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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance 02-09-1996ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Robert M. Boche, Chair St. Croix County Board FROM: Donald Brown, Chair COMMITTEE TITLE: FINANCE DATE: February 9, 1996 LOCATION: St. Croix County Government Center CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: March 8, 1996 ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Review of Vouchers 9:00 A.M. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Administrative Coordinator Report A. City Proposal for Permanent Water and Sewer Line Through County Property 2. Finance Director A. Line Item Transfer Request(s) B. Recommendation on Investment of County Funds C. Survey of Municipalities Regarding Dog License Fund 3. County Clerk A. DNR Bonding 4. Personnel Report 5. Corporation Counsel Report 6. Computer Services A. Contingency Fund Transfer B. Overtime or Parttime Help *C. Security 7. Clerk of Court A. KIDS Report 8. Transportation Committee 9:30 A.M. A. Contingency Fund Transfer Request(s) B. Actuarial Charging of Liability Insurance Premiums 9. Economic Development - Dave Piggot 10:15 A.M. A. County Fairgrounds Land 10. Library Proposal on Books by Mail 11. Discussion on Letter from Farm Service Agency Director, Dick Gade *12. Discussion on Lease of Sedan for Lake Cluster Project 10:30 *13. Town of Kinnickinnic - Jerry Larson - Township Request for Consideration for Sale of County Property 9:15 A.M. *14. Installation of Washer and Dryer in Jail at Cost of $500 to $1,000. *15. Contingency Fund Transfer - Per Diems for Library Study Committee Members ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE: POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNEMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) DATE: 1/30/96, 2/5/96 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: February 9, 1996 LOCATION: St. Croix County Government Center CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: March 8, 1996 ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Review of Vouchers 9:00 A.M. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Administrative Coordinator Report A. City Proposal for Permanent Water and Sewer Line Through County Property 2. Finance Director A. Line Item Transfer Request(s) B. Recommendation on Investment of County Funds C. Survey of Municipalities Regarding Dog License Fund 3. County Clerk A. DNR Bonding 4. Personnel Report 5. Corporation Counsel Report 6. Computer Services A. Contingency Fund Transfer B. Overtime or Parttime Help 7. Clerk of Court A. KIDS Report 8. Transportation Committee 9:30 A.M. A. Contingency Fund Transfer Request(s) B. Actuarial Charging of Liability Insurance Premiums 9. Economic Development - Dave Piggot 10:15 A.M. A. County Fairgrounds Land 10. Library Proposal on Books by Mail 11. Discussion on Letter from Farm Service Agency Director, Dick Gade ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE: POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNEMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) DATE: 1/30/96 COPIES TO: County Board Office News Media/Notice Board County Clerk County Board County Departments *ADDITIONS/CHANGES/CORRECTIONS FINANCE COMMITTEE Regular Meeting February 9, 1996 Meeting called to order at 9:05 a.m. by Chair Brown. Members present: Don Brown, Robert Boche, LuVerne Burke and Bill Oemichen. Absent: John Bradley, excused. Staff: Administrative Coordinator John Krizek, Finance Director Rich Loney, Corporation Counsel Greg Timmerman, County Clerk Sue Nelson. Others present: Suprs. Bill Krueger, George Sinclear, Richard King, Ron Raymond, John Mortensen, Jack Dowd, Karen Bailey; members of the press. Motion by Oemichen, 2nd by Boche to adopt the agenda. Carried. Next meeting scheduled for March 8. Motion by Boche, 2nd by Burke to approve the January minutes. Carried. Vouchers: Loney and Krizek indicated all bills were in order. Motion by Oemichen, 2nd by Burke to pay the vouchers. Carried. Administrative Coordinator: John Krizek reported the City of Hudson plans to extend a permanent water and sewer line to development property located north of the Government Center for which the County will be assessed $134,000. Krizek believes the County should be given credit for the cost paid for the temporary lift station. He will continue to negotiate with the City and also attempt to spread the payment over seven years. Planning and Development Committee will work on this issue and Krizek will represent the Finance Committee on this project. The PBX proposals are due February 12 and Krizek will present results at the March meeting. A Nursing Home arbitration was settled which determined when fringe benefits are paid after a certain number of hours is worked. A good relationship was maintained between the employee union and management. Town of Kinnickinnic's Request to Purchase Land: Town Chairman Jerry Larson explained Kinnickinnic would like to build a new town hall and/or community center. They are interested in buying five acres of the county -owned forest for a building and ball field. Motion by Burke, 2nd by Boche to refer this request to the Planning and Development Committee. Carried. Survey of Municipalities Re: Dog License Fund: Rich Loney reported 16 responses were received to a survey of all 34 municipalities on the issue of which most wanted the present