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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance 04-11-1996ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING 4- 4?- F4 TO: Robert M. Boche, Chair St. Croix County Board FROM: Donald Brown, Chair 4- d a /N) COMMITTEE TITLE: FINANCE DATE: April 11, 1996 ***NOTE CHANGE OF DATE*** F66 LOCATION: St. Croix County Government Center CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: May 9, 1996 ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Review of Vouchers 9:00 A.M. 2. County Fair Land 9:15 A.M. *3. Update on Relocation of Ag. Center in Baldwin - Supr. Raymond NEW BUSINESS: 1. Administrative Coordinator Report A. Update on Purchase Policy 2. Finance Director Report A. Investment of County Money 3. Clerk of Court Report A. Collection of Unpaid Fines and Fees 4. Corporation Counsel Report 5. County Clerk 6. Tour of County Library (tentative) 7. Contingency Fund Request - Parttime Help Register of Deeds *8. Membership in Junker Landfill Group POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) DATE: 3/26/96, 3/28/96, 4/4/96 COPIES TO: County Board Office News Media/Notice Board County Clerk County Board County Departments *ADDITIONS/CHANGES/CORRECTIONS ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Robert M. Boche, Chair St. Croix County Board FROM: Donald Brown, Chair COMMITTEE TITLE: FINANCE DATE: April 11, 1996 ***NOTE CHANGE OF DATE*** LOCATION: St. Croix County Government Center CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: May 9, 1996 ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES UNFINISHED BUSINESS.: 1. Review of Vouchers 9:00 A.M. 2. County Fair Land 9:15 A.M. *3. Update on Relocation of Ag. Center in Baldwin - Supr. Raymond NEW BUSINESS: 1. Administrative Coordinator Report A. Update on Purchase Policy 2. Finance Director Report A. Investment of County Money 3. Clerk of Court Report A. Collection of Unpaid Fines and Fees 4. Corporation Counsel Report 5. County Clerk 6. Tour of County Library (tentative) 7. Contingency Fund Request - Parttime Help Register of Deeds *8. Membership in Junker Landfill Group POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) DATE: 3/26/96, 3/28/96, 4/4/96 COPIES TO: County Board Office News Media/Notice Board County Clerk County Board County Departments *ADDITIONS/CHANGES/CORRECTIONS ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Robert M. Boche, Chair St. Croix County Board FROM: Donald Brown, Chair COMMITTEE TITLE: FINANCE DATE: April 11, 1996 ***NOTE CHANGE OF DATE*** LOCATION: St. Croix County Government Center CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: May 9, 1996 ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Review of Vouchers 9:00 A.M. 2. County Fair Land 9:15 A.M. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Administrative Coordinator Report A. Update on Purchase Policy 2. Finance Director Report A. Investment of County Money 3. Clerk of Court Report A. Collection of Unpaid Fines and Fees 4. Corporation Counsel Report 5. County Clerk 6. Tour of County Library (tentative) 7. Contingency Fund Request - Parttime Help Register of Deeds POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) DATE: 3/26/96, 3/28/96 COPIES TO: County Board Office News Media/Notice Board County Clerk County Board County Departments *ADDITIONS/CHANGES/CORRECTIONS FINANCE COMMITTEE Regular Meeting April 12, 1996 Meeting called to order by Chair Brown at 9:00 a.m. Guests and the press were welcomed. Members present: Don Brown, Robert Boche, Bill Oemichen, John Bradley and LuVerne Burke. Others present: Suprs. Art Jensen, Einar Horne, John Mortensen, Daryl Standafer and Herb Giese and members of the press. Staff present: Administrative Coordinator John Krizek, Finance Director Rich Loney, Corporation Counsel Greg Timmerman and County Clerk Sue Nelson. Motion by Bradley, 2nd by Boche to adopt the agenda. Carried. Next meeting scheduled for May 9. Motion by Burke, 2nd by Oemichen to adopt the March minutes. Carried. Vouchers: Bradley had reviewed the vouchers on Wednesday and found no irregularities. Motion by Bradley, 2nd by Oemichen to approve the vouchers. Carried. Parttime Help in Register of Deeds: Kay Walsh explained a staff member will be taking a 12 week maternity leave during the summer months. This is the office's busy time plus other employees have scheduled vacations. The present staff is willing to work some eight hour days but a parttime person is needed three days a week for micro filming. Approximate total cost incurred by present staff will be $1479 (subtracting the amount of three weeks unpaid leave of the employee) and approximate cost of the temporary employee will be $2035.00. Supr. Raymond noted Planning, Zoning