SUMMARY MINUTES OF A WORK SESSION
OF THE CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2001, AT 4:00 P.M.
Mayor Rosemary Waldorf called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
Council members present were Flicka Bateman, Joyce Brown, Pat Evans, Kevin Foy, Lee Pavão, Bill Strom, and Jim Ward. Council Member Edith Wiggins was absent, excused. Council Member Bateman arrived at 4:05 p.m. Council Member Ward arrived at 4:09 p.m.
Staff members presents were Town Manager Cal Horton, Assistant Town Managers Sonna Loewenthal and Florentine Miller, Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos, Assistant to the Manager Bill Stockard, Public Works Director Bruce Heflin, Sanitation Supervisor Harv Howard, Public Works Administrative Analyst Randy Ballard, Finance Director Jim Baker, Assistant Finance Director Kay Johnson, Human Resources Director Pat Thomas, and Town Clerk Joyce Smith.
Mayor Waldorf said it now looked like the State would not be cutting the State operating assistance for transit. She said the recommendations of the Transportation Planning and Study Commission went nowhere because there was about $900 million in the Highway Trust Fund, and there can not be any new taxes while that money remains in the Fund. Mayor Waldorf stated that the Department of Transportation (DOT) employed an independent auditor who recommended that a safe cash balance in the Highway Trust Fund would be $200-$300 million. Mayor Waldorf continued, saying that there was legislation underway that would take $150 million every year, for the next three years, out of the Highway Trust Fund to spend the balance down for maintenance. Mayor Waldorf said the staff had been encouraged to state that a healthy portion of those funds needed to go to transit, not just for maintenance. She said she would be bringing a letter to the next meeting of the Council asking the Council to endorse this statement.
Mayor Waldorf said some minor adjustments needed to be made to the today’s agenda: the discussion of the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) would be discussed this evening, and Mr. Horton had a suggestion for the Vehicle Replacement Program.
Mr. Horton said there was still not enough data to make a sufficient report to the Council, and asked that the discussion be deferred until the staff had all the data, probably May 30. He suggested that the May 16 meeting be collapsed into the May 30 meeting so the Council would not have to have an additional meeting. This suggestion was accepted by consensus of the Council.
Finance Director Jim Baker said the format used in the spreadsheet he had given the Council did not fit every year, and that he was in the process of working on additional information that would be a summary of the important changes in each one of the departmental budgets.
Mr. Baker summarized the General Fund Cost Estimates for 2001-2002:
· Included in the base costs (as described in the footnote) are medical insurance costs, workers’ compensation insurance costs, and property and liability insurance costs.
· In addition to that there has been $825,000 in fleet maintenance expenses shifted from the Fleet Maintenance Division in the Public Works Department to the various departments, which use vehicles.
· The amounts included in the base column are shown in the Budget document on page 181.
· In a second footnote all of the estimated annexation costs have been lumped into a reserve in a non-departmental category.
· There is a column in the chart that shows what the tax rate equivalents are for the major changes after the base budget and most of the changes related to the CIP and the Reserve-for-Pay adjustments.
· There is a column that shows the tax-rate equivalent of the numbers, using one cent equivalent to $396,000.
· Noted on the annexation costs are that the tax rate equivalent is 3.46 cents.
Council Member Foy asked if the tax rate equivalent was the result of a major change number, not of the base cost number, and the Mayor/Council number appeared incorrect. Mr. Baker said there was a transposition error, which should be .08 instead of 0.82.
Mr. Baker noted that, in the annexation expenses footnote, the revenue of $1,554,000 was the tax rate equivalent of 3.9 cents. He added that the General Fund Revenue Estimates chart was in a format that did not fit the current situation, which showed the revenue estimates made in January when the budget process began, and what the changes had been until the time of the Manager’s recommended budget. He said the additional revenues related to the annexation were included in the numbers.
Mayor Waldorf asked if the bottom line figures reflected a change from the recommended budget. Mr. Baker said it did not, and the bottom line tax rate equivalent figures were not necessarily tied to what the recommended tax increase were.
Commercial Garbage Collection Fee for Service Option
Public Works Director Bruce Heflin said the report was a continuation of the discussion on April 4, at which time the Council had requested options for changing the Town’s commercial refuse collection service. He said the staff had been requested to touch on some of the issues such as equity, non-profits, recycling, shared dumpsters, and possible implementation of a fee-for-service system. Mr. Heflin said if the Council wished the staff to proceed with Option 3, it would take the rest of the year, and into the first quarter of next year, to accumulate the information needed to implement a billing system.
