03032017294
MINUTES
CITY OF DUNN
DUNN, NORTH CAROLINA
The City Council of the City of Dunn held a Budget Retreat/Planning Session on Friday, March 3, 2017 from 8:00
a.m. — 3:30 p.m. at the Central Carolina Community College, Dunn Enrichment Center.
Council Present: Mayor Oscar N. Harris, Mayor Pro -Tem Billy Barfield, Council Members Buddy Maness, Dr.
Gwen McNeill, Billy Tart and Chuck Turnage.
Staff Present: City Manager Ronnie Autry, Assistant City Manager Steven Neuschafer, City Clerk Jennifer Fortin,
Public Works Director Dean Gaster, Recreation Director Brian McNeill, Police Chief Bill Halliburton, Planning
Director Samantha Wullenwaber, Chief Building Inspector Steven King, Human Resources Director Anne
Thompson, Librarian Mike Williams and Finance Director Mark Stephens.
Also Present: City Attorney P. Tilghman Pope, City Engineers Michael Goliber and Randy McNeill, and Daily
Record Reporter Shaun Savarese.
Absent: Council Member Frank McLean.
Mayor Harris opened the meeting at 8:30 a.m.
Mayor Harris gave a brief update on the Harnett Training School Facility and funding.
Invocation — Mayor Harris gave the Invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance was repeated.
MID -YEAR FINANCIAL REPORT FY 2016-2017/DEBT SERVICE
Finance Director Mark Stephens presented the mid -year financial Report:
Fund Balance as of 6/30/16 - $3,671,268 and at the end of FY 2011-2012 the Fund Balance was $3,460,282, which
has increased $210,986 over the last four fiscal years.
Cash/Investment balance as of 6/30/16 was $4,741,655 which is a total of the General Fund, Water & Sewer Fund
and Stormwater Fund. This is a significant increase from 6/30/15 at $4,077,219. Some of this amount was due to
being able to add money back in and some grants from 2015 for Rooms To Go and Love's Travel Plaza.
Sales Tax Distribution was $1,503,668 in 2015 and increased to $1,603,327 in 2016. That number does not
include the new Sales Tax Distribution, it is just an increase in sales tax collection throughout the state and within
Harnett County.
Property Taxes collected as of 1/31/17 was $3,659,969 or 99.03% of budget as where last year property taxes
collected as of 1/31/16 was $3,317,334 or 93.76% of budget. The major increase there was Rooms To Go.
Sales Tax collected as of 3/3/17 was $948,719 or 56.64% of budget as where last year sales tax collected as of
3/3/16 was $776,039 or 52.60% of budget. The new sales tax distribution is coming at roughly $17,000 month
over what we received last year.
Utility Franchise Tax as of 1/31/17 was $375,900 or 45.98% of budget as where last year the Utility Franchise Tax
as of 1/31/16 was $411,115 or 59.58% of budget. This tax is subject to weather variations because it is based off
of everyone's electric bill and natural gas. If there is a mild winter or cool summer it can really affect that number.
Water/Sewer Revenue as of 1/31/17 was $2,759,679 or 61.33% of budget as where last year the Water/Sewer
Revenue as of 1/31/15 was $2,736,652 or 60.81% of budget, and this is without Sampson County.
Expenditures:
General Fund expenditures as of 1/31/17 was 55.41% of budget
Water/Sewer Fund expenditures as of 1/31/17 was 52.86% of budget
Benchmarks for this time of year is 58.33%.
General Fund Debt Service
For the debt service for FY 2017-2018 $839,993 we have 3 pieces of debt services coming on next year such as
public works equipment backhoe loader, 5 police vehicles and the limb truck that was purchased last year. Those
are small and not a whole lot of increase over the current year. When you get to FY 2020-2021 your debt service
load drops to $621,612.
We paid off last year some loans that were getting towards the end of their term and they were small amounts.
We paid off a water and sewer loan that saved us about $70,000 in debt service this year as well as a police car
loan and a small equipment loan which saved us about $45,000 in this year's budget.
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Water and Sewer Debt Service
For the debt service for FY 2017-2018 $801,541, it slowly drops over the next five years. Finance Director
Stephens noted the City applies for the USDA loans because they give us a grant portion and a little longer term
which helps the debt service not be so high and those are typically 7 years. With our public works equipment
they gave us 10 years because we thought we could get 10 years out of those pieces of equipment.
