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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance 05-07-07 AMENDED x NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE DATE AND TIME: Monday May 7, 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: June 7, 2007 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: April 5, 2007 OLD AND NEW BUSINESS: 1. Review of Vouchers 2. Treasurer Report a. Bank Reconciliation 3. County Clerk 4. Clerk of Courts Report a. New Positions Request for 2008 5. Building Services Report a. Status of Wisconsin Energy Application b. Government Center Chiller Pump Motor Failure ** 6. Risk Manager Report a. Report on Claims Against the County** b. Request to Exceed Lodging Expense Limit ** 7. Finance Director Report a. Finance Reports b. Financing Options for IT Capital Equipment, HHS Phone System, SCI parking lot, Interoperability Grant and Resolution ** 8. Administrative Coordinator Report a. County Government Center Property Status — Barsness Consulting, Inc. — 9:00 a.m. b. North Bass Lake Estates Sale c. City of Hudson — Water Tower Improvement Fee ** 9. County Farm Barn Buildings Options 10. Emergency Communications Center Equipment — Unexpected Expenses 11. County Board Goal Setting Items Review 12: Personnel Items a. Finance Director Reporting b. Procedure for Establishing Non - Regular Employee Positions, i.e., Positions Not Eligible for Employee Benefits ** c. Human Resources Administrator Hiring Status d. Position Administration Status — Springsted Review 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. 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. 12:17 PM 5/3/2007 ` OFFICIAL — approved 617107 MINUTES OF THE ST. CROIX COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE Regular Meeting May 7, 2007 Meeting called to order by Chair Krueger at 8:30 a.m. Present: Clarence Malick, Daryl Standafer, Esther Wentz, Tom Caflisch and Stan Krueger. Staff present: Administrative Coordinator Chuck Whiting, Finance Director Michelle Pietrick, Corporation Counsel Greg Timmerman and County Clerk Cindy Campbell. Others present: Julie Speer, Bill Cranmer, Chuck Mehls. Media: Judy Wiff. Motion by Standafer, 2nd by Wentz to adopt the agenda. Carried unanimously. Krueger stated the next scheduled meeting is June 7, 2007 beginning at 8:30 a.m. Campbell stated she received one correction from Greg Timmerman regarding the April 5 th minutes. Under closed session item 9.b, those present should also include Chuck Whiting. Motion by Malick, 2 „ d by Wentz to approve the April 5, 2007 minutes with the change noted. 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. March reconciliation report was reviewed. No questions. Motion by Wentz, 2nd by Standafer to accept the report. Carried unanimously. 3. County Clerk. No report. 4. Clerk of Court Report. a. New Positions Request for 2008. Lori Meyer and Kristi Severson were present. Meyer requested approval for a Judicial Assistant and Court Clerk positions to support the fourth judge, assuming the legislature approves the fourth judgeship. Meyer stated this request is to make the Finance Committee aware these support positions are necessary in the event the judgeship is approved and added the fourth judgeship may be pushed back to August 2009. The estimated cost is $54,000 for each position. Motion by Malick, 2nd by Caflisch to approve request with all contingencies. Carried unanimously. Malick suggested restating to the County Board the county's position regarding state funding for the court system. This matter should be placed on the June Finance Committee agenda. Meyer's second request is for a collection clerk position for 2008. Severson stated 121 cases with delinquent fines and fees due have been processed with the use of the Child Support staff. Twenty - one are paid in full, 103 postal locates, 144 social security numbers verified, 16 new payment plans and 100 warrant letters have been issued. Standafer requested actual amounts received. Caseload statistics were highlighted. Meyer stated her staff is unable to follow up with payment status because of the caseload increase. Discussion regarding federal funding status with the Child Support office and asked Meyer and Kapaun to review this status. Malick requested more Finance Committee May 7, 2007 Page 2 of 6 information for June meeting regarding the idea of finding some way to use people who may face the prospect of being under employed in the Child Support area. Malick requested information regarding how successful is the current system with the Child Support staff working and is the county collecting a greater percentage of delinquent fines of the same age. This matter will be placed on the June Finance Committee agenda. 