OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL

CHERYL L. BROWN 117 WEST DUVAL STREET, SUITE 425

DIRECTOR 4^TH FLOOR, CITY HALL

OFFICE (904) 630-1452 JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 32202

FAX (904) 630-2906

E-MAIL: CLBROWN@coj.net

Finance Committee Budget Hearing #9 Minutes

August 30, 2013

9:00 a.m.

Location: City Council Chamber, 1^st floor, City Hall – St. James Building; 117 West Duval Street,

In attendance: Council Members Greg Anderson (Chair), Richard Clark, John Crescimbeni, Matt Schellenberg, Robin Lumb, Clay Yarborough

Excused: Johnny Gaffney, Reginald Brown

Also: Council Member Jim Love, Warren Jones (arr. 9:45), Bill Gulliford (arr. 1:48), Don Redman (arr. 2:45), Doyle Carter (arr. 3:42), Kimberly Daniels (arr. 3:56)

Also: Kirk Sherman, Janice Billy, Kim Taylor, Robert Campbell – Council Auditor’s Office; Philip Zamarron – Legislative Services Division; Peggy Sidman – Office of General Counsel; Jeff Clements – Council Research Division; Ronnie Belton, Teresa Eichner and Michele Barth – Mayor’s Office; Glenn Hansen - Budget Office

Meeting Convened: 9:09 a.m.

Chairman Anderson thanked the committee and all staff for their outstanding hard work to date and urged completion of the budget in good form today. He reviewed the schedule for the day, including the hope that there would be time to consider council member proposed amendments to the budget. The Mayport Ferry budget will be taken up at the regular Finance Committee meeting next Wednesday as the last budget-related item.

Council Auditor Kirk Sherman updated the committee on the status of the Special Council Contingency Fund, which currently stands at negative $47.8 million (1.0963 millage equivalent).

Capital Improvement Program

Council Member Clark, the Chair of the CIP Subcommittee thanked Council Member Boyer for her good work on the historical CIP and completed or in-process projects and thanked Council Member Lumb for his good work on prioritizing road projects. He stated that the project list proposed today represent only a third of the total requests and focus on maintenance and restoration more than new construction so as to catch up from years of past neglect and get ahead of maintenance needs. Some projects don’t need funding this year, but simply need to be added to the CIP list for future work. The subcommittee’s proposed plan funds 100% of vehicle acquisition from the funding previously allocated for downtown development, leaving approximately $4 million that can be returned to downtown development uses.

Motion: on p. 1, approve Council Auditor’s recommendations on technical amendments to the CIP and IT 5-year technology plan – approved unanimously

The committee discussed the Ordinance Code definition of “capital” in the context of the CIP, and Chairman Anderson suggested that this is a topic that needs further exploration by the CIP Subcommittee.

Florida Inland Navigational District Grants

Motion: on p. 11, approve Council Auditor’s recommendations #1, 2 and 3 – approved unanimously

Solid Waste – CNG conversion

Acting Chief of Solid Waste Jeff Foster explained the natural gas conversion project at the North and East Landfills and how it relates to conversion of the solid waste collection truck fleet to CNG from diesel fuel. He answered questions from the committee about the City’s solid waste operation and why the vehicles proposed to be purchased are manual rear-loader trucks rather than automated loaders. The rationale for continuing manual pick-up of waste is that in the areas that have gone to automated pickup, CARE complaints have risen because of non-pickup of material that isn’t place in the rolling carts. The densely populated urban core with its transient population would be problematic on that score. Council Member Crescimbeni stated that the bulk pickup problem is a management and contract enforcement issue, the department should make it clear to the contract haulers that compliance must be achieved. He believes that automated pickup is the proper way to go for the City as well.

The committee took no action to remove the CNG conversion process from the proposed budget.

Banking Fund

Motion: on p. 14, approve Council Auditor’s recommendations #1, 2 and 3 – approved unanimously

Council Member Clark gave a report of the CIP Subcommittee’s work. The proposed plan for FY14 is the first step in a process to reestablish City Council’s role in the parks and recreation CIP process. Mr. Clark urged a return to the previous practice of budgeting for regular maintenance of parks so that facilities and grounds are kept up to acceptable standards and not left to deteriorate to such a poor condition that a large capital project is needed to completely rehab the facility. He also noted that Parks and Recreation Director Kelley Boree urgently needs a park management software package that will allow the department to track condition and usage of the parks.

