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   Review of Proposed Departmental Budgets for FY22-23

   discussed

   Council reviewed proposed FY22-23 departmental budgets covering streetlights, facility maintenance, custodial services, grounds maintenance, and stormwater utility. Discussion included staffing vacancies and wages, trash pickup contract strategy, Sims Park sod/grounds upkeep, EV charging station software costs, stormwater drainage issues at Sims Park concert circle and Central/Madison, and potential partnerships with Pasco County on stormwater service areas including the Meadows and Sunnybrook.

   📍Central and Madison📍City Hall📍Francis Avenue Park📍Gray Preserve📍Green Key Road📍Russ Park📍Sims Park📍Sunnybrook📍US Highway 19📍West Main Street📍the Meadows🏢ChargePoint🏢DEP👤Alvin👤Barrett👤Fasano👤John Kane👤Robert#Bradenton trash pickup ordinance reference#CDS units (stormwater)#CRA#DRC process#NPDES permit cycle five#Penny for Pasco#resiliency office concept#vulnerability assessment

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   [00:00:00] street lights for communities or neighborhoods that are outside the city [00:00:04] limits. It is kind of misleading because it does go towards the increase of the [00:00:10] division but at the end the city does bill the residents that live in [00:00:16] those neighborhoods for those charges so the division does get that money back or [00:00:22] the money goes back into the general fund. And then so if we go to line item [00:00:28] seven trash removal neighborhood cleanups have increased. Water and sewer [00:00:34] that's increased for a couple reasons we have we started looking into doing some [00:00:40] housekeeping changing out different meters that we have at facilities as [00:00:44] well as taking and looking at the different construction meters that we [00:00:48] have that go from a hydrant to hydrant and a lot of those would get moved and [00:00:53] documented so we have figured out a way to manage it more precisely to where [00:00:59] each one of our projects will get billed out of each line item for each division. [00:01:08] Miss Manns and Delta Shant, one of the suggestions for improving the value of [00:01:22] properties is to have trees and so we may have some neighborhoods if the [00:01:29] environmental committee likes the idea of trying to start getting some trees [00:01:34] planted in some of the residential areas as well so that number may have to go up [00:01:39] a little bit if not this year next. Okay and you can see it did go up and that's [00:01:44] mainly because of US Highway 19 that's another misleading item there while the [00:01:49] trees are more expensive to replace we've been averaging about 80-90% as far [00:01:55] as being able to bill the people that that have hit those through the [00:01:58] insurance companies so we do get most of that money back. [00:02:04] Mayor, you're talking about these maybe is it not a bad idea after each department to be able to have a [00:02:11] comment or two? I have a couple, one on the salaries and wages your estimate is [00:02:21] only $206,000 but your amended budget is $259,000 so I'm guessing that because you're [00:02:28] down so low you're estimating you're not going to be able to actually complete [00:02:35] your budget for salaries in that area so if you're budgeting for next year to [00:02:41] be able to have the level that you're sitting at does that not give you an [00:02:47] opportunity to try to do some serious recruiting between now and then and [00:02:51] maybe we ought to talk about some of the incentives that everybody's giving to [00:02:55] get workers if we need workers so I just mentioned that room in your budget this [00:03:01] year to bring back in theory some kind of a strategy to get hired up the other [00:03:08] thing is that passed around to the city manager who I'm sure distributed to on [00:03:13] these trash pickup which I see the grinding is in here this is not got the [00:03:18] trash pickup service in it or it does so in that proposed ordinance that was in [00:03:27] Bradenton there was a revenue item for those who would want to have a large [00:03:33] pile picked up so it was trash cans to keep regular daily raking or just your [00:03:44] normal weekend throwing some clippings or something into to be able to put out [00:03:48] to be collected and grinded still but not in a this issue we've been having [00:03:56] with these piles on the piles in Bradenton they had the same problem I [00:04:00] brought that I hope my colleagues have looked at that but there was an actual [00:04:04] fee it minimal that said you know call us and we'll come and get it so at least [00:04:10] we could be compensating the staff that we don't have if we got them to do the [00:04:15] job and eliminate the concern of the communities like the briar patch or [00:04:21] others that really don't use it and for the for the house that I saw that must [00:04:28] have had a whole giant trailer full of pom-pom trees there would be a charge [00:04:33] for that minimal as it would be and it's still a great service to be able to say [00:04:37] you know put it there in the pile and let us know so and I've just suggested [00:04:44] maybe some revenue and addressing the issue you brought up mr. Peter so you [00:04:49] know that to kind of follow up on that that there's some consideration of you [00:04:58] know I think we've been be looking at our haulers contracts towards the end of [00:05:04] this year right yeah actually just to update you thank you Robert looks like [00:05:13] you're prepared to step in since I'm fumbling but we are planning a work [00:05:16] session for you at which time we're planning to discuss that with you and [00:05:20] plan a strategy to go forward in relationship to eliminating the number [00:05:26] of haulers that we have yes well and then and also then what the haulers are [00:05:30] going to be contracted to do that perhaps if there is a more awareness [00:05:37] that they can also pick up the trash debris it might put less of a burden on [00:05:43] the city's expenditures and in cost I don't know how much that budget wise [00:05:50] would would come into play so that was you know one idea that I'm still or one [00:05:56] one thought that I have that might affect that to some degree and part two [00:06:03] that is you know and I guess this is part of what [00:06:09] Alvin was was referring to as far as you're down five plus five or six [00:06:15] people we've got open positions so it is a budget show that we're going to have [00:06:21] those filled for next year we're proposing to have okay that's right now [00:06:34] you've been kind of spreading people around to get some things done and I'm [00:06:39] not sure what what there's something that's suffering I can't I don't know [00:06:44] what it is but you might refer by being down that many folks what were you know [00:06:51] how we're managing without them because we are probably suffering to some [00:06:57] degrees stretched right and perhaps one of the challenges that I should have [00:07:02] mentioned is that we're not paying wages high enough and that's one of the [00:07:07] objectives that we need to talk about when we get to that part of the budget [00:07:11] discussions but each vacant position that you see in here funds have been [00:07:19] allocated for so if we do find a qualified applicant we're able to bring [00:07:25] them on immediately or to your point if we hired four of them at a higher pay we [00:07:32] might fill up the department if you could get away with it and or find some [00:07:37] revenue to help to offset those extra costs [00:07:46] so our next division is the facility maintenance that has six full-time [00:07:52] employees and one part-time employee and this division is full a couple of the [00:08:00] accomplishments were the US Highway 19 LED streetlight conversion that's been [00:08:06] completed in the escape board park equipment upgrade staff was able to do [00:08:11] that in-house next year we're looking at the HVAC system here at City Hall and [00:08:17] the control upgrades and then we're also wanting to be able to do some upgrades [00:08:22] with our emergency standby generator to where we would be able to power City [00:08:29] Hall if if something was to happen [00:08:39] see if we can find a grant like the one we found for the library to put solar up [00:08:44] there on the roof [00:08:46] so maybe we can find some grant funds to get somebody else to pay for it for us [00:09:02] so there were no divisional capital requests custodial services we did have [00:09:11] an increase in that and that's we're adding PD quarterly cleaning typically [00:09:16] what we do with our janitors they not only do they take and clean the [00:09:21] different facilities that they're at but they're also doing different types of [00:09:24] maintenance tasks as well and so what we have found out is if we can bring in a [00:09:30] cleaning service quarterly they're able to do some really detailed cleaning of [00:09:36] some of the restrooms and things like that to where our janitors our [00:09:41] maintenance workers can can maintain them at that level trash removal was [00:09:47] increased as you can see and again we had water and sewer and fuel janitorial [00:09:54] supplies you'll see that a lot now that's we ended up getting a letter from [00:09:58] our supplier we ended up having our purchase agent go out and start making [00:10:04] phone calls to other cities to other vendors to find out if the price [00:10:10] increases were within range of the industry and they they are this division [00:10:15] was increased by two point one four percent [00:10:23] there any questions this is our grounds maintenance this is the guys that do the [00:10:34] maintenance for the parks and a lot of the different right-of-ways that we have [00:10:39] there's 11 full-time employees five of those positions are vacant they did do [00:10:47] some work over at the Gray Preserve and did some replacing of the wooden slats [00:10:51] wasn't just a couple it was quite a few upgraded the playground equipment at [00:10:56] Francis Avenue Park this year we're hoping to do the installation at Russ [00:11:02] Park we've managed to restore store that and remove the old equipment and [00:11:08] everything else so we're doing a lot of in-house work with that yes sir and [00:11:15] then we're hoping to complete the sanitary sewer system upgrades at Sims [00:11:19] Park with that lift a little package station that we have in there we're no [00:11:26] divisional capital requests for this of course you can see where a lot of these [00:11:34] line items up here that have been increased are similar to the ones that [00:11:38] we've had in other divisions chemicals as you as you are aware we brought [00:11:44] chemicals to you a few weeks back at a council meeting and those have [00:11:48] skyrocketed sod and seed we've increased Sims Park as an example even when we're [00:11:56] not having a lot of events there's just so much foot traffic there that it's [00:12:00] very difficult to keep that up to a standard that we would like and then [00:12:07] you'll see that the dues and memberships that's directly related to our EV [00:12:12] stations for the software annual payments and that division had a six [00:12:18] point three two percent increase so I see how many charging stations do we [00:12:25] have I want to say five or six correct locations but some of those are the dual [00:12:33] ports so like the one here we count as two so that's that's it that's just a [00:12:38] software charge so I just try to relate that software charge per station we have [00:12:43] the new ones at the parking parking structure right okay 18 right and that [00:12:52] would be considering that each one is a dual port because I left out the parking [00:12:57] structure right so yeah is the software is it is it based upon the number or the [00:13:03] fact we just have a system you seem like a software would run you know we get a [00:13:06] license we run X number of the charge point is based on the number I since per [00:13:17] the question about the Sims Park and there's our sod and seed and you know we [00:13:24] always you know it's it is a focal point of the city and is used by thousands [00:13:33] right so just curious do we have a system set up you know in my mind I'm [00:13:38] thinking kind of like our road system that we periodically go in and rehab [00:13:42] certain sections on a rotating basis to try to keep that obviously something [00:13:48] happens now we got a pothole we got to fix that right you know we got a worn [00:13:51] area and so forth we got to do that as as it comes up but do we have a you know [00:13:55] constant like sometimes there's some areas that looks nice and green but it's [00:13:59] not really grass anymore it's something else and I don't know if we have a [00:14:03] system to go in and there we saw that on a on a rotating basis or something we do [00:14:09] and that was one of the reasons why we've increased the budget because we're [00:14:13] reacting instead of being proactive now that we've opened everything back up and [00:14:18] we're starting to have the events the original budget numbers that we had in [00:14:22] there for a few years back was basically for the inside area and to keep that [00:14:28] nice and then we would spread out to the other ones and and so we're not able to [00:14:34] keep up with that so