MINUTES

FINANCE COMMITTEE

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

City Hall, Room 604

5:30 p.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman John VanderLeest, Tom Weber, and Steven Deneys

MEMBERS EXCUSED: Ald. Tony Theisen

OTHERS PRESENT: Dawn Foeller, Allison Swanson, Julie Van Oss

1. Roll Call.

Roll Call was taken, and all were present except for Ald. Theisen, who was excused.

2. Approval of the Agenda.

A motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. Weber, and carried to approve the agenda.

3. Approval of the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of March 10, 2009.

A motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. Weber, and carried to approve the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of March 10, 2009.

4. Request by the Finance Director, on behalf of the City Assessor, to cancel certain real and personal property taxes.

Assessor Russ Schwandt explained that most personal property tax adjustments are the result of misreporting, such as the physical location of the property being listed incorrectly, or cases where the business has ceased operation but neglected to notify the City. This time, however, two residential properties were missed during the open book process, and taxes were not adjusted as they should have been. The property owners have already paid the taxes, and are seeking refunds of the overpayments. Mr. Schwandt said that none of the requests were out of the ordinary, and that proper procedure was followed.

A motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. Weber, and carried to approve the request to cancel certain real and personal property taxes, 4(a) through 4(v), with Ald. Weber abstaining from items 4(i) and 4(j).

5. Report of the Purchasing Agent:

a. Request approval to award the purchase of 30 HP Desktops off the State contract, Paragon Dev. Systems, for the amount of $13,740. Desktops are part of the annual replacement plan.

Finance Director Dawn Foeller said this purchase is off the State contract, and that the City is getting good prices. Purchasing Agent Julie Van Oss explained that they are all budgeted, and are part of a rotation plan that schedules replacement of 1/3 or 1/4 of the units each year. This system is more efficient because units replaced separately may not be exactly the same, and could all require tweaking. The old desktops are rebuilt at the State Correctional Institute and given to charity.

A motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. Weber, and carried to approve the purchase of 30 HP Desktops off the State contract, Paragon Dev. Systems, for the amount of $13,740.

b. Update on the competitive purchase of fuel.

A motion was made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald. Deneys and carried to convene in closed session pursuant to Sections 19.85(1)(e), Wis. Stats., for purposes of deliberating or negotiating the sale of public properties, investing of public funds or conducting other specified public business as necessary for competitive or bargaining reasons. The Committee may thereafter reconvene in open session pursuant to Section 19.85(2), Wis. Stats., to report the results of the closed session and consider the balance of the agenda.

Closed Session followed.

A motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. Weber, and carried to reconvene in open session pursuant to Section 19.85(2), Wis. Stats., to report the results of the closed session and consider the balance of the agenda.

A motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. VanderLeest and carried to approve staff to contract either quarterly or through the end of the year, the purchase of one tanker of diesel and one tanker of gas per month at fixed pricing

A motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. Weber, and carried to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 6:10 p.m.

2009 Contingency Fund

$109,930.00

Any person wishing to attend who, because of a disability, requires special accommodation should contact the Mayor’s office at 448-3005 at least 24 hours before the scheduled meeting time so that arrangements can be made.

Please take notice that it is possible that additional members of the Council may attend this committee meeting, resulting in a majority or quorum of the Common Council. This may constitute a meeting of the Common Council for purposes of discussion and information gathering relative to this agenda.