Gene Wieneke

Sunday, February 08, 2009

2008 in Review-The Positive

After one year as a member of the Northglenn City Council, I would like to summarize a few actions taken by Council that I feel are a positive change from the culture that has existed since 2001. With the addition of Ervin Baker and me, the three existing members who frequently called for change now had a majority on some key issues.

In January we reduced the City Manager’s unilateral spending authority in half and prohibited the hiring of a new Deputy Manager. The latter decision saved the city $138,000 per year and the first required the Manager to obtain Council approval for expenditures over $25,000.

A couple months later the Council shook up the staff when some members read and questioned the staff’s recommendation to rehabilitate the shoreline of Webster Lake. Staff had received a sealed bid in the amount of $47,558 in early December but recommended awarding the low bidder a contract for $183,943 for a greatly enlarged project.

When I and others questioned the staff’s recommendation on new financial software purchase, a very public debate incurred in the press and blogs. We were successful in obtaining new bids. Staff got their vendor and Council’s actions saved over $300,000.

As the two examples demonstrate, staff is now aware that some members of the Council are reading and evaluating their recommendations or as otherwise stated; fulfilling their responsibility to the residents. Some members of staff have embraced the new scrutiny and some have voluntarily left. The quality of the recommendations and the thoroughness of review have made for better governance.

In the second quarter of the year the Council conducted a two day retreat that resulted in the subsequent adoption of a Code of Conduct and Protocols for our relationship with each other and with the staff. I think the two most important and successful norms have been to not question each other’s motives and to debate, decide and move on.

On August 28th we unanimously finalized an ordinance that took back a delegation of authority that should never have been approved years earlier. The Council is once again in control of employee wages and all benefits. The question for tomorrow is whether we will use it or defer to staff’s recommendations. Salary surveys and wage increases have occurred each and every year while the City’s ability to pay without adversely impacting projects and services has yet to be considered.

We were also dealt a few lemons that the Council and staff addressed in a positive manner.

The 2007 Council adopted a budget for 08 that intentionally over spent the general fund in the amount of $5.9 million. In addition, (1) The finance staff forgot to account for the sales tax incentive payments previously committed that enticed three major retailers to the city. (2) The finance staff over estimated 08 sales tax revenues. (3) The finance staff did not adjust the starting balance in the 2008 general fund to match the audited yearend balance from 2007. The three errors by the former Finance Director and Manager amounted to an additional deficit of $2.0 million.

On the positive side, when Acting Manager Allen learned of the shortage he took immediate action with the concurrence of Council to cut 08 expenses successfully. With his and then Acting Manager Hayes’s help Council was then able to draft and approve a 2009 temporary budget that only over spends the general fund in the amount of $876,649. Even with this deficit we will remain above our self-imposed minimum of a 25% fund balance. The third error was not known January 29th and will be addressed, along with the recession during February and early March.

On October 23rd Mayor Novak and I sponsored a resolution recognizing the uncertainty of the economy and its potential impact on the City. With the recession at hand, the majority of Council members knew the budget we would be approving would require substantial modification in early 2009. In the resolution the employee pay plan and individual pay steps were frozen. Additionally, all hiring was frozen pending Council exceptions for budgeted positions and Council agreed to revisit the soon to be adopted budget during the first quarter of 2009.

We will be addressing the third error of $646,800 in the immediate future. A truly balanced general fund is only $1,523,449 away assuming the recession does not deepen and revenue projections hold. The Council and City Manager Simmons are poised and determined to make 2009 a successful year. Meanwhile, next week I’ll look back on the negative side of 2008.

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