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CC07-16-2018Min_WSLONGWOOD CITY COMMISSION Longwood City Commission Chambers 175 West Warren Avenue Longwood, Florida WORK SESSION MINUTES July 16, 2018 4:00 P.M. Present: Mayor Ben Paris Deputy Mayor Richard Drummond Commissioner Abby Shoemaker Commissioner Matt Morgan Commissioner Brian D. Sackett J. D. Cog, City Manager Michelle Longo, City Clerk David P. Dowda, Police Chief Mike Peters, Fire Chief Chris Kintner, Community Development 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 Utilities Tom Kruger, Economic Development Manager Shad Smith, City Engineer Trisha Fuston, Payroll/HR Coordinator 1. CALL TO ORDER. Mayor Paris called the meeting to order at 4 02 p.m. 2. REVIEW AND DISCUSS PROPOSED BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018-2019. Commissioner Sackett moved to suspend the rules Seconded by Commissioner Shoemaker and carried by a unanimous voice vote. Mr Cox started the presentation by stating this is our second workshop, having held the first one on June 25'i' during which we provided the budget with information for you to take a look at. He said he has had conversations with Commissioners, including a two-hour session with our local accountant, Commissioner Shoemaker He said he will be going through the packet of information that was sent out. At the June 25 b CC 07-16-18/1 workshop, we reported that for the first draft of the budget we had 10% reserve. The budget at that time was $37 million dollars, and in the General Fund we had a reserve of 10% Since that time, we have been doing a lot of work with feedback from you all. He would like to compliment staff on continuing to whittle away, and I am pleased to report we have gotten the General Fund to 15% reserves. He stated, he speaks for Ms. Snead and himself and we are comfortable with that for this year I have only been here for two months, so as we really get into the budget and we work on it this coming year, I think that will set us in good position for the coming year and what we need to do We are happy at 15% for this afternoon. He said we had a question come up last week and I want to share with you. If we have a component unit such as our Parks & Recreation group, the Community Emergency Response (CERT) group, or perhaps COPS, they are allocated a budget through the Comrrussion. To make it clear, a lot of us are used to being on a Chamber Board, and with that, you are concerned with your revenues and expenditures, and if at the end of the year you have $1,000 leftover, you roll it to the next year That is not the way government financing works. We covered this with CERT the other night. For CERT we have $6,438 budgeted for this year, and we have that in the budget for next year too He said it matters not if they raise zero dollars, $2, or $20,000, they are budgeted to spend $6,438, no more or they can spend less. There is one caveat. If they are doing a lot of fund raising, they can come back to the Commission and say we would like to do a budget amendment, and we could increase the expenditures they are authorized to spend out beyond the $6,438 Commissioner Morgan asked what the benefit of them going through us versus being their own group and raising their own money as they so wish and spend as they want. Mr Cox said there are pros and cons of doing it both ways. The pros are that you would have the umbrella of the City and you are operating within the realm of the City He said, a lot of the organizations benefit from the name City of Longwood, and they use it on their vehicles and materials. If they were separate, they would not be able to do that. If they were separate, they could raise their own money, and if they had $1,000 left over year one, that could carry over to year two He said a down side for that would be CERT has not spent any of the $6,438, so they could go out and spend on some projects right now without having raised any funding, so you do have that umbrella. Commissioner Sackett said if they raise a certain amount of money, it is going through our checkbook, and we are able to see those numbers better He said we are able to say you are close to your maximum total, so be aware of what is going on. That CERT group has a certain function and money may not be their function, it could be their fundraisers going through us and taking care of business that way CC 07-16-18/2 Mr Cox said those groups have a zero balance and do not have a negative balance going into the new fiscal year He said the exception to that is our assessments, and you go through an ordinance process to establish those assessments. Mr Cox said we also received an inquiry that there might be some additional things that were not included in the budget. There was a question about retention ponds that was brought up Friday He said if anything else comes up like that, our next session I am