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12 City Council (08/18/03)MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 18, 2003 The City Council of the City of Paris met in special session, Monday, August 18, 2003, 6:00 P.M. at Paris Junior College, Bobby R. Walters Applied Technology Building, Room 1206, 2400 Clarksville Street, Paris, Texas. Mayor Curtis Fendley called the meeting to order with the following Council Members present: Jim Bell, Jay Guest, 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. Mayor Fendley called for input from citizens of Paris regarding services or projects to be included in the 2003-2004 City of Paris Budget. No one appeared and Mayor Fendley moved to the next item on the agenda. Mayor Fendley advised that last week they did the Police Department's budget, the City Council' s budget, and they would start with the City Manager' s budget tonight. City Manager Malone gave the City Council a handout of various notes on line items and said they are simple and straight forward. He advised that there were three employees in his department: the City Manager, his secretary, and one MIS Technician that works on the computers for all of the city. He said the overtime pay that you see was paid to the MIS Technician for this fiscal year. The City Manager said the Workers Compensation figures are provided by the City Clerk, which are provided to her by TML. Under Office Supplies, City Manager Malone said he had listed different things that are purchased for his department such as postage, cost of the copier and copy paper, letterhead, and things of that nature. City Manager Malone said that under the Motor Vehicles-Gasoline line item are expenses for gasoline for the city vehicle used by the MIS Technician and for out-of-town trips to meetings in the city staff vehicle. Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 2 He said there was a zero balance in Minor Apparatus. He said that there was an expenditure of $500.00 for a phone, which had to be replaced the previous month. He said that the Communications - Telephone line item includes regular telephone expense for the system, service, pagers, and cell phones assigned to him and the MIS Technician, long distance charges, and repairs to the system. He advised that his car allowance is $500.00 a month. Property and liability insurance for city owned buildings and contents is allocated under Insurance and Bonds. Travel Expenses entails mileages, per diem, hotel/motel expenses, parking expenses, tips, taxi, etc., for trips out of town on official business, and training and business meetings. City Manager Malone said the Training and Tuition line item covers TML meetings, and training expense for him, the MIS Tech, or his secretary. The Machinery, Tools, Equipment line item provides funds for the repair of any office equipment, tools, and machines used in his office. City Manager Malone said the Medical Expenses paid out was for the MIS Tech for a pre employment exam. Councilman Guest questioned the fact that last year hospitalization was $20,500.00 and this year the budget is $18,467.000. Mr. Anderson explained that, as had been discussed concerning the increase in the health insurance cost, and in speaking with TML about how the city's claims have been running, it was determined that the necessary contribution for the health insurance was about $500.00 an employee. He said they took this year and extrapolated out for the rest of this year. It is not going to cover quite all of it. Mr. Anderson Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 3 said they had a meeting with TML around the first of the year and that is when they started putting in the higher rate. Councilman Guest said his question is the budget request calls for a budget decrease. Councilman Guest said under the fourth line there is a request for $18,467.00, and the year to date expenses shows $16,056.00 and that divided by .7916 yields $20,538.00 that is 15% less than was spent for this year to annualize. Mr. Anderson said he was not sure what that would be, but he will research what is in that $16,000.00 and see if there is anything unusual there, but he should be able to use that $500.00 a month per employee plus $50.00 a year for life insurance and about $50.00 for the long term disability and come up with the $18,467.00. Mr. Anderson also said he was not sure on the timing of those payments, so some of those are paid quarterly and not monthly. Mr. Anderson explained that extrapolating using that percentage will only work exactly if they spend evenly every month and that is never going to happen on anything. Councilman Bell referred to page 63 as a good example of what should be considered if they are to "do something" with the budget. He stated that he was finding a reoccurring theme, giving line item 0306, Traveling Expenses, budgeted $2,500.00 the year before and only $1,625.00 was spent. He said that only $1,200.00 has been spent this year. He said that it seems that there is padding here when they don't need to be if we really need to be watching expenses. He said there is the same thing on publications where this department has spent $400.00 previous in 2001-2002, and they are spending $270.00 and budgeting $600.00. They are spending one-half of what was budgeted, and associations are even greater than that. He wanted to know why? City Manager Malone explained that the Council will probably not find many of the departments like this. For example, there are a lot of opportunities for travel and training that he does take advantage of because he stays too busy. He advised that past managers have had more budgeted in those line items. City Manager Malone stated that the budget was very lean and that there were expenditures that came up that were not budgeted at all. Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 4 Mr. Bell said that it was his understanding that if we have items that show up in January through July and they were not budgeted, funds could not be spend and we would have to wait until July to move the money around. City Manager Malone explained that he can move funds within the departmental budget during the first nine months. He said he was not over budget and will not be over budget. Councilman Bell said the manager can move things in the Police Department from line item to line item, but he cannot move from the Fire Department to the Police Department. City Manager Malone said that is correct. The bottom number stays the same. Councilman Bell said this is a way to pad for some minor adjustments and this is a trend and he said it is really not a big item. City Manager Malone explained that they try to budget where they under estimate revenues, and over estimate the expenditures. He said if they had an expectation that they might spend it, for example, there might be an occasion in the near future where we have to make a trip out of State for some purpose and he will have to have that money in his travel budget in order to have it within his budget. There might be a really good training opportunity that comes up, that may not come up again in four years and he will have to have some money in his budget if he wants to go. City Manager Malone informed the City Council that he has not been attending the annual meetings of the Texas City Manager's Association or even paying dues to it. If not budgeted, he will not be able to take advantage of the training opportunity. Councilman Plata said he does not understand how the City Manager gets a percentage raise. It states in the City Charter that his salary is set by the City Council. City Manager Malone said he was due a step increase in 1997 and it is still in there. He said he was at a step 4 of his grade and step 5 was due in 1997 and he has not exercised that step. Mayor Fendley said the City Council can say that you receive a certain amount of money, is that correct. City Manager Malone said if you are in a grade and Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 5 step and you change the percentage, you have ruined the grade and step plan. City Attorney Schenk said that as all of the employees are at a grade and step plan, and the Council has placed us in the pay plan and they go through the steps. He said he has not exercised the option to go to step five, which is a 5% increase, because he has other people in the pay plan where we have looked and done studies and they find that people are not being compensated and he is well below the market, but there are others employees who are below the market. Councilman Bell asked who the third person in the department was. City Manager Malone advised that it was Michael Gott who is the city's new MIS Tech. Mayor Fendley said they would consider the City Attorney's budget at this time. City Attorney Schenk started off by summarizing the responsibilities of the City Legal Department for the City Council. City Attorney Schenk gave the City Council a comparison of resolutions and ordinances prepared by the legal department from November 1997 through July 2003. City Attorney Schenk said that one of the functions is to prepare the agendas and these are supplies in his office utilized by his department for that function. They have postage associated with legal notices in addition to their normal postage cost. City Attorney Schenk said they have a food account, again for business purposes. Their Minor Apparatus account deals with small office equipment that wears out from high usage. This includes the fax machine, transcription tape records, etc. He said there is an increase in costs this year because the legislature met and changes were made in the laws and therefore the law books have to be Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 6 updated. Councilwoman Neeley asked if they did not spend anything in the Media- Books, CDs, Film, etc., account. Mr. Anderson advised that previously these items were carried in the Capital Account, but when they prepared to go under the GASB 34 the threshold for a capital item was changed and books no longer met the criteria for a capital expenditure. City Attorney Schenk said that the Communications- Telephone Account is a monthly share of the city's service for long distance usage, the pager and cell phone assigned to the City Attorney, and repairs or programming to phones in the Legal Department. The City Attorney said there is a car allowance assigned to him and to the Assistant City Attorney/Municipal Court Prosecutor. Under Insurance and Bonds, he said they have notary bonds and allocated share of property and liability insurance. Under the line item for Court Costs are included filing fees for any court proceedings, including filing of foreclosure on lot cleaning liens. Mr. Schenk commented that they had anticipated being further long with of foreclosure of liens. More was spent on the efforts to get the Historical Preservation part of the over all program going. It is his hope in the ensuing year, they will spend more on that function because it is their intention to pursue those liens and have them filed and this would be the account that would cover that. City Attorney Schenk said the Travel Expenses are incurred by himself, his Assistant and Paralegal. Each has continuing education requirements that they must meet annually. He said that what they try to do is target those conferences that are most associated with and directed at municipal functions. City Attorney Schenk said that is why the two primary seminars that the go to are with TML. Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 7 City Attorney Schenk said he and the Assistant City Attorney are members of the State Bar of Texas, International Municipal Lawyers Association, Supreme Court of Texas and various court memberships; the Legal Assistant and the Legal Secretary are members of the State Bar of Texas Legal Assistants Division; and the Legal Assistant is a member of the National Association of Legal Assistants. Training and Tuition, etc., is the actual cost ofthe seminars thatthey attend and related materials that they obtain associated with those seminars. The City Attorney said the line item, Contract Services, is dependant upon, or their tool of the trade in this sense, if they need special expertise outside their own, they try to find attorneys that have that expertise to advise him on matters associated with the city. He advised that they have had additional costs associated with this particular account that is more reflected in the updated budget they he had given the Council, so it comes and goes. The next department up for consideration was the Municipal Court and Tom Hunt, Municipal Judge, came forward furnishing the City Council with a handout regarding his department. He said the first part of the handout has all of the changes, and the only additional item in their budget is funding for an interpreter. He said they are seeing more and more Hispanic citizens in the City of Paris. The law requires that an interpreter be provided for a person charged or a witness who does not understand the English language. Judge Hunt advised that they are handling about 600 new cases being filed monthly in the Court on an average, and they are collecting approximately $50,000.00 a month which is similar to the last year. He stated that, at the current time, they are requiring about 6700 hours of community service, which if the defendants could pay, would be add an additional six to ten thousand dollars of income, but under the law you have to give people that cannot pay their fines an opportunity to work off their fines. Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 8 Councilman Plata said that there is an increase in wages, but you said that was in anticipation of time of administrative search warrants and in anticipation of an increase in ordinance violation filing. He said that he mentioned the same thing last year because you anticipated more ordinance violations and he had a problem with that because last year they went to this historical thing so much they never did anything with the housing. Judge Hunt said that last year he proposed the same amount and it was cut back to the amount for 2001-2002, $45,000.00. He said the actual amount in 2000-2001 was $47,262.00 and as of the current date they are at $47,000.00. The Judge said his job is to hear cases and he sees about 350 to 400 defendants a month. He had 21 cases on his docket Wednesday, and he has 8 jury cases for the next jury docket. Judge Hunt noted that he does not receive retirement benefits. He is actually a contract employee and the health insurance is the only benefit that he receives. Councilman Plata asked how many days he works for the City of Paris. Judge Hunt said he has a docket call every Monday morning from 9:00 until about 12:00 to 1:00 P.M. He has juvenile docket on Tuesday at 3:00 P.M., until about 5:30 P.M. He has a docket every Wednesday from 9:00 A.M., until 12:00 noon, unless it is a trial date. Then, he has trials from 9:00 A.M. unti15:00 P.M. He has property hearings one time a month. He has jury trials scheduled one day a month and they do not happen on a daily basis. Judge Hunt said he was there every day to arraign people. Councilwoman Neeley said that last year he asked for the $3,000.00 increase in salary. City Manager Malone explained that he works by the hour and he placed that increase in the budget because he is working more hours. Councilman Guest asked how much was collected last year, and Judge Hunt said approximately $600,000.00. He said that if they had a clerk and all she worked on were collections, they would increase that amount drastically. Judge Hunt stated that, at this point, he has four clerks and one of the reasons he spends less time is because he has a Court Clerk that has been there 25 years Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 9 and if she leaves that will be 20 hours a month he would have to do without her commitment. He said that if they have been reading the newspaper, there were several articles about El Paso being sued over judging of indigent, and Haltom City being accused of civil rights violations. The Legislature has now defined indigent as being a person that earns not more than 125% of the income standards for applicable Federal Poverty Guidelines. Councilman Guest asked if this calls for justifying another clerk. Judge Hunt felt he could justify that because he has four clerks and they are all at the highest step that can go to. He has one with 25 years of experience, one with 13 years, one with 10 years, and one with 6 years. Judge Hunt said that he has 1200 outstanding warrants and that is a substantial amount of fines. He said that at this point, they have a contract that we do farm out some collection work, and they work him pretty hard, but there is an added fee that they collect on top of that. He said they make some additional collection each month. Judge Hunt said the Municipal Court is audited by the comptroller because they are mandated to do that. In every audit he has seen, there has been a recommendation that they get on the Court's Program which