05-24-2021 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION DRAFT 8 like to receive the report going forward. 308 309 The council will continue to receive the report as a presentation and would also like it 310 provided electronically (through the weekly update). 311 7. 2022 Budget Kick-Off – Finance Director Lynch reviewed key dates and 312 refreshed the council on overall budget process. She’d be open to hearing any high level 313 goals from the council as staff begins to put together the 2022 budget. 314 315 Mayor Rafferty noted the water treatment facility discussion and the vacant YMCA 316 facility. A flat tax rate is an obvious goal. 317 318 Councilmember Ruhland remarked that a flat tax rate is his number one goal. He 319 wonders when the County proposes their tax rate and staff responded that it would be the 320 same timeframe as for the City, with preliminary adoption in September. 321 322 Councilmember Stoesz asked if there are any ideas on getting community input. Ms. 323 Lynch recognized the value of such input and explained that communities tend to do it 324 differently; she envisions working with the City’s communications specialist. 325 Administrator Cotton noted that the level of community engagement varies from city to 326 city; sometimes a larger city will establish an advisory committee. 327 328 Councilmember Stoesz asked his “annual” question about how IT costs are included in 329 the budget. He continues to support providing a different budget vision other than the 330 current piecemeal approach in budget documents. He envisions an IT position in the 331 future as the City grows and starting that awareness now would be helpful. 332 Administrator Cotton asked the council if they found last year’s budget information 333 separating IT costs useful; she is hesitant to do the process again unless it is helpful. 334 335 Councilmember Lyden said he links information with the value to the council’s decision 336 making process. 337 8. Public Safety Update – Public Safety Director Swenson reviewed a PowerPoint 338 presentation including information from the 2020 annual report and 2021 data as well. 339 He pointed out that there is great focus in the department on prevention goals – it’s the 340 biggest bang for the buck. Also the Facebook page is becoming more active and staff is 341 more cognizant of archiving requirements; also monitoring comments is very time 342 consuming. 343 344 Statistical information for police and fire service was reviewed. Areas of focus for 2021 345 were also reviewed. 346 347 Councilmember Lyden is pleased to hear the effort is being made to address mental health 348 components. Is the response time where the department wants to be? Director Swenson 349