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07-14-1998 - Budget Workshop CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER BUDGET WORKSHOP JULY 14, 1998 6:30 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Allman called the Budget Workshop to order at 6: 30 p.m. in the Community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Randy Allman Present Councilman James Gornto Present Councilman Myron Hammond Present Councilman Gary Roberts Present Councilwoman Judith Lichter Present City Attorney Nikki Clayton Present Interim City Manager Kenneth Hooper Present City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Present Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker Present INVOCATION, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE There was a silent invocation and pledge of allegiance to the Flag. MEETING PURPOSE The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the FY1998/1999 budget. YMCA Wayne Bostic, Representing the YMCA, commented on a concept for Council to consider as well as a listing of the programs the YMCA offered and asked Council to look over it. (Attached) Councilwoman Lichter felt dialogue between the City and the Y should go on. She wasn' t sure what would happen with the plans the City had already made. Councilwoman Lichter spoke of mention that was made about the Y having complete control but she felt his concept was a team work of control . Mr. Bostic spoke of working well with the Recreation Department and the City and working together to accomplish the goals they want to do. Councilwoman Lichter mentioned Port Orange having two separate facilities and the City maintaining its own recreational building and 1 Council Budget Workshop July 14, 1998 the Y is a separate entity. She wanted to retain the City' s identity with the Y becoming one of the City' s customers . Mr. Bostic spoke of concentrating on the swimming pool, health fitness for seniors, child care and day care and those types of programs. Mayor Allman felt it was worth looking into more. Councilman Hammond wanted Interim City Manager Hooper and Parks & Recreation Director Jack Corder to sit down with Mr. Bostic within 30 days and see what they could work out and put this concept together and come back before Council. Mayor Allman wanted it sooner. Councilwoman Lichter asked Interim City Manager Hooper about their obligation with engineer as they had signed legal agreements . Councilman Hammond mentioned they hadn' t broken ground yet. Interim City Manager Hooper explained when they brought it before Council they described they were getting authorization for signatures but the notice to proceed wasn' t going to go until the work session on the Y had occurred on the budget. They haven' t been told formally to start. There was no obligation of the City to pay for anything at this point. Interim City Manager Hooper commented on meeting with Mr. Bostic and this being complicated as they would be mixing public funds and private funds . He wasn' t saying they couldn' t do it. He expressed concern with the Y pulling out or if a majority of the Council in the future wanted to pull out. He felt the hard thing was how to make this a long term deal. It wouldn' t be easy to get out of as there was security for both sides. There was a discussion regarding the process that was followed in Port Orange to work their deal out and it taking five or six months after the deal was worked out to get the shovel in the ground. Interim City Manager Hooper stated with Council' s direction they could meet with them. He felt it would have to be addressed further at one of their regular meetings . Mr. Bostic felt if they couldn' t do it together that it couldn' t happen. Councilman Hammond wanted to see Interim City Manager Hooper and Mr. Corder get going on it to see what they could do. Interim City Manager Hooper informed him he needed a consensus of the Council . Mr. Bostic felt it would help if there was 100% agreement. Councilwoman Lichter felt they were weighing the money practicality enlargement versus urgency. Councilman Hammond felt they needed to put the urgency aside because they were looking at long term. If they have something good he felt they needed to slow down and get it going. Councilwoman Lichter felt they should keep open minds on all subjects . 2 Council Budget Workshop July 14, 1998 She was going to bring up the mural at the end of the meeting. Councilman Roberts felt they needed to set up another workshop next week because they had a budget to work on and didn' t have time to talk about the Y all night. Mr. Bostic introduced some of the YMCA Board members who were present at the meeting. Councilman Gornto asked if they could let Interim City Manager Hooper, Mr. Corder and Mr. Bostic do some ground work so they didn' t start from the beginning. He felt they should explore it and was excited about it. Councilman Roberts felt they needed to set up a workshop as soon as possible. Interim City Manager Hooper spoke of meeting with the two staffs, presenting to Council jointly a plan and presenting the pros and cons on how it could be worked out. Councilwoman Lichter was in favor of moving forward. Volusia Council of Governments (VCOG) Wayne Gardner, Commissioner, City of Deltona, made a presentation regarding what