- The legislation proposed which increases the penalties for passing school buses was moved on to council last night. There was discussion regarding not just the legislation but the idea of an awareness campaign that Mr. Hailer proposed. Chief Film also stated that the police department and the bus garage are working together to improve the reporting process to see if there are common violation areas that the police can help monitor going forward. I feel the introduction of this legislation by Mr. Fiocca has increased the communication on the topic and brought up several additional ideas for improvement.
- The largest discussion was the 2020 budget. One of the basic requirements is that the city has to have a balanced budget approved by April 1st each year. Here are some highlights on the budget:
- One of the big focuses of the prior council was to pay down debt. From 2001 to 2008 the city debt increased significantly, from roughly $8.5 million to $33.5 million. Those 7 years of racking up debt is still in need of paying off, at the end of 2019 it was still at $14.3 million. It will continue to be a goal to pay down this debt in 2020.
- City Income: Income and property tax make up 75% of the general fund revenue for the city. It is expected in 2020 that both of those sources will be rather flat for 2020.
- Credit Rating: The City has a very good credit rating. One of the main factors for our credit rating is the general fund carryover balance at the end of the year.
- 2020 Projects: There are several areas of projects for the city each year. These include Storm Water Projects, Roads Improvement Projects, and Capital Improvements (including projects and equipment). Council has seen a list of proposed Storm Water Projects and Roads Projects for 2020 but we are still awaiting the Capital Improvements items from the administration. We do know that the roads program for 2020 is expected to match the record program we had in 2019 and is expected to be around $2.8M.
- Council will continue to review the items requested by the administration and the budget numbers to ensure that our budget remains balanced and that we are making investments in areas of concern for our residents.
- The Mayor proposed the 7 members of the Charter Review Commission and a new Parks and Rec Board member for Ward 4. The council approved 6 of the 7 members for the Charter Review Commission, the other proposed appointee already holds an appointment with the city which isn’t allowed under the Charter. The Mayor was going to review that member to see if he would like to resign his other position or if the Mayor needs to select another appointee. The Mayor also selected retired police officer Anne Stirm to represent Ward 4 on the Parks Board, this was the position held by Councilman Fiocca prior to his election.
- Councilwoman Shaw again discussed the idea of live streaming of Council meetings. Costello stated that he did some research into the record retention regarding video recordings of council and found they would likely be a record we would have to maintain forever. While I understand many people or businesses provide videos or streaming related to what they do, the idea of creating an official public record and having the ability to retain it, is an obligation we need to review to make sure it is done properly. Ms. Shaw stated she would like to like to stream these videos in her personal capacity, which would not require any action of council and would not be the creation of any public record belonging to the council. Without any real details on how we could do this in our official capacity at this point Ms. Shaw chose to withdrawal discussion on this topic and is going to see if she can do something in her own capacity.
- Mr. Altieri made a motion last night for the re-consideration of hiring a social media contractor that was voted down last meeting. There was much discussion about this again, what they completed in 2019, what projects they are currently working on, and what they would do in 2020. After discussion this motion passed by a 4-3 vote, (Mr. McIntire, Mr. Fiocca, and myself remained no votes). I still voted no for the same reasons as last time, I do not feel they accomplished the items laid out to council in 2019.
- Lastly but not least, Council voted not to re-zone the county owned water treatment property on River Road. The County was not supportive of the re-zoning and based on their obligations under the EPA if they ever would vacate this property, it is likely unrealistic that this would be used for residential development in the future. In addition, based on the government status of the property the county, the county would have the right to challenger our re-zoning. For those reasons, I voted no and felt it didn’t meet the criteria we were looking for when we were re-zoning properties to conserve green space last year.
The next Council Meeting will be March 12, 2020 at 7 PM, Committee meetings will take place prior to the Council Meeting, times to b./e announced the week of the meeting.