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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-23-17 Personnel and Finance ti tj d W PEACE a Ile - Y i 1865 OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH FOWLER,CITY CLERK PERSONNEL &FINANCE OCTOBER 23, 2017 4:20 P.M. Committee Members Present: Karen White, Gavin Ferlic, Regina Williams-Preston, John V oorde Committee Members Absent: None Other Council Present: Dr. David Varner, Tim Scott, Oliver Davis, Jo M. Broden, Randy Kelly Other Council Absent: None Others Present: Kareemah Fowler, Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer Presenters: Aaron Perri, Randy Rompola, Matt Eckerle, Jen Hockenhull, Eric Horvath, Ken Glowacki, City Clerk Kareemah Fowler, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Stephanie Steele, Steve Cox, Ryan Takacs Agenda: Bill No. 17-72- Issuing and Authorizing Bonds for the South Bend Redevelopment District Bill No. 17-73- Issuing and Authorizing Bonds for the South Bend Park District Bill No. 75-17- October 2017 Transfer Ordinance Bill No. 76-17- October 2017 Civil City Appropriation Substitute Bill No. 77-17- October 2017 Enterprise Funds Ordinance Substitute Bill No. 62-17- Fixing Maximum 2018 Salaries for Non-Bargaining Employees Bill No. 65-17-Fixing Maximum Annual Pay and Fringe Benefits for SBFD for 2018-2021 Committee Chair Karen White called to order the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting at 4:20 p.m. She introduced members of the Committee and recessed the Committee to reconvene in the full Council Chambers. The Committee reconvened at 4:22 p.m. and Committee Chair White proceeded to give the floor to the presenters. Bill No 17-72- Issuing and Authorizing Bonds for the South Bend Redevelopment District 455 County-City Building•227 W.Jefferson Boulevard•South Bend,Indiana 46601 Phone 574-235-9221 •Fax 574-235-9173•TDD 574-235-5567•www.SouthBendfN.gov JENNIFER M.COFFMAN ALKEYNA M.ALDRIDGE JOSEPH MOLNAR CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK OPERATIONS Aaron Perri, Executive Director of Venues Parks &Arts with offices at 321 E. Walter Street, stated, This evening you will be considering two (2) resolutions for the widely publicized Park Bonds. This is important to the My SB Parks & Trails Initiative. The full presentation will be given this evening as you have all seen that a couple times. This is the Riverwest TIF Bond which was unanimously approved by the Redevelopment Commission and was presented at two (2) Redevelopment Commission meetings. This is to support the parks improvement projects in the Riverwest TIF District as well as the one immediately adjacent. Particularly, we are looking at Pulaski Park, Leeper Park, Howard Park and Seitz Park. We are also looking at the connectivity and the trails systems that feed to the riverfront from those areas. He provided a handout(available in the City Clerk's Office)that depicted in-depth information about the Riverwest TIF Bond. He continued, This bond makes up about one third of the funding for the entire investment. The other third will be the Parks Bond and the other third is the private sector investment. Randy Rompola, Barnes & Thornburg with offices at 100 N. Michigan Street, stated, The resolution before you is to approve a bond issue that is proposed to be issued by, and on behalf of, the South Bend Redevelopment District. The Redevelopment Commission is the governing body of the District. We are anticipating that these bonds be issued in the Spring of 2018 for that is the timing of when these funds would be needed. We thought it would make sense to approve both the Park and Redevelopment Bonds. The bonds will be paid by the TIF revenues that will be available in the Riverwest Development Area. There is also a proposed tax back-up in place to be sure the interest rate remains low. The TIF revenues will pay the debt service on the bonds but in order to provide the lowest possible interest,the tax back-up will be in place. Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions from Committee and Councilmembers. Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked, What would the rate differences be if we didn't have the tax back-up plan? Matt Eckerle,Umbaugh and Associates with offices at 8365 Keystone Crossing, Indianapolis, IN, replied, That is difficult to quantify at this point. For example, the Smart Streets bonds done back in 2015 had an S&P rating of double-A (AA). Recently there was a pure TIF deal in Mishawaka of similar size but it was only an A rating. In terms of actual interest rates, it really depends on the day of the week. It could be as low as five (5) basis points or as high as forty (40) basis points. The bond market will have greater interest in the deal if you have that higher rating with the property tax back-up in place as opposed to having only a pure TIF revenue deal that stands on its own. The Riverwest Allocation Area was originally established in the 1980s and has been amended at various times throughout its history. There have been sections added throughout the years and their expiration dates may be earlier than the original area. With these bonds, we have accounted for that and have estimated how the revenues will be affected as those sections expire. Councilmember Broden followed up, How does this Riverwest TIF fund Howard and Seitz Park? What is the legal rationale for that? 2 Mr. Rompola replied, The basis for using TIF for any redevelopment or economic area is that the use of the increment has to be for an improvement that is either located in, or that supports and benefits the particular area. So we look at those two (2) Parks