Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes 2010-08-23 Special 08/23/2010 3396 � STATE OF TEXAS )( CITY OF FRIENDSWOOD )( COUNTIES OF GALVESTON/HARRIS )( AUGUST 23, 2010 )( MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE FRIENDSWOOD CITY COUNCIL THAT WAS HELD ON MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 2010, AT 6:30 PM AT FRIENDSWOOD CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 910 S. FRIENDSWOOD DRIVE, FRIENDSWOOD, TEXAS, REGARDING THE ITEMS OF BUSINESS ACCORDING TO THE AGENDA LISTED BELOW AND WITH THE FOLLOWING PRESENT CONSTITUTING A QUORUM: MAYOR DAVID SMITH MAYOR PRO-TEM JIM HILL COUNCILMEMBER MICHAEL BARKER COUNCILMEMBER PAT MCGINNIS COUNCILMEMBER BILL HOLBERT COUNCILMEMBER JIM BARR COUNCILMEMBER DEIRDRE BROWN CITY ATTORNEY BOBBY GERVAIS CITY MANAGER ROGER ROECKER DEPUTY CITY SECRETARY MICHELLE PEREZ ,,,,,, 6:30 PM—SPECIAL SESSION ACTION ITEM **Councilmember Hill moved to approve authorizing acceptance of paving improvements associated with West Boulevard and Falcon Ridge Boulevard for the contractor's one-year maintenance period. Seconded by Councilmember Holbert. The motion was approved unanimously. SPECIAL SESSION A discussion was held regarding the proposed FY2010-11 General Operating Budget for the City of Friendswood. Mayor Smith stated that there is no perceived goal for tonighYs meeting but rather this is an opportunity to move forward and give Staff direction. He then asked City Manager Roger Roecker to present any expectations Staff may have of Council that could assist in moving the budget process forward. The City Manager stated he should never say there are no expectations of Council. Staff looks forward to receiving as much direction tonight as possible, provided a salary survey, an attached supporting memo and a water and sewer rate handout to Council. An explanation of the water and sewer handout was presented, showing single family water rates at$15.50 for the first 3,000 gallons and $2.90 per thousand gallons afte�that, sewer rates are $15.00 for the first 3,000 gallons and $2.90 per thousand gallons after that. Single family rates were reduced by finrenty percent at the beginning of this fiscal year. The current rates were developed by using excess working capital in order to take the rate reduction and to hold the rates for another year. The City plans to do the same this year. Rates are based on the City's utility and what it takes to provide the service. Mr. Roecker provided comparative information from surrounding cities, pointing out that most cities use consumption usage for their rates and Friendswood is very competitive when it comes to those cities. Moreover, the rates are reviewed each year and changes in rates are reflected in the Multi-Financial Year Plan. Mr. Roecker also presented a review of the salary �.�. survey and stated sixteen positions that were easily comparable to other cities' Staff was represented as well as the average and median salaries for the Houston regional area and cities across the State for each of those positions. 08/23/2010 3397 .�.� Councilmember McGinnis pointed out that in 1990, thirty-one percent of the budget was assigned to personnei, in 2000, forty-six percent and in 2005, forty-one percent of the budget was assigned to personnel, and then asked Mr. Roecker what the percentage was for 2010 and he responded that forty- seven percent is assigned to personnel for 2010, while the proposed 2011 budget shows personnel at forty-one percent. The annual percentage increases or declines are based on bonds, grants and the City's infrastructure. Mayor Smith added that the fluctuations in personnel's percentage of the budget is not a reflection of the City's revenue increasing, but rather reflects the capital improvements of that budget year. Councilmember McGinnis questioned the process for renewing contract services and Mr. Roecker stated that the City does have a process for renewing contracts and offered IESI as an explanation. IESI are at the end of their allowed renewals without going through a bid process next year. If there is not an existing contract the City goes out for bids as needed. However, contracts in which the City is a joint owner such as the Blackhawk Water Treatment Plant, will not be subject to the bid process. Each department is responsible for administrating their own contracts. Councilmember Brown pointed out that Council was responsible for monitoring the Riveron contract. Mayor Smith responded that contracts that are Council's responsibility are presented to them annually and at that time Council can choose not to renew, go out for bid, or to discuss their services. For example, the Riveron contracYs process is that they send any updates or information to the City Manager for presentation to Council. ..., Councilmember Brown stated that her previous discussions with Staff regarding Riveron led her to understand that it was Council's sole responsibility to monitor their contracts, has not received any updates on the contract's status since being on Council and questioned if there were ways that City Staff could perform more cost effectively. Mayor Smith asked Councilmember Brown for clarification regarding her understanding of Council's schedule for renewing contacts. Councilmember Brown stated that she suggests having a list of all contracts and their end dates. For example, the Riveron contract's end date is September 30 and has not yet been discussed, after September 30 it reverts to an hourly rate and has fallen through the cracks. Mayor Smith stated he does not believe the Riveron contract has fallen through the cracks, but is being addressed during the current budget process. Councilmember Brown referred to a memo she provided regarding the Riveron contract and stated she will contact Riveron representatives directly if Council is responsible for administrating their own contracts. Councilmember Barr stated that he would direct his questions to the City Manager because there is communication between City Staff and Riveron representatives on a regular basis and would like for Riveron to provide Staff with a schedule of grant opportunities so that it can be researched earlier and quicker, is more concerned with Riveron's effectiveness than the amount of hours being billed and requested a report from Staff outlining the strengths and weaknesses of Riveron's performance. .�.. 