City Council

Minutes were approved on June 26, 2023, by the City Council. CITY OF LACONIA - CITY COUNCIL BUDGET MEETING 6:00 P.M. 6/12/2023 - Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Hosmer called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM 2. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Director Lovisek led the salute to the flag 3. RECORDING SECRETARY Katie Gargano, City Clerk 4. ROLL CALL Clerk Gargano called the roll of Councilor Soucy, Councilor Haynes, Councilor Felch and Mayor Hosmer. 6:03 PM Councilor Cheney arrived and a quorum was established. 6:13 PM Councilor Lipman arrived at the meeting. Absent- Councilor Hamel 5. STAFF IN ATTENDANCE Kirk Beattie, City Manager; Glenn Smith, Finance Director 6. PRESENTATIONS 6.A. Department Budget Presentation Parks & Recreation/Facilities - Amy Lovisek, Director Matt Mansur, Assistant Director; Dane Anderson, Foreman Wins from FY23 include: Pickleball and participation programs. Growth of the programs have led to some frustrations. Parking, increase in wear and tear to the gym. Currently the money being used to make repairs comes out of the revolving fund which directly comes from the programs raised money. Not having enough playing time. As much as 30 people show up for basketball, and as many 25 people show up to pickleball. There are some complaints of wait times to get to play a game and then opponents stating they are not being match with people who are of the same skill level. Mayor Hosmer asked what a possible solution would be to these issues and Mr. Mansur said it would be a new community center which he understands is a very long term plan or even having to reduce it to residents only for pickleball because of its popularity. Councilor Soucy asked if there were a difference in fees for residents and non-residents which would be hard to navigate. The answer is yes, it’s a discount of $1.00. Councilor Felch asked if the schools can be utilized for the gyms and the high school for parking. The schools are even asking for gym space in the winter months because they are looking for indoor spaces to play games. Councilor Soucy asked what the user fee is. It’s a special revenue fund so the money designated in a prior year to be use to support these programs said Finance Director Glenn Smith. It does not come before the council on year to year  residents only for pickleball because of its popularity. Councilor Soucy asked if there were a difference in fees for residents and non-residents which would be hard to navigate. The answer is yes, it’s a discount of $1.00. Councilor Felch asked if the schools can be utilized for the gyms and the high school for parking. The schools are even asking for gym space in the winter months because they are looking for indoor spaces to play games. Councilor Soucy asked what the user fee is. It’s a special revenue fund so the money designated in a prior year to be use to support these programs said Finance Director Glenn Smith. It does not come before the council on year to year basis as long as it is being used for that purpose. It is reported to the parks and rec commission on a monthly basis and its apart of the annual audit through finance. Councilor Cheney asked what it would cost to have more winter courts or having an existing court covered. He will send images over to parks and rec. Currently as Memorial park the courts are being redone. So there will be three tennis courts and a pickleball court on one side of the net. The two sports height requirements for the net are quite different according to Amy Lovisek. A lock box will be purchased in addition to some portable nets. There is no addition fee to make these changes. Councilor Haynes asked is there was room to expand at Memorial Park. Yes there is. The maintenance garage was reorganized for safety and efficiency. Before and after photos were shown of the garage Dane the foreman empowered the team to reorganize and redesign the functionality in other areas to make it a better space. Spring had a lot of requests and questions for when the facilities were going to be open. The weather changed drastically prompting this. Amy thanked the crew who made everything happen as they hustled and did an amazing job. The reputation within the city has been improving. They have been getting a lot of shout outs on Facebook. What will a 4.15% increase look like? It would bring on a new facilities person. They would fulfill current facility work orders around the city and deferred maintenance. Outside contract increase, Bathrooms and peripheral locations of the city are cleaned and maintained. As well as keeping up with current staffing demands. This person would be hired on in October. A list of the deferred maintenance work orders will be sent to the council as well as what priority level and costs they are in per Councilor Lipman’s request. Capital Improvement Requests: Leavitt Park Playground, Smith track refurbishment, scoreboard replacement at Robbie Mills sports complex, bond beach road reclaiming, Weirs Beach playground, Opechee Park southern parking lot re-paving, maintenance building redesign, sports field equipment, commercial turf care equipment, Gale Ave waterfront improvement, ADA design for Tardif Park playground, ADA construction for Tardif Park playground, ADA Opechee park facilities. Future Plans for the department: New Community center with maintenance garage, middle school day camp, front desk employee, youth sports liaison, more regular programs, more special vent programs, more equipment/staff and vehicles, more pickleball courts. Councilor Lipman stated that he is looking for metrics to come from a managerial standpoint of the parks and recreation department. What is the productivity of certain investments. He thinks that the deferred maintenance of buildings and equipment are the fundamentals. Manager Beattie stated that he will work with parks and rec to figure out exactly what that is for them. Councilor Cheney asked what the current park technicians will be doing this winter assuming this new job person comes on board? Amy is not concerned at all as there is a lot of maintenance that still needs to get done. Which facility has the highest demand for maintenance? The library has the highest number of work