Mayor Harris noted with the last USDA grant through the Community Development we were able to get an extra
police car, so instead of 5 we got 6.
Finance Director Stephens noted a $29,000 grant was received for the back hoe and front end loader.
A year ago there was some public works equipment that needed replacing and we were able to address those
needs. The City was able to keep our police car rotation intact and we were able to add to the fund balance and
increase our cash flow. We also addressed the assessment and weedy lot issues.
Finance Director Stephens noted the City switched to the State Health Plan on January 1st and we will really see
that savings in next year's budget.
State Health Plan
City Manager Autry spoke with Representative David Lewis regarding the state health plan and allowing retirees
over 65 on the plan. The state retirees are allowed to be on the state health plan with the regular medical but
when they wrote the bill to allow municipalities to join, they denied any pre -65 retirees. We don't know why but I
have sent an e-mail requesting they review that portion of the bill and see if they can make an amendment to the
bill and put it in.
Finance Director Stephens noted last year it was $8,300.00 per person for health, dental and the little bit of life
insurance we pay for, this year we are budgeting $6,300.00 per person. With the old plan we paid the premiums
but we also were responsible for the HRA part of it. The plan paid up to a certain point and the City was
responsible up to another point. We had to budget $100,000 for that and then $50,000 - $60,000 for the retirees.
Finance Director Stephens noted he received an email from Council Member Turnage and the state requires the
City to have 8% general fund expenditures in your available fund balance and we ended June 301h with 27.10% so
we are three times ahead of what the state requires us to have, but the flip side the state wide average for all the
municipalities in North Carolina at June 301h was 46.86%. Our fund balance is adequate.
Revaluation
Finance Director Stephens stated last year it was discussed the revaluation is this year and will affect us next year
in the FY 2017-2018 budget. County has gone through and finished their revaluation on our numbers. The latest
number we received from the county was just real property. The current valuation is $696,240,755, the
revaluation number is $689,668,725, a decrease of $6,572,030, we have a net loss there of $32,860.15. At
$32,000 we are talking about $78,000 less than %2 a cent on the tax rate. Every year the county has to submit to
the state our tax valuation numbers. Going back to January 2014, our total tax valuation of real property was
$617,674,000 and in 2015 it moved to $646,108,000 so we had an increase of almost $30,000,000, which was the
partial Rooms To Go when it was still in construction. The latest report we have is $696,240,755, so from 2014 to
the latest we are looking at almost $80,000,000 that has been added to the tax base.
Assistant City Manager Neuschafer noted the Downtown District was one of the few that had an increase from
$28,681,909 to $29,666,795.
PUBLIC WORKS 2017-2018 KEY ITEMS
Waste Water—Special Order by Consent (SOC)
City Manager Autry stated this is vital to the City as to what it can do for the City and the cost of what it will be to
the City. The information you have, about half of it on the SOC you can throw away. We have been thrown a
curve by the state with the concept of what we were looking at and the correspondence and meetings in the
Fayetteville office the direction they gave us and now with the response we received back last week has totally
changed and we don't know what their philosophy is going forward. Dean has contacted them and set up another
meeting to find out what exactly is going on.
Many years ago we went under an SOC, when we had a lot of violations and overflows. To stop the fines for that,
you had to go under an SOC and tell them exactly what you would do to your system to improve it and they
would waive any fines during the construction period for a number of years. During the rainy season a year ago,
we were being fined constantly. We were fined almost $10,000 in a three month period of overflows. We met
with the state and filled out the paperwork with the Fayetteville office and it was sent to the Raleigh office.
Instead of doing a mass project we wanted to stretch it out over a number of years and we did the SOC and
submitted to them and stage it out and they review it and come back and tell us if they like it or not. We
submitted it like we were asked to do so we could move forward and the lady in Fayetteville we were working
with retired and we are now working with an interim replacement overseeing it and it appears the comments are
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coming out of the Raleigh office. We did get a verbal response from them last week and it stated they would not
go with the SOC until we had funding for a project we planned to do. This is reverse as to how it was always done.
We are waiting for the follow up from the verbal contact with a letter and we will schedule a meeting as soon as
possible with them.
