Council - Special Meeting

And I'm going to call to order the Village of Franklin Council Special Workshop Meeting of Tuesday, May 26, 2026. Pledge of Allegiance, please. Evan, roll call, please.

Trustee Daniel Harris.

Here.

Trustee Amy Gates. Here. Trustee Jeffrey King. Here. President David Goldberg. Here. Pam Hanson.

Pam should be here.

But I haven't heard from her. Trustee Angelina Salka will be late. Trustee David Talley. Won't be here.

Okay. Adoption of the agenda. Pretty basic agenda. Anybody have any comments?

It's too short.

Really?

Just kidding.

Exactly. We can beat up an agenda. So having no comments, if I can get a motion to approve. So moved. Second. We got a motion by Ferris, second by Gates. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Public comments? Anybody would like to speak on something other than the agenda, I mean other than the budget? Come on up. Seeing nobody's here, we'll move on to new business. The only item is a workshop discussion. Okay.

Okay.

So workshop discussion on our fiscal year 2627 budget. What do you want to start? Joe, do you want to? fill us in just generally on any significant changes from what we saw 2 weeks ago and then I know there's a couple things at the end that show the specific changes.

Yeah, yeah, what I had mentioned before was a big part of what wasn't in the budget as complete allocations was. Cost salary costs and costs associated with salary costs. And. On the very last page of that budget packet, it's the salary information. And this is the current pay and proposed pay for each person, the allocation that's split between them. And then I did want to mention, too, for streets, typically Rachel and I would both have a cost allocation into the street funds. And I did not. account for that because you can allocate up to 10% of your Act $51 to cover administrative costs. And historically, we have allocated 10% and it goes directly to the general fund. So even though it's not cost allocated in here, it is being reimbursed in a line item.

I'm sorry, can you say that one more time?

yeah for because we both work for streets as well um and act 51 allows up to 10 percent for allocations to cover administrative costs and we allocate 10 percent of our act 51 dollars that goes straight into general fund so theoretically it's already allocated our wages are already allocated but instead of it being by the allocation method it's by reimbursement

OK. Goes to the general fund, and then that fund then covers the?

Correct.

Got it.

So the other major difference thing that we were looking at too were benefits and insurance and stuff. And we did have a meeting for that. And we did find a really good plan and there are some cost savings available. I, BECAUSE IT'S NOT TECHNICALLY APPROVED FOR THE NEW PLAN, I DIDN'T, I BUDGETED PEOPLE AT THE CURRENT PLAN, AT THE CURRENT COST. BUT THERE IS, IT'S NOT, IT'S it's not a grossly less cost but it it's pretty considerable and from talking to staff about it it sounds like most people probably will go with that option and then the other insurances with our dental life all of those will have decreases as well

Okay. So that's, sorry. You've researched right now in the budget. It's what we usually, what we have been doing, but you think there will, there will be savings that will be realized post when you change plan. Right. Right. We don't know.

It won't be. Thank you.

Yes, and so that is like a proposed thing too. And as a as a change it would be an offering of the same plan, but with an option B. And the option B would would essentially be a much less out of pocket potential for employees.

Is it a high deductible health plan?

It's not. No, it's a point of service plan with an HSA.

Have we explored any high deductible health plans? Yes. Is that something we would offer? Well, if there's an HSA offer, it would have to be.

I mean, it depends on what are you considering high deductible.

um well it would just be categorized as an hdhp and an hsa eligible plan and so typically those so premiums tend to be lower and then your deductibles perhaps might be higher there are ways to offset that though is where i'm going with this like there's something called the difference card and so to offset that so if you wanted to offer just one plan to the team and it's still within the same carrier network for instance there's a company out of Indiana that has something called the difference card so you would essentially front the difference between what you'd pay in premiums for the I'm assuming it's a PPO plan the more robust plan no oh the the one that we currently have is yes So you give a cash card to your employees to bridge the difference between that, assuming not everyone will hit that deductible. But you recoup that amount of money at the end of the year. So if you were to offer just the HDHP.

That is essentially what it is, except it would be a plan funded through health equity, the HSA portion of it.

Right, but the difference card is not an HSA. It's an HRA.

Gotcha.

Yeah, so it's a cash amount that's given to employees specifically for health care, durable medical equipment. But if it's not used, it is recouped by the village instead of being sunk into premium costs, which you would absolutely do with a BPO. So another way to offset costs, potentially, year over year, because you can reinvest that money back into health benefits the next year. Just a thought.

So for the proposed amounts in wages, just from the bottom portion of it, is police. That's set by contract. So those are non-negotiables, basically. The upper portion of it, the proposed costs were more by person, workload, potential additions of work, and conversations and preferences for people, not a set amount for those five individuals. And it starts with the administrator, which Rachel has said that she does not need a raise this year. SO HERS IS PROPOSED TO STAY THE SAME. MY SALARY, I KNOW THERE HAS BEEN DISCUSSIONS REGARDING MY SALARY. I had talked to Rachel about my preference on it and my preference is actually to stay full time and but decrease to 32 hours a week and have one day at home and to reduce like travel time costs and stuff but also the day at home I still can work and have undivided time should I have other things that need to happen. and then if If things are needed to be done here or I'm needed here like Rachel knows she can ask any time I will come any time that I'm needed to and in lieu of that And any time that I do have to come in five days a week, then I would be paid 40 hours instead So that would be the actual cost increase The increase would be just for those days. I for the clerk funny story everybody's going to know a lot about me in a second here but um that was actually proposed to be 79 but i was born in 77 so i typed that instead because so we should have that yes that should be 79. yes It was realized after, I even thought after I printed my, I said, I don't remember if I changed it, but I do remember that I was like, wait, did I, I think I typed 77 for, yeah, I did.

Solidly Gen X.

For the building clerk, I'm sure everybody is aware of her and her loyalty and dedication here and the insurmountable amount of tasks that she is capable of managing and delivering as she kind of ran the show here for a bit while she was alone. Her pay is proposed to increase to $60,000. The code enforcement is proposed for a 3% increase. The building official is a set schedule per month. The two police clerks, those are wage increases, not hour increases. And they're in the notes of the budget. And then the senior clerk did take over doing payroll during the time when the payroll person had left here, took over doing village hall payroll. And that's kind of a tentative solution there to transition that position into a full-time position.

