Town of Melbourne Beach  TOWN COMMISSION BUDGET WORKSHOP  WEDNESDAYJUIYI, 2020 @ 5:00 pm MASNY ROOM = 507 OCEAN AVENUE  MINUTES  Commission Members: Mayor Jim Simmons Vice Mayor Wyatt Hoover Commissioner Steve Walters Commissioner Sherrie Quarrie Commissioner Corey Runte Staff Members: Town Manager Elizabeth Mascaro Town Clerk Jennifer Torres Finance Manager Jennifer Kerr    I.Call to Order  Mayor Simmons called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.  II. Roll Call  Town Clerk Torres led the Roll Call. Commission Members Present: Mayor Jim Simmons Vice Mayor Wyatt Hoover Commissioner Steve Walters Commissioner Sherrie Quarrie Commissioner Corey Runte Staff Members Present: Town Manager Elizabeth Mascaro Town Clerk Jennifer Torres Finance Manager Jennifer Kerr  III. Pledge of Allegiance and Moment of Silence  Mayor Simmons led the Pledge of Allegiance and Moment of Silence  IV. Public Comment VI. New Business  A. Continued discussion regarding the FY 2020/2021 Budget  Town Manager Mascaro reviewed updates to the budget book since thel last meeting that  included:  P.6S Statement of Revenue and Expenditures: FY21 Budget number reflects P.22 Vehicle Maintenance: Increased quality from $9,000 to $10,000. Fire Department: Decreased its short-term capital to $8,000 and increased long- term capital to $27,000. The overall budget decreased due to a duplicate calculation for the $12,000 allocated to Chief Brown's salary. P.24 Professional Services: Reduced $12,000 from stipend was counted in the P.25 Equipment Maintenance: Annual maintenance breathing compressor increased to $900 from $521 and removed from page 27 under licenses for $900  updated figures from Brevard County TRIM. P.127 Trainingand: Schools: Removed from #1 quantity.  salary section. as duplicate entry.    P.25Annual Fire Extinguishers: Increased number ofunits from 29 to; 30. P.25Annual Co2 Maintenance: Increased number of units from 1to6. P.25Hose Testing and Maintenance: New] line from $2,400. P.27Short-Term Capital: Reduced from $24,000 to $8,000. P.27Long-Term Capital: Increased from $11,000 to $27,000. P.27) Licenses and Fees: Increased 800 MHZ number of units from 271 to 28. P.48 Stormwater Bond Grants Fund: Increase transferi in by %51,841 amount of Commissioner Walters, who had to leave the previous workshop early, said he has a few First he asked how much the Town was looking to receive from the Federal Relief Finance Manager Kerr responded that the proposal was about $7,000 - and they  overage in general fund.  questions.  Bill/CARES funding.  projected there might be $7,000 more.  He then asked what deductible the employees are playing on health insurance and Town Manager Mascaro said it depends on the service, but usually $50 fora doctor visit copay Commissioner Walters said he noted that police officers are paying 5-percent into their  and about $5,000 to $7,800 for an individual or family plan. pension and asked why the staff doesn't also do this. Town Manager Mascaro said they do - at 3-percent.  Mayor Simmons asked ift the amount police officers pay is determined by the state and Town Manager Mascaro said the state represents us and the Pension Board regulates Commissioner Quarrie asked if 5-percent is too high and Town Manager Mascaro responded by saying that it'sa very well-funded pension plan and they're paid a substantial amount from it when they retire, adding that we are one of few  thej police.  municipalities that use a good gap. eight cars and this year there are six.  Commissioner Walters then asked about the police vehicles, noting that last year we had Town Manager Mascaro said we now have six cars. They didn'tanticipate the loss of two vehicles - sO they were replaced. They had discussed providing a new replacement vehicle every, year. This year they would replace a 2012 Caprice used by the SRO. Then Commissioner Walters asked about the promotion of Gavin Brown to Fire Chief and the Town Manager explained that he has served as the volunteer Fire Chiefand the' Town  the oldest car in the fleet of four would be replaced.    would like to make him a paid Town Fire Chief with an increase in salary to $55,000,  with $12,000 oft that coming from the stipend.  Public Comments Neil Tompkins 204 Neptune Drive  Mr. Tompkins asked ift there were any grant opportunities the' Town could pursue to resolve issues with the Indian River Lagoon. He suggested grant money could be used for swales on Oak and anything the' Town can put in thel budget for long term improvement with two general areas to focus on; limiting runoffinto the. lagoon and potential remediation. He asked the Town to help with anything they can to accumulate funding and reduce the load in the Indian River. He said the homeowners have spent a total of a half-million dollars having dredging work done. He understands the' Town does not have the resources to do the work itself, but he would like assistance in reducing thel load into the Indian River. Currently the canals are brown and filled with grass clippings. When people hire lawn service companies they don't pay attention. He said perhaps some additional signage indicating this activity goes against a Town Mayor Simmons responded by saying they do have an Ordinance against this, but he continues to see people doing it anyway. He said the Town is in the process of planning the Orange Street repaving with new. Miami guttering and swales and breaks ini the guttering. He also pointed out that Mr. Tompkins does not have 100-percent participation with the neighborhood dredging. Thel Mayor reminded him that he invited thel homeowners association to come to a meeting SO they could set up a special tax Mr. Tompkins said they have one neighbor in disagreement which prevents this. Commissioner Walters asked if Harbor East Dredging Inc. collects money from  Ordinance, would help.  district.  homeowners into a fund to use for dredging.  Mr. Tompkins said they formed a special LLC to raise money and this time they had to pay the state for a 25-year submerged land lease and needed an LLCtol hold al land lease - he added that they don'ta annually try toi raise money; instead they do it when a Commissioner Runte asked if they are a couple years away from dredging again. Mr. Tompkins said yes and they are probably looking at 10-20,000 cubic yards of muck for the next dredging. He said anything the Town can doi to help them would be great. With no further public comments, Mayor Simmons brought the meeting back to the  dredging need arises.  subject oft the budget.    Referencing P. 6oft the proposed budget, Commissioner Walters commented that Town Attorney fees are up 20-percent. He said hel knew some of that was from the Labor Attorney but hei thought the Town Commission had decided they didn't need the Town Mayor Simmons said that wasn't the case. The Town Attorney attends Planning & Zoning, Board of Adjustment, Special Meetings and Regular Town Commission Town Manager Mascaro said they still have work to do with thel labor attorney. Commissioner Walters asked how many officers are. left in the union and Town Manager Mayor Simmons said that last year they did not budget a labor attorney ($15,000) ora magistrate sO the real increase is that they needed to have a labor attorney. Referencing the tape of the last meeting on 6/24/2020, Commissioner Walters said he listened to the tape and heard they reduced Ryckman Park revenue but he didn'tcatch Mayor Simmons said they did not want to make a change resulting in a huge budget shortfall sO they thought, let's be more conservative, and if we get more than that - The Mayor asked if there were any other comments or questions from the Commission and there were: not, so he addressed the' Town Manager and asked what she needed from Town Manager Mascaro said that ife everyone is content with thel budget as discussed; she would set up two meetings in September - unless they wanted to meet sooner. She pointed out that the millage rate is less than the millage rate last year. She said that shej planned to put out a message on social media to help residents better understand their tax bill because shet thinks a lot of people misunderstand that only a small portion comes to the' Town. This would serve as an educational tool tol help people understand that taxes from gas, communications, etc. are all revenue generated through the state that we get aj percentage of. Soi for example, out of a $2,000 bill a resident may only be Town Manager Mascaro said she had to take a pretty conservative approach. Our Also, she noted with the Building Department, even though permitting continues to rise -1 there are not: as many bigj jobs (over $50,000) and people have pulled back.  Attorney to attend Planning & Zoning meetings.  Meetings.  Mascaro said she believed there were two.  what the reason was for this.  great.  them toj proceed.  paying $700 tot the Town.  revenues are down, but still up over last year.    Mayor Simmons asked if $35,000 is going into contingency fund and Town Manager Town Manager Mascaro said that when they finish the audit they can transfer reserves Mayor Simmons said that should give us about $2 million in reserves and Florida League of Cities recommends that coastal communities have six months in reserve. Mayor Simmons then asked ifeverybody was happy with the budget at the 9-percent over rollback rate. Commissioner Runte, Commission Quarrie indicated they were Commissioner Quarrie asked Commissioner Walters what changes he would propose. Commissioner Walters suggested they don'th hire two police officers because the Town Commissioner Runte asked Commissioner Walters, as former police chief, what kind of  Mascaro clarified it was $30,000. and will move: in $51,500.  happy with it - Commissioner Walters said no.  doesn'tneed as many as itl has. staffing did hei think was needed?  He responded; One chief, nine officers (two Sergeants and the rest patrol.) But he added -1 that all changed when the former Commission decided to promote sO Commissioner Runte said we should all leave here satisfied - or offer concrete solutions. Commissioner Walters said he felt the other Commissioners were trying to start an argument and said he's not voting fori this budget because we. have a pandemic and people are out of work. When prompted for more suggestions, Commissioner Walters  they could give them more: money.  declined.  Discussion ensued about police department staffing.  Vice Mayor Hoover said he liked the capital investment worksheet and noticed that over ten years the capital investments are decreasing and gave credit to Mayor Simmons. Vice Mayor Hoover also said he liked how the' Town Manager broke out the parks and Commissioner Runte also gave credit to Finance Manager Jennifer Kerr for a good job. Moving on from thel budget discussion, Mayors Simmons said he had a couple ofi items First, he wanted to knowi ift the Commission wanted to try and close the' Town'sl beaches.  thej pier and said good job.  to discuss.    Some discussion on thei issue ensued.  Mayor Simmons said the other issue he wanted to discuss was a mandatory mask policy. Residents have been asked him about it and it is something the Commission needs to Some discussion on the issue ensued. A suggestion to create a resolution to encourage The Town Commission agreed by unanimous consent to create a Resolution that says the Town strongly encourages residents to wear masks in local businesses and public Commissioner Walters said he wanted it noted that the Town Commission spent a total Vice Mayor Hoover moved to adjourn; Commissioner Runte seconded;  make a decision on.  the use of masks was discussed.  buildings and observe social distancing ofthree hours and 45 minutes on the budget.  Motion carried 5-0. Meeting adjourned at 6:05 p.m.  ATTEST:  Mayor  a5  Asa