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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006 0914 Special City Commission Meeting SUMMARY MINUTES Special City Commission Meeting 1st Budget Hearing Fiscal Year 2006/2007 Thursday, September 14,2006,6:30 p.m. City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida ATTENTION ALL LOBBYISTS: CITY LAW REOUIRES YOUR REGISTRATION PRIOR TO ENGAGING IN LOBBYING ACTIVITIES BEFORE CITY STAFF, BOARDS, COMMITTEES OR THE CITY COMMISSION. PLEASE CONTACT THE CITY CLERK FOR FORMS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. AGENDA 1. CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS The meeting was called to order by Mayor Edelcup at 6:30 p.m., with the following officials present: Mayor Norman S. Edelcup Vice Mayor Roslyn Brezin Commissioner Gerry Goodman Commissioner Danny Iglesias (arrived at 6:36 p.m.) Commissioner Lewis J. Thaler City Manager A. John Szerlag City Attorney Hans Ottinot City Clerk Jane A. Hines, CMC Assistant City Manager Jorge Vera Patricia SaintVil-Joseph, Deputy City Attorney 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Action: Gloria Taft led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Mayor Edelcup gave opening remarks. 3. PUBLIC HEARING ON THE PROPOSED MILLAGE RATE AND TENTATIVE BUDGET 3A. Millage Resolution (Public Hearing) A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Establishing the City of Sunny Isles Beach Proposed Ad Valorem Tax Millage Levy Rate at 2.95 Mills per One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) of Taxable Assessed Value Which is 23% Greater than the "Rolled Back" Rate of 2.400 Mills, for Fiscal Year 2006/2007; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: City Clerk Hines read the title and City Manager Szerlag gave a presentation on Fiscal Year 2006/2007 Budget. Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting September 14,2006 First Budget Hearing Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Public Speakers: none Commissioner Goodman moved and Commissioner Thaler seconded a motion to approve the resolution. Resolution No. 2006-963 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 3B. Budget Ordinance (Public Hearing) An Ordinance ofthe City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Adopting an Operating and Capital Outlay Budget for the Fiscal Year Commencing October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007, Pursuant to Section 200.65, Florida Statutes (Trim Bill); Authorizing Expenditures of Funds Established by the Budget; Authorizing Encumbrances; Authorizing Issuance of Checks; Providing for Grants and Gifts; Providing for Post Audit; Providing for Severability and Providing for an Effective Date. Action: City Clerk Hines read the title and City Manager Szerlag reported noting that updates to the proposed budget were handed out that updated correct recalibrated figures in some instances to reflect a more accurate forecast and updates to the General Fund, Capital Projects and a Parking Fees Summary. City Manager Szerlag presented a power point budget overview including an All Funds Budget Summary which also appears in our advertisement when it is time to adopt the budget, with a total budget document of over $55 Million. He noted that the General Fund is quite healthy, and for the first time we have separated our General Fund into three (3) categories: General Operating; General Capital; and Debt Service. City Manager Szerlag reported that the Personnel Budget is at a 15% increase over last year's Personnel Budget, which is attributable to three factors: 1) increased health care and pension costs; 2) a proposed 3.5% pay increase essentially across the board for all full time, part-time, and intermittent general employees along with a continuance of the 5.6% grade step plan program for the Police Department; a proposed 1.5% merit increase for general employees that will be predicated on performance, and noted that after this meeting there will be a workshop with the Mercer Group, not only a proposed classification/compensation plan but also a methodology for performance evaluations; and 3) proposed increased staffing levels. City Manager Szerlag proceeded to go through an overview of each Department Budget. Mayor Edelcup asked if there was a cost for the interns showing in the Human Resources Department, and City Manager Szerlag said they normally receive about $10.00 an hour. Mayor Ede1cup asked if the intern positions overall throughout the City are counted in the official headcount. Human Resources Director Tom Acquaro said ifit is budgeted it is in the official headcount. He said some interns that are not Federal Work Study Interns, are going to College and we can hire them if there has been budgeted money in a Department. City Manager Szerlag noted on page 35 of the Budget document where it is talking about personnel summaries, it reflects a census of employees as opposed to what is budgeted, and on page 36 it gives a summary of budgeted positions full time and others. City Manager Szerlag said that Robert Solera's position will be Community Development Director over Code Enforcement and Licensing Department and the