That was part-time before.

It was part-time, yes.

Wait, I'm sorry, where are we?

The fifth line. So that's currently a part-time wage position?

Correct.

Do you not do payroll?

ADP actually does our payroll. It's a matter of getting all of the hours together and putting them into ADP. And then the pension and 401 contributions and the MERS reporting.

But isn't the 401 pension set once a year?

No, not for the 401.

Every payroll people change the 401k contribution.

Well, we we don't change them, but. It's not everyone is salary that receives it.

Also non salaried employees get a 401k often yes. And we do that for them or they do that for themselves.

I'm doing that.

Yeah, like who I'm confused as to What the 401k task is The um, everybody can make their own contributions as well and some people do and then there are

five staff members currently that do receive 401 from the village at different percentages yeah okay i just guess my overall question is i don't feel comfortable voting on any of the hr stuff unless it's been vetted by the people committee because i don't think we're in a position to analyze it and make decisions and that's what the committee is for there's no decisions to be made at a workshop anyway No, I mean, will this be presented in two weeks in the budget? So it should be to the HR committee before it comes to us. Just because I don't have the background, that's what they're for. And I think that having people dedicated to looking at these and understanding what the implications are is just better fact based decision making.

That's fine. We can set up a meeting.

Yeah. I think that there's like, I mean, cause even at the last finance meeting there was like all these issues and I just think they need to go to HR because we don't have time to like properly assess them.

Is there anything in particular?

No, but all compensation needs to be approved by the full council.

And so before we start... What is it you're asking the committee to look at? The salary amounts?

Post, well, we're making a part-time to a full-time, right? Do we know who that is? Or is that just, so we're, do we have the money, though? Like, we don't have money. We're asking to raise taxes, so I just feel like we need to properly determine if now's the time to be adding employees and... and raising salaries. And I just want the HR committee to take a closer look than us doing it right now, like on the spot.

We're not, this is just review.

Yeah, no, I know. That's why I'm saying before we approve the budget.

And what's the HR committee going to look at? Do they have some criteria or some basis that they're going to use?

Do we have basis that we're using? Do we have benchmarking? Do we have comps? Like what are we using?

I thought it initiated from the salary study that was done.

Oh, can you pass up the salary study that President Goldberg is referring to?

Well, that was the one that was done back when Meg had it done, the last time we did this.

I don't have that.

Oh, he said that.

He thinks this was based off a salary study.

I have a comment, Angelina. You go ahead and figure out how you want to do it. No, I just don't know what salary study you're talking about. If you want the HR committee to meet, if the HR committee is going to meet, then it needs to meet before our next council meeting. So who's on the HR committee? Dan, Abby, Jeff. Dana. Dan. Dan, Abby. Abby. So do you guys think you'll have time to get together in the next two weeks versus having to schedule a special meeting again to approve the budget if we're not going to be able to address this in two weeks?

Or we can just exclude it from the budget and amend the budget when it's properly vetted.

Can we do it the other way?

No, because every time we do it the other way, nothing happens. And if our priority is governance and process, then we need to do it the right way. And I don't even know what salary study you're referring to. Has anyone on this council seen a salary study?

That's the one that everyone has referred to when the last time we- Who's everyone? This council.

Dan, Abby, Jeff, and I referred to a salary study.

No, absolutely not.

So who are you talking about? A previous council that's not here referred to a salary study. It's not here.

It was a previous administrator that's not here. I don't know about a previous council.

Okay, so who has seen the salary study?

I was under the impression that the The administrator had it, but that's. Disregard my comment. My comment is you want to vet it out, but my question was, you said that you want the committee to vet it out. My question was, how are they going to vet it out? Are they going to use something as a benchmark to determine whether or

It's not my question. The process that's in the charter is that committees get formed by this council. Committees have tasks, and this topic is one for a committee that we've already established. If this topic doesn't go to the committee, then we're here making decisions based off facts that we don't have all i ask is that we owe the taxpayers due diligence and that when we make decisions we base them off facts and they're properly vetted and we mitigate the risk my comment was we have to approve our budget at our next council meeting in two weeks if this committee would like to vet those things out they should do it in the next two weeks or we don't have time to vet it out. And at a later time we can amend the budget like we've done six or seven times this last budget season and include it.

Okay. Hopefully that will be satisfactory for our employees.

So we're going to ignore 4,000 taxpayers whose money we're using without properly Performing due diligence because you don't think it's satisfactory to do any process or work on the budget did not say that it wasn't satisfactory.

What I said was. If it's going to be done, and it'd be done in the next 2 weeks, we just got this 20 minutes ago. Okay.

We talked about stuff going to committee for the last 6 months. Whenever it's not a committee that you don't want to have an opinion on, it doesn't have to go to the committee.

Not everything goes to committees. Not every single thing that goes through the village governance goes to a committee.

What goes to committee? Can you show me the process?

When we allocate things to the committee. So if you want to allocate something to the committee to vet this out, then that's what we would do. But I don't know where you're under the impression that everything that falls in the category of a committee goes to that committee first before we as a council act as a whole.

We should go to the HR committee. Yeah. And now I'm asking because we are brought in for termination scenarios, for hiring scenarios. We have built process before and... I think the charter talks about... No, I'm asking. I'm asking all. But when we talk about things like compensation or benefits, is that within our purview? That is a genuine question. Yeah.

absolutely would be within the purview if the council felt that we needed the hr committee to vet out the salaries we had everybody that we're dealing with has salaries and now they're going they're having one has no increase one is a what's the percentage can you tell us what the percentage increases for the treasurer and potentially zero for the treasurer depending on a need basis

right so that's assuming you know if you were to work five days a week correct right okay i missed the senior clerk moving from 43 to 60. i was looking at the building that's a part-time to full-time move right correct okay and then the building clerk is jemma jenna so yeah your suggestion is they you're asking then

jody to amend the budget to not show any increases in anybody's salaries until such time as it's been vetted is that what you're asking this is like when your kid asks for a car when they're 16 and they want a lamborghini and you're like no let's look at something more reasonable and you're like so you're telling me you're not going to get your kid a car

That actually is kind of offensive. Who's asking for a Lamborghini here? I mean, the staff is sitting right here.

