CITY OF SHAWNEE
PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING
MINUTES
MAY 18, 2010
7:30 P.M.
Committee Members Present
Staff Present
Councilmember Kuhn
City Manager Gonzales
Councilmember Morris
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth
Councilmember Neighbor
City Clerk Powell
Councilmember Distler
City Attorney Rainey
Assistant City Attorney Rainey
Other Councilmembers Present
Planning Director Chaffee
Councilmember Pflumm
Police Chief Morgan
Councilmember Sawyer
Parks and Recreation Director Holman
Councilmember Vaught
Finance Director Kidney
Councilmember Sandifer
City Engineer Wesselschmidt
Fire Chief Hudson
Public Works Director Freyermuth
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson
Human Resources Manager Crawford
Information Technologies Director Doherty
Members of the public who spoke: (Item 1) RODNEY HOUCK, KEVIN STRAUB.
1.
COST SAVING IDEAS FOR SHAWNEE TOWN.
Chairperson Kuhn stated that the Public Works and Safety Committee recommended 2-0 that
staff continues to research fee structures contained in Policy Statement, PS-30, Rental Policy for
Civic Centre and Shawnee Town Facilities, and bring to a future Public Works and Safety
Committee meeting.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated last month the staff presented some cost
saving measures to the Committee and they were asked to come back for a few more
considerations and their initial considerations for the review of the non-resident and the
commercial rates; consider prime time rates for Friday and Saturday and consider eliminating the
first day. They focused on that for tonight’s presentation.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated additional considerations were to reduce the
civic rate discount, reinstate immediate family member requirement for residence sponsored nonresident rentals, implement the RecTrac reservation module to handle multiple daily rentals, and
improve efficiency and tracking. Currently, they are doing everything with paper manual
contracts.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated in looking at non-resident and commercial
rentals during 2009, their findings show that only 13% of all paid rentals were non-resident and
there was only one commercial rental in 2009. Eliminating first day priority for residents would
increase the number of non-resident rentals and reinstating immediate family member
requirement for sponsored rentals would also increase non-resident rental fees.
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Councilmember Pflumm stated Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson said eliminating first
day priority for residents would increase the number of non-resident rentals. He asked if Town
Hall is rented probably 100% of the time on the weekends. He asked why they would want to do
that.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson replied right now they give priority and only start
renting one year out and on that first day of rentals, they only accept rentals from residents. They
want to eliminate the priority.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru stated that first day priority for residents is really
turning out to be non-residents being sponsored by residents. It is basically non-residents with
residents vouching for them. Non-residents are paying the resident rates, because they are
sponsored by a friend.
Councilmember Pflumm asked if they can still do the sponsorship.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru replied they could still do the sponsorship, but the
staff thinks it would eliminate some of the need for them to find somebody. It is basically whoever
is getting in line first, but unfortunately it has not worked the way they anticipated to benefit the
residents and is still non-resident rentals.
Councilmember Sandifer stated it will still be one year out rentals.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson replied it will not be restricted to residents only.
Councilmember Pflumm stated they want to give the residents the advantage, because they pay
for it.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated they are getting a rate advantage.
Councilmember Pflumm replied he understands that, but they probably want to lease it to a
resident, before they lease it to a non-resident.
City Manager Gonzales stated non-residents pay more money.
Councilmember Pflumm stated if they want to do that, all they have to say is the person in line
has to be a resident.
Councilmember Sandifer stated that is what they are doing today and it was said that residents
are stepping up to the plate and renting it at the resident’s rate for non-residents. He asked if that
is correct.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson answered yes.
Councilmember Pflumm stated that is not what Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson just
said. She said the non-residents are standing in line and getting sponsored by a resident.
Councilmember Sandifer stated that is the same thing as what she just said.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru stated they are standing in line, but a non-resident
is the person who is first in line, but instead of paying the non-resident rate, they are paying the
resident rate because they are sponsored by someone.
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Councilmember Pflumm stated he understands they want to increase it, but is merely saying the
citizens of Shawnee are paying for that building, so they should have the advantage over a nonresident.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru stated that is what they tried to do by saying
someone has to be a resident to rent the first day, but it is still going to non-residents.
Councilmember Pflumm stated this is really not going to do anything, but squeeze a little more
money out of them.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru replied it will be actual rental rates, based on the
residency.
Councilmember Morris asked about the resident standing in line being the person renting it and
cannot rent it for anyone else. He asked if that would help in any way.
Councilmember Vaught stated it would still do the same thing.
Councilmember Sandifer stated they could still rent it in their own name and it would not matter
who was in it.
Councilmember Vaught stated the thinking is that the residents all pay for the parks, but there are
no signs posted that read: Shawnee Residents Only.
Councilmember Pflumm stated this is something that is in high demand.
Councilmember Vaught countered so are the parks.
Councilmember Pflumm stated anyone can go to a park, so they need to be realistic.
Councilmember Vaught stated Johnson County residents all pay for Shawnee Mission Park.
Councilmember Pflumm stated they are not eliminating a Johnson County person from doing that,
like they are in this situation. He stated let’s say a Wyandotte County person came over and
leased it out for an out-of-state or out-of-town rate at a little more money, but that prevented
“Michelle” from renting it on the same day. He stated all he is saying is that they originally set this
up for the residents of Shawnee since they bought the building and paid for it. He stated if they
want to say the only person standing in line has to be a resident that will probably go a little
farther than what they have been doing, because he knows people who have stood in line who
are not residents.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru stated the resident has to be present at the same
time though, so they are there at the same time of the non-resident renter.
Councilmember Vaught asked if there is a Shawnee resident priority for shelter rental at the
parks.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru answered no.
Councilmember Pflumm asked if the park shelters are in as high of demand as the Town Hall.
Councilmember Vaught replied in the middle of summer and around holidays they are.
Councilmember Sandifer concurred.
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Councilmember Vaught asked where they stop it.
Councilmember Pflumm stated everyone wants to get married in that little building down there.
Councilmember Vaught stated he understands that, but asked where they stop if they take that
thinking. Do they say that everything taxpayers pay for is exclusive to Shawnee residents’
because that is the trend they started here and are trying to eliminate.
Councilmember Pflumm stated they have a building that is in high demand.
Councilmember Vaught stated if that is the case, then they should generate some revenue off it,
because that is the whole idea.
Councilmember Sawyer asked what the revenue has done over the past two years – up or down.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson replied revenue has decreased over the past two
years.
Councilmember Pflumm asked why.
Councilmember Sawyer responded because it is not rented as much as in the past.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated there are multiple reasons. One is that they
put in place this resident priority on the first day rentals. She stated there are three or four
Fridays and Saturdays each month, depending on special events, that are available and those
are typically rented. The Saturdays are rented on the first day. They block out any opportunity
for those highest priority dates.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated they also did not have the immediate family
member requirement for getting the resident rate. That is what they are speaking to in terms of
the non-residents that have been sponsored; residents have been sponsoring non-residents for
using Town Hall and getting the resident rate.
Councilmember Pflumm stated he is just saying they are trying to get more money at the expense
of the people that want to live here and do it. Even if they just say they are not going to sponsor
anyone anymore and give these guys one day . . . .
Chairperson Kuhn stated initially she would have been inclined to agree with Councilmember
Pflumm’s thought and actually had expressed that it seemed to her it should have been a priority
that the folks coming it would make nothing but sense, but unfortunately in the vacuum in which
she saw that and the reality of what is taking place, there is a vast difference. She stated if they
are requiring a resident to be in line with a non-resident, which they are, and have already
adjusted that, so there is no way to get that fixed for the non-resident. If they are requiring that
the person they are renting it for take full responsibility as the resident, they are doing that. The
first day rentals, from what staff is telling them, are going just as equally to non-residents as they
are to residents because of the way it is set up; it is a logistics’ nightmare because they allow
someone to sponsor a non-resident.
Chairperson Kuhn gave the example if she would like to have her Goddaughter’s wedding there,
she can stand in line there with her and rent it, so not only is she getting it early, but at a
discounted rate. Where if they remove this, the same people who would already be there that
night are still there, but actually paying the rate that they should be paying which is the nonresident rate, because her Goddaughter does not live here and they normally would not give her
that rate.
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Chairperson Kuhn stated she thinks the staff is saying they tried to give a bonus for being a
resident and the logistics are next to impossible unless they can only rent it for themselves and
asked them to take another look at the budget issues and the staffing they are working from and
say they really want them to show their wedding permit for that night, so they know it is actually
‘their’ wedding, or how do they know it is ‘your birthday’, so she thinks the logistics’ nightmare is a
little crazy.
Councilmember Pflumm stated it is no different whatsoever than someone sponsoring them.
Chairperson Kuhn stated that is exactly the point they are saying, in that there is no difference,
but if they do not require them to have a sponsor, then the non-resident will stand in line by
themselves, pay the non-resident rate for the same one they would have had anyway, and
instead the same person that was going to be there that Friday night will be there because their
cousin lives in town and would have stood there with them, but instead they stand there by
themselves, get the room for the night, and pay for it at the non-resident rate. She stated it is the
same person that would have been in there that Friday night anyway, but they are getting the rate
they should have been getting for it instead.
Councilmember Pflumm asked why allow sponsorship.
Chairperson Kuhn replied that is her point to the other; otherwise then they put the onus on the
staff to say the residents have to prove it is their event or birthday. She stated just for the
logistics of that benefit, it is not weighed anywhere nearly as heavy as the problems it would
cause to staff. She thinks that would be a Council decision as a whole and not an individual
decision, so perhaps they should ask the questions and the Council can then give some direction.
Councilmember Pflumm asked for the charge for non-residents.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson replied they are currently charging $25.00 more per
hour for non-residents.
Councilmember Pflumm asked for the charge per hour for residents.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson replied $75.00 per hour, $100.00 per hour for nonresidents.
Councilmember Pflumm asked why not just double it.
Chairperson Kuhn stated she thinks that was part of the whole conversation at the last meeting
and was part of the conversation in the packets they talked about and had brought forward. She
thinks those backgrounds have somewhat been addressed and is why staff brought forward what
they had and is the direction they were given by the Committee. She stated this is the same
Committee where the voting members moved it forward at the last meeting, so that was where
that information had been found in the minutes from the last meeting and the background
conversation before tonight’s Committee meeting.
Councilmember Morris stated on that first day, people stand in line and wait to get in there. He
stated in a sense, it benefits the Shawnee residents if they are prepared. He stated people stand
in line for concerts, or whatever they have a priority for, for 2-3 days. He stated to him, it gives
the Shawnee residents the priority if they do their due diligence and make sure they are first in
line.
Councilmember Pflumm stated there is no priority, because they are eliminating the priority.
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Councilmember Morris stated if someone wants to get here early to get that first day and make
sure they get the date, it will benefit Shawnee residents because they are here versus that
someone from out of town a priority.
Councilmember Pflumm stated someone in Merriam might be closer than someone in Shawnee.
Councilmember Sawyer asked why not do away with this somewhat childish first day waiting
there all night thing and go out 18 months. For example, they could go to the Pavilion and ask for
the date if it is open and if they give a check for that date, then that date is theirs.
Councilmember Vaught stated it should be non-refundable.
Councilmember Sawyer stated the people can pick the date.
Councilmember Pflumm stated he agrees with Councilmember Sawyer.
Councilmember Sawyer stated he thinks they should go 18 months out, because that is how long
most of these places go. He stated they could go out 18 months and if the person shows up and
that date if available and they write the check, then yes, it is non-refundable and if they change
their mind they might work with them on moving it to a different date, but they are not going to
give the money back. He stated if they did it that way, they then do not have people sitting there
all night long and every resident should be able to plan ahead 18 months out and get their date.
Councilmember Sawyer stated he is only interested in the fact that the City’s revenue has
dropped. He stated they have only one commercial this last year. He asked if that is correct.
City Manager Gonzales answered yes.
Councilmember Sawyer stated there is obviously probably more reasons than that they just have
to be in line, because he thinks it is a little short on audio/visual, compared so some of the other
facilities where commercial can go.
Chairperson Kuhn asked about Councilmember Sawyer’s idea and if there any indication why
that would not be or would be something beneficial.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson replied she believes that would relieve the pressure
of the first day. She stated they get a range of date requests, sometimes a month out and
sometimes a year out. She stated some are looking 13 to 15 months ahead.
Chairperson Kuhn asked if it would make it easier on staffing.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated they do currently give refunds up to 60 days
before the rental.
Councilmember Sandifer asked Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson if they have had to
give a lot of refunds.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson answered no. She stated occasionally they will get
a cancellation, but not often. Typically, they are able to re-rent, but not always. The deposit is
$200.00.
Councilmember Morris stated one of the reasons he wanted to kick back was to see how they
could run this more like a business. He would like to hear from staff and their suggestions. He
stated Councilmember Sawyer had a good question. He asked staff some of the things they
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could recommend, because he is not going to present it tonight for them, although he has a lot of
experience running situations where he is booking two years in advance.
Councilmember Morris stated the other concern he had was compared to the private market, right
now they are less than half and every venue has pros and cons. He feels he would like to see it
come a little closer to the market out there and have benefit to the residents of Shawnee.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated going forward, she has more detail that she
believes will address what the Committee is looking for and some of the ways they have looked at
it.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated last month they had included non-civic
comparisons and tonight they are focusing more on their civic comparisons. She stated Matt
Ross is from Overland Park and the Lodge of Ironwoods is in Leawood. These are all civically
managed rental facilities. She stated the rate comparisons, whether they include a kitchen or AV
equipment, the hourly rate for non-premium is listed on the slide and the hourly rate for premium
as well. That was a recommendation that the staff seriously look at the premium periods.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated as they look down on that for the different
locations, not everybody has a civic rate - Matt Ross and Sylvester Powell does not.
Chairperson Kuhn asked when the City uses their commercial rate and she understands
somewhat what it is, but when she goes to a venue, they do not tell her it is a different rate if she
is renting it for the Rotary Club or if she renting it for a corporate event or even a wedding. She
stated it is usually based more on when it is during the time of the day, or the peak portion. She
knows if someone is involved in a civic organization and they rent out a facility, it becomes
somewhat confusing. She asked the thought process behind having those when they see that
only one other one really does separate out commercial and residential, versus non-residential.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson replied they do have a recommendation for an
adjustment in the discount for civic. She stated civic in their definition is a non for profit 501C3
registered in the City of Shawnee. It is very specific and is not any non-profit.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated the commercial rate kicks in if they are a
business doing business in their facility. She stated they are charging admission or doing
business and having clients there, or selling or recruiting to them.
Councilmember Sandifer asked if this was to go into effect, what will happen to the people that
have it at this period of time.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson replied they are in and their recommendation would
be that it would be going forward and they are looking at the suggestion of August, because the
staff feels if the Council approves this and it goes forward, they would be able to get RecTrac in
place and staff trained in using it, so it would any further beyond August 1 st.
Councilmember Sandifer asked if it is for 2010.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson answered yes.
Chairperson Kuhn asked if next year’s June’s weddings would have the different rate.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson answered no. The rate would not begin until
starting with August 1st rentals of 2011. If they rent in August this summer at any point, any of
those rentals would be subject to . . .
