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Board of Finance Scrolling down or clicking the bookmarks will take you to the minutes for meetings held in January.
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REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, JANUARY 9th, 2008 EAST LYME BOARD OF FINANCE
Members In Attendance: Steve Larcen, Chairman Jeff Langan, Secretary Bob Jones Allan Taylor
Also In Attendance: Paul Formica, First Selectman Anna Johnson, Finance Director
Absent: Jill Carini Isidore Schwartz
A. Call Meeting to OrderChairman Larcen called this Regular Meeting of the East Lyme Board of Finance to order at 7:00 PM.
B. Pledge of AllegianceThe Pledge was observed.
C. Delegations Mr. Larcen called for delegations.
There were none.
D. Approval of Minutes ¨ Wednesday, December 12, 2007 Regular Meeting Mr. Larcen called for approval or any changes to the Board of Finance December 12, 2007 Regular Meeting Minutes.
Mr. Taylor asked that on Page 1 under Motion 2 that the second line be changed to read: ‘Ms. Carini seconded the motion for the purposes of discussion only.’
Mr. Jones asked that on Page 2 in Motion 5 that Regular Meeting Minutes be changed to read: ‘Special Meeting Minutes’.
Mr. Langan asked that on Page 6 in paragraph 4 that it be changed to read: (copy supplied by Mr. Langan) ‘Mr. Langan said that there might be policies that could be instituted that would facilitate improvements. He suggested that a subcommittee could work with Ms. Johnson to explore possibilities. Mr. Larcen indicated this may be more suitable for a Special Meeting.
**MOTION (1) Mr. Taylor moved to approve the December 12, 2007 Regular Meeting Minutes of the Board of Finance as amended. Mr. Jones seconded the motion. Vote: 4 – 0 – 0. Motion passed.
E. Reports a. First Selectman’s Report Mr. Formica reported that he has started the departmental budget reviews and that a preliminary estimate from the Assessor is that there was a 1.4% grand list growth last year. He said that he is also in the process of collecting and discussing the capital needs with that committee. The paperwork has come in for the $250,000 Public Safety Grant and he said that he has been in discussion with Ms. Johnson on the distribution of that money for such items as police cruisers, radios, air packs, etc. He noted that the grant can only be used for Public Safety items. He said that there is a need for a Town-wide radio communications system and that there will be a presentation coming forward on this in the near future. Also, the Board of Ed came forward with a 6.85% request which will probably be tweaked. He noted that the Board of Selectmen must give the Board of Ed budget and other budgets to the Board of Finance 60 days prior to the Town Meeting which is approximately March 12, 2008. He said that he might suggest setting a Special Meeting for February 20, 2008 with the Board of Selectman and the Board of Finance to hear the Board of Ed budget presentation as well as a presentation on the Town-wide radio communications system. He also reported that the new conference room/office downstairs is now ready to be used and that he also priced out two (2) new microphones for this meeting room at about $250 each.
Mr. Larcen asked if the radio proposal and associated cost would be in the 2009 budget. Mr. Formica said that it would be and added that it is an interesting proposal and explanation.
Mr. Taylor asked if the $250,000 grant was filed yet or when it was going to be filed. Mr. Formica said that it was not filed yet however the process was underway.
Mr. Taylor asked if the money could be used now or how and when it could be used. Mr. Formica explained that the Public Safety items that were removed from the current budget will be purchased with this grant plus some other items. This will also help Public Safety to be able to purchase some small consumable items in the new budget.
Mr. Jones asked if the police cruisers that were discussed were the totaled ones that they were replacing. Mr. Formica said no – these are the two that were cut from the budget.
Mr. Jones noted that the Police Department has one person out on suspension with pay and asked if there is another one out also. Mr. Formica said that there is the one out and one from December who is also out on deferred appointment. Out of the 20 full time officers, they are operating with 16. Out of four (4) part time, they are operating with three (3). He said that the money should be in the budget to handle the salaries.
Mr. Taylor commented that the 1.4% grand list growth is at least a percentage point or more lower than what is usual for them.
Mr. Jones asked about the status of the Boardwalk. Mr. Formica said that they are at a point in time where they are determining fault and that they also have to deal with a merged company. The understanding is that the Boardwalk was built to a 25 year storm and this will have to be re-evaluated.
