City Managers Report
The Honorable Mayor
and members of the City Council
City of Warrensburg, Missouri
Dear Mayor and Council Members:
SUBJECT: City Manager Report for the November 10, 2008 City Council Study Session
Council Letter No. 08-175
November 7, 2008
|
~ Jim Stovall |
Challenge the Process
Enable Others to Act
Encourage the Heart
Inspire a Shared Vision
Model the Way
The quotation for this City Manager Report centers on the leadership concept of
"Encourage the Heart .”
City Council Meetings, Study Sessions, and Executive Sessions
We plan to have an Executive Session at 6:00 p.m. at the City Hall Annex just prior to the 7:00 p.m. regular City Council Meeting. The Executive Session is pursuant to the Revised Statutes of Missouri relating to items (1) legal, (2) real estate, and (13) individually identifiable personnel records of Section 610.021. Light food will be available.
While at the present time we do not plan to have an Executive Session at the end of the upcoming City Council Meeting, it is possible that some issues may not be completed at the first Executive Session. As a result, we have placed an Executive Session notice at the end of the regular City Council Agenda for the same previously stated purposes of Section 610.021.
We anticipate that the November 10, 2008 City Council Meeting Agenda at 7:00 p.m. will include the following items:
- Resolution to pay Bills;
- Adoption of the Cultural Resource Survey Final Report;
- Ordinance Designating a Depository of CDBG Funds;
- International Building Code (IBC) Code Amendment;
- Approval of contract with Reasbeck Construction, Inc. for a Bike Route Signing Project;
- Resolution to Appoint a Temporary Municipal Judge.
Because the week of November 24 is Thanksgiving, and we do not have a need for any urgent agenda items, we do not plan to have a second City Council Meeting in November.
At this time we anticipate that the Agenda for the regular City Council Meeting on December 8 will include the following items:
- Resolution to Pay Bills;
- Adoption of the City Wide Traffic Study;
- Ordinance Authorizing an Agreement with the Fire Union;
- Public Hearing and Review of the Sewer Use Fee for the Northeast Interceptor;
- Ordinance for an easement with the County;
- Memo of Understanding with Main Street for Community Development Block Grant Activities;
- Contract for the Construction of the Sewer Treatment Plant Improvements;
- Annual Contract with Warrensburg Main Street;
- Annual Contract with Johnson County Economic Development Corporation;
- Appointments by the Mayor to City Boards and Commissions.
Upcoming items that we anticipate at future City Council Meetings include:
- Replat of Holden Addition;
- Amendment to the Arts Advisory Ordinance and Appointments of an Arts Advisory Committee;
- Contract for the Construction of the Police Building;
- Ordinance Accepting the Southeast Sewer District Improvements and Making Final Payment on the Interceptor.
Council Communication and Projects
You have communicated to City staff, as a group or individually, requests for information on certain issues. The following are some of those items:
City Manager Attends International Council of Shopping Centers Mid-West Retail Deal Making Seminar
As previously communicated, two activities that I plan to concentrate on during the upcoming year is the promotion of the community’s marketing and retail recruitment. Recently I attended the International Council of Shopping Centers Mid-West Retail Deal Making Seminar in Chicago. This was a very productive meeting and I was able to make several potential retail contacts for our community. Over 30 contacts were made and we plan to follow up with these leads in the near future. Attached is a brochure that was put together by Barbara Carroll that was provided to the contacts made in Chicago. We also recently purchased data from a company called ESRI that will enable us to better recruit desired retail prospects by e-mail, mail, and in person. I am attaching a recent Gross sales SIC Code analysis prepared by Carl Larkerbrink that will also be used to communicate to desirable retailers.
Financial Reporting
We are continuing to monitor financial and economic activity within our community. The enclosed sales and franchise information assists us in that effort and helps communicate to both you and the public this monitoring. For two months out of a three month quarter, our one-half cent sales tax is up and our franchise tax revenues remained strong.
The City Council has requested more detailed quarterly financial statements and we are working to meet this request. The City’s Finance staff has met to discuss development of a quarterly financial report which should be provided to the Council in January. Our new accountant is also getting up to speed on cash flow investments and will be making appropriate investment recommendations and reports to both management and the City Council.
