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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-01-25 Government Operations Committee Minutes Government Operations Committee January 25, 2011 Minutes Councilors: Bronson, Hawes, Longo, Gratwick, Palmer Staff: Conlow, Farrar, Yardley, Birch Others: Dennis Marble, Eric Russell 1. General Assistance Program Caseload Review The Health and Community Services Department General Assistance Program is experiencing a significantly increased client caseload this year. Director Shawn Yardley discussed issues related to the situation and a proposal to remedy the caseload increase for the remainder of the fiscal year. In the first six months of this fiscal year, the Department has seen more clients than seen all of last year. In October of 2009, four caseworkers saw an average of 10.3 clients per day. Currently, the caseworker load is 13.3 per day with the same number of staff. Yardley noted that the big issue is that clients are being scheduled now for appointments almost one month to five weeks out. Emergency appointments have to be worked into the schedule. Since the first of December 2010, 267 walk-ins were handled at the Department; 65 of which were new clients. Despite incredible work by the Health and Community Services staff, Yardley said that the system is sort of unraveling. He cited one example of a vacationing employee who stopped by to pick up a pay check. Upon seeing the lobby full of clients, that employee stayed to work the day. Yardley noted that one employee recently retired and one moved to new employment. Through that process, there are some salary savings both in terms of the vacancy time needed to fill the position and the new employee starting at a lower rate of pay. Yardley said that a temporary employee could be hired to assist with catching up with the backlog. The retired employee is willing to come back as a temporary worker. He noted that she is trained. It will allow the Department to meet emergency needs. He noted that 9 clients were seen yesterday; the 9 did not have heating oil. Yardley noted that hiring a temp employee would aide in staff morale as well as the City’s response to needs and making certain that the Department is doing adequate assessments on client requests. Responding to Hawes, Yardley clarified that the position would be a caseworker. Longo asked if the temporary position would need to be advertised. Farrar said that given it is a temporary position and given the emergent situation, he felt it would be fine to not advertise. If it was a fulltime position, it certainly would follow the normal selection process. Responding to Gratwick, Farrar said this item would not need full Council approval as the funding exists within Yardley’s budget. The item came before the Committee as an update of the emergency situation and to inform the Committee of staff’s proposal. It will require the Committee’s concurrence. A motion was made and seconded to move staff’s recommendation. Gratwick spoke about the role of the city, state and national government in dealing with these problems and of Bangor being a service center. Yardley spoke of two pieces of legislation being put forward that have not yet been printed. The accountability of the system is three pronged: the clients and holding them accountable, the municipalities administering GA need to operate by the same rules and process so that GA looks the same in every community, and the state oversight process. Yardley noted that of the 917 intakes in last calendar year, only 26 people were from away. Of the 1,600 cases that received assistance, 1,000 were on five months or less in Bangor; 1,300 were on for less than a year. Gratwick asked Yardley to keep the Committee informed on the draft legislative bills. 2. Assessing Collaborative Effort Among the Communities of Bangor, Orono, and Veazie For several months, Bangor, Orono and Veazie have been exploring opportunities to a collaborate surrounding the assessing function. Bangor Assessor Birch updated the Committee on these efforts, the issues and challenges which have been identified, and possible next steps in the process. Birch said that the Assessor’s Discussion Plan was presented yesterday to the Orono, Veazie, and Bangor working group. During the review of the Orono and Veazie assessing efforts, Birch noted that Orono or Veazie do not utilize the Trio Assessing Software Application at the same level of assessment as Bangor does. In May of last year, Birch understands that Orono and Veazie contacted Bangor to consider a collaborative effort because the current assessor in Veazie had notified municipal officers that he plans to retire in March 2012. Orono also wondered what would happen if their assessor chose to leave or retire. Since that time, Bangor has been analyzing the programs and making recommendations. Birch said that Orono recognizes the fact that their current assessing procedures are outdated as they use a 1990 vintage of MMC Assessing Software package that is operated by a single DOS method. It is antiquated and the information cannot be converted onto newer versions such as Vision Appraisal or Trio Software. Orono currently has 2,800 assessment records and only one on Trio. All the information on Trio is just by ownership name and sound values where they are committed to the tax collector using the Trio Software collections packages for billing purposes. In Veazie’s assessment records, all new construction up through 1980 is on the Trio Software. Veazie has approximately 