SUMMARY MINUTES OF A BUDGET WORK SESSION
OF THE CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999 AT 6:00 P.M.
Mayor Rosemary Waldorf called the work session to order at 6:04 p.m.
Council Members present were Flicka Bateman, Joyce Brown, Joe Capowski, Julie McClintock, and Edith Wiggins. Council Member Kevin Foy arrived at 6:40 p.m. Council Member Pat Evans arrived at 7:59 p.m. Council Member Lee Pavăo was absent, excused.
Staff members present were Town Manager Cal Horton, Assistant Town Managers Sonna Loewenthal and Florentine Miller, Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos, Assistant to the Manager Ruffin Hall, Fire Chief Dan Jones, Police Chief Ralph Pendergraph, Police Captain Tony Oakley, Public Works Director Bruce Heflin, Public Works Administrative Assistant Randy Ballard, Public Works Field Operations Superintendent Richard Terrell, Finance Director Jim Baker, Accounting and Financial Systems Manager Kay Johnson, Development Coordinator J.B. Culpepper, Long Range Planner Claudia Paine, Community Development Planner Loryn Barnes, Inspections Director John Davis, Engineering Director George Small, Parks and Recreation Director Kathryn Spatz, Transportation Director Bob Godding, Personnel Director Pat Thomas, and Town Clerk Joyce Smith.
Item 1 – Discussion of the Manager’s 1999-2000 Recommended Budget
and 1999-2004 Recommended Capital Improvements Program
Mr.
Horton called the attention of the Council to the revised spreadsheet included
in the packet as a worksheet, updated to reflect the recommended budget
proposals. He noted that the chart
included the preliminary proposal the staff had submitted to the Council
earlier as well as department proposals.
Item 2 – Consideration of the Pay Plan and Related Personnel Items
Pat
Thomas, Personnel Director, described the extensive process the Town underwent
to develop the new pay plan. She noted
that the Council met with the Consultant four times and submitted their ideas,
concerns and priorities through a questionnaire to the employees. Ms. Thomas said that over half of the
employees participated in several meetings on concerns and understanding of the
system, adding that all employees were given the opportunity to
participate. Ms. Thomas said that the
Council’s top priority was a simplified system, and 89% of the employees
responding to the survey said that they understood the proposed new
system. She went through the
objectives:
Objective 1: Create a simpler system—accomplished through
the addition of salary schedule “steps,” specified salary points which the
Consultant recommended because it was easy to explain and understand, thus
providing predictable movement for salaries during the first years of
employment, and helping to prevent salary compression where new employees’
salaries quickly reach those of longer term employees.
Objective 2: Address pay compression—with 5 years Town
service—salary moved to Job Rates; with 4 years of service to Step 3; with 2-3
years of service to Step 2; and with 1 year of service to Step 1.
Objective 3: Provide career advancement—salary steps show
employees how their salaries advance to the Job Rate in the first years of
employment; current departmental career advancement and training initiatives
continue.
Objective 4: Encourage retention—potential for continued
salary movement is important throughout employment; 4.75% average merit salary
increase recommended for employees; and reward long-term employees over newer
employees with a longevity pay plan recommended to continue (provides lump sum
payment annually that begins after 5 years of Town employment).
Objective 5: Reward good performance—4.75% average merit
increase recommended; amount individual employee receives would vary based on
performance rating; most of the merit increase affects base pay; portion of
rating for Outstanding granted as a lump sum (not built into base pay); portion
of increase over the range maximum also granted as a lump sum.
Objective 6: Maintain market competitiveness—salary
schedule rates recommended to increase 3% based on market trends on November 1st;
assess current competitiveness with the labor market and conduct a
classification study by a labor consultant during FY 1999-2000, collecting data
at the 75th percentile.
Objective 7: Create an affordable system—(a) budget
controls on increases: merit increases allocated through use of a formula, so
the previous 10% limit on Outstanding rating could be eliminated; (b) system
costs: annualized costs for FY 1999-2000 compensation increases were
approximately the same as last year compensation increases. The costs are allocated: 62% for steps
increases and compression adjustments; 35% for 4.75% average merit increase;
2.5% for 3% increase to the new minimum or probationary step.
In FY 2000-2001—Steps:
employees’ salaries would move to the next highest step in the range;
compression: future compression prevented as employees’ salaries move each year
to a new step—no need for further compression adjustments below the Job Rate;
performance evaluations: in 1999-2000, Meets/Exceeds category of performance
rating still combined, rest of 1999 and early 2000: departments work to improve
work standards and conduct supervisory training; October 1, 2000, ratings based
on separate categories of Meets Expectations, Exceeds Expectations, and
Outstanding; competing at 75th percentile: after 4 years of
successful performance, salary would have moved by steps to the Job Rate, which
would be competitive with the 75th percentile in the local market,
would help the Town compete and retain employees in the tight local employment
market.
