Finance & Improvements Committee

FINANCE AND IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE November 25, 2013 Page 1 Members Present: Frey, Jantzer, B. Miller, Moen, Seymour. Members Absent: Frantsvog, Olson Others Present: City Clerk, City Attorney, Assistant City Attorney, Public Works Director, Finance Director, Airport Director, Assistant Public Works Director, Assistant City Assessor, Police Chief, Captain White, City Engineer, Public Information Officer, Airport Manager, City Treasurer, Jill Schramm, Bus/Shop Superintendent, Doug Rued, Aldermen Hatlelid, Knudsvig and Lehner, Mayor Zimbleman To the Honorable Mayor and All Aldermen: Following are the recommendations of the Finance and Improvements Committee meeting called to order at 4:15 p.m. on November 25, 2013: 1. The City Council approve the following requests for final payment: a. CMT Concrete Construction in the amount of $6,420.87 for the 2013 Sidewalk, curb and gutter annual maintenance. b. Bechtold Paving Inc in the amount of $19,930.60 for 2013 Street Improvement Project. c. Wagner Place Inc in the amount of $6,663.45 for the Stonebridge Farms Lift Station. d. Tom’s Backhoe Service in the amount of $75,176.74 for the NW Sanitary Sewer Improvements. ********** The above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Seymour, and carried unanimously. 2. The City Council place and pass an Ordinance amending the 2013 Capital Purchases (Information Technology) Budget to include $736.24 from the Information Technology Software Agreements, for data back up and virtualization of servers, on first reading. ********** The above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Seymour, and carried unanimously. FINANCE AND IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE November 25, 2013 Page 2 3. The City Council place and pass an Ordinance amending the 2013 annual budget to move budgeted money from the Police Patrol Operations Supplies Budget to the Capital Purchases Fund for an in-car video system, on first reading. ********** The above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Seymour, and carried unanimously. 4. The City Council place and pass an Ordinance amending the 2013 annual budget to add revenues and expenditures to the Capital Purchase Fund and Police Administration Maintenance Radio Account for a SWAT Tactical Vehicle purchased with North Dakota Department of Emergency Services Grant funds, on first reading. ********** The above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Seymour, and carried unanimously. 5. The City Council adopt a Resolution naming Inspectors, fixing the polling places for each quadrant/precinct, and setting the time the polls shall remain opened for the State Primary to be held in the City of Minot, ND, on June 10, 2014 and the State General Election to be held in the City of Minot, ND on November 4, 2014. ********** The above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Seymour, and carried unanimously. 6. The City Council approve the request from Beyond Shelter for a letter of support for support of the Cook’s Court Affordable Senior Housing Rental Project; and further authorize the Mayor to sign the letter on the City’s behalf. ********** The above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Seymour, and carried unanimously. 7. That the City Council ratify the approval of the Oil Impact Grant Pass Through for the Northern Plains Children’s Advocacy Center and Family Services; and further authorize acceptance of the grant if awarded. ********** The above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Seymour, and carried unanimously. FINANCE AND IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE November 25, 2013 Page 3 8. The City Council place and pass an Ordinance enacting new provisions (Section 5) of Existing Minot City Ordinances 3560 and 4380 to be effective July 1, 2014 and which new provisions will amend and supplement both Ordinances to provide for the removal and deletion of the refunding in lieu of tax cap and taxpayer expense deduction provisions previously controlling the application, collection and administration of ordinances 3560 and 4380 with reference to said authorized taxes, on first reading. ********** The above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Seymour, and carried unanimously. 9. The City Council ratify the purchase of the property at 101 6th St NE available for sale through a tax deed sale held by the Ward County Auditor; and further authorize the Finance Director to sign the necessary documentation. ********** The above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Seymour, and carried unanimously. 10. The City Council rescind the approval of the Voluntary and Involuntary Acquisition/Buyout Program approved at the October 7, 2013 City Council meeting, and approve the Program for Involuntary Acquisition/Buyout of Real Estate. ********** The above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Seymour, and carried unanimously. 