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Home My WebLink AboutAUGUST 19,1997 I I I 0110- \0 39:018101f1'?9J cc CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS ARE AUDIO AND VIDEO TAPE RECORDED AND ON FILE IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK ROLL CALL I. 2. 2a. OfIO. ~/O INVOCATION PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 3. (Reuben Vizcarra) 4. MINUTES CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA REGULAR MEETING AUGUST 19, 1997 The Arcadia City Council met in a Regular Meeting on Tuesday, August 19, 1997 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers Conference Room. PRESENT: Councilmembers Chang, Kovacic, Kuhn, Young and HaIbicht ABSENT: None AUDlliNCEPARTICWATION None CLOSED SESSION Pursuant to Government Code Section 54957.6 to confer with City labor negotiators, Dan Cassidy and Gary Rogers, regarding negotiations with ail represented and unrepresented employees. At 6:03 p.m. City Council RECESSED to the Closed Session and RECONVENED the Regular Meeting at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Rev. Ron Fraker, Victory Chapel, Church of the Foursquare Gospel Michael H. Miller, City Allorney PRESENTATION Mayor Harbicht introduced Reuben Vizcarra, resident of Temple City, who was responsible for saving the life of an Arcadia resident on June 13, 1997. The victim was nearly stabbed to death by her husband when Mr. Vizcarra, at great personal risk, intervened and disarmed the assailant and held him down until Arcadia police officers arrived. Without the quick action of Mr. Vizcarra the victim would not have survived the allack nor would the dangerous assailant have been captured. Mr. Vizcarra has been nominated for the "Carnegie Hero prestigious Award" for selfless heroism. On behalf of the City Council, Mayor HaIbicht presented Mr. Vizcarra with the Mayor's Cenificate of Commendation and e"l'ressed his personal appreciation. On behalf of the Arcadia Police Department, Chief Garner presented Mr. Vizcarra with an" Award For Valor", and commented the Department stands in admiration and awe of his bravery and gallantry, in this tremendous dced. SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION FROM STAFF REGARDING AGENDA ITEMS None 1 8/19/97 5. 6. 6a. PUB. NUISANCE (352 E, Haven) (TABLED) D ~ :l 0 . >0 7. 8. CHANG (Fire SuprsJl. Dist. & Budget) 10.3':;-/eJ.. N.5 j-' 39:0182 QUESTIONS FROM CITY COUNCIL REGARDING AGENDA ITEMS None I PUBLIC HEARING Consideration of the request and recommendation to TABLE the public hearing regarding the declaration and abatement of a public nuisance existing at 352 East Haven Avenue. Said property is \\ithin the City of Arcadia and partially in the City of Monrovia (Ted and Lydia Rigas, owners). City staff advised that enforcement actions by Monrovia with regard to lack of vegetation on the parkway area invohing the subject property has been iuitiated. Further, the Arcadia Fire Department has advised with regard to possible Fire Code violations applicable to this property that there is not a safety factor. As to the potential of inoperable vehicles on the property, this can be enforced through other types of action which are under consideration. It was MOVED by Councilmember Young, seconded by Councilmember Kuhn and CARRlliD that the public hearing regarding the public nuisance at 352 East Haven be TABLED. AUDlliNCE PARTICWATION Mona Frvmire. I II Santa Ynez Drive, e"pressed concerns regarding the excessive speed of vehicles traveling on San Miguel Drive resulting in cars missing the curve at Santa Ynez and ending up on her property and endangering the lives of neighboring children. Ms. Frymire noted there are eighteen children living on Santa Ynez. She previously approached City staff about ha,ing speed bumps installed on Santa Ynez and was told it would be too much of a liability to the City. She has had several conversations with Arcadia police about this mailer also. She believes the Gardens area has become a thoroughfare for drivers who do not want to use Huntington Drive or Santa Anita. There are no signs, streetlights, reflectors or anything else to deter speedsters on San Miguel or Santa Y nez. I Mayor Harbicht noted that he recently met with a resident of Santa Ynez and advised him that the City Traffic Ad,isory Commillee will take this problem under advisement and take reasonable action to address it. Mayor pro tern Kovacic added he hoped the Commillee would consider all alternatives, not just speed bumps. MA TIERS FROM ELECTED OFFICIALS Referring to the recently proposed Fire Suppression Assessment District, Councilmember Chang commented the citizens of Arcadia have clearly indicated they do not want additional taxes. The citizens also felt the City government did not tell them enough about the City's budget and financial condition. They questioned the figures. Council member Chang felt the City did 11)' to inform residents of the financial problems through public meetings and a mailcr to educate the public of the reason for the Assessmcnt District and the consequences if it failed. Without additional revenue Council needs to cut e:qlcnditures because this is what the citizens want the Council to do. Scrvices will be rcduced also, \\ith the least impact on citizens. He believes that safety and education arc two of the most important considerations in daily living. I 2 8/19/97 I I I KOVCIC (Hist. Soc. B'day) YOUNG (Volunteers) HARBICHT (S.AR T. Upgrade) CJ 5"1>- - '11> /'1<:/' (Downtown Walk-through) (Overnight On-street Pk'ng Fees) 39:0183 Councilmember Chang requested that the proposed budget reductions that affect safety and education be cut from the list... safety means police and fire; education includes the D.A.RE. program, Library hours and the Youth Master Plan programs. Further, Dr. Chang felt it was time to utilize citizen volunteers and suggested interested persons contact the voluntccr coordinator at City Hall for further information about this program. Mayor Pro tern Kovacic congratulated the Arcadia Historical Society for a wonderful Historical Society birthday party on August 16th. Councilmember Young offered congratulations aIso. Councilmember Young encouraged Arcadia residents to think about volunteering for the City. Mayor Harbicht reported that Santa Anita Race Track is undergoing a SIO Million facelift of that facility. Also, Santa Anita is being bought out by MediTrust. He believes the S 10 Million investment in the upgrade indicates MediTrust is commilled to continuing live horse racing in Arcadia. Mayor Harbicht announced that the City Council will adjourned the meeting this date to Saturday morning, August 23rd for a joint meeting with the Planning Commission for a tour and discussion of Downtown Arcadia. The purpose is to study the needs of the Arcadia business community, DO\\11town and other areas, to help business' achieve success in Arcadia, Everyone is welcome to join the tour. 0.3 ~ i,) _7..{The Mayor felt that the Council should revisit the overnight parking pennit fee issue and r'fJ r look at a different fee rate... apartment dwellers have different needs than single family zones. Mayor Harbicht requested this item be placed on a future agenda for further consideration. Council concurred. 9. 9a. MINUTES (August 5, 1997) 9b. CITY INVEST- MENT POLICY (FY 1997-98) 0.:0.30 - '10 9c. AWARDED CONTRACT (Motor Control Ctr. ImpT\'. - W.O. 563) {)7<";"r:)- Fif) CONSENT ITEMS APPROVED the Minutes of the August 5, 1997 Regular Meeting. RECEIVED and FILED the FY 1997-98 City of Arcadia Statement of Investment Poliey as submilled. This policy defines the overall investment parameters under which the City Treasurer invests the City's excess, surplus funds. AWARDED a contract in the amount of S143,OIO. to A & B Electric for the Motor Control Center Improvements at Various Locations. Work Order 563; WAIVED ail informalities in the bid and bidding process; AlITHORlZED the City Manger to execute a contract in a form approved by the City Allorney. ALL OF THE ABOVE CONSENT ITEMS WERE APPROVED ON MOTION BY COUNCILMEMBER YOUNG, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER KUHN AND CARRlliD ON ROLL CALL VOTE AS FOLLOWS: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: Council members Chang, Ko\'acic, Kuhn, Young and HaIbicht None None 3 8/19/97 10. lOa. FY 1997-98 BUDGET MODI- FICATIONS (CONTINUED - Aug. 26, 1997) OJ.:JO-S'O 39:0184 CITY MANAGER Consideration of staff's request for Council direction regarding modifications of the FY 1997-98 budget Consistent \\ith the City Chaner, in June of the current year the City Council adopted a balanced budgct for FY 1997-98 with the shon term use of reserves until the results of the mail-ballot vote for the S2.2 million Fire Suppression Assessment District were determined. SubsequenUy, on August 5, 1997 the vote for the proposed District was tallied and the District was not successful. Therefore, staff prepared a list of alternative bUdget reductions in the FY 1997-98 operating budget as submilled by each department to deal with the S2 million budget deficit. I The City Manager explained the proposed FY 1997-98 departmental e>.-penditures which are allocated from the General Fund. Police - S8.7 million, 33% of the total budget: Fire - S7.6 million, 29%; Library - SI.4 million; Recreation - SI+ million; Administrative Services - SI.37 million; Development Services - SL9 million; Maintenance Services - S3+ million; and Administration - S 1.5 million. The City Manger noted there are 93 sworn and non-sworn Police personnel; 70 firefighters and dispatch personnel; Maintenance Services 22 (exclusive of water/sewer personnel); Development seT\lces 19; Administrative Services 19, and other smaller depanments adding up to 266 General Fund employees and 49 other employees funded by Water/Sewer and other miscellaneous funds for a total employee count of315. Jarnes Dale, Director of Administrative Services and City Treasurer Parker, presented charts of City revenue sources - property, utility and sales tax and others, Mr. DaIe also explained that most of the City's reserve funds are restricted for specific uses, for example, the Water Fund can only be used for water activity. I Referring to the staff repon listing cost savings and impacts associated with potential budget modifications submitted by each City department, the City Manager requested that each department head provide a brief overview of programs or operations within their department, the potential budget reductions, the dollar savings involved and the impact on services. Details of the said reductions are setforth in the August 19, 1997 staffrepon. Each department head then presented hislher department in compliance with the above guidelines. The total amount of all reductions listed or potential reductions for Council's consideration for each depanment: Potential Potential Deoanment 1997-98 Permanent Affected Sa\lngs Sa\ings Position Administrative Services $ 30,577 $ 40,770 2 (. 5each) City Clerk 21,517 0 City Manager 34,500 45,000 0 Development Services 278,534 371.391 7 Fire - various option combinations 1,028,869 1,529,554 I to 10 Constant Manning - 16 minimum 386,500 580,000 4 Constant Manning - 17 minimum 277 ,500 370,000 0 . Constant Manning - 18 minimum 185,000 247,000 0 Close Fire Station 33 657,000 857,000 9 Contract with LA. County Fire 0 1,000,000 Negotiable I Eliminate I paramedic ambulance 270,000 360,000 6 Contract \\ith Verdugo Dispatch 80,000 160,000 7 Refurbish Fire Station 33 450,000 0 0 4 8119197 39:0185 General City 5,000 5,000 0 I Mandatory work furlough 70,000/ day 70,000/ day I % reduction/employee salaries 126,000 168,000 2% reduction/employee salaries 252,000 336,000 3% reduction/employee salaries 378,000 504,000 Librar)' Reduce hours from 60 to 46 per week (close two evenings); reduce materials. 108,750 145,000 2 Reduce hours from 60 to 40 per week (close three mornings and one evening); reduce materials. 162,000 217,000 4 Reduce hours from 60 to 52 per week (close Fridays); reduce materials. 54,000 72,000 I Maintenance Services 274,688 376,009 4 Police 925,997 1,141,109 9 Eliminate Crossing Guard Program 75,000 100,000 17 pit Recreation 123,470 164,900 1& 29p/t Miscellaneous - Use ofreserve funds I % Emergency, Capital Outlay & Equip, reserves 119,900 0 2% Emergency, Capital Outlay & Equip, reserves 239,800 0 3% Emergency, Capital Outlay & Equip, reserves 359,700 0 At the conclusion of staff presentations, Mayor Harbicht opened the meeting for public comment. The following persons addressed Council: I Sandra Harp, Loganrita Ave. Minto Sullivan, 407 San Luis Rey Rd. George Fasching, 1451 Oaklawn Rd. Rob Cunningham, President, AFSCME Susan Zamora, 1130 S. Tenth Ave. Mickey Segal, 1135 Fallen Leaf Rd. Beth Stogner,Fire Dept. Employee Lonell Spencer, 1008 S. Mayflower Ave. Theresa Cohen, 10 Golden West Ave. Larry Williams, 154 E. Wistaria Ave. Bob Hoherd, 475 W. Wistaria Ave. Art Sear, 584-A W. Huntington Dr. Russell Week, 1513 S. Mayflower Ave. Ray Whitmer, Bus. Rep. Teamsters 911 Marguerite Spencer, 1008 S. Mayflower Ave. Brian Hagman, Business Agnt. for AFSCME Thora Askins, 1505 S. Fourth Ave. Craig Lucas, 853 BaIboa Dr. Warren Shaw, 1635 S. Third Ave. Lyle Wilson, 1701 S. Si>.'th Ave. Melissa Ornelas, City Employee Celia Kalm, 100 White Oak Dr. Cindy Denq, 608 W. PaIm Dr. Vincent Foley, Cambridge Dr. Arne Kalm, 100 White Oak Dr. Drew Krynicki, 321 Le Roy Ave. Renae Gharib, 1503 S. Si>.1h Ave. Robert Guthrie, Pres., APRA Julie Clift, 178 W. Longden Ave. Stella Ross, 881 W.Huntington Dr. Gail Marshall, 2300 Blk Lee Ave, A TRANSCRWT HAS BEEN PREPARED OF THE ABOVE PUBLIC COMMENTS Mayor HaIbicht closed the public comment portion of the Budgel item and called a brief RECESS. In the discussion following the recess Councilmember Young suggested that Council consider budget reductions at another meeting because of the late hour. Mrs. Young requested that department mangers prioritize their proposed budget reductions, or at least the top four. Councilmember Young also stated that she would like to review all of the Capital Outlay expenses projected for FY 1997-98. Further, before Council can consider contracting out for Fire dispatch services to the Verdugo Communications Center Council should ask for a Los Angeles County Fire Survey which would determine County's ability I 5 8/19/97 39:0186 to perform firc protcction services atlevcls rcquired by the Cit)',. then, if Council decides to contract with County for firc services thc dispatch change to Verdugo would not be needed. I Councilmember Young further rcquested additional information about whether or not narcotic scizure funds can be used to fund thc D.A.R.E. program? , Council member Chang agreed with Councilmember Young that Council should request the Count)' Fire Services Survey and that the Budget discussion, if continued to another date, be televised. Mayor Pro tcm Kovacic commented that he would be interested in the County Fire Survey and would support spending $7,500 for it. Also, he requested a definitive study on a joint powers agreement between Arcadia, Monrovia and San Marino regarding fire services. He also would like to find out whcther things could be done in-house more efficiently, however, he is not sure the Fire Department can or really should provide this information... an outside consultant may be needed to look at the entire fire services situation. Further, Mayor Pro tern Kovacic expressed interest in additionaI information of the use of narcotic seizure funds to fund the D.A.R.E. program also. Mr. Kovacic agreed