Council Member Foy asked if Option 3 started October 1, 2001, would the revenues be around $300,000. Mr. Heflin said it was a guess, and that the Department knew what the costs were above the basic level of service, but it did not know how many businesses would respond to the fee by changing their patterns of behavior to minimize the need for a fee. He said the figures were a fraction of a part of the year’s revenue, and beginning one quarter into the year would only allow three-quarters of a year’s revenue. Mr. Heflin said that figure might need to be pared down further to a level of $275,000. He said it was possible that the revenues could exceed that, and in future years it might rise.
Council Member Foy asked if these figures were in the budget. Mr. Horton said the budget was prepared assuming the same type of service as currently available.
Council Member Bateman asked if someone could review the Colony Lake situation. Mr. Heflin explained that, according to the planning regulations, it was a single-zoning lot and a multi-family subdivision, which had been served as single-family homes, in error, and so had not been required to use dumpsters. He said the rest of the development did use dumpsters. Mr. Heflin said that the developer, at the time of approval, made the case for private streets and to make it a townhome development in order to avoid setback requirements and the street construction requirements. He said the street system had been a bone-of-contention between the homeowners and the developer since that time. Mr. Horton added that the staff would not recommend approval of that kind of development under today’s standards.
Mayor Waldorf asked how many pick-ups the dumpsters at Colony Lake got each week. Mr. Heflin responded that it was twice a week.
Council Member Evans asked if the residents of Colony Lake who receive curbside pickup presently would have to go to dumpsters. Mr. Heflin said the staff would recommend that the residents continue to receive curbside pickup.
Council Member Evans asked if Mr. Heflin perceived a problem with sanitation and pest control with the once-a-week pickups at dumpsters. She said she did perceive a problem. Mr. Heflin said if the Council decided to pursue Option 3, the staff proposed that the Department visit every dumpster site in Town and perform a waste audit with the complex managers to determine what their needs were, and what they will probably need will be twice-a-week service. He said if they opted to have once-a-week service there probably would be some problems in some areas.
Council Member Evans reminded the Council that many of the areas served by dumpsters were rental properties, and the rents would certainly go up if the pickups resulted in a fee. She suggested that the pickups might be looked at as a total package, rather than as just commercial. She asked about the statement in the report that suggested that non-profits pay only one-half the cost, but that State law stipulated that the lower fee for the tax-exempt could not result in a fee for others that would exceed the actual cost to provide the service to them. Mr. Heflin said the one-half was just a suggestion, not based on any arithmetic in trying to balance the foregone revenue against the rest of the potential sources of revenue. Mr. Horton explained that, if the Town cut the fee for non-profits, it could not raise the fee for others to recover that portion of the service. He said, if the Town set a fee for garbage collection, it cannot be set any higher than what would recover the true cost of collecting the garbage. He added that if the Town chose to reduce the fee for one class of user, the fee can not be raised for the other class in order to recover the foregone revenues from the favored class.
Council Member Evans asked who would then make up the difference in the cost. Mr. Horton said it would be recovered by the taxes collected. Council Member Evans asked if it would apply to governments and schools.
Mayor Waldorf pointed out that the memo proposed that it be applied to institutions that were tax exempt, which would be more than non-profits.
Council Member Evans said she was trying to get a broad picture and to figure out if it would be fair to the Town, because it would mean a gain in services but not in revenue. Mr. Horton said it was a value judgement for the Council to make.
Council Member Brown, referring to page 21 of the memo, said she was surprised to see that Wilmington had no performance by the town in any capacity. She said that she had talked with the program coordinator of the Solid Waste Department of the city of Wilmington, and he said they actually did provide collection services in an 18-block area of the downtown. Council Member Brown said that Wilmington had eliminated dumpsters and had a bag system. She said she would like to have the staff look at this system, particularly in the commercial areas. Council Member Brown asked Mr. Heflin if he was familiar with this system. Mr. Heflin said it was a pay-as-you-throw system, adding that the system was tried once in Chapel Hill and was problematic. He said he would not recommend the system because of the opportunities for broken bags and spillage, but he could work up an option for this system. Mr. Heflin said most cities had moved to dumpsters.
Council Member Brown said that the bags were picked up so quickly that this did not seem to be a problem.
