Mesa City Council Study Session Mon 03 April 2017

Any citizen wishing to speak on an agenda item should complete and turn in a blue card to the City Clerk before that item is presented.
BLOGGER'S NOTE: This is A BIG AGENDA for a study session and it is complicated.
If you have any concerns or questions about items on this study session agenda please do not hesitate to speak up and ask questions ...some items are extracted for interest.

Mayor John Giles
Vice Mayor David Luna - District 5
Councilmember Mark Freeman - District 1
Councilmember Jeremy Whittaker - District 2
Councilmember Ryan Winkle - District 3
Councilmember Chris Glover - District 4
Councilmember Kevin Thompson - District 6

Meeting Agenda - Final
5:00 pm Lower Council Chambers

Roll Call (Members of the Mesa City Council will attend either in person or by telephone conference call)

1 Review items on the agenda for the April 3, 2017 regular Council meeting
THIS IS A 6-PAGE AGENDA
You can find it here http://mesa.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx
INCLUDING THE SALE OF OVER $170 MILLION PRINCIPAL AMOUNTS OF 2017 MESA GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS AND MESA UTILITIES SYSTEMS REVENUE BONDS

2 Presentations/Action Items:

   2a 17-0283

   Hear a presentation and discuss the Fiscal Year 2017/18 Summary of Proposed Budget

   Link > http://mesa.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?m=l&id=/matter.aspx?key=10411

   2b 17-0365 Appointment to the Fire Department Pension Board

   Link > http://mesa.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?m=l&id=/matter.aspx?key=10493

3 Acknowledge receipt of minutes of various boards and committees.
   3a 17-0383 Library Advisory Board meeting held on January 17, 2017
   Link >  http://mesa.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?m=l&id=/matter.aspx?key=10511

   3b 17-0370 Transportation Advisory Board Meeting held on December 20, 2016
   Link > http://mesa.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?m=l&id=/matter.aspx?key=10498 

   3c 17-0387 Judicial Advisory Board meeting held on February 6, 2017
   Link > http://mesa.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?m=l&id=/matter.aspx?key=10515

   3d 17-0391 Museum and Cultural Advisory Board meeting held on January 26, 2017
   Link > http://mesa.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?m=l&id=/matter.aspx?key=10519

4 Hear reports on meetings and/or conferences attended

5 Scheduling of meetings and general information

6 Adjournment.

____________________________________________________________

 



ITEM 2a has three different parts
1. Proposed Budget Overview for Fiscal Year 2017/18 Presented by the Office of Management and Budget April 3, 2017 24 pages
Currently, a gap exists between the expected annual expenses and the forecasted available resources. Increased expenditure pressure from pension, healthcare, and the minimum wage increase has widened this gap
FY16/17 Updated Forecast shows Projected  - ( 2.8 million)
FY17/18 Updated Forecast shows Estimated - (17.8 million
2. Fiscal Year 2017/18 Summary of Proposed Budget 24 pages
3. FY17/18 Proposed Budget Forecast Summary



City Council Report A 24-page document
Date: April 3, 2017
To: City Council  Through: Michael Kennington, Chief Financial Officer
From: Candace Cannistraro, Management and Budget Director
Subject: Fiscal Year 2017/18 Summary of Proposed Budget

