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MINUTES OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE December 13, 2021 AUDITORIUM Present: Councilmembers Bullock, Litten, & Shachner Also present: Councilmembers Kepple, O'Malley,Neff& Rader, Mayor George, Judge Patrick Carroll, Clerk of Courts Christina McCallum, Law Director Corrigan, Planning Director Leininger, Finance Director Rancatore, Assistant Directors of Finance Keith Schuster and Jessica Eddy, Chief of Staff Storey, Chief Kaucheck, Chief Dunphy, IAFF Local 382 President Captain Nick Sambula, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 25 President Investigator Ron Bunner, members of the public, Clerk Bach and Deputy Clerk Lascu taking minutes Call to Order: 6:07 p.m. Approval of the minutes of the December 6, 2021 meeting of the Finance Committee Motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the December 6, 2021 meeting of the Finance Committee. All members voted in favor. Motion passed. Minutes approved. Lakewood Municipal Court Budget Judge Patrick Carroll & Clerk of Courts Christina McCallum Judge Carroll began his presentation, remarking that this will be his last budget prior to his upcoming retirement and so, the budget is being proposed and submitted on behalf of Judge-elect Neff. The budget is consistent with previous budgets and no changes have been made since it was submitted to the administration over one month ago. Judge Carroll explained that there are two current vacancies on the staff—one probation officer and one bailiff. The vacancies occurred during the second half of 2021 and so the Court kept them unfilled, knowing that there would soon be a new judge. Money has been allocated to fill those positions in January. He acknowledged that Judge-elect Neff may come back before Council for additional funds if she finds that to be necessary. Judge Carroll mentioned that the Special Projects Fund may be used in a limited capacity to fund needs of the Court, including salaries. He explained that a large part of the fund has been exhausted by the new case management system, which will be 18 months in the making. The system costs approximately $400,000 and is a large undertaking. It is a state-of-the-art program. Judge Carroll explained that the 2022 budget is 2% higher than the 2021 budget with no substantial changes from previous years. He noted that the Court is not empowered to introduce revenue-generating initiatives but must respond to those championed by Council and the Administration, which it does. He explained that Court revenue is largely driven by outside factors, and so planning can be challenging. 1