FINANCE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
CITY
HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD
TUESDAY,
APRIL 21, 2009
SPECIAL
MEETING
6:30
P.M.
1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Fix called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Wisniewski were present. No members were absent. Others present were Mayor O’Brien, Tim Hansley, Lynda Yartin, Linda Fersch, Ed Drobina, Carol Carter, Nate Ellis, and others.
2. SCHEDULED MATTERS:
A. Review and discussion regarding 4th of July Funding. Mr. Sauer stated he had sent an e-mail a couple of weeks ago showing the areas he was proposing funding be transferred from to be used for the 4th of July. Mr. Sauer asked Mrs. Yartin to provide copies of the attachment to the Committee members.
Mr. Fix stated while waiting for the copies to be prepared, if there were no objections he would move on to Item B.
B. Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance amending the 2009 appropriation, Ordinance 2008-92. Mr. Fix stated six months ago discussion was started on how we should respond on the failure to pass the income tax levy. He stated Mr. Hansley has spent a lot of time interviewing candidates and looking at different ways to gather information from the constituents on what they are looking for from the City government. He stated he has provided a recommendation on the organization that he feels is best to provide what we need. Mr. Fix stated the appropriation contains $12,500 for the community survey and an additional $6,000 for the strategic planning retreat that would come from that. Mr. Fix stated he felt these two items went hand-in-hand because it did not make sense to him to get the survey done and not gather as a group to spend some time to review those results with the help of the group that did the survey and figure out where to go from there. Mr. Fix moved to approve the draft appropriation and forward it to Council; Mr. Smith seconded the motion. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would prefer to wait until the discussion on the 4th of July, because if money is going to be moved around for that it would have a big impact on how he would vote on this. He stated if we were going to reverse our decision on the 4th of July he did not feel there was any reason to put forward a levy because we have a hard enough time convincing people we don’t have money and then all of a sudden, when we stated clearly in the 2008 budget that we were pulling these things, and now we are moving money around and all of a sudden found it again. Mr. Wisniewski stated further he did not feel it was worth it to go out and spend this money, and he is definitely against $6,000 for a strategic planning retreat. Mrs. Sanders questioned what the $6,000 was for because it sounded awfully high for what a retreat entails. Mr. Fix stated it is more than just going for a day, it is taking the results of the survey and putting them into a format that we can do something with. Mr. Fix stated if Council just gets a packet with the responses, everyone will interpret them in their own way. He stated this would allow Council to have conversations with someone there to guide and moderate the conversation on what should be done. Mrs. Sanders clarified then; part of this $6,000 would pay the company to be present at the retreat. Mr. Hansley stated the company was stating that Council would come away from the retreat with a written planning document that includes a vision statement, a query of focus to talk about the results of the survey, all developed initiative goals, objectives, and a prioritization matrix. Mr. Hansley stated the retreat was planned to be a day and a half, a Friday evening and all day Saturday type of schedule. Mr. Wisniewski stated that sounded like more than talking about the results of the survey and Mr. Fix stated it would be taking the next step to come up with where we want to go for the City. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt that would be fairly obvious because the survey would ask if citizens want to pay taxes or don’t you and if we can’t take it from there on our own, maybe we are sitting in the wrong positions. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt Council had identified how they thought the public would react to what was presented to them in November, but a company such as this will ask questions to get the unfiltered results and then sift through that to come up with some type of community census. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt Mr. Fix was trying to come up with something that the citizens are going to support rather that what Council thinks they will support. He continued that if Council is serious about trying to secure the financial stability of the community they need to let a professional organization define what the issues are with the people at the polls who will be making the decision on it. Mr. Wisniewski stated he agreed with the survey, but the $6,000 for the strategic planning retreat were what the comments were about and that is totally separate and it seemed that the presentation of the survey results is one small portion of what that $6,000 was for. Mr. Wisniewski stated Council had a strategic retreat a year or so ago, they came up with a bunch of issues, and absolutely nothing got done off of it. Mr. Wisniewski stated then what would happen after the company left, they would come up with something just like we did, and then what is going to happen after they leave. Mr. Fix stated to assume we don’t need any outside help to figure out how to come together and create a vision for the future was shortsighted. He stated most governments engage this kind of group to do strategic planning. Mr. Fix further stated he understood at the last Finance Committee meeting there were five different ideas on what we should do going forward as far as generating the levy. He stated if everyone is all that scattered right now, how would they come together unless there is someone who does this for a living that can help them come together as a group and put forward something that the constituents will say yes to. Mr. Wisniewski stated he is not against the survey or them presenting it, but he felt the strategic planning and everything else that goes along with it is a thinly veiled attempt at a pet project. He stated he felt they could easily do the survey and provide Council with the information in a work session without having to spend a day and a half and another $6,000. Mrs. Hammond stated we talked about doing this last year and it was voted down because no-one wanted to spend the money. She continued this year we have a definite shortage of money, we have employees who are leaving that we cannot replace, and to now spend this kind of money she did not feel looked very good to the constituents. Mrs. Hammond stated while she could possibly see the necessity for a survey, she wasn’t sure they couldn’t get the same information in another manner, there was no way she could go along with $6,000 for someone to tell her what a survey said. Mr. Fix stated it is much more than just what the survey said. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt we really needed a disinterested third party asking the questions and he felt money like this was definitely money well spent. Mrs. Sanders stated she did feel that spending $6,000 right now seemed like a lot, but at some point you have to spend a little money to make money. She stated in every business, every successful company, you have strategic planning, you have a five-year plan, you have a ten-year plan, and $6,000 did not seem like a lot to her. She stated Council is a business; they are in the business of running the City. Mrs. Sanders inquired of Mr. Hansley, with his years of experience, if this is something he would recommend. Mr. Hansley stated every year that he served in Dublin they had an annual goal setting, planning retreat with a facilitation and in was in this range of expense, $6,000 to $10,000. Mr. Sauer stated every company he has ever worked for would go through this every year because if you can’t figure out where it is you want to go, he didn’t know how you could find a way to cohesively put a package together and lead. He stated he has seen the value of this where he works and the way it has benefited there. He stated he understood the significance in terms of the expense, but he did see the value in it. Mr. Smith stated, as he understood it, the survey was more than just getting something on the ballot. He stated it would cover a range of issues, each of which have a range of solutions for, and he felt a work session, retreat or whatever, the contractor would massage that information and give it to Council in some sort of workable format. Mr. Smith stated the problem in the past has been Council has not been focused on their action and that is what he sees as the benefit of this type of retreat. Mr. Smith stated most companies and governments do this type of thing, but with our staff stretched as thin as they are with no increase in sight, there is no capacity on staff to support Council so he liked the idea of this company focusing Council on an actionable plan to move forward so staff is only working on those things that are needed to fit into the five year vision for Pickerington. He stated, therefore, he is in support of this. Mayor O’Brien stated the community survey would give much more information than why the income tax issue failed; he thought it would give Council a more timely finger on the pulse of the community and what they are thinking about a lot of things. Mayor O’Brien stated everyone seems to be in agreement that we should do that, however, his greatest fear was that if we do the survey, and have the results in hand, but have no clue what to do with them. He stated he felt that is what the strategic planning session was for, to kind of push everyone in the direction of what to do with those results. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Nay,” and Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 5-2.
