Meeting Minutes
May 16, 2001
PRESENT: Council Members Campos, Cortese, Dando, Diquisto, LeZotte, Reed, Shirakawa, Jr., Williams, Yeager; Gonzales.
ABSENT: Council Members – Chavez (excused).
STAFF: City Manager Del D. Borgsdorf, City Attorney Richard
Doyle, Mayor’s Budget and Public Policy Director Joe Guerra, Budget Director
Larry D. Lisenbee. Mayoral Assistants Jennifer Guilliart and Meghan Horrigan,
Assistant to the Budget Director Anne Ortiz, Assistant City Clerk Nancy Alford,
and Legislative Secretary Doris Casey.
Documents filed: (1) Study Session Agenda. (2) Hard copies of slide presentations made by Staff. (3) See Study Session minutes of May 10, 2001, for the Proposed FY2001-2002 Operating Budget.
FY 2001-02 PROPOSED
OPERATING BUDGET
Mayor Gonzales opened the Study Session at 8:37 a.m. to continue the Council’s review of the Proposed 2001-02 Operating Budget, with presentations organized around the City Service Areas (CSAs) developed to review the budget based on services provided rather than by department.
STRATEGIC SUPPORT CSA
Deputy City Manager Kay Winer stated Strategic Support encompasses internal functions which enable the other six CSAs to deliver services and is a foundation for all other City services areas. Aided by slides, she provided an overview of the Strategic Support CSA.
Strategic Support – Finance and Technology – Deputy City Manager Winer provided details specific to the Finance & Technology CSA, whose mission is to plan, manage, and safeguard the City’s financial and technology resources to enable and enhance the delivery of City services. The primary partners are Finance, Information Technology, City Auditor, and other internal partners are the Redevelopment Agency, City Manager’s Budget Office, all other City departments and the Information Technology Planning Board. She outlined presentations on the Base and Proposed Budget, Recommended Investments, Opportunities to Enhance Service Delivery and Projected Outcomes. Technology: Chief Information Officer Wandzia Grycz outlined proposed plans in the areas of Effective Deployment of Technology Resources, Implementation of E-Government Services and Integration of Citywide GIS systems. Finance: Providing an Access and Infrastructure Report, Finance Director Scott Johnson presented proposed plans in the areas of Actions Items with Existing Resources and Strategic Budgeting and Debt Management. Deputy City Manager Winer summarized Core Services and Outcomes of the Finance & Technology Strategic Support CSA.
Mayor Gonzales requested Finance Staff add as a performance measure next year for tracking of reports by due dates and measuring the percentage distributed on time. Referencing the HR/Payroll System Upgrade on page 196, he requested an MBA which describes the original estimates related to number of employees and the cost savings expected to be achieved on the upgraded software and comparisons with the current reality. He commented that the application of information technology may be the City’s best opportunity to improve quality, cycle time and quantity of services and he looks forward to seeing a more strategic approach to that concept in the future. He referred to page 324 pertaining to Information Technology Strategic Master Plan and suggested developing small groups of employees in a Research and Development type team to explore new applications and software packages that could assist in various departments in the customer service accomplishments they are trying to achieve, to work under the general supervision of the Information Technology Planning Board.
Council Member LeZotte stated Council Offices need a webmaster available to assist them, and suggested the idea of using summer interns and suggested the Call Center make the Vehicle Abatement Hot Line available on weekends when most complaints occurs. Council Member Dando suggested Staff determine a timeline for making recommendations for a system to enable residents to make payments to the City, online, preferably within the next 6-8 months. She stated providing website assistance to the Mayor and Council should be expedited rather than incorporated into a City-wide program, since residents tend to call their Council Offices when they don’t know where in the City to call, and suggested assistance be available all year, not just in the summer. Council Member Williams suggested Staff explore the costs of providing wireless hookups as a means of expediting production and output. Referencing the six positions proposed for the Call Center, he requested Staff report back on when they will be able to measure outcomes, not just from a volume standpoint, but analyzing data to determining the timeframe for specific service request to be addressed, in order to measure the departments’ responsiveness to the initial service request. Mayor Gonzales stated the City Auditor will review those services and prepare an analysis. Referencing page 326, Mayor Gonzales requested a detailed breakdown of the strategies developed in the Master Plan which have been adopted and the degree of adherence by individual departments. Chief Information Officer Grycz stated the Information Technology Planning Board identified three initiatives which will be tracked over the next year through three individuals systems and Staff will report out the results. Council Member Dando requested information on the pilot program for the library’s E-branch expansion of online access.