Council Member Evans said they saw the same kind of program in Athens, Georgia, when the Council visited that city, and that the bags were put out minutes before being collected, so there was not a problem.
Mayor Waldorf asked if this kind of system would help the Town save money, or cost money. Mr. Heflin said it would cost the Town money, and would require more staffing, timing to take the trash to the landfill, and other issues. Mr. Horton said another issue would be that most businesses did not have any interior space suitable for storage of this kind of waste, and it would create fire and health hazards.
Council Member Ward asked for further information regarding incentives for private recycling. Mr. Heflin said this would be at the Council’s direction to provide some incentives. Council Member Ward said he would be in favor of providing incentives for recycling, as part of the package with the County.
Council Member Ward encouraged the staff to enter into conversations with the Chamber of Commerce regarding the list of all businesses that use dumpsters. Mr. Heflin said the staff planned, over the next several months, to visit all the places using dumpsters to provide a trash audit, and to build a billing list.
Council Member Strom said that he would also encourage looking for ways for increasing recycling, and he hoped the Council would move on these options, adding he hoped to see the options in the fee structure. He said the Town spent millions of dollars in supporting business in the downtown, such as Streetscape, the bus system, police patrol, civilian safety officers, and extra service from Public Works, but he did not believe the Town should be picking up commercial trash. Council Member Strom said he felt that the proposal of maintaining a base level of service to residences was fair, that the proposal dealing with neighborhoods with dumpsters was fair, and he would like to see the Council move ahead on the proposal and get the numbers into the budget.
Council Member Foy proposed a revision in the revenue projections, taking off one-quarter, and to consider generating two-quarters worth of revenue, which on an annualized basis would be $460,000. He proposed that the number $275,000 be, instead, $345,000, and moved into the budget. Council Member Foy said he felt this would be a reasonable number to rely on. Mr. Horton said he believed that the numbers were a little conservative, and before the Council settled on a number, he and Mr. Baker would like an opportunity to talk to the administrative staff of the Public Works Department.
Council Member Evans asked if any of the costs were due to employee layoffs. Mr. Horton said the staff would not be proposing any layoffs, due to the service. Council Member Evans asked what would happen if the businesses decided to go with private collection. Mr. Horton said the staff did not believe that the businesses could afford private collection by comparison with the fees that the Town would be charging, adding that the proposed fees were below market. Mr. Heflin said, even if the Town charged for all collections, it would still be cheaper for the businesses, although by a small amount.
Council Member Brown said a more accurate way to describe the service was not as free, since it was paid for by taxes.
Council Member Bateman asked Mr. Heflin to go over, again, the differences in the two fee schedule proposals on page 5 of the memorandum. Mr. Heflin said that the first table was for one container collected at different frequencies, and the second table would be to add a container and the frequency of pickups.
Council Member Evans said that the proposal would not hurt the big box commercial businesses, but it would hurt the small “mom and pop” businesses. She said she had been told that this proposal would raise the business tax rate 11-20 cents per hundred dollars of valuation. Council Member Evans said this was so the Town could decrease the rate ¾ cents. She said the commercial part of the community provided the Town with revenue, and asked if that was the sector, which the Town wanted to discourage by a de facto raising of taxes.
Council Member Evans stated that the services provided to the downtown was also provided throughout the community. She said that many of the cities listed on the chart had let their downtowns erode greatly, and then were spending a great deal of money revitalizing those downtown areas. Council Member Evans pointed out that the Town should be careful not to start down the road of hurting its downtown, adding that this was not just about saving money, but how it would hurt businesses in the community and who it would affecting.
Mayor Waldorf asked Council Member Evans to give her a copy of her analysis in writing, as the figures that Council Member Evans had did not agree with the figures in the memorandum for costs. She said she would like to move the discussion on and wait for the figures to come back from the staff.
Council Member Ward said he encouraged the Chamber of Commerce and the businesses to be more involved in the process than they were at this time. Mr. Heflin said the staff had met with the Chamber of Commerce representatives for lengthy discussions and had had numerous discussions with their staff, and would continue to have discussions.
