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Minutes for the special called Finance Committee meeting on December 21, 2006.
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Finance & Administration Committee Minutes
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Special called budget meeting
3:00 p.m.
Members Present were: Darrel Dover, Judy Furr, Jim Hargis, Harold Perrin, John Street and Ann Williams. Also in attendance were Mayor Formon, Mr. Tony Thomas and Mr. Brian Wadley from the Mayor’s Office.
2007 BUDGET
Inspections: Mr. Paul House explained he would like to add an inspector to the department to take care of foundations and framing. He further explained he would like to add a secretarial position to the department as well. Discussion was held regarding how much money the additional personnel would make and how much it would increase the 201 Salaries account. Councilman Perrin questioned why the 296 Computer Software account increased. Mr. House stated they would like to purchase a piece of software to accompany Springbrook that would allow him to calculate the money coming into the department versus the money going out. Councilman Perrin questioned whether Mr. House had discussed the purchase with Mr. Alan Young or Finance Director Don Ray. Mr. House stated Mr. Young was the one who recommended purchasing the software. He added he has not discussed the purchase with Mr. Ray. Mr. Ray stated it was his understanding Springbrook could do just about anything you want it to as long as the user has the know-how. Discussion was held regarding the proposed truck purchases in Fixed Assets. Mr. House explained the trucks are replacements. Chairman Dover questioned whether the vehicles were taken home. Mr. House stated the all of the officers take home their vehicles. He noted it’s safer to take home the vehicles than leave them at the Huntington Building. Councilwoman Williams questioned whether there is a policy concerning take home vehicles. Mr. House stated there is a personnel policy concerning take home vehicles. He added they do not know of any violations, but probably would not know unless they were specifically told about it. He noted if AVL units are added to the vehicles then they would be able to monitor where the vehicle is taken.
Engineering: Discussion was held regarding the number of professional engineers the City is employing. Mr. House explained for a city the size of Jonesboro there should be four professional engineers, three certified engineers working for a chief engineer who is also certified. It was explained there are two professional engineers, one being Mr. Claude Martin who will be leaving on December 31st and the other being Street Superintendent Teddy Hooton. Councilman Perrin expressed concern over the money spent on outside engineers to do work for the City. He noted if the City would hire the needed amount of certified engineers then the City wouldn’t have to spend as much money on outside engineers. He added he would be willing to do whatever it takes to bring the department up to the needed number of professional engineers. He suggested budgeting to hire three qualified professional engineers. Discussion was held regarding how much money a professional engineer would be paid. Mr. Mike Cameron added the Engineering Department should consider hiring a person to take care of all the contracts for the department which would be in the salary range of $45,000 to $50,000 a year. Discussion was held regarding replacing the two non-certified engineers currently in the Engineering Department with two certified engineers. Mr. Brian Wadley questioned whether the two non-certified engineers should be let go. Mr. Tony Thomas expressed concern over the investment the City has made in the two non-certified engineers in Engineering. Councilwoman Williams questioned what the specific nature of the investment is that Mr. Thomas is referring to. Mr. Thomas explained the employees have been with the City for a number of years and have trained with the City. Councilman Farmer questioned whether Mr. Thomas has had any concerns over their work. Mr. Thomas stated he thinks the non-certified engineers have done a good job. Mr. Cameron noted a new chief engineer would be the one to analyze and determine the quality of work. Councilman Farmer then questioned whether Mayor Formon has confidence in the non-certified engineers in the Engineering Department and the work they have done. Mayor Formon stated it was no secret there have been problems in the Engineering Department. Chairman Dover questioned why there have been problems in the department. Mayor Formon explained he thinks the problems have been caused by bad leadership. Mr. House recommended hiring a chief city engineer and one professional engineer in 2007. It was also suggested to budget for the chief engineer and allow him to structure the department as he thinks is best. Councilman Perrin stated he wants to budget for the three professional engineers and have the chief engineer tell them what he would like to see for the future of the department. It was explained $13,000 would be added to the two non-certified engineer employees salaries so the salaries could be brought up to $60,000 each so two certified engineers could be hired. It was also explained $50,000 would be budgeted for someone to take care of contracts. It was noted the chief engineer salary would be $74,000, which is $8,000 less than what the City Engineer position is budgeted for at this time so that adjustment was made as well. It was decided the budget would be for a lead or chief engineer, two professional engineers and one contract administrator. Mr. Ray explained the salaries would be increased by $68,000. Mayor Formon questioned where they wanted to put the salary for the new Public Works Director. Councilman Perrin questioned how much Mr. House’s salary will be. Mr. House stated his salary is $78,000. It was decided to add $78,000 to the 201 Salaries account for the Public Works Director’s salary. Discussion was held regarding the Fixed Assets. It was decided to add $20,000 to the Fixed Assets for the purchase of another vehicle.
