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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBudget Advisory Commission - 06/26/2007 APPROVED MINUTES BUDGET ADVISORY COMMISSION TUESDAY,JUNE 26, 2007 5:00 PM, CITY CENTER 8080 Mitchell Road, Eden Prairie, MN Heritage Room COMMISSION MEMBERS: Katherine Kardell (Chair), Don Uram(Vice Chair), Mark Kantor, Richard (Rick) King, Jon Muilenburg, Richard Proops, Gwen Schultz CITY STAFF: Scott Neal (City Manager), Sue Kotchevar(Finance Manager), Tammy Wilson (Finance Supervisor), George Esbensen (Fire Chief), Joyce Lorenz (Communication Manager), Lisa Wu (Information Technology Manager), Angie Perschnick(BAC Recording Secretary) I. ROLL CALL/CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER Chair Kardell called the meeting to order at 5:03 PM. All Commissioners were present. II. OATH OF OFFICE Rob Reynolds, the Police Chief, read the Budget Advisory Commission Charter Statement and led the Commissioners in taking the oath of office verbally. Also, each Commissioner signed the oath of office form individually in his presence. III. DISCUSSION Kardell led a discussion about the format and process of the Budget Advisory Commission (BAC). There are four four-hour meetings scheduled. The next is Thursday, June 28. Then there are two scheduled at the same time and place on Tuesday, July 10 and Thursday, July 12. This is a group process, and the group acts as an advisory capacity. They will receive information from staff, review that information, come prepared to hear a full presentation or go right to discussion with the departments at the meetings, and ask staff to answer questions. There will be a scheduled break at 7:00, and other breaks may be taken as needed. The information will be delivered verbally through the question and answer process and interacting with the departments. After the initial four meetings, Scott Neal and his staff will go back and take the initial feedback to form a second budget. Then a bigger picture version of the budget will be presented to the BAC with aggregated numbers and tax proposals included. Tax impact information may be included but is sometimes difficult to accurately assess. There will be two weeks for the BAC to meet as a group to discuss the second draft of the document. Then the BAC will make more formal recommendations, and we can discuss Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 2 what format those recommendations will take. Those recommendations will need to be ready before the week of August 6"' for staff to use when putting together a third draft of the budget. We need to think about how we want to schedule our subsequent meetings, how we want to manage them, who we want to be there, and how we want to prepare our formal feedback to present to the Council. Staff has agreed to respond to all BAC recommendations, whether those recommendations are incorporated into the final budget or not. That is a process that works within the requirements the City has for taking a budget to the Council in August and adopting a preliminary maximum levy in September. Kardell asked for comments or questions. The only comment was that this will be a lot of work in a short amount of time, and Kardell agreed that was the case due to the nature of the budgeting process. IV. BUDGET PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION A. FIRE The group decided to begin by hearing about the work plans, including discussions of how the work plans were put together, since that will help them understand how budgets are put together. Neal noted that Building departments are not typically part of the Fire Department, but the City of Eden Prairie has done that because the integration of building safety is important to emergency management and fire safety. George Esbensen proceeded to give an overview of the overall fire department, divisions, and walked through the work plan. Every two years, the Fire Department looks at the new initiatives they want to undertake and also the ongoing commitments they have. Uram asked what the process is for putting the work plan together, how the budget gets put together from the work plan, and what the expected results are (saving money, becoming more efficient, etc.). Neal explained that the work plans are moving forward, and this year the work plan development is synchronized with budget development (they are happening at the same time). The priorities that are in the work plan and budget come from Neal's discussions with Council members, his observations, his discussions with staff members, and from discussions these individuals have with members of the Community. At this stage, what we have is the art of the budgeting process. Building Inspections Division Esbensen noted that the budgeting and work plans are an ongoing process too as new initiatives are added and the business model changes. Kantor asked about the reasons for purging files as an initiative. There are many files, and the documents are shared throughout the departments. Going forward, records could become available to the public after a scanning or imaging process takes place. Kantor asked who would do the scanning. The purging process would be done internally to determine which files could be removed from the files to be scanned, and the next step would be to hire out the scanning process for the remaining files. Neal added that some scanning and purging processes are done in-house and others are Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 3 hired out in different departments. Muilenburg asked if any studies could be done on the cost of purging versus