September 2, 2009 Minutes
CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
September 2, 2009
After determining that a quorum was present, the City Council convened in a Work Session on
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. in the Council Work Session Room at City Hall.
PRESENT: Mayor Burroughs, Mayor Pro Tem Kamp, Council Member Engelbrecht, Council
Member Heggins, Council Member Mulroy, and Council Member Watts.
ABSENT: Council Member Gregory.
1. Receive a report, hold a discussion, and give staff direction on the 2009-10 City Manager’s
Proposed Budget, Capital Improvement Program, and Five-year Financial Forecast.
Bryan Langley, Director of Finance, stated that there were a number of questions following the
August 18th budget presentation. This meeting would provide more detailed information
regarding some of the issues presented and would provide a time for discussion following those
presentations.
Chuck Russell, Planning Supervisor, presented information on the Planning Department Imaging
Project. He stated that Laserfiche was a separate component from Projectdox. It was a critical
piece of software for the department. He estimated that there were 400,000 pieces of paper
stored at City Hall West regarding planning documents. He had performed a cost analysis for
maintaining forty file cabinets of documents. Not including facility costs, the bottom line was
$572,000 in savings with Laserfiche.
The process for Laserfiche involved planning, scanning, integrating, and interfacing. Benefits of
using Laserfiche included citizen service, sustainability, time savings, improved processes,
preservation, storage needs and was parcel based. He stated that there had been a question about
the consultant on the project. BP Imaging developed the statement of work and was the original
implementation partner for Laserfiche. It was an acceptable city practice to consult with
representatives of an industry for the development of specifications, as well as to acquire budget
estimates. A competitive bid process would be performed when the project was ready to be
purchased.
Mayor Burroughs stated that a lot of the projected savings had to do with the wastes in time to
find documents. He felt that the savings from manpower would only be tangible if FTEs could
be cut at some point or FTEs would not have to be hired at some point due to efficiencies. He
questioned at what point this would translate to actual savings as opposed to paper savings.
Russell stated that looking for documents was above and beyond the normal work done by the
employees.
Mayor Burroughs stated that currently things might get delayed or did not get the time and
attention they deserved because of having to locate documents.
Russell replied correct.
City Manager Campbell stated that staff had increased a time commitment to the development
community and it was difficult to do that if time was not freed up for employees.
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September 2, 2009
Page 2
Council Member Heggins asked about the difference between paper and Laserfiche savings.
Russell stated that the difference was the cost of currently doing business versus the cost of using
Laserfiche and the efficiency with Laserfiche.
Mark Cunningham, Director of Planning and Development, stated that if there were a fire at City
Hall West, all historical data would be lost as there was no backup for that data.
Council Member Mulroy stated that staff was re-examining where they were and where they
hadn’t been. He recalled that one of Council’s highest priorities for the City Manager when he
was hired was to get the development and planning process up-to-date, back on track and
running smooth. He felt the City was about 5 years behind in automation. Some parts of the
City already had Laserfiche. He felt there was no better time to implement the changes as the
City was not overly taxed with new projects. He was in favor of moving forward with the
funding. He might have a question on how to fund the project but move ahead with the project.
Council Member Watts felt that this problem had been around for a while but questioned the
expense in a challenged budget year. He understood that the funds for the project would be
taken from gas well money.
City Manager Campbell stated yes because of the extended life of the project and the fact that it
was a city-wide project.
Council Member Watts stated that he was comfortable with that. Council needed to think about
how to use the gas well money and how to subsidize the Airport with gas well money. There
was a window of opportunity based on federal rules and was for projects such as this. This
might be a onetime big hit but it was related to economic development in the entire community
which would increase the overall image of the department. He felt he could be on board if staff
could find creative ways to finance the project. He felt it was a good tool to position Denton in
the future.
Council Member Engelbrecht felt that it would improve the productivity of the department and
move to professional productivity as opposed to administrative productivity.
