HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 08/23/2014 - MINS 08 23 14 SCWS (Migrated from Optiview)Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council
Saturday, August 23, 2014 at 10:00 am
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This summary is provided as a convenience and service to the public, media, and staff. It is not the
intent to transcribe proceedings verbatim. Any reproduction of this summary must include this notice.
Public comments are noted and heard by Council, but not quoted. This document includes limited
presentation by Council and invited speakers in summary form . This is an official record of the Milton
City Council Meeting proceedings. Official Meetings are audio and video recorded.
The Work Session of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton was held on August 23, 2014 at
10:00 AM.
Councilmembers Present: Councilmember Karen Thurman, Councilmember Matt Kunz ,
Councilmember Bill Lusk, Councilmember Burt Hewitt, and Councilmember Joe Longoria.
Council member Absent: Councilmember Rick Mohrig
Mayor Joe Lockwood:
• Work Sessions are an informal setting to update Council on business items.
• No votes will be taken during these sessions.
• There is one (1) item on our Agenda.
• Public comment is allowed that is germane to an Agenda Item.
• If you wish to speak you are required to fill out a comment card and turn it into the City Clerk
staff.
• Public comment will be allowed for a total of 10 minutes per agenda item and no more than 2
minutes per person.
• Public comment will be heard at the beginning of each Item .
• Once the item is called , no other comment cards will be accepted.
Agenda Item #1 was read.
1. Discussion of City of Milton Budget-Revenue and Expenditures Capital Improvement Project
Prioritization .
(Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager)
Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager
There have been very few changes to the budget since we gave it to you at our last meeting.
Our healthcare costs will fluctuate until the final budget is presented to you.
After negotiations with our healthcare provider, we negotiated an initial 31 % cost increase down to only
a 5% increase over last year.
In the past, we have offered four different healthcare plans for our employees to choose from. This year
we will offer two.
We have also included in the budget $26 ,000 for updated software at the Alpharetta jail to allow the
sheriff to bond out inmates so they do not have to be transported to Rice Street to allow that to happen .
Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council
Saturday, August 23,2014 at 10:00 am
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Each of the North Fulton cities will contribute a fifth of the cost of the software update to increase
efficiency.
We added funds for employees who are paid at the end of the year for not using more than 24 hours of
sick time.
We added $1,000 for accreditation fees for the police department.
We added $5,950 for an additional camera in the interview room of the police department.
We added just over $8,000 to upgrade three positions in the fire department.
One of our initiatives is to move our technology to a cloud based technology. We have been able to get
that number from $210,000 to $237,000.
Stacey Inglis, Assistant City Manager
We are going to close the Park and Trail Expansion account and put those funds into specific project
accounts for Bell Memorial Park, Providence Park, utility vehicles for the parks, etc.
Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager
One of the suggestions from council at our last work session was to bring down our Fund Balance level
to the allowable level. Most cities are at a 21 % level. You can authorize to go down to 16% but I would
not recommend that.
We moved most of these funds to our new City Hall project account.
Councilmember Thurman
Is the 21 % of our overall budget or just of our operations budget? Because 21 % should not include our
capital improvements.
Stacey Inglis
The policy states that it is the operating budget including operating transfers out to other funds.
Councilmember Thurman
Including transfers out to capital projects?
Stacey Inglis
Yes, that is what our policy states.
Council member Thurman
Well, our policy needs to change. That is not the way it is supposed to be. Because the whole intent of
the reserve is to make sure we have money in case we need it for a rainy day. The capital projects are
not something that would be done if it was a rainy day. They are not your ordinary expenses.
Councilmember Hewitt
You are kind of double dipping on those.
Councilmember Thurman
Yes, correct, so I don't believe that it should be 21 % of operating plus the funds that are transferred out
because the other things are like gravy.
Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council
Saturday, August 23,2014 at 10:00 am
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Stacey Inglis
I can bring that forward to council. It is an ordinance so it has to go through a first reading and then
approval. We adopted a fund balance policy, I believe, about three years ago. When we adopted the
fund balance policy, it also included the operating transfers out but I will have to check to make sure. If
it is in the charter, I will have to look and see, but I believe it was just a policy ordinance that we
adopted.
Chris Lagerbloom
We have taken a conservative approach to calculating revenue funds. This has been our procedure for
the past seven years.
You will see some special events that do not have funds attached to them. That is because we are
waiting to launch our public/private partnership program in order to secure some funds for these events.
Councilmember Thurman
It concerns me that our operating expenses are increasing by 40% since 2012. We are receiving an
increase in property tax revenue and additional sales tax revenue. I would like to see those additional
funds be put back into our community with capital improvements such as sidewalks, infrastructure
improvements, etc. so our citizens will directly benefit from those additional funds.
Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager
Let's start with our Capital Projects Fund.
You will see that our new City Hall has $10 million funded over a period of several years.
We have added a line for land acquisition so that when land becomes available, such as Providence
Park, we have the necessary funds to purchase it.
We have budgeted $100,000 to participate with the other North Fulton cities for a new public safety
radio system.
Our fire department has looked at where our "gap" is for service. They detennined that area is in the
central part of Milton near the Providence Road/Binningham Hwy. roundabout. That area appears to be
where we would need to build another fire station in the future.
We have also recognized that we have a need for storage space for fire equipment and Public Works
equipment. We have budgeted to build storage space behind Fire Station 43.
In summary, the council would like for staff to look at these projects and detennine how to move
funding around to ensure completion of the higher priority projects.
Let's now discuss the Initiative Requests that are in the budget.
There are a couple of staffing enhancements and position reclassifications that we are proposing to do
this year.
We have a very talented staff in our Communications Department and they have placed us in a leading
position over many cities in the country.
Based upon your feedback and your desire to be in close communication with our citizens through
community gatherings, we need to have reoccurring events on a weekly and monthly basis.
In order to deliver more community events, we will need to add an additional staff person to the
Communications Department.
We are also asking for your support for two additional Police positions.
In addition, after our Human Resources Department conducted a salary survey of police and fire
positions within our surrounding cities, it appears that our salaries are under-market. Therefore, we are
recommending a salary increase for all of our police and fire employees in order to be competitive in the
marketplace and retain qualified personnel.
Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council
Saturday, August 23 , 2014 at 10:00 am
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I would also like to balance the administrative side of the city with the operational side. With all of the
projects we have occurring, we need an employee to manage all the projects that overlap between
departments. I am recommending that Carter Lucas assume this position.
I am also recommending a Cloud approach to our IT/Communications in order to be on the leading edge
of technology going forward.
Regarding Providence Park, as you know, there is an effort by Fulton County to reclassify Providence
Park as surplus land. An appraisal of the land has been ordered to possibly sell it to the City of Milton.
We are taking the agreed upon position from several years ago that the land is worth $100 an acre and
therefore an appraisal is not necessary. We are maintaining that the $100 per acre agreed upon sale
price is the amount that we would be willing to purchase Providence Park.
After no further discussion, the Special Called Work Session adjourned at 12:30 p.m.
Date Approved: September 22 , 2014.
Sudie AM Gordon, City Clerk Joe Lockwood,