Randy McNeill DMP Engineer noted they asked for an increase through the plant from 3.75 to 4.9 MGD and they
said no more flow too. We also asked for at least 300,000 GPD in growth and in exchange for that they offered
two projects, a flow equalization project and on rehab project.
City Manager Autry noted we were looking at a quick fix with the state for minimal dollars to be spent at this time
and that is how we came up with another equalization basin on the eastside of the City where it is overflowing
and also it is pumping back to Pope Street where it overflows and then all the way to the plant and overflowing.
With that we were looking at a tank. We were looking at a million gallon tank to keep the cost down, but when
Randy and them started evaluation everything the volume went up to control as much overflow as we could and
it went up to a 3 million gallon tank at $4,000,000. That is something now we need to rethink long term as to
what we can do to improve the system and not just have a tank waiting there for a heavy rainfall to pump the
sewer in to control the overflow. If we did repair the system the tank would just sit there anyway.
Public Works Director Gaster noted if an act of God is declared than we are not fined but it has to be a wide
spread event and we were not fined for Hurricane Matthew but we were fined for January, February and
September 2016. We had over 10 inches of rain before Hurricane Matthew got here.
City Manager Autry noted the City does apply for waivers every time but what feedback we receive which is very
vague a lot of times, is there environmental people out here are monitoring what is going to Rhodes Pond and
other areas and overflows and when they see in the paper we have dumped millions of gallons of sewer in the
streams than all of a sudden they can go and request data to show what did you do with these people.
City Manager Autry noted he had a meeting with Dean and Steven to look at taking some of the water that goes
to the eastside creating some of the issue back to maybe putting an outfall line on the southern part of the City
and go the exit 71 than go over to the plant into that side of it which would open up some major corridors and it
would take about 1/3 of the volume off the Eastside Pump Station. It would get it to the plant and the plant can
still put more through it but still be limited and we wouldn't have the impact we are seeing now and it would
eliminate that Pope Road issue that we have all the time. That would be very expensive.
Assistant City Manager Neuschafer noted the other benefit would be that you would have sewer availability all
along that line.
City Manager Autry noted if we could show a major project we might not have to go into an SOC and get locked
into deadlines.
Public Works Director Gaster noted we receive a warning letter every time and have a chance to respond with
actions we have taken or are taking to improve the system or planning to improve the system so we could include
this project as part of that response and it could help us.
Mr. McNeill stated we have used federal money coming through the state, but right now that state is in play for
about another year. The other funding source is the USDA Rural Development which if a grant funded program.
Depending how our rates compare with other system rates and debt service in the surrounding areas.
City Manager Autry noted the next grant application is March 31' but has been extended until April 301h, so we
have a few months to deal with it, but instead of doing what they have done in the past, now before they will
even accept an application you have to meet that minimum sewer rate, and we don't meet it.
City Manager Autry noted we are at $30.03 and need to be at $33.10 for a 5,000 gallon user. We have been
working on how to do that to least impact the minimum user and the number we have come up with there is
about $1.50 per month and that is as low as we can go to get that $33.10.
Mr. McNeill stated if we raise the rates to $33.10 (or 10.3% increase) for 5,000 gallons per month user now, we
qualify for a 25% grant which would be a $1,000,000 grant and would reduce the $4,000,000 project loan need to
$3,000,000. The $3,000,000 loan would result in annual payments of $183,500 with $60,000 in closing costs. It
would make sense to raise the rates now and qualify for a loan and grant money.
City Manager Autry noted when we apply the rates have to be in place and that decision will take place at the
April Council Meeting to submit the application in April.
Council Member Tart inquired if we went to Exit 71 with new sewer lines would we be able to generate extra
revenue that would make it offset some of the cost?
City Manager Autry noted you would be opening that corridor up for people interested in property over there
where there is currently no sewer. The project debt would not come up for 3-4 years or more by the time you
have it completed and that is why you do it in phases.
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Mr. McNeill noted we don't know the full scope of the project since we are going back to the state and what it
will cost. We have three different funding sources and we don't know which one will be the best or it might be a
combination of all three of them to make it work. That way we get some grant funds from two of them and a loan
from the other. Until we know everything we don't know what debt service to generate.