Planning and Zoning 2 Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting September 14,2006 First Budget Hearing Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Department reporting to Assistant City Manager Vera. He said that the plan is to hire Colin Baenziger to recruit nationally a Civil Engineer, and use HR Director Acquaro and Assistant City Manager Vera and perhaps the Florida League of Cities to recruit in-State, for the Assistant Code Enforcement and Licensing Director as well as the Assistant Public Works Director. He noted that the Engineering Department is a new Department. Mayor Ede1cup asked if in the Cultural and Human Services Department this would cover all the staffing that would be at the new Active Park when that building is complete, and City Manager Szerlag said no. Mayor Edelcup asked if that building would be completed before the end of Fiscal Year 2006/2007 and City Manager Szerlag said he did not think it would be. Assistant City Manager Vera said it will be July/September 2007 but by that time we will be in Fiscal Year 2007/2008 because we still have a lot of things to work out with the School Board. City Manager Szerlag finished the presentation with the Capital Budget. City Manager Szerlag then went through the dollars of each Department, and began with page 40 through 42, the General Fund Revenues. Mayor Edelcup asked about the Parking Revenue Sheet on page 41 mid-page, the 210 will actually grow to 254 parking meters, so why are we dropping down to 200 parking meters for the current year. City Manager Szerlag said he would have it modified. Finance Director Jean Watson said at the time they did this in July, the revenue wasn't recorded in there, since we recorded the revenue it looks like it will be what we projected or more, and the $200,000 can be adjusted to at least $250,000 - $275,000. Mayor Ede1cup said he didn't want to anticipate it to be any less than last year. Finance Director Jean Watson said she upped the franchise fees to $1.1 Million, and the Gas Tax for Transit Tax which are already reflected. Commissioner Thaler noted that Code Enforcement was down as well, we already received 54 and it is down to 40 on page 42. City Manager Szerlag said as we educate property owners our objective is to get compliance instead of conviction, so we want it to go down. Mayor Edelcup said that there are a lot of figures that have gone down on page 42. City Manager Szerlag said that they like to estimate revenues on the low side and the expenditures on the high side. Mayor Edelcup said he likes it to be conservative but there must be justification so that the facts are not distorted. He said if the County Courts are $270,000 or $250,000 is there a reason to believe it is only $200,000 or are we just being ultra conservative in saying it is $200,000. City Manager Szerlag said that these revenues are predicated on someone's behavior and it is hard to estimate what it will be. Mayor Edelcup said there is a trend line of actuals for the previous two years that should give some guidance as to what you can expect it to be. Mayor Ede1cup said where there is a substantial change there should be a reason for the substantial change. Mayor Edelcup noted that the Alamo is also going down and Finance Director Watson said it is because we took over half of that property so they have to rent, and City Attorney Ottinot said we are collecting from them about $6,000 a month. Mayor Edelcup said for second reading he would like these adjusted and to get the budget documents to them well in advance of the meeting so they will have time to review it and if they have questions they can ask the City Manager separately and independently and so when we get together for the final budget reading most of these questions will be out of the way. 3 Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting September 14,2006 First Budget Hearing Sunny Isles Beach, Florida City Manager Szerlag said this is a new document delivered to you in July and probably 99% of the numbers here you have had since July and there are some errata sheets because with a new document that just happens, and next year you won't have nearly this amount. Mayor Edelcup said if you are going to do the revised budget, the final budget, you will have 11 out of the 12 months of everything and you can use the 11 out of 12 months number if it is significantly different from your estimated actual, at least that will give us a criteria of the year that we are just finishing to compare that against the year you are proposing. He said if there is any significant change then be prepared to answer to them what caused that change and why is it a reality or an expected reality to be different then what we had in the prior year. City Manager Szerlag asked if the Commission wanted to say anything over a 10% variance over $50,000, and Mayor Edelcup asked if that was satisfactory with the Commission and noted because ofline items he would rather go to a $25,000 level ifit is an unusual, ifit is because the City is growing then he doesn't need an explanation that the revenues are increasing because it is there. He said if it is going against previous trend, then he