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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,July 8, 2013 Page 26 for the bottom rung and not achieving being 100% in line with the ten (10) peer cities. Mayor Roe advised that he could support a range of 98% - 102%. Councilmember Willmus opined that the option to utilize reserves to offset this burden was interesting, since he had been under the impression that in the past, those reserves were untouchable or required a thorough review of the City's re- serve ratio. While not sure that was a direction he would chose to go, Coun- cilmember Willmus opined that if the City set a target to attain, he would question if using reserves should attain it. While remaining open to further discussion go- ing forward, Councilmember Willmus expressed his strong opinion that it was vi- tal that these decisions needed to be weighed within the overall budget picture. Councilmember Willmus opined that it would be difficult for the City to set a pol- icy at a certain percent and then realize a year later that it couldn't attain that goal. Mayor Roe opined that a policy could be phased in when implemented; however, he didn't think the policy itself was tied to the budget or current funding. Councilmember Laliberte advised that she was looking forward to the upcoming Department Head budget discussions to hear their specific perspectives on how much money they had, other challenges before them, and where this issue fell within that context, recognizing that many of the positions did not fall equally across the organization. At the request of Mayor Roe as to whether that affected where the policy was set, Councilmember Laliberte responded in the negative, noting that it would depend on each annual budget. Councilmember Etten suggested that his goal was mid-range based on his discus- sions with other communities; and while that may appear vague or not provide a sufficient comfort level for the organization, he found many organizations were using that model. In removing the merit piece, Councilmember Etten opined that he didn't see that as a cut, since he would bury that right back into staff pay as part of the foundation for the main compensation process. Councilmember Etten further opined that the range would need to be part of training for the City Coun- cil, and based on past steps for prioritizing, when a policy was set, the City Coun- cil looked at steps to put that into place. Councilmember Etten opined that he didn't think using reserves was the answer, and stated that he was more focused on how to fund it in 2014 rather than solving the 2013 problem. Councilmember McGehee stated that she bought into the compounding problem; and opined that she didn't like vague ideas for employment structures in munici- pal government; opining that there had to be a realistic range for people to see and measure and how it was arrived at, and adjusted every 5-10 years. Councilmem- ber McGehee stated that she differed with Councilmember Willmus in his percep- tion that reserves were untouchable, since in the past, those reserves had been ad-