In 2000-2001 and
beyond—after transition to the 75th percentile annualized costs to
maintain the system are anticipated to be approximately the same as this year’s
costs.
Council
Member Wiggins asked, regarding the Outstanding Rating, what the portion would
be between base pay and bonus pay. Ms.
Thomas said it would depend on how many Outstanding Ratings there were when all
the departments turned in their performance ratings and how the formula would
apply.
Council
Member Wiggins asked if the employees who had participated in the procedure
accepted the formula. Ms. Thomas said
people overwhelmingly said that merit increases should be added to base pay.
Council
Member McClintock asked, regarding the 4.75% average merit salary increase,
what the average increase was. Ms.
Thomas said that would be the average increase for 238 people over the midpoint
and approximately 3% of that was based on market trends generally. She said that the amount that a person would
get for an increase would be based upon their performance.
Council
Member Bateman asked if everybody above the Job Rate would get the 3%. Ms. Thomas said not if they were below the
Job Rate; they might get an increase from 0-3%.
Council
Member McClintock asked how much differential there was for the percentages;
for instance, what would the percentage increase be for an Outstanding
Rating. Ms. Thomas said that would
depend on how many people were rated Outstanding.
Council
Member McClintock asked if an employee was below the Job Rate, what kind of a
percentage could they expect. Ms.
Thomas said that would depend on the step the employee was on.
Council
Member McClintock said that she would like assurances that every employee would
get a cost-of-living increase. She said
that she was bothered by the fact that so much of the system was based on
merit, and hoped that the standards by which the employee was evaluated would
be fair. Council Member McClintock
asked if the consultant would assist in setting up the standards. Ms. Thomas said that there was limited
amount of money, and the staff was asking for a year before implementation.
Mayor
Waldorf said that it was her understanding that 3% of the 4.75% was
cost-of-living, and the rest was a merit opportunity. Ms. Thomas said that was correct and it only applied to people
over the Job Rate.
Council
Member Brown asked if Ms. Thomas could address steps and how that process
entered into the compression. Ms.
Thomas said that people with 5 years service to the Town would be moved up to
the mid-point, people with 4 years service would be moved to step 3, people
with 2-3 years service would be moved to step 2, and people with 1 year service
would be moved to step 1, which would spread out the steps and would take care
of the current compression. She said
that next year people would move up to step 2 and people coming in new would be
starting with salaries below those already employed, and in each subsequent
year they would move up a step until they reached Job Rate.
Mayor
pro tem Capowski asked what was in the general payroll fund for salaries and
benefits for the coming year, and if it was the same number as in the base
budget that was proposed. Mr. Horton
said that it would be a different number because this year was based on 9
months and next year would be based on a full year. Finance Director Jim Baker said that on page 93 of the budget,
the personnel services component, which included salaries and benefits, was
almost $19.5 million for the General Fund.
Mr. Horton said that in order to have the numbers for the base budget
for the coming year, they would need to subtract out the positions that had
been added.
Mayor
pro tem Capowski said that the recommended budget called for $632,000 for
increased salaries and fringe benefits in the General Fund. He said that as a Council Member he was
concerned by the total amount of the fund.
He asked, if the Council said that it would give the amount of money
requested, or somewhere close to it, in the General Fund and a proportional
amount in the other funds, the staff would say the best way to handle that
would be to simply change the implementation date. Ms. Thomas said that she would recommend it. Mr. Horton said that he would agree unless
the Council made the number so low that it required a significant change in
concept.
Council
Member Bateman asked if the staff would venture a threshold figure. Mr. Horton said that the one he put forward
was justified, and he would recommend it.
Council
Member Wiggins said that personnel costs were where the Council had
flexibility, and they should not try to tinker with the pay plan and tear it
apart, because they could really do something with the tax rate by setting the
implementation date.
Mayor
Waldorf said that the Council should leave the pay plan proposal intact. She asked what the definition of “annualized
costs” was. Ms. Thomas said that was to
show costs if implemented July 1, for a full year.
Mayor
Waldorf asked, if the Council approved the pay plan, as proposed, to start
October 1st, and next year stuck with the same pay plan, taking the
75th percentile out, how much the Town would be paying next year and
what the additional increment every year would be. Mr. Horton said that if the Council made no change at all in the
pay system, and just held rates constant, then it would have to pay three more
months worth of salary, or one-quarter of the amount. He said that if the
Council continued to make the sorts of changes that they had made
traditionally, it would be on the order of 3-5%, which was about the way the
economy had been running, and the way the Town’s increases had been running for
the last several years. Ms. Thomas said
that she would anticipate that without the 75th percentile
component, it would probably be less next year, in terms of dollars. Mr. Horton said he thought it would be no
greater than, and was likely to be somewhat less than, the amount that the Town
had been spending. He said that he felt that it would depend more on the
general economy than anything else.