in particular and the influence those parks have on the Riverwest Area, and we concluded that the use of those funds will benefit the Riverwest Area, even though the improvements are just outside the area. This is not an uncommon practice. Councilmember Dr. David Varner asked, The maximum is $12.2 million? Mr. Eckerle replied, Yes,that is correct. Councilmember Dr. Varner followed up, Are you going to coincide the term of the bond with the expected end date with portions of the TIF or is it going to exceed that? Mr. Eckerle replied, It will go beyond 2025. The structure of the debt payments will match up with the loss of revenues as chucks of the area expire, and we accounted for that in our estimates. We anticipate around$1 million in debt payments per year,through 2032. Mr. Perri stated, This is one (1) of the most significant investments we will ever make in our public shared spaces and we are proud of the work that went into it. Councilmember Broden asked, Was this included in the Parks Board and Redevelopment Commission presentations? Mr. Perri replied, Yes, this has also been included at the Parks Board level. All of this information is available on the website as well. Councilmember Oliver Davis asked, If a park has not been included in this proposal, what happens to that park? Mr. Perri replied, Everything in here is the work that needs financing that we don't already have secured. Walker Field is already financed for and secured. The other parks will continue to be maintained and worked on. There will be some parks that will not be impacted by this. They will still be in our maintenance process but, as of now, there are no planned capital improvements for a few parks. This addresses all the major capital needs identified in the 2014 Master Plan document. In 2018,we will start to look at refreshing that document and certainly attempt to bring continued and additional investment. Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to the legislation. There were none. She then turned the floor back to the Committee for further comment or main motions. Committeemember Gavin Ferlic made a motion to send Bill No. 17-72 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember John Voorde seconded the motion which carried unanimously by a voice vote of four(4) ayes. 3 Bill No. 17-73-Issuing and Authorizing Bonds for the South Bend Park District Mr. Perri stated, This is the second third of the financing for the investment for My SB Parks and Trails. This particular bond is an interesting financing tool. We had to specifically outline the projects and their respective amounts, not to exceed $2 million each. That was a function of this particular bond mechanism. This is part of the whole portfolio. Mr. Rompola stated, The advantage of having two (2) different bonds are the structure of the bonds. The intent was to use a portion of the Redevelopment Funding. A number of these projects are outside the Riverwest Area and it would be difficult to make the argument that some of these projects are supporting the Riverwest Area. It made sense to make another bond. The other rationale was that this is taking over the Hall of Fame tax levy. With these bonds, that tax levy level will remain in place and we would immediately begin making payments, again, but for this bond instead of the Hall of Fame. This resolution approves the issuance of bonds in eleven (11) series and the projects in the series are listed in your Exhibit A. The timing for these bonds is anticipated to be issued in December 2017. Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions from the Committee and Councilmembers. Councilmember Davis asked, This bond will be for fifteen (15) years? Mr. Rompola confirmed, Yes, that is correct. Councilmember Broden asked, The series K project, what I call the future park acquisitions, does that align with the last item on the roadmap? Mr. Perri replied, Those are some of the projects that are further out. They require property acquisitions or some complex partnerships that need to be negotiated. The spirit of the series K would be to address underserved areas in the community. Councilmember Broden then followed up, What is there for leeway in terms of going over or under budget for some specific projects? Mr. Perri replied, These are all in their proposed stage. We don't have designs or engineering, all we have are high level opinions of cost and as much contingency cushion as possible. With all projects, as they get into the design and engineering stage, there may have to be a reallocation of resources down the road. We try to build in the contingency cushion per park. Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to the legislation. There were none. She turned the floor back to the Committee for further comment or main motions. Committeemember Ferlic made a motion to send Bill No. 17-73 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Voorde seconded the motion which carried unanimously by a voice vote of four(4) ayes. 4 Bill No. 75-17- October 2017 Transfer Ordinance Jen Hockenhull, City Controller with offices on the 12th floor of the County-City Building, stated,Bill No. 75-17, 76-17, 77-17 are all the quarterly transfers and appropriation requests. There weren't any too exciting this quarter. For the Police Department, we are moving various underspent funds to cover some costs. Some of these are in anticipation of the end of the year to cover costs. We have some for the Street Department as they allocated for a trailer purchase that they labeled under Supply but really it is under Capital. Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions from the Committee and Councilmembers. There were none. She then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to the legislation. There were none. She turned the floor back to the Committee for further comments or main motions. Committeemember Ferlic made a motion to send Bill No. 75-17 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Voorde seconded this motion which carried unanimously by a voice vote of four(4) ayes. Bill No. 76-17- October 2017 Civil City Appropriation Ms. Hockenhull stated, This is for the Civil City Funds we are asking for additional appropriations for. There is $40,000 for Engineering for a study on the downstream impacts of the South Field Lake Basin. There is one (1) on there for motorcycle trade-ins. We are trading in four(4)motorcycles and getting four (4) additional ones. There also some Smart Street Capital Lease payments that we did not include on the original budget because we set up a new fund at the end of last y for this year and that part makes its way into the initial budget. Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions from the Committee and Councilmembers. Councilmember Broden asked, What is going on with the Releaf program regarding the bump up on the hourly wage? Eric Horvath, Director of Public Works with offices on the 13th floor of the County-City Building,replied, We had trouble keeping the part-time folks, particularly when the economy is good. So in order to keep staff,we raised the wage to eleven dollars an hour($11/hr). In addition to that, if they stay for the full seven(7) weeks,there is a bonus at the end of it. We were hiring a number of folks and they would drop off after a week or two (2). Councilmember Broden then followed up,And what was going on with the purchase order for the Lincoln Safe Routes to School contract? Mr. Horvath replied, That was money that was budgeted in the previous year and was not carried over in a PO so we are appropriating the money. That is part of the Federal matching funding. Councilmember Broden then asked, Were the trade-ins for the motorcycles actually purchases? 5 Ken Glowacki, Director of Financial Services for the South Bend Police Department with offices at 700 W. Sample Street,replied, Yes, it is the purchase of four(4) fully equipped escort motorcycles. We have had the other motorcycles for about four(4) or five (5)years. Councilmember Dr. Varner asked, The debt payment for the Smart Streets is residual from the original bond issue? Ms. Hockenhull replied, Yes and it just didn't make it into the original budget. This was our first year to put all the bond funds into the budget. Councilmember Dr. Varner followed up, Is this the end of it or are there other monies for Smart Streets that have yet to be expended? Ms. Hockenhull replied, I would have to look into that. I think this is just the debt. I don't believe this was residual but I will look into that and get back to you. She then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to the legislation. There were none. She turned the floor back to the Committee for further comments or main motions. Committeemember Ferlic made a motion to send Bill No. 76-17 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Voorde seconded this motion which carried unanimously by a voice vote of four(4) ayes. Substitute Bill No. 77-17- October 2017 Enterprise Funds Ordinance Committeemember Ferlic made a motion to accept the substitute version of Bill No. 77-17. Committeemember Voorde seconded this motion which carried unanimously by a voice vote of four(4) ayes. Ms. Hockenhull stated, This is for the additional appropriation requests for enterprise funds. We do run all of these appropriations, before we present them to you,to be sure we have appropriate cash balances to fund all of these. We do have the cash available to fund all of these requests. We have $20,000 for additional gear for our CTE classes, recruit classes, and EMS Fire Department. There was a mix up with a refund with Code Enforcement and we have that ironed out. In order to refund we have to put it through as an expense. There are also some sewer repairs. Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions from the Committee and Councilmembers. There were none. She then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to the legislation. There were none. She turned the floor back to the Committee for further comments or main motions. 6 Committeemember Ferlic made a motion to send Substitute Bill No. 77-17 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Voorde seconded this motion which carried unanimously by a voice vote of four(4) ayes. Substitute Bill No. 62-17- Fixing Maximum 2018 Salaries for Non-Bargaining Employees Committeemember Ferlic made a motion to accept the substitute version of Bill No. 62-17. Committeemember Voorde seconded this motion which carried unanimously by a voice vote of four(4) ayes. Clerk Kareemah Fowler, City Clerk of South Bend with offices on the 4th floor of the County- City Building, stated, The 2018 budget kick-off began in April, 2017. The Public Forum was held on May 15, 2017 at Ivy Tech. There has since been a total of eighteen (18)public meetings. The first time the budget can be passed for full adoption is October 9, 2017. If the budget is not passed tonight, we revert back to the 2017 Budget. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend with offices on the 14th floor of the County-City Building, stated, I would like to echo all of the thanks and appreciation for the process. I think each passing year we have worked to refine the process and I believe this has been the best yet. The Administration appreciates the way questions and input from the Council have been brought together. There are two (2)main things in a broader context regarding this substitute bill. The first is a yearly reminder that this is establishing maximum salaries. Sometimes the public thinks this is establishing what the salaries will actually be. That is not the case. This substitute also does not include the Public Safety Director position. That is something that the Administration was interested in having in this year's budget, but we heard a range of opinions on the subject and we decided to give more time and reflection to the decision. I think it continues to be really important to find some way to enhance our resources in managing some of the Public Safety policy issues ahead. Whether it be the fiscal curb and making sure we have the right intentions on the $70 million in annual spending that Public Safety represents, continuing to make sure the 911 Center consolidation remains on track, the policy questions around the implementation of body cameras,purchasing, recruiting or calls for a Citizen's Review Board, there is a lot going on that could benefit from some sort of enhancement in resource management. Whether it be a Director, an adjustment to capacity in the Mayor's office or some other model we have not talked about yet,we look forward to revisiting this issue in the coming year. We certainly don't want to make any mistakes because we are in a hurry. Ms. Hockenhull stated, In front of you is the final salary ordinance for your approval. There are four(4)new positions in the ordinance as well as the two (2) for the Historic Preservation Commission,making six(6)total. There are ten(10) new titles without new head count. That is due to some of the restructuring in various areas within the City. There are nineteen(19) positions that are over the normal two percent (2%) salary increase. But, as Mayor Pete noted, we typically do not raise people to their salary cap the year after the cap is raised. With the change of the Public Safety Director being removed from the ordinance,we have also amended the budget. This evening we will present new overview schedules as well as the form for DLGF. That will not include the Director of Public Safety. 7 Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions and comments from Committee and Councilmembers. Committeemember Regina Williams-Preston stated, I want to thank the Administration for the increased consideration for the Public Safety Director issue. Councilmember Broden stated, Thank you to the Administration and Finance Department for handling all the questions from the Council and the public. The level of detail has improved over the last budget cycle I was involved with. I still believe there are some opportunities to implement some Standard Operating Procedures such as organizational charts and job descriptions. I think that would help tremendously. That will inform the public as well as the Council. The new position of the Public Information Officer,what do you hope to accomplish with that position?Also could someone explain the Director of Assets and Information System? Committeemember Ferlic left the Committee meeting at 5:22 p.m. Mr. Horvath replied, The idea behind the position is a result of there being a constant need for education of the programs we offer. A lot of the times people don't understand what Public Works is, how to access the programs or even what programs are available. The primary focus of this position would be outreach, education and marketing to give a better understanding to our citizens of what all is available. The Director of Assets and Information System is Jeff Weaver. He builds the platform to help manage assets. Councilmember Dr. Varner stated, Thank you to the whole Admin.and Finance staff. It occurred to me as we were talking about maximum salary ordinances that I didn't know if we budget for the maximum or the actual salary. Do we budget for the actual salary? Ms. Hockenhull replied, We budget close to the actual. Councilmember Dr. Varner followed up, I just noticed the State of Indiana is going to offer monetary aid to addressing the Lead Crisis. We should take advantage of that in the future. Councilmember Tim Scott stated, Thank you Councilmember White for running all of the public hearings for this year's budget. Thank you to Admin and Finance,the Administration and Finance Department and all the Department Heads. I know it seems that this process is quick but there have been a lot of meetings leading up to this vote. Councilmember Davis stated, I still don't know why we put in the budget those large salary increases if we are not going to utilize the maximums. It creates a lot of conflict and issues. I have never seen budgets like that for the City. It makes me uncomfortable. Why do we lock it at two percent (2%) for some and then for the nineteen(19) other positions have these high increases? What is your rationale for that? Ms. Hockenhull replied, Every year we take a look at positions and what folks are to doing to make sure everyone is in line with what they should be getting paid. We fixed a lot of positions last year and that was to really normalize those positions. This year we are coming back and 8 finishing up most of the normalization. There was a lot of discussion on this year's increases. There were many comparisons with other cities as well as the private sector. These are just the caps and they will not get right up to the maximum. Councilmember Davis followed up, So will they be budgeted for the maximum or the actual? Ms. Hockenhull replied, We will budget close the actual. Councilmember Davis followed