In the area of road resurfacing, John Pappas of Public Works stated that the proposed $9 million allocation in the CIP plan for resurfacing will be allocated in the amount of $7 million for milling and repaving and $2 million for microsurfacing and road sealing. This will provide for resurfacing of less than 100 miles of the City’s 2,000 miles of roads. Mr. Pappas estimated the ongoing resurfacing need at $16-20 million per year. Peggy Sidman stated that once a final list has been determined, the budget ordinance, CIP ordinance and Banking Fund ordinance will all need to be amended to reflect the projects.

Motion: include $9 million in Banking Fund borrowing and $647,000 from the Supervisor of Elections/Gateway construction account for roadway resurfacing – unanimously approved

Motion (Lumb): approve the subcommittee’s $5 million list for district park improvements/ upgrades - unanimously approved

Motion (Yarborough): approve the subcommittee’s $350,000 list of Loblolly wetlands mitigation funding (with the understanding that the Losco Regional Park project will be done with District 6’s $200,000 Loblolly fund) - unanimously approved

The committee debated the wisdom of substituting the CIP Subcommittee’s recreation project list for the Parks and Recreation Department’s list. Council Member Crescimbeni questioned the wisdom of building new tennis courts at the 9A/Baymeadows park when courts are closed at other tennis centers because they’re in poor condition.

Motion: approve the Other Projects-Project Transfer list of 3 projects - unanimously approved

Motion (Clark): approve $6,891,000 for vehicle replacements ($5.5 million Fire and Rescue vehicles, $1,389,000 for other City vehicles, plus $447,232 for JFRD’s annual vehicle replacement allocation – Council Auditor’s note #1 on p. 2 of the handout) funded from the $9 million previously allocated to the Downtown Investment Authority and later reallocated to the Special Council Contingency fund

In response to questions from Council Members Crescimbeni and Yarborough, Chief Kurt Wilson described the circumstances under which fire apparatus may be used for firefighter errands such as grocery shopping, which is necessary because food purchases can only be determined on a day-to-day basis as staffing assignments are made. The council members urged Chief Wilson to emphasize to JFRD personnel that vehicles should not be used for any but necessary trips during the working day.

Jim Bailey representing the Downtown Investment Authority board opposed the reallocation of $9 million previously allocated to the DIA for downtown development projects. The DIA now has an executive director, the revision of the downtown improvement plan is underway, and the DIA will need funding to make projects happen.

Amendment (Joost): allocate $5.5 million for JFRD vehicle replacement and $447,232 for JFRD’s annual vehicle replacement allocation – Council Auditor’s note #1 on p. 2 of the handout funded from the $9 million previously allocated to the Downtown Investment Authority and later reallocated to the Special Council Contingency fund – approved 4-2 (Crescimbeni and Anderson opposed)

Motion (Lumb): call the question - approved

The committee asked questions of the Council Auditor’s Office about the vehicle replacement fee that is applied to vehicles purchased with cash but not to vehicles purchased with borrowing. The auditors explained the concept of a vehicle replacement sinking fund and noted that the City used to follow that policy and paid for its vehicles with cash. A previous administration discontinued that practice and the City has purchased its vehicles largely through borrowing since then. Council Member Crescimbeni strongly opposed applying the replacement fee to some vehicles and not others based on cash vs. borrowed purchasing.

EverBank Stadium scoreboard

Council Member Anderson recused himself from the discussion due to his employment with EverBank, although he has been advised that there is no conflict of interest.

The committee discussed the parameters of the proposed stadium improvements, which include much more than just scoreboard, encompassing a variety of infrastructure and upgrades. Council Members Crescimbeni and Yarborough need much more information before they could adequately evaluate the project and stated that the project can be added to the CIP at any time when more details are known.

Motion (Clark): add a project to the CIP for up to $43 million for EverBank stadium improvements to be funded in the Subfund 4A6 Stadium Maintenance Trust Fund, not the Banking Fund – dies for lack of a second

Mayor’s Chief of Staff Chris Hand and CFO Ronnie Belton explained the on-going negotiations between the City and the Jaguars over this project. This action would insert a placeholder project in the CIP with no funding allocated yet, pending the outcome of the negotiations and determination of the final cost and the contribution to be made by the Jaguars.

