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Agendas and Minutes

Budget Process Ad-Hoc Committee (View All)

Approved Budget Process Ad-Hoc Committee Minutes for Meeting #6

Agenda
Wednesday, November 08, 2017

APPROVED Budget Process ad-hoc Committee Minutes
November 8, 2017
6:00 p.m.
Community Development Building, Lithia Room
51 Winburn Way

Call to Order/Opening Remarks
Meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Chairman Dennis Slattery

Roll Call
Present:

Garrett Furuichi
Paula Hyatt
Dennis Slattery

Mark Welch
David Lohman (Non Committee Member, left at 6:20 p.m.)
Rich Rosenthal

Absent:
Adam Hanks

Approval of Minutes from October 11, 2017 and October 25, 2017
MOTION by Councilor Rich Rosenthal, SECONDED by Committee Member Paula Hyatt to approve the Minutes of the October 11, 2017 Budget Process ad hoc Committee meeting and the Minutes of the October 11, 2017 Budget Process ad hoc Committee meeting With the following amendments be made to the Meeting Minutes for October 25^th made by Committee Member Paula Hyatt, on page 4 section 7 change section to read that “this what makes this unique”, on Page 5 section 8b adding the word not be added to state the at one of the “biggest frustrations was not having a single sub schedule” on page 3 section 7 change the word “futility” to “fluidity”. Carried unanimously.

Public Form None

Budget Committee Information Request Discussion -

Slattery opened the discussion by turning the presentation over to David Lohman, City Attorney. The committee looked at the supplemental questions, as directed by Lohman on page 27 which referred to the committee members making requests. He added that this was his opinion of what made sense and that at some point someone has to balance the need to request information and the staff time.
1. Lohman added that there is one protocol of requests during the budget season, when the budget committee is in session and the budget committee would be involved if a final decision needed to make place and that during the off season it would be council or the Mayor if it was required an immediate decision before the Council could meet. He added during the budget season if the decision is urgent and it falls between a budget meeting that decision would fall to the mayor.
2. Committee Member Furuichi asked for a scenario of this. Slattery asked that the committee finnish the current conversation before moving on.
3. Slattery asked Lohman where the wording for a request made and if the budget committee decides that they want this information. Lohman stated this information was in (17b) on page 28. Hyatt and Lohman stated that they do not see this information in section (b). Slattery gave an example of what this would look like by stating that a request for item is made, staff state this would take too much time, we would like to take it to the group to see if the group wants it. He added that he thought there was a policy regarding this. Lohman stated that the information in front of them was to address when an individual budget committee member wants information. Slattery responded by using the two-hour rule for council. He added that if he was to ask for something that was with two hours of staff time that was fine, but if it is outside of two hours it would need to go to council. He then when on to ask where the budget committee equivalent to this would be. Lohman responded that this was (b)(ii)(3). He went on to explain that we a request comes in budget officer or the department director, along with the City Administrator look at it to determine if the scope is appropriate and if it would take more than two hours of staff time. Hyatt asked to clarify if what Lohman was referring to was if a request comes out of the four primary meetings. The committee agreed yes. She then added that what she thought Slattery was asking was questions that come up during a meeting. Slattery added that is not as important to know if the question is coming up in or outside a meeting but wanting to know if the request is beyond the standard for staff time. Lohman responded by saying he did not address this on the assumption that if the budget committee asks Mark Welch, Administrative Services Director for information and that this could be a request that is done quickly by staff or take a longer amount of time. Slattery clarified that this would be addressed to the budget committee in full, but this would still not include the City Administrator or the Mayor. He added that he would like to see where this would permit the budget committee to make this decision. Lohman added that this does not address when the budget committee is in session. Slattery and Welch added that the supplemental question does get at this. Slattery stated an item that included the Mayor helping to make these decisions. He added that was the issue in the wording and that this should state the chair of the budget committee as this is a formalized process and that during this process the Mayor would be just a member of the budget committee. He asked that the budget committee chair or presiding officer be added in the place of the wording that states mayor. Councilor Rich Rosenthal confirmed this as they are also the one that helps work to put the meeting agenda together.
4. Furuichi asked to clarify that the where speaking to item referring to Mayor and notifying the presiding officer. Slattery confirmed that this the wording that they would be changing in three places including in (b), (i) and (ii).
5. Lohman questioned parts in (b)(ii) and asked if it really is the budget committee chair that makes decisions, as he would not appreciate what the staff time looks like and they would not be in a position to balance staff time with the needs of the staff, but that the mayor would be in this position. Furuichi if this was during the nine off season meetings, the committee agreed this was not and was during the budget season. Lohman clarified that this would be used in an urgent situation. Hyatt added that Karns the current City Administrator and Welch had to work thorough this in the previous budget season. Slattery added that he thought that it would work well to have the City Administrator, the Budget Officer, and the Presiding Officer help to make these decisions. He added that the Mayor is a part of the budget committee. Furuichi added that this in budget season and that there are four meeting scheduled during the month of May and that if there is something more urgent then what would take place in these four meetings. Welch added that this is a timeliness issue and that it could be up to a month for requested information to get back.
6. Slattery added that City Administrator, the Budget Officer, and the Presiding Officer need to be in agreement, he added that worse thing would be if they were not. He added that he would hope that the team would agree and work through any differences. But for in budget decision he thought it would be odd to go back the Mayor for these decisions. The committee agreed.
7. Slattery spoke to emails being shared between committee members and staff. And then generally when a committee member asks a question the staff would then email it out to the entire committee when it is answered. He added that this should be standard procedure. The committee also discussed what a serial meeting would look like if committee members began to have a conversation via email. Furuichi asked if these types of questions would be distributed without attribution or knowing who asked the question. Slattery and Rosenthal stated that this a matter of public record. Furuichi asked if this was in code. Slattery responded that this was legal statue. Lohman clarified that it is not a state statute that everyone be notified but that it would be a matter of public record. Furuichi stated that if you begin the discussion and begin to receive replies, that would then go into deliberations. Slattery added that you need to let people know. Lohman added that bcc messages are mechanically the way to do these sorts of emails. Furuichi agreed that the approach of bcc is the right way. Slattery also stated that this will be a part of training.
8. Furuichi stated that he had some technical questions for Lohman that he will distribute. Slattery reminded Furuichi to send then to Lohman who will respond to the committee. Lohman added to use bcc to send out the entire committee. Slattery clarified that it can start as a bcc and that the response from the staff member could then be send out by the staff member.

