CITY OF FLORISSANT
WORK SESSION MINUTES
August 10, 2011
The City Council met on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 6:30 pm for a work session in the Government Center at 1055 rue St. Francois, Florissant, Missouri. Council members in attendance included: Lee, McKay, English, Stinnett, Hernandez, Schildroth, Eagan and Schmidt. Councilman Grib was out of town. Also in attendance was Mayor Thomas P. Schneider, Acting City Clerk Anita Moore, Finance Director Randy McDaniel, Public Works Director Lou Jearls, Landon Boehm with Piper Jaffray and Jane Boyle representative from Planning and Zoning. Council President Keith English stated that a quorum was present and the meeting was brought to order at 6:30 pm.
The first item on the Agenda was discussion of bond refinancing.
Randy McDaniel introduced Landon Boehm with Piper Jaffray. Mr. Boehm explained that because of current low interest rates, it would be a good time to look at refinancing the City’s debt. He distributed handouts which depicted two possible options for refinancing:
Option 1 – By refunding the remaining bonds at lower interest rates, the City could reduce the annual budget appropriation for debt service by $1,967,234 over the remaining 11 years of the bond issue. The net saving to the City would be $709, 609 when the debt service reserve was liquidated.
Option 2 – Refunding the existing bonds and issuing new bonds to finance needed improvement while maintaining the existing debt service schedule. The amount of new money would be between $1,400,000 -$1,600,000 depending on interest rates at the time.
Councilman Stinnett asked about the amount of risk involved in this type of transaction, given the current financial climate. Mr. Boehm responded that there was always some risk, but in this case it was light.
Councilman Lee asked how fast would the Council need to move on this transaction, once the decision was made. Mr. Boehm stated approximately ten business days. Councilman Lee suggested putting both the resolution and the ordinance on the next agenda with E readings so that the necessary documents would be ready.
Lou Jearls presented a list of Bond Issue Projects with estimated costs and Pay-Back Projections for City Buildings if Option 2 was selected:
City Hall- Install new air-handler
JJE Center – Repair 2 air-handlers in skate and locker room areas, install 2 new chillers, and install 2 new roof top cooling towers
Police Department – Install 2 new cooling towers, replace 20 old heat pumps, replace boiler, provide chilled make-up air
JFK Center – Install new air-handler and condensing unit in youth lounge, install new roof hatch and ladder, install 2 new split air conditioning unitsfor Aquatic Center Concession Stand
Golf Course – Replace 4 existing air conditioning units, install new split air conditioning unit to supplement manager’s office
Government Bldg – Install new split air conditioner for computer server room.
Commodity purchase opportunity project – Koch Park additional salt storage facility.
The estimated total cost for all the projects was $1,052,000.
Randy McDaniel clarified that these projects would be outside of the regular budget process.
Councilman English moved to approve Option 2, Refunding of Certificates of Participation and New Money, seconded by Lee. Motion carried.
The next item on the Agenda was discussion of Utility Tax.
Randy McDaniel distributed figures showing the Utility Tax totals and Electric Utility Tax totals from 2006 until 2011 with the percentage change from 2010 to 2011. He also included charts/graphs depicting the estimated Utility Tax vs. budgeted Utility Tax for 2011, the combined Utility Tax (budget vs. actual), and a comparison of the 2010-2011 Electric Utility Tax and Combined Utility Tax. He stated that so far it has been a good year. Councilman Lee was interested in a 1% decrease in the Utility Tax, if possible. Councilwoman McKay requested that the City Clerk provide the Council with copies of St. Louis County utility rates for residential and commercial citizens and distribute them to the Council.
The next item on the Agenda was discussion of Commercial Day Care Centers.
Karen McKay asked that Joe Eagan be given copies of the 7/11/11 Executive Session Minutes and the Planning and Zoning Meeting Minutes at which the day care recommendations were made. She asked Jane Boyle, Planning and Zoning member to come before the Council. Councilwoman McKay stated that she had asked the City Clerk to confer with her association as to how they regulated day cares in strip malls. The City Clerk had received no response. McKay added that she was against day cares in strip malls, that there must be grass in the play ground area, that playgrounds must be rectangular in shape, that daycares can not be within 250 feet of a liquor establishment, and that the building itself must be larger than the 750 square feet required by the State. McKay thanked the Planning and Zoning Commission for their work in making the day care recommendations. Ms. Boyle stated that Florissant had always “set the standard” and that Florissant day cares should be above the minimum required by the State.
Mark Schmidt argued that requests for commercial day cares come before the City Council because Special Use Permits were required to operate them. Furthermore, he added that he thought there were currently only two existing ones in the City, one of which had been annexed. He felt they should be approved on a case by case basis. Ben Hernandez expressed his concern about the location of day care centers and felt that the Council should regulate them more closely. Mayor Schneider agreed with exceeding the minimum standards required by the state. He suggested looking for alternative surfaces to grass. Councilwoman McKay asked that everyone look at the 7/11/11 Executive Session Minutes and the Planning and Zoning recommendations and report back within a month on what changes they would like to see made.
The next item on the Agenda was discussion of calendar dates for upcoming budget meetings.
Councilman Schildroth stated that he was available for any times that were decided upon. Councilman Eagan stated that he would send his schedule to the City Clerk tomorrow. Councilman Hernandez stated that he would make himself available for whenever was needed, working around his children’s schedule. The remaining Councilmembers had already turned in their available dates. It was decided not to reschedule the September 12 Council Meeting since only one Councilperson was going. In addition, Councilwoman McKay stated that she would be out of town, in Washington D.C., through the week of September 25.
Next item on the Agenda was Charter review public hearing dates.
Councilwoman McKay recommended several possible facilitators to help guide the Council through the Charter review process: Gary Markenson, Jim White-retired attorney and Senator Jane Cunningham’s assistant. McKay thought it would be a good idea to have an attorney involved in the procedure.
As an initial way to begin the process, Mayor Schneider suggested that the Council read approximately half the Charter, write down any changes or recommendations, and then meet to discuss them with the entire Council. Accordingly, repeat this process again with the second half of the Charter. He added that it might take several meetings to accomplish this. Councilman Lee stated that at some point he wanted the public to be involved, to which the Mayor agreed. Councilwoman McKay preferred reviewing the Charter a section at a time, with no specific time frame involved.
Councilman Lee asked the Council how they would feel about switching the starting time of Council Meetings from 8 pm to 7 pm with Executive Sessions being held after the meeting, if necessary. Several of the Council members seemed to like the idea. Councilman Schmidt expressed concern about the need to discuss an item before it was brought up on the floor.
Councilwoman McKay recommended moving “Council Announcements” to the beginning of the meeting instead of the end, that way the Council could get right down to business. She added that this was the way it was done several years ago.
There being no further business to discuss Councilman Hernandez moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:32 pm, seconded by McKay, motion carried.
Anita Moore, Acting City Clerk