The council will meet at 5:45 p.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive, for a closed session. The open portion of the meeting will begin at 6 p.m., and will be televised live by TV Channel 8.
The main item on the agenda is the city's 2009-10 budget, which was held over from the last meeting so the council could look at different ways to save money rather than cutting positions.
City Administrator Dale Neiman goes over several scenarios in a report to the council, including a 1-percent decrease in all salaries that would save $32,663 each month.
Councilman Curt Giambruno also made a number of proposals, including reclassifying some positions, but Neiman analyzed them and essentially concluded they would not save the city money.
Neiman is suggesting the city take over animal control services and cease its contract with the county, which currently amounts to $100,720 annually. He said the city may not realize that amount of savings due to the need to purchase equipment, find a facility to house animals and train staff.
In his report, Neiman presents a package of cuts. “Some of the proposals involve difficult decisions on personnel while others involve organizational changes to reduce costs and to become more efficient. In our recommendations below our goal was to have as few impacts on the services the City provides to its residents as possible.”
In addition to taking over animal control, Neiman proposes to eliminate the building inspector II position to save $59,730 and reorganize code enforcement – which would eliminate the two code enforcement officers – at a savings of $128,000. Those code enforcement services then would be taken over by Clearlake Police.
In addition, he proposes the following cuts: eliminating the police department's executive secretary position – $70,500; cutting the parks maintenance position 1 position – $40,000; freeze a dispatch position – $45,910; freeze a vacant sergeant position – $108,270; senior center reorganization – $5,500; and modify the police take home car policy – $48,000. A suggested claim settlement would cost the city $38,500.
Total savings to be realized if the council follows the plan is $568,180.
If the council goes forward with the proposed budget, Neiman said the layoff process would take two to four weeks.
Neiman's report noted that he has not had response from the city's labor unions on whether or not they would be willing to reduce salaries to save positions. “If they decide to reduce their salaries, the layoff process would be suspended and the Budget amended to reflect any agreement,” he noted in his report.
The budget, as it's currently laid out, assumes that the state budget won't financially impact the city. Neiman said when the state does take money from the city or increase its fees, the budget will need to be amended.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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