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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 2010-10-20~x S~ SPECIAL MEETI]vG o °~ ~'""'~- ~'~ MINUTES J O CITY COUNCIL c9LIFOR~~~ OF THE CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO Meeting held at: CIrI'Y HALL LARGE CONFERENCE :ROOM 400 GRAND AVENUE SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2010 1. Call to Order. 6:30 p.m. 2. Roll Call. Present: Councilmembers Garbarino, Gonzalez and Matsumoto, Mayor Addiego. Absent.: Vice Mayor Mullin. 3. Agenda Review. No changes. 4. Public Comments -comments are limited to items on the Special Meeting Agenda. None. 5. General Fund Budget realignment and next steps for evaluating the City's Core Services. City Manager Nagel advised Council staff from each department had looked at reductions in service delivery. Manager Nagel asked Council to prioritize :services, rate the options and provide direction on how staff should proceed. He reminded Council the figures given covered a 5-year window with an adjustment of $6.3 million needed to cover PERS increases, Capitol Improvements, the previously made unsustainable cuts and storm water programs. He also sought consensus from Council as to its definition of a core service, what do/do not other cities provide, and would a consolidation or contracting out fir services be something to consider. A policy direction was needed to work within the framework for the departments. Again, all cuts would be over a 5 year period (10 to 25%). Councilman Garbarino stated no conclusive decisions were made with the subcommittee although both he and Mayor Addiego made it clear they do not support layoffs. The main question for him was what level of service the City wants to provide. He felt the current level was at the A level, but questioned if it should be ratcheted down. Regarding cost recovery; are we to raise fees on non-residents only, do we pass some of the responsibilities such as sidewalk repairs and tree service onto homeowners? He also noted his surprise at the various programs that were losing money. He wanted to make sure the Vice Mayor was able to offer his feedback, as he was not present. Mayor Addiego stated in a business situation, if you are laying; off that means you are failing. If the City continues to lighten its workforce it may not have enough positions needed to provide adequate services. He felt more uncertain after leaving the subcommittee meeting. Councilman Garbarino also felt the election would drive what Council could do, pending the results from Proposition 22. The Mayor added Council must follow the constituents' message in acceptance or denial of the propositions. Councilwoman Matsumoto liked the notion of running the (:ity more like a business and requested that all costs associated with an item, such as Day iri the Park, be reported. This included staff hours. She requested reporting be exact and no longer include vague percentages. She also wanted to see a balance between cuts in service and employee costs. She noted she would be watching Measure L in Menlo Park, and would start a drive for a new measure herself if need be. Overall, she felt cutting services and raising fees could not continue. Councilman Gonzalez agreed the City could not continue with fee increases as the public was fed up. Some suggestions from the Councilman included the possibility of furlough one to two times per month or having residents share some of the burden of items such as tree service and sidewalk repairs. Councilman Gonzalez asked when the 2°`~ tier for the pension program would be in effect. City Manager Nagel stated it was currently in effect, though Finance Manager, Jim Steele said the savings would not be seen for another ten (10) years. Councilwoman Matsumoto brought up the idea of cosponsoring, noting the 51/49 rule for residents and non-residents. She wanted to tack on extra fees for the non-residents and cited the Bocce ball team as an example of where that could be done. She had heard a lot of displeasure voiced by residents regarding non-resident fees. Mayor Addiego noted if recovery were to come from non-residents, this would not even get us a fraction of where we need to be. He asked Councilman Gonzalez where he heard the pushback from increased fees. Councilman Gonzalez stated most were related to Fire inspections and Code Enforcement. Councilman Garbarino reiterated that he would not support fiirloughs or layoffs. He suggested looking elsewhere, like at programs that are losing money. Should services be provided, even if they are important to residents, if they cost more money then they bring in? The Councilman also felt that contracting certain service out is something that should be on the table. SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING OCTOBER 20, 2010 MINUTES PAGE 2 Mayor Addiego suggested Council define what it considered a core service, such as the Police Department. City Manager Nagel added he did not want to get mired down in the minutia, but did want Council to set its definition. He was looking for agreement from Council on the issues of contracting, laying off, furloughs, whether or not public safety items would be off limits, etc. The City Manager noted while Council may not agree with layoffs, employees could be lost through attrition. Councilwoman Matsumoto did not have a problem with layoffs, only the way they were negotiated. She felt until there was a merit based system, the (:ity could lose good people and keep those less desirable due to seniority. Councilman Garbarino wanted to preserve as many jobs as we have. Contracting wouldn't cause a loss of jobs, but rather a reassigrunent to other tasks that aren't currently being done. He suggested projects get bundled together and contracted out on a prioritized basis. Questions from Council were then posed to Chief Massoni regarding aspects of the Police Department's budget; K9 unit, Service Technicians, Explorers, Reserves, civilianizing certain duties, and community relations programs. Police Chief Mike Massoni began by noting most departments have K9 units, whose budget accounts mostly for staffing. K9 budget is large but most is personnel and would mean a loss of positions. Explorers are volunteers, with no associated costs aside from staff hours. Service technician duties include vehicle towing, minor traffic accidents, serving subpoenas, delivering messages to residents. If these positions were eliminated, sworn officers would have to pick up those duties. Reserves pays for most of the service technicians and some costs are recovered by providing security at events. Councilwoman Matsumoto felt certain things could be left undone, like delivering messages. Mayor Addiego disagreed and relayed an incident where it proved to be a valuable tool in crime prevention. The Mayor went on to ask about civilianizing functions for items like community relations, as he maybe onboard with that if he understood it better. The Chief felt it was important for a sworn officer to perform the community relations