On Friday 4/03/2020 I sent a PROPOSAL to the Mayor and CC. Initially a response was received from CC Ellen Burton. Subsequent to that I exchanged emails with CC Shannon Roberts 2 weeks ago and elaborated on the topic of helping the City with specifics on the actions to be undertaken.

Camas needs to get ahead of the REVENUE shortfalls that are coming in the years ahead.

One of the key elements to address is EXPENSE REDUCTION. Make the plan for deep cuts now:

• · Redo the balance of the remaining 2020 budget with an 18% target reduction in TOTAL spending

• · Take the same approach with the upcoming 2021/2022 budget process

• · Start with a hiring freeze – including City Administrator and any other replacement positions

• · Stop OT now – Right now it is running at 6% of payroll for the last 2.5 years

• · Stop Incentive Payouts – 3% of payroll for the last 2.5 years - Does anybody know what that really is?

• · No COLA in 2020/2021

• ·· Take a hard look at reassignment of idled staff for better utilization of available time

• · Consultants and Outside Contractors – have these been reviewed and only allowed to work on City Critical items. Has the WSP Contract been reviewed?

And most importantly!!!

Nobody buys anything discretionary or any capital items even though it is in the budget

Additionally has the City addressed the following??

• · Renegotiation of Service Contracts

• · Maximization of P-Card usage by readdressing spending limits and usage in place of PO’s.

Last week I sent an email to get an update:

“Just wanted to check-in and see how well the City of Camas is doing in taking the necessary actions and making the cuts in spending that we reviewed last week.

We could have done a lot in the last week. I'm interested in seeing how successful the City staff has been comparatively.”

Last I had heard from the city - CC Shannon Roberts - is as follows:

“To answer your below questions, staff are working to determine the size of the economic impact in the 2020 budget as we speak.

City Council and the management team built in a mild recession into the city’s 6 year forecast. As a result we entered the COVID-19 crisis with a higher fund balance to weather that projected recession.

However, due to reduced revenues from many areas and considering remaining reserves, the Mayor laid the groundwork concerning limitations on hiring, overtime, travel and training, and spoke about furloughs, reduced hours and possible layoffs.

City council members are elected by the citizens and we are interested in being good stewards. We are made aware of the cutbacks and efforts to save money. Staff is doing a stellar job in all areas.”

There is no reason to believe that we are not doing our best to be fiscally responsible.”

Just got this rersponse from CC EllenBurton on Wed 4/22:

Thanks for sending your recommendations for how the City of Camas of Camas can address the revenue shortfall.  I’ll discuss them with the Director of Finance. The city is taking some of these steps such as freezing hiring, cutting discretionary spending , and  repurposing employees so they work on projects the city may have previously contracted. Other recommendations can be considered as the City budgets for 2021-22.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT "REVENUE SHORTFALLS" - THIS IS ABOUT BEING FISICALLY PRUDENT AND GETTING AHEAD OF THE COMING FINANCIAL STORM.

SHUT DOWN THE SPENDING - NOW - NOT NEXT YEAR.