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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/12/2002 B A K E R S F I E L D Alan Tandy, City Ma"nbger Harold Hanson Staff: Darnell W. Haynes Mark Salvaggio AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING Thursday, September 12, 2002, 4:00 p.m. City Manager's Conference Room, Suite 201 Second Floor, City Hall, 1501 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 1. ROLL CALL Called to Order at 4:06 p.m. Present: Councilmembers Mike Maggard, Chair; Harold Hanson and Mark Salvaggio 2. ADOPT JULY 18, 2002 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Adopted as submitted. 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS 4. DEFERRED BUSINESS A. Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding Kern Economic Development Corporation (KernEDC) 'funding request City Manager Alan Tandy explained staff is not ready to make a recommendation on the request for funding from KernEDC. The decision on the aquatics center has not been finalized and needs to precede the decision on an allocation to KernEDC. Some progress has been made. Staff has met with Mr. Collins and discussed what the City would like to see accomplished. Staff will continue to work on the issue and bring a recommendation to the Committee. Patrick Collins, President and CEO, KernEDC, shared information on four potential prospects that have shown interested in locating in this area. At the City Manager's request, he has been working with Economic Development staff to share information on the status of jobs the City is competing for to allow for their input. He also outlined an informational report that could be generated if it is of interest to the City. ADOPTED AS SUBI. I'tTTED ON OCTOBER 10, 2002.' AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Budget and Finance Committee Meeting Thursday, September 12, 2002 Page - 2- The Committee requested staff to continue to work toward designing a performance/payment plan, and as the timing of a recommendation is tied to other funding issues, to keep Mr. Collins informed when this item is scheduled to return to the Committee. B. Staff report and Committee recommendation regarding Economic Development Loan Program POlicy Economic Development Director Donna Kunz provided an overview of the proposed loan policy guidelines (included in the Committee packet). The guidelines include: basic tenets; qualifications; cost-benefit analysis; objectives such as creating or retaining jobs, reducing blight or encouraging revitalization; security/collateral; and repayment, which would require at least an annual payment (no balloon payments). The City has never had a specific policy for the CDBG and Economic Development loan programs. In the past the City has made forgivable loans and grants. Staff has developed a proposed policy that meets State and Federal guidelines for the funds being used. These loans would be for applicants who already have financing, but need working capital or have cash flow needs. Since the passage of SB 975, there have been no applications for loans. It was discussed these guidelines would provide a frame work to evaluate requests and provide applicants with a clear understanding of the requirements. The Committee unanimously approved staff proceeding with the loan policy. 5. NEW BUSINESS A. Staff report and Committee recommendation regard Charter/Code requirements for street maintenance/repair City Manager Alan Tandy explained over the last few years, the City Council has put increasing emphasis on road repairs being a priority for the City. Staff has. responded in a major effort the past two or three years. The vast majority of the work has been contracted. However, there has also been an increase in the amount of time City crews have spent on this effort. The City has an application in to the California Transportation Commission, which will be considered in December, for $12 million for read maintenance. This money was previously reserved for right-of- way acquisition on the Westside Parkway. If the $12 million is released, all of the work will be contracted. The City Manager strongly discouraged any action by the Committee/Council that would give up the City's ability as an organization for City workers to respond promptly to Council priorities and needs. The City can respond to requests for street repair usually in one to two weeks time. Going out to bid is a time consuming process. Staff is not proposing a fundamental shift in how the City operates, and the lion's share of read repairs will continue to be contracted. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Budget and Finance Committee Meeting Thursday, September 12, 2002 Page - 3- Public Work Director Raul Rojas provided a presentation in response to questions raised in a letter to the City Council from Mr. Troxel who represents .a group of contractors who had concerns about City crews doing read work. The Streets Division has always maintained City roads and performed short-term maintenance on arterials and on a long-term basis prepared other projects. Since the turn of the century, the City has been maintaining roads and has not expanded that role. The City's focus has been changed because of the condition of the arterial roads, which needed to be repaired before they completely failed. Workshops were held in front of the Council. There were requests from Councilmembers to add another City crew. There was also a huge push in the contract amount. The City purchased new equipment (paving machine, pulverizer and two dump trucks) for $685,000. The paving machine was actually not additional; it replaced the old machine, which went into a backup role. The old paving machine had about 50 days of downtime the previous year. Fifty days constitute about 30% to 40% of the window to do road work. When this equipment goes down, trucks are loaded with asphalt that cannot be used on roads and residents are stuck. The new pulverizer has helped increase efficiency. It allowed doubling the road repair miles completed on the residential side. The two new dump trucks were needed to work with the pulverizer and three personnel were added to operate the equipment. Streets Division personnel have years of experience and are well qualified to inspect road work. The City does not test its work for compaction and oil standards. Tests are performed on work on the capital improvement side. Testing is required for all contract work. It was discussed the City Charter contains an exception for street maintenance and repair and the Municipal Code provides the process authorizing such work to be performed by the City, which requires City Council approval of expenditure (adoption of the budget) and delegation of the project approval responsibility to the city manager. All members of the Committee agreed no change in policy is warranted and spoke in support of Public Works and Streets Division employees who have done a great job working on our roads and requested Public Works staff in attendance to convey their thanks and appreciation to all employees who work on our roads. 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS 7. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 6:06 p.m. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Budget and Finance Committee Meeting Thursday, September 12, 2002 Page - 4 - Staff present: City Manager Alan Tandy, City Attorney Bart Thiltgen; Assistant to the City Manager Darnell Haynes; Public Works Director Raul Rojas; Assistant Public Works Direct Jack LaRochelle; Economic Development Director Donna Kunz; Public Works Civil Engineer Arnold Ramming; Public Works Operations Manager Brad Underwood; Street Superintendent Luis Peralez; Street Supervisor Mike Connor; Construction Superintendent Stuart Patteson; Construction Supervisor Rick Millwee; and Public Works Civil Engineer Nick Fidler. Others present: Patrick Collins; President and CEO, Kern EDC; Brad Troxel, Asphalt Contractors; Chuck Waide and Denny Haynes, CCAPE; bfO2sepl2summary