that's what this increase is for is to be able to go and [00:14:39] hit those different spots that you're talking about you can have spots and I [00:14:45] don't know if it's underground maintenance or drainage but I took a [00:14:49] picture I can't pull it up but the ponding that occurs in our beautiful [00:14:55] Sims Park with all the great new landscaping that's there next to the [00:14:58] house the end of that really looks [00:15:00] Incredible. But the ponding right there at the circle coming in off of Main Street, when you get down there, and here's the circle, and it's like total flood, and there is a, there's a drain there, but it's higher than the water level apparently, so. [00:15:20] Are you talking about it? [00:15:22] The big circle. [00:15:24] Oh, the concert circle. [00:15:26] The concert circle right toward Main, when you walk in off of Main Street, if you've had a good rainstorm, it's going to get your feet wet. [00:15:36] We'll take a look at it. It could be, because we did have it, we did have it fixed. [00:15:42] Yeah, it was an issue once before, but it's bad now again. [00:15:47] So that would be maintenance, I guess, so your grounds maintenance would do those kind of things. [00:15:51] Yes, sir. [00:15:52] It doesn't come under stormwater. [00:16:03] So our next division is the stormwater utility. [00:16:07] It has six full-time employees. [00:16:10] It has one vacant position. [00:16:13] We did complete our cycle five NPDES permit approval with DEP. [00:16:20] That is directly related to our stormwater flooding and water quality items that we have to maintain. [00:16:28] We did surpass the minimum facility inspection frequencies as required in that permit. [00:16:35] Our incentives for next year is to tag and stencil catch basins. [00:16:40] Not only do we take and we stencil with water quality outreach items on that, we also take and tag. [00:16:52] On the tag, we'll go ahead and identify the type of pipe, the size of pipe, as well as the direction of flow, [00:17:00] to where if we have maintenance workers out there, they're not pulling out their atlases and taking a look or anything like that. [00:17:08] They can go ahead and start figuring out and seeing where maybe some of the possible blockages and different problems are. [00:17:15] Screens in line or at each of the individual? [00:17:21] We have what we call baskets in the downtown areas that can go ahead and collect a lot of the debris with the inlets that we do. [00:17:32] We'll have retention ponds with skimmers. [00:17:35] If there's not a basket or screen at the inlet, then those outfalls go into a retention pond [00:17:45] where you have your skimmers that can do some type of pretreatment. [00:17:49] Then we have three CDS units that we have that will take and collect that whole basin area and separates the debris before it goes out. [00:18:00] So if a plastic cup or something gets swept in, it gets caught before it gets... [00:18:04] Correct. That'll get caught in the CDS unit. It's like the main filter. [00:18:08] Or the skimmer in the ponds. [00:18:11] As an aside, John Kane had mentioned last Tuesday that he had concerns about the flooding right there at Central and Madison. [00:18:23] I did note the other day it was pretty full, but there's one of your protective dufavis guarding the drains so that construction crap doesn't roll down the storm drain. [00:18:38] Speaking of that, that new project that's going in there on the corner, are we doing anything else to amp or upgrade the drainage there with that new townhouse? [00:18:50] We're reviewing the plans currently to make sure that the elevations are appropriate, and then we'll determine if any additional work is required. [00:19:00] Yeah, if it seems like it's filling up water there now and then we're adding something else there, taking away that area where it could sit before. [00:19:07] There's the drain right on the corner, but like I say, it's blocked right now to protect it from the construction. [00:19:15] Anytime you have a construction project, you have to have your silt fencing, and if there's any inlets that are close to it where water can flow down, [00:19:24] you have to have what they call socks that get put in front of the inlets to keep that debris from going in there. [00:19:30] Then during the DRC process, the engineer does take a look at the stormwater calculations to verify that the developer's engineer has calculated it right [00:19:43] to where he's keeping all of his impervious surface that he's created, that extra water, on the site. [00:19:53] Yeah, that's more like, I guess, after it's built versus before. [00:19:57] Because now you've got that whole big lot there where the water can sit and soak in. [00:20:02] We did want to review it though a second time. [00:20:04] We are taking a look at it, correct. [00:20:06] Thank you. [00:20:07] I hope you have one. [00:20:08] Go ahead. [00:20:09] No, go ahead. [00:20:11] This is something I brought up four years ago, which is a statutory right for us to appeal to the county for a discussion on stormwater and our service area. [00:20:23] We remember Fasano trying to get us to work on the Green Key Road and somebody that was not in the city limits. [00:20:32] And so I brought an ordinance, a resolution, which is required, which then gives the county a certain amount of time, 60 to 90 days, [00:20:43] and says we want to sit down and talk about it. [00:20:46] Because resiliency is such a big issue now, and the county and the city are doing these vulnerability studies, [00:20:53] it's the perfect time for us to talk about, I think, some joint projects. [00:20:57] And potentially, if you've got the staff to do these maintenances and they're within the circle of our service area, [00:21:07] then those dollars that are paid into the county stormwater assessment, [00:21:12] we could have an agreement that they would give us that money back that's collected by the county residents. [00:21:18] So we don't have to annex everybody in. [00:21:20] If they call it a service area, then it's ours and those funds play back to us. [00:21:26] That will be a recurring theme as we talk about recreation facilities and other things, [00:21:32] as I heard some encouraging news from the city manager of discussions with the county and working together with them. [00:21:41] And I think there's some potential there, again, to look at the revenue side, [00:21:49] going to your original speech about our situation, to get a little bit more fairness in the way in which we deal with those. [00:22:00] The other stormwater project that I want to touch on is in the meadows. [00:22:08] And the meadows has the big pond in the middle owned by only the people who live around it. [00:22:14] It's a large pond, and it does – and the county put it under the road connection back to our other community, [00:22:24] which is the condominium community of – help me, names escape me. [00:22:29] Sunnybrook. [00:22:30] Sunnybrook. [00:22:31] And so behind Sunnybrook is another retention – another drainage ditch, which I think the county has finally cleaned up. [00:22:40] I ended up having a conversation with Barrett about this a few months back during the election time [00:22:47] because those people in Sunnybrook were complaining about it. [00:22:50] Point being, the county had informed you that they'd had a long-time search. [00:22:55] But stormwater is a basin, and our city and our county are sharing one thing, [00:23:04] which is all that water ends up in the river. [00:23:07] And then there's the third party, which is the private party of the folks in Sunnybrook [00:23:11] who have in the past complained about erosion and leading over towards our dog park [00:23:17] where that water comes across under the road and out into the river. [00:23:22] So I'm going to be very interested when the vulnerability assessment comes back [00:23:28] because stormwater has taken on a whole new meaning from what it has, [00:23:32] and that leads me to this discussion to see that your supervisor of your six full-time employees [00:23:40] is listed as streets and stormwater, streets and drainage, [00:23:45] I guess because stormwater comes off your streets in a large way. [00:23:50] Right. [00:23:51] I don't know if they're part of streets division or not, [00:23:54] but so many cities are having now resiliency office, a resiliency position. [00:24:03] And it doesn't demand a department. [00:24:07] They're more like the CRA. [00:24:12] They have their own little small staff, but they rely on the rest of the city. [00:24:18] So they're kind of the folks to make sure that any capital project [00:24:22] or maybe in the planning department or maybe in your infrastructure and your hardening, [00:24:28] that really helps to go after that. [00:24:31] So we got that great grant that we have for a new project hopefully out here, [00:24:36] and it's just a big thing that I'm involved in, so that's why I'm advocating it. [00:24:43] But I think stormwater is taking on a whole new meaning, [00:24:47] and it's not just managing the water off our streets anymore. [00:24:51] It's managing the threats that are coming in through heavy storms. [00:24:56] And I think that cooperation with the county on a project, [00:24:59] where they could use some penny for PASCO money or whatever as they come up, [00:25:02] that could help us to allow those river rising in our city to have a channel to get out [00:25:10] or do maybe even on a larger scale what we do in Orange Lake, [00:25:14] which is put a weir, stop it, take advantage of low tide. [00:25:20] And I think we should look at Sunnybrook, I mean at the Meadows, [00:25:25] and consider that they pay stormwater fees, and I know it's private, [00:25:29] but they may be very happy, even though we might not want it, [00:25:33] but it might be worthwhile for us to incorporate that [00:25:37] or see if the county wants to incorporate it in some way, [00:25:40] because it creates erosion, you have to go after them. [00:25:44] It's only the homeowners that live around the lake, [00:25:47] so it's not like there's a homeowners association that pay the cost of it, [00:25:50] and when something goes wrong, they bellyache real loud and want us to take care of it. [00:25:56] So thanks for something maybe you could, not today, [00:26:01] but think about as you proceed with this division. [00:26:08] You mentioned partnership with the county and working some stormwater issues. [00:26:13] We've had several times, more than one meeting I know, [00:26:16] we've had residents that are really county residents, [00:26:18] they're a little bit north of the Green Key Road area. [00:26:21] There's some horrible stormwater issues back there that I think are on county streets, [00:26:25] but there is some connection to the city or within the side of the city there, [00:26:32] so that might be an area. [00:26:33] I think there's already been, and it's going to be at least at one point in time, [00:26:37] some discussion about with the county where is there any way that they can, [00:26:45] if they're going to do something, how it's going to impact us or vice versa. [00:26:48] So I don't know if there's made any progress on that. [00:26:53] They haven't reached out to us yet. [00:26:55] The only thing that I know of that we've had discussions with, [00:26:58] as far as that goes, is along Green Key Road and along West Main Street, [00:27:04] both of the agencies working together. [00:27:07] May I recall, I know that one county commissioner was talking about green street signs [00:27:15] and white street signs and all that. [00:27:19] It might be worth bringing the new county administrator up to speed [00:27:25] just as part of this is one of the ongoing things we've had discussions on [00:27:30] so that he's aware of it. [00:27:33] And I realize that some of these things we're talking about, [00:27:35] maybe we need to stick to the budget, right, because these are some other policy things, [00:27:40] but some of these things could eventually affect the budget in what we do. [00:27:45] Very much so. [00:27:47] It was former council member Jeff Starkey who suggested when I brought up this service area agreement [00:27:53] that he wanted us to play nice with the county, so go figure. [00:27:57] But we need to not think of it as an angry we're mad at you, [00:28:04] but just you say, hey, there's this provision in the law, can we all sit together, [00:28:09] and maybe something can actually come out of it because waiting for one side or the other to move doesn't happen. [00:28:15] Sometimes without getting the elected bodies together. [00:28:20] The county has been out there, though, doing on a small scale some work. [00:28:24] They've been digging out some of their swales and ditches. [00:28:27] So I am aware that they have been out there. [00:28:29] Nothing on the grand scheme of things, but they are doing some maintenance out there. [00:28:34] I'd be glad to introduce it as a topic at my first meeting. [00:28:38] Yeah, I think that would be the way to do it rather than formally hit him with you've got to respond. [00:28:44] Well, we had that story. [00:28:45] Respond in 60 days, but we've got the opportunity for a good relationship with this new guy. [00:28:51] Let's give him a shot. [00:28:52] Well, it didn't happen four years ago, and if it doesn't happen, then I'm going to keep bringing it up. [00:28:57] I understand, but let's give the guy a chance to