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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes-05-31-83-Adjourned Regular Meeting7/93 MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DOWNEY ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING MAY 31, 1983 The City Council of the City of Downey held an adjourned regular meeting at 7:00 p.m., May 31, 1983, in the Council Chamber of the Downey City Hall, Mayor James T. Quinn presiding. PRESENT: Council Members; James T. Quinn Mayor Robert G. Cormack Mayor Pro Tem Theodore H. Jackman (arrived at 8:06 p.m.) Randall R. Barb Bob Davila ALSO PRESENT: Bud Ovrom, City Manager William A. Ralph, Director of Public Works William F. Martin, Police Chief Don Davis, Fire Chief James R. Jarrett, Director of Recreation Ruth Miller, City Librarian Lowell Williams, Acting Director of Finance Francis E. Carter, City Planner Harry Rayson, Building Official Charles G. Eccleston, Traffic Engineer Robert Brace, Civil Engineer Ronald E. Cano, Assistant to City Manager Robert L. Shand, City Clerk -Treasurer General Revenue Sharing Funds and City of for Fiscal Year Mr. Ovrom requested the following budgets not be reviewed at this time: The Block Grant budget, a further report on which he has requested from the Housing Coordinator; and the Capital Improvement budget. Mr. Ovrom commented regarding a memo to the Council recommending the Assistant to City Manager position be split into two full-time positions of Personnel Director and Assistant to City Manager. The Council Members concurred. Mr. Ovrom proceeded to review the Preliminary Budget section dealing with revenues, which shows $721,000 negative cash flow. He has recommended specific steps to deal with this problem, which would include increasing the Sales Tax by $200,000; motor vehicle in -lieu fees; $200,000 a year of the $1 Cable TV franchise fee; and salary savings. Mr. Ovrom feels every other year or every three years would be sufficient for the door-to-door canvass by SEAACA. The Water Fund charge is a policy question, and Mr. Ovrom requested Council opinion on establishing a methodology for determining an overhead factor of approximately 10-12 percent. Councilman Barb favors the 12 percent. Councilman Cormack questioned the need to increase water rates when usage has not increased. Decision on the Water Fund will be held until later. Mr. Ovrom said revenue includes rental at the Apollo center, and the budget does not project rental rates for anyone other than the existing organizations, nor does it include any increases. Some of the organizations do not pay rent. Discussion was held regarding the waiver of rent for SECIL. It was noted SECIL receives a Federal grant and donations from cities. Councilman Barb feels SECIL should be charged the overhead since it receives a grant. It was noted the Downey Historical Society, the Art League, and the senior citizens would not be charged rent. Council Minutes 5/31/83 (adj.) -1- Mr. Jarrett commented on the Golf Course Budget, City Council Budget: The dues for League of California Cities are an addi- tional $1599, and Independent Cities has been increased $1200. Councilman Davila questioned the budgeted amount for Sister City. Mr. Ovrom noted an amount of $10,000 was included in the budget for additional lobbying. He said that with the added position of Assistant to City Manager more City time can be spent keeping track of legislation. Councilman Barb questioned the projected increases for various items contained throughout the budget. He would like to see the amount for additional lobbying reduced. Discussion was held regarding further items contained in the City Council por- tion of the budget. Councilman Barb made a motion that rather than increase the Council budget by $12,000, to cut $5,000-$6,000 out the budget by reducing the $10,000 to $5,000. The motion died for lack of a second. Mayor Quinn declared a recess from 7:50 p.m. to 7:53 p.m. The meeting resumed with Councilmen Cormack, Barb, Davila, Quinn present; Councilman Jackman absent. City Attorney Budget: Mr. Cano explained all of the services provided by the City Attorney have been consolidated into this budget and includes an amount for unanticipated legal expense, as well as the City Prosecutor. There was additional expense last year pertaining to the Hospital issue. City Clerk Budget: Mr. Shand said this budget will contain an amount for the Hospital election and the June, 1984, City Council election. City Manager Budget: Mr. Ovrom will be cutting some money out of the amount for travel. The Assistant to City Manager position will be added to this budget. SCAG will be removed from the City Manager budget and placed with the League and ICA in the Non -Departmental Budget. Councilman Cormack questioned the benefits received from SCAG. Councilman Jackman arrived at the meeting at 8:06 p.m. Personnel Budget: Mr. Ovrom will be making some possible administrative changes. This budget will contain only items pertaining to the personnel function It will not be necessary to have a personnel consultant for labor relations. A discussion was held regarding tuition reimbursement and including in the budget the employee recognition benefit. Recognition of volunteers has not been included. Councilman Barb suggested that once a year a City employee picnic be held. At the direction of Council, staff will monitor the State -operated Youth Employment Program, and the intern will be deleted from the Personnel Budget, Finance Department Budget: Mr. Williams explained temporary help in the Revenue Division is primarily for during dog license renewals and vacation time. The increase in staff development for the Data