would like the Commission to have an explanation as to why it is going against previous trend because that is a change of facts. City Manager Szerlag said that they can do that, essentially all the Capital Projects don't need to meet that test because they are Capital Projects. He said all of the personnel, health insurance, life, dental insurance they have met that moniker, tax revenues have met that moniker, we are probably talking about maybe 2.5% of the budget document. Mayor Edelcup said if you would look at pages 40 to 42 there is only 13 items that went down, and of those 13 that went down, all but one was greater then 10%, so maybe there should be a story as to why they went down. City Manager Szerlag asked for clarification regarding revenue items that decrease or don't increase as one would expect following a trend line as to why we have that number in there, and Mayor Edelcup said that is correct. Mayor Ede1cup noted that there is a salary breakdown that is not part of the budget document but is a separate document and those numbers tie to these budgets, and City Manager Szerlag said yes but that they also have some corrections in that as well, and handed out the updated document that shows 3.5% for full time positions, it didn't include the part-time and intermittent positions. He said attached to it is the Police Department 5.6% step increase at the very end of the document. Mayor Edelcup said we should have the complete package including the part-time and intermittent positions. Mayor Ede1cup noted what is in the City Manager and City Attorney's budgets is basically a reflection of their contracts and what we need to consider at the Commission level is to keep your contracts. He said what he is suggesting to the Commission is the contracts were written both for the City Attorney Ottinot and City Manager Szerlag that specify their annual increases, and he would like to propose a bonus for the two individuals for the year that just ended that would be paid at the beginning of next year so that it is in the budget and since City Attorney Ottinot has been on board for more than a year and City Manager Szerlag has been on board for half a year he is suggesting to give City Attorney Ottinot a $10,000.00 bonus and City Manager Szerlag a $5,000.00 bonus. Commissioner Thaler moved and Vice Mayor Brezin seconded a motion to approve the above bonuses, and it was approved by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 4 Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting September 14,2006 First Budget Hearing Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Mayor Edelcup asked in Budget 515 for the Building Department if this has the $200,000 for Engineers and this would not include the Engineering Department and City Manager Szerlag said correct that this is essentially Planning Consultants and that this is a topic for a study session or discussion item after a Commission Meeting but he would like to start looking at the possibility of Construction Managers for some facility projects that are in existence and coming on line. He said it is hard to justify what you are going to save with the Construction Manager but more often then not the outlay that you give for that management expertise in running a project day-to-day results in what you don't see. He said you don't see a lot of change orders, you don't see a lot of problems that you have to solve in a crisis format as you are under construction. Mayor Ede1cup said on a budgetary process if we are not able to hire the engineer for the Engineering Department, is this number sufficient to cover the actual costs of doing whatever would have to be done and conversely if we did have to hire the engineer would this drop, in other words we have $200,000 provided for here and we have another $200,000 provided for in the Department for a total of$400,000, are we going to spend $400,000 either way. City Manager Szerlag said yes and no, yes meaning that there is enough money in there if we don't hire a City Engineer. He said one thing he is going to be doing, and he already spoke to Calvin Giordano, is that he has a great discomfort of the current practice of signing work orders for $9,900 because $10,000 is his limit. He said he would rather just come to the Commission one time and say okay you have $200,000 for Calvin Giordano, if we need more money I will come back. He said he refused to sign any orders like that up to this point as he waited primarily for Doug Haag to come on line. He said between Doug Haag, Assistant City Manager Vera, Finance Director Watson and himself to examine all the invoices and then settle up with what has already been done in the past and then come fresh with what we think it will take for the year. He said the other side of that question is that if we hire an Engineer, chances are for that person to come up to speed he will be having a lot of conversations and calling on our consultants the first year, maybe the first two years, so he wouldn't really expect to see a great reduction in that line item. He said the third issue on this item is that this is primarily for general Engineering and Planning Consultant services. He said when we