Street Resurfacing Project
City Manager Autry noted a $1,000,000 was done 6 years ago and financed for 10 years and the debt service
shows 4 more years of payments of about $115,000. We knew back then when we did that type of project that all
of the other streets would deteriorate and that is where we are at and we can't wait for that debt to come off.
There is just no way. What Dean and his staff has done is rode the streets and picked out and highlighted them
on the map given to you that couldn't wait. Ms. Wullenwaber also made you maps for your district and we are
asking you to go by and look at your district to see if we missed a vital street that you know that needs to be
added to the list. The Mayor and I have talked about this being another $1,000,000 plus project. What will
determine the amount we will be doing is if we can pull that $200,000 from the state than that $200,000 will be
for our residential areas and other needs. We try to base it on the need of the street and we try to equal it out in
the districts and be fair to everyone. Some districts are going to have it a lot worse and the attention has to be
directed there. They have done the best they could in picking out the streets they feel are the worse.
Mayor Harris stated Council needs to ride their districts with the maps provided and ride with Dean and point out
the issues and then come back with a revised plan.
Storm Water/FEMA Update
City Manager Autry noted the stormwater study was in the packet in different areas and scenarios. Since the
Hurricane and working with FEMA, they said unless the Hurricane ripped the pipes out they would not help repair
the system, so all the plans we were working on they are on the wayside. When we did talk about upgrading
some areas FEMA said it was 404 mitigation through the state. The state has allocated money for Hurricane
Matthew but that is going to Lumberton, New Bern and areas that flooded and had major situations.
We were looking at Divine Street crossing. Years ago we upgraded everything around Auto Zone and under 421
and then it gets down to Divine and backs up. It has been proposed in the past to put a third pipe in. In our
conversations now, it seems like that is not the way to go because of the distance involved with a house sitting
right there so we are looking at some box culverts there and Randy is getting some new prices as he is bidding
the project.
Mr. McNeill noted the Black River/Juniper Creek area, we are trying to make sure there is a larger pipe upstream
and larger pipe downstream and the place in between is the bottleneck, so it doesn't allow the lower pipe to
carry as much water as the pipe upstream. If we make the whole system stronger without replacing the whole
system with something bigger which would be millions of dollars. We are still trying to carry storm events. The
pipes upstream and downstream are only carrying 5 years which means we are still at the mercy of the storms.
What you see during real big storms, the capacity of the pipes back up and an area floods. On 421 it is higher than
Kim's BBQ and the water has to back up. Same thing happened at Westhaven. I spoke with residents over there
and they said the water was to the bottom of their mailbox. We have some low lying lands and the water is going
to get trapped.
City Manager Autry stated that it will be something they continue to work on and come back hopefully with some
project that is affordable.
15 minute break 10:32 a.m. —10:47 a.m.
CONTRACTS 2017
Waste Removal Contract/Yard Waste Cart Update
Assistant City Manager Neuschafer noted there is still a learning process on the carts and there are some issues
with pick-up. Also, the largest thing is when it is appropriate to use the cart. The default answer is, put what you
can in the cart because that is picked up every week and if it is not picked up call Dean's office and he will have it
picked up. We are being very flexible with this because we want to provide and excellent service to the
community. We still want everyone to get everything they can into the cart.
On the enforcement side, Samantha and the Code Officer have been beginning to enforce and write citations for
those not using the cart or using the cart improperly. If people would call and ask or call at all we could start
helping them. It is when they start piling it all out there it becomes an issue because then we have to go talk to
them about how we could have helped them before the big pile got out there.
Planning Director Wullenwaber noted 111 stops have been done about yard waste cans. After citations are sent if
the property is not cleaned up then we send Public Works over to clean it up and assess an administration fee of
$125.00 and minimum fee of $50.00 for tipping fees.
Grass Mowing Contract — Open Proposals
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Assistant City Manager Neuschafer stated the contract is out for proposal right now and they are due back March
8, 2017 by 4:00 p.m. The end of next week we should have some prices for the grass mowing for all of the
interstate intersections, City properties we maintain (Library, City Hall, parking lots and public areas, rounda-
bout, etc.) including the cemeteries. We have had approximately 14 interested bidders.