Planning: Discussion was held regarding the Professional Services account. Mr. Thomas White stated they would need the money in case they needed to hire outside services for the land use study or the master street study. It was suggested some of the money could be taken out of the Mayor’s budget. It was decided to decrease the 217 Professional Services account to $20,000. Discussion was then held regarding the proposed Fixed Assets. Mr. White asked if one vehicle could be added so they could replace an existing vehicle. He explained he does code enforcement and when the vehicle isn’t being used their secretary can use the vehicle to go to the courthouse. Councilwoman Furr questioned how many vehicles the department currently has. Mr. White stated they have two vehicles, but the two vehicles they’re asking for would replace the two they currently have so the department would only have two vehicles. He also asked to increase the amount for the copier by $2,000. It was decided to increase the Fixed Assets by $20,000.
Sanitation: Councilman Perrin questioned why the Supplies account increased. Mr. Royce Leonard explained the increase is to purchase recycle bags and new trash cans. It was decided to decrease the 223 Auto Expense account to $175,000. Discussion was held regarding the tipping fees. Councilwoman Williams questioned why the City doesn’t charge fees to apartments and multi-family residences. Councilman Farmer explained the way the ordinance was written it labeled apartments as residential instead of commercial, which is something most cities do not do. It was explained it would have to be taken back to the voters in order to change it. Discussion was then held regarding the payment method for the proposed purchase of vehicles. Councilman Perrin explained he was not arguing with the need to purchase the trucks; rather he questioned how they were being paid for and stated it might be easier to lease the vehicles instead of paying for them. He suggested Mr. Ray needed to come up with a recommendation as to the best way to purchase the vehicles. Councilman Farmer suggested breaking the Sanitation budgets apart as they had done in the past because it is easier to see the cash flow. It was noted the handouts provided to the committee did not account for all of the commercial revenue. Mr. Ray stated he would analyze the commercial fee revenue and adjust it accordingly.
Streets: It was decided to decrease the 223 Auto Expense account to $200,000. It was also decided to decrease the 225 Fuel account to $250,000. Discussion was held regarding Fixed Assets. Mr. Cameron suggested the City should look into hiring someone to maintain the systems for the lights so they can be timed to help improve traffic flow. Mr. House discussed capital improvements. He explained citizens have been submitting requests. He further explained citizens want synchronized lights, right hand turn lanes, three lanes at schools in which the third lane would be used for dropping off and picking up students, sidewalks near schools, the closing of the landfill and completion of drainage projects. Councilman Perrin questioned how many take-home vehicles the department has. Mr. Hooton explained they have 14 take-home vehicles, mostly for workers who might be called at home to go to a work site such as supervisors, team leaders and signal workers. Councilwoman Williams questioned whether the Police Department has a separate policy from the rest of the City for their vehicles. Mayor Formon stated he thinks they do have a different policy because of the response time issue. Councilwoman Williams noted the vehicle policy states city employees who live outside of the city limits cannot take city vehicles home. It was questioned if the only reason the Inspections Department takes home their vehicles is because they’re not safe at the Huntington Building. Mr. House stated the officers also do inspections on their way into work and going home from work. Councilwoman Williams explained she doesn’t think some departments need to take home their vehicles because the City is paying for the employees’ gas to and from work, which most companies do not do.
ADJOURNMENT
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.