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HomeMy WebLinkAboutu - November 1, 2017 COW special SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING November 1, 2017 The special Committee of the Whole meeting was called to order by Mayor Kaptain at 9:00 a.m. in the City Council Chambers. Present: Councilmembers Dixon, Dunne, Gavin, Martinez, Powell, Rauschenberger, Shaw, Steffen, and Mayor Kaptain. Absent: None. City Manager Kozal provided a brief overview of items to be discussed during the meeting. A draft of the 2018-2022 Strategic Principles and Priorities would be presented by the Strategic Plan Advisory Commission. There would also be presentations on the overall city budget, the Riverboat Fund, the Police Department and the Fire Department. Strategic Policies and Principles Laura Valdez-Wilson, Senior Management Analyst, reviewed the results from the recent community survey. She noted that the results of the survey and the draft of the Strategic Principles and Priorities would be available on the city’s website. Strategic Plan Advisory Commission members presented the draft of the 2018-2022 Strategic Principles and Priorities. Steve Knight, Dennis Verges, and Todd Martin presented the three defined goals of the new strategic plan: City of Choice, Safe and Healthy Community, and a High Performing, Financially Stable Government. The council thanked the commission members for their work on the previous strategic plan as well as for creating the draft of the new strategic principles and priorities. 2018 Budget Aaron Cosentino, Senior Management Analyst, presented information regarding the overall City budget. Mr. Cosentino, provided an overview on the different funds noting each fund’s expenditures and revenues. He also reviewed the types of restrictions on expenditures in various funds. A copy of this presentation is on file in the City Clerk’s office. Mr. Cosentino provided scenarios on how making cuts would impact the current service levels. He stated that making repeated cuts would lead to a continuous decrease in service levels and in order to maintain stable services, modest increases are required. The citizen survey showed that residents are happy with the current service levels. There was a discussion on past personnel reductions and the impact that collective bargaining agreements have on the budget. Special Committee of the Whole November 1, 2017 Page 2 River Boat Laura Valdez-Wilson, Senior Management Analyst, provided information regarding the River Boat fund. Ms. Valdez-Wilson noted the sources of revenues and the types of expenditures that come from this fund. The three revenue sources for the fund are: the land lease, a 5% tax on the gaming receipts, plus a one dollar per patron admissions tax. A copy of this presentation is on file in the City Clerk’s office. There was a review of the city’s policy on how the riverboat funds are used. Examples of types of expenditures from this fund are vehicle replacements, road improvements, and neighborhood grants. There was discussion regarding the decrease in revenue from the River Boat and the impact of this change. Mayor Kaptain commented on the increase in video gaming and the impact on the River Boat fund The Council held a recess from 7:45 p.m. – 7:55 p.m. Police Department Police Chief Swoboda provided an overview of the Police Department. A copy of the presentation is on file in the City Clerk’s office. He noted that the center of any police department is Patrol and Investigations. The Elgin Police Department also is made up of the following divisions/units: Crime Free Division, Technical Investigations, Traffic, Gang and Drug Unit; Social Services, Neighborhood Engagement and School Resources. These additional divisions add a competitive edge and allow the department to continue to decrease crime within the city. The department utilizes a data driven approach to crime and safety. Chief Swoboda provided data on Part One Crime. He noted that the decrease in these types of crimes began when the department began to utilize the additional divisions. In order to make the five percent reductions in the department budget the cuts would need to be made to personnel. Based on the assumption of the average cost per officer being $150,000 there would need to be fifteen officers eliminated. These positions would not come from patrol, but rather would be spread out across the additional divisions, such as social services and the gang and drug units. There was discussion on collaborative training efforts, the impact of previous staff reductions on the sworn and civilian levels, and potential impacts of further reductions in staffing. Special Committee of the Whole November 1, 2017 Page 3 Fire Department Fire Chief Schmidt provided an overview of the Fire Department. A copy of this presentation is on file in the City Clerk’s office. He outlined the district maps and the locations of fire houses and coverage for future expansion on the west side. Chief Schmidt broke down the components that make up a call response including call processing, turn out time, and travel time. The time of an effective response force is eight minutes. He outlined various external factors that impact operations such as the State Fire Marshal, Illinois Department of Public Health, and the Insurance Services Organization. The department tracks various performance measures including the number of calls, number of times running simultaneous calls, and multi-unit responses. The practice is to match resources to risk. After analyzing the department, it was determined that in order to complete the 5% budget reduction personnel would be impacted. Staff provided two options to achieve this reduction. Option one would be daily staffing reductions. This would reduce personnel by three and reduce minimum daily staffing to 32. Option two would be to reduce the reliance on overtime. This would reduce personnel by four and reduce minimum daily staffing to 30. Both scenarios would increase the use of a jump company service model. Potential impacts of personnel reductions include increased response times, greater reliance on mutual aid, and ISO ratings. Chief Schmidt provided details on revenue opportunities that were examined. Sources of revenue include changes to EMS billing, false alarm billing, and expansion of fire recovery billing. Another option for potential funding could be federal funding, but that would require state legislation. There was discussion regarding updating the false alarm ordinance, EMS billing and cost recovery, revenue opportunities, and alternative service delivery options. Adjournment Councilmember Gavin moved, seconded by Councilmember Martinez, to adjourn the meeting. Upon a roll call vote: Yeas: Councilmembers Dixon, Dunne, Gavin, Martinez, Powell, Rauschenberger, Shaw, Steffen, and Mayor Kaptain. Nays: None. The meeting adjourned at 9:09 p.m. s/ Kimberly Dewis November 15, 2017 Kimberly Dewis, City Clerk Date Approved