MIN CC 06/23/1992CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JUNE 23, 1992 BOOK "R" 72
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1§9� - `PH @-CITY
HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS, LOCATED AT 1212 AVENUE M IN THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, COUNTY OF -,'
WALKER, TEXAS AT 5:30 P.M.
The Council met in a regular session with the following members present:
W. H. Hodges, Mayor Officers:
James L. Carter William H. Knotts, Jr. Gene Pipes, City Manager -.
Ila G. Gaines Ronald L Lange Scott Bounds, City Attorney
William B. Green Dan S. Davis Melba Byers, City Secretary
Charles Robinson ABSENT f;ary Beu
CITIZENS INPUT/INQUIRY
Mayor Hodges called the meeting to order and asked if there were any citizens present who wished to address Council.
There were none. Mayor Hodges called a recess until 5:30, the scheduled time for Regular Session.
REGULAR SESSION • CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Hodges called the regular session to order. Invocation by City Manager Gene Pipes.
CONSIDER MINUTES OF JUNE 16, 1992
Councilmember Gaines made a motion to approve the minutes of June 16 1992, and Councilmember Davis seconded
the motion. All were in favor and the motion nassed unanimously. NOTE: Councilmember Bell was absent.
- ATTENDING CITIZENS
None in attendance.
CONSIDER CHANNEL 7 CONTRACT
City Manager Pipes stated this is a renewal contract, in fact, in the past years it has only been written as an annual
contract. This year, it is an automatic renewal. Placed at your location is a letter from Dr. Eubanks concerning this particular
contract Services rendered to the public through Channel 7 is outlined in that letter. This is a percentage of the franchise fee '
for Cable Channel 7 operations that would be paid to the University through General Funds and stipulated for the Radio /Fire
Department. Councilmember Knotts made a motion to approve this contract with a second by Councilmember Gaines. The
motion passed unanimously.
CONSIDER FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT
Councilmember Green stated that the City has recently completed a three year contract with Candyce Dixon for the
audit of the City's financial condition. Therefore, staff has sought bids from accounting firms. The Financial Committee has
reviewed those bids and is recommending the City engage Bickley, Prescott & Co. for a three year contract at an average price
of $12,300. Councilmember Green then stated this is a motion to approve this contract. Councilmember Davis seconded the
motion. The motion passed unanimously.
CONSIDER MONTHLY TAX COLLECTION REPORT
City Manager Pipes stated these adjustments to the tax roles must be approved on a monthly basis since the City
switched to the Appraisal District. Councilmember Robinson made a motion to approve the report with a second by
Councilmember Gaines. The motion passed unanimously.
CITY MANAGER'S REPORT
Citizen Policy Academy: City Manager Pipes stated this is a proposal by the Police Department to conduct a Citizen's
Police Academy which would function as a public relations extension of the Police Department making the community, its citizens
and the Police Department more familiar with each other. By conducting this series of activities, individual citizens will become
more aware of the ongoing methodology and processes in policing and of course, also make the policemen aware of the
community and their particular involvement in the community. This is an initial step in the program for the City of Huntsville,
but it is a tried and proven initiative in other areas such as Conroe, College Station and other cities. We think it would be a very
positive step. It will involve a little money for an end of process banquet for the participants. Staff recommends this for your
consideration.
Councilmember Lange made a motion to approve this proposal with a second by Councilmember Knotts. The motion ,
passed unanimously.
Councilmember Robinson asked if the instructors (Officers) would be on duty, free time or what. Police Chief Eckhardt
stated, we are looking at a volunteer basis. There will not be any overtime.
Councilmember Lange voiced a concern regarding the City's liability should a policeman becoming overzealous and takes
CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JUNE 23, 1992
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is no way to waive all liability. We routinely transport prisoners and individuals from disabled vehicles to places of safety and
things like that City Attorney Bounds' opinion is this will not result in any large increase in our liability exposure. If there was
injury while riding in a police vehicle, whether a waiver was signed or not, there is some liability to the City. We are not talking
about a repetitious "ride along" program, we are talking about a "one time" event with each individual enrolled in the class to have
an experience, not to have an "ongoing" Saturday night ride with a patrolman.
