Finance Committee

Office of the Clerk of Council City of Gahanna 200 South Hamilton Road Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Finance Committee David L. Samuel, Chair Beryl D. Anderson Shane Ewald Thomas R. Kneeland Brian Larick John R. McAlister Nancy McGregor Monday, October 25, 2010 7:30 PM Council Committee Rooms Immediately Following Previous Committees or Present 7 - David L. Samuel, Shane W. Ewald, Thomas R. Kneeland, John McAlister, Nancy R. McGregor, Beryl Anderson, and Brian D. Larick Additional Attendees: Tony Collins, Mike Andrako, Dottie Franey, Terry Emery, Karl Wetherholt, Angel Mumma, Jennifer Teal, Kristen Treadway, Brandi Braun, Sadicka White, Brian Hoyt, Isobel Sherwood, Tom Weber, Lt. Dan Williams, Lt. Jeff Spence, Lt. Tom Basso, Terrie Snider, Dep. Chief Ken Bell, Chief Dennis Murphy, Gen. Jim Williams, Press. ISSUES - From Director of Human Resources: Military Ordinance Samuel called the meeting for Monday, October 25, 2010, to order. Treadway said Human Resources has 2 items; the first is our military ordinance; this is the same benefit we have been providing for our folks called up to serve for longer than 30 days since 2001; it pays the difference between their military salary and the base salary they receive as a City of Gahanna employee; we now pass it with a 2 year increment. Recommendation: 1st Reading, Consent, no need to come back, 2nd Reading, Consent. Mt. Carmel Wellness Coaching Contract Treadway said we are requesting the annual renewal for the Mount Carmel Wellness Coaching Contract; in place since we have had this service and there are no additional funds required. Larick said how do you define no additional funds. Treadway said the cost in this contract is the same amount as last year. Recommendation: 1st Reading, Consent, no need to come back, 2nd Reading, Consent. City of Gahanna Page 1 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes October 25, 2010 ISSUES - From Director of Finance: Street Transfer Mumma said this request is from Service Director Emery; we are requesting a fund transfer from Streets Maintenance Supplies to Streets Overtime; after calculating expenses, we found we may not have enough for snow and ice removal in the overtime account; we would transfer $5,948 which we have within the accounts, as a precaution, to prevent running out of money in the Overtime account. Samuel asked do we have employees on weekend page standby for emergencies. Emery said we have crews on standby as part of their contract; they respond as needed to the fleet facility and as street crews. Recommendation: 1st Reading, Consent, no need to come back, 2nd Reading, Consent. 3rd Quarter Financials Teal reviewed the 3rd quarter financials using a power point presentation; a copy is available in the Council office. Larick asked Teal to explain net profits. White said they are net business profits. Teal said certain Gahanna businesses pay income tax on their profits. Mumma said we can get back to you with an explanation of what is included and excluded as far as the income tax on businesses. Teal said the tax we collect on the net profits is down. McGregor said with RITA (Regional Income Tax Authority) we have added 5,000 accounts, but the collections increase is only $6,786; did these people only pay a dollar in tax? Teal said there is a time lag from when we see the accounts to when they pay; a number of those accounts could be retirees and not have to pay tax; we are still working out details; RITA has the infrastructure in place to go through this huge database to find folks; this is the way we can find people who owe us money. McGregor said is there a way to track those specific 5,000 accounts to determine what happened with them. Teal said that is a good take away from this meeting; we will check into it as it could help tell the story when we see that revenue. McGregor said that would help since that is why we switched to RITA; it would be nice to know it was worth doing it. Kneeland said the first slide showing the Local Government Fund shows the cylinder as translucent which indicates that there is no revenue collected in that account to date. Teal said part of that is a limit in the Excel program displaying the graph; the slide in Excel where we show a column to the left shows what we collected in solid red against plan which is the lighter cylinder. Kneeland said so the Local Government Fund will continue to reduce. Teal said we are getting feedback that says we can expect to see drastic reductions here, so while we are ok now, we certainly are not confident in what the future holds for this fund. Kneeland said where do the funds in there come from. Mumma said the funds in the Local Government Fund originate as general tax revenue at the State level; when the State revenue is up or down we see that in this distribution. Kneeland said I thought there might be other factors like the size of the community or historical data to determine who gets what allocation. Mumma said it has not changed in a number of years and is basically determined by how the State is performing; it is the same as in all years past. Samuel asked how has our investment portfolio changed. Mumma said we are at the mercy of the economy now; we have been trying to determine what is best to invest in; a few years ago we were getting 3% on our money; now it's 1.4%; we are restricted to 5 years and any good investments from a few years ago have been City of Gahanna Page 2 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes October 25, 2010 called; we are subject to the interest rates and run the risk of having to reinvest at 0 .5% here and there; I have been shocked to see it not going up at all even after 5 years. Larick said have we taken similar opportunities on the debt side to reduce costs. Mumma said we have such limited debt that we have always received the most favorable rates; it wouldn't pay to refinance but we do look into different markets for attractive rates; we are debt free except for the bonds we issued. Appropriations Overview Samuel said he would remind everyone that this presentation is a brief overview of the appropriations; over the next 3 committee meetings, on November 8, November 22, and December 13, the Administration will be prepared to discuss this and answer any specific questions; you are encouraged to hold your questions for discussion at that time; Council will pass appropriations as dated; we are just holding questions until a later date. Mumma provided a power point presentation with details of the 2011 appropriations; a copy is