May 12, 2015
Page 5
COUNCIL MINUTES
The City Council of the City of Raleigh met in a Budget Work Session at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, June 1, 2015 in the City Council Chamber, Room 201 of the Raleigh Municipal Building, Avery C. Upchurch Government Complex, 222 W. Hargett Street, Raleigh, North Carolina, with the following present.
Mayor Nancy McFarlane, Presiding
Mayor Pro Tem John Odom
Councilor Mary-Ann Baldwin
Councilor Kay C. Crowder
Councilor Bonner Gaylord
Councilor Wayne K. Maiorano
Councilor Russ Stephenson
Councilor Eugene Weeks
These are summary minutes unless otherwise indicated.
Mayor McFarlane called the meeting to order and the following item was discussed:
PROPOSED FY 2015/2016 BUDGET – INFORMATION RECEIVED
City Manager Ruffin Hall welcomed the Council Members to the first in a series of Budget Work Sessions and reminded them the public hearing on the proposed 2015/2016 budget will be held at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow evening, June 2, 2015 and that Budget Work Sessions would be held every succeeding Monday in June at 4:00 p.m.
Budget Director Joyce Munro pointed out some of the budget notes scheduled for presentation have an asterisk (*) indicating these would require a separate Council action as they were not incorporated in the proposed budget.
Mayor McFarlane suggested the Council listen to all the budget notes presented today before considering any action.
Budget Director Munro summarized each Budget Note presented with the Mayor opening the floor for from Council members for questions.
Budget Note #1 – Watershed Protection Reserve Balance Reconciliation. Budget Director Munroe pointed out this note required City Council action.
There were no questions from Council Members.
Budget Note #2 – Watershed Protection Revenue: Proposed Fee Increase. Budget Director Munro pointed out this note required City Council action.
Mr. Stephenson noted there was discussion regarding the use of fees in land and easement acquisition and questioned whether there were any future proposals as far as land acquisitions, etc., with Assistant Public Utilities Director Ken Waldroup responding the Watershed Protection Task Force developed some recommendations for land acquisition and watershed regulations. Mr. Waldroup also talked about the ability to acquire more accurate data on phosphorus content in potential land acquisitions.
Discussion took place regarding how land and policy recommendations would be brought to Council for consideration as well as possible future land acquisitions.
Budget Note #3 – Invasive Plant Management. Budget Director Munro pointed out this note required City Council action.
Mr. Maiorano noted there is currently $125,000 allocated in the budget and questioned once the budget was reduced if the remaining funds would be re-allocated with Budget Director Munro responding in the affirmative. Mr. Maiorano questioned how the remaining funds would be used with Assistant Parks & Recreation Director Wayne Schindler talking about how the proposed staff position would be working with local experts to address invasive plant issues on 4 Parks Department properties as well as establishing an education program bring public awareness to the invasive plant issue and also establish a volunteer program at each of the 4 properties dedicated to addressing the invasive plant issue.
Discussion took place regarding how the remaining available funds may be re-programmed in to the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) with Mr. Maiorano talking about using the funds for upscaling existing parks and questioning the future use of volunteers in the parks system and Assistant Parks Director Wayne Schindler the use of volunteers will result in savings regarding staff time, etc.
Brief discussion took place regarding possible Council action on some of the Budget Notes discussed at today’s meeting.
Budget Note #4 – Community Gardens on City-Owned Land. Ms. Baldwin indicated this issue was discussed at length in the Law and Public Safety Committee and cautioned that any land proposed for use as a community garden was genuine surplus property. She talked about recent events in the city of Philadelphia wherein the riots occurred in certain neighborhoods where the City reclaimed certain lots that were used for community gardens.
Mrs. Crowder expressed concern regarding the City’s liability when the land is used for a community garden and questioned who would be responsible if a gardener was injured, who would pay for water used for irrigation, and what kind of plants would be planted in the garden.
Budget Note #5 – Targeted Economic Development Infrastructure Details. Mr. Odom requested clarification that this proposal included a 0.474-cent tax increase with Budget Director Munro responding in the affirmative.
Discussion took place regarding whether this item could be included in a broader economic development program and how the current proposal was the result of local citizen requests.
Budget Note #6 – Potential Investments in the Proposed South Park Heritage Walk. There were no questions from Council Members.