When the responses come in from the bidders, we will take a look at where they are at and what their
experiences are to make some decision. We will have some information for you forthe regular March Council
Meeting.
Copier Contract
Assistant City Manager Neuschafer noted the copier contract will be up in September and we will be putting out
an RFP in July and have information at the August meeting.
Banking Service Contract
Assistant City Manager Neuschafer noted we are over our banking services contract and we will be sending that
out for an RFP.
GRANTS
AIA Grant
City staff, with the assistance of DMP staff, applied for AIA Grants for the City water distribution system and the
City wastewater collection system. The State Water Infrastructure Authority awarded funding grants on January
18, 2017. The City was not awarded a funding grant for its wastewater collection system. The City was awarded a
$150,000.00 funding grant for inventory and assessment of its water distribution system.
There is a required match of 5% ($7,500.00) which can be used to purchase equipment that will remain as City
assets. There is a grant fee of 1.5% ($2,250.00)
Mr. McNeill noted DMP would provide GPS surveying services to develop a GIS database of the City of Dunn
water system, update the model of the water system and develop an updated CIP for future improvements to the
water system. The initial data collection and mapping will include:
• Valves and hydrants on raw water mains, WTP yard piping main valves, valves and hydrants on
transmission mains, all distribution main valves and hydrants, and ground storage and elevated water
tanks are to be GPS located. City staff will assist DMP in locating valves not easily located by visual
observations. City staff will locate meters with GPS.
• DMP will utilize historical pictorial maps of the water system and their 40 years of age as built project
records to help locate valves and water line routes.
• Water lines will be inserted to connect GPS located points. City staff will identify water line routes by
painting routes near valves where water lines are not obvious.
• All graphical information to be delivered in a GIS database.
The existing historical pictorial maps, as built project plan records (40 years of which DMP maintains) and staff's
knowledge of waterline ages and materials of construction will be added to the GIS database developed during
the mapping task described above. City staff will also identify locations or inoperative or problematic valves and
hydrants, meters and meter sizes. The AIA project will also include the purchase of an additional computer and
tablet with necessary software to supplement the City's existing software and single tablet they have been using
to locate and find critical valves on their main water transmission mains extending from the WTP in Erwin, to
tanks in Dunn, and continuing to Benson and Eastover at the extremities of the regional system.
The model of the existing water system will be updated based upon the more accurate data developed as a part
of this Inventory Assessment project and the model will be re -calibrated by conducting updated flow test
throughout the water system. After updating the model with then be utilized to predict future flow and pressure
needs of the growing regional water system and also considering the age and condition of the water system
components previously developed CIP needs can be re-evaluated and updated resulting in an updated CIP for the
future. The CIP update will include estimated quantities and sizes of future improvements as well as budgets for
their implementation. Other components of the water system including the raw water intake, raw water pump
station, WTP, ground storage and elevated tanks, and booster pump stations will also be evaluated and future
improvement to these water system components will also be included in the development of the updated CIP.
Brownfields Grant
Planning Director Wullenwaber discussed the EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant award in 2014. We have applied
for another round of funding to continue the program. Scoping and inventory was performed in 2015. There is a
Steering Committee, which is our Public Outreach with various community members. The members help with the
prioritizing of the different sites. A consultant was hired and they went to the different industrial and commercial
sites to find the potential Brownfields properties. Between 2015-2016, there has been 5 Phase I Environmental
Site Assessments and 3 Phase 11 Environmental Site Assessments.
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The Walker property on Spring Branch Road (Royal Inn), we have spent about $138,000 on that site of the grant
money. That consisted of 3 parcels. Phase I consisted of the research of the property. If Phase II is deemed
necessary than they will sample and test the property. Phase I was done on all 3 parcels and on parcel 3 there
was an old gas station and that was remedied and there was contamination there but it wasn't complete, which
has since been settled and completed. Parcel 2 was the old gas station and there were hydraulic lifts in the
ground underneath the station. The building was in such foul shape and we couldn't get to the lifts to get them
out but we were able to tear the building down. The hotel (parcel 1) a Phase 11 was done and there is asbestos
there. The estimated cost to abate that is about $300,000, which is not in the scope of work for this grant.
