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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20020611APPROVED 1011!02 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION June 11, 2002 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a budget work session on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 7:30 p.m. in the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs and Commissioners Margaret W. Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordon and Stephen H. Halkiotis (arrived at 8:25 p.m.} COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Sean Borhanian COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Manager Rad 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. ALL RECORDINGS OF THE MEETING WILL BE KEPT FOR 5 YEARS. 1. CHAIR REVIEW OF SCHEDULE AND TOPICS Chair Jacobs added a resolution to the agenda "Declaring June 11, 2002 as Reverend John R. Manley Day." Commissioner Carey said that Reverend Manley has been a stellar performer in human service volunteerism in Orange County over the years. He said that this is an opportunity for us to honor someone while they are still living and able to appreciate it. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Brown to approve and authorize the Chair to sign the resolution as stated below: RESOLUTION FOR REV. JOHN R. MANLEY DAY WHEREAS, Rev. John R. Manley has been a minister and public servant in Orange County for over fifty years, and WHEREAS, Rev. John R. Manley is a devoted father, husband and minister at First Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, and WHEREAS, Rev. John R. Manley has pastored First Baptist Church for more than 50 years and simultaneously pastored Hickory Grove Baptist Church for more than 40 years, and WHEREAS, he still found the time to serve on the Chapel Hill-Carrbora City School Board to help steer the board through the difficult time of desegregation, and WHEREAS, Rev. Manley has volunteered his time in service to the community in various capacities over the years to help improve race relations and the quality of life for those most in need, and WHEREAS, Rev. Manley has more recently accepted the challenge of providing mare affordable housing in the community for those in need, and WHEREAS, Rev. Manley worked tirelessly over the last three years to seek support at the local, state and federal levels to finance the First Baptist and Manley Estates housing project to house low income and elderly residents, and WHEREAS, through his hard work and leadership, this project opened its doors to accept residents in March 2002 and is presently fully occupied, and WHEREAS, First Baptist and Manley Estates will help to meet the affordable housing needs of this community for many years to come and to serve as a fitting legacy to the humanitarian gifts that Rev. John R. Manley gave to this community, NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of Commissioners does hereby declare June 15, 2002 as REV. JOHN R. MANLEY DAY in Orange County and asks the entire community to observe this day in gratitude and honor for the work and legacy of Rev. John R. Manley. This the 11t" day of June, 2002 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 2. REGULATED RECYCLABLE MATERIALS ORDINANCE -POSITIONS, EQUIPMENT AND ORDINANCE AMENDMENT Commissioner Brown asked if there is a way of evaluating what will be accomplished from year to year. Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson said that the primary outcome will be a reduction of what is buried at the C&D landfill. The materials that are taken to market are weighed and measured, so very detailed records will be kept. Chair Jacobs said that the County Commissioners can ask that the Solid Waste Advisory Board also track this with a report to the public. A motion was made by Commissioner Brown, seconded by Commissioner Carey to: Approve the establishment of three new full-time permanent positions to support the Regulated Recyclable Materials Ordinance and associated operations as follows: • Solid Waste Materials Transfer Operator at Grade 63 Landfill Inspector at Grade 63 Administrative Assistant II at Grade 62 2. Amend the Orange County Classification and Pay Plan to add the new class of Solid Waste Materials Transfer Operator at Salary Grade 63. 3. Award bids for equipment as follows, and authorize the Purchasing Director to execute the appropriate paperwork: • Horizontal Grinder -Pioneer Machinery LLC of Sanford, North Carolina in the amount of $501,382.76 • Trammel Screen -Screening & Shredding Systems of Winston Salem, North Carolina at a delivered cost of $132,210 • Live Floor Trailer - Canam Steel Corporation of Paint of Rock, Maryland at a delivered cost of $46,872 • Crawler Loader -Gregory Poole of Raleigh, North Carolina at a delivered cast of $204,803 • Stacking Conveyor - Powerscreen Mid-Atlantic at a delivered cost of $29,447 4. Authorize the Finance Director to negotiate equipment financing arrangements with a local financial institution based on terms of 3.75% interest and a 59-month payback period, and to execute all necessary financing documents. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Brown to approve and authorize the Chair to sign the resolution as stated below amending the Regulated Recyclable Materials Ordinance: RESOLUTION TO AMEND THE ORDINANCE REGULATING RECYCLABLE MATERIALS AND LICENSING THE COLLECTION OF REGULATED RECYCLABLE MATERIAL IN ORANGE COUNTY WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners of Orange County has received the recommendation of the Solid Waste staff and the County Manager to amend The Ordinance Regulating Recyclable Materials and Licensing the Collection of Regulated Recyclable Material in Orange County {hereafter "the Ordinance"). NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Orange County Commissioners that: Section 1. The Ordinance is hereby amended as indicated on Exhibit A to this Resolution, deleting from the Ordinance those portions of it that are shown an Exhibit A with a strikethrough and adding to the Ordinance those portions of it that are shown on Exhibit A in bold and underlined. Section 2. This Resolution shall take effect immediately upon its passage. This, the 11t" day of June 2002. VOTE: UNANIMOUS These amendments will: a) change the effective date from July 1, 2002 to October 1, 2002; b} change the period of validity for the Recyclable Material Permit from one year to be coexistent with that of the associated Building Permit; and c} provide for the establishment of an application fee for Certification as a Commingled Recyclable Facility. Commissioner Gordon mentioned that in this material, the staff painted out that Orange County has done very well in terms of reductions in comparison to statewide where there has actually been an increase. Assistant County Manager Rod Visser said that during the past couple of weeks the Purchasing and Solid Waste Departments have been working together to put requests out for bids for the facilities that need to be constructed to handle the materials. They will be bringing this item back to the Board on June 27tH Only two bids have been received so far. Chair Jacobs announced that he signed the proclamation today "Providing for the Conservation of Water During a Water Shortage Restricting the Use of Water and Water Withdrawals and Allocating Augmented Stream Flow from Reservoirs" due to the water shortage in the northern part of the County. So that there is a written record of this action, the proclamation is stated below: PUBLIC PROCLAlVIATION REGARDING L?SE OF WATER OBTAINED FROM THE PUBLIC ~~'ATER SYSTEM SUPPLIED BY THE ORANGE-ALAhL~NCE WATER SYSTEM, INC. AND THE TO~'~~1V OF HILLSBOROUGH AND FROM ANY RAW V~TATER SUPPLY WITHIN ORANGE COUNTY USED BY THE ORANGE-ALANiANCE WATER SYSTEM, INC. AND THE TOWN OF HILLSBOROUGH Pursuant to the provisions of the ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE CONSERVATION OF WATER DURING A ~~VATER SHORTAGE, RESTRICTING THE USE OF WATER AND WATER Vt~TTHDRAWALS, AND ALLOCATING AUGMENTED STRE.4IVIFLO~V FRONT RESERVOIRS, I, Barry Jacobs., Chair of the Board of County Commissioners, having been provided with information that the water level of Lake Orange is more than two feet below full, do hereby issue this PUBLIC PROCLAMATION declaring to all persons that a stage II water shortage ALERT is now in effect applicable to users of water from the public water system supplied by the Orange Alamance Water System, Inc. and Town of Hillsborough and from any raw water supply within Orange County used by the Orange-Alamance Water System, Inc. and the Town of Hillsborough. The following voluntary water conservation measures are now applicable: 1. Use shower for bathing rather than bathtub and limit shower to no more than four (4) minutes. 2. Limit flushing of toilets by multiple usage. 3. Do not leave faucets running while shaving or rinsing dishes. 4. Limit use of clothes washers and dishwashers and when used, operate fully loaded. 5. Limit lawn watering to that which is necessary for plants to sun, ive. 6. ~~'ater shrubbery the minimum required, reusing household water when possible. 7. Limit car washing to the minimum. 8. Do not wash down outside areas such as sidewalks, patios, etc. 9. Install water flow restrictive devices in shower heads. 10. Use disposable and biodegradable dishes. 11. Install water saving devices such as bricks, plastic bottles or commercial units in toilet tanks. 12. Limit hours of operation ofwater-coaled air conditioners. This proclamation, and the voluntary conservation restrictions imposed pursuant to it, shall be in effect until the Ordinance entitled "AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE CONSERVATION OF WATER DITRING A WATER SHORTAGE, RESTRICTING THE USE OF ~~VATER WITHDRAWALS, AND ALLOCATING AUGMENTED STREAMFLOW FROM RESERVOIRS" is amended or repealed or until the Chair by Public Proclamation, declares that the Stage II Water Shortage ALERT is over. By order of Barry Jacobs, Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, issued this 1 lth day of Tune, 2002. 3. COUNTY OPERATING AND CAPITAL BUDGET MATTERS a. Manager's Overview of Major Budget, Policy, and Operational Issues Proposed for Review at this Work Session John Link said that his suggestion is that the County Commissioners take into account the environment that we are in as we go through this budget deliberation process. He said that we can address our budget challenges for this year through an appropriate tax increase, through a solid fund balance, through cutting certain programs, or through delaying and deferring certain capital projects. He said that it is possible that the additional 'l cent sales tax could be implemented as soon as August 15t. He said that the County Commissioners must establish the tax rates for the County, the school district, and the fire districts; the per pupil amount for current expense; the recurring capital amount for schools; and accept the County fee schedule including solid waste. There are same recommendations