Finance Committee

City of Gahanna 200 South Hamilton Road Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Monday, February 10, 2014 Immediately Following Committee of the Whole Council Committee Rooms Finance Committee Michael Schnetzer, Chair Karen J. Angelou Ryan P. Jolley Thomas R. Kneeland Brian D. Larick Jamie Leeseberg Stephen A. Renner Kimberly McWilliams, CMC, Clerk of Council Finance Committee Meeting Minutes February 10, 2014 ROLL CALL: Present 6 - Brian D. Larick, Jamie Leeseberg, Karen J. Angelou, Michael Schnetzer, Stephen A. Renner, and Thomas R. Kneeland Absent 1 - Ryan P. Jolley ADDITIONAL ATTENDEES: Mayor Stinchcomb, Dottie Franey, Matt Holdren, Karl Wetherholt, Anthony Jones, General Williams, Tony Collins, Jennifer Teal, Sue Wadley, Clerk McWilliams, Diana Redman, Press DISCUSSION ITEMS - 1. Performance Measurements Teal stated Larick had requested an update on ongoing Performance Measurement project; one key point is figuring out how to align dashboard with annual program with the International City Managers Association (ICMA); it is ICMA time of year and we are rolling that out as we speak; due by 15th of March; total database of ICMA measurements is extensive, they have identified what they believe are the core measures for a community; what are the things most folks answer; what are actionable metrics; what can be measured in a reasonable, ongoing and effective way; want to focus ICMA effort on that core set and work on how to align that with what we collect for our dashboard program; working with a couple different departments; trying to discern what they think their core indicators are; don't want to duplicate efforts; will have ICMA data for 2013 by mid-March; will have starting point for our project for ongoing collection as well; will be able to provide first go for ongoing collection and reporting on 2012, 2013, and 2014 by third quarter; not moving at record pace; sustainable with the resources we have; should provide some insight on what we are currently doing. Larick stated you mentioned 100 or so data points, can you share those. Teal stated can forward that out. Mayor emailed it to Larick. Larick asked if that information is starting to be collected in a place. Teal answered no; until I provide a tool for getting it to me, haven't had departments get it to me. Franey stated we are working to put it in an organized fashion to get it to Teal; this is data we collect anyway; trying to get it in a meaningful fashion. Angelou asked for an example. Franey stated take sanitary sewer backups; number in a quarter is really important; if City had 2 backups a month we're doing okay; if for some reason we had 30 in a quarter, that is a problem; idea for display would be a speedometer type dial; green=okay, yellow=caution, red=trouble. Teal stated like to have 10,000 ft. view of how they are doing with ability to learn a little more; found with giant City of Gahanna Page 1 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes February 10, 2014 ICMA database, it was all in there but you really had to look deep for it; what is important to us may not be important to another community. Larick talked about examples; our day to day activities are the measurements that drive toward our objectives; that is where the core of this is headed. Franey stated the idea is that the point of the sanitary division: to keep sewage out of structures/convey it properly; if that one focus is what people see; then as this gets built up, you can then click deeper into that; then maybe even go deeper; built in over time; that has all been tracked for years; when we talked about storm, we tried to think about what that initial box would be; how many citizen requests have you had from storm perspective; weather matters; need information on rainfall that corresponds with those years; need to have a box pop up that would explain something; one year we had 5,000 storm complaints but of note would be flooding that year. Mayor stated been talking with Larick about this; there seems to be an interest in seeing some of this data relatively raw; if there were specific measures that Council was interested in, we can show that; we have that data; we may not be able to put it together to see it easily; that seems to be the challenge. Angelou asked don't companies charge you loads of money to put this together. Teal stated yes, but there is work we need to do anyway; no company could come in and tell you what you should measure; we know what's important here; that's where we are right now. Angelou asked if we have software to do this. Teal stated we have one license. Larick stated almost all of these start with simple databases/spreadsheets; regarding what we want, we are not the experts; the correct metrics are going to come from discussions within the teams. Schnetzer asked for comments on if any of this is already being done. Teal stated 2013 will be our first year; we are enhancing the way we provide financial systems; bringing it up to industry best practice quality; tribute to us maturing as an organization; Bury has been producing caffers for organizations for years; working very well to have all this effort combined at same time. Angelou asked if this is making your job easier in the long run. Teal stated it makes your job easier in the long run; decision makers need to see how we're spending the money and what did you get for the money; people expect to be able to know this; if people can get that meaningful information in one spot, they are not calling 6 of us. Schnetzer asked for timeline. Teal answered second committee after the quarter ends; nice dovetail with processes already in place; if that works, that would be my preference. 2. Economic Development Schnetzer opened discussion on what areas need resources. Larick said the catalyst of this came around a discussion on how Gahanna becomes most successful retaining those enterprises that are here as well as getting new enterprises to come here with highest possible City of Gahanna Page 2 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes February 10, 2014 return; then represent most effective means of physical sustainability ; would like an introduction from Jones as well as discussion to then be able to best fund all of the activities that a City needs. Jones thanked Council; my department consists of myself and currently vacant Deputy Director position; under Director and Deputy Director, there are 3 divisions: building division, zoning division, and economic development division; feel this structure as it is defined allows us to be most flexible and efficient at doing our job; like getting everyone around the table at the same time; used to have other staff, particularly interns and a community developement manager that served as a city planner; do not have a planner; trying to provide friendliest environment for companies to do business here; one area to improve on would be processing time for permits; currenlty are working to improve our time by adopting new software strategies; simple data collection now, want to move to web based system; allow companies to make decisions sooner and come to market sooner; need to also continue to make well planned investments; it's a revenue generating fact when plans are updated and in place can generate revenue; business connections is a priority; we host businesses; have an aggressive approach for reaching expired tax abatements; another concern is we have a very limited real estate capacity; see a lot of opportunities go by the wayside because of that; City owns very little real estate; we have close relationships with property owners but their interests are not always in line with ours; want to have incentives for businesses to stay in Gahanna; goal is to have Gahannanet, fiberoptic network and get them to be committed to being here; try to keep Economic Development Manager out of the office as much as possible; like him to be meeting with businesses; one of our biggest challenges is we have 5 companies wanting to come here that don't have buildings built; have structural challenges that do not allow us to be as competitive as we need to be; we have a very generous reimbursment agreement with schools; if we provide abatement, we have to provide schools everything they have lost through income tax collection or general fund; that is creating a challenge for us; best we can provide is 45% where Columbus and New Albany is at 100%; we are missing some opportunites there; hope to work with schools in future; was not here when that was created but there was a concern regarding compensation to schools and we were found in fault of not reimbursing; goal would be to show in long run how TIFs would be beneficial to schools and City. Larick asked for 5 critical things for success for Economic Development in the City that you don't currently have. Jones answered first and formost is the potential for commercial development; property owners have various constraints that do not result in great decisions for City; we have about 200 acres; create a TIZ like we had before; second is being able to have properties go to market soon through guidance of land use plans; have lots of push for non-productive uses to go City of Gahanna Page 3 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes February 10, 2014 through; right now, plans are not up to date; comprehensive land use plan was prepared in 2002; plans need to give us leverage to guide investors and offer incentives and drive investment; as for staffing, would like to improve processes; my team has been successful at enlisting the community to help us do our job; interns right now are in high school; keeping Economic Development Manager and having Deputy filled would put us in best spot at this time. Larick stated you've hit on policy and procedure items; Economic Development Manager and Deputy; how do you identify success. Jones stated success for Building & Zoning is two-fold; one is the speed in which we process applications; want it to be as close to half of 30 day requirement possible; need to have systems in place and improve them through technology; zoning is a big factor in success; we want to minimize zoning changes, conditional uses and variances; need to update code; been low on zoning changes and variances compared to past; want 1,000 business connections every year and every expired CRA to be visited every year; touched base with 8 out of 10 this past year; had 1,022 business connections last year; this is a standard I set; for business attraction want income to increase by 1% each year; directly translates into our ability to attract new businesses. Kneeland asked about external tools like CIC. Jones stated CIC has far exceeded my expectations; our ability to collect revenue outside of general fund is a key to our success; had 8 revenue funds from CIC last year; they are the flexibility we need; have a dedicated group of professionals taking leadership; believe they are means to our future success in economic development; some cities outsource Economic Development through CIC; if they can set up a program to have a project approved through Planning Commission to be approved, that is the quickest speed to market; have big plans for them still. Larick asked if we need more information. Mayor stated senior staff met Friday in an all day planning session to continue this; taking a new look at plan put out last June about what would happen in 2015 in the event that the tax increase did not pass; have had a tremendous amount of input from council members, citizens and staff; working on a new plan; that will address some of these things; changes are coming; is going to be difficult; has been difficult; looked at the fact that some of the things we thought we could cut, we can't cut; believe any organization that cuts its sales force is doing a disservice; want to bring you a comprehensive plan; it has to be comprehensive in my mind; that is part of what we're working through as an administrative team right now. Kneeland agreed, can't downsize sales force; this comprehensive plan needs to include a robust sales force in order to grow and retain businesses. Mayor stated Jones has addressed his needs to staff; we're part of a team and all our core organizations are important; sometimes these investments don't pay immediate dividends. Larick confirmed there is a larger plan coming forward; has the discussion to turn permits and permitting process around been City of Gahanna Page 4 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes February 10, 2014 included in this discussion. Jones stated do want to get better; plan to get software upgrades in the works right now; is part of the discussion and will be part of the recommendation. 3. FIN DOC RESERVE POLICY Schnetzer suspended discussion to continue at Finance Committee in two weeks. MITIGATING FACTORS: > Insurance Coverage > Short-Term Financing > Workers Compensation Self-Insurance > Other Mitigating Factors Jayme Maxwell, CMC, Reporting City of Gahanna Page 5