08/23/2010 3398 Councilmember Holbert stated that the Riveron issue has gotten very complicated. In the beginning, the contract term was one year and the City paid a flat fee for grant writing assistance. The issue tonight is to approve or deny $65,000 for grant writing assistance. If it is approved, it is Staff's responsibility to administrate the contract. He stated that he is opposed to micromanaging the City Manager and Senior Staff. He added that this is the fourth budget meeting in a row and has not seen any significant budget discussions. Councilmember Hill declared that a 2008 salary survey of surrounding cities determined that some Staff are underpaid and the City is losing valuable employees because of salaries and added the Riveron contract will, both currently and in the future, generate considerable revenue. Councilmember Barker stated that Staff has presented a well disciplined budget that fulfills the needs of the City. His position is to support the proposed budget with no deductions, no additions and no decision packages. Councilmember Brown agreed with most of Council's comments but is not getting straight facts and answers. She questioned whether to set aside $65,000 for grant writing or use some of that money for other wants or needs within the City and has a concern with the forty percent of the City Manager's budget being assigned to the Economic Development Department, wondered whether the money that is not used for contracts in one fiscal year should be rolled over to the next fiscal year or should it be reallocated to meet another need during the fiscal year to which it is assigned and suggested that concessions sold at the pool and Music in the Park could generate extra revenue. ,.... Mayor Smith commented that he supports continuing to use Riveron as a resource to the City because he believes that the City has missed opportunities for grant revenue by placing the burden on Staff. He stated he thinks the contract with Riveron is a good one because they are a new law firm and are based in Friendswood. Mayor Smith suggested Staff investigate whether or not the contract is the same one as last year and reminded Council that the decision is whether or not to budget the funds, not to decide whether or not to have a contract. Councilmember Barr asked Mr. Roecker if the City would have the two million dollar Panhandle grant without the Riveron contract and Mr. Roecker replied no. Councilmember Barr stated that spending $65,000 to receive two million dollars is a good return. Councilmember Brown responded that the City of Nassau Bay also got a two million dollar grant but they spent only$30,000 to get it, supports grant writing but wants to get the best value. Mayor Smith asked for a consensus from Council on whether or not the $65,000 should stay in the budget for the Riveron contract. Councilmember Barker stated yes. Councilmember Barr asked Mr. Roecker if there is any outstanding debt associated with any current grants that the City would be obligated to pay if the Riveron contract was not renewed. Mr. Roecker replied no, the current grants are being paid for by the State. ,__, Councilmember Barr stated yes to the funds for the contract staying in the budget. Councilmember Hill stated that he would like to see the amount for the contract be reduced to $50,000 or less. 08/23/2010 3399 � Counciimember McGinnis stated he agreed with Councilmember Hill. Councilmember Holbert stated he supports the grant writing service but commented that Council is spending too much time on a line item tonight that is one quarter of less than one percent of the budget. Councilmember Brown stated she agreed with Councilmember Holbert. Mayor Smith stated that there is no consensus on the amount to budget for the Riveron contract. Councilmember Barr stated that more streets need to be funded, $2,000 was cut from the Public Works Department last year and does not want to cut more in the proposed 2011 budget, also supports more police officers and the teen court project, believes that the City should adopt that the City charge for ambulance services, suggested that Staff work to get the cellular tax and commented that concession stands do not make much money. Mayor Smith asked Councilmember Barr about a suggested amount of funding for streets. Councilmember Barr suggested $400,000. Councilmember Barker stated that three fourths of the bond money is allocated for streets. Councilmember Hill asked Mr. Roecker what the effective rate per year is on a basic house and stated that he is not in favor of charging for ambulance services and wondered if there was not another avenue of funding for streets, expressed concern about implementing funding processes that would significantly "'""" raise taxes. Mayor Smith asked Councilmember Hill if he approved of the submitted budget with the slight change in tax rate. Councilmember Hill stated he did, is an inopportune time to raise taxes but there are purchases really needed such as a senior bus. Councilmember McGinnis agreed with Councilmember Hill that Staff has done a great job on the budget, and supports Councilmember Barr's concern of funding for streets, reminded Council that the nation is in a recession and would like to hold the line on the budget this year and investigate more effective ways to handle contracts. Councilmember Hill stated that he has been through the budget and understands that the City has gone up on the effective rate, disagreed with the issue that fifty percent of the decision packages have to do with Public Safety, which is counter to what the citizens expect. There is a 1.5 ratio of police officers to every one thousand citizens. Every community that surrounds Friendswood has an average of 2.5 police officers to every one thousand citizens. The Police Department has foregone new hires voluntarily for two years and the Fire Marshal's Office has to replenish supplies due to Hurricane Ike. There are 2,000+ lots being developed for new homes and a new junior high school. These show that there are several issues that have to deal with Public Safety. The closer you get to Friendswood being built out, the more crumbling infrastructure and Public Safety become an issue, will propose to set aside$3.25 million dollars out of General Reserves for streets and crumbling infrastructure, supports that Council has spent a million dollars out of General Reserves for Animal Control, but if Council can spend that then Council can spend a significant amount on streets and Public Safety issues. Council has to look for other forms of revenue. For instance, Friendswood is the only local community that has not adopted a 46 sales tax. He stated he � does not support charging ambulance fees for people who do not have insurance or indigent people. 