budget worksession Minutes
april 11, 2011

The meeting was called to order at 7:21 p.m. Present were Mayor Calvo, MPT Wilkinson, CMs Ahrens Dennison and Kulpa-Eddy. Also present were Town Administrator (TA) Murphy and Clerk Harper.

1. Mayor

Announcements:  Berwyn Heights police sent out a missing person bulletin for Mr. Lam of 5612 Berwyn Road, who was last seen driving a white Toyota on April 9.

2. Budget

Mayor Calvo said that tonight he would like to discuss some outstanding budget issues and get resolution on staffing issues in the Administration, Code and Public Works Departments before the FY 2012 budget is introduced at the April 13 Town meeting.

Public Works staffing

TA Murphy explained cost estimates for health insurance coverage options of Public Works part-time employees the Council requested at the last worksession. The cost is based on two 28 hours per week part-time positions with individual coverage. The options priced include coverage of 70% of 100%, 70% of 95%, 80% of 100%, 80% of 95%, 85% of 100%, and 85% of 95%. The least expensive option for the Town is 70% of 95% coverage at $2,481 per year per part-timer. At the 70% of 95% individual coverage (where 95% is current individual coverage of a full-time employee), the cost of adding two 28 hour per week part-timers would be $4,830. The cost of adding 12 hours of temporary labor for more flexibility in Public Works staffing is $8,000. While some part-time labor is already funded in the FY 2012 budget, an additional $20,000 is needed to fund the preferred staffing option.

Mayor Calvo said that it is the Town's current policy that a permanent part-time employee becomes eligible for health insurance when he works 30 hours per week with the Town covering 75% of 95% of the premiums. Approval of the 28 hours per week part-time position would lower the Town's coverage to 70% of 95%. He would like to see a policy whereby insurance coverage is prorated for the amount of hours worked per week. Mayor Calvo added that his preference is to mandate insurance coverage but it is not current policy. The Town would create a permanent job with benefits and have assurance that the employee has access to health care. In return, such employees can be expected to work to a higher standard. Prospective employees should have no trouble paying for their share of the health insurance (costing approximately $1,200 per year), because they would earn more with the Town than with a temporary staffing agency. They could, however, opt out if they carry health insurance with another provider.

MPT Wilkinson said he agrees with the concepts of prorating insurance coverage to hours worked, but thinks that 70% of 100% would be easier to calculate. Further, he agrees with mandating health insurance but would allow for an opt-out clause in accordance with current policy for full-time staff. CMs Dennison and Ahrens agreed with mandating health insurance. CM Kulpa-Eddy said that she agrees with offering the health insurance at the proposed rate but would not want to mandate it. An employee should be able to decide what works best for him. She is also concerned that the Town would not offer a family coverage option. Mayor Calvo replied that the family option is very expensive, currently costing $10,000 for a full-time Town employee. He would consider extending family coverage if the employee pays the balance between individual and family coverage.

Mayor Calvo asked for a motion to approve funding for two 28 hour per week part-time positions and 12 temporary labor hours at a total additional cost of $20,500. MPT Wilkinson so moved. CM Dennison seconded. CM Kulpa-Eddy asked if the motion includes the health insurance mandate. Mayor Calvo said this would be approved separately when the Town's insurance coverage policy is discussed at a later date. The motion was approved 5 to 0.

Code/Administration Department staffing

Mayor Calvo said the next question is how to fund the Code and Administration Department staffing requests. TA Murphy requested an additional 10 hours per week for a grade 3 Code Clerk position on top of the 5 hours per week already funded. This would cost $11,100 per year, including social security, but excluding Town pension benefits and health insurance. As a result, the front desk Administrative Assistant, who currently spends a third of her time working on Code matters, can be returned full-time to the Administration Department. This would end disagreements between the Departments over how the employee’s time is used. While the employee would continue to serve customers coming into the office or calling about code matters, she would no longer make appointments and actively follow up on code compliance cases. These responsibilities would be performed by the code clerk. CM Ahrens said that the Code Department also wants the separation.