I'm not offended. He doesn't want to follow process. All I'm saying is let someone look at it so we don't have to make these decisions. I'm all for giving raises. I even said... telework four days a week. I don't care. He was the one who said people like to see people in the office. I'm like, no one even needs people. As long as they are remote, let them do their work. I am all for that. All I'm saying is it needs to be vetted so when we can vote on the budget, we say, yes, the HR committee looked at this and it is sufficient. That's all I'm saying. Just like you want things to go through legal. Just like you want blight ordinances

I just think that it's a simple enough thing that all of the details could be signed we're approving the agenda and you're saying no it can't we'll do it after the fact that's the end of the discussion

I'm not saying no, it can't. I'm saying if it can't be, there is another option. It's not doomsday. It's not doomsday.

I'm not saying it's doomsday. I'm asking you how do you want to handle it?

How do I want to handle it?

So it started out by asking the three people that are on the subcommittee, do you think you can get together in the next two weeks? If the answer is that'll be hard schedule-wise, then the suggestion of yours was have them change the budget back to current salaries and we will deal with any changes after it's been vetted out by the HR committee and we would do a budget amendment. Is that how I understood you used to say it?

No.

Okay.

My intent was anything related to HR and people should go to the HR committee so the council can make fact-based decisions. If we have the facts to make the decisions, I'm fine making them. If we don't, we run into risk. Our job is to mitigate risk. We're spending taxpayer money. We are asking to raise taxes. We just had close to a million dollar fraud. I think we owe the taxpayers some analysis and some time when we consider spending money. That's all I'm saying. It's financial responsibility. I'm not asking for things that are outrageous. Due diligence is part of good governance. That's all I'm asking.

Once again, are you asking the clerk

I'll make a motion.

I'm asking the treasurer to revise the budget to go back to original salaries.

I'll move that issues related to compensation go to the HR committee before coming to the full council. Is that better?

Okay, that's a motion. Is that for just this particular time or ever? Or just for this budget?

Compensation should go through a committee.

Okay, so we have a motion, we have a second?

Second.

Your motion is second. All right, so the motion on the table is all salary issues are to go to the HR committee. Okay.

Or to be reviewed.

Okay. And without a specific timeframe, just have it go to the committee and they report back when they get a chance and in the meantime.

Just like you report on deer and we report on streets. I thought that's how committees work when we establish that.

But this is for purposes of a budget, which we're trying to adopt in two weeks. So I'm trying to figure out whether we're going to have to come back for a special meeting already, knowing that for this issue, or we're just going to plan on doing it after the fact, which is fine. So they have to, Angelina, I don't understand why you're getting upset.

If we have money for capital improvement, just like we did this last budget, we moved money out of it. and allocate it towards other things. Like we amended the budget.

Absolutely.

So why can't we do that? I'm not saying. We can even put it for employees.

Because then the staff doesn't get the people that do have proposed increases don't get that.

She already has the increases in the budget. If you're saying we're not going to have time to vet out the answers before we adopt the budget, then they have to change the budget back.

Are the increases COLA or are they performance-based? Sorry, I feel like.

Oh yeah, you missed that part. It is performance-based.

Okay, so do we have the performance reviews or appraisals or was that? These are assuming that these appraisals will happen.

We have this breakdown between what is budgeted and what is expended. What is budgeted is what's available to spend throughout the course of the year. This is, I guess, supposing that the funds would be available if the reviews at the one-year point, which will take place during the course of this budgeted season, go as anticipated. If theoretically they don't, then what would happen is we would actually spend less than was budgeted.

Okay, I'll amend my motion. Because even after the reviews, it still has to come to the council to be approved.

Again, the confusion that we keep having between what is budgeted and what is expended. The budget is just an outline of what could be spent, correct? What's available to be spent and how we're proposing it to be spent on this day and time.

No, I totally understand.

Right.

My question is, if we approve this, does that mean that... that's when we make our decision and it can be spent before coming back to council or does it come back to council?

Are there other questions that the HR committee can't ask during our next during our meeting? For that I'm just I just have never worked anywhere.

That was like this And so it's probably broader than the HR committee when we approve a line item like say it is capital improvement, right and If it's $50,000, does that mean the infrastructure committee can approve a $50,000 spend without it coming back to the full council because we already approved it by approving the budget?

A committee can't approve anything or spend any money ever at any time.

Yeah, they're not relevant in the approvals of anything.

Okay, so if we put $25,000 for employee bonuses and we approve the budget, when those employee bonuses are... given out does that then have to come back to the council for approval it would depend on the amount of them okay so that was my question so what we approve in two weeks even though the full council is supposed to approve all compensation if we put it in the budget then it is essentially saying you can spend up to that amount so that's why i'm saying it should go to the hr committee

You're saying that the administrator has authority to spend up to that amount? I thought you made it clear that that's not the case in the whole, when we did this whole personnel, or the purchasing policy.

That's why I'm asking for clear. No, she's saying up to a certain amount. What do you mean I made it clear? There's policy. Don't villainize me for asking questions.

No, we made it clear in our last dialogue that that was how we were proceeding. In our last council meeting, we made it clear that we had a purchasing policy.

So that's what I'm asking. If we had... $50,000 allocated for sidewalks, and we decided to spend six different increments of that at $8,000 to get $48,000. Would that need to come back to the full committee is what I'm asking, like the full council?

Yes, it's still one project. It doesn't matter how many increments.

What if it's in separate projects or four separate projects?

Well, I think we're moving the goal line.

No, there's just misunderstanding of when we approve the budget, does that mean that money can be spent?

Generally, what should be done is we should have some strategy in place for performance-based percentage increases to say if someone were to perform well in their role, assuming we have the budget to do it, we approve up to a percentage of increase year over year. So what I'm seeing for the building clerk, for instance, is nearly a... So it's 18, 17%. Whereas for Evan, we're talking 71 to 79. So just over 10%. And so there should be some consistency with the allocation of percentages based on performance. That would be something I would like to see.

And that one isn't necessarily just performance. That is more of a duty-based, yes. I mean, she performs very well. But this is a, she does, I mean, she deals with all of the building, stops the building clerk. She has all of the accounts payable for that. Like, it's not work that is typically paid at what she's currently paid at.

See, that's good context. I think it's really important to understand that there's a lot of different things going on here with these salary increases. So Jenna's salary when she was hired was decided at that time. Her role has changed throughout the years and we have given her additional duties. So we need to now compensate her for those additional duties. Evan's increase. 1500 of it was by his contract with the village. The rest is because of his increase in duties. We would not offer these increases if we thought that these employees were performing poorly. So what we are recommending is a fair salary for the work that these employees are doing on a daily basis.

Yeah, I totally agree with that.

So the easier way to do this would be, and I don't know how this is done. I'm just saying like to get ahead of conversations like this is to say the increase is due to X, Y, and Z because that context is massively helpful. It makes all the sense in the world that we're increasing responsibility.

I would have got there in a second should I have been able to continue.

Okay, but also allocating some percentage toward performance bonuses, or not bonuses, performance increases if someone were to hit it out of the park, which our team might be, and that's awesome. But yeah, that's my only recommendation. Nothing here frightens me. It's just the why behind it. And for instance, when was the last time Jenna got an increase? She's sitting at 51, so it's been some time. So that's a data point. She's increased responsibilities. Okay.

I think there's two very big things to note here, too. When you have a small office, there's a lot of extra duties and responsibilities on everyone. And when one person isn't there, the other people have to pick that up. If someone's on vacation and somebody's sick at the same time, it's down to one. Everybody does a lot of things. And in that scenario, without great performance, I would say I wouldn't think that you're going to have co-workers that are supporting increases for a weak link, per se. Sure. Yeah. My question wasn't really about like with the with it going to a committee it's It's it's more of like the committee is part of the council So the same questions can be asked in the council meeting versus the time that of that's allocated for going to those meetings like it's you know, it's a it's a like why not have everybody be part of the same questions and

No, that's totally true. For me, it's more of making impulsive, emotional, immediate decisions are sometimes not as good as making thoughtful and analytical fact-based decisions. And sometimes when I'm here, it's like going into the fourth hour, everyone's tired, we just want to get done, and we're not thinking about all the... implications of those decisions. I take notes. I review. I look at past packets. I'm looking at past budgets. I'm trying to aggregate all this massive amount of information in order to make the best decision. And I just can't do it as quick. I mean, we all know numbers is not my strong point. So I can't do it as quickly. But to me, it's like I don't want someone to get an 8% increase and someone to get a 20. But then if I had the context of this is to bring her to her comparable and one is because of a contract degree, I'd be like, oh, that makes sense. And so I think just like having a couple people study it or like for the deer, like having one person give me a report and then being able to look at the topic more holistically, I can like frame it and make a better decision. That was the only thing. Like I am, I literally am so pro-workforce, I feel like you guys could close the office at one o'clock every day.

Oh, we do.

Okay, good. Like, I am so, like, take a number. Like, take a number, send me an email, prioritize. Like, do not, like, you know, just open your door to random things. Like, you guys need to protect your time, and you need to protect your space, and you need to protect your focus hours. And I think that, like, you are all so capable, and you can do everything remote. Like, I would really only want you guys to show up for meetings if I had my say.

And I would like less of them, hence my opposition of a subcommittee meeting.

So like I am just all for like if you just have a policy and you're like everyone's getting 5%, they met expectations, people who exceed expectations are getting 7%, and everyone's getting 3% COLA, 10% across the board, I'd be like check. But like I can't see that right now. So that's my only thing like to be vetted by a committee. And that was my motion. It was just to be looked at by a second set of eyes so they can dig deeper before it comes to the full council.

I want to come back to a comment, though, about the Lamborghini. I just want to... Oh, yeah. I think that one might have landed like a lead balloon because we're talking about salaries that are... Oh, no. What I'm saying is just because I'm asking questions... We're talking about salaries that are a fairly, like... REASONABLE AMOUNT IN GENERAL. I WANT TO BE CAREFUL. I KNOW YOU WOULD TAKE AN ISSUE WITH THAT. I JUST WANT TO CHECK THAT ON.

THE WAGES HERE ARE SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW AVERAGE. IT IS KIND OF, YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU HAVE MULTIPLE PEOPLE SAYING I WON'T TAKE A RAISE BECAUSE WE'RE STRUGGLING RIGHT NOW AND YOU SAY PEOPLE ARE ASKING FOR LAMBORGHINIS, IT IS TAKEN THAT WAY.

my comment was towards goldberg that just because i question things doesn't mean that i don't agree with them and it doesn't mean that there isn't value behind them and i'm not questioning what you're saying is the right thing i would wanted to know was i was trying to change the numbers in the budget for an hour or not and that was just that was it if we're going to address them later then they need to know I would like that. That was the point of the workshop was what would you like the items that we wanted to adjust?

Yeah, I was just saying I would like to hear more from Jody because it seems like there's more context you'd like to give Well, I'm just really not sure where to go from here Is there anything in the budget we would like to discuss outside of salaries let's move off the salaries we have a

hundred other line items in here are there any other line items that we want to discuss that you have questions about that was sort of the the police um in the police budget okay before you guys did you retract your motion oh um i mean i think compensation should wouldn't compensation be under the purview of the hr committee

I don't know that we even need to take a motion on it.

No, let's back up. Let's rule on the motion. I am not against referring it to the HR committee to make a final determination. I was under the impression, I mean, were these salaries, these proposed salaries, designed for immediate implementation? Were these designed to be implemented at some point during the year when people got to a certain point?

I guess that- They should begin in the new fiscal year.

After we, yeah. Beginning for the new, starting for the new fiscal year. Mm-hmm. Okay, so in that instance, we are approving them for expenditure as well, as opposed to just for budget purposes. Right. So if you- So next month?