start addressing it just on an informal basis. [00:29:06] So you're not in favor of trying to pursue a service area agreement, or do we just talk about it? [00:29:11] We ultimately go to a service area agreement, [00:29:14] but I think the initial approach should not be to send the guy a letter saying we want the service area agreement. [00:29:21] I think the initial approach should be, since Debbie is going to be sitting down with him anyway, [00:29:26] to say here we've got a potential area where we can do some cooperation and we can do it informally. [00:29:33] We can put together some sort of service agreement, whatever works to make it happen so we address the issue. [00:29:41] So I think we get to the same place. [00:29:48] Well, you remember that comment four years ago. [00:29:51] Yes, and I am cautiously optimistic that we've got an opportunity here. [00:30:00] So, capital in the stormwater utility, we have $710,000 budgeted. [00:30:10] You have $100,000 of that goes towards reactive projects. [00:30:15] In other words, if we end up having some flooding issues where we've got to get a pond dredged [00:30:20] out or a canal, that type of thing, we'll use those funds to be able to get the project [00:30:27] done. [00:30:28] Of course, we come to you and ask for approval of it. [00:30:31] And then the other $610,000 is scheduled for the Beach Street drainage project, and we'll [00:30:39] talk detail on that project in our CIP presentation that we'll have, I think, in August, I believe. [00:30:46] And then, of course, we had a special purpose equipment in the amount of $36,000. [00:30:51] We have a slope mower, and right now the attachment that we're looking at basically [00:30:58] is an improved way when we get up in the line of trees and stuff to where we can go ahead [00:31:02] and cut those back in a safe manner. [00:31:07] What's the jump on professional services that went from $15,000 to $195,000? [00:31:12] That is the vulnerability assessment and action plan. [00:31:15] That's exactly what Councilman Altman was just talking about. [00:31:19] We have a grant for that. [00:31:21] The $15,000 is the professional services, or $10,000. [00:31:26] We dropped it down from $15,000, but then the $185,000 is the grant itself. [00:31:33] So while it reflects in the increase of that division, the money will be taken back. [00:31:40] And we are working with the consultant. [00:31:42] We should be bringing you the task order within the next couple meetings, I believe. [00:31:47] Sure. [00:31:48] And then, of course, the other items on here are just standard. [00:31:55] So the next division that we have is water production. [00:31:59] There's five full-time employees, two vacant positions. [00:32:05] We did complete the painting inside and outside of the elevated storage tank, and then replaced [00:32:11] both ammonia bulk storage tanks there on the plant's grounds. [00:32:15] This year, we're hoping to repair and paint ground storage tanks and aerators, and then [00:32:20] begin the work on the booster pumps for the elevated tank. [00:32:26] Capital that's requested, we have R&R for the elevated tank in the city well repairs. [00:32:34] Building improvements other than grounds, we've got $300,000. [00:32:39] You can see there's $10,000 that's miscellaneous equipment repairs, $10,000 standby power equipment [00:32:45] R&R, process equipment R&R of $10,000, and then the main bulk of that is the $300,000 [00:32:52] for the high service pumps. [00:32:53] And that's also going to be in the CIP program that we'll present to you as a project. [00:33:00] Communication equipment, $50,000 for the pump room SCADA. [00:33:04] That'll be the finalization of that new upgrade. [00:33:08] I know that you've seen that a couple years now. [00:33:11] And then our special purpose equipment, we've got quite a few analyzers that need to be [00:33:16] replaced, and then a benchtop, or no, I'm sorry, and then we've got an ammonia feed [00:33:21] line that we need to replace on that. [00:33:25] All water reflects the increase in Tampa Bay water strength. [00:33:29] Correct. [00:33:30] Has the painting of the elevated storage tank, has that been 100% completed now, or I know [00:33:35] it's in this year, right? [00:33:36] It's completed, yes, sir. [00:33:37] You had to bring that up, didn't you? [00:33:40] Because I remember asking about putting our city logo and making it look good up there, [00:33:45] and I see you can read the city, but as I travel the state and you see how frequently [00:33:51] those water tanks are used really to push the brand, maybe, I don't know what our marketing [00:33:57] standpoint is, but it says New Port Richey. [00:34:05] Somebody just south of us did it because it was in the paper. [00:34:10] Yes, some make a big peach out of it, or an orange, or whatever, and we have our, we spent [00:34:15] all that money on our classic Florida current and our logo. [00:34:22] I was hopeful to see that, but maybe the next time it needs painting, we'll actually get [00:34:27] it through the council budget as an artwork or project or a marketing project, because [00:34:32] I'm sure you're being, you know... [00:34:36] It's sensitive to the cost, but it's a big sign is what it is. [00:34:39] I think it may be Safety Harbor just did it. [00:34:42] It was one of the ones down in Pinellas, and the picture I saw in the paper looked nice. [00:34:54] So the next division that we have is the Water and Reclaimed Water Distribution Division. [00:34:59] This has 13 full-time employees, and we have eight vacancies as of today. [00:35:08] We did complete three large bulk meter replacements. [00:35:11] That includes the AMI smart meter technology, and when I, you look at the number and you [00:35:16] say three, these are large meters. [00:35:19] It's just not something that takes 30 minutes to do, so it's good that the guys were able [00:35:26] to do that in-house, and then the same with the 24 connections that we did. [00:35:32] Those were two inch and above, so for the amount of people that the guys have, they [00:35:38] did have a lot to be proud of. [00:35:41] We're hoping to complete the remaining large bulk meter replacements this coming year, [00:35:46] and then we want to be able to replace the 7,400 SR2 residential meters that we have [00:35:53] out there. [00:35:54] They're non-smart ones. [00:35:55] They're scheduled for replacement, so that'll be, once we do that, our whole system will [00:36:01] be smart metered. [00:36:04] And so capital for this is miscellaneous of $15,000. [00:36:09] That's for capital equipment repairs to the large pieces of equipment that we have. [00:36:14] We've got $8,000 for R&R for existing divisional fleet and heavy equipment, $59,000 for R&R. [00:36:24] And so basically what the R&R is, is just money that we're putting in that account to [00:36:29] replace some of those large ticket items. [00:36:32] And so by the time we're ready to purchase or lease purchase, it doesn't impact the division [00:36:39] or the department like it would if you just had to put out $400,000. [00:36:47] Can you tell me, in that reclaimed water distribution, where the cost is that the county has charged [00:36:57] us for, or it's not on this page, it's in the... [00:37:03] That the county's charging us for reclaim? [00:37:06] Or using their pipe to put it back through their pipe? [00:37:08] That's not in this division. [00:37:10] This one is the guys... [00:37:12] These guys are out there working on the pipes and distribution system. [00:37:16] Yeah, they were just working on it a couple of nights ago. [00:37:19] Right, right. [00:37:20] This also would be the department if there was going to be any expansion to reclaim water [00:37:25] distribution, if we're going to expand that area or anything, would that fall in this category? [00:37:32] They would be the ones that would maintain the system that gets put in. [00:37:36] Not initially to... [00:37:37] Not after... [00:37:38] What about the cost of putting it in? [00:37:40] The cost of putting it in would come out of the water and sewer construction fund. [00:37:51] We were able to reduce this division by 6.25. [00:38:03] Any questions on that? [00:38:07] The next division that we have is construction services. [00:38:11] That has four full-time employees and one vacancy. [00:38:17] So we have three. [00:38:18] We have the project manager that oversees the division, and then he has two project [00:38:23] managers. [00:38:24] They did complete 17 capital improvement projects. [00:38:29] Improvements were the library renovation, sewer improvements, and the tennis courts. [00:38:37] Next year we're going to be looking at the Beach Street improvements, Grand Boulevard [00:38:41] multi-use path, the street project, fire station. [00:38:45] Those are all, except for the renovations, the other three projects are all over a million [00:38:51] dollars, so they're very large projects. [00:38:56] There were no divisional capital requests, and we were able to decrease the division [00:39:01] by 2.33%. [00:39:05] Any questions? [00:39:15] The next division that we have is the reclaimed water production, and that's at full staff [00:39:22] with four full-time employees. [00:39:25] This is one of those divisions that we talk about that Pasco County shares in the cost [00:39:30] of operations, and then I do know that, Councilman Altman, you've asked a couple times what [00:39:35] the percentages are going to be now that the county has purchased Lendrick. [00:39:40] New Port Richey would be at 50.7%. [00:39:43] Pasco County would now be obligated to 49.3% of all of those. [00:39:48] All right, so we still have the votes on this one, then? [00:39:53] Correct. [00:39:55] We did 1.9 billion gallons for beneficial reuse and rebuilt, excuse me, three reclaimed [00:40:02] transfer pumps. [00:40:05] We're hoping to install a 30-inch motorized operative valve that's in-house that we're [00:40:11] going to do, and then we want to try to complete the SCADA system upgrades. [00:40:20] Essential for this is a lot of R&R that we have. [00:40:27] We have a chemical pump that we're going to be replacing, samplers, high-service VFDs [00:40:34] on a motor, and then, like I said, the SCADA system softwares. [00:40:42] Looking at the electric charges in this division, and I guess your solar, I don't know if there's [00:40:49] any solar opportunities or any ways to bring that down, but that's 280,000 out there at [00:40:58] the plant. [00:40:59] Mm-hmm. [00:41:00] Wow. [00:41:01] And chemicals increased. [00:41:02] We could use the methane gas a little better. [00:41:07] You can see the chemicals were, there was a huge increase as well. [00:41:11] You don't really have that much spare land out there that you could even put solar on [00:41:17] if you wanted to, do you? [00:41:19] No, sir. [00:41:20] We've got the reject site that's across the bayou, that there's a few acres, but a lot [00:41:25] of that's wetland, and it's a, you know, really unusable. [00:41:28] Probably be more trouble than it was worth trying to do. [00:41:31] It's a shame, because that is a huge number of electricity. [00:41:44] The next division is the water pollution control, and it has 13 full-time employees, one vacancy. [00:41:51] Again, this division as well is supported by Pasco County. [00:41:55] They completed over 3,500 work orders for the year. [00:42:00] They performed all of our lift station communication software upgrades. [00:42:06] Next year we're looking at both of those two items that you see there, the odor control [00:42:10] and the Schreiber blower. [00:42:13] That deals with odor control, so we're looking at, hopefully we can reduce. [00:42:17] We don't get that many complaints. [00:42:18] It depends on what time of year it is, but this will definitely improve that situation. [00:42:25] Capital, a lot of R&R for the building. [00:42:30] We do have $25,000 for a new storage building. [00:42:34] Improvements to the building other than the, I'm sorry, improvements other than the building, [00:42:41] miscellaneous, we've got budgeted $252,000. [00:42:45] That's $20,000 R&R for standby power equipment, $15,000 for capital equipment [00:42:53] repairs, processing equipment R&R $40,000, $177 for a new pump, the blower, [00:43:04] clarifier rake, and a base station, and then an asphalt pad for the truck [00:43:12] that hauls away a lot of the solids. [00:43:15] And then we are having some R&R for the existing divisional fleet. [00:43:21] And then you can see a lot of these items here, especially the items three [00:43:32] through seven are all insurance related. [00:43:36] We do have an increase in our sludge removal. [00:43:39] That's with the new ITB. [00:43:41] Engineering services have increased due to a couple of permits that we need to do [00:43:48] an integrity evaluation. [00:43:50] And then as you're aware, if you go down to number eight, we've got the increases due [00:43:55] to chemicals, and then we have software license support where we're going to be [00:44:02] doing the monitoring, a private firm is going to be monitoring our stuff. [00:44:07] After we had the Oldsmar where they hacked into their system, we did a review, [00:44:15] and now we're going to have a private software company go ahead and monitor our [00:44:19] system and try to eliminate that. [00:44:22] These division increases, our revenue agreement on the water sales, at least on [00:44:31] that end, has that like a 4% increase