Item 2 – Human Resources Issues:
Summary of Recommended Position Changes in the 2001-2002 Budget
Council Member Strom asked about the 5 Police Officer positions recommended due to annexation, noting that one Officer was going to be added to each battalion. Mr. Horton said that was in order to provide 24-hour-a-day coverage. Council Member Strom asked if the Town currently provided 24-hour-a-day coverage. Mr. Horton said the Town had to, adding that there were 4 platoons necessary to do that, because people had regularly scheduled off-days, vacation and sick leave, and training. He said the Town needed a fifth position to cover all the gaps. Mr. Horton said positions were being provided for the coverage, which the future annexation areas did not have at the present time. He said the Town already had four battalions, and for every position requiring 24-hours-a-day coverage, it took one for each battalion, plus one to cover leave time and off time. Mr. Horton stated that the Town would also be using those same additions to cover Meadowmont and the additional growth in the community.
Council Member Bateman said she wanted to talk about one position that was still frozen—the Recreation Specialist for the special population needs. She asked how the Town could justify not funding this position since the Town was out of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Mr. Horton said he did not believe the Town was out of compliance with the ADA, and he had requested that Kathryn Spatz, Director of the Parks and Recreation Department, come to the next work session meeting with a report on this issue.
Council Member Bateman asked that the Town Attorney and Ms. Spatz give the Council information about how the Town was complying with the ADA in providing access to recreation.
Council Member Foy asked if, in order to increase police service, the Town had to add in increments of six officers. Mr. Horton said it would be in increments of five officers, the sixth was a Crime Prevention Officer, and that position would spend about 20% of the time on Southern Village and the remaining time on the rest of the community. He said, with the annexation of Southern Village, there was not enough time for crime prevention services without adding another position. Mr. Horton said that position would handle increased responsibilities over the next several years, but it was needed to provide the basic service.
Council Member Foy asked what was the reason for one Police Officer being deleted and then requesting the addition of five Police Officers. Mr. Horton said the Council had asked the staff to do the best it could to transfer resources from one place to another to cover positions, so it was determined to remove one position, and transfer it to the use proposed on technology. He said it would result in some service change, but would be spread across all three divisions of the Police Department. Mr. Horton said it was a position that was being eliminated, and the six that were added were Patrol Officers.
Council Member Foy asked about the 22 added positions. Mr. Horton said those were all related to annexation. Council Member Foy asked how the recommended changes in position hours netted out. He asked if it would total 31 new positions, and if 29 of these were actually new full-time positions. Mr. Horton said they were, and 22 were for annexation.
Council Member Bateman requested information as to why a full-time week was not 40 hours. Human Relations Director Pat Thomas responded that different positions had different workweeks. She said that 37½ hours for administrative positions had been the workweek since before she had come to work for the Town 20 years ago. She said in the 1970s the Town Hall was open for four hours on Saturday, and when that ceased, more hours were not added to the workweek. Mr. Horton added that there were other employees who worked 56 hours per week, and the Fire Department and Police Department worked 42 hours per week.
Council Member Bateman asked if the employees were paid time-and-one-half for hours worked over 40 hours. Ms. Thomas said that regular employees were paid time-and-one-half beyond 40 hours, but the staff that worked 37 ½ hours were only paid over-time when they worked beyond 40 hours per week. She said that the Police and Fire Departments were able to use special Fair Labor Standards regulations that allowed the Town to look at overtime for 28-day cycles, and Police were paid overtime when they work over 171 hours in 28-days, and Fire, 212 hours.
Council Member Bateman said the Town ought to look at a 37½ -hour workweek. Ms. Thomas responded that salaries were based on hourly rates, and if the Town went to 40-hour workweeks, pay would probably have to increase by 5% to account for the extra hours.
Council Member Ward asked what the dividing line was between those being paid hourly and those being paid salaries. Mr. Horton said federal law specified it. Ms. Thomas said that generally labor trades were paid hourly. For police and fire, she said, employees are paid salaries, but the pay had to be calculated hourly, meaning they would be paid time-and-one-half for overtime. She said some employees received weekly paychecks, such as Transportation and Public Works.
Council Member Ward asked if people, such as those working in the Planning Department, were working for salaries no matter how many hours it took them to complete the work. Mr. Horton said those were professional people. Council Member Ward asked if there was compensatory time for those working long hours. Mr. Horton said most department heads never worked an average of 40 hours, but worked longer hours, adding that there were some staff members who came close to 40 hours and received compensatory pay. He said none of those were in the Planning Department. Mr. Horton said the exception were people working on a contract basis who were paid on an hourly basis.