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Councilmember Morris asked if these facilities are more Civic Centre, versus Town Hall in that
Shawnee is different in that they have both a Civic Centre that has kitchens and other spaces,
versus the Town Hall which is more of an event venue-type situation and matches more up with a
private venue.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated it is a challenge to find good comparators for
Shawnee Town.
Chairperson Kuhn asked if the Lenexa Conference Center is the barn.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson answered yes, but their facility is not multi-purpose.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson presented the current rates are proposed Sunday
through Thursday, which would be an increase over the current rates and proposed rates for
prime time on Friday and Saturday. When they look at the civic rate and how it changes, they will
see instead of currently at $50.00, it would go to $80.00.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated the staff used the resident rate as the base
rate to base their increases from and are recommending a 20% discount from the resident rate,
the newly proposed $100.00 per hour resident rate, which would realize the civic rate to be
$80.00 per hour. When they looked at other comparators, if they had a civic rate, they ranged
from a 15 or 19% discount from their resident rate. She stated basing it at 20%, they thought it
was reasonable and is not as great a discount as in the past.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson presented a slide showing the affect on an increase
of $25.00 per hour for each of those categories; the non-resident, the commercial, and the prime
times and Saturday as an additional.
Councilmember Pflumm stated looking at the Matt Ross Community Center, the resident rate is
$132.00 and non-resident rate is $248.00. What they do Sunday through Thursday should be
vastly different, than what they do on Friday or Saturday because it is a prime wedding reception
location. If they want to increase their revenue and give the Shawnee residents some kind of
benefit, he would almost double like Overland Park instead of just $30.00.
Councilmember Morris thinks this is way below the market. He is concerned that they affect the
marketplace and make it hard for the commercial property owners to do well. He thinks this is a
prime location and cannot imagine . . . most private places start at $250.00 as their base price per
hour and most are $300.00 to $400.00 per hour and pay it and book it. He is concerned that this
is an asset the City has and they need to take into consideration the residents of Shawnee as
best as possible, but if they are concerned about the budget and money all the time, there is this
balance and he thinks they need to give the operator some flexibility, because they will say they
should double it and it really does affect how it does and if they cannot adjust it, they are stuck.
He feels they should give them 25% up or down per situation to run it better.
Councilmember Morris is very concerned the City is not getting as much out of the facility that
they could for the residents of Shawnee. He stated this how they are going to offset some of the
budget, so it would be of help to the residents of Shawnee.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman stated those places are very nice. The staff tried to do
similar of how they operate the two places talked about earlier and charge per table. They
charge for linens, silverware, a bartender, alcohol and they do not do any of that, but simply
provide the hall and bring those things in.
Councilmember Morris stated that is the same he does at his place.
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Parks and Recreation Director Holman stated in looking at these, it seems as if everyone does
something different.
Councilmember Vaught stated as a private business owner, their goal is to make money and as a
city, he thinks their goal is to bring people into the city. He does not if they necessarily have to be
competitive with private industry, as much as private enterprise. Their biggest goal is to bring
people into the City and thinks they have accomplished that.
Councilmember Sandifer agrees with no underselling the facility. He has been involved with
another hall over the last year on trying to get it turned around and rented. It is not as nice as this
one, but does have a kitchen and is not a bad hall. It does not get rented constantly. He stated
they have it moved around a little bit, because it was $500.00 per night and was very difficult to
rent. He stated they got it down to around $80.00 an hour and is probably renting 5% more now.
Councilmember Sandifer stated for the last year they have been juggling this around and was
under the conclusion if they moved this up very much they will be a lot emptier. He wanted more
of an opinion from Parks and Recreation Director Holman on what he thinks on the rate and how
much before it would start hurting the facility.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman stated Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru is
the person who has been really calling around and getting rates. They discussed this today and
put things together. He thinks with this rate, staying with what they brought in, in 2009, they could
bring in nice revenue. They do have to worry about people going someplace else.
Councilmember Sandifer stated they can price it out of the market.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman concurred. He stated they can price it too low, so they
needed to re-review some things.
Councilmember Sawyer would agree it would be too low, but asked Deputy Parks and Recreation
Director Lecuru and Parks and Recreation Director Holman if they would also agree that they are
weak on the audio side. He stated there have been too many times that he has attended events
there and it does not work.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman asked Councilmember Sawyer if he attended a function
since they’ve had the new system.
Councilmember Sawyer stated he remembers a time not all that long ago, when the audio system
did not work, but maybe there wasn’t anyone around who knew how to work it. He stated while
they have audio, it is far from being state of the art. He stated the little hall out in Lenexa is state
of the art, although some company gave that to Lenexa.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru stated they do not want to price themselves out of
the market, but compare the amenities that the City’s facility offers compared to other facilities.
She stated as Councilmember Sawyer mentioned, the facility in Lenexa has all kinds of bells and
whistles. When they are looking at wedding receptions, they are looking more towards linens and
bartenders. He stated some people like to go to a one-stop shop. A lot of the commercial
venues have a lot of those things.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru stated the staff was trying to balance covering their
costs and returning them to the General Fund.
Councilmember Sawyer stated building on that, he knows that he has put on a couple weddings
over the last few years and that hall was too little for what they needed, but they also went to a
location in Shawnee that had all the other amenities and they did not have to do anything. He
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stated more and more wedding receptions want to show pictures of the bride and groom when
they were babies and want all these amenities offered, but supposes they are getting close. He
stated the City has not put the money in it and personally believes that is why their commercial
suffers, because he knows of a couple of companies who have looked at it and it does not have
what they need, so they go elsewhere.
Councilmember Morris asked for the percentage of the weddings bringing in a DJ without a sound
system.
City Manager Gonzales replied 95%.
Councilmember Morris asked how many bookings a year do they get.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru replied they had 180 paid rentals last year.
Councilmember Morris stated that is phenomenal.
excellent job.
They are packing them in and doing an
Councilmember Pflumm asked about during the week.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru stated they had 69 Civic rentals last year and 53
were during the week and only 16 were on the weekend. 23 of those were actually non-residents
at the resident rate. Of the 24 true non-residents, 12 were on the weekend.
Councilmember Pflumm stated Councilmember Sawyer is saying basically they do not have any
commercial people using it and he does not lease it because he can go get a conference room in
a hotel for a whole day for $100.00. He stated when he does a presentation that is going to cost
$450.00, he can spend that amount of money and get the room, food - everything. He stated
they may think they are low, but really compared to that, they are not. He thinks they are way low
on weddings and way high on commercial.
Chairperson Kuhn stated there is a whole bunch of different market audiences and right now she
thinks what they are trying to do is figure out what that right audience is. One fact, using the
numbers they got last year, is they saw a decrease in the revenue but an increase in the rentals,
because they did see a lot more local folks using it; showing that maybe the kinds of usage they
needed were ones that fit that criteria.
Chairperson Kuhn stated they have asked staff to go back and look and they know they can bring
this up some. They want them to differentiate between times of heavy use and times of moderate
use and they want them to make sure the residents are getting the preferential rate, but maybe
they can make sure that non-residents are paying what they should be paying for it.
Chairperson Kuhn stated with that being said, she thinks they brought them everything that they
have asked for and maybe the best thing for the Council to do with this is to take a good year and
see what those numbers bring in, especially with the economy they are in where there is going to
be some other elements that might impact it, rather than hoping it is worth more.
Chairperson Kuhn stated would be inclined to agree with Councilmember Sawyer that just for the
convenience sake and maybe for the staff’s ease, looking at that any time they can book it out
may have some benefit for folks that could be good.
Councilmember Morris stated he would recommend visiting it again in 6 months, versus a year
from now.
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Chairperson Kuhn asked Councilmember Morris if he meant to review it again six months from
August when it would implement.
Councilmember Morris answered yes.
Chairperson Kuhn stated they could get through the holidays and maybe bring it back in March
for review. She stated her thought was that they would not have the wedding season in it,
because if they talk about it in six months, they would not have gotten through any of the wedding
season, so she thought they could look at it during next year’s budget season.
Councilmember Sawyer stated there are weddings in the fall as well.
Chairperson Kuhn asked if the motion is to the Council approve the cost saving ideas for
Shawnee Town with the indication of the 18 months and have staff report back in six months from
the August implementation date.
Councilmember Morris asked about RecTrac and the cost; had they already had that cost.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru replied they utilized RecTrac at the Civic Centre in
Parks and Recreation and have used it for close to eight years now. They use it for reservations,
registrations, past management, and implementing it down at Shawnee Town will really benefit
the rentals and help track the information. There will be a minor maintenance fee increase.
Councilmember Sawyer asked for the amount.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru stated basically they will break it out between four
divisions, rather than three divisions.
City Manager Gonzales stated the cost itself does not increase, but merely gets reallocated
between four line items instead of three.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru replied that is correct.
Councilmember Morris stated his thought is, since he has upgraded their audio systems, if it
helps the City get more events in and better events in . . . he asked if anyone has an idea how
much it would cost to upgrade the audio/visual part. He stated they already have a projector and
would think for a minimal amount of money it could be upgraded and benefit a whole lot of
people.
Information Technologies Director Doherty replied he does not know the specific cost as a
comparison. What they did several years back was around $25,000, but the cost of projectors
have come down and they are still looking for a high quality projector to be considerably more
than the one they currently have in there. He does not know what an audio upgrade cost.
Chairperson Kuhn stated perhaps at the six months from the August date, they could also ask the
staff for some feedback about what kinds of amenities could be fixed and added, along with
pricing. The Council could then make some decisions about whether or they believe, as a
Council, those things would be a good investment.
Councilmember Distler she noticed an iPhone projector for $250.00 which she is sure would be
compatible with the iPad which is $400.00, so maybe for less than $1,000, the City could have
the state of the art system.
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Councilmember Sawyer stated he agrees they should review it again in six months, but does not
think they will see a noticeable difference because they have already rented at the old rate. It
does not hurt to look at what is happening.
RODNEY HOUCK asked if they take any kind of a survey afterwards when people rent the facility
asking what they did and did not like about the facility.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson replied they did for about one year and they love
them, but that was before they added the LCD projector. They even approached some different
scenarios for first day rentals. She stated they draw a number out of a hat and they by the
number order. They start at a particular time and whoever is there, they draw the number so it
would relieve the campout for 2-3 days. Surprisingly, most people did not want that and wanted
to camp out and felt vested in the process.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated the 18 month out rental, or two years, would
require the staff to get their own dates in line for their events, but certainly would ease that first
day drama. She stated it would also, if they are expecting to perhaps continue to increase the
rates, lock them in for 18 to 24 months.
Councilmember Pflumm asked if the staff is not thinking about increasing the price until next
August (2011).
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson replied the staff thought by this August they would
be able to have RecTrac up and running and trained, so that if they instituted the new rates for
any rentals that were contracted starting this August . . .
RODNEY HOUCK stated he is hearing some discussion about whether or not they need to
upgrade the audio/visual equipment. He would think if they went back and kept doing their
surveys and asked specific questions about parts of the facility, they may not need to upgrade
and people may want more.
Chairperson Kuhn stated she would go so far to say they might want to ask people who came in
to rent it who didn’t rent it why they chose not to. She is thinking those who rented it fit what they
were looking for and it was the right kind of place at the right time. She stated the bigger question
is if someone chose not to rent it, was it because they are Councilmember Pflumm who would
rather have a conference room in a hotel for $120.00 because they were really only inviting 10
people, or was it because there was not the proper equipment to get through the meeting, or was
it too big, too much per day, because they did not have catering or linens. She stated there are a
whole lot of things that could come from that.
Councilmember Sandifer stated he has rented it for family reunions where they had the pictures
and sound and it worked great for them and they never had one problem with the facility.
Councilmember Distler stated since their shortcoming is in commercial, the same thing is asking
about the AV equipment, so have they asked the Chamber business members why if they rent
facilities, they are not renting them, since they are easily accessible.
City Manager Gonzales stated the staff can certainly ask them.
Councilmember Vaught stated he goes to every Chamber luncheons and was at the EDC one
today and they do the leadership stuff there and really has never seen any problem with
presentation, sound, audio/visual, so he does not get it. He stated it works fantastic and they
have had some wonderful presentations there and are there all the time. He does not understand
what the problem is.
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Councilmember Sawyer stated he knows of one company that would have leased the thing for a
company quarterly meeting and audio/visual in that facility does not meet their needs.
Chairperson Kuhn stated there is a lot of information the Council still needs, as far as to why
people are renting or not renting, as to what makes it the most viable and to what it can support
as a weight before it just tumbles under itself. With that, she would accept a motion to adopt the
current pricing that has been recommended by staff, as well as allowing the 18 month calendar . .
Councilmember Neighbor moved to recommend the Council approve the cost saving ideas for
Shawnee Town with the indication of the 18 months and have staff report back in six months from
the August implementation date for further implications. No second.
Councilmember Morris stated he would second the motion with the caveat they use 24 months as
opposed to 18 months.
Chairperson Kuhn stated she would agree with the long term 24 months, but if they are going to
take a look at the revenue stream in six months, perhaps they should keep it at 18 months now,
so if they decide they are going to increase it, they can then be the year out from then as it would
already be booked in advanced and then they could take a look at the 24 months when they had
a better idea of where they want to be with long term rates.
Councilmember Sawyer stated he knows how hard it is to change things. If they go two years,
they can still change the rate if they have them booked. He hopes it is booked at 110%.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson stated it is already booked a year out for the
weekends.
Councilmember Sawyer stated he just knows how hard it is to get change through this Body.
Chairperson Kuhn stated she would be inclined in the long run to go with the 24 months and has
no issue with doing that, but her only concern right now is if they go a full 24 months now, it
means that if this facility can support a higher revenue/fee income on those high dates that they
have then booked out all of those weddings at the lower one and costing revenue that they
otherwise would be able to have.
Councilmember Sawyer asked based on the estimated revenue proposal, what level of bookings
are they using to get that estimate of $117,000.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson replied that is based on if they did exactly what
they did last year, in terms of percentages and may change.
Councilmember Sawyer asked for the percentage.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru stated 77% of the usage at the facility was paid
rentals and of those 38% were civic rates and is how they developed those fees, based on if they
had the exact same thing in the future as they did in 2009 that is what they would have generated
if they had implemented the prime rates on the weekends and having the exact same break on
the type of rentals.
Councilmember Sawyer asked if they serve alcohol for every 100 people, do they have to have
one security guard on site.
Shawnee Town Museum Director Clemenson answered yes, but they can only serve 240 so they
are limited at one guard and covers the facility. It is while they are serving and they only use
Shawnee police.
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
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Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru stated the presented fees are just for the Town Hall
at Shawnee Town and this fall the staff will bring back rates for the Civic Centre. She would
throw it out that a 2 year window for the Civic Centre would make it very difficult to program the
recreation programs and classes, so she would recommend if the Council decides to go with 18
months or 2 years, that that is not a rule that is held at both facilities.
Chairperson Kuhn concurred. She thinks this is more of an event center and that is one where
there is a whole different animal to work from that.
