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8.A. - Page 20 of 104 The work to reimagine City services has begun. It cannot be rushed; it requires analysis, communication and careful consideration to ensure new models provide the best possible service while avoiding unforeseen consequences Reimagine The work to reimagine City services has begun and will continue through FY 2021-22. The Revised Budget reduces funding in every department as a first step toward addressing the City's new financial realities. Beginning this year, staff will need to develop alternative service models for City services in order to best meet community needs while living within City resources. This work cannot be rushed: it requires substantial analysis, communication and careful consideration to ensure new models provide the best possible service to the community while avoiding unforeseen consequences. In June, I confirmed a general hiring freeze and asked all Department Heads to review their budgets and identify expenditure reductions. For the first time, this analysis explicitly considered whether reductions would disproportionately impact vulnerable residents. Collectively, we have reduced the Operating Budget by $7.7 million through a range of reductions, including freezing 20 vacant full-time equivalent positions. Similar to recent Redwood City operating budgets and typical for California cities, more than half (60.6%) of the City's FY 2020-21 General Fund expenditures in the Adopted Budget were budgeted for public safety services: $48.9 million for the Police Department and $37.6 million for the Fire Department (of which $29.6 million is for Redwood City service). In the Revised Budget for FY 2020-21, 1 am proposing a cumulative reduction of $4.9 million for public safety services; reductions to the Police and Fire Departments represent 78% of the total proposed reductions. In the Fire Department, the savings would be achieved primarily through the temporary closure of Engine 9 and a shift of the bulk of its calls to Truck 9. In the Police Department, we would achieve these savings by refraining to fill nine vacant positions. These should be considered transitional measures while staff analyze current services and assess opportunities to reduce costs and modify service delivery approaches. They are not sustainable reductions if the same service models continue. An example of a change in service delivery is the mental health pilot program described further below, which will pair mental health clinicians with police officers and could eventually lead to some calls being handled without police presence. The reductions this year are opportunistic, generally freezing in place current staffing levels and avoiding layoffs. The specific reductions required for the long term could be different from those recommended at this time. In addition to measures to address health impacts in the community and protect vulnerable residents, a remote work policy was quickly implemented for the protection of our community, as well as City staff. Many of our employees moved — practically overnight — to a world of Zoom meetings and home offices. We transitioned to holding City Council meetings by video conference, which required a change in state BUDGET MESSAGE 3%9