Council
Member Brown asked if the calculation the Manager had given the Council
included the twelve months, the 25% addition.
Mr. Horton said that it would be 25% more because of the twelve months. He said that it would be 3-5% more than if
the Council made another change. Mr.
Horton said that the implementation date was something the Council could change
to help regulate the costs.
Council
Member Brown asked if the implementation date was October 1st, she
did not understand why that would require a 25% increase next year, if the Town
went from October 1st. Mr. Horton said that it would be one quarter
more in costs, 25%.
Mayor
pro tem Capowski said that the current budget increase was for 2/3 of next
year. Mr. Horton said yes, from
November 1st through June 30th.
Mayor
pro tem Capowski said that the figures all worked out and what the Council had
to determine was how much money it would allow versus how much of a tax
increase it would require.
Council
Member McClintock asked, referring to the 3%, if it related to the economy and
if it was the same 3% that Mayor Waldorf had referred to earlier. Mr. Horton said in essence it was, that the
3% change in the pay rates was based on assessment of what the wage market had
done, which was a general reflection of the economy.
Council
Member McClintock asked when the pay plan would start. Mr. Horton said that the Council could start
any time that it wanted, and the staff was recommending November as a
compromise, and the staff could implement the pay plan on any date.
Mayor
Waldorf suggested that the Council should make a decision as to whether it was
going to accept the pay plan intact and then make a tentative decision about a
start date, with the understanding that it could be changed later.
Council
Member Wiggins asked if, by implementation on October 29th, the
savings were $73,000, what the savings would be on the tax rate. The answer was about .025 cents.
Council
Member Wiggins asked, noting that on November 5th the savings was
$91,100, which was about three-tenths of a cent, if overall the Manager was
recommending 3.3 cents increase, and if that would take it down to 3
cents. Mr. Horton said that moving it
from November 1st to November 5th would only be about a
$14,000 savings.
Council
Member Foy said that there would be a $91,100 savings moving implementation
from October 1st to November 1st.
Council
Member Wiggins said that she would like to see what the savings on the tax rate
would be with the different implementation dates.
Council
Member Foy asked what the effect would be of implementing the first phase
November 1st and the second phase January 1st.
Mr.
Horton said, in answer to Council Member Wiggins question regarding savings on
the tax rate, that about every four weeks there would be about Ľ cent reduction
on the tax rate.
Council
Member Foy said that he would like to propose that pay increases be implemented
in two phases, one on November 1st and the second on January 1st.
Mayor
Waldorf suggested that the Council discuss this proposal.
Council
Member Brown said that the tax rate increase beginning November 1st
would be 3.3 cents. Mr. Horton said
that would be the tax rate increase for the entire budget including the pay
system being installed November 1st.
Council
Member Wiggins said she wanted the figures for the tax rate savings for each
one of the implementation dates listed in the memorandum. She said that she would like the total
calculation of each one. Mr. Horton
said he would do the calculation for the exact amount.
Mayor
Waldorf wanted to clarify the phases: everybody would get all of the increases
recommended at the phase 1 implementation date, and the 198 employees over the
Job Rate would receive the remaining 1.75% average increase based on performance
rating at the phase 2 implementation date.
Ms. Thomas said that by delaying the 1.75% increase it would save
$31,500 in the General Fund.
Council
Member Wiggins asked Council Member Foy if by his suggestion he considered the
3.3 cent increase in the tax rate all right.
Council Member Foy said that he wanted to consider the phase system as
an option as they moved forward.
Council
Member Wiggins suggested that a way to decide on the implementation date for
the pay proposal would be for the Council to consider what tax rate increase
would be acceptable, and then decide on the implementation date. She felt that
otherwise they would be “nickel and dimeing” the budget.
Mayor
pro tem Capowski said that the savings of $31,500 was from $170,000 not
$632,000. Ms. Thomas said that the
savings would be around $20,000 to do the pay proposal in two phases.
Mayor
pro tem Capowski said that he agreed with Council Member Wiggins but felt that
it was more important to give the pay increases to the employees and subtract
more from the social services contribution.
He said that he had some proposals for savings that would have nothing
to do with the employees salary proposals, and would get to that when the
matters were discussed.
Mayor
Waldorf said that she wanted to get the tax rate increase down below 3 cents,
and was not willing to take that all out of pay increases.
Mayor
pro tem Capowski said that he did not understand the relationship between the
2.15 cent proposed tax increase for the General Fund and the employees on the
Parking Fund. Mr. Horton said that, if
the date of implementation of the pay plan were pushed back, the Parking Fund
employees would have an addition to the Parking Fund balance. He said that the cost in the General Fund
and the Transportation Fund would have to be reduced by $294,000 in order to
reduce the tax rate by one cent.
