CC_Minutes_2016_0418 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday, April 18, 2016 Page 14 cilmember McGehee suggested accomplishing that collaboration either through existing or better software if available, or even if able to be developed by staff to chart and define a more accurate cost estimate to accomplish what was needed. Mayor Roe noted if changing "fair" to "good," it may simply be a terminology is- sue with one sounding better than the other. Mayor Roe suggested better de- scriptors were needed to understand the definition and whether or not the Council was reacting to "fair" by thinking that level of service as unacceptable. Mayor Roe used the comparison of a "D" defining the level of service at intersections ac- tually being acceptable performance from a traffic engineering perspective, but not relating to most perceptions of a "D" based on a negative school grade. On that point, Councilmember Laliberte opined that language did matter, and the public shouldn't be expected to understand that distinction, but that the city need- ed to better translate the rankings into something universally understood. Mayor Roe agreed, opining that the intent of his comments was that the rankings should be more intuitive, and if a ranking is an acceptable standard, terminology be used that the general public is able to understand and relate to. Councilmember McGehee pointed out that, whether "fair" is ranked as a "2" or a "3," in looking at existing city rankings, only a few are listed as "fair," while the residents' assessment from surveys is that their perspective is that the city is doing a "good" job. Councilmember McGehee opined that this conformed to that with only a few places in the survey where that rating dips below, with similar infor- mation showing up in this document as well. Councilmember McGehee clarified that her point was to caution that the goal not be less than what is intended. Not in any effort to further beleaguer linguistics, Councilmember Laliberte stated the need to make sure language being used to assess status or quality matched what was being publically surveyed in order that it translate to how things were being tracked. Mayor Roe agreed that was a good point; and City Manager Trudgeon thanked individual Councilmembers for their feedback and this discussion. Infrastructure Sustainability — Ensure Capital Improvement Funding (page 29) City Manager Trudgeon noted the identified need for a more consistent asset management program. Mr. Trudgeon noted that some tracking of assets had been done for years, while others were just being developed and remained works in progress, including addressing standards for those assets. Mr. Trudgeon reported that one requirement for staff was to make sure they were cataloging and monitor- ing assets and then using that database information to inform the CIP and annual budgets. Mr. Trudgeon noted that to some extent, this was already being done, but others were still in the talking stages.