5. Building Services Report. a. Status of Wisconsin Energy Application. David Best reported on the status of the RFPs regarding energy conservation. He stated the RFP was advertised, placed online and mailed to engineering companies. A site meeting was held on April 25 with only one engineering company present. Best stated the proposal is due on May 16 with opening on May 18 Best will report back on June 7 th to see if county wants to move forward. b. Government Center Chiller Pump Motor Failure. Best explained Building Services continues to monitor the problems with the chillers. He stated one pump motor is not working on the chiller. The motor is welded to the machine so it cannot be removed or inspected. Repair costs are estimated $15,000 - $16,000. Best indicated it will take 12 weeks to get the pump because it needs to be ordered from Japan. Best stated the costs were turned into the property and equipment insurance carriers. He reported the property insurance carrier denied the claim and he is waiting to hear from the equipment insurance carrier. Best stated he could fund the repair out of the natural gas account from cost saving because of the mild weather. Best stated the cooling can be managed with one machine but one machine will not manage the heating season. Motion by Malick, 2 nd by Wentz authorizing Best to order a replacement pump motor. Carried unanimously. Best indicated he would like to prepare for renting a portable chiller in the event it is necessary. The estimated cost is $18,000 for first month which includes set up, rental, and tear down. In the event the county loses the remaining chiller he would like to have authorization to move quickly to rent a portable replacement. Caflisch suggested in the event this should occur to hold an emergency Finance Committee meeting. Standafer suggesting getting some determination from Trane on a rental arrangement and the likelihood of having equipment available for a backup. Best will verify and lock in prices then report back in June or possibly May before the next County Board meeting with the information. 6. Risk Manager Report. a. Report on Claims Against the County. Risk Manager Kristen Ziliak reviewed liability litigation pending claims against the county. Ziliak also reviewed workers compensation history by year of injury and department. Ziliak summarized there are 37 open workers compensation claims; 5 lost time claims; 4 litigated claims; 1 denied claim and 1 permanent claim. The Finance Committee agreed to review claims when the report is provided to the auditors. Timmerman stated if something significant occurs earlier the committee would be updated in a closed session. Finance Committee May 7, 2007 Page 3 of 6 b. Request to Exceed Lodging Expense Limit. Ziliak reported the Safety and Health Conference will be held at Wisconsin Dells and the room rate is $109 per night. Tim Heckmann is attending. Motion by Standafer, 2„d by Krueger to approve. Carried (Malick voted no). 7. Finance Director Report. a. Financial Reports. General Fund Cash and investments balance as of March 31, 2007 was $32,792,777.80. Discussion regarding investments. 2007 Sales Tax received in April 2007 for February 2007 sales were $366,754.93. Year -to -date sales tax received is $700,602.26. Pietrick reported there are a number of actions taken on unbudgeted items from the Contingency Fund. Pietrick highlighted the unbudgeted items which include estimated costs for the Ayres space study, Human Resource Administrator position, Human Resource temporary help, Human Resource job posting ads, PTO incentives, Barsness Government Center study and Nursing Home RFP. A future agenda item is paying Barsness expenses out of the property sale funds. Pietrick reported since the Building Services report earlier, the equipment insurance carrier confirmed it will pay for all expenses relating to the motor in the chiller except the $5,000 deductible. Currently, the 2007 Contingency Fund balance is $250,000. Expenditure and Revenue Summary Reports reviewed. b. Financing Option for IT Capital Equipment, HHS Phone System, SCI parking lot, Interoperability Grant and Resolution. Pietrick provided a capital project fund 400 project analysis. Total fund balance as of December 31, 2006 was $768,499.58. 2007 revenues and expenditures were reviewed. The estimated fund balance for December 31, 2007 is $650,874.72. Pietrick presented a resolution regarding capital projects and borrowing. She indicated the Communication Center request of $42,500 needs to be included. Motion by Malick, 2„d by Caflisch to recommend to the County Board the borrowing as indicated in the resolution with the addition of $42,500 from the Communication Center and to round off a not to exceed total of $310,000. Krueger highlighted the total revenue for the dirt sold was $109,000 and this land is still owned by the county. Motion by Malick, 2 „ d by Caflisch to table the motion. Carried unanimously. 