City Trust Fund Analysis
As requested by the City Council, attached is a memorandum on the City’s Trust Funds with recommendation for your review.
Wage and Benefit Study
After much communication between City Departments and the consultant, job descriptions were finalized and they have used those over the last 7 weeks to develop appropriate comparisons with comparator cities similar positions. Some of the cities, Pittsburgh, Farmington, Clinton and Grandview, told the consultant that they were too busy to complete them and the City Manager contacted some of these cities personally to request their cooperation. Lynda Higbee was able to use the information and the data has now been consolidated.
The City Manager and the Assistant City Manager met last Wednesday for about 5 hours with Lynda Higbee to review the raw data and initial information. This meeting was recommended by her to distill the information to a more manageable level before sitting down with the committee as a whole. Next week we plan to schedule a meeting with the consultant and the Wage and Benefit Committee. We are anxious to complete the project.
Area Partners in Prevention “WAPIP” Holds Annual Meeting
WAPIP held their annual meeting Thursday, November 6 and I communicated to the group the attached information on the successful activities in our alcohol management effort that have taken place last year. It was suggested that this information be shared with other university communities throughout the country. While the effort is ongoing, the City Council, WAPIP, the local businesses and the City staff should be commended on a job well done.
Recent City Manager Activities, Meetings and Events
Since our last meeting, your City Manager participated with the Mayor at a Military Affairs Committee Meeting, met with Dr. Les Brothers, Jeff Imboden, Doug Harris, the Parks and Recreation Director, and Kim Nicas on the establishment of a City Arts Advisory Committee. In addition, I met with Lynda Higbee on the status of the wage and benefits study, attended a day-long meeting with the Dream consultants, attended the quarterly meeting of the State Emergency Management Agency’s Regional Homeland Security Oversight Committee (RHSOC), and attended, a Johnson County Economic Development Board of Director’s Meeting with the Mayor.
The week after, I participated in a breakfast briefing with KCP&L on energy programs, attended a dedication of Whiteman’s Distinguished Lounge in honor of Maurine Achauer, and attended the annual meeting of the Warrensburg Area Partners in Prevention (WAPIP). In addition, I met with Department Directors, attended the anticipated final University of Central Missouri Master Plan Steering Committee, and a Base Community Council Social. I plan to also attend a Chamber business after hour’s event at Kenny’s Restaurant and the monthly Mule Train luncheon.
Upcoming City Manager Activities, Meetings and Events
Next week I plan to attend a Highway 13 Corridor Coalition Board meeting, and a Veteran’s ceremony and remembrance at the Court House. I also plan to speak at a Freedom Frontier National Heritage seminar, attend a Main Street Open House event for their new offices, and Marketing Branding Committee meeting.
The next weekend I plan to go to the farm to do some deer hunting and will be back Thursday, November 20. I plan to meet with the Central Missouri Development Corporation on Thursday, meet with Tracy Brantner, the Executive Director of Johnson County Economic Development, and work on several projects during the remainder of the week.
Economic Partnership Activities Continue
As is our custom, attached is the monthly report from Warrensburg Main Street, Inc., and the Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center. Johnson County Economic Development Corporation reports on a bi-monthly basis. The reports from these Warrensburg Economic Partners are not only being provided to keep you informed, but are also available for interested citizens.
Missouri Department of Transportation
Beth Wright from the Missouri Department of Transportation provided the attached “Moving Missouri Forward.”
As always, if there are any questions on any matter, or if you need additional information on this report, please contact either myself or any of the City staff or Department Heads noted in this report. You may always contact me on any subject at any time by e-mail or mobile phone or leave a voice mail message at (660) 747-9180.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Barbara Carroll, Director
October 2008 Community Development Activity Report
The Community Development Report for the month of October is attached. Please ask if you have any questions regarding this information.
NU Society at UCM Helps Clean Up Property
Staff would like to thank the NU Society, a service fraternity on campus, for mowing and raking the property at 139 Grover Street on October 29. This property had been an on-going code enforcement concern. Ray Almaguer was able to put members in touch with the elderly owner who welcomed the assistance. Thanks goes out to project coordinator, Tom Nizik and members, Matt McCoy, Chris Stout, Josh Erickson, and Max Williams for the outstanding work they did for a Warrensburg resident that needed a little help.