Council Member Ward asked if the 22 positions relating to annexation were necessitated by law. Mr. Horton said, when the annexation plans were presented to the Council, the staff made an all-out effort to meet the legal requirements necessary, adding that the staff had explained that there was no way to extend 20-30% of a person. He said that it would necessitate a full-time person to cover some of the additional incremental service requirements being experienced. Mr. Horton said if the Council wanted to change the service plan for annexation, the annexation might have to be put off another year. He said these positions were needed in order to provide the same service level as in the rest of the Town. Mr. Horton added that if changes were made, it would invalidate the plan at this point, and the Town would have to determine whether or not it could adjust the process and continue to move ahead.
Mayor Waldorf remarked that, in her memory, there had been no additions to the Public Works positions in this category. Mr. Horton said 2 positions had been added for Homestead Park.
Council Member Brown asked Mr. Horton to be more specific about the plan and its relationship to the recommended position changes. Mr. Horton said the staff had laid out the exact costs that would be involved, and did their best to make clear what would be involved in all of the operations effected at the time.
Council Member Evans asked if the Council could get a copy of the vacant positions, and how long the positions had remained vacant, in order to put it side-by-side with the recommended position changes. She said it might be possible to leave the positions vacant, and still hire the necessary extra positions for annexation. Mr. Horton said he did not recall any of the positions being vacant for a long period of time.
Council Member Evans asked if the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools paid for crossing guards. Mr. Horton responded that the schools had been put on notice that the Town would like the schools to begin making those payments next year. Council Member Evans said she had seen two crossing guards at the Glenwood School crossing, and wondered if one guard would be enough. Mr. Horton said that guard crossing had been put in place by Council action, noting that the idea was that it was a dangerous intersection, and the Council wished to make it a safe pedestrian area. He said the two guards were placed there in order to cover the wide expanse of the road.
Council Member Ward suggested there may be some creative way to keep the 22 positions for annexation, but not increase additional positions elsewhere. Mr. Horton said the staff always tried to eliminate positions in order to save money, and every single operation was reviewed each year. He said he was not able to identify any position to eliminate, other than the one excess position in the Police Department, which came from the efficiencies gained by having the Police computerized information system.
Item 3 – Capital Improvement Program (CIP)
Assistant Town Manager Sonna Loewenthal presented an overall general report of the CIP, saying that the program was a 15-year plan. She said there was an emphasis on deferred maintenance needs on current and planned extraordinary maintenance projects, and very little on new projects. Ms. Loewenthal added that the Facility Condition Assessment of the year 2000 included a very detailed listing of what needed to be done at the present time for deferred maintenance. She said it also helped the staff know what needs to be done in terms of extraordinary maintenance over the next 10-15 years for all 37 buildings for which the Town is responsible. Ms. Loewenthal said that the CIP was comprehensive in scope, including all Town funds—gifts, grants, and bond funding, but not including OWASA or the schools. She noted that, as the numbers got far enough out into the future, they would probably need to be amended, and inflated each year to keep up with reality. Ms. Loewenthal said the plan would be an excellent tool for the staff.
Ms. Loewenthal said there were some deferred maintenance projects that were needed at the present time, and the staff proposed that they be financed over 10 years. She said the Council approved five projects for this year to be financed over 10 years, and the staff was proposing that the financing be sold in the coming year. Ms. Loewenthal said the 10-year financing was efficient, performing maintenance needed now before the need was even greater and came to a higher level of necessity, and it was fair, by letting people using the projects over the next 10 years help to pay for them. She said that discussion of the Construction Management was part of the program, but asked to continue that discussion at the next budget work session.
Ms. Loewenthal said the initial report was delivered to the Council on March 28, 2001, and since then all the advisory boards had looked at them and made their recommendations. She said that some changes had been made in the report since March 28: delay of the 10-year financing of the first five projects to make available another $90,000; reorganize some of the expenditures to have a more consistent basis for the curb-cut program required by the ADA; to have more consistent funding for small park improvements; and, better funding for extraordinary maintenance.
Council Member Strom asked if the funding for small park improvements was because of the delay in the sale. Ms. Loewenthal, indicating Table 1, said that there would be an unexpected $27,000 unspent, of which $25,000 of it would be reappropriated to the small parks program improvements next year.
Mayor Waldorf asked if the staff had identified which parks would have improvements. Ms. Loewenthal said that usually was determined in the summer.
Council Member Strom said he felt that the small park request from the Culbreth neighborhood was very worthy and hoped it would be considered. Ms. Loewenthal pointed out that the Culbreth park area was very hilly, so would need a certain amount of grading that might not cost less than $25,000, and, normally, the staff would try to do several small projects with that amount of money.
