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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 08/23/2010 - 08-23-10 S.C.W.S Mins (Migrated from Optiview) (2)Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, August 23, 2010 at 6:00 pm Page 1 of 11 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 recorded. The Special Called Work Session of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton was held on August 23, 2010 at 6:40 PM, Mayor Lockwood presiding. Council Members Present: Councilmember Karen Thurman, Councilmember Julie Zahner Bailey, Councilmember Bill Lusk, Councilmember Burt Hewitt, Councilmember Joe Longoria, Councilmember Alan Tart. Mayor Lockwood: • Work Sessions are an informal setting to update Council on business items. • No votes will be taken during these sessions. • There are two (2) items on our Agenda tonight. • 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. Faith Berger, 13567 Weycroft Circle, Milton, GA: • I would like to share a concern about the high school that is about to be constructed. • I am worried about the traffic in the Fairmont subdivision. • In November of 2007 I was walking my dog in the subdivision and I was run over with a vehicle. • The resident that hit me could not see over the hill that is coming from Deerfield. • I have a plate in my leg and it is a lifetime injury. • I am concerned with the additional traffic that will be there due to the new High school. • I would like to ask for a traffic light or solution to the problem. George Ragsdale, 540 Treyburn View, Milton, GA: • My comments are related to the budget. • Page two there is an indication about $7.6M coming from taxes. • The $1 M from other taxes that is unidentified and I am curious as to what that is. • How does the lost budget for 2011 compare to the 2010? pow• On page 8, it indicates from a capital planning standpoint the first priority was given projects that would aid the current City assets. • Two, alleviate a health or safety hazard. ' • Three, provide external funding for capital project. Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, August 23, 2010 at 6:00 pm Page 2 of 11 • What I have looked at and the wishes of the community, the number one issue has been dealing with transportation and roads. %NW • There is 1M set aside for pavement management but there is no specification as to what the money is being expended for. • There are no funds visible in Public Works for road maintenance. • The road maintenance is something that is of concern. • It isn't clear if the money in the capital budget has been prioritized the way those priorities are established. • There seems to be a good bit of money spent elsewhere than roads. • Out of the 4M only 2M is indicated as being spent on public works. • The other 2M on other things that doesn't seem to correlate with the priorities. • There are a lot of things in the 2011 budget that are not consistent with what we need done for the short term comprehensive plan. • It is very difficult to see if there will be anything available to fund the short term to drive the long term vision. Interim City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #1. 1. Presentation of Budget Workshop - Revenues and Expenditures Capital Improvement Project Prioritization. (Previously Discussed at Work Session on August 9, 2010) (Presented by Stacey Inglis, Finance Director) Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager: • I would like to walk through the modifications to keep this short. • Afterwards, let the mayor guide the discussion. • All of the department heads are here for the discussion. • I would like to address courts and parks and recreation to begin with. • Since the first time the budget has been presented, we have tightened up numbers. • We made changes in parks and recreation for training and education fees for $250. • In Police, it shows some purchase of police equipment that wasn't shown before. • We did split the Crabapple Master plan. • We added the funding of the Cascade System trailer for the Fire department. • Initially, we showed a 2% cost of living budget. Now we cut it back to a 1% cost of living adjustment and to reevaluate midyear to see if we could do another 1%. • We have captured the funding for the Public Works department and put together in a different line. • The money in trails is actually trail improvements instead of plans. • Under the capital budget Parks and Recreation has not asked for any new funding. • They have taken the funding that the Council has given in prior years and tried to work with the committee to prioritize to actual projects. • How much of the capital budget is going to be given to the Parks and Recreation? • The answer is nothing although what you see on paper is that they have taken a dollar figure and broken it into projects. • If you want to reallocate those dollars into other projects you can do that. Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, August 23, 2010 at 6:00 pm Page 3 of 11 • We can start with court. • The court budget is straight forward. • We have it as tight as we can get it and still run it. Councilmember Tart: • I'm looking at the final budget and I'm wondering what we did to cut back $50K from last year? Chris Lagerbloom: • We have savings in the Court Clerk salary. Councilmember Thurman: • What is the travel cost for? Brooke Lappin: • It is for the two conferences I go to a year for Court Clerk Administrator. Chris Lagerbloom: • Next is Parks and Recreation. • I think the thing to capture in Parks and Recreation is that we went from $5K to $107K in park maintenance. • It was something that was transferred from Public Works to Parks and Recreation when we split from CH2M Hill. • We have never had a Parks and Recreation Department that is working on bettering and enhancing our parks. Councilmember Thurman: • What is the rental land and buildings? Cyndee Bonacci: • We have been working on an IGA with Fulton County Schools and that is the dollar amount that we have put in there for the use of the school's cafeteria or any part of the school that the City would be required to pay. Councilmember Thurman: • As far as the outside, the IGA will keep up with the upkeep of that? Cyndee Bonacci: • Correct. Councilmember Zahner Bailey: mmm • As far as the IGA, has there been any discussion about multi -use negotiations so we can have a better hourly rate? Cyndee Bonacci: • The hourly rate, from what I understand, is as low as we can get it. It is roughly $12. 0 I got the $5K amount from the IGA's that Sandy Springs has with Fulton County. Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, August 23, 2010 at 6:00 pm Page 4 of 11 Councilmember Zahner Bailey: *"A • We do have some residential developments that are not finished but some of those tennis courts are out there, with this process could we partner with those developments where they have recreational components but no homes? • There are some horse facilities that were part of residential facilities also. Councilmember Thurman: • The $25K for the park master plan, does it belong here or as a capital? Cyndee Bonacci: • We removed it from the operating budget and it is now in the capital budget. Councilmember Zahner Bailey: • Historically the special events fund would be managed through this department, is this still the case? • I'm assuming as we go through special events, if we get support from businesses etc., will it reduce the costs for us? Cyndee Bonacci: • There is roughly $10K that is currently unallocated. • If we decide to add an event we have some flexibility in the budget. Chris Lagerbloom: • Let's move on to Public Works. Carter Lucas: • With the $1.75M that was allocated, we tried to go back to the pavement management study that we reviewed and approved last year. • Within that study, it identified a little over 20 of our arterial and collector roads as the primary roads that we needed to work on with paving. • By the end of this year, we will have taken care of Morris Road all the way from Deerfield to McGinnis. • Hickory Flat Road and a portion of Thompson Road as complete reconstructions. • Birmingham Road, Haygood, and Bethany were able to have some significant patch work done to get them into a stable condition. • In next year's budget, the $1.75M we went back to the same list will complete Thompson Road. • We have some drainage projects that we want to do this winter on Thompson Road. • The paving for this year will complete short of the end of the year. • Next year we will come back and finish Thompson Road. • Also on the list is New Bullpin Road which will be done next year as well as a portion of Freemanville. • Freemanville from Providence down to the bridge. • That gets us to roughly $1.2M that will be spent on the reconstruction of the primary arterial and collector roads with the remaining dollars allocated to residential roads. • The paved residential roads have seen some increased deterioration or some roads that may not have been scored right last year. Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, August 23, 2010 at 6:00 pm Page 5 of 11 • Next year we want to do the parts of the residential roads that are falling apart. • We have allocated $220K of that $1.75M to address around 10 or 11 subdivision roads that are simply in a condition that need to be patched or repaired. • Some of the funds are allocated to preconstruction repairs. • We have submitted five of our more expensive roads for the new LARP Program. • We have allocated $145K to make preconstruction repairs • We have $65K for an emergency reserve to handle any situations that come up during the year. • If we get towards the end of the year, they can be allocated to another project. Councilmember Lusk: • In the Capital projects fund we have $100K allocated to the Bridge Replacement Program, does that include Landrum? • Those four are included in the $ l OOK budget? Carter Lucas: • It does not include Landrum. • It includes bridge repair on four bridges for that program. • Those four repairs add up to $ l OOK. • The dam that was damaged during the storms of September of last year is being repaired by the avow state. Stacey Inglis: • The fixing of the gravel roads is under the capital projects fund because it is maintaining an asset of the City. • We want to make sure that if the funds are expended in one year, they are reallocated the next year. • We can move it to the general fund budget if needed. Councilmember Thurman: • I hear it is not the road as much as it is the soft shoulder. What can we do to make sure the shoulders and roads are safe? • Are we trying to widen the roads with curb and gutter to make them a little bit safer? Carter Lucas: • We do have a program in the works. • It is an edge of pavement repair program. • In the reconstruction of Thompson and Hickory flat, we are going to an 11' lane and 18" bike shoulder. • That will give room for bikers and account for some edge drop offs. • It won't be a bike lane, but more of a bikeable shoulder. Councilmember Zahner Bailey: • We have identified some various biking websites that our area is a place they want to ride on. • If we are going to have a slightly wider road bed, I think we might want to lever that where appropriate we could make it a recreational tie in. Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, August 23, 2010 at 6:00 pm Page 6 of 11 • In the past we have talked about Birmingham and Providence, between now and when we get the wo roundabout, will we have flashing signs to improve the safety while we complete the round about? Carter Lucas: • GDOT has made the improvements that they wanted to do. • There isn't anything specifically in this budget for improvements to that intersection before the roundabout. Councilmember Zahner Bailey: • I think if the cost is relatively low to put in flashing signs, I think it would be worth it. • Where is Clarity Bridge on your bridge repair list? It is partially made of wood, do busses use that bridge? • With the new High School, there are trails that are back behind the church not far from the school property. • For students to get from one side of Highway 9 to the other, could we provide an alternative than just crossing the street? • Would transportation dollars pay for that? • When is the next cycle to look into grants for safer routes to school? • Crossing guard is budgeted for the police, but it seems to me it should be with public works. • Do we need to consider having a crossing guard for the new school? Carter Lucas: • I'm not aware that there is bus traffic on that bridge. • The CTP recommends basic repairs to the railing and signage improvements. • Short of reconstructing the bridge, it was minor repairs that were recommended to that. • I just got word of the grants today, but I haven't had time to read through it. Chris Lagerbloom: • We will not have any new schools this fiscal year. • We can move on to Community Development. Lynn Tully: • The general budget summary hasn't changed much. • Under capital projects we have put in things for CPAC and planning commission that has priorities. • These things include the Arnold Mill Master Plan at $120K. • The Highway 9 master plan at $80K. • The TVR feasibility study and ordinance at $75K. • Another item on here are potential impact fees feasibility study at $80K but that is in year 2012. Councilmember Thurman: • Have we looked a grant for the Arnold Mill Study? • Have we talked to Roswell about applying with us? Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, August 23, 2010 at 6:00 pm Page 7 of 11 xk.�w Lynn Tully: • There aren't many general planning grants out there right now. Councilmember Lusk: • On the Highway 9 master plan and TDR, are those your estimates or are they preliminary estimates? Lynn Tully: • Those are my estimates. • I don't have quotes for those at this time. • They can be advertised around the CPAC completion. • We will start looking for bids after December 281H Councilmember Thurman: • Is there anything that is coming out of CPAC for recommendation that we need to know about and properly budget for? Lynn Tully: • They are working on the Short Term Work Program now. • It includes projects that run from 2011 to 2015. own" • There are things that aren't budgeted. • A lot of the projects are staff and department driven. ""`"'" • It would include Community Development, Public Works, and Parks and Recreation staff. • For the things that do have a number, I don't know of anything in particular that has not been budgeted for. • We do have some money allocated for things that we may find important later on. Chris Lagerbloom: • I asked George if there was anything that wasn't in the budget that needed to get into the budget and his answer was the same as Lynn's. Councilmember Tart: • Back to public works, we had a case recently about turning radius and we found out we didn't have the software to verify the analysis that was provided to us by the applicant. • Could you give us an estimate as to how much it would be for us to have the software for us to verify the analysis that is provided by applicants for turning radius safety? Carter Lucas: • I don't have an answer for that, but I can get an answer. • I do know that it would be an add on to a piece software that we already have. NOM Chris Lagerbloom: • We will be moving to discuss the police budget. low • The police budget and general operating expenses that were proposed with the addition of one police officer in the department. Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, August 23, 2010 at 6:00 pm Page 8 of 11 Police Chief Harrell: • We did get an officer and he has been through the interview process. • We are waiting on a few more documents. Councilmember Thurman: • What are we doing as far as the type of retirement plan going forward? Human Resources, Sam Trager: • We did get a new evaluation last month. • Our percentage went up from 3.4% to 3.8% but we haven't had any more discussion about changing the plan. • The plan as it is, is in fairly good shape. • I did look at the evaluation report and it is pretty costly as to what they charge us monthly. Councilmember Thurman: • Would it be premature to put it on a work session already? I think when we talked about it before that we made it know that it needed to be revisited. • This report would be at the end of this