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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-11-23 City Council Minutes Approved City Council Study Session Minutes— November 23, 2015 Mayor Laurie Gere called to order the regular Anacortes City Council study session of November 23, 2015 at 6:19 p.m. Councilmembers Eric Johnson, Ryan Walters, Erica Pickett, Brad Adams, Liz Lovelett, John Archibald and Matt Miller were present. 2016 Budget Discussion Finance Director Steve Hoglund invited councilmembers to continue their review of the Potential Revisions for Consideration regarding the Proposed 2016 Budget list which had commenced at the November 16, 2015 City Council meeting. Council resumed the review by considering the changes proposed by councilmembers. Mr. Hoglund requested direction on each of the line items in order to finalize the 2016 budget ordinance to present to Council for action at the December 7, 2015 City Council meeting. Item K, Washington Park Loop Traffic Safety, add $6,000-$8000 Item L, Washington Park Campground Pay Station, add $17,000 Proposed by Mr. Archibald Mr. Archibald presented arguments in favor of these two additions to the proposed budget. Parks and Recreation Director Gary Robinson explained that staff was investigating alternative, possibly more cost effective solutions to both situations. Councilmembers expressed their preference for allowing staff to make operational decisions on both issues. Mr. Walters did not support adding to the budget for these items. All other councilmembers supported adding $20,000 to the 2016 budget for Fund 107 out of its cash reserves to provide funding if required for staff to address both loop road safety and the campground pay station. Item M, 1 FTE IT Position for Security Specialist, add $85,390 Proposed by Mr. Johnson Mayor Gere and Mr. Hoglund outlined staff's assessment of the need for this position. Mr. Johnson presented a list of security breaches suffered by other jurisdictions and argued for Council's obligation to proactively protect the city. Mr. Walters said he could not support the position without a written justification. Ms. Pickett supported the position. Mr. Adams, Ms. Lovelett, Mr. Archibald and Mr. Miller supported including funding for a security audit but withholding budget authority for a staff position pending the results of that audit. Ms. Pickett pointed out that the utility funds could and should contribute to that expenditure. Mr. Hoglund advised that, as agreed when this topic was discussed at the November 16, 2015 meeting, he would add $25,000 to the professional services budget for the IT department in support of a security audit. Item N, Verify Sufficient Budget for Washington Park Upper Restroom, add $225,000 Item 0, Verify Sufficient Budget for Storvik Park Restroom, amount unspecified Unlettered Item, Consider Contracting for Services Rather than Hiring, amount unspecified Proposed by Ms. Lovelett Ms. Lovelett argued for funding the Washington Park upper restroom out of cash reserves and asked if it would be less expensive overall to rebuild the structure than to remodel it. All councilmembers agreed with adding $225,000 of funding for the Washington Park upper restroom using REET although Mr. Walters preferred adjusting fees at the park to cover the cost of capital improvements in the long term. Regarding contracting for services and the four new staff positions proposed in the budget, Ms. Lovelett observed that the budget policy discourages adding to the permanent workforce and urged contracting new positions for a year before hiring permanent staff. Several councilmembers addressed Ms. Lovelett's suggestion to contract for services in the context of the proposed .75 FTE maintenance position in the Parks Department. Ms. Pickett and Mr. Adams argued in favor of the .75 FTE staff position. Mr. Walters argued in favor of contracting out for those services. Mr. Archibald generally favored initially contracting new positions before hiring permanent staff but did not address the Parks position specifically. Mr. Miller and Mr. Johnson did not comment on this topic. Mayor Gere indicated that staff would investigate which department would oversee a maintenance contract and an anticipated amount. Anacortes City Council Study Session Minutes November 23, 2015 1 Item P, Support Fiber Network Review Process, add $50,000 Item Q, Remove Proposed 1 FTE Communication Specialist, deduct$70,436 Proposed by Mr. Miller Regarding Item P, all present confirmed the consensus at the November 16, 2015 City Council meeting to add $50,000 to the proposed budget to support the fiber optic network. Regarding Item Q, Mr. Miller asked to remove the proposed position and argued that any proposal for additional permanent staff required written justification. Mr. Archibald and Ms. Lovelett supported the position but suggested it could be a contracted position for the first year; Ms. Lovelett echoed Mr. Miller's request for a written job description. Mr. Adams and Ms. Pickett said they would need more information to support adding the position. Mr. Walters supported Mr. Miller's request for written justification for new positions but argued in favor of adding this staff position. Mr. Johnson observed that few cities seem to have such a position, cited one example in West Virginia, and agreed with Mr. Adams that he would need more information to support this position. Administrative Services Director Emily Schuh directed Council's attention to the draft job description for the position that had been included in the Council packet for the November 16, 2015 meeting. Mayor Gere concluded that staff would bring back a proposal for the position but not as part of the 2016 