Small group meetings will precede larger town meetings on
city
’s financial problems
Morgan Hill city officials will take the initial steps toward hosting town meetings regarding the city’s financial problems next week.
As a precursor to the larger meetings the city is calling “conversations with the community,” a small group of local residents will meet with officials and a consultant to discuss the structural budget deficit forcing the city to dip into its reserve account to balance the budget. Last fiscal year, the city was $1.3 million in the red and deficit spending is anticipated for several more years unless further cuts are made or the city finds new ways to generate more revenue.
“We have a structural deficit, our expenses are exceeding our income and the vast majority (of expenses) are for public safety and fire, some recreation and administration. We’d like to ask the public what they are willing to support and if we have to cut, what services to cut,” explained Mayor Dennis Kennedy.
City officials have said they also will use the meetings to determine if residents support a local sales tax increase.
According to the city’s Sept. 30 financial report, general fund reserves are currently at $7.2 million.
“You don’t use reserves to fund ongoing operations. You use them for emergencies and to fund one-time projects,” City Councilman Mark Grzan said.
As a preliminary step to the community-wide conversations, Finance Director Jack Dilles said this week, city officials will meet with a group of about 20 residents to start a dialogue, which will be videotaped. The dialogue will provide residents the opportunity to give city officials their input and it will also give the city a good indicator of how to facilitate future meetings.
“It will be sort of an experiment,” said Dilles.
Dilles said the group is composed of residents who signed a volunteer list during the Taste of Morgan Hill. A flyer was also sent out during a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, seeking volunteers to attend these preliminary meetings. Another meeting with a second small group of volunteer residents will be held in December.
“We’ll start with these community members to get the ball rolling,” said Dilles.
In the meantime, Dilles said the city is currently preparing a list of groups in an attempt to reach a cross-section of the community. The list is long and varied and includes sports groups, PTAs, church groups, and neighborhoods, like homeowners’ associations.
Representatives from Viewpoint Learning, Inc. will also begin training city staff in December and January so that they will be ready to facilitate the community conversations, which are scheduled to be in full swing by mid-January, said Dilles.
Viewpoint Learning, Inc., is a consultant group hired by the city to provide city officials with the tools and training to inform the public about issues facing the city and to engage citizens in meaningful discussions. The firm is experienced in managing community conversations. The city will pay $74,500 for their services.
“In these first meetings we want to make sure the process really works and information is presented clearly,” said Heidi Gantwek, consultant for Viewpoint Learning, Inc.
The goal of the community conversations is to receive community input, she said.
“The idea is city leaders have to make decisions and would like to engage the public in making those hard choices,” Gantwek continued. “Morgan Hill is at the point where officials have to make serious decisions real soon regarding services the public wants for their community. City officials want to engage the public in these decisions, about what they want for their community, for the future of their children. They hope these meetings will provoke thoughtful public input.”
Gantwek said once underway, she expects the community meetings to take about two and a half hours of a resident’s time.
“It won’t take much time out of a person’s day, but the time spent is important because the community will have to look at what’s at stake. It will mean trade-offs, residents will have to take a look at values and help city officials come up with hard solutions based on what people want.”
She said she hopes organizations and clubs will come forward and be part of the process.
Members of the City Council are stressing the importance of public participation and dialogue at the meetings.
“The budget crisis is not apparent to the public right now,” said City Councilman Steve Tate, who also serves as mayor pro tempore. “We’d like to know what the public wants in terms of services. In anything we do, we’d like to be in step with the public.”
Rose Meily covers City Hall for the MorganHill Times.