The
Council expressed a consensus to accept the pay plan as proposed with two
options: go with the increases on November 1st; or use the two phase
consideration.
Item 3 – Consideration of Budget Working Papers as Desired by the Council.
Mayor
Waldorf suggested going through the list of items and making comments when
necessary.
a. Planning Department
1)
Comparison of planning
fees to other local governments in the region.
The Council did not want to increase fees.
Council Member Brown asked if the inspection
expenses were covered by inspection fees.
Mr. Horton said that in general inspections costs would be covered by
the fees collected and the new inspector costs would be covered by the fees.
2) Report
cost of administering Community Development and HOME programs.
3) List of federal, State, and local funds
proposed for next year’s budget on the affordable housing issue.
4) Report on Capital Improvements Program
funds for development of the aquatics facility at Northern Community Park.
Council Member McClintock asked how much the whole
facility would cost. Mr. Horton said
that the Council had authorized recruitment of persons to serve on a committee
to establish the program for that facility, and once that was done to obtain an
estimate of the cost. He said that the
estimates were from $3-5 million.
b. Engineering Department
1)
Report on funding of
new stormwater position in Engineering.
Council Member Wiggins said the stormwater position
was one of the personnel costs that the Council could talk about, since there
had been some talk of jointly funding this position with Orange County and
Carrboro.
Council Member McClintock said that she wanted to be
convinced that this stormwater engineer would actually be engaged in building
the utility proposed and following the goals outlined. George Small,
Engineering Director, said that there was no one on the staff, except himself,
who had the qualifications and that the objective of the position was
stormwater management.
Council Member McClintock said that she supported
the position but would like to make a request to the County that they consider
sharing the position with Chapel Hill.
Mr. Small felt that would be a problem until the Town could show what
their stake in this position might be.
Council Member Brown said that one of the obvious
stakes that Orange County had was the fact that Town citizens were also
citizens of Orange County.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked, had the Town had this
position during the last two years, if there would have been the problems in
northern Chapel Hill, or much reduced problems. Mr. Small said that one of the reasons for adding this position
was the new focus that the Council was placing on stormwater management. He felt that the Department needed help to
get serious about soil erosion and sedimentation.
Council Member Wiggins asked, if a stormwater
engineer were hired to accomplish the goals outlined, would there still be concerns
like the ones the Town had over the last several months. Mr. Small said that, the addition of a
stormwater engineer would diminish or eliminate many of the problems
experienced.
Council Member Wiggins said that it sounded like
this position was only a part of what it would cost, and that there would
probably have to be more budgetary considerations. Mr. Horton said that the additional costs would be much larger.
Council Member Wiggins asked if the extent to which
results would be seen would be the extent to which the Council might be willing
to fund.
Council Member McClintock said that the Town might
be able to make up some funds by charging people for development projects when
applications were filed.
Mayor Waldorf said that was why the utility was a
good idea, because it was a way to get some capital funding needed for the
whole area.
Council Member Bateman asked if the staff had looked
into any collaboration with N.C. State University. Mr. Small said that they did and worked with them regularly and
he felt that it would be supplemental to the projects that the Town would be
working on.
Council Member Bateman asked if the Town was doing
better on fining people and companies for infractions. Mr. Small said that they were watching more
closely, not yet fining, but had threatened to do so, and were actually
enforcing the regulations already in place.
He said that in the future if Council agreed to it, the Town would issue
more fines and develop more rigorous plans for enforcing the regulations. Mr. Small said the County had to do the
fining.
Council Member Foy agreed that the Town should
figure out a way to coordinate with the County. He asked, regarding a possible referral to OWASA, what the Town’s
long-term plan would be if OWASA said they would take over the utility.
Council Member McClintock said that soil erosion was
the County’s responsibility, but the stormwater utility for Chapel Hill was
really a Town function.
Mr. Small said that the person in this position
would be a staff representative on the committee in working toward implementing
and development subject to approval by the Council. He said, if OWASA should operate this facility, that would be the
time the Town could discuss whether this position would have enough work left
to be funded by the Town or would be moved over to OWASA. Mr. Small noted that the utility was just
one element on which this person would be working, that soil erosion was
another element.
Mayor Waldorf asked, if the County was going to need
a significant program and a stormwater utility to be able to address these
issues in the best possible way, and finance remedies and solutions, why should
this person be hired now before the Town got an agreement between Orange
County, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and OWASA about how the Town was going to
proceed in a more systematic way. Mr.
Small said that this had been presented to OWASA, Orange County and Carrboro,
and he would be getting their comments back, but he felt that it was clear that
there was not going to be any decisions on their part and on the part of the
University until they saw what had developed.
He said that the staff was proposing that Chapel Hill take the lead on
developing this utility, and that Chapel Hill could operate its own utility.
Council Member Wiggins asked, since there were going
to be federal regulations coming soon, if that would be a better time to
proceed with a utility, since the County and Carrboro would then also be
regulated, and there might be a way to have some kind of joint utility. Mr. Small said that was only one piece of
all the things that the Town wanted to do, and the regulations might not
involve Carrboro, under that phase.
Council Member McClintock said that the Town,
knowing that there would be problems, should take the lead.
Council Member Brown asked what kind of progress the
Department could make with present staff working, with cooperation at a talking
level, on developing a program to involve everyone. Mr. Small said that discussions could continue but asked who
would be assigned to the committee, and who would have the time and the
background knowledge needed for focusing on these issues. He said that discussions would not stop if
the position was not approved, that they would do the best that they
could. Mr. Small said that it would
take some time to hire someone and involve them in the process and discussions.
Mayor Waldorf asked for a show of hands of those who
wanted to leave the position in the budget.
Council Members Bateman and McClintock voted yes. The rest of the Council indicated that they
were undecided.
c. Transportation Department
1)
Report on effects of
raising Tarheel express fee to $5.00.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked how much revenue there
would be if the fee was increased to $4.00.
Bob Godding, Transportation Director, answered about $40,000 net for the
system, and its impact on Chapel Hill’s Transportation budget would be about
$17,000-18,000. He said that he had no
problem with the Tar Heel Express increase to $4.00, but an increase to $5.00
would cause a considerable shift to alternatives.
The Council agreed to increase the fare from $3.00
to $4.00.
2) Report on E-Z rider service.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked if the Town could get
help from the County or the Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD). Mr. Horton answered not from
HUD, because it was not the federal agency designated to provide assistance in
this area, the Federal Transit Administration did that. Mr. Godding said that the Orange County
Council on Aging ran the Orange County Transportation system, and bought Chapel
Hill bus passes for their clients. He
said they did not run any services in Chapel Hill. Mr. Horton said that the staff could make a request to Orange
County, but felt that the Town needed to provide the services to those who
needed it in the Town.
Council Member Brown said that several years before
the County had requested help from Chapel Hill and Carrboro in their bus
system.
Mayor Waldorf passed out copies of a letter written
by Mr. Horton to John Link, Orange County Manager, explaining the bus services
standards and financial considerations, and explaining shared ride services or
E-Z rider service to the Southern Human Services Center. She said she was worried that the County
might feel that something was being taken away from them.
Mayor pro tem Capowski said that the County had been
warned that the location of the Southern Human Services Center was very
difficult to get to by public transportation.
Council Member McClintock said that the Town had
made a good faith effort to make the E-Z rider service work, but with low
ridership, it could not be justified.
Mayor Waldorf said that she would write a letter to
the County Commissioners saying that the Town regretted having to discontinue
this service.
3) Report on bike racks on buses.
Mayor pro tem Capowski felt that the only way that
this program could be expanded would be to get a grant so that it would not
cost the Town money.
4) Status
report on trolleys.
Council Member Foy recommended that the suggestion
to declare the trolleys as surplus be adopted.
Council Member Brown asked what the cost would be to
improve trolleys for resale value. Mr.
Godding said that he would have to get an estimate, that there would be a lot
of hand work to do, which would be costly, and they would need mechanical as
well as wood work. He felt that
disposing of them now while they were still running would bring in more money,
rather than waiting until they were no long usable.
The Council decided that it should be left to Mr.
Godding’s discretion as to when the trolleys should be discontinued.
5) Report
on potential parking fines and monthly parking fee increases.
Council Member Foy thought it had already been done
and recommended that it be formalized. The Council agreed by consensus.
Council Member Wiggins asked if the additional
$135,000 from increases in fines was included in the recommended budget. Mr. Horton said they were not.
Council Member Wiggins asked if these were
additional revenues created during the evening’s meeting. Mr. Horton said that was correct.
Council Member Brown wanted to know where the money
for the sale of trolleys would go in the budget. Mr. Godding answered that hopefully they would remain in the
Capital Reserve Fund for future transportation vehicle replacement. He said that the Department had previously
received permission to keep the total monies from the sale of vehicles for
future replacement. Mr. Godding said
that if the sale was under $5,000 the Department could keep it, if over, the
regulations called for splitting it, but that there had been exceptions made.
d. Parks and Recreation Department
1) Report
on differences in Parks and Recreation revenue from year to year.
2) Hotel/motel
tax funds—report on receipts and legal requirements for spending.
Council Member McClintock asked what the actual
amount of money was that would go to the Orange County Visitor’s Bureau. Mr. Horton said $86,000 was 15%.
Council Member McClintock asked what percent was
required by law. Mr. Horton answered
10%.
