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2008-06-30 - Finance Committee - Minutes Board or Commission: ❑ Finance Committee Document Type: ❑A e g nda 0 Minutes Meeting ate: 06/30/2008 Type of Meeting: ❑ Regular Meeting Minutes of the Finance Committee Meeting held 6/30/08 The meeting was convened at 6:1Opm in the lower level conference room. Present were President Hartstein, Trustees Jeff Braiman, DeAnn Glover, Jeff Berman, Bruce Kahn, Steve Trilling, Brian Rubin, Village Clerk Jan Sirabian, and Treasurer Joseph Tenerelli. Staff present were Village Manager William Brimm, Deputy Village Manager Ghida Neukirch, Finance Director Scott Anderson, Fire Chief Terry Vavra, Village Planner Bob Pfeil, Building Commissioner Ed Schar, Deputy Building Commissioner Brian Sheehan, Deputy Fire Chief Dan Pearson, and Deputy Fire Chief Pete Ciecko, and Assistant Finance Director Katie Skibbe. Guests included Metropolitan Planning Council representative Robin Snyderman and Gary Marsh representing Harris Bank. Metropolitan Planning Council Inter-Jurisdictional Housing Initiative was presented by Robin Snyderman and Gary Marsh. A short video was shown and then Robin explained that a group of northwest suburban communities are joining forces to promote a new partnership with area business that will focus on affordable work force housing. The communities have coordinated outreach to employers to education private sector leaders about local workforce housing shortages, introduce them to proven employer-assisted housing strategies, and explore their interest in becoming more involved in addressing workforce housing solutions. A short presentation was then given by Gary Marsh concerning the great response Harris has gotten from employees involved with this program. The Trustees agreed that this seemed like a good program, but they need some time to review the information prior to moving forward with any type of commitment. Proposed Facility Planning Initiatives for Fire Station #26 was presented by Chief Vavra. After the April 28t'Finance Committee meeting, Chief Vavra went back to staff to address the Trustees concerns. A space allocation study of each of the three fire stations was completed; Station 26 has significantly less bunk room square footage per person and kitchen square footage per person. Vavra indicated that fire staff has done an excellent job maintaining the facility utilizing in-house labor but they have reached a point that minor modifications will not add any more efficiency to the building. Chief Vavra cited that the timing of the construction, given the economic climate, may be advantageous from a labor standpoint and further added a potential savings due to several Capital Improvement Projects identified for Station #26 that could be rolled up into the expansion project to achieve economies of scale potentially reducing the cost of modifying the overhead doors, generator replacement, window replacement, and kitchen remodeling. Vavra was cautioned that although labor cost may be declining, material costs are escalating. Vavra felt that the cost estimate provided by the current architect may be high and asked another firm to quote the project. The new estimate came in approximately $400,000 less than the current architect(approximately 25%less). The Trustees also expressed concern over the architectural fees shown on the cost estimates as $139,014. Discussion ensued about possibly getting scope documents from the current architect and sending them out to other architecture firms to see if we could get a better price. Questions also arose concerning whether construction management fees were included in the price and whether we could do the construction management in-house. Previously the Fire Department has used on duty fire fighters to renovate the kitchen and they may have someone who would be able to do the construction management. Trustees also raised the question of how long these improvements would extend the useful life of the station. Chief Vavra's memo to the committee had stated ten to twenty years, but some Trustees felt that ten years of additional useful life wasn't enough. Chief Vavra said we were making smart improvements and twenty years was a better estimate. Total project costs (including the CIP elements) were estimated to be approximately $1.6 million. Staff was asked to repackage the numbers and clarify a few points for future correspondence. The Trustees then stated we should re-engage the architect to prepare the bid documents and see what kind of responses we get from the bid. Fire Service Multi-Year Planning Overview was presented by Chief Vavra. The Fire Department has not had an increase in staff since 1996. Currently, the Fire Department fields 5,000 calls each year, sixty percent of which are ambulance calls and forty percent of which are calls for a fire. Trucks are sent out on all ambulance calls with three firefighters and cost approximately $7 a mile to run (including fuel and maintenance, but not depreciation). Ideally, the Chief would suggest hiring an additional six firefighters in 2009 and another six firefighters in 2010 to facilitate a squad concept. The additional staff would allow the Fire Department to send out two firefighters in a smaller vehicle for ambulance calls, leaving two firefighters back at the station with the truck. The use of a smaller vehicle would result in a savings of approximately $100,000 each year. Currently, a Federal grant(SAFER)is available to help subsidize the cost of additional personnel. Trustees pointed out that while the grant is helpful, it decreases in size each year and only provides a subsidy for four years while the staff will stay on the village's payroll and firefighter's pension for many years past the phase out of the grant reimbursements. Discussion ensued as to whether the village's ISO rating could be affected by not adding additional personnel. The ISO rating can be important to business owners as they can use good ISO ratings as leverage with their insurance companies for lower rates. The affect may keep the Village from attaining an ISO 1 rating. Trustees also questioned how much this would affect our taxpayers and said their support may be dependent on how much the overall budget is increasing or other departments staffing requests. Bill Brimm said that there have been no staffing proposals presented for 2009 budget planning as of yet and all authorized positions are currently filled. Staff was asked to revisit the initiative during budget development to better gauge the Village's ability to fund the additional expenditures and determine the impact on the property tax levy. Proposed Implementation of a Purchasing Card System was presented by Scott Anderson. The purchasing card system would be used to create cost-effective efficiencies in purchasing, tighten controls on non traditional purchasing, ensure vendor acceptance by adding an additional payment type, and providing a purchasing solution in the event that the village must operate under emergency circumstances. Trustees inquired as to whether the employee would be responsible for the purchases or the village. Anderson said that the purchasing policy clearly states that the card is not to be used for personal purchases and that they employee is responsible for any unauthorized purchases on their account. Possible ways the card could be used in an untrustworthy manner were discussed. Anderson stated that the credit card statement would come directly to the village and would be paid with one check from accounts payable. Employees will not be responsible for sending the payment into the credit card company. Additionally, if something is purchased and returned, the card will be credited and no money will be returned to the employee. Since the village is ultimately responsible for the payments, the trustees asked that the policy include language outlining how the village will re-coup the cost of an unauthorized charge from an employee that is no longer employed by the village. Trustees stated that purchase cards were necessary to operate and as long as the policy was tightened, they would support the initiative. Notification of Corporate Fund Fund Balance Policy was presented by Scott Anderson. Scott informed the committee that the fund balance has dropped below 50% of the subsequent year's Corporate Fund budget. No comments by staff or trustees. Proposed Building Code Update was presented by Ed Schar. The Building and Fire Departments have reviewed the building codes issued by the International Code Council, made some adjustments, and they are now ready for adoption. Most of the changes made maintain the code consistent with past requirements. Additionally, the fee structure has not been revised since 2005 and fees need to be increased. Trustees questioned why the fees are not increased on a more regular basis, possibly based on the cost of living increase, and Ed Schar stated that this increase is in line with the last three years cost of living increases. Trustees also mentioned that they didn't want to create a disincentive for compliance by raising fees and Ed Schar responded that our fees will be similar to other cities in the area and should not create a disincentive. Lastly, Schar recommended a $75 fee for zoning compliance letters received from developers and builders. After discussion, trustees felt that $75 was too low and wouldn't begin to recoup the costs of the extensive staff effort put into these letters. Instead, the fee was agreed to be $150. The meeting adjourned at 8:45pm.