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CC05-17-17Min WSLONGWOOD CITY COMMISSION Longwood City Commission Chambers 175 West Warren Avenue Longwood, Florida WORK SESSION MINUTES May 17, 2017 4:00 P.M. Present: Mayor Joe Durso (Arrived at 4:01 p.m.) Deputy Mayor Brian D. Sackett Commissioner John C. Maingot Commissioner Ben Paris Commissioner Mark Weller Jon C. Williams, City Manager Michelle Longo, City Clerk Troy Hickson, Director of Public Safety David Dowda, Interim Police Chief Michael Peters, Interim Fire Chief Chris Kintner, Community Development Director Chris Capizzi, Leisure Services Director Lee Ricci, Human Resources Director Lisa Snead, Financial Services Director Craig Dunn, Information Technology Director Tom Smith, Division Manager Streets Richard Kornbluh, Division Manager of Utilities Maggie Baker, Financial & Procurement Analyst Jammie Tackett, Senior Administrative Assistant 1. CALL TO ORDER. Deputy Mayor Sackett called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. 2. REVIEW AND DISCUSS PROPOSED BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2017-2018. Mr. Williams said once again we are pleased to be before you to present the proposed fiscal year 2017-2018 operating budget in accordance with the City Charter. He said this budget proposes a 3% wage adjustment for union and non -union employees, maintains the existing level of services, and meets your expectations and delivery of services to our residents. He said the budget at this point is very dynamic, meaning that we are 60 to 70 days earlier than we have been in previous years. He said revenue CC 05-17-17/1 estimates for this budget have been solely based upon historical trends. Over the next few months, the revenue picture will be changing. He said we hope for the better because we will have our certification of taxable value from the Property Appraiser's office and the office of Economic and Demographic Research. He said between now and final adoption, staff will continue to monitor the current operating budget and continue to work on this document and update based upon the priorities we establish here today. He said Ms. Snead has a PowerPoint presentation and we will move into questions. Ms. Snead began her presentation by reminding everyone of the good things going on in Longwood. She said we were rated the safest place to raise a family in Florida, and were selected by the Best Places.net as one of the top ten cities to live in Florida, and according to the 2015 Niche Ranking, Longwood is ranked 9t' among Florida suburbs to raise a family. Mr. Williams commented and said this really reflects the efforts we have made over the years towards economic development. He said it certainly does not reflect a reduction of any level of services to achieve those, and certainly we see value in continuing with that as we move forward. Ms. Snead went over the general fund. She said the General Fund Operating Budget is up $2 million or 13.2 from the previous fiscal year, but the total proposed budget for the City is at $36.9 million, and that represents approximately an $8.2 million reduction, or 18% from the current budget. She said that is primarily due to fluctuation and capital project funding. She showed snapshots that the General Fund is up $2 million, the Grants Fund is down, Stormwater Fund is down, Public Facilities and the Enterprise Utility Fund is down, and this was comparing budget to budget. She said that is primarily capital project timing where we will receive a large grant in one fiscal year and spend a lot of money on capital. Commissioner Maingot asked about Stormwater Fund being down. Ms. Snead said this is budget and it includes fund balance from leftover years and new revenues. She said the revenues are definitely doing well in the Stormwater Fund, however we did a lot of Stormwater projects that we have budgeted in the current fiscal year, and we will not have as many next year. Ms. Snead showed a chart depicting what has happened since the 2007 recession, and stated the City has experienced a 19.4 decline in taxable value. She said the unofficial preliminary tax value for the City is $984 million, and that is an estimated increase of $31 million. She said this is a 6% increase and is very good news compared to the previous year taxable value during the same time period of 2007 to today at the cumulative inflation rate of 20.341/ot. At the peak of 2007, taxable values were much CC 05-17-17/2 higher than the inflation rate. She said that is starting to narrow and the good news is the taxable values are trending upward. Mr. Williams said it is important to know that taxable value drives the amount of revenue we receive. He said comparing the amount of revenue we are collecting versus the cost to operate, you can see we have been in a deficit for quite some time. While it is getting better, the overall picture moving forward is not that great as we look at a third homestead exemption hitting the ballots. Mayor Durso said, to be clear, we haven't been in deficit, we've been in deficit compared to the rate of inflation. He stated we pass a balanced budget every year. Mr. Williams said you are balancing it on reserves and that reserve number is going down. Mayor Durso said that is what the reserves are for. Commissioner Maingot stated you are speaking about the $25,000 additional, but it has not been approved. Mr. Williams said that needs to be on the radar. He said in two years it will be on our doorstep, so we need to be thinking about it today. Ms. Snead went over a chart that shows the funds and where their revenue comes from. She said the General Fund is primarily the largest fund in the City, followed by the Utility Fund, then Public Facility Improvement Fund, which is where we get our infrastructure surtax, and then Capital Projects Fund, Stormwater and other funds. Commissioner Sacket asked about Public Utilities Fund. Ms. Snead said we have recently raised the rates and issued debt to do some large infrastructure improvements, so that is why it is at the level it is right now. Ms. Snead showed a chart of the General Fund Revenues and where the changes in dollars are coming from. She said Tax Revenues are up, Licenses and Permits are slightly down and primarily every revenue source we have is trending upwards, with the exception of Licenses and Permits. She showed another chart of where the money goes Citywide. To the General Fund, Utilities, Public Facilities and Capital Projects, pretty much in line where the revenues come from. She showed where the General Money Fund goes, and it was broken into categories. She explained how Utility Billing is completely funded in the General Fund by the garbage fees and the Utility Fund. She addressed Health Insurance and said we are projecting our budget is going to increase by 12%. She CC 05-17-17/3 said we received the Actuary Report for