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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance 04-09-01 ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Chairman Thomas Dorsey St. Croix County Board FROM: Tom O'Connell, Chair COMMITTEE TITLE: Finance DATE: Monday April 9, 2001 8:30 A.M. LOCATION: Government Center CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: May 10, 2001 8:30 A.M. ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES UNFINISHED BUSINESS: NEW BUSINESS: 1. Review of Vouchers 2. Humane Society Request - Judith Hillert and Theresa Jonas 8:30 a.m. 3. Building Maintenance Report 4. Information Services Report 5. Finance Report 6. Corporation Counsel Report 7. Administrative Coordinator Report A. Workers Compensation/Risk Manager Position Funding Option B. 2002 Proposed Budget & Goal Setting Schedule C. Update of Maintenance Director Position before Personnel Committee 8. County Clerk Report A. Election report and demonstration 9. Bettendorf v. St. Croix County lawsuit. Closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. sec. 19.85(1)(g) - conferring with legal counsel concerning strategy to be adopted in responding to this action. Reconvene in open session following conference with legal counsel. 10. Performance Evaluations - Closed Session Per WI Statute 19.85 (1) (c) A. Corporation Counsel B. Administrative Coordinator 16. Reconvene to Open Session per 19.85(2) CORRESPONDENCE: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) Date: COPIES TO: County Board Office News Media/Notice Board County Clerk County Board County Departments i FINANCE COMMITTEE Regular Meeting April 9, 2001 Meeting called to order by Chair O'Connell at 8:30 a.m. Present: Tom Dorsey, Tom O'Connell, Nancy Bieraugel, Ralph Swenson and Stan Krueger. Staff present: Administrative Coordinator Chuck Whiting, Finance Director Rich Loney, Corporation Counsel Greg Timmerman and County Clerk Sue Nelson. Others present: Suprs. Rose, Speer and Mortensen and Judy Wiff, media. Motion by Dorsey, 2nd by Bieraugel to adopt the agenda. Carried. A special meeting will be held prior to the Board session on April 17 at 8:00 a.m. Next meeting is May 10, 2001. Minutes of March meeting: Clerk Nelson corrected Robole's report to read "a decrease of $.38 a therm for the last gas bill." Motion by Swenson, 2nd by Bieraugel to amend the minutes to read an "enhanced" monthly financial report for Health and Human Services rather than an "on-going." Motion by Swenson, 2nd by Bieraugel to approve the corrected minutes. Carried. Vouchers: O'Connell reviewed vouchers. Motion by O'Connell, 2nd by Swenson to approve payment. Carried. Pierce-St. Croix Humane Society: President Judith Hillert and Executive Director Theresa Jonas were present to explain the $9,976 bill to the County from the Humane Society. Jonas stated a search warrant was obtained and, along with a Sheriff's deputy and veterinarian, they investigated a complaint in the Town of Hammond. After two visits a total of 26 dogs and 6 puppies were removed and cared for by the Humane Society. Sheriff Hillstead noted his department had received previous complaints. The dogs did not have proper feed, water or shelter and he authorized the seizure. The District Attorney's office prosecuted and due to an agreement in court, five dogs were returned to the owner. The Court ordered payment of the vet bill but not the costs for housing the dogs at the Humane Society. Public Protection Chair Speer said a Humane Officer position was discussed with funding requested from the Dog License fund. The license funds pay dog damage claims and other related expenses with remaining funds being returned to the municipalities. When the money goes back, it should be earmarked for animal control but it is often spent elsewhere. 1 Discussion on Town of Hammond involvement. Sheriff said the Town Chairman did contact the owner and warned him but there was no improvement in the treatment of the dogs. Law enforcement must enforce the law. District Attorney Eric Johnson stated the conviction did not call for restitution from the dog owner and the bill was not presented to the Judge. Supr. Rose said the Sheriff is meeting with the Towns to develop a plan, policies and guidelines to deal with future animal abuse problems. Chair O'Connell requested the Sheriff, Humane Society, Corporation Counsel and Public Protection Chair Speer work out an agreement on the bill. Timmerman said the Towns should be asked to authorize using the dog license fund for cost of housing animals. No one has budgeted for this bill but it is a cost of law enforcement and Contingency Fund should be used for payment. The dog fund cannot be used to pay this bill unless the Towns agree. Bieraugel complimented the Humane Society for the good service they provide to the County. Jonas said they kept the costs of the bill as low as possible. Motion by Swenson, 2nd by Bieraugel to pay the Humane Society bill of $9,976 from the Contingency Fund. Motion defeated. Building Maintenance Report: Facilities Manager Robole reported Hanson Electric has completed the electrical work at the Baldwin Ag. Building. The state inspector has been notified to complete the inspection. Hurlburt finished the installation of fans. Trane will program the Tracer system. Robole contacted Ayres and HVP Design for possible rebate. Both companies have agreed to pay 15% of $17,895 repair cost for inconvenience and non-competitive bid climate. Motion by Bieraugel, 2nd by Krueger to accept the $2684 payment. Carried. Judge Needham has requested the removal of two benches in his courtroom to increase the "well" area for attorneys. Motion by Bieraugel, 2nd by Dorsey to approve request to adjust the area in Courtroom 4. Carried. 