MINUTES
BOARD OF FINANCE
NOVEMBER 19, 2002
A REGULAR MEETING of the Board of Finance was held on Tuesday, November 19, 2002 in the Council Chambers.
Attending was Mayor Owen J. Quinn, Jr. (arrived at 4:18 P.M.), members of the Board of Finance Theodore Miasek, Carl Michelet, Michael Nejaime, Diane Libby, Roger Dickinson, and Bruce Cornish (arrived at 4:16 P.M.), Corp. Counsel Albert Vasko, Comptroller Alice Proulx, Public Works Director Gerald Rollett, Data Processing Manager William Hoffman, and Board of Education members Robert Kelly, A. Bates Lyons, and Hans Reichardt.
In the absence of Mayor Quinn, Mrs. Libby called the meeting to order at 4:12 p.m.
ADD TO AGENDA #015
On a motion by Mr. Nejaime, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted unanimously by 2/3rds vote to add an executive session to the agenda under Pending Litigation.
EXECUTIVE SESSION #030
On a motion by Mr. Nejaime, seconded by Mr. Michelet, the board voted unanimously to go into an executive session under pending litigation at 4:13 p.m.
Board of Finance Member, Bruce Cornish, arrived at 4:16 p.m. Mayor Quinn arrived at 4:18 p.m.
OPEN SESSION #050
On a motion by Mr. Michelet, seconded by Mr. Miasek, the board voted unanimously to reconvene the Open Session meeting at 4:25 p.m.
MINUTES #070
On a motion by Mr. Nejaime, seconded by Mrs. Libby, the board voted to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held 10/15/02 with the exception of Mr. Dickinson who abstained.
OPEN TO PUBLIC #080
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted unanimously to open the meeting to the public. No one spoke.
BOARD OF EDUCATION’S CAPITAL & OPERATIONAL BUDGET FIGURES #100
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Nejaime, the board voted unanimously to table the discussion / vote on the Board of Education’s capital and operational budget figures for fiscal year 2002/2003 until after their joint meeting with the Board of Education, per the Board of Finance recommendation of 7/16/02. (Tabled on 9/17/02 & 10/15/02.)
SCULLY & WOLF #125
A discussion took place in regard to the update with Scully & Wolf.
Ms. Proulx indicated that Michael LeBlanc had made a presentation to the Board of Education in reference to the consolidation of services with the city. The end result was that the Board of Education requested that he get comparisons from other software suppliers to compare costs and benefits. She stated Mr. LeBlanc wanted to know whether the Board of Finance wanted him to spend time obliging the Board of Education’s request.
Mr. Michelet indicated that he had watched that particular meeting of the Board of Education and he believed Mr. LeBlanc’s point was that our software, although not used by any other known city in Connecticut at the present time, was an integrated system that would give the city and the Board of Education what was needed and any specialty items could be added. Mr. LeBlanc also explained to the Board of Education that the cost of having this implemented, the training and any hardware would be born by those dollars approved by the Board of Finance’s management contingency.
Mr. Michelet said he personally didn’t understand the Board of Education’s reluctance to use the software. He thought other software would be comparable to what we already had and he personally didn’t want to spend more money if Mr. LeBlanc believed our software was adequate or better than adequate for what we need to accomplish the job.
Additionally, the Board of Finance had agreed to strive for the implementation of shared services with the Board of Education by June of next year, and that seemed to have changed somewhat during that Board of Education meeting.
Mr. Miasek thought the point was made clear that it didn’t matter whether it was implemented within the fiscal or the calendar year. Mr. LeBlanc stated that it didn’t need a parameter and could be implemented at any time.
Mrs. Libby indicated that Scully & Wolf’s proposal was quite clear that the Board of Finance would be paying Scully & Wolf from their contingency account and that the Board of Finance would be taking the risks and putting themselves on the line to make sure the Board of Education could access any of their reports they may deem necessary.
Mr. Miasek noted that Mr. Kelly addressed that very same issue but the Board of Education didn’t heed to that point at all. They expressed their concern in regard to using a system that wasn’t being used by anyone else within the state and they didn’t want to be the “guinea pig.” They were apprehensive about the state’s specialized requirement for their EDO reporting. Mr. Miasek noted that he had checked into the state’s report requirement and there was no software whatsoever that would do an EDO report. The Board of Education was using that as a stumbling block to get a consensus. He suggested that perhaps Mayor Quinn and the full Board of Finance should review the tape of that meeting to get a real flavor of what actually took place.
Mr. Michelet thought the Board of Education would be doing a certain extent of mapping to give them what they needed in their reporting and the Board of Finance would incur those costs. He was convinced they were moving in the right direction.
Mr. Dickinson inquired whether Ms. Proulx had an updated proposal that covered all the anticipated expenses and implementations as well as the savings they would ultimately incur.
Ms. Proulx said she had a draft proposal that she could make sure he received.
