![\"2010](\"https:\/\/www.aroundfortwayne.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/icons\/2010_Budget.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Notes from the Fort Wayne City Council Budget Hearing on October 8, 2009.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This post covers notes from the Public Works budget discussion. The budgets covered under this discussion may be downloaded here:<\/p>\n
Street Department<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong> $900,000 less, or 8% less than 2009 budget. \u00c2\u00a0Almost $600,000 in master lease for vehicles.<\/p>\n Marty Bender – Diesel Fuel is lower. \u00c2\u00a0Larry Campbell will cover. \u00c2\u00a0Fleet is in better shape, they’ve sold off some of the older equipment.<\/p>\n Liz Brown – Gravel and Bituminous materials – is asking about how it lines up with needs. \u00c2\u00a010 miles chip and seal, 12 miles of asphalt paving per year. \u00c2\u00a0Chip and seal is on unimproved streets. \u00c2\u00a0Jefferson, Washington, State, Rudisill, Old Trail and Lower Huntington Road.<\/p>\n Tim Pape – gas tax dollars are down.<\/p>\n Liz Brown – wheel and surtax increases would go where? \u00c2\u00a0 Goes to MBH and then Street Project Management.<\/p>\n Street Project Management<\/strong><\/p>\n Safety type, widening, curbs and sidewalks included here.<\/p>\n Karen Goldner – some positions in worker’s comp were miscoded, so it’s a readjustment.<\/p>\n Glynn Hines – the project coordinators go out and evaluate requests for different potential projects. \u00c2\u00a0Risk management on claims and investigations.<\/p>\n Mitch Harper – do we maintain metrics \u00c2\u00a0on safety improvements needed for different roads that measure after the improvements? \u00c2\u00a0Bob – NIRC, Northeast Indiana Regional Coordinating Council does this. \u00c2\u00a0Asbestos removal is paid for out of CEDIT Bonds.<\/p>\n Traffic Engineering<\/strong><\/p>\n Shan Gunawardena is giving a brief overview of his department.<\/p>\n Electricity is the highest increase due to charges incurred from AEP, Indiana Michigan, four surcharges since April.<\/p>\n Karen Goldner – talk about the surcharge. \u00c2\u00a0Shan – fuel cost adjustment rider which is added to monthly bill. \u00c2\u00a0There is a total of 5. \u00c2\u00a0It is done with the Utility Regulatory Commission. \u00c2\u00a0Several other electric providers, Indiana Michigan is the only one charging us more.<\/p>\n John Shoaff – how he works with NIRC. \u00c2\u00a0NIRC administers all federal funding. \u00c2\u00a0Creates transportation plans. \u00c2\u00a0They are required to develop 30 year transportation plans. \u00c2\u00a0They ask the City for their recommendations every year as they update the 30 year plans. \u00c2\u00a0John is asking if citizen input shouldn’t be solicited earlier before the plans are done.<\/p>\n Mitch Harper – move away from buried detector loops to visual? \u00c2\u00a0Emergency runs to repair LEDs in traffic signals is down from 300 to 12 or 15. \u00c2\u00a0 Bob – Street light technology LEDs is there, but very expensive. \u00c2\u00a0It is starting to come down.<\/p>\n Glynn Hines – Hessen Cassel Road has a lot of truck traffic. \u00c2\u00a0He gets a lot of complaints. \u00c2\u00a0Who is responsible? \u00c2\u00a0Complaints? \u00c2\u00a0Goes to Bender for more enforcement. \u00c2\u00a0They also check to make sure the signs are correctly in place.<\/p>\n Fleet Management<\/strong><\/p>\n Gas has gone down considerably. \u00c2\u00a0Savings of $1,442,688. \u00c2\u00a0Working on hedging and saving even further. \u00c2\u00a0Figure they’ll be at $3 for diesel and $2.50 for gas. \u00c2\u00a0Not enough volume to hedge on diesel. \u00c2\u00a0Bond Bank is working on it. \u00c2\u00a0NIPSCO – already spent to date what they budgeted for the year. \u00c2\u00a0Working with NIPSCO to see where the problem is at. \u00c2\u00a0Cars purchased through Kelly allows for car washes which has saved money. \u00c2\u00a0Keeps fleet looking much nicer.<\/p>\n Non-target and target has increased due to vanadlism, life cycle, accidents. \u00c2\u00a0Using point system which has helped them through the tough times. \u00c2\u00a0In a year or two, there will be several vehicle replacements needed which will hit at the same time. \u00c2\u00a0Fleet number was at 1700, but about 30 will be taken out this month. \u00c2\u00a0Try to stay standard with tools and diagnostic tools available. \u00c2\u00a0Cheaper to keep it in house. \u00c2\u00a0The building was built in 1954 and wasn’t built for the current capacity. \u00c2\u00a0Maintenance cost is high. \u00c2\u00a0They currently have 16 bays, should have 33 for a fleet of our size.