by Neil Richard
The Board of Supervisors held their first Capital Improvement Program (CIP) meeting on September 10th. The meeting started a few minutes later than planned and lasted a good two and a half hours. The Supervisors invited the Citizen Budget Advisory Committee to return and three residents did so; Mark Crnarich, Carrie Cleveland, and Gillian Woodring.
Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, gave the citizens and the Board a short overview of the CIP process and quickly reviewed the amounts available in the different accounts. There's roughly $800,000 left in the current fiscal year operating budget, a few dollars left unspent from previous capital projects, and about $2.6 million in the gas line fund. In total, there is about $3.4 million available to be spent as well as other avenues of funding available such as grants and new borrowing.
Dr. Young then opened the floor for different department heads to present their requests for CIP funding over the next five years. Chris Clarke from Parks and Recreation presented several projects including new lighting, playgrounds, and other projects. For the short term, he was focused on the tennis court repairs and in the long term he was looking at a replacement for the Citizens Center. He reminded everyone that the tennis courts sit between the current middle school and high school and are used by the school's tennis team but the courts are considered a public park. He said the courts are bad enough that some tennis matches were almost cancelled last season because of the poor conditions.
Dr. Benson, Superintendent of Schools, then presented his CIP request for various projects. Some, like the school bus replacement, were pretty typical to see every year. The roof replacement at King George Elementary School saw support from Chris Clarke as he said the leaks in the gym impact the ability of Parks and Recreation to hold activities. Dr. Young then presented his CIP request to the Board which essentially was for nothing this coming fiscal year. Although the document scanning is in progress and it was listed for more funding in FY2019/2020, he said there were some internal hurdles that needed to be addressed first and felt it could be delayed a year. The Supervisors asked that he look at breaking out a half mile or mile of a trail way instead of leaving an unrealistic goal of the entire plan of $36 million. The impression was that smaller chunks were easier to swallow and more couched in reality. In other words, tackling a mile of trail at a time is more realistic to be completed within five years rather than the entire project. There was also some discussion about the current maintenance plans for Ralph Bunche and the old Middle School and how mold was being addressed in those buildings.
Vic Mason wasn't even in his seat to present when he was greeted with a joking comment of "and speaking of mold..." Mason was the most patient of the presenters that evening as he simply said he was going to address the "elephant in the room," meaning the need for a new Courthouse. The Supervisors and Dr. Young agreed that due to the expected lengthy discussions about the Courthouse, there should be a separate meeting just for those topic. For those that are unaware of the current conditions of the Courthouse, you can reference our in-depth tour of the facility and the history behind it.
Sheriff Dempsey was not there to present his CIP plan largely because there was nothing on the list for the coming year to be funded. Chief Moody presented his three CIP requests that included an ambulance replacement and new facilities for Company 2. He and the Supervisors also discussed his request for protective equipment but there was some debate with those involved if that qualified for CIP or not. Moody said he was working with the Finance Department to see where it fell and would go from there. There was also a discussion about the potential for future Company 4 facility in the Shiloh district. One interesting fact that Moody shared was that Company 1 covers a service area of 113 square miles out of the total 188 square miles in the County.
Dr. Young did his best to keep everyone's presentation short and to the point but felt it necessary to have Chris Dines, Director of Information Technology, give a robust and lengthy presentation. Dines' presentation was primarily focused on the need to have redundant, resilient, and diverse systems. In plainer English, all of the County's computer systems need upgrades on the back end to allow the various departments to operate in an emergency. While some of the suggestions may seem obvious, like having backup communications available for the Sheriff's Department, some of them were a little more obscure, like having a backup of the accounting software to allow the Finance Department to accept payments and pay bills should they need to evacuate the County Administration building.
Without dissecting each project, whether it is scheduled to be funded next year or in five years, each CIP item listed was relevant to the County and the citizens that live here. Some projects may be a bit more "pie in the sky" while some were urgent enough to have already been approved. It felt like a fair mix of realistic needs based on current and future needs of the County. I never felt like any specific project was automatically dismissed as absurd and the citizens and Supervisors did ask some great clarifying questions for several projects. In my opinion, the most surprising moment was the tabling of the Courthouse discussion for a future meeting. Having toured the building, even though briefly, it was painfully obvious that employees and members of the public are not in a safe and healthy environment whenever they go there. I can only hope that the Supervisors truly hear the needs of their employees at a future CIP meeting.
