City Council

August 18, 2016 The City Council of the City of Idaho Falls met in Special Council Meeting (Public Hearing/Meeting), Thursday, August 18, 2016, in the Council Chambers in the City Annex Building located at 680 Park Avenue in Idaho Falls, Idaho at 7:30 p.m. There were present: Mayor Rebecca L. Noah Casper Councilmember Michelle Ziel-Dingman Councilmember John B. Radford Councilmember David M. Smith Councilmember Thomas Hally Councilmember Barbara Ehardt Absent: Councilmember Ed Marohn Also present: Michael Kirkham, Assistant City Attorney Pam Alexander, Municipal Services Director Mark Hagedorn, Controller Kathy Hampton, City Clerk All available Department Directors Mayor Casper invited Chris Fredericksen, Public Works Director, to come forward and lead those present in the Pledge of Allegiance. Opening Remarks/Announcements: Mayor Casper believes the three (3) goals related to fees are: 1-the user fee should reflect the cost of the service, 2-fees should keep costs down, 3-great service should be offered in exchange for fees. She stated the change of fees for the upcoming year are due to increased costs or a fee restructure based on new/better data. Mayor Casper opened the public hearing and invited any public comment. Steven Besse, Idaho Falls, appeared. Mr. Besse stated a business license should be issued for new and current businesses with an annual fee. He believes a business license would prevent businesses to operate in incorrect zoning areas and would assist with public safety personnel. The fees generated from these business licenses could be used for future City planning. He does not believe $75,000 should be allocated to non-profit organizations as this is not a function of City. Those funds could be used for Fire or Police Departments. Lindsay Dexter, Senior Director of Policy at the Idaho Freedom Foundation, and resident of Idaho Falls, appeared. Ms. Dexter believes there is misinformation and confusion with the proposed budget and fees. She indicated a budget should not be approved without line-by-line items. She believes each new fee increase should be accompanied by a statement of purpose indicating where fees will be distributed. She expressed her concern about decisions made by the Mayor and Council for the community and believes the passage of the budget should be delayed for a week to allow public comments on a line-by-line budget and correlating fee schedule. She applauds the City efforts to rejuvenate the Idaho Falls downtown area, however, she indicated the new fee schedule increases parking tickets by 300% ($5.00 to $20.00) and believes this is a severe hindrance to downtown businesses as this limits the amount of time someone can be in the downtown area. Kristine Staten, representing Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC) appeared. Ms. Staten commended Police Chief Mark McBride for the proposed parking ticket fee and stated the IFDDC board is very supportive of the fee increase. She indicated there are several parking lots located in the downtown area for 1  August 18, 2016 downtown employees with minimal monthly charges. She believes the current $5.00 parking ticket is not a deterrent for downtown employees thereby freeing up downtown parking spaces for public commerce use. Mayor Casper closed the public hearing. She stated the proposed fee schedule will be adopted at the Monday, August 22, 2016, Council Work Session, along with the adoption of the proposed budget. Follow-up Discussion: Mayor Casper stated Mr. AJ Argyle, American Insurance Representative, re-negotiated the insurance fee which decreased from 6% to 3%. She indicated the proposed budget included passing the entire 6% benefit increase to City employees, which amount has now been reduced to approximately $285,000. Director Alexander indicated the decrease was due to 3rd quarter cost savings. Director Alexander indicated Council requested further discussion for the Library levy, insurance benefits, community support, and the property tax levy. Mr. Hagedorn briefly reviewed the Recreation fund stating $148,783, approved in the tentative budget has been placed as Unassigned pending Council’s approval of the recreation levy. He reviewed the Provision for Wage Adjustment, stating Recreation, Library, and Golf wage adjustments are included in the 1.75% Wage Inflation Adjustment. The amount of $467,800 has been reduced from the original placeholder of $800,000, which also includes Teledoc, and PPO (Preferred Provider Organization)/HSA (Health Savings Account) Change Provision. Mr. Hagedorn reviewed current costs of Health Insurance which is