1994-10-07 - Laserfiche WebLink

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66 Ms. Peacock reviewed various revenues as percentages of the total budget, noting that the City's reliance on real estate taxes as a percentage of the budget has declined. DEMOGRAPHICS Mr. Gary O'Connell, Deputy City Manager, reviewed various demographic indicators, including housing composition, income levels, and numbers of persons receiving financial assistance. With regard to housing initiatives, Ms. Slaughter stated that she thought the City needed to find better ways to increase homeownership and affordable housing and also needed to better prepare/educate people for home ownership. It was agreed that staff would develop a proposed housing strategy by February 1, 1995 to include the following: 1) Identi~ target group 2) Create more opportunities for middle income families 3) Explore opportunities with City owned land 4) Explore zoning initiatives on privately owned land. It was agreed that the issue of zoning initiatives on privately owned land and Council's interest in middle income housing would be communicated to the Planning Commission AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Ms. Daugherty stated that she would like to see a better climate of trust created in the Police Department and increased educational opportunities to allow for advancement within the department. Mr. Toscano stated that he understands that the Police Chief is working to clearly articulate criteria for promotions and to try different recruitment efforts. Ms. Slaughter expressed interest in focusing on a mentoring program throughout the City, perhaps exploring doing such a program .on a voluntary basis. It was agreed that the Police Chief would report back to Council in a few months on his strategies for addressing these issues, to include feedback from minorities within the Police Department. Council broke for lunch. REINVENTING GOVERNMENT - A PROCESS Broad goals identified regarding "reinventing government" were: 1) Citizen feedback and satisfaction/constant re-examination 2) Better ways to measure outcomes and results. Alternatives for measuring results were discussed, including citizen surveys, possibly rotating surveys from year to year from more broad-based to more specific questions. It was noted that significant staff effort would be required for in-depth program evaluation. It was agreed that staff would explore how best to use surveys to measure citizen satisfaction. With regard to financial incentives/reward programs within City departments, it was agreed that staff would bring back a proposal for departments sharing in savings (carrying over/keeping a percentage of savings from one year to the next) to be discussed at a future