HomeMy WebLinkAboutProgram Analysis Committee - April - June 1998 PROGRAM ANALYSIS COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS
APRIL 13, 1998
7 :30 PM
PRESENT:
Chair Vaughan
Vice-Chair Cohen
Alderpersons : (8) Blumenthal, Farrell, Sams, Manos,
Marcham, Gray, Spielholz, Taylor
OTHERS PRESENT:
City Clerk - Conley Holcomb
City Controller - Cafferillo
Deputy City Controller - Thayer
EXCUSED:
Alderperson: Shenk
Report On Revenue Expectations
Approval of the report on revenue expectations was deferred
until April 27, 1998 . The City Clerk will re-distribute
the report to Committee members.
SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMPUTER EQUIPMENT:
Chairperson Vaughan reported that she and Alderperson Gray
have reviewed the City' s computer equipment inventory with
the assistance of Network Administrator Doc Kinne.
Alderperson Gray created a Computer User Survey which will
be distributed to all City staff members to retrieve
personal feedback. The surveys are due May 1, 1998, and a
written report will be prepared for the May 11, 1998
meeting.
SUMMARY/RECALL QUESTIONS:
Additional questions should be referred to either
Chairperson Vaughan or the City Clerk by the April 27, 1998
meeting.
Ithaca Fire Department
Fire Chief Brian Wilbur and Lieutenant David Burbank
presented the following information for the Ithaca Fire
Department :
The Ithaca Fire Department was founded in 1823 . The Ithaca
Fire Department' s General mission statement is "To save
lives and protect property" .
The Fire Department is organized into 3 divisions : Life
Safety, Operations, and Volunteer Services . Each of the 3
divisions is subdivided into sections for a total of 8
sections, each with their own individual mission statements
which defines the functions of each section. There are a
total of 50 functions/programs .
LIFE SAFETY:
Administration and Planning - general administration
and organization, organizational development,
compliance with federal, state and local mandates
Fire Prevention Bureau - code enforcement, fire
prevention codes, building codes, fire
investigation, municipal fire alarm system,
testing new fire alarms in the city.
Safety Section - enforcing new safety laws for fire
fighters
OPERATIONS:
Response - sirens, emergencies (spend the majority of
time)
Support - maintenance of equipment (spend the majority
of money)
Training Bureau- very important as emphasis of mission
For new members and continuing education
for current members in routine operations
and new techniques
VOLUNTEER SERVICES:
(Citizen volunteers and Bunkers)
Membership - recruitment, selection and retention
Active Service/duty - integrating students
and civilian volunteers into a work
environment of four shifts 365 days a year)
Programs : Internal - career, bunker or civilian volunteer
External - for citizens residing, visiting,
working and playing in, and traveling
through Ithaca
Many programs are provided for City of Ithaca as well as
communities surrounding the City of Ithaca.
Testing of fire hydrants
Working with Department of Public Works of City and
Town
County Fire Coordinators.
Mutual Aid to other Fire Departments
The question was raised whether Mutual Aid Responses are
paid or unpaid. Chief Wilbur answered that they are
typically unpaid. "Ice 198" response will be reimbursed
through State and Federal Emergency funding.
Juvenile Fire Setters
Juvenile Fire Setters program - This program was
established to offer education to children who have a
problem with setting fires. In cases where fire setting is
a symptom of a deeper underlying problem, the child is
screened and a referral is made to the appropriate social
or mental health agency, and/or family court .
Consolidation of this program with Tompkins County is a
possibility.
Training
Any time the Fire Department accepts a new career
firefighter, they are obligated to provide 229 hours of
training. With the addition of IFD' s specific training, it
usually takes 4 to 6 months before new firefighters are
assigned to a shift .
Staffing
The Ithaca Fire Department is a Combination Department,
meaning it utilizes both Career and Volunteer Firefighters
and Bunkers
The Career Uniformed Staff consists of :
1 Fire Chief
1 Deputy Fire Chief
5 Assistant Chiefs, divided among the 4 shifts
the fifth Assistant Chief' s primary function is
working on the Codes Division.
8 Lieutenants, 2 of whom are on the 4 shifts
48 Funded positions, divided into 4 shifts, some of
whom have been on disability for years .
1 Fire Alarm Superintendent - primarily responsible
for code related fire alarm work in the City and in
the district and also maintaining the municipal fire
alarm system.
Volunteer Staff
25 Class 1 Firefighters, that number varies . Class 1
Firefighter means they must be certified to be an interior
structure firefighter.
23 Active Volunteers who are not certified class 1 .
They are Class 2 and Class 3 . They may be involved in a
number of responsibilities such as fire photographer,
responding to calls and assisting as fire police to control
traffic around an incident, filling the air bottles that go
on the firefighter' s backs .
24 Bunkers : Typically college or university students
who live at the Fire Station. They are given room, but not
board in exchange to be trained as a Class 1 Firefighter
and work 2 14 hour shifts out of every 8 days . They are
assigned to one of the four shifts and ride with the shift
2 nights out of every eight . To be a bunker, a person must
be classified as a Class 1 Firefighter.
12 Firefighters are funded per shift, some of whom may not
be present due to being on disability.
Minimum 11 staff members per shift - 4 shifts, 32 .4 square
mile geographic area covered.
Alderperson Sams asked Lieutenant Burbank if he thought
any staffing level under 11 would be safe. Lieutenant
Burbank stated that he believed 11 staff members did not
cover all the needed work. With fewer than 11 staff
members working IFD would have to take engines out of
service.
Fire Stations
Central Fire
South Hill-During the day there are 2
career Firefighters, at night there is 1 career Firefighter
and at least 1 Bunker.
West Hill-Closed during the day, at
night-1 career Firefighter, 1 Bunker
East Hill-2 Career Firefighters
Services provided:
Ithaca Fire Department covers a 32 .4 square miles fire
district; population of 40, 600 including students and
commuters
Fight Fires - 5% of call responses
E.M.T. ' s - all career Firefighters are E.M.T. ' s, some
advanced E.M.T. ' s and some are Paramedics; 1st response
team; 305 are responses to emergency rescue calls .
PER system is connected into 911 also
4-6 Advanced Cert .
6 Paramedic level
Fire Prevention/Code enforcement, and Education
Hazardous Material
Technical Rescues (Gorge)
Vehicle Extrication
Structural Collapse
Water Rescue - Dive team, Swift water rescue
An inflatable boat has been purchased, another boat is on
the way
Coast Guard is auxiliary Detail not a full detachment, 24
hours a day, 365 days a year the Fire Department is the
only consistent Water Rescue available.
Ithaca Police Department is no longer involved with water
rescues .
Ice Rescue
Elevator Rescue
Industrial Accident
`./ Other Rescues
Training - other area fire departments as well as
recruits and continuing education for Ithaca' s career fire
fighters .
Fire Cause and Origin Determination
Juvenile Fire Setters Program
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team
Confined Space Rescue
Training Center
Calls for assistance:
5% - are fires
32 . 3% - are rescue (EMS) calls
43% - false calls (that is on a downward trend)
most are unintentional, not malicious
8% - hazardous conditions
7% - service calls
3 . 5% - good intent calls (someone saw steam &
thought fire)
Equipment Requirements
\.,/ Fire Chief Wilbur discussed the condition of the facilities
at the different Fire stations, and the Training Center.
The equipment replacement program is working well . The
Fire Department has an excellent working relationship with
the Department of Public Works . Generally the equipment is
in good shape. Much of the maintenance is done by Fire
Department personnel .
Communication Issues
Integrating a diverse population of employees, volunteers
and bunkers is not an easy task. Training is critical to
good integration.
A lot of work is done cross shift to enhance
communications .
Recruitment and retention issues are becoming increasingly
difficult . IFD has experienced a huge reduction in force
due to a lack of volunteers . From 30 to 35 years ago a
volunteer force of 300 has dropped to a force of 20
volunteers . This is a nationwide trend. There seem to be
a number of reasons, double income families, single parent
families, jobs that keep people busy 60 to 80 hours a week,
to a change in priorities, etc . A sociological study
suggests the advent of television has been a huge factor in
the drop of civic participation.
Also it was noted that the time commitment has been
increased for volunteers .
Bunkers : They are available during the school year, but
during the summer there are fewer of them. The turn over
is rapid. Training seems to be continual .
Organizational Changes:
Town of Ithaca Contract expires 1999. They will be entering
into discussions shortly.
Discussion followed regarding closing the West Hill Station
and continuing good service to the Town of Ithaca.
Fire Chief Wilbur noted the diminishing numbers of the Fire
Department career staff .
2 in 2 out: This is a Federal Standard which was ill
defined and inconsistently enforced. The federal
government has rewritten the law which making it extremely
specific. New York State must comply by October of 1998 .
If you are going to send a firefighter into a hazardous
environment, you must send at least 2 people at a time, and
there must be visual or voice contact at all times . At the
same time, there must be at least 2 people outside trained
and equipped to rescue them if the 2 inside get into
trouble. The 2 outside cannot be assigned to any other
significant task that would pull them away from the
possible rescue.
Fire Chief Wilbur voiced his concern regarding his ability
to comply with this standard with the limited number of
firefighters on staff .
Worst case scenario would be that IFD assemble on a fire
scene and delay the fire fighting operation until there are
enough people on hand to comply with 2 in and 2 out . The
federal government has been very clear that if there is a
firefighter death or injury that can be attributed to, or
made worse by the fact that they did not comply with 2 in 2
out, sanctions will apply. This applies not only to fire
suppression, but also search and rescue, and any other
hazardous environment .
Code Revisions
Capital Projects - many projects are being managed
internally.
The Fire Department is reviewing every aspect of code
enforcement to see if there is a better way to accomplish
the basic mission, generate revenue, and utilize staff
members to maximize hours and skills .
City' s Fire Prevention Code - IFD is considering revisions
to the code to make the code enforcement operations unit
more efficient and raise revenues.
The Board of Fire Commission is reviewing the City Charter.
There are a number of conflicting provisions that need to
be reviewed.
Contract negotiations have been completed.
Department Feedback:
EMS Program-There is an ongoing committee reviewing
this .