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, there's a strong chance that we have to have another special meeting during June in order to do a final approval of the budget.

So we'll then, well, I mean, this might make sense because then everyone will be lined up, right? Because right now your guys' years are all different. Like when you should get your annual reviews. Do you know what I mean? So maybe. right because like you would be and then there wouldn't be another review for everyone for another year so then everyone's salary would be reviewed at the end of one fiscal year kicking into the new fiscal year instead of your dates of hire that's typically how it would work okay yeah okay but that would be good then yeah so do we want to do that then instead of like waiting for the year after hire date we kind of do um salary increases in the new fiscal year

I don't have a problem with that. Rachel's saying that's how it's typically done, then that would get everyone aligned. So the question still is, do you want, we have a motion on the table to send the current proposed salaries to the HR committee for review and recommendation. Again, if it can be done between now and when we meet, great. If not, it could, again, we could

approve the budget with the caveat on you know once the committee meets or we could i mean my emotion is more if they can meet on it and give us a recommendation that'd be great if not to jody's point we can ask the questions in here

I don't know if we need, we don't think we need to have a meeting, if anything, like some salary data and an email.

And I just, I mean, I'm likely just going to say, sounds good to me.

Let's back up on my, the comment about the salary chart, the study, which I thought plant Moran did for us. And when the last HR committee, which was the committee of me and Abby and Pam that hired Evan and Rachel. There were, it was a range of dollars which we agreed upon as a council for the range and we hired them in somewhere within those ranges. So I think our starting point was still on something that was based on. Yeah, based on data, it was based on data and in the ranges that we had, I don't think we hired anyone at the highest end of it.

Yeah. Well, and the thing with those committee meetings and when they came to council, Like Dan and I, I don't think we ever questioned them because they came through committee. We just approved your recommendation. So that's why I was just saying like it makes it easier because you guys had bettered it first.

I'm not disagreeing with you. Yeah. So my questions before we were having the argument was just how do you want to write it down in the budget? You want to go with the lower end and change it up? No. Or go higher end with the chance of changing down, which... Usually doesn't happen. But again, even if it's at the high end, you don't have to change it down. You just don't spend all the way up to.

My preference is that we line up the performance evaluations with fiscal year. So that way it comes at the same time every year. All of you guys are on the same appraisal period. Would that make sense for a company?

No. No, I mean it would depend on usually it's anniversary date because you try to time it around when someone has begun in the org because someone could theoretically start nine months away from someone else so lining it up in a fiscal year makes someone more apt to get a bump sooner in their tenure for instance or later if you wait a year and three months thereafter. But I just think for the purposes of this, like moving forward, if we're proposing salary increases, context, salary data, this is why we're doing it. Does this make sense? It's an email. I think an email is fine. It could have been an email. Yeah. We don't need to.

it's not necessary okay so the motion then will be on the table and it won't be meeting it'll just be giving the hr committee the data in order to approve the raises at the budget meeting right yeah so we can do it in two weeks

Just a couple.

Yeah, you're asking me.

I'm not a decision maker. Well, because that was the thing. Because at the finance committee, we talked about putting it in this year's budget because, like, We want to make sure we allocate it because Rachel and Evan will come due for their annual reviews in October, and Jody would come due in March. So we wanted to make sure we secured the money in this next budget year. But then this proposal is that they get those raises into three weeks. So that's a difference.

No, no, 100%. I was operating on the initial impression that it was going to be at the higher date, or the anniversary date. But I also don't have a problem if it's more commensurate with needs and is still consistent with the marketplace to accelerate them all to right now.

As long as we have the money, the cash flow. So just send the HR committee the data, I would say. So the motion still stands, right? It's just sending the... Should we...

I mean... We have a vote on it. Do you want to amend it? Because I think you asked for a meeting, and I think... Oh, okay.

I'll amend the motion that... the village staff send the compensation proposals and performance raises to people committee before the next budget meeting or before the next council meeting. And people make a recommendation, the people committee make a recommendation.

Okay.

I'll second. We have a motion. I'll second. Sorry. Any more discussion? No. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Okay. Okay. So you were going to police fund. You said there were some things in the police budget.

Yes. It was amended to 11 officers.

amended from what?

12. So is that the plan moving forward? Do you want to hover at that number, or is that just until you find a 12?

That's just for, I'm sorry, you can.

Rachel, I discussed it, and I was going to stay at 11 until, you know, if the millage passed and the money came in next July, then we would start looking for the 12th person. But until that time, I would stay at 11.

So 11 with some overtime. Yes, sir. Yeah. Which has still come out less than a 12th officer.

Significantly. Yeah.

Did that 11th officer accept the position?

Yes. Okay. She starts June 3rd and we'll introduce her at the next meeting. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Okay, great.

uh sorry so initially did you i'm sorry never mind i get it i get it it was 12 once upon a time now it's 11 and pending future whatever happens then we would make a call on that yes sir okay excuse me thank you

Was that really the main item in the police budget? Just that we're going downwards so that brings the number down, obviously.

Yes, it was. Again, most of any like the changes that are made in here are based on this. The worksheet in the back using the cost allocations to the different funds. And showing where they are and where in the budget they will be. Also with the group insurance and workers comp, life and disability and contributions, those are all updated as well with the same cost allocations.

I have a question just because I don't know if this is a mistype. So for clerk's salary, does it go from, why is it $50,000 for the recommended budget? Am I reading that wrong?

no if you look at the last page it'll show the cost allocations and where each of it goes to okay so basically the of the this

This line item lines up with each different fund based on what they're doing, right? Responsibilities, whether it's- Correct, yes.

And then the general fund, they are broken into departments. So at the bottom, it's split up there to show which department the allocations are in, and same for the police.

I'll wait till we're done with police.

I don't know.

What? Did anything, sorry, I was still on police. I was going to say, did anything change significantly from what you gave us two months ago for the police budget?

No, just the allocations. Okay, okay.

um for krieger house why is the expenses going up six thousand what what um page four of nineteen krieger house expenses

So the footnotes explain the costs. I had overrode the original ones on there. If you've totaled up the same bills that were listed on there from before and totaled up what they're actually running, that's the new total.

