this government meeting is brought to you by eastw works and our local cable subscribers good evening welcome to the samton city ccil special meeting for Monday July 15 we have a few coner tonight for immediate consideration the reason that we can do that is because the mgl allow us to do so and the vice president is gonna read the law so no we have yeah roll call Barbara Dam here s Derby Omar Gomez here JP kazinski Tom peek here Brad Riley Tamar Smith here JT Carell here here Mr Vice President so uh these are in accordance with chapter 44 section 33b which allows for end of the year transfers to be made within the first 15 business days of July to make budgets whole for the end of the fiscal year in part the mgl reads as follows no transfer shall be made of any amount appropriated for the use of any City Department to the appropriation for any other department except by two-third vote of the city council on recommendation of the mayor and with a written approval of the amount of the transfer by the department having control of the appropriation from which the transfer is proposed to be made thank you vice president uh we'll pass it to conc Peak thank you Mr President so uh what we have is a uh inter departmental transfer of $128,800 uh that's being transferred from police incentive 35,000 and the remaining [Music] salary uh 1080 uh building operations equipment repair and maintenance 62,1 140 dispatch Personnel Services 16,600 dispatch overtime 18,400 uh building inspection gas plumbing wire 4,800 building inspection temporary position uh 350 uh motor repairs salary 195 motor repairs overtime 2,800 motor repairs ooc uh 120 motor repairs uniform allowance 100 Brookside cemetery salary 4,15 School Medicare 5,620 Medicare tax 265 so uh mayor I don't know if there's anything in particular you'd like to expand on any of that uh you know what these are for but yeah yeah there um basically at the end of the fiscal year there are gaps on some uh line items we want to make them full because they affect the bottom line and in um in accordance and following the the budget that I presented um a year ago so I will say there were some unexpected um costs that came up in different line items distance um we try to do the best we can with Trends but also we have um that all said um we've got some training and and started that with each individual department on how to better follow those Trends uh and get in line uh more with the budget uh in large part one it's we said we spend and uh two helps us a great deal with forting so you know we're looking at $93,000 transfer out of Reserve that leaves us with 93 815 left which is fine the reserve is something it's built just for this reason um but for who want use who want to use as little as we possibly can and follow our lineup so uh in the coming year or or the next budget there'll be some changes but um along this uh we did have some switching around um the schools the existing schools that we um hopefully have a signed agreement in a couple of months on that we didn't anticipate uh besides Heating and and some pipes breaking vandalism that we just have to to address if that comes out of building okay okay I know we have some department heads here and I will uh recommend conso Peak uh if we can go one by one and let the department head or representative from the Department to explain why we need this uh to be this transfer uh yes at least you know the answer I know so so that's fine but before I I just before we got in into uh where it's being transferred to the one thing is other than the reserve fund I do see that $35,000 is coming out of the the police incentive was that did we not use all the police incentive fund that we budgeted for we didn't okay um good enough uh okay well then let's start with computer parttime yes this is to supplement the salary of elor Celli who's our project manager and he's helping Within with the entire it Department she continues to be part-time she works 20 hours a week and she works like three fulltime people the reality is is incredible to have her in the office but having her has also generated more work for all of us as we are managing more and more projects so this is to supplement that position okay and uh building before we keep moving uh any cont have any questions about this one consor denim just quick question um I'm I'm curious it's it's $10,000 and so why waiting now like here we are at the last meeting why didn't you come to council sooner than that so that we could kind of work on well you got me there I think it was my error when it was authorized to to increase in hours I forgot that that there is a cost I just asked for the authorization and the logic of why we needed that and I never put put down okay this is going to cost the department any other cons cons PE okay building UPS so the mayor just briefly describe Greg if there's anything there you want to add on to oh Greg is the the detail too in case Greg couldn't make it so Greg I I have the detailed reports if we take yeah I'm I'm here if I could just offer I mean we've encountered a lot of issues with the building and the Honeywell work we did last year that were not part of the work but needed to be replaced for the work to proceed so there was quite a bit of expense there that we encountered and just trying to be a little more proactive and taking care of the HVAC systems between City Hall and the uh safety complex do I have any questions con denim um for this uh similar question right I if I'm looking at the correct thing that you're showing right you know I'm showing a gap and in the last bill like to come in in March and so same question why here we are in June why not earlier to to address this Gap well we had a number of Appropriations that needed to go through a few months ago and this the funding we needed