BOARD OF FINANCE
JANUARY 20, 2004
REGULAR MEETING
1. CALL TO ORDER
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Finance was called to order at 6:00 P.M. in the Main Meeting Room at the Simsbury Town Hall. The following members were present: Chairman Paul Henault, Peter Askham, Candace Fitzpatrick, Nicholas Mason, Kevin North and Michael Wade. Also present were Finance Director Kevin Kane, Assistant to the First Selectman Brandon Robertson, Director of Public Works Michael Wrabel and other interested parties.
APPROVE MINUTES
November 18, 2003 Regular Meeting
Mr. North moved to approve the minutes from the November 18, 2003 Regular Meeting. The motion was seconded by Mr. Wade.
Mr. North commended Mr. Mason on the excellent job he had done editing the minutes to make them more clearly expressed. The other Board members concurred. Mr. Askham noted one more change.
A vote was taken, and the motion passed unanimously approving the minutes as amended.
December 16, 2003 Special Meeting
Mr. Askham moved to approve the minutes from the December 16, 2003 Special Meeting. The motion was seconded by Mr. Mason and carried unanimously with Ms. Fitzpatrick abstaining.
December 16, 2003 Regular Meeting
Mr. Askham moved to approve the minutes from the December 16, 2003 Regular Meeting. The motion was seconded by Mr. North and carried unanimously with Ms. Fitzpatrick abstaining.
December 30, 2003 Special Meeting
Ms. Fitzpatrick had not received the minutes in time to read them thoroughly but had noted some possible discrepancies on pages two and three. She asked that the approval of these minutes be tabled until the next meeting. By then she will have had time to listen to the audio tape of the December 30th meeting and compare what was actually said to what was written in the minutes.
Ms. Fitzpatrick moved to table the approval of the December 30, 2003 Special Meeting minutes until the next Board of Finance meeting. The motion was seconded by Mr. Wade and carried unanimously.
PROJECT UPDATE
Sewer Treatment Plant Expansion and Renovation
Mr. Wrabel stated that the DEP has responded in writing to Earth Tech. He added that by the end of the week he hoped to have everything resubmitted to DEP for their approval for the plans and specs. When they are approved, they can go out to bid. Then the firm cost has to be submitted to the State Bond Commission for approval for construction. After that, a contract can be signed and work begun. He hoped for a date of late April or early May, and that would be contingent on the State Bond Commission.
Mr. Henault asked if the Town were going to front the money. Mr. Kane answered no. Mr. Henault then asked where this was in writing. Mr. Wrabel stated that he has copies of pieces and that the Water Pollution Control Superintendent does also and Earth Tech does. Mr. Robertson stated that there is no official document from the State. He noted that there will be an assistance agreement that is generated by the grant through the Bond Commission which the Town should be seeing shortly. He added that they don't have much in writing at this point. He stated that the First Selectman's office has a centralized file containing everything that has been produced to date, but there is no agreement with the State at this point. Ms. Fitzpatrick asked if it is reasonable for the Town to ask
Earth Tech to provide a memo with their understanding of how the structure of the financing would work since they are the Town's consultant in this. Mr. North concurred with Ms. Fitzpatrick's recommendation that Earth Tech be asked to give the Town a summary. Mr. Wrabel offered to handle that. Mr. Henault asked Mr. Robertson to join the effort.
Eno Memorial Hall Air Conditioning
Mr. Wrabel stated that Applied Thermodynamics Associates has pretty much finished the plans. The Public Building Committee is ready to advertise and get prices for the auditorium alone and also the entire building. Mr. Wrabel stated that the PBC has one more review and will then probably put it out to bid in March.
Mr. North commented that he was troubled by the absence of official detail coming to the BOF by way of either staff report or PBC reports. He added that the project amount has grown geometrically during the course of the PBC study. He further added that he doubted, based on the numbers he has heard, there is any hope of being able to do the entire project based on existing identified resources.
Mr. Mason recalled that, at the last PBC, there was a request from the PBC for clarification from the BOS as to whether there was approval to go ahead with the project. Mr. North and Ms. Fitzpatrick stated that there was approval for design but not construction. Mr. Robertson stated that the last step that was specifically authorized by the First Selectman's office was to proceed based on the request of the PBC for a design not to exceed $30,000. This was approved by the BOS but has not come before the BOF. Mr. Kane added that there are funds available, and the First Selectman does have approval to spend up to $30,000.
Mr. Mason stated that he would like to see this project moving forward and done. The other Board members agreed. Mr. Henault stated that he would talk with Mr. Robertson about requesting a report from the appropriate source.
