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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, November 23, 2009 Page 9 several iterations being aprogram-based as opposed to an operating-based proc- ess. Councilmember Pust expressed concern that City Manager Malinen had not di- rected Mr. Miller to prepare the information requested by Councilmember Ihlan, given that this is a new process with various glitches; and expressed further con- cern that if a City Councilmember couldn't request data as previously provided, what else was not being followed. Councilmember Pust opined that this was not a good path to pursue, and spoke in support of the motion. Mayor Klausing noted the difference in the City Council versus individual Coun- cilmembers making demands of staff; and further noted that the Council majority had supported this different budget approach. Mayor Klausing noted that it was not fair to staff, at the near end of the process, for one Councilmember to decide to use a different process; and questioned why the City Council could not com- plete this budget process based on the information provided to-date by staff, using general budget categories broken down by department. Mayor Klausing recog- nized that, in past years, there was an even greater breakdown, but opined that the previous process was much more confusing and opaque, with this process provid- ing abetter understanding for the City Council and public of specific programs and funding. Mayor Klausing advised that he could not agree that the City Council could not make budget decisions and determinations based on the infor- mation provided to-date. Councilmember Ihlan used Recreation Administration as an example in past years versus this year's lump number, when salaries and benefits were broken down from 2005 - 2007, with 2008 actual budget and 2009 proposed budget lines. Councilmember Ihlan opined that this provided sufficient detail rather than a summary to determine where the money was going, a crucial need for her if she was to seek meaningful ways to reduce the budget. Councilmember Ihlan reiter- ated that she'd had that information every year she'd served on the City Council; and was asking for the same information to be provided this year, even if a differ- ent budget process was in play, for it to correspond to the summary numbers. Councilmember Ihlan advised that this is public data, and even if not in the exact format, she was seeking the information as a Councilmember and on behalf of the public who needed this information. Councilmember Johnson questioned Mr. Miller's next step if the City Council provided direction to staff at tonight's meeting; and whether that would not in fact be to create a line item document. Mr. Miller concurred, that at some point, staff would do so, but not within the timeframe of a few days, and that it would take him 2-3 days to recreate the line item if he were to work 24/7; but cautioned that it would not tie back to the BFO process. Mr. Miller used Councilmember Ihlan's example of Parks Administra-