Mayor Waldorf suggested that the staff give the Council a list of what the options would be or what the Parks and Recreation Commission recommended.
Council Member Strom asked about the Town Hall maintenance item and the Library Capital item, and said it made sense to roll those into the 10-year financing programs. Ms. Loewenthal said the distinction made was between deferred maintenance, which the staff was proposing to put into the 10-year financing, and the item for the Town Hall, for carpeting, was not as easy to put into financing.
Council Member Strom asked what the staff proposed to use as collateral. Mr. Baker said there would have to be some collateral security arranged. Council Member Strom asked if it would be possible to pledge fund balance as security, as opposed to the carpet, so it could be deferred. Mr. Baker said it was his understanding that the collateral would have to be some kind of real property, something that could be repossessed. He said he would have to study the specifics of this rule. Council Member Strom said he would like to see this option pursued.
Mayor Waldorf asked Mr. Baker to find out if that type of financing would require a higher interest rate. Mr. Baker did not think it would.
Council Member Strom said, knowing the status of the Public Works Department lease, he had a really hard time with $85,000 for a lube pit, and $15,000 for a wash stand, and asked if there was an alternative. He asked if it could be filled in with concrete or gravel before making a huge investment in something that would be bulldozed in a few years. Council Member Strom said he would like to see a way of avoiding that capital expense. Ms. Loewenthal said the Town expected a minimum of six years left on the lease, but it was the opinion of the Public Works staff, including the Safety Officer who was familiar with OSHA regulations, that the Town needed to do something in both cases. She said the alternatives to filling in the pit were less safe, and the vehicles could not be worked on without the lube pit. Ms. Loewenthal added that some of the trucks needed to be washed on a daily basis, particularly the garbage trucks, and there was no alternative. Mr. Horton said the OSHA regulations were what generated the needs.
Council Member Strom wondered if there was a safe pit in the Town that could be rented to perform those specific services. Mr. Horton said he would have Public Works Director Bruce Heflin prepare a written report for the Council.
Council Member Strom asked about the Public Works bonds and how they would be spent. Ms. Loewenthal said it was for storage buildings—“pull barns”—and a metal building for the street workers to rest and eat, and would include more bathrooms. She said both buildings were movable. Ms. Loewenthal said that some of the other funds were to be spent on planning on the new site.
Mayor Waldorf asked if the regulations on bonds would allow the Town to spend the $290,000 for land purchase for Public Works. Ms. Loewenthal said she thought it was for only improvements. Mr. Horton said the staff would find out the answer.
Council Member Ward asked if it was in the plan that the buildings would be moved. Ms. Loewenthal said the intent was to move as much as possible, but there was not a detailed plan yet.
Council Member Evans had questions from the Planning Board. She said the Board wanted to know what the 800 megahertz radio was. Mr. Horton said the County was involved in reviewing what kind of radio system was needed to meet the modern emergency service needs of the County—sheriff, police, fire, EMS service, and Public Works services, and others who needed to be involved on the general emergency network. He said it did not belong in the Town budget, but should be a County-wide expense. He said it was detailed in the Technology Report.
Council Member Evans said there was also a discussion about “needs” versus “wish” list. She asked about the “Library Coffee Shop” on the list. Mr. Horton said he had asked the Library Director whether it was feasible to get a coffee service inside the present building, and she thought it should be a capital improvement item. Mr. Horton said he did not think it was necessary.
Council Member Foy said the $155,000 to be spent on the lube pit and the washing facility for Public Works was not recoverable. Mr. Horton said if the Town got an extension on the lease the Public Works Department could still remain where it was for another ten years.
Council Member Foy asked where the money for reappropriation, $65,000 on line 2, was coming from. Mr. Baker said it was money that the Town expected it would not spend in the current budget year, which could be rolled over until next year. Mr. Horton added that in some cases the Town had started a project that would not be completed in the current fiscal year, but would go into the next fiscal year.
Mayor Waldorf asked if the unspent money, $65,000, would go to the position of Project Manager. Ms. Loewenthal said it was money not being spent on financing for this year of $90,000. She said the costs of deferred financing could not be found in the figures in the tables. Mr. Baker said the starred items deferred until next year added up to $90,000 financing. Ms. Loewenthal said the reason the projects were put off until next year was that there was not enough personnel to perform the work.
