City Council Minutes 2014 10 14 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes October 14, 2014 Page 3 of 23 Susan Honstein, 727 Pine Street, Louisville, CO requested funding for two projects, which were cut from the budget. She stated the strength of the community is the emotional ties the citizens have to the community. One of the ways the emotional ties are fortified is through volunteerism on projects. She noted one of the policy goals for 2015 is to strengthen volunteerism in the community. Both the Helburg Memorial Park Project and the Sculpture Garden Project have strong volunteer components. The Sculpture Garden has been in the process for over ten years. She felt both projects could be carried forward by individuals if they had funding. She felt there should be some way to fund somewhere between zero dollars and the full request, which would help these projects move forward. In the case of the Sculpture Garden, the Cultural Council has raised $18,000 for this project. She asked Council to reconsider those two projects in the 2015 budget. Debra Fahey, 1118 W. Enclave Circle, Louisville, CO voiced her support for the Helburg Memorial Park. She stressed 2015 marks the 100th Anniversary of Victor Helburg's death and unless something is done on the project in 2015, the process will lose credibility. She stated it is important to honor history and a fallen officer. She addressed an issue of enforcement of weeds, which has been a problem since 2008. She stated the City does not mow the weeds on City properties. She stated if the City does not enforce the weed height restrictions on public property, the residents do not have to adhere to them either. COUNCIL COMMENTS Council member Lipton thanked City Manager Fleming and the City staff for doing a nice job on the budget proposal and voiced his appreciation for their time and effort. He voiced his concern over the aggressiveness of the spending proposal, including the newly proposed operational initiatives, CIP Proposals and transfers from the general fund to the other restricted funds. His concern centered on the General Fund balance remaining at the policy minimums for the next few years. He expressed a need to have a broader conversation on whether the 15% minimum balance is still appropriate with the recent flood event. Another concern centered on the recent experience struggling to stay within the budget forecasts for many of the large Capital Projects due to local economic conditions and the costs of construction. The cost of the City Services Facility, the Golf Course Restoration and the McCaslin Underpass should serve as valuable lessons to the Council in looking forward to new projects and proposed budgets. The City Council has identified some very important, but expensive initiatives rolling over to fiscal year 2015. Those include the completion and opening of the golf course, the completion of the City Services Facility, the construction of the South Street Underpass and rebuilding County Road Bridge among others. He was also concerned with the overall projections for revenues and expenses for fiscal year 2015 as presented to Council. If the critical assumptions related to tax collections or expenditures turn out to be slightly inaccurate (due to the assumptions related to community build -out, local business conditions or