WORKSHOP AGENDA - Laserfiche WebLink

• Replaced the North Pleasanton Improvement District bond reserve fund with a surety bond, freeing up over $3 million to fund acquisition of the downtown transportation corridor. • Secured approximately $2.4 million in federal stimulus funds for street maintenance projects, new and existing energy programs, housing recovery efforts and expanded community development block grants. • Developed and approved balanced multi -year Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Plan. Despite the recession, avoided dipping into reserves to fund operations and continued the philosophy of using all one -time, year -end surpluses to increase existing reserves or fund future obligations. • Maintained discretionary reserves of approximately $25 million including Temporary Recession Reserve and a 10% Reserve for Economic Uncertainties. Also maintained two years of debt service payments for golf course debt in reserves consistent with City policy. • Formed an assessment district that converted the major source of funding for the Tri- Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, utilizing a $1 per occupied room assessment. This removed the City's General Fund obligation and replaces it with a sustainable revenue source. • Provided the school district with a $1.2 million loan (line of credit) from City reserves to assist with cash -flow and annual debt service payments. PERMIT STREAMLINING • Implemented a comprehensive reorganization of the community development functions of the City by combining two departments — public works and planning -- into one department. Benefits of the reorganization are as follows: O One department head responsible for the community development function. This minimizes competing interests and management objectives; O Better coordination of permit function due to consistent objectives and oversight by the community development director; O Better utilization of staff through cross functional training, rather than perpetuating organizational "silos "; and O Enables the construction of one -stop permit counter in the Spring 2010. • Other improvements implemented by the City since the reorganization include: O The Building Division has implemented a two -day -a week over - the - counter building permit service. This assures that the Building counter is staffed with sufficient manpower and expertise on those two days which allows an applicant to bring in plans with limited scope for immediate review and approval. O The Planning Division has implemented a tracking a reporting system for length of time taken on Zoning Administrator actions. Over the past 10 months, approvals for proposed construction have averaged approximately 22 days (13 6