Good Afternoon, Thank You, So Nice to See So Many Friends
State of the City Address
LincolnCity
Feb. 22, 2011
Chamber of Commerce Luncheon
Good afternoon, Thank You, so nice to see so many friends.
Thank you, Chamber of Commerce for providing this forum for me to address the citizens of LincolnCity and those in our Urban Growth Boundary who are so much a part of LincolnCity. As everyone is aware, this is my first State of the City address, thus providing me with the opportunity to shape the delivery and the content of this message. Before I begin, I would like to take this opportunity again to recognize the rest of your City Council. ( Noreikis, Ellingson, Brissette, Quandt, Eggleton)
Thank you gentlemen and a big thank you from the Citizens for your willingness to serve our community. I also recognize some City Staff. Thank you as well for what you do for us all.
Yesterday, the community celebrated the life of Councilor Ed Kuntz. He will be missed. Officer Dodds continues to make great strides with his recovery. The outpouring of support from this community was heart warmingto us all. Finally, water emergencies are never a good thing. I do believe your City Council and City Staff have met the challenge and made decisions with the best interest of the entire community in mind.
There will always be second guessing after an emergency has passed but I can tell you that I firmly believe a City without water is neither an attractive place to visit nor a comfortable place in which to live.
Typically the State of the City address looks back at the activities and accomplishments of departments of city government for the past year. I will look at what I consider to be Basic Services, Quality of Life Services and Noteworthy Events in 2010. I will attempt tohighlight. I am concerned that someone will look for hidden messages in what I say or don’t say or by my emphasis on one dept over another or leaving a dept out altogether.
There is no hidden message. The only message I wish to convey is: It takes people working together, staff and citizens, to make a city function at a high level. I believe the City of Lincoln City can function at an even higher level than we have been and I will be doing all that I can to make that happen.
A big question on everyone’s mindshould be; how is the City doing financially? These are tough economic times. The easy answer is; we are sound. Yes, we have a balanced budget. This is mandated by State law. Unfortunately it is balanced by dipping into the reserves. Fortunately we have reserves.
However the City is eating away at these reserves by out spending its revenues.You have heard me speak in the past for the need to prioritize our spending. That need still exists and budget season is approaching. A new budget will to be approved by July 1stwhich is the beginning of our new fiscal year. From the budget comes all activity performed by the city. Thus its importance.
City revenues come from 5 primary sources.
Property taxes
Transient Room Taxes (TRT)
State/County shared revenues for gas, liquor, cigarette, 911 taxes, etc
Basic fees; business licenses, building permits, etc
Franchise fees: cable, garbage service, power, natural gas, etc
Real estate property in foreclosure or for sale does not mean the City is getting less revenue from property taxes. The foreclosure process does not wipe out the obligation of taxes. What it may do is delay thepayment of owed taxes, but they will be paid. One benefit of having a reserve fund isits assistance in leveling the cash flow demands of the city.
TRT is dependent upon our guests coming to LincolnCity and spending hotel/motel time. 4th quarter revenue was up 7.5% over 2009.
What I want you to understand is that the revenue is relatively predictable and the City’s financial staff has done an excellent job in forecasting revenue.
Given my desire to begin thinking about prioritizing expenses, I have grouped departments into Categories.
First, what I think of as Basic Services:
North Lincoln Fire & Rescue is not a department of the City. However I believe it is essential to the continued growth and livability of LincolnCity. NLF&R is a separate taxing district, meaning it does not rely on City revenue. As a property owner, you pay a separate portion of your property taxes to fund this service. I asked Chief Baker if I could include his operation in my remarks and he graciously agreed. North Lincoln Fire & Rescue’s 68 “volunteer” firefighters and seven staff members work hard for Lincoln City and the surrounding area performing tasks and duties 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year…they do not take a holiday from responding.
NLF&R volunteers are dispatched to structure fires, motor vehicle accidents, water rescues, medical emergencies and numerous other calls, responding out of six station houses in the District, three of which are located in LincolnCity. NLFR had a record number of alarms last year, they responded to 1,731 alarms which is an average of 4.8 calls a day. 3.7 calls per day were medical responses. 83% of the District calls are within LincolnCity.
The majority of the NLF&R volunteers live and work in LincolnCity. They are police officers, ambulance paramedics, construction contractors, retail store owners, and your next door neighbor. These individuals make up a powerful team of lifesavers who are, at times seemingly invisible to City Hall yet they make our beaches, our homes, our businesses, our residents and our visitors safe everyday.These volunteers certainly deserve our respect and gratitude.
