HomeMy Public PortalAbout2018.07.27 Special Meeting MINUTES
McCall City Council
Special Meeting
McCall City Hall--Legion Hall
July 27,2018
Call to Order and Roll Call
Work Session
Adjournment
CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALLIV
Mayor Aymon called the special meeting of the McCall City Council to order at 9:05 a.m.
Mayor Aymon, Council Member Giles, Council Member Holmes, Council Member Nielsen,
and Council Member Sowers all answered roll call.
City staff members present were Anette Spickard, City Manager; Shay Tyler,Deputy Clerk;Linda
Stokes, City Treasurer; Michelle Groenevelt, Community Development Director; Meg Lojek,
Library Director; Traci Malvich, Human Resources Manager; Nathan Stewart, Public Works
Director; Stacia Durrett, LOT Administrator
APPROVE THE AGENDA
Council Member Holmes moved to approve the agenda as submitted. Council Member
Nielsen seconded the motion. In a voice vote all members voted aye and the motion carried.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Mayor Aymon called for public comment at 9:06 a.m.
Hearing no comments,Mayor Aymon closed the comment period at 9:06 a.m.
ORK SESSION
Local Option Tax Commission
Council Member Nielsen asked about a conflict of interest issue. City Manager Anette Spickard
stated that so long as he has disclosed his conflicts, he could participate in the conversations and
decision-making process. He disclosed he is employed by the Payette Ski Club and sits on the
board of the McCall Winter Sports Club.
Cami Hedges, Chair of the Local Option Tax (LOT) Commission presented. She started by going
through the three applications not funded and explained the reasons why. Those applicants were
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JarMar Investments, West Central Mountain Youth Advocacy Coalition, and the McCall Youth
Hockey & Ice-Skating Associations. Ms. Hedges then went through the partially funded and
contingent projects explaining the reasons for each one. Below is a list of the unfunded and
partially funded applications, and the contingencies.
Not Funded:
19-36 JarMar Investment LLC for sewer connection fees: Denied because of unclear deed
restrictions and purpose.Has not gone before Planning&Zoning. Chance Hobbs with the Housing
Trust spoke to the JarMar Investments application issue explaining the complications and his
recent conversation with the builder to help him formulate a process with the deed restrictions.
Mayor Aymon asked for some clarification on if the housing was to sell,to rent, or a combination
of the two. Tabitha Martineau, LOT Commission, stated there was no clear plan explained by the
applicant.
19-37 West Central Mountains Youth Advocacy Coalition for a Winter Carnival activities tent:
there were no matching funds and no details about location, etc.
19-42 McCall Youth Hockey/McCall Ice Skating Association asking for team gear & clothing
for all registered players: the LOT Commission did not see how this filled a public purpose.
Partially Funded:
19-39 McCall Winter Sports Club: requested$2500 only funded$1000 because funds requested
included a membership drive&activities in locations other than or in addition to the McCall area.
19-26 McCall Youth Hockey/McCall Ice Skating Association: requested $5000 only funded
$2500 as the request was for more ice time so they can hold more games on the weekends.
19-27 McCall Youth Hockey/McCall Ice Skating Association: requested $5000 only funded
$2500 as the request was for more ice time so they can hold more games on the weekends.
19-22 McPAWS: requested $17,000 funded $10,000 as there was not any specific program
identified.
19-24 Manchester Ice & Event Center: requested $25,000 funded $10,000 gave funds because
of the different family friendly fun the project supports and of the amount of scholarships given.
Partially Funded with Contingencies:
19-02 Treasure Valley Transit: requested$57,500 funded$47,000 with contingent of$10,500.
19-20 City of McCall Community Development: requested $60,000 funded $50,000.00 with
contingent of$10,000 as not enough funds to fill all the requests so chose to cut back here.
19-03 City of McCall Library: requested $240,000 funded $105,110.00 with contingent of
$134,890.
19-33 McCall Area Chamber of Commerce: requested$3687 funded as a contingency at$3687.
Council Member Holmes asked for clarification about how the Commission assigned funding. Ms.
