CITY OF PICKERINGTON

FINANCE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2006

BUDGET WORK SESSION

6:00 P.M.

OPEN DISCUSSION ON PROPOSED CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLAN (CIP) FOR 2007-2011 AND PROPOSED 2007 BUDGET

Mr. Hackworth opened the work session at 6:05 p.m. with the following members present: Mr. Hackworth, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Fix. Mr. Wisniewski was absent. Others present were: Cristie Hammond, Mike Sabatino, Judy Gilleland, Stacey Bashore, Linda Fersch, Lance Schultz, Paul Lane, Chief Taylor, Angie Fenner, Steve Carr and others.

Planning & Zoning

Ms. Gilleland reviewed the budget with the committee and stated it was down 3% from last year. Mr. Hackworth asked about the administrative clerk wages and Mr. Schultz stated it was spread out over Planning & Zoning and Development's budgets. Mr. Fix asked what the Miscellaneous Office Furnishings was for and Mr. Schultz stated it was for the purchase of a plotter and a scanner. Mr. Smith recommended that the gray areas of the Code Enforcement Officer duties be defined for the safety and protection of the City. He further stated that he did not want to see the position turn into a building inspector position. Mr. Sabatino asked who would train this person and Ms. Gilleland stated it would be between Mr. Schultz, Mr. Hansley and myself.

Building Regulations

Ms. Gilleland reviewed the budget with the committee and stated it was up 6% from last year. Mr. Smith asked about the Miscellaneous Office Furnishing and Equipment and Mr. Lane stated it was to purchase fireproof file cabinets. Mr. Lane stated that he and Mr. Hansley were working on Building Permit Fees to ensure they would provide sufficient revenue funds.

Police

Ms. Gilleland reviewed the budget with the Committee and stated it was up 9% from last year. The Committee agreed to put one officer, one cruiser and a police dog on the contingency list and asked the Chief how he would prioritize those and Chief Taylor stated he would prioritize them as the officer being the first priority and the dog being the last.

Parks & Recreation

Ms. Gilleland reviewed the budget with the committee and stated it was up 7% from last year. Mr. Sabatino raised a question about the skate park noise abatement and Mr. Carr stated there is money in the capital budget and if a decision is made quickly we may get to it this year. He further stated the investigation will not cost anything, so we deferred all decisions until we get the facts. Mrs. Hammond asked if the fees that are charged for classed offset the costs and Mr. Carr stated we have set our residential fees at our direct cost and the non resident fee at a 25% surcharge and about half of the participation comes from non residents, so we are getting about a 12% return on all programs that we offer. Mr. Sabatino asked if the Community Events fund was new and Mr. Carr stated it was a new line item and we still have some costs for those events, but we are partnering with other groups for these events. Mr. Sabatino stated he thought it was good idea that we partner for these events. Mr. Sabatino stated ODOT may be pulling the funding for the Paratransit Fund, so that may be something this body may want to keep in mind. Mr. Sabatino asked about the Violet Township Annexation Agreement line item and Ms. Gilleland stated it was for the road and bridge levy annexation agreement that we agreed to pay the township.

Legal

Ms. Gilleland reviewed the budget with the committee and stated it had gone down by 9% over the 2006 budget. Mr. Sabatino asked why there wasn't money in negotiations last year and Ms. Gilleland stated we only negotiate the contracts every three years. Ms. Gilleland further stated she felt it would be much more economical to use the HR firm Clemens Nelson out of Columbus and they usually charge less because they are not a typical law firm and they are also helping us write our employee manual. Ms. Gilleland stated as far as the bottom line we are back in line to where we once were. Mr. Hackworth asked about the General Legal Counsel fund and Ms. Gilleland stated we have several other things going on with Schottenstein and it is also in anticipation of anything else that may come up, but hopefully we won't spend it. Mrs. Fersch stated some of these were put in based on higher bills. Ms. Gilleland stated unlike any of the other budgets this is just a guess based on good planning. Mr. Sabatino stated in his opinion there should be a more realistic approach to 2007. Mr. Smith stated another way of looking at is we may start at a greater level in the General Fund because these things may not be spent. Ms. Gilleland stated that the reality between what we publish and the actual is always different, but it would be nice to get the General Fund up some. Ms. Gilleland asked the Committee what they would like to do with the Legal Fund and the Committee agreed to leave it the way it was. Mr. Sabatino asked when you spent $3,000 for this year and projected $20,000 for next year do you see things that will come close to the numbers that are suggested and Mrs. Fersch stated there are still bills due to come in because this is only showing through September. Ms. Gilleland stated we can do a tally on the bills that we have so far and get a more realistic picture and come back with some better figures.

Personnel

Ms. Gilleland reviewed the budget with the committee and stated it was up 3% from last year and as you may recall we went from a full time HR Director to Mrs. Fersch filling in and I don't know how long she will be able to do that. Mr. Fix asked how realistic is it to keep doing that and Mrs. Fersch stated since we have the Finance Clerk that has relieved some time and right now it is working out. Ms. Gilleland stated there is a lot of work that we could be doing that we are not doing in HR. The Committee planned to go into Executive Session at the next Finance Committee to discuss this matter further. Mr. Smith asked about Professional Services and Mrs. Fersch stated that is Clemens Nelson working on our Employee Manual.

General Government

Ms. Gilleland reviewed the budget with the Committee and stated it was increasing by 12% and $6,000 of that is for the Health Department contributions. Mr. Sabatino asked what that is for and Mrs. Fersch stated the Budget Commission authorized an extra amount of money that would be taken from all the entities involved to help build up a surplus for it to survive.

PIO

Ms. Gilleland stated this fund is increasing by 11% and the bulk of that is for advertising. Mr. Hackworth asked about the Website Account and Mrs. Fersch stated it was for a hosting fee and any changes to the website. Mr. Sabatino stated the hosting fee seems hefty and Ms. Gilleland stated she will get a breakdown on the cost to host and maintain the website. Mr. Fix asked about the Professional Services account and stated he didn't feel we were getting our money's worth out of it. Mr. Sabatino stated it is paying for good public relations for the City with the media. Ms. Gilleland stated that contract is divided into two parts one is for a monthly retainer for media relations and part two is for the monthly articles and maybe the discussion could be on whether or not you see a value in the monthly articles. Mr. Sabatino asked how our PIO needs are going to be met and Mrs. Fersch stated several of our employees talk to the media and work on articles. Mr. Smith proposed to leave in the $1,000 a month retainer and taking out the rest of it and putting it toward somewhere else. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt more information needs to be getting out to the public and if we are not getting the right message out then we need to look internally. Mr. Smith stated that the retainer will be paying for the value of the availability of that expertise. Ms. Gilleland stated she will contact Ms. Slavin and see if she would be willing to agree $1,000 a month retainer and she further stated that she would like it to be clear that Ms. Slavin would be under the direction of the City Manager and the Committee agreed with that.

Development

Ms. Gilleland reviewed the budget with the Committee and stated it was up by 22% because we had an overlap between the McGory Contract and the employee being brought on.

ADJOURNMENT: There being nothing further Mr. Hackworth closed the budget work session on November 13, 2006 at 9:24 p.m.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

Stacey L. Bashore

Deputy Municipal Clerk