State DREAM Representatives Visit Warrensburg
A five member team of DREAM representatives visited Warrensburg on October 30 to conduct an initial assessment of and become familiar with downtown Warrensburg. The team met with fourteen local representatives from the City, economic development partners, downtown property and business owners, UCM, and downtown residents. After an initial PowerPoint presentation, local representatives answered questions about downtown issues and opportunities. The group also completed a walking tour of the central business district and brainstorming session.
CITY CLERK
Cindy Gabel
- Monday, November 10, 2008, is an Executive Session at 6:00 p.m. and a regular City Council meeting at 7:00 p.m.,
- Tuesday, November 11, 2008, is Veterans Day, City Hall will be closed;
- Thursday, November 27 and Friday, November 28, 2008, City Hall will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday;
- Friday, December 5, 2008, at 5:30 p.m. is the City Holiday Party;
- Tuesday, December 16, 2008, is the first day to file for the one position that will be available on the City Council. The closing date for filing is January 20, 2009. The election date is April 6, 2009.
FIRE DEPARTMENT
Phil Johnston, Fire Chief
Incident Response Times
Assistant Fire Chief Sean Douglas reports the Fire Department’s average response time for incidents that occurred in October 2008 was 4:01 minutes. The average incident response time for the same month last year was 3:44 minutes. The average incident response time for 2008 year-to-date is 3:51 minutes. These times do not include non-emergency responses such as lock-out calls, helicopter standbys and other incidents to which fire units were dispatched but cancelled before they arrived. Variations in average response times are not unusual. Our objective is to have an annual average response time at or below 4:00 minutes. While we have no control over where incidents occur, we try to respond in a safe manner that enables efficient routing and proper maneuvering through traffic. Two or three responses towards the outer edges of the city limits can noticeably impact response times when considered on a monthly basis. Over the course of a year, individual variations caused by specific responses have less significance in determining annual average response times.
Wal-Mart Foundation Donation Received
The Fire Department received a very generous $1,000 donation from the Wal-Mart Foundation on October 29, 2008. The donation will be used to purchase a portable gas monitor for use in evaluating incident scenes for the presence of hazardous vapors.
Halloween Festivities
Warrensburg Fire Department crew members joined our colleagues from the Johnson County Fire Protection District on October 31, 2008, to distribute candy to visitors to the Fire District’s former headquarters station located at 410 N. Holden St. Since our personnel and equipment are located there during the remodeling of the fire station adjacent to City Hall, our joint participation worked out well.
Firefighter Recruitment and Testing
The Warrensburg Fire Department’s current recruitment and testing cycle started on October 27, 2008 at 8:00 am, and applications will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. on November 24, 2008. We have more than a dozen openings for part-time firefighters, and we have five openings for student-resident firefighters. The tentative date for testing applicants is Saturday, December 6, 2008.
Regional Homeland Security Oversight Committee Meeting
City Manager Jeff Hancock and I attended the quarterly meeting of the State Emergency Management Agency’s Regional Homeland Security Oversight Committee (RHSOC) for Region "A" on Tuesday, October 28, 2008. Topics discussed at the meeting included selection of committee leaders and members for the new fiscal year, the availability of grant funds for various projects, the possibility of the RHSOC contracting with UCM for training programs, and other issues related to homeland security.
Insurance Services Office Correspondence
In response to their inquiry, I recently provided an updated city limits map and written information to the Insurance Services Office (ISO). I anticipate ISO will announce within the next few months that their representative will be returning to Warrensburg for the next community fire protection evaluation. Warrensburg was last evaluated by ISO in 1997, and ISO issued the city’s current Class 4 rating, effective March 1, 1998. Before then, the City’s rating was Class 5. Our objective is to improve to a Class 3 rating. Until we are evaluated, I have no way of making a preliminary projection of what rating may be obtained.
PUBLIC WORKS
Bob Crumb, Director
Street Department Activities
The Street Department crews have been crack-filling streets. Crack-filling reduces potholes by about 80%. The street sweeper has been repaired and is out almost every day sweeping the streets.
