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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20040617APPROVED 9/2112004 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION June 17, 2004 7:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Work Session an Thursday, June 17, 2004 at 7:30 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs and Commissioners Margaret Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordan, and Stephen Halkiatis COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Gwen Harvey and Deputy Clerk to the Board David Hunt (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. Chair Review of Schedule and Topics Chair Jacobs reviewed the additional materials in the agenda packet. 2. Review Employee Pay and Benefits Personnel Director Elaine Holmes made a PowerPoint presentation. Classification and Pay Study - Completed in 2003-04 with implementation of Phases 2 and 3 - Provides a foundation for the County's pay program - Investment in the County's work force to serve us for years to come Priority for 2004-05 - Move forward to establish the necessary pay elements to maintain the pay plan - Pay elements recommended: o® Cost of Living increase (recognize both cost of living and market factors} o® In-Range Salary Increase (provide for advancement in the salary range in relation to new hires and to the labor market as the employee gains additional experience and proficiency. Helps address and avoid salary compression.) Specific Pay Elements in Recommended Budget - 2.0% cost of living increase effective October 11, 2004 - Budgeted amount - $500,510 - Help employees' salaries stay current with rising costs, mast notably gas prices o® For calendar year 2003, US Department of Labor Consumer Price Index up 1.9°~ o® Based on first four months of 2004, CPI increasing at rate of 4.4°~ led by increases in energy costs Reinstatement of 2.5°~ In-Range Salary Increase o® Rewards employees whose work performance is proficient or higher o® Effective with the employees' performance review date Budgeted amount - $342,400 Provides for advancement in the salary range as experience/proficiency gained Meritorious Service Awards - Funds not available to recommend reinstatement of Meritorious Service Awards - Will use coming year as opportunity to revisit program and develop proposal for BOCC Employee Benefits Recommended budget includes funding for: - Up to a 12 percent employee health insurance increase effective January 1, 2005 o® Budgeted amount $268,177 - Implementation of benefits for domestic partners effective January 1, 2005 o® Budgeted amount - $10,500 Proposed 2004-05 Pay Plans for Area Employers chart is incorporated by reference. Chair Jacobs asked how many employees would be affected by the in-range salary increase and Elaine Holmes said that, based on past experience, 80°~ of employees would receive the increase. 3. Outside Aaencv Funding a. Forest Service John Link said that part of the budget would be the continuation of the contract relationship between the County and Forest Service. Rod Visser introduced the new Forest Service staff -Orange County Ranger Jake Pressley and Acting Orange County Service Forester Mark Bost. He said that there are prospects for an excellent working relationship. The contract will be brought back after the summer break. b. ArtsCenter Chair Jacobs made reference to the memo from the Director, Jon Wilner that was sent previously. Mr. Wilner was in attendance. Commissioner Brown asked far an update of what they are doing right now. Jan Wilner said that last year they served over 60,000 people, 40,000 of which were children. His personal background is arts in education. As the new Executive Director, he hopes to expand the programs for children that would include diverse populations. They recently formed a partnership with the ARC of Orange County. He said that for the first time in many years, they would be instituting a true theater program. Commissioner Brown asked for a list of activities to be sent to the County Commissioners. Chair Jacobs made reference to the yellow sheet, which was a list of all non-departmental accounts. John Link recommended that the Board pursue this list by exception, if there are any questions Commissioner Gordon asked if this list was the same agencies as last year and Donna Dean said yes. Commissioner Gordon said that there was a slight rise in outside agency funding Commissioner Carey asked about the $100,000 for school collaboration initiatives. Rod Visser said that this was just an idea that the staff discussed if the budget allowed. Commissioner Carey asked about $100,000 for Human Services reserve. Donna Dean said that they carried forward $150,000 from last year into the current year. They plan to have the money on the sheet and carry over any unspent funds. Chair Jacobs asked about the $6,000 far the Rural Planning Organization. It was answered that these are the matching funds. Chair Jacobs asked for a report on JOCCA because he has not heard anything in years. Commissioner Carey said that he serves on that board and it is doing well. Chair Jacobs asked about childcare services and John Link said that this is administrative funding. Chair Jacobs asked about the ArtsCenter and why the recommendation was only $5,000 and last year it was $20,000. John Link said that the year we are in right now represents the last year of amulti-year agreement appropriation between the County and the ArtsCenter far $15,000 per year toward their capital campaign. It was a ten-year agreement. John Link said that he had a good discussion with Jon Wilner, who understands why only $5,000 was