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020851
| 0 | | Budget | Communication from the Mayor transmitting the 2003 City Budget.
Minutes note: Also appeared: Laura Engan, Cassandra Patterson, Marianne Walsh, Wally Morics
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS – ADMINISTRATION
Mariano Schifalacqua, James Purko, Dorinda Floyd, Laquisha Harrell, Preston Cole, Michael Panlener, Jerry Froh, Patrick Klinger, John Garland, Leonard Streich, Thomas Bell & James Carroll appeared.
Mr. Bell provided a brief overview of this budget, and Mr. Carroll then read from his fiscal summary. The number of positions in DPW – Administrative Services Division decreases from 71 to 69. The vacant Contract Liaison Officer position is eliminated as part of the new process to review parking citations. Authority for this position is eliminated in the 2003 DPW – Administration budget and a new position of Parking Citation Review Manager is created in the City Attorney's office. The Parking Citation Review Manager position is responsible for reviewing parking citations that are being contested. Assistant City Attorneys previously handled this responsibility. While position authority is in the City Attorney's Office, the Parking Fund will reimburse the City Attorney's Office for salaries, fringe benefits and supplies.
Ms. Floyd stated they eliminated two positions in the Finance section. They created an additional administrative position for the Safety Section. Year to date over 1800 calls for their on-line service requests.
Ald. Henningsen asked about Other Operating Services. In 2001 they were a solid waste fund. In 2002 moved back from an enterprise fund to a public works fund. Ald. Henningsen asked about Property Services and Professional Services. Ms. Floyd stated this was for the entire DPW, energy costs etc. Professional Services - Mr. Schifalacqua stated it would be more appropriate to talk about under each division. Ald. Gordon asked about the reorganization. Mr. Schifalacqua stated they combined a number of positions into one title, to give them some flexibility. Mr. Streich from Local 61 stated they had many grievances last year. The problem is he has seen Labor Relations go backwards. Mr. Garland stated they are some concerns with AFSCME. Some real concerns with the drivers and how this process is working. He spoke with Mr. Purko and asked to discuss these concerns and get a clarification. Ald. D'Amato asked about the types of concerns. Mr. Streich stated they have some seniority concerns and have a pay scale as the CPW told them no one would lose money and some members have lost money. That case is coming up in December. They are changing vacation for members without negotiating with the union. Mr. Garland stated he is having similar problems as Mr. Streich has stated. Mr. Schifalacqua stated the problems are with how they assign staff, but not with the delivery of services. Mr. Purko stated there are some disagreements with the interpretation of language. They will resolve themselves through the legal process. They are committed to work with the union and resolve these issues. Ald. Henningsen asked if there was anything in their contract that would prevent the members from submitting slips for special pickups etc. Mr. Streich felt that the supervisor should be checking the addresses. Ald. Gordon stated they drove down some alleys that were really bad. Mr. Streich stated they got back on overtime and there is a lot of work out there. Ald. Henningsen asked if when the workers are picking up garbage, they should have a notebook and at the end of the route they should turn it (special pickups, excess trash) to their supervisors. He stated they are only given so much time to pick up the routes. Ald. Gordon stated if they send an aldermanic service request to pick up an entire alley, could it be done. Mr. Streich stated the driver could never finish his regular lot. Mr. Schifalacqua stated it would depend if the trash was in the alley or on private property. Ald. Murphy asked where they are looking for additional sources of income. Mr. Schifalacqua stated they have not decreased their efforts in working with the county and applying for state and federal money. They have been very successful in getting SEMAC monies. Every time they have one of those programs they bring it before the council for approval. Ald. Henningsen advised that on the chart from the budget office they still have too many injuries. He asked if they should take the safety positions out of DPW. Mr. Schifalacqua stated he saw injury rates decreasing. If you look at the chart from 1999 till present, you will see it decrease. He feels it is important for the safety specialists to work on a daily basis and he feels they are doing an excellent job. They are trying to better coordinate them and be more pro active in their safety efforts. Ms. Engan feels they should keep them in the DPW, as these are the people they are trying to watch. Mr. Streich feels they should be kept in DPW. He stated if you move them back to DER, they will lose what is going on. He feels the safety specialists should have more power. Ms. Walsh stated initially the safety specialists were part of DER and it is difficult to have employees of one department police another department. It is better to have them closer to the people that they are policing. Although the injuries have decreased, the costs have risen. DPW has 40% of all claims. $7.5 million claims have been paid citywide. She stated they were moved into DPW in the 1997 budget. Mr. Garland stated they support the safety specialists and they are working with them and doing a tremendous job. He hopes they will continue this and keep it in place where it is. Mr. Thomas stated there is an arm's length distance between the safety specialists and the employees. He feels the increase in costs is due mainly to the increase in health care costs. Ald. Gordon asked about the phone system and if any changes need to be made. Ms. Engan stated this has been put on hold to give it more time and focus energies in other places.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS – SANITATION
Mariano Schifalacqua, David Lorbeske, Richard McDonnell, Patrick Hartmann, John English (DC 48), Ald. Bohl, Leonard Streich (Local 61) & James Carroll appeared.
