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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance 03-08-07 NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE DATE AND TIME: Thursday March 8, 2007 — 8:30 A.M. LOCATION: Room 1281, St. Croix County Government Center, 1101 Carmichael Road Hudson, Wisconsin CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: April 5, 2007 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: February 8, 2007 and February 22, 2007 OLD AND NEW BUSINESS: 1. Review of Vouchers 2. Treasurer Report a. February Bank Reconciliation 3. Building Services Director Report a. Focus on Energy Conservation Feasibility Study Guidelines — 9:00 a.m. 4. Information Technology Director Report , Optical Imaging Agreement ** 5. Finance Director Report a. Finance Reports b. Procurement Cards 6. Administrative Coordinator Report a. County Government Property Status — Barsness Consulting, Inc. — 9:00 a.m. b. New Richmond Farm Property Status c. of County Farm Hunting Management Agreement 7. Review of Space Study for Government Center a. Use of Contingency Fund for Space Study Cost 8. Funding Request from Planning & Zoning Committee — Outside Counsel for Sign Moratorium 9. Personnel Items a. Modification of HHS Position — CSP Social Worker to CSP Clinical Social Worker b. Modification of Financial Assistant Position Description — Finance Department c. Human Resources Staffing Options d. Closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 19.85(1)(c) to consider employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of a public employee. Following the closed session, the committee will reconvene in open session. e. Closed session per WI Stat. 19.85 (1) e for the purpose of discussing bargaining strategy. Reconvene into open session to complete other agenda items f. At approximately 11:00 a.m., adjourn into closed session pursuant to 19.85(1)(c), Wis. Stats., to hear a grievance filed by an employee under County Collective Bargaining Agreement. Reconvene into open session. g. Adjourn to closed session pursuant to s.19.85(1)(f) to investigate possible discipline against an employee related to the County's email policy. Resume open session. ADJOURN (Items may be taken in different order) * *Additions /Changes /Corrections Items for County Board approval must be submitted to the County Clerk's office by Wednesday morning preceding a County Board meeting. 11:13 AM 3/6/2007 OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE ST. CROIX COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE Regular Meeting March 8, 2007 Meeting called to order by Chair Krueger at 8:30 a.m. Present: Clarence Malick, Daryl Standafer, Tom Caflisch, Esther Wentz, and Stan Krueger. Staff present: Administrative Coordinator Chuck Whiting, Finance Director Michelle Pietrick, Corporation Counsel Greg Timmerman and County Clerk Cindy Campbell. Others present: County Supervisors Julie Speer, Richard Marzolf, Chuck Struemke, Wally Habhegger and Bill Cranmer. Media: Judy Wiff. Motion by Wentz, 2nd by Caflisch to adopt the agenda. Carried unanimously. Krueger stated the next scheduled meeting is April 5, 2007 beginning at 8:30 a.m. Motion by Wentz, 2 by Malick to approve the February 8, 2007 and February 22, 2007 minutes. Carried unanimously. 1. Review of Vouchers. Malick reported he did not find anything to bring to the committee's attention regarding voucher review. 2. Treasurer's Report. a. Treasurer's Reconciliation. January reconciliation report was reviewed. No questions. 3. Building Services Director Report. a. Focus on Energy Conservation Feasibility Study Guidelines — 9:00 a.m. Building Services Technician David Best and Lee Schwebs, Energy Advisor from Focus on Energy were present. Best explained Schwebs will review the process to get grants and develop an RFP to hire an engineer concerning energy cost savings. Schwebs explained an audit of the buildings is done to find potential energy savings. The county would have to decide if it wants a feasibility study done. Focus offers to share costs of feasibility studies -- 50% of the cost up to $7,500. Focus would provide cost savings and pay incentives for doing the study. Schwebs stated an upfront possible savings would be provided. Schwebs added if the county decides to do a certain amount of projects, and Focus comes up with energy savings, Focus pays the incentive for doing it. For every therm of gas saved on an annual basis, Focus would give the county $30 per therm. Discussion regarding what the county can expect to come out of the feasibility study. The Focus study would begin with an RFP process to get a number of engineers to give quotes for the study. Engineers would consider if it's worth doing a study. Best indicated the project may include a study of the chiller heater project, geothermal and conventional systems, review use of solar and wind energy, renewable fuels and using waste wood for creating hot water or steam, review of air balancing and the computerized building maintenance system. Motion by Malick, 2 nd by Finance Committee March 8, 2007 Page 2 of 6 Caflisch to authorize the Building Services team to proceed in working with the Administrative Coordinator and purchasing director to develop an RFP for the energy study and bring responses back to the Finance Committee. Carried unanimously. 4. Information Technology Director Report. a. Optical Imaging Agreement. Boron described the status and provided an estimate totaling $27,075 from Cities Digital. Boron explained Management Systems Specialist Dana Baker did a reference check on Cities Digital which came back with high references. Boron stated this report is only informational and will have Timmerman review the agreement. Discussion regarding approximate time to complete in the Treasurer's office. 5. Finance Director Report. a. Financial Reports. General Fund Cash and investments balance as of January 31, 2007 was $25,054,290.50. 2006 Contingency Fund balance is $245,000 and closed to General Fund. 2006 Sales Tax received in February 2007 for December 2006 sales were $502,041.40. Year to date sales tax received is $5,343,640.52; $82,000,000 more than budgeted. Expenditure and Revenue Summary Reports reviewed. Krueger asked about expenditures and overruns. Pietrick stated the only department with a significant overrun was the Sheriff's Department. Pietrick added she is still waiting for grant revenues. b. Procurement Cards. Pietrick stated use of procurement cards is an initiative to possibly save money and time for the county. Dana Baker presented a proposed procurement card process. Baker stated if this process were approved, county -owned cards would be issued to authorized employees. Information would be available online to report purchases, track purchase approval levels (such as dollar limits and number of transactions) and enhance accounting. The procurement card program would reduce staff time, paperwork and handling costs; and allow better purchasing efficiency, tracking and delivery. With procurement cards, employees would not incur business related expenses on their personal charge cards or checking accounts. Cost reductions reviewed. Baker described the current process when ordering products. Baker highlighted reporting and customization process, as well as security and support. Finance Committee approval would be necessary to move forward with this initiative. Motion by Standafer, 2" by Wentz to move forward as progressively as possible. Malick confirmed Baker would work out of an RFP and scoring. Baker stated Wisconsin and Minnesota have contracts and the county could jump on board with either state's contract rather than going through the RFP process. Carried unanimously. 6. Administrative Coordinator Report. a. County Government Property Status — Barsness Consulting, Inc. — 9:00 a.m. Cathy Bennett of Barsness Consulting, Inc. provided an update on meetings held, preparation of County Board meeting and summary of the public meeting held on February 28, 2007. Round table meetings are set for March 15 and March 19th. Finance Committee March 8, 2007 Page 3 of 6 Bennett distributed a summary from February 28 neighborhood meeting. She stated there were 62 participants with the majority being from the neighborhood surrounding the Government Center property. Bennett stated 50 people participated in the dot matrix exercise to set their own priorities on each of the four quadrants. Participants could also provide written comments which were posted on the wall during the meeting. Bennett summarized the results from the dot exercise and highlighted questions and comments from the public. Bennett stated of the major issues asked of the public, the top comments were to protect permanent green space and allow community use not private use. Bennett stated overall those attending felt it was a good process and they were able to get their points across. The next steps will be to place this information on the county's website and present it to the County Board. It was noted that a group of concerned citizens have put together a PowerPoint presentation. Discussion regarding placing information on the county's website and concerns regarding a non - county source giving text as to what they think should happen to the property. The Finance Committee agreed the concerned citizen group presentation should not be placed on the county's website. Whiting asked for guidelines on information to provide to the public. Malick suggested doing a public service announcement, solicit letters and have an online survey. The county is currently in an information gathering stage. Malick asked Barsness get input from the rest of the county. Marzolf commended