[6:07] the other day, I wasn't paying attention and this thing hit me right between the
[6:10] eyes. Uh huh. Oh
[6:18] okay. Never we do. Mhm
[6:26] Good morning, it's nine o'clock and it's thursday The 28th, we're here for our
[6:34] budget budget meeting, keith johnson, our administrator, clerk of the board. Commissioner,
[6:41] Bohlen and myself call the meeting to order and if you'd all rise and join me in
[6:46] the pledge of allegiance,
[6:49] I believe the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which
[6:56] it stands motivation underneath indivisible with liberty and justice.
[7:08] All right, first on the agenda this morning as public works, Solid waste matt Mahoney
[7:15] and craig Erdmann. It's not sally Mackenzie. No it's not. Okay matt Mahoney, please
[7:22] check it out the solid waste situation in Hawaii right now. All right, well you guys
[7:27] go ahead present. Well, um certainly we can spend as much time as the board would
[7:33] like on the Solid waste budget. Uh A majority of all the revenue comes from grants
[7:41] directly from the Department of ecology. one of the other funding sources of course,
[7:48] is the, is the receipt of fees that are collected by base and disposal for the
[7:56] unincorporated area of franklin County. So there is a surcharge that's collected
[8:00] for these as well. So those are the major revenue sources and they all go towards
[8:06] uh completing those activities and projects that are defined in the solid waste um
[8:11] planned comprehensive plan which is under review and
[8:18] updating right now I believe. Uh Commissioner mullen is on the solid waste um
[8:26] committee and what they call slacks I believe that's the action committee and we
[8:33] do have a consultant that is pretty much completed some of the required updates or
[8:38] some required updates as far as a department of ecology goes and trying to bring
[8:45] it into our times. That's why if you look at the revenues there, you'll also see
[8:51] some payments from, from the other agencies which include Pasco con el messa and
[8:56] Kill Otis. A major component of this solid waste comprehensive plan is,
[9:04] is for these other agencies to pay their fair share of it Because there is a 20%
[9:11] match on the work that's done traditionally that 20% match has been made
[9:18] by the, by the county and usually that's done through those surcharges that are collected.
[9:26] Um So what part of the update is creating the inter local agreements with all of
[9:33] these other municipalities So that we can start building them their share of that
[9:40] 20% match. So that's really majority of where it goes. I apologize, I didn't bring
[9:47] the, bring the the draft plan with me hoping that we're gonna be bringing that in
[9:55] front of the board as a whole. Um as soon as the committee gets to review the whole
[10:01] thing and and make their recommendation not only to the board of county commissioners,
[10:05] but the cities all have to review it and prove it as well. So, um, another major
[10:13] component, you know, both, both the, when we look at solid waste, we're also looking
[10:20] at the probation work crew and the probation work crew is, uh, has been, we feel
[10:27] has been very successful for especially doing some roadside cleanup and all that.
[10:33] It's been kind of slow track the last year and a half because of everything that's
[10:38] going on unfortunately, but we hope to get that back up and go on again. But that's
[10:43] also funded um, from that grant from the Department of ecology as well as being funded
[10:51] in part by the probation program itself. So, um, I can answer any questions,
[10:58] but this is one of those that, that, you know, we're required to have a solid waste
[11:06] plan were, um, required to do certain elements of recycling and promoting those
[11:14] things and um, you know, of course with the cleanup and all that, There's, so those
[11:20] were requirements on us. This is one of those things that the state does somewhat
[11:26] adequate job of funding. Uh huh. But they also do kind of turn around on us a lot
[11:33] and they'll cut funding. So it's kind of interesting how monies are collected from
[11:37] all the generators for specifically cleanup and all that and then they take the money
[11:42] for other things, but that's a guess an issue for another day that we can talk about,
[11:47] but it has been a successful program for us from a county road standpoint. We love
[11:53] the probation work crew part of it, which is litter cleanup. They've cleaned up a
[11:58] lot of illegal dumps in the county. They've um cleaned up a lot of trash on the roadway
[12:05] and it's just something that we hope we can get back in full force here as things
[12:09] started opening up more. So other than that, I'll answer any questions about the
[12:14] solid waste budget is question I have is the pond out there on foster wells part
[12:20] of this solid waste that lagoon that they're increasing the size of that is not your.
[12:28] Yeah, that's you're talking about the city of Pasko's their ways upon their, that's
[12:33] not part of it. Yeah. That would be controlled by the department of ecology. Yeah.
[12:38] Just one clarity on that. Yes. Okay. Other than that, I don't have any other questions.
[12:43] Commissioner moment.
[12:51] Mhm. Commissioner Mommy to interrupt. But I'm sure you're gonna be getting more information
[12:58] on this and you want. So if you do have any questions we can answer these and some
[13:02] of them will probably answered at our next slack meeting. So sally will be getting
[13:08] that out to everybody as soon as me and her kind of do our final cursory review of
[13:14] the of the plan itself. So um if you don't have any now, I'm sure you'll have someone
[13:21] you see you see that documents Now. What's the frequency of updating? That's always
[13:27] plans that done annually or every few years there's a required and don't quote me
[13:33] on this but I think it's every eight years. 8 to 10 years somewhere in there that
[13:38] were required to review it not necessarily updated, but we are required to do a review
[13:43] of it and do the necessary updates. And this is one of those cases where we actually,
[13:51] there was some new laws that were that we're past that we have to make sure that
[13:56] we're incorporating in our plan. So those themselves and you know, necessitated a
[14:03] full update. So and as well as making sure we had some inter local agreement so that
[14:09] the that the cities who are um you know, they can choose to do their own solid waste.
[14:16] The cities have just chosen for the county to take that on and manage the solid waste
[14:20] program on behalf of all the municipality. So it's just making sure we get the the
[14:25] documents in order that we can start Um charging them for their share of that 20%
[14:31] match. So those are two really two of the major components is some minor updates
[14:35] but adding the new elements as required by law and then the inter local agreements.
[14:43] Another question you mentioned the probation work through cleaning up illegal dumps.
[14:49] A couple years ago we worked with the Army corps installing that gate at the end
[14:53] of Columbia River road. Has that been effective? And are we seeing common locations
[15:00] of illegal dumping around the county there, You know, for us it can be as simple
[15:08] as just somebody throwing an old refrigerator off there and rolling it down the embankment
[15:13] of a county road sometimes they're a little bit more. I mean we're not going on private
[15:18] property looking for those things when people see those, those usually get turned
[15:23] over to the Department of ecology. So when I'm talking about illegal dump sites,
[15:27] we're usually looking on city property, county property or rights of ways, um, that
[15:34] we have access to. So I don't want to give the impression that we're going out and
[15:37] looking on private property, but certainly we've had some areas, um, Off
[15:45] the county roads, mainly on the east side of 395 where we do have some pretty
[15:53] remote roads and, and so pretty good, pretty good embankments for people to kind
[15:59] of toss stuff down and so there's been some huge work and keeping an eye on those
[16:04] areas and keeping them keeping them cleaned up. I've noticed a new spot and that's
[16:11] on stage more there or that tree rose out there, throwing a lot of garbage along
[16:16] in the borrow pit right there. It looks like a remodel job been put there and Tires
[16:23] and where is that at against stage more. This is on west of 395 on stage more, right
[16:29] past that little waist way. Okay,
[16:34] I've been going to get down there and clean it up myself, but I been a little short
[16:37] on time.
[16:41] So is there an order ordinance in franklin county that you're aware of? Not one that
[16:47] I'm aware of. No, I know exactly what you're talking about. I've been out there and
[16:53] you know, yeah, I'm familiar with it. It's something we can look into from a county
[16:59] standpoint that's for sure. Um, Yeah, it's, well, I mean, not to see the need
[17:07] to necessity to make it, but we just would be nice if, if certain
[17:14] entities would self regulate themselves on that. There certainly are certainly our
[17:20] public nuisance
[17:23] ordinances that all municipality have and also health and safety ordinances.
