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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,April 7, 2014 Page 9 recommended budget for a side-by-side comparison of what items would need to be reduced. Councilmember Laliberte opined that she would find that help- ful, and would be interested in the Commissions' thoughts on that potential. 5) Councilmember Laliberte noted that the state legislature used a fiscal note policy providing a one or two page snapshot on projects. While not interested in recreating the wheel to put it in practice, Councilmember Laliberte ex- pressed her interest in looking at such a process for a specific project, initial costs, a timeline and expected costs in the future, providing a ten-year re- placement cost. Recognizing that in some cases, there may be no number available without additional data, with that particular form remaining blank, Councilmember Laliberte asked the Commission to consider such a process, using a new park building as an example from its construction, annual short- and long-term maintenance costs, additional costs needed for CIP in future years. Councilmember Willmus expressed his curiosity as to where the group was cur- rently at in their learning process, or what type of information had been provided to them since their appointment and tonight's meeting, noting that it had been a rapid timeline. Finance Director Chris Miller advised that staff had not had the opportunity to meet with the Commission as of yet; and staff had been awaiting direction from the City Council at this joint meeting before doing so the City Council could set the stage moving forward. Specific to the Commission's scope and duties/functions outlined in the ordi- nance, Councilmember Willmus noted that most of those had been clearly item- ized based on how the process had evolved historically. Councilmember Willmus advised that he was interested in the Commission determining if and how to do things better, or if there was a better way to disseminate information to citizens annually to enable them to be more involved in the process than in the past. Councilmember Willmus advised that his focus was to have this Commission serve as the outreach in bringing citizens into the process. While the perception is that people are not interested, Councilmember Willmus suggested a way could be found to encourage citizens to be part of the process. Councilmember McGehee stated that she would like the Commission to bring other ideas to the City Council, opining that the City Council had been reactionary in the past, and the Commission could provide a fresh eye as members of the community having expertise in the financial field beyond that expertise at the City Council level. Councilmember McGehee spoke in support of Councilmember Willmus interest in making the budget more accessible to the public, including ways to make it more interesting and exciting. Councilmember McGehee ex- pressed her preference for the Commission to come forward with ideas yet to be thought of or pursued. Councilmember McGehee expressed her personal interest