FINANCE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
CITY HALL,
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2010
BUDGET WORK SESSION
6:30 P.M.
1. Mrs. Sanders opened the Budget Work Session at 6:30 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer and Mrs. Sanders were present. Mr. Blair and Mr. Wisniewski were absent due to job related requirements. Others present were Mayor O’Brien, Bill Vance, Lynda Yartin, Chris Schornack, Ed Drobina, Chet Hopper, Stephanie Spencer, Chief Michael Taylor, Greg Bachman, Susan Crotty, Eric Vannatta and Angela Fenner.
2. SCHEDULED MATTERS:
A. Review and discussion of the Police Department Budget, Development Department Budget and Budget Review.
Mrs. Sanders stated the meeting would start with the Police Department budget. Mr. Schornack stated the last Budget Work Session ended with a few additional questions by council members. Mr. Vance stated today we cut $100,000 from the Chief’s proposed budget and some of the most significant cuts were related to police cars. He stated the Chief recommended three new cars for 2011 and two of those were removed. Mr. Schornack stated at page 18 of the budget the unfunded police vehicles are still there and that is our unfunded list. Starting on page 14 and through page 17 is the Police budget as it stands when we last spoke. Mr. Fix clarified that there has not been a response from the Sheriff on the question that was forwarded to him. Mr. Fix stated he did not have any further questions.
Mayor O’Brien stated as Mr. Blair
was not able to be here he had provided a list of questions he would like
addressed. Mayor O’Brien stated he would read the questions verbatim. Mr.
Blair’s first question was can we not push our mileage on our cars to 175,000? Chief Taylor stated that in his opinion at
175,000 miles there would not be much of a car left. We normally trade in cars once they hit
80,000 miles. To order a car, by the time we get it could be four to six months
so at 80,000 miles, by the time we get the car the trade in has well over
100,000 miles. Chief Taylor stated the new cars are picked up at a dealer in
Chief Taylor stated once they get at 80,000 to 90,000 miles the maintenance starts really going up with suspension and transmission problems on the cars and it starts to eat away at maintenance. Mr. Vance stated in his experience a routine practice is that your rotate your cars every three or four years at the most. A patrol car will last four years at the most and then it needs to be replaced due to safety and maintenance expense. Chief Taylor stated it is about three years when he rotates cars. Mr. Vance stated we cannot fund two cars in 2011, however, in 2012 instead of three cars the Chief is quite possibly going to come back and have to ask for four or five. Mr. Fix clarified that part of the performance audit would include a vehicle report that would address cars, maintenance and mileage and whether we should do things in-house or should be going out for repair.
Chief Taylor stated it is four to six months out once we order the car until we get it and when the car arrives it is another three weeks before it is in service. Mrs. Sanders clarified it can take four to six months to get the car due to the state contract process. Chief Taylor stated he orders as soon as he can because if you wait until later in the year you many not get one. Mr. Fix clarified that on a state bid there are only so many cars available. The bid opens in November or December and if we wait until March or April to order the cars everybody else has had three or four months to purchase their cars. Mr. Fix clarified that the state goes out and buys a set amount of cars and then every police department in the state that wants to buy a car starts ordering in November or December and it still takes four-six months to get it form that point. Chief Taylor stated it has been our experience every year that it takes four to six months to get it. We will order in January as soon as the budget is approved and it won’t be here until May. Mr. Fix clarified that we are basically using the state’s purchasing power to help us buy more cost effectively. Chief Taylor stated he pays about $20,000 for a new car using the state contract, without the state contract it would be about $35,000. Once the present cars reach about 100,000 miles they will start to depreciate quickly on trade in. We average about $2,500 on trade in however once it gets over 100,000 miles it drops to less than half of that. He further stated by trading cars in around 90,000 to 100,000 miles he gets about a $2,500 trade in and it makes the cost of the new car about $18,500. Mrs. Hammond clarified if we were not using the state contract it would still take four to six months to get a car. Chief Taylor stated that is correct and is because we have to get a police package car. He further stated he just recently traded in a detective car that was 10 years old and he tries to utilize these vehicles as long as he can.
