FINANCE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
CITY
HALL,
BUDGET
WORK SESSION
6:00
P.M.
1. CALL TO ORDER. Mr. Fix opened the Budget Work Session at
6:04 P.M., with roll call as follows:
Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, and Mr. Sauer were present. Mr. Wisniewski arrived at 6:40 P.M. Mr. Sabatino and
Mrs. Sanders were absent. Others present
were: Mayor O’Brien, Chief Taylor, Lynda
Yartin,
2. SCHEDULED MATTERS:
A. Review and discussion of budgets for the City Manager, Law Director, Land and Buildings, Building, and Police Departments.
Mr.
Schornack stated the City Manager’s budget was assuming a full
In review of the Legal Department budget Mr. Fix clarified the $30,000 budgeted for annexation/economic development was sort of a catchall to cover anything that might come up. Mrs. Fersch stated when someone wants to annex we have historically covered the legal expenses. After discussion it was determined to leave this amount in the budget for now and if necessary it could be adjusted later. There were no further recommended changes in this budget.
In review of
the Planning and Zoning budget Mr. Schultz stated his budget was reduced by
approximately $32,000 from last year. He
stated a major decrease was because he did have a line item for a consulting
engineer for engineering plan and zoning reviews and now we use the City
Engineer for this service. Mr. Sauer
stated Planning and Zoning Commission has been discussing certain items, such
as side curtains for outdoor patios, and inquired if there was enough in the
budget to cover a consultant’s costs for helping us develop a police, doing
code revisions or whatever. Mr. Schultz
stated he thought it would be enough to get at least the first draft done. Mr. Sauer stated he would feel comfortable if
this line item were increased a little bit because this would affect our main
corridor into the City and this would be an issue we would have to deal with
repeatedly. Mr. Fix suggested an
additional $2,500 be added to the Professional Services line item. Mayor O’Brien stated we have also been
discussing a
In reviewing the Land and Buildings budget Mr. Schornack stated it had just been brought to our attention that our defibrillators are getting old and Mr. Vannatta was getting a quote on those. Mr. Vannatta stated the automated external defibrillators are at four of our locations, and there are also four in the cruisers. He stated seven of these units are eight years old, and according to the American Heart Association they estimate the life span of one unit is about five years, and the Department of the Army estimates it at eight years. Mr. Vannatta stated these units cost $2,340 each. Mr. Smith suggested purchasing something like two a year so we get into a replacement schedule and we don’t have to purchase them all at once. Mr. Vannatta stated that was going to be his recommendation, to purchase two every year instead of having them all come up at once. He stated originally these were purchased in 2001 with a grant, and Mr. Fix inquired if there were any grants available for this now. Mayor O’Brien clarified the replacement cost Mr. Vannatta had provided was the state contract price. Mr. Vannatta stated he would check into the possibility of grant funds for this item. Mr. Sauer inquired if the $8,000 budgeted for miscellaneous office furnishings would be spent this year. Mrs. Fersch stated so far this year we have only spent $957.13, and at the time this was done Mr. Vannatta might have felt the remaining money would be necessary yet this year. Mr. Vannatta stated that was correct and it appeared that it would not be spent. Mr. Sauer stated if that money would go back in the general fund, why couldn’t we use some of it to purchase two defibrillators this year and look for a grant to replace some next year.
Mayor O’Brien stated as he understood it, we have CMI and a lot of IT avenues all tying us together. He questioned if we could look at a comprehensive package for IT for the City, meaning the servers, web sites, intranet, etc. Mr. Vannatta stated CMI is pretty much its own entity, and Mayor O’Brien stated that was correct and we were vested with them. He stated his question would be if there is a comprehensive package that would include even a phone system. Mr. Vannatta stated he is looking at the IP type phone and he should have a quote for that sometime next week. He stated he did not know, however, if our network and CMI can be married together. Mayor O’Brien stated because we are paying so many people for so many different things, that if we looked a more comprehensive package the possibility exists that we could see some savings. Mr. Vannatta stated we do have a contract with MT Business currently for our network needs. He stated the contract is basically by time blocks for any technical support, any server issues, and the police department does the same thing. Mayor O’Brien stated he thought we should do a technology assessment and have someone come in and look at what we have as far as phones, connectivity, broadband, whatever we have and go from there. Mayor O’Brien stated he thought that would be an investment and Mr. Smith stated he thought ultimately it would save us money. Mr. Fix stated he thought everyone was in agreement that we should have a technology assessment and the question would be how much that would cost. Mr. Fix stated another budget work session is scheduled for Wednesday, November 11th, and asked if Mr. Vannatta could come back with a cost estimate for a technology assessment at that time, and Mr. Vannatta stated he would do that. Mrs. Fersch stated for the coffee and kitchen supplies; she would like to include a small amount of money there so we could have cups, etc., for meetings. Mrs. Fersch stated she would suggest at least $500 be included for coffee supplies, etc. It was agreed to add $500 for the coffee and kitchen supplies.
In review of the Building Regulations budget, Mr. Schornack stated removing the Building Regulations Administrator position would reduce that budget by approximately $100,000. Mrs. Hammond questioned if it had been determined we did not need that position at all and Mr. Fix stated that was recommended several months ago, and Mr. Schornack stated we do have the position of Certified Building Official that is in the budget as a contract position. Mr. Schornack stated the revenue side of this department is projected to be down slightly next year. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that if the CBO were made a full time position, the cost would be about the same as we have currently budgeted for the contract position.
In review of the Police Department budget Mr. Schornack stated this budget does include the addition of the additional police officer discussed at the last meeting and the amount for cruisers has been increased as well. Mr. Fix ascertained the remaining funds needed for the K-9 program was approximately $1,500 and the committee determined that amount should be included in the budget for the K-9 program.
Mayor O’Brien stated it had been discussed earlier about possibly getting a quote for a fleet maintenance contract so we can have all of our smaller vehicles serviced by the same place. Mr. Drobina stated he has had conversation with the Township regarding the maintenance of the larger vehicles and he would check into getting a quote for the maintenance of the other vehicles. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would also like to see if it would be possible to work with the Township about sharing resources or using one development director on what would work for the City and the Township together. Mr. Fix stated that had been discussed and those discussions should continue.
Mr. Smith stated with regard to the Township, there are several things we both do separately that perhaps we could work on jointly, such as purchasing road salt, fuel, etc., and there may be some other areas we can cooperate on as well.
Mr. Schornack stated the next Work Session on November 11, 2009, would be a wrap up session to go back through all the budgets, go through the smaller funds, and talk about debt and impact fees. Mayor O’Brien clarified the memberships would be discussed at that time as well.
3. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, the work session closed at 6:55 P.M., November 4, 2009.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
____________________________________
Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk