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The Board of Finance held a regular meeting on Monday, November 22, 2010 in the Council Chamber of the Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street, Newtown, CT. John Kortze called the meeting to order at 7:35pm.
PRESENT: John Kortze, James Gaston, Joseph Kearney and Harry Waterbury and Michael Portnoy.
ABSENT: Martin Gersten
ALSO PRESENT: First Selectman E. Patricia Llodra, Finance Director Robert Tait, one member of the public and two members of the press.
VOTER COMMENTS: none.
COMMUNICATIONS: Mr. Gaston noted he received an email from Bob Edwards of the Public Building and Site Commission saying on November 18 there was a walk through with respect to the Middle School roof. Mr. Edwards thought someone from the Board of Finance would be part of the group. There is another meeting on December 9 at 8:00am that will likely be an all day meeting. The five architects will give presentations on the Middle School roof project. Mr. Kearney said he could attend the meeting of December 9.
MINUTES: Mr. Gaston moved to approve the minutes of November 8, 2010. Mr. Waterbury seconded. All in favor
FIRST SELECTMAN REPORT: The Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers has secured a $5,000 grant. It is a planning grant from the state that comes under the umbrella of historic buildings preservation program. It is the first step in what may be a process to access larger funding for restoration and care of the building. The demolition of Litchfield Hall has stopped due to the discovery of additional asbestos in the building. We are getting closer to final numbers on the additional abatement; a final report on how the additional costs will be funded should be ready for the next meeting of the Board of Finance. An RFP has been successfully crafted regarding practices on the municipal side and the education side to review finance, human resource functions and building management.
This was a very successful collaboration between the First Selectman, Mr. Tait, Dr. Robinson and Mr. Bienkowski. The proposal due date is January 31. Bob Edwards and Tom Catalina are the point persons on the Middle School roof project and feel it is important to have representatives from the various groups that have an interest in the project present during the interview process.
FINANCE DIRECTOR REPORT: Mr. Tait reported on MuniCast, a financial forecasting tool that looks at ten years worth of data and forecasts ten to twenty years, including graphs and reports. To date Mr. Tait has eight years of municipal line item data and ten years of board of education line item data to load. Internally, a committee will include Elizabeth Stocker to help with the economic portion and Ron Bienkowski for education to discuss the different assumption plans. Population and staffing levels will be input. Mr. Tait will look into inputting Dr. Chung’s projections in the report. He will purchase a CIP software package that will allow departments to go online to update one database. First Selectman Llodra said that HVCEO has identified additional encouragement
of the state government that municipalities are allowed to identify other sources of revenue that are not currently allowed. Mr. Kearney stated CCM is for towns raising money through taxation.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
1. Board of Education Monthly Financial Report, October 31, 2010: Mr. Kortze said he still has not heard back from Mr. Hart and said that the charter is specific in stating that transfers shall be reported to the town financial director.
2. Town of Newtown Year to Date Budget Report, November 4, 2010: First Selectman Llodra noted that the state has not notified us of any reduction of revenue.
NEW BUSINESS:
Discussion and possible action:
- Transfer from Contingency to Legal Services, other, $100,000: First Selectman Llodra noted that the legal account is in excess due to the United Water issue and ongoing and closed tax litigation. Mr. Gaston moved the transfer of $100,000 from Contingency to Legal Services, other. Mr. Waterbury seconded. All in favor.
- Liquidated damages resolution: Mr. Kearney believes it would be better to have clauses up front in contracts; it is common and straight forward. A level of fine could be determined on a per day basis. It is prudent to have something to hold the contractors accountable. The Board of Selectman can determine the type of contact and when it would be implemented. We should consider having this as a standard clause in every construction contract. Mr. Kortze said this can directly or indirectly involve money. It is the purview of the Board of Selectmen. He would like to understand more about this before adopting resolution and noted there are performance bonds on projects. Mr. Kearney said there is a difference between liquidated damages and performance bonds. First Selectman Llodra suggested the town attorney attend a meeting to explain why liquidated damages are appropriate for some contracts but not others, what the down side is, what the up front costs are; there is a lot to
know that needs exploring. Mr. Mitchell should be involved in the conversation also. Mr. Gaston said some contracts may warrant a clause where some lesser dollar contracts may not. There should not be a blanket policy. First Selectman Llodra said the question should be asked, do we need liquidated damages, as part of every contract.
- Resolution re: owning plans: Mr. Kearney said there have been times when plans have been paid for more than once and we couldn’t get them because we didn’t own them. This will be addressed in the same fashion as the previous topic.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: none.
ADJOURNMENT:
Having no further business the Board of Finance adjourned their regular meeting at 8:20p.m.
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Susan Marcinek, Clerk
Att. A: Board of Education Financial Report, Oct. 31, 2010
Att. B: Town of Newtown Year to Date Budget Report, Nov. 4, 2010
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