7: 33pm (about):
Call to order of the Committee-of-the-Whole (CotW)
by Co-Chairs.
Quorum present.
Committee welcomed Jay Cory back to the meetings from
his illness.
All present introduced themselves.
Rich Bartke again volunteered to serve as scribe.
Thank you very much , Rich!
Al M. encouraged comments and corrections to any
and all minutes.
Agenda comments:
Brad C. stated that at the last meeting we talked about schedule. Since then, we all have received the City mailing concerning the Process Team and their series of neighborhood meetings on the General Plan. He suggested that we put a series of neighborhood meetings in our schedule some time in the future to discuss our findings and recommendations. We agreed to discuss later in this meeting.
7:40 pm (about):
Agenda Item 1; Report of Financial Review Team (FRT):
Steve M. announced that the next meeting would be Tuesday, 10/13, at 7:30 pm at The Open House Senior Center.
The FRT is close to conclusions and recommendations on Redevelopment. Will probably submit recommendations at November CotW meeting.
Brad C. stated that the City has announced settlements of two suits related to Redevelopment; $250K payment to Pet Food Express payable over 5 years and $80K receivable from Wilton-Terranomics. Steve M. added that these will have impact of the Agency's ability to repay loans to the City. George A. asked if we still have to re-pay Wilton in 3-4 years? Gary P. said no, the settlement eliminates all other requirements and we own the EIR for the Plaza. Evelyn K. asked what was the rationale for the settlement. Gary P. answered that Wilton was going to pay for the EIR up front. If the project was terminated, the City would buy back the EIR to have to sell to any subsequent developers.
7:55 pm (about):
Agenda Item 2; Presentation of the Integrated Waste Management Services Division by Becky Dowdakin, Division Manager; (She referred to the handout that was provided for the 9/1 CotW meeting by a Julie Brown/Becky Dowdakin memo dated 8/27/98)
She will briefly describe the history, sectors, law, funding & budget, and future plans of the E. C. recycling program (Integrated Waste Management).
History:
State law requires City to reduce waste going to landfill by 25% by 1995 and by 50% by 2000 or face possible $10K per day fines. Cities must develop and follow plan to accomplish these reductions. Can be fined for not meeting goals. not submitting a plan, and not following the plan. No state funds were made available for this effort except for the "Bottle Bill" and small amounts for waste oil reclamation.
Art W. asked if Becky has received any complaints about sidewalks being blocked by recyclables waiting to be picked up. The answer was no.
E. C. met the 1995 goal on own. We joined San Pablo, Hercules, Richmond, Pinole, and the un-incorporated area of CC County served by Richmond Sanitary to form a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) to collectively meet the Year 2000 goal. Although E. C. is over our 50% requirement, the JPA is at about 35%. The other communities got a late start, but are coming along well now.
Thom S. asked what the benefit for E. C. was. The answer was
Funding & Budget:
The IWM Budget is different than the City's because it is funded by an Enterprise Fund. IWM takes no $ from the City's General Fund. It pays it's own way through the money earned by selling recyclables (1/3 of revenue) and by the recycling fee everyone pays as part of their garbage collection bill (2/3 of revenue). IWM also pays about $70-80K per year to cover its share of department overhead and other Admin Services received from City staff. Profit from good years is held over in the Enterprise Fund to help out in the bad years. Prices are very volatile. The revenue figures in the IWM handout are more accurate than the estimates in the budget, but they have not been audited yet.
Don W. asked why IWM doesn't eliminate the contribution to the General Fund and reduce the fee we pay?
Becky D. said the money paid to the General Fund is not a contribution but a payment for services received, so it must be paid.
George A. asked if any recyclable market was more volatile that others.
Becky D. said that mixed paper was the least valuable and therefor the hardest to make a profit on. Newspapers have varied a lot in recent years.
Don W. asked how much mixed paper recycling contributed to meeting our reduction goals.
Becky D. said she did not have any figures on that amount.
Anne D. asked if IWM was considering expansion of services.
Becky D. will cover that in her next item.
Al M. asked if IWM had any formal agreement with the City to borrow money if the Enterprise Fund ever ran short.
Becky D. said no and that the Enterprise Fund has never run out and a reserve of about $1,000,000 is maintained.
Bob W. asked whatever happened to the $2.75 assessment we used to pay for recycling.