have something specific like the Sunny Isles Boulevard Project and if we hire Calvin Giordano to engineer that project, that is a separate agreement with them for that specific Capital Project. Mayor Ede1cup said one ofthe things he has been thinking about was to consider in the future that the City look at the possibility of having a Chief Procurement Officer for the City because right now it is split into so many departments and does not get the kind of in-depth study that should take place in a contracts purchase. City Manager Szerlag said that he and Doug Haag already spoke about centralizing the purchasing function in his office and then to see ifhe has enough time to manage that purchasing function or if there would be a need for a Procurement Officer but first to see if Doug Haag could do it with his existing staff between him and Finance Director Watson, Assistant Finance Director Linda Dosal, Accounts Clerk Iveta Rietschel, and Administrative Assistant Anice Paul, but to definitely centralize it. Mayor Edelcup said it also makes it easier on the Department that needs the product that it may sometimes not have the ability to bargain as toughly as a Procurement Officer or Purchasing Agent can do. Doug Haas said that we have had discussions along those lines as far as there is definitely a need, our initial thought would be to try and take an approach whereby we could 5 Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting September 14,2006 First Budget Hearing Sunny Isles Beach, Florida utilize existing staff in the Finance Department, that would be the first step, we are not sure if that would be the most effective. He said ifthat does not work or get us what we want, at that point we would come back with a recommendation for probably another reorganization including at that point a Procurement Officer. He said part of that process would be reevaluating and revamping some of the policies and procedures to achieve a centralized purchasing policy. Commissioner Thaler said that he should also have someone follow up to make sure the items get here relatively on time. Mayor Edelcup noted that the biggest change in Human Resources Budget is the incorporation of the Insurance where before it was in Administration. City Manager Szerlag said that they have consolidated all insurance under HR. City Manager Szerlag said he wanted to consolidate it to see what the cost would be and then take a look at possible alternatives and there are several: one is to take a look at our deductible for property casualty to see if we should raise the deductible on a per occurrence basis, and purchase what is called an aggregate stop loss so that even if you may have a high deductible you can't pay more then x number of dollars in a given year for a catastrophic loss that may be one example that we might want to do to take a look at reducing our insurance costs. He said when you concentrate in one area, the person responsible for it has a better hands-on experience, has a better sense of the magnitude of that particular item and hopefully becomes more expert in that area which would in turn instill more creativity in seeing how we could possibly reduce further costs. Mayor Edelcup asked on the Sunny Isles Beach Sun Newspaper what is the City's cost ofthat annually, and what line item is that on. Administrative Services Director Alyce Hanson said $750 per newspaper, and there are usually 23 or 24 newspapers every year. Mayor Edelcup noted then that it is roughly $18,000 a year, and Ms. Hanson said the line item would be either in Public Relations, Promotions, or Printing a Newsletter. Commissioner Thaler asked how many newspapers every other week are we supposed to get, and Ms. Hanson said that they print 9,000 newspapers. Commissioner Thaler asked ifthey were all delivered in Sunny Isles Beach, and Ms. Hanson said to her knowledge, yes. Commissioner Thaler said either we need more or they are not getting to the right place because we are getting more and more complaints that buildings and areas are not getting them, so there is something wrong with the distribution system. Mayor Edelcup said we need to look into that, because they are suppose to distribute them to the high-rises and the single-family home neighborhoods, our employee goes around and distributes them to the individual homes. Commissioner Thaler said there is one area that does not get a newspaper at all, Golden Gate was here yesterday and claimed they have not seen a newspaper. Ms. Hanson said the community newspaper does deliver to the Golden Gate Guardhouse and then what they do with it from there she does not know because we can't get in there. She said the City hires a part-time person to deliver the newspaper to all the single-family homes in Atlantic Isle, Golden Shores, and Poinciana, and all the other newspapers are delivered by Community Newspapers to the high-rises, newsstands, and restaurants. Mayor Edelcup said that he would like Ms. Hanson to convey to the publisher of the newspaper concerns of the coverage of our meetings. He said for the past year they have not sent a reporter here but are availing themselves of using tapes of what has taken place and transcribing