Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance 05-08-97ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Robert M. Boche, Chair St. Croix County Board FROM: Donald Brown, Chair COMMITTEE TITLE: FINANCE DATE: May 8, 1997 9*00 A.M. ***NOTE DATE CHANGE*** LOCATION: St. Croix County Government Center CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: June 9, 1997 ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Review of Vouchers NEW BUSINESS: 1. Administrative Coordinator's Report A. Jail Pod 2. Finance Director's Report 3. County Clerk Report 4. Corporation Counsel 5. Line Item Transfer Request - County Treasurer 6. Ag Center Building Update 7. Disposition of Hammond Library Building 8. Convene in Closed Session Pursuant to s.19.85(1)(e), Wis. Stats., to Deliberate the Purchase of Public Property. 9. Reconvene in Open Session Pursuant to s.19.85(2), Wis. Stats. 10. Contingency Fund Request Made by Supr. Dorsey for $900.00 to be Used for the Health & Human Services Centennial Celebration 11. Contingency Fund Request for Expenses Related to Perch Lake 12. Contingency Fund Request for Funding for Telecommunication Consultant CORRESPONDENCE: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) DATE: 5/1/97 COPIES TO: County Board Office News Media/Notice Board County Clerk County Board County Departments *ADDITIONS/CHANGES/CORRECTIONS MINUTES OF THE ST, CROIX COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE Meeting of May 8, 1997 The meeting was called to order by Chair Brown at 9:05 A.M. Roll call was taken with Brown, Bradley, BOche, Dorsey and O'Connell in attendance. Also in attendance for all or portions of the meeting were Supervisors Herb Giese, Ron Raymond, Jack Dowd, Linda Luckey, members of the press, Corporation Counsel Greg Timmerman, Administrative Coordinator John Krizek, Planner Dave Fodroczi, Assistant Planner Ellen Denzer, Parks Director Joe Grant, Kim Reaman from UW Extension and Finance Director Rich Loney, who served as recording secretary. A motion was made by Bradley, seconded by Dorsey, to approve the agenda. Motion carried. It was noted that the next meeting is scheduled for 8:00 A.M., Monday, June 9, 1997. (Note time change.) A motion was made by Bradley, seconded by O'Connell, to approve the minutes of the prev ious meeting as distributed. Motion carried. Regarding approval of the vouchers, Brown noted that the bulk of them will not be ready for approval until tomorrow. Loney said that departments are requested to submit bills for payment based on the schedule of Finance Committee meetings published near the beginning of the year and that this schedule does not change even when the actual date of the meeting does. Boche, who plans to be in Hudson tomorrow for another meeting, will stop in and approve the vouchers for payment. Regarding approval of the County Board per diem and expense vouchers, Bradley said he had authorized $65.00 for a Board of Adjustment meeting and noted that this had been challenged by Boche during his review of these vouchers with the amount reduced to $40.00. Bradley said that the charge is authorized by the Board rules and took issue with Boche's challenge. Bradley requested that the three County Board members involved as well as citizen member Golz have the $25.00 reinstated. Boche responded that the meeting had begun around 4 * 30 PM and adjourned between 6 * 30 PM and 7 : 00 PM and his feeling was that it was wrong to compensate the members at the $65.00 rate for a meeting which lasted approx- imately three hours. For comparison purposes, Bradley said the Village of Baldwin pays $100.00 per meeting for these services. Brown asked if the $65.00 charge was legal according to the Board rules. Yes, it is. He stated his feeling that all Board members are reasonable and conscientious with their charging. Boche questioned whether this was proper discussion as for the Finance Committee as the discussion relates to a specific committee, not the vouchers in general. Dorsey asked if the matter should go to the full County Board for consideration. After further discussion, a motion was made by Dorsey, seconded by O'Connell, to approve the Board per diem and expense vouchers as presented by the Board members. Roll call vote resulted in Bradley, O'Connell, Dorsey and Brown in favor, Boche opposed. Motion carried. Further discussion followed. ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR'S REPORT: Krizek said that consideration of an additional jail pod appears dead because the Federal Government has issued a morato- rium on the lease of additional space to house Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) prisoners. He noted that the Public Protection Committee is working to develop provisions for contract modifications with INS which would involve guaranteed payment for cell space. With this no longer being an issue, Brown said he saw no reason for it to be on a subsequent agenda for the County Board. May 8, 1997 Page 2 Public Protection has approved an increase in the daily fee for board of prisoners from the current $55.00 to $60.00 effective July 1, 1997. Krizek said that the jail control panels, which control door movements, showers, toilets, etc., are failing at the rate of eight to ten times per month. When this happens, it is necessary for the operator(s) to bring the system back up and manually reset all of the system parameters. The installer of the system no longer makes parts and an engineer- ing report on the problem indicates a need to replace. Public Protection plans to inter- view other engineers for evaluation of the problem and development of a Request for Proposals (RFP). Current estimates are $38,000 for the engineering and up to $235,000 to replace. Brown said he would hope some type of direct link connection could be developed to solve the problem as well as improve reliability rather than have the system all computer controlled. Giese asked if the suggestion was to investigate a manual rather than more automatic system? Brown related his experience that, for certain fun- ctions, systems should be computer controlled. However, with functions such as door opening and closing, water functions, etc., involved, it may be good to investigate whether or not these should all be integrated through software systems. Giese and Dowd both said they felt the Committee should definitely look at multiple possible solu- tions to the situation. Further discussion followed. Krizek said that Mark Gleason, a Computer Services employee working at Health and Human Services, has resigned effective May 23rd. The Information Services Committee is looking at a concept of department reorganization as well as feeling that we may need additional technical expertise. Norstan Communications, the company that installed all of the computer wiring in the Government Center, was made aware of a consultant's determination that certain of the equipment and installation procedures they had used did not meet project specifications. Norstan had visited the Government Center and agreed. They plan to begin the retro-fit project as soon as it can be scheduled. Plans for the Ag Center building were reviewed. Krizek said the current plan, which has undergone numerous revisions, calls for 16,368 gross square feet in the structure. The building includes 300 sq. ft. for Economic Development, a meeting room of 1,650 sq. ft. and a partially excavated basement. He noted that Ayres architect Brian Larson has suggested using stud walls with gypsum covering in many areas to help reduce costs, although cubicles will be used in some areas. In response to Bradley's question on the budget cost of the project, Krizek said Larson should have that the first of next week. Giese expressed his opinion that stud and gypsum walls may fit a building with a shorter life expectancy but that, with this building expected to last fifty years, it makes more sense to go with demountable partitions because of the added flexibility they afford. Both options should be looked at. Krizek said the goal is to build and equip the structure for $1.1 million. O'Connell asked about a full basement, to which Krizek responded we may not be able to afford full excavation and there are practical reasons we should not do this. He explained the plans and noted that full excavation would result in long hall- ways in the lower level which would be below grade with too great a distance to travel to fire escapes. Even without full excavation there would still be approximately 8,000 sq. ft. A area in the lower level. O'Connell said he would like to at least excavate the basement, even if nothing were placed in it. The location of the building on the lot was discussed. Plans are for it to be on the south portion of the lot and at a right angle to US Highway '63". Both floors will be handicapped accessible. The Committee felt it good to take bids with an alternate giving us a cost for both full and partial excavation. The current timet- able calls for receipt of the bids and evaluation prior to presentation of a recommenda- tion to the County Board on June 20th. In response to Dowd's question on funding the May 8, 1997 Page 3 project, Krizek and Loney commented that General Fund reserves will be used. Cash flow for the project and ongoing operations were discussed. Krizek said he plans to purchase builder's risk insurance through the Local Government Property Insurance Fund at a rate of $.07 per $1,000. Plans are for the Highway Department to do the general site work with contractors doing the excavation, footings and backfilling for continuity of the project. The concept of asking Highway to do certain of