THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1999 AT 7:00 P. M.
Mayor Rosemary Waldorf
called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Council Members present were
Flicka Bateman, Joe Capowski, Pat Evans, Kevin Foy, Lee Pavăo and Edith
Wiggins. Council Member Julie
McClintock arrived at 7:08 p.m. Council
Member Joyce Brown was absent, excused.
Staff members present were
Town Manager Cal Horton, Assistant Town Manager Sonna Loewenthal, Town Attorney
Ralph Karpinos, Assistant to the Manager Ruffin Hall, Finance Director Jim
Baker, Public Works Director Bruce Heflin, Fire Chief Dan Jones, Personnel
Director Pat Thomas, Transportation Director Bob Godding, Parks and Recreation
Director Kathryn Spatz and Town Clerk Joyce Smith.
a. Curbside Residential
Refuse Collection
Mr. Heflin presented an
updated version of a report previously brought to the Council. He said that changes in the numbers were
related to the method of financing equipment to lease/purchase rather than
outright cash purchases. Mr. Heflin,
noting that this would mean spending money over the first couple of years, said
that the eventual savings would amount to about $300,000 per year, through a
reduction in personnel and equipment.
He said that about 7% of the population (about 600 people) would be
exempt for medical or other reasons and would continue to be served at the back
of the house as they were now.
b. & c. Yard Waste Collection Improvements and Residential Curbside Refuse and Yard Waste Collection Services
Mr. Heflin noted that there
had been a gradual trend of increasing yard waste collection over the last five
years. He pointed out that yard waste constituted
about one-fourth of the Town’s total collection in the residential sector. Mr. Heflin said that this occasionally
resulted in diminished service, adding that there had been times this year when
the Department had not been able to meet its service objectives.
Mr. Heflin said that there
were various options for improving service, including:
·
adding
two crews and temporary hours and collecting every other week ($331,900);
·
adding
fewer resources and achieving a week certain within a given month’s service
($201,100);
·
guaranteeing
once-a-week curbside garbage collection by buying pull-out carts ($42,400);
·
adding
one more crew ($54,000).
Mr. Heflin noted that requiring citizens to bundle their yard waste would increase efficiency. Mr. Heflin said that there were options for that in the written report.
Mayor Waldorf summarized Mr.
Heflin’s comments: enhancing the Town’s present curbside collection in any way
would cost more money. Mr. Heflin agreed. He said that making an impact on the cycle over
the long term would require additional resources.
Mayor Waldorf remarked that
the Council had asked for ideas on how to step up the frequency of curbside
yard waste collection and on how to combine residential curbside trash
collection and yard waste collection using the same crew.
Council Member McClintock
said that the Town should not be picking up bags of yard waste.
Mayor Waldorf asked Council Member McClintock if she was speaking in support of regulations that would tell people more specifically how to put their yard waste at the curb. Council Member McClintock replied that she was referring to the additional option on page six of Agenda Item 1b which would discontinue use of bags for yard waste.
Council Member Foy asked Mr.
Heflin about other options in addition to not bagging leaves. Mr. Heflin referred to page three in Agenda
Item 1b, which listed what other communities did to increase efficiency—such as
requiring containers or bundles, eliminating bags, and making large loose
piles. He noted that the Town had a
policy against letting yard waste piles sit.
Council Member Foy asked
what people did when there was a limit on pile size but they could not use
plastic bags. Mr. Heflin replied that
many communities required sticks and limbs to be put into four-foot
bundles. He said that roll-carts were
efficient for grass clippings, as were many other containers with hard
sides.
Council Member Foy asked how
the Town would enforce bundling with contract landscapers. Mr. Heflin replied that it would be
difficult to enforce because it would depend upon their good will. He noted that contract landscapers often
left the homeowner to deal with yard waste.
Mayor Waldorf suggested that
both landscapers and homeowners be educated about this.
Various Council Members
spoke in favor of option six. Mr. Horton explained that the staff could draw up
an ordinance to that effect. The
majority of Council Members agreed.
Council Member Pavăo asked
if contractors were charged a fee for dumping yard waste at the landfill. Mr. Heflin replied that landscapers could
obtain permits from the Town and rent Town dumpsters for a fee of $12.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked
if the $127,000 in option three to provide scheduled yard waste collection with
once-a-week curbside garbage collection would stay constant after the second
year. Mr. Heflin replied that it would,
and indicated a chart on page four that showed the cost would be down to zero
by the fifth year.
Council Member Evans asked
if those figures included annexation and population increases. Mr. Heflin replied that the figures
reflected the system as it was in place now without assuming major changes of
any kind.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked
if there was any way the Town could do a curbside garbage collection without
investing in roll-out containers. Mr.