functions, but a civilian could perform them as well. City Manager Nagel warned civilizing meant a Sergeant's position went away. Both the Mayor and Councilman Garbarino felt a position lost through attrition and left unfilled was more palatable than a layoff. Director Steele gave an example of attrition, moving into a civilianized position and backfilling with contracts. It may save money and does not require a layoff. This might be a tool that Human Resources Director, Kathy Mount could provide morf; detail about. Councilwoman Matsumoto wanted to focus on what we could do without rather than what could be backfilled, creating more work for staff. SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING OCTOBER 20, 2010 MINUTES PAGE 3 Councilmen Garbarino and Gonzalez both felt community relations programs were vital, and cited a new program involving the Hispanic community. It was working, and they did not want it to go away. Chief Massoni added if the Community Relations positions were eliminated, the functions would still have to be performed. If the functions were eliminated completely, that would open up a whole other group of issues. Mayor Addiego asked the Chief when the rank Corporal starting being used in the Department. Chief Massoni responded it had been there since before he began, perhaps the early 1970's. Council was asked where they would make cuts in the Police Department. Councilwoman Matsumoto felt intelligence gathering should lie citywide, not just school related therefore she would merge the community relations and school liaison programs together. Councilman Garbarino asked the Chief to expand on the idea of records consolidation. Chief Massoni stated it would be similar to what is done with dispatch and the department was currently looking at a straw design for a central storage, countrywide. Citizens would go to this location to do a records function. Cost estimate was unknown as it was still in the early stages. Mayor Addiego asked the Chief to estimate the level of savings if five (5) positions were civilianized. The Chief responded further direction would be needed to do so. Would the functions be discontinued altogether or absorbed by another position? Councilwoman Matsumoto brought up the City's excellent record regarding officer appearances in court. Could we bring the level down to what other cities do? It may have a negative effect on our reputation but could save money as court appearances are costly and often involve overtime. Chief Massoni noted the reputation was mainly in regards to reporting. Costs involved in reporting were minimal and savings would be little. He also rioted reductions elsewhere, for example, not providing security at private events, could save money but have negative impacts in terms of local awareness. The Mayor clarified the cuts over 5 years would be roughly $350,000 to $400,000 per year. The process needed to begin somewhere. Manager Nagel wanted to clarify he was hearing that cuts in t:he Police Department were on the table. Council confirmed, and noted it would start with 2%, just as all other departments would be doing. Councilman Gonzalez questioned the type of services provided with the 10% reduction. City Manager Nagel stated the common theme was eliminating or deferring to other positions. Returning to the issue of Service Technicians, Chief Massoni noted a number of good officers started as technicians. Former Chief Raffaelli once suggested the hiring of more techs at a cheaper rate and the elimination of officer positions. There were currently six (6) vacancies the department was trying to fill. SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING OCTOBER 20, 2010 MINUTES PAGE 4 Councilwoman Matsumoto asked why. The Chief respanded :most were because of failed probation, there were some retirements and only one (1) had lf;ft for somewhere else. The mayor's thought was continue to hire high caliber candidates for officers in this down economy and ramp up on techs later. Councilman Garbarino asked if a 10% reduction would take away basic police work. The Chief stated it would not, but it may end up eliminating responses to property damage only accidents. Also, K9 and two (2) traffic positions would go unfilled because the need was on the street. Manager Nagel clarified Police Department vacancies were not frozen and could be filled. Chief Massoni noted three (3) Oakland officers who had been laid off have ties to the City. Councilwoman Matsumoto thought Oakland had different standards and questioned if they would meet South San Francisco standards. Chief Massoni. stated they were of high caliber. To summarize, Manager Nagel stated Council is agreeable to the following: contracting, shifting some responsibilities to citizens, namely sidewalk repair and tree service, total program cuts, and consolidation between cities. Council did not agree to furloughs or layoffs at this point, but stated a particular lay off may need to be looked into. Councilman Garbarino made it clear he was completely against layoffs. Mayor Addiego added there maybe other ways to pay for the Learning Center and Project Read other than the general fund. While Councilwoman Matsumota appreciated the Project Read Program, she agreed the City puts too much money towards it. Council also noted the mess in dealing with the Planning, Building and Fire Departments' conflicting policies regarding code enforcement. The function was needed but required reform. Councilwoman Matsumoto wanted to be sure the Economic and Community Development Department maintained the site inspections done for compliance with job approvals and that the money in the CIP budget is maintained. Manager Nagel stated he would set up another study session after having dialogue with the departments regarding the items discussed. Mayor Addiego wanted to make sure it was communicated that programs were not being crushed, just being asked to not lean so heavily on the general fund. Lastly, Councilman Garbarino noted we may have to look at rate increases due to sewer issues sooner rather than later. SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING OCTOBER 20, 2010 MINUTES PAGE 5 6. Closed Session: Conference with Labor Negotiators. (Pursuant to Government Code § 54957.6) Agency designated representative: Kathy Mount Employee organizations: AFSCME, Local 829, AFL-CIO Confidential Unit, Teamsters Loca1856 International Association of Firefighters, Loca11507 Mid-management Unit International Union of Operating Engineers, Lc,cal 39 South San Francisco Police Association Public Safety Managers Executive Management Unit. CLOSED SESSION TIME IN: 8:15 p.m. CLOSED SESSION TIME OUT: 8:27 p.m. REPORT OUT OF CLOSED SESSION: Direction given. No reportable action taken. 7. Adjournment. Being no further business, Mayor Addiego adjourned the meeting at 8:27 p.m. Submitted: 0~~ ~ Anna M. Brown Deputy City Clerk, City of South San Francisco Approved: ~l c~~; ark N. Addiego N[ayor, City of South San Francisco SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 20, 2010 PAGE 6