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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-02-02 Finance Committee Minutes FINANCE COMMITTEE February 2, 2009 @ 5:00 pm Minutes Councilors: Stone, Bronson, D’Errico, Nealley, Wheeler, Blanchette, Hawes, Palmer Staff: Cyr, Dubois, Mitchell, Cammack, Barrett, Ring, Birch, Little, Webb Others: Various Members of the Public and Press 1. Consent Agenda A motion was made and seconded to approve the Consent Agenda items. a. Quitclaim Deed – Bartlett – 4 N Street b. Quitclaim Deed – Davis – 174 Holiday Park c. Quitclaim Deed – Lawler – 11 Prays Park d. Quitclaim Deed – Leonard – 19 Fruit Street e. Quitclaim Deed – Meucci – 93 Center Street 2. Bids/Purchasing a. Harbor Security Equipment – Various – New England Communications - $31,507.72 Cyr said that in one of the latest rounds of Homeland Security Funding there was money earmarked specifically for Harbor Security Projects. Since last summer the City Engineer, the Harbor Master, Information Services and Representatives from Police and Fire have been working to develop a project to meet the City’s needs within the funding that is available with our Homeland Security Grant. The City began working with a number of vendors to develop a specific scope and to perform actual on-site demonstrations of the equipment that they were looking at potentially using. After several meetings and follow up, the City ended up with only one quote from New England Communications. This project will install 4 wireless surveillance cameras with coverage areas along the Harbor itself and the adjacent areas. It will improve Harbor security; it will wirelessly feed at this point back to a recording device that will be in the Harbor Master’s office. The City looked at tying it directly into its fiber and connecting to the Police Department to have it monitored, but the cost is not within the City’s budget at this point and the City felt that this would be an appropriate step at this time. The recording equipment can hold up to about 2 week’s worth of information and this will allow us to go back and see what happened within that time frame. Public Works will install an additional pole in order to mount one of these and run some wiring and conduit to tie all of this together. Ring responded by saying that this is a Harbor Security Project and that the Committee and the Council are very much aware of the interest in improving security in the area. It will provide coverage out in the water, the harbor itself and also in the vicinities of docks 2, 3, 4 and 5 which are the ones that get the most visitation and the most use. The City would like to get this project underway as soon as possible in the spring. Nealley wondered why there was only one vender that responded to the quote. Ring said this project needs to be wireless because otherwise it would require the installation of a whole new series of conduits and a lot of disruption. Several vendors could have provided wireless equipment but not the quality of resolution needed so that things can be identified with clear information. Staff had a number of night demonstrations and based on what was seen and the need of this project, the vendor that responded had the type of equipment that was needed for this particular application. Nealley moved staff recommendation. Blanchette asked if the Homeland Security Grant will cover the $31,507.72? Cyr said yes and Blanchette asked if this is adequate protection or will the City be looking to add more in the future. She asked if there will be a need for another $37,000 next year with a need for 3 or 4 more cameras. Ring responded by saying that we can never be sure what we might be discussing 2 or 3 years from now but he doesn’t anticipate that that will be likely. Blanchette asked if the City is able to apply for more Homeland Security Grants because she is not comfortable having all of this equipment in a building that is not staffed 24/7. Blanchette spoke about a sense of false security for not knowing immediately after a crime or why the cameras are not working to perfection. Ring responded saying that in terms of applying for future grants, there is a possibility. Regarding the equipment being housed in a building, the City has been very focused on this with the Police Department. Blanchette commented that she was not happy. Bronson said that he noticed st that the bid is dated December 31 and asked if the prices are still good? Cyr indicated that they were. Palmer stated that video surveillance is really coming into a life of its own. Ring responded to Palmer, saying that the quality of equipment was key in the consideration of designing this project. Stone asked if there is a plan for signage that might deter the situation and Ring said they have talked about it but have not identified a specific sign. Wheeler asked if the grant that came from the Homeland Security Department was intended to be used in this manner and if there are any strings attached regarding how the City uses this grant? Cyr responded by saying that the primary focus of this equipment is to secure the port. This is an approved project in the grant that was submitting to the Department of Homeland Security and approved. A motion was seconded. Item has passage. b. Request to Waive Bid Requirements – Station #6 Items Stone asked Cyr to break down these items separately. She gave background information to include the existing relationships with local vendors where items can be purchased directly. These items were not an integral part of the construction and were taken out of the contract thereby not having any markup i.e. overhead doors, communication equipment, exhaust system, utility access and furniture fixtures.  