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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CA-2014-06-18CITY ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK Regular Meeting 6:00 p.m. June 18, 2014 PRESENT: Alderperson Mohlenhoff — Chair Alderpersons (4): Clairborne, Fleming, McGonigal, Smith EXCUSED: Alderpersons: Brock, Kerslick OTHERS PRESENT: Chief of Staff - Sutherland Intern — Kastenbaum City Attorney — Lavine Youth Program Administrator - Friedeborn HR Director — Michell -Nunn Controller - Thayer Deputy Controller — Andrew 1. Call to Order 1.1 Agenda Review: Chairperson Mohlenhoff stated that the resolution for Forestry Master Plan & Arboriculture Guidelines has been added to the agenda as Item 3.4 and that the Odd /Even Parking Task Force Report will move to Item 3.5. 1.2 Review /Approval of Minutes: Alderperson Fleming made a motion to approve the minutes from the May 21, 2014 meeting of the City Administration Committee. Seconded by Alderperson Smith. Motion carried unanimously. 1.3 Statements from the Public Wayles Browne, of Ithaca & PEG Access Oversight Committee member, spoke in support of and encouraged Common Council to pass the 2015 Public, Education, & Government (PEG) Access Studio Budget. Howard Aldendorff, of Ithaca, spoke against the odd/even parking regulation that is being presented tonight and asked the City to communicate all changes about add /even parking to the public. Jaimi Hendrix, of Ithaca, spoke about the use of Common Council letterhead and the odd /even parking regulation. 1.4 Statements from Employ. None. 1.5 Council Response Alderperson Clairborne thanked those who spoke tonight. Mr. Clairborne reported on the following; City Administration Committee Meeting June 18, 2014 Page 2 • Juneteenth Celebration: This festival will take place at Southside Community Center on Saturday — June 21, 2014 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. • Celtic Festival: This festival will be at Stewart Park the weekend of June 28, 2014; • Junior Olympics: The GIAC Navigators are going to Rochester, NY to participate in the Jr. Olympics. The Committee asked the HR Director for an update on the Youth Bureau Director search. Ms. Michell - Nunn reported that the Search Committee met last week and participated in the Interview Skills training. Another meeting is being scheduled to review the applications. 2. Standing Sub - Committee and Staff Reports. None. 3. City Administration, Human Resources, and Policy 3.1 Access Oversight Committee - Adoption of the 2015 Public, Education, and Government (PEG) Access Studio Budget Moved by Alderperson Clairbome. Seconded by Alderperson McGonigal. WHEREAS, the Franchise Agreement between Time Warner Entertainment and the City of Ithaca signed in 2003 authorizes Time Warner Entertainment- Advance/Newhouse Partnership to collect $.15 per subscriber per month to be used for the purchase of equipment for the public, educational, and governmental (PEG) Access Studio, and WHEREAS, the total budget for the life of the 10 -year agreement was estimated to be $200,000, and WHEREAS, the Franchise Agreement outlines the creation of an Access Oversight Committee that shall be responsible for approving the timing, use, and amount of PEG access equipment acquired each year over the term of the agreement, and WHEREAS, the Access Oversight Committee has approved a 2015 annual budget in the amount of $30,000, and WHEREAS, the Franchise Agreement states that participating municipalities, including the City of Ithaca, must adopt the annual PEG Access Studio Budget by June 30 of the preceding year; now, therefore be it RESOLVED, That Common Council adopts the 2015 PEG Access Studio Budget as approved by the Access Oversight Committee at its regular meeting on May 5, 2014. A vote on the resolution resulted as follows: Passed unanimously. 3.2 Attorney — Request Budget Amendment for Contractual Outside Legal Services Moved by Alderperson McGonigal. Seconded by Alderperson Fleming. City Administration Committee Meeting June 18, 2014 Page 3 WHEREAS, as part of the 2014 authorized budget we placed $30,000 in Restricted Contingency for outside legal services for the Attorney's Office, and WHEREAS, the Attorney's Office contractual account, which had $20,000 will be fully expended within a month and is in need of further funds to continue contracts with specialized outside legal services; now, therefore be it RESOLVED, That Common Council hereby transfers an amount not to exceed $30,000 from restricted Contingency Account A1990 to account A1420 -5435 Attorney's Office Contractual for the purposes of contracting with outside legal services for the remainder of 2014. A vote on the resolution resulted as follows: Passed unanimously. 