recommended. The ArtsCenter is still requesting $20,000 far capital or operations Chair Jacobs said that there was $9,000 budgeted for an art display in this building, which is almost twice as much as what is being given to the ArtsCenter. He asked staff to think about which would serve a better purpose. Chair Jacobs made reference to the reconvened Library Services Task Force (blue sheet) that is trying to operate under a deadline so that it can make a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners by October in order that the Board can make a recommendation by the end of the calendar year whether or not it would want to include a co-located library far the Durham Tech satellite campus. The Library Services Task Force has met twice and at the last meeting, they discussed the idea of having same help in making a scientific analysis of the needs. They came up with a proposal to spend $4,000 for hiring a consultant to do a study, of which $2,000 would be contributed by the Friends of the Orange County Library and the Friends of the Carrboro Library. The Friends of the Carrboro Library voted to pledge $1,000 on the condition that the Friends of the Orange County Library pledge $1,000 and that the County matches it. Library Services Director Brenda Stevens said that the consultant has experience in doing this type of analysis. She worked with Chapel Hill in getting $16 million for their library last year. She also did some work far Henderson County Library, doing the same thing that they are asking her to do in Orange County. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the possibility of co-locating a library with the proposed community college site is exciting. He asked if there were any others in North Carolina. Brenda Stephens said yes, there is one in Vance County but it is very small. In Charlotte, there is a combination of a public library and UNC-Charlotte's library, but it is different. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if this had to be part of the community college or if it could be in a building adjacent to it. He said that this would be a powerful tool to bring the community into the educational extension piece. He wants it to be meaningful and to have some substance to it. He thinks there should be an agreement upfront. Commissioner Brown would like to see the option that becomes a place for another new library in Orange County. A motion was made by Cammissianer Halkiotis, seconded by Cammissianer Brown to approve $4,000 to hire a consultant to study the option of collocating a library in Orange County with the Durham Tech satellite campus in Orange County. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Carey made reference to the Orange County Alternative Sentencing recommendation from the Manager. He asked about the $8,000 increase that they requested. He knows that this program saves the Sheriff and the County space in the jail. This is the program where people who are arrested can get out on supervised release before they are actually tried or sentenced. He knows it is important to support this program. He wants to make sure that the recommendation will not hurt this program. John Link said that they would respond to that an Monday night. Commissioner Gordon suggested that next time the staff should sort the chart alphabetically since that would make the presentation much easier to follow. Sharon Hinton came forward to answer Commissioner Corey's question about the $8,000 and how it would impact this program if it were not funded. Sharon Hinton said that this is for continuation of operating expenses. They lost some state funding. The County is giving $12,000, which covers the lass of state funding from last year. This does not address the increase. She is not aware that the recommendation will not adversely affect this program. The staff will double-check this. Commissioner Halkiotis asked for the staff to find out how many people have been diverted from the jail as a result of this program. Chair Jacobs asked about Family First on page 8-21. Sharon Hinton answered that it is a program funded through the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, which is part of the Justice Partnership. They provide services to juveniles. The funding from the County is matching dollars. Commissioner Halkiotis asked for the total list of all of the budget cuts coming out of Raleigh that the County is being asked to pick up. He thinks this is important to explain to people. 4. Fire District Funding Rod Visser said that this year there are 2 out of the 12 fire districts that would be affected by a proposed tax rate increase. Last year there were six or seven. The Efland fire district was significantly affected by state budget cuts. They are recommending an increase of .9 cents. The Little River fire district requests a .7-cent increase, to help with same replacement capital equipment. Rod Visser pointed out the Damascus and Southern Triangle fire districts, which are served by North Chatham. North Chatham has a slightly different contract with the County. They have requested an increase of $14,000 this year. The staff felt this was reasonable. There will not be a tax rate increase to provide this because of growth in the tax base and accrued fund balance in the fire districts. Commissioner Halkiotis said that we should celebrate the volunteers, because the tax impact would be incredible without them. There are 320 volunteer firefighters in the County. Chair Jacobs asked about fire ratings and which ones have the best ratings. Commissioner Halkiotis said that Efland has the best one in the County. Chair Jacobs said that the citizens should be educated on the benefits of having a high fire rating because they can save money an insurance. 