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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017/12/04 - Briefing BOARD OF MASON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS'BRIEFING MINUTES Mason County Commission Chambers,411 North 5th Street,Shelton,WA Week of December 4,2017 Monday,December 4,2017 10:00 A.M. Community Services—Dave Windom Commissioners Shutty,Drexler and Neatherlin were in attendance. • Debbie Riley requested the Commissioners recognize Maria Marchado with a Green Star award for appreciation. This will be at next week's Commission meeting. • Dave requested permission to amend Community Development operating hours to close 1/2 day to the public allowing staff to catch up on paperwork. Dave suggested closing to the public on Friday afternoon;Cmmr.Drexler suggested Tuesday or Wednesday.Discussion of which day has least impact to public. Staff will draft a resolution amending the operating hours open to the public to close Friday afternoons. This can be amended if proven to not be effective. • Dave asked if the County should take the Liquor Control Board(LCB)application issues to WSAC as a legislative action agenda item. The LCB requests County input and staff makes recommendations and they find in many cases there are code violations. However the LCB issues the license ignoring the County's objections. Cmmr. Shutty and Dave will be meeting with Rep.Griffey and they will discuss this. • Kristopher Nelsen requested permission to implement a 2%technology fee to applicable development permits and a$5 convenience fee for online permits. Kristopher will draft the necessary document to implement these fees and brief it again next week. • Todd Parker provided a housing profile report and requested permission to distribute to the community. The report summarizes homelessness in Mason County and the results of the various programs. 10:30 A.M. BREAK 10:45 A.M. Public Works—Jerry Hauth Utilities&Waste Management Commissioners Shutty,Drexler and Neatherlin were in attendance. • Eells Hill Transfer Station operating hours—Commissioners support expanding the ours to 8 a.m.to 5 p.m.Staff will bring back the necessary documents to change these hours. • Interlocal Agreement with Fire District 9 will be placed on the agenda. • Cyndi Ticknor reported that the cost for upfits to the F150 pickups is$864 with parts and labor per vehicle. • Draft Traffic Policing for County Roads agreement between the Commission and Sheriff and a Sheriff's Memorandum of Understanding between Sheriff and Public Works Engineer were presented. Chief Spurling have reviewed the MOU and they are comparing with agreements from other counties. Sheriff's office wants to discuss with Roads before bringing it forward. • Skokomish Valley update on the breaches in Skokomish Valley dikes. The Thanksgiving 2017 storm event resulted in two breaches along the private levee referred to as the"River Mile 9"levee. The complete breaches are located on property owned by Linda Twidwell and Mason County. The dike is not an engineered dike. Cmmr.Drexler asked about volunteers doing work on county-owned property. Loretta has talked to Shawn Johnson and they have the equipment to do the repairs. This project is off County right-of-way so Road Fund cannot be used. The Skokomish Flood Control Zone Fund has a balance of$150,000 and is needed for the GI project. This fund has typically not been used to repair the private levee in the past. There is an estimate of$366,000 of damage. Cmmr.Drexler voiced concern with liability to the County with allowing private citizens do the repairs. Jerry stated the county would monitor the repair. Staff will talk to legal about drafting some type of memorandum defining roles and responsibilities. Commissioner Discussion—There was no discussion. Recess at 11:05 a.m. Board of Mason County Commissioners' Briefing Meeting Minutes Week of December 4,2017 1:30 P.M. Support Services—Frank Pinter Commissioners Shutty,Drexler and Neatherlin were in attendance. • Status of appointment to Mason Transit Authority. The Commissioners have reached out to current MTA members and asked they apply to serve on the new MTA Board. Tracy Becht at MTA is drafting a letter for the Commissioners to send to special purpose districts soliciting applicants. • Frank provided a draft Levy shift agreement with the City of Shelton. • Arbitration with PERC has been postponed at labor union request. • Information