3.3 Council - Addition to Common Council Rules of Procedure Moved by Alderperson Fleming. Seconded by Alderperson Smith. WHEREAS, Council believes that it could operate with greater transparency and clarity with the addition of formal guidelines regarding the use of official City letterhead stationery; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the Common Council Rules of Procedure be amended to add one new section as follows: Revised structure: XI Communication by Council members XI A Communications between Council Members and Staff XIA — 1 - Council members who need information from City staff.... XIA — 2 — Whenever Council members seek information.... XIA — 3- Council members should never attempt to influence... XI B Use of Council letterhead XIB —1 The primary use of Common Council letterhead stationery is to communicate official Council positions on matter of public concern. These positions may be communicated by the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, or members of Council designated to speak for the whole when a majority of Council members have consented. XIB — 2- A secondary use of Common Council letterhead stationery is to allow individual Council members to express views regarding matters of official City business. In these instances it must be clear that that the opinion expressed by the Council member is that member's opinion only and may not be the official opinion of the City or Council as a body. To promote transparency and enhance intra — Council understanding, and as a courtesy, the writer(s) should in these cases send a copy of the correspondence to all of Council and the Mayor. City Administration Committee Meeting June 18, 2014 Page 4 XIB - 2 — a - When expressing her /his own position, a Council member should use letterhead designating her/his office, e.g. "Ezra Ithacan, Sixth Ward Alderperson, Common Council, City of Ithaca. " This personal letterhead may also be used, for example, for letters of reference or recommendation if the Alderperson, in her /her capacity as a City official, has known the subject. XIB — 2 — b - When two or more Council members collaborate to express a view not officially advocated the majority of Council, those 41derpersons may electronically design their own joint letterhead or use Council letterhead, but in either case should make explicit that their view is not that of the majority or the official view. XIB — 3 — Council members should not use City letterhead stationery or the City logo for their private correspondence or on behalf of private individuals or organizations. Correspondence on letterhead should never give the appearance of using the office of Alderperson for personal gain or influence. After discussion, Alderperson Smith made a motion to amend the resolution as follows: WHEREAS, Council believes that it could operate with greater transparency and clarity with the addition of formal guidelifies rules regarding the use of official City letterhead stationery; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the Common Council Rules of Procedure be amended to add one new section as follows: Revised structure: XI Communication by Council members XI A Communications between Council Members and Staff XIA — 1 - Council members who need information from City staff.... XIA — 2 — Whenever Council members seek information.... XIA — 3- Council members should never attempt to influence... XI B Use of Council letterhead XIB —1 The primary use of Common Council letterhead stationery is to communicate official Council positions on matter of public concern. These positions may be communicated by members of Council designated to speakfor the whole when a majority of Council members have consented. XIB — 2- A secondary use of Common Council letterhead stationery is to allow individual Council members to express views regarding matters of official City business. In these instances it must be clear that that the opinion expressed by the Council member is that member's opinion only and may not be the official opinion of the City or Council as a body. City Administration Committee Meeting June 18, 2014 Page 5 MB - 2 — a - When expressing her /his own position on City letterhead, a Council member shou must use letterhead designating her /his office, e.g. "Ezra Ithacan, Sixth Ward Alderperson, Common Council, City of Ithaca. " This personal letterhead may also be used, for example, for letters of reference or recommendation if the Alderperson, in her /hiser capacity as a City official, has known the subject. XIB — 2 — b - When two or more Council members collaborate to express a view not officially advocated the majority of Council, those Alderpersons may electronically design their own joint letterhead indicating their names and offices, or use Council letterhead, but in either case shy must mike explicitly state in the letter that their view is not that of the majority or the official view. XIB — 3 — Council members s-hou shall not use City letterhead stationery or the City logo for their private correspondence or on behalf of private individuals or organizations. Correspondence on letterhead should never give the appearance of using the office of Alderperson for personal gain or influence. Seconded by Alderperson Fleming. Motion carried 5 -0. A vote on the resolution as amended resulted as follows: Passed unanimously. 3.4 Endorsement of Forestry Master Plan and Arboriculture Guidelines Moved by Alderperson Smith. Seconded by Alderperson Fleming. WHEREAS, the City of Ithaca has a progressive, proactive and comprehensive urban Forestry Program, which has been awarded Tree City Recognition for more than 25 years and the Tree City Growth Award for more than 15 year, and WHEREAS, the City of Ithaca places a high value on the health of the urban forest and all the environmental, cultural and economic benefits it provides to the city and its residents, and WHEREAS, the City of Ithaca has had a Forestry Master Plan which was last updated in 1996, and WHEREAS, the City of Ithaca Shade Tree Advisory Committee (STAC) with guidance from the City Forester has recently updated the forestry master plan to include analysis of the city street tree inventory as well as recommended arboricultural guidelines, and WHEREAS, this analysis shows a steady increase in the quality and health of our urban forest and will help to inform