Board of Commissioners Special

MINUTES of SPECIAL MEETING of the BOARD of COMMISSIONERS of the CITY of BOWLING GREEN, KENTUCKY held JUNE 21, 2010 The Board of Commissioners of the City of Bowling Green, Kentucky met in special session in the Commission Chamber of City Hall, Bowling Green, Kentucky at 5:00 p.m. on June 21, 2010. Mayor Elaine N. Walker called the meeting to order at 5:10 p.m. Assistant City Manager/City Clerk Katie Schaller called the roll, and the following members were present: Commissioner Brian “Slim” Nash, Commissioner Bruce Wilkerson, Commissioner Joe W. Denning, Commissioner Catherine Hamilton and Mayor Elaine N. Walker. Absent: none. There was a full quorum of the Board of Commissioners. ORDINANCE NO. BG2010 – 17 (Second Reading) ORDINANCE APPROVING APPOINTMENT TO CITY BOARD ORDINANCE APPROVING THE REAPPOINTMENT OF TODD DAVIS TO THE BOWLING GREEN MUNICIPAL UTILITIES BOARD (BGMU) Title and summary of Ordinance No. BG2010 - 17 was read by the Assistant City Manager/City Clerk. Motion was made by Nash and seconded by Wilkerson for second reading of said Ordinance. Mayor Walker asked for discussion, and with none, a roll call vote was taken. ROLL CALL: Voting Yea: Denning, Hamilton, Nash, Wilkerson and Walker Voting Nay: None Ordinance No. BG2010 - 17 was adopted by unanimous vote. ORDINANCE NO. BG2010 – 18 (Second Reading) ORDINANCE RELATING TO BUDGET AMENDMENT ORDINANCE APPROVING AMENDMENT NUMBER FIVE TO THE CITY OF BOWLING GREEN, KENTUCKY ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010 Title and summary of Ordinance No. BG2010 - 18 was read by the Assistant City Manager/City Clerk. Motion was made by Denning and seconded by Hamilton for second reading of said Ordinance. Mayor Walker asked for discussion, and with none, a roll call vote was taken. ROLL CALL: Voting Yea: Denning, Hamilton, Nash, Wilkerson and Walker Voting Nay: None Ordinance No. BG2010 - 18 was adopted by unanimous vote. ORDINANCE NO. BG2010 – 19 (Second Reading As Amended) ORDINANCE ADOPTING ANNUAL CITY BUDGET *Note: Minutes are a summary of the discussions; a video recording of this entire meeting is maintained by the Office of City Clerk. (Minutes-Board of Commissioners-June 21, 2010) ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE CITY OF BOWLING GREEN, KENTUCKY ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1, 2010 AND ENDING JUNE 30, 2011, BY ESTIMATING REVENUES AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR THE OPERATION OF CITY GOVERNMENT Title and summary of Ordinance No. BG2010 - 19 was read by the Assistant City Manager/City Clerk. Motion was made by Wilkerson and seconded by Nash for second reading of said Ordinance. Commissioner Denning commented about the City’s history with respect to budgeting. He stated that it was not unique for Mayors of Bowling Green to belong to the National League of Cities (NLC) and/or the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and he saw no difference with this Mayor or any other professional being a member of professional organizations. He further asserted the City should take advantage of the opportunity for the current Mayor to be a part of those organizations to bring funds and other prospects back to the City. Comm. Denning expressed his regret for having voted in favor of the amendment to the budget at the last meeting. Therefore, he made a motion, which was seconded by Walker, to amend the Annual Operating Budget to reinstate expenditures in the Legislative budget, for membership to the U.S. Conference of Mayors ($3,600) and for the Mayor’s travel to be restored to the initially recommended amount of $7,500, which were previously removed at first reading of Ordinance No. BG2010 - 19. Assistant City Manager/City Clerk Katie Schaller clarified the amendment would add $5,500 back to the travel account, and combined with the membership to USCM, would add a total amount of $9,100 back to the overall budget. Comm. Denning recounted the implementation and intended revitalization of the WKU Gateway to Downtown Bowling Green Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District and its impact to the City to pay back $47 million over 30 years on a $25 million bond issue for the ballpark debt. With Western Kentucky University (WKU) taking advantage of TIF funding, Comm. Denning stated he did not understand how the Board could argue and debate over $7,500 when it was giving up 80% of its revenues and writing a blank check to the TIF District while still having to meet the growth needs of police, fire, public works and parks during the next 30 years. He argued that the TIF project was designed and implemented to bring in additional tax opportunities through increased occupational fee and property tax collection, but he was only aware of one project (Saheyta Medical Clinic) to date that was actually following the intended design. Comm. Denning declared he believed the Board of Commissioners was out of line and unprofessional to argue over the Mayor’s travel and membership dues. He further stated the members of the Board were elected and responsible to do what was right with the budget. Mayor Walker recounted that the NLC membership was cut in the previous year to reduce the budget and that it would be valuable to regain membership in the future. She remarked that the membership to USCM was not just a travel budget issue, it was a smart financial investment. She reported that during her years of involvement in the USCM, the City received a direct dollar value of over $175,000 and could gain even more in the future. Mayor Walker described several instances where the City’s involvement with USCM provided benefit to the community, such as brining back the Mayor’s Dollarwi$e Campaign, obtaining grant funds for the Cans for Cash program, partnering with the schools and DuPont to bring its “Science in the School Day” to young students, partnering with Sherwin Williams HomeWork program to provide training opportunities for people to learn a