That is except for a handful, including Sunnyvale resident Ray Crump who came to talk about sewer lines.

Over the course of both day-long, Saturday meetings, less than 10 voices of non-staff were heard. And even though meetings were broadcast so people could watch at home, Sunnyvale Communications Officer John Pilger said the city received less than a dozen responses over the phone or by mail.

"We know the realities, we know we're not going to get hundreds of people," Pilger said. "But it's frustrating when we don't hear from people."

The city began publicizing the meetings over a month ago, announcing the council would hold four public meetings to include the people of Sunnyvale in the process of deciding where limited funds are going this year.

The last two meetings were the first round and on April 10 and 17, the council will begin applying priorities to a preliminary budget. Those meetings are also all-day Saturday meetings, open to the public.

The budget process, which will be complete in late June, is especially important this year because the layoffs and large-scale service cuts avoided last year will not be so easily dodged this time. Much of the city's "fat," was trimmed away last year when over 60 vacant positions were cut.

"We have an idea that the budget needs to be 'less' this year, but that's all we know at this point," Vice-Mayor Dean Chu said.

Budget uncertainties make these meetings even more important because the staff reports give a comprehensive look at every city service, who it serves, what it costs and why it is done.

"With expecting a budget gap as we are comes the expectation that there will have to be some adjustment in service and staffing levels," Pilger said. "The only way the council can intelligently and responsibly reduce services is to know what those services are."

To educate the council and the public, the directors of each of the city's department gave presentations on their services and prioritized each one according to severity and need, ranging from "optional," to "legally mandated."

Chu, who has been on the council for less than six months, said the education portion of the meetings went very well.

"I wouldn't say I'm an expert at any of this, but I feel that I have more knowledge of it now," Chu said.

Much of the meetings involved the council assigning values to services. The hope was that the public would also present opinions on what services could be cut should a need arise and which ones should be protected at all costs.

"The earlier people speak up, the more information the council gets and the less likely they'll cut something the people want."

One example discussed at the meeting was city maintenance of sewer laterals—lines connecting individual homes to large sewer mains.

During last year's crunch, the city's free service to these laterals was cut, forcing private citizens to pay for maintenance should a pipe get clogged or damaged.

After members of the public—including Ray Crump —one of only a handful of private citizens on hand at the last meeting—spoke up, councilman Fred Fowler had city staff looked into returning the service, perhaps at a small fee. Crump attended the meeting to make sure the council knew that it was a problem, even though he has never had problems with the laterals at his own home.

"I think its an excellent opportunity for the public to give input to the council and not be in a regular council meeting where there are other items for discussion in the meeting," Crump said.

Crump applauded the city's efforts to be open with the public, especially in light of the secrecy surrounding recent council actions including the handling of former City Manager Bob LaSala's exit from city employment.

"I think it's an excellent efforts to have open government," Crump said. "The more open it can be, the better it is."