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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-05-21 Finance Committee Minutes FINANCE COMMITTEE May 21, 2007 Minutes Councilors: Stone, Gratwick, Farrington, Hawes, D’Errico Staff: Cyr, Barrett, Hupp, Birch, Comeau 1. Consent Agenda At the request of Councilor Stone, Cyr provided background information regarding the HUD grants. Shelter Plus Care grants provided rental assistance to qualified individuals who meet certain political criteria. The City first applied for these grants in 1994. The two Orders are grant renewals for the two grants. The grant monies provide assistance to individuals who are determined to have chronic substance abuse issues, severe mental health issues, and supportive services for the individuals. A motion was made and seconded to approve the Consent Agenda. Both Orders will be referred to full Council for their action. a. Council Order 07-176, Accept & Appropriate HUD Tenant Based Shelter Plus Care Grant in the Amount of $246,660 b. Council Order 07-177, Accept & Appropriate HUD Shelter Plus Care Grant in the Amount of $221,400 2. Bids/Purchasing a. Fence Installation – Dakin Pool – Parks & Rec – ADA Fence - $12,056 Cyr indicated that the Friends of Dakin Pool Committee, formed last year, has raised in excess of $100,000 in support to maintain Dakin Pool, which is owned by the City. Currently a new pool house is being erected by Eastern Maine Community College students. Part of the project is to replace the fence. Nine bids were issued and four responses were received. Staff recommends awarding the bid to ADA Fence, the low bidder. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff recommendation. b. Audit Services – City Wide – Runyon, Kersteen, Ouellette - $56,500 Cyr said the City issues audit service contracts for a fixed three-year term with the ability to renew it for two additional one-year periods. The extensions have been exhausted and the City bid for the services. Cyr reviewed the services required of the firm by the City. Seventeen bids were issued and three were received. James George PC of Boston submitted the lowest dollar cost bid; Runyon was the second lowest cost respondent, and Macdonald Page of South Portland with the highest cost bid. Cyr has no knowledge of the George firm. It appears to be a one-man operation, with not much experience with Maine governments. The largest single audit performed by him is $60M for a school district. He has performed only one MAAP audit in Maine. She feels the firm does not have the depth or experience needed for Bangor. She provided her reasons for recommending Runyon. Gratwick asked why local firms did not respond to the bid. He asked about the criteria used. Cyr said that governmental accounting is a very specialized area. It is not profitable for an audit firm to perform just one governmental audit. There are two firms in Maine that audit the larger communities – Runyon and Macdonald Page. Responding to Farrington, Cyr said it is not mandatory to change audit firms. Barrett said that with Runyon they do look at different areas each year and they do bring items forth in the management letter, mainly at the City staff’s urging. Last year, it was the area of general assistance. Responding to D’Errico, Cyr said last year the City paid just under $54,000. They bid a fixed price for the first three years of the contract and then come before this Committee annually for the remaining years. They usually go up 2½ to 3%. This year there was an extra $1,500 due to federal audit requirements. Stone asked if it would be to the City’s advantage to request a different auditor from Runyon. Cyr said she did not feel there would be significant differences. Auditors work from a specific audit plan set by the firm. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff recommendation. c. Reconstruct Cargo Apron – Phase I – Airport – Sargent Corporation - $1,866,237 Cyr said two bids were received for this project. Staff as well as Edwards and Kelcey, the Airport’s engineering consultant, reviewed the bids and recommended the low bidder, Sargent Corporation. Responding to Gratwick, Hupp said all alternates are included, and the project is in line with EPA guidelines. The total amount of these projects is approximately $2.3M with federal funds covering 95% of the cost and the State covering 2.5%. A motion was made and seconded to recommend staff’s recommendation to full Council for final action. 3. Council Resolve 07-178, Apply, Appropriate & Accept FAA AIP Grant Funds in the Amount of $2,278,747 Cyr indicated these Federal Aviation Administration funds will be used for the initial phase of reconstructing the Airport’s cargo apron ($2,065,000), the installation of a deicing fluid storage tank for the runway ($106,653), and the purchase of snow removal equipment ($107,090). Hupp explained that these funds will be used for the initial phase of reconstructing our cargo apron, the installation of a deicing fluid storage tank, and the purchase of snow removal equipment. The total amount of these projects is approximately $2.3M with federal funds covering 95% of the cost and the State covering 2.5%. Hupp answered technical questions posed by Farrington and Stone. D’Errico asked about Guard financial participation. Hupp said there was not Guard participation in this particular project and the deicing products are also strictly an Airport project. A motion was made and seconded to recommend staff’s recommendation to full Council for final action. 4. Update by City Assessor Birch reviewed the information he had previously provided to the Committee including the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight report, sales analysis for July 2005 to June 2006, FY08 neighborhood adjustments, the Maine Revenue services information regarding telecommunications personal property tax, LD 1261, LD 1100 and proposed legislation dealing with freezing the valuation on primary residences. Committee adjourned at 6:10 pm.