Processing Division was for classes conducted by Hewlett Packard. Non -Departmental Budget: The amount of $10,500 will be added for auditing services. Also included in this budget is an estimated $8,000 for the Civic Center groundbreaking, a reserve for salary increases, $20,000 for the Chamber, $2500 for WE TIP, and a contingency. Councilman Jackman raised questions regarding the City's insurance for a $1 million reserve and umbrella coverage to cover any catastrophic loss. The City Manager will check into it. Councilman Davila inquired regarding the proposed $30,000 increase for the telephone system. It was noted this is for the new Civic Center, and the City is purchasing its own equipment. Council Minutes 5/31/83 (adj.) -2- %l9s Responding to a question, Mr. Brace explained the procedure for processing progress payments to the contractor on the Civic Center project. A discussion was held regarding the contingency fund. Police Department Budget: Councilman Davila would like to see the Boxing Program placed under Recreation. Chief Martin said the Boxing Program was included as a Police item because it has been considered a crime prevention program rather than recreation. The other Council Members felt the Boxing Program should remain under Police. Councilman Barb referred to Account 160 containing crime prevention and other areas and indicated he feels efforts could be doubled in these areas without major expense to the City. Councilman Jackman complimented the latest edition of the Communicator. Further discussion ensued regarding the overall crime prevention program. Councilman Davila questioned the need to include in the budget an amount for a consultant to juveniles. A discussion was held regarding the Ultralight Program. Chief Martin commented on the favorable result of having 12 motorcycle offi- cers and pointed out the accident rate is dropping. He discussed the trade-in time and maintenance of Police vehicles. Councilman Davila would like to see an in-house laboratory established to analyze the breathalizers. Staff is looking into this. Chief Martin explained the budget amount designated for use by a counsellor to juveniles, noting he intends to use Mike Testi in this position on an as -needed basis. Councilman Barb commented on the Cerritos Corridor Juvenile Diversion Program. He also mentioned he is not in favor of reducing overtime in the Police Department, particularly in the Investigation Division. Chief Martin replied this reduction is through better management of personnel time. He then commented on the savings in contracting with an ambulance company rather than paying the County for the E.A.P. Program. Chief Martin described at length the proposal as an efficiency measure for the Police Department to obtain its own software system in the approximate amount of $60,000 in order to better utilize the City's computer. Mr. Ovrom said an outside analysis will be made as to whether the proposal will be feasible. The Council concurred with obtaining an analysis. Animal Control Budget: Councilman Jackman indicated that he and the other commissioners at SEAACA feel strongly the contract cities should be invited to join the Authority as full partners and pay an equitable share of the cost. However, if SEAACA should be dissolved, the assets would be divided among the original three cities. Fire Department Budget: Councilman Barb is not in favor of having the City of Santa Fe Springs respond to paramedic calls in Downey. Chief Davis explained it is an automatic response for paramedic service in the northeast portion of the City, and since Downey's one unit cannot respond to all of the calls, the City entered into an automatic aid agreement, whereby Downey engine 64 will respond to a portion of Santa Fe Springs on a first alarm basis, and Santa Fe Springs will provide paramedic response to a certain portion of Downey. They also respond to other areas of Downey when the City's paramedic unit is on another call. Downey also responds in Montebello and Los Angeles County. Councilman Barb said having two paramedic units in the City could cut the response time in half. Council Minutes 5/31/83 (adj.) -3- 719(l Responding to further questions, Chief Davis explained Downey has an average response time of three -to -four minutes anywhere in the City, regardless of which unit responds. Chief Davis will provide a report regarding response time, the type of response, etc. Public Works Budget: Mr. Ralph commented regarding various items contained in the budget, including personnel and functions of the various divisions. Tree trimming crews are being used to the highest efficiency. Staff will come back with an overall plan for the tree trimming program. A discussion was held regarding street sweeping. Mr. Eccleston said the Engineering Division receives many requests from people who want the streets to be posted for no parking on street sweeping days. Councilman Jackman requested a report on what it would cost to post the City. Chief Martin said a study was made several months ago for posting the entire City, including hiring additional personnel. He mentioned it was determined that the revenue generated from parking violations would pay for the additional per- sonnel and posting. The remainder of the Public Works budget will be discussed at the next Budget Study Session, which was scheduled for 7:00 p.m., June 13, 1983. The meeting was then adjourned at 10:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., June 6, 1983, in the Council Chamber of the Downey City Hall, for joint meeting with the Planning Commission. Robert L. Shand, City -Clerk -Treasurer JaEmes T. Quinn, Mayor Council Minutes 5/31/83 (adj.) -4-