budget. Item R, Make Progress on Seismic Upgrades to City Hall, amount unspecified Proposed by Ms. Pickett Ms. Pickett reminded her colleagues of the 2006/2007 study recommending seismic upgrades to City Hall. She acknowledged the multimillion dollar cost estimate to complete all the recommended retrofits but suggested beginning with tying the walls to the floors, perhaps one floor at a time, to make the building safer for staff and the public. Councilmembers expressed a need for updated pricing and a quantifiable risk assessment, asked about the possibility of seeking grant funding, and discussed how much to invest in the current City Hall before determining its long term future. Mayor Gere summarized the consensus that councilmembers were willing to invest a limited sum in obtaining updated information with which to make a decision. Mr. Hoglund suggested budgeting $25,000 for professional services. Mr. Walters said he did not want to include an unfounded placeholder amount in the budget. Mayor Gere indicated that staff would investigate a more accurate cost. Item SIT, Eliminate .75 FTE Parks Position in Favor of Contracted Services, deduct$57,895 Item U/V, Reduce COLA for Unrepresented Employees to 0%, amount unspecified Item W, Underground Fire Station 1 Utilities, add $35,000 Item X, Fund Hiring a Fiber Optic Network Manager, amount unspecified Unlettered Item, Retitle "Legal Department"to "City Attorney", no financial impact Unlettered Item, Retitle "Executive Department" to "Mayor", no financial impact Unlettered Item, Retitle "Legislative" to "City Council", no financial impact Unlettered Item, Move Outside Counsel from Utilities to City Attorney Budget, no financial impact Unlettered Item, Plan for One-time Revenue Spike from High School Construction, amount unspecified Item Y,Add Funding to Determine Future Path of City Hall, amount unspecified Proposed by Mr. Walters Regarding Item S/T, Mayor Gere indicated that councilmembers had agreed earlier in the evening to contract out for this service rather than hire permanent staff. Mr. Adams said that had not been his understanding. Mayor Gere said that only Mr. Adams and Ms. Pickett had not supported that option. Regarding Item UN, Mr. Walters argued that a positive cost of living adjustment(COLA)was inappropriate for 2016 because the cost of living had not increased. Ms. Schuh explained that the salary administration program was designed to provide competitive and equitable base pay to all employees. She said the city periodically benchmarks and adjusts salaries to ensure internal parity and external competitiveness and meet the goals of attracting, retaining and motivating quality employees. She said eliminating a base wage increase for non-represented employees creates compression issues with represented employees and reminded Council that all employees other than department heads have the ability to unionize. Mr. Walters argued that bargaining unit agreements should tie COLAs to inflation. Ms. Anacortes City Council Study Session Minutes November 23, 2015 2 Pickett, Mr. Archibald and Mr. Miller agreed that if inflation is in fact flat, a 0% COLA is appropriate. Mr. Adams disagreed and spoke in favor of the increase as proposed. Ms. Lovelett was ambivalent. Mr. Johnson deferred to Ms. Schuh. Ms. Schuh advised that for 2016 the Teamsters agreement called for a 2.25% increase and the Police and Fire agreements called for 2%; she clarified that the bargaining unit agreements do not refer to COLA but to"base wage increase"and pointed out that in past years the increase was of a similar magnitude even when the CPI was 6.8%. Councilmembers discussed possible means of better aligning the bargaining unit agreement schedule with the budget process. Mayor Gere concluded that councilmembers wanted staff to study the issue moving forward. Regarding Item W, all councilmembers supported including $35,000 in the Fire Department budget to bury the overhead utility lines in front of Fire Station 1. Mr. Miller requested a risk assessment for the project. Regarding Item X, Mr. Walters said his suggestion had been addressed by the consensus at the November 16, 2015 meeting to add $50,000 out of General Fund reserve to the budget for Item B. He withdrew his proposal for the time being but did encourage hiring a manager if the City decided to pursue the fiber optic project. Mr. Walters said he did not feel strongly about the remaining proposals on his list but elaborated his reasoning on each of them. Regarding the budget for outside legal Counsel, Mayor Gere and Ms. Swetnam explained that the City Attorney does manage outside legal services but that the utility funds have to bear their own costs for outside legal counsel if and when that becomes necessary. Councilmembers generally concurred. Councilmembers expressed no objection to the department retitling proposed by Mr. Walters. Regarding anticipated sales tax revenue from the construction of the new high school, Mr. Hoglund and Mr. Miller explained that the bulk of that revenue would not be generated until after 2016. Mr. Archibald suggested that the projected revenue go towards a new community center. Mr. Johnson suggested that replenishing fund balance and City Hall were also candidates. Mr. Walters agreed that further discussion could continue for the 2017 budget. Mr. Johnson thanked Mayor Gere and staff for the opportunity to weigh in on the proposed budget. The mayor indicated she would present a revised budget to Council for approval on December 7, 2015. There being no further business, at approximately 8:10 p.m. the Anacortes City Council study session of November 23, 2015 was adjourned. Anacortes City Council Study Session Minutes November 23, 2015 3