CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE

200 E. Wells Street City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Meeting Minutes CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE ALD. NIK KOVAC, CHAIR Ald. Robert Bauman, Ald. Michael Murphy, Ghassan Korban, Martin Matson, Mark Nicolini, and Mariano Schifalacqua Staff Assistant: Linda Elmer, 286-2231 Fax: 286-3456, lelmer@milwaukee.gov Fiscal Planning Specialist: Kathleen Brengosz, 286-3926, kbreng@milwaukee.gov Tuesday, October 22, 2013 1:30 PM Room 301-B, City Hall Meeting convened: 1:37 P.M. Members present: Mariano Schifalacqua, Ald. Robert Bauman, Gerard Froh, Ghassan Korban, Mark Nicolini and Ald. Nik Kovac Also present: Kathy Brengosz, John Egan (present for Martin Matson) 1. Review and approval of the minutes of the October 4, 2013 meeting Mr. Nicolini moved for approval of the minutes. There were no objections. 2. Further discussion and recommendations for the Mayor's Proposed 2014 Budget (handouts contained in file 121406) Mr. Nicolini wanted to provide to provide the committee with information on the high-impact street program. The mayor proposed adding $2 million to this program to resurface streets. The city, with $3 million, which is the proposed funding level for 2014, can support 24 miles of street repair. This will enable the city to maintain the most-important streets throughout the city. Mr. Nicolini woud like input from this committee as to whether this seems a good approach. The committee recommended $2 million and the mayor has proposed $3 million. According to Mr. Korban, this proram will do milling and asphalting only, not other traffic-related work involving manholes or street signs, which will also save future maintenance dollars. Mr. Korban noted that this will keep streets from falling into the "poor" category. Ald. Bauman noted that other capital Department of Public Works (DPW) projects have decreased, except in this program. There are dozens of arterial streets which are in "fair" condition, verging on "poor", which is what the program is targeted to repair. These funds, per Mr. Nicolini, if not spent, could be carried over into the next year rather than going into the tax stabilization fund. According to Mr. Egan, capital funds automatically carry over for 3 years as long as the funding source is still available. Mr. Nicolini said that it may or may not be difficult to maintain funding levels at $3 million each year. Mr. Korban said that the public will notice a change in the quality of streets. Mr. Korban said that even if funding is increased, there might also be a question of capacity with contractors, which would increase the contract price. Aaron Szopinski, Budget and Management Division, said that a small amount of cash dollars are being used this year to stretch out future maintenance dollars. There are 8-9 projects that are being funded with 2013 funds. City of Milwaukee Page 1 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes October 22, 2013 COMMITTEE Ald. Bauman asked if carryover amounts will be noted for different accounts. Mr. Nicolini said that available carryover funds aren't typically being listed, but the Budget and Management Division does track those for certain departments, such as the Dept. of City Development (DCD) and DPW. Ms. Brengosz will add a column for carryover funds or will note if an amount is large. Part of the issue is that carryover funds are a moving target and so numbers provided in March may no longer be valid toward the end of the year. Ms. Brengosz noted that in spring the committee is provided with carryover amounts over a number of years to see if money is not being spent. Mr. Szopinski said that the city does carry over borrowing authority, but only borrows what is actually needed, in situations where contract may have been delayed in getting out to bid. Mr. Nicolini's staff will provide a report on carryover funds for each account in the 2014 budget so this can be discussed during budget amendment day. Mr. Nicolini said that carryover funds will be in DCD and some DPW accounts. Ald. Bauman is particularly interested in seeing which accounts have carryover funds. Ald. Kovac said that the Finance and Personnel Committee has the authority to move around proposed funds among departments as part of the budget process. Mr. Froh said that if underground maintenance isn't done in a timely manner, then a street can really be destroyed in having to access the underground areas. For underground manholes, $4 million was requested, but only $500,000 was part of the mayor's proposed budget. Mr. Korban said that additional capacity or routes weren't added, but the city is replacing infrastructure as needed. Mr. Korban said that the paving program will drive the underground maintenance program, but new capacity won't be added. Ms. Brengosz said that 18 projects are proposed for 2014 (6 of those were carryover from 2013 that didn't get completed). Mr. Nicolini said that there was no demonstrated need for increasing underground capacity. Mr. Korban said that the existing infrastructure is being maintained as needed. Mr. Froh said that city rates are not enough to justifiy adding capacity. Per Mr. Nicolini, there is about $700,000 revenue that appears in the Dept. of Administration budget from underground use by private companies Ald. Kovac questioned the stump backlog, which wasn't funded this year. Mr. Korban said that the department has decided to fund this program every 3-4 years with larger amounts. It is anticipated, per Ms. Brengosz, the stump backlog in 2013 will be 1,800 (which is basically what the backlog was in 2012). Ms. Brengosz said that it is projected in 2014 that there will be a backlog of 3,000 and by the end of 2015 a backlog of 4,000 stumps. Mr. Szopinski said that the Commercial Street Improvement account has borrowing authority over $1 million. It has proposed funding of $400,000 and Mr. Szopinski and Ms. Brengosz will look at this account. Ms. Brengosz will provide information on what the carryover fund is for this account. For the Housing Preservation Fund, the committe supports keeping it at $600,000. Information for all DCD accounts will be provided relating to carryover funds. Ald. Kovac will have a budget amendment to permanently close one engine house. Ald. Witkowski wants to have a study done on the city's current housing stock and City of Milwaukee Page 2 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes October 22, 2013 COMMITTEE the location of engine houses. Mr. Froh said that a study of this was done in the 70s and it took about 10-15 years to implement the study. Mr. Froh said that a careful analysis should be done prior to closing or adding any houses. The committee did support having such a study done and then would also review it. Per Ms. Brengosz, decommissioning 4 engines would result in a savings of 20% over the long term (but that wouldn't be seen in any one year). For the 8th floor remodel of City Hall, it is estimated to cost $1,758,0000 as part of the first phase of the remodel. [ See the attachment in file 121406 titled, "8th floor City Hall remodel Phase 1"]. Mr. Korban said that the estimate provided is for partial electrical work. Mr. Froh would like to commend the Mayor's Office for increasing funding to deal with the housing crisis. Ald. Kovac agreed that the Council does support spending this money. Ald. Bauman said that there will be an amendment to put the Strong Neighborhoods funds into one account, rather than across separate accounts. The committee would support demolishing buildings cautiously so as to not demolish good housing stock or destabilize neighborhoods. The committee does support the library initiative in the financial support of libraries with the six year plan. The committee also supports the water rates tabulation. Ms. Brengosz will draft a letter with the recommendations of this body. 3. Set next meeting agenda Next meeting will be November 27th and Ms. Brengosz will provide a tentative 2014 calendar of meeting dates and times. This meeting will be webcast live at www.milwaukee.gov/channel25. City of Milwaukee Page 3