City Manager Josh Copley the reviewed the agenda for the day. He said that he would be bringing back a budget in the spring, but in order to get it right, and meet their expectations, he needs to clearly understand where they want to go. Councilmembers then shared what they wanted to get out of the retreat, which included: checking in on where they are with their goals from last year, see if they need to be ratified, revised, added, removed; creating a clear direction for the City Manager to be able to bring back a budget document; making sure they are staying focused on the goals set; have a budget that reflects the City that represents all of the citizens; hope they can be honest; hope it will be productive; feel that at the end of the day they have a consensus on their goals.

 

The City Council reviewed the Report on City Council Goals 2015 document, attached hereto and made a part hereof as Exhibit A.

Invest in our employees and implement retention and attraction strategies.

Police Chief Kevin Treadway spoke to the success of the housing assistance provided to police officers. He said that there were three employees that are currently involved in the housing program and it has been well received. They have done two training sessions explaining the program and providing literature. In addition, there are several others that are saving to reach the required match and some newer employees waiting to hit their one-year mark.

Ms. Darr said that the match is up to $7,000. She said that one officer had been with the department for 9 years and the other 11 years.

Chief Treadway said that the Police Department recognizes that they are the only department in the City that reached market-based pay. They have seen retention from July to date improve by 7% in dispatch and 13% in patrol and they currently have no vacancies in patrol.

He said that motivation is high and people are happy to be at the Police Department. They have a 20-year officer retiring and a new female officer going to the Academy in January, but they do not have a long list of people leaving.

Mr. Copley said that once they get to market then they have to continue to maintain the market. They will be discussing that later.

Ensure Flagstaff has a long-term water supply for current and future needs.

Mr. Hill reviewed the existing water conservation education program, noting that they have been looking to the Water Commission on different strategies of how to move forward with the program. He said that they would be prepared at the January 7 meeting to go into detail on all of the education components and where they have been.

After several questions posed by Council, Mr. Hill replied that many of the questions raised were also raised at the November 17 meeting and they are working on the answers to those questions at this time. He said that many of them will be answered at the January 7 meeting.

Provide sustainable and equitable public facilities, services, and infrastructure systems in an efficient and effective manner to serve all population areas and demographics.

Councilmember Putzova asked if staff could think of policies or projects that actually decreased the level of service and public service, such as decreased library hours or reducing disabled parking.

Mr. Copley said that in response to the recession staff has been working to make progress in those areas where they previously cut. Ms. Goodrich said that the only service reduction they have had was related to the State taking over administration of sales tax, which will be a service reduction.

Mr. Copley said that they have made significant progress in working to come back from the recession.As they sit today they have areas in the organization that are still struggling to keep up with the demand. An example is the Community Development Department. They have inspectors, plan reviewers, but they are still using outside services. With the boom in the development and moving into the future, they can see where they are going to struggle to provide that level of service they have committed to.

Mr. Copley said that they have made progress in getting back some of the training of employees, but they still are not back to that. He said that three years ago they cut back on snow removal and also street sweeping, both of which have been restored. He said that it is always tempered with reality. They are putting down a lot more cinders than they are able to pick up. There will always be some in the community that feel they did not get the level of service they should.

Councilmember Putzova said that it would be helpful to get a list of those services that are lower in the level of service today than pre-recession.

Councilmember Brewster asked about the status of locating appropriate lights that worked with the dark skies. Mr. Copley said that Council approved a contract with SLEDS, an FMPO-sponsored project. He said that they had a chartering session last week to get started. Mr. Wessel said that part of their team includes an electrical engineering firm that is nationally known for their work with dark skies. They had a chartering meeting with the Chief Astronomer from the Naval Observatory and Jeff Hall from Lowell Observatory. They are going to be taking baseline measurements and will probably move forward soon. He said that it has been very positive.

Explore and adopt policies to lower the costs associated with housing to the end user.

Discussion was held on the goal of lowering costs of housing to the end user. Housing Director Sarah Darr said that they have multiple things going on. Housing Solutions just broke ground on a three-unit development targeted as rentals for lower income; they are helping the Townsite Land Trust, who already owns four houses, and the City is providing technical assistance.

Councilmember Putzova said that last April when they were finalizing the budget, they asked staff to convene an employer roundtable to focus on housing, and asked for a status of that project. Mr. Copley said that staff is working collaboratively right now with NAU, NAHC, ECoNA and others, including major employers, to hold an inaugural meeting in January to explore the needs from those entities.

Councilmember Evans said that when calculating savings, it will be different between the market and what they actually paid. Mayor Nabours said that this goal is to adopt policies to help in those efforts. He said that last night was a good example of a policy that could help the cost of the end user because it is lowering the cost overall. Councilmember Evans said that is a good observation in theory, but houses go for what the market can bear. It would be interesting to go back and see what has been built in Sunnyside and see if the end cost was reduced or not.

Relieve traffic congestion throughout Flagstaff.

Discussion was held on the Traffic Congestion Relief and the need to quantify improvements. It was suggested that they revisit this goal and perhaps give it a new title. Mr. Copley asked that the Council keep the goal more general and then give them objectives they would like to see under that goal.

Address key issues and processes related to the implementation of the Regional Plan.

Brief discussion was then held on this goal. It was suggested that perhaps it be removed from the list; others felt it needed to stay, but focus on the outcomes they are seeking. It was noted that the goal was originally worded directly tied to the election and adoption of the Regional Plan, and perhaps it needed to be reworded.

A break was held from 12:23 a.m. to 10:34 a.m.

Mr. Copley said that it is obvious that there is a level of detail that Council would like to know. As a mid-year report out, many of these things are in the process. Next year they will be presenting a bound report with an Executive Summary, etc.

Improve effectiveness of notification, communication, and engagement with residents, neighborhoods and businesses and about City services.

With regard to the Notification/Communication goal, Mr. Copley said that they have made significant progress in the Innoprise conversion, currently working on Phase 2. He said that this affect the ability to interact with the public.

Foster relationships and maintain economic development commitment to partners.

Councilmember Evans asked, in reference to the Foster Relationships goal, that they put in the parking lot a discussion of Tequila Sunrise and Dew Downtown.

Decrease the number of working poor.

Discussion then turned to the Decrease the Number of Working Poor goal. Underneath the goal it was noted that two things that the City does to help in this area is their relationship with FACTS (the before and after school program) and United Way. Councilmember Evans noted that construction jobs were listed, but right now it seems that the larger construction companies are bringing in out of town employees.

Mr. Copley noted that he was getting a clear message that Council would like more data to support the information being provided. Economic Vitality Director Heidi Hansen said that her division is doing a lot of different things to help this area with retaining and attracting higher wage jobs. She said that this may not fall under this goal for some of the Councilmembers, but it provides opportunities to have employment. She said that their work at the Auto Park has brought in higher paying jobs, such as mechanics, sales jobs with salary plus commission, all of which provide benefits. She said that her understanding was that this was to be a broader discussion, but she has all of the data and would be happy to provide it to Council.

After further discussion on the issue, Councilmember Putzova said that this goal barely got any support and the bullets reflect the lack of support to do anything at a City level. She said that Flagstaff does not have a problem with finding work, but finding work with wages that allow someone to live. She said that they market industries that are notorious for low wages with hotels, restaurants, retail, etc. She wants them to think about it critically. They have a history of not quite being able to focus their energy on either growing their own or bringing other high-paying jobs, because it is easier to get retail.

Ms. Hansen said that with their relationship with ECoNA they have their eyes focused on everything. It takes longer to get a business that brings in 250 jobs; it is a lot of work. Unless they change where Flagstaff is located, 80 miles from the Grand Canyon, they are a tourism location. She said that they are totally with her on the other things; they are not ignoring them.

Councilmember Putzova said that it was not a criticism of Economic Vitality, but rather a Council-level priority, and not even this Council; it is a cumulative effort of past councils.

Mayor Nabours said that he sees daily how much the City and related entities do to attract businesses. It is very difficult, very competitive. He said that is why they have an incubator and accelerator building. They are trying to get businesses to start in Flagstaff and stay here. He said that there are issues with the appropriate work force for a lot of the businesses that look here.

It was requested that this item be placed on the parking lot. Mr. Copley added that Council recently approved a change in procurement to allow for extra credit to those businesses that employ the disabled. He said that they have learned that their tribal partners will be having their own Economic Outlook Conference and the City will be participating that as well.

Ensure that we are as prepared as possible for extreme weather events.

Discussion then turned to the Extreme Weather Events goal. Vice Mayor Barotz asked if they would be seeing the backup generator coming back through the budget process. Mr. Copley said that they want to get through the Water Rate Study first and will then determine at what point it would be appropriate to come back. Councilmember Putzova said that the longer they wait on that purchase the more they are putting the City at risk.

Councilmember Overton asked how often they review routes for services such as snow removal and trash removal. Public Works Director Erik Solberg said that for solid waste they just purchased a routing software program and just completed their commercial route. He said that they were waiting to see how the solid waste routing went before looking at snow operations. He said that they will see something in this year's budget along with sweeping.

Mr. Copley recapped the discussions:

1) Further information to come on reductions in services and what has been restored
2) Update on Housing Forum
3) Water Conservation programming, strategy and performance metrics
4) New construction jobs (out of town hiring)
5) Outcomes on job-training programs and partnership with Career Center, specifically what is being done at libraries
6) New businesses coming to town - jobs, hiring, wage data
7) City's economic development efforts and plans in non-low wage sectors

Vice Mayor Barotz asked that they also get a spreadsheet on the contracts for social services they approve every year.

Discussion was held on rewording of some of the goals, and the outcome are those listed on Exhibit B, attached hereto and made a part hereof.

A lunch break was held from 12:08 p.m. to 12:34 p.m.

Management Services Director Rick Tadder reviewed the Budget and Economic Conditions. Brief discussion was held on the pensions and results of the changes made in report of construction last year. Mr. Tadder said that retail is the bigger of that amount and they have not had the opportunity to look at the projections. Councilmember Overton encouraged them to do so.

Human Resources Director Shannon Anderson reviewed fixed costs as they relate to compensation and benefits for employees, as outlined in Exhibit A.

Finance Director Brandi Suda reviewed fixed costs as they related to pension, utilities, fuel/oil; workers compensation and property liability.

At this time the Council and staff participated in a budget priority setting exercise, with the outcomes listed on Exhibit C, attached hereto and made a part hereof. During this time discussion was held on the rules not being clear and being interpreted differently.

Brief discussion was held on who was interested in attending the Washington DC lobbying trip. It was agreed that attendees would be Mayor Nabours and Councilmember Evans, along with a staff member.

Mr. Copley said that it was a long day and he appreciated everyone attending. He said that this was his first crack at a budget retreat and it was a good learning experience. He said that staff received some clear understand of where the Council would like to go and they have a set of goals to take them through the next year.

The Budget Retreat of December 9, 2015, adjourned at 3:46 p.m.