Heflin replied that it would be cheaper if residents took their own containers
to the curb. He added, though, that
they would lack uniformity, might be heavy, and could be more susceptible to animals,
wind damage and bag breakage than roll-out containers.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked
if the Town would save money under a plan which eliminated the oldest trucks
but required buying $462,000 worth of roll-out carts. Mr. Heflin referred to a chart in Item 1 that compared costs and
savings, and explained that carts lasted a long time while trucks needed to be
replaced on a fairly constant basis. He
added that the biggest savings would be in personnel, noting that maintenance
costs for carts were fairly low. Mr.
Heflin noted that the budget included the cost of replacing damaged carts on an
annual basis, and explained that there were various ways of maintaining carts,
such as having Sanitation Department employees responsible for them. He pointed out that some cities had their
residents eventually become responsible for maintaining carts.
Mayor Waldorf, noting that
Mayor pro tem Capowski was basically asking if this programmatic switch really
would save money, said that she had heard other Council Members ask that
question as well. She said this was a
legitimate concern because the reasons for switching would be to save money and
to create more humane working condition for the people who collect trash. Mayor Waldorf stated that she accepted the
staff’s figures that indicated that the Town would save a penny on the tax rate
every year by full implementation.
Council Member Evans pointed
out that the design for Southern Village included alleyways for garbage
pick-up. Mr. Horton replied that the
Town had never agreed to do alleyway pick-up at Southern Village.
Mayor Waldorf asked Council
Member Evans why her question was relevant.
Council Member Evans replied that many residents of Southern Village had
driveways in the back of their houses because the Town had encouraged
developers to use a neo-traditional design.
She pointed out that back alleyways did not fit well with curbside
roll-out. Council Member Evans also noted
that rolling a cart was not easy for some people. She pointed out that those over 65 might have trouble with it, as
well as those who did not have a paved driveway.
Council Member Evans said that she was disappointed not to see the information she had requested on once-a-week rather than three-times-a-week pick-up. Mr. Heflin replied that staff had done some analysis on that and had given the Manager information that showed the bottom line did not change. Mr. Heflin said the only way to achieve savings would be to reduce employees and equipment.
Council Member McClintock asked
if the equation would change if the Town were to have regular brush collection
at the curb. Mr. Heflin replied that it
would not, explaining that what determined productivity in garbage collection
was how far you travel, what you do when you get there, and how many times you
do it. He said that the Town’s current
system was the least efficient of all systems because trash collectors walked
the farthest distance and they did it twice a week.
Mr. Heflin explained that
eliminating one collection a week would lengthen the amount of pick-up time
because employees would have to make more trips back to the truck. He added that this had been confirmed by
actual time studies on Town employees.
Mr. Heflin pointed out that there were only six and a half garbage
routes and explained that eliminating one route would mean having to get almost
15-20% additional savings through productivity.
Council Member McClintock
asked if productivity would improve if the Town were organized in a different
way. Mr. Heflin stressed that the two
immediate outcomes would be higher employee turnover and fewer weeks when the
Department would meet its brush collection objectives. He said that employees would find it
punitive to have to collect four weeks worth of garbage at the rear of the
house because it would be so physically demanding.
Mr. Horton pointed out that
employees would continue to collect the same volume in one route collection
that they now made in two. He explained
that this would require them to make more trips back to the truck because the
barrel would fill up faster.
Council Member Evans asked
if recycling had made any difference.
Mr. Heflin replied that they had seen only slight reductions in the
total amount of tonnage, but acknowledged that there was a slight downward
trend because people were recycling.
Council Member Foy remarked
that eight employees would be eliminated with curbside collection. He asked what effect a “pay as you throw”
program might have if it were combined with once-a-week pick-up. Mr. Heflin replied that the results from
other communities varied greatly, ranging from a few percent to double-digit
reductions.
Council Member Foy stated
that there must be some point at which a reduction in volume would be
sufficient to eliminate a crew. Mr.
Heflin replied that he did not know the answer to that.
Council Member Foy asked if
the new routing software would have an effect.
Mr. Heflin replied that the software would interface with the Geographic
Information System program and would help the Department lay out routes without
the labor-intensive house counting processes of the past.
Council Member Wiggins
informed the Council that a number of garbage cans in Town were still sunken
underground. She asked, noting that
this created difficult working conditions for garbage collectors, whether
Council Members were interested in an ordinance that would speak to that as
well. Mayor Waldorf replied that she
would be interested if the Town did not institute curbside collection.
Council Member Wiggins
stated that she believed there would not be enough votes for curbside
collection and asked if the Council was interested in an ordinance to address
the underground garbage can problem.
Several Council Members expressed support for that.
Mayor pro tem Capowski said
that the issue had three components:
cost per household, working conditions for collectors, and
aesthetics. He noted that the Town
would not see any substantial savings until the fourth year and would then only
reach a penny on the tax rate in the sixth year. Mayor pro tem Capowski said that the “humane issue” disturbed
him, but pointed out that garbage collection was dirty, hard work regardless of
whether the homeowner or the trash collector moved it to the curb.