Councilmember Green asked how many people are needed to make this aviable program. Police Chief Eckhardt stated,
we are looking at fifteen people in a class. Councilmember Green asked, if you have ten applicants what are you going to do.
Police Chief Eckhardt stated, all cities contacted who have participated in these classes stated they had so many applications a
system of accepting citizens had to be set up.
Councilmember Davis asked about the total broad base of interested citizens in the community. Police Chief Eckhardt
stated, we have been told this includes citizens who had been involved in City politics in the past, station workers, business owners,
insurance salesmen, etc. It is truly a broad base of citizens who wish to participate in the community. Also, we plan to present
this program two to three times each year, depending on how well the program goes. We we this as a tremendous way to bring
the citizens and the police officers closer together.
Councilmember Green stated he would like to see some feedback before the second program is initialized. Police Chief
Eckhardt stated, we are developing an evaluation form for each segment of the program.
CONSIDER PURCHASE OF ICE MACHINE
Mayor Hodges stated, this is a request for the replacement of an ice machine which is over ten years old for the Service
Center. The cost is not to exceed $3,500 and is recommended by Staff. Councilmember Lange made a motion to approve this
purchase with a second by Councilmember Gaines. The motion passed unanimously.
MAYOR'S ACL'IVrff REPORT
Mayor Hodges stated, the City of Huntsville hired MGT of America to do a Management/Efficiency Study approximately
sixty days ago. The study is completed. The study was headed by Councilmembers Green and Bell. And, the main purpose for
' this meeting tonight is to be given their report of findings. At this point, I will let Councilmember Green make a speech and an
introduction and then turn the meeting over to Ed Perine, Project Coordinator, MGT of America.
Councilmember Green stated, the contact people that Councilmember Bell and I have worked with have been Ed Perine
and Steve Humphry. We reviewed a preliminary report last week and made some minor suggestions which were incorporated into
the final report. Ed Perine is going to make the presentation, after which, I, as Chairman of this committee, will simply
recommend that we accept the study for review.
Ed Perine began his presentation. Mayor, members of the Council and Mr. Pipes, we are very pleased to present you
the final report of the organizational and management review. What I would like to do is briefly run through the process that
we used and then identify for you some of the major recommendations and findings that we found in this two month review.
Copies of the review are available for the Council as well as the audience. In the request, we were asked to look at the total City
Government, the City Council and Constitutional Officers, which included the City Secretary, the City Attorney and the Court
System, as well as the Operational Departments, recognizing that the City Manager is both the Chief Executive and Constitutional
Officer. The City Manager's office, Finance, Community Development, Police, Public Utilities, Engineering and Public Works,
is a broad spectrum of seven departments with thirty-eight different divisions. This is the current organizational structure of the
City. In meeting and talking with you in the RFP and meeting with the Committee, the purpose as defined to us was to evaluate
the efficiency and the effectiveness of its current operations. Mayor, I think as you stated, to provide a report card on what
individual departments in the overall City of Huntsville, Administration and Management are doing, recommend changes to
address those specific areas where improvements are needed, and to provide an opportunity for all employees as well as the
citizens to express their ideas, their views, and their opinions on how the government is operating today. I was very much
impressed with the initial discussions we had prior to being selected, such as, this is not a "witch hunt ", this is just an overall review
since we have not looked at ourselves in a long time, we want to see how we are doing, and there are no hidden agendas. This
approach geared everybody to view this study as- -let's see how we can do things better by effectively planning for the future and
how, to move ahead.
The scope of the project was very broad. The challenges and tasks that were provided to us, and the range is very wide:
Analysis of Structures, Spans of Control, Lines of Authority, Accountability and Communications between all departments, Council
and departments, the community - the whole range- An analysis of Service Levels, Workloads, Staffing, Facilities and Equipment
was also included. The key that was stressed to us over and over was the Assessment of the Employees Attitudes and Morale.