The City of Dunn was awarded a $400,000.00 fully funded federal grant through the EPA to conduct community
wide assessment of potential Brownfields properties. These funds are being used to assess abandoned or under-
utilized industrial sites with possible petroleum or hazardous substance pollution.
Phase II was done on the Beasley site. Generally when you are near a dry cleaners there is possible contamination
because of the chemicals the cleaners use. About $40,000-$50,000 was spent on this site. There was a filling
station and it was thought there might have been a tank on the property, so they did ground penetrating radar.
Money can't be used to dig up the whole site from the grant and there was no evidence of tanks still being there,
so apparently it has been removed.
Assistant City Manager Neuschafer inquired if the City could apply for clean-up grants.
Planning Director Wullenwaber stated yes and that there were clean-up grants, revolving loan funds and there
are a lot of EPA grants available that we are going after every year. There are lobbying loan funds that the City
can apply for and they will give us up to $1,000,000 and then business owners can come to us and we will loan
the money out to help them clean up their property at a very low interest rate and then they pay it back. None of
these programs are any cost to the City. The clean-up grant is $250,000 but we did not do that one thistime as
we applied for another assessment grant.
The site at 101 West Duke Street use to have tanks there. The owner of Elite Gymnastics is looking to purchase
the property. There was heavy contamination on the property as it was an old oil facility. We spent about
$40,000 on this property. Mr. West would like to purchase the property but it could potentially cost him a lot of
money. There is something called the Brownfields Agreement, it is through the state and is a legal document that
protects the new buyer.
We do have about $60,000 left until September and we have applied for another grant cycle. This time it was
only $300,000 but hopefully we can use that money to finish up some of these project and possible a new project
on Edgerton Street.
North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program
Chief Halliburton noted this was a great grant to receive for help with purchasing equipment and helping running
programs. The primary goal of this grant is to reduce traffic accidents by targeting areas of most occurrence. This
is done through enforcement of speed, education; via public service announcements on the dangers of speeding
and driving while under the influence. They also utilize various media sources such as print media and television,
to educate the public.
These officers are also part of a region wide team that partner with surrounding agencies to conduct DWI and
license checkpoints. This collaboration strengthens relationships with other agencies and is an asset to our
campaigns.
The grant was accepted in the 2016-2017 budget year. The City's match for the FY 2017-2018 budget year is
$35,380.00 which is 30%.
Lunch 11:50 a.m. —12:31 p.m.
PARTF Grant — Tart Park
Recreation Director Brian McNeill noted the Recreation Department is currently in the process of doing a Master
Plan. A Master Plan is where they do an overview of their department and the City and see where the
department stands and where they want to move forward and gain public input of what the citizens would like to
see in the community. The perks of this is to help apply for the PARTF Grant. The PARTF Grant is a 50-50 match
but the match could be more. We have completed a survey, had a few staff meetings and had a public forum.
There is another public forum this month and we just want to get things prepped and get everything to the
representatives for review before we have to do the application submission in May. Mr. McNeill introduced Mr.
Del Crawford who is the Park Planner, who has done the research and who will be preparing the application for
the Recreation Department.
With recent upgrades to Tyler Park there is much to be done at Tart Park to bring this park up to the standards
set with Tyler Park. 2004 was the last time any major projects have been done at Tart Park with the addition of
the P.K. Vyas Center. Tart Park is much larger than Tyler Park, which will present more opportunities for new
features and open spaces.
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Funds from PARTF Grant along with a dollar match from the City, will be used to renovate Tart Park, much like
what was done at Tyler Park. Updating/relocating ball fields with a central tower will be the main concern. Along
with that, making use of the recently acquired land and adding new recreation features to further enhance
recreation opportunities of our patrons.
Mr. Crawford noted the PARTF Grant is up to $500,000 with a match. We were specifically asked to look at Tart
Park. There are two existing ball fields and be relocated into more of a quad and then there would be a
concession/restroom/meeting space in the middle of all four ball fields. Having a meeting space would help you
in applying for the PARTF Grant. There will be a multipurpose field and two existing field and additional parking.
There would be a splash pad and volleyball courts. There is an existing walking trail and we would put in
fitness/exercise stations. One of the scoring points to the PARTF Grant is links to the downtown district, so we are
recommending a sidewalk that would be part of the walking trail. Other components is to replace the existing
playground and add a maintenance facility. Where the recreation center is there would be additional parking and
new shelter.