Mr. Patrick Hartmann read her budget overview, whereupon Mr. Carroll followed with his fiscal report. The 2003 Proposed City Budget includes a 25% reduction in funding in street sweeping services in the City. The proposed funding reduction for 2003 return's street sweeping services to the level provided after the Common Council adopted reductions to the 2001 Budget. It also includes a change in curbside garbage collections, requiring residents to place their garbage carts at the curb year round.
Ald. Henningsen asked what is the reason they have 392 employees in June and in January and February they have 400+. Mr. Lorbeske replied they have more garbage routes in the winter. They will layoff 22 driver operators with the curbside collection. Ald. Henningsen asked how long someone has to work before they get unemployment compensation. Mr. Purko stated he believe it is 8 to 10 weeks. Ald. Henningsen asked if there is any strategy to not work people 8 weeks so they don't have to pay unemployment. Mr. Schifalacqua stated most of their seasonal employee's work well beyond the 8 – 12 weeks. Ald. Gordon stated he received a scathing email from a constituent yesterday. He asked if there would be a reduction in the snow and ice control rate. Ms. Engan stated last year was the 10 year lowest cost they had. They also found out there were more streets they were not plowing. They had agreements with other areas to plow these. Ms. Walsh stated the fee will have to increase as the projected revenue is about $3 million and is running at a deficit for 2002. Ms. Engan stated in terms of the shortfall this year, we just started billing, so it's too early to predict a shortfall. Ald. D'Amato stated they are going to lose 3 legends and it will have a impact. He asked about curbside pickup. Mr. Lorbeske stated Milwaukee picks up at the curb for 8 months and 4 months at the backyard. Ald. D'Amato asked how people would know what their collection days will be with the snowfall and holidays. Mr. Lorbeske stated they would be given a slip when the collection would be for holidays. Ald. D'Amato stated they are doing this to save money and therefore some people will have to go an extra week without garbage collection or it will costs us extra money. Mr. Schifalacqua stated if they did it during regular hours this wouldn't cost more money. Ald. D'Amato stated it was very important for people to understand this. They typically do 4 or 5 full scale plowing operations. A day's collection is approximately $160,000, if we do it on a Saturday. Ms. Engan stated they planned on having residents bring the cart to the curb on their regular day. If there is a snow storm, or if the cart is not picked up, they want residents to bring the cart back to their house. Ald. Murphy stated this is a disaster. He feels it is penny wise and pound foolish. An incredible mess will be out in the streets in the winter. He feels it would just be crazy and not make a lot of sense. Mr. Schifalacqua stated the impact would depend on what type of winter we have. Ald. D'Amato asked what they do on an alley. Mr. Lorbeske stated they (garbage carts) are supposed to be at the alley line. They got back on carts this year. Normally they request 25,000 carts, this year they requested 15,000 carts. They anticipate at the end of the year, they will be out of carts. Ald. D'Amato asked if it was more cost-efficient to repair carts. Mr. Lorbeske stated it depends on how badly they are damaged. Ald. D'Amato asked about the cut of the position of "sanitation supervisor". He stated if they take this person away, essentially we are saying this person is doing nothing. Mr. Purko replied the changes are part of his overview of the entire management section. He stated some of these positions are doing things that are not essentially management responsibility. They are trying to look at creating positions that will work "manage" in all DPW departments. The additional information issues are probably during the spring cleanup, snow and ice and people not cutting grass and weeds. They would like to provide the service a little more efficiently at a little less rate of pay. Mr. Lorbeske stated they have clerks in 3 offices, instead of 6 and they are managing fine. There is 9 supervisors in each of the 3 areas of the City. Ald. Murphy asked about the 25,000 carts that are going to be ordered. He asked about the City's costs. A garbage cart is about $37 and a recycling cart is about $45. Mr. Schifalacqua stated they did look at charging the homeowners for their carts, but decided at this time, that is not workable. Ald. Murphy stated we need to look at that, because it may be an amendment and asked Mr. Lorbeske to do some more homework on that. Ms. Engan stated cities are in the business of providing that. If you charge, some people can not afford to replace them and some people may take other people's carts. As a city cleanliness standpoint, budget office had some concerns about charging people for carts. Ald. Murphy asked what people had before the garbage carts. Mr. Lorbeske stated people were expected to provide their own garbage carts. Ald. Henningsen asked when do they decide when a garbage cart gets