To review the Administrative Processes, Systems, Policies and Procedures, the key thing was to identify the Opportunities for
CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JUNE 23, 1992 BOOK "R" 74
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proposal that we presented to you is really based on how we are going to approach this study, and the reasons for our selection.
We felt that it was very important to really involve a very broad cross section of the Staff as well as the community. I think the
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tone you set greatly assisted us in accomplishing this mission. We met initially with the Department Heads to seek their
cooperation and really relate to them your feelings that this is open, above board, we want to make things better, and we want '.
your cooperation. I think the Department Heads very effectively transmitted that message to the employees. Some people were
concerned that people would not open up. After a while, our concern was, will people ever shut up. And, I don't mean that in
a derogatory manner. People were very open, they were candid, they had no hesitancy in expressing their ideas, opinions and that ".
goes for City, Councilmembers and the Community at large. I think that gives you a balanced view. We did look at a majority
.I of departmental reports and dated information that was provided to us very timely. I think everybody recognized that we were
under a tight time line, as directed by you, and everybody really worked around schedules to provide us information, and to meet
with us, which I think that was very important. We also conducted a survey of all employees as to their attitudes, morale, opinions'
of operations and changes that they would like to see in the future. The 55% participation rate is really understated. In addition
' to all full time employees, surveys were sent to all volunteer firemen (40), as well as the EMS personnel (about 20) that is
associated with the City but a little bit outside of the range. Therefore, the City participation rate is closer to 70 %, which is
extremely high. The survey was met 150 questions and I think the people who took the time really showed their interest. So in
- addition to that, I would quote 65% safe participation. We received 26 surveys after the analysis of the information had been
started. We included the comments of these, but we could not include the specific data elements. In addition, we conducted
personal interviews with Staff, Council and Community Representatives. We had a staff of about seven people here for about .
a week talking with all levels of staff, not just Department Heads. Through the organization, we drew a sample of a cross section.
The City Manager's office very expeditiously assisted us in lining up interviews not only for staff but also the community citizens.
We met with the subcommittee and the advisory committee and got a broad cross section of the community representatives. We
told them the kind of folks we wanted to talk to and worked out a wide group to interview as well as all the of the City Council
Members. Over one hundred interviews were conducted. Some of them with follow ups to gain additional information or
clarification. We also did a Comparative Survey with similar cities. I think you we very fortunate in your relationship with your
' sister cities in Texas. We provided a list of about twenty. We screened it down to about ten that had similar characteristics as
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close as we could get. Not many people have prisons the size of Huntsville within their community boundaries, which is one
deviation. We looked at education and tried to come up with a comparative analysis. Every city provided us the detailed
information we requested. The team spent numerous hours looking at the information and coming up with our analysis of what
we found, preparation of the draft report that we reviewed with the Committee, and the final report for you tonight. What we
would like to do is just briefly run through the major findings and recommendations that we found.
There are over one hundred recommendations presented in the report. Some of them are very minor. Overall, we feel
that these recommendations can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the City. Let me say right up front, we found the City
of Huntsville to be a very efficient and effective local government and I think that is to your credit. That's from a citizen's
viewpoint, a staff's viewpoint, and if you look at the survey analysis of the staff response which included a wide range, people think
Huntsville is a good place to work, to live and the government is efficiently and effectively managed. The City compares very
favorably with the other cities that we made a comparison with. Somebody stated to me, on a report card you usually get a grade,
_ what kind of a grade would you give the City of Huntsville if you had to put a percentage or letter grade on it? It is my opinion .
and our staffs opinion that Huntsville would rate in the 80% out of one hundred cities for the community. One of the other
things we noted is, the City is providing a wide range of county-wide services that you don't we many cities providing. I think you
have encompassed your boundaries to provide even greater services to the citizens of Walker County. And, that can sometimes
be a two-edged sword. In fact, some of the people I talked with says, why don't we just incorporate the whole county. We did
not put a recommendation in here for a metro government. But, if you will look at what is going on throughout the country, a
lot of movement is heading that way. A lot of states have changed their legislation to permit that to occur. I don't think the time
is right, now, but down the road you may be looking at this. We also found that the City's facilities and equipment are above
average compared to not only the cities we have contacted but also the cities we have visited. If you will look at your physical
plant, and at the infra - structure development emphasis that this Council has placed on building, you are many years ahead of most
cities in this country. Those are some of the positives we put up front and tried to weigh. I don't care what organization you go
to, you can always find things to be improved. Part of our responsibilities was to report that back to you. -
One of the things we found is that the City Council is perceived as not quite knowing where they are going at this point.