new trade, networking and sharing of information to implement the Energize BG program, and brining $686,500 of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant funds through the initiative of 2 (Minutes-Board of Commissioners-June 21, 2010) USCM. Mayor Walker further pointed out that the Legislative budget was cut by 26% in Fiscal Year 2009 in comparison to a reduction in the total General Fund budget of 6% the same year. She noted that the Legislative budget did receive a slight increase of 3% in FY2010. As the FY2011 budget was initially recommended, Mayor Walker indicated the Legislative budget would still have been reduced by 4% from the previous year. However, with Commissioner Wilkerson’s amendment, she revealed that the Legislative budget was now cut 33%. In response to a question from Mayor Walker regarding his proposal to cut USMC membership, Comm. Wilkerson explained he believed the role of city government was to focus on local government and take care of its police, fire, public works and parks. After reviewing the USMC’s website, he perceived the organization to be almost exclusively federally focused. He also advised that there were other local organizations that offered training opportunities described by the Mayor, such as Jr. Achievement and the Builders Association of South Central Kentucky. He stated his amendment had nothing to do with the Mayor’s individual membership, but rather he did not agree it was the City’s role to vote on national or international issues that told other local governments what to do. Mayor Walker explained the value of local governments coming together in these organizations was to present a united interest for all cities going up against largely democratic federal establishments such as the Environmental Protection Agency. Aside from protecting and fighting for cities’ interests, she reiterated that USMC provides positive benefits at no additional cost to citizens and this City. With no further discussion regarding the motion to amend the budget, a roll call vote was taken. ROLL CALL: Voting Yea: Denning and Walker Voting Nay: Hamilton, Nash and Wilkerson Motion to amend Ordinance No. BG2010 - 19 (as amended) to add a total of $9,100 back into the Legislative budget for membership and travel was defeated by majority vote. Comm. Nash apologized for not being at the last meeting. He commented that he planned to discuss a proposal initially made at the June 8th work session to further reduce funding to the Downtown Redevelopment Authority (DRA) and to immediately remove DRA as a contract agency. He indicated that he had received information from the City Manager that City staff could take over DRA’s contract responsibilities after the conclusion of this year’s Concerts in the Park series. As such, Comm. Nash made a motion to amend the budget to reduce the agency funding for DRA to $10,000 to finish out the Concerts in the Park through July. Upon request by Comm. Wilkerson, Mr. DeFebbo clarified that DRA, Child Services and Capitol Arts were still recommended to have their funding phased-out over a two year period. He specified that the Welfare Center was the only other agency on the original proposal, but confirmed that it had been removed from that list. He further explained his recommendation was based on an overall plan to thoughtfully transition these agencies off of City support. City Attorney Gene Harmon noted that if the budget was amended at this point, it would require a new first reading. In addition, he informed the Board that further action would be required to reconsider funding for DRA since there would be conflicting actions on record (referring to Municipal Order No. 2010 – 128 which previously approved Fiscal Year 2011 funding for DRA at the budgeted amount of $58,370). 3 (Minutes-Board of Commissioners-June 21, 2010) Since there was no second to Comm. Nash’s motion, the discussion regarding changes to agency funding ended. Mayor Walker asked for any other discussion, and with none, a roll call vote was taken on the Ordinance as presented. ROLL CALL: Voting Yea: Denning, Hamilton, Nash, Wilkerson and Walker Voting Nay: None Ordinance No. BG2010 - 19 was adopted by unanimous vote. ORDINANCE NO. BG2010 – 20 (Second Reading) ORDINANCE RELATING TO CLASSIFICATION/PAY SCHEDULES AND POLICY AMENDMENTS ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CLASSIFICATION/PAY SCHEDULES “G” FOR GENERAL CLASSIFIED, “S” FOR PROTECTIVE/SWORN, “D” FOR DEPARTMENT HEAD / MANAGEMENT, AND “U” FOR UNCLASSIFIED PART-TIME EMPLOYEES, AND AUTHORIZING PAY INCREASES AND PAY POLICY AMENDMENTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011 Title and summary of Ordinance No. BG2010 - 20 was read by the Assistant City Manager/City Clerk. Motion was made by Nash and seconded by Wilkerson for second reading of said Ordinance. Comm. Nash asked if the Protective/Sworn and General Schedules could be combined. Assistant City Manager/City Clerk Katie Schaller explained that they were two completely different schedules since one had truncated ranges with 10 or less steps and the other was overlapping with 15 steps. Comm. Nash clarified that he would at least like the schedules placed on the same page for ease of comparison. Mr. DeFebbo and Ms. Schaller agreed to see what could be done. Mayor Walker asked for discussion, and with none, a roll call vote was taken. ROLL CALL: Voting Yea: Denning, Hamilton, Nash, Wilkerson and Walker Voting Nay: None Ordinance No. BG2010 - 20 was adopted by unanimous vote. ADJOURNMENT This being a special meeting and with no further business to come before the Board of Commissioners, at approximately 6:00 p.m., Mayor Walker declared this meeting adjourned. ADOPTED: ______________________________________________ APPROVED: ______________________________________________ Mayor, Chairman of Board of Commissioners ATTEST: ______________________________________________ City Clerk Minutes prepared by Assistant City Manager/City Clerk Katie Schaller 4