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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, October 26, 2009 Page 12 Councilmember Roe noted that he failed to catch that on his first attempt at rank- ing, thus his ranking and his preference to change that ranking so it fell above the line, while opining that he wasn't sure if it would rank a "5." Mayor Klausing noted that he had missed that as well, understanding it as a re- placement of funds previously lost; and requested that his ranking be raised as well. Councilmember Johnson concurred, seeking to raise his initial ranking. Mr. Miller reviewed the next steps, assuming these were final rankings with the Council having signaled their preferences through those rankings. Mr. Miller ad- vised that, even without addressing all the unfunded items, the City Council was identifying clear priorities. Mr. Miller noted that a number of items in the un- funded category included inflationary-type impacts that staff had identified as 2010 Budget impact items, but most having received relatively low rankings from Councilmembers. Mr. Miller advised that this signaled to staff and the commu- nity that the City Council was not interested in funding additional dollars, but in- dicating to staff that they were looking for astaff-recommended budget that would absorb inflationary impacts as much as possible. Mr. Miller used the "Street Maintenance" area (page 4) as an example with a composite ranking above the "yellow line" of " 2.4" and implications of less resources to replace needed improvements, that may decrease the miles of streets addressed in a given year. Mr. Miller advised that this was the clear message he was receiving, even without additional dialogue that would be forthcoming, and if the City Council wanted to send a different message before staff returned with a recommended budget, now was the time to do so. Mayor Klausing noted how the ranking process, as identified previously, caused him to rank items deferred in past years' budgets as "4" due to the additional cost in continuing to defer them and corresponding inflationary adjustments. Mayor Klausing admitted that he didn't fully understand implications of that linking City Manager Malinen also noted those items identified with increased costs (i.e., asphalt and material costs for street maintenance) and how those increased mate- rials impacted the amount of street miles that could be rehabilitated annually. City Manager Malinen advised that the intent was to get the City back on track to a level held two years ago, and addressing those two years of inflation within the 2010 budget. Councilmember Roe noted that, on inflation items, several show up under the "yellow line," but it provided an opportunity for reflection how to prioritize those items and how to apply those inflationary impacts.