Budget and Government Efficiency Committee Meeting - July 25, 2018
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Budget and Government Efficiency Committee Meeting - July 25, 2018
The Budget and Government Efficiency Committee met on July 25, 2018, with Chair Bree presiding and Council Members Ward and Kate present (a quorum). The committee approved the record of actions from June 20, 2018, and proceeded through seven agenda items, including policy revisions, contract amendments, bond issuances, IT procurement, application expansion, budgetary principles, and a border wall contractor disclosure approach. All items were forwarded to City Council, with one item passing on a 3-1 vote.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Martha Welch criticized the city’s use of a private company (Metro Far) for non-city services, alleged waste on repeated projects (e.g., pure water), and stated that audits show some departments are behind. She urged the committee to look into these issues.
- Orville Gwyn highlighted costs associated with the homeless population (cleanup, police, EMS) and advocated for a solution that does not involve sending people by plane to visit relatives. He did not provide a specific proposal.
- Benjamin Prado (American Friends Service Committee) urged the committee to pursue disclosure of companies involved in border wall construction, arguing that transparency is important and that building walls has not stopped migration. He supported the recommended approach.
Discussion Items
- Item 1: Revisions to City Council Policies – Department of Finance Merge – Matt Vespie (Assistant Director, Department of Finance) presented changes to replace references to Financial Management and Office of the City Comptroller with the Department of Finance, following the FY19 budget merger. The IBA had no comments. No public speakers. The committee approved and forwarded to council.
- Item 2: Amendment to Genuine Parts Company (NAPA) Contract – Allie O'Corey (Fleet Operations Director) requested removal of the annual $12 million not-to-exceed limit while retaining the $60 million five-year cap. Discussion centered on justification for higher spending due to increased parts inventory, fleet growth, and steel/aluminum tariffs. Vice Chair Ward proposed an annual cap of $15.5 million with an information item if exceeded, but the motion was not seconded. Ultimately, Councilmember Kate moved the staff recommendation (no annual cap), seconded by Councilmember Gomez, and passed unanimously.
- Item 3: Water Revenue Bonds to Refund Commercial Paper – Lakshmi Komi (Debt Management Director) presented a plan to issue long-term bonds to refund up to $250 million in commercial paper, citing rising interest rates and $12 million in savings in FY18. Councilmember Kate requested a project list before the September council consideration. The committee approved forwarding to council.
- Item 4: Third Amendment to HP Computer Equipment Contract – Sean Kilpak and others from IT presented a request to increase the not-to-exceed amount by $5.5 million (from $5.1M to $10.6M) to cover computer replacements through March 2020. The IBA provided a history, noting the committee had previously requested a roadmap. Discussion included clarification on the $200,000 unused balance. The committee approved and forwarded to council.
- Item 5: Get It Done Expansion – Deloitte Contract – Alex Hempton (Performance and Analytics) outlined application support and maintenance for the expanded Get It Done system, including new service requests and online payments. Committee members raised concerns about workload impacts, translation into Spanish, and better status updates (e.g., after photos). Vice Chair Ward moved staff recommendation; seconded by Councilmember Kate. Approved.
- Item 6: Statement of Budgetary Principles FY19 – Chris Olson (IBA) presented the proposed statement, which closely mirrors FY18 with minor date changes. Councilmember Gomez requested it be brought earlier in the budget process moving forward. Motion by Gomez, second by Ward, passed unanimously.
- Item 7: Contractor Disclosure for Border Wall Involvement – Chris Olson presented a report reviewing actions by six other cities (e.g., Los Angeles, Oakland) and recommending development of an ordinance and disclosure forms. Public speaker Benjamin Prado supported disclosure. Committee debate included legal caveats from Deputy City Attorney Paige Folkman and concerns from Councilmember Kate about setting a precedent for shaming employers. Councilmember Gomez moved to develop an ordinance and disclosure forms; seconded by Vice Chair Ward. The motion passed 3-1 (Councilmember Kate opposed).
Key Outcomes
- Consent Calendar: No items.
- Votes:
- Item 1: Unanimous approval.
- Item 2: Unanimous approval (moved by Councilmember Kate, second by Gomez).
- Item 3: Unanimous approval (moved by Kate, second by Ward).
- Item 4: Unanimous approval (moved by Gomez, second by Ward).
- Item 5: Unanimous approval (moved by Ward, second by Kate).
- Item 6: Unanimous approval (moved by Gomez, second by Ward).
- Item 7: Approved 3-1 (Gomez motion, Ward second; Kate opposed).
- Next Steps: All items forwarded to the full City Council. The committee will reconvene on September 20, 2018, at 2 p.m. For Item 7, staff will work with the City Attorney, IBA, Mayor’s office, and relevant departments to draft a proposed ordinance and disclosure forms.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. I will now call the meeting of the budget and government efficiency committee to order. A quorum is now present, uh, consisting of council members Ward, Kate, and myself. And moving right along, the committee record of actions from the June 20th hearing will be approved by unanimous consent unless pulled for discussion. Do we have a request to pull the record of actions? No, seeing none. We will now proceed with non-agenda public comment. This portion of the agenda provides an opportunity for members of the public to address the committee on items of interest not on the agenda. We have two members of the public who wish to speak. Starting with Martha Welch. And she will be followed by Orville Gwyn. Martha Welch. Metro Far is a private company, but MM brought them out. They don't city on the I'm doing this non-city. So many of um it's private, so do you pay them on the I understand bed them? I don't see a um budget for them. Because you're doing they do your job. Now I think uh um MT should be the county, I think also. I also on the yesterday they saw a point um um audit. Now it shows right now some departments are behind. They don't have paper on that computer. That's why they couldn't files and uh the fact that they don't have files and everything. He um yeah uh um they showed that because but but the people want uh fans on uh uh audits because especially MAD and bid. You uh all this money goes for um lights and and side blocks, but we don't see that, you know, we don't see that, so it doesn't look like it is going now. Three years I'm going to the city, and I saw waste um pure water, three times at least um the same project, uh clear water or Mar. Uh I've seen it so many times. You're wasting money, and you should look into this because the FBI uh I told them what's going on with the supervisors, and you're gonna flow over here because you're you're a slave to them is gonna go is gonna come out. But you all this money you had the same project over and over, and I saw it uh myself. I saw the projects three times at least in council, and if you didn't see it yourself, then you don't see what's going on, you don't look because that's a problem of the city. You don't look at everything, you don't look, you don't look, you don't look at things that goes on in the city. Um morning, city council. The government efficiency moron. Um the cost to the city for cleanup, the pick up, the wash, the police calls, the deaths around the homeless population, the reaction to the heat. We we haven't seen heat yet. This is just July. If the HEPA was a problem and caused 20 deaths, we will see more with the heat. The cost to the fire, the police, the EMS is tremendous. A solution does exist. It's as close as your computers. You don't need to send somebody by plane to visit a relative in another town. Thank you. Thank you. Uh do we have any committee member, mayor, IBA, or city attorney comments today? Great. Any requests for continuance? No. Um as we have no consent agenda items. We will proceed directly to the action agenda, starting with item number one, uh, to review a report from the Department of Finance recommending revisions to City Council policies to replace financial management and office of the city compontroller with the Department of Finance. Um welcome. Welcome, um, Mr.
openpublica.com