Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20060605APPROVED 8/22/2006 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION June 5, 2006 7:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Budget Work Session on Monday, June 5, 2006 at 7:30 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs, and Commissioners Moses Carey, Jr., Valerie P. Foushee, Alice Gordon, and Stephen Halkiotis COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Gwen Harvey, and Clerk to the Board Donna Baker {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. Chair Jacobs said that he had an addition to the agenda and at the suggestion of Geof Gledhill, he would like to add what is on the green sheet, which is to follow "amici curiae" in a court case that would join the Humane Society in Union County. This is in reference to animal cruelty. The Board agreed. Geof Gledhill said that Chapter 19a authorizes any person or organization to bring a civil action against someone being cruel to animals. This is what happened in Union County where some people were hoarding 300 dogs and the dogs were being treated very poorly. The Humane Society of Union County and others brought an action to stop the cruelty and the judge ordered the animals removed from the Woodley's home and the animals were placed by the Humane Society in a number of rescue homes. The Woodley's have appealed to the N. C. Court of Appeals and they are challenging the right of the Humane Society and others to bring these private actions to stop cruelty to animals. The Humane Societies across the state and other animal welfare groups are trying to persuade the court of the goad reason to have this statute on the books. They have asked Orange County to lend its support by agreeing to be added as amicus curiae in this case. Geof Gledhill said that he has looked at this and his view is that it fairly states the good policy reasons for having this statute. The statute aids local government units in enforcement. He said that the brief does not argue the merits of the lawsuit, but presents the public policy reasons for maintaining the statute on the books. He thinks that it is a worthy cause for Orange County to join in the effort. He has been told that the challenge is based on a constitutional claim that the statute, which creates this private right of action, takes their property without due process of law. Animal Services Director Bob Marotto explained the statute further. Geof Gledhill said that the request is to add Orange County as a party to the amicus brief and to allow the Animal Services Director in his official capacity to be added as a part of this brief. A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to add Orange County as a party to the amicus brief and to add the Animal Services Director in his official capacity as a party to this brief. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 1. 2006-07 Manaaer's Recommended Budaet Budget Director Donna Dean-Coffey gave all a CD with updated budget infarmation. This is the entire budget document and supplemental data, and replaces the infarmation given on May 25tH She made reference to the packet that says, "New Items," and explained this information. There is a proposed budget work session schedule; CIPs from both school systems; a pink sheet from CHCCS with a memo from Steve Scroggs about the Elementary School #10 expedited schedule if the school were to open in 2008; a bright yellow sheet, which is also a memo from Steve Scroggs with Elementary #10 funding request to open in 2009. This is appendix D19 and D20. The last handout is salmon- colored and replaces Appendix D10 and is supplemental data about outside agencies that assist CHCCS. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the information from her. There is a copy of the presentation of the Water Resources Initiative, which the Board adopted in May 2005. There is also a letter from the Commission for the Environment. And all of these should be added to the budget notebook. Chair Jacobs said that there is an email from him, which is a summary of their meeting with Congressman Price, and on the back is information that department heads wanted to be brought up to Congressman Price. a. Employee Pay and Benefits Personnel Director Tyrone Jackson made a PowerPoint presentation. Employee Pay and Benefits Presentation Paints •Review of past pay actions - Elements in Manager's Recommended Budget - Cost of Living Increase - In-Range Salary Increase - Employee Health Insurance - Living Wage - Hiring Delay No matter how much you learn from the past, it wit! never tell you al! you need to know far the present. -John C. Maxwell •2002-03 -Implemented new Classification Plan - Phase I -established new grade minimums - Phase I - 2.5% increase for all employees •2003-04 -Classification and Pay Implementation Continued -Phases II - 2.5°~ if 4 or more years of service -Phase III - 2.5% if 7 or more years of service •2004-05 - 2% COLA •2005-06 - 4% In-range Increase Cost of Living Increase •2.5°~ effective July 1, 2006 recommended -Manager's recommended budget includes $979,030 •Due to an increase in energy, gasoline, food, housing & medical costs the CPI rose 5.1 % in early 2006 •The cast of a gallon of gasoline rose 55°~ from $1.78 in January 2005 to $2.75 as of June 1, 2006 In-Range Salary Increase •2.5°~ recommended -Manager's recommend budget includes $389,868 •For work performance that is proficient or higher based on annual evaluation •Links performance and rewards •Promotes proficiency and productivity •Salary compression remains an issue •Employee salaries concentrated in the lower hiring area of the salary schedule •Addresses equity, employee relations & hiring issues Employee