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Minutes for the Finance Committee meeting on October 19, 2006.
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Finance & Administration Committee Minutes
Thursday, October 19, 2006
4:00 p.m.
Members Present were: Darrel Dover, Alec Farmer, Jim Hargis, Harold Perrin, John Street and Ann Williams. Mr. Tony Thomas, from the Mayor’s Office, was also in attendance.
MINUTES
Questions were raised concerning the meeting with Fisher & Arnold relating to what information would be put on the City’s web site. Mr. Alan Young stated the stormwater information is still up in the air, but the parcel development project is coming along and looking good. Chairman Farmer questioned what the web site address is to the Fisher & Arnold research. Mr. Young explained the web site address is www.jonesboro.org/accessjonesboroonline <http://www.jonesboro.org/accessjonesboroonline>. Councilman Hargis motioned, seconded by Councilman Dover, for the approval of the minutes for the September 14, 2006, regular meeting with the amendment. All voted aye. Copies were provided to all those in attendance.
ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
Resolutions for library, fire pension & police millage: Councilman Dover motioned, seconded by Councilman Hargis, to approve the resolutions and place them on the Council agenda. All voted aye.
Resolution, transportation supervisor (job description): Mr. Joel Gardner explained the resolution would change Mr. Bill Flannery’s job title and description. He added there would be no increase in City funds used. Councilman Dover motioned, seconded by Councilwoman Williams, to approve the resolution and place it on the Council agenda. All voted aye.
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
911 address quality assurance: Mr. Young stated who lives at which address is not part of the GIS system. He added they use CWL’s customer database for reference to find out who lives at which house. Chairman Farmer noted that before the parcel development is fully paid for there needs to be some sort of quality check. Councilman Dover motioned, seconded by Councilwoman Williams, to request Mr. Young and the 911 task force develop a plan for quality assurance with the 911 addresses and the parcel development. All voted aye. It was noted an acceptable margin of error would probably be 5%. It was also suggested to perform a random sampling of the addresses to determine their accuracy. Mr. Young added the addresses come from the Planning Department. PENDING
HUMAN RESOURCES
Health insurance renewal: Ms. Suzanne Hackney stated she and Mayor Formon negotiated with Blue Cross Blue Shield concerning next year’s health insurance plan. Discussion was held regarding possible changes. Councilman Perrin motioned, seconded by Councilman Dover, for Ms. Hackney and Mayor Formon to go back to Blue Cross for further negotiations of the plan as is and to bring back the percentages. All voted aye. It was added Ms. Hackney should not bid out the insurance renewal. PENDING
Dental insurance renewal: Councilman Perrin motioned, seconded by Councilman Dover, to proceed with the plan as it is. All voted aye. Chairman Farmer noted next year the dental insurance will be bid out and benefits may change; so employees who have rollover benefits should be encouraged to take advantage of them next year in case of benefit changes. Councilman Perrin suggested giving the employees a single sheet listing all the benefits they receive, so the employees can see exactly what benefits they are getting.
Discussion was held regarding a wellness program. Ms. Hackney stated she has spoke with a local company who is willing to give city employees a membership discount to a health facility, waive the joining fee and provide health assessments if they join. She noted the employees do not have to take part in the health assessment. Ms. Hackney stated she is expecting more information and then will present the proposal to the committee. PENDING
FINANCE & AUDIT
Financial report: Mr. Don Ray provided the committee with an updated list of the City’s bank accounts as of September 30th. He noted the accounts are reconciled in Springbrook. He explained he feels comfortable enough to say the numbers are materially correct. He also discussed a future format for financial presentations that would detail each bank account. It was asked for Mr. Ray to also include executive summaries of the bank accounts that would detail any major increases or decreases.
2007 budget status: Mr. Ray stated he is not quite comfortable with the budget just yet. But, Mr. Ray is hoping to provide something to the committee by early next week.
Financial software: Mr. Ray stated the accounts are balanced in the software. Mr. Young added training would be held the week of October 30th.
ADMINISTRATION & GRANTS
Line item transfer for fire station door repair: Fire Chief Aaron Keller explained they need to fix a fire station door so they can park one of the new fire trucks in the station. It was added the account is also over budget, so the transfer would fix that as well. It was explained $8,000 would be transferred from the Vehicle Repair account to the Building and Grounds account. Councilman Perrin motioned, seconded by Councilwoman Williams, to go ahead with the transfer. All voted aye.
