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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 06-14-2001APPROVED 12/312001 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION June 14, 2001 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Budget Work Session on Tuesday, June 14, 2001 at 7:30 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Stephen H. Halkiotis and Commissioners Margaret W. Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordan, and Barry Jacobs COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Manager Rod Visser, and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe {all other staff members will be identified appropriately below) NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. 1. INITIAL DISCUSSION OF CAPITAL FUNDING ISSUES a. Interim tone-Year) CIP County Manager John Link said that an earlier recommendation was to adopt aone-year plan because a number of the capital requests might be addressed through the bond referendum. This refers to the pay-as-you-go funding, which comes from sales tax for the most part. The County projects are listed on page three of the document entitled, Interim Capital Investment Plan. The projected funding is also listed for the next ten years. The projects for the two school systems are also listed. On June 25t", there will be project ordinances for the Board's consideration because some of the projects are time sensitive and cannot wait until August. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page 13 and the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund, and asked about the revenue side of this. She said that if this were approved, $24.5 million of revenue would be needed to offset this project. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page 15 and asked if the budgeted impact fees can be used far debt service for projects that have already been approved. She asked about "unfunded" projects on new elementary school #9 and said that she is not sure how large these funds are but she knows that we have allocated some planning money. She asked if money would be available for grading this summer. John Link said that he recommended to Superintendent Pederson that the Chapel Hill- Carrboro system take a look at the pay-as-you-go funding within its own capital improvement plan and advance the needed money for the grading. If the band referendum is passed, the money can then be replenished. Finance Director Ken Chaviaus said that the County could advance funds to the schools contingent upon the bond passing. If the bond does not pass, then the money would have to come out of pay-as-you-go funds. John Link said that there is not a pot of money that can be used as part of a project that is planned to be addressed in a bond issue. Chair Halkiotis expressed caution in assuming that the voters are going to pass a bond referendum because it sends the wrong message. John Link said that his recommendation would be that the County staff work with the school's staff to see what work on Elementary School #9 must be done prior to the bond referendum. Commissioner Gordon said that as the County moves forward, they need to make it clear to the public how the projects will be funded if the bond referendum fails. She said that the question is how to adapt the schools part in the CIP. With reference to the Orange County schools, she asked about the Hillsborough Elementary School renovations. She asked if this is the project on the bond or the original project. Budget Director Donna Dean said that the Hillsborough Elementary School renovation is nat the project on the band referendum but a previous project. John Link explained that the staff is proposing that the schools alsa have an interim one- year CIP. The Hillsborough Elementary School renovation project is not on the list because it was submitted before the bond committee ever started. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the Orange High School renovation project, which is 1.8 million and asked if this was a different renovation project from the $950,000. Donna Dean clarified that it was similar to the Hillsboraugh Elementary School project. The $1.1 million was funded in previous years. $550,000 will be put in this year from the 1997 bands. The $950,000 is separate and a part of the upcoming anticipated bond referendum in November. Donna Dean clarified that the Board of County Commissioners has appropriated $572,000 to date for elementary school #9 for Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Commissioner Brown asked about the upgrading of the multi-purpose room to a community gym, a CountylChapel Hill project. Superintendent Pedersen said that his position is that he is happy to cooperate with the County and the town to build a full size gym which will cost an additional $750,000. Chair Halkiotis said that if there is a perceived need for a gymnasium at the Meadowmont Elementary School, then somebody needs to write the Board of County Commissioners and let them know about that need. Commissioner Carey said that there has been some urgency for the Meadowmont gym. Steve Scroggs said that in the design of the building, they need to know what size gym they are talking about so that it can be included by the architect in order to move forward in a timely manner. Superintendent Pederson said that what he was trying to do was to learn from