Board of Aldermen Budget Work Session Wednesday, March 13,2024 MINUTES  The Town ofNorth Topsail Beach Board of Aldermen held a budget work session on March 13, 2024. A quorum ofthe board was present. The Town Attorney was: not in attendance. Board members present: Mayor Joann McDermon, Mayor Pro Tem Benson Aldermen: Rick Grant, Connie Pletl, Tom Leonard, Laura Olszewski  Board members absent: None  Staff present: Town Manager Alice Derian, IT Director Ricky Schwisow, Police Chief William Younginer, Fire Chief Chad Soward, Finance Officer Jessica Helms and Caitlin Elliott, interim  Town Clerk Nancy Avery Call to Order Approval ofa agenda unanimously approved. Presentation  Mayor McDermon called the meeting to order at 8:30 am.  Motion - Alderman Olszewski motioned to adopt the agenda; seconded by Alderman Leonard;  Flock Automatic License Plate Readers  Representative Hector stated that Flock is a public safety technology company founded in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2017. Our Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and his neighbors were seeing a real uptick in crime such as home and car break ins in his neighborhood. Like many of you, they had video camera footage, or ring camera surveillance and went tol law enforcement in the hope that these crimes would get solved. Unfortunately, the feedback that they received from their local law enforcement was that they needed a license plate in order to find the people behind these events. Our CEO started doing an extensive amount of research and found out that license plate readers had been around since the 1970s and were still extremely expensive, tens of thousands of dollars per camera, and that mostly cities were the ones purchasing them. He also found that many oft the legacy providers were sharing data with third party companies. That is when Flock Automatic License Plate readers came into existence. Our cameras are $3,000 per year, but that includes all of the maintenance and upkeep as well as the access to the software. The technology itself provides your Police Department with an image of the back oft the vehicle, vehicle characteristics and the license plate. It does not provide facial recognition or traffic enforcement. Your Police Department will receive real time alerts through National Crime Information Center (NCIC) or Amber Alert about stolen vehicles as well as: missing persons. Iti is important to talk a lot about what this is not. There is no personal identifiable information. It does not have any Department ofl Motor Vehicles (DMV)records or third-party databases. We solely provide your law enforcement with leads on vehicles that are. known to be wanted, or that  1    Hector said as the cameras are placed to look at the rear of vehicles, every image is basically tagged to a direction. Aj police department may have several cameras on one road and would be  able to estimate the location of the vehicles.  A. Continue discussion on replacement of cameras in Police Department  Police Chief Younginer said wel had a success story here. Day before yesterday, there was an attempted murder in Sneads Ferry. Onslow County Sheriffs Office put that out yesterday. We could have put that data into this system and watched it happen ifit came through here. The vehicle went to Chadwick Acres where they have a Flock camera. Chadwick Acres let the Sheriff's Department access their data and the Sheriff was able to get the vehicle and a suspect from the data. That data was: shared, and we all looked for the vehicle and found it in Holly Mayor McDermon - One of my concerns is the 30-day retention, because we alll know somebody isi not going to go for their final trial within 30 days. Are you able to download and keep that ChiefYounginer said yes, we can download it to our body cam software and send it to the Mayor Pro Tem Benson - Do you do traffic counts in the summer season to know how many vehicles we have coming with vacation visitors and sO forth. My concern is that we have people coming from other states, such as. Maryland, Ohio or Pennsylvania and we do: not want to put out the message that we are going to check your license plate. Ifa driver's license has expired in say Chief Younginer said the ones that we done have been through the Department ofTransportation (DOT). The new radar camera that I asked for will do a count and speed and we can use, some of that data to tell you what is happening in certain neighborhoods. I guess maybe 30,000 vehicles ini the summer season. Flock cameras do not provide any DMV data, only stolen vehicles We can put in a vehicle like last year when we had a red truck stealing wood. We did it with the camera Mayor McDermon - Id do not think we are broadcasting that fact, because we have cameras now. Iti is really, just if the Board decides to agree with the change in the provider or not. Alderman Leonard -1 Iti is different. Our cameras are different than what is out there now. There is plenty of data out there andj plenty ofinformation on the web and articles and municipalities are now thinking twice and removing their Flock cameras. I am not going to vote on a budget that Mayor McDermon to Town Manager Derian - Have you had a chance to talk with. Attorney Edes  Ridge. HOAS are purchasing Flock cameras too.  data?  