Line item transfer for Planning Department: Mr. Otis Spriggs explained they would like to purchase a laptop computer for the department. He added $8,000 will be taken out of the Salaries account and put into the Fixed Asset account for the purchase. Councilman Perrin motioned, seconded by Councilwoman Williams, to proceed with the transfer. All voted aye.
New animal shelter: Mr. Tony Thomas discussed the proposed budget for the new animal shelter. He noted they would save approximately $92,000 if the City did the work, as opposed to contracting out the labor. Mr. Gene Vance added the construction for the new road and some of the utilities could also be used in the future for other purposes. He added there are no construction management fees or insurance in the proposed budget, so if there were any fees they would be added to the proposed numbers. It was decided to further discuss the proposed budget at the next Finance meeting to allow the committee members time to review the numbers and ask questions if needed. PENDING
CITY CLERK
City Clerk Donna Jackson discussed purchasing mail slots to put the Council’s mail in so it can be picked up by the Council members.
Councilman Perrin questioned the status of the lost deed concerning Lawson Road. Ms. Jackson explained the deed was dropped off at the Circuit Clerk’s Office by her office, but when her staff called to see if it was ready to be picked up they were told the deed was not there. Ms. Jackson added they were told a City employee picked it up. Mr. Thomas stated they have been trying to contact Mr. Harry Hardwick to see if he picked up the deed. Chairman Farmer asked for Mr. Thomas to contact them to let them know if Mr. Hardwick has the deed or not.
CITY COUNCIL INTERNAL AUDITOR
Police audit summary report: Ms. Misty Micenhamer discussed her recent audit of the Police Department.
Council request, Hyde/JETS expenditures: Councilman Perrin motioned, seconded by Councilman Dover, for Ms. Micenhamer to look into whether City funds were spent before being authorized relating to JETS advertising and whether the funds were reimbursed. All voted aye. Ms. Micenhamer stated she would have the information for the next Finance meeting.
Fixed asset inventory report: Councilman Street motioned, seconded by Councilwoman Williams, for Ms. Micenhamer to perform a city-wide inventory of rolling stock. All voted aye. It was noted everything should have a City of Jonesboro tag on it.
Council action follow-up responsibilities: It was suggested the Internal Auditor position should follow up on things the Council asked to be done so the Council members can stay updated. It was also suggested if Council members had questions concerning what the status of a request is they can contact Ms. Micenhamer for more information.
Parcel properties: Councilman Perrin motioned, seconded by Councilwoman Williams, for Ms. Micenhamer to compile a list of parcels owned by the City by the end of the first quarter of 2007. All voted aye. It was noted the list should include anything that has parcel numbers, such as buildings, parks and detention ponds.
OTHER
Chairman Farmer discussed a bill sent to the City by Mr. Sartin concerning drainage work off Patricia Lane. He explained he received an e-mail from Purchasing Agent Steve Kent indicating Mr. Mike Cameron apparently authorized Mr. Sartin to build a retaining wall and the bill was approximately $5,000. Mr. Kent received the bill and asked for the Finance Committee to authorize payment. Mr. Cameron stated he did not authorize Mr. Sartin to perform any work and questioned where that information came from. Ms. Christy Wall called Mr. Kent who stated the bill was for a retention wall. She added Mr. Kent explained to her that the bill was received by the Street Department and to the Street Department’s knowledge Mr. Cameron authorized the work. It was then questioned who in the Street Department Mr. Kent spoke with. Ms. Wall stated Mr. Kent did not say who within the Street Department he spoke with. It was asked for more information to be provided at the next Finance meeting.
Discussion was held regarding JETS reimbursing the City for work done concerning putting up the JETS bus stops, signs, and shelters. Mr. Gardner explained he can reimburse the City with federal funds for the hours of labor if he receives an invoice. It was suggested Mr. Gardner be sent invoices for the work so the City can be reimbursed.
Councilman Street questioned the status of the AWINs. Mr. Young explained the AWINs are currently being installed and the training will be held the week after next.
Councilman Perrin stated he has received complaints concerning the phone system at City Hall. He explained he’s heard complaints that it is hard to get a hold of some departments and the phone is not being answered promptly. Councilman Street agreed and stated he has also received complaints about the system. He added he’s heard complaints about people being kept on hold for long amounts of time. Councilman Perrin suggested assigning direct numbers to the departments. Mr. Young stated the phone system itself is working fine, but there may be some programming issues to work on.
ADJOURNMENT
With no further business, Councilman Perrin motioned, seconded by Councilman Street, to adjourn. All voted aye.