Overview of Proposed Budget
In February, the Council received an update on the financial status of the City and an overview of the forecast process.  At that time, available resources were projected for FY16/17 and forecasted for FY17/18 and beyond.  The cost of the current level of service was also projected for FY16/17 and forecasted for FY17/18 and beyond. 
The City currently has a gap between the level of on-going revenues and the level of on-going expenses.  The result is reliance on reserve balances and savings experienced during the year.  In FY15/16 expenditure reductions were made to narrow the funding gap.  Recent changes in the City’s contribution to the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) have widened the funding gap.
Executive staff has met with each department to discuss and discern operational successes and concerns and to determine priorities for the upcoming fiscal year.  The City has set a goal to align on-going expenses with on-going revenues to ensure that quality services and programs can be continued in the future.  The FY16/17 budget was set without specific department reductions.  Departments were asked to operate with targeted savings of 2%.  This allowed for flexibility over the year to take advantage of operational savings opportunities rather than specifying reductions up front.  The projected widened funding gap for FY17/18 requires City action to ensure sustainability of services.
The FY17/18 proposed budget continues the City’s commitment to providing quality services to residents in a fiscally responsible manner.  City senior staff and department staff have formulated a plan that will reduce the FY17/18 projected gap by about 50%. Effort was made to maximize the financial impact while minimizing the service impact. The proposed budget modifies both the projected expenditures and revenues from the original forecast.
FY17/18 Summary of Proposed Budget  Page 2     
The City of Mesa is a service organization and strives for service excellence.  About 73% of the General Governmental fund expenses are related to the cost of personnel who provide the services.  Public safety services are the largest component.  The proposed budget uses four methods of cost containment/reduction related to personnel. 
• Cost containment/limiting step pay expenses • Cost minimization through civilianization of positions • Protection of core services through repurposing of positions • Elimination of positions 
Limiting Step Pay Increases: Pay ranges for positions operate with minimum and maximum amounts.  Movement through the pay range (step pay) is reviewed on an annual basis during an employee’s performance review.  Successful performance is required for an employee to be eligible for increased pay, but the increase is dependent on funding availability.  Each year, as part of the budget process, citywide funding availability is determined.  During the recession, funds were not available and step pay increases were not authorized.  Since FY12/13, the authorized step pay amount has been 5% and was the amount included in the forecast.  The proposed budget includes a step pay amount of 3%.  This budget adjustment is estimated to reduce the expenses in the General Governmental Funds by $2.4M and equates to the fully loaded costs of about 23 full-time positions. 
Cost Minimization: The costs associated with sworn personnel continues to rise each year.  The public safety departments have identified positions currently filled with sworn personnel whose duties could be performed by civilian personnel.  Sixteen positions have been identified: 15 in the Police Department and 1 in the Fire and Medical Department.  Civilian positions will be added and the sworn positions will be removed.  The savings from these position conversions is about $1.0M. 
The sworn employees currently performing these duties will be reassigned to other budgeted positions.  The full absorption into existing vacancies may take up to a year.  One-year temporary funds are included in the FY17/18 budget to cover some of these employees until they can be placed into a different position. 
Repurposing Existing Staff:  As funding continues to be limited, existing resources are evaluated and repurposed occasionally to maintain the City’s core services.  The Fire and Medical Department has identified six sworn personnel that will be repurposed from support duties to first responder duties.  This will allow for better coverage of minimum staffing and decrease the need to call in sworn personnel on overtime.  The support duties currently being performed will be absorbed by other positions or will be done on an asneeded basis. 
Elimination of Positions:  Seventeen positions have been identified for reduction in FY17/18.  One position is part-time so the full-time equivalent (FTE) amount is 16.5.  Four positions (3.5 FTEs) are located in the Information Technology Department, one is in the Business Services Department and 12 are in the Police Department.  Six of the police
FY17/18 Summary of Proposed Budget  Page 3     
positions are sworn personnel and six are civilian.  All the civilian positions in the three departments are vacant.  Four of the sworn positions are filled, however the employees will be reassigned to existing sworn positions when vacancies occur.  

Overview of Proposed Budget
General Government Operating Budget
Restricted Funds Highlights
   Transportation Related Funds.
   Trust Funds Employee Benefit Trust Fund.  From FY13/14 - FY16/17 $58.3 > 77M
City-wide Adjustments Impacting Budget
Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Highlights
Secondary Property Tax
Lifecycle Replacement Program
Department Highlights

Progressive/Conservative Who? What? Red/Blue

shit·storm

ˈSHitˌstôrm/

noun

vulgar slang

noun: shit-storm

a situation marked by violent controversy

Source: The Atlantic March 2017 Issue 


. . .  if liberal advocates are clinging to the hope that federalism will allow them to create progressive havens, they’re overlooking a big problem: Power may be decentralized in the American system, but it devolves to the state, not the city.
Recent events in red states where cities are pockets of liberalism are instructive, and cautionary. Over the past few years, city governments and state legislatures have fought each other in a series of battles involving preemption, the principle that state law trumps local regulation, just as federal law supersedes state law. It hasn’t gone well for the city dwellers.
Alabama and Arizona both passed bills targeting “sanctuary cities”—those that do not cooperate with the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
Even though courts threw out much of that legislation, other states have considered their own versions. Arizona also made sure cities couldn’t ban the gifts in Happy Meals (cities elsewhere had talked about outlawing them, on the theory that they lure kids to McDonald’s), and when some of its cities cracked down on puppy mills, it barred local regulation of pet breeders, too.