[17:30] So yeah, I'm a little surprised, you know, I won't go into detail here, but I think
[17:37] we all know what we're referring to. I'm a little surprised that the, some of the
[17:44] regulatory agencies are being more active in, in that specifically the Washington
[17:50] state Department of ecology. That's what I've heard is they want to enforce it because
[17:54] there's no ordinance, so they're not out of compliance because there is no ordinance.
[18:03] We'll take a look at that already and maybe you could advise us on putting one in
[18:07] place. One other thing I'd like to mention is, I'm seeing an increased amount of
[18:12] beer bottles in the fields and what's very troubling there is that a farmer is raising
[18:20] potatoes and he digs and one potato is found with a piece of glass. They call the
[18:27] whole field. Yeah, they can't and this could be very detrimental to anybody that's
[18:32] raising food, such as vegetables, potatoes or carrots because people are just throwing
[18:39] these beer bottles that I'd like to see an increase on fines for any glass being
[18:43] thrown from a vehicle.
[19:01] But other than that, do you have any other questions? No, no other questions. All
[19:04] right, well, thank you very much. But I don't think you guys are moving. No. Well,
[19:09] we got public works next. When I see Craig, Craig's name should be there. There's
[19:14] not.
[19:16] Craig's. Craig is a definitely vital in the next conversation for
[19:24] sure. And, and he's here to answer any of the boards questions, but with the board's
[19:29] indulgence, um, I do have a some points written here and if it pleases the board,
[19:36] I'd like to just kind of read down through it, Go ahead. Um, Well, the main thing
[19:43] is we want to look at as we look at the proposed revenue for the county road fund.
[19:47] We need to point out That one million, $341,742 represents federal funds
[19:56] which are committed to specific projects And we also have charges for goods and services
[20:02] in the total of that equals 285,000 $50. Both of these represent revenues exists
[20:09] only upon the expenditure of funds, meaning if we don't spend the money, we don't
[20:14] get the revenue. So when people look at our, our budget and they see a high number,
[20:21] the assumption is that there's a lot of money there and we just need to point out
[20:28] that a lot of these revenues don't exist if we do not do projects or we don't do
[20:34] provide services for other entities or, or departments within within our own county.
[20:43] So we also need to understand that the proposed beginning fund balance, which we
[20:48] show, I'm not sure that it shows necessarily in the budget documents that you have,
[20:56] but we just always want to point out that that's our best estimate at this time and
[21:00] could be more or less than what we are currently showing. So we actually that number
[21:08] for us will actually change all the way up until until december when the board approves
[21:15] it, where we have a much better idea where we're going to be at. If we were to subtract
[21:22] the numbers I have just mentioned, we are left with eight million $37,420. The
[21:29] primary contributors to this number of the county roads property tax levy proposed
[21:35] at 3.7 million, which does not include a levee shift and includes a 1% increase And
[21:42] revenues received through the State Motor Vehicle Fund which includes $520,866 in
[21:49] cap, which stands for the county arterial preservation program.
[21:54] $136,126 in multi modal transportation
[22:00] And 2,943,303 in motor vehicle fuel tax for a total of
[22:07] 3.6 million or three million or $3,600,295 when adding these
[22:15] revenues together we have a total Of 7,300,295 which represents
[22:22] 91% of our operational revenues as such. Any loss in these revenues has a huge impact
[22:29] on the operations of the county road fund and more specifically the road maintenance
[22:33] and preservation activities. Since 2018, we have seen a major drop in revenues from
[22:39] the Motor State Motor Vehicle Fund, which includes cap, multi modal and the motor
[22:44] vehicle fuel tax. It's important to note, we receive our budget estimates directly
[22:49] from the state. They provide us these annual estimates that we use as our budget
[22:54] numbers In 2018 are budgeted versus actual revenues were
[23:01] $3,660,850 and
[23:06] $3,699,795 $94 respectively for a difference
[23:14] of 38,944 or a 1.06% gain. So we actually received
[23:22] More than what we budgeted in 2018, 2019. Budgeted vs actual revenues.
[23:30] Our budgeted was $3,719,000.863, let me say that again, three million
[23:39] $719,863.
[23:41] $3,605,158 respectively. For a difference of a
[23:49] negative 114,705 Or a 3.0 8% loss.
[23:57] 2020 budgeted versus actual revenues. We're approximately 3.9 and
[24:05] 3.3 respectively. The actual difference was a negative
[24:09] $633,546 or a 16.22% loss
[24:17] From 2018 to 2020. We have seen a total loss of revenues equal to $709,307
[24:25] and a decrease And a decrease of 11.5, We do not have the total revenues for
[24:32] 2021, but we do anticipate a similar loss to that of 2020. So approximately a
[24:40] $600,000 loss in revenues based on these losses in revenue and no signs of improvement
[24:47] in the future. We must do our best to preserve the last major source of revenue for
[24:52] the maintenance and preservation of the county road system, which is the county road
[24:56] levy. Although I know how unpopular this next statement is, I have to say it and
[25:04] I'm going to ask the board to consider a 1% increase to the levy as well as any available
[25:09] bank capacity. Even with these increases, we still would not be keeping pace with
[25:15] current and or future inflation and we all, I think have a pretty good idea of where
[25:20] inflation is going. We're being told that we could see fuel prices up as high as
[25:25] $6 a gallon in many areas and this will affect every aspect of what we do. Um
[25:33] um so Even even with these increases, I'll pass that um it is
[25:41] important to note that it would only be generating additional revenue. So if we did
[25:45] all that, the 1% in any, in any of the bank capacity, That increase is only
[25:52] going to equal approximately $100 For each mile of County Road. So that's all it's
[25:59] going to generate an additional $100 for each mile. We have 970 just
[26:07] just shy of 1000 miles of county road and so you can see for us
[26:14] the The 1% for us doesn't even keep hasn't even kept up with
[26:21] inflation and it's the one area that this county has control of for as far as revenue
[26:28] for the county road funds. So matt, before you move away from that, you never mentioned
[26:33] the road shift money in that. Are you figuring no road shift money for this every
[26:40] year? We come in here we always, we always present a budget that does not include
[26:45] a road shift and includes a 1%. So you're saying we're still going to come up short
[26:50] if we shift no money, we're still going to come up short just in the motor vehicle
[26:54] fuel tax. We've lost over 700,000 in the last three years just in drops of revenues
[27:01] in the motor vehicle fuel tax. And with that unpopular statement, I just like to
[27:05] add as much as that's going to affect the county road fund. It's affecting every
[27:12] landowner out there too because their products have got to get to market and that
[27:15] fuel cost increases hitting them too. Yeah. We, and we absolutely understand and
[27:21] our and our crops are not gaining in value with inflation. We're losing ground most
[27:27] with a lot of them. Yeah. No. Uh, when I, when I say unpopular, I don't just mean
[27:34] for the people of franklin County or these board members. I don't like saying it
[27:39] either. That's, I'm, I stand with the people in franklin County and this board as
[27:46] it comes to raising in any taxes or levies, but, but I also have a responsibility
[27:54] to come in and tell the truth to the board and motor vehicle fuel tax is dropping.
[27:59] We don't see that it's, we do not believe that it's ever going to come back to what
[28:03] it was and the reasons for that aren't just due to inflation or, or the covid where
[28:10] people haven't been driving, but we see that we see more and more people that aren't
[28:15] going to be driving, but also the introduction of the electric vehicles and the hybrids
[28:21] in our state has not done a thing to figure out how to how to get the
[28:29] money through the motor vehicle fund, which I consider as a user fee for the road
[28:35] system and getting everybody to pay their fair share. I don't know when that will
[28:41] happen because they've been talking about it for you know, keith can probably but
[28:45] at least for the last 10 years heavily on how they're going to, How they're going
[28:51] to deal with the increase in hybrids. And then of course in our state when we got
[28:56] a governor who is telling us that by 2030 there will be no no gas vehicles in the
[29:02] state of Washington, I was going to add to that. I was going to say it's not just
[29:07] the introduction, it's the mandate that he's putting down that we're going to eliminate
[29:11] fossil fuel which eliminates the ability to maintain our roadways, correct? Yes.
