MINUTES
BOARD OF FINANCE
DECEMBER 16, 2003
A REGULAR MEETING of the Board of Finance was held on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 in the Council Chambers.
Those in attendance included Mayor Owen J. Quinn, Jr., (arrived at 4:10 p.m.) Board of Finance members James Zeller, Diane Libby, Roger Dickinson, and Bruce Cornish, also Corp. Counsel Albert Vasko, and Comptroller Alice Proulx. Absent was Board of Finance member Theodore Miasek.
Mrs. Libby called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m.
MINUTES #010
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mr. Cornish, the board approved the minutes of the regular meeting held November 18, 2003.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC #020
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board opened the meeting to the public. There was no public participation.
SCULLY & WOLF #030
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mr. Cornish, the board discussed the status of Scully & Wolf.
Mrs. Libby reported that meetings were being held with key personnel to make certain things were progressing.
Ms. Proulx indicated that she had been meeting with Gina from the Board of Education to review the system and where she could start with the reconciliations. Ms. Proulx would be meeting with Gina on a weekly basis. They were still hopeful to get payrolls up and running by the first of the year.
Mr. Zeller inquired whether there was anything not getting done in a timely fashion that would put the city under the gun as we got closer to budget time.
Ms. Proulx indicated that the city’s budget was presently at the department head level. Gina had expressed her concern over this very matter and it was something that would be addressed with Dominic from Scully & Wolf.
AUDITOR’S CONTRACT #220
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, a discussion took place in regard to the Auditor’s three year contract. (RFP for audit services for fiscal years 2001 - 2003 was enclosed for their review.)
Mrs. Libby indicated that the city’s auditors were in the last year of their contract, and an RFP should be prepared in the very near future, if they chose to go that route. She reminded the board that they had asked the City Council the last time to waive the bid process and get a new bid from our current auditors for the next three years because of the learning curve involved and because of GASB34.
Mayor Quinn indicated that waiving the bid process and obtaining a new bid from the current auditors would certainly be his recommendation at this time, although he wouldn’t advocate going much longer than six years without getting an RFP. He thought it would be a reasonable request to put forth to the City Council in lieu of the shared services between the city and the Board of Education.
Mrs. Libby asked Ms. Proulx to approach our current auditing firm, Scillia, Dowling & Natarelli, to get bid prices for the next three years and to place the item on the City Council agenda.
Corp. Counsel Vasko thought it best to wait until this board was able to discuss the figures received from the Auditors before bringing it to the City Council.
WAGE BUDGET TRANSFERS #320
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board approved wage budget transfers for Local 1579 Public Works Employees.
REFUND: JOHN VEDOVELLI #330
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mr. Cornish, the board voted to refund $10.00 from Contingency to John Vedovelli for a bank fee charged to his bank account because of an improper MICR encoding on a City A/P check issued to him.
IDA BLINKOFF #350
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board approved a payment of $2,500.00 from Sanitary Sewer Capital Improvement Fund #490 to Ida Blinkoff for a sanitary sewer easement needed through property located at 410 Windtree for the Tara Drive Pump Station Removal Project.
SECTION B #360
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board considered business in Section B.
GUTOWSKI #370
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board approved the payment of $268.13 from Contingency to Peter & Dawn Gutowski for the city’s share of lowering the manhole on their property.
BUS: MAYOR & BOARD #380
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board considered business presented by Mayor Quinn and members of the Board of Finance.
Mr. Cornish said it was encouraging to see the revenues running really strong during the first five months of the year.
Mr. Zeller, member of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, indicated that the pilot program is presently in place and the majority of residents involved in the program see it as relatively positive. Typical concerns include the size of the container - 96 gallons, being able to maneuver it, and not generating enough trash to fill it. He stressed the fact that other sizes would be made available. He reported that Mr. Rollett is doing a fine job addressing the concerns of city residents. Mr. Zeller thought it might take a little longer to decide what would be most appropriate for the city. Feedback from other towns already participating in similar programs would be gathered to review their problems and education for the public would be required.
Mr. Dickinson indicated that his work with Chief Field was progressing well and the process presently was one of “number crunching” and “plan writing,” which will be the harder side of the equation from a timing point of view. Most of the necessary data had already been gathered to do the analysis.
Mrs. Libby indicated that she had provided Mayor Quinn with a job description for Finance Director and indicated that they needed to move forward with that matter.
Mayor Quinn noted that it needed some tweaking.
Mrs. Libby also indicated that the board had requested a joint meeting with the City Council to discuss the teacher’s unfunded liability and wasn’t certain whether or not there was still enough time to address that matter. It was her belief that this would be a good year to make the adjustment because of all the other changes being done in the financial statements.
Mayor Quinn said it made sense to make the adjustment and thought the Board of Finance could make it happen on their own. As Chairman of this board, he was in favor of moving forward with the matter.
ADD TO AGENDA #720
Mrs. Libby made a motion to add an item to the Agenda by 2/3rds vote in regard to the teacher’s unfunded liability. Mr. Dickinson seconded the motion. Unanimous.
TEACHER’S UNFUNDED LIABILITY #740
Mrs. Libby made a motion to adjust our financial statements to bring the unfunded teacher liability into balance this year and make the adjustment through our fund balance account. Mr. Dickinson seconded the motion. Unanimous.
ADJOURNMENT # 800
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted to adjourn at 4:30 p.m.
ATTEST: JOLINE LeBLANC
ASST. CITY CLERK
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