Board of Finance Minutes - 2/27/13

BOARD OF FINANCE
REGULAR MEETING - 6:00 PM
FEBRUARY 27, 2013

CALL TO ORDER

Paul Henault, Chairman, called a regular meeting of the Board of Finance to order at 6:00 P.M. on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 in the Main Meeting Room at the Town Offices, 933 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, CT. The following members were also present: Peter Askham, Jeff Blumenthal, Nicholas Mason, Kevin North and Barbara Petitjean. Also present were Mary Glassman, First Selectman; Mary Ann Harris, Finance Director; Burke LaClair, Board of Education Business Manager; Leslie Faraci, Commissions Clerk and other interested parties.

Mr. North made a motion to modify the agenda in order to move Item #3 to be first in the meeting. The motion was seconded by Ms. Petitjean and was unanimously approved.

3. Transfers

Safety Measures-Town & School

Mr. Askham made a motion to approve a supplemental appropriation requested by the Board of Education for the installation of classroom door locks and hardware in an amount not to exceed $177,000, which will be drawn from the 809(c) account. The motion was seconded by Mr. Mason and was unanimously approved. 

Mr. Blumenthal made a motion to approve the supplemental appropriation requested by the Town of Simsbury to cover the cost of short-term security recommendations (as outlined in Tom Roy’s memo dated January 25, 2013 to Mary Glassman) in an amount not to exceed $77,600, which will be drawn from the 809(c) account. The motion was seconded by Mr. North and was unanimously approved.

Mr. North made a motion that the Board of Finance recommend to the Board of Selectmen that they evaluate their current operating budget for sources of funding their $25,000 security audit and come back to the Board of Finance at an appropriate time to identify the appropriate transfers to accomplish this request. The motion was seconded by Mr. Blumenthal and was unanimously approved.

Dewey Farm Clean-Up

Mr. Sawitzke described to the Board what will be involved with regards to the clean-up of Dewey Farm and provided some history on the property’s acquisition. Mr. Sawitzke said he wants the Board of Finance to be aware of this and Mr. Henault suggested tabling this item and re-addressing it when there is further information about the materials on the site.

 Public Safety Grant

Mr. North made a motion to establish a special revenue account to accept the approved grant of $20,973.25 for the provision of Police Video Equipment Technology. The motion was seconded by Mr. Askham and was unanimously approved.

2. Pension/OBEB Presentation
Chris Kachmar, Principal of Fiduciary Investment Advisors, LLC (FIA), distributed a presentation package titled “Town of Simsbury Defined Benefit Pension Plans - Executive Summary - Fourth Quarter 2012”. Mr. Kachmar gave a presentation covering the following topics; overall capital market themes, asset allocation, plan performance, market performance & volatility, and performance expectations for 2013. When Mr. Henault asked if Simsbury is still allocated properly for 2013, Mr. Kachmar said yes, absolutely.

4. Bond Results

Mr. Henault said the Town went out to the bond market for $5,555,000 in funding to fund multiple projects. He noted the Moody's reaffirmation of Simsbury’s AAA rating. Mr. Henault said the Board of Education, Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance all share the credit for that AAA rating. Ms. Harris spoke about the bid process and expressed how happy she is with the 1.299% bid they received from FTN Capital Markets, the lowest bidder out of eight (8) total bids.  The bid process was discussed further. Ms. Glassman congratulated everyone, as this is the lowest interest rate Simsbury has ever received. She said the amount of bids is a testament to the strength of Simsbury.

5. Grand List Update

Mr. Henault referenced an updated letter from David Gardner regarding the Grand List, which states that the residential value is down approximately 15.6%, commercial went down approximately 12.6% and land down about 13.6%. The memo also referenced The Hartford regarding real estate and personal property. Mr. North said based on this Grand List change, the mill rate is projected to be approximately 36.6 Mills.

6. FY2014 Budget Discussion & Possible Action

Ms. Harris asked what the Board’s determination is regarding OPEB’s 7.5% assumption.  Mr. Henault said that would be left at 7.5% for this year since it is relatively immature. He said this will be continually evaluated.

7. Calendar update
After looking at the meeting dates, it was determined to keep the March 12th meeting and March 19th meeting on the calendar for now. Ms. Petitjean and Mr. Blumenthal noted they would be unable to attend the March 19th meeting. It was also noted there is a March 27th meeting.

8. Correspondence 
Mr. Henault said he had already discussed David Gardner’s memo. He also noted there was an email received from a Simsbury resident regarding the Pharos Farm deal, which Ms. Glassman commented on briefly.

Ms. Glassman then spoke about The Hartford's recent announcement that they will sell their Simsbury property. She described the communication efforts she has taken throughout this entire process and said the meeting finally took place today and the outcome was The Hartford decided to keep 2 out of 3 of their headquarters in CT, Hartford and Windsor, but not Simsbury. She noted there are currently 1,500 employees at the Simsbury location. Ms. Glassman said Simsbury will be helping to develop a marketing plan in combined effort with The Hartford. This topic was discussed further. Potential opportunities and challenges were discussed further.

1. Approve Minutes - January 17, 2013

Ms. Petitjean made a motion to approve the minutes of the January 17, 2013 Regular Meeting with changes presented. The motion was seconded by Mr. Blumenthal and unanimously passed with one (1) abstention. Mr. North abstained from voting on this agenda item.

Mr. Henault referenced a memo from Colleen O’Connor, Tax Collector, stating that the collection rate through February 1st was 97.66%.

Mr. Blumenthal moved to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the Board of Finance at 7:38PM. The motion was seconded by Mr. Mason and passed unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

_____________________     __________________________
Paul Henault, Chairman          Leslie U. Faraci, Commissions Clerk