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Min 10/08/1971 456 Wichita Falls, Texas Memorial Auditorium Building October 8, 1971 Items 1 & 2 The Board of Aldermen of the City of Wichita Falls, Texas , met in special session on the above date in the Council Conference Room of the Memorial Auditorium Building at 7:00 o'clock A.M. , with the following members present: Kenneth Hill Mayor Harry Campsey X Harrison E. Taylor X Larry Lambert X Aldermen Dick Darner X J. C. Boyd, Jr. , Bill Drake X Gerald Fox City Manager Malcolm Hughes Asst. City Attorney Wilma J. Thomas, City Clerk The invocation was given by Alderman Boyd. C Item 3 I t j Mayor Hill requested the City Manager to discuss proposed reductions in the f 1971-72 city budget. Alderman Boyd stated that a former councilman suggested to j him that it might be well to take a look at where they had been before deciding r where to go. The Mayor stated that he felt that every man on the Council knows where they have been. He further stated that he would like to go through every item on the list submitted by the City Manager. I A. Salaries - The effect of eliminating salary increases is quite apparent. He indicated that due to the cost of living consumer price index, most city employees have been losing ground. Five percent will not match the consumer price index spiral cost. He explained that he chose the date of April 1, 1972 for the increase to become effective to coincide with the president's emergency powers date. He further explained that employee turn over is low now, and if salaries are not in- creased, the city's cost will increase, as well as losing many employees. B. Personnel 1. Office Engineer - This position has been authorized for several years, but has not been filled for the past six months. By reducing this position will mean less engineering work coming out of this office since we do most of our own engineering. It will take longer to pre- pare plans and specifications for various projects. This is part of the salary charged to the general fund. The cost to hire a consulting firm would be much greater than for an engineer. Alderman Lambert stated that it would defeat their purpose to hire a consulting engineer at a greater cost. 2. Sanitation Operational Salaries - We are expecting approval of the solid waste systems study. This will be a two year extension of the project. We have been able to carry out the program in only parts of the city. With the additional funds we will be able to carry it out throughout the entire city. Five employees are presently employed. They will have a portion of their salaries paid through a federal grant. This amount will be the amount contributed by the federal government. The $15 ,463 will be underspent in the budget. 3. Police Understaffing - Authorized strength of the department was re- quested for two people. They are budgeting for a shortage, which they anticipate will not happen. 4. Fire Understaffing - There are presently eight vacancies in the Fire Department. They feel they can understaff two additional people in this budget. 457 Item 3, Cont'd. 5. Parks and Recreation Engineering Aide - This part time position can be eliminated. The Neighborhood Youth Corps is paying this position. Gymnasium Supervisors - Four gym supervisors were dropped for the summer program due to the City's financial position. Wichita Falls High School Gym was kept open last summer for use of young people over junior high age. It was so successful that it operated for six weeks with an average attendance of 50 - 60 per day. Next year they had proposed to operate it at Wichita Falls High and Washington Gyms for ten weeks. 6. School Health Aide - The City paid the school for one aide. The school does not now feel they will need this position next year, nor do they have the funds. 7. General Administration - One position of Administrative Assistant has been dropped. 8. Library Understaffing - They feel that this understaffing will not have much effect on this operation. C. Supplies 1. Traffic (other supplies) - Primarily an account for items destroyed or damaged. 2. Water Purification Treatment Chemicals - This can be eliminated without jepardizing this operation. It is contingent upon the amount of water we sell. D. Maintenance 1. Street Reconstruction Program - This project consists of approximately 16 units, and streets are ripped up when seal coating will not be of benefit any longer. This is done by city crews. If curb and gutter or sidewalk is necessary, we contract for this. Street Seal Coating - There are approximately 21 units, and- the city does the.work. 2. Building Maintenance Auditorium Waterproofing - Contractors suggested that the building be waterproofed after five years , and thereafter every ten years. Mahlon Hill explained that this was waterproofing on the walls. Some deterioration is showing up in places. 