that department managers prioritize their budget reduction proposals. Further, he would like to reopen discussion of the probability of a utility \aX increase being passed. Council member Kuhn also preferred to continue the budget discussion at another meeting. She agreed also that Council needs to explore every option as far as the Fire Department is concerned. not only County Fire Services, but joint powers options also. Mayor Pro tern Kovacic noted he would like to know exactly what the actual deficit figure is. Councilmember Chang agreed and noted he has read three different deficit figures in City reports. He also requested a report of Redevelopment Agency funds and noted the I Agency owes the City $6.6 million and there is now $1.5 million in the Agency fund. Further. he would like to have the reserve Emergency, Capital Outlay and Equipment Replacement Funds studied in terms of usage and impact. In reference to the $200,000 allocated for remodeling City Hall. this should be studied to see whether or not this could be deferred for one or two years. In response to Mayor Pro tern Kovacic, City Manager Kelly advised the $450,000 for the remodel of Fire Station NO.3 is currently in a reserve account. Mayor HaIbicht stated in part that the budget deficit figure has changed from time to time because conditions have changed. The adopted budget indicates a $1.36 million deficit which does not take into consideration any employee salary increases. The City cannot continue to not recognize and reward people who are doing the worlc. it is not fair nor right. Council has to look at some reasonable recognition of employee contributions as the years go by, which will inevitably raise the e:q",nditure leveL The Mayor noted aIso that he is not suggesting a change this year, just that the City cannot continue to withhold salary increases. Referring to the Los Angeles County Fire Survey, Mayor Harbicht concurred with Council to request such a rcport at a cost of $7,500. Moreover, aIong with County's estimate, the fire services provided to Arcadia should be at exactly the same level as the City receives from City fire services, The Mayor emphasized that County provide a fair comparison. Mayor Pro tern Kovacic noted Council should make sure that County will aIso provide such fire services for a reasonable period of time into the future... this should be built into the report. Council concurred, I 6 8/19/97 I I I II. lIa. ' ORDINANCE 2075 (H8 Overlay to C-2 Prop. - NW Corner Htg. & 2nd Ave.) (ADOPTED) os-'80- 70 0(, /fl'i - Z'I'6 ADJOURNMENT 39:0187 Mayor Harbichl agrccd thaI the budgel discussion be continued to another date and suggesled Tuesday, August 26, 1997 at 7:00 p.m. and that television coverage be arranged for that date also. CITY ATTORNEY The City Allorney presented and read the title of Ordinance No. 2075: "AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA, ADDING A HlGH RlSE (H8) OVERLAY TO THE C-2 ZONED PROPERTY LOCATED AT THE NOR11IWEST CORNER OF HUNTINGTON DRlVE AND SECOND AVENUE." It was MOVED by Council member Kuhn, seconded by Councilmember Young and CARRIED on roll call vote that ORDINANCE NO. 2075 be and it is hereby ADOPTED. AYES: NOES: ABSENT: Councilmembers Chang, Kovacic, Kuhn, Young and Harbicht None None At 12:33 a.moo August 20, 1997 the August 19th Regular Meeting of the City Council ADJOURNED to Saturday, AuguSI 23, 1997 at 8:00 a.m. for a Joint Meeting with the Arcadia Planning Commission al Glendale Federal Savings (100 South First Avenue), in the Community Room for a tour of DO\\11town Arcadia /~~~ Robert C. HaIbichl, Mayor of the City of Arcadia ATTEST: 7 8/19/97 I I TRANSCRIPT (Insofar as decipherable) AGENDA ITEM 1 OA. CONSIDERATION AND DISCUSSION OF ALTERNATIVES AND DIRECTION REGARDING MODIFICATIONS TO THE FISCAL YEAR 1997-98 BUDGET RELATING TO THE AUGUST 19, 1997 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING PUBLIC COMMENTS I CITY COUNCIL MEETING - AUGUST 19, 1997 ITEM NO. lOA. CONSIDERATION AND DISCUSSION OF ALTERNATIVES AND DIRECTION REGARDING MODIFICATIONS TO THE FISCAL YEAR 1997-98 BUDGET. I MAYOR HARBICIIT OK, I'm going to open it up here. I'm going to ask everyone to please restrict your comments to no more than five minutes, and if you can do it quicker than that, I would appreciate that, too. And once again, I ask that, as Mr. Kovacic has, that you have constructive comments and that we ail work together on this thing. Yes, ma'am. SANDRA H.ARP Good evening, my name is Sandra Harp. We live on Loganrita in Arcadia. I can't help it I have to say I think the Police and Fire Department are essential and should not be cut I think County Fire is very good, but I think they're spread too thin. I don't think they would be able to offer the service that we really need. I think the Council maybe panicked a lillle bit when they initiated the Fire Suppression Assessment District. It really was not anything to do with the Fire Department, as far as I can see. It was a General Fund issue. And I think what you're doing tonight, reviewing the budget and all this. is maybe something should have been done before ail that started. Now it's being done, I think it's an excellent thing. I think the city should use the surplus to fund whatever the deficit is right now in this current budget. whether it's $2.5 million shortfaIl that was mentioned before, or whether it's $1.5 million that you mentioned tonight, or $2 million. That tells me you really don't know what the shortfall really is. And from things you've said tonight, you're not really sure what the revenue is to the city. There seems to be a lot of questions about that I think volunteers are very, very important and should be utilized where they can be. I In August, a gentleman brought up a question and statistics about the tax assessment revenue. And I did write a leller to the Council and offer some ideas, and one question was, "Has anybody audited that to be sure that you really are receiving the funds that are due the cityT' I'm hoping that you did receive my leller. I tried to give some ideas on increasing revenue. They are long-term things. They would not be a quick fix. I think now the community is much more aware of what the problems are. and I think people really need to get involved with this. Again, it's going to take time. So maybe you can use this review, use the time and baIance next year's budget and let this one go by with the shortfaIl go by with the shortfall being taken care of by the reserves. I did have a couple of questions, One, about the senior citizens programs. Is the Arcadia Senior Citizens Center and ail of its activities for the citizens of Arcadia. or is it for people throughout the San Gabriel VaIley? Or is that something that perhaps non-residents should pay for? MAYOR HARBICIIT Our program is open to anyone. It's largely Arcadia residents who use it, but there are people who are not Arcadia residents. One of the provisions, the County sold US thai land for $1. It used to be part of the County park. One of I 1 I the provisions was, that we could not restrict it to Arcadia residents only by virtue of gelling that very vaIuable piece of property. HARP OK, then that answers the question that we did have. This past weekend, I happened to allend the Orange County Marketplace in Costa Mesa. Are any of you familiar with that? It's a fun thing, and the race \rack property would be a perfect place to hold something like that. And you could glean a lot of revenue from sales tax from something like that. Again, it would take research. There would probably be a lot involved. They've been in business there 17 years. It's very clean. So maybe that's one more idea you could add to your list. MAYOR H.ARBICHT Thank you, Mrs. Harp. GEORGE F ASClllNG Mr. Mayor, Members of the City Council. My name is George Fasching. I live at 1451 OaklaWD Road. I'd like to preface my remarks here first by saying that I don't, if something should come out critical, I'm not here to be critical tonight, but unfortunately sometimes that's the way it comes out, to call a spade a spade. I'm here to be constructive, offer my advice, and support of the City Council in doing the best things they can do for the citizens and city we ail enjoy. I But several things bother me in the whole scenario that must have been taking place for quite some time, and particularly in the assessment tax that went down, and in what I read in the newspapers and everything, Arcadia looks to slash budget. That's ail I've been hearing here tonight, where we can cut, cut, cut, and do everything possible, and you lost a portion of the audience with ail these reports that mean nothing but cutting. But never have I heard you say, "How can we make money? Where do we make money?" That's what it's all about. I'm a businessman. I spent 20 years in corporate work. I've been in business myself for 25 years. I work to make a profit for myself and my family. That's your responsibility. But in my estimation, there's no emphasis on how you're going to make money. All the budget cuts in the world that you're going to enforce here tonight will do one thing: carry you through the ne>.1 year and you're going to have the same problem without revenue. Where do you intend to get revenue, because I haven't heard one idea out of any of you as to where the revenue is going to come from? I Let's take a look at two major sources of revenue. One is the property tax, and the other is resale dollars, retail tax. In the area of property tax, I was the Mayor of this city in 92-93 when the Slate made their first hit on us of over $1 million from our budget, of our property tax to settle their own budget. They came aIong the ne>.1 year, I was still on the Council, did it ail over to us again, and they did it. And they took a lot of money out of the city. And what did I read this year? The State has more money than they know what to do with. Because of the burgeoning economy in this State. And their projections for ne>.1 year are 50% greater than they were for this last year as far as income is concerned. But what did they give us? Nothing. Did they repay us or ail of the other cities in the State of California the money they took from us in property 2 tax revenue to balance their own books? Not a dime, and because of partisan politics, we came out with nothing as did many other citizens. I What should be done is the State of California should be told through our city and all the cities in the state, and particularly in Southern California, that we're not going to tolerate that. We're going to file suit against you to get our money back. You took it away when you needed it You've got it. Give it back. But, do we do that? I haven't seen any action in that direction. No. And you know how you do it? You either file suit and get ail the other cities in Orange County and Los Angeles County to join in with you on that suit, and you're going to raise a lot of public awareness of what's been taking place. Sacramento has to know that city governments need proper funding and more funding to run their own show. It can't be left up to the State of California when they have a lot of money and don't give any money back. Now, the ne"1 thing is, if we do ail these cuts, and reduce services, which is the only topic that's been discussed here tonight, what does that do? One of the biggest avenues of increased revenue we have is the selling of houses and new houses in the City of Arcadia. When reassessment comes aIong, a home that was reassessed to Prop 13 for $140,000, now the lot's worth $540,000, and if that house is rebuilt, a new assessment, we make more money. But if we don't look good in this city, and we don't furnish services to al\ract people here, which people had the reputation of, years ago, as a school district and a city that really wanted people to come here, but we have slipped backwards tremendously in the last five years. We have languished while other cities have flourished about us, in their sales tax revenue particularly. And we have done nothing. Drive through this city and take a look. We have a third of this city without street lights. We have a third of this cil)' with antiquated streetlights. I One minute, well, I haven't begun yet, but I'm going to do it as fast as I can, But this is the thing that we have to do, we have to invest. But invest and spend has never been the word of progress with the city government for years in this cil)'. Years ago, when the money came in from Hinshaw's, Huntington Ford, ail the high-end retailers we had, we had plenty of money. We built up reserves of $50 million plus. Why? Because we never spent any. We never spent any to keep this city going and taking it into the 21st century. Not a dime. Take a look at Huntington Drive. Foulger property has been vacant for, what, three years? The lumber yard has been vacant for a year? We got redevelopment properties we spent fortunes on, we can't develop that, except we sold one at a loss to a restaurant that only does dinner, pays us $25,000 a year in sales tax revenue. It'll take them 20 years to pay back what we lost on the property. But what else did we do? We had a man come here from Rancho Cucamonga as Assistant City Manager for Economic Development that was responsible for revitalizing all the areas in the city and going out and working with businesses to bring to this cil)'. He saw the light after a few months and quit and went back to Rancho Cucamonga. Did we ever fill his position? No. What did we do last year? We cut staff. I 3 I MAYOR HARBICHT FASClllNG I MAYOR HARBICHT WARREN SHAW I We have a City Manager, that I don't know how he administers to the city because he is so overwhelmed with everything else he has to do. But in our short-sightedness, we don't fund the most important job in the city, ne>.1to his, and that is an Assistant for Economic Development, a man that knows how to go out and get business, how to bring business in. You talk about walking down First Avenue on Saturday? A lot of good that's going to do, unless you want to get your nails done! Most definitely, I am ail for a balanced budget and a sharp budget, one that has no fat in it, one that has a government and a local government that knows how to operate and how to trim a budget, but not to the e>.1ent that you reduce the services in the city any further. That's not possible, not possible at aiL You have to al\ract people here, and we do not al\ract people here. Santa Anita, case in point, and I want to point this out to you, Mr. Mayor, and I know you keep giving me the finger, meaning one minute, of course. About time we got a little levity in here. You held up earlier this evening this article on the part of Santa Anita's SIO million look. Please, ladies and gentlemen. George, would you wrap it up? Santa Anita's SIO million look, about the way Santa Anita is investing to keep horse racing here. But the one thing you didn't say, you didn't read from this article was, "The overhaul, which includes everything from new paint, tile walkways, and an upgraded stable area, is being paid for by cash reserves and a line of credit" As a business, they're investing in their business to bring in business. You have to do the same. Please, ladies and gentlemen. As I mentioned, this is a business meeting. Warren Shaw, 1635 South Third Avenue, Arcadia. Last Friday, I received a copy of your yellow book. I spent a good part of Saturday looking over, reading the book, looking at the cuts, and what was wrillen there. I went through and made cuts that I felt would reach the S2 million