[29:17] Is there any distinction in terms of where and tear on our infrastructure road system
[29:23] between an electric vehicle and gas powered vehicle? It has a beautiful bars.
[29:32] Probably.
[29:34] Yeah. Electrical heart disease. We're on the road. Protracted issue major on faith.
[29:42] Okay, there's a man wear and tear on well, so if electric cars come in yet
[29:50] the same, there's other things that you can Yeah.
[30:03] Mhm.
[30:06] Thank you were here.
[30:10] Uh huh.
[30:15] Yeah,
[30:18] I followed the situation will have a pilot program with the Uh
[30:26] huh where they're going with fees for electric vehicles is
[30:33] how the state constitution is right now. The state gas tax is constitutionally mandated
[30:39] to go towards county Robbins or you know, road preservation in general. And I
[30:46] haven't seen where they put anything in place to where when they replace and a natural
[30:52] hair conditions in your vehicles with electorate that they are going to protect the
[30:59] revenue stream in the same way. And to me that is a vital issue that money has to
[31:04] be protected. We cannot and it is not criticism of the legislature, but we all know
[31:11] that political whims come and go and we need money that cannot be just grabbed willingly
[31:16] and taken out any year that we don't get the money we need to preserve and improve
[31:22] the road system. We never get back, we fall further behind and it compounds now
[31:31] through the life of the system. That's one of the by delicious that in the next 5-10
[31:38] years that it has to be mm has to have a solution.
[31:47] And I would like to add to that that once you start seeing the ramifications of electric
[31:52] cars over charging batteries and wrecks on the road with that acid, you're going
[31:56] to see more destruction to our roadways. Yeah. You know, there's a potential that
[32:02] these vehicles will run heavier, you know, obvious suspect especially trucking with
[32:06] battery systems and stuff that they and we're already seeing increases so they'll
[32:11] have to add more axles and so on. You know, there's, it's just not a
[32:19] simple, are we getting money to do county roads for state roads or whatever. This
[32:25] fans out into a giant web impacts up and down the stream,
[32:33] you know, I I hope Uh huh Legal revenue people are looking at those
[32:42] thank you. Federal estate level is we depend on that.
[32:49] And you know, it is good to know that there is a crossover between the direction
[32:56] the our governor is trying to take us in solid waste because we are now looking down
[33:02] the stream and seeing all these electric vehicles and the batteries and understanding
[33:08] that that's going to be a new major waste stream and one that's probably going to
[33:13] be worse than, than what we see now. So, those are concerns that we have, even on
[33:21] the solid waste side of things. Um, so we see some huge cross over there. Um, if
[33:28] it pleases the board, I'd like to, those were my main points of revenue. I'd like
[33:33] to quickly point out some specific activities on the expenditure side. Um, when we
[33:40] kind of look at these things, when we look at Chip seal, let's say, which is set
[33:46] at, sorry guys, I'll let you catch up
[33:51] uh huh. When we look at chip seal at 1.35 mil included in that, it's not just
[33:59] chip seal, but it's also the seal coat clean up. It's also our skip patching and
[34:04] fog seals. Um, mm, those activities is, you know, as well as
[34:12] our crack seal that we do. That's part, those are major components of our preservation
[34:18] activities. Just looking at the chip seal and those activities that are directly
[34:23] underneath it. The seal coat clean up, skip patching fogs, hill, we have 1.47 million
[34:30] and that's a vital vital area there. And I'm, you know, I've been honest with the
[34:35] board or I'm always honest with the board, but I've been frank with the board. So
[34:39] I'll just say that we are way behind in our preservation activities and it's been
[34:46] going on for a while. Um, the county used to be on a seven year
[34:53] cycle for chip seal on our, all of our paved roads. Um
[35:01] now, uh huh, You can imagine for us to do, to stay on that schedule, we have to be
[35:08] doing about 70 miles a year approximately and that's plus or minus what you're seeing
[35:14] here is nowhere near that. And so We actually fell back to about a 10 year cycle,
[35:22] um, probably In the early 2000s, mid to early 2000s and now
[35:29] we're beyond that. So, and you know, like they say, and you've probably
[35:37] heard it, if you've been to any of the meetings for every penny, not spent today
[35:44] will be dollars big dollars in the future. And so we take our preservation activities
[35:51] is as painful as they are to the public sometimes when we're out there doing our
[35:56] chip seal and our crack seal, they are vital and they are worldwide still considered
[36:02] to be the best and primary way to preserve paved roads and that's through what they
[36:09] call it vitamin A surface treatment, good crack seal. When he cracks come up, sealing
[36:16] those of water, moisture cannot get down into the road. And so I just wanted to point
[36:21] that out that, You know, we right now we're showing up just shy of 1.5 million for
[36:28] that whole area. We're falling farther and farther behind. We would like that to
[36:35] be probably about trump triple or quadruple that number. But we also now just kind
[36:42] of focusing on the worst of the worst and having to make those types of decisions
[36:49] on whether or not we can get through another year on a, on this road or that road
[36:54] and get these roads. So we are making those decisions and doing the best we can.
[37:01] Um the other one of the other major areas I want to look at is under our blading
[37:08] operations, which also includes based stabilization, gravel spot patching, gravel
[37:14] replacement, gravel, road safety improvements and that represents um
[37:20] 1,875,000 dollars in there. If you add all of those up.
[37:28] Now, I'm gonna tell you The # one service requests that we get into our office is
[37:35] gravel roads and this is an area here that if we have a bad winter, like they're
[37:41] predicting it's not just snow and ice removal that will bank, that could put us in
[37:46] financial jeopardy. It's getting our gravel roads back in order after the snow is
[37:52] gone. So this is an area here that can absolutely um, blow our blow our budget, which
[38:00] puts us in a position where we're having to look at what don't we do. And so I just
[38:05] feel it's important to point these specific areas Out, you know? And right now we
[38:13] just have 385,000 for kind of our snow and ice control. If you guys,
[38:21] mm hmm. And if I move too fast, you guys just let me know. I know, tim's pretty darn
[38:25] good over there getting down. But I'm looking at all those activities which is sanding,
[38:30] snowplowing, anti icing, de icing And spring cleanup. And that's where we go out
[38:35] and we'll sweep the roads and stuff that have any sort of residual sand on them and
[38:40] stuff like that. That's 385,000 with a bad winter that could go up
[38:47] 5 : 500,000, 750,000. Even as high as $1 million. And so
[38:56] I'm just kind of pointing out these things what the preservation is important. We
[39:00] need to do the preservation, but we do have these other budget items, the we don't
[39:06] have a choice. We cannot let our gravel roads fall apart. Those gravel roads are
[39:11] still the life link for a majority of our of our farming community out there. And
[39:18] when they call us we jump, I mean, we don't hopefully any of the commissioners can
[39:24] vouch when they give me a call or they talk to craig about a gravel road. We're out
[39:27] there immediately looking at it and trying to get it back up in order for for the
[39:34] particular farmer haulers that are out there. So, and if I might add to that, your
[39:39] price of gravel, what line item is that? Because it's going up? Yeah, it's typically,
[39:45] Yeah. And that's another thing, it's right now, it's all of our all of our costs
[39:49] that you see here on activities, includes labor, materials, and equipment and so
[39:55] you can see major increases as uh and I appreciate you saying that. Mr. Chairman,
[40:01] is that materials costs going up, can raise that as well as equipment cost could
[40:08] go up. Um Usually not this year, but they, you know, because we lock in our rental
[40:16] rates, but certainly any increases this year. We do make those adjustments for the
[40:21] following year. If we have any gains or losses in in in revenue as it pertains strictly
[40:28] to the um the rental rates and the collection of those rental rates. So it does,
[40:33] it has an effect on every aspect. And so when we see increases, its it's all three
[40:38] of those areas, it's labor, its materials and its equipment, um kind of the last
[40:45] area that I'd like to .2 is our capital expenditures, which are the 595.