Strategic Support – Employee Services – Employee Relations Director Alex Gurza gave a slide presentation and stated the vision of Employee Services is to be an employer of choice, with a mission of recruiting and equipping employees with the training, benefits and working environment necessary to be successful in delivering quality services to the community. He stated primary partners are Employee Relations, Human Resources, Retirement, Equality Assurance, and Finance (Workers’ Compensation). He outlined Escalating Needs and Opportunities, with three desired Outcomes, highlighted Employee Services’ proposed budget by outcomes, and delineated the guiding principles of the CSA and the proposed investments for 2001-2002. Deputy City Manager Winer detailed desired Outcome 1 – Meeting Service Delivery Needs; Outcome 2 – High Performing Committed Workforce; and Outcome 3 – Safe Work Environment and Healthy Employees, identifying for each the major issues, goals and objectives, actions with existing resources, increasing capacity to administer benefits and improving employee health records management. In conclusion, she stated providing excellent services to the community requires investing in attracting and retaining a high quality workforce.
Mayor Gonzales asked Staff to include in future reports the total amount of funding available for employee training City-wide, noting the public service sector typically under-funds this vital area, suggested reviewing whether the proposed referral fee of $200 for successful employee referrals of applicants to City positions is adequate and suggested using an employee focus group to determine an amount that would be motivational, and suggested Staff review the potential for providing training services online.
Council Member Dando requested Staff review the issue of training personnel on workplace violence and providing counseling referrals for domestic violence, in particular the determination of qualified referrals, to determine why Next Door is not listed, as well as other qualified providers, and suggested Staff ensure that supervisor training is actually occurring, explore ways of facilitating employees’ involvement with their children’ schools, such as encouraging departments to maintain release time flexibility, and suggested the possibility of a pilot program for parental school involvement. Council Member Williams suggested considering a campus relations manager position who could be assigned a particular school to develop a rapport and be able to recruit for the City by interfacing directly with students and faculty. Mayor Gonzales suggested the possibility of involving employees who are volunteers or alumni at various institutions to serve as recruitment liaisons for the City. Council Member Yeager suggested developing a system of child care referrals for employees, working with private employers located near the new City Hall site to organize child care provisions, and requested a status report on the City’s efforts and options for the future. Council Member Diquisto suggested Human Resources establish baselines to assist candidates in determining the minimum qualifications required for specific positions, especially pertaining to positions requiring Emergency Medical Technician qualifications, stressed the need to inform applicants of the results and reasons for their applicant status. Council Member LeZotte stated the City’s hiring difficulties may be partly due to the lengthy process compared with industry and suggested expanding the hiring pilot previously begun in Environmental Services and the Planning, Building & Code Enforcement Departments.
Mayor Gonzales referenced page 174 of the budget proposal for Equality Assurance and stated performance measures regarding investigation timeframes are too variable and requested Staff establish a standard that includes such checkpoints as percentages of investigations, number of days, etc., to allow for measuring performance achievements. He requested the data for Activity and Workload Highlights, inadvertently omitted, be provided. Council Member Dando suggested Retirement Services increase the number of classes for employees planning for retirement, and add classes targeted toward mid-career employees, as quickly as possible.
Ross Signorino spoke about the feasibility of outsourcing as a remedy for applicant scarcity.
Strategic Support – City Facilities & Equipment – Deputy City Manager Winer, in a slide presentation, described the vision and mission of the City Facilities & Equipment Strategic Support CSA, as supporting other CSAs and ultimately the customer—the residents and businesses who are part of the San José community, and stated primary partners are General Services, Public Works, Equality Assurance, and Redevelopment, with the Airport, Conventions, Arts and Entertainment, and Environmental Services as contributing partners. She described three desired outcomes as Outcome 1 – Well Defined Facilities; Outcome 2 – Clean, Safe and Functional Facilities; and Outcome 3 – Appropriate and Available Equipment, and presented current and recommended investments by outcome, stated major issues are record-breaking capital and project delivery, aging infrastructure and funding shortfalls. She stated presenters will discuss the areas of Challenges, Action Items with Existing Resources, Recommended Investments and Anticipated Results for each of the desired outcomes. Gordon Siebert, Public Works Deputy Director, Architectural Engineering, made a presentation on Outcome 1; Acting Deputy Director Anna Gatczak, General Services, presented Outcome 2; and General Services Acting Director Francis McVey presented Outcome 3. In summary, Director McVey stated as a support CSA, Staff sees their role as being one of enabling, being a preferred provider, and allowing others to have the environment, setting and tools to deliver world class service to the residents.