Regionalization of the Training Center-is progressing
well .
water and Ice Rescue- received a new inflatable boat .
Volunteer Program Structure Initiative-There is an
initiative from the Company Captains to take a
look at the 8 volunteer company structures to see
if there is a way to make the system more
efficient, effective, and aid in retention. This
is coming from within the volunteers .
175 Anniversary of the Department-Planning to
culminate with celebrations in October with an
Anniversary Dinner and Parade .
Mutual Aid:
Discussion followed on the floor regarding charging for
Mutual Aid Responses . Mutual Aid will be becoming more of
an issue as the requests increase. Currently there is
sporadic charging for specialized assistance, such as
HazMat rescues, Gorge rescues, investigations, etc. There
is no consistent policy for charging for specialized
assistance.
Ithaca is the only career staffed Fire Department in the
County. Mutual Aid in most cases is the Ithaca Fire
Department assisting others than any other Fire Department
assisting the City.
The question was raised as to whether there was a
possibility of securing County funding for "Specialty"
functions - Haz Mat/Gorge rescues, investigations, etc.
Chief Wilbur said that there is a possibility to receive
the costs put out on Mutual Aid.
Other options were discussed such as the Training Center
receiving funding from the County to provide certain
courses annually; an operation and maintenance stipend from
the County to insure the continuing operation of the
Training Center for County personnel is also a possibility.
Specialized training packages could also be offered on a
tuition basis .
It was asked if Grants were available for Capital
acquisitions? There may be some funds available at the
County level for this .
Fire Chief Wilbur reported that 300 calls were made to IFD
in 1967 . A higher percentage of these calls were fires,
though not all . The percentage number of fires, nationwide,
is down due to education, code enforcement, etc.
In 1997, 3 , 200 fire calls were received. Career Staffing
has been relatively static. The volunteer response index
(number of volunteer responses to a call) has declined.
More volunteers show up when there is an actual fire. The
demand for service has gone up, the volunteer staffing has
gone down, the career staffing has remained constant . This
is a real issue for the Fire Department .
A survey was taken of 30+ communities in New York State of
similar population base.
Firefighters per 1, 000 .
1 . 88 Ithaca
1 . 89 Jamestown
1 . 69 Saratoga Springs
Everyone else is above Ithaca Fire Department.
These are total firefighters including volunteers
where applicable.
Minimum staffing per 1, 000
.27 Ithaca
Port Chester, Westchester County is the only
community below Ithaca. Every other community is
above Ithaca.
Firefighters per square mile
2 .36 Ithaca
Saratoga Springs is the only other one that is
below Ithaca.
Minimum staffing per square mile
.34 Ithaca
.30 Saratoga Springs
Everyone else is above Ithaca.
Firefighters to staffing ratio
Number of people to have one person on duty
around the clock. That is the median number of
the survey. Labor agreements, time off provided,
people on disability effects this number.
5 . 73 Ithaca
5 . 14 Auburn
4 . 86 Jamestown
4 . 69 Saratoga Springs
6 .2 Newburg
Cost per capita
$93 Ithaca
$51 Port Chester
$165 Newburg
The Ithaca Fire Department' s Vision is to provide a broad
array of services with competence and professionalism; to
provide the scope and quality of services with a customer
driven orientation, to give the best value and be
competitive in every respect to highly trained, motivated
and empowered people; and to establish continuos
improvements as a way of life, especially in respect to
safety.
The question was asked regarding the time table for
implementing measures to comply with "2 in 2 out" . Chief
Wilbur said he hoped to have something for the Safety
Committee by the beginning of May, 1998 . It will be July
before Common Council will see anything.
The second meeting in May will include a second
presentation from Fire Chief Wilbur regarding financial
figures .
ADJOURNMENT:
On a motion the meeting adjourned at 10 :30 p.m.
`.'
PROGRAM ANALYSIS COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS
MAY 11, 1998
7 :30 PM
PRESENT:
Chairperson Vaughan
Vice-Chair Cohen
Alderpersons : (7) Blumenthal, Marcham, Sams, Gray, Shenk,
Spielholz, Taylor
OTHERS PRESENT:
City Clerk - Conley Holcomb
Deputy City Controller - Thayer
Fire Chief - Wilbur
Deputy Fire Chief - Dorman
Volunteer Coordinator - Lynch
Board of Fire Commissioner - Romanowski
Youth Bureau Director - Cohen
Assistant to Director - Green
Assistant Chief - Van Benschoten
Lieutenant Burbank
EXCUSED:
Alderpersons : Manos, Farrell
�.J REPORT OF CHAIR_
Discussion on the Summary/Recall questions has been
scheduled for the May 26, 1998 meeting. City Clerk Holcomb
will update the list to add questions from the Fire
Department and Youth Bureau presentations .
REVENUE INITIATIVES SUBCOMMITTEE :
Discussion and vote will be delayed until May 26, 1998
meeting.
COMPUTER SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT:
Chairperson Vaughan, Alderperson Gray and Systems
Administrator Kinne are still compiling this report . The
sub-committee will make a report at the May, 26, 1998
meeting.
1.�
Ithaca Fire Department
Fire Chief Brian Wilbur presented the following
\../ information:
The Ithaca Fire Department' s Mission Statement is "Protect
lives - Save property". Every Program IFD runs reflects
that primary goal . Chief Wilbur reviewed the budgetary
information of the following programs:
General Administration
Safety (Fire Prevention)
Emergency Response - Most of the Payroll budget lines is
dedicated to Emergency Response.
Support - Maintenance of trucks - is the primary expense
line of the IFD budget
Capital Projects - This is the second largest budgetary
item.
Training Bureau
Recruitment and Retention
Volunteer Services
\./ Chief Wilbur used 1997 expenditures as a benchmark.
Questions from the Floor:
A question was asked about a specific goal to inspect all
C5 occupancies . Fire Chief Wilbur responded that C5
occupancies are places of assembly. In 1984 the State of
New York mandated that all places of assembly need to be
inspected annually. The City of Ithaca is not currently
inspecting places of assembly. The Fire Department has
been attempting to work out a plan to comply with this
mandate.
In completing the Ithaca Fire Department staffing level
comparison chart, were municipalities asked about Building
Department and other inspection programs?
Did you ask about volunteers and bunkers? Municipalities
with mixed departments included volunteers at a 3 to 1
ratio.
Did you ask City/Town combinations? Yes: half and half
Age of housing stock, density, rental versus owner
occupied, smoke detection ordinance. Town of Ithaca has a
sprinkler system ordinance, the City of Ithaca does not.
Cornell University is mostly sprinklered and smoke
detection. Ithaca College is moderately sprinklered.
Insurance rating - Class 4 community. Fire Department;
Water Flow System - number of hydrants, inspections;
Communications System; Specific occupancies, training,
number of firefighters, equipment maintenance
Ithaca has been class 4 since the 1950s at least.
It was asked whether comparative cities are also class 4 .
Train Movements:
West Hill
Revenue Summary:
Permit Fees: - City of Ithaca inspection per hour basis
Town Contract: - $1,000,000, Contract expires December
1999. Negotiations are scheduled to begin soon. West Hill
station staffing is a significant issue. How many staff
positions are needed to staff West Hill? The answer is 11
- 12 tradition and 2 or 3 non-traditional .
2) Youth Bureau (continued) - S. Cohen, et al
50th Anniversary
Recreation and Recreation Mainstreaming
- Sports, Leagues and lessons
- Day camps
- Expressive arts
- Community recreation programs
History - 1980s started charging for programs . Town of
Ithaca paid money to the City of Ithaca, other
municipalities did not and paid three (3) times as much as
city residents.
"Recreation Partnership"
Participation in programs has increased 53% . The cities
served include Caroline, Danby, Dryden, Enfield, etc. 14
of the 16 municipalities contribute. They now have a 3
year contract.
GIS mapping of participant database.
$15,000 scholarships, 70% city kids (sliding scale) 90%
poverty level reduced under 50% , free lunch 75%, summer
camps (care) 25% . $12,000 DSS funding for camps
Girls and teens not being served as well as could be.
61% boys
39% girls
added - Dessi Jacobs, girls softball
(co-ed Kiwanis Baseball)
Club Ithaca, rock and bowl parties for middle school
Staffed by high school
\./ Mission - reach out and serve as many . . .
with high quality programs
Recreation is prevention
6,000 Annual registrations - 5 1/2 people;
lost 3 full time positions
Revenue increased 14% since partnership
- Would like to add additional sponsorships of programs
- If programs are cut - revenue is lost
City' s contribution is less than 1/3 of program costs
Could the Youth Bureau provide a list of costs per
participant per program
Charts of participants and contribution
Tompkins County share $35,000
Have Schools been approached to take over playground
programs?
CASS PARK:
John Doyle -
90 acres
Lighted Baseball
Softball
Fields Soccer
Football
Lacrosse
4 Tennis Courts
Pavilion with grills
Fitness Trail
Pools
Ice Rink/Roller Rink
Day Camps
7 parking lots
- million people per year as participant or
spectator
Host to may outside programs
1998 Capital Projects
- energy conservation
- re-lighting ball fields - diesal operated generator,
75% savings
- repairing pool deck
Relationship with schools
School district maintains three (3) fields; ice rink, users
use, concessions, etc.
IHS for sports
Camp/playground camps at no cost
*Distribute
RECREATION MAINSTREAMING
- Alice Green/Joanie Groome
Serves childrens and adults with disabilities County-wide
475 people - 191 children, 244 adults,
40 in Camp Iroquois
Program is largely funded by outside sources, Tompkins
County and New York State, 6 staff people.
All programs are maxed out and waiting lists are filled
Where do participants live?
- 125 majority of adults live in City of Ithaca
- children all over
$50,000 in City of Ithaca Contributions
ADJOURNMENT:
On a motion the meeting adjourned at 10: 15 p.m.
PROGRAM ANALYSIS COMMITTEE
MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1998
7 :30 P.M.
COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS
PRESENT:
Chair Vaughan
Alderpersons Blumenthal, Marcham, Shenk, Farrell, Manos
OTHERS PRESENT:
City Controller - Cafferillo
City Clerk - Conley Holcomb
AMENDMENTS TO TODAY' S AGENDA:
There will be a special meeting on June 15, 1998 for Rick
Ferrel, Assistant Superintendent of Public Works, to give
his presentation. Bill Gray, Superintendent of Public
Works, will finish up his presentation on July 22, 1998 .
REPORT OF CHAIR/VICE-CHAIR:
No report given.
REPORT OF COMPUTER SUB-COMMITTEE:
Chair Vaughan stated that several computer surveys had been
returned by the employees .
1 . Year 2000 Issues
Chair Vaughan suggested that old computers be traded in for
new ones to deal with the Year 2000 issues . The City hopes
to combine both the Year 2000 issues with the
hardware/software upgrades .
2 . Hardware/Software Upgrades
It was suggested that operating system upgrades to Windows
95 or Windows NT be done. Doc Kinne suggested that the
City take a pro-active approach and choose Windows NT.
3 . Training Issues
Training funds will be put into a Capital Project .
Department of Public Works:
Superintendent of Public Works, Bill Gray, gave the
presentation on the Department of Public Works .
The Department of Public Works takes up 45% of the City' s
appropriations .
Equipment = $6, 000, 000, there is a large assortment with a
replacement cycle.
Inter-municipal equipment trades
Training/Discipline provided for employees who are hard on
equipment .
•
Department charges back for vehicle maintenance and repair.
Fixed assets/debt service
Next presentation will be done in July
PROGRAM ANALYSIS COMMITTEE
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 1998
7 :30 P.M.
COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS
PRESENT:
Chair Vaughan
Vice-Chair Cohen
Alderpersons Marcham, Thorpe, Blumenthal, Spielholz, Sams,
Manos, Farrell
Alderperson Vaughan requested that for the next meeting to
discuss establishing budget priorities for 1999. Establishment
of a committee that would reflect the various aspects of council
and those people come up with a "straw man" a suggestion to the
program analysis committee that they could begin to work on
this . This has to be done early enough so that the department
heads who have to get their budgets in by August 1St, are able to
use this appropriately. She suggested one or two things for a
timetable. She suggested a committee today or ask for
volunteers today or alternatively, we can wait until next Monday
when we meet . Work needs to start no later than next Monday,
June 22nd to look at what these priorities might be that we can
then come back to the department and say here are the priorities
as we see them and we would like you to begin to work within
this framework. She asked for questions/comments to see how
this process worked a couple of years ago and to see if the
committee felt this would be useful to council.
Alderperson Vaughan stated that she is looking for this
committee to brain storm what things are the main priorities for
council and then bring them back to us to vote on as a
recommendation from the Program Analysis committee. Then the
Program Analysis Committee would forward it to the Senior Staff.
It wouldn' t have to go to council, but program analysis would
vote on it at the program analysis committee, it would go to
council and probably be voted on at the July meeting. This
would be priority for the budget for the next year.
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Vaughan stated, for example, DPW would say they
provide the infrastructure underpinning that makes economic
development possible and these are the ways we do it and these
are some of things that aren' t perhaps so obvious . Is this
useful to any of you? If you don' t think it' s going to be
useful and you don' t think it' s going to be useful to the
professional staff, then we don' t need to spin our wheels . At
Senior Staff it was clear that they were sort of waiting for us
to tell them where to cut .
Alderperson Spielholz stated that she thought a more appropriate
approach to be honest with Senior staff is not to give them some
kind of a thing to fit their programs into, but to say very
frankly, what our bottom line is, what we think we need to cut.
They would like to have an idea of what council has on its mind
that they think is excess .
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrell
replied that this is right, but that some of the senior staff
may be a bit gun shy because some recommendations have been made
in the past and council has said no, they don' t like those go
back to the drawing board or they would rather nickel and dime
so other account rather than see something be eliminated. At
Streets and Facilities that has been very real in the past . He
has a pet peeve about construction of new items or putting
something new on the board with no thought of its maintenance
after its constructed and the City has a very major investment
in existing infrastructure that is not getting adequate funding
for its repair and maintenance, maintenance to make it last
longer and yet we' re always wanting to build something new.
Alderperson Vaughan stated that one of the comments that has
made, is that occasionally when staff put together their
suggestions for cuts, they put something that like well, we' ll
close the Washington Monument, and that' s not going to fly, so
staff has to realize that their offer to cut something have to
be bonafied.
2
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Marcham stated that she doesn' t think it' s going to
DPW much good to say that we want to emphasize youth, drugs and
economic development. She thinks that when we did that, which
she thinks was two years ago, was when council wanted to mainly
alert the mayor as to what it felt the budget priorities should
be and it was also a clue to the department heads too. She
thinks that was the main object at that time. She is not sure
whether this fits with what program analysis is trying to do.
So, she is not sure that it would help very much.
Alderperson Sams suggested that two council members work with a
department to see what programs they have, what they could give
up, what would replace what they give up, and so forth. She had
been impressed by the way Carol Reeves at DPW had done this on
paper for DPW. She really looked at everything very closely and
when she cut something, she knew what impact it was going to
have, and what they were giving up when they did do it .
Prioritizing things, even the equipment list and it was on a
replacement schedule. Some departments by the nature of what
they do will not fit into the categories of youth, drugs and
economic development .
City Clerk Holcomb agreed with what Alderperson Spielholz said
and she agrees with what Assistant Superintendent of Public Work
Ferrell stated, departments are looking to the committee for
some help and some guidelines . They thought that this was what
this process was . That we showed you everything and then you
decide what was excess and what wasn' t excess and now, we know
we' ve been told pretty much that these are our budget guidelines
and we' re to target the programs and staff and bring it to you.
And, they' re looking for some guidance. They want to know what
your priorities are so they' re not closing the Washington
Monument, that they hit something that all of you agree is
excess or whatever. She agrees absolutely with what Rick said,
there have been departments and it' s certainly not easy to
propose cuts and especially where staff is concerned and put
yourself out on the line and look you' re trying to be your own
control and then have it turn around and you' re the bad guy and
those are very real concerns for Senior Staff members .
Alderperson Farrell wondered that since we' ve gone through and
looked at programs within departments, maybe what we need to do
is prioritize those programs in terms of what we, as council,
think of them. That also gives guidance. It' s hard, you might
be saying that there' s nothing that I don' t think is important
here, but what are the priorities within departments .
3
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Vaughan asked if we are able to do that with the
departments that we have heard from so far? There are some that
we haven' t heard from yet, like the Police, Planning, just pass
the tip of the iceberg.
Alderperson Farrell asked if other people thought we could do
that or not?
Alderperson Spielholz stated that she doesn' t feel prepared to
do that without a lot of thought.
Alderperson Vaughan stated that this first year around, that
that job is actually more than we can intellectually handle and
yet it is something we should do, but we' ll probably have to do
it next year.
Alderperson Marcham stated that there are going to be general
principles applicable to every department that will help guide
the department heads . Alot of decisions have to be made
department by department .
Mayor Cohen stated that he is not criticizing, but when he looks
at the work DPW does for example, even the forestry program, he
is one that is convinced that a healthy urban forestry program
is actually a healthy economic development tool. It enhances
the aesthetics of the community and makes us look better. It
makes it a more livable community, a more attractive community
where people want to live, work, and do business . People are
not going to want to live, work and do business in a community
that has crumbling roads or sewers that back-up. So, it' s more
of an indirect correlation. Those are things that we have to
balance and he thinks some departments can make connection. In
other case, they won' t.
Alderperson Marcham stated that she thinks everything that DPW
does has to do with economic development but she doesn' t know if
saying that helps them to choose which of those functions are
more important than others .
4
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Farrell stated that another issue that comes up, is,
are all functions within a department equally important to do
and how? Are some of those functions things that you need real
expensive equipment for? For example, that you do less often,
that we should be maybe looking at combining resources with the
County. There are those kinds of things too, that when you
start looking at priorities, you could say these are the things
that we need people doing all the time, and focusing on and
these are the things that are a little bit more peripheral that
and that' s another way to look at it .
Department of Public Works Presentation:
Assistant Superintendent for Streets and Facilities Ferrel
stated that program analysis had him baffled for a little bit.
Initially he took the 34 accounts and broke them down into what
he thought were sub programs for each account and he ended up
with over 70 programs . He had a discussion with the Controller
and he said that won' t do, cut it to under 20 . So, he went back
to the drawing board and consolidated the accounts and came up
with 17 programs. There may be areas where programs could be
consolidated further but there was some reason for doing them
the way he did. One is so that Supervisors are directly
responsible for single programs not having two or three
supervisors with their finger in the pot for various accounts .
A prime example would be snow removal . When we have a
snowstorm, every employee, literally, in the department is used
for snow removal. If all the snow removal funds were in one
program, including ramps, the commons, buildings, the parks, we
would have 4 different supervisors, drawing funds out of the one
program and that would be kind of like laying my wallet on the
table and telling my three boys help yourself. It wouldn' t
work. So, there are these 17 programs . He distributed a
summary, called a summary sheet . It' s tasks within the
programs; he hopes it will help to keep us on track as we go
through the individual programs . He did not show a cost for
each of these tasks. We do not have the capability of showing
cost analysis for each of these tasks at this time, let alone
have time to do it . We currently do job costing for our
capitalized highway construction projects, but not for
individual tasks within the current accounts . We do totals
only. It would certainly be interesting to have cost accounting
of each individual tasks and may be it will be something that
we' ll have to do in future years to try to determine if the
program should be saved or not. Maybe some of these tasks are
just too expensive for us to handle in house.
5
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Spielholz asked if the cost accounting was something
that was supposed to be part of what was covered in our MUNIS
software, if it ever gets together?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that it will work as far as the overall program, not the
individual tasks within the program. He thinks we' ll still be
faced with the same problem we have now.
Traffic Control is an example. We have three tasks within that
-refer to attached for tasks . Currently all of our materials
whether for road striping or sign maintenance are charged to the
same line item. We' ll be able to separate our labor by sub
accounts within that . If it is, it will be a very good report.