[41:00] Um, the total the total for capital expenditures and expenses expenditures. Um which
[41:05] is, I'm looking specifically at the 595, we have
[41:10] $1,597,200. I do want to point out That revenue in
[41:18] federal funds to offset these costs is is
[41:22] 1,000,000, That's a difference of
[41:29] $255,466, which represents the county's match or portion of the cost for building
[41:36] these projects. If we see the inflation that we all are predicting or that we're
[41:42] seeing now and it continues to, to get worse. You know, we could see
[41:49] 25-50% increases in construction costs alone. And, And so that that that could be
[41:56] an increase to that number of 65,000 up to 128,000. And it could even be higher.
[42:03] I hope not. But You know, I think conservative 25-50% increase. Well that
[42:10] that needs to be incurred by us, we always go back to the funding agencies and see
[42:18] if we can get more money, but that's not always, you know, going to happen. And so
[42:26] once we get the funding, we're kind of on the clock when it comes to federal funding,
[42:31] there's timelines and deadlines that we have to meet in one of them is construction
[42:35] and if we get to a point where we don't fund construction, then we end up paying
[42:39] money back and that's what we don't want to do. So when we commit, when we put money
[42:47] in, we put in our applications and we get the funding and then we start obligating
[42:52] these funds were we kind of need to keep going or else like I said, we get positions
[42:56] pay back. So I'm just letting the board know that if we see those increases, especially
[43:03] in which I believe we are going to, I mean, I'm just looking around around me and
[43:08] everything I do is costing me more and I know it's costing everybody in here more.
[43:13] Um, we're gonna, we move forward with these projects that's going to impact the
[43:20] budget, which means we're going to have to cut back in some of some other areas and
[43:26] we hope we hope that those and they can't be in our blading operations as we went
[43:32] through because that we we are out there and we're trying to be proactive but
[43:40] a lot of times were being reactive and, and so we gravel roads are just something
[43:46] we can't, we can't put off, so as all of this kind of plays in together. One thing
[43:52] I I would say is we don't spend money, we don't have in the county road funds. So
[43:59] we're relying on the revenues that we get and we, so there may be a time as we move
[44:06] forward, we may be coming back to the board and going, what what don't you want us
[44:10] to do? Like we like we did previously where we had a year where we didn't do any
[44:15] of our um, you know, soil stabilization, which is the putting down the magnesium
[44:23] chloride and stuff. And so there's elements like that. Another one is vegetation
[44:28] control. You know, that's that's a huge 12. And and we're just at a point now
[44:35] where it's, what do we do? Do we do the minimum meaning just make sure our roads
[44:44] are safe from a sight distance standpoint and maintain and deal with just noxious
[44:50] weeds. I'd like to say that might work, but it doesn't work for us because it just
[44:57] creates even more maintenance problems when we have weeds growing in that area that
[45:02] we call kind of that 6 to 10 ft from the shoulder of our road where we go out and
[45:07] and we do shoulder work and all that having weeds in that area. I think the board
[45:13] members commissioners kid could all point to going out there and seeing piles of
[45:19] weeds in our ditches where we've gone out there and done some of that work and it's
[45:22] unsightly and it's ugly and it doesn't do anything and that's why we try to keep
[45:26] those. So that's an area there that if we cut that out has an impact on our other
[45:33] operations and raises the cost and, and certainly the aesthetics of the work that
[45:38] we're doing and so those are the major components I wanted to talk about in the,
[45:44] in the county road fund. Um, I appreciate your indulgence. I know I can be long winded.
[45:51] Um, but we just love to answer any further questions that any of the board members
[45:57] have
[45:59] questions.
[46:03] I don't have any questions. It's just, it's,
[46:08] it's discouraging to see that the lack of funds for our roads and then to see the
[46:13] money that is spent on the Ben franklin Transit. Um, it doesn't matter how good your
[46:21] busses look if there's not roads to put them on and after sitting in their meeting
[46:27] yesterday one to spend another $300 just to put vinyl graphics on their busses, it
[46:32] seems kind of
[46:36] discussing when you see that the amount of money that we're missing for our roads
[46:40] and yet they spend money like, like it's no big deal. One question
[46:48] I have matt is on your 595 funds. How many of those are matching funds or if we don't
[46:55] have the money in the account, we don't get to do the project.
[47:01] I think when I'm looking at the revenue the, the safety money that we
[47:09] get, which I believe is the recipe Typically that's 100%. Yeah, yeah.
[47:18] We have a specific window to get the project constructed right, okay.
[47:26] They'll be 100%. Yeah. You know, cost overruns strength.
[47:33] Okay. We exceed that then. I think it's typically the county has,
[47:40] I think there's Mhm. But isn't there some, I've heard in the past meetings where
[47:46] we got to have funds available to match in order to get the product. Yeah. So of
[47:52] those, if I'm right there looking at the, if you want to go, can we go back to the
[47:57] revenue side? And I'm looking specifically specifically at the what's our 333 to
[48:04] 0 to 30, which is in there. It shows it as federal hazard elimination program. That
[48:12] program is kind of changed and it's now zip. Um but we have
[48:18] 564521. So Of the $1.3 million
[48:25] 100%.
[48:33] There is no match good. But the other 800,000 dollars
[48:40] requires In most cases with federal dollars like a 13.3 3% match.
[48:48] And so this kind of, when you look at this, this is kind of a down year from a construction
[48:55] standpoint for us because federal funding and state funding or calls for projects
[49:02] or on a biennial basis. And so this is kind of that off here and then there submitting
[49:07] we'll get we're getting calls for projects and so you'll kind of see this where one
[49:12] year, maybe a high year like this year is a much higher year for construction than
[49:17] 2020. Um that we're showing here but I said approximately
[49:25] $800,000 requires that match. And and if we were showing rap funding in here which
[49:33] is through through state funding, that's funding that's actually comes from the uh
[49:39] from that state motor vehicle fund that I was talking about. Some rural rural arterial
[49:45] preservation program that's managed by the county road administration board. That's
[49:49] a 20% match. That's an 80 20. So what we try to do on our projects is we try to leverage
[49:57] wrap funds against the federal dollars that we get and kind of combine in Pasco call
[50:03] Otis. The project that's going on now is a fine example of that where we're leveraging
[50:08] the rap funds as as part of the county's match for the federal funds to some degree.
[50:15] Now there is still some county costs incurred but that's because of the overall cost
[50:21] of the project um compared to the funding that was available and given to the county.
[50:27] So.
[50:30] Okay. Yeah. My my budget sheet showing that We're not anticipating any funds from
[50:36] the in the rap program in 2022. That's correct. Okay. If we if we see any fun it
[50:42] would be, it would be in the next year that I think they're just having a call for
[50:46] projects. Yeah, wow. Yeah, finalized.
[50:55] Right. Again, it's my talk of this revenue. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Mhm
[51:04] goes out first. Yeah.
[51:09] A struggle. So, but we're just, we're in a 20. Unfortunately, I think 23 or 22 is
[51:17] going to be a, a bit of a law and construction, but this is kind of natural cycle
[51:22] that lets us kind of Gear up for 23, which we're anticipating to be pretty active
[51:28] here construction wise and 24 as well because we have several bridges that we're
[51:35] looking to to reconstruct over that and a couple of road projects plus some other
[51:41] stuff that funds are outstanding for. If we get will be percent those very hard to,
[51:47] we just don't know how those Turn out. So it could be a very busy 23 and 24
[51:55] I think you mentioned earlier that we have about 1000 miles of County Road roughly.
[51:59] It's a little less than that. But can you counting all the subdivisions, the stuff
[52:04] we take in, it kind of fluctuates, can you tell me what percentage is paid versus
[52:09] which is 50% 40%. Mm This may be a question for tom or Tim as
[52:17] well, aren't we required to do an assessment of our infrastructure for our financial
[52:24] statements.