the cost of automating the entire set of files, and he noted that scanning the set of files would likely be less expensive than purging part of the files. Staff clarified that there would not be additional cost for the purging since it could be done by internal staff when they have down time. Schultz asked which items on the Building Inspections New Initiatives work plan were going to cost a lot of money versus small amounts. The three most costly items are the document imaging/scanning, implementing online scheduling, and implementing online permit tracking. Online scheduling allows 24/7 customer service and will likely free up staff from many calls. This could reduce headcount and free up resources. Schultz inquired about the cost of the program, and it is estimated at $15,000-$20,000. These projects are in the Information Technology budget initiatives. Kardell asked about the commitment for reviewing permits, and it was clarified as business days (15 business days, or 3 weeks is the commitment). Fire Prevention Division New initiatives include on call scheduling for hood inspections. Restaurants are required to clean their hoods regularly, and the Fire Prevention Division does inspections to make sure the hoods are adequately cleaned. The restaurants are charged to cover costs, and inspectors are on call every four weeks to inspect the restaurants. The program goal going forward is to ensure the same inspector for the hoods and ducts is also the fire investigator assigned in the event that a structural fire occurs at that restaurant. King asked about the overtime number in the budget, and Esbensen stated that an error was made in that calculation. Overtime was confirmed to be time and a half. The fees collected cover 100% of hood and duct inspections. The rest of the overtime is for cause investigation for fires. Kardell asked about the number of false alarms versus the amount collected in the licensing program. Esbensen said there is an aggressive program in place to reduce the number of false alarms because there is a large economic cost and a burnout factor for the firefighters too. They have focused their efforts on repeat commercial offenders for false alarms, and the number of false alarms has been reduced from 43% previously to 26% now. Conscientious contractors can help reduce the number of false alarms, so the fire department has contractors register through their licensing process to manage false alarm problems. People get 3 free false alarm calls per year, and then fines are issued at increasing rates for all subsequent false alarms. The goal is not to collect fees but to reduce the number of false alarms. Muilenburg suggested they might consider using a more punitive system for false alarms (higher penalties charged). Sending an inspector out to talk to repeat offenders has been useful in greatly reducing the number of false alarms. Another tool the Fire Department can use is the codebook, where they can go through and check their building. A building's permit can be removed Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 4 also so that renters have to leave for a period of time. Sometimes a different smoke detector can be installed to resolve the problem too. King asked about the permit income estimates, which are expected to be flat for a few years going forward. He wanted to know if the fees are actually likely to be flat. Esbensen stated that they are using conservative estimates. King asked about opportunity for growth in restaurant permits, and Esbensen said a conservative approach was used for this also. King asked if the same approach of conservative forecasting was used for all divisions. King noted that if estimates are too conservative, that might hurt the expense side later. He also noted that more income and activity would defray some of the costs collected from general taxpayers. Kantor asked if they plan to spend much to do the review of computer software programs. There are not many choices for software, so it is not expected to cost much money. They are planning to do a vendor demonstration instead of hiring consultants, and the primary way they plan to review software is to call references to see how each program is working with their systems. Fire Suppression Division Esbensen said they are looking to expand their force, and recruiting and retention of firefighters are significant challenges for them. There are a number of competing opportunities for people with these interests and skills. Kardell asked about the budget numbers for wages and wages and no benefits that vary significantly from year to year, and she wanted to know how their initiatives relate to the numbers. The wages and no benefits number fluctuates because Steve Koering was only with them for half of last year and joined full time this year, and he was overseeing the fire station project. Part of their process of ensuring safety for employees is preplanning all commercial structures in the city by using savvy paid on call people. These on call staff gather blue prints, do walk throughs, and puts information into Firehouse software, which is used onsite, remote locations, and on first response vehicles. Then key information is available on what inspections were done, who the contacts are, where alarm panels are, etc. The health and wellness program is being expanded going forward also to reduce incidents of heart attacks (the leading cause of death for firefighters). They are covering annual checkups, heart and lung scans for employees over age 40, and Lifetime fitness quarterly training sessions for employees. Additionally, there were some one