08/23/2010 3400 � However, over fifty percent of Friendswood residents have insurance that would pay for the ambulance service at no additional cost to them past the premiums they currently pay. There were over 1,500 ambulance calls last year. If half that number were considered as insurance paid services, it would generate $562,000 in revenue that citizens would not have to pay for. That is more than raising taxes by three percent. Council does not want to raise taxes but also do not want to denigrate the citizens' expectations for Public Safety and street repair. Councilmember Brown stated she read a headline from the National League of City's publication, "Report Shows Significant Cuts to Local Government Jobs and Services". The City's proposed budget shows an increase in services, which is a testament to how far Staff is making dollars go. However, the condition of the nation's economy shows that people are scaling back, agreed with Councilmember Holbert's comments but the proposed budget raises taxes and is not in favor of raising taxes above Staff s proposed budget, which shows an increase to .5897 and that shows cuts of$100,000 from the prior year. She stated she has no concerns with Staff salaries but there are some previously discussed items that are not in the budget, such as an increase in park space. The City does have a savings account that belongs to the citizens and that account could be used to fund Capital Projects. One police officer costs $100,000 and there is that much in savings. There should be consideration to adopt a 46 sales tax and take a step further to make a plan to bring in services that would generate funds for the 4B sales tax. The City needs to come up with alternative funding, budget its money better and use funds effectively. She stated she would also like to investigate what items can be put in a General Bond for next year, is not comfortable with spending other people's money when services and buildings can be funded through volunteers and grants as other cities have effectively done and reiterated that she will agree to the .-r proposed tax rate and nothing further. Councilmember Barker stated that making knee jerk reactions by tagging actions on to the budget quickly and without investigation will cause problems in the long term, believes issues such as the ambulance charges should be thoroughly investigated. Councilmember Holbert stated he does not disagree but issues keep getting pushed back every year and agrees that the ambulance issue should be investigated, does generate significantly more funds than raising taxes three percent over the effective rate. Councilmember Barr stated he does not think Council can make these decisions without investigation and the consideration of citizens' opinions. For example, citizens did not agree with the bond issue and he attributes that to the City not educating the citizens well enough to make them feel comfortable with supporting it. Galveston County raised taxes by three percent but there was no backlash because citizens understood the need after Hurricane Ike, does not want to keep from raising taxes at the expense of Staff or Public Safety, does not like riding people's backs to get more accomplished for less money. Councilmember Brown stated she agrees that the ambulance fees should be investigated and does support merit increases and the funding of a police officer. City Manager Roger Roecker responded to several comments made during the meeting by stating that the City went below the effective tax rate last year. The percentage of the Economic Development budget is 30.7 percent as opposed to 40 percent and believes the City's labor pool is used effectively and would welcome a comparison to other cities. The McKenzie contract is not in this proposed budget. City contracts are routinely bid out and do follow State bidding laws. „_,_ Mayor Smith stated he would like to make two observations. The first observation is directed to Councilmembers and believes that the Council's discussions are not focused on the issue at hand. Every point that has been discussed is important. However, time is the primary factor in all of them. This budget is one part of a five year financial plan. 08/23/2010 3401 � This budget is one fifth of the plan and will affect the remaining four years. The future needs to be considered with a grander view. Further, this five year plan will affect the next five years after that. There is a need to have a master plan workshop and to discuss many things that have been left on the table for months and for years. There has been virtually no tax increase or long range planning for the last five budgets, even when the economy was doing well. He continued that he did not want to leave a legacy of problems for future Councils and future citizens. The only way to protect the heritage of our community is to plan for it. He cautioned Council not to use the budget process to take things out of context and try to further the projects that they want. Secondly, Mayor Smith stated he would like to address the citizens regarding the proposed tax increase and further stated that on average, Friendswood residents pay an average of $100 a month to receive the services the City provides, such as public safety, the library, parks and the list goes on. Believes Friendswood's level of service is the by far the best compared to the other taxing entities. Friendswood's monthly tax rate can compare to the cable bill, so all the City services cost about the amount of cable television. Citizens have asked for Council not to raise City taxes and Council has complied for years. However, the other taxing entities continue to increase year after year, encourages citizens to pay close attention to what they get for their tax dollars. If citizens want an additional service, then they must help decide how it will be funded. Mayor Smith thanked Council and Staff for attending the meeting and for their hard work. This meeting was adjourned at 8:26 PM. ' � �.�,. avid J. . Smith �� Attest: � - FR�EN `� �� o� os� Melinda Welsh, TRMC � 0 City Secretary v o * * s ��TF OF '���Q� �