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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, November 09, 2009 Page 8 Councilmember Ihlan noted, based on comments over the past several years and public interest and importance of these free, neighborhood- based ice rinks to the community; and even with minimal maintenance during that time, the rinks were still funded; and opined that, if public in- put had been received, the item would still be included in the 2010 budget. Councilmember Ihlan noted that the composite ranking had been 3.0, and still had been eliminated, when items receiving lower rankings remained funded. Councilmember Ihlan opined that this should serve as a red flag to the public of the importance of their input in the ranking process. City Manager Malinen noted the priorities provided by those attending the community meetings, when asked to rank City services, with Parks and Recreation and Streets indicated as the lowest priorities of those in atten- dance, providing some rationale in his decision-making in the recom- mended 2010 budget. Mr. Malinen advised that he had worked from the bottom up to determine if some items could be totally eliminated; recog- nizing that the process was challenging; and addressing the "other" cate- gories that needed to be reallocated according to day-to-day operations. Discussion ensued related to how the neighborhood ice rinks were main- tained, with City staff rather than hiring temporary staff; intent, pending further review by staff, in reallocating staff time rather than eliminating a position; and addressing some items showing disparate rankings between the City Council and staff. Councilmember Pust cautioned use of input from the community meet- ings, given the limited number attending and the heavily-weighted age group represented who were not younger families; and questioned whether that input adequately reflected community input. City Manager Malinen advised that he was cognizant of that throughout the process; and encouraged Councilmembers not to take this one item used for illustration and to reinforce the BFO process as more relevant than those items remaining below the line and currently unfunded that need to be reinstated, creating the need for reallocation of other line items. Councilmember Roe concurred with City Manager Malinen's comments related to where the line was drawn below City Council priorities with a ranking below 2.2 or 2.0. Councilmember Roe recognized Councilmem- ber Ihlan's comments related to neighborhood ice rinks, that this was an opportunity for citizens to provide input at the November 16, 2009 meet- ing; expressing his hope that the meeting was being well-advertised and would be well-attended; seeking public comment on how well the City Council ranked their priorities. Councilmember Roe noted that the City Council had ranked the ice rinks highly, trying to reflect the views of citi-