time equipment costs incurred earlier this year. Uram asked about the difficulties in increasing volunteer staff and whether or not the long-term strategy would be best served by using a large volunteer force. Esbensen said their long-term goal is to remain a paid, on call fire department. They are currently interviewing 39 people, and they believe they will reach their recruiting goals. This is a much more cost effective way to provide service Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 5 overall, and volunteer firefighters typically have a strong passion and extra level of concern for the service they provide. Their mission is to keep the volunteer firefighter program low cost. Neal stated that, since 2002, their vision has been to bring more of the management of the department into a full time status in order to maintain the robust volunteer firefighter department. They will need to increase paid management going forward to continue growing as an increasingly sophisticated department. Uram asked about the pension numbers. It was clarified that the Relief Association pays for its own members. Going forward, they should not need to increase funding. $5000 per year is the cost for the average firefighter, and they put in extra money a few years back. They are at almost 95% funded and are a bit ahead of the game at this point. The City's contribution is $300,000. Proops asked about the fire engine purchases. The cost of fire trucks goes up 3- 5% per year and costs around $450,000, and they write a performance specification and do a bidding process with manufacturers when new trucks are acquired. The focus is on technology and firefighter safety, and trucks are replaced about every 20 years. New vehicles have a built-in tether to keep firefighters in the truck in case of a rollover, for example. Also, more computer- controlled technology is available on newer fire engine models, and that increases firefighter safety. Proops asked about the money received for trade-ins, and Kotchevar clarified that the money that is received goes into the capital improvement fund to offset expenditures. Proops also asked about the trade-in value, and it is about $25,000 to $55,000. There are two engines scheduled to be replaced in 2008 and one SCBA (Self Contained Apparatus) in 2010; after that, there are no scheduled new fire truck purchases in the next thirteen years. Schultz asked if they share staff between divisions. Esbensen said he took the fire prevention staff and fire marshal out of the building department and moved them into the building department so they could cover as firefighters during the day. The volunteer firefighters typically have difficulty leaving their jobs during the day. They have avoided single-focused duty crews and instead encourage multi- tasking among their staff. Kantor asked about the weekly vehicle checks and whether or not the time between checks could be extended. Esbensen said it is done by paid on-call staff, and it is just part of the job of being in the fire department. They could stretch it out longer between checks but believe it is better to do weekly checks. King asked about efforts to talk with employers about letting their firefighter employees leave during the day, and Esbensen said they have not had much success with these types of efforts. Most of Eden Prairie's firefighters work in other cities, so that has added to the challenge of finding firefighters able to respond during the day. Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 6 Muilenburg asked about why pensions cost about as much as wages. The pension fund covers paid on-call people only. It is different than how pension benefits are used in other areas. It is the vestige of the volunteer fire department where there are separate benefits. The volunteers are paid on a sliding scale of$7-$8 per call, and there is an incentive piece to encourage making more calls rather than fewer. The money is really a reimbursement strategy, and most of the money is put in the pension fund. Firefighters have to serve the fire department for at least ten years and cannot receive payments until age fifty. In today's dollars, the pension is $52 per month per year of service. For employees who served for twenty years, they would receive $1,040 per month in today's dollars for the rest of their lives (starting at age fifty). Retirees receive any increases given to current employees too as long as they have served for fifteen years. Firefighters receive partial vesting at ten years and full vesting at twenty years. Neal clarified that this is the only pension program managed here locally. The other public employees are part of the Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA). Contributions are made from the state and also partially out of the general fund from the current budget as necessary to fill any gaps. Schultz asked about benefits across groups. Neal said that generally the benefits offered are the same (for health, dental, etc.) across different departments. Fire is a little different since pension money is included. Muilenburg asked about the health and fitness costs for upcoming years. $65,000 is the ongoing cost of the program, including Lifetime fitness, the physicals, and screenings. Schultz asked about purchases that are not renewed each year. The amount includes 3-4 new pumpers from 2006, replacement vehicles, protective clothing (currently leased, and that amount was financed). Emergency paredness Division This includes civil defense and hazardous materials response, and Kip Springer heads it. The CERT program is part of this division too. It is