Health Insurance •Funds to cover up to a projected 16% health insurance increase effective January 1, 2oa7 -Manager's recommended budget includes $375,000 • The actual amount will be determined in September 2006 through the annual review process Living Wage •Increase from $9.34 to $9.67 an hour effective July 1, 2006 •Consistent with Board's policy •Affects about 80 temporary employees Hiring Delays •Continue the four month hiring delay •Projected cost saving of about $1 million -Manager's recommendation already reflects 120-day hiring delay continued in FY 2006-07 •Places additional demands on the existing County employees, but service to Orange County citizens has not been impacted Excellence In Service •Our mission statement embraces the importance of excellent customer service •Orange County citizens expect the highest quality of services •Orange County employees seek to exceed the expectation through demonstrated dedication and clarion commitment to the County mission Summary The expectation of quality service has been set by County citizens and met by County employees, and now our commitment to excellence in service can also be demonstrated by approving the Manager's recommended pay and benefits plan for fiscal year 2006-07. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to employee health insurance, and asked what happens if the projected 16°~ increase does not happen. He asked where the surplus money would go. John Link said that as far as he knows it would go into the general fund. Commissioner Halkiotis suggested dealing with this possibility. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to the living wage and that it affects about 80 temporary employees and he asked if this includes teenagers and college students employed far the summer (i.e., Recreation and Parks). Tyrone Jackson said that it would not include temporary employees for the summer. Chair Jacobs made reference to the General Fund COLA Cost VIlorksheet and asked clarifying questions, which were answered by Tyrone Jackson. Commissioner Gordon verified that the in-range increase was 4% last year and this year the recommendation is 2.5°~. Chair Jacobs made reference to the Tuition Assistance Program, G6, in the budget documents that the Board has already received. He asked Tyrone Jackson if this was well utilized and how he regarded the information. Tyrone Jackson said that this program is well utilized and they had to transfer more money into the program because employees were using it so much. Chair Jacobs asked about the schedule and if employees were allowed to go to class day or night. John Link said that the primary guideline is that an employee does his/her work and goes at night and if they go during the day, they make the work up at night. Chair Jacobs said that he would like to extend a courtesy to lower paid employees that might have two jobs and have a problem going to class at night. Tyrone Jackson said that they would give some consideration to situations like this. Kathleen Goodhand said that Department Heads would work with employees. Chair Jacobs would like to break this down by department. He suggested publicizing the opportunity because many employees may not realize that they can do thl5. Chair Jacobs asked about the Sportsplex and said that County employees now get a 113 discount. He would like to find out what would be involved in having a larger discount far County employees and their families and whether this could be related to improved health and reduce health care costs. This might work out as a benefit to employees without being a cost to the taxpayer. John Link said that as they kick off the health education process for employees, there is a great emphasis on attributes of regular exercise. Rod Visser said that they did discuss this with John Stock at Recreation Factory Partners and some options would include possibly as much as a 50°lo discount for employees and this might generate enough interest so that the revenue evens out. The other option is that this budget includes a transfer of $700,000 from the general fund to the Sportsplex Enterprise Fund. A little aver $500,000 is for debt service and the rest is far balancing the budget and underwriting the operation. They also discussed how, since that revenue needs to be transferred from the general fund anyway, there may be some latitude within that to da some things related to employee discounts, seniors, children, etc. These discussions will continue and recommendations are forthcoming. Commissioner Halkiotis asked for a listing of all unfilled positions and the amount. Donna Dean-Coffey said that, with regard to the hiring freeze, they have saved about $1 million. She will provide the list of unfilled positions. Commissioner Gordon also asked for this list. Commissioner Gordon asked about the projected cast savings from the 120-day hiring delay and Donna Dean-Coffey said that this is not for new positions but positions that become vacant within the year. Commissioner Gordon asked what would happen if the position is not an urgent one and John Link said that they would advertise within 60 days because it would take another 60 days to fill the position. Donna Dean-Coffey said that they used to let money go back into the general fund, but in the last three years the money has not gone back into the general fund. It is basically lapse salary and the County has not seen this in the past couple of years. The hiring delay savings has been budgeted far Miscellaneous/Non-departmental this year, which is in section 3-32. Commissioner Gordon asked for more clarification and Finance Director Ken Chavious said that any lapsed salaries beyond the hiring delay goes into the fund balance. Commissioner Gordon asked about the new positions and Donna Dean-Coffey said that they have budgeted for a full year far the positions that have been recommended. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to overtime and asked which department was using the most overtime. Donna Dean-Coffey said that most of it was being used by public safety -Sheriff, EMS, Public Works, and OPT Drivers. Chair Jacobs said that one of the recommendations is to replace same of the temporary and overtime in EMS with permanent positions. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about what Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough are doing for employees this year and Tyrone Jackson said that Carrboro is proposing a 3.5% pay for performance system; Chapel Hill is proposing a 3% salary increase for eligible employees; and Hillsborough is proposing a 2°~ COLA and 5% based on performance. b. Additional Staff Resources John Link made reference to Appendix E and the green pages. He said that he would recommend that as they go through each of the categories that the department heads came and sit with the County Commissioners. Category 1 includes five positions that they are recommending go from time- limited to permanent. The rationale is that these positions have been in existence far several years and the workload is not going away. The label of "time-limited" makes it hard to recruit for these positions. Commissioner Halkiotis asked how many Code Compliance Officers there were and Planning Director Craig Benedict answered eight. Commissioner Halkiotis asked how much money was generated in revenue for Orange County and Craig Benedict said over $700,000. The new positions have been added because of the complaints that it takes so long to get inspections done. Commissioner Gordon said that when they have time limited positions, there should be justifications if they are being recommended far permanency. Commissioner Carey asked how it was determined which time-limited positions are recommended for permanent positions and John Link said that this year, these were brought forward by the department heads or Personnel. Commissioner Carey would like to know about the other positions that are out there. Chair Jacobs suggested having the citation of the page on the budget document with each position. Chair Jacobs made reference to overtime and said that there is an answer. He said that temporary personnel is projected to go up by $20,000 and overtime by $150,000. This is toward the end of Appendix B, Line Item Detail, an the shocking pink page. He said that it was interesting that both are going up at the same time that they are supposedly adding positions to reduce these casts. Category 2 is Change in Fund Status. John Link said that this is where there are changes in additional funding, reduction in funding, ar the need for additional County funding. Chair Jacobs said that when EM5 hosted the citizen corps two-day event, he spoke with someone from Chatham County who said that they would be interested in working with Orange County on the Medical Reserve Corps. Health Director Rosemary Summers said that she had a meeting with Bill Lail, wha runs the Family Resource Center in Chatham County, a few days after that and they agreed to apply for joint grant funding. Mr. Lail was supposed to submit a letter of intent to apply far a grant. This particular grant would not be available until a year from now. Commissioner Halkiotis said that some of the most enjoyable people he heard at the budget public hearings were the nurses that spoke about the carps. He wants to know what they can do to keep this medical reserve corps going. Rosemary Summers said that they are excited to expand this program and to work with Emergency Management. Commissioner Gordon asked about the Public Health school nurse total salary and benefits. She said that they need to see the entire salary and benefits. Commissioner Gordon was impressed by the nurses wha spoke on this corps and that this leverages a lot of volunteer effort. Rosemary Summers said that they have tried to integrate volunteers into some of their other programs such as flu clinics. Chair Jacobs said that the President recommended more funding for this program, but the Chair of the Subcommittee an Homeland Security decided to send the President a message about some things that he was upset about by zeroing out these programs. Congressman Price hopes that, in conference with the Senate, the money might get put back in. Commissioner Gordon asked several clarifying questions about the Public Health School Nurse, which were answered by Rosemary Summers. Commissioner Halkiotis asked for clarification and Chair Jacobs made reference to D-8 and that $500,000 is funded by Orange County for the two school systems. This is what was agreed to infuse into both systems so that there would be one nurse per school, and then the County took back two positions that were serving the schools that are now working strictly in the Health Department. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to D-8 and that the total cast of funding nurses in both school systems is $1.6 million. John Link said that there is a pot of money that the State provides to school systems for SRO's, etc. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the CHCCS is spending $463,000 from other funds and it does not show any monies far OCS from other agencies. Rosemary Summers said that the school system has discretionary use of thane funds. Commissioner Halkiotis said that this is nerve wracking and confusing to him. John Link said that when you talk with the General Assembly about monies far SRO's and nurses, they get told that the State has already given money for this. It is the school systems' discretion on how to spend this money. Commissioner Halkiotis said that OCS is taking their Safe Schools money and using it for something else. Chair Jacobs suggested asking each school system far a breakdown on how much they are getting far Safe Schools and what are they using it for. If OCS is going to complain that they are funding more school nurses and it is unfair, then the question is what they are doing with the money they are given. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he is totally upset and frustrated about this. He cannot get a straight answer and he is an elected official. He said that he wants an answer to these questions an Thursday night. He said that the County Commissioners are being made to look like dumb bunnies. Commissioner Gordon asked that bath school systems double-check the figures on these charts. Category 3 is Additional General Funding Support and Increase in FTE Records. Commissioner Halkiotis painted out that there are mare senior citizens in this County then there are school-aged children. Commissioner Gordon asked about the Planner II and the interaction of this position and Karen Lincoln's position. Craig Benedict said that when the transportation element is underway, Karen Lincoln will be doing some work on the Comprehensive Planning Transportation Element. The Planner II will also help with the access management program for Buckhorn/West Ten Road and access management projects along the US 7Q corridor through the EflandlMebane Small Area Plan. This position will also serve as a comprehensive planning liaison with other departments. Also, with restarting the comprehensive plan, they are going to try to do the majority of the elements concurrently, and this position will help with that. Commissioner Gordon said that there is a difference in transportation emphasis and transportation planner. She emphasized the need for someone with expertise in transportation. John Link said that his recommendation is that Tina Moan will be in ERCD so this position will be totally new for Planning. Commissioner Foushee asked Human Rights and Relations Director Milan Pham about the LEP Coordinator and if the position would be working on Title 6 compliance. Milan Pham said that the LEP Coordinator is not designated as a Title 6 Compliance Officer, but she is receiving the training. She said that the LEP Coordinator is willing and able to be the Title 6 Compliance Officer. Commissioner Foushee said that the County Commissioners discussed this in January at the goal-setting retreat. Jahn Link asked about Title 6 and Milan Pham said that it is part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that requires that any agencies that receive federal funding provide access to individuals who are limited English proficient. Currently, almost all of Orange County is required to be compliant to providing services to Spanish-speaking individuals in their native language. Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey said that this is a duty to be delegated by management, the position is now qualified, and the only thing they need is designation by management. She said that this is a formality. John Link asked Gwen Harvey and Milan Pham to develop this. Chair Jacobs pointed out that this person would also need to be compensated appropriately since it would be more responsibility. Category 4 is change from temporary to permanent status. John Link said that three positions are in Animal Services and one is in Information Technology. He said that these Animal Services positions are something they felt necessary to provide services to citizens. One position relates to animal control and the others are in the shelter. Animal Services Director Bob Moratto said that these positions are needed to operate the shelter appropriately. In reference to Animal Control, this person has been working as a 40-hour temporary person since 2003. All positions are essential positions they have been filling with temporary employees and would be better served by permanent employees. Jahn Link said that this is a tangible example of using temporary personnel funding to fund permanent employees. Bob Moratto said that the majority of temporary funding would go away and if they did not make these positions permanent, they would need over $100,000 for temporary employees next year. Commissioner Carey asked about temporary funding that Animal Services is requesting and said that in other places temporary funding is going up. John Link said that they would provide temporary funding information to the County Commissioners. Donna Dean-Coffey said that $50,000 is budgeted for Animal Services for next year compared to $81,000. This is in Appendix B page 5. Bob Moratto said that they did originally request $119,226 in temporary funds to ensure adequate staffing. After the conversion from temporary to permanent funds, they are still requesting $50,000 in temporary funds for service contracts for after-hours services, courier services, etc. Chair Jacobs asked if Orange County picked up the EARS contract when it took over the Animal Shelter from both Towns. Gwen Harvey said yes. Chair Jacobs said that he would be interested to hear the history about when the price changed. He said that $6,000 for one town does not seem very much compared to $75,000 for the other town. Bob Moratto said that the contracts with Chapel Hill and Carrboro have different scopes of services. Category 5 is New School Related Positions to be Funded Outside of the Per- Pupil Allocation. Commissioner Carey asked about the fair funding and Chair Jacobs said that this is in addition to the fair funding. Commissioner Halkiotis said that when Rod