HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-02-16 MinutesMINUTES OF A RETREAT MEETING OF THE CITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS
A Retreat Meeting of the Fayetteville City Board of Directors was
held on Friday, February 16, 1990 at 1:30 p.m: in Room 326 of the
City Administration Building at 113 West Mountain Street,
Fayetteville, Arkansas.
PRESENT: Mayor William Martin; Directors Michael Green, Russ
Kelley, Ernest Lancaster, Paul Marinoni, Jr., Shell
Spivey and Fred Vorsanger; Assistant City Manager
Scott Linebaugh, City Attorney Jerry Rose, City
Clerk Sherry Thomas; members of the staff, press and
audience.- - -
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by the Mayor, with seven Directors
present. He pointed out that no official Board action can be taken
at the retreat. meeting.
Linebaugh stated this was the first of two retreats with the second
to belsscheduled sometime in March. At the second meeting, Staff
will present to the Board recommended reductions in the budget with
the statistics of what the reductions will do to the programs and
services that are provided. Also, possible revenue sources will
be outlined.
CITY MANAGER SELECTION PROCESS
Linebaugh stated suggestions will be presented to the Board and let
them decide on the procedure. He presented them with a packet
outlining selection criteria, possible selection processes, and a
timetable.
Don Bailey, Personnel Officer, addressed the Board outlining the
selection process that had occurred to date. After the item was
addressed on the December 5, 1989 Board Agenda, advertisements were
placed.in the ICMA Newsletter, Nations City and Weekly, Arkansas
Gazette, and Northwest Arkansas Times. There was a minimum of two
insertions in December and January in each one of these
publications. The advertisement was'cdanged in the second
insertion to reflect that a population, base equivalent to
Fayetteville was not a requirement but a. desire. At this point,
81 resumes have been received. If no objection, the postmark will
be used as the cutoff date as opposed to date received. He stated
applications had been received from jurisdictions with populations
from 2,000 to 500,000. Bailey stated the selection criteria needed
to be developed based on styles and skills.. Styles can probably
best be defined during the interview'and the reference check phase.
This probably cannot be ascertained too well from the resumes, but
certain criteria can be.,. -
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February 16, 1990
Baxley stated the proposed criteria that staff was recommending be
utilized in selecting a city manager should include the following:
1. Education - MPA or MBA preferred
2. Experience - Career history of progressively more
responsible, directly related experience.
3. Current/Last Position - Comparable in scope of
responsibility, budget and population base to
Fayetteville.
4 Accomplishments - Evidence of leadership, planning,
achievement of goals and solving major problems.
5. Professional Affiliations - Activity or recognition
within professional societies.
Bailey recommended looking at the content of the resumes rather
than styles stating sometimes qualified people were not good resume
writers.
Martin stated this could be used as a way to whittle the list down
to a group that the Board would want to ultimately meet with.
Vorsanger stated he felt it would be extremely difficult to come
up with only eight candidates out of the 81 applications. He
suggested the Board members narrow the group down to about 20 or
25 and then get back together as a selection committee to discuss
that smaller group.
Kelley asked if all 81 applications met the criteria that was asked
for in the advertisement. Bailey stated they did not.
Green stated his main concern was trying to evaluate the type of
person Bailey described as being very experienced but a poor resume
writer. He suggested that each director made their own list of
applicants. Then take a composite of all the directors' lists and
then make another cut.
Kelley stated that Bailey might highlight some of the resumes that
have good points but might -be a poor resume. He does not, however,
want to loose his objectivity in the selection process.
Martin suggested that a first pass be made through the resumes and
do a quick ranking. Then the directors get together and discuss
the first level cutoff of applicants. The directors will give
their first cut to Bailey by February 23. Bailey could point out
potential weaknesses in the select group or strengths in the group
that was eliminated. Martin suggested sorting the applications
into categories of high, medium, and low rather than an individual
number ranking at this point in time.
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February 16, 19901
Kelley stated he understood,..that this first cut would be simply on
an "in" or "out" basis by each director. Then all of the
applicants that are still "in" would be number ranked.
Bailey stated he would then compile a list of the top applicants
submitted by all of the directors.