like "firefighter light" in that these individuals are prepared to handle basic search and rescue and other emergency activities. The partnership for emergency readiness includes fourteen businesses plus eight advisory businesses. They are planning to expand this program going forward for city resiliency. Uram asked about community education opportunities about the emergency readiness plan. Esbensen stated that, post 9/11, there are a lot of concerns about communicating emergency readiness plans to the general public. The emergency plan is not communicated very extensively, and that is partly by design. People sometimes ask what they plan to do if there is a tornado, flood, etc. They use a more generalized plan for how to manage chaos and bring order to it. Uram asked if there are more specific plans, and Esbensen stated they focus on managing the chaos more generally. They do have practice scenarios and training drills (tabletop exercises) that assist with preparing for actual events that could occur, especially focusing on man- made disasters. There are several emergency preparedness coordinators throughout other City divisions, including in the Fire Department, Police Department, and Public Works Department; Esbensen also wears the hat of Emergency Preparedness Director. They try to keep the Public Works Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 7 Department in tune with what they are doing with the goal that emergencies quickly are handled and become Public Works projects. Tabletop exercises are when people sit around a table playing roles, a map is used showing areas of a hypothetical destruction, and they walk through the possible options for handling the emergency as effectively as possible (all the facets and how they work together in an emergency). This is the forerunner to an actual drill where hands on work is done. Schultz asked about whether or not the Code Ready program was a revenue-producing program. Esbensen responded that it is not. Instead, it is an effort to assist citizens with their own emergency preparations so they can manage for the first 24-48 hours of most non-life threatening emergencies with minimal emergency assistance. Radio Communications Division Schultz asked about the plan to spend money on a citywide security camera in 2008. Esbensen explained that there is an ongoing expansion of better technology with the latest cameras and security. They have used staged steps along the way towards acquiring better technology so they spend wisely and have fewer problems with future obsolescence. Uram asked about the Other Assets category that has a big decrease in budgeted amount going forward. Radio infrastructure, including capital assets to run radio access, building access systems, etc. are included in this amount. The 2007 amount for Other Assets should actually be $150,000 instead of$244,000. Kantor asked what the items are that add up to $125,000 in Other Assets. In the $125,000 increments in 2008 and 2009, the amounts are for an atomic clock, weather station, emergency operations center, elapsed time monitors, adding card readers at the Eden Prairie Center for police and fire, am amplifier for aiding radio communication, fire pagers, mobile radio equipment (headsets, mikes, etc.), digital recorders for command vans, additional cameras, laptops with Microsoft Office, and wireless ability to connect to the City. Kardell said it would be helpful to see the categories for Other Assets, not necessarily each specific item, and that information could be brought to the next BAC meeting. Kantor asked if these upgrades were ongoing or a one-time (or periodic) expense. Esbensen said that although technology is obsolete so quickly, they try to be forward thinking and use wide-based solutions that will be usable for the longer term. Kantor asked if credit card costs could be passed along to customers, and Esbensen clarified that they cannot do that. Uram asked about the e-permit system and when it is scheduled for the next upgrade. It recognizes the first address in a multi-addressed building currently, and they want to be able to recognize all property identification numbers appropriately. This would happen in connection with the LOGIS upgrade and is not in place yet. Their goal is to have 50% of the permits done online or even 6000 of the 8000 online at some point. Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 8 Schultz asked how they would be impacted by a hypothetical 0% increase in their budget. Esbensen said it would mostly involve changing the number of staff since his budget is very people-intensive. The inspections department is almost all staff, and they would have to change how they are staffed. Some technology plans in other areas could be delayed. Kardell asked about the impact of fewer staff. Esbensen said they would try to still respond quickly but may need to respond differently, they may have a less aggressive ability to fighting fires, and doing things differently which may result in a lower service level than is currently experienced by customers. They are in a service business so the staff numbers are important. For inspections, the amount of time to inspect each house would decrease by 50% for a 20% staff reduction due to drive times. Uram noted that the inspections department is run very lean, but there are other departments where the impacts would be less significant if staff were reduced. Schultz asked if there are efficiencies they have seen in other communities that could be incorporated into Eden Prairie. The response was that there will be some efficiencies the City will realize when