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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApril 6, 2023 City Council Special Meeting COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA April 6, 2023 Special Workshop Minutes The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana met for the Special Meeting/Workshop on April 6, 2023. Council President Owen along with City Clerk Gill called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. The meeting was open to the public in person. ROLL CALL: The roll call was conducted by City Clerk Lisa Gill and present in Council Chambers were Councilperson Burns, Councilperson Anderson, Councilperson Webb, Council President Owen, and Councilperson Ellis. Let the record reflect that 5 Council Members were present in Council Chambers. Councilpersons Croft and Paris was absent. Council Vice President Hawkins arrived at 3:04 pm and Councilperson White arrived at 3:07 pm. 1. Heather Metcalf-Capital Budget Workshop Discussion Mrs. Metcalf explained the contents of the materials that were handed out. Included in the materials were items that each department would be discussing.The last page of the materials is a summary of all of the department on one sheet. 2. JFD Chief Grant-Capital Needs Chief Grant voiced the need of an East End Fire Station with a sub-station for the JPD in the back of the building by 2023 due to future growth. Another need is the ESBA's (Air Packs) that are used to make entries into fires, which are on rotation and very expensive (between 7-8 thousand dollars a pack) and the current ones are approaching 15 years old. This rotation needs to start in 2025. Additionally JFD needs a bigger training room as they cannot fit a whole crew in their current training room. The estimated cost for this is$450,000.00. They will need to start looking at replacing one of the Cascade machines,which is the air bottle filler,the one at Station 4 is approximately 30 years old. In 2025 two of the Fire Marshalls vehicles will need to be replaced with an estimated cost of$150,000.00. The department has a 2008 Ford truck that pulls the 5' wheel trailer and it will need to be replaced and has an estimated cost of $85,000.00. They are additionally requesting a new fire apparatus by May 2026. Chief Grant advised that some of the items needed they try to use the existing budget such as imaging camera's, and Tough Books. Additionally Turnout Gear is going to be a huge issue; there are 92 firefighters and each one gets 2 turnout kits, estimated at$3,100.00 each. These kits last approximately 4-5 years. Council President Owen asked if the Fire Department was doing 15 sets a year; if so that is around $50,000 a year which is already budgeted. Looking over the materials, looks like the only thing outside the budget is the training vehicle, estimated at $80,000.00. $225,000.00 out of the budget will be used toward these items discussed. Council President Owen asked Chief Grant is the plan presented accounted for his and the Command Staff's vehicles. Chief Grant advised it did not. If funds are available at the end of the year, those funds would go toward the purchase of the Chief Battalion Vehicle. Chief Jason Sharp's vehicle does need to be replaced, this was not put in the plan presented however the Fire Marshall's vehicles are included in this plan. The high cost items needed are the new station, training room, and fire apparatuses along with the River Ridge Station. Chief Grant advised he has approached River Ridge twice over the past two years regarding helping with the cost, but has not received a response. Chief Grant said it may be beneficial for the City Council and Mayor Moore to reach out to them. Council President Owen advised the administration is working on opening communication in that direction. Council President Owen also asked about the rehab or replacement of Station 1. Chief Grant advised in his opinion, a 2 to 3 million dollar station further east would spread out the resources and serve the people of Jeffersonville better. Then some funds would be needed toward renovating Station 1. Council President Owen asked if this would be done in the next five years. Chief Grant advised he would like to see it completed in the next five years, preferably an East End Station first. Council President Owen asked that each department do an outline something like the one that Vehicle Maintenance Director Michael O'Brien had done as far as the vehicles for their department with the make, model,year and mileage for each vehicle and major equipment and when they will be due to be replaced. Chief Grant also advised that a new ladder truck is in need,the current one is 26 years old, he has been working with Pierce Manufacturing and was told that pricing will go up May 2023. Chief Grant advised this is crucial, half of the parts budget has already been used and the 2 new trucks will take 3 years to get, the longer the City waits the more they will be spending in repairs. Councilperson