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) Council discussed the benefit of combining the newsletter with the Parks and Recs catalogue. There was a suggestion to have a letter from the City Manager and the Mayor, on the first issue, to introduce this change. It was also noted that Economic Development is something that should be under the City Manager and the Strategic Initiatives. This was a concern for one Council Member as this should be a constant priority, and that it needs to have breadth and depth. Mayor Ira wanted the merging of the newsletter to be advertised well so that the full community is aware. It was suggested that the water bill be used to inform the community. Mayor Ira mentioned the need for interconnectedness and he believes it is important that budgets be reviewed in a larger scale. There was consensus on the elimination of the newsletter. One Council Member thanked the City Clerk for the proposed reductions and she found these a good approach. Mayor Ira stated that we need to match the jobs responsibility with the tasks employees perform and stretch their potential to the maximum. Mayor Ira explained that he and the City Manger have been talking about the Economic Development Coordinator and he hopes this will be before Council sometime in August. Council was vehemently interested in pursuing this initiative. One Council Member noted that BIT and HR were two examples of cutting deeper than the 80/0, more specifically 10.5% and 130/0 respectively. One Council Member wanted more in the way of updates when items get delayed. Another Council Member mentioned that turning items around quickly in this department, Building, Infrastructure and Transportation, will have an impact and the community will feel it. Regarding Public Works Council commented that the reductions are in areas where the public is impacted. There was also a comment to communicate with the impacted residents maybe even through robocalls. At 8:45 p.m. Council took a 10-minute break resuming at 8:55 p.m. City Manager Ingram asked if the Council was going to have another public comment section. Mayor Ira said there were no more speaker cards. The City Manager was asked to explain the alternatives and different reductions. Mr. Ingram covered the revenue and expenditure alternatives. City Manager then asked Mr. Chang to provide a brief overview of the Parking Meter Rates. Mr. Chang explained how the parking meter rates would impact the vehicular customers. Some Council Members were in support of increasing the parking fees due to the gloomy economic picture. There was a request to add the information about the parking meters and how these work. The creation of a self-explanatory video was suggested. It was mentioned that one restaurant is having trouble getting valet parking and it would be good for staff to work with neighboring restaurants to provide these opportunities. Mr. Chang was asked to explain Gas Tax Shift. Mr. Ponty explained that these monies derive from Prop 42 and he provided details on how this would work. This would be like a shock absorber approach for now. There was Council consensus that this shift is a one-time strategy and not ongoing. Council was interested but it wants to be extremely cautious with these types of shifts not making them the norm. One Council Member also talked about pension contribution and employee contributions to medical JOINT CITY COUNCIL/REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARD MEETING MINUTES June 28, 2010 PAGE 6