HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Minutes 05/16/2002May 1 b, 2002
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Vol. 37, Page 407
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2 City Council Meeting Minutes
3 Monday, May 1 b, 2002 - 7:00 p.m.
4 Special Meeting
5
6 PRESENT: Cader-Thompson, Vice Mayor Healy, Maguire, Moynihan, O'Brien,
7 Mayor Thompson, Torliatt
8 ABSENT: None
10®
11 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
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13 Trae Cooper led the Pledge of Allegiance.
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15 MOMENT OF SILENCE
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17 PUBLIC COMMENT
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19 None,
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21 COUNCIL COMMENT
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23 •Councilmember Cader-Thompson:
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25 Attended Sacramento League of California Cities meeting with City
26 Manager Fred Stouder. 800-1000 attendees -rally in front of capitol -letting
27 governor know we don't want them to take any more of our fees away. First
28 time elected officials throughout the state have gone up to Sacramento and
29 had a rally. Got the message across -will see some results -hopefully
30 reinstating VLF. Also did a little lobbying on the Wastewater Facility, Thanked
31 Councilmember Torliatt for coming for the day,
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33 •Councilmember Torliatt:
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35 Councilmember Cader-Thompson was congratulated and thanked by
36 elected officials from North Bay League of California Cities for her excellent
Vol. 37, Page 408
May 1 b, 2002
1 job organizing this trip. City needs to make sure it hangs on to revenues that
2 come back from the state.
3
4 •Councilmember Maguire:
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6 This is direction cities have needed to go for many years. The League is
7 acting as vehicle to assist. Funding will hopefully catch up as economy
8 improves.
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10 Noted $1,500,000 check from federal government to City of Petaluma -Helps
11 bring City out from under unfair burden of cost of Army Corps of Engineers
12 Flood Control project.
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14 •Councilmember Torliatt:
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16 Noted this is money that goes back into the ,Redevelopment Agency and
17 cannot be spent on major street and road improvements unless they are part
18 of a redevelopment project.
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20 Mr. Stouder - to keep the project going on beyond the grants -storm drainage
21 mitigation fees - to be reimbursed.
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23
24 BUDGET WORKSHOP
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26 Councilmember Torliatt noted she could not attend June 13 meeting -coming
27 back into town late on June 26. This was meeting at which Council is supposed
28 to adopt budget. Could it be changed to Thursday, June 27?
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30 Mayor Thompson -Let's see where we are at end of fourth workshop on May 30.
31 Maybe we won't need all those meetings!
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33 Finance Director Bill Thomas -Asked Council to wait for adoption till the last
34 week of June so he has enough time to make necessary preparations.
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36 City Manager Fred Stouder -Review of what he and Councilmember Cader-
37 Thompson learned the last two days in Sacramento. Talked about governor's
38 revised budget proposals and the impact on Petaluma's General Fund.
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40 Mr. Thomas -Also reduction in reimbursements to local agencies on state-
41 mandated costs. Could impact $65,000 that City has budgeted,
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43 Mr. Stouder -Better handle on revenues and expenditures. Can we have more
44 fee-based services? Council priorities consistent last four or five years,,
May 1 b, 2002
Vol. 37, Page 409
1 Wastewater Treatment Plan, Capital Improvement .Program, General Plan, CPSP,
2 River Plan. Streets don't seem to have been a priority until two or three years
3 ago. Neither was flood project. Budget tries to focus on real priorities other than
4 day-to-day service deliveries. City is on sound financial base, He acknowledged
5 hard work of management team, especially Finance.