replaced. Mr. Schifalacqua stated they are replaced on need and not on age. Mr. McDonnell stated part of the reason we request carts is they would like to be able to do part of that on a periodic replacement. Even today the warranties are 10 years old, at the end of their warranty, the replacement costs have gone down about $5 per cart. Ald. Henningsen asked about revenues for recyclable. We pay them a fee. Recycling is a state law. He stated he lives in an area where very few people recycle because the carts are gone and people use them to move. He asked if we were compiling with the required recycling rate. Mr. Lorbeske stated overall we are complying with the required recycling rate. Ald. Henningsen said out of 100 houses in an area only about 10 of them have any recycling cart. He asked what they do when people do not comply. Mr. McDonnell stated they did public service announcements. They give them a red bin when the resident asks for one. Ald. Henningsen stated they should just drop them off. A red bin is a weekly collection. The blue carts are picked up about once a month. Mr. Engelbart stated they track it on a route by route basis and need to hit a citywide average of 26 pounds per household to meet the citywide criteria. In the other areas they do what they can for educational purposes. They currently have a brochure that is mailed out, telling the people what they should be recycling. He has worked with MPS to reinforce recycling efforts. If a person is a homeowner they will do the things the city is asking of them. Citywide, we are averaging about 28 pounds per household. High transiency routes are very low in their recycling efforts. They have a 28 day collection schedule. Ald. D'Amato asked if certain areas have such poor participation, should we just forget about getting them to recycle. Mr. Engelbart stated State law will not allow us to do that. Ald. Henningsen stated they have lots of 8 unit apartment buildings and there were no recycling containers. He asked how they deal with them. Mr. Engelbart stated they use state grant money for 5 units or greater and we have them go to the private sector. If they notice recyclable in trash, they write them a letter. He said the collectors are the ones that usually inform them about these recylables in the trash. Ald. Murphy stated certain areas they have the 2 inch rule of snow and asked how sanitation trucks can get through with people parking on both sides of the street. Mr. Schifalacqua stated they are seeing an expansion of 2-sided parking and we may have side streets that won't have to be plowed. Ald. Murphy stated we have been very lucky in the City to not have much snow. He asked if we have a year with a lot of snow will they have the flexibility in their budget to say this is not such a good idea and we will go back to what they previously did. Mr. Schifalacqua stated they will always keep the City clean. There is no consistency in the level of snow the City receives, but wanted to assure the committee that we will always have passable streets. Starting in January we will have curbside garbage pickup. He stated he always work's with the direction of the aldermen if there is a public outcry. Ms. Engan stated Milwaukee has the highest use of salt per City streets. We do not have the flexibility in DPW budget to address a policy change in mid year. One option would be to go back to contingency fund if a change is required. The city may have flexibility in their budget, but the department does not in their budget. Ald. D'Amato stated 2 years ago, we had an awful winter. Detroit doesn't plow city side streets and now we are using them as a model. Will people notice a difference between the suburbs? Mr. Schifalacqua stated he doesn't know what suburbs standards are. Ald. D'Amato asked if he would notice a difference this year, compared to last year. Mr. Schifalacqua stated yes. Ald. D'Amato asked about budgets from other cities. Mr. Lorbeske stated Madison does not salt side streets, until they get to 3 inches. They put sand of these streets to provide traction. Madison is about half the size of Milwaukee and has a snow and ice budget of about $4 million. Milwaukee's snow and ice budget is about $8.3 million. They plow when they get to 3 inches. He stated it is more effective to work from the bottom up then the top down for ice and snow. An endloader runs between $70 and $150 an hour to operate. They spent $125,000 a day to hire private companies to help with the 50 inches of snow last year in December. Right now Milwaukee has a bare pavement policy. Ald. Murphy stated it's not a bad idea to put down less salt, but in his opinion it is a significant decrease in service. He does not know if we are going to save a lot of money here and may be really upsetting the citizens overall. Ald. Bohl asked about the change in street sweeping. Everything west of 76th street would go on a 4 week cycle. He said some of his area is on 2 week schedule. He said 2 weeks must mean 2 months. He stated he called Mr. Lorbeske yesterday stating they had a year to look at this as far as use and not just one that makes nice squares on the map.
(Ald. D'Amato and Henningsen excused at 11:10 A.M.)
