/05 <br />Minutes - Page 4 <br /> <br />Councilmember Kough spoke in support of Councilmember <br />Schroeder's recommendations, with one officer specified as a <br />motorcycle patrol; with his highest priority in reducing speed <br />through additional radar speed carts. <br /> <br />Councilmember Ihlan questioned how to best use the Council's <br />time tonight and how best to compile Council and staff priorities <br />beyond the written process to-date; and recommended a similar <br />process to last year with staff presenting department specific <br />budgets for Council review and comment. Councilmember Ihlan <br />opined that she would prefer additional resources for domestic <br />violence issues within the community. There appeared to be no <br />Council consensus in ranking that among the higher priorities. <br /> <br />City Manager Beets noted that, in the normal course of events, <br />staff had already drafted department-specific budgets up to a <br />point; but was seeking Council perspectives and consensus on <br />priorities to determine where department efficiencies could be <br />fine-tuned and those items eliminated that did not rank high from <br />the Council's perspective. <br /> <br />Discussion included minimal percentage of revenue received by <br />the City from traffic citations; safety concerns versus revenue <br />generation; Police Department staffing and supervision status; <br />focus, purpose and process for rankings and a clarification of <br />expectations for rankings; and strategic planning by Council to <br />develop and implement annual budgets and budget calendar <br />requirements. <br /> <br />Councilmember Kough opined that over the last three years, the <br />City Council had been very aggressive in its goal planning and <br />City Campus construction project; and now it may be time to <br />become more restrictive in order to pay for the construction in a <br />timelier manner. <br /> <br />Councilmember Maschka opined that, while Councilmember <br />Schroeder's proposed staffing recommendations may be prudent, <br />there will be an additional cost to the City to attempt to alleviate <br />a continuing problem. Councilmember Maschka noted that <br />crime repeatedly occurs in commercial areas, thus creating the <br />need for a Commercial Patrol, particularly given recent <br />