system for refunds left in place and did not want to turn this money over to the Humane Society. Supr. Bill Krueger said the Humane Society gave a presentation at the Public Protection Committee meeting (which he is representing) and indicated the county is failing to take responsibility for protection of animals. The Sheriff's Dept. does respond to animal cruelty complaints but does not always agree with the assessment of cruelty. Public Protection wants to see what action the Finance Committee takes, if any. 11 Oemichen announced Human Society personnel Judy Hillert and Jan DeCraene had called in with a request for one half the money and then no charges would be made for cruelty calls. Boche said the Towns are opposed to giving up the money and the Towns use this money to pay the Humane Society for animal control. Burke said the Sheriff is responsible for cruelty and usually takes a veterinarian along to make the assessment. Burke suggested that consideration be given to helping the Society through the budget process by giving a set amount of money. Transportation Committee Requests: Highway Commissioner Dan Fedderly, Transportation CommitteeChair George Sinclear and Vice Chair Richard King were present. Fedderly referred to the letter sent to the Finance Comm. that explained the shortfall in transportation aids. Motion by Boche, 2nd by Oemichen to transfer $23,015.29 from the Contingency Fund to the Highway budget. Carried. Fedderly noted wage increases were not included in the 1996 budget and requested $32,969.54 from the Contingency Fund. Brown was concerned about opening the budget process. Burke said Health and Human Services would like to recover the wage increases for that department also. Fedderly noted there may be extreme winter maintenance costs this year and would like to leave the wage increase issue option open at the end of the budget year. Liability insurance replenishment account. A $220,000 settlement was made in the Schuth case and under the current policy in place, the Highway Dept. would be billed $43,667.09 for their share of self insured retention fund. Fedderly said this department has more potential for liability costs and has born the previous costs. Costs have increased from $76,000 in 1991 to $203,000 in 1994. Loney stated if this amount is billed to the Highway Dept., they can show it as cost of insurance which factors into insurance costs for state reimbursement. Motion by Boche, 2nd by Burke to transfer $43,667.09 from Contingency Fund to the Highway and bill the State for part of this cost. Payment of about 33% should be reimbursed but may not be paid until 1997. King said when the Transportation Committee agreed to the county insurance policy, they did not know it would go back to 1992 claims. Sinclear commented the Highway Dept. cannot continue to pay $100, 000 per year liability insurance. Exposure for incidents goes up every year due to increased traffic. Motion carried. County Fairgrounds Land: Former County Economic Development Director Dave Piggot, Brian Ormson from Ormson's Super Valu, Deanne Burgeson from Super Valu and Leon Berenschot, President of Glenwood City Businessmen's Club were present. Piggot explained that Ormson wants to expand his grocery business; the present building is old and too small with no room for expansion. The County Fair Assoc. currently uses Lot I for the midway at the County Fair. The City would trade the ball park land adjacent to the Fairgrounds for Lot 9 I. The City would then sell some of this land to Ormson and use the proceeds of the land sale to build a new ball field. When Piggot talked to Fair President Dick Sullwold, he was agreeable to the plan. Glenwood City needs a larger grocery store; this would provide additional tax revenues for the City and no building would be done until after the 1996 County Fair. The Glenwood City Council passed a resolution in favor of the land swap. Ormson said his 105 year old present building has many deficiencies, the new store would be about a $400,000 investment and he anticipates increasing employment by $1000 per week. Ms. Burgeson said Ormson is doing a good job with the old building but needs to expand to meet needs of consumers. Chair Brown asked what the Fair Board recommended. They haven't met with the entire Fair Board and Supr. Raymond, member of the Ag. and Extension Comm., does not think the Fair Board is entirely in favor of the swap. Brown requested they meet with the Fair Board and if they are in favor of the land exchange, Finance Comm. will expedite the matter on the March agenda. Corporation Counsel Timmerman advised the Fair Board has input but the County owns the land and can make the final decision. Brown also asked those present to work with Timmerman in drawing up the legal papers. Lease of Sedan for Lake Cluster Proiect: County Conservationist Chuck Christenson and Pete Kling, project manager, were present. Krizek noted there was some confusion from the budget hearings regarding vehicles to be purchased. Christenson said there were three entries in the budget; two were intended to be pick up trucks and the third a vehicle for the Lake Cluster project purchased with project funds. Kling stated plans are to lease a Ford Contour so the car can be used for travel to training meetings which would eliminate driving two vehicles. There will be no rough terrain when working on Bass, Perch, Squaw and Baldwin