2026-10-15 - Finance and Audit Commission

00:00All right, welcome to the Finance and

00:01Audit Commission October 15th special

00:04meeting. This is the hybrid meeting with

00:06the Finance and Audit Commission

00:07members, city staff, and members of the

00:09public participating at the Bel Haven

00:11Community Campus, and participating

00:12remotely.

00:14I would like to introduce staff and

00:16finance and audit commission members

00:17present uh Colin Albbright Diana Day

00:21myself Laura Milan and Bam including

00:24staff present include administrative

00:27service assistant administrative service

00:29director Banny Leang interimm finance

00:31and bud budget manager Adrian

00:34u Adrian would you please provide

00:36instructions to the finance and audit

00:38commission and members of the public on

00:40how the meeting will proceed? Certainly.

00:42Thank you, Chair Milan, and the members

00:44of the Finance and Audit Commission.

00:45Welcome everybody to the October 15th

00:48special meeting of the Finance and Audit

00:50Commission, and thanks for attending.

00:52Staff will engage in webcams and

00:54microphones to make presentations and

00:55respond to members of the Finance and

00:57Audit Commission. For members of the

00:59public who are in attendance and wish to

01:00provide a public comment on an item on

01:02tonight's agenda, after the chair calls

01:04for public comment on the item you wish

01:06to speak on, version participants will

01:08engage in the raised hand feature at the

01:10bottom of the screen.

01:12Um, if you are in person, you will

01:14complete a speaker card that's over

01:15there to return that to me. And if you

01:17are on a cell phone or on a landline,

01:19you will press star 9. Uh, that

01:21concludes the instructions and I return

01:23the meeting to the chair.

01:25>> Thank you. Under public comment, the

01:27public may address the Finance and Audit

01:28Commission on any subject not listed on

01:30the agenda. Each speaker may address the

01:32commission once under public comment for

01:34a limit of 3 minutes. Please clearly

01:36state your name and address or political

01:38jurisdiction in which you live. The

01:40commission cannot act on items not

01:42listed on the agenda and therefore the

01:44advisory body cannot respond to

01:45non-aggenda issues brought up under

01:47public comment other than to provide

01:49informationational general information.

01:53>> Right? If you would like to provide a

01:55general public comment on an item that

01:57is not on tonight's agenda, if you are

01:59logged in virtually, please press that

02:01raised hand feature now. Uh if you are

02:04in person, please complete a speaker

02:05card. And if you are calling in from a

02:09landline or from a cell phone, please

02:10press start item.

02:13I'm seeing no requests for public

02:14comment. So you may continue.

02:17>> Okay.

02:20So first we have the consent calendar.

02:22Under consent calendar, the Finance and

02:24Audit Commission may take action to

02:26approve routine business items in one

02:28motion unless the Finance and Audit

02:30Commission member, city staff member, or

02:31a member of the public request that an

02:33item be discussed or continued to a

02:35later date. U Adrian, do you have any

02:37public comment?

02:38>> If you would like to provide a public

02:40comment on our consent calendar item D1,

02:42approve the July 16th, 2026 YA exit

02:45audit commission meeting minutes, please

02:48press the raised hand feature at the

02:49bottom of the screen. Press start on if

02:51you are dialing in from a landline or

02:52cell phone or completely speak your

02:54card. Return that to me

02:57and no request for public comment. So

02:59you make a move.

03:00>> Oh, okay. Um, can you please state the

03:03motion?

03:04>> Yeah. Motion to approve the consent

03:06calendar.

03:08>> Motion to approve.

03:11>> Second. Right. So we have a motion by

03:14Merright, second by Day. All in favor?

03:18And the motion passes against.

03:24>> All right. On to regular business. Under

03:27regular business, the Finance and Audit

03:29Commission considers recommendations

03:31from city staff on policy matters or

03:33administrative actions that require

03:35finance and audit commission approval.

03:37Our first uh regular business item is to

03:40review the investment portfolio reports

03:42for June 30th, 2026 and recommend

03:44receipt by city council

03:47to introduce the internal finance budget

03:50and and budget manager. Adrian Patino

03:52will introduce the item.

03:56>> So we have uh two investment portfolio

04:00reports uh on tonight's agenda. So we're

04:02starting with uh the first of the two

04:05which is as of June 30th. So, we're

04:07playing a little catch a ball getting

04:08the previous quarter um as well as the

04:11most recent report um for you to hear

04:13today. So, starting with our June 30th

04:18um investment portfolio. So,

04:23up here on the screen we have uh kind of

04:26the snapshot from uh A which is the

04:29quarterly consolidated portfolio report.

04:32Um, and in

04:36this screenshot here, you can see that

04:37kind of the breakdown of the top half

04:40being the Lif or the local AMC

04:43investment fund, which are kind of

04:45similar to a money market account that

04:47the city can freely uh move funds in and

04:50out of. Uh, that average uh about 3.82%

04:55in yield for this time period. We got

04:57about 23 million uh in the wave account.

05:00And then below that we have the insight

05:03managed uh assets of about 28,000 in

05:07fair market value or 28 million excuse

05:10me uh and that yielded about 410%

05:14uh for this last quarter end of June

05:1630th. Uh and one kind of thing to note

05:19here is the weighted average maturity is

05:22uh inching further towards that kind of

05:25three-year u that kind of three-year

05:28mark that that the city has um kind of

05:31embarked on as we refined our strategy

05:34uh in as a response to kind of the

05:37interest rate market environment and uh

05:40considering the city's capital position

05:43and its kind of near-term needs.

05:47So the other um the other item of note

05:53is that the uh EPSG did also uh improve

05:58slightly and continue its trend of of

06:00above average for this quarter as well.