Mayor pro tem Capowski added
that the aesthetics issue called for staying with side yard or backyard
pickup. He suggested making changes
only in conjunction with “pay as you throw” or, if the uproar over the yard
waste issue became so strong, the Town could synergize the two changes. Mayor pro tem Capowski said that he would
not vote to change the side yard/backyard system without making other changes
as well.
Mayor Waldorf summarized the
options that the Council had before them: whether to go curbside or stay backyard;
several on whether—or at what level—to improve curbside brush collection; and
whether to combine curbside garbage and brush collection.
Council Member McClintock
said that she wanted to know what the people of Chapel Hill wanted and
suggested that the Town take a statistically valid survey. She said that she did not feel comfortable
moving to curbside collection if the majority of citizens did not want it.
Council Member Pavăo agreed
with Council Member McClintock, noting he had received phone calls that favored
leaving the system in place. He noted
that callers were mostly concerned about aesthetics and the ability to get
roll-out carts up a gravel driveway and asked Council Member McClintock how
large the survey sample would have to be.
Council Member McClintock replied that the University could assist in
answering that.
Council Member Pavăo
expressed support for keeping the present system.
Council Member Foy asked Mr.
Heflin to elaborate on Option IV of 1b that would provide for an increase in
personnel and a realignment of assets.
Mr. Heflin explained that it would mean adding two people and keeping
one more brush collection crew on the street, virtually every day,
doubling it on some days and increasing it by about 50% on others. He said that this coupled with the
preparation requirements that the Council had discussed would make it possible
for the Department to reach its two-week goal.
Mayor Waldorf stated that if
the Council wanted to retain backyard garbage collection and increase the
frequency and reliability of curbside brush collection, and do it at minimal
cost, then this was the right approach.
Mr. Heflin agreed, adding that this was especially true if it was
coupled with preparation requirements.
Council Member Foy said that
he supported the approach, but noted that it was not in the Manager’s
recommendations. Mr. Horton replied,
“not yet.”
Council Member Wiggins asked
Council Member Foy if he had seen the price tag.
Mr. Horton reaffirmed that
citizens complained more about brush collection than any other Town
service. He noted that it had grown
worse each year for several years beginning with Hurricane Fran. Mr. Horton said that people who called the
Town staff were angrier about this than they were about parking tickets. He pointed out that it was the one thing
that the Council could do to improve the appearance of the community in a
dramatic fashion, and advised the Council to keep it as a high priority.
Council Member Evans asked
how much difference it would make if landscapers hauled their own debris
away. Mr. Heflin said that it would not
make a big difference. Mr. Horton added
that it would be insignificant in most neighborhoods because most houses did
not have a landscape service with that kind of volume.
Council Member Wiggins
expressed the desire to put this item in the budget, but added that she wanted
to wait and see what would be taken out.
She commented that some neighborhoods treated curbside collection as a neighborhood
watch, calling each other if trash cans had been left out too long.
Mayor Waldorf expressed
support for adding $42,000 this year, rather than the option (Option IV from
agenda #1b) which would add $54,000 this year and would be a continuing and
probably increasing cost. She cautioned
Council Members that twice-a-week backyard garbage collection as the Town did
it now, plus Option IV, would be expensive.
Mayor Waldorf said that many people liked things the way they were and
described backyard collection as perhaps the Town’s one last really inefficient
service.
Council Member McClintock
asked if there was majority support for Option IV brush collection.
Mayor pro tem Capowski
proposed putting the $54,000 on the spreadsheet as one of the options for
consideration. There was general
Council agreement.
Council Member Wiggins
expressed support for Agenda Item 1c, as did Council Member Bateman.
Mayor Waldorf noted that the
Council had previously voted five to three to continue backyard, twice-a-week
garbage collection and to consider Option IV under Agenda Item 1b. She noted that there also was a request for
the Manager to look at an ordinance to deal with buried garbage cans, adding
that everyone should bring forward anything they thought of as a problem for
the collectors and/or would make brush collection more efficient.
Council Member Wiggins asked
if the tax rate equivalent of Option IV would be .18. Council Member Foy said that it would.
d.
Downtown Commercial Refuse
Collection—Athens, Clarke County, Georgia
Council Member Evans asked
if anyone could think of a better way of collecting refuse in the downtown
area. Mr. Horton replied that having
the private sector provide commercial waste services and getting the Town out
of the business altogether would be a better way. He added that a number of cities were not involved in commercial
collection.
Council Member Foy asked how
that would work. Mr. Horton replied
that the Town would give notice that after a certain date it would cease all
commercial collection service and that it would then be the responsibility of
anyone who needed it to arrange for service with a private company. He said that the Town would then stop
collecting on the stated date. Mr.
