City Council Finance Committee Meeting

CITY OF NORMAN, OK CITY COUNCIL FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING Municipal Building, Executive Conference Room, 201 West Gray, Norman, OK 73069 Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 4:00 PM MINUTES The City Council Finance Committee of the City of Norman, Cleveland County, State of Oklahoma, met at 4:00 pm in the Municipal Building Executive Conference Room on the 16th day of March, 2023, and notice of agenda of the meeting were posted in the Municipal Building at 201 West Gray, 24 hours prior to the beginning of the meeting. PRESENT Mayor Larry Heikkila Councilmember Ward 3 Kelly Lynn ABSENT Councilmember Ward 6 Elizabeth Foreman OTHERS PRESENT Councilmember Ward 4 Helen Grant Councilmember Ward 7 Stephen Holman Anthony Francisco, Director of Finance Kim Coffman, Budget Manager Jacob Huckabaa, Budget Technician Dannielle Risenhoover, Administrative Tech IV Shawn O'Leary, Director of Public Works Mike White, Fleet Program Manager Rick Jackson, Deputy Police Chief Jamie Shattuck, Police Patrol Bureau Joyce Green, GIS Services Manager Brenda Hall, City Clerk Andy Couch, Executive Director & Curator for Fire House Art Center CALL TO ORDER Mayor Heikkila welcomed everyone to the meeting. The meeting began at approximately 4:00 PM. CITY COUNCIL FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday, March 16, 2023 Page |1 AGENDA ITEMS 1. DISCUSSION REGARDING THE FYE 2024 CITY OF NORMAN BUDGET. Anthony Francisco discussed the Budget Reports. Three outside agencies are requesting additional General Fund financial support from City of Norman in Fiscal Year 2023 - 2024. These agencies are Performing Arts Studio, Moore-Lindsay Historical Museum, and Firehouse Art Center. Board Members were aware of the City's previous financial contributions to these agencies and informed of their requests for additional funding, being: $2200 requested by Performing Arts Studio, $3000 requested by Moore- Lindsay Historical House Museum, and $60,000 requested by Firehouse Art Center. Andy Couch, Executive Director & Curator for Firehouse Art Center was present and spoke to members regarding the Center's request for funds. Couch stated that Firehouse Art Center is requesting additional funds primarily due to the "cut to the arts in terms of grant funds received." He also stated that the Center is focused on providing more opportunities for children, adults and veterans. Included in Couch's plan for the Center is adding ceramics, print making, exhibits, and clay making. Councilmember Holman questioned if Couch saw the additional funds request as a one-time request or as an on-going request. Couch's reply was, "I would hope that they would be this every year, but I am going to do my best to bring in new foundations to the Firehouse and individual donors." Couch does believe that the Center needs to host fund raisers to gain revenue. Councilmembers Grant and Holman both showed support in granting the outside agencies request for additional funding, out of the General Fund for FYE24. Francisco highlighted the "Critical Vehicle Replacement Report" issued by City of Norman, Fleet Maintenance Division. This report lists vehicles that are more cost effective to replace than maintain. In the general governmental area alone, the report indicates that $10.2 million in fleet are in critical need of replacement. A previous Fleet study revealed that City of Norman should be spending approximately $6 million/year replacing vehicles. Francisco stated, "Our full allocation of the 27% for capital outlay is about $4 million for everything. As a management team we usually allocate about half of that $4 million toward fleet replacements." Francisco pointed out how few vehicles would be replaced with this money. With police vehicles clearly qualifying for the use of seizure & restitution funds, discussion was had regarding using the approximately $1.4 million in this fund to help replace police vehicles. This would help replace approximately 17 police vehicles; thus, Francisco posed the question to the Finance Committee: Would you like us to use seizure and restitution money for the replacement of police vehicles? Councilmember Holman suggested that seizure and restitution funds be used in a more diversified way, such as for all vehicles, not just police vehicles; however, City Attorney Kathryn Walker's legal recommendation was that seizure and restitution funds be used for police & law enforcement purposes due to the direct source of the funds and the law becoming less clear when moving away from the police & law expenditures. The topic of spending seizure and restitution funds on police vehicles will be presented to City Council for further discussion at the time the City Manager’s proposed budget is presented to the Council. CITY COUNCIL FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday, March 16, 2023 Page |2  Items submitted for the record: 1. Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Report – Critical Fleet Replacement List 2. CONTINUED DISCUSSION REGARDING FLOCK SAFETY CAMERA SOLUTIONS FOR THE COMMUNITY. Major Shattuck with Norman Police Department (NPD) discussed NPD's desire to install about 10 “Flock” cameras on Norman's main city streets. Shattuck reports that Flock cameras capture a photograph of the back of all vehicles and vehicle tags as they drive by. Photographs remain stored in a cloud database that NPD could access for up to 30 days. The Flock camera system would help NPD utilize vehicle descriptions and tag numbers to help identify and track vehicles reported in a crime, wanted people and or missing persons. Shattuck states that Flock would not be used to ticket people or raise revenue. Mayor Heikkila requested that this item be forwarded to City Council for further discussion before it is considered as a NPD budget item. 3. DISCUSSION REGARDING MONTHLY REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE REPORTS. Anthony Francisco discussed the Monthly Revenue and Expenditure Reports. He states that the sales tax is up 5.7% for March and the sales tax for the Public Safety, Norman Forward, and Transit Funds are all up as well. Mayor Heikkila asked about the timing and funding for moving Fire Station 5. Francisco stated that the timing and funding relate to when the City pays off the existing debt for the existing radio system and the Emergency Communications Operations Center, which is about 3.5 years from now. Francisco stated that if Council wanted to identify some other sources of funding for this debt they could do so, noting that the General Fund balance is in excess of the mandated reserve. Concerned about the line maintenance budget, Councilmember Grant requested a report on the City's monthly and year-to-date costs for water line repairs. Items submitted for the record: 1. Monthly Revenue and Expenditure Reports ADJOURNMENT Chairman Heikkila adjourned the meeting at approximately 5:10 PM. CITY COUNCIL FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday, March 16, 2023 Page |3