Council Study Session

MINUTES OF THE GILBERT TOWN COUNCIL IN SPECIAL MEETING FOR A STUDY SESSION, APRIL 20, 2021, AT 5:00 P.M., ROOM 300, 50 EAST CIVIC CENTER DRIVE, GILBERT, ARIZONA COUNCIL PRESENT: Mayor Brigette Peterson, Vice Mayor Yung Koprowski, Councilmembers Scott Anderson, Laurin Hendrix, Scott September, Kathy Tilque, Aimee Yentes COUNCIL ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Patrick Banger, Town Clerk Chaveli Herrera, Town Attorney Chris Payne, Office of Management and Budget Director Kelly Pfost, Parks and Recreation Director Robert Carmona CALL TO ORDER OF SPECIAL MEETING Mayor Peterson called the meeting to order at 5:03 p.m. AGENDA ITEM 1. Discussion of FY2022 Preliminary Budget Office of Management and Budget Director Pfost provided background information on FY2022 Preliminary Budget, noting Gilbert’s status of Best in Class in several areas. She highlighted the process of zero-based budget results including a total of $1.7 million in savings in FY2021 and $8.6 million in total savings since 2018. She highlighted the budget process, timeline, and compared the requested vs. recommended budget. Director Pfost discussed various funds, the tax levy, the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Projects, and the CIP Budget and Carry-Forward figures. She reviewed the Transportation Bond and upcoming budget milestones. Councilmember Tilque asked for clarification on the need to make changes after the preliminary adoption on May 4, 2021. Director Pfost clarified that best practice would be that any changes should be made before the meeting to allow staff to update the documents rather than on the dais, but she spoke to understanding the need for changes on the dais due to discussion and public comment. Mayor Peterson stated that increases cannot happen after the preliminary vote. Councilmember Tilque stated she felt it was unfair for staff to make changes on the last day and encouraged dialogue to answer any questions. Councilmember Yentes talked about her appreciation for a study session this year to collaborate. She thanked Director Pfost and her team for answering questions timely and with a lot of information. She stated that her feedback is for contrary opinion because she felt it was important and valuable to ensure government remained in the proper lane. She discussed her concerns with the tax levy and said she felt it was an increase. She stated she was not in favor of raising taxes and would like to find other ways to fund debt and talked about components of one-time funds and Full Time Employee (FTE) requests. She discussed the ionization item for air purity, questioned its need, and talked about other protocols that could be utilized. Director Pfost discussed the cost for the project to be one-time funds in the General Fund. Director Carmona discussed the project and the research conducted over the last year. He talked about trends in facilities management and mitigation measures in air quality. He said the use of Ultra Violet (UV) systems over ionization added 30-40% to ongoing maintenance costs. He discussed the benefit to employees and residents who visit Town facilities and how it provided solutions. Councilmember September asked if the Town had this ionization system in other buildings, to which Director Carmona confirmed that the Town did in the new Public Safety Training Facility (PSTF), adding since it was new there was no data yet. Councilmember September asked if it was part of the original design or a result due to COVID-19. Director Carmona stated that staff looked at solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasized that the add-on to that building had a smaller impact but would be bigger now since it would cover all Town facilities. Councilmember Tilque asked if the PSTF could be used as a pilot program and postpone the purchase for a year. Town Manager Banger talked about the industry standards for the ionization systems and elaborated on the reduction of sick time and leave and reduction of airborne pathogens. Councilmember Yentes stated she did not see the “bang for the buck” and discussed encouraging staff to take appropriate protocols when feeling sick. She talked about the need for data in order to support the item. Councilmember Tilque asked about an opportunity to approve the purchase with a stipulation for data. Councilmember Yentes discussed not spending for something that would be nice to have, not a need, especially without the metrics. Councilmember September spoke in support of wanting to see more information on the efficacy of the systems. Councilmember Tilque recommended keeping the item and getting more information before deciding to remove it from the budget. Councilmember September stated he would be okay leaving it in the budget for now and receiving more information. Councilmember Anderson recommended taking it out of the budget and using the PSTF as a pilot program. Director Carmona stated that his team would provide more information for the Council to review and then based on the majority consensus Director Pfost would decide to leave it or pull it in the budget. Director Pfost stated that the sooner her team was provided the decisions of the Council the better and said at a minimum