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Min 08/14/2018 City of Wichita Falls City Council Meeting Minutes August 14, 2018 Item 1 - Call to Order The City Council of the City of Wichita Falls, Texas met in regular session on the above date in the Council Chambers of the Memorial with the following members present. Stephen L. Santellana - Mayor Jesse Brown - Councilors Jeff Browning - DeAndra Chenault - Mitesh Desai - Eric West - Bobby Whiteley - Darron Leiker - City Manager Kinley Hegglund - City Attorney Marie Balthrop - City Clerk - - - - - - - - Mayor Santellana called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. - - - - - - - - Item 2a Invocation Craig Lile, Pastor, Faith Baptist Church, gave the invocation. - - - - - - - - Item 2b Pledge of Allegiance Mayor Santellana led the Pledge of Allegiance. - - - - - - - - Item 3 Consent Items 8:32 a.m. City Manager Darron Leiker gave a briefing on the items listed under the Consent Agenda. Moved by Councilor Brown that the consent items be approved. Motion seconded by Councilor Desai and carried by the following vote: Ayes: Mayor Santellana, Councilors Brown, Browning, Chenault, Desai, West and Whiteley Nays: None - - - - - - - Item 3 Approval of minutes of the August 7, 2018 Regular Meeting of the Mayor and City Council. - - - - - - - Item 4 Ordinance 36-2018 8:34 a.m. Ordinance authorizing a joint general election to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2018, for the purpose of electing a Mayor, Councilor District 3, Councilor District 4 and Councilor District 5; designating election precincts; appointing election officials; establishing pay rates for election workers; providing for notice of said election; providing for the use of voting system; and providing for early voting Moved by Councilor Chenault to approve Ordinance 36-2018 Motion seconded by Councilor Desai and carried by the following vote: Ayes: Mayor Santellana, Councilors Brown, Browning, Chenault, Desai, West and Whiteley Nays: None - - - - - - - - Item 5a Resolution 85-2018 8:36 a.m. Resolution authorizing the City Manager to apply for Grant Funds from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program in the amount of $32,176.00 with co- Moved by Councilor Chenault to approve Resolution 85-2018 City Council Minutes Page 2 Motion seconded by Councilor Desai and carried by the following vote: Ayes: Mayor Santellana, Councilors Brown, Browning, Chenault, Desai, West and Whiteley Nays: None - - - - - - - - Item 5b Resolution 86-2018 8:37 a.m. Resolution authorizing the City Manager to adopt the Water Conservation and Drought Contingency Plan for the City of Wichita Falls Moved by Councilor Chenault to approve Resolution 86-2018. Motion seconded by Councilor Desai and carried by the following vote: Ayes: Mayor Santellana, Councilors Brown, Browning, Chenault, Desai, West and Whiteley Nays: None - - - - - - Item 6 Items of Concern to Members of the City Council 8:41 a.m. Members of the City Council presented the following matters: Councilor Chenault - Good morning and thank you for attending. Thank you to Chief th Reese for donating ice for the back to school party, August 25 at 6:30 at Washington Jackson, fundraiser play. Mayor Officer Putney here today read that you were approved for your surgery, apologize for long process and grateful that you will be getting your surgery and care you need. Thank you and good luck for your future. - - - - - - - Item 7 Comments from the Public to Members of the City Council Concerning Items That Are Not on the City Council Agenda. 8:44 a.m. John Spragins, President Wichita Falls Police Officers Association, addressed the council in reference to Police Officer Salaries. Mr. Spragins commended the council for City Council Minutes Page 3 their work and tough decisions. He asked the council to consider a few items as they go into the final stages of the budget. The employees are the most important assets. Police and Fire put their lives on the line every day and there is a trend of assault and attacks on Police Officers. Crime is down for the last three years in Wichita Falls and that is due to a proactive approach. Must stay competitive with cities of similar size in order to continue to get quality applicants in reference to police salaries and benefits. 6% below average with the cost of living factor provided. 10-20 % behind when cost of living factors are not in the figures. - - - - - - - Item 8 Work Session to Consider Proposed FY 2018-2019 Budget 8:49 a.m. Darron Leiker, City Manager, stated that the budget process began in March, and will culminate with the adoption of the budget at the first meeting in September. The purpose of the workshop is to summarize the budget recommendation and answer questions. Jim Dockery, Deputy City Manager, addressed the council and presented a budget overview presentation. Mr. Dockery reviewed the overall revenue and expenditures for the General Fund, both of which have small increases of around 3.4%. The increase in the tax rate is solely for the street bond that was passed in the May election. Sales tax is up this year, but a conservative approach will be taken and we will budget based upon what was received this year with no additional increase. The majority of revenue increases will be expended on personnel with a recommendation of a cost of living increase of 3%. No cost of living increase was applied this past year. Step program increases are also budgeted for employees that are not at the top of their pay grade, along with additional funds for benefits. There was discussion on step plans, specifically for public safety, and the need to revise this plan. Overall, Wichita Falls, is below average on salaries, but also below average on revenues, which makes it difficult to find the funds to raise salaries without raising property taxes. Staffing has stayed level from last year to this year. General Fund reserves are still below the 20 percent policy limit, currently around 18.2 percent. The hope is to replenish these funds with additional sales tax, or personnel savings. Reserves above 20 percent can be used for one time projects, there are no funds available this year. Mayor Santellana recessed the meeting at 10:35 a.m. for a short break. Meeting resumed at 11:01 a.m. Jim Dockery presented an overview of the Water/Sewer Fund budget. City policy requires 17 percent of reserved funds (less debt service), around 5.3 million. Water reserves were depleted during the drought, but the rate increase from 2014 has helped