HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-16-1996 Meeting
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PUBLIC SAFETY & INFORMATION
COMMITTEE
COMMITTEE ROOM - January 16, 1996
3:00 P. M.
PRESENT: Hons. Larry E. Sconyers, Mayor; H. Brigham,
Chairman; Zetterberg, Vice-Chairman; Kuhlke and Mays, members;
Chief W. L. Maddox, Fire Department; Bat. Chief Dennis Atkins,
Fire Department; Lynn Wittke, MIS Director; Nancy Bonner,
Computer Management Services Director; Lewis Johnson, Central
Services Director; John Etheridge, Human Resources Director;
Linda Beazley, Interim Suburban Services Director; Lena Bonner,
Clerk of Commission-Council and Nancy Morawski, Deputy Clerk of
Commission-Council.
Also Present: Sylvia Cooper and Wayne Partridge of the
Augusta Chronicle, George Eskola of WJBF Television, other
members of the news media and Hons. Bridges and Beard,
Commissioners.
Communication from the Central Services Director requesting
that the bid for container garbage collection services be awarded
to CSRA Waste Disposal. The bid, if approved, will allow CSRA
Waste Disposal to pick up containers from twenty-eight locations
throughout Augusta-Richmond County. During past years,
departments were allowed to negotiate their own container service
contracts. The consolidated bid will represent a yearly savings
of more than $32,484. An additional savings will also be
realized from tipping fees which was not always the case in past
years, was read.
Mr. Kuhlke: I move it be approved.
Mr. Zetterberg: Second it.
Motion adopted.
Communication from the Fire Chief stating on January 1, 1996
the Augusta/Richmond County Fire Department began operations to
furnish fire protection to all the citizens of the newly
consolidated government. Following are essential needs for the
consolidated Fire Department to furnish top notch fire
protection. I am sending you this information for your
consideration and discussion.
1. Hiring of 21 additional firefighters
Cost: Salaries & Wages
Uniforms
Protective Clothing
$401,800.00
5,250.00
15,225.00
$422,275.00
2. Installation of 800 MHZ Trunking Radio
System Equipment and Installation
Cost: 911 Fee
3. Construction of Training Facility
Cost:
TOTAL COSTS:
$750,000.00
$450,000.00
$1,622,275.00
Chief Maddox: These items on the agenda today are for
discussion only so that the Committee would know that these are
the items that are essentially needed. I talked to Mr. McKie and
he said he has the 911 Center in the budget so that is pretty
well eliminated. This could be paid through the 911 fees. As
far as the 21 men, we need those men in order to run with three
men at all times for the fire stations. Right now we are running
with two men a lot of times. This would probably be the number
one request at this time. On the training facility if we can run
some water lines in there and get some paving done, I think we
can do that project for about $150,000 to $175,000 over a three-
year period. It doesn't have to be done all at one time. And we
can do about 80% of that in-house work and save that money.
Mr. Kuhlke: Is there any impact on hiring people before you
get your communication system in order?
Chief Maddox: That wouldn't have any effect on that. Most
of the men would be assigned to County stations,
Mr. Kuhlke: Would the men be brought on over a period of
time or immediately?
Chief Maddox: That would be up to the Committee. I'd like
to bring them on all at one time and get them trained and assign
them.
Mr. Kuhlke: Have you talked to Butch about how we'd pay for
it?
Chief Maddox: No, sir. He said he would get back with me
on that. He said he thought he had some money he could use.
Mr. Zetterberg: Is there a priority in these?
Chief Maddox: The priority would be hiring the men. It
would take about six months to have the 911 system in place and
operating so the quicker we order it, the better off we'll be.
Mr. Zetterberg: There is a big difference between $150,000
and $450,000 on the training facility. Could you get by with
$150,000?
Chief Maddox:
training facility.
there.
We don't have all the prices yet on the
If you give us $175,000, we'll put a building
Mr. Kuhlke: Why don't we defer that and maybe we could
refine it and come back to us on that particular item?
Chief Maddox:
work now, though.
I think we need to go ahead with the road
I met with Mr. Brigham this morning.
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Mr. Kuhlke: So we're saying $175,000 over a three year
period. How will that be paid for?