every year, if I'm not mistaken, in our retail rates? [00:44:35] Correct. [00:44:36] Correct. [00:44:37] So when we look at division increases under 1%, that gives you a little more room [00:44:43] in another division as you're working out keeping our revenue. [00:44:49] Within the utility, yes sir. [00:44:55] So this division is the sewer collections. [00:45:00] We did complete the annual gravity sewer line, oh I'm sorry, we have 11 full-time employees and we have 5 vacancies. [00:45:08] So it goes without saying the sewer collections division and the water distribution division are doing a lot of work together to get everything done. [00:45:19] So we did complete the lining program. [00:45:22] We completed in the SCADA software system upgrades of our lift stations, we've completed 68 of the 72 with that new technology. [00:45:32] Next year we're hoping to finish the completion and install the remaining antennas that we need. [00:45:40] And then we're going to prioritize, so we're going to do a database to where we can prioritize our deficient sewer lines. [00:45:50] Capital, again we have a lot of R&R for this. [00:45:56] Communications equipment is basically what we're proposing to purchase at $70,000 and that's directly related to the Siemens remote server, [00:46:05] that private company that we're talking about. [00:46:08] That server is going to be able to talk to the company. [00:46:14] Operating contractual services, that went up as well as water and sewer. [00:46:22] And so we did have a reduction of 12.82% but that was directly related to the utility master plan that we're working on. [00:46:31] It's spread over two years so of course the last year is going to be less money than what the total cost was. [00:46:39] Are those contractual services for the sewer the same company you use for doing stormwater areas, is it the same company? [00:46:49] A lot of it is. [00:46:50] We have several continuing service agreements with several different types of firms and a lot of the firms are divided up into specialties. [00:46:59] We have utility companies that specialize in utilities. [00:47:04] We'll have some that specialize in road and bridges. [00:47:09] Environmental. [00:47:10] Those types of things, environmental. [00:47:12] And so yes, it's like our toolbox that we have a handful that you're very familiar with. [00:47:18] My comment is a way to reach back to the stormwater, but the firm that does all of your intersections, [00:47:31] and I observed it at Louisiana and Madison where they're running up along the bridge and then around the corners [00:47:40] and keeping those intersections mowed and trimmed back. [00:47:47] When they blow the debris, and a lot of it is trash and things that have fallen in the road so it's not all just flippings, [00:47:58] when they blow the debris they blow it into the jungle of the Amazon that we have there on the bridge there of those vines, [00:48:08] those potato vines, those damn things. [00:48:11] But it gets into the stormwater and so when we have a heavy rain and that debris is getting into the river, [00:48:20] you can see just the... [00:48:22] So sometimes if you're looking at the river you'll see these patches of grass, [00:48:27] could be somebody's lawn flipping or they dumped something over into it. [00:48:32] I don't know what fail-safes we have to try to keep those storm drains from collecting. [00:48:42] When you blow the stuff off of the street and then blow it out of the way to make it look pretty, [00:48:47] it sometimes gets into areas that will go down into the river. [00:48:50] We will give the contractor a call tomorrow. [00:48:52] They're actually supposed to, before they even pull the trailers or the mowers off the trailers, [00:48:56] they're supposed to have guys walking around picking up the trash. [00:49:00] And then when they blow, they're not supposed to be blowing out on the road, [00:49:03] they're supposed to be blowing back on the grass. [00:49:05] So we'll call them up tomorrow and talk with them. [00:49:08] And then of course we have our street sweeper that goes along the streets [00:49:13] and have curbs that helps keep a lot of that trash down as well. [00:49:17] And then you have the higher level baskets and the other things that you're starting to put into place [00:49:22] that are all firemen that live down the way. [00:49:25] I'm a bit grumpy about that sometimes, but those are the resiliency cleaning areas. [00:49:31] And I don't know if you all saw the manatee that had the picture of the manatee eating out of the box [00:49:41] where all that stormwater comes through and then it goes up and over a platform, [00:49:47] I guess a cement platform that's a collection box there at the end. [00:49:53] And I've got to show that video. [00:49:57] It was crazy. [00:49:58] They were eating that vegetation that was growing off the edge of that, [00:50:05] and I was like this far away from them as they were munching on it. [00:50:09] So it's really a cool wildlife feeding opportunity, [00:50:14] so we can really use those boxes if we keep them clean and don't get the junk in them. [00:50:20] They really have potentially some value. [00:50:23] I don't think it's just the contractors that are working for the city that are doing it, [00:50:27] but I suspect that the rule that you're supposed to blow the clippings back onto the grass [00:50:34] as opposed to out into the street is honored more in the breach than the observance [00:50:39] because all the time I'm seeing somebody mowing and the stuff is just going right out in the street. [00:50:48] You're right. [00:50:49] I just happen to be next to that one spot. [00:50:54] So our last division that we have is the fleet division, and it has four full-time employees. [00:51:02] Our major accomplishments that they completed this year was cycle three of the fleet leasing program. [00:51:07] Right now we have 16 EV and hybrid vehicles, [00:51:12] and we've performed two public surplus auctions of in-pound vehicles and city-owned vehicles. [00:51:21] Next year we're hoping to have our upgrades to our existing fuel system, [00:51:26] and because the EVs and hybrid fleet is expected to increase, [00:51:32] we need to do some extensive training with our mechanics. [00:51:37] How is your leasing program going off overall since you've now got three years into this? [00:51:42] We have gotten nothing but compliments from other departments [00:51:48] as far as us being able to deliver a product to them that's acceptable. [00:51:54] I think we've gotten into a process where it's now becoming pretty efficient as far as it goes, [00:52:04] as far as spec'd out the vehicles, what type we want. [00:52:07] The only difficulties that we're really running into right now is the same thing everybody else is running into, [00:52:13] and it's the chips. [00:52:15] But the enterprise is taking good care of us, and there are priorities of who gets what, [00:52:24] and so far they've kept the city up there. [00:52:28] I know in informal discussions with some of Chief Bogart's patrol people [00:52:35] who were concerned a few years ago that if they kept driving the vehicles they were in, [00:52:40] the wheels were going to literally fall off while they were out on patrol. [00:52:44] It is nice to hear that they're being positively received [00:52:49] as we get those really ancient vehicles off the road and get the leased vehicles on. [00:52:59] The only capital request that this division has is a great lathe machine, and that's at $20,000. [00:53:08] Of course, any of the equipment that this division does purchase prior to the new, [00:53:14] if we can build the new building, will all be transferred over. [00:53:22] Of course, the major increase in this division was the fuel increase, and that's resale. [00:53:30] So it's a matter of transferring money back and forth. [00:53:36] They're buying the bulk, and then they're selling it to the different departments. [00:53:43] So we had water and sewer was up. [00:53:51] We went through and took a look at all of our different things that we could start trying to conserve water [00:54:02] and try to identify water loss where we have it. [00:54:06] A lot of our accounts were either not registering [00:54:09] or some of the billing had fallen off in the Tyler transfer, [00:54:12] and so that's why you see some of those numbers as basically a housekeeping issue. [00:54:18] We had computer supplies. [00:54:20] They're requesting a scanner. [00:54:22] That's basically a laptop computer that plugs into the vehicle [00:54:27] and kind of helps them diagnose what the different problems are, and then operating supplies. [00:54:34] This is for outfitting of vehicles. [00:54:37] We are hoping that once we replace all of the vehicles that we have, especially PDs, [00:54:44] then when we start our next cycle go-around, we'll be able to take a lot of that outfitting stuff and reuse it. [00:54:51] You're on a five-year cycle? [00:54:53] Yes, sir. [00:54:55] The scanner software update, that's basically the software to diagnose, right? [00:55:00] It's software to diagnose as well as the whole thing. [00:55:03] Is that a lease or is that a purchase? [00:55:04] That's a purchase, and then you do have a software cost, so it'll be reduced next year. [00:55:11] I was going to say, it's $6,500 for scanner software, so... [00:55:17] We're getting a new scanner. [00:55:19] So it's not just the software. [00:55:22] It's just the device. [00:55:24] Yes, sir. [00:55:26] I see device. [00:55:28] So that division went up 20.16, but of course most of that is fuel-related. [00:55:35] That's it for my presentation, unless you have any more questions. [00:55:42] Just a comment, maybe. [00:55:48] I don't know if we're going to solve that tonight, but the recurring theme as you went through your divisions, Robert, was what? [00:55:54] People. [00:55:55] Open positions, right? [00:55:57] Positions not filled. [00:55:59] And we all know that, you know, to provide the services of the level of expectations that our residents expect [00:56:08] and that we want to provide, you know, we have to have the people. [00:56:12] And I understand we also know, you know, we've done some salary surveys and so forth, [00:56:16] and maybe that's why we can't fill these positions. [00:56:20] But this is, you know, we're going to have to do something there to get at least some of the divisions filled [00:56:28] if we've got to raise prices because it's just going to wear and tear the people there [00:56:32] and it's just going to create more open positions because those people are going to get tired and move on. [00:56:36] We're going to keep asking each individual to do more and more because you've got to shoulder the loads that the positions are not here. [00:56:45] So, I mean, not every division, but the vast majority was, you know, just not one, but four or five or six folks that are open. [00:56:55] So I just know that that spells trouble for us. [00:57:02] I understand that we're trying to budget and so forth, but, you know, if we have to stay within the budget [00:57:09] and get, you know, 75% of those people hired and fill the budget, we still need the people somehow. [00:57:16] That's my thoughts. [00:57:19] Yeah, I would be, would certainly entertain a discussion about generalized changes in our salary structure to get us competitive. [00:57:31] Once we have some numbers so we know what the rest of the revenue side of it is, [00:57:36] it's hard right now to look at your expenses in a vacuum without knowing the income side of the equation. [00:57:44] But I suspect, and it's not just Public Works, but we've got other departments that are having issues trying to recruit staff. [00:57:57] I need to make sure that that's part of the discussion. [00:58:00] And the only reason I didn't initiate it with you this evening is because we don't have revenue figures, [00:58:05] so I'm not prepared to have the discussion with you. [00:58:08] Robert's suffering without question, but he doesn't stand alone. [00:58:13] So we need to have a bigger discussion. [00:58:15] Absolutely. [00:58:16] And I think the Deputy Mayors and I are in agreement on this. [00:58:19] We need to at least entertain that. [00:58:23] Okay, good. [00:58:26] We're all willing to have that discussion as a priority once we know where we are on the revenue side of the equation. [00:58:37] Mr. Mayor, I will go back to a comment that Debbie made at the beginning of the meeting about people working from home [00:58:48] and the change in the way people work. [00:58:50] So as you said, it's not all bad news. [00:58:53] I think a lot of the good news is that a lot of our new residents moving into our city are coming here and working from home, [00:59:00] and I've seen it directly. [00:59:02] And so point being, we're becoming a place people want to live. [00:59:07] And so I would go back to the suggestion that in an immediate pre- [00:59:13] because any time you give a raise to somebody new or you change the salary levels, you have a big task. [00:59:21] But a quick task is to give a hiring bonus to get people to come and work here because that pays them to move, [00:59:28] and people are wanting to move here from all across the country. [00:59:32] So I know that is a common thing that's going on around there, [00:59:36] and I don't know that that goes over well with the existing employees, but we need employees, [00:59:42] and I think it's a worthwhile topic not