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02 City Council (09/17/02)MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF THE CITY OF PARIS September 17, 2002 The City Council of the City of Paris, met in special session, Tuesday, September 17, 2002, at 5:30 P. M., Paris Junior College, Applied Technology Building, Room 1016, 2400 Clarksville Street, Paris, Texas. Mayor Michael J. Pfiester called the meeting to order with the following Council Members present: John F. Bell, Richard Manning, Joe E. McCarthy, Francine Neeley, Willie Weekly, Sr. and Benny Plata. Also present were City Manager Michael E. Malone, City Attorney Larry W. Schenk, and City Clerk Mattie Cunningham. Invocation was given by Gene Anderson, Director of Finance for the City of Paris. Mayor Pfiester announced that the first order of business was canvassing the returns from the September 14, 2002, Special Election on a pay increase for members of the Fire Department of the City of Paris. The returns were presented to Mayor Pfiester and he canvassed the results of the Special Election of the City of Paris held September 14, 2002, which were read aloud. The pay referendum was defeated. Resolution No. 2002-152, canvassing the returns for the September 14, 2002, City-Wide Special Election on the question of increasing pay for members of the Fire Department of the City of Paris, was presented. A motion was made by Councilman McCarthy, seconded by Councilman Weekly, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Mayor Pfiester announced that the first item on the agenda was to consider and take possible action on additional amendments reducing the 2002-2003 budget and accompanying tax rate. Mayor Pfiester advised that last night council had stopped at the Airport's budget. Tommy Haynes, Director of Community Development, came forward Special Meeting of the City Council September 17, 2002 Page 2 and went over his budget. City Council made no changes. City Manager Malone said the next budget for consideration was the Paris Band. He advised that, basically, the budget is the same budget as last year' s. After discussing this budget with the city staff, the City Council cut by a show of hands $2,500.00 from Contract Services. City Manager Malone announced that the next budget to be considered was the Paris Public Library, and Betty Landon, Librarian came forward and went over her budget. As a result, the City Council agreed to keep $25,000.00 in the budget for Shelving and remove $25,000.00 from the Book account. Mayor Pfiester said the General Fund needs cutting. He asked Mr. Anderson what figure was needed to get below the rollback rate. He called for a short break in order to give Mr. Anderson time to determine the figure. Mayor Pfiester reconvened the meeting at 6:35 P.M. Mr. Anderson advised that the proposed tax rate was .80930. The cuts made so far, including the pay petition cut, amount to .0645 which drops the rate to .74476. The rollback rate is .70906. Councilman Plata suggested that the City Council start looking at not giving a pay increase or eliminating people, or a combination of the two. He stated he hated to see them not giving a pay increase but he also did not want employees to lose their jobs. City Manager Malone announced that he would like to answer questions that the City Council requested from last night' s meeting. The City Manager said there are two unfilled patrolman positions and one that is on military leave in the Police Department. In the Fire Department there is one open firefighter position, and these are the only positions open in the General Fund. Special Meeting of the City Council September 17, 2002 Page 3 City Attorney Schenk advised the City Council that the one military leave position is different. The law specifies that you have to have a position available when that person returns. Police Chief Karl Louis came forward stating that there is another officer who will be going to the Department of Public Safety, so there would be another opening in the Police Department. Chief Louis said he was of the same opinion that he would rather see positions that are vacant dropped and the other city employees keep their jobs. City Manager Malone informed the City Council that in 1982-83 there were 48 employees in the Police Department and today there are 88 employees. In the Fire Department there were 39 employees in 1982-83 and today there are 58, and the population is about the same. He said those two departments are where the major growth of the budget has occurred. In response to a question posed by Councilman McCarthy, Mr. Anderson said, as he understood the question, that by cutting the proposed raise by one-half, that would that put the tax rate below the rollback. City Manager Malone said one of the questions that had been asked was with regard to improvements made to Fire Station Number One. He said that the total amount of the expenditure was $8,516.00. It was paid out of the General Fund, but it was not in this fiscal year, it was paid in September of 2001. He explained that this was done when the new Chief was hired. The Chief and his secretary were moved to Station Number One so that he could be at the station where the majority of his employees, as well as the Deputy Chiefs and Fire Marshal, work. Also, at the same time, the city was developing more code enforcement, adding code enforcement officers, and needed to utilize the office space vacated by the Chief and his secretary in the City Hall West Annex to house EMS and Code Enforcement personnel, so the resulting move was an improvement in efficiency. Special Meeting of the City Council September 17, 2002 Page 4 City Manager Malone said another question was with regard to the definition of Minor Apparatus in the Fire Department budget. He explained that Minor Apparatus is line item number 0209 and under that line item there are regular purchases of $10,000.00; $1,200.00 for rescue ropes and equipment, $1,500.00 for replacement telephones, three vehicle radios in the amount of $1,900.00, $1,050.00 for a replacement radio for one of the fire engines. Those items total $15,650.00. Rick Evans, Fire Marshal, came forward stating that most of the radios in the vehicles are old and they cannot get parts for them any more and that is the reason for updating them over the last few years. City Manager Malone explained that, in the capital line items, because of this new accounting rule there is $13,250.00 for fire hose replacement that was on a 1990 vehicle that was defective and he has moved that from the capital account into minor apparatus because it fits into this category. City Manager Malone said also in the capital account, there was$240,000.00 that was cut back to $170,000.00 of grant money for the SCBA Breathing Apparatus and $25,000.00 for the match. City Manager Malone said there is a corresponding revenue account of $170,000.00, and if the grant is not forthcoming, then the $25,000.00 will be used for replacement packs for the current SCBA System. If the grant money is received, the money will be used to completely replace the system. The total for line item 0209, Minor Apparatus is $223,900.00. He explained that he had cut quite a bit before the City Council received the proposed budget. Mr. Malone reported that the balance in Machinery, Tools and Equipment resulted after the cuts of $34,000 for two thermo-imagining viewers, $6,000 for a traffic signal, $5,000 for training computers, $5,000 for treadmill replacement and $20,000 for personal protective equipment. During a discussion regarding firefighters, Fire Marshal Evans advised that there is a law in Texas which states two men in and two men out. He said they Special Meeting of the City Council September 17, 2002 Page 5 can put water on the fire, but one man cannot go inside the structure by himself. He has to wait an extra four or five minutes before another truck arrives in order to have enough men for two to go inside the structure. Mr. Evans stressed the need for caution before deciding to cut personnel. The City Manager advised that there are things that can be done to address that, such as cross training, or waiting until the other engine arrives on the scene. The City Council agreed to cut $6,000.00 from the Fire Department's Account No. 0134, Training and Tuition, leaving a balance of $21,000.00 in that account. Councilman McCarthy asked if the city went back the old way of computing overtime, how much difference would it make. Mr. Anderson said as he recalled it was an estimated increase in overtime of $50,000.00 for the Fire Department and $15,000.00 for the EMS. City Manager Malone said he was looking at a year-to-date cost of $298,840.00 in overtime and $211,500.00 was budgeted, but it does not necessarily mean it is due to that change. Mayor Pfiester announced a short break at 7:48 P.M. Mayor Pfiester reconvened the meeting at 8:04 P.M. After discussing cutting three patrolmen and six firefighters, cutting the pay increase by one-half along with the other cuts that have been made, the City Council wanted to know what the tax rate would be. Mr. Anderson advised that the cuts already made, including the petition pay for the firefighters, the pay increase in one-half, and the elimination of nine positions, would reduce the tax rate by 12.295 cents. The rate would be .68635 which would be approximately two cents under the rollback rate of .70946. Mayor Pfiester called for a show of hands of the Council Members who wanted to finish with the General Fund tonight. All of the members were in agreement to finish with the General Fund's budget during this meeting. Special Meeting of the City Council September 17, 2002 Page 6 After additional discussion, it was the consensus of the City Council to wait until Thursday night to finish the General Fund Budget so that Fire Chief Grooms could be present in order