Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout05032010BUD MinutesPivot HOME OF PELICAN ISLAND CITY OF SEBASTIAN BUDGET REVIEW ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES MONDAY, May 3, 2010 6:00 P.M CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN, FLORIDA Chairman Ed Herlihy called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance Present: Ed Herlihy, Jerry Klenck, Christine Vicars, Edward Kroah Staff Members Present: Debra Krueger- Administrative Services Director; Al Minner- City Manager; Kenneth Killgore- Finance Director. Roll Call. Absent were board members Harry Marshall, Brad White and Adrina Davis Chairperson Herlihy made a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting on February 8, 2010. Motion made by Ed Kroah and seconded by Christine Vicars to approve the minutes. Chairperson Herlihy made mention of the memo he wrote on April 21, 2010. He advised that he will not be discussing the memo at this meeting, but if everyone will be present at the workshop on May 17 it will be discussed there. He advised the committee that if they have other issues, they need to get them to Ken Killgore for discussion at the workshop. There being no questions or comments, he wanted to discuss the 2 ❑d Quarter Budget Report. He inquired of the Board members if they had any questions, comments, ideas or thoughts. Board member Christine Vicars inquired of when negotiations with the two unions would begin. Ms. Krueger advised the process would begin on June l The other question Ms. Vicars had was regarding the Capital Report. She was curious as to what percentage of the work was complete. Ms. Krueger advised that if you see 100% on the report, you can assume that the work was complete. Ms. Vicars made reference to the Yacht Club and the George Street Ditch projects, the report indicated that a large amount of money had been spent but the report shows 0% completion. Mr. Killgore advised that that represents an error on the report. Ms. Krueger informed her that it should be up to about 70 to 80% complete. Ms. Vicars' other question was about the CDs that we had with National City, since they have been bought out by PNC Bank, has there been any change in the interest rate? Mr. Killgore confirmed that PNC bank has acquired it but there has been no change in the terms or the interest rate. Board member Ed Kroah inquired as to what was included in the Non Departmental expenses. Mr. Killgore replied that the biggest share is the insurance, the general liability policies, the CRA contributions, the Employee Events, Utilities, some Consultants fees; if an appraisal fee is needed during the year, and if council directs us to look at a property. Mr. Minner stated that CRA and Insurance is about $500,000; employee program such as education reimbursement, PEA, employee appreciation is approximately $15,000. Utilities would be about $50,000 and some other lighting. Ms. Krueger advised that she will make a copy of the budget page for the Committee. Chairman Herlihy also inquired about the insurance. He is assuming that we are talking about all insurance with the exception of the employee medical insurance. Mr. Minner advised that it is General Liability. Mr. Minner continued to explain that General Liability, Health Insurance, and Workers Compensation. The Health Insurance covers Health, Life, Vision, and Dental. Those three separate lines you will see in the budget. You will see the General Liability and Non- Departmental. You will see that the Workers Compensation has a line of it's own in each depaitniental budget, and then you will see health insurance and that covers Dental, Vision and Life and that is in each individual budget. They are all in the Personnel section. Mr. Killgore wanted to minimize the confusion and to clarify that that does not include the Enterprise Fund portion when you are viewing the general fund. The Enterprise Fund has their share of the insurance. Board member Jerry Kenck inquired as to why were there so many "nos" on the Crime Status Report especially for the number of arrests made. The Police Department is one of our budget items and is a 110% of property taxes. Mr. Killgore stated that this was the first time we have presented this information. Mr. Herlihy also inquired as to whether there is a reason behind it? Why do we have it? Mr. Killgore advised that the Police Department told him this information should be included in the report. Mr. Minner assured the board that he would have the Chief send them a memo of explanation. Mr. Klenck inquired about the City's Garage, have we thought about putting it up for sale or moving it to the Airport? Mr. Minner replied that a couple of ideas were tossed around. We are currently doing an internal review on whether we should contract out the garage services, services such as changing tires, changing oil, general maintenance on automobiles, and assisting with equipment repairs. To date we have had three employees and a part time employee, and a significant amount of inventories being purchased, inventories that don't necessarily hit the budget. Based on some of those reviews, myself, Ken Killgore and Debra Krueger will sit down with the garage employees, and by mid June we will have a recommendation as to whether we will keep the garage or to contract it out. We will still need a facility for parking vehicles, employee break room, Public Works meeting rooms, gasoline, storage of equipment etc. We still have a requirement for a location. What will make it less expensive is if we do not have the garage type items such as a Lift which won't be needed. We have not thought of selling that property first before relocating the garage. We could either keep the property for other public uses or do a public /private partnership. He thinks the best thing to do is not sell that property. If we do decide to relocate, we would need to purchase a building and capitalize on the economy. There have been several industrial buildings that have become available that are extremely reasonable in price. The Ford Wire building on Roseland Road went on sale at an auction, it did not sell, but the going price was $500,000 for 50,000 sq.ft facility on 10 acres and railroad spur. We did not think we could move that fast to get it and he thinks we made the right decision. I heard that there is a pending sale, and he will look into it and get back with the Board. Our current options are either to buy or build. If we build or buy it would cost about $500,000. If we build he