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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Council - Meeting Date: 4/18/2019 City of Glendale 5850 West Glendale Avenue Glendale. AZ 85301 1!' GLENIE Meeting Minutes Tuesday, April 18, 2019 9:00 A.M. Budget Meeting Council Chambers City Council Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Joyce Clark Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Ian Hugh Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bart Turner CALL TO ORDER Mayor Weiers called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Joyce Clark Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Ian Hugh Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bart Turner Also Present: Kevin Phelps, City Manager Michael Bailey, City Attorney Chris Anaradian, Assistant City Manager Julie K. Bower, City Clerk WORKSHOP SESSION 1. FY2019-20 BUDGET WORKSHOP Presented by: Lisette Camacho, Assistant Director, Budget and Finance Amy Lindsay, Budget Administrator, Budget and Finance Ms. Bower read the item by title. Ms. Camacho addressed follow-up items from the April 16th budget meeting: • Council Office Request —Additional Cost of $114,945 • Graffiti Removal — Benefits line item is correct • PSPRS Increase — $2,023,127 (7.4% increase) • Grants — 28 totaling $4.1 million Councilmember Tolmachoff asked what was the City's total contribution to the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS). Ms. Camacho said the City's contribution to PSPRS was approximately $29.4 million. Vice Mayor Clark asked what the total cost was for the Council Office position that was eliminated to fund the additional school resource officer (SRO) in the previous year's budget. Ms. Lindsay said it was approximately $93,000. Brittany Lopez, Management Assistant, presented the City Attorney's Office operating budget. Vice Mayor Clark expressed her appreciation for the presentation. Rick St. John, Police Chief, presented the Police Department's operating budget and requests Vice Mayor Clark referenced page 231 of the budget book and asked if the reduction of support services was due to the reduction of internal premiums. City Council Meeting Minutes-April 18, 2019 Page 2 of 12 Chief St. John said that was correct. Vice Mayor Clark asked whether the personnel management reduction was due to the reduction of internal premiums as well. Chief St. John said it was primarily a change in salaries caused by movement of personnel into other divisions. Vice Mayor Clark referenced page 232 of the budget book and asked why the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) program was reduced by $1.1 million. Chief St. John said RICO funds had been used for the new records management system and some milestones. Vice Mayor Clark referenced page 245 and asked why the Gateway Patrol Division line item was down by half. Chief St. John said there were specific needs in last year's budget which required an increase. Vice Mayor Clark referenced page 246 and asked what the Professional Services line item was previously used for and why it was zeroed out in the proposed budget. Chief St. John said it had paid for a contract worker. Volunteers were now being used and the contract was terminated. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the sharing of tablets by officers was working well or had it caused any issues. Chief St. John believed it was working well. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if funding had been received from the school districts for the five additional SROs and if the SRO costs were absorbed within the department's budget. Chief St. John said Copper Canyon in Tolleson was funded through a Federal grant which paid for 90% of one SRO's salary. The Peoria, Deer Valley and Glendale School Districts did a 75/25% split which paid 25% of eight SRO's salary. He said adjustments were made last year, which carried over without a need for additional funding. Councilmember Aldama asked about the Training line item increase of $295,000. Chief St. John said that was the training division and the increase was due to the salaries that came from the personnel management unit. Councilmember Turner asked for an explanation of the numbers for revised policies. Chief St. John said the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) had previously required the department to review 33% of its policies annually. The standards had changed and the accreditation process now required a review of all policies annually. Councilmember Turner asked why the overtime costs for the stadium were absorbed by the department. Chief St. John said the cost of management of traffic outside the stadium was the City's City Council Meeting Minutes -April 18, 2019 Page 3 of 12 responsibility. Councilmember Turner said there had been a decrease in traffic stops. He had received requests for increased traffic enforcement on streets and in neighborhoods. Chief St. John said staff believed there was a records management system issue when the records were combined and a significant portion of the calls for service records were lost. The department's