MINUTES
FINANCE COMMITTEE
MEMBERS: Chairman John VanderLeest, Tony Theisen, Tom
Weber, and Steven Deneys
OTHERS
PRESENT: Dawn Foeller, Angie Dart, Bill Landvatter, Julie Van Oss, Chief Arts, Mike Hronek, Ald. Piton, Ald. DeWane
1. Roll Call.
2. Approval
of the Agenda.
There was a request to move item #11 after item #7.
A
motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald.
Weber, and carried to approve the agenda as amended.
3. Approval of the minutes of the Finance
Committee meeting of February 9, 2010.
A
motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald Weber, and carried to approve the minutes of the
Finance Committee meeting of February 9, 2010.
4. Request by Ald. VanderLeest
to have all future Bay Beach amenities be funded with
private dollars and not tax payers’ dollars.
Ald.
VanderLeest stated he feels the City should exhaust
all efforts to obtain private donations for future Bay Beach amenities before
funding large improvement projects, such as the Zippin
Pippin rollercoaster, with taxpayer money.
Ald.
Weber strongly disagreed with Ald. VanderLeest on the
issue. He explained that Bay Beach is
the only park out of Green Bay’s approximately 72 parks to generate
revenue. In 2009, Bay Beach earned
$813,896.17 of income for the City.
Therefore, investing in a rollercoaster will only help the City generate
more revenue from Bay Beach, in turn saving the taxpayer money. Much of the revenue generated from Bay Beach
gets put into the City’s general fund, which is then used to fund many of the
services the City provides to the taxpayer.
Parks
Director, Bill Landvatter, stated that the projected
revenue generated from Bay Beach with the addition of the $3 million
rollercoaster would be enough to cover operating costs and the cost of the bond
issue, which is approximately $278,000 annually. His conservative estimate is an additional
$200,000 of revenue strictly from $1 ticket sales for riding the rollercoaster. This is in addition to the amount that is
generated over budgeted revenue.
Historically, this amount is around $180,000. With the additional rollercoaster revenue of
$200,000 and the $180,000, the total more than covers the debt service on the
$2.4 million bond issue.
Ald.
VanderLeest asked Mr. Landvatter
about a previous offer from a donor back in 2004 to help fund a rollercoaster
for Bay Beach. Mr. Landvatter
responded that the City had not acquired the land it needed to house a
rollercoaster at that time, nor did it have a master plan in place to follow. The last parcel of land was acquired in 2007,
and the master plan was completed in 2008.
The master plan is what initiated the plan to move forward with
developing the rollercoaster.
Ald.
VanderLeest stated that private funding of a
rollercoaster would result in an even greater return to the City. He simply feels that the City should first
turn to private dollars before funding such large projects with taxpayer money.
Mr.
Landvatter clarified that the Parks Committee, having
met on February 22, determined that it would seek $600,000 in private
donations, which would then result in a $2.4 million bond issue to fund the
rollercoaster.
Ald.
Weber clarified that he was never opposed to seeking private dollars to fund
projects, but he does not feel the City should stop moving forward with the
implementation of the rollercoaster.
Ald.
VanderLeest drew attention to private funding for the
New Zoo’s improvements and would like to see the City follow their example of
an enterprise type entity.
Mr.
Landvatter explained that the Wildlife Sanctuary has
had additions and improvements funded privately with the help of Friends of the
Wildlife Sanctuary.
Finance
Director, Dawn Foeller, explained that such a model, known as an enterprise
fund, would mean that any revenues generated by Bay Beach through ticket sales
and concessions would be limited to being spent on just Bay Beach. In other words, the $10.5 million in profit
generated by Bay Beach from 1992 to 2009 could not have been used to offset
other general fund expenses such as Parks & Forestry.
Ald.
Deneys brought up the addition of a $3 million aquatic
center at Fisk Park and asked Mr. Landvatter if the
City receives any income from this addition.
Mr. Landvatter responded that it does not
produce income because its operating costs are higher than the revenues it
generates. Ald. Deneys
reiterated that investing in the rollercoaster is a good decision because the
City will in fact receive a return on this investment. He is not opposed to private funding if time
allows, but he does not want to see the City pass on any additional amenities
to Bay Beach if it adheres to such a strict policy of only funding such
projects with private donations.
Ald.
