SUMMARY OF A BUDGET WORK SESSION OF THE CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 1997 AT 6:00 P.M.

 

Mayor Waldorf called the work session to order at 6:01 p.m.   Council Members in attendance were Julie Andresen, Joyce Brown, Joe Capowski, Mark Chilton, Pat Evans, Richard Franck, Lee Pavao and Edith Wiggins.

 

There was Council concurrence to handle items one through four this evening and other items on the agenda at a later work session.

 

GENERAL BUDGET QUESTIONS

 

Council Member Capowski said he thought that the staff’s proposal was to hire a professional construction manager, rather than a half-time technician, working in association with an Assistant Town Manager.   Mr. Horton said upon reflection, he believed it would be best to have Assistant Town Manager Sonna Loewenthal serve as a part-time construction manager, receiving staff support from a new half-time technician position.  Council Member Franck inquired whether the proposed technician would be a contract or permanent position.  Mr. Horton said this would be dependent upon conditions in the marketplace.  Council Member Wiggins asked whether or not Ms. Loewenthal would be able to devote any time to the management of neighborhood revitalization projects.  Mr. Horton said this would not be possible.   Council Member Capowski inquired when the Council could discuss options outlined on page M10 of the budget document.  Council Member Franck suggested that the Council could perhaps discuss these items after discussing other matters at their work sessions.

 

PAY PLAN ISSUES

 

Personnel Director Pat Thomas presented an overview of proposed pay ranges, noting that the Town was attempting to maintain competitive hiring rates and fair market and merit increases, while addressing concerns about salary compression.   Council Member Andresen inquired how much of the proposed salary adjustments was a cost of living increase.  Mr. Horton said the Town tried to keep wage rates up with the labor market, rather than providing cost of living adjustments.  Council Member Andresen said she was concerned that so much of the available pay funding was from merit increases.  Mr. Horton said a basic premise of the Town’s pay system was that about ten percent of employees would be outstanding performers, about ten percent would need improvement and the remaining eighty percent would meet or exceed job standards.  Council Member Wiggins said she was concerned that some employees were not moving up in the Town’s pay system.   Mr. Horton stated that generally speaking only employees not meeting expectations and not moving up were on their way out of the Town organization.

 

Council Member Capowski inquired about the approximate total amount of Town salaries and fringe benefits.  Finance Director Jim Baker said this was approximately $22 million, including contract employees.

Council Member Chilton inquired whether staff could develop a chart showing the distribution of increases by pay grades.  Mr. Horton said this would be possible, stating that there was generally a good distribution across pay grades.

 

Council Member Franck and Mayor Waldorf said that the staff’s general recommendations on pay ranges adjustments looked good.  Council Member Andresen said she did not want to make final decisions on pay matters this evening.  Council Member Brown suggested that no firm decisions on pay matters be made until after public hearings on these  matters.   Council Member Andresen requested that staff provide budget impact information on the difference between increases of 1.5, 2 and 2.5%.  Mr. Horton said staff would do so.

 

COMBINATION MARKET/MERIT INCREASES AT OCTOBER 1ST

 

Council Member Andresen said she believed that the Council could develop alternatives to the Town’s current merit system. 

 

Council Member Franck inquired whether or not there would be a major fiscal impact if the Town’s eight lowest pay grades, rather than the lowest four pay grades, were tied to the 75th, rather than the 50th percentile of the local labor market.   Ms. Thomas said there would be a quite significant fiscal impact.  Mr. Horton said staff could develop specific estimated costs in this regard. 

 

Noting that the current budget totaled a little over $43 million, Council Member Capowski inquired about the estimated total of the proposed budget.  Stating that the current budget included about $805,000 of expenses related to Hurricane Fran and about $800,000 in encumbrance rollovers from last year, Mr. Baker said the estimated budget for all funds for

1997-98 would be $42.6 million.

 

Mayor Waldorf and Council Members Capowski and Pavao said they were quite pleased with the market and merit adjustments being proposed by the Town Manager.

 

Stating that he was not sure that the Council had gone far enough in efforts to address the needs of lower-paid Town employees, Council Member Franck said he did not think that providing an average increase of 2.9% to higher paid Town employees would have much of an effect on the Town’s competitiveness in the labor market.  Council Member Andresen inquired about the impact on the salaries of supervisors and employees if Council Member Franck’s proposal regarding adjustments for lower-paid employees were enacted.

 

Expressing her support of Council Member Franck’s proposal of offering additional compensation to lower-paid employees, Council Member Wiggins said since she assumed that higher paid and more responsible employees worked just as hard as other employees, she did not favor taking money away from higher-paid employees.  Council Member Franck said the essence of his proposal was to provide the opportunity for greater increases to lower-paid Town employees.

 

Council Member Evans stated that higher-paid Town employees had more responsibility and were the hardest to replace in terms of position recruitment.  Council Member Franck said that there were far more vacancies among lower-paid jobs than higher-paid jobs.   Mr. Horton said out of a sense of fairness to all Town employees, the Council had made a wise decision to raise the floor of all salary ranges across the board.