the Police and Firefighter Pension Funds, and the Actuary is recommending that we increase the contribution rate for the pensions by 53%. It is based on the mortality tables, and the legislature is now making the Florida League of Cities use the mortality tables that FRS uses. She also stated we did not get salary increases for several years, and we finally have done that, and as wages go up, so do the pensions. Mr. Williams said as people are living longer, you have to fund the retirement longer, so it does make an impact. He said we talked to Florida League of Cities, and many of the plans throughout the state have been impacted by the change in mortality tables, but they believe the impact is isolated to one year. Ms. Snead said in the budget we have included four new positions for Fire. She said three of those are basically an offset. She said we were finding we were spending a lot of money in overtime for Fire, and we can actually spend less money and convert those to actual positions and reduce the overtime budget. She said that would be three firefighter positions and one training officer included in the budget request. She said for the Police Department, we have the request of one new School Resource Officer, which will be fifty percent funded by the School Board. She showed a graph of the change of taxable value. She said it shows the trend of difference in inflation and taxable value. It projects out if we have the Homestead Exemption occur. Mr. Williams said he wanted to point out where we are from the overall recession and the recovery that we have made has been relatively slow. He said if we have a 6% increase this year, and next year, and the third Homestead Exemption does come, we are still effectively 18% below where we were in 2007, which has frustrated a lot of managers. He said we have to eventually deal with the revenue problem or we are going to find ourselves in a very tough predicament. Commissioner Maingot commented the only back up situation we have is our growth and our economic development with the houses coming on and taxes arriving out of that. That will help to buffer some of that. Mr. Williams said there are new projects moving through the system which gives us a little level of comfort. He said as you look at any new growth that comes in and gets approved, you are probably two years in some instances from that hitting the tax revenue. He said you have to deal with the short term revenue problem over time. There is an interim gap that you have to focus on. He noted since he has been here from 2009, we have been in a mode of cutting costs. Mr. Williams said the next chart is a comparison of other cities and the average taxable value you derive from the cities in Seminole County for CC 05-17-17/4 taxable properties. He said the Altamonte Springs, Casselberry and Winter Springs folks are unique because their fire services are being provided by the County. He said you can see where we fall in comparison to Lake Mary, Sanford and the other cities, and your expectations for delivery of services is equivalent to what you see in the other cities, but the revenues are much less. Mayor Durso asked if this is for City tax and does not take into consideration the County EMS deal. Mr. Williams stated it is and does not. Mr. Williams said when you compare the partials of cities with fire departments, on average, we are $131 per taxable property less, and if you were to capture that, you are looking at an increase of $0.36 cents per day, which would generate about $900,000 in additional revenue for the City. Ms. Snead said there are a couple of things that have impacted the fund balance. She said last year's budget was 17%. She said there are two big things that have impacted the fund balance in this proposed budget. The first, the Reiter Park Debt Service, and second is the Pension Fund. Commissioner Maingot stated on page 13 you have the estimated 2017 fund balances as 25%. Mayor Durso said let's let them go through their initial presentation, and we will start going through the individual packets. Commissioner Maingot said we are asking questions as we go forward. Mayor Durso said he is going to let each Department Head make a full presentation because they usually answer our questions in their presentation, and when they are done. Commissioner Maingot stated he will ask questions as they move forward. Mayor Durso said he is going to let them finish their statements and then everyone can ask their questions as soon as they are done and everyone can have a full vetting of their budget. Commissioner Maingot said if he wished to ask a question he will ask. Mr. Williams said on page 13 we showed fund balance estimates for the conclusion of fiscal year 2017. He said we estimate that we are going to be at 25%. He said typically, and have for the last ten years come in a lot better than what we predict. He said we looked at that, and on average we are about 9% higher, and we think we will be between 4 — 9% this year, so that ending number will actually be higher. Depending on how the revenue picture changes going forward and whatever cost savings we may CC 05-17-17/5 be able to come out of the proposed budget that overall 10% number would actually come up. He said while it is a big number change, it is very early, so he said he is not concerned about preference. Deputy Mayor Sackett said he would like to see if we can have a June meeting so we can re -address some things that have come up, because last year there were still questions and all of a sudden it was setting the mileage rate. Mr. Williams said the Certification of Taxable Values doesn't come until July 1, so you may not have revenue estimates until mid -July from the State as it comes forward. He said if you wanted an update on where things will come, we could target late July or early to mid -August. Deputy Mayor Sackett said that is fine but would like to have another review. Mayor Durso said that is fine. He said the plan is to set the mileage in late July. Mr. Williams said the budget would be finalized in September. He said with setting of the tentative mileage rate, you do that for Trim compliance purposes, and if you go high, you can always come back down, but if you go low and need to go high, you can't. City Commission Budget: Ms. Longo pointed out some differences in the budget this year. One being the Florida League of Cities Conference for the next fiscal year will be held in Hollywood, Florida, and will have an increase to the travel fund, and there has been training fund added for each Commissioner. Mr. Williams also stated there was an increase in Commission salary to $1,000 a month as well as the cell phone stipend. Deputy Mayor Sackett said he will donate his increase, and Mayor Durso said he agrees with him. Mayor Durso feels any increase in their salary should be linked to what the employees get. Commissioner