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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, November 17, 2008 Page 21 personnel costs, and that needed to be considered by Councilmembers and City employees or their representatives: 1) Do we want to protect positions? OR 2) Do we want to protect compensation? Councilmember Pust questioned if a hiring freeze could protect positions for current employees; however, noted that the responses she'd received to-date from management were not persuasive that substantial savings would be captured through such a freeze, indicating that further action maybe prudent. Mayor Klausing opined that factors currently at play in the national econ- omymay not be at play in the local economy; and noted that Roseville had a higher than average economic situation than the national average and questioned assumptions based on those indicators. Mayor Klausing fiir- ther opined that while discussions of whether to protect jobs and/or bene- fits for public employees. was considered, the City also had a responsibility to protect the community. Mayor Klausing noted that year after year, deci- sions were made by the City Council to create a leaner environment for employees to perform their jobs for the community; and while expressing appreciation for that "lean" environment, he cautioned that further action may drive the community into mediocrity. Mayor Klausing expressed pride that other communities looked to Roseville as being on the cutting edge and as a leader for its peers. Mayor Klausing noted that losing that standing could have serious ramifications on this first-ring suburb and cause businesses to leave, and further negatively impacting the City's tax base. Discussion included actual and available data comparing Roseville with local and national standards; data of surrounding communities; sources for that data; and employment statistics. Staff was requested to research and provide to the City Council updated data on those standards. Councilmember Roe opined that there were a lot of unknowns; however, he noted that the County Assessor has already advised that the City's mar- ket value didn't increase as anticipated; and further opined that since the City's main source of income for the levy was property values, the City needed to adjust their proposed levy increase accordingly and seriously consider how it did business in light of that fact. Mayor Klausing opined that, even if property values were somewhat de- pressed, recognizing that the City of Roseville was not immune, the City still needed to plow streets, maintain its Police force for public safety, and