White asked Chief Grant which is needed the most,the River Ridge Station or the Fire apparatus. Chief Grant advised both, there are plans for Station 4 until the new station is built. They will leave Station 1 where it is, build another small station off of 10th street near the Quadrangle, then another small station in the East End. Council Vice President Hawkins asked what the 6 million dollars will cover. Chief Grant advised it will cover the River Ridge Station with the sub-station for the Police on the back of the building. Council Vice President Hawkins asked what the life expectancy of the radios are. Chief Grant and Chief Sharp advised usually 10-15 years, it is hard to tell with technology updates almost daily, use and wear. Councilperson Webb advised the Council needs to vote on whether or not to proceed with the order at the next Council Meeting on April 17, 2023 before the price increase. 3. Stephanie Miller/Heather Metcalf-Street Department Capital Needs Mrs. Metcalf advised that she had spoken to Kevin Morlan-Street Department Director and he had advised her of the needs of the Street Department. The first thing for 2023 is$150,000.00 for paving of the City Service Compound which will be split between Sanitation, Drainage, Construction,Vehicle Maintenance and Street Department, estimated to be around $30,000.00 for each department which is not in the budget and has not been bid yet. They need to make sure everyone is on board. They are going to need a dump truck for snow removal, which will be approximately$160,000.00 and is in the current budget. The only additional money needed by the Street Department for 2023 is$30,000.00. Stephanie Miller-Street Department Administrative Assistant advised that Mr. Morlan had spoken about replacing some of the trucks, but she is not sure which ones. Council President Owen asked about the buildings; the lean-to and the pole barn with the electric, are those things they have plans for or are they things that need to be decided upon. Administration is working with a consultant to look at what all City property looks like and where everything is and how it may need to be re-organized or if land need to be purchased for a new City Complex. Ms. Miller advised that Mr. Morlan spoke of the City purchasing land behind the Police Station on 10th street and putting a salt/brine system there and at some point having a salt barn on Hwy 62 as well to keep from going place to place.The current salt/brine system is approximately 15-18 years old. Mr. Morlan went and looked at a new system in Cargill, to install the complete system is approximately$115,000.00. Mr. O'Brien advised on line number 11, building a lean-to salt box supports at the Renfroe location, to come around to the other side and connect with Vehicle Maintenance will allow moving the salt trucks to the Renfro location so everything is in one place. Council President Owen asked if there is room for that. Mr. O'Brien advised there is. Ms. Miller advised the pole barn was on the property when the City purchased the property,which needs a new roof, however the barn it not worth putting a new roof on; it has mold and most of the wood is rotten. The Insurance company says it needs to be torn down. Council President Owen asked what the barn houses at this time. Ms. Miller advised trash cans for the public to buy, tractors, mowers, pick-up trucks, and other misc. 4. Michael O'Brien-Vehicle Maintenance Director-Small Departments Michael O'Brien provided the Council with and discussed the vehicles in each department and which vehicles would need to be replaced in the next 5 years. 5. Chief Kavanaugh and Assistant Chief McVoy-Police Department Capital Needs Assistant Chief McVoy advised there is a need for the parking area at JPD to be redone,the paved parking lot is crumbling and has large holes that have been patched several times. Under the advisement of the Jeffersonville Street Director, Kevin Morlan, the lot needs new asphalt which he estimates to be around $150,000.00.Assistant Chief McVoy will get 3 estimates before moving forward with the project. The HVAC system is constantly needing repair;they currently have a Geo Thermal Unit and have had constant issues with it over the last 5 years. Alpha Mechanical is the vendor for the Police Department, many repairs have been done to this system but after one thing gets fixed they say another needs to be fixed. The company sent in some engineers to inspect the system then sent an email stating to solve all of the problems, it would cost$135,000.00 to replace a pump, and there is a well to the South of the Police Department that is dug down 250-300 feet where the geo thermal coils are. When the building was built, the pump that was put there is too small to pump water through a 3,500 square foot building which is causing extra pressure on the pumps were installed.The unit that is there cannot heat and cool. They will need to look at replacing the tasers; Axon recommends replacement