(Ald. Henningsen returned at 11:20 A.M.)
(Ald. D'Amato returned at 11:22 A.M.)
Adjustment can be made at aldermanic requests. Ald. Henningsen stated they should be complimented and all the employees too, because we have a cleaner City. Mr. Schifalacqua stated it is not the managers, but the workers that are out in the City. Mr. English (DC 48) talked about the service reduction in street sweeping. He feels we should take care of the City before we start looking elsewhere. Cleanliness is one of the things that make Milwaukee unique. He feels the change in curbside collection would basically affect Local 61, but with the merger it may affect some of his employees. He feels it's a wonderful proposal if it only snowed on weekends. Mr. Streich (Local 61) stated to cut back on the brooms would make the City dirty. It would hurt the city in the long run. Salting, he worries about the safety of the City is we salt less. There will be a problem if streets are not salted and the streets will look like alleys with ice everywhere. Injuries will go up if we do not salt. The biggest problem is the 11 winter routes they want to take away. If your garbage collection is on Dec. 15th, you may not get your garbage picked up till the end of January. They have a guarantee, cold weather policy. They will pick up the garage at 7 or 8 at night. The layoffs of 46 drivers will affect snow and ice plowing. They have a no layoff agreement and if they layoff, they will take the City to court. If they fall behind, they call more people in. Mr. Purko stated the 22 layoff's is one of the things that they have a difference of opinion. Ald. D'Amato read from the contract book. The contract states as a result of the organization, no employees will be laid off. Ald. D'Amato stated it would be irresponsible for them to engage in something that they see is against the contract. Mr. Purko stated he checked this out with Mr. Forbes and he agrees with his interpretation of the contract. Mr. Lorbeske stated part of the reduction is due to the savings of private contractors. Ald. D'Amato stated for the additional $3 you are getting lots of reductions in service. We are asking people to pay a little more for perhaps considerably less. Ms. Engan stated what they brought forth are changes and are open to suggestion but encouraged the Committee to keep an open mind and look at options and evaluate them.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS – BUILDINGS & FLEET
Mariano Schifalacqua, Venu Gupta, Gary Kulwicki, Bernie Mielcarek, Greg Jagmin, John Garland, Patrick Hartmann & Mark Ramion appeared.
Mr. Hartmann provided his budget highlights, while Mr. Ramion read from his fiscal overview. The Facilities Management Section and the Design and Construction Section will be consolidated into the Facilities Development and Management Section. Operating expenditures for 2003 are $35,032,256. The south repair shop is proposed for closing with operations and positions to be transferred to the Central Municipal garage. A pilot study is proposed in order to evaluate the cost effectiveness of outsourcing police vehicle repairs. DPW custodians will no longer provide services at the Safety Academy. The City Hall Restoration project is scheduled to begin with a first year cost of $12.4 million. A newly created position of Finance Manager, SG 11 is proposed for the Administration Section.
Mr. Gupta stated they are now one of the 3 sections of DPW who provide service around the clock. They have 475 extremely dedicated employees that are highly skilled. He's appreciated the fact that he has a good working relationship with the union. They are responsible to take care of 2,700 motor vehicles and they operate a centralized dispatch. They are the custodians of the City buildings. They manage about 400 acres of recreational land. He has purposed a merger of the design and construction section and the facilities management section. Partnership of the Southwest shop with the Central Municipal garage. The south repair shop does not meet OSHA requirements. Presently they have 90 parking checkers housed at the Central Municipal garage. They have looked at MMSD located right across from the Central garage for the parking checkers. He will move his tire workers to the garage part and the checkers can take over the office area. DPW custodial staff will no longer provide custodial service to the Safety Academy. Ald. Henningsen asked why we need the air handling system fixed in the council chambers. Mr. Gupta stated we have a lot of very expensive wood and painting in the council chambers. Mr. Mielcarek said it will cost about $325,000 and is an important project that their staff feels needs to be done at this time. Ald. Henningsen asked about City Hall rehab. The write-up states they are doing the corridor halls in the basement. Mr. Kulwicki stated there was $200,000 in last year's project appropriated for corridor halls. Ald. Henningsen stated Chicago is doing green buildings because it will decrease AC costs. He asked if they ever thought about it with the