OK. So can we winterize that to save some money?

The cost to winterize it and unwinterize it may exceed the amount of savings. We do get full reimbursement on, we can get reimbursed for their internet service.

From the cable board?

Yes.

We should make sure we get our money back.

So we're charged $903 a month to clean the Krieger house?

well that's for the bathroom as well the bathroom is is a part of the krieger house okay do we know the cost of winterizing or is that oh we haven't got nobody calculated when i sent you the costs from november to may yeah

The Comcast is the 350 a month that 4200. Is that what that is? 24. 24 and that's just for that. Just for the Internet for that house.

It's reimbursed, yeah.

No, no, I know, but I was just thinking that I know we have Internet on the green and why we pay for separate Internet just for that house. Does it not reach it?

Isn't the Internet for the green in the Krieger house? i don't know that i know that i know the attic or something you do get service when you're on the green you're over there i get wi-fi so we might have to ask rick david all right but i'm pretty i for some reason i get the impression that the wireless router for the green is comes from the panic of the krieger house or something okay i just want to make sure that we're not getting

But this, sorry, it is 4,200. I can't do math. But that should come back from the cable board.

Correct.

I see no budgeted item for CDBG revenue this year. Are we not anticipating getting any this year?

No, we do anticipate receiving the $5,000 that was requested. So if it's missing, we'll add it.

Yeah, it's not in the budget, though.

Is it $5,000 or $7,000?

That's what I thought was $7,500, actually. Maybe it was just Southern. That was what we had allocated to the preschool, right? And the year before to the baseball. So yeah, that's usually, that should carry through. We should still get that. So Angelina, you had had a couple areas of questions from finance committee. Are there still questions you want to try and get vetted out?

Yeah, I mean, I'll just take this home and study it because I can't really think right now. Do we, sorry, I put like $1,000 for the Labor Day parade. Is that in here?

No, I.

We can do that.

That was part of the email response. And by law, we are not allowed to spend money on candy and things like that. Okay. Donations. Okay.

Well, and there's specific holidays that you can have a community event for, and that's not one of them.

It's not one of them, right?

No.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Cause I just remember last year we were talking about it was hard to get candy. Oh no, that would have been great.

But that those types of activities of are more of like fundraising type outside of, um, tax dollar, uh, for that.

Yeah.

I mean, well, could we not, so we have a summer block party donation and we donate to next funding and they're a private nonprofit.

Next funding is supplementing our senior services that we are supposed to have. That is contractual.

Yeah, did we know? Sorry, it took my email. Is that enforceable? Did we check? Yes. It is?

Yes.

Well, they provide a public benefit.

Correct.

No, I understand. But what I'm saying was we could give money to the FCA for the Labor Day parade. Because they're a private nonprofit too, just like we do for Main Street. We still can't make donations to any. It would be an exchange for services, just like Main Street puts on a block party.

A parade isn't the same as a senior service.

No, but the summer block party donation is in here. Where is that at? Bottom of page five.

It's a Main Street expense.

Yeah, but... It would be an FCA expense. I mean, I'm just saying, right? Summer block party, Labor Day, community event. It's still an exchange for them putting it on. And I know they've asked for support. Just something to think about.

Didn't they came when we did the grants to talk about the cost of the roundup?

That's exactly what they did. And the parade was one of the biggest expenses for them.

I checked through what their current what the expenses are for not I did not read the footnotes but Evan and I can discuss that and where that money is being allocated and what it's specifically for to make sure that it is an allowable function. Thank you.

And that said, they're still asking for the 10 K or we don't know.

If it's going to be 10 K well, there's going to be, I think a new. Local agreement eventually. Okay.

I get the impression they're going to want more from us than we're currently giving them. And that's going to be a potential breaking point. That's the general sense that I'm getting as well. All the communities, they're going to ask for a significant increase.

And they're a private non-profit too. It's not Birmingham. It's not. They're on the front page of the... Yeah, yeah. It's not associated. It's not a municipality.

Yeah.

It's not really about who it goes to. It's about what it's for. Yeah.

And it's an exchange for services.

Correct. There is going to, on page six, there is going to be a change just of how this is accounted for. Currently it's structured in here for the library administrative stuff to be paid here and then reimbursed. and it really should just be paid from the do from the library account so that nothing is paid that isn't easily seen in the general ledger of what is owed to us from that. So instead of it being an expenditure and a revenue, it'll be expense directly into a liability account and then and then we'll invoice them and receive it back, which will be posted back to that same account.

Still in the general fund or correct? Yes, but it will be like a new. OK, got it.

I have a question for the capital expenditures. Why are they divided by like general fire and Broughton House?

Um. I don't understand your question. That's what they were for.

That's not the butt. That's 25 fire years. Oh, okay. There's nothing allocated right now.

Okay. So we don't have any leftover money for capital expenditures or capital outlays? Do you mean the money?

Well, Anna, we'd have to do the bottom line. How are you netting out at the end of the year with the... revenue with leftover.

Yes.

How much leftover do we have?

As of right now, it's projected to be $446,000, which is about what your minimum fund balance should be.

What page is that?

Page six, right?

Eight. Oh, I looked at the wrong one.

That's the street fund, right?

Yes.

Page 6 is the end, right?

Yes.

So 51.

Yes, but it's.

Yeah, OK. Did we put any in capital?

Again, this is kind of we should have a fund balance policy that requires us to keep about 25 to 25% of our expenditures and that's where we're at with this. Yeah, so I wouldn't have a recommendation of allocating this to anything that it unless it's a something critical that we need at this time.

And also I guess Rachel eventually will hoping to have a plan to use to guide us for that.

Now this is for that just to be clear this is in general fund for we're looking at general fund and general fund balance there if it's something in streets that has a fund balance their projects can be allocated there they have their own money that can't be used for general services.

Do we need money for that capital implement plan?

Well, the capital improvement plan will tell us how much money we need for each item that we choose to put in it. And that plan will also outline how we intend to get that money. Okay. So we don't need like. Right now to we can complete the plan without having the money.