Technology demonstrated a sample of an updated website for Mason County that will be implemented. • Paula Reeves provided information on the process to follow at tomorrow's Comp Plan update hearings. • Chair Shutty reported that the County's credit rating has been down graded to A+with a negative outlook due to the Belfair Sewer financial problems and an over reliance on reserves. The sale of bonds has been postponed at this point. When Treasurer Lisa Frazier is back in town,there will be more information. • Cmmr.Drexler brought up a conversation with Kathy Haigh regarding the Housing Authority and the question of whether a county staff member could support the executive director position. The Housing Authority believes they could fund a.25 FTE contract with Community Development. Cmmr.Drexler suggested the County could back fill with the housing funds. Cmmr. Shutty believes there is latitude on the gift of public funds issue because of the assistance to the poor and infirmed in the State Constitution. Dave Windom will be included in the conversation to determine if there is staff capacity. There has been a request of Kathy to provide a list of roles and responsibilities and Cmmr.Shutty will be meeting with her. Advisory Board Interviews Commissioners Shutty,Drexler and Neatherlin interviewed applicants for the following advisory boards:Timberland Regional Library Board of Trustees;Civil Service Board and the Lodging Tax Advisory Board. The Commissioners would like to appoint Brenda Hirschi to the TRL;Matt Davis to the Civil Service Board and Nathan Welch to LTAC as a generator along with Stephanie Rowland as the LTAC spender. Commissioner Discussion—there was no discussion. Wednesday,December 6,2017 9:00 A.M. 2018 Budget Workshop Commissioners Shutty,Drexler and Neatherlin were in attendance. • Assessor Melody Peterson wanted to state on the record that her office did not give incorrect information about the levy shift. They provided figures they had the time. Melody noted that due to the Comp Plan updates and impact to Belfair UGA,if more houses are built or short plats done there is an impact to the workload to her office,it's good for the community but it does impact them. Doesn't feel that fair consideration was given to their office during the budgeting process. Due to the budget reduction she is concerned with losing experienced staff. For the most efficient way to meet the budget reduction,close to the public on Fridays. That is the least busy day with the public in their office. They are negotiating this with AFSCME.When a position is eliminated due to budget restraints she believes the Commission thinks it's not a necessary position and when she tries to regain the position,she is scrutinized. Melody also presented a proposed resolution for reduced hours. • Public Works—Jennifer Bierle provided the impact of the additional$500K to Diversion. They are adding$300K to ending fund balance due to equipment costing less and postponed improvements to the Belfair shop. The original Road budget didn't include the 1%levy increase and they will change the budget to reflect this increase. They estimate the cash at end of 2019 at$3.2M,cash need at$2.1M for first 4 months of year; in 2018 there are two wage increases—one in January(3.2%)and one in September(2%). The chip seal program Board of Mason County Commissioners'Briefing Meeting Minutes Week of December 4,2017 has been impacted—they increased it in 2018 and reduced it in 2019. The end of November cash balance is$10.3M,reducing the$750K and the RID funding,there is about$9.5M available. Estimated end of 2018 cash balance should be$8M to$8.5M. • ER&R -Cyndi Ticknor reported that due to the agreements with the fire districts and state patrol ER&R staff is providing internal services to these agencies and she estimated$40K in revenue and it will be closer to$100K. That was applied to the fixed cost which reduced all ER&R rates. • Jerry reported he will introduce the new County Engineer at the December 12 Commission meeting. • Judge Goodell represented Superior Court and spoke to their concerns with the budget reductions. They are considering reductions to the maintenance contract for courtroom equipment.They cannot project the impact of new judge coming into court(Judge Sheldon is retiring end of March). They anticipate a reduction to the family law facilitator hours. Other areas that could be impacted—loss of Court Commissioner time;reducing staff work hours. There is a 14%increase in their budget since 2008,there is an additional judge and they provide jury services for Superior and District Courts. Cmmr.Neatherlin asked the financial impact of going back to two judges. Judge Goodell stated Mason County can't go back to two judges but answered it is cheaper to have an additional judge rather than increase Court Commissioner time. There are limitations to what a Court Commissioner can do. Frank Pinter asked about the$15,180 from BHO to Clerk but is not budgeted. Cmmr. Drexler stated that is limited to when the triage center is open and to deal with the involuntary holds. The BHO will pay for Clerk,Defense,Prosecutor(or Attorney General)and Court time. It is in the BHO budget and will be a fee for services as they are provided. The Triage Center probably won't be open until October 2018 and it is unclear how many hours it will be open. Commissioners confirmed to budget for$816 in revenue for each Commissioners(1%raise pay back)and no PERS for Cmmr.Shutty. Murder Expenditure budget will stay in Support Services and is budgeted at$50,000. Non-Departmental expense of WSAC communications/litigation fee—Cmmr. Shutty will call Josh at WSAC to learn more about this;Cmmr.Drexler sees some wiggle room on the communications piece(educational public info);there is a legal piece—redirecting Josh's time from legislative issues to review potential lawsuits and supporting other county lawsuits (i.e.ballot box,Okanogan county). Frank stated that considering other budget adjustments (ER&R)adding this,wouldn't change Support Services. Cmmr.Neatherlin noted that$21 K for purchase of equipment crosswalks with DOT on Highway 3 needs to be budgeted. Reserves—original preliminary budget had the Ending Fund Balance(EFB)at zero;proposed expenditures as of 11/27 EFB$3,414,996;0 in contingency;240K tech reserve;vehicle reserve has been reduced;technology reserve??, Frank reviewed the 2018 proposed budget which is the same as 11/27/17 with expenditures at $36,966,203 which is still$2,237,372 more than the preliminary budget that is in MUNIS. A levy shift would cost the county$75,000 in buy back to the City of Shelton. Reducing the Sheriffs vehicle purchase request to three vehicles is a reduction of$200,000 and purchasing one leased vehicle costs$21,000. Using the LOCAL loan program for the purchase of three Sheriff vehicles means a$115,000 reduction to 2018 budget(would be for a total of 3 payments—one in 2018). Frank talked about the budget adjustment timeline—instructions need to go to departments to provide the budget detail to Frank considering the budget reductions. Frank needs the detail to input into MUNIS. Cmmr. Shutty would like to allow time for a meeting between Sheriff and Cmmr.Neatherlin and make decisions on Monday. Cyndi Ticknor noted that a 2016 patrol vehicle is totaled and there will be revenue from the other party and could be$40K. Any ER&R purchases are approved by Commissioners;however an elected official can purchase equipment using budget authority. If it's not part of the ER&R fleet,any ER&R service would be billed hourly to the department. Board of Mason County Commissioners'Briefing Meeting Minutes Week of December 4,2017 Cmmr.Drexler stated she doesn't have an appetite for taking Roads banked capacity from Public Works;she is not in favor of$200K to Sheriff—concerned with$150K from BHO for jail inmates;would like the$150K BHO to offset the nursing contract in jail; she is not in favor of using anymore ending fund balance;comfortable of addition of$50K in sales tax;ok with$500K for Diversion;she has no confidence a ballot issue would pass. She is hearing from the public to cut the budget. She doesn't see an absolute need to purchase any new vehicles in 2018,recognized it could reduce repairs,there is potential liability;although it may be best practice,we don't have the money. Cmmr.Shutty expressed concern with the liability we can ill afford and potential for a grievance. Frank will bring back proposals based on Commissioner's preferences. Cmmr.Neatherlin noted that although he doesn't see animal control position going away,if it did,it's$97K plus$21K for vehicle. The meeting adjourned at 10:40 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Diane Zoren,Administrative Services Manager BOARD OF MASON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Kevin S ty Terri Drexler y Neatherlin Chair Commissioner Commissioner