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Admin Committee Minutes 2001 12-11-01 i UNITED CITY OF YORKVII.LE ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE MEETING TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11 2001 6 40 M O D O O In attendance: Alderwoman Rose Spears Alderman Paul James Alderman Marty Munns Administrator Tony Graff Mayor Art Prochaska (until 8:25) Guests: City Treasurer Bob Allen Traci Pleckham HEALTH INSURANCE RENEWAL Chairperson Spears reported that she attended an Employee Benefits Committee meeting on December 7, 2001 along with Kim King (city staff), Molly Batterson (PD), Sue Swithin (parks) and Michelle Pfister (library). The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the renewal of the Employee Insurance Plan. The old plan was a three -year, self - insurance rollover plan that the employees want to continue. Each employee is allowed $150.00 each for vision and dental for a total of $300.00 /year. Spouses and dependants are allowed $125.00 each for dental and vision for a total of $250.00 /year. A family is allowed $800.00 /year. The new vision plan, which the employees are interested in, provides more coverage. The employees were concerned with a few things in the plan such as contact lens wearers were only covered for one exam a year instead of two. Also, sunglasses were not covered. It does cover frames, tinted lenses, and laser surgery. The majority of the employees were in favor of the plan, which would only cost the employees a dollar a month. It will save the City money because the current cost for vision is $15,500.00. i With the new proposed plan, the City's cost is $12,896.64 and even if it gets an increase with the renewal of the current policy, the City will still save approximately $600.00. Chairperson Spears stated that the Benefits Committee needed to know if the Administration Committee approves of this because the renewal is due January 1, 2002. The deadline for the employees regarding which plan they will choose is December 18, 2001. The next COW meeting is December 20, 2001 so Chairperson Spears was going to check to see if the matter could wait until the COW meeting. Chairperson Spears asked if the Committee were in favor of the new plan. Alderman Munns asked if the future Finance Director Traci Pleckham had a chance to look at the new plan and she said she did not. He would consider her input because this is not his area of expertise. Chairperson Spears stated that the new plan is saving the City money and making the employees happy because the employees checked with their eye doctors and most of them accept the plan. Alderman James stated that it meets two important criteria, the City and employees benefit from the new plan. 2 Chairperson Spears stated that the next item the Benefits Committee will be investigating is dental plans. Kim Ding stated at the Benefits Committee meeting that the employees are aware that any new plan will be costly. Administrator Graff went over the health insurance whose renewal date is January 1, 2002. In September, the City met with CRM Benefits, Inc. which is an insurance broker. CRM went out and searched the market and in their proposal they showed United Health Care and Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BC/BS) were the only two plans that they were able to find that had networks that were similar to what the employees presently have. Of the two, BC/BS was a better deal with lower rates. This opens up an opportunity with BC/BS to offer the City some alternatives because they were told the reason the City was shopping for a new provider was to improve benefits. Mr. Graff stated that nine employees are under the PPO Plan. They stated that it would be better if the PPO included an annual physical like the HMO does. BC/BS Plan does have the annual physical included as a $20.00 employee co -pay. The PPO Plan had a prescription drug plan with a prescription card that covers $5 or $10. Plans are going to a third level, which is called a formulary drug plan. Formulary drugs are more costly prescriptions so the new prescription plan will be 5/10/25 and 10/20/35 with the formulary. Mr. Graff stated that the rate came out to be a little over a 20% increase. He went over the renewal comparison sheets with the Committee. The City is currently enrolled in an 80/60 plan for the PPO and some of the employees asked for a 90/70 plan, which increases the cost differential. On a per month basis, the 90/70 plan would cost $265.00 more than the current plan. Under the current plan, if an employee goes to a network doctor or hospital, 80% is covered with a co -pay of 20% up to $3,000.00 per family or $1,500.00 per single. When the City switched over from the New York Life Policy to the current plan, the 80/60 met the test for comparable service, which is important because the Police Department contract states that the