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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,January 23,2017 Page 22 Trudgeon noted the areas identified by him and Mr. Miller as identified in the RCA, and deferred to Mr. Miller for more detail. Finance Director Chris Miller noted five areas to consider addressing in the 2018 budget process, seeking feedback on staff recommendations for each category. While the categories were separated in the RCA, discussion ensued in general re- garding the entire 2017 budget process and future processes. City Council Discussion/Direction to Staff Mayor Roe suggested that it made sense in accordance with staff recommendation to set aside, identify, and acknowledge input at a number of different points dur- ing the process and incorporate that public input into conversations. Councilmember Willmus stated that he didn't find this year's process to be that flawed, opining he found it to work fairly well. Councilmember Willmus stated that the budget cards from residents worked well in providing information. How- ever, Councilmember Willmus cautioned that he didn't want staff to develop the expectation that as the budget process proceeded during the year, or receipt of the City Manager recommended budget, it automatically meant that would be the ul- timate final budget. As the year progressed and more information became availa- ble from time to time, Councilmember Willmus noted that the council would then need to make decisions reflective of that information. Councilmember McGehee stated that she was extremely happy to see this RCA and identification of perceived issues from staff's perspective, opining that the process was not bad but could always be improved. Councilmember McGehee opined that the budget process still created big surprises in December, as well as not looking out further ahead for maintenance costs impacted by decisions made in a given year. This remains a concern to her when the City Council and public are not apprised of that expense and the Council has not discussed it or taken into consideration. Councilmember McGehee noted that there used to be much more participation from the public at the Truth-in-Taxation hearings, with a core of cit- izens who used to attend. Comment cards have been received, put not really dis- cussed by the Council. Councilmember Etten asked if staff had a proposed timeframe based on last year's process, specifically times it made sense to step up public input. Finance Director Miller advised that the timeline would be developed based on the results of this discussion and direction from the City Council to staff, and de- pending on whether or not they wanted a deliberate step in the process to pause and reflect on citizen input or rather incorporating it on their own throughout the process. If intended as a deliberate step in advance of the City Manager recom- mended budget, Mr. Miller noted that would dictate the timeline.