Budget Committee Meeting
Draft Minutes
May 6, 2004, 7:00pm
Civic Center Council Chambers, 1175 East Main Street

CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Marty Levine called the Budget Committee Meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. on May 6, 2004 in the Civic Center Council Chambers, 1175 E. Main Street Ashland, Oregon.

ROLL CALL: Councilor Amarotico, DeBoer, Jackson, Hartzell, Morrison, Laws and Hearn were present. Budget Committee Member Olsen, Moore, Williams and Stepahin were present.
ABSENT: Budget Committee Member Silbiger and Christensen were absent.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Approval of minutes from previous Budget Committee meetings dated:

000004/29/04 Budget Committee Meeting

On p.3, there is a misspelling of going. On P.4 the administration that will assist in the software conversion is the Administration Division. The reference to ACH is Automated Clearing House.

000005/3/04 Budget Committee Meeting

Jackson/Moore m/s to approve the minutes as corrected. All Ayes.

PUBLIC INPUT  None

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, CDBG 0000000000 3-95 to 3-101

00000Departmental Presentation

John McLaughlin, Community Development Director, Mike Broomfield, Building Official, and Adam Hanks, Code Compliance Specialist, presented the Community Development Department budget. Mr. McLaughlin explained the goal is to continue to provide good service to the community while keeping a balanced budget. The overall net change increase is less than 1%. As of July 1, 2004 Talent will be using Jackson County for their inspections, and the City has one inspector that is retiring and will not hire to fill the vacant position. The Planning Division is proposing adding a Planning Technician position due to the increaseD demands in the commissions and increased demands in counter service. The overall goal is to relieve some of administrative pressure that associate and senior planners are feeling. They will have an organizational audit and will bring in a consultant to review the Planning Division procedures and operations. They are close to a net zero change in the General Fund. The Building Division tries to maintain 100% revenue for cost recovery. The Council has requested that they need to recover 75% of revenues.

00000Committee Questions

The Committee pointed out that the Organization Chart and the Position Profile are not accurate. Adam Hanks, Code Compliance Specialist, responded that the Position Profile is correct on page 3-97. Mr. McLaughlin added that they would only be increasing .2 overall. The Committee asked if the consultant would determine if they have adequate staff and cost recovery. Mr. McLaughlin responded that they will not be looking at cost recovery. The Committee asked what percentage of the employee's time is the CDBG. Mr. McLaughlin responded that they are allowed to take out 20% for administration, which is approximately .5 for an Associate Planner position. The Committee asked what Talent paid for the employees to do the inspections. Mr. McLaughlin responded that it was requested by Council to help out Talent and was subsidized the first few years, and then in last couple years, they have recovered additional costs and have broke even over the time period. The Committee discussed the goals that the Department had presented and the time commitment and which fall into a cost recovery period. Mr. McLaughlin explained that the next Council meeting will have a timeline that will establish the schedule for the projects, and most are long range. The Committee also expressed that some of the goals are more of a function and that it would be helpful to identify the Council goals compared to the Department goals and which fiscal year they are to be accomplished in. Mr. McLaughlin explained that all are Council goals and some of the things they do on an ongoing basis. The Committee commented that the General Fund, 2002 compared to 2005 is a 49% increase on page 3-101. Mr. McLaughlin responded that the major changes are the Housing position, and the Planning Division has increased while the Building Division has decreased. The Committee commented that it would be helpful to have comparisons, for example building permits, appeals, and inspections that causes increases. The Committee spoke of performance measures and how departments are reviewed. Lee Tuneberg, Finance Director responded that they have some statistics in the budget, but don't say how they were accomplished. Performance measures explain the process; they have a new project costing software that will assist departments with their measures. The Committee asked what the increase in Communications was. Mr. McLaughlin explained the increase for computer equipment for the commissions, they have added several computers, and cell phone use has increased for customer service use in the field.

00000Public Input

None

00000Approval of Departmental Budget

Jackson/Hearn m/s to tentatively accept the budget as presented. All Ayes.

Break until 8:05.

PARKS 0000000000 3-117 to 3-131

00000Departmental Presentation

Don Robertson, Parks Director, Steve Gies, Parks Superintendent and Mike Gardiner, Parks Commission Chairman, presented the Parks budget. Mr. Gardiner spoke of the selection process for the Parks Director and identified the goals used to form the budget. He spoke to the Recreation staff and changes due to some of the staff moving to City Hall. The proposed budget shows an increase of 2.0 FTE, with a new Recreation Superintendent who's responsibility is to evaluate staff. There is $70,000 in the budget for improving the water quality in the duck pond. Maintenance of the school facilities is not funded in this budget. The Oak Knoll Golf Course operates at a break-even figure now and this next year will need to generate revenue to improve the course. They have included a program for playground safety: to improve and replace the sand surface with a wood chip surface. Open Space and Trail funding shows no increase. The Commission has had more input in the budget this year than before.

00000Committee Questions

The Committee asked about the increase in positions and Mr. Robertson explained that this year the temporary employees are shown. The Recreation Superintendent is a new position, which was a supervisor before. The Recreation Specialist will now be a Recreation Coordinator. Now there will be a Receptionist, a Recreation Coordinator, and a Recreation Superintendent.

The Committee asked if the school district would maintain Briscoe School. Mr. Robertson replied that he couldn't speak for the school district. The Committee asked what the cost would be of continuing to maintain school grounds. Mr. Robertson explained that there is not a revenue source to fund the expense. The Committee asked what the cost of maintaining the grounds would be and if they were not maintained, if there would be a reduction in staff. Mr. Robertson responded the cost is $133,000 and the staff required to maintain the grounds is 2.0 FTE. One of the FTE has retired so they will not rehire for that position and the other will be transferred to the Boulevard Maintenance. Dave Williams, Budget Committee Member suggested using the fund balance to fund the maintenance. Mr. Robertson replied that the goal for the ending fund balance has been $900,000. Lee Tuneberg, Finance Director, reported that the there was an error in the long-term budget as presented that will be corrected and presented to the Committee.

The Committee asked why the Parks budget is up 10% and if the school grounds maintenance could come out of another item. Mr. Tuneberg answered by pointing to 4-66 and the overall total budget which the table on 1-11 only compares budget to budget.

Williams m/s approve the budget as presented subject to the addition of the $133,00 for maintenance of school grounds.
Motion failed due to lack of a second.

Hartzell/Moore m/s to direct staff to come back May 12 or 13 with proposals of how the level of service of the school grounds could be maintained and an explanation of impacts. All Ayes

Don Laws, Councilor, believes that the Parks Department should maintain their functions as presented and secondly add the school maintenance.

00000Public Input

None

00000Approval of Departmental Budget

Postponed until corrected numbers are presented.

Mr. Tuneberg spoke to the packets that were presented for the Economic & Cultural Development grants. The first meeting will be May 20. Mr. Tuneberg asked if an alternate date for the second night could be May 26.The Subcommittee was not available for May 26 so the second night will be May 21.

ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 9:22 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Bryn Morrison, Administrative Secretary
Finance Department

End of Document - Back to Top