Maingot made comments regarding no increase in Commission salary for the last seventeen (17) years other than the phone stipend this year. He also commented that ten (10) years ago Longwood was on par with Lake Mary. He supports an increase in the salary. Commissioner Maingot made a motion to approve the $1,000 a month salary to be included in the upcoming budget. Seconded by Commissioner Weller. CC 05-17-17/6 Commissioner Paris said this is the most expensive job he has ever had and agrees with the comments made by Commissioner Maingot. He said this is not to make any money, and with the City adopting term limits, we need to start attracting people to realize this is not a cost to take this position. He thinks $1,000 a month would probably offset what most of them spend between time, travel and donations. He does not get any tax break on it at the end of the year, so it does sound like a large increase, in reality, it is quite small. He believes it does put them on an average with other cities, so he does support this to help attract new blood. Mayor Durso said his reasons for either opposing or supporting this has nothing to do with the amount or the cost of the job. He understands what they make doesn't cover the gas to go to meetings. He said he feels they should be proponents of linking it to what the employees get and what they do. He believed that ten (10) years ago when there was a lot of opposition to that from some people right here in this room. Commissioner Weller asked when the last time the Commission had an increase. Mr. Williams said they had one last year of 3%. Motion carried by a three to two (3-2) roll call vote with Mayor Durso and Deputy Mayor Sackett voting nay. City Clerk Budget: Ms. Longo said the significant increase in this budget will be for the election. She said this is a stand-alone election, which means the City will bear most of the costs. Commissioner Maingot asked about the estimates reflected in the proposed column. Mr. Williams explained that we started developing this budget in March and you have a lag of expenditures coming in through the accounting system and this is just an estimate of what one thinks is going to be spent. He commented it is not a number to focus on as this will change as you go through the year. Commissioner Maingot asked if we are going to look at increasing the cost of cemetery lots. Ms. Longo said this is still a project being worked on and is looking at different areas and their cots to determine a reasonable increase. City Manager Budget: There were no questions. CC 05-17-17/7 City Attorney Budget: There were no questions. It was stated that the costs are remaining the same. General Services Budget: There is no significate changes and it was stated that the purchase of general products (toilet paper, paper towels, copy paper) have been consolidated to provide some cost savings. There was a discussion on the Schneider Electric audit and using it where possible. Human Resources Budget: Ms. Ricci stated they will need a Comp Study done performed for the whole City, but due to budgetary restraints she is not pushing that forward. She said in the area of Risk Management, we have seen a decline in claims of workers compensation this year. She said they are focusing the Safety Committee on the reduction of accidents with safety oriented employee education. She said workers compensation and insurance rates are increasing due to potential litigation and will see an increase in the overall budget. She commented that the HR Budget is roughly $780,000 of which more than half, $411,000 is for the City's liability insurances. This includes general, property, public officials, errors and admissions, comprehensive and automobile. She said these insurance coverages are provided through PRM. She said we have been informed that property, public officials, errors and admissions and automobile insurance rates will all increase this year. She said you are seeing an increase in the budget and there are no special requests for the HR budget. Mr. Williams said as we acquire new assets and take the old ones off, we are insuring at higher values. Commissioner Maingot asked about competitively shopping for rates. Mr. Williams said we have been a member of PRM for quite some time. He said they actually go out and shop the rates, they are the broker, and bring forth the best possible rates. He said in his opinion the service we have gotten from PRM is by far the best. He also stated, another thing we get by being a long term member of PRM is a decent credit for that long term membership. Commissioner Maingot asked where PRM fits in in regards to negotiating a better rate for us. Mr. Williams said they represent forty-four (44) different entities throughout. He also mentioned that you should take into consideration we had a hurricane that impacted the state at the beginning of this year, so most everybody's rates do fluctuate a little bit as a result of that and looks at the overall experience of the pool. CC 05-17-17/8 Mayor Durso asked if they were going broke because their reserves have gone from $30 Million to $8 Million. He said he checked on that just to make sure they weren't lying to him. Mr. Williams said you have to look at the other entities that are bringing that forward and look at their reserves and their obligations in terms of reserves for people that have left. He said Ms. Ricci and he will be attending the conference in June of this year, and he will be having a direct conversation with them and addressing that perception issue. Mayor Durso said he agrees with Commissioner Maingot in that we should consider putting it out to bid. Mr. Williams suggested if that is what you want to do, we should probably get the Actuary that works for Public Risk Management to come in and do a workshop for the Commission. Mayor Durso said he would like some comfort from them that yes, we are solvent, and we are not going to have any issues, and if there is a big claim it is not going to wipe us out. Mr. Williams said he will be meeting with the Executive Director at the PRM conference and having that conversation. Questions were asked about the amount for legal under Professional Services. Mr. Williams did note that they will be in negations with the Unions during the next fiscal year. Information Technologyget: Mr. Dunn said he reduced SunGuard from 104 to 50. He said there is a couple of software projects to replace products installed in 2009 and 2010, there is a purchase of some computer items to replace some 2011 purchases, and there is a capital project that will be replacing the 2014/15 lease. He said other than that, everything is the same as last year. Commissioner Maingot asked about a couple of items regarding office licensing for all desk top computers, which covers license costs for Windows Server, Exchange SQL Server and Window data center