Mr. Taylor asked if they had obtained Federal flood insurance as was suggested in some letters. Mr. Formica said that he would look into that and get back to them.
b. Financial Report Ms. Johnson said that the $250,000 Public Safety contingency grant was initially held up by the State bonding commission who held up the bonding. She explained that they did get a contingency fund grant last year also and that they received the money in June 2007. She noted that she had passed out the December month end reports to them this evening and that she will seek in the future to have them out with the packets so that they can be reviewed prior to the meeting. She then explained her memo regarding the December 2007 month end reports (attached at end of Minutes).
Mr. Larcen asked why there were fewer expenses for this year versus the same time frame last year. Ms. Johnson said that she went through the expenditures and thought that we put more into the healthcare; had two resident troopers and then went to one; had higher tipping fees and higher debt reduction which would account for the difference.
Mr. Taylor asked if Salem is on time with their payments. Ms. Johnson said that she has to seen any for December so she will speak with the Board of Ed Business Manager and ask for a payment schedule.
Mr. Taylor noted that proper cash flow generates income and said that this involves the Salem payments and the Water and Sewer payments.
Ms. Johnson noted that she had also provided them with the investment management firm letters and that she has brought them forward due to some recent negative publicity. (Letters attached at end of Minutes)
Mr. Taylor asked if they are receiving their returns on their investments. Ms. Johnson said that they are receiving investment income from the STIF fund where they have a $4,7M investment and concerning the CLASS fund, they have a $2.8M investment. She said that she would report more on this to them at the next meeting. She then noted that she had also provided them with a CD-ROM of the 2006 fiscal year Annual Report and with a copy of the latest bond prospectus. She said that she will also provide them with a procedures manual and the State Statutes regarding Boards of Finance. She reported that the auditor has met with her, Mr. Formica and Mr. Larcen and that there is some $12,000-$15,000 in extra work that needs to be done.
Mr. Taylor asked who authorized the auditors to do that work as it is the Board of Finance who has the authority to authorize such work. Ms. Johnson said that it had to be done to get the audit done on time.
Mr. Formica said that they have applied for a 30-day extension on the audit for it to be done by the end of this month – January. The issues behind the extra work were varied; the number of referendums that had to be held to pass a budget; the changing of the Finance Directors; and the changing of the banks that they do business with on a number of fronts. He added that if they go beyond the January 31, 2008 deadline that there would be other ramifications to the Town. In the meeting that he had on December 27, 2007 with Mr. Lanza, Mr. Larcen and Ms. Johnson, the collective interest was to get this work done so the audit could be completed. He said that if the intent here is to place blame that as the First Selectman, he would take that blame.
Mr. Taylor said that the auditors are not new and that they should have known what the extra work was and what it would cost so that they could have been presented with an estimate and had the opportunity to discuss it or to have the work done in-house. Mr. Formica said that they do not have a bill yet on the work. Mr. Jones said that the last time that this happened that it was agreed that the auditors would come to them beforehand.
Mr. Larcen said that he was persuaded at the meeting on December 27, 2007 that they were helping Ms. Johnson to dig out of a situation that she was in. He noted that it was felt that the combination of circumstances and ideas here would help them in going forward. He agreed that he would have liked to have seen this on the agenda however he was advised against it. He did say that the auditors did clearly come to them before doing any of the work.
Mr. Jones said that they had been very hardnosed previously that they wanted to know ahead of time about any extra work that would be needed to complete the audit. He asked why they could not extend beyond the January 31, 2008 time. Mr. Formica said that they could however the process becomes more in-depth and has more ramifications.
Mr. Taylor asked if the auditors had mentioned how much this work would cost. Mr. Larcen said yes – it would be around $12,000 but nor more than $15,000.
Mr. Formica suggested that they ask the auditor to come to their next meeting and speak to them about this.
F. New Businessa. Additional Appropriation for Public Safety Labor Services - $40,000 Mr. Larcen called for a motion on this item.
**MOTION (2) Mr. Jones moved to appropriate and transfer $40,000 from undesignated fund balance to the Public Safety Legal Services account 8-01-01-14-140-236 due to excessive legal costs in the Police Department related to several grievances. Mr. Taylor seconded the motion.
Ms. Johnson explained that the line item for legal services is over expended and that the account for Public Safety legal labor is due to the numerous grievances in the Police Department. They are asking for $40,000 as that would take care of what they have that is over-expended. It may not take care of the entire year however she hopes that in the end of the year budget transfers that this can be taken care of.