orders with city hall coming in second. Councilor Haynes asked about where the rest of the parks stand with ADA? Weirs only needs 2 more ADA picnic tables and that will be complete. Councilor Haynes is also concerned that a park is going to get neglected. He wants to make sure that things get replaced and can be scheduled ahead of time. There is possibility of grant to revitalize Leavitt Park. The City hasn’t been selected yet. 6.B. Department Budget Presentation Finance - Glenn Smith, Director  Haynes is also concerned that a park is going to get neglected. He wants to make sure that things get replaced and can be scheduled ahead of time. There is possibility of grant to revitalize Leavitt Park. The City hasn’t been selected yet. 6.B. Department Budget Presentation Finance - Glenn Smith, Director Main topics are: Fiscal division, employee benefits, insurance, general fund debt, information technology, genera fund non-ta revenue, anticipated grants, welfare, tax increment financing districts. The finance office has 6 function areas. Fiscal, HR, purchasing, tax, IT, and welfare. All of the salaries except Welfare and operating costs except for Welfare and It fall within finance. Function areas are: Accounts payable and receivable, payroll, general ledger management, audit preparation, trust fund management, special fund management, budget preparation, grant management, debt administration, purchasing, fixed asset tracking, contract management, risk management, labor relations, benefit administration, recruitment and retention, federal and state reporting. Overall decrease of $5,810. Salaries are down by $2,108 after factoring in COLA and step increases. Operating is down by $3,702. Decreases in phone and audit expenses offset by increases in training, conferences reflective of the new workforce. 8.6% increase in social security from increased salaries to stay competitive. 0.7% increase in health insurance from changes in plan selection. Dental insurance now has its own line now as it was new in FY23. 2.7% increase in retirement tied to salary increases. Unemployment down due to applied credit. Worker’s compensation has a 26% increase from premium in plans plus reduction in applied credit. Property and liability have a 10% increase as budget does not assume applied credit. General fund debt highlights are: 2002 capital improvements bond and 2012 fire engine/salt shed bond are retiring. 2022 trash totes bond and ISF fire engine bonds are both new. Overall decrease of 3.7% Information technology includes: Internal on-site staff handles by two employees and they provide self-service, helpdesk support and technical support. There is also expert support and application specialists handled by a managed service provider. This is done with Nessit. Overall increase to the IT budget of $79,600 $45,000 is for equipment. First half of PC replacements are needed because they cannot accommodate windows 11. Outside contracts increase is $76,000. Project development decrease of $15,000. Security decrease of $33,400. Director Smith showed the Council a graph of revenues other than property tax by category and their dollar figures and percentages. About 80% comes from three sources; licenses and permits for services and intergovernmental funds from state highway block rooms and meals tax. Motor vehicle registration continues to have a slow and steady climb. Police special duty has a $100k decrease from the end of COVID related special duty. Transfer station income has an increase of $172,800 from new rates and increased usage, demolition, etc. Interest earning is anticipated to have an increase of $300k. Payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) has an anticipate decrease of $31,400 from a lower tax rate being applied to properties whose values remained steady under contracts. Mayor Hosmer asked if there can be anything done to offset that from happening. Director Smith explained that it comes down to how the PILOT agreements are negotiated and he would refer to legal as each agreement is different. Transfers from other funds are: $20k invest NH funds, $10k welfare non-cap reserve, $10k impact fees – recreation, $116,785 from non-cap reserve totaling $156,785. There is a total of $2,080,332 in anticipated grants. $1,898,174 going to general operations and $182,148 going to the water department. Director Smith shows the council the placeholders on the budget to show what the anticipated grants are for each specific department and their dollar amounts. Welfare provides interim assistance with basic needs for those who do not have the resources to meet those needs and encourage community involvement in addressing issues to help break the circle of poverty and homelessness. Activity summary: 333 contacts, 62 cases provided with financial assistance, 244 individuals served, 131 vouchers written, 1.37 average months assisted. Money is being spent is 77% towards housing stability, 22% towards burial costs and 1% on transportation. The downtown TIF (tax increment financing districts) has a recommended increment of $359k to go  meet those needs and encourage community involvement in addressing issues to help break the circle of poverty and homelessness. Activity summary: 333 contacts, 62 cases provided with financial assistance, 244 individuals served, 131 vouchers written, 1.37 average months assisted. Money is being spent is 77% towards housing stability, 22% towards burial costs and 1% on transportation. The downtown TIF (tax increment financing districts) has a recommended increment of $359k to go toward the 2015 improvement bond and colonial bond payments, colonial condo association fees, paving Beacon St East parking lot, parking garage security camera expense. The Lakeport TIF has a recommended increment of $25k for planning future projects and the Weirs TIF recommended increment is $230k for bond payment and the Weirs dock project. 6.C. Department Budget Presentation Administration - Kirk Beattie, City Manager There was not enough time for this presentation, it is unknown if it will be rescheduled. 7. Any other business that may come before the Council 8. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Hosmer adjourned the meeting at 7:12 PM. Respectfully submitted, Katie Gargano, City Clerk