Finance Committee

200 South Hamilton Road City of Gahanna Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Finance Committee Michael Schnetzer, Chair Karen J. Angelou Merisa K. Bowers Nancy R. McGregor Kaylee Padova Stephen A. Renner Trenton I. Weaver Jeremy A. VanMeter, Clerk of Council Monday, November 21, 2022 City Hall, Council Chambers Immediately following the regular City Council meeting on November 21, 2022 A. CALL TO ORDER: Councilmember Michael Schnetzer, Chair, called the meeting to order at 8:09 p.m. The agenda for the meeting was published on November 18, 2022. All members were present for the meeting. There were no additions or corrections to the agenda. B. DISCUSSIONS: 1. FY 2023 Budget 2022-0311 2023 City of Gahanna Proposed Budget Chairman Schnetzer noted that some members of staff were not able to be present in Chambers for tonight’s discussion. Given this, any questions for those staff not present would be deferred to another meeting for more robust conversations. He asked if Mayor Jadwin wanted to add anything before beginning with questions from Council. Mayor Jadwin noted that Director of Finance Joann Bury was out of town, but that she knew there were things Bury was still working on, particularly with regard to the Human Resources questions section. Jadwin asked to first speak to the first question presented here. She said that because some of these questions were intertwined, the administration believes it would be very important to present on staffing overall. She acknowledged questions from Councilmember Angelou around wanting to know “who does what.” Jadwin said that in looking at these questions, in terms of the projects and the funding and staffing, they were all intertwined. She thinks it would be helpful for Council to understand all of the asks that are in the budget from every staffing position to take a look at the entire organizational chart so the administration can walk through who does what, why they are looking at the organizational structure that is presented, City of Gahanna Page 1 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 21, 2022 and to talk about the projects. Jadwin noted that to answer the first General Government question regarding whether there were any instances where the necessary resources to successfully address various priorities and initiatives for each department had funding gaps, the administration does not believe that there are any funding gaps in the budget that is being proposed right now. She said the proposed budget marries with the anticipated projects and the staffing and dollars that are being requested. The projects identified for 2023 are in line with strategic priorities that were previously identified in Go Forward Gahanna. The administration is continuing to work on a refresh of the strategic plan. In the meantime, Jadwin shared that they continue to operate by the Go Forward Gahanna priorities. The projects that they are looking to move forward in the next year are still consistent with those priorities that have been identified. That said, Jadwin stressed the need to be flexible and adaptable to whatever may be around the bend. With what the administration is preparing to do and what has been proposed to Council, they believe that they are funded appropriately and will be able to move forward. She reiterated that next week the administration will come forward to answer more of the staffing related questions in a broader staffing presentation for Council. Chairman Schnetzer clarified “the ask” of the administration with respect to addressing the questions for tonight’s discussion. Under General Government, question one and under Human Resources, questions two and three, the ask is to come back and address those specific inquiries with a broader formal presentation. Jadwin said, yes, the goal is one week from today. Schnetzer asked colleagues if there was any issue with modifying the agenda. Vice President Bowers noted that first reading would be on December 5. Schnetzer asked the Clerk to clarify the timeline. Mr. VanMeter noted that first reading is on December 5. Second reading and adoption is scheduled for December 19. Human Resources Mayor Jadwin said that while question three would be touched on in the broader staffing presentation, she wanted to answer, with respect to considerations on a “city administrator” position, yes, there was consideration given to this role. She shared that the administration looked at 23 different political subdivisions, specifically looking at the Forbes top municipalities with populations between 35,000 and 40,000. They also looked at various structures and forms of government, such as strong mayor and city manager forms. The common theme that they found in all the municipalities and forms of government that they looked at is that there are two main positions at the top, either a chief of staff and a director of administrative services, or a director of administrative services and a chief operating officer. The common thing for all of those is there are two positions at the top. Jadwin shared that in looking at the city administrator role in the different forms of government (Finance Manager Corey Wybensinger researched this aspect), the common theme is that there are sometimes two, maybe three, assistant city administrators underneath that position. She said what the administration is seeking to do with the senior director of administrative services and senior director of operations and a deputy director is much more cost effective City of Gahanna Page 2 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 21, 2022 because she is taking existing positions that are already here, elevating those people already in those positions, and then backfilling lower paying positions rather than adding