Chief Maddox: It would probably come out of the general
fund. We do need a place to train.
Mr. Chairman: Where do you train now?
Chief Maddox: We use the Civic Center now and we were using
down by the River to do our pumping but they've fenced that off
now. We've used the Casino.
Mr. Zetterberg: Have we designed a facility?
Chief Maddox: We've got some plans, yes, sir.
Mr. Zetterberg: It seems we ought to bring forward the
plans, identify exactly how much money it's going to be and then
try to get it approved for you.
Mr. Kuhlke: If the road and the infrastructure is the first
thing, then maybe you could break down the $175,000 and if you're
going to do it over a three-year period, then maybe we could
recommend something to the Finance Committee that would get you
started this year and then the next two years try to have
everything completed.
We definitely need the road work and the
we can go ahead and start some procedures
that type of thing. We need that as quick
Chief Maddox:
water lines and then
for laying lines and
as we can get it.
Mr. Chairman: He has some plans now. And isn't next year
when the insurance comes back in?
Chief Maddox: There is an insurance evaluation schedule in
1996. I'm trying to get them to hold until 1997 to let them
survey the whole County so we can reduce the Countywide insurance
rates instead of just working with the City. I hope by then
within a l5-month period we can reduce the fire insurance rates
Countywide.
Mr. Chairman: This training center is critical to this.
Mr. Mays: Would we possibly be able to get to a one rating
in the urban area?
Chief Maddox: I don't think so. In order to get to a one,
you've got to have four and five men on each piece of equipment
and we can't afford that. When you go from a two to a one, it's
just bragging rights. You don't save a lot of money for home-
owners or industry. We can reduce the County to a three or a two
and that would be tremendous savings and I think we can do it in
east Augusta and west Augusta.
Mr. Zetterberg: What can't we do now that we're short 21
people?
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Chief Maddox: We have only two men on some stations and
that's not really fire protection. It's recommended that you
have at least two pumps and a truck at all fires and you need
more than two men to fight a fire.
Mr. Zetterberg: If you could do it in increments, we might
be able to do it that way.
Chief Maddox:
three people at all
work up something.
It would take all 21 people in order to have
fire stations all the time. I'd be glad to
Mr. Mays: This is a problem that can be shared on both
sides, both former City and County. The suburban area was
already saddled with a manpower shortage.
Mr. Kuhlke: I'd like to move that we approve the request of
the Chief from a manpower situation subject to review of the
Finance Committee and being able to satisfy how we get those
funds and subject to Chief Maddox presenting us a plan on what
the additional manpower will do for the Fire Department and for
the taxpayers over a period of time as far as rates are concerned
and approval of radio system since those funds would be available I
through 911 and approval of the training facility subject to
approval of the Finance Committee and based on Chief Maddox
bringing us a plan on how he will phase this work over a
three-year period of time with a breakdown per cost. I'll make
that in the form of a motion.
Mr. Zetterberg: Second it. The only point I'd like to
clarify in my mind is when the Chief comes in with the personnel,
that he just doesn't come in and ask us for 21 people.
Mr. Kuhlke: I've asked for approval of 21 based on what
those 21 people are going to do for the Fire Department and over
a period of time from a rate structure for the taxpayers in the
unincorporated area so that we see what sort of payback we get
from the expenditure of those funds.
Chief Maddox: All of these new men would go to County
stations, not City stations. The county is where we have the
problem as far as the manpower.
Mr. Kuhlke: Can you have this by the next meeting?
Chief Maddox: Yes, sir, I can have it.
Mr. Mays: The funding sources for the same type of I
department have been different and you need to look at it because
if you are going to get to a different type of rating system and
if you want to see the insurance savings, then that fire tax
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thing of getting it is not going to cut it where you are
combining it now and you had one government doing fire protection
under one means and then another government doing it totally with
another one, then in the long range, that's not going to work.
Chief Maddox: The fire tax plays a very small part in the
financing because in order to have a Fire Department upgraded,
it's going to cost between five and six mills. You can check
that statewide and that's what you're going to pay.
Mr. Chairman: I spoke to Mr. Etheridge about the salary
equalization in that.