getting ready to get into will be in September, so we have between now and then if there is some tweaking we need to do Mr Cox moved into the Summary of Changes that have occurred since our last meeting on June 25th, he reminded everyone that 99% of our budget is represented by line items that have five digits or more, 87% have six digits and above, and over half of our budget are million dollar items and above. He said regarding targeting reserves, public safety is extremely important, taking care of our General Fund is what we are attempting to do, and what we have spent so much time doing over the past few weeks. It is true that budgeting is a zero sum game, so if you can spit out more money, you have to either cut costs or identify revenues. He said we believe it is best for us to hold steady with the course and keep the millage at the same rate. We are recommending we continue it at 5.5 mills, and that will be on the agenda later this evening. If we work really hard this year and engage our staff, we are going to do a presentation at an upcoming employee meeting later this month about our budget. We will share this with them and get ideas they might have and pass along through this process to you. He said you have options to increase revenue, decrease costs, and there is a third option, that is through a process of allocating costs, or Cost Allocating Budgeting. The next step beyond that would be Internal Services Budgeting and he has done this in the past. He said it takes an enormity of work, especially for the Finance Department, but also for all the other Directors. He believes Cost Allocation is perfect for us for right now Mr Cox directed everybody to page 1 and the funding of Reiter Park Debt Service. He said those costs for 2018/19 are going to the Public Facilities Fund. There has been substantial and healthy growth going on in the sales tax revenues to the tune that $1 6 million is now projected. He said Ms. Snead has reached out to Seminole County because they have done something similar to what we are talking about. We will come back and you will have to approve what it is we are asking for, but the budget does assume we were going to pursue that. He said we are showing that 10% of our total project costs related to project management and support will be allocated to the Public Facilities Fund. Also, a portion of staff time for Community Development ought to go to the Building Fund since they do quite a bit of work on Building Fund activities. The Fire Station Replacement Facility project has been included in the budget. He said CC 07-16-18/3 included in the expenditures is $3 5 million and also is offset by revenue that is not yet identified. He went over initial changes that were made since the first work shop budget that was proposed. We added a Senior Homestead Exemption for qualified semors and are anticipating that to be at about $38,000 A step plan for all employees has been included. He said the way we do that is how we have been doing in the past, which is the increase in salaries typically have not exceeded the line items for salaries than what we had budgeted. Almost always, there is attrition that happens and time goes by and that position is left unfilled and so that winds up being a cost savings to the City We still have yet to negotiate the contract with the IAFF, the Fire Union, as well as Public Works IUOE. Commissioner Sackett asked regarding staffing 2016/2017 to this next one, what were our employee numbers in grand total. Mr Cox said we are going to get to that and asked if we can hold off until that point. Mr Cox said the Building Fund continues to be healthy and we see continued growth in construction. A portion of staff being funded in Community Development through the General Fund are now being allocated through the Building Funds we talked about. The way we do this is we show it all on one line item and we do an inter -fund transfer to offset that. The negative Fund Balance is decreasing and a result of that is the rate structure that has been in place, and we have kept it that way The Public Facilities Fund is supported by the Gas Tax revenues and the additional Penny Sales Tax. The ten year is now running at $1 6 million higher, and that is why we believe the debt service for Reiter Park and the project cost management from the General Fund can be moving toward this. He said signage and the streets for the Gas Tax portion of the Capital Improvement Plan come from this fund as well. Mr Cox said the Capital Projects Fund is where the sale and proceeds from the City equipment are deposited with debt proceeds from capital leases. He said this is where the Reiter Park Project is also budgeted. The Utilities Fund is an enterprise fund, which means the fund is self- supporting through charges for services. The primary source for this revenue is water and sewer charges to customers. The City's investment in infrastructure, which supports the systems and has been able to obtain large grants and state revolving loan funds at extremely low interest rates to cover the costs of capital improvements for the system. Mr Cox said we are still working on the funds that are small and not consequential to our main revenues and expenditures, but they are funds that we watch nonetheless. He stated they are, our Grant Fund, The Police Education Fund and Police Confiscation Fund. CC 07-16-18/4 Mr Cox said we are also out for bid for Debris Management. This is key that we get this process in place, have these companies contracted and lined up so if or when disasters happen, we pick up the phone and call those that we have contracted out with. He said FEMA issues funds to the State, and the State allocates them to cities. FEMA has had concerns about the way some cities procured their cleanup efforts in prior storms, such as Hurricane Matthew They have taken a hard line approach, and we are feeling the pinch of that too We have had our previous application kicked back by FEMA and the State, and we are having to sharpen our pencils and take it back to them. He said having our procurement of our Debris Management in place in advance will only serve to have us have a good process, and we shouldn't get kicked out in the future. Mr Cox said Tab 2, the General Fund update reflects our 15% reserves and also the Utilities Fund shows it is up a bit. The $2.5 million projected reserve balance for this year will be reflected on some other documents. Mr Cox noted in Tab 4, the Budget Summary for all Funds has now been updated, and we have added a total line underneath the revenues, and added a total to the bottom underneath reserves. The $2.5 million is reflected in the General Fund column under Reserves. The total of all funds together is $10.5 million. Mr Cox said Tab 5 is the Fund Balance Summary We added an extra column for Fund Balance Ending. If we end the year at $2.9 million dollars instead of $2.5 million, we will be at 20%. Mr Cox went on to Tab 6, Revenues. He said for the General Fund increases and transfers in, this is where we show some of that allocation, where we show the increases and transfers in the Building Fund. The transfers in has been increased by about $30,000, and in the Building Fund by $80,000 He said we have added Special Assessments revenues. Mr Cox said regarding Public Facilities, we have updated the increase in the One Cent from $987,000 to $1.2 million, and also an increase from what we are anticipating from Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Reimbursement is reflected there as well. He went on to Public Utilities and said, previously we identified the Force Main Project we had with Altamonte Springs for $2.2 million. That will be on that line until the next fiscal year, so we have removed that appropriately We have also removed the East Longwood Septic Tank revenues from St. Johns River Water Management District. That was a $1.25 million, but we show the SRF loan proceeds which we are talking about today at $3.5 million, so that offsets itself. Our revised total projected revenues are $37 6 million, which is up from $32.9 million. Mr Cox went onto Tab 7, Capital Projects. He said under Public Facilities, the pavement line has been increased from $25,000 to $100,000 CC 07-16-18/5 Under Public Utilities, we have reduced the additional locaters to $1,800 and Capital has remained unchanged. Mr Cox said Tab 8 is next, Expenses. He said in the General Fund there is a slight reduction in wages for Utility Billing at $89,604, which is down from $92,000 prior The total cost for Utility Billing is down from $1,403,000 to $1,400,000 Under Law Enforcement there is a slight adjustment in wages, the total went from $4 631 million to $4 637 million. There is a $10,000 change to Law Enforcement, it was $5,020,000, and now it is $5 1 million. Under Fire and Rescue, we added Contingency back in. He said previously, it was zero dollars, and now we put $10,000 back in. Under Leisure Services, salaries are at $487,000 which is up from $439,000 and is reflecting another position for parks work. He said Contract Services is at $372,000 down from $388,000 The total costs for Leisure Services now reflects $1.587 million, which is down from $1 78 million we had before. Mr Cox moved on to Streets in the General Fund, and said Operating Supplies is at $20,000, down from $30,000 The total for Streets is at $1.215 million down from $1.29 million, which is down about $80,000 Mr Cox went on to the Building Fund. He said there is a slight increase regarding the Administrative Transfer, which is at $1 148 million and it was $1 064 million. Mr Cox went over Special Assessments. He said Public Facilities, professional services is at $335,000 estimation for this year and it was at $317,000 He said Improvements have