objective. And when I got through, I added it up, well, first, I just put through just the things that I recognize and could understand real well, cut them, and when I added it up, I was short, so I went back and cut some more, and finally got up close to the S2 million. Unfortunately, on Saturday, when I had questions regarding some of these things, I couldn't call some of the staff or other people and talk to those, answer my questions. So on Monday and Tuesday, I spent my time trying to answer some of my questions that I had when I was going through it on Saturday. And since then, today, this afternoon, I revised my budget, and I have succeeded in, well, I did three things. One of the things was, when I set out, I did not want to cut reserves, I did not want to cut fire, I did not want to cut police. After working very hard on that, I found that what I did have to cut ail three of those to reach my goal. Then, today, when I was revising the budgets, I felt that some of the things I didn't have enough knowledge on to really make a good decision. So those 4 things I thought I didn't have enough knowledge on to make a decision, I cut, it ended up to about $1,300,000. I did have to cut police more than I wanted to (tape ends). I I would like to say that I worked hard on this. I appreciate the Council's problem of really making these cuts, because I'm not going to get, people aren't going to be looking at me and saying, "You did it." The City Council will, and I really appreciate the problem you have because of the work I've done. Whatever cuts you finally make, even though they're considerably different from mine, I know that you have the best interests of the cit)' at heart, and- I want to congratulate you for your hard work. Would you like to have these? MAYOR HARBICHT Bring them up here, we can pass them around. Thank you, sir. ROB CUNNINGRAM Your Honor, Mr., Harbicht, Members of the City Council, executive team, good evening. President, AFSCME My name is Rob Cunningham, and I am the president of the maintenance workers union for the City of Arcadia, AFSCME 2264. Throughout the years, AFSCME has watched the City Council struggle to try to baIance the city budget, and wherever possible, we have tried to help. If you recall, we deferred our contract raises in June of 1992. Then in June of 1996, we offered to ex1end our current contract for another year while other departments were receiving raises, without any raises or benefits to us, thus helping the city again to balance its budgct. We believe that this demonstrates an unusual history of cooperation between the union and the city. I People who form the workforce for the Maintenance Services Department care about the service that is provided to the residents of our city. Even though there have been cuts, and we have lost tree crews, parts of our sweeping crews, and other positions. The employees of the Maintenance Service Department have continued to provide the best service possible. With this in mind, I would like to direct your allention to the summary schedule section, page 17 in your two-year operating budget. I believe it's this book here, you have ail received. If you compare the 1998-99 budget 10 the 1995-96 budget, you will notice that in most cases, other department costs have continued to rise, in some, as much as $622,888 over a period of four years. But if you take a look at the Maintenance Services Department, for that same four year period, you will notice they have been able to reduce their operating budget by $64,488. I believe this to be a clear indicator that the Maintenance Services Department, its employees, management have been following the instructions of the Cit)' Council to reduce costs and still provide the level of services we did in 1995-96. We know that the Coundi has some difficult decisions to make. We only hope that you "ill bear in mind that the members of AFSCME have continued to maintain the streets, sewers, parks, building maintenance and water system "ith such a high qualit)' of service that most residents did not know that we were working "ith a reduced workforce, and that the members of AFSCME want to continue to provide this service well into the future. In conclusion, AFSCME again is ready to work "ith the City of Arcadia during the current budget crisis. Thank )'ou. I 5 I MAYOR HARBICHT SUSAN ZAMORA I I Thank you, Mr. Cunningham. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Susan Zamora, I live at 1130 South Tenth Avenue in Arcadia. Yes, I was here last year at this time protesting the impending layoff of my husband, who was a City Hall custodian. You listened to me then, but were unable to do anything to stop my husband's layoff. Worked out all right. He was transferred to the Water Department. We were told it was a safe place to work. It was the only self-supporting department in all of the city. Apparently, that is not necessarily true, because Thursday he was called in and told there was a possibility his job was going tp be on the line again this year. We are hoping that the golden bandshake is one of the options that you decide to implement, and we will be out of here in a heartbeat. It is much too stressfuI to try' to be an employee in the City of Arcadia during such trying times of economic upheavaI. I wish I could explain to you what it's like to be a 6O-year- old man having to worry each July if he has to, I'm very nervous, go out every July and find another job. That's the end of my wife speech. Now, as a concerned taxpayer, I'd like to ask you for your definition of the term "hiring freeze." Obviously, it's not the same as mine, because as of two months ago, a brand new position was created in the Maintenance Services Department at a cost between $52-$64,000, to assist the poor Director of Maintenance Services, who is apparently unable to do his job that he's only been doing for two years without the help of an assistant. You people are elected to be our representatives and overseers of how the money is spent in the City of Arcadia. You have assembled or inherited a staff of officials to see to the day-to-day operations of this fair city. You rely on these officials and hopefully your own opinions in making decisions that are deemed to be in the best interests of the citizens, I realize this is not an easy job, and do not envy the situation you're in, The first people to be held accountable for a city's financial problems are the ones that control the purse strings. You rely on these self-serving individuals to tell you how best to spend city funds, only as long as it doesn't affect them. This is not right. Your City Manager, who is well into his fifth straight losing season, is not being held accountable. No one is threatening to lay him off. He's so terribly concerned with the state of the budget that he goes out and buys himself a brand new city-owned car. In fact, not just one, but two. I know when I'm $2 million short in my checking account, the first thing I run out and do is buy a couple of new cars. My husband is aIways yelling at me about this, but I always say it was such a good deal I couldn't pass it up. I would like to formally request a special evaluation be done. I want to know exactly how many city-owned vehicles there, to whom they are assigned, how much this is costing us residents a year for gasoline, insurance, maintenance, upkeep and repairs. I also understand that the poor administrators who aren't lucky enough to be furnished with a city-owned car to get to go to and from work at city e,.pense are given mileage to drive in from their home each day. I would like to know what we are spending for this. also. 6 MAYOR HARBICHT LYLE WILSON MAYOR HARBICHT WILSON I do not see how we are supposed to believe you, when you tell us operating costs have been cut to the absolute bone when irresponsible spending like this is allowed to continue. I Ladies and gentlemen, these are not appropriate civic e>;penditures. They are lucrative fringe benefits. And these are the first types of unnecessary costs that need to be eliminated before you can e'qx:ct us to give up tree trimming, library, police, etc., services. I think it's time to get an outside auditor in here perhaps, one who has no connection to anyone in City Hall. Have them analyze the true e"penditures of the city in a totally objective manner. Maybe in this way, the true facts will come out as to where all the money is going. I think it's time you send a message out to bureaucrats worldwide. If you want an administrative job in the City of Arcadia, we are going to e>:pect you to provide your own transportation, gas, auto insurance and other related costs incurred in the daily course of getting yourselves to work. Your paycheck is going to have to be sufficient motivation for you to show up at your job every day. Until you people have the courage and motivation to make such necessary and overdue changes in the way our tax dollars are being spent, you cannot ex'jlCCl us citizens to continue to take reduced services without well-deserved complaints. Perhaps if we truly believe that operating costs were indeed cut to the absolutely bare minimum, we would be more sympathetic and responsive to your requests. But when outrageous spending like this is aIlowed to continue, you will be faced with outraged citizenry rightfully demanding that civil services be prO\ided first, and administrative perks absolutely last Thank you for your ears. I Thank you, Mrs. Zamora. My name is Lyle Wilson. 1 live at 1701 South Six1h. 1 appreciate the time you are giving us all to come here and let you know how we feel about this city's budget problems. One of the, I believe it was Mr. Kovacic, asked for specific recommendations on cuts. I'll start with that first. 1 went through the budget, and I won't belabor with going through each individual item, I'll give you page numbers. The first one is, I think is a justifiable reduction, would be page I, would be page 33, page 3, page 4, page 5, page 6, page 7, page 9, on my copy it appears to be page 20, and that's the Development Services Department, the elimination of a contract building inspector, page II, page 14, page 15, page 25, that's the, page 25 is the $450,000 facility construction of Fire Station Number 3, the reconstruction, remodelization of it As 1 understand it, that's only a one-year cost savings, and as 1 understood that the money was transferred back to the General Fund, so is that money actually going to offset the budget shortfall, or is it already included in offsetting the budget shortfaIl? I didn't understand that. 1 think he misspoke, It had been transferred back to the reserve fund. OK, so it's back in the reserve fund, OK. Page 27, it has to do with the contract services with the Los Angeles County Fire Department I am employed in a county that several cities have undergone severe budget I 7 I problems. One of the options they did take was contract with that county's fire department to offset those. I've had intimate dealings with two of those cities on almost a daily basis, with both the citizens' side and city personnel side. I have not, I have yet to hear from them that the citizens lack the same level of service that they got, or that there was dissatisfaction with the county firefighters. And this is not a denigration on Arcadia's Fire Department. I think we have a Class I Fire Department, we have an excellent Fire Department and Paramedic Services. This might be an option that might guarantee them continued job security with the County of Los Angeles. The County of Los Angeles would absorb aImost per man, unless there is a particular problem maybe with a disability or something, they would absorb aImost per man, totally, all the employees of the Fire Department. Their jobs would not be in jeopardy. Future pay raises would not be in jeopardy. The estimate of over $1 million savings is probably fairly accurate by the Chief. I don't think we'd go from a Class lto a Class 2 Fire Department by doing that. Page number 29, page number 36. This is the Library. I'm an avid reader, and this kind of bothers me to even reduce the Library services, but I think ail areas of the city should have to do some cutting to bring budget into line. I think that's the most equitable one, least hannfuI to the Library. I Building Maintenance is 37, number, also 38 goes along with that page. There's one that I didn't have a page number, it's Building Maintenance Services, it's the contracting with lighting of city owned streetlights and park lights. I think that's an excellent idea. You can probably see, if you find the right contract, putting it up for bids, you'll probably get a beller rate than this $15,500 savings and $26,000 annual sa\~ngs, as you saw with the tree trimming that went on, Number page 44, number page 45, number page 49, deletion of a secretary at the Police Department. . I take it that's within the Administrative department within the Police Department. I don't understand this, because the secretary being spoken of is not in actuality the Chief's secretary, as I understand it There's also another employee in there the Chief hired in as, I guess, an Administrative Secretary or an Executive Secretary or something of that, when he came to the department Let me add this, that was during a budget crisis when that happened. That person, as I understand it, I haven't been able to find their exact salary out, but that salary is almost at the level with top step Sergeant That's unrealistic for a city this size to have a Police Chief to have an Administrative Assistant that also has two Captains and a large number of Lieutenants that the Police Department has, to have that kind of pay go to a person to assist in doing what? I don't know. MAYOR H.ARBICHT Mr. Wilson, so that others may have the opponunity to speak, Id' like to ask you to wrap it up. We're well past the five minutes, WILSON OK, page 51, the eliminating of Police Sergeant, one Lieutenant, three Officers, The Chief said it probably beller than I could say it Don't take officers off the street We are too far undermanned per population, for the size of the city, for police officers. I recommend cutting, reducing one Lieutenant to Sergeant, one Sergeant to Officer. That's a beller option. The savings would be roughly about $ I 90 the first year and about $200.000 the year after. I 8 MAYOR HARBICHf Mr. Wilson, I've asked you as politely as I can, and you're up to nine minutes now, and I think it's only fair we all get a chance. I WILSON OK, thank you very much. MAYOR HARBICHf Thank you, sir. DREW KRYNlCKI Thank you for your comments, Gary. I'm Drew Krynicki. I live at 321 Leroy. This document is the people budget of the City of Arcadia, and we've spent 3)l hour and a half looking at 50 possible options and cutting the people. But are you aware of the fact that this is only half the budget? OK? The other half of the budget is the first year of the five-year capital improvements budget. And I don't think there's any coincidence to the fact that there hasn't been one single mention of one single cut in that part of the budget, which is the other S25 million in Arcadia's budget. I think, quite frankly, that it reflects the philosophy, it's just a hunch on my part, that it might reflect the philosophy of the Mayor, because he feels, and perhaps rightfully so, that we should be cutting operating e"penses rather than infrastructure. But if that's the case, that shouldn't be swept under the rug. It should be made clear. Those decisions should be made out in the open. Now, I'll just give you a