what happened at Scraggs Elementary, which was that after it was designed, the Tawn came forward and indicated that they needed additional gym space and asked that it be included. For Meadowmont, the gym was added as an option -multipurpose room or a full size gym. There are site implications and major design implications and this information was provided last fall. They were not advocating for a full size gym but providing the information if a decision is made to move forward. If they do not see the funding coming forward by June 30, 2001, they will move forward with a multipurpose room. He said that he does not feel that the Board of Education will allocate from their fund balance. John Link clarified that in order for the gym to happen, the expectation is for the County to come up with about $400,000 plus the $500,000 and this decision would need to be made in the next week. Commissioner Carey said that he is not sure he supports using the school's fund balance for a community gymnasium. If he was to invest taxpayers' money into a community gym, he would not put it at this location. Chair Halkiotis said that he would not vote to allocate another $500,000 when the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board has a fund balance of $3.9 million. He said that the County was very responsible in funding the schools. Commissioner Jacobs agreed that a gym should be more centrally located and not on the County line. He said that the County Commissioners were being asked to pay for more than half of the gym. The Town of Chapel Hill is short by $122,000 of paying for half of the gym. He also pointed out that the elementary school would control the gym part of the time and the Town would control it the rest of the time, although the County is expected to pay $400,000 for it. He also agrees about being careful in proceeding with the bond referendum. Commissioner Jacobs asked far clarification an adjusting the figures in the CIP after the bond referendum and if comments were in order now ar after the bond referendum. John Link said that after a decision is made on the bond referendum, then the other important projects that are not an the referendum would be addressed. He said that Orange Enterprises was a goad candidate for alternative financing and certificates of participation. The staff is recommending that this interim one-year plan be adopted and that the other projects either be addressed in the bond referendum or by other means. Commissioner Gordon noted that the County Commissioners would need additional time to talk about capital projects. She made reference to the gymnasium and said that the school system is not recommending that a gym be part of the school but that the Town of Chapel Hill is asking that this gym be built as part of the school. She does not agree that the school should have to pay far this addition for the Tawn. Chair Halkiotis asked about the livestock scales and the $55,000 that has been in the CIP for a number of years. He also requested a report an the loan poll. He asked to revisit some of the items listed in the CIP. He said that there are two County departments that bring in $2 million in revenue far the County each year -The Sheriff's Department and the Register of Deeds. He asked that the Sheriff keep the County Commissioners posted on what happens with the capital needs in the Sheriffs Department. He commended Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass on expert managing of the money given to his department. Chair Halkiotis asked Register of Deeds Joyce Pearson if she could manage with the Manager's recommended $48,000 even though she requested $150,000. He commended her for squeezing everything she could out of every dollar. He requested that the $55,000 in the livestock scales be allocated to the Register of Deeds office. Chair Halkiotis asked about the priority information on the technology initiatives. Assistant County Manager Rad Visser said that they were continuing with the four-year replacement cycle far desktop systems. He said that savings of about $75,000-80,000 could be achieved if an order was received by June 30t" because Gateway is having a "fire" sale. Other priorities include legacy software replacement and other software replacement. Chair Halkiotis said that Clerk to the Board Beverly Blythe had come up with a new idea where the County can save a significant amount of money in updating the County's website. He suggested that he and Commissioner Brown could work on it and bring something back to the Board. Commissioner Brown made reference to the $572,000 for planning elementary school #9 and asked to see the plans for the school. She agreed that no assumptions should be made in reference to the bond issue. She thinks we should be very sensitive and respect the public's understanding of the bond referendum. She said that she understands that the County Commissioners endorsed aone-story plan but she does not remember endorsing such a plan. She feels that this is a terrible site for a school and that there will be a lot of problems in years down the road. We need to be sure that school sites in the future meet certain standards before being purchased or accepted. John Link explained that on June 25t", the County Commissioners would have the actual project ordinances as listed on page three. b. BOCC Discussion on Potential Protects to be