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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Operations Committee - 12/04/1996 OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES DECEMBER 4, 1996 COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Jon Johnson-Committee Chair, Jim Bennett, Leona Orr STAFF PRESENT: Ken Chatwin, Becky Fowler, Charlie Lindsey, Roger Lubovich, Brent McFall, May Miller, Kelli O'Donnell, Michael Sigsbee, Tom Vetsch, Sue Viseth, Margaret Yetter MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC: None. The meeting was called to order at 4:32 p.m. by Chairperson Johnson. Indigent Defense Counsel Contract Director of Operations Brent McFall stated that this is a renewal contract with the current provider and distributed a revised page noting the change would extend the proposed contract to two years. McFall stated that the previous contract set a limit of 15,000 cases a year for the set retainer with the allowance for additional charges on cases above the cap. The new contract raises the monthly fee to $16,500 regardless of the number of cases. He noted that the projection for extra cases for 1996 could be as high as $30,000; the new monthly fee will only cost $12,000 more annually which is much more reasonable than the charge for additional cases. City Attorney Roger Lubovich added that Stewart and Goss has not claimed the excess cases for 1996 that they could have billed. Committee Chair Johnson asked how the firm was selected. He was informed that an RFP process was done last year and the City has been pleased with the services received. Committeemember Orr questioned the mention of transition cases from Aukeen District Court. McFall noted that this would be for any lingering cases only. On then moved to recommend approval and authorization for the Mayor to sign a contract with Stewart and Goss P.S. for 1997 and 1998 indigent defense counsel services as amended. Committeemember Bennett seconded the motion which passed 3-0. Safety Awards Program Renewal - 1997 Risk Manager Ken Chatwin reviewed the proposed changes to the 1997 safety awards program. He noted that the program would be expanded to include health issues and local merchant gift certificates would be utilized as incentives. Committee Chair Johnson noted that comments from employees have been good for this program. Chatwin agreed noting that claims have remained under the 1993 level and this program allows the City to share the rewards with employees. Committeemember Bennett moved to recommend approval of the 1997 Safety Awards Program as proposed. Orr seconded the motion which passed 3-0. Workers' Compensation Claims Handling Contract Ken Chatwin reported that at this time he would not recommend going to an RFP process since he was very happy with the services of Scott Wetzel. He explained that a final contract has not been drawn up but a letter outlining the proposed changes was included in the agenda packet. He noted that the costs are the same as the previous contract except for the increase for medical and indemnity claims which is utilized for sound level checks, etc. Ken recommended that the city stay with Scott Wetzel as the third party administrator for 1997. Committeemember Orr moved to recommend approval of the contract with Scott Wetzel for workers' compensation claims administration with the fee schedule outlined. Bennett seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous in favor of the motion. Centennial Center Custodial Bid Facilities Manager Charlie Lindsey introduced the newly hired Assistant Facilities Manager Michael Sigsbee to the Committee. Finance Director May Miller stated that after conducting a bid process for custodial services at the Centennial Center it is recommended that the contract be awarded to the low bidder. Lindsey stated that the needs for custodial services were outlined in the bid documents and the low bidder was not the current vendor. The low bidder was a local contractor and references received high OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES, CONT. December A. 100 praise for the bidder. Miller added that extra services were added to the basic custodial services such as carpet cleaning. Orr asked if the contract was based on 100% occupancy of the building. Lindsey responded that the contractor will be paid based on what is actually cleaned. After further discussion, Bennett moved to recommend approval to award a three year Centennial custodial contract to the low bidder, Varsity Contractors, for $56,625.49 with authorization for the Mayor to sign the contract; Orr seconded the motion. Committee Chair Johnson called for a vote and the motion passed 3-0. Centennial Center Tenant Improvements May Miller distributed a memorandum summarizing the bids received for the project and reported that ten bids had been received,one of which was an electrical subcontractor and was eliminated. References were checked on the lowest accepted bid and no positive references were received so it is recommended that the contract be awarded to the second lowest bidder. Bennett asked if this would create any legal problems. McFall responded that he had talked with the City Attorney who believes that we have sufficient cause to go to the second bidder. McFall noted that he would not be surprised if a claim is filed. Bennett asked if references were required as part of the process. Lindsey noted that references were requested from the three low bidders and all of the references from the low bidder were quite negative. McFall added that in the bid specs the city had reserved the right to reject any and all bids. Orr moved to recommend that the bid be awarded to the second lowest bidder H & S Construction Inc., for $54,999.00 and that the Mayor be authorized to sign a contract for the work. Local Improvement District 345 Bona. Issue May Miller reported that the bonds have been sold with our new underwriter,Dain Bosworth. They were priced yesterday and it was the lowest price they have had since March. She stated how pleased she was with the rate and added that Joel Ing will be at the Council meeting. May