06:07So with that I do my brief on this

06:14program.

06:16>> Okay. Any clarifying questions from the

06:18finance and audit commission before

06:19taking public comment.

06:25Okay. Adrian, do we have any public

06:27comment? Okay. If you would like to

06:29provide a public comment on agenda item

06:33one, review the investment portfolio

06:34reports for June 30th, 2026 and

06:37recommend received by city council. Uh

06:40please engage the raised hand feature at

06:42the bottom of the screen. If you're

06:44dialed in from the cell phone or from

06:45the landline, you can press star 9 or

06:47return a speaker card to me.

06:52and no request by say maybe it's

06:55>> okay let's open it up for finance and

06:57audit commission discussion unless

07:06it looks good I think last time we

07:07talked about

07:09come back and uh suggest potential

07:12benchmarks

07:13um so again just useful to have that so

07:17I know that's on the way but yeah

07:19highlight that issue.

07:22We're still working on that.

07:24>> Um, I have one question. I did print the

07:26packet, so I don't um know exactly which

07:28page it was on, but somewhere we were

07:30benchmarking against a 2-year Treasury

07:33yield and um it was around like 2% and

07:36and looking at our 4% as 2% better. Uh,

07:40but I think we were looking at a

07:41six-month yield um versus.

07:45So, I was wondering if when we when we

07:47report out to the city council if um we

07:51want to have that comparison framed that

07:54way because it feels like it's a little

07:56bit like looking at a sixmon yield or an

07:58annual yield. The the six month is going

08:01to be lower.

08:02>> So, it doesn't quite seem like we're

08:04beating the benchmark by as much as it's

08:07a great asset.

08:08>> Yeah, we can definitely take a look at

08:09that and also specify that in the

08:11reporting. Awesome. Thanks,

08:18Okay, if there's nothing else, um, do we

08:20have a motion?

08:21>> Right. So, motion to recommend receipt

08:24of the June 30th, 2026 investment

08:27portfolio reports by city council.

08:31>> Yeah, I'll second. [clears throat]

08:35>> And all in favor

08:38and motion passes unanimous.

08:41>> All right. Thank you so much. Our next

08:43business item is to review the

08:44investment portfolio report as for

08:46September 30th, 2026 and recommend

08:48receipt by city.

08:51>> All right. So moving on to the most

08:54recent investment portfolio report. Um

08:59so the kind of major change uh between

09:03these two quarters that probably be the

09:06most apparent is uh the increase in

09:08weighted average.

09:10So under the managed assets for this

09:12quarter at 4.24%.

09:15Uh the other u change is again the the

09:19weighted average maturity is uh

09:22increasing and moving closer to the

09:25three-year mark with 2.59

09:27years of weighted average maturity in

09:30this most recent report. Um and we'll

09:34kind of dig a little bit deeper on the

09:37next slide. But the other item of note

09:39is that you can see that the uh fair

09:41market value of the uh inside niche

09:44assets has decreased uh slightly quarter

09:47of a quarter and that's due to the

09:49interest rate buyer. We're going to take

09:54a deeper look with this slide here which

09:56compares the uh the treasury yield curve

09:59currently as well as um one calendar

10:03year ago. So in September, the Federal

10:06Reserve raised the benchmark interest

10:08rate by a quarter percentage point uh to

10:123.75 to 4% uh largely due to the ongoing

10:16concerns of inflation with the latest

10:18inflation being which came out yesterday

10:22or um rising to 3.7% year-over-year uh

10:27up from 3.4% in August. So that's again

10:30above the Fred's 2% uh target. Um the

10:34next open market committee meeting is

10:36scheduled for the end of this month uh

10:38October 27th to 28th. So the market is

10:42going to be closely watching signals uh

10:45on what the F's next move will be that

10:46there will be another hike potentially

10:49uh and that decision will influence uh

10:51short-term rates and is going to affect

10:53broader market yields.

10:56So this blue line here is what the tra

10:58is what the treasury market is currently

10:59paying and the orange dashed one below

11:02it is what it was paying a year ago in

11:04our portfolio. This green dot right here

11:07at 4.24% is sort of squarely in the

11:11middle of those two. Um because it still

11:13holds uh a fair amount of securities

11:16which were purchased um you know some

11:19time ago when yields were still lower.

11:22uh and as they mature as our portfolio u

11:26you know we kind of mentioned before how

11:28it has this latter structure where

11:30there's kind of constantly securities

11:31that are maturing so that the city has

11:34access to funds if it needs it or it can

11:35kind of reinvest them and uh take

11:38advantage of whatever is uh out in the

11:41market makes the most sense at a time.

11:43So, [snorts]