You did a plan in 1989, but it hasn't really been updated. People would like to see clear direction of the future of the City, so
so we recommend that the Council really take a look at this and start saying, what are the goals, what is the mission, and the
CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JUNE 23 1992
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placed for increased services. We are very aware that the millage has remained the same for the last four years. In fact, it has
decreased from the early eighties with the passage of the sales tax. I think the day of luxury of trying to maintain status quo is
an area of serious consideration the Council needs to address if it's going to continue to move forward.
We were asked to look at efficiencies and effectiveness and will be touching on some of those. We looked at the
workload of the City Attorney. We know, in the past, he has provided a wide range of support to you, especially during your
construction period through contracts. A lot of that is out of the way, but it may be time to consider sharing that attorney's
expertise with other governmental entities. He is very knowledgeable in civil law and municipal law. He has been providing some
services to other cities on a pro bono basis, but it may be a way that you can look at improved efficiency. One of the things we
found that we felt was a serious problem was the current organizational structure of the City. We saw divisions linked together
under a department that was hard to make sense of, how does that relationship develop. You haven't looked at yourself for a
long time and it is time to step back occasionally and say, is this really the right way? We tried to disregard any prior
arrangements, and use the rationale that's saying, for a good government structure, how could you put it together to be more
efficient and effective. The chart shown on the overhead is in the back of your document.
We found a City Manager that was responsible for not only reporting to you, having department heads reporting to him,
but was operationally involved in some of the divisions, and just spread all over the place. In our opinion, this decreases
effectiveness to serving Council and serving the City. We saw seven departments. Some of the functions were in two different
departments and we said, what would be more efficient. We are recommending to you a structure with five departments linking
those units within that department that have commonality, for example, in Community Development and Public Works. As we
looked at past actions of this Council to move toward a one stop shopping center, then it seemed liked putting Planning, Code
Enforcement together in a service center where sewer/water issues were tied together, the engineering. We are recommending,
therefore, you have a merger of Utilities, Public Works and the Planning/Zoning area.
Councilmember Green, at this point, stated, Ed, just for purposes of clarification, many of us may not remember exactly
what our current organizational chart looks like with what you actually have. Page S reflects our current organizational chart which
' you might want to compare with the proposed organizational chart.
Also, many cities are moving toward a Department of Public Safety. Currently, you have Police as a separate
department Fire and EMS are reporting to the City Manager, and you recognize EMS as a coordinated role with the two other
entities of the Hospital Ward and the County Commission. Your interest needs to be there, but the oversight of that body and
Animal Control is in another department. We are recommending that a Department of Public Safety be created.
General Services. Right now, General Services is kind of in Community Development. Finance is spread about three
or four different places. Parts are not linking together. But, if you create a Department of General Services, then you put
together the support activities that serve all of the rest of the City Government, that was our intent. I think you see the structure
that is being proposed.
One of the things we were asked to do was to look at workload measures by department. We found this a serious
weakness. Departments are not establishing goals such as: here's how many units of work we are going to do per month, annually
and this is how many dollars that is going to take. We found very little of that kind of hazd information available and are
recommending that a process be established for performance measures for all operational use. In this budget year, it may be
rough. We think it ought to start with this budget cycle. It may be crude, but you've got to start somewhere. During the next
year, that can be refined and improved on and I think it will provide more meaningful information to you as to how your dollars
are being allocated and what you're really spending. We know that the Council has addressed the issue of what do we do with
HEAP. Should it be contracted out or should we maintain it. As we looked at it, we found that the City is the only one really
providing cultural enrichment activities in the community. The YMCA has been established, but their mission in the past has been
more recreational oriented. Our recommendation is that the City should maintain, if you're going to keep that focus on improving
the cultural enrichment activities of the community government, but right now, you are doing a very poor job in recreation. In
comparison to other cities that have programmed equal, they have departments of somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty to
fifty with sports and all kinds of activities. We don't see the City really getting into that. Right now, you have the YMCA that
is really trying to get established, and it may be better to establish a contractual relationship. You have the facilities and maintain
them, but for the program component of really developing those, it is more in line with the mission of the YMCr1. So, that is
an alternative for your consideration.