available in the Council office. Samuel said you are encouraged to call or email your questions to Mumma and the Administration in advance of the next meetings; thank you to Mumma for a presentation well done. ISSUES - Review of 2011 Financials: Department of Public Safety Chief Murphy said he would like to introduce his entire administrative staff, which is in attendance tonight; first is Deputy Chief Ken Bell; Lt. Tom Basso, Detective Bureau; Terrie Snider, Office Manager; Lt. Jeff Spence, Administrative Bureau; and Lt. Dan Williams, Operations; we are here to answer your questions. Samuel asked where are all our police cars that we had in our lot. Spence said the number of cars in the front of the building can vary greatly; we can have 10 or 0; it is hard on a Friday evening for administrative staff to find a car to go out in; providing detail on the fleet to Council is a number one priority because our front line fleet is the top priority; our vehicles are aging; they are our number one big ticket item and are frequently cut; we are in uncharted waters as some of them approach 4 years old and have mileage levels we haven't seen before; we see more down time and larger maintenance expenses; big ticket maintenance items like transmissions and engines; we stick to purchasing components that have good warranties, but when components fall out of warranty, expenses increase; we are working with the Service Department and we take on maintenance ourselves where we can; we are turning wrenches in-house; the fleet is a team effort and has to be there to answer calls; people who call don't care how you get there; they just want a response. McAlister said don't we have 2 school resource officers hanging out in schools full time. Williams said I wouldn't say hanging out but we do have 2 officers assigned as school resource officers. McAlister said have we given any thought to turning that function over to a private authority. Chief Murphy said they do not have arrest authority. McAlister said I mean like mall cops where they have radios; if there is a serious disturbance they call it in. Williams said they have security staff and our police presence solves crimes; we are pursuing a drug case now and dealing with daily fights; the officer present generally breaks them up; the resource office at the school frees up other patrol officers to do the rest of city; we are reimbursed a portion of their salary. Samuel said they can file charges right then as well. Williams said they City of Gahanna Page 3 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes October 25, 2010 have our arrest and booking system available; they do have to come here for photos and fingerprints; we are short 4 officers and do have to determine how to continue to be effective; we are striving to still deliver service and do a lot more with what we have; vehicle and fuel usage are an issue; we have eliminated the canine officer; we have one officer to do all elementary and middle schools; we have eliminated the DARE program; we are pooling resources and working to back fill which is currently the best way to provide the patrol officers we need. Lt. Basso said we have reassigned 3 detectives back to operations; all bureaus are affected. Chief Murphy said our authorized strength is 60 officers; in reality we are down 10. McGregor said who sets staffing levels in patrol. Williams said we have to have a minimum of 5 officers on every shift; 2nd shift needs to be increased; we need to keep one available for more serious incidents; we adjust days off so we have more on duty on weekend. McGregor said so staff level is not determined by contract. Williams said no; it is a common sense approach. Samuel asked how do you use reserve officers. Williams said they have to do 16 hours so they help with duties like running evidence down; the union is careful not to allow them on patrol, but they are a valuable resource; we use them a lot as the 2nd man in cars; also at events like the Blues Festival and the 4th of July. Kneeland said the Mayor has in the past mentioned mutual aid with Jefferson Township; how much outside help do we provide. Chief Murphy said not much on daily basis; when we were having home invasions last spring we had a vested interest; why they did not cross the street we still don't know; we had them cut through; we have enforcement capabilities anywhere in the State of Ohio. Kneeland said I was thinking more toward using this to get us funds if we are working outside the jurisdiction. Chief Murphy said we enjoy mutual aid with other communities; we don't have a helicopter, but if we need one, it comes from the City of Columbus or Franklin County and we are not charged; if others need us we just go running. Kneeland said we receive complaints from out in the township that the Sheriff won't respond; trying to see how we can use that as a potential opportunity to increase our staff. Chief Murphy said our time is spent delivering the best service we can; we are not out there fishing for business. Larick said how have staff changes impacted response time. Williams said on 2nd shift, because of the number of accidents and calls, we do have officers leaving an accident to respond to a robbery in progress; it is a matter of prioritizing. Deputy Chief Bell said we are always looking at and discussing options; for example we could lower the number of minimum officers on the other shifts. Larick said I have asked questions on the cruisers; like their longevity and the current maintenance schedules. Spence said our oldest cruisers are 2007 Fords; five of them have old technology; as an example, we have a Crown Victoria with an odometer reading of 88,000 and considerable maintenance costs. Larick said is that planned maintenance. Spence said it is for everything not done as in-house; fuel costs for a vehicle is $22,000. Larick said can you ball park the 2009 cruiser. Spence said the price of a 2008 Dodge was $24,000; it now has 32,000 miles and significantly less maintenance; it is a less expensive car. MONITOR: 2010-0056 Samuel asked Treadway if she had any update on the monitor item. Treadway said this past week we learned more about Westerville going down the same path as we are; we hope to hear our decision in 3 weeks; their interim director is on leave so it is slowing the process down; all the suburbs are looking at this as it is a way to save a million dollars. Meeting Adjourned. City of Gahanna Page 4 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes October 25, 2010 Della Brandenberger, Reporting City of Gahanna Page 5