Becky D. said it is now the IWM Fee paid as part of our garbage bills, but it is less than $2.00 now, however it is not listed separately.
Future Plans
Complete Regional Plan with JPA.
Implement Task Force Recommendations, including:
Al M. suggested that part of the commercial program include a "We Recycle" logo of some kind that merchants can put in their window so we know which ones to patronize.
Anne D. asked about the amount of corrugated cardboard recovered in curbside program. Becky D. did not know.
Art W. asked if newspaper supplements/adds sections needed to be sorted out of newspaper. Becky D. said no.
M. Selph asked if that included the "glossy magazine like supplements. Becky D. said anything that comes with the newspapers, except plastic bags, can be recycled as newspapers.
Anne D. asked if plastics are picked up. Becky D. said only numbers 1 & the numbers 2 that look like milk jugs. Other numbers plastics can not be recycled in El Cerrito.
Steve M. had several Financial questions.
Al M. asked if the IWM Task Force was still active. BD: It still exists, but has not met in the last two years. There are two vacancies Council has decided not to fill.
8:50 pm (about):
Agenda Item 3; Presentation of the Employee Services, Financial Services, Risk Management and Central Services by Julie Brown, Financial Services Manager; (She referred to the handout that was provided by mail along with the agenda for this meeting)
Employee Services: (2 positions; 1 is full time, 1 is 3/4 time)
City now has full time Employee Services Manager, Sandy Chapek, who will start 10/12/98. This will allow Departments to concentrate on their work rather that employee related services. Example; the ongoing Police Officer recruitment effort will be run by Sandy, freeing up Chief's time.
Employee Services will be recruiting a full time accountant. They also have the "meet and confer" responsibility of the City with various employee bargaining units.
They also are responsible for training, personnel rules ADA enforcement in offices, and City's Employee Assistance Service.
Questions:
Steve M. asked what the annual turnover rate is. JB; It varies from year to year. GP: guessed about 7-10 %
Financial Services/Information Systems: {6 positions; 5 are full time (with 2 currently vacant, but 1 is being recruited), 1 is 1/2 time}
Combination of two previous Divisions. Processes 100 checks per week plus 160 pay roll related checks per pay period. Also renews 2600 business licenses per year.
Write required state reports for City, RDA, and Pension Fund.
Steve M. asked what the annual fee is for the EADS Software System. ***JB will get answer.
Don W. asked why the $140K difference between FY96-96 and FY97-97 Financial Services total expenditures. Differences like this should have narrative note explaining why. JB: Caused by vacancies.
Thom S. asked if the Computer Services listed under account numbers 525-000 and 5251-000 provide documentation that included change logs and problem solving records. JB did not know but will get answers.
Anne D. asked why Salaries & Benefits costs are up so much from FY 97-98 to FY98-99 budget. JB: Vacancies have been filled, new contracts with unions, changes is PERS contract.
Anne D. also asked why such large increase in PERS costs from FY 97-98 to FY98-99 budget (as shown in line two, account number 5112-000). JB: Filling accountant and other positions, our new PERS contract for FY 98-99, change in interest rate, and changes in retirements. GP will provide history of PERS contract changes.
Risk Management:
(No positions assigned to this functional group;) Julie B. performs most all of the tasks to manage and support the City's liability insurance; property/ vehicle insurance; Worker's Compensation Premiums; unemployment insurance; and Miscellaneous insurance (Bonds)
Questions:
M. Selph, referring to account number 5490-000, Insurance Premiums, on the Risk Management Expenditure Preparation Report, asked why the large increases from FY96-96 to FY97-98 (~$67K) and from FY97-97 to 98-99 (~$106K). JB did not know, but will get answer.
Don W., referring to Worker's Comp claims (Line 5494-000) and Premiums (Line 5498-000), stated it seems we were better off when we were self insured and just paying claims. If the reason we joined the pool was to save money, why are we paying more in the pool than we were when we were not in the pool. JB: We are new in the fund, so we must buy our way in over a five year period. After this transition, we will start getting rebates for low accident rate. The higher costs still include payment of old claims from when we were self insured.
Don W. asked if we could reduce our premiums by getting a "Deductible clause." JB did not know, but will find out.
General discussion on history of worker's Comp and switch to pool. Steve M. asked for an explanation of the costs of self insured and expected savings that led to the decision to join the shared risk pool. JB: If we had been in the pool over the past years, our premiums would now be about 1/4 of what they are now. Of the cases from when we were self insures, 10 of 12 probably won't come back to work. When they get to be "stable and ratable" they will go to disability retired status.
Gary P. was requested to provide a summary of the decision process leading up to the staff recommendation to Council to make the switch. Summary to include the anticipated savings and anticipated time to realize the projected savings and method to be used to track results of switch to see if projected savings are ever obtained.
M. Selph, referring to Line 5491-000, asked why FY98-99 was $60K and previous year, FY97-98 was only $38K. JB: did not know, but will find out.
Thom S., referring to Line 5494, asked why Worker's Comp dropped from ~$188K in FY97-98 to only $50K in FY 98-99. JB: did not know, but will find out.
Central Services.
(No positions assigned to this functional are.) This area set up to meet state requirements to manage office supplies, Property Tax administration charges, contributions to closed city pension plan, and allocate miscellaneous expenses across all departments/divisions.Julie B. explained that the City Pension Plan, now closed since current employees are covered by PERS, has only 8 people, all retired, in it. She also identified that the City generates Tax Anticipation Notes each year gaining over 4% interest over the year through the investing procedures use. Steve M. stated his agreement with this process.
9:40 pm (about):
Agenda Item 4; Discussion of Non-Agendized Items:
Community Workshops, as suggested by Brad C. at start of meeting. General discussion on pros and cons of a several neighborhood meetings, similar to method of General Plan Process Team. Purpose would be to explain process we went through and conclusions and recommendations we have formed to get more input before we submit our results to Council/RDA.
Anne D. & Grant R. prefer study session with Council before or concurrently with neighborhood meetings.
Steve M. thinks any neighborhood meetings should be after all other meetings with Council/RDA.
Al M. supported Brad's suggestion as yet another attempt at public outreach.
Anne D. believes public should have chance to contribute to our decisions.
Steve M. offered if public has ideas, they should be here now.
Evelyn K. said it is better to work through Council meetings.
Anne D. believes it depends on what our conclusions and recommendations are. If we recommend a bond issue, meetings become a selling job. If recommendations are controversial, we may not want to have meetings.
Brad C. offered that not everyone can or will attend the FRT or CotW meetings like we do. Yet some will be interested in hearing our options. Neighborhood meetings would provide that opportunity.
M. Selph stated that neighbors don't read local papers, have never heard of our committee. Could we send a letter to all households like the City does with the city brochures?
Rose L. said most everyone is busy, but might attend one neighborhood meeting. We should have concise summary for them before going to Council.
Steve M. again stated his opinion that we should go to Council first with road show to follow to explain to any skeptics and answer their questions.
George A. didn't believe that we would get any useful information from the road show and favors open, working meeting/s with Council. We are the community.
Don W. thinks that people will come to a Council meeting, and that we should do it that way.
Grant R. also does not believe we will get anything of value from neighborhood meetings.
Kathy P. prefers joint working meetings with Council.
General agreement to agendise this topic at time closer to end of our deliberations.
Grant R. asked to discuss quality of presentations from City staff.
Thom S. reminded us it was 10:00 pm, so no time for tonight, but will add to agenda for near future meeting.
Al M. offered that , for this discussion to be worthwhile, anyone with concerns should specifically identify them in advance we could be prepared to discuss them. This is especially important if anyone believes any Staff is ducking or avoiding answering our questions. If we have examples of this, we need to get Gary P. involved right away.
Steve M. said he is getting all FRT questions answered, but sometimes he has to remind Staff which ones still need answers or more information. Police and Fire Departments still need to provide more detail, especially in financial areas.
Steve M. asked Gary for copies of Police & Fire line item budgets before next meeting. GP will provide.
Thom S. advised that General Government, City Manager is only Department we have not heard from.
Denise F. reminded us that our mission statement is still unfinished. It will be agendised for near future meeting.
Peter L. thinks it is time for discussion meetings on various issues, especially Redevelopment.
Since it was 10:15 pm, the meeting was adjourned.
NOTE: Steve M. passed out copies of Mori Struve's answers (dated 10/6) to questions submitted to him during and after his presentation to us.
A copy will be attached to record set of minutes. Actual reports and documents mentioned in this memo are available through Steve M.
List of Attendees at 10/6 meeting of the Services for the 21st Century Committee-of-the-Whole:
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