Mayor O’Brien stated Mr. Blair’s next question was that we have no cars over 75,000 miles and only 50,000 a year at most on a car, that puts the top car at 125,000 and his question is can’t we wait a budget cycle? Chief Taylor stated the answer to that is no. He presently has one car to trade in at 76,329 miles and when the vehicle report was generated the other car had 74,299 miles. That was about three weeks ago and it now has over 1,000 additional miles. There are currently two cars with over 75,000 miles. If we replace those two, they won’t be in until May and there will be another seven months of mileage on those two cars. Mr. Vance stated if you gain the extra year there will still be additional maintenance costs and there will be additional expense in down time so you pay one way or the other. You either pay for a new car and maybe minimize the liability and drive a new car or you drive an old car that may be less safe and require more maintenance. When you have a police department this is one of the costs that go along with operating the police department.
Mrs. Sanders clarified that the Police Department has 18 cars and only 10 of those are patrol cars. One of those is for the Commander who keeps his car as he is on call 24 hours a day so there are actually nine to be used by 15 officers. Chief Taylor stated in a perfect world each officer would have their own car like the Ohio State Highway Patrol does and we could make a car last five or six years. There would be less maintenance and they last a lot longer. The reason the detective car lasted ten years is that only one officer was using it. Mr. Sauer clarified that this coming year, after we purchase this new car, going into next year’s budget season, there will be 8 cars with under 75,000 miles on them and in 2012 we will need two new cars. That will put us at nine cars for 15 officers that patrol. Mrs. Hammond clarified that on some nights there will be four patrol cars out, and depending on the time of year, if there is special duty, football or basketball game etc., on a given night there could be seven cars on they road. Mr. Sauer clarified if we get two cars next year they will be replacing two other cars, we are not increasing the number of cars. He stated he would like to see us do one car per officer if we could as it would save money in the long run. Chief Taylor stated that would be ideal.
Mr. Sauer stated he would like to find the resources to add one each year to eventually get to that number, and then we are just maintaining so that each officer’s got their own car and they last additional years. Chief Taylor stated if there is a vehicle breakdown and the car has to go back to the dealer we can be without that car for a week to ten days. He further stated the cars are used two shifts per day and an officer averages 100 miles per shift times two, times a week, times 12 months, you see how quick the mileage adds up. Mr. Sauer clarified that, in all probability, if the Chief is asking for three vehicles and next year he has to replace two, if we replaced all three this year there would not be the need to replace any cars next year. Mr. Sauer stated that going into next year there will still be two cars that will be around 75,000 to 80,000 miles and we are really not putting it behind too badly by just giving one this year. If we were to replace all three cars this year we would actually be ahead and would get closer to that goal of one car per officer. Mr. Fix stated there is no way we can do that this year and Mr. Sauer stated he was just trying to understand what is coming up. Mayor O’Brien clarified that currently we have the ability to swap equipment from one car to another, other than the one remaining Ford, and that the other vehicles are Chargers.
Mayor O’Brien stated Mr. Blair’s next question is regarding how many miles are put on the detective car per year. Chief Taylor stated they average about 20,000 to 22,000 a year and this is why we can keep those longer. Mayor O’Brien stated Mr. Blair’s next question is how many detectives do we have? Last budget meeting it was said there are two and he sees three in the budget. He also asked what the case load is for the three of them. Chief Taylor stated there are three. One detective works entirely in the Task Force and on the surface does not benefit the department directly by working in the detective bureau. There are two detectives in the bureau plus the Sergeant that oversees the bureau. The case load for the two detectives on average is 25 to 30 cases per month, they presently are working 35 to 40 cases each and the Sergeant on average has 10 to 12 cases a month. Mr. Fix clarified that the closure rate is probably 85 percent. Mayor O’Brien stated the next question is how have the meetings gone with the Sheriff and the possibility of providing dispatching services for the City. Chief Taylor stated he was unable to advise on this. Mr. Vance stated he had one meeting with the Sheriff and he presented a positive attitude toward working with the City in investigating any potential way his department could assist the City per our official request to do so, with specifics. Mr. Vance stated further that he had sent a general letter in that regard and he has not yet seen a response. Mayor O’Brien stated the next question is if there is a window to purchase cars or can it be done any time during the year and what is the time frame as to when it will be in service and this was answered previously; the earlier the better, with a time frame to receive of four to six months plus three weeks equip time. Mayor O’Brien stated Mr. Blair’s next question is can we high speed chase in Pickerington. Chief Taylor stated the answer is yes. Mr. Fix clarified that we have done so. Mayor O’Brien stated Mr. Blair’s next question is can the detective’s cars be used for patrol, or are they always in use by the detective’s, or not outfitted for patrol. Chief Taylor stated they are not outfitted properly and do not have the authority in their current state to operate as a patrol car per the Ohio Revised Code.