Mr. Langan asked where else they could transfer this money from rather than taking it from the undesignated fund balance. Ms. Johnson said that she would have to go through all of the budgets to try to look for some money and that this is a large amount so it would have to come from a number of budgets and she doubted that she could find this amount plus it is early in the budget year, to start taking this type of money from other budgets.
Mr. Langan asked what they are trying to do to help this type of situation so that it does not repeat itself. Mr. Formica said that they have one officer on paid administrative leave and one on deferred appointment and that he is doing his best to be prudent in these matters. He said that he would make this a part of his monthly update.
Mr. Langan asked how much is in the undesignated fund balance now. Mr. Formica said that it is at 7.32% - or $4.3M after this transfer.
Vote: 3 – 1 – 0. Motion passed. Against: Mr. Langan
b. Budget transfers – Department 110 (Registrars) for Presidential Primary – shortfall of $6,823 Mr. Larcen called for a motion on this item.
**MOTION (3) Mr. Langan moved the following transfer: $4900 from Account # 8-01-01-110-500-401 Election Day Expenses to Account # 8-01-01-110-500-402 Referendum Primary Account and $6823 from Account # 8-0101-114-200-290 Insurance PD & L to Account # 8-01-01-110-500-402 Referendum / Primary Account to cover the upcoming Presidential Preference Primary. Mr. Jones seconded the motion.
Carole Marelli, Registrar of Voters explained that she and Nancy Moran have moved what monies that they could to cover this Primary cost and that they have requested the rest which is the $6,823.
Mr. Jones noted to everyone as an update that they had been forewarned that this request would be coming forward.
Vote: 4 – 0 – 0. Motion passed.
c. Special Appropriation for Tax Appeal Appraisals, Legal Fees and other related Court Costs - $25,000 Mr. Larcen called for a motion on this item.
**MOTION (4) Mr. Jones moved to appropriate and transfer $25,000 from undesignated fund balance to an account to be established, titled, Assessment Court Costs – related to tax appeals. Mr. Taylor seconded the motion.
Mr. Formica explained that this is for the remaining court cases from the last revaluation and that there were 24 cases and that they are now down to 23. Eight (8) of them are commercial and 16 are residential.
Mr. Taylor asked what amount was put in the budget for this. Ms. Johnson and Mr. Formica said that there was nothing put in the budget for this.
Mr. Langan said that he is concerned with the undesignated fund balance which according to CCM, seems to be low to begin with. He asked if they could find other places to get this money from.
Ms. Johnson said that frequently budgets have a line item as ‘contingency’ which is to be borrowed from rather than the undesignated fund balance. She said that it is typically 1% of the budget which would be $600,000 in our case – however, for us she would recommend .5% or $300,000.
Vote: 3 – 1 – 0. Motion passed. Against: Mr. Langan
d. Board of Finance Proposed 2008 / 2009 Budget Mr. Larcen commented that it appeared that the Recording Secretary line item number is okay and that they could leave it at what it is now. Printing and Miscellaneous supplies could also remain as they are not excessive. He asked for comments on the Audit services at $30,000 and the fact that they had contracted for the audit this year at $28,500. He suggested that because they had made a promise to be more efficient going forward that they reduce the request to $28,500 and the total Finance Board budget request from $32,600 to $31,100.
Ms. Johnson said that if they RFP the audit as has been discussed that she could guarantee that it would go up. Mr. Jones said that they had been given audit prices of double what they are now paying, so there is no doubt that they are getting a good service for the price. Mr. Formica noted that they are trying to create efficiencies.
Mr. Larcen called for a motion on this item.
**MOTION (5) Mr. Taylor moved to approve the Board of Finance 2008 – 2009 budget request in the amount of $31,100. Mr. Jones seconded the motion. Vote: 4 – 0 – 0. Motion passed.
e. Review agenda and schedule Special Meeting: Financial Management/Improvement Plan Mr. Larcen explained the agenda listing (attached at end of minutes) and said that it was included in the hopes of holding a future Special Meeting to facilitate discussion on the items. He noted that he had spoken with the members who are not present this evening and that it was indicated to him that they would be available after the 21st of this month if they were to schedule a Special Meeting.