Mayor pro tem Capowski said that this was one of the
areas in which he proposed that cuts be made and asked for clarification for
distribution. Mr. Horton said the
organizations listed to receive funds were:
Orange County Visitor’s
Bureau $86,000
ArtsCenter $20,000
North Carolina High School
Athletic Association $10,000
Chapel Hill Public Arts
Commission $7,000
TOTAL
$123,000
Mayor pro tem Capowski said that the Town was
required to give 10% of $575,000, which is $57,000, and said that he would like
to see the total reduced by a certain percentage, because whatever was not
given away would go into the General Fund and reduce the tax rate.
Mayor Waldorf said that these were organizations
that counted on this money, and she would not like to reduce it. She said that if the money pledged by a
previous Council was withheld, the Council would be going back on its word.
Council Member Evans had some information from
Council Member Pavăo that she distributed to the Council.
The Council voted on whether to leave the
recommendations for spending the hotel/motel tax as proposed. Mayor Waldorf and Council Members Bateman,
Capowski, Evans, and Foy voted for the proposal, and Council Members Brown,
McClintock and Wiggins voted against the proposal.
Council Member Brown said that she would like to
look at it again. She said that if the
Council was going to do the salary increases and also wanted to keep the tax
rate down, then they were going to have to look at something to cut.
3) Report
on North Forest Hills Park.
4) Report
on services provided to seniors.
e. Fire Department
1) Request
for information on Fire services.
2) Information
on University growth and need for fire service resources.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked the Fire Chief if he
was happy with the ability of the Fire Department to handle fires in the new
buildings on the University campus.
Fire Chief Dan Jones said that as long as the University followed its policy
of installing sprinkler systems in all of their new buildings, that would take
some of the weight and responsibility off the Fire Department, because it
significantly reduced the chances of major fires. He said that until he had a clear picture of future development,
it would be difficult to say what problems there might be.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked if the rise in fire
calls from the University were more dangerous, or more specialized, or more of
the same. Chief Jones said that it was
more of the same, reflecting increases in population, traffic, number of
structures, and number of alarm systems.
He said that there was a reduction in false alarms, and less
equipment/smoke alarm malfunctions.
Council Member Brown asked about the rating of “3”
by the Insurance Services Organization.
Chief Jones said that the Insurance Services Organization ranked
municipalities from 1-9, with nine being the least protection and 1 being the
best protection. He said that each step
in the rating had a fairly significant impact on commercial structure insurance
premiums, but residential insurance was only affected by every two or three
steps in the rating, and it varied from company to company and had a lot more
impact on commercial property than it did on residential property. Mr. Horton said that the savings that would
be incurred from moving from one class to a lower class would be
insignificant. Chief Jones said that
the rating was based on some antiquated fire protection principals. He said that the Town was not credited for
new innovations or technology.
The Council voted unanimously to add six additional
firefighters and a pumper for the Fire Department to the budget.
f. Other Working Papers
1) Report
on funding requests from outside agencies and their review.
Mayor pro tem Capowski suggested that the total
budget of $452,900 be reduced by $100,000.
Mr. Horton said that these agencies listed were requesting the money,
but that it had not been allocated to them.
He said the allocation by the Human Services Advisory Board was
$178,200.
Mayor Waldorf asked if the $178,200 included the
$11,000 increase that the Council had said it wanted. Mr. Horton said that it did.
Mayor pro tem Capowski said that the Council was
trying to do too many County functions.
Mr. Horton said that there was an error on page 2 of
the allocations: Orange County Senior Center and Orange County Retired Senior
Volunteer Program were paid for under the General Fund, not out of hotel/motel
tax money in particular.
Council Member Wiggins asked Mayor pro tem Capowski
if his proposed reduction would come out of the $178,200, because the Council
had already told the Human Services Advisory Board that they were getting an
$11,000 increase.
Mayor pro tem Capowski said that in order to keep
the salary increases and keep taxes down he felt that the fairest way would be
to reduce proportionately each agencies’ allocation.
New Positions Requested for FY 1999-2000
Mr. Horton discussed the table requested by the
Council which listed the positions that would be added to the budget, if the
recommended budget was adopted, showing their costs for the initial year and
then for four additional years, to show a five-year cost. He said that they were listed in the
priority order that he recommended. Mr.
Horton said that in the General Fund the additions he recommended were the
inspections position, the firefighters, the computer analyst, the laborer for
parks and recreation, the sanitation collector and equipment operator in Public
Works, and the stormwater engineer. He
said that in the General Fund there were some deletions that covered most of
the cost of the additions, and the net was low.
Council Member Bateman asked if the fees would cover
the position of inspector. Mr. Horton
said that they would more than cover the costs, but there were other costs that
were not fully covered, citing some others not fully covered by collection
fees. He added that the total fees
collected were not adequate to cover all of the costs.
