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<br />Mr. Brozosky asked if it would cost the City additional money, as he believed additional <br />consultants would need to be retained to assist staff in accomplishing Council's priorities. <br />Mr. Fialho said the Planning Department's workload is extremely heavy and the <br />Department is understaffed due to several vacancies. <br />Mr. Sullivan concurred with Mr. Fialho's comments regarding the implementation of the <br />Downtown Specific Plan. <br />Mr. Fialho reemphasized that from a staff and policy perspective, the General Plan <br />update is priority number one. If staff can find another way to work on the ancillary projects as <br />previously mentioned, it will do so. <br />Mayor Hosterman wanted the public to be aware that these issue were important to <br />Council and knowing that, it cannot proceed with these projects at this time. <br />Mr. Brozosky believed Council needed to prioritize its projects. <br />Mr. Sullivan believed it would be appropriate for Council to hire consultants to assist with <br />its important projects and not limit itself to existing staff. <br />Ms. McGovern preferred for staff to fill the remaining vacant position in the Planning <br />Department before Council proceeded with any additional projects. <br />14. Environmental Awareness <br /> (1) Establish a commission on Enerav and the Environment - the goal was <br /> changed to state: "study the establishment of a commission on Energy <br /> and the Environment which was supported as a priority by <br /> Council members Thorne and Sullivan and Mayor Hosterman. <br /> (2) Join Cities for Climate Protection - Mayor Hosterman changed her <br /> ranking from not a priority to a priority. <br />Mr. Thorne asked what would occur if Council made the establishment of a commission <br />on Energy and the Environment a priority? <br />Mr. Fialho said he would need to research similar commissions in other communities <br />and determine the level, scope of responsibilities, size of the commission, and staffing. <br />Mr. Thorne noted that environmental responsibility does not occur by directive and not <br />through commissions. Environmental responsibility needs to be institutionalized within the City <br />and a part of the City's cultural from top down. If Council determined to establish a commission <br />on Energy and the Environment, he would prefer Council to establish some requirements on the <br />Commission that it would go through a certain type of process before it provided any <br />recommendations to Council. He did not want to see any over emotionalized issues come <br />forward from this type of a commission and believed some type of rules needed to be <br />established to prevent this from occurring. <br />Mr. Brozosky concurred with Mr. Thorne's comments. <br />City Council Priorities Workshop 15 08/23/05 <br />Minutes <br />