HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/17/09MARCH 17, 2009
At a Regular Meeting of the Board of Commissioners, held on Tuesday, March 17, 2009,
at 5:30 p.m., Mayor Paxton presided, and upon call of the roll by the City Clerk, the
following answered to their names: Commissioners Abraham, Gault, Kaler, Watkins,
and Mayor Paxton (5).
PRESENTATION
TRAINS ON WATER STREET
Bob Johnston, citizen, is concerned with the train display on Water Street. The condition of
the train has deteriorated and he would like for the City to have it repaired. The Mayor
agreed the train does deserve to be cleaned up and repaired but, due to the economy and
financial limitations the City is under, the City cannot take on the project at this time. He
asked for Mr. Johnston's help in collecting funds for improvements to the train. Public
Works will complete as many of the minor repairs as possible.
WORKSHOP
FLEET PLAN OVERVIEW
Public Works Director Earnie Via and Randy Crouch, Fleet Superintendent gave an
overview of the proposed 2010 Fleet Plan. They are looking into how the City can go
"Green" or if the City should go "Green". At this time the recommendation is to start
purchasing small fuel-efficient vehicles and to continue to monitor technology changes.
ICMA REPORT ON FISCAL CRISIS
City Manager Zumwalt gave a briefing on a presentation that he attended during his
ICMA conference. The presentation was called, "Navigating the Fiscal Crisis: Tested
Strategies for Local Leaders". This report is about cities and counties facing the
developing fiscal crisis and the actions that will be necessary to be taken by all officials at
all levels of government. There are three approaches to handling the crisis: 1) hunker
down; 2) cutback management and 3) strategic management. The City Manager thinks
the best one for the City's approach is #3. This involves predicting the decline; focus on
core mission; educate the public; long-term savings, not one time; and transformation –
"what if' not "why me". The City has three main funds and they are budgeted at: 1)
general fund $30.5 million; 2) Investment Fund $4.3 million and 3) solid waste fund $4.2
million. General fund revenues include payroll tax, property tax, insurance premium tax
and business license tax among others such as grants, building permits, etc. The most
revenue comes from the payroll tax. As of last week, 71% of the year has passed and
only 63% of the budget has been spent. The insurance premium tax through February is
22% short, if that continues through the end of the fiscal year it will amount to a total of
$1.1 million. For FY2010, the General Fund uncontrolled increase expenses total for the
budget is $1,305,000. The City Manager guesses that the payroll tax could also decrease
by 5% ($640,000). If all of his guesses come to be, then when the budget starts being
prepared the City will have a shortfall of $3,045,000 (insurance premium tax plus
uncontrolled increases plus payroll tax decrease = total). His recommendation is plan for
the worst. The next steps would be, share this information with the affected employees
and have staff and Commission work on prioritizing services using the service hierarchy.
After collecting the information from staff and the Commission, he will be planning on
cutting costs between $2.5 million to $3 million and create a plan that will include a cut
in employee force if cuts are kept in the general fund. He will then bring a
recommendation to the Commission for review and edit. His recommendation after that
is to adopt and implement a retrenchment plan as soon as possible.
CITY MANAGER REPORT
❖ Debris Pickup Report
❖ Personnel Actions—No Discussion
❖ Thursday, March 19th Governor Beshear will present a check to the Paducah
Police Department at City Hall in the Commission Chambers
❖ City Manager and Mayor will be doing employee presentations tomorrow and
Thursday—Public Information Officer Pam Spencer will have a DVD available
for the employees to view
❖ Mayor Pro Tem Kaler will preside at next week's meeting -Mayor is going to
Washington DC
❖ March 25th and 26th—Candidate for Police Chief position will be here to be
interviewed.
MARCH 17, 2009
COMMISSIONER CONCERNS
Comm. Watkins—Would like for the Commission to adopt a resolution that the City will
buy American products with any stimulus money received. He distributed three different
forms of proposed resolutions.
❖ Joe Villines with the Steelworkers' Union is in support of the resolution. The
Union is going all over the country trying to get governments to pass the
resolution. The Union feels the best use for the stimulus money is infrastructure
because this would create a lot of jobs.
Mayor asked the Commission to review the resolutions and to contact the City Clerk with
their choice.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Virginia Bishop -resident of 800 N 21St Street --concerned about the crematorium being
built at Oak Grove Cemetery. She does not want it to be built at that location.
Upon motion the meeting adjourned.
ADOPTED: April 14 , 2009
Ja&��� S &)e�
City Clerk