01/05/2010 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of O1-OS-10 service. While they are conscientious of budgetary constraints, they are desirous of ensuring a high level of service to Mayor Kennedy, the Administration, and members of Council and Boards and Commissions consistent with what they've received in the past. 2) On December 15, he had the occasion to work with Mayor-elect Kennedy and discuss the issue of Charter and statutory requirements for filling vacancies for the five Director positions starting January 1, 2010. The advice established that we have all five positions -Service, Safety, Community Life Services, Planning, and Human Resources -and those positions should be staffed within a reasonable period of time after taking office. The advice further directed that pursuant to Charter constraints that one position could not be held by more than one individual in absence of additional legislation and Charter amendments. He did advise that the appropriate avenue to take care of that is to move forward with legislation to address Charter amendments which would need to be approved by the residents. 3) On December 31, he had the occasion to advise City Council, President-elect Limpert and Mayor-elect Kennedy on matters concerning the beginning of 2010 in January. This included identifying various Boards and Commissions that had vacancies. He wanted to clarify for the benefit of Council the process to be used for filling the vacancy of the at- Large position. He also advised that they need to re-adopt the Rules of Council which has been taken care of tonight. He also advised that the Pro-tem position should be taken care of pursuant to Rule of Council tonight. They are required to have an Organizational meeting not later than the second meeting in January for the purpose of Council establishing itself and the various committees that need to be filled. 4) He wished everyone a very happy New Year 2010. He wished Mayor Kennedy and the City Council the best of success in 2010. He fully supports Mayor Kennedy's initiatives to streamline government, to eliminate redundancy, and to provide services in what is the most efficient means possible. He commends Kennedy for taking a leadership role in that capacity. He looks forward to working with Kennedy and Council by crafting necessary legislation to effectuate change and achieve those objectives. Finance Director Copfer: 1) First, she wished everyone a happy New Year and she hopes that this is a prosperous, healthy New Year for everyone during these difficult times. 2) She welcomed Mayor Kennedy and Law Director Gareau, and she looks forward to working with them. 3) She received final Schedule A from the County which has the 2010 estimated resources for property tax collections. The general fund estimated resources is $437,000 lower for 2010 from the 2009 estimates. That's only a 7.8% decrease versus the 10% that was originally estimated by the County. This equates to a little over $100,000 more than originally projected. Police and fire pension funds which also is funded by a .3 millage each was estimated to be requiring an additional expenditure in the general fund to $50,000, but because of that lesser decline, it's only going to be $40,000. The negative side is local government funds are projected to be reduced by nearly the same amount 4