HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-22-2002 CITY OF AUBURN
FINANCE COMMITTEE
January 22, 2002
MINUTES
I. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Fred Poe called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM in the Council
Work Area located in the Mayor's Office. Members present included:
Chair Poe, Vice Chair Trish Borden, and Member Gene Cerino. Others
present during the meeting included: Finance Director Shelley Coleman,
Police Chief Jim Kelly, Commander Bob Lee, IS Administrator Lorrie
Rempher, Public Works Director Christine Engler, and Deputy City Clerk
Cathy Richardson. Guests present during the meeting included: Bill
Peloza. The meeting was tape recorded.
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A. Minutes of the January 7, 2002 Finance Committee meetin.q
Vice Chair Borden moved and Member Cerino seconded to
approve the January 7, 2002 minutes.
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3-0.
II1. CONSENT ITEMS
A. Vouchers
1. Claims
F4.9.5
Claims check numbers 307289 through 307546 in the
amount of $1,928,654.64 and dated January 22, 2002,
Claims check numbers 307547 through 307735 and dated
January 22, 2002, and wire transfers in the amount of
$139,700.01.
Finance CommiEee Minutes
forJanua~ 22,2002
Page 2
B. Surplus Property
F4.6.1
1. Police Department
City Council to authorize the surplus and disposal of the
following described property:
Schwinn Mesa Runner bicycle, Serial #GV896616
Schwinn Mesa Runner bicycle, Serial #GV896562
Polaroid MP4 Land Camera, Serial #J94142
2. Public Works
City Council to authorize the surplus and disposal of the
following described property:
Canon Copier NP4040, Serial #NC J03747
3. Finance Department
City Council to authorize the surplus and disposal of items
on the following described property to Washington Women's
Employment and Education (WWEE), a non-profit
organization. Those items that are unusable by WWEE, City
Council to authorize their disposal at the next City auction.
I UPS BattePj
12 DTK PC's
6 Generic PC's
7 Graffica PC's
3 Media Readers
I 14" Monitor
19 Touch PC's
1 Sharp Facsimile Machine (unrepairable) and table
Committee Members briefly discussed surplus property
items.
Vice Chair Borden moved and Member Cerino seconded to
approve the Consent Items.
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3-0.
Finance CommiEee Minutes
forJanuary 22,2002
Page 3
IV. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A. Claims Voucher Number 306974
City Council to consider Claims Voucher Number 306974 dated
January 8, 2002, to DLR Group in the amount of $19,519.35.
Director Coleman explained that Claims Voucher No. 306974 was
for payment of two invoices, one for work performed with regard to
a prototypical fire station and one for work performed with regard to
a public safety building.
Director Coleman recommended voiding Claims Voucher No.
306974 and reissuing a claims voucher for payment of the invoice
regarding work performed for the prototypical fire station. Payment
of the invoice for work performed with regard to a public safety
building will be made at a later date.
COMMI'I-rEE MEMBERS CONCURRED.
¥. ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
There were no Ordinance or Resolutions for Committee review.
VI. DISCUSSION ITEMS
^. Investment Overview
Director Coleman distributed handouts and reviewed allowable
investments for municipal governments, which include U.S.
Treasuries, U.S. Securities, or any general obligation or revenue
bonds of the State of Washington or other municipalities within the
state. Other investments allowed by law include bank re-
purchasing agreements, certificates of deposits, and money market
or savings accounts. The City's current investment policy has a
maximum maturity of two years and calls for performance at the
market yield. Director Coleman reviewed current state and federal
fund rates.
Director Coleman suggested that the Committee take the
investment policy on maximum maturities under consideration. The
current term is two years. The Committee might consider changing
the term to three to five years to take advantage of the yield curve.
Finance Committee Minutes
for January 22, 2002
Page 4
Policy currently allows longer terms for the Fire Relief and Pension
fund and the Cemetery Endowed Care fund.
Director Coleman reviewed year 2001 investment balances as of
December 31, 2001 and the 2001 and 2002 investment inventory.
Chair Poe requested additional information with regard to the State
Investments pool.
Director Coleman expressed her desire to research current City
investments being made through brokerage houses. Director
Coleman suggested obtaining proposals from various firms for
Committee review in order to maximize returns.
B. MS Nextel Phone Service for Police Department
Director Coleman explained that IS Administrator Lorrie Rempher
has been working with Police Chief Kelly with regard to a single
phone that includes phone capability, paging capability, and radio
service capability.
Ms. Rempher reported that the IS and Police Departments have
worked for some time to provide improved communications devices
for the Police Department. The Police Department currently uses
Verizon telephones and Arch Paging. The Police Department has
experienced problems with Verizon with regard to services and
service response has been poor. Arch Paging is currently in
bankruptcy and provides poor service levels as well.
