07-12-2000 - Special Meeting - Minutes•
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MINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE
WEST COVINA CITY COUNCIL
JULY 12, 2000
The special meeting of the City Council was called to order by Mayor Herfert at 6:17 pm in the
Management Resource Center at City Hall, 1444 W. Garvey Avenue, West Covina.
ROLL CALL Mayor Herfert, Mayor Pro Tern Wong, Councilmembers Howard,
Melendez, Touhey
Others Present: Hobbs, Fields, Tucker, Hernandez, Mayer, Wills, Greene, Keating,
Garcia, Bommarito, Hatch, Samaniego, Houston, Fox, Gardner,
Berry
PUBLIC COMMENT ON ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
City Clerk Berry distributed a letter submitted by Mike Miller, 735
E. Herring, suggesting that the City Council work with manage-
ment to address the budgetary shortfall, reported at the last Council
meeting at $5.1 million.
Royal Brown Royal Brown, 2153 Aroma Drive, suggested eliminating the Public
Works Director position and implementing an attrition program.
STUDY SESSION — FY 2000/2001 OPERATING BUDGET
City Manager Hobbs presented the following six -point game plan
for tackling the FY 2000/2001 Operating Budget:
1) Approve $300,000 worth of items from the Recommended
Options for FY 2000/2001.
2) Do not execute additional cuts at this time.
3) Contract for an organizational analysis to see if additional
cuts (or additions) can/should be made next year. Present
report in mid -March, 2001.
4) Execute one skateboard park only for this year; defer other
proposed recreational facilities for consideration next year.
5) Accept as "reasonable" the assurances/assumptions from
public safety consultants and Councilmembers that the $2.3
million PERS cost may be only for one year.
6) Execute the proposed . slurry -seal program (budgeted) to
provide "like new" streets in front of 12,000 West Covina
homes.
Finance Director Tucker reviewed the Summary of Recurring
Budget Shortfall for 2000/2001 As of July 12, 2000 line by line,
and responded to questions and comments. Of particular discussion
was the amount of the recurring shortfall estimated at $2,642,429
and its components. Council subtracted from that amount the $2.3
million earmarked for the 3% @ 50 in the reserve account and
concluded that they needed to address a shortfall of approximately
$350,000 to balance the budget for FY 2000/2001.
The City Council reviewed the Recommended Options for FY
2000/2001 and discussed the removal of the following items from
consideration:
Council Minutes of 7/12/00
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Item No. Description Amount
# 2 Defer Fourth Person on Fire Truck to Future Year $144,000
# 3 Reduce Fire Overtime Budget 50,000
# 7 Reduce Police Overtime Budget 50,000
# 8 Freeze Hiring of Fire Fighter Positions 23,000
912 Reduce Dispatcher Overtime Budget 5,000
The consequence of removing these 5 items from the list would return the
specified funds to the various FY 2000/2001 departmental budgets from which
they came. The following items, remaining on the list and their corresponding
amounts, would be removed from the various FY 2000/2001 departmental
budgets:
Item No. Description
# 1 Defer Closed Captioning
# 4 Defer Upgrading Brass Fittings to Aluminum
# 5 Reduce Staff Attending Risk Management Conferences
# 6 Eliminate One Risk Mngt. Coordinator position in 1/2001
# 9 Maximize Gas Tax Funds for Signal, Street & Tree Maint.
# 10 Defer Community Center & Aquatic Center projects
# 11 Transfer from Self Insurance Fund to the General Fund
# 13 Reduce WCCT Contractual Services
# 14 Defer Hiring of Court Liaison for six months
TOTAL SAVINGS
Amount
not budgeted
$16,000
3,660
35,000
157,000
not budgeted
100,000
10,000
16,343
$338,003
Council also discussed the replacement of public safety vehicles,
one of the items within the $1,453,193 listed as a non -recurring
activity amount in the Summary of Recurring Budget Shortfall
for 2000/2001 as of July 12, 2000.
Mayor Herfert stated that he was uncomfortable with the figures
being discussed because they were quite different than those in the
report Council received for the Council meeting of July 5`h.
Action Motion by Wong and seconded by Melendez to eliminate Items
No. 2, 3, 7, 8, and 12, (as noted above) and defer the purchase of
police vehicles until January, 2000 (sometime after the October
actuarial report is received). Motion carried 3-2 with Herfert and
Touhey voting no.
Other Comments Shelly Sanderson, 2743 Vanderhoof, addressed Council regarding
emergency surgery performed on one of the West Covina
Equestrian Unit's horses. The surgery was expensive, saved the
horse's life, and funds are being raised to help defray the cost.
Mayor Herfert directed staff to place the matter on the next
City Council agenda.
ADJOURNMENT
Attest:
try"
City Clerk Janet Be
Motion by Howard and seconded by Herfert to adjourn the meeting
at 7:25 pm. Motion carried 5-0.
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