Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 10-22-2007 special agenda — reading text

78, 185 cost reduction). Recommendation # 39: Close the Senior Citizens Center and achieve the higher level of savings of $78, 185. Finding: The Library hours exceed the standard in the county. The City' s Library is open a higher number of hours ( 64) than other libraries within the county. In order to be consistent with the practices of others within the county system, and to save additional funds, a reduction in the number of hours that the Library is open should be considered. Recommendation # 40: Reduce the number of Library hours per week from 64 to 50. An estimated $ 32, 000 annually would be saved. Finding: Revenue opportunities exist for the Department. The Parks and Recreation Department offers many services and should be appreciated for its excellent contributions to the community. The Department should be encouraged to seek more user revenue for its services. There are a number of revenue opportunities associated with the many recreation programs. The Department needs to explore them on a case- by- case basis. As user-generated revenues are increased, pressure is taken off the general fund. The Department should be rewarded by allowing it to keep its extra revenue in its budget for capital items or special expenses. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10- 8  Parks and Recreation This Department may always need a large subsidy from the General Fund, but every effort should be made to minimize that subsidy through the collection of user fees by this Department. In particular, the Department needs to charge higher fees to non- City residents, as many of the users of the facilities are non- citizens. Recommendation # 41: Create an internal recreation user fee committee with a goal of raising an additional $ 75, 000 in revenue in parks and recreation per year particularly targeted at non- city residents that use city facilities. Finding: The Department has selected certain contracting services with private providers but the city is subsidizing those private concerns under the existing agreements. Recommendation # 42: When appropriate, the Department needs to re- consider its current private contractor relationships at the next negotiation opportunities. Essentially, the City needs to halt any city subsidies of operations to those private money making operations as soon as this is possible. Finding: The Library contracts for landscaping services when the department in which it exists provides such services to all other units within the department. Recommendation # 43: The Department should provide landscaping services to the Library and not hire a private contractor when those services can be provided by Parks and Recreation Department with existing personnel. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10-9  Parks and Recreation Finding: The museum is a small but important contribution to the heritage of the area. However, it more logically should be operated by other public organizations. Recommendation # 44: The City should consider transferring its museum to another organization. Given its importance to the Indian nations, one candidate is the U. S. Park Service. Other candidates include local universities, creating a local non- profit organization for this purpose, or transferring it to an Indian tribe. This would save the City $ 130, 000 per year. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10- 10  11. 0 Community Development The Community Development Department is responsible for providing planning and development services according to the Comprehensive Land Development Code. Staff engages in building plan reviews, inspections, permitting, code enforcement, neighborhood involvement, and oversight of the Community Redevelopment Agency CRA) and the Community Development Block Grant ( CDBG) program. The upcoming year will be one of change for the Community Development Department. The City plans to outsource the CDBG program to the Okaloosa County Development Corporation in FY 2007-08, rather than subsidizing the program as in past years. Further, a grant- funded position for the Waterfronts Florida grant program has expired and the position eliminated. 11. 1 OrClanization and StaffinCl Eleven positions are shown in the Recommended City Budget, although only 10 will be funded in the upcoming year. They include: CDS Director; y Senior Planner; y Senior Staff Assistant; y Planning Manager- Current (duties more like a zoning administrator); y Building Code Official; Building Inspector; y Code Inspector I and II; Planning/ Building/ Zoning Clerk; and, y CRA Principal Planner. The CDBG Specialist may be funded part- time, and the CRA Waterfront Planner will not be funded. The Neighborhood Improvement Coordinator position is frozen. Exhibit 11- 1 on the following page represents the current structure as noted in the recommended City budget. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 11- 1  Community Development 11. 2 Maior Policies and ODerationallssues Code Inspections Finding: Staffing for code inspections is appropriate. Given the level of activity and the needs in the community, two ( 2) Code Inspector positions are appropriate. The performance measures for this function indicate a high percentage ( 96%) of complaints are resolved without intervention of the Code Enforcement Board. Recommendation # 45: Retain the current level of staffing for code inspections. Finding: Performance measures for this Department are well conceived. It is clear that a strong effort has been made to establish and maintain excellent performance measures in the Department. Recommendation # 46: Continue to implement performance measures as established in Community Development. Finding: Building inspections and plan reviews are completed in a timely manner. The Department has received very positive reviews from community contractors in terms of quality of plan reviews. The plan review times of three ( 3) days for residential plan reviews and seven ( 7) days for commercial plan reviews is within standard practices in the field. Recommendation # 47: Continue the current level of staffing and level of services for building inspections and plan reviews. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 11- 3  Community Development 11. 3 Alternative Service Deliverv Options Contracting Out Finding: Okaloosa County could supply the services currently provided by the department, including planning, building inspections, code inspections, and zoning. It would be possible to contract out services being provided by the Department. There are a large number of counties that do take on the inspections functions and occasionally planning and zoning activities. Most municipalities demonstrate an interest in having greater control over the planning and zoning functions. The inspections function is contracted when there is a good assurance that the level of service is equivalent or better. For the City to achieve substantial savings in these areas, the county would have to be able to be much more efficient ( which is not likely given the City' s high efficiency marks and 24 hour service level for inspections) for the same cost, or to complete the tasks with existing staff and provide the same level of service ( also unlikely). There is more commercial development ( Presidio and hotels) anticipated, so there will be increasing demands in that area as opposed to residential development. Recommendation # 48: Continue to provide community development services through the Community Development Department and its personnel. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 11- 4  12. 0 PUBLIC WORKS The Public Works Department is responsible for maintaining the city' s roadway and median infrastructure as well as municipal facilities, vehicles and equipment. The department also provides City-wide engineering services and operate two cemeteries. The Sanitation Division, operating as an enterprise fund, is also a part of Public Works. 12. 1 OrQanization and Staffina The current structure and staffing are shown in Exhibit 12- 1, which reflects the most recent organization chart presented in the FY 2008 recommended budget. The chart does not show the Service Maintenance Supervisor and the Engineer positions, which are recommended for elimination. Nor does it show the Street Sweeper position, which is to be moved to the Utilities fund. No major change to the organizational structure is recommended for Public Works. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 12- 1  Public Works Exhibit 12- 1 Public Works CITY COUNCIL CITY MANAGER PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR ( 1) Following are the structure, staffing and major services provided by each of these divisions: Administration The total number of authorized and filled positions is four ( 4). This includes the Department Director and Senior Staff Assistant as well as the Services Operations Manager and the Street Operations Manager ( even though the latter two positions may not be budgeted in Administration). Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 12- 2  Public Works Major services: Provides management and coordination of the operating divisions and monitors compliance with all City, State and Federal codes, policies and regulations. Engineering The total number of authorized positions is five ( 5) of which four ( 4) are filled. The filled positions are the City Engineer, who is the division head, an Engineering Services Manager, a Senior CAD Specialist and an Engineering Analyst. An Engineer position became vacant in 2002 and has not been filled. Major services: