City Council Study Session Summary 2009 02 24

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City Council Study Session Summary DATE Page 7 of 7 Council indicated that our city needs to be prepared for lucrative businesses moving into Louisville. The presentation gives an accurate representation of the future and problems the city is facing. The general picture is that Louisville is doing well financially. Council and staff needs to educate the public with the facts, and describe our full options. Does the City increase revenue or cut services, when existing services are minimal? When providing education to the citizens, how will we get there attendance? One option is to talk up the presentation in council's various groups. A Council member suggested more slides that provide information about programs that continuously get delayed and pushed aside. Over time there has been a loss of Movies in the park, Concerts in the park, and an eroding of things that people love. These are marginal amenities, street maintenance is not marginal. We need to give prominence to these issues. Staff suggested a Press release to emphasize that we cannot avoid recession, the impact on services in Louisville, and that Council needs to have sessions with the public to inform them about this situation. We need to engage citizens in the decision making. The presentation plan is a series of meetings to invite the pubic on how decide, what options they prefer, and details. A combination of polling, (questions well written), press releases, and inviting the media should be implemented. Staff and Council need to figure out some way to increase interest, and tweak the presentation. Staff emphasized an important point here is the distinction in funds, and revenue sources. If people favor tax for capital projects, we cannot keep using a different fund. Staff will be contacting Council members to attend and participate in the pubic education program. Adjourn 9:35 p.m. Submitted by Date