What’s the most important issue facing the...

What’s the most important issue facing the city?

It’s both the short-term and long-term budget issue. Short-term in

the sense that we need to try to continue delivering expected

programs and services while dealing with both the state stealing our

revenue and the affect of the economy on our largest revenue source,

sales tax. In the long term, it’s developing strategies to fund

already approved or needed services such as street repair, the

Fairview Park master plan, the parks and recreation plans to rehab

aging facilities, the police facility annex, utility undergrounding,

library needs and additional open space.

What do you think of the city’s joint-use agreement with the

schools for use of playing fields?

It’s a good thing. We should keep it and fix it. It would help if

all interested parties read it and got a better understanding of the

city’s responsibilities vis-a-vis the school district. It’s available

on the city’s website. For example, the schools have first priority

on usage. The city uses our scheduling system to allocate use, not

determine use, according to terms and times set by and agreed to by

the district. With regard to field maintenance, the city just “mows

and blows.” The district has responsibility for turf issues such as

irrigation, pot holes, erosion, etc.

Agreement benefits are reflected in numbers from last year’s

usage: 69,000 hours were scheduled. That’s more than 1,300 hours a

week over which users would be “fighting” without something like the

provisions of the agreement. Seventy-seven percent of those hours

were for school and “group 1” users such as Little League and AYSO.

The other 23% was for adult use, fees that pay the city’s cost of

mowing.

Things to study and correct include:

* Looking at “playability” standards so that fields are not

indiscriminately shut down when only a few are really unplayable

along with what to do and how to pay for field renovation. A special

committee is going to look at these issues, I understand.

* Dropping the fees for youth-group users who don’t meet Group 1

criteria. Kids are still kids, and the priority system should be

modified to fit the in fairly

* Re-look at high school team usage -- consider blocking out

seasons such as baseball -- to take the pressure off coaches, and

don’t kick coaches off fields for trying to maintain them!

* Fix the field-ambassador problem. They have too little

experience and too few skills to deal with the conflict resolution

issues they’re thrown into.

What would be the most effective way to improve the Westside?

Do the environmental assessment that will support the “bluffs”

overlay zone change to medium-density residential from its current

low-density designation.

Consider the possible expansion of the overlay territory as an

option to be pursued later after evaluating lessons learned from the

initial overlay development results.

Rely on private sector proposals to activate the overlay.

Incorporate the West 19th Street territory into the existing

redevelopment area.

Adopt a plan for the area to guide redevelopment.

Adopt an eminent domain policy that is limited to ensuring

necessary lot combinations at fair market prices.

Rely on private sector redevelopment to fund property acquisition,

not tax-increment revenue.

Review and make decisions regarding all recommendations of the

Westside Revitalization Oversight Committee and hold town-hall

meetings to accomplish this.

Are city leaders doing a good job handling the budget and

pressures on it from the state?

I would give us a B-. We are virtually at the mercy of the state,

and until we get a fiscally responsible majority, we will always be

threatened. The alternative to balancing the budget with fund balance

is to increase revenue or decrease expenditures, or both. An

improving economy and booming real estate prices hold the promise of

increased sales- and property-tax revenue. The city cannot raise

taxes or fees; only the voters can. If we need to go to the voters,

we need to do the outreach, which includes exhausting budget cuts, to

gain voter concurrence. The first available option would be the

transient-occupancy tax.

With regard to expenditures, the council looked at about two dozen

programs and found little agreement on cuts.