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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,June 10,2013 Page 18 Mr. Trudgeon suggested an option for the City Council to set aside a special night, and/or hear from two (2) departments per night so they could make a more detailed presentation and not have the discussion crammed into a meeting with everyone watching the clock due to other agenda items; and suggested a two-hour period for that discussion, suggesting early evening, allowing more focus on that discussion. Councilmember Laliberte concurred with that suggestion, opining that there was nothing the City Council did that was more important to the community; and ex- pressed how anxious she was to have those serious discussions with Department Heads and give them the time they deserved. Councilmember Willmus echoed everything he had heard so far on this item; not- ing his ongoing struggle with the program-based budget when not engaging it ful- ly, opining that he felt he was only getting the Cliff Notes version of department information. Councilmember Willmus opined that this provided the City Council a more thorough understanding of department specifics and how departments in- teracted, allowing the City Council to be better decision-makers. As far as a bi- ennial budget process, Councilmember Willmus advised that he had never been a fan; and while it was good to have some guidance for year two, it was difficult to make decisions with unknown implications that far in advance with any accuracy. Councilmember Etten expressed appreciation for the proposed changes, opining that it provided the City Council with a better understanding from its own experts and allowed discussion on efficiencies and impacts of what would happen if ser- vice levels dropped significantly. While recognizing that everyone naturally wanted to advocate for their own department, Councilmember Etten noted that it would not be an easy discussion, but with the current situation in searching for a new City Manager and the recent legislative impacts, a one year budget, rather than a two-year budget, made much more sense. Mayor Roe opined that he had always thought some of the best budget discus- sions had been with Department Heads, and concurred with Councilmember Et- ten's comments, and advised that he would not interested in having individual de- partments explain what they did and how much it cost; but if they needed more employees, how they proposed to fund them. While this may appear to put De- partment Heads on the spot, Mayor Roe opined that they knew their stuff and had a good understanding from past discussions how things worked, rather than De- partment Heads identifying needs and the City Manager not addressing it, with the City Council ultimately going along with the City Manager-recommended budget. Mayor Roe noted that this then opened up the need for Department Heads to lobby the City Council to address those needs, not providing for a good process for anyone. Mayor Roe suggested that it was much more beneficial to have a dialogue throughout the budget process, with trade-offs and impacts identi-