Mr. Dickinson acknowledged that there were applications the software wouldn’t do, and they needed to have a way of doing it.
Mr. Miasek said the Board of Education was apprehensive because they were mired into a system they’ve had and were comfortable with what they were doing even though it was obsolete under DOS. They didn’t trust the experts who made a presentation that night. Mr. Murphy was involved in all those discussions with the CPA firm and he made no comments in support of the system conversion.
Mr. Michelet indicated that Mr. Hoffman could transmit data on a remote site for payroll. The Board of Finance was interested in cutting costs, not looking at the Board of Education’s data.
Both, Mr. Miasek and Mr. Michelet felt strongly that a parallel system and proper testing would take place for however long it took to make certain it worked.
Mayor Quinn stated that shared services, non duplicated systems, state-of-the-art financial management systems were the way to go, and degrees of comfort and what people have gotten used to are old and obsolete ideas and not a sound and practical way to run a municipality.
For as long as he is Mayor, Mayor Quinn said he would look for ways to set systems that are going to represent where Torrington will go in the future. Duplication will not be tolerated. He was upset with the disruption caused by those who disagreed with decisions made by a representation of individual boards and agencies after he took every opportunity to let them know what he was attempting to do. It was his belief that boards and agencies needed to work in subcommittees and have the authority to make decisions to report back to their full board. They needed to set a budget process that makes sense for next year, to settle a budget situation that has been allowed to exist since July, and to set up a system of government that thinks about the future.
Mayor Quinn vowed not to go through a budget process like last year. Everyone needed to be more efficient with their time. It’s time to get the job done. He said, “I think Scully & Wolf’s report is timely, it shows where we want to go, it’s been funded by the Board of Finance. There seems to be no down side from the Board of Education subscribing to it. It makes perfect sense as far as a modern corporation is concerned and the degree of comfort be damned, it’s time to go forward, and that’s where we are. So, Scully & Wolf will be called upon to implement and move this forward and if we have to call the Superintendent or whoever on the Board of Education, it’s a priority for this board, it’s a priority for the Mayor’s Office,
and if it’s not a priority for the Board of Education, it will be a priority for the Board of Education. So, it’s either we’re in the same boat moving forward or we’re not.”.....
Mayor Quinn continued “This thing needs to be going forward and I thought Scully & Wolf’s report, I thought we were at the direction they were going and the fact that it is being funded, all efforts in the city, we have no shortage of great ideas, it’s just a lack of funding that’s available for it. Here, in the City of Torrington, based on the Board of Finance’s support, there is money available to get the job done. This doesn’t seem like we should be delaying any longer. This has got the green light in ways that any other project doesn’t, and if the Board of Education doesn’t see it, then they need to articulate it very quickly because it doesn’t make any sense from my perspective.”
Ms. Proulx further informed the Board that Mr. Hoffman would be in touch with New World in regard to what they would be willing to do to assist the city in implementing those changes for the Board of Education. Ms. Proulx would be sending copies of the Board of Education’s required reporting to New World so they could let her know what we need in order to properly function on the reporting level.
Mayor Quinn noted that Scully & Wolf continues to say that there’s no reason for delay. We should be working to implement concurrent systems, and this can be done anytime within the fiscal year.
Ms. Proulx indicated that Scully & Wolf feels using the current system, adapted to whatever needs we have, is the most responsible path to take.
UPDATE ON BUDGET PROCESS #735
Mr. Dickinson indicated that they were in the middle of the process of having small meetings with a series of people.
Mr. Cornish reminded everyone that Five Year Capital Plans are due on January 1.
Mayor Quinn noted that Ms. Proulx has asked all department heads to begin their budget process. Department heads have researched different methods of doing the budget process and all are in agreement that what was done in the past was not very efficient and they expect to change the forthcoming format. He expects that will be done sooner rather than later. Every department head has been asked for a listing of priorities and been given the Board of Finance’s mandate of keeping their budget at zero growth over last year. Given the fact that 85% of the budgets are contractual, each department head has been asked to submit an impact statement, as well as a mission statement to see if what they have done in past years is consistent with where they want to go since they are being asked to make
major financial changes in their operation.
Mr. Michelet asked Mr. Cornish if he anticipated the Capital Budget to be with the long term items that would normally come under a referendum?
Mr. Cornish said it appeared that it should be included. The Charter calls for a capital budget submission including not only the budget year but the four other years and it doesn’t make a distinction to any referendum or not. With only a month’s worth of experience on the board, he found it confusing to cull the capital items which were integrated into the line items within each of the programs. He also found it confusing to determine how much was coming from general revenue versus what was being funded through other sources.
Mr. Dickinson indicated that sacrifice didn’t necessarily have to be the outcome of less spending. The challenge for having more services with less funds, although unusual, is certainly possible with creative thinking.