distributed a proposed purchase contract which had been reviewed by the city's bond counsel and legal department and recommended approval of the ordinance and the signing of the purchase agreement with Dain Bosworth. Bennett moved to recommend approval of the bond ordinance related to the issuance of LID Bonds to fund street, water, and sewer improvements within LID 345, and authorize the Mayor to sign the Bond Purchase Agreement with Dain Bosworth, Inc. Orr seconded the motion which carried 3-0. Accounts Receivable Write-0�f May Miller stated that this is an annual housekeeping procedure to review accounts receivable and recommend those that should be removed from the books. The State Auditor asks that we do this once a year. She noted that in the miscellaneous accounts area$5,084.06 should be written off. She noted these are uncollectible. Bennett asked what the percentage is written off. Miller replied that the total of all accounts receivable is $1,884,777 so a write-off of$5,000 is pretty small. She complimented the staff for their follow through. The second part is related to the Court which has not had any receivables written off since we took it over. May continued that the parking violations were reviewed with the collection agency and it was determined that the 1992 and 1993 cases should be written off amounting to $10,563. We are leaving on the books 1994,1995, and 1996,Miller explained, and have changed collection agencies. She introduced Court Administrator Margaret Yetter to explain the remaining accounts collection program. Margaret reported that the Court has been working with Renton Collections since June and in five months over 6,000 cases have been sent to them. She stated that approximately $20,000 a month has been collected by them. Margaret stated that based on a five year plan, Renton Collection predicts a 75% collection rate. She recommended that we keep all of our cases with collections to give them the five years Page 2 OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES, CONT. DeCemL_ V A. 1 QQh to collect. She added that with traffic infractions after a five year period the hold on driver's licenses is removed. If the case is still with collections, the Court can go back and put the hold back on. Margaret reviewed the collection process with the Committee. During further discussion, McFall noted that the Court retains jurisdiction over the case for an extended period of time and in some cases the judge has given the defendant a year or more to pay the fine so the account is not actually delinquent. After further discussion Orr asked if the accounts are still collectible after they are written off. Miller responded that they are still collectible. Bennett moved to authorize write-offs of$5,084.06 of miscellaneous accounts receivable and$10,563.06 in parking citations. Budget Adjustment Ordinance for Adjustments Made Auer Tune 1 1996• H&CD .ine of Credit: May Miller stated that these are the adjustments made after the first of June. The June bond issue for the Centennial Building, Parks Land and Lagoon Project accounts for $35 million of the total. Of the remaining$8 million,the majority is capital projects. A small amount, $311,000,has not been previously _ approved. $200,000 is Metro revenue collected and paid to Metro the remainder is collections due to projects and internal service corrections. The last part is a line of credit for our Housing Community Development to cover year-end expenses until they are reimbursed by the County. There being no questions from the Committee, Orr moved to recommend approval of the budget adjustment ordinance for adjustments made after June 1, 1996 totaling $43,761,146; and,approve a line of credit in an amount not the exceed $150,000 to cover housing and community development costs at year end until they are reimbursed by King County. Reorganization of Mayor's Office McFall reported that the incumbent in the Government Affairs position has resigned as of the end of the year which has resulted in evaluation of the position for duties, and whether it should be restructured for for placement in the pay plan. Brent stated after conducting that review he is recommending some changes that will result in a substantial savings in a relatively small budget in comparison to the overall city. He noted that a couple of elements require Council approval while some of it does not. He proposed that the Government Affairs Manager position, as provided for in the budget, be continued and be primarily responsible for our intergovernmental relations and affairs -- monitoring and tracking legislation issues at King County. He noted the tremendous amount of work in needed in resolving county versus city issues. Duties would also include tracking issues at the state level. Governmental affairs would be the primary duty with secondary responsibility for sister city coordination and to work more and more to move the function to the community. The final responsibility would be public information types of activities. This would not be in the sense of a Public Information Officer, but rather someone with the time and expertise to respond to requests for information,to develop good information such as publications to make available to the media and other organizations such as AWC and NLC. He stated that after looking at the revised duties it would be appropriately be put at a level 41 in the pay plan which would save almost $31,000 on an annualized basis. One of the items requiring Council approval would be related to the Executive Assistant Position. At last year's retreat Council had requested support for the Council. Brent stated that after discussions with Council on how to accomplish this, he is recommending that one half time of the Mayor's Executive Assistant be dedicated to support of the Council. He proposed that half of the expense of the position would be transferred to the Council budget. He noted that this would be a transfer from one general fund account to another as a matter of bookkeeping. McFall stated that he does not anticipate a significant Page 3 OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES, CONT. DP.0em'ktl-r