MINUTES
BOARD OF FINANCE
NOVEMBER 16, 2004
A REGULAR MEETING of the Board of Finance was held on Tuesday, November 16, 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, James Nichol, Roger Dickinson, and Bruce Cornish. Also present were Corp. Counsel Albert Vasko, and Comptroller Alice Proulx.
Mayor Quinn called the meeting to order at 4:03 p.m.
MINUTES #010
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Farley, the board voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held October 19, 2004. (Correction made: There was “NO” public participation held.)
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC #015
On a motion by Mr. Nader, seconded by Mr. Cornish, the board voted unanimously to open the meeting to the public. There was no public participation.
PERMIT TRACKING SOFTWARE #025
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mr. Farley, the board, after a brief discussion, voted unanimously to accept the Council’s request to purchase the BMSI Permit Tracking Software, whereby $2,000.00 will be used from budgeted software, $2,000.00 from computer hardware, and the remaining $500.00 from various departments who will use the software.
Comptroller Alice Proulx gave a detailed explanation on how the funds would be appropriated.
SRS REMOVAL ACTION #160
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mr. Cornish, the board voted unanimously to approve the payment of $944.30 from Contingency to SRS Removal Action for Assessment #18.
GORDON, MUIR & FOLEY #220
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted unanimously to approve the payment of $1,440.00 from Contingency to Gordon, Muir & Foley, LLP for professional services rendered in the Southwest School matter.
LIGHT FIXTURES: CITY CLERK’S OFFICE #240
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board voted unanimously to approve $1,579.72 from Contingency to purchase and install eight, 8 foot wraparound fluorescent light fixtures in the City Clerk’s vault.
City Clerk Joseph L. Quartiero indicated that the work would be performed by Valmark Electric, the successful bidder for the city’s electrical needs for fiscal year 2004/2005.
TRANSFER: ANTHEM FUNDS TO REVENUE #350
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mr. Cornish, discussion took place in regard to the request to transfer $19,000.00 from Anthem funds to the Revenue Account for the purchase of the Machuga property. (No paperwork.)
Mayor Quinn informed the board that the city was unable to qualify for the grant from the DEP which they originally thought they would receive.
Corp. Counsel Vasko indicated that the city was still short approximately $19,000.00 of the $349,000.00 purchase price for the Machuga property after using the available $57,592.00 in the Open Space Account and $273,311.00 which was transferred from the Anthem Funds to the Revenue Account at budget time. Once the property is acquired, the city will be able to apply for other grants.
Comptroller Alice Proulx stated that the other $40,000.00 expected from the grant would have been used to clean up the property.
Mayor Quinn informed the board that the City Council had recently voted to hire Randall Funding to help the city identify future grants. He felt confident that the city would be successful in receiving a grant for the cleaning of the property.
Mr. Farley expressed his concern over the state budget crisis and the fact that the state had already said they would cut back on grants.
Mr. Zeller assumed the city would go after private grants as well.
Mayor Quinn indicated that they could look into private grants as well as federal grants under Park and Recreation, Open Space, Rails to Trails, etc.
Mr. Zeller asked if using the Anthem proceeds could impair the city the city in any way, should the funds be needed in the outcome of the lawsuit.
Corp. Counsel Vasko indicated that the court had just ruled on the cities and the other two hundred defendants motioned to strike. They took out two of the four counts of the complaint and issued a scheduling order that takes the case conservatively into the year 2006.
Mr. Nader inquired whether the city had a contingency put aside in case the courts ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.
Ms. Proulx indicated that originally the Anthem stock was sold for $608,752.00. With interest, the account reached $627,898.00, whereby $273,311.00 was used to purchase the Machuga property. That left a balance of $354,587.00 in an interest bearing account.
Mr. Farley pointed out that the account had accumulated $19,000.00 in interest, enough to compensate for the request to use an additional $19,000.00 from the Anthem funds.
VOTE #740
On the previous motion, the board voted unanimously to approve the transfer of $19,000.00 from Anthem funds to the Revenue Account for the purchase of the Machuga property.
