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01-30-1988 (City Council) Minutes 394 CALLED CITY COUNCIL MEETING - MINUTES JANUARY 30, 1988 The Wylie City Council met in a called session on Saturday, January 30 , 1988 at 8 : 30 A.M. A quorum was present and notice of the meeting had been posted in the time and manner required by law. Those present were Mayor Chuck Trimble, Mayor Pro Tem SAndra Donovan,Council Members John Akin, Calvin Westerhof , Chris DiTota, Kent Crane, and Marvin Blakey, City Manager John Pitstick, City Secretary Carolyn Jones, Finance Director James Johnson. Mayor Trimble called the meeting to order and City Manager John Pitstick gave the invocation. Mayor Trimble recessed the open meeting and convened Council into executive session at 8:45 A.M. under the authority of Article 6252-17 V.A.C>S. Section 2 paragraph "g" personnel matters regarding employees in the 87-88 budget in all departments. Mayor Trimble reconvened the open meeting at 10 : 55 A. M. and invited the citizens wishing to speak about the budget to come forward at this time. Mrs . Jill Tomek of 511 Rustic Place, asked Council to give what had happened in executive session. Mayor Trimble said what Council did was to go over some employee positions in order to save the library. There were no decisions made at that time. Mrs. Tomek asked about the Mayor' s car allowance. Mr. Johnson said it was part of his compensation. Mrs. Tomek asked about the trash bag sales. Mayor Trimble said the City makes money on the, approximately $600 or $700 profit . Mrs. Tomek asked about the insurance for employees and how long it has been since staff has gone out for bids. Mr . Johnson said we belong to Texas Municipal League and acquire insurance through their state program and an annual competitive bid process. Mr . Ortie Messenger of 504 Rustic Place said last year he paid $45 .00 a month for a family of four to have insurance and this year it is going up to $60 .00 a month. I do not think it is unreasonable to have employees contribute toward insurance. Mayor Trimble said Texas Municipal League researches each year for insurance. Mrs . Tomek asked about uniforms , there is $1 ,600 . for park � ^ uniforms . Mr . Johnson said it has not been spent since there is no park department. 395 Mr . Ortie Messenger said in department 204 what is the salary. Mr. Johnson said it is for five (5) dispatchers and salary for the relief dispatchers . Mrs. Tomek wanted to know why plaques and awards for Council budget and police have none. I have a neighbor that will do the plaques for you free. Mrs. Tomek asked about under ground sprinkler system that is falling apart. I know a man that volunteered free labor to fix this system, and he has not heard from you. City Manager John Pitstick said he has never talked to the man, he talked to the Park Board and they were to get with him. Mr . Bud Naish 512 Rustic Place said since you are located in the new complex , how many copy machines. Mr. Johnson said most of the coffee machines are at no charge except the new one in the Council room. City does not have to maintain them. Mrs . Tomek wanted to know about using high school students to do some work. Councilman Crane said that the Council was looking at some programs. Mr . Bud Naish wanted to know if we can cut some secretaries since everyone is in the same building. mr . Naish said in utility billing there looks like there are some places to cut. Mrs . Tomek wanted to know about the revised budget, when would a copy be ready. Mr. Bud Naish said utility billing there is a lot for salary. Mrs. Tomek wanted to know what ceremonial services are. Mr . Johnson said for receptions , such as Sanden, Business Appreciation Day and open house for new complex and for other things like this during the year . Mrs. Tomek wanted to know if the budget could change to something besides General . Mrs . Bud Naish said you can' t tell what department paid for what because you spend money from one department to another department. Mr . Ortie Messenger said the reserves for City Council , City Manager and the reserve in the utility fund, the merit pool , police under cover, all these should be looked at and some eliminated, put a wage freeze on the employees this year . Mrs. Rita Smith, member of the Library Board, said as we have told you, we are working hard to keep the Library open 396 and that we understand there is no money, you have to make . cuts, but we hope you do not cut us more than anyone else. Councilman DiTota said that since all the talk about cuts, do you think that more people realize we have a library. Is there any talk about promoting our Library. Mrs . Smith said yes, the board has been talking about being more visible in the future. Mrs. Betty Stephens, member of the Library Board, said she appreciates the Council listening when she has come with a concern. We are very concerned about the Library, we do not want it closed and the board wants to continue with a degreed librarian to maintain the credibility of our Library. If this is not possible, than a full time certified librarian. We appreciate the people volunteering but I would hope that we would be selective about choosing the people in order to maintain a professional library. We appreciate any consideration you would give the board in choosing these volunteers. Councilman DiTota said with more exposure do you fell more revenue from programs during the summer. Mrs. Stephens said we have a lot of ideals and we need someone to promote them. Mayor Pro TEm Donovan wanted to know if the board could man a volunteer system. mrs. Stephens said that is why we need a full time person because there is more to running a library than just checking out books . Councilman Akin said he appreciated Rita and Betty and that volunteers were good except after a while you look behind you and there are no volunteers . Mrs. Rita Smith said we do have Friends of the Library and we are beginning meetings with them. The City of Rockwall has this and they do lunches and dinners to make money for the Library. We hope that this is just a temporary thing. Mayor