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Minutes for the Finance Committee meeting on December 15, 2005.
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Finance & Administration Committee Minutes
Thursday, December 15, 2005
4:00 p.m.
Members Present were: Alec Farmer, Darrel Dover, John Street, Jim Hargis, Harold Perrin, and Ann Williams. Other present were: Mayor Formon, City Clerk Donna Jackson, staff and media.
MINUTES
Councilman Dover moved, seconded by Councilman Street, for the approval of the minutes for the November 29, 2005, regular meeting; December 1, 2005, special meeting; December 5, 2005, special meeting; December 6, 2005, special meeting; December 7, 2005, special meeting; December 8, 2005, special meeting and December 13, 2005, special meeting. All voted aye. Copies were provided to all those in attendance.
ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
Ordinance to waive competitive bidding and authorize purchase of AVL units for E911 department: Mr. Bob Andrews informed the committee that he would like to waive competitive bidding because Relativity is the only company that provides the systems. He further explained in 2005 he budgeted for the purchase of 16 AVL units for the Fire Department and three viewing licenses. Councilman Dover motioned, seconded by Councilman Hargis, to recommend the ordinance to full Council. All voted aye.
Ordinance deleting the position of Director of Community and Economic Development from the City of Jonesboro pay plan: Ms. Suzanne Hackney explained the position was deleted from the plan and the grants positions will report directly to Mayor Formon. Councilman Farmer motioned, seconded by Councilwoman Williams, to recommend the ordinance to full Council. All voted aye.
Resolution to accept bid for the phone system: Mr. Alan Young explained Ritter Communications is the lowest bidder that met specifications. He further stated the net cost per month is about $1,600 for the additional data communications. The Best building is not included and neither are the smaller locations with only one voice line, such as the fires stations and community centers. He added they can be brought online later, but they’re not included in the original cost. It was explained the staff will be trained over the phones as well. Mr. Young added the resolution is pending the passing the of the 2006 budget. He added 13 proposals were given from 10 different companies, with Ritter Communications, a local company, being the best bidder with the most acceptable proposal. Ritter proposed a server in each location, so if a server goes down the only affected phones will be the ones on that server, not the whole City. Questions were raised regarding the wording of the resolution. Mr. Young was asked to change the wording of the resolution since Ritter was not the low bidder that meets specs, as the resolution states. Councilman Farmer motioned, seconded by Councilman Dover, to recommend the resolution to full Council as amended. All voted aye.
MAYOR’S OFFICE - REVIEW OF THE 2006 BUDGET
Capital Improvements: It was suggested to handle the capital improvements separate from the rest of the budget. It was also suggested to zero out all the capital improvements until hard figures can be put in there. Concerns were brought up that if the improvements are set at zero, then the City might not be committed to doing those improvements. It was discussed that some items should not be set at zero because of prior commitments by the City. Mr. Larry Flowers stated the budget didn’t have to be passed until February 1, 2006, so the City could pass an O & M budget and a capital improvements budget later, as long as it’s done before February 1. Councilman Farmer motioned, seconded by Councilwoman Williams, to separate the capital improvements budget from the rest of the City’s budget and come back to the capital improvements budget, which will be passed with a separate ordinance. Mr. Flowers noted that several projects in the capital improvements were going to be paid by the transfer into the capital improvements fund and there would also be some problems in the Finance Department if the committee held off passing the capital improvements budget. Questions were raised regarding how finalizing the capital improvements budget would be handled. Mayor Formon discussed not having a hard figure for the animal shelter and the effects of having to appropriate money to hire an architect to estimate the cost of an animal shelter. He also discussed a parking problem that would arise by building on to Fire Station #2. Councilman Tim McCall questioned whether a new fire station what the plans were, whether a new fire station would be built or would the City just renovate the old one. Mayor Formon added that the architect couldn’t be sure the current building wouldn’t flood in the future. Discussion was held regarding taking out the living quarters in the station to help the flooding problem. It was suggested to take the proposal for building a new fire station to the full Council so the public can hear the proposal as well. Councilman Farmer withdrew his original motion and Councilwoman Williams withdrew her second. Councilman Farmer then motioned, seconded by Councilwoman Williams, to amend the capital improvements budget to put a zero for the animal shelter and Fire Station #2 until more information is gathered. All voted aye. It was asked for Mayor Formon to bring the committee back a cost for building a new animal shelter, a cost for renovating Fire Station #2 and a cost for replacing Fire Station #2 to the City Council at a Council meeting. Mayor Formon stated he’s alright with putting the items together as long as the Council is committed to getting a new fire station of some sort. Committee members agreed they are committed to helping the Fire Department.