to say we don't need to change the salaries to keep them here or to lure them, [00:59:50] but I would say that's a quick and dirty way to find out if we can actually get. [00:59:56] And particularly for your department, these people have got to be here. [01:00:00] You know, we might have some positions within the city that could be work-from-home people who wouldn't necessarily be here, but they've got to be here. [01:00:07] And all those people be here, some of these people need to be on call, right? [01:00:13] And so they can't live in St. Petersburg and commute. They've got to live close by. So it's critical. [01:00:19] And my point wasn't that they would work from home, but that they want to move. [01:00:23] And this is a place that's drawing people to move. [01:00:25] So that migration of work-from-home people is creating – I'm sure we all hear it every day, whether it's in real estate or around. [01:00:35] I think a big part of it, too, is we have to create the environment. [01:00:40] We have to let them know these positions are available. [01:00:42] I just don't know that we do a great job at that. [01:00:46] We do a lot in terms of recruitment, and I'd like to share the details. [01:00:50] Locally, I mean, I've sent out to many people about vacancies, and they're like, [01:00:55] really, we didn't know there was any vacancies in the city. [01:00:57] I'm like, okay, here's the whole list. [01:00:59] So I send them to the website, and I send them those things. [01:01:02] But I think that maybe we can put together some type of a bigger plan to try to push that a little bit more. [01:01:08] I know we've had some of the lists of vacancies out on social media, specifically on Facebook. [01:01:16] So the information's getting out. [01:01:19] Certainly, we can always try to do a better job of it. [01:01:22] But I guess the takeaway right now is as soon as we've got real numbers to work with, I think we need to have that discussion. [01:01:43] Thank you, Robert. [01:01:44] Give them a free mug if you don't want to give them money or something. [01:01:48] Okay, thank you. [01:01:49] And finance is up next, Mr. Mayor. [01:01:59] So the finance department includes two divisions, accounting and budgeting, and billing and collection. [01:02:06] So I'll first start with accounting and budgeting. [01:02:10] And I am not proposing any new staff. [01:02:16] We are lucky to be fully staffed at seven members for this division. [01:02:21] And we anticipate those positions remaining filled into next fiscal year. [01:02:29] So I will start with the budget schedule. [01:02:32] The first category being personnel services. [01:02:38] We're proposing a total of $561,210, whereas last year it was $532,470. [01:02:48] So an increase of $28,740, or 5%. [01:02:53] And that increase is directly related to prior year's merit increases that staff received, [01:03:00] and then an increase in our FRS employer rates that we have to contribute, and expected increase in health insurance. [01:03:10] As far as operating, I have two items that have significantly changed from this year's budget. [01:03:17] The first is professional services. [01:03:20] It did go down by $15,000. [01:03:24] And in this year, the $45,000 included funds obligated to complete our investment policy update. [01:03:31] And so we're obviously not proposing to do that next year, and hence the decrease. [01:03:37] The other item that had a significant increase is travel and training. [01:03:43] And we've proposed an increase to include additional training in the areas of payroll and our Tyler Munis training for our staff. [01:03:55] So in total operating, we're proposing $111,990, which is an increase of about 11.7—I'm sorry, a decrease of about 11.7% for next fiscal year. [01:04:10] Other than that, no changes, really, to the operating personnel. [01:04:16] Question. [01:04:17] The auditor, one of the things that endeared me to them was that they said they had access to some great databases that could look at comparative data from our city to others around or regional or statewide or whatever, because all the audits are submitted to the state. [01:04:38] So there was some kind of program. [01:04:42] And if that's done, it almost sounds to me like it's more of a city manager department. [01:04:49] But if it's the auditor who told us they had those services, I think it's a worthwhile venture to look at. [01:05:00] These stresses aren't going to get any better. [01:05:03] If I remember, they were referring to services like just telephone, some of the operating— [01:05:09] No, this was looking at the—from a departmental standpoint, looking at similar-sized cities, how they use their resources, sort of the division across the way of—which could lead us to things like our city, unlike a city in the middle of the state, has a Highway 19 running through it and has, as I noticed, an increase in fire calls in the last year that was pretty substantial, [01:05:36] whether it's accidents out on the highway or those other things, which again go back to us taking care of county residents and state roads and the nightlife at night, probably, whatever it might be, wherever they're coming from. [01:05:53] It's a good thing, but it's also a burden on our staff, and maybe there is explanations for it. [01:05:59] So I'm not looking for a simple answer, but I think it's worthwhile to have a discussion about it. [01:06:03] And there was also one about the deviation about certain billings and so forth that they would statistically look at and say, you're out of whack one way or the other to point out some further investigation. [01:06:14] Yes, exactly. Thank you. [01:06:17] All right. On to the Billing and Collection Division. [01:06:23] Again, we're not proposing any changes to the current personnel structure. [01:06:29] We have 9.7 full-time equivalent positions, and we would like that to remain the same. [01:06:38] Total personnel being proposed is $441,070, which is an increase of 6.5% compared to this year's budget. [01:06:48] And again, the increase is directly related to those merit increases last year and an increase in FRS rates and expected health insurance rates. [01:06:59] In operating, there are two line items that include a significant change, and that is credit card charges, which is about midway down in that category. [01:07:11] And we're proposing $27,000 compared to $75,000 this fiscal year. [01:07:16] And that is because we are in the process of migrating to a new IVR system, which will allow us to pass through those credit card charges. [01:07:26] So the city will no longer take that on. [01:07:29] And so once that's set up, we're looking to go live with that in December. [01:07:33] So if you pay by credit card, you pay a percent and a half or whatever surcharge? [01:07:37] And the customer would pay it, not the city. [01:07:40] And so we look to go live with that December. [01:07:43] And so we've only obligated or proposed to budget three months' worth of credit card charges until that happens. [01:07:51] That was, like, planned way back. [01:07:53] It absolutely was. [01:07:55] And it was a bank issue or you couldn't process them or something, but you're working it out finally. [01:08:00] That's pretty common with government agencies now. [01:08:04] Everybody now. [01:08:07] And as you can see, in past years, we've paid $85,000, $110,000 in fiscal year 21. [01:08:14] So this would be a huge cost savings to the city once we get that implemented. [01:08:19] How is the migration to the – I finally, thank God, have got myself on the automatic water payments. [01:08:28] So I don't have to try to remember them or keep track of them, and it's easy. [01:08:33] You're just getting cut off, right? [01:08:35] Well, it keeps me from running home real quick, you know, or whatever. [01:08:41] A single sign-on. [01:08:42] But how is it happening? [01:08:44] Because I know in the billing department there was always so much that happened with calls coming in, [01:08:51] and it's so easy to not be a burden at all to pay your water bill and to have. [01:08:58] So this will allow – basically, we're hiring an automated service to take the payments. [01:09:04] And so using our phone tree, and even if they do dial in directly, [01:09:09] we can easily just transfer them over to this automated service, and they would take their payments. [01:09:13] And then it even is smart enough to remember them. [01:09:16] So once they call the next month or the next time, it remembers their cell phone number or telephone number, [01:09:22] and it says – you know, it pulls up their account information automatically, [01:09:25] and it makes it very easy for them to pay. [01:09:27] So it will definitely – the plan is for it to reduce traffic coming into the building [01:09:32] and just, you know, allowing an easier way for our customers to make payments. [01:09:37] That's a smart city there. [01:09:38] Yes, it is. [01:09:40] So the next time you jump into the shower, first thing in the morning, you have to worry about the water. [01:09:44] Yeah. [01:09:45] How soon do we expect that? [01:09:46] December. [01:09:47] December. [01:09:48] So we'll plan some good marketing materials to go out with that. [01:09:52] And the company we've hired or engaged to do this is Invoice Cloud, [01:09:58] and they have a whole program for marketing. [01:10:01] And it's also not a cost to the city to implement this program. [01:10:04] They take on all the costs. [01:10:06] So it really was, you know, just a no-brainer. [01:10:10] Win-win. [01:10:11] Win-win. [01:10:12] I think it will be very well received. [01:10:16] I know my wife periodically panics when she finds some bill that she'd forgotten to put in the mail the week before, [01:10:24] and it's just way easier if you put that thing on an automatic charge my credit card and just be done with it. [01:10:32] And that doesn't need that service, but it does the way that we do it currently. [01:10:39] Right, right. [01:10:40] We do have the automatic. [01:10:41] Through the web. [01:10:42] So between the automatic web and the folks that don't use that and call, can your staff then transfer them to that number then? [01:10:50] Yes, they will be able to. [01:10:51] And then try to. [01:10:52] And tie up the staff on phone calls as much as possible. [01:10:54] Because that was always the way. [01:10:56] Right. [01:10:57] And they can truly resolve true customer service issues or, you know, [01:11:01] questions where they can dig into the account and help them instead of just using up their time to take payments. [01:11:07] Very good. [01:11:08] And the last part of that, and I'm sure Mr. Mayor, you'll be happy to hear, [01:11:12] is they will also help us update our customer portal. [01:11:17] And they will be able to do a single sign-on to make payments on the portal [01:11:23] and also view their consumption and meter activity and water consumption activity. [01:11:28] So the whole program and migration will include all of those things that we've been waiting to do. [01:11:34] If memory serves me, and maybe Robert or Barrett would know the answer better, [01:11:40] if all of a sudden your water use goes through the ceiling, that thing is going to flag [01:11:45] and let you know that there's a problem? [01:11:47] It gives them an alert. [01:11:49] That will save, because I'm sure you guys have probably gotten at least one, [01:11:56] I've gotten several over the years, people calling up in an absolute panic [01:12:01] because their normal $50-a-month water bill suddenly came in at $4,000. [01:12:07] Don't we have someone monitor that now that proactively reaches out to policy? [01:12:12] Absolutely. [01:12:13] I thought so. [01:12:15] All right. [01:12:16] The last item that has a significant change is our software licenses and support. [01:12:21] We're budgeting $10,840 for next fiscal year, and that is the software license for the new IVR system. [01:12:29] So that will be an annual recurring payment that we have to make. [01:12:34] Other than that, total operating, we're proposing $160,210, [01:12:40] which is about a 20.5% decrease from last year. [01:12:45] That's all I have. [01:12:47] Thank you. [01:12:48] Any questions? [01:12:49] So find the other department to match that, right? [01:12:51] Yes. [01:12:55] All right. [01:12:56] The next department is development. [01:13:03] There we go. [01:13:04] Thank you to the development department for a very good presentation last night at the talk about town. [01:13:13] Thank you. [01:13:14] Thank you. [01:13:15] Okay. [01:13:16] This is my first budget process with everyone, so bear with me. [01:13:21] I did have an awful lot of help with this budget from Crystal and Debbie to put this together. [01:13:30] First of all, I'll start out with staffing. [01:13:32] We currently have, or in the 2021 and 2022 budget from last year, about nine and a half staff individuals. [01:13:41] Two of those have been basically consultants. [01:13:45] That's the building official and then the inspector for that. [01:13:50] We have filled that with a consultant. [01:13:52] Those are two positions that are required by state to have those on staff, so we've been using a consultant on that. [01:13:57] We are certainly trying to fill those positions internally. [01:14:01] They are in our budget for this year, but it's a case of basically there's, and I'll make a number up, [01:14:07] there's 20 positions out there in the area, and there's only 