Mayor Cohen wanted to go back to this question of the 17
programs . When he looks like an office like his, which is
$100, 000 and he has four clear programs and we' re looking at a
seven million dollar department with 17 programs, if there are
more programs involved there, he is not asking you to go back to
the drawing board but are you comfortable with the way this is
or do you feel that there are programs that should be split up
from what they are now?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that he is fairly comfortable with what we have here and it' s
not good to differ from what we' ve been doing or at least the
line responsibility of the supervisors who control those
sections .
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that DPW doesn' t know how much it
costs to stripe one mile of city street? You can' t tell that
yet.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
not without physically sitting down and manually doing it. That
is correct .
Alderperson Sams had a follow up question, that not only how
much it costs but what kind of time it takes. Do you have any
idea the amount of time that goes into?
6
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that at the moment no. He knows how many weeks we spend
striping, how many employees are assigned to that task, how many
rain days we throw into it. As far as actual miles that we
stripe per year, he would have to do a lot of handwork to figure
that out .
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that he wanted to get into elimination of services a little bit,
there was some brief mention of that earlier, so he will skip
over that . He' ll say that this is his 8th year of preparing the
Streets and Facilities budget. They' ve pulled every trick out
of the hat to help things balance these past 8 years, except for
levels of services, we still maintain our budget; some of those
things that were pulled out are: reducing our materials accounts
to minimums so that there is no excess, we' ve reduced our number
of permanent employees, we' ve reduced our seasonal funds, for
part-time seasonal employees which help both in construction and
general maintenance; parks, sign shop, commons . We' ve
capitalized highway construction materials which ten years ago
was unheard of; it was all out of the operating account. This
is for materials that our own crews use. We have capitalized a
great deal of equipment that ten years ago we purchased out of
our operating account . We' ve reduced a few services, those that
we have reduced are spring cleaning, we used to have an annual
spring cleaning of cleaning from sidewalk, tree lawns were all
hand raked and cleaned out, we did away with that six or seven
years ago, our big street sweeping program that we used to run
every summer, every day we used to have a sweeper out during the
day, we lost one equipment operating and that program is now on
an as available basis . We have an equipment operator that we
can free up; we' ll send him out with the street sweeper. We
currently still do our night street sweeping program and plan to
continue that. A number of years ago we gave up street surface
treating which had its own separate account, which was
traditionally called stone and oil treatments, sealing the
surface of the streets and adding an aggregate wear surface. It
has basically just been eliminated.
Alderperson Marcham asked if Assistant Superintendent of Streets
and Facilities Ferrel thought that was cost effective?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
yes .
7
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Marcham stated that to eliminate it was not that
valuable?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that we' d pay for it down the road.
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that was what she was asking.
Alderperson Marcham stated that' s what she is wondering. Is
that
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that is a maintenance tool that will extend the life of a
street.
Alderperson Marcham stated that was what she was wondering.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that if you seal the surface and keep the water from entering
and so that we don' t have freezes that go with moisture
underneath and cold surface auger and keep the street intact .
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that while we have made some reductions, we have many fixed
costs that stay or increase every year. Our electricity costs
including our street lighting, which is a $400, 000 bill by
itself, we have no control over it. Our telephone, natural gas,
fuel for our vehicles, to some extent wage increases for our
permanent employees, even though we have reduced the number of
our employees, we were 142, and at last count we' re 109. Our
wage costs are still higher than they were just from the annual
increased.
Contractural services are something we have to do every year,
whether it' s hazardous waste removal, or elevator contracts,
yard waste grinding, or even our transit count, which is now
mostly contract . Other than that, he stated earlier that he
thought as a rule, many of us like to build and do things and
have a vision for the future, and quite often we forget about
maintenance of our existing infrastructure. He knows that the
fire department came in here with all sorts of bells and
whistles and slides, high tech items, he was going to bring a
piece of asphalt, okay, we have 72 miles of this, the
calculations for a 24' wide highway at 4" depth basically, it' s
8
June 15, 1998
just the cost of materials in our streets, we have five and one
half million dollars worth of asphalt as we would buy it out of
the plant . It doesn' t include trucking it down, it doesn' t
include laying it on the ground or anything. That' s just
purchase price. Public works is not glamorous, yes we have
trees and flowers in certain locations, but as a rule, most of
our work is dirty and is dirt, asphalt, bricks, concrete, it' s
pipes under the ground, but it' s a necessary part of the city or
any city and he hopes that we will continue to exist, but we
must care for our investment. As he said earlier, or we will
shorten the life cycle of everything that we do build. With,
that turn to page one, we' ll start going through this program-
by-program.
Alderperson Blumenthal questioned the advisability of going
through 17 programs, program by program, as far as time limits
are concerned.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that he was hoping to use this crib sheet as a guide. He is open
to suggestions .
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that she was worried that there
wouldn' t be enough time for questions and discussions .
Alderperson Vaughan stated that what we may end up doing, Rick,
she' d like to have the meeting go not later than 10 : 00 o' clock
tonight . What we might want to do is not get to some and come
back; we did that for example, with the Youth Bureau. Would
that be possible?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that he hopes they prepared this booklet in the manner in which
they were instructed. He knows what you asked for is not always
what you get . We do have a partial budget summary in the front
section; maybe Bill went over some of this last week. This is
the operating budget; it doesn' t include capitalized expenses
for highway construction materials .
9
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that the next section is all staffing and right now seniority or
by account assignment which is also part of the program. He
pointed out that much of the staff is hourly workers across the
lines from program to program. We show 24 employees in the
highway, this group has a wide range of duties and will be used
for snow removal, you' ll find that there are no wages for snow
removal shown for employees, but they are highway employees and
performing the snow removal program as outlined here. The
highway employees may also cross the programs to do some bridge
work. This summer we' ll have a concrete crew doing bridge deck
work, the storm water group is also done generally with highway
employees, once in a while we' ll steal somebody from the parks
section. So, looks like there are quite a number of people
assigned to the highway, 24, which is the most of any section.
There is a reason. Also, in the wintertime we split that
highway group so that we maintain a night snow removal crew in
an effort to keep our overtime costs down.
Alderperson Farrell stated that these 24 people do snow removal,
they do street sweeping, they do other highway stuff, sometimes
they work on the bridges too, you have regular bridge people too
and then these people join them for special projects or
something?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that the bridge crew is made up of two and one-half permanent
employees. One employee spends the summer with the bridge crew
and in the winter months at Cass Park. The majority of the
summer bridge work is done with seasonal employees . The
permanent employees being the supervisors and safety officers .
Alderperson Blumenthal asked if he has twenty-four hour shifts?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrell
stated no,
Alderperson Blumenthal asked what did he say about 24 hours?
To minimize overtime you said something?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrell
stated that the highway' s 24 employees are split in the winter
months, so that we maintain a night snow removal crew.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked if those are twelve-hour shifts or
eight-hour shifts .
10
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that they are 8-hour shifts . Generally they work an 8-hour
shift, 7 : 00 a.m. to 3 : 30 p.m. and then there is a snow
condition; they' ll work 4 hours overtime.
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that she thought what was being
said was that everybody, that there was a rotation in the time
people worked and so that it if it snowed at night it was the
regular guys, they weren' t making overtime. That' s not what you
said? People are making overtime?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that they have an 8-hour overnight shift that is not overtime.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked what they did when it' s not
snowing?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel in the
Fall they' ll do a leaf clean up. Generally, we' ll have an
inside construction crew, with a construction project, they' ll
do some equipment maintenance operations . If the weather is
right we' ll do some storm sewer work. And if it' s warm enough
we' ll street sweep.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked if that was all year or just
starting in Fall?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that it goes from the third week in November until April 1st.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel spoke
on the golf course. Steve Torrant is the Golf Course Manager
and he is paid by the City.
Alderperson Farrell stated that she had a question about the
street sweeping business . So, since most of that happens at
night, is there a regular person who is working nights?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
yes.
Alderperson Farrel asked if it was just one person?
11
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
yes . Sunday night through Thursday night they' re out in the
street sweeper.
Alderperson Farrell stated that' s not overtime either, that' s
just regular time?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that is regular. In the labor section, the back two sections,
the back two pages are seasonal wages . They are divided out in
number of weeks and number of positions per section as a current
line item budget.
Alderperson Spielholz asked what traffic control laborer? for
instance?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that is out of our sign shop. Generally they work with the
street striping crew.
Alderperson Spielholz questioned that this person is someone who
is flagging traffic or what, she is not sure that she
understands.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that they' ll either do traffic zone safety while the or help
with the street striping themselves . Quite often the seasonals
will run the equipment; especially the hand striper. We have a
self-propelled striper that we use for center lines and edge
lines of the roads . This morning we did South Aurora Street and
we have two hand operated striping machines that we use for
cross walks .
Alderperson Farrell asked if he had any trouble hiring seasonal
laborers?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
no, we have a number of people who come back, as a rule, we' ll
have over 100 applications for 15 to 20 jobs.
Alderperson Marcham asked if that is all that you have? You
have more than that 15 or 20 jobs . Is that the ratio?
12
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that we only have with the golf course club house the number
would be higher but he thinks the count goes up, maybe 25 or so.
Sometimes the sections, if we have an early spring then the
forestry crew likes to hire early to help with the mowing, so we
may end up with keeping someone longer than the number of weeks
shown in the first column, but the money always works out as the
correct amount for the session as long as we try not to exceed
the allocation.
Alderperson Vaughan asked that of these temporary, seasonal
people, they don' t get benefits, right?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
right .
Alderperson Blumenthal asked when they go off seasonal, she
thinks that people ought to understand that we pay unemployment.
Is everybody aware of that?
Alderperson Vaughan stated that they are only eligible for the
number of week that they work.
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that last summer she and Rick had
a conversation about extending the season and the question, she
can' t remember all of it, but the question is we start the
construction season in the streets generally which gets set by
the Cornell calendar when the students leave, that' s when we
start construction, and it' s at the end point generally when
Cornell starts again. So, she thinks the question is can we,
since we have to pay unemployment, should we stretch the
construction season and at least, it' s not efficient to hire
people and pay them; although we would have to pay them longer,
but we still, is there a zero effect from that then if you
lengthen, are there advantages to lengthening the construction
season?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel it
would cost us more.