Motion (Clark): include a CIP project for Patton Park reuse water line extension for $1 million – defer

Council Member Crescimbeni requested further information about whether the developer through whose property the reuse line will run plans to tap into the line to serve his development.

Motion (Lumb): approve a non- JFRD vehicle replacement project for $1,389,000 funded from reallocation for the DIA downtown project fund – approved 5-2 (Joost and Crescimbeni opposed)

The committee was in recess from 12:55 to 1:46 p.m.

Motion (Clark): add a project to the CIP for Public Works facilities capital maintenance of $1,950,000 from the Banking Fund, plus a $10,100 allocation from the Special Council Contingency for the FY13 budget – fails 3-3 (Crescimbeni, Joost and Yarborough opposed)

Tom Goldsbury and Luis Flores of the Public Works Department explained the projects on the list which includes $1 million for routine small maintenance items and $950,000 for Police Memorial Building and Pre-Trial Detention Center fire alarm repairs and citywide roof evaluations. They described several currently ongoing maintenance projects.

Motion (Lumb): add a project to the CIP for Public Works facilities capital maintenance of $1,950,000 from the Special Council Contingency fund – fails 3-3 (Clark, Anderson and Joost opposed)

Motion (Clark): add a project to the CIP for Kernan Boulevard widening at a value of $12 million from the Banking Fund with no cost allocation for FY14, plus $81,000 from Special Council Contingency – fails 3-3

Motion (Clark): add a project to the CIP for Parramore Road construction at a value of $5.1 million from the Banking fund, plus $34,425 from Special Council Contingency – fails 2-4

Motion (Clark): fund the CIP project for for New World Avenue extension at a value of $4 million from the Banking Fund, plus $29,025 from Special Council Contingency – approved 5-1 (Crescimbeni opposed)

Motion (Clark): add a CIP project for JFRD mobile device terminal replacements from the Banking Fund, plus $17,801 from Special Council Contingency – approved unanimously

Military Affairs, Veterans and Disabled Services Department

Department Director Victory Guillory answered questions about his department’s personnel and the growth in the employee cap over the past year. Several council members expressed great dissatisfaction with the department’s current employee level exceeding the budgeted cap. Admiral Guillory stated that, while he has been complying with the personnel rules as they currently exist, he committed to the committee that he would absolutely adhere to the established cap in the future. Some of the growth of his staff has been in response to new service demands such as the additional person added to oversee ADA compliance as a result of the City’s legal settlement with the federal government. Committee members questioned how position reclassification requests could have been approved by the Mayor’s Budget Review Committee and signed off by numerous levels of administration without someone having identified the funding need and getting resources transferred to the department to cover the costs.

Motion (Clark): on p. 12 of the proposed budget book, delete the 5 unfunded in the City vacancy pool (non-departmental positions)

Motion (Clark): call the question – approved unanimously

The Clark motion was approved 5-2 (Joost and Anderson opposed)

Motion (Joost): approve the Mayor’s proposed FY14 budget for the Military Affairs, Veterans and Disabled Services Department – approved 5-3 (Clark, Crescimbeni and Gulliford opposed)

Amendment (Clark): approve the department’s budget at the FY2-13 current level – dies for lack of a second

Children’s Commission

Jon Heyman distributed a lapse restoration request and asked that the two items ranked #2 (JCC early learning staff and supplies and contract for childcare quality services) be changed to priority #8 and moved up the fourth and fifth rankings.

Motion (Clark): re-approve the JCC budget as approved at a prior meeting without restorations, allocating funding as recommended by the JCC board if the extraordinary lapse is imposed (column 2 of the Council Auditor’s handout) –

In response to a question from Council Member Crescimbeni about complaints he’s heard from multiple sources, including JCC-funded agencies, that the JCC board is a dysfunctional group. Mr. Heyman stated that one of his jobs as the new executive director of the organization is to help coach the board, which is composed of passionate advocates for children’s issues, into a cohesive, organized unit.

Council Member Daniels, the liaison to the Children’s Commission, questioned how the commission and other City departments and agencies can still be facing substantial cuts after the Council added 1.5 mills to the tentative millage rate ceiling. She expected that that vote would have eliminated these painful cuts. Kirk Sherman stated that the 1.5 mill increase, if fully utilized, would produce approximately $65 million in new resources, of which the Finance Committee has allocated $48.4 million to date.