Mr. Taylor asked Mr. Langan if he had anything to say on how this item listing relates to the First Selectman and the Board of Selectmen. Mr. Langan said that clearly some of this does relate to the Board of Selectman and does not fall under the purview of the Board of Finance and that they also do not want to infringe upon their jurisdiction.
Mr. Taylor suggested that the Board of Selectmen review the listing and that they are asked about this before a special meeting is scheduled. He said that he hopes to either eliminate or get approval from Mr. Formica and the Board of Selectmen on the items on the listing.
Mr. Formica said that the question is to identify those items that do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Board of Finance or possibly holding a joint special meeting so that the Board of Selectmen can also join in on the discussion. He said that he could bring it before the Board of Selectmen and see what they have to say and if they decide that they have a quorum that want to attend a Special Meeting set by this Board, then he can file an agenda for the Board of Selectmen. He noted that there are clearly enough items for discussion.
Mr. Larcen noted that the intent is to have a dialogue on these items and to set a direction and decide what they would like to be worked on over a time frame that they designate.
Mr. Taylor and Mr. Jones again stated that they do not want to step on anyone’s toes and that they would be more comfortable if this is brought before the Board of Selectmen first.
Mr. Larcen suggested that they set a Special Meeting to move forward on this discussion for the fourth Wednesday of this month – January 23, 2008. Mr. Langan noted that the last item on the agenda listing should be deleted as it is an item for a separate communications subcommittee.
**MOTION (6) Mr. Langan moved to set a Special Meeting of the Board of Finance for Wednesday January 23, 2008 at 7 PM to discuss items on the ‘Financial Management/Town Finances Improvement Plan’ agenda. Mr. Taylor seconded the motion. Vote: 4 – 0 – 0. Motion passed.
G. Public Discussion Mr. Larcen called for Public Discussion.
Mike Schultz, Lovers Lane said that he is concerned about the budget for the Town of East Lyme as the Board of Education has presented a request for a 6.85% increase. He said that he sat in some of their meetings and that it looks like it is tight as a lot has to do with binding arbitration. He also said that he questions if the employees of the Town are cognizant of the compensations that they are getting – such as the benefits in terms of health insurance, sick, personal and vacation time, etc. as the numbers that it costs to provide such benefits are huge. He suggested that they put each employees’ earnings together with the cost of all of the benefits that they are getting and then divide that into an hourly rate so that they can all see what they are actually making as they may very well find that someone who is making $20 per hour is actually making $32 per hour when benefits are figured in; or someone making $28 per hour is actually making $40 per hour with the cost of benefits figured in. He said that there should be a mechanism by which they give all of the Town employees this information so that they can see what they are actually being paid. He said that this should also be brought out during the contract talks. Some of the teachers this year will be getting a 7% increase and that is a very big number. People need to really realize what their actual compensation is costing and what they are really being paid. This needs to be done for the Board of Ed also.
H. Board Comments There were none.
I. Adjournment **MOTION (7) Mr. Jones moved to adjourn this January 9, 2008 Regular Meeting of the East Lyme Board of Finance at 9:26 PM. Mr. Langan seconded the motion. Vote: 4 – 0 – 0. Motion passed.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Zmitruk, Recording Secretary
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SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, JANUARY 23rd, 2008 EAST LYME BOARD OF FINANCE
Members In Attendance: Steve Larcen, Chairman Jeff Langan, Secretary Bob Jones Jill Carini Allan Taylor
Also In Attendance: Paul Formica, Ex-Officio - Board of Selectmen Anna Johnson, Finance Director Andrew McKirdy, Deputy First Selectman
Absent: Isidore Schwartz
A. Call Meeting to OrderChairman Larcen called this Special Meeting of the East Lyme Board of Finance to order at 7:00 PM. He explained that this meeting was set up to facilitate some discussion.
B. Pledge of AllegianceThe Pledge was observed.
C. Delegations Mr. Larcen called for delegations.
There were none.
D. Discussion – Financial Management / Town Finances Improvement PlanMr. Langan explained that this was designed to facilitate discussion on how to save money and where in terms of priority. Once it is prioritized, they could speak in terms of who would be doing what. He suggested that tonight would be a planning process to set some goals for this year that would carry them into next year – such as: What needs to be done, How to tackle each of the items, Priority of the items and Who is responsible for what.