Mayor Pro Tem Kamp felt it was appropriate use of gas well money. It was a onetime expense
and agreed that Council needed to look at other issues with the gas well money as well.
Ross Chadwick, Fire Chief, stated that his previously submitted budget was intended to
include $150,000 savings in Fire Department overtime achieved primarily through modifications
to staffing of two engine companies and assignment of Battalion Chiefs. The intention was to
offset the expected gap (overspending) between budgeted overtime and actual overtime
expended each year rather than reduce the budgeted amount from the previous years.
Actually reducing the previously budgeted amount would only increase the overtime funding
shortfall. Therefor, the $150,000 should not be removed from the budget as originally
recommended to Council. In order to reduce the gap between the annual budgeted and actual
spending on overtime, more effective management of overtime as well as adjusting normal daily
staffing was being proposed.
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September 2, 2009
Page 3
City Manager Campbell stated that the intent was not to reduce the line item for overtime in last
year's budget by the $150,000. The overtime savings will be recognized but what had happened
in the past was that overtime exceeded the budget and staff was trying to close that gap. It was a
reduction in what was expected to be spent but not a reduction in the line item.
Chadwick presented figures concerning the past 5 years of overtime. The proposal was
to modify staffing. Currently staffing was kept at 37 and if that number went below 37 due to
sick time or situations of personnel being gone, overtime was paid. The proposal was to reduce
staffing at Station 7 from four to three and then Station 6 from four to three to make up the gap
when employees were gone. He felt this was safe for the City and not result in a drop in service
level.
Council Member Mulroy asked if the overtime figure was a gross amount of minimum staffing
and if it included payments from other agencies for deployments.
Chadwick replied that it did not include deployment for other reasons. That was a separate
account.
Council Member Mulroy asked how often the staffing would be reduced in Stations 6 and 7.
Chadwick replied that they usually average two people off a day per shift for overtime. That did
not happen every day, some days four people might be off and another day no people off.
Council Member Mulroy stated that if this was not a safety issue, why did the City have four
person engines to begin with. It had been a commitment of Council on an informal basis to ramp
up over time to four man engines. There had been some progress made in that direction and he
and did not want out of convenience to go back on the process. If the policy was to maintain a 4
man engine then Council should not go back on that policy.
Chadwick stated that a three man engine would not affect service. He felt it was a safe viable
method for fighting fires.
City Manager Campbell felt that if the four man engine was not for safety reasons in the
community, then there was a need to look and see if that was a realistic benchmark to achieve.
Clearly there were examples where the engines operated safely with a three man team.
Council Member Mulroy stated that if the Council commitment was to ramp up to four man
engines, following this suggestion would be the undoing of a long term policy. He felt they were
taking a step backwards with this proposal.
Council Member Engelbrecht felt that there was a disconnect between what the City wanted and
what was budgeted. Staffing was done one way and budgeting was done another.
City Council Member Campbell stated that it appeared that a budget was adopted and then staff
had a wish and hope that overtime needs did not exceed the budgeted amount. History showed
that overtime was exceeded by $200,000 a year. To be realistic, the $150,000 should be added
back into the budget plus an additional $200,000 because staff knew it would be spent. They
were trying to manage the overtime budget and close the gap which they knew would occur.
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September 2, 2009
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Council Member Watts stated that the policy seemed to be to a four man crew but the money had
to be put where the policy was. The situation was to either have a temporary setback in a four
man crew or prioritize that a four man crew was worth it and look at other areas to cut or other
revenue to come up with. He did not want the budget cycle to be the determinate for the policy.
He did not want a vote on the budget to be implied to be a vote on that subject.
City Manager Campbell felt that this was a policy issue worth a separate discussion in the future.
Eva Poole, Director of Libraries, presented information concerning a follow-up question from
Council Member Mulroy regarding the impact of the budget reduction for the purchase of library
books on the books per capita ratio. In fiscal year 2007 when Council provided for additional
funding for library materials, the city was below the basic standard of 1.5 items per capita. With
the upsurge in funding that had been raised to 2.3 items per capita which were relevant, up-to-
date, and in high demand. The $150,000 reduction would not negatively affect the 2.3 items per
capita. She understood that there was available bond money and the library would be able to use
that money to maintain that per capita figure.