Mayor O’Brien stated Mr. Blair’s
next comment was that we have two to three cars out at a time, yet we have 10
patrol cars? You figure that we have three shifts so only nine cars get out a
day at most? Obviously not nine always but yet we have ten cars or at least we
always have seven cars sitting back at the station.
Mrs. Sanders stated the next item is the Development Department. Mrs. Yartin passed out information Ms Crotty had prepared for Council. Ms Crotty stated she has tried to address questions she has been asked regarding what are planned activities for the next six months, what the expected outcomes from those activities are within a certain frame time, and the associated cost estimates. Also indicated are items that relate back to the recommendations of the Columbus Board of Realtors. Ms Crotty stated she focused on three areas that are important to target our economic development activities on and those are product development, marketing outreach and business retention and expansion. First and foremost is to spend more time on developing the product that we are promoting. There is a lot of work to do to identify sites that are available for development and to ensure that we have the assets that are attractive to developers and to prospective businesses.
Ms Crotty further stated she has
some activities there that are already started and underway and are not going
to cost anything in the near future. One
item that would need to be added to the budget and is one of our wish list
items would be to develop and distribute a survey to gather information on the
workforce and market within the City of
Mr. Fix stated he was not familiar with the type of data we would get and how it would be used. Ms Crotty stated she thinks what is important for lot of prospective employers that City may want to attract here is going to be what type of workforce is available here. We know there is a highly skilled and educated workforce available within the City but we don’t have the data to confirm this. Ms Crotty stated we can look at it on a regional basis, there is better data available at the county level however we really don’t have current data for the City and we can’t identify occupations, etc. We don’t have current data on the educational level and the 2010 census data does not seem to reflect accurately the educational levels we have in the City, however, we have no better data. Mr. Fix clarified that an example of an employer wanting to come here that would ask for this kind of information would be small office user and medical uses. Ms Crotty stated she believes there actually are a lot of residents in the City who are already employed in the medical field, however, she has no data to support that. Mr. Fix clarified that if someone is considering building a medical complex here, having the data within a three to five mile radius is useful. Ms Crotty stated it makes the City more attractive. Mr. Fix summarized if we can go out and say we have a highly educated workforce with a break down on percentage for levels of education and types of skill it will make the City more marketable to the higher end potential employers if we are able to provide the data to confirm. Mr. Fix stated if we can provide the perception that we are a white collar community that has white collar skilled workers, then we can attract white collar skilled jobs here and that providing the data to developers that a workforce with these types of backgrounds, as well as those with computer skills, already exists within the City would be viewed as an asset by developers. Mrs. Sanders clarified the cost is based on consultant services to do this. Mr. Fix stated he is not suggesting that we would want to provide inaccurate information, but isn’t there something out there that we could put together to state we are a white collar community and here is data that backs that up. Ms Crotty stated that is what she has done with the materials that we have right now, but if someone is serious about looking at an area she does not know the validity of this data and can’t defend it. Mr. Fix stated the information on the education and income level will be coming out on the 2010 census in the next eighteen months. Ms. Crotty stated that would just be the basic population information and that it takes three to four years to get valid data on anything else and by that time it will be outdated. Mr. Fix stated he understands being able to say here is who we are, however, perhaps if we don’t spend the $15,000 on data and plug it into going to three more shows, some other kind of advertising, traveling and seeing more people to bring in potential developers, and then we can find a way to overcome that our data is fairly close. Ms. Crotty stated the reason she did not include advertising in the budget is that she thinks we first need to make sure that we have done all we can on product development as we don’t really have that product to market yet and this is an important first step. She can’t guarantee results from advertising. She and colleagues have had this discussion before where they have not necessarily had the best results from advertising, or it’s hard to tell, hard to measure. You might have a positive response from someone that comes in a couple of years later but how do you measure that? In order to produce stronger results more readily, something else we could look at would be establishing a program that would really benefit the existing businesses.
