Minutes 1991-05-16
396
MINUTES
REGULAR ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1991
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 215 EAST BRANCH STREET
ARROYO GRANDE, CALIFORNIA
The City Council of the City of Arroyo Grande met for a 1991-
92 Budget session at 7:30 P.M., with Mayor Mark M. Millis
presiding.
1. FLAG SALUTE
Mayor Millis led the pledge of allegiance to our Flag.
ROLL CALL
Present were Mayor Millis and Council Members A. 1<. "Pete"
Dougall, Gene Moots and Doris Olsen. Council Member B'Ann smith
was absent. Staff Members present were City Manager Chris
Christiansen, City Clerk Nancy Davis, Police Chief Rick TerBorch,
Police Lieutenant Bill Andrews, Planning Director Doreen Liberto- '-'
Blanck, Finance Director David Bacon and PUblic Works
Superintendent Dave Mulkey.
2. INTRODUCTION
Mr. Christiansen referred to his May 16, 1991 Memorandum, and
said that the City is in difficult economic times. He said in
April the County reduced the city's property tax by $44,000, as
authorized by State legislation. He said the General Fund had
taken the revenue loss. He discussed the possible loss of a
percentage of City vehicle license fees to the County, and said the
Governor's budget contains no commitment for repealing Senate Bill
2557, but it proposes to broaden the sales tax base. He referred
to a May 10, 1991 League of California Cities Legislative Bulletin
article titled, "City Revenues at Risk Again to Balance State
Budget."
Mr. Christiansen listed his proposed cost-savings to the
City's Generat Fund as follows:
1. No Cost of living increases for City employees.
2. Conference accounts for city Staff have been reduced to zero.
3. Social donations by the city have been eliminated.
4. Capital expenditures have been slashed.
5. Other reductions as indicated in the various budget pages.
Mr. Christiansen said the Water Enterprise Fund and the Sewer
Fund essentially remained at the same level of service, and no
manpower reductions were proposed in the Police Department. He
said the General Fund must be balanced with employees layoffs.
Those designated for layoff were Records Clerk/City Clerk's Office,
Long Range Planner, Senior Clerk Typist/Planning, Construction
Inspector, Associate Engineer, Mechanic II, Building Maintenance
Person, Park Maintenance III, Street Maintenance II (2 positions), i
Office Clerk/Part-Time, Planning Interns/Part-Time, Tree !
v
Coordinator/Part-Time, and Fire Marshal/Part-Time.
3. REVIEW OF REVENUES
Mr. Christiansen said Arroyo Grande is a General Law City and
the Council does not have much control over its revenue base unless
it goes to the electorate.
Mayor Millis said he had discussed procedure with SCOTT
SPIERLING, chief shop steward for the SEIU, and that Mr. Spierling
should provide his input as the Council moved through the agenda.
Mr. Spierling distributed to the Council copies of the SEIU
1
_.-.------~----_.,_._._._-~-_._.~..,.._-~.__.~._-_.- .' -. - --
-
397
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
MAY 16, 1991
Local 817 proposed budget revisions. The revisions were based on
reductions in City departments' budgets, the transference of
employees among departments where needed, and eight additional
revenue proposals.
4. EXPENDITURES
The Council proceeded through the budget proposed by the city
Manager, with Mr. Spierling requesting reductions in the various
departments' budgets, and the Council deciding whether it wished to
accept the SEIU proposals or the city Manager's recommendations.
Mayor Millis and Counci1 Members Moots and Olsen agreed with the
city Manager that in order to make sufficient reductions to balance
the budget, employee lay offs would be necessary. council Member
Dougall said he would like to see the City do as many projects in-
house as possible and save the city employees. There was
discussion of the Automotive Shop Account No. 231 - Maintenance of
Vehicles, and Mr. spierling said the Council should investigate
the Automotive Shop employees' work records concerning the
mechanics doing work other than vehicle maintenance. Mr.
Christiansen said he would look into the matter.
Speakers from the audience were:
JOHN SOTO, 312 Alder street, who said materials and supplies
should be cut and large projects delayed in order to prevent
employee layoffs.
WILL HIRST, SEIU field representative, who said the union
wanted to work with the Council, city Manager and Department Heads
on a budget which would save employees' jobs.
SEIU Members DOUGLAS BARMAN, SHIRLEY PAYNE AND GINA REA, who I
supported Mr. Spierling. ,
I
JEANNE SMiTH, an employee of the Building Department, who said
that Account No. 240 in the Building and Safety budget should not
be cut by more than half because funds would be needed to pay a
contract plan checker.
Following are budget fund activities and Council-approved
reductions in the city Manager's budget:
$200.00 ,
a. city council - i
I
b. Central Services - $1,000
c. Public Relations - 0
d. Finance Department - $2,100
e. city Clerk/Treasurer - $800
f. city Attorney - 0
g. Planning - 0
h. Printing - 0
i. Taxes/Insurance/Bonds - 0
j. Retirement/Fringe Benefits - 0 I
I
k. police - 0
I
l. Fire - $2,000
2
,-.---..----------
. .
398 .
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
MAY 16, 1991
m. Building & Safety - $300
n. Animal Control - 0
o. Administration/Engineering - $1,000
p. Streets/Bridge Maintenance - 0
q. Government Buildings - 0
r. Street Cleaning & Lighting - 0
s. Automotive Shop - $100
t. Parks - $500
-'
u. Recreation - $500
5. REVIEW OF EARMARKED FUNDS
Mr. Christiansen discussed the various funds on Pages 50
through 72, and 74 through 119, with no cuts being made. In the
Streets/Bridge Maintenance Activity, Page 73, $8,000 was cut from
Account No. 218.
After Council discussion, it was moved by Moots/Olsen (3-1-1,
Moots, Olsen and Millis voting aye, Dougall voting no and smith
absent) to approve the budget recommended by the City Manager, with
the additional reductions made at this meeting, and with Council
Member Olsen's stipulation that if the (City's financial) picture
should improve very quickly, the Council should go back and review
the budget again and, if the city had to layoff people, it should
immediately takes steps to rehire, employees.
6. ADJOURNMENT
It was moved by Moots/Olsen, and the motion passed to adjourn
at 10:58 P.M. ';J?:~~
ATTEST: ~a. ~
NANCY A. VIS, CITY CLERK
,
,
,-.J
/
3
--'---'--'-"'-~------_.. --_.~...- ,-_....__._~ .._~..~.__...,._--,-_.,- ------
.-----.-.----- --