to show up building Ops for the rest of the year somehow just didn't make it on I if it was my oversight or or what happened but it didn't it didn't get through with the others earlier in this uh earlier this year and are there any additional like late fees or anything that is incurred because of okay Smith I know you had said that vandalism was part of the Pu that had to be part of this um building pu can you just what was the um remediation for the vandalism you just further secure the buildings um there wasn't really damage inside to I mean Greg can mean wasn't damage a lot of damage inside that needed to be corrected but um just making sure windows are boarded up and and they got a little creative about how they get into those buildings um so that was a part of it and and I would also say the Greg speaking to the the extra money for the agback um you know the the seeing or thinking about secondary consequences of putting in new equipment and not realizing that we couldn't use that energy saving contract and that money to fix those things because it wasn't the the actual contract um was less you know yeah any other Conor S I mean this is a general question for a lot of these but obviously this this number sticks out the most but obviously building um maintenance is a costly Affair so are we in the whole somewhere or is did you have money somewhere else to pay for this and making just making the budget whole by filling that back [Music] in Greg so we are what we're making the budget whole by by filling it back in with the funding we're looking we're seeking tonight and where's the money I mean this is more procedural question just educate myself so what where when you're when you're at a deficit you need $60,000 to building maintenance that's over budget where do you where's the money come from for that well in this instance um hle decided to transfer it from the available funding that was not used for police incentive it's my understanding mayor yeah and um correct uh director nins but during the course of the year um there is Shifting where a line starts to go into deficit or we get a big expense for any given line item and there's another line item like electricity that we haven't paid and um and spent down so the 60,000 or 5,000 or 500 will be shifted from that line item uh to another um and then at the end you still have to look at the the Gap the back filling of it so now electricity is is in a deficit at the end of the fiscal year because we use um for the projects here um our corrective action to that um not that this in particular is a new phenomena is to actually restructure line items and have sub line items so we're watching quarterly um we're watching quarterly what's getting spent what's getting not spent um as a result and Greg and I talked about this earlier today and last week I do think that that will be a resulting in some additional um Appropriations that come before you especially around utilities and we do the best we can and just signed a great contact that's a great as well as additional building materials and Highway to supplement the the projects that are going on around you know now so we kind of Gage it right up the middle and see what it goes so already we know that Asal has tripled in price and we did not know that until didn't made the budget so um kind of a switch from moving money within a department and making whole at the end of the year to um a system where based on on the quarterly reports that you guys get that you're actually looking at the true line item spending and and in a way we'll know when an appropriation might be coming your way um or we can refer you to because that line the preceding three months or what not has gone down and we're we're close to spending it out thank you any other coms I do have a few comments the first one is um because I sat down with Halle before coming to this meeting um this appropriation for the for DPW is not coming for the police incentive it's coming from the reserve yes that's that's the first one and the second one is um I'm a little concerned that that we knew I would say we as the city knew that we're short since March March 21st um that we're going to be short and uh now it's July 15 and we have to be a little bit more proactive because the consequences uh could be really bad for the community if we didn't have those those funds right if we didn't have the reserve funds or any other funds that will be hitting the tax rate in our community and that will be really bad for for for us so I I would recommend um to be a little bit more proactive um next time and I hope yeah and just one thing I I want to sort of clear up because I'm hearing two different expenses that have incurred building Ops uh one is the the the vandalism the others the HVAC stuff but I swear we talked about the HVAC stuff in finance I swear that that was that was one of our free cash Appropriations was covered that so the vandalism is a different thing I understand they're hitting the same budget so it doesn't really matter like the point is a bunch of stuff happened and now it's over I'm just from a narrative perspective I'm I thought we already addressed the hva stuff in like the fact that there was that work and it had there had to be some additional stuff that came up um it might crazy for like I really remember this like um so I'm just trying to understand what is this different HVAC stuff or I thought we already covered that may you it's additional aack stuff that or items that we because of you know uh when we present uh the budget you know the bottom line if you look at the bottom line of your budget and know that's what you have to spend and then moving it up and down and all around just honestly you you lose traffic like so what did you shift to do this or that or whatnot and then all of