Okay. That's what I just wanted to know because I know we wanted to complete the plan sooner rather than next budget year. So, okay.

Yeah, okay.

Wait, because we talked about doing it the next few months.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think absolutely needs to be worked on, but I don't think this precludes us doing that.

Okay.

And so I think Jeff. Was correct page 6. Net of revenues, $169,980, which will increase the fund balance. Correct that amount. I think this is like- So we have excess revenues with nothing allocated right now to capital improvements.

I think this is the first time we've had- Which we could always add on later. So thank you. That's why I'm just like, whoa. And then one more thing, are we happy with what we're funding the police pension at, in your opinion?

No.

OK. But we're going to wait. We are going to wait. We don't. I just didn't know if that was built into this. OK. No.

The minimum required amount payment is built into this.

OK. And then when we give money to that, Bingham Farms has to get money to it, right? What's that? Say we're spending, and I'm just making this up, $100,000. And then next year, we're like, we're actually going to spend $150,000, because $50,000 of it's going to go towards the pension. then Bingham would have to give us like 35% of that total amount.

I don't know what the agreement with them says as far as pension contributions.

I just want to make sure that we're not giving more to the pension than they are. Okay.

Abby, you got anything specific? Sure. Jeff, anything specific? Questions come up, don't send anything to the group, but send a question directly to Jody and have it ready for you at our next meeting. Yep. didn't say anything you're just visiting jerry what are you asking i'm asking jerry if you got anybody want us anybody have any comments you guys are just sitting in listening in tony okay cool rachel you got anything no i don't have anything to add right now jody Anything that you think?

Well, I also left you a copy. I left you a copy of the proposed budget for the fire department.

Is this this one? This is this. Okay, what is that?

It's a single page.

There's a single page you should have? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So this shows their 25-26 budget comparative to the 26-27 budget. The total at the bottom divided by two for our cost share, and that is the total $812,568.69. We do currently have two millages for the fire, for fire services, and that is the combined total of the two millages. $677,192.37. So we are 135,000 short of what was requested from them. So this, that is not reflected in here yet. No, that's not reflected in there. Because what we have done is we receive the fire millage and it gets sent to the fire department to recover the services. It hasn't been supplemented. BUT THEY KIND OF ARE THERE'S ALSO A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE WITH THE HADLEY ROLLBACKS AND STUFF WHERE IT DECREASES. I SAID I CAN LOOK AT THIS AND TELL YOU THAT WE'RE NOT GOING TO HAVE THE FUNDS FOR IT JUST WITH IN HERE TO SHOW AN 8.8 ANNUAL INCREASE THAT WE'RE TYPICALLY PRETTY CAPT ON. Five percent and then there's kind of a little bit of give-and-take for constructions and Maria assassins But that sorry my reading this right that's with them asking for a $200,000 escrow contribution

right so which 100 000 of would be ours right so of the 135 we're shorting them theoretically 35 of it is what they need for operations correct yeah which in which based on current budget is is still available and as we mentioned with them the last year as well as this year, funding the escrow is going to be a challenge with current revenues until we can... Until we have an escrow. Until we have extra money. And we've discussed, and that will be something of discussion in the upcoming months, is addressing the fire millages in November with the residents.

but right now we operate on what we have yeah so okay am i just reading this right so office expenses eighty five hundred dollars and then it goes up over ten percent for inflation but then they say inflation factor is three percent so i don't think they used it Excel sheet for this, huh?

Well, could be. Which one? This just says.

Inflation factor 3%, but the math isn't mathing.

Oh, I see.

Because like 8,500 to 9,500 is over 10% inflation. So I thought that was the factor that they were using to calculate the new budget when they say inflation. And some of it doesn't change. yeah because you're on the fire so so right now we just give them what they get in their millage and then depending on if they actually go over for operations they can come and request money is that how it's been done how it's been done uh has as we discussed the last time around historically

All of the money that was raised in the revenue, in the millage, we just gave them.

It was exactly enough to cover it.

It was more than was needed.

And we gave them everything.

We gave them everything. We never allocated. We never settled out at the end of the years. And then starting two years ago was the first time that... it crossed over and our revenues are not enough to cover it. And we have essentially, we went into the general fund for one of the years and then the last two years we just left it short.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't, I don't think this math is right because even for dispatch services, it says it's a 2% annual increase.

Oh, Hey, sorry.

Um, Yeah, I think just that the 2627, like you have a 2% annual increase from $25,000, but I don't think the 2627 number is correct. I think it's more than that.

In which category? The dispatch services. So dispatch services is paid per call?

Okay.

With a 2% contractual increase year on year.

Yeah.

So last year we had approximately 650 calls for service.

Okay.

Our call volume is not decreasing.

Okay.

It's actually increasing substantially. Okay. So in terms of inflation factor, there are some attributes that are 3%. There are others that are As you discussed, health care.

Okay, so I was looking.

We're looking at 10%.

I thought you took this column, times it by 3% to get this column.

No, we actually look at needs based on requirements from the National Fire Protection Association, which is adopted by MIOSHA. As an example, fire tools and supplies at $80,000. Should have brought my glasses. But this is more reflective of we have turnout gear that is approaching a 10-year mark. Each set of turnout gear is approximately, we'll say, $5,000 to $6,000. We don't have enough funding to incorporate procurement of 34 sets or 32 sets of turnout gear at one time. So we're doing that on an annual basis. Yeah.

Do you guys use the same payroll service we do, ADP?

No, we use paychecks. OK. Paychecks, right? Paychecks. Paychecks.

Is there any ability to save some money if we have the same payroll service?

The fees are pretty nominal. OK, I just wasn't sure if you have $70, $80 a pay, something like that.

If you consolidate payroll companies.

We can't with them.

OK.