11:45between uh now and the end of this

11:49calendar year, if you look at all of the

11:50kind of securities that are uh listed in

11:53our monthly report, there's about $10

11:55million that's going to mature. And the

11:58city is kind of reinvesting those as

11:59they as they mature to capture the the

12:02higher rates using some of the tools

12:04that uh this commission reviewed the

12:07update to the investment policy at our

12:08last meeting. So, uh, beginning in the

12:11middle of November, around November 11th

12:13or so, we'll be able to take advantage

12:15of the 5 to 7-year window if we choose

12:18to. Um,

12:20but, um, the kind of overall goal is to

12:23continue to capture the higher yields

12:26uh, by gradually kind of extending the

12:28weighted average maturity towards the

12:30the three-year mark. So,

12:34um, this kind of allows us to lock in

12:36those attractive rates long term. And we

12:38still have access to, um, sufficient

12:42funds with things like the length

12:44balance, which we've seen, which is

12:46about $23 million. We also have

12:48sufficient operating cash in our uh, US

12:51bank operating account, which is also

12:54listed uh, in the staff report and is

12:56also gaining some interest through the

12:57um, insured cash sweep program. So those

13:00remain completely liquid and allow us to

13:03kind of take care of our day-to-day

13:04needs. So um we're kind of taking this

13:08approach consistent with the city's

13:10investment policy and objectives of

13:13safety and then liquidity and then

13:15yield. So that's kind of where our

13:18strategy is currently headed. Um and

13:21then kind of touching on the fair market

13:24piece. Uh an important consideration of

13:27this kind of like raising rate

13:28environment is that the impact uh on the

13:31fair value of our existing bond

13:33portfolio um is going to kind of decline

13:37because a lot of those that are

13:40currently in the portfolio again are at

13:42those kind of lower rates and are less

13:44attractive. So that allow that results

13:46in a kind of an unrealized loss um which

13:50is again a paper loss because the city

13:52typically does not um sell securities

13:55until maturity. So we'll tend to

13:57continue to receive the schedule

14:00interest payments um and we continue to

14:03hold those until maturity to uh avoid

14:06actually realizing those losses. And in

14:09the meantime, um the higher interest

14:11rates will allow us to reinvest those uh

14:13securities that are maturing and more

14:15attractive yields and kind of gradually

14:18help to improve portfolios uh earnings

14:20over time.

14:23So that concludes my presentation on

14:26this latest investment portfolio, but

14:28I'll return it to the chair.

14:29>> Thank you so much. Any clarifying

14:31questions from the finance commission

14:33before taking public comment?

14:35Can you envisage or describe a potential

14:39situation in which the city would have

14:41to draw on it for?

14:44>> Not likely. Um officially have currently

14:47about 10 million and we're going to

14:48receive more in operating cash or 23

14:51million currently. So um liquidity wise

14:54we're pretty well positioned

14:57with like a dramatic need for cash.

15:01Are there any long-term uses that are

15:04here marked against this portfolio or is

15:06it just rainy day?

15:09>> Um sort of a rainy day fund that's a

15:11full cash from all the funds. So cash

15:14flow wise.

15:20>> Okay. Adrian, do we have any public

15:22comment? If you would like to provide a

15:25public comment on agenda item E2, review

15:28the investment portfolio reports for

15:29September 30th, 2026

15:32and recommend received by city council.

15:34If you are logged in virtually, you can

15:36use that raise hand feature at the

15:38bottom of the screen. If you are dialing

15:40the cell phone or from a landline, you

15:41can press star 9. And if you are in

15:43person, you can complete a speaker card

15:45or return that to me.

15:48So no final call of a comment.

15:51And seeing none, so you may continue.

15:53Okay, let's open for finance and audit

15:55commission discussion additional.

16:00Oh, very strong saying I understand the

16:04lawsuit potentially have on

16:07if we lose

16:10the bills that could end up being tens

16:13and fines that could be like one big

16:15thing which has to be covered but I

16:17still don't think we'd have any coverage

16:19unless we operate then the city council

16:21would come in and say oh there's many

16:23many options how come you don't realize

16:26this you might have to last

16:29that's the one thing

16:30my mind.

16:40>> Yeah, that's fair. And also, um likely

16:42the litigation process will take a few

16:43years. Um so,

16:46and when do property taxes take does

16:48that kind of bulk up the asset cash

16:51position?

16:52>> Um twice a year. So, I think it's coming

16:54up and then when they are closer to

16:56April.

16:57>> Yeah. October 1st, May 1st.

16:59>> Yeah. Okay. And that goes mostly into

17:01the wave US bank account or goes into

17:04the US bank account. Um but we kind of

17:07take a look at our position. We have too

17:09much liquidity open to already set a

17:11portfolio to have a higher gain.

17:13>> Oh y

17:16>> Yeah. So, we kind of constantly evaluate

17:18the city's cash position, look at um

17:21kind of near-term and long-term needs

17:24and determine whether we're too cash

17:27rich and need to move some into the

17:30higher yielding assets or kind of vice

17:33versa if

17:35the situation arises. But um for the

17:38past few years that uh at least I've

17:40been here uh we've been likely a little

17:43bit to Catridge um and we are kind of

17:47moving in a more

17:49>> um

17:51not aggressive but a more balanced

17:53approach uh to kind of uh capture some

17:56greater return while still being able to

17:59meet all of our kind of anticipated

18:01needs and still have some cushioning. Is

18:04that 8 to 10 million mark where we kind

18:06of want to sit in cash or we want to sit

18:09around about 16 million 16.

18:11>> Yeah. And the operating account it's

18:13always snapshot in time kind of es and

18:15flows but it

18:17>> it um it is self- sustaining at this

18:19point in time and um the amount that

18:23we've transferred out into the portfolio

18:24into has not affected our daily

18:27operating whatsoever. depending on what

18:30time of the year you'll look at even

18:32between the two reports that we have in

18:33this um agenda. The first one is situ

18:37balance of close to in the 30 million

18:39that we see one in the tense and that's

18:41because um you get a big dispersement

18:44from property tax revenue or other kind

18:47of um nonlinear revenue sources that

18:50kind of pile up and then get slowly sort

18:52of like drawn down as the year uh kind

18:54of progresses and then another one sort

18:56of refills the bucket. So um that's kind

18:58of the key difference between like the

19:01tables that we've previously shown when

19:03we didn't have like the operating cash

19:04component in there and now that we do

19:06have this uh sweep account uh component

19:09where we want to show the earnings on

19:11that we have to kind of show the balance

19:13as well which does uh kind of move a lot

19:16more than some of these other um these

19:19other holdings that the city has.

19:20>> Yeah. And for example, we just paid out

19:22UT settlement paid to the 4.7 million.

