Public Works and Utilities Committee Meeting Mon, Feb 17, 2025 · Public Works and Utilities Committee https://santafeminutes.space/meeting/64 == Executive Summary == The Public Works and Utilities Committee discussed several key issues, including a budget amendment for unexpected Wells Fargo credit card fees, which prompted a conversation about whether consumers should bear these costs and exploring alternative vendors. The committee also received updates on the city's sidewalk repair program, which is utilizing a $1 million allocation to address constituent-reported issues and ADA improvements. Additionally, the committee was informed about the progress of securing $49 million in legislative appropriations for various city projects and the city's ongoing water assistance to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Motions were passed to approve the agenda and the amended consent agenda. A motion was also made to approve the Budget Amendment Resolution for Wells Fargo credit card fees, though the vote result for this specific item was not provided in the summary. Staff were assigned action items to provide detailed financial information regarding credit card fees and the Wells Fargo contract. == Key Decisions == - Approved the agenda. - Approved the consent agenda, as amended, with item 7X removed for separate discussion. - Discussed a Budget Amendment Resolution (BAR) of $120,000 for Wells Fargo credit card fees, exploring options for consumers to pay fees and alternative vendors. - Received updates on the $1 million sidewalk repair program, legislative appropriations totaling $49 million, and water assistance to Las Vegas, New Mexico. == Motions & Votes == - Approval of the agenda — Passed (vote count not specified). - Approval of the consent agenda, as amended (with item 7X removed) — Passed 5-0. - Motion to approve the Budget Amendment Resolution for Wells Fargo credit card fees (Item 7X) — (Vote result not provided in summary). - Motion regarding Resolution 2025 (Federal Transit Administration Application) — Passed 5-0 (Councilor Castro: Yes, Councilor Michael Garcia: Yes, Councilor Romero Worth: Yes, Councilor Lee Garcia: Yes, Chair Chavez: Yes). == Public Comment == No public comment period. == Topics == - Credit Card Fees - Sidewalk Repairs - Federal Grants/Funding - Las Vegas Water Assistance - Legislative Appropriations == Full Transcript == Are we live? We are live. Thank you. I call to order the Public Works and Utilities Committee meeting. It's Monday, February 17th, at 5:05. Could I get a roll call, please? Certainly, Madam Chair. Councilor Castro. Councilor Michael Garcia, present. Councilor Romero Worth, here. Councilor Lee Garcia, here. Chair Chavez, here. You have a quorum, Madam Chair. Thank you. Next, approval of the agenda. Are there any changes from staff? No changes, Madam Chair. Can I get a motion and a second? Everyone in favor, signify by saying "Aye." Any opposed? See none, motion passes. Approval of the consent agenda. I believe there was one item moved. What item was that? Madam Chair, it was item X, so that's 7X. It's the request for approval of Budget Amendment Resolution BAR in the total amount of $20,000 to pay Wells Fargo Bank credit card fees. Clarence Romero, Treasury Officer. Thank you so much, Director Willer. Can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended? Second. I have a motion and a second. Could I get a roll call vote, please? Certainly. Let's see. Councilor Lee Garcia? Yes. Councilor Marworth? Yes. Councilor Michael Garcia? Yes. Councilor Castro? Yes. And Chair Chavez? Yes. Motion passes. Great. Moving on, we will go to public comment. Is there anyone in the public today that would like to come up and speak? I do not see anyone here this evening. So we have no presentation, so we will move to that item that was moved off of consent. And if you don't mind reading that for me again, Director, that would be helpful. Certainly. This is, Madam Chair, this is item 7X, request for approval of a Budget Amendment Resolution BAR in the total amount of $120,000 to pay Wells Fargo Bank credit card fees. All right. And who do we have with us to... Do you want a motion before? Yes, please. Thank you. Move to approve. Second. I have a motion and a second. And who pulled the item? Okay, Councilor Garcia, do you want to start with your questions? Sure. Or maybe a presentation, because or an overview, just because it might help to address the questions I have. Sure. Good evening, everybody. Matt Bonifer, filling in. I'm the Accounting Officer for the City of Santa Fe. Good to see you all this evening. So the item that was pulled was the BAR for additional credit card fees for Wells Fargo. To date, this fiscal year, the credit card usage has exceeded what was originally budgeted, which means more credit cards are being used throughout the city, generating additional fees that the city covers. So based off what was budgeted during last budget season and where we're at through this current fiscal year, additional funds are being requested to cover the excess credit card fees projected to finish out the fiscal year. Right. Thank you for that overview. I'm going to turn it back over to you, Councilor Garcia. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, Mr. Bonifer, for the overview. Just to dive into a little more details, who has the cards? What are the cards being used for? And why are there so much more fees than what was anticipated? Councilor Garcia, these are city fees or constituent credit cards. So these aren't fee cards held by city staff. These are ones being used for parking, to pay business permits, to pay Lodgers Tax, to pay utilities. So anywhere that's, you know, there's being generated an invoice by the city that needs to be paid, credit cards is a form of payment that we accept. And for each swipe, these are assessed to us as a city that we pay. Got it. Thank you for that. I appreciate that. And that's what I had thought, and that's why I was wanted some clarification. Have we thought about instituting a process where the consumer pays the fee? Because it is, especially when you're talking about parking meters, it's a very sometimes nominal fee. I mean, for example, I will sometimes use the meter for a dollar charge, and we as the city probably pay just as much as a credit card fee. It's across the board, no matter the charge. It's a... Can you help me understand what we're paying per swipe? The fees vary depending on the different type of card being used and the dollar amount. As a base fee, on average, I would say it's probably around 3.5%, but it certainly could be more than that. It's interesting you say that because it's certainly something we've started to explore here in finance. What that would look like to have that sort of be a convenience fee on parking is something that I think is going to be a different conversation. It seems to be a much larger thing that when we're working with our merchant service, Wells Fargo, as its own sort of requirements. But as we're talking about stuff for other routine, the taxes that are being paid throughout the city, it's something we're exploring in terms of, you know, if credit card wanted to be the vehicle payment to the city, that fee would be passed on because we certainly accept every other form of payment: cash, check. Right. And the reason I'm asking is because I know, you know, other entities such as like P&M, if you want to pay your electric bill, or even the gas company, if you want to pay it using a credit card, there's going to be an additional fee. So the consumer ultimately takes on that burden of the cost. So we're asking for $120,000 to be added. How much was allocated in fiscal for fiscal year 25 initially? I don't have that number with me, but I can provide that. I don't know. Emily's here. I don't know if she knows that off the top of her head. I can provide that to you, but I don't know what was in the actual... Okay. Just because if we can get that, I'm very interested in that in regards to how much actually a cost it's because it's a cost of service, cost of doing business that the city is taking on. And if there is a different mechanism, we can begin to explore the city not necessarily taking on this cost of business because it's, it's become a common theme across the business world where the consumer takes on that charge. Now, if folks agree or not agree with that, I think that's up for debate. But if we're now looking at this costing the city in terms of at least $120,000, because that's what we're adding, I'm, you know, I'm interested in the trajectory of how much the city has had to incur in these costs, not only for fiscal year 25, but 24, 23, and and see what that really looks like. Because if it is an increased burden on the government in regards to us, I mean, could our taxpayer dollars be used elsewhere in a better investment for residents? I think that's, that's a topic I'd like to discuss. Yeah, certainly. And I can provide that breakdown to you later this week if that works. I certainly do know that credit card fees, you know, while we're asking for an additional $120,000 here tonight, it is a multiple $100,000 incursion that the city does face for it. So it is only growing just based off of, well, again, it's such a variable number that each processor charges to us and then just the frequency of card. I mean, I think you said it spot on, even for a dollar transaction for parking, which is a very common thing throughout the city, it's, you know, a very big percent that is ultimately hit. And I think parking, well, I did quote the 3.5% on average, I think a parking transaction does charge, is incurs a higher fee, if my memory is correct. Right. And I think that's where the, it would be good to explore these fees that the city is incurring and maybe we take a different approach with maybe certain, taking certain payment for, you know, meters versus paying your utility bill versus any other, you know, business license, whatever transaction is being incurred. Last question is, have we, is, are we exploring maybe looking at a different credit card vendor that might have lower fees on the city that might be able to offer us a better, better rate, so to speak? At this point, we're not. I mean, we have a contract in place with Wells Fargo, which is our