[52:27] Mhm. There is a note where we have to report um we're still using a model that we
[52:34] received from the public works that Since the uh, what Tim, since we have a dry desert
[52:41] environment, they put it like on a 40-year plan or something. But you're right. There
[52:45] is some sort of standards that we have to report on. You. Do you know if that's showing
[52:49] that the condition of our infrastructure is depreciating more rapidly than we're
[52:54] replacing it or it most definitely is okay Because it's what, $6 or $7 million dollars
[53:01] here. And I think in depreciation, but we're only adding probably not even half that
[53:06] a lot of years. So we're also wondering too, if the relief funds could be used for
[53:11] any infrastructure or on the new infrastructure Bill that they're trying to put into
[53:16] Congress right now, 3.5 trillion or whatever is going to be. Uh, would that go to
[53:21] any of our road projects? Certainly the infrastructure bill, if it gets approved,
[53:28] we had hoped clear back in May or june that they would be making more, but that's
[53:33] kind of making more progress. But that's really tight. I don't want us national politics
[53:39] right now, so I don't know how soon that's going to get done or what it's gonna look
[53:43] like when it gets them. But infrastructure obviously is a big piece of that. Ah,
[53:49] I would expect that we would be able to see some of that in the state of Washington,
[53:53] how how far that flows down to local governments. I don't know yet. Obviously there's
[53:58] a lot still to be excited. But your question about the recovery act is a good one
[54:02] as well. There are some opportunities to use some of our Recovery act funds for infrastructure
[54:07] projects. one thing I'd like to maybe add on the funding side of it so
[54:15] that our commissioners are aware and they can have these conversations with the state
[54:19] reps is you know, when federal dollars, when federal dollars, transportation dollars
[54:25] come to our state, they're funneled through the state of Washington. The D. O. T.
[54:29] They have a local programs branch, they kind of provide oversight of all the local
[54:34] agencies and what's interesting is the state doesn't use any of that federal money.
[54:40] They offset what they provide to the locals in motor vehicle fuel tax and other resources.
[54:48] They all set that and they give the counties and the cities and other jurisdictions,
[54:56] um those federal dollars so they don't have to deal with the federal requirements
[55:01] and we do. And I'm just saying that's pennies on the dollar when we do, when we use
[55:08] federal dollars to do a project, it costs us more than if we did a project
[55:16] using local or state dollars. And there's been a push for a long time through
[55:23] Wasatch. The Washington State Association of County Engineers and others to get the
[55:27] state to use the federal dollars, let them deal with the federal requirements and
[55:34] guidelines and then give us more of the gas tax revenue. I say it because it
[55:41] really does cost us more to do a project. Every agency in the state of Washington
[55:49] has their hands in that pot. When we do a project you have D. H. P. Which is
[55:57] the Department of Archaeological and Historical Preservation. Every state agency
[56:02] wants a piece of that money. And it's something that I'm passionate about because
[56:08] it's upsetting to me that this money is designed in to basically you know build
[56:16] infrastructure and rebuild infrastructure. Yet a lot of it goes out to these other
[56:21] agencies who have been given regulatory authority. So when example D. H. P.
[56:29] We have to consult with them and I guarantee you it does not matter what the project
[56:36] where it's at. They will send a nice little letter back saying we look forward to
[56:42] seeing your cultural resource study. It doesn't matter. And so right
[56:50] there alone we end up paying what are those running $30 $30,000 or whatever.
[56:58] Right 75. I imagine you're facing the same thing with the fish.
[57:06] Yeah. Yeah I can share stories of my uh my dealings with state and federal fish and
[57:14] wildlife biologists. I've had some interesting meetings with with all of them from
[57:21] the from us transplanting sage brush on a project to us having to go out and
[57:29] shock a waste way because they thought fish were in it. So yeah I've got some interesting
[57:37] stories but the main thing is is those costs those costs money and it depletes the
[57:44] amount of federal funds that we get to actually build the roads. And my point is
[57:51] this is I think it would be advantageous for us to really continue that push to get
[57:56] the state to use these federal dollars and whatever they get from the feds, they
[58:02] shift an equal amount in motor vehicle fuel tax to the local agencies so we can build
[58:08] the roads to our standards to what are people want will still follow state
[58:15] law and local laws as it pertains to sePA and all of that. But at least it gives
[58:22] us an opportunity to get these other hands out of there, which raised the cost of
[58:26] the project. So that's my I hope I'm not being too political. But it's just what
[58:34] I've seen through my career here at the county. It's frustrating and it's getting
[58:38] worse. The the amount of pressure that's put on our staff, from accounting all the
[58:45] way down to project management, down to even us with inspectors. I mean, you've had
[58:50] conversations about that with us having inspectors out on jobs. Those are requirements
[58:55] from the federal government. We have to do even little things like asking every every
[59:01] contractor shows up, asking employees what they what they get paid to. You know,
[59:06] were they turn us into the policing agency for F. H. W. A. And the state to make
[59:13] sure that contractors are paying their people prevailing wage. And so it's frustrating.
[59:19] It's getting worse and and I'll tell you what we're having. Uh we got
[59:27] just like a lot of people, we've got a lot a lot of individuals, including myself
[59:31] have been with franklin County a long time. It's a lot of a lot of information and
[59:36] history that we carry with us and the way things change on an annual
[59:44] basis with the laws and guidelines as it pertains to federal funds. I don't know
[59:51] that anybody could even catch up and know everything. And luckily we got people in
[59:57] our office that do and they stay up on everything and all that. I'll tell you what
[1:00:03] it's, it's a ugly nest to try to weed through to figure out if you're meeting
[1:00:10] all the federal requirements. And so even internally it costs us more money, not
[1:00:15] just these other hands reaching out trying to get as much out of these federal projects
[1:00:21] as they can. It's also a lot of extra cost to the US and our cost
[1:00:29] and resources, which is manpower time and all that. It's frustrating to me and it
[1:00:36] gets more frustrating and I apologize for for putting up my frustrations on full
[1:00:42] display here in a public meeting. But it's something that I think it's important
[1:00:48] for the board members to know and they can, you know, if they feel prompted, they
[1:00:53] can talk to our state legislatures to try to try to keep that moving in that direction
[1:00:59] because there's a reason the state doesn't want to use federal dollars. They don't
[1:01:03] want to follow their guidelines. They want to be able to do things the way they want
[1:01:07] to do them. So that's all I have on that. Sorry. Well, I appreciate
[1:01:15] your honesty. So thank you.
[1:01:21] Is there any other questions for the public works? County roads, if not, we'll
[1:01:29] move down to public works motor vehicle miscellaneous funds.
[1:01:39] All right, Just quickly. The motor vehicle fund is an internal services fund. It's
[1:01:44] a fun that's required by statute. Um, so what it does is it provides services
[1:01:52] not designed necessarily to to profit or lose. It's designed to break even although
[1:02:00] there is a, in the rental rate structure, there is a replacement portion of it. And
[1:02:06] we talked about that before that. Um, the, you know, a pretty good portion of
[1:02:14] what we charge in rental rates is for the future replacement of the equipment with
[1:02:20] some inflationary numbers and and all that. So that said, it's also a fund that
[1:02:28] was designed to support county roads in the, in in respect to being able to purchase
[1:02:36] and hold um certain items in inventory until the county road fund needs. It. County
[1:02:43] Road Fund is designed to charge everything out to a specific activity and, and where
[1:02:50] that those resources are used at. And that's down to the road level. The asset level
[1:02:56] is what we call it. And so what you see there is when you see uh, going down where
[1:03:02] we have cells of road materials like rock and gravel cells of sand. Those are the
[1:03:08] types of items that motor vehicle can purchase based on the needs of the county road
[1:03:16] fund. And then the county road fund gets built when they use it and it actually gets
[1:03:19] put out on on an asset or a road. So um it's a pretty unique fun.
[1:03:27] But you know, it it's very good from that standpoint. It
[1:03:34] it makes the accounting for the County Road fund easier to manage and it gives us
[1:03:41] a better controls over those products from, from an inventory management standpoint.
