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KENT
WA iHI N`TO" Kent City Council Workshop Minutes
October 21, 2014
The workshop meeting was called to order at 5:05 p.m. by Council President Ralph.
Councilmembers present: Ralph, Boyce, Fincher, Higgins, and Thomas.
Councilmember Berrios was excused. Councilmember Ranniger arrived at 5:09 p.m.
2015 - 2016 Departmental Budget Presentations — Council President Ralph
communicated the format of the meeting and introduced Chief Administrative Officer
Derek Matheson who reviewed the budget and upcoming workshop schedule. He
reviewed the 2015-2016 Preliminary Budget Questions/Requests document and
encouraged the Council to contact him regarding any questions that need to be added
to the list.
POLICE DEPARTMENT - Police Chief Ken Thomas presented the Police Department
budget. Thomas communicated that there were 195.75 FTEs in the department and
reviewed its makeup. He said the Police budget in 2014 consisted of $31 million from
the General Fund and $2 million from the Criminal Justice Fund for a total budget of
$33 million. He noted that there was a $300,000 appropriation in the 2015 budget
which is a carryover from 2014 for two additional patrol officers which would also be
carried into 2016, He noted that there is a $22,600 line item for vests in 2015 and
$27,873 for more vests in 2016. He discussed Taser replacement in the amount of
$36,450 for 2015 and 2016 and that there were seven taser failures last year. He
noted that $12,000 would be used for pursuit and equipment training. He stated the
total appropriation out of the General Fund for 2015 is $293,087 and $298,360 in
2016. He added that there is an appropriation out of the Criminal Justice fund, a one-
time expense, for forensics investigation hardware in the amount of $20,000. Thomas
communicated that there is a proposal to add two vehicles to the fleet from the
Criminal Justice Fund, one in 2015 at a cost of $79,000 and one in 2016 at a cost of
$59,000, Finally, the unfunded needs include remaining consistent with the Public
Safety Committee staffing plan to ramp up the department to 160 officers.
Councilmember Boyce confirmed that three officers retire each year for the next two
years and they will be replaced with new officers, but there will be a need for an
additional officer to be hired each year.
Councilmember Boyce asked about overtime and Thomas replied that illness,
significant injuries due to work, and officers being in training has led to overtime. He
noted that department is averaging between $120,000 - $160,000 per month in
overtime expenses.
Councilmember Boyce said the City isn't maintaining staffing levels and it is a great
concern to him since there is so much overtime going on, He noted that overworking
the department may lead to mistakes.
Council President Ralph agreed with Councilmember Boyce and noted that adding
officers would add savings because of the amount of overtime being paid. She also
noted that you can only have so many officers working so many hours before
something goes wrong. It is imperative that the staffing plan be looked at, she said.
Kent City Council Workshop Minutes October 21, 2014
Chief Administrative Officer Derek Matheson responded to Council President Ralph and
stated that the proposed staffing numbers match what is in the budget. However, the
Mayor's budget didn't propose new officers, it proposed $300,000 in funds for the
department. The funds would be used for officers and if the Council agrees, the
budget would reflect two new officers, he explained.
Councilmember Ranniger verified that Thomas is asking for two additional officers in
2015 and four additional officers in 2016.
Chief Thomas communicated that there will be five officers added tonight and they
are lateral officers and there are six more waiting to go to the academy.
Council President Ralph pointed out that whenever the Council approves the hiring of
officers they are a year out from being on the street.
Councilmember Fincher verified that the amount of time it takes officers to get into
the Washington State Police Academy is four months. Thomas noted that they are
going to be doubling classes next year to get the wait times to one month,
FINANCE DEPARTMENT - Aaron BeMiller, Finance Director communicated the 2015-
2016 Finance Department budget. He noted that there are currently 31,66 FTEs and
the proposed amount is 36.35 for 2015 and 2016. He gave kudos to Dan Leahy and
thanked the staff of the Finance Department. He said the department budget is $5.8
million in 2015 and $5.9 in 2016. He communicated his department's funding sources
and its base operating services of internal auditing, financial planning, financial
accounting and reporting, and customer service. He noted the hiring of a Finance and
Governmental Reporting Manager and that the new department appropriations for
2015 are $451,410 and $463,980 in 2016.