for him to speak for his department. After discussion was had regarding overtime and the way it is calculated in the Fire Department, Mayor Pro Tem Manning suggested going back to the old way of calculating the overtime for the Fire Department. After further discussion, Mayor Pro Tem Manning withdrew his suggestion. City Attorney Schenk advised the City Council that there was not a show of hands on the employees' reduction. City Manager Malone said he still recommends that the City Council give the Fire Chief an opportunity to appear in support of his department. With a show of hands, the Council Members agreed to reduce three police officers in the Police Department and six firefighters in the Fire Department. The City Council was in agreement, with exception of Councilman Bell, to reduce the nine employees in their respective departments. Councilman Bell stated that without Chief Grooms here to defend himself and his department, he did not feel that was fair. Councilman Plata asked Terry Townsend, Director of Public Works, to come forward. He asked Mr. Townsend about the increase in personnel in his department. Mr. Townsend advised that in the past five years he had only added one Maintenance I Employee in the Parks Department. Before that, he did not think there were additions in years in the Parks Department. Mr. Townsend said the records will show a difference in the number of people in those Departments. He advised this was done when he first went to Public Works due to an administrative move that he made in employees that were in the Street Department. He moved them into the Parks Department and made it the Parks and Right-of-Ways Department. Those employees take care of the city's drainage ditches. Mr. Townsend stated that he felt that at that he would be able to accomplish more in those drainage issues if he separated those issues. Special Meeting of the City Council September 17, 2002 Page 7 He stated that there are six employees less in the Street Department. In response to Councilman's Plata's question regarding curb repair, Mr. Townsend stated that his staff handles the small repairs, driveway inlets and things of that nature. He contracts out the big programs and getting ready for overlays is part of the program. Councilman McCarthy stated that he had previously suggested cutting the proposed one-and-one-half percent pay increase to three-fourths of one percent, and posed a question with regard to the cost of a 1% cost-of-living increase. Mayor Pfiester suggested doing something that would mean a lot to the employees and that is to let the employees contribute more to their retirement. Mr. Anderson informed the Council that a 1% increase in salary would be approximately $285,158.00. Mr. Anderson advised that it would cost approximately $120,000.00 to $130,000.00 to increase the retirement contribution by 1%, which includes the General Fund and the Water and Sewer Fund. Mr. Anderson said that one of the largest requests that he receives from city employees is an opportunity to contribute more to the retirement plan. At this time the employees are contributing 5% and the Texas Municipal Retirement System allows contributions at 5%, 6%, and 7%. The consensus of the City Council was to reduce three police officer positions from the Police Department, six firefighter positions in the Fire Department, include a three-fourths of one percent pay increase, increase from 5% to 6% contributions to the Texas Municipal Retirement System, and include all of the suggested decreases in line items in the budget. This was done by a unanimous show of hands of all of the Council Members. Special Meeting of the City Council September 17, 2002 Page 8 A motion was made by Councilman McCarthy, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Manning, to skip the budget work session scheduled for September 19, 2002, at 6:00 P. M. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. No action was taken on Agenda Item No. 5, calling for consideration of and possible action on an ordinance adopting the budget for fiscal year 2002-2003 for the City of Paris. A motion was made by Councilwoman Neeley, seconded by Councilman Weekly, to table action on Agenda Item No. 6, consideration of and action on a resolution authorizing the transfer of budgetary appropriations as allowed in Sections 58 and 70 of the Charter of the City of Paris. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2002-153, awarding the bid for furnishing labor, materials, and equipment and for performing all work required for grounds maintenance on specified City of Paris Parks and Facilities, was presented. A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Manning for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. A motion was made by Councilman McCarthy, seconded by Councilwoman Neeley, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. ATTEST: MICHAEL J. PFIESTER, MAYOR MATTIE CUNNINGHAM, CITY CLERK