Minutes 03/25/2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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March 25, 2003 If you consider inflation at a modest two percent each of the last two years, we are in effect requiring our departments to maintain current levels of service with only 93 percent of the non-personnel budgets that they had three years ago. We have also monitored our workforce needs as personnel positions become vacant through retirements or resignations. Over the last two years, we have reduced our permanent workforce by 80 positions, and we are recommending the elimination of another 22 positions in next year's budget. It should also be noted that we are recommending the addition of a number of positions in strategic areas, which we will discuss later in this message. Public Safety Our third focus area is public safety. We have been working hard for several years to get our numbers of police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and dispatchers up to complement, and we are making steady progress in this regard. We are also making progress in the areas of equipment and facilities for our public safety employees. In the proposed Capital Improvement Program for the next fiscal year, we have included upgrades for fire stations 9, 10 and 11, part of a continuing program to upgrade or replace our fire stations. In the operating budget, we are including funding for four major new pieces of firefighting apparatus -- three engines and one ladder truck. Indeed, part of the upgrading of our fire stations includes alterations to one of the stations to accommodate the new trucks. The new fire trucks will cost $1.8 million, through a lease/purchase agreement that will cost $500,000 in the coming budget. We are also recommending $750,000 in the coming budget to relocate and re-equip our E-911 center. Our current E-911 center, located in the basement of the Civic Center complex, is below sea level and is constantly threatened by the possibility of flooding. Our current center is also well beyond its useful life, with equipment for which parts are no longer available and working conditions that are not acceptable for staff in a profession that already deals with more than its share of stress. Our plan is to move this critical link in our emergency response system to new quarters and equip it with new equipment that we will fund over the next five budget years, beginning in fiscal year 2003-2004. We might note here that we are also working on consolidating our police command into one facility. Police command is now spread over a number of facilities, which complicates communication and deters efficient management. We can assure you that this matter is important and is being addressed as a high priority. In fact, we are applying for a Homeland Security grant that may make this happen sooner rather than later. Municipal Facilities One of the major choices of the current administration is to improve city government facilities and equipment throughout the community. These improvements have a double payoff: they enable us to provide more efficient services to our citizens and customers; and they provide better working conditions for our employees, and that helps improve morale and productivity. Most of the major improvements in city facilities have been included in the CIP presented to you two weeks ago. In the CIP presentation, we proposed the development of a new building for the Department of Behavioral Healthcare Services, consolidating operations of that department from three current locations and creating an attractive new Human Services Campus in the 1700 block of High Street. Other examples of municipal facility improvements are renovations to our court complex and the completion of the new facade of City Hall. Combine those facility improvements with our fire station renovations and the proposed new emergency communications center, and you can see that we are making a conscientious effort to improve our day- to-day customer service environment and our employee working conditions. As noted above, we need to address the needs of a new police headquarters.