flat roof buildings. Mr. Gupta stated they do try to keep up with all the different technologies were they used strong water run off for heating and cooling. He stated retrofitting old buildings is very expensive. Mr. Mielcarek stated there are up to date on most of the products they use. They looked at the industrial road facility. They asked them to look at the roof system Ald. Henningsen talked about. The analysis was that the walls would have to be rebuilt to carry the load to do this project. Mr. Kulwicki stated they are currently working with WE energies staff to initiate thermo cooling. There are initiatives there. Mr. Gupta stated they are in the process of looking at all equipment that is highly used and will make every effort to do a survey to see what the possibilities are. Ald. D'Amato stated for example, with cranes it seems natural. Mr. Schifalacqua stated they do lease that out and have leased it out to the State. He cautioned there is some equipment they really need to have on call 24 hours a day, because they are used for emergencies. Ald. Henningsen stated they got a letter from Mr. Linquist and he feels he has some good ideas. Mr. Schifalacqua stated they are looking into those possibilities. Ms. Engan reminded the committee they do not maintain a work force with excess capability. Ald. Murphy asked about the possibility of going out for the remodeling bond of $44 million this year. Mr. Morics stated they would have to make this a separate issue, due to interest of the bonds, as you can not earn arbitrage. Ald. Murphy asked about wind turbines to generate energy and are we doing research on it as alternatives to pay for the electric bill. Mr. Gupta stated they have looked at this at the Anderson building for wind turbines as well as solar energy, but thus far feel they need some grants to help them fund it. Ald. Murphy also asked about fiber optics. He asked who is the person responsible. Mr. Kulwicki stated Mr. Jerry Froh is the technologies person and anything in underground conduit is done by Building and Fleet staff. Ald. Murphy feels we really don't have a strategy at this time. He feels there is an opportunity to make some money here if we have a good system. He stated he has been holding a series of meetings with the local business communities. He really feels more energy needs to be put in on this project. Hawley Road fire station – maintenance is very questionable. The grass is high and sets a bad example for the neighborhood. Ald. Murphy has at least 10 people who have offered to buy the building and get it back on the tax rolls. He asked who will be doing the custodian work at the Safety Academy. Ms. Engan stated they delegated that responsibility to the police department. You will see in the police budget, 4 positions of custodial worker. Ald. D'Amato asked for a list of things that were recommended last year and cut and reappear this year. These things are not going away. Mr. Garland stated the Police Academy in which there are 7 being moved to the police budget. He feels once they come to their decision it would be nice if they shared it with the union. He stated his contract states whenever they make changes they will notify the union. He views this as undermining the contract. He has been told it is contingent on a number of things happening. Mr. Kulwicki stated their current plan is to take people from the Safety Academy and put them in openings at the City Hall complex. Mr. Garland feels they have a right to know whenever they make changes, as it is in their contract.
(Ald. Henningsen excused at 12:17 P.M.).
Ald. D'Amato asked who does the custodial services at the Police Academy. Mr. Garland stated these are members of his union. Mr. Garland stated the building at Central is not set up to do the type of work they plan on doing there. The objective of the department is set up a contractor for the painting and if that is their plan, it must be submitted to the union. Prior to contracting and sub-contracting that will effect the personnel is a violation of their contract and to this point, they still have not received a notice. He asked that this be held at this point, so they can look at it. Ald. D'Amato asked about the Police pilot project to outsource a portion of fleet repairs. He was told the budget before them does not implement that change.
Recessed: 12:25 P.M.
Reconvened: 1:45 P.M.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS – FORESTRY
Mariano Schifalacqua, Preston Cole, John Garland, Erick Shamburger & Angelyn Ward appeared.
Mr. Shamburger presented his budget overview, and Ms. Ward thereupon read from her fiscal summary. The 2003 Proposed Budget decreases the staffing level for Forestry by 47 authorized positions, from 305 positions in 2002 to 258 positions. The budget will reduce boulevard mowing activities by 25%. Maintenance on concrete boulevards will reduce. It will only spray large weeds once they have grown, on an as-needed basis. The tree planting program will change, from replacing a tree one year after its removal to years or more.
