City Council Meeting ~ Special Budget Session #2

Memorandum To: Mayor Giordani and Bellevue Common Council From: Amy Phelps, City Clerk Re: Budget Workshop #2 Date: July 14, 2026 Purpose As part of the FY27 budget discussion, the Council has expressed interest in opening City Hall to the public on Fridays. This memorandum outlines operafional considerafions, potenfial budget impacts, and suggested performance measures to assist the Council in evaluafing whether expanding public office hours aligns with the City's service priorifies, workforce sustainability, and budget goals. Current Level of Service The City currently provides public counter service Monday through Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. This is a 10 hours each day that accommodates residents who work a standard business day in that we are available early morning and after 5pm. In addifion, residents have access to numerous services outside of in-person office visits, including:  Online ufility bill payment through Xpress Bill Pay  Electronic applicafions and forms through CivicReview  Email communicafion with City staff  Telephone assistance during business hours  Informafion and updates through the City's website and social media plafforms These tools have expanded accessibility while allowing staff to efficiently manage administrafive responsibilifies and respond to resident needs. Evaluafing Service Levels 1 Opening City Hall on Fridays would represent an increase in the City's current level of public service. As with any proposed service expansion, it is appropriate to evaluate both the anficipated public benefit and the operafional resources required to sustain that level of service. The City of Bellevue exists to serve the residents of Bellevue, and every budget decision should support that mission. At the same fime, it is important to recognize that every service the City provides is delivered by employees. Whether processing ufility payments, administering elecfions, issuing licenses and permits, maintaining public records, maintaining and operafing City water and sewer facilifies, answering resident quesfions, or managing City finances, these services are only possible because of the dedicated employees who carry them out each day. In other words, residents are the heart of our community, and City employees are the heart of City Hall. City employees are the people who transform Council policy into the everyday services residents rely upon. Supporfing employees and serving residents are not compefing priorifies. They are interconnected. Invesfing in a stable, capable workforce is ulfimately an investment in the quality, consistency, and reliability of resident services. Documented Public Demand While individual Council Members have shared that they have received comments from residents requesfing Friday office hours, the City has not collected data regarding:  The number of residents requesfing Friday access  The types of services requested  Whether those services could already be completed online, by phone, or by appointment  Whether current office hours have prevented residents from accessing City services For the three years that City Hall has operated within a four-day work week, staff has not maintained records demonstrafing recurring demand for Friday public counter service. Addifionally, during elecfion filing periods when City Hall has been opened on Fridays to accommodate statutory filing deadlines, staff has observed no walk-in public ufilizafion. These observafions are limited and should not be considered a comprehensive study, however, they suggest that demand for Friday in-person services may be lower than anficipated. Budget and Operafional Considerafions Expanding Friday office hours should be evaluated alongside both its financial costs, addifional burden placed on employees, and its potenfial impact on the City's ability to maintain high- quality resident services over fime. 2 Potenfial considerafions include:  Addifional building operafion and ufility costs associated with opening City Hall an addifional day each week.  Administrafive and scheduling adjustments necessary to provide consistent customer service across a five-day workweek.  Potenfial impacts on employee recruitment and retenfion. The current four-day work schedule has become an established condifion of employment and has served as a valuable recruitment and retenfion tool in an increasingly compefifive labor market. Addifional workdays per week have significant associated personal expenses, including childcare, the need to ufilize more vacafion fime due to the lack of built in days off, and commufing costs such as fuel, depreciafion, maintenance, and increased likelihood of accidents.  Future staffing flexibility should workloads increase or addifional coverage become necessary.  The viability of Common Council and Planning & Zoning Commission meefings to maintain their current Monday evening schedule while having all the necessary staff available on Mondays. Shifting off the Monday meefing schedules would likely create delays in the reporfing in the Idaho Mountain Express, reducing the amount of public knowledge of the happenings at City Hall. Like employers across Idaho, the City confinues to compete for qualified employees while facing rising costs of living and increasing service expectafions. A supporfive workplace, compefifive pay and benefits, and work-life balance all contribute to employee retenfion. Retaining experienced staff preserves insfitufional knowledge, reduces turnover and training costs, and allows the City to provide consistent, responsive service to residents. Speaking on behalf of the Clerk/Administrafive Department, we take great pride in the work we do and in serving the Bellevue community. Every day we assist residents with ufility accounts, licensing, public records, financial transacfions, and countless other services. While concerns and complaints are an important part of improving government and should always be taken seriously, staff also regularly receive sincere expressions of appreciafion from residents who recognize the professionalism, responsiveness, and care provided by City employees. The goal is not to priorifize employees over residents, or residents over employees. Rather, it is to maintain an appropriate balance—supporfing the workforce that delivers City services while confinuing to provide excepfional customer service to the public. One makes the other possible. Measuring Success: 3 If the Council chooses to transifion to a five-day schedule, staff should monitor the following performance metrics to determine if the change measurably provides public benefit relafive to the costs associated: Performance Measure Success Indicator Friday walk-in customers Average weekly and monthly visits Friday ufility payment transacfions Number of in-person payments processed Friday permit or license applicafions Number submifted in person Friday phone calls requiring staff Volume compared to other weekdays assistance Online transacfions Changes in online ufilizafion after Friday hours are implemented Resident feedback Formal surveys or documented service requests Cost per resident served Compare operafional costs with actual Friday ufilizafion Conclusion: Based on the informafion currently available, the City has not collected data demonstrafing sustained public demand for Friday public office hours. Exisfing online services, telephone assistance, and electronic forms confinue to provide residents with mulfiple avenues to access City services outside of in-person visits. Should the Council determine that expanding Friday office hours aligns with its policy priorifies, establishing measurable performance metrics before implementafion would provide an objecfive basis for evaluafing the effecfiveness of the expanded service. Tracking ufilizafion, resident feedback, and operafional costs over a six- to twelve-month period would allow the Council to determine whether the addifional level of service is achieving its intended purpose and providing measurable value to Bellevue residents. The City's confinued investment in online services has expanded accessibility while allowing staff to efficiently manage administrafive responsibilifies. Evaluafing future service levels using measurable data, demonstrated community need, fiscal responsibility, and operafional impacts will help ensure that decisions are informed by objecfive outcomes and aligned with the City's long-term service goals. 4