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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,March 25, 2013 Page 30 velopment without providing recommendations on where to adjust,reduce or real- locate specifics. As the first step, Mr. Malinen noted how critical it was for the process for the City Council to provide their comfort level for spending and levy amounts; at which time staff would determine how and where to reallocate to achieve that funding. Mayor Roe questioned the rationale in having, for example, the Fire Chief rank organizational support for the Community Development Department; and what expertise he brought to the process in ranking within another department. Mayor Roe opined that the Department Head and City Manager should come up with the ranking prioritization within a specific department. Mayor Roe further opined that it was asking a lot of Department Heads to prioritize other departments within some level of expertise with them. Councilmember Willmus concurred with Mayor Roe's concerns. City Manager Malinen advised that Department Heads were naturally advocates for their specific departments, and while possibly having less of a range of exper- tise with other departments, were able to recognize their overall importance. Mr. Malinen advised that once internal differences are determined, as identified within a department, the end results from the City Council prioritization process would ultimately provide that information. Mayor Roe noted that the City Council relied on Department Heads to identify what was critical to achieve goals and visions of the community, through all the processes; with the overall City management then fine-tuning that within the or- ganizational structure before it comes back to the City Council. Mayor Roe reit- erated his confusion in how helpful it is to have other Department Heads weigh in for other departments. Councilmember McGehee concurred; opining that individual Councilmembers were not the experts, and without that Department Head input, they couldn't do their best. Councilmember McGehee further opined that it was critical to the city function versus goals, vision and aspirations since those items were in the City Council's strategic plan, and reiterated her desire for Department Heads to ad- dress those items critical to the City function. Mayor Roe clarified that he needed to know why those functions were needed, if they were intended to achieve the aspirations of the community. Councilmember McGehee opined that the strategic planning was separate from the basic budget. Mayor Roe opined that it was vital to the basic budget.