15 qualified individuals that can really do that, [01:14:13] so they jump ship back and forth to different jurisdictions, and right now we're on the short side of that. [01:14:19] We're still looking to get our full-time in-staff building official and inspector. [01:14:24] Next year, we're looking to increase one position. [01:14:30] What we're doing basically is taking the receptionist that sits in the front lobby area. [01:14:35] That's a part-time position, and we're looking to make that a full-time position. [01:14:39] That's not only a receptionist, but is also one of our development tech-type trainees [01:14:46] that will also be able to do, not just answer phones, but actually work with permitting [01:14:51] and input information and answer more questions and be more involved with our staff. [01:14:56] We are also looking to add a board member. [01:15:00] part-time position as a planning intern, which would be a college student over [01:15:04] the summer time, and holidays that would be a planner that would help not only [01:15:10] help learn the system but also help staff with certain tasks that we can [01:15:17] have and then it's also kind of like training for individuals so when they [01:15:20] graduate maybe we can train them to pluck them down the road, you know, it's [01:15:26] an internal training for that. So the change in the budget for staffing again [01:15:32] would be those individual positions and then also changes in our insurances and [01:15:37] whatnot. The other changes in our operating is for under professional [01:15:44] services and planning. It's $175,000 and that's because next year we have a [01:15:50] couple major projects that are due. We have our comp plan, it's a full rewrite [01:15:55] this year we're just doing an update so next year we're starting on our full [01:15:59] rewrite for the comp plan which is a huge undertaking. We'd be using a [01:16:04] consultant for that and then also we're in the process of looking at a lot of [01:16:09] codes and ordinances and it's been brought up about the potential of doing [01:16:12] some additional rewrites for that so that was a major increase in that [01:16:17] section. Additionally, under professional services, miscellaneous, next year is also [01:16:23] a great time because we have another full rewrite going forward with our CRS [01:16:28] which is the community rating system. We're right now in a and again an update [01:16:33] year we have several years of updates but then the state requires a full [01:16:36] rewrite and excuse me next year is that and it's basically sets our flood [01:16:42] insurance premiums and so we want to make sure we have a consultant on board [01:16:46] that will help write that so we can get the best rate for our community for that. [01:16:53] That's underneath professional services miscellaneous. [01:16:58] It's 43,199 and right now again we have 10,000 the budget for this year and next [01:17:09] year I'm looking at 20,000 because it's an entire rewrite of that program. Moving [01:17:14] forward to contractual services miscellaneous, that's actually the one [01:17:18] we're using for doing our consultants for our CBO and our building inspector. [01:17:24] They're you know the individuals that are they're full-time employees through [01:17:29] us but we're using a consultant on that. We will again we'll be adjusting that as [01:17:37] we get individuals full-time but you always have to have a backup. We're [01:17:41] required at all times to have a CBO so if we have a CBO that is full-time and [01:17:47] someone steps out we still you know maybe they go on vacation or something [01:17:50] we've got to allow that once in a while. We need to have someone on backup for [01:17:54] that so that's that's the increase on that for this year. If you go to that 60,000 [01:18:00] in the budget you'll notice once the revenue numbers come on in it we're [01:18:03] we're probably above that right now so we'll have to adjust that. Next one is [01:18:09] travel and training. Fortunately or unfortunately we're hiring qualified [01:18:14] individuals that have a lot of certifications and registrations so [01:18:19] there's a lot of training and travel that's required with that to maintain or [01:18:23] certifications and registrations. We haven't utilized that much in the past [01:18:27] because we haven't had individuals in that and you know I have several [01:18:31] registrations, building inspectors, several registrations and staff is [01:18:34] moving to a professional development area where they're actually getting [01:18:37] professional registrations that we need to maintain. Moving on to software and [01:18:43] licenses, just like every other department you have we're updating a [01:18:46] lot of our softwares, internal software. PDF, Adobe and Bluebeam which is a [01:18:53] plan review software that we utilize internally for looking at all our [01:18:58] construction and plan review internally and looking at some GIS for staffing to [01:19:03] update maps and move things along. So that has changed again that's under [01:19:08] software licenses 45 to 25. And last but not least another change, major changes [01:19:16] in our operating supplies, I'm sorry our dues and memberships which is again goes [01:19:22] back to the professionals that we're hiring have to maintain their dues and [01:19:27] memberships and keep their professional registrations up and running. Those are [01:19:31] the major changes we have on there. I know that you had a real nice decrease [01:19:35] in the last department, I think I'm just absorbing that and rolling it into mine. [01:19:41] Yeah, all you had to do was say Adobe and I understood the license. They are very proud of [01:19:46] their software. And unfortunately they've cornered the market on that and it is a [01:19:52] required item. Bluebeam is very similar to that if you're familiar with that but [01:19:56] that's more for plan review and markups and things of that sort. I did notice [01:20:01] you're leasing automobiles for $11,400 but don't have any fuel. I understand [01:20:09] you guys, those are all electrics? Yeah, we have two electric vehicles right now [01:20:13] they're parked on the side of the buildings and that's what we utilize. [01:20:18] As a hint for any of the others that are frightened by their power bill or their [01:20:24] gas bills from the central garage. Very good. Any other questions? Thank you. Short [01:20:33] and sweet, thank you very much. Well I guess the 275 again it was amended but [01:20:41] not activated yet so this the CDBG housing incentive... Right, we're still [01:20:49] working through that on the numbers and Miss Mann and I will discuss that [01:20:55] and operations very shortly. It doesn't reflect anything that we might receive [01:21:00] for this year's application. I'm sorry but this is the incentives and we just [01:21:11] learned about the 900,000 so this is... 900,000 relates to the sidewalk [01:21:18] project. That's the CDBG CD funds. Say that five times fast. Okay. MOUSC you can add on the end of that too. [01:21:32] But that was a bigger number wasn't it? Yeah this is one-third of it. Thank you. [01:21:43] Pretty easy for a 40% increase. I know right. Yeah really. This part was. We'll see next time. Thank you. [01:22:13] All right thank you for allowing me to present the budget for fiscal year [01:22:22] 22-23. We'll start out. The fire department has two divisions. First one is [01:22:28] supervision 071 and just a couple of the accomplishments in that division. The [01:22:37] first one is we built and conducted two promotional assessment processes for the [01:22:43] rank of captain. If you remember we added three captains positions last year [01:22:48] so we were able to do that internally. We just completed our ISO public [01:22:55] protection classification survey which is a very comprehensive survey. So that [01:23:01] was just completed. We updated the city disaster guideline this year like we do [01:23:08] every year and then we also conducted emergency management tabletop exercises [01:23:12] with all of the department heads. Additionally I know we talked about [01:23:16] this previously due to COVID. It got stalled out but we just picked up the [01:23:22] program for residential home Knox box campaigns. We just received our first [01:23:28] supply of home Knox boxes so we'll be pushing that out here shortly. In fire [01:23:35] supervision consists of three full-time staff fire chief assistant fire chief [01:23:41] who also serves as the fire marshal and a senior administrative assistant who's [01:23:46] sitting next to me. She wears many hats. She also provides support functions to [01:23:52] the residential rental inspection division. As we move into the budget the [01:24:00] only changes in fire supervision for personnel is the 41311 part-time wages. [01:24:09] That position used to it was previously filled by a part-time fire inspector [01:24:16] and then we also had a residential rental inspection coordinator which Tina [01:24:22] has added to her responsibilities overseeing that part of the [01:24:30] program. Additionally we eliminated the funding for the part-time fire [01:24:36] inspector for next year. There's this fiscal year coming up and then the only [01:24:41] other change within that personnel is the 42213 fireman's pension fund had [01:24:49] quite a bit of an increase from $7,690 to $23,240 and if there's any questions on [01:24:58] that I think Crystal is probably best suited to answer that. Well the reason for the [01:25:04] increase is if you recall the city had an over contribution over payment to the [01:25:13] fire pension fund and so for at least two years I believe it was longer than [01:25:18] that we've been exhausting that balance and so just recently this fiscal year we [01:25:24] are now contributing again at the required rate and so next year that [01:25:32] $23,000 is a full year's worth of contributions on behalf of the two [01:25:37] firefighters in this division. It's just a supervision division I can't wait to see the numbers. [01:25:42] So that brings the total personnel services to $288,740 [01:25:51] and down to operating we'll go over just the changes so data lines the fourth [01:25:58] line down 44134 had a slight increase due to we added some tablets Verizon [01:26:07] tablets to allow our fire inspectors to electronically complete fire inspections [01:26:13] and that goes directly into our fireworks software. Fire cancer insurance [01:26:22] 44535 I just wanted to point that out that although that is in fire [01:26:28] supervision that pays for both divisions so that four thousand seven hundred and [01:26:33] ten dollars pays for all of the staff. Fuel 45211 in lieu of this division has [01:26:42] two hybrid vehicles and one all-electric vehicle which we're very proud of we did [01:26:51] we are projecting a slight increase in this line due to just the increase in [01:26:56] fuel costs. 45243 computer supplies we were able to reduce that line item from [01:27:07] five thousand to two thousand five hundred dollars and a slight increase in [01:27:14] dues and memberships with some extra memberships additional memberships [01:27:17] within that division within that category so the total operating for [01:27:25] fiscal year 22-23 is one hundred and three thousand nine hundred and forty [01:27:30] the total expenditures of three hundred ninety two thousand six hundred and [01:27:33] eighty. [01:27:36] Next divisions firefighting 073 and the one of the major accomplishments that [01:27:48] we've had is I don't know if you want to call it accomplishment but every year we [01:27:51] increase our call volume by at least one to two calls a day and we are on course [01:27:58] to surpass 5200 calls for this year which is an average of about 16.6 a day [01:28:07] which is a lot so that's both fire stations combined our firefighters still [01:28:13] found time to assist in conducting 947 fire safety inspections that's along [01:28:21] with 071 division the fire marshal and completing 6891 training hours which the [01:28:30] the reason for so many training hours is because our firefighters are all [01:28:34] certification based so you have to complete CEU training on a regular basis [01:28:39] to keep up your certifications. Some of the other accomplishments one that just [01:28:46] got accomplished thanks to the public works division we just completed a [01:28:49] bunker gear storage room inside a fire station one which we were able to [01:28:55] complete that task with city staff and use the available space that we had so [01:29:03] that brings us in line with NFPA standards to properly store our bunker [01:29:08] gear. It just allows for the security of that gear and to keep it separated [01:29:19] from diesel exhaust fumes and that's something that needed to be done. This [01:29:29] division includes 22 full-time firefighters of which three are district [01:29:37] chiefs six are captains 13 are firefighter paramedics and as you know [01:29:43] we also have a budgeted for 10 part-time positions we do we do currently have two [01:29:52] openings within this division for full-time firefighter paramedics we did [01:29:57] have three we just hired one we brought one [01:30:00] on board and we did have the same issue for quite some time as we were not getting qualified [01:30:05] candidates applicants for fire department and in talking with other fire chiefs it wasn't [01:30:13] just