VCOG was doing, what it could do, what it was supposed to be doing and provided some updates . He referred to a letter from Mayor Arthur from the City of Holly Hill, who apologized for not being able to make it to the meeting tonight. Mr. Gardner identified he was going to speak about what VCOG was doing and planned to do as well as his personal observation of what he had seen as a member of VCOG for the last two and a half years . Mr. Gardner commented on VCOG' s mission with regard to all of the cities getting together to see how they can help each other out. It was designed to be a place where the cities could go on a level playing field and discuss countywide issues. Mr. Gardner further identified some of the things VCOG was doing. It was designed to be a depository source for exchange of information and ideas . He felt it was an organization that had been underutilized. Mr. Gardner then commented on the personal observations he wanted to make and referred to the 800 megahertz system. Mr. Gardner wanted to see VCOG put together a debriefing type of thing identifying the different types of events that occur in Volusia County such as the wildfires, Black College Reunion and Bike Week so they can review some of the things that happen and make it better. Mr. Gardner introduced Mary Curran, VCOG' s Administrative Assistant. 3 Council Budget Workshop July 14, 1998 Mr. Gardner then commented on VCOG' s budget in 1970 was $107, 000 . Next year it was looking at being about $140, 000. In a 30 year period of time the budget had only gone up $30, 000. Mr. Gardner then pointed out the assessments for the individual cities that were members of VCOG were going up next year. Edgewater' s assessment last year was $5, 753 and would be going to $6, 957 next year as a result of Daytona Beach dropping out of VCOG. Mr. Gardner was available to answer any questions Council had. There was a brief discussion regarding VCOG not having a Director but they were looking for and advertising for one. Mr. Gardner identified what they were looking for in an Executive Director. Councilwoman Lichter questioned someone who is not a member of VCOG being a member of Water Alliance, which they were allowed to do. She also spoke of participating in a Fire/Rescue study group and felt some of the things Mr. Gardner mentioned was being duplicated. Mr. Gardner agreed it absolutely was duplication. He felt there wouldn' t be a local government study commission if it wouldn' t have come out of VCOG that that was one of the things they needed to do. He saw the local government study commission as something that would go on for a limited period of time and then somebody would have to facilitate the things to come out of it, which is what he saw VCOG doing. Mayor Allman questioned why Daytona Beach withdrew from VCOG. Mr. Gardner commented on the reasons he received from the different commissioners that decided to pull out. There was a brief discussion regarding how long Daytona Beach had been out of VCOG. Mr. Gardner spoke of making a presentation back to them and felt they were doing themselves harm by not being a part of VCOG and alienating themselves from the other cities. There was further discussion regarding there being a towing issue in Daytona Beach, which could have been fixed by writing their own towing ordinance. Volusia County Business Development Corporation (VCBDC) Jerry Fox, Vice President, VCBDC, 199 Cloveridge Court, Edgewater, started his presentation by identifying what VCBDC was . He commented on their funding strategy being $1 per person countywide as a contribution to economic development each year. The County has been giving them $ . 50 per person countywide, another $ . 50 per person for the unincorporated areas and they work with each of the cities for $ . 50 per capita from them. He identified they were not supported by Pierson, Ponce Inlet, Daytona Beach Shores. 4 Council Budget Workshop July 14, 1998 Mr. Fox spoke of what they have tried to do and what they have done for Edgewater. He also commented on their recruiting successes in this area and past expansions . Mr. Fox spoke of VCBDC managing for the County the Volusia County Opportunity Fund. The Edgewater area has received $405, 000 of the $2 million in grants that had been awarded out of that program. Over 350 new jobs were created in connection with those grants . Mr. Fox then commented on what they had been involved with directly such as the Guava and Hibiscus issue with regard to the three employee cap. He also spoke of being involved with the FIND project. Mr. Fox spoke of working with prior administrations on packaging the City. He felt it was very important what the City looks like when they bring a prospect in. Mr. Fox commented on the two boat manufacturers he was currently working on for the new Marine Industrial Park, which the Port Authority closed on the purchase of last week, which was the former Consolidated Tomoka Pre-Stressed site and was not located in the City of Edgewater but he felt it should be. He also mentioned there were three area company major expansions on the horizon. Mr. Fox spoke of there being potential at Massey Airpark especially since the runway was paved. It wasn' t located in the City of Edgewater but he felt it should be. He spoke of there also being