Horton pointed out that the Town probably would have to employ an inspector for
a while to visit establishments and make sure they were receiving proper
services.
Council Member Foy explained
that businesses in many other places had trash collected by a private service
as part of their cost of doing business.
Mayor Waldorf asked if doing
this would save the Town a significant amount of money. Mr. Heflin replied that the cost this year
for commercial collection was about $926,000, not including revenues for those
who received an extra two collections per week.
Council Member Foy requested
the staff’s recommendations, noting that it was not just a cost issue but a
fairness issue as well.
Council Member Evans asked
if there were North Carolina companies set up to do commercial collection. Mr. Heflin replied that there were, noting
that Raleigh, Cary and Garner used such services, while Durham, Charlotte and
Winston-Salem used a combination of private and municipal collection.
Mayor Waldorf agreed that
the possibility was worth looking at in the future.
Council Member Foy quipped
that it would be the “ultimate ‘pay as you throw.’”
Mayor Waldorf noted that it
would not necessarily lead to waste reduction.
Mr. Horton said that it would create a clear understanding in the
private sector between how much they pay and how much they throw.
e.
Comparison of Council
Members’ Salary and Calculation as a Percentage of the Total Budget
Council Member Foy suggested
that Council Members’ salaries be linked to the same annual increase granted
Town employees. He said that the policy
should be passed once and should not have to be revisited.
Council Member Evans,
referring to a chart in the Manager’s report, noted that towns with higher
Council salaries also had higher budgets than Chapel Hill.
Mr. Horton pointed out that
those budgets were higher because those towns were providing utilities as
well. He added that while Chapel Hill’s
budget did not include utilities, it included a bus system, landfill and
library.
Council Member Wiggins,
remarking that she and Council Member Foy probably were the only Council
Members interested in raising salaries, asked the Council to consider limiting
the number of meetings they had if they did not intend to raise
compensation. She pointed out that
there already had been four meetings that week, adding that Council Members
served as liaisons to other boards and committees as well.
Mayor Waldorf asked if
anyone else was interested in the salary issue. Council Member McClintock replied that it sounded reasonable to
her since it was not very much money.
Mayor pro tem Capowski
stated that the chart showed that Council Members’ salaries were neither too
high nor too low, adding that he would not support raising salaries if they
raised taxes this year.
Council Member Foy argued
that a 4% raise for all Council Members would total about $3,000 annually. He said this was insignificant considering
the total budget, and pointed out that the last time the Council’s salaries
were raised was 1986. He argued that it
would be better to have an annual increase that was linked to other Town
employees’ raises than to go for years without a raise and then increase it by
100%.
Council Member Wiggins
agreed, pointing out that the chart did not have a column for the number of
Council meetings.
Council Member Evans
expressed the wish that compensation were linked to numbers of hours spent so
that citizens could understand what they were paying for.
Mayor Waldorf suggested
asking the Manager to calculate an increase of 4.75% in the Council’s
salaries.
f.
Increase in Town Workers’
Compensation Premiums
Mayor Waldorf said that this issue seemed clear to
her.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked
if there would be higher and higher premiums for the next decade. Pat Thomas,
Personnel Director, replied that she would expect so because premiums were
based on actual payroll. Mr. Horton
added that some of the increase had been a function of aberrational claims
experience. He noted that the Town had
had good experience for a number of years, but pointed out that there would be
bad experiences and that it took time for the repercussions of those to work
through the system.
Mayor Waldorf noted that a
police officer had had her fingers shot off, resulting in significant workers’
compensation. Mr. Horton added that a
Fire Department employee had to retire much earlier than would be expected
because of a bad back.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked
if the Wellness Program had helped. Mr.
Horton replied that the Program was not developed enough to be evaluated in
that way. He said that the safety
aspects had saved the Town money, but the wellness aspects, which were limited
to Police and Fire Departments, could not be generalized.
g.
Cost Estimate for Black
Public Workers Association (BPWA) Salary Increase Proposal
Mayor Waldorf presumed that
the Council could not approve this $1 million expenditure even though they
might like to.
Council Members McClintock
and Evans noted that $1 million was an immense amount of money.
Council Member McClintock
said that changes to the pay system would address the concerns behind this
request. Ms. Thomas said that the
changes would help employees with up to five years of service, but that the
BPWA had been targeting those with more than five years of service.
Council Member Bateman asked
what the current longevity schedule was.
Ms. Thomas replied that it was $500 at five years, $650 at 10 years,
$800 at 15 years, $1,000 at 20 years, $1,200 at 25 years. Mayor Waldorf added that this compensation
was paid in a lump sum. Mr. Horton
noted that it was much appreciated and considered one of the most valuable
benefits provided to Town employees.