RE-ALLOCATE FUNDS TO UPGRADE AS400 #950
On a motion by Mr. Nejaime, seconded by Mrs. Libby, the board voted unanimously, after a brief presentation by Mr. Hoffman, to accept the Council’s request to re-allocate funds in order to upgrade the AS400 system and go to bid.
It was noted that all funds necessary to upgrade the AS400 would come from the re-allocation of funds within Mr. Hoffman’s own budget.
CARDINAL ENGINEERING #1090
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted unanimously to accept the Council’s request for the payment of $7,188.13 from the Sanitary Sewer Capital Improvement Fund #490 to Cardinal Engineering, Inc. for work performed on the Sanitary Sewer Infiltration / Inflow & Evaluation Study.
CARDINAL ENGINEERING #1100
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Nejaime, the board, with the exception of Mr. Michelet who abstained, voted to accept the Council’s request for the payment of $8,772.50 from Sanitary Sewer Capital Improvement Fund #490 to Cardinal Engineering, Inc. for work performed on the Sanitary Sewer Improvements for Oakbrook Lane / West Horace Street and Perkins Street.
TRUMBULL CONSTRUCTION #1120
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Nejaime, the board, with the exception of Mr. Michelet and Mr. Cornish who abstained, voted to accept the Council’s request for the payment of $38,259.82 from Sanitary Sewer Capital Improvement Fund #490 to Trumbull Construction Co., Inc. for work performed on the Sanitary Sewer Improvements for Oakbrook Lane / West Horace St. and Perkins St.
AIR CONDITIONER REPAIRS: FIRE HEADQUARTERS #1150
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board, after a brief discussion, voted unanimously to accept the Council’s request to use $8,828.61 from Contingency for air conditioner repairs at Fire Headquarters. ($11,641.39 was used from Fire Department Budget - Prior Year Encumbrances.)
Mrs. Libby warned department heads that the Board of Finance would be watching next year’s line items to see what was taken out of encumbrances and making sure they don’t show up under new line items for next year’s budget. She requested that this information be passed on to all department heads.
SRS REMOVAL ACTION #1210
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted unanimously to accept the Council’s request for the payment of $723.70 from Contingency to SRS Removal Action for Assessment #15.
SECTION B: #1260
On a motion by Mr. Michelet, seconded by Mr. Nejaime, the board voted unanimously to consider items in Section B, contingent upon City Council approval.
REFUND: HAROLD BEEBE #1270
On a motion by Mr. Nejaime, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted unanimously to authorize a refund of $439.47 from Sanitary Sewer Capital Improvement Fund #490 to Mr. & Mrs. Harold Beebe of 47 Jordan Lane for the overpayment of a sewer assessment fee, contingent upon the City Council’s approval. (Approved by Council on 11/19/2002.)
SCOTTSDALE INSURANCE CO. #1290
On a motion by Mr. Michelet, seconded by Mrs. Libby, the board voted unanimously to authorize the payment of $2,312.69 from Contingency to Scottsdale Insurance Company for the deductible in the Carpenter matter, contingent upon the City Council’s approval. (Approved by Council on 11/19/2002.)
BUSINESS: MAYOR & MEMBERS #1300
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mrs. Libby, the board voted unanimously to consider business presented by Mayor Quinn and members of the Board of Finance.
Mr. Miasek indicated that he and Mr. Cornish had talked about having a policy on a procedure for the budget submission to the Board of Finance. He requested placing the draft policy, written by Mr. Cornish, on the next agenda for discussion.
Mr. Michelet inquired whether Mayor Quinn had ever received a response from the City Council on prioritizing their capital items.
Mayor Quinn indicated that he had not received such a response, nor the wish list, but would stay on top of it.
Mr. Miasek inquired whether the next property revaluation would take place next year.
Corp. Counsel Vasko stated that the contract was on his desk, so they would probably get started in mid January.
Mrs. Libby requested a cost estimate on the recent ice storm. She suggested taking a look at the city’s contingency account during their next meeting. (To be added to their next agenda.)
Mr. Rollett indicated that his department was still working on making roads safe and passable. He estimated that it would take a month to clear city properties and asked residents to be patient with their own clean up. He would continue to issue press releases to inform the public on how to handle their debris in a logical manner. While some of the labor costs will be absorbed in normal work schedules, the clean up might be upwards of $300,000.00. Additionally, he was putting his best effort into getting whatever aid he could in resources, i.e., manpower, equipment, etc., anything to help the bottom line.
Mayor Quinn informed the board that he had declared the City of Torrington a state of emergency. He stated that all Chief Elected Officials of Northwestern Connecticut would be meeting in the Council Chambers to discuss the financial impact and appeal, as a whole, to Governor Rowland for disaster relief funds.
ADJOURNMENT #1660
On a motion by Mr. Nejaime, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted unanimously to adjourn at 5:10 p.m.
ATTEST: JOLINE L. LeBLANC
ASST. CITY CLERK
| 
