JOURNAL OF THE CITY COUNCIL Regular Session – October 16, 2007
COUNCIL & STAFF PRESENT:
Martha Rowe Mayor
Jill McCord Mayor Pro Tem
Tom Mayer Council Member
Howard Hickman City Attorney
Mari Macomber City Manager
Sarah Halstead Deputy City Clerk
John Buckwalter City Engineer
Jim Hughes Police Chief
Pat Meredith Human Resources Director
Absent:
Jeff Newton Council Member
Aaron Rodgerson Council Member
The City Council of the City of Kirksville, Missouri, met in a Regular Session on Tuesday, October 16, 2007, at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers.
INVOCATION/PLEDGE
Michael McCormack, First Presbyterian Church, gave the invocation.
The Mayor and Council led the Pledge of Allegiance.
MINUTES
Council Member McCord moved to approve the minutes of the regular session of October 2, 2007; seconded by Council Member Mayer. The motion carried by the following vote: Mayor Rowe – aye; Council Members: Mayer – aye; McCord – aye; Newton – absent; Rodgerson – absent. Ayes – 3; Nays – none; Absent–2.
ORDER OF AGENDA
Council Member Mayer moved to approve the agenda, as distributed; seconded by Council Member McCord. The motion carried by the following vote: Mayor Rowe – aye; Council Members: Mayer – aye; McCord – aye; Newton – absent; Rodgerson – absent. Ayes – 3; Nays – none; Absent–2.
INFORMATION PRESENTATION
None.
CITIZEN PARTICIPATION
Charles Cannaday, 415 E. Pierce: Mr. Cannaday brought up the issue of eliminating the helmet law inside of the City limits, and the concerns involved with insurance, helmets and licenses for mini bikes and mopeds. Mr. Cannaday said he does not feel there is an accident problem and feels Council should consider the issue further before making any decisions.
None.
ACTION PRESENTATIONS
Novinger and Emmett Street Extensions
Council Member McCord moved to approve a bid and authorize the City Manager to enter into an agreement with Mihalevich Concrete Construction, Inc. for the construction of Novinger and Emmett Street Extensions; seconded by Council Member Mayer.
City Engineer, John R. Buckwalter, explained that the plans to extend Novinger and Emmett Streets were complete. Buckwalter said that Emmett Street will connect Baltimore to Lincoln Street on the north side of the North Park Complex. Buckwalter stated that the City advertised for bids, and received five bids in response that ranged from $374,790 to $623,980. The low bid was from Mihalevich Concrete Construction at $374,790.45. Buckwalter stated that the City’s revised estimate was just over $399,000, and that $380,000 had been set aside in the budget. The Staff recommended awarding the contract to Mihalevich Construction, who is prepared to begin work very quickly.
Council Member Mayer asked if the contractors that place bids have worked for the City in the past, and whether or not the City takes into consideration the quality of the work performed in the past. He also asked if the City will eliminate any bidders as not qualified.
Buckwalter said that the City verifies that the contractors are qualified. On this type of work the City will usually accept the lowest qualified bid and each of the contractors on this bid have done work at some point for the City. Buckwalter stated that it would be hard to eliminate a contractor as unqualified unless they were completely unknown, or if there was a project that they had failed for this city or another city.
The motion carried by the following vote: Mayor Rowe – aye; Council Members: Mayer – aye; McCord – aye; Newton – absent; Rodgerson – absent. Ayes – 3; Nays – none; Absent–2.
Change Order—Strukel Electic Agreement
Council Member Mayer moved to approve a change order and authorize the City Manager to amend the agreement with Strukel Electric Inc., of Girard, KS for installation of supplemental wind cones and replacement of sign legend panels at the Kirksville Regional Airport by adding replacement of the blank/black legend panels; seconded by Council Member McCord.
City Engineer, John R. Buckwalter, stated that in June a contract with Strukel Electric had been approved to replace the sign faces on the taxiway and airport guided signs at the airport. After the contract was awarded the FAA completed the Part 149 Inspection of the airport and determined that the City had additional sign faces to replace. Buckwalter explained that the panels had deteriorated and now leak light which is unacceptable and confusing to pilots. The additional cost is $13,350, which is eligible for funding under the system used for the rest of the work. Buckwalter said that ninety-five percent (95%) of the cost is eligible for MoDOT or federal monies, and that City will have to pay the remaining five percent (5%).
