Budget Review Committee

BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 A meeting of the Budget Review Committee was held Tuesday, September 3, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy, Chair, presided. Members of Committee present: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane, Vice Chair Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman Richard A. Dowd Members not in Attendance: Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Also Present: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman Diane Sheehan, Arrived at 7:53 p.m. Stephen M. Bennett, Deputy Corporation Counsel Jennifer Hinderer, Library Director John Griffin, CFO/Comptroller PUBLIC COMMENT – None COMMUNICATIONS From: Dory Clarke, Esquire, Deputy Corporation Counsel Re: Library CBA – Inadvertent Deletion MOTION BY ALDERMAN DOWD TO ACCEPT AND PLACE ON FILE MOTION CARRIED UNFINISHED BUSINESS – None NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-13-133 Endorsers: Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Richard A. Dowd Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja APPROVING THE COST ITEMS OF A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE NASHUA PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND THE NASHUA PUBLIC LIBRARY EMPLOYEES, AFT, FPE, LOCAL #4831 FROM JULY 1, 2013 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2015 AND AUTHORIZING RELATED TRANSFERS MOTION BY ALDERMAN MELIZZI-GOLJA TO AMEND R-13-133 BY REPLACING PAGE 14 WITH THE REVISED PAGE ATTACHED TO ATTORNEY CLARKE’S COMMUNICATION ACCEPTED EARLIER THIS EVENING MOTION CARRIED MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE AS AMENDED Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 2 ON THE QUESTION Attorney Bennett I believe I handed out to all members a summary of cost items. I also have extra copies of the costing analysis if anyone needs one. I will go through the cost items in the order as they appear on the sheet. I‟m glad to answer any questions that may arise. The first change is under Article 9, Work Week and Work Schedule. For employees who work on Sundays in the existing contract receive comp time at the rate of 2:1. For every hour worked, they receive two hours of comp time that they can take off at a later time. The first amendment to that article actually cuts back on that. They still get the same 2:1 ratio of comp time if they use it the week where they worked that Sunday. If they want to use it later on day during another pay period, they one receive 1.5 times the comp rate. Alderman Deane Are there employees that are scheduled to work like a Wednesday through Sunday schedule? Director Hinderer No there are not. Sundays are in addition to a regular 40-hour work week. Alderman Deane Has that been looked at? The landfill does that. They have people that work Tuesday through Saturday or Monday through Friday? Director Hinderer Have we looked at incorporating Sunday as part of a regular work week? Alderman Deane Well if it‟s a seven-day a week operation. Director Hinderer I did look at that and had conversations with corporation counsel and the mayor. I believe it would actually cost the city more. We would have to hire at least two additional full time people in order to cover those additional hours. Alderman Deane But you have the staff now that can do it. Director Hinderer They do it in addition. There‟s approximately 13 people that work on any given Sunday in addition to the 40 hours that they have already worked. We would have to add 55-60 staff hours to our current staffing level. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 3 Alderman Deane How many employees are there on a Friday, 13? Director Hinderer I couldn‟t tell you that. Alderman Deane Are you there on Friday? Director Hinderer Yes, I am. Alderman Deane Do you work Monday through Friday? Director Hinderer Yes, I do. Alderman Deane And you‟re at the library five days a week? Director Hinderer Yes, I am. Alderman Deane How many employees are there on a Monday? Director Hinderer There are 50 people that work for the library and we‟re open 72 hours a week when we‟re open on Sundays. At any time there could be 35 people working. There might be only 22 in the evening. It can‟t tell you every Friday exactly how many people are there. I would suspect it‟s in the vicinity of 30 something. Alderman Deane How are their shifts scheduled then? Director Hinderer It depends on the department. There are shifts 8:30 – 5:30. There are 12 – 9 shifts. Our maintenance person works 6 AM to 2:30. Our IT person works 7, sometimes 7:30 to 4:30, sometimes 7 – 3:30 Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 4 depending on the day of the week. People who do programming they could work any shift depending on whether they have a program that night. Alderman Deane But on Sunday there are only 13 people there. Director Hinderer That is correct because all we do on Sunday essentially is staff the service desks and refresh the toilet paper. Attorney Bennett The next change is employees are guaranteed a minimum of one hour when they are asked to do work outside their working hours or when the library is closed. Sometimes there are notices that need to be sent out and so forth. This work is done from home. When that occurs, they are guaranteed one hour of overtime as a minimum. There is one other change. If you note it‟s on page five, number three. It has to do with offering Sunday hours to pages. That actually results in a cost savings when pages are used over other employees. They are at a lower pay rate. That‟s an incorporation of a sidebar that was agreed to prior to the negotiations. We bring the sidebars into the new contract so it becomes part of the contract. Alderman Deane Can you elaborate on that? Are we in Article 9? Attorney Bennett Article 9. If you go to page five, there‟s 1, 2, 3, 4. It‟s the process of filling Sunday hours. Alderman Deane When it says outside the department, what does that mean? “Sunday hours will be offered to all qualified bargaining unit employees outside of the department.” Director Hinderer Outside the library department. There are people, Kathy Bolton the head of the children‟s department, she could fill in in the Reference Department if they had an open shift that someone hadn‟t taken. Alderman Deane Are they in the same collective bargaining agreement? Director Hinderer Yes. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 5 Alderman Deane So they can offer the hours to people outside of the department that‟s requiring staffing? Director Hinderer Yes. Alderman Deane How far in advance do you look at the staffing levels? Director Hinderer About a month in advance we start the scheduling. Attorney Bennett The next article, Article 10, Overtime. That was an inconsistent provision. The comp time doesn‟t have to be agreed to by the management. It is the option of the employee initially to take the comp time or the overtime. I would add that when the comp time is actually taken depends on whether there‟s sufficient staff. If there‟s not sufficient staff then the request for comp time can be denied by the director or the department head. Alderman Deane Is the 15 minute increment new? Attorney Bennett The next article, Article 14, that is new language. It‟s consistent with what the practice is at the library. Alderman Deane And Article 19 is just subject to fund availability in the operating budget? Attorney Bennett The prior provisions were that the reimbursement would be at 50 percent of the course. Now it‟s up to 50 percent of the course depending on what the funding is and the number of employees who are requesting reimbursement. If there were more employees requesting reimbursement there may not be reimbursed at the 50 percent. It may be lower. Alderman Deane Are the employees taking advantage of this? Are they utilizing this benefit? Attorney Bennett They are utilizing it. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 6 Alderman Deane What percentage of your staff? Director Hinderer We currently have three staff members attending working on their Master‟s in library science. Alderman Deane That‟s not cheap, I would imagine. Anything with a Master‟s associated with it. How does it work when they go in for reimbursement. You‟ve got three people out working on their Master‟s which we all know master degrees aren‟t cheap. What are we looking at for available funding for reimbursement for those three people and how is that divided up? Is that by first come, first serve? Director Hinderer We‟re hoping to eliminate the first come, first serve aspect. That was part of the hope of this change. Before registration for each semester, they submit a request to the board of trustees. The board looks at available funds. A lot of it is based on my conversation with the staff and knowing who is planning to submit reimbursement requests. The reimbursement is granted or denied before my staff member actually signs up for classes and accrues the cost. Alderman Deane So it‟s not a given for them to be reimbursed. It has to be approved by the board of trustees. Director Hinderer Correct. Attorney Bennett Article 38, Wages. This is a two-year contract for FY 14. Proposed wages are 2.5, and for FY 15, 3 percent. Alderman Deane We went through this collective bargaining process in the past, and the mayor always put down some parameters or suggestions, I want to phrase it properly, on the negotiation process. Is the mayor supportive of this contract? Does anyone know that? Attorney Bennett In the past when the Mayor was not supportive, she has made it quite clear. She has not stated that for this agreement, that she was not supportive. Alderman Deane I did not see her name as a sponsor. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 7 Attorney Bennett I guess that would be neutral then. Alderman Deane Were there parameters put down prior to negotiations being started? Attorney Bennett Not in the sense of the prior round of negotiations. There are always cost considerations that not only the mayor but the board of trustees are aware of. Some of the trustees‟ thoughts on this is that they have employees who are not the most heavily benefited employees in the city. They have a group of employees who did agree to the contract, to the increased premiums and deductibles prior to the st expiration of their last contract. In fact they are the only union, at least before July 1 , to agree to the premium increases. I think that was a consideration. They had been one of the unions that had actually paid the increased deductibles and co-pays since 10-1-11. While some other unions have agreed to go back there for the premiums, they were not subject to the increased deductibles until such time as their contracts were approved. They have been doing it as long as the merit employees have here at the library. Alderman Deane I‟m just looking at everything else as a whole. A 2.5 and a 3 percent over these two years is just deserved for stepping up and being pro-active in meeting the negotiating demands that were put out there. I guess we‟ll have to wait and see what the other employer boards bring forward. Attorney Bennett That I believe is one consideration. I believe there were other considerations for this proposed contract. Alderman Deane I am well aware of the fact that they are not highly compensated employees although they do run a good operation over there. I just wish something could be done with the outside of that building. The city has to take some sort of corrective action to try to deal with that. It‟s a good place. It‟s a good place for kids, a good place for everybody. People over there work hard. I don‟t go to the library much. My granddaughter does, my daughter-in-law does, my wife does, my son does. You look at the internet today and then you look at the library and there‟s still a need for our public library. Attorney Bennett Article 40, Duration of Agreement. That‟s two years. It runs from this July 1st until June 30, 2015. MOTION CARRIED R-13-138 Endorser: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau RELATIVE TO THE RE-APPROPRIATION OF FISCAL YEAR 2014 ESCROWS MOTION BY ALDERMAN MELIZZI-GOLJA TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 8 ON THE QUESTION Mayor Lozeau Before the committee tonight is our customary escrow requests. You will see the amount is pretty typical of what we‟ve seen in past years with the exception of 2011. Otherwise, it‟s about the same. I‟m happy to take a walk through them. Ordinarily we take a walk through the unlikes. If you‟d like, I‟m happy to do that and then the likes or vice versa, however the committee pleasure is. Alderman Deane I have a question. My question pertains to the new accounting system. I think prior to implementing it when the escrow request came through the different five-digit commodity codes were made part. Now it‟s only a two-digit where all the five digits are in there. It‟s already been combined into one. Say you had a five-digit that was tire and tubes for the fire department. Now it is, I forget what the commodity code is, but now all those five digits are all combined into say outside services. Mayor Lozeau They actually always have been, Alderman Deane. We‟ve always budgeted at the two digit. It‟s more noticeable now. Alderman Deane I disagree. Mayor Lozeau It‟s how it‟s been since I‟ve been here. There‟s a two-digit area. In that two-digit area there are multiple line items within it. We had more categories but that has changed based on best practices to have the system that we have which is the way accounting should be done. Mr. Chairman, if we‟re going to start with the unlike I would bring to your attention the $250,000 request for the gas collection system upgrade. Now you recall when we were doing the budget we had two items that we thought fell outside of the Spending Cap. One was the soil wall which is above it for 150. The other one was the gas collection system which our best estimate at the time was $250,000. When we learned that because we were paying cash and not bonding them that they would be subject to the Cap, we took it out of the budget. I told you that I would probably come during the escrow time with that. I wanted to let the committee know that our bid just came in. The number is actually $118,240 instead of the $250,000. That‟s a pretty good change here to the escrows. While I‟m talking about that I wanted to bring another item to the attention of the committee for consideration on how you would like to proceed, if at all you would like to proceed, which is separate and apart from these escrows. As you now the project on the Jackson Falls Dam has been ongoing for the past, I want to say at least three weeks that they‟ve actually been active, but we‟ve been working on it for a few years now getting to this point. There‟s good news and there‟s bad news. The good news is the dam is not going to fall down which I was a little nervous. It‟s a pretty old dam and I wondered how it held up over the years. They‟ve cut enough footage off of it to take a look inside. They had additional requirements all along on the project that had been pretty cost prohibitive. The good news is the dam is in good shape. The bad news is the embankment on the right side of the dam is not built as wide or as long as it should be for the dam that we have in place which we probably never would have discovered Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 9 without taking the water down and doing this project. That cost associated with it is going to run somewhere between $60,000 and $100,000. One could make an argument that it shouldn‟t be a cost that the city bears because if this project wasn‟t happening we wouldn‟t have known it and we wouldn‟t have paid for it. I‟ve made that argument pretty effectively throughout this project when different things have come up. In this instance, I don‟t know that we can effectively make that same argument. The city owns this dam. It‟s a repair that probably should be made. It serves our interest as well. It really doesn‟t have anything to do with the crest gate. It would be good to have it there for the crest gate but it would be important to have it even if we didn‟t have the crest gate. It was my intention to get more information about that and maybe bring in a separate piece of legislation a little bit further down, a week or two from now. Because we have the savings here, I wanted to bring it to your attention because it‟s an opportunity to amend it and make it part of this legislation while you have it before you because it is escrow money that we‟re talking about. Or, I can bring it in on Friday as a separate piece to take up at another time. I wanted to put it out there so you were aware of it. I didn‟t want you to have to vote on it tonight if you preferred not to. It certainly can wait a couple more weeks if you prefer that as well. This is the first expense to the city for this project. As you recall early on when we talked about whether or not the city should contribute to this dam, I had raised the fact that we thought there was going to be a renegotiation for Clock tower of some of their mortgages and that the city was going to realize somewhere around $300,000 for that. I said if we did that I thought it would be reasonable for us to contribute that to the project because that‟s all in the same general area and money not coming from the operating budget. Finding this piece out at the end of last week, it seemed that it‟s not unreasonable for us to look at taking some responsibility for that part of the dam. I just wanted to put it on the table, Mr. Chairman. Alderman Wilshire Could you clarify for me again, Mayor, of the solid waste gas collection. The price to date is $118,240 and not the $250,000 that‟s listed? Mayor Lozeau Right. The bid just came in a week or two ago. We took it up at Board of Public Works, accepted the bid contingent on the escrows being supported. Yes, it is significantly less than what we thought it was going to be which is good news again. Chairman McCarthy We think the dam repairs will be about $100,000? Mayor Lozeau We think it shouldn‟t exceed $100,000. We actually have an engineer working on our behalf on the project keeping an eye on making sure we know what‟s happening and making recommendations. They are working on giving us some idea of an approach to do that work. We‟re pretty sure it won‟t be less than 16 or more than 100. We‟re hopeful that will be done soon and of course that would have to come back for approval for the contract and more information and we can provide the engineering drawings and that sort of thing. If we did it tonight it would just be a placeholder. Chairman McCarthy If we were to reduce the $250,000 to probably $120,000 just to deal with a round number, add $100,000 item, there would be $31,000 that would be left. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 10 Mayor Lozeau That you could take off of the final number. Alderman Deane I want to know what salary position wasn‟t filled that retained $31,500 from the solid waste department. I‟d like to know what property services weren‟t performed. Mayor Lozeau It was salaries in the IT Department that was $31,000. That‟s where the savings was. Alderman Deane That was from IT? Mayor Lozeau Yes. See in the department column. Alderman Deane Department 22, Department 26. Mayor Lozeau That‟s financial services. Some of them I may know off the top of my head, some I wouldn‟t. In IT, as you know, we didn‟t have a director for a period of time. Salaries in financial services would include different staff coming and going. Financial Services, as you know includes motor vehicles and other departments. There‟s quite a bit of staff there. Solid waste, public works‟ salaries, line 14, those are just positions through the year when people come and go. Alderman Deane Nineteen and 20 were what? There‟s $75,000 there. Mayor Lozeau I thought you were asking salaries. Alderman Deane My thing is we contribute close to $4 million a year to operate the landfill. I don‟t like the finagling that goes on with the budgeting anyway. Chairman McCarthy The problem is we don‟t understand what the departments are that the money is coming from. We know that 22 is IT and 26 is Financial Services. Who‟s Department 60? Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 11 Mr. Griffin That‟s Public Works, Administration. Chairman McCarthy And 71, 72, and 75? Mr. Griffin 71 is Community Services, 72 is Community Health, 75 is Welfare Assistance. Mayor Lozeau I‟m sorry, Mr. Chairman. I thought folks had the list. I guess it‟s not unreasonable for you not to be carrying it around. I‟m sorry; I could have provided it. Chairman McCarthy FYI in the future it might be better to put the department name. Mayor Lozeau I‟d be happy to do it. Chairman McCarthy Other than public works administration, these are from places that have nothing to do with the landfill operation. Mayor Lozeau That‟s correct. You start with some of the higher dollar amounts that you can cobble together when you‟re trying to do that much money. For instance if you look at the soil wall, that‟s welfare assistance, $150,000 for the soil wall, so there‟s not multiple categories. If you‟d like we can finish with this whole list on this page for departments so you have them all. The first one is for the Board of Aldermen and that‟s from the Board of Aldermen. That‟s for the tablets. Chairman McCarthy Are there any other questions about the gas collection upgrades? We can just start at the top. The first one is ours. That‟s the funding of the tablets out of the unfilled position. We have a prototype tablet. I‟ve got to sit down with the IT director for awhile and go over how we‟re going to operate those. Then we‟ll probably be deploying them in a month or so. Mayor Lozeau The next two items are for the completion of the Riverwalk. Funds for that are coming from building inspection, the first line, and planning and zoning is the second line. Again that‟s the function of vacancies that then were filled. With the exception of Director Hersh, I don‟t think we have any other vacancies now. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 12 Alderman Deane Do we know what we‟re going to spend that money on? What‟s going to be done with that money? Mayor Lozeau I don‟t know, Alderman Deane. I don‟t have any plans right now. Unlike you, Alderman Deane, I don‟t think I‟m finagling. I think I try to be as clear as we can about where the money comes from and where it‟s going to. Chairman McCarthy I think the question is what‟s the expense that the $80,000 goes to on the Riverwalk. What things are going to be done? Mayor Lozeau It‟s to complete the Riverwalk from Cotton Mill Square to Main Street. Is that what you‟re asking? I thought you were asking about the vacancies. Alderman Deane That was my question. Mayor Lozeau The last nothing I had said, Alderman Deane, was the vacancy with Director Hersh. I thought that‟s what you were asking about. It‟s to build a Riverwalk that length. There‟s some areas that are more cumbersome than others with the PSNH substation and things like that. A lot of the work that has to be done there to get around that. Some of the topography work that has to be done, cleaning asphalt, that sort of thing. That‟s the estimate that Director Hersh provided before she left. We wanted to do it at the same time that the Cotton Mill is doing theirs. Alderman Pressly I‟m interested in this also. Has there been a decision made how they are going to connect the walk with the bridge? At one time there was talk of an elevator or some way to get from the top of the bridge down to the walk. Mayor Lozeau I believe that has been decided. I think it was part of the plans accepted from Cotton Mill but I don‟t have it in front of me tonight. I can tell you that there is not going to be an elevator. I‟m not certain how they are doing it. Alderman Pressly A lot of changes lately. If you‟re interested in that project, you can see lots of changes. Windows going in and lots of clean up. I would hope that we could get a plan for that. It looks like it‟s not too far off to have an actual plan for the Riverwalk and the path it‟s going to take. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 13 Mayor Lozeau I think we do have that. I‟d be happy to provide it to you. Alderman Pressly Oh, I thought you said you didn‟t have it. Mayor Lozeau There‟s a difference between the Riverwalk plan and the plan as it relates to the bridge on the Cotton Mill Square property. Director Hersh has a plan for the Riverwalk. She‟s had it for a very long time. I‟m happy to provide it. Alderman Pressly Great. Thank you. Chairman McCarthy Sewer wall. What‟s the source account for the sewer wall? Mayor Lozeau Welfare assistance. Chairman McCarthy Any questions on that one? Alright. Moving down to the vocational ed transfer. That‟s money from the school budget. Mayor Lozeau Right. You‟ll recall you have legislation pending that Alderman Dowd brought in. Then that was passed. Sorry, not pending. This is a way to take care of the problem this year. Then for Fiscal 15 we‟ve asked the school to make it part of their budget so we don‟t have to move it around. Chairman McCarthy Snow plow trust fund. Mayor Lozeau Those are all streets. 61 is streets. We wanted to replenish the snow fund. It has about $77,000 in it now. This will bring it back up to about $300,000, just over $300,000. Alderman Deane What accounts? Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 14 Chairman McCarthy That‟s the 61 accounts, 6154, 6161 and 6171. Mayor Lozeau Street Department, those three accounts within it. Alderman Deane And that will bring it to what? Mayor Lozeau Just over $300,000. Alderman Deane And we have a shed full of salt right now too, right? Mayor Lozeau Pretty close to full. Chairman McCarthy River cleanup. Mayor Lozeau That‟s the legal department where that money is coming from. That‟s the one that I‟ve been talking a bit about lately that we have an opportunity with the river being down. We have a company that has provided a quote to Director Galligani about what it would take for them to get in there and professionally do what needs to be done. That would be from Main Street all the way up Coliseum Ave. We have a real problem, some of you may notice, from time to time when you‟re driving down the highway. We have a particular problem between where Home Depot is and Shorty‟s is. As a matter of fact, Director Galligani was in the Conservation Commission meeting tonight to let them know what we‟re up to. That was part of our discussion at the meeting that Alderman Pressly pulled together. They‟ve actually found Bradlee‟s shopping carts there. Now I really had to think about that. I‟ve lived here my whole life. I don‟t remember Bradlee‟s at the Nashua Mall. I remember at Simoneau Plaza. Then somebody said it was in both places at the Simoneau Plaza and the Nashua Mall at the same time, but I just don‟t‟ recall that. It closed in 2000. So for 13 years at least Bradlees‟ carts have been stuck there. One of the problems just in that general area during snow season, it‟s easy for things to get caught up and fall in. Chairman McCarthy Especially when people occasionally plow the snow into the river like they are not supposed to. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 15 Mayor Lozeau That‟s correct. Actually it‟s one of the things that we‟re looking at, whether or not we should require the owner of that property to put up a guardrail and a snow fence. We really should do something there. Anyway having said that, this is a great opportunity. We had the funds so I thought I would present it for your consideration. Alderman Pressly This did come up at the meeting that we had upstairs. Many of us were quite surprised at the price because there‟s a lot of land and coverage there. The discussion was interesting in that people felt that anything that was in the bed and fastened there should not be disturbed. A lot of what you can see today is just resting on top. Pipes, lumber, wood, I could see a box. I think someone picked up the bicycle, maybe they‟re riding it someplace. Many of us would like to know just what this involves. That‟s quite a bit of land, both side of the river. Do you have something specific as to what $15,000 will actually do? Will it clean up both sides? Mayor Lozeau It will clean up both sides of the exposed bed from Main Street to Coliseum Ave. Alderman Pressly And they are going to pick up everything that they can see. Mayor Lozeau They are going to take it all out. Alderman Pressly That‟s not embedded into the soil? Mayor Lozeau Except for tree roots and things like that, but the shopping carts, the debris, the tires. The things that we can see. Alderman Pressly It looks like trees just resting on top. Mayor Lozeau The ones that have no roots into that will be removed. Alderman Pressly They are going to do that for $15,000? That length? That‟s an amazing amount. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 16 Mayor Lozeau We‟re collaborating with them. Part of the scope of service will be that we‟ll have agreed to locations where they can deposit what they are taking out and that the city will take that way and bring it to the landfill. They‟re not going to be responsible for the disposal which helps keep the price down. Alderman Pressly So you‟re just going to group the debris in sites and the city will pick it up. Mayor Lozeau Exactly, similar to what we‟ve done with water chestnuts and things in the past. We‟ll put dumpsters in particular locations. Alderman Pressly Is there a chance we could see this agreement? Is it in writing/ Mayor Lozeau You‟ll see it when it comes to finance. Right now he‟s putting together the scope of services. It‟s broad. They were out again today looking at it, finishing some of those details. Alderman Pressly And they can do it from the Main Street bridge all the way to Coliseum Ave for $15,000? Mayor Lozeau That‟s correct. Chairman McCarthy What about between Main Street and the dam? There‟s a significant amount of crud in that space too. Mayor Lozeau I should have said from the project to Coliseum. Where that project ends up to Coliseum. Then the Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee is actually looking at things further up, primarily trees that have fell in a way that they would like to remove as well. They may do something. Alderman Pressly There are trees all along. You can see them. Mayor Lozeau All that storm damage over the years, the ice storms, the hurricane. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 17 Alderman Pressly Just to clarify this, all the debris, whatever it is, be it fallen trees that have fallen down, bicycles, strange items, if they are not embedded into the riverbed which is what you see today, will be consolidated some place and removed by the city. Mayor Lozeau Correct. And I expect Alderman Pressly at our next finance committee we‟ll have that contract with the scope of services. Alderman Pressly Thank you, I look forward to seeing that. It‟s a lot of area to cover for $15,000. You wouldn‟t find me down there. Mayor Lozeau They think it will take about 14 days. If you look at it that way, it‟s about $1,000 a day. Alderman Pressly Do they have boats? Mayor Lozeau They do. They have barges that they will use, cranes. Alderman Pressly Walls, you can‟t reach it other than to reach over. What about the log that‟s resting under the Main Street bridge? That‟s going to go too? Mayor Lozeau Yes. Alderman Pressly That‟s good. Chairman McCarthy BIDA appraisal. Mayor Lozeau That money comes from economic development. You‟ll also see another amount on the like-for-like in economic development to cover of our share of the appraisal. Together it‟s about $28,000 that we‟re putting aside for the appraisal for the Renaissance property. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 18 Alderman Pressly Is there already money put aside and this is a supplement to that? Mayor Lozeau Early on BIDA had money that they had authority over for the project. You‟ll see on the like-for-like list, economic development, line 14, $13,348. You put the two totals together, it‟s about $28,000 for our share of the appraisal cost. Chairman McCarthy Lastly the asset management software. Mayor Lozeau That money comes from the fire department. We have talked in the past about city buildings, assets, things that we have that we have not really been able to put in any kind of a system to know how old is the roof on city hall, how old is a fire station, when should a floor be replaced, when should the HVAC be looked at. In the past year, we have gone out to bid looking for companies that do that kind of work to get an idea of what it would cost if we wanted to do something like that. There‟s one company that the staff team has recommended. What we‟d like to do is schedule a time to come into the Infrastructure Committee and have that company do a presentation on what they can do and what benefits we may have by putting that system in place. This was an opportunity for us to not impact the budget and have a placeholder in case we want to move forward with that. Alderman Dowd Is this like a long term capital planning software or is this a maintenance software? Mayor Lozeau It‟s both. We‟ve included the schools on the team. Alderman Dowd The school department has a software like that. Mayor Lozeau They do have something like that but not quite as robust as some of what this system might be able to provide. We‟ve had them at the table with us. Alderman Deane I‟d like to go to the like to like stuff, Mr. Chairman. Are you going to that? Chairman McCarthy Yup. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 19 Mayor Lozeau The first item on that list is my office, salaries and benefits, holding onto some funds for an intern for $999. We‟ve had some good luck with having some student interns coming in during the summer. Alderman Pressly Have you ever considered retired senior interns? Mayor Lozeau Of course, Alderman Pressly. Anybody who has applied for the position we would certainly consider. It‟s actually a wonderful experience for some of our high school students. Our last intern that just went back to college was the Class Valedictorian two years ago at Nashua High School. It‟s just a good experience for them to work in the Mayor‟s Office, work with the different departments. I would certainly consider that. Alderman Pressly I was thinking other times of the year than summer. Mayor Lozeau Anytime of the year if there‟s work to be done. Alderman Pressly Does someone apply for that? Do you advertise what you‟re looking for? Mayor Lozeau This intern position we posted it and had applicants. We also have had interns from the Plus Co from their income program which doesn‟t cost the city any money at all but is experience. We‟ve had interns from that program in community development as well as my office which has been very helpful. There‟s other times during the year when economic development will have interns from time to time. Public Works will have them. Alderman Pressly I‟m thinking of the really wonderful history study that was done by the intern. I think it was for economic development. That‟s something that would appeal to a senior also. Something where you‟d do an in- depth research like that. I‟m just thinking it would be another resource that might be available. Mayor Lozeau I‟ll take them all. The next item is library, property services. This is continuing work on the outside the courtyard where they are having a lot of trouble with the shape that that‟s in. That‟s funds that they asked to hold onto as they are doing that work. Alderman Deane What are they having trouble with? Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 20 Mayor Lozeau They are having trouble with the area in the courtyard. A lot of skateboarding going on on the steps and the walls. Alderman Deane It‟s more than skateboarding. Mayor Lozeau I agree. There‟s bicycles. Alderman Deane There‟s more problems over there than bicycles and skateboards. Mayor Lozeau I know there‟s some drainage issues, there‟s some lawn issues. Alderman Deane This money is from two years ago? Mayor Lozeau I don‟t know if it‟s two years ago. I know it was prior year escrow. I think it was just last year. Mr. Griffin Correct. Alderman Deane And it was money that was left over from the 2012 budget? Mayor Lozeau Right. Alderman Deane So that‟s 12, 13 and now we‟re into 2014. Mayor Lozeau It depends if you‟re counting it by calendar year or fiscal year. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 21 Alderman Deane I think there should be limitations put on money. People shouldn‟t be sitting on it. They came, they told us what they needed to do and two years later, they are requesting to continue to hold it. It‟s like the pension. You‟ve got $500,000 in pension but we‟re not onto that yet. Mayor Lozeau The next one is parking lots relative to the pay station project. That project is still happening. Alderman Pressly Which parking lot? Mayor Lozeau It‟s not a parking lot. That‟s where the funds have been. 66 is parking lots. It‟s a capital improvement project. You passed the legislation a year or so ago. The next one is pensions. We anticipate spending that money this year. We knew that we were going to have $3.7 million. You‟ve heard me say that number a lot. This year we only had to budget $3.2 million because we havfe this $500,000 and we anticipate spending it for that cost. The next one is street dollars, capital improvements, the ongoing Main Street project. The next oen is park and recreation for playground equipment, $19,000. Again ongoing project, playground equipment replacement. Alderman Deane I moved to put this money in the budget for Sargents Abvenue and ntohign‟s been done. Nothing. Mayor Lozeau It‟s just a matter of time. Alderman Deane Absolutely nothing. Mayor Lozeau Well actually, ALdemran Deane, a lot has been done but nothing has been done at Sargent Ave to replace the playground equipment. That‟s true. Alderman Deane That‟s what the monehy was put in there for. Mayor Lozeau You still need enough people, Alderman Deane, to do that work. As I told you when the money went in, I agreed with you for the playground equipment but I told you I wasn‟t certain that that work could be done right away. You also wanted the basketball court done right away. We did that. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 22 Alderman Deane That was subcontracted. The city did absolutely nothing on that end. Mayor Lozeau Actually that‟s not true. The city still has to coordinate it. It still has to do the bid documents. It still has to oversee the project. Alderman Deane You act like they are out there physically paving and painting and putting poles in. It was all subcontracted. Mayor Lozeau I‟m not trying to act like that. Alderman Deane They did a wonderful job too by the way. Mayor Lozeau I understand. All I‟m saying is there was a signficiant amount of owkr done. Alderman Deane My feeling is if the facility is in disrepair then we hsoudl remove it. We hosuld just remove it so nobody gets hrut. That‟s what it‟s like. It‟s just worng. It really, really bugs me. It really bugs me. Go over there. Mayor Lozeau I‟ve been over hter, Alderman Deane. Alderman Deane Go over htee and take a hard look. Kids are goig to get hung up in those chains. It‟s not a good situation. Mayor Lozeau And that‟s why we‟re escrowing the money, ALdemarn Deane. Alderman Deane I was going to send the director an e-mail and ask her what the progress was or if there was any progress. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 23 Mayor Lozeau We‟ll let you know. The next one was the one that I mentioned while we were talking on the previous page toward the appraisal for the Renaissance project. The next one, the 86, is transporation. You‟ll recall last year we approved two CNG buses for the transit department. We set aside our share of the match money. The FDA went forward and they only went with one bus instead of two. Mr. Sousa is hoping they will come back with the second bus this year. I‟d like to hold onto the money for that purpose. The next one is contingency, 94, is contingency. It‟s from the prior year. It‟s for the retro active cost of negotiations, Fiscal 12 money. You‟ll see we do the same down below, contingency negotiations for Fiscal 13. As some of those negotiations take place, as you know we still have contracts that have not been negotiated, and one set of them are older than the rest. That‟s the list from prior year escrows, about $700,000, $500,000 of which is pensions. The enxt section is the operating budgets, new escrows. Again the first one is pensions to fund the pension costs that are associated with the negotiatins because as those contracdts retroactively are negotiated, there are going to be additional costs with pensions. The enxt one, 26, is financial services. We have had an employee out on long term disability. We have a temporary employee that‟s been in place. Then we have consulting services requested by the accounting manager. Alderman Deane What are we consulting on? Mayor Lozeau What we‟re interested in is the manager would ike to look at a method for indirect costing. Alderman Deane Of what? Mayor Lozeau As it relates to grants and other things to have a method in place. Alderman Deane A method for indirect costing. What does that mean? Mayor Lozeau We‟re allowed to have indirect costs as it relates to charges for grants, federal money, state money. Things like that. We don‟t have a consistent number that is used or a methoid to determine that number. It‟s been recommended by the accounting manager that we should havfe that, and we agree. Myself and the CFO. Alderman Deane Do we still have money for consulting services associated with auditing outside of our end-of-the-year audit? Say we‟re going to audit a department or audit whatever it may be, we still have money available to do that if need be? Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 24 Mr. Griffin That‟s correct. Alderman Deane Are we doing that on a regular basis or are ew doing that if a problem arises where something happens you have the money available? Or, are we going thorugh on occasion and having somebody come in from the outside and audit different areas of the city? Mr. Griffin There‟s been a few since I‟ve been here in three years. There‟s been a few audits. Alderman Deane Did you implement the audits yourself? Mr. Griffin No. Alderman Deane How are they implemented? Mayor Lozeau The City Treasurer. Alderman Deane Soemthing didn‟t look right so he borught somebody in? Mayor Lozeau He makes recommendations on different things. The current audit that‟s taking palce is relative to the ambulrance contract. Right now it looks good but it‟s being audited, their billing and things like that, to make sure tha they are in compliance with our expectations udnder the cointract. I think that‟s a godod use of funds. Next is 50, the police. That‟s to purchase computer equipment and computer software. Alderman Pressly Could you elaborate on that? Ithink they are going ot have to some activation. What is it for speicifcally? There‟s so many dife3rent areas. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 25 Mayor Lozeau They are replacing computers and updating software. It‟s rpetty typical. We do that thoughoiut the city. We‟re generally on a five-year schedule. Alderman Pressly Is this in the building or in the vehicles or is it all those things? Mayor Lozeau In the building. The next is park-recreation. We kept the money in place ofr the state championship team travel expense, Centennial pool repairs that are needed, more playground equipment and the last one should say to fund the cost of improvements for baseball, not just Little League. Alderman Deane as you know better than most, the Cal Ripken has become a single orngaizaiton with two divisions. We have three lighted feidls in the city. Rather than try to expend money and find an appropriate location to light another field, we‟ve brought Cal Ripken and Little League to the table so that each of those groups have a field that has lights for the kdis to be play on. Intiially we thought it was going to be Lincoln Park. Little League is going ot be moving over to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park and the Fred Lajoie Field will be their area where they have a lit field. We set funds aside to ehlp both organizations and make sure what they need to have done to make that happen is available. Alderman Deane Whatw oudl that be? Mayor Lozeau For instance, the Fred Lajoie Field is a 70-foot feet. It‟s got to go to 60. Equipment is going ot come out of the concession stands. There‟s probably some workt hat needs to be done at Lincoln Park. Origianlly we thought we‟d have to look at more fencing. We‟ll have to see what it is. Alderman Deane We‟re not buying equipment field for baseball leagues now, are we? Mayor Lozeau No, we‟re nmot. Alderman Deane I wasn‟t at that meeting. For some reason, I wasn‟t asked to go. I heard it was a little contentious at times and I wasn‟t even there. Mayor Lozeau It happens. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 26 Alderman Deane People makig claims that the icyt buys Cal Ripken lawn mowers and tractors. That oculdn‟t be further from the truth. Mayor Lozeau I don‟t think anybody claimed that. I was at the meeting. I think it was conitentious because it‟s a difficult thing for somebody to be asked. Alderman Deane It‟s like anything else, Mayor, once you give it up it‟s gone. I think the realiziation of the whole situation is there‟s a lack of number of children youth baseball. Mayor Lozeau I don‟t disagree. Alderman Deane It‟s very, very apparent when six years ago we had 285 kids in the North Cal Ripken League and the year before we had 135 kids from one section of town. Take that by four different leagues in the city. There‟s 600 kids on average. That doesn‟t even include Little League whose numbers are down. So there‟s rpobalby 750 kids or so that are doiong other thigns. Mayor Lozeau We have a soccer explosion, however. Alderman Deane $60,000 I don‟t know what that‟s going ot be spent on. Mayor Lozeau It‟s meant to be spent on baseball field. Alderman Deane On any of them? The youth fields? Mayor Lozeau I think the first priority is settling people into the locations for any of the work that we may have to do. Once that‟s done loking at any of the other baseball fields that need attention. Alderman Deane I have a lot of weeds htat need to be pulled. I don‟t see anyone pushing me out of the way to do that either. I always turn around hoping someone will be there to do that. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 27 Mayor Lozeau The nexst item is community health, 72. This is medical for the STD clinic. The last one, as I mentioned, is contingency. The money came from contingency and it‟s for contingency negoitaitons. Alderman Deane What departments is the contingency? Mayor Lozeau It was contignecy for negotiations. Alderman Deane For who? You have police contracts that are outstanding. What else? Mayor Lozeau I‟m sorry. I idnd‟t realize that‟s what wyou were asking. We havfe the new batch. Tonigh tyoiu had the library contract. AFSCME is up, starting negotiations. But that‟s not what this is for. This is speicficlaly for the police contracts. Mr. Griffin Correct. Mayor Lozeau The five police contracts, well four now. One is settled. The enxt on the list if 52, fire. It‟s their deferred maintenance. They still have an ongoing list of things and requested to hang onto that mney. As you know we don‟t fyund that dfeferred maintenance as high as maybe is necessary. But they do have items on their list. Alderman Deane I think we‟ve put a good dent in a lot of their problems. Mayor Lozeau I agree. Alderman Deane Without the amount of buildings, and between their trucks. I know they srtill have some problems but for the most part, things aren‟t in disrepair like they used to be. Mayor Lozeau They‟re not complaining. That‟s true. I would agree. The next is citywide communications. That‟s the money that‟s remaining from the $150,000 for radios. The next is streets and that‟s our typical paving Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 28 money that‟s rolled into the paving program this year. We cross fiscal years as you know. The next is traffic. It includes things on Main Street as well as the two railroad crossings. Main Street and East Hollis Street are the onies we have in mind with those dollars. Alderman Deane That‟s for the railroad crossings are the ones on? Mayor Lozeau Main Street and East Hollis Street. The next one is Park-Rec and that‟s to fund the cost of pool repairs. Alderman Deane The centennial pool is $55,000. That‟s for a liner an filter? Mayor Lozeau It‟s just for the filter. Alderman Deane $55,000 for a filter? No way, no way. You‟re getting hosed Mayor Lozeau No pun intended. Alderman Deane I‟m just letting you kjnow. The city is getting screwed. How about that? Mayor Lozeau I doino‟t like that word any better, Aldreman Deane. Thank you. Alderman Deane I‟m just letting you jnow, Mayor, that $55,000 for a filter. Mayor Lozeau Here‟s what I‟m going to tell you what Iknow. Mr. Cagginao needs a new filter at Centennial pool and he‟d like a liner. $55,000 is what we could legitimately put aside. I don‟t believe that buys both. I could be wrong on whether it‟s the liner first or the filter but I‟m rpetty sure it‟s the filter. Alderman Deane $55,000 for a pool filter? No way. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 29 Mayor Lozeau I‟m sure there‟s associated costs with it. I know it‟s more than $55,000 for both. If he‟s able to do them with his funds, Alderman Deane What did we pay for Fairgrounds? I‟m all for relining the pool and getting rid of that chlorinated rubber paint and all that other crap. Mayor Lozeau But as I said to him, I think the priority is the filter. It might be that the filter and the liner will be done if we include this $18,000. That might be, you know? Alderman Deane I know the filter in that shed is probably from the 60‟s. It‟s just one steel drum. Mayor Lozeau We‟ll take a look at it when it comes through. Alderman Deane You can put a bank of four Haywood filters in there for probably around $10,000. I think the liner is the expensive thing. Mayor Lozeau Okay. I just know he has both that he wants to do. Alderman Deane If you‟re going to redo the pool, that filter does need to be replaced. There‟s no doubt about it. Mayor Lozeau The last item is schools. As you recall in the budtge, I told you that we brought down their deferred maintenance in order to add to their budget for teachers and told them that during this process that we anticipated, dpeneing on what their surplus would be,t hat we would be able to return that money to deferred maintnence. That‟s what that is. The second one is their current dreferred maintenance amount. That covers all of the escrows. Alderman Deane Just so you don‟t think I‟m going off the beaten path, I want to ask a question about Main Street for a second. You‟re crosswalks. Do those lights in the street only work at night? Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 30 Mayor Lozeau They are LED lights. You can see them better at night, but they work during the day. They‟re just not as bright as you might expect them to be. Alderman Deane And the LED lights that are on the poles up on top of Library Hill. How are those controlled? Mayor Lozeau On the street lights? Alderman Deane The street lights, not the traffic signals. The lights that are up on the poles. Are those controlled by a photocell or a timer? Mayor Lozeau I don‟t hink I”ve asked that uesiton. I know that they just went on. Alderman Deane They are on dur4ing the daylight horus. Mayor Lozeau Because what‟s happening right now, ALdrmean Deane, is we are rewiring all of Main Street. On Mechanic Street, Eldrdige Street, Temple Street and behind Soverign Bank, there are going ot bge four locations for electricity. Right now we have to keep a 480 line going for the old lights while we‟re running the 120 for the new lights. We have not yet completed the work to allow us to turn on all the streetlights so they may be in a siutaiton where they are just keeping them on until everyithn is put in place and operational the way it should be. Alderman Deane They were off when I went home. They were on when I came down here. It wasn‟t dark. Mayor Lozeau Okay. You just told me they were on during the day. Alderman Deane It was light out. Like the ones out back here on the back of the building. Mayor Lozeau I know the ones you mean. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 31 Alderman Deane But I think those are on a timer. Mayor Lozeau They are on a timer, the ones at icyt hall. Alderman Deane But the ones up on the poles I believe would be on a photocell of some sort. Mayor Lozeau I don‟t know I didn‟t ask taht uestion. I don‟t recall. I‟d be happy to find out. MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE TO REDUCE $250,000 FOR THE GAS COLLECTION UPGRADES TO $120,000 AND TO ADD ANOTHER ITEM FOR DAM ABUTMENT REPAIRS IN THE AMOUNT OF $100,000 MOTION CARRIED Chairman McCarthy The motion on the floor is for final passage as amended. MOTION CARRIED NEW BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-13-48 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy PERMITTING ADMINISTRATIVE TRANSFERS WITHIN DIVISIONS INSTEAD OF ONLY WITHIN DEPARTMENTS MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE TO RECOMMEND INDEFINITE POSTPONEMENT OF O-13-48 ON THE QUESTION I think there‟s enough latitude within these operating budgets. There‟s enough money moved around. The real net effect of this ordinance lies within the public works department. That‟s how I see it anyways. Everything else, community development, the health department, that area over there, are all small operating budgets. I don‟t think we need to be moving money from departments within divisions. We have a budget process. If there‟s a problem they can come see us afterwards is some sort of action needs to be taken by this Board. I can‟t support doing this. Chairman McCarthy I did endorse it, and I might explain why. I can understand why, particularly under current circumstances, there may be some concern with this. If I look at public works and we budget public works as four different departments, if I look at other divisions, if I look at fire, if I look at police, police Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 32 really has the uniformed operations bureau, the services bureau, detectives. We don‟t budget those as separate departments. Therefore transfers can be made within the line items in the department that services all of those things. Likewise in fire; likewise in the library. We saw tonight that the library is composed of different departments, but their budget is all common. The mayor could put in a budget for public works that was a single department within the division which would have the same effect as passing this legislation would. It seems like it just makes it easier to do truthful budgeting but still have flexibility. The real problem that we have seen, and I think we have it fixed now with the accounting system, although I‟m not entirely sure how some of the recent events came to us at budget the way they did, is the ability to over expend an account during the year which, as I understand it, the new system does not allow. The transfers have to be made before the expense can be charged. Is that correct? Mayor Lozeau No, Mr. Chairman. It used to be that everybody was constantly, and I‟ll use a very basic descriptor. Let‟s say we had office supplies. When you have individual lines under office supplies that happens because you‟re showing that last year you spent money on pencils, and it was $100. Then you have a line on paper and then you have a line on toner. I‟m just making this up just for illustrative purposes. What was happening was if somebody needed more pencils than pens, they were transferring money from pens to pencils. It was a significant amount of work for everybody to be moving all of these things around. Instead on the two-digit for office supplies, as long as that line is not over expended, you can spend money on pencils or pens and we haven‟t made people, quick, transfer money to cover that. We‟ve said as long as our within your two-digit, which it‟s always been allowed that way, but we went through the exercise of the transfers. Under this new system the accounting manager has told us numerous times it takes a significant amount of time for staff to be moving transfers around between lines. Sometimes you spend on paperclips, you didn‟t have a line item for paperclips because this year you didn‟t‟ expect to buy paperclips, but you have an office supply line that you‟re allowed to buy paper- clips with so you do that. Then in next year‟s budget maybe pens fall off because you didn‟t buy any but paperclips goes on because you did. Now you see the true spend everywhere. You‟re not seeing people doing those multiple transfers just for that purpose of keeping those single lines within that category in the black. That‟s where we‟re trying to make the difference. Did I explain that correctly, Mr. Griffin? Mr. Griffin Correct. Mayor Lozeau The problem when we talk about the unfortunate circumstance that we find ourselves in is that while that category of food was over expended in the sense of a single line, it wasn‟t in the sense of that category. I think all of us were under the impression that that overspend related directly to the winter. As a matter of fact that question was asked and that was the impression we all had. We had a very tough winter last year with multiple back-to-back storms so it seemed not unreasonable to spend an amount associated with that. Having that $1500 be spent at a time of the year that none of us expected, as you‟ve heard me say, was poor judgment. The system failed on multiple levels. It started with the poor judgment exercised by the manager in place. Then by a shift in administrative assistants who normally would catch it because as you know sadly in this instance we lost the administrative assistant. That switched hands temporarily. Then it should have been caught at the financial service level. Then it should have been caught at the accounts payable level. Then it should have been caught at Treasurer/CFO level. Then it should have been caught at that the Board of Aldermen and the Mayor‟s level. Every single one of those safeguards failed all the way through the process. As I‟ve told people, there‟s only three things Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 33 we can do in that instance: 1) recognized that it happened and it was wrong and it shouldn‟t have happened; 2) hold somebody responsible for it; and 3) make sure it doesn‟t happen again. That‟s what we‟re doing for that $1500. But this