FINANCE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
CITY
HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2011
SPECIAL
MEETING
7:00
P.M.
1. ROLL
CALL. Mr. Sauer called the meeting to
order at 7:00 P.M., with roll call as follows:
Mr. Blair, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr.
Wisniewski were present. Mr. Fix was
absent. Others present were Mayor
O’Brien, Bill Vance, Lynda Yartin, Chris Schornack,
Lynn Miller, Ed Drobina, Chief Michael Taylor, Brenda VanCleave, Janet Thiede,
Nate Ellis, and others.
2. SCHEDULED MATTERS:
A. Review
and discussion regarding amending the Employee Pay Plan and Authorized Strength
to include an Information Technology (IT) Manager. Mr. Sauer stated having had some time to
think about this and looking at where the City is and what we have in terms of
being able to address the particular issues we may have, he was not totally
comfortable hiring a full-time person that is an Information Technology Manager
because he is not convinced that this would be in our best interests at this
point. He stated he was not sure that we
necessarily have the funding in place or the ability to be able to facilitate
what this individual will need in terms of any type of improvement they may
recommend. Mr. Sauer stated that in
terms of help-desk support we can probably get a better bang for our buck by
doing something else like a contract situation or potentially a part-time
individual. Mr. Wisniewski stated he
thought this had been discussed at the last meeting and everyone was in
agreement with the conclusion that we were going to hire this position. Mr. Sauer stated it was just that he has had
second thoughts and he did not feel this was the best idea. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt we had a number
of holes in our IT plan, we have some severe security issues that need to be
addressed, we have a part-time person who has been doing a mixed reviews job on
this and handling a number of other things.
Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt it was time we got someone in here, for
the size of our organization, to address the issues that we have and to do it
on a full-time basis. He stated he did
not feel there would be a lack of work for this person to do. Mr. Blair inquired if we knew anything about
a budget, outside of the help desk, that the individual will need to do this
job. He stated that obviously once we
hire the person they will need some things.
Mr. Vance stated there are a lot of things we would like an IT person to
do so the investment in the IT person and all of the benefits associated with
that position would just be the initial investment. He stated we would also have to invest in
providing them the means to do the job, and they will need additional resources
to assist them. He stated to hire
someone and not give them any budget to work with could potentially defeat the
purpose, but obviously staff would do whatever the Finance Committee and Council
direct them to do. Mr. Blair stated that
was his concern, because if we hire a person we must fund what they do and he
did not know if he was prepared to fund everything they would want to do. Mr. Blair stated he had struggled with this
as Mr. Sauer did, and he did not know that he was ready to fund a full budget
for things they may want to do. Mrs.
Sanders stated when meeting regarding our strategic plan, one of the major
downfalls of City Hall was our technology and we were so far behind what is out
there. She stated the longer we wait to
bring someone on board and let them tell us what we need, we will continue to
get further and further behind in technology.
She stated she was still of the mindset that we should get someone on
board and see what they feel we need to have and continue to work down that
road. Mr. Barletta stated he was a
little nervous about the idea because replacing a lot of hardware would be
prohibitive. He stated he would like to
make sure that we get our security issues in order and he felt it would be
better to have someone on the inside, reporting to the City Manager, that would
address those issues. Mr. Vance stated the
biggest security issue associated with what we do right now is being
addressed. He stated we have firewalls,
and we have had contract consultants assist us for four years now and they have
averted things proactively, they have brought threats to our attention after
the fact, and he did not envision having any security issues at this time and
he has not heard any concerns from other staff members associated with our
security levels at this point in time.
Mr. Wisniewski stated when the public comes in using back rooms for
meeting spaces at times and we do not have the simplest of locking features on
our computers, he felt we were putting blinders on thinking that we did not
have security issues in this building.
Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt we would be naïve to think that we do not
have some issues here outside of someone coming in through the firewall. Mr. Vance stated it is his understanding that
the majority of our employees take security measures seriously. Mrs. Hammond stated she understood the money
issues, but it appeared to her that with the proposal they had received the
issue of the software, etc., would still be there. Mr. Sauer stated as he understood it, the
difference between the Meridian contract was basically
an additional $10,000 to what we are currently paying budget-wise for IT right
now. He stated compared to the addition
of adding an individual to that position, the benefits, and consultant support
for that individual, he felt the question would be what would we be gaining if
we were not able to fully fund some of those improvements. Mr. Sauer stated further that information was
distributed to the Committee members regarding the IT review so that it could
be compared to the proposal that was provided by Meridian
because it appeared quite a bit of our issues were covered by the
agreement. Mrs. Sanders stated she
looked at it as if the City were running a business and businesses have IT
departments. She stated it seemed like
the fact that we don’t have an IT person was a little shocking because
technology is everywhere. Mr. Sauer
stated he understood that, but also he considered that our police department
was covered by Meridian and if any system in the City would go down that would
be the last one he would want that to happen to, and he has never heard of any
issues there. He stated he would agree
an IT person is warranted, but he did not know if it would fit into what we are
able to do at this point. He stated he
would be more willing to try this contract because we still have the ability to
cancel the contract with a 30-day notice and see if it works. Mr. Wisniewski inquired who would make the
decision that it wasn’t working and Mr. Sauer stated that it would be Council’s
decision to give staff the direction to do that. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt in this day and
age we need to invest in these resources.
