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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 10/4/2022 - Memorandum From Lawrence Pollack Re: Councilmember Questions And Requests From The September 13 And 27 Work Sessions On The 2023-2024 Budget 1 Financial Services 215 N Mason Street PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6795 fcgov.com/finance M E M O R A N D U M Date: September 29, 2022 To: Mayor Arndt and City Councilmembers Through: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager Travis Storin, Chief Financial Officer From: Lawrence Pollack, Budget Director Re: Councilmember questions and requests from the September 13 and 27 work sessions on the 2023-2024 Budget City Council has completed their first two work sessions to review the 2023-2024 City budget requests (offers), as well as some more general inquiries about the budget. Staff follow-ups that were not answered during the meeting, or in this memo, are summarized at the bottom of this memo. The answers to those will be communicated in future memos included in upcoming Thursday Council Packets. Outcome: Culture and Recreation 1) Question from Julie Pignataro and Shirley Peel: Offer 60.2 - Neighborhood Park Development and Offer 60.3 - Community Park Development: Why do we continue to build new parks when there is already a shortfall in operations and maintenance budgets to service existing parks? Response from Mike Calhoon (Parks) and Kurt Friesen (Park Planning): There are three areas that need to be funded for the park system to be sustainable. -New Park Development -Daily Operations & Maintenance (O&M) -Infrastructure Replacement Impact fees on New Development generate funding for new parks. The City is obligated to deliver on these projects in a timely manner, as a fee is a guarantee of service to the fee payer. New park locations, classification, amenities, and level of service standards are provided in the 2021 Parks & Recreation Plan. These fees are reviewed on a four- year cadence. 2 The O&M budget has historically been funded appropriately but recently gaps are developing as new parks and trails come online without additional resources. Examples in the 2023-2024 BFO include the reduced funding of Offer 66.4 Park Rangers and unfunded Offer 54.9 Parks and Trails Expansion. The primary funding gap exists with Infrastructure Replacement. There are many parks within the city that are 20+ years old with a need to replace playgrounds, parking lots, tennis courts, etc. This need is currently funded at $630k with an annual need of $6-9 million. A sustainable funding initiative to cover this need is currently being developed and has been presented to the Council Finance Committee. 2) Question/Request from Tricia Canonico: Offer 54.7 - Parks Hard Surface Trails Infrastructure Replacement: What is the level of service standard for hard surface trails and how do we measure if we are meeting that standard? Response from Mike Calhoon (Parks): The level of service standard for the trail system is provided utilizing the Trained Observer Program. Currently the goal is set at 85% or above for ratings of No Problems and Limited Problems . There are three categories broken out for the ratings and currently they are reported as: - Trail Surface-70% (Cracks, Heaving, Crusher Fine areas, Debris, Weeds, Edges) - Structures-82% (Benches, Bridges, Signage, Tunnels Debris, Tunnel, Lighting, Tunnel Graffiti) - Other-92% (Branches Encroaching, Map Boxes (no maps), Weeds, Litter, Trash Cans) The lower ratings for the Trail Surface and Structures categories are directly related to the lack of funding for Infrastructure Repair. Outcome: Economic Health 3) Request/Question from Kelly Ohlson: Offer 33.11 - 1.0 FTE Economic Lead Specialist Capital Project Business Liaison and Program: Please describe the current activities that support neighborhoods impacted by construction. If Council wants to make a similar investment specifically for neighborhoods, could it be added to this offer or should it be a separate request? Response from Shannon Hein (Economic Health Office) and Marcy Yoder (Neighborhood Services): Current Activities Supporting Neighborhoods/ General Outreach City departments such as, but not limited to, Utilities and Engineering Capital Projects engage in a variety of outreach activities when construction projects impact residential areas. 