- So after some interference by unavoidable circumstances, I would like to call this meeting to order.
- It is Monday, September 22nd, 2025. Commissioner Thomas is present at the NET-U Hill Room, Commissioner
- Madeira, Surveyor Enright Randolph. And I think our first item on the agenda is public input for items
- not on the agenda.
- Is there anyone in the Nat Hill room who would like to give public commentary? Seeing none, are there
- any individuals online who would like to give public commentary? All right, then that item on the agenda
- is closed. No public comment. So on to new business, 2026 stormwater budget update.
- Okay, so I put together just a little small presentation. I wanted to address some of the concerns that
- were brought up at the last meeting on trying to move some salaries over into the stormwater budget
- that assist on a daily basis for stormwater services. So you see on the first slide is the 2026 estimated
- revenue for stormwater. $2,490,416
- The 2026 proposed budget and the sweeper we have excluded. We did have the $450,000 sweeper in our 2026
- budget. I believe the council at their last meeting have reduced that line to $1 to keep the line active,
- but they had proposed putting it into the 2025 general obligation bond.
- that list is being presented to the council tomorrow evening and that sweeper is on that list. If it
- doesn't make if they do not propose that list and accept that list then we would bring it back and do
- an additional in 2026 for that sweeper.
- So and then what we are proposing is additional salaries as $133,139, bringing the total to $2,390,284.
- So that actually puts your 2026 budget $100,132 under the estimated revenue. So you would not be touching
- any of your cash.
- On the next slide what the proposed salaries that we are including in the stormwater budget would be
- the director of 30% superintendent 25% our operations asset manager 30% and our engineer at 15%.
- The support that we've stressed by various positions or funds in the highway that are paid from the
- MVH fund. All personnel processes for crews, job postings, interviews, new hire paperwork for all crews,
- training for employee services for new hires, setting up insurance enrollment, termination, pre-hire
- drug testing, disciplinary actions, workman's comp, random drug testing, FMLA, and all leave requests.
- AOD and payroll for all crews and administration, charts entries for all payroll, collective bargaining
- unit negotiations and addressing any issues that arise through the bargaining unit, working with ITI
- which is maintaining our driver files and meeting all requirements with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
- Administration, daily cartograph entries for work requests and that's mainly from our dispatcher and
- our operations manager.
- Other support that's provided by various positions is training events for all crews, including flagging
- with LTAP, chainsaw training, snow plow training, asset management for all the infrastructure, project
- management, plan reviews, meetings, contracts, bid documents, daily entries for all stormwater crew
- activities, provide engineering, design, planning, scheduling support, manage facilities, stockpile
- materials for crews, coordinate vehicle maintenance and repairs, and all facility maintenance.
- processing only in the absence of the administrative assistant to where our- our admins administrative
- assistant can run do those. Also we coordinate the manpower equipment materials vehicles prioritize
- projects and schedules on a daily basis maintaining seniority call out list for all after our emergencies.
- All county council action requirements which includes transfers additional six cetera. All storm event
- So we had some questions about emergency storm events and snowplow.
- all crews are called in the event of a storm emergency event. When crew positions were created in stormwater
- it was agreed that everyone would be utilized for the storm emergencies with equipment and personnel.
- This eliminated the possibility of layoffs during the winter months when stormwater services would be
- slowed down and to also make the roads safer for the traveling public in a shorter amount of time using
- all the manpower. In 2024
- Stormwater funds that were used for normal working hours in a snow emergency was 221.5 hours, which
- equaled $5,635.39. In 2024, MVH funds for normal working hours in a snow emergency was 1,124,
- which is $28,263.75. 2024 MVH funds used for after-hour snow emergency
- on an all crew call out was 235.70 hours at $9,285.90. So we merged all of our resources to become more
- efficient in the department in the last five years.
- In 2024 MVH employees that assisted on stormwater projects was and that would basically on a daily basis
- the crews get together and if a crew needs assistance, then we might have an motor vehicle highway employee
- work on that stormwater crew.
- In 2024, there was 1,109.53 hours provided to stormwater for crew assistance at a cost of $26,431.67.
- In 2024, the equipment resources provided to stormwater during normal work hours, which could be an
- excavator, mini-escavator, or a great all, was 545.66 hours at a cost of $55,980.64.
- and we own four gradals, two for highway, two for stormwater. In 2024, the Kuhn Bridge installed 132
- drainage pipes at a cost of $808,194.68. The support staff for Cartograph daily work entries by crews,
- complaints, citizens requests since January 1st, 2025. Our dispatcher that's paid from the motor vehicle
- highway has put in 234 requests and closed 13.
- our MBH operations asset manager has put in 65 requests and closed 259. So I want to provide you all
- the examples that why we put our resources together so we can get more done and we don't we don't see
- as our department is split we see it as as one department and I feel like I have justified why some
- of the salaries should be paid from stormwater
- budget and I'm happy to answer any questions. Do any of my colleagues have any questions? I don't have
- questions but I want to comment that if you look at those percentages things like asset management is
- really 30 percent is pretty low estimate so I cannot quibble with any of those estimates in terms of
- the interplay between these two
- departments that really are one. So thank you for this. It's really helpful. I also found the presentation
- very helpful. Thank you. Yes. I'll just want to make a couple comments. I could have said concerns,
- but what I was seeking for was just a little clarity and just a bit of a presentation for the public as well.