Privatization. We were asked to address other things that you could spin off to private business. Really, we only
identified two, and that's in the Fleet Maintenance and in Sanitation. These are the two that we found that could have potential.
We are not recommending it without serious study - -do you really want to do this. If you look at Fleet Maintenance, all fleet
CITY COUNCIL MF.EIING OF JUNE 23, 1992 BOOK "R" 76
-- �ervtcesf- thereaze- several -o t ter means avetEen worred" out. For
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- example, you could keep the facility and contract, and there are firms out there that will contract with you for a fee to provide
their services for the City, using your facility. Most of the time, what they will do is hire existing City staff as their mechanics, as
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their support, but they operate it. The other thing you could do is privatize with local businesses - -would the Ford Dealership be
interested in providing all the services that you may need. A third option that's not being done now is establish it as an enterprise
fund. Many cities are going to a charge back to each of the departments for the cost, and they build in the departmental budget,
the cost of maintaining their fleet as the garage provides services and that department says, can I get it cheaper someplace else.
It promotes more efficiency. So there are several ways. It is an area that could be considered. The same way with Sanitation.
We don't think that is realistic. Most of the time we found for sanitation services, if you can piggyback on to somebody else's in '..
close proximity then it may be cost effective to contract it out. We don't see that occurring here. The satisfaction of the quality i.'.
of service, of the maintenance of the vehicles is all very high compared to other cities we looked at. We were asked to look at
it, we it as an option, but feel it is not highly probable.
We also noted that you haven't looked at your job classification and pay plan in a long time. When we started going J
through and trying to identify who is a supervisor and who is not a supervisor, we found supervisor tides with nobody reporting
to them. I am not sure how that happened. We found job descriptions that didn't really relate to what the person was doing, and
it is time to really look at that and make sure that the job descriptions and the classifications fits what folks are doing and that
there is equitable compensation for that work. I think the last time this was done was early 1980. So, it bas been over ten years
and I don't know any organization that doesn't review this at least every five years.
Another area for improvement. We commend you on the length of employment of City employees. We were very "..
impressed with the quality of your work force and the length of time people have worked for the City and gone up through the !.
ranks. One of the problems was that people have been promoted, doing a good job but without adequate preparation and poor
management, such as, really understanding how to supervise people, how to evaluate them, how to develop a budget, and how
to develop performance measures. We feel that is an area for improvement, and when we say that, I hope the Council recognizes
you just can't say Mr. City Manager, do it. It's going to take dollars. You don't do a good staff development program unless you
put the resources behind, but it is needed here.
There are few areas that we found, yes, there could be a reduction in staff. We look at the changes that have occurred
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in the garage and the amount of maintenance that is being done. We feel you are over staffed in that area. As we look at the
decreasing amount of work of the survey crews, you could probably get by with one survey crew and contracting on the side for
any additional work that would be required. One of the things, and Steve did most of the work in this arena, is also contact some
of the private surveyors to say, to provide one full team to the City on a full time basis, what would it cast you. It was around
$250,000. You are now supporting two teams for $165,000. Anytime you do this, it's got to be weighed. You've got to look at
that very carefully. One of the things that we brought out is that before any staffing changes occur, that the City needs to look
at where you we going for the future and we think that plan is extremely important. But, you are winding down the capital
improvements program. What are you going to do with them? Right now, you've got people out there that are apprehensive over
the neat year wondering if they have ajob or not. And, no real decisions have been made at this point. Are you going to consider
expanding that capital improvement program for another period of time to really look at the serious issue of the drainage/storm
water control initiative? More and more pressures are being put on cities to really get this situation under control. So, any
decisions that you make, I think, have to reflect where you want to go in the future.