5. Organizational Initiatives a. Solid Waste 1. In-House Rural Curbside Recycling Program 2. Waste Reduction, Reuse, Recycling Fee John Link made reference to the memo from Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson. On June 7t" the Chair and Vice Chair and staff met with Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy and Town Council Members Jim Ward and Bill Strom, and from that discussion, they offered as staff to provide the Board alternatives other than the 3R fee for consideration. The staff is still strongly recommending the 3R fee or something comparable by July 1St The total revenue needed is $3 million. The basic fee would produce $2 million, and the second tier of fees would produce $1 million. He reviewed the different alternatives as listed in the June 17tH memo from Gayle Wilson. John Link said that another option not on the memo is to pursue the base service fee of $36, which produces $2 million dollars; take $500,000 out of the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund; and reduce capital by $500,000. Rod Visser said that the Board asked the staff in May to try and engage further with the Towns to give a better understanding of the proposal. On May 10, Gayle Wilson and he went to the Town of Hillsborough and were very politely received. On May 20t", Gayle Wilson went to the Town of Carrboro and was also very well received. The discussion with Chapel Hill on June 7tH was also very productive. One common theme is that all three boards understand that there is a need for alternative financing. The Town of Chapel Hill actually admitted that this was why they let the County take it over because the County was in the best position to handle alternative financing. The comments heard most were some reservations about the fee approach rather than the tax approach. Chapel Hill felt strongly that revenue is needed and they prefer the fee approach. Their reservations have more to do with expanded recycling services. Commissioner Halkiotis asked for Chair Jacobs' and Commissioner Brown's analysis of the meeting with Chapel Hill officials. Commissioner Brown said that Chapel Hill knew the fee was needed. She thinks that the Town of Chapel Hill wants to see an increase in their recyclables, specifically mixed paper. There are issues with mixed paper, and she thinks they should be explained to Chapel Hill. Chair Jacobs said that Chapel Hill also brought up pay as you throw. One view of Chapel Hill was to not enact any fees until the policies and procedures were sufficient. There were differing opinions, but there was recognition that a fee was needed. Commissioner Halkiotis asked for clarification on the mixed paper issue and Gayle Wilson explained that the revenue is less than the casts to provide the service. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the bottom line is that if you do not educate people, they do not understand what they are getting. He has heard a lot of comments against this fee. He said that the County has not done a good job of telling people what it costs to deal with solid waste. Commissioner Gordon asked about the statement on page 2, "removing anticipated Greene Tract revenue contribution from budgeted revenue." Rod Visser said that they had contemplated that they might propose that the County begin to pay back the County's portion of the Greene Tract and have the Towns join in next year. Given the budget economics this year, it is not something that they could go forward with. There is a draft proposal and the general idea is to propose a payback over a three to five-year period to give the Towns enough lead- time. Commissioner Gordon suggested not waiting too long. She thinks that next year we need to come up with a proposal. Chair Jacobs suggested sending out a letter this fall and a reminder in the spring. Commissioner Gordon agreed with Commissioner Halkiotis about education and suggested showing people what it means if this $3 million in services is cut, and also how much money is saved by extending the life of the current landfill. Commissioner Carey spoke in favor of financing solid waste through an enterprise fund. Rod Visser said that Chapel Hill does something similar. Commissioner Carey said that they should consider using some of the fund balance -maybe $SQO,Q00 from the fund balance and ahalf-cent on the tax rate or some other combination. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the private waste haulers and if they were taking a complete mixed waste stream and if they were taking it out of the County. Gayle Wilson said that a number of them have arrangements with other transfer stations or have their own transfer stations. He has noticed a couple of new companies in the last few months - C&D and garbage. A large percentage of this is going out of the County. Commissioner Brown said that they also have to recognize that this is a fee that is so much less than surrounding counties and provides many more services. She thinks it is important to have some method to address personal financial issues and waive the fee for people on extremely fixed incomes. John Link said that they could approach this by paying the fee based on certain criteria. Commissioner Brawn said that she and Commissioner Halkiotis suggested a couple Of years ago about putting something on the side of the recycling trucks about the cost of recycling. She asked if this was taken seriously. Gayle Wilson said that they did take it seriously. They did not put it on the trucks, but they had large posters made, which have