newer positions at a much higher pay scale. This will be reviewed more in depth when the administration does the staffing presentation. Chairman Schnetzer asked again whether colleagues had any feedback on combining all of the questions and then coming back one week from today. With City Hall being closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday and Friday, Schnetzer said if Council wanted to submit any new questions, those would need to be in by tomorrow. Jadwin asked if in order to focus on the staffing presentation it would be best to not do any new questions. Schnetzer said he understood that logistically this might make sense but deferred to Council colleagues. As members are digesting aspects of the budget at various paces, Schnetzer offered that it might be best to revisit this suggestion at the end of the meeting, as there could be questions that come out of the discussion. General Government Chairman Schnetzer said the question was whether there is any funding allocated for public art identified in any of the departmental budgets. Stephania Ferrell, Director of Parks & Recreation, said that the Parks & Recreation Department sets aside funding for partner projects, such as the Story Trail, as well as for projects that the City and the Community Arts group partners on. In 2023, there are plans to redo the bridge murals at Creekside, as well as the water wall. With special events, the Department incorporates music and other theatrical types of programming. As far as installation of public art, historically the Parks & Recreation Foundation has been the mechanism used to supply some funding for those projects. The mural on Signatures was the result of a Foundation fundraising effort. Ferrell said there was a developer who donated funds for installation at Creekside. Nathan Strum, Director of Economic Development, provided more details about what public are investment could look like from a development standpoint. Strum said that on this topic he checked with development colleagues in Central Ohio. He learned more on the role of private development, specifically when and where it would make sense with respect to public art initiatives. He said that last year when evaluating the Metropolitan Holdings project, for example, public art was part of that discussion process. They had reviewed inclusion of public art to amplify and amend their project. To Ferrell’s point, Strum thinks that the private development community is better positioned to include some public art as part of a comprehensive agreement strategy, if and when relevant to their project. Noting that he had not talked to the developers about this, he said he cannot foresee a situation where a developer such as CASTO or Canini & Associates would enter a development agreement to do public art at Creekside. He said this does not make sense. He could see, however, this strategy being defined and utilized for opportunities in and around their development area (the Crescent). If we are talking about opportunities in and around the old Gahanna Creekside area, he thinks that in the most recent CIC led initiative at Creekside it would be very prudent to City of Gahanna Page 3 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 21, 2022 incorporate some level of public art engagement similar to what was done previously. If this would be a General Fund request that can be drawn against for future organizations to pursue specific projects or what have you, Strum said he would caution the Council. He noted that when evaluating this subject last year, there were conversations with other organizations about how that process works. Strum thought the initial language in the Metropolitan Holdings deal specifically focused on the Gahanna Area Arts Council. As the deal was finalized, the arts program at the high school stepped in, as well as another arts foundation from an existing partner at Creekside. From a public policy standpoint, Strum said if this is the direction we wanted to go, his recommendation would be to have City Attorney Mularski or himself push this forward as part of development agreements in areas that make sense and then leave them in a generalized component that allows either his office or another relevant related office in the City to administer those dollars on an application basis versus divvying it up. Otherwise, he thought there could be some favorites selected that cause more headache and heartburn in the community. This is his recommendation, but he would defer to Council’s final determinations. Vice President Bowers asked Director Ferrell with the Parks & Recreation projects that she previously identified, such as the Story Trail, bridge murals, water wall and special events, could Ferrell aggregate an approximate total of what the City is allocating to those? Ferrell said it is $7,500. Bowers said she appreciated Strum’s feedback. From her perspective, the feedback exceeded the scope of the question; however, she is glad that the conversation is opening again and hopes to continue that in the new year on exploring good public policy around this concept of community partners and funding public art. Chairman Schnetzer asked with the $7,500 that Ferrell referenced, does that come out of her Department’s ask for contract services or is it mixed up within other line items? Ferrell said this is a City-provided service, coming out of the Parks Department, which is out of the General Fund. It is split between contract services and materials and supplies. Schnetzer said the next question on the list under General Government is how funding and cost sharing for collaborative events with Community partners is being addressed. Additionally, how is the administration tracking the expenditures and use of City resources related to