Ms. Rempher stated that public agencies such as Pierce and King
counties, and many local municipal governments are currently
using Nextel services, which provides paging service, secure radio
service, and cell phone service in one unit. The IS Department
proposes purchasing approximately eighty-seven of the Nextel
devices and providing them to all commissioned officers. This
would eliminate fifty cell phones and fifty pagers currently in use.
The Nextel units would provide improved communications. The
Fire Department and Police Department Special Investigations Unit
currently use Nextel services and are pleased with the level of
service.
Finance Committee Minutes
forJanua~ 22,2002
Page 5
Chief Kelly stated that the Police Department has experienced
communication problems with the 800 Radio System currently in
use. Testing of the Nextel direct connect service revealed that the
communications devices worked flawlessly. The direct connect
service uses airtime and would provide a net pool of shared
minutes.
In response to questions from Member Cerino, Chief Kelly
explained that the Nextel services would be redundant to and
would not replace the 800 Radio System. Due to volume, the 800
Radio System failed for approximately twenty minutes during the
last major earthquake experienced in this area. The Fire
Department Nextel devices, as well as the City's PDHF system,
worked during that time. The Nextel devices would serve as back
up to the 800 Radio System.
C. 2002 Federal and State Legislative Agendas
Committee Members reviewed the 2002 Federal and State
Legislative agendas
Director Coleman referred Members to the State Legislative
agenda, Item 2, LEOFF I Retirement System and pointed out that it
is substantially over-funded. The City currently pays approximately
$500,000 from the general fund for LEOFF I costs. Legislation
under Item 2 would relieve cities of their obligation to finance
LEOFF medical and long term care.
Discussion followed regarding the imposition of equitable sales and
use taxes on remote sales, gambling taxes, human and health
services funding, tax increment financing, ergonomics regulations,
state funding with regard to the Growth Management Act, and
energy rates.
In response to questions from Chair Poe regarding the State
Legislative agenda, Transportation, Item No. 6, Public Works
Director Engler responded that the imposition of toll roads could
aggravate local arterial traffic volumes as drivers may reroute to
local arterials to avoid paying tolls.
Chair Poe noted that specific purpose tolls were imposed on the
Hood Canal and Narrows bridges, State Highway 520, and
Finance CommiEee Minutes
forJanua~ 22.2002
Page 6
Interstate 90 to help finance the projects. These projects were paid
off sooner than expected due to the large volume of usage.
Vice Chair Borden stated that the imposition of toll roads might
alleviate some of the current traffic problems existing on corridors.
Director Engler stated that cut-backs in state and federal funding
for local and regional transportation projects will necessitate local
jurisdictions to find other sources of revenue to finance large
projects, such as the imposition of additional gas or sales taxes, or
tolls. Director Engler reported that the imposition of tolls might
push traffic from the corridors to local arterials.
Member Cerino stated that he is in favor of the concept of imposing
tolls to pay for bridges in addition to roadways, as the projects are
then paid for by the users.
Vice Chair Borden recommended revising the language of the
State Legislative agenda, Transportation, Item No. 6, second
sentence, by changing the word "since" to "if".
Vice Chair Borden referred to the 2002 State Legislative Agenda,
Provision of Affordable Housing, Item No. 3, and expressed
support of revising the zoning ordinance with regard to
condominium issues and for items listed under Gambling, Liquor
Control and Adult Entertainment.
Member Cerino expressed support of Gambling, Liquor Control and
Adult Entertainment, agenda Item No. 3.
Director Engler reported on federal transportation projects funding
and the designation of centers in local and King County
comprehensive plans. Director Engler explained that funding
criteria has been adopted wholly as recommended. The City of
Auburn is not designated as a center and therefore would not be
eligible to enter the regional County competition for federal
transportation funds for 2004 and 2005. Criteria are solely based
on centers and connecting centers. The City of Auburn
Comprehensive Plan does not use the term centers or designate
centers within Auburn's jurisdiction, which also prevents
Finance Committee Minutes
for January 22, 2002
Page 7
consideration in a county-wide competition for federal funds as
well.
Director Engler stated that, in the past, the City of Auburn typically
did well in the county-wide competition and more recently in the
regional competition due to large, regionally important projects.
Director Engler urged Committee and Council members to consider
amending the Comprehensive Plan with regard to obtaining the
local definition of a center designation for Auburn, or a portion of
Auburn. If the City was designated as a center it would be eligible
to enter the county-wide competition and could possibly obtain
approximately $500,000 to $600,000 in funding.
VI. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Finance Committee,
the meeting adjourned at 7:25 PM.
APPROVED THIS i~'~ DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2002.
Fred Poe, Chair f Cathy Ric~rdson, Deputy City Clerk
f:\clerk\finance\fca~.OO2fcaO 1-22