potential at Scott Porta' s place. Mr. Fox spoke of joint efforts and cooperation and the City linking up with the private sector and investing money to make money. Scott Porta was about to put up another 20, 000 square foot building. Joe Martin was doing 18, 000 feet over his place. Oscar Zeller told him he would do anything up to 100, 000 square feet. They had people willing to put buildings up and have a place for companies to come and grow. Mr. Fox identified they were asking for just under $9, 000 which was based on the City' s population and they wanted to have the City' s continued support. Councilwoman Lichter questioned how the City had benefitted in the last year or two. Mr. Fox didn' t have numbers but felt the primary benefit to Edgewater' s revenue source was new commercial construction. He further identified new in the last year was Parts Unlimited Inc. at Scott Porta' s place. Mr. Fox then commented on Coronado Paint and Waco Manufacturing expanding. 5 Council Budget Workshop July 14, 1998 Councilman Gornto felt they needed the business people mentioned by Mr. Fox if they were going to change from a residential tax base to an industry that is going to carry the tax load. Mayor Allman felt they needed them more now than they probably have any time in the past. Mr. Lee informed him they would do their very best. Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce Councilman Gornto excused himself as he was on the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce so he was involved with the individuals on a direct basis. He was informed they weren' t voting tonight and that he would be able to comment too. John Ascherl, President, Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce, read the Chamber' s mission statement, which was what the Chamber was all about and what their objectives were. Mr. Ascherl then identified the direct benefits the City gains from its relationship with the Chamber of Commerce with regard to the AM Radio Tourist Network, the $1, 000 donated to the City for a new welcome sign, contributions to the Edgewater fireworks display and a job fair that was held in the Community Center which was moved to a countywide effort. He also identified some of the indirect benefits such as a voice of business and providing relocation information to businesses. Mr. Ascherl commented on what would change if they didn' t have the same funding they had before and how the Chamber would react to that. Their efforts and effectiveness would be impaired if they didn' t have the contributions and funding they have had in the past but they would continue to do the same thing they do for the City currently. Mr. Ascherl felt the relationship with the City was better than it had ever been because of the support they receive from Edgewater. He encouraged the Council to continue to support the Chamber. Mr. Ascherl introduced the Chamber' s Executive Vice President Steve Dennis . Mr. Dennis spoke of there being several layers of activity going on with regard to VCBDC and the Chamber. He further commented on information the Chamber provides about Edgewater. He commented on some of the things they do that people don't hear much about with regard to the emergency areas and trying to accomplish an identification system for businesses, providing emergency information during a natural disaster. Councilwoman Lichter asked if they had done any surveys in the last recent years in Edgewater in terms of business needs and what the 6 Council Budget Workshop July 14, 1998 residents may think they are lacking. She was wondering if they were giving help to the small businessman or identifying what they should try to open here. Mr. Dennis commented on what they do in terms of providing assistance to the businesses . Councilman Gornto spoke of having the opportunity to attend the workshop where the plan of work was established for each year. He spoke of the Chamber being very concerned and somehow uniting the business community of Edgewater that is very fragmented. Mr. Dennis then spoke on when they do their planning retreats and the people that attend. In order for them to try and develop a program of work that adequately represented their community and their business community, they recognize they are very unique in that they have a very large physical area so they try to get as much representation as they can. Education was one of their strong suits . Councilman Gornto hoped they would continue to support the Chamber as they had in the past. Mayor Allman felt the Chamber did an excellent job and was one of the few organizations he has seen that go above and beyond. Interim City Manager Hooper informed Council he planned on putting these three items on the agenda for the September first public hearing. They would be able to vote on them individually before they did the budget. Mayor Allman called a ten-minute recess at this time. The meeting reconvened at 7 : 55 p.m. Review of City Enterprise Funds and Budgets Interim City Manager Hooper explained they were going to back into a budget review of the Enterprise Funds, Water & Sewer, Stormwater & Refuse. Interim City Manager Hooper asked Council if they had any specific questions about the Water & Wastewater Fund. Councilman Roberts asked if the reclaimed water costs and revenues were included in the Wastewater budget, which Utilities Director Terry Wadsworth informed him it was. Mayor Allman asked if they ever figured out what was causing some of the meters to go haywire. Interim City Manager Hooper suggested the meter was correct but advised him they did an averaging of the bill and that this was an isolated incident. 7 Council Budget Workshop July 14, 1998 Councilman Hammond spoke of a gentleman who was at this work who had just gotten hooked up to reclaimed water and in less than 24 hours he had a violation and never turned the water on. Interim City Manager Hooper informed him the gentleman had contacted him and that he and Mr. Wadsworth would be working on that tomorrow. Councilwoman Lichter questioned Miscellaneous Personnel Costs being a new column that was never there before, which Mr. Wadsworth and Interim City Manager Hooper explained for her. Mr. Wadsworth then explained for Councilman Roberts why Overtime in the Water Utility was up. Councilman Roberts asked what was being paid for out of Professional Services, which was up 50% . Mr. Wadsworth explained it was for engineering services and all the required laboratory analyses they have. He further commented on the reason why the cost was up this year. Mayor Allman asked about Repair & Maintenance. Mr. Wadsworth presented an overview and breakdown of what was budgeted for Repair & Maintenance. Mr. Wadsworth further identified for Council what was included in Books, Publications and Subscriptions with regard to memberships . Councilman Roberts then asked about the Transfer to Water Development Fund, which Mr. Wadsworth identified, was recommended by the auditors with regard to water impact fees . Councilman Roberts then asked about the Bond Issuance Costs and why nothing was budgeted in 1998 but it had now gone up to $20, 000, which Mr. Wadsworth explained for him was included in the budget before but didn' t show as a separate item. Interim City Manager Hooper identified the Water & Sewer Fund was divided into Water, Sewer and Field Operations and that they were seeing three components for expenditures . Mr. Wadsworth referred to Page 3 - Other Contractual Services of the Sewer Utility budget and brought to Council' s attention an error he made in doing the budget that he recommended be changed. Councilman Roberts referred to Page 3 of the Sewer Utility budget and expressed concern with the very large increase to Repair and Maintenance, which Mr. Wadsworth itemized for him. Councilwoman Lichter asked if there were any places that had well water and a different system or if everyone was on the main system. Mr. Wadsworth informed her water was available everywhere in the City. There were still 300 homes that remained on septic tanks that weren' t 8 Council Budget Workshop July 14, 1998 on the centralized sewer. They had preliminary plans on a couple areas to do them. He suggested doing as many as they can at one time and make it one assessment district. There was then a discussion regarding there being any State requirements with regard to septic tanks . Mr. Wadsworth felt there were some areas in the City that needed to be done now. Councilwoman Lichter spoke of putting it in their expenditures items for the future if that was being identified as being a problem. Councilman Roberts referred to Improvements Other Than Buildings, which Mr. Wadsworth itemized for him. Interim City Manager Hooper asked Council if they had any questions with regard to the Stormwater Management/Maintenance Fund budget. Councilman Hammond questioned why they had Stormwater Management. City Engineer Kyle Fegley identified what the $6 per month per household was dedicated for. He further commented on having to maintain several million dollars of infrastructure that continued to depreciate with regard to redeveloping swales, culvert pipes under driveways being cleaned out, silt being removed from canals and continuously addressing the conveyance systems. Councilman Hammond questioned why Stormwater wasn' t a part of Public Works and was a separate entity. Interim City Manager Hooper identified there were different funding sources as it related to the stormwater utility. Councilwoman Lichter questioned when they did the roads in Florida Shores if there was a State mandate with regard to stormwater. Mr. Fegley informed her St. Johns requires them to treat runoff if they add a certain amount of pervious surface. Councilwoman Lichter thought Stormwater was a separate entity because they were mandated to have that when they put in the roads in Florida Shores. Mr. Fegley informed her the Stormwater Management Utility Fee had been in effect since 1989. The fee was doubled from $3 to $6 to support some of the drainage improvement costs affiliated with the Florida Shores Road Improvement project. Interim City Manager Hooper identified that as being another funding mechanism and explained cities have a 10 mill cap and have historically found other ways, user fees and user charges, to avoiding capping out on the millage. Councilman Roberts then referred to the increase in Depreciation Expenses, which Mr. Fegley explained for him. Mayor Allman mentioned the entire City paying for the Florida Shores drainage problem. 