quick example of how that process works, The city has a five year capital improvement budget, capital improvement plan. The first year of that plan becomes the city budget for capital improvements. Anything under S30,000 doesn't require any further Council approval. Anything over S30,OOO becomes a consent item. Did you notice this evening how easily the City Council spent SI43,OlO for water wells? We wrote a check for Sl43,OOO to A and B Electric and five people nodded their head and said yes and didn't ask any questions about it. That's how simple it was. I Now, when we put the Fire Assessment District before the citizens, the Mayor said that there could be painful cuts if it didn't pass. And if we have to make those cuts. then he'll be justified in saying that he told us so. But the reality is that the citizens don't want to have spending cuts, and life isn't fair. Even though it doesn't seem that there's any money on the table, we have to find that money somewhere. So I'm going to tell you where in that Capital Improvement Budget we can find that money. First of all, already approved for spending this year in the Capital Improvement Budget is S200.000 for a new generator for City Hall. Now, we aIready have a generator for the Fire Department and Police Department in case of emergencies. This would be an improved generator. But I think that what we should do is the same thing that we did in the wind 51000. We should call Maintenance Services and bring a portable generator up to City Hall and use that. Now the second thing is. there's S200,OOO in that budget for remodeling or refurbishing City HalL Now, remember, last year we spent Sl5,OOO in remodeling the Mayor's office. And how many tens of thousands of dollars did we spend on furniture in Development Services? And you know what happened when we objected to that? The City Manager said. "That's money I 9 I that's already been appropriated." So why don't we look at these items right now and make the necessary cuts. There's $5,000 in the Capital Improvement Budget for a laptop computer for the Maintenance Services Director, and that's not even including the software, which is extra. There's $12,000 for the Police Department to replace two motorcycles. One of them has 20,000 mileage, the other has 10,000 miles on the odometer. $33,000 to buy a new vehicle for the Fire Department Station Number I, a new Chevy Tahoe, a Blazer, to replace one that 78,000 miles on it There's $15,000 in that budget to put a new roof on the canopy that e>.1en$ from City Hall to the Police Department Seems to me that $15,000 is a lot of money to re-roof a flat roof that doesn't cover a lot of square footage. There's $15,000 in that budget to build a new lunchroom for Maintenance Services workers down at the yard. Those are the kinds of cuts we should be making in the facilities. MAYOR HARBIClIT Mr. Krynicki, I'm going to ask you to wrap it up here. KRYNICKl Yeah. I understand that there's aIso, I think, savings of $230,000 in the computers fund of $460,000 that we have this year, and there's about $450,000 set aside for Station Number 3, I I don't think we'll be jeopardizing, Mr. Mayor, the infrastructure of this city by making these cuts. Because, what's the most important thing? It's the water. We get $8 million in water funds and all those are earmarked for water. They can't go anywhere else. Same thing for sewer. That comes from the property tax. Same thing with gas tax and transportation tax, That comes from the State to pay for our streets. So the most important public safety things are taken care of. I feel that the cuts that I outlined are what the people who voted no on their Assessment District had in mind when they dido't say that they wanted less services. They said that they wanted a reduction in spending. I think we should heed their voice. I think we should look at the second part of the budget that has to do with equipment, and be easy on the people part of the budget Thank you. MAYOR HARBIClIT Before the ne>.1 speaker addresses the Council, there's so much misinformation in there I feel like I need to respond to at least some of these things, because if I don't, it will appear that we're accepting those as correct. We do not have a $25 million Capital Improvements Budget It's nowhere near that The water wells, we replaced pumps that were installed in 1930 at these water wells, They are 67-year~ld pumps, ladies and gentlemen, and if you're criticizing us for that, I hope that when you turn your faucet on, the water continues to come out YOUNG Also, the Capital Improvement Budget, nothing is a sure thing until it's approved by the Council, one by one. MAYOR HARBIClIT The generator that was referred to at the Fire Station, it aIso serves City HaIl, is a 1952 Chevy engine. It's unreliable. It cannot be repaired any longer. And this supposed remodel of the Mayor's office was a reduction in size of the Mayor's office by approximately 25% to turn that area into a hallway. And so, I 10 GAIL MARSHALL YOUNG MARSRALL I think that if you realize that some of these charges are just frankly not true, no, I'm sorry', yes, ma'am. I Gail Marshall, 2330 block of Lee Avenue. To respond to Mary's comment, I was under the understanding that anything under $30,000 didn't have to be voted on, out of that particular budget. A lot of those mentioned were over $30,000. But there's a lot in there that's not over $30,000, such as a new car for $21,000 that nobody knew about. Consequently, I will go on with my statements. The tax failed miserably, and your work is cut out for you. Here are some suggestions, Are your pencils sharp? Shut off County Park fountain, $2500. Do not renew city membership in National League of Cities, $2576. Eliminate employees activities and events, $8000. Arcadia Commissions Dinner, $5000, Donation Band Review, $5000. Eliminate Mayor public relations account, $2350. Legal support services, $14,490. Volunteer luncheon, $1000. Police support starts K-5 run, $1500. Remodel and move reconstruction Fire Station 33, $450,000. Reserve officer recognition dinner, $4000. Newsletter, $25,400, You can use, this is my input. You can use newspapers, Council meetings, the Arcadia TV channel, and send notices in the water bill, if needed, Contract street sweeping. $23,574. That sounds very low to me in lieu of what we spend on street sweepers, insurance, maintenance and ail the other things involved, plus paying the people and benefits, that sounds very low, but these are taken out of the green book, I didn't have the yellow. book. Eliminate new street sweeper in the ne:l.1 budget, for $130.000. Sell old street sweeper that we paid $120.000 for last year and I was under the understanding that our depreciation would be 40%, so that would give you another $70,000. I Eliminate or reduce funding to Chamber of Commerce, $50,000. Monrovia has, I just want to add this, Monrovia has 3 people in their Chamber of Commerce, I brought you tonight a newsleller from Monrovia. I have a business in Monrovia. I will leave my sole copy of it. Hopefully you can copy it for each other. Not only does it give in here their second report, quarter report, of what they've done for the last quarter, which is very impressive, they've done it on a staff of three. Our Chamber of Commerce has three secretaries and I don't know how many workers. There aIso is a page in here that I think you should order immediately, if not sooner. Maybe you can have it FedEx'ed overnight. "California communities cutting costs through competition. privatization efforts." It's a handbook that has been put out by the California Chamber and it tells that you can save between 10 and 60% by contracting a lot of your services. OK. Contract maintenance, $30,000. Seems low, but that's what the book projects. Contract for street light maintenance, $27,000. In the book it says four poles were knocked dO\\1l at a cost of $4000 each. Under contract, city would have to pal' $6000 each. I was under the understanding that whoever caused the accident. knocked the pole down. had to pay for the bloody pole, through their insurance or whatever. They should be paying for it, not us. I 11 I I MAYOR H.ARBICHT MARSRALL I Reduce Eisenhower Park maintenance, $23,000. Green book says service level reduction may impact park appearance. I've got a solution for that. Take school age youngsters to the park as part of the community service for punishment when they get in trouble. Have them clean the park up. Eliminate parks and grounds superintendent and replace with contract administrator at a lower salary rate. $12,000. Reduce City Council officiaI meetings, $2870. Eliminate medical cash back contribution for future employees, and that's a big question mark, they don't even know how much that will save. Institute a mandatory work furlough. That said $70,000 a day. Do you know how fast our budget would be put to the good? I don't know too much about it, a little bit, but it sound like it might be worth looking into. Recognition of, reorganization of Engineering Division by eliminating four positions and increasing contract services. $20,000. Just for you listening, we have a population of 50,000 and have seven engineers. El Monte has a population of 113,000 and has nine engineers. They have more than double our population and only have two more engineers than us. Our engineering budget is $643,000. EI Monte's is $383,000 and they have two more engineers and more than twice the population. To me that was a red flag. Check insurance benefits for employees and if necessary adjust to stay in line with private sector. Check records personnel. Arcadia has eight records personnel with a population of, as I said, 50,000. EI Monte has five records personnel and their population is more than double ours. This reminds me of the joke about how many people does it take to change a light bulb. Mrs. Marshall, you're over you five minutes. I'm going to ask you to wrap it up real quick here. I'll wrap it up real quick. I'm talking as fast as I can. There's a lotto be said. We listened for three hours, so. My findings are just shy of $1 million with no cuts to our police or fire. This doesn't even include unknown sa\~ngs listed which could be substantial with contracting things out. You need to look at vehicles e,.,penses with the city employees. You need to revise medical insurance. And look at that $70,Ooo-a- day savings. I did this in approximately a half an hour. There is plenty of pork in the budget. Between the previous speech and findings in the five year capital budget and my suggestions, we are looking at a minimum 0 $ 1.8 million. That's not including the e>.tras. The citizens are proving to be much brighter than anyone e>.'jlCCIed. At the last Council meeting after this Suppression Tax discussion, several people chose to leave and Mayor Harbicht, you un"~sely made a cynical comment about the uninterested citizens leaving. You showed great disdain for the citizens of Arcadia. I know you were upset over the handily defeated tax. However, try to adopt a new attitude by realizing you were not elected to play God for four years, but rather to cany out our wishes. You should not be working in opposition to the voters, I sincerely hope you refrain from snide self-serving comments during your final days of public office. Unfortunately, your lack of respect and common sense reflects poorly on the rest of the Council's reputation. I believe 12 JULlli CLIFT MAYOR H.ARBICHf CLIFT MAYOR H.ARBlCHf CLIFT you not only owe an apology to the citizens, but also to your fellow Council Members. I You asked for people to come tonight with ideas. We are here. We have showed you, Now just do it. If you aren't up to the task, hire outside counseL Thank you for this time, Mayor Harbicht, Council Members, Mr. Kelly. I'm here on, I guess, two reasons. I hope I don't offend Council Member Kovacic, but I'm here really to clarify some items. I'm a resident of the City of Arcadia. 1 reside at 178 West Longden, and I aIso have my neck on the butcher block. I'm a Code Services Officer for the city. I take great pride in the job that I do for the city. I've got a family to feed, too. Can you give us you name, please? Julie Clift. Go ahead, Julie. I'd like to claruy a couple of items, primarily in the book that you guys are looking at, the yellow book, for both the Council Members and the citizens of the city. On page 15, the Fire Department puts that the, by not eliminating any of their positions they can do code enforcement beller. I'd like to clarify, and I think the Fire Chief can clarify when he did mention it even tonight, that the codes that they enforce are fire codes, They have nothing to do with code enforcement in relation to property maintenance. In fact, when we do property maintenance code enforcement, we actually try to stop the hazards before they actually become fire codes, fire hazards. So I just wanted to clarify that. I Another thing, my boss, Donna Butler, mentioned that some of the cities that surround us have PD or do code enforcement through PD. When that does happen, and in fact none of the cities of our surrounding cities have code enforcement under PD. When it is under PD or Fire in some instances in some cities. it is staffed by civilian personnel and is not done by police officers or fire men or fire women in that case. It's actually the code services department put into, or under the budget of, the fire or the police department. I am a past president of the Southern California Association of Code Enforcement Officials. Out of the 117 municipalities in Southern California alone, there is no municipality that I can offer you to tell you that operate without a Code Services Division. It's called something else, Neighborhood Preservation, Neighborhood Services, the friendlier cities now. We, in fact, changed our name about a year from Code Enforcement to Code Services Officers, But they all have code enforcement. And in the surrounding cities, we do have. they're staffed by two or more officers, In some instances, 1 think Pasadena has up to five. Glendale has about 10. Sierra Madre is the only one of our surrounding cities that operate \\1lh one Code Enforcement Officer, but they're a smaller city. 1 also wanted to reiterate that as a Code Services Officer, we act as a full staff for our di\1sion. for our department. We do not have a secretary. We do, we don't just go out and enforce the codes, We also have to come in, do our research. We write our own lellers. We do everything. We are self-sufficient. I 13 I MAYOR H.ARBICHT ART SEAR I BRIAN RAGMAN Business Agent, AFSCME I We do our court proceedings with the City Allorney. We do all of that alone. In fact, if you want to look at that, we're actually saving you some money. We do it all ourselves. As a resident, yeah, I'd like to see the utility tax or a utility tax go through, because I'd rather see the budget balanced on the residents of the city rather than on the city employees. And in the past years, it's been baIanced primarily on the general employees. I've been here six years. I'm sorry. I've not gOllen a raise or a cost of living increase for four and a half of those years. But I don't know about you. I'm sorry. Or any of the firemen or anything else. But when I go to the market, my milk costs just as much as yours does. To balance the budget, it's been balanced on our backs for the last, at least, five years, it seems like. I'd like to see it be a little bit more baIanced. Either cut straight across, or like I say, hopefully pass a utility tax and help us balance it on everybody else, not just the general employees. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Clift. My name is Art Sear. I live at 584 A West Huntington Drive. I'm a renter right now, although I've been a taxpayer in terms of property tax also for many years. I am a relative newcomer to Arcadia, since I've only been living here since 1961. I hope you'll be patient with me. I have one or two observations. I'm not going to take long. I think the City Council should take this large and persistent turnout for this very dull maller, you ought to take it as a vote of no confidence. And hard as it might be on your egos, if you really accept that, you should do what a British politician would do under the circumstances, and resign, and make room for somebody who will take a proper whack as the problem. That's all I have to say, and that's enough. Good evening. I hope everybody's calmed do\m there. My name is Brian Hagman, Mayor and CounciL I'm the business agent for the AFSCME local, the Maintenance Service Department Mr, Cunningham was up here earlier and he prelly much told you that the Maintenance Services Department and Mr. Malloy also mentioned the fact that this department essentially operates the city. That department makes sure that the water system is operating right, so you have a Class I water department, so that you have a Class A Fire Department and the insurance rates are down, which is a dollar savings. They also maintain the potholes in the streets that aIlow the police cars. the emergency vehicles, the Fire Department vehicles, to cross those streets in a safe manner. I was going to have a big long speech, but I'm not going to. I've noticed a lot of knee-jerk reaction to this meeting this evening, and it's understandable. This is a harsh thing that eveI)-body has to face. But Mr. Kelly made a statement towards the end there, that when they were talking about the reserves and the equipment replacement moneys. I would like to recommend that the Council consider balancing the budget, although it is only a one-time shot, as Mr. Kelly mentioned. 14 But during that one-year period, the union would suggest that the Council take into considcration the possibility of forming an advisory task force made up of the city employees, citizens, city officials and the representatives of the unions. We are here, we all do work together. As Mr. Cunningham pointed ou~ the AFSCME union has worked with the City Council for the last three years. I I think the point has come to where everybody needs to work together on this. So, as I said, I would like to suggest that we balance the budget this one time and thcn this following year, have an advisory commillee put together to seek out other revenues and other ways to handle these hard problems. Thank you. CINDY DENG Good evening, City Council and ladies and gentlemen. To my understanding of this agenda, I fcel that the cuts of the overtime of the firefighter and technician position, Whatever it is the cu~ it creates unemployment. II's just not good for the economy, and not good for the city. This seems impossible that in the many, old. ovcrworked jobs, because whenever there is an emergency coming. we really need some emergency techs to do the work. Whenever you cut do\\n a fircfighter or even a tech, you create unemployment problem. One suggestion I can give is to assess the probability and to forecast the likelihood of the person's, of the position thaI's necessary to fill a job. Is it really, is it really necessary that we need to have one more ambulance, or one more firefighter to maintain the public's health? We just need to have the more specific ideas for this. And whenever we make a great amount of big spending, we need 10 take time to think about i~ because we don't want to save a little money and lost some of that big amount of money. I It is my opinion that I don 'tlike to see the Library to be closed, but if thaI's the, there's no alternative, we must do something to reduce the costs. Other than reduce the costs. we can try to generate revenues. We can reinvest on the reserves. We can try to open some jobs for those homeless people. That's ail I want to say. MAYOR HARBICHT Could I ask you to repeat your name and address. please? CINDY DENG My name is Cindy Deng, My address 608 West Palm Drive, Arcadia. MAYOR HARBICHT: Thank you, Ms, Deng, ARNE KALM Mayor Harbichl, Members of the City Council and staff. My name is Arne KaIm. I live at 100 White Oak Drive. That's an address in the Highland Oaks, and it should come as no surprise to you that any proposal to shut Fire Station 33 would be met with some dismay in our neighborhood. It is, after ail, the primary source of fire protection up in the Highland Oaks area, and we look up at those mountains every year during the fire season and wonder what will happen in our ncighborhood. I would like to devote my time this morning, this evening, unintentional but appropriate slip of the tongue. to reading excerpts from a leller prepared by my neighbors and fricnds, Craig and Susie Bonholtzer, who are known to you as community activiSts. but who could not be here tonight because they had anothcr commitmcnt in connection \\,th their interest in \\,ldlife preservation. And I'll only give you thc essence ofil, in the intereSts of time. I 15 I MAYOR H.ARBICHT BETH STOGNER I MAYOR H.ARBICHT ROBERT GUTHRIE President, APOA I "Any action that undermines, limits, cuts or eliminates any police or fire protcction is detrimental to the citizens of Arcadia. Any savings that the Council thinks "ill be realized from cuts to the Police and Fire Departments "ill mailer little when lawsuits are brought against the city from citizens' families and others. Yes, it is true that the protection of police and fire accounts for a large portion of this city's budget. But this should be the case. Because what good are the other services a city has to offer, if the community is placed in jeopardy from a reduction in the personnel meant to protect them? How many of us are willing to walk into burning buildings, fight raging fires, or capture a fleeing arnled suspeclT' 1 think there is a message in that, ladies and gentlemen, and I address Mr. Kovacic particularly. We have a community that is accustomed to a level of services. We as citizens want to maintain that level of services, and we look at you folks as members of the City Council to develop the programs to generate the revenues to cover those costs. And just because a particular proposal, Mr. Harbicht, failed, does not mean that the City Council should not look for other sources of revenues to avoid the kind of cuts that we spent so much time talking about this evening. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Kalm. My name is Beth Stogner, and I am an employee of this city. Although 1 was actually born right here in Arcadia Methodist Hospital in 1960, 1 got my first library card at Arcadia Public Library in 1965. I went to my first Council meeting in high school in 1977. I went to Camino Grove Elementary School, Dana Junior High School, and graduated from Arcadia High School in 1978. My heart and my soul are inexorably bound to this community. I hope that you "ill take into consideration the many alternative proposals to service cuts that are in the books before you tonight. My parents still live in this city. I have an uncle, many, many friends, young and old. They live here because t11ey want the services, the security, and the beauty that this city has to offer them. They did not vote against the Fire Suppression District ballot measure because they wanted cuts in their services. They voted to hopefully have beller options. 1 can only speak for myself right now. I am not a current resident. But I'm aIso more than just an employee. I just want to urge you, and ask you, to use the resources of the ex-perts that you have at your disposal about the proposed budget cuts. They know what's best. They're anxious to help you. I'm grateful for the time we spent to review things, to understand beller. Thank you for your service to the community. Thank you, Ms, Stogner. Good evening. Mayor Harbicht, and Council Members. My name is Robert Guthrie, and I'm the President of the Arcadia Police Officers Association, Like us all, I'd like to take a few minutes of your time and speak to you about public safety relevant to the currently proposed cuts in 16 city employees. Specifically, I'm rcfcrring to police services and the impact any cuts would have on the citizens of Arcadia. I For the past ninc years, I've been fortunate to have been a member of the Police Department here in Arcadia, and witness to its great success in reaching out to the community. Dcspite continual cuts in personnel over the past three to five years, the implementation of programs such as Pace 2000 and DARE have built bridges of communication between our Police Departmcnt and our citizens of Arcadia, young and old. This is a direct resuIt of police empl~ees and citizens undcrstanding the need to unite and combine effort in order to both prevent and fight crime. Moreover, any cuts in police personnel, as we found out tonight, could result in the termination of thcse programs, in essence, destroying that which we in the community have worked so hard to build. It was just two years ago that we witnesses the grand opening of our Pace office at the Santa Anita Mall, which also kicked off our DARE program. Since then, there has been four DARE graduation classes for young citizens of Arcadia who allend schools. It saddens me and the Association to think that such progress may be halted for an undetermined length of time, or discontinued aItogether, so soon after its inception. Yet, this is a reality if the Police Department experiences any cuts. As disappointing as this possibility is, there are still some other possibilities more relevant and bothersome. Specifically, I am referring to a decrease in service and public safety response time to calls for service. As I mentioned earlier, over the past three to five years, the Police Department has e>:perienced more cuts in personnel than ever before. Yet, as servants to Arcadia, and its citizens, we, as the officers, have picked up our pace in order to maintain a level of service to the community it is accustomed to, and deserves. I However, again. this task would become far too great for our capabilities if we endure any further cuts. As a result, some calls for service may go unanswered. But more importantly, response times to major incidents could be drastically affected. This is a very real possibility, and when considering it, I ask that you, each of you, picture yourselves as the only person at home, reporting a burglary at 2 0' clock in the morning, or that of a frantic parent calling 9 II to report your baby not breathing. These are very real emergencies for both the police and for the citizens of our community. So, as you can imagine, the need for a full complement of reactive officers is very real to you and all citizens. Something further down the line to think about, which was mentiond (tape ends) the cost in degradation of the quality of life will occur for Arcadia residents and visitors. Subsequently, crime may begin to parallel that of our neighboring cities, no longer labeling Arcadia as a safe haven. There are other ways the city can satisl)' its currcnt defi~it while securing the safcty of Arcadia at the same time. We've heard many of them tonight. I implore you to look into these options as a means of resolving the currcnt budget, while creating long-term financial stability without compromising the safety of citizens. If at any time your Arcadia Police Officers Association can be of assistance to you regarding these options, its mcmbers and I are available for input. In closing, I would like to say that I do not envy your positions or the dccisions that lay before you. I only emphasize the cuts in police personnel and other public safety sectors have not been the answer for thc past five years. If they had been. we wouldn't be hcre tonight. Wc believe that cuts in safcty personnel are not what the public or the citizens are looking for. Rathcr. they are looking for innovative, I 17 I MAYOR H.ARBICIIT RENAE GHARIB I MAYOR H.ARBICIIT CELIA KALM I TIl0RA ASKINS long-term resolutions for a continuing problem. We e>''Press our support to ail of you in your endeavors, knowing that your decisions will lead us into the ne>.1 century, and aid in the decisions made by future leaders. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Guthrie. Hello, my name is Renae Gharib. I reside at 1503 South Si>.'\h Avenue, Arcadia. You asked us to be specific, so I am going to focus this on just one issue, the Development Services Department on page 12. I believe that this issue is detrimental to the success of Arcadia. I don't believe that Downtown 2000 was a mistake. When I drive down First Avenue I see so much potential, I believe that this planner should actually be, in fact, expanded into volunteers, maybe, that could get together and just brainstorm. I personally would be willing to be a part of that and recruit people into just brainstorming ideas for the city to create more revenue and improve the businesses on First Avenue. There is so much potential in that property and to the city. I am very proud to live in Arcadia. I love this city. I feel that the Councilmen have done an adequate job and regarding my safety, so far I have had no problems with it. But I do believe that money should be spent on investing into the city instead of CUlling back again, I suppose. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Gharib. I'm Celia KaIm. I live at 100 White Oak Drive, Mr. Kovacic, as I have watched you sit in Dr. Lojeski' s chair tonight, I have wanted to weep. Your demeanor has been unbecoming. You have no right to tell the people in the audience who are aIlowed to e>''Press their heartfelt wishes what you want to hear them say. And I take exception to something you said two weeks ago. In the middle of this budget crisis, you brought up the times for the elected officials to speak about voluntary limitations on campaign funds, And some of your other Council Members joined in. I think since you are on a learning curve, it's an inappropriate time for you to be concerned about campaign funds for the ne>.1 election. And along those lines, I would like to call to your allention, Mrs. Kuhn, your candidate statement when you ran for office three and a half years ago. I have it here. And you said, "I am running for City Council to return stability to Arcadia." In my viewpoint, in the 38 years that I have lived in Arcadia, tonight has hit an ail-time low in stability. And you further said, "I have been a businesswoman and housing e>''jlCrt for 3 5 years, and understand from the grass roots level, what it means to work within a fixed budget and make a payrolL" Let's see you do that. And Dr. Chang, you said, during the same' election, in your candidate statement, "I will fight to keep our fire and police services fully funded." Let that fight begin right now. My name is Thora Askins. and I reside at 1505 South Fourth Avenue in Arcadia, I've been a resident here for 21 years. 