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Special City Council Meeting Thursday, May 22, 2014 Page 18 Mr. Miller advised that he was only asking for one of those positions in the 2015 budget, even though there was a demonstrable need for two positions. Mr. Miller opined that this was prudent at this time, given other budgetary needs and chal- lenges in the City; and that the City could then give further consideration to the second position in the future. Specific to the License Center, Mr. Miller noted that the City had been renting space in strip mall adjacent to City Hall since 2000; and over the last 6 — 8 years, had been managing the facility with the thought that the City may not continue renting it long-term but be considering moving into a City-owned facility. There- fore, Mr. Miller noted that the mindset was different if managing a facility short- term versus long-term, with some maintenance issues deferred, since the City was responsible for all lease-hold improvements (e.g. carpet, painting, furniture, and fixtures) and therefore, some money each year had been allocated and set aside in the CIP for the planned move into a City-owned facility. However, if the City Council's decision is not to move accordingly, Mr. Miller advised that some of those deferred items needed to be addressed soon (e.g. electrical components not up-to-code, mold found present in the kitchen and break room over the last year); and that a broader discussion was needed in the near future to address the long- term situation for the License Center. Mr. Miller addressed some ongoing things that were important to the Depart- ment's staff in continuing to provide excellent customer service, specifically training and professional development for all Finance Department staff to address the ever-changing and reorganizational efforts taking place. Mr. Miller noted that this continued to evolve as the Finance Department sought ways to redesign and reinvent itself and manage changes mandated or created, with a change in the bal- ance and skill set of employees. Mr. Miller noted that there were always new mandates for the Department, in- cluding new financial reporting and accounting requirements behind the scenes, and increasing risk management and property liability insurance and claims against the City. Mr. Miller noted that, compared to 5 to 10 years ago, the Finance Department spent a significant amount of time, estimated between twenty to twenty-five hours per week to manage insurance claims, previously about half that amount of time. While this has been absorbed by existing staff, Mr. Miller noted that it was an area of concern to him moving forward. In providing internal service functions for other departments, as well as the avail- ability of staff for Finance-related issues and to other departments, Mr. Miller ad- vised that it was important to continue attracting and retaining skilled staff to per- form the job. In conclusion, other than the additional IT personnel request, Mr. Miller noted that his budget was mostly inflationary as detailed in his presentation materials.