19:27So that's going to get your operating

19:29cash, but won't get replenished unless

19:31we get the property tax payment. And the

19:33main thing is um in your operating cash

19:35account now, at least everything is

19:37every cent is getting interest income.

19:39Um even though it's closer to 3.5% and

19:42not 4.2, too. But something

19:51there's nothing else. Adrian, do you

19:53have a motion?

19:54>> Yeah. Motion to recommend receing of the

19:56investment portfolio reports for

19:58September 30th, 2026 by the city

20:00council.

20:03>> Motion for recommend. Second.

20:07All right. And all those in favor?

20:10And the motion passes in Henderson.

20:14>> All right. Excellent. Our next regular

20:16business item is to receive the 2026

20:182027 work plan and consider forming

20:22subcommittees.

20:24Uh to introduce the item is finance and

20:26budget manager Adam. All right. So the

20:30city council reviewed all the advisory

20:33body work plans in uh September and the

20:38finance and audit commission they uh

20:42chose to approve the work plan as

20:45proposed. So we have uh the approved

20:48work plan here on the screen and the

20:50change that the commission uh proposed

20:53and uh was approved by city council is

20:56to the goal number six which is

20:58organized community budget forms to

21:00educate the public and gather input on

21:02financial matters such as revenue

21:05generation and cost recovery strategies.

21:08So the um commission does not take any

21:12sort of action with regards to the work

21:14plan itself. This is just kind of a a

21:17receipt and file sort of item. So, this

21:19is us bringing this back to show what

21:22the city council's approval and

21:24direction was uh out of the commission's

21:27recommend recommendation. And then the

21:31action that the commission can take is

21:33to

21:35uh choose to form a subcommittee around

21:38uh one of these work plan goals um

21:41should it decide to. So as a reminder, a

21:45subcommittee cannot consist of more than

21:48commissioners on one subcommittee as to

21:51avoid a quorum of this body. Um and then

21:56the subcommittee has to be focused on

21:58one of the requirement bills. So with

22:01that in mind, I will return to the

22:03chair.

22:06>> Okay. Thank you. Any clarifying

22:07questions from the finance and audit

22:09commission for the full publicity? Was

22:16there something that was something that

22:18was not agreed to?

22:20>> No. So they approved with no changes. So

22:22uh what was proposed by the commission

22:24was exactly what was approved by the

22:26substance

22:35about not having the subs.

22:39So the the same numbers they have in the

22:40past rather than having some time in

22:45those.

22:47>> Sorry. Go ahead. No.

22:52>> Okay. Adrian, do we have any public

22:54comment?

22:55>> If you would like to provide a public

22:57comment on agenda item D3, receive the

23:002026 work plan and consider forming

23:02subcommittees. If you are logged in

23:05virtually, please engage the raised hand

23:07feature at dialogue with me. You are

23:09dialing in from a cell phone or from a

23:10landline, please press star 9. And if

23:14you are in person, please complete a

23:15speaker card and return that to me.

23:19And I'm seeing no request for public

23:20comments. So you make it to me.

23:22>> Okay. We'll now open for finance item.

23:24Commission discussion.

23:28So I guess maybe we should talk if we

23:30want to have subcommittees. that

23:38>> I feel like we haven't um part of the

23:41reason I've been hesitant about some

23:43company is we haven't had a particularly

23:45good record around them

23:49not because of lack of good intention

23:51but because of you know

23:55perhaps other sort of realities

23:59um that you know as much as I sort of

24:01you It was

24:03partly a tongue and cheek comment but

24:05probably also perhaps you know you know

24:09there's you know there'll be a time when

24:13there's a higher need or a higher sort

24:14of um desire to run a subcommittee and

24:19that's when you know sort of it is the

24:21right time for it because I think

24:23subcommittees run best when there's an

24:24organic sort of interest in

24:32Well, I can suggest because I think uh

24:33because number six is the one that we

24:35talked about

24:38and added specifically. We weren't sure

24:40if city council would approve it and the

24:42whole intent of this just given this

24:44situation where it be useful to have

24:46some kind of where trying to educate and

24:49try and get feedback well ahead of any

24:52[clears throat]

24:52measures need to go out 2028 on

24:55potential based measures or really

24:57serious discussions around cost measures

24:59as well. So I think that that is one

25:02where we should form a subcommittee with

25:04one caveat. Um I this is the question I

25:08asked um fairly just before we started.