business analyst was trying to recover the data. Councilmember Malnar asked if additional savings were anticipated with less overtime for communication specialists. Chief St. John explained it took about a year to recruit and fully establish a new communication specialist. The department was exploring different schedules and evaluating all factors to eliminate mandatory overtime. Overtime savings were anticipated after the initial year of the position. Mayor Weiers recalled a discussion regarding a shared dispatch call center. Chief St. John said there had been discussions but there was not a partnership that worked for the City. He would continue to explore options. Brian Freidman, Economic Development Director, presented the department's operating budget and requests. Vice Mayor Clark referenced page 146 and asked for an explanation of the 75% decrease for Professional Development. Ms. Camacho said the funding had been moved to Professional Services. Councilmember Tolmachoff referenced page 147 and asked if the "Business Attraction Strategy" under Professional Services covered the cost of contracts so the department's budget was not affected. Mr. Friedman said it did not affect the department's budget. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the Western Maricopa Coalition (WESTMARC) membership was included. Ms. Camacho said the membership fee was budgeted in non-departmental. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked what role would be filled by the small business specialist. Mr. Friedman explained it was a position dedicated to assisting a small business owner through the whole implementation process. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the position would assist with filling vacancies within struggling plazas. Mr. Friedman said it would. Councilmember Turner asked for more information regarding business assistance events. Jessi Pederson, Economic Development Assistant Director, explained staff would present to City Council Meeting Minutes-April 18, 2019 Page 4 of 12 various stakeholder groups or bring the businesses on-site for further engagement and start-up classes that were taught by staff. Councilmember Malnar asked if the City remained a WESTMARC member. Mr. Phelps explained there was an appropriation set aside to pay dues for WESTMARC but there would be an evaluation to determine if membership was of value for the City. Vice Mayor Clark asked if hidden costs were considered when the evaluations were made. Mr. Phelps said there was not a good matrix for valuing memberships. Entire costs were considered and evaluated. Vice Mayor Clark asked if remaining a member of Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC) was a good investment. Mr. Phelps had engaged in conversation with the partnering agencies to make sure needs were aligned and had developed a mechanism to gauge the benefits for the City. He felt it was in the best interest to continue with GPEC membership. Vice Mayor Clark suggested a workshop regarding economic development in the fall for further discussion. Mayor Weiers asked what the plan was for WESTMARC. Mr. Phelps said staff had met with the WESTMARC board and engagement and analysis continued. He suggested continuing membership if WESTMARC acknowledged the City's needs with analysis again next year. Mayor Weiers felt there was not value in remaining a part of WESTMARC in the next fiscal year. Councilmember Turner suggested communicating with the organization in a positive manner to give it time to adjust its course accordingly. He supported remaining part of WESTMARC. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the Non-Departmental line item could be broken down for the April 30th budget workshop. Ms. Camacho said staff would provide a break down. Councilmember Aldama felt it was not the right time to pull out of West Valley organizations. Councilmember Hugh agreed with Councilmember Aldama and Vice Mayor Clark's comments to stay with the organizations. Elizabeth Finn, Presiding City Judge, presented the City Courts' operating budget and requests. Councilmember Aldama asked about the $18,000 increase in the court interpreter costs. Judge Finn said it was due to the departure of the half-time interpreter and the use of a contracted interpreters. The budget for interpreters had been unchanged for the last 3 years. It was budgeted at $28,991 but was estimated to spend $47,000. Ms. Camacho said the supplemental $10,000 for the interpreters would provide coverage for the budget shortage. City Council Meeting Minutes-April 18, 2019 Page 5 of 12 Councilmember Aldama asked if the $18,000 vacancy savings from the two vacant interpreter positions would be used. If so, would the amount be over the $18,000 from the savings. Ms. Camacho said the vacancy savings would be used and it would not be over and above the $18,000. Vice Mayor Clark referenced page 63 and asked for clarification of Court Time Payments that were reduced by 21%. Judge Finn explained Court Time Payments was a split of fines with the Judicial Collection Enhancement Fund (JCEF). The City was receiving less money from the