City Council Regular Meeting

Minutes of City Council Special Meeting of Monday, August 5, 2019 BE IT KNOWN THAT, a Special Meeting of the City Council of City of Richwood was held Monday, August 5, 2019, beginning at 6:00 PM in the Richwood City Hall, 1800 N. Brazosport Blvd. Richwood, Texas. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m. INVOCATION Lindsay Koskiniemi led the invocation. PLEDGES OF ALLEGIANCE Pledge of Allegiance & Texas Pledge Mayor Boykin led the pledges. ROLL CALL OF COUNCIL MEMBERS Steve Boykin – Mayor Mike Johnson – Position 1 Melissa Strawn – Position 2 Matt Yarborough – Position 3 Mark Brown II – Position 4 Katie Johnson – Position 5 Others present: Lindsay Koskiniemi, City Manager; Clif Custer, Public Works Director; Jarrett Skelton, Detective; Stephen Mayer, Police Chief; Giani Cantu, City Secretary 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. Discussion is not allowed on items not posted on the agenda. There were no public comments. FISCAL YEAR 2019-2020 BUDGET WORKSHOP FY 19-20 Proposed Budget Tax Rate and Revenue Projections General Fund Balance Overview Public Safety Police CCPD Fire Public Works City Maintenance Streets & Drainage Parks and Recreation Water/Sewer Fund Transportation Administration Municipal Court Finance Permitting and Inspections Code Enforcement Lindsay Koskiniemi reported based on last meeting staff felt they had clear direction and brings to Council a budget with all proposed expenses appropriated and being funded by the fund balance and savings. John Washburn presented City Council with an updated proposed budget. A copy is attached to these minutes for reference. Discussion was held on the presented proposed budget and tax rate possibilities. John Washburn recommended keeping the tax rate at 0.670204. Mark Brown II asked what about homes increasing in value. John Washburn replied any home with an increase in appraisal will see an increase in taxes. Mike Johnson asked what amount was in fund balance. John Washburn stated that according to the audit at the end of fiscal year 17-18 the fund balance was approximately $842,000. Matt Yarborough asked if that included the contingency. John Washburn stated yes. The contingency was budgeted at 3% for an approximate total of $36,000. Further discussion was held on current and proposed contingency appropriations and tax rate possibilities. Matt Yarborough stated he is in favor of the 14.08% increase. Melissa Strawn stated she is in favor of keeping the same tax rate and having a 6.23% increase. Mike Johnson stated he is in favor of keeping the same tax rate at 0.670204 Katie Johnson stated she would like to see no tax increase and would like to see what staff would propose cutting to bring it to the effective tax rate revenue. Mark Brown II agreed and stated he’d like to staff propose a budget that is in line with the effective tax rate revenue. Under circumstances says he’s in between effective tax rate and last year’s tax rate. Lindsay Koskiniemi asked Council what they want to cut back. Mike Johnson stated he wanted staff to decide what to cut. Lindsay Koskiniemi responded to Mr. Johnson by stating Council is to set the direction for staff to carry out. Staff prepared a budget that aligned with Council’s strategic vision, and with Council’s direction, staff will make the necessary cuts. Mayor Boykin stated he would like to see the tax rate stay the same, even if some things are cut. The rate allows for the what if fund to stay increasing and would be a more frugal step in a forward direction. He doesn’t believe we want to hit residents with a 14% increase and the effective tax rate takes us backward. Mayor recessed at 7:27 p.m. Mayor recalled at 7:38 p.m. Mark Brown II stated he sees expenditures are increasing by 5.6% from last year to the proposed and would like to see an increase more in line with inflation around 2-3%. Mark Guthrie, Asst Fire Chief, presented the Fire Department’s detailed budget with major changes and requests. He reported the department is made up of 9 active members. Two inactive members: one on medical leave and on currently leaving the city. Approximately 43% of calls are in City calls. 23% are mutual aide calls and should be considered in City calls with Lake Jackson, Clute and Angleton. There is no city, with the exception of maybe Pearland, that can fight their own house fire right now. The other 23% are County calls. Mark Brown II asked if it was a reasonable expectation that a City of our size can fight their own fire. Mark Guthrie stated that at one point it could have been reasonable but a lack of volunteers prevents it. He continued with the budget presentation. One thing to point out is the majority of the departments proposed budget is contracts for services. Approximately $102,000 is the EMS contract and really not money that the Fire Department is spending. Mark Brown II asked what would costs be for the City to have it’s own EMS. Mark Guthrie stated the City would probably be looking at a half million. Discussion was held on EMS contract expenditures. Mark Brown II stated that it roughly costs $500 to run a unit and were paying $102,000 for Clute. That’s 20% of their costs. Are we actually using 20% of their calls for service? Discussion was held on equipment and other expenditure requests of the Fire Department. Discussion was held on proposed transfer to the Equipment Replacement Fund of $8,000. Clif Custer presented the Public Works department budget. Discussion was held on proposed requests for public works: storage building, PK Forrest Building repairs, and drainage plan. He stated he would prioritize a drainage plan. Mark Brown II proposed staff cut the Public Works building and P.K. Forrest Building remodels out of the budget, thus reducing the $60,000 in proposed expenditures from the proposed budget and bringing the budget closer to balance. Mayor Boykin suggested the P.K. Forrest building repairs and PW works building be delayed. Matt Yarborough agreed with the proposed delay for the community center building. Mayor Boykin recessed 8:45 p.m. The meeting was recalled at 8:52 p.m. Lindsay Koskiniemi presented the administration budget presentation. Discussion was held on comprehensive master plan proposal. Giani Cantu presented the Court budget presentation. Discussion was held on the need to upgrade Court software and initial costs and recurring maintenance costs being split between two budget years. Ms. Cantu reported that the initial cost will come before Council in the form of a budget amendment to FY 18-19 Budget utilizing Court Technology Funds and the FY 19-20 proposed budget includes increase to the annual maintenance fees. Lindsay Koskiniemi presented the finance, code enforcement and permitting budget presentations. Discussion was held on contracts for permitting and inspections. Stephen Mayor presented the PD budget presentation, including GF and CCPD. Discussion was held on animal control proposed budgets and vehicle maintenance. Lindsay Koskiniemi reported that Fire station repairs start tomorrow. Clif Custer advised he did reach out to Lake Jackson City Manager and is waiting on a response. Lindsay Koskiniemi stated for clarification City Council would like to remove the PK Forrest building improvements and Public Works storage building. The animal control reduction in contract fees need to be updated and staff development in Permitting needs to be looked at if the duties are being contracted. Council agreed and stated they would also like to see a proposal for mid-rate between current rate and effective rate and what rate would be needed for a breakeven budget. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 10:29 p.m. These minutes were read and approved on this 12th day of August, 2019. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: ______________________________________ City Secretary