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Minutes 03-26-12 MINUTES OF THE FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012, AT 6:00 P.M., IN THE BOYNTON BEACH CITY LIBRARY, ROOM "A ", 208 S. SEACREST BLVD., BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: Don Scantlan, Chair Barry Atwood, Finance Director Dennis Dougherty Tim Howard, Deputy Finance Director David Katz Terry Lonergan 1. Call to Order Chair Scantlan called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Roll call was taken. A quorum was present. 2. Approval of March 12, 2012 Minutes Chair Scantlan advised he had a possible change to the minutes. On page three, second paragraph, second sentence, he suggested adding the word "initially" when Ms. Lonergan stated she "felt that there was needless money being spent for a March election." (Chair Scantlan was of the opinion that the word "initially" should be added after the word felt, as to not appear to draw a conclusion.) There was discussion between Ms. Lonergan and Chair Scantlan and it was agreed to add the word initially. Motion Mr. Katz moved to approve the minutes as amended. Ms. Lonergan seconded the motion that unanimously passed. 3. Review results of Commission Agenda Item (first of two readings) requesting the Commission to amend the Ordinance creating the Committee Select its own Chair & Vice -Chair Chair Scantlan advised that at the Commission meeting, it was voted that a Vice Chair should be nominated for the Committee. Mr. Katz suggested holding off the nomination until there was a full board. Chair Scantlan asked for volunteers. Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL March 26, 2012 Motion Ms. Lonergan moved to nominate Mr. Dougherty for Vice Chair and was seconded by Mr. Katz. The motion passed unanimously. Update Member qualifications for consistency with the Committee Appointment Application Mr. Atwood advised nothing further had to be done. 4. Citizen Survey discussion Only 2 added responses since March 15 Confirm ending the survey on March 31 Chair Scantlan confirmed that two responses were added since the last meeting and barring anything else, the survey would end on March 31. He would provide a summary at that point. 5. Update by Committee members regarding progress to date of their assignment areas (Updated list of assignment areas attached) Mr. Katz advised he had no update to provide. Mr. Dougherty advised he was presenting one item that was completed. Ms. Lonergan advised she had two assignments that were complete. She advised she was able to meet with Julie Oldbury in Human Resources. Ms. Lonergan stated of all the projects she had taken, there was very little money to be saved. Ms. Oldbury had stated one area being investigated, but was not for publication, was the discussion of furlough days. It supposedly would save the City $187,000. In the interim, she was meeting with the unions to discuss this and is currently in negotiations. There was discussion on how to present this as a recommendation if the recommendation came from Human Resources. Ms. Lonergan would present the recommendation with a pro and con format, and state that it was pending negotiations with the unions. Chair Scantlan advised the only project he was making progress on was the citizen survey In addition, he would set up an appointment with the Interim City Manager to review all the redundancy between City and County services. 2 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL March 26, 2012 6. Distribution and Presentation by each Committee member of Individual Recommendations (Copy of Recommendation Form Attached) Review and vote on each recommendation Mr. Dougherty recommended that funding continue short -term for the Schoolhouse Children's Museum, which was currently funded at $204,000. This included $120,000 for two senior employees. Last year's recommendation was to reduce funding by 8% and the Commission rejected it. The Museum received a $73,000 Quantum Grant. It was unknown how many additional donations or grants they had received to date. Mr. Dougherty discussed some issues he found in the agreement provided by Craig Clark. The funding of salaries was not included in the agreement. It was included in the budget. It was paid out quarterly. The City also had a line item to maintain the building. Mr. Dougherty's recommendation would be to continue the funding for the museum. Mr. Katz requested that if the survey was going to be referenced for this item, that the amount of responses also be referenced. The responses of the survey so far resulted in 88 out of 141 voting against the Schoolhouse Museum. It was recommended to hold off the vote until next meeting to obtain the remaining survey responses, if any, by the cutoff date and then make the additions on the recommendation form. Ms. Lonergan presented her recommendations on the election topic and City parks. She met with Wally Majors and was informed that no park would be closed. Currently, the City was meeting the green space per capita requirement. Ms Lonergan recommended no change. Vote The vote passed 4 -0. Ms. Lonergan presented her recommendation on the municipal elections. After meeting with Janet Prainito, the City Clerk, it was determined that having the municipal elections in March saved the City money. The cities share the costs of the Municipal elections in March, as opposed to the City having to pay the entire cost in November. Ms. Lonergan's recommendation was to keep the March elections. Ms. Lonergan recommended no change. Vote The vote passed 4 -0. 3 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL March 26, 2012 Joint workshop with City Commission set for Sat. May 19 7. New Busi Comment mentioned by Commissioner Holzman at March 20th Commission meeting Chair Scantlan inadvertently left this item off the agenda and requested it be added as an item under New Business. Motion Ms. Lonergan moved to add Item 7, New Business to the agenda. The motion was seconded and unanimously passed. Chair Scantlan mentioned a comment that Commissioner Holzman made at the Commission meeting relative to this Committee not bringing forward proper information. He stated that the Committee had not gotten into the numbers as much as he thought would happen once the Committee was established. Chair Scantlan requested discussion from the Committee. The study items were developed two years ago from surveying the City employees, by the members of the Committee at the time. It gave the Commissioners the opportunity to add items, if they wished. Chair Scantlan would like to go back to the Commission and ask them what items should be looked at that are not being reviewed presently. The Commission should provide advice on what areas they want reviewed. Mr. Katz was of the opinion that possibly the Commission was looking for bigger chunks of money being saved. For example, if there is a $5 million budget shortfall, the garbage rates could be raised $2.00 a month; that was close to $900,000. Chair Scantlan would like to open that communication channel so the Commission could advise the Committee what they want. There was discussion on different suggestions of where to possibly cut the budget. Last year, the Committee met with each Department head. The direction given last year was to cut 8% across the board, which was done. This year the decision was made when there was a full Board to research items individually, rather than meet with the departments. Chair Scantlan advised the A76 study would not be done this year because it was not a one person job and takes significant effort from City staff. He made a presentation to the Commission and made them aware what the A76 study was, but received zero feedback from them. The members all felt there was a lack of direction from the Commission. Chair Scantlan will contact the Interim City Manager and inquire whether it would be appropriate to query the Commission on what should be looked at and add it as an agenda item. 4 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL March 26, 2012 Chair Scantlan commented that at the last Commission meeting he told the Commissioners there would not be a "robust" report. He would give this year's report and invite them to comment or give them an opportunity to attend a meeting and ask questions. It was noted that if another member was not appointed by the Commission before the April 9 meeting, and if the Committee was not dissolved, there would not be a quorum for the April 9 meeting. The meeting would be cancelled. 8. Adjournment Motion There being no further business to discuss, Mr. Dougherty moved to adjourn. Ms. Lonergan seconded the motion that unanimously passed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:02 p.m. r y 1'y Ellie Caruso Recording Secretary 5