Mr. Formica passed out job descriptions to the Board members outlining the roles of the Finance Director, Tax Collector, Assessor and Treasurer. He noted that these are the job descriptions that they are operating under and that they were established prior to his term. He suggested that they go through the agenda list and try to check off what is clearly within the realm of the Board of Finance. He noted that he encourages and applauds this process.
Financial Management/Town Finances Improvement Plan · Budget Process o Cash Flow – Falls under the Director of Finance Mr. Larcen asked how they would distinguish between the Treasurer and the Director of Finance for this item. Mr. Formica said that monthly reports are probably both of them and that a discussion item for them would be the frequency of the reports. Also, what type of job is it now and what type of hours are they putting in. The Treasurer would be putting in fewer hours. o 5 year budget plan – clearly falls under the Board of Finance o Provide dep’t heads, boards, etc. goals and stretch goals – This item is the job of the First Selectman and this is done in department head and other meetings on a regular basis. Mr. Langan asked if this is something that they do during the course of the year and if they let the managers know what they are looking for in terms of budgets, etc. Mr. Formica said that both he and Ms. Johnson have asked for zero percent budgets from everyone and that some department heads have said that they could do this and others have said no. This will go to the Board of Selectmen and to the Board of Finance for further discussion and review. Also, both he and Ms. Johnson are reviewing the budgets to see where they can consolidate. The budget format this year will also provide the line item descriptions for the Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance and the public to be able to better understand what the money is going towards.
Mr. Larcen said that he would agree that the goals and stretch goals are the job of Mr. Formica to work on with the department heads.
Mr. Taylor commented that they are going into details on items tonight and that they ought to determine who is responsible for what areas. He said that the largest area under the Financial Management ‘Infrastructure’ is of items that fall under the responsibility of the person in charge. It seems that if a subcommittee of the Board of Finance works with the Board of Selectmen on these items that they will have achieved their goals as they do not want to leave out people who should be involved and Mr. Formica has indicated that he is willing to work with them on this.
Mr. Larcen said that he thinks that Mr. Taylor has a good point and that they should determine who the players are and the scope. He agreed that it does appear to be the job of the Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Jones said that the first thing that they want to establish is that they do not want to step on other people’s toes and that they do not want to micro-manage the Town as that is not their function. He said that he thinks that they should set up subcommittees.
Mr. Formica said that he fully intends to be much more communicative than what has been done in past years regarding the budget process.
o Contingencies – This was deleted from here as it is repeated in the listing below o Benchmarking – Mr. Formica suggested that they could use CCM information for a comparison of the Towns Mr. Langan said that he would like to see how they expect the cash flow to be spent throughout the year and that the budgets be performance based.
Mr. Jones said that the Selectman does that and not the Board of Finance.
Mr. Formica said that they get this information each month in their reports and that as they become more familiar with them, they will see how the budget is spent. He noted that Ms. Johnson keeps track of this and that they can ask her for information at any time.
· Financial Management “Infrastructure” o Written Policies · Debt Management – Part of the Capital Plan and a member of the Board of Finance is on this subcommittee. · Capital Financing – Part of the Capital Improvement Plan and a member of the Board of Finance is on this subcommittee. · Budget Contingencies – Board of Finance has input on this. · Reserve/Fund Balance Policy – Mr. Formica said that the auditors have said that the undesignated fund balance is at 7.32% and that it is best to keep the percentage stable rather than to have wild fluctuations in it as that shows bonding agencies that they perhaps are not managing their money wisely. · General Fund – This falls under the role of the Finance Director. · CNRE Fund – This was established by the Board of Finance with input from many others and falls under the Finance Director. · Self Insurance Fund – This falls under the role of the Finance Director. · Cash Management – This falls under the role of the Finance Director. · Investment Policies – This falls under the Finance Director and Treasurer.
· Revenue – and - · Operating Budget Policies - and - · Purchasing – blend together to form the daily management of the operation of the Town. Mr. Formica noted that he has been looking to consolidate items to realize efficiencies. He said that he has flowcharts of each departments operation and people and what each costs the Town. He said that they are welcome to look at it. He further explained that he has been doing a ‘needs assessment’ and has included the schools in on this. He said that he will let them know where and how this is going. An example is looking at the feasibility of a facilities and grounds person. This was brought up before but never fully explored.