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that it' s not clear that we can
afford that at this point. So, you don' t think there is any
benefit. So what if the students have to detour. They know the
town by the end of the Spring certainly. Are there advantages
economically, to or service wise or anything?
13
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that it' s probably a matter of our funding for materials and
seasonal laborers . We certainly have full time people year
round; the only thing is that there are certain fixed gaps that
we need to do at certain times of the year, like the spring-
cleaning. We spend five to six weeks with part of the
construction crew it' s mostly our equipment operators that go
around and clean the streets for the city. It takes five to six
weeks to do that. We generally toward the end, by the time
we' re finished with that we could start construction projects,
certainly by the first of May and get a months extra time out of
that, but we would need those equipment operators that are
running the cleaning and sweeping equipment to work the
construction projects also. We don' t have those personnel
numbers to do that.
Alderperson Farrell asked if seasonal people were hired for
about 20 weeks?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that it depends on the situation and we try to hire a few
college students, which may only be with us 8, or 9 weeks in the
summer to start in golf course for example start April 1St and
finish up November 1st. So that' s a long season for them.
Alderperson Sams stated that was what she was going to ask you.
Are there only part-time seasonal and our golf manager is only
part time right?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel no,
our golf course manager gets his hours in during the golf
season; usually it' s a seven day a week operation.
Alderperson Sams asked seven days a week for how many weeks?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities Ferrel stated
that it would be April 1st through the end of November. Actually
it would be middle of March.
Alderperson Sams stated that it is an 8-month job and he gets
paid $40, 000 . 00 .
Alderperson Farrell stated that the golf course manager makes
$41, 000 a year.
14
June 15, 1998
Mayor Cohen stated that it' s a different question of part
time/seasonal and he hasn' t followed up on it . He is curious
how the cemetery maintenance had gone since we had made that
change? Since we' re relying more on part-time seasonal there,
are we not?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that we' re relying heavily on part time seasonal . We are doing
the cemetery maintenance generally with our regular mowing crew,
which takes care of the smaller parks and the road sides .
However, we do have a seasonal assigned to the cemetery at this
point and they will actually be working with a number of kids
from the Youth Employment Service once school is out.
Mayor Cohen stated that he' s actually had compliments on it,
that' s why he was asking.
Alderperson Farrel stated that she had heard that there had been
some real problems before, are things going more smoothly now?
She also asked if we go back to the golf course for a minute,
was there some place here where it said what the golf course
revenues are? Was that the $177, 000 is the 1998 goal?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that it' s the 110, second page of the program analysis worksheet
shows the goals, actually 1997 was an exceptional year
weatherwise. We actually exceeded our revenue expectations .
Alderperson Farrel asked if this was a revenue neutral program?
She couldn' t, there was the part that said on the page before
that said the working supervisor is also supervising the general
parks mowing crew at the beginning of 1998 . Some of his labor
duties have been assumed by the golf course manager and by the
parks mowing crew. What does that mean?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that the golf course working supervisor who is not the manager,
he is the other fulltime employee assigned to golf course. You
have the course manager and the maintenance supervisor. The
supervisor not only takes care of the equipment but does most of
the critical mowing.
Alderperson Farrel stated that the maintenance supervisor does
mowing of some parts, mows much and who does the other? The
parks people?
15
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that we have two seasonals that are assigned for course
maintenance - so mow, do the weed eaters .
Alderperson Farrel asked how come those people, do those people
get listed for the golf course employees, we have two people
listed, but really we depend on two more seasonals . But do we
depend on anybody else, pitching in on the golf course?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that the regular parks mowing crew is quite active there this
year because the working supervisor has been pulled out to look
over the mowing crew and take care of some other
responsibilities .
Alderperson Farrell stated so he' s mowing less and they' re
mowing more? Do they get counted in here? So, when you talk
about the cost of the golf course, her suspicions are that it' s
more than just these two people' s salaries . It' s really other
things too.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that he just a discussion with the course manager last week and
he feels that he' s not getting his fair share of outside help.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked who outside would be?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that it would be from the parks crew. He feels that he lost is
working supervisor and is not getting adequate help in turn for
his loss .
Alderperson Farrel asked what the real cost of the golf course
and what is the real revenue, and is it revenue neutral or does
it really cost us money? Are we throwing in other things that we
don' t really count? Do we really know what the golf course
costs?
Alderperson Blumenthal stated the chemicals, how many pounds of
chemicals you put on that lawn a year for example?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that we know what it costs, yes . Our budget is generally very
close. Our revenues will meet or exceed our costs if the
weather conditions are right. If we have a wet spring, we' re
going to be in a rut.
16
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Farrel asked if that show from where your revenues
were for last year?
Mayor Cohen stated that the Board of Public Works is sensitive
to this particular issue and voted once again to raise rates
again for this year because we do want to make sure that this is
a budget neutral if nothing else. We would love to see a
revenue generating, he would personally have advocated for that
but there is some resistance on the board to that because of the
services that it provides to both the youth and the seniors in
our community. If some of you feel like he does, then he would
love for you to come to the board the next time we talk about
it .
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that she would find it interesting
to know the revenue, the history of the revenues over the past
ten years . Has the BPW ever looked at the historic data on
this? To see how much has been lost or gained over the past ten
years .
Mayor Cohen stated that we' ve tracked that over the last 7 to 8
years,
Alderperson Blumenthal asked if he didn' t know how many years
you' ve lost money or how much money. She noticed also, that you
say that it' s for city and non-city residents . One of the things
that we can come back to in the youth bureau is question of
providing services for children outside the city and so
similarly, the golf course has been enjoyed by city and non-city
residents of all age groups . Do you have a breakdown of how
many city residents versus and non-city? Are there different
charges for city and non-city?
Mayor Cohen stated yes .
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that there are different charges . He can provide that. There
is one rate for city residents, there' s another rate for non-
city residents .
Alderperson Blumenthal asked when the rates are changed if the
rates are raised at the same rate or do you increase the rate
for non-city residents?
17
June 15, 1998
Mayor Cohen stated that this is an issue addressed by the board
just last year. There was alot of concern about that and we did
differentiate and start charging a non-city rate, versus a city
rate. It is a new policy just within the past two years .
Alderperson Blumenthal asked if there is an excess capacity, is
there more demand for this or what is the status?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that golf is certainly growing at all courses. There are days
when there are long lines to tee off and then there are other
days when you can walk in and go on. There are certainly peak
times such as Saturday and Sunday mornings, there' s a long list .
Many afternoons, he sees heavy use.
Alderperson Spielholz asked how are fees related to other golf
course fees .
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that they are somewhat lower. We are a nine-hole golf course as
opposed to Cornell, which is 18 . We' re competitive with some of
the other nine hole golf courses, Dryden Lakes, the State course
up in Willard, even Trumansburg which is an 18 hole.
Alderperson Marcham asked what he meant by competitive, we' re
lower, higher?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that we' re about the same rate.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked what the difference was between the
city and non-city rate?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that the non-city/city rate is for memberships. He doesn' t
think that we have a daily fee for non-city/city residents .
Everybody pays the same for daily greens .
Alderperson Farrel stated that' s the same as the swimming pools .
You get a discount if you buy the membership, but pay the same
rate if you go daily.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that the daily rate would be very hard to administer.
Especially for part time seasonal employees who are trying to
work the cash register.
18
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Farrell asked if it still made sense for us to have
a cit golf course?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that the alternative is to turn it into park land and he did do
some figures on this a few years ago that would probably be
$60, 000 to $65, 000 cost to the city just to maintain it as a
park.
Mayor Cohen stated that you could put a great condo project
there. This is official park land, so you can just do that.
Alderperson Spielholz stated that it' s not an absurd question
because we just went through analyzing whether or not Cass, the
rink in particular, was worth maintaining as a city maintained
rink when in fact, there are alternatives out there now that one
has to decide whether or not whether it was really worth it or
not and we actually decided that it was worth it . That more or
less, it is budget controlled in terms of how its paying for
itself right now and how it' s picking up in terms of other
people getting to use it . On the other hand, one of the things
that makes it worthwhile and is questionable and the same thing
could be said for the golf course is that to make it revenue
neutral or even closer to neutral than negative is that alot of
out of town people are using the facility and this just gets
back to a fundamental question which one have to ask for the
golf course too, how do city residents feel about subsidizing
and funding people who aren' t paying city taxes . This is a very
big question. It' s wonderful to have those services, but it also
impinges on the taxpayers of the city who are really subsidizing
it.
Alderperson Marcham stated that if the golf course isn' t costing
the city any money, how would it help us to get rid of it?
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that there are many years when it
loses money, that' s why she asked about the ten-year history or
whatever.
Alderperson Marcham stated that then we have to fix it so some
years we make money so that it balances out even.
19
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that was what she was asking, how
much does it cost over the last number of years, pick a number,
how much does it cost, how much have we made, what are the
revenues, but we don' t have the data to assess that and we don' t
have to keep mowing it, it can be a park with just trees . If
it' s wetlands, we can' t de-park it, just let it go back to
itself.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that he shouldn' t say wetland; most of it' s in the flood plain.
Mayor Cohen stated that at some point, to address Susan' s
question, it might be worth to do another analysis . We do have
figures going back but they' re not in the program budget format
that includes some of the administrative costs that are supposed
to be spread out and he hasn' t had a chance to look at the
actual numbers for this to see if that was done the way it was
envisioned once we do that . He agrees with Jane, he thinks we
can make this a budget neutral activity as long as we
incorporate all those things, we can do that .
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that it' s hard to make that budget
neutral, if you make $3, 000 one year and the next year it rains
alot and you lose 50 .
Mayor Cohen stated that another alternative and we still don' t
have a definitive answer on this is contracting out the
operation. The State does it and there are other places that
have done it, but for some reason we can' t figure out how to do
it. It' s another alternative.
Alderperson Sams asked if we did that would we still, we' d still
have to some like mowing or contracting all of that out?