District Attorney's (DA) office that way.  Maryland, are you guys going to check that?  wel had, but it took us weeks.  has Flock cameras ini it.  at all, does he have an opinion?  3    Funding placeholders for the Board of Aldermen for the allocations such as fort the Ocean An increase in revenue based on the projected county levy that we have since received  City Jazz Festival since the last budget meeting  Since the last meeting, wel have included a proposed 4% increase in salaries across all  departments. This is comprised ofa 4% cost ofl living adjustment.  We have not received the increase for insurance costs from our provider yet who is Cigna. And we typically do not receive this information until the end of our budget process. We have included a 5% increase for this insurance. Historically, we. have seen a 2 to 3% increase. The employees benefit package includes health insurance for employees and includes the short- term disability coverage which was approved last year, and wel kept the HRA at $1,500 per In an effort to ensure that we are operating effectively along with ensuring that we continue to be competitive within ouri identified market, which is local government, Iintend on engaging a consultant to complete a town wide compensation study. The study will set staff compensation along with looking into the structure of our compensation. Historically, the town has looked at compensation using a salary range or grade structure for budgeting individual positions. One thing we: may consider is transitioning away from longevity-based systems in favor ofap pay for performance system. The goal is to attract and retain quality employees by rewarding productivity in lieu oft the traditional base pay increase and design a useful appraisal system. Itis not just a basic compensation study but will look at everything as a package. The difference in this draft budget from the one we went over inl February is an increase of $189,322 ini revenues based on the projected Onslow County tax levy, and an increase of $429,228 in expenditures. There is $278,625.34 surplus in the General Fund. The first item is the Governing Board with a 25.87% increase. This primarily reflects the change in the increase request for legal fees that the Board has been discussing. In Administration, the increase is for contracted services, including the compensation study that we. just talked about. The full time Code Enforcement position was moved into administration. There is a bit of a decrease on the planning side. Iti reflects the increase for new computers, and Public Buildings include the costs for Town Hall erosion and up-fitting office space, We talked about that at the last meeting. Town Hall is being assessed for some erosion that has been identified. Wel have accounted for a potential $100,000 in necessary repairs and creation of additional office spaces in Town Hall. Some oft the offices are very large and can be made into  employee with continued availability to use for dependents.  we will have more information on that as we proceed today.  two offices.  5    F. Decision on whether to continue mosquito spraying as a service  After a discussion on the optics, use of materials, whether it should be done on private streets, chemicals used, name oft the line item and sO forth, the Board reached a consensus on: funding.  Consensus - keep the line item for mosquito spraying and fund $3,000 G.J Estimated costs for three existing pedestrian crosswalks  Public Works Superintendent Cablay stated $75,000 is in the proposed fiscal year 24-25 budget  toi improve three existing crosswalks at:  790 New River Inlet Road - Villa Capriana 4021 Island Drive - Roger's Bay/beach access #31 He proposed three options for consideration by the Board as: A. Cost $15,000 each for labor and materials  465 New River Inlet Road - Richard Peters Park/ County beach access # 4  Two solar powered flashing LED pedestrian signs placed at the crosswalk location = Two pedestrian manually actuated push button pedestals - one on each side of Two reflectorized thermo-plastic "Ped Xing" stencils- - one: for each direction One solar powered overhead streetlight placed on either side of crosswalk. Two advanced pedestrian crossing signs one: for each direction placed 150: feet ahead Two solar powered flashing LED pedestrian signs placed at the crosswalk location 1 Two pedestrian manually actuated push button pedestals - one on each side of Two reflectorized thermo-plastic "Ped Xing" stencils = one for each direction  one in each direction. crosswalk.  B. Cost $20,000 each for labor and materials  ofLED signs. one in each direction. crosswalk. ( Cost $2,000 each  As is with enhanced stenciling, DOT will freshen it up.  The Board discussed the options and type ofroad at each location, whether flashing lights will really make people stop, whether each of three locations needs the same improvement, whether DOT replaces what the Town does when resurfacing the road, whether more improvement is  needed where there is a curve in the road with poorer visibility. Consensus - Reduce the budgeted amount from $75,000 to $40,000:  Use Option B at 790. New River Inlet Road - Villa Capriana ($20,000) Use Option C at 465 New River Inlet Road - Richard Peters Park/ County beach Use Option C at 4021 Island Drive - Roger's Bay/beach access #: 31 ($2,000)  access # 4 ($2,000)  7    After discussing pros and cons of1 leasing versus purchasing, the Board reached Consensus Move forward with purchasing new computers as in the proposed budget ITDirector Schwisow said to your previous questions about cameras. The proposal is for eiglht cameras at Town Hall; some in the boardroom, one in the lobby, two on the side doors on each Alderman Pletl asked what other cameras we. have in town. Do we have any coming into town? ITI Director Schwisow said we. have cameras at the Fire Department and Public Works building. We have proposed ones for the town park and the ones coming into town are just for law  side oft the building and then covering the parking lot.  enforcement and are not tied into the others.  J. Uniform policy  Manager Derian said another item that came up last week was a question on uniform policies. Each Department Head will speak on the current policy on how we purchase or replace uniforms. Fire Chiefs Soward said our policy for replacing is dependent on the call. Ifitis aj medical call and they are contaminated with bodily fluids or they are working on a truck and they tear their uniforms, they get instant replacement. Our boot policy is to allow $100 a year. We supply Tee shirts, long sleeve shirts, job shirts, pants, and turnout gear and firefighting gear. We issue two sets oft turnout gear. There are companies nowi that can decontaminate gear, sO we are not Police ChiefYounginer stated we give each officer three long sleeve shirts, four short sleeve shirts, five sets of pants, one coat, one pair of boots, and a raincoat. We also have outer vests, gizmo holders, hats, and patches. Ifat uniform is contaminated during an EMS call, we replace it. Public Works Superintendent Cablay said our policy is OSHA compliant. Annually they get steel toed boots. We do our own laundry. We give them six shirts, long sleeve and short sleeve, and three different styles of] pants for the seasons. We supply caps and hard hats. Mayor Pro Tem Benson said he thinks the Board should have uniforms. A long sleeve and short sleeve shirt with our new logo on it for when we go tol Board meetings and when we represent  having to eat the cost of a new set of gear.  the Town.  Finance Officer Elliott said we allocated money for this fiscal year for that.  K. Police weapons  Alderman Olszewski asked Chief Younginer to explain the weapon replacement policy and what you are doing with that in your request. What were you asking for with sights? How often are officers going to the range to practice? Do we. have anybody that is National Rifle Association (NRA-RO) certified? How: many times have our officers in the last year had to pull weapons? Do  9    Chief Younginer said the trucks are about $48,000. They do not make the Chargers anymore. The trucks are working out better for us. We: sold the last Chargers for about $7,000 each.  Alderman Grant said the budget shows $62,000.  Chief Younginer said the truck net is $48,000 and then it costs about $12,000 to upfit it for what Alderman Olszewski asked how long we. have had in place a five-year replacement policy. Ido Chief Younginer said it was inj place when he: started in 2018. Itis a lot rougher on a police car. There is a lot ofidle time and when they start getting100,000 miles they require al lot of  we need.  not understand why as al lot of cars are getting 150,000 miles.  maintenance.  Alderman Leonard asked how many cars we. have today.  Chief Younginer said he does not have that number but thinks they have about 21 total vehicles with 13 of those police cars, two Rangers for beach use, two side by sides and some older Crown  Vics used for training travel.  Break - Mayor McDermon called for a 15-minute break at 10:51 am. Mayor McDermon resumed the meeting at 11:07 am.  Alderman Olszewski asked what is the: radius that al Police Officer can take home a police car? Do we have GPS trackers on our cars tol know where they are? Are our cars allowed to be used ChiefYounginer: replied 30 miles. We do not have GPS but there is dispatch software that tracks Alderman Grant asked if an officer is on vacation, does the police car stay at his/her home? Chief Younginer responded if they are on regular vacation, yes. Ifiti is for an extended time, the  for personal use? the car.  car will stay here. We do not allow personal use of police cars.  Five Year Outlook  Finance Officer Elliott reviewed the Capital Improvement summary with these highlights: Added $20,000 for an engineer assessment for rebuild ofthel Public Works project in the Plugged in $3,000,000 for the bike path project in the following fiscal year- = the number  next 21 to 3 years  wej just verbally received from DOT  Fire Department ladder truck isi in the latter part of the five-year plan  11        a e e C  S  E  /  - 0 S    3 5 3 U 3 S S  3 3  3 3 3 3 S 5 3  S    S N E H  3 O E O LE  S E 9 a E @ a  -  -    0  S    a  ) 4  6 de 9 : @ - e 6 l 8 0 8 o & e o J 9 e a a 0 3  5 10 o - 80 e aU 8 8 H 9 a a S 1J  1 -  &