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7 Finance Director Bill Thomas -General Fund Reserves level maintained,
8 Equipment Replacement Fund solidified this year, Risk Management Fund
9 adding funds, reduce deficit of fund -goal to have this fund in a positive status
10 in three years. Reviewed accomplishments. Figures proposed for General
it Revenue Funds, Special Revenue Funds, Enterprise Funds, and Internal Service
12 Funds. General Fund budget is contingent on the increase of fees. Examples of
' 13 fee increases by department. Projected changes in property, sales, and other
14 taxes, licenses, permits and fees. Intergovernmental revenue. Charges for
15 service. Break down of General Fund expenditures and proposed increases,
16 Department budget proposed increases by department.
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18 Mr. Stouder -Hoping to come up by mid-year with ways to reduce budgeted
19 amount for overtime,
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21 Mr. Thomas - In summary -budget is balanced.
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23 Councilmember Maguire -Regarding Animal Services -estimate of percentage
24 of fee increases?
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26 Mr. Thomas -Spread across all of them. Targeting things we have not gotten
27 any revenue for before.
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29 Councilmember Torliatt -Regarding positions that have been frozen the last
30 couple of years. Does this budget include funding those positions?
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32 Mr, Thomas - No.
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34 Councilmember Torliatt - So we are actually looking at reducing positions?
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36 Mr. Thomas -Proposal for reduction of three -two in Police, one in Human
37 Resources.
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39 Councilmember Torliatt -Wants to know what positions in which departments
40 have been frozen,
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42 Mr. Stouder -Positions were frozen in February/March - no new hiring - no
43 replacing. That part has been liffed. Those weren't eliminated. There were
44 eleven positions in 2000-2001 that are not in this year's budget. They don't exist.
Vol. 37, Page 410
May 1 b, 2002
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2 Councilmember Torliatt -Also wants to know positions City is trying to fill now.
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4 Mr. Thomas -Balance budget last year on assumptions that we would save
5 certain amount by not filling right away. Didn't work out that way. Hiring freeze
6 did turn around a negative number and did provide some relief for the General
7 Fund.
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9 Mr, Stouder - In February, no one .knew what was going to happen. Did not
10 want to hire people only to have to send them home a short time later, Looking
11 back, downturn in the short term has not been as steep as we thought it might
12 be.
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14 Councilmember Torliatt -City uses a lot of outside consultant services -don't
15 know how to quantify that -wants an idea on what City is spending on
16 consultants in each department. Compare that with hiring someone in-house to
17 do the job.
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19 Mr. Stouder -Most of the contract services are services that are needed for
20 special projects, short-term, with expertise City doesn't need to pay for all the
21 time. It is more efficient to contract for those as needed,
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23 Councilmember Torliatt -Agrees, but also sees importance of people working for
24 the City who are invested in community,
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26 Councilmember O'Brien - If decreasing Police by two positions equals
27 increasing overtime and Workers' Compensation -wouldn't it make more sense
28 to fund the positions? Won't deficit increase as time goes on because fatigued
29 personnel more likely to be hurt?
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31 Mr, Thomas -Trying to bring Fire, Police overtime budgets to a more realistic
32 number -have been consistently over budget.
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34 Councilmember Moynihan -Complimented Finance staff on format and
35 presentation of budget. Would like to take some time and benefit from the
36 summaries before delving into each department's budget. Regarding assumed
37 fee increases -based on Cost of Services Study -some input from Council is
38 inconsistent with recommendations of consultant who prepared study.
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40 Mr, Thomas -Wanted to include fee schedule as part of budget. Council will
41 get it next week.
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43 Councilmember Moynihan - If we disagreed with any fees, we'd have to modify
44 the budget? Suggested that property taxes might increase by 2%? Wondering if
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May 16, 2002
Vol. 37, Page 411
max increase under Prop 13 is 2% -large redevelopment area where full 2%
might not be the case.
Mr, Thomas - 2% only on General Fund portion of property taxes,
Councilmember Moynihan -Read about HMO costs going up.
Mr. Thomas -There is money in employee benefits fund to cover that.
Councilmember Moynihan -Estimate increase we are budgeting? 17-24%? Or
less?
