06-16-04 Public Works, Property Vacation and Personnel & Finance

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Joint Meeting of the Public Works and Property Vacation Committee and the Personnel and Finance Committee The June 16, 2004 joint meeting of the Public Works and Property Vacation Committee and the Personnel and Finance Committee was called to order by Public Works and Property Vacation Committee Chairperson, Dr. David Varner at 3:05 p.m. in the Council Informal Meeting Room. Persons in attendance included Council Members Puzzello,Kelly,Dieter,White,Kuspa,and Varner; Mayor Stephen Luecke, City Attorney Charles Leone,City Controller Rick 011ett, Community&Economic Development Executive Director Sharon Kendall, City Clerk John Voorde,Morris Performing Arts Center Executive Director Dennis J. Andres, Terry Bland of the South Bend Tribune and Council Attorney Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand. It was announced that next Wednesday at 9 am in the Board Room on the 13th Floor there will be a demonstration of electronic bidding, which has been endorsed by IACT. Dr. Varner asked the Council Attorney to attend. Dr. Varner then noted that the joint committee was called to continue to review Bill No. 32-04 which was last discussed by the joint committees on June 9th. He suggested that the page-by-page review of the draft substitute bill begin on page 6 with Section 2-93 addressing monthly reporting of financial information. He noted that the Controller's current monthly report is nice,but that it is short with regard to completeness. He added that once the initial spread sheet is made that it should be easy to provide such monthly updates. Rick 011ett suggested that on page 6, Sec. 2-93,paragraph(c)(1)that"in detail"be replaced with"by account". Mr. Andres inquired whether the requirements in Sec. 2-88 and Sec. 2-93 would affect his accountant,and asked what the trickle down affect would be. He feared that it would put an additional 20 hours of work and that it would cause turn over or additional comp time. Mr. 011ett noted that most of the information would be gathered by the Department of Administration and Finance. He stated that there needs to be more discussion on the reporting level needed by the Council. Mayor Luecke stated that some of the suggested language would result in formatting information differently. Dr. Varner stated that Mr. Andres concern of a substantial added workload would not be realized by his operation. Council Member Kelly stated that the city needs to balance what is needed and what is extraneous in the Bill. With regard to Sec. 2-94 and the reporting requirements for IRS Tax-Exempt Charitable Organizations,Mr. Leone stated that the core issue is the uniformity of treatment of those within a class. He noted that he was having difficulty distinguishing the requirements of non-profits vs. for profits,noting that all CDBG grants are contractual. He gave the example of the River Park