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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/21/1993 City Council 3o 87a MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON August 21, 1993 The Work Session of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas was called to order at 7:14 p.m. on the 21st day of August, 1993 at City Hall with the following Council roll call: William Manning, Mayor Present Mike Lynch, Councilman Present Toby Pollard, Councilman Present Joe Agnew, Councilman Present Tom Bogan, Councilman Present John Dillard, Councilman Present Joel Marks, Mayor Pro-tem Present and with seven present, a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: 1. REVIEW AND DISCUSSION OF THE PROPOSED MUNICIPAL BUDGET FY 1993-94 WITH REGARD TO ALL DEPARTMENTS OF THE CITY Bill Hall opened discussion by giving a brief overview of the entire budget, stating the total 93-94 estimated budget expenditures are $12,949,670.00, while the expenditures in the 92-93 budget were $12,349,550.00, noting this is a projected 4.8% increase. Mr. Hall stated the 92-93 figures include capital expenditures, but the 93-94 figures do not. Mr. Hall said projected capital expenditures for the General Fund in the 93-94 year are $135,000.00 and in the Utility Fund the projection is $80,000.00. He went on to say the actual impact on the budget for the General Fund would be $42,300.00 and for the Utility Fund the actual impact would be $25,100.00. Going on, Mr. Hall said the projected contingency fund for the General Fund is $312,050.00 and for the Utility Fund is $261,160.00, noting this is based on figures from the end of July. He went on, stating that if we continue to have no rain, the Utility Fund contingency fund will increase. Mr. Hall did note that the 93-94 figures do not include any personnel considerations. He said the total assessed valuation is at $535,513,295.00 and that he felt better about the budget this year than he has in the past 3 years. James England, Finance Director, gave a presentation, using overheads and hand out materials covering city revenue sources. Mr. England's presentation included a National League of Cities Fiscal Condition Survey, General and Utility Fund summaries, sales tax analysis, revenue estimates for 93-94, daily water pumping reports and graphs indicating fluctuations in all revenue producing departments for the last 10 fiscal years. Mr. England fielded several questions from the council, explaining investments and other areas relating to the revenue side of the municipal budget. The Council then met with each department head with respect to their particular 2 004874 department's line item for 1993-94. Each department head fielded questions from the council and notes were made to bring back certain items at a later date in the budget process. Several reports were requested by the Council from various department heads, a list of which will be made available for follow-up. Comments and questions are as follows: PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT - Sylvia Brantley Vehicle Maintenance has been increased due to the age and condition of the vehicles. Councilman Lynch questioned why electrical service is up in all departments. Mr. England advised the increase by T.U.E. for residential customers was 15% and for commercial and governmental accounts it was even more, so we are attempting to compensate for that increase in rates for the coming year. Discussion regarding the athletic associations and the extent of their help to the city in maintaining the athletic fields. Councilman Marks asked for a break down of what they actually provide. All associations have spent money this year to improve their particular fields and have all donated a lot to help the city offset costs. Councilman Agnew asked if all parks are now under Parks & Recreation. Parks and Recreation has Perryman Park, Municipal Complex and all athletic fields and maintenance at Stewart Creek Park is split with the Public Works Department. Ten pocket parks and half of Stewart Creek Park is under Public Works. Councilman Marks suggested it might be more efficient to have one crew do all mowing in the city and another crew do all the maintenance. Lengthy discussion regarding irrigation of athletic fields. Ms. Brantley advised the current system is being revised to allow for better saturation of the fields which will resolve a problem with cracking. Mayor Manning asked for a report regarding the change in the irrigation program. Also discussed the cost and longevity differences in metal and wooden poles, and requested a report on that subject. 10:00 a.m. Councilman Pollard left the meeting. Councilman Lynch questioned why the park maintenance budget has not increased. This will be discussed later in the process along with other items the council feels need to be increased or decreased. AQUATIC PARK - Elise Knox Discussion regarding decrease in revenue and what can be done to increase revenues at the pool. Ms. Knox stated the water space is full during the summer months and that more programs would probably mean more water. She did suggest adding more winter programs. The Council asked for a plan including Saturday and Sunday programs during the 3 winter, as well as a report on impact of closing the indoor pool on Mondays for maintenance but keeping the outdoor pool open 7 days a week. Councilman Lynch noted that park '--" improvements should be increased more than $1000.00 Councilman Dillard suggested appointing a committee to study pool revenues and ways to enhance participation, and volunteered to serve on that committee. Ms. Knox is to serve on the committee and recommend names of other persons she feels will benefit the committee. Councilman