Dukes County Commission
Minutes
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
3 p.m.
Dukes County Administration Building
9 Airport Road, Edgartown, MA
Commissioner Present: Lenny Jason, Les Leland, Carlene Gatting, Melinda Loberg, John Alley, Tristan Israel, Tom Hallahan via Skype
County Staff present: Russell H. Smith – County Manager, Erin Leighton – Temp. Ex. Assistant, Carol Grant-Assistant Treasurer, Joe Sollitto – Clerk of Courts, Noreen Mavro Flanders – Treasurer, Sean Flynn – Airport Manager, Elaine Graves Airport Financial Administrator, Jo Ann Murphy –Veterans’ Agent, Chuck Cotnoir- County Emergency Mgmt. Dir., Beth Toomey and Joanie Ames – MVTV
Meeting was called to order at 3:09 p.m.
1. Minutes
Les/Carlene moved to accept the minutes of January 25, 2012. So voted. John abstains.
John/Les moved to accept the minutes of February 8, 2012. So voted. Tom abstains.
2. Appointments - Chairman
Beth Toomey was a part of the Committee for Public Health. Beth has a Master’s in Clinical Health; she will bring suicide prevention to the position.
Melinda appoints Beth Toomey as the Associate Commissioner for Public Health.
Melinda reappoints Chuck Cotnoir as the Associate Commissioner for Elderly.
Melinda reappoints Connie Teixeira as the Associate Commissioner for Homeless.
Melinda reappoints Warren Doty as the Associate Commissioner for Fisheries.
Melinda reappoints Mike Joyce as the Associate Commissioner for Youth.
3. Appointment – Whole Board
Lenny/John moved to reappoint Marcia Cini as the County Counsel for a one year term. So voted. All in favor.
Lenny/John moved to reappointment Chuck Cotnoir as the Emergency Manager, Medical Reserve Corp and the Assistant to the Steamship Authority Rep. for a one year term So Moved. All in Favor.
Lenny/John moved to reappoint Joe Sollitto as the Clerk to the County Commissioners for a three year term. So Moved. All in Favor.
Lenny/John moved to reappoint Melanie Becker and Adam Wilson as Alternates for the Cape Cod Municipal Health Group for a three year term. So Moved. All in Favor.
4. Draft FY2013 County Budget
Russell thanked Tom Hallahan and Jon Snyder for their help with the budget. The County budget also consists of separate sheets for budgeting of the Registry of Deeds and Health Care Access programs. Russell reads the budget line by line. (See Attached)
The assessments from the towns are $870,649 this is 2.5% grater from last year. The assessments are listed town by town with some variances based on equalized evaluation from the State. $501,000 of this money goes to the Sheriff’s department; roughly $300,000 goes to the Registry of Deeds, and the amount of money from the town assessment to go into the County general fund for operations has hovered around $50,000 - $60,000 each year. Cape and Island License Plates and Deed Excise Tax are other sources of revenue; the Deed Excise Tax has been raised by $5,000 due to economic recovery.
Russell read each line item on the FY2013 Draft Budget.
Carlene asks when the Sheriff’s amount drops out of the equalized evaluation. Russell answered one more year.
Melinda asks about health insurance going up, she had expected a decrease in the amount of money going to insurance. Russell states he believes Noreen added more to the number due to his being a single person having health insurance and likely the next County Manger will be a family which will be more costly.
Carlene asks why the revenue is down for the Parking Clerk and there is an increase in expenses. Russell answered there is discussion to purchase hand held wands for the Parking Clerk to rent out to the towns. Russell believes the wands are $2,000 - $3,000 each, they are talking about purchasing 6 or so. Melinda asks if the software has been completely paid off. Russell answers the software is in the second year of a three year program. Carol Grant, Parking Clerk joins the meeting to answer questions. Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and Tisbury are looking to obtain the hand held units, the towns were looking at leasing them, and the County has looked into purchasing them and leasing them back to the towns. The cost to the towns would be $250 each month per wand. The towns are looking to lease them rather than purchasing because the towns do not
have the money, after a year or so the County would re-coop their money for the money going out. Carol states there needs to be a commitment obtained from the towns for a three year period of time in order to get back the money that was spent on the wands. Melinda asks if a business plan can be put together to better show where the money is going. Carol said yes she will give actual figures that show how she can accommodate the towns.
Carol and Noreen will be attending an All Island Selectman’s meeting in the near future, she will present to the Commissioners prior to the All Island Selectman’s meeting. Melinda asks about the line item and the increase in the expenses. Carol states the wands are not part of the budget; the software and licensing agreement are the reason for the increase.
Carol leaves the meeting at 3:50
Courthouse: Russell indicates the State pays revenue for use of the Courthouse; the State now pays 100% for their use, expenses on the Courthouse are for capital projects. John asks if the County is able to get the money back for capital expenses. Russell answers no but in the case of the roof the County was able to obtain money through the State and in this case the State did not pay the money towards their rent, that amount was taken off to repay the amount of the loan. Les asks about general maintenance of the Courthouse.
Joe Sollitto enters the meeting at 4:00
Russell answers Les when items need tending to Russell personally takes care of the matters. Les would like to see money in the budget for an individual to have these matters taken care of rather than it being the responsibility of the County Manager. Joe adds that he would like some sort of a protocol for times when it is not during regular business hours and knowing who needs to be called at these times, he commends Russell for being helpful during the times when matters need addressing.
Carlene requested to have a long term plan of a maintenance person, after budget season, as well as being reimbursed for capital expenses for the Courthouse.