The crew worked after hours doing traffic control for the trick-or-treat activities downtown on Friday, October 31.
New Snow Plow Trucks Arrive
The two new dump trucks arrived on Thursday, October 30. One is a tandem axle and the other is a single axle, both are equipped with snow plows and sanders. They were ordered about 5 months ago. Large concrete stack blocks were purchased to contain the salt and sand pile.
Improvements to Maguire Street Intersection
The Grover, Gay and North Street intersection projects will be out to bid very soon. We anticipate taking the bids to the City Council for award in January.
West Pine Interceptor Project
The project has been completed and the contractor is removing his equipment from the site and restoring the vacant lot that was used for staging. The final acceptance and final change order will be presented to the City Council in either December or January.
Updated City-Wide Traffic Counts
Staff will be meeting with MoDOT on Tuesday, November 3 to plan the locations of the updated traffic counts. MoDOT staff sets the counters and updates the data every three years.
Request for Qualifications for the Downtown Project
Requests for Qualifications (RFQ) are being mailed to engineering firms that may be interested in the Downtown Phase III project. The Community Development Block Grant requires that we complete a selection process for the engineering on the project. This is the first step in selecting an engineering firm for the design. The RFQ’s are due November 21, 2008.
Request for Proposals for Traffic Engineering
Request for Proposals for Traffic Engineering were sent to firms that specialize in that service and are due January 2, 2009. The purpose in the request is to study the traffic congestion around the Gay, Burkarth and Mitchell Street area. The existing traffic congestion around the schools and anticipated expansion of the hospital needs to be studied for possible improvements to reduce the congestion.
Purchase of Sandstone Blocks for Downtown and Entryway Signs
I have been attempting to purchase suitable sandstones for downtown planters and for use in constructing entry way signs with very little success. All of the suitable stone was used during the first two phases of the downtown projects. We had salvaged that from houses we had torn down over the years. The First United Methodist Church had a large quantity of stones for sale. We selected over 15 tons (48 pallets / 6 stones per pallet) of rock and loaded it onto pallets for future use. It will take about 7 to 9 pallets of stone to build one planter. The cost was $9,000 ($0.30 per pound) which was the lowest price I could find in large quantities. This cost has been charged to several line items in the budget, reflecting their anticipated use.
City Council Chambers Improvements
Reasbeck Construction Inc. will be building platforms for the Council Chambers on Thursday November 6, or Friday November 7, 2008 at the Annex. The platforms will elevate the tables and chairs of the Council members on each side of the existing platform to the same height as the center podium.
Sewer Plant Expansion Project
The bid opening has been moved to November 13, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. There were several suggestions presented by the contractors that are being incorporated into the plans that should result in lower bids. The bids will be presented to the City Council for award of the contract at the December 8, 2008 meeting.
Building Progress Report
Attached is a report from Mr. Pember, Project Manager on the building projects for the following:
Fire Department Remodel Project
Public Works Maintenance Building Project
Police Building
Animal Shelter
Cemetery Maintenance Building
Cemetery Office Building to be Repaired
Bids for the roof replacement have been received; we hope to have a new roof on the building this fall. We are working to get bids to replace the windows and to repaint the building once the roof is finished.
Cemetery and Water Pollution Control Obtain New Equipment
The Cemetery purchased a new pickup truck this week from the local Ford dealer to replace a ’96 Ranger. The local dealers were asked to bid and the Ford Ranger was less than state bid. We also opened bids for a replacement mower on Friday, October 31. The mower being replaced is in need of substantial repair and we believe we would get much better bids in now than in the spring.
The collections crew had two pickup trucks to be replaced in their budget, a ’97 and ’98. Local dealers were asked to bid and the Ford dealer bid two F-150’s at a lower price than state bid and the trucks were in stock.
Activities and Meetings of the Director of Public Works
I will be attending the Base Community Council event honoring Maureen Achauer and the annual meeting on November 5. I will be out of the office from November 19 thru November 24 visiting my children in Colorado.
Monthly Utility Inspection report
See attached report.