Included in the November 2001 Bond Referendum and Related Tax Rate Impact Rad Visser made reference to the Capital Needs Task Force {CNTF) report. He suggested preliminary discussion on the items for the November bond referendum. Page six has the recommendations from the CNTF. Commissioner Brown made reference to the joint parks project and asked that staff generate some language about the Chapel Hill Greenway Development and that we ask that it be a joint effort between Chapel Hill and the County that would specifically address connectors befinreen Carrboro/Chapel Hill and our rustic trail system that will begin right outside of the city limits. Commissioner Jacobs asked what policies are already in place that address issues of matching funds between jurisdictions for projects. He asked to see a framework of what the County Commissioners have already decided about the standards. Commissioner Brawn made reference to the southern park and asked if this would fulfill the need in Carrboro for another district park in the southern end of the County. Commissioner Carey made reference to the School Facilities Task Force Report. He feels we need to integrate this into the CNTF. Commissioner Jacobs said that he would like to reduce this recommendation from $85 million to $75 million. He feels this needs to be put into the framework of what the County can afford. He also asked to see the phase II plan of the Efland Cheeks Park. Commissioner Gordon asked if we could get the school population projections back by June 18th. Donna Dean does have parts of these done. Commissioner Gordon feels the projections are needed before looking at the schools needed by bath systems. Chair Halkiatis said that he has researched state projections and will send this information to the County Commissioners. He made reference to an article in the Chapel Hill News about school enrollment projections, which he will distribute. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the renovation money that is proposed in the bond referendum and asked for a detailed list of what these renovations will include. She made reference to the senior centers and said that the Master Aging Plan recommended 25,000 square feet for one and 15,000 square feet for the other. She asked if the MAP was discussed by the CNTF and why the recommendation was 15,000 square feet for each. John Link said that he recommended to the CNTF that an amount be placed in the bond referendum that we are confident that it will absolutely cast that much for both centers. Ta the extent that other funds are needed, certificates of participation can be used. Commissioner Jacobs asked John Link to explain to the public why bonds are the preferable strategy for generating funds. John Link said that the reason we have bands is so that generations to came will bear some of the burden of the facilities that are going to last 50-60 years. Chair Halkiatis said that there would be opponents to the bond referendum. Commissioner Gordon noted that because of the County's band rating, the interest rates would be fairly low and Ken Chavious confirmed this. Commissioner Brown asked for a list of renovations far each school and the money put into each school. c. Review of Bond Timetable Commissioner Carey asked for clarification on the County's debt capacity. Rod Visser said that the statutory capacity was 8°~ of the assessed value. The County has nowhere near this amount of debt. The debt management policy that was adopted a few years ago is that the County will strive to keep the annual debt service payments at no more than 15°~6 of the County general fund expenditures. John Link asked Rod Visser and Ken Chavious to give the Board a copy of the debt impact of the bond referendum and other financing needs. d. CIP revenue Sources (including bond funds, alternative financing mechanisms, school impact fee, pay-as-you-go funds Commissioner Gordon made reference to the various revenue sources and said that she would like to see an analysis of how much impact fee revenue can be used in order to decrease the bond referendum. This is only possible if the impact fee is increased because the current impact fee revenue is already included in the CIP. e. This item was delayed until the next CIP discussion. 2. COUNTY DEPARTMENT FOCUS ~ exceptionl Clerk to the Board Beverly Blythe will provide a proposal far the organization of her office to the Board. General Administration John Link said that the budgets of the Budget office, Finance, Purchasing, Rent and Insurance, and Information Systems are reflective of maintaining the present service delivery. Pam Jones said that the increase in Central Services is made up of an increase in insurance and in professional services. She usually puts in $150,000 for attorney fees, but this year she put in $200,000. A lot of the attorney fee increase has to do with the Blue CrosslBlue Shield claim. Board of Elections Commissioner Jacobs asked about a district tax and the cost for opening the polls. It was answered that it would cost approximately $55,000. Community Planning Budget Director Donna Dean said that there was an increase in hours included in the Arts Commission budget for the Director's position. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the Visitors Bureau's budget and $59,000 in operations. Pam Jones said that this increase is to cover rent and renovation for new space. Commissioner Brown made reference to the Arts Commission and asked about the justification for the increase in hours for the Arts Director. This is included in the position information that was received in May. Human Services John Link noted that Cooperative Extension, Human Rights and Relations, the library, and Child Support are providing services at the same level this coming year without new positions. He has also recommended $93,000 more for Mental Health. In answer to a question from Commissioner Gordon, Human Rights and Relations Director Annette Moore said that they have been reducing the case inventory because they wanted to move away from being just an enforcement agency and reducing the level of incidents that occur. The Commission for Warren is still receiving staff support. Commissioner Gordon reinforced that the Commission for Women should be supported to the highest level possible from the Human Rights and Relations Department. She would like to see the Commission far Warren move to advocacy. Commissioner Carey agreed with moving to advocacy and trying to prevent problems by being proactive. Commissioner Gordon asked how much of the budget would be allocated for the Commission for Women and Annette Moore said that there is a line item of $5,000 for the Commission for Women for administrative support. Commissioner Brown asked for a specific breakdown on haw the $5,000 was spent. Commissioner Brown made reference to the goals set by the Commission for Women and suggested that they work with other agencies in County government so that so much time is not spent in getting information that is readily available. Commissioner Jacobs verified with Annette Moore that there was an ESL employee that could answer calls from non-English speaking citizens. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the history of the Commission far Women in working on employment equity. She would like the Commission for Women to work on this again. Commissioner Brown made reference to the history of the living wage and how Orange County has dealt with it. She hopes that the Commission for Women will use County government as an example. Donna Dean said that the operational increases in personal health are primarily due to increases in pharmaceutical costs and a need to implement a 'needleless' system to meet OSHA requirements. There is also an increase in the professional contract line item. Regarding Environmental Health, most of the operational increases are due to the two new positions, which are being requested. Regarding Animal Control, Commissioner Jacobs would like to see us have a more proactive approach to get all the animals licensed in the County. He would like to see an outreach program to plan to educate the citizens and also increase the spaytneuter rate. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page 7-84 and said that he would like to see some kind of estimate of costs far phasing in the Carrboro "Cybrary". He made reference to the fact that Orange County's library funding is less than half of the state average. He would like to see same of the "cybrary" service implemented far the people in northern Orange County. 3. Other Maior Budget, Policy, Operational Issues a. Follow-up on New Staff Resources Discussion of May 14 b. Changes in Existing Positions e. Recommended Fee Changes (Planning. Health. EMS1 d. Jail Health Services Proposal Sheriff Pendergrass said that Orange County was the largest provider for the U. S. Marshall Service in the middle district (Greensboro, Forsyth, Orange, and Durham). The contract on a daily basis is around 70 federal inmates. This is the only facility in the middle district that houses federal inmates that does not have a health plan with an existing registered nurse practitioner on site to screen inmates, diagnose problems, and dispense medications. Health Director Rosemary Summers said that her department tried to come up with the most cast efficient way to meet the standards for health services in a jail. The proposal is for a full-time nurse practitioner from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and ahalf-time permanent registered nurse for evenings and weekends. The nurse practitioner will also help manage the outsource contracts far x-ray services, dental services, etc. Sheriff Pendergrass said that he has been working with the Marshall to obtain an increase in funds to cover this service. The nurse practitioner and the registered nurse will be working under the Health Department and assigned to the jail. e. Public Works HVAC John Link said that the revised recommendation is to go ahead with installation of a variable air volume system with gas boilers and an air-cooled water chiller at Whitted and to do additional search and analysis for the options for the Northern Human Services Center and then solicit RFP for design services for the Whitted HVAC system. Chair Halkiotis spoke about using alternative energy at the Northern Human Services Center and asked that staff try and do something creative. He supports an upgraded HVAC system at the Whitted Center. Public Works Director Wilbert McAdoo said that the staff was asking to move ahead with the design work for the system at Whitted and to work on the Northern building as Chair Halkiotis suggested. He made reference to the New HVAC Systems Simple Payback and said that