Close observers of these clashes expect them to proliferate in the years to come, with similar results. " . . . We are about to see a shit storm of state and federal preemption orders, of a magnitude greater than anything in history,” says Mark Pertschuk of Grassroots Change, ..By the group’s count, at least 36 states introduced laws preempting cities in 2016."
Most of these laws enforce conservative policy preferences.
That’s partly because Republicans enjoy unprecedented control in state capitals—they hold 33 governorships and majorities in 32 state legislatures.
The trend also reflects a broader shift: Americans are in the midst of what’s been called “the Big Sort,” as they flock together with people who share similar socioeconomic profiles and politics. In general, that means rural areas are becoming more conservative, and cities more liberal.
 An important lesson of last year’s presidential election is that American political norms are much weaker than they had appeared, allowing a scandal-plagued, unpopular candidate to triumph—in part because voters outside of cities objected to the pace of cultural change.
Another lesson is that the United States is coming to resemble two separate countries, one rural and one urban.
Only one of them, at present, appears entitled to self-determination.

 

 
 

AFDJ* : Above-Market-Rate Condo Conversion On Main Street/Center

After a backflash by voters in Mesa against the high-cost of city government, both Jeff McVay, the Director of Downtown Transformation, and Bill Jabjiniak, head honcho of the Office for Economic Development, recommended putting City Hall Plaza out for bids to real estate developers to bring in much needed revenues in the faltering FY2017/2018 City Budget.
As Mesa Mayor John Giles likes to say: It's all about location.
Experts in real estate principles have likewise for a long time insisted that markets are guided by the principle of 'highest-and-best use', agreeing that city government office-space can get re-located quickly into other un-used city-owned properties close by and that  this piece of prime city-owned is the most attractive and well-positioned to attract and accelerate private investments in the New Urban Downtown Mesa.
This prime location at the intersection of Main Street and Center Street is in the heart of Mesa's Arts-and-Entertainment district anchored by the International Design award-winning Mesa Arts Center directly across Main Street with a Valley Metro Light Rail platform station just steps away.

* April Fool's Day Joke

Ducey Now The Darling of Old-Guard AZ Goldwater Conservatives

The life of the Grand Old Party
30 March 2017
Going rogue again with John Talton
Source: Rogue Columnist
At least a quarter century past his sell-by date as a credible columnist, George Will is still churning it out for the Washington Post syndicate.
Recently, he looked down from his unchanging tower and pronounced that the savior for conservatism is...Doug Ducey.


With the Republicans facing at least a temporary but stunning Waterloo in their attempt to take health insurance from 24 million Americans, Will sought a quantum of solace in Goldwater country. He wrote, "Today’s governor, Doug Ducey, is demonstrating the continuing pertinence of the limited-government conservatism with which Sen. Goldwater shaped the modern GOP, after himself being shaped by life in the leave-me-alone spirit of the wide open spaces of near-frontier Arizona."
The column is worth reading if for no other reason than the skill with which Will elides over the facts.
Here are a few:
• Arizona is hardly a creation of "the leave-me-alone spirit of the wide open spaces." First was instead, it required the U.S. Army to brutally pacify the Apache, Yavapai, and other Indian tribes.
Second was federal land grants for railroads.
Third was billions of dollars in federal reclamation to turn the Salt River Valley into American Eden and then a place where millions could live in subdivision pods thanks to cheap water and power.
Fourth was the New Deal funding that saved Phoenix, especially, and Arizona more broadly from the Great Depression.
Fifth was the Cold War military spending that created the tech economy in Phoenix and Tucson.
And don't forget federal flood-control money that allowed developers to lay down tract houses in what would otherwise be flood plains.
Oh, and federal home-loan support and the GI Bill, authored by Arizona's Ernest McFarland, were essential for further subsidizing the state's massive post-World War II population influx. 

