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Minutes 11-01-10 MINUTES OF THE FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2010 AT 6:30 P.M. AT THE LIBRARY, 208 S. SEACREST BLVD., BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT Don Scantlan, Chair Michael Madalena, Vice Chair George Feldman David Madigan Merline Pam plana William Shulman Victoria Castello, Alternate Terry Lonergan, Alternate Kurt Bressner, City Manager Barry Atwood, Finance Director ABSENT Glenn Jergensen 1. Approval of Minutes The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. The Recording Secretary called the roll. A quorum was present. Chair Scantlan requested a motion to move Terry Lonergan from an alternate to a regular member for the meeting. Motion Mr. Feldman made a motion to move Ms. Lonergan be a regular voting member. Vice Chair Madalena seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Motion Mr. Feldman moved to approve the minutes of October 18, 2010. The motion was duly seconded and unanimously passed. 2. Review of Financial Advisory Board Checklist Kurt Bressner, City Manager, expressed the checklist was a good source document. It represented the areas of interest the members had and it provided a three or four month roadmap of what they needed to accomplish. For the purpose of workflow for staff, it would be helpful if the individual members interested in looking at specific areas be approved by the entire committee. In this manner, it would avoid two people working on the same item. The members would return to the Board with their findings. It would also signify the document covered the work agenda the Committee wanted to accomplish in the next four months. 1 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL November 1, 2010 Motion Mr. Shulman moved the document was part of their operating plan. Mr. Feldman seconded the motion that unanimously passed. The members were asked to list the items they were interested in working on. Some of the items listed on the checklist were projects that would not be addressed before the next budget. Additionally, some required review by outside agencies and would have legislative changes or issues external to the City. Pensions were listed as a long term item. It was thought investigation of it could start now; however, it was anticipated the item would be actively reviewed in Tallahassee this year. Mr. Bressner explained municipal elections were an unfunded mandate. Chair Scantlan pointed out the elections would be much cheaper to hold in November as opposed to March. This item would be a long-term item. As to paper billing, Chair Scantlan explained he pays his bill on-line. The City mails paper bills and using an electronic payment would offer an immediate cost savings. There was discussion there was no opt out provision. Mr. Atwood agreed to speak with the Utilities Department about it. The documents in the water bill could also be easily emailed. Mr. Feldman was interested in researching Items 11 and 13. Motion Mr. Madigan moved to have Mr. Feldman work with staff on the Golf Course Revenue Options and Grant Opportunities (Items 11 and 13). Ms. Lonergan seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Mr. Shulman volunteered to work on Item 10, Revenue Sources Other, Item 19 Personnel and Item 39 HOA Contribution to Programs. Motion Mr. Feldman moved for Mr. Shulman to work on Items 10, 19 and 39. Vice Chair Madalena seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Mr. Madigan volunteered to work on Item 40, Voluntary Separation Early Out; Item 32, Sale of City Assets; Item 31, Hiring Freeze; and, Item 33, Merge Community Redevelopment Agency Functions. It was noted Item 32 had four tasks associated with it. After a brief discussion, he decided not to undertake them. Motion Mr. Shulman moved that Mr. Madigan handle the four lines they just discussed. Vice Chair Madalena seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Ms. Pam plana volunteered to work on Item 17, Recreation and Parks Transfer to the County; Item 15, Schoolhouse Museum Cost Benefit Analysis; Item 16, Library Cost Benefit Analysis 2 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL November 1, 2010 and Transfer to County; Item 18, Forestry and Grounds Cost Benefit Analysis; and, Item 14, Department Head Presentations, which were currently ongoing. Motion Mr. Shulman moved Ms. Pamplona has those five lines for her research project. Mr. Feldman seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Vice Chair Madalena volunteered for the Police and Fire Pension Plans, Items 25 and 26 respectively. He also volunteered to review the Employee Pension Plan which was not a listed item but would be added as line Item 54. He volunteered for Item 30, P/C Insurance Costs and Item 29, Other Staff (non p /f) benefits. Motion Mr. Shulman moved they accept Vice Chair Madalena volunteering to handle those five line items. Mr. Feldman seconded the motion. Ms. Castello volunteered to work on Item 50, Contracts Without Expiration Dates. Motion Mr. Shulman moved that Ms. Castello handle Item 50. Vice Chair Madalena seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Ms. ' ^man Lonergan volunteered to work on Item 27, the Shopper Hopper. Motion Mr. Shulman moved that Ms. Lonergan handle Item 27, the Shopper Hopper. Mr. Madigan seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Mr. Bressner agreed to forward an updated list showing the tasks the members volunteered for. A question arose about Item 12, Revenue Streams generated by other municipalities. Mr. Feldman interviewed other municipalities to see how they generate revenue and he would like to do the same. Boynton Beach sells its services. Examples were conducting Building Inspection and Planning and Zoning services for Lake Worth, and Police and Fire Interlocal agreements with other jurisdictions that generate dollars. Motion Mr. Shulman moved that Mr. Feldman handle, in addition to his other selections, Item 12, Revenue Streams generated by other Municipalities. Chair Scantlan volunteered for Items 44, 48, 49, 23 and 24. Motion Mr. Shulman moved that Chair Scantlan be allowed to work on Items 44, 48, 49, 23 and 24. Mr. Madigan seconded the motion. 3 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL November 1, 2010 The outstanding items would remain and staff would be alerted as to who would be working on the different areas. Several areas in the August 20 memo had to do with exploring merging the library into the Palm Beach Library, incorporating City Recreation and Parks with the County, and evaluating the sale of Utilities into the County or private sector company, evaluating a franchise for solid waste services, and the of selling of surplus properties. City staff made it known they would like to explore those areas. An inquiry was made whether one of the members or Mr. Bressner would be the reporting person and advised they were exploring those items. Mr. Bressner suggested adding the item to the next agenda. The Board has not taken official action on the memorandum. Mr. Bressner agreed to list the source so the members could see who was assigned for the review. Chair Scantlan discussed Item 52, City Services Survey. He did not recall who was assigned to it. A motion was needed because there was discussion a committee would determine the questions to be used and there would be a lead committee person. Motion Mr. Feldman moved the City Services survey be assigned to Chair Scantlan. Mr. Shulman seconded . the motion that passed unanimously. Mr. Shulman recalled the Boca Raton committee was appointing subcommittees to work on items. Mr. Bressner explained the members could not meet on their own to discuss any business pending or currently before the Board. No provision existed affording the Committee to create subcommittees. Mr. Bressner's task was to ensure the Committee followed the Statutes. The City Commission also adopted the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics. As such, the members would be required to take training, and certify they took the training. A cornerstone of the Policy was how they interacted amongst themselves and externally with other parties. 3. Presentation of Budget Issues — Boynton Beach Police Department Matt Immler, Police Chief, reviewed a PowerPoint presentation and advised he arranged a brief tour of the police facilities after the meeting. The presentation given was the result of the 2010/2011 budget. The police department lost a number of positions as contained in the presentation. Of the positions lost, the Evidence Custodian and a Crime Scene Investigator positions were lost and were replaced with sworn police officers. Both of those positions were previously civilian positions. The breakdown by position of the sworn officers was given. Compared to the Boca Raton and Delray Beach Police, the manpower was 198 and 150 persons respectively. Boynton Beach has 164 and a small command staff. The ranks were weighted towards the bottom which worked well. There were officers cross - trained in Vice, Tactical Patrol Unit, Narcotics and Directed Patrol units which comprised the Community Action Team. They are flexible and operate where needed. The Department absorbed the Communications and Records division two years ago. They were formally under the Assistant City Manager. They have the Youth Violence Prevention Program operated by Recreation and Parks from the Sims Center and the Community Redevelopment Agency Police funded by the Community Redevelopment Agency. The Traffic Unit was composed of seven officers. The YVPP had one Sergeant and two officers which fell under the police department. The YVPP program was 4 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL November 1,2010 funded $75,000 and the County matched $75K. The staff costs for the police department were not funded by the program. Ms. Lonergan inquired about the CRA Police. Chief Immler explained the salary for those officers was funded by the CRA. The officers work within the CRA District and primarily with the Community Action Team. Chair Scantlan inquired about Communications and Records. Chief Immler responded there were no losses in communications. The position lost was a sworn officer from the Police Athletic League and two officers were moved from specialty units into loss units. They were mission critical positions. Vice Chair Madalena commented the CRA boundary is large and he inquired if it were possible to shift more of the employees to the CRA and have the CRA be responsible for their salaries. Mr. Bressner explained the original allocation was five officers to the Community Redevelopment Agency. There