software for City Servers. He stated it reads, as new versions of the software in the agreement are released, the City will automatically receive them at no additional charge during the duration of the Enterprise Agreement. He said he sees a $24,590 charge, and wanted to know what that is for. Mr. Dunn said Item 11 is for Software Licensing that allows us to install and use the software, and Items 18 & 19 are for the professional services to have the experts configure, install and set these systems up for us. He CC 05-17-17/9 said we have to pay Microsoft for the right to use their software, and that is what we are paying for. Purchasing Budget: Commissioner Maingot said the estimate for 2017 is $89,315, and you propose for 2018 is $92,774. Mayor Durso asked is that reflected in the 3% salary increase. Ms. Snead said that it is primarily the salary increase. Finance Budget: Ms. Snead said the primary increases here are related to the 3% salary increases. Mayor Durso asked if there are any professional service increases or capital increases. Ms. Snead said there are none. Commissioner Maingot said he sees a lot of subscription and membership dues and if they do not benefit the City, he thinks the individual should pay for it. Ms. Snead said the memberships we do have are related directly to our jobs. Utility Billing Budd: Ms. Snead said there is nothing significant occurring here. She said the increases that you see in this budget are primarily the result of increases in salaries. She said we are doing more cross -training in this department to support the Utility Billing section, which at certain times of the month gets a lot of call volume and a lot of requests. She said she is allocating a portion of the salary that is supported for that department. She mentioned an example being Maggie Baker who has backed up Amber, and a portion of her salary is charged back to the Utility Billing Department. She said it is reflected here as an increase. Those costs are offset by a transfer from the Utility budget. Mayor Durso asked if the Customer Service Training was included in there. Ms. Snead said no, that her staff has been so busy they haven't been able to do any training and development. She said they also do Business Tax Receipts, and they are trying to get involved in that association. CC 05-17-17/10 Mr. Williams said the Customer Service Training you referred to is handled out of the HR budget. He said one of the things to keep in mind is some time ago we started a conversion to a new software, Edmunds & Associate. He said payroll is getting ready to go live, they are doing training on Business Tax Receipts and starting with Utility Billing cycle. He said there may be some additional training with the new software as we go into next year. He said the positive thing is last year we paid SunGuard $100,000, and this year because of the new modules we have brought on we have been able to lower that cost down to $50,000. Discussion ensured and questions were answered regarding credit card fees and ATM fees. It was agreed a fee should be collected. Mr. Williams said we just authorized the expenditure for a new program we are going to start this year, and as we take it live, we will keep you in the process and make the proper notification of it. Ms. Snead said we are going to be doing an automated phone call to people who are getting ready to be delinquent on their utility bills. She said this will hopefully save them from having to pay cut-off fees and go without water. This will be implemented in the next few months and be a good thing for the customers. Commissioner Maingot regarding manpower, you have a Utility Billing Manager, use to have two (2) meter techs/customer service reps, and now you have two (2) customer field service reps. He asked if they are the same people and what do they do. Ms. Snead said they collect payments in the office and one goes out in the afternoon and turns on new water or shuts off water. Commissioner Maingot asked the City Manager who authorized the purchase of an electric Nissan Leaf. Mr. Williams said that was purchased three (3) years ago. Discussion ensued all the maintenance for the vehicle and the need for two (2) vehicles. Ms. Snead did note that they are doing approximately forty (40) shut -offs per week and during peak times they do have a need to have more than one vehicle out in the field to do the job. Police Department Budget: Mr. Williams said he knows the Public Safety Director's title and position has been controversial over the last year. He went over a document CC 05-17-17/11 directly out of the Comprehensive and Financial Report presented to the Commission on Monday night. He stated this was a budget comparison this was not prepared by him, Mr. Hickson or Ms. Snead. It was done by an independent auditor. He said as we look back over the last year as to what was budgeted and what actually came in, you can see of the $1 million dollars that we were under budget, $762,000 was attributed to the Public Safety Department of which Mr. Hickson was over. He said regardless of whether or not a title is controversial, the position, in his opinion has done exactly what it was intended to do. It not only affects public safety, it affects general services and other areas of the budget. He said months ago, he said he would come back to you with a recommendation to sunset the position. He will be bringing that recommendation in June to change his title from Public Safety Director to Assistant City Manager, and we will move forward with completing the interim statuses. Deputy Mayor Sackett said he is questioning that because he is definitely not in favor of it. He asked what does Assistant City Manager mean and where is the flow chart. He remembers a meeting he had on a Friday when he didn't know what was going with the Public Safety Director, and nothing was shown to him, except at a Monday Commission meeting when this flow chart of who is reporting to whom. He stated we are small town of 14,000 - 15,000 people, and he doesn't see a need for a Public Safety Director. He asked the City Manager if he is not able to do his job full time. He said he loves the work he is doing. He asked what an Assistant City Manager pays. Mr. Williams said there would be no change in his pay structure. He would represent him at meetings where I cannot be, and would help with the day to day operations where he may be pulled away from them day to day operations where I am focused on economic development, and other operational needs that come up and a decision made. Deputy Mayor Sackett said he understands that, but previously when you were out of the office you would designate the Police Chief or Fire Chief as in charge, so what has changed. Mr. Williams said that would be him filling that role if I am out of the office. Deputy Mayor Sackett said he sees it as just another level and not