of tasers every 5 years, we have gotten longer use however the warranty is for 5 years. The taser with a cartridge is about$4,500.00 each. The X7 bundle which includes the taser, holster, soft wear, link up, etc. is between $325,000.00 and $407,460.00 over a 5 year period. Council Vice President asked if this could be put under a GL#and be put in the budget every year. The report that was submitted was incorrect, so the 1st year payment would be $40,000.00 and then $91,678.00 each year for 4 years. The last group of tasers were bought all at once. Councilperson Webb asked if the company will give credit for any previous tasers. Chief advised they give $200.00 for each taser that is turned in whether it works or not. For the Taser 10 bundle, it would be $86,988.04 each year for the next 5 years, for a total of $434,940.20, which is not in the budget. Councilperson Ellis asked what happens with the batteries and holsters. Assistant Chief McVoy advised the batteries get recycled and the holsters can be donated if any other department can use them but they will not receive any money for them. Assistant Chief McVoy advised the Mobile Command Center/RV is constantly having work done on it.There is serious concern it will even make it to an event. The Command Center is used for several things for the City. This has been discussed for 3 years now. The RV is at the end of its life and has been for 5 years. Mr. O'Brien advised it is a safety hazard. The estimated cost for a new Command Center is$1,200,000.00. Grants can be applied for to help with the cost,this is an item that will last 10-15 years. Council Vice President Hawkins asked if the grants are only available if payments are being made, if it is paid for, will money still be re cooped. Assistant Chief McVoy advised he does not think so but will check into that. Laptops/MDT are recurring things with the technology changing every 2-3 years. They need to get this on a rotation instead of it coming in all at once.The budget for 2024 needs to increase by$50,000.00 in software/hardware. The contract for the body worn cameras expire in 2025. The estimated cost for 2025 to 2029 will be $110,000.00 a year and they will need to increase the budget by$20,000.00 in 2025. The police cars do not have cameras, Chief Kavanaugh advised he will be checking on 18-22 police cars getting equipped with cameras.This is not on the Capital Improvement Worksheet. The Rear Entry-Exit Gate is getting slower and slower and the motor has been replaced once. The gate is opened numerous times a day with all of the vehicles that are in and out. A hydraulic system would be better to handle the amount of vehicles that do in and out. The gate is currently working but will need to be replaced soon with an estimated cost of$20,000.00.The Shell is currently being finished. They still need to fund installing IT/AV equipment for analyst center. In order to get the room the way it needs to be, the audio visual and information technology information for an analyst center similar to Metro's Real Time Crime Center the estimated cost is$951,000.00. That only takes care of the monitors, running the cable, electric, servers and all the stuff that is integrated into a real crime center. The original Shell build out money was funded by Redevelopment. The original cost was $351,000.00 then things went to a standstill when Covid it, then 2 years later, the cost has gone up to $741,000.00 just to finish the center at that time the AV needs totaled about$600,000 and since then has increased to$951,000. Council Vice President Hawkins asked how much money is left in the fund that was set aside for this. Chief Kavanaugh advised the original amount was$85,000.00; Mrs. Metcalf advised there is no more money in that fund. JPD would like to purchase a vehicle for the Crisis Negotiation Team to be used during hostage situations. This needs to be separate from the Command Center. The estimated cost of this vehicle is $125,000.00 over the next 5 years. This does not cover the cover the video equipment that will be needed to go along side of what we currently have that can be transposed over to the new vehicle.This is not in the current budget line. Mrs. Metcalf asked if it is$100,000.00 or $125,000.00. Assistant Chief McVoy advised the other$25,000.00 is for the extra equipment that will probably need to be purchased, and this will be a leased vehicle over a five year period. Chief Kavanaugh asked the Council about having a workshop prior to the next Council Meeting regarding the retention of officers and recruiting new hires and the 3 step percentage guidelines. 6. Clark Miles Sanitation Director—Mr. Miles advised the Council on what the Capital needs were such as painting the exterior of the building, interior offices, paving the parking lot (having each department contribute approximately$30,000.00), buying of dumpsters, trash cans, computers, printers. The Vehicles needed are a packer truck, one arm trash truck, pick-up trucks (rotation), and a grapple truck(claw). They are requesting lockers for the employees and paint the concrete wall of the warehouse. The old yard that is shared with the Street Department, need to be cleaned up, storm took the roof off of the building. There is one truck that was paid for out of 2022 that should be here in July or August of 2023, wanting to make sure there is money in there to order another truck this year, it takes about 6-8 months to receive it. Mr. Clark said he appreciated all the hard work the Council has done to support all of the departments, this is a beautiful city. Thanks to Debbie Gardner-Administrative Assistant. Council President Owen asked if the Sanitation Department could put together an asset list of each piece of equipment, how old it is and its value. Mr. Miles advised that they do have a list already done, Mrs. Gardner gave that to Council President Owen. Mrs. Metcalf asked if the one-arm truck for this year has already been budgeted. Mr. Miles advised it has not, nothing on the list has been budgeted. Council Vice President Hawkins asked how many packer trucks the department has. Mr. Miles advised they have 9-10 with a life span of 5 years. They are still used after 5 years, they just start having problems. The cost of the garbage cans is a wash due to them being sold to the public at cost which money goes back in to the Sanitations budget. 7. Paul Northam-Parks Director—Mr. Northam advised their department has worked with the same budget for 6 years now with no increases and the City is growing. It is a struggle to keep it going. Most things the Parks Department handles can be reached with the budget that the department has, but it is a struggle. Some of the items on the Capital Improvement Plan need to be done and some of them they would like to see done. The current budget can't be used to fix things that go wrong, in example the restrooms and lights at Big 4. Last year$400,000.00 was added to the budget to get things done that had not been done for a long time. He and Mrs. Metcalf discussed maybe that amount in the budget for a few years and get caught up on some things but he understand the tightness of the budget. The department is back to the 5 years plan; there is also a print out of equipment and vehicles, no copy of this report as of today. Currently there is money in the budget for vehicles; it is about$40,000.00 a year. The plan is, every other year, either Maintenance or Green Space gets a new vehicle depending on whether they need it or not. This year, everyone was in good shape, with the exception of a new manager that was promoted, so a new vehicle was purchased for him. The plan is over the next 5 years is to use the money budgeted for vehicles, however the cost of vehicles are going up. It is close to $50-60,000 now. There are some trailers that are well over 15 years old now that need to be replaced. Council President Owen asked if there is a list of vehicles and equipment, Mr. Northam advised they do have one. Council President Owen asked if the Capital Improvement Plan is listed in the order that things need to be done or are there certain things that need to be done first. Mr. Northam advised the priority for the next couple of years is the electric upgrade at the Big 4 Bridge, some of which will be paid for out of the current budget. Oglesby Shelter and Oglesby Trails have already been approved by Redevelopment to move ahead and will be funded out of Redevelopment's budget. Poppy Parking has been worked on for the past 3 years, put gravel down, then approval was needed from Flood Control to do the work. Wilcoxson Park along with Wathen Park is in need of a new parking lot. Warder Park is in need of restrooms but not a priority for this year. Councilperson White voiced concerns about the transit people using the Warder Park as a hang out. Mr. Northam advised his concern is for the people that attend the events and rent the spaces out needing the restrooms. Shirley's Arbor is in need of a new pavilion and all parks are in need of new signage, out of 36 parks, 20 have been done. Councilperson Burns asked if there are funds that are due back from the school corporation. Council President Owen asked if the windows for the Fieldhouse was just on one side. Mr. Northam advised it would be for the North and East sides of the building. There are no concerns with the current windows other than cosmetic. Councilperson White asked if the tennis courts at Parkview are owned by the school corporation, Mr. Northam advised they are. The caboose in Preservation Park is looking really rough and will either need to be repaired or removed. Should the Parks Department fix it? Councilperson White asked if it is being used. Mr. Northam advised it is not. Mr. Northam's plan was to paint the outside of it,fix the holes in the siding and floor and put something around it so people could see that it use to be a usable caboose. It is something that the department wants to do, but does not have to