Mr. Etheridge: Preliminary study has been through Finance
as far as cost. We have not compared apples to apples to make
sure if a Lieutenant in each side is the same. There was a
question in my mind if we were going to do this internally or
have a consultant do it. If we will do this in-house, we could
get going on it now. The direction I got from the task force was
that this would be done by a consultant and that's why I haven't
proceeded any further with that.
Motion adopted unanimously.
Mr. Chairman: Could we add this item about the salary
equalization?
Mr. Zetterberg: Does this also include Police?
Mr. Etheridge: Yes. Those are the two areas we want to do
that.
Mr. Kuhlke: Bill, how did you base the salaries on these 21
positions?
Chief Maddox: We figured the difference between the
Lieutenant's and the Captain's salaries on the County and the
City. When you get to the Private rank, the City Privates are
making more than the County Privates. We used the rate the City
Privates are making because you can't go back and reduce the City
firemen when you're talking about 70 people. You'd have to go
with the higher rate.
Mr. Kuhlke: I think it was discussed in the task force that
any new employees coming on would come in at the lower rate. You
might look into that.
Chief Maddox: That's what we're doing.
Mr. Zetterbergr I move that we move the equalization of pay
between the Fire Department and the Sheriff's Department, that we
do that in-house and move it to the Administrative Committee.
Mr. Kuhlke: I second. I think the only motion we're making
is that we're recommending to the Administrative Committee that I
they direct John to proceed in-house and it will be up to them
whether they do that or not.
Mrs. Beazley: It was my understanding that John could do
any kind of study on salary equalization but the salary and wage
study would be done by an outside consultant which would actually
be two different things.
Mr. Kuhlke:
the Administrative
handle it.
That is something John would have to do with
Services chairman to decide how you want to
Mr. Etheridge: What has been done there is a preliminary
study that would show only a projected cost to equalize these
salaries. We have not looked at specific jobs yet. This needs
to be done throughout the new government. This is not a minute
task to do this; it is very time-consuming project. I think we
can do it; we might have to go outside to get some assistance. I
think the quickest solution to the problem if you want to do it
is through a consultant because we are in the process of putting
benefit packages together and several other things together.
Motion adopted unanimously.
Mrs. Beazley: We have a request to have the transition team I
secretary that's assigned to the Joint Law Enforcement Transition
Team be classified as a regular, full-time position with
benefits. It is presently a full-time temporary position with no
benefits.
Mr. Kuhlke: This is not really hiring a new position. It
is looking at a transfer of a present employee to that position.
Mr. Etheridge: This
that slot with benefits.
benefits.
is requesting a full-time position of
The present job is temporary with no
Mrs. Beazley: It has an expiration date of whenever the
Joint Law Enforcement project is completed.
Mr. Kuhlke: There were 50 or 60 applications for this
position and one of the applicants is already an employee of the
county and if you go with that person, it's really a transfer.
Mr. Etheridge: If we hire that person, that will create a
vacancy and we'll have to hire for that slot.
Mrs. Beazley: This is funded through the Transition Team
funds and all you would be doing is adding a little bit for the I
benefits to make a permanent position and at the end of that
project, she most likely would just move over into a position in
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the Sheriff's Department because at that point they would be
hiring additional personnel.
Mr. Zetterberg: I don't think that you necessarily have to
fill every position that is vacated. That's what attrition is
about.
Mr. Kuhlke: I move that we accept the recommendation.
After further discussion, Mr. Kuhlke: Can we hire a temp?
Mr. Etheridge: Yes, sir. And they can provide all the
benefits and whatever is available to them.
Mr. Kuhlke: I'll modify the motion to say that we instruct
John to get with Chief Toole and the Transition Team and come up
with a solution to get a secretary over there as quickly as
possible because it's critical and the administrative part of
that job is very important and that you report back to us at our
next meeting about what we're going to do so that it won't become
a permanent position.
Mr. Mays: I second that,
Motion adopted unanimously.
Mrs. Beazley: Mr. Chairman, could you make a motion to send
to the Administrative Services Committee a recommendation that
they come up with a list of all those employees in the County who
work in excess of 30 hours so that they can be looked at as
possibly being eligible for benefits? We have some working 60 to
70 hours a week with no benefits.
Mr. Chairman: Could you write a letter to the Chairman and
send us a copy?
Mrs. Beazley: I'll do that.