here it was around the whole state and it was in large part due to COVID and the [01:30:18] testing centers that provide the testing for firefighters during COVID were closed down [01:30:24] for quite some time the state fire college was also closed down for for quite some time [01:30:30] so instead of putting out I believe about 5,000 certified certified firefighters a year that [01:30:37] dropped down to about 1,500 so for the whole state so that's the reason for the reduction [01:30:44] the good news is is within the last probably two months we received some really good qualified [01:30:50] applicants and we're very pleased so we are working on a working on our eligibility list [01:30:58] currently we had an interview last week we have another one this week and I'm very hopeful that [01:31:08] all three of those positions will be filled well the one was just filled but the other [01:31:12] two will be filled within the next month so on to this division some of the changes in personnel [01:31:25] we increase the overtime line item 41413 in residential inspection and I should add that [01:31:31] this division also there's one line item in personnel that includes the residential [01:31:40] rental inspection division and there's four in operating that funds the residential rental [01:31:46] inspection division so we made a slight increase from 30,000 to 40,000 for the [01:31:54] overtime and residential rental inspection just to meet the demands of the program [01:32:02] our inspectors are busy and it seems like it just keeps getting busier in that program [01:32:07] so we wanted to increase that to meet those demands we increased 41414 overtime special [01:32:15] events from 3,000 to 5,000 again again to meet the demands of the special events that we have within the city [01:32:27] the next increase we saw a slight increase in inspector incentive pay which is 41532 [01:32:33] that's a $1,200 a year stipend that is awarded to [01:32:42] firefighters in that division that received their [01:32:45] Florida fire inspector certification and that's in the union contract [01:32:53] and here's the pension fund so 42213 was increased from 92,310 to 206,580 [01:33:03] so that is the remaining employer portion our contribution to the pension fund for the remaining firefighters [01:33:17] the workers comp insurance saw a slight increase from 63,840 to 81,040 [01:33:25] for a total personnel services budget of 2,419,510 [01:33:33] operating all of the lines at the beginning have remained consistent with previous years [01:33:45] until we get down to maintenance msa equipment we're able to reduce [01:33:51] that line item from 2,700 to 1,750 in large part due to our scbas are all brand new [01:34:00] within a year or so if you remember we received the a grant to purchase those [01:34:09] to purchase those scba so the maintenance of that equipment obviously has been reduced [01:34:18] first aid equipment 44641 one of the challenges that we had during covid was [01:34:25] um acquiring medical supplies and everybody at the same time was trying to get n95 masks and [01:34:33] and ppe and on and on and on so um we had we had an issue getting equipment and then [01:34:42] when we were when we were able to find it it was on back order so um that being said the cost of [01:34:49] all the medical equipment that we have seen has just gone up so um in forecasting for the [01:34:57] upcoming fiscal year we have increased that line item due to those increasing costs from 4,100 to [01:35:04] 10,000 fuel again fuel 45211 fuel cost we increased that by 5,000 due to the rising [01:35:20] cost of fuel we were able to reduce clothing wearing an apparel $500 from 10,000 to 9,500 [01:35:30] but then we increased bunker gear 45235 from 9,000 to 9,500 in large part due to [01:35:38] the increasing cost for bunker gear has gone up like a lot of other things [01:35:44] computer supplies 45243 we were able to reduce by five five thousand dollars [01:35:50] um we received um new mdts last year and um we're projecting um less of a need in that line item [01:36:05] the next increase is 45247 for state supplies again same thing so our medical supplies are [01:36:12] bought out of two different are purchased from two different line items so this one was increased [01:36:17] from 25,540,000 again for the increasing cost of medical medical supplies um automotive parts [01:36:28] four five two eight nine we were able to reduce by five thousand dollars due to the fact that [01:36:34] with all the new leased vehicles that we have in the new ladder truck we do not foresee [01:36:39] um the need for so many auto parts replacements within those apparatus [01:36:49] operating supplies four five two nine nine we are requesting a one thousand dollar increase due to [01:36:55] the increased costs of everything that we purchase seems like it's going on so total operating [01:37:02] is 204,620 [01:37:06] in the capital for 073 there's only one item [01:37:12] and that is uh fifteen thousand dollars for a boat and we're asking we're hopeful that we can [01:37:19] get a supplemental some supplemental funding to uh increase that uh in case we need to [01:37:27] but i would like to expand our service delivery delivery to include [01:37:34] some kind of a boat you know i have a couple things in mind i want to put a committee together [01:37:40] to see what style of boat best suits the needs of the community [01:37:48] but i want to be able to provide that service if there's an emergency on the river that runs [01:37:55] through the city or any of our retention ponds because the way it is right now we would have to [01:37:59] borrow a boat from public works or the river we would have to use a police boat so something that [01:38:05] we can deploy quickly on a trailer we can get it to the scene we can put it in the water and we can [01:38:11] render aid so um that's the request and i'd be happy to answer any questions [01:38:20] not a question but a comment one of your inspector gentlemen did our building first of the week and [01:38:28] noted that all our fire extinguishers expire at the end of the month if you could relay to him the [01:38:35] service that does the the fire extinguishers is going to be there friday morning so we're getting [01:38:43] so we're getting all that taken care of [01:38:48] yeah well i we didn't get side because they're still technically good okay but they won't be in [01:38:54] two weeks and he said oh yeah you probably need to get them checked so they're being done so you [01:39:02] can tell them you can relax so you don't have to come back in two weeks to find out that we're [01:39:06] expired so yeah so on that inspection who who actually are with what staff members do the [01:39:14] inspections so for the so we we divvy them out per shift for all the fire safety inspections for [01:39:25] the a lot of the smaller occupancies within the city now the larger scale buildings like [01:39:31] the hospital and the schools those are done by chief darling but the the rest of the inspections [01:39:38] we divvy them up amongst the crews and we like this can be fire fire one two three no so so [01:39:46] whoever is a certified fire inspector and gets paid that extra twelve hundred dollars a year [01:39:52] they have the authority and the certification to be able to sign off on that fire inspection [01:39:58] so each shift has a handful of inspectors so that's how we get those completed what does it [01:40:07] take to get a certification for an inspector fire inspector so currently it is 5 40 hour classes [01:40:18] and in different [01:40:22] criterias and after the five classes are are up then you have to take a state certification test [01:40:31] and the problem with those is like anything else it's hard to get those classes and they only [01:40:35] offer them so often but we are getting an increase of our folks that that could be [01:40:42] not necessarily paramedic for example right it could be it could be so it could be i'm just i'm [01:40:49] just i'm just trying to figure out you know the budget wise looking for the overtime so forth [01:40:54] would it be cost effective to have you know um you know full-time inspector [01:41:00] um say uh and see if that would be more cost effective you know than the overtime hours [01:41:11] just i don't know the numbers but it just seems like if you have could specialize in that [01:41:18] the inspector is certified but not necessarily has all the other criteria [01:41:24] um and i don't know if there is such such a position available that that person [01:41:31] might be able to be employed at somewhat of a lower pay scale than maybe some of the folks [01:41:38] that are currently doing are you talking about the overtime for residential rental inspection [01:41:43] so that's something no just the fire inspection okay so there's no overtime associated with [01:41:51] fire inspections all the fire inspections are done okay maybe i'm maybe i may have was when [01:41:55] i'm talking about the forty thousand dollars for the overtime residential that's just residential [01:42:02] yeah so yeah the residential rental inspector that that's a that's different than fire [01:42:06] inspections so that's the the rental stock within the city receives an exterior [01:42:13] residential inspection from firefighters that are working off duty we see somebody's smiling [01:42:17] face once a year they come through and make sure the exit lights are working and this [01:42:22] residential that's residential yeah and it's it's a good thing we're doing because we've got a whole [01:42:31] bunch of businesses that are in places that if you ever had a a fire emergency could be a [01:42:39] real issue particularly downtown where all the buildings are right up next to each other so [01:42:45] so then the people that that actually do the residential inspections then are [01:42:52] our firefighters they just do all their off-duty off-duty that's correct [01:42:57] do they have to be a certified fire inspector yeah okay off-duty doesn't involve the pension [01:43:05] the calculation of pension pay it's not off-duty pay it's overtime it's overtime so it does so it [01:43:11] does so so that goes back to your point which is a fireman doing an inspection is a fireman [01:43:21] if it's a fire inspection or if it's our rental inspection we get a fee for that so [01:43:28] so but when you're talking numbers though let's go back to the 5,200 [01:43:33] calls you have a year which is a hundred a week right so of the hundred a week i'm [01:43:40] i'm i'm always curious to see the breakdown of the types of calls because i know from main [01:43:46] street landing how many times those guys have to roll for a fire alarm it's a false alarm [01:43:52] and they're great especially at three in the morning when it's ringing and they're the only [01:43:56] ones going to turn it off you know so they're very welcome at that point and then a lot of [01:44:02] the medical as well right so if you've got a medical you you go to it and to the residential [01:44:10] rental inspection they have a fee that collects it to the medical i go back to what i always go [01:44:15] back to which is i don't understand why we don't have transport i don't understand why we don't [01:44:22] want to be a full-blown fire department transport and get to the hospitals when we're serving such [01:44:28] an expanded district of our than our own city like the worst accidents have to be the ones on [01:44:34] on 19 or and a lot of them are not city residents and so we're providing a service it's back to that [01:44:41] service area discussion again and i know places like zephyr hills that have entered into partnership [01:44:47] agreements they say i don't know what it is i haven't seen it but the reason they bring it up [01:44:53] it goes back mike to your comment about the budget and as we go is that the [01:45:00] Best news we got this year was the increase in property taxes going up 15%. The worst news to the general fund is you don't get it. It all goes to the CRA. [01:45:12] And so now as we remove districts over time some of that releases back and as new annexation might occur it brings in more. [01:45:23] But the reality is that between the public health and safety between the police and the fire when you look at for example Robert and public works a lot of that water and sewer that's profit it pays back to the general fund. [01:45:43] Stormwater assessments, assessments for everything else. The library, the recreation facilities and our police and fire are examples of true services that we provide to the public. [01:45:57] And it's a great service and the guys have always been great. I just want to lay it out there that we have to kind of reconcile that if we're going to still have a citywide CRA and a bunch of projects that are going to move and grow our city we have to figure out how we can function. [01:46:17] We don't get 5% increases every year. Luckily we've had property sold, we've had the ability to do it and we can still do it this year. And luckily we still have what $8 million owed from the CRA back to the city. [01:46:33] And so I would say to the finance director and to my colleagues and Debbie that if in the balancing of what we have to do to provide our service levels there was a number of years when Matt you'll remember this I think a number of years when and you Mayor the CRA got a pass didn't have to pay money in because we delayed having it have