Mayor Waldorf repeated her
opinion that the Town could not approve the request this year.
h.
Report of Revenue Growth in
the General Fund
Mayor Waldorf stated that
this was clear and no discussion was necessary.
i.
Parking Rental Rates
Mayor Waldorf suggested that
the Town become a “price leader” and charge whatever they could.
Bob Godding, Transportation
Director, said that they had found only one other rental operation within the
Town that charged more than the Town did.
He noted that the Council had increased rates by $5 last year, adding
that he was comfortable leaving them as they were.
Mr. Horton said that he
would be comfortable raising them $5 more, from $60 to $65. Council Members agreed.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked
if there was a good balance between the number of places the Town rented
monthly, or should it rent more of fewer lots.
Mr. Godding replied that the Town had two lots that were exclusively
monthly rentals: Lot 4 and Lot 6, which were too small to change; and Lot 5,
which included some meters. He added
that staff were in the process of monitoring Lot 5 to see if it would be better
utilized as hourly spaces, or converted to a staff lot, or maybe eventually
converted to a parking deck.
Mr. Horton added that the
Town had reduced the number of spaces available for lease in the Rosemary
Street parking deck. He said it
continued to lease 50 of the 305 spaces, noting that this had declined from 100
a few years ago. Mr. Godding said that
the Town made more money from hourly parking.
Mr. Horton added that the turnover at Lot #2 was high and the Town made
a good return there. He pointed out
that the Town was not achieving that rate of return at the Rosemary Street
parking deck, but added that it was getting closer each year.
j.
Parking Violation Rates—Fire
Lanes
Mr. Godding supported the
recommendation to increase fines as they were laid out in item #1k, including increasing fire hydrant violations
to $100, the same as they were for handicapped parking violations. He said that the Fire Department supported
this increase as well. Mr. Godding
agreed that raising the general meter violation from $10 to $15 was reasonable
and that other violations, such as blocking loading zones and bus zones, should
be increased from $20 to $40.
Council Member Bateman asked
for the estimated revenue difference.
Mr. Godding replied that he could provide that at a later date.
Council Member Evans said
that it was logical to have the same fines as the University because people did
not know whether they were at a Town or a University meter.
Council Member McClintock
supported the fire zone increase, and the other recommendations, as well.
Mayor Waldorf said she also
supported the proposal.
Mr. Horton pointed out that
Mr. Godding and the Parking Services Division had made changes in the way they
responded to citizen inquiries. He said
that this had resulted in a significant decline in the number of complaints and
appeals to the Town.
k.
Information Report
Concerning Fines at UNC-CH
Mr. Godding noted that
University rates were higher than Town rates and that the University gave more
permits, such as loading/unloading permits.
L.
Potential Resource
Reallocations
Mr. Horton pointed out that
the Council had asked the staff to look over the budget for potential
reallocations. He explained that the
staff had focused on the General Fund and concluded that changes requiring
layoffs would not be reasonable given the service needs of departments. Mr. Horton said that the staff believed that
no undue harm would be caused if the Council acted on the following recommendations:
·
eliminate
the proposed grant to Triangle Land Conservancy ($20,000);
·
reduce
hotel/motel occupancy tax grants to others ($14,500);
·
hold
vacant one Recreation Specialist II position in the Parks and Recreation
Department’s “mainstream” program ($36,100);
·
hold
vacant one police officer position in fiscal year 1999-2000 ($34,000); and
·
hold
vacant one construction worker position in fiscal year 1999-2000
($30,500).
Mr. Horton pointed out that
the total savings available through these reallocations would be $135,000.
Council Member Bateman asked
how many vacant positions the Town had.
Mr. Horton replied that there were 14 or 15 and that most of them were
recent vacancies.
Council Member Foy noted
that this would basically be a trade for six firefighters, which would cost
$140,000. He expressed support for the
Manager’s proposal.
Mayor Waldorf noted her
support, but said she regretted losing a construction worker who could build
sidewalks. She asked the Manager if he
could predict the loss of productivity in the Public Works Department if the
position were held vacant. Mr. Horton
replied that he could not because the Town had never had a full crew there long
enough to get a sense of what it could do.
Mayor pro tem Capowski noted
that $134,000 was 4/10 of a penny on the tax rate, and expressed support for
the Manager’s suggestions. He said that
he would like to see them on the spreadsheet, at least.
The Council unanimously
supported the Manager’s recommendations.
Mayor Waldorf repeated that
she was disappointed over not getting a construction worker to help build
sidewalks. Mr. Horton replied that the
Town was finishing up the sidewalks on Piney Mountain Road, and would soon be
working on Oxford Road. He said they
would work on Weaver Dairy Road after that.