up, I'm clear about that but that is where my concern comes in. It is very clear with the two percent (2%) raises. We have a wide range of increases and that is my concern. I think there are too many wide ranges for me to feel comfortable approving this. The rate we set for our salaries affect other entities and when those entities see these raises it affects them, and that is my concern. Many of us were not privileged to those comparisons and the benchmarking. What cities are we talking about? Ms. Hockenhull replied, We did provide explanations for the raises we are requesting in various formats. They were discussed in the public meetings. We may not have given specific comparisons for one (1) individual position. Councilmember Davis interrupted, That is what I am saying. Yes, you gave a presentation on it but when it comes to specific salaries,we had to really search them out and do our own homework. This happened last year. A lot of the focus last year was on the Clerk's salary but behind that was a lot of other positions that we had to go back and deal with. It appears there is a smokescreen. Ms. Hockenhull replied, We did provide summary information on Saturday regarding the specific questions that have been asked. If you have more specific questions I'm happy to get more information. Councilmember Davis interrupted,And that is my concern. At 6:25 a.m. on Saturday and I saw that come through in an e-mail. My concern is the turnaround time. To have these decisions,the email that gave us the information needs to be provided day one (1)before all the presentations. That is not fair. Ms. Hockenhull replied, I appreciate your comments. We will try to amend the budget process. It is an evolving process and will take your comments into consideration. Committeemember Voorde stated, I would like to thank John Murphy along with the Admin and Finance Office. I think the term transparency quickly becomes over-used. However, I see now the term is coming to fruition.Now more than ever, if you want to know something, you can find it and I think that is credit to all the departments. I think the departments are more professional now more than ever. Data-driven decision-making can leave me uneasy at times but there is still opportunity for human-input from both City employees and neighborhood organizations. 9 Committeemember Voorde made a motion to send Substitute Bill No. 62-17 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Broden seconded this motion which carried unanimously by a voice vote of three (3) ayes. Bill No. 65-17- Fixing Maximum Annual Pay and Fringe Benefits for SBFD for 2018-2021 Stephanie Steele, Corporation Counsel for the City of South Bend with offices on the 12th floor of the County-City Building, stated, We are here to present an ordinance for the salaries of sworn members of the South Bend Fire Department. We have come to a four(4) year agreement which we are very excited about. The first year consists of a two point two-five percent(2.25%) increase and then two percent(2%) for the years following. In the agreement there were also a few changes for some of the incentive pays. We've had a very interesting process in coming to the four(4) year agreement with continuing communication between the Union and the City. There is a section for longevity pay for ambulance lead paramedics. Steve Cox, Fire Chief of the South Bend Fire Department located at 1222 S. Michigan Street, stated, This was an agreement with members of leadership from a number entities and with multiple meetings. We are excited about this agreement and are happy with how it turned out. Ryan Takacs, Vice President of Local 362 South Bend Firefighters Association located at 4025 Lincolnway West, stated, It was a good process. We came to an agreement after some long and hard talks. Our body voted 171 in favor to 36 against, and that puts us at about eighty-three percent (83%)which is a bit higher than last time. Councilmember Broden asked, Could you share some of the comments that accompanied the no votes? Mr. Takacs replied, You're not going to make everybody happy. We do the best we can to negotiate for the full membership we have. We have a very diverse group of people in the membership that need to have all their priorities balanced. We couldn't hit everything at once. They happen every time and this is nothing new. Committeemember Voorde stated, The key to successful contract negotiation is when both sides listen. We went in listening to the lists of wants and needs. Stephanie was willing to step back and accommodate important things to the Fire Department, but the Firefighters were willing to understand the parameters and constraints the City has. Council Attorney Bob Palmer stated, What impressed me most was the open and the trusting environment. There was a genuine respect amongst all the parties. Committee Chair White opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to the legislation. There were none. She then turned the floor back to the Committee for further comment or main motions. Committeemember Voorde made a motion to accept the substitute version of Bill No. 65-17. Committeemember Williams-Preston seconded the motion which carried unanimously by three 10 (3) ayes. Committeemember Williams-Preston h en m ade a mot i on to send Substitute Ball No. 65-17 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Voorde seconded the motion which carried unanimously by three (3) ayes. With no further business, Committee Chair White adjourned the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting at 5:52 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Karen White, Committee Chair 11