The first item is for the fiber optic line access. At this point, Time Warner’s head end, ends at the corner of Husson and Kenduskeag Ave. There is not adequate room that goes out to the corner of Griffin to add any new service. The only way to add service is to run a new line from the head end. That means 14,000 feet of fiber that will go back from the corner of Kenduskeag and Husson all the way out to the new Fire station. We have received a quote from Time Warner in the amount of $14,473. The fiber provides the phones and computers to Station #5. It also is the link to the mobile data network that has been installed in all of City vehicles. Our long term plans are to make station #5 the off-site disaster recovery location for all of the City’s data files, which can be shipped off site through the fiber. This is available for funding from the Homeland Security, because it is a part of the City’s interoperability communication link, which means they will pay 100% of this. It was moved and seconded to staff’s recommendation. Stone asked who will own this. Cyr responded that Time Warner will own the 14,000 foot run. Cyr responded to Stone that she has a three page itemized bill that breaks down everything. Responding to Bronson, Cyr said that this is already in a federal grant that has been granted. This item has passage.  The next item is the access control. It was 3 or 4 years ago that the City began implementing the access control within its municipal facilities. The City did this through Homeland Security Grant money. It allows limited access to certain facilities by card holders. It also gives the City the ability to track access and use by users as well. At this time we have the Police Station, all of the Fire Stations, and City Hall on the same access control system. Staff is requesting to waive the bid requirements and contract with Twin City Security Solutions in the amount of $24,768 to install this system at Station #6. It all interfaces into one verex director system. It makes sense to stay with the same vendor to complete the work. Responding to Nealley, Cyr indicated that this will come out of the budget for Station #6 and not from any Homeland Security Grant money previously approved. The budgeted amount of owner provided items was around $224,000. A couple bids have come in lower but this is still on track. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff’s recommendation. Responding to Stone, Cyr said she can go back and check to see if there are any items that are the same as what the Fire Station is needing. Responding to Stone, Barrett suggested that the motion pass with wordage that says that a contract to Twin City Security Solutions in the amount not to exceed $24,768, and direct the Finance Director to review the bid on the initial system to see if there are any discrepancies over which the City might negotiate. This has been moved and seconded and has passage. 3. Ordinance, Amending the Code of the City of Bangor to Consolidate Voting Districts A couple of weeks ago Dubois came to this committee and suggested consolidating polling places for special elections only. The members expressed an interest in exploring that option for all elections. In 2005 the City considered this consolidation and the Council was not in favor. In 2006 the City consolidated from 8 polling places to 4 and at that time implemented early voting at the Civic Center. It has been very well received. Consolidating to one polling place streamlines the voting process significantly. The City would have all the best trained staff at one location. The City would be able to respond to issues more quickly, as opposed to a 10 – 15 minutes drive from one location to the other. All the material and supplies will be in one location and will allow voters to register to vote; change addresses, and have less confusion. Voters often show up at the wrong polling location and often wait in line only to be sent to another location. The Civic Center is a well known polling location that is under the City’s authority. It is easily accessible and has ample parking. The schools have been very accommodating and the City recognizes this. Betsy Webb and staff were recognized as gracious hosts. Dubois has concerns for student safety when elections bring the general public in their facilities. If there was one location at the Civic Center there would be limited access to the entire building during voting so security can be enhanced. The absentee voting trends are continuing to increase. Dubious referred to a chart that was in the packets showing how the voting laws changed in 2000 to allow absentee voting. In 2008 the amount of voters and absentee voters are equal. As far as cost savings, the City could save about 12 thousand annually, mostly personnel costs. The City has 2 elections per year and sometimes more if there are special elections. The City will have to replace the voting equipment this year. Obviously if there is a lesser number of polling places, less voting machine will be needed. We would then realize a one time savings of $50,000. She did point out that this was not a cost saving measure, but a hope to enhance the