Amendment (Anderson): increase the Children’s Commission budget to $14,925,074, representing the Mayor’s proposed budget with the extraordinary lapse restored – dies for lack of a second

Amendment (Joost): restore the JCC’s restoration requests ranked #10 through #5 for $1,435,968 from Special Council Contingency

Motion (Clark): call the question – approved 5-2

The Joost amendment was approved 4-3 (Clark, Crescimbeni and opposed)

Motion: approve the Clark motion as amended by the Joost amendment –

In response to a question from Council Member Yarborough, Mr. Sherman indicated that to his knowledge the JCC has never performed the longitudinal study that was envisioned as a keystone of the commission’s work and the way of evaluating its effectiveness. Mr. Heyman stated that longitudinal studies are very expensive and difficult to perform, but each of the JCC’s funded programs is evaluated annually by the commission and other outside agencies.

Motion (Clark): restore only JCC’s requested restoration #9 for $778,024 – fails 3-4 (Crescimbeni, Clark and Yarborough in favor)

Motion (Joost): call the question – approved unanimously

The Clark motion as amended by the Clark amendment was approved 4-3 (Crescimbeni, Clark and Yarborough opposed)

Council members made suggestions to Mr. Heyman about improving relations with the City Council and cautioned him that the Finance Committee’s vote is only tentative – more work remains to be done before the final Council approval of the budget at the end of September.

Construction Trades Qualifying Board

Richard Hickock, Administrator of the CTQB distributed a handout showing the amount of contractor license renewal revenues which are cyclical (licenses renew every other year). Council Member Crescimbeni questioned whether the FAMIS system is accurately reflecting the board’s fee revenue, given the number of licenses being renewed and the fees for those licenses.

Motion (Crescimbeni): restore the position and funding for the Construction Trades Qualifying Board administrator position, contingent on a favorable review and report on revenues by the Council Auditor’s Office at next week’s Finance Committee meeting – approved unanimously

Public Works Department

Public Works Director Jim Robinson distributed a memo and table of departmental position vacancies indicating which ones are funded and unfunded, and which ones are in the active process of being filled. He explained that the reason for some of the positions showing as vacant for extended periods (in the hundreds of days) is that the positions were unfunded during that time and could not have been funded. The committee restored $848,000 at a previous meeting which restores the positions on the list distributed today. The department requests a restoration of $1.1 million for the building preventive maintenance program.

Council Member Clark advocated for a new method of dealing with unfunded position vacancies, actually eliminating positions when there is no funding so that they can’t be moved and filled later without Council’s knowledge. Mr. Robinson indicated that the City’s Oracle personnel tracking system is in error – the numbers attributed to the department in the computer don’t match the number of actual bodies on the job. Mr. Crescimbeni indicated that the number of vacancies on Mr. Robinson’s list doesn’t match the number on a list provided to him by Angela Moyer yesterday and advocated for deferring the department’s budget to a future date after the Auditor’s, Budget and Public Works staffs can meet and arrive at a final set of verifiable numbers. Mr. Robinson answered several questions about the most recent fire suppression test at the new courthouse.

Council President Gulliford requested a revised list of public buildings maintenance items that the department prioritizes for work next year.

Motion (Joost): amend the Code to provide unallocated extraordinary lapse cannot exceed 3% of the proposed budget –

Amendment (Gulliford): extraordinary lapse cannot exceed 2% of an overall proposed City budget and may not exceed 4% of any individual department’s proposed budget – approved unanimously

Council Member Crescimbeni supports the concept of the change but advocated for taking time to draft very clear legislation in a separate ordinance so that all possibilities can be considered in an orderly and thorough fashion. The committee agreed to sponsor separate legislation to amend the Budget Code.

Council Member Yarborough read into the record a portion of a memo promulgated by the Office of General Counsel late this afternoon regarding the timing of publication and posting of notice of closing of a fire station or library. In brief, the opinion provides that the filing of a proposed budget that proposes to close libraries or fire stations does not constitute the notice required by the Ordinance Code.

Council Member Crescimbeni also summarized for the committee’s information a General Counsel’s opinion he requested stating that funding provided by the General Fund to pay for expenses that could be paid by tax increment funds except for the fact that the TIF is in a deficit position can be considered as a loan and may be repaid to the General Fund from future year tax increment revenues of the district.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:31 p.m.

Jeff Clements, City Council Research

Posted 8.30.13 7:00 p.m.