· Multi-Year Financial Forecasting Policy – works in conjunction with everyone through the budgeting process. · Fraud Detection Policy – This falls under the role of the Finance Director and the Board of Finance can provide input.
o Roles and Responsibilities clearly defined – role of the First Selectman to do this · Finance Director · Tax Collector · Assessor · Treasurer Mr. Larcen asked about the roles of the Treasurer and the Tax Collector and how they relate to the Finance Director. Mr. Formica said that would fall under his responsibility however the roles are clearly defined in the job descriptions and other areas.
o Access to/Review of all funds – This falls within the realm of the Board of Finance and various reports should be discussed with the Finance Director. o Do we have the right software? – The other items should be reviewed first and then this.
· Efficiencies o Consolidate duplicated services – and - o Consolidate purchasing – Mr. Formica said that he and Ms. Johnson are already working on this and that it falls under the scope of the First Selectman and Finance Director.
· Capital plan Mr. Formica said that there is already a committee in place that works on this. They will be meeting very soon.
· Regionalization Mr. Formica said that this is on the forefront of everyone’s mind as it has been brought out in the news frequently. This too brings with it many challenges.
Mr. Larcen said that he thought that the outcome of the discussion this evening is to determine what they can jointly work on. Mr. Formica commended everyone for reaching out to try to give the people of the Town of East Lyme the best product possible. He said that he would have to leave for another engagement.
Mr. Larcen asked Ms. Johnson if she wanted to comment on the items. Ms. Johnson said that the policies that they received in their packets are a good starting point although many are outdated and in need of updating. She noted that they do not have a written purchasing policy and suggested that a subcommittee could work on that with her.
Mr. Taylor said that in trying to do one particular item out of a whole system of items that he thinks that they first need to work the scope out as they have people who are willing to work with them on this; rather than doing it one piece at a time. Mr. Larcen asked if Mr. Taylor’s suggestion regarding operating policies would be to work on all of them together and then come back with it as a whole. Mr. Taylor said that most are accounting principles and that they would have to be approved by the auditors.
Mr. Langan asked Ms. Johnson if policies were the only thing that they would have to work on with her. Ms. Johnson said that the list was a merger of her input with them (Mr. Langan) and that she concurs with Mr. Taylor that if they collectively work on this with a subcommittee that it will all come together.
Mr. Langan asked Ms. Johnson about her experience from other Towns. Ms. Johnson said that the bond agencies are not starting to rate management so written policies would be good. She added that there are places that they can go to find best management practices.
Mr. Larcen noted that he would like a policy on the undesignated fund balance. Mr. Jones said that they have been setting goals on the undesignated fund balance with the Director of Finance for many years so there is a general practice in place. He added that the bonding companies look for a steady fund balance rather than one with spikes in it.
Mr. Larcen noted that they have a contingency line item for fuel. Mr. Jones said that they also have one for salaries. Ms. Johnson said that Mr. Jones is correct on this and that the 08/09 budget will have salary contingency as they have bargaining going on and this will be necessary if there is no successor contract in place.
Mr. Larcen suggested having a contingency line item for unexpected expenses rather than using the undesignated fund balance. He said that in suggesting this that he was not suggesting that they change the process where they have to come before them for approval of the monies. He then asked Ms. Johnson about the encumbrance process and what constitutes an encumbrance. Ms. Johnson said that if a department wants to purchase office supplies that they have to have a P.O. which then encumbers the money for those items. She said that what they don’t want is to see the Town making bills without approved purchase orders.
Mr. Larcen said that the concern that he has regarding goods and purchases is when are these goods and services received? He also asked about parts that come in after the 6/30 fiscal year-end date. Ms. Johnson said that they would want to have a cut-off and have everything in so that they can issue the checks by the 6/30 fiscal year-end.
Mr. Larcen asked if encumbrances are a problem. Ms. Johnson said that every remaining encumbrance has its own story. Mr. Taylor commented that as they get into the budget process that they will get more involved with this. Ms. Johnson said that most of the remaining encumbrances were from 03/04 and 05/06.
Mr. Larcen asked if others should be involved in the subcommittees beyond the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance. Mr. Taylor said that they might want the Treasurer and Tax Collector for certain things.
Ms. Carini said that she thought that the Board of Ed should also be involved. Mr. Taylor said that he did not think that the Board of Ed should be involved at this time and level as they operate under a whole different set of rules and regulations as set by State Law.
Ms. Carini said that she respectfully disagrees and that she feels that the Board of Ed needs to be part of the process.