Councilmember Morris stated he would change his second to 18 months.
Chairperson Kuhn stated when they review after the 18 months they can then determine if they
want to extend it to 24 months at that time.
City Manager Gonzales asked if the motion included the removal of the non-resident change.
Therefore the motion read:
Councilmember Neighbor, seconded by Councilmember Morris, moved to recommend the
Council adopt the recommendations made by staff in regards to increasing rental fees for Town
Hall and to allow the public to reserve the facility up to 18 months in advance. The motion carried
4-0.
2.
BUDGET WORKSHOP 2: GENERAL FUND OVERVIEW, DEPARTMENT PRESENTATIONS.
Chairperson Kuhn stated that this workshop includes an overview of the General Fund and
budget presentations by the following departments:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
Information Technology
Finance
City Manager’s Office
City Council
Parks and Recreation
Planning
Development Service
Chairperson Kuhn asked City Manager Gonzales if she has an estimated time for her budget
presentation.
City Manager Gonzales replied their presentation with no discussion would take around 45
minutes, but she hopes for good discussion.
City Manager Gonzales stated at the last meeting they stopped before they jumped into the
normal kinds of comparisons they do each year, so the Committee will see some of those
integrated here initially and will also do department presentations.
City Manager Gonzales stated she wants to spend a little time to run through some spreadsheet
machinations of some options. She is not ready to recommend any options this evening, but
wanted the Committee to see and be thinking about them. Human Resources Manager Crawford
will talk about people class, because the staff is the hugest part of their budget. She wants the
Committee to understand everything. There are also several administrative department budgets
to run through.
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
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City Manager Gonzales began with spreadsheets that she and Finance Director Kidney do to look
at assumptions and how things flow. The first spreadsheet is the projection for the General Fund
and will start with the Debt Service Fund. They are looking at the two biggest funds; General
Fund and Debt Service Fund. General Fund is really the main fund where they have any
discretion at all, in terms of how they spend the money. With the Debt Service Fund, the City
obviously has to pay their bills and debt, but those two are the big mill levy funds as well, so she
wants to play a little with the mill levies to show them all what it will look like.
City Manager Gonzales presented the Debt Service Fund forecast. She pointed out that the bulk
of the revenue comes from the property tax. Some comes from motor vehicle and there are
special assessments with the main one currently being Holliday Drive. Finance Director Kidney
talked about the excise tax in the past and said the staff was very optimistic in 2010. They have
revised down that number, as they are not receiving what they had originally hoped.
City Manager Gonzales stated when they adopted the 2010 budget they did a transfer from the
Special Highway Fund - the gas tax money, one time. They did it in 2009 and the Council
approved that same transfer in 2010, which is why they cancelled the Mill and Overlay Program in
2010 which was to keep this fund funded, so the City could pay their debt.
City Manager Gonzales stated Expenditures shows the City’s outstanding debt. She stated it is
pretty slick how Finance Director Kidney has built these. If they tab over the spreadsheets are all
linked together and show the projects that generate the debt. As the Council all knows as they
have worked through the CIP, they have few and almost no new projects. The only things they
are currently showing that are contributing to that financial forecast, are things that are already
done and expenditures that have been made and committed to.
City Manager Gonzales noted the portion of Monticello South that they have already spent and
the Barton project that is about to be done. It shows the City’s portion of the Silverheel North
project which is currently under construction. There is the contractual agreement with KDOT for
the K-7 enhancements.
City Manager Gonzales stated these may shift somewhat depending on timing and when projects
get completed. She stated the Committee will see there is nothing new scheduled and they have
projects that they used to show funded listed, but not with any funding. The only they are even
plugging back into that schedule is the $4.5 million for Mill and Overlay in 2014 and are hopefully
they will be able to make that happen.
City Manager Gonzales went back to the debt to look at some of the assumptions and how they
have been built. She noted the valuation and projection. Based on last year’s actual and what it
came it at, she showed the assessed valuation result which went down nearly 3%. She stated
based on what has been shared with the staff so far, they are projecting in 2010 it will go down
about 3.9-4.0%.
City Manager Gonzales stated the Debt Service Fund is funded by about nine (9) mills. By the
time they get to 2011, they can see what happens which is the budget they are now talking about.
The main reason it does that is because there is no transfer from the Special Highway Fund
plugged in yet and is something they need to think about.
City Manager Gonzales stated she and Finance Director Kidney have discussed that as they
record in this fund, it gets progressively worse and presented bills the City has already incurred
and have to pay.
Councilmember Morris asked why they transferred that gas tax in there was to help the General
Fund, but all that normally was to go to mill and overlay repair.
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City Manager Gonzales replied in the past, the City has used that for the Mill and Overlay
Program. She stated the limitation is that that fund has to be spent on streets, so this is a
legitimate expenditure of those funds, because as they all saw last week with an apportionment of
the debt, the bulk of it is for street projects.
City Manager Gonzales stated one option in this fund to think about would be to transfer mills
from the General Fund into this fund. She and Finance Director Kidney have played with the
numbers enough to know if they did about 1.75 mills in 2011 and about another half mill in 2012 it
would get them a lot closer, but still gets a little scarier further out, but surely helps. She stated
as they think about debt, something about this that makes sense to her is that they really should
have their debt fund stable and not have to be talking every year about what they are going to
transfer in. That is just something to think about.
Councilmember Morris asked, they are transferring it from where to where.
City Manager Gonzales replied from the 15 mills in the General Fund and she will show them
what would happen if they took that down, which they all know will not be pretty, but the City’s
total mills is 24.699, so the total is staying the same in this theory, but they would be moving
some from the General Fund to the Debt Service Fund.
City Manager Gonzales moved to the General Fund. She stated this fund is set up the same with
revenues and expenditures. It is linked to another table, the revenue by line item table. She
noted the actual fund projection which shows the revenues and expenses. Currently they
plugged in the 2011budget as it sits today and starting with 2012 and moving forward have
plugged in a 3% increase across the board.
City Manager Gonzales moved to the revenue detail and assumptions. She stated they will see
the same assumptions in the mill levy. She stated of note, the sales tax projections. These are
very conservative projections. Her hope is that they are much better than this, but are showing
by the end of 2010, the City will have gone down 3% in sales and much greater in their use and
hopefully they have reached the bottom and will stay flat and hopefully by 2010 maybe start
inching back up.
Councilmember Pflumm asked if the spreadsheet is included in the packet.
City Manager Gonzales answered no. She stated because the numbers are going to change,
she just wants the Committee to just think about this concept and when they begin to talk about
the final 2011 budget, they will start cranking them out. She stated taking out the 1.75 and .5, it
shows the amount of revenue they just lost from the General Fund. She stated Finance Director
Kidney goes back over to the 101 and they can see where the numbers got much worse in the
General Fund.
City Manager Gonzales stated the main way to address that is a decrease in expenditures. She
stated Line 33, Facility Maintenance, is their hope where they would be able to plug in some
money in Facility Maintenance. She stated if they just say in 2011 they could find $1 million worth
of cuts, which is really what they need to do, and they are sustainable cuts, they will last all the
way across.
Councilmember Pflumm stated that is only if they think the revenue is going to be sustainable.
City Manager Gonzales replied the revenue is based on projections year by year.
Councilmember Pflumm stated hopefully it will not go down.
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
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City Manager Gonzales answered hopefully not. She stated the staff projected on it as well the
sales tax going down in 2010, flat I 2011, and starting to go back up in 2012.
Finance Director Kidney stated they have the 3.4 down in the mill levy, which they are anticipating
(inaudible). In 2012, they have a 0% growth evaluation and 2% after that.
City Manager Gonzales stated they are hoping by 2013, the AV would start to come back up.
Councilmember Pflumm asked if that is what they are estimating for 2012.
Finance Director Kidney stated they would not give an estimate at all.
Councilmember Pflumm stated it would be nice to know what they are estimating their budget on.
Finance Director Kidney stated it would be nice to know what the valuations are going to be.
Councilmember Pflumm stated they do a budget too, so if they could figure out what they are
using . . .
Finance Director Kidney stated they would be surprised, because although they do forecast as
well, they do not actually go out 10 years either. He thinks typically what they will find with a lot of
cities around the country, they will do 10 years at a time, but somewhere within that 10 years they
will have a drop in valuation, so it averages out at a certain percentage. Whether it is going to be
5% for a couple of years and then drop again, once they get out two years . . . this is the plan
they have based on these parameters.
City Manager Gonzales explained that Finance Director Kidney meets with all the financial people
in the County regularly and have been meeting more than regularly recently, so they are always
listening to what other cities are projecting.
City Manager Gonzales moved to the Special Highway Fund where they show the transfer going
out in 2010 and do not show it yet in 2011. She stated in addition to the gas tax staying there,
they show half of that new franchise revenue that they had discussed that by 2011, they hoped
they could put it towards mill and overlay.
City Manager Gonzales stated one option she thinks makes some sense, is to leave in the $1.7 if
they can, do that much mill and overlay in 2011, and take that $1.2 and put it back in the General
Fund with the other half of the franchise.
City Manager Gonzales stated they are getting closer, but still need more cuts.
Chairperson Kuhn asked if that is assuming the transfer of the $1.2 million from the franchise fee,
or gas tax, whichever they would have transferred in the past, plus the addition of $1 million in
cuts to something and that still leaves them $1.1 million short.
City Manager Gonzales stated that is correct. She stated they still need to find cuts in 2010 and
the staff is working on that and the Council has seen some of that work. She stated they have
talked about some of the Town Hall things, which they discussed this evening, is exactly what the
Council asked for in the last budget process.
City Manager Gonzales stated these numbers are getting closer, but they are still being tweaked.
She mostly just wants to think about those concepts of should they move mills into Debt Service
and get it right, or should they just make another transfer from the Special Highway Fund one
more year and if they are comfortable with that franchise revenue all going to the General Fund.
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
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She stated there are no answers this evening, nor are there any recommendations, as the staff
just wants the Council to be thinking about all of this.
Councilmember Distler stated she knows over the past few months the rate increases with
KCP&L have been approved for two and have filed for two more. She asked if those get
approved, how soon before the City sees that revenue.
Finance Director Kidney replied that would be in the fourth quarter and they do not have that
increase plugged in at this time.
City Manager Gonzales stated that would be one change.
Councilmember Distler stated two have been approved, so more than likely the next two might be
approved.
Finance Director Kidney stated that would impact $14,000 for the General Fund and $89,000 for
2011.
City Manager Gonzales ran through some comparison charts with other city mill levies. She
stated Overland Park is amazingly low and not really comparable, but Shawnee stands real good
with their neighboring cities in terms of mill levy rates.
City Manager Gonzales moved to assessed value. She stated this is 2008 to 2009, but is really
2007 to 2008 values. She stated while Shawnee’s was starting to decrease, Leawood and
Olathe’s did not decrease as much and thinks going forward to next year they have. She stated
they can see at the very least, everyone was very flat, which is in and of itself, very unusual for
Johnson County. She stated it is good to also note that they are all in the same situation.
City Manager Gonzales presented Sales Tax Per Capita. Again, they showed a little history.
Shawnee’s sales tax per capita has traditionally been lower than their neighboring cities. She
thinks Lenexa between 2008 and 2009 actually added an increment sales tax, that Public Works
tax, so that may account for theirs going up a little.
Councilmember Pflumm asked for the sales tax per capita – actual.
City Manager Gonzales stated that is correct and it is sales tax revenue and not sales tax
revenue.
City Manager Gonzales continued with 2009 actual franchise revenue. She stated their $2 million
at that point was still just commercial that they had been getting, so this one will look different
going forward. She stated this is the City’s history and how they project that looking out to 2011.
City Manager Gonzales stated the Stormwater Utility fee does not affect the General Fund, but it
is another source of revenue to fund stormwater utility operations, which they still fund some with
the City’s General Fund. She stated Stormwater Manager Gregory made a very informative
presentation a few weeks ago with the different rates and what the difference is.
Councilmember Sandifer asked how Lenexa got to that point.
Councilmember Pflumm replied it is business revenue.
City Manager Gonzales stated she believes Lenexa’s rate is higher than Shawnee’s.
Public Works Director Freyermuth answered it is, but he does not know offhand what it is, but has
raised a couple of times over the past few years, so it is higher.
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
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City Manager Gonzales stated some of it would be their commercial more impermeable space.
City Manager Gonzales moved to Expenditures per Capita. Shawnee always come out doing a
lot for their residents and provide a great quality of service for substantially less than a lot of their
neighbors.
City Manager Gonzales presented some numbers extracted from the General Fund; 2% is
property tax, 25% and 19% sales and use tax – these are based on actual all revenue. She
thinks the interesting trends are just looking at the bigger numbers and seeing the sales tax
getting a little smaller and franchise getting larger, but overall if they were to add them all together
there is a decrease in the General Fund.
City Manager Gonzales jumped to some comparisons on the expenditures per capita. One slide
showed Shawnee’s budget at $76 million compared to Leawood’s budget at $83 million and
Lenexa’s budget at $109 million. She stated this is just total budget and capita or any
comparison there – just total budget number.
Councilmember Distler stated she knows it said in the newspaper it showed [they] had a lot of
layoffs in 2009 and asked if that included the expenditures they cut.
City Manager Gonzales replied she is not sure, but would be what they approved in July.
City Manager Gonzales continued with Expenditures per Square Mile and the breakdown of all of
Shawnee’s expenditures. She stated the bulk of Shawnee’s General Fund, especially last week
overall 49% of their total budget was personnel services and she always states in her Shawnee
101 classes, that makes sense because Shawnee is a people business and provide service to
people and are not selling stuff, so they do not have to buy a lot of stuff. She stated it makes
sense that the bulk of their budget is people, but then when they get to the General Fund it is
even a larger portion and because of the reductions the City has made in capital outlay, in terms
of replacing vehicles and some of the larger things they used to do in the past and really do not
do much, if any of that anymore, that percent has gotten larger, not necessarily the dollar amount
but the percent of the General Fund being spent on people is getting larger.
Chairperson Kuhn asked City Manager Gonzales to give her an explanation of the 75% of the
General expenditures that is personnel, how much of that amount is Police and Fire.
City Manager Gonzales replied Human Resources Manager Crawford will have those numbers
later in the presentation.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated she will speak about employee compensation this
evening and how it relates to the 2011 budget. She quoted, “If challenging times bring out the
best in people, then these are great times”.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated the City spends about 49% of their total budget on
Personal Services, which are basically employees and benefits that are associated with working
here at the City of Shawnee. She stated it is a pretty significant investment and like any
investment, they work to take care of them.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated for some of them on the Council, this might be a
review of the Comprehensive Study presentation she gave last year, so she will not go into quite
as much detail. She presented a slide showing a snapshot of where the City’s personnel services
dollars are actually spent. Salaries make up about 69% of the total amount and benefits equal
about 31%. The slide included core and mandated benefits that they are required by law to
remain in compliance.
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
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Human Resources Manager Crawford stated as of 2011, they have $26.9 million personnel
services.
Councilmember Distler asked why in the 2011 budget, it did go up $300,000.
