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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 11/01/2010CITY COUNCIL 1 NOVEMBER 2010 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 1 November 2010, at 6:00 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset St. Members Present: M. Boucher, Chair; S. Dooley, M. Emery, J. Knapp, F. Murray Also Present: S. Miller, City Manager; R. Rustin, Assistant City Manager; Chief D. Brent and Firefighters, Fire Department; J. Rabidoux, Public Works Department; J. Ladd, City Hall, K. Murphy, Planning Department; M. Young, S. Dopp, B. Stuono, C. Shaw, D. Donahue, A. Voldman, T. Braun, R.Greco Executive Session: 1. Consider entering executive session to discussed personnel, contract negotiations, real property acquisition and potential and ongoing litigation: Mr. Murray moved the Council meet in executive session to discuss personnel, contract negotiations, real property acquisition and potential and ongoing litigation. Ms. Dooley seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Regular Session: 1. Comments and questions from the Audience, not related to Agenda items: Mr. Shaw questioned whether there was a policy related to temporary political signs. Mr. Miller said the city needs to be sure signs aren’t affixed to city trees or other city appurtenances. Mr. Young asked if there was anything to report regarding a potential real estate purchase. Mr. Boucher said not at this time. He added that the Council has been discussion the future of the Open Space Fund. Mr. Young said he would look more favorably on a “housing trust” rather than using that money to address pension plan issues. Mr. Miller said any discussion of this is purely speculative at this point. There has been no substantive discussion regarding that fund or any other. Ms. Dopp said it would be useful to prioritize some properties that the city might want to acquire with the Open Space Fund money. Mr. Donahue addressed the Council regarding the lack of building inspectors in the city. He cited and showed the Council evidence of poor workmanship in the homes he and his neighbors bought in recent years. He also noted that in some states there are inspectors at every step of a construction project. Mr. Boucher suggested that Mr. Donahue come back to the Council at budget time with some idea of how to finance this. 2. Announcements & City Manager’s Report: Mr. Miller: The City is now part of the VMERS system as of 1 October for non-union, non-public safety personnel. This will save the city thousands of dollars a year. The hope is to expand participation over time. The proposed 18 November meeting regarding Exit 12B/13 will have to be rescheduled as some groups cannot attend on that date. 3. Actuary Report for FY2010: Ms. Voldman advised that they had recently completed an actuarial report. She said that overall the results were pretty good, and the unfunded amount of the pension plan has gone down and assets have somewhat recovered. Last year’s unfunded amount was $8,967,893. This year’s amount is $8,169,040., which represents 57% funding as opposed to 50% funding. Mr. Miller said that this is still an alarmingly low level of funding, despite the improvement. Ms. Voldman said anything less than 80% is not a good place to be. She added that one of the purposes of the evaluation was to come up with a recommendation for a contribution to address the unfunded amount. There are 2 options for this contribution: A. to pay the unfunded liability over 20 years B. to pay the unfunded liability over 30 years Option A is more expensive and would cost $1,700,790.00 or 24% of payroll. Option B would cost $1,594,411.00 or 23% of payroll. Ms. Voldman then reviewed the plan assets. The assumed rate of return was 7.5%. The actual rate of return was 13.2%. The prior year was a -16%. The 13.2% is still 2.5% less than it was 2 years ago. Ms. Voldman noted that when the assets go down, the city has to make up the difference. Ms. Voldman said the city’s Pension Board should meet with the investment advisors. Ms Voldman then addressed the plan’s compensation changes. She noted this was the first year in which overtime for public safety has been recognized, up to 25% of base compensation. This was also the first year that total compensation for non-public safety personnel has been used in the valuation. That change is not yet reflected in the plan document. Ms. Voldman noted that for the 2011­12 fiscal years, the city’s projected contribution is $1,400,000. Employee contribution would be $276,000. The assumed investment return is 7.5% and the assumed compensation growth is 4%. With option A (above), the 30 year option would result in a contribution of $1,620,000, and the 20-year option would result in a contribution of $1,725,000. Mr. Miller noted that the full actuarial report is on the city’s website. Mr. Boucher said the Council needs to discuss its next steps and build a plan. Mr. Miller said they are looking at a number of different issues regarding expenditures. For example, moving people to VMERs, other benefit changes, etc. Mr. Rustin is working with the finance staff to put together a more detailed budget. Mr. Murray felt that there should be some options presented to the Council. Mr. Miller said one option could be a bond to fund the unfunded obligation. He added that those options will be developed in the next few months. The Council will be given a proposed budget in mid-December with discussion to take place in January. 