Mrs. Sanders stated she would like to know Mr. Vance’s opinion and Mr.
Vance stated staff would love to have a full-time IT person on staff, but he
could also appreciate if that we brought that person on-board we give them the
means to get things done. He stated we
would need to fund the position, the benefits, and give them a $50,000 or
$75,000 budget to work with on an annual basis.
He stated if Council made those funds available
he would be glad to go in that direction.
Mr. Wisniewski stated once the person comes in and gives us an idea of
what is required, that is when they can do more funding. He stated he felt the initial thing would be
addressing some of the security and knowing what could be taken care of under
the umbrella of his position without having to go out and buy new hardware, new
software, etc. He stated when the
individual came back with an assessment we could figure out what the budget
would be for that department. Mr. Sauer
stated he does not completely disagree that this is not warranted, what he
disagreed with was funding a position that was not originally funded. He stated that would obviously affect the
bottom line and there would be additional funding to support the position that
is created, and outside of that, there are other priorities that were noted
with regards to economic development, safety, and street paving. Mr. Sauer stated all of those were competing
interests and if Council decides to fund this
it would become a priority over one of those three items because we can’t fund
everything. He stated he would prefer to
fund the roads, the safety, and the economic development, deal with the IT
right now and hopefully later down the road, as funds become available,
creating this position is something they could pursue. Mr.
Wisniewski moved to adopt the amended Employee Pay Plan and Authorized Strength
to include an Information Technology Manager and forward to Council; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Blair and Mr.
Sauer voting “No,” and Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs.
Sanders voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 4-2.
B. Review
and request for motion to approve draft ordinance adopting the Five-Year
Financial Forecast (2011-2015) Mr.
Wisniewski requested this item be discussed later in the meeting as he had
several questions on the issue. Mr.
Sauer stated he had no objections to that request.
C. Review
and request for motion to approve draft resolution creating the Water Pollution
Control Loan Fund-Water and amending the fund created by Resolution 2000-28R to
reflect it as the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund-Sewer. Mr. Schornack stated this would establish a
fund for the funds received from the EPA for the reverse osmosis project when
the loan is approved. Mr. Sauer moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Blair seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mrs.
Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Blair voting
“Yes.” Motion passed, 6-0.
D. Review
and request for motion to approve draft ordinance for advance of funds in the
2011 Budget, Ordinance 2010-91. Mr.
Schornack stated at this point in time the WPCLF loan with the EPA has not been
approved, however, we have the equipment almost ready to go and Wigen and
Company will be asking for their payment.
Mr. Schornack stated through conversations we have been essentially
guaranteed the loan, however, they are not sure if it would be approved at their
meeting in May or June. Mr. Schornack
stated in the meantime, we need funds available to pay for the equipment, so he
was requesting we advance the funds and once the loan comes in those funds in
the amount of the equipment would be reimbursed back to the General Fund. Mr.
Sauer moved to approve and forward to Council;
Mr. Blair seconded the motion. Roll
call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr.
Blair, and Mr. Barletta voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 6-0.
E. Review and request for motion to
approve draft ordinance amending the 2011 Appropriation, Ordinance
2010-91. Mr. Schornack stated this would
appropriate the funds within the new fund established for the reverse osmosis
project at just over $1.6 million. Mr. Sauer moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr.
Barletta, Mr. Blair, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Sauer voting
“Yes.” Motion passed, 6-0.
Mr. Sauer stated at this time he
would return to Item 2.B., regarding the Five-Year Financial Plan. Mr. Wisniewski clarified the carryover
balance for 2015 with the IT position included in the forecast was $755,000,
and this is about 9 percent of the budget.
Mr. Schornack stated the State’s recommended carryover is 15 percent and
that would be about $1.2 million. Mr.
Wisniewski further clarified that being under the 15 percent would affect our
credit rating. Mr. Wisniewski also
stated this forecast did not contain a Planning and Zoning Director or Code
Enforcement Officer. Mr. Wisniewski also
clarified that the $350,000 figure that was included was just an estimate that
Mr. Schornack had used for the purpose of this forecast. Mr. Wisniewski further clarified that the
forecast included the hiring of one additional police officer in 2012 and one
additional police officer in 2014.
Mr. Wisniewski stated he had
several more questions on this forecast and Mr. Sauer stated he hated to
interrupt, however, Council was scheduled to start
at 7:30 P.M. and it was almost that time.
He stated he would ask that this item be included on the next Finance
Committee agenda for further discussion so Mr. Wisniewski could get all of his
questions answered.
3. ADJOURNMENT. There
being nothing further Mr. Blair moved to
adjourn; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion.
Mr. Barletta, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, and
Mr. Blair voted “Aye.” Motion carried, 6-0. The Special Finance Committee meeting
adjourned at 7:28 P.M., May 17, 2011.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
____________________________________
Lynda D. Yartin, City Clerk