City Council Minutes 2017 12 18 SP

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City Council Meeting Minutes December 18, 2017 Page 3 of 7 Mayor Pro Tem Lipton stated a major goal is are we meeting EPA rules. Council doesn't worry how we get there with the tiny details, but should know we are meeting the goal He added that sometimes there seems to be a disconnect between the kinds of financial information each committee is getting from staff The information should be consolidated and consistent for both committees Councilmember Maloney stated he would like items to go through the committees before they come to Council, noting specifically a recent large capital request We should not be having a conversation at the Council meeting without both committees understanding the financial impacts Mayor Pro Tem Lipton stated the committees need to know how projects affect rates and whether or not some projects could be deferred. Council should not get a large request for capital projects without any backup information Councilmember Stolzmann would have liked to discuss that capital request in relation to the City's projects as a whole, not just how it affects water projects We should not discuss each project in a vacuum. Councilmember Maloney would like fees adopted as part of the budget discussion, not completed six weeks later Councilmember Keany asked if the rate increase was built into the budget. Director Watson stated it was for utility rates Director Kowar stated it can seem disconnected sometimes, staffs challenge is that sometime things have to get split up simply due to workload Councilmember Stolzmann stated Council needs to set policies before the budget approval and have a logical order to the budget process. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton noted perhaps the utility program may not lend itself well to the biennial budgeting. Mayor Muckle asked if the Utility Committee should look at financial statements. Councilmember Stolzmann suggested getting rid of the Utility Committee and having the Finance Committee do everything Mayor Pro Tem Lipton stated much of what the Utility Committee does is not policy driven and perhaps not a good use of Council time. Maybe there are duties of the Utility Committee that should be changed. Councilmember Keany noted there are plenty of capital improvements for golf or police for example, that are note reviewed by any Council Committee. Why not do the same thing for the utility items.