City Manager Gonzales explained in the 2011 budget, they budgeted for current programs and at
this time they have a 2.9% merit adjustment plugged in because they have yet to start chewing it
back.
Councilmember Distler stated it was decreasing and then she saw it went up $300,000 and
thought they froze it.
City Manager Gonzales replied they froze it in 2010.
Councilmember Pflumm stated he thought they were going to take advantage of some of the
healthcare insurance savings.
Human Resources Manager Crawford replied she will talk about those in a few minutes. They did
make some modifications to their plan and were able to find some things, but that is one benefit
or service that does continue to increase every year and the national trend is a 10% increase for
all companies.
Councilmember Sawyer stated the City continues to spend $1.5 million in overtime. He stated he
understands that they would have to hire more people, but they have one and a half people. He
has heard all the whys with why they can’t, but has not heard any whys they might be able to look
at it and change their thinking. He stated overtime does cost a lot of money.
Human Resources Manager Crawford agreed that overtime does cost a lot of money and there
are some positions in the City where when someone is out ill, or out for whatever reason is
unable to work, they have to have their minimum coverage, so there are some overtime issues
they cannot avoid and another example would be a snowstorm. They have to be out on the
streets to plow the snow.
Councilmember Sawyer stated he understands that, but asked if staff has ever put up a sheet of
all the whys of why they can’t do it and put up a sheet on all the areas they could look at to
change it. He stated what he sees here is that it pretty much stays the same and actually grows.
He stated it is somewhat of a given that it is just going to be there and the City is going to budget
for it and continue to ignore it.
Councilmember Sawyer stated he does not know about the Council, but asked if the staff has
really put forth an effort into this and asked themselves if they could hire five people and change,
not the dollars, but they are getting more people. He asked if they have done that at all. He
stated every time he asks this question, he gets the same answer from several different
department heads. He stated they say they can’t do it for ‘this reason’ or ‘that reason’. He stated
he never hears, “Hey, maybe we ought to look at that and look at different ways”. He stated they
may come back and say they can’t do it, but he only hears, ‘can’t, can’t, can’t’ and maybe they
should be hearing, ‘we should, we should, we should’ and really look at it.
City Manager Gonzales replied she will tell Councilmember Sawyer that the staff has looked at it,
but probably not to the degree they should. She is sure they could do much more analysis on it.
She stated some of the changes they have made as they have looked at it, especially for nonpublic safety, but whenever they can, flex time instead of paying overtime. She stated if someone
works an extra three hours on a Wednesday night, they can let them off early on Friday afternoon
and pay them straight time. She stated they have done a lot of that. She stated Ramie has done
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
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a lot of that in the Parks Department of scheduling his people from Tuesday to Tuesday, so if
there is a special event over the weekend they are paying straight time.
Councilmember Sawyer stated he understands that and is probably one department he talked to
where they basically discourage overtime, but he still sees this number climbing.
Chairperson Kuhn asked Human Resources Manager Crawford if part of what is in there a
breakdown of where those departments, or which departments, tend to have more overtime. She
asked out of the $1.1 million, is $750,000 Fire and Police where the City is required to have “X”
number of people on shift and should they hire four people. She asked if it comes from snow
storms – where is it being used at.
Human Resources Manager Crawford replied that jumps ahead into her presentation, but 50% of
overtime in 2009 was associated with the Police Department and 38% was with the Fire
Department and 9% was with the Public Works Department.
Chairperson Kuhn asked if those numbers are based on the estimates of what those were last
year. She stated Councilmember Sawyer is asking, which is valid, should they hire the four
firefighters that they have said they were going to hire forever and the three police officers and
have the person cover sick time, personal leave, maternity, and all the other things.
Councilmember Sawyer stated they would have to do a spreadsheet on this and is not saying that
that money is going to go way, but he keeps hearing they can’t hire in the Police Department or in
the Public Works Department or in the Fire Department, but this number here just keeps
constant. He stated they pretty much solved it where he works and did away with their overtime
and guess what – they got some more employees. He stated it did not save the dollars.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated she knows the Police Department is taking some
proactive steps in addressing how they schedule their training and have been able to cut some
costs and some overtime. She asked Police Chief Morgan if he would like to elaborate.
Police Chief Morgan replied it is primarily what Human Resources Manager Crawford said, in that
they have done a lot of improvement of training and attributed some of it to a facility being able to
bring in training and host it and there has been a lot of pre-training and putting a lot of their
people into it. He stated they have also been taking advantage of a lot of the pre-training that the
Federal government provides in different cities where they basically pay for the whole thing.
City Manager Gonzales stated they can certainly determine if the numbers all work out.
Councilmember Sawyer stated he does not know, but someone needs to go through the exercise.
City Manager Gonzales replied they did in the Fire Department to some degree recently because
they were holding some vacancies open and at that point, the Chief looked at it and said if they
filled the vacancies, they would be spending more in overtime than it would be to fill the two
vacancies, so they have looked into it, but could certainly look into more things in more detail.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated last year when they did the Comprehensive Benefit
Study and presented the information to the Council, after that meeting they did implement some
cost saving measures. She listed some on her slide. She noted that they did eliminate the
market and merit increases for 2010. They marketed their health and dental plans this past year
and increased the employee contributions for coverage. They implemented some changes in
their pension plan. They froze sick and vacation leave balances and implemented accrual caps
going forward.
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Councilmember Pflumm asked if they really froze the limit or just impose a new limit, so if
someone was at “X” amount of hours over here they got a new total they could add to that
number.
Human Resources Manager Crawford replied they froze the balances that were in place as of
12/27/2009 and those people who had balances in place, maintained those balances and they
started over with new accruals and have a cap of 500 vacation hours as a maximum.
Councilmember Pflumm asked if they are going to add the 500 hours to all those numbers they
already accrued.
Human Resources Manager Crawford replied that would be correct, however when they froze the
accruals at the end of 2009, they froze them at the pay rate the employee had earned at that
time. She stated they have employees who may not be scheduled to retire for 10 to 15 years and
if they do not take that time and are paid out for that, it would be at a rate they earned in 2009.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated they also made a significant change to their sick
leave program where they kept the hours at 1,040 that someone can accrue, because they do not
have a short term disability program in place and in the past there was a payout up to 100% of
that, but that is no longer a program and employees only come to a fraction of sick time they have
on the books.
Councilmember Pflumm asked when long term disability starts.
Human Resources Manager Crawford replied under the KPERS program, it starts at six months.
Councilmember Morris asked for the increase amount in employee contribution.
Human Resources Manager Crawford replied it went from $132.00 to $152.00, which is 15.15%.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated a couple other cost savings measures put into place
was the voluntary furlough day and found $9,000 in savings. They eliminated some of their less
significant non-core benefits, such as birthday gift certifications, team sponsorships, and no
longer have the employee holiday parties and provide City shirts bi-annually, rather than once a
year as in the past. They have changed their Flex Spending Account plan administrator and were
able to save $4,500.
Councilmember Pflumm asked where the City purchases the shirts.
Human Resources Manager Crawford replied Human Resources Coordinator Dawald
coordinated with a group of people and use K.C. Logo.
Councilmember Pflumm asked where the employee would buy one if they wanted to buy an extra
shirt.
Human Resources Manager Crawford replied they would buy it through the vendor set up that
year. She stated they do have quite a few employees who purchase shirts and they range
anywhere from $20.00 to $30.00 and the City does not reap any kind of profit.
Councilmember Pflumm stated he has had some citizens ask him where they could purchase a
Shawnee shirt.
City Manager Gonzales replied people other than employees who might want to purchase a
Shawnee shirt can go to Café Press online and order a shirt.
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Human Resources Manager Crawford presented a slide showing the salary dollars that have
been spent over the last five years. Over the last five years, the City salary line item has
increased about 3%. Part of the reason for the increase, was an increase in the number of
positions. In 2005-2007, they added 21 positions and with the additional personnel, they saw an
increase in their salaries by about 10.6%.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated of the positions they added in 2005 to 2007, six
were in the Fire Department and eight were in the Public Works Department. Fire Station No. 71
was, and continues to be, one of the busiest stations in the County and they were having to rely
on the City of Lenexa to provide mutual aid while out on their calls, so they needed additional
staff at that location.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated with the addition of the stormwater program, they
hired some staff, as well as their community growing, they had more street lane miles that
needed to be addressed, so they added people in the Public Works Department.
Councilmember Morris asked if that is firemen, or other staff.
Human Resources Manager Crawford replied it was firefighter personnel.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated since 2000, the City’s population has increased just
over $13,000 residents. The ratio of 2010 full-time positions to the City population has declined
slightly from 2008 and over the last 10 years has remained relatively flat. They currently have 4.5
employees per every 1,000 residents and that is well below Leawood, Lenexa, and Olathe.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated the City is a service organization and are in the
business of providing services to their people. Even though the economy is down, their work
does not stop and still have crime, snow storms, and medical calls. So far today, they have been
lucky in Shawnee in that they have been able to address some of their budget shortfalls through
attrition – retirements, resignations, etc. They reduced their workforce by 6.5% since the original
budget in 2009. That number is actually larger than what she calls their core cities that they
many times compare themselves to when it comes to salary, benefits, etc. These cities have had
some formalized reduction such as early retirement incentive programs put into place.
Human Resources Manager Crawford presented a chart showing the number of full time
employees by department. They currently have 269 regular full-time employees. This number
has actually gone down 18 positions from 2009 to 2010. It has had somewhat of an impact on
the employees who have stayed and absorbed more work; different kinds of work doing and
working differently from their original roles.
Councilmember Pflumm asked why they are at 106 and had 111 a year ago in the Police
Department.
Police Chief Morgan stated he has three additional officers hired who will start on June 1 st which
will bring them back up to 107. The difference is they eliminated the D.A.R.E. Program and
Crime Prevention warrant officer.
Councilmember Pflumm asked Fire Chief Hudson the same thing.
Fire Chief Hudson explained they moved a fire prevention officer out on the line to fill a vacancy,
rather than add one. They were on a three year program starting in 2006.
Councilmember Sandifer asked if basically the police and fire departments are also cutting back
by attrition.
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
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Human Resources Manager Crawford replied they cut some of the programs in those
departments.
Councilmember Sandifer stated that goes to say that those two departments are being cut along
with everyone else, because this has to go straight across the board.
Councilmember Pflumm stated he does not know that everyone on the Council has that same
opinion, although City Manager Gonzales has the same opinion.
City Manager Gonzales stated the staff has presented their staffing goals and they have had
officers leave and have filled back to that level. She stated they moved Cory Sands back out on
the line and have not filled those three openings that were never filled and thinks actually they
were first in the 2008 budget, held off filling them, and they stayed in the 2009 budget and may
have taken them out since then. They have definitely decreased their organizations, but in their
cases they established a floor, or a ceiling, which they hope they can stick to.
Chairperson Kuhn stated in looking at her math, every time she hears how easy it is to cut and
how they should cut staff and there is plenty of extra stuff, just the basic math on here says if they
have 269 total employees, if they currently subtract out the Police and Fire, which are 161 of the
total employees of that 269, that leaves with 108 employees. If they then subtract out 46 in the
Public Works Department who remove the snow and clear the streets, that means that everything
that is not public safety and not streets – everything in the City is being done by 62 employees.
Councilmember Pflumm stated looking at Planning, it is straight across the board and maybe they
cut some of their budget, but did not really cut any of their . . . unless those people are doing
other stuff.
City Manager Gonzales stated those people are doing other things.
Councilmember Pflumm stated Planning went up in 2009 from $655,953 to $709,154 and got
back down to $681,200.
City Manager Gonzales stated that is an actual to a budget comparison.
Councilmember Pflumm stated the budget for 2011 went back up by about $28,000.
City Manager Gonzales stated that is still a revised budget number, the $681,200 Revised 2010
was brought down closer to the $655,953 actual.
Councilmember Pflumm stated he wondered after looking at 2011.
City Manager Gonzales reminded Councilmember Pflumm it includes that 2.9% increase. She
stated Human Resources Manager Crawford mentioned this earlier, but as they have squeezed
in different departments, they have shifted things over and Planning has been the beneficiary of a
lot of those, because as they all know those people are not as busy. One of the people in their
Planning Department is currently handling their Safety Committee and Workers Compensation
Program.
City Manager Gonzales stated one planner is handling special projects. The Planning Secretary
has shifted over and taken a big part of Pat Sullivan’s responsibilities after her retirements, so
they have reallocated that work. Whenever they have someone who is not as busy as they might
normally be, they have plenty of things for them to do.
Councilmember Distler stated she has asked in the past about how they respond to all the
medical calls and was told most of the time the Shawnee response units get there before the
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MAY 18, 2010
ambulance, even though they are leaving from the exact same location. She heard a while back
a call where Truck No. 71 was on the way to a medical call and within a minute of that call, they
got called to a fire and a second truck did not get called out, so she assumes probably only the
ambulance responded at that time to that medical call since another truck did not get called.
Fire Chief Hudson replied based on the way Councilmember Distler described that, in his mind
with the engine or truck that was dispatched on the initial medical call being diverted to a house
fire, they were probably initially dispatched because they were going to be the ambulance to the
scene, however now that it has been diverted, had they dispatched another engine or truck to that
medical call, the ambulance by that time was probably closer, so they would not have dispatched
another engine, unless it was a trauma-type call or one that fit into a category of what they call
response maintenance.
Councilmember Distler stated they send out the big trucks all the time.
Fire Chief Hudson stated they don’t send the big trucks out just to send them out; they send them
to make the call, so if the ambulance was going to be there sooner, then why go ahead and
dispatch the other truck. He stated it was probably on the way to the house fire, so they probably
would have had to bring one out of Merriam, Overland Park, or Lenexa to that medical call
anyway.
Councilmember Distler asked if there are any other cities that have a County ambulance system
so if there is a medical call and the ambulance leaves, the trucks still leave as well.
Fire Chief Hudson replied they do on many responses.
Councilmember Distler asked if that is common practice.
Fire Chief Hudson answered yes and stated they will find that probably in every community in the
County and in the metropolitan area.
Councilmember Distler asked if they have looked at other states.
Fire Chief Hudson stated he believes they find more of a necessity and not that it is merely
common in this type of business. One reason is because there are fewer people riding on
ambulances. At one time, they had the resources of three paramedics or two paramedics and
maybe one EMT on an ambulance that was quite a level of staffing that was common throughout
the United States. Now they have reduced over the last 15 years to just two people, so they are
now relying on the Fire Department to respond and provide that increased staffing level at a
scene that might be a trauma call where they will need way more than two people handling things
and need those firefighters who are trained EMTs to do those things.
Councilmember Distler stated another part of her question is that she knows she has had to
utilize ambulance service and is included in her hospital bill. She asked if the fire paramedics bill
for that service like the ambulance service.
Fire Chief Hudson replied they currently do not bill from the Fire Department in this city for any
services in addition to what their revenue streams are, but they currently have a signed
agreement with Johnson County MedAct wherein there are some communities who are looking
at, in addition to MedAct, billing for a service that that city is also asking MedAct to include a bill
for their response. They are looking at those agreements to see how much is written and may be
something where they would amend the agreement they currently have with Johnson County
MedAct.