CONTRACT: TAX COLLECTOR #750
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted unanimously to accept the semi-annual review of the Tax Collector pursuant to Paragraph #7 of the Tax Collector Contract.
Corp. Counsel Vasko stated that the Tax Collector’s review in October was basically to review his line of credit, to make certain his bonds were in place, and that he had paid the city for half of the taxes. It was his belief that Robert Crovo had satisfied his requirements for the October review as Tax Collector.
SECTION B #800
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, the board voted unanimously to consider business in Section B.
REFUND: STEPHEN GEHRING #810
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mr. Cornish, the board voted unanimously to approve a refund of $1,926.26 from Contingency to Stephen Gehring of Gehring Construction, Inc. in regard to a permit fee for a job not completed at Walmart.
BUS: MAYOR & MEMBERS #860
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 several accounts in the budget performance report. Among them included line item 5291 in Personnel’s budget, line item 5224 in Services for the Elderly’s budget, line item 5104 in Equipment Maintenance.
Mr. Nader pointed out that gas and diesel seemed to be a constant budget hindrance throughout the entire report.
Ms. Proulx indicated that the Purchasing Agent had an encumbrance for almost $90,000.00 in the gas line item which would be used up first.
Mr. Cornish inquired whether the expenses for the former Parking Authority were now being shown on the city budget.
Ms. Proulx indicated that it made more sense to leave it “as is” until the new fiscal year.
In regard to the Board of Education budget process, Mr. Cornish said he had suggested that the board come up with reviews of current programs and cost savings initiatives in funding anything new, as well as furnishing justification for any new and additional programs.
Mr. Zeller indicated that approximately 13,000 automated collection bins had successfully been distributed throughout the city and that only two bins were defective. The fact that people were requesting additional recycling bins was a positive sign, since this will reduce the tonnage for garbage and create a savings for the city.
Mr. Nader inquired whether the Police Department and Traffic Maintenance were shorthanded since the budget report showed an abundance of overtime.
Ms. Proulx indicated that overtime has always been an issue in the Police Department because it’s difficult to maintain the staffing level. Police Officers also perform overtime duties that are reimbursed by grants. She asked Officer Shopey about the overtime in Traffic Maintenance, but has not yet received an answer. She furnishes each Department Head with a monthly budget performance report and she questions items that seem high, either in writing or by phone.
Mayor Quinn explained that a recent manhunt in town had caused many hours of overtime for the Police Department. He informed the board that he has scheduled a Department Head meeting on Thursday, at which time he would issue directives to curb discretionary spending.
Mr. Nader recognized Richard Calarco for a job well done as Park & Recreation Director and wished him well in his new endeavor.
Mayor Quinn agreed that Richard Calarco brought a high degree of professionalism to the City of Torrington.
Mr. Nichol inquired about the city’s computer needs in the future.
Mayor Quinn explained that when he was elected Mayor, each individual department was taking care of its own hardware and software. Since then, all computer needs were placed under our Data Processing Manager in order to avoid any duplication and to make certain every department was compatible with one another.
Mr. Dickinson agreed with Mr. Nichol that the city should look at where we’re going to be in five years in regard to computer technology.
Dave Rivera, the Mayor’s Administrative Assistant, said he met with department heads about their future plans and short term goals. Some departments had a real focus on computer software.
Mayor Quinn said Mr. Rivera needed to get that information finalized in order to take a real hard look at computer needs in order to create a pro-active plan.
Mr. Nader inquired whether the city had a back-up system in place for computer information and if the city was properly configured to store and rescue it’s data.
Ms. Proulx explained that Mr. Hoffman did have a disaster plan.
Mayor Quinn stated that there is no back up when e-mail is out of service. The Data Processing department is somewhat technologically challenged in e-mail and voice mail as compared to the private sector, however, progress is on-going.
ADJOURNMENT #2200
On a motion by Mr. Nader, seconded by Mr. Farley, the board voted unanimously to adjourn at 5:00 p.m.
ATTEST: JOSEPH L. QUARTIERO, CCTC, CMC
CITY CLERK
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