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Minutes 10-17-11 MINUTES OF THE FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2011 AT 6:00 P.M. AT THE LIBRARY ROOM "A/' BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT Don Scantlan, Chair David Madigan, Vice Chair Dennis Dougherty George Feldman Terry Lonergan William Shulman Jeffrey Fisher, Alternate Tim Howard, Assistant Finance Director ABSENT Merline Pamplona 1. Call to Order Chair Scantlan called the meeting to order at 5:56 p.m. The Recording Secretary called the roll. Chair Scantlan requested a motion to move Mr. Fisher to a Regular position for the meeting. Motion Ms. Lonergan motioned to move Jeff Fisher from an Alternate to a Regular member for the meeting. Mr. Shulman seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Chair Scantlan suggested dropping Items 5 and 6 from the agenda due to time constraints. Motion Mr. Feldman moved to table the items to the next meeting. Mr. Shulman seconded the motion that unanimously passed. 2. Welcome Dennis Dougherty appointed by the City Commission on September 20 as a regular member filling the unexpired term of Mike Madalena. Chair Scantlan welcomed new member Dennis Dougherty to the meeting and invited him to present himself. 'Mr. Dougherty gave a brief description of his experience. 1 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL October 17, 2011 Chair Scantlan congratulated Mr. Madigan on his appointment as Vice Chair of the Committee. Mr. Madigan stated he may have to resign, and he would discuss it later in the meeting. There was brief discussion about the members selecting the Committee's officers; however, Chair Scantlan stated it was a City Commission role. 3. Approval of Minutes - September 19, 2011 The members noted the task in Item 6 of the minutes was not done. Chair Scantlan agreed to take action on it before the next meeting. There were two changes to the minutes as follows: 'y Page 3, Item 7, first paragraph, 5th line should read: " . . . ensure that a one-page, . . ." 'y Page 3, Item 7, first paragraph, 9th line should read: " . . . survey with the water bill Gi4 would not raise the mailing cost." Motion A motion was made by Vice Chair Madigan to approve the minutes as amended. Ms. Lonergan seconded the motion that unanimously passed. 4. Discuss data collection perspectives for the studies, e.g.: citizens, Staff, others. Chair Scantlan recommended the members obtain three perspectives on their assignments: 1. Speak with City employees who handle the tasks. Arrangements could be made through Barry Atwood; 2. Survey the consumers of the services being studied; and 3. The member should provide his/her independent view seeking information from the internet and surrounding municipalities in order to proceed with the study in the format that has been laid out. This would indicate due diligence was done. Discussion turned to items that have no staff, such as Contracts With No Expiration Dates and Unfunded Mandates. Mr. Howard suggested checking with Mr. Atwood. Mr. Howard also agreed to check on a contact for the Unfunded Mandate task, but believed it would be the City Manager's Office, and possibly Ms. LeJeune. 2 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL October 17, 2011 5. Consider input for questions for use in next Citizen Survey. Changing existing questions and adding more. In Tight of different (and concluded) study topics, do we need to remove some of the questions? This item was tabled to the next meeting. 6. Discuss techniques for collecting Citizen Survey responses. ➢ Can we use water bills this year to target some responses? ➢ Can we use water account numbers to avoid duplication and census characteristic strategy? ➢ How can we remove the weakness in last year's survey (namely that certain populations may not have been represented)? This item was tabled to the next meeting. 7. Continue reviewing selected assignments for next year Chair Scantlan had a list of assignments available to the members and he gave it to Mr. Dougherty for him to identify what assignments he would be interested in studying. Additionally, if the members have assignments they are not comfortable with, they could put them back on the table so another member could study them. Chair Scantlan announced he was handling the Solid Waste Management assignment. Discussion ensued regarding the potential to sell the Utility Service to the County. Water service provides a revenue stream and is an Enterprise Fund. Presently, the City sells water to other municipalities as long as the infrastructure is in place. Discussion ensued regarding pensions. Chair Scantlan inquired if anyone was interested in the assignment. - •- - - - - - - - - - - • - , - - - - • - -e- - become a member of the Committee. It was important the pension recommendation be - - - : - : - - e"" - - """e . If any Committee member knows a financial advisor, please invite them to be a member of the Committee. The Union contracts were part of the pension issue. The Police contract expires in 2012, and the Firefighters' contract expires in 2013. The Firefighters' Union just entered into a Memorandum of Understanding concerning raises for the upcoming year. The White and Blue Collar contracts expired September 30, 2010 and were under negotiation. Mr. Howard agreed to check with Mr. Atwood regarding former Vice Chair Madalena's recommendation from last year, which was to have a consultant do an analysis of the plan assumptions and email it to the members. There had also been consideration of changing the plan to a hybrid or switching to a Defined Contribution 3 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL October 17,2011 comparison of how they are handling these items and would bring information back to the Committee. On a different note, Chair Scantlan pointed out there was an Alternate position open. If a member knew of anyone interested in the position, they should submit an application. Mr. Dougherty agreed to take the salary assignment. Discussion followed salary comparisons could be obtained from the Union. A Human Resource Salary Study would help. Mr. Howard explained the different Unions and the positions included in them. It was noted when members speak with the City employees, they will become more familiar with what needs to be done. The Committee was still on a learning curve. What was missing for next year was what the City's budget shortfall would be. Last year, the Committee was told the budget shortfall this year would be $12 million. It was the goal and function of the FAC to