HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Min 2021-05-13 (Budget Workshop)Seal Beach, California
May 13, 2021
The City Council met in a Special City Council Budget Workshop at 5:30 p.m. via
teleconference.
ROLL CALL
Present: Mayor Kalmick
Council Members: Varipapa, Moore, Sustarsic, Massa-Lavitt
Absent: None
City Staff: Jill R. Ingram, City Manager
Patrick Gallegos, Assistant City Manager
Chief Philip Gonshak, Seal Beach Police Department
Chief Joe Bailey, Marine Safety Department
Steve Myrter, P.E., Director of Public Works
Les Johnson, Director of Community Development
Kelly Telford, Director of Finance/City Treasurer
Gloria D. Harper, City Clerk
Chief Ron Roberts, Orange County Fire Authority
Alayna Hoang, Finance Manager
Louis Li, Accountant
Dana Engstrom, Deputy City Clerk
Captain Mike Ezroj, Seal Beach Police Department
Captain Michael Henderson, Seal Beach Police Department
Lieutenant Julia Clasby, Seal Beach Police Department
Lieutenant Nick Nicholas, Seal Beach Police Department
City Clerk Harper announced that four (4) Supplemental Communications were
received; they were distributed to the City Council; and, made available to the public on
the City's website.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Mayor Kalmick opened public comments. City Clerk Harper announced that no emailed
comments were received.
CITY MANAGER REPORT
City Manager Ingram reminded the Council that at the Strategic Plan meeting in March,
Director of Finance Telford reviewed the City's overall fiscal health and discussed the
Council reserve policy, the City's five-year financial forecast that will be presented at the
May 25th CIP budget meeting, and key factors affecting the City's budget. She noted
she discussed several changes that were made to the City's budget process for FY
2021-2022 to provide for greater community participation as well as additional
enhancements to the City's budget document, including a new community survey, the
results which will be highlighted at the May 25th budget meeting, and a new community
budget town hall meeting which will be held on Tuesday, June 1St, a new budget
webpage that includes an email for community members to submit questions and
comments related to the proposed budget, and additional departmental performance
indicators in the budget document.
She indicated that last year at this time, she talked about the devastating and
overwhelming impacts of the Stay at Home orders and economic shutdown, resulting in
the City's need to reprioritize goals, objectives, and priorities. As a result, the City
ended FY 2019-2020 with a significant budget surplus. Last year City Manager Ingram
noted she directed her team to present departmental budgets that preserved and
maintained an excellent level of service to the community and also maintained and
preserved staffing levels to provide those services. Each department head responded
to that directive by making deep expenditure reductions in order to present Council a
balanced budget for the current year, without the use of reserves, during an ongoing
pandemic. So FY 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 have been years where the City had to
pull back significantly.
City Manager Ingram indicated the City's goal now is to come out of COVID not the
same as we were before, but even better. The focus of the proposed FY 2021-2022
budget is to identify what a post-COVID-19 environment would look like with each
department taking a solution -oriented approach that would not only restore services as
the City moves towards reopening, but to also allow the City to take strides to move
forward.
Staff is very encouraged to present Council with the draft FY 2021-2022 operating
budget that is balanced using available fund balance from last year's budget surplus as
a result of all of those deep expenditure reductions in FY 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.
The draft FY 2021-2022 operating budget is comprehensive, and solution driven, and as
promised, includes funding general fund CIP projects for the first time out of projected
revenue estimates without the use of general fund reserves. That's a significant
accomplishment that should not go unnoticed. This budget also includes re -budgeting
for things that we were hoping to do before the pandemic, but also includes new
solutions to challenges that departments or the community have experienced.
This year's proposed operating budget also includes funding to address operational
needs that were deferred as a result of COVID, including building and park
maintenance, funding the Technology Replacement Reserve Fund for the very first
time, as well as budgeting for the City's ongoing water and sewer utility costs. As the
City prepares to reopen next month and begin moving towards a new normal, staff
wants the Council and the community to know that we are focused on all-around
enhancements to customer service and our programs and services, as well as the
completion of many of the projects that we were forced to place on hold now for quite
some time, and this proposed budget will enable staff to do just that.
City Manager Ingram acknowledged the executive team members present on the Zoom:
Assistant City Manager Patrick Gallegos
City Clerk Gloria Harper
Community Development Director Les Johnson
Director of Finance Kelly Telford
Marine Safety Chief Joe Bailey
Police Chief Phil Gonshak
Public Works Director Steve Myrter
OCFA Division Chief Ron Roberts
As well as members of Chief Gonshak's command staff:
Captain Mike Ezroj
Captain Michael Henderson
Lieutenant Julia Clasby
Lieutenant Nick Nicholas
Director of Finance Telford's budget support staff:
Finance Manager Alayna Hoang
Accountant Louis Li
She thanked and commended the executive team and their awesome support staff for
working countless hours together for the benefit of our community, during this ongoing
unprecedented time and throughout the budget development process.
City Manager Ingram thanked the Council for their commitment of time, guidance,
patience, and especially their unwavering support over the past year during this
process. Before she turned the presentation over to the Director of Finance/City
Treasure Telford, she thanked and commended the Finance Budget Team who guided
staff and Council throughout this entire process and ensured that staff implemented the
vision of the Council to enhance the overall budget development process and budget
document:
Finance Director Kelly Telford
Finance Manager Alayna Hoang
Accountant Louis Li
BUDGET WORKSHOP
Director of Finance Telford briefly summarized the Proposed Fiscal Year 2021-2022
Operating Budget.
Director of Finance Telford thanked the Finance Department staff for their dedication,
patience, and time as they navigated the unique budget challenges this year. She
thanked all departments and the Executive Management Team for working diligently to
help balance the Proposed Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Budget. Additionally, she thanked
City Manager Ingram for her continued guidance and leadership during the budget
process. Lastly, she thanked Finance Manager Alayna Hoang and Accountant Louis Li
for their dedication to the budget development process.
Community Development Director Johnson provided a brief summary of the Community
Development Department's supplemental budget recommendations.
Director of Public Works Myrter provided a brief summary of the Public Works
Department's supplemental budget recommendations.
Police Chief Gonshak also provided a brief summary of the Police Department's
supplemental budget recommendations.
Director of Finance/City Treasurer Telford concluded the presentation and turned the
meeting over to Mayor Kalmick to allow for Council Member questions and comments.
Council Members asked questions, offered comments, discussed and received
clarification about the draft budget presentation, and thanked staff for their hard work in
putting the budget together.
ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Kalmick adjourned the meeting at 7:32 p.m. to Monday, May 24, 2021 at 5:30 pm
to meet in closed session if deemed necessary.
Approved:
Attested:
D. FWper, City Clerk
City of Seal Beach