Mayor Pro Tem Kamp asked for an explanation of the bond money.
Langley stated that bonds had been sold in the past for library improvements which earned
interest. At this time there was $200,000 which could be used for library materials related to the
expansion of the new facility. This would be one-time money and not an ongoing funding
source.
Mayor Pro Tem Kamp stated that it could be used in the next fiscal year.
Langley replied correct.
Council Member Mulroy stated that there was a target number adopted several years ago to get
over the threshold. The city was at 2.03 which was the basic standard with an enhanced standard
of 3 items per capita. He felt it was necessary to separate the budget process from policy. After
completion of the budget process, he would like to have a work session to discuss the policy of
what the official per capita should be and then work on future budgets to get to that policy.
Council Member Heggins suggested that this kind of information needed to be filtered to the
community so they understood what was happening.
Ms. Poole stated that the Library Board was concerned that even with the bond money; the
funding would be cut next year. The Board was aware of the potential bond money for funding.
Langley stated that some of the outstanding issues that still needed to be resolved included Jazz
Fest permit fees, library materials, overtime, Kiwanis Fireworks, the Airport entrance project, fee
increases, other miscellaneous reductions and the fire-year forecast impact.
Mayor Pro Tem Kamp stated that she had worked with many of the vendors and the cost of the
$25/day fee might not seem large but for some of the vendors, it was. She questioned if there
was a way to gradually increase the fee starting on a smaller basis such as $25 this year, $50 the
next year and so on. She stated that there was also a question of when sponsors were given a free
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September 2, 2009
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space but they were not selling anything. If a vendor was selling a product, charge the fee but if
a vendor was strictly giving out information about an organization, what would be the fee.
Emerson Vorel, Director of Parks and Recreation, stated that this year there was a booth giving
away a motorcycle and all an individual had to do was register for it. That vendor was
not charged a fee as he was not selling anything. Several Parks staff members had registered for
the motorcycle and then afterwards had received a sales call. They found that the sales caller
had purchased the registration information from the booth vendor. He felt that if the City were
a true sponsor of an event and a vendor was only performing a service and not selling anything,
he would be in favor of not paying a booth fee. If a vendor was collecting information and
selling that information for profit or collecting names as potential customers, he should pay the
vendor fee.
Mayor Pro Tem Kamp felt that more information was needed on the definition of a vendor.
However, a vendor just giving out information on an organization and not selling anything
should not be charged the fee. She asked about the gradual increase in the fee charge rather than
the full fee this next year.
City Manager Campbell stated that if the Council was in favor of the gradual increase, staff
would calculate the revenue and adjust by a third of what was projected and increase the fees
over the next three years.
Council Member Mulroy stated that the answer to Question 7 dealing with total cost of providing
city services to the Arts and Jazz Festival provided various city services and associated costs. He
was surprised that no economic impact on Denton through the Hotel Occupancy Tax funds was
provided.
Mayor Pro Tem Kamp stated that the HOT Committee was provided those figures every year
from the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Langley stated that staff could provide that information to Council.
Council Member Engelbrecht stated that he would like a work session on the entire process of
HOT funds and develop some sort of system on the economic impact on events in the City. He
felt there was no current method to address this issue.
Langley stated that the resolution of the issue of funding for library materials would leave the
reduction as proposed and use the CIP interest income for materials.
Langley stated that the next outstanding issue was the funding the Kiwanis fireworks.
Council Member Watts felt that the funding should not be cut at all given the amount and impact
the event had on the community plus the social services the organization provided. If the funding
were to be cut, it should not be done all at once but rather a gradual reduction to provide lead
time for the Kiwanis to make up the difference.