Theisen asked Mr. Landvatter
if the prospective donor in 2004/2005 was approached recently about donating
for the rollercoaster. Mr. Landvatter stated he had in fact spoken to the party a week
ago and they indicated they would be interested.
Ald.
Theisen also drew attention to what appears to be
inaccurate perceptions among some of the public regarding this
rollercoaster. He said some people
believe the City is purchasing a pile of rotting lumber, when in fact the City
is going to build a brand new rollercoaster with treated lumber. This greatly increases the lifespan of the
coaster. He, too, agrees the City should
not wait on implementing this project in an effort to seek private donations.
A
motion was mad by Ald. Theisen, seconded by Ald.
Weber, to have the City look for private donations to fund any future Bay Beach
amenities. The motion went under further
discussion.
Ald.
VanderLeest suggested creating a Friends of Bay Beach
to help fundraising in the future, much like the Friends of Bay Beach Wildlife
Sanctuary organization. Mr. Landvatter stated that such an organization usually results
from a group of people taking an interest in the process and forming a
nonprofit organization. Typically a
group like this is formed when there is a distressed entity and local taxpayers
are supplementing its operations. Mr. Landvatter also wanted to caution that there is always the
risk that the two groups could end up competing against one another for
development dollars – Friends of the Wildlife Sanctuary vs. Friends of Bay
Beach.
Mr.
Landvatter explained that any donations would be to
the City and set aside in a separate account and accounted for in that
manner.
Ald.
VanderLeest would like to see the City, upon
completion of a master plan, go out and seek individuals or groups that would
be interested in getting involved in fundraising efforts for any future
projects.
Ald.
Weber does not want to see such a group, if organized, become the City’s only
source of funding future improvements to Bay Beach. The agenda item was very specific in stating
that no City dollars should be used to fund any future amenities to Bay Beach,
and he believes this would be bad for the future of the City of Green Bay. The City of Green Bay has lost out to other
neighboring municipalities with retail development. The City needs to become more forward
thinking and take advantage of any opportunities to better our community.
Ald.
VanderLeest asked that any discussion of possible
donations be brought before committee in the future. Mr. Landvatter
explained that the discussion back in 2004 about a possible donation for a
rollercoaster was nothing more than a conversation.
Ald.
DeWane explained that he heard from several people
that perhaps now is not the time to be spending money
on a rollercoaster when we have improvements that need to be made to the
downtown area. In addition, he stated he
does not want to see ride prices increased in the future because a lot of
underprivileged kids use Bay Beach for entertainment.
A motion was made by Ald. Theisen,
seconded by Ald. Weber, and carried to approve the request to have the City look
for private donations for future Bay Beach amenities as an option for a funding
source.
5. Request by Ald. DeWane
to have Mayor Schmitt return all moneys for Elvis Ride Trip back to Parks
Department and explain why it was necessary.
Ald.
DeWane explained that this rollercoaster has caused a
lot of controversy throughout the City of Green Bay. The City gave the Parks Department approval
to hire consultants to help out with the project. He feels there were better
ways to research the project than to send the Mayor to look at the
rollercoaster.
Ald.
Weber stated he believes the Mayor should be an active member in representing
the City.
At
this time Ald. Theisen interrupted Ald. Weber and
asked that this item be put on hold and the remaining items be taken up due to
the presence of other staff waiting to speak on the remaining items. Also, Ald. VanderLeest
was excused from the remainder of the meeting.
All members present agreed, and item #7 was taken next.
7. Report of the Purchasing Agent:
a.
Request
approval to award Imagetrend a one-time software module upgrade for the Fire
Inspection records management system for code inspections.
Ms.
Foeller explained that this software will replace their current software and is
in compliance with the current contract.
A
motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald.
Weber, and carried to approve the award to Imagetrend for a one-time software
module upgrade for the Fire Inspection records management system for
inspections in the amount of $18,000.
This amount was budgeted.
b.
Request
approval to award 8 Players’ benches and 8 sets of bleachers to the lowest
responsive and responsible vendor not to exceed $51,600 as planned from the
410-Park & Recreation Acquisition budget.
Product needed by March 15th, quote due back February 22nd.
Purchasing
Agent, Julie Van Oss, explained this is for the new complex out by Finger
Road. It will not exceed the budget they
had planned for the benches and bleachers.