to replenish these funds. Estimated reserve funds are 8.1 million. The excess funds must be used for water/sewer fund expenditures. Water/Sewer rates will remain the same which are below average, and overall there is a 1.73 percent increase in City Council Minutes Page 4 revenues. Wholesale water rates will decrease as per the water rate study and water sales agreement. An overview of expenditures was presented showing a 2.4 percent increase which includes a 3 percent Cost of Living increase, Step Plan increases, benefit increases, three new positions, sewer collection system master plan and various other increases in services, maintenance and capital improvements. A one-time expenditure to stabilize Memorial Auditorium will be taken from the Water/Sewer reserves. An overview of the sanitation fund was presented. City policy requires sanitation fund reserves to be 15 percent. Current year estimate is 28 percent, but this excess will help fund a 9 million future landfill project. Total expenditures are up 6.7 percent mostly due to maintenance of the landfill and the collection fleet. There is also $50,000 budgeted to share in the cost to stabilize Memorial Auditorium. Revenues are up 1.73 percent, so there is a gap between expenditures and revenues. The additional revenue is recommended to come from a 6 percent increase in sanitation fees which still leaves us below the current average for sanitation services. Mayor Santellana recessed the meeting for lunch at 12:00. The meeting resumed at 1:04 p.m. Councilor Browning was absent after lunch. An overview of the Fleet Maintenance fund was presented. There is an increase of 4.82 percent in expenditures mostly due to fuel cost increases, the vehicle replacement program and salary and benefits. There are reductions in the vehicle maintenance account and workers compensation. Storm Water Improvement Fund projects in the proposed budget. Information Technology Fund Increase of 77.49 percent, the majority of which will be for replacement of the Public Safety Computer Aided Dispatch and Records Management system. Regional Airport Fund Revenue decrease of 3.16 percent, and expenditures are up 2.32 percent. This is due to increases in administrative overhead, grant matching funds, rental agreement increase and personnel salary and benefit increases. There is approximately $669,000 in expenditures for debt service on the airport terminal, and this causes the operating loss which is covered by the general fund subsidy. Kickapoo Airport Fund revenues are up 1.69 percent due to fuel sales and increase in hangar rentals. Expenditures have also increased 1.69 percent, mostly due to fuel costs. Transit System Fund This fund is mostly supported by grants, and there is an increase of 10.66 percent overall. 99.24 percent grant funded and .76 percent by general fund. City Council Minutes Page 5 Hotel/Motel Tax Fund Revenues are projected to be up 0.80 percent. Expenditures are balanced with revenues. MPEC/CVB Fund Revenues are projected to be 12.4 percent less than the prior year. Expenditures are down 1.67 percent, and the operating subsidy is in line with the amount required when the city managed this facility. Golf Course Fund Revenues are up slightly and will be used for two capital repair projects at the clubhouse, and mowers. The operating subsidy from the general fund is down $5,000. Water Park Fund Revenues are above expenditures and we expect a net income of approximately $44,121. All income will remain in the fund for future repairs and improvements. Capital Improvement Plan Overview Jim Dockery presented a five-year plan on capital improvements needed. No additional debt will be issued to fund current projects. Projects in year one have funding identified, whereas projects in years 2-5 may or may not have identified funding at this time. This plan includes the $17.3 million street improvements from the bond issue approved in May. There are $119.6 million of projects in the plan that are unfunded at this time. $1.4 million of projects will be requested to be funded with 4B funds, with the Circle Trail matching funds being the highest priority. There are over $5 million of grant funds available for this project that will be lost if the matching funds are not funded. There was a discussion on how the strategic plan ties to the budget. Paul Menzies, Assistant City Manager, discussed how the strategic plans ties in as well as the performance measures and goals that are part of the budget. There are 310 goals in the budget that tie back to the strategic plan and include performance measures. This is included in an effort to make the budget a more transparent document for the public. - - - - - - - Item 9 Resolution 87-2018 2:36 p.m. agenda approving a property tax rate that exceeds the notice and public hearing limit; scheduling two public hearings, and establishing the date to vote on same. Moved by Councilor Brown to approve Resolution 87-2018. Motion seconded by Councilor Desai. Jim Dockery discussed the purpose of the Resolution is to set the required public hearings and set the maximum tax rate that can be approved. If the council chooses to stay at the City Council Minutes Page 6 current proposed tax rate, this resolution is required since the proposed tax rate is higher than the effective rate. Council cannot pass a tax rate higher than what is published, but can approve a lower rate. There was brief discussion about proposing a higher tax rate to fund salary increases for public safety to bring them to average pay for cities our size, and the possibility to find funds in the current budget. The consensus is to not propose a higher tax rate at this time and to not raise the pay of only one set of employees. Moved by Councilor West to amend the main motion to set a maximum property tax rate of $0.75 per $100 assessed value. Motion seconded by Councilor Brown. Motion carried with the following vote: Ayes: Mayor Santellana, Councilors Brown, Chenault, Desai, West and Whiteley Nays: None Vote to approve Resolution 87-2018 setting the maximum property tax rate of $0.75 per $100 valuation passed with the following vote: Ayes: Mayor Santellana, Councilors Brown, Chenault, Desai, West and Whiteley Nays: None - - - - - - - Item 10 Adjourn Mayor Santellana adjourned the meeting at 2:57 p.m. th PASSED AND APPROVED this 4 day of September, 2018. ________________________________ Stephen L. Santellana, Mayor ATTEST: ____________________________________ Marie Balthrop, TRMC, CMC City Clerk City Council Minutes Page 7