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
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Councilmember Distler stated that would help offset some of the costs, because they are the
same licensed paramedics as the ambulance service and sending out the big heavy trucks and
usage, so if they can bill for that emergency service, she does not understand why the Fire
Department could not.
Fire Chief Hudson stated there is a different level of training. He stated paramedics are staffed
on the MedAct ambulances. The Fire Department’s engines and fire trucks are staffed with
firefighters who are trained to the EMT level, but a paramedic certification is a two-year college
program that provides an Associate’s Degree when they finish the program and there is quite
difference in level of training.
That then gives them the ability to administer some
pharmaceuticals and other things and those are the things that really the transporting ambulance
is billing for – the drugs and equipment they use. He stated the fire trucks use very little of that
and theirs is mostly knowledge and physical work at the scene - not so much equipment and
replinishable stock as the MedAct trucks have, but there is some degree of that.
Councilmember Distler stated she has been hearing an increase to officers being called in for
chest pain. She asked if they have those machines are in the police cars.
Police Chief Morgan replied over the years they have just gone on medical calls. They have now
gone back to where they are actually cutting down on the number of medical calls that area going
on and just going on really the ones that are emergency-type situations and keeping more officers
in service.
Councilmember Pflumm asked about what was printed in the paper last week about pooling
services between cities and the County – dispatch services and where Olathe is saving
something around $600,000.
Police Chief Morgan replied from a Police Department perspective, he thinks that is a horrible
idea. He stated it makes perfect sense that Olathe would contract with Sheriff’s office, as that
facility is in Olathe. He stated if it was in Shawnee, he would have a hard time arguing against it.
The service that the public and more importantly the officers would receive is not the same. He
stated their dispatchers do a lot more than just dispatching and do all kinds of things around the
station.
Police Chief Morgan stated if the Police Department were to get rid of their dispatchers, they
would have to hire almost as many civilians to take care of all the other jobs they do, so he would
not have to call in officers from the streets to handle those things. In his opinion, it makes no
sense for the City of Shawnee to do that, but understands that Olathe has their reasons.
Councilmember Pflumm stated they did talk about it 6-8 years ago when Gary Montague was City
Manager.
Police Chief Morgan stated they should not get him wrong, because the Johnson County Sheriff’s
office is a fine organization and have dispatched for several smaller agencies for years, but it just
would not be the same for Shawnee, at least in his opinion.
Fire Chief Hudson stated his additional input would be that he thinks cities cost share a lot and
pool services a lot already when it comes to Police and Fire. He stated one of the great
resources they have in this county is their mutual and automatic aid agreements. He stated that
is truly what keeps them from staffing 2-3 crews in every fire station in Shawnee, where if they
were a community such as Salina who sits by itself and have no neighboring departments such
as Lenexa, Merriam, and Overland Park to bring in those additional resources within a very short
period of time, they would probably be looking at double the staffing levels as they currently have
in the Fire Department.
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
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Fire Chief Hudson stated they are absolutely pooling resources and emergency services already
and it does keep down the staffing levels and the numbers of the big trucks. He thinks they are
already doing those things and have for a number of years.
Police Chief Morgan stated they were working a County accident the other night and there was a
lot of sharing that went on. They lost their dispatch service.
Fire Chief Hudson stated someone asked about the training and if they are looking at different
ways of doing those things and answered they absolutely are. He stated the Fire Departments in
the County right now, instead of doing their own little trainings all the time, they are pooling
training resources. He stated they may send once every other month and achieve quarterly
where they send trucks over to Merriam to train with them on medical training that they may not
get here or would have to bring someone special in to get that training. He stated all the
firefighters would go to this one place while on duty and rotate in and out during the day to get
that extra training. They are trying to be creative in those areas and was actually a thought that
Johnson County MedAct empowered to help them with training and seems to be pretty efficient
right now.
Councilmember Pflumm asked one more thing on Police and Fire. He stated when they talk
about cutting budgets, that was never one of the things, and it has really happened, but just so
they know, he does not think it is coming from the Council that they expect the Police Department
and Fire Department to take valuable people off the streets for budget purposes.
Police Chief Morgan stated their priority is staffing and that that is where they are focusing.
Councilmember Sawyer asked Police Chief Morgan and Fire Chief Hudson to walk him through a
911 call in Shawnee.
Police Chief Morgan explained if someone dials 911 in Shawnee, it will come into the dispatch
center and the dispatcher will ask what the nature of the emergency is.
Councilmember Sawyer asked if after she does that, she is done with the call.
Police Chief Morgan replied she will then transfer the call to the fire alarm center and they will still
enter information in the system and they may or may not send an officer on the call, depending
on what kind of call it is.
Councilmember Sawyer asked if fire is dispatched from Lamar.
Police Chief Morgan replied they are out [in the new Shawnee facility] – that is a recent change.
Councilmember Sawyer stated it used to be Lamar. He stated he does not remember how many
years ago he went to Reno County, Nevada for a National League of Cities meeting. He stated
Reno County, and he believes six or seven cities, have a facility that are dispatched for all Police
and Fire – their whole safety thing and all the training for the County. He stated he does not want
to go on record with this, but will say it. He understands the Chief says the dispatch has to be
here, but when he calls 911 he has no idea where that person is at and neither does anyone who
is on the other end of the phone – they have no idea.
Councilmember Sawyer stated if they are using that person to do other stuff, he would think that
is the protocol on the 911 board, because with what he learned in Reno, once they signed onto
the board they are glued to it until they get relief. He understands everyone wanting to protect
their environment and the realm of things around them, but also believes they need to look at
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
MAY 18, 2010
technology and see if there is a [inaudible]. He stated no one wants to give up this piece of their
kingdom, but that may not be the right word. Sometimes they need to look at it a different way.
Councilmember Sawyer stated it is just like overtime and thinks it is something they need to look
at. He stated he is not suggesting it gets changed, but does not believe there is anything on the
table that they cannot look at and that they should not look at. He has seen no sacred cows
anywhere in this budget and they have to do the best job possible for the citizens of Shawnee
and there are no sacred cows in his opinion, as everything needs to be looked at; he would have
hoped that every department have already looked at it in that realm.
Councilmember Sawyer stated he wants everyone to know where he stands and how he is
looking at it. He sees no sacred cows and just sees a way of looking at every line and if there is a
possibility, then they need to take hard looks at things. He stated it may not be the right thing to
do and they say they are not going to do that for ‘this and this’ reason, but to say they have
always done it that way – he finds that hard to believe. He stated they have all done everything a
certain way and are finding out they have to look at it and do it a different way.
Chairperson Kuhn stated knowing that they are getting ready to go into some things where there
is going to be a whole lot of questions and a whole lot of concern, she will ask they let Human
Resources Manager Crawford get all the way through the information on the parts of their budget,
as far as function, and especially onto the parts where they deal with the non-tangible parts of the
salary and actually get all the information. She thinks as Human Resources Manager Crawford
goes through this information, they have been getting some of their answers long after they would
have answered it anyway.
Human Resources Manager Crawford presented a chart showing the City’s employees. She
stated they have talked quite a bit about public safety, Police and Fire, who make up 58.9% of the
City’s workforce. Adding in Public Works, it would make that number 76.4%.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated the next chart shows average actual staff salaries.
She stated the average staff salary is $56,807.00. In the Human Resources Division, part of their
responsibilities are to monitor salaries and benefits and see what their core cities are doing so
they have a pulse on what is going on. They did the Comprehensive Benefit Study and she
presented a chart pulled from the presentation where with that data the City was down 9.07%
overall in staff salaries. They have not had the opportunity to update this chart, but have also not
heard of any major pay cuts in the neighboring cities. She and Kim converse with the HR people
in other cities quite often.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated last year Councilmember Distler asked them to take
a look at actual take home pay of the staff. The next few slides are based on actual salaries of
employees in the same position in the neighboring cities that have been in their position for four
to six years. The first she will focus on is the firefighter, because she has an interesting story to
talk about with this salary.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated the individual firefighter she used in Shawnee was
hired in 2004. The Shawnee salary is 7% below the average compared to the other core cities.
She referred to the City of Olathe’s salary comp for this position. The take home pay is $2,000
more and that includes benefits and everything else added in. Interestingly enough when she
was talking to her cohort in the City of Olathe, they were trying to find a comparable position and
she remembered that the City had hired a firefighter to come to work for Shawnee and that
individual left after 2-3 months and took a position at the City of Olathe – the same job.
Human Resources Manager Crawford asked what that firefighter was earning – actual. She was
told they had hired that individual in 2006 and she went to the City of Olathe and was earning
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
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$2,000 more take home pay than what one of the firefighters who has been at Shawnee was
making who had been here two years longer.
Councilmember Distler stated that is not actually showing everything she wanted to see; that is
not comparing the PTO or the supplemental pension plans. That is not including everything in
comparison of cities. She stated Shawnee is getting there, but that is not what she asked for.
City Manager Gonzales explained what they tried to do is anything that came out of salary. She
stated last year was compared benefits big picture-wise, so they just tried to compare the salaries
and thought that was what Councilmember Distler asked for – to look at salaries and insurance
premiums.
Councilmember Distler stated big picture-wise, the cities that are not allowed to acquire their PTO
days and things like that were getting substantial payout. She stated if they are looking at the
short picture of what her paycheck is this week, then yes the other cities may look better, but
when they look at the total package of each city, she was coming up with on the average that
Shawnee was actually better than over half of the other cities.
City Manager Gonzales stated if Councilmember Distler has that information and wants to share it
with the staff that would be great.
Councilmember Distler stated she sent it to them and even compared it to what they had at her
company, as far as benefits are concerned.
City Manager Gonzales stated she saw some pieces of it, but she did not see the whole chart.
Councilmember Distler stated she took what Human Resources Manager Crawford had provided
and went down the line with the PTO and everything – the supplemental pension, the KPERS, the
403, like the 401k – the whole nine yards.
City Manager Gonzales stated Councilmember Distler is talking about something like a benefit
statement and they have done those it he past.
Councilmember Distler stated even compared it to private sector, because someone had brought
up when CenturyTel took over Embarq, their executive directors were averaging between
$100,000 and $110,000 a year and their salaries were cut to $85,000. She stated she
understands they have to compare to other cities, because someone will not go and become a
police officer for a telecommunications company; maybe a security guard. She stated they could
be in their security division, because they had an FBI who was the director of security, so there
are similar type positions.
Councilmember Distler stated bottom line is that she understands that the City staff has to
compare with surrounding cities, but in like positions of HR, department heads, and things like
that, in the private sector she thinks they will find not anyone who pays $10.00 per month for their
health insurance.
City Manager Gonzales stated the City’s firefighters know that Olathe makes more, so they had a
problem and looked into it, which is why they started looking at the big picture like this.
Human Resources Manager Crawford continued with the position of Park Technician. She stated
the City is 31% below the average. She stated Court Clerks are 1% below the average and
Department Secretaries are 6% above the average. She stated Police Officers are 18% below
the average salary of their core cities which is $37,903.00.
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
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Human Resources Manager Crawford stated to hire a police officer is quite costly. Police Chief
Morgan provided some information with regard to hiring, training, outfitting, getting uniforms – the
whole nine yards, getting them hired, and then on the street. It did not include any type of preemployment testing or interviewing and comes to $50,184.00 which is a pretty significant
investment.
Councilmember Pflumm asked if this charge showed the average of all the Shawnee employees
and all the other cities starting salary.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated this chart shows an actual employee in those
organizations that had been in their position anywhere from four to six years.
Councilmember Pflumm stated it is only one situation – one person, but they did not include all
the time off and all the banked hours.
Human Resources Manager Crawford answered yes – it is just the salary portion.
Human Resources Manager Crawford presented a snapshot of what they have done with regard
to their salary history for adjustments. They have not done a market adjustment since December
of 2006. City Manager Gonzales mentioned earlier that right the City currently 2.9% in the 2011
budget for salary increases and that dollar amount is approximately $275,000.
Chairperson Kuhn asked Human Resources Manager Crawford if it is just across the board
increases usually for a position when they do the market increases.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated when they look at each position individually and if it
is below, they would plug in a formula and figure out what percentage that particular position
would receive. Their past practice has been to go across the board with everybody in that
position.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated a merit increase is typically awarded on the
anniversary date, or the date of their promotion, and is based on their performance, so it is tied to
those dates.
Chairperson Kuhn stated someone asked her about it and she thought they did it in the City the
same way she does it at her bank, which means with a 2.9% merit increase does not mean that
each person gets 2.9%, but that the department has 2.9% to work with within their budget and
some people may get 0% if they are not performing adequately and some people who are
superstars may get 3.5% based on averaging out that 2.9% throughout the entire department.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated that is called a pay for performance system which is
what is done in the City.
Councilmember Pflumm stated looking at that right now, there is no anticipation of the private
sector people getting increases with unemployment very high. He stated if they really looked at a
market survey, it might go down.
Human Resources Manager Crawford presented the overtime slide. When they are not at full
staff, the City ends up paying overtime. As Police Chief Morgan said earlier, they are hiring some
officers on June 1st, so they will be back up to staff. They cannot control some overtime. 50% of
overtime spent was for Police, 38% for Fire, and 9% for Public Works.
Human Resources Manager Crawford noted the spike. The City did have some costs when they
had some of their Public Safety and Public Works people deployed to neighboring areas to help
with some disaster services for emergency situations.
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Councilmember Sawyer asked the staff to tell him they surely did not do that.
City Manager Gonzales reminded the Committee they gave the fire truck to Greensburg and got
reimbursed for some of it, but does not show up on the expense side.
Councilmember Sawyer asked if a truck would show up in overtime.
City Manager Gonzales stated they would pay overtime if they exceeded the number of hours
worked. She stated FEMA reimbursed the City for some of those costs, but the expense side still
shows up and is why they called it to the Council’s attention.
Chairperson Kuhn asked in 2009 and 2010R they went back up again and 2011 is assuming, so
2009 and 2010 are actual and the others are just budgets.
Councilmember Sawyer stated 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 are all actual, so they had more
overtime when they were at full staff. He stated his point is they have come to live with overtime
and has made it a way of life. He stated overtime becomes a way of life, so that is why he thinks
they need to stick the ‘why for’s’ and ‘why they can’t’ on the board.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated in some instances they have to have the overtime.
Councilmember Sawyer stated he does not even want to hear it. He stated they have not tried
his experiment.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated she will talk briefly about some of the benefits. She
stated the Kansas Public Employee Retirement System (KPERS) is the City’s primary benefit
retirement program for their employees. The City’s contributions are set by an actuary person
annually. Effective in July 2009, KPERS put some changes into their benefits and added a tier
which changed some vesting for people hired after July 1st. It required new members and
increased contribution.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated Kansas Police & Fire (KP&F) is similar to KPERS
and an actuary person determines the amount each year. KP&F costs have increased about
4.7% over the last five years.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated the City’s supplemental retirement program was
established back in 1998. This is one of the benefits where they were able to make some
modifications to as part of their cost saving measures. Those included some changes in vesting,
increasing the average for the normal retirement age, and also reducing the multiplier for
purposes of calculating the final average salary – the actual benefit the employee would receive if
they qualified.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated life insurance costs have remained pretty constant
over the last five years. They have averaged less than a 1% decrease over the last five years.
