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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-19-19 Work Session Minutes Dublin City Council Work Session Monday, August 19, 2019 Council Chambers Minutes of Meeting Mayor Peterson called the Monday, August 19, 2019, Work Session of Dublin City Council to order at 6:03 p.m. at Dublin City Hall. Members present were: Mayor Peterson, Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes, Ms. Alutto, Ms. De Rosa and Ms. Fox. Mr. Reiner arrived at 6:06 p.m. Mr. Keenan was absent (excused). Staff members present: Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Crandall, Mr. Earman, Ms. Goss, Ms. Burness, Mr. Stiffler, Ms. Kennedy, Mr. Syler, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Hammersmith, Chief Paez, Ms. O’Callaghan, Ms. Readler, Mr. Ashford, Mr. Dearth, Mr. Somerville, Ms. Richison and Mr. Plouck. 2020 Operating Budget Overview and Discussion Mr. McDaniel introduced the evening’s topic stating that he wanted to bring City Council into the budget process earlier so they could see all the requests submitted by staff. He stated he is looking forward to having a discussion about priorities and getting feedback through the committee process as was done last year. Mr. Stiffler stated that the agenda for the evening was to:  Discuss the process for adoption of the 2020 operating budget;  Overview of the budget; and  An opportunity for discussion surrounding item of interest to Council; particularly o Proposed timeline and process o Staffing levels for 2020 and o Notable changes included in the 2020 budget. The current timeline has committee meetings schedule on September 4th and 11th. Council work sessions will follow on October 14th and 28th. The goal is to have the 2020 operating budget on the agenda for second reading at the November 18th Council meeting. The proposed budget incorporates all the needs and asks identified by staff and what are believed to be Council’s priorities. Proposed operating expenditures reflect $95,616,531 which is a 6.9% increase over the 2019 operating budget. The budget can be broken down into three categories:  Personnel Costs: increased nearly $4.6 million or 8.9% over 2019;  Operating Expenditures: increased nearly $1.5 million or 4.2%; and  Capital Expenditures, which decreased about $4000 or .2%. Mr. Stiffler continued through the presentation, attached hereto and incorporated herein as Exhibit A. Ms. Fox clarified that the 2.2% increase of revenues over last year is strictly due to income tax. Mr. Stiffler stated that was correct. Ms. Fox asked if there was an increase in the other revenue sources from one year to the other? Mr. Stiffler stated that he hasn’t examined every source in detail, but he has seen increases in other categories than income tax. Ms. Alutto clarified that the personnel costs represent fully funded positions vacant or not. Mr. Stiffler stated that it was all fully funded positions that intend to be filled. Dublin City Council Work Session Monday, June 17, 2019 Page 2 of 6 Regarding the proposed timeline of the operating budget process, Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes stated that she would like to explore other dates for the Administrative Committee scheduled for September 4 and the Community Development Committee scheduled for September 11. She will be out of town on those dates. Mr. McDaniel stated that these dates were put on calendars as placeholders. Staff will be flexible. He asked if Council was still interested in using the Committee process to review the operating budget as they did last year. Mayor Peterson stated that he knew Mr. Keenan would be supportive of using the Committee structure, but the dates may need tweaking. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes suggested looking at additional dates beginning on September 12 for the two committees she serves on. She asked the Clerk of Council’s office to circulate some possible dates. Mr. McDaniel stated that he will be circulating draft agendas to the committees as well. Mayor Peterson confirmed that the committee structure is fine and that there are no conflicts for the work session dates. Ms. De Rosa stated that October 14 is a challenge for her. Mayor Peterson suggested moving the work session to Tuesday or Wednesday that week. Mr. McDaniel stated that they would look at that. As the 2020 operating budget staffing changes were presented, Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes asked if the specifics of these staff changes would be discussed at the committees. Mr. Stiffler stated that was his understanding. Mr. McDaniel stated that it would be a two-fold discussion, once in committee and another with Council as a whole. Ms. Fox stated that she has notice on PZC, there is a need for a staff architect. She stated it would be great to have someone on staff that is qualified to weigh in on some issues. She asked if the Civil Engineer II position would have anything to do with that? Mr. McDaniel stated that the Civil Engineer II position that was being discussed has nothing to do with architecture. The concept of a staff architect has come up over time and the discussion has always been, do you want just one architectural opinion? Having architects on contract allows you to get different perspective and not just one opinion on things. Ms. Fox stated that it is worth the conversation. Mr. McDaniel stated that if that is a gap that we have, then we can look at recruitment in future positions. Mr. McDaniel stated that the Community Development Committee can review that further. Mr. Reiner asked how the consulting fees stack up against just hiring a full time architect? Mr. McDaniel stated that he would make that information available. In response to Ms. Alutto’s question regarding whether or not the salary amounts included pay plus benefits, Mr. Stiffler answered in the affirmative. Ms. De Rosa asked about the increasing demand in parks, the maintenance that is required and whether or not additional positions would be needed. Mr. McDaniel stated that there was an increase in the operating budget for the increased maintenance. Ms. De Rosa asked if the funding for the Event Coordinator would normally come out of the Hotel- Motel fund. Mr. McDaniel stated that it does. Mr. Reiner asked if this is a reflection of the efforts of events staff in securing sponsorships. Mr. McDaniel stated that it is. Dublin City Council Work Session Monday, June 17, 2019 Page 3 of 6 Ms. Alutto asked what formula was used to calculate the salary and fringe benefits. Mr. Stiffler stated that they take the salary multiplied by 15.45% and then add the budgeted healthcare which for 2020 is $27,000. Mr. Reiner asked what the Natural History Interpreter job entails. Mr. McDaniel stated that there are a lot of nature areas in the City that are not programmed or promoted as much. This is also a natural history component also, and he feels this position could work with the Historical Society for support. The transfer of knowledge and history is very important. Mr. McDaniel also stated that leveraging the experience and expertise of our volunteer community could factor into this position’s responsibilities also. Ms. Fox stated that this position could create a rich opportunity to look at promote our natural and cultural treasures. If that position can pull these things together it would be a vibrant energy. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes stated that she could like to see a part of that be preservation. Mr. McDaniel stated he is looking for a synergy around all those items. Ms. Fox stated that there may be grant money available for this too. Mr. Reiner asked if Dublin would be one of the few communities to have this type of position. Mr. McDaniel stated the affirmative. Ms. De Rosa asked what the background of potential candidates would look like. Mr. Earman stated that there are people who go to school to become a Natural History Interpreter. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes asked what Committee would be considering the IT positions. Mr. McDaniel stated he thought it was Administrative Committee but he will confirm that. The Main Street Coordinator is another position that needs more conversation and discussion whether it is hiring a staff member or contributing to the position for another entity. Ms. De Rosa stated that she was happy to see the IT positions. She appreciated seeing those in furtherance of Council’s goals. She asked about Economic Development area and whether or not there are needs there for staffing? Mr. McDaniel stated that none have been requested. He reiterated that training will be coming because economic development is everyone’s charge. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes stated that part of that conversation was the data analytics. Ms. De Rosa stated she agreed and the strategy has a lot of asks in there. Do we have the staff to support it? Ms. Fox stated that the economic development strategy and the metrics involved, it will require a look at each department to see how the work comes back to the strategy. Regarding the noteworthy changes in Mr. Stiffler’s presentation (Exhibit A, page 30), Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes clarified that the cost shown in the presentation is the increase, not the total cost. Mr. Stiffler stated that was correct. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes stated that she would hope the healthcare costs don’t continue to increase as they did for this budget. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes asked what the “offset” was for the new staff required for the Worthington dispatching services agreement. Mr. Stiffler stated that the numbers he saw earlier was basically 100% offset. Mr. McDaniel stated that Worthington is paying set up costs, salaries, etc. Mr. Somerville stated that the agreement will show that Worthington agreed to begin paying fees at the start of the year even though they will not start getting service until the middle of the year. That allows the City to get reimbursement for the additional staff that we need to hire. It will ultimately end up at 100% offset. Mr. McDaniel stated that of the $548,000 shown in park maintenance, about $150,000 is off- season work and the balance is new maintenance work for the additional park maintenance. Mr. McDaniel touched on the other charges such as EDAs, grants, etc. Dublin City Council Work Session Monday, June 17, 2019 Page 4 of 6 Ms. Fox asked what the New Legacy Office Competitiveness Grant was. Mr. McDaniel stated that it is meant to be similar to the façade program but focused in the area of the DCAP. This is trying to incentivize people to make improvements and reinvestment. Mr. Reiner stated that he would like to see how Healthy By Choice is impacting costs. Mr. Stiffler stated that the program has lowered our cost curve in previous years, but this year it has increased closer to the average cost curve. The increase is shown in the presentation is really due to the stop-loss coverage. Mr. Reiner would like to see the numbers around the Healthy by Choice impacts. Mr. McDaniel stated the Administrative Committee will dive into that in more detail, but the bio-metric screenings are trending pretty well, but the catastrophic events have impacted the results. Ms. De Rosa stated that one of the things added last year was comparing actual spending. She stated that provides a nice holistic high view of how we are trending. Ms. De Rosa stated that expenses are growing, revenues are growing, and she is aware that historically the whole budget isn’t spent. What is the thought about the fairly large increase in budget? Mr. McDaniel stated that this presentation represents the asks of staff, not the City Manager’s recommendation. If all of these asks were to be accomplished, it could be done. We do not execute on about 10% of the budget. We are still conservative on revenues. We are well within our means. He is confident it will continue to play out well. It is a proven model and it works. Ms. De Rosa stated that that is why she like to see the actual spending because that is where you see the budget model play out. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes stated that she would like to see compensation increases rather than wage increases so we can factor into the increase the full package. Mr. McDaniel stated that he makes sure that employees understand their benefits and compensation. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes stated that the national average increase may be 3.25% or 3.5% and we sell ourselves short saying that we only gave a 2% increase because we gave more through the total package. Ms. Alutto asked if the City does a total rewards statement. Mr. McDaniel stated they do not, but he is verbally telling them all the time. Ms. Alutto stated she feels it makes a difference in retention. Ms. Fox asked if Mr. McDaniel had any concerns about the reserves being down to the 54.6% amount. Mr. McDaniel stated that he is concerned about the optics of it. The City is above the policy amount. He also stated that what they are doing with the money is very important also. They are making really good investments. There is a great deal of buffer there even if everything were spent at the level estimated. Ms. Fox thanked them for the explanation as it helps the public understand how they are budgeting conservatively. Mr. McDaniel stated that he always keeps in his mind if a recession were to hit. Ms. De Rosa stated that the City is getting bigger and we are growing. The sustainability of the budget is very important. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes asked if Mr. McDaniel would be willing to provide a list of least to most important as far as the requests so if the committee is uncomfortable will the size of the budget they will know where the pain points are. Mr. McDaniel stated that he will give recommendations and priorities. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes asked if the City is looking to issue an additional $11 million in debt. Dublin City Council Work Session Monday, June 17, 2019 Page 5 of 6 Mr. Stiffler stated that his expectation would be to issue debt early next year if the park moves forward we would do an advance out of the general fund and then repay ourselves. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes asked what he thought the debt issuance would be. Mr. Stiffler stated he would get back to them on that. Mr. McDaniel stated that there are many levers they can pull. They have options in how they wish to fund projects. Broadband Discussion Mr. McCollough stated that he would like to provide an update on various projects.  Fujitsu 5G Pilot: o 5G technology is relevant to Council’s most connected community goal so staff is exploring the viability of connecting to Smart City devices and displaying data analytics visualizations. o This project is on track and will provide the City with a temporary 5G wireless network deployment that proves the technology. o This pilot is for 90 days. Ms. Alutto asked if this technology contains any parts or software in it. Mr. McCollough stated that was his understanding but that he would confirm that. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes asked when the 90 days will begin. Mr. McCollough stated his best case scenario is October. Ms. De Rosa asked how real the 5G is. Mr. McCollough stated he wasn’t sure and that there were a lot of claims asserted. This is something he will need to see for himself. He stated he believes that it will be one of the necessary technologies for most connected community.  Elysian Data/TRAXyL Business and Residential Pilot o Elysian Data has become the exclusive distributor of TRAXyL fiber installation technology. o The hope is to find a way to get fiber to all homes. o This explores how to scale fiber to a mass audience. o The City will target 1-2 residential neighborhoods and one business location to prove the viability of the technology o There is no start date yet for this pilot as contracts are still being reviewed. Ms. Alutto stated that she has researched this technology and would like to know how this stands up for snow removal. Mr. McCollough stated that he has seen the data but the technology is less than 10 years old. He stated it is worth exploring because it can go on surfaces that are not the street. Ms. Alutto stated that it is not expensive. She asked how long he anticipates some of the runs to be. Mr. McCollough stated that he thinks he can touch every neighborhood without a long run and there is expected to be equipment at the mid-points to assist. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes met with Spectrum Government Affairs and was asked about why we didn’t update our building code to require putting fiber in the ground in new development. Mr. McCollough stated that he is aware that is being discussed but that he is not in the conversation. Mr. McDaniel stated that there are challenges with forcing people into it. Vice Mayor Amorose Groomes stated that if a carrier has the opportunity that they will put it in. She would like to see us work on the code to see what can be updated. Mr. McDaniel stated he would like to see a legal opinion in what we can force people to do. Dublin City Council Work Session Monday, June 17, 2019 Page 6 of 6  Dublin Smart Neighborhoods Pilot o Allowing homes to use data and analytics to achieve Smart outcomes using their Smart Home services. o City can leverage the proposed network infrastructure buildouts and home broadband connections to establish pilot data and analytics programs establishing the first Smart Neighborhoods. o Compiling a catalog of technologies for inclusion. Ms. De Rosa stated that she recalled that there was discussion regarding having a physical location where there were shared places similar to the DEC or others. Mr. McCollough stated that this is more in relation to neighborhoods and homes. What Ms. De Rosa was referring to was the Smart Center concept.  Dublin Digital Identity Pilot o Blockchain based technology allowing residents and businesses to establish secure, private connections with the City for the purpose of performing advanced data transactions.  Dublin Connected Neighborhoods RFI/RFP o An RFI or an RFP is necessary to inform staff and/or provide examples of models. Ms. Fox stated that there are global companies that are working with this technology. If you do an RFI, will you look globally? Mr. McCollough indicated that he would, he also clarified that it is important to remember that some companies can show a technology works, but they may not be the service provider. He is trying to engage the service providers who implement and manage the network. Ms. Fox stated that as policymakers, they need to understand how to be on the front-side of making sure our residents feel comfortable with being connected. Created a confidence and safety level will be very important. Mr. McCollough stated that data management and privacy policies will be a part of all of this also. Mr. McDaniel stated that he has had special legal counsel looking at those privacy issues also. There is still a lot of work to be done in this area. The meeting was adjourned at 7:48 p.m. Jennifer Delgado Deputy Clerk of Council