3. Maintenance of Traffic Signals - This is for replacement of knock downs, and is dependent upon contingencies. E. Services 1. Demolition Ordinance - The City pays the original cost of demolishing unsafe buildings. When the money is collected it is placed in the General Fund. A lien is placed on the property to insure payment be- fore it is sold. This amount would represent 30-50 properties. Special Services - This covers extraordinary travel, moving expenses for directors, etc. 2. Spudder Park Demolition - they had anticipated demolishing Spudder Park bleachers this year. The stands are in a dangerous condition. 3. Street Lights - There would be no additional lighting. It would also eliminate some additional work on the Old Seymour Road Project. It would retain the present street lighting program. 4. Health - The school health aide position has been eliminated, and the the car allowance will not be needed. 5. Mayor and Board of Aldermen - This would eliminate the annual report and boards and commissions banquet. 458 F. Sundry Charges 1. In-Service Training - This would cut the program in half. Ed Seegmiller explained that training was planned in departments to up- grade their skills, defensive driving courses, and job related train- ing programs. It is also for extending education at Midwestern University for job related courses. Grant and Loan Expense - This is for miscellaneous trips to Austin and Washington in preparation of applications. G. Capital Outlay 1. Water Distribution tapping machine and pump - Will repair what we have and use it another year. Typewriter - This is a replacement. 2. Sewer Cleaning Machine - It is hoped this would eliminate stopped up sewers on a regular basis instead of on a complaint basis. 3. Engineering - This includes an additional dictaphone machine, commu- nitation equipment for survey crews, and improving the lighting in the lab used for control of materials. 4. Street - ;This includes drainage for reconstruction projects , the City's portion of assessment paving program, and a crawler loader replacement. If this is not purchased, $7,000 will have to be added for maintenance. 5. Sanitation Metal Office Building - If this is not replaced, building maintenance will increase by $7,000. It is more economic to replace the building. Lighting Parking Area - This is the area where trucks are parked at night. Vandalism has been occuring. 6. Fire Department surplus property truck - This is equipped as a rural fire fighting truck. 7. Public Safety radio equipment - This is for the Civil Defense director's car. Command post receivers are involved in alerts or disasters. 8. Parks and Recreation bleachers - Purchase of 5 bleachers to be spotted in park areas. 9. Building - This involves a floor buffer to maintain the structure. 10. Auditorium Services - A new stage floor is needed. Also, some photo- graphic equipment for this operation. 11. Planning - This includes file cabinets and a calculator to improve their operations. The City does not now have equipment for performing the calculations necessary. 12. Traffic - This includes a flasher at Kemp and Avenue Q near the fire station, and traffic counters to improve our traffic analysis function. 13. Water Source of Supply Equipment Trailer - This would be used to move heavy equipment from five lakes. 14. Personnel - Replacement typewriter. 15. Legal - Two active files needed to get boxes off the floor. 16. Library Books - Some could be deleted. 17. Finance - Cabinets are needed to store personnel records relating to payroll. 459 Item 3, Cont'd. Alderman Campsey suggested that Item A be left alone at the present, and work on the other items. Alderman Darner stated he would like to retain Item A in the budget, and proceed to work with the others. Major cuts might have to come from the street program. Alderman Lambert stated that in capital outlay and equipment we would have difficulty in cutting. For the past few years we have been paying for 40 years of lack of street care. He feels our street program is one of our more essential services that we perform. He would be very reluctant to cut in this area. Mayor Hill commented on the street program, stating that he is not in favor of cutting in this area. Alderman Darner stated that in his opinion we are in a critical area, and that they should communicate to the citizens that they are doing this at this time due to the present circumstances. He feels taxes will have to be increased next year. Alderman Drake asked what our purpose is in decreasing taxes. It is due to our benefit or are we hurting ourselves for the benefit of the few? He does not see how the citizens could be hurt by keeping the present tax rate. Alderman Lambert stated that when it was voted to cut $200,000, this figure was picked out of the air. He stated that he could not find this amount to