The next slide on Worker’s Compensation shows where they try to remember what is called
KERIT (Kansas Eastern Region Insurance Trust). They have actually seen a decline of
approximately 6% of their premiums over the last five years. They have also received $566,418
since 2005 in dividends that were paid back to the City. It has been a good program.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated part of the KERIT program, in addition to their
worker’s compensation claims, is loss control. They are required to be in compliance with a loss
control program in order to be a member of the KERIT organization. They do see decreases in
their work comp injuries. Last year at this time they had 12 and as of this morning they had 8.
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Human Resources Manager Crawford stated employee health insurance has increased an
average of 4% annually over the past five years. They have had some cost saving measures put
into place and have adjusted employee contribution levels. They have implemented a wellness
program and marketed their plans to make sure they are getting the best program out there.
Human Resources Manager Crawford reported that dental insurance costs have remained pretty
constant with less than a 1% annual increase over the last five years. The City does pay the
employee’s portion and the employee is responsible for any family coverage. That is pretty
standard with neighboring cities.
Human Resources Manager Crawford continued with other benefits. There is the Employee
Assistance Program (EAP), Tuition Reimbursement and 14 people have actually completed their
degrees since 2007 and currently have some people enrolled in classes. They also have dues
for professional associations, uniforms, vision insurance, which is a voluntary benefit and does
not have a lot of cost to the City, other than administration and staff time.
Human Resources Manager Crawford continued with the Flexible Spending Account, which is for
medical and dependent care expenses. She mentioned earlier that the City did change carriers
this past year and she has been able to see some cost savings there. The City’s Wellness
Program is in place and they have recreational program discounts, as well as City shirts that they
do every other year.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated her main point in sharing this information this
evening is to show the Committee what is actually in the personal services piece of the budget
and is happy to answer any questions.
Councilmember Vaught stated one thing that really troubles him and something the City really
has no control over is KPERS. He looked at the numbers from 2005 through 2011 and asked if it
is going to double every five years. He asked if that is just Kansas mismanagement of the fund.
He stated if he is not mistaken, their employees are paying the same and the State comes to
them and tells them what their match is every year and they have no control.
City Manager Gonzales replied that is pretty much correct.
Councilmember Vaught stated if it just keeps escalating, then at what point ask who is managing
this fund.
City Manager Gonzales stated they have no control, other than there is a Board of Trustees and
the legislature makes decisions, so the City staff does have input into those processes.
Councilmember Vaught asked if KPERS looks at each individual city’s retirement practices. He
asked if the City’s match is based on their retirement practice or is it spread across the whole
state.
City Manager Gonzales replied it is the same.
Councilmember Vaught asked if cities that load the system and people can retirement with
unlimited hours . . .
City Manager Gonzales stated they would make some adjustments for those types of policies, but
...
Councilmember Vaught stated that is standard and is wondering because there are cities out
there. He knows that last year is the highest three years of employment, so when they retire and
take all their hours and everything that boosts their average way up there.
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City Manager Gonzales stated the cities pick up that piece, so that does not impact their rate.
Councilmember Vaught asked if KPERS is just anticipated the City is going to spend another
$100,000 a year.
City Manager Gonzales stated she has already heard lots of discussion about KPERS and thinks
there will be more. There have been discussions about moving it completely to a different kind of
defined benefit to defined contribution plan. She thinks there will be a lot of conversations in the
future about it and the City needs to sit at that table.
Councilmember Vaught stated it is almost like an unfunded mandate and is what they are paying,
so okay . . . .
City Manager Gonzales stated they make modifications and reduced the plan benefits and
increased employee contributions as of July 1st, so they are responding.
Councilmember Vaught asked if they saw a reduction in their supplemental one, because of the
change in the formula.
City Manager Gonzales replied actually not yet. She stated over time they will have a reduction
because the benefit levels will be lower. At this point it takes a while for that to catch up.
Councilmember Vaught asked if the hope is to stabilize.
City Manager Gonzales replied the staff’s goal is to keep that contribution below 4% of salary. If
they have to make further modifications to address that, they will.
RODNEY HOUCK asked about a senior service and if the staff has really looked at what other
cities are doing with volunteers who are coming into some department to do critical functions on
an ongoing basis.
City Manager Gonzales replied not to a great degree.
RODNEY HOUCK stated when he did the work helping Parks and Recreation work on the
CityLine costs, he saw that a lot of cities . . . The question is Councilmember Sawyer said they
have to do things differently, so what role could core seniors do to help the City reduce those
numbers.
Councilmember Sandifer stated they attended the Police awards ceremony last night and there
were three women recognized for volunteering doing very critical work within the Police
Department. Apparently some departments have been utilizing volunteers to some degree.
City Manager Gonzales stated it is one of those things the staff just hasn’t had time to get into,
but they would certainly appreciate anything Mr. Houck could do to research it more.
Chairperson Kuhn stated she would suggest spending time with Councilmember Morris offline, as
he would be a great resource for having created volunteer organizations and thinks one of his
passions for coming to the Council was looking for ways to get citizen engagement at its highest
level and has great faith Mr. Houck will continue to be a great resource in this city.
KEVIN STRAUB stated Human Resources Manager Crawford mentioned on the sick leave that is
being paid out at a fraction it used to be. He asked for that fraction.
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Human Resources Manager Crawford replied it is based on a formula percentage of the number
of years an employee has been here.
KEVIN STRAUB asked for the formula – is it 10%, 60%, 80%.
KEVIN STRAUB stated sick leave starting this year changed and whatever someone had banked
over the last 29 years is full pay. He stated Councilmember Vaught is right on in that the State of
Kansas is the second worst under-funded pension plans in the country and that was from a nonpartisan across the country on KPERS. It may not go up $100,000 next year and could go up
$500,000 next and is out of control, so that is something they should be looking at right away –
whether or not they stay involved in KPERS. He asked if that is a possibility to actually step away
from KPERS here in the City.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth stated she does not know what the protocol is to step away.
She knows the Council approved in 1968 to become a part of KPERS. She received a press
release from the KPERS organization that was dated September of 2009 that says they do have
over $10 billion in assets and enough to continue to pay out the benefits.
KEVIN STRAUB asked for how long.
Human Resources Manager Crawford stated it does not say the amount of time.
Chairperson Kuhn stated she would think it would be more appropriate to ask these questions to
the State legislature since they would be the ones who would be in charge of KPERS, versus
Human Resources Manager Crawford being expected to know off the cuff how long KPERS can
be funded at any particular time.
KEVIN STRAUB stated he be happy to pull the article. He asked Chairperson Kuhn to let him
have his three minutes and knows it is tough for her to allow him to talk for three minutes, but she
will have to.
Chairperson Kuhn stated actually she does not, but if Mr. Straub could please stay on topic and
ask questions germane to things Human Resources Manager Crawford would deal with.
KEVIN STRAUB asked what it would look like if it said in 1968 they decided to joint KPERS and
would it be possible for the City to get out of KPERS and maybe start their own retirement fund
other than KPERS. If they know that fund is sinking and they know it is not going to last, why
continue funding something by putting money in the grease. He asked why they would throw
billions of dollars in the grease when they know they are just going to eat more money and more
money. He asked why not look at other options.
Chairperson Kuhn thanked Human Resources Manager Crawford for her presentation.
DEPARTMENT PRESENTATIONS
Information Technology
Information Technologies Director Doherty read the Mission Statement for Information
Technology.
It is the mission of the Information Technology Department to provide technology service and
support to all City departments, assisting users in the effective and efficient utilization of the
system; ensure that information and system resources are accessible and useable by maintaining
system uptime and availability; and ensure the integrity of applications and data by maintaining
strong security and system recovery procedures.
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Information Technologies Director Doherty continued with Programs. The department supports
application and GIS support, desktop support, IT administration, network support, and telephone
system and communication support.
Information Technologies Director Doherty stated the department is staffed with 10 people;
himself, (2) geographic information system, (2) network, (2) system support, (1) VOIP phone
system, (1) application support, and (1) web support.
Councilmember Pflumm asked if there is an individual dedicated to the City’s phone system.
Information Technologies Director Doherty replied the way they work is they have five people who
work various parts of that, so they could say there is the equivalent of one person in that
particular responsibility, but they share across the staff by necessity.
Information Technologies Director Doherty presented the department organizational chart.
Information Technologies Director Doherty presented 2009 highlights:
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Maintain 375 PC’s, 115 Laptops, 40 servers, 13 LAN’s , 11 Network Printers, and 90
Workstation printers;
Responded to 4,306 problem/request tickets with an average resolution time of 24 hours;
Support over 600 Lotus Notes mail & application db’s;
Support City websites receiving over 60,000 page views per month; and
Maintained 283 layers of GIS data that support activities for all other city departments.
Information Technologies Director Doherty explained a layer in GIS is information about roads,
addresses, parcels, crimes, accidents, and so forth.
Councilmember Pflumm asked why the City has more than 200 more computers than employees.
They are paying licensing fees for all those computers. He asked if the City can retire some of
those, like at least 200.
Information Technologies Director Doherty replied a lot of those computers are in work stations.
For example, in the Justice Center there was an increase as a result of that and they have
approximately 50 laptops in the patrol vehicles that stay in the vehicles.
Councilmember Pflumm stated he agrees with all the laptops, but is merely saying if those
individuals come out of their police car and go to do a report in the back, they are using a shared
PC.
Information Technologies Director Doherty stated that is correct.
Councilmember Pflumm stated if that is the case, they do not need two computers per person.
He asked if they could at least look at retiring some of those computers so they can save on
annual licensing fees in having 200 more computers than employees.
Information Technologies Director Doherty replied they can certainly look into that.
Chairperson Kuhn asked if the Committee could hold off on their questions until the presentation
is finished. She stated in a presentation that was to take 45 minutes, they are now 2 hours and
30 minutes into it, so of some of the things that have been very off target, they can maybe talk
about offline with specific folks or they have detailed questions, that would be particularly
beneficial.
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Information Technologies Director Doherty continued with the highlights:
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Completed implementation of new VOIP phone system;
Implemented Fiber Optic network to Town Hall and Aquatic Center pool;
Implemented new branded City web sites and employee intranet website;
Developed Information Technology Strategic Plan;
Implemented Electronic Timesheets for all City staff except Police and Fire;
Completed implementation of new VOIP phone system;
Implemented Fiber Optic network to Town Hall and Aquatic Center pool;
Implemented new branded City web sites and employee intranet website;
Developed Information Technology Strategic Plan;
Implemented Electronic Timesheets for all City staff except Police and Fire; and
Moved the City website(s) hosting from external provider to internal servers.
Information Technologies Director Doherty moved to 2010/2011 Work Plan Projects.
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Continue implementation of Document Imaging Initiatives through integration;
Continue implementation of Virtual Servers to reduce the number of physical servers;
Implementation of Electronic Time Sheets for Police and Fire;
Implementation of Fire Incident reporting system real-time capability; and
Replace Finance system (GEMS) server.
Information Technologies Director Doherty stated by the end of 2011, the staff’s target it to
reduce from the total of 40 physical servers down to 29 servers. They also have their finance
system sever that is now at five years and maintenance is no longer available for that server and
have several other servers in that category. They plan to replace some servers, as well as
continue to implement the present server concept.
Information Technologies Director Doherty presented Future Challenges:
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Manage PC failures with the elimination of the 2009/10/11 replacement program (26% are 6
years or older);
Continue to support the complex technology of the New Justice Center and Fire Station 72;
Continue responsibility for the City-wide VOIP phone system with current staffing; and
Manage Server failures --- (20% of our Servers are 5 years or older).
Information Technologies Director Doherty stated their infrastructure is aging the technology area
and as they move out in time and it continues, their ability to replace when the economy returns
and they can afford to, they will not be able to do it in 1, 2, or 3 years and will more likely take 4-6
years. During that period of time technology will continue to get older and older.
Information Technologies Director Doherty stated there are a number of things that happened
with that. The operation system the City uses is XP and came out in 2008 and maybe some are
using Vista at home and now Windows is available. The Office application continues to increase.
There is processor speed and processor power requires with some of the applications continues
to be there. Those are the challenges they have will have as they move out to the future.
Information Technologies Director Doherty stated essentially, the department budget is flat. They
have the 3% increase in personnel and some reductions as a result of professional services and
also a reduction in the number of dollars for server replacements, due to their virtual machine
implementation plan.
Councilmember Distler asked about having so many more computers than employees, but also
thought if they do get rid of some and they could share or retire some, there should also be less
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problem tickets, she would think, because they would have that many less computers having
problems.
Information Technologies Director Doherty explained the problems are all over the place.
Logically, they would think some of those issues would go down, but again many of the work
stations are as a result of the implementation at the Justice Center and the number of work
station positions at the counters in the records and court areas.
Councilmember Distler stated if there are people at the computers, she has no problem, but the
fact is there are a lot more computers than employees.
Information Technologies Director Doherty stated he would agree.
Councilmember Pflumm stated he thinks what Councilmember Distler is saying, is if they do retire
200 computers, the workload will go down.
Information Technologies Director Doherty stated they would hope so.
Councilmember Pflumm stated it will, especially when they get rid of some of the older ones.
Councilmember Distler asked Information Technologies Director Doherty if they have looked at
the possibility of maybe shared printers, versus most people having printers at their desks.
Information Technologies Director Doherty answered absolutely.
Councilmember Distler stated on campus, they had about 20,000 employees and does not
remember how many buildings they had, but there were four floors in each building and they had
two printers. She thinks the City probably has more printers than they had on campus for 20,000
employees, because they had two printers per floor.
Information Technologies Director Doherty stated the City implemented a policy about two years
ago for network printers. As they moved into the Justice Center, the existing printers at the old
safety center were allowed to be taken over and they implemented network printers and is
something they highly encourage.
Councilmember Distler stated it gives people a lot of exercise as well. She stated in HR they had
such sensitive information and even the executives were on the shared printers. She stated
when someone hit the PRINT button, they had to beeline it to the printer so someone did not see
any sensitive information being printed.
Chairperson Kuhn stated it strikes her as maybe not being the best of time management. She is
thinking if a valuable employee is spending 30 minutes of their day sprinting to their printer,
versus being able to accomplish what their actual job description is . . .
Councilmember Distler replied they would wait and print whatever they needed to print all at
once. She stated they were not hitting PRINT constantly.
Councilmember Pflumm stated to be honest, it is a green thing. He stated 50% of stuff that gets
printed is unnecessary, so if they go to a network printer and reduce the number of printers, they
will reduce the number of print jobs and therefore will reduce the number of wasted paper.
Councilmember Distler stated she would place hers in the queue, so she was only going to the
printer four times a day and not every time she did a transaction.
Councilmember Vaught asked if there is an abundance of computers not being used.
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Information Technologies Director Doherty replied not actually.