The motion carried by the following vote: Mayor Rowe – aye; Council Members: Mayer – aye; McCord – aye; Newton – absent; Rodgerson – absent. Ayes – 3; Nays – none; Absent–2.
Change Order—2007 Concrete Pavement Repair
Council Member McCord moved to approve a change order to the agreement with Mihalevich Concrete Construction, Inc., Kirksville, Missouri, for the 2007 Concrete Pavement repair, Curb and Gutter and Storm Drainage to add actual quantities installed for street repairs; seconded by Council Member Mayer.
John R. Buckwalter stated that this is the only change order for the Concrete Pavement Repair Program. Buckwalter said it includes the additional work that was directed, or required, as work progressed on the Concrete Pavement Repair Program, as well as work that was added for necessary repairs for water line improvements along New Street, Osteopathy, Catalina, and other areas in Kellwood. Buckwalter stated that the bulk of the amount is for water line repairs that were done at the same time as the New Street Improvements. The total cost of the additional work is $145,846, of which: $11,752 will be paid from the Transportation Sales Tax Street Improvement Line; $82,000 will be paid from the Curb, Gutter and Storm Drainage Line of the Transportation Sales Tax; $4,114 will be paid from Street Maintenance materials for curb work done by Mihalevich that was torn out by the Street Department; and $47,979.83 will be paid from the Water fund for pavement repairs along water repairs that have been done since April.
City Manager Macomber told the council that the City provides a list of quantities for the Street program, but it has been the intention that the City uses the same quantity price that the contractor provides for concrete work needed from various water and sewer projects over the summer. Macomber said that the Council should anticipate having change orders every year for the concrete pavement repair program, because the definitive quantities are unknown.
The motion carried by the following vote: Mayor Rowe – aye; Council Members: Mayer – aye; McCord – aye; Newton – absent; Rodgerson – absent. Ayes – 3; Nays – none; Absent –2.
Council Comments
Council Member McCord stated that she would like to congratulate the Police Department and Public Works Department for the excellent job the did for the Red Barn Festival. McCord said that the way Franklin at Harrison was directed it wasn’t blocked off, as it was last year, and she had a business owner thank her due to the extra business. McCord stated she feels it benefits the public, and thanked John Buckwalter and Jim Hughes for a job well done.
Council Member Mayer stated that there was a potential for a poor Red Barn Festival due to the weather, however, this year it did not. Council Member Mayer said that in the past fifteen to twenty years bad weather has wiped out the whole day, and he feels that this year’s success shows that the Red Barn Arts and Crafts Festival has become very strong and shows even more potential in future. Council Member Mayer said he hopes the City continues to support the Festival in the future.
City Manager Macomber informed the Council of a ground breaking at 1512 S. Porter, Thursday, October 18, 2007, at 10:30a.m. The ground breaking is for a single family residence that the City and the Northeast Missouri Community Action Agency (NMCAA) are partnering together to make happen.
Adjournment
Council Member Mayer moved to adjourn to executive Session regarding Personnel Matter RsMO 610.021(3); seconded by Council Member McCord. The Deputy City Clerk called the roll as follows: Mayor Rowe – aye; Council Member Mayer – aye; Council Member McCord – aye; Council Member Newton – absent; Council Member Rodgerson – absent. Ayes – 3; Nays – none; Absent–2.
Mayor Rowe adjourned the meeting to executive session at 5:50p.m.
Sarah Halstead
Deputy City Clerk
The City Council of the City of Kirksville, Missouri, reconvened in a Regular Session, following an Executive Session, on Tuesday, October 16, 2007, at 6:26p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers.
City Manager Macomber explained that in years past the City Council would wait until the very end of the budget process to decide what to do if anything about wages. In the last few years the Council had chosen to start the process by determining personnel benefit improvements. Macomber stated that in the 2007 budget salary scale was adjusted significantly, and changes were made so that the employees got a little more in 2007 than they had gotten in previous years. Macomber explained that the 2007 increase was contingent upon the passage of the Capital Improvement Sales Tax, so employees got their raises almost half way through the year. Macomber said that due to those events she had not anticipated bringing anything to the Council about wages, but Mayor Rowe had asked when salaries would be discussed.
Macomber told the Council that they had been provided a salary scale of employee wages from other cities that included a comparison to the City of Kirksville’s employees. Macomber said that some of the City’s salaries are off the chart, while others are as much as 15% below the comparable cities salaries. Macomber stated that overall the City is approximately 8.2% behind comparable cities, such as: Hannibal; Moberly; Warrensburg; Mexico; etc.