A 100 impact on the salary of the Executive Assistant but the normal review process would be followed. He continued that the Administrative Assistant II position in the office would take on some of the support functions now provided by the Executive Assistant and would also take on the supervisory function of the other portion of the proposal. He explained that out of the savings from the Government Affairs Manager position that a one half time receptionist position be created to allow the freedom to assign the Executive Assistant to Council and citizen affairs support by offering telephone support for routine calls. The net affect of this reorganization is an annual savings of just over$18,000. Brent stated that he felt this would be a prudent move by the City and address the needs that have been previously identified by the City Council. Based on increased efficiency and costs.savings he recommended the above to the Committee. Committeemember Bennett stated that this is quite a bit to absorb in one fell swoop. He suggested that since the retreat is just around the corner it might be better to take it there and discuss it. McFall noted that the only Council action would be the transfer of the Executive Assistant budget amount and the addition of a receptionist and agreed that it would be appropriate to look at the proposal at the retreat. Committeemember Orr stated that she found it interesting that we will get a person for almost$31,000 less than we have been paying for the last three years. She noted her amazement. Speaking of the Council support person, Orr noted she was not sure that a person of the Executive Assistant caliber was needed for their support. She agreed it should be looked at in the retreat and whether it should be half time was questionable. McFall noted that it may not be half time on a daily basis. Committee Chair Johnson asked how much time Jan and Kelli actually spend now on Council support. McFall replied that it probably approaches a half time position now although it has not been quantified in the past. Johnson asked if the Committee agreed that the proposal should be forwarded to the retreat. The Committee concurred. Johnson questioned the filling of the Government Affairs Manager position. McFall noted that it does not require Council action since it is in the budget and stated unless the Committee had a strong objection,he would proceed with hiring the position to be ready for the legislative session as soon as possible. The Committee agreed with filling the position. Committee Chair Johnson suggested that it would be appropriate to move that the item be tabled until after the retreat. Orr so moved and Bennett seconded with the motion passing by a vote of 3-0. Added Item - Saturday Market Loan May Miller stated that this is a housekeeping item. In July an interfund loan from the equipment rental fund to the parks capital project was set up when the building for the Saturday Market was purchased. At that time the amount of interest that was listed was at 7.25% . The internal interest rate at that time should have been 5.84%. She explained that normally for internal loans the interest rate of the state pool received for investments is used. May stated that the legal department did not feel it needed to go to the full Council but would like a motion to show that the interfund loan had been adjusted to the appropriate interest rate. Bennett asked if this gives the recipient any better deal than an outside agency. McFall explained that this is an internal loan as we currently own the property and do not have a purchase and sale agreement with the Downtown Partnership. After further discussion, Bennett moved to authorize the approval of the revised interest rate on the Saturday Market loan from 7.25%to 5.84%. Orr seconded the motion which passed 3-0. October Financial Report May Miller reported that she received the property tax information from the county on Monday. She reported that normally in a reevaluation year you would expect your property value to go up since it has Page 4 OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES, CONT. �eCem 4+, 1 OCh been two years since it has been assessed and owners have made improvements as well as land value going up. Miller stated that for the third year in a row property values decreased. No information is received other than one sheet with numbers. We had estimated it would be$5,100,000 and it came in at$4,800,000. May stated that she is working with other local cities to find out why the amount has gone down. She recommended that the levy already passed be left in place although we could raise it from 1.049 of LID to 1.06. A discussion of the shortage followed. McFall stated that cities are seeing a decreasing of commercial and industrial properties and an increase on residential resulting in a tax shift by the county. Miller stated that she will continue to work with other cities to try to appeal to the county or legislature. May reviewed page 15 of the October Financial Report with the Committee stating that November had a one time audit adjustment revenue amounting to $620,000. She noted that retail is up 12.3%, service is up 10%, contracting up 51%, with manufacturing mixed, and wholesaling up. She noted that the rest of the funds are coming in as budgeted. May asked if there were any questions on the report. December/Tanuary Meeting Schedule Committee Secretary Kelli O'Donnell stated that the December 18 Committee meeting would be before there is another Council Meeting and the January 1 meeting is on a holiday. McFall suggested that the meetings be cancelled unless a meeting is called by the Committee Chair. After further discussion, McFall asked if it would be possible to switch to the second and fourth Wednesday. He noted that the schedule creates a delay in getting the financial report to the Committee. Orr stated that it still would not work for her schedule. After further discussion, it was decided to leave the regular meeting schedule on the first and third Wednesday. There being no further the meeting was adjourned at 5:35 p.m. I Page 5