them for their articles, and he would prefer that the majority of times that if they are going to report on the meetings, as the Miami Herald is here, that it helps to have live reporting because it catches the spirit of the evening sometimes better then just 6 Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting September 14,2006 First Budget Hearing Sunny Isles Beach, Florida hearing a tape of what took place. Commissioner Goodman said he gets feedback that people think that Sunny Isles Beach government is publishing the newspaper and if we had some explanation in the newspaper we can try to educate the people in Sunny Isles Beach that the newspaper is a private newspaper and is not operated by the government of Sunny Isles Beach. Ms. Hanson said we do purchase eight pages. Commissioner Goodman said the people don't understand because it is called the Sunny Isles Sun and the reason it came about is when we started to publish the newspaper in Russian and he has had a lot of comments on that. Commissioner Thaler said we should put a disclaimer on that one, and Mayor Edelcup said that Ms. Hanson could write an article once a year stating the arrangement the City has with the newspaper and that way our new residents would read the article. Vice Mayor Brezin said for those who contacted her said that they have no access to the paper, and she suggested to them that there was a distribution through their gatehouse and if something was happening there to these papers and when they are delivered they are gone right away even in the condominiums. She said these people are out and about having lunch and we also distribute to the restaurants but she has never seen one there. Ms. Hanson said they are in the newspaper stands. Commissioner Thaler said he did see Mr. Palmer today and he acknowledged that he is having a distribution problem within Sunny Isles Beach. Mayor Edelcup said whatever comments we have made for this we should emulate them also for Sergio's booklet that he puts out because he is not sure how that distribution gets around and how many copies there are. He would like Ms. Hanson to inform the Commission on how that works. Ms. Hanson said we don't control it but we will find out how it is distributed. Mayor Edelcup said that we are paying a portion ofthe printing of those and we should probably know how that money is being spent. Mayor Ede1cup said regarding the Police Department that there has been an area in the County that have made some comments as to off-duty employment and how it gets into pension calculations and he would like this Commission to be apprised of what the arrangements are in our City because there has been some controversy at the County level as it related to John Rivera's compensation and how that affected his retirement benefits. He said he would like the Commission to know how that formula works in our City as it relates to the extra work that the Police do because he suspects that we don't recover from the mutual parties who employ our Police, the ongoing costs ofthe retirement benefits, we may get their current costs but he is sure they are not making annual contributions to retirement plans and we need to know what the ramification ofthat is as it relates to the City. Police Chief Fred Maas said that the City does not pay that. He said they charge the vendor who is hiring the officer an administrative fee, it is 1/3 in addition to what the cost is for the officer and that 1/3 that they pay in addition to the officer's salary is for insurance, retirement, and it is for administrative fees. He said the retirement that is calculated is State law, and they have made the adjustments every year, if it goes up, we go up, he sits down with the Finance Director to ensure the fee percentage is appropriate to what the increased costs are. Commissioner Goodman clarified that the vendor pays the City and the City pays the Police Officer, and Chief Maas said that was correct. Commissioner Thaler said then that the pay, not the 1/3, goes into the officer's retirement, and Chief Maas said yes, it is State law. Commissioner Thaler inquired about the sheet that was handed out on the Director of Community Development, in terms of salary, and City Manager Szerlag said he was going to 7 Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting September 14,2006 First Budget Hearing Sunny Isles Beach, Florida rely on the Mercer Group, if the Commission agrees to utilize them, to slot this position so they may come up with a different rate for approval of that position because of the increase of responsibilities. Mayor Ede1cup asked that Code Enforcement walk the City almost everyday in their districts because he feels the only way you can see violations is by actually walking the City, not driving it. Public Speakers: Raanan Katz Mayor Ede1cup noted in the Public Works Budget included a new line item, $250,000 for hurricane preparedness, and City Manager Szerlag stated he hopes that the money does nothing but accumulate interest income. Mayor Ede1cup asked ifhe was proposing ifthere is any money left over be created in a hurricane fund that would basically accumulate, City Manager Szerlag said that it would stay