CC Minutes - 06/27/11 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilor Brown did not support the motion because of the one -time nature of the funding. He felt one- time money should be used for one -time projects, such as rebuilding City Hall and seismic upgrades of publicly owned buildings. He agreed the funding represented a band -aid solution. Councilor Farr also expressed concern about the one -time nature of the expenditure. He determined from Fire Chief Randy Groves that the three positions proposed for elimination were Captain 1 positions. The department planned to shuffle positions to ensure maximum coverage. Councilor Ortiz supported the motion. She said that she and Councilor Clark had spent considerable time working on the issue of ambulance transportation funding. She understood Chief Groves' rationale for how he planned to implement the necessary 1.8 percent reduction mandated by the manager, but she considered that to be a band -aid as well. She said the conversation about ambulance transportation funding needed to be finished, but she was only one person on a council of eight. She thought there needed to be more understanding of the problem that existed, its cost, and its impact on the community. Councilor Zelenka acknowledged the proposed budget did not address the need for ambulances that existed. He asked if the council would be able to realize the savings from the proposed reduction in the future. City Manager Ruiz did not think the savings could come from the same source. Councilor Zelenka asked how the City could solve the ambulance transportation problem. City Manager Ruiz said the funding was a top priority in the City's Multi -Year Financial Plan. The City had to either find the money somewhere in the General Fund or a new revenue source. Chief Groves recalled that the Ambulance Transport Task Force indicated support for another revenue source. Councilor Taylor did not want to spend one -time money and wanted to think more about the CILT money before the council spent it. However, she did not think the department was a good place to make cuts. She determined from Chief Groves that if the funding was not restored the proposed reductions would move forward on July 1. Restoration of the funding meant the City would retain an engine company at Fire Station 2. City Manager Ruiz pointed out there was also the possibility the positions could be restored in the future. Chief Groves confirmed, in response to a follow -up question from Councilor Taylor, that response times would be increased at an unknown rate, and response reliability would decrease. Mayor Piercy supported the motion because of importance of the firefighting service, and pointed out the City Council was talking about an existing service, not a new service. She did not want to spend CILT money on new services given the importance of closing the funding gap. Councilor Farr preferred to pass the manager's recommended budget and do data collection and analysis over the next six months to determine the impact of the reduction and the appropriate Fire Station 2 response structure. He appreciated the hard work it took for the department to achieve a 1.8 percent budget reduction. At Councilor Farr's request, Chief Groves described the different responses made possible by different company and apparatus combinations. Councilor Clark agreed with Mayor Piercy's remarks. He believed the last service the City should cut was first responders. He suggested the result of the manager's recommendation to eliminate an engine company would mean that placing a crew on the fourth ambulance would make that crew unavailable for the other apparatus. He suggested the council needed to consider whether there were other reductions that might be more appropriate than reducing the number of firefighters. MINUTES— Eugene City Council June 27, 2011 Page 11 Regular Meeting