merchant of record. For it, I do not know offhand how long that contract extends through, but I think we're at least limited in terms of what we can be banking and processing through, at least for the size of what the city. So I can get at least clarification in terms of the duration on that for what would leave us an opportunity for, for exploration on that. Okay. If we can get that info, just because it's always good to have our options open if there is another vendor we can go with that ultimately benefits the city and the residents as well. Right. Because even though, again, even though the city's incurring the cost, it's still taxpayer dollars that's going to, that's, you know, those taxpayer dollars could be spent elsewhere. So with that, thank you for the clarification and I look forward to getting the additional information. Appreciate it. No other questions, Madam Chair. Thank you, Councilor Garcia. I have a motion and a second. Could I... Oh, oh, there's more questions. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Councilor. I just have a quick follow-up on that. So the Wells Fargo contract is not just for credit card fees, am I correct in that? Or, or is it this, the one you're speaking of is because they're our, I forget what, how we refer to them. They are our, um, they're the, they are the, uh, our merchant of record. So they are our city bank. They're the ones who has the, they, but they do more than just run the credit cards, right? No, they are who we hold our, do our banking with in terms of processing all city deposits and transactions. Right. So that contract is a lot bigger. And I think we've had conversations, if not in this committee, I, I think at finance and maybe at even governing body about how it would be really difficult to change from them because of the things that the city needs and there aren't many banks that can provide it. And so I, I think that there's a few more, as I, if I recall, there's a few more years left on it. I don't think it's like 10 years, but, um, there are a number of years still left on it. But it's a much bigger contract than just handling credit card, um, transactions. I think that is correct. Yes. Okay. That's all I have. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Councilor Marworth. Councilor Lee Garcia. Madam Chair, um, yeah, I'm very familiar with credit card banking and all that stuff in, you know, my own personal business. But, um, I think it is, it gets very complicated because many times your bank of record isn't necessarily the processor. And in this case, it sounds like it is. Um, are, yes, right. And so a lot of times also what gets complicated is that our softwares, um, depending on how that's processed, uh, when somebody goes on the website and pays, I think that's where, just say for example, you go to the motor vehicle, you pay a convenience fee for using your credit card. Um, and so, um, you know, it, I deal with this on a daily basis. You have some cards that don't charge anything, debit cards, so on and so forth. And then you have Visa cards, Discover Cards, American Express, and they're all different tiers. So, um, I think that, um, one of the, the challenges in all this sometimes is, do you just raise rates for everyone and then not charge a fee, then you incur these costs? Or do you just only charge the people who are utilizing these cards? So I think that's the difficult part of it is, is, and having a software that will do that. So, um, I, I think it's, it's very important, uh, Councilor Garcia, thank you for pulling this, um, in regards to, you know, those costs because definitely different merchants, um, they do have different tiers of, of what they charge us. And I, I, I think doing our due diligence would definitely be in, in, um, you know, in the, in the best interest of, of the public that is utilizing our services. Just my comments. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Lee Garcia. Any other questions or comments? All right. So we have a motion and we have a second. Could I get a roll call vote, please? Certainly, Madam Chair. Um, Councilor Castro? Yes. Councilor Michael Garcia? Yes. Councilor Romero Worth? Yes. Councilor Lee Garcia? Yes. Chair Chavez? Motion passes. All right. We have no action items on the agenda. Um, next is Introduct... We have consideration of Resolution Number 2025. This is sponsored by Councilor Lee Garcia, a resolution authorizing the filling of application to the Federal Transit Administration and operating an administration of the United States Department of Transportation or federal transportation assist as authorized by 49 USC 53 title 23 United States code or other federal states administered by the Federal Transit Administration. We have the sponsor here, Councilor Lee Garcia. I'll turn it over to you if you want to fill us in a little bit on this item. Councilor Lee Garcia: Thank you, Madam Chair. Basically, it's going after federal money that we can utilize for our transit systems. Kudos to Director Gabrielle Chavez. She's going after some of this low-hanging fruit that's out there, which just requires an application. Most of the time, it's very easy