Mr. Fix stated the Committee would return to the discussion regarding the 4th of July. He stated everyone has the attachment Mr. Sauer had prepared showing the areas that were budgeted higher than we came close to spending in the past, and shows a $30,050 savings of things that are budgeted and not likely to be spent. Mr. Fix stated he understood from Mr. Hansley that none of these items are critical. Mr. Hansley stated there are several ways to accomplish this and he would suggest a motion to amend the appropriation ordinance just moved forward to Council to add the $12,000 under the General Government line item for fireworks specifically. He stated staff would be directed by that same motion to be sure we under spend some or all of these accounts by at least $12,000. He stated if that motion and ordinance would pass that is very achievable. Mr. Hansley stated the only thing that needed to be on the table is that the Township pay an equal share of $12,000 to achieve a similar parade and fireworks show we have had in the past. Mrs. Fersch stated when the motion is made it should be for the entire $24,000 since we will be the one to spend the money, but it will be offset by the revenue from the Township because she would need the authority to spend the whole $24,000. Mr. Hansley stated the motion would be for $24,000 and then we would receive their donation and it would be deposited into the General Fund. Mr. Hansley stated he had a verbal confirmation the Township will take the formal action if this passes tonight. Mr. Hansley stated the only thing the Township would request was that this be promoted as a community celebration on behalf of both the Township and the City. Mr. Sauer stated on his proposal he would note that in each of those particular line items the adjusted budgeted amount did not fall below what has historically been spent in any single year for any of those line items, and the saved column shows a total balance of $12,650. Mr. Sauer stated he has heard the question of what message we would be sending if we did this, but from his point of view, the money is there. He stated he would question what message we sent if we knew the money is there and we still denied one day out of the year to celebrate the 4th of July and celebrate our nation and community. Mr. Sauer stated further if this particular amount of money can be moved from one area of the budget to another without spending a dime more than appropriated when the budget was approved, are we being deceitful to the residents when we argue the money is not there. He stated he would like to be honest with the residents and let them know that by shifting some priorities at City Hall and by partnering with Violet Township we can piece together a display for them this year. Mr. Sauer stated further two good things came out of this proposal; first, fostering a very good working relationship with Violet Township by working together on this event for the good of the whole community, and also being creative in finding ways to reduce the cost to the City by partnering with Violet Township and potentially anyone else in the future that may wish to join in to put on the display for the benefit of our taxpayers, citizens, and the community. He stated he felt this would put Pickerington in a very positive light when there are a lot of other communities that are cutting back and are not doing this, and with times being tight this may be the only thing they get to enjoy this year. Mr. Sauer moved to amend the appropriation approved earlier to add the appropriation of $24,000 for the funding of the 4th of July fireworks display with $12,000 of that to be coming from a donation from Violet Township; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion. Mr. Sabatino stated he agreed this demonstrated the City was working to find creative ways and working with the Township to truly have a community celebration. Mayor O’Brien stated his concern was that we expect staff to do more with less, and in taking funds from the training budget we would prevent staff from going to training to prepare for 2010 and how to actually do more with less next year. Mr. Wisniewski stated if this is the case this year, he would suspect that in 2009 the proposed budget for 2010 would be at least this or less for the training in these various categories. Mrs. Sanders stated she agrees this could send the wrong message, but the thing that has convinced her to support it is that in talking to people in the community there are a lot of people from the City who are overseas fighting and we are in a really bad economic time with our country and if we can support the $12,000 for this event for the residents she felt that could help a little bit. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt the 4th of July was the holiday that best exemplifies this country, but she was not in favor of changing the budget. She stated we do have a lot of entertainment in the City that are free to residents such as the Friday night movies and Sunday concerts that did not cost the City anything because we do have generous donations from some of the businesses around town. Mr. Smith stated having given 20 years of his life in service to this country, there is no-one more patriotic than he is. He stated, however, he felt this discussion had taken place back in October and November and a hard choice was made then to realign priorities and that did not include a 4th of July celebration. Mr. Smith stated he would love to have the celebration, but the reality of where we are today did not include this. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Nay,” and Mr. Fix, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Sauer, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 4-3.