There were about 120 surveys receied. The surveys follow pretty closely as to what we have here on the design.
There were additional items such as disc golf, tennis courts, shuffle board, and horseshoes to name a few.
Recreation Director McNeill noted the ballfields for Tart park more softball fields than baseball and these fields
will be larger where we could host tournaments for older age groups. With Tyler Park we are limited for 8U and
10U.The fields we are looking at here are around the 250' range as Tyler Park is 205'.
Recreation Director McNeill stated the bathrooms are going to be rebuilt in April to replace the ones that were
torn down from the electrical fire.
City Manager Autry noted this is a two stage deal because of the fire and because last year we shut down the
restrooms because they were so bad and we installed port -a -johns. This year we are not going to have port -a -
johns so we know that maybe the control tower is several years out with the PARTF Grant and we have to build
some bathroom facilities immediately. This is why we wanted to get the design and pick the best location that
would look for us this ball season especially.
Council Member Barfield inquired about surveillance cameras in the parks.
Recreation Director McNeill noted that cameras are included on his capital improvements list and based on what
we have right now for Tart Park we are looking at the playground and parking lot. When we renovate the park I
will recommend add cameras to look into the ball areas to look at any vandalism going on.
Recreation Director McNeill stated after looking at other towns on how they do their grant process, they apply in
phases and that is an option for us to do that.
Assistant City Manager Neuschafer stated it also helps to spread it out some so we are not asking for $500,000 in
one year but just do smaller amounts for multiple years. It was also inquired as to when the plan would be
completed for Council.
Mr. Crawford noted the application submission deadline is May 1st and he will have everything completed by
April i t
Automated Meter Reading System (Capital Priorities)
Finance Director Stephens stated at the December 2016 Council Meeting, Council approved a contract to have a
company come in and do our meter reading for us. Looking forward we had talked about having and Automated
Meter Reading System. All of our meters are manually read and there are 4,700. Dean, Corky and I had a meeting
with a company named MeterSys. The company will look at our current equipment and our meters and see how
they are set up and then they will come back with a feasibility study and they will tell us which equipment we can
afford and will help us with the procurement of the equipment. The pros would be increase accuracy, better
customer service with allowing us to run a daily report and check for leak detection and if so it will help with our
water conservation efforts, customer can pull up their own meter and see what their meter is showing, and
electronic turnoff. The estimated cost for the system is $1,500,000. The second alternative would be about
$900,000 which is a drive by reading where you buy the equipment and drive by the meter and it automatically
beeps and gives you a reading. We can continue with what we have now but we would like to move to an
automated system.
Council Member Maness noted this would be worth exploring because I looked at your numbers and if your
numbers are in the ball park, not only is it revenue neutral it will actually make money.
Finance Director Stephens noted the warranty battery is 10 years with an estimated life of 20 years.
Public Works Director Gaster noted this project was looked at about 8 years ago and the estimate then was
$1,000,000, so if this is something we are looking to do the longer we wait the more the cost increases and the
battery life 8 years ago was not what it is today.
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Assistant City Manager Neuschafer stated that price is with labor included and that is a lot of work to ask our guys
to do. We wouldn't have time to install all of those meters,up fit and elevate and change the boxes on every
single one.
Finance Director Stephens noted we had 100 meters we had to send two guys on to cut off their meters for non-
payment and with this we could sit in the office and turn a switch to cut off 100 people without someone out
there in a truck driving around doing it. There is a company that could do this feasibility study and present it to
you so I am asking for permission to proceed with that and they will come back and make the report to you. The
cost for the study is $14,000-$18.000, but we can make that back up when they do the procurement and
negotiating with the actual cost of the equipment.
BUILDING, VEHICLES & EQUIPMENT
Vehicle Fleet and Building Needs
Assistant City Manager Neuschafer noted City staff feel that some of these things need to be considered as we
move forward. The Public Works compound really needs to be looked at. We have shelters that don't fit the
equipment that we bought, shelters that are passed their usable life and it is the oldest facility we have. The
mechanic shop is relatively new. It is a concern from the insurance agents that come and look at it and a concern
of the Building Inspectors. For the investment we are putting into the vehicles and the day to day comfort of
work and employee satisfaction that work there, I think it is something we should at least start figuring out what
we want to do and how much it will cost and start the process on for the long term consideration. We are looking
at metal buildings and maybe some brick.