sure how that works. He also asked and was not sure, who works for who and reports to who and people who are in different buildings. Mr. Williams said everybody ultimately reports to me and there are Directors over each department. CC 05-17-17/12 Deputy Mayor Sackett asked about the $762,000 and if we would have saved that anyway without a Public Safety Director. Mr. Williams said he does not necessarily know if you would have. He said when you had a change in the leadership in the Fire Department, you had some hefty expenditures you were facing when he got in and started to evaluate and ultimately bring forward changes to the budget that produced and yielded that savings. Deputy Mayor Sackett asked if we had a police chief now. Mr. Williams said there is an interim police chief now, and will come forward with the recommendation for full time, along with the fire chief. Deputy Mayor Sackett asked what type of disasters we have where we need a Public Safety Director. Mr. Williams said we had a hurricane last October, and he was very instrumental in that process. He coordinated meetings, set up the EOCs, and established the emergency support functions, allowed those people to focus on the operational side of the incident. Deputy Mayor Sackett asked if it was something Mr. Hickson as Police Chief could have done. Mr. Williams said he thinks you are throwing a layer of responsibility on top of another layer of responsibility. Deputy Mayor Sackett stated this is how it has been done. Mr. Williams said it was how it was done, but this incident was a lot better than the incident in 2004. Deputy Mayor Sackett said his feeling is just to cut a couple hundred thousand from the budget. He is not in favor of that position. Mr. Williams said we did not increase bodies, we just moved bodies around. He said with the creation of that position, if it dissolves, he has the opportunity to go back to be the Chief of Police. Deputy Mayor Sackett stated he is fine with that. Commissioner Paris commented on what had been pointed out that we are one of the best cities to raise a family in, and have talked about our level of service. He said we have dragged Mr. Williams everywhere. He personally calls him out to meetings on a regular basis, to neighborhoods, corners, fields, and other places. He said we ask him to make incredible turn arounds. He does not see a problem with having a second executive CC 05-17-17/13 that has the authority granted to him by the City Manager to make decisions needed to be made at a moment's notice. He said if Mr. Williams just worked full time in his office as a City Manager, then an argument could be made for not having an assistant, but he knows he takes up his time, and he is only one of five (5) taking up his time. He would be in favor of having an assistant city manager that is at the executive level, not a glorified secretary. Commissioner Maingot said when we look at all we have ongoing in terms of economic development and more that will be happening, he feels our City Manager is spread too thin right now. He is always willing to respond. He has known Mr. Hickson for years and worked on a number of issues with him. He feels nothing ventured, nothing gained. He will support that position. He said we are the fastest growing City right now, and the only way we will continue on to be the fastest growing City in Seminole County, is if we have people who are prepared to take up the load with no excuses to get out there and get the job done. He does not have any hesitation in supporting Mr. Hickson. Commissioner Paris said as much as he does love Director Hickson, he is not only in support of Director Hickson, but he is in support of the position. He said we have a long history of doing planning succession planning. Mr. Williams will not be here forever, and we need to be prepared. Deputy Mayor Sackett asked about the staff that is listed as public safety coordinator and if they would be moved to report to the interim Police Chief. He said he is having trouble as to who is where and who reports to whom. Mr. Hickson stated through discussions he does not envision the current set-up changing. He said the two titles he mentioned, the public safety coordinators work in his office. He said they help him with procurement, accountability, clerical, crime analysis, all of that for fire and police. Mr. Williams said the Public Safety Director title will not exist. He said he can move his budget and costs associated under my budget, but is more aligned to stay where it is because it is benefitting both of the departments. Deputy Mayor Sackett said we have the two other departments presenting their own budgets, and he does not know where they fit in or who works for who, and what building are they actually in. Mr. Williams said they are all housed at the Admin Building now where we have the copy paper, and IT is also there. Deputy Mayor Sackett said he knows he is a losing voice on this, but I do not support this. CC 05-17-17/14 Commissioner Weller asked when you bring the Assistant City Manager position forward, and the Interim Police Chief and Fire Chief, are we going to expect increasing wages when we do that. Mr. Williams said for the Assistant City Manager no, and he will have to go back and look at where the other two salaries are currently, and whether or not there is an impact associated with that. Deputy Mayor Sackett asked if Mr. Hickson is eligible to retire and if he was in Drop. Mr. Hickson said he is not in Drop and eligible to retire. Interim Police Chief Dowda said he wanted to point out a couple of lines where there were increases. He said there is an increase in the maintenance of radios and maintaining radars and lasers. Another increase was due to electrical and water service at the portables for the volunteers on Wayman. He said we are requesting eight (8) patrol cars, which would help us replace aging vehicles and repairs. He said if we trade them now, that revenue can be used to purchase more. Questions were asked about the officers working off duty detail and how that payment is handled. The company requesting the officer pays the City for their time and it was explained there is an off- setting revenue source for this expenditure. Commissioner Maingot brought up the costs versus benefits of take home vehicles for Police Officers. Chief Dowda said with the new cars, these costs will go down. He said we are maintaining the same fuel costs as last year. Deputy Mayor Sackett asked how many COP vehicles there are. Chief Dowda replied that there are six (6) vehicles. Deputy Mayor Sackett asked if these vehicles are included in the cost of maintenance and repairs. Chief Dowda replied in the affirmative. Discussion ensued on expenses including, uniforms, confiscation monies, and recognizing volunteers. It was also noted that various groups that raise money wanted to be able to see