Police and Dispatch is another major component in creating a healthy community.Citizens expect to feel safe in their community.
Staffing and shift sequences have been adjusted to maximize officers during the busiest times of day and busiest days of the week.
Utilization of “in car” computers have enhanced andstreamlined dispatching and report writing as well as providingaccess to vital information required by officers while in the field.
There were over 1550 traffic citations written; 2/3 of them to local citizens.
Disturbingly, child abuses cases are on the rise
Thankfully the majority of ourcrimes are solved quickly
This dept also initiated a prescription drug disposal system. The deposit site is located at the police station.
These services come at a price, as do all services. Police and dispatch have a budget that is equivalent to approximately the entire amount of property tax revenue that the City receives.We will need to decide what our safety comfort level is in relationship to the expense.
I have suggested in the past that the duplication of dispatch services, 3 centers in Lincoln County, is not an efficient use of our tax dollars and that there might be a potential savings available.
Water: The City finished the multi-phased 10-year Drift Creek project. This project provides LincolnCity water users with additional water capacity that extends thegrowth opportunities of the City. Certainly we all can agree that without an adequate, quality water supply, LincolnCity would likely not exist.
As Citizens, we take for granted this basic service. We expect water when we turn on the tap, shower in the morning or flush the toilet. It does not come easily. Water leaks, pumping stations and replacing old lines are and have been an everyday occurrence for our employees in the Public Works Dept.Water lines from our string of small communities did not always consist of the same construction quality when Lincoln City was created. Maintenance is a heavy cost.
Our latest calculations reflect that we have at least a 20 year supply of water. Though we do need to do a better job in our conservation efforts as well as be looking to future sources.
The predictions around future water sources are that they cost more than we can imagine and the time required to perfect these sources is unimaginably long.
Sewer: How a community disposes its human waste, separates civilized societies from third world nations. I have to tell you that LincolnCity is top notch with its sewer facility. The final phase of our sewer plant has just completed design and going out to bid shortly. We purchased a remote TV camera to better access lines to find the source of and to anticipate problems.
With our up and down geography we are continually evaluating and servicing pumping stations. Replacements are being built with a higher degree of technology, thus reducing staff hours to service and operate. The treatment of waste is expensive.
Finance: The finance dept. is not a highly visible area for most citizens. However, it plays a major role behind the scenes. 2010 was a year of finding efficiencies and as a result, increasing productivity, which will lead to reduced costs.
Example: today there is an electronic interface where pertinent information travels from a traffic ticket being written, thru the court system, to the finance dept. This has reduced duplication of data entry, reduced error opportunities and better serves the customer.
Additionally, utility billing was another targeted area of utilizing systems to produce efficiency, error reduction and service to the customer. A push was made and continues to be made to have more accounts paid “on line”, reducing overall costs.
The work force in Finance, while taking on more, has accomplished this with fewer staff members than the previous year and with greater accuracy. I’m also expecting better management reports from this dept which will allow a “continued improvement process” for the entire City.
The next category is what I refer to as Quality of Life Services:
Library: Your library carries an incredible story from 2010.
As you may recall, the library was significantly reduced in accessibility in 2009 due to remodeling. That made 2010 a comeback year.
As most business owners know, if not accessible to the customer, they have a tendency to find an alternative source for what they need. Not the case for Driftwood Library. All measurable indicators reflect that the customers were waiting for the doors to reopen. Foot count and registered library cards up over 2008 levels, items checked out per card exceeded state average in 2010. Lincoln City Citizens and the surrounding area Citizens are definitely Library users.
Besides the measurement of items checked out, libraries are evaluated by Programs it provides and volunteers it empowers. We shine.
339 community meetings utilized this space
4922 people attended programs for children and youth
2466 people attended programs designed for adults
6,171 volunteer hours were donated, amounting to approximately 4 additional full time staff members
4235 guest passes to visitors for free access to internet were processed
The Library is BACK and providing quality services and programs to our community.
Roads: As a reminder, 2010 was the year citizens by a vote of the people overwhelmingly, overturned a decision of the City Council regarding a 3 cent gas tax. I did not take this as a statement from the Citizens that roads weren’t important or that they don’t need continual attention. I heard the loud cry of, “Not Now”; given the uncertainty of the economy and given everything else going on at the time.
As budgeted and planned, there was resurfacing done this past year on many of our city streets. Yes there are pot holes and
yes we will have an opportunity to adjust the priority of roads in a few months as we work through the budget process for the coming fiscal year.
In my opinion there was no noticeable progress made in 2010 with ODOT in regards to the Nelscott Gap Project. We are at a stalemate. However, your City Council feels this is not acceptable and is taking more aggressive action.
Parks & Recreation: The most obvious work performed was on the Head to Bay Trail.
The project was broken down into small sized jobs so that local businesses had an opportunity to bid for this work. To our joy, most of the work has been performed by local contractors. It was our own economic stimulus package that actually worked.
Keeping our public dollars local.
Other improvements, indoor batting cage at Kirtsis Ballpark, a skate park addition and some additional land purchases made to our Open Space inventory.
It should come as no surprise that this dept spends a great deal of its time and budget in caring for and maintaining our parks and public restrooms. It is important to have these facilities but it is just as important that they are maintained for the pleasure and enjoyment of our citizens and guests. A tourist dependent community needs to be known for having top notch public restroom facilities. We do have some room to improve in this area.
The Community Centeris a big part of our recreational facilities network. It remains the asset most talked about by Citizens as well as by our guests.
The total number of visitors was up significantly over 2009
The number of passes sold wasalso up
There were over 1,500 active members in 2010, down from the previous year
Afterschool and Summer Camp programs for our youth saw significant increases in participation in 2010. A much needed resource for working parents.
Our guests from outside the area continually speak of this wonderful amenity and
marvel at the reasonable cost that they are asked to pay to utilize the facility.
Still this facility does not pay all its own operating costs. Nor do I believe it can and still remain a facility that accommodates the public mission we have asked of it. We do,however, need to explore ways to reduce the tax payer subsidy. Which currently stands at about 50%.
Urban Renewal Agency: Projects are the name of the game for this organization. Public improvements continue. Urban Renewal’s touch is most often in partnership with other city depts.
CutlerCity neighborhood access trails were completed
The crosswalk was completed at N. 32nd
Sidewalks and storm water controls in the Taft area were completed
The loan program for facade improvements continues to be utilized.
Design work for several future projects was completed.
The Urban Renewal Agency’s mission was expanded in 2010 to include an element of Economic Development.
Visitor & Convention Bureau: This is a dept that produces EVENTS. Events designed to attract visitors to our area as well as to entertain guests while they are here so that they might be more inclined to return.
I would venture a guess that this dept is the most controversial of all City Depts.
The reason; we all have opinions about how best to market Lincoln City and which events, assets or marketing approaches best bring the tourists to town.
Throughout my career, I evaluated activities or expenditures by using measurable results. Events sponsored by VCB are hard to have the results measured directly. Example: TRT revenue is up 71/2 % in the 4th quarter. That can be measured. Was it because of the Events VCB did during the 4th quarter? Was it our weather? Was it the “Happens at the Beach” sponsored by Chinook Winds Casino & Golf Resort?
Hard to say for sure but we must find a way to measure the expense and promotion of the event against the results of the activity. Meaning, heads in beds producing more TRT or this dept will continue to be consumed by negative energy that disrupts their efforts.
Finally, there are the Impact Areas:
Ordinances & Resolutions: This is where we, your elected Mayor and City Councilors have the most impact on you. We are the ones who vote on ordinances and resolutions that impact your lives. In 2010, 11 Ordinances were approved along with 37 Resolutions.
To name a few of the Ordinances that you might recall fondly.
clarifications and changes for Tree Removal permits
methods for measuring building height
landscaping and impervious surface standards for SFR & duplexes
Directing what can be done with demolition material
Requiring consent to annexation as a continued water service requirement
Amending an ordinance so VRD’s are no longer exempt from paying Occupation Tax.
Resolutions:
Adopting Exec Session News media attendance policy
Entering into an agreement with the confederated tribes of Siletz Indians for untreated water services- pumping out of Devils Lake-golf course irrigation
Adopting an increase in water rates during peak season
Adopting separate resolutions that allowed specific donated properties/land
Resolutions to pursue grants for specific items, trails, bicycle & pedestrian planning, fiber optic
Theeconomic climate in 2010 was not at all robust.
Too many of our citizens are either out of work, significantly cut back in work hours or they are under employed and have taken employment far below the earning level of past.
Businesses have closed at an alarming rate leaving vacant storefronts.