Mr. Thomas -Budgeting in all funds for health insurance,
Councilmember Moynihan -Budget refers to Capital Improvement Program
(CIP) -but no CIP included.
Mr. Stouder -Being printed - .ready in one to two weeks.
Councilmember Moynihan -Omission concerns me -tying budget into CIP and
PCDC this year. If CIP not ready, how can we tie budget into it?
Mr. Stouder -Budgets are integrated, not done in a vacuum. Those working on
CIP budget consulted with Mr. Thomas, Objective is to pull those out in one
separate document to see very clearly. First chance to do this in many years. For
example: streets identified by condition, traffic count, and sources of revenue
by fund so that Council can make choices that are appropriate. Will require at
least one full session,
Councilmember Moynihan - In January 2001 the goal was to have an approved
Five-Year CIP. Clearly not in budget. If we are looking at budget without tying it
into CIP, we are going to have to go back and revamp the whole budget.
Mr. Thomas - We know the CIP is not here. The City Manager said it wasn't here,
Councilmember Moynihan - No monies lined out for street resurfacing or repair.
Balance is budgeted in such a way to ensure that the streets are going to go to
hell.
Mr. Thomas -What you're talking about has nothing to do with what's on
tonight's agenda,
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Vol. 37, Page 412
May 1 b, 2002
Councilmember Moynihan - If we are going to fix our streets, we have to start
now. We have to cut expenditures. Think we can cut $4 million,
Councilmember Cader-Thompson -When Mr, Stouder and I were in Sacramento
it was clear: our City is in great shape compared to many,
Councilmember Maguire -Have heard this diatribe from Councilmember
Moynihan before -not borne out by budgets. Budgets easier to read. Despite
Councilmember Moynihan's irresponsible statements, can't see how we could
even approach cutting $4 million from this budget to reallocate to streets. Go
through budget in organized fashion, Councilmember Moynihan can point out
line items; determine if there is Council support,
Ci Clerk
Councilmember Cader-Thompson asked why, in an election year, with the
Interim City Clerk leaving, the budget calls for sharing the Administrative
Secretary with Human Resources (Page 82)?
Mr, Thomas -Going back to original plan, which was to share Administrative
Secretary with Human Resources,
Councilmember Torliatt -Which is full-time position and which is half-time
position?
Mr. Thomas -Budget calls for full-time City Clerk, full-time Deputy City Clerk, and
half-time Administrative Secretary,
Mr, Stouder -New City Clerk will recruit for a new Deputy City Clerk.
Councilmember Torliatt -Compare job description with performance measures?
Have not done this? Need to do this.
Councilmember Moynihan -How could we cut City Clerk department 10%?
Mr. Thomas - If you want to make a 10% cut in any department -think it would
have to be in personnel. Materials, supplies, and services about as tight as can
be.
Mr. Stouder -What services would be eliminated? People provide those
services. Council can say eliminate services but can't eliminate mandates that
are responsibility of departments. No one likes to hear this -only services you can
eliminate that are not mandates -are in Police and Fire Departments.
May 16, 2002
Vol. 37, Page 413
1 Councilmember Moynihan - Can we modify benefits package Citywide?
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Mr. Thomas -Probably prevented from doing this by PERS.
Councilmember Moynihan -Cover employee but not dependents? Significant
savings?
Mr. Thomas -Yes -but probably can't do that legally. Memorandums of
Understanding (MOUs) would prevent.
Councilmember Moynihan -Shocked at how generous employee benefits are.
Mayor Thompson - Mr, Thomas just said that by contract we are required to
provide those.
Councilmember Moynihan - But we renegotiate contracts,. ,
Mr, Stouder -Would Council like us to go back and cut 10%? Don't think it's
productive for Council to try to cut 10% of every position and every item.
Council should give him direction to go back. and see where cuts can be made.