11. The City Council place and pass the following ordinances on second reading: a. Ordinance No. 4773 – Adding to the List of City Council Created Traffic Restrictions Provided For In Section 20-2 of the CMCO; No Parking Zones b. Ordinance No. 4774 – Adding to the List of City Council Created Traffic Restrictions Provided For In Section 20-2 of the CMCO; No Parking Zones c. Ordinance No. 4775 – Adding to the List of City Council Created Traffic Restrictions Provided For In Section 20-2 of the CMCO; No Parking Zones d. Ordinance No. 4776 - Adding to the List of City Council Created Traffic Restrictions Provided For In Section 20-2 of the CMCO; Stop Signs ********** The above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Seymour, and carried unanimously. FINANCE AND IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE November 25, 2013 Page 4 12. The City Council declare the proposal by The Village EAP to be the best proposal received for providing Employee Assistance Program Services for the City of Minot; and further authorize the Mayor to sign the contract on behalf of the City of Minot. ********** The above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Frey, and carried unanimously. Upon questioning, the Human Resource Director explained the City’s current contract with St. Alexius EAP was set to expire at the end of the year; the City has been with St. Alexius for the last three years. She continued by saying this program is based out of Bismarck with an assigned counselor traveling to Minot every one to two weeks. In the past several months, employees have been commenting on the difficulty and length of time it was taking to see an actual counselor. She commented that employees are currently referred to independent providers when the St. Alexius counselor is not available, but that many of those providers are not taking new patients because of their own case loads. This issue has affected utilization of the EAP program in the last several months. The Human Resource Director published a request for proposal (RFP) to find a possible replacement provider for the program. She stated seven proposals were received, all of which utilize most of the same independent providers in the Minot area. The Village proposal is the only provider that has counselors on staff in Minot with ease of accessibility. She is recommending the Committee and Council approve The Village as the provider for the City’s EAP Program because of the timeliness it allows for utilization by employees. Alderman B. Miller agreed it is important services by providers be readily available, but he questioned if the City, under ordinance, was allowed to award a bid that is not the lowest bid. The City Attorney stated Ordinance 2-137 for the award of purchasing contracts does not apply to personal service contracts. He continued, weight for the decision in awarding this type of contract can be based on ability and capacity of the vendor to provide the product, timeliness in providing the product, quality of the services provided and not specifically on the bid amount. The City Finance Director, upon questioning, stated additional funding for the service could be found by savings in other areas because it would not be a significant increase from the previous provider’s contracted amount. Whereupon a vote was taken on the above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Frey and carried unanimously. 13. The City Council approve and accept the Minot Affordable Housing Strategy Report as presented. FINANCE AND IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE November 25, 2013 Page 5 ********** The above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Seymour, and carried unanimously. The Finance Director stated $300,000 was spent on the Affordable Housing Study, this cost came in at approximately $200,000 less than expected. She continued by saying officials from HUD had reviewed the study and were very impressed with its contents. She stated the study will provide good information and suggestions of offering additional, affordable housing to the Minot area. Whereupon a vote was taken on the above motion by Alderman B. Miller, seconded by Alderman Seymour and carried unanimously. ********** General Information Paul Lutey of Nelson/ Nygaard Consulting appeared before the Committee to present a study of proposed changes to the City of Minot Bus Route. The transit study proposes many changes; one of the most significant is in the way routes would be structured in the future. The current morning and afternoon routes, mostly utilized by school students, and the mid-day route would be replaced with a system featuring two core routes and four loop routes. Core routes would be conducted in the early morning and late afternoon to accommodate school students. Loop routes would operate hourly and would be expanded to include new growth areas in Minot. Mr. Lutey stated it was a concern for the City to change routes that could be identified as mostly school bus service, since this could jeopardize FTA funding for public transportation. He commented that proposed new routes would still accommodate students with continued stops at various schools, but would also include new established bus stops along major traffic areas and keep flagged stops in neighborhoods. Another proposal of the study would be to extend hours of bus service to include some evening and weekend services. This proposal would require increasing staffing costs to the City for additional drivers. An important recommendation of the study would be to acquire electronic fare boxes in buses to eliminate the need for tokens or excess cash for bus drivers to make change. Brian Horinka, Bus Superintendent, stated the current system was not efficient and was a safety concern with regard to bus drivers having to carry excess cash. He continued by saying the new electronic system would assist in passenger counting and keeping track of more utilized routes. Chairman Jantzer adjourned the meeting at 4:48 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Lisa Jundt, City Clerk