Council Member Foy explained
that Engineering Director George Small had told him that the Town was having
trouble getting contractors to bid on the Raleigh Road sidewalk. He asked how extensive that problem was and
what could be done about it. Mr. Horton
replied that there might be trouble getting contractors to bid on federally
funded projects, with federal wage rates and federal stipulations. He added, though, that the Town usually did
not have trouble obtaining bids, eventually.
Council Member Wiggins asked
how many people were on the sidewalk crews.
Mr. Horton explained that it depended on what they were doing, the stage
of construction, and the kind of traffic that was there. He added that there typically were three to
four people on a crew.
Mayor Waldorf, referring to
the spreadsheet provided, asked if there were any items that Council Members
wanted to keep in this year’s budget that were not part of the Manager’s
preliminary recommendation.
Council Member Foy said that
he was convinced that the Town Clerk needed assistance and would like to
continue to talk about that.
Council Member Bateman
proposed earmarking $100,000 from Fund Balance for sewer assistance.
Jim Baker, Finance Director,
said that Fund Balance had improved this year but was still low when compared
to other jurisdictions of the same size.
He argued that the 10-11% level was the minimum that the Town needed to
adequately protect its bond ratings and to protect itself against emergencies.
Mr. Horton pointed out that
designating $100,000 for sewer assistance would mean that money would no longer
count. He agreed that the balance was
at the minimum and noted that some might suggest that it should be two to three
times higher because the Local Government Commission in North Carolina was very
stringent.
Mayor Waldorf noted that the
Local Government Commission’s recommended ratio was 8-12%. Mr. Horton replied that the Commission had
written a letter to the Town last year noting that the Town was 1/3 to 1/2
below where they should be.
Council Member Bateman said
that, in that case, she would like to leave sewer assistance on the list for
discussion.
Council Member McClintock
suggested keeping it in the budget, but at $50,000.
Mayor pro tem Capowski expressed confusion about why the Town’s Fund Balance of 10-11% was considered inadequate by the Local Government Commission, whose recommended standard was 8-12%. Mr. Baker explained that the official stated policy was that 8-12% was a minimum amount that a jurisdiction should maintain. He added that the Commission grouped cities according to population and made comparisons that showed that most of the other cities in Chapel
Hill’s comparison group had
significantly higher balances.
Mayor pro tem Capowski
stated that this year’s budget consisted of add-ons to last year’s. Mr. Horton replied that it was a
reformulated base budget that was similar to last year’s.
Mayor pro tem Capowski,
noting that they would have to levy a tax increase this year, pointed out that
the Town must look hard at its philosophic decisions in the base budget and
create a list of expenditures that could be eliminated.
Mr. Horton replied that the
staff had provided such a breakdown in the preliminary report and would be
providing one again in the final budget.
He added that the Council could further restrict the amount of grant money
in either the hotel/motel area or in human services. Mr. Horton agreed to present the information in a form that would
be easy to understand.
Council Member Evans
supported Council Member Foy’s suggestion to add the yard waste brush
collection enhancement to the list.
Council Member McClintock
said that she would like to put $10,000 back into the Manager’s budget for NC
86 landscape improvements for those who needed it the most, with the idea that
the Town would do more next year. She
also recommended that the new computer analyst be the one to upgrade the
website as part of his/her duties, rather than hiring someone else for that
purpose. Council Member McClintock also
said that she would like more information on the stormwater management
engineer, adding that she wondered about sharing that position with the
County.
Council Member McClintock
stated that she had some concerns about downtown cleaning, and asked if the
Town could use a small amount of money and make a big difference. Mr. Horton replied that it was difficult to
determine whether small increments would make a big difference.
Council Member McClintock
asked what the Parks and Recreation Department would be losing if the position
were not funded. Mr. Horton noted no
significant effect should be realized.
Katherine Spatz, Parks and Recreation Department Director, said that the
real opportunities for growth in programming were in special events,
particularly for teens, and for a liaison with the schools.
Council Member Bateman
pointed out that not funding the position would not curtail anything the
Department was currently doing. She
added that she and Ms. Spatz had discussed some ideas for creative shifting of
positions. Ms. Spatz replied that the
Department could get by using the funding for a half-time special event
assistant for a half time mainstreaming special event person instead, and then
hiring a full-time teen arts employee.
Mayor Waldorf suggested that
the Council go through the list of potential add-ons, do a straw vote to give
the Manager direction, and then go through his potential list of adds and give
him some direction on that as well.
Mayor pro tem Capowski noted
that there was a $31 million General Fund budget, two-thirds of which (roughly
$20 million) was salaries and benefits.
He pointed out that the biggest item on the spreadsheet was the $710,000
for the 4.75% salary increase. Mayor
pro tem Capowski pointed out that dropping that increase down to 4.5% would
save $20,000 and dropping it to 4.25% would save an additional $20,000. Mr. Horton explained that this was because
of the changes that the Council’s new pay system would make, such as
alleviating compression and other problems.
