Budget Hearings

MINUTES Budget Hearings Tuesday, August 15, 2023, at 3:00 PM Carnegie Town Hall, 235 West 10th St., Sioux Falls, SD 57104 1. Call to Order Council Members Present: David Barranco (arr. 3:35 p.m.), Sarah Cole, Alex Jensen (arr. 3:31 p.m.), Rich Merkouris, Greg Neitzert, Marshall Selberg, Curt Soehl, Pat Starr Council Members Absent: None Council Chair Marshall Selberg called the meeting to order at 3 p.m. He noted that there was a quorum present. 2. Budget Hearings A. Health Amy Richardson, Assistant Public Health Director, explained that the $19.5M Public Health Budget is broken down by programs; she discussed the details and budgets of the: Falls Community Health Clinic, Community Safety & Enforcement, Community Health & Wellness, Link, and Capital programs. She also explained the major budget impacts. There was discussion on: the Emergency Management System, the service consultant and the upcoming contract expiration in 2026; opioid settlement dollars and allowable uses,-; services provided by Falls Community Health, the $2.2M sliding fee discount provided to patients, and the number of patient visits to Falls Community Health; and the possibility of a daycare specialist position being placed into the budget. B. Planning Jeff Eckhoff, Director of Planning and Development Services, thanked the Finance Team for their efforts in the budget preparation. He presented the $15.7M Planning Budget and the request for two additional FTEs: an Urban Planner and a Building Inspector. He also spoke on the major budget impacts. There was discussion on: traffic model recalibration, the Urban Planner position, the Neighborhood Grant Program, the budgetary impact for the Arts Coordinator position, balance of surburban growth and incentivizing density, virtual inspections and difficulties of such inspections for building inspectors, amount of new  employees and city growth, development partnerships and costs and future updates. C. Housing Logan Penfield, Housing Development Manager, introduced and thanked staff members Derek, Shana, and Seth. He presented the proposed $10.7M budget, spoke on funding sources, gave a recap of the previous year's successes, and provided some details of how those successes were achieved. He presented a chart that illustrated the programs that are administered and the partners throughout the community; he included that $8.6M of the proposed budget would go towards program investment, and that it's an increase of about $337K over Fiscal Year 2023. There was discussion on: mobile home repair and Project Tow Away and Move (TOM), struggles faced by mobile home park owners, the possibility of any data/information of diversity of housing in downtown area regarding income level, availability of a breakdown of housing units per program, the increase of home prices, and the possible revisitation of the amount of money placed into the Public Safety Down Payment program. D. Transit Eckhoff commented on having a great team. He provided background on the things that have happened over the last year in the Transit Department. He spoke on the Request for Proposal (RFP) for Transit and that the current contract expires on December 31, 2023. He provided additional details regarding the RFP, number of proposals received, and the upcoming meeting to review them. He continued his presentation by explaining how the $17M budget amount is a placeholder and how the amount could change based on what happens in the RFP process. He also spoke on the bus barn and the needed maintenance/repairs and costs. There was discussion on: a possible pilot program for an electric bus included in this budget, the potential budget impact of stopping "on-demand" and going fixed routes, Monday through Saturday, until a new transit development plan is in place, possible causes of the driver shortage, ideas to increase usage of transit services, bus route frequency vs. coverage, the usage of the on-demand software, the information it can provide, data collection, current number of bus drivers, and the number of RFPs. E. Public Works Mark Cotter, Director of Public Works, began presentation by thanking the Finance Department, Communications, the Mayor's Office, and the expanded Public Works Management Team. He explained that Publc Works is made up of 10 divisions and 332 FTEs, organized into four areas (Transporation, Business Operations, Environmental Services, and Utlities). He gave an overview of the $145.8M Highways and Streets Budget and the major budget impacts. He spoke on the traffic signal investments throughout the city and briefly on the application of slurry seal. He spoke on: the construction and maintenance on South Veterans Parkway; pedestrian and bicycle improvements; the diverging diamond project at 85th Street  and I-29, the interchange project at I-229 and Cliff Avenue, and the Phillips Avenue & 9th Street reconstruction project, Cotter shifted to the key utilities portion of the budget and spoke on: storm drainage and 1,300 acres that are maintained, the request for one additional FTE, and the major budget impacts. He then commented on the North Cliff Avenue outfall structure and the need for better flow into the river system in the area and gave details of a backup system if a gate fails to fully close due to debris. He continued the presentation by discussing the $16M Power and Distribution budget and gave an update on the LED lights. He presented an image of what the Light, Traffic, and Power Campus could potentially look like. Then he discussed the $17.2M Sanitary Landfill budget and gave some statistics on the projected tonnage of solid waste and construction materials that came to the landfill in 2022; he also spoke on the upcoming landfill projects. Cotter presented the$44.9M Water Division budget and commented on: 8.1 billion gallons of clean water being delivered annually, the investing into another high-capacity horizontal collector well, the major budget impacts, and the plans for Well 25. He presented the $143.6M Water Reclamation budget and mentioned that 6.1 billion gallons of wastewater was treated in 2022 and that the team is responsible for the maintenance of over 1K miles of sewer mains and 400 miles of the storm drainage system. He concluded the Water Division budget by explaining the major budget impacts, the basin studies, and the wastewater plant. Cotter gave a background on the Fleet Division and then presented the $15.1M Fleet budget. There was discussion on: South Veterans Parkway and Basin 15, update on reducing costs of Unity Bridge, funding for temporary and permanent street repair, Veterans Parkway intersections, adaptive traffic signals and the availability of any other similar technology, traffic signal control boxes, 9th Street corridor, project visual aids, 2022 goals of solid waste and recycling, incentivizing recycling, projections of ability to maintain the amount of infrastructure being added over the next 10 years, determining if Shirley Avenue needs to be widened in certain areas, corridor landscaping improvements and costs, contract and partnership with Heartland Power, and the annual replacement of manhole covers and costs. 3. Public Comment There were no public comments. 4. Adjournment Council Chair Marshall Selberg adjourned the meeting at 5:08 p.m. Jermery J. Washington, City Clerk