of postponing some capital projects. But the ones that are postponed this year have to be dealt with in the future. He said that the $3.1 million savings proposed at the work session in May presumes a suspension of the policy that a certain amount of capital funds that go to the schools be withheld for the coming year. Commissioner Gordon said that her recollection of the November 2001 voter-approved bonds and alternative financing plan was that the County Commissioners did not confirm the plan in April. Her recollection is that we confirmed that we would not have any bond sales until January 2003. Chair Jacobs said that one point that is very germane to this discussion is that we have already laid out aseven-cent tax increase over the next five to seven years for bands. He said that we do not want to back off on those projects that the voters have approved. The other thing is that we also have to consider that there is a good chance we will have a republican legislature, which means that we will have even more cuts. b. Hiring Freeze Option Personnel Director Elaine Holmes explained the hiring freeze option as acost-saving option for FY 2002-03. This has not been done previously. The freeze could achieve some significant cost savings. budget. Commissioner Carey verified that this was a further reduction from the Manager's recommended Elaine Holmes said that the freeze would be in effect from July 1, 2002 through June 30, 2003. It would apply to positions that are vacant as of July 1St and to positions that become vacant during the fiscal year. It is a rolling freeze depending on when a position becomes vacant. The freeze would apply to positions paid from the general fund and would not apply to positions paid from non-general fund sources, such as the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund. Positions designated as critical could be filled. The freeze process would provide latitude for the Manager to make determinations that positions need to be designated as critical. The cost savings are based on same assumptions. The assumptions are that the turnover rate continues at 10°l0, 90°fo of turnover is in general fund positions, one third of vacancies are critical and two thirds are non-critical, and the average salary of vacancies is about $33,000. Assuming the freeze ends, there would be new revenue in 2003-04 to continue the current budget. There could be service impacts as a result of the freeze because services may be slower or less timely. It also may impact morale and turnover through increased stress and workloads. NOTE: Commissioner Halkiotis arrived at this point in the agenda. Chair Jacobs said that he would like to know the lapsed salary amount for the critical positions. He said that we should state that this has nothing to do with school positions, but only County positions. Commissioner Carey said that if we do this we will have to keep a close eye on the Department of Social Services because there will be an increasing number of people that need help because of the many layoffs. This will increase the employee turnover rate because of the stress. Commissioner Brown does not support a hiring freeze. She feels that the County will regret a freeze because we will run into some serious problems in maintaining services. Commissioner Carey said that he would consider a hiring freeze, but he just wanted to raise his concerns. He does not think it should be established for an entire year. Chair Jacobs said that a key component of this is the item on page two about the Manager being diligent in designating other positions as critical for the operation of the County. He said that we may want to talk about some guidelines so that we are sure that certain areas are addressed. We do not want to diminish services in critical areas that would tend to mirror what the State is doing to us. c. County's Capital Investment Plan Discussion of possible suspension of certain aspects of County Capital Funding Policy {particularly with regard to pay-as-you-go funding sources). John Link made reference to the County's adopted funding policy for capital improvements. Intangible and inventory tax would in fact suspend the allocation formula spoken to on page two of the policy, which describes how sales tax funding is distributed between the County and the school systems. Budget Director Donna Dean said that the largest revenue source for the CIP is the '/ cent sales tax and the dedicated property tax. The County Commissioners can choose to postpone certain capital projects for next year that are paid for with pay-as-you-go funding. She made reference to the document that identifies some of the projects that the County Commissioners may postpone. Commissioner Gordon asked how much money it would be if the County postponed their contribution of 213 of a penny dedicated to County capital projects. It was answered that 213 of a penny is $619,000. There was a discrepancy on the document. Commissioner Gordan said that she did not realize that this involved suspending the policy. Commissioner Carey clarified that suspension means we are just delaying the projects until we can find the money. He asked why some items were starred. Donna Dean explained that the ones that are not starred are the items that are capital items. The starred items are not County capital related. Commissioner Gordon said that she talked with Donna Dean today about the relationship between the potential deferral of County capital projects and the other projects. She said that the budget listed all the items from any source that were not encumbered for this current year or that were proposed for funding in fiscal year 2002-03 but not listed in Section 1. She recommended going through the Section 1 and Section 2 items to determine what could be delayed. Chair Jacobs made reference to the $200,000 for equipment and vehicle replacement and asked if it was different than the $811,000. Donna Dean explained that the $200,000 indicates funds that have been allocated for equipment and vehicles over the past few years where we have had a savings or where a vehicle purchase has been postponed. It is separate from the $811,000. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to the unspent funds from prior year appropriation and asked where the $200,000 was right now. Donna Dean said that it is in a County capital project. Chair Jacobs said that he tends to support ashort-term hiring freeze. However, if the Board voted not to do that, there would be another $740,000 to make up for a lower tax rate. Chair Jacobs made reference to same items that were not on the list of things to cut -card filing equipment for the Board of Election, Department of Social Services shelves, presentation system, and multilingual signage at the Government Services Center. Before he votes on a list, he wants to make sure it is a complete list. Rod Visser said that in the operational budget certain amounts of money do not meet the thresholds of being in the CIP. He said that each of these items is budgeted within a department's operating budget under the capital section. Donna Dean said that the DSS shelves were approved as an agenda item with current year operational funds. The presentation system is also included in the operational funds. Appendix H outlines some of the operational issues. John Link made reference to decisions that need to be made. He said that in order to offset the $3.1 million loss that is anticipated from the State, these cuts need to be executed or some other replacement found in order to balance the budget at a 4.5-cent tax increase. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to the personal computer replacements for one year and asked if the plan is to continue the cycle for next year. Rad Visser said that the CIP already eliminated the major computer replacement cycle for this coming year. There will only be spot replacements. Rod Visser mentioned that the recommended CIP has an allocation of $400,000 for various IT items. The IT Committee has looked at this and additional cuts could be made. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to the delay of other County capital projects for one year for a total of $163,000 and asked if there are other items that could be identified. Donna Dean said that a list is on page four of the pink sheet that was distributed earlier this evening. The Board discussed those items that could be deferred, but for which more information is needed. Regarding Recreation center park improvements, Donna Dean said that these are funds that have been expended for walking trails or to improve playgrounds, etc. Regarding Justice Facilities, $625,000 has been set aside for this project. The $589,000 is the amount that has not been expended so far. Commissioner Halkiotis noted that in many school systems nationwide, carpet replacement and installation has declined by about 35%. Orange County has adapted a policy to not replace carpet and install a more earth-friendly tile. Carpet is too prone to airborne quality issues. He would like to study carpet replacement issues in County government. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about building safety and what the $74,000 involves other than fire and security alarms. Commissioner Gordon made reference to Orange Enterprises and said that she feels the County is committed to doing this project. The staff will bring back more information on the list of projects that can be deferred. Commissioner Gordon said that she does not have a problem with postponing contribution of the amount of money that 2/3 would raise, {i.e., $619,455}, but she thinks it is too bad that these certain projects that happen to be funded by that source are the ones targeted far the cuts. If we are going to target $3.1 million, she would like to open up both Section 1 and Section 2 as possibilities and not just focus on the ones that just happen to have as their funding stream the 2/3 penny. She would prefer expanding it to all of the pay-as-you-go projects. Discussion of November 2001 voter approved bonds and alternative financing plan discussed by Board of County Commissioners in April 2002: Chair Jacobs said that the Board asked for more information on the addition to the Board of Education Building for OCS using alternative financing. Rod Visser said that we received same information several months ago from the Superintendent. He will try and find these documents before the meeting with the school boards. Commissioner Gordon said that it seems that what is in doubt is in the details. There is no doubt about the project - to add more student seats at Hillsborough Elementary and move the administration building to the newly constructed facility. Her question is why would they want to add more seats since there is a surplus of elementary school seats in the Orange County Schools. Chair Jacobs made reference to senior centers and asked how we were determining that one senior center is all bond money and one senior center is 213 alternative financing. He said that it might be the perception