Mr. Cole stated they do rent their tree spade to other municipalities. He stated they have reduced their management. Ald. Henningsen asked why the budget was going up 4% even with the cutting of staff. Mr. Cole stated it has to do with salary increases, urban forestry workers and crew leaders were given significant increases. Ald. Henningsen asked if auxiliary positions were seasonal. Mr. Cole stated they were. They changed their mowing cycle to biweekly after August 1st. In the winter, their employees help with snow plowing and tree pruning operations. This year because of the good weather, they were able to keep on cycle. This way they could maintain irrigation beds, etc. They are using their employees more productively. Ald. D'Amato asked about citizen complaints relative to boulevards. Mr. Cole stated complaints are not up relative to boulevards. He asked about how we are going to reduce complaints, and when we are going to reduce mowing cycles and irrigation, etc? Mr. Cole stated flowers appear to be the most important to the customers. Ald. D'Amato stated all he sees is reductions and elimination's. Mr. Cole stated they have an appropriate level of flower beds, but there are no increases in the flower beds. Ms. Engan stated the changes you see, are the changes that will save money. She stated at the time that they will be mowing the boulevards less frequently, the grass will not be growing as rapidly. Ald. D'Amato asked how we are going to reduce complaints when we are going to eliminate services. Mr. Cole stated last year they didn't use as much herbicide. The use of concrete wouldn't require as much use of herbicides. They are always going to put in a different kind of system. They are trying to go to trees, scrubs, perennials, thus requiring less service and will still be attractive. Planting flowers is a lot of hand labor and they have to pull these things out at the end of the season, in an annual bed. Last year in August we had lots of rain, requiring more mowing. We had 6 inches of rainfall in August. Mr. Schifalacqua stated there is nothing in the budget that decreases the amount of flowers that are planted. Mr. Cole stated last year they reduced herbicide on the boulevards. Ald. D'Amato stated residents do notice and don't like dandelions. Mr. Cole stated they looked at their nursery to see if it is cost-effective. Milwaukee County's tree nursery is right across the street from the City. He stated there is an excellent opportunity to provide trees to the county at a cost. If we can negotiate with the County we would create a green house (metropolitan nursery) whereby we could sell to every municipality in County. When contractors do bad things to City trees, we bill them. These billings have gone down. Ms. Engan stated the $150,000 is not going to be used for increased revenue. The primary focus is to build up intergovernmental cooperation agreement. They will be going into 2003, with 300 trees. They will only buy 300 or 350 trees from the outside. Ald. Murphy stated boulevards play a role in having the water go straight into the sewer system. Ald. Gordon asked how is the forestry and sanitation departments managing together. Mr. Cole stated under the direction of Mr. Purko, he looks at it as a awesome challenge. Mr. Schifalacqua stated they have streamlined management. Mr. Cole talked about the public schools initiatives and Greening Milwaukee. He stated they are all going very well. Ald. Gordon asked about the disparity in planting trees at schools. Mr. Cole stated that MPS will be taking over that. Ald. D'Amato asked Ms. Engan to get him the figures for the capital budget for this department. Ald. D'Amato asked for an example how many trees less he would be getting in his district. Mr. Shamburger stated overall the reduction is 1/6th. They will see extreme numbers coming from their nursery in 2007 and should be 100% self-sufficient. Mr. Garland stated his union had some concerns relative to individuals in irrigation and two more in tree planting. He was told this will be taken care by attrition and there will be no layoffs. In the pruning area, they will lose some additional employees. They have had some problems in the nursery, yet he sees they plan on eliminating one position in the nursery. Mr. Cole stated there is a reduction in the nursery as the nursery business is seasonal. The other employees will be subject to seasonal layoffs. They will fall back to the City laborer list in this particular budget.
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLAN
John Ledvina & Terri Gabriel appeared.
Mr. Ledvina read from his budget highlights and Ms. Gabriel gave her fiscal overview. The 2003 Proposed Budget for the Capital Improvements Project derived from all sources is $183,894,833 an increase of $22,661,147 (14%) from the $161,233,686 provided in the 2002 Budget. 4th Floor of the 809 Building - $811,500. DOA-ITMD occupies the 4th floor of the 809 building and it was last remodeled in 1982. Within the last 20 years, the growth of this division was accompanied by patchwork remodeling solutions resulting in an unattractive, cluttered, and hazardous environment. Federal regulation now forbids the Halon fire suppression technology used in two locations on the floor due to the ozone depletion nature of inert gas. Circuit boards that monitor sensors and alarms are obsolete and the 4th floor has no sprinkler system.
Ald. D'Amato asked about the new CAD system and whether it was private or public. Ms. Engan stated she will follow-up, but perhaps address information is not public. The intake CAD system in the Fire Dept. due to the number of EMS runs they do, that information is not public information due to the medical nature. Ald. D'Amato stated perhaps they should add a footnote that states they would not pay for the CAD system unless it would be available on a regular basis.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS – INFRASTRUCTURE
Mariano Schifalacqua, Jeffrey Polenske, Jerry Zaremba, Clark Wantoch, Martin Acquino, John Garland, John English, Ron Sweet, Thomas Bell & Terri Gabriel appeared.
Mr. Bell gave a recitation of the budget highlights, and Ms. Gabriel then presented her fiscal summary. Total operating expenditure in the 2003 Proposed Budget is $23,736,887 and increase of $742,585 (3.23%) compared to the $22,994,302 provided in the 2002 Budget. The rate for assessable improvements levied on a property owner in 2003 will decrease.