Council Member McClintock asked if all the added
positions were built into the recommended budget. Mr. Horton said that they were.
Mayor Waldorf went through the list of positions and
took the consensus of the Council:
·
All agreed to keep the
firefighters.
·
All agreed to keep the
E-Z rider drivers.
·
All agreed to consider
the stormwater engineer at a later date.
·
All agreed to keep the
building inspector.
·
Five agreed to keep
the computer analyst, three would consider later.
·
Four agreed to keep
the parks and recreation laborer, the other four were no or maybe.
·
All agreed to keep the
public works brush collectors.
Deferral of Bond Costs and Capital Improvements Costs
Mr. Horton said that the staff divided this into two
parts. He said that, for the Bond
costs, the additional $318,000 debt service was to pay on bonds that could not
be deferred because they had already been issued. Mr. Horton said that the plan for additional bonds called for a
sale of $4,450,000 of bonds for purposes in 1999-2000, which would be timed so
as not to require payment until the following fiscal year. He said that the staff also listed all the
proposed capital improvements items that were included in the Small Capital
Improvements Program. Mr. Horton said
that almost all of the items included were items that the Town was
contractually committed to. He said
that if the Council decided to reduce the amount allocated, he would recommend
that they do it for items, such as the Sidewalk/Bicycle Facilities and the
Traffic Calming Devices, that were not for maintenance.
Council Member Foy asked how that affected the
General Fund. Mr. Horton said that the
General Fund provided all the sources of the funding providing for the Capital
Improvements Program.
Council Member Foy said that the Council was putting
$300,000 into the General Fund and $300,000 into the Capital Reserve Fund. Mr. Horton said that the essence of that was
a total of $600,000, then there was $54,000 that came from cell phone tower
rentals, and that left a small residual in the Capital Reserve Fund, but that
was a critical reserve if the Town had a bad year.
Council Member Evans proposed leaving Traffic
Calming at $40,000, instead of increasing it to $60,000. Mr. Horton said that there were no traffic
calming plans for this year, except that he had received a communication from
the Meadowmont developers asking how to proceed with requests for consideration
of traffic calming devices, which were required in an agreement between the
neighbors and Meadowmont. He said that
the developers would be paying for these and the Town would not need to pay
matching funds.
Council Member McClintock asked what the costs would
be for permanent traffic diverters on Rogerson and Hamilton Roads. Mr. Horton answered several thousand dollars
each for something that would function well and look nice.
Mayor Waldorf said that she supported the traffic
calming devices in principle, where neighbors could agree that they wanted
them, but that she also favored, in principle, not appropriating money not
likely to be spent. Mr. Horton pointed
out that the State was not likely to come up with the money to do the things
that the Council, in conjunction with the Special Work Group to Study the NC
54/Hamilton Road Intersection, would like to do, so the Council might want to
reserve about $20,000 for use in that area.
Council Member Brown said that in working with the
State there seemed to be some idea of willingness to help the Town. She asked how traffic calming measures,
already recommended by the Council, were funded. Mr. Horton said that it was small enough to be covered in the
regular operating budget.
Council Member Brown asked about use of staff time
to develop and build these devices. Mr.
Horton said it would depend on how complex the item was, that some might have
to be contracted out.
Mayor Waldorf suggested appropriating between
$20,000-40,000 for traffic calming devices.
Council Member Evans suggested leaving the
appropriation at $40,000.
Council Member Wiggins agreed.
Council Member McClintock said she was concerned
that requests might not be met.
There was Council consensus to leave Traffic Calming
at $40,000.
Council Member Foy asked what the additional
allocation in the Extraordinary Maintenance account was. Mr. Horton said that it was $35,000.
Council Member Foy asked what was spent during the
last year. Mr. Baker said that the Town
spent about $50,000 last year. Mr.
Horton said that Bill Terry, Public Works Internal Services Superintendent,
believed that the Town would spend most of the $39,000 before the end of the
year.
Mayor Waldorf asked why the Town needed $35,000 for
cemetery beautification. Mr. Horton
said the Public Works staff let the allocated money accumulate for the
restoration of monuments, which was expensive.
Council Member McClintock said that if the Council
approved the Legion Road development there would probably need to be
landscaping to the cemetery there. Mr.
Horton said that the money they were discussing was for the downtown cemetery,
but that Council Member McClintock had a good point.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked if the tennis courts at
Ephesus Park were used much, or if the Town should think of using them for
something else. Kathryn Spatz, Parks
and Recreation Director, said that she had not received any complaints about
the tennis courts, but that the Public Works Department did, and she had
advocated converting some of the courts to something else. She said that the
tennis courts were not heavily used.
Council Member Bateman asked if the school system
used the courts for tennis team practice during the school year. Ms. Spatz said that some of them were used
for that.
