City Council Regular Meeting

Minutes of City Council Special Meeting The City Council City of Richwood A City Council Special Meeting of the City Council of City of Richwood was held Monday, July 17, 2017, beginning at 6:00 PM in the Richwood City Hall, 1800 N. Brazosport Blvd. Richwood, Texas. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Guthrie called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. INVOCATION Michael Coon led the invocation. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Guthrie led the pledge of allegians ROLL CALL OF COUNCIL MEMBERS Mark Guthrie, Mayor Paul Raymond Frank Blanks Sarah Reed Lauren LaCount Chris Hardison Others Present: Michael Coon – City Manager; Giani Cantu – City Secretary/Finance Director; Bryan Corb – Police Chief; Clif Custer – Public Works Director; Kenny Williams – Code Enforcement; Clint Kocurek – Fire Chief PUBLIC COMMENTS All public comments will be subject to the following rules: all speakers will be permitted to speak no longer than 3 minutes; all speakers will only be permitted to speak once; speakers cannot defer their 3 minutes to another speaker; the first five individuals who sign up for the public comment section will be permitted to speak There were no public comments. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS Consider appointing Jeanette Messick to Keep Richwood Beautiful On motion by Lauren LaCount second by Chris Hardison, with all members voting “aye” Jeanette Messick was appointed to Keep Richwood Beautiful. Final review and action on replat of Lot 9, Block 12, Glenwood Bayou & Lot 15, Block 1, Creek Bend Subdivision and said lots being located on Oyster Creek Drive and Moore Street On motion by Chris Hardison second by Lauren LaCount all members voting aye final approval on replat of Lot 9, Block 12, Glenwood Bayou & Lot 15, Block 1, Creek Bend Subdivision and said lots being located on Oyster Creek Drive and Moore Street was granted. FY 18 Budget Adopting a Tax Rate Mr. Coon presented the following tax rate historic distribution and comparison of other cities: Public Safety Police and CCPD Police Chief Corb presented the proposed fiscal year 17-18 budget for the Police Department. Council member LaCount asked if there were information on how additional officers would affect the percentage of available officers on patrol. Chief Corb stated he did not. However, if you add another officer per shift it could jump to about 47 percent availability. Mayor Guthrie asked if additional officers would reduce overtime. Chief Corb stated additional officers would reduce overtime. Council member LaCount asked for clarification of capital outlay item that includes 25/75 split over three years. Mr. Coon stated capital outlay line item includes the savings on overtime if new positions are approved. This savings would be a contingency for future need to roll over paid positions to General Fund. Council member Hardison asked if the projection accounts for the grant only covering one position. Mr. Coon advised that the position will be further discussed by CCPD. Council member Hardison asked if it also included the part time police administration assistant. Chief Corb state yes. CCPD Chief Corb presented the proposed fiscal year 17-18 budget for CCPD and alternative solutions. Council member Hardison asked for the salary of warrant officer compared to warrant monies collected. Council member LaCount asked if reserve officers can be used to reduce overtime. Chief Corb reported they are currently being utilized. Reserve officers are called on first. However, if they are unable to serve other officers are called upon. Council member LaCount asked how much the city currently utilizes reserve officers. Chief Corb stated he could pull the information and let her know. Mr. Coon clarified the alternative plan to Fund one position out of CCPD for two years and the projected savings of overtime in General Fund would pay for the remaining 25% of the cops grant. Council member Raymond stated in four years those positions will be funded 100% by the general fund. He asked where the funds would be coming from. Mr. Coon stated the projected revenues show the General Fund would be able to cover the positions. Council member Raymond stated he would like to see the growth revenue projections from the last three years until now. Council member LaCount asked if it had to be two new officer positions. Chief Corb advised he would prefer two. Council member LaCount asked what happens to the budgeted monies if not approved for the grant. Council member Raymond stated it could stay there or can come back for budget amendment. Discussion was held on the potential crossing guard near Polk Elementary. Mayor Guthrie asked of all the things City of Richwood Police do with and for Polk Elementary, what does BISD PD do? Chief Corb reported that the inter-local agreement states the municipal police department will hold the scene. However, BISD officers don’t work summers or holidays and therefore, leaves the municipal police department responding to all calls. Council member Blanks asked why is BISD not providing the crossing guard. Chief Corb reported he requested that BISD provide the crossing guard and received the response that BISD does not do that. Mayor Guthrie asked if service would be effected if officers are not approved. Chief Corb stated officers will pull together to get job done. However, additional services or programs will be pushed back or delayed. Council member LaCount stated she felt personnel is needed. However, she feels like three additional positions at one time is a big leap. Chief Corb stated it’s important to understand and look at the liability to the city as well. Council member Reed stated overworking officers could lead to officers quitting? Council member Blanks stated that personnel can get burnt out of overtime. Council member LaCount stated she would prefer to see an officer position added over an administration assistant. Council member Raymond asked if the Police Department would compromise on positions where would it be. Chief Corb stated he would rather have the officers. Council member Raymond asked if the court clerk could handle some of these administrative duties. Mr. Coon advised that it was one of the first things staff looked at, when preparing the proposed budget. However, court work is also going up and after review staff felt that it was best to keep the positions separate. Chief Corb reported the police department is seeing in an increase in calls and cases and most are being filed in our municipal court. Council member Raymond stated the severity of calls is also increasing. Council member LaCount asked what impact the city would be facing when the CCPD grant funds run out. Mr. Coon stated about $72,000.00. Council member Raymond asked staff to ensure the projections are as conservative as possible and wants to make sure we are looking at the expenditures in the future as well. Fire Clint Kocurek, Fire Chief, presented proposed budget fire department along with items not included in proposed budget such as split funding of fire department pickup of $17,500 and engine one