MINUTES

FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

City Hall, Room 604

5:30 P.M.

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Chairman John VanderLeest, Vice Chairman Tom Weber, Fred Graves, and David Nelson

 

MEMBERS EXCUSED:  None

 

OTHERS PRESENT:  Doug Daul, Dawn Foeller, Jerry Hanson, Mark Delaski, John Rogers, Linda Dupuis, Rick Jurkanis, Recording Secretary Ginny Mamrosh, and others

 

1.   Roll Call.  

 

Chairman VanderLeest called the meeting to order.  Roll call was taken, and all were present.

 

2.   Approval of the Agenda.

 

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

 

3.   Approval of the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of March 14, 2006.

 

A motion was made by Ald. Weber and seconded by Ald. Nelson to approve the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of March 14, 2006.  Motion carried.

 

4.   Request by the City Attorney to submit the quarterly report of the Claims Committee.

 

A motion was made by Ald. Weber and seconded by Ald. Nelson to receive and place on file the quarterly report of the Claims Committee.  The motion carried.

 

5.   Request by the City Assessor to adjust the personal property taxes for Account #6364.

 

Finance Director Doug Daul explained that when this property was transferred, there was confusion over where to mail the Statement of Personal Property form.  The Assessor’s office uses these completed forms to fairly assess the value of personal property.  When the statement was not returned, its value was determined by doomage, whereby the Assessor’s office sets these values on its own.  The City later assessed the property for its actual worth based on amounts on the forms had they been returned, and is waiving $721.87 from the amount determined by doomage.

 

A motion was made by Ald. Graves, seconded by Ald. Nelson, and carried to approve the request by the City assessor to adjust the personal property taxes for Account #6364 in the amount of $721.87.

 

6.  Report of the Purchasing Agent:

 

a.  Computer software upgrade for Planning from ERSI, Inc. for $15,862.

 

Purchasing Agent Linda Dupuis said this is an upgrade to software already being used and maintained by both the City and County.  Each uses different formats that require conversion, and this update will address those problems.  This is State pricing, and she has not heard of any problems with the vendor.

 

A motion was made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald. Nelson and carried to approve the computer software upgrade for Planning from ERSI, Inc., for $15,862.

 

b.  Computer laptop equipment for Police from Zones, Inc. for $11,173.

 

Ms. Dupuis explained that the low vendor was not selected because the company quoted equipment having a slower processor, a smaller hard drive, and no DVD writer.  It was not a comparable unit and would not be able to handle the large documents used by the Police Dept. for training purposes.  IT Director Mark Delaski said this equipment costs about $100 more than the City’s standard system. 

 

A motion was made by Ald. Nelson, seconded by Ald. Weber and carried to approve computer laptop equipment for Police from Zones, Inc. for $11,173.

 

c.  Police vehicles (12) from Ewald, Hartford Ford, Mercury, LLC for $255,876.

 

Ms. Dupuis said pricing on these vehicles has varied only slightly over the last 5 years.  The 2006 price is $21,394, an increase of only $52 from last year.  The price in 2002 was higher, at $23,124.  These amounts reflect State of Wisconsin and VALUE pricing, where the City bids in volume with other communities across the state.  Police Business Mgr. Rick Jurkanis said between 11 and 13 of the department’s 36 black and white squads are replaced each year, on a 3-year basis.  Any that are in relatively good condition are sent to auction, where they bring around $4,000 per unit.  Some can be used by supervisors or as unmarked cars, but 12 are sent to auction every year.

 

Mr. Daul said the Committee is not being asked to approve funding for this purchase tonight.  Capital reserve and carryover requests will be presented at the next meeting, and if funding is approved, the vehicles will be purchased off this State contract.  Ald. VanderLeest asked if other departments could use any of these cars, but Ms. Dupuis said full size automobiles such as these Crown Victorias are purchased for and used by the Police Department only.

 

A motion was made by Ald. Graves, seconded by Ald. Nelson and carried to approve Police vehicles (12) from Ewald, Hartford Ford, Mercury, LLC for $255,876.

 

 

d.  Records imaging services for Police Department from Integrated Imaging Services for $33,000.

 

Ms. Dupuis said this carryover request is also contingent upon Council approval, and that the Committee is being asked to approve the contract at this time.  They had approved microfilm conversion of records from 1994, 1996, and 1999 at an earlier meeting, and this request is for 2000, 2001, and 2002.  Mr. Jurkanis said that previous to 2000, all records were microfilmed, but said they would like to image rather than microfilm starting with 2000 because the majority of requests come for more recent information.  By putting the records on CDs, they will be saved on their own server to allow access from many different work-stations.  This will make the process much more efficient.  He said these police reports are hard paper documents that must be scanned and moved to CDs. 

 

Ms. Dupuis said when she originally put this item on the agenda, she intended to award it to Integrated Imaging, but has since begun negotiating with both Integrated Imaging and Source Corp., the next lowest vendor.  She will have a best and final offer from both companies in a week and asked for the Committee’s authorization to award this work to the lowest acceptable vendor.  Mr. Jurkanis said if there are to be any savings, they would like to convert as many records as possible, since there are reports from 8 or 9 years waiting to be processed.  He said this request could be held for two weeks.

 

A motion was made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald. Nelson and carried to hold for two weeks the request to approve records imaging services for the Police Department from Integrated Imaging Services for $33,000. 

 

e.  Ambulance vehicles (2) for Fire Dept. from Foster Coach Sales for $226,050.

 

Ms. Dupuis said this request is also contingent upon funding approval from the committee in two weeks. 

 

Asst. Chief John Rogers said there are two ambulances on order from Foster Coach Sales at present, and these would be the third and fourth units under the same contract.  There are a total of six ambulances, four in service and 2 backups, but two are 10 years old, have more than 100,000 miles on them, and are constantly in need of repair.  Ms. Dupuis said Foster Coach has agreed to an additional discount of $1,000 per unit with this additional order, bringing the total price to $224,050 instead of the $226,050 requested.  An additional 5% prepay option is available.  The two already on order did have the $1,000 discount, and the additional two would have that $1,000 plus another $1,000 discount.  Ms. Dupuis said this pricing is competitive, and although purchases from a different vendor in the past were $15,000 to $20,000 less in cost, the vehicles were not of high quality. 

 

A motion was made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald. Nelson and carried to approve ambulance vehicles (2) for Fire Dept. from Foster Coach Sales for $224,050.

 

 

f.  Fire protective clothing from Environmental Safety Group for $35,285.

 

Ms. Dupuis said this vendor had the award last year, and even though this year’s prices are higher, the City is still getting competitive pricing.  City pricing for these garments has been very competitive and area fire departments had requested the City make this a cooperative bid.  For 2006, this pricing is cooperative and available to any agency in Northeast Wisconsin.  Mr. Rogers said the amount for this clothing has already been budgeted.

 

A motion was made by Ald. Nelson, seconded by Ald. Weber and carried to approve fire protective clothing from Environmental Safety Group for $35,285.

 

 

g.  Breathing air cylinders for the Fire Department from Oshkosh Fire and Police Equipment for $10,800.

 

 

Ms. Dupuis said Oshkosh is the low quote vendor for this product.

 

A motion was made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald. Nelson and carried to approve breathing air cylinders for the Fire Department from Oshkosh Fire and Police Equipment for $10,800.

 

7.  Report by Finance Director on payroll implementation.

 

Finance Director Doug Daul said implementation of the new payroll program has proved to be a huge endeavor, with 1,000 employees, 19 different pay policies, and 17 union contracts involved.  ADP dedicated ten people to the City’s needs for this process, and he and Comptroller Dawn Foeller have worked many extra hours in getting the payroll out each week.  It was necessary for Ms. Foeller to learn three different software pieces to allow interfacing for accounting purposes.  These changes resulted in a dip in productivity, and December and January were difficult times.  Mr. Daul said productivity is back up at present, but Telestaff, the scheduling software for the Police and Fire Departments, has not yet been implemented.  When that software comes online, it will be a huge benefit that will definitely streamline the procedures.  He said there were some disappointments because of the complexity of the system, and the City ended up with a different version of what was originally planned. 

 

ADP had said this function could be handled by 1½ persons, so funding for that amount was budgeted.  He said it is possible that payroll can be run with 1½ persons, but it is necessary to involve more people because of the other functions provided by that department.  Payroll handles questions on retirement, health care and deduction changes, as well as requests for other information.  Mr. Daul said that when the staff of four was reduced by attrition, they hoped to manage with 1½ people, but that may not be possible.  Benefits from the new system include the backup provided by ADP and the fact that more people are familiar now with how the payroll procedure is handled.  This knowledge has improved the documentation of the system as well as the succession planning.  He said they are still putting in a lot of time, but are also getting a hold on the system.  Mr. Daul said work may be distributed within the office rather than requiring overtime.  Ms. Foeller said the amount of work Payroll has done day after day without complaint is amazing, but that the process must be improved.  The person who normally performs this function is a wonderful employee who puts in many extra hours, but that cannot continue indefinitely. 

 

Mr. Daul and Chad Weininger, Asst. to the Mayor, had attended an office presentation on  “lean office” by Schenck, the City’s accounting service.  He said “lean office” is not about head count, but rather the processes involved, and whether or not these processes are being performed efficiently.  A decision was made at Senior Management to have Schenck value-map the process as a showcase for the rest of the City.  This firm, in writing, has said it can cut 50% of the time and 30% of the steps involved in the payroll process. 

 

Ald. Graves thanked Doug and Dawn for all their efforts.

 

A motion was made by Ald. Nelson, seconded by Ald. Graves and carried to receive and place on file the report by the Finance Director on payroll implementation. 

 

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

 

2006 CONTINGENCY FUND

$190,950.00