HomeMy WebLinkAbout101512 Workshop CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND
MINUTES OF THE WORKSHOP OF OCTOBER 15, 2012
CALL TO ORDER
The Port Townsend City Council met in workshop session on October 15, 2012, in the
Council Chambers at 540 Water Street. The meeting was called to order by Mayor
King at 7:10 p.m. following the regular business meeting.
Councilmembers present at roll call were David King, Kris Nelson, Michelle Sandoval,
Catharine Robinson, Deborah Stinson, and Mark Welch with Robert Gray excused.
Staff members present were City Manager David Timmons, City Attorney John Watts,
Public Works Director Ken Clow, Public Services Director Rick Sepler, City Engineer
Dave Peterson, Finance Director Michael Legarsky, Police Chief Conner Daily, and
City Clerk Pam Kolacy.
2013 Preliminary Budget Introduction and Discussion
Mr. Timmons reviewed the City's staffing plan and noted that changes in staffing
had been in the planning stages prior to the current layoffs. He explained why the
staffing levels in several departments would not be sustainable into the next
year. The loss of over $200,000 in sales tax revenues this year due to a coding
error discovered at the state has accelerated the process.
Mr. Timmons said that at this time there are too many unanswered questions to
produce a meaningful line item budget. Major outstanding issues are management
of capital projects and the Department of Health's re-evaluation of the
City's decision to use UV treatment on the water supply. The water treatment
decision is critical and may affect our ability to meet the compliance deadline as
well as being disruptive to the budget.
He emphasized the importance of communication to the public during this process.
Adjustments to this year's budget are critical and staff have been asked to
immediately review their budgets for the remainder of the year to provide all
supplemental adjustments for anticipated extra savings and expenses. Mr.
Timmons noted the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee has agreed to approve a
$16,000 expenditure to cover police overtime for the 2012 festivals.
Mr. Timmons stated he would like Council's agreement to assign reconciliation of
the equipment rental fund to the Finance and Budget Committee at their next
meeting. There were no objections.
Mr. Timmons stated that conservation measures and leak detection are affecting
utility rates. Revenue projections are based on number of sales and the City is
down about 18% in water usage. This translates into about a half million dollar loss
City Council Workshop Meeting October 15, 2012 Page 1 of 2
to the utility fund. To offset this, projections will assume cutting back the overhead
allocation on the utility fund in order to stabilize it. This will be a factor in
the upcoming rate analysis.
City Engineer Dave Peterson gave an overview of the capital projects and plan for
the next year. He noted that numbers will change over the next months. A good
history of time reporting was established last year and the department is getting
much better at estimating staff time need for various tasks. He went through the
capital facilities document provided at last week's meeting.
Mr. Timmons noted that some projects have secured funding and will be
programmed into the budget. The budget will be projected out to 2015. Both pool
renovation and library expansion may be taken forward to the voters in the coming
year but these decisions will be made independent of the budget.
Public Works Director Ken Clow gave more information regarding the State
Department of Health's recent communications about revisiting approval of the
City's plan for water treatment.
ADJOURN
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:55p.m.
Attest: j1 J
Pamela Kolacy, MMC
City Clerk
City Council Workshop Meeting October 15, 2012 Page 2 of 2