employees will have equal or comparable benefits. Mr. Graff recommended staying with an 80/60 plan because the 90170 plan would cost $265 dollars more per month or $3,180.00 per year. He stated that once the City switches to a higher coverage, it could not go back. He felt that the City's current benefit package is above average, which helps in the recruitment of employees for the city staff and police department. Mr. Graff dick suggest changing the length of time for the waiting period from 90 days to 30 days for new hires. In the past, the Council felt that new employees should be established before starting the benefit package. If the City had a high turnover rate, this would be a good policy however most of the employees coming to the City have made a career decision that they want to work for a municipality. The three -month waiting period puts a burden on most new employees and two individuals turned down jobs with the police department when they heard about the 90 -day waiting period. The industry standard is 30 days with top executives having coverage starting on day one. He stated 3 that the change in the 90 -day period does not effect premiums but increases the city's cost because it would have to start its pay -out two months earlier. Alderman Munns asked if this had to be done for every new employee or if there could be different levels. Mr. Graff stated that he was told by BC /BS that this only differs with top executives but that all other employees should be the same. The BC/BS representatives stated that she has seen tiers in very large industries and its probably been negotiated by union contract. The waiting period is a policy change for the City but not with the insurance company. Mr. Graff stated that he did not have the authority to change this policy. Alderman James, Alderman Munns, and Chairperson Spears agreed that this needed to be looked at further. Alderman James expressed an idea for the 90/70 plan. He asked if it would be possible to give employees the option to upgrade from the 80/60 plan at their own expense. Mr. Graff stated that according to the Fraternal Order of Police contract this could be done as long as this is offered to all the employees. Mr. Graff stated that the employees were going through a renewal process now and have to December 18, 2001 to choose the HMO or the PPO. He could ask Kim King to do a survey of the employees to see if they wanted to upgrade and pay the difference. Alderman James also suggested offering the 100/80 plan. Mr. Graff said that it would be extra work keeping track of all the plans but that he would explore the possibility. Mr. Graff stated that he is also looking at contracts that coincide with the City's fiscal year otherwise he has to guess what is needed in the budget. This time the guess was right and the money was in the budget to absorb the cost of renewal rates. He asked BCBS for a bridge policy to go for four months with this rate with a renewal on May 1, 2002 or sixteen months at this rate. He was told that this would take about two weeks for them to look into the special request and price it. They have done this in the past for others. By contract, the insurance company needs to notify the City thirty days prior to renewal of the cost This would help in preparing the budget. He hoped to have an answer to this by the next Administration Committee meeting. Alderman James asked if a decision was needed by December 18, 2001. Mr. Graff stated that according to the contract this locks in the rate but does not lock in the fact that the City has to keep their insurance. He recommended a resolution from the Council stating that it accepts BC /BS as the City's health insurance carrier, accepting the rate increase and identifying CRM as the City's health insurance broker. He hoped to have an answer from BC/BS so that this resolution could be passed at the December 27, 2001 City Council meeting. Mr. Graff stated that he felt that the City did a good job by using the broker and shopping around. Chairperson Spears stated that she figured that the HMO rates increased about 17% and the PPO rates increased about 18 %. She stated that the average increase in the market is anywhere from 17% to 25 % and one municipality received a 70 %+ increase. Chairperson Spears asked what the alternative if BC /BS wouldn't bridge the policy. Mr. Graff stated that the broker explained that the City could ask any time during the year for I 4 a twelve -month contract. The City could put a request in with BOBS on March 1, 2002 that it wants a twelve -month rate and they will adjust it effective May 1, 2002. One way or another, the goal is to have the policy coincide with the May 1 St date. This item was sent to the December 20, 2001 Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting. AT &T FRANCHISE FEE Mr. Graff stated AT &T Broadband sent a letter to the City stating that there