• Goldwater.

Will never mentions how Barry opposed the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. Barry gets a pass as a simple offspring of the frontier.

In fact, he inherited a department store chain.

He was a rich man, handsome and glamorous, who ran with a fast crowd, including mobsters. He was a prominent attendee at the funeral of Gus Greenbaum, after the latter was whacked by the Chicago Outfit.

Most of Goldwater's time as a senator was spent representing a rapidly urbanizing state. All along the way, he had his hand out, from federal funds to preserve Camelback Mountain to the massive public expenditures necessary for the Central Arizona Project. Barry would be horrified by today's Kookocracy and Donald Trump in the White House, but he let this nihilistic monster loose on America.

• Ducey.

Will roasts the governor's chestnut that "he cheekily calls California’s Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown 'my partner in growing Arizona’s economy,' because California’s business climate is a powerful incentive for firms to relocate in Arizona."

In fact, California's economy is among the strongest in the nation, the home to Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego (see, for example, this).

Arizona is a back-office backwater that underperforms by virtually every measure of economic and social health (see Arizona's Continuing Crisis), especially given its size. This is the consequence of conservatism applied to a state.

• Doug Ducey has helped ensure that Arizona has one of the nation's worst school systems, having difficulty attracting teachers while the Kooks get rich off the charter school racket.
• They also enrich themselves off the private-prison racket.
• He had his hand out for Obamacare, hardly the "conservatism" Will has in mind.
• On the other hand, his presiding over the cruelest public assistance program in the nation has done nothing to help Arizona's large population of working poor "bootstrap themselves" into north Scottsdale affluence.

Meanwhile, climate change is bearing down in the state with catastrophic consequences — and Ducey is doing nothing.

Last year, Will famously left the Republican Party over the Short-Fingered Vulgarian. Few followed him. As Jonathan Chait wrote in New York magazine:

The point is not at all to gloat at the failure of anti-Trump conservatives, but to explain the source of their error. You can’t heal an illness you’ve diagnosed improperly. Anti-Trump conservatives deluded themselves about the source of conservatism’s electoral appeal. Trump’s long list of deviations from party orthodoxy — on health care, abortion, support for the Clintons — would have destroyed a normal candidacy, the way Rick Perry’s support for humane treatment of undocumented immigrants killed his candidacy in 2012.

Why did Republican primary voters forgive Trump’s heresies? Because the power of the charge of un-conservative behavior is the implication that you are not really on our side. Trump proved to the party base he was one of them through his racism, sexism, and blunt nationalism.

Now Will, a snappy dresser at least, is casting about for the True Faith in its birthplace.

The trouble is, the reality of Goldwater conservatism has ruined Arizona. It's a wreck, a model for nobody.

 

FoGetAbowtIt? New Word in Media Lexicon FAUXGRESSIVE > r u 1?

A new Quarterly [thank you Nolan Gray] and a diatribe word-dump
From Counterpunch
Someone once wrote that he cannot stand to tune in the TV news because he always gets the feeling that someone is lying to him. But there are lies of commission and lies of omission—and the latter have even graver implications for the future of our country and planet.
Faux progressives love to work up a good rhetorical lather about Trump’s mental condition, but the sedulous burial of any mention of the environmental/climate crises besieging the planet, much less their imminence and gravity—surely the most important story in the history of humanity—in favor of the standard diversionary drivel bespeaks a sociopathy among the liberal political/media elites every bit as frightening as any impairment imputed to Trump.
These elite fauxgressive opinion leaders (and their millions of followers) relish their occasional robust lap or two of sweaty sanctimony about Republican climate deniers but seem curiously oblivious to the “soft” but no less deadly denialism in force among corporate liberal Democrats: sporadic campaign speechifying and the occasional meaningless, non-binding international declaration salve the conscience of those with no more real seriousness or sense of urgency about this world-historical crisis than Steve Bannon or Rush Limbaugh, whose dismissal of the issue is at least blatant and honest; the denialism of the liberal class is submerged beneath a surface of unctuous pieties and empty token gestures that pass for “concern,” even “action,” among the sharpies of the Democratic Party elites and their brain-fogged captives in the citizenry.

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