Mr. Polenske reported they are making some slight re-organization changes. It is providing some managerial efficiencies. Ald. Murphy stated one of the complaints he has heard are the street lights being off. Mr. Polenske stated they are certainly trying to be as responsive as possible. In 2001 they had larger problems they addressed, but in 2002, the requests have not been as great. Response times have been within a 24 hour period. Ald. Murphy asked for a listing of where they are making upgrades in Street Lighting circuitry in the City. Ald. Murphy asked about the canal street extension. Mr. Polenske stated they are looking at it, but it has not yet been determined. The trail Ald. Murphy has been pushing for, for years is in this area. It would be a direct connection from the west side to downtown. Mr. Schifalacqua stated they hope to have a designer by the end of the year. Ald. Murphy complimented Mr. Schifalacqua and his staff on the great job they did on the 6th Street Viaduct. Mr. Polenske stated they have an awful lot of paving projects that also involve street lighting. He feels general maintenance has been better this year. Ald. Gordon asks how long it takes for a service call. Mr. Schifalacqua stated they have criteria and for the most part they are in the 24 hour mode, for individual lights, it may take a little longer. Ald. D'Amato asked about the reduction in the number of permanent improvements. Mr. Polenske stated they have seen a number of reductions, but he is not sure if it is just the costs. Mr. Schifalacqua stated on a yearly basis they are still doing the same amount of projects. Ald. Murphy asked Mr. Schifalacqua about the assessable vs. non-assessable. Ms. Engan will supply that to the Committee. She feels people are looking at their own pocket books and what is happening with the stock market. Mr. English (DC 48) stated in the construction division they plan on moving 13 public works inspectors. He stated it makes sense. They have enough year round inspectors to keep up with the work. He stated that when he talked to the CPW he replied it enabled them to work more efficiently. It makes him nervous and would like to see the positions above line in a regularly funded position. He stated the biggest nightmare times are in November. The sooner they can get the work done the better. He feels it would make the budget office happier because they would stay above line. Mr. Garland stated the crew leaders, asphalt workers and City Laborers (aux.) are not new hires. They work when the construction season starts and are laid off when the construction season is over. He asked if they could identify them somewhere in the budget so people realize they are not new hires, but in the budget. Ms. Engan stated where they are in the budget is not a problem with her office. Ald. Murphy asked about the overall DPW reorganization. He is looking at that in this year's budget. He has had some problems, where some DPW employees were not being very cooperative with the developer. Mr. Schifalacqua cautioned that some of their permitting is not a full time assignment for those individuals. Ald. Henningsen talked about barricades and how the lights almost never work. He said he's inquired and he's told they don't have the people to see if they work at night. He stated that not one BSF barricade works. Mr. Schifalacqua stated if they are our barricades we should be checking them on a daily basis. Mr. English stated sewer contractors and inspectors go home at 3:30 PM and it is not dark out. There used to be a program in place where inspectors went out to check them and this program was eliminated three years ago. Ald Henningsen wants an AMENDMENT prepared that we have some positions to go out and check for blinking lights on barricades at night.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS – SEWER MAINTENANCE FUND
Mariano Schifalacqua, Jeffery Polenske, Martin Acquino, Clark Wantoch, Eric Pearson & Emma Stamps appeared.
Mr. Pearson presented his budget overview, and Ms. Stamps then gave her fiscal analysis. The 2003 Proposed Sewer Maintenance Fund budget provides for $46,248,059, a $3,034,913 or 7.02% increase from $43,213,146 listed in 2002.
Mr. Polenske stated they have provided some management efficiencies here. Ald. D'Amato asked Mr. Pearson what are some of the ways we may charge for curb surface area. He stated there will be a rate charged for residential class. For residential they will be using assessor's data. Ald. D'Amato feels we have to give people options. You can actually pave your front yard. Ms. Engan stated one of the reasons we want to look at this, is we feel there is a better way to look at this other than just use. They want something that is more equitable. Ald. Murphy asked about residential consumption and whether we'll be in compliance. Mr. Pearson stated some users have 0 usage in the winter quarter so some don't pay their fair share for the winter usage. So we'll have to make an estimate on the inequities issues. Ms. Engan stated people are using a lot less water. Ald. Henningsen asked about professional services $2.3 million. Mr. Acquino stated they use the money to do studies, flo monitoring of sewers, DNR projects. Inspecting and building in City facilities. Mr. Polenske advised a lot of it is the result of studies that are required by DNR and MMSD.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS – PARKING FUND
Mariano Schifalacqua, Dorinda Floyd, Tom Sanders, Cindy Angelos, Thomas Bell & James Carroll appeared.