thinks it will be at the Airport. If we do build at the Airport we would have to enter into a lease with the Airport. We currently charge ourselves 15 cents per sq.ft for raw land lease. We may need about 2 acres which would cost us about $25,000 annually just to lease from the Airport. Long term, if we can put together a facility that is not expensive, it may financially pay off. One way to get out of the lease is to do a service transfer. This lease is governed by the FAA. We can take the employees in the Airport and put them in the General Fund and financially call it "The General Fund contributing to the Airport in lieu of employee dedication." Whether we do a payment to the Airport Fund or not; either way we will be looking at increasing our expenditure in the General Fund. Long term we will have to reexamine where our personnel are. All these things work together. To answer the question as to what to do with the Garage. We can do a potential purchase, and if so, do we move it, buy something, or do we move to the Airport. Board member Jerry Klenck inquired if we lease at the airport, we would essentially be taking money from one pocket and putting it in the other. Mr. Minner responded that it would be an even trade. We would be taking money from the General Fund to pay the Airport. It would be good for the Airport because the Airport needs the cash, but it would be bad for the General Fund because the General Fund is struggling in terms of the operating costs. Mr. Klenck also inquired if the Airport is self sufficient. Mr. Minner responded that the Airport is self sufficient to a certain extent. It can handle its personnel, its operating expenses and its maintenance. The Airport is struggling when it comes to Capital projects, and finding grant matches for FDOT and FAA grants that we bring, and when we had to borrow for the settlement with J &S and for the DST funds to build the LoPresti hanger. Operation wise we are okay, capital wise we have to be creative, even with the grants. Mr. Klenck inquired if there was any further information about the annexation. Mr. Minner stated that Council talked a little about it at their workshop last week. Everyone is of the opinion that Commercial and Industrial annexation needs to be looked into. We are growing in the understanding that we need to look into residential annexation when it makes sense. We did have some discussion regarding the Hansen property at the south west corner of CR510 and CR512. He doesn't see a lot of property to annex, but for the foreseeable future, in the next 1 to 3 years, we will see smaller areas, less than 10 acres being filled in on U.S Highway 1. Mr. Klenck's other question was, had we ever talked merger with Roseland. Mr. Minner replied that we never have. Mr. Klenck continued that he remembered when they were trying to merge Melbourne and Eau Galle into a county and it did not work out well for both cities. Mr Minner replied that it was discussed before, where he thought it would be beneficial is that some of our land regulations would go over to Roseland and help color the map and help protect and keep their identity, however it would help them fit into our comprehensive plans. The negative side is I do not see it being a revenue neutral thing immediately. As you can see our Police Department expenditure right now is a 110% of our General Fund. Whatever we bring in for them (Roseland) would: A. Further stretch out our Police Department, and whatever we bring in would mean that we would have to add two or three more officers to cover it. b. Whatever we take in as Ad Velorem revenue is probably going to be eaten up by the Police Dept. However, there are not a lot of people in Roseland who are in favor of annexation. From his dealings with Roseland, he does not believe they are interested. Mr. Klenck asked if our Police Department assists Roseland in their Commercial area, to which Mr. Minner said yes, we do with our inter -local agencies. Especially in the Commercial corridor, where the Sebastian Hospital, Publix, and the Banks are located. He reminded the Board that a few years ago when they had the bank robbery, it was the Sebastian Police Department that actually chased the robbers over into Brevard County. It is fair to say we help them more than they help us, but the day will come when we will need them they will be there for us too. I think those inter -local agreements are important. Mr. Klenck also inquired about the mandatory solid waste. He wanted to know although the public voted "no" to the mandatory pickup, does it have to be put back out again to the public? Mr. Minner replied that we voted on the solid waste long ago. We should not move to do any kind of solid waste service by the city other than the franchise agreement unless it is mandatory. It has become incredibly hard to do a mandatory waste pickup unless you do one of two things: 1. You have the sanitary and water and sewer charges tied in together, and when the residents receive their water and sewer bill, they would get base billed for solid waste collection. Without a water /sewer system If we were to have a mandatory pickup, then have to have an assessment done so that your collection for solid waste is assessed as in the storm water fee to ensure that we will have that money and to assure that everyone is doing it. Waste Management states that they now have 45 50% participation, which is about 5,000 customers. I don't believe there has been a public outcry for mandatory pickup, and if it went back to a referendum I think it will fail again. Mr. Klenck asked does it have to go before referendum? Of which Mr. Minner replied that it does not. Council could vote on an assessment and they could mandate it. Mr. Klenck informed Mr. Minner that there are very few cities that do not have it, and he has seen lots of garbage on the side of the road, blown off trucks on their way to the dump. Mr. Minner agreed that most cities do have mandatory collection. Chairperson Mr. Herlihy inquired if anyone knew why we received the police report. Mr. Minner stated that he will seek some clarification from the Chief, although in the past we have gotten some type of data; but he will get an answer for him. Ms. Vicars stated that she thinks it could be the accomplishment report. Mr. Minner agreed that it could be that the Chief is showing the details on the report. The `yes" and "nos" are the cases that are solved or not solved. And when you look at the percentage of crimes in the city, he thinks that only 25 -30% get settled and solved. If you are in the 25 -30% range you are doing pretty good, but he has not discussed it with Chief Morris. Mr. Herlihy inquired about the Accomplishment Memo. Has it been around a long time? It seems as if people put a lot of time getting the report completed, is it useful? Mr. Minner advised him that the report has been around for a long time and it is important, because it represents what we have achieved. He doesn't believe enough people look at the report. If we look back three years from now or even three months from now, we can see what we have or have not accomplished. He thinks it is important if Council or the general public go through the report so they can see the things that the departments do. For example, when you look at the Public Works Department, you could see some of the things they are solving, the drainage complaints they are tackling etc. The report is a self evaluation for what has been accomplished and what is yet to be accomplished. He does believe there is some merit to having the report. Mr. Herlihy agreed with Mr. Minner, he stated that there is an awful lot of good information in the report. For instance, he took a look at the MIS report, and he was surprised to see the number of attacks we have had on our computer system. Mr. Minner listed a few of the Public Works roads projects such as fixing potholes, fixing billboard on 1 -95 clean up fill pile, repair George Street, tree trimming etc. These are just a few of the things that are listed on these reports. Mr. Herlihy also inquired about the massive amount of paper that we seem to move around, papers such as the City Council packet which has about 400 pages. When you think of the number of pages multiplied by five council members, and others who would be receiving those pages as well, that is an awful number of trees to cut down. He would like to see that process go electronic. The only problem now is we would have to get Council to go along with it. Mr. Killgore advised that everyone wants transparency, and when we ask for transparency, the cost we pay is killing trees. Ms. Vicars wanted to know if the accomplishment report was hand written or is done on a database? Mr. Killgore responded that some are entered into Excel and some are Word document, it is then sent to him and he pulls it all together and makes it one document. Mr. Herlihy stated that as far as the budget is concerned, we had our questions answered tonight. And it looks good. We will know more by the third quarter. Mr. Killgore added that for some intergovernmental revenues such as the '/z cent sales tax, we are slightly ahead of the budget, even though it is less than last year, and we did anticipate when we budgeted that we would lose some revenues in those areas; and the Departments are right in line with their spending. Chairman Herlihy inquired about investments. We have approximately 5.8 million invested with the State Board Administration. With the State Board having their share of troubles in the past, has it affected us? Mr. Killgore replied that about a year ago November is when things started to go down hill with the State's program. Many cities were concerned about what they were investing in and pulled their monies out. We did not get to pull our monies out before they put a clamp on it. We did not lose any principal. The majority of our money is in an fund growing the interest rate as it would in a Money Market account. We did not accrue any interest for the month of December while the State Board was cleaning up their act. They currently have a website to show the kind of investments that they in, and they now have professional Money Managers. They also created an internal Special Review Committee or Board; the Governor, the Chief Financial Officer and the Insurance Commissioner. They have learned from their bad experience. Mr. Herlihy wanted some clarification on the amount of money we have in the account, he thinks it's $7.34 million in an interest bearing account. Mr. Killgore advised that in the past we have invested in US Government securities accounts that were short term, and as they matured we cashed them out and put it in our bank account which is drawing .4 When we review what is in the marketplace today, we cannot raise a higher yield. Unless the interest rate increases, it is best to leave it where it is. The bank is doing good by us. Chairman Herlihy asked the board if they had any other questions to which Mr. Klenck inquired about the street lights. Other cities and states are turning off the lights, they have no choice, they cannot pay their bills. Mr. Minner replied that since the last time this question was asked, we did a spreadsheet. If we did not run the lights between 2 and 4, and the saving wasn't a huge amount. Mr. Klenck continued that he had a conversation with Chief Morris about the lights and she suggested that we could rotate the times, no one would know when the lights would be off or on. Mr. Minner advised that we will take a look at this again probably around the budget time, we would definitely need to have the input of Jerry Converse, Public Works Director and Chief Morris. Mr. Converse would have to deal with the vandalism such as graffiti etc. Keeping the lights on does have some value, but we will revisit this again. Chairman Herlihy also stated that the lights on Indian River Blvd come on during the daylight. Mr. Minner said he was not aware of it. Mr. Herlihy continued that there are three sections of street lights; north, south, and middle, and they come on at different times. He doesn't know if they are on a timer or photocell. They are coming on too soon. I think it is on a photocell because it came on during a thunderstorm. Mr. Minner advised that he will talk to Mr. Converse about it. In conclusion, Mr. Herlihy inquired if the board had any great comments for our friends on the City Council. If, not, we won't waste any Council time. He did make notes which were all covered in the action memo with the resolution. He also inquired if anyone on the board thinks we need to add anything to this quarter. With the board responding that there being nothing to add, he proposed a motion to send it to council. This was seconded by Board member Kroah. Chairman Herlihy reminded the Board that the next meeting will be in two weeks from tonight. They will meet upstairs, and the meeting will begin at 6:00 pm. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m. Adopted at Meeting of June 14, 2010: Ed Herlihy, Chairman ate