3 Examples of best practice activities and standard levels of service include: information Coordination with Poudre School District and CSU, as well as specific schools, facilities and institutions that may be impacted by the proposed construction OurCity platform, social media, focus groups, workshops, polls/surveys, postcards and letters Coordination with existing Homeowners Associations (HOAs) and developers to minimize impacts and traffic issues Individual property owner and tenant meetings as requested Notifications of planned service interruptions (water, power, property access, etc.) Understanding of needs and nuances before construction begins Additionally, the Capital Projects Business Liaison will include Neighborhood Services into their regular workplan when impactful projects come online to ensure outreach is happening for both residential and business customers. Economic Health and Neighborhood Services will create a pathway for positions like the Development Review Liaison to work in conjunction with the Project Manager and the Capital Projects Business Liaison. We believe the benefits of the Capital Projects Business Liaison will spill over into all parts of engagement and for all customers based on the premise of the position to provide consistency and coordination across the organization. Outcome: Neighborhood Livability and Social Health 4) Question/Request from Shirley Peel: Offer 23.7 - Right-of-Way Construction Inspection & Management Division: 6 FTE seems to be a lot for this type of work. Is this typical for this type of work? Response from Brad Buckman (Engineering): Six FTE (staff members) is typical for this type of work at a city this size and with the development activity we have. We are responsible for the oversight of between five and ten housing developments active at any given time. Each active phase in a development contains about 100 home sites with associated utilities, thousands of feet of streets and sidewalks and many thousands of cubic yards of earth moving and grading. All aspects of this are overseen by our inspectors. In addition to overseeing the quality of work and adherence to specifications our group ensures that basic safe work practices are being followed. Additionally, the ROW inspection group has been tasked with providing administration and coordination of 9 city departments with respect to the heavily regulated Small Cell permit process as well as the installation of small cell towers and their extensive fiber backbone and electrical needs. 4 Outcome: Transportation and Mobility 5) Question/Request from Tricia Canonico: Offer 25.13 - Power Trail at Harmony Road Grade-Separated Crossing and Trail Extension (Design and Construction): If I'm remembering correctly, we did not receive the MMOF grant for this and thus no need for the matching funds? Please provide more information on how this project is moving forward. Response from Brad Buckman (Engineering): Correct, we did not receive the MMOF grant for this project and, therefore, we did not need the grant match; the offer is below the line. Moving forward, City staff has applied for a Safe Streets for All (SS4A) grant for this project to move to full design in 2023. We are projecting to be in the position to ask for construction funding (through either SS4A or other grant programs) in the 2024 timeframe. General Questions / Requests 6) The table below contains the remaining Council questions received through the September 27 work session. Staff will attempt to respond to as many of these as possible in a Thursday Council Packet memo on October 6. The colors on the table simply reflect when the questions were received. Mtg Date Outcome Council- member Offer # Question / Request 13-Sep-22 NLSH Peel & Ohlson 24.4/9 Offer 24.4/24.9 - Larimer Humane Society / Planned Increase: The contract with the Larimer Humane Society seems high. Are the vet medical services for animals included in the adoption of pets or passed onto to owners whose pets end up at the shelter for awhile? Also, is this a joint venture with Larimer County and if so, what is their portion of the cost? Please include information on what would be required to 1) increase education on outdoor cats and their impact on songbirds and 2) increase wildlife rehabilitation. N/A NLSH Peel 23.25 Offer 23.25 - 1 FTE - Development Review Traffic Engineer (joint offer FCMOVES, Traffic Operations): Is this increasing the .5 FTE to full time or in addition to the .5 position? Would just increasing the .5 to full- time be sufficient? 