events? Director Ferrell said the Parks & Recreation Department does a lot with the logistical needs and coordination with events, especially when it comes to City partners and hosts. Although at times the City manages the contracts for vendors, it is the responsibility of the host agency to pay for those services. Staffing is the main expense that comes from the City. Therefore, the host agency is required to submit an application that gives the Department an opportunity to understand what the resources and time investment would be, along with the details of that event. Ferrell said there are some improvements that need to be made in order to help streamline that process. Chief Spence added that over the last year discussion has occurred on how the City better captures a process for City of Gahanna Page 4 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 21, 2022 special events. Typically, special events are those that are in the public space or require road closure, or some involvement of public resources, such as staff time. Spence said the goal is to eventually codify a special events process like many of the area municipalities because there are things that occur whenever there are large gatherings of people. He said these things have a direct impact on City services. Spence said an example would be the St. Matthews Festival. This has grown over the years. It attracts a lot of people. While they do bring special duty, it does have a significant impact on the surrounding area, both from a parking standpoint and with fire, EMS, and police service. While it is on a private parcel, with 2,000 plus people in one area, it does have impact on the greater community. He reiterated the desire is to codify special events so that it is handled uniformly, is handled with a process, and is transparent with the cost sharing and other expectations both of what the City can expect from the host or the organizer, and also what the host and organizer can expect from the City. With this, ultimately there are no surprises. Chief noted the country has seen some tragic incidents over the last few years with large events. Considerations must be made for protection packages placed around road closures. Chief lamented that he never would have thought 15 years ago that the City would have to place snowplows and barriers on streets for protection. This all requires staff time. He said the goal is to bring back to Council a proposal and presentation within the next several months as the logistics of this are sorted out. Human Resources (continued) Chairman Schnetzer moved to the next question. Are part time seasonal position wages being increased to attract and retain staff in order to increase resident services, such as summer camps and other programming? Schnetzer noted there is a reference table on page 12 of the budget book. Director Ferrell said there is at least a 10 percent increase to the original budget for wages for seasonal operation. Ferrell added there is a new program that has been implemented for this year. This is with the coordination of Brian Gill, Recreation Superintendent, Chris Simmons, Aquatics Supervisor, and the City’s human resource team. It is called Future Leaders of Parks & Recreation. This is an opportunity for seasonal staff members to go through a leadership process. There are five different topics that they can learn, ranging from customer service to de-escalation. With the challenging summer in mind, Ferrell stressed that as much information that the Department can provide to staff prior to the season, the better off the staff and the outcome will be. Interview skills and resume building are also topics included. If they successfully complete the program, they are incentivized by their wage. This is something the Department implemented and kicked off last week. Ferrell is excited to see that progress throughout the season. Department of Public Safety Chairman Schnetzer noted the ask is to explain the director of public safety role and tasks and how the position fits with the existing command and leadership staff. Was consideration given to this being a consultant or liaison role? He noted that topic is within the budget book on reference pages 87 and 95. Mayor Jadwin said with regard to the second half of that question, was City of Gahanna Page 5 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 21, 2022 consideration given to this being a consultant or liaison role, the answer is no. She explained there are legalities around having the director of public safety rules. She deferred to City Attorney Mularski. Attorney Mularski said the Charter sets forth the director of public safety, and it states that the Director of Public Safety shall be responsible for the enforcement of all listed in Section 5.12, including being responsible for the enforcement of all police, fire, health, and safety regulations that may be prescribed by resolutions and ordinances of municipality or laws of Ohio. In the next section, 5.13, the Division of Police, it states that the Division of Police shall consist of the chief of police, and such other officers and personnel as the director of public safety shall deem advisable. The chief of police and all officers and personnel shall be appointed by the director of public safety, subject only to applicable civil service provisions. Mularski said Ohio Revised Code Section 737.06 states that the chief of police shall have the exclusive control of the stationing and transferring of all patrolmen, auxiliary officers and other officers and employees under such general rules and regulations as the director of public safety prescribes. Mularski said the director of public safety prescribes all the rules and regulations for the Division of Police. They hire and fire all of the employees