Council Member McClintock said that the Council did
not have enough information on whether the courts were used much.
Mayor Waldorf asked why it would take $120,000 for
maintenance of the tennis courts. Mr.
Horton said that it would take over $100,000 to rebuild a set of courts, and
the Town had been accumulating funds.
He said that if the Parks and Recreation Master Plan proceeded, that
could probably answer the question of what facilities were used and what was
needed. Mr. Horton said that the courts
behind Ephesus School either needed to be maintained or demolished.
Council Member Bateman asked if the Town was liable
if someone was hurt on these courts.
Mr. Horton said that anytime there was a public facility that did not
meet the normal standards commonly accepted for regular use, then the Town
could be exposed to litigation. He said
that, if the tennis courts were not maintained, he advised that the Council
leave the allocation in the budget for renovation of some other recreation
facility.
Council Member McClintock said that, before going
ahead with the allocation, she would be interested in having some feedback from
the schools and the neighborhood association to get some idea of what value it
was to them.
Mayor Waldorf suggested that the Ephesus School
principal be asked whether the school children ever used the courts for
tennis. Mr. Horton recommended checking
with all the schools to get the data.
The Council proposed delaying the decision regarding
the allocation for the tennis courts.
Council Member Evans asked if the money allocated
for Energy Efficiency Projects was so large because of the need for contracting
out. Mr. Horton said that some portion
of this money might have to be used to do some of the work at the Police
Station. He said that he was beginning
to get prices from architects to do that work, and he feared that the costs
would exceed what was budgeted.
Mayor Waldorf suggested that $25,000 instead of $35,000
be allocated for Cemetery Beautification.
Council Member McClintock said that there was a
master plan for upgrading this cemetery and a cemetery committee had come back
with many detailed suggestions to a former Council. She said that Council stated that it would take on the proposals
long-term and would make the improvements.
Bruce Heflin, Public Works Director, said that the Public Works
Department was trying to accumulate enough money to do the next phase in
monument restoration, a very expensive process. He said that, in addition, restoration work had to be done to the
stone walls, the pavement, and some of the ironwork, noting that additional
landscaping and turf improvements would be needed as well. Mr. Heflin said that, in total, the necessary
work would be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that they would
proceed as funds allowed.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked, regarding the Capital
Improvements Program budget, if the appropriations could be pooled in order to
save some money on the tax rate. Mr.
Horton said that most of the dollars were committed to projects that the
Council had already promised.
Council Member Evans asked if there was a time line
where the Town was committed for the sidewalk installation and repairs. Mr. Horton said that some cities were so
concerned about the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations that they had
appropriated millions of dollars for curb repair in one year. He said that the Town took a different view,
and decided that, so long as it had a reasonable plan and carried it out, that
they were in compliance, and so far they had been carrying out that plan.
Council Member Wiggins asked if there was the same
amount of vandalism at the other cemeteries as at the old cemetery. Mr. Horton said there was not, and the
reason for the vandalism in the old cemetery was intoxicated college students.
The Council agreed to reduce the allocation for
Cemetery Beautification to $25,000.
Council Member McClintock asked what fuel tank
replacement was. Mr. Heflin said that
the Public Works Department had replaced the fuel tanks, and in the process had
contaminated some soil. He said that
those funds would be used for disposal of soil once they received a final ruling
on what they needed to do with the soil.
Mayor Waldorf said that the plan was good. Mr. Horton said that Claudia Paine of the
Planning Department was the lead staff person doing the work, and was very
helpful to all the departments and he wanted to give her public credit.
Mr. Horton said that Police Chief Ralph Pendergraph
had recently given him information on what it would cost if the Town attempted
to employ four additional police officers this year, using the COPS fund. He said that he could not honestly recommend
that these additional costs be considered in a year when the Council was having
to cut costs in other places, but he wanted the Council to have the
information.
Chief Pendergraph said that there was a possibility
of providing staff through the use of the COPS fund, since there were plans for
annexation.
Mr. Horton said that since the budget called for the
elimination of one position in the Police Department, he was not sure that the
Town could ask for a grant for more positions.
He said the Town would be asking for the use of federal funds rather
than using local funds, and would have to add $34,000 to the budget to add the
one officer back.
Council Member Evans said that she felt, having been
approached by many people, that speeding in the community was a critical
concern.
Council Member Foy asked if the Town would be
annexing Southern Village on July 1, 2001.
Mr. Horton said that was correct.
Council Member Bateman asked if Mr. Horton was
eliminating a position or just freezing it.
Mr. Horton said that they were eliminating the cost, and would fund it
in 2001.
Council Member Wiggins noted that the Council had
recaptured $165,000 at the meeting this evening.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:16 p.m.
The minutes of April 28, 1999 were adopted on the 14th day
of June, 1999.
__________________________________________
Joyce A. Smith, CMC