Barsness on an excellent job on obtaining public information, and expressed concerns regarding lack of information to the public. Discussion regarding placing a disclaimer with the summary on the website stating the information is the opinion of the people present. Discussion regarding waiting until all three meetings are held then post all summaries at one time. Motion by Malick, 2nd by Standafer to place the summaries of the three plan meetings and other public input on the county's website at same time when all are reasonably available. Carried unanimously. Bennett stated Welsch met with engineers on sewer, water and transportation and will provide the summary to Whiting. b. New Richmond Farm Property Status. Whiting reported RFPs for the New Richmond Farm property were distributed and placed on the county's website with bids due by March 28` Whiting has had no inquiries yet. There will be a week to review the proposals prior to the April 5 Finance Committee meeting. If acceptable it will be taken to County Board, if none are acceptable Whiting indicated they go to Plan B. C. Review of County Farm Hunting Management Agreement. The Hunting Agreement between the County and the St. Croix County Sportsman's Alliance was distributed. Fred Johnson stated per Kyle Kulow, hunts have been managed well on the property. Johnson would like to see a schedule of what kind of hunts and when they will occur on the property and suggested this is added to the agreement. Mike Reiter, the chair of St. Croix County Sportsman's Alliance was present. Reiter described the hunt application process and requested hunts continue on the county land. Reiter stated the hunts follow the DNR hunting regulations and dates. The Alliance would like to explore deer and spring turkey hunting on the property. Motion by Malick, 2 by Wentz to extend the Hunting Agreement with the St. Croix County Sportsman's Alliance for one year and attach a description of the hunting seasons to said agreement. Carried unanimously. Malick asked the record show thanks to the Sportsman's Finance Committee March 8, 2007 Page 4 of 6 Alliance for managing the hunting and thus enabling the part of the farm suitable for hunting to be treated as a current asset to the county. 7. Review of Space Study for Government Center. a. Use of Contingency Fund for Space Study Cost. Whiting stated the space study is a $20,000 agreement with Ayres Associates. Whiting indicated there needs to be a motion to obtain funds from the Contingency Fund. Malick suggested making no decision now, but rather wait as has been done in the past. This charge will be coded to Administrative Coordinator's budget. Supr. Habhegger stated he would like to see the remodeling project completed in Planning and Zoning Department and to do this there needs to be a decision on moving EDC around in the suite or out of the suite. Habhegger requested approval from the Finance Committee to move EDC into a new location within the Planning and Zoning suite and to do it at no additional cost. Motion by Malick, 2nd by Caflisch to authorize the relocation of EDC within the Planning and Zoning suite using existing money. Timmerman does not feel this action is in violation of the open meeting rule to discuss it. Carried unanimously. 8. Funding Request from Planning and Zoning Committee — Outside Counsel for Sign Moratorium. Supr. Wally Habhegger, Chair of the Planning and Zoning Committee, stated the request is to get outside legal services for the drafting of the new sign regulations. Habhegger stated the Planning and Zoning Committee voted unanimously in favor of this request and feels the county needs a specialist for legal representation to get this done. Motion by Malick, 2 by Krueger to authorize. Question why Corporation Counsel Timmerman is not being utilized for this matter. Habhegger stated Timmerman's expertise is general law; this is a matter of a specific constitutional issue and there are law firms that deal with sign ordinances specifically. Habhegger stated there is a strict timeline since the sign moratorium goes until June and the committee does not want to extend this time. Timmerman stated he was not aware of this until he saw it on the agenda. Timmerman indicated no one asked if he was capable of doing this work and added he is comfortable in doing the work. Wentz stated if the county has a Corporation Counsel to utilize that person rather than outside assistance. Standafer suggested to primarily utilize the resources of Corporation Counsel but with an indication that if some additional specific outside services are required to supplement, it's utilized under the guidance of the committee. Habhegger stated that would be acceptable to the Planning and Zoning Committee. Motion by Malick, 2 by Krueger to amend the motion to add, using Corporation Counsel and at the discretion of Planning and Zoning Committee. Carried unanimously. 