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Special City Council Meeting Monday, May 27,2015 Page 20 Councilmember McGehee concurred with Mayor Roe, noting the need to make programs available to everyone,but also for residents to be mindful of their costs. d. Administration Department Budget Presentation City Manager Patrick Trudgeon reviewed the Administration Department's budg- et priorities with continued focus on core services, and continued evolvement and improvement of the communication functions. Mr. Trudgeon advised that the 2016 budget would be basically status quo from 2015, with only some minimal inflationary increases. Mr. Trudgeon noted one area that would require an additional or larger increase would be for new election equipment purchased by Ramsey County and cost- shared by municipalities. With the importance of and increase in absentee balloting for Roseville residents, Councilmember McGehee asked if it continued to be cost-effective to contract our management of elections to Ramsey County, or if it was found to be budget- neutral. Mr. Trudgeon responded that, absentee balloting continued to increase, and he advised that he anticipated a significant increase for the 2016 elections, and at this point it would be difficult to determine those costs or budget impacts either way. Either way, Mr. Trudgeon noted that Ms. Collins and Administration staff would be extremely busy during that time,which would also impact other areas of opera- tion. Therefore, Mr. Trudgeon noted the need to look to volunteers to assist in various areas, and he would continue to monitor it as things evolved in 2016. Mr. Trudgeon opined the society as a whole seems to be heading toward more absen- tee voting, but the 2016 election year would prove very busy no matter what type of voting was chosen. At the request of Mayor Roe, Mr. Trudgeon confirmed that the existing CIP set- aside for new election equipment should prove close to sufficient based on his analysis at this time. Mr. Trudgeon identified a potential intern position for the department in 2016 to allow staff to be more proactive with researching and addressing special projects, such as best management practices and policies, as well as in enhancing commu- nity engagement efforts and offering more support to advisory commissions. Mr. Trudgeon opined that there were a number of opportunities depending on their skill set, and advised that he had set aside $5,000 for this purpose in the 2016 budget, in an attempt to leverage people with fresh ideas or for special projects beyond available staff time. Mr. Trudgeon noted that he had no new positions proposed beyond that of the intern.