Safety & Public Works Committee

SAFETY AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MINUTES THURSDAY APRIL 4 , 2024 8:00 AM VIA ZOOM MEETING Members Present: Anne Williams, Council Chair Jonathan Hren, Citizen Member Tres Roeder, Committee Member James Sammon, Citizen Member Others Present: David Weiss, Mayor Jeri Chaikin, CAO James Heath, Assistant Fire Chief John Potts, Director of Finance Patricia Speese, Director of Public Works Kara Hamley O’Donnell, Principal Planner Arielle Urich, Recording Assistant The meeting was called to order by Council Chair Anne Williams at 8:00 am. APPROVAL OF FEBURARY 1, MEETING MINUTES Council Chair Williams requested a motion to approve the February 1, 2024 Safety and Public Works minutes. A motion was made by Citizen Member Tres Roeder, and seconded by Citizen Member James Sammon. The motion carried. APPROVAL OF MARCH 7, MEETING MINUTES Council Chair Williams requested a motion to approve the March 7, 2024 Safety and Public Works minutes. A motion was made by Citizen Member Tres Roeder, and seconded by Citizen Member James Sammon. The motion carried. Sanitary & Storm fee discussion Patricia Speese, Director of Public Works & John Potts, Director of Finance Patricia Speese, Director of Public Works is proposing a phased in fee increase over the next four years for infrastructure improvements within the Sewer Improvement Program. In July 2014, Shaker Heights was hit by a severe storm, dubbed the "hundred-year storm," which caused widespread flooding and prompted the establishment of the Sustainability Committee. This event underscored the urgent need for large-scale infrastructure improvements, particularly to address the city's outdated sewer system. The Shaker Heights sewer system was originally designed for a 50-year lifespan. Despite incremental efforts, the infrastructure remained inadequate, leading to the city's general fund supplementing the costs of necessary upgrades due to the stagnant sewer fee, unchanged since 2001. Consequently, in 2019, the City Council approved a phased increase in the sewer assessment fee over four years, starting from May 2020 to May 2023. The final increase, was implemented last May for a 12-month period. Now, there's a proposal for another phased increase to address the critical infrastructure improvement needs of Shaker Heights. A very detailed plan was displayed in a PowerPoint, showing $21,092,645 in work performed during the past four years with $8,151,845 in grant funding obtained to offset the cost to the city. This PowerPoint was also presented to City Council on March 5, 2024. During the presentation, the question was asked what other communities charge for sewer fees, and attached to the PowerPoint are the sewer fees of other communities in Cuyahoga County. Director Speese turned the discussion over to John Potts, Director of Finance to discuss the financial part of the Sewer Improvement Program. During the transition, Council Chair Anne Williams wanted to take a minute to thank Director Speese for her service to the city, as she is retiring from the Public Works Department this month. Council Chair Williams opened the floor for questions and or comments. Councilman Roeder added his appreciation for everything Director Speese has done over the years, along with her employees. Citizen member James Sammon thanked Director Speese as well and asked, after reading through the PowerPoint, when dealing with the increase in MCF is there or has there been any consideration for a fee per household, within the communities actually affected? Director Speese responded that no, it has not been considered because if you look at the sewer shed in its totality, it’s all connected, everyone is in the same boat. We consider the city to be responsible and that is pretty common, industry wide. Council Chair Williams asked, does this planning and projection of future revenue, improve our chances of getting grant funding? Director Speese responded, it enables us to plan years out because we know we will have the grant match. A lot of the grants require a match, so it definitely improves our chances tremendously. A lot of these grant applications want you to have a dedicated funding source so having this sewer fund will improve our chances at the grant match greatly. John Potts, Director of Finance stated the city levies a monthly fixed fee to the users of the sewer system and a variable fee that has been increasing gradually over the last four years which pays for a lot of the projects Director Speese spoke about, including repair projects. The general fund was covering almost 3 million dollars a year for the sewer projects. The current 10 year capital plan for only sewers is approximately 28 million. After a detailed analysis of needs for the next four years, we need to ask for an increase. We did obtain $8 million in financing for many of these projects between the years 2020 and 2023. And that 8 million, generates $677,000 in annual debt service, which is currently being paid by the sewer fund from these fees. Essentially, if no action is taken and the current sewer assessment fee remains the same, the revenue will plateau for the next four years. Meanwhile, expenses including compensation and other expenditures will naturally increase due to inflation and debt services will gradually rise over time. Without sufficient revenue to cover these increasing costs, the fund balance is projected to start declining and would go negative as early as 2025. This scenario would necessitate a transfer of funds from the general fund, similar to what was done in previous years, to finance any future sewer projects. It