THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2007

FINANCE COMMITTEE WORK SESSION

7:00 P.M.

1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Smith opened the Finance Committee Work Session at 7:00 P.M., with the following members present: Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Fix. No members were absent. Others present were: Judy Gilleland and Lynda Yartin.

2. SCHEDULED MATTERS:

A. Coordination of Council and Committee agendas. Mr. Smith stated he would like to try having a work session one-half hour prior to every Finance Committee meeting. He stated the primary purpose of the work session would be to look at the agendas for the following month. He stated he felt this would provide the City Manager a better sense of what the staff needs to do to get ready for the Committee meetings. He stated the second reason for the work session, since all four Committee chair persons are members of Finance, this can also be used as an Executive Committee to gauge interest in issues or to talk about how something should be approached; if it should be assigned to a Committee, discussed under Other Business during Council, etc. Mr. Smith stated he attended the Violet Trustee Meeting last night and we were invited to designate a Council Member to serve on the Violet Township Bi-Centennial Committee and he wondered if Mrs. Hammond would be interested in doing that. Mrs. Hammond stated she does attend that Committee anyway. Mr. Smith stated he would like to have a motion added to the next Council Agenda for Council to appoint the representative to that Committee. Mr. Smith stated perhaps we could also have a representative from our Parks and Recreation Department because some activities may be able to be coordinated with some of our Parks activities.

B. Coordination of Committee activities. Mr. Smith stated he had also asked each Committee Chairperson to look over what they would like to do, outside of normal business, for their February Committee meetings, if they felt their committees were overloaded and something had to be moved from one committee to another, and what support they needed from the staff for their committees.

Mr. Sabatino stated with regard to Safety Committee he was considering some issues that might be items for Safety Committee, however, he wasn’t sure if they would be ready for the February agenda. Mr. Sabatino stated one issue he was considering related to the delivery of Council packets. He stated he felt the delivery took time away from our police officers and perhaps Council members could pick their packets up at the Police Department at their leisure. Mr. Fix stated perhaps delivery could be made on Saturday morning rather than Friday night. Mr. Smith stated he liked the positive delivery of packets, but this was something worth discussing. Ms Gilleland stated we are happy to provide the service of packet delivery as the officers are out patrolling regardless. She stated whatever method Council preferred, we would be happy to do. Mrs. Hammond stated some Council members could also pick their packets up at City Hall. Mr. Smith stated this is a use of police resources, so he felt this is something Mr. Sabatino could add to the Safety Committee agenda. Mr. Sabatino stated he is also doing some research on the Hotel/Motel tax and he was going to put it on the February agenda, although, it may be continued to the next month. Mr. Sabatino stated Safety Committee is also continuing to review the noise issue at the skate park. Mr. Smith stated he knew staff was reviewing the Property Maintenance Code and he would like Mr. Sabatino to take a look at that at Safety Committee. Ms Gilleland stated staff is reviewing that Code, and we cannot just adopt the Code, we need to make some revisions to it, and staff is determining what is pertinent for us to adopt.

Mrs. Hammond stated Service Committee’s agenda is quite full right now with the Diley Road widening project and the wastewater treatment plant expansion. She stated she did not see adding anything additional to the next agenda, and as some of these issues are settled and removed from the agenda, she will be considering other issues for the Committee.

Mr. Fix stated Rules Committee has an item that has been on the agenda for a while with regard to use of staff by council members and how that is done. He stated he felt doing a Charter Review was important, determining clear rules for Council on the Council meetings, and getting some depth for our appointed positions. He stated we currently advertise each time there is a vacancy and he would like to get more information out on these positions so the process can move more quickly when we have a vacancy. Mr. Fix stated he would also like to have Rules Committee work on the Strategic Plan for the City. He stated this is a long process, it will involve all of Council, but he would like to have Rules Committee responsible for the Plan to keep it moving along. Mr. Fix stated this is easily an 18-month or more process. Mr. Smith stated on something this detailed, it is sometimes hard to comprehend if you are not a part of putting it together, and he would hate for that to happen to something as important as a Strategic Plan. Mr. Fix stated he understood that concern, and that is why he would like to have Council involved in work sessions, schedule meetings with a facilitator, and things of that nature. Mr. Fix stated he would be happy to put together a process and provide that information to all of Council.

Mr. Smith stated with regard to Finance Committee it seems that everyone we have an external contract with report to a specific Committee except for the PIO. He questioned if the Committee members would like to have the PIO report to Finance Committee, not necessary attend the meetings, but provide a written report to the Committee. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt the PIO was the Manager’s employee and he did not see that we had a problem in this respect. Mr. Smith stated he was not suggesting there was a problem, he was just suggesting this be added as an agenda item for Finance Committee. Ms Gilleland stated she was not opposed to having the PIO brief Finance Committee because she was in favor of more Council involvement in what message we want to get out to the citizens and how we want to do that. Mr. Smith stated his final issue dealt with engaging in conversation with the Chamber about them taking the initiative on a fundraiser to replace our police dog, Zar. Mr. Sabatino stated that was already under control. He stated the Kiwanis and Lions Clubs have already indicated they will deal with it, however, the police department is not ready to move forward at this time. He stated our Police Chief already has some funding lined up and as soon as they are ready to proceed, these two Clubs will take over.

Ms Gilleland stated once our renovation is complete, we will have a new conference room that will seat between 12 and 14 people. She stated Council may want to think about having committee meetings in the conference room. Mr. Smith inquired if the room will have recording equipment, and Ms Gilleland stated if we determine to use it for meetings, recording equipment will be installed.

There being nothing further, Mr. Smith closed the work session at 7:28 P.M., January 18, 2007.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk