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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, October 25, 2010 Page 10 Councilmember Johnson concurred with the comments of Councilmembers Pust and Roe that such items be more transparent in the budget. Councilmember John- son opined that he was inclined to support a survey as a part of the new budgetary process establishing priorities to ensure Councilmembers were tracking with pub- lic sentiment, on a one -time basis. Councilmember Johnson expressed his disap- pointment in the budget process last year and lack of citizen involvement and at- tendance in the public meeting opportunities; opining that a survey might be another option to engage citizens. Klausing moved, Johnson seconded, approval of a contract between the City of Roseville and Cobalt Community Research for a resident survey at a cost not to exceed $9,600.00 as funded in the 2010 Budget amount of $10,000 for a citizen survey in the Communications division budget a non property tax supported di- vision. Councilmember Ihlan, related to budget transparency, expressed her desire that fellow Councilmembers would join her in requesting line item budget documents from staff in a more timely fashion than presented previously. Councilmember Ihlan opined that she did not support two surveys and remained unconvinced that the two could not be combined, or at least to use the same firm to perform both surveys concurrently. Councilmember Ihlan spoke in opposition to the motion to perform the survey. Councilmember Pust spoke in opposition to the motion; and questioned why a vendor had already been chosen for the survey without a Request for Proposals (RFP) process, as indicated by the City's Professional Services Policy on how vendors were selected; and questioned how she should respond to other firms seeking information on why they were not considered in the selection process. Councilmember Pust noted that the Professional Technical process ensured a more a more transparent, public process. Councilmember Pust opined that, with all due respect, $10,000 was not well -spent on this type of survey and would not help her decide how to spend citizen tax dol- lars. Councilmember Pust reminded Councilmembers and the public of the City Council's serious consideration to shutting down the City's hockey rinks as part of budget reductions, and noted that this expenditure represented 25% of that $40,000 allotment. City Manager Malinen noted the limited number of firms providing this type of survey; his participation in a webinar sponsored by Cobalt and his determination that they met the City's interests and needs, as well as the cost savings from pre- viously -used or reviewed survey firms. Mr. Malinen noted that this firm allowed the City to customize questions including budget areas, and served as a dynamic tool, through use of on -line surveying of residents distinct and separate from a sta- tistical survey. Mr. Malinen assured Councilmembers that staff using a best value