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Regular City Council Meeting • Monday,June 10,2013 Page 17 partments and divisions, and the number of employees, Mr. Trudgeon advised that it was easier for him to have a conversation with Department Heads. Also, Mr. Trudgeon questioned if the program-based budget ever evolved as needed, sug- gesting that performance measurements were really never finalized over the last few years. Mr. Trudgeon opined that, if it was to continue, it would require the discipline of both the City Council and staff to stick with it; but questioned whether it was a good fit for the City with the current budgeting challenges faced. At the request of Mayor Roe, Mr. Miller opined that the recently completed rank- ing process should not be tossed out, as whether done deliberately or transparent- ly, it signaled the City Council's priorities to the community. Mr. Miller noted that the priority-based budget process was designed to be a deliberate process for those programs/services funded and those not funded; and whether retained or not, the City Council would still be signaling their priorities when adopting a final budget in December. Mayor Roe observed that the challenge with a program-based approach was that it was based on the terms of eliminating programs/services versus assigning re- sources up or down. Mayor Roe noted that the first time the City Council went through the ranking exercise, they found so many programs/services and employ- ees being intertwined, the level of discussion never allowed time to get to the De- partment Head level for their input. With agreement by Mr. Trudgeon and Mr. Miller, Mayor Roe concluded that the program-based process had merit, but needed to be used better and not focus so much on process. Councilmember McGehee spoke in support of staff's recommendations, including the upcoming discussion on reorganization. Councilmember McGehee opined that the City Council and staff had held enough discussion about priorities and customer relations, and further opined that improved customer relations and effi- ciencies and centralized communication and website efforts in one place for de- sign and maintenance were prudent. Councilmember McGehee further opined that by talking with a Department Head, they could identify areas for efficiencies rather than the City Council attempting to manage or direct their internal organi- zation. Councilmember McGehee spoke in support of having those discussions by department and with Department Heads. Councilmember Laliberte expressed her support of moving in a new direction; and concurred with staff's recommendations, offering her enthusiasm in having work session or discussions with each department, and hearing how the communi- ty needs for their departments have changed, and the bigger challenges they were facing. Councilmember Laliberte suggested using the priority programming as an ancillary part of the discussion; however, she reiterated that having those discus- sions directly would be very beneficial and get to the heart of the matter