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Minutes 04-22-13 MINUTES OF THE FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2013, AT 6:00 P.M., IN THE BOYNTON BEACH CITY LIBRARY, ROOM "A ", 208 S. SEACREST BLVD., BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: Don Scantlan, Chair Tim Howard, Finance Director Steven Grant, Vice Chair Gary aunmeyer Dunmyer Fakhry "Ed" Boulos Jeffrey Grady Dolores Schlesselman 1. Call to Order — Don Scantlan, Committee Chair • Should any members not be able to make the meeting; contact Tim Howard (HowardT(a�bbfi.us) or (561) 742 -6311 by 3 pm Monday as the meeting may be cancelled for lack of a quorum. Chair Scantlan called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. The Recording Secretary called the roll. A quorum was present. 2. Agenda Approval Motion Vice Chair Grant moved to approve the agenda. Mr. Grady seconded the motion that unanimously passed. 3. Introduction of New Committee Members and updated ,Committee member listing Chair Scantlan welcomed the two new members and asked them to introduce themselves. The current members introduced themselves, as well. 4. Review and Discuss Committee Member Study Topics for FY 2013 -2014 Chair Scantlan reviewed the purpose of the study topics for the benefit of the new members. Each year, the chosen topic findings and recommendations are presented to the City Commission at the budget workshop. These would include areas that do not need to be changed, ones that need improvement and recommendations for improvement. The process entails first speaking with a City staff member and then researching independently, through the Internet or other cities, and finally speaking to neighbors and friends. Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL April 22, 2013 The year begins in October, after the budget is passed. The first meeting usually takes place in November as an introduction to what would be coming up. A meeting may or may not take place in December and things begin to kick off in January. Typically, there would be two meetings a month until a report is submitted at the budget workshops. Once the report is submitted, the Commission reviews the findings and decides whether to use the information or not. Mr. Howard advised the budget workshops with the Commission would be held on July 22 from, 3 -7 pm; July 23 from 10 -2 pm; July 24 from 3 -7 pm. Chair Scantlan reviewed the topics with the new members. He suggested that since it was the end of the study and nearing the final report, to wait until next year to choose topics to study. Mr. Howard suggested going on the City website as there was an abundance of information there regarding City budget, individual department activities, etc. He reviewed the different revenue funds and their designated purpose, as well as other funds. Vice Chair Grant reviewed his study topic, Pension Benefits. He received the actuary valuation for the General Employee's, Police and Fire pension funds and was in the process of reviewing them. He would compare the final numbers, after calculations, with other cities, the state's pension and all other municipalities that do not want to do it in- house. It was mentioned that several cities go 100% on the FRS (Florida Retirement System) and through the League of Cities; they get some of their benefits. It was suggested to add that to the review. Chair Scantlan indicated the City Commission was the one group covered by the FRS. This was due to the fact that the FRS had a special class for elected officials. Mr. Boulos gave an update on his progress of the City fees. He was formulating questions he wanted to present to the Building Department, specifically the City engineer and his staff about the different fees and the frequency of the fees. Chair Scantlan recommended contacting Mr. Howard first and have him set up any meetings with City employees. Mr. Howard suggested formulating the questions and contacting Andrew Mack in the Building Department, asking him to answer the questions and recommending who to contact in other cities for comparison on the same questions. There was a brief discussion regarding the different development fees. Mr Grady provided an update on Make /Buy for City Services. He indicated he completed the feasibility portion. He was reviewing the difficulty and cost effectiveness of contracting services out and the sensitivity issue of the public. Residents tend to like to have "their own" services. He found that cities similar in size to Boynton Beach tend to have some services and not other services. The most likely candidates to review to 2 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL April 22, 2013 possibly contract out would be street repair, some building maintenance /repair, and commercial solid waste collection. He advised he has been collecting numbers and so far there has been consistency with other municipalities. 5. Discussion of City Services Survey and Update on Results Mr. Howard advised he extended the date for responses to May 3. There have been 64 responses so far. He has reiterated to all the departments to advertise it on their Facebook and Twitter pages. Hopefully, with two more weeks, the responses would be close to what they were last year, which was 220. 6. Other Business - Update on Ordinance No. 13 -008 — Amending number of regular members on Financial Advisory Committee Chair Scantlan advised this was a request by the Committee to ask that the Committee size be reduced from nine total members, which includes two alternates, to seven total members with two alternates. It went before the Commission and the options were to accept the recommendation and reduce the Committee size; status quo and leave the size at nine; or eliminate the Committee. Chair Scantlan explained the reason this went before the Commission was due to the fact that many times the Committee could not meet because there was not a quorum. The Commission did not pass the Ordinance amendment and the Committee will remain a nine member panel. Most of the discussion at the City Commission meeting was to decide whether to eliminate the Committee. Chair Scantlan reiterated that the Committee was in place to make the Commissioner's jobs easier, not harder. Most of the budget recommendations presented to the Commission were to maintain the status quo. On the other hand, the Commission has taken their recommendations on many occasions. 7. Adjournment Motion There being no further business to discuss, Mr. Grady moved to adjourn. Mr. Grant seconded the motion that unanimously passed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:12 p.m. Ellie Caruso Recording Secretary 3