fines. Vice Mayor Clark asked for the specific requests regarding the pro tern judges. Judge Finn said it would allow judges time away from the courtroom. Vice Mayor Clark asked if the regular judges were on the bench all day and if not, what the judges did while not on the bench. Judge Finn said judges were not on the bench all day and time away from the bench was used for administrative duties. Vice Mayor Clark did not understand the need for pro tern judges to allow regular judges more time for administrative duties. Judge Finn said the judges did not have time to complete administrative work such as case research and trial preparation. Vice Mayor Clark said trials and preparation were regular duties for a judge. She did not support approval of the supplemental for pro tern judges. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the judges were salaried or hourly. Judge Finn said judges were salaried employees. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked what time the first court case of the day was usually held. Judge Finn said court was in session from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if meetings of the judges could be held before court began. Judge Finn said it would not address the issue of holding a meeting or handling the administrative workload put on a presiding Judge. Since 2012, the judges had had to do more with less because the pro tern budget had been cut in half. Councilmember Aldama commented all directors in each department went through similar situations. Mayor Weiers asked for a consensus on the $32,000 supplemental. Councilmember Tolmachoff said the consensus would be for$29,000. She asked if the additional full-time clerk, rather than a part-time clerk, could assist with the gaps that were occurring with the judges. City Council Meeting Minutes-April 18, 2019 Page 6 of 12 Judge Finn said because the funding came from JCEF, the position could only work with financials and did not support the judges. She requested that if the full $29,000 was not approved that a portion be funded. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if other means, such as non-court days, could be used to accommodate meetings and administrative tasks. Judge Finn said blocking court settings pushed cases further out .The Arizona Supreme Court mandated certain timeframes for the resolution of cases. Meetings were held during lunch hours, but it did not provide enough time. It was impossible to predict how many cases would be seen in a day and she could not justify making someone wait for a judge and proceedings to begin. Councilmember Tolmachoff thought it should be possible to schedule court days to accommodate meetings and agreed with Councilmember Aldama's comment that no other departments had extra staff so employees could attend meetings. Vice Mayor Clark reiterated her lack of support for the supplemental for a pro tern judge. Councilmember Malnar was in support of the pro tern judges for the court. Mayor Weiers asked if the current staff numbers were near the number before 2008. Judge Finn said, in terms of staff, she believed the numbers were similar. Mayor Weiers asked how current caseload compared to the caseload in 2008. Judge Finn said the caseload was down compared to last fiscal year. Mayor Weiers said $29,000 was a reasonable request and he was in support. Mayor Weiers said there was Council consensus to support the supplemental request. Terri Garrison, Fire Chief, presented the Fire Department's operating budget and requests. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if it was correct that the calls out of Fire Station 154 were not considered automatic aid and were not factored into the automatic aid estimate. Chief Garrison said that was correct. Mayor Weiers asked if the ambulance reimbursement was exact. Chief Garrison said it was an exact reimbursement. Vice Mayor Clark asked why the budget for equipment was reduced by 24%. Chief Garrison said funds were reallocated throughout the budget, but the total amount had not changed. Vice Mayor Clark asked for a report on equipment expenditures. She wanted to be sure adequate protection was provided. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the previous year's goal to provide each firefighter a second set of turn-out gear had been completed. City Council Meeting Minutes-April 18, 2019 Page 7 of 12 Chief Garrison said it had been completed. Stephanie Small, Community Services Director, presented the Community Services operating budget and requests. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the Glendale Works Program had individuals working on projects throughout the city. Ms. Small said that was correct. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if there was a dollar value associated with the work done. Ms. Small said staff was in the process of collecting the information and it would be provided to Council. Vice Mayor Clark asked if the $60,000 supplemental request was in addition to the $50,000 from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). Ms. Small said that was correct. Ms. Camacho said the CDBG funding was $40,000 or a 40/60 split. Vice Mayor Clark asked if total funding for the program was $100,000 per year. Ms. Small said that was correct. Councilmember Tolmachoff referenced the presentation at the Council workshop on April 9th which indicated the CDBG portion was $50,000 for the program. Ms. Small would look into the discrepancy but understood the program request was for $100,000. Councilmember Turner said more communication was needed so that people knew there was a program that could assist them rather than panhandling. Mayor Weiers felt signage would be more effective rather than communications in a water bill. Councilmember Malnar requested the fund balances in grant accounts, particularly the HOME Program. Ms. Small said the information would be provided. She would also provide clarification regarding funding for the Glendale Works Program at the April 30th budget workshop. Vice Mayor Clark referenced page 83, section 17 and the reduction of$730,000 in Public Activities and asked if was because less funding was received. Ms. Small said that was correct. Funding was reduced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Vice Mayor Clark referenced page 89 and asked why Professional Services was reduced by 50%. Ms. Small said funding had been reallocated to the correct line items. Vice Mayor Clark requested clarification as to why internal premiums was the highest charge for City Council Meeting Minutes -April 18, 2019 Page 8 of 12 Internal Charges. Ms. Camacho said staff would provide clarification. Vice Mayor Clark requested clarification regarding what type of supplies were needed for the Arts Program with a budgeted amount of$123,000. Ms. Camacho said the supplies line had several categories of expenditures and detail would be provided at the April 30th budget meeting. Stephen Dudley, Interim Development Services Director, presented the Development Services operating budget and requests. Mayor Weiers congratulated the department on its achievement of completing 99% of building inspections within one day. Councilmember Turner requested that the category of"voluntary compliance" and "no violation" be separated into two categories going forward. Mr. Dudley said a specific break down would be provided. Councilmember Turner asked if a slow-down in development was predicted. Mr. Dudley said it was not. Councilmember Malnar asked if the new system included a vigorous reporting system, specifically by districts. Mr. Dudley said the SmartGOV software was more robust and user-friendly. There were multiple efficiencies with the system as well as online capabilities. He said the first area of implementation was Tax and License within the first quarter of 2020. Vice Mayor Clark referenced page 129, and asked if the increase in Mapping and Records was the addition of a full-time employee. Mr. Dudley said it was a position previously funded by Water Services and would now be paid from the General Fund. Vice Mayor Clark referenced page 137, and asked why Capital Expenditures and Professional Services had decreased. Mr. Dudley said the reductions were a result of supplemental funds from FY18-19 that were not in the upcoming budget. Vice Mayor Clark referenced page 138, and asked if Capital Expenditures and Equipment was decreased from a previous supplemental. Mr. Dudley said that was correct. Vice Mayor Clark asked why Professional Services had doubled. Ms. Lindsay said $25,000 from temporary services went into Professional and Contractual to pay for contract services providing service for the Clean and Lien program. City Council Meeting Minutes-April 18, 2019 Page 9 of 12 Jim Burke, Public Facilities, Recreation and Special Events Director, presented the Public Facilities, Recreation and Special Events operating budget and requests. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the number of full-time parks service employees had been decreased to eight instead of the previous twelve. Mr. Burke said the vacant positions were used for the new park's supervisor positions. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked what the ratio of workers and supervisors was. Mr. Burke estimated it was 6 to 8 employees per supervisor, including temporary workers. Councilmember Tolmachoff said paving the parking lot at the Thunderbird Park was a cost savings solution. Treatment on the dust for two parking lots was done twice per year at an annual cost of $66,000. Leaving the lots unpaved was wasting money to treat the dust to remain in compliance. Mr. Burke explained pavement was a few years away. There were other parking lots which needed to be addressed. Each parking lot would eventually be paved. He said the cost was $33,000 for both lots twice per year, the main lot and the overflow lot. Councilmember Turner asked if Transportation funds could be used for paving the parking lots or could funds be borrowed and repaid when the capital funds were available. Mr. Burke did not believe Transportation funds could be used for parking lots in the parks. Councilmember Tolmachoff recalled using Transportation funds for parking lots at the stadium. Mr. Phelps