Review of Nine Meeting Topics and Onboarding Guide

Welch presented the on what the nine off season budget committee meetings would look like. Slattery asked if each of these would be two hours. Welch added that two would be similar to the 8^th quarter meeting at an hour a piece. Slattery added that some topics could be done one hour each at two-hour meeting.
Furuichi asked if it was all was related to the 2019-2021 budget cycle. Welch responded by saying that this was the budget we were in. Furuichi asked if then there would be a meeting in January. Welch added that this proposes that will be doing a semiannual updated as opposed to a quarterly update.
1. Slattery stated that this was at this point a discussion point. He added that committee according the scheduled would be having a 2^nd quarter financial report, 4^th quarter financial report, a 6^th quarter financial report, and then an 8^th quarter financial report. He added that the June and July would be the 1^st year review and the 2^nd year look ahead. He then asked Welch when the 4^th quarter review would be done. Welch added that it would be late July. Slattery asked then why would the 8^th quarter review be in September. Welch added that was based on timing, based on when the item was pulled to go as a budget committee item. Slattery ask that item number seven on the meeting topics list include the 4^th quarter review. Welch clarified that the 4^th quarter review would be a part of number six. Slattery added that this would make sense.
Rosenthal stated the second year review wording was changed to look ahead.
Welch stated that the six year CIP review is still left to be added. He added that there is still not a long term document, but that this will come next fall. The CIP item listed on the meeting list is in regards to the current year’s CIP. Slattery added if a new meeting would be need to be added. Welch added that this could be added to another meeting already listed.
Hyatt asked for clarification in reconciling the gnat chart listed in the training and reference guide and the meeting listed handed out, as the two did not match. Welch added that training and reference guide chart had some council items, but that to are similar. She added that she say some items missing between the two and the language was also different. Slattery agreed. Hyatt asked what list that they wanted to work to. The committee agreed on the list handed out not the list in the training and reference guide.
Slattery asked in regards to training. Welch also questioned if this would be an outside meeting or if this would be formal meeting and do we require everyone to be there. Slattery added that we can never require everyone to be there. He added that this could be something that is held back and that council helps to make this decision. Hyatt was in agreement. Slattery stated that would be nice to have everyone at the meeting. Rosenthal suggested a video series of trainings. Slattery stated that it there is something to having the physical group as opposed to a video. Rosenthal stated that it would be nice to have the first kickoff meeting be outside of a conference room and more informal. Furuichi suggested the RCC campus in conjunction with the department of revenue training. Slattery stated that we are bound to meetings in Ashland and that people should be encouraged to attend the Department of revenue training but the training that he is referring to is our culture of training. He also added that there could be half an hour of discussions. Rosenthal added that this training could take place and then a social aspect after. Slattery added that a social outside of this would not have to be noticed. Hyatt added that she thought that there was an expectation last year that they would meet to go over ground rules and that a social like this would fit in nicely. Slattery added that this would reinforce the rules and that this would encourage the team to work together. Furuichi added that the February time frame works because that is when the budget assumptions could happen as one of the next series.
Slattery stated the list was a good starting point, and that it could be adjusted as they go and the committee have good conversation around these topics.
Furuichi added that he would like to add in the 8^th quarter review, a year end CIP and to highlight the variances.
Slattery added that the postmortem also would need to be added to the list. He added if this was being used as an outline for each biennium that the first thing done each July would be the postmortem and that it would not be a part of the nine meetings and that it would be meeting zero.
Slattery asked the committee if the committee was ready to have a draft ready next week. Furuichi clarified that the documents that he currently had were the items for review and that if the items presented were the report that was going to council. Welch stated this was a part of it with another report on the top. Slattery asked that Welch create and bring the council communication that will be used to the meeting next week. Furuichi asked for the draft prior to 10:00 a.m. the day before the next meeting. Welch stated that would not be an issue.
Furuichi asked if there was any discussion on the formatting of the budget layout as part of the training document. Welch stated that it would not be a part of the presentation to council. Furuichi stated that it would be a part of the training and reference guide. Hyatt asked if he meant if there would be a training on the budget book. Furuichi Stated yes that he would like to see a summary of what a department presentation will look like and that as part of orientation this example would be great in the training guide. Slattery stated that is a really good idea, but that what could be made available is a description of the process, what the book will like, when the meetings are. Furuichi added that there is value in being able to see all this information. Slattery added that staff would have to be added to this conversation and that this information would be a part of the presentation to council. Hyatt noted that there are still parts that are not developed and that a place holder could be created. She also added that the committee was ready to put all the ideas into a package. Slattery added that next week Mark would present what he has and work out the bugs from there. Hyatt added that as a new budget committee member she would feel more sure footed about the budget process.

Meeting called to a close at 6:43 p.m. by Chairman Slattery

Next Meeting
Next meeting scheduled for November 15, 2017 at 6:00 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted By: Natalie Thomason