A
motion was made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald. Deneys,
and carried to approve the award of 8 Players’ benches and 8 sets of bleachers
to the lowest responsive and responsible vendor not to exceed $51,600 as
planned from the 410-Park & Recreation Acquisition budget.
8. Request by the Finance Director to update the
document retention policy for the Finance Department.
Ms.
Foeller explained some of the changes to the Finance Department’s document
retention policy. She added the
statement of taxes and Accounts Payable invoices to the list to be kept 7
years. Other changes to the list follow
the standard of 7 years or state statute.
A
motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald.
Weber, and carried to approve the request by the Finance Director to update the
document retention policy for the Finance Department.
9. Request by the Finance Director to review
and approve a general fund balance policy.
Ms.
Foeller went through a bulleted list she prepared as an outline for a general
fund balance policy and asked for suggestions as she continues to work on
developing the policy.
A
motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald.
Weber, and carried to refer the proposed general fund balance policy to staff
for continued development and bring back to a future Finance Committee meeting.
10. Request
by the Finance Director to review and approve a debt policy.
Ms.
Foeller went through a bulleted list she prepared as an outline for a debt
policy and asked for suggestions as she continues to work on developing the
policy.
A
motion was made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald. Deneys,
and carried to refer the proposed debt policy to staff for continued
development and bring back to a future Finance Committee meeting.
11. Request
by the Finance Director to enter into a 3 year agreement with AT&T for the
purchase of call manager software and maintenance on all of the City’s voice
over internet protocol phones.
Ms.
Foeller explained the City’s current 3 year contract is up. The current rates are off of the state
contract, and if AT&T had to renew their rates, there would be a price
increase, so this is actually a good deal for the City.
A
motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald.
Weber, and carried to approve the request by the Finance Director to enter into
a 3 year agreement with AT&T for the purchase of call manager software for
$10,569 and maintenance on all of the City’s voice over internet protocol
phones for the cost of $61,448.63.
AT&T is offering 0% financing 3 year payments at $24,005.88.
The
committee went back to item #5.
5. Request by Ald. DeWane
to have Mayor Schmitt return all moneys for Elvis Ride Trip back to Parks
Department and explain why it was necessary.
Ald.
DeWane addressed Ald. Weber’s previous comment that
the Mayor has a responsibility to represent the City and should be able to go
out and investigate a project like the rollercoaster. Ald. DeWane heard
from the public that they thought the Mayor was taking advantage of the
taxpayers’ money. He agrees that the
Mayor should be active but should have sought approval from committee for his
travels since it was not budgeted for.
Ald.
Weber asked what the expenses actually amounted to, which was approximately
$700 for the Mayor’s travel expenses.
Ald. Weber believes the Mayor did his job at representing the City and
feels this item is politically motivated.
The
Mayor’s assistant, Scott Matejov, explained that the
timeframe in which the City representatives had to travel to see the
rollercoaster was very limited as the rollercoaster was about to be
dismantled. Therefore, there was not
sufficient time to bring this before committee and Council. The Mayor’s intentions were to lobby for this
rollercoaster on behalf of the City of Green Bay, to take advantage of the
opportunity to further enhance Bay Beach and the City of Green Bay, and finally
to add credibility to this project with respect to the Mayor’s goal to raise
$600,000 in donations for the project.
A
motion was made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald. Deneys,
and carried to receive and place on file the request to have Mayor Schmitt
return all moneys for Elvis Ride Trip back to Parks Department.
6. Request by Ald. VanderLeest
to discuss the recommendations for the structure and member orientation of the
budget task force.
A
motion was made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald. Deneys,
and carried to hold over item #6 until the next Finance Committee meeting on
March 9, 2010.
A
motion to adjourn was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded
by Ald. Weber, and carried to adjourn.
The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m.
2010 Contingency Fund
$51,300.08
1).
THIS MEETING IS AUDIO TAPED: THE AUDIO OF THIS MEETING & MINUTES
ARE AVAILABLE ON LINE AT
2). ACCESSIBILITY:
Any person wishing to attend who, because of a disability, requires special
accommodation should contact the City Safety Manager at 448-3125 at least 48
hours before the scheduled meeting time so that arrangements can be made.
3). QUORUM: 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.
4). REPRESENTATION: The
party requesting the communication, or their representative should be present
at this meeting.