Another area of significant improvement that needs to be made or opportunity for improvement is in your management
information systems. When you say computers, it usually scares people to death. This day and age with the amount of software
packages that are designed for municipal government, it is not as expensive as you think. What we see occurring in Huntsville
is you are going about four or five different ways and it ain't put together yet. The City Manager put together an internal group
to study the needs of this City and they came out with an excellent report. One of the first recommendations that hasn't really
been pursued yet -- we need a long range plan for the computer needs of the City. We need a working group to be able to do
that. We feel that you are putting a lot of money into old hardware and if you'll look at a chart that we have in the full document,
most of the systems that you have are anywhere from fifteen to twenty years old, and folks, in this day and age you are talking
about the dinosaur. Doing your own programming is, well, you can buy it a whole lot cheaper. So we are saying this is an area
that really needs consideration if you want to improve efficiency effectiveness of being able to get information to you quickly, to
be modern and to move forward progressively.
We found some inconsistencies in policies and procedures by department I don't think that is unusual. We feel policies
and procedures need to be looked at and needs to be interpreted and followed consistently. Otherwise, you are going to have
the internal fighting that occurs in any organization. One example, I was talking to the volunteer firemen. About 20% of them,
CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JUNE 23, 1992
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it, and that kind of inconsistency breeds discontent. We also recommend that any proposed staffing adjustments be looked at in
1 context of the next budgetary period by the City Manager. This is not a way to just hatchet people, but to look at change in
function roles. Things can improve.
Those are just highlights of a very comprehensive review of the City government. I can't tell you how many man hours
we put into this, but it was very significant I just want to close and say that we are very pleased with the cooperation and
participation of everybody that was involved and really reinforce that even though it may sound like we were focused on the
negative, that is not the case. You asked us to identify opportunities for improvements and that's what we tried to do. But, if
you look at yourself and visit other cities and make any comparison, you come out to be a very strong and effective local
government serving the citizens in a cost effective way. Mayor, I will now be available for questions.
Mayor Hodges asked Mr. Perin to remain at the podium for questions.
Councilmember Green made a motion to accept this report for study with a second by Councilmember Lange.
Councilmember Carter mentioned that MGT had found supervisors with no one reporting to them. I don't want to get
into the details tonight because we are going to look at the study in more detail. But, the way your table of contents is set up on
the larger report, I wouldn't know where to look for the specifics of that because it is broken down, I think, by department So,
how would we find that type of information. Mr. Perine stated, I think it is referenced specifically in applicable departments.
There is a job description problem more than a management problem. These people are senior technicians -- wording thing. The
answer is there are not a lot of supervisors, but ought to be titled something else which denotes the responsibility that they carry
but not a supervisory type position.
At this point, Mayor Hodges stated, we have a motion and a second, all of those in favor of this motion please say "aye.
Opposed, like sign. The motion passed unanimously.
Councilmember Cuter stated you did make specific reference to some numbers that I didn't understand regarding the
City's survey crews. You stated, to recruit a full crew of private surveyors would cost $250,000, and we are supporting two crews
at $165,000. To me, that sounds like we are doing better. But, you seem to say we are not doing well.
Mr. Perine explained, what we were saying is, the method you are employing now has been very satisfactory, and the
' use of internals you had to work with made very good sense. What we are suggesting is that you don't need two crews if you are
not going to expand your capital improvements program or go into a drainage initiative. What you do need probably is one with
spot services available from local surveyors on either a blanket or rotating basis. The ten cities we looked at, five of them had
survey crews of some kind or another. Councilmember Carter then stated, basically at this point, we have been operating
efficiently with our own crews. Mr. Perin stated, absolutely. That was a comparison. You are operating two crews on a lot less
than you could buy one crew on the private market. But, right now, do you need two full time crews?