has been a ruling by the Federal Communication Committee (FCC) that the franchise fee can now be applied to the consumer. The fee has previously been paid out of AT &T's funds. AT &T states that passing this fee on to the consumer would result in an increase of nine cents on a $40.00 monthly bill. The City receives $40,000.00 from the franchise fee. The Cable Consortium is going to have an opinion on this. In the actual contract with AT &T there is a sentence that states that if it is a regulatory increase the City cannot force them not to honor it. This is not a regulatory increase but an option to do this. The Consortium's attorney is looking at the contract to see if the communities affected by this can tell AT &T that the nine cents is not going to be passed on to the consumer, but rather they have to pay it. The Consortium will give a recommendation to the seventeen communities so that they all have the same response to AT &T regarding the fee. They are working as fast as they can to get something out to the communities buy the January date AT &T indicates in their letter. Kevin Drendel, the attorney for the Consortium, has said that they will have something to the City by the December 27, 2001 Council meeting regarding what action should be taken. Alderman James expressed confusion because cable service is between the homeowner and the cable company. Mr. Graff explained that the City has a franchise agreement with AT &T allowing them easements and use of public utilities on City property. AT &T wants to pass the fee on to the homeowners and if Yorkville does not allow this, AT &T won't be collecting the fee so the City won't be getting its payment. This item was sent to the December 20, 2001 COW meeting. ANNUAL AUDIT SERVICES Administrator Graff reported on the new contract for 2002 -2004 with the City's auditors. The City received a letter from the accounting firm, Pandolfi, stating charges for services. The question is if the City wants to continue with their services. In the past, the contract has been negotiable. The auditors have indicated an extra cost of between $3,500.00 and $4,500.00 for the Police Pension, which has to be audited by law. They are not sure of the exact cost because it will be the first time they will be auditing the fund and they don't know how involved it will be. Alderman Munns thought it was a good idea to negotiate a lower fee. Mr. Graff agreed but stated it was the committee's recommendation not to get other bids and keep the present relationship. Chairperson Spears suggested that he could go back to the auditors and tell them some of the City Council has suggested looking at other firms and see what they negotiate the fee down to. Mayor Prochaska asked how much the increase was. Mr. 5 Graff stated that the current fee is about $11,800.00. They are now asking for $13,200.00. The City has $16,000.00 in the budget. Alderman Munns indicated that they were asking foi about a 12% increase. Treasurer Allen asked how many years the City has been using Pandolfi and Mayor Prochaska stated about six or seven years. Alderman James asked what the average increase was each year. Mr. Graff stated that the previous contracts have been for two to three years. Mr. Graff wasn't sure of the exact amount of the last increase but thought it was minimal. Mayor Prochaska stated that the past increases have not been as much as this one. Alderman James said there was a disclaimer in the letter stating that it was 5% toward the CPI. Alderman Munns suggested going back to Pandolfi and negotiate an increase of 5% over the 2001 fees, which would be about $12,390.00. Mr. Graff said he could negotiate this but would prefer if the Mayor did it because of his close working relationship with the firm. Mayor Prochaska stated that he felt there was room for negotiation because Pandolfi knows the City's system and doesn't need to be as involved in some things. Mr. Graff stated that the City does not have figures indicating the hours they put into their work with the City. Mayor Prochaska stated that the City has followed Pandolfi's recommendations through the years and they have stated that this has made their work easier. He feels that this information is good for bargaining. i Treasurer Allen commented that it has been advised in the past that auditors should be varied through the years. Mayor Prochaska stated that this has been discussed in the past. He stated that the City has a "comfort level" with these auditors but felt that there is room for movement in what they are asking. Mr. Graff asked future Finance Director, Traci Pleckham her opinion or experience with changing auditors and she stated that most people stay with a firm they are comfortable with, however -she has seen changes due to price. Alderman Munns asked if their hourly rate increased and Mr. Graff said he'd have to look into that. He felt that they should