recommend to the City Commission how to close the shortfall. The members discussed the method they used to complete their assignments. Mr. Howard gave a brief overview of the budget process and fiscal year for Mr. Dougherty. Any information and recommendations from the Committee should be received by March/April/May because the City Manager presents her budget in June. This year, they would need to receive it by mid-May. The studies should be done by January, but March and April would be sufficient as long as the Committee had solid recommendations. Further discussion followed that some of the items may be informational, and it could provide justification and background information to the City Commission. The recommendations may not be dollar-for-dollar reductions, but they would help the Commission in their review process. Mr. Feldman noted the former City Manager had provided a great deal of information and had provided projections to the year 2015. He inquired if the Committee could receive updated projections. Mr. Howard agreed to notify Mr. Atwood of the request and also ask how the next budget year would look. Chair Scantlan also recommended the members attend the City Services Institute to become more familiar with the City Departments and their function, While the Committee had the option of meeting with department directors individually through Mr. Atwood, Chair Scantlan but did not believe meetings were necessary with all City Departments. Mr. Dougherty agreed to review the list of tasks and make his final commitments. 8. Establish dates and time of future meetings beyond set meeting of October 17. Chair Scantlan stated moving the meeting dates around was difficult for the City Clerk's office. A Recording Secretary must be present and it was creating scheduling conflicts. The members reviewed the dates and it appeared the members could attend both the November 21 and the December 19, 2011, meetings. 4 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL October 17, 2011 The members reviewed the dates and it appeared the members could attend both the November 21 and the December 19, 2011, meetings. Vice Chair Madigan explained he was a contractor and was on assignment. As a result, he is gone five to six weeks at a time and back for a week. Depending on where he was, he may be able to participate in the meetings via cell phone. He could not take any items to study, as he would not be present. He commented he preferred to not step down from the Committee. Chair Scantlan explained the Committee has an attendance requirement and it appeared Vice Chair Madigan would not be able to meet that requirement. On one occasion, the Financial Advisory Committee had allowed for a telephone call in, but he would have to check with the City Manager about the quorum requirements as he had heard various comments on the issue. Vice Chair Madigan inquired if he could be made an Alternate. Chair Scantlan explained he could submit the request to the City Commission as it was their decision. He recommended sending a letter to the City Manager requesting the position change. The Alternate attendance requirements were the same for a Regular member; however, an Alternate position may open opportunities to participate by telephone because it was not part of a quorum requirement. Motion Mr. Feldman moved to request Vice Chair Madigan's resignation. Mr. Dougherty seconded the motion that failed 2 -4 (Mr. Shulman, Mr. Fisher, Chair Scantlan and Ms. Lonergan dissenting). Vice Chair Madigan abstained from the vote. Motion Mr. Shulman moved to have Vice Chair Madigan communicate with the City Manger to determine if he could be an Alternate. Ms. Lonergan seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Chair Scantlan agreed to approach the City Commission regarding appointment of a new Vice Chair. Mr. Feldman stated he would contact the Delray Beach Financial Review Board and review items that would assist Boynton Beach. He would also like to contact Boca Raton. He asked if the members had any questions for him to ask and if so, to create a list. Mr. Shulman commented he read the Delray Beach report and thought it was good. He suggested it might be helpful to know if they had assignments that helped them to 5 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL October 17, 2011 obtain the results they achieved. The Boca Raton Committee did not have that, but it may have changed. The Delray Board has been in existence for 10 to 15 years. Mr. Fisher also agreed the report was well done. He was most impressed at the end with their recommendation letter as it asserted a degree of authority. He noted there were references the members had spoken with individuals. Mr. Feldman also commented the Committee had often made recommendations for a two -step process to implement changes. He thought now that the Committee had more time and knowledge, they could be more detailed in their analyses and more assertive. Chair Scantlan was not in favor of changing the way the Committee communicated the results to the City Commission. The recommendations were data points. Vice Chair Madigan pointed out the first year was an attempt to gain the respect of the City Commission, professional in their presentation, and be heard by the Commission. All of that was accomplished. Now the FAC could project a stronger recommendation. If that were to occur, the members should discuss what they want to accomplish the second year. Mr. Fisher explained in comparing the Delray report with the Boynton Beach report, he would not have known Delray had 12 years more experience than the Boynton Beach Committee. Chair Scantlan explained the Committee is bringing another data point to the City Commission to make the decisions. Decision making is not the responsibility of the Financial Advisory Committee. That occurs though the process they. use. The members can be more rigorous in their process and in their contact with the community and staff. However, he was not supportive of changing the way they communicate their results to the City Commission. It was suggested the Committee could be more assertive without being belligerent. 9. Adjournment There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was properly adjourned at 7:15 p.m. followed immediately by the members viewing the mandatory Ethics DVD. 10. Participate in watching the mandatory Ethics Training DVD followed by completion of the certifications, which will be collected and turned over to the City Clerk's Office for tracking purposes. & Catherine Cherry Recording Secretary 101811 6