MINUTES
BOARD OF FINANCE
MARCH 30, 2004 (Adjourned from March 16 and March 23)
A REGULAR MEETING of the Board of Finance, adjourned from March 16 and March 23, was held on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 in the Council Chambers.
Those attending included Mayor Owen J. Quinn, Jr., members of the Board of Finance James Zeller, Joseph Nader, Roger Dickinson, and Bruce Cornish, Corp. Counsel Albert Vasko and Comptroller Alice Proulx.
Mayor Quinn called the meeting to order at 4:07 p.m.
Joseph Nader was sworn-in as a member of the board by Mayor Owen J. Quinn.
MINUTES #050
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board voted to accept the minutes of the regular meeting held February 17, 2004.
There was no public participation.
PRESENTATION: AUDITORS #065
John Schuyler, and Bill Sawicki, representatives of Scillia, Dowling & Natarelli, made a presentation of the audit, year ending June 30, 2003.
Mr. Schuyler reported that they were able to render an unqualified opinion on the financial statements as well as on the compliance with laws and regulations. There were no reportable conditions related to internal control related to the audit of the financial statements.
He reviewed the new format of the audit created by GASB34.
Mr. Schuyler pointed out that the Statement of Auditing Standards #99, (the detection of fraud in financial statements) will be effective for the city’s next audit. A number of very specific procedures will be documented to review the potential of fraud. The audit team will go through steps to specifically look at where the risks of fraud might occur, document what they are and determine what steps can be taken to prevent fraud. It will also require them to have conversations with a greater number of people throughout the organization.
He commended the city for having the elected officials act as an oversight committee.
Mr. Sawicki said Ms. Proulx had done an excellent job and was grateful for her help.
Mayor Quinn stated that this audit was the cleanest it had been in several years and commended Ms. Proulx for going above and beyond.
SCULLY & WOLF #840
Ms. Proulx indicated that she was still working with the Board of Education to make certain the conversion was working properly. She reported that Scully & Wolf was working on the presentation requested by Mayor Quinn to research the possibility of consolidating offices of the Board of Education and the city.
Mayor Quinn added that the key players were meeting almost weekly and anticipated having a game plan in place by the end of the fiscal year. He pointed out that Mr. Cornish had been working closely with the Board of Education on their budget and suggested that perhaps he could involve himself in the conversion as well.
GORDON, MUIR & FOLEY #1190
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mr. Cornish, the board voted to approve the Council’s request for the payment of $1,920.00 from Contingency to Gordon, Muir & Foley, LLP for professional services rendered in the Southwest School matter.
REIMBURSEMENT: NW CT ASSO. FOR THE ARTS #1210
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mr. Cornish, the board voted to approve the Council’s request for the reimbursement of $3,350.87 pursuant to S187-4 of the Torrington Code from the Tax Abatement Account 0010-0045-5267-0000 to Northwest Connecticut Association for the Arts for property taxes paid to the former owner in its acquisition of 69 Main Street.
CONTRACT: ECON. DEV. CONSULTING SERV. #1290
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted to approve the contract for Economic Development Consulting Services with Robert Van Geons; funds to be drawn from Line Item 0010-0011-5118-0000.
Mayor Quinn informed the board that Mr. Van Geons was taking over while Christina Emery was out on maternity leave and that he (the Mayor) had agreed to use funds from the Administrative Asst. line item in his budget since he felt economic development was a very important issue. He noted that funds were available since the position had been vacant for the better part of the year.
Mayor Quinn reported that Mr. Van Geons will be leaving on Monday to take a similar position in the south and that we may be able to work a contract with the intern presently working on the web site, or hire Mr. Van Geons partner in Economic Development on a part time basis.
CARDINAL ENGINEERING #1390
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board voted to approve the Council’s request for the payment of $25,457.45 from the Sanitary Sewer Capital Improvement Fund #490 to Cardinal Engineering, Inc. for work performed on the infiltration/inflow & evaluation study.
BUS: MAYOR & MEMBERS #1410
Mr. Cornish indicated that the Board of Education had moved along fairly well in their budget process. He stated that he was pleased to have been included in their budget meetings and that he would be happy to sit in on any discussions between the city and the Board of Education concerning the consolidation program.
Mr. Cornish asked for a break down of the special revenue accounts that had been consolidated into a single column, most notably the Anthem and the vehicle replacement activity.
Mr. Zeller reported that approximately 1/3 of those participating in the automated collection responded to a survey and 90% of those responded in a favorable fashion.
He stated that they were getting ready to go out to bid and explained how the bid specifications were prepared differently than in prior bids in order to get a better handle on how the trash collectors account for the different costs that the city is currently incurring overall in the budget, strictly from the collection side, not from the disposal CRRA side.
Mr. Dickinson stated that he and the Fire Department were currently putting together a steering committee to help them work through the strategic issues on how to move forward from this point. He reported that they had gathered interesting information on how to save funds and improve services, etc.
Mayor Quinn and members of the board gave Mr. Nader a warm welcome.
Mr. Nader indicated that he looked forward to working with this board.
ADJOURNMENT #1650
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mr. Cornish, the board voted to adjourn at 4:55 p.m.
ATTEST: JOLINE LeBLANC
ASST. CITY CLERK
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