He explained that it did not arithmetically relate to the percentages
because there were other costs built into it.
Ms. Thomas added that the
reason dropping .25% or .5% did not save much was that it primarily affected
people who already were over the job rate, which was about 35% of the
workforce. She explained that the
remaining employees, who were currently in the bottom half of the salary range,
would be getting compression adjustments, which was where the big costs were.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked
if the whole thing was scaleable, meaning if the Council agreed to $500,000
rather than $710,000 the staff could still “perform magic.” Mr. Horton replied that it would be
difficult to answer that question because of the number of changes in the new
employee pay system. Ms. Thomas added
that the staff would have to start over and find out which of the consultant’s
recommendations the Council wanted to eliminate.
Council Member Bateman
suggested getting back to the list of expenditures that the Council wanted to
discuss before focusing on any one. She
asked if the request for $11,000 from the Human Services Advisory Committee was
included under “grants to others,” noting that the Council had agreed to add
it. Mr. Horton agreed that it needed to
be added.
Mayor Waldorf confirmed that
it was a 7% increase, and added it to the list.
Council Member McClintock
asked if it was correct that the Town was not proposing moving salaries to the
75th percentile this year.
Ms. Thomas replied that the Town could not do that this year because
they did not have the data.
Council Member McClintock
asked why they needed to do the job classification market study this year. Ms. Thomas replied that those studies take
about six months to do. She explained
that it would start on July 1st and the data draft should be in by
January to be folded into next year’s budget figures on October 1, 2000.
Council Member McClintock
asked the staff to make a list of all the components of the new pay plan and to
identify which would be the least odious to consider reducing. Mr. Horton replied that they were working on
a pay report that would do that, but were not far enough along in the process
to present it tonight. He explained
that the pay report would show what each element would cost, but noted that the
elements were interrelated and said that it would be challenging to pull
individual costs out.
Ms. Thomas noted that the
$710,000 in the General Fund was only about $20,000 more than last year. Mr. Horton added that the Council had
directed a good process that had resulted in good recommendations for a much
improved employee pay system. He argued
that the basic recommendations were sound and were essential to help the Town
get out of the mess that it was in and be able to recruit and retain good
people, particularly at the lower levels.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked
what would happen if the Council asked the staff to use 5/7th of the
money. Mr. Horton replied that he
thought they would come back to the Council asking what kind of a pay system
the Council wanted to have.
Mayor Waldorf said that the
money and time spent on the pay consultant would have been wasted.
Council Member Bateman asked
if the plan could be phased in, one section of the pay scale at a time. Ms. Thomas said that implementing it later,
but having the same percentages, would keep the same system, but would cost
less for this fiscal year. She pointed
out that they already were planning a two-year implementation that would
address key issues first, such as compression.
Ms. Thomas repeated her suggestion that changing the date might be the
simplest way to save money.
Council Member Bateman said
that she hoped the staff understood where the Council was coming from. She noted that there were budget pressures
now that did not exist back in the fall when they began this process.
Mr. Horton said that he
respected the need to review things as carefully as possible. He pointed out, though, that the amount of
money the Town needed to spend on increased pay for employees would be
substantial every year because employees were the most valuable asset the Town
had and constituted the bulk of the cost.
Mr. Horton advised the Council to move ahead with its original plan.
Council Member Foy said that
he read the chart to say that if there were no merit increases for people above
the midpoint it would still cost an extra $300,000. He asked why the Town could not keep the portion of the $710,000
that was needed to resolve compression issues and reduce the percentage of
increase in other salaries. Mr. Horton
replied that the staff could look at that and tell the Council what it might be
but could not speculate tonight. He
said that if the recommendation was to cut the amount to $500,000, the staff
would make a recommendation of how best to do that.
Council Member Foy said that
he did not see how doing this would destroy the Council’s efforts from last
fall to try and do something about compression problems.
Council Member Wiggins
suggested following Ms. Thomas’ suggestion and changing the date of
implementation while leaving the plan intact.
She noted that the State had done that on numerous occasions and argued
that this would be a more equitable solution and one that employees would
understand. Mr. Horton pointed out that
Town employees were invested in the plan and would be disappointed if it were
dismantled now.
Mayor Waldorf added that she
personally would be disappointed if the Council took the plan apart. She recalled that several Council Members
had been unhappy with the pay plan for several years. Mayor Waldorf said this had lead to the decision to hire a
consultant, invest that money, and give every Town employee an opportunity to
participate. Mayor Waldorf, noting that
more than half of the employees had participated in the study, said that she
would be concerned if the Council started dismantling the plan now.
Council Member Foy countered
that the 4.75% option could be worked backward without having to dismantle the
plan. He asked why there could not be
2.25% rather than 4.75% increase. Ms.
Thomas replied that a below market increase would make the Town’s salaries less
competitive.