If the $5,000 left in the kitty is used, only $3,500 is needed to finance the 10 additional code clerk hours. TA Murphy suggested that $1,500 could be cut from the street lighting appropriation in the Public Works budget. Another potential source of funding is a projected $3,000 increase in rental license revenue. Mayor Calvo asked for a motion to raise the rental license fee appropriation by $3,000. CM Ahrens so moved. MPT Wilkinson seconded. The motion passed 5 to 0. Mayor Calvo asked for a motion to cut $1,500 from the street lighting budget. MPT Wilkinson so moved. CM Ahrens seconded. The motion passed 5 to 0. The additional $4,500 was added to the kitty.

CM Ahrens said that the Code Director has a candidate who is interested in code clerk position but would like to be hired as an administrative assistant. Mayor Calvo replied that the pay grade is more important than the title. A clerk is a grade 3 position and is paid $13.23 per hour, while an administrative assistant is a grade 6 position and is paid $16.23 per hour. The Code Department is given a budget for the position and eventually may adjust hours and pay as needed. However, the pay grade is first set by the Council when it creates the position. The interested candidate could be offered future merit increases and cost of living adjustments as incentives.

At 8:10 p.m., the Council took a 10-minute break.

TA Murphy gave a revised cost figure of $9,259 for the part-time code clerk position, which includes social security, workers compensation, unemployment insurance and a pension benefit. CM Ahrens moved and CM Kulpa-Eddy seconded to add $9,259 to the Code Department's part-time salary appropriation. CM Ahrens said that with this arrangement the Code Department looses a few hours per week because the administrative assistant worked 15 hours per week on code duties and also has a higher pay grade. He asked Mayor Calvo if he believes this is a good deal. Mayor Calvo replied he does. The Code Department gets a 15 hour per week code clerk position with a person of its own choosing. In addition, the administrative assistant will continue to provide support for Code as part of front office duties. Mayor Calvo further noted that, with the administrative assistant returning full-time to administrative duties, TA Murphy should work on cleaning and reclaiming his old office. The Council voted 5 to 0 to fund the expanded code clerk hours. The funds remaining in the kitty amount to $928. The budget to be introduced at the April 13 Town meeting will include tonight's changes.

Speed Camera Revenues

Mayor Calvo said that the Town has received approximately $40,000 in speed camera fines since the program started in June 2010, which represents about half of tickets paid. For budget purposes, the money, which must be deposited in a separate account, should be set-aside in a special public safety reserve and can be spent only on public safety improvements. The question for the Council is which public safety improvements to fund.

Mayor Calvo said he would use some of the money to fund a 10 hours per week part-time police officer to process the speed camera tickets. This would cost approximately $13,000 per year. Currently, the work is done by Sergeant Moroney. It is not a good use of his time since he also heads the patrol division. Other items that may qualify for funding include:

• Night time camera for the hockey rink;

• Street lights for dark areas in Town;

• Traffic calming improvements;

• Benches at bus stops

• Sidewalks and raised crosswalks in approaches of the school (MPT Wilkinson)

• Backup generators for the Town Center and Municipal Building  (CM Kulpa-Eddy)

The Council identified Pontiac Street in front of the school and 60th Avenue between Pontiac Street and Greenbelt Road as sections of streets that would benefit most from sidewalks. The Safe Streets Committee report should be reviewed for recommendations on sidewalks and traffic calming. Further, SHA needs to be approached again about planned improvements to the Pontiac Street/Kenilworth Avenue intersection.

Grass Cutting Outsourcing

TA Murphy provided 2 proposals from Town landscaping contractors for cutting the grass at the perimeter of school along 63rd Avenue and Quebec Street. One proposal is for $6,400 per year (April through November) and another for $350 per cutting during the grass season. The yearly cost for the second proposal would be $4,900 if the cutting were done twice a month, April through October. In addition, the second vendor offers to trim the vines of the fence at cost of $600 per trimming.

Mayor Calvo said that the two proposals are for different lengths of time, which is why one is more expensive than the other. More importantly, the outsourcing is meant to replace Public Works man-hours needed to do this work. Public Works needs to calculate the cost of the man-hours and supplies needed and indicate whether it would rather have money for outsourcing or to hire temporary labor.

Signed: Kerstin Harper, Town Clerk

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