of the Police Department, including the chief of police. They are responsible to ensure the enforcement of all the police, fire, health, and safety regulations. This is a very large responsibility. The Mayor does appoint the director of public safety. She could appoint who she feels is appropriate but with those prescriptions, Mularski recommended to her that he thought this should be an employee. He said the City needs to have a certain amount of control over this person if they are going to do all the hiring and firing of the Police Department, as well as enforce all the rules and regulations that the Police Department follows. Jadwin said it must be an employee and not a consultant since this position has the appointing authority. She said a consultant should not be appointing the chief of police. The director of public safety is appointed by the Mayor and reports directly to the Mayor. The position then oversees the Division of Police and coordinates with fire and EMS. She said this position is a huge resource as Chief Spence's direct supervisor. Vice President Bowers asked if this position has historically been a part time or full-time position. Mayor Jadwin said it has been both. Director Winn was part time and did not have benefits. Under the previous administration, it was a full-time position. She said Director Winn was in the office three to four days a week. He was responding sometimes seven days a week depending on what was going on. The needs ebb and flow with that. Jadwin explained that Winn was always in the office each week meeting with Chief Spence and also working with Mifflin Township. Capital Improvement Fund Chairman Schnetzer said the ask for administration is to explain the budgeted $250,000 for the Sidewalk Maintenance Program. Does this cover materials, labor, consultants, other, or a combination? What is the expectation for timeline for recouping the upfront outlay? Are there any projections for City of Gahanna Page 6 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 21, 2022 assessment repayment that could be provided? What are the criteria for evaluating the program area priority? How are areas more severely out of code being prioritized (for example, damage due to street trees)? Schnetzer said for reference, this is on page 115 of the proposed budget book. Tom Komlanc, Director of Engineering, referred to an illustration he prepared for the Sidewalk Maintenance Program. The 2021 Program is about to go out for bid. He explained that the Sidewalk Maintenance Program has not undergone its evaluation. The Department is starting to put together quantities for the 2022 Program. He anticipated that in the first quarter the City would be notifying residents in the impacted area of their opportunity to take corrective action themselves or be placed in the program for 2022. Komlanc added that moving forward, the vernacular used for the programs will change. The 2021 Program and the 2022 Program actual construction is not occurring until 2023. To get ahead of this, Komlanc said he would be doing the planning design in calendar year 2023 for the 2024 Program. The $250,000 that has been allocated within the budget is for planning assessment going forward for the 2024 Program. As far as recapturing the cost from the residents, the residents have the opportunity to make payment to the City for the full cost or the City would go through the assessment process to start recouping the cost over a five-year term. This has been following past street maintenance programs. Something that Komlanc would like to look at and explore within the 2023 planning process is doing a weighted evaluation of areas that are adjacent to schools, parks, and business districts that have a high pedestrian volume and evaluate those areas for deficiencies. This weighting will come into play as the City looks at the ADA transition planning. Vice President Bowers first thanked Director Komlanc for his responsiveness to an issue that came up over the weekend about a safety concern that she had. With respect to the budget, she said Komlanc had noted that the $250,000 for the 2024 Program area is planning and assessment. Komlanc said this is correct. Bowers asked if she had missed it in the budget book about what material and labor costs were that the City would outlay for the 2022 Program that would be constructed in 2023. Is that the $1,000,000? Komlanc confirmed approximately $1,000,000. He added the City will have about $472,000 in engineer’s estimate at this time for the 2021 Program that is scheduled to go out for bid. He said there would be two programs under construction next year. Mayor Jadwin clarified that money is already appropriated and that is why there is only a $250,000 request for this year. Jadwin said they already have the money to move forward with the 2021 and 2022 construction. Bowers asked if the Department anticipated planning and assessment costs to start decreasing at a certain point. She thought that had been something that was talked about when the City was rolling out the Sidewalk Maintenance Program, the thought being that more work would occur in-house and less reliance on a consultant. Was this still on the horizon? Komlanc said part of the staffing adjustment, with the assistant city engineer position being repositioned to a transportation and mobility engineer, he hoped that individual would take on some of those requirements. City of Gahanna Page 7 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 21, 2022 Councilmember Weaver asked Komlanc if he anticipated future programs being similar to what they have been. He noted that with rising costs for everybody, it is on folks’ minds. Komlanc said the 2022 Program is about three times the size of the first one. The City would have the