that one is being given more weight than the other. He thinks that we have bent over backwards to say that we are treating the central part of the County just the same as the southern part. He thinks that this should be reflected. Chair Jacobs asked about the July 2004 alternative financing and the $3.7 million for CHCCS. Donna Dean said that the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board identified $11.1 million in unmet capital needs. The $3.7 million is staggered over a period of three years to make up that $11.1 million. Some of it is related to the new high school. The staff will provide a breakout of these projects. Lands Legacy: Chair Jacobs made reference to money for Lands Legacy and said that several County Commissioners have talked about wanting to move some of the monies forward. Environment and Resource Conservation Director David Stancil said that there is a lot going on, process wise, with the parks. He made reference to the annual action plan that they will do after they know the funding for FY 2002-03. He made reference to the memorandum (red document) and the three bullets. The first piece speaks to the County-only park projects, which is the Park Facility Planning process. Secondly, there is the Planning Process far Joint Town and County Parks and Open Space Projects. This is being reviewed by the Intergovernmental Parks Work Group. The IP Work Group will return a recommended process in October. The third part is the annual action plan. Chair Jacobs asked if David Stancil will have a recommendation on how to spend the Lands Legacy monies in terms of a capital investment plan. David Stancil said that he could provide this information. The Board talked about sending a standard "thank you" to the jurisdictions for their letters Justice Facilities: John Link said that the staff needs clarification of the assumptions that were made in the memorandum and also clarification of change to the timeline that is assumed. Purchasing and Central Services Director Pam Jones spoke about the assumptions. The assumptions are that the justice facilities downtown would be developed only to the extent that a parking deck would not be needed, the Sheriff's office will remain intact, and the Government Services building will not be expanded (if at all, it would include only surface parking}. The architect selection process could be delayed by six months which means that expenditure of planning funds would not be required until 2003- 2004. If the Sheriff's office is put in the justice facilities building, it is going to take about half of the space and will minimize what can be done in phase I for the courts. The Sheriff is not opposed to adding on to his existing building. The decision points are to confirm the assumptions, define the acceptable time table, and state interest in leaving the Sheriff's Department at its present location and expanding the existing building. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he is concerned about the potential reuse of the Sheriff's Department. He is puzzled as to why this came up so late in the process. Pam Jones said that since the Government Services expansion was pulled off, it leaves them with the issue of what to do with the building. He said that the County Commissioners have not had a discussion with what functions would be at the Government Services Center if it were expanded and where to put all of the vehicles. Commissioner Brown would like to postpone this for a period of time and regroup to get some more ideas about it. She said that everybody has worked on this project and what would be included except for her. She wonders if we would want to take into consideration possibly combining some of the mental health issues with the court system. In the future, she feels we will not be looking at a conventional project. Commissioner Gordon asked how the addition to the Sheriff's building would be financed. Pam Jones said that this is an option to look at on reuse of the building. If the County Commissioners express an interest, the staff will come back with a financing plan. Chair Jacobs said that at this point we are not aware of everything that was included in phase I. None of the County Commissioners thought that the Sheriff's building would be expanded. He has no problem with the operating assumptions, but he thinks we need to look at the timing. He said that there is still an interest with the justice facilities in the old post office in downtown Chapel Hill. Commissioner Carey said that we should agree with the assumptions outlined by Pam Jones. He asked how much of the $500,000 would be saved if they decided to start the process in January instead of August. Pam Jones said that the entire $500,000 would be pushed to the next fiscal year. Commissioner Gordon said that we should decide what we need to do this year (i.e., justice facilities phase I} and push the other items forward to next fiscal year. Chair Jacobs said that the alternative would be to add a fourth assumption that reflects that by not expanding the GSC beyond the surface parking capacity, it leaves us with pending decisions about other departments that the space needs study identified as possibly relocating to the GSC site. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Carey to adjourn the meeting at 10:13 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS The next meeting is scheduled for June 17, 2002 at 7:30 p.m. in the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Barry Jacobs, Chair Beverly A. Blythe, CMC