Councilmember Maguire -Had suggested that if Councilmember Moynihan has
specific areas he wants to cut, he say so and see if there is Council support,
Instead, he's on a fishing expedition. Mayor should stop him -ask him to be
specific about what HE wants to cut -ask if there is support from rest of Council.
Councilmember O'Brien -Need to look at big picture - if Petaluma doesn't offer
the same package every other municipality offers, the City is not going to retain
employees,
Councilmember Cader-Thompson -Exactly - if employees think Council will
reduce benefits, they will pick up and leave.
Councilmember Torliatt -Prudent for everyone to know cost of Council's benefits
- those benefits are only in effect at time we sit on Council -wants public to
know about it. Also -helpful in each department if we had a list of positions and
salaries,
Mr. Stouder - We have that,
Mayor Thompson -It's not up to us to decide which positions would be
eliminated - "micromanaging, "
Vol. 37, Page 414 May 16, 2002
1 Councilmember Torliatt - If we're talking about reducing health benefits, etc., I
2 think labor unions would have something to say about that. Costs are not going
3 to go down - up to us to negotiate.
4
5 Vice Mayor Healy -Agreed. Benefits package important part of why employees
6 choose to stay here - on the other hand, would not oppose exploring and
7 potentially "modernizing" program. Clearly needs to be run through collective
8 bargaining and can't be jammed through as part of this budget. Willing to
9 discuss with new Clerk whether that two people can run office.
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11 Councilmember Moynihan -Ten percent would work out to S3 million. Wanted
12 to take Mr. Stouder up on his offer to come back with recommendations on how
13 to cut 10% out of General Fund.
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15 Mayor Thompson -Would like to go through entire budget process...
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17 Mr. Stouder -Clarify - I didn't offer to do that. We didn't submit a budget that's
18 10% higher than minimal. It is minimal. Remind you -you would be cutting
19 services -not costs.
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21 Councilmember O'Brien -City prepares a very lean budget. Staff has heavy
22 enough workload -Council doesn't need to send them out "on a fool's errand"
23 looking for where we can cut,
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25 Councilmember Cader-Thompson -Don't want this entire budget workshop and
26 the others to be manipulated by one person. We've been on this for 40 minutes.
27 Six of us didn't agree to this. Let's stay focused on what we're supposed to be
28 doing. We need to move forward.
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30 Councilmember Maguire -Comments by Councilmember O'Brien and
31 Councilmember Cader-Thompson sagacious and accurate. Did
32 Councilmember Moynihan listen to Mr. Thomas' presentation? There were wage
33 and benefit increases negotiated to bring City in line with other cities so we can
34 retain employees.
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36 Councilmember Moynihan -Are we going to cut 1 /2 a position?
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38 Mayor Thompson - Can I count noses here? Does the Council choose to go
39 through each department and decide where to make cuts?
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41 Vice Mayor Healy -Put specific changes on table first...
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43 Councilmember Torliatt -Vice Mayor Healy comfortable with 2.5 positions in the
44 City Clerk's Office, I am comfortable as well.
May 1 b, 2002
Vol, 37, Page 415
1
2 City Council
3
4 Councilmember O'Brien -Asked questions about five Councilmembers,
5 meetings seminars - thought we reduced it to $1,500. Nothing in here about how
6 we did last year.
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8 Mr, Thomas -Working on it. Just released April numbers.
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l0 Mr. Stouder - As City Manager wants to argue for additional funds for this -the
ii trips to Sacramento -pay off in dividends - a nickel-dime issue that translates into
12 thousands of dollars in dividends.
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14 Councilmember Cader-Thompson- To be effective, Councilmembers need to
15 educate themselves. Was against cut last year. Asked for it to come back to
16 Council. We dealt with it by Mayor Thompson telling me, "You can have mine."
17 Shameful for someone to scrutinize our cell phone costs, travel expenses, when
18 we get paid a whole $20 a month, Public needs to realize this is not a free job.
19 John Mills is conducting awitch-hunt.
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21 Vice Mayor Healy -Campaign matching funds?