Mayor Cohen stated that we could contract some or all . There
are various levels .
Alderperson Blumenthal asked if the date could be gotten for
council on the last twelve years. Is that sufficient, or 15 or
10?
Mayor Cohen stated that it' s a bit much.
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that she thinks if there is enough
variation in the weather essentially.
20
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Farrel stated that she had a question, it says on
this sheet that has all the little numbers on it, that' s in the
golf course section that there is $165, 000 and then it says up
here in the bigger numbers at the very beginning, that the golf
course budget is $184, 000 . She wonders why they are different?
This is 1999 proposed general fund programs .
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that we don' t have figures for it.
Alderperson Farrell asked if people were anticipating a big jump
or
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that Bill produced this sheet from the final budget, which may
include the social security
Alderperson Manos asked about the concession supplies that went
from $339 to $12, 000 to $20, 000, are you building up that area
or? The jump there and now $27, 000 and do you have a
corresponding revenue for that?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that the 1996, you' re talking ' 95, ' 96, ' 97 is that right? The
early history of the golf course for many years was that the
golf course manager ran the food and beverage concession as part
of his contract, he was paid a lower wage, was given the
concessions at the golf course. In other words, he made money on
food and beverage; he made money on the cart rental and the city
made money off the green' s fees only. In 1995, the board and a
number of council members wanted to see that changed, they felt
that it might not be proper for the golf course manager to be
drawing a salary from the City plus making money off city
buildings, like private money out of city buildings with his own
concession stand. So, the City took over the food and beverage
concession. The city bought the golf carts and now collects the
revenue from rental of those and also golf clubs and the pro
shop area, which at one time was the course manager' s own side
business . So, that' s why the concession supplies increased and
then last year, the city put the food and beverage concession
out to bid by contract, and now that is done by contract so our
concession supplies was reduced to cover. We still have cart
rental and a small pro shop.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked if the cart rental fees were
comparable to cart rental fees other places?
21
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
yes .
Alderperson Farrel stated so that' s another revenue thing that
comes in.
Alderperson Vaughan stated that we' ve spent alot of time on the
golf course. That' s not where our money goes, could we maybe go
back into. Let' s go back to building streets or storm sewers or
something.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that we have alot of money in equipment . He doesn' t know if you
want to spend time.
Alderperson Vaughan stated that Bill Gray spent some time with
us last week reviewing how these lists were set up, so unless
someone has alot of questions .
Alderperson Farrel stated that the only thing she wonders is if
thought is being given each year to should we replace this or
should we rent it? That kind of thing. Do we need this in our
permanent equipment thing when something wears out?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that we, on occasion, will rent equipment . Many of the things
that we need, everybody else needs at the same time. We tried
to rent pavers, we own a paver, we bought a new one. Try to
rent a paver when you want one is almost impossible. In the
summer time, they' re in high demand. We are doing equipment
sharing with the Town and County at this point . There are
certain items, particularly the County and us will loan each
other, we' ll use their big bulldozer several times a year down
in southwest park. We have an asphalt grinder and skid steer
that they probably put more hours on it than we have. We will
borrow loaders, our excavator the Town uses quite a bit . We
will use their dump trucks with operators certain times of the
year for milling a street rather than rental of dump trucks as
we did in the past, we' ll either use the Town of Newfield or
County Highway, Town of Lansing. There is no charge, this is in
kind trade. We' ll send our street sweeper to Newfield; we' ll
send our street sweeper to Lansing or even Trumansburg. If
we' re milling or removing snow from a heavy storm in the parking
areas, we will get help from the neighboring Towns and County.
In return we loan to them in kind our street sweeper, our
excavating, our skid steer loading, we' ve even done some paving
for them.
22
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that it' s nice to know that they
come in and help us with snow, but are we using our more
expensive equipment. Is there more wear and tear?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel there' s
not much more equipment that is more expensive than the county' s
D-7 bull dozer to borrow off somebody to just have for a couple
of weeks . If you had to rent it, it would be thousands of
dollars .
Alderperson Blumenthal stated then that you feel, given the
disparities, all the exchanges of equipment that we' re getting
sort of more or less or roughly our money' s worth and equal
trading.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
yes .
Alderperson Vaughan asked how are you going to decide to do
this, when we don' t need the equipment any more, we' ll just
rent, is there a conscious way of doing that or is it just, do
you have a process? Or is it us telling you you' re not doing it
anymore?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that we' ve expanded the number of pieces of equipment as our
personnel numbers have declined. We have two backhoes that we
didn' t have 15 years ago, didn' t have 10 years ago. They' re a
necessary part of our operation now. We generally tend to buy
additional pieces rather than eliminate items . We' re talking of
maybe trying to fund some pieces together with the county and
maybe even with the Town of Ithaca, but that' s in the initial
stages . We had a highway superintendent' s meeting and chances
are you will be seeing some of that in the near future. Because
equipment is getting expensive. We' ve changed some of the types
of equipment that we' ve purchased, our street sweepers, a change
in design which has worked better for us than a style we used 7
years ago as far as daily maintenance costs, life cycle costs,
but then again, we tend to want more than we' re willing to give
up.
Alderperson Farrel stated that in terms of talking about the
County Public Works, and City Public Works, how much county
public works is done in the City?
23
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
none.
Alderperson Farrell stated that it seems to her like their
equipment should belong to the City to use in the City. When
push comes to shove on this type of thing, it does seem like
those county pieces of equipment and the public works department
are working the municipalities that don' t have public works
department' s right?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that every township has their own. But, there are county roads,
state roads and local roads in every township. We don' t have
any county roads .
Alderperson Farrel asked if the County only works on County
roads in other places?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that the townships do equipment and service sharing with the
county as well; most of the townships feel they get the short
end of the stick. The County would certainly rather have the
township do some ditch cleaning in the outlining areas with
their equipment rather than the county sending a whole crew to
an outlining area and lose the travel time. They' re trying to
work out some programs that would benefit each side. We don' t
have county roads, we do have State roads . We are paid a
maintenance contract to maintain State roads within the City.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked if Assistant Superintendent of
Streets & Facilities Farrel thought there would be any cost
savings if the town and city combined snow plowing functions
because right now, the little town trucks come up and down our
streets out getting to their roads and if we did what we did
with fire services, say for the snow plowing, how would that
work.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that he thought there would be cost saving to the city and the
town.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked that in the absence of that
possibility at the moment, would there be some utility in the
city pursuing a joint snow district or whatever you call it .
24
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that he thought there would be with the towns surrounding the
City if say west hill, the town did west hill and we did east
hill sections, outside the city.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked if their labor costs were
comparable to ours, she stated that would be something to
explore. That might be a recommendation that this committee
that this program analysis could make, that that be examined
that we consolidate or examine how much it would cost to have a
snow removal district or whatever you want to call it with the
town. What' s comparable to fire.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that we do have some policies such as low salt, no salt,
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that she understands that, but
those things, is their salt policy different from ours . Do they
use more salt than we do, or less?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that everybody uses more than we do.
Mayor Cohen stated that' s right, that' s why we spend 5 to 6
weeks at the end of the winter cleaning up, because we' re
cleaning up the sand.
Alderperson Vaughan stated that we also had to buy that
expensive storm sewer grate cleaner.
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that might be a problem, but is it
worth exploring or not because of that? Would that be the deal
buster because we use more grit and less salt .
Alderperson Marcham stated that she thought the deal buster
would be that we want more snow removal much faster than the
towns . We need it . But, she thinks that it' s worth exploring.
She is thinking of St . Petersburg when we were there, they have
no equipment except for a few broken down looking trucks and
people with shovels and that' s all they' ve got and the snow sits
around and it' s a whole different, but it' s what you want in
the way of service, what you' re demanding in the way of service,
that governs. It' s worth exploring.
Mayor Cohen stated that this could be a traffic mitigation
measure.
25
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Manos stated that it must take different equipment
to do roads in the town, than it would do streets in the city
that have sidewalks and curbs and things .
Mayor Cohen stated that' s why he gets so many calls every year
because we dump it on the sidewalks .
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
we don' t have as many mailboxes to hit.
Alderperson Spielholz stated that she has ancient memory of the
time when the Newfield snow crew took out their own covered
bridge in the 1970' s . So, she' s not sure she wants people from
out of town doing it in the City.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel asked if
there was any single budget here that you would like to look at.
Alderperson Farrel stated that she wanted to talk about mowing
and the reason why she wants to talk about mowing but it seems
like there are all these places that need to be mowed. Areas
maintained alongside the roadside. What are they?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
this is road side mowing where the vegetation comes down to the
curbline and it' s in the street right-of-way, there' s not a
primary residence that faces the area.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked if he was saying that it' s public
property then? or is it on private property?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that it' s public right-of-way.
Alderperson Farrel stated that public right-of-way, all our curb
lawns are public right-of-way too which we' re responsible for
mowing. We can actually be fined if our grass in our curb lawn
is more than 9" long, etc. So, those are all public right-of-
ways too, is this different from that?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that if you look at the list, Haller Blvd, is a right-of-way
back to the water tank, it' s not in front of someone' s house,
maybe someone' s back yard. Actually, it is a good question why
we' re doing these?
26
June 15, 1998
Mayor Cohen asked where on Hector Street are you doing any, he
knows you' re not doing his house.
Alderperson Farrel wondered if all of these still need doing.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked what is Ellis Hollow Road? She has
a big question about this, that' s not even in the City?
Alderperson Marcham asked why the City is maintaining the East
Hill School? It' s a private cooperative.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked about Buttermilk Falls State Park,
are those the ball fields? We have alot of questions about this
list .
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that maybe that' s the triangle where the roads come together at
the bottom of State Street.
Alderperson Marcham stated right, at the triangle at the foot of
east state street hill, that' s what that is .
Alderperson Blumenthal asked if that was the East Hill School
Park?
Alderperson Marcham stated that it was founded by a teacher at
East Hill School and the kids.
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that she thinks this question,
areas maintained along road sides, we would like to know more
information about that .
Alderperson Farrel stated that she would really like to see if
some of these could be eliminated because maybe there' s people,
whose it is their private property and this has kind of been a
service up till now.