is proposed the increase is .50 per year, per customer in the monthly fixed fee and $2.00 per MCF per year in the variable fee from 2024 to 2027. Council Chair opened the floor for questions and or comments. Citizen Member James Sammon asked what the proposed additional monthly variable fee would mean for any random home. Director Speese replied that it is all based on consumption. Citizen Member Sammon responded, what does that mean to the average citizen, will be bill go up $50 or $250. Director Speese stated for the average house, the increase per MCF is going up $2, that could be as high as $6 a month or $36 additional a year. Councilman Roeder asked why this time is the right time to increase the fees and what is being doing, going forward with how to manage costs on the city side, so we can absorb some of these costs. Director Potts stated the increases from the last four years are ending and if we elect to stay with the most recent increase, the general fund will be subsidized for any future projects. Director Speese added, we need to get to a point where we no longer have to spend the money to do these emergency repairs, as a result of these big improvements we can focus on maintenance on a routine basis. Mayor Weiss added in terms of the timing, because we had not increase the fees in so many years, we were well below market and both administration and council struggled with how to subsidize the needed repairs. Councilman Roeder commented that since we may be below market on this fee but are above market on other taxation fees, we can absorb more of these costs in the general budget to help out the residents of Shaker Heights. Council Chair Williams asked if we are using some of these funds for projects that are further out. Director Speese stated she is unsure where the prioritation would fall. Council Chair Williams stated the need for major repairs probably won’t be satisfied by the end of the 4 year cycle and that we need to continue to weigh our options on how to fund these repairs, whether it’s by increasing fees or dipping into the general fund. Director Speese replied, yes, correct. A motion to approve was made by Citizen Member Jonathan Hren and seconded by Citizen Member James Sammon. The motion carried. Lee Rd Storefront and Exterior Improvement Program | Appropriation of Funds Kara Hamley O’Donnell, Principal Planner Principal Planner, Kara Hamley O’Donnell is seeking approval to allocate $200,000 from two County grants and $59,500 from City funds in the Capital Budget for the construction of the Lee Road Storefront and Exterior Improvement Program. In the plan, it is recommended that the strategic first action was to develop shared parking to enhance safety, improve district appeal and better organize the parking that’s there. This approach not only improves the overall experience for visitors but also contributes to the positive perception and attractiveness of the district. The project also includes a focus on storefront renovation that would be paid out of the Economic Development 2024 operating budget. The project includes eight parcels within the designated area, notably incorporating the City's parking lot situated at 3673 Lee Road at its north end. A portion of the public right-of-way will feature a landscaped buffer aimed at shielding the public sidewalk from the parking lot. Engineering assessments and engagement with property owners took place last year and have since persisted. A comprehensive plan was formulated, which received support from the property owners. The projected total cost of the project stands at approximately $325,000. It's worth noting that this estimate is preliminary and based on the initial stages of design. Engineering work is ongoing, and the project has not yet reached the bidding phase. Notably, $200,000 in grants has been secured, comprising $150,000 from Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and $50,000 from Community Development Supplemental Grant (CDSG), all of which have received approval from the County Council. Additionally, property owner contributions amount to $59,500, with commitments already made and set to be reimbursed to the city upon project completion. Individual property owners are expected to contribute between $5,000 and $12,000 each, depending on factors such as parcel size and specific improvements required for their respective parcels. Council Chair Williams opened the floor for questions and comments. Citizen Member Sammon asked if the trees on Lee Road are staying or being taken out. Principal Planner O’Donnell replied the trees will remain. She also explained wherever a curb cut is closed, there is an opportunity for more trees and streetscape landscaping which will come during the 2027 public improvements. Citizen Member Hren asked if the plan improvements are expected to remain once the larger project comes through. Principal Planner O’Donnell stated yes, the bollards shown in the plan will be placed in this phase to stop people from using the curb cuts which are no longer needed. Those curb cuts will be turned into potential landscape areas in 2027. Citizen Member Hren asked if the bollards are permanent, Principal Planner O’Donnell replied, those will be temporary, they are there to stop people from turning into an abandoned curb cut. Council Chair Williams opened the floor for any more comments/questions and there were none. A motion to approve was made by Citizen Member Hren and seconded by Citizen Member Sammon. The meeting adjourned at 8:51am Respectfully, ________________________________________ Anne Williams, Council Chairperson Safety & Public Works Committee