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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Operations - 07/07/1998 OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES July 7, 1998 COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Judy Woods, Chair, Sandy Amodt, Tim Clark STAFF PRESENT: Brent McFall, Curt Lutz, John Hillman, Mike Sigsbee,Norm Angelo, Cheryl Viseth The meeting was called to order by Chairperson, Judy Woods Approval of Combined Check- Vouchers Dated 6/30/98 John Hillman, Assistant Finance Director, presented the vouchers to the Committee. Committee Member, Tim Clark, moved to approve the vouchers of 6/30/98 in the amount of$2,140,039.17. The motion carried with a vote of 3-0. US West Communications Contract Amendment for Pay Phones Lt. Curt Lutz, standing in for Capt. Chuck Miller, informed the Committee of the process to increase the commission from the inmate telephone service with US West to 30% of the total revenue on those phones. In addition, this process would involve getting new computer equipment at no cost to monitor the inmate phone calls. These phones are collect call phones inside the facility. Inmates call out collect and the City receives 30% from those calls. Council Member, Sandy Amodt made a motion to recommend authorization for the Mayor to sign the amended contract with US West Communications to increase the commission for the telephones used by the inmates. The motion was carried with a vote of 3-0. Gowe Street Office Lease Budget Change Request Parks Director, John Hodgson, presented to the Committee a proposal to lease the new office space property directly across the street from Centennial Building to house the probation and domestic violence programs, and the detective unit, particularly those detectives that are working on family violence issues. Mr. Hodgson stated that there would be a rent payment of$26,000 between September and December and also about$100,000 in build-out costs, of which the lessor will give a $60,000 allowance for tenant improvements, with the City picking up $40,000 in costs. In addition to that, there are costs of$100,000 for furniture, and $44,000 for data and telephone wiring. Money that has been budgeted for tenant improvement in the Centennial Center will cover some of these costs. The proposal is to have a 5 yr. Lease for a house and office. The Gowe street office would create opportunity for the programs to be housed in one location as well as move the detectives that handle those cases into that location as well. Committee Member, Tim Clark asked about security. Mr. Hodgson responded that it would be a secure facility in the sense that it would be police officer- housed and the access beyond the immediate lobby would be controlled. Tim Clark moved to recommend that the Mayor be authorized to lease the building at 407 W. Gowe St. for the family violence unit and establish an operating budget of$26,456 to pay rent from Sept. to Dec. 1998. The motion carried with a vote of 3-0 The Facilities Condition Assessment John Hodgson detailed the request for approval to enter into an agreement with Pack&Associates to perform a condition assessment of City facilities. In the CIT budget, $75,000 has been approved to allow the City to do physical assessments of all of the buildings. Mr. Hodgson stated that these buildings are from 10-40 years old, and it is time to look at the functionality of building facilities and get an assessment in order to better plan how to fund improvements. Major pieces of operation are at the end of their life cycle and there is no assessment of when they will break down or what can be done to give them more life. Mike Sigsbee commented that a search had been done for the group that would most meet the City's needs for this project, and Pack& Associates was the top candidate. The total amount of the proposal is $81,250 with a possible plus or minus range of 5%. $75,000 of this has already been approved. Sandy Amodt recommended authorization for the Mayor to sign the contract with Pack& Assoc. to perform the Facilities Condition Assessment. Motion carried by a vote of 3-0. The Budget Amendment and Position Authorization Fire Chief,Norm Angelo, reiterated how the City had chosen to support coverage of the Emergency Medical Services for the year1998 pending the solution of a new levy and alternate funding. Currently all the funding is generated from the total fire protection area that the City Fire Department serves which includes Fire District 37. However, all the funds come directly to the City of Kent. The Commissioner has felt that because of the positive relationship with the City, they also wanted to join in offsetting some of that impact and ensuring that the Emergency Medical Services continue at the same level. They proposed moving ahead with a position that would be hired later in the year in order to offset some one-time funds that would come to the city to help with EMS, and then to allow that delayed hiring to enable them to deliver some other services. This would meet the expectations and intent of Referendum 47, which is the raising above the 1 9 as an ongoing need for direct services to the district. The net result is that there would be about $200,000 that would go towards covering that half a year that will not be funded. That would leave approx. $39,000 to institute this position in the latter part of the year. In addition, the Commission has, out of their capital fund, purchased capital equipment and a vehicle and other things, and has put in additional funds besides that in order to meet the needs of this position and to deliver needed services. The pay level would be equivalent to an assistant fire marshal's position. Judy Woods stated that the motion should be modified to read the addition of the equivalent salary and benefits of the level of an assistant fire marshal. Chief Angelo stated that Assistant Fire Marshal would not be the position, but wording is framed with respect to responsibility and level of pay and benefits to give a reference point since the job description had not been finalized. Brent McFall explained that the fire district commissioners took very specific action to increase their tax level by the required super majority vote to go beyond that which would be allowed by Referendum 47 in order to provide more funding for the City for EMS. They felt an obligation to respond in such a way that would provide more funding to the City to help offset the temporary shortfall of the EMS funding from King County. In exchange for that, they had an ongoing need for some services in the district. Tim Clark moved that the Operations Committee recommend to the full City Council a budget amendment for the 1998 General Fund Budget in the amount of $39,000 for authorization of a position to be with salary and benefits equivalent to an Assistant Fire Marshal position effective July 1, 1998. The motion passed with a vote of 3-0. Financial Report for Period Ending 5/31/98 John Hillman explained the Financial Report for the period ending 5/31/98. Mr. Hillman stated that Public Works is swamped with some major projects going through. Chairperson, Judy Woods, expressed concern that adding staff is preferable to continuing to wear present staff out. Current staff cannot be expected to continue to function at that high level without some reprieve. Mr. Hillman stated that in the case of plan review and some inspections, a single family building permit could be more costly per unit than a major commercial or manufacturing structure. The unit itself is smaller, the permit fee is smaller, but there is still a certain base level of review that has to take place and so the cost per unit is relatively high. Mr. Hillman explained that the estimates from April on the General Fund had been revised. The current estimate is now$2.3 million over the original budget. A lot of that is due to sales tax, EMS, fines and forfeitures being down However, the City is still projecting collections of almost $950,000, which is $60,000 more than 1997. The capital improvement fund has pretty much remained unchanged. Golf operating revenues are up 17.4%but according to the projection, revenue is down. The golf course fund is the most immediate concern. The contractor has an obligation to meet his financial projections within 10%-20%. This will be reviewed in detail with the ultimate authority of the City that of terminating the contractor if he does not meet his obligations. The debt for the golf course is issued in the name of the City of Kent and the City is responsible to meet the payment The contract is supposed to produce sufficient revenues to cover the debt, but if that does not happen, the city still has to satisfy the debt. Last year the revenue was not sufficient to meet all the obligations, but there was a reserve fund that was used to meet the deficit. This year there is $285,313 for the interest. The contractor has a contractual obligation to the City, but is not responsible for the City's debt. The meeting was adjourned.