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Council backs exploring staffing additions and repurposing trail gap fund; favors wayfinding signage over a digital welcome sign
Summary
Staff proposed new positions (GIS capacity, public works, park & rec and administrative support) and recommended renaming the trail gap fund to a park & trail improvement fund; council asked staff to restore one FTE to the preliminary budget, prioritize wayfinding ($75,000) and defer a $100,000 digital welcome sign until post-construction.
Staff told the council that the preliminary budget does not assume new positions but identified areas of growing workload: GIS support, public works supervisory/technical needs, parks and recreation management, and administrative capacity.
On GIS, Pollock said the city currently receives roughly 32 hours of county-provided GIS service per month and that the county's GIS staff is leaving, creating uncertainty about the shared service model. "We're barely keeping up" on GIS workload, staff said; options under consideration include contracting, partnering with other cities, or hiring in-house depending on county decisions and cost-effectiveness.
Staff outlined the public-works and parks workload growth tied to more lane miles, parks, trails and facilities. The full set of staffing requests (three and a half full-time equivalents as presented) was estimated to add roughly 2.56% to the levy if all positions were approved; council signaled preliminary consensus to restore one previously-removed FTE (related to parks and recreation) to the preliminary budget while directing staff to return with more analysis for the other positions.
On parks and trails, staff recommended repurposing the trail gap fund into a park and trail improvement fund to allow the city to save transfers for larger rehabilitation projects while preserving developer park-dedication fees for acquisition and development. The trail gap fund balance was reported to be about $230,000 at year-end projection, part of which staff expects to apply to planned trail projects.
Regarding downtown branding and wayfinding, staff presented two initiatives: downtown wayfinding and banners (approximate cost $75,000) and a digital welcome sign (approximate cost $100,000). Council members generally favored prioritizing wayfinding now and deferring the digital welcome sign until after Highway 5 reconstruction, and staff said they would include $75,000 for wayfinding in the preliminary budget.
Next steps: staff will return with department-level budget presentations in July, updated fee proposals in August, and more detailed staffing analyses and GIS options before the max-levy discussion.