C. Review and discussion regarding Franklin County/Fairfield County Board of Health proposals. Mr. Fix stated he understood this was discussed at the last meeting and he wanted to clarify that Mr. Hansley had invited him to join him and Mrs. Fersch at a meeting with a representative from the Fairfield County Board of Health, Mayor Smith from Lancaster, and Lancaster’s law director, Teri Vandervort. Mr. Fix stated what was brought to this Committee was a one year contract for an $80,000 flat fee based on the MORPC population estimates in Pickerington in 2010 being 16,000 residents at $5.00 each. He stated the $5.00 was an amount he came up with based on the numbers he had seen from both Franklin County and Fairfield County in the past. He stated this would be a good deal for the City because we would save some money, and also a good deal for the Fairfield County Board of Health because they would not lose all the fees and all the upfront money the City puts into the Board of Health. Mr. Fix stated he looked at the one-year contract with Fairfield County as a bridge for us to cross to get to a point where we could negotiate with the DAC, with the County, and with Lancaster on the next ten year agreement. Mr. Fix stated if this is approved by Council, it will be presented to the DAC for their approval. He stated the DAC has a history of not always having a quorum or of doing things differently than we would like to see, and if this is passed tonight we would give the DAC a certain period of time for them to convene and agree to this contract. If they cannot come to an agreement within a certain period of time, then we would let them know if it is not done in that time we would sign a contract with Franklin County. He stated that would put them in the position where they would have to make a decision. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt Franklin County has an established track record of providing services on a contract basis and is using a standard contract in dealing with Pickerington. He stated we asked Franklin County for a proposal and it was provided based on existing criteria. He continued Fairfield County has reluctantly agreed to proposing a contract for services that he requested several months ago, and Fairfield County Health Department has publicly stated they did not feel they should have to compete with another health department. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt all Council should be concerned with was providing health care services to the constituents and not be involved in the politics of the Health Department, the County Commissioners, the District Advisory Council, etc. Mr. Sabatino stated Franklin County has an established record with all of the communities they deal with and he has not heard anything negative about the way they do business with those communities. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt we should contract with Franklin County now and if down the road Fairfield County has something makes sense we should take an objective look at it. Mrs. Sanders stated she would support the Fairfield County Board of Health tonight and she felt by giving them this one year, until we are ready to negotiate a ten-year contract is fair because they have done everything we have asked for. She stated she felt a loyalty to Fairfield County since we are here. Mrs. Sanders stated she did agree one hundred percent that if within a year they have not gotten their act together she would not have a problem in changing that vote. Mrs. Hammond stated she agreed with Mr. Sabatino, and she was not comfortable with giving Fairfield County a time limit and if they didn’t meet it then going to Franklin County and saying we would go with them, they were second best but we would go with them anyway. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt a decision should be made about who we want and then stick with it. Mr. Smith stated there is no question in his mind that Franklin County is the more organized, professionally contracting agency. He stated they have been doing this for a long time and Fairfield County has not; there are only two cities in Fairfield County. Mr. Smith stated the fact remains we are a part of Fairfield County and we know what we have with Fairfield County. He stated if we would sever that relationship now and the merger is up for renewal in a year we would not be part of the process then. He stated he would rather preserve our options and be a part of the potential solution in Fairfield County, see how this new funding source will or will not change, and he felt we should give Fairfield County one year on a contractual basis. Mr. Wisniewski stated he supported Franklin County on this issue as he felt Fairfield County has had plenty of opportunities to make changes and they haven’t. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt Franklin County has been very patient with the City throughout this process and he would recommend that we move on and Franklin County would provide the best services for our citizens. Mr. Sauer stated regardless of where the fee came from with regards to what is being proposed from Fairfield County, it is still a savings over what we have paid in the past. He stated he agreed with a lot of what both Mr. Sabatino and Mrs. Sanders have said and he felt we should give Fairfield County the one year and if things have not improved we have the alternative next year. He stated he would support Fairfield County this evening. Mr. Sabatino stated he would just like to point out the fact that Franklin County has illustrated they know how to do this, they have done it for a long period of time, and the lack of the County Commissioner’s support to the Fairfield County Board of Health said a lot about their issues. Mr. Sabatino stated he would urge his fellow council members to support the Franklin County Board of Health proposal. Mr. Fix moved to forward the draft ordinance to Council inserting the name of Fairfield under the county in three different areas and to add a caveat that this would be accepted by the City of Pickerington if the District Advisory Council approves this contract on or before June 30, 2009; Mr. Smith seconded the motion. Mayor O’Brien asked where the date June 30th came from, and Mr. Fix stated it gave council time to get the ordinance through three readings at Council and it gives Fairfield County time to get their DAC together, have their meeting and approve it or not. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Nay,” and Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, and Mr. Smith voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 4-3.
3. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Smith moved to adjourn; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Fix, and Mr. Smith voted "Aye." Motion carried, 7-0. The Finance Committee Special Meeting adjourned at 7:28 P.M., April 21, 2009.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
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