been placed at various drop- offsites and other places. It was cheaper and quicker to have the posters made. Commissioner Brown suggested that every site have a permanent sign that says what recycling GOSts. Commissioner Halkiotis said that another piece of the problem is that people who have to haul their trash t0 a site are not going to get any additional services. Gayle Wilson said that the answer to the question of what citizens will be getting with this fee is the highest level of recycling and waste reduction services within the state and possibly within the southeast region of the United States. Rod Visser said that they are proposing next year, as of April 1St, to discontinue the contract with Waste Industries, which currently provides the rural curbside recycling program, and this would be brought in-house. They have had good results with bringing the multi-family recycling in- house in terms of good collection and participation and additional education and outreach opportunities. The proposal is to hire four new positions as of February 1 St and one new position as of March 1St to handle the materials, drive the trucks, sort the materials, etc. The anticipated savings of bringing this in-house is $800,400 over aten-year period. He is convinced that this will improve the quality Of service. b. In-House Legal Support John Link said that the Board has discussed this item on occasion. Personnel Director Elaine Holmes made reference to the back of the budget document, Budget Appendix C that gives an overview of the Staff Attorney position. The position would be effective October 1St in the Manager's office. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if there was a backlog with various departments seeking legal advice and County Attorney Geof Gledhill said yes. Commissioner Gordon asked Geof Gledhill to go over the relationship between the proposed Staff Attorney and his office. Geof Gledhill said that he envisions working with this lawyer in legal supervision. He would be available t0 review whatever the lawyer would want to review with him and he would be involved with the Manager in deciding what work would be done in the beginning and then as time progresses. He does not see himself being involved in personnel matters. He thinks the Manager would deal with these issues. Commissioner Gordon asked Geof Gledhill about his recommendation and he said that he did not have one. He said that the significant reason far doing this is to begin to develop an institutional memory of the County's legal matters. Commissioner Halkiotis asked Geof Gledhill to find out how many counties have this kind of proposed combination of a staff attorney and a county attorney that is voted on every year by the Board of County Commissioners. c. Animal Services John Link said that everybody is working hard to make sure that the transition by July 1St is as smooth as possible. APS has been cooperative with the staff. The equipment is arriving and the recruitment process for staff is underway. Chair Jacobs asked about the issue of animals and whose possession on July 1St. John Link made reference to page two, and said that there is going to be a letter of understanding regarding the disposition of animals July 1St. The County Attorney is working on this. He said that Joe Pulcinello has been working with APS, and the understanding is that animals in the shelter an July 1St will be the retained by the County. Commissioner Gordon asked about the timing of the decision between the Animal Services Bureau versus a department. Elaine Holmes said that this information was in Tuesday night's packet and she has extra copies. Commissioner Gordon clarified that she was asking about when the Board intended to decide this issue. John Link said that the staff has focused their energy on the transition of the animal shelter from APS to the County. They will come back in August to confirm the governance model. d. EMS Transition Rod Visser said that this budget includes the final phase of the transition from the Rescue Squad providing EMS ambulance transportation to the County doing it. There was a phased in approach to hiring the permanent positions. This budget would add the eight positions to the 17 EMT Basic positions that already exist. This would close out the transition. Chair Jacobs said that he talked to people at the rescue squad, and they would like to meet with the Board regarding financial concerns and direction of the organization. They were told that they could never apply for funds as an outside agency. 6. Review "bv exception" County department budgets General Services -Board of Election, Information/Technology, Land Records, Register of Deeds, Tax Assessor, Tax Collector, Building and Grounds, Motor Pool, Sanitation, Efland Sewer Fund: Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to page 4-13 and asked about the Tax Assessor. The County is up for reevaluation next year. He asked if this was the reason for the $200,040+ Manager's recommendation for 2004-05 for personnel. Donna Dean said that there has been a change in the percentage of the time that some employees are charged to the general fund or the reevaluation fund. There should be an appropriate decrease in the reevaluation fund. Commissioner Halkiotis said that a farmer member of the Innovation and Efficiency Committee called him about this issue. He suggested that in the future, this exchange of funds should be explained so there are no misunderstandings. Chair Jacobs asked where electric bills were put and it was answered Public Works. He would like to investigate using green power. He has heard that Piedmont Electric is willing to buy back power from those who generate it. He hopes the County continues to look at solar designs for buildings. Human Services: Chair Jacobs made reference to Housing and Community Development on page 5-75 and the Urgent Repair Program. He asked if the monies set aside for this have been expended. Donna Dean said that she couldn't recall whether all of the monies have been spent. She can bring back a status report. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to page 5-17, Social Services subsidies, under Budget Highlights, there is another decrease in revenue due to the reduction of services from the state. He said that this needs to be captured and put on the overall state reduction sheet. Chair Jacobs pointed out that 24,000 eligible children in the state couldn't get childcare with the current budget proposal from the House. Culture and Recreation: Commissioner Halkiotis asked for an update on how Orange County is doing on Library Services for informational purposes. Chair Jacobs asked about the parks operational base and Recreation and Parks Director Lori Taft said that this budget includes a proposal for 12 months' worth of leased space, which comes to $33,000. Commissioner Brown asked about keeping the lights on later in the summer at Efland-Cheeks Park. Lori Taft said that there is technology to manage the light timers at their office via computer. They will be looking into this at the new project at Efland-Cheeks. Commissioner Brown asked about the picnic shelter reservation at $10 per hour. Lori Taft explained the process for reserving a picnic shelter. Chair Jacobs asked when this fee was approved. He said that he remembers last budget year that the County Commissioners said that they did not want this fee in place. Lori Taft said that she remembers discussing the question of whether citizens should pay for use of parks that they have already "paid" for. She does not remember a conclusion to the discussion. These fees were already in place at that time. Chair Jacobs said that he remembers the Board being brought a schedule of fees and the Board did not endorse the schedule. Lori Taft did not understand it this way at that time. Chair Jacobs said that the citizens are very surprised that they are required to pay a fee to reserve the picnic area. The state park does not charge anything to reserve the picnic area. He thinks it is unnecessary. Commissioner Halkiotis suggested putting this on a work session in August. He recalls the same thing as Chair Jacobs. He does not remember voting on the fee schedule. He said that the people of Efland do not like the way it is right now with the fees. The citizens have already paid for this once. Commissioner Brawn would also like to discuss the issues of keys to get into buildings. This needs to be clarified. Chair Jacobs suggested looking at the documents before the next meeting to see if these fees were in place before last year, because he does not think they were. Lori Taft said that there is Board policy from several years back related to fees that indicates the County should be charging for use of the meeting roams when it requires staff to work to open the facilities. Since she has been working for the County, the fees have never been charged. This is another issue to consider. Commissioner Halkiotis said that, out of fairness to Lori Taft as a new department head, there needs to be an update on the fees and what is being enforced and not enforced. The staff will bring something back an the fees Monday night and it will be addressed fully in the fall. Community and Environment Chair Jacobs made reference to ERCD, Budget Highlights, where it talks about the cost of the State of the Environment Report, and asked what the cost of the report was. Donna Dean said that it was $5,Q00 for printing. Commissioner Carey asked about the reduction in Personnel Services for Economic Development {p. 7-26). Donna Dean said that on page 7-29, they explain this. This is in regards to Mike Lanier's position, which was grant funded. This is the first year the grant will expire. The County pays 50°!° of this position. There is no other funding for the other 50%. Public Safety: Commissioner Halkiotis asked the Sheriff how much money he has brought in, especially from the U. S. Marshall's Office. Sheriff Pendergrass said $1.5 million for prisoners. The federal government pays $55 per day per prisoner and the State pays $15. Commissioner Halkiotis said that we cannot keep people in jail far $15 a day. Education: Commissioner Brown asked Donna Dean if she was keeping track of the schools' budgets and how they have lost state money. Donna Dean said that she has worked with bath school systems' Budget Directors this week to get this information. She does not have it all together yet. Chair Jacobs asked about the phasing process of nursing in schools. Rod Visser said that this is the third phase out of four. The goal is to have one nurse per school. Health Director Rosemary Summers said that the recommended federal ratio is one nurse for every 750 students. The Department of Public Instruction has endorsed this ratio, and there is a bill in the legislature to increase funding far school nurses to achieve this goal statewide. There is money for 35 nurses in the House bill. The Board discussed the passibility of starting the meeting early on Monday. A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Brown to adjourn the meeting until June 21, 2004 at 6:00 p.m., with a meal at 5:30 p.m. 7. Review Menu of Possible Modifications to the FY 2004-05 Manaaer's Recommended Budaet DEFERRED Barry Jacobs, Chair Donna S. Baker Clerk to the Board