 

SALARY RANGE COMPRESSION MATTERS

 

Ms. Thomas stated that most employees with the Town for two or more years should be near the midpoint of  their salary range.   Mayor Waldorf suggested that some differentiation in addressing compression could be made relative to the past performance of employees.  Mr. Horton said staff could factor past performance into evaluations relative to compression concerns.

 

POSSIBLE CHANGES TO EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

 

Council Member Franck inquired about the annual number of paid holidays for Town employees.  Ms. Thomas said employees received eleven days off in addition to their annual leave of fifteen days.  Council Member Franck inquired whether or not employees were required to take off a minimum number of days per year.  Ms. Thomas said there was no such requirement.   Expressing the importance of keeping employees as fresh and energized as possible, Council Member Franck suggested the possibility of having a system wherein employees were required to take most, if not all, vacation leave each year.  Mr. Horton said that employees were encouraged to take time off on a periodic basis.  

 

Council Member Capowski inquired about the estimated $57,000 cost for benefit changes.  Ms. Thomas said most of this cost was attributable to increased amounts for longevity payments.

 

Council Member Andresen inquired whether or not employees were paid for vacation days not taken.  Ms. Thomas said that employees leaving Town employees could obtain payment for up to thirty days of  leave.  Council Member Andresen inquired about the amount of sick leave accumulated by Town employees.  Ms. Thomas said that employees received twelve days of sick leave per year.  Mayor Waldorf noted that staff was proposing the possibility of adjusting  vacation leave for Town employees to a range of twelve to twenty-six days per year, rather than the current allocation of fifteen days per year.

 

Stating that it drew a distinction between department heads and other Town employees, Council Member Franck said he disagreed with the Manager’s recommendation to give department heads a minimum of twenty annual leave days per year.  Mr. Horton said he respectfully disagreed with this opinion.  Mr. Horton said not offering department heads a greater number of vacation leave days would have a significant impact on the Town’s ability to recruit department heads.   Council Member Wiggins said that recruiting persons for upper-level positions would be very difficult without the ability to offer vacation days commensurate with the position the person was coming from.    He suggested that staff could develop a draft policy regarding leave based on previous experience in another organization.  Council Member Franck said that this was a good idea, and that the policy should apply to all higher-level positions, not just department heads.

 

Noting that the Council only made hiring and firing decisions about two Town employees, the Manager and Attorney, Council Member Capowski said he did not want to get too much in to personnel policy matters which could be handled by the Manager.

 

SPECIAL RECOGNITION OF TOWN EMPLOYEES

 

Council Member Pavao inquired about the development of staff’s effort to recognize team and individual efforts.   Mr. Horton said although some individual performances were noted from time to time, a greater emphasis had been placed on recognizing the efforts of teams of employees.

 

Stating the importance of having a good employee incentive program, Council Member Pavao suggested the possibility of increasing the amount of money dedicated to the program.  Council Member Andresen said she liked the idea of singling out the performance  of individual Town employees from time to time.   Mr. Horton suggested that the $5,000 in incentive program funding remain in the budget, with a request for additional funding being made to the Council if necessary.  Mayor Waldorf said she thought it was worth putting more money in to the incentive program.

 

Council Member Andresen inquired whether or not there was a sheet showing the comparative amount in departmental and division budgets over a number of years.  Mr. Horton said there was such a chart provided on page 34 of the budget document.   Council Member Andresen inquired about the difference between the Planning Department’s current budget of $750,000 and the proposed budget of $812,000.  Mr. Horton said this difference consisted of funding for an additional zoning enforcement position and a proposed 4% increase for employees.

 

SANITATION MATTERS:  CURBSIDE RESIDENTIAL REFUSE COLLECTION

 

Public Works Director Bruce Heflin said there were a number of economic tradeoffs associated with the possibility of asking residents to take their own refuse cans to the curb, rather than continuing rearyard pick-up of refuse.   Council Member Capowski inquired whether the Town would be in the business of providing refuse carts.  Mr. Heflin said this was likely.   He added that the Town of Carrboro had noted a decrease in refuse collector injuries and worker’s compensation claims since changing to a curbside collection system.  Mr. Horton said a curbside collection would be more humane to the Town’s refuse collection employees.

 

Council Member Capowski inquired whether the proposed new carts would be delivered by Town employees.  Mr. Heflin said it would staff’s proposal to deliver carts to individual residences and customers.  Council Member Capowski said that the projected tax rate savings of one-half to three-quarters of a cent on the tax rate were not that great.   Council Member Evans inquired whether the proposed carts would be the same size as those used for yard waste.  Mr. Heflin said this was correct.  Council Member Evans said that these carts were large and cumbersome and difficult to get up driveways.   Council Member Evans said she had spoken to a lot of constituents who favored changing to once per week refuse collection.   Council Member Wiggins noted that virtually all of the residents on Piney Mountain Road set out their trash at the curbside on a weekly basis. 

