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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance 04-05-07 t a t NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE DATE AND TIME: Thursday April 5, 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: May 3, 2007 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: March 8, 2007 and March 20,2007** OLD AND NEW BUSINESS: 1. Review of Vouchers 2. Treasurer Report a. February Bank Reconciliation 3. County Clerk a. Voting Equipment Reimbursement Status b. Authorization to Exceed Hotel Maximum Allowance 4. Clerk of Courts Report a. Judge Harrington's Request for Legal Research on O'Connell Case b. Witness Fees for Retired Officers. 5. Finance Director Report a. Finance Reports 6. Administrative Coordinator Report a. County Government Center Property Status — Barsness Consulting, Inc. — 9:00 a.m. b. Staffing Options for Building Services Director Vacancy c. Review of Schedule Conflict for May Finance Committee Meeting d. St. Croix Electric Request for Easement in North Bass Lake Estates (Additional Easement); and Request for Purchase of Same Property by Neighboring Land Owner e. Administration Suite Office Configuration f. Status of RFP for County Property in New Richmond 7. Oak Ridge Property Consideration 8. HHS Request for Barn Lease Consideration 9. Personnel Items a. Closed session per WI Stat. 19.85 (1) c for the performance of an employee; reconvening into open session to complete agenda items. Positions to be reviewed: i. Corporation Counsel b. 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. ** 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. 1:33 PM 4/3/2007 OFFICIAL Approved 517107 MINUTES OF THE ST. CROIX COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE Regular Meeting April 5, 2007 Meeting called to order by Chair Krueger at 8:33 a.m. Present: Clarence Malick, Daryl Standafer, Esther Wentz, and Stan Krueger. Absent and excused: Tom Caflisch. Staff present: Administrative Coordinator Chuck Whiting, Finance Director Michelle Pietrick, Corporation Counsel Greg Timmerman and County Clerk Cindy Campbell. Others present: County Supervisors Gordon Awsumb, Bill Cranmer, Ron Raymond. Media: Judy Wif. . Motion by Standafer, 2 nd by Wentz to adopt the agenda. Carried unanimously. Krueger stated the next scheduled meeting is May 3, 2007 beginning at 8:30 a.m. but this date may change. Campbell stated the March 8 th minutes indicated under the Treasurer's Report stated "February reconciliation ". It should read "January reconciliation ". Campbell added in the March 20 minutes under the fourth judgeship item it stated, "In addition, the state changed in ranking from 11 to 9 th in terms of need." It should read, In addition, the county changed in ranking from 11 to 9 th in terms of need." Motion by Malick, 2 nd by Wentz to approve the March 8, 2007 and March 20, 2007 minutes with the changes notes. 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. February reconciliation report was reviewed. No questions. Motion by Malick, 2' by Wentz to accept the report. Carried unanimously. 3. County Clerk. a. Voting Equipment Reimbursement Status. County Clerk Cindy Campbell reported funding for the HAVA equipment was received in the amount of $204,000. She reported the request was submitted in November 2006. In addition, municipalities also received reimbursement for punch card replacement. Those funds were sent directly to the municipalities. Campbell briefly noted the H.R. 811 bill which was introduced and proposes additional changes to the Help America Vote Act. b. Authorization to Exceed Hotel Maximum Allowance. Campbell explained this request is for the 2007 County Clerks Institute in Green Bay. Room rate is $80.00. Motion by Standafer, 2 nd by Wentz to approve. Carried unanimously. 4. Clerk of Court Report. Meyer provided a handout with an update of Clerk of Court/Child Support Collections initiative. a. Judge Harrington's Request for Legal Research on O'Connell Case. Meyer stated Judge Harrington has been assigned to the O'Connell lawsuit against the Catholic Church. Judge Harrington is requesting funds to research constitutional issues regarding the separation of church Finance Committee April 5, 2007 Page 2 of 5 and state. Judge Harrington would like to hire a Hamlin law student to do the research at a cost of approximately $3,000 for 200 hours of research. Meyer stated she does not have this earmarked in her budget. Discussion regarding why this is a St. Croix County expense. Meyer stated because the case was filed here the county is responsible to pay all expenses. Motion by Standafer, 2 by Wentz to authorize the expenditure of the appropriate legal research to be funded if possible out of the Clerk of Court budget with the possibility of revisiting this issue at the end of the year. Carried unanimously. b. Witness Fees for Retired Officers. Meyer distributed officer witness fee information from the Wisconsin statutes and a 1973 Attorney General Opinion. Meyer explained a person who testifies as an officer should be not entitled to a witness fee, but according to the Attorney General's opinion the county job specifications should deal with the duty to testify or assist even in so called "off- duty" hours, and the compensation plan should provide additional compensation for such duties when they take place outside regular working hours. Meyer stated retired county officers are entitled to compensation from the county but not a witness fee. Timmerman stated in his opinion this is a matter between the former officer and the agency the officer worked for. Discussion regarding obtaining an opinion from the Attorney General. Motion by Malick, 2„d by Wentz directing Corporation Counsel to request an opinion from the Attorney General regarding as to whether a retired or former officer is entitled to witness fees and mileage. Carried unanimously. 