13-Sep-22 NLSH Ohlson / Peel Various in Package 31 Please provide the historical growth of City funding for homelessness services. Are we separating out the cost of services to people who are experiencing homelessness who are a part of our community vs. people who are transient in nature? Do we have metrics regarding the effectiveness of our homeless initiatives? 13-Sep-22 C&R Francis / Arndt 60.1 Offer 60.1 - Recreational Trail Development: How many miles of trail has been constructed over the past decade with Conservation Trust monies? How much less trail would be developed per additional $100k redirected to other applicable priorities over the current $400k funding operations and maintenance? 5 Mtg Date Outcome Council- member Offer # Question / Request 13-Sep-22 ECON Pignataro / Francis 33.10 Offer 33.10 - ARPA - Reskill, Upskill, New Skill (RUN) Training Program Support: What are other public agencies doing in this space and is there a need for the City to fund this offer given that information? 13-Sep-22 ECON Francis / Peel / Canonico / Ohlson 55.1 Offer 55.1 - Downtown Parks and Amenities Maintenance: Please provide a10-year history of spending on flowers in the downtown area, including the impact of years when various DDA alley renovations were completed. What are the impacts of reducing the requested level of flowers? Please include a full cost breakdown of the offer and who contributes what to those downtown expenses, including water costs. Would it be prudent to request the DDA to increase funding to help with the cost of downtown flowers? 13-Sep-22 NLSH Francis 31.23 Offer 31.23 - Affordable Housing EV Infrastructure Credits: Please provide insights on the recommendation to not fund this offer 13-Sep-22 NLSH Ohlson 59.2 Offer 59.2 - Urban Forest Management - Tree Replacement: Please provide a holistic overview of the Urban Forestry programs since data indicates funding is not keeping pace with the needs of our tree canopy. N/A T&M Canonico 58.3 Offer 58.3 - Streetscape Infrastructure Replacement: I'm concerned to not see this funded especially in light of the 23 trees that we just lost. Was watering a factor in their diseased state? Is this offer scalable? N/A ENV Canonico 32.14 Offer 32.14 - Municipal Sustainability & Adaptation Plan (MSAP) Update : What is our plan for the 5 year update if we aren't funding this? N/A HPG Canonico 22.9 Offer 22.9 - 1.0 FTE - Volunteer Engagement Specialist : I think we should be striving for greater volunteerism in the City especially in parks. I hear from so many residents that they are looking for ways to volunteer (kids, seniors, moms with extra time on their hands) yet volunteering with the city is never something I hear anyone mentioning. I could imagine this position would pay for itself if we could increase volunteer hours. N/A T&M Peel 7.1 Offer 7.1 - Street Maintenance Program : Is a 21 year maintenance cycle adequate? N/A T&M Peel 7.2 Offer 7.2 - Snow and Ice Removal : What was the cost of snow removal for 2021? N/A T&M Peel 25.10 Offer 25.10 - Arthur Ditch (Design): Are there other shareholders in the Arthur Ditch and would they pay for part of the improvements? N/A ENV Peel 1.2 Offer 1.2 - Utilities Light & Power: Energy Services: How are the programs listed in this offer evaluated? N/A ENV Peel 1.3 Offer 1.3 - Utilities Light & Power: Demand Response : I would like to gather information about the Peak Partners and DERMS. N/A ENV Peel 1.6 Offer 1.6 - Utilities: Light & Power - Electric Vehicle Monitoring and Management Demonstration: but I would like some more information about Energy Imbalance and Organized Markets. I know Jason mentioned these briefly in his PRPA 6 Mtg Date Outcome Council- member Offer # Question / Request N/A ENV Peel 1.8 Offer 1.8 - Utilities: Light & Power - Grid Integrated Water Heater Installations: Just to be sure about the integrated water heaters, is this for customers or for the city? N/A ENV Peel 1.9 Offer 1.9 - Utilities: Light & Power - Direct Install Demand Response T-stat Replacement: Why was Pro1 thermostats discontinued? N/A ENV Peel 1.24 Offer 1.24 - Household Hazardous Waste Collection: Do we have results for the HHW program? N/A ENV Peel 1.25 Offer 1.25 - Utilities: Wastewater - Water Reclamation