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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/20/2006 Work Session City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2006 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, November 20, 2006 at 6: 11 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Woodrow, Lundberg, Fitch, Ballew, Ralston and Pishioneri. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. 1. Priority of Services Council Assignment. Budget Officer Bob Brew presented the staff report on this item. The City Council's 2006 goals include a one year target priority to "Conduct Council Discussion 'of Service Priorities". To address this target, staff met with Council and discussed options on September 18th. Based on direction from that meeting, City staff developed a list of the 113 major services provided by the City and created a one-page description of each. Over the next two weeks, Council members are asked to use these descriptions to rate each of these services as Highest Priority, Fairly High Priority, Midrange, Fairly Low, Low, or Not a Priority. The same prioritization exercise will be completed independently by members of the City's Executive Team and the lay-members of the City's Budget Committee. The results of these three rankings will be presented to the Council at a work session in January. Mr. Brew said the services included the major tasks performed by the City. He said he would have a similar discussion with the Executive Team tomorrow and the Budget Committee in the near future. Results would come back to Council in January. Councilor Ballew asked if Mr. Brew would be suggesting things they should look for. Mr. Brew said he would prefer each group use their own perceptions. Councilor Ballew asked who they should contact with questions. Mr. Duey said they could call the department directors. Mr. Brew suggested a system they could use in ranking. He said he had the matrix electronically if anyone would prefer making the notes online. Councilor Fitch said over time there had been a lot of changes. She said she would not have a lot of low priorities. She asked if they wanted equal numbers in each category. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 20,2006 Page 2 Mr. Brew said they did want equal numbers for each category. Councilor Lundberg discussed a system used in TEAM Springfield years ago. Lyle Sumac used this system and it worked well. It was a ranking system used after things had been grouped. Mr. Brew said when this started, the idea of ranking was daunting. This system would take a numerical rating with weighted scores. He said he would show his process for scoring when finished. Councilor Ballew asked if there was more information to follow. Mr. Brew said this was it for this year. The results would be used as a tool for building performance measures, outcomes and the budget. Councilor Ballew said she would like to know how many were being served. Mr. Brew said that was something they would bring to Council in a second phase. Councilor Lundberg said it would be important as this process went along to know if it was user specific or general service. Councilor Woodrow asked if some of the items listed were missions of departments rather than services. He gave an example. Mr. Brew said these should be things the City had to do. He said they asked staff to give a description of what they were doing. Mr. Grimaldi asked if it was too broad. Councilor Woodrow said it was somewhat broad. He noted an example that sounded more like the mission of the department rather than a service it provided to the citizens. Mr. Duey discussed some of the services provided by the department and explained why the one section was written in a certain way. It was intended to be a clear service of the long-range planning aspect of the department. . Councilor Lundberg said there was a difference between support services and direct services. The City had to be in compliance with certain regulations. Which items were mandated needed to be considered during this process. Councilor Ralston referred to item number 7 in the Development Services Department which referred to business licensing. He asked if the City had a business license program. Mr. Duey said it was specific to only certain businesses. It was a small program that had been in place for many years. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 20, 2006 Page 3 Councilor Fitch said this was the first step in a long process. She said she wished there was a way to note how these services affected citizens at large. She said that information would affect her ranking. Mr. Duey discussed this process. This phase was to open the discussion on what was important and would not lead to immediate eliminations. Councilor Ballew discussed business licenses. She asked how many businesses were not being licensed. She said many programs that were mandatory had different levels of what had to be done. She would like to see how much effort was being put into complying with the mandatory items. Mr. Brew said to do that would be a big job and may not be able to be completed in this phase. Mr. Grimaldi said it was important to get through this first phase and focus efforts on the items at the top and at the bottom of the list. Mr. Duey discussed the mandatory services and how they could address that issue following this first phase. Councilor Ballew said her suggestions were for future use as they continued the process. Mr. Brew said they would look at the rankings and how they could address the mandatory issue from those rankings. Councilor Woodrow asked if Councilor-elect Hillary Wylie was included in ranking these services. Mr. Brew said she would be involved in this first phase as a citizen member of the Budget Committee. Councilor Ralston asked about municipal court fines. Councilor Pishioneri said it included witnesses. Police Chief Smith said all misdemeanors under state law and municipal ordinances were enforced through the Municipal Court. Without witnesses, there were no trials or hearings. Councilor Ralston said that clarification helped. Councilor Lundberg asked who were issued subpoenas. Chief Smith said police officers and witnesses were all issued subpoenas. The City would incur the costs. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:34 pm. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 20, 2006 Page 4 Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa Attest: ~~ Amy Sowa I-- City Recorder