5. Finance Director Report. a. Financial Reports. General Fund Cash and investments balance as of February 28, 2007 was $35,360,211.98. 2007 Contingency Fund balance is $250,000. 2007 Sales Tax received in March 2007 for January 2007 sales were $333,847.33. Year to date sales tax received is $333,847.33. Expenditure and Revenue Summary Reports reviewed. Motion by Malick, 2 by Wentz to accept the Finance Director's report. Carried unanimously. 6. Administrative Coordinator Report. a. County Government Property Status — Barsness Consulting, Inc. — 9:00 a.m. Dennis Welsch and Kirstin Barsness were present to provide a progress report. Welsch distributed a summary from the various meetings. Welsch stated he will return in May with a draft of a final report and get direction to take to the County Board in May or June and if action is taken by the County Board, the next stage would be direction to consider whether to approach the city for rezoning and other changes. Welsch indicated after review of the comments from the County Board on March 20 one of the issues is to get information from the county as a whole. Discussion regarding online and phone surveys and holding a centrally located meeting. Malick suggested placing a public service announcement in the county newspapers explaining the county has a surplus of land and invite individuals to send or email comments as to suggested uses for the surplus with Barsness collecting the responses. Welsch reviewed the dot exercise done regarding uses for each of the four quadrants and added Barsness concurs with the Finance Committee's results of the exercise. Suggested uses: Northeast quadrant — hang on to this for future county expansion; Northwest quadrant - could be used for county expansion or long -term management area; Southwest quadrant — expansion for YMCA with Finance Committee April 5, 2007 Page 3 of 5 potential multi - family or senior living space; Southeast quadrant — public entities are interested and possible use for a training center. United Way suggested a non - profit center with small offices and meeting and training space. Welsch added the site is well served by utilities. Discussion regarding flow of water onto the property. Welsch will check on this issue. Kirstin Barsness stated her task is to evaluate the site in terms of value and market. She stated when the initial appraisal was done it was based on housing figures and potential land sale proceeds. There was no consideration for the office/business market related to the appraisal. Barsness indicated the initial appraisal was $4.66 per square foot for commercial use. She added a more realistic figure is $7.00 per square foot. Six to ten million dollars for the land proceeds which does not include tax revenue. Barsness calculates $360,000 for public uses and $1,600,000 for private uses annually for the entire north half and potentially the southeast quadrant. Barsness suggested looking at it as an amenity which builds a potential for surrounding properties to attract higher development quality. Per Barsness the highest and best use is being able to create a community asset that attracts private investment and provides services for a community that may not be able to individually exist. Barsness added the advantage is there is no hurry to do this since the county has no debt service at this time and it would give an opportunity for library to work with the county. Barsness added the land proceeds could be used towards community development on the east side of the county. Discussion regarding placing a complete package on the county's website after written comments from the public are received. The Finance Committee agreed that Barsness will not need to report to the County Board in April. Supr. Awsumb asked how much land and space is needed. A space need survey will be done by June 1St b. Staffing Options for Building Services Director Vacancy. Whiting stated this is a follow up to the discussion at the March 20 meeting. The Administration Committee looked at options with Building Services Director position to report to the Administrative Coordinator. Whiting distributed a job description. Motion by Malick, 2 nd by Standafer to change the supervisor of this position from the Finance Committee to the Administrative Coordinator. Wentz questioned placing too much work on the Administrative Coordinator. Standafer stated this would be an improvement to the onsite day -to -day reporting relationship. Malick stated this would not create more work for the Administrative Coordinator but rather serve as a regular contact. Whiting indicated the Administrative Committee found this position could not be combined with another position. Carried (voting no — Wentz). Discussion regarding having a Finance Committee member on the interview team. Motion by Malick, 2 nd by Standafer placing Krueger on the interview team for the Building Services Director position. Carried unanimously. C. Review of Schedule Conflict for May Finance Committee Meeting. Whiting stated the annual WMMIC meeting is May P. The next Finance Committee meeting was set for Monday, May 7 2007 beginning at 8:30 a.m. d. St. Croix Electric Request for Easement in North Bass Lake Estates (Additional Easement); and Request for Purchase of Same Property by Neighboring Land Owner. Rob Finance Committee April 5, 2007 Page 4 of 5 Dully from St. Croix Electric was present. Dully explained this is the same property St. Croix Electric requested an easement in January 2007. Dully explained the request is for 412' south of the existing easement and they are asking for an easement 10' wide 30' long across property which is located on the west end of Bass Lake Estates. Dully stated this would replace the easement granted in January. Malick requested an analysis from the Planning and Zoning Department. Motion by Standafer to grant easement to St. Croix Electric. Malick seconded the motion if motion could be postponed until 11:00 a.m. to get information from the Planning and Zoning Department. Alex Blackburn