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Mayor Foust opened the public comment portion of the meeting. Public Comment: Mike Bursak, Historic Resources Advisory Committee Member, addressed the Council in regards to the Historical archives and how the Library is proposing cuts. He does not support these cuts because he does not find this a reasonable proposal. He said he is a member of the archives committee and they should be consulted on this as well as the Library Foundation. He advised Council to "never give your money to strangers" in regards to the securitization. Council Discussion: Council discussed the securitization program as well as having staff come back with some recommendations that illustrate the dollar figure that should be cut. One Council Member said that he will be shocked if the deficit does not go up. One Council Member wanted recommendations of up to one million to implement this year and knowing that the net of that is half of a million. Another Council Member agreed that the city should start an organized campaign to inform the community on what the state is doing. Regarding the various options some Council Members thought that a mix of two items might be the approach to follow in October. Another Council Member said that he agreed with prior comments but if they want the securitization then a letter should be sent to the governor explaining local governments' concerns and fiscal predicaments. Mr. Genesy, Library Director was asked to address the speakers' comments on the issue of the archives room. He said that regarding the archives, this is a cut that will require some creative "out of the box approach. " Certain Council Member made specific comments which included: One Council Member did not agree with the cut of the newsletter because at this time this might be even more meaningful to a community that is not computer literate. There was a suggestion to consolidate resources on this matter with the Port and Parks and Recreation. One Council Member agreed with the tree board recommendation. - There were suggestions about savings on the CERT program. It was also mentioned that staff should not have to support all the subcommittees. - The PAL issue was brought up as something that needs to be looked at. On the Police Activity League (PAL) issue, the Chief answered specific questions about this program. Mayor Foust provided some historical information on the fact that PAL operates under two masters. She also wanted to make it clear that this solution needs to be a joint effort. One Council Member stated that there are some "pet projects" that may need to be reevaluated and looked at such as the Pride and Beautification committee. Mayor Foust asked that the Council decide whether to look at each department or go in broad strokes without departmental specificity. One Council Member would like to have staff come back with a big picture approach and a tiered set of cuts. There seemed to be general consensus that staff was to come back with a firmer set of numbers with a floor of $1 million and a ceiling of $2 million in cuts (with the understanding that this would be applicable to half of the fiscal year, since implementation would possibly occur Jan. 2010). JOINT CITY COUNCIL/REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARD MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 14, 2009 PAGE 10