City Council

APPROVED 06/15/2020 SPECIAL BUDGET WORKSHOP MINUTES MAY 27, 2020 THE SPECIAL BUDGET WORKSHOP OF THE RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL WAS CALLED TO ORDER AT 6:00 P.M., ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2020, BY MAYOR RIX. ROLL CALL Present: Allen, Greene, LaFore, Misteravich, Reindel, Rix, Warn Absent: None Others: City Manager Moore, City Treasurer Hatfield Visitors: EMS Director White, Police Chief Teske AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION None received. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Motion by Warn, seconded by Allen, to amend the Agenda as follows: Add under Other Business – Little League Proposal All yeas Motion carried Motion by Warn, seconded by Greene, to adopt the amended Agenda. All yeas Motion passes ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION 1. Review of Proposed FY2020-21 City Budget Old Business City Manager Moore informed Council that he had forwarded to Council the Teamster wage scale for the party-time library clerk. Budget Workshop: 05/27/2020 Page 1 of 6  APPROVED 06/15/2020 Council discussed that the wage was comparable to other communities for a similar position. City Manager Moore informed Council that he reviewed wages for an Assistant City Manager and has adjusted the proposed wage to $22.00 an hour – this will increase the general fund expense by $5400. Discussed alternatives available when an employee retires and the possibility of combining the Clerk’s position and the Assistant City Manager position. Consensus of Council to increase the budget to handle the increased wage. City Manager Moore informed Council that the PA system is being revised – this will be brought back to Council for approval. City Manager Moore informed Council with he will be meeting with the Fire Chief next week to discuss the condition of Department vehicles and other item. City Manager Moore informed Council that he emailed the School Superintended regarding the expansion of their parking lot. Review of the budget began with: 101-610 EMS Budget - EMS Director White informed Council that in 2019 there were 980 calls in Richmond with a 5 minute response time. The total EMS budget is $3,125,000. COVID is still present in the community, there has been some minimal improvement – this is not the time to let our guard down. COUNCIL WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BUDGET AS PRESENTED. 101-611 Community Transit – EMS Director White informed Council that Community Transit funds are paid directly to EMS. He has been informed that levels of funding received from the State will be reduced. COUNCIL WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BUDGET AS PRESENTED. 101-301 – Police Department – City Manager Moore informed Council that he made a few cuts the police budget presented – he removed the golf cart. Discussion on whether the City plans on continuing to send candidates to the police academy. Chief Teske informed Council that the Academy will be starting up again – Budget Workshop: 05/27/2020 Page 2 of 6  APPROVED 06/15/2020 currently we have no candidates. We do have some applicants, but we haven’t gone through them yet. City Manager Moore informed Council that Administration will put together some figures and present it to Council at a future workshop. Council was informed that we would be selling the two older Taurus police vehicles. Discussion on Community Policing and why we haven’t seen any lately. Chief Teske informed Council that to do community policing we need an extra body. To do community policing we usually use part-timers and they don’t have a lot of availability. COUNCIL WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BUDGET AS PRESENTED. 101-315 Traffic and Safety – Chief Teske informed Council that he will be looking to hire for crossing guards. COUNCIL WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BUDGET AS PRESENTED. 101-325 Communications – Discussion on when we planned to hire the third full time dispatcher. Chief Teske informed Council that he was still working on putting together the oral board. COUNCIL WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BUDGET AS PRESENTED. 101-426 Emergency Preparedness - COUNCIL WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BUDGET AS PRESENTED. 101-264 Buildings and Grounds – Funds were included in this budget to upgrade some of the equipment in the wellness room. This equipment is used by the Police Department and some City Staff. Discussion on making changes to the fee schedule to start charging a non-resident for the notary public service. The consensus of Council was go begin charging non-residents a $10.00 fee for the notary public service and residents would be provided this service for free. COUNCIL WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BUDGET AS PRESENTED. 101-326 Code Enforcement – City Manager Moore informed Council that the code enforcement process is mainly handled by the Building Clerk and the Police Chief. The Budget Workshop: 05/27/2020 Page 3 of 6  APPROVED 06/15/2020 City Manager had contacted the Richmond Township code enforcer to determine if they would be interested in providing this service to the City – they declined. COUNCIL WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BUDGET AS PRESENTED. 101-448 Street Lighting – COUNCIL WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BUDGET AS PRESENTED. 101-528 Refuse Collection and Disposal – City Manager Moore informed Council that this was the final year of the contract. It has been extended several times, so we should put the contract out for bids this time. The City Manager will be posting signage at the park dumpster informing everyone that the dumpster are not for residential and commercial dumping. COUNCIL WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BUDGET AS PRESENTED. 101-906 General Fund Debt Service – COUNCIL WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BUDGET AS PRESENTED. 251-ALL Tax Increment Finance Authority – City Manager Moore informed Council that the TIFA tax base sharing agreement was proposed at 15% - this will keep $17,000 in the general fund. Some question on whether we will be pushing for leaf collection. City Manager Moore informed Council that administration will be bringing information to Council in July. COUNCIL WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BUDGET AS PRESENTED. Appendix – Five Year Capital Outlay Plan – Discussion on what the City’s plan was for the funding that will not be used for the pool and camp this year. City Manager Moore informed Council that Margo will bring this matter to the Recreation Board and they will be making a recommendation to Council. Green – Commented that the Recreation fees should be reviewed and the non-resident fees increased. This will be presented to the Recreation Department and they will make a recommendation to Council COUNCIL WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BUDGET AS PRESENTED. City Manager Moore informed Council that the Budget will be placed on the June 15th Agenda for approval. OTHER BUSINESS Budget Workshop: 05/27/2020 Page 4 of 6  APPROVED 06/15/2020 1. Little League Proposal City Manager Moore informed Council that Little League was hoping they could begin practices beginning June 1st – they have several safety features that they plan to implement. The Governor has extended the Stay at Home Order until June 12th. Questioned the consensus of Council. Discussed how comfortable Council felt with Little League enforcing the social distancing guidelines. Warn indicated that if the City play structures were closed – then he didn’t feel Little League should begin their practices. City Manager Moore further informed Council that parks were beginning to open, but play structures continued to remain closed because children wouldn’t social distance. Reindel, Greene and LaFore had no problem with Little League beginning practice on June 1st. Misteravich, Warn and Allen did not feel they should begin practice if the play structures remained closed. Rix couldn’t justify allowing Little League to open when everything else was shut down. Little League should remain closed until at least June 12th. Misteravich indicated that other sports were not moving forward. City Manager Moore will draft a letter to Little League letting them know they cannot begin practice on June 1st. COUNCIL COMMENTS Warn – Questioned the status of our property on Main Street. City Manager Moore informed Council that he did show old City Hall to someone recent – will probably be getting a proposal, which he will present to Council. - The City Assessor and City Planner will be working on the old Eric’s Filling Station property. We have seen some interest in the property by the Town Clock – the price was recently reduced. City Manager Moore informed Council that the June 1st meeting set-up will be similar to tonight’s meeting. Budget Workshop: 05/27/2020 Page 5 of 6  APPROVED 06/15/2020 Rix – Thanked the City Treasurer and Staff for the budgets presented. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Misteravich, seconded by Greene, to adjourn the Special Budget Workshop at 8:17 p.m. All yeas Motion carried Respectfully submitted: Karen Stagl City Clerk Budget Workshop: 05/27/2020 Page 6 of 6