was never any discussion regarding a reconfiguration or expansion or payment allocation. The area was the second largest in Florida, running along Federal Highway on the northern boundary and extending it to the southern boundary. It extended west to the industrial property just west of 1-95, comprising about 1,800 acres in all. There had never been discussion whether the component should be increased. Vice Chair Madalena thought the labor could be shifted. The allocation and staffing level has not changed since the first CRA Interlocal Agreement. The dollars being paid to the CRA were established in 1986 which means the taxable value from the core area is based on 1986 dollars. Taxable growth that occurred in the area is paid to the CRA, not the City. The municipal police services in that area are being paid for by other parts of the community. They were paying proportionately more for the services than the residents in the CRA area. An outstanding question was whether providing police services were a core function of the CRA. A recent Attorney General opinion addressed the CRA funding special events and police was an integral function of a CRA. It may fall under the category of it being an eligible expense. Discussion followed the Community Redevelopment Agency funded the team, so they would have a team dedicated to the Community Redevelopment Agency area, but noted the policing activity was not the only function they performed. Ms. Pam plana thought while they were looking at increasing the number of officers, they should consider paying the cost of their salaries to Boynton Beach for performance of those duties. Chief Immler commented the cost for the officers increases 4% a year. The police department also has a marine division comprised of a total of eight officers with two primary officers qualified to operate a boat. They provide marine patrols when manpower permits and during holiday weekends. They are required to perform Manatee enforcement patrols during the enforcement season. In return they receive about $88K in grant funds which pays for the marine unit, the gas and the slip fees. The two boats were obtained through a drug forfeiture and as a donation by High Ridge Country Club. They use one of the boats for freshwater lakes and Intracoastal patrols. It is used for enforcement when working on issues with federal officers or the Sheriff for narcotics or smuggling of people. 5 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL November 1,2010 The support and investigative units are the detectives. Professional Standards takes care of regulatory issues. They are the administrative function at the staff level handling Internal Affairs investigations, grants, administration and applications, mandatory training, their accreditation, and compliance requirements and all inspections for fleet management and inventory control. Accreditation was started in Florida about 10 years ago by the State to ensure all police departments had standards for service and to define standards of what police departments should be providing in the community. Three hundred standards were developed as was a system of ensuring how the standards would be applied. It ensures the Boynton Beach Police Department provides quality service. Standards are rigid and encompassed everything from uniforms to calls for service. They just received their third accreditation. Accreditation occurs every three years. A question was posed if the police department was moving into Renaissance Commons. Chief Immler responded they were not. They lost the ability to operate out of Boynton Plaza West and Compson Associates offered them free space. The Citizens on Patrol program operates from that location and has 1,300 volunteers and 11 vehicles. Chief Immler reviewed the civilian employee functions as contained in the presentation materials. He pointed out there were two Uniform Crime Reporting Compliance Clerks. They are required to report crime statistics to the FBI twice yearly. The clerks read every report that is generated to ensure the report supports the crime that occurred. There are parameters and a checklist for each crime. Failure to submit them properly would result in the loss of federal funding. The Victims Advocate position was an unfunded mandate and was busy so they moved the Neighborhood Specialist over to assist her. The Records Clerk handle the records management system records, which are the police reports. The administrative assistants handle all the other reports, which are administrative reports having to do with reporting to various agencies. Mr. Schulman commented the civilian employees receive pensions and inquired if consideration was given to enlist volunteers to handle administrative tasks. Chief Immler responded they have volunteers to help with fingerprinting and with the walk-in citizens who come to the lobby. Mr. Schulman asked if it would be helpful to solicit more volunteers to help with clerical. Chief Immler explained most of the work requires extensive training. Compliance issues with a police department are severe. If a mistake is made then inquiries are generated. Volunteers can do some things but not all. Vice Chair Madalena inquired if there were any privacy issues regarding access to confidential information with the volunteers as opposed to full-time employees. The records clerks and the UCR Compliance Clerks have access to the National and State Criminal Information Systems known as NCIS and FCIS respectively. That information cannot be disclosed. Civilian employees do not have the same benefits as the sworn officers. The sworn officers are represented by the Police Benevolent Association. Of the civilian employees, some are represented by collective bargaining agreements. For those represented by either the Blue Collar or White Collar agreements, whatever benefits they bargain for is what they receive. If the employee is not represented by a union, they receive what was given to the general employees. There are various levels of benefits and the benefits are contingent on the classifications. 