BeMiller responded to Councilmember Thomas concerning the appropriation to
increase the Meter Reader position from .53 FTE to 1.0 FTE.
Barbara Lopez communicated that the Meter Reader does more than just read the
meters. She highlighted that the readers currently don't have the capacity to do
maintenance on the meters.
BeMiller communicated that there is an additional proposed appropriation of four
positions to create a Tax Division in the Finance Department, consisting of a Tax
Manager, Compliance Officer, Desk Auditor, and a Customer Service Representative.
He communicated that when the Tax Division is up and running they will be able to
audit and find at least $410,000 in unpaid B&O taxes that should have been paid that
has not been paid. The organizations that have been discovered will be added to the
tax roll and those funds will be added to the B&O tax roll every year going forward.
Council President Ralph noted that the B&O Tax Ordinance has $4.7 million going to
street improvements, $400,000 for employee costs, and any remaining revenues
going into the CIP, which BeMiller confirmed and noted that if the Tax Division is
approved the B&O Ordinance would need to be rewritten and readopted by the
Council. He also added that the Ordinance would need to be revised to have $700,000
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come out of B&O revenues for employee costs or the budget costs of the tax division
as approved by Council.
Councilmember Thomas verified that if the B&O Tax Ordinance isn't revised there
won't be any funds in the General Fund to pay for the proposed tax division positions,
BeMiller also discussed B&O software improvements and stated that he has had
preliminary conversations with IT about them.
Councilmember Higgins inquired if the person who handles the technology part of the
B&O system would be a term-limited position and BeMiller stated that he isn't sure
what it would look like at this time.
Councilmember Higgins expressed support and said that there should be enough
funds derived from the Tax Division to cover all four of the positions and to add funds
into the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for projects and pay down debt. He
stated that he wants to have a system that is trustworthy that instills confidence in
the City and in the business community that is paying the tax. He said the City needs
to pay for the foundation to fix this. He supports whatever plan comes out to fix this
issue.
BeMiller communicated that there were no unfunded requests from the Finance
Department. He added that the Finance Department is functioning at a very lean staff
level. However, he stated that the department is interested in upgrading and
improving reporting functions, but is limited by staff capacity.
Councilmember Thomas inquired about the additional $300,000 for the staff from the
B&O revenues and BeMiller explained that they would be used to implement the Tax
Division and bring the B&O system and audit process up to speed. He noted that the
current B&O team has audited a couple of voluntary compliance accounts that haven't
filed for all four quarters and that has brought forth an additional $280,000. He stated
that the revenue is great, but the goal is to have a tax equitable B&O system in place
to ensure that everyone who needs to pay is paying.
BeMiller pointed out that $5.2 million has been collected in 2013 and the City is on
target to collect $5 million in 2014. He stated that the City is meeting the budget
numbers but all City businesses aren't compliant.
HUMAN RESOURCES - Lorraine Patterson, Human Resources (HR) Director
communicated the department budget. She stated that there 13 FTEs in the
department. There was a LEAN done on the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and it
has led to it being easier for employees to utilize FMLA. She communicated that 100
employees have signed up for a Health Savings Account (HSA) and this is good
because having more employees using HSA means less of a Cadillac Tax the City has
to pay on the 100 percent plan when it is enacted. She noted that there has been a
reduction in the worker's compensation claims. She stated that the HR base operating
budget is made up of mainly insurance funds with liability, worker's compensation,
unemployment, and the benefits fund. She noted that the department does training
for employees through the King County Leadership Academy, RESPECT, risk
management, customer service, and computer training. The recruitment staff, she
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said, has done 57 benefited recruitments and 26 temporary recruitments year-to-
date, with another six or seven in the process. Patterson added that the labor
relations and classification group handles contract administration, negotiations,
classifications and job description analysis, and employee relations by working with
supervisors and employees on workplace problems. She continued and stated that the
benefits group administers healthcare plans, deferred compensation, the Employee
Recognition Program, and the Wellness Program. She said the department is
requesting $1,200 in 2015 to cover Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM)
memberships for HR staff that have received their certifications and other needs
include Employee Engagement and Longevity funding, which consists of two parts.
