Okaloosa County BOCC — September 20, 2016 — July 26, 2016 Budget Workshop (1) — reading text

July 26, 2016 Budget Workshop A budget workshop to review the Fiscal Year 2016-17 Budget was called to order at 8:30 a.m. at the Crestview City Hall Council Chambers. Members preéent were Charles K. Windes, Jr., Chairman; Carolyn Ketchel, Vice Chairman; Wayne Harris (left at 9:32 a.m. and did not return); Nathan Boyles; and Trey Goodwin. Also present were Gary Stanford, Finance Director; John Hofstad, County Administrator; and Greg Stewart, County Attorney. UPDATES FROM PREVIOUS WORKSHOP Mr. Hofstad stated there are no updates from yesterday’s budget meeting but he is working on incorporating changes from Tuesday’s meeting into the budget regarding insurance. He advised that changes arising from today’s meeting will be implemented and brought to the Board at Monday’s budget meeting. CLERK OF COURTS Mr. J.D. Peacock, Clerk of Court, stated he submitted the Clerk of Court’s Fiscal Year 2016-2017 Budget at the end of May, reflecting $1.5 - $1.6 Million which is a 3.25 % increase over current funding. He explained the Board funds BCC Finance Department, BCC Records Department (Clerk to BCC) and the Internal Auditor’s Inspector General (IG) Department which are statutory requirements for the Clerk’s Office. Mr. Peacock said the original request was for a 3% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), insurance and other personnel assignment processes but have adjusted to 2% to match the County’s budget. Mr. Peacock explained the Inspector General’s Department will assist in a Statewide task force for the Department of Elder Services as it relates to professional guardians. He said this will provide additional revenue to the IG office offsetting the cost by $10,000. He further explained the Clerk’s office has adjusted to $25,000 versus the $50,000 increase, which equates to a 1.62% increase over the current year’s budget, including a 2% COLA adjustment and $7,500 increase in insurance for Board supported employees. Mr. Peacock stated the Clerk’s budget request is for an increase of $25,094. He concluded by highlighting some of the Clerk’s more notable duties this year and thanked the Board for working together as a team. July 26, 2016 =S Minute Book 75 Page 63 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners Mr. Peacock responded to Mr. Boyles saying there has been a reallocation of funds between FY 16-17 relating to the elected official’s salary and explained there was a shift in allocated cost to direct cost based on the type of work the general fund supports. Additional conversation ensued. Mr. Peacock explained the court system is self-sufficient with the exception of the building their operations are housed in. PUBLIC SAFETY - BEACH SAFETY Mr. Windes requested Item #4 be addressed first to allow Mr. Harris to attend a previously scheduled obligation. Mr. Alvin Henderson, Public Safety Director, reviewed the major accomplishments for the last year, stating they have conducted over 150,000 documented preventative actions. He said their focus is to keep people from getting into predicaments that could ultimately cause lives to be lost. He said Beach Safety accomplishes its mission through proactive education and training. He said their Junior Life Guard Program educates youth who may want to pursue a career in Public Safety. He further stated Public Safety relies on the Junior Life Guard Program for filling the 22 seasonal life guard positions. Mr. Henderson briefed on the Beach Safety Program Goals, stating it can only be accomplished with the appropriate funding. Mr. Henderson said a decrease in their staffing will eliminate life guard services after 6 p.m., from Memorial Day to Labor Day. He explained their request for $590,000 is for equipment needs and staffing. He stated without adequate funding the number of life guards would decrease from 8 to 6 thereby decreasing the number of life guards on the beach from 2.5 to 1.5. He explained that means losing a life guard for every mile of beach protected by Beach Safety. Year to date, Mr. Henderson said they have 106,000 preventative actions and 32 rescues. He said a loss of staffing would hinder their preventative action response time. He said their response time for under 9 minutes is greater than 95% but will diminish in the absence of funding. He said beach attendance is increases which puts a greater demand on life guards. Mr. Henderson said the demand for services will continue to increase and reiterated that services will diminish as a result of cutting Beach Safety staff. The budget also reflects a decrease in vehicles, operating supplies and Capital Outlay. He explained the July 26, 2016 -2- Minute Book 75 Page 64 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners $20,000 decrease means 2 important vehicles being removed from their budget (a jet ski and a 4x4 Pick up). In response to Mr. Harris, Mr. Henderson said $50, 000 would enhance their budget. Mr. Harris said it would be detrimental if the Beach Safety Program is not funded. Discussion ensued with Mr. Harris recounting facts about Beach Safety. Mr. Harris said $50,000 could be the difference between life and death and challenged the Board to find a way to fund the $50,000. Mrs. Ketchel concurred with Mr. Harris’. Mr. Stewart said the funding for beach life guards has been taken from tourist tax dollars for many years based on his legal advice per Statute. Discussion ensued regarding changes to the Statute, proactive actions of life guards, tourist versus local visitors and the Wheel Chair Program. Following discussion, Mr. Stewart said current Legislation has created a subcategory within expenditures for public safety type programs. He said in his opinion funding life guards through TDC has been eliminated by the Legislature for three counties, including Okaloosa County. Mr. Boyles concurred with Mr. Stewart. Mr. Boyles made a non-binding motion, seconded by Mr. Goodwin, for staff to bring back a revised budget to fully fund the Public Safety Beach Services at the amount requested