18 MAYOR HARBICHT LARRY WILLIAMS I started Neighborhood Watch in our area about three and a half years ago. And the thing that concerned me then, when we went to some of the meetings, is that there, they said, as many people that live here, it is so important for ail of us to have and work together, because there's no way that the police and the fire department can get to any of us in case there was an emergeney, a big crisis. I And I'm just, I feel that there's some way that all of you can resolve this as far as touching the Fire Department, the police. My son, my 15-year-old son wanted to be in the e,,:plorers and they don't even have that any more. And the Library, that's a big issue. I've been working at elementary school library in Pasadena for 19 years, and I don't feel the Library should be even be touched. It shouldn't even be considered. There are some people that, here in Arcadia, people that have had money, that donated money to fix that Library up. And to have it be closed down, or to cut. I myself run the library that I work at. Can't even meet the size of that one. But you know it's like, Pasadena District, they took all the libraries, not all, a few of them out of the schools. Now this year, they're bringing them all back. And, to me, the Libra!}' shouldn't even be touched. Young and old need that resource. If you have no money, you can aIways go to a library and read. That just makes me so ang!}' when I hear about. When I heard that was even thought about. And I just feel among all of you, that you can find some way to find this money and as far as the things that they talked about, I don't know, ail that, you know more about that. But, you know, there has to be other ways to cutting and to such important jobs and services that we have here in Arcadia. I And I see how Pasadena is run, and I know that every place is different, but, you know, I've been involved as far as working with the Board members there, and I know where there's a will, there's a way. And I'll pray that all of you will do the right thing for Arcadia. Thank you, Mrs. Askins. Mayor, CounciL Larr)' Williams. I live at 154 East Wistaria in Arcadia for the last 28 years, I got the ballot in the mail, and, as you know, it was defeated pretty obviously that people don't want a tax increase. The fact that it was directed toward the Fire Department to raise these taxes kind of got my atlention. I worked for the City of EI Monte Fire Department for the last 29 years, As you know, the city just finally signed the contract with the County. They will be contracting with LA Count)' after the first of the year. The savings to the City of El Monte is like $1.4 million a )'ear. And 1 think you owe it to the citizens to at least look at it. And how it progressed with the city is, they did a survey. The city paid them a nominal fee for the survey. They gave the cost. The city knows what they paid for fire protection. The County gave them a bid. Then it was over. I I worked a little bit on the process of this, I learned quite a bit. One thing I learned, is I gained a lot of respecl for the County Fire Deparunent. They' have 19 I MAYOR H.ARBICHT RUSSELL WECK I I almost unlimited resources, Another thing I learned, we had some political opposition from some citizens' groups, and they clouded things, there was a lot of rhetoric about local control, the level of fire protection, paramedic service. To sum evel)1hing up, I'm not going to take very much time. Bollom line is, LA County did not close any stations, offer very good fire protection, and $ 1.4 million savings, I would urge you to at least take a look at it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Williams. Good evening. My name is Russell Weck and I reside at 1513 South Mayflower. Before I make my presentation to you, I'd like to say thank you to ail of you who have come tonight and obviously are interested in the decisions they're going to make. And there's people outside. I basically did a rough count, and close to 500 people are here. And I think that demonstrates to you the concern and the commitment people in this city have. And! think if you look at the ethnicity, the White Anglo Saxon majority that were here, it shows that not all the citizens that reside in this community were represented. And each of us that has an opportunity to speak will take that opportunity. And I would like to address, particularly, you. I sat on that Board, as eight years on the Board of Education. So I know what it's like to be on that side of the table and have the public concerned about the decisions you're about to make, I've listened to other speakers. I spent three hours listening to II City Managers, or, perhaps, Supervisors. I didn't get each breakdown, and perhaps that's approximate, But one of the things! observed, in listening to their presentations to you, is I saw no prioritization. Did you ask your managers, that have been hired to make, in relationship to budget ex-penditures, or budget cuts, that they would prioritize. And I think you owe that obligation to your managers, and aIlow them to complete the job they're paid to do, to ask them to prioritize, to ask them to make decisions so that they can provide you effective input that you have to make decisions on. I can't speak for many of the department managers who were organized here. They obviously are the most in-tune individual that can make that priority statement, not !, nor do I feel any citizen that is here today has more input or more knowledge on how their department actually functions. But ask them to sit down and make those constructive inputs to you. ! came to speak today because as elected officials, you're charged with the development of making sound, effective, well-thought-<lut solutions to maintain the quality services that Arcadians have come to expect and basically demand. And the issue tonight, is that you must not react, you must act. You must be proactive, not reactive. And you have to look at not only short-term, but long- tenn solutions as to how this will impact people as we enter into the 21st century. And that's what your leadership role is. Because leaders, and leaders as you are charged with being, and elected leaders, are charged with the perception of what this audience and the people that have had to leave for other reasons, look at. It's a perception. You can't dictate that we look at you and say, you're leaders. It's the actions that you take, sitting up there and being responsible, or demonstrating to people that you are ready to make a sound decision that benefits the people here. Leadership obviously is where you show respect, 20 MAYOR HARBICHT WECK trustworthiness, and make those decisions that aIlow people to perceive you that they want to re-elect you in April. Four of you come up for re-election. I You are sitting on a what I call a political Pandora's Box. And a political Pandora's Box can't be handled with hope. It has to be handled with sound management decisions that benefit the customer that is sitting behind me and has spoken in front of me. We're your customers. And you have the responsibility of being leaders, who allow people to trust your judgment and to get the job done. And you have to delegate and trust your managers to make those priority commitments to you. I dido't see that here tonight I saw 15, I came to speak, I'm pro fire service, I have a background of25 years with the City of Los Angeles, retired four years ago. And I now reside here in Arcadia. But when I saw the Fire Chief stand up and give 15 proposals, not one of you asked for his input on what his four priorities would be of the 15. I sat there and said, where is leadership? If you have to make a decision, get the facts. weigh and decide those facts, and implement the decision and then check the results. Where are those questions coming from? I know about the BrO\\1l Act. And I hope that you don't go back in your Council, because obviously I don't think many decisions will be made, so you have an opportunity to weigh and decide the input that you've had tonight I hope you don't go back and violate or compromise that. I sat on a board, I know that can be impacted, I know it's important. For the public to hear what your opinion is. Some of you have been challenged tonight by various speakers. They want to hear what your decision-making ability is. They want to hear your leadership. vision. That's what Council Members have to provide, vision so that the people out here trust your leadership ability. And if that doesn't occur, you will see four seats change on the City Council. I It was easily clear here tonight, in my opinion, seeing 500 people here come to a meeting, that they were concerned, caring people. Now demonstrate that same caring attitude towards them. Because leaders, as you are charged with, adopt a personal and active alii tude towards accomplishing what the people you represent goals are. I haven't, this is my first time here. I've watched you on Channel 20. And I haven't seen the type of commitment, the leadership for tomorrow from any of you. It's easy to make decisions when you ask your managers to bring consent items to you that have already been weighed. It's tough to stand tail and provide leadership, And I think this public gathering is asking you to provide that leadership. Provide it. Demonstrate, in the next eight months, prior to election, that you have that skill. Otherwise, you won't be sitting there in April. You won't have to worry about it. I'm just concerned that you don't make a decision that impacts the people that might replace you, if you don't make sound decisions now. Because you can make that decision. And I want to speak to Mr. Weck. you've been well beyond the five minutes. OK, I'm summarizing right now. Don't micromanage. Look at three issues. Obviously, Mr. Fasching talked about revenue sources. You have to do that. I saw your redevelopment. You have five planners, you're proposing to go to fOUL Make those planners work. I want to address four issues on the fire sen'ice that you have to look at short range, but look at long-range. I 21 I MAYOR HARBICHT WECK MARGUERITE SPENCER I I First, the Chief proposed a very viable and workable constant staffing, going from 19 to 17. He provided you a very sound reorganization package. He provided you an opportunity to invest, because investment, it takes money to make money, and he provided you an opportunity to invest $6500 and evaluate a County contract to see if their services can be provided, provide quality services, because I've been involved in the County for nine years, in their Fire Department in an off-duty manner, and I know they provide a quality service. They staff their personnel at three people. They provide the people necessary to provide medical services, and those items necessary. Mr. Week, please, there's a whole line of people waiting. Thank you very much. I'm Marguerite Spencer. I live at 1008 South Mayflower in Arcadia. I thought it was a real clever plan you had tonight. 500 people come. No parking anywhere. No place to sit. Nobody ran and got us any chairs. There were a few chairs out there, and I saw two city employees wandering around the crowd, checking who was there, and who was not. And they could have gone to the Community Center and gOllen some chairs. But the ploy worked. Within an hour, half the people had left. I don't know how many are there now. I don't imagine anybody is outside by now. So it was a careful plan. The same budget material was given to us last year, on Channel 20, at a public meeting, but the public didn't really participate. We saw ail the same charts, ail the pie charts, all of that. And you spent three hours at a public hearing going over the same material again and again, Actually, when this happened at the very first Planning Commission meeting on the General Plan last year, the meeting was immediately canceled. It didn't go ahead. People who weren't first, were forced to stand outside. It was canceled and moved within a short time to the Community Center, which is the sensible thing to do when you've got 500 people, most of them standing outside in very muggy uncomfortable weather. There was no reason to go ahead with the meeting. In your Municipal Code, you canceled the idea that meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesday. They can be held any time you want. You could have held it tomorrow or next week. And all 500 of those people would have had a chance to say what they wanted to say. Someone misspoke this evening about DO\\1ltown 2000. Dr. Chang, Miss Young voted for the plan to go ahead. Miss Kuhn was prevented from partaking in the vote because she O\\ns property in the area. So you can't say you aren't responsible for Downto\\1l2000. I think one of the best ways to save money would be to stop hiring consultants, The last two that you've hired on the General Plan and the Election made so many errors, that it was almost laughable, Especially if you did really pay them the money that they asked, And J wish Mr. Malloy hadn 'tleft, because his bragging of the great savings on your tree contract shows he hasn't been out to ,watch them. This bunch is really 22 MAYOR H.ARBICHT SPENCER CRAIG LUCAS something to see. They leave dead branches. They cut off branches and leave them hanging. And that's the kind of thing, when there's a big wind, brings dO\\1l your electricit)' lines. So you dido't save a penny, because all of the streets have to be redone aftcr they finish, because they use a skip loader to mash and hammer the branches into a small ball, instead of using a chipper like a normal company would do. I Miss Young, you have been asking for volunteers all evening. Wouldo't they have to be covered by insurance? Bonded, perhaps? Maybe even have a pension fund, some of the things you enjoy? Would you really be saving money? If you really wanted to make a big saving, you might donate part of the $400 per month you receive. I don't really think you work that hard. Santa Anita now is required by the Municipal Code to charge 27, excuse me, 25 cents per car and 75 cents per vehicle when it's a special event, which is, when it's not racing season, and they have things on weekends. I say, double it. There's a good source. You know how many cars there are that go into that lot. There's a good source of income. Ms. Spencer, you're well past )'our five minutes. If you could please wrap it up. OK. The people of the State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know, and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created. That's the first paragraph of the Brown Act. And their tools are recall, referendum, and initiative. Thank you. I Good evening. I'm Craig Lucas. I live at 853 Balboa Drive. Like you right now, I'm mad as helL I'm mad as hell that 29% of the assessed value of this communit)' have put us in this pickle. I'm tired of the tyranny of the minority of this community dictating what the future of this community is going to be. Well, how can we turn that anger into some energy. I think you've gOllen more than enough good ideas, well-meant ideas, tonight. I hope you take them to heart. But mostl)', I want you to remember that Arcadia is a fabric. Which thread of the fabric do )'ou want to pull so that the whole place unravels? Which of all the presentations tonight is the most eX'jlCndable thread in our communit)' fabric. I don't think an)' of them are. And )'ou're sitting on bank accounts to $7-10 million, and for possibly political ideology or some other reason, you're going to continue to sit on that $10 million and start unraveling the fabric of this community, because you won't assess the new day. thc new challenge, thc new circumstance, the new thinking that )'ou havc to undertake in order to pull us through this crisis. If you're not mad about being in the pickle you're in, then you've got too many calluses alrcady. I think you should be. I think you should be angry that we as a communi!)' have slept so long on fat reserves and dwindling revenues and didn't figure out how to fix it. We share thc same community. We share the same churches, Wc sharc the same Lillie Leaguc parks together. I 23 I MAYOR HARBICHT MINTO SULLIVAN I THERESA COHEN I But you've chosen to sit there in the bright lights, and to be responsible for coming up with the great ideas, I wish I had one to give you. I don't. The only idea I have is, toughen up. Bite the bullet. Spent the money you've got in the bank, and by this time ne"'1 year, make sure you've got a plan. A meaningful plan. An effective plan. And if you get hit in the head again like you just did a month ago, less than a month ago, just pick yourselves back up and go out and try it again. This is a very resilient community, and if you want volunteers, then just ask for hands. Because we can fix this problem. It's our problem, but you're the ones in charge of making it go away. And as I say, the only solution I have for you on the short term: write a check. You've got the money. Or write a pink slip to ail the employees that are, whose names and lives are on the line and say, "I've got a SIO million bank account, but sorry, it's just in my political purpose to spend that money." That's our money. We put it there for a rainy day. This is a rainy day. Get mad. Get angry. Get it fixed. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Lucas. Good evening, Council. My name is Minto Sullivan. I live at 407 San Luis Rey Road. I have three things. One of them is, I want to know why we're paying an employee, in a management position, to drive 35-50 miles a day, one way, to get to work here. We're furnishing him a car, gasoline, tires, the whole bit. I don't think it's right. Nobody paid my way when I lived right here in the city and worked for the city. The other thing I wanted to ask about. About two years ago, a little bit beller, the city bought a paint striping truck for painting the streets and curbs and stop signs on the street. We paid S95,000 for it and then there's another SlO,Ooo e",tra on it. And two years later, sold it to Newport Beach for S50,OOO. That's a hell of a good discount. I want you to stop and think about it. You want to know why the proposition on the fire went down, that's one reason. People lost confidence in the City Council. Thank you. Hi. My name is Theresa Cohen, and I live at 10 Golden West Avenue. And I was under the impression that this meeting was held for suggestions on how to take care of our problem here in the city that I chose to live in, about 14 years ago with my husband, and we have since had four children, and are sending them through the Arcadia schools. I have three suggestions. or questions, as to what we could possibly do to raise revenue in the city rather than do any of the cuts that have been brought up. I hate to see anybody losing jobs, and I hate to see our city looking any less beautiful than it does and has been for as long as I've lived here. Number one, my backyard backs up to the ArboretuIn. And I don't know if this is something that can be even a possibility, but has there ever been a thought on people who o\\n properties in that area buying e",tra land? I know the 24 Arboretum has no use for quite a bit of land that's beyond the property line there. lf that's somcthing that can be done through thc County or what. I MAYOR HARBICHT Actually, it's County property. COHEN But that can't, that has nothing to do with the City of Arcadia, then? OK. Number two. I'm one who voted for the Fire Suppression District. And my suggcstion is, those of us who voted for it, let us pay for it. Let us pay what we said we would pay. Let that be part of the revenue. The reason I was willing to pay for it, is because I don't want to see our city cut areas that I have read about, number one, fire and police, ambulance. I myself have used those services with a near-drowning of one of my children. And I, to me the $130-whatever it was a year meant nothing. It was very insignificant. So, for those of us who have no problem with that, let that be part of revenue that can be collected. And last but not least, being aIso a member of the California Horse Racing Board, has it ever been brought up that possibly one of the big races of the year, \\ith a large purse, let's say $1 million, could be given to the City of Arcadia as a thank you? Let the big O\\llers \\ith the big money and the big horses, the big name drawing the big crowd, let the jockeys who make all kinds of money anyhow, say thank you to the City of Arcadia by donating the entire purse of o,!e big race. That's it. MAYOR HARBICHT Thank you, Mrs. Cohen. Just a couple of comments there. Collecting voluntary taxes is kind of an ifl)' thing. While I appreciate the offer, it is kind of interesting. We did have, I think, about eight or nine people who sent in with their ballots, checks, Which we of course returned to them, but. Yes, sir. I LONELL SPENCER My name is Lonell Spencer. I live at 1008 South Mayflower. I was here at the last Council meeting and I had a question, and once again, the question is still the samc. Where is the $3,380.665 that were due and payable to the City of Arcadia by the Arcadia Redevelopment Agency, June 30, 1997? That's quite a while back. Why isn't that money available? As of this fiscal report, which is the City of Arcadia summary by fund, 1997-98, proposed budget. I looked at the very last thing. And it's redevelopment. And it says, at the beginning of the 97-98 year, they have $5,905,000. Why hasn't the city foreclosed on that money? That would certainly cover the budget and then some. Thank you. MAYOR HARBICHT That money is included in our reserves. It's the same as, we have other rescrves that are invested in CDs and savings accounts. SPENCER lf I can make the commcnt. I won't come back one more time. To say you have moncy invested in the Arcadia Redevelopment Bank is like saying you have a CD at Lincoln Savings and Loan. MELISSA ORNELAS Good evening, City Council. My name is Melissa Ornelas. I'm a city employee, and I'm also hcre this evening to address you on proposed modifications to cut the fiscal budget and how it will impact Teamsters Union. In the past several weeks, survival of the fillest has become very prevalent at City Hall. Fingcrs are being pointcd, Flyers are being passed out. And a lot of allention is being focused on the DO\\lltown project. All the finger pointing in I 25 I the world isn't going to change the current situation. Previous City Councils aIlocated funds for the project. Things went wrong. The project is complete. And the money is gone. We are now facing our fourth year of budget cuts, and the financiaI disposition of the city is still in serious need of repair. Service levels provided to the community have switched from lm:ury to necessity, and layoffs look like your only alternative. At this time I would like to strongly encourage you to stick with your original plan of proposed cuts that were spelled oul in the city newsleller, explaining the need for the Fire Assessment District. It is my belief that any deviation from your original plan will result in a loss of credibility with the community, and hamper the success of proposed assessments and/or taxes in the future. I feel that the following' proposed cuts outlined in the yellow book would require serious and careful consideration prior to any implementation. Page 2, Administrative Services. Reduce Account Clerk I from full-time to part-time. It should not be an option, because it results in a loss of revenue. Page 8, Code Services. I'm not even going to touch on that. I think Julie Clift handled that very welL Page 9, Business License. Elimination of Typist-Clerk 2, elimination with reduced services to city and public, hampering new goals of being business friendly and generating more revenue. I Page 12, Planning. Elimination of Assistant Planner would reduce services to the community and potential developers. The absence of this position would greatly affect future developments that the city is counting on for revenue. Page 13, Engineering. Elimination of an Assistant Engineer would practically deplete professional staff. To date, this staff has lost six full-time professional positions to budget cuts and continued reorganization within the past four years. Traffic safety will also become a liability issue, which will not be secure with contract employees. Page 14, Fire Dispatch, Proposals to contract this service with Verdugo Hills has been an ongoing battle since February. With minimal service impact outlined, what the fire administration has failed to tell you is that the remaining dispatch workers will have to absorb the primary duties of the work that is being contracted out. It is my personal belief that this proposal from the Fire Department is a meager allempt to focus allention on something other than their overtime pyramiding scheme and their $688,000 overtime budget. Page 32. General City. Across the board salary reductions, Reducing salaries of employees who haven'l received a raise in the past four years would be like adding in salt to injury. If you must make reductions, please take from those of us who have been getting raises before you take from those of us who have not. Page 36. Reduction in service hours at the Library. Closing the Library was one of your original cuts and employees would support closure of the Library on Fridays and the most favorable option. I Page 49. Police Department, deletion of secretary. One secretary position at the Police Department has aIready been eliminated and replaced with the management analyst at a higher cost to the city. .. Administration within the Police Department is telling you that the duties performed by this position can be easily absorbed. WelL the Department e"-perienced their first attempt at this yesterday while the subjcct employee was out sick. It took three management 26 MAYOR HARB]CHT RAY WHITMER Teamsters Local 9] I employees a period of six hours to complete the biweekly payroll. This task, when performed by the secretary they are proposing to eliminate, only takes four hours. I have to question the intent of this elimination. ]s it to save the city money, or to save management jobs? I Page 50. Police Building Maintenance. Elimination of this building maintenance worker would impact the aIready old and dilapidated building, which sounds to me, will basically go to pot. Supervision of the Inmate Worker Program, which the city gets revenue for doing, would be depleted. The permanent savings is questionable due to these two causes. At this time] would also like to point out there are no non-sworn management positions included within the proposed cuts. The working force continues to be significantly depleted while the management remains untouched or increases. It seems to me that there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians. ]n closing I would like to thank you for your time and consideration, and once again urge you to stay focused on your original plans of cuts. I would aIso like to take this opportunity to offer our membership support in the public education process for any future assessments or taxes. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Miss Ornelas. Mayor Harbicht, Members of the City Council. My name is Ray Whitmer, from Teamsters Local 911. Business representative for the general employees, professional and supervisory and confidential employees of the City of Arcadia: I thought I was going to have the dubious honor of being the last speaker, but I see somebody else has stood up and is leaning against the wall, so I will keep it brief. I One of my observations in the packet that was presented to you this evening by city staff requesting that you look at potential reductions is the fact that there's been no organizational chart included in this packet for each department, which essentially leads you to assume that the proposals and the potential reductions that are outlined in this document are all that are available there, and does not give you really the opportunity to look at ail positions in the city and to question your city department heads about the essential functions of those positions that are left out. Essentially, we ail just assume that if they left it out, it's essentiaL But I'll give you a good example, in the Police Department, where you have proposals made by the department head, or the Chief of Police, and the Police Department, to make reductions in the D ARE program and the Pace Program, potentially in street patrols of police officers, which is really a critical, essential pa,rt of the seT\'ice of the Police Department in this community. The Police Chief has chosen to leave out a position, a recently created position, of Logistical SeT\'ices Officer, and I would ask that the Council direct your staff to have the Police Chief give you the information on this position and the essential duties of this position, and what sets it apan from a recommendation to eliminate the position, versus eliminating a police officer on the street, or cutting your DARE program, which is rcally an essential program for young people. I 27 I The Logistical Services Officer is a S50,OOO-plus a year position. It provides some logistical support. Most of that could be absorbed by other employees in the department. Other employees in our bargaining unit would be more than willing to absorb what we believe to be minimal duties performed by this position. I think that if you get an organi~tional chart and you have the opponunity to look at the entire makeup of the city's workforce in every department, you will find that there are certain positions that are protected positions, and that you are not being apprised of, and you're not given the opportunity to review and to question your staff about whether or not they're really essential, versus the cuts that they have recommended. Just a couple of quick observations in this book. I'd like to point out, under the summary of potential budget modifications, under A, page A, number 2, reducing the clerical suppon for paramedic billing. Melissa touched on that. This was a half-time position in 94-95, or 93-94, it went to a full-time position in 94-95. As a result of that position going to full-time from half-time, it generated an additional S130,OOO in revenue for the city on collection of insurance payments for paramedic services. So if you cut that position by half- time and make it a four-hour position, you're really looking at the potentiaI for a reduction of revenue in that area, and it may not make economic sense to do that. I Also, as most of you have heard in the past from me on the Fire Dispatch, we have grave concerns about that. Essentially, I think what you've been presented tonight is, again, a smoke and mirrors proposal by the Fire Chief. If you look at page B of the summary, if you look at item number 14, the Fire Chief has Slated that by contracting out Fire Dispatch to Verdugo, you would realize a permanent savings of S160,000 a year. And the impact would be to cut six full-time positions and one pan-time position. Then, if you go dOMl the line to item number 26, where the Fire Chief proposes a reduction of two full-time fire dispatchers, you realize a savings of S 10 1,000. It's bard for me to believe that you can reduce two individuals and save SlOl,OOO and if you eliminate six, you only save SI60,OOO. If the logic, or the theory here, holds true, then ail you would need to do is