cut. It has cut our flexibility. He would like to restore the cut or minimize it. Alderman Boyd stated that travel and memberships might be cut. They might also cut down on automobiles for non-essential personnel. He questioned the ex- tent of the City doing its own work. We might look into more contracting work. In regard to travel and memberships, he stated that there are lots of people in this town who think that we are operating an extravagant city government. People resent the way some city cars are used. He suggested that funds be put into one location for travel and memberships, such as administration. He stated that he is passing on the thoughts he has received from citizens. Some other members of the Council stated that they had also received such complaints. Alderman Taylor stated that he gets lots of complaints; however, most of the time it is people who do not understand the situation, and are not interested either. Most could get the information here if they wanted it. City Manager Gerald Fox told the Council that the strength of this organiza- tion lies in the directors and department heads. He stated that these things are necessary to retain qualified personnel, and it will take a long time to recoup. A large part of this is related to the news media reports. Constant bombarding of the people may make them think it is extravagant, but without travel expenses to maintain their information, it will deteriorate. He also explained that all those with City cars at their disposal are on call 24 hours a day. Alderman Boyd stated that he felt there is some misunderstanding of the role of the free press. Sometimes he feels people think the press is trying to tear down what we are trying to build up. He does not view this in this way at all. He stated that he feels like sometimes Mr. Howard needs defending. He feels the news media is looking at it objectively. He stated that the City Manager had stated that in the time he has been here, there has not been one staff car added, and that travel and memberships have not been increased materially. This has been happening for several years, but the news media has not always reported it, and asked why. Alderman Taylor stated that he feels the news media should change their approach; that he did not attend the Texas Municipal League meeting be- cause of things the paper had printed. Mayor Hill stated that he was benefited from attending the TML meeting. Alderman Darner stated that he felt the TML and National League of Cities is important, but feels we can effect this cutting in budget without losing a great deal. He stated he is not opposing ay member of this staff. We have a job to do, and we need to do it and make the cuts, and hopefully we do not jepardize the situation. Alderman Boyd suggested that the Mayor go through the list of items before us, calling them out one at a time, with each being voted on one at a time to see (. if the Council wants that particular item deleted. He suggested that they do +t this for the purpose of seeing how much money they can cut out of the budget of fr the items proposed by the City Manager. Such items would be subject to review by priority. The Council agreed to do this by common consent. i, ; Each item was gone over, and the following were taken out, for a total amount of $65,986.00. ji a. Sanitation Operational Salaries $15,463.00 b. Police Understaffing 11,270.00 ' C. Fire Understaffing 11,223.00 460 Item 3, Cont'd. d. Parks and Recreation Engineering Aide 2,050.00 e. School Health Aide 3,950.00 f. General Administration Administrative Assistant 2,700.00 g. Library Understaffing 1,000.00 h. Water Purification Treatment Chemicals 10,000.00 i. Demolition Ordinance (cut in half) 4,500.00 j. Car allowance for School Health Aide 500.00 k. Boards and Commissions Banquet 1,000.00 1. Fire Surplus Property Truck 1,000.00 m. Auditorium Services Photographic Equipment 430.00 n. Traffic Counters 900.00 Moved by Alderman Lambert that Ordinance No. 2673 enacted on October •7, 1971, be amended to change the money figure inserted therein from $12,639,211.00 to $12,767,975.00. Motion seconded by Alderman Drake. Alderman Lambert stated that he felt that the figure was picked yesterday as an arbitrary figure for lack of information. After considering the problem today it seems that the consensus at this point is to find $65,986.00 to be eliminated from the budget. It appears that it would now be realistic on the basis of the information made available to them to remove themselves from generalities and speak more to the specifics. If the budget is to be cut it seems that this is the sum it should be cut, rather than the $200,000.00 originally cut. Alderman Boyd stated that the motion is premature until deliberations are complete, and he moved that Mr. Lambert's motion be tabled until the discussion has been completed. Motion