9 Council Budget Workshop July 14, 1998 Councilman Roberts commented on the cost of maintaining the swales and prior to doing the road program there was a cost to maintaining all of the shell roads . He asked how that balanced out with what they were spending grading the shell roads compared to what they were spending maintaining sodded swales and questioned why they had to double the stormwater fee from $3 to $6. Mr. Fegley explained doubling the fee was simply for the capital costs, the costs upfront to install that infrastructure. He further identified the person that was on the grader would now be on a mower to help upkeep the infrastructure they have in the right of way. Councilman Roberts questioned how long it would take to pay the cost of building the stormwater system and how long it was until they would no longer have to charge the $3 of the $6 stormwater fee that was being levied against all of the citizens. Mr. Fegley informed him they were on the fifth year of fifteen years and had about 10 years left. Councilman Roberts identified he got a lot of comments from people about the doubling of the stormwater fee. Interim City Manager Hooper briefly commented on the Refuse Utility. Councilman Roberts identified Other Contractual Services had increased $34, 000, which Mr. Fegley itemized for him. There was then a discussion regarding the recycling contract coming up for renewal. Interim City Manager Hooper felt in discussion with them, the idea to continue with that same rate they were probably going to decline and that they were going to rebid that. There was further discussion regarding the recycling not being fully supported by the user fee. Councilwoman Lichter felt they must make money on all of the recycling material and pointed out that as Edgewater was growing in population and with as many years as they had that company it wasn' t getting reflected in the City' s fees from them. Councilman Roberts then asked about Operating Supplies jumping 73%, which Mr. Fegley explained for him. There was then a discussion regarding cities that were privatizing their refuse collection. Councilman Gornto spoke of Holly Hill privatizing their refuse collection and questioned if there was a major savings in privatizing this function. Interim City Manager Hooper identified there was a major savings of dollars. He further identified the extreme difficulty was the fact that the solid waste folks treated the citizens like gold. He also pointed out the question of receiving the 10 Council Budget Workshop July 14, 1998 same service. He then identified that the company that took over Holly Hill' s refuse collection also purchased all of their equipment. Councilwoman Lichter knew there was a savings but she weighed that with people' s respect and friendliness towards their own locals, which she felt was intangible. She suggested putting the question to the people in the City' s newsletter. Councilman Hammond spoke of people putting furniture and bed mattresses out to the road which weren' t scheduled for a particular time and they sat out at the road. He felt they needed to have a specific time for this type of pickup. Mr. Fegley pointed out with privatization pickup would only be one day a week instead of two, which in turn leaves the debris out at the road even longer and was not as accommodating for the residents . Councilwoman Lichter spoke of some of the refuse guys being volunteer firemen who could potentially be hired as permanent firemen. Councilman Roberts felt if there was a big financial difference maybe the City' s Refuse Department needed to reorganize and get it more efficient so it was more competitive with what private rates were. Interim City Manager Hooper identified he was looking at contracts from Holly Hill and some adjacent cities and counties and trying to wade through and make some of those educated assessments, which he was going to present to Council for discussion. Interim City Manager Hooper further identified the City defined what they wanted and the company told them what the fee would be. Mayor Allman felt the service factor in Edgewater was unparalleled. Councilwoman Lichter and Councilman Gornto agreed. Interim City Manager Hooper identified he was going to place on the agenda for July 20th the suggested millage. He was recommending the current millage. Once it was set they would start a 100 day TRIM notice all over again. The number they were going to advertise could come down without any problem but could not go up. It would be advertised as a tax decrease of . 56% . Interim City Manager Hooper then identified minor changes that would occur to the budget between now and the two public hearings . Councilwoman Lichter spoke of a historic mural she envisioned to be located at Kennedy Park to be done by Courtney Canova for a cost of $6, 000. She felt it was a part of beautification, education, history and culture. Mayor Allman spoke of seeing one of Courtney Canova' s murals he painted in Deland. 11 Council Budget Workshop July 14, 1998 There were no Citizen Comments at this time. Interim City Manager Hooper informed Council the public hearings would be held September 10t`' and September 24tH ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, the meeting adjourned around 9: 15 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Bloomer, CMC 12 Council Budget Workshop July 14, 1998