2 The judicial assistants requested each desk have a panic button. Robole said if this is approved, many more requests will be received. We would have to scrap the present system and install a new system costing between $10,000 and $20,000. Gas costs this year are approximately $10,000 over budget. Judges' Request: Judge Lundell and Judge Needham present. Judge Lundell cited the recent election for Circuit Court Judge, Branch II won by Ed Vlack who is the current Family Court Commissioner. A new Commissioner will be appointed by July lst. Mr. Vlack's law office secretary worked for him also as his Family Court secretary. She will be leaving July 1. The County paid her hourly wages but no benefits. The Judges are requesting a full time county secretarial position for 2002 but this position will need to start July 1St. Cost of benefits will be $6300 from July through December. The rate of pay is $11.35 per hour. Bieraugel commented the new Family Court Commissioner should have input in the selection process. A motion was made to approve this position but was withdrawn because Finance Comm. needs to approve the job description also before it is referred to Personnel Comm. The Finance Comm. will meet prior to the County Board meeting on April 17 at 8:30 a.m. The Personnel meeting is April 27th. County Board can act on request at the May meeting. Information Services: Krueger reported the Visions program is not working for the Sheriff, Jail and other law enforcement groups. Timmerman advised the contract from Visions was to provide certain things and to see if other things could work through research and development. Bieraugel reported the Administration Comm. determined the Information Services Comm. should be a sub committee under either Finance or Administration. Committee agreed to leave it under Finance and O'Connell said Whiting should evaluate the Computer Services Director. Finance Director: Loney indicated the monthly finance report includes both General Fund and Contingency Fund authorizations. Other reports distributed were Nursing Home Operations, Health and Human Services, Departmental Expenditures and Revenues. Swenson asked Loney to prepare a report with 2000 expenditures 3 minus the salary increases. Loney sees no red flags in the 2001 budget. O'Connell questioned if the Nursing Home was purchasing new beds. Whiting will check their 2001 budget to see if this was included. Administrative Coordinator: Upgrade of Maintenance Director. Personnel Comm. agreed to review the position but recommended following normal time lines for the review process which would be June and July. Workers' Comp/Risk Manager Position. Personnel Comm. reviewed the position and determined it to be a pay range 7 with a salary range of $17.19 to $22.98 per hour. The former position has been vacant for two months so there is no budget issue. Workers' Comp covers 70% of the position cost. Motion by Bieraugel, 2nd by Krueger to approve the position as described and advertise the vacancy. Carried. 2002 Budget. Whiting and Loney developed a budget schedule including reviewing the capital outlay report with Springsted in May and Committee Chairs attending the June Finance meeting for budget discussion. Krueger said Finance needs to set the goal and committees need to meet these budget goals. Discussion on new positions. Dorsey asked if Personnel Comm. denies a position, the only appeal is to County Board, not Finance. If Personnel approves a position, only the County Board can deny it. Is this the only way to change either stand? Whiting said additional personnel requests need more standards. Date changes: September Finance will be the 7th due to WCA conference. June 7th was previously set rather than the 8th Motion by Swenson, 2nd by Bieraugel to accept the proposed budget time line and concepts as laid out in the documents. Carried. Whiting mentioned a meeting with Brian Larson of Ayres in regard to determining the property needs of the building given any possible expansion. Cost for this was $1900. Committee will address at the April 17th meeting. For information purposes Whiting noted the City of New Richmond is doing a comprehensive planning process. The City has retained 4 L a consultant who has offered to do an extensive evaluation of the County's 600 acres for $3,600. A letter was shared from Dave Larson, Assistant Director of Parks, in which he said the blown down woodshed will be replaced with a 30 x 40' pole building with cement floor and minimal electrical service. Insurance will cover all but $1500 which will be handled by the Parks Outlay account. County Clerk: Sue Nelson reported 458 passport applications were processed so far this year with a revenue of $6870. Very few problems have occurred. Nelson thanked Dave Schatz and Annette Massie from Computer Services for their help in showing election results via computer and screen in the Board room and for transferring results to the web site. Several compliments were received regarding the web site. The new voting system worked well with just a few glitches that will be worked out in the future. Corporation Counsel: Regarding department reports at meetings, Timmerman advised headings were not sufficient if action needs to be taken. Items requiring motions need to be listed. A closed session was not necessary for the report on Bettendorf lawsuit against the County. Timmerman said zoning issues have existed since 1996 with Bettendorf trucking. This is the fourth law suit and involves $367,000 alleged negligence on the County's part. The case has been turned over to the County's insurance company WMMIC. Closed Session per WI Statutue 19.85 (1)(c): Motion by Swenson, 2n by Krueger to move into closed session at 12:00 noon for performance evaluations of Corporation Counsel and Administrative Coordinator. Roll call: all yes. Carried. Bieraugel was excused at 12:40 p.m. Motion by Dorsey, 2nd by Swenson to come out of closed session at 2:23 p.m. Carried. Motion to adjourn by Krueger, 2nd by Swenson to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 2:25 p.m. Stan Krueger, Secretary 5