it transitions more from a developing to a maintenance community. There will still be a need for inspections, but outside inspectors may be able to be utilized more. Esbensen said they want to add a full- time Training Chief for state and federally mandated training due to increases in requirements and the fact that training is so critical to their success. In addition, enhancing technology would be beneficial. Uram asked what Neal's direction was for the budgeting process. Neal responded that, starting with 2007 budget levels, they could increase by 3.5% for 2008 and increase 3% for 2009 (above 2008). Even with 3.5% increases, some operating budgets will decrease service levels dramatically because their people costs are going up much more than 3.5% (the people costs are estimated and given to each Department Head by Human Resources). New items and excluded items are listed separately to show what they left out to meet those targets. 66% of the overall operating budget is for wages and benefits. B. COMMUNICATION Joyce Lorenz walked through plans to improve the quality and frequency of the Life in the Prairie newsletter. Kardell asked about the mailings directly to people's houses, and Lorenz confirmed that this is not done as often as the newsletter is distributed with the Eden Prairie News (direct mailings to homes were done last summer and this past January). Schultz asked about the reason for duplicating the newsletter in mailings to homes and in the Eden Prairie News. Lorenz responded that they want to ensure everyone receives the mailing, including people who may work but not live in Eden Prairie. Proops asked about the dollars that could be saved by leaving the mailing out of the Eden Prairie newspaper. Lorenz said $2,000-$4,000 could be saved. Kardell asked about the costs for redesigning Life in the Prairie newsletter, and Lorenz confirmed those costs are for hiring outside consultants. Upcoming Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 9 initiatives for the Communication Department in 2008 include two additional mailings of Life in the Prairie per year, redesigning the website, allowing on demand video capabilities, electronic management subscription notices, and unlimited, timely information going out to the public. They will also manage the branding and design portion of the Community Center and City Center projects and implementing the Community Center grand opening marketing plan. The Life in the Prairie newsletter is tabloid sized, and they are proposing adding two pages so it will be a four-page insert in the future. Doubling the size of the newsletter will double its cost. This addition is desired so they can provide more information to citizens since a need for more awareness has been identified (from the 2006 Quality of Life survey). The main finding from the 2006 Quality of Life survey was that there is a lack of awareness among citizens, so there seems to be a communications deficit. Proops asked about whether the current newsletter could be made more succinct or focused instead of doubling the size of the newsletter. Neal plans to send bios of the staff to the BAC soon. In 2009, the Communications Department is proposing to launch new e- initiatives. The Life on the Prairie TV segments require a lot of staff time, and they are not widely watched. Lorenz said they want to put everything for Channel 16 on TV from the City Center instead of hiring Comcast going forward. They are planning a history show that could be run periodically and PSAs will still be broadcast going forward. The goal is to make the station less staff-intensive. Kantor asked about the website redesign project. Lorenz said the website is cumbersome in terms of usability (this feedback has come from the survey also). They want to redo the navigation and redesign it. Kardell noted that, in terms of government websites, the Eden Prairie one is not bad at all. Kantor said it looks like a lot of changes and upgrades are planned all at once, and it might make sense to focus on a few items at a time instead. Neal said they are focusing their efforts by redesigning the website and upgrading the Life in the Prairie newsletter while decreasing funding and time spent on the Eden Prairie TV channel. King brought up the issue of access to information. The two applications were (1) news reminding people of information and (2) public requests for huge documents and information accessible to the public. Neal noted that the archival piece is really important for the City of Eden Prairie. It would be best to have more of this information available on the website in the future. Muilenburg suggested it might be better to use part of the newsletter to direct people to the website instead of doubling the size of the newspaper since more and more people are turning to the internet instead of newspapers to find out information. The Eden Prairie News has better circulation than the Sun Current even though the Sun Current is the official newspaper of Eden Prairie (based on the fact that its offices are located in Eden Prairie). You have to sign up to receive the Eden Prairie News, although the subscription fee is voluntary. Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 10 Schultz asked about the wages and no benefits vs. contracted services numbers. Lorenz confirmed these are all people service items, including editors hired. Posting and printing costs reflect the projected budget targets of 3.5% for 2008 and 3% for 2009. Lorenz confirmed that the budget we were reviewing was the base budget to maintain what she currently does. The addition of 1.5 employees to the three employees they current have is separate as part of new initiatives and would be additional costs. The 1 full-time person is to replace the Communications Assistant who was recently promoted. The 1/2 FTE is for an Editor who would be shared 1/2 time with Edina and 1/2 time with Eden Prairie. The most critical items Lorenz is asking for in the budget are the 1.5 employees, especially the 1 full time Communications Assistant. They are designing the Parks and Recreation Department brochure, so that is now in Lorenz's budget. This work was previously contracted out, and about $10,000 should be saved now that it will be done in-house. The Communications Department's overall goal is to increase the quality of communications materials provided to the public. The LITP abbreviation stands for Life in the Prairie. It was noted that over $200,000 is not included in the Communications Department budget because they are new items (the 1.5 FTE add to staff, etc.). Proops asked what suffers if they do not add the requested headcount. They would not be able to be a true full- service Communications Division to their internal customers. They cannot outsource the work since that is essentially the same as adding headcount. They could use interns, but there is time required to bring new ones up to speed and difficulty knowing if they could trust them to provide professional quality materials. Schultz asked about the cost to hire contractors from a small (one or two person) shop. Lorenz said their hourly rate would be significantly higher than for a full-time employee and it would be more expensive overall in her estimation. Schultz noted that a small (one or two person) shop should be much less expensive than a placement agency with high fees. Lorenz said she has not looked into those specifically because she has been discouraged from doing that since it would be similar to adding headcount. A few people in the group noted that would be good to look into since there could be a good cost savings without the longer-term liability of adding an employee. Neal noted that their design work is handled in this way with one individual contracted to handle it. Lorenz said their first goal is to replace the Communications Assistant, and the editing work is now handled with part-time seasonal help. Schultz noted that she liked the idea of the shared staff position with Edina. C. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Lisa Wu walked through the Information Technology (IT) Department general information and budget plans. They have 6.5 FTE plus 1 part-time person. Muilenburg asked about Smartboard. It is used for presentation meetings in conference rooms that are rented out. Neal said there is one in this building. The cell phone policy and PDA reimbursement policy was brought up. Neal explained that there were issues when cell phones were used for unrelated personal use (which had to be sorted out from government use) because the Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 11 records were public. Now a base-level stipend is provided, and the records of usage are private. Employees are able to have standardized mobile devices (they cannot choose whatever they want though). Uram asked if it was correct that the City did not buy cell phones. Wu clarified that the City buys just a few for on-call purposes. The City owns laptops, and they have standardized hardware (from Dell). There is a four-year refreshment/replacement cycle generally, and otherwise replacements happen based on needs. Kantor asked about incentives for people to decide not to refresh, and that is not currently in place with the City. Also, Wu noted that they could run into problems with Microsoft not supporting the software if refreshing does not happen. The disk storage total in the City is 1 terabyte. LOGIS is a Local Government Information System (cooperative code-writing for municipal city government functions). It has applications for Parks & Recreation, police, geography, property systems, fleet management, finance, payroll functions, etc. They pay additional. The other alternatives would be to write their own applications or buy other packages. They have hired a consulting company to study whether the reason LOGIS was developed is still worthwhile and appropriate for use today. They are looking at$100,000 commitment in addition to $350,000 for fiber. The City of Eagan contracts the City of Eden Prairie to provide website development. It was noted that Roseville provides services for surrounding cities and has essentially developed a mini-LOGIS system. Kantor asked what applications might be developed in-house in the near future. They are currently augmenting a number of applications, including automating police squad cars. A homework assignment was given to the IT Department to bring a list of applications initiatives to the BAC. Kantor asked how many people per year are trained and on what. Wu responded that usually the training is for Microsoft Office. Kantor asked if they have looked into contracting those services, and Wu said they do contract out some training to New Horizon. Kantor asked about phone purchases. They are phasing into VOIPs in the next few years. Muilenburg asked about the reason for the large number of printers and scanners. Wu said many of them are scanner/printer/copies combinations, and there are also a lot of individual printers used. They do have a goal of centralizing printers and combination machines as much as possible, and they have a copy center too. New 2008 commitments for the Information Technology Department include deploying an enterprise document-imaging