in their original submittal and the funding be 100% funded by Tourist Development taxes. Discussion ensued. Mr. Windes said the $50,000 could be found in the General Fund and asked Mr. Hofstad if it were possible. Mr. Hofstad said if that’s the direction of the Board he can find the money in the General Fund. Brief discussion ensued with Mr. Windes standing in opposition of the motion. Mr. Henderson made a correction stating the current budget for Beach Safety was approved for $562,304 and the original request was $590,000. Mr. Boyles stated his motion is for $590,000. Mr. Goodwin stated his second stands and Mrs. Ketchel stated she supports the motion. Motion approved 4 yeas, 1 nay (Mr. Windes voting no). Mr. Harris left at 9:32 a.m. PUBLIC SAFETY - EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES Mr. Henderson, said the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Division notes a constant increase in activity. He stated they strive to be efficient by improving the services provided. He said changing their Basic Life Support (BLS) is an area they identified for improvement. He explained they have 2 9-hour BLS ambulances they have requested to change to Advance Life Support (ALS) units. July 26, 2016 -3- Minute Book 75 Page 65 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners Mr. Tracey Vause, Emergency Medical Services Division Chief, said ALS units generates more revenue than BLS units. He explained they take more calls because they operate inside the 911 system, whereas BLS operates outside the 911 Support System taking less calls. He said EMS does not receive full utilization from BLS units and ALS units would provide the better Return-On-Investment. He stated the cost for the first year would be $25,000 but at an average of $310 per transport an addition 40 transports would cover that cost the first year. Mr. Henderson said the program is beneficial and would pay for itself in addition to covering the services provided by BLS. Based on Mr. Boyles’ gquestions, Mr. Vause said transition to ALS does require some equipment upgrade but it is already in inventory so there is no cost. He continued by explaining a sticker is placed on the vehicle making it BLS or ALS. Mr. Vause concurred with Mr. Boyles stating the upgrade to ALS expands their field of services and explained no additional staff is required. NOTE: The Board had no questions regarding Public Safety’s other departments. RECESS - The meeting was recessed at 9:50 a.m. and reconvened at 10:00 a.m. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Mr. Don Vanderhcek, Chief Technology Officer, said the IT Department presented a budget for $2,650,781 which is a $32,000 increase from last year’s budget. He said the IT Department was designed to maintain an information infrastructure that emphasizes data sharing among the departments and integrated county computing and network resources as a single enterprise. He said the mission must be accomplished with efficiency and said that centralizing the department has worked well. Mr. Vanderhoek said the IT Department is composed of three divisions: Systems and Networks, Applications and the Gecgraphic Information System (GIS) Division which included Fiber Optics. Referring to a slide, he provided a logical view of the Okaloocsa County Network. He stated Article 5 of the State Constitution mandates what services are to be provided to constitutional offices. In response to Mrs. Ketchel, he said the School Board is not included in the list of constitutional offices Mr. Dan Sambenedetto, IT Interim Director, said ITs budget is flat compared to last year’s budget with a $32,000 increase. He said July 26, 2016 -4- Minute Book 75 Page 66 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners the increase is for PC replacement and CISCO Head End Gear which makes the fiber optic network operate. He said equipment and training reflects a small increase. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - TELECOMMUNICATIONS Mr. Sambenedetto said telecommunications is vitally important and consists of all the outside activities performed to keep the Fiber Optic Network operational. He said IT must: e Perform Utility Locates required to help prevent damage to cables e¢ Maintain highly accurate Network Maps e Maintain highly accurate Splice Diagrams e Perform Utility Relocations as required by FDOT, Eglin AFB or others. e Repair damaged fiber optic cable, conduit and pull boxes ¢ Maintain Head Ends including buildings, cooling systems and backup generators e Assign 24/7 support personnel to handle maintenance calls at any time e Additional Field Operation Personnel to review plans, perform CEI, and other important OSP duties. Mr. Sambenedetto explained that the Telecommunications staffing has been absorbed into the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) staffing leaving 3.5 full-time positions conducting GIS functions. He said the GIS Analyst position reflected in their budget is a result of Okaloosa County’s Enterprise Departments requested IT assistance to help them leverage technology to become more proficient. Mr. Sambenedetto said the IT Department’s workload continues to increase however they lack the staffing to maintain or leverage new technologies. He stated cutting the GIS Analyst position will impact their meeting the needs of enterprise departments and requested consideration in keeping the position and exploring the possibility of cost allocating it out to multiple enterprise departments to minimize the impact on the General Revenue. Mr. Sambenedetto stated the Telecommunications vehicle request is reflected in their GIS budget and requests the vehicle be transferred to Telecommunications. He further explained that Telecommunications is funded by revenue from Fiber Capital Projects. Following discussion, Mr. Boyles stated he would be supportive of exploring avenues to respond to enterprise departments using a July 26, 2016 =5& Minute Book 75 Page 67 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners model such as the one initiated in the Purchasing Department. Mr.