Martin stated the first cut by the directors would be given to
Bailey by Friday, February 23. On February 27, the Board will meet
again and receive the listing of selected candidates. Then the
Board will begin their final criteria ranking of the selected
applicants. The Board will get their final ranking of the top
candidates back to Bailey by March 2. He will tabulate the ballots
from March 2.
Bailey stated the Board needed to be thinking about the clear
objectives and concise mission they have for the city manager. He
thinks at the interviews these expectations should be clearly
explained to each candidate.
Martin stated the top candidates will be announced at the March 6
regular Board meeting. He asked that Bailey write a letter to each
of the candidates not selected at that time expressing the city's
appreciation for the application. The Board members decided to
conduct the personal interviews the week of March 26-30.
BUDGET
Martinstated that he expected the staff to determine where they
feel goals for the City should be headed and turned the meeting
over to Linebaugh for specific information.
Linebaugh began by explaining that a discussion on community needs
was planned, including service levels and policies. He further
explained that this discussion would include reviewing policies on
budget decisions, provide guidance to the Staff regarding policies
(including budget reductions), facilitate "brainstorming" for
community needs and projects.
Presentation began with the mission statement, adopted by the Board
in 1986. No action was taken to revise or delete any portions.
The organizational purpose was read aloud for general information.
Moving into public policy, Mr. Linebaugh read a statement defining
public policy as a goal -oriented course of government action, with
three basic activities: .setting goals, reviewing the services and
service levels and formulating the budget. He also instructed the
Board to follow several guidelines for policy-making. These were
to analyze the community needs, program alternatives and available
resources, choosing and implementing the programs and evaluation
of the program results.
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February 16, 1990
Linebaugh outlined the existing community needs as follows:
1) Resolution of the incinerator issue;
2) Support economic and industrial growth program;
3) Improve City's infrastructure system;
4) Insure commitment to Dickson Street re -vitalization;
5) Improve citizen communication/involvement in government
process;
6) Improve intergovernmental relations;
7) Provide a Performing Arts Center for the community;
8) implement solid waste program, promoting waste reduction
and recycling;
9) Implement Planning Management Program;
10) Promote efficient and effective public safety operations.
Mayor Martin stated that he felt honest communication was the
answer to the City's image/credibility problem. Martin also
explained that he would rather see key people in city government
out speaking with people about the City, than a Public Relations
person.
Vorsanger stated that he thought it would be helpful to have a City
official at the monthly Board Meetings rather than reading the City
Manager's reports. He suggested that the Police Chief and Fire
Chief could be on hand to answer questions regarding their
departments.
Mayor Martin suggested allowing key Staff personnel to handle
comments on the activity levels of the different departments.
Linebaugh reported that he had approached Judge Johnson regarding
forming a panel with Washington County to work on improving the
workings of the City and the County, and the Judge was in agreement
with the idea. This would allow the panel to combine City and
County problems and enable them to discuss organized solutions to
those problems, ending regional overlap and hopefully saving funds
for all concerned.
Green expressed his concern about the cooperation of the whole
region regarding the panel meeting, and stated that more
information should be given regarding whether the meetings would
be open and informal or more structured with planned agendas.
Martin suggested the possibility of inviting other city councils
to meet and discuss regional issues together.
There was discussion regarding general fines and the possible
revenues to be realized from the maximum rates. The question was
raised whether the fines should be raised and the revenues from
those fines used to pay for specific services the City must pay
for.
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February 16, 1990
Kelley stated that a better: drug educationprogram was needed.
Martin expressed his concern about duplication of efforts. and
reminded the Board that the Police Department had a very fine drug
education program. He suggested•that the.: City coordinate programs
to combine their efforts^with various churches and schools.Green
suggested expanding the drug education program to include crime and
fire prevention.
Watson addressed the Board regarding collection of outstanding
Municipal fines, stating that there were a great number of unpaid
fines. He stated a study was presently being done regarding the
possibility of assessing additional court costs of $5.00 to fund
the incarceration of prisoners. He stated that parking tickets for
the past two years, an estimated $15,000, are not being collected.
City Attorney Rose stated that 5,800 warrants will be issued, in
addition to the fines in a one year period and that approximately
5,600 of the 5,800 will be hot check warrants. In addition,
somewhere between one-half and three-quarters of those warrants are
never served, resulting in no collection ofthe fines. It was
stated that there is only one full-time warrant officer and even
with the help of the police officers assisting, at least one or two
additional warrant officers are needed.