be more efficient now that they have been dealing with the City for awhile. Mr. Graff thought that they should be asked to produce their hours of production with the City. Mayor Prochaska stated that along with the cost, another issue he had was when the audit was completed. He felt that it should be completed sooner than October considering the fiscal year ended in May. Chairperson Spears suggested that the Mayor and Mrs. Pleckham meet with Pandolfi in January after Mrs. Pleckham is officially onboard as Finance Director to discuss the City possibly going out to bid for a new auditing firm. This would allow enough time if the City does really go to bid before Pandolfi's contract is up and the end -of -year audit. Mayor Prochaska and Mr. Graff agreed with this. Chairman Spears did recommend keeping Pandolfi. Mr. Graff's recommendation was to negotiate and stay with Pandolfi for at least one more term. Aldermen Munns and James agreed. 6 Mayor Prochaska suggested setting up a meeting with Pandolfi before the January 17, 2002 Administration Committee meeting so he could report back to them. OFFICE ASSISTANT POSITION Mr. Graff stated that the job description for this was passed and he was back with modifications. The position will be 20 hours per week (Monday and Wednesday 9:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. and Friday 10:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M.). The position has been advertised internally and the receptionist Jennifer Woodrick has applied for it. The start date for the position is January 1, 2002. The receptionist position has been advertised because of Ms. Woodrick's position change. He has received several applications from qualified candidates. The proposed salary scale for the assistant's position was $10.00 to $12.50 per hour. He proposed that the assistants position be $10.75/hour with a three - month review and possible $.25/hour increase and the receptionist position be $10.00/hour. The budget supports this cost. Chairperson Spears asked how this would effect the police clerk because the City has to be fair to both sides. Mr. Graff did not know and stated that he would look into a salary comparison. Chairperson Spears felt that the positions should be equal. Mr. Graff stated that the positions between the City office and the PD were similar in some aspects but that the Office Assistant would have duties which included accounts payable billing and project tracking. He stated that he would get back to the Committee with a comparison. The Committee found the positions and pay acceptable. Mr. Graff stated that he would do the comparison and issue a memo. If there were a problem with the comparison, he would bring it back to the next Administration Committee meeting. PARK/RECREATION RULE & ROLE Alderman James tabled this item. He stated that there is an ordinance on the books, which he would like to merge with this. Mr. Graff said he would discuss this with Alderman James and the Mayor. OFFICE SPACE STUDY UPDATE Mr. Graff updated the Committee on the office space study. He reported that three architects are interested in doing the study. One is Williams Architect from Wheaton, Illinois who Alderman Burd spoke with at the IlVIL and they are putting together a proposal. Another is Phillip Swagger and Assoc. They spoke to one of the Alderman at the M, and will be coming out to look at City Hall and prepare a proposal. The third is KSA, the company who is doing Kendall County's feasibility study. They have come out to the site and spoke with the staff and are in the process of preparing their proposal. Mr. Graff stated he would have all the proposals for the next Committee meeting. Mr. Graff reported that Concept 3 is redoing their proposal due to the fact that they know the City is looking at other proposals. Mr. Graff stated that after speaking with the other firms he realized that Concept 3 left out a few elements in their study. 7 Mr. Graff spoke with City Attorney Kramer who stated that the process for selecting an architect should be based on qualification. The Committee develops the criteria used in selecting the firm and they can interview all four or choose two from the proposals. He suggested that at the next meeting, the firms could come in and present their proposals. Mayor Prochaska suggested each firm give a ten - minute presentation at the next meeting. The Committee agreed to this. Chairperson Spears asked if the Committee could have the proposals to look at before the presentations. Mr. Graff stated that he would ask for the proposals by January 7, 2002. PROPOSED REVISED ICCI CONTRACT Mr. Graff stated that the City's building inspector Bill Dettmer was going to attend to discuss this but his mother -in -law past away. Mr. Graff and Mayor Prochaska reported that since his mother -in -law had worked for the City in a volunteer capacity updating code books, a donation