MINUTES
BOARD OF FINANCE
OCTOBER 19, 2004
A REGULAR MEETING of the Board of Finance was held on Tuesday, October 19, 2004 in the Council Chambers.
Those in attendance included Mayor Owen J. Quinn, Jr., members of the Board of Finance Daniel Farley, James Zeller, Joseph Nader, Roger Dickinson, and Bruce Cornish. Also present were Corp. Counsel Albert Vasko, and Comptroller Alice Proulx. Absent was Board of Finance member James Nichol.
Mayor Quinn called the meeting to order at 4:04 p.m.
MINUTES #020
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Farley, the board voted, with the exception of Mr. Zeller who abstained, to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held September 21, 2004.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC #020
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted unanimously to open the meeting to the public. There was public participation.
SCULLY & WOLF #040
The update with Scully & Wolf was deleted from the agenda until they begin to work on other projects for the city, such as the consolidation of facilities.
TRANSFER OF FUNDS #080
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, a discussion took place in regard to the Council’s request to transfer $10,000.00 from the $20,000.00 appropriated for South Chapel Drainage Improvements on Purchase Order #04-6652 for guide rail installation at Torrington Heights Road, Stillwater Pond Road and Highland Avenue.
This item was held in abeyance until Mr. Rollett could be found to explain the matter. Please see #420.
BUS. IN SECTION B #115
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board voted unanimously to consider business in Section B
GORDON, MUIR & FOLEY #120
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted unanimously to approve the payment of $390.00 from Contingency to Gordon, Muir & Foley, LLP for professional services rendered in the Southwest School matter.
DIAMOND STATE INS. CO. #140
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mr. Cornish, the board voted unanimously to approve the payment of $1,703.65 from Contingency to Diamond State Insurance Company for the City’s deductible in the Hayes matter.
Corp. Counsel Vasko explained that this item and the one following involved two lieutenants in the Fire Department who were not promoted to Captain and both filed law suits in the federal court claiming that the city discriminated against them by not promoting them. Both of the law suits have been resolved in the city’s favor.
Mr. Zeller inquired whether the $9,889.39 in the next item was the total amount the city expended on that claim.
Atty. Vasko indicated that he wasn’t certain this would be the last bill from the insurance company. The expenses incurred were for attorneys’ fees and court costs and totaled under the $25,000.00 deductible.
UNITED NATIONAL INS. CO. #180
On a motion by Mr. Zeller, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted unanimously to approve the payment of $9,889.39 from Contingency to United National Insurance Company for the City’s deductible in the McElroy matter.
BUS: MAYOR & MEMBERS #210
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted unanimously to consider business presented by Mayor Quinn and members of the Board of Finance.
Mr. Farley inquired about the status of the Southwest School matter.
Atty. Vasko said he believed they had reached an agreement and were working on the amount of retainer that’s left on the project. Once they have that number they should have a proposal for the City Council and the Board of Finance to review.
Mr. Cornish inquired about the status on the auditors.
Ms. Proulx stated that progress was being made.
Mr. Cornish reported that the Board of Education Administration had identified a couple of line items that were trending higher than what was budgeted for. He merely wanted the board to be aware of this in the event that they had to come back to this board for some type of modification to their budget between capital and operating. They are trying to address the matter by looking at all their options and opportunities to stay within what’s been appropriated in both, their capital and operating line items.
Mr. Cornish reported that the Board of Education had set their budget calendar for the 2005-2006 school year and that they were looking for advice from Mayor Quinn and the Board of Finance for budget guidelines in terms of inflation or percentage growth. They were also looking for participation from the Board of Finance in their monthly budget meetings.
Mr. Cornish inquired about the status of the Anthem Blue Cross funds.
Atty. Vasko indicated that the matter was still in the initial stage. The city was objecting to them using Anthem Blue Cross and the Local AFSCME Union as defendants.
RETURN TO TRANSFER OF FUNDS AT 080 #440
Mr. Rollett explained that the request was to use the leftover funds of $10,000.00, from the South Chapel Street project to install guide rails at the Torrington Heights sewer project, the road drainage project at Stillwater Pond Road and the culvert extension on top of Highland Avenue.
On their previous motion, the board voted unanimously to transfer $10,000.00 from the $20,000.00 appropriated for South Chapel Drainage Improvements on Purchase Order #04-6652 for guide rail installation at Torrington Heights Road, Stillwater Pond Road and Highland Avenue.
RETURN TO BUS. MAYOR & MEMBERS #470
Mr. Zeller pointed out that the diesel line item in Equipment Maintenance was relatively high.
Ms. Proulx indicated that the purchase order for diesel was paid in one lump sum so a second purchase order was issued as a tracking mechanism and the journal associated with it should not have been posted to the general ledger. The over expenditure was reduced by $90,000.00 today to correct the error.
Mr. Zeller asked for some clarification on the Master Plan in the Coe Godfrey fund.
Ms. Proulx indicated that money was put into the cash pool over the years to pay for the master plan and so it wasn’t a dollar amount budgeted within one fiscal year. They are drawing off of that cash, and it will show over expenditures within that line item for this fiscal year.
Mr. Zeller asked Ms. Proulx where he should look in the performance reports to find revenue from Open Space.
Ms. Proulx explained that the revenue from Open Space was merely one of approximately 150 funds that she didn’t run a budget performance report on. She could supply him with that report if he would like.
Mr. Zeller inquired whether there was a source of revenue that the Board of Finance could look at in the event that the Anthem funds being used to purchase the Machuga property were no longer available to the city.
Atty. Vasko said it was belief that this litigation would probably go on for several more years. He noted that the revenue from the Open Space is starting to build up.
Mayor Quinn added that they were aggressively looking for grants that might offset the purchase price. Granted there is that possibility of having a huge deficit should the settlement of the law suit be against the city.
Mr. Cornish agreed with Mr. Zeller that it was something this board should continue to watch very carefully in the next couple of years.
Mr. Zeller informed the board that the new solid waste containers were presently being distributed. Although Waste Management won’t have fully automated trucks for every route by November 1, everything should move forward smoothly. The committee will continue to focus on additional issues in the collection of waste.
Mr. Dickinson said he was trying to resolve why the difference in the budget report was so huge on the last page and Mr. Cornish pointed out that the Board of Education didn’t have a number in there.
Ms. Proulx said that was correct. When the consolidation of the Financial Management System took place with the Board of Education, she was given the option of annually putting the Board of Education expenditures on our line item because they have their own separate fund. She could then provide the board with an activity report for the Board of Education for that fund. She was uncomfortable doing it that way, so, on a monthly basis she will be recording the Board of Education activity. It’s an entry that has to be manually put into the system. She further explained that the Board of Education’s accounting of all their expenditures is in a fund number 5100. Since they are also in a line item within our general fund, the activity from 5100 has to be manually transferred into
that line item within our general fund.
ADJOURNMENT #870
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Nader, the board voted unanimously to adjourn at 4:30 p.m.
ATTEST: JOLINE LeBLANC, ASST. CITY CLERK
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