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Regular City Council Meeting <br />Monday, December 5, 2016 <br />Page 25 <br />McGehee moved, Etten seconded, adoption of Resolution No. 11385 (Attachment <br />A) entitled, "Resolution Establishing the 2017 Utility Rates" as presented. <br />While this is the only way to achieve the desired results, Councilmember McGe- <br />hee noted that a fee was essentially the same as a tax. <br />Councilmember Laliberte stated that obviously there were contributing factors <br />that put the city in this position as had been discussed frequently in the past and <br />pooled with other budget and levy discussion and actions tonight. <br />Mayor Roe thanked city staff for providing a background for the new rates (At- <br />tachment B) related to both base and operating rates to further inform the deci- <br />sion-making process. <br />Roll Call <br />Ayes: Willmus, Etten, McGehee, Laliberte and Roe. <br />Nays: None. <br />�• Approve New Positions <br />City Manager Trudgeon reviewed each position as previously discussed with the <br />City Council by him and various Department Heads, and as detailed in the RCA <br />of today's date. <br />Mayor Roe noted that monies for these positions had been authorized by the City <br />Council through their previous budget actions. <br />Councilmember Laliberte asked for further elaboration, at a later date, from the <br />Police Department on needs and capacity for crime analysis in general being done <br />today and whether or not that is adequate; as well as who was performing those <br />tasks and if that negatively impacted their ability to perform their other work. <br />Councilmember Laliberte asked Fire Chief O'Neill to address the considerable <br />turnover of on-call firefighters and retirements within the Fire Department and <br />whether or not that had been anticipated or how it impacted the ongoing discus- <br />sion and planned transitions from a part-time to full-time firefighter department. <br />Fire Chief O'Neill advised that the majority of the reduction in part-time positions <br />and attrition continued to be, as anticipated, through retirements, along with some <br />taking positions with other communities, or deciding to no longer serve in order to <br />spend more time with their families. Chief O'Neill reported that four years ago, <br />the department was staffed with 62 part-time firefighters, and with tonight's ac- <br />tion, were now at approximately 32 part-time firefighters. Chief O'Neill advised <br />that this was in line with projections that the department would experience about <br />ten part-time firefighters per year over the next few years and then slow down as <br />