Councilmember Vaught asked Information Technologies Director Doherty if he is saying that all
375 computers are being used by someone at some given time.
Information Technologies Director Doherty replied they are not being used 100% of the day, but
again at the work counters and the expansion they went to from 20,000 square feet on two levels
at the safety center to 60,000 square feet, plus the court area. He thinks the court area has
approximately four or five computers at the counter.
Councilmember Vaught stated the perception being given here is they have empty offices with
computers sitting in them doing nothing and the City is maintaining them, so he is having a hard
time believing that. He stated if the computers were actually being used it would be another thing
and he does not think they will eliminate 200 computers, but maybe they could eliminate 20 or 30.
Information Technologies Director Doherty stated going back to the licensing issue, one thing
they implemented is open source software in patrol laptops. He stated they found that actually
put them in violation with the agreement they with Microsoft because they have to have a license
for every computer under their agreement.
He stated in June, they changed to a new
agreement and will now actually be able to have fewer, so those kinds of things are continually
being addressed. The staff did not know they were in violation.
Councilmember Pflumm asked about Capital Outlay, $149,000 for 2010R.
Information Technologies Director Doherty stated there is $68,000 in there for servers and
replacement of four servers that have gone beyond the five years, including the Finance server.
There is $10,000 in there for a document imaging scanner to continue that process and program.
There is $5,000 to replace a high speed network printer and $22,500 for system performance and
data integrity and various equipment that can not be repaired with an allocation of $18,500 in the
2010R budget. It is $14,000 less.
Councilmember Pflumm asked how many are actually mission critical. He knows there are
servers over five years old, but in the business world they take that server and put in a new
server and still utilize the resources of that server.
Information Technologies Director Doherty stated that includes the new Police digital in-car video
system server and includes the Justice Center surveillance systems. They did not have the
cameras at the old safety center.
Councilmember Pflumm asked if that is part of the $149,000.
Information Technologies Director Doherty replied not in terms of replacement.
Councilmember Pflumm asked how many do they plan on actually replacing that are actually
mission critical. He knows they have that money budgeted.
Information Technologies Director Doherty replied if they are able to successfully implement the
virtual machine for their critical servers, which right now they have started out slowly and taken
some of the smaller resource-type servers into the virtual environment. Essentially what the
virtual server concept means, is if there are ten (10) physical servers today, virtual software
basically allows them to integrate those into one more powerful server. As a result, that is how
they achieve the ten. They started out with servers that did not use as much resource and if they
were not successful, it would not impact as many people. As they move further and further into
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that, if they are able to do that with some of the other servers they have scheduled for
replacement, such as the Finance server as that is a mission critical server.
Information Technologies Director Doherty stated there are a couple other servers in the web
area which they implemented as a result of and used older servers to do that as a result of
bringing the process they had outside inside. If those goes down, it not only impacts the internal
intranet, but impacts all of the citizens that rely on it – the agenda package and so forth that is
out. He stated most every server in the City is mission critical.
Councilmember Pflumm stated whether or not someone has a packet, is not like whether or not a
police officer gets to a call or receives the correct information he needs in a timely manner. He
knows they have $150,000 in there and he would recommend reducing that money.
City Manager Gonzales stated Information Technologies Director Doherty has a whole separate
presentation ready on servers if the Council would like to see it.
Finance/Municipal Court
Finance Director Kidney stated the Finance Department
Finance and Municipal Court. He read the Mission Statement.
has
two
divisions
-
Finance Director Kidney presented the department programs consisting of Accounts and Reports,
which is the bulk of what Finance takes care of. Municipal Court is under Finance and the others
include Debt Management, Employee Retirement Plans, and Risk Management.
Finance Director Kidney presented staffing levels. The department has 11 full time employees
and two part-time people, part time being in the Court for the bailiff and the judge is also parttime. Starting next week, they have one vacancy in Payroll.
Finance Director Kidney presented the department organizational chart.
Finance Director Kidney reviewed the 2009 Highlights:
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Processed 6,752 Accounts Payable checks
Issued 9,935 payroll checks
Received GFOA Budget award
Received GFOA CAFR award
Management of new Inventory Database
Management of new Capital Project Application
Management of new IRB Application
Court processed more than 11,030 payments for over $1.9 million in revenue
Court filed 14,633 cases to include criminal, traffic and codes violations
Court recovered more than $16,000 in 2009 using 2 collection firms
Court implemented on-line payments for traffic tickets
Court processed more than 93 payments for almost $13,000 in revenue in November &
December 2009
Finance Director Kidney stated they put together several databases with IT and also have a new
capital project application to better keep track of their capital projects. Councilmember Sawyer’s
questions a couple years ago prompted them to make sure they have a really good industrial
revenue bond application.
Finance Director Kidney stated Courts is big business for the City. The Court recovered more
than $16,000 in 2009 using two collection firms. That is one area where they would like to get a
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little more aggressive, keeping in mind they are not only their customers in Courts, but also their
citizens.
Finance Director Kidney presented 2010/2011 Work Plan Projects:
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Survey Internal/External Customers in order to obtain clear understanding of our customers
needs
Conduct a comprehensive review of neighboring jurisdictions in order to compare our current
fee structure
Provide budget support to Administration and Departments as they strive to develop a sound
financial plan Add Police and Fire Departments to electronic timesheets application
Continue to explore on-line options for resolution of court cases (for example, ticket
amendments)
Explore and implement new methods of collecting fines and fees owed to the City via Court
Finance Director Kidney stated the Council passed a charter ordinance several years ago that
allowed the judge to set the fees individually, so they are always tweaking and looking at what is
going on in other jurisdictions. They want to make sure they are being fair to their citizens, but at
the same time make sure the fee matches the actual offense.
Finance Director Kidney stated the City is currently receiving online payments for their tickets in
the Municipal Court and is something people are really excited about. They want to enhance that
and possibly offer ticket amendments. Currently, people still have to come in and talk to the
prosecutor to get their tickets amended and want to see if they can offer that out online which will
cut down on the numbers coming to Court. He stated Court is very time and person intensive, so
the more they can keep people out and service them online, the better.
Finance Director Kidney stated they have multiple challenges in the Finance Department right
now, but thinks primarily the Moody’s Aa2 rating they have is the benchmark and big picture of
things they are really looking for, but that is not saying they want the Moody’s ratings, but the idea
was that Aa2 rating meant good fund balances and good fiscal management of the City. This is a
big issue in Finance.
Finance Director Kidney stated in Court they want to increase the percentage to fines and fees
paid in full within 120 days of assessment.
Finance Director Kidney presented actual line item budgets. He stated Contractual Services is
where they will see their audit. They outsource a lot of their Payroll processing through ADP
software, but they will also see the public defender and also use interpreter services in Municipal
Court. They have one court date pretty much dedicated to non-English speaking people and
have the interpreter on hand for those days.
Finance Director Kidney stated Commodities dropped $10,000 from 2010 to 2011 and was
basically the server that Jerry talked about earlier.
City Council
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth presented the City Council budget. She read the Mission
Statement. She stated the City Council budget has a small decrease in personal services from
2009 and 2010R and a slight increase in 2011 request.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth stated with Contractual Services, the majority of that
increase from 2009 to 2010R is basically costs for training and training related to conferences.
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Assistant City Manager Charlesworth stated with Commodities, basically the only thing here is for
office supplies and the majority of that is for employee service awards.
Councilmember Pflumm asked about the training.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth explained there is money in there for transportation and
reception and education for NLC, both the spring, the actuals that have already been spent for
the spring conferences. She stated those projections for the fall, if the Council attends the fall
conference, and also the Kansas of Municipalities’ meetings. Personal services are the salaries
and benefits and for the Council that is basically the mandated benefits.
Councilmember Sawyer asked if from 2009 to 2010R, it went from $75,000 to $112,000.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth stated in 2009 not all the Council attended the spring
conference. She is not sure anyone attended the fall conference for the Council. She does not
believe anyone attended the fall conference, so what they had in there and budgeted did not
actually get spent. She has included in the 2010 budget the plan for them all to attend.
Councilmember Sawyer asked what 2008 was compared to 2009.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth replied for total contractual services for the actual was
$98,000 in 2008.
Councilmember Sawyer stated that means 2009 did actually drop.
City Manager
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth stated the City Manager’s budget is made up of six different
functions:
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City Manager
Legal
City Clerk
Human Resources
Economic Development (June 8)
General Overhead
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth stated the Legal portion are fees for the City Attorney, as
well as the prosecutor’s office. The City Clerk basically maintains records, business licenses,
animal licenses, support services, answering the general phones for the City, and mailing
services. Finally there is Human Resources.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth presented Programs.
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Animal Licensing
Benefits Administration
Budget Forecast and Monitoring
Citizen Service Request System (CSR)
City Administration
CityRide
Economic Development
HR Administration
Legal
Minutes
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MAY 18, 2010
Licensing
Performance Measurement
Prosecution
Public Information
Records Management
Recruiting/Employment
Safety/Workers Compensation
Stormwater/Telephone/Utility Franchise Rebates
Support of Non City Special Events
Administration Support Services
Sustainability
Wellness
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth presented staffing levels; City Manager (2), Legal (2 parttime/1 full-time), City Clerk (5.75), Human Resources (2.5), Economic Development, and General
Overhead. She stated the City just lost one of their prosecutors who is now going to be the judge
over at the City of Lenexa. They have allowed the Citizen Implementation Specialist help
Shawnee Town when they had someone go out on maternity leave. That person helped them for
16 hours a week so they did not have to bring in a temporary person.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth stated they will cover Economic Development at the June 8,
2010 Committee meeting.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth presented the organizational chart. She noted that even
though the judge is paid out of the Finance Department budget under Municipal Court, he actually
answers to City Manager Gonzales who is responsible for supervising that position.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth reviewed the 2009 Highlights – City Manager:
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Facilitated Citizen Solid Waste Committee
Assisted IT with implementation of City website
Launched Facebook and Twitter
Launched Shawnee E-Newsletter in October
Issued 19 Press Releases
Published 75 E-Subscribe Notices (ListServ)
Designed 7 CityLines/Park Brochures (3) and Downtown Newsletters (4) for distribution
Coordinated Mayor’s Christmas Tree Fund Drive
Drafted Graphics Standard Manual for Good Starts Here
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth reviewed the 2009 Highlights – Legal:
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485 cases set for Video Arraignment
3,082 cases set for plea
401 motion hearings
700 cases set for trial
14,633 total cases filed
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth stated this was implemented a few years ago and instead
of having an officer drive out to the courthouse, pick up the person, and drive them back to City
Hall, they do everything through video arraignment.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth reviewed the 2009 Highlights – City Clerk:
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Assisted 24,500 customers at counter or on the phone
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
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MAY 18, 2010
Scanned and posted 85 council documents on web
Logged more than 46 contracts
Processed 485 Senior Citizen Telephone Rebates
Issued more than 2,800 business and regulatory licenses and collected more than
$363,000 in revenue
Licensed more than 2,700 dogs and cats and collected more than $17,134 in revenue
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth stated the staff anticipates the number of people being
helped at the counter will go up a little because of the franchise fee rebates for gas and electricity.
She stated the staff is currently examining different ways to license dogs and cats more
efficiently.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth reviewed the 2009 Highlights – Human Resources:
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Launched Employee Intranet “The Insider”
Coordinated 20 Wellness Classes
Coordinated 41 Training Classes
Conducted 25 Employee Benefit Meetings
Processed 1,050 employment applications
Facilitated 11 IMPACT meetings
Managed 32 Workers Compensation Claims
Coordinated a program to provide education, policy guidance and direction to employees
related to the H1N1
Completed a Comprehensive Benefits Study
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth stated instead of doing an employee newsletter, they went
to an Intranet to try to cut down on paper costs and also to get information out in a more timely
manner to employees. That was a big accomplishment last year.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth explained the IMPACT meetings are the employee morale
and productivity employee committee.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth reviewed the 2009 Highlights – General Overhead:
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Marketed City’s Insurance in 2009 for a 21% or $58,000 reduction in insurance costs.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth stated the Finance Department should get credit for this
because Debbie Kelly is actually in charge of the City’s insurance and they marketed their
insurance last year for a $58,000 reduction from the year before.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth presented the City Manager’s office budget to include
Personal Services (salaries and benefits), Contractual Services (election costs and CityRide),
Commodities, Transfers, and Refunds. There is an increase in the line item for CityRide. The
CMAC money runs out this year and the County said they will try to come up with additional
funding for it, but it will also require additional funding on the City’s part as well.
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth stated Commodities are down 13.6%. Transfers are up
over 2009 and remain the same from 2010 to 2011. They increased the Refunds budget
because of gas and electricity rebates.
Councilmember Morris asked Assistant City Manager Charlesworth to elaborate on the Transfers.
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
MAY 18, 2010
Assistant City Manager Charlesworth explained Transfers are capital projects where they do not
get the funding bonded, so there is a little left over. They have to pay for it out of something and
unfortunately it comes out of the General Overhead budget.
Break: 10:10 p.m.
Meeting resumed at 10:15 p.m.
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation Director Holman reported the department is made up of six divisions:
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Administration
Park Maintenance
Aquatics
Civic Centre
Recreation
Shawnee Town
Cemeteries
Parks and Recreation Director Holman stated the staff put together a new Mission Statement
during a recent work plan meeting:
Shawnee Parks and Recreation Department will work with all citizens to be good stewards of our
environment and cultural resources and to provide healthy, safe, and welcoming opportunities to
play, learn, interpret, and build community.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman presented the department Programs:
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Administration
Aquatic Facility Operations
Aquatics Programs
Athletic Facility Maintenance
Ball Field and Shelter Rental
Cemetery Management
City Wide Seasonal Decorations
Civic Centre Management
Farmer’s Market
Parks and Recreation Facility Maintenance
Parks Maintenance
Recreation Programming
Shawnee Town Management
Shawnee Town Programming
Special Events
Parks and Recreation Director Holman presented the 2010 Staffing Levels:
Administration (2), Park Maintenance (8), Civic Centre (5), Aquatics (1), Recreation (1), Shawnee
Town (5.2) for full-time equivalents of 22.2. Pool staff (175), park maintenance (2.2), and
seasonal employees 177.2. He presented the department organizational chart.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman presented Full Time Parks Employees Per 100 Acres of
Park Land with Shawnee at 2.83, Leawood at 9.46, Lenexa at 7.73, Olathe at 4.36, and Overland
Park at 2.42. His only little thought on this is Shawnee has 672 acres and Leawood has 423
acres, and Lenexa has 428 acres.
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
MAY 18, 2010
Parks and Recreation Director Holman presented Acres of Park Land per 1,000 Population.
Shawnee 11.11, Leawood 13.00, Lenexa 16.18, Olathe 10.05, and Overland Park 13.18. He
stated the National Parks and Recreational standard is 12 acres per 1,000 population.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman presented the 2009 Highlights:
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672 acres of parkland, 407 developed and/or maintained
Maintained 40 sports fields, 16 play structures, 21 park shelters, two inline skate courts
and a skate park
Offer more than 650 recreation programs
Operated municipal pools with an annual attendance of 120,977 in 2009 (Neil noted that
Lenexa has three pools and had 70,000 come to their pools last year and Merriam had
21,000 people at their pools. That does not count the swim team or the swim programs.)