opportunity to evaluate size of the next Program. Komlanc reiterated that for the 2024 Program, the planning would take place in 2023, evaluating areas of high impact as well as areas that were previously on the maintenance programs and tailoring it to a size that is accommodating to the community. Chairman Schnetzer clarified the terminology on the programs. The 2021 and 2022 Program construction will occur in calendar year 2023. Komlanc said that is correct. Schnetzer said the 2024 Program will occur in 2024, with the planning to occur in 2023. Komlanc said that is the plan. Schnetzer said that makes much more sense. Councilmember McGregor agreed that the changing in terms made it a lot clearer as to what the City is doing and when. For the second question, Chairman Schnetzer noted that within the budget book improving the Creekside garage flood protection is listed as a Department of Engineering priority. The question is, where is funding requested within the 2023 Proposed Budget or is that anticipated to come forward as part of the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)? For reference, Schnetzer said this was on page 110. Director Komlanc said there was already about $1.3 million in encumbered funds. The City is working with a consulting engineer, Fishbeck. During 2023, the Department plans on coming forward with detailed design and phasing of the improvements for the flood mitigation. That will be a part of the first quarter CIP, phasing things out over the 5 to 10 years. Enterprise Funds Chairman Schnetzer said the next question asked the administration to explain the large decrease in expenditures year over year for the Sewer Capital Improvement Fund. For reference, this pertains to page 22 of the budget book. Director Komlanc stated that the City has just over $3 million in funds available and is working through a backlog of projects to bring forward. Komlanc said they are not requesting additional funding from those accounts in 2023 in order to try to flatten the rates so that there are not major spikes. Corey Wybensinger, Finance Manager, said that included in the encumbrances is not just the sanitary sewer projects but also capital equipment. The City has on boarded a new fleet superintendent and is currently analyzing the capital equipment process and what is in the queue to be ordered. Special Revenue Funds Chairman Schnetzer said the next question concerns the street tree fund. This appears to go without additional funding. Is there a plan to expand this service or to use the unencumbered balance? For reference, this can be found on page 22. Director Ferrell said the fund on page 22 is a fund that is City of Gahanna Page 8 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 21, 2022 required by Code. That is for any type of development that comes into play. There are some restrictions with them, so that is not the sole intended purpose for the Street Tree Program. Ferrell said that with this Program the City has done an evaluation of what those needs would be, and clearly staffing is something that would be necessary in order to get a fully comprehensive Street Tree Program off the ground. There is a request within the budget to elevate a position of the arbor foreman to a forestry supervisor. There was an evaluation of the job duties for that individual. It was noted that the capacity for that individual is far beyond what is required for responsibilities of the job today, let alone including another full-blown program. She added the need is first to have staff in place to be able to manage the contracts for a comprehensive Program, as well as develop the implementation of it. With the correct staff in place, Ferrell said the Department will be able to improve upon and expand the Program. Vice President Bowers asked whether the budget includes the staffing that would allow for the expansion of the Street Tree Program. Ferrell said it is a step in the right direction. The request is for an arbor supervisor. That would not be the only position that would be required in order to get a full program. The evaluation that has been done is to have a phased approach. There would be three phases. The first phase would ultimately be contractual work that would be $150,000. To manage a contract of that size requires time and attention. The current staffing model is not adequate. She said the Department has a working foreman that is responsible for management of Park operations. The capacity to manage that contract for the first phase is not realistic in the current model. Councilmember Angelou asked if the City had a forester. Ferrell confirmed that the City does. Angelou clarified if the request is then to get another. Miranda Vollmer, Director of Administrative Services, said the Department’s foreman and the streets and utilities division are in the United Steel Workers union group. Those foremen are intended to be lead workers. They are instructed directly from their superintendent or supervisor. They go out with their crews. They make sure the crews are operating safely and getting the work done for the day. Over the time when the City had limited resources, those foremen took on some additional responsibilities outside the scope of union work. Vollmer said that the City is taking steps to rectify that right now. She said that earlier this year Council approved a utility supervisor. Jordan Doll started in mid-October in that role. The duties that were previously being done by one of the foremen, Doll is now taking those over because those are supervisory-level duties and compliance work with EPA. Similarly, in the Parks Department, the current City Forester is providing services to the city and work that is outside the scope of the foreman’s job duties. The job audit performed by the City’s