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Home My WebLink About04-02-2012 * Finance Committee cmoe'=-�. ,• April 2, 2012 - 5:30 PM � Annez Conference Room 1 •wnsHtivcroN MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER Chair John Partridge called the regular meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. in Conference Room 1 located on the second floor of the City Hall Annex located at One East Main Street in Auburn. A. Roil Call Chair Partridge, Vice Chair John Holman and Member Largo Wales were present Also present during fhe meeting were: Mayor Peter B. Lewis, Deputy Mayor Nancy Backus, City Attorney Daniel B. Heid, Finance Director Shelley Coleman, Financial Planning"Manager Martin Chaw; Utilities Engineer Dan Repp, Planning and Development Director Kevin 8nyder, Community Services Manager Michael Hursh, Riverside High School student Hayden Stenko, and City Clerk Danielle Daskam. B. Announcements There was no announcement. C. Agenda Modifications There was no change to the agenda. II. CONSENT AGENDA A. Minutes of the March 19, 2012 Meeting Vice Chair Holman moved and Member Wales seconded to approve the March 19, 2012 minutes. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3-0. B, Claims Vouchers (Coleman) Claims check numbers 412223 through 412570 in the amount of $2,463,321.93 and dated April 2, 2012. Committee members reviewed the claims and payroll vouchers and briefly discussed the following claims vouchers: 412351, 412376, 412464, 412529 and 412323. Member Wales moved and Vice Chair Holman seconded to recommend Council approval of claims and payroll vouchers. Page 1 of 4 MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3-0. C. Payroll Vouchers (Cole,man) Payroll check hum6ers 532774 through 532810 in the amount of $270,726.18 and elec4ronic deposit transmissions in the amount of $1,204,295.32 for a grand total of $1,475,021.50 forthe pay period covering March 15, 2012 to March 28, 2012. See claims vouchers above for approval of claims vouchers. III. RESOLUTIONS A. Resolution No. 4809 (Faber) A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Auburn, Washington, authorizing the acceptance of a grant from King Conservation District and authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to execute the necessary agreements to accept said funds Mayor Lewis stated that Resolution No. 4809 authorizes the acceptance of a $20,000 grant from the King Conservation District for the benefit of the Auburn , International Farmers Market. Member Wales moved and Vice Chair Holman seconded to approve and forward Resolution No: 4809 to the full Council. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3-0. IV. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. January 2012 Financial Report (Coleman) Finance Director Shelley Coleman presented the January 2012 Financial Report: Fnance Director Coleman noted that being the first month of the.year, the report was generally unremarkable. Director Coleman noted operating losses in the utility funds;with the exception of the stormwater fund. In response to questions.from the Committee regarding SCORE expenses, Finance DirectorColeman §tated the budgeted expenses for SCORE in 2012 are approximately.$5 million. However, if SCORE does not realize their anticipated contracts for beds;there may be addi6onal costs (up to $3.7 million) to the member cities for maintenance and operations. Mayor Lewis briefly spoke regarding the markeHng efforts to fill SCORE beds and the competition among jail facilities. Mayor Lewis stated that the City's costs for court, probation and jail are expected to be over$10 million. In Comparison, the City of Renton's costs for court, probation and jail are less than $7 million. Au6urn's jail costs have been increasing'while other membee cifies' costs havebeen decreasing. Aubum's increase in jail costs can be attributed to sentencing practices. Also, City of Page 2 of 4 Renton has one probation officer supervising 112 cases, while the City of Auburn has eight probation officers supervising 692 cases. Mayor Lewis reported that he has been consul#ing wi#h the court in efforts to reduce court and jail costs and has also been investigating alternative court services. Member Wales requestedthat afiuture agenda include discussion of the airport and the impact of the fligfit school closure on the airport. B. Resolution No. 4807 (Heid) A Resolution of the City CounciF of the City of.Auburn, Washington, revising the City of Auburn poliey for identified city officials to participate in and maintain membersfiip in professional organizations and in civic, community, service or govemmental organizations, amending Resofution No. 3417 accordingly Committee members reviewed Resolution No. 4807. Mayor Lewis commented that the policy that allows the City to pay for City officials and employees to participate in civic and community organizations was implemented originally to provide another avenue of leadership training for employees and to engage employees in their city. City officials were included as well to allow future Councilmembers, who may not be able to afford the membership fees, the same opportunity to participate. Member Wales spoke in favor of the proposed amendment to the policy to not allowpayment forserVice organization dues and meals for Councilmembers. Vice Chair Holman stated that he is not opposed to the City paying a membership fee for a Councilmember who feels they economically need the assistance. Vice Chair Holman expressed opposition to the City reimbursing a Councilmember for their lunch while at a service organization meeting. Vice Chair Holman moved and Member Wales seconded to forward Resolution No. 4807 to the Councii Operations Committee for further study. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3-0. C. Travel and City Credit.Card Use (Coleman) Member Waies requested discussion of travet and credit card use. She inquired whether#he sharing of one credit card by several Councilmembers was conducive to recordkeeping and accountability. Member Wales stated that separate credit cards for each bouncilmember would have made recordkeeping easier forthose Councilmembers who attended the recentNational League of Cities Conference. Finance Director Coleman stated that credit cards can now only be issued in the name of a person with their social security number tied to the card. The existing credit cards are grandfathered in under the prior regulations, but any future cards will need to be tied to an individual. Finance Direct�r Coleman advised that she Page 3 of 4 has increased the credit limit for the existing credif cards. Vice Chair Holman ezpressed concem with a generic Council credit card in that expense charges cannot be distinguished from one Councilmember or another. Mayor Lewis recommended that Councilmembers u6lize the per diem rates for meals and obtain travel advances for expenses orpay their own way and seek reimbursement upon retum. D. Utility Rate Study Uptlate Alternative Scenario (Coleman) Finance Director Coleman presented an aitemative scenario to the Water, Sewer and Stormwater Rate Study Update presented at the Iast Committee meeting. The altemative scenario mitigates the impact to the sewer utility, meets the 2012 , debt service coverage needs, continues to fully fund forecasted utility cash flow needs, and aliows interfund 6orrowing, if needed. Direc[or Coleman stated that the alternative scenario is based upon the utilities as a whole, rather than three individual funcls. Chair Partridge noted the disadvantages to the alternative scenario, including generating more revenue tlian needed for the'waterand stormwater utilities and requiring interfund Vansfers. Mayor Lewis also noted that the City has approximately 15,000 customers on water (but not sewer) and approximately 13,000 customers on sewer (but not water). Therefore, under the alternative scenario;the rates could be viewed as unfair to those who do not receive all utility services. Committee members spoke against the altemative scenario and favored the original rate proposaf. V. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Committee, the meeting adjoumed at 6:55 p.m. N APPROVED the �� day of April, 2012. �� n Partridge, Chair Danielle Daskam, City Clerk Page 4 of 4