Martin reminded the Board that the current Municipal Judge would
be leaving office if he won election for the post he was seeking
and wondered about the possibility of setting new procedures with
the Court for the new Judge.
Linebaugh stated that the collection system was changed to use
City Staff to collect instead of the Municipal Court Staff, and
that outstanding warrants were not "written off". He further
stated that at the present time there were several ways to collect
fines - bailiff, public service program or collection agency.
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Marinoni suggested that one way of collecting from the University
students would be to request that the fine be placed on the
student's permanent record with the University Registrar, and the
fines would have to be paid prior to graduation.
Attorney Rose reminded the Board about the two step process
regarding the hot check warrants - first, to serve the warrant and
second, to have the case prepared for court.
PUBLIC BROADCASTING
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Linebaugh submitted background regarding the Warner Cable contract,
which will change in November, 1990, and require a decision from
the Board soon on whether`or not to support the Fayetteville Open
Channel, as they are seeking the purchase of a building in the
location of the Arts Center: -There will be -three new public access
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February 16, 1990
channels, and one would be available for government to allow the
City and the Quorum Court to put on their own board meetings. A
letter has been received requesting a contract and operating funds
for Open Channel. Linebaugh stated that the Cable Committee would
be trying to make a decision on their next course of action.
Martin stated that there are some municipal services the City is
obligated to provide and other public services which are desired
but unaffordable. He stated that, although he supported Open
Channel, he had great difficulty agreeing to fund their operating
budget. Martin further suggested a possible partnership with the
Open Channel such as that of the Humane Society.
Vorsanger related that the University Continuing Education Center,
which is equipped with state-of-the-art television equipment and
studios, has only requested one of the three public channels with
no mention of purchase of a building or requests for funds with
which to operate. Fayetteville Open Channel is not only requesting
a facility and operating capital, but they are also requesting part
of the franchise fee from the City.
Green pointed out that Fayetteville has the University of Arkansas'
Continuing Education Center and their equipment and satellite links
which enable them to provide programming to all parts of the state
and even out of the state. He felt that this was something that
should definitely be encouraged.
Martin suggested that if the City were to purchase a public
broadcasting facility, they might consider some type of arrangement
to combine usage of the facility between KUAF, the CEC, and Open
Channel.
ANNEXATION
Green went on record as being for annexation, citing areas to add
to the population base along with the tax base. This would
increase the population to over 50,000 and place the City on a list
that would open the door for many advantages not available to it
at the present time.
Kelley stated that it becomes a strategy of being a good neighbor
instead of being a dictator -type of government.
Vorsanger stated that along with annexation comes the provision of
services for the people. He related that a big concern for most
residents is the installation of fire hydrants and city water.
REGIONAL AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT
It was suggested that things will have to be begin soon if plans
are made to complete an airport project in 15 or 20 years. The
February. 16,
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1990%'
Chamber of Commerce Airport Committee is presently
possibility of providing a'regional airport.
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Martin stated that it seemed the.airlinea-were leaning toward the
"hub" system and asked what'a regional airport could really do for
the city (under the current,"airline industry structure) that the
Municipal Airport does not already do. x .
Spivey related that Dr. Hay from the University of Arkansas had
done research on the subject and discovered that over 50% of people
that de -plane come to Fayetteville. It was agreed that by the time
all the studies are done and all arguments over environmental
impact, etc. are completed, it will take twice as long to build it.
studying the
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It was pointed out that Drake Field is basically subsidizing all
of Northwest Arkansas and some sort of revenue must be generated
to assist in the cost of upgrading. Drake Field is a regional
airport and measures need to be taken to see that surrounding
cities using those facilities aid in the upkeep.