Mayor Pro Tem Kamp agreed that the funding needed to stay in the budget. This was a
community event and was a great benefit for the entire community.
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September 2, 2009
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Council Member Engelbrecht felt it was not appropriate to do this year but might be an issue to
look at in the future.
Council Member Heggins agreed as the Kiwanis was very beneficial to the community.
Langley stated that the next issue was the Fire Department overtime.
Council Member Mulroy asked for a clarification of the $150,000 reduction. That amount was
not just from a reduction in manpower of the engine companies, it also included battalion chief
funding. He asked how much was the battalion chief funding.
Chadwick stated that it was approximately $32,000-$35,000.
Council Member Mulroy stated that the reduction to the engine company was about $115,000.
He felt that there was work to do on this policy issue but that the existing policy was to move
towards four man engines. The differential was $115,000 and he hoped that management could
revise the budget plan and cover at least half of it and lower the occurrence of reducing the four
man engine by half.
Langley stated that the original cut was $150,000. The Fire Chief was proposing an additional
reduction in lieu of that because it was not a cut to the budget which was really $100,000 net to
be added back if the reduction was not done. He questioned if Council Member Mulroy was
now asking to reduce that amount by $50,000.
Council Member Mulroy stated that the figure presented was $150,000 minus the battalion chiefs
for $115,000. For this year cover half of it instead of the whole amount and pay for the other
half with overtime.
City Manager Campbell stated that what was actually recommended was a policy change that the
Chief could make during any shift. That would involve taking a person off Engine 7 and Engine
6 in order to avoid having someone come in on overtime. The estimate on savings was $115,000
and whether that really would occur would depend on how many absences there would be.
Driving the policy from the standpoint of the number of dollar to work with would be difficult to
define on whether to use for one engine or both.
Council discussed the timing of a policy discussion of a three or four man engine and how to
fund the overtime question.
City Manager Campbell stated that the recommendation today was to put the $150,000 back in
the budget and implement the staffing changes to try and reduce the overtime. The $150,000
would be put back in the budget but recognize that there was still a whole gap to cover and a way
to cover part of that would be staffing changes. If no staffing changes were done there would be
a dramatic impact on the five year forecast.
Consensus of the Council was to put $150,000 back in the budget and proceed as done in past
years without adding additional funds to cover the overtime. There would not be any change in
the policy but go to reduced staffing at this time.
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September 2, 2009
Page 7
Langley stated that there was also some other reductions offered by Chief Chadwick and those
would also be included. He asked about the Laserfiche and Projectdox programs.
Consensus of the Council was to proceed with placing those items in the budget with a look at
getting some of the funds back with alternative funding.
Langley stated that the next issue was the Airport Entrance project.
Council Member Mulroy asked for a further explanation of the scope of work. The original
project was to resurface the roadway. He requested a fuller explanation of the components and
the cost of each component.
Quentin Hix, Airport Manager, stated that the project had been discussed with the Airport Board
before he took his current position. When he discussed with the Board various projects that were
underway, this project was identified as one of interest but there was no money indentified in
the operating budget or gas well funding for it. The cost estimate of the project was for repaving
the entrance from Highway 1515 to the west entrance. The line item estimate of the cost
included paving, drainage and some landscaping. The actual scope of the project had not yet
been identified. There would be funds needed for engineering services to develop a scope of the
project.
Council Member Mulroy suggested reducing the amount in the budget to the preliminary
engineering study that could be presented to Council during the next fiscal year and not include
the project in the budget.
Mayor Burroughs stated that if the funding was proposed to come out of the airport gas well
funds, it could be done at any time and did not have to be included in the proposed budget.
Langley stated that the funding for the project would come from Airport gas well funds and
Council would have to approve the funding for the scope of the project.
Mayor Pro Tem Kamp stated that although the overall project had been discussed for a while, the
scope of work was not fully decided at this time.
Council Member Watts asked if the City was trying to receive grant help from TxDOT.
Hix stated that there was no grant application at this time.