Council Member Foy asked if
doing so would dismantle the plan, and Ms. Thomas replied that it would
undermine part of what the Town was trying to do, which was to remain
competitive with pay increases granted throughout the range.
Mr. Horton pointed out that
people who had been employed by the Town the longest would receive the
least. He said that he agreed with
Council Member Foy’s point, however, that the system could be scaled down, and
offered to bring back a report on the potential effects and savings. Mr. Horton cautioned that the competitive
and senior employee effects were important as well.
Mayor pro tem Capowski said
that he hoped the staff did not think the Council was suggesting giving 0%
increase to all employees. Mr. Horton
replied that he hoped the Council was not considering giving the senior group
of employees only 2.5% in a year in which the labor market had moved to 4.5%.
Council Member Wiggins again
suggested delaying implementation. She
recommended asking the staff when the Town should begin implementing the plan
in order to save the $200,000 that Mayor pro tem Capowski had suggested.
Council Member McClintock
noted that it was too early to make a decision on this before they even had a
budget. She agreed that the idea of
delaying implementation had merit, and said that she also agreed with Council
Member Foy’s request to take another look at the figures.
Mayor Waldorf asked Mr.
Horton if he understood what Council Members wanted. Mr. Horton replied that the Council wanted a chart showing what
the savings would be, week by week, for pushing implementation back. He said that they also wanted to scale it
back, quarter point by quarter point, to see what the impacts would be. Mr. Horton said he might also try a
combination that would have a portion go into effect on October 1st
and another portion go into effect on January 1st. He added that the staff would try to be
creative and assured the Council that the staff understood the difficulty the
Council was facing. Mr. Horton said
that he intended to present options that would preserve the pay system which
the Council and the employees had worked so hard to develop.
Council Member Wiggins
advised the Manager to keep it simple.
Council Member Pavăo said
that it needed to be simple, competitive with the market, and equitable for
employees.
Mayor Waldorf pointed out
that there was no way around having a local government budget that was
two-thirds employee costs. She added
that she increasingly believed that it was better to equitably compensate the
people that you had and try to motivate them to be the best employees they
could be, and if you have to make cuts, cut a service.
Council Member Pavăo added
that in any service organization the highest cost was the employees. He noted that this was also the biggest
asset and it had to be protected.
Mayor Waldorf added
$4,000-5,000 for Community Cuisine to the list of items for consideration. She took a straw vote on the list:
·
Five
Council Members voted in favor of the Town Clerk’s assistant.
·
Three
voted for sewer assistance at a level of $50,000.
·
Five
voted for $54,000 brush collection enhancement.
·
Five
voted for $10,000 (or more) for NC 86 landscape improvements.
·
No
one voted for $36,000 for teens and events coordinator.
·
Five
voted for $11,000 to increase appropriation for the Human Services Advisory
Commission.
·
Five
voted for $3,000-5,000 for Community Cuisine.
Mr. Horton verified that the
vote was to determine which items had majority support for staying on a
consideration list. He stated that
these included the Town Clerk position with five votes, the brush proposal with five votes, NC 86 with five, human services with five,
and Community Cuisine with five votes.
Mayor Waldorf suggested
going through the Manager’s list. She
noted that the Council had discussed the pay system amount and questioned
whether the Town had to do the Job Classification and Market Study this year. Mr. Horton replied that it needed to be done
every four years. He added that the
Town needed an outside objective review so that they could be certain they had
the best data, especially if they were planning to carry the program out fully
into the 75th percentile.
Mr. Horton said that he recommended it.
Mayor Waldorf, noting that they had created a short add list, asked if there was anything in particular that anyone wanted to question or ask about or encourage others to delete. Council Member McClintock questioned the stormwater engineer, as did Mayor Waldorf and Council Member Wiggins. Council Member Wiggins suggested putting it on hold until they got a job description and the report on joint funding.
Council Member Foy asked
what “alternate services” for the Town Attorney meant. Mr. Karpinos replied that increasing the
alternate services budget for hiring outside attorneys was in place of hiring a
second attorney.
Council Member Wiggins asked
about the Sanitation Department’s crew and truck. Mr. Horton explained that the staff had included funds in the
preliminary proposal for annexation costs based on the belief that it would be
timely to annex the Southern Village site.
He expressed concern that costs would exceed revenues if the annexation
were effective July 1, 2000. Mr. Horton
explained that the fire station might not be ready by then, leading the staff
to recommend postponing annexation for a year.
He added that he would have better data for the April 28th
Budget Work Session, but the staff might recommend postponing hiring the
sanitation crew for another year.
Mayor Waldorf stated that if
there were no further questions the Council would get further reports on April
26th and then have a work session on the 28th.
The meeting was adjourned at
9:45 p.m.
The minutes of
April 15, 1999 were adopted on the 24th day of May, 1999.
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