Mr. Jones said that he agrees that they need to be part of the process BUT – not at this time – as they exist in another world under a whole different set of policies.
Mr. Larcen asked if purchasing policies are applicable to the Board of Ed. Ms. Johnson said that in her experience with the Board of Ed that she has found that they have their own particular purchasing policy.
Mr. Larcen said that he would fall on the side of including the Board of Ed even though they may not fall under our policies. He said that he would do this as a good will gesture and not to force uniformity of policies upon them.
Mr. Taylor suggested that if they are trying to clean up what they have here now that it would first, best be done without the Board of Ed or with only one member such as their Business Manager.
Mr. Langan summed that the subcommittee would be comprised of two (2) people from the Board of Finance, two (2) people from the Board of Selectmen, one (1) person from the Board of Ed and the Finance Director, Treasurer, and Tax Collector.
Mr. Larcen suggested that they could cover the budget process after this next budget cycle that they are currently involved in.
Mr. Taylor explained that the Board of Finance is the only one who can give opinions on the Board of Ed budget but they could not specify line items or amounts.
Mr. McKirdy explained that two (2) Board of Finance members voluntarily attended the Board of Ed budgetary meetings. He noted that a Board of Ed member attending these meetings would be present to observe and he suggested that they enlist the School Business Manager or Superintendent.
Mr. Taylor noted that the Tax Collector and Treasurer were not necessary for the budget process part of the discussions and that those discussions would best be undertaken once this budget cycle has been completed as everyone would be able to see what takes place.
Mr. Larcen asked Ms. Johnson if she had any comments on the software. Ms. Johnson said that the accounting system that they have is a cumbersome one to use and that there are others that are more straight forward. While she would love to have a new system she said that there is an expense associated with it. Mr. Taylor suggested that they find out what the current system is capable of and that they may very well be able to generate all sorts of reports that they are looking for.
Ms. Johnson noted that old reports were breakdowns by departments but that legal, copying, postage and some others were consolidated and pulled from the individual departments. Mr. Larcen noted that he would like to see what the individual departments use also and that he thought that it could be reported both ways.
Mr. Larcen asked Mr. Jones if he was interested in continuing in the role he has been in with respect to the capital subcommittee. Mr. Jones said that he would like to and would be willing to continue in that representative role with the capital needs committee. (Note: Mr. Taylor left the meeting at this time.)
E. Public Discussion Mr. Larcen called for Public Discussion.
Rose Ann Hardy, Board of Selectmen member said that two (2) Charter Revisions ago the committee had discussed the roles of the two (2) Boards and had found that the Board of Finance role is to decide what the Town can afford. She said that many of the policies that they are talking about would be appropriate certainly when they are coming to the end of the budget year. With respect to encumbrances, she said that it has been that if the next year is going to be tight that the tendency to stockpile and incur encumbrances has been a practice. She suggested that it was done with the best of intentions. Further, to say that the Board of Selectmen has no say over the Board of Ed budget is incorrect as up until recently they had reviewed the Board of Ed budget and put forward suggestions and comments to the Board of Ed regarding the budget that they had presented to the Board of Selectmen. She also explained that the merging of accounts (postage, legal, fuel) was an intentional change that was made during Mr. Fraser’s administration to get a handle on the cumulative spending on these items. She said that she personally prefers to see these items listed in the individual budgets and that these could be added together for a total expenditure. She said that this is not a software issue and that the software is not that old – perhaps only 3 to 4 years old and that it is sophisticated and expensive. Prior to being purchased, it was viewed by many and while it was not that popular from its inception, she suggested that they have it customized or that they call the vendor and ask them for input so that they can get out the reports that they want as the system can most probably provide them. Lastly, in the make-up of the subcommittee with respect to the Board of Ed representation, she said that she thinks that it should be the Finance person and an elected official as they have a budget subcommittee and a chairman of that subcommittee.
Mr. Larcen thanked everyone for a productive discussion. Mr. Langan said that he would go over the listing and update it to reflect this discussion.
F. Adjournment
**MOTION (1) Mr. Jones moved to adjourn this January 23, 2008 Special Meeting of the East Lyme Board of Finance at 8:50 PM. Ms. Carini seconded the motion. Vote: 4 – 0 – 0. Motion passed.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Zmitruk, Recording Secretary
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