eliminate one more dispatch position, which essentially you have three vacancies right now, and you wouldn't have to contract out Dispatch Services, and you'd realize your SI60,OOO savings a year. So I think if you're really seriously looking at contracting out Fire Dispatch, you need to look at it good and hard. You need to ask solid questions of your staff. And you need to make them produce the real numbers on what it will cost you if you contract to Verdugo Hills, Because what has been presented to you tonight in 14 and 26 is simply a smoke and mirrors proposal. It does not make sense on paper tonight. It has not in the past, So I'd ask that you take a look at that. I In closing, I would just like to say that the members of our bargaining units, which, you know, are basically, for the most part, on the bollom of the rung in terms of pay and benefits in this city. have now been going on four years without a wage increase. In addition to thaI, over the last couple of years, they 28 o STELLA ROSS MAYOR H.ARBIClIT MICKEY SEGAL have suffered a maJonty of the reductions that this Council and previous Councils have made in eliminating positions. EssentiaIly they feel, in a sense, is that they've taken it on the chin. I And I would just ask that in looking at your cuts and your contemplations that you would look elsewhere, and that you would look at issues such as overtime in the Fire Department. I mean, I think by now everyone should be aware that thcre are $600,000-plus dollars a year that approximately 20 employees are getting. It's substantiaL It. s something that needs to be looked at. The voters were very clear on the Fire Assessment District. They voted it down. They do not want the same level of service that they are currently receiving from fire. You need to look at fire overtime. You need a management, you need to hold them accountable for that overtime. And you can eliminate it. In closing, I would just like to say, please do not make the general employees of this city take it on the chin again this year. Look else where, look whcre you can make the cuts and make them and leave the general employees alone. Thank you. My name is Stella Ross. I live at 881 W. Huntington Drive. (tape resumes on #7) might be a lillIe thin, as the Captain said, but they do a great job. We don't want to cut the DARE program. We don't want to cut the 2000 program, They're all positive programs. We don't want to shut the playgrounds down, etc" etc., etc., etc. You've heard it all tonight. And this was going to come at the end, because the reason I'm so upset. I don't care what anybody behind me says, but this is as fine a City Council as we have ever had, and I'm embarrassed tonight at some of the things that I heard, I do want to say, anybody wants to attack, unfortunately, a City Council person, do it in an educated, professional manner. Call them up or write them a leller. But what I heard tonight makes me very ashamed. And basically that's ail I wanted to say. I I hope that we could maybe, I'm afraid I'll whisper it, raise the utility taxes. Nobody wants anything to change, We've had ail these fireside managers. You know, I listen to the ball game. If you listen to the Dodgers afterwards, they have Dodger Talk. And ail these people call in, and tell them how to manage the team, and all of these people, they probably won't be here next week or a month from now, are going to tell you how to do it. Just stay with it, and if you find the genie lamp, maybe you can do what we want. I don't know. Thank you so much. I do appreciate you. Thank you, Mrs, Ross, Mayor Harbicht, City CounciL My name is Mickey Segal, I live at 1135 Fallen Leaf. About two hours ago. I guess, you asked for some possible solutions for an impossible problcm, Since you listened to the voices that have come up. and since most of those voices seem to be voicing. gosh, don't touch services, with no magic answers for that, I don't know that I.have any, either. But what I do have is. I certainly have a short-term solution to a long-term problem, I 29 I I MAYOR HARBICHT BOB HOHERD MAYOR HARBICHT I And in spending as many hours as I have, and as some of you know, on this budget, there are some solutions. They are not the fix, but they could provide existing services in the form they are for a little longer if there was a way to find additional ways to get revenue. Let me take just a quick second to run through a couple of those. As we know, the Capital Outlay Fund is a purely discretionary fund, and clearly under the control of the City Council to be used in any way they desire to use that fund. There is more than enough money in that fund or its annual allocation to solve this one time problem. Another option, clearly would be that the Proposition A and C reserve funds could be taxed a little heavier to relieve the General Fund burden and free up some more money from the General Fund. Granted those funds are restricted, but if there's any burden on transportation funds out of the General Fund, it is possible to use that Proposition A and Proposition C money. As far as the DARE and the Pace program go, there is one easy answer to hold them in place. It won't last forever and it would put a substantial burden on that fund today, and that would be the Narcotics Seizure Fund. It clearly could fund, with the $900,000 or $ I million-plus dollars that are in there, it could clearly fund a solution for today's problem but won't fix tomorrow's problem. Some of these solutions are pretty specific in nature, and only Bill Kelly is going to know if they are specifically correct or not, but my best guess tells me I'm not too far off on whether they work or not. I do acknowledge they're not the end of all the problems, and clearly won't solve, provide a long-term solution to the problems that exist. However, they may provide a middle ground to allow the City Council ample opportunity to devise revenue- enhancing steps over a greater period of time than was available for this Fire Assessment process that took place, And maybe that would enhance the ability to pass some other type of revenue enhancement act. As most people have said, it's not an easy task in front of you. I hope I've offered some possible real solutions to at least leave the status quo for a little while and possibly derive some other solutions. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. SegaI. I'm Bob Hoherd. I live at 475 West Wistaria. I've got one question and three comments. Did I hear the Chief, the Fire Chief, say that this dispatch function costs $1 million a year to operate? But if we eliminate it, we save $16O,000? Mayor, you're shaking your head yes, and I thought I saw another head yes. I don't understand why you guys dido't challenge that. I don't understand why, if it costs $1 million a year to run, and we eliminate it, we only save $160,000, it doesn't make sense to me, Well, sir, let me just take a quick shot at e':plaining it. We wouldo't be eliminating it. We would be eliminating the fire pan of it. We would still be retaining a dispatch center for police. And 911 calls would come into the Arcadia Dispatch Center. If it was a fire or medical emergency, then it would be, go to Verdugo. So we would still incur the costs of doing our police dispatch here. 30 HOHERD MAYOR HARBICHT HOHERD MAYOR HARBICHT HOHERD MAYOR HARBICHT HOHERD V ARlOUS HOHERD. MAYOR HARBICHT VINCENT FOLEY MAYORHARBICHT VINCENT FOLEY I understood all that. That's not what he said, I mean, not what he meant But what he said is, it was costing the Fire Department $1 million a year, and if you eliminated it, he said transfer, and I understood everything you said, you'd only save $160,000. That doesn't make sense. But I'm just raising the point I The Fire Department would save $1 million. Well, we'd have to pay Verdugo. Yes, I understand. There's a fee to Verdugo. plus the cost of maintaining the Police Dispatch. OK, so you're saying that the $840,000 would go 10 Verdugo, then, and the net savings would be $160,000. Yes. Is that the way it works out Yes, All right. Three comments, I heard several people speak, that the city employees have not, that some of the city employees have not had a raise in four years. I think that's just totally wrong. 1 hope that you won't cut any e:\'penses from the Library. And then. finally, 1 understand your problem, having been an executive and a manager for a great number of years. I've been caught, I've been involved where I've had to lay people off. And I've been caught in three layoffs in the last ten years myself, or downsizing, as they like to say. 1 appreciate and empathize "ith your problem, but if you've got a situation where you've got more ex'penses than revenue, and you can't increase the revenue, then obviously the eX'penses have got to be cut And the biggest ex'jlCnse is people. I empathize with the people that have to get let go, but if that's what's got to be, then that's what's got to be. I And I hope that you guys will do your job. Thanks. Thank you. Mr. Hoherd. Just one thing to add to that You mentioned that there's been three years, actually, our management employees and many of our white collar employees, it's been four years since they've had any salary increase. I thought he was last but not least. 1 wasn't going to stand up against that waiL I was sitting down where it was comfonable, Yes. sir. Vincent Foley. I live on Cambridge Drive. Good morning. There are two things I would not want to be today. One is an Arcadia City Council person. And the other is an Arcadia city employee. Because neither is in a "in situation. In fact, it appears you are all in a lose-lose situation. I 31 I I have to apologize for some of the people who are taking shots, unnecessarily cheap shots, at the Council tonight. I heard a few people, two or three, who sounded like they were campaigning for your seats. And I think maybe this is the beginning of the campaign season. And that's too bad that they took this forum to do that. I would like to make a couple of suggestions that maybe would help through this crisis. Bob, you started offby saying you weren't vindictive. Ifl were sitting up there, I think I'd be vindictive as hell. I would be so upset at taking ail the shots that you have taken, personal shots as well as collective shots, when I feel you have tried to do what you could do to educate the public. You can put out ail the paper in the world. You can put it on TV, but you can't force people to read, and you can't force people to absorb. But tonight was a beginning, I think, because you had 500 people here who, apparently, now care. Some of those people who got up and took the shots, I wonder where they were three weeks ago, a month ago, two months ago, when you had these budget hearings and some of us were here. Some of us have been through this time and time again. But, like I say, I might be vindictive as heck, I Remember there were some of us who voted yes for the Assessment District. And if you start cutting services, you're going to cut us as welL And maybe you don't have to do that. But if you don't cut services, because you can use what I would suggest you do is exactly what Craig Lucas said. You've got not $10 million but $12 million in funds, reserve funds that are at your discretion to use. I would, if it's going to take $2 million this year, use $2 million of those funds, and at the same time start'that study with LA County about the fire changeover of the fire control, because the last thing you want to do is give us sub-standard service. You don't want to do that, no mailer what When it comes to fire, when it comes to police, substandard service just isn't acceptable, Now I realize that it's a Fire Suppression Tax Assessment but it didn't have, really, totally to do W1th the Fire Department, it had to do with general budget, obviously. And you said that time and time again. Some people just don't read. Some people just don't listen. But you did say that, time and time again. But at this point, I think, to start looking at cutting fire services and police services where they might be subsef\1ent, where it's going to take five to seven minutes longer, maybe, to get paramedic service to me, and I'm having a heart attack, and I die because of it, I voted yes! That's what I'm afraid of. You've got the names of the people who voted no. Go late to their house. But I know you can't do that, obviously. I Maybe the answer is, you use the reserve funds you've got. You start that survey to see if it's going to be worthwhile, because LA County, lack of local control, but LA County services, which I understand from the Fire Department that you can control because you can establish the contract at whatever level you want, maybe that's belief. And maybe someday we can look at something like a regional control, rather than LA County. LA County budget scares me to death. I mean, if people think this is a sad state of aJIairs, they ought to look at the LA County budget And the more contract cities they have, the more income they have, and the more they're going to start looking at those Fire Department funds, But maybe in the meantime, we can look at a broader, not County, but something regionaL Pasadena, EI Monte, Temple City, our 32 MAYOR HARBICHT surrounding areas and have a regional, a smaller fire district or something, But in the meantime, we can do a County survey. I We can spend some more of that assessment, or of that reserve, so we don't cut. But we remind the people every week. We're going to have to cut if we can't find something. Then the third thing I would suggest, you put together a citizen commillee. Because, Bob, you and I were on one, and Craig Lucas was on one, and we came up with what I thought was, a pretty good answer to a revised City Charter, and I think we can do that again. Some of us, when it comes up to maybe helping with the budget, or helping with different sources of revenue. I would be the first to volunteer to do something like that. And have a citizen input commiuee. Look at maybe the alternative of the utility tax. But that's giving us some time. Buying some time but reminding the people, the problem hasn't gone away. The problem is still there. We can't use the funds forever. As we said, reserve funds are for a rainy day, and it's pouring out there. It's not just raining. It's time to use those funds. Remind the people that we are going to have to do something. A few months ago, there was a situation right here in the City Council that bothered me. A person had asked for a conditional use permit on Huntington to do a Laser Tag thing. And this Council turned dO\m that conditional use permit because Laser Tag was playing with guns and it was sending the wrong message. And today we're talking about cutting police officers and taking them off the street. That is really a bad message. So maybe the citizens commiuee can come up with alternative fonns of revenue and help the Council through this process, rather than doing it on your own. I Again, don't cut services just yet. I don't think you have to. I think you can look at some of the alternatives while you spend some of that money. Wait and see what the State is going to give you back Don't be vindictive like I would be, and I know you're not vindictive. Hang in there, and some of us do appreciate the task that you have to perform. All I'm suggesting is that some of us can volunteer to help you out with it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Foley. I'm going to close the public portion here. I'm going to call a five minute recess. I 33