25:10I think city council is going to be

25:12talking about in the next few months of

25:14potential revenue raising things. So if

25:16we were to film this subcommittee I

25:18don't know if we'd be able to then get

25:19city staff help because they're also

25:22working on this for those city council

25:24meetings. So maybe it's worth pausing on

25:27this coming back in January seeing where

25:29city council lands on some of those

25:32discussions and then trying to pick up a

25:34better. So let's say you're able to

25:36present on various revenue raising

25:38options. City council's able to provide

25:40some direction. Let's go and do some

25:42extra work around three of these. Then

25:44we can pick up sub say great now we've

25:46got three where we try and facilitate

25:50community input based on these three

25:52ideas and the city council knows that

25:55they facilitation they're talking about

25:57the next few months. Uh so that's one

25:59suggestion. I think we should build

26:00something around that but we can

26:02potentially wait and also secondly just

26:08potentially maybe on council may not be

26:10on council there can be some changes

26:12over the next few months so maybe wait

26:14until January that's my suggestion I

26:16think we should do it just wait till the

26:18next month

26:19>> yeah I wonder if um you guys are

26:23preparing revenue strategies which I saw

26:26on the is somewhere coming up on the

26:28agenda would Having for example a public

26:32gathering for input ahead of time be

26:35helpful because a lot of time I've heard

26:37from people they feel like they don't

26:39hear about something until it already

26:41goes to city council and then they only

26:44have their two minutes of the microphone

26:48and then city council to your point

26:50chooses something. And so if we're

26:52trying to

26:54bull people into the thinking portion,

26:57do you think we could spot it before

26:59like just a an hourong meeting or

27:02something? But I don't want to create

27:03meetings for the sake of meetings and we

27:06have not even had subcommittee yet. So

27:14>> I guess that would be ideal. I am

27:16worried though that doing the

27:17subcommittee takes a couple of months to

27:19get up and running and then we need a

27:21couple of months to actually organize

27:23like I schedule and organize the public

27:26piece of it getting you put in and then

27:28waiting to go to city council maybe. So

27:31and this is this is for a request I

27:33guess specific answer is when they are

27:36discussing I think it's just a study

27:38session they won't be making any

27:40decisions but I couldn't relate

27:45as long as it's just a study session and

27:47actually it's going to flush up a lot of

27:49things and then we get to pick up one

27:52and all these things are flushed up and

27:53people make comments maybe lots of areas

27:55where people will be saying I want your

27:58inputs and they go great that's what

27:59we're here for we're going to set it up

28:01and it's going to be February and it's

28:03going to be so we can almost turn up the

28:05meeting and say so without having to

28:07just come and set things up. That's what

28:09I suggest.

28:10>> Try to I guess try not to slow down the

28:12city council process but also we're

28:14ready to pick things up.

28:17>> Great.

28:18>> Yeah. Speed up the process.

28:20>> Yes.

28:23Maybe I'm saying something along the

28:24same line saying what might be good to

28:28have a goal is say can we organize one

28:30community budget forum you know and see

28:33if we can gather that you know unless

28:35there's a need to have a subcommittee in

28:37place to do that if we can sort of you

28:40know just and and yes ideally would

28:43ideally it's sort of before something

28:45happens but even if it is just to share

28:48you know perhaps even some of these

28:50budget reports you know, get questions

28:52because part of it is to just I think

28:54get more education and involvement.

28:57Um, and given sort of the fact that, you

29:00know, sort of any of these take a lot of

29:02work, you know, one way of thinking

29:05about it, it could be just a modest

29:07goal, can we do one community budget

29:09forum to [clears throat] educate or

29:11gather input, you know, using material

29:13we already have. So, like, you know,

29:15sort of really lower the bar in

29:18getting something together.

29:24Yeah, it feels like are there moments we

29:28lock in nuke insights about the budget?

29:30Like are there any BLF deadlines where

29:32the state's going to report stuff to us

29:33or or other things like that that are

29:35the big levers that are like is there a

29:38point in the year when there are fewer

29:39question marks and then maybe we do it

29:42right after that so we have more

29:43concrete things to talk about?

29:45>> Yeah, absolutely. So looking at the

29:46budget calendar and also response to

29:48that question um the county is going to

29:50provide us projection for beyond the

29:52shortfall like November. Oh well

29:54sometime November we're close to the end

29:56of November. So that's one um and

29:58that'll be forward looking or just like

30:00for this year at least 26 27. Okay.

30:04Yeah. So that's one um assumption we're

30:08going to use in our forecast. Should

30:10people be talking to them about that on

30:13this, you know, goal of uh gathering

30:17public input and kind of reaching out to

30:19the community? Feels like all of the

30:21park wants that money back. Should we be

30:23sending people out into those

30:26conversations? Definitely. Um and I

30:28think we have had those engagements with

30:29the county and the county send a bunch

30:31of people to the state as well. So yeah,

30:33so lots of engagement there, but right

30:35now it's just kind of uh depending on

30:37the relationship with potentially new

30:38governor, what they have to do

30:39legislatively, but uh right now this

30:42projection is really based on school

30:44districts what they think supplemental

30:46taxes will come in property taxes was

30:48going to be basic a going to be non

30:50basic a projection what it's going to be

30:52about November. Oh yeah.

30:55Um second decision point really is going

30:57to be um the midyear which is going to

30:59cancel February 23rd 2027. That's when

31:02we're going to debut the the new 5year

31:05forecast. That's when we have you know

31:07the new uh workforce plan with all the

31:09personnel cost all assumptions kind of

31:11built in VLF and all that. So that's

31:13kind of first look at a base budget to

31:15see where we are we need to do uh do we

31:18need to reduce our place like that.

31:22>> Okay. So maybe right before that

31:26would be a good

31:28time.

31:29>> Do we think um how much material do I

31:32mean I don't mind. I'm just going to ask

31:34so what do we have to do to prepare for

31:36it

31:38>> or which

31:40>> we're going to have a community

31:42>> education

31:44>> workshop

31:45>> I think that' be up to the the

31:47subcommittee to determine I don't think

31:50it's a question for staff

31:50>> oh so so there isn't I forgot the

31:52process is there a need to have a sub

31:54committee to maybe that's what it is

31:56maybe the maybe we could form a sub

31:58committee tonight but folks who actually

32:01go

32:01>> their jobs choosing a Yeah, basically it

32:03is here's the calendar, here's the

32:06suggested date and then here's two or

32:08three formats what that could look like

32:10and then bring it back to the next

32:11meeting. So at least then we're ready to

32:12say as a group it's this date and it's

32:16this kind of format. It's either it's

32:18going to be a small format like this or

32:20it's going to be a big presentation and

32:21we can have those choices.

32:27>> Yeah. Yeah, I mean in the interest of

32:28making it a working meeting among was

32:30suggesting that you know we can even

32:32take there's a lot of material in here

32:33the June update and you know we can just

32:36take the material as is you know pick a

32:39date and say we'll share this and you

32:43know we already have you know minimum

32:45preparation I mean maybe just use a zoom

32:47call so really use what we have to

32:52share and and bring input back and then

32:54in case we get additional material on

32:57upcoming budget we can include that as

32:58well.