Mr. Askham moved to amend the agenda to discuss the High School Modernization Project. The motion was seconded by Ms. Fitzpatrick and carried unanimously.
High School Modernization
Mr. North stated that the project is proceeding very well. Mr. Mason stated that they are doing everything they can to get back on schedule.
Mr. North stated that some residents do not like the curved roof detail on the front of the high school. The PBC voted to ask the architect to study (design solution and estimates), at a cost not to exceed $3,000, how the appearance of that curved roof might be made more "subtle". The vote was 5 to 4 indicating that there were some folks who did not think that this was appropriate. Mr. North recommended that the Oversight Committee put this high on their agenda. He then expressed his personal opinion that this was ludicrous. He added that this was definitely not originated at the request of the BOE. Mr. North stated that he sees this as a scope change, and to reconsider this essential design feature this late in the process is doing a disservice to the taxpayers of Simsbury. Mr. Henault stated that he would make an inquiry into it.
4. APPROVAL OF EXPENDITURE FROM "ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT" FUND
Mr. Henault referred to the group of memos and Change Order pertaining to this item (Addenda I-A, I-B, I-C & I-D). He stated that the BOS have approved the request, and it now has to be approved by the BOF.
Ms. Fitzpatrick commented that the owner of the property had not signed the Change Order. Mr. North noted that the Change Order was dated 6/25/02.
He stated that since this is going to be the first grant from the $500,000 fund, the BOF should have some assurance that there are policies and procedures for using the funds. He stated that this may get approved because of understandings that had been established, but going forward there should be an application process so that the merits of the projects are considered before they are undertaken. He added that this request puts the BOF in a very embarrassing and difficult position because apparently the work has occurred.
Mr. Henault asked Mr. Robertson if there are any policies/procedures/standards in place. Mr. Robertson stated that there is no standard application process. The only restrictions in the approvals to the expenditures of the funds is a positive referral from the Planning Commission in the form of an 8-24 review, approval by the BOS and final approval, prior to disbursement of the funds, from the BOF.
Ms. Fitzpatrick stated that if the BOF wants more information before approving the request, she feels it is reasonable. The Board may want to compare the former assessment to the current assessment. She recommended that in the future the requests come to the BOF before the person who is hoping to receive the funds is given assurances that he will receive them and with financial accounting that justifies the request.
Mr. North suggested tabling action on this matter until the next meeting because he didn't think the documentation the BOF had was very good. He noted that a Change Order should show a revised contract amount, but this Change Order and revised contract amounts are the same. Mr. Henault agreed that it was reasonable to ask for more information.
Mr. Mason stated that he doesn't want anything the BOF does at this meeting or in the future to retard the intended process of the grant money. He wondered why the funds, set up two years ago, haven't been utilized until now. Mr. Henault agreed that the BOF does not want to give the impression that they are opposed to this program.
Mr. North moved to table the approval of the expenditure from the "Economic Development Infrastructure Improvement" fund until the next Board of Finance meeting. The motion was seconded by Ms. Fitzpatrick and carried unanimously.
5. MONTHLY FINANCIAL REPORTS
Board of Selectmen
Mr. Kane stated that through December, on the expenditure side, they are 53% expended verses 48% the year prior. He added that it is going to be a tough year with Meadowood. At this point, he is projecting a $200,000 deficit in the BOS budget. He stated that on the revenue side they are behind, but this is the month that will really tell with tax payments.
Simsbury Farms
The revenues are down verses last year by about $26,000. The expenses are $32,000 down from the prior year. It's going to be a very tight budget this year.
6. OTHER BUSINESS
Mr. Henault stated that the final Comprehensive Annual Financial Report is out and that all BOF members received one. Mr. Mason stated that he asked Mr. Kane before the meeting if there were any substantive changes from the draft that the Board members saw before, and Mr. Kane said there were not. Mr. Askham asked if the final report got filed with OPM. Mr. Kane said that it did.
Mr. Askham thanked Mr. Kane for all his hard work in preparing the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. He added that his accounting firm audits 35 towns, and only two of them got filed timely. The rest are on extension because they could not comply with GASB 34. He added that similar towns to Simsbury are way behind and that a lot of other Finance Directors didn't do the kind of job that Simsbury's did. He further stressed that Mr. Kane did a lot of work over the past year-and-a-half on this, and it paid off. Mr. Kane received a round of applause from the Board members.
7. ADJOURNMENT
Ms. Fitzpatrick moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:11 P.M. The motion was seconded by Mr. North and carried unanimously.
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Paul Henault, Chairman Roxanne Farrell, Clerk
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