project. $100,000 is included in the capital improvement plan as part of the cost of construction for the Community Center project (not in the project budget), and it does include cabling. Uram asked about the difference between the police rugged laptop and a regular laptop. Wu said the rugged laptops are heartier in case they are dropped. The manufacturer is Panasonic, and the cost is about $5,000 per laptop. The laptops Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 12 do come with a wireless card, and the extra budgeted line for wireless cards is for the monthly service fee associated with the card. New 2009 commitments include launching e-initiatives. Uram asked what an AVL is; it is an Auto Vehicle Locator, which allows a supervisor to tell where a police car is located when they call in. Proops asked who are the users and would you really save $65,000 if used. Wu said the citywide residents could use the online registration system to register kids for various classes, pay bills, etc. This is a generic solution, but they are not sure exactly how much money is saved with it. Property taxes are paid to the county, so those bills would not be paid online through this service. The vision is that there would be one portal where residents could go online to pay their water bill, register for Parks & Recreation classes, complete permit transactions, and handle other payments and services online. This would help with collections and customer service. King noted that eliminating paper bills could save a lot of money, and Neal added that the collecting process would be easier too. It would reduce staff time and allow uploading data electronically instead of manually. King noted that we do not get the whole picture in terms of when we would get this money back (the ROI). We do not know all the details yet, but this is an idea that has a lot of potential. Schultz asked about the fees on credit cards, and it is 2-3% (the industry standard, said Kotchevar). The City is not in a consortium with the other cities yet. There was a GIS Coordinator added in 2007 to the IT Department. This position is part of a citywide initiative, and each department coordinates what their needs are and the person helps them get their data. She also wants to add an Application Support staff person. King asked how you know when you need to add a person to staff. Wu does not use a specific metric, but she does take a look at the industry standard and consider the needs. Customers cannot use new applications fully without assistance of applications support staff, so it is important for her department to be adequately staffed to meet internal needs. The LOGIS budget includes GIS, billing, property systems, human resources, payroll, finance, and Parks & Recreation. Kantor asked about the costs to maintain the software and whether or not they have negotiated with vendors. Wu said they do try negotiating with vendors, and they make maintenance payments. The other hardware is often requested by other departments (digital cameras, scanners, PDAs, etc.). If budget increases were smaller, it would result in internal staff doing more work. Also, the lifetime of computers would probably be extended to 5 years (replacement/refresh cycle). 2008 excluded services to meet budget of 3.5% increase (pictometry, not able to access information for fire, assessing, etc.). King noted that the video (GRANICUS) is pretty expensive and includes an annual service expense. The AV items for the conference room is needed for groups that rent out the conference rooms. The revenue from renting out these rooms goes into the general fund. Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 13 The 2009 items requested include 40 voice recorders for dictation and recording statements. Even though laptops can be used to record statements for police, officers may not always be by the car and able to use laptops for recording. File scanning and document imaging processes are part of the budget too. For inspections, an online scheduling program is planned. King asked about the LOGIS program. The plans include upgrading it, ensuring it can be accessed from remote sites, and re-evaluating it to see if they can connect by fiber. King asked if there is a demand for the site to be faster, and Wu responded that there definitely is. It is too slow to download files. They are trying to save the City money overall. D. FINANCE AND LIQUOR The group decided to table the Finance Department budget review until a future meeting due to time constraints. Instead, some time was allotted for discussion. Mitch Dean, the Liquor Operations Manager, presented the Liquor budget. Their overall goal is to maximize profit while complying with liquor laws, and there are no current plans for additional stores to be added. They have a stable operating environment with an increase in income each year from sales, taxes, and licenses. They are estimating a 3% increase in sales each year (conservatively) with operating expenses estimated at 4% and slight increases in operating income each year. Kardell asked about professional services expenses, and Kotchevar said these are the credit card costs. Uram asked about wine and grocery legislation and when they expect this to impact the business. Dean said he is not sure why it did not pass this year since there is a lot of support behind it from grocers. The City provides great customer service and much wider variety. The City's operations would take a hit if grocers could sell liquor, and private liquor stores are on the side of the City of Eden Prairie. Uram noted the study that was done on this