to pay back so it could still function. [01:46:59] And with the debt that's out there and the agreement that we have right now there was even a time when there was a pitch to lower the interest rate on the CRA which I objected to because I know the revenue that comes back from public works into the general fund, from the planning department through permit fees and in discussion about even trash collection and other things you really are going to have to get, you know, a lot of money. [01:47:29] And, you know, as innovative as you can to be able to keep up with the pace of the demands, the amount of extra calls there is astounding. [01:47:39] And so I just point that I'm willing to listen to issues but I also don't understand why if we don't want to do ambulance because ambulance doesn't pay a profit but it pays a lot towards getting to break even that we don't get that money. [01:48:03] And if you're going to come to my house and be the first one there and you got a paramedic and we could get a billing to that house for $200 or $300 or whatever it is, that's insurance or whatever, it just seems there has to be some kind of thing. [01:48:22] And if we don't want to do the ambulance then at least we should get some of our money back from the fire service fees that are paid to the district around us in this service area concept and say we're serving a bigger area. [01:48:37] It's the same as the rec center saying we'd like to have our residents use our rec center and finally recognizing that they're coming to our rec center and our services, police and fire, are coming, are using our services. [01:48:52] And I think this is a bigger discussion, Mayor, than just stormwater. [01:48:57] It's a discussion about our relationship with the county and figuring out how we can keep doing this. [01:49:02] It is a good conversation to be had. [01:49:06] I know based on the topic that Councilman Altman is bringing up, I've had several conversations with the county administrator who has indicated to me definitively that the county will not issue a certificate of need to the city to provide transportation services ever. [01:49:29] That has been his position. I don't know that that's the position of the county commission necessarily. [01:49:39] We've never conducted any type of an analysis to determine whether or not or what the costs might be in providing the service and whether or not we might ever meet our costs or recover our costs in providing the services. [01:50:01] Certainly it's a good service to provide, no question about it. [01:50:05] We can figure that out though. That's just math. [01:50:09] It would cost us probably between $50,000 and $60,000 to find out that answer. [01:50:15] And with your collective direction, I'll get that answer for you. [01:50:20] But we would need to find out from the county whether or not, because by state law, they have to grant us the authority to deliver the service to our residents. [01:50:32] Or you have to get the state law changed. And I don't have the authority to do that, but you may. [01:50:42] Thank you, Chief. We appreciate it. That's got them for the departments for tonight. [01:50:52] That's all the lineup we had for you tonight. [01:50:55] Okay. Communications. Mr. Murphy, you got anything? [01:50:58] I've got a good looking shirt on. No, I think I'm good for tonight. [01:51:09] No, I'm good. [01:51:11] Mr. Altman. [01:51:13] Yeah, I want to, I guess, segue from your comment about last night and our planning department's communication to that talk around town. [01:51:22] I know that Frank Starkey had started that some time ago. [01:51:29] And it was interesting and a good opportunity for us to see the continued interest in updating our code, talking about whether it's form-based code or other things. [01:51:44] But at the beginning of the deal, the first slide was talking about, it was really just a lesson on planning and it was very good. [01:51:57] But the first slide had planning and showed that it's like a bulldog, like a pit bull, I mean. [01:52:04] So one slide was a mean pit bull tied to a chain looking like he's ready to break loose. [01:52:12] And the other slide was a pit bull with a little baby cuddling up to it. [01:52:18] And the comment was how you treat and how you affect your planning is going to test the creation of what kind of city that you're going to have. [01:52:29] And I often comment about my scuba diving class where the one thing that we had to learn was the most important thing. [01:52:41] Because if you get caught underwater too deep and you come up too fast, it's curtains. [01:52:46] So it was like plan your dive and dive your plan. [01:52:50] The other point that was brought up was the importance of citizen input as you go through your comprehensive plan review. [01:53:00] So I was listening to that and those messages about the importance of understanding rules and the code and how our success is going to depend on that. [01:53:11] It always makes me reflect on how much I want to see get done after 20 some years and I got two and a half years to run this run out. [01:53:20] Some of us might be the last one and hopefully we have others along. [01:53:25] I told you before I've never been as excited about all the opportunities we have and what's happening. [01:53:32] So our success depends on the good code and understanding and I've always felt as well that people don't care what you know until they know that you care about them. [01:53:44] And I think it was a great message. [01:53:46] And so my segue is not to have a discussion about this tonight but there's no doubt that our city manager must be horrified to see the article in the creative loafing that really exposed what was a private conversation in a sense but wasn't private if it was on a message that got intercepted with former councilman Jeff Starkey. [01:54:11] But I would like to have a chance maybe at the meeting to have us discuss how we sort of try to cure some of the damage that that article has potentially can do to us not only from the theoretic pending lawsuit that might occur but as a councilman who sat back and waded through as we all did, listened to all the commentary and kept our cool and kept our mouths shut and asked questions. [01:54:41] And did not try to intercede or interject. [01:54:45] It was really disappointing to find a former council members comments that undermine our ability to continue to project ourselves and the positive light that we have. [01:54:58] And most alarming if we talked about all our county relationship issues was this discussion that there were idiots at the county building. [01:55:08] So it's incumbent on me to make sure that as a board that we confirm what Debbie you alluded to in your replies that you did not agree with that and that there was some twisting of it or whatever. [01:55:24] So this is not a gotcha thing but this is something I think that deserves a council clear response to an article that could affect us both if we get tagged with being racist which none of us are or being or participating in that. [01:55:41] It was just really unfortunate and I don't want to talk about it anymore but I don't know whether it's a resolution or whether it's a letter to the county but as a council member I would hope that my colleagues would and I'm sure we all will disclaim it and say that's not our view of things. [01:56:04] But it's difficult to have to absorb that. [01:56:12] I agree that it is disturbing and very disappointing but I hope that you'll recognize that there's a distinction between what was said and what was reported. [01:56:27] Because there was and I think that that's the real unfortunate part of it that Justin Garcia clearly was looking for something in what was communicated that was not intended to be conveyed. [01:56:47] Because there wasn't anything racist conveyed in anything that I communicated and if you'll recall it was me that started at the very beginning of the BLM activist movement that initiated the anti-racial discrimination task force. [01:57:11] And I think it's important that we put some of this on the record is what I'm saying because it's a bad taste in the mouth and it's not, it's a gotcha reporting, it's published and I don't know how you all feel or how it gets responded but it needs to be responded to in a way that highlights the positive things that have been done. [01:57:37] But we certainly have to disclaim the sort of arrogance that came off in that text message that related to idiots and loonies and it's just really was poor. [01:57:50] I mean every once in a while some of us may put our guard down. [01:57:53] The reason I brought all the other things up is to say I don't want to focus on this. [01:58:02] We got jobs to do, important things. [01:58:05] Sometimes it's best to take the medicine and say you know that was unfortunate and figure out how to write that. [01:58:16] I have over the last number of weeks or a couple of months now since the work throughout the charges reached out to a couple of individuals who I've had extended conversations with including one where we had Ms. Cox [01:58:44] who had been very outspoken at some of the meetings sit down with us and come up with some good ideas that they're not ready for us to formally consider and adopt but I think we've got some things that we can do as a city that will address a lot of the concerns that she's got [01:59:12] and without getting too far into the weeds on it including with children who might be underprivileged and doing some really cool things and she is very interested in working with us on that. [01:59:32] I've talked to Ms. Whiting again one on one and had multiple phone conversations with her trying to see from her perspective what we can do to move the city forward in a positive manner and those meetings have been I think very productive. [02:00:00] And I've reached out to Mr. Jones. I have not had a chance to talk to him. I was promised a call back. I did not get it, which if he happens to see this or somebody tells him about it, I am still open to sitting down with him, because I think there's a lot that we can do to address some of the concerns in the African American community. [02:00:29] I think we all agree on far more things than we disagree on. And a lot of that involves just getting people to sit down and talk. [02:00:46] You can't have a conversation with everybody screaming at each other. And that has been proven nationally, and heaven knows it was proved in our own city council meetings, where people came to shout and not to listen. [02:01:05] I think all of us are better served to try to work to solve issues, and that's what I want to see us doing forward. [02:01:20] The comments that were made, at least as reported in the Creative Loafing, do not reflect my views. I don't believe they reflect the council's views. [02:01:37] I think we're far more interested in, let's work positively and collaboratively together to try to make this a better place, work through any issues we've gotten, and just really move forward. And that's where I'm coming from on it. [02:01:56] I appreciate your pep talk, but we're talking about an issue that relates to our county relationships that I believe needs a formal response. That's all I'm saying. [02:02:08] Every time I've asked for us to have a discussion, it just doesn't happen. So what really concerns me is that we try to solve things quietly, and now we've been put in the public, and I think we need to make sure. [02:02:21] And I don't know what the answer is. I didn't really want to talk about that. I don't get this idea that we won't be talking about it again. [02:02:29] I don't believe that the Creative Loafing has anything to do with the county communications issues. [02:02:36] Well, they reported that the county was idiots, and our city manager didn't say, that's not right, or I don't agree. It doesn't mean you did agree. The comments did not come from you. [02:02:48] But the conversation was very, to me, difficult conversation. And it doesn't work. [02:02:56] I was focusing on the other part of it, but if indeed that comment was made, and I'll go reread it again, we definitely do communicate that we do not believe the county are a bunch of idiots. [02:03:08] I just learned about this today. I've been out of the country. I'm not so sure we jump on this and make it any bigger deal than it really is, as has been reported. [02:03:28] I think that from my observations and in my conversations with other county officials, that we have a pretty good working relationship and a respectful relationship with one another. [02:03:48] People can make offhanded remarks from time to time, and I don't think just because someone says something and I don't object doesn't mean I necessarily agree. [02:04:03] I'm a little bit, particularly with the county thing, make it bigger than it is. I think our actions and our personal conversations and our personal relationships speak louder than an interpretation of a reporter trying to make a sensational story, pick pieces out. [02:04:25] I think we continue on in a positive manner that we have been, and as the mayor says, in those areas where we can foster better relationships and meet meets, we do that.

   This text was generated automatically from the meeting video. It is not a verbatim or official record. For exact wording, consult the video or the city clerk.

2. 3Communications▶ 2:04:32
3. 4Adjournment▶ 2:11:56
4. 1Call to Order - Roll Call