CC_Minutes_2009_1019 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday, October 19, 2009 Page 11 Councilmember Pust concurred, and noted that the federal and state mandated programs were set, but on city-mandated items, the City had more discretion. Councilmember Pust asked that staff define those items; and asked that Depart- ment Heads review her #2 rankings, as she had categorized those items of which she was not familiar or the description was vague or "other," and asked that they provide additional information for her to further review her rankings under that category. Mayor Klausing asked that individual rankings be provided to Mr. Miller by Wednesday of this week. Councilmember Roe asked that Councilmember Ihlan be advised by staff, due to her absence, of this request as well. Further discussion included ways to compare levels of service, based on staff ex- perience and peer communities; and potential areas of consensus and others re- quiring more lobbying by individual Councilmembers of the entire body to achieve consensus. City Manager Malinen suggested that by using their laptop computers, the City Council may be able to streamline the process and make it more efficient and even make adjustments during the meeting, with staff providing compilations dur- ing the meetings. Mayor Klausing sought Councilmember comment related to discussion of addi- tional funding sources, and potentially lowering the preliminary levy. Councilmember Pust noted that that was the ultimate question, of where the line actually ended, and opined that it may move around considerably over the next few meetings and discussions. Mayor Klausing expressed his interest in finishing this part of the process as soon as possible to invite public comment to see if the public was in agreement with the direction of the City Council. Councilmember Johnson expressed appreciation to staff for their continued avail- ability during this process; and opined that there would be substantial discussion needed related to quality of service issues. Councilmember Roe noted that not every line item had a quality of service asso- ciated with it; and suggested that if the levels of service could be defined and ranked as "high, medium and low," with the priority rankings of 1 through 5, they should start to correspond.