PARAMEDICAL SERVICES
Fire Chief Mickey Jackson addressed the Board concerning
duplication and replacement of paramedical services. He suggested
there be discussion on ways to implement quicker response, build
equipment and personnelresources and install more confidence in
the system as a whole. There is a proposal in the 5 -year plan to
consider implementing paramedical services into the Fire
Department, which would be approximately 1994 or 1995. Jackson
stated the plan was to hire a few paramedics for the Fire
Department and construct a Rescue Response Unit to work as a joint
response, mutual assistance program. EMS responds to all
structural fires now. To keep operating costs low, the idea would
be to operate one paramedic level rescue unit for the whole city
out of the headquarter station. This would involve people who are
certified at the paramedic level, equipped with all the advanced
life-support equipment, prepared to be first responders at the
situation, or be prepared to back-up Central. Jackson also stated
that EMS should be dual -role employees - fire-fighters that are
trained in EMS. .The plan would be to set a date for implementation
of the program, provide a budget for the .equipment and personnel
and hire people already trained and certified as paramedics. The
paramedics would then be trained as fire-fighters, trained to
handle medical emergencies as first priority.
Kelley inquired as to the cost of an EMS unit. Cost for a new
rescue truck, equipped for paramedic operations in 1991 is $80,000.
Martin questioned whetherJackson would want to begin adding
paramedics to the Fire Department beforeadequate staffing level
of the stations. Jackson stated thatthe-would rather address
February 16, 1990
staffing of the fire companies as a separate issue from EMS and set
target dates for purchase of equipment, supplies, and hiring
people, as well as a target date for implementation of the program.
Martin stated that with a limited budget and an EMS service already
available, raising staff levels at stations take priority. Jackson
agreed and stated that solving the City's funding problems was
extremely important, but felt that solving the fire company
staffing problems should take priority because of the greater need.
ADDITIONAL REVENUE SOURCES
Linebaugh stated that this was being worked on and
be presented to the Board at a later time.
Linebaugh asked the Board if they saw any community
not been addressed in the meeting already.
a report would
needs that had
Vorsanger requested attention be brought to Partners for Liveable
Places.
Kelley addressed the possibility of considering the new industrial
park as a research and commerce park. There was the possibility
of the University purchasing some of the acreage for construction
of research facilities. He encouraged the name change to be
implemented as soon as possible and avoid the name "Industrial".
Lancaster requested that the Board pursue the State Highway
Department and AIDC and try to obtain more projects and funding
from them.
Richard Shewmaker stated that he believed the City would have to
rely on covenants to maintain the northwest side park. He said he
hoped it would not be restricted to light manufacturing as the
difference was not "light" or "heavy", but "pretty" or "ugly".
He felt there should be some pre -determined arrangements on royalty
rights before anyone from the University was admitted for research.
He reminded the Board that if the park was restricted to light
industry, the capabilities for more financially sound commercial
manufacturers, heavy industry, would be greatly reduced. He stated
that he hoped that some type of procedure could be set up to
generate revenue through royalty rights to further fund research.
Vorsanger voiced the need to improve the present appearance of the
current industrial park.
Shewmaker stated the revenues were available to pave Pump Station
Road east and west, to create a right turn lane on Armstrong to
relieve traffic pile-up, and pave some lots.
February,16
1990
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It .was stated in regards„to the 'commercial park's offers` and
acceptances, options, or -#-land .acquisitions that the closing
deadline was April 1. The Planning Commission will look at
rezoning March 7. It was• also stated that things are coming
together and that the County.had granted an Enterprise Zone.
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PUBLIC WORKS
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Bob Kelly gave an overview report of the services this department
provides. They were: 24- public parks, 'City swimming pool,
participation in the downtown square garden, ball field
maintenance, league programs, city library, traffic signs and
signal lights, street maintenance work, airport and grounds, trash
and waste clean-ups. It was stated that the City is very anxious
to participate in the up -coming "Earth Day” programs. Additional
services were city water services, pump station management, sewer
service and maintenance,and flood management programs. -
Marinoni addressed the issue of sidewalk repair. The City
ordinance currently requires the property owners to repair damaged
sidewalks on their property, and since repairs aren't being made,
the City should repair any deteriorated walks. Concern was also
expressed regarding the builders of homes and additions because
some build sidewalks at the new home sites and others do not. .
Dale Clark led discussion on the Youth Physical Education Program.
He pointed out the need for the program in the community since the
physical education programs for the Junior and Senior high schools
will be dropped in the future.
Lancaster stated that he felt there should be a limit to what the
City supports, referring to the dropping of the physical education
programs by the school systems. He questioned the need to support
a programif the school system would not.
Vorsanger mentioned the possibility of recommending to the Board
the termination of maintenance service for some of the parks and
closing them. It was noted that the subject was on the list of
potential service deletions.
