Tuesday, January 24, 2006

City Hall, Room 604

5:30 P.M.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Fred Graves, David Nelson, and Tom Weber; John VanderLeest* arrived shortly thereafter

MEMBERS EXCUSED: None

OTHERS PRESENT: Jerry Hanson, Rob Strong, Chad Weininger, Linda Dupuis, Chief Stauber, Chief VanSchyndle, Tina Westergaard, Dan Ditscheit, Recording Secretary Ginny Mamrosh, and others

1. Roll Call.

Vice Chairman Weber called the meeting to order. Roll call was taken, and all were present except Ald. VanderLeest, who arrived shortly thereafter.

2. Approval of the Agenda.

A motion was made by Ald. Nelson and seconded by Ald. Graves to approve the agenda. Motion carried.

3. Approval of the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of January 10, 2006.

A motion was made by Ald. Nelson and seconded by Ald. Graves to approve the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of January 10, 2006. Motion carried.

4. Request by the Planning Director for the approval of a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the development of exhibits at the National Railroad Museum’s Lenfestey Center.

Planning Director Rob Strong said the National Railroad Museum (NRRM) had applied for and was awarded a HUD grant of $99,200 to be used for upgrades on their exhibits. The NRRM asked the City to submit this application because the museum is located on City land, and applications for this grant must be submitted through municipalities. The Planning Department will conduct an environmental review; he said there should be no impact since everything to be done would take place in buildings. Up to 20% of the grant can be used to cover any administrative costs involved.

A motion was made by Ald. Graves and seconded by Ald. Nelson to approve the grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the development of exhibits at the National Railroad Museum’s Lenfestey Center. The motion carried.

5. Request by Ald. VanDenHeuvel to look into the possible sale of land located on the corner of Finger Road and Huron Road that is currently owned by the City.

Ald. Weber explained that the land involved is on the corner of Finger Road and Huron Rd. The City owns a strip to the north of a parcel owned by a bank. The other side falls off into a valley. The bank had asked Ald. VanDenHeuvel to look into the possibility of purchasing this small strip, which is of no use for development because of the fall-off. Mr. Strong suggested this request be referred to the Planning office to be run through the surplus property process. He said all departments are contacted to see if they have any need for the land; if not it goes to the Planning Commission to be declared surplus, and then to Council.

A motion was made by Ald. Graves and seconded by Ald. Nelson to refer to Planning the request by Ald. VanDenHeuvel to look into the possible sale of land located on the corner of Finger Road and Huron Road that is currently owned by the City. The motion carried.

6. Joint request by Ald. Wery and Fradette to amend City Ordinance 2.04 in order to grant the Protection and Welfare Committee limited authority over Police and Fire Department expenditures, similar to the budgetary powers of the Park and Improvement & Service Committees.

Assistant to the Mayor Chad Weininger said they are asking to transfer $20,000 from the Contingency Fund to establish a new line item in the Miscellaneous budget to be used at the discretion of the Protection and Welfare Committee. He said the goal is to be able to create a quick strike for problem areas by allowing more flexibility to address these issues; such requests would go to Council without first going to Committee. Mr. Weininger said the administration supports this request, and they hope to continue this line item in the future without transferring funds from Contingency. Monies not used could be kept into the next budget year.

*Ald. VanderLeest arrived.

Ald. VanderLeest suggested that some examples of what these funds could be used for be mentioned in the ordinance, such as for cracking down on Escort services to make sure they are in compliance, looking at problem neighborhoods, and drug issues, as well as addressing quality of life issues, and helping impact teams to accomplish this.

The motion was made by Ald. VanderLeest to transfer $20,000 from Contingency to establish a new line item in the Miscellaneous budget to be used at the discretion of the Protection & Welfare Committee. Funds would be used, for example, to help fund impact teams, ensure that Escort services are in compliance, look at quality of life and drug issues, serve problem neighborhoods, and for additional protection and welfare issues for the City of Green Bay.

The motion was seconded by Ald. Nelson and carried.

Ald. VanderLeest chaired from this point on.

7. Request by the Fire Chief to inform the Committee of a grant.

Fire Chief Stauber said they had received a $150,000 grant to purchase a fire/rescue boat and associated communications equipment. This boat can pump over 2,000 gallons per minute, providing more water than can be taken from any hydrant in the City. This will prove very useful since draft sites have been lost to waterfront development. Chief Stauber wanted the Committee to be aware of the grant, but also asked to be authorized to move ahead with the purchase. He asked that they accept the grant from the State and have the Purchasing Agent negotiate a price for this purchase in a no-bid, sole-source situation. The State will reimburse the City for the actual cost as money is expended.

A motion was made by Ald. Weber and seconded by Ald. Nelson to approve use of the grant for sole-source purchase of a fire/rescue boat and associated communications equipment with no bid. Motion carried.

8. Request by the Purchasing Agent to reevaluate the recent ambulance award to Taylor Made Ambulance, along with a request from the Fire Chief to review ambulance funding required.

Purchasing Agent Linda Dupuis said the Council had approved an award of two ambulances to Taylor Made Ambulance last December. On December 21 she notified the vendor of the City’s need for performance and warranty bonds. These bonds were not provided, however, in spite of numerous requests by Ms. Dupuis. She said she doesn’t have much experience with warranty bonds, but it was unusual to take so long for performance bonds to arrive. The deadline was extended when their bank called and asked for more time. After speaking with the Law Department, Ms. Dupuis emailed and faxed the company to let them know of the revised deadline by which they had to provide the bonds and did get an acceptable performance bond on the day of the deadline. This bond had a payment bond attached, which was not appropriate for that purchase. Taylor Made Ambulances are significantly lower in price than the competitors, but Chief Stauber said there are issues with the quality of ride; the cabinetry also falls apart and electrical schematics do not match the vehicles. He said the worst part is the down time involved, however, and that the issue is how much are we willing to pay for quality. He asked the Committee for direction.