they would flag the item and state that spending would not commence until they received Council direction. Councilmember September asked for clarification that the amount requested would cover the cost for the rest of Town buildings, to which Town Manager Banger confirmed. Councilmember Yentes asked about the flexibility to bring the item back later. Director Pfost talked about the options for contingency funding. There was additional discussion on how monies could be spent and transparency in the decision to approve projects up front without use of contingency. Vice Mayor Koprowski stated she was happy to see rates stay the same while still bringing forward important projects. She talked about the decision to use secondary property tax being equitable and spoke of the value to the residents. Councilmember Yentes stated that the largest ongoing increase was seen in Full Time Employee (FTE) requests. She talked about recovery in the economy and loss of employment to many. She stated she felt it would be insensitive to fill the FTE requests given the comparisons to job loss in the economy. She talked about the need to address future staffing needs and concerns and provided the selling of Town-owned fields as an example. Mayor Peterson spoke in support of those discussions for the future, separate from the budget discussion. Councilmember Tilque talked about the FTE requests for Public Safety and spoke in support of that. She discussed new positions for infrastructure and long-term savings. She talked about the importance of employee development and being mindful to continue providing tools and resources so employees could provide excellent service. She talked about employee fatigue and doing more with less. Councilmember September asked about some of the drivers that trigger the need for more employees other than growth. Director Pfost discussed growth of the Town and increasing case loads for various departments. She talked about metrics being an important factor in requests for new positions and the future ask to reevaluate those metrics and to report back findings. There was further discussion and clarification on concerns expressed by Councilmember Yentes regarding filling FTE positions and approving positions but not filling them. Mayor Peterson offered clarification on the long processes to fill positions in Public Safety. Councilmember Yentes asked if positions were flagged for evaluation of necessity as part of the Town’s process. Director Pfost discussed advances in technology being a factor in decisions to fill vacancies and eliminate positions. She elaborated on the internal process of evaluating positions vacant for at least six months as part of the budget process. Councilmember Tilque asked if employees were given opportunities in other areas within the organization if their position was no longer needed. Town Manager Banger confirmed and talked about opportunities for retraining and placement of current employees elsewhere. He also provided information on the staffing forecast used by the Town to bring data and metrics to important staffing decisions. Councilmember Yentes spoke of the importance of needing context with staffing requests. She talked about the need to reevaluate solutions, roles, and ongoing expenses and used roles in Digital Government and Student Resource Officer (SRO) positions as examples on areas that should be reevaluated. Councilmember Tilque spoke of the ambulance service and the importance of identifying to the residents that Gilbert met its goals and communicating that the Town was doing a good job. Mayor Peterson asked when the service would start, to which Town Manager Banger noted a June/July start date to transition and spoke of tracking metrics and the use of real-time reporting. Councilmember Tilque asked for clarification on the rate study and wanted to confirm that the rate increase had not been approved but rather approval of the rate study. Director Pfost confirmed and explained the process for implementation. Councilmember Yentes asked about any policies in place to reevaluate tax rates anytime there was an expansion of the tax base and provided Prop. 207 as an example. There was discussion and clarification on not seeing those direct costs since they come in through sales tax. Town Manager Banger talked about scarce resources and having more needs than resources available and the need to take a hard look at what was being brought forward. He talked about evaluating everything and trying to ensure anything passed down had the lowest cost but also addressed needs in growth and demands of the community. There was additional discussion on state-shared revenue and legislature continuously looking at ways to make cities and towns whole. ADJOURN Mayor Peterson adjourned the meeting at 6:23 p.m. ATTEST: ___________________________ ___________________________________ Brigette Peterson, Mayor Chaveli Herrera, MMC, Town Clerk CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Study Session of the Town Council of the Town of Gilbert held on the 20th day of April, 2021. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this __________ day of _______________, 2021. ___________________________________ Chaveli Herrera, MMC, Town Clerk