voting process and stream line it. There are disadvantages that go along with these changes. Changes are difficult at any time and there is a fear that the lines will be unmanageable. This would be somewhat sporadic since people would not be checking in by districts, but checking in alphabetically. Having all staff at one location staff can quickly respond to a specific line that may get too long in order to move things around. In November the biggest line was at the voter registration tables. Dubois proposes to have a voter registration line for every check in line. People would basically go to the check in and walk a few feet across to a voter registration table; update their information and then go back to the check in. One thing to consider is that if something happened that would make that location unavailable for a portion of the day, i.e. a bomb threat, the City would need to have something else in mind. Dubois thought the Parks and Recreation facility would be a logical location because it is so close to the Civic Center and is handicap accessible with a large open area for voting. Other things that have been brought to Dubois’ attention are that the City needs to make sure that voters get the correct ballot. If they are checking in by name, they have to get the district ballot. There would be a need to do some additional training to the staff to ensure that happens. Some voters would have to travel further to this location, but for some this might be more convenient. It is difficult to quantify whether people are actually increasing their travel time. Some of the transportation issues that Dubois has heard about relate to citizens finding it difficult to get to the polls. The City offered free rides on the BAT on Election Day, which was well received. A couple hundred people rode on the BAT on that day. That service could be pushed a little more and possibly offered for extended hours to coincide with the polling hours, or maybe the City could offer additional runs. The City could also offer rides from City Hall to the polling office. These rides might be coordinated with election workers to make it more of a public outreach. If it is a large election, the parking lots would be full at the Civic Center and Dubois suggested using golf carts and shuttle pickups so that people do not have to walk long distances. Wheelchairs could be available at the doors, and would help people into the building if needed. Another consideration is that candidates and petitioners would all be at one location and some voters do not find that particularly pleasant, some find it offensive. Dubois contacted the Secretary of State to see if there were any options. She asked if there was a way the City could put a guard rail area along the entrance and ask the candidates to stand behind the area so that the voters could decide if they wanted to approach the candidates or not. Unfortunately it would be up to the candidates as to whether or not they wanted to comply. Dubois said that she has not had a lot of feedback from people. Charlie Birkel complimented the City Clerk and her staff and the members of our polling realignment committee for all their efforts. He feels that although the reduction to 1 polling location in Bangor may look and seem like a good possibility, it may be too dramatic of a change to quickly for Bangor citizens. He recommends that the City Council hold public hearings and allow citizens to voice their comments, views, and suggestions before attempting to make a decision on further polling reduction. He also feels that when the Council has all the facts, comments and views from all sources, the City will make the right decision. Bill Sullivan stated that he feels that it is a very exciting prospect. He hopes the Council will consider it and decide to go forward with the recommendation to have a single polling place. Betsy Webb provided the committee with information from the schools. The school staff has worked well with the City Clerk’s office and always tries to accommodate the needs of the City. She said that there are certain things the schools are unable to do, such as allowing the staff to get into the schools the afternoon before election or even the evening before. The schools have to continue with their after school activities. If the weather cooperates, the schools are able to move physical education classes outside, however, if the weather does not cooperate than that is not an option. The City has used the High School gymnasiums for one polling center and although there is a curtain that separates that gymnasium from the other 2 gymnasiums voters often complain that they want it quieter. That is understandable; however, physical education class at the high school level can be loud. Blanchette commented that it is inconvenient to wait in line. The difference that has taken place in Bangor is that the voting lines have been quicker and the number of errors have been cut down. Bangor and the larger service center communities have fewer, if any, recounts on their elections. She does however, think it is immoral for candidates to go to a voting place and stand there when people are trying to vote. She does feel that it is important that the City provides a shuttle bus from downtown to the Civic Center and back to the bus station. People should not have to take other buses to get to the Civic Center. Palmer commented that the petitioners should not be forgotten in this