800 accounts and 300 have no data in the system. Both Orono and Veazie would need citywide re-valuations. Bangor has used the Trio Software since 1996. Should Orono or Veazie opt to use different software, Birch asked where it would leave Bangor in terms of a collaborative effort. If a regional assessing department was in place, all three communities should be on the same system. Birch’s recommendation is for all three communities to go with Trio Software. To move to Vision Appraisal would approximate $1.2M just for the equipment and re-valuation. He spoke of the unknown as to how to move forward to inform the individual taxpayers in all communities. There would be an approximate 30% valuation increase in Veazie and Orono. He noted that Orono and Veazie have not had an abatement request in over 15 years. Should Bangor enter into a collaborative effort with the two communities, Birch’s practice has always been to strive to near as 100% assessment ratios as possible. Before Bangor enters into any agreement, Birch would like to know that Orono and Veazie agree to follow Bangor’s standards in order for Bangor to assist the two communities. Orono and Veazie are in compliance with the Maine Revenue Services. Orono is looking at a cost of approximately $238,000 for a re-valuation. Veazie’s cost is approximately $75,000. Orono’s would be done in approximately 2½ years and Veazie’s in 1½ years. It could be 3 years before Bangor could step into the process. For Bangor to step into the two communities at this time would be costly in terms of the learning curve and productivity until the two community’s assessing records are updated. Bronson spoke about a recently formed committee of elected individuals from Bangor, Orono and Veazie to evaluate collaborative efforts to save money. Responding to Bronson, Conlow said that the area communities have tried to have relationships with neighboring municipalities first as the Town Manager of Orono and now as the City Manager of Bangor. When the committee initially met, a variety of departments were discussed and it was decided to start with the easier department – assessing. Conlow said that Orono and Veazie have a slightly different process and operate on a different type of budget. She commended Birch for his extensive review of Orono and Veazie’s operations and found there are significant operational differences. Orono will need to make upgrades regardless of what happens. Conlow noted that Orono and Veazie have adopted an Order expressing the desire to continue forward with the collaborative approach. Conlow noted that the committee had also talked about looking at the code enforcement functions. She said that the entire process started about a year ago. Gratwick spoke of being a member of the committee. Bangor has a good system in place in Trio Software for assessing but its future is unknown. He spoke of Vision software which is very expensive. Birch wanted to clarify that the collaborative effort is not a dead deal but, for the best interests of Bangor, he wants Bangor standards to be the standard when working with both communities. Trio has over 240 municipality customers in assessing software and over 125 users in the assessing Trio but there is no guarantee of their future. Palmer noted that regionalization will not always be easy but it doesn’t mean that efforts won’t take place. He agreed with Birch in that regional collaborative efforts in the assessing area need to be done right or not at all. It’s a standard for all City employees. Birch spoke about the collaborative effort between the Assessors of the three communities but the problem is the lack of funds. If all three municipalities agree to spend the money, the assessors work diligently to make it work. Longo asked if there has been other community involvement in collaborative efforts. Longo said the City of Bangor has the best staff statewide. They are unparalleled to none. The Council needs to listen to them. Bronson said the underlying concept of regionalization is to either save money, improve services or both. In cases he has reviewed, the service is first improved and the higher standard always ends up applying. He noted that Bangor and Brewer had formed an advisory committee and the committee noted that the two cities already do things together. Orono and Veazie came to Bangor and a committee was formed. Conlow commented that she has been in the region for 7 years and in public administration for many years. The economy and budgets have been shrinking over the years. Municipalities are now on damage control and cannot continue to provide services at the same level and expect to be able to keep and attract people to do the work. She spoke of fixed costs, unfunded mandates and lack of mechanism to work together. She said that Veazie and Orono are not substandard. Things don’t have to be done the way it has always been done. Municipalities need to adapt and move forward. Bronson said it is an excellent message. Palmer and Gratwick both spoke in support of continuing collaborative efforts and continuing to look for best practices. Responding to Bronson, Farrar noted that an Order has not yet been passed by the Bangor City Council regarding the collaborative efforts with Orono and Veazie. Farrar said it could be prepared and brought forward to the next Council meeting for consideration. The Committee agreed with this recommendation for an Order to be prepared. Then Bangor would be on record as supporting this effort along with Orono and Veazie. Adjournment at 6:05 pm.