9. Personnel Items. a. Modification of HHS Position — CSP Social Workers to CSP Clinical Social Worker. Fred Johnson, Ron Kiesler, Kathy Huston were present. Johnson explained this request has the unanimous support of the Health and Human Services Board. The request is to convert a CSP Social Worker (Bachelor Level, Grade 7) position to a CSP Clinical Social Worker (Master Level, Grade 8) position. Huston explained the position would be able to directly provide the psychotherapy that is now sub - contracted through the Mental Health Finance Committee March 8, 2007 Page 5 of 6 Outpatient Clinic. Huston added the State Certifier has asked the county to become more self - contained in this program. If the county is able to operate this position it would free up outpatient time for other county residents in need. Johnson confirmed this is converting an existing position — not creating a new position. Motion by Caflisch, 2 nd by Wentz to approve this request to convert the CSP Social Worker position to a CSP Clinical Social Worker position and move it to a Grade 8. Carried unanimously. b. Modification of Financial Assistant Position Description — Finance Department. Pietrick distributed a revised Financial Assistance job description. Pietrick indicated the only addition to the job description is "maintains the sick leave and Paid Time Off (PTO) records of county employees ". This duty is moving from the Personnel Manager job description to the Finance Assistant job description. Motion by Malick, 2" by Wentz to approve the job description. Carried unanimously. C. Human Resources Staffing Option. Whiting stated since the Personnel Manager position was not filled, there have been some discussions regarding re- advertising the position. Based on some discussions, Whiting put together some options to include re -doing the job description, increase the pay and re- advertise. Whiting distributed a chart identifying all the positions in the Administration Suite and presented three staffing options. Whiting stated Option 1 being the status quo of the current Administration Suite contains 14 positions (9 non - represented and 5 represented). A variation would be to up the pay grade of the Personnel Manager to a Human Resource Coordinator at a pay grade 8. The annual salary at the top of the scale for Grade 8 is $63,000 and $58,000 at the top of the scale for Grade 7. Option 2 creates a new department head level position (Human Resources Director) at a pay grade level 10 and converts the Personnel Manager to a Human Resources Specialist at a pay grade level 5. Whiting provided a Human Resources Director job description. Option 3 would eliminate the Personnel Manager position and replace it with a Human Resource Administrator at pay grade level 9. Discussion regarding current staffing. Whiting stated there is currently no support staff, which forces everyone to do their own administrative work. Administrative work is essentially a different pay grade and that time and amount of work prevents staff from getting to absolute management. Standafer asked how many people are necessary to do the workload. Whiting stated the change put more of the former Human Resource Director's responsibilities in Administrative Coordinator's office. With the addition of the Classification Compensation Specialist position far more is being done on the pointing, job descriptions and maintaining a consistent up to date pay grid classification and compensation system. Whiting stated more attention is needed in employee relations, creating a clear understanding of what employee benefits are, and being more interactive with employees. Whiting indicated the workload is what we define it to be and we'll do it with the people we've got, but feels one additional body would help. The issue is at what pay grade level and aligning other staff appropriately with the responsibilities of that position. Discussion regarding an employee "go to" person and options. Whiting stated any option we do, other than retain what we have now, which is an option, is a new position at minimum, and changing the pay grade from 7 to 8. This would go to the County Finance Committee March 8, 2007 Page 6 of 6 Board on March 20 Options were reviewed. Whiting stated anything is possible, but we have to appropriate the money for it because none of the money is appropriated for any of this. Motion by Standafer, 2nd by Caflisch to recommend to the County Board to create a Human Resource Administrator at a pay grade level 9 responsible to the Administrative Coordinator and overseeing the Classification/Compensation Specialist and existing Human Resources Specialist from the Finance Department; and the Personnel Manager with current Personnel Manager being redlined. Carried unanimously. d. Closed session pursuant to §19.85(1)(c), Wis. Stats., to consider employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of a public employee. Following the closed session, the committee will reconvene into open session. (11:53 a.m.) Motion by Wentz, 2 by Standafer to move into closed session pursuant to §19.85(1)(c), Wis. Stats., to consider employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of a public employee. Roll call — all aye. Motion by Caflisch, 2 by Wentz to reconvene into open session (12:02 p.m.). Carried unanimously. e. Closed session per WI Stat. §19.85 (1)(e) for the purpose of discussing bargaining strategy. Reconvene into open session to complete other agenda items. (12:03 p.m.) Motion by Caflisch, 2nd by Standafer to move into closed session pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes 19.85(l)(e) for the purpose of discussing bargaining strategy. Roll call - all ayes. Motion by Wentz, 2 by Caflisch to reconvene into open session. Carried unanimously (12:20 P.M.). f. At approximately 11:00 a.m., adjourn into closed session pursuant to §19.85(1)(c), Wis. Stats., to hear a grievance filed by an employee under County Collective Bargaining Agreement. Reconvene into open session. (11:45 a.m.) Motion by Caflisch, 2nd by Wentz to move into closed session pursuant to Wis. Statutes 19.85(1)(c) to hear a grievance filed by an employee under County Collective Bargaining Agreement. Roll call — all aye. Motion by Caflisch, 2nd by Standafer to reconvene into open session (11:52 a.m.) Carried unanimously. g. Adjourn to closed session pursuant to §19.85(1)(f) to investigate possible discipline against an employee related to the County's email policy. Resume open session. Motion by Caflisch, 2 by Malick to move into closed session pursuant to §9.85(1)(f) to investigate possible discipline against an employee related to the County's email policy. Roll call — Yes — Caflisch, Standafer, Malick, Krueger; No - Wentz. Motion by Caflisch, 2nd by Malick to reconvene into open session (1:03 p.m.). Carried (Wentz voted no). Motion by Standafer, 2 by Wentz to accept apology for inappropriate use of the computer and admonished the employee thus ending the investigation. Carried ( Malick voted no). Meeting adjourned at 1:05 p.m. Esther Wentz, Secretary Cindy Campbell, Recording Secretary OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE ST. CROIX COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE Special Meeting March 20, 2007 Meeting called to order by Chair Krueger at 8:33 a.m. Present: Clarence Malick, Esther Wentz, and Stan Krueger. Absent and excused: Tom Caflisch and Daryl Standafer. Staff present: Administrative Coordinator Chuck Whiting, Finance Director Michelle Pietrick and County Clerk Cindy Campbell. Others present: Judge Needham and Judge Vlack. Motion by Wentz, 2 by Malick to adopt the agenda. Carried unanimously. 1. Resolution Regarding County Support for Fourth Judgeship. Motion by Malick, 2„d by Wentz to approve the resolution. Judge Needham reported Planning and Zoning Director Dave Fodroczi provided updated information for the resolution noting that St. Croix County is the 78`" fastest growing county in the United States and as of December 31, 2006, State - weighted caseload statistics indicate St. Croix County has judicial needs for 4.76 judges. In addition, the county changed in ranking from I I th to 9 d ' in terms of need. Needham added the committee of Chief Judges met on March 9, 2007 and approved seven new judgeships with St. Croix included as one of the counties. Needham explained this will go to the Supreme Court to draft a bill and will get address by the legislature in April 2008. If approved, the effective date for the new judgeship is August 2008. Carried unanimously. 2. Review of Pending Department Head Vacancy — Building Services Director. Whiting stated Facilities Manager Ralph Robole is planning to retire in April 2007 and added he has no second options for consideration to report to the Administration Committee to consider for this position opening. Malick proposed to make this position subordinate to the Administrative Coordinator and change the position to report to the Administrative Coordinator rather than the Finance Committee. Malick will work with the Administrative Coordinator and take input from other Finance Committee members. Whiting stated he will begin advertising for this position. Motion by Malick, 2 by Wentz that the Finance Committee recommends to the Administration Committee two options to be considered for the Building Services Director position: one being status quo, and two to modify the position description to report to the Administrative Coordinator; and further that advertising this vacancy may begin. Carried unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 8:50 a.m. Esther Wentz, Secretary Cindy Campbell, Recording Secretary