estimated based on number of employees. He indicated Council requested additional options of City/employee contribution based on the 3% insurance increase. Currently, there are 92 employees on HSA and 507 employees on PPO. Additional options were reviewed as follows: Option 2b – City would absorb half, in the amount of $128,848.60, PPO absorbs half, and a decrease to HSA contribution by $100. This option would not affect most employees. Brief discussion followed regarding HSA. Mr. Hagedorn stated it would not be a significant readjustment to keep the HSA contribution at $1750. He indicated it is not economical for all employees to be enrolled in HSA plan. Option 2c – PPO assumes 86%, HSA assumes 14%, and the HSA contribution has no change. Mr. Hagedorn stated in the current enrollment period, two (2) employees have changed to HSA. This is the option Council preferred from previous discussion. Option 2d – PPO assumes 100% of the insurance increase, HSA contribution has no change. Option 2e – City absorbs half, PPO absorbs 85% of the remaining half and HSA absorbs 15% of the remaining half. HSA contribution has no change. Mayor Casper stated over the course of the previous two (2) years there has been a dramatic change in insurance. She prefers to see no increase of costs to HSA and no change in contribution. Councilmember Smith prefers the City cost sharing percentage to decrease stating the real cost driver is PPO. General discussion followed. It was moved by Councilmember Smith, seconded by Councilmember Ehardt, for Option 2d. Roll call as follows: Aye – Councilmembers Smith, Ehardt. Nay – Councilmembers Hally, Radford, Dingman. Motion failed. It was then moved by Councilmember Radford, seconded by Councilmember Dingman, for Option 2b and keeping HSA contribution at $1750. Roll call as follows: Aye – Councilmembers Radford, Dingman. Nay – Councilmembers Ehardt, Smith, Hally. Motion failed. It was then moved by Councilmember Hally, for Option 2c. Motion died for lack of a second. 2  August 18, 2016 It was again moved by Councilmember Ehardt, seconded by Councilmember Smith, for Option 2d. Roll call as follows: Aye – Councilmembers Ehardt, Smith. Nay – Councilmembers Radford, Hally, Dingman. Motion failed. Further discussion followed regarding the savings incurred by the employees. It was again moved by Councilmember Radford, seconded by Councilmember Dingman, for Option 2b and keeping HSA contribution at $1750. Roll call as follows: Aye – Councilmembers Dingman, Hally, Radford. Nay – Councilmembers Ehardt, Smith. Motion carried. Mayor Casper requested discussion regarding the additional $138,048.60 that was approved for Health Insurance cost. She indicated there are limitations for allocation of said monies and believes the allocation needs to be decided prior to approval of the budget scheduled for the August 22, Work Session. Discussion followed regarding the budget spending process. It was moved by Councilmember Hally, seconded by Councilmember Radford, to take costs associated with Health Insurance from funds allocated for Police Feasibility Study. Roll call as follows: Aye – Councilmembers Radford, Hally. Nay – Councilmembers Ehardt, Smith, Dingman. Motion failed. After further brief discussion, it was again moved by Councilmember Radford, seconded by Councilmember Dingman, to allocate $138,048.60 from the capital requests from the Police Department for the $150,000 Feasibility Study. It was then moved by Councilmember Ehardt to amend the motion to allocate $80,000 from the Swallow Study (wage and benefits study) and $58,048 in overtime costs from the Fire Department to allocate to the $138,048.60 for the Health Insurance. Motion died for lack of a second. Councilmember Hally believes the newly proposed fees generated from the Police Department will assist with the capital request. Roll call as follows: Aye – Councilmembers Hally, Smith, Dingman, Radford. Nay – Councilmembers Ehardt. Motion carried. It was moved by Councilmember Hally, seconded by Councilmember Radford, to assign $148,783 levy for the Recreation Fund. Roll call as follows: Aye – Councilmembers Smith, Hally, Radford, Dingman. Nay – Councilmembers Ehardt. Motion carried. Mayor Casper indicated additional Airshow discussion will occur at the August 22 Work Session, with additional Community Support discussion at the September 6 Work Session. There being no further business, it was moved by Councilmember Radford, seconded by Councilmember Hally, that the meeting adjourn at 9:35 p.m. which motion passed following a unanimous vote. s/ Kathy Hampton s/ Rebecca L. Noah Casper CITY CLERK MAYOR 3