33:00So if you can agree on that here you

33:02know to me that's that'll be nice

33:04because then we've actually done a lot

33:06without needing another room to have

33:08meaning.

33:16>> Yeah that seems smart. So should we try

33:18to subcommittee that would that action

33:21tonight? Um maybe I'm saying okay I I

33:25believe a subcommittee is needed so

33:26let's form a subcommittee but perhaps

33:29also say that once subcommittee is u

33:32done say let's just use the material

33:34from today's as you know as a material

33:38we use to go and you know sort of um

33:41communicate with you know with town on

33:44and see how many people come and what

33:46kind of questions they have and in case

33:47we get additional material we use that

33:49as well. Oh yeah. Yeah. Because that you

33:51know I feel like that itself is you know

33:54non you know may end up being sort of

33:57quite a bit of work finding out you

33:59know.

33:59>> Yeah.

34:02>> It's a small stepping stone to sitting

34:04to to build up.

34:06>> Yeah. Because we we do have the revenue

34:08study coming up and the PLF shortfall

34:11information. So, and so those would be

34:13pre-prepared if this is like if if we're

34:16saying the forum is going to be pushed

34:17out a couple months, then we'll have

34:19that

34:19>> okay

34:19>> to John also because it'll already be

34:22>> sure.

34:27I don't think there's anything in

34:28today's meeting that shared the

34:29investment portfolio.

34:32So I don't know that's not power. I

34:34mean, maybe it's just me, but I feel

34:35like if I were to go ask people how many

34:38people understand my investment

34:40portfolio

34:41and you know um

34:46or even how many people understand you

34:48know the financial like the audit

34:50committee wide and what is the work plan

34:53is you know that itself may sort of you

34:56know be a set of interesting questions

34:58potentially that's kind of why you know

35:01I feel like

35:03that's just me that you know if people

35:04do you know come and say that but on the

35:07other hand if you think that that's

35:09going to sort of get more you know more

35:11interest I'm open to that as well.

35:13>> I do think that the number six which

35:16kind of has the such as written here as

35:19the revenue generation and cost recovery

35:20strategies. I do think that that matters

35:22to people because the way you know

35:25Insight Partners manages the portfolio

35:27is

35:29like kind of interesting but that's

35:30their professional job not really like

35:33every person in mental parks job to tell

35:35them how to do the trades but the but

35:38the big swings of like strategies feel

35:41like it's where the community

35:44>> um kind of like would expect to be able

35:45to give input a little bit more

35:49>> yeah I agree with the chairman Um so I

35:51think because the investment stuff

35:52people can turn down to this meeting to

35:54learn about it and they could especially

35:58>> it is fascinating

35:59>> what we don't talk about so much is the

36:01various trade-offs and decisions around

36:03how to close the budget deficit and I

36:05think that's what the budget for the

36:07budget form should be it's here's the

36:09gap and obviously then then it

36:11determines when should we go and present

36:13the gap is it after February is it after

36:15November like sub committee kind of come

36:17up with a date based on some information

36:20here's the cap

36:21And then here are options to close it.

36:24What do you like? Do you want to cut the

36:26costs more? Do you want to raise more?

36:28Do you want to raise? What other types

36:29of options? All that then becomes

36:31feedback for city council when they're

36:34making their decisions.

36:36So that's why I think subm community

36:38today then goes away and tries to pick

36:40the date based on the various

36:43information coming or what's the

36:44appropriate time and then also the

36:45format. Um, is it just a frustration or

36:49is it as stickies or ground is a more

36:52involved thing to organize and then we

36:53can then come back with options and say

36:56because we're going to need staff help

37:00to do like a more bigger thing and I

37:01don't know we can ask about whether city

37:04council has to prove that because if we

37:07were to say we want like a Saturday

37:08session easy for us to say

37:12obviously staff you need to get approval

37:14from city council or

37:17So we got that's what it sit down is we

37:19got to frame up those options for

37:20someone

37:22I'm saying that right we can't just say

37:24we want to I mean Thursday yeah so I

37:27believe anything that would require

37:30in excess of one hour of staff's time uh

37:34would need explicit city council review

37:38so what we could do is sub4 and then

37:40come back in the next meeting with

37:42>> yeah we want to go to city council with

37:45where we specifically asking yourself.

37:48>> Yeah, maybe because the sub committee

37:50can should do some work, right? Like

37:54organize it and stuff. So in theory, if

37:56the subcommittee if you guys produce all

37:58the materials that you present to us all

38:00the time, what to do and the

38:02subcommittee organized it and came up

38:04with the concept for the forum and then

38:07we hosted an hour forum and we said to

38:10staff, we'd love your expertise in the

38:12room. during the hour

38:14we may do little slides for everyone but

38:17would that sort of thing work because

38:18I'm thinking the benefit of staff time

38:21the huge benefit is when the community's

38:24there getting the real smart answers and

38:27then the organizing the stuff that you

38:29guys have already produced

38:32to do that u just kind of picking and

38:34choosing the the existing slides is that

38:37a workflow that is

38:39acceptable

38:41>> I don't think So

38:42>> yeah, that makes sense.

38:44>> Yeah, we definitely

38:44>> Julen wants to do a form for more than

38:46an hour, right?

38:47>> That's okay.

38:48>> Yeah,

38:50obvious concern. Sorry. Or

38:54you can check before you could respond.