pickings; you just got to go do it. I see this a lot with the NCRTD. Obviously, I am the chair there, and the executive director is very good at going out and getting a lot of money. So we could do the same thing, and I think that's where we're headed with all of this. That's the reason for it. Thank you. Chair: Thank you, Councilor, for the information. Next is Matters from Staff. I'll turn it over to you, Director Willer. Director Willer: Thank you so much, Madam Chair. I would like to give a little update on one of the many, many projects that's in the works because we have so many legislative grants that have come through and our one-time funding. But at the beginning of this fiscal year, we were funded a million dollars to really give some time and energy to sidewalks. It was not only to get some sidewalks repaired but really to start to realize the vision of the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee resolution. The governing body has approved the asset management software that is in the works to get our assets into the system. We have a consultant engaged that is working with our team to pull up old, long-outstanding work orders for repairs to public sidewalks. We're securing quotes for those. We have an invite to bid on the street right now so that we can hope to contract with smaller vendors that are more suited to sidewalk-type repairs. Right now, we have to do a three-quote process, and it takes forever to get all the three quotes and get that PO. So we're really excited that we have a consultant on board, both for their program management as well as multiple inspectors they brought with them. We're increasing the rate at which we do our repairs as well as the rate at which we encourage homeowners to do their repairs. So I think you're going to, over the next six months, see a real difference. We're focusing on areas where constituents have notified us that it's important to them and also areas that are near bus stops or essential services or access to buildings. I think you might have noticed in the one-time appropriations, there are ADA improvements to the Southside Library. Those kinds of improvements allow us to make sure that people can get from their parking space or the bus stop into a really essential facility. So we're excited about this focus on accessibility and multimodal and safety for the community. So that's going really well. I don't know if I've reported to this group, but as you know, once the audits were done and we did get our backlog of legislative appropriations, we received 63 appropriations worth $49 million in one year. That's about, from the rate at which we were getting appropriations, about six years of work. We're halfway through getting those. You see them coming through all the meetings, and so we're excited to say that over about half of the money is now in the city's hands with fully executed agreements, and we're working our way through the state process to get those projects deployed. The state has put an extremely cumbersome administrative overhead on all of these. It's outrageous. We have to get resolutions passed, we have to get the agreement passed, and it has to be executed by the state. Then they send it back to us, then we have to get a notice of obligation, and then we can finally... So it takes months and months. But the team is seeing the money coming, doing procurement in advance, so as soon as we do get the money into budget after it's approved by everybody and the notice of obligation is issued, the projects are moving. So there's a lot of really great work that people will be seeing from this windfall to the city. I think soon I'll be giving a full update to the governing body about the status of all of those grants, but I wanted to give the Public Works Committee some insight about that. Thank you so much. Chair: Great, thank you, Director Willer, and thank you for that work as those funds are made available. Director Roach? Director Roach: Madam Chair, thank you, and members of the committee. I just wanted to give you a quick update that you also should have received by email today, just to let you know that Las Vegas, New Mexico, is again struggling with their water system, and they have again reached out to the city for assistance. This request comes at a good time for us in terms of demand. We're in a low-demand period of the year. Last time it was during June, and we were able to accommodate. Again, we are going to offer to them two hydrants where they can fill up tanker trucks that have been mobilized, and we expect those trucks to start being filled as soon as tomorrow. They are requesting up to 400,000 gallons per day. I would be surprised, based on what happened this summer, if they're able to take that much, but that represents a little bit more than 5% of our demand right now. So at this time of the year, it is something that we can handle. Chair: Great, thank you. I think it's important that we help our neighbors when we can, so thanks for the update. Next is Matters from the Committee. Are there any matters? Great. And Matters from Chair. Next meeting is March 3rd. Thank you all for being here tonight. Have a good one.