2011-02-28 Reg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Price said he believes in a diverse community, he didn’t believe because of your sexual orientation determines the character of a person, and he didn’t believe because of what race you are determines whether you are a good person. Next Mr. Price said he had agreed to work on the Youth program and has not heard anything else about it. Another thing was recycling and he felt before any cuts are made he wanted to know if Council would review any proposals. Mayor Welsch noted that upcoming budget study sessions will give the Council the opportunity to review all recommendations and reports. Mr. Sharpe had asked last time as to whether or not this Council would have to give consent to every administrative decision and that is where they differed. Mr. Sharpe said he did not think that is what he had asked. He asked if everyone noticed how animated Mr. Price is all of the time and all he had to say to him was “Keep on, keeping on, you are doing an outstanding job as a Council person.” Mr. Sharpe said he has come up with some “marvelous” concepts, ideas and so forth. Mr. Sharpe said Mr. Lehman Walker and him are friends and Mr. Walker does some very good things for the citizens in his area. He said there were some concerns he has about the firing of folk. Mr. Sharpe asked Mr. Walker, and said he has always come through for him, although here he was now as to what is going to happen to Public Works and what is going to happen in that department. He asked if Mr. Walker could give the Council some budgetary items that would go along with it, rather than just saying they are gone. Mr. Sharpe said he knew that the City Manager does not have to give cause but he would like some budgetary implications as to what happens as far as the budget is concerned, when they are gone. Mr. Kraft said if Councilmember Erby was still present the City could lay their concerns about Delmar and she could take these concerns back that the City likes it if the County would continue to take care of it. He said that anything he posts on his website is already public. He said the patch reporter will confirm that he did not leak the document Mr. Crow spoke of. Mr. Kraft said the headline is “Budget Proposal Cuts $1 Million Dollars” with no cuts in City Services. He said the sub-headline: “No Tax Increases and No Need to Use Reserve Funds.” Mr. Kraft stated the previous City Manager and City Council told citizens that without tax increases, City services would be cut. Information was mailed out listing services to be cut: close Heman Park pool, less ambulance service, turn off 20% of the lights. Mr. Kraft said these were drastic predictions. He said if the City continued to do business as usually, he agreed that service cuts would have been necessary. Mr. Kraft said the previous Council voted twice to put tax increases to the voters and twice it failed. He said this Council decided that they would not do things as usual by changing the way the City government works; a government that operates efficiently and delivers City services in a cost effective manner. He said the Council’s job is to set the goals for the City Manager to implement, which was done by the resolution passed at the last meeting. Mr. Kraft said it clearly directed the City Manager, nothing boot- strapped or nothing hidden, to develop a Fiscal Year 2012 budget that does not use Reserve Funds and maintains maximum level of City services. He said Mr. Walker has come back to Council with an outline of a preliminary proposal by restructuring management; he has cut $1 million in costs compared to the current year’s budget. Mr. Kraft said the proposed budget will not make use of Reserve Funds and not ask for tax increase and most important, City services will not be decreased. He said the process is not final and there has been multiple public meeting and there will be more. Mr. Kraft said in addition the Council will have to digest the findings of the City’s own auditor and the findings of the soon to be released State Auditor. Mr. Kraft said there will be more Council meetings and more deliberations before the budget is 20