issue seemed too optimistic. One-third of the profit for wine would be expected to go away if wine were sold in grocery stores. If wine, beer, and liquor were sold in grocery stores, it would be bad news for the City. Sales are up in the store by the Rainbow shopping center ($600 per square feet is the typical amount), and the lease is up on that store next year. 8-10% of sales is wages and benefits as a standard target. Wages are up 5% because of the January 1 COLA increase and the step program too. Uram noted that the Rainbow store does not look too good, and Kotchevar said they are planning to upgrade that store with some money that has been set aside for that purpose. In 2008, they will retire the debt on the Den Road store, and there are no plans to buy or open more stores. V. DISCUSSION AND FEEDBACK Muilenburg noted that it is difficult to keep some of the acronyms straight since we are not familiar with most of them. A glossary of terms would be helpful to resolve this problem. Schultz asked about the benefits and why they are different percentages of Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 14 wages for different budgets, and she wondered what benefits are provided. Proops said, on average, there is a 1.4% benefit cost (of wages) from medical only, according to his calculations. Cost of living was up 2.8% as of May from twelve months ago. From that, the City is absorbing the cost of the medical increases. Proops said he can see the impact of this job. The people we have heard from are good people, but their projects are endless. You could double the cost of the communications budget tomorrow and there would be work to do with everyone doing good, productive work. How do we have an impact on the budget without saying that something is a good project, but let's not do it. Neal said Proops' arithmetic for benefits is correct. Kotchevar noted that the differences in percent of benefits are explained by differences in the number of people who choose family versus single coverage, the number of part-time employees, variances in payroll taxes, etc. There is a cost share program for benefits, and human resources will cover that topic. The cost of living increase given to employees is actually considered a market adjustment instead, and they have an elaborate program of how they arrive at these amounts. Human Resources is projecting a 3.5% salary increase budget. The percentage spent on benefits has gotten higher(worse) over the past few years. Kantor said the PowerPoint format was helpful, and the group agreed it makes sense for everyone to print it from an electronic file on their own and format the file as they want to before printing. Kardell noted the format was very conversational, and they were able to ask questions as needed along the way. It was noted that they do not need to read their slides or work plans to the group. King is interested in learning more about the vehicle life of fire engines and other vehicles too. For the Communications area, it is a question of philosophy. It sounds like the goal is to be first-class, and the ideas are right to reach that goal. What we have to decide is whether or not that is what we want. He is not devaluing that goal, but the group should ask if that goal is critically important. Looking at the programs, we can ask how we want PR to function here. For Information Technology, the question King sees relates to fiber and what user demand is. There are a list of IT programs, and the costs are in their budget instead of in the budget of the group who is requesting that program. This changes the nature of how we think about adding that program. King had no specific questions relating to Liquor; it is just a matter of what can be done to drive sales for as long as it is worth it to keep the stores. Kantor wondered about the value of a very high quality brochure for Parks & Recreation or the newsletter in the Communications area. How does this make the City better five years from now? Proops sees the question as how much we are willing to pay to be first- class in Communications. Kardell wondered if there is a way to do major equipment bidding jointly with other communities to decrease costs of fleet. She was wondering if that has been explored and if it is feasible (it might mean that the trucks are not exactly customized to their ideal specifications but could reduce expenses). Also, Muilenburg asked if it is really that big Eden Prairie Budget Advisory Commission June 26, 2007 Page 15 of a cost if it takes an extra two minutes for a truck from a different station to reach a location. Kardell noted there are a lot of vehicles sitting out and not in use during the day. The group then set meeting dates for the last two weeks of July. The purpose of the meetings is to (1) have the second version of the budget presented in big picture form and (2) decide on recommendations for the third round of the budget (these recommendations must be ready for the week of August 6"'). The meetings were set for Wednesday, July 25 from 5-9pm and Tuesday, July 31 from 5pm until we are done (most likely before 9pm). The presentations will be on July 25"' with some time for discussion. Then on July 31s' we will plan to formalize the group's recommendations. Neal confirmed that the goal is to address every question asked by the group, and the Recording Secretary takes note of the questions and discussions from the meetings to make sure the group's thoughts are recorded. Kardell reminded the group that she is unable to attend the meeting on Thursday, June 28. VI. ADJOURNMENT The meeting ended at approximately 9:10 pm.