08/17/1992 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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---~ e Mr. MacDonald said that, while he had received few telephone calls, the feedback received by the council reflected the unwillingness on the part of the community to be taxed. People want services, but they want to tax someone else for the cost of services. Mr. MacDonald said that he agreed the council needed to back off on the enhancements identified for inclusion in the strategy package due to the need to educate the community further about the importance of the enhancements. He recommended that the council examine its strategy in light of the community feedback and adjust the strategy according- ly before moving ahead. Mr. MacDonald said that the revenues identified for funding services required further analysis. Mr. Nicholson agreed with the remarks made by Mr. Robinette and Mr. MacDonald. He said that the council did not have to solve the City's entire budget problem at one time. He suggested that the council address funding for core services before moving on to enhancements. Mr. Nicholson said that the council can put the enhancements off without putting them aside. He noted that he had received litte community feedback, and what he had received was positive, courteous, and reasonable. Mr. Nicholson said people feel that the council has not given enough attention to the "doing things differently" aspect of the process. He suggested the council give more concrete form to the commitment it made to doing things differently. Mr. Nicholson cited as a specific example working on planned and structural savings in the current budget to fund such enhancements as communi- ty policing. e Ms. Ehrman stressed the tentative nature of the decisions made by the council. She suggested that the council was driven by a time line that might not have been reasonable, as it did not allow more time for final strategy development. Ms. Ehrman pointed out that the council went farther than the public in making cuts. However, she believed that the council needed to have more indepth discussion of revenues and the integration between revenues. She added that she believed the task was one for the council as a whole, rather than for a task force. The task force could refine the council's conclusions. Ms. Ehrman pointed out that the community did not support the enhancements to the degree that the council did, and suggested that the council examine the enhancements to determine what should be put off to the future. She pointed out that the process was an educational process, and she believed the feedback indicated education was occurring. Ms. Ehrman concluded that the council had more work to do. Mr. Rutan said he was pleased and proud to be part of the council and happy with the process. He said he had received a moderate amount of telephone contacts. Mr. Rutan said some of the callers were poorly informed or misin- formed in different ways. He attributed some of the misinformation to the media coverage of the council's deliberations. Mr. Rutan said that the council message that the process was iterative was ignored. Instead, the media reported decisions as though they were final. He said that the personal attacks launched on the council in newspaper columns were damaging to the goal e MINUTES--City Council Work Session August 17, 1992 Page 2 5:30 p.m.