replacement savings of $35,000. Discussion was held on the replacement savings to purchase a new fire engine. Council member Raymond asked the fire department to utilize mutual aid agreements to see if there is another option other than to buying a ladder truck. Chief Kocurek advised they do have current mutual aid agreements. Council member Raymond asked if the department could apply or look into bunker gear replacement grants. Chief Kocurek stated absolutely. Council member Hardison reported he is glad to see engine replacement plan and asked why it did not make the proposed budget. Mr. Coon advised that not all information was submitted in time and there for did not get included. Council member Hardison stated that completely cutting it is like saying it’s not a priority. Mr. Coon stated equipment replacement is necessary but with no replacement program currently in place, he felt more time was needed to determine the best way to implement a plan. Council member Raymond stated someone needs to take the time and look at it because it’s important. Further discussion was held on mutual aid agreements and Volunteer Fire Department funds. Chief Kocurek reported the Volunteer Fire Department is in the position and has means to assist with costs. Mayor Guthrie reported the VFD is losing volunteers because they all require compensation of some kind. Chief Kocurek reported that there are loans for municipalities with interest at 2.5 to 3.5 percent over a ten to fifteen year period for engine purchases. Mr. Coon reported the general fund would see savings of $130,000.00 this year, which is money that can go into equipment replacement or whatever council sees fit. Council member Hardison commented that equipment replacement needs to be set not relied on floating funds. Public Works Clif Custer presented the fiscal year 17-18 proposed budgets for City Maintenance, Streets and Drainage, Parks and Recreation, Water/Sewer Fund and Transportation. The proposed budget includes the following Capital Projects and Equipment Replacement • Service Center Building reskin • Fire Hydrant Replacement and Relocate • New Chlorine Room at 720 N Mahan • Building Materials for Well Controls and Electrical components • New Sewer Jetter • 2017 Ford F250 Gas Mayor Guthrie asked if staff has done cost analysis on contracting services such as mowing versus doing them ourselves. Mr. Custer reported they have in past and can be looked at again. However, parks require more maintenance than just mowing. Mayor Guthrie stated there may be other items that could be contracted out to free up paid salary for more important matters like preventative maintenance. Council member Raymond asked if the service center repairs could be done in phases and proposed to do the roof and parking lot this year and maybe resurfacing the next fiscal year. He also asked how the $50,000.00 budgeted for sidewalks fit with bond committee. Mr. Custer stated it doesn’t. The budgeted $50,000.00 is based on transportation fund being collected in utility and residents haven’t seen anything. The bond issue will address other concerns such as drainage and infrastructure. Council member Raymond stated he didn’t want the budget to make up any items that would be helpful in proposing the bond issuance. Mr. Custer stated there are many other places that will need sidewalks and doesn’t see any issue with that. Mayor Guthrie asked how much sidewalk $50,000.00 would provide. Mr. Custer stated it depended on the type as concrete is expensive. Mr. Coon advised that residents have complained that transportation fund was set up to pay for sidewalks and it hasn’t. Council member Hardison stated last year we budgeted $41,000.00 in streets and the current projected is now $96,000.00. He asked if we foresaw the need for an increased budget. Mr. Custer advised no. Mr. Coon reported that the budget was not designed to replace. It was designed to maintain. Council member Hardison stated he just wants to make sure we’re not shorting the budget if additional monies are needed for street repairs. Mr. Custer reported staff is taking steps to accomplish all goals as opposed to putting all of them at one time. Council member Hardison asked if the need was there for two new positions and if it was possible to add one now and one later. Mr. Custer reported there are two systems: one to maintain and one to install. Maintaining is what’s getting them and preventative maintenance is what the department is striving for. He believes two additional positions can be a good direction in getting there and without the labor, the department, can’t achieve any of it. Mayor Guthrie stated he could easily justify two people alone with savings from preventative maintenance and asked about overtime. Mr. Custer reported the department sees one to two callouts per week of overtime. The highest gross employee is paid about $13,000.00 in overtime. Callouts are currently paid at a rate of four hours and 95 to 97% of time the call out is for less than an hour. Mayor Guthrie stated however, the employees don’t get paid to be on call. Four hours pays for the inconvenience of keeping the employee on call which prevents the employee from being able to do certain things. Mr. Coon stated staff could also look at other options for callout reimbursement. Council member Blanks reported the plant workers get four hours straight time pay regardless if called or not. Lauren LaCount left at 8:43 pm. Permitting and Inspections Kenny Williams presented the proposed fiscal year 17-18 budget for permitting and inspections and code enforcement. Sarah Reed left at 9:00 pm Administration Michael Coon presented the fiscal year 17-18 proposed budget for administration. Council member Raymond reported he was opposed to the addition of the Finance Director position and stated the position of City Manager and City Secretary/Finance Director was filled with the expectation that they would cover that role. He suggested looking at current roles and making sure they are efficient and clear on what each role is doing. Mr. Coon stated that the workload has been too great for one person for many years and that staff is having to take work home because there is not enough time to complete tasks during the day. Council member Hardison stated his thought was to grow into the Finance Director position and he felt this addition is too soon. Further discussion and clarification was held on line item details. Council member Hardison stated he would like to see allotted equipment replacement for all departments. Mayor Guthrie stated council could keep going or break for another time. Council decided to end the meeting and postpone the remainder budget presentations for the next meeting. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT Mr. Coon invited council members to come visit with and give direction to staff on what they would like to see in the budget and ask questions for clarification on items staff would like to see in the budget. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 9:27 p.m. These minutes were read and approved on this day of , 20 . Mark Guthrie, Mayor Attest: Giani Cantu, City Secretary