those funds and they have been earmarked accordingly. Deputy Mayor Sackett requested that the City have one event to recognize all those that volunteer for the City, including those on City Boards. CC 05-17-17/15 Chief Dowda also mentioned the request for a special Police Officer, who would be at Longwood Elementary. He confirmed that 50% of the salary would be covered by the School Board. Question was raised regarding a central fueling station and Mr. Williams explained that this is only used during emergencies. He reviewed the current process stating they now have use a system with Wright Express. This provides a card to each employee who is assigned a pin number and this number is entered along with the odometer reading when you fill up your vehicle. He said this provides better control of fuel and better reporting. Fire Department: Interim Chief Peters said there is an increase in our employee physicals, and we have the same radio increase that the Police Department is experiencing, and the big one is the fire truck at $550,000. He has one additional employee request of a Training Lieutenant at $85,000. Commissioner Maingot asked him if we need a Deputy Fire Chief for two (2) stations because we used to operate without that. Chief Peters said he thinks we do need the Deputy Chief. He said they are filling the training role and also helping out in the EMS aspect. They also do have some administrative duties. He said all those roles were there before, and they have assumed those roles. Commissioner Maingot said it seems that vehicle maintenance is constantly climbing, and he does not agree with the increases constantly going up because with new vehicles we should not have that. He asked why maintenance is increasing. Chief Peters said what we have experienced with our new fire pumpers, we have essentially had total engine rebuilds done on both of those apparatus this year. He believes it to be a byproduct of the new diesel technology. The mechanics tell him they are not having the longevity that they have had previously. Mr. Williams said he thinks you need to look at the changes that the EPA did with diesel fuel. He said nationally, people are trying to get the EPA to give exemptions to emergency vehicles, and they are not doing it. Mr. Hickson said that is being lobbied in Tallahassee because the fire service used to have the exemption of the EPA stuff, and then it went away. He said several years ago we were having pumpers that were losing its pressure on the attack lines while our firefighters were inside the CC 05-17-17/16 burning buildings based upon those EPA regulations. He said we are hoping that will change in Tallahassee through lobbying eventually. Commissioner Maingot expressed his concern with using the fire trucks to go shopping at Winn Dixie. Deputy Mayor Sackett asked about the fire trucks parked on the side of the station that are never used. Chief Peters said they are the reserve vehicles and used a considerable amount. He said it is one (1) engine and two (2) rescues. He said we did sell an old rescue recently and trying to trim the surplus as.we can, and be as efficient as possible. Discussion ensued on the three (3) new firefighter positions and that they are being brought in as a way to cut overtime. Commissioner Maingot asked about the Professional Services line. Chief Peters explained that it is related to physicals needed for firefighters and they are $602 each. Mr. Hickson explained the insurance physical that the firefighters go through includes calcium scanning, cancer scanning, and pulmonary functionality. He said these are all the things required by law for firefighters because of the breathing apparatus they use and are exposed to on a regular basis. He said this is not a standard physical that most of us are used to. Communily Development Budget: Mr. Kintner said the primary focus of the increase in the department is Professional Services. He said there are a number of citywide initiatives that are included in this. He said we have included the countywide Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) Survey. He said this is a project we have been working on in conjunction with Seminole County and Cities in Seminole County in an effort to combine efforts to help get information from our business community about what they need. He said over the past year, we have been able to make a connection between both a developer wanting to develop vacant land and build buildings and emerging businesses within the City of Longwood that need those buildings. He said we want to be able to increase our ability to make those connections through this effort. He said the amount of $15,000 we think is high and will come down, but we are at an early stage on the BRE process, so we don't know exactly what our contribution will be. He said on the Code Enforcement Magistrate that is a cost with Code Enforcement coming to Community Development Department and is a split between Planning and Building because those costs need to be kept separate. He said there is a CC 05-17-17/17 cost for the City Hall Relocation Consultant. He said we recently brought GAI consultants on board doing space needs analysis. That cost is an estimate, but the expectation for GAI is they will be working on the City Hall Relocation process. He said regarding the 17-92 Median Landscaping Design, there is money set aside to do a design for a small area study the Commission approved. There is a program where you have the ability to get funding for landscaping if you provide a design, which has to be a fully engineered design and you have the opportunity to get hundreds of thousands of landscaping from FDOT. He said we see it as a relatively small, up -front investment for a larger payoff later. Our part of the deal is coming up with a fully engineered plan. Commissioner Maingot asked if we are figuring in a system for water for those medians. Mr. Kintner said this cost is the design cost. The actual construction cost would be what we would receive as part of the grant from FDOT, and those considerations would be included in that. Deputy Mayor Sackett asked about two (2) code enforcement officer positions, one funded, what does that mean. Mr. Kintner said those are two (2) positions that were under the Police Department and have moved over to Community Development. He said only one is funded at this time. Deputy Mayor Sackett said he feels we need two (2) people on the streets, and asked where Code housed. Mr. Kintner said Brittany, our code Enforcement Officer started in Community Development on May 1 ', and is in our department. Deputy Mayor Sackett said he still feels we need two (2) officers. Mr. Kintner explained that Robert Bailey, who is the Building Official, has been the Code Enforcement Supervisor in previous jobs and is certified, and he will be providing a backup in a code enforcement role. Deputy