City Manager Campbell stated that if the project were funded with Airport gas well funds, it
could be approved at any time during the fiscal year.
Langley stated that $50,000 for an initial study would be placed in the proposed budget with the
rest of the project looked at in the future.
Langley continued with the proposed fee increases.
Mayor Burroughs questioned the proposed parks fees in particular the youth sports impact fee
and selected youth sports. There was no projected revenue net noted in the charge and he asked
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September 2, 2009
Page 8
about the effect on the entirety of the budget for any particular element. It was a 50% increase
for those two items which appeared to be a small amount but added up per item. He asked for a
figure on the impact of the increase for both programs.
Langley replied $13,000.
Vorel stated that the figure might be $13,000 but because of the timing of the fiscal year and the
sports year it was only half of what would be impacted. The leagues had already started and the
increase in fee would not be in effect until next season. He stated that last evening there were
some questions about the impact fees and whether they were $5 increasing to $10 or $10
increasing to $15. Staff did research today to sort out what had happened and determined that
early in the budget process there was a mistake in the document which they thought they had
corrected but apparently was not done in all the documents. The current impact fee was $10 per
player per season and the suggestion was to change it to $15.
Mayor Burroughs questioned that the general fund expense for use of the fields for softball,
soccer, football and baseball teams added up to $1.2 million.
Vorel replied correct that was the amount it cost to maintain those fields.
Mayor Burroughs stated that it was an enormous amount to maintain those fields.
Vorel stated that it represented 95% of the athletics budget and 45% of the trades budget which
included park maintenance, lights, irrigation, fences, scoreboards, restrooms and concession
stands.
Council Member Engelbrecht asked if staff had data for fees in other cities.
Vorel stated that the information was not included in the Council packet but that range of fees
was from $3 per player a season to $15 per player per season. However, some of the activities
might be different as to what was included in the fees so there was some caution in comparing
those figures among cities.
Council Member Watts asked for the net between what was received and what was spent on the
athletic fields.
Vorel stated that when an association paid the impact fee, the association ran that league, and the
impact fee went into the general fund. With other programs, staff ran the program with no
association involved. In those cases the funds were collected for the recreation fund and those
dollars were used to operate those programs.
Langley asked if the Council direction was to move forward with the fee changes.
The consensus of the Council was to proceed with the fee changes.
Langley stated that the next item was other miscellaneous reductions and asked if Council had
any questions/issues to discuss.
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September 2, 2009
Page 9
Mayor Pro Tem Kamp asked about council contingency funds.
Mayor Burroughs indicated that the funding would not be reduced.
Consensus of the Council was to maintain that funding in the budget.
Langley stated that on September 15th he would bring back a summary of the changes to the
proposed budget and an updated five year forecast for the General Fund.
Council Member Mulroy stated that in the five year forecast, the 12-15% bracketed reserve fund
balance was a target which was meant to be flexible as a shock absorber for unexpected items
and avoid drastic cuts in personnel, layoff, etc. The five year plan as stated indicated a gradual
reduction in the reserve fund and in the sixth year out, the amount was below the bracket. It
would be helpful after the completion of this budget to see how the trend was going to be
reversed so as to match revenue to expenditure and visa versa.
Jon Fortune, Assistant City Manager, stated that the proposed budget would also include any
financial impact as a result of Meet and Confer.
1. Closed Meeting:
A. Deliberations Regarding Certain Public Power Utilities: Competitive Matters - Under Texas
Government Code Section 551.086.
1. Receive competitive public power information from staff in the form of a proposed
operating budget for Denton Municipal Electric ("DME") for the upcoming fiscal year,
including without limitation, revenues, expenses, commodity volumes, and commitments,
and the direction of DME; and discuss, deliberate, consider adoption of the budget and other
matters, and provide staff with direction regarding such matters.
The Council did not meet in Closed Session.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.
_______________________________________
MARK A. BURROUGHS
MAYOR
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
_______________________________________
JENNIFER WALTERS
CITY SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS