AgdaPkt 2009-11-09 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

and does a great job Iiaisoning with other agencies. Vice Mayor Howard suggested going to the Sequoia Hospital District and asking for partial funding if there is a nexus between the services provided and that institution. One Council Member asked if other high schools have a SRO (School Resource Officer). Staff and Council shared some of their knowledge in this area. Public Comment John Edmonds said that there is a wealth of volunteers at the Senior Center and they can be part of the solution. He noted that he will soon have a published book on the Civil War, which includes information on Redwood City and Northern California, and that the book lists the telephone number for the Library's Local History Room in its bibliography. He talked about the value of the Library's Local History Room and suggested that this budget cut be reconsidered. Council took a break at 8:50 p.m. The meeting resumed at 9:08 p.m. Dave Genesy, Library Director, said that last year about 1,400 volunteers supported Project READ. One Council Member explained that hopefully the history room will be "protected" by the Library Foundation. Mr. Genesy explained what he thought was the plan for this position. Vice Mayor Howard thanked the Library Foundation for its hard work and initiative. Jim Skinner, Fire Chief answered questions relating to the Fire Department budget. The personnel trends in the Fire Department were explained and Chief Skinner explained the compacting of the Fire Marshall and the Fire Chief position. One Council Member hoped that the expense side can be managed and revenues come in to address the structural imbalance. Another Council Member explained that if nothing is done on the expense side then packages two, three and four might be implemented next year. Larry Barwacz, Public Works Director, explained that the aerial truck will be auctioned and answered questions about the field crews. Vice Mayor Howard thanked his Department for all the hard work during the storm. One Council Member suggested that the newsletter could be added to Package 1 as an additional cut. He also suggested that the newsletter be combined with other materials the city is already producing. He suggested reducing the Library position to half time. Another Council Member said she would like to respect the rationale the Department Heads used to come up with these possibilities for cuts and not move items around. With that said, she would not like to mix and match from different packages. She inquired which of the 8.27 positions to be cut are filled. Assistant City Manager and Human Resources Director Bell said that five are filled and 3.27 are vacant. One Council Member proposed moving forward with Package 1 and nothing else at this time. Another Council Member agreed and stated that package 2, 3 and 4 could be fine tuned and these will be the core of what comes back to the Council in preparation for the next fiscal year reductions. He would like a time set for further formal decision making by the Council and addressing the structural problems. It was suggested that staff continue to work with the labor groups to address the issue of employee costs. Another Council Member agreed with the comments made and she opined this will buy the City a little bit of time. She thinks the newsletter should be kept for a little longer so that it can be used to JOINT CITY COUNCIL/REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARD MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 19, 2009 PAGE 6