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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002/06/24 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session ST.CITY LOUISOF OFFICIAL MINUTES PARK CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION June 24, 2002 The meeting convened at 7:04 p.m. Present at the meeting were Councilmembers Jim Brimeyer, Ron Latz, Chris Nelson, Susan Sanger, Sally Velick, and Mayor Jeff Jacobs Staff present: City Manager (Mr. Meyer), Deputy City Manager, (Mr. Pires); Public Works Director (Mr. Rardin), Parks and Recreation Director(Ms. Walsh); Finance Director(Ms. McGann; and City Clerk (Ms Reichert) 1. 2001 Audit Presentation Ms. Jean McGann and a representative of the Audit firm of Kern, DeWenter, Viere, Ltd. presented an overview of the 2001 Comprehensive Annul Financial Report to the city Council. The city's audit report had earn an "unqualified opinion" from the auditors which was the highest rating possible. Council asked various questions about the report and the city's fund balances. Ms. McGann also informed the council that the GASB 34 reporting format was in the process of being implemented and explained that though there would be major changes in how the city reports financial information, the format would be easier for members of the general public to understand There was concern expressed by the council that the GASB 34 format would be used by the public to compare cities. Mr Meyer said that while people may be tempted to do just that, there are enough differences in how cities are operated that comparisons drawn based on financial reports would be incomplete. He suggested that performance measurements are a better tool for compansons. 2. Parks Master Plan Summary Ms. Walsh gave an overview of the park system and value of the parks to our residents. She pointed out that we need to be able to assess resident needs and be open new trends in park systems and structures. Councilmember Sanger asked how we will assess interests and concerns city-wide. Ms. Walsh responded that we have not done a good job in the past at soliciting resident input, but that they will be working to put together a senes of tools that will be used to assess community-wide needs. Councilmember Velick expressed concern that there may be unmet expectations if we ask residents what they want and then are not able to fulfill their request for various reasons. Councilmember Latz stated that he was not concerned about the unmet expectations and felt that we needed the input whether we are able to fulfill residents' requests or not. Study Session Minutes -2- June 24, 2002 Mayor Jacobs agreed and felt that residents understood the concept of not being able to afford everything they want, but still felt the council needed the input. Mr. Meyer informed the council that staff would be moving forward designing components of the citizen input process and would keep the council aprised as the process develops. 3. Draft 2003-2007 Capital Improvement Program Mr. Pires presented the Draft 2003-2007 Capital Improvement Program and stated that the intent of the CIP was to provide a tool to assist in the decision making prosess that would take into account the complete picture of the city's capital expenditure needs. The document and process will provide a thorough analysis of future needs through the implementation process and also work with the city's financial system to track costs of capital projects. Councilmember Bnmeyer commended Mr. Pires on a job well done and stated that the format was very clear and well-thought out. Councilmember Nelson asked about some specific projects including deteriorating railroad crossings Mr. Rardin said that it may be possible to schedul a meeting between the council and railroad personnel to discuss the issue. Councilmember Nelson requested that Mr. Rardin proceed with setting that meeting Councilmember Velick asked about the status of flood project funding. Mr. Meyer said that there was still some question as to whether funds through the bonding bill would be coming forward to the city. Councilmember Latz said that he felt the CIP was very well put together. Ms. McGann covered various options for funding the CIP and showed two scenarios that could be used by the Council to bond for the project. Councilmember latz felt the parks portion of the CIP were very high priority and that there was no question that the pavement management project needed to be funded in perpetuity. Mr. Meyer said that the council needs to consider timing issues as well as what project they want to fund. He shared an overhead that depicted a comparison of local property taxes collected by metro cities He believed that the fact that SLP was so low in the amount of tax collected really translates into an underfunding of city needs. He informed council that staff would be back in the near future with concept plans for various funding options. That way council can get a beter idea of choices that could be made and how each choice would affect the long term success of the city. Councilmember Sanger asked about some projects that were not included in the draft CIP, such as bike trail connection over the Burlington Northern tracks, and it was agreed these would be reviewed in conjunction with expansion plans for Highway 100. Study Session Minutes -3- June 24, 2002 4. Legislative Budget Update Council directed staff to leave the legislative budget as is and that if an adjustment is needed pnor to year-end, that adjustment could be made at that time. In regard to the 2003 budget, if additional funding is needed in certain line items, those adjustments could also be made at a later date. 5. Communications Mr. Michael Hindin expressed concern about sidewalk projects currently underway. Council suggested that it would be more appropnate and effective if Mr. Hindin were to speak to staff about his concerns. Mr Rardin offered to discuss the issue with Mr. Hindin nght away. 6. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9:32 p.m C y Clerk .y'r ti