Visser brought forward the $800,000 for the fair funding reserve, he had concerns because he was not sure who was paying for what and how much of the Safe Schools money was being used by schools for this service. He made reference to the SRO's column, Funded by CHCCS local funds $178,000, with the total far CHCCS $357,000. The total for OCS SRO's is $180,000. He said that what is buried in there is that the Sheriff is putting in money for this program. He said that if you add it all up, there is over $1 million for SRO's. Commissioner Halkiotis said that in the OCS budget, they are not asking for SRO's because the Sheriff is asking for them. Commissioner Carey asked how many SRO's the Sheriff is funding and Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass said that they currently use five full-time officers with one temporary, which is a retired Sheriff's officer that fills in when needed. He said that when the SRO's are not working at the schools, they are working elsewhere in the department. Commissioner Gordon said that this is confusing and Chair Jacobs said that OCS is giving the County about $30,000 per position and the County is supplementing half. Commissioner Gordon asked about the two new positions and if there would be any offsetting revenues from OCS and the Sheriff said that he did not know if OCS would be contributing far these two positions. Commissioner Halkiotis said that his purpose in asking this was to have the OCS acknowledge that the Sheriff is providing a service that is coming through County government. Commissioner Carey asked if the County was getting any money and the Sheriff said that the school systems get a ratio of funding for programs in the Safe Schools program. They will be presumably be getting more money for opening the new middle school but the funding will be coming out of the Sheriff's budget. Chair Jacobs asked if the Partnership Academy needs its own officer and the Sheriff said yes because these are kids that have been suspended from Schaal because of criminal behavior. Category 6 is New Positions to Improve Service Delivery. Chair Jacobs asked about the figures of haw much the County is supplying to the State in fees for inspections. Health Director Rosemary Summers said that each restaurant pays a $50 inspection fee each year to the State. Orange County gets about half of that back. There are about 300 restaurants, which is about $15,000 and Orange County gets $7,500 back. If they reach 100% compliance in the on-time inspection rate, it would go up to about $10,000. Commissioner Carey asked about this Foad Inspections position and Rosemary Summers said that in this County our restaurants turn over frequently, so that requires a higher level of attention from Environmental Health Specialists. The total number of inspections is increasing, but beyond that they have not been able to maintain 100°l0 compliance rate. They would like to achieve this. They believe that one inspector would get them up to 100% compliance. They also need a supervisor because they are lacking in quality assurance. Regarding EMS, Chair Jacobs asked about the status of the study that was promised in April. EMS Director Jack Ball said that he spoke with the Sage Company last week and they had some problems meeting with one of the rescue squads. They hope to get a preliminary report this week to the Board of County Commissioners. Commissioner Halkiotis asked Donna Dean-Coffey about paramedics and how much overtime and temporary funds have been given to EMS and Jack Ball said about $400-500,000. Donna Dean-Coffey said that it was closer to $500,000. Jack Ball said that this request is part of a long-term request for the whole division (paramedics, fire marshal, and transport) and they believe that it will be in line with the study. He said that the demand for service is outreaching their capability at this time. He said that North Carolina is rated 9th in the nation for population increase, and Orange County is 23~d out of 100 counties. In the region, only Wake County and Chatham have a higher increase in population than Orange County. Commissioner Halkiotis asked Donna Dean-Coffey what was generated last year for fire inspections and Fire Marshal Mike Tapp said $13,000. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the biggest facility that they inspect and Mike Tapp said the mill in Mebane and he estimated that this would be $75-80. Donna Dean-Coffey said that the schools are the biggest user and they do not pay any fees. Commissioner Carey asked about the Assistant Fire Marshal position and the offsetting revenue of $7,000. He asked about the workload for inspections that indicates the need for an Assistant Fire Marshal. Mike Tapp said that they do inspections in the County and do 235 per year, and they are 21 °lo behind on meeting the State minimum mandate. Chair Jacobs asked if the State helps fund the mandate and Mike Tapp said no. In answer to a question from Commissioner Halkiotis, Mike Tapp said that this would be the second assistant, so there would be three fire marshals. Also, this does not include the request by the fire chiefs for assistance. He does not have the staff for this naw. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about Carrboro and Chapel Hill's fire marshals and it was answered that Chapel Hill has three and Carrboro has one. Hillsborough has one fire marshal and one part-time position. There were no questions an Administrative Assistant III and Social Worker II. The Board agreed to finish the last three categories on June 15tH With na further items to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 10:08 p.m. Barry Jacobs, Chair Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board