38:58>> Um,

38:59>> we can definitely check and get back to

39:00you guys, but

39:03>> yeah, the only uh

39:05>> the only like potential hangup would be

39:07the staff attendance. That's the only

39:09piece that I am not 100% clear on, but

39:11everything else that you described is

39:13like completely totally in scope,

39:15definitely appropriate. You can pull

39:17from

39:18>> u items that go before this commission

39:20as well as items that are on the city

39:22council, things that are on the city

39:23website, the you know, the open

39:26interactive budget. Um all of those are

39:29like potential um sources for like a

39:33foreign

39:34um

39:36grabbing pull from these different

39:38sources and combining them into

39:39something the way that you describe is

39:41totally something that a US subcommittee

39:44uh for this goal can do.

39:50>> Okay. She'll find something

39:54wants to be something.

39:59>> I want to be on

40:01it may change in a few weeks, but yeah,

40:04that be

40:08>> it can be three. Is that right?

40:10>> Three to be a member.

40:14>> I'm happy to help.

40:17>> Okay.

40:19Oh,

40:21okay. So, I guess that will

40:24be in the motion. Maybe uh any other

40:26discussion

40:30>> in progress.

40:33>> All right. Uh, do we have a motion?

40:36>> Yeah. So motion to form a subcurve

40:40committee around work plan goal number

40:42six. organized community budget forums

40:45to educate the public and gather input

40:48on financial matters such as revenue

40:49generation and costing strategies

40:52consisting of

40:55uh chair Laura Lon commissioner By and

40:59Commissioner Jant

41:10and all those in favor

41:13And both passes

41:17quick question. So the sub committee can

41:19meet. Would they be able to meet with as

41:22well? Yeah. But date. So was that just

41:25like we'd have to meet to come up with a

41:27question to send you?

41:30>> Um that's yeah that's appropriate as

41:33long as again the uh the one hour staff

41:36time limit. Um you can email us always.

41:39Um and then uh the other kind of lever

41:42you can pull is that you can um contact

41:46the city council leaison if there's

41:48anything that you need um city council

41:51direction [clears throat]

41:52for resources from. So I believe our

41:56current uh city council leazison is u

42:00council member.

42:02So you can contact the staff as me or

42:06city council lean.

42:08So Ben clarifying question on the one

42:11hour. So is that one one hour of time

42:15sort of one hour during a sort of full

42:18year or one hour at a time a month or

42:20you know at any or you know like is it

42:23really a reasonable amount of ask you

42:25know cap by one hour. Yeah. Yeah. So,

42:28it's not additive. We're not going to

42:29like stop watch and be like,

42:31>> "Yeah,

42:32>> five minutes to respond to this email

42:33and that going to count towards the get

42:35the hour the

42:36>> the yearly a lotment."

42:39>> Yeah. We're not going to call you guys

42:41like attorneys. Um,

42:43>> uh, it's it's mainly to um avoid

42:48I'll use it. Yeah. kind of anything that

42:51would um really kind of take staff away

42:55from sort of like the the kind of core

42:58day-to-day responsibilities. It's kind

43:00of meant to act as a guard rail, but

43:04um it's more on principle of managing.

43:12It's an active place

43:15that's

43:16very good enough for the multi-ervice

43:20>> [laughter]

43:21>> Oh man. Okay. On toformational items.

43:23Um, underformational items, the city

43:25staff provides updates on matters of

43:27importance to the commission.

43:28Informational items are not action

43:30items. However, a commissioner, city

43:31staff member, or member of the public

43:33may request to make a comment or ask a

43:35question on any of theformational items.

43:37Adrien, do we have any public comment?

43:40>> All right. If you would like to provide

43:41a public comment on one of our

43:44informationational items, agenda item

43:46G1, quarterly they don't see grant

43:47funding or G2, our next regular meeting

43:50on January 14th, 2027,

43:54please engage the raised hand feature at

43:56the bottom of the screen. If you are in

43:59cell phone or from a landline from SCAR

44:019 and if you're a person, you can leave

44:03a speaker card and return that to me.

44:07And no request for public comments. So

44:10you may continue.

44:12>> Um okay, let's open it to the

44:14commission. Um so want to talk about the

44:17grants or anything else?

44:20>> Were there any grants that were

44:23sensual applications or they were all

44:24summer?

44:27>> Yes, I can speak on um that piece. So we

44:32um kind of updated and adjusted the uh

44:36grant attachment from the last time that

44:39we shared it with the commission to

44:40include um both uh grants applications

44:44that are kind of in the different stages

44:47of the process. So ones that we are

44:49actively applying to or ones that we've

44:51applied to and are waiting to hear back

44:53as well as ones that we've pursued and

44:54not necessarily been successful in

44:56receiving. So that's that second table

44:59that's at the end where uh it kind of

45:01has all three of those. So we have some

45:03that our uh staff are currently working

45:06on the application phase for which it

45:08will say like application phase and

45:10others where the application's been

45:11submitted, we just haven't heard back

45:13yet and then others where we were like

45:16not selected in um those grant

45:19opportunities. Um, so it's kind of meant

45:23to uh kind of showcase staff's kind of

45:27continued work in this area because

45:29these are kind of longer term sort of

45:31projects where now we've kind of seen in

45:33this commission um that quarter to

45:36quarter the

45:38table of you know kind of active grants

45:40doesn't really shift all too much but

45:42there is stuff that's um always in the

45:44works. So that was kind of our intention

45:46with adding this piece of the um report

45:50to kind of show that there is you know

45:52continued uh efforts throughout the uh

45:55throughout city staff to kind of explore

45:58grant opportunities and u creative

46:02funding strategies for a number of

46:04different projects and issues. So some

46:07of those attempts that were

46:08unfortunately not successful are kind of

46:10up on the screen here with um would have

46:12funded things like um the quiet zone or

46:17some processing extensions um smart

46:20irrigation infrastructure or the urban

46:22forest management plan. U we also went

46:26after a cyber security grant um in the

46:29state that we were unfortunately not

46:30successful for. So, we are always on the

46:33hunt and we're always uh trying to uh

46:36find creative ways to fund different um

46:40priorities for the city council or the

46:44community.

