1990-11-19 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Hendrix stated that while the majority of job turnovers are at the lower levels, other middle management level positions haVe been eliminated as a result of the hiring freeze. Mr. Vandever noted concern that Council's flexibility in approaching the budget may be lost if the matter is not discussed until January and CoUncil and staff will not have looked at changing the way the City does business. Mr. Vandever recommended looking at the possibility of contracting out for certain services. Ms. Slaughter recommended that the emphasis be put on the importance of restructuring jobs rather than on attrition alone and targeting middle managers. Mr. Toscano stressed the importance of prioritizing services and stated that he was not interested in cutting services. Ms. Waters stated that she felt it would be difficult if not impossible to downsize without reducing services and agreed that prioritizing services was important. Mr. Vandever recommended that the theme of streamlining should be one of the primary goals of the budget. With regard to the revenue options, Ms. Waters stated that she favored no increase in taxes and asked what the justification was for reducing the fund balance. Mr. Hendrix replied that the level of the fund balance was recently discussed with one of the City's bond raters who indicated that while a 15% fund balance was good it was on the high side and could be reduced to the 13% range with no negative impact. Ms. Waters noted that the funds made available by reducing the fund balance would be one-time money only but Mr. Hendrix noted that it could be phased in over a two to three year period. Ms. Slaughter asked for an explanation of the notation in the revenue options regarding driving away the tax force and Mr. Hendrix explained that it was felt that the impact of such things as additional fees on businesses should be assessed so as not to drive businesses from the City. APPOINTMENTS: BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS On motion by Ms. Waters, seconded by Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Jay Clarke was unanimously appointed as the North Downtown Residents Association representative on the Ridge Street Bridge Committee. On motion by Ms. Slaughter, seconded by Mr. Toscano, Mr. Gib Akin was unanimously appointed aS the Planning Commission representative on the Urban Design Committee. On motion by Ms. Waters, seconded by Mr. Vandever, Mr. Edward Lowry was unanimously reappointed to the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport Commission and Authority as the joint City-County appointment for a one-year term. On motion by Ms. Slaughter, seconded by Mr. Vandever, Ms. Cynthia Goodrich was unanimously reappointed to a two- year term on the Jefferson Area Board for Aging. This term will expire on August 1, 1992. On motion by Ms. Slaughter, seconded by Mr. Toscano, Mr. Peter McIntosh was unanimously reappointed to a four-year term on the Jefferson Madison Regional Library Board. This