Ms. Dupuis said in the past when Taylor Made purchases were considered, it was decided to go with the low quote and pay for repairs with the money saved. In this case, however, she brought this to Committee because of their inability to get the warranty bond in on time. She notified the company that, due to inability to provide a warranty bond in a timely manner, the City was withdrawing its offer and would go to the next low quote upon approval of the Finance Committee and the Council. Taylor Made then sent a maintenance bond good for one year, but this is insufficient.

Ms Dupuis said the next lowest bid was about $34,000 more in cost; these bids are still good, being valid for 90 days. Extra funds would have to come from Contingency. Atty. Hanson said the Committee has legislative discretion and should make a decision on the direction to go.

A motion was made by Ald. VanderLeest to deny the Taylor Made Ambulance award and to allow the Purchasing Department to negotiate the best price by going to the second or third lowest bidder, or to rebid, with funding to come from the 2006 Contingency Fund. The motion was seconded by Ald. Weber and carried.

The Committee asked to be kept up to date on this issue.

9. Report of the Purchasing Agent:

1. Prefabricated Pedestrian Bridge – Parks Dept. – award to Wheeler Lumber for $54,860.

2. Candy contract, 3 year – Parks Dept. - award to Valley Popcorn Co., Inc for est. $15,635 per year.

3. Consent Item – Slush & snow cone 3-year contract – est. $11,558/year; $34,674 for 3 years.

Ms. Dupuis said Wheeler Lumber was the clear low bidder, and that a similar bridge they had supplied in the past had been satisfactory. Park Sr. Landscape Architect Dan Ditscheit said the bridge is for the Baird Creek Trail from Sullivan School to Danz Avenue. He said Douglas fir is acceptable to the Parks Department; although EPAY wood is a better product, the difference in price is too substantial to make that purchase worthwhile.

A motion was made by Ald. Weber and seconded by Ald. Nelson to approve 1. Prefabricated Pedestrian Bridge – Parks Dept. – award to Wheeler Lumber for $54,860. Motion carried.

Ms. Dupuis said the candy contract is a standard Bay Beach purchase that she brought forward because it was not the low quote. The low quote was unacceptable because it did not offer some of the popular, basic items. The difference in price is $496 for the year.

A motion was made by Ald. Weber and seconded by Ald. Nelson to approve 2. Candy contract, 3 year – Parks Dept. – award to Valley Popcorn Co., Inc. for est. $15,635 per year. Motion carried.

Ms. Dupuis said the slush & snow cone award is a good contract and she recommended approval.

A motion was made by Ald. Weber and seconded by Ald. Nelson to approve 3. Consent item – Slush & snow cone 3-year contract – est. $11,558/year; $34,674 for 3 years to Valley Popcorn Co., Inc.

10. Report of the Finance Director:

1. Referral of recommendation from Protection & Welfare Committee that the City offer smoking cessation incentives as part of the City health insurance plan.

Ms. Dupuis said Finance Director Doug Daul indicated he had contacted the City’s medical insurance consultant and that this is already in process. The City did a health risk assessment last year for all employees, and as those numbers are tabulated, if indicated, the consultant will make a recommendation on ideas for smoking cessation for the City. Any financing for such projects would be in the 2007 budget, so this will be back at a later date. He suggested a motion to postpone.

A motion was made by Ald. Weber and seconded by Ald. Nelson to postpone discussion on the recommendation from Protection & Welfare Committee that the City offer smoking cessation incentives as part of the City health insurance plan.

11. Request by Chief VanSchyndle to amend Green Bay Municipal Ordinance 5.02(4) as it relates to records retention to change the retention period from 20 years to 10 years.

Chief VanSchyndle said the period for retention of records under State Statute is 7 years; he was asking to move the City ordinance requirement down from 20 to 10 years. The Police Department is being buried with records, and is looking at different options with different vendors as to the best way to handle this problem, including having them stored for the required number of years, having them scanned into CD’s and then destroyed, or even stored permanently. All cases involving serious issues, such as sexual assault, substantial battery, homicide, traffic fatalities, or those involving DNA must be kept, but noise disturbance calls, minor accidents, and criminal damage cases could possibly be disposed of. There would be a hierarchy of which cases they could get rid of; criteria would be stated. City Attorney Hanson said before any record is destroyed, the Historical Society must be notified to see if they want to keep it.

Chief VanSchyndle said another problem is storage of evidence, especially anything involving DNA. The department is required to keep that evidence throughout the court process, while the person is incarcerated, and until they are finished with their probation and parole after release from prison. There are also many boxes of drug paraphernalia that were seized during drug busts.

Chief VanSchyndle said they are now moving to field-based reporting where officers will type up the case report on their laptop computer and submit it electronically to the Shift Commander and Records. A paper copy could be printed, if necessary. These reports can then be put onto discs.

Ald. VanderLeest suggested the ordinance should state which files would be kept, on a criteria basis. Ald. Graves asked if the ordinance could be amended to read 7 years rather than 10, since that is what State Statute requires, and all records would have to meet a certain criteria before being destroyed.

A motion was made by Ald. Weber to approve the request by Chief VanSchyndle to amend Green Bay Municipal Ordinance 5.02(4) as it relates to records retention to change the retention period from 20 years to 7 years with clarification provided by the Law Department for exceptions to the retention period of 7 years. The motion was seconded by Ald. Nelson, and carried.

A motion to adjourn was made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald.Graves, and carried. The meeting was adjourned.

2006 CONTINGENCY FUND

$384,405.00