Assistant City Manager Neuschafer noted the City offices and other departments are continually needing more
storage for equipment and files. The residual spaces in City Hall are full and it is necessary to begin looking at
more building renovations or expansions off site.
Council Member Maness inquired about when we say files have we considered scanning and digitizing these
documents so we can start eliminating the need to have of this storage space.
Assistant City Manager Neuschafer noted we have but a lot of it is evidence and they have to stay as is. I was
looking at renovating or clearing out some spaces. If we put the money into hiring staff or a company to do that it
would begin the process and we have done that with the minutes.
Assistant City Manager Neuschafer stated in the budget packet there is an attachment that shows the roster of
pick-up trucks in the City fleet, of the 21 regular duty trucks only 5 are below 60K miles and 12 of them are
over100K miles. A new pick-up on state contract is approximately 25K.
Staff would like to begin a program of replacement similar to the police patrol vehicle program where we begin
to cycle out older vehicles by replacing 3-4 a year. We also will evaluate if pick-up trucks are needed at all.
Recently inspections bought a small SUV that gets better gas mileage and was less expensive than a pick-up and is
working well for the department. Maybe not do it as aggressive as the Police Department but consider the loans
through the USDA that Mark has looked at the possibility of leasing vehicles.
Council Member Maness noted it should be part of the Capital Improvements plan for every department. We
shouldn't be waiting until the trucks are almost warn out before we start thinking about replacing them.
Equipment Purchase Update
Public Works Director Gaster gave a status update on the 2005 Freightliner Leaf Vac Truck. The truck has 90,100
miles on it and we spent almost $13,000 in the last 12 months on that truck. The money was spent due to us
trying to extend the life of that truck for three more years. From October 4, 2016 to January 31, 2017 we ran that
truck 218 hours and 482 mile. With the purchase of the 2017 Freightliner Limb Grapple Truck and from July 20,
2016 to February 16, 2017 we recorded 971 hours and 6,802 miles so we didn't have to put as many miles on the
Leaf Vac Truck. At this point I feel the Leaf Vac Truck will give us at least two more seasons. We are running it
during the cooler months and we are running way less hours than in the past.
The 2009 International Street Sweeper has been giving us some problems and we have spent $7,270 and we had
to have some welding done to the chamber that holds the dirt and gravel this week, so that number has probably
gone over $10,000. 1 still feel like we can get one more year out of that piece of equipment. The cycle time is
approximately 3 months and 10 days to get back to your street. We were doing every other week downtown and
switched it back to every week and that is Thursday night so it doesn't run on Friday. Cumberland Street and DOT
roads will be done every other week, which means out of a 2 week period he will be during the day in
neighborhood's 7 days and when it is wet and cold that truck doesn't run. That schedule is for one truck and one
driver and if Council chooses to make that cycle more often than it will take more equipment and more
manpower.
DEPARTMENT CAPITAL PRIORITIES 2017-2022
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Assistant City Manager Neuschafer noted we don't want to put one department over another. Dean has gone
through a great amount of effort not only to spell out what his needs are but why his needs are there and also
showing which budget year it will come into effect and why. Dean has covered the widest capital priorities
between the Water Treatment Plant, Waste Water Treatment Plant, Public Works, the garage and cemeteries.
Assistant City Manager Neuschafer noted for the next step of the budgeting process, we take the requests and
see where the revenues are coming out and what the priorities based on this conversation is and map out the
cost to where those funds are going.
Council Member Maness noted the structures need to be looked at especially if we are looking at purchasing new
equipment, we don't want to put them in a building that could collapse.
Wrap Up
Mayor Harris asked for a motion to go into Executive Session for purposes of discussing personnel issues.
Motion by Council Member Barfield and seconded by Council Member Turnage to go into Executive Session at
2:31 p.m. Motion unanimously approved.
Motion by Council Member Tart and seconded by Council Member Turnage to adjourn the Executive Session at
3:10 p.m. Motion unanimously approved.
Attest:
JeWifer M. Fortin, CMC
City Clerk
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Oscar N. Harris ,
Mayor