Minutes Of A Regular Council Meeting

Approved Minutes 04/26/2016 Page 113

City of Olmsted Falls Minutes of a Finance Committee Meeting Tuesday, April 26, 2016, at Olmsted Falls City Hall 26100 Bagley Road – Council Chambers, 6:45 p.m.

Chairman Bob Sculac called the meeting to order at 6:45 p.m. Roll call was conducted. Councilmen Jay Linn, Linda Garrity, Jim Haviland, Paul Stibich, and Kyle Miller.

Also Present: Gregory Sponseller, Law Director, Ann Marie Donegan, Mayor, Steve Presley, Finance Director and Mike DeSan, Asst. Finance Director. Audience: 1

New Business:

1. 2018 Mayor Compensation Discussion (36-2015): Mr. Sculac stated that during the last Council term the Mayor’s salary was discussed and a salary determined but legislation was not presented. He would like legislation to run three readings prior to Council’s summer recess. He stated that the suggestion last term was that the salary be increased from the current $54,000 to $75,000 and the increase be phased in to allow the budget to handle the increase. The increases would be $10,000 in 2018 and another $10,000 increase in 2020.

Mr. Linn stated that he does not believe that using a firefighter’s salary is a good comparison to an executive position. The rest of the comparisons were realistic with an executive position. Mr. Sculac stated that Mr. Presley compared salaries of mayor’s in other like size communities. He stated that Mr. Presley also did comparisons regarding percentage increases that could have occurred over the last five years. Mr. Presley stated that he was not comparing the salary to a firefighter he utilized the increases from the fire contract during negotiations. The last time the mayor’s salary was adjusted was in 2002; he took the percentage increases applied to the fire fighters contracts over the years and increased the mayor’s salary by those percentages.

Mr. Presley stated that as Mr. Linn indicated, the method used comparing to other municipalities is the formula Council should consider as it is the same administrative position. When this was completed in 2015 the average salary was just over $84,000. He stated that Council voted for an increase for themselves effective 1/1/16 and using that same percentage with a 2% increase for 2017 the mayor’s salary would be over $93,000 and the Council salaries had not been adjusted since 2002 as well.

Mr. Linn stated that the comparisons done by Mr. Presley are at today’s figures and this salary cannot be increased until 2018. Mayor Donegan stated that the 2% increase was placed in the previous legislation in order to make this issue a non-political discussion, the same as was done for Council members. She stated that she believes this is long overdue and subtle increases every couple years is appropriate and Council needs to determine the salary. She also believes that if the salary is increased there will be more individuals that would be interested in the position. Mr. Sculac stated that this also mirrors what has been done with the non-union administrative staff. He stated that over the years Council has not wanted to increase their salary during an election year Approved Minutes 04/26/2016 Page 114 which has always been the issue. This is also the reason we increased Council’s salary last term and hopefully complete the mayor’s increase this term in order to prevent this being a political issue next November.

Mayor Donegan stated that the blue ribbon committees were something she has relied on to help with the strategic plan. She has also took the role of economic development director and re-defined Mrs. Jones position and established the Manager of Business and Community Services. She would suggest a one-time general increase as the finance director will have a couple of years to plan for the increase. She feels comfortable with the quarterly reports which do show some increases that Mr. Presley will explain.

Mr. Presley stated to address Mr. Linn’s comments regarding what the salary would be for increases in 2016 and 2017 if, in fact, we used $84,118, which is the average of the mayor salaries and increased by 2% for 2016 and 2% for 2017 the ending salary would be $87,516. If you used a 2.5% the salary would be $88,376 at the end of 2017. Mr. Sculac stated that this could be a suggestion for the beginning of 2018.

Mr. Miller stated that he believes the salary needs to be in a position to warrant more people being interested in this position and right now he does not know if the city is at a level to get qualified candidates. He utilized the Cleveland.com article listing the salaries of Northeast Ohio Mayors and using Berea, Brook Park, Fairview Park, Middleburg Heights, North Olmsted and Strongsville which are the six communities that are most similar to us in population and geographically. If you broke that into terms of dollars per resident which he believes is a good way surprisingly we are not as far off and are actually a little higher than the average. He wanted to bring this to everyone’s attention but the fact is the salary needs to be increased in order to ensure we are getting quality candidates. Mr. Sculac stated that there is no question it needs to be increased and we have known that for the last ten (10) years. Mr. Miller stated that with these six communities the average is $6.76 per resident and Olmsted Falls, at the current salary, is $8.84 per resident so nearly two dollars higher per resident, plus benefits. Ms. Garrity asked if he used population amounts. Mr. Miller stated he used the salary divided by population. Ms. Garrity stated that Council has discussed using population as well as a number of other ways. If we compare ourselves with the Township, with benefits, there are three trustees who make approximately $20,000 per year plus full health care and if you add that it comes to $120,000. If you take the current salary of $55,000 and add in council’s salary, plus health care, we are way below Olmsted Township in total dollars spent.