Agnew said the canvass covering needs to be repaired and wants it included in this budget. Mr. Hall reminded council that more programs could mean additional people. PUBLIC WORKS - Tom Cravens Water - Mr. Cravens noted that preventative maintenance must be increased in order to keep up with the needs. Council asked what money is saved by having wells to supplement Dallas water. The cost for Dallas water is $4.70 per thousand so if we lose the wells due to poor maintenance, the cost will be an additional $4.70 per thousand gallons used. Council asked for a report regarding cost of Dallas water and the actual cost if we went to all Dallas water or all The Colony water. Report to include savings on maintenance employees, etc. if used all Dallas water. Council also requested a condition report on all wells and pumps in the city and what it will cost to get them in A-one condition. Councilman Dillard asked if this budget reflects the proposed meter reading service. Mr. Hall said it does not, however, one Water Department employee has left employment and possible another will be leaving in two weeks. The meter reading service, if approved, would perhaps cause two positions to be open. Through attrition, those positions may be vacated anyway. Tom Cravens noted that the meter readers only read meters two weeks a month, and they perform other duties the rest of the time. Councilman Agnew asked the actual cost to read meters in-house, stating if it is more cost effective to keep it in-house, then we need to know that before approving a contract. Bill Hall noted that the implementation of cycle billing will also cut down on the time spent reading meters, which may mean it would be better to keep it in-house. Side Note: The council would like to see the Utility Fund account numbers to be on the same format as the General Fund account numbers, the actual budgeted amount for 92-93 on the next version and a table of contents for the computer print out book. Wastewater - Brief discussion regarding expansion of the wastewater treatment plant, estimated cost - $6.8 million for a 2.5 million gallon plant. Council questioned why salaries went down. Mr. Cravens explained that there were openings during the year and one employee was on worker's comp for an extended period of time. Councilman Lynch stated that if we don't increase the maintenance budget we may be in trouble next year. Mr. Cravens advised that more is being done now than before with less money. 4 Public Works - Mr. Cravens said that contractual services has been decreased this year, noting that he is adding $10,000 to overtime, because he can get more and better quality work done for less money than if contracted. Mayor asked if a long range street, alley and sidewalk schedule is available, and Mr. Cravens said it is not, but it is one of his goals. Councilman Agnew said there needs to be more than $53,000 in street maintenance and Mr. Cravens agreed. Mr. Cravens said $20,000 is budgeted for a signal light at Paige and S. Colony and Councilman Agnew requested a traffic study to be sure a light is warranted at that location before the money is spent for that purpose. Councilman Agnew said it appears that during most of the day, the 4 way stop is sufficient, and continued to say that striping Paige Rd. would probably help. Mr. Cravens advised that our ordinance calls for buttoning and said to do all the streets would be $65.000. Council requested a status report of all equipment, particularly in Public Works and Parks & Recreation. It was noted that both the General Fund and Utility Fund interest income, in the amount of about $53,000 could be set aside for capital expenditures, and Mr. Hall said there is a plan to look at a capital replacement fund. Inspections - Mr. Cravens reminded council that the Health Inspector is not included in this budget, but it will be amended to reflect that transfer. Discussion regarding revenue. Councilman Bogan asked if another employee could be justified. Mr. Cravens agreed another employee in Code Enforcement would help, but it would not increase revenues enough to pay for another employee. POLICE - Bruce Stewart Chief Stewart advised that the projection in salaries for this year is down and also that the projection for overtime will have to be increased, due to vacancies in the department throughout the year. Side note: Councilman Dillard suggested implementing a city side energy reduction program. Council asked for a report tracking annual expenses for each vehicle, specifically a cost per mile. Chief Stewart said that information is available through Vehicle Maintenance. 11:50 a.m. Mayor Manning left the meeting, Mayor Pro-tem Marks presided. Chief Stewart advised that building maintenance is being increased due to problems with the air conditioning unit and the cost of the 800 mHz tower in Lewisville. The Chief said that using the tower will require re-programming of our radios, and that Frisco has the equipment to do that and will probably do it for us at little or no cost. 11:55 a.m. Mayor Manning returned. General discussion regarding insurance, noting it will increase by 18% next year. Bill [[all said the city attorney would like to make a presentation to the council regarding self- -'"' insuring. It was noted the lease purchase figures in the proposed budget do not reflect any new capital purchases. Council asked for a status report on all lease purchases. Mr. England said that is available on an internal report and he will copy it for the council. Chief Stewart said it would be hard for him to address the Animal Control budget at this time, since that department was just moved into the Police responsibility. 12:20 p.m. Break for lunch. 