So in terms of personnel expenses, there was a plan. to increase by hiring one additional person, but obviously that's going to have to be looked at. There was an overall transduce support, not only the ability to provide advanced life support, transporting service, but also because it's fire and EMS, we would have the ability to have an extra person in the building Franklin, as you know, has no municipal water system, so any fire call, we are desperately in need of bringing a second piece of equipment that would have additional water carrying capacity. So in order to have one person in the station 24-7, that requires hiring four people. The plan, the thought was to hire one person per year for four years to enable three people in the building. Starting this year or well, the thought was to start this July 1st, but obviously it's up for discussion. You had made mention of the office supply, so office expenses. That's a unique category for us in that I shouldn't say it's unique. It's encompassing because office expenses are more than just sundries and expendables, but also durable equipment such as computers and networking wasn't so much the topic it was.

8,500 times 3%. No, I understand. So I was doing the math. I wasn't even more focused.

Please accept my apologies. Yeah. No, no, that's okay.

I thought this was the factor that...

Right. And then there were others like Firefighter Medical and the Contingency Fund, which didn't change at all because... That's what I was noticing.

Right.

So not every... Not every category has an inflation factor. One of the things that we do when we look at the budget is we'll wait for the six-month period to elapse, so July 1st through January 1st, and we'll look at where we're at, and then we'll gauge the need based on what we've used thus far. In terms of, as an example, $51.90, that's a risk right there because diesel fuel six months ago was a whole lot less than it is today. But we do try and take advantage of cost savings as best as possible.

And so BM Farms splits it 50-50 with us?

Correct.

Okay. And you presented this budget to them already?

The budget is provided to both villages as well as Southfield Township no later than April 1st, which is in our contract.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

So is this in the proposed budget for next year?

Or no, we have just... We don't put that in.

We don't fund it. Yeah, okay, okay.

the thing that would have to happen though is if you know this difference would have to come from some fund right if we chose to cover it yeah okay so may i address that real quick so i don't want to get into the differences in payments but there was some discussion about a reserve fund which is uh notated as the s i think it's notated as the rolling stack escrow It's a capital asset fund, and one of the issues that we face is, and we do operate on a 20-year rotating budget referencing the replacement of capital equipment. One of the issues that we have faced, especially since 2020 with COVID, has been the cost of fire apparatus. One of the things that we have done, and we've done this uh for i would say at least 40 years which is 13 years beyond me which is utilizing this fund in order to acquire apparatus without having to come back to the villages as an example our ladder truck we had purchased in 2014 that was at a cost of 925 000 to replace that today would be probably 1.9 million So the thought is not having to come back to the villages for separate villages.

This is a, an investment for the next time you need a big capital. Yes.

Okay. Yes.

Thank you. Yeah. I was just looking at it again. When I look at it quickly, I'm like, I don't know if this math makes sense, but that's super helpful.

Right.

And it's also important to distinguish that like yours is a, Our agreement with Bingham is 50-50, where our agreement for police is like 35-65.

Yeah, well, 35-65, but does that include the SAB, too?

No, no, I just wanted to make sure this divided by two. That's divided by two, yes. That's what I was getting at, like the divided by two is because it's a split.

Absolutely. There is some nominal coverage for seven homes in Southfield Township, but that amounts to probably $2,000, $3,000. It's a negligible amount.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

I don't have any more questions.

No. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. I'm welcome.

Thank you.

We're done other than any questions you have.

Um, I take it. You talked about the fire department, which was on my list. Uh, did, did, um, you address, uh, Rachel, the capital improvement process or. What did you guys decide on the capital?

We left it right now was there's nothing in there, but we have $169,000 overage or revenue above expenditures. So rather than do an allocation, we would do it as an amendment if things came up or if we had something specific.

And I wondered what the recommendations were on salaries. Are you doing an across-the-board increase?

Would you like to relive the first two hours of the meeting?

A couple things. The HR committee is relooking it. We've budgeted increases. We've had a discussion of... bringing all the employees into a aligned review, if you will. So expediting Jody's review, expediting- Oh, performance review? Correct.

Oh, okay.

Increasing salaries as of the fiscal year and then moving forward with just salaries and- At the same time. Reviews would all be done at the same time for everyone during the budgeting process.

Okay, and is that going to supersede employment agreements?

yeah well we'll have to amend the agreement because i read the employee agreement it's like at or around a year we would do amendments to everyone's to bring in a new higher to call it basically a new hundred date

Oh, okay, because that's gonna, yeah, that shortens up that period.

The changes are to their benefit then.

Yeah, it accelerates there. Yeah, all right.

And we discussed the amounts and although we're keeping them at the recommended amounts, the HR committee is still gonna study them to make sure that they're in line with In their favor, like no one's getting, you know.

This is probably a question for the HR committee. So is the intention to use market, you know, are we going to do another compensation study? Are we going to wing it ourselves?

We actually have a membership with Michigan Municipal League, and part of that membership includes free access to that information. So we wouldn't really need to set aside money for it.

I look at it as one source, but OK. My recommendation to the HR committee would be that there's multiple factors, including And you may be able to sort for that as you look through, but I don't want to rehash what was done. My interest is that it's done equitably, fairly, taking market factors into consideration as well as our ability to pay.

That was literally what we said. It was let's not wing it and just bring it to the budget council. No, we don't wing it anymore on that stuff. Yeah, it was let's be diligent about it.

Okay. Another staffing-related question. We are going to be receiving a drawdown grant from Philippe's office, and I was wondering if you guys had a chance to talk about whether or not we needed to budget for any help to manage that.

i haven't seen the um grant agreement if you could send that to me i could oh who do you have okay okay so i don't know what it entails until i read that out to us to try and schedule a

A MEETING AS WELL AS A PRESENTATION.

IT'S JUST THE QUESTION IS WHAT DO WE DO WHEN WE GET THE MONEY?

IT DEPENDS ON WHAT THE GRANT AGREEMENT SAYS WE CAN DO AND WHAT IS REQUIRED.

OKAY. ALL RIGHT. EVERYTHING ELSE IS SPECULATION SO I'M NOT GOING TO GO FURTHER WITH THAT. LET'S SEE. DID WE TALK ABOUT A PLAN B IF THE MILLAGE VOTE FAILS WITH REGARDS TO

We're living in Plan B right now.

OK. Then I'm done.

We couldn't do anything until September, right?

I'll make a motion to adjourn.

Second. OK. All in favor? Aye. Aye.