[1:03:48] So other than that, you know, we are shop the the shop of course maintains
[1:03:56] the fleet of vehicles that are owned by the fund. It also assist in the maintenance
[1:04:01] of of other vehicles that are owned by other funds like the county Sheriff's Fund.
[1:04:07] We also um work with some some other funds that are out there. We've done some repair
[1:04:15] work for say like the wheat board and the past board and stuff like that. So um we
[1:04:21] do have the ability to provide those services with with the building capacity to
[1:04:27] receive those. And so that's what you kind of see and they're the main, the main
[1:04:32] numbers that you see are the is the rent and lease is revenue, which is short term
[1:04:40] and long term And we have approximately 1.7 million or one million
[1:04:46] 664,000 for short term. And what short term means in this respect is that's when
[1:04:52] that is really pertains to, how we, how we build and those are typically short term
[1:04:58] is typically when we're building based on an hourly rate and we're and we're building
[1:05:04] based on every hour that vehicle or piece of equipment is used and the County Road
[1:05:10] Fund tracks that time. So when our guys go out and they're driving a truck and it's
[1:05:15] got sand on it and they're out, not only are they tracking that they were placing
[1:05:21] sand on specific roads, but they're also putting how much sand and what equipment
[1:05:26] they use. So we're actually charging these out to all the way down to the asset level.
[1:05:31] So it's not just our county road department charging these things out to the sanding
[1:05:39] activity, it actually goes down. So we know what roads they went on. So, so the
[1:05:47] short term pertains to mainly the county Road Fund who tracks their usage of equipment
[1:05:54] and vehicles on an hourly basis. The long term refers to those, those that use the
[1:06:02] fleet vehicles and the R. And R. Fund and we build out either on a monthly or annual
[1:06:07] basis. So that's really the differential between short term and long term, it's hourly
[1:06:12] versus monthly or annual buildings
[1:06:19] and and if you want to, I haven't done it for here. But what I do to kind of help
[1:06:26] me understand and make sure that our shop is operating at a good level as I look
[1:06:33] at those numbers specifically, and then on the expenditure side I look at the operational
[1:06:38] costs Which are mainly broke down in the 54860s. And so you can kind of add
[1:06:46] some of those numbers up and do a direct comparison. And we're in a good, good spot
[1:06:53] right now, we're looking good. We're not, we're not,
[1:06:59] it doesn't, it's certainly we're not in a position where the shop is costing us more
[1:07:03] to maintain vehicles than what we're getting back in revenue. So we're in a pretty
[1:07:10] good spot there. Um Other than other than that, Okay,
[1:07:18] Probably the only other things that we should highlight for the, for the board is,
[1:07:23] you know, when we look at our beginning fund balance are non non spendable fund balance.
[1:07:28] Beginning that refers directly to our inventory on hand at the beginning of the year,
[1:07:35] where are assigned fund balance beginning refers Derik directly to cash on hand.
[1:07:42] So, and then you'll see the same thing on the expenditure side is just the reverse
[1:07:46] of what we believe will be our ending non spendable fund balance, which is ending
[1:07:52] inventory values and our assigned fund balance, which will be are cash carry over
[1:08:00] from one year to the next, This is uh I'm gonna point out the fact that 106,211 is
[1:08:07] not where we want to be. We do, we are showing quite a high number for our capital
[1:08:14] outlays. Um But what I will tell the board is just because we are
[1:08:22] showing A in our capital and this is not including our lease payments, but there's
[1:08:29] 1.1,370,000 of that. 106, you know, 100 and
[1:08:37] 665,589. one point approximately 1.4 of that is an acquisition and replacement of
[1:08:45] new equipment and that's something that that we can can change throughout the year.
[1:08:52] So if we don't have the money we won't buy something. I'm just going to reassure
[1:08:56] the board that we manage this just like we do our home budgets, you don't have the
[1:09:02] money, you don't spend it. And so but we do want to show it in there because that
[1:09:08] is based on our replacement schedule. Um But I just want to reassure the board that
[1:09:15] we don't spend what we don't have. So that number at the end of the year could be
[1:09:19] less, which would then increase our ending fund balance going in from 2022 and 2023
[1:09:30] without just the available answering questions. I know I moved through these fast.
[1:09:35] But um yeah, good job. I think we're I'm already over
[1:09:43] time anyway, so I want to get the book, I don't have any questions at this time.
[1:09:48] If I if I can think of any, I'll meet with matt later. Did a good job, matt, thanks.
[1:09:54] And besides that, you did a great job the other night playing in the band for Kayleigh
[1:09:58] mcenany. Good job on that. I appreciate that. That was that was a true honor. She's
[1:10:04] such an incredible person, incredibly nice person to me. So, I gotta take my hat
[1:10:08] off to your band. You're good. Thank you. So, thank you for the presentation.
[1:10:18] All right, So next, we'll move down to do we want to take a break or get to keep
[1:10:25] going? Good. Yeah, the half of center I see. Tom's here.
[1:10:36] Thank you, matt. Thank you.
[1:10:40] Yeah,
[1:10:57] Good morning tom Well, mr Chairman Commissioner Alonzo, mourning this is Dina Brown.
[1:11:05] She's our finance slash sales manager slash everything. Welcome. Yeah,
[1:11:22] So go ahead whenever you're ready. So as you can see in this budget, it is um, we
[1:11:28] are anticipating 1.7 million in revenue that is down. We we brought that down on
[1:11:35] purpose. Um, we kind of base everything off of 2019, 20 was such and 21 has been
[1:11:42] such an anomaly. But there are a couple of larger social events that happened in
[1:11:49] the first quarter of the year. We pulled out of here. Just out of abundance of caution.
[1:11:55] We're anticipating that happening,
[1:11:59] but they haven't signed contracts yet. And the reason would obviously be because
[1:12:05] of Covid restrictions. Some of these larger groups don't feel as comfortable hosting
[1:12:11] those events, which is obviously not the greatest days, but
[1:12:19] what this has done for us. It's allowed us to pivot and we have, we had a large breakfast
[1:12:25] this morning. We're, we're still hosting events and they're not really slowing down
[1:12:31] as much. We change in the way we're hosting. Um, we have, You know, we have people
[1:12:37] where maybe it was a one day show historically and they would have 2000 people that
[1:12:41] end. You may see it in 22 as a two day show and only 900 people showed up that first
[1:12:49] day and then they sell tickets to the second day. So people are still, our phones
[1:12:54] are ringing, People are booking events were just having to be a little more creative
[1:12:58] on how we do it. So that way we can ensure that we're sanitizing the building, the
[1:13:01] buildings clean. That's a healthy environment for people to come into. So that's
[1:13:06] why we did out of abundance of caution drop are anticipated revenue down Mario I've
[1:13:12] spoke to the commissioner is one on one would never have a chance to see y'all that
[1:13:16] We are, we did write a budget with a 325,000 total subsidies. So 162,000 per county
[1:13:24] and city entity, which, You know, those are large numbers, but from where, where
[1:13:30] it was, when I started in 2015, where it is today, we have just continually reduced
[1:13:36] it. And that's good news and we think there's obviously still more room and what,
[1:13:43] What we anticipate doing, 22 could be a banner year. And the reason that is, is not
[1:13:50] so much me are my staff. We have a lot of events that rotate that will come back
[1:13:56] every year. They do one year in tri cities when you're in Boise, one year in Seattle.
[1:14:01] So there and so 22 were in the barrel for a couple of those larger events that we
[1:14:06] host. Um, so that's, that's the revenue. I typically don't go line by line on
[1:14:14] these. They're pretty self evident. But if there's any questions on the revenue,
[1:14:19] be more than happy to answer that before I get to the expense. I have no questions.
[1:14:24] Any questions on the revenue, no,
[1:14:31] on the, on our expenses. If you'll notice that our salaries are,
[1:14:39] there is a large reduction in salaries. Um, This is something that I've been slowly
[1:14:47] working on since 2015 July of 2015 whenever I showed up and took over this position.