Mr. Mays: I think it should be included in that letter the
identification of how those people were hired.
Mr. Chairman: She can include that in the letter. Mrs.
Bonner and Mr. Wittke are here and I believe Mr. Zetterberg
wanted to make some comments.
Mr. Zetterberg: I had been asked by the Mayor and fellow
Commissioners if I would make the MIS an area of personal
interest to me and work with a group of people to see what the
best solution was for combining those departments. We need right
now instant communications between both department heads and
there has been a reluctance to talk together and solve your own
problems. We need to begin working together and the Data
Processing Management Association is going to help us choose
citizens for a committee to help make this transition.
Mrs. Bonner: We met last week and the decision was made to
implement the City's New World CAD system so that we can I
hopefully relieve some of the problems we have now in the 911
Center. Lynn has to have a plan in place to make the changes to
the software or add the additional hardware. Once you get the
information into the CAD system then you would need to pursue
movement of the certain information into the City's New World
records management system. The thing that has not been done at
this time, because there has not been a clear, concise decision
as to will we run either/or or both systems as far as the big
picture and what we're going to do in the long range, that we
will not convert any information one way or the other, That will
be put on hold. We've known from the beginning that we would
need to operate out of two computer systems and there would have
to be some parallel information and that Lynn and I were putting
a plan in place so that we could access information out of the
City's computer and if there was a need, then they would be able
to access information out of the County system. Last week we
were able to access the City's information through one of our
existing county devices so we are putting a plan in place for
that to work.
Mr. zetterberg: My position is we should not take any long-
term position on this. I wouldn't want anything else moved over
to the New World system until we can make a decision in the next
45 to 60 days. The City and county have spent an extraordinary I
amount of money trying to develop a geographical information
system. As best as I can determine, there may be close to a
million dollars that has been spent and limited progress has been
made on that. The potential of that system being the centerpiece
system to operate the government is very real and if we're
getting ourselves deep into somebody else's software and not
paying attention to the geographical information system, I think
in the long term we're making a terrible mistake. I'm already of
the opinion that a lot of money has been wasted so far.
Mr. Wittke: Regarding the GIS, we have a base map of
Richmond County. It was under the plan of the former City to
download information as maps were needed.
Mr. Kuhlke: I'd like to recommend that if we've got some
conflict between the City and County, that we try to get that
resolved as quickly as we can and go ahead and get a top line
program set up. It would be my recommendation that we direct Mr.
Zetterberg to sort of take charge of this and if he needs to
bring on a citizens advisory committee that has expertise in
this, that he be allowed to do that.
Mr. Wall: Last year the Board of Commissioners entered into
an agreement with a group from SRS for technology transfer and
under that they have an obligation to furnish 40 hours free of I
charge. We met with them and worked up some proposed projects.
Many of those projects were never done and one thing we discussed
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was some method to interface the computers. Is that a task you
would like to put them on?
Mr. Kuhlke: Mr. Zetterberg can be the point man on that.
Mr. Wall: We also asked them how to handle the move in the
911 facility and we can talk with them about that.
Mr. Chairman: Mr. Hornsby can also help you with that.
Mr. Mays: I think in all fairness to both Lynn and Nancy
that you are now at a point, Mr. Zetterberg, where you can move
with the two persons involved as well as outside professionals.
I noticed during the transition period that maybe it wasn't so
much a lack of communication between the two people involved, it
was that people in government who weren't going to be performing
the actual services were calling the shots and doing the talking
and then when some things went wrong, then the professionals
ended up getting the blame. I think you'll have a good working
team here and it will move along the right track.
Mrs. Bonner: I don't see there is major conflict between
the counterparts here. There is a lot of work to be done and
there isn't any real clear direction coming from the top as to
what it is we need to be working on.
Mr. Chairman: Hopefully after today you won't be able to
accuse us of that any more. We just ask that Mr. Hornsby be a
part of this process.
Mr. Kuhlke: I'll move that Mr. zetterberg be given the
responsibility to work with Data Processing and come back to us
with a completed program and system by the end of the year.
Mr. Mays: I'll second that,
Motion adopted unanimously.
ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, the meeting
was adjourned.
Lena J. Bonner
Clerk of Commission-Council
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