year? Sam Trager: • They just delivered one at the end of last month. • The actual administration fees were about $1K a month just for admin. Chris Lagerbloom: • We can move along to discuss the fire department. Councilmember Lusk: • On facility repairs and maintenance, do we have anything to repair? Chief Edgar: • We still have money in Capital that can be used to cover this. • We have made basic repairs on the stations last year. • We are on a maintenance contract so our heating and cooling is serviced every quarter. • The only one we are concerned about is Station 41 and the AC is about to go out. • We were told we have exceeded the life expectancy of this unit. Councilmember Zahner Bailey: • The identification of the hydrants, when is the timing that it will go out? Chief Edgar: • We are due for our biannual maintenance for October 1st • We plan on having that equipment in and finished by November. Councilmember Thurman: 0 When do we expect the new fire truck to be in service? Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, August 23, 2010 at 6:00 pm Page 9 of 1 I Chief Edgar: • We are scheduled to fly to Florida to do the final inspection and it will follow us home on Wednesday. Chris Lagerbloom: • What makes the most sense is to do the blue reflector. Councilmember Tart: • Where in our budget is room for purchase of a fire and police station off of Highway 9? Chris Lagerbloom: • It is not in this budget. • We can go ahead with I.T. • There isn't a whole lot there other than some customary software annual maintenance packages. • If there are any questions, we will take them. Councilmember Thurman: • The communications budget went up a good bit, why? Stacey Inglis: Own • That was previously covered under the CH2M Hill contract and the budget you see in 2010 only includes those months that were split out of the contract. *041 Councilmember Tart: • I have a quick question for Lynn before she leaves, last time there was an update the Crabapple Master Plan for $25K was supposed to be taken from City hall? • Also, the $1 M for trail development, how many miles would that be? Chris Lagerbloom: • I believe it depends on where that trail goes. • Each area would cost something different because of the surrounding areas. • I believe the Public Information budget is very straight forward. • For the HR budget, we still included the healthcare costs based on the initial numbers that we got back from United Healthcare. • We will likely see more healthcare savings, but that may not come straight out of the HR budget. • The HR budget is also quite a straight forward budget. • We have the Finance department next. • We have tightened down as much as we can. Councilmember Thurman: • Why are the audit fees going up? Omm Stacey Inglis: now • The audit fee includes other than just our annual audit. • It includes a 911 audit of $5K and a single audit that we have to perform because we have more than $500K in federal funding. Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, August 23, 2010 at 6:00 pm Page 10 of 11 • The actual audit itself is $38K. Councilmember Zahner Bailey: • In terms of the cost for the legal organ, is there anything that can be done to cut down the cost? Chris Lagerbloom: • We have looked at legal organ before to see if we should potentially change to a different one but I am not entirely prepared to answer that. • Moving to general administration • In order to save on costs, we are going to eliminate the coffee service here at city hall and at the fire stations. • It is a nice thing to have, but it is not necessary. • In the clerk's budget there isn't much change. • The salary is matched and we will move forward with that on September Stn Councilmember Tart: • We continue to get complaints about the Granicus system, what are we doing to remedy that? Chris Lagerbloom: • We have added an additional microphone at the top. • Next is the City Manager budget. • One thing we talked about at the first workshop was the need to move forward with Milton Grows Green to keep America Beautiful. • At this point, we kept a position for an assistant city manager as a place holder but didn't fund it for a full year, then funded it for a half year to maintain it in case we needed it. • I don't anticipate that that is a position that we would staff anytime soon unless we have a crazy project that we can't get to anytime soon. • The amount is $69,430 for 6 months fully funded. • We could also not fund it and add it back in mid year. • If we unfunded this position, I would suggest we adjust the cost of living. Councilmember Lusk: • Can we move it to unallocated? Councilmember Tart: • We are talking about whether or not to reduce the cost of living from 2% to less than 1% but I am not in favor of keeping the $69K and lowering the I%. Chris Lagerbloom: • The last part is going over the council budget. • Is the number that is in the budget manageable and obtainable? Councilmember Tart: • How much is the stipend and what does it cover? Chris Lagerbloom: 0 The stipend is at $720. Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, August 23, 2010 at 6:00 pm Page 11 of 11 "W" • It covers mileage, air card, cell phone etc. Councilmember Tart: • When we go to GMA, does that come out of a training budget? Stacey Inglis: • It comes. out of training. After no further discussion, the Work Session adjourned at 8:26 p.m. Date Approved: September 20, 2010. Sudie AM Gordon, City Clerk Joe Lockwood, Mayor