HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-10-22 Commissioner MinutesTUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2019
The Franklin County Commissioners met Tuesday, October 22, 2019, with the
following members present: David S. Keller, Robert L. Thomas and Robert G.
Ziobrowski. Chairman Keller presided and after calling the meeting to order, a Moment
of Silence, and the Pledge of Allegiance, proceeded with the business of the day.
Carrie Gray, County Administrator, asked to amend the agenda to include three
changes. She asked to add a motion to board action item #2 of the Non -disclosure
Agreement action item to state, "motion also to authorize county administrator to execute
any agreements related to the county's due diligence as it relates to the subject matter of
the non -disclosure." Ms. Gray also asked to amend the executive session for pending
litigation that will remain on the agenda but take the Board of Assessment and Revision
of Taxes (BART) action out of the executive session. No decision on the appeals will be
requested by staff. The exec session will relate to the court facility improvement project.
She continued that the third request is to add a board action asking for approval of the
substantial completion agreement for the court site demo with Lycoming Supply. This is
a zero dollar agreement and part of the completion process. John Hart, Project
Manager, said this is the certificate of substantial completion for the demo of all buildings
downtown. He said that Lycoming met all the contract requirements. On a motion by
Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved to adopt
the amended agenda.
There was no public comment.
The minutes of the October 15, 2019 and October 17, 2019 meetings were
reviewed. These will be decided upon on Thursday, October 24, 2019.
The Board reviewed Agreements, Contracts and Reports. Chairman Keller
asked if board action #5 with RA Hill has been used in the past to make sure we have
parking lots cleared during snow events. Ms. Gray responded that we have used them
in the past but we use DH Martin for the Jail due to them being closer to the Jail.
Commissioner Thomas asked for a brief description of item #2, confidentiality
agreement. Steve Nevada, Assistant County Administration explained the agreement
allows the County to receive confidential information on real estate and to share
information confidentially. The following item was approved today while the remaining
items will be approved Thursday, October 24, 2019.
On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas;
unanimously approved the Certificate of Substantial Completion to state the building and
site demolition at the Franklin County Judicial Center site has been completed by
Lycoming Supply.
Teresa Beckner, Fiscal Director, presented the 2020 preliminary budget to the
Board. Ms. Beckner informed the Board this budget is a preliminary budget and includes
all requests submitted from every operation in the County. She said the presentation of
the proposed budget will be held on November 26th. Ms. Beckner explained that this
report is separated into two distinct areas due to how the various areas are operated and
managed. She continued that Fiduciary Funds include activities of the retirement fund,
retiree health, workers' comp, and self -funded dental funds. The activities of the funds
are outside normal county "operations" and the assets are subject to market volatility.
County Operations includes Elected Officials, Human Services, Courts, Jail, Emergency
Services and the 911 center, Adult Probation, Juvenile Probation, Domestic Relations,
Debt Service, Internal County Services, etc. It also includes some "capital" type
operations which include: bridge construction and maintenance with Liquid Fuels funds,
Capital Projects (including the judicial complex and other county buildings in the current
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project), Community Development Block Grant projects, and grant programs
administered by the county such as the Tourism and Quality of Life Enhancements
Grants. She reviewed and explained the revenues and expense line items. Ms.
Beckner said the total for all services and operations based on all requests is almost
$163.6 million, of which $11.4 million relates to the fiduciary -type funds. She continued
that total revenues amount to $139.2 million for all funds and operations. The net impact
is a $24.4 million net use of reserves. For county operations, of the $36.8 million in
reserves requested, $23.8 million is bond proceeds being used for the Court Facility
Improvement project. There were a total of 25 full time positions and 1 part time position
requested in this budget. She said with some consideration given to possible hire dates,
the total cost of these positions, including current benefit rates is approximately $1.4
million. General Fund operations make up 15 full-time and the 1 part-time position
requested. Ms. Beckner explained the general fund projection for 2019 shown beside
the requests for 2020. She said there are several assumptions built into the 2020
figures. Specifically, personnel costs assume a 12% increase in the cost of health
benefits for employees, and a required pension contribution of $3 million for 2020. She
mentioned the largest share of the increased request for county share is in Children &
Youth Services, which has seen a significant increase in activity in recent years. Ms.