been increased to $2.1 million from $1 98 million. The total for Public Facilities has gone from $3 1 million to $3 493 million. He said the Capital Improvements Fund show improvements of $3 761 million for the Fire Station Line Item. Mr Cox went over Public Utilities. He said overtime is an estimate to where we think we are going to end this year It is better to budget conservatively than to be surprised later That is why we increased that. He said before the total was $9,578,000 and now it is $9,562,000 He said the grand total is $36,423,447 million dollars. Commissioner Sackett asked what would be remaining in the Stormwater Fund. Ms. Snead said the bulk of the funds in the Stormwater Fund are capital projects that are carried over from the previous year She said there is also funding for contractual services and repair and maintenance. Then we do a $100,000 administrative transfer from the Stormwater Fund to the General Fund. CC 07-16-18/6 Mr Cox went on to Tab 10, which is our Authorized Strength. He said previously, we were missing the Police Department, so we have added the police to our graph. He said previously, we had three columns and now we have four That is because previously, mid -year there was an amendment done to the Authorized Strength. He said we have deceased the number of full time employees (FTEs) from our first work shop by .5 and we added an SRO officer in the police department. We added a worker in Parks and we are asking for authority for an additional 15 in the Administration, although our budget does not reflect wages for those. He said one half FTE for a Records Clerk and a full FTE for Public Relations. We have added in Community Development one person for Business Tax Receipts and we have two FTEs for Code Enforcement. Mr Cox moved on to Tab 11, which is the Updated Classification and Pay Plan. He said there are three things that have changed here. One is we have converted all the numbers into annualized numbers. Another is the IT Technology Analysts, we reviewed that and that has been moved from Band 9 to Band 10 The third one is the Assistant City Manager has been removed from Band 19 Mr Cox said Tab 13 has been updated with our transfers we have been talking about that gives us a nice single spot location to go look at how these transfers are working and where our money is going. Mr Cox said he would be preferred for our General Fund Reserve levels to be at 20%, they are a 15% now and we are going to watch it really close. He said I will be really surprised if we aren't above that by the end of next year We are just looking at this as a one year dip below the 20%, not a continuing process that we are going to keep doing. We will monitor our funds closely and engage our staff. We are open to your ideas later on. We are looking at a document that Ms. Snead found regarding Government Finance Organization. We are already doing some of the things they identified such as, enhancing our planning, improving efficiency, reviewing the budget process, supporting economic F developments, addressing our long term liabilities and keeping a close eye on those, containing personal costs, improving our community image, becoming more innovative, increasing our accountability, and working within the legal constraints we have to Mr Cox mentioned the 6300 line item, which is for General Projects. A concern we have had is everything gets dumped into these 6300 line items, which makes it difficult to manage a single project when you have everything dumped into one big file like that. He said after this workshop, Ms. Snead and her staff are going to begin to split those 6300 line item projects apart so we can have accountability for each one of them. This will help me to be accountable to the Commission to make sure all our projects are running on schedule and within budget as well and watching CC 07-16-18/7 our overall budget so we can attain that 20% where we want to be with General Fund. Commissioner Sackett said our staffing has grown by 15 in two years. He is watching the employment number with all the benefits attached and how it adds more to our budget every year Commissioner Morgan asked if we are exhausting every avenue as far as grant opportunities to pay for certain roles within the City Mr Cox said he knows Chief Peters has done extensive research on identifying potential revenue to offset the expenditure for a Fire Station. He knows we have benefitted from a number of grants we have obtained. Commissioner Morgan said he was talking with someone who paid for his seven city staff employees with grant money Mr Cox said we did look into what is known as the SAFER Grant, a Fire Department grant, but with that grant it comes with strings that you have to add the person when the grant goes away Commissioner Sackett questioned that the fire assessment fee was not written up in here. He said regarding the $3 5 million Fire Station, it is under 2018/2019, but it is not really funded until $3.5 million is found in this year or next year Mr Cox replied that the fire assessment fee was not in there and the money for the Fire Station is listed and there is currently no funding. Commissioner Shoemaker said when you have a step plan you are planning of 4% across the board, please be sure that our Fire Fighters Union and the Public Works Union are taken care of. Mr Cox said that is a negotiating process, and we don't know where that is going to end yet, and we don't want to harm that process. We have included in our budget for all of our staff beyond the union, so that is what is reflected in there. Discussion ensued on the union process and approving increases. Commissioner Shoemaker asked about the FEMA issue and if it is because of the vendor Ms. Snead said we are working on getting everything into the platform they want. They are Federal Government, so they are very strict. She said we will get it in the right way We had a contract in place for a Debris Management Company, but we found it was cheaper and quicker to utilize our existing contractors, so we needed to make the argument with them CC 07-16-18/8 that the way we did it ended up being cheaper and faster, but doesn't fit within the FEMA box. Commissioner Shoemaker said I noticed you had assessments in Public Works, but not Leisure Services. Ms. Snead said they traditionally were coded financially under Public Works, and now the work gets done under Leisure Services. It does fall under the State class of Public Works classification versus Leisure, and that is why we account for it that way Commissioner Shoemaker said she is opposed to a Public Works Director because I feel we haven't had one for a long time, and I have no recollection of anyone doing anything that great. She said a Public Works Director has book smarts but doesn't have boots on the ground, hasn't been in the trenches. Commissioner Morgan said it isn't one of our own that has come up from the ranks. Somebody needs to be able to see that position as a goal to go and achieve. Not some outsider with a fancy degree, it should be someone of our own. Commissioner Shoemaker said we have had them before, and I don't know if there is any benefit. Somebody has to fill me in because I don't know what strong benefit there ever was to having a Public Works Director She said from a financial standpoint, it will cost more money Mr Cox said he does think we would be remiss if we dismiss the whole concept because we had the wrong person in the position before or maybe had a bad experience. I think a lot of communities benefit tremendously from having someone in that position that is project management. Whether the person has book smarts or not is -a secondary-thmg. He said from the experience standpoint alone, they may be within our organization currently, or they may not be, but could add a great deal -to the _ management of our projects and our budget. He said he doesn't know if he is married to the idea of having one or not, I don't want us to just unilaterally dismiss it. Deputy Mayor Drummond asked if the Reiter Park's landscaping is going to go past the deadline. Mr Capizzi said he asked for a schedule update from the Project Supervisor, and he came up with a schedule of all the different elements of the Park. Currently, landscape is the only thing that could go past the deadline. He said overall, in general the Park is taking more time than we originally thought. He noted the original landscape company contracted has lost their horticultural bond. CC 07-16-18/9 Deputy Mayor Drummond asked about the Amphitheatre being done on . time. Mr Capizzi said we will know more about that within the next two weeks because the roofing will be complete, and everything is based upon the roofing being complete Mr Cox said we did have a meeting today regarding the median plantings, and they are still identifying the types of bushes and trees that are going to be planted. They will be treating the weed situation before it is turned over to us. Mayor Paris said thank you to Mr Cox and staff for positive movement and reserve. As far as additional employee growth, he sees it as a necessary thing. He said population increased in Longwood by almost 15% last year and this year We are looking at that again with 544 homes being constructed this year alone Those are single family homes, so that will be a large increase to our population. We are growing, and it is a necessary growth. I am proud that we are showing growth in our employees while still maintaining a reserve. He really appreciates the hard work you have done. Mr Cox said we will go back and get everything ready for the first meeting in September 3. ADJOURN. Mayor Pans adjourned the meeting at 5 14 p.m. 130WParis, Mayor ATTEST: 'ehel L n o, AfC, FCRM City Clerk 1 CC 07-16-18/10