The first part is having $2,600 for an annual breakfast for every Employee of the
Month to attend and for the Employee of the Year to be chosen and presented to the
rest of the City staff. This event will occur in February or March of every year and
since the Employee Recognition Program was restarted last year this is the first year
we can have an Employee of the Year. The second amount is to go to each
department to help them recognize and/or engage employees for longevity, training,
a retreat, or for other special occasions. She noted that the amount would be $25 per
employee and the department director would have the freedom to use those funds as
they see fit as long as it relates to recognition or engagement of their employee. She
discussed having two part-time non-benefited positions to implement a Supported
Employment Program and one part-time paid high school intern, Patterson also
highlighted an unfunded need for a new learning management system that will track
employee training and certifications, at an estimated cost of $17,000. She also noted
that getting people trained in this Pathlore learning management software system is
another $2,000.
Councilmember Boyce discussed SHRM certifications and Patterson confirmed that
there are five currently SHRM certified, but are not members of the association,
Patterson clarified what the learning management system training would consist of.
She noted that it would notify employees of mandatory training and which training
their employees are lacking. She noted that having a system like this would lower
liability for the City.
Councilmember Fincher communicated that she would like to see funding for citywide
race and social justice training included in the budget.
Council President Ralph reviewed the process of bringing a proposal forward for the
budget.
Councilmember Fincher stated that she would provide information to Chief
Administrative Officer Matheson concerning the training.
Matheson confirmed that the item would be added to the 2015-2016 Preliminary
Budget Questions/Requests list.
Council President Ralph asked the Supported Employment employees and how the
total amount was $44,000 and Patterson responded that it equates to 20 hours and
all other business related costs for the two employees.
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LAW - Tom Brubaker, City Attorney communicated that his department has 15.8 FTEs
and has no needs for 2015 and 2016. He noted that the medical marijuana litigation
is a notable accomplishment and it will be argued in Supreme Court. He added that
Kent is the leader when it comes to marijuana litigation. He also noted that the
department's work on tax law has gone well with Assistant City Attorney David
Galazin leading the charge. He communicated the increase in prosecution case filings
and having less staff. He noted that one attorney was requested for 2016 due to the
increase of officers, which increases filings. He noted, however, that his greatest
concern is the indigent defense legislation because he expects to have more court
calendars and court time. He noted that there will be more time spent by the
defenders by 2016.
Council President Ralph added that the amount of cases that attorneys can handle
may be restricted and that will cause a need for another attorney. Brubaker added
that when they get 400 cases they will have to, according to the legislation, stop
taking cases. Brubaker added that it is a blind rule and it doesn't take into account
how experienced the attorneys are.
Brubaker explained why this legislation was generated and Council President Ralph
further explained that it was based on a court case in Mount Vernon. Brubaker added
that the Council will be asked to increase the public defense budget based on this
ruling.
COURT - Margaret Yetter, Court Administrator communicated that there are 20.28
FTEs at the Court. She highlighted that the Court doesn't have any fiscal needs in the
next two years. She said school zone cameras have impacted the Court and the Court
has implemented an online pay system for those ticketed. She noted that the contract
with the City of Maple Valley has been completed and that the operating budget is
just over $3 million in 2015 and 2016. The projected revenue is $2.4 million and that
has been consistent during the past years. She added that the camera revenues
aren't included in that budget.
Council President Ralph inquired about the handling of the increased tickets from the
school zone cameras and Yetter responded that there is a temporary person that is
funded by the infractions that handles the load. She added she wants to ensure that
the Court has the staff it needs to manage this program.
Councilmember Boyce confirmed that the revenues have been $482,000 for the first
six months and it is estimated to be over $700,000 for the year.
Council President Ralph communicated the upcoming budget schedule.
The meeting adjourned at 5:54 p.m,
onald F. M_ re,
City Clerk
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