and Parks (Register of Deeds' parent committee) had approved this request. Motion by Oemichen, 2nd by Bradley to approve expenditure of $3514.00 from the contingency fund for parttime help and extra hours of present employees. Carried. County Fair Land: Supr. Jensen, speaking for the Fair Board, said they thought enough land from the front area was offered, they would like to use the super market parking lot for four days and offered use of the ball field to the City of Glenwood City for all other days other than County Fair. President of the Glenwood City Business Association Leon Berenschot distributed the requested appraisal and a proposal from the City. The appraisal figures were $22,500 for the frontage property and $16,000 for the ball field. The proposal addressed the previous concerns of the Fair Board such as handicap parking, hard -surfaced area for the carnival, main fair entrance (which is not a street but rather an easement for sewer and water, fair access across the street. Ormson's foods has agreed to provide parking during the Fair with the exception of 20 spaces. Berenschot said at a joint meeting on April 9, an agreement was not reached but would like the Finance Committee to vote in favor of the exchange and Glenwood City would pay the appraisal difference of $6500. Supr. Jensen stated the Fair Board had not seen this proposal and all the proposals made by the Fair were turned down at the meeting. 1 Burke suggested the two parties attempt to reach an agreement prior to April 16 and the Finance Committee could meet before the County Board session. Lloyd Johnson, representative from Super Valu, indicated 250 feet of this frontage area was inadequate for a store and parking and asked why the Fair would need space from this area. Corporation Counsel Timmerman clarified the county owns the property but the Fair Board manages the land. Johnson said there may be misconceptions since he is used to dealing with owners of the land. Brown requested an agreement between the Fair Board and City of Glenwood. The Finance Committee will meet at 8:00 a.m. on April 16 for possible action if an agreement is reached. Membership in Junker Landfill: Krizek said a meeting to form a Landfill Trust was held last week and Don Gillen, Assistant Corporation Counsel, represented the county. The position of the Landfill Trust is either the County join the group by April 15 or the county will be sued for costs of the clean up. Several municipalities in western St. Croix County and eastern Minnesota were invited to join the'Landfill Trust. Krizek has many concerns-, such as why not use Super Fund clean up rather than the trust. Super Fund is more costly but it would be ascertained exactly what is in the landfill. The land needs to be reclamated, not recapped with air filters. The Landfill Trust claims St. Croix County is responsible for .020 liability and cost is estimated at $20,000. Rita Horne, Chair of Town of Hudson, stated the landfill has been a problem since 1984 and DNR claimed they would take care of it and DNR has not kept its promise. Well filters do not work for all types of pollutants. Horne said we need to protect the interest of the residents. She would like more information on the project. Corporation Counsel Timmerman would like more verification on the municipalities, amount of waste deposited in the landfill. He claimed DNR wants to monitor and not reclaim the land. At this point, Oemichen would not recommend joining until the study report on file at the City Library is read and also determining what our potential liability is. Krizek suggested further investigation be done, such as checking with former landfill employees on records kept and what trucks dumped garbage. Chair Brown advised to be careful in joining a trust and allowing many years of county liability. Oemichen stated if there are health and safety concerns, we need to pressure DNR to address this. Brown requested Corporation Counsel or his department review the study. Supr. Giese suggested the entire County Board vote on this issue. Update on Relocation of Act. Center: Supr. Raymond reported the Federal agencies are moving out of the Ag. Center since the Village of Baldwin could not renovate the building to meet ADA requirements. They are getting bids on a new building - one includes Extension and Land Conservation; the other excludes these offices. Raymond said at this time there is not a big difference in cost of either staying or moving. The Village will lease the building to Extension and Land Conservation for 10 years and spend $75,000 on improvements but this will probably still not meet ADA standards. The 051 estimate for the Federal offices should be available May 15. Burke added that plus the $75,000 to renovate, the