HR consultant, Clemans Nelson, states this. Vollmer added the Council will see included in the budget an addition of a forestry supervisor to take those job duties that current person is doing. The foreman will remain because the City still needs a lead worker to be out working with our crews to make sure they are operating safely. They are operating a lot of equipment, chainsaws, chippers, etc., and need a lead worker out in the field City of Gahanna Page 9 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 21, 2022 to ensure they are operating safely. She explained that is one of the things the City is working on as well and would review during the staffing presentation next week. This is one of the realignments and reorganizations. Vice President Bowers asked that with the phase-in of this program, would this be in the presentation that will occur next week? Ferrell said she is happy to do that. She can go over what the phase approach looks like. With a supervisor in place, the Department would have a better idea on how to maximize what a timeline would look like. The phases are not necessarily associated with years. A phase could ultimately be two years or three years. It depends on the opportunity to include additional staff and equipment. Bowers wanted to know in terms of “big picture” what it takes to provide this Program from a funding and a timeline perspective. Ferrell said with the Street Tree Program, it is not just the planting. It is also the maintenance of the trees. The City does have inspections now that would not go away. The City has some neighborhoods where Emerald Ash Borer had a significant impact. There needs to be an operational plan to rectify this at some declining trees. She said that is something that will be very impactful and very expensive. From the maintenance standpoint with pruning and the care of the trees once they are planted, that is work that occurs all year long. It is something that will take time, equipment, and manpower in order to implement. The final phase is the planting. Right now, the Street Tree Program is a responsibility of the homeowner. If the City were to take on that Program, then the planting and organization of that strategy is again time and equipment. Chairman Schnetzer said the last prepared question identifies that within the budget, there is a request for ARPA grant funds to nonprofits totaling $50,000 in 2023. Is there a process set up for the grant awards? If not, when does the administration anticipate this will go live? For reference, this is found on page 127 of the budget book. Mayor Jadwin said as of right now there is not a process set up for 2023. She said this is one of the programs that would be overseen by the proposed deputy director position. Jadwin shared there was a grant program in place when the City had CARES Act monies. A grant program would operate similar to that, involving outside community members. She said that as they were looking at the public art funding questions, one of the communities that staff looked at was Westerville. She said a grant program in Gahanna would be patterned very much after the Westerville program. Director Strum said that he is happy to share through the Clerk the information on the Westerville Community Partners Program. He said he thinks what they have set up is a best practice to use in this space. The Westerville program annually evaluates various community asks. There is a 20 to 25 question application. They are typically based in event specific spaces, project specific, or things of that nature. The application is then evaluated by a three-member review board. Strum shared that in conversation with the Westerville assistant city manager, the program has three citizens who do a completely blind analysis. They take away who the applicant is and just look at the nuts and bolts of the application to see what it warrants, the value of it, and then determine what grants are issued. Westerville’s fund is at about $200,000 of discretionary monies. Strum’s City of Gahanna Page 10 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 21, 2022 suggestion from a policy standpoint is to have the Council and Mayor each appointing a member and then having those two appointed members appoint a third member that is from the general public or another nonprofit who may be able to bring an unbiased lens to serve on this committee. The committee could start up as early as January, if the City fully adopts the Westerville program’s codified ordinances pertaining to the process and committee. Strum thought the City could do two allocations next year, doing something in March for the summer into fall season and then starting an August or September review and that can be folded into a comprehensive budget for the following cycle. Strum said Westerville’s program receives a significant level of interest from the nonprofits in the community. They competitively pursue these dollars. Strum thinks this is a seasoned approach to ensuring robust programs and initiatives are invested at the community level and led by those non-government entities. Councilmember Padova asked if Westerville had a threshold or if the administration was considering having limits on how much a certain organization would be able to reach in terms of funding. Strum said, yes, there are threshold limits to make sure the program is not allocating the whole bucket to one organization. He thinks that would be something Gahanna could easily take a look at based upon what Westerville has as a cap versus what Gahanna should have as a cap given the comparatively smaller pot of funds. Mayor Jadwin said when the administration had proposed setting aside a portion of the ARPA funds to create a grant program, that there could be discussions around putting