46:46>> What resources or process does the city

46:49have for identifying potential

46:51opportunities?

46:53>> It kind of varies by department. Um I

46:56would say the most active is uh public

46:59works because there's just kind of a

47:01number of funding opportunities that are

47:03kind of geared towards um the things

47:06that they do and there's many different

47:08kinds of stages to a project from like

47:11design to study to actual construction

47:15and there's grants that are specific to

47:17like each of those phases. So they have

47:20um a number of experienced like project

47:24managers and um like regulatory analysts

47:28that they that we do have like in house

47:30on staff and they've also in the past

47:32engaged with uh expert consultants

47:35including um people who help to kind of

47:39assist the more sort of complicated uh

47:42grant applications um that may require

47:45like a lot of supplemental materials.

47:49um that are added uh into the

47:51application to um some of the more

47:54complicated cabinet projects. So uh

47:56there's both resources available um on

47:59city staff and then uh sometimes they

48:02engage in experts to either help apply

48:05to things that they have identified or

48:06also in the past we've used um services

48:10to help identify potential

48:12opportunities.

48:16when when we do I know we've talked

48:19about this before um in terms of how

48:22it's sometimes hard to look at the the

48:25forward-looking budget and the

48:26projectbased

48:28um budgeting and then the the fundbased

48:31spending within the city like where city

48:34which city funds things are allowed to

48:36come from and then how that relates to

48:39grants and it feels like to me in the

48:42past when I've tried to make sense of it

48:44those have almost been like three

48:45different databases And I it's been

48:47really hard to connect them through to

48:48understand like okay if we for example

48:52didn't get this grant on the CL train

48:54quiet zone what does that mean for the

48:56overall project you know what's how much

48:59was it going to be in the project how

49:00much what's the other funding is there

49:02any way we could uh kind of like

49:05collapse those through or or paint that

49:08picture for people and for ourselves too

49:11yeah so in terms of CP budgeting um it's

49:14life today so for these grants um our

49:17best practice and I think we've been

49:19doing it um more often than not is to

49:21not include the grant in the record

49:22[clears throat] unless it's been

49:23awarded. So um they don't u appropriate

49:28the budget side expenditure side unless

49:30they have the grant locked in the and

49:33then with things like the did one of the

49:34grants get like taken back was there

49:36like a reach grant or something that we

49:39thought we had that's like not coming

49:41through

49:42that one was for the my program. Oh yeah

49:46was that the one uh the tax credit that

49:48was going by the current administration?

49:50Yes. There's also the um probably the

49:54biggest one is safer.

49:56>> Yeah, that's safer. Yeah,

49:57>> we had originally a $50 million FEMA

50:00grant that we have only been able to use

50:043.7ish

50:06million of because

50:08uh taken back by the federal

50:10administration.

50:11>> Oh, I guess that's a rare edge case.

50:14>> But

50:14>> yeah.

50:15>> Yeah,

50:15>> an unfortunate edge case, but yeah.

50:17didn't provide they was rescended due to

50:20just the timing of it or was there a

50:21specific reason

50:24>> um

50:26federal priorities I see

50:31I get it yeah

50:32>> you know there's two observations on

50:34this list of grants first of all you can

50:36tell public works has the regulatory

50:38analysts the other departments you know

50:41not as frequent here they may benefit

50:45kind of

50:48you know from having not not a third

50:49party person who's necessarily going to

50:51work with you on a brand you want to

50:52form but somebody who's there to provide

50:54advisory and then similarly like a lot

50:57of this seems more like it's outbound we

50:59have a project we want to fund rather

51:02than inbound where somebody's saying hey

51:04this new grant is available maybe at the

51:06federal level which is also less present

51:09on this list so and point about federal

51:13circumstances

51:17Maybe pick up on that because I think

51:19this is really useful to have this list

51:21and again not for us that anybody got to

51:24comprehensively get the grants. What I'm

51:26still trying to get a hold of is whether

51:29we in the city are

51:32better or worse than other PSDs and

51:34security grants. That's what I'm trying

51:35to get a sense of. Uh and maybe it's

51:38just really hard to answer that question

51:39because there's such different

51:41priorities each has to try and get to a

51:45bit of a sense of poor folks. If we're

51:47better then great and keep going as we

51:51are. If if other cities are securing

51:54these grants and we are not then the

51:56question becomes well is it just small?

51:59Are we doing it early enough? Are we not

52:01asking right things about processing?

52:05Um I I know that's like a subjective

52:08question that's kind of vague but that

52:09be useful to kind of get a sense for

52:12just how we compared to other cities.

52:14Now I don't know what the best

52:15benchmarks is just the amount of money

52:18we get the amount of grant funding we

52:20get as a city is proportion of our

52:22budget compared to other cities that

52:24could be a very simple metric.

52:26Yeah, I'm sure awards are listed

52:28publicly but maybe another application.

52:33Maybe even awards be helpful getting

52:36their share as well. So I can't imagine

52:38now these are very much different to

52:41where city and paral so we need the same

52:44or we getting as much I know that's not

52:47sort of there's some way of working out

52:49some comparative metric to how we are

52:52doing and securing grants versus other

52:54cities. gives us a sense of whether or

52:56not

52:57there's more we can

53:02>> or

53:03there isn't more. We need to sort of use

53:05what to say.

53:14>> All right. If there's nothing else, our

53:17next regular meeting is January 14th and

53:20I believe we can adjourn.

53:22Moving adjourned.

53:25>> Thank you.

53:26>> Thanks everybody.