Council Member Foy asked what the “hold back plan” meant in the last line of the table. Mr. Baker said that was in case the State took the $754,000 reimbursement.
Council Member Strom asked for some discussion about the $120,000 for the Town Hall generator. Ms. Loewenthal said, after getting deeper into the planning of the generator, the staff discovered that it was not a $40,000 project, but a $120,000 project, because of the way the building was wired. Mr. Horton said the reason the staff thought it would be $40,000 was because they believed it would be similar to places such as the fire station, and that certain areas of the Town Hall could be isolated. He said this was an important project because if there were another situation such as Hurricane Fran, all of the communications systems would go down. Ms. Loewenthal said the money had been reallocated, came out of the unspent balance, and came from several different places.
Council Member Strom questioned how $80,000 more was added to the $40,000 without making the Council aware. Mr. Horton said that was the purpose of this discussion about the proposed budget, to make the Council aware.
Council Member Bateman asked why communications could not be set up in one of the fire stations, instead of a generator at the Town Hall. Mr. Horton said that was not where the computer systems and telephones were.
Council Member Bateman asked whom the staff would be communicating with. Mr. Horton said public safety agencies and citizens. He said it was not possible to move the servers to another location. Mr. Horton said the staff had to rely on computers as its key way of communicating, and when the computers go out in the Town Hall they go out for the whole Town system.
Council Member Foy asked why the generator was not something that was appropriate for a longer-term financing instead of a cash outlay. He said it was possible to delay, and ask for $40,000 this year, and $40,000 next year. Mr. Horton said that was certainly possible, but he would not recommend it, adding he had been concerned about power outages since Hurricane Fran.
Council Member Foy asked what the Homestead Park $85,000 was for. Ms. Loewenthal said it was for field lights, entrance signs, internal signs, and the dog park, as well as several small items.
Mayor Waldorf said the Council would expect more information on financing the generator, the Public Works issues, and the Small Park list.
Item 4 – Other Issues
Revenue and Cost Projections for Revenue-Producing Activities
Council Member Strom thanked the staff for the report on the relationship between projections shown in past budgets for activities or services that are partially offset by fee revenues. Mr. Horton said the staff had learned a good lesson on the need to keep attentive on fees and letting them move gradually rather than having them rise in jumps.
Council Member Ward asked if there was a way to have a standard fee-raising based on the price index and cost-of-living index that would be more routinely implemented. Mr. Horton said the staff could try to develop something like that. He said, in the case of taxes, it would be easy to do to just settle on a schedule as to how it would be adjusted. In the case of fees, Mr. Horton said, the costs of what was being recovered would have to be calculated.
Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board Request
Mr. Horton said he had inadvertently omitted one additional request from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board for $11,800 for an educational and information program.
Council Member Foy said he would like all of the requests listed on page A15 put into the budget. He asked what the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board’s request was for. Mr. Horton said that the Board wanted to continue the kind of public information program they began last year.
Council Member Ward said the important part of the information was what needed to be done for bicycles and pedestrian usage, and education revolving around it was a critical component for the Council to make whatever infrastructure the Town had safer.
Mayor pro tem Pavão asked if there were grants available for that sort of program. Council Member Ward said the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board had been advocating for more staff support as a way for identifying opportunities for grant opportunities. Mr. Horton said the staff had pursued each of the areas that the Board had asked it to and there was not much available, and there was only one that was new to the staff. He said the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board wanted to use the money for brochures for promoting walking and bicycling to be distributed at Town facilities, public service announcements in local papers, and an addition to the Town website promoting walking and bicycling.
Council Member Ward said the Board received money from the Town last year for “Walking-to-School Day”, bicycling to work, and raising awareness for using the facilities safely.
Mayor pro tem Pavão asked how much longer the Town’s agreement with the Arts Center was. Mr. Horton said he thought it was into its sixth year, of a ten-year agreement.
Council Member Strom said the Town was lucky to have citizens willing to work on the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board, and felt its request was reasonable and the Council should support it as part of its goals. He added that he believed the other requests should be supported as well.
Council Member Bateman said she thought Club Nova had been taken out and put into another pot. Mr. Horton said it was possible that they would qualify for Community Development funding, but it was not certain.
Council Member Evans asked if El Centro Latino could be funded from Community Development money. Mr. Horton said he would look into that.
Mayor Waldorf left the meeting at 5:48 p.m.
The Council agreed to support all of the requests listed on page A15.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:55 p.m.