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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday, October 6,2014 <br /> Page 23 <br /> tial areas of cutback, and positive or negative impacts with those decisions, and <br /> make them part of the upfront discussions. <br /> City Manager Trudgeon suggested a follow-up question for future surveys to pro- <br /> vide insight and benefit discussions as respondents identified what specific ser- <br /> vices should be considered differently—whether increased or reduced. <br /> Mayor Roe noted that Morris-Leatherman had highlighted some of those areas: <br /> public safety and recommended increasing or shifting a percentage of the budget <br /> resources toward that effort, which had not yet been part of the discussion to this <br /> point. <br /> Councilmember Willmus opined that City Manager Trudgeon addressed his in- <br /> tent, that it should be a combination of staff recommendations and direction to <br /> staff from the City Council as a response to resident survey findings. <br /> As budget discussions continue, City Manager Trudgeon suggested that as it was <br /> decided where the final budget should end up, staff would welcome any input <br /> and/or suggestions from the City Council or any ideas to take into account to de- <br /> termine impacts. <br /> Councilmember Laliberte echoed the comments of City Manager Trudgeon in a <br /> follow-up question for future surveys; but in the meantime suggestions by indi- <br /> vidual Councilmembers and staff were a great way to move forward. Coun- <br /> cilmember Laliberte advised, that in her request to discuss the community survey <br /> in the concept of the annual budget was to do so in generalities (e.g. public safety <br /> issues, aging infrastructure and rising crime), the City Council should hold itself <br /> accountable in its budget process and the discussions should pay attention to sur- <br /> vey responses; and if a need was indicated to fund something based on public per- <br /> ception it needed to match reality and where resources would come from. <br /> Specific to public safety issues, Councilmember McGehee noted that while the <br /> public found it important, on the other hand, 91% of respondents indicated that <br /> neighborhood patrolling was about right and thought they were well covered,with <br /> other responses indicating that 80% of those responding thought they were getting <br /> good value for their services. <br /> In conjunction with Councilmember McGehee's comments, Councilmember Et- <br /> ten noted the differences in response rates when applied to a pie chart, which re- <br /> sulted in the issue looking bigger than it actually was. Councilmember Etten con- <br /> curred with the suggestion made by City Manager Trudgeon, that while in general <br /> people may love the things around them and the services they received, it didn't <br /> mean those issues shouldn't be addressed, but consideration was needed as to how <br /> they may become magnified on a pie chart and pull the City Council in the wrong <br /> direction or a different way. <br />