City Council Committee Agendas

Mount Vernon City Council Finance Committee Parks & Enrichment Committee Minutes July 26, 2017 Present: Councilmembers Fiedler, Hulst, Hudson, Lindquist, Molenaar, and Quam Staff present: Doug Volesky, Bill King, Kevin Rogerson, Chief Dodd, Peter Donovan, Isaac Huffman, Chris Phillips 1) Minutes from June 2017 were approved. 2) Doug presented the following updates: a) The 2017 Midyear Financial Review i) Revenues continue to trend higher than budgeted estimates. Across all funds, the City has collected 51% of the budgeted amounts. Sales Tax collected through the end of June was $3.3 million or 51% of overall budget. Utilities are also above budgeted estimates. The City received their first month of TBD funds which came in at $126,538. It is expected to exceed the budgeted estimate of $600,000. ii) Expenditures are tracking for the first 6 months and are within normal expectations. The General Fund expenditures are currently at 45% of budgeted expense. Many expense accounts that are above the 50% are generally due to one-time expenses. b) 2018 Budget Calendar and Process. i) The process will include a review of policies, strategies and goals to pass on to the departments. This will then become the basis of the individual department’s budget presentations and requests. ii) The budget calendar was reviewed. The individual departments have received their budget th call documents and are due to submit their preliminary budgets to Finance on August 18 . On Oct 4, 11 & 18 Council will hold work sessions with departments to go over their preliminary budget requests. The goal is to have the 2018 budget public hearing and potential adoption take place on November 8. c) 2017 Budget amendments: i) The meeting tonight will have a budget amendment presented for potential adoption. This amendment is for the pre-payment for the YMCA agreement of $100,000 that Council authorized at a recent meeting. The General Fund will need to transfer those funds to the Parks Fund in order to meet that obligation. d) Sales tax collected for July was $77,488 over the same month last year. The City has collected $330,000 above projected for this time year-to-date. 3) Parks and Enrichment Services – Bill provided an update of recent activities and projects. a) Staffing: The department has one new opening due to the departure of the Weekend supervisor, but a new Maintenance Utility Operator is on board and the Volunteer Coordinator has returned from maternity leave. b) Art Commission: Valley of Our Spirits Art is moving forward. The Council will be presented with a request to approve an agreement for this art at their meeting on August 9, 2017. This agreement will include design specifications, installation plan and compensation terms. There is a 180 day completion deadline and the city will make initial and final payments only. The artists will secure funding during the creation process and the city has an exclusive option to buy. $35,000 is the final purchase price to include a $5,000 stipend to assist with installation costs. c) Sherman Anderson: The Sherman Anderson fence bordering Cleveland Park was removed and a new fence was installed in conjunction with the Skagit County Parks. d) Stokley Tower: The Stokley Tower ladder replacement and repairs are scheduled to proceed. Tower Engineering Services will provide additional technical drawing detailing diagonal brace City of Mount Vernon Finance Committee June 28, 2017 Page 2 replacement, construction admin and oversight and certified structural engineering inspections to allow development of a comprehensive Scope of Work for remaining repair work. e) Lions Park Restroom: The Lions Park restroom replacement is scheduled to start August 7 and th with delivery of the new building on September 7 . f) Telecommunication Tower Contracts: Gunnerson Consulting is working on review and update of 4 separate cell tower agreements. g) Kiwanis Spray Park: We are having an increase in slips, trips and falls. The preseason resealing was supposed to prevent this, but the department is looking at permeable, porous, non-slip surface that could replace the current surface. h) Enrichment Programs: Summer Day Camp and other summer programs have had increased attendance numbers for some of the events. Adjourned at p.m.6:50 Submitted by Rebecca J. Wade