Noreen comments on the “File Server” budget line under the Treasurer’s department. She states the file server will no loner be supported by the current software program as of June 2013 some time prior to that date the fileserver needs to be updated.
As for the “Mitigation Plan” budget line, Noreen comments that the mitigation plan in this budget is for non-union employees, due to the changes in health insurance. Sean Flynn adds the mitigation plan for the union has not been established at this time.
Melinda asked Noreen about the increase in health insurance in Dept.300. Noreen answered when a new County Manager is hired the increase represents the assumption that the individual would have a family plan, not an individual plan as Russell currently has.
Russell stated the projected revenue has increased by 4.09% for FY13 and the expense has increased by 3.51%. The difference between the revenue and expense is $21,307 this is 1% of the budget.
John/Lenny moved to accept this as a preliminary budget to be put forward to the County Advisory Board as a draft budget. So Moved. All in Favor.
5. FY13 Draft Airport Budget (see attached)
Sean states the budget it made up of several spreadsheets with a summary sheet comprising of all of the spreadsheet information.
Small increases in revenue are due to a new tenant in the business park and aviation properties have been adjusted to current rates. Health insurance has decreased; some money will be given back to employees. A COLA of 3.1% has been added for the FY13 and FY12 budgets. A ten-percent increase has been forecasted for health insurance.
The FY12 Supplemental Budget did not have a COLA put into it, a 2% COLA has now been put into this supplemental budget. Fuel revenue was adjusted to actual revenue; terminal revenue was increased due to two new airlines. There was a reduction in wages due to two positions not being immediately filled, also an increase of $13,000 was put into the administration line due to wage reserve for the COLA’s for administrative employees and Sean’s buyback of vacation time. There was also a slight increase in rental of the hangers due to the Marine’s returning. New radios have been purchased, new office and household furniture, a new file server, laptop and locker storage units have all been purchased. The airport is currently working on upgrading the terminal to a commercial grade wifi system. New security cameras are also
going to be installed.
Melinda states that the FY13 draft budget will also be seen by the CAB.
John/Les moved to moved to accept the Airport’s supplemental FY12 and FY13 budget to be presented to the County Advisory Board. So voted. All in Favor.
6. Insurance Advisory Committee
Noreen and Sean have met and assembled the Insurance Advisory Committee the members of the committee have all been notified. Noreen states the Insurance Advisory Committee is required under Chapter 32B when talking about insurance for employees. This expedited bargaining process mostly has to do with Union employees. All employees need to be informed by May 1.
John/Lenny moved to appoint Peter Valenti, Jo Ann Murphy, Noreen Mavro Flanders, Sean Flynn, Kelly McCracken, Deborah Potter, Beth Tessmer and Dianne Powers to the Insurance Advisory Committee. So voted. All in Favor.
7. Search Committee – County Manager
Melinda reports she would like to put together a search committee consisting of a member of the CAB, two County Commissioners, a personnel board member and the County Treasurer. Tristan would like to have a discussion to define what the Commissioners are looking for, Melinda agrees but additionally this committee will be given charge to look at the job description, make up of the current administration and take into consideration what the DCC want as priorities. Melinda wants all aspects of the County Manager job to be discussed; she feels the Commissioners can set how they would like to see the Manager to operate. Tristan and Carlene volunteer to be on the search committee. Lenny feels discussions should happen prior to assembling this committee, Melinda responded that due to time she would at least like the DCC members to
volunteer for the committee. A special meeting will be happen for next week, Wednesday February 29 at 9:00 to discuss what the Commissioners feel the responsibilities should be of the new County Manager.
8. Old Business
Tristan would like the issue of the Veteran’s health care at the hospital to be readdressed at another meeting.
9. Proclamation for Les
Melinda reads a letter from Les (see attached), effective immediately Les will be resigning due to health issues. Melinda reads a letter from Bob Sawyer, Bob commended Les for his years of service (see attached). Melinda reads a Proclamation. The Proclamation states the Commissioner’s appreciation for his thirteen years of service. (see attached). Les adds he has really enjoyed his years being on the Commission, he has served with many Commissioners through the course of his thirteen years. While everyone may not see eye to eye everyone has always had respect for one another. Melinda adds it will be hard to be without his input, she also announces that there will be an ad for the open placement for his position in the upcoming weeks. The Commissioners all thank Les for his years of service.
Adjournment:
Lenny/Les moved to adjourn the meeting. So voted. All in Favor.
Respectfully Submitted by:
______________________________
JOSEPH E. SOLLITTO JR., Clerk of the Courts
Documents presented at the meeting and part of the official records:
- Agenda
- Letter for the Insurance Advisory Committee
- Letter of resignation from Les Leland
- Letter of interest for AC Public Health – Beth Toomey
- Reappointment letter for EM Director, SSA Rep. Asst, MRC Rep. and AC for Elder Affairs – Chuck Cotnoir
- Reappointment letter for AC for Homeless – Connie Teixeira
- Reappointment letter for AC for Fisheries – Warren Doty
- Reappointment letter for AC for Youth – Mike Joyce
- Reappointment letter for County Counsel – Marcia Cini
- Reappointment letter for Alternate Representative to the Cape Cod Municipal Health Group – Melanie Becker and Adam Wilson
- FY13 Draft Budget – County
- Budget Cover Sheet – Russell Smith
- FY13 Draft Budget – Registry of Deeds
- FT13 Draft Budget – Health Care Access
- FY13 Draft Budget - Airport
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