from the Planning and Zoning Department joined the meeting and stated no problems will be created by moving easement or selling the outlot. Motion by Standafer, 2 nd by Malick to remove previous motion from table. Carried unanimously. Motion by Standafer, 2 nd by Malick to grant the easement to St. Croix Electric with abandoning of the easement granted in January. Carried unanimously. Malick stated this will need to be ratified by the County Board. Timmerman stated the availability of this land needs to be made public if sold by county and added reasonable estimate of its value may be done by someone with real estate experience. Standafer will prepare a statement of value. Whiting will work on advertising and notice to neighbors. e. Administration Suite Office Configuration. Whiting reported with the board action to add another position, he asked Robole to sketch the Administration Office suite. Whiting suggested splitting the Personnel Manager's office and possibly putting the Human Resource Administrator in the County Board Chair's office. Per Robole the cost would be $900.00. Malick stated it's not necessary to have an office for County Board Chair. Whiting stated he would review this with Timmerman and Pietrick. Motion by Standafer, 2 nd by Wentz authorizing expenditure of up to $900 to create office space in the Administration Suite to be paid out of the Administrative Coordinator's budget. Carried unanimously. f. Status of RFP for County Property in New Richmond. Whiting stated he did not receive any proposals or calls on this sixteen acre parcel in New Richmond. Whiting added he has not heard from Fred Katter regarding testing. No action was taken by the committee. 7. Oak Ridge Property Consideration. Supr. Raymond and Bob Heise were present. Heise explained this parcel is a 75 plus acre parcel in the town of Stanton and is surrounded by US Fish and Wildlife property. Approximately 73 acres are under water. Heise explained the proposal is to purchase the parcel from the county for $12,500 with shared revenue annual payments to the Town of Stanton in lieu of taxes. Heise explained the shared revenue goes to the lowest level of government which in this case is the Town of Stanton. Land and Water Conservation Committee reviewed and accepted the proposal and are asking for approval by the Finance Committee and County Board. Timmerman stated the county can dispose of property to other governmental units without advertising. Heise stated the sale includes cash payment and title search done by US Fish and Wildlife. Motion by Standafer, 2 nd by Wentz to recommend approval to the County Board for sale of this parcel contingent upon approval by U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Carried unanimously (Malick was not in the meeting during this discussion or action). Raymond stated a future Finance Committee agenda item may be funds set aside for the Fair Board. Finance Committee April 5, 2007 Page 5 of 5 8. HHS Request for Barn Lease Consideration. Wentz stated leasing the barn was discussed at the Health and Human Services (HHS) Board meeting. She indicated Caflisch was not present at the meeting but he had previously suggested the barn be torn down. HHS voted unanimously that since there is interest by two parties to rent the barn then it should be rented to bring in revenue. Johnson is pursuing fair market value for the rental of the barn. Motion by Wentz, 2 by Krueger to move forward in leasing the barn. Standafer stated he is opposed to leasing the barn and expressed concerns regarding liability issues and the need to fill in the manure pit. Malick stated the county has no future in a farming type facility and suggested putting it out for bid for salvage value and bulldoze and fill pit. Wentz requested this go to the County Board for action. Motion by Malick, 2 „ d by Standafer to replace the motion and move to recommend to the County Board that the structures and site be advertised for salvage value and after such salvage, the structures be removed and the premises restored to a condition that minimizes liability exposure. Vote on motion was 2 — 2 (voting no Wentz and Krueger). Motion fails. Motion by Malick to postpone to next meeting until Caflisch is present. Wentz stated HHS is looking for the ability to rent. Motion amendment by Malick, 2 by Krueger to recommend to the County Board to proceed to lease the barn. Timmerman stated there are issues regarding the surrounding structures as well as liability and contractual. Timmerman and the Risk Manager could prepare a report regarding liability. Action on amendment carried (Standafer voted no). Action on main motion to recommend to the County Board to lease with more detail carried (Standafer voted no). 9. Personnel Items. a. Closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. §19.85(1)(c) for the performance of an employee; reconvening into open session to complete agenda items. Position to be reviewed: Corporation Counsel. Motion by Malick, 2 by Wentz to move into closed session pursuant to Wis. Statutes §19.85(1)(c) for the performance of an employee. Roll call: All ayes. (12:41 p.m.) Supr. Awsumb and Whiting left at 12:42 p.m. Whiting and Timmerman returned to the meeting at 1:20 p.m. Motion by Wentz, 2nd by Krueger to reconvene into open session (2:12 p.m.). Carried unanimously. b. Closed session per Wis. Stats. §19.85(1)(e) for the purpose of discussing bargaining strategy. Reconvene into open session to complete other agenda items. Motion by Malick, 2 by Wentz to move into closed session pursuant to Wis. Statutes § 19.85(1)(e) for the purpose of discussing bargaining strategy. Roll call: All ayes. (11:31 a.m.). Supr. Awsumb, Supr. Cranmer, Timmerman and Whiting were present in the closed session. Motion by Malick, 2nd by Wentz to reconvene into open session (12:32p.m.). Carried unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 2:12 p.m. Esther Wentz, Secretary Cindy Campbell, Recording Secretary