said staff would gather the appropriate information and provide it to the Council before the April 30th budget workshop meeting. Councilmember Aldama asked how much of the funds at the Foothills community center was recouped versus what was spent. Mr. Burke would provide the information to Council. Vice Mayor Clark suggested a Council workshop on park activities, community centers, park rangers and miscellaneous park issues. Councilmember Turner asked how many visitor's centers were being operated. Mr. Burke said there was one visitor's center located in the City's media center at Westgate. Councilmember Turner was concerned about the lack of a visitor's center in the downtown area and suggested placing a center in the library. He asked if there was a performance metric for the visitor's center. He believed the performance measure goals were not current and should be updated as well as sponsorship revenue. Mr. Phelps said the last special events season eliminated two program weekends in December to allow visitors to see the lights and eat at downtown restaurant, rather than a vendor. There was a positive response from the downtown merchants on the event change. He would bring more information back to a Council workshop. Councilmember Turner requested an actual metric to see if the Convention & Visitors Bureau's City Council Meeting Minutes-April 18, 2019 Page 10 of 12 (CVB) mission to drive tourism to the City was working. There should be some type of service or presence in the downtown area. Mr. Burke said staff was looking into a digital kiosk to serve that purpose downtown. More information would be provided. Vice Mayor Clark asked the process for selection of which City project would apply for the Tohono O'Odham grant. Mr. Bailey said the City was allowed to apply for grants in addition to what was already received as a result of the State gaming compacts. Ms. Camacho said Kristen Krey, Grants Program Manager, coordinated the grant applications. The City had applied for the Tohono O'Odham grant but had not received funding. The City applied every year on behalf of departments that would utilize the funds if awarded. The City Manager's Office worked with various departments to determine which applications were submitted. Councilmember Tolmachoff referenced Professional Services on page 308 and asked the purpose of the $100,000 increase. Mr. Burke said the increase reflected the tourism grant awarded to process requests and generate events that brought in bed tax. Councilmember Aldama suggested, if a visitor's center returned to downtown, that it be managed by the downtown manager and the Chamber. Craig Johnson, Water Services Director, along with Deputy Directors Kerri Logan, Megan Sheldon, Ron Serio and John Henny, presented the Water Services operating budget and requests. Vice Mayor Clark asked if Water Services had ever used interns. Mr. Johnson said the department did not have a formal intern program. He said staff was developing a program to attract and retain qualified employees. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked what was generally spent for chemicals per year. Mr. Johnson said the City spent over $4 million on chemicals. Chuck Murphy, Innovation & Technology Director, presented the operating budget and requests for the department. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if a risk assessment had been provided by an outside organization. Mr. Murphy said the City belonged to the Arizona Cyber Threat Resource Alliance (ACTRA) comprised of members from Valley security consultants, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Secret Service. The department also contracted with an outside vendor to try to hack into the City each year to find vulnerabilities. The system was also tested quarterly for vulnerabilities. Any vulnerabilities found were immediately addressed. The vendor also scanned the system on a monthly basis to find anomalies and monitored it 24 hours per day. Cyber security had also been rolled out to all City employees. City Council Meeting Minutes-April 18, 2019 Page 11 of 12 Vice Mayor Clark asked how many copiers were being requested for City libraries and what was the cost per copier. Ms. Camacho said the funding was for a total of eight copiers. The cost per copier varied from $3,000 to $10,600 depending on where the copier was located. Mr. Phelps said with regard to the question about funding for parking lots. He clarified that the funds used were from Development Infrastructure Fees (DIF) and bond proceeds. Staff was also developing a pavement management program for the parks system. Ms. Camacho reviewed the budget calendar. The next budget meeting was scheduled for April 30, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Weiers adjourned the meeting at 3:49 p.m. I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the meeting of the Glendale City Council of Glendale, Arizona, held on the 18th day of April, 2019. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this 2nd day of May, 2019. • . Bower, MMC, City Clerk City Council Meeting Minutes- April 18, 2019 Page 12 of 12