Mayor Sackett said he feels we need two (2) active code enforcement people to clean up things like signs and flags and out on the weekends. Mr. Kintner said that is a discussion we will bring forward along that front such as temporary signage, and that is a discussion we need to have and confirm what we have on the books regarding code enforcement is what we want moving forward. CC 05-17-17/18 Deputy Mayor Sackett said he would like to see two (2) funded code enforcement officers in this budget. Mr. Kintner went over the Mobility Fee Study at $60,000. He said a few years ago, the State of Florida took Transportation Concurrency out of the statutes for what is actually required for a City to have, and allowed cities to do what we did, which was designate the entire city as a Transportation Concurrency exception area. He said that was done at an economic low point in which we saw some incentive for development. He explained the need for this study and that it will drive the ability to compensate for the things that were previously paid for by transportation concurrency. Commissioner Maingot asked about market outreach. Mr. Kintner said it is something we do at some degree at this point. He said we are working on a brochure that can be used at a number of events our Economic Development Manager goes to in order to advertise the City. Leisure Services Budizet: Mr. Capizzi said the increase in his budget is mostly due to the Reiter Park Project, with the exception of our contractual services which we recently went out to bid for the Citywide mowing contract. He said there was an increase for that. He said there is $26,000 allotted for new fencing for Candyland Park and stated the fencing is well over twenty (20) years old. He feels he can get that entire amount, or close to it, taken care of with a grant. He said there is over $100,000 worth of improvements at Candyland Park with grant funding. Babe Ruth has contributed between $30,000 and $35,000 for field renovations as well. He said regarding the $31,000 request, $26,000 is towards the fencing and $5,000 is towards court resurfacing at Sandalwood Park which is needed badly. Commissioner Maingot asked for a figure for what it costs to maintain Candyland Park. Mr. Capizzi said what is reflected in his Repair and Maintenance Budget, is broken down into irrigation, sod etc. and is an accurate picture of what we spend. Commissioner Maingot commented that it would be a good idea to look at what is charged to potentially cover some of the costs for repairs and maintenance. Mr. Capizzi explained that on the fields $5,000 has been spent. He said he is about to spend $80,000 on field #3 and that is all grant money. He said Babe Ruth, through registration costs, will have close to $10,000 and CC 05-17-17/19 another $3,000 from concessions and we have made over what we have spent on the fields. Mr. Williams brought up mowing and said we mow thirty-seven (37) times a year in most cases. He said is there an interest from the Commission that we adopt the County's philosophy toward mowing right- of-ways and also shifting responsibility to the residents that would be a cost savings. Commissioner Maingot said providing you could enforce it. Mr. Williams said you could certainly enforce it, especially the ones directly in front of their homes. He stated, in the summertime, driving by medians maintained by the County, you will see overgrown grass and weeds. Mayor Durso said his immediate response is to keep it the way it is. Commissioner Weller asked what the plans are for the Grand Opening for Reiter Park. Mr. Capizzi said it is in the beginning stages, but we would like to plan a very large event. He said he would like to attract the same amount of people that attend the Easter Event. He said we have gotten quotes from iHeartRadio, Cox Media Group and Wolf Media. He stated they are very interested in working with us for the Grand Opening. He said the reason we do have such a good crowd for the Easter Event is because Magic 107.7 is our sponsor for that. He is anticipating radio sponsorship for this Grand Opening Event which will take it to the next level. Commissioner Weller said the people he has talked to, citizens and himself, he is hoping we do something where it will let the community around Longwood know we have a park where we can put on large events. He asked about the walk through for the Community Building and the condition assessment for that building. Mr. Capizzi said he walked through with Joe Menza, our Facilities and Construction Maintenance person, and the building is in very good shape right now. He said the air conditioning system is old, but we have not had to do anything to it this past year. He said we have lock boxes on the thermostats which helps them control the temperature for parties held every weekend, and it is working efficiently. He said we are stripping the wax on the floor more often, which is keeping it in much better shape. The sound system in the building was replaced, and new fire proof curtains installed. He said we have done a lot to the building to help its maintenance and management. He said the only thing we can foresee in the next seven years is the air conditioning. He said two years ago we fixed the roof, replaced flooring upstairs, have had it painted and we are CC 05-17-17/20 going to have to replace appliances in the kitchen, but that will not be a huge cost. Commissioner Weller asked about the exterior wood on the building. Mr. Capizzi said there will be upgrades and some maintenance cost. He mentioned that Mr. Menza, is constantly checking the building and lets him know if there is something wrong. He also said that two of his employees are housed in that building. Commissioner Weller questioned why he is requesting two (2) part time event specialists instead of one (1) full time person. Mr. Capizzi explained part of that decision is related to Reiter Park and we will be doubling the amount of events we have and one person will only work a certain amount of hours. If he has two part timers, if one is on vacation, he is covered with the other person. Commissioner Weller mentioned the electronic sign he has brought up and feels we need to place one in the downtown area to advertise the events in the City. Mr. Williams said this will be addressed. Commissioner Maingot said we have to get a handle on what the Community Building is costing and reflect that back into the cost we are now charging for the rental fees. He also thinks we need to review all the freebies that have been given and come up with a good proposal. Mr. Capizzi said we did a study of similar community event centers in the area and we charge two different rates, resident and non-resident rate which is an hourly rate. He said the other centers have prime time rates, weekday rates as opposed to weekend rates. Mr. Williams said one other thing we need