Mayor Gonzales stated the performance results on page 247 could be better quantified in terms of timeframes for improvement, start and completion dates, and improvement in customer satisfaction, similar to proposals 2 and 3 on page 256.
Council Member LeZotte stressed the importance of incorporating green building standards into the City’s culture, using Green Building Guidelines now being developed, for all replacements and renovations in City facilities.
Mayor Gonzales stated it appears that resources are being added to the existing system without making systemic changes and it would be helpful to know how the system has been changed. He requested Staff work at re-engineering the system in ways that ensure a backlog will not continually be incurred, and if already completed, to inform Council of the nature of the changes to the system.
Council Member Dando suggested Staff review methods of coordinating community improvements over several departments, especially for major projects, to limit inconveniences to residents. She suggested the City fund the renovations needed to safely house City personnel at the Almaden Winery facility, which is owned by the City, rather than moving Staff out into rental spaces and allowing the Winery to remain in a state of unsafe disrepair. City Manager Borgsdorf stated the Administration will review funding for those improvements. Council Member Dando inquired about the Mail Room’s 12:00 noon closure for outgoing mail, which she called unacceptable. Upon explanations by Carol Reed of General Services, that the U.S. Postal Service has terminated mail pickup in the Mail Room after 2 p.m., Council Member Dando urged Council to work to persuade the Postal Service to revise their schedule to provide more appropriate service to City Hall. Mayor Gonzales stated he would send his additional questions on this CSA to the City Manager for response.
General Fund Reserves, Transfers, Capital – Budget Director Larry D. Lisenbee made a brief presentation, stated “reserves” is where reserves talked about in other CSAs are held, that $9 million is available for allocations later in this process, $6 million of which was directed by the Mayor’s Budget Message, with $3 million additional included, and also included in this section is the Contingency Reserve of 3% of $21.8 million.
Fees and charges – Budget Director Larry D. Lisenbee stated the total fees and charges reflected brings in revenues of $91.5 million, with $53 million going to the General Fund, that the overall fee program cost recovery is projected at 82%, down from the 90% level of FY2000-01, reflecting primarily the use of reserves in the development fee programs instead of fee increases. He stated the Summary Page shows department-by-department how the fee program would change cost recovery levels, noting that fee recoveries dropped in the Planning and Building Divisions, Public Works, and Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services as costs grow and fee increases are delayed. He highlighted fee changes in various programs in the Departments of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, Planning, Building and Code Enforcement, Police, and Transportation.
Council Member Williams asked about residential fees for solar or renewable sources of energy and Environmental Services Director Carl Mosher stated that in response to Council Member Williams’ previous request, Staff has worked with the resident in question and is reviewing the broader issue and will report to Council via an MBA on available options.
City Manager Del D. Borgsdorf thanked the Mayor and Council for their input and assistance and thanked Administrative Staff for their efforts in putting together the proposed budget for next year. He stated a public hearing will be held on May 22 on the Capital, Operating and CIP budgets for FY2001-2002, that the Administration will respond to Council inquiries and requests by memo and by MBAs, and on Council requests for additional services and costs, Staff has been directed to suggest possible funding sources or alternative strategies.
Ross Signorino suggested residents be able to use automatic payments for Recycle Plus billings.
Mayor Gonzales thanked his colleagues on the Council and congratulated Staff from all departments for making the next step toward performance-based budgeting. He stated the Budget Study Session scheduled for May 17, 2001, is cancelled and Council will adjourn to a Redevelopment Agency Study Session on May 18, 2001.
The Study Session was adjourned at 12:37 p.m.
NANCY ALFORD,
ASSISTANT CITY CLERK