a sudden we get close to the end of the air and be to the gaps um so I think a little bit of it I think the the approach of the bottom line budget is is the go is the you know kind of the ultimate at the end of the year but the reality is Shifting the money to In and Out of the different line items with in that department um we simply lose track it's not an excuse it's an explanation it's just a fact and it's one of the reasons why we'll be tracking we'll go back to the beginning of I mean it's not that we we'll go back to July and build a spreadsheet that tracks it in real time by line item and not just by sub Department like Highway waste water and whatnot um so we know where we are and and we did we definitely a different parts of the fiscal year um yeah you know didn't know exactly where we stood as far as cash and relation one cash uh to um where we were in any given Department um some departments were St um any given Department regards to bottom line and what had actually spent and what had been switched was very difficult to track those dollars um so you know one of the big lessons or Corrections you'll see in the fiscal 25 um budget is the breaking out into sublines to get ready for fiscal year 26 where those sublines will actually be detailed in the new budget so we have to use the same categories we presented the budget with but we're breaking it down on a side spreadsheet um to get that detail and in a timely manner um so this is that yes there is fre cash and we need to back up those requests with a little more with line by line detail um so when these line items become a gap we can specifically said this is what we asked this spend for and honestly this is what we missed that's just the the the truth you know there's not a lot of technical this is not I would just end with this is not a local match this is not because of um there were unexpected repairs but this isn't because of an unexpected Capital expense this is general fund operating budget and accounts we did not watch closely enough but we watch the bottom line instead point taken of of all the counselors and I if I Rec well I think the appropriation by then was $122,000 I think so and I just want to make another clarification is when Mr Nan said that our employee made the decision of using that money uh Halle for the reserve account to pay for this or the police incentive um I think H is just recommend to the mayor which account we should be using May down on the budget I mean it's you know it's a conversation between the depart department head and myself of how we're managing that budget and every line um and then you know I do I ask Halle for a number of options that are legal and but it's me that needs to balance those big pots of money and and land the F so yes and DPW is is an octopus of a department overall and we just should have been more on like we are with know with Poli or yeah there other other department budgets that are are clear to follow and thank you any other coun PE okay so we have two next from dispatch so do you want to talk about the the dispatch items here we go hi good evening hi good evening it's Brenda okay we're both here together oh okay I was like wait how's that so ahead so the um request for the $35,000 is due to um not enough of money in my FY 24 Grant from the state I had hired three additional new Dispatchers in April as of April 1st so I thought that it was going to be able to cover it which I ran out of money out of the Grant and it did not cover it completely completely [Music] okay Cindy you want to add something hi there um well we hired two Dispatchers in the fall three more in the spring um the grant was approved in March and at that time we thought you know that was going to cover us to the end of the fiscal year and the appropriation requests went in in April so we didn't we didn't file one for dispatch because we thought the money would carry us but it turned out um we had higher overtime cost because of training all the new dispatchers um and we just didn't anticipate we would run over but we did okay the repeat so just to confirm the reason why the grant didn't cover it as much as you thought was because the overtime costs associated with the training were higher than than you anticipated they would be yes any other conselor I see anyone I just want to for clarification again the police incentive the $35,000 that we're going to transfer it will be covering those two uh uh lines the dispat services and dispat over time if you do the math for both it's going to be 35,000 Peak okay the next two we have are uh related to building inspection not sure who wants to speak to that mayor uh yeah so we um have a lot of uh uh gaps in uh and Staffing that department around the commissioner um commissioner had a medical we needed to bring in um filling Consultants or we have a a system of alternates um we we brought in more alternates than we normally would because we had commercial we had commercial um excuse me we had uh commercial projects that needed to be looked at we don't want to ever let those fees not be collected um and it we didn't with paying salary and keeping Our obligation to the commissioner Who as a medical leave and then commissioner leaving um we knew we were probably going to run short and yeah I mean the it's a r Val year um I'm a little on iser but it's reeval for assessors and we were under the gun to uh go through as many open permits as we had to get them done um to capture that for New Growth so we did the best we we made a good chunk of it but it it came it across okay any consor have any questions Derby so I guess I'm just curious uh you know where we are now with the Building Commissioner and and are we going to anticipate and after this fiscal year are we going to incur extra costs as well if we still don't have one