8. Administrative Coordinator Report. a. County Government Property Status — Barsness Consulting, Inc. — 9:00 a.m. Dennis Welsch and Kristen Barsness were present. In a PowerPoint presentation, Welsch summarized what Barsness Consulting was hired to do and reviewed the major themes from the feedback of the public meetings. In addition, he reviewed demographics, market, and site economic recommendations, as well as recommendations of land uses as follows: NE and NW quadrants — retain existing land for public designation and keep existing zoning; SW quadrant - request was mixed uses (YMCA, city and other private and public offices, senior and/or affordable living); SE quadrant - library, city and private and/or public offices. Welsch reviewed site details and constraints relating to development including steep slopes, wooded lot, and development easements for storm sewer and low land. Interested parties in the property were reviewed including YMCA, office complex, city of Hudson and library. Barsness recommends retaining 47 acres of land under the county's control with current zoning and consider the remaining acres as a portion of a mixed use development for the public and private sectors to work together in a development. Barsness also recommends not every parcel have a road access because it is better to have driveway access internal to the site. Review of reserving pathways. Implementation strategies were reviewed Finance Committee May 7, 2007 Page 4of6 including surface water management plan, land conservation plan, development standards, state endangered resources review, an environmental assessment statement (phase 1), soil borings, infrastructure cost assessments, and legal description of the new parcels. Welsch highlighted the proposed next steps including 57% of the site retained by the county and converting approximately 35 acres to new uses and public infrastructure improvements and to continue to work with the city of Hudson on land use issues. Once a conceptual site plan is approved by the County Board it goes to the city of Hudson. After decisions are completed by the city of Hudson, the county will use its "Plan for a Plan" to the degree of commitment for public or private uses. Welsch requested direction from the committee. Speer expressed concerns regarding being in the developing stage with this matter not having County Board approval. Malick replied the county should not be a developer in a sense of selling off individual lots — let the County Board decide. Discussion regarding the separate quadrants. Whiting reminded the Finance Committee is facilitating an information process. This is a status report based on what has been heard. Discussion regarding presenting this information to the County Board and then place the information on the county's website and continue to collect input. Jim O'Connor representing the Hudson Area Library was present. He stated the library supports ideas of a water management plan and the idea of an option for the public uses. O'Connor stated the library is very interested in the south side parcel and would work with the Finance Committee to move this along quickly. Malick asked if WITC has completed its market survey study. Malick suggested Barsness Consulting present the information with a recommendation of no action. Malick added there may be input from local municipal boards and residents which can be added before the June meeting. b. North Bass Lake Estates Sale. Whiting reported there have been inquiries regarding this parcel including St. Croix Electric's request for an easement. This property was taken by the county on a tax deed in 2003. Timmerman explained the procedure needed for tax deed property. By action of the Finance Committee Standafer completed the appraisal resulting in a $500 value. Campbell stated there are three parcels in the tax deed process and asked if this parcel could be advertised with the three parcels. Campbell stated the deeds for the three parcels are being recorded then an appraisal will need to be completed before advertising can commence. The Finance Committee agreed to advertise this parcel with the three parcels mentioned. C. City of Hudson — Water Tower Improvement Fee. Whiting explained he received a bill in the amount of $92,000 for the water town improvement from the city of Hudson. He stated the county could pay it and assume all calculations are correct or review calculations with the city to see how they arrived at the amount. Whiting stated there was some sort of an agreement from minutes about 15 years ago in which the county paid half at that time and the other half when the project was completed. Krueger stated this should be reviewed with the city and reported back to the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee directed Pietrick to review this matter with Betty Caruso of the city and come back with a recommendation. Finance Committee May 7, 2007 Page 5 of 6 9. County Farm Barn Buildings Options. Discussion regarding what can be salvaged from the barn and surrounding buildings. Motion by Standafer, 2 " by Caflisch to get an RFP out as soon as possible and get any salvage value from the equipment, silos and buildings on the County Farm property. Caflisch suggested advertising this in the Neillsville area. Carried unanimously. 