Pine Lakes. Burke said the Land Conservation Committee has agreed the car was a better deal. Committee agreed to lease of the Ford Contour. Letter from Farm Service Agency Director, Dick Gade: Brown read letter from Gade indicating USDA agencies will be moving from the current site in Baldwin. The mandate is to relocate by October 1, 1996 and Gade would like to know if Land Conservation and Extension would be interested in moving also. Supr. Raymond said we need to determine the impact of the federal soil conservation service moving and taking equipment such as desks. The LCC committee is trying to determine what costs will be to the County since so many things have been shared. It is difficult to commit to moving when rental costs are not yet known. Burke noted the Village wants the Ag. Agencies to stay in Baldwin. No decision made at this time. Computer Services: Director Bruce Callen and Computer Advisory Chair Ron Raymond present. Callen explained a Contingency Fund transfer of $6500 had been requested previously. In the summer of 3 1994 the Finance Comm. approved $6500 for a Personnel software program. This was actually purchased in 1995 but the money was not carried forward. Callen requested $6,391.79 to make the 1995 Computer Services budget whole. Motion by Burke, 2nd by Oemichen to approve Contingency Fund transfer of $6,391.79 to the Computer Services budget. Carried. Overtime or part time help. Callen noted an employee is on maternity leave for two months. It will not be feasible to hire a temporary person for two months and be efficient. The department will do the best they can during the two months. Annette Massie, the employee on leave, has offered to call in daily to help with any problems arising. Security. Callen reported a purse was stolen from a department employee in December. It is believed to have been stolen from her office. It appears to have been done professionally since credit card charges were made rapidly. There are problems with the public coming into the suite. Callen does not have a plan at present; needs to work with Facilities Manager Ralph Robole to design security for the computer suite. The security issue will be on the March agenda. County Clerk: Sue Nelson thanked the committee for approving the lap top computer in the 1996 budget. She and three other County personnel have used the lap top for taking minutes. Nelson explained she will have to increase bonding for the DNR agents selling licenses. The new fishing licenses will be distributed in mid March and the hunting licenses will be sent earlier due to hunter's choice applications being due in July. This creates more of an overlap in distribution of licenses and does not give agents a long enough time frame to sell and pay for the fishing licenses before they receive hunting licenses. This means the revenue to the County will decrease about $1000 because of increased bonding costs. Finance Director: Rich Loney did not have any line item transfer requests to present. He will give an unaudited report on 1995 Department budgets at the March Finance meeting and the March County Board session. Investment of County Funds. Working capital is normally invested in the state pool with Mid America Bank being used for normal day to day operations. The State Pool averaged 5.290 interest during 1995. Loney suggested not having all reserves tied in the state pool but consider more long term investments with higher interest rates. Loney has conferred with money managers such as Bank I, Madison; Dean Witter; and A.G. Edwards of Milwaukee but believes investments could be handled internally. Brown does not like to maintain long term loans such as 30 years. 0 If committed to a long term investment at low interest, money could be lost over the time period. Brown does not personally care for personal money managers. He would like to have the committee explore local banks bidding on investment of a large sum and negotiate the interest rate. Loney indicated the levels of reserve fluctuate. Taxes are collected now; settlement with municipalities is done in August; money is available for six months. Loney will develop a sample procedure and report at the March meeting. He will check in the metropolitan area also. Library Proposal on Books by Mail: Chair Brown said the Library minutes had been clarified. Indianhead Federated Library System, planning a new building in Eau Claire, asked if they should build to hold the Books by Mail program. St. Croix County Library Board suggested they build to accommodate all 10 counties rather than for the seven presently served. Installation of Washer and Dryer in the Jail: Best, Inc.*will be doing the jail laundry and will provide the washer and dryer but County maintenance needs to do the hook up. Estimated cost is $1,000. Letter will be placed on file and if.Maintenance budget is short at the end of the year, money will be taken from the Contingency Fund. Per Diem for Library Study Committee: Chair Brown announced seven people had been appointed of which three are citizen members. He requested these citizen members be paid at the same rate as County Supervisors. Motion by Brown, 2nd by Burke to pay same per diem and mileage as County Board. Discussion on other committees with citizen members and whether or not they were paid. Carried. Motion to adjourn by Oemichen, 2nd by Boche. Meeting adjourned at 12:15 p.m. LuVerne Burke, Secretary 5