Alderperson Manos stated that she would like to know the last
time some of these were maintained because for example,
McDaniels Park, she got a call about that last week, it hadn' t
been maintained in years and the answer was well.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
well,
Alderperson Manos stated that she was told our budget was cut
back 50% and so,
27
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that he was sure a crew was up there the next day.
Alderperson Manos stated that they may be on the list, but they
may not be done.
Alderperson Farrell stated that she would look at areas
maintained alongside roads much more critically than she would
look at the parks to begin with. The other thing that she has
been thinking about and talking about with Andy Hillman a little
bit is she thinks we need a better strategy in some of park
places about having mulch around trees so that people don' t have
to do that side mowing where you have to get right around the
tree or you have to get a string trimmer or you have to do all
that because that causes damage to the trees too and when you
cluster mulch around something, you make alot less maintenance.
It' s more maintenance to put mulch down to begin with, but the
mowing becomes much easier and so that is something that she is
kind of interested in thinking about for some of our park areas .
She looks at the number of individual trees that people have to
mow around closely and it is a very difficult job.
Alderperson Vaughan stated that she would like to ask about a
couple of areas . She' d like to ask about engineering items,
maybe that should be done by Bill next week. Okay. What about
other things relating to building streets, highways, we spend
alot of money here.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that it' s our biggest expense.
Alderperson Vaughan stated that if we have to spend some time,
that would be the place that she' d like to know a little bit
more about .
Mayor Cohen stated that it' s probably one of the most under
funded positions that we have as far as need.
Alderperson Marcham stated that she is curious about the surface
treating of streets, she assumes that decision was made with
great trauma, nobody wanted to stop doing that and it must have
been very expensive because it seems to her what we' re doing is
grinding streets more often and putting a new layer of asphalt
instead of maintaining what we' ve got. But, is there a way to
claudify this?
28
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that the surface treatment, we offered as a cut and it was
taken. We, a former Assistant Superintendent got into some
trouble with surface treating a number of years ago; this is
what was traditionally called a stone and oil treatment on the
street . You' d have to be careful with the stone that you
purchased, that it' s clean, because it can cause a dust problem.
It was a real problem, but
Alderperson Marcham asked if they put something down that stuck
to the cars or something and
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that they used some stone that wasn' t washed properly and the
dust it created was monumental, but the proper procedure is a
layer of asphalt emulsion and then this stone is applied to it.
It' s rolled into the street, it' s allowed to cure and many of
our streets are simply a build up of stone and oil over whatever
earth was there years ago. Even an asphalt street will benefit
from a layer of stone and oil to seal the surface and to give it
a near wear surface, traction surface. It can extend a life of
asphalt by a number of years. Anytime you can extend the life of
asphalt its money in your pocket . It' s actually through the
cost of stone and oiling a street, or surface treatment of the
street, it' s much cheaper than an overlay and you get a great
benefit from it.
Alderperson Farrel asked if a cost analysis was done?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that he hasn' t, he doesn' t think we' ve done stone and oil or
surface treating in probably 7, 6 or 7 years . It was an early
program that we offered under budget cuts .
Alderperson Marcham asked if city' s in general have stopped
doing that? Surface treating? Or, do most of them still do it.
She wondered if this is a common way for city' s to supposedly
economize.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that it' s used on secondary streets still quite a bit in most
cities . It' s not used on your main arterials, your major
collector streets .
Alderperson Blumenthal asked how many miles of the city streets
have been re-built with gravel bases? Do you have any sense of
that, you say we do one or two blocks a year or whatever.
29
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that there is alot of street in the north end or even the south
end that are gravel based.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked if Tioga Street was gravel based?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
most of Tioga Street is a concrete base over whatever existed
there at the time. So, no, it' s not gravel based. It has
rotten railroad ties in it. From the Trolley system.
Mayor Cohen stated that we started to work on this, we' re trying
to develop a GIS map that show conditions of streets and we
already have some that show the various conditions and he
doesn' t know if we have one for particular gravel basing, but
one of the things that the board was looking at is that we' re
doing on average about one to one and one-half miles a year. The
problem is that the average life expectancy was 50 years and so
we were actually falling farther and farther behind in our
reconstruction and maintenance program.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
we know what streets are gravel based, he just doesn' t have it
here.
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that she realized that the county
has a system for evaluating the condition of their roads, do we
do that too?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that we have that, it was started six or seven years ago.
Cornell' s local roads program we' ve adopted.
Alderperson Blumenthal asked if she could ask about street
striping? So, the bicycle plan is up for discussion and one
proposal that has been made is to have volunteers do striping.
Have you heard about that Rick? So, the question is how would
you view that Rick, what about liability, is the equipment, can
people be trained for that, you save all your seasonal labor to
do that?
30
June 15, 1998
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that they do, most of our line striping in the streets, we do
early in the morning. The crews will come in at 5 : 00 a.m. and
they' ll do most of the striping before 8 : 00 a.m. before heavy
traffic gets on the streets. The equipment is not maintenance
fee; there is alot of clean-up involved with it; although we' re
using water based paints now as opposed to others .
Mayor Cohen asked how much we do on our own versus contracting
out?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that the only thing that he contracted the last few years was
route 13 from city line to city line and we do that with a
polyester paint which we can get a three year life out of rather
than the paint that we have been using which we' ll get one year
out of.
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that the new EPA standards, we
only one year.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that even with the old, we were lucky to get a year out of.
Mayor Cohen asked what luck we are having with the new plastic
tapes?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that the system we' re getting the best results with is heat
applied tape. We' ve used several intersections and crosswalks .
It was used at Mitchell and College and part of it is gone.
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that it was used down by Challenge
also and her assessment was that although she is not sure when
you put that in, she thinks it was late last year, but most of
it survived, she' d say 75% survived the winter. She wouldn' t
say it' s a full year. They' ve re-striped it again now.
Alderperson Sams asked if we had ever solved the problem about
the curb cuts and the handicap accessibility for the curbs that
were going out into the streets? Did we ever correct that?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
Mayor Cohen stated that he is not clear on Diann' s question and
asked her to clarify.
31
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Sams stated that a couple years back when she was on
the DAC, they came and said that there was a problem crossing
the sidewalks, curb cuts were not straight across from each
other, you actually had to go out into the street in your
wheelchair and around and across to get to the other curb cuts.
Some of them were corrected; some of them haven' t been
corrected.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that it was probably something that the engineering office was
doing with the sidewalk contractor.
Alderperson Sams stated that it was a danger for people in
wheelchairs to have to go out in the street to go down the curb
cut to go out in the street to go to another curb. It' s still
difficult in some places .
Alderperson Vaughan stated that we might need to get the person
to talk specific curbs and locations .
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that she wanted to go back to the
striping a little bit. At some point, because of the bike plan
and the request for 17 miles of striping possibly, she would
need or council would need to have some numbers about how much
that is going to cost, so she' ll have to talk with you at some
point. She has another question about striping in the garages.
How often do you re-stripe the markings for parking in the
garages? Is there a pattern or is it just when you get some
time.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that it was a good question. The Woolworth' s lot was just done.
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that the Green Street parking
garage is really pretty faded.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that it depends on the time and weather conditions .
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that it' s not like the streets
then, every year?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that they' ve been pushed by the board to make sure crosswalks,
especially around the schools are high priority and some of the
other crosswalks. Some of the parking lots come up short.
32
June 15, 1998
Mayor Cohen stated that one of the things that the board is
experimenting with this year and they are very excited about and
some members of the department are not is we' re going to be
installing brick cross walks at the intersection of College
Avenue and Dryden Road. We' re excited about that for a number of
reasons and we' re hoping that if they do work out, they could
lead to long-term solution of the striping situation at
crosswalks . Because we can lay white brick down in the middle
of roadway to delineate crosswalks and then you wouldn' t have to
re-pave them every year. That is going to be happening, we' re
not sure if all four are going to get done. Rick has assured us
that he will try to do as much as possible, but we clearly
understand the restrictions on your time.
Alderperson Farrel stated that she has a question about the
three-year paint versus the one-year paint . Does the three-year
paint really last three years?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that it lasts three years .
Alderperson Farrell stated that she doesn' t think our one-year
lasts a year. Is the other three times more expensive? Do we
not have the equipment to do it ourselves?
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
the equipment is totally different and very expensive.
Alderperson Sams asked how slippery the strips are, she' s
slipped, some of it is slippery and some isn' t .
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Farrel stated
that he is sure that the polyester paint that is on route 13 is
shiny so it might be slippery.
Mayor Cohen asked Alderpersons Sams to make a note of it and let
us know, that might be helpful. Is it slippery when wet or all
the time.
Alderperson Marcham had a question about the brick cross walks,
she is not jumping on what Alan said, but it' s important for the
department to look at what happens to those after a year or so
because she noticed that the ones on West Avenue, the tar of the
street is beginning to track onto the brick and makes it look
much less contrasting and much less attractive, so it' s
something to look at.
33
June 15, 1998
Alderperson Blumenthal stated that they are noisier, Tom West
and she went up to East Avenue with a decibel meter and measured
the noise as cars went across the brick surface and it is noisy.
Alderperson Marcham stated that was one of the reasons people
were glad when State Street hill was no longer brick pavement.
It was very noisy.
Alderperson Vaughan asked if there were any other programs that
we want to quiz Rick on tonight.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets & Facilities Ferrel asked if
there was anything specific that council wants to cover at the
next meeting. We really jumped around here tonight.
Alderperson Vaughan stated that she would like make sure that we
go back and at least touch a little on things like bridges,
storm lines, to just understand what you do and why you do it .
Second, we' re going to have to get to engineering because they
do alot of interesting things.
Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities stated that
he would make sure Bill was here for that meeting. If nothing
else, please take a look at the program task sheet that he
handed out tonight.
Adjourned at 9 : 45 p.m.
34
PROGRAM ANALYSIS COMMITTEE
June 22 , 1998
3:30 p.m.
COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS
Present:
Chair Vaughan
Vice-Chair Cohen
Alderpersons (5) Manos, Shenk, Farrell, Marcham, Blumenthal
Others Present:
City Clerk Conley Holcomb
Police Chief Basile
Deputy Police Chief Barnes
Deputy Controller Thayer
City Controller Cafferillo
Materials regarding Ithaca Police Department were distributed at
the meeting so the Committee rescheduled the presentation until
July 6th, at 7 : 00 p.m.
Adjourned at 3 : 50 p.m.
PROGRAM ANALYSIS COMMITTEE
MAY 26, 1998
3 :30 P.M.
COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS
PRESENT:
Chair Vaughan
Vice-Chair Cohen
OTHERS PRESENT:
Spielholz, Marcham, Blumenthal, Taylor, Manos, Shenk,
Farrell, Sams
REPORT OF CHAIR/VICE-CHAIR:
Chair Vaughan reported that on June 8 the Department of
Public Works would give their first presentation, June 22
will be the Ithaca Police Department, and July 13 will be
the Purchasing Department.
REPORT OF DEPARTMENTAL REVENUES - SUB-COMMITTEE:
Alderperson Taylor reported that Chair Vaughan and she met
with the Fire Department, Building Department, and the
Controller regarding departments generating revenue.
Generating income will have to come from increasing
existing fees . Currently all generated revenue is put in
the General Fund. Placing fees on current free services
will have to be handled carefully.
RECESS:
By Alderperson Farrell : Seconded by Chair Vaughan that the
Resolved, That the Committee adjourn into Executive
Session.
RECONVENE:
The Committee reconvened in regular session at 4 : 45 P.M.
REPORT OF COMPUTER SUB-COMMITTEE:
This will be discussed at a future meeting.
QUESTIONS/COMMENTS ON PREVIOUS PRESENTATIONS:
CITY CLERK' S OFFICE
1 . Is the City interested in issuing permits/licenses
such as marriage licenses to city residents only?
2 . Should the Clerk' s Office continue to issue sporting
licenses, when they are available at the Town of Ithaca and
County Clerk' s Office, and the City only receives $1 per
license?
3 . Is Council interested in drafting new Transient
Merchant legislation?
4 . Should Council increase the price of Land Use
pamphlets (currently $40 . 00) ?
5 . Should Council develop a Home Occupation Licensing
program?
6. Should Council develop a fee for Commons Use Permits,
Noise Permits, Assembly Permits?
7 . Who should be on a committee to review the topic of
streamlining the permitting system?
8 . Should Council explore the idea of holding evening
hours on Thursdays in the City Clerk and City Chamberlain
Offices?
9. Should Council approve funds to install lap top
computer equipment in Council Chambers for the purposes of
minute/note taking? Is it more cost effective to have
secretarial staff attend meetings to take minutes instead
of senior staff members?
10 . What is the established salary range for the Deputy
City Clerk? Should this range be reviewed?
$24, 132 - $35, 720
11 . Is the City interested in developing a cat licensing
program?
CONTROLLER' S OFFICE
1 . Would bi-weekly payrolls be more cost effective?
BUILDING DEPARTMENT
1 . Should there be a city-wide replacement schedule for
computer equipment?
2 . Should there be a penalty for non-compliance of the
building permit process?
3 . Should the inspection cycle for rental properties be
changed from three years to four years?
4 . Should Council consider a $100 fee for out-of-town
electrical inspectors who are not licensed by the City but
want to perform work within the City?
5 . Should Council create a fee for variance requests?
6. Should the Building Department eliminate inspections
for owner-occupied single and duplex homes?
7 . Should the Building Department develop a separate
charge for owner-occupied housing inspections?
8 . Should Council create a fee for various types of
documentation or certification requested by lawyers,
realtors, etc. , when such information could be
accessed by the individuals who requested them?
City Prosecutor' s Office
1 . Is there a way that Council can assess true program
costs when some program items include costs from other
departments (staff time, mileage, etc. ) ?
2 . Should Council review the possibility of having the
District Attorney' s Office assume the responsibilities of
the City Prosecutor' s Office?
3 . Are there more efficient and cost effective ways to
transport drug/misc. evidence to crime labs?
4 . Should the City Prosecutor review sharing on-line
legal services with the City Attorney' s Office and IPD as a
cost effective research tool?
City Chamberlain' s Office
1 . Should the parking equipment at the Dryden Road garage
be updated?
2 . Should the water bills be printed in a different
format to make them easier to understand?
Mayor' s Office/ Systems Administrator
No questions were submitted.
Fire Department
1 . Can the City secure County funding for "specialty"
functions such as hazardous material handling, gorge
rescues, fire investigations?
2 . Is funding available from the County for the Training
Center if an agreement is made to ensure that certain
courses will be offered?
3. Are there grants available for Fire Department capital
acquisitions?
Youth Bureau
1 . What strategies could be employed to approach the
School District regarding the relationship between ICSD and
the City?
2 . Should a consolidated effort be made between the ICSD
& City to hire a consultant to actively find grant sources?
3 . Should GIAC charge for transportation?
4 . Should the Youth Bureau provide services to people
outside of the City?
5. Are other outside funding sources available?
6. Has the school district been approached regarding
taking over the playground programs?
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
1 . Should the City investigate a joint snow removal
program with the Town of Ithaca?
2 . Is the curbside mowing program still necessary?
3 . Is the City golf course budget neutral? Could
services be contracted out at less cost?
4 . Should the City review large equipment purchases vs .
equipment sharing with Tompkins County or renting?
ITHACA POLICE DEPARTMENT
1 . Does the City Court security officer need to be a
sworn officer?
2 . The law dictates that school crossing guards are a
municipal responsibility - is this item subject to
discussion in terms of cost sharing with the school
district?
3 . Is it possible to combine the Dispatcher and Records
Unit Senior Typist position?
4 . Should the taxi licensing fees be raised?
5 . Should the bicycle registration fees be raised?
6. Should a fee be assessed for false alarms?
7 . During the discussions of the Police Overtime
Committee, the following questions should be
addressed:
a. Are the funds currently being budgeted for
overtime realistic?
b. What drives overtime?
c. Should an overtime approval process be
established?
CITY ATTORNEY' S OFFICE
1 . Should both attorney positions become "at will"
positions?
2 . Should labor related matters remain in the Attorney' s
Office or should they be transferred to the Human
Resources Department?
HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT
1 . Should the School District or Tompkins County take
over the administration of the City' s Civil Service
Program?
The meeting was adjourned at 5 : 40 P.M.
To: Department Heads, Deputy Department Heads
From: Pat Vaughan, Chair, Program Analysis Committee
Subject: Departmental Expectations from Revenue Initiatives
Date: June 5, 1998
The Program Analysis Committee has set encouraging revenue initiatives by departments
as one of its 1998 goals. We want to thank departments which have been engaged in this
process, and we want to tell you that we value the extra effort that has gone into these
projects.
One of the subcommittees of the Program Analysis Committee has been looking at the
problem of how to credit the revenues generated by these initiatives. While in principle
all regular revenues from departmental operations belong to the General Fund as a whole,
we recognize that departments need some incentive beyond our thanks. Often setting up a
new revenue-generating program is very time consuming, and we want some way to
reward departments who use their staff resources to plan and carry out these new
ventures.
After studying this question, we have formulated a tentative general policy for your
comments and suggestions. The attached report details what we have found, and makes
the recommendation"...that the department might be permitted to receive one half of its
net new income from selected eligible revenue initiatives."
We would like your comments on this and other aspects of the report. We would also
like to hear from other departments which have begun to formulate new revenue
initiatives. I will put this subject on the agenda of the next(June 12) Senior Staff
Meeting, where I hope that some of you will be able to make comments and suggestions
concerning this policy. If you have questions about the report,please call me.
June 8, 1998
Four main problems with City's computing infrastructure:
1. Year 2000 problem (y2k)—requires changes to most of the computers we are using
a. many are not worth upgrading—need replacement
b. newer models in inventory need y2k checking & upgrades
2. Hardware Obsolescence—many people are still using very old computers
a. lost time and productivity because of slow speeds
b. old machines run only older software, leading to software
incompatibility across departments
c. increased support costs -parts/labor/time
d. new computers would solve y2k problems
3. Operating Systems
a. need a base line across departments—none lower than this
makes support cheaper and easier
b. improve functionality
c. stay current with industry standards
d. solve y2k problems found with older operating systems
4. Software Issues
a. purchase upgrades or new licenses to make all users legal
b. all users in city would be on compatible versions
c. solve y2k problem citywide for most frequently-used software
June 8, 1998
The numbers
Win 95 base line
replacements/upgrades 64 machines = $ 83,400
software upgrade only 90 machines @ 200 = 18,000
y2k upgrade on approx 111 machines @300 = 33,300
total $ 134,700
Win NT base line
replacements/upgrades 121 machines = $ 159,100
software upgrade only 70?machines @200 = 14,000
y2k upgrade only on 70?machines @300 = 21,000
total $194,100
To: Common Council Members
From Pat Vaughan, Chair, Program Analysis Committee
Subject: Special Meeting June 15
Because the materials for Department of Public Works were not available for us to read in
time for the presentation on June 8,we heard only an abbreviated overview from William
Gray. Rick Ferrel will make a more detailed presentation of the work done by Streets and
Facilities on June 15 at 7:30p.m. in Council Chambers.
There is nothing else on the agenda for that evening, and there will be no committee
business or reports. I can't promise to be finished by 9:30,but that will be my goal.
Please make every effort to attend this meeting. This department has the single biggest
department in our city government, and we need to be much more familiar with its work.
•
To: Members of the Program Analysis Committee
From: Pat Vaughan, Chairperson
Subject: Reschedule of the Police Department Presentation
Date: June 22, 1998
The Police Department arrived at the meeting room with a stack of thick booklets for us.
Because we are unable to do any analysis of material submitted so late,we have
rescheduled their presentation to July 6 at 7 p.m.
Please note the time change from 7:30 to 7 p.m.
I am sorry that this has happened again. Alan has promised to bring the matter up at
Senior Staff Meeting this week so that department heads are aware of our need for a
timely submission of the material.
I have enclosed a newly-revised presentation schedule with this memo.
•