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Council Finance Committee
Minutes
12/15/08
10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Council Attendees:Mayor Doug Hutchinson,Mayor Pro Tern Kelly
OhLson,Councilmember Ben Manvet
City Staff Attendees:Darin Atteberry,Mike Freeman,Chuck Seest,
Heather Shepherd,Kraig Ecton,Janet MiLler,
Wendy WilLiams,Amy Sharkey,Steve Engernoen
Others:David May,Chamber of Commerce;John
Knezovich,Library District;Torn Peters,Fort
ColLins Brewery
Approval of the Minutes from the October 27th and November 17th meetings.
Ben Manvel moved to approve the October minutes and Kelly Ohison seconded the motion.
The Council Finance Committee approved the October minutes.
With regard to the November minutes,Ben wanted clarification regarding the specific sewer rate
increases that are proposed over 2009 to 2013.Staff committed to updating the minutes to
reflect the rate increases for each year for the period of 2009-2013.Ben moved and Kelly
seconded minutes as corrected.The Council Finance Committee approved the November
minutes as corrected.
Private Activity Bonds—Fort Collins Brewery Project
Mike Freeman gave the Committee some background on recent Private Activity Bond (PAB)
developments.Over the last two years,the Fort Collins Brewery has been searching for a good
expansion site,and the City has been supportive of their move to a location inside city limits.
Based upon discussions with the City’s external bond counsel,the Fort Collins Brewery is
eligible for Private Activity Bonds,as well as O’Dell’s Brewery.A biotech company has also
expressed interest in eligibility.Mike said it’s likely that a proposal will be forthcoming,and he
recommended that the City develop a process for how to allocate these PAB’s.Currently the
process is first come,first served,but Mike thinks that the number of proposals will increase
over the next two years.
The Committee members asked Tom Peters,owner of Fort Collins’Brewery,some questions
regarding the proposed relocation of the Fort Collins Brewery.Kelly Ohlson asked if the ‘green’
plans listed in the proposal are certain or more of a wish list.Tom Peters responded that the
green initiatives listed in the proposal are all certain.Kelly Ohlson also asked about the fairly
City of~Eortcc~~s
small planned employee increase of only 10 people in the next 5 years.Tom replied that that is
a conservative estimate and more will likely be added if finances permit.
Doug Hutinchson said the Committee supports the Fort Collins Brewery relocation and
expansion project as well as supporting the development of a more formal PAB allocation
process in place in the near future.
Darin Atteberry asked Tom Peters how his company has found the process of working with the
City.Tom said it’s been a very smooth process,and they have been pleased.Darin added
that he thinks this project is a great fit for Fort Collins.
2009 Pay Plan Discussion
Council is scheduled to consider the 2009 Pay Plan in the first and second meetings in January.
Amy Sharkey communicated that the new market philosophy has increased the pay range
midpoints and recommended that Council and the City Manager consider market adjustments
for employees.Wendy Williams said the cost to bring some employees up to market pay is far
bigger than Human Resources first thought.Darin stated he was surprised at the number of
employees behind their market but that he supports the current pay plan.
Kelly asked why the current benchmark of jobs is only 40%of all positions and Amy responded
that all comparison data that currently exists was used,but there are still many City jobs at this
time for which there is no comparison data (for example,the Lincoln Center is more unique and
only a couple other comparable cities have similar jobs).Amy said that to be considered valid
data,we need least four others cities to provide comparisons.This data is reviewed every year
and more positions for comparison could be being added each year.
Amy presented market regression comparison information for two different pay groups:
Administrative!Professional and Technical!Engineering.Amy explained the regression was
used to set the pay ranges (the range minimum,midpoint,and maximum).Ben asked a few
clarification questions -Amy and Steve will meet separately with Ben so he can get a detailed
understanding,and then he’ll relay it to the Council.The option presented was to provide
employees that are up to 21%below their market a pay increase over three years (no more than
8%in the first year)if the employee is meeting or exceeding performance.Kelly questioned
whether an employee would get an increase if they’re below the market but performance is
below a 2.Darin and Doug said they don’t support that.Amy indicated they would not receive
any pay increase.
Darin suggested that a team from Human Resources meet individually with Council Finance
members—over the next week or so.This wpuld provide an opportunity to gain a solid
understanding before it’s presented at Council in January.
The Committee decided that in the interest of time,the next two topics on the agenda,
RMI2 Update and Priorities for Fiscal Year 2009,will be discussed at an upcoming
meeting to be determined.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:15