future decision making within the urban forestry program., and City Administration Committee Meeting June 18, 2014 Page 6 WHEREAS, these guidelines will help to guide work involving city trees being done by city staff as well as private entities working on or near city trees. These guidelines include specifications for protecting trees during construction, site preparation for new planting sites, appropriate tree spacing and planting techniques and proper construction of tree lawns, tree pits and parking lot planting islands. These specifications will ensure survival of existing trees and establishment and success of newly planted trees; now, therefore be it RESOLVED, That Common Council acknowledges the time and effort that was committed to the revision of the Master Plan, Inventory & Guidelines for Public Trees put forth by city staff and STAC, and be it further RESOLVED, That Common Council endorses the document "Ithaca's Trees: Master Plan, Inventory & Arboricultural Guidelines for the Public Trees of the City of Ithaca, New York". A vote on the resolution resulted as follows: Passed unanimously. 3.5 Odd/Even Parking Task Force Report Chief of Staff Sutherland gave a report on Odd /Even Parking and asked the Committee for feedback on how to proceed. 4. Finance, Budget and Appropriations 4.1 YB — College Discovery Program 2014 Budget Amendment Moved by Alderperson Clairborne. Seconded by Alderperson McGonigal. WHEREAS, the College Discovery Program summer programming includes college trips, and WHEREAS, the Ithaca Youth Bureau has received cash donations to cover the cost of said trips; now therefore be it RESOLVED, That Common Council hereby amends the 2014 Youth Bureau Budget as follows: Increase revenue: A7310- 2070 -1240 Increase expenses: A7310 -5120 -1240 A7310 -5460 -1240 CDP Contributions CDP Part time /Seasonal CDP Program Supplies A7310 -9030 FICA/Medicare A7310 -9040 Workers' Compensation A vote on the resolution resulted as follows: $3,530 $2,550 $ 550 $ 195 $235 $3,530 Passed unanimously. City Administration Committee Meeting June 18, 2014 Page 7 4.2 Chamberlain — Request to Waive Penalty Moved by Alderperson Fleming. Seconded by Alderperson Smith. WHEREAS, the owners or the third party payee of the taxes on 701 W. Buffalo Street did not receive a tax bill because the mailing address was not correct, and WHEREAS, NYS Real Property Tax Law states that failure of the payee to receive the bill does not affect the validity of the penalties, and WHEREAS, Real Property Tax Law also provides that the governing board of the taxing authority may reduce or waive penalty, now therefore be it RESOLVED, That the request to waive penalty on the 2014 City of Ithaca First Installment and Tompkins County taxes for 701 W. Buffalo Street in the amount of $451.25 is hereby denied. A vote on the resolution resulted as follows: Passed unanimously. 4.3 Controller — Bond Resolution Moved by Alderperson Clairborne. Seconded by Alderperson McGonigal. The City borrows funds twice a year. To borrow these funds, Common Council must first authorize the issuance of the bonds. This request is to approve the authorization of Capital Projects approved by Council since the last authorization in December 2013. The projects needed for authorization include projects approved since January 2014 and any Council previously authorized projects not yet included in a bond resolution. The total amount of the projects needed for authorization is $4,687,700. The City is required to pay its debt first. The City's current outstanding debt not including this issuance is $115,544.220. While $50,516,279 of the City's outstanding debt is related to water, sewer or wastewater and is exempt from the debt limit, the City still has a significant amount of general outstanding debit totaling $65,027,941. The amount of reimbursement for Federal and State aid will range from $5,000,000 to $8,000,000. The total issuance for August will be $7,275,000 plus renewal of the BANS coming due. Of the new money, $4,275.000 is General Fund bonds. The other $3,000,000 is for Water Fund bonds. The largest amount of the $4,687,700 authorization relates to the Commons reconstruction project at $3,800,000. This project will significantly increase the City's outstanding debt and issued BANS for the next two years. The Commons project will see significant Federal /State reimbursement, hopefully, starting in August. Interest rates for these BANS will be between .20% and 1.00 %. A vote on the resolution resulted as follows: Passed unanimously. 5. Performance Measures: Chief of Staff Sutherland reported that he has met with six (6) departments about their goals. City Administration Committee Meeting June 18, 2014 Page 8 6. GPA Transition. None. 7. 2015 Budget Process — Discussion: Chairperson Mohlenhoff reported that the Department of Public Works (DPW) attended the Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting in June and asked the Committee to e -mail her any feedback for DPW. The Police Department and the Fire Department will attend the next COW meeting scheduled for July 23, 2014. 7.1 Council Survey: The Committee discussed and made changes to the survey for Council. Chief of Staff Sutherland will update the survey and e -mail the final document to Chairperson Mohlenhoff, who will in turn e -mail the survey to Common Council. 8 Meeting Wrap -up 8.1 Announcements. None. 8.2 Review Agenda Items for Next Meeting. None. 8.3 Adjourn: With no further business and on a motion by Alderperson Smith, the meeting was adjourned at 8:54 p.m.