this work, thereby keeping this money internally, was discussed. Giese said he wanted to be sure that Highway could do this work without harming their work plan for the season. Com- pletion date for the project is projected for November 1st. Krizek said plans are for the Federal agencies to install wiring in the building. Krizek said that a bill has been introduced in the legislature by which municipalities could exempt themselves from any portion of the County levy which may be duplicated in their municipal levy. Plans are to discuss this at tomorrow's legislative breakfast meeting. O'Connell questioned the farm lease, asking if we are subject to a penalty if the lease is broken before the end of it's ten year term. Timmerman said yes, this would be the case. Dowd explained the recent vote at the Health and Human Services Board on the issue, saying that the rate is guaranteed for the ten year period. Ron Raymond reviewed the background of the request for $5,000 from the Contingency Fund for telecommunications consulting. He discussed recent Federal legislation which is quite far reaching in that it basically mandates to municipalities that they allow the construction of communications towers. He said the County should draft an ordinance that is compatible with existing legislation, yet gives municipalities some guidance. Technical expertise is needed for this to, 1) assist in the development of a legal ordi- nance to address the issue, 2) develop administrative procedures to allow for the assis- tance of consultants to advocate for our position and 3) develop a fee structure to cover these costs. Five townships have each given $1,000 to a fund for this project and the request is for a matching $5,000 from the County. This would involve perhaps 90400 hours of consulting time over the next three month period. Bradley said the Board of Adjustment would certainly look for some expert advice when these issues appear before it. A motion was made by Dorsey, seconded by Bradley, to transfer $5,000 from the Contingency Fund to Planning for this purpose. Discussion followed. Motion car- ried. A motion was made by Bradley, seconded by Dorsey, to moved into closed session at 10:25 AM pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes 19.85 for the purpose of Roll call vote result- ed in Bradley, O'Connell, Dorsey, Boche and Brown all in favor. Motion carried. A motion was made by O'Connell, seconded by Dorsey, to reconvene to open session. Motion carried. A motion was made by Bradley, seconded by Dorsey, that $3,250 from the Contingency Fund be allocated for the appraisal and inspection of property that may be purchased for public use. Roll call vote resulted in Bradley, O'Connell, Dorsey and Brown in favor, Boche opposed. Motion carried. O'Connell excused himself from the meeting at 11:20 AM. Brown said that O'Connell and Bradley had volunteered from the Finance Committee to serve on a joint committee with representatives from the Planning, Zoning and Parks Committee regarding the purchase of land which may be used for public purposes. Per hems and mileage are authorized. Later in the meeting it was decided to try to hold the first meeting of this Committee at 6:00 PM Tuesday, May 20th, prior to the County Board meeting. May 8, 1997 Page 4 Brown noted that the Highway Department is authorized to proceed with survey work associated with the former Spa property in the Village of Hammond. Krizek said that plans are for Books -by -Mail to vacate the structure they currently occupy in Hammond by mid -June and requested guidance on how to proceed with disposition A the structure. After some discussion, a motion was made by Bradley, seconded by Boche, to secure an appraisal on the structure by the next meeting. Motion carried. Dorsey requested consideration for a transfer of $900 to Health and Human Services for their upcoming centennial celebration. He expressed the feeling that the entire County should be involved with all being proud and showing support for this 100 year event. A motion was made by Dorsey, seconded by Bradley, to so move. The motion was dis- cussed with both the motion and it's second being withdrawn, feeling that this should be continued to the June meeting so that all members may be present for the vote. County Treasurer Mary Jean Livermore met with the Committee and explained her request for a line item transfer in the amount of $2,350 to purchase additional equipment needed to assist with the processing of tax receipts later this summer. A motion was made by Bradley, seconded by Dorsey, to so move. Motion carried. Brown said that he will be meeting with the Raleighs later in the day. Plans are for the Committee to review County -owned property at a later date. A motion was made by Bradley, seconded by Boche, to adjourn at 11:40 AM. Motion Secretary