Beckner said the capital and personnel expansion requests for the General Fund
amount to over $1.4 million. This is a combination of personnel reclassifications
of$45,500 and new positions (15 full-time and 1 part-time), costing $773,900. Capital
requests amounting to $580,000 include computers, minor equipment, software,
furniture, building repairs and improvements, safety equipment, election system
enhancements, security equipment and technology, and funding for new projects. An
additional $3.5 million in requests from General Fund operations would use alternate
funding sources. She continued that the overall results for the General Fund show $48.7
million in revenue and almost $55.4 million in expenses, leaving a need for $6.7 million
in reserves to balance the budget. Ms. Beckner explained that it is a best practice, as
well as county policy, to maintain a healthy reserve balance, defined as 60-90 days of
General Fund expenses. Ms. Beckner explained the recommended reserve balance
based on 2019 projected spending is $6.2 million for 45 days; $8.2 million for 60 days
and $12.3 million for 90 days. She continued that if they were to approve the budget as
requested and presented here, the use of the reserves would take our General Fund
reserve balance to under $6.2 million (41 days expenses). Ms. Gray informed the
Board to take time to review what Ms. Beckner and her team presented. She continued
that the department directors and administrators were fully engaged in the process and
participated in workshops that were offered by the Fiscal Department. She said they
projected the 2020 budget considering current trends as well as historic spending. She
mentioned the increase in county match for human services including Early Intervention,
Children & Youth and Aging. There are increased healthcare costs at the Jail due to an
aging population and increased medical needs due to chronic, complex medical
conditions. Ms. Gray said that there are increased costs for software maintenance and
some larger capital items that were budgeted in 2019 and are now scheduled for 2020
implementation including 911 computer aided dispatch (CAD) and becoming next gen
compliant as well as the security system upgrade at the Jail. Ms. Gray said that after the
Board considers these preliminary numbers, she is asking for Board priorities, direction
and parameters so that staff can take their perspective, discuss and refine the
expenditures over the next few weeks and come back on November 26th with revised
figures that better align with the Board's goals and spending guidelines. After the
proposed budget is on the counter for public comment time, the Board will consider
adopting the final budget on December 17th. Commissioner Thomas asked what makes
up the miscellaneous income and what is the percentage of retirement contribution in the
General Fund. Ms. Gray responded that they will provide those numbers to the Board.
Chairman Keller said that the County has had no tax increase for General Fund
purposes since 2015. Since then the approach has been to make prudent use of
whatever savings we carry over from this year to the next. And to make prudent use of
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funds 40 and 41 for equipment, capital needs and facility needs. We have retained 60-
90 days in reserves. He continued that everyone has worked well to come back with
numbers to do that without a tax increase and this is his goal for 2020 as well. He
continued that as far as the Board's priorities we can't defer computers, software and
building repairs or anything that becomes a health and safety issue. We have been
making pretty good use of these dollars but he does not want to take reserves too low if
something significant happens and we need to tap into these dollars. Commissioner
Thomas said this is not acceptable. He asked what the ballpark amount is for funds 40
and 41 since they have been used for repairs. Ms. Beckner responded that smaller
repairs or purchases come from the General Fund and significant equipment
replacements would come from funds 40 and 41. Chairman Keller said the Board's
priorities have always been public safety, technology, that 911 is public safety and
Children & Youth is public safety, so much of what we do is public safety. He continued
that 911 funds that we receive from the state are not enough to cover what we need and
election equipment is a priority. He said that there will be some type of COLA
adjustment for employees and healthcare costs are going up but we need to make sure
we offer a compensation package and benefits that allows us to retain good people and
also attract new people. Commissioner Thomas asked for a better definition of numbers
of 911 for 2019 and 2020 and we need to get this to the legislature that the whole
concept of 911 fees is not realistic. He would like a trend of what is coming in for 911
fees and what the real costs for a three year trend and see how much the gap is getting
bigger and he would like a clear understanding of Children & Youth issues and better
numbers of what is anticipated and what is it going to cost us for our share. Ms. Beckner
responded that approximately 20% of staff will be the cost to the County.
Commissioner Ziobrowski said there are a lot of things in the budget we have no control
over but the elephant in the room that we have marginal control over, is we average over
500 people in our Jail and a few years ago we had a little over 300 people. He is
convinced that 500 people do not need to be in the jail. If we can reduce the jail
population by 100 inmates it would save us a lot of money. He is looking forward to
working with our District Attorney to find ways to properly administer justice without filling
our jail or while the inmates are waiting for trial or for violating probation. Chairman
Keller said he is looking forward to discussing this further on Thursday.
On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas;
unanimously approved to enter an executive session at 10:22 a.m. this date for the
purpose to review potential litigation matters. Action will not be required after the
executive session. The Board reconvened into regular session at 10:45 a.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:47 a.m. with a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski;
seconded by Robert L. Thomas.
Carrie E. Gray
County Administrator/Chief Clerk
FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
David S. Keller, Chairman
Robert L. Thomas
Robert G. Ziobrowski