requires a Court Clerk to call persons each Monday who have missed their payments. He said we do not have sufficient personnel to do this. The next step is that person is mailed a letter that has been computer generated, then they get a summons and then the person would be arrested. He said if they had an additional Court Clerk she could work on the collection of the fines that are outstanding. There are 1234 warrants at the end of August 12, 2003, with an outstanding balance of $480,000.00. Then, there are regular warrants where people have been issued regular citations and the case never appeared. Then there is $226,000.00 outstanding where people have appeared and never paid and they have outstanding warrants. City Manager Malone advised that police officers are out there serving warrants. Judge Hunt said they do not have someone doing it all of the time. He hoped that some way they could have a city warrant officer and all he would do is serve warrants. Councilman Guest said what he really is in need of is a Court Clerk and a Warrant Officer. Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 10 Councilman Bell suggested hiring a Clerk that is bilingual. Judge Hunt advised that is someone that every department will need at some time. He said they have two or three interpreters that are available to them. He said they are paid $25.00 per appearance and if it is a trial, the law says you can pay them up to $100.00 a day; but if you had a bilingual clerk, that would cut that from the budget. Judge Hunt advised that would not work because it is not good to have a Court Clerk interpreting and telling the Court what that person is saying. Councilman Plata asked Mr. Anderson if there is a revenue section on these collections. He said that there are several fees, fines, court costs, etc., and a portion of that goes to the State. Mr. Anderson said this shows up in a special revenue fund. Judge Hunt said when they move into the new Police and Court Building, they intend to have their area secured. At this time, they are the most unsecured Police and Court building in the United States. He said that there is a Security Fund with funds in it. This fund was established in 1995 by City Ordinance 18-23(2) as authorized by state law, Article 102-017 Code of Criminal Procedure. A fee in the amount of $3.00 for each conviction is collected by the court for municipal court building security fund which may be used only for items specified in the state law and ordinance. The balance of this fund is approximately $77,655.00. Judge Hunt said a bailiff will be needed to man the metal detector located at the entrance of the court room during the hours court is in session, which will be approximately 16 - 20 hours per week. This position can be contract security personnel and can be paid from the court security fund. Judge Hunt advised that through July they have collected $489,879.00, an average of $48,988.00 per month. Mr. Anderson told the City Council that the money is collected and is placed in a payable account that goes to the State of Texas. Councilman Guest said you are going to spend around $225,000.00 and you are going to bring in a revenue to the city in the amount of Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 11 $400,000.00. Mayor Fendley announced that the Council would take a short break at 7:25 P.M. The meeting was reconvened at 7:35 P.M. Mayor Fendley announced the next department that was up for consideration was the City Clerk's. Mattie Cunningham, City Clerk, advised that she had requested a part time employee to help with the Birth and Death records because for the past 12 years she has been able to utilize Green Thumb workers which are people over the age of 55, but they have cut back on this program. They wanted a signed contract stating that the city would hire the next worker after 90 days, and she did not believe the city would agree to do that. At this time, there is one Clerk III and one part time worker. Under Insurance, she stated that figures have not been established at this time. Under Office Supplies, the City Clerk said there are no changes in this account which includes a share of the lease for the copier, binders, and normal office supplies. The largest expense in this account is the Bank Note Paper used in producing the Birth and Death Certificates, which amounts to approximately 8,500 to 10,000 sheets a year at a cost of 18 cents per sheet. There are four different sizes of this paper and two of those are used for issuance of birth certificates only, and the other two are used mainly for death certificates. This is a requirement of the Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics. Under Minor Apparatus are items consisting of binders to place copies of birth and death records along with their indexes. There is one computer placed in this account and one portable telephone to replace a defective unit. Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 12 There is an item in the Electronic Data Processing which funds the expenses for software licensing and repairs of hardware, updates and support for the LaserFiche imaging system for the city in the amount of approximately $8,000.00. The balance of the expenditures are basically the same as last year. Mayor Fendley said they would move to the Finance Department. Gene Anderson, Director of Finance, presented the City Council with a handout regarding his department and he did this on the basis of what Councilman Bell's suggestion to examine the unusual or different things. Mr. Anderson said there are three items in account 01-0318-21-00, Consultants, on Page 82. The first one is a$1,200.00 annual retainer to Attorney Brian Farrington for unlimited consultation on wage and hour issues. Mr. Anderson advised that Farrington has provided valuable assistance to the city in its recent review by the Department of Labor. The second item is an estimate of $5,000.00 for consultation on the implementation of GASB 34 by David Johnson. Mr. Johnson is a CPA with experience with one of the big 44 accounting firms. He is currently the owner of STW, Inc. They provide the City's financial software. He has aided several cities in the Metroplex with early implementation of GASB 34. The 2002-2003 financial report has to be presented in this new format. He will be used on an as needed basis. The third item is an estimated $10,000.00 for Performance Plus, Inc., of Sherman, Texas. Mr. Anderson said he was proposing a series of training classes for supervisors in how to recognize and deal with signs of drug and alcohol abuse among employees. This firm also provides consulting and referral services (employee assistance programs). They provide such services to several local companies including Kimberly-Clark the last time he had checked. He said the last item concerning employee assistance program training has been in the General Fund for several years and has been cut. Councilman Bell asked if this will take the full ten thousand or is it something that can be implemented Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 13 in stages. Mr. Anderson advised that probably one-half of that is something he would like to do as a specific training program and the other half would be available should he need some referral basis. In the past the city has used different agencies and he has done what he could himself in that area, and he is not a professional counselor. Mr. Anderson said there are two primary items in account O l-OS 10-21-00, Electronic Data Processing. Included are the lease of the financial software and maintenance agreements on that software and the related AS400 hardware. It also provides for some personnel training associated with software upgrades. This amounts to $26,500.00. He said the other $16,050.00 he is proposing is for a piece of software called "In Touch". This software is used to collect information from citizen calls, refer the matter to the appropriate department, determine if action needs to be taken, rank the priority of the call, periodically give reminders of the matter until it is resolved, provide statistical information on such calls, and provide access for all departments regarding these matters. The purpose of the software is to make us more efficient at providing customer service to the citizens of Paris. Mr. Anderson said account 01-1002-21-99, Equipment, is related to "In Touch"as it works more efficiently on a separate server and he has $17,500.00 for the server and the Websphere Advanced Server License and Data Base 2 License needed to run the "In Touch" software program on a citywide basis have been included. He said that this is an optional thing. Mr. Anderson said that he could go in and check and see if it was being used and answer customer questions and requests. Mayor Fendley asked if the personnel person that Mr. Anderson was adding is a Human Resource Director or just a personnel clerk? Mr. Anderson advised that it is a personnel officer. He advised that he was looking for someone that has a background as a personnel type person that can write policies, job descriptions, or up-date them. He said they have gotten out of date on a number of things. Mr. Anderson said one of the things coming down Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 14 the pipe and he knew that he is not going to have time to do and that is the new privacy law. Under this new law, the city has to have a privacy officer and a privacy policy in place, along with a security officer. Mr. Anderson said the city has an implementing deadline based on the size of our city of April 15, 2004. Councilman Guest discussed the increase of the finance departments' budget. Mr. Anderson said there are certainly some optional things in his budget and that is the decision that the Council has to make. The In Touch Software is an option along with the contract services of Performance Plus, Inc. Those things can be eliminated and he will continue on the same basis that he has been. Mr. Anderson said what he hoped to do is utilize TWC because they will screen the applicants for us and help the city in that process. He said that practice gets some complaints that we are not getting the best people that we can get by going through that process. He said he would also utilize this person to start giving out applications over the counter having those evaluated, screened and analyzed ourselves and try and find better applicants. Mayor Fendley asked about the Lamar County Appraisal District assessment what that is going to be based on. Mr. Anderson advised that is going to be based on what figure they adopt in their budget and he does not have their newly adopted budget it is just our pro rata share. A motion was made by Councilman Bell to cut the $10,000.00 for the Performance Plus, Inc., in account O l-0318-21-00 from the Finance budget. The motion was seconded by Councilman Guest and carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Councilman Bell asked for a list of the personnel whose salary is over $50,000.00 and bring that back to the Council. Mayor Fendley reminded the Council that the meeting will start at 4:00 P.M. tomorrow. Regular City Council Meeting August 18 2003 Page 15 A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem McCarthy, seconded by Councilwoman Neeley, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. CURTIS FENDLEY, MAYOR ATTEST: MATTIE CUNNINGHAM, CITY CLERK