there was a savings of about $44,000 a year in energy costs for the new system versus the existing system at the Whitted Center. The anticipated investment to keep the exiting system working for the next 10 years would be approximately $463,500. The new system would provide improved air quality, improved comfort levels, flexibility to change the space use, increased reliability, individual zone control, cast-effective operations, and the ability to monitor the system from off site. Chair Halkiotis pointed out that all of the existing ductwork would be replaced. The staff is asking for approval to do an RFP for design services for the new HVAC system at the Whitted Center. Commissianer Jacobs made reference to the space needs study and said that one option was to add space at the Whiffed Center. This analysis does not include the possibility of any additions to the Whitted Center. Chair Halkiotis suggested speaking with the engineers and the passibility of incorporating an additional 40,000 square feet into the HUAC system analysis. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Carey to approve the recommended HVAC system for the Whitted building, and approve release of Request for Proposal documents to solicit proposals for the Whitted HVAC system design from qualified HUAC system design firms. This includes the possibility of an additional 40,000 square feet at the Whitted building. VOTE: UNANIMOUS f. Public Safety Communication Study Rod Visser said that the first phase of this is a needs assessment and short-term fixes that can be applied. Amore detailed set of solutions will be forthcoming in about one year. EMS Director Nick Waters said that a needs assessment is needed before an expansion of the communication system can happen in the future. Needs assessment is the first part of this project and laying the framework for upgrading our system is the second part of this project. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to recommendation #4 and verified that the RFP for phase II would not be awarded until after phase I is completed. Commissianer Jacobs would like to know when phase I is almost finished so that there can be some coordination with the Planning Director so that, if there is going to be a telecommunications tower study, it can be accomplished before phase II. Commissioner Carey asked about the cast for phase II and Nick Waters said that the figures are estimated at this point. A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Jacabs ta: 1) Award Phase I to CTA of Lynchburg, Virginia in the amount of $57,236; and 2} Approve a contract pursuant to the terms of the RFP contingent upon Attorney and Staff review; and 3) Authorize the Chair to sign on behalf of the Board; and 4} Award Phase II of the RFP to CTA of Lynchburg, Virginia, contingent upon sufficient funds being made available by the public safety agencies affected by the study. Phase I will be reviewed by the Board of County Commissioners and coordination of the start of Phase II with a possible telecommunication tower study will be undertaken under the lead of the Orange County Planning Department. VOTE: UNANIMOUS g_ Replacement of GountV Mainframe Legacy 5ottware {business) System Director of Purchasing and Central Services Pam Jones made this presentation. She said that the County Commissioners approved, in February, a contract for Summit Business Solutions to do a needs analysis. The computers are 20 years old. The business consultant found five areas that were severely lacking in the existing business system. The system is not integrated (data is keyed in multiple times}, the software is antiquated, there is missing functionality, there is insufficient reporting capabilities, and transactions are only posted once a day. The new system would incorporate all of these factors. The staff is suggesting as part of the action that the Board allow an extension of the contract with Summit Business Systems to help with the RFP and the selection process. The staff is also asking that the Board allow solicitation of RFPs for the replacement software. The Information Technology Committee has been involved in this process. A matian was made by Commissioner Gordon, secanded by Commissioner Jacobs ta: 1} Authorize the Purchasing Director to carry out the solicitation of Requests for Proposals to acquire business system software for the county; and 2} Extend the contract with Summit Business Solutions through the selection process at a cast not to exceed $30,000; and 3) Authorize the Purchasing Director to execute the associated paperwork. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 4. LETTER OF SUPPORT -ORANGE COUNTY PARTNERSHIP FOR YOUNG CHILDREN A motion was made by Cammissianer Brown, seconded by Cammissianer Jacobs to approve the letter of support for Orange County Partnership for Young Children, which is incorporated herein by reference. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 5. ADJOURNMENT With no further items for the County Commissioners to consider, a motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Carey to adjourn this meeting at 10:40 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS The next Board of County Commissioners' meeting will take place at 6:00 p.m. on June 18, 2001 at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Stephen H. Halkiotis, Chair Beverly A. Blythe, CMC