and Biosolids: Is there a plan for when Rawhide goes offline? N/A ENV Peel 1.27 Offer 1.27 - Utilities: Wastewater - Developer Repayments: What happens if this is not funded? N/A ENV Peel 1.25 & 1.36 Offer 1.25 - Utilities: Wastewater - Water Reclamation and Biosolids and Offer 1.36 - Wastewater - Collection Small Capital Projects: Is Old Town the only area where wastewater infrastructure is an issue at the moment? N/A ENV Peel 1.43 Offer 1.43 - Utilities: Wastewater Mulberry UV Disinfection System and Infrastructure Improvement: Do we have a long term plan for taking Mulberry off-line? N/A ENV Peel 1.49 Reclamation Facility Headworks: Is this just a heads up for what is going to be needed in the future? How immediate is this request and can it be done in phases? Are we looking for other sources of money for this project? N/A ENV Peel 83.1 Offer 83.1 - Parks Lawn and Garden Equipment Replacement: Is the Lawn and Garden equipment to be replaced past its prime? 27-Sep-22 T&M Peel Various in Package 52 Please provide further information on the contractual obligations related to the parking structures. 27-Sep-22 T&M Ohlson 7.1 Offer 7.1 - Street Maintenance Program: Please provide information on the overall structure of the Street Maintenance Program. How are segments for repair determined, specifically focusing on concrete replacement? 27-Sep-22 T&M Ohlson 58.3 Offer 58.3 - Streetscape Infrastructure Replacement : What to scaled options look like? 27-Sep-22 ENV Francis 1.39 Offer 1.39 - Utilities: Wastewater - Collection System Replacement : Can you give us a holistic overview of the downtown wastewater and stormwater needs? How is the timeline delayed by not funding this offer? 27-Sep-22 ENV Francis 32.12 Offer 32.12 - Innovate Fort Collins Challenge : Please share example of results from previous Innovate Fort Collins Challenges. 27-Sep-22 ENV Pignataro 1.10 Offer 1.10 - ARPA - Utilities Light & Power: 1.0 FTE Contractual Project Manager & Manufactured Home Efficiency Acceleration Initiative : Please provide a cost benefit analysis of this offer. Are there best practices from other communities that we should evaluate? 27-Sep-22 ENV Pignataro 53.1 Offer 53.1 - Transfort Maintenance Facility Environmental Efficiency Improvements : Please describe the scalability options of this offer and when does the bill come due? 7 Mtg Date Outcome Council- member Offer # Question / Request 27-Sep-22 ENV Ohlson 32.19 Offer 32.19 - 1.0 FTE - Municipal Industrial Recycling Senior Specialist : Please provide information on how the City is demonstrating "leading by example" with our own City recycling and waste diversion efforts. 27-Sep-22 SAFE Ohlson Various in Package 13 Please provide a list explaining all of the total Police positions in the Recommended Budget, breaking out the various position types added in this budget. 27-Sep-22 SAFE Ohlson 13.10 Offer 13.10 - Police Regional Training Facility - Operation and Maintenance : What is the revenue generation from the Police Training Facility (total dollars, cost recover, etc.)? 27-Sep-22 SAFE Ohlson 13.18 Offer 13.18 - Police Security Cameras and Access Controls: If the building was delivered with design flaws, why didn't we correct those at the time? 27-Sep-22 SAFE Ohlson 66.4 : Please provide detail of what these positions do and how do they treat situation where pedestrians are impacted by speeding bicyclists, for example. 27-Sep-22 SAFE Peel 4.55 / 4.44 / 4.47 Offer 4.44 - Utilities: Stormwater 1.0 FTE - Civil Engineer II Offer 4.47 - Utilities: 1.0 FTE Project Manager (Civil Engineer II) Offer 4.55 - 1.0 FTE - Water Engineer II - Please provided a holistic explanation of the various funded enhancement positions within Utilities, including why these positions were not recommended for funding. 27-Sep-22 SAFE Ohlson Various in Package 13 Please provide a summary of the new positions being funded in the 2023-2024 Budget for Police Services? 27-Sep-22 HPG Ohlson 15.9 Offer 15.9 - Fleet Vehicle and Equipment New Replacements : Please provide a breakdown of the current vehicle stock and the aging of that inventory. 27-Sep-22 HPG Ohlson N/A Please update the reused photo for the HPG Outcome in the published 2023-2024 Adopted Budget 27-Sep-22 HPG Francis 50.15 Offer 50.15 - ARPA Support for Individual Creatives in the Community (Art to Live): Please provide more info on why Art to Live was not funded