4. Approval of South Burlington Firefighters Association Local 3671 Contract revised September 7, 2010: Mr. Knapp recused himself from this discussion and action. Mr. Miller said that the proposed contract will allow the city to move toward a paramedic service for residents. There will be a new billing fee schedule related to that service. A grant was received that allows 7 people from South Burlington to be put into the paramedic training program at no cost to the city. Trainees receive 1200 hours per person to gain paramedic certification. Training will be completed in September, 2011. The proposed contract will give the 7 paramedics 6% over base pay in 2011 and 8% over base pay in 2012. The additional cost would be $9,000. It is expected that there will be $40,000 in additional revenues through 2012. At full implementation, the estimated cost is $18,000 with revenues at $55,000. The proposed agreement allows for yearly review. Chief Brent said that Chittenden County is one of only 2 counties in Vermont without paramedics. Paramedic certification allows for more interventions in the field. Paramedics can give more drugs to stabilize patients, can do airway interventions, electronic pacing (temporary pacemaker), etc. This will enable them to save more lives. In addition, they will not have to transport at such high speeds. Ms. Emery asked if there is more liability. Chief Brent said there is no additional insurance cost. The liability is why there is more training and more oversight from the hospital. Mr. Murray moved to amend the city’s collective bargaining agreement with the Firefighters to accommodate increased training, benefits and income to Firefighters who will become paramedics, with the provision that the City Council can review the contract on an annual basis. This will result in the saving of more lives and a dramatic increase in service to citizens. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed 4-0. Mr. Knapp rejoined the Council. 5. Approval of Ambulance Rate Increase: Chief Brent reviewed the proposed rates. Mr. Stuono asked why an engine responds with an ambulance. Chief Brent explained that a 2-person ambulance is a thing of the past. With a very sick patient, you can have 2 people just caring for the patient in the back of the ambulance. Ms. Dooley moved to approve the ambulance rate increase as described in Chief Brent’s memorandum of 27 October 2010. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 6. First Reading of Ordinance to amend the Motor Vehicle and Traffic Regulations: No Parking on both sides of Airport Drive from Williston Road to White Street: Mr. Boucher read the proposed amendment. Mr. Rabidoux explained the safety concerns and also the winter maintenance concerns. Mr. Murray moved to approve the First Reading and to set a public hearing for 15 November 2010. Ms. Dooley seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 7. Consideration of Approval to Change the Health Insurance Plans Management & non-Represented Employees: Mr. Miller said the recommendation is to shift to a higher deductible plan. There are 19 people in this group (3 have opted out). The savings would be $35,000 per year. This would take effect on 1 January 2011. Mr. Murray moved to approve the change to the Health Insurance Plans as presented. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 8. Consideration of Approval to Change the Life Insurance Limit for Eligible Management and Non-Represented Employees: Mr. Miller said the savings would be $48,000 over current costs. The maximum life insurance benefit would be twice the employee’s annual salary. Mr. Murray moved to approve the change to life insurance limit for eligible management and non-represented employees. Ms. Dooley seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 9. Review of ICMA’s National Citizen Survey Program: Mr. Miller suggested deferring this discussion until budget time to assess costs. Mr. Boucher said the survey is long overdue. The question is whether this is the right tool to help understand people’s priorities. He added that the Council now hears from a very limited number of people. Ms. Dopp said she is very disappointed with the delay as the Land Trust hoped to use this in relation to the revision of the Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Miller stressed that staff is trying to get a handle on the city’s finances. At present, he cannot answer where the money to do this would come from. Ms. Emery asked if there might be an outside source of funding. Mr. Miller said that is possible. Mr. Murray said that given financial circumstances, it might be advisable to get interested people thinking about this now, without making a financial commitment. Ms. Emery said it would be good to know public opinion at budget time. Mr. Miller said they wouldn’t have the information by budget time as it takes 17 weeks for ICMA to mail a final report. Mr. Young asked if this would be done yearly. Mr. Miller said probably 5-10 years. Ms. Dopp suggested the City making a proposal to the Land Trust for partial funding. 10. Review and Approve Minutes of 4 October 2010: Mr. Murray moved to approve the Minutes of 4 October 2010 as written. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 11. Sign Disbursement Orders: Disbursement Orders were signed. As there was no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m. ____________________________ Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.