1:00 p.m. Reconvene FIRE - Van Morrison General discussion regarding increases in unemployment, education and training and building maintenance. Chief Morrison said the two oldest ambulances are now used for air the air system transport and manpower transport. Mayor asked about rehabilitating ambulances. Chief Morrison said the cost would be about $40-45 thousand and noted that # 1 ambulance is down now due to a broken spring. Mayor Manning something will have to be done about the ambulances this year and said it will be discussed during the Capital Expenditures. Mayor Manning did tell Chief Morrison he would be requesting a report on the cost to rehabilitate ambulances and fire engines. Councilman Bogan questioned the decrease in volunteer compensation, since the program was to have been increased. Chief Morrison said they don't need more people, the program did increase in numbers, but responses are down. New requirements state a volunteer must be an EMT to respond to a medical call, while anyone may still respond to fire calls. It was noted there is no money to train volunteers, plus most of the volunteers have regular jobs and they don't have time for training. Chief Morrison said money was in Version one of the budget but had been cut. Councilman Agnew asked if fire calls and medical calls could be separated and suggested money be put for training those who can be trained as an EMT. It was generally agreed $3600.00 should be added for training 8 volunteers, but will be discussed more thoroughly later in the budget process. Councilman Lynch asked if other city employees can be cross trained and be allowed to respond during the day when other volunteers are working out of the city. All generally agreed that might be possible with a strict policy in place and incentives for those willing to participate. Mayor Manning asked for a written program on how the volunteers are handled currently. Mayor Manning also said he would like the same rank structure in the volunteers and the regular fire personnel. Chief Morrison said that was changed because it created problems between the two groups. Discussion regarding decrease in ambulance revenues. Mr. England noted the chart may not be correct. Subscription service is increasing steadily. We may offer it to unincorporated areas. Bill Hall noted the projected overtime for this year will be increased to $15,000 or 00487 $20,000. Chief Morrison said that is because there are not enough people to cover all shifts when some is out, and people have to be called in on overtime. Discussed hiring part time fire fighter or only 1 at time instead of 3. PERSONNEL - Margaret Burkett The increase in salaries is due to moving the job share clerk into Personnel from General Administration. Discussion regarding differences between increase and decrease. Will be checked out. Ms. Burkett advised education and training is for her only, noting more money needs to be added for supervisory training. She said COG will come to our city and teach all supervisors in an all day session for about $2000.00. Council asked for a report on the cost to train supervisors in-house, possibly using a video. COURT - Patti Ristagno General discussion regarding the judge's salary and education. Ms. Ristagno said she thinks there will be an increase in revenue for this year. Council requested that Ms. Ristagno conduct a fine survey from other cities. VEHICLE MAINTENANCE - Bill Hall It was noted that some jobs are contracted but it is not feasible to contract all services. Councilman Agnew asked why no education and training is budgeted and Mr. Hall stated that major auto makers offer free training, noting that all 3 mechanics are certified in GM and Ford motors. Mr. Hall reminded council that all fuel and lubricants are purchased through Vehicle Maintenance and then charged back to the appropriate departments. UTILITY ADMINISTRATION - Jackie Carroll Brief discussion regarding uncollectibles. Ms. Carroll said they will probably go down this next year. Also discussed the proposed computer system, but will be discussed more fully during Capital Expenditures. CITY SECRETARY - Patti Hicks Ms. Hicks noted that $3000.00 is always budgeted in elections to cover the possibility of more than two elections. It was noted that money will be budgeted in 94-95 for a Charter election. Mr. Hall stated that the 92-93 projection needs to increase to $2000.00. LIBRARY - Joan Sveinsson Brief discussion regarding subscriptions and building maintenance. Ms. Sveinsson 004875 said the roof is need of repair. General discussion regarding a system by which citizens could dial into the library computers from home. ~'~ Council asked for a report on increasing hours; cost to open, personnel, with options to include evenings, 7 days and Sundays. Ms. Sveinsson stated the top priority in personnel is a secretary, which would do a great deal toward efficient operation of the library. Next, would be more circulation personnel. Discussion regarding new phone system for whole city which would include remote locations. This is included in the capital expenditures for this year. 3:15 p.m. Patti Hicks left the meeting due to an emergency. GENERAL ADMINISTRATION Cost of street lights discussed in regard to the 28% increase. There was general discussion regarding placement of lights. Councilman Bogan asked if lights in Ridgepoint can be placed closer together. Mayor Manning and Councilman Bogan asked for a report on cost and number of lights to upgrade street light system in the city. There is another work session set for 7:00 p.m. Monday August 23, 1993. With no further business to address, Mayor Manning adjourned the meeting at 3:30 p.m. APPROVED: William W. Manning, Mayor ~-.._~x AT-rEST: Patti A. Hicks,TRMC, CMC/AAE City Secretary