Hedges explained the amount funded or not funded was determined by the public purpose, how it
related, and what category it fell into then ranked by when the funds were needed.
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City Treasurer Linda Stokes went over the City application explaining the total cost of the project,
what was funded by City funds and the balance which was submitted for LOT funds. The Council
discussed the various applications. The Council asked about the public art request. Community&
Economic Development (CED) Director Michelle Groenevelt explained the public art request is
to fill the void of funds for benches, trash cans, etc. for the downtown area and to help leverage
with grant matches. She stated if it comes down to choosing a priority between art or housing, she
would prefer the housing fund supersede public art. The Council discussed various applications
and made changes as indicated below.
19-20 City of McCall Community Development—Housing Fund:
CED Director Groenevelt answered the Council's questions and explained the housing application
purpose was to provide an incentive program for developers to create work force housing. Since
the application submittal, staff has been looking for a GEM grant match of$50,000 to help with
infrastructure for a 100% deed restricted housing project. City Manager Anette Spickard stated
this sends a strong signal to the development community that the City is willing to help and
hopefully encourage them to build work force housing. After some discussion, the Council fully
funded the application and moved it to the top of the list.
19-18 City of McCall Parks &Recreation -Boathouse,Education and Recreation:
Staff explained the purpose of the Boathouse feasibility study on a section of City owned land.
CED Director Groenevelt stated this is a community requested project and is not staff initiated.
The Council discussed and shared their thoughts. Council Member Sowers would like to reduce
funds to this project and move those funds to the Housing Fund. Council Member Giles stated that
before decisions can be made about a boathouse, info needs to discovered. He would like to see it
funded. Council Member Holmes felt if it is community driven request,it should be funded.Mayor
Aymon is not keen on giving away land to a private entity and understands the high cost of
feasibility reports. Council Member Nielsen thought it was worth investigating as the Parks &
Recreation Department needs a new space for their operations. After additional discussion, the
Council consensus was to leave as funded.
19-16 City of McCall Parks & Recreation—Warren Wagon Pathway:
City Treasurer Stokes stated there is $64,000 in the general fund which has been specifically put
aside for pathway projects. After some discussion, the Council chose to not fund App. 19-16 and
moved the$10,000 to App. 19-20 to fully fund it.
The Council was amenable with the rest of the funding.
Review of personnel costs, benefit plan proposals
Human Resources Manager Traci Malvich explained the three health benefit proposals from Blue
Cross,Pacific Source, and IIIA(self-funded).After examining the three plans, staff recommended
going with IIIA as the plan has a lower deductible,more benefits, and is a better package for about
the same cost as what Blue Cross has offered. The downside to the plan is a 3-year commitment
with a penalty for early departure and the possibility of a fee increase but history has shown those
only go up in single digit . For example, this year is only 3.2%. She explained the goal of IIIA is
rate stability. Larger cities are self-funded which is a difficult endeavor for smaller cities, and IIIA
can give the same benefits of larger cities by pooling together the smaller cities.
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Mayor Aymon expressed a concern of enough funds to cover claims. Human Resources Manager
Malvich explained how the Department of Insurance requires a certain level of cash reserve put
aside to be self-funded based on the number of lives covered by the insurance company and IIIA
is fully funded. She explained the company is in-network through Blue Cross, but the Board of
Trustees has the power to make determinations to cover medical requests that may be denied by
Blue Cross. In addition, the brokerage company contacted the staff this week to state they intend
to lower their rates because of the 3-yr commitment bringing the proposed plan rates down slightly.
IIIA also offers dental and vision but the City is currently locked in to the current plans and it may
be cost prohibitive to make the change at this time.
After some discussion, Council consensus was to go with IIIA. Staff has presented the contract to
the city attorney for review.
Library Expansion Project—Update on project budget
City Treasurer Stokes went over funding for the Library Expansion Project. The Library FY19
estimated funds needed is approximately $660,000. There is $100,000.00 set aside each year
(FY18 & FY19) for engineering and Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) in addition to the LOT
request($60,000 FY18 + $105,100 FY19=$165,100) leaving a short fall of$294,890 to meet the
total needed. Engineering needs to be in place before a bond can be applied for.