was sent to a Lutheran medical foundation in Wisconsin in lieu of flowers. Mr. Graff reported that Mr. Dettmer revised the contract upon the Administration Committee's request. The language was cleaned up in the ordinance and Attorney Kramer reviewed and made minor changes. Mr. Graff pointed one of Bill Dettmer's revisions on page 3 of the ICCI contract, which states that ICCI will now collect 80% of the fees and the city gets the 20% for residential. This offsets costs because the City offers office space to them. The City will receive 25% for commercial, industrial, multifamily and any other groups. ICCI will receive 100% of miscellaneous permits (i.e. fences), which had been $35.00 in the past. Mr. Dettmer is asking that the cost be increased to $50.00 because three inspections are involved with these permits. Any portion of penalty fees is zero for ICCI even though he enforces them. ICCI will get 100% of any plan reviews. If the City requests Mr. Dettmer to attend a seminar, it is reimbursed 100 %. He pays for any expense for attending the BOCA even though he is representing Yorkville. Mr. Graff stated again that Attorney Kramer has reviewed the contract and he felt that Mr. Dettmer has been fair in the increase of fees. The language has been cleaned up per the Committee's request regarding what the municipality offers to ICCI. Mr. Graff indicated that the specifications of what the municipality provided (telephones, copy machine, desk, file cabinets etc.) were in paragraph 4, above the fee schedule in the contract. There was a question about paragraph C regarding the municipality providing clerical staff assistance need for ICCI to perform their services. This was enumerated in paragraphs 4a and 4b and made more specific by stating that the City will collect fees and distribute the permits. Mayor Prochaska questioned what the City faxed to ICCI. Mr. Graff explained that at the end of the day, the City faxed to ICCI's main office any inspection requests that came in during the day. ICCI inspector's call in each evening and are given their inspections for the next day. Mayor Prochaska asked if the contract could specifically indicate that we fax ICCI's main office or off site office. Mr. Graff made the correction. 8 Mayor Prochaska also questioned property maintenance. He questioned if it was an ordinance, resolution or motion. Mr. Graff said he would look into and correct. Mr. Graff stated that the current charge for inspection is $650.00 plus $.20 per square foot. The miscellaneous fee was changed to $40.00 rather than the $50.00 he stated earlier. The mayor asked how long the contract was for. He stated that Attorney Kramer recommended that the City not have an open -ended contract and if no time period was specified it would be a twenty -year contract. He did not feel that it should be a twenty - year contract. He also questioned that since the Building Inspector was appointed annually was the contract subject to this. Mr. Graff said he would address the matter with Mr. Kramer. A corrected copy would be sent to the next COW meeting. ADDITIONAL BUSINESS Defibrillators Chairperson Spears asked Mayor Prochaska about the status of the defibrillators from Edwards Hospital. He stated that the hospital was to get in contact with Sergeant Diederich to set up training. Chairperson Spears stated that there was an opportunity for another grant for more defibrillators but it needed to be done by December3I; 2001. It was a joint grant with Bristol- Kendall Fire Department. Mayor Prochaska asked Mr. Graff to find out were the City was with the defibrillators so the grant paperwork could be submitted. New Letterhead The Committee discussed the new City logo on the letterhead. Suggestions were made to remove the shading and add the wording "The County Seat". Proposed Schedule for FY02 /03 Budget Mr. Graff handed out a memo to the Administration Committee from himself, the mayor and Traci Pleckham. He stated that the budget should be completed and passed by the end of April. Mr. Graff went over the memo with the committee. Mayor Prochaska asked that the operation and capital budgets be reviewed before it is presented to the Committee and Mr. Graff agreed. Library Budget Mayor Prochaska reported that the Library Board met to review their proposed budget. They will vote on it at their January meeting and submit it to accompany the City budget. Meeting Minutes Chairperson Spears reported that City Clerk Jackie Milschewski is beginning new minute procedures and is experimenting with the Administration Committee. Clerk Milschewski will give the committee a draft of the minutes for review and if corrections or additions are needed, the committee should notify her or the minute taker. Chairperson Spears 9 stated that a former minute taker took the minutes they were receiving tonight so Clerk Milschewski would be revising them if necessary. Mayor