be done. It brings a lot of character to the park. Councilperson White asked what was meant by Parking Reservations. Mr. Northam advised there are 3-5 parking spaces could be put there for the people that rent the Preservation out. Concerning permanent mooring of the Riverstage, Mr. Northam stated he is not sure whether to spend the money to permanently moor down there he is not sure how many more years the Riverstage is going to be there with all of the new buildings going up, such as the property where Jeff Boat use to be. That could be a location to hold a lot of events, and cut the cost of moving the stage back and forth and paying a monthly storage fee. To store and transport it, it cost about$20-25,000 a year. Mr. Northam advised he is not talking about moving the Riverstage, it is about after the Riverstage,when new things cone along. The Pavilion will be on dry land on the old Jeff Boat property. Councilperson Webb asked if the$100,000.00 is to purchase an Ice Rink. Mr. Northam stated last year it was brought back to see how it would go, it went really good, so it will be rented again in 2023, if it continues to go well, he advised it would be better to buy one than to keep renting one and would like the Council's opinion. Council President Owen asked if that amount is to purchase the rink only, or does the chiller come with that. Mr. Northam advised it is for the rink and chiller and they would have to hire someone to come and set it up and would have to have someone come down the first couple of years to make sure it is being done correctly. Councilperson Webb advised that if the City continues to rent the rink, they can stop at any time, if one is bought,the City is stuck with it. Council Vice President Hawkins asked what the $100,000.00 VIP room is for. Mr. Northam advised that would be to build another room for entertainers that perform at the Riverstage on the west side with a set of stairs and a bathroom, also for sponsors that support the Riverstage. Council Vice President Hawkins asked if the WAC turf field is to be replaced in 2025 because that is what the company says. Mr. Northam advised when it was bought, the life expectancy was 8 years, it is on its 8th year. It is playable, looks fine, they have had to band aid places, and it is starting to look like patch work on the field, structurally it is still in good shape, cosmetically it needs work. Councilperson White asked if this is ran by a non- profit organization. Mr. Northam advised that it is ran by the Parks Department, there is 2 sections. The front part with the turf field, parking lot and the building is owned by the Jeff City Parks Department the other part is owned by the CCSA, a volunteer organization. CCSA requested to own that land to continue to get grants. Mr. Northam is requesting to buy dumpsters to clean up the debris from Duffy's Landing and Fisherman's Warf from the flooding's that happen. The Street Department has been taking there dumpsters there, however, they fill up so quickly and it takes 2-3 days to get them dumped and back to fill them again, Mr. Miles suggested that the Parks Department buy their own. The Green Space Building is running out of room. Mr. Northam encouraged the idea of all of the Fire, Street, Sanitation, Parks, department finding a new facility for them all to join together, possibly across from Arby's where the church is. It was decided that the departments would all contribute money to have a study to do the design work on it and bring it to the Council to see if it is something worth doing. Councilperson White asked if this is on the list, Ms. Metcalf advised no, it is not. Council President Owen advised that this study has already been funded. Heather Metcalf advised she will get with the other departments and get more details on the vehicles such as mileage, condition, make, model and year. Also a list of additional appropriations for this year to determine if there is money for funding or not. Mrs. Metcalf would like to get some ideas from the Council and have a follow up meeting before anything is presented to Council. Councilperson White asked this list not include what is already in the budget. Mr. Webb asked if any more lists are given, those amounts will not typically be in the budget. Mrs. Metcalf responded, correct or it will be designated separately with a sub total and that the main focus should be on 2023. Mrs. Metcalf asked for the Council and herself to meet to discuss the 2023 Capital Plan. The Council agreed at the next Council Meeting set the next special meeting and let Mrs. Metcalf know what they think. Council President Owen voiced his concerns regarding opening up a contract for the Police Department and thinks maybe outside advice should be obtained. Council President Owen advised that he will bring someone to the Council Meeting on April 17, 2023. ADJOURNMENT: Councilperson Burns made the motion to ADJOURN the meeting at 8:01 p.m. APROVED Matt Owen, Councsident ATTEST: Lisa Gill, Clerk