City Manager Pipes stated we have provided a copy of the transmittal letter and the executive summary. Anybody in
the audience who doesn't have one, we have additional copies. Also, the new jacketed summary that was the subject matter of
the overhead is available. A couple of copies are remaining and we will make duplicates if anybody is interested. As far as the
full text of the report, this has been delivered and officially or formally accepted tonight. We have given the camera ready copy
to a local printing firm and anybody wishing a personal copy of this report can purchase one. Certainly the expense of typing or
printing or providing a copy of a report of this magnitude would be very expensive if it were a giveaway situation. We will have
copies for each department and we will have a copy in the City Library and one in the City Secretary's office for on -site viewing.
They will be reserved in the Library and in the City Secretary's office, not to be taken out, but they are available for anyone to
sit and review. We feel like we have attempted to make all of this information generally available to the public. Certainly, the
executive summary is a condensed version, the detailed version is a good deal more of volume and, in fact, in information, but
they will be otherwise available starting about tomorrow afternoon. I don't know exactly what time the printing shop will be
through, but they will be available sometime tomorrow afternoon. Anybody interested, we will he glad to direct you to that site
so you can purchase a copy for about $10.50 unbound and $13.00 bound.
Councilmember Lange stated he would like to address one thing or have you, Mr. Perine, to address it But, first of
all, I would like to say that I was very impressed with your company when it was first presented to us at the City Council. It is
a very special organization. I would like you to address to me and the Council and to the City employees that are in the audience
today, as to what you did with the surveys that you passed out to these individuals, what has happened to them, and most
importantly, what will happen to them in the future.
Mr. Perin stated, when we distributed the survey, we said the surveys would remain confidential. We have presented
to you a report of the summary of that information. We retain those, should there be a need to go back due to questions about
our data. They will not be released to anybody. We keep them on file for a period of about three months and then we shred
CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JUNE 23, 1992 BOOK "R" 78
them-- NV- individvat -zvdl -fie -ident flied- asa-- resulr_nf- participation Mthin this mast people
comfortable because on a mail survey to get that kind of response is unheard of. The response is generally about 20 %.
Councilmember Lange stated, I was not making any accusation, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew what was
going on.
Councilmember Green suggested that a Work Session be scheduled for July 14 to deal just with this issue. This will give -.
Council several weeks to look at it. I would also like to suggest that we might want to invite either Ed or Steve or both of them
back since the budget did seem to incorporate that. Their report is final as of tonight. If we would like to have them back, we'll
have to pay. I would suggest that we budget $2,000 if we feel like we need to have them back and approve the budget for that.
City Manager Pipes stated, I think that would require a budget amendment. It is not a specific item on the agenda, but
certainly can be handled by City Manager's approval of Audits/Studies /Contracts with sufficient funds. This can be approved by
budget transfer by specific authorization-
Councilmember Green stated, I would like to invite them back. I think it would be instructive for us although there is
sufficient detail, to answer many questions we may have. Just in my own review of the material and talking with them, there are
a lot of things that I needed clarification on and I have had many more hours to review this, except for Mr. Pipes.
Mayor Hodges thanked the MGT team. Mr. Perine stated, we are delighted and it was just a pleasure for us to work
with the City and all the folks. It was an easy study to do. Mayor Hodges asked him to be in contact with the City Manager who
will give him the time schedule of the Work Session.
CITY COUNCILMEMBER ACTION
Councilmember Green reported that a citizen of our community approached him and said he would pay for the
appreciation luncheon for the participants in Phase I of the Downtown Revitalization program which the Council agreed to hold
at its June 16th meeting. The City approved $250 maximum funds for out of town guests. The citizen wishes to remain
anonymous. Mayor Hodges requested Councilmember Green to thank this citizen for the Council.
Councilmember Gaines reported that Councilmember Robinson, Councilmember Davis, Mayor Hodges and I had a very
good time on Friday riding in the parade on Juneteenth. We visited Emancipation Park and heard a very good speech -
MEDIA INQUIRIES '
Has the City Manager enjoyed his birthday? Ifs been a very interesting one, stated City Manager Pipes.
ADJOURNMENT
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Melb Byers
City Secretary