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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance 06-10-04 ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Chairman Buck Malick St. Croix County Board FROM: Ralph Swenson, Chair COMMITTEE TITLE: Finance DATE: Thursday, June 10, 2004 8:30 A.M. LOCATION: *Ole Anderson Community Room, Government Center (Lower Level), Hudson CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: July 8, 2004 8:30 A.M. ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES: May 13, 2004 UNFINISHED BUSINESS: NEW BUSINESS: 1. Review of Vouchers 2. JOINT MEETING WITH COMMITTEE CHAIRS RE: 2005 BUDGET OBJECTIVES 9 A.M. a. Review of Goal Setting Items b. 2005 Capital Outlay Items c. 2005 Tax Levy Target 3. Treasurer's Report a. 2005 Capital Outlay Items 4. Maintenance Department Report a. 2005 Capital Outlay Items 5. Computer Services Department Report a. 2005 Capital Outlay Items 6. Risk Management Report a. Update on claims against the County b. Status of Liability Fund Analysis 7. Corporation Counsel Report 8. Clerk of Court's Report a. New position request b. 2005 Capital Outlay Items 9. County Clerk Report a. 2005 Capital Outlay Items 10. Finance Department Report a. 2003 Audit Report — Tracey & Thole — 10:30 a.m. b. Financial Reports c. County Investments Plan d. Workers Compensation/Payroll Policy e. 2005 Capital Outlay Items f. Request to Exceed Lodging Limit ** 11. Administrative Coordinator Report a. Update on Policies Collection Project b. Review of County Owned Land Parcels c. 2005 Capital Outlay Items d. Personnel Management Audit 12. Agreement with WisDoT for CTH K and STH 64 Alternative Design Construction and Cost Sharing Page 1 of 2 6/8/2004 13. Committee Recommendation to Administration Committee for Information Services Committee and/or other committees 14. Review of Budget Issues re: Combining Planning and Zoning Departments 15. Disposition of Park House CORRESPONDENCE: Letter from City of New Richmond ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) COPIES TO: County Board Office News Media/Notice Board County Clerk County Board County Departments * *ADDITIONS /CHANGES /CORRECTIONS Page 2 of 2 6/8/2004 UNOFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE ST. CROIX COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE Regular Meeting June 10, 2004 Meeting called to order by Vice Chair Krueger at 8:30 a.m. Present: Clarence Malick, Daryl Standafer, Stan Krueger, and Esther Wentz. Absent and excused: Ralph Swenson. Staff present: Administrative Coordinator Chuck Whiting, Finance Director Michelle Pietrick and County Clerk Cindy Campbell. Krueger requested a moment of silence in honor of former President Ronald Reagan. Motion by Wentz, 2" by Malick to adopt the agenda. Carried unanimously. Date of next meeting is July 8, 2004. Motion by Malick, 2 °a by Wentz to approve the minutes of May 13, 2004 with the following correction: Page 3, line 15 under item b. changed "engaging an investor" to "engaging an investment manager." Carried unanimously. 1. Review of Vouchers. Malick indicated there were no exceptions to report. 2. Joint Meeting with Committee Chairs Regarding 2005 Budget Objectives — 9:00 a.m. Present: Julie Speer, Dennis Hillstead, John Borup, Chuck Mehls, Rich Loney, Jan Zoerb, Bob Heise. a. Review of Goal Setting Items. Whiting indicated there has been no public announcement made with respect to the April Goal Setting session. This will be presented at the next County Board meeting. b. 2005 Capital Outlay Items. Whiting explained the Capital Outlay Plans and provided a handout showing a breakdown by department and items. Highway is not included. Standafer reminded the committee of the $533,000 over collection which comes off the top. Supr. Mehls explained Emergency Communications' Capital Outlay Plan (COP) which contained replacement of radio consoles in the amount of $250,000 and a 44' x 20' storage building in the amount of $24,000. Supr. Mehls indicated the consoles are thirteen years old and an onsite storage unit for Emergency Government, Sheriff's Department and Building Services would be useful for storage and a potential location to temporarily house inmates in the event the jail needed to be evacuated. Mehls also indicated bridge security is something to consider. Illuminating the substructure at night is an option which is the State's responsibility, but the State may seek the County's assistance. Sheriff Hillstead reviewed the Sheriff's Department and Jail COP. There was a discussion regarding last year's budget request of $50,000 to fix the jail floor. This request was denied and is not included in the Jail's Capital Outlay Plan for 2005. Question regarding if this is Building Service's or Jail's responsibility. Whiting clarified if a department needs a building service item to ask Building Services to place it in its COP. Krueger questioned 42 new guns at $450 each. Hillstead indicated the last time pistols were purchased was in 1993 or 1994. Existing pistols need work which would be approximately $300 per gun. Hillstead said the Sheriff's Department has always provided pistols for fulltime patrol, investigators and supervisors; and part-time employees and jailers need to purchase their own pistols. Finance Committee June 10, 2004 Page 2 of 8 Highway Department Maintenance Supervisor, Rich Loney is looking for an amount in the allocation for the Highway Department