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23 Mr. Thomas - We did not budget for that. I forgot.
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25 Mr. Stouder -Thought of it but didn't know what number to put in, Will see what
26 happens and have mid-year budget adjustment.
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28 Vice Mayor Healy -Unrealistic to put zero in here. Not that hard to estimate.
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30 Mayor Thompson -Direction to City Manager, based on last two or three
31 elections, come up with figure.
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33 Councilmember O'Brien - To chastise a member of the public who wants
34 information is wrong. He's entitled to it.
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36 Councilmember Maguire -We've ALL been victims of witch-hunts.
37 Approximately $6,600 is maximum a person can receive. One-third of $20,000, In
38 past, we've seen two people raise $40K. I've got to say $35-40K in budget would
39 be ample. It does cost us money to do this job - recently a commission in Santa
40 Rosa recommended tripling Council pay. Despite one person's claim of our
41 lavish benefits, the way things are set up, people whose diversity and life
42 experiences would bring much to Council are prevented from being able to
43 take this job. If Council supports putting on ballot, he would support 100%.
44
Vol. 37, Page 416 May 16, 2002
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Councilmember Cader-Thompson -Campaign finance - I know for myself I'rm
not going to be taking City money. Don't know how we'd calculate that out for
last three elections.
Mayor Thompson -Need to get some kind of number into the budget to avoid
"Unlimited Liability in Wonderland,"
Councilmember Moynihan - As the author of the ballot measure against putting
Council salary on ballot, I do think we need to reduce our benefits, Additionally,
the services and supplies have been going up, Answer to Councilmember
O'Brien's question -we're not doing very well in terms of keeping costs down.
Wants to cut benefits in half.
Councilmember Torliatt -Maybe Council and Mayor could take a ten percent
cut -that would save 40 cents a Councilmember.
Councilmember Moynihan - Do we have direction or are we just going to joke
about it.
Mayor Thompson -Councilmember Moynihan wants to cut services and supplies
and benefits by $20,000. Is there support?
No support.
City Attorney
Mr. Thomas -Increased the number of hours budgeted for secretary,
Vice Mayor Healy -This just covers Meyers Nave firm?
Mr. Thomas -Covers general counsel. Litigation comes out of Risk Management.
Vice Mayor Healy - So when we hire special counsel for election law issues.. ,
Mr. Thomas -Comes out of City Attorney fund,
Councilmember Torliatt - No line item for Public Records Act Requests. Know
they are extremely time-consuming and expensive.
Mayor Thompson -Would that be the City Clerk's Office?
Mr. Thomas -Get that broken down from Meyers Nave. Not keeping track of it in
Finance.
May 1 b, 2002
Vol. 37, Page 417
1 Councilmember Torliatt -Should be line item in City Attorney's budget -not
2 against Public Records Requests -but need to acknowledge the cost.
3
4 Councilmember Moynihan -Know Mr. Thomas setup new procedures for Risk
5 Management,
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7 Mr. Thomas -Ron Blanquie (Risk Manager) and I are only doing that for litigated
8 cases.
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10 Councilmember Moynihan -How do you come up with those amounts?
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12 Mr. Thomas - We consult with City Attorney.
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14 Vice Mayor Healy -Don't think we can afford to fall off this schedule. Meeting
15 scheduled to end at 9:00 p.m. Does Council want to continue until 10:00 p.m,?
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17 Councilmember Cader-Thompson -Not willing because Council wasted forty
18 minutes on one Councilmember.
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20 Councilmember Torliatt -Happy to close it at 9:00 p.m.
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22 Councilmember O'Brien -Willing to stay if Mayor Thompson willing to stay,
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24 Councilmember Maguire -Not willing,
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28 ADJOURN
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30 The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m,
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34 .Clark Thompson, Mayor
35 ATTEST;
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38 Claire Cooper, Clerk Pro Te
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40 ******