legislation, I understand that it‟s easy to try to categorize them in the same, and to say after that happened certainly we can‟t allow this to happen. This legislation would not either help that to happen or prevent that from happening. Chairman McCarthy I think I see where the legislation is likely to go this evening. What I would like us to do is I don‟t want us to create unnecessary work, but I think what we need to do is examine the way the system is serving us and the way the safeguards are serving us and figure out how to make sure that policy is enforced with the minimum amount of red tape to do that. In this case, there's significant red tape and it still failed. I can understand my colleagues. We had looked at this before that unfortunate series of events even unfolded. I can understand why the members of this Board are not likely to entertain that. In the future, I think we need to get a much better handle on how those safeguards are intended to work, how they work and how we make sure they work on a regular basis so we don‟t see that again. Mayor Lozeau As you know, Mr. Chairman, I agree with that and I think we‟re taking those steps to ensure that. Alderman Deane I really didn‟t want to get into a sausage debate, but it didn‟t fail at the Board of Aldermen‟s level. I asked Mr. Sorensen on the 29 of May at a Budget Review Committee if they were down cutting POs feeding the staff at restaurants on Main Street. He said no. That was his answer. It‟s in the minutes. I asked. I was lied to. But whatever, I don‟t agree with the food thing. I tried to cut it. I had three people on this Board that supported it, none of them are in this room I believe. But my question about this thing is now we have two enterprise accounts. One that‟s a complete failure, and one that is in need of its fees which is wastewater. We have a wastewater account set up. Say there‟s a fee increase and we start garnering some retained earnings and things of that nature. Now we find out that another department within public works needs $200,000 or something. They go over to the wastewater department and they transfer money out of wastewater to go say fix Holman Stadium, or whatever. I‟m sure there‟s probably parameters that are set in under law associated with enterprise accounts. Mayor Lozeau It doesn‟t apply. Chairman McCarthy That would not apply because the enterprise accounts are different divisions effectively. Alderman Deane But they are still part of public works. They are overseen by public works, and they are in the public works umbrella. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 34 Chairman McCarthy I don‟t believe even if this passes you would be able to transfer money because they‟re effectively not the same division. Mayor Lozeau That‟s correct. Alderman Deane But they fall under the authority of the Board of Public Works as separate operating budgets. Chairman McCarthy Sure, but they can‟t move money between those because it is an enterprise fund. Alderman Deane If you‟d like Mr. Chairman, I‟ll move to table this legislation. I‟m never going to support it. This pens and paperclips and pencil line, when I look at these broadly defined line items, buildings, grounds and maintenance. You can buy pencils under that line. Everything is just so broad. These five digits are just broad now. I did notice lines that are upside down. Some of the lines are upside down and checks. I looked in the warrant. There‟s checks in there that have no dollar value. This record of expenditure. I go through that and I would go through the financials and see some lines that are in the negative. We were always told as long as the two-digit isn‟t in the negative then the five-digit within the two-digit doesn‟t matter. I think there‟s a broad enough definition here. I really don‟t think it needs to be done. If I move to table it, you‟re not going to allow comment and I don‟t know if Alderman Sheehan had some remarks to make. I didn‟t want to have her come down here for nothing if you‟re going to be a tyrant about it. Chairman McCarthy I would prefer that we just let the motion that‟s on the floor go and see where it goes. Alderman Wilshire I kind of feel that this is less transparency instead of more. I‟ve heard from a few constituents that they don‟t think that it‟s a good idea. I‟m not convinced that this is something I can support at this time. Alderman Sheehan I had planned on being here earlier. I was at a ward crime watch meeting. I got here as quickly as I could. I had wanted to be here for the library as well, but I also wanted to speak to this. I know that in addition to the transparency issue and the whole without getting into making laws are like making sausages sometimes, but with the two digit code and not having the five digit code be seen, we‟re not having a line for pencils, a line for paperclips, a line for pens to go back. One of the things some of the managers miss is why am I ordering so many pens? Where are the pens disappearing? Is something going wrong? We‟re going through a lot of pens. Or we haven‟t ordered paperclips in a long time. I think it‟s also a tool. I think fixing the process might be better but making it easier for things to move and then oh my whole pen disappeared, the pen line item, in addition to the transparency, I think it‟s a Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 35 management tool to have more line items rather than less. It would have been a lot more obvious a lot more quickly that a $1200 line item was in triple already depleted. I just think it‟s easier for the manager to have something jump out if something‟s over budget in a way that it‟s tracking too early in addition to just the transparency. I understand that if it‟s a lot of extra work that‟s what we need to fix. I think maybe we can do that a better way than this. Thank you. Mayor Lozeau I certainly understand where this is going. I don‟t think anybody was anymore disappointed than I was in the bad judgment that was used. Although I hate to punish all the city departments over it, as the chairman was saying, school, police, fire, library, all effectively do what we‟re asking you to do in this legislation for the remaining city departments. Frankly when you look back at the way it was written, we don‟t say police division. We say the police department. We don‟t say the fire division, we say the fire department. I think the interpretation by the legal department some years ago about whether it was relating to department or division, well I guess I‟m not going to say it‟s not accurate, I‟m just surprised by that. This legislation doesn‟t change any of those things, Alderman Sheehan. We‟re not going to have necessarily less five digits. If there‟s spending happening in the line, it will be captured. The issue around what happened at Sausage King, and when I said it failed, you‟re right Alderman Deane, you specifically asked that question and all of us heard that same answer. I asked that question when the budget came in because as you know we have a column in the budget, very transparent, that says “spent to date” so we know what it is. That question was asked when it was presented to me by streets. The Board of Public Works asked that question. There was no reason for us to think there was anything amiss. When the record of expenditures came through it was clearly in the record of expenditures, you know? Alderman Deane More than once. Mayor Lozeau Five times. Alderman Deane I know I saw it. Mayor Lozeau It would have been great if you would have pointed it out. You knew that? Alderman Sheehan I heard you say Sausage King in the back room before. Why does it keep showing up in the record. Alderman Deane Normally when I inquire about something, Mayor, somebody goes back and looks, right? Isn‟t that what happens? Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 36 Mayor Lozeau Right, but I did not hear an inquiry from you in a finance meeting on Sausage King. Usually you would catch something like that and ask the question. If I would have known, realized early on, but I just think there are numerous ways that was out there. It wasn‟t hidden. We just didn‟t catch it the way I would have thought we would. But I don‟t think this legislation impacts that. I see where this is going tonight. I‟m not going to make a huge case for it. I do think that we‟re working towards trying to get the division of public works to work as a division. To have employees that work from one place to the other, depending on what the need is. It‟s something that the Board of Public Works has concentrated on. We‟ve had the UAW employees tell us that they feel like they can work in any department if we ask them to. I would like to see the same with AFSCME. I would like to see employees primarily hired for say the parks department but able to be moved to the streets department if we need them other than just snow storms and that sort of thing. This was just trying to head down that path. I don‟t want to end the discussion around this budget without recognizing that something went wrong. I do think it‟s fixable. I can tell you I don‟t want to spend the next amount of time that I‟m mayor or 15 years or 20 years from now hearing, Oh ya that was the Sausage. Who wants that? Alderman Deane Sorry. Mayor Lozeau I know too late. I know. $1500 in poor judgment. Alderman Deane When it makes the front page of the Sacramento Bee you know you‟re in trouble. Mayor Lozeau I think if it wasn‟t called the Sausage King it might not have gotten quite so far. The point is the same. None of us feel good about that mistake that was made. We are going to make changes. We have talked about what we can do to prevent that from happening. I think our budget process is incredibly transparent including every transfer that comes out of a two digit into another two digit. That‟s where you have to worry about seeing transfers happen. If I take it out of office supplies and I move it into building maintenance, you still should have to do the paperwork and get it signed off so everybody knows it went there. I have no objection to that, and I would never change that process. But transferring within that same two digit just doesn‟t make sense. Seeing all the spend, absolutely it makes sense. But who would have thought that you would have to go back and look at $1500 that somebody wouldn‟t have been as forthright with you as they should have been when the question was asked. Because it was asked, and it was asked more than once. Chairman McCarthy Which two digit code did that come out of? Mayor Lozeau 61. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 37 Chairman McCarthy Which is? Mr. Griffin Supplies and materials. Chairman McCarthy What I would hate to walk away thinking is that if we just kill this piece of legislation, we‟ve solved that problem became we haven‟t. We‟ve stopped the lateral transfers from department to department, but in this case, unfortunately, the problem is that the two digit 51 code covers a host of items. I think even the members of the Board who voted to leave the food items in the budget, voted to leave them in at a particular level and didn‟t say: “Tell you what. Don‟t buy pencils, get more sausage.” The policy issue is what was presented to us at the budget committee was when there‟s a big storm event and we ask everybody to work double shifts, we buy them dinner and have a meeting. I thought was a reasonable expense and that‟s arguable. Other people have different opinions of it. But what happened that we‟re now seeing went much further than that. My biggest problem is I don‟t understand what the policy is that was being used. Were we buying stuff when we worked double shifts on other work or were we buying stuff just because we felt like buying stuff? I don‟t think we‟ll ever know the answer to that. I know you and I looked at some of the receipts and it‟s tough to tell from dates and times what the circumstance was. I think there‟s a bigger issue there with transfers within the sub codes of the two digit codes that some of the things we want to budget an absolute limited amount for. That doesn‟t mean manage it to get more money from somewhere else. It means don‟t spend more than that. Mayor Lozeau I agree, Mr. Chairman. We have a $250 million city budget, and we budgeted less than $10,000 for food. Less than $10,000. Half of that was spent in Public Works. Most of us expected that would be, and we did, we had storms that went back-to-back, two and three days at a time. I delivered lunch on a Sunday myself to them. I think that‟s what we expected was happening. If the superintendent had said to me: “I kept the guys downtown a double shift, and I didn‟t want them to take off so I fed them dinner so they were here and ready when the concrete truck.” Would I have said I could understand that once or twice during the project? Probably. Three or four times a month? Absolutely not. Frankly I went down there on more than occasion where I brought ice coffees when the weather was more than 90 degrees that I paid for out of my personal funds. It would have been nice if somebody said to me, don‟t worry about that. We‟ve actually fed them today. Frankly, it‟s not easy carrying. I would have liked to have known that. I feel the same way you do, a little bit snookered by somebody I had some faith in that was going to use good judgment. In the scheme of a $250 million budget, it‟s the nickels that hurt the most most the time. I apologize, but as I said, I think the safeguards, it just failed. And as you can imagine, I don‟t think I‟ve seen anybody besides me in a bigger funk than the city treasurer who feels just horrible about this. Alderman Deane He‟ll get over it. Mayor Lozeau I think you know the city treasurer. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 38 Alderman Deane A little counseling. Mayor Lozeau He takes this very seriously. Alderman Deane He‟ll be okay. I‟ll call him when I leave here and make sure. Mayor Lozeau Please don‟t. I don‟t think that would help, Alderman Deane, with all due respect. Alderman Deane I bet it would. I want to know who released a vendor number to a restaurant? That‟s what I want to know. Mayor Lozeau We‟ve looked into this as I‟m sure you can all appreciate that we would and took this very seriously. It is an isolated incident from what we can tell now. We‟ve looked through every department on meals. We currently have three restaurants that have a vendor number. They are ones that are used typically during the winter. What went wrong here wasn‟t the vendor number. What went wrong was somebody opened a tab. They didn‟t have the authority for a PO for that. They did a payment authorization after the fact. Otherwise, we would have caught it immediately. That‟s really what went wrong here. We‟re looking at it and we‟re making sure that it doesn‟t happen again. That‟s the best I can offer. Right now as you know I‟ve sent you the letter to explain to you. Immediately upon finding out about this, all of the food in public works has to get a signoff from the director in order for anything to be spent. There has been no food at DPW since we learned this. The CFO and I spoke about this. We decided, and he sent out a letter that said nobody. All the money is frozen at the director level right now until we are satisfied that we have gotten to the bottom of it and that our policy is clear and that each of those levels that I‟ve described here tonight which is about seven levels, make sure that they all understand on the way up that list what their responsibility is and what the expectations are of them. Whether it‟s food or pencils or whatever it is. Alderman Deane What was the date of that? Mayor Lozeau The date of what? Alderman Deane No more chow date. What was the date for everybody? Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 39 Mayor Lozeau Two weeks ago. Alderman Deane So there should be no expenditures found in the warrant or record. Mayor Lozeau Unless it‟s been signed off by a director. Alderman Deane I thought there was no tiki, no laundry, no food at all for anybody. Mayor Lozeau For instance my office has purchased coffee. Alderman Deane Is that just operating accounts or is that expendable trust funds? Those fund food purchases. Mr. Griffin There were items that were purchased prior to my memo going out. We have to be cognizant of that. That memo was to stop the affirmative buying of meals as of that date. If somebody bought something the week before in good faith and conscience and appropriate then that‟s going to make it‟s say through. Alderman Deane Well you have to pay the vendor. Do we have credit cards with US Bank now? Mr. Griffin Credit cards? No. US Bank is the entity that leases, subject to check, items to us. Alderman Deane Leases photocopiers? Mr. Griffin Photocopiers, ya. They have an agreement with Conway Office Products. Chairman McCarthy Do you have reason to suspect we have credit cards with US Bank? Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 40 Alderman Deane Did you go through the latest Record of Expenditures? Alderman Sheehan Copier leases. Alderman Deane It doesn‟t say photocopier leases. Mayor Lozeau I can assure you we don‟t have credit cards with US Bank. But any of those things, Alderman Deane, as I‟ve said to you before, anything that jumps out at you that you wonder about, I appreciate any eyes that look at something that can make sure that we‟re doing Alderman Deane People were aggravated when I did that. Mayor Lozeau I know on more than one occasion, I havfe told you that if you „re aware of something. You‟ve had times when you‟ve brought something to my attention that I was not aware of. I asked you if a city employee had told you that or whatever the case may be and said if you know that to be true because I‟ll be happy to look into things. Alderman Deane You say $10,000 is peanuts. I think $10,000 is a lot of money. Mayor Lozeau I did not say it was peanuts. I did not say it was peanuts. What I said was less than $10,000 has been budgeted for meals out of a $250,000 million budget. I take every single. Alderman Deane Its nickels. I‟m sorry, it‟s nickels. Mayor Lozeau No, that‟s not what I said. Alderman Deane You said it was nickels. That‟s what you said. Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 41 Mayor Lozeau I don‟t think you should make assumptions about why I say what I say. I take this very Alderman Deane I didn‟t make an assumption. You said it was nickels. Mayor Lozeau I said that nickels hurt more than dollars. They sting, and they do. This was a $1500 error in judgment. It doesn‟t make it less important than a $150,000 problem. It was wrong. We‟re taking responsibility and we‟re doing what we can to make sure it doesn‟t happen again. That‟s the best I‟ve got. MOTION CARRIED TABLED IN COMMITTEE R-12-69 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. REGARDING ACCOUNTING FOR THE COSTS OF THE MAIN STREET PROJECT Tabled 9/18/12 Also assigned to the Board of Public Works; Tabled 9/20/12 O-12-28 Endorser: Alderman Diane Sheehan PROHIBITING THE CITY FROM CHARGING FOR THE COSTS OF CERTAIN OFFICIAL VISITS AND CAMPAIGN EVENTS Also assigned to Personnel; Indefinite Postponement Rec. 12/17/12 Tabled – 11/28/12 O-13-39 Endorser: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau AMENDING SEWER USE FEES RATES AND CHARGES Personnel/Administrative Affairs Cmte Referred to Budget and Tabled in Cmte – 5/6/13 Tabled 5/16/13 GENERAL DISCUSSION PUBLIC COMMENT REMARKS BY THE ALDERMEN POSSIBLE NON-PUBLIC SESSION Budget Review – 09/03/13 Page 42 ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared closed at 8:50 p.m. Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Committee Clerk