Village would upgrade window treatments, carpeting, and change the entrance. Bradley asked what the future needs would be for an Ag. Center if the federal government plans to be out of agriculture programs in seven years. Supr. Horne suggested the Ag. offices be housed in the Government Center as they are in other counties. The County should not spend any more money if the future would not call for agricultural agencies. Oemichen requested any future proposals be sent out before the Finance meetings. Administrative Coordinator: John Krizek distributed the purchasing policy adopted in 1993 which needs to be updated. Acquisition of computer services software has been changed. Supr. Raymond noted the newly formed Information Services Committee is working well by having department heads on the committee. Kathryn Beutel was complimented by the Highway Dept. Departments are being surveyed for needs assessment. At the annual meeting of WMMIC, Krizek will be voting to approve a dividend for member cities and counties. The dividend for St. Croix County will amount to approximately $95,000. He recommended the dividend be placed in a sinking fund to help purchase our outstanding bonds that secured our ownership in the mutual insurance company in 1987. There will be an optional call date to redeem the $475,000 principle on the bonds in 1997. By paying off the bonds, we decrease our annual interest payment of 6.75% and continue to receive 8.25%, interest on our equity investment in the mutual. The interest income on our equity can help cover our annual premium for our insurance company's operations. Finance Director: Rich Loney contacted 16 local.banks regarding investment of county money. Using the assumption of investing $250,000 each month in a one year CD, comparisons from 12 banks were made to the state investment pool. All interest revenues were higher than the state pool; in one instance $18,502 more. If the committee is agreeable, Loney would change the investment policy to a tiered type of investment - so much each month. Supr. Standafer noted he wears two hats - county supervisor and banker. In regard to the safety and soundness issue, investments would be fully collateralized. Any institution that does lending, needs deposit dollars to do so. Banks would bid for county dollars to be deposited in CD1s. Standafer noted rates vary from day to day for each bank due to needs for future money uses. He stated the county should maximize its income and deploy its dollars in county institutions. Brown concurred and said we need to make more than the state pool but also cannot subsidize local financial institutions. Standafer suggested considering money market accounts and the monthly interest taken off for cash flow needs. Brown said this issue is for informational purposes only. No action taken. Loney reported departments are working with Mitel on telephone options. Cut over to the PBX system is scheduled for May 3rd. 9-1 County Clerk: Sue Nelson announced this was reporter Michele Lyksett°s last day with the New Richmond News. The committee wished her well in her new ventures. Library Tour: The wishes of the committee were not to tour today. Clerk of Court: Lori Meyer gave the final report from TransWorld collection agency which showed $17,839 was collected from 1000 cases turned over. The County spent $7000 for these collections. Thousands of cases remain with approximately $400,000 remaining in delinquent fines and fees. Meyer would like to check into a different agency because cost of collection is too high with TransWorld. She will contact GS services and ask for a presentation. The tax intercept program will not take place for another year. Supr. Giese said, given the large amount of monies outstanding, perhaps a full time county employee should be considered for collections. Discussion on use of credit cards by patrol officers. Giese said this was discussed in Public Protection. The State Patrol office advises people that their card number will go over the radio; then many do not use their credit card to pay fines. Sheriff Burch is willing to have county deputies use credit cards. The County only keeps 100 of collections and the State gets 90% but Brown noted we are also a part of the State. Regarding the printer issue for the KIDS system, Meyer said computer services estimated the cost of a new burster at $11,033 which would run all county checks. A signature printer costs $1995.00. Brown suggested waiting for more information. Krizek objects to the State using eight inch checks rather than the common seven inch check. The KIDS program should go on line June lst. Motion to adjourn by Bradley, 2nd by Burke LuVerne Burke, Secretary 1! Meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m.