at $250,000 each year. Mayor Edelcup noted that we have always had the un-appropriated surplus and that is really free funds and that is our emergency day-to-day fund and we have $8 Million in there right now, and so if the hurricane fund was not enough, we would be dipping into that surplus fund. Mayor Edelcup said because the City has been very fortunate that our revenues have generally exceeded our expenditures so that $8 Million has become available not only for emergencies but also for some Capital Improvements. Commissioner Thaler asked about the utilities, and City Manager Szerlag said the utilities have been consolidated in Public Works. Doug Haag said we have consolidated line items into those departments who would have the ultimate responsibility from the financial aspect. City Manager Szerlag said that staff can also give us a delineation to indicate any variance on our trend line of over $25,000, anything we consolidated will indicate what percent increase we used. Mayor Edelcup asked regarding IT where records management shifted to as he knows that is the project that was suspended and he asked if this year's budget incorporates something with records retention/management. IT Director Derrick Arias said per City Manager's direction that project has been suspended, the plan is to reevaluate that as we progress throughout the upcoming fiscal year, if it looks like we are going to have spare money then we will reinstate portions of that project. Mayor Edelcup said there has to be a way to take paper documents and recording it in some more efficient format and the longer we wait the harder that job is going to be. He said he hopes that for the succeeding year's budget that we have a solution to that problem one that is more cost effective then the original solution that we were looking at. City Manager Szerlag asked Cultural and Human Services Director Susan Simpson where we are on the parking for the Master Meters in the other parks. Ms. Simpson said the parking meters should be in by the end of October, and City Manager Szerlag said there would no longer be a need for an attendant. Commissioner Thaler asked if we are getting all the meters at the same time, and Ms. Simpson said no, that we will get the first one at Pier Park by the end of this month but we are looking at the first week in October before it is fully operational, and the others will be installed by the end of October. She said that we have a contractual obligation to give them 30-days notice before we terminate their contract, and she will be working with the City Attorney on this. 8 Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting September 14,2006 First Budget Hearing Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Commissioner Thaler asked if we are planning on using the Active Park for any events going forward, and Ms. Simpson said yes when it is open, and it won't be ready for Summer Camp next year, but the projected date for the absolute earliest for the first portion of it is due in phases, the first phase is at the end of July, and our Summer Camp begins in June. Mayor Edelcup asked why we are spending additional dollars to rent space when we have the 192nd Street property that has a 5,000 - 6,000 square foot building on it. City Manager Szerlag said they would sit down and look at that and have either a justification or a recalibration by the final budget session. Commissioner Thaler said he had heard that one ofthe departments was going to use that building. Ms. Simpson said at the time the budget was prepared we still do not know what we are going to do with that space or how we can use it so she would rather budget for the rental and not have to use it then to need it and not have it. Vice Mayor Brezin asked what is the rental cost for our Summer Camp where we are using the St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church facility, and Ms. Simpson said it is $5,000 for each facility (2). Ms. Simpson said that holiday lights are included in the rental item, and Mayor Edelcup said that should be moved to equipment. He said the general philosophy would be let's not spend the money if we have the space sitting around the City some place. Mayor Edelcup said he would like the programs to be balanced between youth and adults. Ms. Simpson we have the space issue, when the community center is completed we will have more opportunity for that perhaps the use of 19200 Collins A venue, the meeting room is quite full, so we are limited to what we can do. Commissioner Goodman moved and Commissioner Thaler seconded a motion to approve the proposed ordinance on first reading with the recommended minor changes to the Operating and Capital Budget. The motion was approved by a roll call vote of 5-0 in favor. Second reading, public hearing will be held on Thursday, September 28,2006, at 6:30 p.m. Vote: Commissioner Goodman Commissioner Iglesias Commissioner Thaler Vice Mayor Brezin Mayor Edelcup 4. ADJOURNMENT yes yes yes m yes 11~yor Edelcup adjourned the meeting at 8:20 p.m. . ,.. . . \i W ~. -. . ,Respeci,tl1,lly' subl!litted by: :-QaJkL '". JaneA. Hines, CMG, City Clerk I " : '".1 ( j' ./",- r .'... . f"' . " . ~ " .. '" .~.I' 9