Trimble said to summarize about the Library, the staff is to maintain one full time certified librarian with 40 hours per week and use volunteers to help. This is a temporary situation. Mayor Trimble called a recess at 11 :45 A. M. for lunch. Mayor Trimble reconvened the meeting after lunch at 1: 12 P.M. Mayor Trimble asked City Manager John Pitstick to give the Council the recommendation from staff on where to make cuts. City Manager John Pitstick said he wanted the Council to decide what should be cut ie. the amount of money. Finance 397 Director James Johnson then went over the revenues recommended to Council for cuts. These cuts were as follows : Current Ad Valorem Taxes Cut $184 ,000 . Delinquent Taxes Cut $ 65,000 . Penalty & Interest Cut $ 8 ,000 . Sales Tax Cut $ 40 ,000 . EMS Fees Cut $ 8 ,500 . EMS Transport Fees Cut $ 5,500 . Interest on Investments Cut $ 5 ,000 . County Reimbursement EMS Cut $ 12 ,000 . Cable TV Fees Increase $ 600 . Sanitation Franchise Increase $ 1,000 . Other Misc Revenues Increase $ 1,400 . Total Net Cuts $325,000 . Mr . Johnson pointed out to the Council there was no projection on the building permits, electrical , mechanical, zoning , plat fee or development fees, etc . It was to early to determine if these revenues would come through, but if they do not then there could be further cuts. j City Manager John Pitstick stated that the following were recommended budget reductions: Master Plan-Engineering Service Cut $ 31 ,500 . Emergency Medical Service Cut $ 65,000 . Fire Department New Equipment Cut $ 10,000 . Park Improvement Capital Cut $ 15,000 . Sod & Seed Municipal Complex Cut $ 5,000. Merit Pool Cut $ 10 ,000 . Animal Control Cages Cut $ 2,935 . Police Cut $108,400 . 398 4 Patrol Officers Clothing allowance Police Fuel Special Purpose Equipment 2 Vehicles Use of County Jail 2 Police Radios (cars) Add back Vehicle repairs 2 Librarians Cut $ 29,000 . Code Enforcement Cut $ 10 ,300 . 1 Vehicle 1 Camera Food & Ice Cut $ 1 ,600 . Travel & Training Cut $ 10,300 . (All departments) Furniture (all departments) Cut $ 9 ,875 . Equipment Terminate Lease (no equipment) $ 52,600 . Refinance Lease (keep equipment) $ 52 ,600 . Total Budget Reductions $374,510 . City Manager John Pitstick made a third presentation on the borrowing of funds 87-88 as follows : Landfill - Engineering and legal fees $150,000. Engineering design priority sewer lines $150,000. Sewer Truck $ 35,000 . Street Reconstruction 2 miles $160,000. Public Safety Equipment ( Pay off of -0- with 88 ,000 Fund Balance and Debt Service Payment) -0- Equipment refinancing undetermined City Manager John Pitstick stated that the engineering design for priority sewer lines to begin on March 1 , this is part of the enforcement order from TWC, it will take 3 or 4 --� months for design and 3 or 4 months for right-of-way acquisition. 399 After some discussion, Mayor Trimble stated that one librarian' s salary needed to be added back into these cuts at $12 ,000, total add back $14 ,000 at Library. This was to be a certified librarian. Also needed to lower the sales tax from $40,000 . to $50,000 , and add $4 ,000 . to revenues for leasing of a section of the building to Lifeline. Mayor Trimble also stated that Council wanted to establish a $50 ,000 reserve or a two week cash flow which the auditors have said we need . Mr . Johnson said even if you get the revenues , you will still have a short fall at the year end. Mayor Trimble said fine, but Council wanted to try and establish a reserve as the auditors have said to do . Mr . Johnson said two weeks reserve would be $65,000 . Mayor Trimble said $65,000 . instead of $50,000 . Mayor Trimble then asked the Council if they had any suggested cuts from the budget . Councilman Crane said in account 107 which is Engineering , car allowance of $2,100 . , drop this and give him one of the vehicles that is just sitting . Over time pay $68,000 . can' t we hire one or two employees full time for this . Under finance for legal services, $14 ,000, cut legal fees back by asking city attorney to come to only one meeting per month. In department 450 , $4 ,400 veterinarian services. Mr . Johnson said part of this is charges to Garland Humane Society. In Utility Billing the fuel item. Mr . Johnson said it would not help to cut the utility fund, and that the $14,000 legal services was the amount budgeted for legal services for delinquent tax collections . Councilman Crane said in department 510 there is a pickup. Mr . Johnson said this is to replace the jeep that Utility Billing took from engineering . Mr . Johnson said in department 420 , emulsion in the amount of $23 ,310 could be cut and moved to the reserve and add this amount to the amount you borrow to do the street reconstruction program. Councilman Blakey said in department 310 Parks , heavy equipment lease. Mr. Johnson said $9 ,100 . is for payments on the mowers and the remainder is for contract services. It was also discussed to cut the gravel and rock from the park budget in the amount of $1 ,290 .00 and move this to the reserve. Mayor Trimble instructed City manager John Pitstick to get the other $10 ,000 . or whatever the amount needed for the reserve from what was discussed in executive session. Mayor Trimble went back to the merit pool of $23 ,000 , Special purpose equipment for police department $4 ,000 . General overview from the Council was to leave the special purpose equipment of $4 ,000 for the police department, cut $10,000 . 400 from the merit pool which would leave $13,000 for merit raises, cut from the park contract services $4 ,000 .00 and cut additional $8,000 .00 from the park budget. Mayor Trimble said to set up a meting with the Park Board, WSA, and Council to put together a new agreement . Mayor Trimble also stated that after all the cuts and moves, there has been $53,790 . set aside for the reserve that the City Manager has been instructed where to ge he st from. There being no other business or discus , the meeting was adjourned at 5 :00 P.M. / ICY c �� Chuck Trimble, Mayor SEAL c ATTEST : f���uuuaa i i►u►u►►�"�`� ro y e C t Secretary