<\/p>\n Karen – when this department has drop in budget, it’s reflected in the other budgets as well. \u00c2\u00a0Contractors can buy parts cheaper than the City can. \u00c2\u00a0There is no mark-up on parts coming to the City. \u00c2\u00a0City can buy tires cheaper. \u00c2\u00a0If an employee comes requesting a new car. \u00c2\u00a0He shows them a report that shows the points on the car. \u00c2\u00a0Cost, age, etc. \u00c2\u00a0Then look at utilization for the next few years. \u00c2\u00a0All this will show cost feasibility of possibly obtaining a new car. \u00c2\u00a0The Controller relies on them to provide the information when approving new cars. \u00c2\u00a0Seeing mileage go up because of annexations, hybrids have helped to keep the consumption flat.<\/p>\n John Shoaff – how are the hybrids working out? \u00c2\u00a0GM and Ford will bring in their new models. \u00c2\u00a0Even between 2004 and 2009, the hybrids have improved.<\/p>\n Mitch Harper – go back to natural gas… \u00c2\u00a0Prices are dropping, but ours is up? \u00c2\u00a0New windows, less BTUs, but the pricing went up. \u00c2\u00a0Not sure why it’s gone up. \u00c2\u00a0Is it something that can be done before the end of the budget process? \u00c2\u00a0Possibly, you could cut and we can come back if we need it. \u00c2\u00a0Long Distance charges up almost double. \u00c2\u00a0Other avenues? \u00c2\u00a0A lot of phone calls are to State License Bureau. \u00c2\u00a0Have to go to Indy to get new plates, can’t obtain them locally. \u00c2\u00a0It’s a long process now. \u00c2\u00a0What used to be 2 days, is now taking up to 6 weeks for plates. \u00c2\u00a0Municipal plates – it is a lot different than for citizens.<\/p>\n Liz Brown – Locked in 60% of the gas. \u00c2\u00a0Working with FWCS, Allen County. \u00c2\u00a0Mainly pulling FWCS in due to their diesel use. \u00c2\u00a0Citilink is being worked on as well. \u00c2\u00a0If CPI is negative, our cost does not go down. \u00c2\u00a0December 2010 contract ends. \u00c2\u00a0Four one-year extensions available. \u00c2\u00a0It would be an RFP, not RFB. \u00c2\u00a0Sometime next year decision will be made. \u00c2\u00a0All vehicles except for Parks who maintains their own.<\/p>\n Energy and Environmental<\/strong><\/p>\n Lids on garbage bins have probably contributed to lower garbage collections as well as the economy. \u00c2\u00a0CPI lowered to 2.5%.<\/p>\n Liz – how many leaf collections this year? \u00c2\u00a0Two (Bob). \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Compacted Leaf Contracting is now included in the Solid Waste Disposal line.<\/p>\n Marty – \u00c2\u00a0Garbage carts – for residents that want additional and new homes being built. \u00c2\u00a0City doesn’t pay for stolen carts, manufacturer does. \u00c2\u00a0Master lease was for original carts purchased.<\/p>\n Glynn Hines – On-going discussions about garbage contracts, can’t discuss it because it’s in the legal department.<\/p>\n Karen \u00c2\u00a0– they reimburse portion of leaf pick-up to Street Department. \u00c2\u00a0$766,040.<\/p>\n Public Works<\/strong><\/p>\n To try to combat rising energy, eliminated one of the crews that is contracted to repair street light outtages.<\/p>\n Karen – eliminated 3 or 4 jobs, now have a slower response time on a public safety issue because I&M increased our cost. \u00c2\u00a0(7:14)<\/p>\n Liz – Clarifying that it’s not just I&M raising rates that has caused the cuts as Karen suggested. \u00c2\u00a0Bob responded he wasn’t saying that as other factors have contributed, not just I&M.<\/p>\n Mitch – asking about citizens paying twice for \u00c2\u00a0hydrants. \u00c2\u00a0Granted there is the hydrant charge, but additional payments are coming from Utilities to offset property taxes. \u00c2\u00a0 Only way to change the double billing is for the City to acquire Aqua in Aboite.<\/p>\n Liz – maintenance on rivergreenway is done by Public Works, anything in Parks is done by Parks and Recreation. \u00c2\u00a0Asking whose department bidding for work on Renaissance Square will go through. \u00c2\u00a0Not sure.<\/p>\n Notes from the Fort Wayne City Council Budget Hearing on October 8, 2009. Related Images:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[604,1647,236],"tags":[702,703,341,2001,2004,705,129,130,20,127,128,1080,2002,906,24684,851],"class_list":{"0":"post-7644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-fort-wayne-board-of-public-works","7":"category-fw-budget","8":"category-fort-wayne-city-council","9":"tag-bob-kennedy","10":"tag-brad-baumgartner","11":"tag-city-of-fort-wayne-board-of-public-works","12":"tag-city-of-fort-wayne-fleet-department","13":"tag-city-of-fort-wayner-public-works-director-shan-gunawardena","14":"tag-city-of-fort-wayne-street-department","15":"tag-fort-wayne-city-councilman-marty-bender","16":"tag-fort-wayne-city-councilman-mitch-harper","17":"tag-fort-wayne-city-councilman-tim-pape","18":"tag-fort-wayne-city-councilwoman-karen-goldner","20":"tag-fort-wayne-energy-and-environmental-services-department","21":"tag-fort-wayne-traffic-engineering-department","22":"tag-indiana-michigan-power","23":"tag-nircc-northeastern-indiana-regional-coordinating-council","24":"tag-valerie-ahr"},"yoast_head":"\nRelated Images:<\/h3>
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