City Manager Spickard stated she would visit with the department heads to discuss CIP projects
that could be pushed back so as to be able to procure the Library shortfall and bring back those
decisions to Council at a later date.
Council Member Giles was concerned about the timeline for putting the bond item before the
community for the 2020 May elections. But on the same token, felt the City had been planning
ahead so the shortfall is not urgent to find by bumping other CIP projects. With FY20 slated funds
and LOT, it may solve itself. City Treasurer Stokes stated that once AIP reimbursement funds are
received, there is a potential $327,610 that may come available. Staff will do some research and
come back with some numbers.
Property Taxes—Review and Confirm Assumptions
City Treasurer Stokes gave a recap on the growth and annexation dollars. The property taxes came
back higher than expected because of recent residential growth and she shared the foregone amount
is still available.
Review of Draft CIP
City Treasurer Stokes asked for the Council's feedback on the CIP project list. There were three
items discussed: Senior Centerrepairs, the Golf Course parking lot paving, and dump truck
purchases.
Senior Center
Staff,in answer to questions about the building repairs,stated the building would not be in jeopardy
if the repairs were put off for another year. After some discussion, the Council consensus was to
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move the $90,000 to another project and put off the repairs to the Senior Center for another year.
A decision of where to use the funds to be determined at the next budget meeting.
Golf Course Parking Lot Paving
Staff reported the parking lot has been recommended for a complete rehaul as it is too far gone for
a simple paving. The Council asked for the project to be wrapped into another paving project to
cut costs.
Dump Truck Purchases
Staff and the Council discussed different options such as leasing, storage, contract legalities, and
the finances.The Council consensus was for staff do a comparison of purchase and leasing options.
Staff answered questions about a few more items but the Council had no more issues with the CIP
projects.
Overview of Draft Budget
City Treasurer Stokes went over some of the changes that had transpired since the previous budget
work session. She shared that due to the residential growth of the area there is $156,332 of
unexpected tax dollars available for additional projects. Options given where those funds could be
appropriated include affordable housing,the sidewalk program,fully funding the LOT applications
which received partial funding recommendations, revisit the amount for property tax assumptions
(consider less than 3%), Library expansion/Parks & Recreation rehoming, any other Council
priorities they would like to direct it to, or place in the general fund reserve until a later date for
when the Council is ready to assign it to a project. The budget was out of balance so staff and the
Council discussed where to make those changes and brought the budget into balance.
City Council Deliberation
The Council deliberated on what to do with the additional tax dollars. Council Member Holmes
would like more time to determine where to put it so was in favor of the general fund reserve
option. Council Member Nielsen would like to see it go towards LOT projects(especially housing)
to make sure all funds are awarded but he was also supportive with it going into the general fund
reserve. Council Member Sowers liked the idea of the funds being used for sidewalks on the
Deinhard corner. Council Member Giles would like to put it in the general funds reserve for now
and wait for clarity on the LOT housing project. Mayor Aymon would like it to go into the general
fund reserve until it is needed.
After additional discussion the Council directed staff to put the$90,000.00 from the Senior Center
into a housing project fund to use as projects come available and to put aside the $153,388 of tax
monies into the general reserve fund for use to be determined later. There was a brief discussion
of possible locations for the Parks &Recreation department.
Tentative budget is at$24,028,300 and staff asked for a motion to set it.
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Council Member Nielsen moved to set the tentative budget at $24,028,300.00. Council
Member Giles seconded the motion. In a roll call vote Council Member Nielsen, Council
Member Giles, Mayor Aymon, Council Member Holmes, and Council Member Sowers all
voted aye and the motion carried.
FY19 Budget Development Next Steps
The below dates have been set and noticed:
• FY19 Budget Public Hearing is set for August 9th at 6:00 p.m. during the regularly
scheduled Council meeting in Legion Hall
• FY19 Budget Adoption is scheduled for August 23rd at 6:00 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT
Without further business, Mayor Aymon adjourned the meeting at 12:32 p.m.
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