Mr. Linn stated that he shy’s away from using the residential formula for the very fact that almost all of the Mayor’s duties mirror other community’s duties regardless of the number of residents. You could factor that in if you used a multi-faceted approach and use cookie jar accounting. All of those duties should be equal then if you factor in the number of residents we have approximately 12,000 less residents but that does not mean the Mayor of whatever community does proportionately less work. You need to theoretically the same amount of work in almost every area except maybe receiving phone calls or answer complaints because the actual number of residents does not take into consideration any of those other duties that have to be equal such as maintaining the administration within the city. The number of residents is a factor but not the whole factor. Mr. Miller stated that Mr. Linn’s statements are true, he just wanted to bring this up for conversation. He agrees with Mr. Linn that there is a set amount of work every mayor does regardless of the size of the City. Approved Minutes 04/26/2016 Page 115

Mr. Sculac stated that he agrees with Mr. Linn. If you think back to when the Mayor begin her term and all the issues that need to be completed and the amount of time that was necessary to make this a workable operation for the good of the city was way overboard in terms of what needed to be done. He believes that whether the city has a population of 10,000 or the City of Cleveland the responsibilities are the same, the larger cities may have additional people that have responsibilities that we do not and because of that a lot falls on the Mayor’s shoulders. Mr. Linn stated that if use the theory of a dollar amount per number of residents some of the Mayor’s should be being paid a half a million dollars.

Mayor Donegan stated that Cleveland State was contacted in order to try and determine what factor should be used. She appreciates all the comments Mr. Sculac made. She has always believed that if she had a Ford Motor Company she would have zero problems with running a city and that is when the creativity comes in because when you know what kind of cash you have and you are committed to not raising any taxes we have cut costs and added value.

Ms. Garrity stated that if we built in a 2.5% increase, which is what the remaining staff received, and compounded that number from 2003 what would the 2016 figure be? Mr. Presley stated that with quick math the ending figure would be $77,473. Mr. Linn pointed out that would be today’s figure. Mr. Sculac stated that it would then be increased another 5% to get to 2018. Mr. Presley stated that figure would then be $87,516.

Mr. Haviland stated that Council discussed this issue in 2015 and the conversation at that time, was to raise the Mayor’s salary to $75,000 by 2020. Mr. Sculac stated that the proposal was for a $10,000 increase in 2018, which is the first year of the term, and then another $10,000 in 2020 which would have increased the salary by $20,000 by the end of the term. The reasoning behind that was to phase it in over the term so the budget could handle it easier than just a full increase. Mr. Haviland stated that there would be no increases for 2016 and 2017. Mr. Sculac stated that there would be no increases until 2018 because you cannot increase the salary until the new mayoral term begins. We did the same with Council, that salary was increased as of January 2016 because you cannot increase an elected official salary during the term of office. Mr. Sponseller stated that there is a legal prohibition of raising any elected officials salary while in office. This increase will apply to whomever is elected to the position of mayor at the next election. The formula has to be established prior to the filing deadline for the office to which the pay applies. Mr. Sculac stated that the Board of Elections needs to be notified prior to the taking out of petitions.

Mr. Haviland asked if this would prevent Council from what was being discussed regarding shared positions in 2016 and 2017. Mr. Sculac indicated that those position are not elected positions.

Mr. Miller stated that his suggestion is to increase the salary in one amount rather than phasing, Council needs to be bold, as long as the financials of the city will allow it. If financially we are unable to then phasing would need to be considered. Mr. Linn agreed. Mr. Miller stated that we also need to keep in mind the changes to the other positions and know that would be an additional potential compensation for the mayor in 2018.

Mr. Sponseller stated that he agrees with Mr. Sculac regarding getting this item adopted prior to recess so it is not a political issue. This is also one of the reasons why Councils salary was established well before the filing deadline so it’s open to the public and not political. As Mr. Presley pointed out there are two ways to do this, one is to establish a specific dollar figure, plus the Approved Minutes 04/26/2016 Page 116 benefits that full time employees get, and an alternative is to not only establish a specific dollar figure but make a provision by way of a formula for an appropriate increase, if Council deems it appropriate which would prevent this issue from needing to be revisited every election. You would need to determine a simple math calculation to put into place until Council decides to revisit the issue of compensation for the office of mayor similarly that holds true with the compensation for the office of Council. Mr. Sculac agreed and believes it needs to be built in with the formula used for Council. Mr. Sponseller stated that as a point of information the initial draft for 36-2015, which was removed from the agenda at the end of the last term, had a dollar figure for compensation for office of mayor commencing January 1, 2018 at $85,000 and also made reference to 2% increases. He will draft legislation once Council makes their determination.

Mr. Sculac moved to approve a salary for the office of the mayor of $85,000 to begin in 2018 with 2% increases in succeeding years; Ms. Garrity seconded.

Mr. Miller recommends that Council increase the salary but knowing that an additional increase was given to the position of safety director and assuming that the Mayor in 2018 holds this role he would suggest a lower amount. Mayor Donegan stated that if a new Mayor is elected he/she may want to hire a safety director so they would not hold that role. She stated that Council can revisit this issue if Mr. Miller is concerned about the cap but a new mayor could choose to hire an Economic Development Director as well as a Safety Director. Mr. Sculac asked if Mr. Miller had a suggested salary. Mr. Miller stated that $85,000 makes sense and he understands what the Mayor stated regarding making an assumption that the next Mayor would take on the additional roles. Mr. Haviland asked if the cap was $20,000 for safety director. Mayor Donegan replied that the maximum is $22,500 and Council can revisit the legislation that introduced the caps.

Mr. Linn asked Mr. Presley for the range of pay discussed. Mr. Presley indicated that the low end was $77,500 with the top end being $93,250. Mr. Linn pointed out that these are today’s figures and if we are looking at another two years then Council is looking at $85,000. Mr. Stibich indicated that he believes $85,000 is high and would rather see $75,000. There are all kinds of statistics that people are using and he believes that the position should pay enough to support a family, which it does not right now, and he would like to see an increase as he has always believed this position was underpaid, but, he feels that $85,000 is too much. Ms. Garrity suggested a figure in the middle of $75,000 to $85,000. Mr. Miller suggested $80,000. Mr. Linn indicated that he would be comfortable with Mr. Miller’s suggestion.

Ms. Garrity withdrew her second; Mr. Sculac withdrew his previous motion.

Mr. Miller moved to increase the Mayor’s salary beginning January 1, 2018 to $80,000 per year with a 2% annual increase beginning in 2019; Ms. Garrity seconded.

Mr. Haviland stated that whoever is sitting on a future Council and being mindful of the budget determines that the safety director’s position is excessive, if that mayor chooses to assume that position, will they have the ability to bring the salary back into alignment if the city can only afford $90,000 or $95,000. Mr. Sculac replied yes.

Mr. Sponseller stated that with respect to not just that position but one of the key reasons regarding that grid is that it is in an ordinance and should be reviewed periodically. This grid provides Approved Minutes 04/26/2016 Page 117 practical application to allow the administration to proceed with Council’s input. Any position on this grid can be amended at any time.

Mr. Miller asked if the 2% annual increase was typical language to have included in local ordinances. Mr. Sponseller replied yes. Mr. Sculac stated that the 2% language is included in the Council salary ordinance as well and can be adjusted at any time.

Poll: 5 ayes; 1 nay (Stibich). Motion carried.

Miscellaneous:

Mr. Sculac stated that he would like to review the quarterly reports if the finance department has them prepared.

Mr. Presley stated that with the exception of OPBA related expenses and grievances the only real issue he sees is a timing issue with Cuyahoga County. They sent out special assessments and the city has already received $300,000 through the end of March when we generally would not see those funds until June. Correspondingly they have included the property tax collection expense under the general administration which is $67,000 higher at the end of March than it was comparable to last year. The police and fire department salary and wages are increased because of retirements and he has not moved any of the expenses over to the operating levies that are available for police and fire. On a positive note, income tax collections have increased comparable to 2015.

Mr. Presley stated that through the end of March the city should be at 25% of its budget and we are at 27.46% which at this point he is comfortable with including noting the expenditures we have for the litigation issues.

Mr. Sculac stated that he presumes the law department increase of 58% is due to all the litigation. Mr. Presley replied yes. Mayor Donegan stated that they have filed a motion to recoup the Bowman litigation. Mr. Sponseller stated that $39,000 was generated from the sale of the equipment located on the property and the city is looking to recoup approximately $30,000 and that motion is still pending. Mayor Donegan stated that this has been a litigation that has been ongoing for 12 or 13 years.

Mr. Sculac stated that there is a 50% increase in engineering. Mr. Presley indicated that he included costs of the engineer which needs to be allocated to other funds and that percentage will be decreased.

Ms. Garrity asked if the city will be able to track the engineering costs for the Phase V project. Mr. Presley replied yes as the department has set up a separate fund for the Phase V project. Ms. Garrity asked for the fund number in order to track the expenses.

Mayor Donegan stated that the city is finalizing the packet that will be sent to DOPWIC for the reimbursement of engineering costs for the failed sewer project in 2010. She stated that it has been a challenge trying to track Schaller invoices. Approved Minutes 04/26/2016 Page 118

Adjournment Mr. Linn moved to adjourn; Mr. Stibich seconded. Poll: 6 ayes; 0 nays. Motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 7:29 p.m.

Bob Sculac, Chairman Angela Mancini, Clerk of Council