Instructed over 1,787 swim lessons
Municipal pools brought in $682,645 in 2009 and maintained a general fund cost
recovery rate of 74%
Performed snow removal operations 10 times
Recreation Division had a 100% direct cost recovery rate and generated $266,528 and
returned $40,206 to the General Fund
Designated Tree City USA for the 13th year
Received an additional $426,780 CMAQ Grant for funding the Clear Creek Multi-Use
Trail-Phase II
4,772 volunteer hours donated to Shawnee Town valued at $93,960.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman stated their subsidy for the pools is the best in than any
city in the area. He thanked the Mayor and the City Council for allowing them to make the
changes to the pool policy, so they can make the gap even smaller. They have seen some
people go over to Lenexa to Life Fitness. He thinks over the next two years attendance might
jump back up in Shawnee.
The recreation division paid for itself, plus gave back $40,206 back into the General Fund. That
is up $4,000 this year.
Additional Highlights:
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Energy efficient lights and light sensors in all Park facilities reduced expenses $9,800 in
2009.
Installed waterless urinals in all Park restrooms and pool bathhouses to reduce water
usage.
Received a $10,000 National Recreational Trails grant for an environmentally friendly
electric utility vehicle.
97% utilization rate of baseball/softball fields during prime time.
Partnership with Shawnee Dispatch for weekly class and program promotion.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman presented 2010/2011 Work Plan Projects:
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Complete Phase II of Clear Creek Multi-Use Trail
Complete repairs to Thomas A. Soetaert Aquatic Center
Complete Shawnee Town Farm Phase I & II
Complete EECBG Grant replacements at the Civic Centre, Town Hall and Park Shop
Investigate purchasing solar lighting in the City parks
Monitor any funding opportunities and apply for eligible grant funding
Complete Stump Park bank stabilization project
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MAY 18, 2010
Update Parks & Recreation Department information on the website
Collaborate with other City departments to develop the City’s use of Facebook and
Twitter to improve communication with residents
Develop a Parks & Recreation Department strategic plan
Parks and Recreation Director Holman stated West Flanders Park is all gas lights and there is a
solar retrofit light that fits right on those poles. They spend over $8,000 a year just on gas up
there. It is time consuming and if they could eliminate that, it would take a lot off their plate
because the crews are constantly up there messing with it.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman presented Future Challenges:
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Ability to retain highly motivated and skilled public employees to achieve our mission
Develop a funding system for fleet and facility repair and replacement programs for our
growing needs and aging inventory
Implement more environmentally friendly (green) practices into our Park Maintenance
Operations
Future equipment and staffing forecasting
To provide the necessary preventative maintenance services and park facility repairs
within the current funding.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman stated there has been a lot of movement in the Parks
Department. The slide in the packet is not correct. They currently lost three employees.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman presented the Parks and Recreation Budget, noting
Personal Services up .19%, Contractual Services up .62% because of the electric, Commodities
are down 5.27% and will see if they can get a better LCD screen in Town Hall.
Councilmember Pflumm asked how many positions they have lost.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman answered five positions. He stated they brought in four
seasonal employees to help with the now, because the City does all the shoveling at all the
buildings and they could not do it with one person. Those are seasonal employees.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman stated the Capital Outlay was the electric car. Overall,
they are at -.24%.
Councilmember Distler asked what the Aquatic Specialist does the other nine months out of the
year.
Parks and Recreation Director Holman replied he helps with all the programs and events.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru stated they hire 175 people and do in-house
training, so they train all of their own lifeguards and all the managers and swim instructors. He
provides all that training.
Councilmember Distler stated they might want to give him a more general title, since he does
other types of work. She asked about the new Lenexa facility. She stated a bunch of the people
in her daughter’s play group like to go to pools as a group. They stopped going to that one and
would rather play in the smaller area at the old pool. Their concern is on the play structure where
the kids walk up the steps to get to the slide at Splash Cove, there is so much water coming down
and little kids do not like water in their face, so that is why they want to be in the shallow water.
She stated the kids can climb up the shark’s slide and where they would much rather play on the
Splash Cove structure, they can’t get up it without getting so much water in their face and is more
than when the bucket dumps. She asked if there is any way to slow it down.
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
MAY 18, 2010
Councilmember Sandifer stated his grandchildren love it.
Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Lecuru stated the structure has valves and pullies that
change around the pressure of the water. There is no way to shut off any given valve completely.
Councilmember Distler stated she does not know what 500 people think and that is just the
feelings of a group of 10 people, but she knows that is why they stopped going to Splash Cove
because the kids did not like the water in their face going up the steps.
Chairperson Kuhn stated they might want to remember at these budget proceedings that if the
Council has thoughts they might like to share with the staff on certain facility issues, they might
want to share them offline.
Councilmember Morris asked about doing the lights in LEDs.
Councilmember Sawyer stated they are expensive. He stated the City did all their snowflakes in
LEDs and for the Christmas decorations; they did all those in LEDs. The price is still up there and
they are still trying to determine which way to go. They are also talking about what to do with the
parking lot lights.
Councilmember Sawyer stated LED lighting is fantastic, but costly.
City Clerk Powell stated they plan on doing three test projects; the parking lot lights at City Hall
and the Public Works Center. They also are going to do a set of the decorative lights around a
City park and two strands along Johnson Drive between I-435 and the Public Works Center, so
that staff can test out how they look and work. It is all funded through the City’s grant. They
picked areas that had electrical meters, so they can track the amp usage.
Planning
Planning Director Chaffee presented the Planning Department’s Mission Statement. He stated
basically everything they do is to try to improve the quality of life, make developments
sustainable, and make good use of high quality material and just provide adequate development
opportunities in the City.
Planning Director Chaffee presented department Programs:
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Downtown Special Events
Neighborhood Planning
Neighborhood Revitalization (KNRA)
Planning Administration
Shawnee Downtown Partnership
Special Funds and Grants
Planning Director Chaffee presented the department organizational chart and noted they now
share their Administrative Secretary with the City Manager’s office who now prepares the packets
and does a lot of the administrative work for the Governing Body as well.
Planning Director Chaffee presented 2009 Highlights:
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Processed 16 plats
Issued 283 sign permits and removed 1,005 illegal signs
Issued/reviewed 84 special use or special event permits
Processed 10 rezoning and variance applications
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MAY 18, 2010
Updated 3 chapters of the Comprehensive Plan
Processed 30 site plans
Conducted 154 meetings with developers and 146 site inspections
Completed comprehensive rewrite zoning regulations for staff review
Managed Safety Committee, resulted in 5% reduction in Workman’s Compensation premium
Updated department fee schedule
Completed Planning Department paths in Shawnee Development
Center
Completed I-435 Corridor Study and updated the Comprehensive Plan
Established fourth neighborhood group in Neighborhood Improvement Program (area
northeast of City Hall)
Created IRB data base with finance department
Began downtown marketing campaign with SEDC
Planning Director Chaffee stated these numbers are comparable to 2008 which surprised them
because they generally had a feeling that the numbers were going to be down in 2009 and they
really were not. He stated the one number that was significantly down was the removal of illegal
signs. He stated there are a number of citizens who now go to the corners of their subdivisions
and pull the signs. They have talked with the staff over the years and complained about signs
popping up and have been told if people do not have the permission to put the signs up they can
be pulled. The staff appreciates that type of volunteer work from the citizens, as it saves the City
of sending out staff to do those types of things.
Planning Director Chaffee presented the 2010/2011 Work Plan Projects:
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Review and revise Downtown Financial Incentives for business owners
Adopt new zoning regulations
Develop marketing strategy for 43rd and K-7, Holliday Sand and Gravel area
Revise Comprehensive Plan to include alternative transit opportunities in Circulation Plan
Begin review of 2010 Census to redraw ward boundaries
Archive Planning Department Records into GIS databases
Refine Planning Department procedures for public use of development tracking system
Provide updates for IRB tracking database
Planning Director Chaffee presented Future Challenges:
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Identify of development opportunities along the Shawnee Mission Parkway and I-435
corridors to assure logical and sequential growth
Ensure office, commercial and industrial development is of high quality design using
materials that will provide the highest value to the city’s tax base
Encourage continued redevelopment efforts to provide infill opportunities as well as continued
revitalization of older commercial areas and neighborhoods
Continue coordination with water and sewer districts to provide adequate services to areas
not served in a timely manner
Ensure continued compliance with sign ordinances and site plan requirements
Encouragement of development patterns that provide efficient transportation systems
Planning Director Chaffee moved to the budget. He noted about $92,000 of the $123,000 under
Contractual Services are funds they provide to human service providers, the Johnson County
Utility Assistance Program, United Community Services which is the consortium of all Johnson
County communities that provide services to a variety of different organizations, Shawnee
Community Services and they provide administrative funding for the Minor Home Repair Program
so the CDBG funds they receive can go to actual repair improvements. The home program is
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PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
MAY 18, 2010
more of a heavy duty housing rehab program and there are some smaller stipends that go to
Rebuilding Together Shawnee and Special Olympics.
Planning Director Chaffee stated the Transfers are the funds that go out of the General Fund into
the programs that are sponsored by the Downtown Partnership, the grants, the loans, and other
incentives. He stated the 2011 request is $10,000 less than the 2010 request. He would imagine
they will probably see a 2011R as they have seen in 2010. Once they get this far in the year,
they know of about how many grants and loans are going to be going out for the rest of the year
just based on the people they have talked to who is going to be doing projects and who are not
going to be doing projects.
Planning Director Chaffee stated as more businesses and properties are participating in the
Neighborhood Revitalization Program, that fund is building up a bit so they can use some of those
funds to help pay down on some of the grant programs they have to offer. This year so far, there
have been four businesses who have taken advantage of the program.
Development Services Department
City Engineer Wesselschmidt presented the department Mission Statement. The Development
Services Department has split from the Public Works Department and is on their own.
Our mission is to improve the safety, quality of life, and environment for present and future
generations. We will accomplish this mission by assisting our customers in understanding and
complying with ordinances and regulations affecting the built environment and development
process in Shawnee. Further, we will function as a catalyst, partner, advisor, and/or participant in
a variety of efforts to foster sound growth and development.
City Engineer Wesselschmidt stated the key is basically working with the citizens and developers
to make this a better city.
City Engineer Wesselschmidt presented the main Program areas:
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Development Services Administration
General Engineering and Administration
CIP Management
Project Inspection – Public and Private Development
Economic Development Support
Right-of-Way and Easement Acquisition
City Engineer Wesselschmidt stated there are three department divisions:
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Administration
Private Development
Public Development
City Engineer Wesselschmidt stated 2010 Staffing Levels consist of:
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Director
Engineers (3.8)
Development Manager
Engineering Technicians (3)
Engineering Inspectors (2)
Administrative Assistant
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City Engineer Wesselschmidt presented the department organizational chart. He then presented
the 2009 Highlights:
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Prepared Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)
Administered 17 Capital Projects
Issued 17 Public Improvement Permits
Issued 250 Right-of-Way Permits
Issued 38 Street Cut Permits
Accepted 11,027 Feet of New Subdivision Streets and 11,792 Feet of Storm Sewers
Reviewed, Processed and Resolved 130 Customer Service Requests
Reviewed 2 Preliminary Plats, 13 Final Plats, and 14 Site Plans that were submitted to the
Planning Commission
Chairperson Kuhn asked when they implemented the CSR program.
City Engineer Wesselschmidt replied the CSR is the Citizen Service Request.
City Manager Gonzales stated it went live on the City’s website around two years ago.
City Engineer Wesselschmidt presented the 2010/2011 Work Plan – Short Term:
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Implement Development Services Transition Planning (Internal Org. Development)
Update the Design and Construction Manual
Improve the Speed and Accuracy of Data and Information Retrieval
Plan and Implement Sustainable Design Practices on Public Projects
City Engineer Wesselschmidt presented the 2010/2011 Work Plan – Long Term:
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Improve Development Related Services to Create the Most Responsive and Professional
Development Process in Johnson County.
Research and Identify Capital Improvement Program Funding Alternatives to Build New,
Renovate Existing, and Repair and Maintain Infrastructure.
Develop Communication Strategies to Improve Customer Service and Increase the Level of
Involvement so that Projects Enhance the Sense of Community Through Safety, Walk-ability,
and Convenience.
Increase Effectiveness and Efficiency in Developing and Implementing Capital Improvement
Projects.
City Engineer Wesselschmidt presented the 2010/2011 Additional Projects:
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ARRA Resurfacing projects
Public Works maintenance contracts
Stormwater Utility infrastructure inspections
Stormwater Utility project administration
Trail projects – CC Ph. 2 & CC Ph. 3
Shawnee Town 1929 design and construction
Building facility inventory and evaluation
City Engineer Wesselschmidt presented Future Challenges:
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Because the Development Services Department continues to take on increased
responsibilities, there was consensus that reassigning “Contract Administration” over Public
Works Projects should be considered, based on the current organizational structure and
alignment of responsibilities.
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It was agreed that an “all hands” employee meeting would be held at least once per month to
improve communication within the Department and to hear updates on work plan
assignments and city-wide initiatives.
There was unanimous consensus there should be a continued focus on professional
development with the goal to be recognized as experts in each employee’s respective
professional field. Involvement in regional and state professional organizations will contribute
toward an improved level of expertise and enhanced level of service to the citizens of
Shawnee.
As part of a prior commitment, the Department will complete the creation of a “Developer
Handbook”, including a development review checklist, to assist in providing consistent
expectations for service delivery and reliable documentation relating to guidelines, policies,
and requirements. This includes the expanded use of the Shawnee Development Center
(SDC).
City Engineer Wesselschmidt presented the department budget, stating most of it is under
Personal Services. The hiring of the contractors or engineers is not reflected here. A lot of the
Contractual Services are related to the private development side for inspection fees. There are
also a few assorted Commodities, i.e. software, paint.
Councilmember Sawyer asked why Personal Services went up 4.75%.
City Engineer Wesselschmidt replied part of it is the 2.9% that City Manager Gonzales referred to
which is built into all the budgets and the other would be projecting to reclassify one of their
inspectors as an Engineering Technician III from an Engineering Technician, so there is a slight
increase in that position.
Councilmember Morris asked if there is a timeframe on the Developer’s Handbook.
City Engineer Wesselschmidt stated they would like to get it done by the end of the year. He
stated Overland Park has a really nice one. It will take a lot of work and will take one person
working on it nearly full time to get it finished.
Councilmember Morris asked City Engineer Wesselschmidt if they are using Overland Park’s as a
template.
City Engineer Wesselschmidt replied not so much as a template, but it is a model, as far as what
it does and what it covers. Under Overland Park’s website it is called the Developer’s Handbook.
ADJOURNMENT
Councilmember Distler, seconded by Councilmember Morris, moved to adjourn. The motion carried 4-0,
and the meeting adjourned at 11:03 p.m.
Minutes prepared by: Cindy Terrell, Recording Secretary
APPROVED BY:
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Stephen Powell, City Clerk