seconded by Alderman Campsey. Alderman Drake withdrew his second to Alderman Lambert's motion, and Alderman Boyd withdrew his motion. Alderman Campsey stated he would like to leave salaries as is for the time being. Alderman Darner expressed the same thought. Alderman Drake stated that he is definitely not in favor of taking salaries away from employees. Alderman Taylor stated he is not in favor of cutting salaries, but is trying to comply with the president's orders. Alderman Lambert stated he is in favor of the salary raise. If it becomes impossible to make the payments due to the wage and price freeze, the money will not be spent. Alderman Boyd stated that they should get all they can from other items before taking money from salaries. A second consensus was taken, with only the office engineer position being taken out, for a total of $5,250.00. This brings the total to $71,236.00. Moved by Alderman Campsey to take out approximately $130,000.00 of the salary increase. Motion seconded by Alderman Boyd. Alderman Boyd stated that he would have been willing to cut more out of the other part of the budget rather than salaries. Alderman Campsey stated that if the Council would go back with him and withdraw some equipment, he would withdraw his motion. Alderman Drake stated that he did not feel we should be arbitrary in taking out the figure after having discussed each. The motion was lost by the following vote : Ayes : Aldermen Campsey and Boyd Nays : Mayor Hill, Aldermen Taylor, Lambert, and Drake Alderman Darner explained his lack of vote by stating he did not believe in cutting the budget in salaries. He felt it should be obtained elsewhere. ORDINANCE NO. 2675 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 2673, MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE SUPPORT, MAINTENANCE, BUILDINGS AND IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE CITY OF WICHITA FALLS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 1971, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 461 Item 3, Cont'd. 1972, BOTH DATES INCLUSIVE, ADOPTING THE BUDGET FIGURES AND ACCOUNTS AS PART OF SAID APPROPRIATIONS, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Moved by Alderman Lambert that Ordinance No. 2673 enacted on October 7, 1971, be amended to change the money figure inserted therein from $12,639,211.00 to $12,767,975.00 (Emergency Measure) Motion seconded by Alderman Taylor. Alderman Taylor stated in view of the fact that salaries cannot be eliminated he is changing his position for that reason. The motion was carried by the following vote: Ayes : Mayor Hill, Aldermen Taylor, Lambert, and Drake Nays : Aldermen Campsey, Darner, and Boyd ORDINANCE NO. 2676 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 2674, LEVYING, ASSESSING AND FIXING THE TAX RATE FOR THE USE AND SUPPORT OF THE MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY OF WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS, AND PROVIDING FOR THE INTEREST AND SINKING FUND FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1971-1972 AND APPORTIONING EACH LEVY FOR THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE AND PROVIDING FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF ALL ANNUAL OCCUPATION TAXES PROVIDED BY LAW, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Moved by Alderman Lambert that an emergency be declared, and that Ordinance No. 2674 enacted on October 7, 1971, be amended to insert the total levy for 1971 at $1.90; the figure for the general fund recapitulation of rate be $.95; the amount shown in Section 1 for general governmental operating expenses be $.41, and the next item for street improvements be $.29. Motion seconded by Alderman Boyd, and carried by the following vote: Ayes : Mayor Hill, Aldermen Taylor, Lambert, Darner, Boyd, and Drake Nays : Alderman Campsey. Item 4 Permission was requested to advertise for bids on 17 sedans , 27 trucks, and one 3-wheel skooter for various departments. Moved by Alderman Darner that authority be granted to advertise for bids as requested, and declaring an emergency measure. Motion seconded by Alderman Drake, and carried unanimously. The City Manager stated that he hoped the discussions had been fruitful for both staff and citizens of the community. He hopes we will be able to fulfill their wishes , and have the support of all seven of the Council in trying to carry out the programs of the Council to provide the citizens with the services they need. Alderman Campsey stated his position and interest for the City has not changed since yesterday. He will work toward the best interest of the City at all times. Moved by Alderman Lambert that the meeting be adjourned. Motion seconded by Alderman Boyd, and carried unanimously. The Board of Aldermen adjourned at 11:15 A.M. PASSED AND APPROVED this day of 1971. ATTEST: Mayor 1 City Clerk