Mr. Bell gave a brief narrative of this budget, and Mr. Carroll followed with his fiscal report. The 2003 Proposed Budget includes $8,391,460 for Professional Services. PAM receives $5.6 million of the Professional Services funding. PAM continues to implement changes to make parking enforcement more efficient and transactions more convenient for citizens. In 2003, the Parking Fund will reimburse the City Attorney's Office for the Parking Citation Review Manager position.
(Ald. Henningsen excused at 3:25 P.M.)
Ms. Floyd stated you can not make payments with credit cards. They also have a near completion on-line. Most of the activity is in the evening. Both options require a $1 transaction fee. Ald. Henningsen asked about the cash reserve and what it would be next year. They have a balance of about $2.7 million. The treasurer invests this. We get 1.7%. Ald. Henningsen asked if we can do better. Mr. Morics stated your operating cash is what you call hot money, so you are always buying short and that's where your lowest interest rates are. Ald. Henningsen asked about selling our structures. Ms. Floyd stated they have met with Mr. Moric's staff and they are updating that information. They had a bid, which was not as high as everyone anticipated. The net revenue from the structures is 6.6 in operating revenues. Debt service is shown on another line. It is not a money maker. It varies by structure. We owe about $24 million. Ms. Floyd stated some people have expressed an interest in purchasing parking structure. Ald. Henningsen asked if the Council had to authorize them to get a bid. Ms. Floyd stated the structures are worth more like $54 or $55 million. The more we can control our expenses, the excess will flow into revenues. They have had 45 instances of contacts with MPD for parking checkers, ranging from someone throwing rocks to verbal contact. She stated that in the beginning of the year the response time for calls was not good, but now the response time is down to 30 seconds. They are hoping anytime you make it easy for people to pay tickets, they will pay. For night permissions was a goal to increase that response. The average wait time is about 90 seconds. The call volumes are enormous. In 3 and ½ weeks they took 3,100 calls. They start taking them at 2 P.M. It's difficult for the parking checkers. They want to download those on the auto sites. They are working to restructure their assignments so they can get them downloaded before the parking checkers go out. They are having some problems. DPW pays for them to enter them on a data base. They had some incidences were the permits from the police department were not given on a timely manner. Ald. D'Amato asked if it has gotten better. They are always in contact with Deputy Inspector Sucik to remind the districts. They have people that pick up the information on a daily basis. She feels the level of staffing they have now, it would be impossible to take on any of the suburbs. Ald. D'Amato stated he is appreciative of the efforts in his district. Ald. Henningsen stated they will support the rental of the Sewerage District office for the parking checkers. Ms. Floyd stated they are at the central garage is they are used a lot and on the road a lot. Ald. Henningsen stated they want to be proud of what they drive and it would help if they were washed more often. Joe Smith (Allied Service Personnel for the parking checkers) stated they really don't have good facilities to wash the parking checkers autos. He feels their parking checkers are in need of a better facility. It is a question whether sufficient parking is available at this site. He feels sites are already available at the police stations. Ald. Henningsen asked why they couldn't park at the police stations. Ms. Floyd stated if they did that they would need management at each facility. 47th and Vliet station is vacant – Ald. Murphy wants to know what the plans are for this station. He would like to see it get back on the tax rolls. If it isn't going to get back on the tax rolls perhaps it could be used for parking checkers.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS – WATER WORKS
Mariano Schifalacqua, Carrie Lewis, Dale Mejaki, John English, Eric Shamburger & Emma Stamps appeared.
Mr. Shamburger gave a brief budget narrative, and Ms. Stamps then read from her fiscal summary. The 2003 Proposed total source of funds for the Water Works totals $90,054,484. The Proposed Budget includes plans to eliminate positions through attrition and reclassify others. In 2003 the department will eliminate hiring entry level positions. The Water Works does not anticipate increasing water rates in 2003. Ald. Murphy stated they need a real marketing initiative. He feels we have a great product and we can do a better job in marketing that. Ms. Lewis stated they are negotiating right now with New Berlin. Germantown told them they would get back to them if they are interested. They have not heard back from Brookfield. Mr. Schifalaqua stated they are looking at expanding their base. Ald. Henningsen asked about cash reserves. Ms. Levis stated cash reserves were about $10 million at the end of 2001. The amount of money devoted to the capital plan next year is already pretty tight.
| HELD TO CALL OF THE CHAIR | Pass | 3:0 |
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