Tuesday, January 10, 2006

City Hall, Room 604

5:30 P.M.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Fred Graves, David Nelson, and Tom Weber; John VanderLeest* arrived shortly thereafter

MEMBERS EXCUSED: None

OTHERS PRESENT: Doug Daul, Chief Stauber, Recording Secretary Ginny Mamrosh, and others

1. Roll Call.

Vice Chairman Weber called the meeting to order. Roll call was taken; all were present except for Ald. VanderLeest.

2. Approval of the Agenda.

A motion was made by Ald. Graves and seconded by Ald. Nelson to approve the agenda. Motion carried.

3. Approval of the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of December 13, 2005.

A motion was made by Ald. Nelson and seconded by Ald. Graves to approve the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of December 13, 2005. Motion carried.

4. Request by the Fire Chief to inform the Committee of a donation.

Fire Chief Stauber said this $2,000 donation from Marathon Petroleum Company is intended for the “Foam Bank” program to help replace any firefighting foam concentrate used in controlling petroleum fires. He said donations such as these are placed in a segregated fund for donations that oftentimes come from oil companies in our area. Chief Stauber said this generous amount is typical of what Marathon has donated over the years. It is greatly appreciated, and a letter of thanks will be sent to the company.

A motion was made by Ald. Graves and seconded by Ald. Nelson to receive and place on file the report on a donation by the Fire Chief. Motion carried.

5. Report of the Finance Director:

1. Update on HAVA legislation and adoption of conforming resolution.

Finance Director Doug Daul said the Federal Government began to dictate regulations regarding how states handle elections following the voting problems in Florida. HAVA (Help America Vote Act of 2002) mandates that states have one central database for voter registry and that each polling location have a special handicapped voting machine for the visually impaired and the hearing impaired. The State is supposed to have sufficient funds to buy machines for each of our polling locations; no City funds are involved at this time. Mr. Daul said HAVA-approved machines will not be available for the February primary because no machine has yet been approved by the State. Adding to the problem is the fact that Governor Doyle wants the approved machine to have a ballot audit trail – not a calculator-type tape trail, but a ballot that can be recounted. In addition, registry information on the City’s own 55,000 voters must be sent to Madison to be run off one central database. Problems have developed because of the slowness resulting from many different areas accessing the program at one time, and the only county on this system at present is Dane.

Mr. Daul said the resolution the Committee is being asked to adopt -- and that the Council must approve -- states the City of Green Bay will support all HAVA requirements that are being placed upon us. We will do our own data input to the State voter registry database, although smaller municipalities can contract with counties to do it for them. We are obligated to follow HAVA laws, and the resolution states we will provide the resources necessary to get that done. He said there may be increased expenses involved with getting the ballots from the County, depending on what type ballots are to be used.

*Ald. VanderLeest arrived at this time.

Mr. Daul said the Federal government has committed to paying a certain amount for these machines, but costs that may be involved are not known at this time. Some costs will be covered by the State, but there is no way of knowing if the City will be obligated to purchase any equipment for the machines. The City could also face problems with ADA accessibility of some of our polling locations. Additionally, the State is mandating six hours of training for Chief Inspectors at all polling locations and the City will incur the costs for this training.

A motion was made by Ald. Nelson to approve the conforming resolution relating to HAVA legislation.

Ald. Graves was concerned that there is not enough information available on possible financial responsibility to approve this resolution. Mr. Daul agreed that we are going into it somewhat blind, but said the City doesn’t have a choice. If we fail to adopt the resolution, we might not get the ADA voting machines for free.

Ald. VanderLeest agreed that the City didn’t have a choice. He seconded the motion made by Ald. Nelson to approve the conforming resolution relating to HAVA legislation. A vote was taken and it passed, with Ald. Graves voting “nay”.

Ald. VanderLeest chaired from this point on.

2. Update on payroll implementation (informational only)

Mr. Daul said this implementation is a very difficult process because of the many contracts and different ways in which people get paid. He said the new company, ADP, pays one in five people in the United States. The person working with the City said this has been the most difficult of the 600 implementations he has done over the past 14 years. The first paycheck cycle was run with no problem, but this cycle is much more complicated. He asked to bring this back to the next meeting for an update when the City Comptroller could be present to discuss this project in greater detail.

A motion was made by Ald. VanderLeest to hold this update until the next meeting. It was seconded by Ald. Weber and was carried.

A motion to adjourn was made by Ald. VanderLest, seconded by Ald. Nelson, and carried. The meeting was adjourned.

2006 CONTINGENCY FUND

$404,405.00