The Board of Supervisors held their first Capital Improvement Program (CIP) meeting on September 10th. The meeting started a few minutes later than planned and lasted a good two and a half hours. The Supervisors invited the Citizen Budget Advisory Committee to return and three residents did so; Mark Crnarich, Carrie Cleveland, and Gillian Woodring.
Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, gave the citizens and the Board a short overview of the CIP process and quickly reviewed the amounts available in the different accounts. There's roughly $800,000 left in the current fiscal year operating budget, a few dollars left unspent from previous capital projects, and about $2.6 million in the gas line fund. In total, there is about $3.4 million available to be spent as well as other avenues of funding available such as grants and new borrowing.
Dr. Young then opened the floor for different department heads to present their requests for CIP funding over the next five years. Chris Clarke from Parks and Recreation presented several projects including new lighting, playgrounds, and other projects. For the short term, he was focused on the tennis court repairs and in the long term he was looking at a replacement for the Citizens Center. He reminded everyone that the tennis courts sit between the current middle school and high school and are used by the school's tennis team but the courts are considered a public park. He said the courts are bad enough that some tennis matches were almost cancelled last season because of the poor conditions.
Dr. Benson, Superintendent of Schools, then presented his CIP request for various projects. Some, like the school bus replacement, were pretty typical to see every year. The roof replacement at King George Elementary School saw support from Chris Clarke as he said the leaks in the gym impact the ability of Parks and Recreation to hold activities. Dr. Young then presented his CIP request to the Board which essentially was for nothing this coming fiscal year. Although the document scanning is in progress and it was listed for more funding in FY2019/2020, he said there were some internal hurdles that needed to be addressed first and felt it could be delayed a year. The Supervisors asked that he look at breaking out a half mile or mile of a trail way instead of leaving an unrealistic goal of the entire plan of $36 million. The impression was that smaller chunks were easier to swallow and more couched in reality. In other words, tackling a mile of trail at a time is more realistic to be completed within five years rather than the entire project. There was also some discussion about the current maintenance plans for Ralph Bunche and the old Middle School and how mold was being addressed in those buildings.
Vic Mason wasn't even in his seat to present when he was greeted with a joking comment of "and speaking of mold..." Mason was the most patient of the presenters that evening as he simply said he was going to address the "elephant in the room," meaning the need for a new Courthouse. The Supervisors and Dr. Young agreed that due to the expected lengthy discussions about the Courthouse, there should be a separate meeting just for those topic. For those that are unaware of the current conditions of the Courthouse, you can reference our in-depth tour of the facility and the history behind it.
Sheriff Dempsey was not there to present his CIP plan largely because there was nothing on the list for the coming year to be funded. Chief Moody presented his three CIP requests that included an ambulance replacement and new facilities for Company 2. He and the Supervisors also discussed his request for protective equipment but there was some debate with those involved if that qualified for CIP or not. Moody said he was working with the Finance Department to see where it fell and would go from there. There was also a discussion about the potential for future Company 4 facility in the Shiloh district. One interesting fact that Moody shared was that Company 1 covers a service area of 113 square miles out of the total 188 square miles in the County.
Dr. Young did his best to keep everyone's presentation short and to the point but felt it necessary to have Chris Dines, Director of Information Technology, give a robust and lengthy presentation. Dines' presentation was primarily focused on the need to have redundant, resilient, and diverse systems. In plainer English, all of the County's computer systems need upgrades on the back end to allow the various departments to operate in an emergency. While some of the suggestions may seem obvious, like having backup communications available for the Sheriff's Department, some of them were a little more obscure, like having a backup of the accounting software to allow the Finance Department to accept payments and pay bills should they need to evacuate the County Administration building.
Without dissecting each project, whether it is scheduled to be funded next year or in five years, each CIP item listed was relevant to the County and the citizens that live here. Some projects may be a bit more "pie in the sky" while some were urgent enough to have already been approved. It felt like a fair mix of realistic needs based on current and future needs of the County. I never felt like any specific project was automatically dismissed as absurd and the citizens and Supervisors did ask some great clarifying questions for several projects. In my opinion, the most surprising moment was the tabling of the Courthouse discussion for a future meeting. Having toured the building, even though briefly, it was painfully obvious that employees and members of the public are not in a safe and healthy environment whenever they go there. I can only hope that the Supervisors truly hear the needs of their employees at a future CIP meeting.
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