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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday,March 11,2013 <br /> Page 20 <br /> cial areas), but had only been discussed in a broad sense, but not fleshed out and <br /> discussed as part of a realistic budget item. <br /> Councilmember Laliberte added to Acting Mayor Etten's comments, stating that <br /> while she understood the strategic directives on paper, all of which sounded great <br /> and what was supported, she also had similar concerns to those expressed by Act- <br /> ing Mayor Etten, in how to determine which programs fall under those directives, <br /> or which tactics may not be an actual program, but receiving support for comple- <br /> tion of them. <br /> Councilmember McGehee questioned how Councilmembers Etten and Laliberte <br /> wished to proceed, since these documents would be driving decision-making this <br /> year; and one of her goals was that they both have input into the Strategic Plan- <br /> ning process and directives. If the information remained incomplete, Coun- <br /> cilmember McGehee suggested that Councilmembers Etten and Laliberte work <br /> offline or provide direction to staff on information they still needed, or if there <br /> was something the prior Councilmembers had missed or if there was something <br /> they didn't agree with. <br /> At the request of Acting Mayor Etten, Finance Director Miller advised that staff's <br /> intent for tonight was to provide this summary of City Council directives to-date <br /> for Councilmembers Etten and Laliberte to gauge whether they had any new di- <br /> rectives to add, based on that talking point by the City Council several weeks ago. <br /> If these were the directives that the City Council majority wished to guide the <br /> budget process, or if there were any directives that had been overlooked or needed <br /> reconsideration, Mr. Miller advised that this was an opportunity to provide that <br /> input. Recognizing that Councilmembers Etten and Laliberte were seeking addi- <br /> tional detail, Mr. Miller advised that those initiatives and the Strategic Plan details <br /> would be coming before them at the next meeting; and this summary should be <br /> reviewed by them in concert with the Strategic Plan document narrative including <br /> specific action plans to accomplish strategic directives. <br /> At the request of Acting Mayor Etten admitted that, while appreciating the further <br /> information, he still didn't understand where the process was at in the full spec- <br /> trum, with some directives approved and some not, while others were at some <br /> level of motion. Acting Mayor Etten concurred that a potential $2.3 million in- <br /> crease in tax-supported initiatives proposed for 2014 was beyond significant. <br /> City Manager Malinen reviewed the budget process to-date, noting that the Stra- <br /> tegic Plan put forward by Finance Director Miller would identify where funding <br /> has been applied to further those initiatives, while many of the remaining $2.3 <br /> million are not expected to be feasible. As part of the budget process and reas- <br /> sessing priorities, Mr. Malinen noted that the start was to have these discussions, <br /> with the City Council making the ultimate decisions about those initiatives, in- <br /> cluding inflationary impacts. Mr. Malinen noted that, when the initial budget <br />