in place or and are we angling towards that yeah so uh because of this Gap um we have the position posted full-time with that intention to to make that department whole we have no applicant we signed a professional service contract today with John flat and instead of a lot of what we're talking about now taking that $20,000 out of the salary say say oh we'll come back when we hopefully hire a Building Commissioner we'll take that out as an expense separately um there's a little bit of money in those sorts of services but that's a great example of we're coming back um for very specifically under Professional Services and not peace meil it we have two other backup Commissioners that can help out in a pinch Plumbing an electric um but the commissioner itself the person who signs off on all of that will be Professional Services John flag um you know at least for the next three months and we're hoping to solve that problem so um the request for money will come sooner um but for the basically the same reason as what we're coming uh to you guys later to close out of UPS thank youor yeah just a so something I'm just trying to understand here so the is going to be the person signs off on gas plumbing and water ultimately they sign off on the complete project but someone else comes and inspects it though right for plumbing and electrical yes okay great so my question is is the 4800 my understanding if I understand this correctly it had to do with a rate change and how much they're paid so when did we know that that rate chain was going to be in place Midway through our intent to do it in the beginning and okay we honestly didn't get there and there was some back and forth about historically paying them with an hourly rate and then additionally mileage which just confusing and rather just know that this is what they get for inspection um rather than splitting it out and some of the inspectors didn't so um knew we going to change it uh and and kind of keep it all the same but that we did not actually get to that until later in the fiscal year and I said I had one more question so because this is very enlightening for me to like learn about all these various things um so in terms of the electrical and this is just kind of a budgeting thing that's a little bit concerning so so if I understand electrical you know we budget for uh guess right uh I come and I do this inspection for this particular individual's yeah electrical need and it's $50 and we kind of Mark that but then oh I have to come back again and that's another $50 but we don't necessarily budget for the number of times that we go back but we actually budget for the number we don't budget for the number of visits we budget based on the application and so so I'm trying to understand how do we remedy that kind of in the future so that we're not at the end of the year going oh we got um so we increase the theves um all the permits across the board specifically to do a oneandone fee so you take out the application the fee is $75 not 50 making those numbers out and you while like solar is a great example you've got a Building Commissioner comes out sees the site the building structure Electrical Plumbing if needed but the building inspector has to go back out and sometimes more than once depending on the and and what we're working through especially after this year um with the uptick in residential solar is that the the consumer the resident the property owner um through the general contractor comes once pays done um and we have now three postco fleers to look at with a closing of 24 and we'll we'll look at how that goes put a little bit of inflationary increase and we feel okay about that guesstimate um on on Revenue coming in but this will be the first year that we have the new fee schedule um and okay and and uh Building Commissioner BJ before she left uh she was great in that she worked out the schedule of fees based on fees around us to make sure that we weren't burdensome or a lot more than communities around us and she felt good that we were going to be able to to cover the expenses um but again that is something that we are actually done see in you know I say real time quarterly so you know we'll wrap up first quarter we'll be able to see within a month of the end of the quarter or a week yeah so we're trying to that time and cut it down so the reports you that um reflect like it'll say until September you know and then next quarter and the idea would be by January we have a financial Trend um of this year that we can trct to revenue any other Conor goat next four are related to motor repairs Greg y hi I'm I'm still here um yeah we we had um I guess we just had some oversight in the budget there this year I was kind of surprised to see that myself if we didn't have some calculations Pro uh correct and um we spent a little more there in overtime than um than we had expected a lot of the overtime that the staff and motor repair Works gets charged to different departments and um this year was uh we had some additional um just in keeping the older Fleet running so and the other ones were small like uniform allowance and the how glass pay was just um we didn't have we didn't have it in the right area of the budget where we should have so we fixed that for uh for this year's budget okay anyone have any questions I see anyone on peek thank you Greg we have is salary for the Brookside cemetery mayor um yeah just uh it's more maintenance both Brookside and um iot the name of the other one and Main Street uh two years ago we um had some uh challenges with the cemetery um board commission um and exactly what our Perpetual hair amount was as well as overall fees for uphe um myself the then Treasurer and joh Mason were named on advice of council to be in control of that um parking R especially um Sam have got a