[1:14:55] And as not to sound insensitive. I, the covid shutdown did
[1:15:03] give me an opening, um, to get to get the wages where I wanted them to be. And quite
[1:15:10] honestly, I got rid of a lot of wages over the years and I was very hesitant to take
[1:15:16] it much further because of just, I didn't know what would happen if I did it, would
[1:15:21] it have been Because a lot of times, you know, we average about 270, You stays. I
[1:15:27] pull those people out and I think we can do something that we can and then we can't
[1:15:31] service the contracts that we have. So um, that's why you see the large reduction
[1:15:38] in salaries, they're not coming back there. Maybe the position Susan used to hold
[1:15:44] that may have to come back at some point because that entry and disputing compliance
[1:15:48] with the state auditor can get quite overwhelming. Um, for a sales managers, last
[1:15:53] finance managers last year, editor slash facilities operator. Um, so that that's
[1:16:00] the position that we, we might come back, but that's obviously leading the charge
[1:16:04] on our, on our expense reduction, which is something that I'm happy to see is unfortunate
[1:16:09] because that means people are no longer employed there, but it needed to happen.
[1:16:12] It was good for the business, it was healthy for the business. Um If we go to line,
[1:16:18] I hope my lines are never the same as yours, but 47 06 this is electricity, natural
[1:16:23] gas, water sewer, Just real quick. If you add those three lines up, that's $217,000,
[1:16:29] that's the utilities of the building. Um, the subsidy that we plan on posting this
[1:16:36] year is obviously going to be, if everything as long as nothing jumps up, that's
[1:16:40] unforeseeable will be much less than what this budget calls for This drives directly
[1:16:45] to the energy audit that we are in the middle, of we have a meeting with the city
[1:16:49] on November 4 to discuss some funding options with the city regarding that audit
[1:16:56] this right here. If you look at all of my expenses, a lot of my expenses are on expenses
[1:17:02] but they get reimbursed back to us but we still have to show them as an expense because
[1:17:06] we physically pay a bill attached to that expense but we will bring in revenue to
[1:17:11] offset that line these these lines right here, the equipment of the building is original
[1:17:18] to the building um
[1:17:22] it's old. It's hard to replace, its hard to repair and if you look down just a few
[1:17:28] lines to 48 24 maintenance agreements at almost $60,000.
[1:17:38] That's high. That's very high for just put that in context of our building, the lights,
[1:17:45] we still have fluorescent lights in the parking lot that are run off balance. That's
[1:17:49] very expensive to have a maintenance contract on because when the balance goes out
[1:17:53] it's requiring a snorkel lift and a lot of, a lot of man hours to just replace the
[1:17:59] balance to replace the light bulb. I know there's gonna be a price tag attached to
[1:18:04] this energy audit that nobody likes to spend money but I believe that made up a great
[1:18:11] thing a few minutes ago, Penny's not spent today equals millions of dollars later.
[1:18:16] This system has never been upgraded ever. Um, We're still running off our R22 on
[1:18:23] our cooling cooling system just to get that if we lose any, it's very expensive and
[1:18:28] that's not, that's not under any of the maintenance agreements because my experience
[1:18:32] don't cover that. So that's a direct cost to us if that was to happen. Um, So this
[1:18:39] just to put it in context of what we're talking about the money we spend and the
[1:18:44] subsidy of what the city and the county pay as far operating costs. A large portion
[1:18:49] of that goes to the utilities. We will be back. I'm not exactly sure. I don't want
[1:18:55] to give you a date talking about energy audits and upgrading some of these old systems
[1:18:59] in the building
[1:19:03] and hopefully we're able to come back with good funding source for that, but it's,
[1:19:06] it's needed that those are large expenses that could be diverted obviously never
[1:19:12] gonna go away. We're still have lights are gonna get turned on and air is going to
[1:19:15] run and but there's no reason for it to be that expensive that the demand charges
[1:19:21] alone that we, that we are on the hook for every time we turn a light on our turn
[1:19:26] their condition on is unbelievable that something that we can't really account for
[1:19:31] it because we don't know exactly yet. I haven't seen the data, but McCann story on
[1:19:35] what we can anticipate. Just the reduction of demand charges? I know we can anticipate
[1:19:40] a 30% reduction in our energy cost and demand charges are separate from that. My
[1:19:46] understanding of,
[1:19:49] so look forward to be able to bring that to the board and make this picture look
[1:19:53] even even better. Um, and of course I'm looking through the lens and so on this there
[1:19:57] every day. It's my job. I'm very proud of the Apple center and what we've done. I
[1:20:00] know there's a lot of people to believe, I personally believe disinformation, they
[1:20:05] don't quite understand what happens there or how it happens. So you get a lot of
[1:20:10] just I think, and this is what someone told me last week type information out there,
[1:20:15] but we host a lot of events. We bring a lot of economic impact in the community.
[1:20:20] We're currently working with a promoter. I, I don't want to say it's going to get
[1:20:25] done. This is a big project, but if it, if it does the impact and the positive impact
[1:20:31] it's going to bring to use sports in the community. It will rival anything in eastern
[1:20:36] Washington. Um, so hopefully that will be some news I can bring to the board soon.
[1:20:42] I just want to get too far out over my skis in case that wasn't, um, to happen, but
[1:20:48] it would involve the arena and how the arena is used on almost a year round basis
[1:20:53] and really, really be positive for the community for the county, for the city and
[1:21:00] for the Apple Center.
[1:21:08] Do you have anything in your budget here? As far as regarding the parking lot? The
[1:21:13] parking lot?
[1:21:17] Oh no. That's typically something I put in my capital budget. I didn't, there's not
[1:21:21] a capital budget request that has been submitted because that's gonna be addressed
[1:21:25] through the energy audit. I didn't see the point of this redundancy and taking your
[1:21:28] guys time up more paper. Um The parking lot has not. So what we have done is part
[1:21:35] of the pricing that the board approved.
[1:21:39] I can't remember what it is, but the, the covid kind of fouled up how this is going
[1:21:43] to work. We charge a dollar per ticket sold on ticketed events and that money was
[1:21:48] going to directly go to help offset parking lot repairs And you know, some reason
[1:21:55] every time I go on a diet lettuce gets played with e. Coli, it seems like you have
[1:21:59] to go back to an ice cream and hamburgers. But as soon as we do that, we start trying
[1:22:02] to generate revenue specifically for the parking lot. We slow down due to covid.
[1:22:08] So we, we have a plan in place to try to maintain that parking lot outside of saying
[1:22:14] we need an additional part of money for it. Okay. And that's something that would
[1:22:19] normally, it has been on my capital budget request in the years past. I just, I didn't
[1:22:25] submit one because they're all everything except for the parking lot surface will
[1:22:28] be addressed in the, in the energy. Okay. Thank you. And that's the question I have
[1:22:35] to was that I remember meeting with you and the guy for the phone. I know you have
[1:22:40] a hard time hearing. So let me get the mic here. It's the microphone. I can't hear
[1:22:43] you. Okay, so back up. Is that better? Okay. So I remember meeting with you and the
[1:22:50] guy for the phone for the old marina, uh was is that gonna be included too in in
[1:22:56] capital improvements? That will be included in the energy audit. Um and part of the
[1:23:02] wrong pricing to uh insulate the arena. What did he come up with a bid? He didn't
[1:23:09] submit it to us because we went into agreement with McKinstry and had to go to McKinstry
[1:23:13] and I can't think of Alyssa's title um but it didn't come directly to us. I so I
[1:23:19] haven't seen that yet but we we will be seeing those numbers here very soon. Okay.
[1:23:26] All right. I have no more questions.
[1:23:31] Any other questions. Okay, so we'll move down to the RV MR chairman if it's okay.
[1:23:39] I was gonna set here with Susan. She never she never been through a budget hearing
[1:23:43] before. I was going to a sister. Okay. Absolutely. For the RV park.
[1:23:51] Yes. Okay, good morning, Good morning. So that
[1:24:00] please speak closely to the microphone to recording. I was just unsure of what kind
[1:24:05] of questions you talk about. The revenue kind of explains itself.
