Wednesday, February 28, 2001

Office of the Town Clerk

Initial Budget Presentation to the Mayor and Council

2001-2002

 

Mission Statement

 

The primary mission of the Town Clerk’s Office is to maintain the official archive of the Town Council and its actions, and to assist in the open and full sharing of information regarding issues before the Town Council with the Council, Town staff, citizens, or other governmental jurisdictions who may be interested in or affected by a proposed action or decision.

 

Brief Services Description

 

·        Produce and distribute Town Council agenda packets to the Mayor, Town Council and staff, as well as to the media and interested citizens.

 

·        Attend all meetings of the Town Council, prepare and archive minutes of Town Council meetings.

 

·        Maintain the Town Code of Ordinances.

 

·        Oversee advisory board appointments, including recruitment, determination of eligibility of applicants, and term expirations.

 

·        Oversee support staff for the Town’s four administrative divisions.

 

·        Oversee the Town’s central archives of vital and important Town records.

 

·        Monitor Town services, activities, and programs of the Town to assure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

 

Department Revenue Estimates

 

The Clerk’s Office does not directly generate revenue.

 

Departmental Base Budget Cost Estimates

 

CATEGORY	2000-01 Original Budget	2000-01 Revised Budget	2000-01 Estimated	2001-02 Requested	% Increase From Original Budget
Personnel	183,317	183,317	183,317	183,709	.21%
Operations	105,509	129,040	128,305	132,864	25.93%
Capital Equipment	6,100	6,100	6,100	2,500	N/A
TOTAL	294,926	318,457	317,722	319,073	8.19%

 

 

 

Key Issues

 

·        The Clerk’s proposed budget reflects an increase of 25.93% in the Operations budget, due primarily to cover expenses associated with the local election in November of this year.

 

·        No other significant changes are reflected.

 

Services Going Well

 

• The preparation of Council minutes.

 

• The Town Code of Ordinances was recently reformatted, updated and published to enhance readability and usefulness.  Code revisions are included in the Code within two days of adoption.

 

• Providing information services to citizens, Town Council and Town staff.

 

• Council agenda packets prepared and delivered as scheduled.

 

Services That Could Be Improved

 

• Updating of electronic mailing lists.  We continue to develop our database of email addresses to transmit information regarding Town Council agendas, Town services, etc.  This method of providing information continues to enhance the process.

 

• Response time for information delivery.  The Clerk’s Office receives dozens of requests for information daily, and we are striving to reduce the period of time between receipt of the request and providing the information.

 

Potential Additions or Reductions

 

Secretary I

 

The need for additional clerical help has been and continues to be a priority in the Clerk’s Office.  Staff must devote the majority of their time to high priority tasks, such as preparation of Council agenda materials and Council/citizen/staff requests.  Attention to these priorities leaves little time to devote to general office tasks, such as filing, indexing, and data entry.

 

The need for additional secretary assistance with day-to-day operations in the Manager’s Office is also becoming a priority.

 

The addition of a Secretary I would result in reduced time spent by professional staff on clerical tasks.

 

Potential costs/savings are estimated as follows:

 

            Secretary I                                                                   $23,049

            Computer/Printer                                                             2,400

 

                                                                                                $25,449

 

            Savings to Clerk’s Office through reassignment

               of part-time Mail Clerk to Personnel Department            ($8,473)

 

                                                TOTAL COST                       $16,976

 

If the cost of a Secretary I was shared by the Manager’s Office ($8,488), the result would be an additional increase in the overall Manager’s proposed budget of .02%, and .03% in the Town Clerk’s overall proposed budget.