6 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL November 1, 2010 For pension purposes the employees are classified as special risk or not. They have three bargaining units within the PBA, which only represents sworn officers, those being Officers, Detectives, Sergeants and Lieutenants. Crossing guard services amount to about $300K a year and are contracted out because it was more cost effective to do so. It was suggested this may be something the county Sheriff may want to cover. Mr. Feldman thought there may be overlap. Chief Immler explained there was not much overlap. They work together on gang enforcement, the drug clinics and task force so there is concurrent jurisdiction in several areas, but they did not provide any services that would relieve Boynton. The Florida Highway Patrol polices 1-95 and it is not enforced unless assistance is requested. The Code Compliance Division falls under the jurisdiction of the police department. Code Compliance Officers carry a badge and can write a civil summon citing violations of the Code provisions. Parking is enforced via the Citizens on Patrol. Those volunteers were sent to a school to learn parking regulations. Florida Statute allows police departments to use volunteers for that type of enforcement. They are given a car and write tickets and it generates revenue of about $200,000 per year. Vice Chair Madalena inquired how much was generated from other violations. Chief Immler thought it was about $100K a month. The amount of the fine is set by Statute. If an individual is issued a $300 ticket, the Statute mandates how the fine is distributed. The City receives about a third. It was a uniform citation. Forfeited property goes to the Law Enforcement Trust Fund. Currently, there is about $300K in Federal monies and on the State level, there is about $350K. The monies can only be used for police purposes. If the Department wants to expend monies from the fund, it has to be approved by the City Commission. It can only be used for special projects, but it cannot be used to supplement the budget or for an item that is in the budget. In the past, Tough Book computers were not in the budget, so they used the money to purchase the computers. They also purchased a truck and an armored vehicle. More recently, about $100,000 was added to the fund per year. Mr. Feldman inquired if those revenues could be increased. Chief Immler explained technically it was against Florida Statute to pad ticket money, or have quotas. The funds generated from traffic enforcement cannot be used as the reason for traffic enforcement. The money goes into the General Fund. The Department asks for what they need and they prepare their budget the same way any other does. The Commission decides what they get. Discussion followed about the red light cameras. Chief Immler explained it is a good way to cut down on red-light running and it should generate income. Red light infraction fines are deposited into a newly created Public Safety Fund. While it is an increase in revenue to the City, its use has not been decided. The City pays a fee to the red light camera vendor to service the equipment. All red light violations have to be reviewed by an officer or a Community Service Officer, certified and sent back to the vendor. The fee, by Statute, reads the company receives monies whether one infraction is made or 1,000. The theory is it is not a revenue stream, it is an accident reduction device but revenue is generated. The police do not receive extra compensation to use their manpower to review the citations. Mr. Bressner recommended the money be used for capital outlay and one-time expenditures as opposed to operational costs. 7 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL November 1, 2010 The City does not know what the future holds. The State of Arizona eliminated speed cameras and red light cameras. Accordingly, his recommendation was not to put the money in the operating budget because it is not a sustainable revenue stream. The police answer 140K calls at the communications center. Of those, they dispatch and respond to about 79,240 calls. Other statistics were reviewed. The amount of crime occurring was the lowest it had been in about 10 years. When asked if there was a higher proportion of crime coming from the CRA area, Chief Immler responded affirmatively. Crime is broken down into reporting areas to determine hot spots. The Department is heavily involved in statistics because it helps determine if the way they are deployed is correct. Vice Chair Madalena inquired what they were attributing the higher crime numbers to when compared to Boca Raton and Delray Beach. Chief Immler explained the statistics were comparable to those municipalities. In the Southern County, the Department receives most of the calls. They make most of the arrests and have most of the crime. Chief Immler thought demographics playa part because Boynton Beach has a more diverse population, more people in the crime committing age group, and they have a lot of shopping areas. Shoplifting was the number one crime and it increased. Burglary was reduced over the last two years. As to the number of arrests, they are scored under the UCR category. They can make one arrest and clear four crimes committed by the person they arrested. The current response time for emergency calls was less than 3 minutes. The police are not always dispatched on every call. If an emergency call is received, a response time of six to eight minutes was pretty good. There are times, if a call involves a lower category of crime, the caller may have to wait until the manpower is available. If there is a crime in progress, all the officers respond to the call. They usually have 18 officers on a shift, and sometimes more so they can respond fairly quickly. The cost per capita for Boynton Beach Police Service was $363, which was less than Boca Raton and Delray Beach. It was way below the southern county average, but Mr. Atwood explained it used most of the ad valorem taxes. The pension unfunded liabilities were not included, but the pension expenses had a line item in the budget as did salaries, expenses, pensions, gasoline and benefits. The vehicle take home policy was discussed. They were allowed for officers employed three or more years. It works by seniority and it takes about four or five years before an officer would receive a vehicle. Boca Raton, Delray Beach and the Sheriff's Department give cars up front. There are 130 vehicles and another 30 vehicles would be needed for all sworn officers to have a vehicle. Officers must reside within a 20-mile limit. Mr. Madigan commented he see's a used car lot of black and white cars and he inquired how many cars the City has versus how many they need. There are 164 sworn officers and they have102 take home cars. The cars parked on the lot are there during the day because the night-shift officers are the junior officers. The cars they use and the line cars park there. There are usually 15 to 20 cars there, including cars they need for spares. If they did not have take home cars, it would cut the fleet in half. The way the shifts work, they have overlapping shifts to accommodate the highest call volumes. The police department relies heavily on cars, radios and phones. 8 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL November 1, 2010 As to space needs, when a portion of the Fire Department moved out from City Hall, they used the space to brief officers. They have a roll call room but they do not have a place for the SWAT equipment. The police department pays a little money each year towards obtaining a car, and when the old car is auctioned, the money goes to the fleet fund. They were estimating the price for a police vehicle five years down the road. Mr. Atwood reviewed they had some excess and they transferred $1.5M into the fund at one time. The recommendation on how long to use the vehicle was to use it for three-years but they have been using them for five years and extended several of them for seven years. The Department policy was to conserve gas. A lot of electronics are in the cars and a converter has to be run. They also have cameras and computers that use power. They purchased battery boosters but if they turn the cars off, it means they have to open the hood, use the battery boosters and then get in the car. The police department Collective Bargaining Unit agreements usually run for three years. They are currently working off the 2007 contract which was extended two years and they agreed to freeze everything at the 2007 level until 2012. There were no officers that retired and collecting current pensions that were now back on the force. As to an inquiry about combining the police Public Information Officer with the Fire Department Public Information Officer, it would be possible but the Fire Department Public Information Officer has other duties and acts as the Emergency Manager. It was also unlikely the Financial Services Administrator function could be handled by the Fire Department or Finance Department. Discussion returned to the Marine boats. The High Ridge Country Club called the police department, asked what they needed and donated the boat. There were items the Department needs that could be obtained by Homeowners Associations or other entities. Mr. Bressner noted some businesses, such as Fire House Subs on Gateway Boulevard donated a thermal imaging system to the Fire Department. He was aware of a catalog that publishes needed items and community organizations select and donate items. It was thought that would be helpful. There was no further discussion of the police department budget. It was announced if the members thought of additional survey questions, they should submit them to Mr. Bressner. The next meeting would be at the Hester Center. The meeting adjourned at 8:13 p.m. (!{U)\VUfvU- QtvALJ- Catherine Cherry 0 Recording Secretary 110910 9