to do is look at the original cost of the building and factor that into it, a depreciated rate, so you are putting that into an account for projects. Commissioner Maingot asked about sponsors to name Reiter Park. Mr. Williams said we just provided Mr. Capizzi with a sample "Naming Rights" document that we will be working on. Discussion ensued on options for naming, and an example given was naming the amphitheater. It was mentioned there is not a desire to rename the park itself. CC 05-17-17/21 Streets Budget: Mayor Durso commented to keep doing whatever they are doing. He said people are happy with Florida Central Parkway and Church. Commissioner Weller brought up a concern about Church Avenue where there is a section with no street lights. Mayor Durso said there are a number of streets in all Districts where there are no lights and some of those areas have no sidewalks. He feels we need a comprehensive audit with Duke Energy to figure out what we can do, if we can relocate them. Commissioner Maingot asked about the Traffic Signal Maintenance and it was noted this is a pass through that the City gets reimbursed for this cost from Florida Department of Transportation and in turn pays the County. Commissioner Maingot asked about Helping Hands and it was noted that they won the contract for city property. He asked about the assessment forms that are used for accountability, and Mr. Capizzi confirmed they are being utilized. Public Utilities Fund: Mr. Williams made comments to remind everyone that we operate a Pooled Cash System, meaning the monies are segregated under that Pooled Cash, which means there are the General Fund Monies, separate from the Utilities System monies that are separate from the Building Inspections Service monies. He said you can transfer for legitimate and justifiable purposes, but you can't intermingle Utilities Fund for Operating Costs in the General Fund. Commissioner Weller asked about overtime being so high. Mr. Kornbluh said it is for call -outs for a large scale storm or a lift station failure in the middle of the night. He said it is a 24/7 thing and there is always someone on call for the sewer, water, and plants. Renewal & Replacement Fund: There were no questions. Impact Fees Fund: Mayor Durso said there has been a move with regard to certain Cities and their interaction with the County with regard to impact fees. He is assuming we will be having that conversation in the future. CC 05-17-17/22 Mr. Williams said this is related to water and sewer impact fees. He said when you look at our impact fees, you have a County Impact Fee, but we also have one we charge for our collection and distribution system as well. He said the R&R Fund and the Impact Fee Fund are new funds that resulted from our last rate study that was done and segregates these funds and identities that we will reinvest back in the systems. Building & Inspection Fund: There were no questions. Grant Fund: There were no questions. Police Education Fund: There were no questions. Confiscation Fund: There were no questions. Mayor Durso commented that these funds are primarily not taxpayer money. These things are generated from confiscations or from shares of County, State, or Federal confiscations that we get a portion of, if they happen here. Special Assessment Fund: Mr. Williams said right now we manage this fund as a secondary task to finance personnel. He said Bill Black managing and overseeing the contractor; and as we start seeing some of these larger projects coming to fruition and responsibilities expanding, such as State Road 434 Landscaping Project, Reiter Park, we want to consider hiring a manager to strictly oversee the special assessments and the interaction you have with the various citizens. He said the downside of that is those calls would be strictly borne by the assessments and therefore, you would see an uptick in the assessments that are being charged. While it may not be reflective here, we will probably be pursuing that as we get later into the budgetary cycle, and that would have to go through a public hearing process to adjust these assessments. Deputy Mayor Sackett said he would support that based on the letters you get in your emails and some are demanding and some are not. There should be somebody overseeing it so the message is consistent. Stormwater Fund: Mr. Williams said we have been very pro -active and spent quite a bit of the resources in the fund, so for next year we don't have any large capital projects planned for, and we will probably try to shift into a maintenance component. He said we did identify some stormwater improvements, so we will be bringing back to the Commission a Resolution to amend the one cent sales tax program to include some of the projects that are ongoing right now to be funded from that source going forward. CC 05-17-17/23 Commissioner Maingot asked what interest rate we are getting right now on our money. Ms. Snead said everything over $2 million dollars gets put into an investment swipe account and we get 3.5 basis points on it. She stated our interest earnings are definitely going up because we switched to that type of arrangement. Public Facilities Fund: Mr. Williams commented that we are going to leave the proposed capital project in there for Highline Drive extension at $2 million dollars. He does not believe that will come close to that cost incurred, but maybe things will progress faster, because it has not even been designed yet. He also mentioned that a couple of P4 projects were funded by the FDOT. He said one of them is for the sidewalk expansion in Florida Central Commerce Park, and the Contact Sensitive stuff on Ronald Reagan Boulevard. He said we have enough in the fund balance that we can fund the project and get it back, so we will be asking the Commission to fund it out of the fund balance as those projects come to fruition, and those monies that are coming back will be deposited back in. Discussion ensued on the City having their own wastewater treatment plant. Capital Projects Fund: There were no questions. Mr. Williams made some closing comments stating, we are sixty (60) to seventy (70) days earlier than in the past, and we will continue to work on the document and update with revenue estimates, which we hope are better, and continue to look at our proposed expenditures and monitor this year's in hopes that we can bring things down. He said we will update the Commission on that progress probably late July/August time frame if that is necessary. Mayor Durso said from his first budget hearing to today, things are vastly different here in the City of Longwood. He commented that every line item reflects a service or something used to provide a service to citizens. 3. ' ADJOURN. Mayor Durso adjourned the meeting at 6:46 p.m. r tl"u , Mayor CC 05-17-17/24 1 1 CC 05-17-17/25 This Page Left Blank Intentionally. 1 1 1 CC 05-17-17/26