10. Emergency Communications Center Equipment — Unexpected Expenses. Chuck Mehls and Casey Swetlik, Director Emergency Communications were present. Swetlik explained re- channeling of mobile, portable and base radios was completed in March 2007. An attempt to convert all the fire bases from simplex to repeater format was done. The attempt failed. It was discovered additional engineering needed to be done due to the interference discovered during the conversion attempt. The duplexer filters need to be re- tuned. This process involves removal of the filters from each site and sent to the factory and upon successful re- tuning, reinstalled. Estimated cost is $5,000 per site. Swetlik indicated there are five sites. In the event the filters cannot be re- tuned, the potential cost could increase to an additional $3,500 per site for an overall project cost of $42,500. Swetlik explained this project was grant funded. This extra engineering of the filters may not have been covered by the grant since the grant was tightly funded and distributed throughout ten counties. Capital 2 -Way installed the fire bases and has been working with TXRX, the filter company. Since this was a joint project with ten other counties, Swetlik was not aware of any contracts or guarantees with Capital 2 -Way. Swetlik stated there is no way of knowing if the re- tuning will work until the filters are replaced and turned on. Discussion regarding the responsible party that brings the county to this point. Swetlik stated full engineering should have been done. Standafer confirmed it appears there is no alternative but to obtain properly working filters. Swetlik stated this could be a four week project which could run longer if the filters are not tunable. Discussion regarding if the overall project cost would be known by the end of June so as to make the deadline for the borrowing. Swetlik advised it would be and he would work with Pietrick once the final number is known. Motion by Malick, 2 "d by Wentz to authorize the contracts to go forward and work to be committed with the intention to include the amount with the capital borrowing. Carried unanimously. 11. County Board Goal Setting Items Review. Whiting stated the goal review summary was distributed to committee members. Malick would like to know more about using DNR licenses to collect the Delinquent Fines and Fees and Penalties. The summary will be presented to the County Board in May. 12. Personnel Items. a. Finance Director Reporting. Whiting stated at the last meeting the question was raised regarding when action was taken regarding the Finance Director reporting to the Administrative Coordinator. Whiting stated this was about four years ago and did not go to County Board. No action required. b. Procedure for Establishing Non - Regular Employee Positions, i.e., Positions Not Eligible for Employee Benefits. Whiting stated discussion with the Chair of the Public Protection Finance Committee May 7, 2007 Page 6 of 6 Committee was held regarding replacing the Medical Examiner as an employee rather than a contract position. Casey Swetlik is the current Medical Examiner and was hired as the Emergency Communications Director. Swetlik has agreed not to remain as the Medical Examiner. Discussion regarding time and procedure concerns and new positions requiring Finance and County Board approval. Timmerman stated the county has in the past created independent contractors for several positions in the county, but expressed the need to have certain criteria met relating to workers compensation, employment and IRS issues. Discussion regarding classifying employees vs. contract employees and limited term employment contracts. Standafer left at 1:45 p.m. He was not present for items 12.c and 12.d. Malick suggested the Public Protection Committee work it out for this position. Pietrick recommended reviewing all contract positions within the county. Whiting and Timmerman will attend the Public Protection meeting. The Finance Committee agrees with the concept. C. Human Resources Administrator Hiring Status. Whiting stated 34 applications were received. Interviewing is scheduled for May 8th and 9` Krueger, Timmerman, Whiting, Pietrick, and Graham will attend the interviews. d. Position Administration Status — Springsted Review. Whiting reported at the last PAWG meeting a Springsted representative was present. Whiting stated they need additional help with pointing areas and there is $3,500 in the budget for Springsted help. e. 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 Wentz, 2 by Standafer to move into closed session pursuant to Wis. Statutes §19.85(1)(e) for the purpose of discussing bargaining strategy. Roll call: All ayes. (11:10 a.m.). Present: Attorney Steve Weld, Bill Cranmer, Julie Speer, Dave Fodroczi, Timmerman and Whiting. Motion by Standafer, 2nd by Wentz to reconvene into open session (12:21 p.m.). Carried unanimously. Wentz left the meeting at 12:21 p.m. She was not present for items 6, 7, 8 b, 8.c, 9, 11, and 12.a, 12.b, 12.c and 12.d. Meeting adjourned at 1:57 p.m. Esther Wentz, Secretary Cindy Campbell, Recording Secretary