[1:24:21] So our revenues perhaps $2,300,000 a year, which is very minute to these other
[1:24:29] budgets. But are my expense expenses is like 123 so
[1:24:36] we make money, we subsidize the happy oh center 90,000. I don't anticipate any
[1:24:44] major um, expenses coming up. Um, I think I've tried to go
[1:24:52] into it with, where are we spending money and how can I save money? So there's some
[1:24:58] benefits that we offer the residents at the park like, like
[1:25:07] cable and just anyways, different things. The other thing that we have done is like
[1:25:13] the electrical before I came our expense was 100% and now we've introduced
[1:25:21] a percentage. We, we? Re evaluated each electrical bill and figured out how much
[1:25:27] we will, you and Our expenses and we're recouping that. So, so far just this year
[1:25:34] since March, every coop, um, $6,000 just for that and next year it'll be a lot more.
[1:25:40] Probably Probably 90%. Yes. The rent, we increase the rent by $50.
[1:25:48] So that's going to bring in more revenue. Um, this year There's so many people out
[1:25:54] there are being that I reduced our expenses by $5,000 for the marketing Because in
[1:26:01] the years past he spent 5000 these magazines are read magazines, good SAM, things
[1:26:08] like that. So we're not gonna stand that because I just have people, I have a waiting
[1:26:12] list of people coming in. I would, you don't need to advertise, I would expand the
[1:26:18] RV park if it was up to me. Um
[1:26:22] um the price for the RV, we're kind of on the lower end because the
[1:26:30] other RV parks in the area, they have summer rates and they have winter rates and
[1:26:35] there are more than what I'm charging. So don't we have to be, have to be in line
[1:26:42] with those. We uh we have kind of adopted a policy to try to be on the upper and
[1:26:48] as much as we can to avoid unfair competition with the private sector who doesn't
[1:26:55] have some of the or we get a benefit that they do not have. However, as we have continued
[1:27:02] to escalate the price. Uh she just mentioned, our beers have gone through the roof
[1:27:08] in the last since Covid and has generated a weighting less than and the other parks
[1:27:14] have just increased the rates because great for an RV park space. So universally
[1:27:19] across the Western United States in particular have gone up exponentially. Well,
[1:27:23] what I'm hearing though, it's not just all our beers, you've got people that are
[1:27:29] that are using this opportunity to sell their house here in the tri cities for a
[1:27:33] lot of money and then they buy an RV and they're residing in it until they can see
[1:27:39] what they're moving on. They're going to florida, they're going everywhere. I have
[1:27:42] all kinds of Yes, so I don't know keith, what do you think? Do you think they should
[1:27:47] be looking at raising their rates and stay competitive? We we are trying to do that.
[1:27:51] I think Susan would vouch for this that we have a pretty good relationship with the
[1:27:56] local RV parks. We share information, we refer people to them if we are full and
[1:28:02] they have vacancies we encourage people to to go there. I don't think that they view
[1:28:09] us as a a major competitor. We have que away which is probably the closest and
[1:28:16] most like our RV park but they have so many more spaces than we do. Many more amenities
[1:28:23] than we do. Uh huh. It's a little bit of a different clientele that we serve but
[1:28:30] a six month limit on. Yeah we no longer have anybody over a six month contract, correct.
[1:28:40] So I think you know Susan won't tell you this herself but I will brag on her a little
[1:28:46] bit of some of the managerial things that have changed over there have really improved
[1:28:51] relationships with the tenants as well as the other local RV parks. She's done a
[1:28:57] great amount of work solving some really long term perpetual problems. We've had
[1:29:02] tree roots for example that we're growing up out of the ground created a tripping
[1:29:06] hazard. A real significant problem with rust continuing to show up in the water supply
[1:29:14] because we're kind of at the end of the line in the city's water delivery system.
[1:29:18] And so we've had to engineer some plumbing that Susan's put together to save us some
[1:29:26] money in fixing that problem. But also making sure that we're delivering a better
[1:29:30] quality service to our customers there.
[1:29:35] Good job, go in every day and try half the battle. But you have any questions?
[1:29:44] A questions mr Malone. So you talked about the electricity,
[1:29:51] Do you pay, does the tenant pay a percentage or they just have all the electricity
[1:29:56] they can use each each site when they move in. We check it when they leave. Um It's
[1:30:03] just it's always been that way but they were never charged enough. So like the city
[1:30:10] of our bill was 27 3 or whatever and we were getting like .1
[1:30:18] so it was costing this money so now where it's an even even wash. So
[1:30:27] I would just like to illiterate the part that I think if whatever rates are we should
[1:30:32] be at the higher end we should. Um And I guess I don't like the idea of competing
[1:30:38] against local businesses. So if anything we should set the rate has been a little
[1:30:45] bit on the higher end. When I checked it at the beginning of the air, we were in
[1:30:50] good competition. It was pretty even and then these other parts have just increased
[1:30:56] their rates right? That's what I'm saying that if we're on the higher end of what
[1:31:01] the rate is, gives the local business is a chance to adjust their rates to
[1:31:09] maybe be a little bit less than what we are, that we were not unfairly competing
[1:31:15] against them. That's just my thought. I mean, I've owned businesses where, Oh, I've
[1:31:21] had to compete against local government agencies, let's say. And
[1:31:29] As a private business owner, you're the one bringing forth all of your own funds
[1:31:35] to compete against what appears to be competing against someone with unlimited funds.
[1:31:41] And I've had them come down and they said, well, competition is great. You know,
[1:31:45] and I'm like, well, it's kind of unfair competition. This is my money. And you're
[1:31:53] using local government money to fund your competition to me. And so
[1:32:00] I just like to see that our rates are on the higher end of of what the local rates
[1:32:07] are. So that it gives them a fair opportunity to raise theirs.
[1:32:12] It's my two thoughts. So, thank you. That's great. And it's consistent with what
[1:32:18] are philosophy has been out there. Good.
[1:32:25] All right, well, it sounds like you're doing a great job. Thank you. Yes, thank you
[1:32:30] for getting that liability problem off our back to. All right. So, with
[1:32:37] that, we're moving down to the end of the agenda here. Review miscellaneous funds
[1:32:43] or post moments if necessary. But I don't think we have any do it tom I think we're
[1:32:48] all clear here. Well, had no postponements, I think probably using what the next
[1:32:55] step is tom and tim and I put our heads together and mhm. Kind of bring back before
[1:33:02] the board options. I'll certainly visit with each of you individually to, I'm gonna
[1:33:08] get a gauge of what you think you'll support or what you think should not be supported
[1:33:14] in terms of additional budget request. We've obviously got some really large questions
[1:33:18] to answer regarding our labor contract and employee benefits and some issues
[1:33:26] around inflation and those kinds of things to address.
[1:33:33] What am I missing tim tom. I think you got that right. Usually we'll review the revenues
[1:33:39] again because it's been a few months since the department had a chance to really
[1:33:42] compare to prior years and this year. And then we have some spreadsheets that we've
[1:33:47] used to basically summarize all the changes and prioritize them a list of the capitals,
[1:33:54] the, you know, the salary increases or new positions and then bring that before the
[1:34:00] board Once we kind of distill it down to a decision making level. Mm
[1:34:07] Okay. So you'll be meeting with him the next couple of weeks. And then what timeline
[1:34:14] do you think when we um certainly
[1:34:22] Probably, yeah, soon as 16 November should have something pretty close to What we
[1:34:29] think the adoption dates, 23 November so we can meet as early as you know, early
[1:34:35] next week. Right.
[1:34:39] True. Thank everyone for your hard work And if there's no further business might
[1:34:45] just note for the record that we have scheduled an opportunity on Friday from 9 to
[1:34:51] 1130 to also do any review or miscellaneous friends. We're not gonna need that session.
[1:34:55] So I just want to make sure that the public is aware of. We're not meeting tomorrow
[1:35:00] to discuss the budget. Thank you, keith. So it's no further business. This meeting
[1:35:05] is adjourned.