MINUTES
BOARD OF FINANCE
OCTOBER 18, 2005
A REGULAR MEETING of the Board of Finance was held on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 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, and Bruce Cornish. Also present was Comptroller Alice Proulx. Absent included Board of Finance member James Nichol, and Corp. Counsel Albert Vasko.
Mayor Quinn called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m.
MINUTES #015
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board voted unanimously to accept the minutes of the regular meeting held September 20, 2005.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC #025
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board voted unanimously to open the meeting to the public. There was no public participation.
TORRINGTON POLICE DEPT. #035
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Farley, the board voted unanimously to accept the Council’s request for payment of $593.17 from Sanitary Sewer Capitol Improvement Fund #490 to the Torrington Police Department for traffic control on Torringford West Street.
Ms. Proulx explained that the entire amount of the invoice paid by T & M Builders was deposited into the Sanitary Sewer Capital Improvement Fund instead of allocating the traffic control portion of the invoice to the general fund in order to pay for the extra duty performed by the Torrington Police Department.
W. W. MANCHESTER #100
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Farley, the board voted unanimously to accept the Council’s request for payment of $50,000.00 from the Sanitary Sewer Capitol Improvement Fund to W.W. Manchester Construction Co., Inc. for work performed on the Brass Mill Dam Sanitary Sewer Extension.
Mr. Cornish pointed out that the invoice from W. W. Manchester was quite light on detail and therefore, he had requested more information from City Engineer Ed Fabbri. He stated that the original contract amount of $39,385.00 was approved by this board on September 20. Additional work to replace a section of sanitary sewer pipe under County Road, estimated by the engineering department to cost $49,150.00, was requested by the city and approved by the City Council on August 1, 2005. The contractor came in with a proposal of $45,500.00. Unexpectedly, hand excavation work around the pipe had to be performed at an additional cost of $4,500.00. Therefore, the original lump sum price of $45,500.00 plus the extra work of $4,500.00 equals the $50,000.00 presently being requested.
The total cost of the project was $89,385.00 of which $39,385.00 was approved by the City Council on 9/6/2005 and by the Board of Finance on 9/20/2005, and $50,000.00 was approved by the City Council on 10/17/2005 and by the Board of Finance on 10/18/2005.
For the record, a memo written by City Engineer Ed Fabbri explaining the details is attached to the official minutes as well as to the invoice.
SAWICKI & LOMBARDOZZI #375
On a motion by Mr. Zeller, seconded by Mr. Nader, the board voted unanimously to approve the payment of $1,500.00 from Contingency to Sawicki & Lombardozzi, LLC. to research the designation of sub contractors versus employees and to compile a listing of criteria that can assist the city in determining the status of these parties.
Under discussion, Ms. Proulx explained that the IRS has strict regulations as to who should be classified as a sub contractor versus an employee. However, there are many gray areas when it comes to deciding who should be classified in what way. She believed the city should take an aggressive stand on this issue to eliminate any possible problems in the future; therefore, Sawicki & Lombardozzi will streamline the city’s current structure.
Mr. Zeller asked if Sawicki & Lombardozzi would take the facts about the different job positions as we provide the facts to them, apply some sort of rule or test to them and present us with issues of these job positions, so that we can make the final decisions using the basis for support that they provided us.
Ms. Proulx said that was correct.
BUS. IN SECTION B:#785
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Nader, the board voted unanimously to consider business in Section B.
(Item #7 was stricken from the agenda, since it was a repeat of Item #9 regarding the Conservation Commission.)
QUARTERLY TRANSFERS #810
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board voted unanimously to accept the quarterly transfers from the Comptroller.
CONSERVATION COMMISSION #835
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Farley, the board voted unanimously to use $700.00 from Contingency for start up funds for the Conservation Commission.
Mayor Quinn pointed out that the Conservation Commission would be advisory only.
Mr. Zeller inquired whether the Conservation Commission’s needs would be minimal, essentially support from the city as opposed to a budget for operating expenses.
Mayor Quinn said that was correct.
TRANSFER OF FUNDS #965
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board voted unanimously to approve the transfer of $10,000.00 from 10-47-5651 Contingency to 10-26-5245 City Hall Building Maintenance for pending work including asbestos abatement, investigate recent roof leaks, roof repairs, and on-going building maintenance.
Mayor Quinn indicated that OSHA had responded to complaints about asbestos in City Hall and had ordered the city to take corrective action. In addition, roof repairs are necessary. These expenses were not budgeted during the last budget season.
Mr. Nader inquired whether the city had been issued any penalties by OSHA for their findings.
Mayor Quinn said he believed fines were waived because of the city’s quick response to remedy the problems.
Mr. Nader stated that ConnOsha is an organization in Connecticut that is hired to audit companies, and if they find items out of compliance, the city is allowed to repair them in a gracious time period and is not subject to OSHA findings.
Ms. Proulx said she would check with Mr. Rollett to see if he was aware of ConnOsha.
BUS: MAYOR & MEMBERS #1210
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board voted unanimously to consider business by Mayor Quinn and members of the Board of Finance.
Mr. Farley commended Ms. Proulx for the new format she used on the quarterly transfers.
Mr. Cornish said he was encouraged during last week’s budget discussion by the Board of Education’s new Business Manager’s desire to move quickly from Excell spreadsheets to reports generated from New World Systems. He offered his services to the Board of Education to help move that process along so the flow of information is more consistent in the next budget cycle.
Mayor Quinn and the board congratulated Mr. Zeller on the birth of his first child, Gabriella Marie.
Mayor Quinn stated that the Board of Education debate was scheduled for this evening. He noted that the Mayor and the Board of Finance has little overall responsibility over the Board of Education budget except for the bottom line, and that, in the previous year, the Board of Education’s request was met and their budget went unscathed by any further cuts from the Board of Finance. The Board of Education actually received a 9.41% net to net increase in their budget last year.
Mayor Quinn thought the Board of Education needs to come more in compliance to what the city does. He was an advocate of shared services. He expressed his disappointment in some of the priorities that weren’t funded, i.e., Middle School athletics, text books, etc. The Board of Finance balances all the cities’ needs with the city’s ability to pay via the mill rate. What is so frustrating is that Connecticut is so heavily reliant upon the property tax system. It was his belief that they had been fortunate during the past couple of years to minimize the impact on the taxpayers; however, the next budget year would be a difficult one, with gas and oil prices as they are, along with the increases to a system that is predominantly made up of collective bargaining individuals who are
looking for an honest increase in pay for their honest days’ work.
Mayor Quinn said the city has been generous to the Board of Education, it has spent a lot of quality time trying to communicate with the Board of Education and the city side has not been as fortunate. There comes a point in time when you can only stretch so far.
Mayor Quinn commended Comptroller Alice Proulx who continues to put the city and its taxpayers above and beyond her own personal needs.
ADJOURNMENT #1565
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Farley, the board voted unanimously to adjourn at 4:55 p.m.
ATTEST: JOLINE LeBLANC
ASST. CITY CLERK
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