process. They can be aggressive and particularly annoying. For candidates and petitioners he would vote for a two rope process; one rope for those that would like to talk with the petitioners and the other rope for those that are not interested. Palmer said he liked one voting place because no one will get their location wrong. He asked Webb her opinion on whether students are more at risk with the added traffic from the voting public. Webb said yes they are more at risk and they try to keep students in separate sections of the school. They increase security and try to have more coverage for the traffic outside. Bronson thanked Dubois and her committee for their efforts. He supports early voting and finds it very convenient. He does have some reservations about going to one polling place. He prefers to vote in the sanctity of the polling place and that sanctity is destroyed when all the candidates are there. The other point he wanted to make is that if there is another polling place for emergencies the City would need to put some effort into seeing that the secondary polling place is able to be used in short notice. He suggested having two polling places, one in the east side and one on the west side. This way, if one of the two polling places becomes compromised you can immediately, switch the whole process to the remaining location. Wheeler and Hawes complimented the City Clerk and the research that was done. Hawes asked how many citizen comments the committee received that the Councilors did not. She is concerned about going to only one polling place without citizens input as far as whether transportation will be difficult, access etc. She is also concerned with the Parks and Rec building being a back up location because of the lack of parking near that building. She feels that there is more work to be done before deciding on just one location. Nealley stated that this was a public meeting and the level of concern is not high for most people. He stated that when this issue goes to Council, it will be another public meeting and those that have concerns and want to be heard will attend the meetings. Stone stated that he plans to support this because of his concern for the children that attend the public schools, and the confusion in the polling places that exist today. Stone said he has a lot of faith in the City Clerk and her staff. He asked Barrett if this would come to the full Council Monday and how the City can let the world know that if they have any concerns about this they can come to the Council Meeting. Barrett responded by saying that he can put something on the website, government channel and ask the media to help. Dubois stated that there was an ad in the legal section advertising the public hearing next week. In addition to that she did an educational piece on the Government Access Channel that started airing today. She has had 4 people contact the council. She feels that she has done what she can do to get the word out. Barrett commented that some people don’t pickup on this information until they travel to the polling place. There is an advantage this year of having the first election in June be a low turn out election and then again in November. Barrett said he would recommend taking a vote because there is a public hearing scheduled on Monday. Blanchette asked Dubois what the City would do if the power was lost instead of going to a secondary site. She asked if the City could get the Secretary of State or the Legislator to approve something in advance in the event of a power failure or some other natural disaster. Dubois said that currently the State Law dictates when the polls are open and that on Election Day absentees are not permitted. Scarbough lost their power in the last Presidential election and there was no back up power and no windows. They handed out flashlights to everyone that came in and people continued to vote until the power was restored. During the situation at the High School this year where the fire alarm was pulled and voters were out of that facility for about an hour, the Attorney General got involved and obtained a court order to ask the City to stay open an additional hour for those voters that were not able to vote. Blanchette stated that she feels that the City has always been proactive and feels she would be more comfortable if we had permission from the Secretary of State or the Attorney General as to what the City could do. Stone thanked Patti, her staff and other members of the committee on behalf of the whole City Council for a super job and for her tireless efforts and input and time. 4. Presentation of FY 2008 Audit Results Cyr referred to 3 items to be discussed tonight. The first was a letter that states what the City’s responsibilities vs. the Audit’s responsibilities and how the work was accomplished. The other item is the Management Letter. The rd 3 item is the charts and graphs and summaries and comparison for the City relative to other communities within the State. Roger LeBreux is a partner at Runyon Kersteen Ouellette, Casey Leonard is the manager. Roger started with the Management Letter and said that accounting is always changing; beginning in 2008 they have to test internal controls. This added about 20% to the audit. A by-product of this testing is the Management Letter. The City has no Material Weaknesses. It has one Significant Deficiency and a handful of what is called other comments. Other comments are things