Mr. Fix stated he was not suggesting he knows how the $15,000 should be spent; he is just suggesting looking at this in a different way. If you only have that amount to spend perhaps there are other ways to use the money for outreach and spending money on business retention as opposed to doing a study to gather data. Mr. Vance stated his perception in this proposal is that Ms Crotty wants to excel at the recruitment and the retention. The information could be a little sketchy. However, when you are in a situation that is highly competitive to get what you can, you are seeking any advantage you can put in place. If you can relieve any doubt a potential investor might have that your information is credible and they can act upon it, and they are ready to act, that could expedite getting that business in. Mr. Fix stated in the situation we are in now, putting that same amount of money toward outreach, in his estimation, would be a wiser use of the money, and next year, once we’ve got some things going in and there are businesses saying show me your data, then go out and spend the money in 2012. Mayor O’Brien stated when they ask us for data we are essentially confirming what they already have. They will have done their homework before they come in to meet with someone. Mr. Fix stated if he were someone considering bringing a business in, having immediate, close access to the types of professionals that he will need to do business here is pretty far down his list. He would imagine that he could find the talent. He would have done that homework. Mrs. Sanders stated in looking at what was passed out and being proposed, this is exactly what we need. However, Ms Crotty is one person and this looks like a lot of work that appears to happen simultaneously. Ms. Crotty stated she thinks it is achievable and some of the activities are already underway and the anticipated completion dates are dependant upon having additional clerical assistance also. She further stated that person is also going to be needed to assist with some of the Planning and Zoning activities. Mr. Vance stated he had met with Ms Crotty to go over these proposals and asked the same questions and if it needs to be scaled back a little bit to keep it realistic then we will do so, however, this is a realistic plan. Mr. Fix stated the clerical assistance has already been budgeted. Mayor O’Brien clarified that this has been budgeted at 25 hours per week. Ms. Crotty stated Mrs. Fersch had assisted with some floater help now to start on the business database.
Ms Crotty stated there are a
couple of items included as wish list items that are related to the Columbus
Board of Realtors recommendations. These were to advertise more, put signage
along
Mr. Fix clarified there is another tentative Budget Work Session scheduled. He stated there is still a lot of ground to cover and questions for Ms Crotty and we still have to go through the final budget review. He clarified that Ms Crotty is asking for $24,250 in the 2011 budget. Mr. Fix suggested for the purpose of budgeting that tonight they authorize $25,000 and ask to either have Service Committee get into a lot more detail on this plan and how the money would be spent, or have a separate committee set up just for Economic Development. He further stated he is still an advocate of that and thinks there is room for an entire committee around all the work that Ms Crotty is doing to help her achieve success. He stated as the Finance Committee meeting is scheduled for tonight as well, he would suggest this discussion be continued at the next Budget Work Session. Mr. Sauer stated he agrees and would like to come back for a final Budget Work Session. Mr. Fix stated he would prefer to have the opportunity to spend time looking through the information provided by Ms Crotty before meeting again. Mr. Schornack stated we can appropriate funds later in the year as you see a plan that is developed and Mr. Fix stated he would rather go into the year knowing we have set aside certain funds for economic development.
Mr. Sauer stated an amendment can be made to the budget once it has gone through Council and Mr. Fix stated that was fine. Mr. Schornack clarified everyone would be ready to go over this again in a week. Mrs. Sanders stated there is a Budget Work Session tentatively scheduled for November 10th. Mr. Fix stated he would prefer to have the time to go through this as it is really critically important to the future of the community. Mayor O’Brien clarified there were not any conflicts with any other events on this date. Mr. Fix clarified there will be another Budget Work Session on November 10, 2010, at 6:30 P.M. Mr. Schornack stated he would be sending out the budget later this week and the Committee could also review any of the other departments at the next Budget Work Session.
3. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, the work session closed at 7:25 P.M., November 3, 2010.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
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Karen I. Risher, Administrative Clerk
ATTEST:
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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk