Okaloosa County BOCC — May 21, 2013 (meeting #1140) — reading text

bid for a full county survey/inspection rather than have inspections conducted on an ad hoc basis. Mr. Harris also expressed concern about the “piece meal” approach and withdrew his motion. Mr. Turner said the policy does not give him any authority to spend money, adding they are still subject to regulatory requirements. Mr. Boyles said his next remarks are meant for all department heads. He stated if an issue has countywide effects, it should be thoroughly staffed before it is brought before the Board. Mr. Amunds directed this item be tabled with no time certain given for the next review. COMMISSIONER AMUNDS - “WALKING THE HALLS” AND AGENDA REVIEW TIME Mr. Amunds stated in years past there was a custom of “walking the halls” where an individual or department head would meet individually with the commissioners to discuss upcoming items. He commented we have gotten away from that and perhaps the practice should be reconsidered. Mr. Amunds pointed out the number and complexity of items which appear on the agenda and said commissioners have only from the time the agenda is published on Thursday until the meeting the following Tuesday to review and ask questions about the items. Mr. Boyles said it was Friday morning before this meeting’s agenda came out and there was only a narrow window to review all the support documents. He pointed out there were 535 pages of support material and questioned having sufficient time to review the agenda items. Mr. Parisot remarked there are some meetings with more than 1,000 pages of support material. He said one of today’s Consent Agenda items was for a final contract payment and questioned the relevance of the 186 pages which were attached. Mr. Amunds responded the Clerk wants all the pages which the Board has access to for the official records. Mr. Harris did not object to the volume of supporting documents, saying he would rather have more than less. Mr. Amunds said there have been discussions on reducing the volume of paperwork but the Clerk’s May 21, 2013 -22- Minute Book 69, Page 147 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners position is firm on his statutory responsibilities for custody of the records. FACILITIES MAINTENANCE - APPROVAL OF CONTRACT DOCUMENTS WITH LORD & SON FOR DESIGN-BUILD PROJECT AT SHALIMAR ANNEX (POCKET ITEM) Mr. Turner stated he has a pocket item he would like to present regarding approval of contract documents with Lord & Son for the design-build project at the Shalimar Annex. He noted the official copy in the Clerk’s Office (as presented to the Board on October 16, 2012) did not have any exhibits attached. Subsequently, payment to the contractor has been withheld pending verification of a complete contract document. Mr. Turner said after obtaining a copy of the official contract from the Clerk’s Office the exhibits were added and the President of Lord & Son came in to initial each page of the document. He asked the Board to approve this item and to authorize the Chairman to initial each page. Mr. Parisot asked about the strikethroughs on the document presented to the Board at the last meeting. Mrs. Teresa Ward, Clerk to the Board, stated the official document submitted to the Board on October 16, 2012 for consideration had only one strikethrough which concerned the incorrect date of acceptance. Mr. Turner said the version presented to the Board at the May 7 meeting was a working copy. Mr. Amunds stated all the information on this pocket item should be forwarded to Mr. Dowd for review and then placed on the agenda. Mr. Harris advised that he is opposed to pocket items unless there is an emergency. POSSIBILITY OF EXECUTIVE SESSION Upon inguiry by Mr. Amunds, Mr. Dowd stated he may request an Executive Session at the next meeting. He advised it would be held at the conclusion of the regular meeting. OLD BUSINESS - ADDITIONAL REVENUE SOURCES FOR FY 2013-14 BUDGET Mr. Amunds reported letters have been received from CHELCO, Gulf Power, and Okaloosa Gas with their responses to the possibility of implementation of franchise fees. He reported revenue from the unincorporated portion of the county has not been submitted May 21, 2013 -~23- Minute Book 69, Page 148 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners to the county and he and Mr. Dowd will meet with utility representatives to discuss the issue. Mr. Parisot said he put together a package addressing not only the fiscal challenges facing the Board for the coming budget year but his perspective on franchise fees. He noted that he spoke with Mark Galvin, financial consultant with First Southwest, and asked him to put together some information which is identified as “New Money Capacity Analysis.” Mr. Parisot told the commissioners the subject can be discussed today or tabled until the next meeting. He then briefly reviewed the charts on the fiscal challenges for the coming year. Mr. Boyles remarked the Board’s job is a tough one and it should be done as cost effectively as possible. He also felt the commissioners should move as closely as possible in unison. Mr. Boyles stated he is open to discussing franchise fees as a complement for revenues. He pointed out that he heard from two commissioners the door is shut on an increase in gas taxes. Mr. Boyles said his question is whether or not there is an appetite to discuss a blended consideration. He stressed that he wants to split the costs as broadly and as fairly as possible. Mr. Parisot responded that another option is a local option sales tax but it would cost $200,000 for a special election to put before the people; otherwise, it could be put on the ballot in August 2014. He stated he has no appetite to increase ad valorem taxes. He said even if the additional funding for the Sheriff is denied, if we forget about replacing vehicles and equipment, and give no salary increases to employees, there will be increases in retirement and Medicaid which must be paid. Mr. Parisot stated if the Board does not come up with revenue sources, the option is to significantly cut services in the county. He underlined the fact there will be a $5 Million shortfall. Mr. Amunds stated that $1.7 Million could be cut for the Sheriff's expanded School Resource Officer (SRO) Program, the Board can hold off on the Capital Outlay projects, and it can cut the $1.5 Million it would take to provide a 3% salary adjustment to employees. He said at the end of the day the Board would tell the Constitutional Officers “this is your budget” and it would be up to them to make their cuts/adjustments. Mr. Amunds said he feels Boards across the State get hung up on certain issues but he feels it is not the role of the Board of County Commissioners to tell Constitutional May 21, 2013 -24- Minute Book 69, Page 149 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners Officers how to spend their money. “We make sure they have what they need based on our income.” He stated the decision not to create additional income belongs to the Board. Continuing, Mr. Amunds said if a Constitutional Officer has money in his budget to give employees raises, he can do so regardless of whether or not the Board has such funds available for its employees. He stated the Board cannot tell them not to give their employees increases. Mr. Harris advised that he reluctantly makes the following comments but he would like his fellow commissioners to consider the option of creating a MSTU to fund the Sheriff's Office. He said the Sheriff could set his budget based on the MSTU revenue. Mr. Harris stated the MSTU assessment could go up to 10 mills. He said he has not done a lot of research on this option but he does know a number of counties in the State are doing this. Mr. Dowd said the MSTU could fund certain aspects of the Sheriff's Office. Mr. Harris recommended Mr. Padgett get with Mr. Dowd and Mr. Stanford to discuss the feasibility of this option, He said if it is viable, then the Board’s budget could be reduced by a like amount of its contribution to the Sheriff. Mr. Dowd said there is a problem with the concept because you cannot delegate that to the Sheriff, the Board would still be the governing body. Mr. Harris asked Mr. Dowd to research this concept and tell the Board what it can and cannot do. Mr. Parisot asked who would set the millage rate for such a MSTU and who would provide oversight. Mr. Dowd agreed those are problems. He said creating a MSTU for the Sheriff's Office would require an ordinance to be adopted by the county. He said there is also an issue of who would be on the governing board for that MSTU. Upon inquiry by Mr. Parisot, Mr. Dowd said the MSTU would not fund the entire Sheriff's Office budget. Mr. Harris countered and said it could and questioned the dismissal of the idea without having all the information presented. He renewed his desire for Mr. Dowd, Mr. Stanford, Mr. Padgett and Sheriff Ashley to look at this concept. Mr. Dowd expressed his concerns about dual taxation issues. Mr. Parisot said his intent on the franchise fee is to have flexibility in use of the revenues. He stated a portion of the franchise fee revenues could, by ordinance, be set aside for roads, stormwater and the General Fund. He added that he is not asking for a vote today. Mr. Boyles responded that he does not May 21, 2013 -25- Minute Book 69, Page i150 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners think there is political support for the imposition of franchise fees. Whenever Mr. Parisot stated the political support will come from the five men sitting at the dais, Mr. Boyles said they have to justify this to their constituents. Mr. Boyles pointed out he laid a foundation for community support on the gas tax. He said it had specific projects and a limited duration, adding those projects were open for debate. Mr. Boyles stated he built a political consensus for this proposal to increase the gas tax, listening to both those for and against, and he believes it was one that could have been adopted and the commissioners could have held their heads high in approving. Continuing, he told Mr. Parisot he dismissed that proposal out of turn but now comes back with a proposal that is unlimited, substantially more expensive for the constituents, and asks for his support and others to buy into it. Mr. Parisot stated the gas tax would only address roads. Mr. Boyles said the question remains on the table, again asking Mr. Parisot if he has the political capital. He shared that his fear is there are two alternatives with merit which may die for lack of reaching an agreement or compromise because one was dismissed out of turn at the outset. Mr. Harris stated he does not want to dismiss anything out of turn but was a proponent of Mr. Boyles’ gas tax proposal and explained how he measured out the proposals. He said during the summertime if a utility bill is $150, the franchise fee on that bill will be $9. However, if an individual fills up a 20-gallon tank on his vehicle, the increased gas tax would amount to only $1. Mr. Harris stated one-third of the gas tax would be shared by the visitors and tourists. He reiterated the way he looked at it is a $9 tax versus a $1 tax. Mr. Parisot commented the franchise fee would bring in more revenues. Mr. Boyles responded that he believes everyone understands the math and is reminded of the question “How do you eat an elephant?” He said the answer is “one bite at a time” but he believes Mr. Parisot is trying to swallow that sucker whole. Mr. Boyles stated Mr. Parisot has set a standard of dismissing out of turn and going in an alternate direction. He said he understands that his proposal does not resolve the problem but does improve it. Mr. Boyles stated the Board sits with two proposals that are unworkable and that is unfortunate. May 21, 2013 -26- Minute Book 69, Page 15] Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners The Chairman closed the discussion on this item and opened the floor for public comment. No one came forward to speak.