that can easily be fixed if brought to the City’s attention. A Significant Deficiency is to look back and say that there are things that can be done to mitigate it, but we can not make it go away. This might be a cost benefit type of thing. The one Significant Deficiency that the City has is nothing new. It deals with the sewer utility and the City’s relationship with the Bangor Water District being a separate non City entity. The rest of these are just general comments that came up as a result of our test work and just areas of improvement. Casey then spoke about Enterprise Fund Deficits, Bass Park fund had a significant Deficit of $1,650,000 and the Parking Fund had a deficit fund balance of $430,000 at the end of the year. They recommend that the City continue to review these funds and find ways to reduce cost or increase revenues. The next comment related to acquiring a Capital Asset Tracking System. Currently the City’s capital asset information is maintained in an excel spreadsheet, which can be prone to problems. Roger referred to Segregation of Duties which means that in an ideal situation no one person can do two related tasks at the same time. In the Treasury office mail receipts are opened and processed by the same person. In the sewer department there are only 4 individuals that work there and perform counter related function. Segregation of Duties is not practical. Code Enforcement has the same individuals that receive payments and reconciles received payments for permits that are issued. In the Assessor’s office an employee makes a payment and any employee may perform a reconciliation of such receipts. Cash outs occur once a week and all employees have access to the same cash box. At the Public Works garage the inventory manager performs the inventory counts, updates the computerized information and also receives inventory. Lastly, the auditors noticed in the following areas in which City policies were either not being followed or there were opportunities for strengthen practices not covered by the policy, in the Clerk’s office there was a lag between when cash is received and when it is processed in the Treasury’s Department, Bass Park had receipts collected at the beginning of the month that were not processed in the Treasury Department until the end of the month, It was also noted that there tends to be delays when the Water District collects payment and when it remits those payments to the City. The next Comments relate to the Women/Infants and Children program (WIC). The auditor noted that some of the documentation was incomplete. The next Comments relate to School Activity Funds. The School Activity Funds are accounts that are held on behalf of student groups like the “Class of 2009”. During our testing several instances were noted during cash disbursements where backup documentation was missing including receipts and invoices, some had cash receipts that were received at one of the schools and held for a few weeks before being deposited. They recommend that the School Department implement a policy that deposits are made at least once a week. The next Comment is the Arbitrage Rebate Calculations and the need to recalculate every five years. The last Comment relates to the Public Works electrical and inventory. As part of the audit process at the end of the year they go in and observe the taking of inventory. They perform a recount and compare that recount with the original counts that was taken by City staff. Cyr stated that in regards to the Significant Deficiency with the Sewer System, the Committee has concluded that taxpayers should be allowed to pay at the Water District if they choose to. Most of the money that is received from the Sewer goes directly to the Water District. Over the last couple of years the City has improved the relationship with the Water District. The City does, on occasion, find the District holding a significant amount of City money. They are supposed to issue a check every time it hits $100,000.00. The Enterprise Fund Deficit speaks for itself. The City is aware and trying to amend it. The Capital Asset Tracking System would require the City to spend $3,000, but an Excel spreadsheet works. Segregation of Duties will always be an issue with this municipality. The City is decentralized enough that the tasks can be dived up. The Sewer Fund and Code Enforcement deal with large amounts of checks and it is much harder to have concerns when dealing with checks as opposed to cash. The Assessor’s office deal mostly with cash and might take in 2 or 3 thousand dollars a year. It is a wide open area and there are a number of people there. The Public Works inventory is a good point and she will talk to Dana but feels that it would be very hard to walk away with an armload of inventory with personnel around and the employee parking the way it is. Referring to the cash receipts, Cyr admitted that people tend to lag behind now and then. Most of these areas such as the Clerks office and Bass Park have heavy duty safes and the money is locked up. If the department is short staffed then cashing up might not be a priority. The WIC program has had a lot of transition over the last couple of years and has gone through 3 Program Managers. The Schools are trying to get the School Activity Funds fully under control, but have made huge strides. It is now on the School Department’s accounting system. Arbitrage Calculations need to be done. We are now spending