PARKS and RECREATION
Kory Alfred, Director
October 29, 2008 Parks and Recreation Board Meeting
Below is a summery of the last Parks and Recreation Board meeting.
- Jack Dillingham presented the financing for the Nassif Pool upgrade project.
- Staff presented a tentative timeline for repairing Lions Lake. The Board accepted the timeline as a “working document” because of the numerous variables associated with the project. A copy of the proposed timeline is attached to this report.
- The Board approved entering into a contract with Steamatic of Kansas City for cleaning of the air ducts at the Community Center.
UCM Biology Students begin sediment load testing for Lions Lake
Dr. Stefan Cairens, Biology and Earth Science Professor at UCM, will be supervising a free sediment load analysis for Lions Lake. Results of the analysis will determine if the wetland for bays proposed in the plan for restoring the lake are adequate to prevent free sediments from entering the lake.
ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER
Chris Lowe
Information Technology
We have completed the Class upgrade to 6.0 and have scheduled the merchant services upgrade for November 17 – 19. This will enable us to use our banking vendor for credit card processing. They offer much more competitive rates and should lower our processing costs considerably.
We have surveyed City employees regarding computer training. The IT Team is going to evaluate the responses and develop a training program that will enable employees to select customized learning opportunities. We should be able to begin the program by the first of the year.
We are currently developing a much more comprehensive Request for Professional Services (RFP) for the telecommunications purchase for the new buildings. This should allow us to be very selective with the vendor. It is important that we make the right decision as we will be working with this vendor for the long term on this project.
We are also using a consultant to develop a comprehensive RFP for the System Review and Security Audit function. We anticipate this RFP to go out in December and the project to begin in early 2009. We believe that we can save costs and receive a better product by finding a firm that can perform an overall IT Assessment with a specific focus on security. The committee that reviewed the security audit responses was not satisfied with either vendor and made a recommendation to find a consultant to help develop an IT Assessment RFP.
We have been using the new Information Technology Helpdesk software for a full month now and employees seem to be very pleased with the response they get from the system. The IT department resolved 133 helpdesk requests in October. This number is much smaller than the prior months which is an indication that the system is now functioning better. I believe that the IT Team has been instrumental in accomplishing this because of the communication between departments and the IT Department.
Human Resources
Last month, HR staff assisted department heads by providing training on progressive discipline to help standardize the process across departments. An RFP was sent out this week with a due date of November 18 for an executive search firm to assist in finding a replacement for our Public Works Director. In addition, City management met with the wage consultant for several hours to review preliminary data and to make sure that all positions had been covered in the study and to verify the accuracy of all information provided prior to the consultant performing modeling and final data analysis. We expect to have information soon as a result of that modeling and plan to schedule a meeting with the Wage and Benefit Committee to review the data.
Municipal Court
We continue to hear good things from various stakeholders about our new Judge. In addition, Judge Hall issued a memorandum memorializing his desire to have City management involved in the supervision of the staff in the Municipal Court. Judge Hall felt that it was appropriate to insure consistency of service and consistent application of City personnel policies. The City should be responsible for supervising that staff in concert with him since he is here only intermittently. We are excited about the opportunity to standardize our service and expectations in that department and thank Judge Hall for his willingness to partner effectively with the City to achieve this goal.
Finance
Finance staff met to discuss a plan to assist departments with their purchasing functions. The hope is again to standardize operations city-wide. Finance staff also met to discuss development of a quarterly financial report for Council.
POLICE DEPARTMENT
Bruce Howey, Chief of Police
Pre-Bid Meeting for Police Department building held
The pre-bid meeting for the new Police Department Building was held on October 30 at the White Rose Pavilion. Bid opening is set for December 5. The meeting was extremely well attended with a total of 21 general contractors requesting sets of plans for bid purposes. This type of interest should mean excellent competition during the bid process.
Homecoming a Success
The 2008 University of Central Missouri Homecoming was a very positive event with very few challenges. I believe this is due to many different factors including the 21 and over ordinance, communication, meetings, planning and training before the events. Deploying manpower at different times than in past years also helped. We look forward to this continuing in future years.
City Managers Report available in .pdf
Visitor Center Advisory Board 09/26/08