a cap on that, anywhere between $5,000 to $10,000. Strum said there needed to be a way of structuring this so that while a threshold might be $10,000, it is really a weighted average for getting the most “bang for your buck.” Wybensinger said that with the design of the program, the City needed to make sure that it falls within the federal guidelines of that money as well. He said that funding does expire. If Council is looking beyond ARPA money, there would need to be a discussion on the source. He said that commitments for ARPA must be made by the end of December 31, 2024, and funds expended by 2026. Padova asked if this would be something where there is a period of time to get applications in or would it be on a rolling basis throughout the year. Jadwin said she would suspect a deadline would be associated with it. Strum agreed and added this would be only because of what Wybensinger had highlighted given the timelines that the City had to [use the funds]. Wybensinger said that if the City models its program after something like Westerville, there is an August application date. This would mean that for the 2023 budget, they have a $250,000 discretionary allocation for the community funding program. He said $210,000 is committed towards these community grants. They do not necessarily allocate their full amount. He noted that if you look at who is applying, they are often applying for larger amounts. There is a review and possibly some negotiation. Strum said if you read who the prior awardees are in Westerville, it is Leadership Westerville through their Chamber of Commerce, their own Arts Council, and Uptown activities. Chairman Schnetzer said to the extent Wybensinger and Strum has any overview or pamphlet, this would help Council digest the idea a bit more for any model the City of Gahanna Page 11 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 21, 2022 administration decides to bring forward. Strum said he could provide that to the Clerk. He also said this is on their website. It is very easy to digest and get comfortable with it. Vice President Bowers added that if the administration locates Westerville’s legislation where they allocated that discretionary funding, she asks that this also be forwarded to the Clerk. Wybensinger said that in Westerville’s 2023 budget proposal, they have an entire section devoted to this. Mayor Jadwin reiterated that staff would be happy to share Westerville’s program, how it was structured, and how they selected individuals. She said, though, if the City is using ARPA funds, there will be specific requirements as to how those dollars and for what those dollars can be used. She said Gahanna’s would be a little different, but it would at least give some parameters and an example of how a program could be fashioned. She said she also believed that when Director Strum reached out to Westerville, yes there is $250,000 now, but the recommendation was to start around $50,000. Strum confirmed that they did recommend scaling the program. Bowers hoped people would not interpret that she is suggesting that the City should be allocating a quarter of $1,000,000 to this program in the first year. She is curious to know whether there would be a problem if Council added $25,000. Would it create too much of a blending problem with the ARPA funding for the first cycle? She said if the City did not do it for 2023, could it be something to consider for 2024? Wybensinger said the focus would be on the ARPA and there would need to be discussion on what the funding source would be. If it is a discretionary, where is that money being collected? Jadwin said she thinks it would be cleaner if the City exhausted ARPA funds before it integrated any additional funds into it, just from a tracking source. She said given the fact that the City is getting ARPA dollars, the audit requirements are a lot different. Keeping it cleaner would be easier if the City exhausted and distributed the ARPA funds available first and then look to anything beyond that. Chairman Schnetzer asked if what is depicted on page 127 is the extent of what the City's allocation is with other permitted uses. If Council is sitting here one year from now looking at the proposed 2024 budget, is there likely to be an additional grants to nonprofits item in there? Is the $50,000 recurring for three years? Mayor Jadwin said she believed the City had originally set aside $150,000 of ARPA funds to do $50,000 each year for three years. Schnetzer said his reason for asking the question is to Bowers’ point about possibly adding or increasing it. He stated that effectively it seems like it would be pulling forward some of the spending, so it is just a policy decision if to go at a level rate or accelerate it. Chairman Schnetzer recapped that the administration would be back with a broader staffing presentation next week. If Council had any other questions in the queue, he asked if those could be sent to him so that he can deliver them to the administration by Tuesday night. Director Vollmer offered that if Council had additional staffing questions, she is happy to take those up to Friday. She reminded that Director Bury is gone for the rest of the week. Councilmember Weaver said he thought tonight worked pretty well with deferring any other City of Gahanna Page 12 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 21, 2022 questions. He offered that the questions could be collected, and if the administration could not get to them, they could be deferred until the next Committee. C. ADJOURNMENT: With no further business before the Finance Committee, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:07 p.m. Jeremy A. VanMeter Clerk of Council APPROVED by the Finance Committee, this day of 2022. Michael Schnetzer City of Gahanna Page 13