Kelly explained that the Department is presently making an attempt
to reduce the budget on parks by 10%. This would involve reducing
the levels of maintenance currently provided, while trying to make
the reductions in areas of least impact. He suggested the
possibility of taking a park with. minimum usage, installing a
locked gate at the entrance and a NO TRESPASSING sign. He said
there were three parks and part of another that would have to be
closed because they could not maintain them. There is the
possibility however, of working an agreement with the neighborhood
association in one of the areas for them to be responsible for
maintenance of the park. __ . '
February 16, 1990
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Martin suggested an alternative to cutting services would be to
allow different organizations to "adopt a park" much like the
"Adopt a Highway" program now.
It was questioned whether or not anything could be done to mark the
streets and highways so they would be more easily seen at night and
when wet. There is a possibility of the State Highway Department
marking some of the roadways but this would need to be researched.
Martin encouraged the Board and staff to try to plan ahead for some
of the situations and problems already discussed instead of being
"reactive" to citizen complaints. He asked if there was any type
of plan whereby a complaint registered by someone could be
processed for immediate or non -immediate action.
Bob Kelly reviewed how complaints were handled at present. He
said in an emergency situation, immediate response would be given.
Street repairs are grouped in areas and are repaired as soon as
possible. He stated that it was difficult to be able to track
or follow a specific complaint, due to the fact that not all
complaints are directed to the same location.
FIRE DEPARTMENT
Fire Chief Jackson explained the Department's over-all program,
which really has four divisions, the operational program which is
responsible for fighting fires and handling calls; fire prevention
which is responsible for keeping the number of large loss fires in
the City to a minimum and prevention of personal injury and loss
of life (it was noted that the Department had zero life loss in
1989, which has been the case for several years now) ; training
which is responsible for keeping firemen trained in current
techniques and hazardous materials program involving the
implementation of a contingency plan to deal with hazardous
material incidents.
Jackson explained that fireplace and wood stove inspections are
performed primarily on a request basis, some inspections being done
in conjunction with City inspection personnel.
Martin asked Jackson if he felt this was an important service and
Jackson responded that he felt the inspections alleviated potential
hazards and problems. It was also asked if the Department required
a fee for the inspection and Jackson said that currently, they did
not. He felt like there were some areas, such as tank removals or
installations, that permits or fees could be assessed.
February 16, 19901,
POLICE DEPARTMENT
Chief Richard Watson briefly outlined the Police Department service
list. Services included providing protection for citizens and
their property, enforcement of state and local laws, warrant
service, accident investigation, crime prevention, training, public
education, and investigation of crimes, among numerous other
duties. The Department's three program divisions consist of
Administration, Training (including drug education programs) and
Office of Internal Affairs..
It was stated that the Department was considering an additional
revenue source, being to charge for background ,checks, criminal
checks and histories for different agencies.
Martin asked how Chief Watson thought the City's traffic laws were
enforced compared to other cities in the region. He stated that
due to the extremely large size of the city, most areas patrolled
were areas that needed greater enforcement.
Martin asked if increasing the number of patrol people would cut
down on speeding violations and aid in traffic enforcement. The
Chief responded that most assuredly more officers would help but,
due to lack of funds at this time, he did not include this in the
report. It was asked if he thought the use of motorcycles would
be a .benefit. He explained that motorcycles have limited use
concerning weather and terrain. He did say that motorcycles were
used in.the past, but at present it was considered dangerous for
an officer to ride a motorcycle in Fayetteville.
Lancaster asked if the 2 o'clock closing requirement for all clubs
in the area was being abused. Chief responded that the Department
did watch this closely, and he felt that most of the clubs in this
area complied and closed at the proper time.
Kelley inquired about the impact the Arts Center will have on
Dickson Street concerning potential crime. Chief Watson stated
that he felt the closing of some establishments has already helped,
.but there are still some clubs open that -might present a problem.
He acknowledged that officer visibility will be needed more in the
area until the situation becomes reasonably quiet.
Lancaster referred to the mentioned increase of citations written
and asked if the percentage of revenue matched the increase of
citations. Chief explained that the increased volume is putting
somewhat of a. strain on the Prosecutor's office and that some of
the cases for 1989 havenot yet come to trial this year.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 5:07 p.m.
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