our bond money within a 24 month period, which is required. Regarding inventory, the City will probably have extra staff from the office next year and walking around to ensure that the inventory counts are accurate before the Auditors come. Nealley requested that in the future a meeting be held to look at the Enterprise Fund Deficit at Bass Park regarding the most accurate burn rate. He suggests that maybe looking at closing the facility during down months. Blanchette asked what the cost would be for the Public Works inventory of our electrical equipment be if an inventory company took it over. This would remove it from personal involvement. Cyr said that the City has never looked into this and feels that because it can use city resources the City would not want to spend the money. Wheeler requested a tabulation of how much the City has had to transfer to the Bass Park operations in the past 25 years. Cyr responded by saying that many years ago the City forgave the amount owed at that particular time. Barrett said staff will do the best that they can to look into this. Stone asked the Auditors to compare the per capita debt for the City of Bangor to other municipalities. He stated that it was 10% less than it was in 2003 and 50% more than it was in 2002 per capita. He asked which ones jumped out at them. Roger responded by stating that he thought Bangor looked favorable. Bonding agencies would say $2,500 to $3,000 or less. The City of Bangor is at $1,941 which is non-self supporting. The Tax collection rate is a great indicator of what is happening in the economy. States are cutting back on state revenue, excise taxes are down, and state subsidies for schools are down. Roger feels because there is an adequate mix of business and personal property and real estate taxes the 7½% rule worked great but now given what is going on, these needs to be looked at. Responding to Stone’s question, Roger said he did not see any troubling trends. He said that the City’s excise tax is slowing down but so is the rest of the State. The City’s subsidies got hit but not as much as other communities. Barrett brought up the Undesignated Fund Balance because that is something the City always struggles with. He said he would like the 7½% moved to 10%. The Charter says no less then 5% and no more than 10%. It would allow the City to have more cushion for down times. Responding to Nealley, Roger said that Bangor is unusual in that it has several Enterprise Funds and Special Revenue Funds and has a lot of Departments outside the City that collect revenue. Barrett said the City tends to have a tight budget on the expense side. He said that with a $43M City Budget before transfers the City was under budget by $35,000. Roger pointed out that there where two other areas he recommends the committee to read; the Transmittal Letter and the Management Discussion and Analysis. Cyr said that when looking at the City’s General Fund broken out between revenue and expenses, it is very clear. Taxes are 52% of the revenue that the City generates, 48% of the City’s revenue comes from other things. 31% is intergovernmental, which is state aid education and general assistance reimbursement and revenue sharing. On the expenditure side a 51% of the resources that the City generates is dedicated to education. Bronson thanked the Auditor and said that it was a good looking report. 5. Request to Execute an Agreement with Other Municipalities – Bangor Gas Abatement Request Birch stated that the reason for this meeting was to brief the committee on an upcoming appeal with Bangor Gas. Bangor Gas filed similar abatement requests with 7 communities in the Bangor area. The assessors met as a group and the recommendation was to formulate an appeal and go together to solicit site profession and legal fees and appraisals. He provided a memo th dated Jan 28 outlining that. At the bottom of the memo there is a proration of a scale based on the original cost of equipment filed by Bangor Gas for each community. He feels that this is the best formula that would benefit taxpayers in Bangor. Norm Heitmann and Barrett have discussed this legal situation as well. Barrett pointed out that this is the first step and simply authorizes the local agreement between the various communities. This may be a relatively expensive undertaking. Based on some similar cases such as in Brewer, the legal fees were $59,080.82 and that was just through the appeals process to the State Board of Property tax review. They were satisfied with the results and decided not to go through the court system. Not knowing the full merits of what Bangor Gas has in mind, those legal fees could be significantly higher as a group. Bangor’s portion would be about nd 45%. Birch then stated that the 2 year and each year forward would have been $132,000 in tax dollars. Nealley noted the split that Birch is referring to with other communities made sense to him and looked like an equitable way to move forward in conjunction with the other communities. He moved staff recommendation on this issue. Birch said that all communities have agreed and are approaching their municipal officers. Barrett stated that this falls into some of the Council’s priorities in that this openness to a regional initiative. 6. Executive Session 36 MRSA Section 841 (2) – Hardship Abatement 7. Open Session – Hardship Abatement Decision Staff Recommendation Meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.