Personnel: Discussion was held regarding the proposed new positions for the City in 2006. It was questioned whether the Planning Department would get a new clerical person in 2006 and the second Senior Planner was taken out. It was agreed the secretary position would be added to the Planning Department. Ms. Suzanne Hackney discussed the part-time workers going to full-time hours. Ms. Hackney stated she’d like to not name the individuals because some of them may not fill the requirements of full-time workers. She recommended keeping those five positions part-time and having the department heads decide what they want to do within the first quarter of 2006. Discussion was then held regarding the Fire Department’s proposal for new firefighters and the process Mayor Formon had with Chief Keller to discuss new firefighters. It was questioned what the Mayor’s recommendation was for hiring new firefighters. Mayor Formon stated his concerns of the amount of budget cuts that have taken place over the past few Finance meetings and the worry about department heads having to appropriate money towards the end of 2006 because of all the budget cuts. Mayor Formon added Mr. Flowers had said he was comfortable with hiring eight to nine new individuals in 2006. He then explained he would like to hire twelve new firefighters, but was unsure whether the City could handle that many. Chief Keller stated he needed about 20 new firefighters to have three firefighters per engine. It was discussed what the costs would be to hire three new firefighters. Councilman Dover motioned, seconded by Councilwoman Williams, to hire three new firefighters. All voted aye. Mr. Flowers discussed the need for long-range planning to staff the City with the personnel it needs to run. Mayor Formon suggested adding the three new firefighters and eliminating the CID technician and the secretarial position that had been asked for in the Planning Department. Mr. Flowers added that he would feel more comfortable hiring the three firefighters if the CID tech and the planning secretary positions would be taken out. Mr. Flowers noted that they can always go back and add the positions back to the budget later, after the City knows how the Mall at Turtle Creek tax revenues will go. It was also decided to follow Mayor Formon’s recommendation and take out the CID tech and the Planning secretary. Chief Keller also asked about the mechanics for the Fire Department. Chief Keller and Ms. Hackney changed the job descriptions of the Fire Department mechanics and Chief Keller asked to give them an additional 84 cents, which would cost the City $9,600. Councilwoman Williams motioned, seconded by Councilman Street, to allow for the funding. All voted aye.
Consideration of new police cars: It was stated the issue of the police cars had already been settled.
Review of pension increase: Mayor Formon stated if the City goes ahead with the .25% multiplier increase, the City could still change the plan during the year if they want. Mr. Flowers stated the cost would be $75,000-$100,000 a year. He added his recommendation is to increase the multiplier and study alternative pension plans in 2006. He also stated the cash balance plans should be offered to newer employees who would feel the effects of the plan better than employees who have been with the City longer. He further stated he does not understand why City of Jonesboro employees have lower multipliers than comparable cities, including City of Paragould. It was asked for the alternatives to be brought to the Council in a timely manner.
Review of 4% salary increase: Ms. Hackney explained each year the plan goes up a step, which is 2.5%. Plus, the plan also suggests that every two years the City adjusts the plan for cost of living to keep the pay plan up to date, which is 1.5%. Cost of living is actually 3%, but the City is only asking for a 1.5% increase. Last year, the City gave the employees a 2.5% increase, plus an additional increase for those who have been with the City for 7 years or longer. New hires would only get 1.5% increase, while the current City employees will get 2.5% in addition to the 1.5%. It was suggested for departments to come up with a performance standard to show year-to-year expectations and to make sure things are getting done efficiently. Discussions were held regarding whether elected officials will receive the 4% increase as well. It was explained the 4% increase in the budget is for all employees, including elected officials. Councilman Dover motioned, seconded by Councilwoman Williams, to add a 4% pay increase for all employees. All voted aye.
Leased vehicles: The City could save money by purchasing the items instead of leasing them. It was asked to verify the buy back options would still be good if the City purchases the vehicles instead of leasing them. It was decided to leave the vehicles in the budget as leases.
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Presentation for a Voice over IP phone system: Mr. Young discussed the new Voice over IP system. He explained the current system is old and unreliable, especially the system in the Justice Complex. There are different phone sets between the buildings and they often have to make service calls to Ritter. There is currently no method to track who calls where and how long they spend on the phone. Transferring calls between departments is currently a problem. The VoIP sets will replace all the phones and one type of phone will be used in all the departments. The phones are programmed through a web browser. Supervisors will be able to listen in on subordinates phone calls. Calls can also be recorded on the phone if the person wants. Calls can be easily transferred to different departments and even between different locations. Calls can be forwarded to cell phones or home phones if needed. The phones are also integrated with Microsoft Outlook. Voice mail is also available with VoIP and busy signals are pretty much eliminated. The City can also look into integrating the fax machines with the system, which would get rid of the City’s fax machines. Mr. Young stated he did not put the redundancy specs in the bids, so the other companies did not bid the redundancy in the bids. Discussion was held as to whether the bids needed to go out again for the specs because the other companies did not put the redundancy specs in the bids since Mr. Young did not put it in the bid. Questions were raised concerning what bills will the City be able to drop because of the new system. Mr. Young noted the number of phones lines paid to SBC will go down along with other price-savers.
OTHER
Councilwoman Williams expressed concern over having the Mayor’s discretionary fund set at $100,000. She suggested decreasing that amount. Councilwoman Williams motioned, seconded by Councilman Hargis, to decrease the Mayor’s discretionary fund to $25,000.
Mayor Formon also questioned whether the department’s can have a contingency fund in their budget so the department heads don’t have to go to committee and then on to full Council to appropriate money. He suggested the contingency fund so the department can just make a line item transfer to transfer money, but the department heads will just go to the committee and not all the way to the Council. It was discussed that by the end of June, Mr. Flowers can update the Council on how the departments are doing financially and the Council can make adjustments if needed.
Questions were also raised whether the Council will be moving to a Committee of the Whole. It was also discussed using Channel 24 to air the meetings. Mr. Young stated he put in the budget the software needed to broadcast the meetings.
Mr. Young also stated the cost of the additional AVL units for the Code Enforcement and Animal Control vehicles increased. The units will now cost $40,000 up front, with $6,000 yearly cost. He further noted the software cost to adding the units and the monthly fee for adding the units is included in the $40,000. He questioned whether the committee wanted the units to stay in the fixed asset budget with the cost increase. It was questioned whether the units were needed. It was decided to keep the units in the budget.
It was questioned whether Ms. Christy Wall can have the budget done before the next Council meeting. Ms. Wall stated she could have the numbers done by the Council meeting on Monday, December 19, 2005. It was asked for her to have the rest of the budget done around Christmas.
Councilman Street motioned, seconded by Councilman Dover, to accept the budget and recommend it to full Council. All voted aye.
ADJOURNMENT
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.