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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, December 2, 2013 Page 19 opining that was a significant amount of money that could be used elsewhere. Councilmember Willmus encouraged other Councilmembers to consider options; opining that the suggestion that the City be at 100% of peer cities was flat wrong. While supporting providing fair wage and benefit package to employees, Coun- cilmember Willmus noted that there were also other things on the table, and ques- tioned if the City could do them all. Councilmember Willmus opined that com- parison numbers and statistics looking back 10 to 20 years could provide any- thing; thus his preference to look back over only two budget cycles. Coun- cilmember Willmus opined that this City Council should not be expected to take correction for actions of a City Council of ten years ago. Councilmember McGehee opined that this City Council was taking corrective ac- tion on the CIP actions of previous City Councils; and clarified that the City did not agree to provide 100% of peer cities, only 98%. Councilmember McGehee questioned the concerns of Councilmember Willmus, opining that the City's ma- jor assets were its staff; and while the employee benefit program was not the pre- mium plan, it was adequate; and further noted the reductions achieved in rates and costs through the City's wellness program, initiated and endorsed by staff as a cost saving measure for the City. With 54% of the budget representing personnel costs, Councilmember McGehee noted previous concerns expressed with the 24/7 status of the City's Information Technology staff, as well as Councilmember Et- ten's earlier reference tonight of staff working 70-80 hours per week, opining that it represented an unsustainable work model. Councilmember McGehee noted that, at the time the City Council agreed to make a wage adjustment based on the outside compensation study, it was clearly understood that the City would also need to implement an annual COLA to remain comparable to the market place and other communities; and was based on inflationary indexes going forward. Mayor Roe clarified the action taken by the City Council in October of 2013, with the City currently behind inflation; and the revisions made to address that devia- tion; with the projection for future considerations based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Councilmember Laliberte noted the difficulty in addressing employee, resident and other needs and department priorities, with everyone wanting it all. With the largest part of the City's assets being its staff, Councilmember Laliberte opined that it was obvious that it took a large amount of money, but cautioned that some choices needed to be made and everything couldn't be funded at 100%. Coun- cilmember Laliberte noted that in July, she had voted in favor of no tax increase other than the bonding obligation coming on line in 2014. Councilmember Etten opined that the City Council, in October, had purposely avoided a certain percentage goal, and determined a lower percentage to put it at 98%, not 100% average of peer cities. Councilmember Etten further opined that it was not outlandish to say that the compensation level had been way below aver-