Budget Note #7 – Tarboro Road Streetscape Project. Mr. Weeks questioned if the Council chose to move forward with the $2.5 million allocation would this project move forward with Budget Director Munro describing how the Tarboro Road project would fit in to the program funded by the $2.5 million allocation.
Discussion took place regarding the current Tarboro Road project rank on the Streetscape Capital Program as well as efforts to place more small scale retail in the area to help boost local economic development. Discussion also took place how designing the Tarboro Road project in-house may affect other projects already in process.
Ms. Baldwin questioned whether the New Bern Avenue/Edenton Street plans tied into the Tarboro Road plan with Transportation Planning Manager Eric Lamb responding the 2 projects abut each other and talked about how road bond funds would be used to fund the design.
Discussion took place regarding the possibility of combining the Tarboro Road project with the New Bern/Edenton project to safe funds with Transportation Planning Manager Lamb talking about how the Tarboro Road project was not as far along as the New Bern/Edenton project as there was a need for additional public input and it is quite possible the City may hire a different firm for the design.
Budget Note #8 – Mission Valley/Avent Ferry Area Plan. Mrs. Crowder thanked staff for looking at this area stating Avent Ferry Road is the most heavily used bus corridor in the City and expressed her support for Option #1.
Budget Note #9 – Other Outside Agency Grant Requests Follow-Up. Discussion took place regarding the proposed $220,000 reserve and how the Council may choose whether to appropriate the funds with Mr. Maiorano requesting clarification these funds were not actually held in reserve but already allocated with Budget Director Munro responding the funds were to be appropriated for Council use as it so chooses.
Lengthy discussion took place regarding how funds allocated to various agencies were monitored in the past as well as existing monitoring programs and future efforts to more accurately monitor how city funds are spent by the various agencies. Discussion also took place regarding how agencies that have been funded by the City for some time would be held to the same standards as new agencies requesting City funding with Mr. Weeks talking about funding requests from the Southeast Raleigh Assembly and expressing his support for Option #2 regarding efforts to reducing the percent of City funds used in agency operating budgets.
Budget Note #10 – Community Services: Additional Summer Youth Employment Workers. Mr. Weeks talked about how the City of Durham increased the number of youth employed in its summer program to 225 while Raleigh only hires about 130 and expressed his support for increasing the number of summer positions to help keep kids off the street.
Mr. Stephenson questioned whether there was an actual need for these positions and not “make work” positions with Parks and Recreation Director Diane Sauer talking about finding positions for youth in various departments as well as the kinds of positions these youth would fill.
Budget Note #11 – Establish Curator of Exhibitions and Collections Position. There were no questions from Council Members.
Mr. Stephenson talked about the Bike Share Program on Page A-11 of the Proposed Budget and questioned the proposed $285,000 expenditure with City Manager Hall responding the $425,000 was for the proposed City match for the Capital side for the program and the $285,000 was the proposed City’s 1/3 of the operating side with the remaining 2/3 of the funding coming from private funds.
Mr. Gaylord questioned current grant’s expiration date with Transportation Planning Manager Lamb responding the current grant is set to expire in September 2016. Mr. Gaylord suggested this would give Council time to re-visit this item next year if it chooses to delay the project with Mr. Lamb urging the Council take action stating a decision must be made or else the City may lose the grant and would have to go through the application process again.
Discussion took place regarding how funds were secured by CAMPO through the CMAC program as well as the CMAC funding cycle.
Discussion also took place regarding the proposed 5-year transportation funding levels as well as the possible impact on sidewalk repairs and construction with Mr. Stephenson questioning the proposed transportation funding for FY16 with Budget Director Munro responding proposed funding for transportation was $43 million.
Discussion took place regarding how facility fees could not be used to fund certain transportation costs.
Additional discussion took place regarding proposed operation and capital funding for the Bike Share Program including projected fee revenues with Mr. Stephenson talking about the popularity of the City of Austin, Texas’ program.
Budget Manager Munro reminded the Council the Budget hearing will take place at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow evening, June 2, 2015 and that the next Budget Work Session is scheduled for June 8 at 4:00 p.m.
Discussion took place regarding possible items to discuss at the next work session with Ms. Baldwin expressing her belief there were still some issues to be discussed and Mr. Maiorano suggesting Council Members provide a list of questions to Staff after the Budget Hearing tomorrow night.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, Mayor McFarlane announced the meeting adjourned at 5:15 p.m.
Ralph L. Puccini
Assistant Deputy Clerk