Prochaska left the meeting. REVIEW MAYOR'S SALARY SURVEY Alderman Munns expressed the concern that this item should be discussed in an executive session. Alderman James stated that the executive session needed to be posted. Mr. Graff offered to leave while this was discussed. The Committee discussed tabling the item. Alderman James asked what the cut -off was for this. Mr. Graff stated that this had to be done at least one year before the next election and Treasurer Allen stated that he thought it was six months. Chairperson Spears asked Mr. Graff to research this so it was done properly. Alderman Munns asked what was done when the alderman's salaries were raised. Alderman James stated that it was an open discussion. It was agreed to table the item to the next meeting. MORE ADDITIONAL BUSINESS Budget Report Mr. Graff stated that the budget report with the revised budget was out. The end of November report was available for the Council. Meeting Dates Chairperson Spears asked if there was going to be an update of the meeting dates. Mr. Graff stated that the update was in their City Council packet. Alderman Munns had his packet and stated that the update was not in it. Alderman Munns and Alderman James went through their packets and did not have the list. Mr. Graff stated he would get them out to the Council. Updated Address List Chairperson Spears asked that the address list be updated for the City Council members. She no longer has a work phone number and the mayor has moved. Mr. Graff said he would take care of it. Water Ordinance Complaint Chairperson Spears asked for an update on complaints that the Committee received regarding the water ordinance. Mr. Graff reported that the complaints questioned the fees for water and connected water service and whether the City has a right to collect delinquent fees from a landlord. Attorney Kramer is doing a legal review of the 26 -year- old ordinance. The complainants asked if the Committee would reexamine the issue of bad debt. They believe that a landlord should not pay for the bad debt that was carried by the tenants. The City's position is the landlord is responsible. Mr. Graff told the complainants that the Committee had reached a decision but they could come to a meeting and personally ask for a review. Mr. Graff stated that he would be bringing to the Committee the review of ordinance. io A request from the complainants is that the City institutes a deposit. The City did have a deposit $25.00 but several years ago the City Council elected to eliminate the fee. Also, the law changed and deposits could only be held for one year and then had to be returned. Deposits have to be applied to everyone because they cannot be applied to one class of people such as renters. Mr. Graff told the complainants that the City would not examine deposits again. Mr. Graff reported that the Director of Public Works, Eric Dhuse, was going to check how other communities are handling bad debt. Mr. Graff told the two landlords who received lien notices that at this point the City would keep the lien open and examine their request before taking any further action. This included the attorney's examination of the ordinance. Alderman James asked how old the debts were. Mr. Graff stated that they are consistently two to four years old. He explained that every two weeks, the debt is looked at and notices are sent out. He had a individuals come into City Hall and go over the charges and either set up a payment plan or pay in full. Public Works is also looking at the policy for water turn -off. Mr. Graff stated that the City has been inconsistent with how it turns off water, usually being gracious and leaving it on. Also, the City's collection habits are not up to the standards of other utilities. Mr. Graff has advised landlords to call the City before they give tenants their deposits back. If there is a bad debt, the landlord can withhold the deposit. Attorney Kramer has advised that this is legal. Mr. Graff stated a policy decision could be made by the Council that if a landlord takes every effort to collect and the debt is under a certain amount, no lien would be applied to the landlord. Alderman James stated that the City should not be responsible for tenant's bad debts. Mr. Graff stated that a collection agency is coming in to talk with staff and the staff is looking at a new registration form, which asks for more information_ The Water Department is also looking at reporting the bad debt to the credit bureau. A policy was started that with every past due notice sent to a renter, the landlord is notified. Mr. Graff stated that the City is down to about ten to twelve landlords they are working with. No further additional business. Meeting adjourned at 8:50 P.M. Minutes by Terri Parece Transcribed by Jackie Milschewski ADAIWSTRATION COMMITTEE MEETING December 11, 2001 PLEASE SIGN IN! NAME: ADDRESS: J SIGNIN