Macomber said that the Council has a policy that says that 20% percent of the general fund reserves are restricted, and that anything above that is unrestricted. The GFOA’s (Government Financial Officers Association) recommendations are 15-20%, and the Council’s policy was established at twenty percent (20%). Based on needing to meet Council Policy the City has about $135,000 unrestricted in the General Fund. Macomber stated that a one percent (1%) increase would be $32,500 for the General Fund, and a total of all funds would be almost $50,000. Cost of living would be a little over two percent (2%), and Macomber said she doesn’t have a recommendation at this point without knowing what else will be going into the budget.
Mayor Rowe asked about lowering the reserve to fifteen percent (15%), and Macomber said that would be a Council Policy that the Council could change. Macomber said that the City Departments are consistent about coming in under budget, not significantly, but under budget by at least a small amount. Meredith stated that there is also additional funds budgeted since she does not account for the pre-tax benefits, but she estimates approximately a five percent (5%) increase in healthcare costs of about $34,000.
Council Member McCord noted some of the positions that are above the survey results, and if it would be possible, or if it had ever been done, to adjust the wages at different levels where not everyone would get a three percent (3%) raise. Meredith stated that the City has a very tight pay plan, and it would cost a lot to implement such a plan. Meredith stated that prior to 2007 the pay ranges were so close together that the ranges overlapped. Meredith explained that last year the City increased the percentage between the ranges by 1%, so that range six got a one percent (1%) raise, range seven got a two percent (2%) raise, etc. Meredith said that this helped to raise the pay for the more technical positions that had been hard to hire in the past due to low wages.
Council Member McCord asked whether the City can take one category and adjust the pay to make it equitable with what that category is making in other cities. Meredith said that that is a possibility, but that each range covers a number of positions, and to justify it for just one position would make it difficult. Meredith said that several years ago the Council took an action called a Market Position Adjustment for just the Police Department officers. In this action the Police Department officers were pulled out of the pay plan to raise the wages high enough to recruit employees, but eventually the pay plan caught up with them. Meredith said that the Council needs to look at these issues in the future, and there may be negotiations with other Labor Agreements coming up. Macomber also mentioned that there are other positions, such as the Water and Wastewater Treatment Operators, that would be difficult to replace due to wages.
Macomber stated that an option would be to look at incorporating the various incentive pays available to employees into hourly wage positions. Meredith said that this option would make positions more attractive when they are advertised, and would make the base pay higher. Macomber stated that as a Police Officer there is a base pay advertised that does not include additional pay. Meredith said there is a shift differential to give a little more pay, but still keep them in the pay plan.
Macomber stated that if some positions are pulled out of the pay plan the recommendations to do this need to be evaluated by an independent person with expertise in this area besides she and Meredith, but that will cost a lot of money.
Meredith said that another alternative would be to establish pay plans by classifications and functions.
Macomber mentioned that one more option could be to look at different pay scales for different sectors. Council Member McCord stated that she felt Market Position Adjustments seem to work well. Meredith said that the City would have to do away with the pay plan in order to do that, and that the idea of the pay plan is to pay each employee according to work performed. Meredith said that every city has different criteria for their positions, and it would take a lot more research.
Council Member McCord stated that she hates to see an eight percent (8%) disparity between the City and the average. Meredith responded that many of the employees are in good shape and well over the average and that it is the City overall that is eight percent (8%) below the average. City Manager Macomber added that the department heads are close to ten percent (10%) below the average. Macomber stated that three department managers will be moved out of the pay plan and receive compensation based on performance.
Mayor Rowe stated that she does not want the City to end up very far behind other cities. Macomber responded that she and Meredith will get together and try to come up with something a little different and present it to the Council at another time.
Council Member Mayer said that he believes the City needs to remain competitive.
Council Member McCord inquired about job loss and how that would affect the changes to the tax base
There being no further business to come before the Council, Council Member Mayer moved to adjourn; seconded by Council Member McCord. The motion carried by the following vote: Mayor Rowe – aye; Council Members: Mayer – aye; McCord – aye; Newton – absent; Rodgerson – absent. Ayes – 3; Nays – none; Absent –2.
Mayor Rowe adjourned the meeting at 6:47p.m.
Sarah Halstead
Deputy City Clerk