To order it is our second budget workshop on Monday, September 16, 2024. The time is now 10, 11 a.m. Madame Clerk, please call the roll. Council Member Rimsor, is not present. Council Member Rafaib Pinedo. Present. Council Member Nakhavrall is not present. Vice Mayor Oscar Pukorbe is not present. Mayor Crissy Fraga. Present. All right, let's rise for the Pudge of Allegiance. the allegiance. That by consul and the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the So very quickly, clearly there's not a quorum to be able to come to some type of consensus over the budget. But I did have some questions for staff and I want to see if there's any new information that can be given to us and Mr. Manager, if you have had time to meet with the council members, I know that I had an opportunity to meet with you since the last budget hearing. Good morning, ma'am. As you know, I was out last week, but my deputy manager in the Assistant City Manager slash CFO met with some of the elected. As a matter of fact, I was supposed to have a meeting this morning with one of our elected, however, it did not come to fruition. She did not show up. But they can discuss some of the things that we are going to be proposing at tomorrow's budget meeting, Fernando. Thank you, Mr. Manager, Fernando Gussermayor, Assistant City Manager, CFO. We've had discussions with some of our elected officials regarding a variety of topics. Kind of first and foremost, it's the of the process regarding a variety of topics. Kind of first and foremost, it's the cost of living adjustment for our employees. There have been a couple of different options kind of discussed whether it's increasing the merit increases for our non-bargaining employees anywhere from up to five or up to seven percent as part of our budget. We also have a police union that did vote in order to accept our recommendation, well, our proposal for a seven and a half percent call up for them, which is made at the bargaining table. That's not up for vote for tomorrow because that would be a separate item where the council would have to either accept or reject the terms. There have been some other discussions regarding reductions in some areas. Some reductions in mayor council budget, some reductions in the manager's office, reductions in public affairs, in mayor council budget, some reductions in the manager's office, reductions in public affairs, in the building fund, discussion as to whether we should have a uniformed person on the first floor versus a civilian, adding a grant writer, include funding for best practices in IT, independent monitoring in IT, and include funding for best practices in IT, independent monitoring in IT, and include funding for pickleball programming and some additional funding for the police and parks for kids. Okay, would we have a line item list of these requests by tomorrow Fernando? Do we have a line item list of these requests by tomorrow Fernando. Do we have anything? We had some discussions regarding what it is. I think it would be best for the council to discuss it, determine what exactly it is that they want. And then we can make adjustments to the budget if we have a consensus. Okay, so can you run us through how this would work tomorrow, which is supposed to be our budget hearing the idea of calling a workshop today was to try and get all these things agreed upon so that staff could provide us a balanced budget tomorrow. Can you please run us through how this would work tomorrow at six o'clock? Because we do have to leave here with a balanced approved budget tomorrow. Sure, so we currently do have a balanced budget. We had a budget that was tentatively or past a tentative budget that was passed at the first budget meeting. That budget is what will be presented to you tomorrow. This list of items that I went through are proposed adjustments to that budget. So ideally we'll meet, have a discussion regarding each of these topics, get an idea for what the majority of the council wants us to do. At that point, what I would ask is for a recess. Once we have a list of adjustments, I would ask for a recess so that myself and my team can go through, run numbers, make sure that we can present to you a balanced budget with a amendment, and then you would pass a balanced budget before you leave tomorrow evening. Okay. Is there any way we could get this preliminary list so that we can start reviewing some of these items, even if that's a good recommendation for a preliminary list so that we can start reviewing some of these items even if there's no dollar figure attached to them. Because from what I'm understanding that you're saying is in the meetings that you've had, there has not been a clear indication of what those cuts would be. Correct. There's been some discussions on what those things would be. But again, you know, it would be one council person with a request and other one may have a separate request and this is something that really should be kind of discussed as a group so that we know. How to proceed. Okay. I did receive the updates to the budget based on the decision that was made at the last budget hearing, which was to cut the coal as to 3.5%. Those we do have and the budget that'll be presented tomorrow will reflect those cuts across the board. That is correct. We're the balance of that money being put in reserve. Okay. And then in respect to the discussion regarding the COLA for law enforcement that was negotiated with the bargaining unit. If we can't take that item up tomorrow, however, it will impact the budget. Will it be discussed tomorrow to put that in contingency? So those funds are currently in the contingency reserve as part of what was passed. Again, the council can, you know, vote to move those funds into personnel or operating. Again, you're presupposing that you're going to approve whatever action is coming forward in October for you to decide as to whether you're going to agree to the terms. OK. And to my understanding, we have one member of the council. It's actually out of the country. That's my understanding as well. I got an email from Vice Mayor Oscar Puy Corvay that he's in Japan. So he won't be here tomorrow and supposedly will be participating virtually. That's what he's requested. That was the understanding. The understanding was I believe IT, you were going to make sure that his electronic equipment was working so that he wouldn't be able to have any difficulties in doing a theme meeting from from Tokyo. Correct? Thank you. Okay. Well I want to thank you all for being here today. My hope was that we would be able to have already by this time a list of the requested adjustments so that we could have a discussion come to a consensus and you all could present us tomorrow with a balanced budget that we could vote upon with adequate time and responsibly putting it before the public as well to a pine and participate. Obviously that's not what's taken place and that is not the will of this council or at least the ones that are not here today which is absolutely, you know, it's discouraging and disappointing to me because this is serious. This is, you know, it's $137 million budget in its totality and affects, you know, our city and our residents and our business owners therefore I think that it's prudent that we make responsible decisions and have discussions in a timely matter and for our residents to participate in. So I think you all for being here today, I think it was important. And I think it's an exercise that we need to do as a body to be able to move forward and proceed. I hope that tomorrow does not get derailed or takes an extraordinary amount of time that it did not need to take that we could have accomplished here today. So I don't know if the councilman has any final remarks or questions that you want to get ahead of today? But other than that, there's really not much for us to more to discuss because I know what I would approve and would be comfortable with moving forward. Thank you, Mayor. Good morning. I concur with the mayor. Certainly, today was a perfect day to go over any type of request, adjustments, so that we don't have to go over these two more, especially that it might take longer than that should be. And as I said, last time when we were proof, well, I didn't vote to approve the budget, but the recent, and I'm going to make the same comment tomorrow. The reason why I decided to vote now was because I'm ready. I'm ready to move forward with the budget that was proposed. I believe 7.5. Coal increase is reasonable, is needed across the board. Certainly, I welcomed what he has been proposed by the PVA for our police officers. But again, we know how terrible the situation is out there. We know how inflation is. We know how cost of living right now is for everybody, including for us. So the fact that we have the professionals that I see you guys as the professionals coming forward and proposing something that is reasonable for everybody, for all the staff, especially, because sometimes we forget that the staff is the face of the city. The staff is the face of our work. And the staff is the one of the city. The staff is the face of our work. And the staff is the one that really deliver to the residents on a daily basis. So I'm ready to move forward and approve the budget, the original budget that was proposed with the 7.5 coal increase. I know that we're gonna have to negotiate that and come down to an agreement because at the end of the day is the majority of the council, the ones at the sites. But I want to make my statement and let you know that I'm not going to change my mind. I think we're leaving in difficult times. And we have to actually move forward and tell our staff that we're here for you as well. And we hear you. And not only that, we have to remember that at the end, the services that the residents receive are based on the quality of your work. So I want to thanks all the directors, everyone that is here. And I hope that tomorrow we can actually move forward with our budget. I believe there's no reason to stop this and to create chaos for something that it's so simple to understand that we don't have to, and I hope that we don't have to extend it tomorrow in a longer conversation, so, or discussion. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Councilman. With that being said, Lorenzo, can you walk us through the process tomorrow? The options we have tomorrow should there not be a consensus or you know there's some reason that the vice mayor can't can participate. So tomorrow if there is the inability to be able to come to a consensus, one of the things that you may all decide to do is to for the moment table the item and then to date certain so that it can be taken up again on that date. We have until October 1st, but it needs to be done. I mean, that's what the statute says, but we have to have it actually before then. So I think it's September 30th, correct for Nando? Right. So this year's a trim notice has until October 3rd, as the official date, the county property appraisal has made it abundantly clear that they would like us to have this wrapped up by October 1st, because they have not only our millage, but 34 other municipalities and a bunch of other taxing districts to deal with. So ideally we would have this done either Saturday, September 28th or Monday, the 30th. If we have to recess and please at table, you're not allowed to adjourn the budget meeting. You can recess the budget meeting. Announce the date that you will take it up again. We have to advertise that. And then we can take it up on that you can access to the budget meeting. You can access the budget meeting. You can recess the budget meeting. Announce the date that you will take it up again. We have to advertise that. And then we can take it up on another date. Okay. All right. And I I would like to thank the committee for the bill. They have a certain date, put that on the record. Should you not pass it on that date? There could be serious repercussions for the city. I would urge both of you and your colleagues to take it seriously and try to pass something, thank you very much. All right. We'll see you all tomorrow at 6 o'clock.