stien to figure that out and at the end we were short in the inim uh we do have applicants that I'm putting forward uh for the secret I mean for the cemetery uh commission to have a hand a month on and again that's a an example of keeping an eye on the bottom line and then letting that roll to third quarter and seeing that there's there's a gap um and there was a need salary and not for anything uh extraordinary or it's just that's what it took and we did not realize that and G have any questions no going through a peek next one about school Medicare um I came for an appropriation already for City Medicare and I was off a couple hundred dollars because there's there school Medicare I underestimated the balloon payment that is done in June the teachers in Paris any cons have any questions no peak um well uh that also covers my questions about the Medicare tax think we uh that was just a just hundred off calculation um so I think that's all so I'm prepared to make a motion that's um any CL have any questions or comments before I have just a comment um mildly concerned right there I think all of these have to do with not coming to council earlier when they knew that expenses were happening or miscalculations um and so just would hope that the various offices would be a little bit more um I guess thorough in their checks I mean appreciate I know there's a lot happening a lot going on a lot of pressure you know DPW alone I realized as you and using your words as an octopus and like all of these various things um but yeah we just hope that middle of July we're not end up getting these last minute things and so just a little bit more um possible okay I know you all are working together but just a little bit more um I'm checking those numbers any thank you coun s I guess my only other question too was any of this affected by the the diving of certification of free cash in terms of kind of making do with what was maybe available via budgeted monies and anticipating that at some point because of how long it at some point we would need money but as time went on and on and on we had to figure out something for some of these especially like the building maintenance mean that's obvious you have to do it you have to find money somewhere and there's more money in one place than you have some else you know but was did that factor in like in other words if we had more free cash to the to the counselor point would we have been in a better position to anticipate and make those Appropriations earlier um that would be a great thing to be able to say but it's not the truth um and my policy of pushing and before this Council of saying we're going to take as much money out of B Cas as we can and put it in stabilization so you know not just technically the proof of the putting is the money that maybe would be in that free cash purpos being shifted in disabil isation to have use of it over the summer um again truth be told um we did not anticipate so we took this out of Reserve it's not really affected by free cash it's really and and the timing of it it's more watching line by line instead of balancing the bottom that that really is and and surely um we could could have done that you know when I say we mayor and my decisions um but it's not a deep dive into the budget whether you understand it or not it's simple math you see that we spend it outline items and we're filling it with free cash which is extra money from other line items and not the budget that passed um and at the last minute and I feel I'm saying it's more for the public at the last minute you know to to be able to do this under mgl uh I appreciate it I think every year will have some of these things $93,000 is the plan is it's an anomaly um and the the reason for this you know that number going forward should really be something very very very uh unordinary you know like a storm or whatnot that that happens in June like the first week of June um but if it happens in May if it happens there's plenty of time and and I you know I came back with a lot of inations the last minute um so tracking both on the department level um and checking on the mayoral letter level um the expense reports which we got drafts of every month MH um and not graphing that and not comparing that um and seeing you know nine [Music] 4400 5213 um you guys pass $188,000 we spent that down in May and we covered it with some other money within that department going over above the bottom line and then not being able to it all by the end of the fiscal year resulting in coming back for this at the last minute is exactly how that happens I mean again next year we'll I probably be back with something similar absolutely $92,000 if that's the case there's something really WR like we're not doing what we said to the council the public we any other cons the [Music] motion make the following request form motion request is hereby made for approval of following appropriation amount requested $28,155 be transferred from police incentive $335,000 Reserve fund $ 93,173 uh to be transferred to computer part-time clerical salary $10,800 building Ops equipment repairs and maintenance 92,7 62,1 thank you uh dispatch Personnel Services $16,600 dispatch overtime $18,400 uh building inspection gas plumbing wire $4,800 building inspection temporary position $3,050 uh motor repairs salary $195 uh motor repairs overtime $2,800 motor repairs ooc $120 motor repairs uniform allowance $100 Brookside cemetery salary $4,015 School Medicare $562 Medicare tax $265 second I have Mo seconds to the end of this year inter inter departmental transfer of 8,185 from police incentive and Reserve funds to various City departments any further discussion see none put those are in favor I any against exension motion pass I'll take a motion to adjourn in favor thank thank you everybody for