to maintain the 350 miles of County Trunk Highways and bridge maintenance. Highway has been able to secure funds from other sources. Overall, the Highway Department will look for levy increase of 2 — 3 % for 2005 operations. Highway would like to discuss their budget at Finance Committee's September 9 meeting. Health and Human Services Director John Borup indicated St. Croix County is funded by the state as if it were a community of 35,000 rather than 70,000. Health and Human Services' goals are to absorb caseload growth without adding staff in 2005. This raises issues in terms of growth of emergency detentions, long -term support cases and family /children cases. The bottom line is the growing demand for services in this county is partially because of the population increase and partially because of St. Croix County's location. The county will not receive additional funding from the state for the additional caseloads. Controlling emergency detentions is a goal for the department. Borup indicated he is working on establishing most probable budget numbers and advised the Finance Committee they may need an increase that is more than asked for in recent years. Based on salary increases and institutional increases, Borup guessed the percentage on the county levy increase to be eight to ten percent. Loney stated the State treats Health and Human Services, Sheriff's Department, Highway Department and Emergency Government differently. With the Highway Department, if monies are cut back on maintenance for the state highway system, the state does not do the work. The County does not subsidize maintenance of the state highway system. With Health and Human Services, if the state indicates they are cutting back on the support for the human services operation, and the state eliminates the support, the County needs to increase to stay even. Placement numbers are uncertain for Health and Human Services. The 2004 Health and Human Services levy increase was 5.4% which does not include the Nursing Home. Sheriff Hillstead discussed Homeland Security Grants and indicated the Burn Grant is being cut. The Sheriff's Department will need to fund twenty -five to fifty percent which normally has been received through grant money. This may happen within the next two to three years. Hillstead indicated an approximate increase of three to four percent will be in personnel costs. Through consultation, Gallagher /Westfal and WMMIC recommended more supervision for the road officers. Sheriff's Department will ask for two additional patrol sergeants and one additional sergeant in the jail. There are currently 26 patrol officers and one sergeant to oversee the patrol officers. Jail has one jail captain, two sergeants and 26 correctional officers. Hillstead added he will ask for one additional correctional officer because of the increase in daily population in the jail. WMMIC has reviewed and compared his department's policies with federal court cases and recommended some changes and additions. Training was okay but recommended some advanced training. Supr. Jan Zoerb was present on behalf of the Planning and Zoning Committee which oversees the Office of the Register of Deeds, Planning Department and Zoning Department; and the Land and Water Conservation Committee which oversees Land and Water Conservation and Parks. Zoerb highlighted some items in the COPs. The envelopes entered under the Register of Deeds should be deleted. Other items included: Land Conservation park land acquisition in the amount of $250,000; blacktop for road improvement in parks $50,000; a copy machine in Planning, software maintenance and USGS groundwater study; Zoning's vehicle lease cannot buyout without a penalty. Pietrick will find out what the penalty is. Digital Imaging will be discussed with Computer Services Finance Committee June 10, 2004 Page 3 of 8 Director Tom Boron. Planning and Zoning Department may require office remodeling with or without the possible consolidation. Break for lunch at12:37 p.m. Reconvene at 1:07 p.m. Julie Speer indicated she had received all budget status reports from the departments reporting to the Public Protection Committee. There are no position requests for Child Support or Medical Examiner. District Attorney may be requesting a new position contingent upon receiving a grant. Child Support is requesting nine computers. Victim Witness Coordinator is requesting a wage increase. Public Protection recommended the increase and referred it to Personnel Committee. Public Protection has approved the COPS for the departments it oversees. C. 2005 Tax Levy Target. Whiting indicated last year the target was based on new construction. Motion by Standafer, 2nd by Malick to target the 2005 tax levy in an amount not to exceed the rate of new construction minus the $533,000 of over levy. Carried unanimously. Whiting indicated this will be reported to the full County Board at the June County Board meeting. Whiting explained the 2005 Budget Instructions. Mileage and postage rates remain the same. Krueger brought up lodging rates. Standafer indicated he would like it to remain at $62.00 per night and deal with the occasional requests to exceed this rate. Personnel Department will be held responsible for providing accurate budget salary information to the Finance Department. Nursing Home will use SAGE software. Motion by Malick, 2nd by Wentz to approve the year 2005 budget instructions as presented. Carried unanimously. 3. Treasurer's Report. The Finance Committee reviewed the April 2004 reconciliation report as submitted by County Treasurer Cheryl Slind and had no questions. Motion by Wentz, 2 by Standafer to accept the Treasurer's Report. Carried unanimously. a. 2005 Capital Outlay Items. Items included were a Receipt Printer and Paper Folder /Sealer/Mailer machine. Pietrick indicated the Treasurer's COP should include a fire proof safe in the approximate amount of $700.00. 4. Maintenance Department Report. Robole provided an update on Huber which included door frame replacements because they were installed incorrectly. Landscaping will be finished soon. Occupancy permits are done. He added the Nursing Home remodeling is nearly complete. The Maintenance Department has replaced some handicap door parts. Robole is proposing to replace two handicap door operators and keep parts from the two to replace the remaining two which will remain in operation. a. 2005 Capital Outlay Items. Robole indicated there is a mower in his COP split between Health and Human Services and the Nursing Home, each in the amount of $1,750. Discussion regarding adding jail floor repair in Building Services' COP. Robole will look into this. Vacuum pump replacement on the chillers is included in the amount of $5,000. Finance Committee June 10, 2004 Page 4 of 8 5. Computer Services Department Report. Boron reported the T1 lines will be cancelled at the end of June which will be a $1,400 per month savings. Boron indicated there are twenty personal computers in storage which have some value. Boron suggested having a silent auction for these computers. Boron discussed possible position reorganization in his office. He will bring this forward to the Personnel Committee. The proposed reorganization would create a Network Administrator position with four Information System Analysts reporting to the Network Administrator and one Programmer /Analyst and one Operations Specialist who would report to the Director. The proposal is to make the Network Administrator and Programmer /Analyst non -union positions. The Finance Committee advised Boron to take this to the Personnel Committee. a. 2005 Capital Outlay Items. Tom Boron indicated first priority is an enterprise anti- virus upgrade. The current anti -virus is getting antiquated to catch worms and viruses. The one year subscription for this upgrade is $14,400. Second priority is the additional two year subscription of the anti -virus upgrade in the amount of $14,800. The T1 is service to the intranet to the ISP in the amount of $9,000. Also included is an upgrade and to replace remaining hubs and switches in backbone in the amount of $18,500. Boron indicated the replacement of training room computers in New Richmond will be delayed until 2006. Discussion regarding Optical Imaging Equipment. Boron will work on this timeline regarding what needs to be done in each department. A Central Network Backup system for New Richmond in the amount of $9,800 is also included in the Computer Services' COP. 6. Risk Management Report. a. Update on claims against the County. Greg Timmerman and Rachel Rubin reported on claims and potential claims. Timmerman indicated when a person initially believes they have been harmed by the county they need to file a Notice of Circumstances of Claim. He added after the notice is filed the claim needs to be filed within a certain period of time based on statutes of limitation. This pertains to cases filed in state court only. Federal court has separate rules. All notices and claims are forwarded to WMMIC and WMMIC provides the County a recommendation. If denied the claimant has the option of filing a summons and complaint. Motion by Malick, 2" by Wentz requesting a similar report be made to the Finance Committee at the September Finance meeting with additional cases that seek relief other than money. Carried unanimously. b. Status of Liability Fund Analysis. Rubin indicated the liability fund analysis to be provided by Milliman U.S.A. Consultants and Actuaries is in the draft process and added the Finance Committee wanted a professional opinion with regard to maintaining the county's liability fund balance, as well as getting an allocation methodology for each department at budget time. The decision that needs to be made with regard to the liability fund is whether the County wants to fund this fund to include or exclude the class action lawsuit. Whiting indicated at some point there could be another catastrophe. If included it impacts what the fund balance should be. Milliman could give the County a recommendation to fund the fund balance excluding catastrophe or including catastrophe. Motion by Malick, 2 °a by Wentz that the County set up its reserves excluding amounts for the recent catastrophe. Pietrick indicated the current fund balance is $386,000. Milliman is saying based on a non - catastrophe the county's fund balance is adequate. Pietrick indicated the first draft was $810,000 which was WMMIC's reserve for the catastrophe. WMMIC has indicated its comfort level is $386,000. Malick indicated the County could inch its way forward each year with a Finance Committee June 10, 2004 Page 5 of 8 higher reserve balance. Whiting recommended a formula be in place, which is the allocation for the budget and transfer funds to a balance we want to maintain which does not affect the budget. Carried unanimously. Rubin provided worker's compensation status as of June 3, 2004. Total 2004 incidents are 56. Breakdown as follows: General County — 5, Highway Department — 3, Human Services — 6, Law Enforcement — 9, Nursing Home — 33. 2004 year to date total medical and wage payments (based on January — April 2004 WMMIC, Wausau and one pre - Wausau claim) total $78,145.97 (payments are for claims occurring in any year). Of the 33 Nursing Home incidents, twenty are currently reported as "record only ", nine are currently "medical only" and four involve lost time. There was a brief discussion regarding the procedure to report all claims. 7. Corporation Counsel Report. No report. Krueger left the meeting at 2:50 p.m. 8. Clerk of Court's Report. a. New Position Request. Meyer handed out information in support of a request for a new position in her office for 2005. This is a request for one additional staff to accommodate the Clerk of Court office with electronically scanning records, filing and delinquent fine collection work. There is currently a part-time person who works three days a week doing filing. The part- time position would be eliminated if a full time position was approved. Meyer indicated this would be a pay grade four position. Discussion regarding reorganizing. Motion by Malick, 2nd by Wentz that the Finance Committee would endorse and send this request to the Personnel Committee, a proposal of adding a position of a filing clerk but not as a pay grade four position. Standafer would support that this go through a normal review process to the Personnel Committee as a new position request, but prefers not to tie this with a pay grade and title. Motion by Standafer, 2nd by Wentz to amend the motion by striking the pay grade and reference to the position title. Standafer wants this request to go through review process, get a recommendation from the Personnel Director and make a valuation of that on the merit of department head requesting a new position. Vote on the amendment carried unanimously. Vote on the amended motion carried unanimously. b. 2005 Capital Outlay Items. Includes copy machine with combined fax machine in amount of $8,500. 9. County Clerk Report. County Clerk Cindy Campbell indicated the 2004 Official Directories are finished and are being distributed. She added the directory is also on the intranet and St. Croix County's website. Due to route changes the Hudson Post Office has indicated it will begin picking up the Government Center's mail at 3:00 p.m. rather than 4:00 p.m. Campbell expressed concern regarding this earlier pick up time. a. 2005 Capital Outlay Items. Campbell reported she has included a copy machine in the County Clerk's COP in the amount of $14,000 which includes a network print board. In addition, she would like to include an audio equipment upgrade and a video system installation in the County Board Room. Other items included were a large capacity shredder and a new base and Finance Committee June 10, 2004 Page 6 of 8 feeder for a digital postage meter. Campbell indicated the County will be required to have a digital postage meter by the year 2008. 10. Finance Department Report. a. 2003 Audit Report — Tracey & Thole —10:30 a.m. Rod Paulson from Tracey & Thole was present. The draft financial statements provided are for internal use only and were prepared for the sole purpose of reviewing the results of operations and year end financial position of St. Croix County's various funds based on Tracey & Thole's audit to date. Paulson reviewed the report with the Finance Committee. Paulson referred to the Management Letter and highlighted comments on reportable conditions regarding Segregation of Duties in some of the smaller County offices. Paulson also highlighted "Other Comments" to include: Collateralization of County Deposits, Excess 2004 Tax Apportionment, DMV License Tag Collections and Inmate Trust/Canteen Fund Account (Sheriff's Department), Remittance of Collections (Zoning Department), Payment of Interfund Billings (Highway Department). Paulson indicated with respect to the County deposits, the carrying value of the County's deposits at December 31, 2003 exceeded the federal and state coverage at that date by $1,135,791. Scott Wagner from the First National Bank was present and provided a handout for Investment Portfolio Pledged Securities and Un- Pledged Positions. b. Financial Report. Pietrick reported a General Fund Cash and investments balance as of April 30, 2004 of $25,072,580.91.2004 Contingency Fund balance is $250,000. Sales Tax Progress through March 2004 (received in May 2004) is $433,620.94. Certificates of Deposit were awarded to the River Bank, Citizens State Bank and Bremer Bank totaling $3,000,000. Slind will be soliciting additional bids as Finance Committee authorized Pietrick to invest a total of $4,000,000. Pietrick provided copies of Revenue and Expenditure Reports. Nursing Home and Health and Human Services Operating Report was distributed. Nursing Home — Excess Revenues over Expenses are ($24,675.66) as of April 30, 2004. Health and Human Services Excess Revenues over Expenses are $358,725.29 as of April 30, 2004. Pietrick will work in Health and Human Services on revising the format of the reports. C. County Investment Plan. Pietrick provided a draft of the Request for Proposals for Investment Advisory Services. Pietrick requested clarification regarding turning $6,000,000 over to an investment advisor to invest for the County in a non - discretionary fashion where Pietrick would authorize any sales. Whiting indicated there would be a limit on the investments based on the County's Investment Policy. Pietrick would solicit firms that strictly do investment services for governments. Standafer suggested all requests be directed to Pietrick. Timing for return of the proposal will be two weeks or approximately July 12, 2004. Select finalists and interviews will be held with a recommendation and selection by approximately July 23, 2004. Pietrick asked who would conduct the interviews. It was suggested Pietrick, Whiting and Swenson. Standafer suggested a reference check be done before the interview. Recommendation will be confirmed by the Finance Committee. Finance Committee June 10, 2004 Page 7 of 8 d. Workers Compensation/Payroll Policy. Pietrick and Rubin have been working on this policy. They plan to visit Eau Claire County which uses the SAGE program. Pietrick will develop the payroll policy. e. 2005 Capital Outlay Items. Items include a 2005 back -to -back printer in the amount of $2,134 and lateral file cabinet in the amount of $725. f. Request to Exceed LodOng Limit. Pietrick will be attending a conference in Milwaukee on June 12 through the 16` with a lodging rate of $85.00 per night. Motion by Standafer, 2' by Malick to approve the lodging amount which exceeds the $62.00 rate. Carried unanimously. 11. Administrative Coordinator Report. a. Update on Policies Collection Project. Whiting provided a brief presentation of the Access policy collection project and indicated the cost to have this program put together is $2,200. b. Review of County Owned Land Parcels. Whiting indicated staff has not been able to put this together for today's meeting. C. 2005 Capital Outlay Items. No items. d. Personnel Management Audit. Whiting indicated the need to study changes to be made in management of personnel data. Whiting is losing his ability to accept amount of errors and issues that stem from the inability to properly coordinate and maintain personnel data. Whiting suggested the Personnel Management Audit be brought forward and proposed a new position to manage personnel data. $5,000 was placed in the Administrative Coordinator's 2004 budgeted to obtain the audit. Motion by Malick, 2 by Standafer to authorize Whiting to prepare a personnel data management position job description and to draft in terms of reporting to the Computer Services Director. Carried unanimously. 12. Agreement with WisDoT for CTH K and STH 64 Alternative Design Construction and Cost Sharing. Whiting has the agreement which has been reviewed by Timmerman and revised by WisDoT for the intersection of Highway 64 and CTH K which included median, larger turn lanes and altered geometrics. This agreement reflects engineering costs in the amount of $1,900 which increases the county's potential cost to $215,900. WisDoT indicated if the materials cost more than what was estimated, that would be prorated for the County. Malick indicated the bottom line is the County is committing to $215,900. Motion by Malick, 2nd by Standafer to recommend approval of this agreement dated June 1, 2004 to the County Board. Timmerman clarified he did not review the numbers or general terms and conditions. Carried. Wentz voted no. Timmerman will draft the resolution. 13. Committee Recommendation to Administration Committee for Information Services Committee and /or other committees. Administration Committee will be reviewing committee structure and what committees report to which parent (county) committee. Malick indicated he did Finance Committee June 10, 2004 Page 8 of 8 not make appointments to Information Services Committee. The committee agreed the appointments should be left vacant until a need arises. 14. Review of Budget Issues re: Combining Planning and Zoning Departments. Jan Zoerb was present. Malick indicated Planning and Zoning Committee would like to combine Planning and Zoning staff with one department head. This would not require additional funds from the budget. Zoerb indicated the Planning and Zoning Committee is seeking approval from Finance from the financial standpoint. She feels this consolidation would provide better service to the public. Personnel Committee reviewed this at the last meeting. Motion by Malick, 2 „ d by Standafer, that contingent upon County Board approval, the Finance Committee finds no financial impact and it is not projected to be more expensive to make the merger. Supr. Speer questioned the order of committee approval. Malick clarified there will be Lead Worker positions. The approximate savings is $15,000. Carried unanimously. 15. Disposition of Park House. Bob Heise and Jan Zoerb were present. Heise indicated the Park House has been vacant since the beginning of 2004. Options for disposition were burning, moving, disposal or renting to public. The Land Conservation and Parks Committee recommends the house be demolished and removed from the site. Asbestos and lead paint were found in the house. Selling and moving were considered. It was suggested to offer the house for bids to sell and move. Motion by Standafer, 2 nd by Malick to accept Land Conservation Committee's recommendation to dispose of house. Carried. Wentz voted no. The cost of disposition is in the Park's budget. Meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m. Esther Wentz, Secretary Cindy Campbell, Recording Secretary