- That'll be crucial when we go and review our rates and any increases or anything like that. This will
- be really nice to be able to point to. I'll also say that I wrote that letter of support of restructuring
- the highway department in 2019. So we could see a better marriage of the two. I haven't found out their
- term to identify kind of how that collaboration does internally.
- I do know that the cartograph is something both for highway and stormwater. So the fact that we're looking
- at these percentages a bit different, I think it reflects kind of more of on the job performance of
- how they do benefit stormwater.
- lot to digest after we look at the budget come back look at the budget i do appreciate you taking time
- and putting this together that that's kind of where i'm at one i guess comment is when we looked at
- the total and i'm going to defer to your math but i just minus the four hundred or four hundred and
- forty nine thousand nine hundred ninety nine dollars
- to leave the one dollar in store or fifty and not four ninety nine nine nine oh but they want us to
- leave one dollar in there yeah but my numbers didn't reflect that one dollar okay and that's all i was
- saying because i i have a difference of two bucks and and i want to make sure that we leave that in
- there so we don't have to create a new line item and if we have to come back for the additional appropriation
- at least all of that uh is already done uh that's it that um
- It's taken me a while to figure out where I'm at. And I think as we move forward, it'll be great to
- continue to see this partnership. And I think it was the operational manager. It would be awesome to
- continue to work forward with kind of the cartograph is a ESRI integrated
- platform and we also use the Esri suites for our GIS and being able to crosswalk that data which is
- very simple into more dashboards and things so we could kind of really get that data visualization that
- could be very helpful for us as a board but also for the public and I look forward to seeing some more
- of that done and
- in the upcoming years as we're kind of still streamlining that process of how we utilize a cartograph
- and how we also tie it into our other more prevalent public facing Esri suites. And with that, it comes
- with the online where we could host that data and make it very secured, but also make it available internally
- or to the public.
- That's really all I have. Sorry to kind of stir up some conversation and have a special meeting to come
- and discuss this, but again, I know I expressed some of my thoughts and can. Well, I guess I'm maybe
- I did use the word concerns, but where I was looking for clarification and email exchange with you earlier
- this week, we've had a couple of follow up conversations and that's been very helpful and.
- I've also talked with the program manager about a few things and that's been very helpful as well. And
- knowing that my last discussions, everyone is very supportive of this. I guess I'm gonna put my cards
- out there and be willing to support this. And I think anytime that this kind of rare its head again,
- let's really try to address that like in January. So when we get to the later part of the year,
- it's not such a moving target. So with that said, those are my comments and I'm willing and looking
- to support this today. Thank you. I have a comment, but I'll wait for you since you haven't commented
- yet. No, I don't have any comment. I agree. I support this. I thank you for the detailed information.
- And yeah, I just want to say that that it was the council that put
- to be able to put storm water in this unenviable position in the first place and yes it would be nice
- to have advanced notice it wasn't. I just want to be clear for the public that it wasn't anything our
- staff did wrong. This is because the council is under tremendous budget pressure and then turned and
- said here you help us and you help us and you and that's how all this happened and why we had such certain
- I just want to make sure
- Thank you. I appreciate that. And I'm glad we brought this presentation because over the years, I've
- heard so much about how much ditching.
- stormwater does for paving and such and that was a number one priority when I took this position and
- it's um it's split between the two crews and that's why we have four gradals and um and that we're not
- using a lot of stormwater funds for snow removal and I keep hearing that and if you can just look at
- the overall picture on how we help each other and not get down into the nitty-gritty it works well for
- us to do it this way not not
- it if you get down to trying to point fingers about somebody doing something it's only going to create
- havoc within our department and that's something we don't want yeah yeah and to spend the energy planning
- and i mean i i just cannot tell folks especially folks who have not been in this area before or recently
- moved here how different our roads are now that we're tying these programs together in such an effective way
- It is so much better to be cooperative than to try to nickel and dime who had this and who did this.
- And it's just a much better system. And the residents have all benefited because roads are lasting a
- lot longer. So thank you. Correct. Yeah, many unquantifiables here, too. Yeah. Any other comments? No.
- I'm just looking at the layer of the support and it reflects the comments. It's basically when the two
- departments are combined, highway supervisor position reporting to the public works director, our office
- believes that the majority of infrastructure projects will be handled more efficiently. And I truly
- believe that. Excellent. We need a public comment and a vote. Yep. Yep. So I'm going to
- go ahead and make a motion to amend the twenty twenty six stormwater budget as has been uh outlined
- here today. Yeah we don't have to worry about that dollar I think that could be addressed at the council
- level so I'll second. Excellent we have a motion a second um all in favor. Public comment. Oh we have
- to have public comment on that as well. Yes. Okay so uh all
- motion to amend the budget. Um. We have no one present in the net you hill room. It looks like. Do we
- have anyone present online? No one. Uh all in favor.
- I think we can just go ahead and approve the budget now, right? We already have. We just amended it,
- so I think we're good. Okay, nice. Lovely. Excellent. Well, then I think the next item on the agenda
- is adjournment. The date of our next regular session is October 1st, 2025. And I'm not sure what the
- agenda looks like, but I say we should just keep that as
- a placeholder just in case there's other issues or concerns that we have to address that the council
- brings forward and just to be prepared for their potential adoption on October 14th. That's a good point
- but are you here next week? It's AIC. Yes I prioritize my office duties over the AIC this year unless
- I drive down and drive back but yeah as of now no hotel booking which means
- I'm not going. Let us know if we have an agenda or if we're not. Yes, we're adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.