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COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE -Minutes 20110726 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE – CITY OF MUSKEGO Approved 8/11/2011 MINUTES OF MEETING HELD TUESDAY, July 26, 2011 Mayor Chiaverotti called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. ROLL CALL Mayor Kathy Chiaverotti, Aldermen Snead, Harenda, Borgman, Werner, Soltysiak, Schaumberg and Fiedler. Also present Sharon Mueller, Director of Finance & Administration. STATEMENT OF PUBLIC NOTICE The meeting was noticed in accordance with the Open Meeting Law. APPROVAL OF AGENDA There were no issues with the agenda item listed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Ald. Werner moved for approval of the July 20, 2011 minutes. Ald. Snead seconded; motion carried. NEW BUSINESS 1. Continue Discussion on Fire Department Reward/Retention Program. Ald. Snead recapped the consolidation of the Fire Departments in which then Mayor Johnson had promised to help fund a retention program. Initially the Fire Department brought forward the State Program in that the City would fund $20,000 annually and the State would match with $20,000. Both she and Ald. Werner served on the committee and at that time everyone thought that the State program was a good idea. However after further research they found it was not going to do everything that was promised. There was a lot of misinformation that had been given and the Fire Department asked that the City not fund that particular program. The Fire Department promised to come forward with an alternative plan. Unfortunately now two years later they have come forward, partly because the then Mayor, John Johnson did not pass on information to the Council. The promise was still out there that the City would be providing money every year for the retention program. She cautioned against reneging on the proposal as it was part of the consolidation agreement. We need to keep in mind that if we go with the initial state program it has to be $20,000, if we go with what they are proposing it would be “up to” $20,000 per year. As far as the scholarship program she feels it is a separate issue that most likely a solution would be arrived at through the dissolution agreement. Mayor stated that the Fire Department’s proposal would put two of the properties in the City’s name once “the end came”. Most likely the City would sell one or two of the properties using a percentage of that money to fund the scholarship account. Ald. Snead recommended that the dissolution agreement be reviewed periodically. Committee of the Whole meeting page 2 July 26, 2011 Ald. Borgman feels that you cannot separate the scholarship and retention program, because what is now scholarship money becomes retention money. Ald. Snead disagrees as they have already discussed this with the Fire Department. In the current dissolution agreement it is referred to as the scholarship fund and they are willing to remove that and rename it. The City is saying that they would put some percentage towards the scholarship fund at a later date. Ald. Borgman asks if this is a form of reneging. Ald. Snead responded that they are just shifting the money not withholding it. Ald. Fiedler stated that it was up to the Fire Department to call the program what they want. He has an issue with giving up money without getting something in return. He would like to see the buildings titled in the City’s name sooner than later. He feels that the new agreement is making a new request by asking for the $172,000 up front and that is different from what was previously agreed to. Then we need to get the buildings up front and feels that if we need to sell a building to fund their scholarship program the City is getting less than they had anticipated. Ald. Snead said only a percent of the sale would go toward the scholarship fund. Mayor asked for clarification on why the fund was originally set up? Ald. Snead said that the scholarship fund was set up originally to assist Muskego resident kids who wanted to go into fire or police work. She feels we need to settle the retention program now and that we can discuss later what can be done to memorialize their scholarship fund. In their meeting with the Fire Department she remembers that Jeff Verburgt said that the $20,000 that the City gives them would be to pay them and whatever is left over would go into the scholarship fund and she asked them if the City is paying back the scholarship fund? And his answer was yes. She will get clarification on that. The buildings are important to the City and the money is important to the Fire Department we are trying to get to a halfway point. They have had two good meetings with them and she feels that there might be a different less expensive way to memorialize them that has more impact. Ald. Fiedler questioned if we agree to the additional demands what are we getting out of this? In the end it looks like we are getting back buildings that we should already own. Ald. Snead said that they could take that back to the Fire Department. Mayor said that the response most likely would be that we are getting volunteer fire service. Ald. Fiedler questioned if we do not agree would we not get volunteer fire service? Mayor stated that the whole point of the retention program is to keep the volunteers in place to avoid going to a full time fire department sooner rather than later. Without a retention program, the Fire Department is of the mind that especially the younger ones coming in might not stay. Ald. Borgman stated this was actually a longevity program not a retention program. Ald. Soltysiak feels that is why the Fire Department did not want the State program. Mayor feels that they have served the City for a very long time and she does not want to disregard the “long timers”. Ald. Fiedler feels we are using the arguments for the retention program to support the scholarship program, which are two different things. Ald. Snead went over the charts explaining how the pay outs are being distributed. Ald. Werner feels that if they keep the same formula in place it is a retention program but what is happening is that it has turned into a bit of a reward program to those that have stayed. Committee of the Whole meeting page 3 July 26, 2011 Discussion followed on how this all evolved with the Fire Department as far as ownership of the buildings, dissolution agreement, contracts, etc. Ald. Werner stated that we have talked in the past about giving them the $172,000 to do with whatever they want and all the City is asking for is the ownership of the buildings. If they want to put that towards the retention or scholarship fund that’s up to them. The agreement was that Fire Department through the budget process would request $8,000, or $12,000 or whatever they needed to fund that program and the City would do their best to fund it. For the scholarship program the City had said if we do not have money to fund it during the budget process they won’t. Possibly in 2 or 5 years when the economy improves and the City is doing better the City may choose to help fund it. Ald. Snead summarized what will be taken back to the next meeting with the Fire Department: 1. The City would agree to give $175,000 now, preferably used over 2 years, if the Fire Department would sign over the building and property to the City’s name now and in return the City would be willing to discuss funding the additional $20,000 with a possible lease back on the buildings to the Fire Department at a nominal cost. 2. At the end of the termination cycle – whenever that may be – the City would get the buildings back, meanwhile we would not fund anything to do with scholarships. Only give them whatever remaining piece they would need to balance that out, and would find another way to memorialize that. This option also includes $175,000 now preferably used over 2 years. Both options involve the City giving the Fire Department the $175,000 with preference to disseminate over a two year period and they (Fire Department) would not receive additional funding until the third year. This had been offered by the Fire Department in the past. Ald. Werner stated other issues were taken care of during the consolidation process, this is the last piece and he believes both sides are working hard to come to amicable agreement. COMMUNICATIONS AND MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS AS AUTHORIZED BY LAW ADJOURNMENT Ald. Snead moved to adjourn at 7:18 p.m. Seconded by Ald. Fiedler; motion carried. Minutes transcribed by Cindy Schweitzer