 

Stating that the matter was an emotional one, Council Member Andresen said she wished there were a way to do a statistically valid survey on rollout trash collection.   She inquired whether or not switching to curbside refuse collection would necessitate changing the technology in refuse collection trucks.   Mr. Heflin said there would be little need to change this technology.   Council Member Andresen asked whether a new fleet of trucks would be needed to handle heavier trash cans.  Mr. Heflin said this would only be necessary if crew sizes were reduced from three to two persons.  Council Member Andresen inquired whether a “pay as you throw” system would necessitate new equipment.  Mr. Heflin said new equipment would be needed only if a weight-based system were used.  

 

Council Member Brown inquired whether ninety-gallon carts were proposed.  Mr. Heflin said this was correct.   Council Member Brown noted that carts could be as small as sixteen gallons.  Mr. Heflin said he believed that it would be possible to accommodate carts of this  size.  Council Member Brown inquired about the possibility of having one person crews.  Mr. Heflin said that a tong-type mechanism could be used wherein the driver did not need to get out of the truck.  Council Member Brown asked whether or not staff could give the Council more information about variously-sized refuse carts.  Mr. Heflin said staff could provide the Council with more information about cart size options. 

 

Council Member Franck said that the idea of variably-sized carts was an excellent one.  Stating that the possibility of  $270,000 in annual savings was worth pursuing, Council Member Franck stated that the matter of fairness for persons living in multi-family dwellings was a big one.

 

Council Member Capowski inquired about how carts left at the curb after pick-up would be handled.  Mr. Heflin said staff could ask residents to remove carts within a certain period of time with the Council’s approval.  Council Member Brown urged the Council to remember that a decision on curbside collection had been put off for a number of  years.

 

Council Member Chilton inquired whether or not it would be reasonably convenient to try to quantify worker injury experience with the experience of other communities.  Mr. Horton said staff could provide some comparative data on this matter.

 

Mayor Waldorf inquired about the amount of absenteeism and turnover in refuse collector positions.  Mr. Heflin said that there had been a fair amount of turnover of collectors this year.  He also stated that the Town was having some trouble in attracting and retaining good employees.

 

Mayor Waldorf inquired whether the anticipated annual savings took into account future possible future annexation areas such as Southern Village.    Mr. Heflin said the projected savings were based on the approximately 8,500 current residential  refuse collection points.   Mayor Waldorf inquired how a change to curbside collections would impact yard waste collection.  Mr. Heflin said no particular changes in yard waste collection methods would be proposed.  He noted that there would be a continued need for workers to get out of trucks to collect waste.

 

Council Member Brown said she  would be interested in knowing differences in prices by can sizes.  She also inquired about the estimated length of time to complete a route under the proposed new system.  Mr. Heflin said although the length of the workday under the proposed new system would be slightly longer, it would be physically less demanding for collectors. 

 

Council Member Andresen said she wanted to make sure that the Town got the best deal possible relative to recycling.  Mr. Horton said staff could possibly investigate whether it was better to have the Solid Waste operation provide recycling services rather than contracting for this service.Council Member Andresen said that the Council ought to consider this possibility in the future.  She inquired about the average amount of time to complete an average collection route.  Mr. Heflin said this varied from day to day and week to week but averaged 28 hours per week.  Council Member Andresen inquired why the Council would want to move to rollout refuse collection.  Council Member Pavao said the principal reason was as a means of reducing costs in the Town’s budget.  Council Member Wiggins said another reason was to encourage recycling.  Council Member Franck said such an arrangement would offer fairness to residents of multi-family dwellings.

 

Council Member Andresen said she encouraged the Council to do a market analysis on the possibility of curbside refuse collection.  Mayor Waldorf said one reason for not proceeding with the change was a lack of convenience.

 

Council Member Evans urged the Council not to penalize single family residences for doing a good job of recycling.

 

Stating that the matter of curbside refuse  collection was an emotional one, Council Member Capowski urged the Council to have a public hearing on the matter.  Council Member Wiggins said she would also support having a public hearing.  She expressed her openness to Council Member Andresen’s idea of providing some choices to residents.  Mayor Waldorf inquired whether the proposed system would be phased in over time.  Mr. Heflin said this was correct.

 

Council Member Brown stated that most successful curbside collection programs had very good educational programs to alleviate fears and inform people.

 

Mr. Horton suggested the possibility of the Council discussing remaining items on this evening’s agenda at its May 21st budget work session.  There was Council concurrence on this suggestion.  Mr. Horton noted that Administrative Analyst Randy Ballard, the staff person responsible for the Town’s reimbursements relative to Hurricane Fran, was in attendance this evening.  The Council offered its appreciation to Mr. Ballard for his efforts.

 

The work session concluded at 8:28 p.m.